(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Let's look back at verse number 9, where the Bible reads, He that sayeth he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother biteth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. The Bible gives a strong warning here about a person who has become blinded. Now this blinding is not a physical blindness, it's a spiritual blindness that can happen to a brother in Christ when he has hatred in his heart, specifically to another brother in Christ. Whenever we hate our brother in Christ, this hatred can cause a blinding effect where we start doing bad things, we start having no discernment, we no longer have that light, we make a lot of bad decisions, we can fall into kind of some dark paths. When we look at chapter number 4, the whole book of 1 John is really emphasizing loving your brother. It's all about loving your brother in Christ and emphasizing this point. Look what it says in verse 20, chapter 4 verse 20, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? So the Bible is saying, if you go around telling everybody how much you love God, yet you hate your literal brothers and sisters in Christ, then you're a liar. Then you don't really love God. Then that shows a lack of love that you have for God himself. How could you claim to love someone that you can't even see when you have God's people right in front of you and you can't just love them? Now it says in chapter 3, look at verse number 21, I'm sorry, go to John chapter number 3, and I'll just read for you in 1 John chapter 2 it says, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Now here's a question that we could ask ourselves, where does this blinding hatred come from? I mean, it doesn't come out of a vacuum. You don't just all of a sudden just hate your brother in Christ or have this visceral reaction towards your brother in Christ. And what I want to present to you is this, that it comes from the pride of life. It comes from pride. And the title of my sermon this evening is Blinded by Pride. Blinded by Pride. When we become prideful, it can have this blinding effect on us, it can cause us to hate our brothers and sisters in Christ, and not only that, then you can go into all manner of heresy, fornication, wickedness, sin, it's just a dark, dark road that it leads to. Now those that love the truth, they love the light, they're going to come to it. But those that don't, you know, reject it. Look at John chapter 3 verse 21, the Bible says this, But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. So if you love the light, you'll come out from the darkness into that light, and you'll want to know what you're really like. Your deeds will become manifest. This person that's becoming blinded, they're not wanting to go to the light, they've retracted themselves from that light, and they're not really interested in anything they're doing wrong. This sounds like an attribute to someone that's prideful, right? If you're prideful, you don't want to know what you're doing that's wrong, you're not interested in correction, you're not interested in any kind of instruction, no, you're just completely and utterly self-reliant. Now go over to 1 Samuel chapter 15, I'm going to go through a story in the Bible that illustrates this picture, this spiritual picture of spiritual blindness here. But the Bible says in Proverbs 29, it warns, A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. The Bible says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Something, an attitude that can get inside every single one of us is pride, and pride is an extremely dangerous sin. Why? Because pride will lead to other sins. Pride can lead to hatred, and then when you get the hatred in your heart for your brother, you become so blinded, you could do all manner of evil, all manner of wickedness, and we're going to see this picture with King Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 15 and throughout the Bible. But look at verse number 16, this is what the Bible says about Saul, it says, Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. So Samuel comes unto Saul, Saul's sinned against the Lord, and Samuel's going to give him the word of the Lord, it says in verse 17, And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? Now notice this certain word in verse 17, wast. He's saying you used to be humble, you used to think little of yourself, now you are too big for your britches, now you think your big stuff, now you've elevated yourself in your own mind, you no longer are little in your own sight. You know, King Saul was great in stature, he was head and shoulders above all the children of Israel, and whenever they were going to call for him to be the king, he hid himself among the stuff. He was so little in his own sight, he's like, Who am I? You know, I'm of the smallest tribe and of the smallest family, because the Benjaminites got decimated in Judges chapter number 20 and 21, alright? But that's a different story. But here's the thing, King Saul was humble at one point in his life. And when he was really humble, what happened? God made him king, God elevated the humble person, but because of his position, because now he's of great stature, because God has blessed him, it's driven a lot of pride into his heart. And you know, I warn you, Christian, I warn Steadfast Baptist Church, you know, we don't want to get this arrogant, prideful attitude, well look at what we're doing, look how great we are. You know, our church is thriving, and I'm thriving as a personal Christian, and we're doing all these great works, and we're going out and winning all these people in Christ, you know, don't think too highly of yourself. We need to continue to be little in our own sight. We need to have the same humility that you had when the church started in someone's living room. You say, wow, this is, you know, this is a humbling experience. Having a church in your living room is humbling. Having a church service with two or three, four, five people is humbling. And you know what, we need humbling experiences in our life. You know, I like sending my groups out to go soul winning in the richest neighborhoods. You know why? Because it'll humble you. If we always go to the ghetto, it's like, oh man, we're just getting, you know, five and six, I got this many people saying, you go to the richest neighborhood, it's just like zero, zero, zero, you know. I got the cops called on me, you know. I had someone slam the door in my face, you know, I had someone yell at me, Pastor Shelley got another voicemail, you know, whatever it is, but that's humbling. And we need some humility in our lives. Thank God for humility, thank God that sometimes He reminds us who we are and that we are just man, we are dust. And whenever you become the king of Israel, it can have an effect on you that causes you to think more highly than you really are. You know, and this could happen in the Christian life. Somebody becomes, you know, a great evangelist or someone becomes a deacon or someone gets any kind of position of authority. Hey, I'm the song leader, you know. Hey, I'm the Bible reader. Hey, I play an instrument. You know, hey, I'm a pastor, you know. That can go to someone's head. Whatever position that someone gets into, and we don't want to lose our humility because of the positions that we're in, so we notice that pride is sunk into Saul's heart. Saul has become prideful, but that's not the end of his sin. It gets worse, way worse. Look at verse 18. And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners and the Amalekites and fight against them until they be consumed. So this is what Saul is being reminded of by Samuel, verse 19, Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. So notice Samuel delivers him the word of God, and what is Saul's initial reaction? He rejects the word of God. He literally says, No, I did do it. No, I did obey the voice of the Lord. He just argues with the prophet. He argues with the man of God. He argues with the word of God itself. He rejects the word of God. He says in verse 21, But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice the Lord thy God, and Gilgal. So he says, Well, you know, I did it. But the people, he starts blaming other people. You know, I'm righteous, but the people are bad. The people are wicked. Verse 22, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord his great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices and obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. So notice from God's perspective that he says, Oh, you're right, Saul. It was the people. Just a bunch of bad sheeple. You know, they were just, they were going up on their own. They were just rebellious. No, he said that Saul had rebelled against the Lord. It was Saul's fault. And here's the thing. If you're in a position of leadership, it's always your fault. You need to take the ownership and take the responsibility. And whenever you see a problem, you have to fix it if you're in a position of leadership. You know, you can't be like, Well, these people, they're just bad. No, tell them that they're bad and fix it. Tell them that they're doing something wrong. Step in there. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy. Sometimes you have to be the boss first and the buddy second. Now look what it says in verse 24, and Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou has rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle and it writ, and Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. Then he said, I have sinned, yet, order me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God, so Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. Now what's interesting is Saul initially does not take responsibility for his action. After being rebuked a second time, he finally admits that he sinned, yet he asks Samuel to pardon him, and Samuel says no. Now what is Saul's next reaction? He says in verse number 30, then he said, I have sinned, yet, honor me now. Now think about this statement, okay? I've sinned. I've screwed up. Please honor me in front of the people. I mean, shouldn't you be shamed? Shouldn't there be a consequence to the action? But rather, the only thing Saul cares about is this, that the people have respect for him, that the people like him. He only wants to keep his position of authority. He's not interested in doing that which is right. He doesn't say, well Samuel, you're leaving these people as sheep without a shepherd. What are we supposed to do? Let the Lord anoint somebody, or if this guy's so much better, let's put him in position. Is there any other way? He could have humbled himself even more, but yet he decides to go another path and say, well, why don't you just at least give me the respect of the people even though I sinned? He cares more about his own reputation than the people. He cares more about his own reputation than the word of God. Why? Because he's prideful. Go to chapter 18. Go to chapter number 18. He's worried now though because he already told him that he's not going to repent. He's going to get replaced. You've got to think, every single day of Saul, he's always wondering, when's that neighbor going to show up that's better than me? When am I going to get replaced? He knows that the word of God's going to come true. You can tell that Saul throughout his ministry is going to always kind of have that, he's always kind of on the lookout, right? He's always kind of waiting. He's like, who's that guy that's going to come and take me? But ultimately, he's not interested in the service of God. The only thing he's interested in is clinging on to his position. He just wants to hang on to a position that he shouldn't even have. He has just, he's not willing to humble himself in any way. This could apply to a lot of people, all right? 1 Samuel chapter 18, look at verse 5, David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely and Saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. It came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine that the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music and the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David is ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth and the saying displeased him and he said, they have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. He's thinking, oh, where is this guy? This guy, the only thing left for him to take is the kingdom. And he's still thinking about what Samuel said, how someone's gonna be better than him and going to replace him. So he's noticing it's probably David. He's identifying this must be David, this must be the guy that's better than me. He's killing more people than me and because Saul is prideful and he only cares about his position, it causes a visceral reaction towards David. He now starts to have a hatred for David. What has David done wrong? Nothing. He killed Goliath, he's rescued Israel, he set him over the men of war. The Bible says that he behaved himself wisely. You know what that means? David did that which is right all the time. He was always perfect. He was always above reproach. He thought about all the details. He made sure the job was done correctly. He went above and beyond what he was asked. Think about this, whenever he gave him a commandment about giving foreskins for his daughter, he asked for 100, David delivered 200. You know, a really good servant doesn't only just do what he's asked, he goes above what he's asked. He's thinking about all the problems and the situations going on and he's gonna do even more. If you wanna get promoted at your job, do above what you're asked. Do more than what you're asked to do and then your boss will be very pleased with you. But, if you have a prideful boss like Saul, he might hate you, okay? Saul is a bad boss. Saul is filled with pride. Now, I wanna take a quick second from our story and define something for you, okay? Because unfortunately, our society doesn't understand words in the Bible and they try to attack good men, they would attack someone like David. And they would say, well, David's prideful. But there's a difference between David and Saul in this story, it's very clear, okay? There's a difference between being confident and being prideful. And what do we understand about David? David is confident in killing Goliath. Now, somebody would look at that, oh, he's so prideful, he's gonna destroy Goliath. But here's the thing, he wasn't prideful about it, he was confident that the Lord would deliver him. He was confident in the Lord's strength and that was a good attribute in him. We don't wanna get so gun-shy where we can't have confidence today. And the Bible warns about people that are self-willed and they try to exert themselves and they try to talk about how great they are. And we're worried about pride. But we don't wanna get this opposite attitude or opposite spirit where we're so meek and mild that we're never willing to go to battle or fight or have any level of confidence. Look, confidence good, pride bad. You say, that seems like a thin line. It's not a thin line. They're very different attributes in a person. David is extremely confident that he could kill Goliath. But you know what? David would have been fine if his brother killed Goliath. David would have been fine if Saul killed Goliath. David was just mad no one was doing it. David's just like, I'm mad that this giant hasn't been taken down. That's what made him upset is that nobody was doing the job. And he says, you know what? I'll do it. And you know why I'm gonna win? Cuz God's on my side. Not because I'm great. Not because anything's special about me. So notice there's a big difference between confidence and pride. What does pride say? Well, I'm the only person that could kill Goliath. I should be the one that gets to do it. I'm so wonderful. Why haven't you picked me already? Why haven't you chosen me to slay this giant already? You know, David is very confident in helping Achish. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 28, 1 Samuel chapter 28. So how do we identify the difference between confidence and pride? Well, here's the thing. Confidence is saying, I know I can get the job done. Pride is saying, I'm the only one that can do it. It has to be me. Pick me. Anybody else that does it is a bad person. There's a huge difference between these two. And there's, I want everyone to have confidence. Hey, I want you to think, you know what? I could get this person saved when I go out to the door. But you know what? My soul winning partner can too. Why don't I let him do it? But if he's not gonna get the job done, I'm gonna get in there and I'm gonna get the job done. Hey, have some confidence today. That doesn't make you self-willed. That doesn't make you prideful. That doesn't make you a bad person. And you know what? When someone exudes confidence, you'll be accused of being prideful. And you say, hey, I believe what the Bible says. Oh, you're so prideful. Hey, I know I'm going to heaven. Oh, you're so prideful. I'm not prideful. I'm just confident that the Lord's gonna give me eternal life when I believe in him. I'm confident that he's gonna save me. It's not that I'm prideful about how wonderful I am. I'm confident about what God's gonna do for me. I'm putting my trust in the Lord. And true humility comes from putting your trust in the Lord. And not in yourself. And not in your own strength. And not thinking something highly above that which is written. Now, David was a very confident man, though. Look at 1 Samuel 28, verse 2. And David said to Achish, surely, thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, therefore, will I make thee keeper of mine head forever. So now David, he comes on to Achish, and he wants to serve him. And he says, surely you know what I can do. And you know what he's saying here? I can kill anybody. Surely you know who I am. You know how I killed 10,000 of your guys? I can kill everybody. Put me in, coach. We're gonna win the game. I mean, he's not lacking in confidence. But the thing is, David's not willing to get into a battle that his leadership doesn't want him to get into. Hey, I'm ready. I'm here to fight. Put me in. But if the coach says no, then he's like, OK. Hey, he's willing to serve Saul. He doesn't have to be the king. He doesn't care about being king. He just wants the job to get done. Saul's the one that cares about being king. And you know what? It's proven by the fact that he goes to the Philistines. All he wants to do is just submit himself to the authority in there. He just submits himself to Achish. You know, he just submits himself to whatever person is in that position. And he just says, hey, I'm here. I'm willing to help. And I'm willing to do anything. And here's my job task list. Or here's my resume. I can do anything. Put me in, you know? So hey, I want the men of this church to have confidence today. I want you to exude confidence. But you know what? Let's identify some things that David doesn't do. He doesn't sing his own praises. You know who sang the praises of David? The women did. When did David go around making up songs about himself? He didn't. He let other people sing about him and tell of his greatness. Now when he comes to his boss, his boss is like, what can you do? I can kill all of them. But he's not going around just bragging and singing his own praises. That's pride. Singing your own praises and telling people, I wonder if you are, pride. Knowing that you're capable of doing it, confidence. David isn't a threat. He's not threatened by other great men. You know, if you're confident, you're not threatened by other people. Well, I'm a better sower than you are. It's like if someone's a great sower, I'm thinking, great. Hey, if you're a great preacher, great. I'm not threatened by you being a great preacher. Hey, if you're really good at anything, it doesn't threaten me. David's not going around feeling threatened about Saul. He's not feeling threatened about Achish. He's not feeling threatened by these other people. You know, he's confident in what he can do. David also doesn't have to attack his brothers in Christ. Pride. Pride is attacking your brothers in Christ. He's not knocking other people down. He's not like, hey, Achish, you know I'm better than Saul, right? Saul's just a bozo. Saul couldn't even, you know, hold my sword. Now, he's not attacking. That would be pride. He's not tearing others down. That would be pride. David is content to be a follower and doesn't have to be in charge. When does David ever put himself in charge of anything? No, never. See, anyone comes into town, anoints David. David shows up. No one's willing to fight. He's the last man on the roster. He says, Saul, I'll do it. Saul puts him in charge. Hey, he goes out in the wilderness. A bunch of men just come unto him and just follow him. Hey, he goes into the Philistines. He just submits himself to Achish. And then eventually, the men are like, let's put you in charge. Let's make him king at Hebron. But here's the thing. David was not going around trying to promote himself, trying to be in charge. He's content with being a follower. Also, here's another way you can identify confidence versus pride. He wants to be used. But you know what? He wants to be used to get the job done, not for promotion. He wants the job to get done, not for promotion. And here's the last way you can look at confidence for him. He's prepared for the battle. He's always ready. So if I look at a man, you know what tells me if he's confident? He's already ready. He's ready to be put in. He wants to be put in. But you know, his motivation is to get the job done, not for promotion. He's not singing his own praises. He's not tearing his brother down. But he's ready to destroy the enemy. And you don't want to fight against David. That's what makes a big difference between confidence and pride. And you know what? I hope that I foster confidence in the men in this room. I want you to be confident. I want you to be prepared. I want you to go to battle. But let's not get a haughty attitude with that. Bible says, only by pride cometh contention, but with a well-advised wisdom. You know what? If you're not a prideful person, you would get along with David. David would get along with anybody who's not prideful. It's the prideful person that can't get along with David. Why? Because he threatens them in every way. He's better than them. He's stronger than them. He's more confident than them. So they just can't handle a David in their life. There are certain people, they just can't be around David. Saul can't handle being around David because he's prideful. A good leader can identify a David in his life and say, I'm glad David's on my team. I don't have to be the David. I could be the Saul. And Saul was still the first person mentioned in that song. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 22. But because of this pride, because of the arrogance of Saul's heart, you know what it does? It causes a hatred for David. When David is the person that should be loved. I mean, when we think about David, it's a common baby name. He's one of the most loved characters of the Bible. We all look at him with adoration. You know, a prideful person would say, well, why not me? I would have been a better David. You know, I wouldn't have committed adultery with Bathsheba. You know, I'm better than David is. I'm more righteous. You know, I would have killed 300 Philistines, you know? They have this idea that they're better than everyone, even David himself. Whereas a humble person would look at David and think, I could never be like David. David's amazing. I should learn from the good of David's life. But what does Saul do? Because he's prideful and hates him, he plays the victim. Look at verse number 6. 1 Samuel chapter 22, verse 6. When Saul heard that David was discovered and the men that were with him, now Saul bowed in Gibeah under a tree at Remah, having a spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. Then Saul said to the servants that stood about him, here now, you Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse? And there is none of you that is sorry for me or showeth unto me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as at this day? Now, here's the thing. Saul has literally become insane. He thinks that everyone is conspiring against him. There is no conspiracy. He thinks that they all just despise him. No one surprises Saul. They love Saul. Saul's their king. He's not in any threat. But he feels the threat because he's prideful, because he's envious of David. And then he plays the victim card. Oh, you're not sorry for me? Well, here's my question. What did David do to you that you're playing the victim? He ran away. He said, I'm not going to let you just keep throwing javelins at me. He told you that it was wrong for you to kill him. I'm not going to just sit here and take the abuse that you're giving me. And now, all of a sudden, he plays the victim. Isn't that interesting? People do this. They'll lie about you and slander you and attack you privily. And then they'll go around and say, why aren't you sorry for me? This guy's calling me out for being a liar and a slanderer. It's like, what in the world? How are you playing the victim? You were the one attacking me. I'm just over here serving God. And because of your pride, you started attacking me privily. And then when I just made it public, all of a sudden, I'm the bad guy. You're the victim. This is crazy what people will do. But it's the same playbook. They will start to begin to play the victim. This says in verse 9, then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was said over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Himalek, the son of Ahijah. Now, Doeg's a very wicked person. And he's willing to fall for the lies of Saul. He's ready to do Saul's bidding. Even though Saul is filled with pride and envy and hatred for his brother in Christ, Doeg doesn't have any morals. Doeg is amoral, basically. He just doesn't even care about anything. He's only looking for promotion. And he sees his opportunity to be promoted in the kingdom of Saul. So he's going to go for it. Now, there's even more false accusation. Let's keep reading. It says in verse 10, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him vittles. This is Doeg retelling the story. It says, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob. And they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, hear my, my Lord. And Saul said in him, why have you conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse? And that thou has given him bread and a sword and has inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in wait as at this day. So Saul says, hey, how come you, the priest, and David are conspiring to kill me? What's with this coup? Now, this is a false accusation. The priest did not have a coup, number one. Number two, David's not lying in wait to kill Saul. David's running away. I mean, the guy's chasing down his victim, and like, oh, this guy's trying to get me. It's like, what are you talking about? I mean, imagine your night stalkers calling the police like, this guy just won't leave me alone. I mean, I'm knocking on his door, and he's waiting for me on his couch at home. It's like, what are you talking about? You're breaking into his house. How is he attacking you? But he's making up these false accusations. So when you become prideful and you have hatred of your brother, you're going to play the victim. You're going to start to falsely accuse your brother in Christ. Says in verse 14, then a himalek answered the king and said, and who is so faithful among all thy servants is David, which is the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding in his honorable night house. So a himalek's confused. He's saying, why are you saying that David's trying to kill you? He's your best guy. He loves you. He'll do anything that you ask. He'll love you in return. Oh, he's conspiring against me. Verse number 16 says, and the king said, thou shalt surely die, a himalek, thou and all thy father's house. Not only does he have so much hatred for David that he's willing to kill David, he's willing to kill anybody that stands on David's side. Kill a himalek. What was a himalek's sin? For noting that David was a faithful servant of Saul? He didn't conspire against him. He was a servant of Saul. He was on Saul's side. But he realizes that Saul can't have any kind of rebellion here, because that'll point out that he's at fault. So he has to just kill a himalek. Verse 17, and the king said, and the footman stood about him, turn and slay the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. So notice, not everybody's falling for this dialogue here. They say, you know what, I'm not going to just kill God's man when you just make a false accusation against the man of God, against the brother in Christ. And you know what? God willing, we'd all have the same integrity that if someone comes up to you and starts making false accusation against your brothers and sisters in Christ, you won't just take out the sword and slay with them. And notice, Saul's not willing to do the dirty work himself. He wants other people to do the dirty work for him. He wants to get other people to kill for him, but they won't do it. Yet there is a son of Belial there, Doag. Verse 18, and the king said to Doag, turn now and fall upon the priests. And Doag the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. Verse 19, and Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children in sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with the edge of the sword. Not only did Doag kill the priests, he killed their whole family. A complete and total destruction. Why? Because he has hatred for David. Remind you, what did David do wrong? Nothing. David is doing absolutely nothing wrong. And you know what's crazy about this story? Saul is saved. Saul is a saved Christian, and he's literally commanding people to go out and kill man, woman, child, animal, beast, all of it, because of his hatred towards David. Because he's blinded by pride. It started off with pride. Look where it's taken him already. Just a complete massacre of an entire city. Just destruction. And you know what? This happens today spiritually in all kinds of other ways. There's a lot of preachers out there today who hate the new IFB. They hate the men of God. They hate brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know what? They are willing to literally slay man, woman, boy, child, and girl at the expense of just loving their brother in Christ. There will be people, they'll show up at a church. They got saved. They want to get plugged in. They want to be a blessing to the church. They'll show up, and they'll say, oh, how'd you get saved? Oh, I listened to a video by a guy named Pastor Steven Anderson. He gave the gospel, and I got saved. And they're like, get out. They're like, hey, pastor, I saw this cool documentary. It's called New World Order Bible Versions. It's in support of the King James only position. Y'all are King James, right? Get out. Just kill the family. They can't even serve God in that area. Why? Because they have so much hatred for David. And here's my question. What did David do? Oh, he slayed too many Philistines, didn't he? Too many people were singing his praises for all the documentaries and all the souls saved and all the things. I mean, this guy's behaving himself wisely, yet Saul just has to kill David and anybody that stands with him too. It's not just David. Oh, you're conspiring against me. You like King James material? You like the gospel? You like soul winning? You're against me now. It's like, what are you talking about? There's literally Sam Gipp and some of these other preachers. They say that Pastor Anderson will create these conspiracy mobs, and they'll just come into a church, and they're trying to overthrow the leadership. And they'll get up and literally teach us their people. They'll say that there's these mobs sneaking into churches, trying to take over the church and the authority. And it's like, look, he could care less. He's not conspiring against you. And so they'll just slay people spiritually. They'll get them out of church. They can't serve God. They can't do that, which is right. You know what I'm saying is right here. They hate David. And here's the thing. Why would you hate David? I mean, how can you look at a man like David and get so much anger and so much visceral hatred? It's because of the pride in your heart. That's the only way. And you know what? If you say you love God and you hate David, you're a liar. And you know what? You say you love God and you hate Pastor Anderson, you're a liar. That's what I say. And I feel like the literal Jonathan in the story who's trying to play intercession between Saul and David many times. And I'm thinking like, I like David. David's a really good guy. And why can't we get on David's side here? But you know, people will literally hate me and have nothing to do with me just because I like David. I've called preachers. I've called pastors. I've called churches. Hey, can we fellowship? Hey, would you ever want to preach for me? No, why? Because you're friends with Pastor Anderson. Call me guilty. You know? King Saul wanted to throw a javelin at his own son, Jonathan, for just sticking up for David. For saying, what has David done? What did he do? And here's the thing, they can never point. When does Saul ever point anything out? He says, oh, he just conspired against me. He didn't conspire against you. You started attacking the crap out of him and then all he did was just point out how you're attacking him. And it's like, oh, I'm now the victim. You're not a victim. You're the predator. You know, there's people that are envious also of who my friends are. They're envious that I even have good friends. And so they just want to attack me because I have a good friend. And just because I'm friends with Pastor Anderson or somebody else, Pastor Menes or some great guy out there just because I have a little bit of a friendship with them they get mad and envious at me just because I'm their friend and so they hate me too. They'll hate you too. They'll hate all kinds of people just because they can't stand it that you have good friends. You know why? Because they don't. And you know what? This happens with women, okay? Let me make an application here. There are women out there and they'll identify another lady that they really want to be friends with. You know what? That lady already has a best friend. And you know what they'll start to do? They'll start to hate that other woman because they're envious of that relationship. They'll say, oh, I want to be this lady's best friend but she already has best friend Beatrice. We'll call her Beatrice, all right? And she's like, I don't like that Beatrice. There's nothing wrong with Beatrice. She's a good friend. She's got a weird name but she's a really good friend. You know what? And they start making lies and slander against Beatrice and they're willing to crucify her family even, attack her children. Why? Because they just want that relationship. You know what? We ought not get this pride and envy in our heart and our hatred towards our brothers and sisters in Christ because it'll cause you to make all kinds of crazy mistakes. Don't hate your brother, it'll blind you. You know, these preachers, they'll get up and they get so much pride, they'll literally tell their congregation, you're not allowed to listen to any other preachers. Don't listen to any other sermons. I don't want you to listen to these other people, listen to the other guys. You know why they're afraid of you listening to their sermons? Because they realize that they're better. You know, I'm not like, don't listen to Fannin now. I don't want you to like, get caught away. It's like, if you want a really good laugh, listen all day long, you know? If you want to poison your ears. And if someone is better than me, that doesn't threaten me. You know why? Because I'm confident that I know the Bible too and I can get up and preach edifying sermons too. And if someone preaches a better sermon than me, praise God! I hope so. What did God, all the Lord's people are prophets. Envious thou for my sake? Who cares about Pastor Shelley? It doesn't matter. Who cares about you? He must increase, I must decrease. It's not about me. And you know what? A good minister is gonna try and encourage his men to be better than him, not to stay under him. Not like, I'm the king here. Everybody bow down. You can't kill as many people as me and if you do, you're out. No, you shouldn't want everybody to kill more people than you. Don't get blinded by pride and envy. No one can steal their glory. You know, it's not about the glory, Saul. You need to go back to being little in your own sight. You're always the victim. Don't you just feel so sorry for me? No one does, okay? Just get over yourself. So they just start railing on their brothers in Christ. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 23, 1 Samuel chapter 23. What's the title of the sermon? Blinded by Pride, Blinded by Pride. This can happen to every single one of us. Don't let pride blind you and have hatred towards your brothers and sisters in Christ. We should love every brother and sister in Christ. 1 Samuel chapter 23 verse 25. Saul also and his men went to seek him. He's talking about David. And they told David, wherefore he came down into a rock and abode in the wilderness of Mahon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Mahon. And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain. And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. The Bible tells, hey, Saul's on this side, David's on that side. You know what Saul can never do? He can never find David. But you know what's cool about this story? Whenever you find Jonathan, it's like Jonathan went to the wilderness and went straight to David. Hey, David, he can be found by Jonathan like that, but Saul can never find him. You know why? He's been blinded. He's been blinded. He doesn't even know where he's going. He's going on a scavenger hunt to kill his brother in Christ while the enemy's raging. What did Saul accomplish in these last several chapters of the Bible for God? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He's destroying his kingdom. He's destroying his house. He's destroying all of his relationships. He's destroying his reputation. Why? Because he's been blinded with pride. Go to 1st Samuel 28, 1st Samuel 28. Then it gets weird. And here's the thing. When you get blinded by pride and you hate your brother in Christ, God will make you do all manner of evil. And he says he kills so many prophets and God gets to a point where he's done with Saul. Done, nothing. 1st Samuel 28, verse five. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled, verse six. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim nor by prophets. Then said Saul and his servants, seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And here's the thing. When you're blinded by pride and you're so carnal and you're so in the flesh, you know what will not make sense to you? This. And let me tell you what, you cannot preach three times a week without allowing the Lord to help you. You need God's blessing. You need God's help. You can't just blind yourself. And you know what their preaching starts doing? These pastors that have this attitude, their preaching turns into complete crap. To complete carnal nonsense. You know why? Because God's not speaking to them anymore. God's done with them. God's rejected them. They're not gonna hear the Lord's voice anymore and they're gonna start believing heresy and false doctrine. When you get blinded by pride, it's a dangerous road and you're gonna start teaching all manner of evil. And you look at somebody and you're like, how in the world could you do that? It's because they're blind. They don't even know where they're going. He's literally inquiring of a witch. Saved Christians can literally go and inquire of witches today. It happens. And you say, how does that happen? They were blinded by pride. They thought too highly of themselves. And because of that pride, it takes them down a dark road. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. We start rebelling against the word of God. You can believe any heresy. And when God's not talking to you, well, let's just find a witch to tell us something. It's like, what in the world? Is this not enough? You have to ask a witch what to do? And look, Christians do this. It's bizarre. Promoting witches. Promoting all manner of evil and things that are false and so called. Look, the only instruction we should be getting is from God's word. Women aren't even supposed to teach the Bible. Let alone teach you witchcraft. What in the world? He's so blinded. And they'll embrace raging heretics. Like David Icke. You say, why would anybody listen to David Icke as a Christian? Because they're blinded by pride. Let me tell you, I went to the Wikipedia on David Icke, okay, and I am not an expert. Listen to David Icke. And tell me if you think this is a person you should learn anything from. He claims to be the Godhead in physical form like Jesus. He says there's been many people that are the Godhead embodied on Earth and in the past. Not just Jesus, others. And he is literally part of the Godhead. He said this on national television. It gets worse, okay. I don't know if it gets worse, but it gets weirder, okay. Icke believes that an interdimensional race of reptilian beings called archons have hijacked the Earth and are stopping humanity from realizing its true potential. He has a really good perspective on the Earth. He claims they are the same beings as the Nukinai, deities from the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elis, and are the fallen angels or watchers who mated with human women in the biblical Apocrypha. He believes that a genetically modified human-archon hybrid race of shape-shifting reptilians known as the Babylonian Brotherhood or the Illuminati manipulate global events to keep humans in constant fear. This guy has got a strong head on his shoulders. So the archons can, he says this, so the archons can feed off the negative energy this creates. He's so convinced the negative energy, he only wears turquoise for a long period of his life because he believes turquoise brings in all the good energy, and black clothes are all the negative energy. That's why I took my coat off for the evening, okay? I don't want any of these extra negative energies. So we have a turquoise tie I can borrow up here, no. In The Biggest Secret, this is a book he wrote, Ike identified the Brotherhood as descendants of reptilians from the constellation Draco and said they live in caverns inside the Earth. This sounds bizarre, look, Christians are literally promoting this guy. What viewpoint, if I told you all that, what would you want to hear me say next about anything? I don't care what, I don't care if he's the greatest chef on Earth, I don't want his recipe. Ike said in an interview, when you get back into the ancient world, you find this reoccurring, back into the ancient world, you find this reoccurring theme of a union between a non-human race and humans creating a hybrid race. He said from 1998, I started coming across people who told me they have seen people change into a non-human form. It's an age old phenomenon known as shape shifting. The basic form is like a scaly humanoid with reptilian rather than humanoid eyes. Oh yeah, but he's really understands what's going on with COVID. It's reptilian demons that are living inside the Earth. You are bizarre, my friend. I remember that witch and indoor saying, God's coming out of the Earth. Makes me think of this reptilian race nonsense that this guy's spouting. You know, why do people do this crap? Because they're blinded by pride, my friend. Because they have hatred in their heart for their brothers and sisters in Christ, and instead of listening to godly counsel, they have to go to the strangest, creepiest, weirdest things. And I wouldn't even believe that if we didn't have Saul in the Bible. I'd be like, how could anybody do this? But Saul did it. Go to Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians chapter number two. Look, embracing raging heretics. Why would I listen to anything that an anti-Christ has to say? He claims to be Jesus. Done. Any anti-Christ, you know what opinion I want to hear from them? None. They should be put to silence. Like Ben Shapiro. But he has so many good political ideas. Have you seen him destroy this transgender argument? Well, when did he say put them to death like the Bible did? Oh, okay, I guess this one's a little bit better argument then. Yeah, but he pointed out how abortion is wrong. When did he say that abortion doctors should be put to death? Oh, I guess, just read the law and it's better than Ben Shapiro. The law that he claims to believe, he doesn't even believe it. You know when he stopped believing the Bible? Genesis one. Why would I want to listen to these people and fill my head with their ideas? Because I've been blinded by pride today. And the prideful person says, well, I'm just so smart, I've figured it all out and I've figured out the reptilian race. Look, you haven't figured anything out. Quit getting sucked into stupid conspiracy theories and believe the Bible today. Study the Bible. You know what, it doesn't even matter. And most conspiracy theories, if they're true and you find them out, that information will kill you literally. You don't want to know what Hillary Clinton's doing. Everyone that knows what Hillary Clinton's doing dies. You don't want to know what Jeffrey Epstein's list looks like. You will kill yourself. And I don't mean that you really will. This is what the paper will say. If we ever find you, I don't know. Look, we're supposed to be wise concerning the truth but simple concerning evil. I don't need to know, hey, there's these conspiracies of people that want to kill you, I'm sure. Hey, the government's wicked, shocker. You know, the government is lying to us, of course. You know what, I care about the Bible though. And I don't care how bad they're lying. I don't care how wicked, I don't even want to know. And I've dove into some of these things on accident just learning about how bad the Romans are. You turn that channel off quick. They're more wicked than imaginable. They do worse things than imaginable. You don't want to know. Don't research it, don't look it up. Don't get sucked into these losers and freaks and weirdos talking about reptilians. Look what it says in Ephesians chapter two verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, especially reptilians. You know what we're wrestling against? Principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's not a carnal fight. It's not a carnal battle. Don't get so prideful and so filled with hatred your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you forget the real battle. What did Saul do? He forgot who the real enemy was and he started attacking David. He started attacking his brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know what? If I defend myself from Saul trying to kill me, I'm not attacking my brothers and sisters in Christ, okay? Don't get confused. They're like, I'm the victim. Pastor Shelley called me out for being a lying, slandering, railing, wicked person. And it's all provable with multiple witnesses. Feel sorry for me. It's like, don't be a lying, slandering, wicked person. And I won't defend myself or my friends. But I'm not going around just trying to attack people for no reason. Hope you wouldn't have second John chapter one will finish. The Bible says, who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? You know what I think about David Icke, liar. Ben Shapiro, liar. I don't care. You say, they have a really good opinion on what? Lies. They're really good at lying. They're really good at denying the Father and the Son. They're really good at taking people to hell, confusing people and distracting people and getting involved in a carnal fight that doesn't even exist. You go fight the reptilians with him, all right? Have fun. I'm not interested. Second John chapter one, look at verse seven. For many deceivers are entered into the world. Now how do I know if he's a deceiver who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we have received a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, promote him on your livestream. Oh, wait a minute. That is not what it said. Talk about how wonderful he is. Interview him. Bring him over to your house. Promote him to other people. No! He says, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. He say, why would I not want to do that? For he that bideth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. David Icke is an evil, wicked man. And I do not want anything to do with his deeds. Nothing. You know how much I'm gonna bid him? Go to hell. You freak. You antichrist, demonic, devil, spirit. I want nothing to do with that. He is a liar. Well, he believes 9-11 is an inside job. Who doesn't? Morons. I mean, he believes God exists. Oh, wow. That's such a shock. Just because a broken clock is right twice a day doesn't mean you shouldn't throw in the trash. You know what? David Icke is a broken clock. Throw him in the trash. Have nothing to do with him or other people. You say, why are you preaching this? Because people have gone crazy today in this world. And you know where it comes from? Pride. And you say, well, I'm not prideful. And it sounds like you already got problems. Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. We can all become prideful. And here's the thing. No one starts out believing the truth and being right with God and then just listening to David Icke the next day. Slow roll. Starts with a little bit of pride in your heart. Starts with some envy. And then it turns into hatred for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And then that hatred starts causing you to do a lot of weird junk. And then you can't hear from God anymore. And now all of a sudden you're just seeking to familiar spirits. The things that just sound cool and sound good. And I just, I read his book and it sounded really good. Why? Because you're blind today. A saved, born again child that's on fire for God and filled with the spirit is gonna throw that in the trash. You have to get blinded to go down that dark road. And you can. Don't do it. Read the Bible. Go to church. Submit yourself to the godly men of the Bible. And you know what? Here's the thing. Do not hate your brothers and sisters in Christ ever. Period. You will destroy yourself. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you for this great church. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be surrounded by great men of God and great families and great people who love the Lord. I pray that we would never get envious and prideful of our brothers and sisters in Christ. But we realize we're all just on your team. And it's all about you getting honor and you getting glory. And I pray that we would never get a hatred and envy for our brothers and sisters in Christ but we'd continually try to humble ourselves. And that we'd try to steam other better than ourselves. And that we'd love our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we could stay in the light and we wouldn't get taken away from all the freaks and the weirdos and all the heresies and all the destruction that can come in our lives when we become blinded. And I pray that we just have a zeal and a fervor for the truth today. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.