🎵Music🎵
Amen good evening welcome to faith first works Baptist Church. We're gonna get started with song number 410 faith is the victory
100 410 faith is the victory as our first song and if you are able to let's all stand together
song number 410 faith is the victory
🎵Music🎵
We'll see it on that first verse
Encamped along the hills of light, ye Christian soldiers rise
And press the battle air, the night shall fill the glowing skies
Against the bow and bales we love, let all our strength be hurled
Faith is a victory, we know that over comes the world
Faith is a victory, faith is a victory
Oh glorious victory, that over comes the world
His banner over us is love, our sword the word of God
We tread the road, the seas above with shouts of triumph trod
By faith they like a whirlwind's breath, swept on our every field
The faith by which they conquered death is still our shining shield
Faith is a victory, faith is a victory
Oh glorious victory, that over comes the world
On every hand the foe we find, drawn up in dread array
Let tents of ease be held behind and onward to the fray
Salvation's helmet on each head
The earth shall tremble neath our tread and echo with a shout
Faith is a victory, faith is a victory
Oh glorious victory, that over comes the world
On that last to him that over comes the foe
White raiment shall begin, before the angels we shall know
His name confessed in heaven, then onward from the hills of light
Our hearts full of a flame will vanquish on the host of night
In Jesus' conquering name
Faith is a victory, faith is a victory
Oh glorious victory, that over comes the world
Hey man, wonderful scene, let's start off our service with a word of prayer
Dear God, only Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for just allowing us to be here in your house this evening, Lord God
We thank you so much for giving us a victory
Lord God, we do pray that you please just bless every aspect of our service, Lord God
May you please just bless the singing unto you, Lord Heavenly Father
And most of all, please bless the preaching of your word
I pray that you please just fill pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord God
Guide him through the scriptures
And I pray that you would just be with us in a congregation, Lord God
Help us to be attentive, Lord God, to your word being preached unto us
And I pray that you would please help us, Lord God, to take it to heart
That we might leave it here changed, Lord God
We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen
Song number 22
Are you washed in the blood?
Song number 22
There in your hymnals
Song number 22
You see it on that first verse
Have you been to Jesus with a cleansing pout?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His gracious sound?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood?
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb
Are your garments polished?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood?
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb
Are your garments polished?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood?
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb
Are your garments polished?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb
Are you washed in the blood?
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb
Are your garments polished?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Sunday evening at 5 p.m. Thursday night Bible study is at 7 o'clock
You see the soul winning times and teams
And the list of expecting mothers, please continue to pray for them
And the important reminder is there
I want to add to the important reminder at the bottom
Make sure you don't let your children or nobody for that matter
Go into the back mother baby rooms
Those are still closed off until further notice
So just keep that in mind
We obviously have signs there
But please make sure that your children are not going in there and playing
That's going to be closed off for a while
So just keep that in mind
And then we have the men's prayer night coming up tomorrow
March 3rd at 7 p.m. That will be here at the church building
And dinner will be provided
Hope to see you there
Ladies tea party is on Saturday, March 18th
And if you have any questions about that ladies
You can see my wife for more details
Just as a reminder that every activity at our church is free
And so it's free of charge
Feel free to invite yourself and your friends to that
You can see my wife for the details on that
And then the Easter service is on Sunday, April 9th
I encourage you to bring your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors to that
It's a great opportunity to get a lot of people into church
They wouldn't typically come to church on a weekly basis
And Lord willing we see a lot of people saved
So be in prayer over that
And pray that we have a great Easter service
Looking forward to it
No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee
Please make sure that you're not loitering in the foyer or fellowship hall during the preaching service
And then please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching
So as to not be a distraction during the service
Go ahead and pull out your prayer sheet
We're going to go over that briefly
And then Brother Huyck is going to come on up in just a bit
To pray over the needs
Please continue to pray for our church corporately
For God's favor in 2023
And for the soul winning that we get a lot of people saved
Of course for our missions
Our team is still out there in Belize
And they're getting a lot of people saved
And I think the major blessing aside from the salvation
Is that they've collected a lot of information
And in fact they've had people out to dinner
To lunch
They've been fellowshipping with the locals there
And the people have already committed to start coming in November
Once we have that preaching service there
And so a lot of information has been collected
So that's a blessing
And Lord willing they keep to their oath
I'm not saying they're making one but
We're going to bind them under an oath at this moment right now
No I'm just kidding
But pray for them
They just had a preaching service tonight
And I think they might have even had some visitors tonight as well
And so be in prayer over that
Continue to pray for the November meeting
Then when we go out there
We get a lot of people saved
But also that a lot will come to the preaching service
And who knows
We'll see if an open door is before us
We just never know what might happen in the future thereafter
So pray that God leads myself
Leads the church
And that we would be aware of the open door
Please pray for the spiritual numerical growth of our church
And then of course you see the regular reminders there
The regular prayers that we need
And then church families as well
If you have an additional prayer request
That you'd like to be placed on the bulletin
Please put that at the bottom
And tear that off
Put it into the offering plate
And we'll make sure it gets on there for the following week
Alright
And that is it
Brother Hite why don't you come on up and pray over these needs
Please bow your heads in a word of prayer
We thank you Heavenly Father first and foremost for our salvation dear God
We thank you for every precious person in this church tonight
And for our church members abroad and in other states or maybe sick at home
We thank you for starting this church dear God in Southern California
It's been a huge blessing for us
Every single one of us
And we ask you to please put us in remembrance
To always appreciate that fact
And we thank you for the soul winning ministry we have over here
To go out and see people saved dear God
For the sake of your kingdom
We pray for the teams
We pray for the team leaders and the team members
We thank you for the mission trips dear God
For allowing us to go abroad and see people saved
And we thank you for the brethren that are out there right now
We ask that you please embolden them
And give them strength dear God
To finish very strong this coming next few days
We ask for protection of our church dear God
That you have a hedge of protection about us
At every time
To keep us from your enemies dear Lord
We also ask for protection for our church families
For every single individual in our church also
And we ask that you please grow the church dear God
And of course we understand that quality is better than quantity
So please send us laborers dear Lord
We need people to go out with us
And win souls to your kingdom dear God
And we ask that the individuals in our church
That have been coming for a while now
They actually get into the fight
And we pray for the leadership of the church dear God
We thank you for our pastor
For giving us a man after your heart dear Lord to lead us
And we thank you for our evangelists dear God
And for the work that they do in the church
We pray for the pastors in training
That many more men are borrowed dear God
And preach your word boldly dear Lord
Abroad in the states and even abroad dear Lord
We pray for those in authority
That they may leave us alone and just allow us to serve you dear God
And put us at peace with our enemies dear God
And we ask for the family salvation
And all the requests dear God made from the individuals here
In church for family members
It's a great big burden dear Lord
If you understand what we go through as people
And having unsafe families
Please dear God give us peace in our hearts
And give us wisdom dear Lord
And please soften the hearts of our family members
That they may receive the truth
At one point please do soften their hearts
And we pray for our families also
That they may grow
In addition to having more children dear God
That they may grow spiritually
And the children may be in obedience to their parents
And the wives may be in obedience to the husbands
And give the husbands wisdom dear God
That they may lead their families
And do great works for your kingdom
We pray for the barren women dear Lord
That they may be able to
Bear a seed dear God
And bring more children into the world to serve you dear Lord
We pray for the expecting mothers
And all the new mothers and newborns dear God
We pray for their health
And we thank you for every new child
That you've given this church and to the families dear Lord
And we just pray generally for this church
We know that you again dear Lord started this church
And we know that you have a great mission for us
And we ask that you just have your hand over us dear Lord
Every single one of us that we may continue to do great works
And even greater works in the future dear God
We love you dear Lord
We pray all these things in Jesus name Amen
Song number 36, Christ the Rose
Song number 36
Sing it on that first verse
O when the grave he laid
Jesus my Savior
Waiting the coming day
Jesus my Lord
O from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph for his foes
He arose a victor from the dark domain
And he lives forever with the saints to reign
He arose, he arose
Hallelujah, Christ the Rose
Mainly they watch his bed
Jesus my Savior
Mainly they seal the dead
Jesus my Lord
O from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph for his foes
He arose a victor from the dark domain
And he lives forever with the saints to reign
He arose, he arose
Hallelujah, Christ the Rose
Death cannot keep his grave
Jesus my Savior
He tore the bars away
Jesus my Lord
O from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph for his foes
He arose a victor from the dark domain
And he lives forever with the saints to reign
He arose, he arose
Hallelujah, Christ the Rose
Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time our ushers will be receiving the offering.
And please turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel 21.
Thank you.
Amen.
Good evening. We're in 2 Samuel chapter 21.
The chapter reads
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year.
And David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered,
It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them,
Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites.
And the children of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you?
And wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
The Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house,
neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.
And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you?
And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us,
that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel.
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul,
whom the Lord did choose.
The king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mahibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,
because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
But the king took the two sons of Risba, the daughter of Ayah, whom she bare unto Saul,
Armonai and Mahibosheth, and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul,
whom she brought up for Israel, the son of Brazillite, the Mahilithite.
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord.
They fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest,
and the first days in the beginning of barley harvest.
And Risba, the daughter of Ayah, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock,
from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven,
and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
And was told David what Risba, the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead,
which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them,
when the Philistines had slain Saul and Gilboa,
and brought from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan, his son,
and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
And the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his son buried there in the country of Benjamin and Zelah,
and the sepulchre of Kish his father, and it performed all that the king commanded,
and after that God was entreated for the land.
Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel,
and David went down and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines, and David waxed faint.
And Ishmael, which was of the sons of the giant,
the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass and weight,
he being girded with a new sword thought to have slain David,
but Abishai the son of Ziriah suckered him,
and Smote the troll, go no more out with us to battle,
that thou quenched not the light of Israel.
And it came to pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob.
Then Sibichai the Hushitite slew Saph,
which was of the sons of the giant.
And there was again a battle of Gob with the Philistines,
where Elhanan the son of Jerroirigim,
of Bethwomite slew the brother of Goliath the Githite,
the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
And there was yet a battle in Gath,
where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers,
and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number,
and he also was born to the giant.
And when he defied Israel Jonathan the son of Shimeah,
the brother of David slew him,
these four were born to the giant in Gath,
and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
Let's pray.
We thank you Heavenly Father, we thank you for this church dear God,
we thank you for every precious soul in it,
we thank you for our pastor,
we ask that you please bless him with your Holy Spirit this evening
as he preaches unto us your word in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, okay tonight we continue with 2 Samuel,
we're in 21 here,
and it's pretty interesting what's taking place here,
the subject of Saul is being brought up again,
and it's because of his sin,
we're going to see how that is affecting the nation still,
even under the leadership of a godly leader by the name of David.
Now in the previous chapter,
we saw essentially that Joab was leading this attack against Sheba the son of Bichrai,
who was essentially leading an insurrection against David,
and we saw how that story turned out,
of course Sheba the son of Bichrai was killed and beheaded,
and his head was thrown over the wall,
and so the insurrection there was put to silence,
it was put to stop, and they were able to control that.
Now in chapter 21,
we have a famine taking place,
and it's taking place over a span of three years,
and it's because of Saul's sin.
Look at verse number 1, it says,
Then there was a famine in the days of David,
three years year after year,
and David inquired of the Lord.
So what we have here is the nation suffering famine,
in other words there's no rain being brought,
and so they're not able to grow crops,
they're not able to grow food,
they're obviously suffering because of this great famine
that we see that the Lord has brought upon the land of Israel,
and David as a godly king,
you know he doesn't necessarily,
he's not looking to the weatherman,
he's not looking to anybody else,
what is he doing?
He's inquiring of the Lord, right?
He wants to know why is this coming upon the land,
why is this taking place, you know,
what's the problem here, why is this sin,
or excuse me, why is this famine coming upon the nation of Israel,
and this is a great response to a famine, right?
You say, why is that?
Well because of the fact that when we see natural disasters in our world today,
when we see that earthquakes are taking place,
there's famines, there's pestilence of some sort,
there is obviously God's judgment upon the land,
you know our leaders aren't necessarily looking to God to see why this is happening, right?
You know, they don't necessarily look to God,
they don't pray to the Lord,
they don't seek the face of God in order to inquire of him,
why is this happening to our land, why is this taking place?
They look elsewhere, right?
In fact they look towards leaders,
they look towards governmental authorities to fix the issue,
or whatever it may be,
but David obviously is a man after God's own heart,
he loves the Lord,
and so he knows that this famine is not just some common occurrence,
this is obviously because God is judging Israel for whatever reason.
And you know, David, even though he's not perfect,
he's a man who's after God's own heart,
he's inquiring, and obviously he might have done some introspection
where he's probably wondering maybe it's something that he did, right?
Maybe it's some sin that he committed.
He's obviously not afraid to pray unto the Lord
and allow God to kind of reveal to him what is it,
what's the cause of this famine upon the land that's destroying their resources?
And so David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered,
it is for Saul.
So Saul, you know, he's been long dead at this point,
and we know that he's been long dead for quite some time,
because David is already old at this point.
We'll see later on in the story that he's already older in age,
and the fact that, you know, Saul's body is no longer there,
it's only bones, okay?
So this is obviously years and years after,
but even years after the nation of Israel suffering because of his actions,
it says it is for Saul and for his bloody house
because he slew the Gibeonites, the Bible says.
So what do we have here?
God is judging the nation of Israel because Saul, in times past,
is not recorded explicitly in 1 Samuel,
but obviously it happened because the Bible's telling us here.
During his reign, he obviously led some sort of violent campaign
against the Gibeonites where he killed a lot of them off.
Now, that's not surprising that Saul did that, right?
Because we saw instances where Saul wanted to make a name for himself,
he's conquering different individuals, he's committing these war crimes, so to speak,
he's slaying the priest, he's just doing a lot of these wicked things,
and so the Bible tells us at the latter end of verse number 2
that he did it in his zeal.
So in his zeal, he went and slew a bunch of Gibeonites
unjustly, obviously, and you kind of wonder,
why does it say in his zeal that he did this?
Isn't zeal a good thing?
Well, yeah, zeal can be a good thing if it's according to knowledge, right?
As the Bible tells us in Romans chapter number 10,
but we know that Saul was a self-willed king,
he was an individual who did not have the Lord's agenda as his priority,
and so in his zeal to lift himself up,
in his zeal to conquer land, to make a name for himself,
he slew the Gibeonites, okay?
And just remember that zeal is great only if it's directed at the things of God, right?
And I'm not saying that things outside of that that would be a neutral type of a thing
is bad to have zeal for, but you know, there's individuals who have zeal for false religions, right?
There's zealous Catholics and zealous Muslims, there's zealous Mormons,
and just because they have zeal, which is a good quality,
they're obviously directed in a bad way because they're zealous over a false religion,
false doctrine, and false gods.
And so in like manner, he is slaying these individuals unjustly in his zeal.
It says in verse number 2,
And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them,
Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel,
but of the remnant of the Amorites.
And the children of Israel had sworn unto them,
and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.
So a couple things I want to mention here,
I want to explain what's going on here,
is the fact that the reason that God is judging Israel because Saul slew the Gibeonites,
is because Israel, back when Joshua was essentially leading the children of Israel in chapter 9,
had promised the Gibeonites that he would never harm them, okay?
So if you remember back in chapter 9, you know,
Joshua's taken over all these lands and they're conquering different areas,
and the Gibeonites essentially come to him,
and they act like they're from some faraway country.
So they get, you know, sandals that are worn out,
clothes that are worn out,
they get moldy bread and old wine,
to make it look like they've been traveling for just a really long time.
And they come to him, they're just like,
Hey, we want to be your servants and just, you know,
make an oath that you won't harm us if we just serve you.
So Joshua makes this oath, he makes this vow,
and then later on they find out,
Oh, these are the Gibeonites.
You guys deceived us.
And obviously they were afraid of Joshua.
They were afraid of God's people.
But nevertheless, they made that oath.
And so God expects the nation to hold to that oath to the very end,
you understand?
Because it was unconditional in the sense that there is no ending to it, okay?
There's no expiration date to this oath that was made.
And so Saul obviously violated that oath.
And it's not that Saul didn't know.
Obviously there might have been documentation that stated,
Hey, Israel has vowed to take care of the Gibeonites
and not to harm them, not to do them wrong.
And he did it anyways.
And so they're suffering for the sins of Saul
and his violation of that oath that Joshua had made
back in Joshua chapter 9 and verse number 18.
Now here's a good application to this, okay?
Because of the fact that we look at our nation now
and obviously there's all kinds of nonsense taking place,
sin abounds, you know, there's natural disasters everywhere
and trains going off the rails and all kinds of craziness happening.
And people are like, Oh, it's the government.
Oh, it's this.
Well, here's the reality.
It's just, it's God.
Okay?
No, but I have evidence that our government's doing it.
Yeah, but here's the thing though.
I have biblical evidence that God allowed that governor,
that magistrate, that ruler to do it.
In other words, God has removed the protective hedge from America
because of sins of past presidents, past leaders
who have transgressed, violated oaths, mocked God, blasphemed.
And even then, you know, just in general,
their acceptance of filth and perversion,
their rejection of God, their mockery of Jesus Christ.
There's so many things on the list that need to be paid for.
Okay?
You know, we talk about how America is in debt,
trillions and trillions of dollars in debt, right?
And the number keeps going up and up.
Folks, that's nothing in comparison to how much sin debt America is in.
Okay?
And, you know, we're never going to be able to pay off as a nation
the trillions of dollars that we owe.
But you know what?
It's more likely that we'll pay that off
than we can pay off the sin debt that this nation has committed
over generations and decades and decades and decades.
And so, you know, in America today, we have a famine.
It may not be a famine of water.
Obviously, as we've seen over the last couple of weeks,
you know, there's been some crazy storms.
I mean, there's some areas that you're in that it was snowing, right?
And so, you know, Californians are like, whoa, snow, you know.
Hails coming down, they're just like, it's snow, you know.
But there was snow, though.
I think it was even snowing here
because I went to the back and I saw snow collected in the corners and stuff.
And I was like, what in the world?
What is this white stuff?
You know, so there may not be a famine of water,
but, you know, there is a famine of the word of God, though.
And even though we are faring sumptuously here at First Works Baptist Church
and other churches like this church by hearing godly preaching,
biblical preaching, not every church in America is like this.
Right?
And not every church that's out there is actually preaching God's word,
using God's word and edifying the congregation and leading people in righteousness.
There is obviously a famine in the land of God's word
and that is an indicator that God is judging this land.
You understand?
And obviously there's many other indicators of that.
And, you know, just like in David's day, it's not David's fault
that the famine came upon the land.
You know, he's a righteous leader.
He's a righteous person.
He loves the Lord.
He's a man of God's own heart.
But unfortunately, he's reigning during a generation
that is meant to suffer for the consequences of previous leaders.
So in that manner, you know, we didn't do anything.
I mean, I wasn't even alive during the 60s.
Okay?
I wasn't alive during the 60s and 70s with the sexual revolution
and all the hippie movement and all that stuff that took place
and all the debauchery and everything.
But you know what?
My generation is definitely paying for it, though.
Okay?
And it's not because God's mad at me
or he wants to punish my generation or our church.
But you know what?
Saul did some things in the past that need to be paid for.
You understand?
And so people who lived in the past, who made mistakes,
and even leaders who are essentially have transgressed the laws of the Lord,
you know, that comes upon us, unfortunately, as a nation.
And so, you know, there's a famine in the land because of Saul's sin
and his violence against the house of the Gibeonites.
And it's always going to be that way, my friends.
I mean, I don't even think there will ever be a time in America
where America is not being judged until the end of the world.
I'm going to be quite honest with you, okay?
I could be wrong, but I highly doubt it.
You know, some people say,
Well, don't you think it's getting better?
You know, wouldn't you say it's getting better?
Or don't you think it can get better?
Don't you think it was better in the 50s?
Folks, there was perversion in the 50s.
There was perversion in the 40s and 30s and 20s.
There's perversion in every generation, my friends.
You know, yeah, maybe people dress better in those days
and maybe people behave better in certain instances,
but at the end of the day, sin has always abounded.
And, you know, the apostle Paul said that in the last days,
perilous times shall come.
And he said that 2,000 years ago, okay?
So if someone was reading that in the year 1920,
they can say that that was being fulfilled in their day
because there's a lot of bad stuff happening in the 20s, okay?
So every generation has something to fight.
And obviously, you know, in 2023,
abominations abound because of the Internet,
because of social media,
and, you know, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.
And so, you know, and the love of many shall wax cold, the Bible says.
So the natural result of that is transgression, iniquity, all of that stuff.
Let's read on here.
So we see the cause of the famine is because of Saul, his sin,
and, you know, God basically takes account, my friends.
You know, we can't expect God to just forget about all the abortions
that have been committed over the last couple of decades.
And even if we're to get the most righteous president,
the most righteous leader,
the most God-loving, Bible-loving person,
that still is not going to take away the judgment of God upon America.
Put it this way, let's say we get David, right?
For to get David, I mean, was David able to keep the famine from disappearing for those three years?
No.
And he was a righteous, I mean, he's one of the godliest men in the Old Testament.
He's a man of the God of the heart.
He wrote the Psalms.
He's one of the most beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
I mean, this guy's the stuff.
But even he couldn't impede the judgment of God upon Israel.
And so, you know, if we're to find a David in our generation as a leader,
which it's not likely,
but let's say if we were able to do that,
God still wouldn't turn his judgment around.
You could get Daniel. You could get Noah.
You could get Job.
And even God said that in Ezekiel.
He said, you know, if these men were before me,
he could, you know, I'm paraphrasing here,
but basically the judgment would still come.
They would only save their own souls, he said.
So if David was a ruler in today's day and we had a David,
he could only rescue himself.
He would not be able to rescue the nation from their transgressions against God.
God would still punish America, okay?
And I feel like I need to say that because sometimes people have an unrealistic expectation
of what can come in the future.
Sometimes people think, oh, I think it will get better, you know?
I think it's going to be righteous nation once again.
You're living in the fantasy world, my friends.
Have you read the book of Revelation?
I don't think we're there yet, but hold on a second.
Yes, we may not be there in the tribulation as of yet,
but you know that the only direction to go is in that direction.
Does everyone get that?
It's like people want to make this argument,
yeah, but we're not there yet.
Yeah, but you know, we're right before it though.
Like the only safe place to be
if you're talking about the tribulation and the wrath of God
would be like after all those events take place.
Anything before it is bad, okay?
Does that make sense to everyone?
And so, you know, I'm not trying to cause you to just be a doom and gloom person like me,
although it's not so bad on this side, my friends,
because when you're a doom and gloom type of a person,
you have more of an appetite for Mount Zion, amen?
Or the heavenly Jerusalem, or the eternal,
we should be discontent with the things down here
because it makes us look forward to that which is most important,
which is eternity, okay?
So don't have your spiritual stakes sewed down deep into this nation,
this country, your possessions, your resources
that, you know, kind of takes away your affection from things above, okay?
You know, recognize that our country has done some pretty bad stuff
and God is going to judge it. He is judging it already.
And so look at verse number three,
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites,
so now he's going to come up with a solution,
What shall I do for you?
And wherewith shall I make the atonement
that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
The Gibeonites said unto him,
We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house,
neither for us shall thou kill any man in Israel.
And he said, What shall ye say that will I do for you?
And they answered the king,
The man that consumed us and that devised against us
that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel,
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us,
and we will hang them up unto the Lord and Gibeah of Saul,
whom the Lord did choose, and the king said, I will give them.
So he's just like, look, I got a problem here.
We got famine taking place and apparently it's because Saul slew you guys.
And according to verse number five, he tried to destroy him
to the point where none of them would remain in the coast of Israel.
He's just trying to wipe them off the face of the earth.
It's just like, why, Saul? What do you got against these people?
So they said, look, these are reasonable individuals, too,
because they're like, we don't want money.
We don't want silver and gold.
We don't want anybody to die in Israel.
We don't want civil war taking place.
Just give us seven of his descendants and that they may be hung before the Lord.
Okay.
Execute them publicly and that will suffice the judgment.
That will suffice the vengeance needed.
Now, when you read that, you're like, that's kind of weird.
You know, where do they ever do?
That's not doesn't seem kind of fair.
And in fact, you know, you would almost think that it's contradicting the Bible.
Because in Deuteronomy 24, it has the commandment that says that the father shall not be put to death for the sins of the son
and for the children and the children shall not be put to death for the sins of the father.
Right.
In other words, everyone is held responsible for their own actions.
So what's going on here?
Because when you read this story, the implication here is that when the sons are hung and they're killed, they're executed,
it actually appeases the wrath of God upon the land because the rain comes and then the Lord blesses the nation of Israel thereafter because justice was carried out.
And you wonder, well, how's that justice if, you know, it's the descendants of Saul?
Like, why is that?
Is it contradicting the Bible here?
What's going on here?
Well, the answer is found in verse number one, because it says the latter end of verse number one, it says,
and the Lord answered, it is for Saul, listen to this, and for his bloody house.
So the implication here is that those descendants who are being put to death were partakers of killing people in Gibeah as well.
They were also violent and bloody individuals.
God's not going to contradict himself here.
He's not going to put these guys to death because of something that their great grandfather or their grandfather did or their father did or whatever.
You know, if they didn't partake of any of it,
if they weren't involved in the violence.
And here's the thing, folks, is that, you know, the second commandment in Exodus chapter 20,
you know, it tells us not to have graven images, not to bow down unto them.
And then God says, for I am a jealous God.
Listen to this.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
Hold on a second.
Of them that hate me.
So obviously, God will not punish, you know, a next generation for the sins of the father if they choose not to follow in the same footsteps of the father.
So if a generation rises up that, you know, that had a father that hated the Lord and blasphemed the Lord,
and then they also hate the Lord and blasphemed the Lord, what's going to happen?
God's also going to punish them.
So he will punish the third and fourth generation of the children of the fathers who had that same disposition against God, who hate the Lord.
But he will show mercy unto thousands of other generations.
I mean, we're essentially a living testimony of that, are we not?
Because I'm sure all of us have had previous generations that were not Christians, that were not lovers of the Lord.
Who knows? We might have even had previous generations who hated the Lord.
I might have had ancestors that blasphemed the Lord.
I might have had ancestors who were reprobates, who mocked God.
But you know, God's not going to hold me accountable to that because I'm saved and I love the Lord.
So he's showing this generation mercy.
And in fact, my children are being blessed because of my obedience to the gospel.
My obedience to God's word.
My children are being blessed.
They're being raised in a home where Jesus Christ is the preeminent one.
The Bible is the most important thing.
A biblical marriage is being, you know, exemplified.
They know only of spiritual matters and growing up in church.
I mean, that's a blessing for children, right?
Whereas, you know, if a generation decides to rise up who doesn't know the Lord and chooses not to know the Lord,
they reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
They hate the word of God.
They decide to mock the Bible.
You know what? The same curse that came upon their father shall come upon them as well.
Okay.
And make no mistake about it.
There are generational curses, right?
You know, you see them in the Bible.
There's generational curses and people who follow in the footsteps of their father.
They sometimes do even more evil things than those who came before them.
But you know, we also see examples of individuals who came from a wicked background or had wicked ancestors,
but then they did right in the sight of the Lord, i.e. Josiah.
His father and his great grandfather were very wicked individuals, but Josiah decided to be a righteous person.
And he ended up being one of the greatest kings in the Old Testament.
So God did not visit him according to the iniquity of his father.
He actually received the extension of God's mercy because he chose to love the Lord and seek the Lord.
And so, I mean, that's what we see taking place here.
So this is not a contradiction.
This is not like, oh, here's an example right here.
You know, why is God?
And by the way, this is not when it says sons, it's not referring to like 10-year-old or something like that.
Okay.
You guys understand that, right?
You know, because sometimes people will try to point to this and say, look at God just killing all these children.
Sons, like I'm my mother's son, but I'm a grown man.
And it would even be biblical to say that I'm my mother's child, even though I'm not a child, right?
Because I'm an adult.
It's just a way to essentially describe who a person is and where they come from.
Okay.
So obviously these these sons are grown men who partook in the violence that their father was essentially, you know, doing against the Gibeonites.
Okay.
And God's not going to part in that.
So they thought they got away with it.
You know, they're over here like living.
Oh, okay, cool.
David's in charge and he likes the house of Saul.
No, be sure your sin will find you out.
So that's what's taking place there.
Okay.
Is that he's he's judging Israel because that generation, you know, essentially partook of that same blood.
They're partakers of the same violence.
And look, may that be a lesson to us, my friends, that we need to be conscientious of the next generation.
Okay.
Don't be a Hezekiah where you're only concerned about God blessing you at this generation.
We need to make sure that we make decisions.
We need to make sure that we have disciplines.
We need to make sure we have affections and our priorities are set in such a way that we're being examples to the next generation.
Okay.
And you say to yourself, well, you know, I'm not married and I don't have kids or whatever.
And so I don't really have to worry about that yet.
But there's a new generation in our church that are looking to you as an example, though.
But even more so, if you do have children, even more so, you know, be in church because you're being an example to the next generation.
Read the Bible, love the Lord, win souls to Christ because you're being an example to the next generation.
Or you might impart a faith that's not strong in the Lord to your children and they're going to suffer the consequences because of that.
Okay.
So, you know, they're like, just give us seven dudes to hang and and we'll call it even.
Okay.
Verse seven says, But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
So obviously, David takes oaths pretty seriously because, you know, he had made an oath long before that he was going to bless Mephibosheth.
He was going to eat at the king's table.
He was going to do all this good to him.
And so he's just like, well, he's the only one we're not going to give up because I don't want to violate this oath.
You understand?
He says in verse number eight, But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adrile, the son of Barzilai, the Maholathite.
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord, and they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
So, you know, if you think to yourself, well, I think America can still, there's hope, though.
I think there's still hope.
You know, I'm not a doom and gloom kind of a person.
I think if we just get the right person in office, the right people in the magistrates and the governments, you know, I think we could look, we were looking pretty good.
Okay, I'll agree with you under one condition.
If the seven sons are hung.
Right?
Like if you could just hang all of the wicked leaders who were involved in war crimes, who destroyed innocent children in the Middle East, who bombed these nations and killed countless of innocent people.
If you're willing to hang them before the Lord, then we got a chance.
It looks like that's the only thing that helped Israel here, right?
So the only way that God will actually bless America is if, you know, if these wicked leaders are just hung before the Lord.
You know, if, you know, like Governor Newsom.
I mean, I don't know all their names, so I can't name seven of them, but there's a lot of them, though.
And I'll say this is probably more than seven.
Right?
I just know the first one, I would just say, because I'm in California, Newsom.
He's such a wicked person.
Evil, he's wicked, and he's annoying.
And so, you know, there's this countless more.
So if we do that, then you know what? God will stop judging this nation.
God will bless this nation or, you know, depending on how zealous that execution is of those wicked individuals,
who knows, maybe we can delay it a little longer.
God will bless this nation to the point where we can win more souls to Christ,
and, you know, the end times would be delayed somewhat, okay?
But I highly doubt that would ever happen now, right?
Because, you know, there are no righteous leaders out there who are willing to do such a thing.
You're like, well, that's a little extreme, though.
Well, I mean, that's what stopped the famine in these days.
Sorry if it's still a little extreme for you.
But it's not extreme for God.
You know, and I find that people often think that, you know, well, that's too much, that's too extreme.
You know, that's not what God thought of Phinehas, right?
When he made shish kebab of the Moabite-ish woman and the Israelite,
because they're fornicating in the tent, he grabbed, what was it, a spear?
And, no, I'm sorry, it wasn't a spear. It was a javelin.
Olympic status, okay?
And he made shish kebab of them and, you know, and by the way, in front of millions of people.
So out of all these millions of people that were there, no one got up to take care of the problem except for Phinehas,
or Phineas, however you want to pronounce his name. I don't think it matters.
We'll go with Phineas.
You know, Phineas is the only one who's willing to do it.
And then what happened? The plague was staged.
God said, because Phineas was zealous for my sake.
And so, you know, that's what God will require, but obviously it's not going to happen.
I'm just showing you how hopeless it is, okay?
Unless this nation is willing to go to extremes to obey God, it's probably not going to happen.
Sorry to rain in on your voting parade there.
But you go ahead and vote and believe that it's going to help anything and you're making a difference.
You know, I'm perfectly fine with that.
Verse 7, so he spares them. Look at verse 8.
But the king took two sons. Oh wait, I think we read that. Skip down to verse number 10.
And Rizpeth, the daughter of Ai, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock and from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven
and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
Now this is very cryptic and we don't necessarily know exactly what this is talking about.
I would say that what this is referring to is the fact that the bodies of those who were slain were not buried, essentially.
They were not given coverings, they were not given a proper burial.
Until, essentially, the rain came. And it was a signification that God's wrath was appeased, justice was carried out.
That's possibly what it's talking about but we don't know 100% because it's written in such a way that it's kind of cryptic.
But regardless, it says in verse number 11, and it was told David what Rizpeth, the daughter of Ai, the concubine of Saul, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead.
Which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul and Goboa.
So if you remember, when Saul killed himself because he fell upon his own sword, his armor bearer fell upon his sword likewise.
Because he was wounded and he didn't want the Philistines to abuse him.
You know, keep him alive, torture him, and do all these things.
He knew that they were probably going to just make the last few hours on this earth just miserable.
He essentially decided to commit suicide.
But it didn't matter because the Philistines still came and just completely dismembered his body.
They desecrated his body, they decapitated him, they took his torso and pinned it against the wall.
So they pinned his torso against the wall, they beheaded him, and just the worst possible things took place to his body.
I mean, clothes casket for sure. Let's just put it that way.
You say, man, those Philistines, God allowed that.
Yeah, but that's because he killed himself. Well, if they would have killed him, they still would have done that.
So, you know, that wouldn't have changed anything.
Obviously, God was very upset, and you know, possibly, God allowed that in order to be an example to future kings, don't do what Saul did.
Because then you'll die a dishonorable death just like Saul died.
So they dismembered his body, and they pinned him against the wall.
Well, the men of Jabeshkili had came by night, and they took his body, they took his members, and they buried him under a tree.
Not necessarily the most honorary type of funeral for a king.
Even if he was a wicked person, you know, under a tree is just kind of like, yeah, you know.
But here's the thing, from the time that he was buried until David was pretty old, I mean, that's where he was.
And I think what this signifies is that Israel has some skeletons in the closet, right?
Because there's a direct relation between the bones of Saul and the judgment of God upon the land.
So it's not until Saul is given a proper burial, right, and the sons of Saul are put to death, that God essentially alleviates the judgment off of the land.
You say, how do you know that? Well, look at verse number 13.
It says that he brought up from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan and his son, and they gathered the bones of them that were hanging.
And the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his son, buried they in the country of Benjamin and Zila, in the sepulcher of Kish, his father, and they performed all that the king commanded, and after that, God was entreated for the land.
So taking the body of Saul from where it was at, the bones of Saul, and giving it its proper burial was essentially giving closure to that chapter in the history of Israel.
Essentially saying, you know, God's like, okay, now we're done.
Now what Saul did is put away, his sons are dead, we're giving him a proper burial, you know, that era is over with.
And, you know, again, our nation is filled with a lot of bones, and no proper closure.
A lot of dead babies, no proper closure.
A lot of innocent people who have died in foreign countries, children who have perished in foreign countries, a lot of bones that are buried in different places with no closure.
Okay? And so, you know, God doesn't forget these things, my friend.
Israel has some skeletons in the closet, and America has an entire cemetery in the closet.
Cementaries, plural, in the closet, that need to be taken care of.
And so, you know, as soon as he does that, though, as soon as they give it the proper burial, the sons are put to death, the wrath of God is appealed, it's appeased, and they're able to move on.
Okay? So we see that David brings closure to this, after Saul and his son are given proper burial.
Look at verse 15.
Now, what does verse 15 tell us? It's like, again? The Philistines are coming again? I feel like they come every couple of chapters.
I was like, one of the main characters of 1 and 2 Samuel is just like, the Philistines.
That's because the Philistines picture the flesh.
So even though David is old, he's established, he has dealt with certain sins, and he's brought closure, it's like, here come the Philistines again.
And they're fighting just as hard as they did when David was 17 years old.
So what does that tell us? You know, it doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian, your flesh will remain as strong to the very end as it was when you were a youth.
You say, what do I have to do? Fight it. You have to fight the flesh to the very end.
There is no such thing as like, as soon as you get saved, the Philistines just go away.
You just never see the Philistines ever again. You'll never be tempted ever again. You're never going to sin ever again.
The Philistines just keep coming back. Why? Because the flesh is always there, my friends.
Never have this attitude why I conquered this sin, I had victory over this sin, therefore I'm just more refined now, and I don't have to worry about battling that sin ever again.
No, we've got to keep the flesh in check every single day. We've got to die to self every single day.
We have to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh every single day. Why? Because the Philistines just keep coming back.
The flesh comes back. Now unfortunately, you know, obviously David is an expert.
Expert Philistine killer. He's a Philistine killer. I mean, that's like on his resume.
Like, you know, so what do you do? Kill Philistine. Collect foreskins. Collect heads.
Like, that's what his life has been characterized by is just killing Philistines.
I mean, the Philistines know David as being a man of war, but yet now it seems as though he's getting old because it says David waxed faint.
That's a scary thought, isn't it? I mean, David is a mighty warrior. I mean, this guy can take on a bunch. I mean, he just, he has a great career in killing Philistines, right?
But now it's just like, he's waxing faint. He's not as strong as he used to be.
And look what happens.
And Ishbibinob, man, nobody wants to get killed by a guy like that.
Who killed you, Ishbibinob?
Ishbibinob was, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
So apparently what's being implied here is that David was in a compromising position. He's waxed faint. And this new guy comes up who's of the sons of the giants. He was going to kill this guy.
Now listen to this, because it says in the verse there that his spear weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight.
So this guy almost killed David with the spear that weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight.
You say, what's the significance of that? David killed Goliath, who had a spearhead, which was 600 shekels of iron.
It was a lot heavier than this. A lot heavier, it was just the head of the spear, and he did away with them very easily in his youth.
But now it's just like a guy who's half that almost killed him.
You say, what's the significance there? Well, obviously, in a practical standpoint, you know, the older we get, right, we can't necessarily do as much as when we were 17, 18, or whatever.
16, sometimes we're going to do like half as much or something, right? However, the spiritual application to this is the fact that, you know, people sometimes get older in the Lord, and if they're not careful, they can grow weaker in the Lord too.
In my experience, especially when it comes to pastors, pastors who were once great fighters of the faith, as far as like fighting for the faith, defending the faith, contending for the faith, they were hardcore.
But then as they get a little older, you know, they get a little soft. They start waxing faint a little bit.
And in times past when they were able to take the giant who had a spear of a weaver's beam that weighed 600 shekels of iron, like with ease, now the guy who has a new sword, a new international version, a new Bible, a new doctrine, a new whatever, can seem to take them out easily or something.
You know? And, you know, I don't think it has to be that way. Now, unfortunately for David, because of his age, that happened, right? But when it comes to spiritual matters, you say, well, you know, is that just the way of every individual?
They're just going to go that way. They're just going to, as they get older, they're going to be compromisers. They get soft on things. I don't think it has to be that way.
And let me explain to you why I think it is that way sometimes with certain pastors. Because there's other pastors, like, you know, Pastor Hyles, who, I don't know, I think he was in his 70s when he died.
Someone want to correct me on that? I think he was in his 70s. And he was this hard, I think he was even harder in his later years.
Okay? Like, when I get old, like, I hope that when I get old, I get grumpy. Because I'll get grumpy about sin.
You know, I'll get grumpy about these wicked teenagers committing sin. I don't want to get softer. I want to get harder, right?
I want to get more angry about sin. And it should be the longer we're in this world, the more we read the Bible, the more we serve the Lord, the more angry we get at this world for how wicked it's become.
The more we love the Lord, right? But you know what? That isn't the case with a lot of pastors nowadays. They wax faint.
And back in the day, they were able to take the Goliaths down with ease. Now this, what's his name again? Bob or what? What is it?
Ishpenab. You know, Goliath sounds cooler. You know, Ishpenab, who's half the weight of the other guy, as far as his spear is concerned, he's able to take out David.
Now look, I'm doing some things now to assure me, hopefully, Lord willing, that I don't become that way.
You say, what's one of the things you do? Well, you know, obviously I like lifting, and it's not only because I like it as a hobby, but it increases my testosterone.
And I think, and I'm not joking, I'm being serious right here, okay? I'm not telling a good joke here.
I think a lot of the times, these pastors, they get really weak in their preaching, because they don't have testosterone as much as they used to, because it obviously drops at like 40.
In the 40s, the testosterone, unless you're having some aid, you know what I mean, some TRT or something like that, you know, the testosterone starts to drop.
And especially if they're not doing anything physical, their diet is trash, they're not, you know, working out, you know, trying to get that up.
Well, you know, the testosterone starts dropping, and let me just say this, testosterone does affect preaching.
Can't tell me that it doesn't, and I think God gave us that hormone as meant for a reason, okay?
And I think, I personally believe that it has to be really high in pastors, because they need to be angry about sin.
They need to be angry about sin, they need to be able to lead, and not grow soft later on.
So I'm trying to keep that testosterone nice and high to the better end, amen?
And so, you know, that's what I'm trying to do, and you say, is that really an issue?
Folks, it's an issue, it's a major issue.
Especially, you know, and look, I just heard of a church that closed down in Ohio, but you know what, thank God it closed down.
Because number one, the guy was not qualified, he's a stinking railer, he ate a candy bar along with a rapper.
Okay, yeah, now you get me here?
You're like, you're mean, but okay, would you ever eat the rapper though?
It's called gluttony. And you know what, the guy was morbidly obese.
Morbidly obese. Which means that his estrogen levels were probably really high, testosterone was very low, which would explain why he was such a railer.
So emotional, you know, hating on the new IFB and all the pastors or whatever, and he couldn't handle it, so he closed down his church.
Well, so be it. Let those guys find a good church with a man of God behind the pulpit that can preach God's word and actually get the job done, right?
But you know, sometimes people don't go that route, they don't close their church, they just soften the preaching up a little bit.
They soften up on sin, they don't want to offend their church members, they don't want to raise their voice, they're afraid they're going to throw out their back if they preach too hard or something.
Folks, don't wax feints!
I hope that the older I get, the more angry I get against sin, my sermons against the homos, my best sermons against the homos, I see them in the future.
Like you think the worst sin was a good sermon? I got a better sermon than that in my 60s and 70s.
And Lord willing, if I'm in my 80s, I guarantee you, my last sermon on the sodomites before I leave this earth, when I'm 80 or something, it'll be the best one.
Lord willing, amen?
You know, these guys, they don't want to exercise, they don't want to work out, they don't want to live, they don't want to eat, right?
They don't want to fight against the sodomites, they're afraid that they're going to get evicted, they're afraid their church is going to get bombed, something's going to happen to them.
What they need is a little bit of testosterone, more Bible reading, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, and get back in the fight.
Don't let Ishbinob take you out.
And so, look at verse 17, but Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, suckered him, which means that he helped him, and smote the Philistine and killed them.
Then the men of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, but thou quench not the light of Israel.
So Abishai is a little bit younger, and it required Abishai to come and rescue him.
The principle that we can learn there is that we still need a new generation to rise up and fight the battles too.
Because you've got Ishbinob coming with a new sword, but we need Abishai to come with the King James, amen?
And this next generation that rises up, don't be going with the ESV and the NIV and the HIV or whatever, stick with the King James Bible, and know why you used the King James Bible, amen?
So people can come with the new sword all they want, they can come with their NASB, their NIV or whatever,
but this sword that has slain thousands of Philistines still works.
And it came to pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob.
Then Sibekai, the Hushathite, slew Sapph, which was of the sons of the giant.
So one thing we can notice here in these next couple verses is that you have all these guys putting in work and slaying giants themselves.
Now look, given David slew his share in his lifetime, but now you need a new generation to rise up.
So it's great that David did great works, but you know there's another next generation that's rising up that's also going to slay giants as well.
So we can't just look to the past spiritual giants who have slain the giants, we need to make sure we take up the torch.
And so I'm going to slay myself a giant too. And here's the problem with a lot of old IFB churches.
They love looking to the past. They bask in heroes of the faith of times past and all the great works that they've done, but they hate to get involved in such a thing.
You know, it's just like, oh they love the J. Frank Norris's. They love the stories of Jack Hyles and his great exploits.
They love the stories of pastors of times past who did a great work, but God forbid if someone were to do it in this generation, oh you're a hate preacher.
Oh you're this or you're that. You know, you should be doing what we're doing because the heroes that you looked up to did the same thing.
And if those guys were still alive, they would be running with us.
That's the truth, my friend.
So I like Abishai and these other guys. They're like, we're going to slay giants too. And you know what, First Works Baptist Church is going to slay some giants.
We've slain giants and we're going to continue to slay giants.
And you know what, this attitude of, yeah, but you got a young church. Amen.
Amen to that. Thank you. Thank you for saying I got a young church.
I think it's great because you know, the old IP often says, well, you know, if you don't have older people in your church and you know, it's kind of dangerous or whatever.
You need more wisdom in your church. You know what, I don't put an age limit in my church.
There's not a sign out there just like, hey, we're trying to recruit 60s, 70, 80, 90 year olds.
Whoever comes, comes. And you know what, a church needs to be filled with new young people.
You say why? Because that shows that it's reaching the next generation.
If you have a church of predominantly old people, that's not a good thing. Right?
Because eventually people die. You need to be reaching new people.
And not just new people, I'm talking about young people because they got that vinegar. Amen.
You know, they're the really zealous ones with the knowledge. We got to couple it with knowledge.
They got the energy. They got the strength. They can bear the yoke in their youth.
They're zealous for the things of God. They're fired up.
They're a little wild. A little crazy. Then we get them lifted and they get even crazier.
We get them in the right direction. They start serving God fervently.
God is more pleased with that, my friends, than some refined church where all these old people are.
And we're not hating on the old people. I'm not hating on the old people.
We don't have old people in this church at this moment right now.
I'm not trying to look at anybody right now.
Because everyone always says, when you say point, you look right at me.
Who do you expect me to look at? I have to look at everyone in the church.
And all of a sudden you think, oh, you talk about it because you looked at me. Where do you want me to look?
Where do you want me to look?
I got to look at someone.
You know what? We need a new generation to rise up and fight the giants.
And not just read books about people who slew giants in times past.
You know, in Bible college there used to be a class called Biographies of Great Men.
Yeah, we would read Biographies of Great Men and I would read those stories and I'm like, I want to do this.
I don't want to just read about it. I want someone to read it about me.
I want someone to read an article about me doing great works.
Why do I want to read these books for about people who did...
Why do I want to just live in a dream?
Right? And just like, oh, we associate with these types of Christians because they did great works.
You mean you associate with them by just reading their books.
It's not associated with them.
I'll fellowship with those guys in heaven and we can talk about the works that I did and they can talk about the works that they did.
You know, I can't wait to meet Frank Norris in heaven.
Jehu, the son of Hanani, and all these other, you know, the son of Nimshi, excuse me,
where we can talk about the great works that they have accomplished and I can talk about the great works that we accomplished.
Instead of wasting your time, read, and I'm not saying don't read biographies.
I think it's great to read them.
But don't live vicariously through dead people.
It's like, oh man, I just read this novel of this great missionary who went and won the heat into the loss.
Go do it!
Don't stop. Don't even finish the book.
Just go to Belize right now.
Go actually do it.
You know, I would read those stories and I'm just like,
what are we doing? What am I doing?
You know, is this a way to like, you know, kind of appease our conscience to make us think like we're serving God or something like that?
I'd rather just do it.
And so, the biographies of great men are right here.
You know, why? Because they are our epistle written in our hearts, known in red of all men.
That's the true biography of a great man who loves the Lord.
You're serving God. You're out soul winning. You're serving in your local New Testament church.
You know the Bible. You're winning souls to Christ. You're in Belize right now, winning people to Jesus.
You're doing great works.
Looks like you don't need to read a biography. You already are walking biography of a great man.
Alright.
Last point that I want to make. Look at verse 19.
There was again a battle in Gab with the Philistines which, excuse me, were Elhanan, the son of Jerry.
Oh man, we'll just call him Jerry for now. How about that?
Jerry Origam, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
Now, the last point that I want to make, and it's completely just irrelevant to the sermon, but it's a point necessary.
You know, it's important that we stick to the King James Bible, my friends, because this particular verse in another version says that this person killed Goliath.
Whereas here it says that he slew the brother of Goliath. Well, David is the one who slew Goliath.
One of the reasons why the King James is better is because it's accurate.
It gives like good accuracy. The ESV says that he slew Goliath the Gittite. Well, that's a complete lie.
And this is the narrator speaking here. So that would mean that the ESV, the Holy Spirit got it wrong.
Well, we know that the Holy Spirit didn't get it wrong because he didn't write the ESV.
He's not an author of confusion.
And so, we'll finish there.
The walk-away principles that we can get from this is that our nation is being judged, but even when it's being judged, we need to raise up a new nation who's willing to fight the giants.
Hey, young people, be willing to fight the giants of sodomy, the giants of fornication and drunkenness and lukewarmness and being effeminate and the cultures of our generation.
Be willing to stand up and fight against them, those giants.
And you know what? Determine, I want to be on fire for God to the very end.
You know what? I'm more on fire for God today than I was when I first got saved.
And I thought I was on fire back then, but I'm more on fire for God now than I am back then.
I preach harder now than I did when I was 21.
I know more Bible now than I did when I was 21. I should. I won more souls to Christ now than I won back then.
I am more excited and zealous for the things of God now than I was when I was 21.
And that's how it should be, my friends.
You know, we should love the Lord more as the days go by.
Be zealous over the things of God more as the days go by.
And recognize we need to bear the yoke in our youth. Amen.
And who cares if Bobby over here comes with a new sword.
You know, we got the tried and true here. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for this great story, Lord.
I pray that you'd help us as your people to recognize the principles thereof.
Help us to remain on fire, Lord, for you.
To keep the flames going as we preach the gospel, as we preach against sin.
And Lord, help us to turn the world upside down in our generation.
And even though your judgment's already here, help us to make a difference today.
Help us to make a difference in our lifetime, Lord, and to do something great for eternity, Lord.
And we're thankful for the men of the past who did great works.
But I don't want to read about it. I want to be about it.
And so I pray that you'd help us as a church to do so.
Help us to do great works for you.
We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Song number 129, Rock of Ages, is our last song.
Song number 129.
Sing it on that first verse.
Rock of ages, clam for me. Let me hide myself indeed.
Let the water and the blood from thy wound inside which flowed
be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know?
These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone.
In my hand I rest.
Simply to thy cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath.
When my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown
and behold thee on thy throne.
Clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.