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Amen. Okay, so Psalm chapter 83, we're in the 83rd Psalm there, and I want to just look at the beginning of it again, so we're just going to read the first several verses again of Psalm 83. It's a song or a psalm of Asaph, and it starts in verse 1 with, Keep not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites of Moab, and the Hagarenes, Gebel, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre. Asa also is joined with them, they have opened the children of Silar. And look at verse 5 again now, which is on our bulletin, where it says, For they have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. And the title of my sermon this morning is, Birds of a Feather Flock Together. Birds of a Feather Flock Together. I'd like to pray before we continue with the sermon. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, this great truth I'm going to preach about today, Lord, a universal truth that many understand, but something which applies in a big way to the spiritual life, the spiritual battles. Lord, help me to preach this message that I've been thinking about for a while now, just accurately, and clearly, and boldly, and just fill in with your spirit, help everyone to have attentive ears, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. So what does it mean, birds of a feather flock together? I'm sure most people have heard that phrase before. Possibly some would call it a proverb, actually, not from the Book of Proverbs. Well, it's an old saying that people of similar interests, beliefs, attributes, etc., are usually attracted to each other, okay? They're usually attracted to each other, and not necessarily in a romantic way. Friendship groups will often be people of similar interests and backgrounds, won't they? Okay, if you think back to maybe your school days, you're going to have, sort of, groups will generally have a lot in common. They'll be drawn to each other with similar interests, similar beliefs, similar sorts of behaviour. A lot of the time you kind of have, like, the naughty group at school, or you maybe have, like, the kind of wannabe tough group. You'll have all these different types of groups. A lot of the time, maybe, it's not just they've rubbed off onto each other. A lot of the time, from the beginning, they've been attracted in the first place, right? Birds of a feather flock together. Even strangers in a social setting will regularly drift towards those that they have something in common with. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. If you're in a sort of, maybe, a social setting where people don't know each other that well, maybe it's some sort of, you know, work conference or whatever, you know, you can think of a hundred different ways, you'll notice a lot of the time that people start to draw towards those that they'll have something in common with, and things such as gender. You'll have, a lot of the time, men would be drawn towards men to talk to, women towards women, for example. That's an obvious one. Age, a lot of the time, so if you've got a mixed age group, a lot of the time kids of similar age and going older into adults of similar age ranges will start to be drawn together. Language as well, obviously, so if you speak, you know, if you're in a multi-lingual group, a lot of the time people of the same language obviously will be drawn together. But race is one you'll notice a lot as well, won't you? So, and what the world calls race, and for me, look, there's a human race, right? But a lot of people are pulled into that and they will start to drift towards those that they think or will look of as a similar race to themselves in a social setting. Class is another one as well, you'll notice that. People of a similar sort of class, similar sort of economic sort of background, etc, will start to draw towards each other. And appearance can be one as well, can't it? Just people of a similar sort of appearance, similar sort of fashion sense, maybe similar sort of look, you know, that maybe even physiques, etc, you know, those are maybe of a more sporty physique might be drawn towards each other, etc. Well, it's the same in our spiritual lives and the funny thing that I've noticed is that the spiritual similarities will usually trump all of that. So spiritual similarities, spiritual sort of, like I said, you know, those spiritual agreements almost that you have with others will often trump the rest of that stuff that will draw people together in a non-spiritual sense. In the same way, for example, that I'm going to be drawn more towards the saved King James Bible-believing fundamentalist, that's what I should be drawn towards, and if I'm in the spirit and I'm, you know, and I'm doing things right, that's what I'm going to be drawn towards in any sort of setting, aren't I, rather than maybe an unsaved NIV liberal in inverted commas Christian who happens to be another 42-year-old Brit, you know, another 42-year-old white Brit into, you know, fight sports and bad dad jokes, yeah? I'm more likely to want to be around the King James guy, right? I more likely want to be around the fundamentalist, aren't I? It doesn't matter about the other stuff. Well, the wicked are also drawn to each other more than to those that they should have something in common with. So something I've noticed a lot of the time is that wicked people just get drawn to each other even though they a lot of the time will have so many different similar, sorry, so many differences in their background, so many differences in all those other things that I've mentioned, they'll still be drawn together when it comes to spiritual things. We're going to look at this truth a bit today as it helps us to understand many other things in our spiritual lives. The title is Birds of a Feather Flock Together, and point number one is that false religions flock together, okay? False religions will generally flock together. Verse 80, sorry, Psalm 83 and verse one says, Keep not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God, for lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. Now, a tumult is a commotion, disturbance, or agitation of a multitude, usually accompanied with great noise, uproar, and confusion of voices. So God's enemies, they surely make some noise, don't they? They really do. They sure do want some attention. When it comes to false religions, they love to have the limelight, they love to have the attention, really they're a shame unto us. We were talking about this recently, we were outside the church and a guy walked down the road and he had a sign up saying something about Jesus forgiving sins or something, and he was just playing this kind of contemporary music on this loud sort of, I don't know, it's like the equivalent of a ghetto blaster, but they're much smaller nowadays, right, and it's just like some loud music going on about Jesus does this, Jesus does that, and it's just a shame, isn't it? And really it makes me think of the verse, By whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, because people look at this clown and just think, what on earth? Christianity is a joke, yeah, look at all these nutters, yeah, and everything else, and you know, these people, they love the attention, they love maker to malt, they love getting some attention on themselves, the false religions love that, they love to be in the limelight, they love to cause confusion with the various different flavours of Christianity, just throwing dummies to the masses really, aren't they? They're just giving them all these different flavours and people are just thinking, is that Christianity? What is that? That guy in a dress, Christianity? Or is that guy who's, you know, walking down the road with the sign up with the thing, is that Christianity? Or, you know, they just, you know, it makes it all a bit confusing, doesn't it? But what is always interesting is how tolerant these false religions are of each other. It is interesting, isn't it, that? Not just tolerant, but they will often flock together, they will often group together. Turn to Psalm 119, they'll group together at joint events, for example, and I remember many years ago, I think we literally just got saved and they had like a fair in the village and it was kind of, they had like the C of E guy, the Catholic guy and others and they're all just together doing some sort of joint thing. Yeah, that's a bit strange. Are they all the same? Do they all just believe the same thing? Are they, how come they could have so much in common? You see sort of this, sort of, you know, you see this in city centres, you see it, for example, at the coronation of King Charles and all these different religions are all together there, a big part, they're like one of the main features of the coronation, for example. You've got like these religious councils in areas where they come together to talk about problems and things like that, they'll even have joint prayer meetings and prayer sort of vigils where they go and do like a prayer march through whatever place it is and they're one from this flavour, one from that flavour and everything else. They can't be very sincere, can they? Are these people really that sincere? Because if it's a difference between heaven and hell for eternity, and most religions believe that, most religions teach some version of heaven and some version of hell for eternity, don't they? To some degree. How could you then fellowship with the false way? It makes absolutely no sense. How could you want to be around and sit with and and almost give some advertisement for, really, or at least some, you know, you're basically vouching for them to some degree because I'm coming and praying. Why would I pray with an imam? Why would I pray with the Pentecostal pastor when, according to the word of God, he's completely wrong and he's damning people to hell? It's completely bizarre, isn't it? It really is. What's the biblical stance on this? Does God preach tolerance to all? Because, I mean, I drive on my way home past a couple of clown churches where they got outside on the billboard, they've kind of got, what does it mean to be a Christian? And one of them is tolerance to all. Is that what God says, though? He does it, does he? In Psalm 119 in verse 104, the inspired Psalmist said, through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. He said, I get understanding through the word of God, therefore, because of that understanding, I hate every false way. Now, what some will do is, they will claim, won't they, that it's all just a different path to God. Yeah, you've heard that one before? Oh well, no, the thing is, it's all these religions are just, and some will go really far, and they'll say literally any religion is a different path to God. You heard these people before? I've knocked on the doors. They're like Muslims on the door going, well, it's all just a different path to God. Oh, we're all worshipping the same God. Okay, so does that include the Church of Satan? Are they worshipping the same God? I don't think anyone here would go, well, yes. I don't think any of them would say that. So what about the wicker witch? And they weren't, so where's your line then, buddy? And you know what, they don't really even have a line. It just sounds nice because then they could just go, oh yeah, well, we're all on our way, and they're the more liberal types that will say that, right? They'll just be like, yeah, it's all just a different path. What's the list of churches again then? What's the list of religions? What's the list of different flavors of Christianity that are going to the same God? Because I haven't seen it. Do you know what? There is a list in the Bible. The biblical stance is to hate false ways, and the list has one way. There is only one way. Jesus Christ said, I am the way. He didn't say I am a way, I am the way, the truth and the life, right? He said, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Yeah, there's a big way that goes to destruction. That list is long. And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The path to heaven is only one way, and that way is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, some will say something like, well, as long as they claim the name of Christ, you've heard of that before, yeah? They'll go, well, as long as they're like some sort of version of, you know, as long as they like, they believe in Jesus, many will say as well. Some sort of Christian-themed religion, well, Psalm 119 where you're on verse 128 says it this way, therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. Every false way, because it's all false doctrine. All false doctrine. I hate all of those different versions of work salvation. I hope everyone else here does as well. All different versions. I don't care if it's a very subtle, or they seem to be similar to us, I just kind of believe that maybe you've got to keep working a bit more in the future, or you might leave. I hate that. That's one of the most wicked, in fact, that is probably the most wicked one. The more subtle is the most wicked, because it's the closest to the truth and the most deceptive. We should hate all of that. Whatever version of work salvation is, if it's just, well, well, yeah, but you could lose your salvation if you did a really bad sin. I hate that. Absolutely hate it, because it means people are being damned to hell, because they're not trusting faith alone in Christ alone. They're still trusting themselves. You've got to hate every false way, right? Well, I also hate the other false ways which aren't to do with work salvation, though, because he said, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things. He didn't just say concerning salvation, concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way, and I don't think he's just talking about the false ways, the false ways to heaven, which will never get them to heaven and take them all to hell. For example, I hate the ridiculous tongues false way. I hate it. What a load of absolute, it's a laughing stock. It makes Christianity a laughing stock. These people claim to believe the Bible. They even claim to get it from the Bible. They go to first Corinthians 14 and try to say it's talking about talking mumbo-jumbo. It's wicked, because it makes us look like idiots, like complete nutters that somehow, oh, because I'm so holy now, and I just go, I must be really, it's a laughing stock. It really is, and people just think it, they laugh at it. They see these videos of these clown Pentecostals, and they laugh and mock and scorn the Lord. They laugh and mock and scorn the Bible, because these people claim to get it from the Bible, but I also hate the ridiculous Zionist false way. I hate it. It's ridiculous, and it is a laughing stock as well, and all it does, it just keeps all the race, race, race, race, race stuff that all the kind of wicked people just love to get involved in, racist, race that, my race is better than yours, my race is special bloodlines, everything else. It's all just such junk. We should reject all those endless genealogies. They're ridiculous, and the whole thing is wicked beyond belief anyway, because then you've just got a load of people going, oh, Christianity supports these just complete wicked people. So, you know, there you go. There's a voucher, there's a voucher for the Jews from God, right? I hate that. I also hate, for example, the ridiculous Calvinist false way. I hate it. The God of Calvinism is a monster. The God of Calvinism is just some bizarre guy that just kind of picks and just completely like shuts his eyes and just goes, you could get saved, you hell. You saved, you hell. I mean, what on earth? It's ridiculous, and all five points of it are ridiculous. I hate it. The Word of God said, I hate every false way, and I'm trying to be more Christ-like. Yeah, everyone here is trying to be more Christ-like. We should try to be more Christ-like, and Jesus Christ, the Word of God, said, I hate every false way. Turn to Matthew chapter 16. So, in fact, rather than yoke up with them, we are told to reprove them, okay? We're not told to yoke up. We're not told to flock together with false ways. Ephesians 5-11, your turn to Matthew 16 says, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. But the false religions want to redefine Christ whilst they flock together, because really they're all cut from the same cloth, okay? These men of the cloth, they're cut from the same cloth. It doesn't matter what flavour they are. In Matthew 16, we see two seemingly very different religious groups flocking together like the birds of a feather that they are. In Matthew 16, it says, the Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. Two groups, two religious groups with very different beliefs. They did have very different beliefs. You have to turn to Acts 23-8 says, for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. That's a big difference, isn't it? They don't believe in a resurrection, they don't believe in angels, they don't believe in spirits, they don't believe in any of that, but the Pharisees confess both. So one group are basically like the liberal, rationalist, bible-denying types that kind of like, well it's all just kind of pictures of stuff, and it's like quaint little stories and everything else, yeah? They're those types of Jews. The other claim to follow the letter of the law, claim to, right? They believe that they're like the strict, you know, they follow every part of the law. Why have they come together? Because they were both birds of a Christ-hating, work-salvationist feather, okay? They came together because really they are still birds of a feather, because those things are minor compared with the fact that they hate the Lord Jesus Christ, compared with the fact that they still both believe that you can work your way to heaven. And Jesus Christ didn't bother trying to separate them. He said in verse 2, he answered, said unto them, okay, he talked to all of them, when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and lowering. Oh ye hypocrites, ye, and he's talking about them plural, just a whole lot together, all hypocrites, ye could discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? They say, look, you can work out the weather, you can't even see what's going on here in front of your face, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after the sign, there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas, and he left them and departed. Whole lot grouped together, birds of a feather, and he left them, right? And you can add the scribes, by the way, to the group, the chief priests, all united by their work, salvation, and their hatred of the free gift. Really, that's what, that's really what it comes down to. They hate the true God, they hate the true God of the Bible, they hate the free gift. And all of these differing religions, okay, they might have their political battles, and they might use their religion for an excuse for war, and you get these people out there, religion causes war. No, people use it as an excuse for war, though, for sure. But eventually there's going to be a one-world religion, and do you know what they'll have in common? Hate for the narrow way. That's what they'll all have in common, is hate for grace through faith. That's what will unite all of them, and yeah, they'll all be talking about their different paths to God, it's all a different path to God. You know, we all have this because as long as you believe that there are many different paths to God, you're all part of that one-world religion, right? Apart from the straight and narrow way. Go back to Psalm 83. The title is Birds of a Feather Flock Together. Point number one, and we're going to be in Psalms quite a bit here, false religions flock together. And point number two, false brethren flock together, okay, false brethren flock together. Said in verse one of Psalm 83, Keep not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. Now false brethren are a type of false prophet, they infiltrate church and infiltrate movements such as ours. So they're not always in churches, sometimes they're kind of, you know, skirting around the outside as well. One of the many names that they're given in the Bible is wolves in sheep's clothing, okay, if you've never heard of this sort of thing before. So they look like sheep. So a wolf in sheep's clothing, I've said this many times, the Catholic isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing for the trained eye like ourselves. We're not looking at the Catholic priest going, oh yeah, he must be a man of God, okay. For people that are saved and are reading the Bible, the sheep's clothing has to be a little bit higher level than that, okay. It's not just wearing a suit or, you know, carrying a Bible. To the untrained eye they really appear like us. They appear to believe, they appear to soul win, they appear to get people saved. They will merge together with us and look very much like us, okay. That's what false brethren are. Now of course this passage here applies to all of God's enemies that we're looking at in Psalm 83, okay. They will flock together sometimes in bizarre ways, okay. Absolutely bizarre ways will they flock together. Just like the Catholic priest will go on a dress-wearing prayer vigil with the rabbi and the imam, okay, the exposed wolf whose ears literally popped out of their sheep's outfit, okay, in front of people, in front of many people, maybe in a church one way or another, will suddenly be flocking together with all sorts of heretics that they claim to hate. It's absolutely bizarre. I mean you can't make it up when you see it, you're just, what on earth, like what happened there? People that claim to absolutely hate these people, these types of people, this type of church, this type of belief, suddenly they all just flock together like the birds of a feather that they are. The repent of your sins pastor, the lordship salvationist, the calling on the name of the lord heretic, the oneness clown, just all together, all buddies patting each other on the back, you know, all just, we're all united, right. It's amazing when you see it. If you've ever seen some of these troll YouTube channels, they've literally got all sorts of flavours of wicked all in one place. It's amazing. You kind of see like their kind of latest attack video on like a biblical church because apparently like that really needs, you know, really need to get those people preaching the gospel, get those people believing the King James Bible, you know, forget all the rest of it, forget the Jehovah's Witnesses, forget the Pentecostals, forget the Catholics, forget everything else. Let's get those guys preaching the gospel. Someone's got to take them down, you know. They're like just ruining Christianity. But they're all different flavours and then they're all like calling each other brother this and all like hanging out. It's so weird, isn't it? If ever you've seen that stuff, it really is weird. But the thing is, it's not just on the online world either because the online world, you know, sometimes we can go too far. We're kind of looking at that and really a lot of it shouldn't be that important. Although, you know, the online world is more powerful than maybe it was several years ago, maybe decades ago. But it is the same in the real world too. The ex-church enemies are suddenly like best friends. And this is apparently the same across all churches, okay. So, you know, I've talked to people about this. They're like exactly the same. People like, people that have been kicked out of their churches. People that have, you know, been exposed for this, exposed for that. Other people leave, etc. And then they all just gather together. It's like, it's so bizarre. It really is, right. But that's just the fact of the spiritual life. We shouldn't be surprised. You have to turn a bit. Psalm 94 21 says, they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood. And this is something you see time and time and time again in the book of Psalms, in other places above, they just gather themselves together. The enemies of God gather themselves together. Now of course they'll be condemning the pastor and probably half the church members too, you know, depending on who. But although they gather themselves together outside, something interesting I've noticed over the years is a gathering inside too. This is something that I've noticed, I've found interesting. It says in verse three, where you are in Psalm 83, they have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. So they take crafty counsel together, they consult against the people that God hides in his tabernacle, basically is what it's saying here. The hidden ones, the ones that are protected by the Lord, right. It says in verse four, they have said come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. So they want to destroy his churches, take them down any which way they can. Verse five says, for they have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. So one consent is one agreement, they're united in their cause, okay. They're confederate, which is united, allied, against who? Now it's not really me, believe it or not, or it's not the pastor of another church. It's not really my family or the pastor of another church's family that they claim to hate so much. It's not really you whose walk they do want to destroy, okay, and they want to somehow, because they're not your friend when they're trying to rip you out of church in one way or another, they're confederate against the Lord. It's against the Lord. They're confederate against thee. He's talking to the Lord. And it's interested me watching these confederacies form over the years, okay, and not just in our church, okay, and it is something I've seen obviously we've seen before in our church as well, but also groups that formed before our church started, and just watching these confederacies form, and people, like I said, who should have nothing in common, just slowly start to merge together and start to form these friendships and these allegiances. Churches, like I said, not just in our church, other groups, other churches, this happens as one. I've seen this in church, the church I've been in, where you start to see a group forming and then you start to see there's a birds of a feather situation there. Now, even whole churches have ended up being just a group of wicked people, barring, you might have the odd person, baby in Christ or something else, but obviously we had that in here as well. No offence to the maybe couple of people that maybe were in and out of there, but literally the 90-something percent of that church ended up just being a complete bunch of wicked heretics. Birds of a feather flock together, right, because often, look, there is no other thing in common, honestly. They're from different nations, cultures, interests, they're not saved, okay, so it's not that the Holy Spirit is drawing them together, but you know what draws them together? Aside from the devils within them. Do you know what draws them together? The covetousness. They just seem to find each other. I've seen this in different settings, you just see these people just start to join together. It's like the covetousness, the just open covetousness. For example, the hyper-spirituality. They love it being around another hyper-spiritual person who's just like, praise the Lord, hallelujah, you know, for everything that they've done, you know, oh man, my alarm went off this morning, praise the Lord, you know, hallelujah, brother, and everything else. It's like, what on earth is up with this person, you know? Oh, if God be willing, you know, then I'll be able to eat my breakfast this morning, and it's like, just come on, man. You get these, and they're drawn to each other. The boastfulness, you know, you stick out like a sore thumb when you're boasting and no one else is, but when everyone else is boasting, you know, the group starts to be a bit more, at least it's less obvious what you are. The lack of empathy for anyone and everyone, including their children, much easier to be around other people like that, because it kind of exposes you a bit when you don't seem to give a damn about your kids, but the people you're around do, right? You know, and again, stuff like that. But they are with one consent, and it's not that they're with one consent with all those things, obviously there are things that they do ultimately have in common, and they just seem to be able to sniff out on each other, but they're confederate against God, they flock together, okay, they're confederate against the Lord. Turn to number 16 whilst I read Psalm 56 6, where David said, you're turning to number 16, Psalm 56 6 said, they gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. In Psalm 35 15, David said, but in mine adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together, yea the abjects, which are slanderers really, gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not, they did tear me and cease not. This is a common theme in Psalms, okay, and I've had to like whittle down so many verses that I could have used for this sermon. Psalm 71 10, the Psalm is said, for mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together. It's constant, they're constantly together, grouping together, confederate together, conspiring together, okay, it's a theme throughout the Bible. And in number 16 is a famous story of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who have stood up in rebellion against Moses, but really it's against God, okay, so it seems against Moses, against Ham, but really it's against God, okay. Now these are bad guys, and God makes that very clear with how he deals with them, okay. Look at verse 26, where you are in number 16 of verse 26 says, and he spake unto the congregation saying, depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs lest you be consumed in all their sins. They get up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, sorry just checking I'm in the right place, yeah, they get up from from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives and their sons and their little children. And Moses said, hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own hand. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open up her mouth, sorry open her mouth, and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. Right, what's the pit? It's hell, okay, the pit is hell. Isaiah 14 15 says, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. Okay, the pit's hell. You have many references in the Bible, you can see that. Who goes to hell? Is it the saved, or the unsaved? The unsaved. Specifically here, it's false brethren. Okay, but if you're saved, you ain't getting swallowed up and going into the pit. Okay, verse 31, it says, and it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, at the ground clave of sunder that was under them. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods, they and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit. And the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation. Hold on, how could all of them go down into the pit? Their wives, their children. How come neither Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were saved? The other men it seemed. It seems like there's possibly other men, unless he's talking about the same men, all the men that appertained unto Korah, it said in verse 32, because birds of a feather flock together. Because birds of a feather flock together. That's why. Now, just to make it clear, okay, just on that point, the rest of the congregation got conned by them for time. They're all going, you've killed the people of the Lord, even after the earth swallows up. They see them literally going down into hell. They're all going, you've killed the people of the Lord. Okay, they do all get conned by them, okay. It didn't mean that those people were wicked, just to make that clear. But when they were told to depart from them, what did they do? They removed from them. When they were told by God, get away from these people, they got away from those people, right. And the ones that didn't, all were the birds of a feather that went down into the pit. Does that make sense, yeah? Instead of verse 27, so they get up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little children. It should be a no-brainer, shouldn't it? Get away from these people because they're going to get swallowed up and go down into the pit. It's a command from God, right. Unless you're birds of a feather. Unless you're false brethren that flock together, okay. And sadly that's what we see and we see, you know, you're going to keep seeing it time and time again. Go back to Psalm 83, the title is birds of a feather flock together. Point number one, false religions flock together. Point number two, false brethren flock together. Now, like I've said, you can have points, you can have times where people can be gone and obviously, look, the predators in a church or outside church, whatever, they do target weak Christians as well. So they target new believers, they target people that kind of maybe haven't got their eyes open and stuff like that, okay. So that doesn't mean, right, well I must have been wicked because I hung around with some wicked people for a little while, okay. However, what I find weird is when you see people that appear to be their sheep's outfit, at least, is a mature Christian flocking together with clearly wicked people, okay. That's something slightly different, okay. If you're flocking together with wicked people and you've been in the faith for years and you're sold when you read your Bible and they're just the most obvious wicked people you probably have out there. I mean, they're like the kind of just like, if I had a whiteboard here of a wicked person, there are people you could probably think of that you would literally draw a picture of and give all these different like, coming off from the side, boastful, prideful, covetous, bully, etc, etc. I mean, it's like the most ridiculous thing ever and there are many types like this, right, okay. So that is weird, isn't it, okay. So, but the reason being because false brethren flock together, because they're united in their hatred of the Lord. Point number three, though, is that the unsaved flock together. The unsaved flock together. Look at verse one, it says, keep not thy silence, O God, hold not thy peace, back in Psalm 83, and be not still, O God, for lo, thine enemies make it two more today that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counts against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, come and let us cut them off for being a nation at the name of Israel, maybe no more in remembrance, for they have consulted together with one consent their confederate against thee. The tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebel and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre. Asu also is joined with them, they have hoping the children of Silar. So of course, at the top, the influencers, God's enemies, are pulling the strings. But who flock together to do their bidding? Look at verse six, the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebel and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre. Asu also is joined with them, they have hoping the children of Lot Silar. It's the unsaved masses, okay, the hordes of heathens all united together in opposition to God and his people, okay. And it does feel like that sometimes, doesn't it? It does feel like the unsaved are just flocking together in opposition. Turn to Psalm 2. For example, the atheist I'm a scientist supermarket shelf stacker has more in common with the repent of your sins old IFB guy that's in your workplace than you do often. That seems to just be the case, doesn't it? It's like the guy who claims to not even believe in God because he's a scientist and has never done any science in his whole life and doesn't even know what the periodic table is. It happens to have more in common with the so-called Bible believing Christian who's not saved than you do because they're all united in their opposition to the Jesus of the Bible. That's really who they oppose. So they claim to believe the Bible, they believe their own version of Jesus, but they oppose the Jesus of the Bible. None of them want the hard preaching, whip-wielding, you didn't give your life for me, I gave it for you Jesus. They don't like that Jesus. They like their own Jesus. They like the Jesus of their making. None of them want to hear us, for example, calling out the sins that they haven't repented of, you know, because it shows that, in fact, maybe I didn't repent of all my sins. They don't want to hear any of that. They want to be able to say, well I repented of them all, you know. They don't want to hear the Bible preached. They don't want us to expose their rejection of the free gift. They flock together, for example, in their support of sodomites. I mean, it's amazing, it never ceased to amaze me how many people claim to believe the Bible and then flock together, well what people do in their own time is their business, you know. Oh well, you know, it's all great, isn't it, well we've moved on from those times, well that was all, you know, whatever. They flock together, don't they? They all support the sodomites, pretty much, don't they? They flock together in their immodest clothing. It's amazing, is it, when you knock on doors and you go, um, you know, you start talking about the Gospel and then they say, well, I repented of my sins. They're standing there like in a pair of hot pants and, you know, whatever, you're just like, what? Like, where do we even start? Oh, they're cross-dressing. Like, and you don't obviously go down that route, because it's not, by the way, don't do that, okay, they start pulling out how they wear and everything, but it's like, it's ridiculous, isn't it? It's ridiculous, but they flock together in that. You go to a worldly church down the road here and it all look exactly the same, like you go to a nightclub or you go to a bar or pub or anything, they're all dressed the same, aren't they? They flock together. They flock together in the men's effeminacy, don't they? They flock together, effeminizing their children, effeminizing their boys, effeminizing their husbands, they flock together. There's no difference. You look at the men in, you know, up the road in liberal Baptist church and they'll look exactly the same. In fact, the pastor will probably be in skinny jeans and the rest of it, they'll look exactly the same as the men everywhere else. All a bunch of effeminate men. They flock together in their sexist feminist nonsense as well, and it is sexism, by the way, in its real sense. That feminist stuff is absolute nonsense. It puts levels and bars for women that they can't achieve and levels and bars for men that they can't achieve. It's ridiculous, okay, it's anti-women. But they flock together with that. You go around all these false religions, all these false Christians, all these false churches, all the unsaved, wherever they are, and they all pretty much to some degree have gone down that feminist lie, haven't they? And have been pulled into it and started craving it and everything else. The unsaved, you know why? Because the unsaved flock together in their opposition to God. That's what it is. They just oppose God, they oppose the Word, they oppose so much out of the Word of God and they just flock together and all seem to just be just birds of a feather with it. Psalm 2, it says here, Psalm 2 and verse 1. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying. Let us break their bands to sunder and cast away their cords from us. So yes, they want to get rid of God, get rid of his Word, get rid of any trace of God, but the people do seem to happily follow along, don't they? And we're going to see that in a second. But they do want to get rid of him. It says the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. They're the leaders against the Lord and against the anointed saying. Let us break their bands to sunder and cast away their cords from us. Turn to Matthew 10. So it is the kings, it's the rulers, and it's the principalities and powers that we wrestle with, but it's the unsaved masses that are gathered together against us. It's popular opinion that will be used against us in the future. That's what will happen. And we're seeing it slowly forming, aren't we? It's just it's popular opinion that we're contrary to, and the more it becomes more and more popular, the more it comes mainstream, the more we're over here, aren't we, right? And if you have a look in Matthew 10, Jesus, he's prophesying of the end and he said this in Matthew 10 and verse 21, And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father, the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men, all men, for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. So even your own family will have more in common with the unsaved masses. Why? Because the unsaved flock together, they do flock together. Go back to Psalm 83, the title is Birds of a Feather Flock Together. Point number one, false religions flock together. Point number two, false brethren flock together. Point number three, the unsaved flock together. And point number four, the saved must flock together. The saved must flock together. It says in verse one, we're going to read it last time, that passage. They have said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance, for they have consulted together with one consent their confederate against thee. The tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebel and Ammon and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, Assur also is joined with them. They have hope and the children of Lot, Selah. Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sezerah, as to Jabin, at the brook of Chazon, which perished at Endor, they became as dung for the earth. Now the Midianites were like the sand for multitude. This is talking about in Judges 7 really, and they were destroyed on the whole by Gideon and his 300 that came together, and originally it was a lot more, it was like 10,000 of them, but originally they get whittled down. In fact it's even more than that, I think 22,000, if I'm right, go away from the original 30,000 because he said, whoso is afraid, go away, but eventually they whittle down to 300 and they come together by the well of Harod. Jabin, it talked about here as well, Sezerah and Jabin. Jabin was the king of Canaan, Sezerah is captain, this is in Judges 4, they had 900 chariots of iron, and the children of Israel are crying unto the Lord, they're scared of them. Israel under Deborah, it was in the end of Barak, gathered 10,000 men together and destroyed them. Okay, now with all our enemies flocking together, the saved, look, we must flock together, surely, right? Isn't it, look, some would say, well isn't it natural, isn't it natural, don't you just do that automatically? Don't save people, just flock together. Well, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, so as much as we know we should, and as much as when we're in the Spirit we want to be around like-minded believers, we want to be around our brethren, unfortunately the flesh doesn't always want to, though. The unsaved are flocking against us, aren't they? Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, because we've got the false religions flocking together against us, we've got false brethren flocking together against us, we've got those unsaved flocking together, and if you're saved, who are you going to flock with? Who do you want to flock with if you're saved? If you've got your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who do you really want to flock with? Where are you going to flock? Well, you want to flock where he wants you to flock, right? In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 21, Hebrews 10 to 21 says, and having an high priest over the house of God, Hebrews 10 to 21 says, having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, that's drawing near to the house of God, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So when you come to the house of God, it's flocking by the birdbath, it's flocking by the crystal clear water, it's not just flocking together in the sky somewhere, you're flocking at a nice place, you're flocking at a place where you're going to get washed clean as well. Verse 23 says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. And by the way, the flock don't just help themselves, they help the rest of the flock too. There's no iron flock, okay. Verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. Look, the same must flock together. They have to flock together, not just for ourselves but for each other. There's safety in numbers. There is a safety in numbers, and it's not just for ourselves, it's not just for each other, it's for the cause. It's for the cause of Christ. We're up against other flocks. We must flock together. That's our responsibility, isn't it? But like I said, it's not just for, and it is for yourself as well, because if you're not flocking together, eventually you're going to stop doing stuff for God. Your spiritual life's just going to go down here. It's just a matter of time, okay. There aren't like individual ones and twos Christians around this country tearing it up for the Lord. It's no such thing, and it's the same in the rest of the world. It doesn't happen. They might get a bit of zeal for a little while. They might do a little bit. They might kind of do a few things. I don't have to be in church where I'm still going to go solely, but eventually it just dwindles. But it's not just for ourselves, it's for each other as well, and that's something you've got to think about. Oh, you know, I don't need that. It doesn't matter, it's just me. When you forsake it, you're affecting your brethren. And look, just you just going, I don't fancy church today. I'm not going to bother, is affecting other people in church. And we have them all flocking together. They flock together, sadly, inside church, okay. And that will happen again in time. They flock together outside church. They flock, the false religions flock together, all united in their hatred for grace through faith. They flock together, the unsaved are being led to just hate and hate and hate more and more on the things of God and things that we do. And then you've got people who know the truth, who are saved, who have the Word of God, who are like, yeah, but whatever. I'm just going to sit at home and, you know, put my feet up and do nothing. Play video games or something else. That's pretty wicked, isn't it? Because we need each other. We need to flock together. We need that safety. We need that encouragement. We need that exaltation. We need that. We need to be together. It's essential because what happens when you're not, those people drift and they go. The people who aren't, who are a bit in and out, what happens eventually, they go. That's just life. That's what happens. We need to flock together. You don't have to turn to 1 Thessalonians 5 and 11, it says, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do. Look, when you're in church, when you're in the house of God, you're comforting each other. So isn't that worth it for an extra length in your drive? Isn't that worth it to, oh, I don't, I can't do that evening shift at work. Isn't that worth it? Well, I might have to look at and review my life, review where I'm going to live and review what I'm going to do and find a way of being in church more and comforting the brethren. It's worth it, isn't it? It's got to be because it's not just for yourself, it's for each other and God requires it of you. It is our reasonable service, isn't it? And if you're not flocking with God's people, who are you flocking with? You're flocking with someone. No, we're social creatures. At the end of the day, you're going to flock with someone. So who are you flocking with? I want to know. Right, okay, right. Who's flocking with their... You're right, we'll have like a kind of anonymous card at the back, yeah. I've been flocking with the Catholic next door, I'm sorry. Forgive me, Father, for I've seen... Okay, turn to Psalm 101, where David makes it clear who he does and doesn't want to flock with, okay? David makes it very clear. It says in Psalm 101, and we're going to look from verse 1. Like I said, it's the Psalm of David, Psalm 101. It says, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. And where do we sing to the Lord? Together in God's house. No, don't get me wrong. God loves you to do a solo at home to him, okay? He's all up for that, yeah? I'm not telling you don't solo to God, but you know what he likes much more? He loves a nice group song, yeah? Okay, when you're together, he wants you to sing together, okay? He said, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way, O when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Okay, he said he hates that. He hates that work. He hates those people that turn aside, those types that just forsake the things that are gone. Those people are ultimately the ones that turn aside. He's talking about people that have rejected the things that are gone. He's talking about those that have been given over, okay? He hates that. He hates the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. How do you ensure it doesn't cleave to you? He said in verse 4, forward hearts shall depart for me. I will not know a wicked person. Who so privily slandereth his neighbour, that's making up lies about people, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Pretty clear, isn't it? And look, some of these people aren't so obvious, but some are so glaring it's ridiculous, isn't it? I mean, it's ridiculous sometimes with people that you come across. He said mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. So who does he want to be looking upon? Who does he want to be surrounded by? The faithful, the saved, the believers. He wants to dwell with them. He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me. Okay, they're people upright, people doing the things of God. That's who David wants to flock with. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. That's who he doesn't want to flock with. He doesn't want to flock with those. He said I will early destroy all the wicked of the land. I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. How's he going to do that? Well, the saved must flock together. He's only going to do that strength in numbers with the saved together for our own good, for each other's good, and for the cause of Christ. That's what it comes down to, doesn't it? And look, and in case you're sitting there going, no, not another one of these, you know, make sure you're in church, you know, because that's a battle. That's a battle. That's a spiritual battle. That's a battle that you're going to have the rest of your Christian life if you carry on in church. And if you don't, you've lost the battle because that's what it all comes down to. And look, you know, honestly, I would, if anyone leaves this church, please go to a proper church somewhere. Find a church. Look, that for me, if you're saved, like, you need to be in church, okay? That's what the battle's about. And if you decide, look, I just don't get on with this, this isn't for me, blah, blah, blah. Fine, fine, but just make sure you're in church, yeah? Because that's a battle. You have to be in church. The battle is about pulling you out of church, because when you're out of church, you're out of the things of God, your spiritual life will go downhill and you'll stop doing things for God. And what does it ultimately affect? Salvations. That's what it comes back to, it's salvation. That's what it's all about. It's all about pulling people out of the fire. And you know what, and when you do it and you're not in church, you've got no church, you can't even encourage anyone to go to a church. So you can't even multiply that salvation to potentially more salvations in the future. You don't even got anywhere to send them. So it all comes back to church. It's all about church, and that's why so often I will preach messages trying to encourage, trying to show you all the reasons why you need to be in church. And it's not for our own good. Look, it makes no difference to me, really. I could preach to half a church, I could preach to a full church, I could preach to whatever. But it does to you, that's what it's all about. That's what the battle's all about. The title is Birds of a Feather Flock Together. And you know what, all these other people, what are they ultimately trying to do in general? Pull you out of church, one way or another. Number one, false religions flock together. Number two, false brethren flock together. Number three, the unsaved flock together. Number four, the saved must flock together. Psalm 133 says, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And it's great, isn't it? I mean, I was looking forward to church. My poor wife right now, because my kids have been sick now for a few weeks, I mean she is desperate to be in church. And there's other people I'm sure right now as well who are just, I'm just desperate to be in church, desperate to be around the brethren, desperate to be around people, desperate to be hearing the Word of God preached to them in the room, to be singing together to the Lord, just desperate to be in church. That's how we should be, right? And look, it was great coming here this morning and you think, oh yeah, but you've got to work. Look, I love it, yeah? This is a great bit, you know? This is kind of some of the stuff from the week can be harder, but being in church and being amongst the brethren, preaching, it's great, isn't it? And you know, that's where we should want to be, that's where we should want to flock, we should want to flock together and not, we shouldn't really want to be flocked with all this other lot, right? Okay, that is weird. Birds of feather flock together, on that we're going to finish in a way of prayer. Father, thank you for your Word, thank you for, well, for the brethren, Lord, thank you for this this house of God, thank you for all these people from differing places in the country, even Lord, that come here and have made ways to be here, to be flocking together with other like-minded believers and we thank you for that and we thank you that you give us so many warnings about the behaviour of wicked people, Lord, that we should be able to just look at it and just see it for what it is and help us to be on guard, help us to be sensible about it though as well, so we don't want to be over, maybe we can be over the top with it and just, we don't want this to become a sort of a negative place to be where everyone's just so worried about that. Ultimately you'll expose people at the right time and in the meantime, Lord, we can enjoy being here enjoy gathering, enjoy just the things of God and help us to stay safe, Lord, help us to stay productive as a church, help us to get many people saved this afternoon and to be able to return for this evening's service, in Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.