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God gets angry. God isn't just this big, benevolent, gray-haired old man who just turns a blind eye to the affairs of man on earth. He doesn't just ignore what his people do. It's possible for God's people to provoke him to anger. Today, we're God's people, but you know what? God hasn't changed. God can still be provoked to anger by his own people. This is why it's so important to learn to fear the Lord and not to be somebody that provokes God, needles God, or tries to see how far they can push the envelope with God. You don't wanna push the envelope with God. You can provoke God to anger. You say, well, I'm never gonna do some of these things that they're doing. I'm glad to hear that. Hopefully, you'll never cause your sons and daughters to pass through the fire, as tempting as that might be sometimes, right? Okay, as long as you don't commit child sacrifice, we're good. No, God will chase in us. God will correct us for other things. And if we're gonna be people who wanna push the envelope with God, don't be surprised when God starts to push back in your life. Amen, so picking it back up there in 2 Kings, chapter number 17, of course, we were in there. A couple weeks ago, and just real quick, just a reminder, we're at the end of the northern kingdom here with Hoshea. He's beginning to reign in Samaria there in verse one. And he's kinda ruling along Ahaz and kinda that, he kinda splits Ahaz and Hezekiah. But Hoshea here is the last king of Israel, so again, I'm not gonna take the time to go through all of this. We just read it again. But we're seeing them being taken captive. They're being carried away by the Assyrians into these different lands. It says there in verse six, in the ninth year, Hoshea, the king of Assyria, took Samaria and carried away into Assyria and placed them in Hala and in Habor by the river Gozan and the cities of the Medes. So you kinda get an idea of where they're being taken to. They're coming into the land and they're carrying them off. And then we looked at it last week a little bit, and if you're paying attention, you'll notice he kinda goes over kinda what all brought this about. Towards the end there, and we'll talk a little bit about that. Verse 21, he brings up again, it was Jeroboam that drove Israel from following the Lord, and that was the first king of Israel. So we're getting kind of a synopsis of everything that has taken place. It's brought them to this place where they're being carried off. And what I wanna point out in this chapter, and this is important to understand doctrinally, is that Israel is being removed entirely from the land. Obviously, these priests are coming back. There might have been some scragglers, but the Bible's making it very clear to us that as far as a nation, as far as being a body of people that could be identified as, you know, or be big enough to quantify as a nation, that is no longer the case. They are being completely destroyed here. It says there in verse 17, well, let's jump down to 18, and therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and moved them out of his sight. Therefore, there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. So just notice here these few verses of God is trying to make it very clear that he's cast them out of his sight, that it's only Judah, that Israel as a nation has been destroyed. It says there also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made. Now, Judah's gonna be taken captive later, okay? So sometimes people can get confused about this. They'll think, well, you know, who's being taken captive when? And when you're kind of first going through the Bible, this can be kind of confusing. You have to remember that there's two, you know, captivities, basically. The northern kingdom is being taken captive, and then about 136 years later, or, you know, chapters 25, or 24 and 25, at the end of the book, that's when we see Judah carried off the southern kingdom into Babylon. So you have these two different captivities taking place. This is dealing only with the northern kingdom, Israel. And so he says there, but he's kind of giving us some foreshadowing, like, oh, Judah, you know, sees this happen, and they didn't get right. You know, they're just as bad. Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made. So again, it's kind of giving us some foreshadowing, what's in store for Judah. Verse 20, and the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, talking about that northern kingdom, and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of the spoilers until he had cast them out of his sight. For he rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drained Israel from following the Lord and made them sin, a great sin. So again, notice verse 23, until the Lord removed Israel. So he's making it very clear that they're being completely removed. Verse 18, there's none left but Judah only. In verse 20, he's saying he's rejected all the seed of Israel. And this is, so we're getting a very clear picture that they're done, okay? And this is important because today, you know, we have people that teach that Israel is going to be restored, or that even the, you know, the nation that's over there today that is called Israel is somehow related to the people we're reading about in the Old Testament right now. And that, you know, that's not the case. And this chapter makes it abundantly clear. I mean, they're being completely wiped out. They're not gonna be brought back later. You say, well, you know, Revelation seven and the 144,000, you know, and names all the tribes, you know, and they're coming back. Yeah, but that's referring to, you know, I believe saints that are already in heaven before this happened that, you know, that are going to be resurrected. That's something that's, you know, those are people that live, because you gotta think about the fact, where did people go when they died in the Old Testament if they were saved? They didn't go to Abraham's bosom, right? They didn't go to the nice part of hell, you know, and wait there. They went to heaven. So, you know, all those other tribes, those 144,000 are in heaven right now. They were there before we get to 2 Kings chapter 17, I believe, okay? So you can't, and it's important to understand that, again, because there's people today that teach that somehow, you know, God knows who all these people are, that all these tribes are scattered throughout all the earth and that God knows who they are and He's gonna bring them all back into the land. And that's just not true. And the Bible tells us in 2 Kings 17 that God removes them completely out of His sight. There's none left. And then He tells us about how the Assyrians come in and, you know, the king of Assyria takes all these other men from all these other nations that he's conquered and brings them in and basically that's how you end up with, you know, the Samaritans in Jesus' day, which is a mixed race between the nations that were brought in and Israel at that point, you know, the remnant that was left behind, okay? So it's important to understand that because we don't wanna get confused and think of, you know, and let people pull the wool over our eyes on this doctrine and tell us that, you know, these people over there today are God's people. You know, they reject Christ, they hate Christ, they hate the Bible, they don't believe in the Bible. Those are not the people, that is not the Israel that we're reading about today, okay? Those are not the same people. Those are frauds, those are imposters, okay? You know, we're the real Israel, you know? We, by faith, you know, whose circumcision is not in the flesh but of the heart, you know? We are a Jew which is, He is a Jew which is one inwardly, right, and not outwardly, okay? We are the people of God, the Bible teaches us. I'm not gonna just hand that over to somebody because they say, well, I'm a Jew. Well, I'm of Israel. And it's so funny because you'll even hear some of these, their own rabbis, their own religious leaders will say, they'll say, well, what tribe? Well, no one knows what tribe they're from. And they'll admit, they'll say, there's no way of knowing. It's because it's been so, I mean, this is happening thousands of years ago. They're being completely destroyed, they're being intermingled with the heathen. You're gonna tell me you preserved a pure line, a bloodline going all the way back, you have this perfect genealogy, and the New Testaments tells us to not give heed to genealogies anyways. You know, those things don't matter anymore. You know, all those things are done away in Christ, okay? So we don't wanna get caught up and let people convince us that somehow, you know, these nations of Israel, these tribes of Israel still exist. They don't. We're watching them before our very eyes right now in 2 Kings 17 just be completely and utterly destroyed and wiped out. And I wanna point out something here about this too because it's important to understand, you know, this is obviously a very horrific story. But notice all the things that they've been doing up to this point, right? Verse 17, and they cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and to use divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger, okay? So this is another thing we can learn about God, that God gets angry, that God isn't just this big, benevolent, gray-haired old man who just kinda, you know, turns a blind eye to the affairs of man on earth and that he doesn't just ignore what his people do, that it's possible for God's people to provoke him to anger. So you can kinda see why that might be important for us to understand today. You know, if we're saved, we're born again, we're, you know, bought by the blood of Christ, that makes us God's people. We all say amen to that. We all agree with that, that today we're God's people, but you know what? God hasn't changed. And God can still be provoked to anger by his own people. This is why it's so important to learn to fear the Lord and not to be somebody that, you know, provokes God or be somebody that needles God or tries to see how far they can push the envelope with God. You don't wanna push the envelope with God. I mean, this is what Israel's doing, okay? They're pushing the envelope with God and they're being destroyed for it. You can provoke God to anger. Now obviously you say, well, I'm never gonna do some of these things that they're doing. You know, well, I'm glad to hear that. You know, hopefully you'll never cause your sons and daughters to pass through the fire, as tempting as that might be sometimes, right? But that doesn't, that's not like, okay, as long as you don't commit child sacrifice, we're good. Is that what we think? You know, no, God has, you know, God will chase in us, and God will correct us for other things. And if we're gonna be people wanna push the envelope with God, don't be surprised when God starts to push back in your life, okay? And that's what Israel is learning in this chapter right here. Israel had been repeatedly warned. If you notice there in verse 23, it says, verse 22, for the children of Israel walked and all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did, they departed not from them. And you know what, back up to verse 21, this is what's, and I know I've mentioned this, but this is always so unfortunate, and it says in the letter half there that Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord. You know, this one guy drove the entire nation from following God. You gotta be careful about the people that you follow in life, because there's some people in this world that are gonna drive you away from God. They're gonna try to drive you away from the Lord. And I mean, some people are very good at it, aren't they? I mean, Jeroboam drove an entire nation, he just led an entire group of people away from God into idolatry. And hundreds of years go by, multiple kings come after him, and that sin that he drove them to still remains. Even to the end of this chapter, they're still doing it. Be very careful about the people that you follow in life. They can drive you away from God. That's what you can learn from Jeroboam. And the worst part is that it never had to be that way. And you can say, oh, God's being so harsh in this chapter. Look, this isn't God's fault. God told Jeroboam, hey, you walk in my ways, I'll establish your house like David. But out of fear and everything else, he went ahead and did what he did. So God had to ultimately, after sending all of his prophets and after giving them a lot of warning, and warning and warning and warning, eventually he had to punish them. They provoked him to the place where there was no other choice. He was brought to that degree of anger. So notice there again, in verse 23, it says, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. And look, Israel had some heavyweight prophets preaching to them. They've got Elijah, they've got Elisha, they've got several of those minor prophets, others that are just mentioned by name. I mean, you have Elijah and Elisha preaching to your nation, going through it, doing great miracles, and they're still not getting right with God. They're still backsliding. They're still going back these other ways. I mean, God, you can't sit here and get angry with God over what's happening to Israel at this point, because God has just sat there and warned them and warned them and warned them and warned them. And it's so funny to me, because sometimes you'll see this with Christians. A preacher will get up and just preach the Bible and just say things over and over and warn people and warn people. And then people will still go out and make a mess out of their life, and then they get mad at God. Or they get mad at the church. Or they wanna blame the preacher. It's crazy, but that's how people are. They don't wanna listen to the servants, the prophets. And I'll point out this too. Notice God calls his prophets his servants. The preacher's job, he's got a job to do. The prophet just has to get up and deliver the message. The prophets are God's servants. Everything that they're saying, everything they're doing is on God's behalf. Because here's the thing, God's not gonna come down here and preach to you. He's given that job to his preachers. He's given that job to, back then it was the prophets. Now today in the local church, it's the preacher. It's through the preaching of the word of God. Getting up and preaching. So don't sit there and get mad at me when I preach something out of the Bible that you don't like. I'm just doing my job. I'm just the servant. I'm just delivering the message. And the preachers get up and they say things and they preach things from the Bible and then people get all bent out of shape. And this is especially true amongst young people. Young people will hear preaching from the word of God about not fornicating and about not getting drunk and doing drugs and running around and being wild and they'll just sit there, I don't like that. Well here's the thing, you can get all bent out of shape if you want, but all I'm doing is giving you the message. I'm just like in the story. I'm just here giving you the warning. I'm just here tonight just like Elijah, just like Elisha, just like all those prophets of old, just saying, hey, you better not get into sin. You better not make a mess out of it. You better get right with God. Because people have this foolish notion that they can just do whatever they want as God's people. They can just be God's, they can be saved and born again and do whatever they want and God's not gonna do anything. That's not Bible. God punishes people all the time. Did we just read 2 Kings 17? I mean, what's been going on in this story? What's been going on through the entire book of 2 Kings? What do you just see over and over again in the Bible? God punishing his people. But then people get so stupid and so dumb and so proudful or prideful that they just sit there and just say, well, God's not gonna get me. I'm different. I'm special. And it's just like, all right, well, you've been warned. And at least I'm still gonna go home. No matter what happens to you, you can take it or leave it. Whatever you do with your life in light of the preaching of the word of God, I'm gonna be fine. As God's servant, I'm gonna fear God. I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna enjoy my family and I'm gonna enjoy God's blessing in my life and I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight. I hope, I don't want anything bad to happen to the people in this church, but you know what, if you defy God's word, if you just scorn the preacher, if you just scorn the preaching of God's word and go out there and do whatever you want, I've done my job. I mean, I'll still feel bad for you. I'll still hope, hey, you get it right and straighten things out. I hope you come back to the fold if you leave. But it's no skin off my back. You know, my job is just to get up and say, thus saith the Lord. This is what the Bible says, this is what we're warned. You know what's very scary about this verse, too? Verse 23, it says, until he removed Israel out of his sight. I mean, first of all, think about that. Having God turn a blind eye to you. You know what, you think, oh, God's scary. You know what's scarier? It's like not having God be a part of your life. Having God just going, yeah, I don't even want to look at you anymore. You're just making me so mad and so angry and so upset, I can't even look at you. Some of us husbands have probably heard that one. Not saying anybody in particular, right? I can't even look at you right now. You know, it's one thing to have, you know, being in a spat with your spouse and have them say that. What about when God gets so angry, he's just like, I can't even look at you right now. You know, and I've been preaching this, like we should want God's eye. We should want God looking in our lives, being pleased with our lives, working in our lives, concerned with what's going on in our life, guiding and leading us with his eye, with his hand. Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. You know, I want that. I want my steps ordered by God. But it's the steps of a good man, right? You know, the steps of a man who is faithful, who loves the Lord, who fears the Lord. You know, people that wanna just blow off God's word, blow off the preaching the word of God, you know, just blow off their parents, blow off the authority, just not listen to anybody in their lives. You know what? You're gonna just make God mad. And it's, you know, God's just gonna say, well, I can't even look at you. That's what he's saying here. He's, I removed them out of my sight, as he said by all his servants, the prophets. You know, what's interesting here too is that, you know, Micah is really the last prophet that was sent to Israel. That was it. It kinda ends with Micah. And he was really preaching to, you know, Israel and Judah, right? But think about the fact that it comes to a point, you know, and I don't know exactly when Micah's preaching, or Micah's preaching stopped, but at some point, you know, there was one last message. There was one last prophet, there was one last preacher that came to Israel and said, this is it. That's why, you know, it's past tense there. He removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants, the prophets. I mean, he's just sending all of these prophets, and then it got down to the last one. And this is what I'm talking about when I'm talking about pushing the envelope with God. When people are like, well, you know, I know I shouldn't be doing that sin, but I'm just gonna keep doing it a little bit longer. I'll get rid of that sin some other day. I know I should start doing certain things, but you know what, I'm just gonna put that off and eventually it's just gonna get to the point where you've crossed the line. You say, well, where is that line? I don't know. I'm not really too, you know, curious about trying to find out where that line is either. You know, if I know where the line is, I wanna stay as far away from the line as possible, because I'm not interested in getting God angry at me in my life. You know, and hopefully everybody else in the room feels the same way. So, you know, the advice is don't sit there and assume that that warning that you heard for the umpteenth time is just another warning that's gonna be followed by many others. It might be the last one. It might be the last time God's like, and then he's just gonna be like, I'm done. I can't even look at you anymore. And then it's just judgment, and then God's gonna just start chastening. You know, God goes quiet, right? You know, that's a scary thing. Sometimes it's scary for the kids when mom and dad, they don't say anything. You can tell they're mad, but they're not talking. You know, it's like, uh-oh. It's not time for a lecture. It's not time for talking. It's time for pain, right? It's time for discipline. It's time for punishment. You know, we'll sit there and listen to the preaching. We'll sit there and listen to the lecture, because that's not too painful. But you know what's really scary is when they stop talking. It's the same way with God. You know, when God stops talking to us, when we go to the Bible and it doesn't speak to us anymore, we come to church and we just kind of have an attitude at church. We're just kind of mocking the things of God. We're just kind of half listening, not really interested, could be anywhere else that we want. You know, that just tells me that God's not speaking to you. You know, God's not speaking to your heart. That's a scary thing. When you get to the place where God just stops talking and just says, you know what, I can't even look at you. I can't even talk to you anymore. And then people, again, they make the mistake of thinking, well, that just means God's done with me. Oh no, he's only begun. No, he's only getting started. It's just, it's the ugly side of God that you're gonna see. It's just the part of God that you don't wanna have to deal with that you're gonna end up dealing with. And you can make fun of that. You can mock it all you want, but you know what? Go find out for yourself. I already know this is true. But let's move along. I wanna finish this chapter here tonight. So let's move along with the story. It says there in verse 25. Well, look at verse 24 again. And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuman and from Babylon, excuse me, Cutha, and from Ava. Hey, that sounds like a good name for a dog. I don't know if anybody's got a dog like that. And from Hamath and from Siphar-vam, probably not a good name for a dog, right? But I don't know. And placed them in the city. You never hear kids naming their Lego people these names, right? Like Siphar-vam. This is my toy, Siphar-vam. Ava, I could see that one. Maybe you'd have a Lego person named Ava. Anyway, I don't know why I'm talking about that. And placed them in the cities of Samaria. So again, he's bringing all these other, these foreign nations, and he's putting them in Israel for the express purpose of kind of breeding them out. Okay, so there you go. There's Israel just being destroyed in every way possible. Instead of the children of Israel, when they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, and so it was at the beginning of their dwelling, and they feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. I mean, God's gotta be, it's like, I mean, what's God really gonna do to me? You know, what's the worst God could do? Well, he sent lions here. Well, God's only, you know, God's, you know, yeah, maybe I'll have to go to church and listen to that preacher kinda, you know, rant and rave for a few minutes. But is that really so bad? It's like, well, I mean, God sent lions here. I'm not saying God's gonna send a lion. I don't know, if you're backslidden, if you're not wired to God, maybe you wanna stay away from the zoo, but the point is this, is that, you know, God can do whatever he wants. I mean, do you think that they were, like, expecting lions to show up? It's just all of a sudden there's a lion there. It's like, well, wait a minute. People have been, because, you know, lions, animals like this, they don't typically just live in these areas that are populated unless it's a tiger in India, right? I get that, and that's kind of a different story, right? But, you know, usually what happens is people go out and they kill all the man-eaters, right? They go out there and they take care of business. They get rid of all these kind of animals. So you just think all these foreign guys were being brought in by the King of Assyria and put in here into these cities, and they're just kinda assuming, oh, you know, they're already settled. They've already been here for a long time. They don't have things like this. That's why God had to send the lions, right? And then just all of a sudden lions are showing up. I mean, that's how it is in your life. I mean, that's how God's chase thing will work. It comes out of the blue. You think, oh, you know, everything's fine. God's not gonna do anything to me, and then it's just like, it could be anything. God could do anything he wants. Isn't that a scary thought? I mean, doesn't that scare you, to think that God could just do whatever he wants to you at any point? I mean, that scares me. It oughta scare us to sit there and think, hey, if I get out of sorts with God, he could just do whatever he wants with me. In fact, he does do that to people. That's what the Bible's telling us. He's sending lions among these people, which slew some of them. So then, you know, this just goes to show you the mentality of the heathen, the ignorance of these heathen people that don't understand God. Look, the world is really good at some things, aren't they? I mean, these Assyrians were able to just wipe them out, and I understand God was behind them, but I mean, he's bringing Assyrians that have also defeated all these other nations. So the world is very good at some things. They're really good at war. They're really good at being cruel. They're really good at, you know, certain things that they've just developed skills in. They're just, they know how to do certain things. But, you know, when it comes to the things of God, when it comes to spiritual things, they're completely ignorant. They don't know how to approach God, okay? This is the carnal man, and you see this in the story. These lions come in, wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, the nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of God of the land. Because they have these beliefs that, you know, there's a god of this land, there's a god of that land. We need to get familiar with the god of this new land. Well, the god of the Bible is the god of the whole earth. You know, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. They don't understand this. The world, they might be really good at some things, but when it comes to spiritual things, they don't know anything. They're ignorant, because there's no light in them. It says in verse, and it said, they know not the manner of the land, picking it back up halfway through, in verse 26. Therefore, he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the god of the land. Verse 27, and the king of Assyria commanded, saying, carry thither of the priest whom you brought from thence, and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the god of the land. So he's just saying, bring back some of the priests, and tell them whatever it is that they need to do in order to get rid of these lions. Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. So he's coming and teaching them, hey, you need to fear the Lord God of the Bible, Jehovah. But notice here, it doesn't say it fixed the problem. Does it say, and all the lions were gone? I mean, maybe it did, I don't know. But I think it's a curious thing that he comes and teaches them this, but it doesn't say, and all the lions left. It's like, maybe they still had to keep dealing, God wasn't satisfied with that. Because notice, going into the story, they're being taught to fear the Lord, and then it says that they feared the Lord, but then they did not fear the Lord. Okay, if you notice that in the story, it says in verse 32, so they feared the Lord and made themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them the houses of the high places. Verse 31, they feared the Lord and served their own gods after the man of the nations whom carried them away from thence. Unto this day, they do not, they do after their former amors, they feared not the Lord. So it's kind of confusing, you're like, well, it says they feared the Lord, they feared the Lord, and they feared not the Lord. They're being taught to fear the Lord. So, you know, in one respect, they did fear the Lord. Okay, but what are they really afraid of? They're afraid of the lions. You know, they're afraid of the judgment, right? They're not really interested in fearing God as a person and doing what's pleasing to him. You know, they just wanna avoid any kind of chastisement. They're just afraid of the bad things that might happen. Okay, now look, that's a good reason to fear God. But, you know, it's not enough to just add God to your sinful life. It's not enough to just say, well, you know, we're not Catholics here, okay? Like, well, I'm gonna live like the devil all week, and then I'm gonna go to church on Sunday and just get up, you know, I'm not gonna come out here and bless you and sprinkle some water on you and say, you know, bless you, my son. I've never been in a Catholic church except for me once or twice. I don't know how it's done. You know, I'm not gonna set up a confessional booth and tell you, you know, 10 Our Fathers and 20 Hail Marys. Is it a Hail Mary? Okay, see, I'd make a good Catholic. I know about as much as some Catholics, right? But I'm not saying, you're not gonna come to this church and get absolved in one day and then just go back out and live like you are or have been or might be. Sorry, I don't wanna assume anything. You know, and go out and live like the devil and then just say, well, I'm good to go. You know, you might, these people are fearing God, but are they really fearing the Lord or are they just fearing what God might do to them? They're not really trying to fear God and say, oh, well, let's just get all on board with the Lord here. Let's get, go all the way over because notice verse 29, how be it every nation make gods of their own and put them in a house of the high places. I don't know if the priest here just dropped the ball or maybe he just was kind of this, one of these lame priests, these lame preachers is just like, oh, God's not really that mad at you. You need to just tithe. You know, you need to just send someone, send a check to the, you know, call the number on the screen and God will be fine with you. You know, God's fine with all your idols and everything else you got going on. God doesn't expect you to do, to go all the way over and abandon these false gods. You know, just add Jesus. You know, just push those idols over on the mantle and just put a little statue of Jesus up there and God will be happy with you. I mean, maybe that's what happened here, but whatever this, whether this priest did a good job or not, these people still failed because they still continue to make gods of their own and put them in a house of the high places. Every nation in their city is where they dwell. Verse 30, and the men of Babylon, Babylon made Sukkoth-benoth and the men of Cuth made Negrole and the men of Hamath made Ashima and the Avites made Nibhaz. I mean, it's just like all these gods that they're making. Right? Because this is how the world works. This is how they, what they think of God. It's the God of this land, it's the God of that land. You know, people say that today. People say, oh, you know, there's many paths to God. You know, everyone has their different way of getting there. You know, no one knows the truth. No one can say it's only one way. Well, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's what Jesus said. And this is how ignorant the people are of this world. You know, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. You could even have a priest come back and say, hey, it's the Lord. You know, here's the law. Here's what God said in the law. But because they're the natural man, they're not gonna get it. They're not gonna understand. They're gonna keep going right on doing what they're doing. And this is what you have to understand about the world. Look, the world is not gonna help you in your relationship with God. The world's not there to help you with God. They can't even understand God. They don't even know the things of God. They're not gonna help you understand the Bible. They're not gonna understand you, how to live a life that's pleasing to the Lord. And this is why you have to be so careful about the people that you listen to in the world. And it's so easy today to just pick up a smartphone, just get on the internet, and just start listening to some buffoon who might sound maybe like he's saying something good, but if he's an unsaved man, he doesn't have the Spirit of God, he can't know the things of God, they're foolishness unto him, the Bible says. So why would I sit there and listen to that? Look, I get it, there's some things that are very practical in this life. Maybe there's some guy out there, he's not a Christian, but he's gonna teach me how to fix the brakes on my car, or he's gonna teach me how to run a budget in my house, or just real practical things. But when it comes to how to live your life, how to raise your kids, how to have a marriage, how to live a life that's pleasing to God, that's gonna bring you peace and joy and life, they don't know how to do it. That's why they're all popping pills. That's what they're doing out there. That's why the pharmaceutical industry is making billions of dollars, because they're just like, well, I don't know what to do, let's just numb your brain, here, just take some pills, we're not really sure how all this works. Or they'll just give you really bad advice. And people today, and they are looking for advice, and even God's people sometimes, they go out into the world and they're looking to people to be taught things about life. And they end up going to just the worst possible people, because those people are popular, they're easily accessible. And I know I've already gone off on this guy before, I'm gonna go off him again, you know, Andrew Tate, right? And I heard last night that he's officially in jail now, is that right? Yeah, but how many guys are following that guy? How many people listen to a guy like that and think, oh yeah, that guy knows what he's talking about? Or Joe Rogan, you know, anybody that runs in that circle. All these people that even God's people flock to, and they're just like, hey, teach me how to live. They can't teach you how to live, for God. They don't, it's impossible. I mean, it should be obvious with, you know, with Andrew Tate, that that guy is not of God. Someone's telling me, he's walking around, the same guy who said, you know, anyone who reads books are stupid, you know, reading books are for dumb people. Reading books is a waste of time. Now he's walking around with a crayon under his arm, I guess, that's what I was told, I don't know. It's like funny, you know, I thought books were for dumb people, turns out Andrew Tate might have been onto something there. But here's the thing, isn't that what's kind of going on in the story? You have the priest coming and he's trying to teach these people, but they're just, they're not getting it because they're just thick spiritually, they're dense. They're making all these false gods. Verse 32, so they feared the Lord and made out of the cells of the lowest of the high, of priests of the high places which sacrificed them in the house of the high places. They feared the Lord and served their own God. So it's like, what's going on here? Are they really fearing the Lord the way they should be? Or are they just afraid of what God might do to them? They're just afraid of the punishment. And then it says in verse 34, unto this day, they do after the former manners, they fear not the Lord. Neither do they after their statutes or after the ordinances or after the law and the commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. So you can see what the difference is between, you know, this fear of the Lord. When you fear the Lord, what do you do? You keep the statutes, you keep the commandments, you keep the laws, you keep the ordinances as you've been taught. You do the things that are in the Bible. Look, I know a lot of the cardinal ordinances have been done away, you know, the law and the commandments, a lot of these things have been removed in Christ. But you know what, there's still a lot of things in the Bible that apply to us, folks. There's still a lot of principles, there's still a lot of teachings, there's still a lot of commandments that we have to make a part of our life. And you know, people are like, oh, the Old Testament, that's just, you know, that's old, that's old. That's all done away in Christ. Well, part of it has been done away in Christ. You know, the Sabbaths, the Holy Day, the New Moons, the washings, you know, these diverse ordinances, some of these cardinal ordinances, you know, the things that pertain to the priesthood, you know, the law being changed, you know, the priesthood being changed, of necessity made a change of the law also. Yeah, certain things have been done away, but I'm pretty sure, you know, the Ten Commandments still stand. Call me crazy, but I think God's still all about us not committing murder. You know, as long as well as several other, you know, few hundred things that are in there that are just kind of like moral laws, civil laws even, to some degree, you know, there's still a lot of things that pertain unto us. So if you're gonna really fear God, unless you're gonna be like these people who are just constantly afraid of the Lord and what he's going to do to you, which you should be, if you're gonna be out of sorts with God, you can have that kind of fear where you're just constantly on edge, constantly afraid of what God is going to do in your life. I mean, that's not how I wanna live, just walking around, is God gonna get, is today the day? Is God gonna get me today? Is God gonna get me today? You know, got sin in my life, I'm backslidden, I'm not right with God, and it's just like, when's it gonna come? When's that lion just gonna jump out of the bush and get me, right? You can have that kind of fear, or you can be unlike these people and actually fear the Lord the way they ought to have done, which is to keep the ordinances, the commandments, and the law, and do those things. I gotta wrap this up. You know, the fear of the Lord is something that we have to have in our lives. You can't just add Jesus, you can't just, you know, kind of have this half in, half out mentality with God. You're just gonna get judged. I mean, that's not the fear that God's looking for. You can just live your life being afraid of what God's gonna do to you, or you can actually fear the Lord to the place where you're actually gonna do the things that God wants you to do, and then not have that other type of fear. Go over to Hebrews chapter number 12. Hebrews chapter number 12. You know, people wanna say, oh, we shouldn't be afraid of God. There's nothing to fear with the Lord. You know, why would you preach that? Well, you know, the Bible says that we should fear God repeatedly, and it doesn't just change in the New Testament all of a sudden, like, oh, now God is just this big, lovable, cuddly, huggy bear that we just don't have anything to fear. Look, God is love, and merciful, and kind, and God wants to draw us close and be a loving Father to us, but he can't do that if we're living a sinful life, if we're not doing the things that God expects of us, if we're not giving heed to the commandments and all these things that we're supposed to be doing, we can't just expect God's good grace in our life. You know, we should just have, rather, that apprehensive type of fear in our lives, where we're just afraid of what God's gonna do. Where did I have you go? Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse 28. He says, wherefore are we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved? Let us have grace, when people would just love to go, yes, period, let us have grace. Grace, 40 days of grace, you should preach more about grace. Let's all break into small groups, and we're just gonna read about grace, and we're just gonna have, we're gonna talk about grace, it's just gonna be grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, all over the place, 24-7, every time you walk in here. And look, there's plenty of churches that are like that, that's all they wanna talk about, but is that all that we're supposed to have in the Christian life? All that we're supposed to concern ourselves with, the grace of God. Wherefore are we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved? Let us have grace, but for what purpose? Whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. So there's that word again, fear. Yeah, the grace of, I want the grace of God in my life, but not just so I can get away with sin, not just so I can just, you know, go ahead and just live a wicked life. And look, where sin did abound, you know, grace did much more abundantly abound. You know, if we sin, there's still God's grace, it's still there. But there's also still the chastening hand of God, that's, you know, it doesn't cancel that out. You know, the purpose of having grace in our lives is so that we can serve God acceptably. You know, there's an acceptable way to serve God with reverence and godly fear. And with reverence, you know, revering God's name, revering God's person, not just fearing what he's gonna do to me, but out of, you know, I respect God, I revere him and I fear God, because I know what he will do to me if I'm not right with God. You see the difference there between this fear that they have in this, back in our chapter, go back there to 2 Kings 17. It says they feared the Lord, they feared the Lord, and then they feared not the Lord. You know, it seems to me like they were just afraid of the lions, they're just afraid of the punishment that God's gonna bring. They didn't fear the Lord enough to actually do the things that they're supposed to do. They didn't actually fear God enough to, you know, revere him and serve him acceptably. So pick your fear, you know, which one do you want in life? You wanna just worry about what God's gonna do to you, or do you actually wanna just understand that God can and will do, will chasten you? He chasteneth every son whom he receiveth. Oh, but not you, but you're gonna get away with it. It's God free. You're in for a rude awakening. I would rather just fear what he could do to me and not have to worry about it. And then I can just serve him acceptably and I can have grace. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. We'll close it up here, but it says, in verse 36, let's just jump ahead. So they didn't keep all these commandments, they didn't keep all these covenants with whom the Lord, verse 35, made a covenant and charged them saying, you shall not fear other gods nor bow down yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them, but the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm. Him shall you fear and him shall you worship and to him shall you do sacrifice. It's interesting that that all start, that latter half of verse 36, it all starts with fear, doesn't it? Him shall you fear and him shall you worship and to him shall you do sacrifice. A lot of Christians, they don't want to worship God. They don't want to think about God, they don't want to praise God because they don't fear God. Some Christians, they don't want to make any sacrifices in their life. They don't want to serve God, they don't want to give up things, they don't want to inconvenience themselves because they don't fear God. But what they're going to end up doing is they're going to end up fearing God, but for reasons like because they're afraid what God's going to end up has been doing to them. So I say, hey, let's just fear God and then we'll worship him and then we'll sacrifice and we'll have grace and we'll serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. You know, a lack of fear leads to forgetting. It says in verse 37, and the statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandments which he wrote for you you shall observe to do evermore. You shall not fear other gods and the covenants that I have made with you you shall not forget but you shall fear but neither shall you fear other gods but the Lord our God you shall fear and he shall deliver you out of the hands of all your enemies. Howbeit they did not hearken but they did after the former manner. What does it mean they didn't hearken? It means they didn't act on it, right? They did they heard it but they didn't do anything with it. You know, we don't want to just be hearers of the word. We want to be doers of the word. We don't want to just hear what the Bible says. We need to do what the Bible says and to actually put it into practice in our lives. If we don't hearken unto it, what good is it? What good is it to just come to church and just sit there and listen to the preaching the word of God and then not do it? What good is it to sit there and read the Bible and go, yeah, that's what God wants and then walk away and not do it? You know, you're going to end up forgetting and not doing it. Howbeit they did not hearken but did after their former manner. So these nations feared the Lord and served their graven images, both their children and their children's children as did their fathers. So do they unto this day. And it just goes to show you that these kind of things just get handed down. You know, if you want your kids to serve God, you need to serve God. Your kids are going to do what you do, not what you say. They're going to follow your example, not your, you know, expounding things to them, you explaining things. They're going to follow not your explanation, they're going to follow your example, okay? That's what happens in the story. They feared the Lord and served graven images, both their children and their children's children as did their fathers. So did they unto this day. Go to Psalm 128. We'll close there. Psalm 128. I want to close on this thought. You know, in the story we see these heathen, they're being punished, the lions are brought in, they send the priest back to teach them the manner of the God of the land. And then they kind of think that they could just have the best of both worlds, don't they? Isn't that kind of what happens in the story? You know, they keep serving their multitude of false gods. They keep, you know, doing all of their wicked, their wicked sacrifices. They keep making priests of the lowest of the people and putting them in the high places. They keep all their false gods, but they just kind of add the Lord to it. They think, well, let's just get the best of both worlds. Let's just have, you know, let's get God on our side and all these other gods. But that's not how God works. And I think sometimes Christians have this attitude. They're just like, well, you know, I'm going to do the Christian thing. I'm going to have God in my life, but, you know, I'm still going to enjoy sin. You know, I'm still going to, I'm not going to go as far as I might go, but, you know, I'm going to still enjoy some sin in my life. And they think they can have the best of both worlds. But you know what's so funny about that? Is that the best that the world has to offer pales in comparison to what God has to offer. It really does. And I'm going to say something right now, and look, if maybe you fall into the category where this really isn't going to be what's in the cards for you at this point, you know, I'm not saying that to make people mad. I'm saying this for the young people in the room. Don't go out there and go try to have the best of the world in your 20s and your 30s and make a mess out of your life and then expect to have the best of your life, of God's life in your 40s. It doesn't work like that. You know, people go out there, and this is the world's philosophy today, oh, just go out there, live it up, sleep around, you know, just party, do whatever you want, and then, you know, sober up in your 30s or whatever, and then settle down and raise some kids. It doesn't work that way. And maybe you know some people, but, you know, I know some people, too, where it didn't work out like that. And you say, well, what's the best that God has to offer? What's so, you know, what's so great about serving God? How about having a nice, normal life? How about being free of disease and addiction? That sounds pretty good to me. You know, I'm glad I'm not, you know, strung out on drugs somewhere. I'm glad I'm not on my third wife or something. And look, I'm not saying that to make people mad. I'm saying that for the people that haven't made those mistakes. Look, people that have made those mistakes, people that have experienced those things, I'm not mad at you, I'm glad you're here, I'm glad you love the Lord and you've figured it out. God bless you, you can still serve God and do great things for God. But I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I'm just saying, you know what? There's people in this room that don't need to make those same mistakes. They can have the best that God has to offer them. But they have to get it through their heads that you can't have both. They can't just go out in the world and live however you want, and then one day, then I'm gonna just get right with God and everything's gonna be fine. That's not how it works. You know, and I'm trying to sell, you know, the goodness of God up here tonight, okay? Look at Psalm 128, verse one. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord. Why should I fear God? Do you wanna be blessed or not? Because that's a promise in the word of God. If you fear God, you will be blessed. So don't walk out of here with no fear in your heart towards God and expect God to bless you. It's not gonna happen. If you want God to bless you, you have to fear him. God doesn't bless people that don't fear him. God doesn't bless people that scoff and mock and ridicule and run off into the world and run off into sin. God doesn't bless them, God chastens those people. God punishes them. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways. Oh, well, if I walk in his ways and I can't go out there, you know, and go to all the parties and go and have all the best the world has to offer. Oh, okay, well, then you pick. Blessing of God or what the world has to offer. You can't have the best of both worlds. And let me tell you, what the world's selling as the best, it's nothing. It doesn't even come close to what God has to offer. You know, blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee. These are promises. You say, well, what's in store for the Christian life? Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. Thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold that thus shall be the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. You know, if you live a godly Christian life as a young person, you know what God will bless you with? A family. You know, and again, I understand that this is just, people have made decisions in life and this is kind of not for them. And I'm not trying to rub anybody's face in anything. I'm just trying to sell the goodness of God to the young people in the room. Because I can remember at a young age, after getting saved, wanting nothing more than a wife and children. When I, you know, my early 20s, 21, 22 years old, I remember just sitting there and wanting nothing more than to just have a nice, normal family. You know, and I'm not trying to cache into my parents. I'm not somebody who came up in a nice, normal family. So I can appreciate, you know, having a nice, normal family. You know, the gag in my family was, we put the fun in dysfunction. Like there's nothing fun about dysfunction. It sounds cute, but there's nothing fun about it. It's misery, okay? That's what I wanted in my early 20s. You know what I did? I went to all the bars. I smoked all the pot. You know, I got drunk. I stayed out late. I slept with a bunch of women, and then God just, you know, when I turned 30, just gave me my wife and kids, and now here I am, the deacon of the church. You think that's what I did? No, I got in church. I quit running around with a bunch of bozos, sobered up. I got in church, got in God's Word, started serving God for the next, you know, seven, eight years, and eventually God sent me a wife. And a prudent wife is from the Lord, the Bible says. That's where they come from. You know, whosoever findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. So I'm trying to sell the, you know, the goodness of God, because I'll tell you what, like I said early in the sermon, I've got it pretty good. I praise God every day for what I've got. You know, and you can be envious. You can be mad at me for that, but here's the thing. I didn't spend my 20s and my 30s running around like an idiot either, okay? I was in church. I've been in church. I've been serving God. Have I been perfect? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes. But I wasn't one of these people who just thinks, well, I can just go do whatever I want, and then when I turn 40 or whatever, God's just gonna turn it all around for me. That's not how it works. You have to fear God. I mean, that's what he says in the very beginning. Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. Then these things come, okay? So again, that part of the message is directed towards the people to whom that still applies, okay? Don't think you're giving, oh, you know, I'm just gonna do whatever I want. I'm gonna get the best of both worlds. You're gonna get the best of the world, and then you're gonna find out it's nothing. It's heartache. It's loss. It's regret. It's shame. And then, you know, some of these things might just be permanently off the table at some point. If you make enough mistakes, a lot of that's just gone, and you don't have that blessing. I understand people can still have other blessings, but I'm trying to get that across to some of the young people in the room, because the world is leaning very hard on our young people. The devil is after the young people in this room. I'm not gonna sit here and say that I'm invincible, but I feel like I've resisted. The Bible says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And I've spent enough time, I think, pushing back and resisting the devil, and that, you know, he kind of knows, like, all right, some of these things aren't gonna work on him anymore. He's kind of settled in here. And again, him that taketh he stand to take heed lest he fall, I understand that, okay? I don't mean to say that in a prideful way. What I'm getting at is that, you know, there are other people in the room where there's things that will still work on them. The things that aren't gonna get to me are still gonna get to some of the other people in this room. You know, the devil can still get some of these young people with a lot of the snares that are out there. You know, he can still throw out the drugs, throw out the, you know, the pornography. He can still throw out, you know, the loose women. He can still throw out the sleeping around. He can still throw out and can get you. And I'm not saying that I'm just, you know, far above that none of that's ever gonna touch me, but honestly though, I mean, who do you think that's gonna have a greater appeal to at this point? You know, the 40-year-old who's got a wife and kids and, you know, is settled into a career, you know, I've got other things, okay? Those things can still work, but you know what? I'm telling you this, I'm not so ignorant and naive to sit here and think that those things aren't being pushed in some of the faces of our kids in this room. The devil isn't working on you to try and get you. And say, oh, don't listen to that preacher. Don't go to that, he doesn't know what he's talking about. That's just some old book. You don't need to fear God. There's nothing, what are you worried about? Lions, come on, listen to him. Go find out. You know, I hope you listen. I don't want you to go find out, but you know what? You will. You'll be just like Israel in this story. Just all the preaching, all the prophets coming, warning, telling you, don't, stop, get right. This is, bad things are gonna happen. And then God just gets quiet and all of a sudden it's just. Maybe it won't happen, you know, next week. Might not happen this decade. Maybe you'll wake up one day, you know, in your middle age and go, I made some huge mistakes in my youth. Don't let that be you, young person. Don't let that be you. That'd be a real shame to sit under the preaching that you sat under in this church and from other pulpits and then go out there and just make a complete mess out of your youth. It's completely unnecessary. You know, and God, and here's the thing, it's not like you have to sit there and wait for God to bless you. It's like, okay, I just gotta hold out for the next 20 years so I can be like the deacon. It's like, God will bless you every step of the way. God will bless you all along the way, God's blessings. But you know what? You're not gonna get the best of both worlds. You can't have it. You can either have the fear of the Lord. You can either have God, you know, fearing God and the blessings that come with that or you can have what the world has to offer and fear God in the sense of what he's gonna do to you. You know, the choice is yours. Let's go and pray.