Good evening. Good to see you this evening. If you turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of 1st Samuel, Chapter 2.
1st Samuel, Chapter 2. This is our custom. We'll read the entire chapter beginning in Verse 1.
1st Samuel, Chapter 2. And in 1st Samuel, Chapter 2, the Bible reads,
"And Hannah prayed and said, 'My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation.
There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like our God.
Talk no more so exceeding proud. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge.
And by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low and lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them.
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
And Elkanah went to Rama to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice,
the priest's servant came while the flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand, and he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot.
All that the flesh hook brought up by the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
Also, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed,
"Give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw."
And if any man said unto him, "Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth,"
then he would answer him, "Nay, but thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force."
Wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred offering of the Lord.
But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year,
when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
And Eli blessed Alkanah and his wife, and said,
"The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord."
And they went unto their own home.
And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters.
And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel,
and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. Ye make the Lord's people to transgress.
If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?
Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men.
And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me?
And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor'st thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel, my people?
Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord saith, be it far from me. For them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Behold the days come that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house, and thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thine house forever.
And the man of thine whom I shall not cut off from thine altar shall be to consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart, and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons on Hophni and Phineas. In one day they shall die, both of them. And I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind.
And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. And it shall come to pass that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, "Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread."
>>Brother Sean, would you pray for us? >>For Samuel chapter 2, probably not going to finish the whole chapter. I'll try, but I don't think it's going to happen. It's a pretty big chapter and there's a lot going on in it.
Of course, we're studying the Bible, so I want to actually study it. So last time we were here, it was last week, we saw that Hannah had prayed for a man child, and it was really important for her to give a son to her husband.
And so she prayed, and then she did become pregnant and had Samuel, and then she had made a vow that she would lend him to the Lord all the days of his life.
And so that came to pass, and she went back up and then gave Samuel to Eli to raise.
It's the same Eli that we're obviously talking about in this passage here, and if you were paying attention during the Bible reading, Eli has had some failures with his own sons, and his sons, it says, are sons of Belial.
So before we get back into that, I want to kind of focus on Hannah's prayer of praise, and Hannah's prayer of praise here begins in verse number one.
It says, "And Hannah prayed and said, 'My heart rejoices in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation.'"
And so she begins this prayer of praise, and Hannah's words are recorded in the Bible for us to see for all time.
So obviously the Lord liked the prayer that she prayed, because he actually put it down in Scripture, thank you.
The Lord actually made this prayer in Scripture for us all to read for all time.
It's going to be recorded in the Bible for history, for us all to see.
And it says, "Because I rejoice in thy salvation."
And that's something that sometimes I think that we don't stop to remember,
that we need to be rejoicing in the fact that we are saved.
And the Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
You know, we shouldn't be ashamed that we're saved.
We shouldn't hide the fact that we're saved.
And when people ask us, we should definitely tell them that we are saved.
And it says, "There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee,
neither is there any rock like our God."
So she's stating an absolute fact here that there's none holy as the Lord.
Obviously, God has set it apart. He's perfect, and He absolutely cannot sin.
So this is a truth that we try to convey when we're out soul hunting, but it's just a fact.
God can't sin. There's none like Him.
There's nobody upon the face of the earth that doeth good and sinneth not, the Bible says.
And so none of us can even say that we're even close to as holy as God is.
So, I mean, that's a really great statement that she says.
There's none holy as the Lord. It just doesn't exist.
For there's none beside thee. And so what is she saying? There's none beside thee like there's no other gods, right?
And this is also a truth of Scripture that's repeated by other people, not just her.
And she says, "Neither is there any rock like our God."
And so she brings up this fact about God being like a rock, which is also talked about by Moses.
And that theme in the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy,
rocks are likened unto our God, and because God is the one that made rocks, rocks didn't make God.
I know evolutionists get that confused sometimes.
They think we came from the rocks after it rained millions of years or billions of years or whatever.
But if they actually believed in real science, they would probably have to admit that that doesn't happen.
So Isaiah 43.10 says, "You're my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me."
So people ask this question, "Well, where did God come from? Who made God?"
Well, the Bible says in Isaiah 43.10 that before me there was no God formed.
So we don't know where he came from or how he came to be, but just that he always has been.
And it says, "Neither shall there be after me."
So when Jehovah's Witnesses try to say that in John 1.1 that it says that Jesus was a God,
that's not true because there's no other gods besides him.
And then it says, "Also, I, even I am the Lord, beside me there is no Savior."
So there's also nobody else that can save besides God.
I mean, I'm talking about salvation as in your spiritual salvation.
Obviously people can save you if you're drowning or whatever,
but we're talking about salvation that's, you know, for your soul.
There's no other Savior besides Him.
So that's another thing that Jehovah's Witnesses get wrong
is, I mean, they realize that Jesus is the Savior,
but then they say He's not God.
Jehovah is the only one that saves.
These are their verses, Isaiah 43, 10, and 11,
but it's so weird that they pick those verses
because those are the verses that debunk their whole theory.
And those are the ones I like to use on them too,
because like, how do you weasel out of that one?
I mean, because those are the verses.
I mean, what do you mean Jesus isn't God?
Because I just say, who's the savior in the New Testament?
They go, Jesus.
Well, I was like, well, it says that there's no savior besides me,
so Jesus has to be God.
I mean, hello?
Anybody home?
Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32.
Deuteronomy chapter 32.
And the Bible says also, and I don't have time to turn there tonight,
but in 1 Corinthians it talks about how that rock that followed,
the spiritual rock that followed them was Jesus, that followed them through the wilderness.
And the Bible says for Moses to talk to the rock,
when he smited the rock, he was not doing what God said,
because that symbol was a symbol of Jesus Christ following them.
But Deuteronomy 32 verse 31 says, "For their rock is not as our rock,
even our enemies themselves being judges."
So Hannah said, "There is none holy as the Lord,
for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God."
So, I mean, I don't know if she's extrapolating what she learned from Moses,
but I mean, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, she's saying these things,
because, you know, it's written down in Scripture.
"But their rock is not as our rock, and even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are grapes of Gaul, their clusters are bitter,
their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps."
And it kind of goes along with the theme of what I'm going to talk about here in just a little bit,
but our rock is different than their rock.
Our rock is the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what we believe in.
But what they believe in, really, ultimately, is the vine of Sodom.
The vine of, you know, the grapes are of Gaul, and the clusters are bitter.
Because what does everybody else believe in?
They believe in a false god.
It doesn't matter what god it is.
It doesn't matter if it's the Easter Bunny.
It doesn't matter if it's, you know, whatever god they believe in,
it ultimately is like the god of Sodom and Gomorrah, and it's poison.
And it'll kill you.
It'll ultimately bring you low and bring you to death and hell.
It's the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.
You know, you get involved in some kind of a false religion.
Well, their rock is not as our rock.
All roads do not lead to heaven.
Only one road leads to heaven.
That's the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's only one way.
The way, the truth, and the life, you know, is the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse number 3.
The Bible says, "Talk no more, so exceeding proudly.
Let not arrogance come out of your mouth."
We really don't have anything to brag about because we're not as great as we think we are.
"For the Lord is our God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength."
You know, I mean, people would look at Christianity and think, "Well, we have no strength."
I mean, when you think about the might of the world's armies
and the trained military people that we have in this world compared to the army of the Lord,
I mean, we wouldn't stand a chance fighting militarily against them.
But what would God do?
Well, I mean, obviously, even in those times when Israel had a mighty army,
I mean, think about the Exodus.
I mean, there were slaves in Egypt.
And those people went out and destroyed all those people of the land
that were mightier than they were.
Seven nations mightier than they were.
And God just destroyed them.
All the children of Israel had to do is kind of just put forth their battle in a ray
and just slay them, and God just allowed them to destroy them.
And so when it says that the bows of the mighty men are broken
and they that stumbled are girded with strength,
you know, we're the ones that stumble.
We're the ones that are kind of weak in comparison to these mighty men.
I think that's what she's saying.
And it says, "They that were full have hired out themselves for bread,
and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren have borne seven,
and she that hath many children is waxed feeble."
So basically kind of comparing those that seem to have all these advantages in life,
they're stronger than we are, they're even able to have more children, seemingly,
than some like a barren woman, but yet that barren woman ends up having seven children,
versus someone that can have many children is waxed feeble and isn't allowed, isn't able to have them.
And then as far as like, when it's saying they that have hired out, they have full of bread,
but they hired themselves out for bread. It's like, you know, the borrower is servant to the lender.
Sometimes people will get themselves in such a financial pickle that, you know, they had plenty,
but instead they just, you know, went above their means and now they're just,
they're working for something because they just pissed away their, you know, the money that they did have.
You know, they're working for, I mean, some people get into such debt with their vehicles
that they're just like trading in new vehicles playing like, you know, I don't know what people think,
but they just think that that car still has the same value once they turn it in or something.
It just doesn't happen.
Next thing you know, they're paying like this huge bill for their vehicles
instead of driving until the wheels fall off and getting a new one or whatever,
maintaining it until the wheels fall off, however you want to put that.
But, you know, you should wait for a little while at least and get to get a new car
and not just keep swapping them out over and over again.
I mean, it's just a bad business model and cars, they lose value the moment you drive them off the lot,
you know, if you're buying a brand new one.
But, you know, this is just saying that, you know, those that are blessed are saved,
I think is what she's ultimately trying to say, and that God, you know, if God is our Lord,
you know, we have a great salvation to rejoice in because God's our Savior.
It says, "The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up."
Because God's the one that can resurrect. Nobody else can do that.
Nobody else can resurrect people from the dead, but He's also the one that kills.
I mean, can God kill people? Of course He can, and He does.
He knows the day that we're going to die. He knows the moment we're going to die.
So, "The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up."
See, sometimes people get this idea that God doesn't interfere at all with you.
Some people think that He interferes with everything, that He has something to do with everything that goes on.
And then there's also the idea that He doesn't have anything to do with what we have.
But that's not true, is it? Because the Bible says He kills and He makes alive.
And He also bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.
And the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. And He bringeth low and He lifteth up.
"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill."
He can make someone that was born with nothing into a great prince.
I mean, think about David. He was the least of his house. I mean, Samuel's like, "That's got to be him. Surely this is the Lord's anointed."
And we're going to get to that chapter later on, but he's looking for this stud.
He's looking for this chad to walk past him, right? This ripped, buff dude.
He thinks, I think, his older brother, you know, Eli, or whatever his name is, and he thinks that he's going to be the one.
It's like, "Surely this is the Lord's anointed." And then he's like, God's like, "No, no, no."
And then Sammy was like, "Do you have any other sons?"
And then it's like, oh yeah, David. You know, David's the one that's, you know, nobody even thinks about.
He's an afterthought. It's like, he doesn't even bother to call them in from the field. It's like, they can't be David.
Meanwhile, David's already killed a lion. David's already killed a bear. David is, you know, loves the Lord.
He's, you know, skilled with the harp and singing, and he's already pretty tough as it is, and he's already discounted.
But he's, you know, he's the least of his father's house. Saul was the least of his father's house, really.
He even says that when he's called to be the king. But God can raise someone up.
But, you know, spiritually speaking, though, he can also raise those up that are poor in spirit, and raise us up to be princes in God's kingdom.
Because isn't that true that we're going to rule and reign with Christ?
We're going to walk on streets of gold and walk through gates of pearl and all these, you know, jewels that it talks about.
And, you know, I mean, we're going to walk in this city someday.
And we're going to be rich, and we're going to live in mansions.
You know, we'll be so rich we won't even care.
What will rich even mean?
We're like, "Look at this diamond ring!"
Like, yeah, I know, I got some too.
It's like, well, it's a big deal.
It won't even matter.
Look at my mansion.
Yeah, I got a mansion too.
Like, why would you even covet?
What would be the purpose of coveting?
You know, this is like, yeah, look at that guy's mansion.
Yeah, I got my own.
It's like, okay.
But, you know, God just, He can lift a beggar up from the dung hill,
set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory
for the pillars of the earth of the lords, and He has set the world upon them.
I mean, God can do so many great things in our lives,
and sometimes it's really ourselves that hold ourselves back.
You know, we lack confidence.
We lack faith.
We lack ability only because we hold ourselves back from those things,
or we steal our own blessings because of sin.
But this statement here is repeated in the Psalms,
and I think it's repeated by King David.
Maybe he just saw that this was written, or it's just a saying,
but it is definitely repeated in the Psalms.
I don't have time to turn there, but it's kind of a profound statement.
I love this statement.
They just can raise anybody up, no matter who they are.
It doesn't matter whether you're born into some royal family or not.
I mean, William the Conqueror was a bastard.
They called him William the Bastard.
He was a Norman King, which the Normans were originally from Scandinavia,
and they just kind of just kept attacking France over and over again.
They were finally like, "Okay, you can have this little strip over here."
So then they came and they became these powerful kings.
And then William the Bastard became the toughest of his sons or whatever.
I don't know how that happened, but he came over and conquered England
and became William the Conqueror.
I don't think people called him William the Bastard anymore when he was over there.
They called him William the Conqueror after that.
And he built the Tower of London on top of the ruins of the castle that was there
that was fortified by the Roman Empire.
I mean, you can still see the Roman wall right next to it.
He built it there to show, hey, this is what the Normans have done.
And obviously, it was a show of strength.
But I mean, he was raised up from a--I mean, anybody that's a bastard
is very low looked upon in royalty.
They're not even considered to have the ability to become kings.
I'm not saying that God made him that or whatever,
but obviously, God does set up kings and takes kings down.
And that kind of changed everything.
That's kind of where, I mean, obviously, they had kings before that,
but William the Conqueror is really kind of where England
really officially started in reality.
I mean, that's kind of who they count as the first king in reality.
So, but anyway, let's look at Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2, just hold your finger there real quick,
and we'll go to Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 19.
Because even as Gentiles, I mean, Gentiles were kind of discounted also.
They were not part of the plan, so to speak, at the time.
There was the nation of Israel, and they were supposed to reach the Gentiles,
but they really fell down on the job.
That's why God took that from them.
They were supposed to bring the fruits thereof onto God, and they failed.
I'm sure they did it to a certain capacity in some way, shape, or form,
but they didn't do it like they were supposed to.
That's why He cursed the fig tree.
That's why He said, "The kingdom of God is taken from you
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
A lot of it stems from them hating their own Messiah
and trying to murder Him every chance they got.
Ephesians 2.19 says, "Now therefore,
you are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God,
and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom all the building fitly framed together
roweth unto a holy temple in the Lord,
in whom ye also are builded together
for an habitation of God
through the Spirit.
And so, you know, He can lift us up from the Dung Hill
as unsaved people
and set us to be built upon
these foundations.
What's the foundation? Well, Jesus Christ is the foundation.
He's that rock
that we build everything around.
And then, of course, the apostles and prophets,
and of course, Jesus is the chief cornerstone,
that rock,
but we're fitly framed together.
We're part of that, though.
The believers are part of that.
We are the little rocks that stack on top of that.
We do have purpose.
We do matter.
We matter to God.
And sometimes I think that people downplay that.
Preachers will downplay that and go,
"God doesn't need you to do anything."
I mean, he doesn't technically need us to do anything,
but he does kind of, though.
Because if that's the plan that he put in place
is for us to do certain things
when he left to go to heaven,
to do stuff, it's not just to twiddle our thumbs
and do nothing and live our best life now.
It's not to be Joyce Meyer Baptist.
It's not to be, you know,
just doing whatever we want.
You don't get punished. Nothing happens to you
when you do stuff wrong. That's ridiculous.
It's not true.
But anyway, God can lift us up
into these high places because
He can exalt us. He can lift us up.
We shouldn't be trying to lift our own self up,
but, you know, it's just naturally going to happen
when you serve Him. It's naturally going to happen
when you're humble. It's naturally going to happen
if we humble ourself,
He will lift us up, you know?
Let God lift us up, though. We shouldn't be the ones
bragging about how great we are
because we're not really that great.
You know, sports feats,
they're cool for a while, but I mean,
you really kind of forget who won the Super Bowl.
Who won the Super Bowl three years ago? Do you know?
Because I surely don't. I don't really care
because it wasn't the Seahawks. But anyway,
I mean, unless you're really just living
and breathing and dying sports all the time
or you have a photographic memory or something,
you're not really going to remember every single person.
You know, unless you're looking at that stat all the time,
you don't really think about it. Like, who really cares?
In the grand scheme of things, what does it matter?
Who was the champion of the UFC in 2010 at heavyweight?
I don't know. I don't care.
I mean, I really don't.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 2, verse 9.
Back in our text there, it says,
"He will keep the feet of his saints,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness,
for by strength shall no man prevail."
I mean, it kind of just goes without
what I'm already saying.
He will keep our feet,
but what's He going to do to the wicked?
They're going to be silent in the darkness.
When all is said and done,
our feet are being kept, you know,
in this life as long as, you know,
I think that we're, you know,
doing the things that He wants us to do,
He's going to keep our feet.
Obviously our feet will slip when we stop trusting in Him
and stop living the life of faith.
But obviously He's, you know, even if we slip,
we still get to go to heaven.
But what's going to happen to the wicked?
Well, they're going to be silent in darkness,
for by strength shall no man prevail.
And look, the people in this world will try to use
brute strength and brute force
to try to destroy the people of God.
But they've been doing this for thousands of years.
It started with Cain.
I mean, what did Cain do?
He rose up and slew his brother because, what?
He was mad because God was pleased with his sacrifice.
And what about John the Baptist?
What happened to him?
Well, he got his head cut off because he preached against.
He had the nerve to preach against somebody's wicked sins.
And Herod didn't even want to kill him.
He was actually regretful that he said what he said because, you know, he didn't want to kill John.
But he did.
He opened up his big trap.
And so he said something he shouldn't have said.
In Matthew 11, 12 it says, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
But does that contradict the verse that we're already in?
"By strength shall no man prevail."
Well, what are we talking about here?
Well, by strength no man's going to prevail and make it to heaven.
You're not going to get there on your own good works, your own merits.
But that's what everybody thinks, right?
Most people that you talk to at the door, that's what they think.
Their own strength, their own good works, their own good deeds,
or the fact that they fed the homeless on Thanksgiving or whatever.
Isn't it funny how everybody thinks that that's the things that the church is supposed to do?
Feed the homeless. Oh, does your church feed the homeless?
No? Plenty of people are doing that as it is.
And they're leaving their garbage all over the place, you know?
And rats are coming and spreading the bubonic plague or whatever.
Anyway, let's get back to that. I don't want to get mad.
All right. I'll get plenty mad later.
First Samuel chapter 2, verse 10, the Bible says, "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken into pieces.
Out of the heavens shall he thunder upon them.
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."
Well, Hannah's waxing eloquent here. No, she's not.
She's thundering forth the Scriptures here. It's like, wow, you know?
Even Hannah's a hard preacher, you know?
You would think she's just like, oh, you know, thank you, Lord.
But no, what is she doing? The Lord's adversaries will be broken to pieces.
Why is she so mad? Well, her adversary is her husband's other wife.
And she's been just tormenting her and telling her, you're not going to have a kid or whatever.
You have barren, you know, whatever.
And, you know, she's been tortured by some, it says, her adversary.
So not a very nice person.
It says, "An Alcana went to Rama to his house and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest."
So last week I told you that Samuel actually is able to do this because nobody that was able,
nobody that was not a Levite was allowed to even go into the tabernacle of the congregation, period.
They just were not allowed to do that.
What was supposed to happen to somebody that came near to the tavern, even came close to it?
They were supposed to be thrust through, right?
They were not allowed to approach to that area or they would die.
But Samuel gets a pass.
Why does Samuel get a pass?
Well, let's turn to 1 Chronicles and we'll just check out why.
Because this is the only way you're going to find out why.
Because it's not really overtly obvious by just reading 1 Samuel as to why.
But in 1 Chronicles, just keep your finger here, turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 6, verse 16.
The Bible says, "The sons of Levi," because it's given genealogies here, "Gershom, Kohath, Merari."
"And these be the names of the sons of Gershom."
"Libni and Shimei, and the sons of Kohath, were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uziel."
"And the sons of Merari, Mali, and Musi."
"These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers."
"Of Gershom, Libni the son of Jehat, the son of Zema."
"His son, Joah his son, Edoh his son, Zerah his son, Jeterri his son."
"And the sons of Kohath, Amenadav his son, Korah his son, Aser his son, Elkanah his son."
So there's Elkanah, the father of Samuel, right?
"And Abiasaph his son, and Aser his son, Tehath his son, Uriah his son, Uzziah his son, Shaul his son."
Actually, that's not the right Elkanah. That's a different Elkanah.
But the right Elkanah is going to come up.
It says, and then, "As for Elkanah, his sons," okay, that is the right Elkanah.
"As for Elkanah, his sons, the sons of Elkanah, Zophi his son, and Nahath his son,
Eliab his son, Joraham his son, Elkanah his son."
Oh, no, okay, there is another Elkanah. Good night. I'm confusing myself.
All right, so there's two Elkanahs, apparently.
And the sons of, what does it say there? Samuel, the firstborn, Vashni, and Abiah.
So Samuel is in the genealogy of, who's that guy at the very, forget, verse 16?
The sons of Levi. So he is the son of Levi. He is related to, his dad is Elkanah.
Elkanah is in the line of the priest. So he is a Levite.
But Eli is obviously the high priest, and he's not.
But he is still able to minister because he is a Levite.
So 1 Samuel 1.1 says, "Now there was a certain man of Remoth Amzophim of Mount Ephraim,
and his name was Elkanah, his son Joraham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Ephrathite."
So that is the same guy.
So that is how Samuel is able to do these things.
And that's why it's important to study the Bible.
You know, obviously, just reading through it, you might just whiz past that and not even actually realize that.
But as you study the Bible, you're going to find these things out.
But some people, they would probably find this and say, "Oh, how is Samuel able to do this?"
That's why you've got to study to show yourself approved under God.
Because if you don't study, then you might think that that's a contradiction in Scripture,
that Samuel is not allowed to be in there, but he is.
So back in our text, go back to 1 Samuel.
But the great thing about Hannah also is not only was she a great woman of faith,
and she kept her vow to the Lord, but after God gave her the things that she asked for,
she not only kept what she was supposed to do, but then she praised God afterwards because he did it.
And a lot of times I think that people forget that God did something for them, and they forget to thank him,
they forget to acknowledge him, but I think that the reason why Hannah's prayer is recorded here
is because God liked the fact that she not only got what she asked for, but she also thanked him
and gave his name praise for doing so. That's what I think.
And I think I'm right because, you know, he recorded her prayer in here.
So now let's look at number two tonight, Eli's reprobate sons.
Verse number 12, it says, "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord."
So, I mean, last week we already talked about this, how that she was mistaken.
You know, she said, "Don't mistake me for a daughter of Belial."
It actually says in 1 Samuel 1, verse 16, "Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial,
for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto."
So he thought that she was drunk, and so he saw her mouth moving, but no words coming out.
She's praying. It looked like she was just like somebody wasted and, you know,
trying to come and pray to God for forgiveness or whatever he thought she was doing.
And so he thought that she was drunk, but she said, "Don't think that I'm a daughter of Belial."
So, you know, apparently at that time people thought that, you know, you drink alcohol,
you're a drunkard, that it's possible that you're a reprobate.
Because, and I'm not saying that that's true, because there's a lot of people that drink or have drank
and they're not necessarily a reprobate, obviously.
But, you know, it probably wasn't a common thing for women to just be wasted in the temple, right?
So, I mean, it's pretty bold to do that because you weren't even allowed to go into the temple
of God at all having drank because God has already killed a couple of guys for doing that earlier.
And it's just a statute forever to not be a drunkard and go into the house of the Lord.
So, for someone to be brazen enough to go in wasted and pray before the altar or wherever she was at,
praying, then, you know, that's a pretty bold move.
So, she probably thought, "Well, he must think I'm a reprobate if I'm coming in here wasted," and, you know, whatever.
So, she says not to count thine handmaid as a daughter of Belial.
Here you have the statement here that says, "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial."
So, this is a statement that's being said. Who's saying this statement?
The narrator of the Bible is saying it, so they are sons of Belial. They're just not disputable.
And they knew not the Lord. Why is it saying that? Because they're not saved.
So, when it says you know the Lord, that means that you're saved.
That's a euphemism for saying that they're saved.
This is saying that they're not saved. They knew not the Lord.
And not only do they not know the Lord, but they're sons of Belial.
So, they are reprobates. They're sons of the devil.
Belial is the devil. Baal is the devil. That's what he is.
So, he represents the devil.
And Israel had a hard time not worshipping the devil.
Other nations have had a hard time in history not worshipping the devil.
Somebody was telling me about the Carthage.
Was it you who was telling me about that?
Somebody was telling me about when they uncovered some of the things in Carthage
that they found these statues and stuff of Baal that that's who they worshipped when the Romans destroyed them.
I mean, it still lasted into those times.
So, anyway, they uncovered these things.
I mean, do you wonder why he let the Romans destroy Carthage?
All because they were worshipping the devil?
I mean, I don't know, sacrificing children?
That's why he destroyed the Canaanites.
I mean, but people, the modern liberals today would be like,
"They killed those poor indigenous people.
How could they do that?"
Well, they weren't necessarily indigenous people either.
I mean, because we're indigenous to Noah's Ark,
the mountains of Ararat, and then the Tower of Babel.
That's where we're actually indigenous from,
the mountains of Ararat.
So the Armenians can just be like, yeah, we're actually
the indigenous people.
They actually have a good claim to say
that they are the indigenous people.
But they've probably been conquered by other people too.
So they're probably mixed.
But don't tell them I said that because they might show up
at church and beat me up or something.
Anyway, they're very proud of that heritage.
But anyway, so look, and that's just--
I mean, that's kind of one of the big things
that is going on in our world today.
The colonizers came in and they destroyed their culture.
It's like, good.
Their culture needs to be destroyed.
Well, you want people to sacrifice--
they probably do want people sacrificing children
because they want people sacrificing their children
through abortion, calling them clumps of cells and stuff,
fighting tooth and nail so that women
can kill their children still.
I mean, you know, I guess they are kind of the modern day
bail worshipers, where somebody in Congress
will get up and say, amen, and a woman,
because they're so stupid they don't realize
what that actually means.
But it's another sermon for a different time.
So the term sons abelio or daughter abelio
means that they're reprobates.
And my guess is that-- and this might be a bigger number
nowadays-- but I've always thought
that it's probably about 2% to 3% people of the world
are actually saved, and about 2% to 3% of the world
is actually reprobates.
But it could be bigger.
It could be smaller.
I don't know.
But I would say the percentage of people around here
that we run into that are saved is probably
about that percentage.
But in other places, it could be bigger.
In other places, it could be smaller.
So I would just say it kind of--
what do you think it is in China?
I don't know.
But it's probably not high.
But if you have like even 1% or 1/2% in China,
I mean, do the math on that.
That's still a lot of people that are saved there.
In North Korea, I mean, it's probably very few.
But there might be some.
I'm sure there are.
They probably can't tell anybody about it, obviously,
or they'll die.
But I would just say that around the world,
there's some big populations that have some--
it depends on how free you are.
But even sometimes when a place isn't free,
God's Word will thrive in those places
because people want to be free.
And where God's Spirit is, there is liberty.
And it might not be liberty to go to church,
but it might be liberty of your mind,
because people can't take that away from you.
They can't take away what you believe.
You can't even tell someone you believe something different,
but in your mind, you're saying something else.
So that's why it's important when we're soul hunting,
to ask people what they actually believe
before you pray with them.
Because you can give them all the answers,
you can tell them everything.
They can be repeating back the stuff that you say,
"Yeah, yeah, it's all belief, it's belief.
Once saved, always saved."
Then when you say, "What do you believe though?"
They're like, "Oh, just that you have to keep the commandments.
I think that you still have to live a good life and whatever."
And people are not going to just change their mind necessarily unless they want to,
unless they actually do believe it.
Anyway, it says, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 13.
So, I just kind of wanted to take us through, before we end this sermon,
through this term "sons of Belial" or "son of Belial"
and look at what it's saying in the context because people say that reprobates can be saved.
This is a Calvinistic belief.
Calvinists believe that everybody is a reprobate until they get saved.
God has to give you the ability to believe first and then once you get the gift of belief
or by grace you are saved through faith.
They say that faith is something that God has to give to you, which is bizarre.
You get faith because someone shows you what the Bible says, you hear what the Bible says, you have faith.
It's a choice.
Anyway, so Deuteronomy chapter 13 verse 12 says, "If thou shalt hear, say, in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there,
saying, Certain men of the children of Belial are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their cities,
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known."
I mean, is that a clue that that were the children of Belial?
I mean, if they're saying, let's go out and serve other gods, I mean, that should be a clue that person's a reprobate, right?
I mean, because the children of Israel, in a whole, believed in God.
But if someone's secretly enticing you to do something different, to believe in a different God, that person's not saved, obviously.
As a matter of fact, they're a false prophet.
So I just kind of want to prove to you that all these mentions, that it's talking about somebody that's a devil, or somebody that's just a reprobate.
And, you know, when the Bible says that someone's a reprobate, it means that they can't be saved.
So, like I said, the Calvinists, they believe that everybody's a reprobate, and that they get saved.
Everybody's a child of the devil. I mean, have you ever heard people say that?
Even preachers at maybe Baptist churches will say stuff like that, "Well, we're just a child of hell," or whatever.
"You were a child of hell, and then..." I mean, I was going to hell. I don't know if I was a child of hell.
Not yet. I mean, I would have gone there if I would have died, but, you know, I don't know if I was a child of the devil.
I wasn't a child of the devil, but anyway. But why I think that is because, you know, obviously the devil has his army,
but if it was all just like that, then if everybody was a reprobate, then nobody could be saved, obviously.
So there's a battle between the small percentages of all these souls in the middle. That does make sense.
And there's only a few over here that are saved, because Jesus, when they said, "Are there a few that be saved?"
What does "few" mean? If someone said, "Hey, I've got a few of these pouring on the cobs left," how many do you think there would be?
How many? Yeah. Because I've got a pair left, what does that mean? What does "I've got one left" mean?
I've got a quad. I've got a quad. How many? What is that? A quad pack. Four.
I mean, obviously those numbers mean something. So when you say "few there be that find it," I would say that that means three.
So I would say that if there's a few that be that find it, I would say that that's a small number.
Jesus has asked straight up, "Are there a few that be saved?" Yes, there's a few.
And then you look at the number of people that are homos, and it used to be about two or three percent.
But it could be bigger than that now, and I'm sure it is, especially in places like here.
Even in here, in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, a lot of these liberal, libtard cities.
And then the fact that they just let the floodgates out when they started passing all these laws in favor of them,
and then letting them have queer alliances in schools where they can just prey on children at will,
and where the highest percentage of LGBTQ are kindergarten teachers.
I mean, what do you think is going to happen? I mean, what do you think that they're signing up for?
They're playing their part because they're children of Belial.
Anyway, it says, "Then shalt thou inquire and make search, and ask diligently, and behold, if it be true,
and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought among you, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it in the midst of the street thereof,
and shalt burn it with fire, the city, and all the spoil thereof, every whit for the Lord thy God;
and it shall be in heap for ever, and it shall not be built again.
And there shall cleave not of the cursed thing to thine hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger,
and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers."
So if some children of Belial start some city and say, "Let's go serve other gods in this little city that we made,"
he wants that place destroyed to the uttermost, and he doesn't even want you to touch, like anything that's part of that city,
he doesn't even want you to bring it back with you at all. He wants it to be a heap forever.
So if you go over to Israel and you see those mounds, those are ruinous heaps.
That's what when the Bible says a ruinous heap forever, that means that it's just a, you know, they piled all the destruction together in one spot
and then they just, then over the years things just got put on top of it and that place is called a Tel.
And those Tel's are still there to that day because nothing was to be built on it ever again.
And that's what those places are. And the places in the promised land where they went in and destroyed all these heathen,
and then what do they do? They dig it up because they want to see what it's all about.
Judges 19. Turn to Judges 19. And so I'm just kind of trying to go through as many of these as I can before we go.
Judges 19. So the first men were basically false prophets, what it says in Deuteronomy 13.13.
Judges 19.22 says, "Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold the men of the city, certain sons of Belial,
he set the house round about and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying,
'Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.'"
So the Bible specifically says they were what? Sons of Belial. And what are they? They're faggots.
That's what they are. They're there to rape this guy and kill him, because that's what they do to his concubine.
They kill her. And then the ramifications of that are that he cuts her up and sends her pieces all over the place
to the twelve tribes of Israel. If they killed her, she's going to have marks on her all over her body.
I think that that's part of why people are so horrified. Not only is it horrified to just get a body part sent to you
on some horse. Somebody rides into town, it's like, "What is this?" And they unwrap it and it's a body part.
But it's also probably horrifying that there's marks all over her, whatever they did.
Because if they killed her, they had to have done something to kill her, right? So that's how horrific these types of people are.
They're pieces of garbage. And that's why the Bible says there are certain sons of Belial.
And they're going around the house so that he can't escape and trying to know him in a way
in which you should not want to know any man if you're a man because it's disgusting.
So now turn to Judges 20. So the ramifications of this is that the children, the Benjamites,
the tribe that they belong to are trying to not give up the perverts.
They're trying to let the perverts have a sanctuary city, right?
They're trying to let them stay there and protect these queers.
But isn't that what churches do all over our city and all over places across America?
No, come here. Everybody's welcome. Come here to our sanctuary church and just enjoy the services.
We don't judge. Well, I mean, the same thing's going to happen to your children.
The same thing's going to happen to people in your church when you allow predators to just roam free in there.
Judges 20 verse 1 says, "Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man
from Dan even to Beersheba with the land of Gilead unto the land the Lord of Mizpah.
And the chief of all the people, even all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God.
Four hundred thousand footmen drew sword.
Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah.
Then said the children of Israel, 'Tell us, how was this wickedness?'
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, 'I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin.
I am my concubine to Lodge.
And the men of Gibeah rose up against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night,
and thought to have slain me and my concubine, have they forced that she is dead.
And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel;
for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.
Behold, ye are all children of Israel. Give here your advice and counsel.'
And all the people arose as one man, saying, "We will not, any of us, go to his tent; neither will we, any of us, turn into his house.
But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah. We will go up against it, or by lot against it.
And we will take the ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand,
and a thousand of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people that they may do when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin,
according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel."
So all the men of Israel were gathered against a city, knit together as one man,
and the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying,
"What wickedness is this done among you? Is that this is done among you?
Now therefore deliver the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death,
and put away evil from Israel."
But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.
But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities of Gibeah,
to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
And the children of Benjamin were numbered at the time of the cities,
twenty and six thousand men that drew sword beside the inhabitants of Gibeah,
which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
Among all the people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed.
Everyone could sling stones at the hair-breadth, at a hair-breadth and not miss.
So, I mean, they have four hundred thousand footmen compared to seven hundred.
I mean, that's not a fair fight, but they were pretty tough, right?
They actually win a battle, but the point is, though, is that these guys,
they won't even give up these sodomites, and that's what they are.
So, they're protecting these faggots from the rest, from being brought to justice.
But isn't that what happens in our world today, too?
The government protects them. The churches protect them.
They're totally protected from everything, and then they cry that they're persecuted
because we preach against them, because we say some words that they don't like, or whatever.
So what? You're still protected. You still get to take everybody's job.
You still get to breathe air.
I mean, you still get to exist in a place where your perversions are protected all the time
and probably not looked very deeply into because of the things that, you know,
because you've got a bunch of perverted friends in high places.
I mean, they've got the world as their oyster right now.
But, you know, what Hannah said is that they're going to be in darkness.
You know what? The Bible says they're going to be in hell.
So, we do have that to comfort us anyway.
So, 1 Samuel 10.
And what I notice is that the words, the term "sons of Belial"
is said more in the book of 1 and 2 Samuel than any other books.
It's interesting, because David has to deal with them a lot.
And sometimes he's not even aware that he's dealing with them.
Look at 1 Samuel 10, 26. I'll go through this quickly.
"And Saul went out, or went home to Gibeah,
and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched.
But the children of Belial said, 'How shall this man save us?'
And they despised him and brought him no presence, but he held his peace."
So, I mean, he might not even have known these guys were children of Belial,
but again, the narrator of the Bible is telling us this.
So, I mean, in every situation we've seen so far, they're just these wicked people.
And they hated him. They hated the king. They brought no presence.
They try to cause dissimilation within the government and say, "How can this man save us?"
And, you know, they brought him no presence.
You know, they just treated him like dirt and they hated his guts.
1 Samuel 25 verse 17, I'm just going to start reading as you turn there.
"Now, therefore, know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master
and against all his household, for he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him."
This is talking about Nabal, and David has protected, his men have protected their flocks
and stuff like that, and they're just asking to be fed, basically.
And he doesn't want to have anything to do with them.
And so he's pissed David off to where David's going to come and smoke him.
But Abigail comes to him and asks him not to do that.
She pleads for their lives.
And verse 25 says, "Let not my Lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal,
for as his name is, so is he."
I think it means fool, which is a fitting name because the fool has said in his heart
that there is no God, right?
And so it says, "Nabal is his name, and Folly is with him."
So it means folly, fool.
And fool is filled with folly, right?
"But I thy handmaid saw not the young man of my Lord, whom thou didst send."
So again, like the term is never anything good.
1 Samuel 30, verse 21.
The Bible says, "And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David,
whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor.
And they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him.
And when David came near to the people, he saluted them,
and then answered all the wicked men, and the men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said,
"Because they went not with us, we will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered,
save to every man, his wife, and his children, that they may lead them away and depart."
Then said David, "Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us,
who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand."
So he calls them my brethren, but I would submit to you that he doesn't realize that they're men of Belial.
Which proves the point, though, that amongst us, at any given time, there can be people like this that we don't realize are sons of Belial, or men of Belial.
And I don't think that, you know, David calls them his brethren because he doesn't know any better, and he probably thinks that they are.
And I would say that just because you think something doesn't mean it's true, and we shouldn't just be suspecting people that we don't know for sure, and counting it as fact.
Look at 2 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7. 2 Samuel 16 verse 7, the Bible says, "And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial.
The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned, and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom in the hand of Absalom my son.
And, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man."
So, in his time of being down, this guy waits until David is on the run, until David is
hurt, until David is, you know, he just basically kicks David while he's down, and accuses him
of a bunch of stuff, calling him a bloody man, and saying it's because of what he did
to the house of Saul.
Well, I mean, he really did treat Saul's house kindly, so I don't know why he's saying
this, but he just is using this opportunity to talk some smack.
But we shouldn't be calling people a reprobate unless we know for sure that they are.
And is David a reprobate?
No.
So, like, that's, you know, it's a good thing to kind of keep in mind that unless we know
for sure that somebody is, we probably shouldn't be calling them out.
Second Samuel 23 verse 6, "But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust
away because they cannot be taken with hands."
So this is David's last words to the children of Israel and he gets up and that's the last
thing that he says.
It's the last thing that he says, like he gets up, he's an old man, he can barely even
walk anymore, you know, Abishag has to come and give him heat.
And then like God kind of just revives his spirit, he gives the kingdom of the Solomon
like he's supposed to, he gives this great speech in front of everybody and then he talks
about the reprobates.
And it's like, "Well you guys talk about the reprobates too much."
Well David talked about it like the last thing he said.
And it's like, "Why do we talk about it?"
Because it has to be talked about because nobody else talks about it and it's a reality
in our world.
It's a reality in our Christian life and people are walking around acting like there's no
bad people in our lives or there's no bad people out to get us.
It's just not true.
And obviously, you know, there's certain things that are edifying, certain things that are
not.
I mean to get up and just preach and talk about the Freemasons every single service
is stupid.
To get up and talk about Disney and the evils of Disney Channel and all this other stuff,
I mean yeah, there's a place for it.
But like to talk about it every service or to have that be your hobby horse all the time
is to talk about the Freemasons, I mean it's just kind of, you know, you're just getting
clicks at that point in my opinion.
So it's just not, you know, we have a bigger reality.
I mean it's more important to talk about what the queers are doing obviously than it is
what the Freemasons are doing.
So I don't think the Freemasons are doing much.
I think that they did what they were going to do and that they're probably, you know,
there are a bunch of buildings that are being used for bingo halls now and stuff like that.
So I think there's a church down the street that used to be a Masonic Lodge.
So I don't think they're really doing a lot.
Anyways, 1 Kings 21 verse 10 says, "And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear
witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out
and stone him that he may die."
This is Jezebel's plan to kill Naboth to get his vineyard.
"And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him," verse 13, "and the men
of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth.
And the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king, and carried
him forth out of the city, and stone him with stones that he died."
So here's an example of the sons of Belial bearing false witness against someone so that
they die.
I mean, it's a really wicked thing to get up in a court of law or in front of anybody
and try to bear witness against them so that they would die, or so they would go to jail,
or so they'd have things taken away from them like that.
To take away their property, to take away their rights, it's a wicked thing to do.
But this is what the type of people like the sons of Belial will do.
They have no problem lying, they have no problem blaspheming God, they have no problem just
destroying somebody's life, and hey, you know, but Christians are capable of doing
these things too, and God forbid that a Christian should get up and lie under oath and lie to
the court and lie about other people and about other Christians and get them, you know, charged
and hemmed up on charges and things like that.
It's wicked as hell.
You should be ashamed of yourself if you ever do anything like that.
Just be honest, because God will hold you to account and everything that you do like
that is going to come back on you anyway.
I can't understand or fathom how someone would bring up false charges on somebody or accuse
somebody falsely to try to get them in trouble when they haven't done anything wrong like
that.
It's just gone.
But I mean, what does she want?
Her husband to have a garden that he liked.
I mean, how petty is that?
Oh, he's crying about it.
"Oh, I can't have the garden I wanted."
And she's like, "Aren't you the king of Israel?
Pull your britches up.
Mommy's going to take care of this for you."
And she writes the letters and stuff or whatever.
Wicked.
But, you know, I mean, Ahab was wicked enough, but, you know, his wife made him ten times
more wicked than he really was.
And he went along with it.
It's not like he said, "No, don't do that."
No, he's like, "Okay, Mommy."
You know, whatever.
Second thing, Proverbs chapter 13.
I mean, look, people think that lying is not a big deal.
It can be a big deal.
It can be the difference between life and death.
It can be the difference between someone losing everything that they have or keeping everything
they have.
You know what?
Your freedom is important.
And in this country, unfortunately, we have an injustice system rather than a justice
system where you can be convicted by the mouth of zero witnesses or by one witness witnessing
against another person and just saying, "Yep, that happened."
It's like, "Okay, we believe them."
That's not evidence.
I mean, I went through a whole day of court that went into overtime because they're trying
to pick juries and then they finally get to me and asking me questions, "Will you convict
on one witness?"
I was like, "No."
I was like, "Why don't you just get that out of the way?
Why don't you make that the first question that you ask people so that I can just go
home and quit wasting my time?
Don't call me back to jury duty again."
Because you know what?
The next time I'm going to go in, the first thing I'm going to say to them is, "I will
not convict under one witness."
Bye.
Seriously.
That's exactly what I'm going to say.
I will not convict on one witness.
If there's one witness and there's other evidence, yes.
There's a video that has their name, I don't know if they're like this.
I mean, obviously there's other witnesses that can combine with another person's testimony
or whatever, but I'm not going to convict on someone.
They said this.
If nobody else was there, that's not a witness.
That's not a credible witness.
They show you a video before they have you be a juror.
I was like, "That's a cool video."
It's actually, they explain to you what a real witness is and they explain to you the
whole process.
But what they don't realize, what they don't tell you, is that surprise, they're going
to ask you to completely ignore everything that they just told you in the video and convict
somebody anyway.
I mean, it's wild.
It really is.
So I know I'm going over here.
I'm sorry, you guys.
2nd Chronicles 13, 7, it says, "And there are gathered unto him vain men and children
of Belial and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when
Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted and could not withstand them."
So, look, there's people that will dig in and influence people and they'll seem to
be okay, but really they're just trying to influence somebody that's not strong enough.
It happens in churches.
They can influence a pastor or they can influence other people and eventually they get those
people to leave.
That's why it's so important to understand what flattery is, understand that you shouldn't
talk about people and gossip behind their back because this is how people work.
Flatter, flatter, oh you're so great, you're so beautiful, you're this or that, your voice
is so great.
Brother Eli, your voice, I've never heard a voice like that, it's like an angel speaking
to me.
And by the way, did you know the pastor, blah, blah, blah, I really hated that sermon I preached
last week and they just try to get you to say something and once they get you to say
something then they have you and then they can say whatever they want because if you
come forward with something then oh well they were saying this about you, that's how it
works.
That's how they get their little hooks into people.
Anyway, it says, "And what concord hath Christ with Belial?"
2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 15, "For what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"
So in the New Testament Paul brings up Belial, he says, "What concord hath Christ with Belial?"
Why is he saying that?
Because both things are opposite from each other.
It's just like we're opposite from a child, we're children of God, we're of the household
of faith.
What are they?
They're children of the devil.
So what do we have in common?
What does Christ have in common with the devil?
Nothing.
And so at the end of the day, the children of Belial are the children of the devil and
we have nothing to do with them.
Why would we have them in our church?
Why would you be friends with them?
Why would you like them?
Why would you like seek after them?
And we're not supposed to envy these types of people, we're not supposed to love them,
we're not supposed to have anything to do with them.
So you know, they're the opposite of us.
We're going to heaven for all eternity.
They're going to hell for all eternity.
There's nothing to envy.
We're not supposed to envy sinners.
We're not supposed to just think that they're great people.
And obviously sometimes we don't know that that's what they are, but you know, the Bible
gives us the answers for things like this.
I mean, those are all the mentions of the sons of Belial in the whole Bible that I just
gave you.
Was there one positive one or one inkling that any of them are saved or could be saved?
No.
And what do they do?
Destruction.
In the case I gave you, it's destruction, destroy, kill, lie, steal, murder, nothing
good.
Forcing people against their will to do things, I mean it's all wicked.
And then, you know, not letting, you know, I mean just influencing leaders to do what
wrong.
It's just, they're bad, they're evil.
And I just don't understand, in the modern versions, it says that they're wicked men
or vain men.
But I mean that doesn't really say what they really are, does it?
Just like they pat, they just pill everything else.
Don't call them sodomites, say that they're male shrine prostitutes instead, whatever
that means.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for the book of 1 Samuel, for this chapter, Lord, and for just
making it plain what these people are in the context of every passage.
I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to stay away from people like this and to be on guard.
But Lord, also not to suspect people just for every little thing.
But Lord, we do need to be diligent, indigilant, and just Lord, keeping our head on a swivel,
protecting our kids, watching over them, not letting them just spend the night with anybody
that we know.
And Lord, help us as Christians to not act like them, not to have any of their characteristics.
Lord, help us to be people of truth, help us to be people of righteousness, help us
to be holy as you're holy, help us to separate ourselves from these things.
I pray that you just bless us as we go our separate ways tonight, take us home safely
and bring us back on Sunday and do your house in Jesus name we pray, amen.