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Amen. All right. Well, we're here in 1st Samuel chapter 5 and we have much of a shorter chapter this evening So we'll try not to be too long this evening But if you remember last chapter the Israelites were destroyed Multiple times in battle and after their first defeat they wanted to seek to the ark of God But they were actually not just wanting the ark of God because of what it represented but they were saying man maybe this ark can save us maybe it can save us and as a result the Israelites were destroyed because of that and Eli died his sons died. Really? This is a very low point in Israel's history here this is you know a sad time for them the glory of God has departed departed from them and that's kind of the Thought that we pick up the story here in 1st Samuel 5. Let's start reading in verse number one It says and the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer on to Ashtad So you remember that the Israelites were destroyed so bad that the ark of God was actually taken from them And is now in the hands of the enemies of the Lord people that are not saved They now have the ark of the Covenant. They have the Ten Commandments You know They have these holy items and I want you to see first of all this evening number one The false religion of the Philistines the false religion of the Philistines notice in verse two it says when the Philistines took the ark of God they brought it into the house of Dagon now Dagon is their false God that they worship and of course We know from the New Testament that the Bible says that pretty much any idol any false God when people are worshiping a false God what they're actually worshiping is the devil So here the Bible says it's the house of Dagon But we know that really they have now just taken the ark of God Into the house of the devil and they're worshiping the devil with the ark of God in the midst notice And it says and set it by Dagon and so, you know what a blasphemous picture this is to take something that's holy that's separated That's consecrated to God and they bring it into their demonic little temple and they put it by the idol of their false God Dagon that's where the ark of the Covenant is Look at verse 3 it says and when they have Ashdod arose early on the morrow behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord and notice this they took Dagon and Set him in his place again And this really is a picture of all false religion Because what man wants to do rather than submit themselves to the Lord is they want to create a God they want to create a religion that they can manipulate that they can be in charge of that they can make the rules for and You know worshiping the God of heaven is a lot different than worshiping some little statue that could fall down and you could put back on the shelf Because the little fake false God that you could put back on the shelf isn't gonna tell you how to live your life He doesn't know all your thoughts he can't see everything at all times, you know He's just a convenient little God for the world and you know This is what a lot of false religions are like today go to Psalm 115 Psalm 115 and think about The mentality of the Philistines here. They just came off of a victory. So they're on an emotional high They stole the ark of the God of Israel they put it in the house of their false God Dagon You got to imagine that these guys are feeling pretty big and bad at this point They're probably feeling pretty prideful thinking, you know, who is this God? Is he really as tough as other nations have made him out to be? I mean look we just stole his ark and he doesn't even seem to care Well, look at Psalm 115 verse 2 It says wherefore should the heathen say where is now their God? Don't you think that's probably what the Philistines are saying at this point when they've stolen the ark of God But look at verse 3 says but our God is in the heavens. He have done whatsoever. He hath pleased Here's the thing the God of Israel the God of the Bible. He's not a God You could just put up on a shelf our God is the God of heaven and he has done whatsoever He has pleased so look if you got the ark of God That's only because the Lord allowed you to do that If you destroyed the children of Israel in battle It's only because God allowed them to do that And so you can see a huge difference between the true God our God and all the other false gods of this world all the idols Look what it says in verse 4 says their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands and Really every false religion in the world is a combination of the work of man's hands and the work of the devil's hands That's really what false religion is It's either something that the devil Has tricked man into believing or something that man out of his own wicked heart has just invented False religion is that which man makes with his own hands and Every single false religion in this world what they teach as the way to Salvation as the way to getting to heaven is the work of their own hands, right? What does Mormonism teach that you have to be a good person in order to get the highest level of eternal life of the? Telestial Kingdom, you know because they believe in three levels of heaven What are the Catholics believe that you have to do good works to get to heaven every false religion is just like this It's the work of men's hands and then worshipping Dagon is no different at the end of the day Than being a Catholic or being a Buddhist or being a Mormon or anything like that Look at verse 5. It says they have mouths But they speak not see if you were to look at Dagon if you were to look at their false little idol You would see something that resembles a mouth. You probably see some lips You'd see some sort of facial, you know features, but guess what Dagon is never going to talk to you Let's keep reading eyes have they but they see not they have ears, but they hear not Noses have they but they smell not they have hands, but they handle not feet have they but they walk not Neither speak they through their throat because they don't have a throat They this is the verse that I really like look at verse 8 They that make them are like unto them So is everyone that trust it in them notice the Bible is describing what an idol is like It's dumb. It's deaf. It's blind. It's lame It can't do anything and it's really foolish stupid inanimate It does nothing right and guess what the people that make idols and that trust in idols are Exactly like the idol itself. And of course, we know that it's speaking Spiritually here because obviously we see people around this world believing in false religions They could talk they could hear but here's the thing spiritually though They're just like Dagon where they can do absolutely nothing They can hear absolutely nothing and you know You might think that this is kind of a silly analogy that the Bible is giving yet. We have 1.3 billion Catholics in this world that are trusting in idols that are bowing down Before statues it might as well be the statue of Dagon Because it's just as much of an idol and just as much of an abomination in the sight of God God feels the same exact way about Dagon the false god as he does about Crucifixes where they make an idol of Jesus Christ dying on the cross That's a wicked false idol and people that would trust in idols and think that idols are somehow Divine or somehow gonna take them to heaven you know what they're just as dumb lame and blind as the idols themselves and you know, you go to countries like Mexico and When you're crossing back into the border in the United States, there's tons of Mexicans that are just trying to sell you everything under heaven They're trying to wash your windows and but you know what? Most of them are doing Most of them are just carrying around just a ridiculous amount of idols to sell to Americans Going back to the United States Why because a lot of Catholics in the United States visit their Catholic Mexican family members in Mexico? And what are these Catholics doing? Well, they're trusting in idols 1.2 billion Hindus on this earth are just like the Philistines here 520 million Buddhists all of these religions practice idolatry and while idolatry Isn't something that we really see a ton of in our day-to-day life here in the Bible Belt in Oklahoma we do still see some of it, but you got to realize that there's other parts of the world where like this is Everywhere when you go to Mexico who's ever been to Mexico before? Okay, a few people when you go to Mexico when you're soul winning there. I am not kidding Every single street you will see an idol of Mary every single street. You will see some sort of Catholic Effigy or some sort of Catholic statue and a lot of this world is like this a lot of Asia is like this Where idolatry is just rampant now Go to Romans chapter number one and keep your place in the sermon throughout first Samuel 5, of course That's our text this evening But also keep your place in Romans chapter 1 because we're gonna go here a couple times throughout the sermon Romans chapter number one We're talking about false religion here look at Romans 1 verse 18 It says for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Who hold the truth in unrighteousness verse 19? Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath showed it unto them So notice God has made manifest Certain things about himself to every single person on this earth. It says right here for God Hath showed it unto them What is it that God showed them? Look at verse 20 for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen So there's things that you could see that are invisible about God, but by looking at creation, you can clearly see these things What are they being understood by the things that are made? even specifically number one his eternal power and number two his Godhead even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Here's what you have to understand about every single human being on earth When God creates us God does not create man being an atheist Because God has revealed from his creation Certain things that are obvious that are manifest that are clearly seen and that are revealed to mankind Through the Lord, what are they? Well by looking at creation itself, you can understand two things You can understand that there's an eternal powerful God. You can understand that he's powerful and that he's God That's what you can understand because any person looking at creation will automatically realize that this did not come into being by itself you know, I went to the Mercedes-benz Factory Museum in Germany earlier this year and I'm looking at all these awesome beautifully engineered cars and no one goes to this museum thinking like wow This Mercedes just like got wrapped up by a tornado and just got landed here Perfectly ready to go on the Autobahn at 170 miles an hour. Like how great is this? No, everyone knows that some German dude created the Mercedes-benz Everyone knew it knows that the Ford vehicle was created by a dude named Henry Ford No one looks at things that are created and say like that came out of nowhere No one looks at this world and thinks oh this came from nothing Something has to happen to you for you to come to that conclusion, but it's not natural and here's the thing No one naturally thinks that some little statue that some little idol is the thing that created this world You know, you have to be blinded in order to think something like that You have to be deluded in your mind You have to be lied to from what nature itself even reveals When you're looking at something and you're pouring milk on it and you're pouring food on it Like a lot of places in this world do like India and you're thinking like huh? It's weird that this thing can't eat or drink but somehow it created the world somehow. It's gonna give me eternal life. That's Insane that's absolute insanity. But look what happens here It says in verse 21 because that notice when they knew God Every single person in this world at some point in their life in some shape or fashion knows God Even it's just even if it's just knowing that there's a creator. That is what God reveals to all people When they knew God what happens they glorified him not as God. They made a decision not to Accept the truth that's in front of their faces and seek more truth and hopefully here's thing if you have seen some truth You believe that truth and in your heart you want to seek more truth You will end up believing in Jesus Christ all that seek will find But here's the thing when you look at basic truths that God has revealed to you like the fact that there's a creator and you reject That well, then maybe you won't hear a clear gospel presentation because you've already rejected The small bit of truth that God has already revealed to you You know, I'm not preaching about reprobates tonight, but I just want to say this thing There's a false misconception about reprobates that every single reprobate has heard a clear presentation of the gospel and that is not true but I will tell you this every single reprobate has been given some truth by God and When any person rejects any truth given to them by God then they're in danger of going down the road of becoming a reprobate That is what this Bible is explaining here in this chapter Is that God's revealed these things to everyone but these specific people they rejected it They glorified him not as God neither were thankful but notice became vain in their imaginations in their foolish heart was Darkened now, here's the thing. I'm not saying that every single person that works worships idols is a reprobate But I will say that every single person that worships idols is vain in their imaginations It's it's it's meaningless to imagine that this idol is doing anything for you spiritually And it says right here in their foolish heart was darkened Can we all agree that every person that worships idol is a fool? Because what a foolish thing that this thing they can't talk hear speak taste see is somehow Divine or somehow helping you spiritually and notice what they did in verse 23 and Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into and what? image Made like to corruptible man into birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things This is what false religion does it rejects the truth of God It rejects the glory of God and it changes it it perverts it into something else Specifically, what do people often change it to to a corruptible what image to an idol? That's why you see so much idolatry in this world is because there's so many people in this world That have been had truth revealed to them, but they reject that and they pervert that into something corruptible like an idol now go to Matthew chapter number 28 Matthew chapter number 28 People do not want a real God the real God to submit to They want a little day gone that it could fall over they could put it back up Why because false religion wants to be in charge false religion man wants to make the rules We want to make things of our own hands and we want to be the ones in charge That's what false religion does but you know what? There's even people within the realms of Christianity that do this to an extent where they want to pervert the truth of Christianity They want to pervert what the Bible says to make it to where man is still in charge They want to take away the authority from Scripture and they want to bring it to someone else so that they could just put their little spiritual day gone on their pulpit and control things the way they want to look at Matthew chapter number 28 now Who I'm talking about. That's a very specific Example of this is a guy named Andy Stanley and I preached a whole sermon on this guy recently at faithful word I highly recommend you go listen to that sermon, but this is a person that wants to make a man-made religion He claims to be a Christian this guy is not a Christian He preached this sermon and it was called I believe encouragement and discouragement was something similar to that But this was his text verse in his sermon Matthew 28. Are you there look at verse 18? it says and Jesus came and spake unto them saying this is the part he focuses on all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I've commanded you and lo. I am with you always even unto the end of the world Amen. Now. This is a passage. It's very familiar to us. This is the Great Commission So where Jesus is giving his desire for the church to go out reach people with the gospel Baptize them teach them all things whatsoever. He commanded Well, Andy Stanley focuses on something completely different when it comes to this passage now I'm not gonna read his whole super super long quote I'm just gonna take out some parts that I want to focus on but if you want to hear the full Context and everything that he preached you could listen to my sermon that I preached at faith for word, but he said this Andy Stanley said and then Jesus begins his farewell address with what I in my opinion I think this is the most important and the most overlooked statement in the entire New Testament Maybe in the whole Bible So according to Andy Stanley the Great Commission is the most overlooked passage in the Bible which I would say that this is like the passage that every church cares about or at least pretends to care about and How every church basically models their church is more about getting people saved in church than it is about preaching the whole counsel of God So it's like the Great Commission is what churches are pounding behind the pulpit whether they're doing it the correct way is another story But this is not an overlooked passage in the Bible Okay, every church knows this passage but he says this he's quoting it He says all authority in heaven and on earth heaven and on earth. That's pretty much everything, right? Heaven to earth all authority in heaven and earth how many times he gonna say it has been given me by my father to me your Savior my Savior if you're a Christian claimed to be the ultimate authority or To put it in another way if you use this language the Bible says that Jesus is our ultimate authority Not the Bible So what is he doing here? He's trying to mess with the minds of his congregation because of course when we read that all authority has been given to Jesus Christ We agree with that. We rejoice in that. We're like, yeah, of course, he's God, right? But then he says notice this doesn't say that all authority is given to the Bible. It's given to Jesus Christ So what he's trying to do in the minds of his audience is he's trying to disassociate these two things Jesus Christ and the Bible whereas we know that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word Was God so we know that Jesus Christ is the Word of God You can't disassociate these two things. So when Jesus said all power has been given unto me Yeah, we believe that and we believe that this book right here is the words of Jesus Christ And so if all power has been given to Jesus Christ, then everything in here is the final authority That's the actual logical conclusion to believing that Jesus has all authority, but he says no, I want you to separate these two things He says this that the Bible infers if you just take the Bible as if the Bible had a voice The Bible proclaims that Jesus your Savior your King is your ultimate authority More importantly Jesus said that Jesus is our ultimate authority and ignoring the implications of this statement is How church leaders have gotten by with so much harmful nonsense? Century after century after century so notice He's upset that churches are giving authority to the Word of God and not to Jesus Which we know they're the same things and he says by churches giving the authority to the Word of God That they've gotten away with harmful nonsense How blasphemous to say that to say that someone that's giving heed to the Word of God is preaching harmful nonsense But you know what Andy Stanley is He's a false prophet that has created a perversion of Christianity that he wants to make his own little God that he can control Because you say oh, okay. So the Bible is not the final authority. Jesus is okay. Well, where is Jesus today is? Jesus preaching the sermons at his church is Jesus leading the songs is Jesus the pastor of his church No, he's not you know how Jesus has remained as the head of the church by this being our final authority That's the only way you can have Jesus as the head of the church But here he makes his little false day gone that he sets up and says you know what the Bible's not the final authority Just basically whatever Andy Stanley says is the final authority he says Because somebody like me Because I'm so well acquainted and well versed in the verses of the Old and New Testament Somebody like me can use and misuse Apply and misapply the Bible in such a way that I can justify pretty much anything you want to do Speak for yourself, man. You know when I'm preaching when I'm writing a sermon, I'm not thinking well, you know I know the Bible so well so I could just abuse and misuse any passage I want to try to pervert the minds of my congregation. What a perverted thought that is what you know? Projecting here that he's doing leaking of his heart. He says I'll find you a verse. I'll find you a story I'll find you an implication. I'll find you a loophole and You know This is what Christianity is slowly drifting to become today a lot of churches are becoming like Andy Stanley Where they're throwing away the authority of the Word of God Where they want to make their own false little version of Christianity that they can have knocked off the shelf and put back up and Fashioned any way they want. They don't want to submit to God That's what a lot of Christians have done today people want to exalt their opinions their man-made ideas over what the Bible says You know I saw a good example of this this week because I overheard a group of men today having a conversation about Abortion and this group of men were all blue-collar Christian ish dudes conservative dudes and Half of them are arguing saying that yeah, you know, I'm pro-life It's a life in the mother's womb. You shouldn't kill it. And then half of the people are saying well us men should never ever Vote to do anything to a woman's body We have no authority over what goes on in a woman's body It's like first of all women shouldn't even be voting at all because the Bible teaches that they shouldn't be an authority Sorry to burst your bubble there. But oh, yeah, I'm not worshiping Dagon I actually have a Bible verse to tell me that in 1st Timothy 2 I actually have a Bible verse to tell me that in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 I actually have a Bible verse to tell me that in 1st Corinthians 11 But many Christians say which is oh I just I mean men shouldn't be involved in making decisions for women's bodies What if I told you that every law virtually speaking is telling you what you can and cannot do with your body? Virtually every law on the books is about what you can and cannot do with your body Do you know that a speed limit is telling you how fast your body is allowed to make your vehicle go? You know that laws about assault are telling you when you cannot touch someone or hit someone battery robbery Burglary, I mean just Nate just think of a law. It's telling you what you can and cannot do with your body What a stupid idea. Oh what we can't legislate what people do with their bodies. That's every law That's how we even have a society is because we have this thing called first-degree murder Which tells you it's not okay to use your body to go kill someone else and Here we are in Christianity where a bunch of blue-collar construction dudes Half of them are so stupid and ignorant and haven't read their Bible because they've been at Dagon Baptist Church Where the pastor has put up little false idol of love Abortion love faggots and love women presidents to while we're at it. That's that's I mean Andy Stanley that pretty much sums him up That sums up a lot of false Christianity go back to 1st Samuel chapter number 5 first annual first Samuel chapter number 5 You know what I don't think that the Bible is a bunch of harmful nonsense like Andy Stanley thinks it is I think that the Word of God is pure that the law of the Lord is perfect And I think that our world would be so much better if more preachers actually preach what the Bible said Rather than putting up some Dagon for their church first Samuel chapter number 5 Verse 3 it says and when they have asked odd arose early on the morrow behold Dagon was fallen upon his face To the earth before the ark of the Lord So notice Dagon has been a based below the ark of God and they took Dagon and notice what they did and set him in his place again and This is just what people do right I mean people will just keep trusting in false religion no matter how many times it fails them No matter how many times it screws up their life I mean you could have people that they don't want to submit to the Bible they want to go get a divorce right and they go get a divorce and they go get remarried and they get remarried to some random dude and that dude goes and molests their kids and Their kids grow up and their kids say, you know, I don't want to grow I don't want to submit myself to the Bible I'm not gonna listen to the rules that the Bible has I'm gonna drink alcohol become a drunk and That person's life gets destroyed too. That person goes and commits fornication. They don't listen what the Bible says They have bastard children out of wedlock. Their life is ruined I mean how many times have you seen someone's life just ruined ruin ruin and it's always the same reason Because they're not listening to what the Bible says and here you got the Philistines their idol falls down And instead of figuring out huh? I wonder why this idol keeps getting knocked down. I wonder why it's below the ark of God there's like let's put it back up again and This is just human nature is just to be stupid and foolish and not to actually look at ourselves and change our ways and figure Out what's wrong with this picture? They just keep putting Dagon back on its shelf over and over and over again Go to Philippians chapter number two Philippians chapter number two But You know, this is just a picture of the fact that false religion will always fail you false religion will fail you and you know what perverted versions of Christianity will also fail you a Christianity that tells you no rules. No judgment. Do whatever you want. You don't have to listen to the Bible that Christianity will fail you Your life will be destroyed with that version of Christianity But just like Dagon was brought lower than the ark of God, you know someday every single person Religion thing in this world will be brought lower than Jesus Christ and will acknowledge and exalt him Look at it in Philippians chapter 2 verse 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus Every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Someday every single knee that God ever created in the history of humanity Will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge him as being God as being the true Lord You know someday every single day gone will be cast down to the ground before the great ark of the Lord Before the Lord Jesus Christ and so you know what? It would be so much better for people to quit just putting their idol back up on the table and just before that happens Acknowledge him as the supreme God before that Go to 1st Samuel chapter number 5 for Samuel chapter number 5 We saw the false religion of the Philistines Number two, let's look at the humiliation of the Philistines verse 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground Before the ark of the Lord and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off Upon the threshold only the stump of Dagon was left to him. So notice Dagon he fell down they put him back up. He falls down for the ark of God This time though his head and his hands are cut off. It doesn't say that they broke off You know when I picture this story, I don't picture Dagon falling down and just kind of looks like a broken piece of glass No, it's cut off I picture this as just being a complete smooth clean cut to where you walk up to this thing and you know Like this is not normal what just happened. This is not some natural thing where cup falls over and it breaks It's like it was cut off. I mean, do you see what the Bible says there? Upon the threshold now go to Hebrews chapter number 12 Hebrews chapter number 12 We kind of see here that you know God's trying to get the attention of the Philistines. He knocks it over They put it back up. He knocks it over. They put it back up They knock it over then God actually cuts the head and the hands off that and I think this could be a picture of a Couple different things number one It could be a picture of God's increasing anger with the wicked and that in the end times God's gonna get more and more and more angry with the world And it's gonna punish them greatly but even Christians who he's not punting punishing us out of hatred or anger or anything like that sometimes when we despise the chastening of the Lord, you know your life can go from just maybe being knocked down and Brought back up and knocked down and brought back up when you're not listening over and over, you know Things might start getting cut off. It might start getting worse and worse and worse to where you know, God's Humiliating and upping the ante here. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5 Says and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my son Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him So notice we shouldn't hate or not want to endure or not want to deal with God punishing us You know, we should embrace it when that happens We should be accepting of it when God decides to punish us and we shouldn't faint when we're rebuked of him We shouldn't get tired of hearing the scripture. We shouldn't get tired of hearing preaching that steps on our toes You know when God does that we should embrace that verse 6 for meaning why? Or because whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth So, of course because God loves us because he's a good Heavenly Father He disciplines his children by the way fathers that actually love their kids will spank their kids Mothers that actually love their children will spank their children. That's not a bad thing That's actually a very loving thing to do But the idea is that when your parents spank you you're being corrected and you actually make a change You actually stop doing the action that got you spanked or you stop or you start doing the action that your parents want to do Same thing with God when God corrects us. It's because he's trying to change something in our lives Look at verse 7 if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you is with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth? Not but if ye be without chastisement where of all our partakers then are you bastards and not sons? Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh Which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure But he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous Nevertheless Afterward notice it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby So while chastening is not fun the Bible saying it's not gonna be pleasant. It's not gonna be enjoyable You're not gonna be like yeah, I'm being punished by God but here's the thing if you actually exercise the thing that God wants you to do if you actually change your life is gonna produce something that every single human being wants peace peace and You know, there's a big difference between two people where one has peace and one doesn't I mean peace is just such a wonderful thing to have Even when things are hard even when you're going through trials when you just know that you're right with God When you just know that your family is right with God, you know, you can have peace you could put your head on the pillow at night and sleep like a baby, but you know when you just Don't pay attention to or you don't endure the chasing that God gives you and he's knocking things down in your life And you're just putting it back up. He's knocking things down in your life. You just put it back up You know, he might have to start cutting things off to really get your attention and I don't know about you I'd rather just be pushed over and stand back up then get my arm chopped off Because there's a difference between standing up and getting some you know Grass off you then throwing a tourniquet on your life and stopping you from bleeding out and just dying There's a big difference between these two scenarios and I want to be punished by God as little as possible So, you know what God just comes up to me and just shows me a little bit It's just gonna be like yes Lord. I'll stop right now I'm not gonna wait until he gets out the sword and starts chopping things off in my life Go to first Samuel chapter number four or five first Samuel chapter number five verse four Number three, let's look at the unrepentance of the Philistines the unrepentance of the Philistines verse four and When they arose early on the morrow morning behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off notice this upon the threshold That's gonna be important in a minute Only the stump of Dagon was left to him Therefore so because of the fact that Dagon was destroyed again cut off upon the threshold because of that Neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house Tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtad unto this day so notice here the Philistines they recognize and they understand that God is doing this and Here's the thing they even change their behavior to prove it they're saying like whoa We see Dagon getting knocked down here and his head and his arms are cut off Upon the threshold and since God did that since God lowered him upon the threshold We are never gonna step on this threshold ever again. And what are they doing? They're getting superstitious They're recognizing that this is the act of God But notice they didn't repent as far as changing where they were putting their trust. They repented of just like, okay We're gonna stop stepping in this place. And you know what this story it should have been that they come in They see Dagon's fallen on the ground his heads cut off his arms cut off they see him upon the threshold and then they decided to believe in the God of Israel and Believe that he is the true God and believe that he is the powerful one But instead they continue in their hard-heartedness in their impenitent heart and they just continue going on Worshipping Dagon, but the only change they made is they just don't step on that threshold now I told you to keep your place in Romans 1 go back there real quick Romans 1 Stories like this helped me understand parts of Romans 1 look at verse 21 because that Romans 1 verse 21 Because that when they knew God did the Philistines here know who's doing this Do they understand that this is God? Yes, they did. But notice they glorified him not as God. That's the difference Neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools and Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man into birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things This is the same path that every single human soul goes down that someday ends up in hell They know God, but they choose not to glorify him as God Even if people are you know almost all the way to the truth where they believe in Jesus Christ But they also believe you have to repent of your sins. You have to live a good life They're still not fully giving the glory to God. They want to share that glory with themselves Then you have other religions that completely just reject the glory of God altogether like Islam They want to worship Muhammad and say that Jesus was just a good guy that he was just a prophet Not that he's God or you got the Philistines where they know God they know God's doing this but did they stop worshiping Dagon? No, they didn't and so here we see the repent the unrepentance of the Philistines. Look at Romans chapter number two Romans chapter number two flip if you flip the page, you know who else was a lot like this Jews Jews are exactly the same way where they knew God, but they chose not to glorify him as God look at Romans 2 verse 1 Therefore thou art inexcusable. Oh, man Whosoever thou art that judges for wherein thou judges another thou condemnest thyself for thou that judges do is the same things but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things and Think is thou this o man that judges them which do it which do such things and do is the same That thou shalt escape the judgment of God notice or Wisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering not knowing that the goodness of God Leadeth thee to repentance now think about this story in 1st Samuel 5 Spoil alert at the end of the story God punishes them really really bad with emerods Which we're gonna get to in a minute, but before that what happened there was lots of longsuffering shown by God There was lots of kindness shown by God where God's showing them. Hey, I'm the true God I'm knocking down your false idol. Hey, I'm knocking it down again Hey, I'm cutting off the head and off the arms, but did the goodness of God lead them to true repentance? No, it didn't same thing with the Jews God sent them prophet after prophet after prophet in the Old Testament to preach unto them to tell them of the coming Messiah and Did the Jews accept that when Jesus came? Nope, they didn't God's goodness and longsuffering did not lead them to repentance But what happened to them verse 5 but after thy hardness and Impenitent heart meaning it's not repentant But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasure us up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and Revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds Here is the truth Here's the reality of our world the more truth that God reveals to someone the more light that is shown in a human Hearts in a human's heart the more punishment that person is going to receive from God Here's the thing just looking at creation alone is enough to tell you that there's a God and that he's powerful and if you reject That alone you will go to hell But you know who's gonna go to the lowest hell People that saw Jesus Christ in the flesh face to face and Rejected him those people are gonna have a much worse hell to go to and here are the Philistines They're given, you know mercy longsuffering kindness from God, but you know, what's gonna end up happening to them God's gonna render to them according to their deeds and that's what we're gonna see for the rest of this chapter Go back to 1st Samuel chapter number five Number four this evening notice the punishment of the Philistines The punishment of the Philistines look at verse 6 of 1st Samuel 5 but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashtad and he destroyed them and smote them with Emrods even Ashtad in the coasts thereof now, what are Emrods, let's get into this skip down to verse 9 for a minute And it was so that after they had carried it out the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction and he smote the men of the city both small and Great, and they had Emrods in their secret parts. This isn't very fun. This isn't very nice This doesn't sound like a pleasant situation. You know, what's happening God's rendering to the Philistines according to their deeds He's paying them for back for having such an impenitent heart now go to Psalm 78 Psalm chapter 78 refers back to this story in 1st Samuel chapter 5 And the Bible is going to kind of explain even more About this topic that we don't really want to know much more about but hey No one can say that the Bible is boring because this is not boring. That's for sure Psalm 78 verse 60 So he that forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh the tent which he placed among men verse 61 and Delivered his strength into captivity That's the ark going into captivity from the Philistines and his glory into the enemy's hand The glory has been departed from Israel verse 62 He gave his people also over unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance was angry at Israel They lose in battle verse 63 The fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep and like a mighty man that Shouteth by reason of wine and he smote his enemies in the hinder parts He put them to a perpetual reproach That's some punishment right there That's a it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. You know what M rods are its hemorrhoids I think that's pretty much what I think this situation is talking about. That's crazy, right? But that's what God did to punish the Philistines and I'm telling you Jesus Christ God the God of the Bible is a God to be feared The Bible says that he's terrible not meaning that he's bad, but he's one that invokes terror Why because you cross him he can just strike you with M rods Man that doesn't sound fun But you see the more that God gives to someone the more that he reveals to someone the worst punishment You're gonna get go to Romans chapter. Number one Romans chapter number one Here's thing God still punishes people like this today God still punishes people with all sorts of gross nasty diseases in terrible ways that you would never want to happen to you But he doesn't do it for no reason He does it because they knew God and they glorified him not as God They knew the truth and they rejected it and they rejected it and they rejected it and because of that Look at Romans 1 verse 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness Through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who's blessed forever. Amen For this cause God gave them up unto vile Affections he's saying the people that hated me the people that rejected me that despised the light that I gave them I'm gonna give them up unto vile Affections what's vile something that's gross something that's disgusting something that you would never want Naturally, it says for now it's going to specifically explain what he's talking about Even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and Likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burn in their lusts one toward another Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error Which was me so notice with our story in first Samuel 5 they're rejecting rejecting rejecting They're not getting the message finally God smokes them with a serious punishment Here in Romans chapter 1 you have people that know God they glorify him not as God. They don't believe in him They reject him they reject him finally God rejects them back God gives them up to a reprobate mind and God gives them up to vile affections Then the Bible explains what those vile affections are he causes women to start burning in their lot lust towards other women He causes men to start burning in their lust Towards other men you want to talk about a vile thing you want to talk about a disgusting thing? And here's the thing God still punishes people in Terrible ways today. It's called every single sodomite every single faggot every single tranny in our world is a walking Person that's being punished by God the world wants to tell you. Oh homosexuals are born that way Oh, you know we should just love them because of course I mean who's to judge someone because who they love let me tell you Why homos like the same gender it's because they rejected God and as a result God Punished them with the disgusting vile affection of having affections towards the same gender This is something that's not natural. This is something. That's not normal It doesn't just you're born, and you just happen to be gay. No you went down a long road of Despising the truth Rejecting the truth and finally God gives you over to those things verse 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not Convenient you know we need to reject the brainwashed mentality of our world that every HR department wants you to think that hey we should never Discriminate against someone and then they'll list all these things their age their country of origin their financial status Their sex all these things their their marital status, and then they'll just throw in and if they're a filthy faggot, too It's like hold on a second One of these things is not like the rest it's like we played this game in kindergarten where it'll show like an elephant a giraffe a deer a Dog and a building and it's like which one of these is not like the rest It's like yeah, don't discriminate someone because of what color they are because they were born that way Yeah, don't discriminate so against someone because they're old because everyone gets old But you want to know why someone is a faggot why someone is a disgusting sodomite is because they hate God And you better believe I'm gonna discriminate against someone that hates God that rejects God No, I don't like them. No. I'm not gonna love them tolerate them accept them Because the fact that they are who they are tells me that they hate the Lord Jesus Christ Go back to first Samuel chapter number five first Samuel chapter number five First Samuel chapter number five verse seven and when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so they said the ark of God Notice the ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon Our God did they know who was messing with them or what they knew? They knew Lastly number five. I want to show you the sending away of the ark the sending away of the ark Look at verse number eight They sent therefore and gathered all the Lords of the Philistines unto them and said What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And you know, this question is the question that every single human soul has to answer someday God has revealed himself to every single person. There's no excuse not to believe in him But you know what a person has to do a person has to make the decision To believe in the God of Israel a person has to make the decision to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation Not their false religion not Dagon not the Catholic Church Not the Mormon Church not your good works not repenting of your sins, but trusting in Jesus Christ and every single person has to ask themselves. Hey, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? Keep reading it says in the answer let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about Unto gath and they carried the ark of the God of Israel about litter Isn't this the reaction most people have when they're posed with this question? Hey, what are you gonna do about the ark of the? God of Israel Oh send it down. Send it down that way. Send it away. Send it away They don't want it. They don't want to deal with it. They don't want to face this question. Let's keep reading verse 9 And it was so that after they had carried it about the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction And he smote the men of the city both small and great and they had emeralds in their secret parts Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron Okay And it came to pass as the ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying They've brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our people they're freaking out verse 11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines So now the people back on they're saying hey, why did you send this to Ekron now? We're getting wrecked here Hey, what are we gonna do now about the ark of Israel now? They're asking themselves this question notice what they say Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go again to his own place that it slay us not And our people but there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city The hand of God was very heavy there and the men that died not were smitten with the emeralds and the cry of the city went up to heaven now We're gonna close here in a minute turn to Luke chapter number 13 So what do we have in this final part of the chapter here? You know, this great question is posed to them What are we going to do with the ark of Israel and their reaction is the reaction? That's the most common to human nature and it's not to actually think about it and say you know what here's a crazy idea Why don't we just trust in the God of this ark of Israel? Why don't we start worshiping him? Why don't we forsake Dagon? Why don't we have real repentance where we don't just not walk on this threshold anymore? But we actually change where our trust is in our hearts. What do they do? They just send it away Isn't this a lot like soul winning? Where you knock on someone's door and this person by the way, their life is probably terrible Because when you're not saved, let me just tell you something. Your life is terrible. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard in last week of people's lives destroyed by alcohol and divorce and drugs and having bastard children Let me just tell you when you're knocking on someone's door. That's unsafe chances Are this person's life sucks and then it's completely jacked up and you say hey, here's this ark Here's God. Here's the God of the Bible. You say what are you gonna do about this ark? It's like just send it to the next door And just this makes no sense. I mean, what a crazy thing You're worshiping Dagon your God sucks so bad. He keeps getting knocked over Your God sucks so bad. His head and his arms are cut off. Why don't you realize that you're in the wrong camp? Why don't you realize mr. Philistine that you need to come over and join spiritual Israel, but you know what they don't do it Look at Luke chapter 13 verse 23 This question is asked to Jesus then said one unto him Lord Are there few that be saved and he said unto them strive to enter in at the straight gate for many? I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able go to John 15 This would be the last place you go to this evening Jesus has asked hey, are there few that be saved and in short answer, you know, Jesus said yes There are few people that actually get saved and you know just get used to the fact That if you know the truth if you're saved this evening if you're a soul winner just get used to the fact that every door you knock is not gonna get saved and Not every family member you preach the gospel to is going to get saved It's a sad reality. I mean think about it When my grandfather died this kind of hit me for the first time like wow I go out and talk to all these random people every week and their family members don't care about them enough To get them the gospel. I'm getting some random grandma saved. I'm getting some random Person's brother or sister or whatever save but it's like but my grandpa goes to hell That's just the reality, you know, that's what Jesus said and I'm not trying to discourage you with that fact but I just want you to live in reality and just realize most people will reject the ark and Some people don't even want to get saved because they realize that their family members are also unsaved It's like dude Yes, they're gonna reject the ark. But please you accept it you please get saved don't follow after their footsteps there John 15 18 Jesus said if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you If you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the world But I've chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world hateth you Remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord. They have persecuted me They will also persecute you if they have kept my saying they will keep yours also and you know we got to remember is that if the Philistines rejected God when God's literally cutting the head off of their idols and The ark is before them their gods being debased before the ark of God if those people reject God people are often going to reject us too and if people that looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and saw him in his earthly ministry and Still didn't believe on him. And in fact, not only did they not believe on him, but they hated him They despised him. They lied about him. They tortured him brutally on a cross. They killed him Yeah, a lot of people aren't gonna just immediately accept us when we come knocking on their door with the gospel of Jesus Christ But you know what some people will Some people will and you know What we're trying to do in life is we're trying to knock on a door and we're gonna hear that person say no I'll send the ark down. It's like whatever I'll send the ark down Hit that next door that person might actually want to get saved That person might actually want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and yeah, you know, it may not be my grandfather And that sucks, but you know what it could be your grandfather It could be some random person's grandfather that I'll never meet that person I want might want to get saved and so just hey Don't let it discourage you that a lot of people are gonna reject the ark Just get that ark to everyone you can and just try to get as many people saved as humanly possible and You know nuts to whoever doesn't believe in it. Let's find the ones that do believe in it I'll leave you with this verse Psalm 126 6 says he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless Come again with rejoicing Bringing his sheaves with him, you know If you've got soul winning and you don't get anyone saved that week don't let that discourage you Don't let that stop you from being a soul winner. You preach to your mom. She didn't get saved Don't let that stop you from being a soul winner because you know the Bible says that if you go forth weeping bearing precious seed you will Doubtless come again with rejoicing. A lot of people are gonna reject the ark, but we're trying to find the ones that will accept it Let's pray Lord. Thank you for this chapter. Thank you for the exciting stories in first Samuel chapter number five I pray that you would use it to inspire us to want to serve you To want to be on fire for you to be a soul winner for Jesus and to serve you in any way we can Love you. Pray that you bless our church now. We love you Jesus name. Amen