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