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The title of my sermon this afternoon is Fatal Mistakes, Fatal Mistakes. The Bible says in Romans 15, for whatsoever things are written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. What you'll notice throughout the Bible is there are certain stories in which an individual committed a fatal mistake that led to death. And these stories, not only did they have fatal consequences, but if you look beyond that, there are certain lessons we can learn from them and apply to our lives. And I think that's what Romans chapter 15 verse 4 is articulating, that we can learn from their missteps. We can learn from the mistakes that they made. We can learn from the consequences of these mistakes as well. Now, atheists will mock stories like this. The one that was just read here in Acts chapter 5 concerning Ananias and Sapphira. The atheists will mock some of the stories we're going to cover this afternoon because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. So obviously it's foolishness unto them. They can't comprehend the truths that are being articulated in God's Word and of course they can't extract lessons from it because they don't understand the Word of God and they mock it. They mock it as a result. Acts chapter 5, let's look down at verse number 1. That's where we'll start here today. We're going to go over different stories that resulted in fatal mistakes and then at the end of the sermon, we'll tie it all together. Acts chapter 5, it says in verse 1, But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. Here's what's going on here. Ananias and Sapphira, they sell a possession and then they give money, they lay it on the apostles' feet, but they're doing it under the guise of having given the apostle, giving here Peter, giving him everything that they had received from that transaction. But in reality, they kept back part of the price. They lied about exactly how much they received from the transaction that occurred when they sold this land. And it turned out to be a fatal mistake. Look at verse number 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? So he's speaking to Ananias. Ananias is being dealt with first and Peter says, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? So we see the grievous sin being committed here is that Ananias and Sapphira, they lied to the Holy Ghost. They lied to God himself because the Holy Spirit is God. And this text actually is a pretty good passage of scripture to go to if you'd like to substantiate the fact that the Holy Ghost is God. It's a good proof text right here and you'll see it in a moment. Look at verse number 4. How's it remain? Was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Remember how I said this is a pretty good place to go to if you want to prove that the Holy Spirit is God because Ananias lied to God. He lied to the Holy Spirit, to the Holy Ghost, him and his wife. They were guilty of this sin. It was a fatal mistake. Look at verse 5. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. And great fear came on all them that heard these things. So drops dead right there, gives up the ghost. At that point, great fear permeates this area here because why? They just saw somebody lose their life. Drop dead right there in front of Peter. Look at verse number 6. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. So she had no idea that this had occurred. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much. And she said, Yea, for so much. So notice here, first, God deals with Ananias. And Ananias had an opportunity to tell the truth. But instead, he didn't. And what happened? He lied to the Holy Ghost and pretended to have given Peter all the money that him and his wife received when they sold their possession. But that's not what they actually got from it. So he dropped dead. Now we're dealing with Sapphira. She still has a chance to repent. God deals with the individual. She has an opportunity to repent. She has an opportunity to do that which is right and not make the same mistake that her husband did and turn the other way at the last second. Not what happened, though. Not what happened. She said, Yea, for so much. She lies about how much they had sold it for. Verse nine. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? So this is something that they had conferred with together to do before it actually took place. The feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. The area was permeated with fear. The church had felt fear as a result of the fall of Ananias and Sapphira. And Sapphira, his wife, made that same exact fatal mistake, lying about the amount that they had received from the transaction when they sold their possession. Now I want you to look at Acts chapter four for a moment and let's look at verse number thirty-four. Acts chapter four, verse thirty-four. It says there, Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet. And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. So this is a time when people are selling possessions, they're receiving compensation for that, and they're laying it at the apostles' feet. And it highlights Joses here, who was surnamed Barnabas, which being interpreted the son of consolation, he does that same thing, in that he sells a possession and he lays it at the apostles' feet. But notice, these folks who did that in Acts chapter four, the latter half of the chapter, they didn't drop dead, did they? No, because they were honest. And here's the lesson we could take out of this, there are multiple lessons you could take out of this story, but I'm going to only be focusing on one major one, just for sake of time, they gave and they had the right motivation to do so. Whereas Ananias and Sapphira didn't have the right motivation, why else would they lie about the amount that they had received after selling their possession? Why would they lie about it? Because they wanted to give under the guise of having given everything they had received when in fact they had actually held back part of the price. They wanted to be seen of men. They were giving, but they had the wrong motivation for doing so. That's what we can take out of this. They had the wrong motivation for doing so, but in contrast, you see there in the latter half of Acts chapter four, those individuals, they did not have the wrong motivation. They did it out of the kindness of their heart for a true love for God, for a true love. They did it out of a love for the work of God to try and advance the cause of Christ. In Joses, he laid what he had received at the feet of the apostles. Meanwhile, Ananias and Sapphira, not only did they lay what they lied about, an amount at the feet of Peter, but then they themselves dropped dead at his feet as well. And that was a fatal mistake. Go to Mark chapter 12 if you would, Mark chapter 12. We see a concept in scripture that says if you're going to give, make sure you do it for the right reason, not to be seen of men. And this is something Jesus Christ valued. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people, though, who have something I like to call synthetic righteousness. That's what it is. It's synthetic righteousness. It's a type of righteousness that's concerned with being seen of men. It's a type of righteousness that's concerned with the glory of men. Ananias and Sapphira lied about how much they had sold their possession for because they wanted to be seen of men. They wanted to give under the guise of having given everything that they had received when they really didn't. They held back part of the price to be seen of men, to be counted as a number, to be numbered, I should say, with those who actually did give everything that they had received. Why? Because they want to be seen of men. They want that synthetic righteousness. They want the glory of men. But here we have an example of someone who didn't, somebody who gave because the individual had the right motivation. Look at Mark chapter 12 and verse 41. The Bible says there, and Jesus sat over, this is verse 41, and Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury and many that were rich cast in much. So these rich folks are casting in much and I guarantee you they're doing it with a smile on their face hoping that everyone is looking at them as they cast much into the treasury. But look at verse 42. And there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing and he called unto him his disciples and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. This is a poor widow woman, not a rich person. And notice that Jesus Christ commends her for what she gave. Was it the same amount as what those rich Pharisees did? No, it wasn't. But the difference was her motivation was that of love. Her motivation was genuine. It wasn't to be seen of men. Let's look at Mark or should say Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six. The widow woman who was poor didn't want to be seen of men. She was giving out of the abundance and genuine love for God that she had in her heart. But in Matthew chapter six, we see an admonition for Jesus Christ to those who would exhibit the opposite behavior to those who would do alms to be seen of men, for those who would look for the glory themselves. This I think is an attribute of pride. It's an attribute of pride. Look at verse one there in Matthew chapter six. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. What's the concept we can learn from Matthew chapter six? What's Jesus Christ trying to tell us? When you do good works, do it not so that you can be seen of men, but do it because of a genuine, real love for God so that you can please God, for the glory of God, not yourself. There are a lot of churches who don't believe this. A lot of churches don't believe this. A lot of the churches of the liberal persuasion specifically, you know, they're all over their social media talking about how they're feeding the poor and how loving and tolerant they are to homos and how there's, you know, no one's more loving than them. All those independent fundamental Baptists are full of hate. They can never reach the amount of love that the fun centers have and they do it to be seen of men. The Pope, here's an example, the Pope, he put out a video and published it, you know, his handlers published it all over the internet of him washing the feet of some Islamic disciples and it was blasted all over the internet to make himself receive the glory of men because that's what he was concerned with. A lot of these liberal churches, again, they'll put up YouTube videos talking about how loving and tolerant they are and videos of them setting up food banks and how they go to the poor. They're not preaching them the gospel, by the way. They go, they set up their little food banks and they give food to the homeless and a vast majority of the people they're giving food to are addicted to drugs and, you know, they go and they spend money that they receive on more drugs and alcohol and everything like that, but they don't even give them the gospel. It's not a real love. They don't really love those people. If they did, they would try and get them saved. But no, they use those situations as a photo op to make themselves look good. They are literally the Matthew 6 person. That's what they're, oh, we're so loving, we're so tolerant. No, you're not. And these people who would brag about how loving they are, oh, I love the home of you, unlike you, I'm not as hateful as you. Those kind of people, listen, I'm telling you, the people who feign themselves to be one way are actually the total opposite. The people who brag about how loving they are are actually really hateful, nasty people. You'll figure this out. Okay. And I'll tell you, when people exhibit this synthetic righteousness, it's because they're hiding something. They're hiding something. You look at Ananias and Sapphira, the synthetic righteousness that they displayed by lying, by keeping back part of the price, and it turns out they were hiding something, weren't they? That they didn't sell that possession for that amount of money. They lied to the Holy Ghost. And it was, like I said, a fatal mistake. Let's look at another situation here. Look at Numbers chapter 15. Numbers chapter 15, turn there. Again, we're looking at stories in the Bible where people committed a mistake. They did something wrong and death ensued. Someone ended up dying. These are passages the atheists love to attack. They're mockers. They scoff at the Word of God. Of course, they won't be scoffing when they're burning in hell for all of eternity, but that's a different story for a different time. And the point of the sermon is, let's look at these stories and let's make application. Let's take some lessons out. What was the lesson that I focused on with regard to Ananias and Sapphira? Hey, make sure you have the right motivation for the good works that you do. Make sure you're doing it so you can please God. Make sure you're doing it because you're not interested in the glory of men. You're not interested in the spotlight. You know, when the offering plate comes around, you don't need to take your wallet out. Hey, everybody, look at me. Look how much I'm about to give, all right? Take out a $100 bill. You see this, everybody? Look, I have $100. I'm putting it in the offering plate. Somebody take out a camera and take a photo of this. You see this? All right. Put in the offering plate. No. You're not going to get blessed. You will not be blessed by God for doing so. In fact, you might even incur his chastisement. If you're going to do alms, if you're going to do the right things, do it for the right reason, have the right motivation. That's what Ananias and Sapphira were missing. Numbers 15, switching gears here, this is another situation in which a mistake was made and someone died. Numbers 15, it says in verse 32, and while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and in all the congregation they put him inward because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, the man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones and he died as the Lord commanded Moses. So we see another mistake that resulted in death. It was a fatal mistake with fatal consequences. This person who had been picking up sticks on the Sabbath day ended up incurring the death penalty, he was stoned. Now people will read this, and again the atheists do this all the time, they take it out of context so they don't understand what's going on here and they'll use this as a pretext to mock God or mock the Bible. But let's find out what's going on. Why did this happen? Well here's reason number one, this guy broke God's law. And let me tell you something right now, he's the boss. So whether it makes sense to our limited human minds doesn't matter. If God said that the law stipulated those who broke the Sabbath would receive the death penalty, then we as limited human beings who are sinful ought to just accept that at face value, take our ego, park it at the side and recognize that's what God says and everything he says, everything he believes is good. It's that simple. Now we'll go into it a little bit deeper, but first reason and the most important reason, hey God's law stipulates it, it says in Exodus 35 verse 2, six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. It says it right there. The law is clear, if you do work on the Sabbath, you receive the death penalty. But what's the lesson we can take out of this? Why is this even in the Bible? Well first of all, you have to understand when God declares something, when God declares something as law, as his law, you better take it serious and you better make sure that you're doing exactly what he says without deviation, even if it's a small enough deviation as just picking up some sticks on the Sabbath day. I'm sure that in this guy's mind he's probably thinking, well, this seems right. It doesn't seem like a violation of the Sabbath, but it was. And so we have to make sure we're doing exactly what God says, again, without deviation, without departing even an inch. The Sabbath day, you have to remember, was a day of rest. It was a day of rest, picturing salvation by faith. Because as New Testament Christians, there is no more Sabbath day. Jesus is the Sabbath. But here's what you have to understand. We rest on his works. We rest on the finished works of Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew chapter 11, if you would, Matthew chapter 11. What's the lesson we can take out of this story in Numbers chapter 15? The individual who was put to death, he was stoned with stones for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, a fatal mistake. God's teaching us a lesson, and the lesson is this. If you do work, if the children of Israel did work on a day when they should have been resting, what they will receive for that is a physical death, just as sure as those who do work, when they should be resting for salvation, will receive a spiritual death. It says in Matthew 11, look at verse 27, all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest under your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus is offering rest to the world. He offered that rest when he died on the cross at Calvary, he was buried and rose again. That is how he purchased our salvation, and that salvation is available to all. All those who want to rest on his works, all those who want to rest on what he accomplished for us can do so, but the alternative to that, and it's a doctrine that a lot of people believe, we touched on it this morning, the alternative to resting on Jesus Christ would be working in order to enter heaven, would be working in order to enter that promised land. The gentleman there in Numbers chapter 15 did that, he worked when he should have been resting, he received a physical death as a result, and those who would work when they should be resting for spiritual salvation will receive a spiritual death, a second death in hell. That's what we can learn from this. By faith in him, those who would have gone to hell for falling short of the glory of God, they can have that Sabbath rest. God of course, he rested on the seventh day, and I think that just amplifies the typology. We see that from the very beginning, even at creation, God had a plan, and that plan for redemption would involve salvation by grace through faith alone. Some well-meaning people, this is how it would apply to you, there are well-meaning people out there who are picking up sticks on the Sabbath day figuratively. They're doing work on a day when they should be resting, and it just assures this person in Numbers chapter 15 received the death penalty, those who are working in order to get to heaven are going to experience a spiritual death. And my question is, are you willing to step outside the doors of this church and make every soul-winning time that you can, that fits into your schedule, I'm not saying you're not spiritual if you miss one or two of them, okay, but my point is, are you willing to make it a routine to go out with your King James Bible in hand and make sure that the well-meaning individual who thinks that he's working his way to heaven, thinks that it's okay to pick up some sticks when he should be resting? Are you willing to show that person that in fact they ought to be resting on the work of Jesus Christ? Are you willing to be that messenger that helps reconcile them to God? Because there are plenty of well-meaning people out there who will perish because, well, they just never knew. Of course, I believe everybody gets a shot, everybody gets an opportunity if they want it, but there are those, I do believe it, there are those who just were never reached and they die and go to hell, and it's unfortunate. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 6, 2 Samuel chapter 6, let's take a look at another situation. So in every one of these fatal mistakes, there's something you can take out of it. There's a lesson you can learn. So don't murmur against God when you read these stories, you know, we think, oh, God's mean. No. Again, you need to renew your mind, and again, just to hit on the atheists one more time, they'll take these passages and use them to clobber the Bible, they're acting as judge and jury on the Word of God when they've rejected all morality themselves. How could they appeal to morality when the very perfect basis by which we determine what is right and wrong, the Word of God, they don't even believe it. So they can't appeal to morality, but they do anyway because they're hypocrites. So here we have the story of the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant, it's being brought to Jerusalem, there's a mishap along the way though, and it leads to a fatal mistake. Let's read about it. 2 Samuel 6, look at verse 1, and again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Bali of Judah to bring up from thence the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwells between the cherubims. And they set the Ark of God upon a new cart, I want you to keep that word in mind there, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the Ark of God, and Ahio went before the Ark, and David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments, made of fir wood, even on harps and on salt trees and on timbrels and on cornets and on cymbals. So they're playing instruments, it's a happy time, they're transporting the Ark, but then something goes horribly wrong. Look at the next verse here, verse 6. During that process, it begins to wobble a little bit, and Uzzah, a well-meaning person I'm sure, probably didn't think that it would result in his death, tries to stabilize it, and he touches it and then dies. It was a fatal mistake, just like Ananias and Sapphira, just like the man who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. But what can we learn from this? Do we just murmur against God, oh that was me, why did he do that? How about we take some lessons that we can apply to our lives here? And this can be a jarring passage of scripture, it can be. If maybe you're newer to the Bible and you read this, you might be questioning why, what can we learn from this? Well again, you do what God says, and God didn't command the Ark to be transported in this way. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 6, 1 Samuel chapter 6. The Ark, it typifies the presence of the Lord. It was placed in the Holy of Holies, the holiest of all, in the Tabernacle. We touched on that in the morning service. It contained Aaron's rod that budded, the golden pot that had manna. It contained the Ten Commandments. The mercy seat was placed on top of it. Exodus 25, it says about the Ark, and thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the Ark, that the Ark may be born with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the Ark, they shall not be taken from it. So the Ark was outfitted with staves in order to be held, not pushed on a cart. The idea was this Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be transported by being literally picked up off the ground using those staves. But that's not what happened in 2 Samuel 6, instead David made a mistake and they had, you know, he had his men moving it on a cart. And so it ended up wobbling, Uzzah touches it, they didn't follow God's instructions and it led to a fatal mistake. Uzzah dropped dead, Uzzah died as they were transporting this Ark. Now you're there in 1 Samuel chapter 6, here's another aspect, this is the main lesson I think of the story, 1 Samuel chapter 6. Another aspect of this, look at verse 1, 1 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 1. And the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months, and the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners saying, what shall we do to the Ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. So at this point, the Ark is in the land of the Philistines, they want to give it back because the Ark being there had resulted in God cursing them and even their fake god Dagon turned into a stump, this idol turned into a stump, which is really cool. It also shows that God has zero respect for false religion by the way. Now skip down to verse 7, now therefore make a new cart, didn't we just talk about carts earlier? The Philistines make a new cart and take two milch kind on which there hath come no yoke and tie the kind of the cart and bring their calves home from them and take the Ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart and put the jewels of gold which he returned for a trespass offering in a coffer by the side thereof and send it away that it may go. So again the Philistines, they want this Ark gone, God's cursing them, they say get this thing out of our land, give it back to the children of Israel, we don't want it anymore, look what it's doing to us. And they transport it on what? A cart. They transport it on a cart. It's the exact same method of transporting the Ark that David was using when Uzzah touched it as it wobbled, that exact same method. So what do we learn from this? Well whenever you take something that is spiritual, okay, and we're talking about something spiritual here, the Ark of the Covenant, right? And whenever you depart from God's law in order to borrow from the way that the heathen do it, that's going to lead to some pretty bad consequences, it was the heathen that put the Ark on a cart. And then God's people, they do it in that exact same way. And look what happens, it starts wobbling, Uzzah touches it, he drops dead. So we need to make sure that when we're doing spiritual things, we're doing it the way God commanded and not doing it the way the heathen do it. Remember, the children of Israel, they could be a picture of the local New Testament church, and the heathen nations surrounding God's promised land could picture the world. And so what ended up happening in the story of Uzzah is they were transporting the cart in the same way that worldly heathen people do it, and it led to Uzzah's death. When you're doing things that are spiritual, make sure you're doing it according to what the Bible says, according to the law of God, but churches aren't doing that. I touched on some of these more liberal, sort of fun-centered churches that brag about how loving and tolerant they are when they're not loving at all, they don't do any soul-winning, for one. A lot of these churches with the purple lights and the smoke show and the big screen TVs and the fancy theatrics and everything like that, they compromise on what the Bible says, they compromise on God's law in order to borrow from the world. Just to assure as David's men, they had borrowed from the Philistine method, putting the ark on a cart when they should have carried it. They're mimicking the world, they're borrowing from the world. Instead of church discipline at a lot of these watered-down fun centers, instead of church discipline, instead of standing on what the Bible says, and instead of making sure that there isn't any leaven in the church because, of course, the Bible tells us that a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump, instead of church discipline, for example, it's come as you are. We're putting that ark right on the cart, baby, just like the Philistines did. Come as you are. Bible, I mean, that's not, you know, we're not really concerned with how, what God told us. We're not concerned with how he articulated his law, how we should be doing church. We're not concerned with 1 Corinthians 5, we're not concerned with any of that. Just come as you are. Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what sin you find yourself in, and instead of soul winning, instead of soul winning, which they do zero soul winning, and they claim to be loving, and they claim to be tolerant, and they claim to care about their neighborhoods, they do zero soul winning. And instead of that, you know what they do? Just go around the neighborhood, maybe they'll hang a church tract if they're feeling up for it that day. They don't do any soul winning, they'll just, you know, food bank, like I said, put a food bank up, give some carnal meat to people who are perishing, and they don't do anything about the fact that they're going to die and go to hell. Instead of hard preaching from behind this pulpit, or their pulpit, which isn't really a pulpit, a lot of times it's just like a glass little flimsy thing, instead of hard preaching against sin, they borrow from the world. They sound like an NPR host a lot of the time, these watered down preachers do. If you've ever listened to NPR, I don't recommend it, it's just pure propaganda, but it's just so boring. You go to one of these watered down churches like, alright, my sermon today is about love, you know, we gotta love our neighbor, and it sounds like an NPR radio broadcast, and if you've ever listened to one, it's like they don't ever emote, you know what I mean? It's just dead as a doornail, there's no passion, there's no power, there's no ripping on adultery, there's no ripping on sin, there's no ripping on abortion, on abortion rather, there's no ripping on drunkenness, there's no ripping on the iniquity of the land, they're borrowing from the world, they're trying to make the world, they're trying to make the world happy, worldly people happy, they're trying to placate to the world. And so of course they're not gonna, they're not gonna preach on sin, instead what they'll do is they'll borrow from the world by setting up, and Pastor Shelley's told this story before that he used to go to a church before he got involved in all this, where they were showing like Iron Man, they would show Hollywood movies in the church, they're borrowing from the world to placate to the world, showing Hollywood movies, Hollywood filth in what's supposed to be the house of God, trying to placate to them, doing what they shouldn't be doing, taking spiritual things and adding worldliness to it. And again, when you do that, just like what occurred in 2 Samuel chapter 6, where they moved the cart in the same exact manner as the Philistines did, rather than the way that God had commanded it, bad things happen. And in this country, bad things are happening because the churches today have departed from what this says and instead appeal to themselves. They appeal to what can get them the most congregates sitting in the pew to give them money. Bad things happen like this once godly nation, by the way, this once godly nation sliding on a bobsled straight to hell and a vast majority of evangelical Christianity are doing nothing about it, nothing at all and it makes me sick. How could you sit there and claim the name of Jesus Christ and you don't ever once speak about the iniquity of this land and you don't ever speak once about the sins that are being committed by these people out there who've rejected biblical wisdom and the commandments of God. How could you not even mention that at all at your church and just be positive only that's disingenuous, it's wrong and it'll lead to this country going further and further down on this bobsled I talked about straight to hell unless the churches straighten up and start doing things the way that the Bible commanded, take that ark and carry it the way God said, there's no hope for this country. There's just no hope for this country. First Corinthians 15, you don't have to turn there, I meant to say first chronicles, I'm sorry, first chronicles 15, and the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves they're on as Moses commanded according to the work of the Lord. This time David ensured that the ark was carried the way it should have been carried all along, the way that it should have been moved all along, instead of putting it on a cart they carried it there in first chronicles 15. Now go to Judges chapter 11, we have to do exactly what the Lord says, we have to make sure we're not deviating even if it seems like it's no big deal, even if it seems like it's no big deal to have a movie night here where we all watch, I don't know, James Bond or something, it might not seem like a big deal to decide to maybe have some singers come in here and sing us some CCM, maybe a special service where they come up here, they set up their instruments and they start singing that effeminate garbage, it might not seem like a very big deal, it might seem even like it's permissible, but you have to make sure that you look at what the law of God says and follow it completely and once you do that you'll realize all that worldly trash does not belong in the house of God and if you're going to do spiritual things make sure that in the process of doing those spiritual things you're not borrowing from the world, we're supposed to be separate, we're supposed to be sanctified. Judges chapter 11, we're going to look now at Jephthah's hasty vow, it says in verse 29, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh and passed over Mizpah of Gilead and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. Here's what I want you to notice in verse 29, it says, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. Alright, you see that? The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, verse 30, and Jephthah bowed a vow unto the Lord and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. So what's going on here, we're at a point in the book of Judges, at this stage the Israelites, they had gone through a cyclical situation where they kept getting, you know, they would backslide, you know, and they would get rebuked and they would get judged by heathen nations coming in and they would go through this cycle of backsliding and worshiping false gods and then calling on the Lord and begging for mercy and this would happen over and over and over again and God would of course, through his mercy, send them a deliverer and one of those deliverers was Jephthah. God had ordained, he wanted to use Jephthah as a deliverer and the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, that's what the Bible says in verse 29. And when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon you, understand that it brings victory. The Spirit of the Lord brings victory. So here's my question for you, if the Spirit of the Lord had come upon Jephthah, why then did he follow that up with making a vow? He made a vow and he said, if you will deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands then I'll offer a sacrifice to you. Was that really necessary? Remember the Spirit of the Lord had been upon him. And again that Spirit brings victory, you don't have to turn there, let me just read an example for you real quickly. In Judges chapter 15, we see this in Judges chapter 15, exemplified in the life of Samson. In Judges chapter 15 it says in verse 14, you don't have to turn there but, and when he came unto Leahy, the Philistines shouted against him and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire and his bands loose from off his hands and he found a new jawbone of an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men therewith. Samson had the Spirit of the Lord upon him and it brought him victory, he slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. And that's just one example of the victory that God brought him through the power of his Spirit. So there was no need for this vow but look what happened, you're there in Judges 11, look at verse 32, this was a hasty vow, this was not a smart vow, this was a vow that Jephthah, I guarantee you, regretted for the rest of his life. Look at verse 32, so Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them and the Lord delivered them into his hands and he smote them from Aror even till thou come to Minoth, even twenty cities and upon the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel and Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house and behold his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances and she was his only child. Beside her he had neither son or daughter and it came to pass when he saw her that he rent his clothes and said, Alas my daughter, thou hast brought me very low and thou art one of them that trouble me for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth, for as much as the Lord hath taken vengeance of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. So Jephthah makes this vow. He says, I'll offer you a sacrifice if you deliver the children of Ammon into my hands. And the next thing he knows is that his daughter walks through into his house. To Jephthah's horror, his own daughter came forth of the doors into his house. And now he had already uttered this vow and he had to do, which was offer a sacrifice, he had to do what he said he would do. And look what happens next, skip down to verse number 39. According to the vow she had to be sacrificed. This was a fatal mistake. Verse 39, and it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned unto her father who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. And she knew no man and it was a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah, the Gileadite, four days in a year. He made a fatal mistake. Now who died here? As a result of his mistake, it was his daughter. And what was the mistake? He uttered a hasty vow. The Spirit of the Lord had already been upon him. He would have defeated the Ammonites regardless in my estimation. And what happened instead? He utters this vow, he promises a sacrifice, his daughter comes through the door and he ends up, I mean I think the text is clear, some people debate this, but the text is clear, he offered his daughter for a sacrifice. It says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, It's better not to vow than to promise something, to make a vow, to make an oath to God and not actually deliver on that. Didn't we read about Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning of the sermon? Just in case you're thinking to yourself, hey, why didn't he just break it? What would have been the big deal? Well I think that God's judgment on his life would have been pronounced and it probably would have been a lot worse than what he ended up having to do. So he follows through with the vow. Jephthah goes through with it, despite the horrifying nature, what's the lesson we can learn? Be careful what you promise. Be careful what you vow. And especially, be careful what you vow to God. In our society today, vows practically mean nothing. Divorce rates are skyrocketing. There's something called no-fault divorce in which a woman, because she's been brainwashed by feminism, can just wake up one morning and decide she doesn't want to be married and doesn't want to have kids and go to the divorce court and get a bill of divorcement and leave her husband and leave her children high and dry. Because vows mean nothing today. And let me help you out. When you got married, you made those vows not just to your spouse. You made them to God. You better honor that. But here's what else you have to understand. You better be careful what you vow to God as well. Be careful who you marry, single men. Be careful who you marry. Because you'll have to go through with that if you don't want God's judgment on your life. Be careful who you marry. Be careful what vows you make to the Lord. Lord, I promise I'm going to read my Bible 15 times this year. And then you don't do it. Woe unto you if that happens. Lord, I promise I'll never commit this sin again. Woe unto you. Be careful what you promise to the Lord. Jephthah also learned, by the way, what it's like to sacrifice a child. Didn't God the Father do that? God the Father sacrificed his son for us. James chapter 3, it says, Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold, also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. The tongue is a very small part of your body, but it boasts great things. Just assure as the rudder of a giant ship can control the entire ship, it can make a pretty big impact with regard to the direction of the ship, your tongue, even though it's real small, can make a huge impact on your life. And it made a huge impact on Jephthah's life. He uttered a hasty vow he didn't have to utter. Go to 1 Kings 13, 1 Kings 13. This will be the last story we look at, 1 Kings chapter 13. Here we have the story of the man of God and the old prophet. And the man of God ended up getting slain with a lion, by a lion I should say. 1 Kings chapter 13, look at verse 1. And behold, there came a man of God out of Judah, 1 Kings chapter 13, by the word of the Lord unto Bethel, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense, and he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. This is the prophecy concerning King Josiah, and for those of you who read through Kings and Chronicles, you know exactly who that is. He was responsible for bringing revival to Judah, and this came to pass over 300 years later. And he also says that the illegitimate priests of Jeroboam are going to be destroyed. Look at verse number 3. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken, behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. And it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, that he could not pull it in again. So basically what happened is that we saw that the man of God's prophecy, it was followed by this miracle, which substantiated what the man of God had been saying, that it actually did come from the Lord. Jeff, see, everything that he said that would come to pass ended up coming to pass. And in fact, Jeroboam's hand ended up freezing, right? So we see this miracle here. We see that the man of God's message was confirmed. Now look at verse number 6. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand would restore him again, and became as it was before. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will give thee reward. And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For it was charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again, by the same way that thou camest. So basically what's going on here is that the king, he ends up saying to the man of God, Hey, come over to my house, let's eat and drink together. But the man of God refuses and says, Nope, I'm not going to do that, because the Lord had given me a commandment not to eat or not to drink in this land. When Jeroboam, he tries to offer a reward to the man of God, which was eating and drinking in this land, the man of God said, Nope, God, command me not to do that, and he refuses. Now if you skip down to verse 14 for sake of time, as we begin to wind down here, an old prophet gets introduced into the story. And the old prophet, he figures out, he learns of the works of the man of God, and he wants to go meet him. And what ends up happening in this story is that the old prophet, he offers the man of God to eat and drink with him, which was a contradiction. It contradicts what God had actually commanded him, what God had commanded the man of God. And the old prophet, he tells him to do something that the Lord told him not to do, and look what happens. Verse number 14, it says, And went after the man of God, this is the old prophet, and found him sitting under an oak, and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that cameest from Judah? And he said, I am. And he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water with thee in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. So again, this man of God, he affirms the direct revelation that he had received from the Lord, I'm not eating here, I'm not drinking here. God told me no. But look what happens next, verse 18. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. So he went back with him and did eat bread in his house and drink water. So the old prophet says, Well, I know that God might have maybe told you that, but an angel actually told me that it's perfectly okay for you to eat and drink with me in this land. And he was actually lying to him. And look at verse 20. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, for as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him and asked to wit for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. So the man of God eats bread. The man of God believes what the old prophet said to him. And he goes back to his place and they eat together, and then as he's leaving, a revelation comes on the old prophet and he says, Hey, you disobeyed, you know, the Lord says you disobeyed me. And as he's leaving, a lion meets him and slays him. What can we learn from this? Well here's the thing. The man of God had revealed a direct revelation, and notice how quick he was to abandon that revelation in favor of something that a man told him. That was not a direct revelation from the Lord. It was something that was false, and it was something that contradicted the clear commandment of God coming from the old prophet. And so he was gullible. What's the lesson we can learn from this? Don't be gullible. Don't just believe everything that man says. Now there's a caveat to this, obviously it's a biblical concept to follow the man of God as he follows Christ, but notice what I said, as he follows Christ. That doesn't mean just follow every man out there that thinks that they have a revelation from the Lord, because guess what? Most of them are lying, and the old prophet was lying. This was a test for this man of God in 1 Kings chapter 13, and he failed miserably. He was gullible. He believed every spirit. And one thing else, one other thing I want you to notice too, is that notice it never mentions his name. It's just the man of God. We don't know what his name is. He wasn't even worthy to have his name in the scriptures. So again, why does this happen? Because he was gullible. Because he believed, I should say eschewed the revelation that came directly from the Lord and instead believed the revelation that came from man. And in today's world, here's what you can take out of this. In today's world, there are a lot of people who think that they have a revelation from God. There's a lot of people out there also who say things that contradict what the scriptures say. They lie. There's a lot of people out there lying about what the Bible says. All you have to do is go to YouTube.com and you can see them for yourself. I'm talking about guys like Gene Kim. I'm talking about guys like Robert Breaker, the Ruckmanite dispensational heretics. I'm talking about all the repent of your sins false teachers out there. I'm talking about all these people on YouTube making their YouTube videos lying about what God said. Don't be the man of God in this story. Don't believe a revelation that contradicts what the Word of God clearly states. Don't be gullible because these people want to exploit credulous people to push their own agenda. Like I said, YouTube is filled with these people. YouTube is filled with these bozos. That's what they are. They're a bunch of lying clowns. These bozos, they go to Walmart, they buy a webcam, and then they come home and they sit in mommy's basement eating about 50 pounds of ice cream every day, making lying YouTube videos about what the Bible says, lying about the scriptures on a whole host of issues. I mean, you type it in on YouTube right now. You'll see videos that say, here's biblical proof it's okay to drink alcohol. Totally contradicts Proverbs chapter 23 and scores of other scriptures. Here's biblical proof it's okay to have tattoos. Here's biblical proof that it's okay to commit fornication. Here's biblical proof that it's okay to get divorced in certain situations. Here's biblical proof, this is what they'll say, that the earth is flat. Don't believe the old prophets on YouTube, the figures of the old prophets on YouTube, who claim to know what the shape of the earth is according to the Bible and say that it's flat. That's not what the Bible teaches, that's a lie and it's a lie that is being used to advance the cause of Satan. You say, why is that? Because it makes the Bible look stupid. It makes the things of God look stupid. The earth is not flat and the Bible doesn't teach that the earth is flat, but there are a bunch of old prophets on YouTube today uttering lies about the shape of the earth, uttering lies about biblical doctrine, and unfortunately, there are men of God, like the one here in 1 Kings 13, there are people like the man of God in 1 Kings 13, who are just believing everything they see. They're tossed about with every wind of doctrine. They go on YouTube, oh the earth is flat, let me see what this says, taking scriptures totally out of context. Matthew 12 says, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. That makes no sense under the flat earth model. So when the old prophet, when you stumble on the old prophet just like this man of God did in 1 Kings 13 and he tells you, hey the Bible says the earth is flat, you call him a liar and you move on. You don't believe it. Don't be gullible. How about when you're told, oh you need to hate the sinner, I'm sorry, you need to hate the sin and love the sinner. Okay, here's how you respond. You don't just believe it. You don't just believe this counter-revelation, you know what you do instead? You just say, hey, that's a Gandhi quote, do you mind if I show you Romans chapter one because oftentimes they'll repeat this Gandhi quote as a means to defend the Sodomites. Just say, hey, let me show you, let me take you to Romans chapter number one and let's see what God said about those pieces of filth. Okay, when you're told, hey, you ought to, hey listen, judge not. Judge not. All right. When they give you a counter-revelation, it totally contradicts what the Bible says. Hey, you tell them the Bible says he that is spiritual judgeth all things. Do it, you know, be polite. I'm not saying to be rude to people, but we need to make sure that we don't believe these doctrines of men, these doctrines that are coming from men, these quote revelations that are coming from men. People are lying about what God said just like the old prophet lied about what God said and unfortunately the man of God believed it. When you're faced with a message contradicting God's word, you uphold the Bible, you appeal to the Bible, you quote the Bible. Let's go to Proverbs 14 and we'll be done. Proverbs chapter 14. We've analyzed stories in which people made critical mistakes and it ended in a fatality. The man of God, his mistake, he was gullible and that was a fatal mistake for him because a lion met him in the way and listen to me, make no mistake, if you go around and you believe these YouTube false teachers telling you the earth is flat, well then there might be a lion waiting for you in the way. Don't believe that garbage. Don't believe what these bozos are saying. Don't believe the lies. The Bible says in Proverbs 14 verse 12, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And this is how all these stories come together. What we've analyzed today are individuals who probably thought that what they did seemed right. Ananias and Sapphira, I guarantee you in their minds they're probably thinking, hey, what we did wasn't so bad. I mean, we still gave something. It wasn't necessarily what we had sold the possession but we still gave something. They're probably thinking, hey, what we did was all right, but it was wrong because they lied to the Holy Ghost. The man who was picking up sticks in Numbers chapter 15 that we talked about earlier in the sermon, he probably thought that what he did seemed right. It probably seemed okay to pick up sticks on the Sabbath day, but it was wrong because it violated God's law and he ended up getting stoned, he ended up dying. Probably seemed right to offer a vow to the Lord that if he gave, this is from Jephthah's perspective that if he gave the children of Ammon into his hands that, you know, he would offer a sacrifice to the Lord. He probably felt spiritual in doing so but it was a hasty vow that was unnecessary and it resulted in the death of his daughter. Be careful what you promise God. You might not be able to meet, you know, to meet it and if you do, it's probably not something you want. It seemed right probably for Uzzah to touch that ark when it was wobbly. Probably seemed right in his eyes. But you know what? That ark shouldn't have been transported on a cart to begin with. It should have been held by the staves the exact way that God commanded it. So here's the point of the sermon. Please remember, please remember what seems right to you. What seems right in your eyes, what seems like it isn't really that much of a big deal, it could lead to a pretty bad consequence, okay? It could be a fatal mistake and the reason why I wanted to preach this for you is first of all so you can understand what these stories are actually trying to teach us which is simple. You make sure you do exactly what the Bible says. Don't deviate even an inch and let's make sure also that we don't murmur against God when we read these stories and think, oh, he's mean. Why did he do that? No. How about we learn something from it? How about we take a lesson from these stories? How about we apply it to our lives and make sure that we take heed, that we apply, that we learn and we know exactly what the Lord is trying to communicate and not just murmur against him or not have any bad feelings. Renew your mind and recognize that the Lord is trying to talk to you when you read these passages. Don't shut him out. All right, let's pray. Father God, I just thank you for this church. I pray that you would help us to take heed to the stories and scripture that you have preserved for us and Lord, these stories in which individual made a mistake and led to death. Lord, we just pray that you would just help us to take the lessons from these stories seriously that we don't deviate from your word, but also Father God, that you would help us to just take things out of the scripture, Lord, that have a deeper meaning because we know everything has a deeper meaning. Help us to figure out what that deeper meaning is. And Lord, help us to understand that your ways are always right and that we should never murmur against you and that if you choose to take a life because of a transgression, then it was absolutely 100% the right thing to do. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.