Amen.
Alright, we are in Hebrews chapter number 10 this evening in verse 26 where the Bible
says here, For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful, looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
under the foot of the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith
the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people.
Verse 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And the title of my sermon this evening is simply, Our God Kills.
Our God Kills.
Now someone will listen to a sermon like this and maybe, you know, hear it online and say,
well this guy's just trying to be a sensationalist, you know, he's just trying to go to the extreme.
But the fact remains is that, no, I'm not trying to be a sensationalist.
This is a biblical doctrine that God does kill people.
You see, today we have this perception, not we as in us personally, but just in the grand
scope of Christianity, there are people who have an imbalanced view of God.
Now there are those who have just a completely wrong view of God, and they paint God to be
some person who he's not, they give him characteristics and attributes which you don't see in the
Word of God, but then there's other people who have this perception of God of only being
love, right?
Only being love, only being merciful, only being gracious, which he is.
But you know what?
We need to have a balanced view of who God is.
We need to make sure that we understand who God is in the entire scope of his attributes
as we see it within his Word.
Yeah, he's a God of love, of course he's a God of mercy, of course he's a God of grace,
but guess what?
He's also a God of righteousness, of holiness, of justice, of anger, and wrath.
You see, we can't just say, well I just believe that heaven exists and nothing else.
No, you know what?
We believe in heaven because there's also a hell.
And just as there's people in heaven today because they have eternal life, they're Jesus
Christ, guess what?
There's people in hell today as well.
It's not just one exists without the other, no you need both.
And God's love is expressed through the fact that he sent his son Jesus Christ to give
us eternal life, but God's wrath is also expressed by the fact that hell exists.
There are people in hell today that are burning an everlasting fire where the fire is not
quenched and the worm dieth not, the Bible says.
That is a proper balanced view of who God is.
Now, this is not a doctrine that I recently learned.
You know, this is something that was taught to me when I was a babe in Christ.
I remember, and you said, who taught you this doctrine?
My father-in-law, who was my pastor at the time, taught me this doctrine, and in fact
he scared the fire out of me when he told me this doctrine.
I remember sitting in his office, Pastor Esposito's office, and I would often just
go to his office just to go talk to him, you know, and just to go get discipled by him
and learn from him and pick his brain and learn wisdom from him, and I remember he specifically
had someone in his personal life who he knew die recently, recent as in during that time,
and he specifically told me, he said, Bruce, God killed that man.
And I remember he pointed to me and I was just like, what?
God killed him?
He said, God killed him.
And he says, and I even told that person's husband, or that person's wife, excuse me,
I said to her, God killed your husband.
I mean he wasn't joking, there was no laughing matter about it.
And I remember listening to him and I said, okay, and he goes, because you got to remember,
God kills people.
And that's very different from what we hear today, don't we?
You know, God's not angry at you, you can live however you want, you can be involved
in all kinds of sin, and most of the time, these are people who have turned the grace
of God into lasciviousness.
They want to make sure they don't understand, they say, well, grace means that we can sin
and we can just do anything we want.
No, in fact, the Bible says that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and
worldly lust, not to just live however you want.
And we're going to see tonight that there are certain things that you can do that can
cost you your life.
They can cause God to strike you down dead.
You say, why are you preaching this sermon?
Well, simply for the fact that we as God's people, we need to grow in our fear of God.
You see, there's people today that don't fear God.
You know, they think that God is just this wonderful old man in heaven with a long white
beard and he's just loving to everyone, and he will never judge anybody.
He just loves everyone.
No, it's not true.
He is a God of righteousness, he's a God of love, and he can strike you down dead today.
And in fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 16, 6, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged,
and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.
You see, we need to depart from evil as God's people.
We need to make sure that we're constantly working at repenting of our sins, not to be
saved, but just in our personal life, because we are saved, we ought to repent of our sins
on a daily basis.
We ought to confess our sins and clean up our lives and do that which is pleasing in
the eyes of the Lord.
Why?
Because we fear God.
And this is not some fear like, well, I respect him, you know, or I just reverence God.
No, fear means I'm afraid.
I'm scared of God.
We shouldn't be scared of God.
No, we ought to be afraid of God.
Because God said, Jesus said this, fear not him which can kill the body, but afterwards
can do nothing, but fear him who can kill the body and so in hell.
Now we obviously understand that, I say people, our souls can't go to hell.
But you know what, that still means that God can kill our body.
And I've personally met people, I've personally known people who got out of church, they got
into some wicked sin, they got involved in gross sin, you know what happened, they died.
God took their life.
And some of them died in the most heinous, most violent ways.
Why?
Because God doesn't mess around.
And you know what the Bible says, the judgment must begin at the house of God.
Now we read here in Hebrews chapter number 10, in verse 26, it says, if we sin willfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, they were made of no more sacrifice
for sins.
What is he saying?
Well, if you read the scope of Hebrews, it's constantly talking about the sacrifices in
the Old Testament and these things.
Why is he talking about that?
Because obviously those things were a shadow of things to come.
But when Jesus came, he sacrificed himself once and for all.
For those in the Old Testament, those in the New Testament, well, look, they were made
of no more sacrifice after you sin.
So it's not like Christ is going to come back and be crucified again and be buried again
and resurrect again.
He's not going to do that.
He says, so what's going to happen?
Well, either you repent or potentially you might die.
Like, well, prove that from the Bible.
Oh, we're going to look at a lot of examples in the Bible where God took away someone's
life.
Now, you're in Hebrews chapter 10, go to verse number 1.
It says here, for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image
of the things can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year, continue
to make the comers there unto perfect.
He said, you know, all those sacrifices they made, it was to symbolize what Christ was
going to do in the future.
But none of those calves, none of those bullocks, none of those animals ever took away anyone's
sin.
It says there, verse number 2, for then would they not have ceased to be offered because
that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins.
But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
You know, the dispensation is the thing to memorize that verse.
They need to get it tattooed or something or do something to remember that, hey, the
blood of bulls and goats can't take away your sins.
Okay.
It says there, wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body has now prepared me, and burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O
God, skip down to verse number 10, by the which will, excuse me, by the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
Verse 11, and every priest standing daily ministering offering oftentimes the same sacrifice
which can never take away sins.
So see, back in the Old Testament, it was a practice to continually, constantly, daily,
yearly make sacrifices.
But when Christ came, there was only one sacrifice that needed to be made.
But here's the thing, that's all that's going to happen.
Okay.
So he sacrificed himself once.
So the sins that you commit, yeah, he's covered those, but you know what, there are consequences
that are going to be faced when you sin in this world.
You see, when I lead someone to the Lord, I always explain to them, hey, you know, now
that you're saved, you'll never suffer the consequence of hell.
But that doesn't mean that you won't suffer any kind of consequence, because you will
suffer consequences here on this earth.
You see, God is not a God who's just going to let you just sin and nothing happen.
Of course, he's paid for you.
He paid with his own blood the fact that you won't go to hell, but there are still
consequences that you can face here on this world.
God doesn't want you to just live a life of sin, no.
He wants you to repent.
He wants you to make sure that you're living a holy life so you don't suffer those consequences.
And the Bible tells us that we have approximately 70 years to live.
That's like the average.
And he says, you know, 80 with strength.
I want to make sure that I fulfill those 80 years.
But unfortunately, you know what a lot of people do?
They get involved in certain things and certain sins that cuts their life short.
And what is it?
You say, well, if I die, I go to heaven.
Well, amen.
Yeah, you do if you're saved.
But you know what you miss out on?
God's rewards that he had for you, God's payment that he had for you, God's blessings that
he has for you.
You know, a bright and godly future for your life.
That's what you miss out on if you decide to live in sin.
Go to Matthew chapter, excuse me, go to Deuteronomy chapter 7.
The Bible says in Proverbs 10 27, the fear of the Lord prolongeth days.
But the years of the wicked shall be shortened, the Bible says.
So God is telling us that when we fear God, you know what that does?
That prolongs our days.
Why?
Because we don't drink.
We don't smoke.
We don't do things that are displeasing.
We don't fornicate.
We don't commit adultery.
Why?
Because we fear God.
And what does that do?
That prolongs our days.
He said, well, how does not drinking prolong your days?
Well, I don't know, something called cirrhosis of the liver.
You know, I had an uncle who died of cirrhosis of the liver.
He was saved.
But guess what?
He died.
You know, I had a cousin who basically did so many drugs and abused his body so much
that he died in his 20s.
And I remember talking to him, and he's on his deathbed, and he told me, Bruce, they
said I'm going to die this week.
And I said, well, you know, and I witnessed to him, and he says, I'm saved.
I've already trusted Christ as my Savior.
I know I can never lose my salvation.
And he goes, he says, I prayed, though.
He goes, and I believe God can deliver me from this.
I didn't tell him this because I didn't think it was worth telling him.
But I'm thinking to myself, he's not going to deliver you.
He's not going to deliver you.
And he goes, I believe God has done it before to other people.
I believe he can do it again.
And you know what I'm thinking?
And I told him this.
I said, well, you know what?
I'll see you in heaven.
I love him.
He's my cousin.
But you know what?
He did that to himself.
And we can't expect to live a life of sin.
Thank you.
We can't expect to live a life of sin and then jack our bodies up and then at the last
minute just expect for God to deliver us of that, of the consequences of our actions.
Doesn't work that way.
You did that to your own self.
You destroyed yourself.
And we need to make sure that we don't allow these type of sins into our life.
Look, if for anything, live a clean life, not just for yourself, but for your family,
for your wife, for your children, for your husband, for the future, for souls.
What good are you?
What good are you if you die sooner and you know the gospel?
You could have given it to hundreds of thousands of people, but you decide to destroy your
own body, destroy your future, and die early.
It's not worth it.
And look, obviously those are consequences that are built in that we suffer because there's
just consequences that are built into these actions.
But at the same token, there are also sins that we can commit where God punishes us.
And that's why the Bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
Why?
Because God can hit you where it hurts.
If there's anyone who knows how to hit you where it hurts, it's God.
You know why?
Because He's willing to go through the extreme measures to get you right with Him.
But do you want that?
I don't.
You know?
Oh, I thought you were not afraid.
I'm not afraid of God.
You know?
I don't want Him to take my legs, I don't want Him to ruin my health, I don't want Him
to do something in my life so drastic just so I can turn from some sin that He wants
to get out of me.
No, I want to make sure that I know I'm not perfect, but I want to align my life with
God's Word so that He's pleased with me so that He doesn't take me home early.
Okay?
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 7, 21, Moreover, the Lord thy God will send a hornet among
them, until they that are left and hid themselves from thee be destroyed.
Thou shalt not be a frighten at them, for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God
and terrible, the Bible says.
You know what God says about the Lord, about Himself, is that He's terrible.
He's terrible.
He's a terrible God.
That ought to strike fear in our hearts and cause us to want to live a life that's pleasing
unto Him.
1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5, I'll read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter number 11
and verse 30 where the Bible says, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you,
and many sleep.
Now there's all kinds of sin that was taking place at the church of Corinth, okay, and
that's why this is happening right here, but you know what the Bible says, that because
of that many sleep.
So according to the Bible, God was chastising this church so much that some were sickly
and some were asleep.
What does that mean?
They were like knocked out in the, during the preaching or something, like they were
just disappointed, everyone was just like knocked out.
No, it means they're dead.
It means they died.
It means God killed them.
You say, well how do you know that God killed them?
Verse 31 says, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, but when we are judged,
we are chastened, chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Wow.
So what is it saying there?
When it talks about those that were asleep, it's saying the people who are asleep are
the ones who are chastened of the Lord, is the one that God dealt with.
So you know what's the remedy to that?
The remedy is this, if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
So before you get to the point where you're involved in some stupid sin that can get you
killed, you know what God says, why don't you judge yourself, examine yourself, you
know, get your life right before God fixes it for you, you know, check yourself before
you wreck yourself.
In other words, that's the best way to do it.
You know, the best way is for you to say, Lord, examine my heart, search my heart, see
if there be any wicked way in me, to examine and say, look, I don't want to die, I don't
want to suffer the consequences of my actions, please show me if there's something wrong
in me so I can correct it.
And look, in Hebrews chapter 10, we often quote this verse for the enemies of God, you
know, vengeance is mine, say the Lord, I will repay.
You know what he's saying that to, he's saying that to his people.
That means God will execute vengeance on you.
That's a strong phrase to say, I'm going to get you back.
For your disobedience, for your sin, I will repay.
And look, this goes for adults, but it also goes for teenagers too.
Okay, why?
Because to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required.
Well, you know, God's never killed children, have you read the story of Elisha?
Where they disrespected the man of God, you know what God did?
He sent bears to tear them up, cursed children, right?
It can happen.
You know, I don't want to even test the waters on that.
And here's the thing, at the church of Corinth, we see that fornication was taking place.
Now, here when fornication takes place here, if and when it takes place, and I find out
about it, you're out of the church, kicking you out.
Well, here's the thing, we'll kick you out if you don't want to repent and get it right,
you're out.
That's not loving.
Yeah, I know, I know that's not loving.
You know, that's judgment is what it is.
So if you're involved in fornication, and you don't want to repent of it, we give you
the boot.
And guess what happens?
We give you over to Satan.
What is this?
Is this like a Pentecostal church or something?
We give him over to Satan?
No, it's Bible.
First Corinthians chapter five says that, and it talks about how we give him over to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
So God can judge.
He said, wait, hold on a second.
Satan?
I think he said God does it.
God is the one who tells Satan to come get you.
I mean, have you read Job, right?
Look at first John chapter five, verse 16, it says, if any man see his brother's sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin
not unto death, there is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it.
Whoa.
In other words, God says there's a sin that you can commit, then no one's going to pray
for it.
It doesn't matter how much people pray for, it ain't working.
You're going to die.
Okay.
I mean, you guys remember Jeremiah, where God told Jeremiah, pray not for this people.
He says, don't pray for them.
You know, I pray without ceasing.
At this point you cease because it ain't going to work.
Okay.
And there's certain people that they go so far, they test God so much, they get involved
in so much sin and they just go into it over and over and over.
And guess what?
God says, don't pray for them.
I'm just going to take them home because at that point, sometimes you actually become
a liability to the gospel, not an asset.
Okay.
You actually begin to harm the cause of Christ.
You know what God would rather have you do?
Just sit on the shelf, just take you home, die a horrible death, a shameful death, and
just take you home.
First Corinthians, go to James chapter five.
So there is a sin unto death according to the Bible.
You know?
He said, what sin is it?
You know, I don't know and I don't want to know.
I'd rather just work on just keeping sin out of my life.
You know, why would we want to test it out?
Now look, in the Bible, fornication, God killed a lot of people for fornication.
Okay.
Now, obviously there's people that maybe you have known and that I have known who have
been involved in fornication, they were saved and God did not kill them.
Okay.
I've known people who've been fornicating and God has not dealt with them.
It doesn't mean they're not saved or excuse me, God has not killed them.
It doesn't mean they're not saved.
You know, maybe God's just being merciful to them.
But do you want to test that though?
Do you want to be like, well, they did it, so I think I can do it and you know what,
you know, God's merciful to them.
You know, that's not something I want to play with.
I'd rather be like, yeah, I'd probably be the one that would die like right on the spot.
God would probably have me killed in the worst way.
So I'm not even going to try to test that.
Look at James 5 19 says, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert
him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the arrow of his ways shall
save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
See, the reason I'm preaching this is to save your souls from death.
So you're not a drunkard, you're not a fornicator, you're not an adulterer.
And look, in our country, adulterers are not put to death and they should be put to death
according to God's according to God's law.
But that doesn't mean that God won't kill you for committing adultery.
I mean, there's other ways you can die even from adultery, whether it's AIDS, some some
disgusting disease that you get that'll kill you.
But what about jealousy?
Husband or wife finds out and just put a bullet through your head, kill you, you know, that
can happen.
But the Bible says here that when we try to convert the sinner from the arrow of his ways,
we save a soul from death.
We ought to try to prevent sin in people's lives.
Okay, go to Exodus chapter four is I think you're exaggerating.
You know, God doesn't kill anybody.
He gives life.
He gives eternal life.
Yeah, he gives it and sometimes he takes it.
Okay.
As far as life, not eternal life, he takes life.
Exodus chapter four and verse 23.
Look what the Bible says here.
And I say unto thee, let my son go that he may serve me.
This is God speaking.
And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
And it came to pass by the way in the end that the Lord met him and sought to kill him.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his
feet and said, Surely, a bloody husband art thou to me.
So he let him go.
Then she said, A bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision.
Verse 24 is that God sought to kill him.
What is sought?
It means he's looking for an opportunity to kill you.
Okay.
Now, let me say this.
You know, if this is like going over your head and you're just like, I don't know if
I can even, you know, adhere to this.
Well, first and foremost, you need to realize that if you haven't trusted Christ as your
Savior, this is like the least of your problems right here.
Because there's a greater, in fact, the Bible says there's a second death waiting for you.
The second death is in a place called the Lake of Fire, which is a place of torment
and fire where you're burned forever and you never escape.
There's no parole.
You go there forever.
Okay.
Now, if that's not you and you're saying, well, that's not me, I'm living a clean life,
then allow this sermon to keep you maintaining that clean life and instill the fear of God
in your heart to not give in to certain things that maybe you're tempted to do just for the
simple fact that you fear that God might take your life away.
Go to Genesis chapter 38.
You say, well, there it says that he sought to kill him.
He didn't really kill him.
He just sought to kill him.
Okay.
Well, look at Genesis 38 verse six.
And Judah took a wife, verse six says, and Judah took a wife for her, his son, his firstborn,
excuse me, whose name was Tamar and her Judas firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord
and the Lord slew him.
Now the word slew means he killed him.
Okay.
When you slew, when the Bible talks about slaying someone, slew is basically the past
tense of that, to slay someone.
And the Bible is saying here that God slew the son of Judah, Judah's firstborn.
Now it doesn't say specifically why other than the fact that he was just wicked in the
sight of the Lord, even to the point where God killed him.
Now let's read on.
Verse eight and Judah said unto Onan, going unto thy brother's wife and marry her and
raise up seed to thy brother.
So back in those days, if basically the husband died, okay, and had no seed, in other words,
had no children, the custom was that basically the brother of the person who died was to
marry his wife to raise up seed so they can have children, so they can continue to have
descendants.
Okay.
That was part of the law.
Verse nine says, and Onan knew that the seed should not be his and it came to pass when
he went in unto his brother's wife that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should
give seed to his brother.
Now I'm not going to, I'm going to spare you the details of what that means, but if you
read that, you basically know what that means.
Okay.
He was ordered to marry her in order to have children.
Well, you know what Onan wanted to do?
He wanted to basically have the pleasure without the responsibility.
So he had the pleasure and the Bible says that he spilled it on the ground.
Okay.
Well, what's the, what, what happens after that?
Verse 10, and the thing which he did displeased the Lord, wherefore he slew him also.
Yeah, I'm killing you too.
Now what was the sin there?
Well, we see the sin there in verse number nine, what he did.
Okay.
And look, we live in a very perverted society.
Okay.
And we live in a society where even young men are given over to self-gratification.
All right.
Now this is a touchy subject, but you know what?
A verse like this should encourage you to say, you know what?
I'm going to go ahead and just keep myself pure, know how to possess my vessel and sanctification
and honor so that I don't turn around like Onan.
You understand that?
We'll leave it at that, but I think you know what I mean.
Okay.
So the fact is, is that God killed him as well.
Okay.
Well, man, you know, but that, those are special cases.
Yeah.
Okay.
Then there's a lot of special cases in the Bible because God did it over and over again
and God was righteous to do it.
He killed her and he killed Onan.
And there's a reason why he specifically put it in the Bible.
Go to First Samuel chapter 28.
First Samuel chapter 28.
Now there's a man by the name of Saul.
King Saul.
Okay.
King Saul was a godly man.
The Bible records him as being a saved man.
The Bible talks about how the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul.
He was given a new heart.
He was anointed.
You know, he had God's favor on his life.
I believe he was a saved man.
But unfortunately, no matter how many good things he did in his life, it was overshadowed
by the end of his life.
Because towards the end of his life, he basically got away from God.
He got so far from God that he stopped asking counsel of the Lord and went to the witch
of Endor.
Right.
Okay.
To basically get counsel from her.
Now God was done with Saul.
I mean he had already given the kingdom basically to David.
David was going to be king just not at that moment, but he had already anointed David
to be king.
He said that he was better than Saul.
I mean he basically did everything.
And Saul just was just stubborn, was not willing to adhere to it, was not willing to repent.
He sought to kill David.
I mean he just backslidden as the day is long.
So he comes to this witch of Endor to basically get counsel.
He's like, man, God's not answering me.
Not by Urim or anything else.
Not by prophets.
He's not answering me.
Please give me some answers.
Look at verse 17.
The Lord hath done to him as he spake by me.
For the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand and given it to thy neighbor even
to David.
So he basically wants to talk to Samuel.
And there's a lot of debate what this really means because the Bible says that he came
up out of the earth regardless of who it was, whether you think it was a demon or not.
This is basically what happened.
It was a prophecy given to Saul of what was going to happen to him.
Bottom line.
Okay.
Now I believe it was Samuel.
I believe it was Samuel.
I don't think it was a demon.
I think it was Samuel who came up.
Okay.
Verse 18 says, Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executest his fierce
wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day.
Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines.
And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.
The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
So that's another proof that Saul was saved because he says you shall be with me.
Well, where was Samuel?
He's in heaven.
Okay.
He was a saved man.
He was a prophet.
But here he says, look, tomorrow God's delivering you and your son and your sons into the hand
of the Philistines.
Now, if you read later on in the story, you see that what did Saul do?
He actually ended up killing himself and his sons actually ended up dying by the hand of
the Philistines.
But here's the thing.
If he wouldn't have killed himself, you know who would have killed him?
The Philistines.
But guess who sent the Philistines?
God did.
So you know what happens when you don't obey the voice of the Lord?
You could potentially have someone that God sends to you to kill you.
Do you want that?
I know.
You know, I'd rather try to do my best to obey God's voice, to try to bring my life
in alignment to God's word so that God doesn't have to threaten me.
And look, there's people out there with empty threats.
You know, people threaten me all the time and say things about me all the time.
And it's just like, you faggot, you're scared, you're abominable, you're fearful, you ain't
doing nothing.
But one person that I know will come through on his threats is God.
Because he's not a man that he should lie.
And if God threatens me, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and repent.
I'm going to go ahead and get it right and I'm going to go ahead and try to bring my
life in alignment.
Why?
Because if his threats are not empty, they will be fulfilled in their time.
Now go to 1 Chronicles chapter 13.
So Saul, and man, look, Saul, not only did he, I mean, who wants to commit suicide?
That's a horrible way to die.
But aside from that, when he died, the Philistines just desecrated his body, decapitated his
head, took his body and pinned it against the wall.
I mean, they did all manner of evil against him.
They abused him as he thought that they were going to do unto him.
That was a horrible way to die.
Now look, contrast that with David, who was a man after God's own heart.
How did he die?
He died the death that everyone wants to die.
Old man, surrounded by his family, just dying of old age, you know, handing off the kingdom
to his son, you know, just, all right, got to do a lot of good works.
See you everyone.
You know, God's using me as a symbol for Christ.
You know, he finished, look, and he made mistakes.
Don't get me wrong.
He made a lot of mistakes.
In fact, he committed adultery and God didn't kill him.
Now, God smote his child, which is another reason why, because here's the thing, sometimes
your sin may not affect you, but God will execute righteousness on the next generation,
allow your children to suffer because of that.
I don't want that, okay?
But here we see that David, man, David, he was able to just die a peaceful life.
That's the death that everyone wants.
They don't want to die of cancer or some crazy death.
No, he died peacefully.
But is that what happened to Saul?
No, he died a horrible death.
And while his spirit was in heaven, he's probably looking down and thinking, what are they doing
to my body?
They just decapitated my head, you know, and they're pinning his body, they're dragging
his body through the streets and pinning him on the wall, using spears to keep him on the
wall.
That's a terrible way to die.
But you know what, that's the result of him disobeying God, okay?
Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 13, here's another example.
The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 13, 7, and they carried the ark of God in a new cart
out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahioa drove the cart.
And David and all Israel played before God with all their might and with singing and
with harps and with salt trees and with timbrels and with cymbals and with trumpets.
And when they came into the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold
the ark for the oxen stumbled.
So back in those days, basically, the ark of the covenant was supposed to be carried
on the shoulders of the priest, okay?
Those two, basically, those pole-like sticks, and they would hold it, and that's how they
would carry it.
Well, they decided to do it a different way, and they basically put it on a cart with wheels,
you know, and they had oxen basically pull it instead.
Well, what happened is the oxen stumbled, and because they stumbled, the ark began to
teeter-totter a little bit.
Uzzah, in sincerity, put forth his hand and touched the ark of the covenant.
Now, you say, what's wrong with that?
You're not supposed to do that.
He disobeyed God, okay?
Verse 10 says, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah.
Now, when the Bible says that the anger of the Lord was kindled, what do you think of
when you think of kindled?
Fire, okay?
So when it's kindled, that means his fire has started.
You know the Bible says that God is a consuming fire?
Well, the last thing you want to do is kindle his anger.
In other words, the last thing you want to do is piss him off.
You understand that?
So here it says the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him.
Now, smote means to smite means to hit, but this is not like he just went, idiot, what
are you doing?
Now, let me say this.
That's probably what he did, and he just killed him, because that's all he had to do.
But smote basically means that he killed him.
He said, I don't believe that, because he put his hand to the ark, and there he died
before God.
There you go.
He said, well, man, don't you think God's a little extreme for that?
I mean, he was trying to like hold the ark of the covenant.
If God said don't do it, then don't do it.
So who's the one who determines how extreme a commandment is?
You or God?
If God said don't do it, yeah, but you know, fornication is not that bad.
If they want to live together before marriage, you know, to get to know each other, you know,
it's not that bad of a sin.
God says it is.
So if God's the one who says that fornication is wicked, and then you shouldn't be doing
it, guess what?
We ought to go with God's extreme view of fornication.
I just don't think adultery should be put to death.
Well, you know, if God said they should, then we ought to go with God's view of what adultery
is.
You know, oh yeah, but you guys are so hard on the homos, man.
You guys take it to an extreme.
You said that sodomites should be put to death.
Yeah, because God said that.
You know, and if you don't like that extreme view of what God says about sodomites, then
you need to read the Bible and align your perspective with God's perspective.
His ways are higher than our ways.
Well, you know what?
We need to bring our ways to his ways then, if you don't understand that, okay?
So if you think that was extreme, then you know what?
Take it up with God.
God's not fit to kill him.
Now look at verse 11.
And David was displeased because the Lord has made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore the
place is called Para-Uzzah to this day.
So David's like, man, God, I like Uzzah, you know, you have to kill him.
But you know what it did?
Look at verse number 12.
And David was afraid of God that day.
You know, you see someone drop dead right in front of you, it's like, no one touched
that thing.
Public service announcement, nobody, I just want to remind everyone, don't touch the ark
of God.
You know what everyone's doing?
They're looking at Uzzah's dead body right there, lying in the streets and saying, yeah,
let's go ahead and take that off and move those oxen.
We're going to go ahead and do it the way God told us to do it the first time, which
is carry it on the shoulders.
That was a bad idea, it cost someone's life.
And it cost people to be afraid of God.
You see, they wanted to do it their way.
See what I'm saying?
Where God says, hey, no, do it my way.
It's my way or the highway, Uzzah.
And before we think we can do it better than God, before we think we can improve upon God's
ways, why don't we think of Uzzah?
You know, how they try to improve God's ways and put it on the cart there with wheels.
No, just stick to the way God told you to do it.
Go to 2 Kings chapter 23.
Excuse me, go to 2 Chronicles 35, I'll read to you from 2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 35.
2 Kings 23 verse 29 says, in his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king
of Assyria to the river Euphrates.
And King Josiah went against him, and he slew him at Medigol when he had seen him.
Now, King Josiah was an awesome king.
He was a great king.
I mean, he was the guy who broke the houses of the Sodomites, okay?
That's how I want to go.
Like, on my tombstone, he break the houses of the Sodomites.
This guy was popular.
And he brought a great reformation in the land when he found the book of the law in
the house of God.
He rent his clothes, he rent his heart, and he basically cleaned house.
But you know, he made mistakes, just like everyone else does.
He got involved in business that didn't belong to him, and he ended up dying because of it,
okay?
And it doesn't say that in 2 Kings, but look at 2 Chronicles 35 and verse 20 says, after
all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Negele king of Egypt came up to fight against
Teramish by Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.
But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?
I come not against thee this day, but against the household whereth I have war.
For God commanded me to make haste, forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me,
that he destroy thee not.
So he's saying, hey, mind your own business, Josiah.
Don't get involved in business that doesn't belong to you.
And just to let you know, Josiah, God sent me to go do this.
Now, these people were not safe people, but God uses unsaved people all the time to fulfill
his will.
Okay?
So he's telling them, hey, don't get involved, because if you get involved, God might destroy
you.
It's kind of like in the New Testament, where Gamaliel, what did he say to the Pharisees?
The Pharisees, he said, hey, you know, we shouldn't fight against these guys, against
these guys.
Let's happily find ourselves fighting against God.
Right.
Okay?
He's saying, don't fight against these people preaching the gospel, because if you, something
bad might happen to you.
Okay?
And look, that ought to encourage you to stay on the right path.
To not only stay on the right path, but preach the gospel and work for God.
Why?
Because you have a special hedge of protection about you.
Because you're doing God's work, God will protect you.
Amen.
Right.
Look, why not?
God's saying, look, this guy's working for me, this family's working for me, they're
getting job done, they're getting so saved, I mean, they're doing a great work, don't
disrupt him from the work.
Amen.
But you know, when you have these people criticizing you and trying to hinder the work of God,
you know what they're doing?
They're fighting against the hand of God.
That's right.
Amen.
Okay.
Found out they had an hour long meeting about me at some other church.
A secret hour long meeting about me.
You know, Jack Rodriguez strikes again.
Now most of it was just about being loyal, and you know, hey, you need to be loyal to
me, you need to bow down to me, and all these things, and you know, he claimed that I said
that his church is not even saved.
I never even said anything like that.
Go ahead, listen to the sermon.
I post them on YouTube so everyone can listen to it.
Amen.
And he's like, oh, you know, that guy said that we're not all saved.
No, I said you're not saved, Jack.
I said you're not saved.
I said you're a reprobate, Jack.
Not the people in your church.
In fact, I kind of like the people in your church.
Because they came to my church.
And I got along great with them.
They're good people.
They just got a wicked leader for a ruler.
They got you, Jack.
I said you weren't saved.
But you know what?
Let him say whatever he wants.
He's fighting against the hand of God.
Amen.
Why?
Because we're out here doing the work of God.
Right.
Yep.
You're boasting.
You ought to be humble.
You know what?
It's obviously, it's not my work.
It's the fact that the people here have teamed up, have put in the work and the effort to
see people saved.
Amen.
I get to be a part of this work.
Right.
Amen.
Of seeing people saved.
But you know, when you have a bunch of reprobate false teachers, you know, you think God's
just going to let them go?
No.
You know what?
They're going to fight against the hand of God and they're going to suffer the consequences
because of it.
And Jack Rodriguez is a reprobate anyways.
Amen.
You know, God may not kill him today, unfortunately.
But you know what he will do?
He already has a place reserved for him.
Amen.
Right.
Okay.
He has a place saved for him already.
Because anybody who teaches that you can lose your salvation for any reason is a damn reprobate.
Amen.
Right.
Okay.
He's damned.
Damned means he's going to hell.
That's what that means.
Don't let that word offend you.
Right.
Okay.
And he's trying to do damage control because all kinds of people are waking up in his church
and they're leaving.
I think they have like 20 people leave his church.
Amen.
You know what I say to that?
Amen.
The great awakening.
Praise the Lord for that.
Amen.
You know, these people are waking up seeing what kind of phony he is.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny because I called them out about him saying that people lose their
salvation if they believe that, if they don't believe that the Jews are God's chosen people.
He never retracted his statement.
He never corrected it.
He never denied it.
You know what that means?
He believes it.
Yeah.
Right.
He never like say it.
Well, just want to let you know, church, I've never said it.
No, he just like flat out just didn't even say anything about it.
You know why?
Because that's what he believes.
Yeah.
That false teacher.
But you know what?
People like that, if they want to fight against us, have at it.
Amen.
You're going to find yourself fighting against God.
Right.
Amen.
Now look what it says here, that was a rabbit trail, but it was a good rabbit.
We caught it, we skinned it, we ate it, and we're going back on the trail.
Verse 22 says, nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised
himself that he might fight with him and hearken not into the words of Necco from the mouth
of God and came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
So it could be that Josiah is just like, you know, a little way over in his head here.
He's just like, nah, I'm just going to do it anyways, you know, I'm just going to go
ahead and just fight this battle and I'm just going to get involved.
And most of the time we get in trouble when we get involved in business, it's not our
business.
Right.
And people will say, yeah, but you guys do that all the time, you guys are always calling
people out.
The Bible tells us to call people out by name.
It tells us to call people out by name so that others may be warned of these false prophets
and teachers.
Amen.
And what he's talking about when he talks about that, he's talking about people who
get involved in the work of God, who are trying to disrupt the work of God.
Okay.
Look what it says, verse 23, and the archer shot at King Josiah and the king said to his
servants, have me away for I am sore, wounded.
And we won't read the rest of that, but basically he dies.
He got involved in business that didn't belong to him.
And what happened?
He died.
Okay.
Look at 1 Kings chapter 13.
You know, sometimes God kills unsaved people, but obviously God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
You know, often people, you wonder, man, how can this guy in the world, he's a drunkard
or he's a fornicator, why is he still alive?
You know?
Well, maybe he's not even a, he's not a reprobate.
Maybe God's being merciful to him and gracious to him so he can be saved.
That's what we should desire, but you know, God, remember judgment begins first at the
house of God.
Amen.
He's going to, he's going to correct his children first.
He's not going to correct someone else's children.
He's going to correct his children first.
I can recall years ago before I was saved, how there was times when I could have died
or there's times where I could have gotten in trouble with the law, nothing over, it's
like a major crime, but just stupidity.
Just being stupid of just being a stupid teenager, okay?
Doing stupid stuff and it's just like, man, I feel like God delivered me from those things
and it was those deliverances that I received that I thought to myself, you know, maybe
I need to start looking for the Lord, looking for God.
I don't know how to phrase there, how I worded it, but those circumstances in my life caused
me to say, man, there's, there's someone who's watching over me or something, you know, and
it kind of opened my heart and prepared my heart to want to seek the Lord.
Now it was a long journey before I even, you know, a soul winner came to me and talked
to me and gave me the gospel, but I was on my way.
You know, I started going to different churches.
I tried to get a Bible, tried to read it, but I sincerely wanted to know who God was.
I wanted to know what the Bible said.
I wanted to know most of the foremost about salvation, but I credit a lot of that to the
circumstances in my life where I felt like I could have died.
I mean, just the day before I got saved, I remember it like it was yesterday.
I remember there's a lady who invited me to church.
It was actually a youth conference and this youth conference actually preached like legitimate
sermons and stuff like that.
And they even talk about salvation.
Well, I remember she invited me and it was, it was like from Monday to like Wednesday
and I got, I was like, all right, I'll go.
But then my friends invited me to go swim instead in the ocean on Monday.
I was like, yeah, I'd rather do that.
Summer, you know, I'd rather just go to the ocean.
So we're out there like at night, like middle of the night and you know, we're like, let's
see how far out we can swim.
You know, you're, you're young and you're dumb.
Okay.
You're like, yeah, that's a good idea.
So we go and we were like swimming and you know what?
It's dark.
We can't see anything.
And I lost my friends.
I can't even find them anymore.
And then I, I turned back and you know, the lights that are by the shore are very, very
small and dim.
And I thought to myself, you know what, how am I going to get back?
I want to see how far I can swim out.
But basically I exhausted myself going out there, how in the world am I going?
And I was, my lungs were burning.
You know, I was, I was extremely tired and I thought to myself, okay, I'm going to push
myself all the way down to the shore to push myself back up so I can rest a little bit.
So I went down and you go down and it's like, and then you hit that cold, cold water and
it's like, I'm not feeling any ground.
So I'm like, I can't keep going.
I need to go back up.
Cause then what if it's even lower than I thought and I can drown.
So I pushed myself back up and I'm like, I can't do this.
And then I shot for my friends and I don't even hear them.
So I'm like, I think I'm going to die.
I could potentially die right now.
You know, when I was younger, I saw this, this horrible movie that no one should ever
watch called faces of death.
I mean, how many of you have ever seen that movie?
Be honest.
Okay.
You get my people dying and stuff like that.
I'm like, I'm going to be on the next faces of death.
You know, they're going to find me on the shore just drowned.
I'm dead.
So I'm like, I need to do whatever I can to just swim back and just give it everything
I got.
I swallowed all kinds of seawater.
It was gross.
And I'm swimming back.
And after a while I literally drug myself back onto shore.
Like I didn't even stand up and the water's hitting me and I'm just like, that was so
stupid.
I could have died.
And 15 minutes later, my friends came in the same exact way that I came in and they almost
died.
And I remember we looked at each other and said, that was so stupid.
And I told him, I said, you know what?
I should have gone to church.
I should have just gone to church.
I could have just died right now.
I'm like, this is dumb.
And I remember I said, you know what?
I'm not hanging out anymore.
I want to go to church.
Okay.
I think God spared my life and I think I'm going to go to church because I should have
just gone tonight.
This is a big mistake.
And I went and guess what happened?
I got saved that Tuesdays when I got saved July 22nd, 2007, most, some people don't remember
the day I remembered it, but there's a reason why I remembered it.
And I got saved.
And I remember thinking to myself, man, I almost died this year.
I was this close to going to hell.
I could have gone to hell yesterday.
I was thinking to myself, but I got saved.
And here's the thing, you know, unsaved people, you know, I think God spares a lot of them,
you know, because he wants them to be saved.
Because here's the thing.
If God kills them, they're done.
They go to hell forever.
You know, God kills a Christian.
They just, they finished their life in a very dishonorable way, but they go to heaven.
God kills an unsaved person.
They go to hell.
You know what I'm saying?
So I got saved and, you know, obviously there's other things that took place even before that
that made me think of the Lord.
But you know what?
That's not the same thing with Christians.
So don't think that works with you.
It's like, well, I'm just going to go out and live, sow my wild oats and nothing's going
to happen.
No, now you have God as your father.
And God is a lot more stricter than your dad, your earthly father.
Okay.
Look at 1 Kings 13.
This is regarding the prophet, the nameless prophet.
God had commanded this prophet to do an array of things, but specific, I mean, he gave him
specific commandments.
Then we see the old prophet come and he deceives the younger prophet to disobey the Lord.
Now this is a good principle to just go by to say, hey, don't just believe everyone.
Just because they're older or just because they've been in the ministry a lot longer
than us or a lot older, they've been around the block a lot longer than us.
You know what?
We need to make sure that what we're doing aligns with God's word.
And anybody ever says, yeah, but that person's older than you.
You can say, well, this book is older than them.
And the guy who wrote, the guy that God used to write these books, they're older than this
guy.
So if we're going to go according to who's older, I'm just going to go with the prophets
because they're inspired by God.
That guy's fallible.
The word of God is not, it's infallible according to God.
First Kings 13, 23 says, and it came to pass after he had eaten bread and after he had
drunk that he saddled for him the ass to whip for the prophet whom he had brought back.
So he said, look, hey, God talked to me.
You know, come back and eat and drink and be merry.
Everything's going to be all good.
And the younger prophet's probably like, well, you know, he said he heard from God.
Maybe he's right.
So he went back.
He ate with him.
He disobeyed God.
Verse 24, and when he was gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him and his carcass
was cast in the way and the ass stood by and the lion also stood by the carcass.
Now you know, you often hear about people dying in the Bible.
You don't really find God referring to someone who died in an honorable way as a carcass.
You ever catch that?
It's like that carcass, it's almost, it sounds very like dishonorable.
That's his carcass right there.
Well, you know what?
That's what happens when you disobey God.
You become a carcass.
And what's a lion a picture of?
The devil.
Who sent him?
God.
You say, well, maybe it was just the lion who was just hungry and coincidentally met
that lion.
Well, he just says he stands by him and doesn't even do anything else.
He literally went, killed him and said, my job's done.
That's it.
Next to the ass.
He didn't even eat the ass.
He just killed the prophet.
End of story.
Verse 25, and behold, men passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way and the lion standing
by the carcass.
And they came and told him in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, it is
the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord.
You stinking hypocrite.
He's disobedient because you told him to do that.
Now, it's the man of God's fault, but it's this guy, he put a stumbling block before
him.
Therefore, the Lord had delivered him unto the lion which hath torn him and slain him
according to the what?
The word of the Lord, which he spake unto me.
In other words, God said, go kill that guy.
He disobeyed me.
Slay him.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, 1 Corinthians chapter number 10.
I hope that you listen to these verses and as you're reading them, just the fears placed
in your heart just a little more tonight.
Before you think about fornicating, becoming a drunkard, or smoking pot, or doing any other
stupid things, sinful things, you should think, you know what, I don't want to be like the
man of God.
Maybe the man of God had more favor in his life from God than you.
But you know what, God's no respecter of people.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat,
and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock, capital
R, that followed him, and that rock was Christ.
And with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now, what does it mean to be overthrown?
It doesn't mean like God took them and was just like, body slammed them.
Overthrown means he basically just killed a bunch of them.
It says there in verse 6, Now these things were our examples.
Because here's the thing, a lot of people will say, yeah, but that's the God of the
Old Testament.
You know, the God of the Old Testament was angry, he was judgmental, you know, Jesus,
he's you know, very meek and lowly, take my burden, you know, I want to take your burdens,
and he's merciful, he's gracious.
You know, Jesus is the God of the Old Testament as well.
And he said, I did that in the Old Testament to be an example unto you in the New Testament.
Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil
things, as they also lusted.
Neither be your idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down
to eat and drink and rose up to play.
This doesn't mean they went to go play spike ball, okay?
All right, 4th of July, let's get some spike ball, and God's just like, hey, no fun, okay?
You're gonna die.
No, they rose up to play, play the harlot.
Because of their idolatry is what it's referring to.
Verse 8, Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one
day three and twenty thousand.
Good night, that's a lot of fornicators.
That's how many people were fornicating, he's just like, kill them all.
I just kill them all.
Verse 9, Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of
serpents.
Picture of also the devil, but this is referring to, and here's the thing, the serpents were
the devil, but then they had to look upon the brass serpent, which is Christ, okay?
Verse 10, Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Hey, don't be a complainer.
Oh, I just don't like the way you do things here, and you know, why can't we be more like
this?
You better stop murmuring.
God doesn't like complainers, okay?
Look, I try to train my son as much as possible not to be a complainer.
Don't be a whiner.
Don't be a murmur.
Why?
Because God doesn't like murmuring, okay?
To the point where he even said a destroyer.
That's a cool name, like, I'm going to call you the destroyer.
What do you do?
You destroy.
Verse 11, Now all these things happen unto them for examples, and they are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Fall unto what?
Fall into the hands of an angry God.
You know, before you think that you could just get away with it, no.
Take heed lest he fall into the hands of an angry, of a living God, okay?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
Now there's a reason why he's saying this in 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, because
there's fornication in the church.
You know, obviously I preached about that on 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, but let's
look at it.
Verse 3, For I verily, as absent in the body, but present in the spirit, have judged already
as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together in my spirit with
the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan, for what?
For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord
Jesus.
Now, go back a couple chapters to chapter number 3.
So God is telling the church there, hey, you as a church need to kick this guy out, and
when you kick him out, that's basically you're delivering them unto Satan, so that Satan
can destroy their flesh.
Now I don't believe it's referring to his spirit being saved in the sense of being rescued
or justified.
I think it's being saved from being ashamed, okay?
Now I'm going to prove it to you.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 13.
This is referring to the judgment seat of Christ.
It says in verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare
it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire, knowing not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of
God dwelleth in you, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
So what does it say?
Look, if you defile my temple, I'm going to destroy you.
Well, how does that look like?
Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, deliver them unto Satan.
For what?
The destruction of the flesh.
Amen.
Okay.
So that when you, obviously if God destroys you, you go to heaven, but guess what?
You don't get anything.
You suffer shame is what you suffer.
I mean, put yourself in the shoes of the person who just dies like that and then goes to heaven.
It's great.
They get to go to heaven, but you know what?
You get to see scores and scores of people who lived right, who kept themselves pure,
clean, they worked for the Lord, and they're just racking in the rewards, and what do you
get?
Nothing.
That's shameful.
Some, the Bible talks about in Daniel, some will wake up to everlasting life and to everlasting
contempt as well.
Contempt is shame.
Some people are going to go to heaven and they're not going to get anything.
Okay?
They're going to be saved, yet so as by fire, the Bible says.
Okay?
Look at Joshua chapter 7.
This will be the last example we give here.
I'm sorry.
You know what?
We'll skip Joshua.
Go to Acts chapter 5.
We're given a lot of Old Testament ones.
But Joshua chapter 5 talking about Achan, okay, who God slew as well, by the hand of
his people when they laid stones upon him.
They basically stoned him to death for taking of the accursed thing, and I mentioned that
on Thursday.
See, but that's all Old Testament.
Well, we just looked at 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, destruction of the flesh, but let's
look at Acts chapter 5 here, verse number 1.
But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold the possession and kept back
part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid
it at the apostles' feet.
So they basically committed to bring a certain amount of money, and but instead they say,
hey, we're bringing this amount, but they didn't bring that amount.
Okay?
They basically, they lied about it is what they did.
Okay?
And look what it says in verse 3.
But Peter said to Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost,
and to keep back part of the price of the land?
How's it remain?
Was it not thine own?
And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
Thou was not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost.
When the Bible says gave up the ghost, it basically means his soul departed from his
body, which means he died.
Okay?
And great fear came on all them that heard these things.
And this is a great lesson to learn, that you don't have to make yourself out to be
some spiritual giant, whether by your words or deeds.
Just do what you can do.
You don't have to exert some amount of spirituality so people will be like, wow, that guy knows
the Bible like a lot.
Man, that guy is so godly.
She's so wonderful.
No, why don't you just do what you can do?
Okay?
You know what?
And people will respect you for what you can do because you're doing that what you can
do.
But these people wanted to basically glorify themselves.
What happened?
God just killed them for it.
Now, will that happen today?
I don't know.
But you know what?
I don't want to risk it.
Do you?
Is that something you want to gamble with?
Say, I don't know.
I've seen people do something like that.
Okay, then you try it.
But you know what?
Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.
There's a reason he put it in the Bible.
And you know what?
If you put it in the Bible, I'm just going to go ahead and stay away from that stupid
sin.
Now, the unfortunate thing is, is that so Ananias just like, just dies.
Right?
Look what it says here.
And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost and great fear came
on all them that heard these things.
And the young man arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him.
Man.
So he's like, alright, wrap him up.
We're going to bury him.
We're gonna have a funeral right here.
And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done.
So she didn't even know her husband's dead.
He's already buried there.
They already did the ceremony.
Everything's gone.
Special music.
Everything's done.
Everyone's already moved on.
She comes in.
And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
And she said, Yea, for so much.
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of
the Lord?
Behold, the feet of them.
This is gangster right here.
The way Peter says this, man.
He's like, Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and
shall carry thee out.
Man, that's rough.
He's like, the feet of the people who basically helped bury your husband, they're gonna come
take you right now as well.
Look what it says.
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, yielded up to ghosts, and the young men came
in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband, and great fear
came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things.
Now I believe these people were saved.
There's nothing in there that would say that they're not.
I think they were saved.
You know, I believe Satan can fill a Christian's heart to lie, to be tempted to do wrong, and
I think that's what took place here.
But you know what happened?
They both died, and what was the result of it?
The church feared.
They were like, Man, I was planning to do something like that, but I ain't gonna do
it no more.
He was like, Man, I was about to do that last week.
You know, I was about to do something stupid like that last week.
I'm glad I did it.
I'm glad I didn't do it, you know?
But that's the reaction that we should have.
And look, just because you don't see it in real life, this actually happened.
This happened.
So because it happened, you should read it and say, Man, I'm never gonna do something
like that again.
It caused fear to fall upon your heart.
What's the message tonight?
The message is simply this.
You know, our God kills.
Don't let that scare you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Let it scare you.
But don't let it think as though, you know, He only kills.
No, He's very gracious.
He's kind to us.
He feeds us.
He clothes us.
He's been very kind.
He's a gracious Father.
He's loving.
The Bible says that He exercises loving kindness and tender mercies for in these things I delight,
saith the Lord.
You know, I'm thankful that God delights in being lovingly kind to me.
That's a wonderful thing.
You know, that God delights in being kind to me.
I appreciate that.
I love that.
But guess what?
The only thing He does.
He says, I'm a God who executed righteousness, judgment, and loving kindness.
Judgment means He judges you.
So we ought to cause that to cause our hearts to fear that when we're tempted, when we want
to do something wrong, or whatever it may be, do we say, no, I remember a sermon talking
about how God can kill me.
I'm going to go ahead and stay away from that and just enjoy the benefits of being obedient
to God.
Okay.
If you're listening to the sermon in YouTube land and you're away from God and you're involved
in all kinds of sin, you know what?
God can kill you.
So get your butt in church, repent, get right, and enjoy God's blessings.
That's what God wants anyways.
He wants us to enjoy it.
It's not like He's like, don't do wrong, you know, and that's it.
No, He's like, don't do wrong and enjoy my blessings.
Amen?
Inspire heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the fear that you instill
within our hearts through the word of God.
Help us to tremble at your word and not to take it lightly.
And God, none of us are perfect.
We all fail.
We falter.
And thank you so much for being patient with us, for being long suffering and kind and
gracious to us when we mess up.
And I just pray that you help us, Lord, and continue to give us a mind that remembers
and constantly remind us of how wrathful you can be and that it is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us to continually fear you, to depart from evil, and to teach
our children to do so as well.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.