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

Now let me bring you up to speed with the story here. Of course, the children of Israel were living in sin, and especially their leaders, Hophni and Phinehas, were doing a lot of horrible things. They were fornicators, they were drunks, they were gluttons. And so God brought judgment upon the house of Israel. They went out to battle against the Philistines, and the Philistines slaughtered them. And when they slaughtered them, they went out and got the Ark of the Covenant. They took it out of the tabernacle, and they decided to bring it to battle with them. And they decided, hey, if we bring this with us, then God's presence is going to be there, and we're going to win the battle. Of course, bringing out the Ark of the Covenant didn't change anything. God was angry with them because of all the sins that they were doing, and so bringing the Ark of the Covenant wasn't going to help. So they bring out the Ark of the Covenant, they get defeated with an even worse slaughter. 30,000 troops die, and then the Philistines take the Ark of the Covenant captive back to the land of the Philistines. Well, they bring it back, and they put it in the house of Dagon their god, which is a false god that they worship. And they put that Ark there, and of course they go to bed at night, and when they wake up the next morning, the idol of Dagon has fallen on its face. So then they go in, and they prop it back up, put it back, and they just think, okay, whatever. The next night, they come back, same thing, except this time it fell, and the head busts off, and the hands bust off. So it's just a stump there. But of course that still did not convince them that their god was a false god. They just said, well, you know, the god of Israel is just kind of being heavy-handed with our god, like he's beating up our god or something. Like they thought that, you know, their god is, because they're Philistines, you know, this is our god. And even in this chapter, as we started reading in chapter 6, do you notice that they keep calling him over and over, the god of Israel, the god of Israel. And in chapter 5, the Bible keeps calling god just god. It just calls him god. But then over and over again in chapter 6, the Philistines are like, well, that's the god of Israel. Why is he, you know, punishing our god? Because your god is fake, because your god doesn't exist, because your god is not a god. And the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians that there are many out there that are called gods and called lords, but there is only one real god. And the Bible is very clear on that. Jesus Christ, or I'm sorry, in Isaiah chapter 45 it says, Before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me. I am the Lord, he said, and there is none else, and beside me there is no Savior. So there is only one god. Now the Bible tells us also in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that when the Gentiles would sacrifice unto idols, that they were actually sacrificing unto devils. And so these false gods are actually devils that they're worshipping. But they're not gods at all. It's just an idol, it just fell over and broke because God knocked it over and that's all there is to it. So then in chapter 5, if you remember, God was punishing the Philistines because they were still worshipping their other god, and because of all the other perverted and sinful things that they did that the Bible tells us about in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that they did, that he smote them with these emerods. Now, emerods is not a word that we use today. Again, I don't know exactly what it is, I don't want to know exactly what it is, because they had emerods in their secret parts, the Bible says. So those of you who are adults probably know what the Bible is saying there, when it says that they had emerods in their secret parts. And you could probably throw an H on the beginning of it and get pretty close to the definition, but it's some kind of a horrible sore or tumors or whatever it is, you know, hemorrhoids, whatever. So they're smitten with this horrible illness, and it's in their secret parts, and it's grievous. And we talked about last week how God talked about how he would send that kind of punishment. And today in America, we see that kind of punishment today with all the STDs and things going around, where God is pouring out his wrath on people who live a promiscuous lifestyle, and young people need to listen up to this, that God will judge that type of sin. When people are going around and going to bed with people that they're not married to, and doing other perverted things, God has always judged that sin, and God judged it in chapter 5 of 1 Samuel, and he sent them this disease. And the Bible described it also as an extreme burning and an itch and sores and scabs. He described all these horrible things when we looked about the Deuteronomy, when he talked about the emerods. And so this is not something that anybody wants. So they're really upset, they're crying out to God. And in chapter 6, and by the way, let me just touch on that for one second. You know, why is it that people go out and commit fornication? Why do they commit adultery? Why do they do all this stuff? It's to bring physical pleasure to their flesh, isn't it? It's to gratify the flesh, the lust of the flesh. But listen to me now, do you think that these people are enjoying physical pleasure now that they picked up this disease? You know, and obviously I understand that God was smiting them with that disease because they were worshipping other gods and other things, but there are a lot of people today in America that are being smitten with similar diseases, and God does use the pestilence and germs and disease to punish people, and it's not going to bring you pleasure. I mean, you'll have pleasure for a few moments, and then you're going to suffer pain from that for a really long time. And that's the way sin always is. That's just one specific sin. Other sins, you know, it brings a momentary enjoyment. It brings the pleasures of sin for a season, the Bible says in Hebrews 11. Sin is fun right now until you have to live with the consequences. You know, it's fun, yeah, go out and drink and party and have fun, but then you live with the consequences for the rest of your life. You know, when you do something stupid because you're drunk. You know, you rob someone because you're drunk, and you end up going to prison, or you get drunk and you get in a horrible car accident, and then you're paying for it. For years, you're paying fines and you're paying insurance and you're paying, you know, all these fees and you're paying to fix your car and you're in trouble at your job and you're in jail and ten days in jail. You know, it's not worth it, and sin is never worth it. It always seems like it's worth it, but it always costs you more than you want to pay, takes you further than you want to go. It's always going to be worse than you expect if the punishment is worse. And so that's what we see here, they're suffering from that. So I just explained all that so that Chapter 6 would make sense. So in verse number 1 of Chapter 6, the Ark of the Lord has been in the country, it says, the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. So for seven months they were being punished for all their sins. Why? Because the Ark of the Covenant represented God's presence. So now that God's there and they're not glorifying him as God, they're not respecting him, they're still worshiping Dagon, he begins to punish their sins and pour out his wrath on them. So they want the Ark of the Covenant gone. Instead of getting right with God, they say, we just need to get the Ark of the Covenant out of our country. So it says in verse 2, And the Philistines call 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 here's the thing, you've got to understand this about this chapter. What these people are about to be told is all the wrong things. So don't read this and think, oh really, they were supposed to do that? No, they weren't. This is what it is, they're going to the diviners. You know what a diviner is? This is like a psychic reader, like a sorcerer, like some kind of a magic guy. He's some kind of a voodoo guy. So they've got their own little voodoo Dagon guy. And then the priests of their false religion and false god where they're worshiping devils. So they go to their religious leaders and say, Tell us, what do we do to get rid of this Ark of the Covenant because we're sick of us all getting all these emerods and all this punishment and disease that he struck us with. And they said, so this is what their little religious guru is telling them. And keep in mind, these are not the priests of the Lord, these are not Bible-believing preachers that are colonists. And they said, If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty, but in any wise return him a trespass offering. Then ye shall be healed and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. Now go back to Leviticus if you would, because the Bible talks about the trespass offering. If you go to Leviticus... Let me go ahead and find my place here. I believe it's in chapter... Is it six? I thought it was five. Somebody help me out here. Chapter six. There we go. What's that? Yeah, that's the sin offering. It says in verse 24 of chapter six, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord. It is most holy. And he basically describes, of course, killing an animal, strengthening the blood. Go to chapter seven, verse one. There it is. I'm sorry. Likewise, this is the law of the trespass offering. It is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they what? Kill the trespass offering. And the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar. And we can go on and on and read about the trespass offering. That's what chapter seven is all about. But wait a minute. Notice the trespass offering and the sin offering both involved killing of an animal, killing of an animal and sprinkling the blood upon the altar. And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter number nine, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood. And without shedding of blood is no remission. You see, in the Old Testament, they would offer a blood sacrifice symbolically picturing the fact that their sins would be forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ one day on the cross through his blood. So these guys, first of all, we see right away they don't know what they're talking about. Because they say, Oh, you need to do a trespass offering. Now, that ought to be a sacrifice of an animal representing Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. It should be through the blood that they're going to receive an atonement for their souls upon the altar. But instead, they say, Well, do a trespass offering. Look at verse four. Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to it? So their religious guys said, Yeah, do a trespass offering. They're like, Okay, well, what is it? What's the trespass offering? They answered, Five golden emeralds and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on you all, and I know. So instead of a biblical sacrifice here, they're going to make a golden emerald? Now, I don't have a clue what that looks like. You know, I mean, this is a pretty weird sculpting that they're doing. Okay, but they're doing this, you know, a golden emerald. Yeah, that's what God really wants. God wants you to give that to him. I mean, it's so stupid. But you know what? False religion is always stupid. It's stupid today. It's nonsense today. You know, the religions of this world today that are not biblical, I mean, they're foolish. They're dumb. He's telling you to make a golden image to your emerald and then make golden mice. I don't know where they came up with that part of it. But they're going to make a golden... Now, just to prove to you further that this is not of God. You probably don't need help with that, but look at Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter number 4, verse 16. Deuteronomy chapter number 4. But I remember when I was first reading this as a little kid. You know, you don't always understand things when you're a little kid. I remember this as a little kid. I was like, are they really supposed to be doing this? Like, who are these priests? Are these guys telling them, all right? This doesn't sound right. But look at Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 16. God makes it clear here. Let's be corrupt ourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude, or likeness, he's saying, of any figure, the likeness of male or female. He's saying, do not make a graven image. Elsewhere, he says, do not make a molten image. Same thing. And he says, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, that's any animal, the likeness of any winged fowl that fly through the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven should be driven to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the water. So God makes it clear here. He says, don't make a graven image of any animal that creeps on the earth, or any bird that's flying in the air, or of any fish that's in the water. But yet today, people will actually take a molten image of a fish and put it on the back of their car and say, oh, this represents Christianity. This means I'm a Christian. Why would a metal image of a fish represent your Christian when the Bible right here is telling us, don't make an image of animals, whether it be in the air, on the earth, and then it even spells out, don't make a fish. And then the other symbol that sometimes people use on a metal molten version on the back of their car is a bird, a dove. So pretty much the two animals that he spells out, no birds, no fish, oh, that's the two symbols that we use to represent Jesus. Metal fish on the car, metal bird on the car, and we're good to go. You know, we ought not think that that's what God wants, a molten image of an animal on the back of our car. And you say, well, it's just a fish. It's just a bird. It just represents this, represents that. It doesn't matter. God said don't make it. And look, the New Testament tells us many times, little children, just one verse as an example, little children, keep yourselves from idols, amen. And the Bible tells us over and over, all throughout the New Testament, to watch out for idolatry, beware of idols, beware of idolatry. And the definition, according to the Bible, is just an image, whether a molten image or a graven image, of any animal or human being, male or female, do not make an image. And, you know, even statues. I mean, God tells us not to make those. You know, churches have taken the pastor or the founder of the church and made a statue of that man and put it out front of their church. You know, that isn't right. That's idolatry. Because, you know, you say, well, this is a statue. It's a monument. We're just honoring. But it's idolatry. You know, and honestly, think about how you would feel if you saw, because, you know, you're a Christian here tonight and you're a believer in Jesus Christ and your heart is in the right place, I hope. Wouldn't you feel weird if somebody had a statue of you? Wouldn't you think, like, this is a little bit extreme? And, you know, maybe we just think that's normal today, but it's a little bit too worshipful. You're lifting man up a little bit too high when you make a statue of him. You know, it's a little bit too much like this. And you say, well, I don't agree with that pastor, actually, but it doesn't matter. Even if they're not going to worship him, he said just don't make him. You know, I doubt that any Christian, I doubt that anybody bows down and worships that metal fish on the back of their mouth. You know, I don't think anybody gets on their knees and bows down to them. But it doesn't matter. God just said don't make a molten image of a fish. Don't make a molten image of a bird. And yet they do it. So God's clear on that. So, therefore, go back to 1 Samuel 6, God is not condoning of them making these golden mice and especially not these golden emerons. You know, I mean, he didn't spell that out, but, you know, I think it's pretty safe to say that he didn't think that that was cool either. So they make these golden images and they tell them, according to the number of the lords of the Blistes, for one plague was on you and on all your lords. Look at verse 5. Wherefore, ye shall make images of your emerons and images of your mice that mar the land, and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Her adventure will lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your land. Now, look, if your god just keeps getting torn up by some other god, you got the wrong god. You know? And the god of Israel just keeps abusing their gods in their mind. It's time to trade gods, okay, and get one that can beat up. My god can beat up your god, okay? So this is verse number 6, and remember, this is their false preacher still talking to them. Wherefore, then, do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go and they departed? You see, look, didn't you learn from Pharaoh where he finally even had to let them go and he was the most powerful nation in the world? He was the leader. So it says, now, therefore, make a new cart and take two milchkinds, basically milk cows is what that is, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kind to 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 ye return him for a trespass offering in a coffer by the side thereof and send it away that it may go. And see if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-Shemesh. Then he hath done us this great evil, that if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us. It was a chance that happened to us. They basically decided, you know, you got to do all this, you make all these gold images, put them in a little pot and put it on this new cart and get these two milk cows, I mean, I have this complicated thing, and take the baby cows away from the milk cow, okay, and then get the two milk cows, harness them up, and just, nobody's going to drive the cart, just send it randomly, and if it heads toward Israel, then we'll know that God did this. But otherwise, maybe this was all just a coincidence. I mean, after all these weird instructs of this, well, maybe it's just a coincidence that everybody got emerods and all these mice came and devoured our land, and maybe it's just a coincidence that Dagon just kept falling over. Maybe there was just an earthquake or something, or they didn't mount him properly or whatever. So it says in verse 10, And the men did so, and took two milch kind, because of course they're going to obey these guys, I mean, you know, two great instructs, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home, see, get the baby cows out of the way, and they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart and the copper with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods, and the kind took the straight way to the way of Bepsimas, and went along the highway, mooing as they went. Okay, so what does mooing mean? Mooing. Okay, so here they are, they're walking toward Israel, and they're mooing away, and they turn on the side to the right hand or to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them under the border of Bepsimas, and they of Bepsimas were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it. So the Israelites see it coming home, and they get all excited, they're happy, and the cart came into the field of Joshua of Eshomite and stood there, where there was a great stone, and they claved the wood of the cart, so they destroyed the cart, they break it up, and they used the wood to start a fire, and they offered the kind, the kind as the cows, a burnt offering unto the Lord, and the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the copper that was with it wherein the jewels of gold were, put them on the great stone, and the men of Bepsimas offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day in the Lord. So they actually did the proper offering there, where they took these cows, and they offered them up as a burnt sacrifice on the altar there. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day, and these are the golden emeralds which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering in the Lord, for ashdog wood, for gazo one, for ashkon one, for gath one, and for Ekron one, and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, belonging to the five lords, both the fenced cities and the country villages, even under the great stone of Abel, whereon they sent down the ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the best you might. So they sent it back, and the five lords of the Philistines, they were kind of following these two cows that were pulling the cart with the ark on it with their little dish of offerings, and they watched it, they watched them do the burnt offerings, they see everything, and they saw how the cows just went straight to Israel, which means, hey, this wasn't a coincidence. They walked straight home, and then they just went back home. But isn't it sad how people can just see all of this, and they still are just going to stick with their same religion? And it's the same thing. Like, we were out soloing today, Brother Richard and I, and, I mean, we showed this girl everything. I mean, we showed her every verse. We're showing her... She thought that you had to be baptized, be saved, and live a good life, and do works and everything like that. She was Church of Christ. And so we went through and showed her every which way, that it's, you know, whosoever believeth and is, and our prayers go to God. We showed her probably, what, 25 verses just on the back as just believe. Then we showed her a whole slew of verses how baptism does not save you. We showed her verse upon... I mean, we showed over... We read at least... Richard can testify that we showed at least, like, 50 verses. And every single thing she brought up, we just showed her what the Bible taught was different. And she's like, well, my church teaches this. And it's like, well, okay, here's what the Bible says, though. We show her, like, 10 verses. Yeah, but my church is different. We teach this. And I'm like, okay, well, here's 10 more verses. And she had no answer for any of it, but she just would not believe the Bible. She just wouldn't do it. And we were told, like, you're not saved. You know, you're not... She's like, well, you know, I don't think... When we got there, she didn't think she was saved. And she's like, well, I know I'm not saved, but what you're saying isn't right either. And it's just you can show people. I remember one time I was giving the gospel to my second cousin once removed. Yes, it really was my second cousin once removed. I'm not kidding. This girl I went to school with, and she was my... It was funny because I was friends with this girl, and her last name was Anderson. But you don't think anything of that because that's a really common name. I mean, there are tons of Andersons. And so I was friends with this girl for, like, a year and a half. And then we did this project where we were doing an oral report about our family history, and sure enough, here she is, my second cousin once removed after all these years, and we found out we were related. So one time I was giving her and her friend the gospel, and she was a Mormon. And a lot of my extended family is Mormon. My dad's dad came from a Mormon family up in Idaho, even just a few hours from Salt Lake City. And I spent like an hour and a half straight giving the gospel to her and her friend. And I showed verse after verse. I mean, I just destroyed the whole Mormon doctrine, just proved it's all false, showed how salvation through Jesus and that He is God in the flesh. And I went through everything with her for an hour and a half straight, and I'm just like, don't you see it? And here's what she said to me. She said, It doesn't matter what you show me in the Bible. I'm not going to change what I believe. Like, no matter what the Bible says, because here's what she said, I know what I've felt. Like, it doesn't matter what you show me in the Bible, I will not change what I believe because I know what I felt. And it was sad. I mean, I'm pleading with her to get saved. I showed her for an hour and a half. She's like, why don't you just believe this? This is right here. And she didn't have any answers. She just knew what she felt. And that's a sad thing. You know, you can't make people get saved. I mean, all you can do is just give them the gospel. And they're going to have to make a decision to accept the truth. And a lot of people, it's not that they don't know what the truth is. It's just that they just don't want to believe it. They just want to believe something else. They want to stick with their religion. They like their friends at that church, or they just think it's fun to go to that church, or it's their whole family's religion. They don't want people to make fun of it, whatever. They just stay with their religion no matter what, and they just will not hear the truth. I mean, anybody who's done soul-witting knows that there are people like that, there are people like that that just don't care. And that's how the Philistines are in the story. I mean, they're just seeing everything. They're seeing God destroy their God and smite them with plagues and do all this, and it just doesn't sink in. They just will not switch. They're just, well, we're Philistines, so we're just going to stay with them. And a lot of times, people's nationality is what causes them to stay with a certain religion. Like the Philistines are, oh, that's the God of Israel. And today, a lot of people are just like, I'm Hispanic, so I'm just Catholic. Or I'm Italian, so I'm Catholic. And my mom was a Catholic, and her mom was a Catholic, and I'm going to die a Catholic. Well, you're going to die and do the hell with that. You need to get saved. And I'm just Greek Orthodox, and that's my religion. Or I'm Navajo, so it's all about the traditional religion, and it's all about peyote religion. Or I'm this, I'm that, I'm Arabic, so it's all Muslim. No, it doesn't matter. Red and yellow, black and white, all men everywhere, the Bible says there's none other name under heaven given to one man whereby we must be saved. And so, people just need to get it. I mean, people just need to decide to go with what the truth is. Not with just what your family is into or what your nationality is or what you've just always done. No, if you're wrong, you need to change. And even if you're saved today, you're already saved. You know, maybe you believed a false doctrine. I remember there was a family that came to our church, and they really liked our church, and they were really fired up about our church, and they thought our church was great. And then they quit coming to our church, and I didn't really understand why. So I went over to their house, and I talked to him, and he said, you know, he loved our church and everything, but he just said, you know, it's just that a lot of the stuff that you preach, and he's like, I'm not saying that you're wrong about any of it, but he said it's just different than what my kids have grown up with for the last however many years. And he said, I don't want to confuse them, so I'm just going to stick with what they've been learning. It's like, well, sorry to confuse you with the truth. You know what I mean? Sorry to confuse you with the facts. But if, you know, and I'll be honest with you. I grew up in independent Baptist, but I'll tell you what right now. A lot of the stuff that was preached to me when I was growing up was wrong, a lot of it. A lot of the stuff I learned growing up was totally wrong, and, you know, I came to a point as a teenager, and this is what changed my life. You say, Pastor Anderson, how did you get where you're at today? Like, what brought you to the point that you're at where you're pastoring and you started church and go soloing and all this? Like, who taught you all this? Where did you get to this point? I'll tell you exactly how I got here, where I'm at right now. It's because of the fact that as a teenager, I made a decision in my heart, and I decided, you know what? I don't care what anybody says. I only care what this book says. And I thought to myself, you know what? I need to read the Bible cover to cover, and I remember as a teenager thinking about this, and I wasn't the most mature person in the world, and I was worldly, and I was not an example of Christian character or anything. But, you know, I was just an average teenage boy, but I just decided, I said, you know what? I'm going to read the Bible cover to cover, and I'm going to put away all preconceived ideas, and I'm just going to believe what the Bible says. Like, and I don't care if it contradicts what I'm being taught at my church or not. You know, it just doesn't matter. Like, I want to know what the truth is. I want to know what the Bible really says. And I went through, and, you know, a lot of the things I was taught were right, but a lot of the things I was taught were not right. Even in an independent Baptist church, there was a lot of false doctrine that I was taught. And I didn't just say, well, I'm just going to stick with what I've learned. I'm just going to trust the pastor. I'm just going to trust everything that I've been taught. No, I changed. I had one opinion. I read something different in the Bible, and I changed. And that's what people need to be willing to do. That's what the word repent means, by the way, change. You know, and if you're wrong, then change. And don't just say, well, you know, I'm just going to stick with what I'm doing. There's no glory in sticking with what's wrong. Change if you're wrong. But he says in the... I know that clock doesn't work. I keep looking at it. I'm like, is this... It seems like it's been 7.30 for a really long time. There we go. It's a real clock. Otherwise, it's going to be a really long sermon if it stays 7.30 all night. But anyway, let's get back to the chapter. I want to finish out the end of the chapter. So the Philistines are out of the picture. They dropped off the ark. They did their weird thing. They went home. So now, God actually is going to punish some of the Israelites here, the men of Beth Shemesh. Look at verse 19. And he smote the men of Beth Shemesh because they have looked into the ark of the Lord. Even he smote of the people 50,000 and 3 score and 10 men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. Now, the ark of the covenant was a sacred and holy object. It was supposed to be kept in the tabernacle in what was called the most holy place. There was the outer tabernacle. Then there was the holy place. And then there was the most holy place where the high priest only went once a year. That's where the ark of the covenant was supposed to be. Well, when they took it out to battle, the Bible made it clear that whenever they transported the ark, they're supposed to carry it on their shoulders with these two sticks that held it up. And they would haul it on their shoulders. And they weren't supposed to touch it at all. Well, when it comes on this cart, and they unloaded off the cart, not only did they touch it, but they actually decided, hey, let's open it up and look inside. Hey, let's see what's in there. And so they popped the lid on the thing and looked inside of it. And the Bible tells us that God killed 50,000 and 3 score and 10 people. So basically 50,070 people died for basically tampering with the ark, looking inside of it, peeking inside of it. Now, I don't know what motivated them to look inside of it, but God told them very clearly, you're not even supposed to touch it. You know, it's supposed to be in this holy place. It's not just some kind of a carnival attraction where everybody just lines up. And I mean, we're talking 50,000 people lining up and just peeking inside. Oh, well, let's check it out. Let's see what's in there. And so God punished them greatly and killed them. Because they didn't take that seriously. They just peeked inside, looked at it. What motivated them? What do you think motivated them? Curiosity. Curiosity. Exactly. And you know, that's probably one of the things that will get you into the most sin in your life is curiosity, especially to young people. Because curiosity will lead you to do things that you shouldn't do. Like, for example, a lot of children or teenagers will look at maybe some kind of a dirty magazine or something just out of curiosity, you know, just to see. Or they want to go watch some movie just to see what it's like. And they're just curious, like, what am I missing? You know, maybe you passed the bar or the casino or the nightclub or the strip club. You know, there's all the lights. I wonder what's going on in there. You know, I just want to see what's in it. I just want to check it out. You know, I'm not going to go in there and I'm just curious. I just want to see what it's like. Why do people try drugs? You know, they're just curious, just want to check it out. That's why they try drinking. That's why they try anything, just out of curiosity, just to see what it's like. So curiosity can lead you into a lot of sin. Who knows what else could have motivated them? Maybe they thought that there was more gold in it. Maybe they were going to, I don't know. But it kind of points out that they were looking at it. I think it was more just a curiosity. But they disobeyed God. They messed with God's property there, and God smote them with a great slaughter. And the Bible says the people lament it, which means they're mourning, they're sad, they're crying. Look at verse 20. And the men of Beschimeth said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom shall he go up from us? So here's what they're saying. Wow, nobody can stand before this holy God, so let's just get him out of here. Let's just get God out. So just like the Philistines said, just get God out of here, get him away from us. This is their mentality too. Well, who can stand before this holy Lord God? Now, this is the same mentality that people have today. Well, God is just too hard. He's too harsh, he's too strict. Who can stand before him? And they cry and they mourn about it. Look at verse 21. And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Pirchishzirim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord, coming down and fetch it up to you. Now, here's the thing. It's not that hard to obey God and to have God be pleased with you. I mean, all throughout the Bible, we see this. Look at Cain and Abel. You know, God gives him an instruction to bring a sacrifice. Abel brings the lamb sacrifice, the blood, and so forth like he's supposed to. Cain decides he's going to bring fruits and vegetables because he's a farmer, so he says, Well, I'm just going to give God my best, and I'm not going to bring a blood sacrifice. I'm just going to bring these fruits and vegetables. And God rejects Cain's offering of fruits and vegetables. And Cain becomes upset and angry. And God comes to Cain and just gives him another chance and says, Cain, if thou doest well, wilt thou not be accepted? But if not, sin lies at the door. And he explains to him that if you'll just do the right thing, Cain, if you'll just bring what I asked you to bring, then I'll accept you. Then I'll be pleased with you. The Bible says in 1 John 5, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. Did you hear that? His commandments are not grievous. God does not have an unreasonable expectation of you. I mean, look how easy it is to be saved. Who thinks being saved is just really hard? It's just, who thinks? Who thinks that being saved is just really hard? It's just too hard. I mean, I've tried. Anybody who thinks it's hard to be saved is not saved. You know what I mean? Because they think you have to do all this work to be saved. Being saved is easy. Jesus did the hard part. He died for us. He was buried for us. All we have to do is just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. It's so easy to be saved. It's so easy to be saved. Jesus compared it to eating a piece of bread, drinking a glass of water, opening a door and walking through it. I mean, He compared it to things that are easy because He's just explaining to you. He took a little child and sent a little child in front of him and said, barely I see you, except you'd be converted and become his little children. He that, what's that verse you always quote? How does it go? Go ahead. It's so easy that a little kid can be saved. There's nothing to it. He's got to trust Jesus. Just believe in Him. Call upon Him. Piece of cake. But yet, people say, oh, God is just not fair and He's going to send all these people to hell and it's just not fair. Why does He have to be so strict about it, so holy? He's going to send all these people to hell and it's just not fair. Why does He have to be so strict about it, so holy? It's not hard to just do what He told you to do but you've got to realize He is God and what He says goes and He is a holy Lord. They were right about that when they said, who shall stand before this holy Lord, God? Yes, He is holy. Yes, He is holy and yes, He is just and yes, He is righteous and He does not make exceptions for anybody. He doesn't do it. He doesn't make exceptions. If you peek into the ark, He'd kill them all. It didn't matter that it was 50,000 people, He'd kill them all. And you say, God would kill 50,000 people? God's going to send a lot more people than that to hell, my friend, if they don't believe on Jesus Christ. There's going to be a lot more than 50,000 people in hell and it's not because it's hard to be saved. It's not because God's too holy. God's loving. He's loving. He's loving. He's too holy. God's loving. God paid all of our sins. And how many people today are going to stand before God and say, God, I just didn't know. I didn't even know. And yet, how many times did somebody from faith to work come knock their door or somebody else knock their door and they blew it off, they made fun of it, they didn't have time, they didn't care. I mean, you live 70 years on this earth on average and people hear the gospel over and over. They hear the word of God. They hear scriptures and they just don't care. And you know what? A holy God is going to punish them. And it's going to be death, just like it was death right here. God is not fooling around, my friend. He's a holy God. And people today, they don't want a holy God. So they go to a church that preaches, you know, basically a Santa Claus God. A God where anything goes. A God that just kind of knows that even when you do everything He told you not to do, even when you're making molten images and putting them on your car, even when you're sleeping with your girlfriend, even when you're just drinking and partying and you're skipping church and doing everything He told you not to do, He just knows that you're a nice person on the inside. And so everything's going to be fine. And you know, even though you don't believe in Jesus, hey, He knows that just, you know, your whole family's Islamic. You know, no big deal. Just as long as you're following the light that you have, right? I mean, you were doing the best. I mean, when you pray not to Allah, you know, I mean, you were sincere about it. But no, that is not the God of the Bible. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I wish I could tell you that God is just going to just turn the other way and just let things go and He's just going to give everybody a free pass into Heaven. But He's not going to do it. He will not do it. He's a holy God. And He is the God of the Bible. And we ought not to be like these people at Beth Shemesh and say, well, you know, who can stand before the preaching and faith before baptism? All this holiness. All this righteousness and the holy God and all this strict rules that God has. But then they'll just go find some other place that will tell them what they want to hear, because you know what? This is the truth right here. And the Ark of the Covenant brought the children of Israel great blessings in the next few chapters as we read on and as we go further into the book of 1 and 2 Samuel. You'll see God's presence and the Ark of the Covenant. For example, there was a guy named Obed-Edo. He had the Ark at his house later on. And God is blessing him immensely. Why? Because he was right with God. He was doing all the right things. And so God poured out His blessing. So the Ark of the Covenant can either be a blessing or a curse, all throughout the Bible. And it represents the presence of God. It just depends on which side of God you're on. I mean, God's a very loving God. God is love. God so loved the world that He gave His arm to God's Son. And so there's God's love. And then there's God's wrath and justice and holiness and punishment. And so God can literally either be your best friend or your worst enemy. But the choice is up to you. It's not that it's too hard. It's not that these people didn't know what the right thing is. They could have picked up their Bible and read it and known that they're not supposed to touch the Ark. But instead, they just get in line with everybody else with all the other 50,000 idiots lined up to go stick their head in the Ark. But if they would have read the Bible, they would have known. It's not God's fault. And they blame God. They get angry at God. And you know, I feel bad for them when I read the story. My first instinct was to feel bad for these people. Man, 50,000 people died just for looking. You know, and I have sympathy for them. But in reality, God says, look, I'm trying to teach a lesson here. You need to take what I say seriously. You need to obey me. That's what God is telling us here with this story. And we need to take it seriously in our lives and not just think, well, as long as we kind of have the gist of what the Bible says, we're okay. No, we need to read our Bibles and figure out what it says. Because, look, there are a lot of things that we probably do in our lives that we don't even know are wrong, but then the Bible somewhere says it's wrong. And then God could punish us for stuff that we didn't even know. And you say, well, if you don't know, then God's not gonna punish you. Okay, well, then let's just not read our Bibles, and then we won't know any commandments hardly, and then we can get away with a lot more stuff. I mean, that doesn't make any sense, does it? But I've heard that in churches. Like, well, once you know something, then God's gonna hold you accountable. Well, then if you're smart, you just go to church as little as possible, read as little Bible as possible, and just say, 10 commandments, that's enough for me. I'll follow these 10, and I'm good to go, because that's all I know. No, God's gonna hold you accountable. Think, hold on a second. God's gonna hold you accountable for this whole book. So wouldn't it be smart to figure out what it says? I mean, God's gonna hold you accountable for everything in here. And the Bible says that the great judgment, of course, the great judgment's for the unsaved. He'll pull out these books and judge. But even for the saved, we don't go to that great judgment because we're saved from that. But we do get chastened and chastised on this earth. I remember when I used to go to Christian school, and they had, like, this big, fat rule book. And whenever we'd get that rule book at the beginning of the year, I'd always be reading the rule book. And my mom was always like, you always read that rule book. And she said, I know why you're reading it. She said, you're looking for, like, the loophole. She said, it's true. Because, I mean, I'm just sitting there, and I was reading it really intently. And she's like, I know why you're reading that. Because you're trying to figure out all the ways to beat the system, you know, to beat the rules. And that's exactly why I was reading it. But if I'm gonna be punished for something or judged by something, I at least want to know what the rules of the game are. If I'm gonna play the game, I want to know the rules of the game. And you know what? The Bible is what God is judging us by. And you can sit there and think, well, here's what I think is right in this situation. Or here's what I think is the right thing to do here. And I talked to a lot of people later in life who they finally start reading the Bible, and they're like, man, I would have lived my life so different. I would have made so many differences. I just didn't even know. I did this. I didn't even know it was wrong. I screwed up my whole life. And I didn't even know that I was doing, I thought I was doing the right thing. But it's because they didn't even know the rules. And so if you're gonna be judged by this book, God, look, those people probably didn't know, hey, if we look in here, we're gonna die. If they would have known, they wouldn't have done it. So it was curiosity, yes. But it was also ignorance that led them to stick their head in there and look at it. It was ignorance of God's rules and God's punishment. Because if they would have known the truth, they wouldn't have looked into it. And so we need to not be ignorant of God's commandments because God will punish you even if you're ignorant. Even if you don't know the rule, that's no excuse for breaking the rule. I mean, it's the same thing. If you're just, you know, and I'm totally against speed limits and stuff, but anyway, you know, let's say you're just flying down the road at 90 miles an hour. I didn't know this was a 45 zone. Are they gonna let you off the hook? No. And obviously that's a stupid law. But anyway, the point is you can't just say, well, I didn't know the rules. I didn't know the law. I mean, you have to, I mean, you think you're gonna enter like professional sports and just tell the referee, well, I didn't know. I didn't know that I couldn't walk several steps while holding the basketball. I didn't know that was traveling. No, you're expected to know the rules and God tells us to study the Bible and read the Bible so that we'll know what he expects of us. And if you don't know what the Bible says, you're probably not obeying the Bible. So the first thing I would do is read the Bible cover to cover, figure out what it says, and then you can actually start living by it and knowing what it says. Let's probably not work through it. Father, thank you so much for your word, dear God, and for this story. It's really a tragic story about a bunch of false preachers making a bunch of weird idols and misguiding and misleading a whole nation of Philistines and then even the Israelites totally ignorant of your word, not handling the ark properly. Help us to not make the same mistake, dear God. Help curiosity not to lead us into sin. And also, dear God, help us not to be ignorant of your word so that preachers could deceive us or we could be ignorant of your commandments and go out and commit some horrible sin because we didn't even know that it was wrong. Help us to know the rules, dear God, that Jesus came to pray.