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

to essentially kidnap Elisha, right? And he sends an army to go against Elisha. Elisha has a servant there with him. And then they come confronted with this great army. And if you remember, the servant is just like afraid, right? He's scared. And this is where Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of my servant so he can see that there are more with us than there are with them. And of course, that is a great miracle. He sees the chariots there are fire. The fact that God is protecting Elisha, he's with the man of God. And therefore, the servant will be blessed because of the residual blessing of Elisha, right? Elisha is being used if God is being protected by God. And then aside from that, we see that Elisha, once he reveals to his servant what's taking place, then he asks God to smite the army with blindness. He's like, smite them with blindness, and then they're all blind. So then Elisha goes, and he takes the army. He's like, all right, come this way. And he actually leads them into the capital of Israel, which is Samaria, which is the enemy territory. So once they get there, they're no longer blind. And they're like, oh, man, we're behind enemy territory. And then the Israelites are like, Lord, should we just kill them? And then Elisha tells them, why would you do that? They're obviously unarmed. They've surrendered. These are captives. Be kind to them. Love your enemies. Feed them, and let them go about their way. And so obviously, the king of Syria notices and understands that Elisha is a great man of God with great power. The Holy Ghost is upon him. He's stored in the plans of Syria. And so basically, they respect Elisha. They know this man is of the Lord. And therefore, Elisha kind of has the liberty to just kind of go wherever he wants. You think of probably the king of Syria as just like, we don't want to be spitting with blindness. If he's coming, he's coming for a particular reason. We don't want to anger the man of God. Look at verse 8. It says, and the king sent him to Hazael. Take a present in thine hand and go and meet the man of God and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, shall I recover of this disease? So aside from the fact that they are evidently afraid of the man of God, they obviously respect him, and they esteem his prophecies. So they know that he is the man of God. And therefore, Ben-Haddad tells Hazael, which is a high-ranking officer, hey, take a present to the man of God. Go give him a gift. And I need to know if I'm going to die because of this disease. He can tell. He's obviously been messing up our plans. Maybe the Lord will reveal unto him whether I shall recover or not. Verse 9, so Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, 40 camels burdened, and came and stood before him and said, thy son Ben-Haddad, king of Syria, had sent me to thee, saying, shall I recover of this disease? Now, this is pretty common in the ministry of Elisha, that people will often bring him gifts for a prophecy. And what we see consistently is that Elisha's always rejecting the gift. He's like, I don't need the gift. I don't want the gift. And the reason why is because he doesn't want the wages of unrighteousness. He's not doing this to be paid. He's not doing this to receive a gift. He's doing it because he's the man of God called to do God's work. And so even though it doesn't explicitly say it in this particular story, I believe Elisha's prayer, like, I don't want whatever you have to offer. I got the message of God. And so obviously, this shows that Elisha is not a covetous man, no matter how much they present to him. So they bring him this gift, and they want to know if he's going to recover of the disease. Look at verse 10. And Elisha said unto him, go say unto him, thou mayest certainly recover. Now, listen to this paradoxical statement, answer that he gives him. Thou mayest certainly recover, howbeit the Lord has showed me that he shall surely die. Now, that almost doesn't make sense, right? He's like, oh, yeah, he's going to recover, but he's going to die. It's like, he's going to recover, but he's going to die. And obviously, he's saying this because of the fact that even though Ben-Hadad II isn't going to die of his disease, he is going to die at the hands of Hazael. And that is the implication here. Look at verse 11. And here's where it gets somewhat dramatic in this particular story. It says, and he settled he, referring to Elisha, his countenance steadfastly. What does that mean? It means that Elisha, as he's speaking to Hazael, he's looking at him, and all of a sudden, he's just kind of like looking into his soul, almost, right? He's staring at him steadfastly. He's kind of fixed on Hazael, right? He says, and he settled his countenance. Sorry, Ms. Kelly, for looking into your soul. And he settled his countenance steadfastly, listen to this, until he was ashamed. Now, the way I picture this is, if you go to the gym, and this kind of happens a lot, where you're kind of in the zone, you guys know what I'm talking about? If you go to like a public gym, you're in the zone, and sometimes you're just staring at someone, you don't even know that you're staring, until they're like, and then you're like, oh, sorry, you know, you're just like, sorry, I'm not staring at you, I was just kind of zoning out, okay? How many of you have even done that in public, where you're just kind of like, you're just, my kids do that, we call them space cadets. You know, like, hey, space cadet, you know? Because they're just kind of like. So this is kind of how I picture this. He's settling his countenance, his face, his eyes, steadfastly on Hazael, until he was ashamed, like, ugh, he's just kind of, you know, ashamed, he's looking at him for a prolonged period of time, and then it says, and the man of God wept. So if you could picture this scene here, where he says, hey, King Ben-Hadad, he's gonna recover, but he's gonna die, and then he's staring at him for a moment of time, and then he just begins to weep and cry, right? Now, what's taking place here? Well, obviously, you know, Elisha is being revealed to by God, the future, right? He's been given a prophecy of what Hazael's going to do, and it's affecting Elisha's heart, because he's obviously viewing the consequences that are gonna ensue. Look at verse 12. And Hazael said, why weepeth my Lord? And he answered, because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel, their strongholds will thou set on fire, and their young men will thou slay with the sword, and will dash their children and rip up their womb with child. So we obviously see that the reason Elisha is staring at him steadfastly, the reason he's ashamed, the reason he begins to weep, is because he sees all the violence and wickedness that Hazael is going to do in the future. He catches a glimpse of all of the criminal acts that Hazael is going to do. God reveals it unto him, and it breaks the prophet's heart. It causes him to weep. Look at verse 13. And Hazael said, but what? Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, the Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, what said Elisha to thee? And he answered, he told me that thou should have surely recovered. Now, obviously, we can extrapolate or speculate, should I say, what exactly is taking place here. And we can go on to the wee hours of the night and just kind of pick the story apart, which we probably will do after the service, as our manner is. But the point being here is that Hazael is greatly offended by Elisha's prophecy. He doesn't like the fact that Elisha is passing judgment on him. He doesn't like the fact that Elisha is claiming, is asserting that Hazael is gonna be responsible for these criminal acts, and he says, what am I, who do you think you're talking to? Am I a dog that I should do this thing? And Elisha doesn't respond with, yes, you are a dog. Yes, you are gonna do these things. Yes, what does he instead tell him? He says, you know what, the Lord has shown me that thou shalt be king over Syria. Now, here's my speculation as to why Elisha answered in this manner, instead of the other way, okay? That is because of the fact that it's possible that the Lord has revealed to Elisha that it was already preordained that Hazael was going to be king. And in fact, in previous chapters, we actually see Elijah, who is the man of God who came before Elisha, anointed Hazael to be king over Syria. So think about this. Hazael was already selected to be king over Syria. He's already chosen by the man of God through the counsel of the Lord for Hazael to be king, okay? So this was already ordained, and we can speculate as to why. My personal opinion is that when you read the rest of the chapters, we actually see that God ends up using Hazael to judge Israel. So that could be a possible reason as to why. But it's possible that Elisha is answering this because at the end of the day, he's probably thinking, this is the way it just has to be sometimes, you know? He's gonna do all this evil, but at the end of the day, he's gonna be king over Syria. The Lord has revealed it unto him. Now, obviously, Hazael, we can speculate and say, well, he had already predetermined to kill his master. He had already predetermined to kill Ben-Haddad, or this is just something who he really thought, you know, I'm never gonna do this, but then later on, it came into his heart, and then he ended up committing this criminal act. And it's pretty deceitful of him for him to go to Ben-Haddad and say, oh, what did he say? He's like, oh, you're gonna recover. But he didn't reveal, like, by the way, though, I don't know how, but you're gonna die, and then after you die, I'm gonna take over, I'm gonna do all kinds of criminal acts, apparently. You know, he left some of that information out, okay? Look at verse 15, it says, And it came to pass, you know, the next week, the next month, the next year, though, on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died, and Hazael reigned in his stead. So it didn't take long for Hazael, and obviously, we can speculate and say, well, maybe this is just a self-fulfilling prophecy, where he hears about all the stuff he's going to do, and then he's like, well, you know, better now than later, and then he basically assassinates the king and becomes the king himself. But the point that I wanna make regarding this particular aspect of the passage is that, you know, Hazael didn't have to do that. He was already going to be king. He was already going to take the throne. Why assassinate the man who came before you when God had already selected you to be the king through the prophet Elijah? Now, here's a couple things that I wanna talk about regarding this passage, okay? Hazael's response, what is his response? Am I a dog that I should do this great thing? You know, his response to that correction that Elisha gave him from the prophet, from the man of God, is the same response that a lot of people give today when a man of God is correcting someone. Sometimes a pastor, a man of God, a prophet, tells you what the Bible says regarding a consequence to an action, regarding a consequence or a penalty, the cause and effect of life. And you know what sometimes people do? What do you mean? Am I a dog that I should do this thing? Like, hey man, you probably shouldn't be so close to this female, probably shouldn't be close to this male because if you guys are always alone, you're gonna commit fornication. You know what the author response is? What am I, a dog that I should commit this thing? Who do you think I am? I'm a Christian. I love the Bible, you know? I go to church and all the man of God can do is what? Weep. All the man of God, all the prophet of God can do is tell him the cause and effect where they can look at the word of God and say, your actions, your deeds, the path that you're taking, the road that you're going down is gonna cause you to suffer severe consequences in life. But you know what? A lot of Hazeos out there, they just simply respond by saying, who do you think I am? Think I'm a dog that I would do such a thing? You think I'm a dog that I would drink alcohol? You think I'm a dog that I would fornicate? You think I'm a dog that I would commit adultery? You think I'm a dog that I would lie? That I would deceive? That I would displease God? That I would do such a thing? You know, at the end of the day, that's all we can do is just kind of tell you what are the consequences to your actions? What is the cause and effect to the things in life? What happens when you violate the scriptures? What happens when you allow certain people to influence you? What happens when you hang around a certain group of people? What happens when you befriend the world and be friends with the world and friends with people who are not Christian, people who don't have biblical principles as their conviction? Here's the end of that. You might end up committing some of these things. And you know what? So many times throughout the ministry, I've warned people from the pulpit. I've warned people personally. I've warned them and said, this is gonna happen if you continue down this road, not because I can foresee the future, not because I can prophesy of coming judgment, but just because I've read it in the Bible. I've seen the testimonies of the Lord. I've seen what are the effects of these actions that people take throughout church, throughout the history of our church, throughout my ministry. And you know what? This always ends up resulting in X, Y, and Z. And people are like, what am I, a dog? You know I would never do something like that. You know I would, how can I do this great thing and just you know commit fornication and you know do drugs and get out of church and do things that are displeasing to God. How can I do such a thing? You know I don't know, but it just happens sometimes. What did Hazzard do? He had an improper response towards correction. And let me just remind us as believers that we need to welcome correction. We need to welcome reproof. We need to welcome rebuke, whether it's from the pulpit, whether it's from your parents, whether it's from an older, godlier elder in the church. We need to welcome it. When someone comes to us and pulls us aside and says hey, the actions you're taking, it's gonna destroy your life. You know the things that you're doing is gonna ruin you. You know that girlfriend you got is gonna destroy your life. That boyfriend you got, you need to dump him. You know and start you know just working on being a godly person, reading your Bible, being faithful to church, or else your life's gonna be destroyed, and it's just like, I am a Christian. I believe, I'm King James, I'm post-trib. You know, I hate Israel. I'm against the Jews. I'm King James. I'm a soul winner. What am I, a dog? That I should do such a great thing? You know what the answer should be every once in a while? Yes. Or it should be, you're not a dog now, but you will be one day. Trying to keep you from being a dog, trying to keep you from suffering the consequences of your actions. And you know, a lot of Christians can save themselves a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, a lot of consequences, if they just give heed to the prophet. Just give heed. You know, there's many ways that we learn lessons in life. And one of the most unsavory ways to learn a lesson is by experience, right? Like you personally learning from your own personal painful experience. I don't know about you, but I like to learn from the pain of others. I prefer others to make mistakes. I prefer others to mess up so that they can be a byword and a proverb, and I can learn from their example and say, okay, I'm not gonna go that way. I'm not gonna learn from that. And you know what? If any of you don't have any examples of people making bad decisions in your life, hey, that's great, we have a Bible though. And the Bible's filled with the testimonies of the Lord of people who made bad decisions. But let's just be honest, we all know someone who made a bad decision, and in fact, you might be one of them. You might be one of them. I've made bad decisions in life. And let me say this, a lot of the bad decisions I made was probably because I rejected the counsel of an older, godlier person, of my pastor, of my parents. I just rejected because I thought I knew better. And let's put it in a practical way. How many people did you talk to this week who rejected your counsel about heaven and hell? We expect people to listen to us when we're preaching the gospel. We go to a door, we knock on that door, and we tell them that hell is real, that the wages of sin is death, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and they need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, exclusively for salvation, and people are like, what am I, a dog? I'm a good person. What am I, a dog? I already go to church. What am I, a dog? I grew up in church. What am I, a dog? I'm not a murderer. I'm not a fornicator. I'm not an adulterer. I may lie every once in a while. I'm not a really bad person. And it's just like, what am I, a dog, that I should do this great thing, that I would go to hell for these things? And you know what? Hell is filled with people who had Hazael's response. They didn't believe the correction that was given unto them, and therefore, they are in hell today. But you know what? Just as Christians in general, we cannot have the response of Hazael. What response was it? Well, he became defensive. Verse 13 again says, And Hazael said, But what? Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing? There are instances where people would try to correct you for your bad decisions, the bad company that you keep, the bad ideologies that you are espousing. And what the end of that road leads to, don't be Hazael. And let me just say this, you know, you need to realize that the people who are correcting you, the people who are approving you, they're not doing it to like, you know, just let me just make them feel bad. Let me just embarrass them. I mean, look at the prophet, verse 11. And he settled this countenance steadfastly until he was ashamed and the man of God wept. Why is he weeping? Because he sees the consequences to the actions. He sees the people that are gonna be hurt because of it. You know, sometimes the prophet is grieved over the man who is the head of his household making bad decisions that's gonna take the family out of church. And you know what the man of God does? He weeps and he's saddened about that. Because he realizes the trickle-down effect that will have on the children of that family. No longer being in church, you know, no longer having church and the Bible as the centerpiece of their life. These are the consequences to the actions. And the man of God is not like, hey, you should just listen to me, you know, you're gonna be embarrassed. No, he's weeping because he's heartbroken over these actions. He says, I know the evil that you're gonna do unto the children of Israel. He lists the evil. He says, there's strongholds without set on fire in verse 12 and there are young men that will slay with the sword and will dash their children, rip up their women with child. It's like, hey, don't get out of church. If you get out of church, if you take a break from church, there's some severe consequences that come with that. And people are like, wait, what am I, a dog? That I would do some of those things? Well, you know, sometimes when you get out of church, you can end up going back to your old friends. You can end up getting involved in gross sin. You can end up destroying your life. You can become an alcoholic once again. You can get involved in drugs and in marijuana and all types of things and it'll spire out of control and it'll destroy you. And it's like, what am I, a dog? That I would do this great thing? Here's the answer. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ender of are the ways of death. What am I saying? What I'm saying is this. Am I therefore becoming your enemy because I tell you the truth? You know, when you get the truth, when you get rebuked, when you get reproved, when you get corrected, don't be a hazel that is defensive when that correction comes because I'm not your enemy because I'm telling you the truth. You know, you know who the enemy is, is the leader who's not willing to tell you the truth. Hey, you want a group of enemies, you go to some of these liberal fund centers out there, these liberal churches that all they want is your tithe and your money. They couldn't care less if you grew in the faith, if you got saved, if you know the truth, if you destroyed your own life by your actions, why? Because they don't care, that's why they don't give you the truth. The truth hurts sometimes, my friends. In fact, a lot of times it hurts, you know? And the flaw of Christians in general sometimes is that they think that because someone is giving them the truth that somehow that constitutes the person giving it as an enemy. Oh, you must do this because you hate me. You must do this because you don't like me. You must do this because you're my enemy. Wrong, wrong, my friends. Open rebuke is better than secret love, the Bible says. The person who rebukes you and corrects you is doing it because they love you, because they care for you. Folks, when we go out and preach the gospel, we're not preaching softness and light, we're not preaching roses and daisies, we're preaching about hell. And you know what? We go to people and we tell them, look, the Bible says that if you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation, you will go to hell. Are we doing that because we hate them? No, because we love them and we want them to be saved. Because we know that there is a wrath to come upon that person. Once that person dies, they split hell wide open, it's over for them, it's game over. There's no coming back from that. But I'm sure there's people at the door that think you're an enemy for saying that. I can't believe you would tell me that. I can't believe you would say that. How can a loving God send people to hell? This, that, and the other. But we're not their enemies. Giving some of the gospels is the most loving thing you could do to a person. But you know what? Even after salvation, the most loving thing you can do for someone sometimes is just giving them the truth. And you know what? We need to create an atmosphere, and I believe we have it, where we can just be honest with each other. We can go to one another and say, hey, brother, I'm a little concerned about some of your behavior, I'm concerned about the direction you're going, I'm concerned about this. You know, I'm just telling you right now, that's not the right thing to do, this is not the right person to be around. We're not talking about people in our church, we're just like, in general, I'm just kind of throwing out examples. Don't be offended by that. Don't become defensive. And let's just say, let's just pretend for a second that maybe their claims are unfounded, right? It's just like, I don't think I'm guilty of that. You know, I still don't think you should be defensive about it. If ever I was accused of something and people are like, hey, you know, I think you should correct this. You know, what I try to do is just respond with humility and think to myself, I don't think I'm guilty of that, but you know what? Maybe I am. Because you know there's always a possibility that we're wrong about something. You say, yeah, but I think that person's trying to criticize me. Well, you know there's always a little bit of truth, though, in criticisms, is there not? And even if that person was just nefarious about it, you know, and they're wrong about it, you know, I try to pick a little bit of that and say, Lord, maybe some of that is true. Maybe the Lord bade him. Maybe the Lord sent him to just kind of mold me into being a better Christian. Lord, help me to work in that area. Not your enemy. I'm gonna read to you from Hebrews chapter 13. Go with me if you would to Acts chapter seven. Acts chapter seven, if you would. Hebrews 13 verse seven says, Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. The Bible's telling us here that you should remember, consider, and follow those who have the rule over you, and the context of Hebrews 13 is your pastor, your elder. Obviously, I don't rule over your life. I don't rule over your finances. I don't rule over your family. The ruling that it's referring to is just the spiritual matters of the church. Your spiritual condition, your spiritual health is what it's referring to. And the Bible tells us that we should remember people as such. You know, we won't do this because we want to benefit from your spiritual growth. We're doing it so you can benefit from your spiritual growth, so you can be a better Christian. Now, when I think about this concept of responding well to correction, not responding well to correction, I think of two particular stories in the New Testament, and specifically in the book of Acts, because in the book of Acts you have Acts chapter two and you have Acts chapter seven, and in both of these chapters you have the men of God, you have Peter preaching in Acts chapter two and the deacon Stephen preaching in Acts chapter seven. And in both instances they're ripping face. I mean, they're giving it hard to the Jews, okay? They're preaching, you know, replacement theology. They're preaching against Zionism. They are just giving it to the Jews. Hard, right? And, you know, they're not preaching sweetness and light. They're not being kind about it. I mean, they are ripping face. And in both instances, both of these parties who are listening to the man of God, they respond the exact opposite from one another. Like, one responds positively to the preaching, the other responds like Hazael. Now, look at Acts chapter seven. This is, we're not gonna read through the whole entire sermon because, you know, Stephen was a little long-winded, as I might be tonight, but he, you know, he's preaching, by the way, this is his first and probably last, you know, his last sermon. You know, you might as well go out the bank because he ends up getting killed at the end of the sermon, right? He's, I mean, he schools the Jews on the history of Israel and he's preaching hard and then he ends up getting killed at the very end. Look at verse 51. So after he gives them a history lesson on the nation of Israel, he says in verse 51, "'Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised, and heart and ears, "'Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, "'so do ye.'" Okay, all right. And there's one guy preaching, right? And he's not, he doesn't have anybody backing him up. He's by himself, he's preaching this. He said, well, how can he be so courageous because he's filled with the Spirit? He's got boldness, right? And I love what he does here because he's talking about all the errors of the fathers of the children of Israel who rejected God. And then he makes the application. He said, you're stiff-necked, you're uncircumcised in ears and heart, and you're resisting the Holy Ghost just like they did. I mean, he's hitting them home, right? He's hitting it right where it hurts. Look at verse 52. "'Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? "'And they have slain them which showed before "'of the coming of the just one, "'of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.'" So aside from the fact that he's calling them stiff-necked, you know, stubborn, he's saying that they're not saved because they're uncircumcised in heart. He's saying that they're resisting the Holy Ghost like their father's dead. He's also saying, you're a bunch of murderers too. And what's funny about this is like, they're angry that he's saying this, right? They're like, I can't believe you're calling me. What am I, a dog, that I should do this thing? And then what do they do? They end up killing Stephen. Verse 53, "'Who have received the law "'by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.'" Verse 54, "'When they heard these things,' listen to this, "'they were cut to the heart, "'and they gnashed on him with their teeth.'" Now, what does it mean when it says, well, they were cut to the heart? Well, what it means is that he got to the heart of the matter. And here's an effect of preaching. Here's the effect of the Word of God is that when you hear the Word of God, you feel it right here. It hits you right where it hurts. The way we would say today is like, oh, he's stepping on my toes. What does that mean? Oh, this hurts, you know? And all of us have been there, or maybe myself or someone else is preaching, and you might be feeling a little blush. You just kind of get a little red. And you're like, you know what that is? I'll tell you what it is. It's being, your heart is being cut. Because the Holy Ghost is bringing it to you, and he's saying, this is for you. He's allowing you to, so you know, by the way, let me say, you don't need to nudge anybody. You ain't gotta nudge your neighbor. You ain't gotta look at anybody in the service. You ain't gotta turn around and look at anybody. Why, because the Holy Ghost is already doing it. And people, you might be like, well, you know, just in case, though. Let me just reinforce a little more attention or something. You know, the Word of God can cut your heart, not literally, but in a spiritual manner. The Bible tells us that the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder as your soul and spirit joins the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts of the intents of the heart. So when you hear preaching that hits home to you, it's because God is making application to you. He's discerning your thoughts and your intentions that dwell in your heart. He's getting to the heart of the matter. That's what it means when he's being cut to the heart. Why are these men so offended? Why is Hazeel so offended? I'll tell you why he's offended. It's because of the fact that he's telling the truth. He knows it applies to him. And quite frankly, it could be that Hazeel had already planned in his heart to kill Ben-Hadad. And what did the man of God do? He just came and confirmed it. What do I have, dog? Well, apparently, Hazeel, if this offends you, does this offend you? It's probably because it's true. And you know what I've learned being under hard preaching? When I'm offended, it's probably because it's true. Throughout the years that I've been under preaching from my pastor and other preachers, when they preach on something and it bothers me, when I get offended, when I start twitching a little bit, and I start kind of getting uncomfortable, I'll tell you why. It's because it's true. Whatever the preacher is saying is actually true, and it's hitting home to me. It's hitting home to you. I like what Jesus said, and I like what Jesus says all the time, but in Revelation 2.15, when he's addressing the seven churches, he says, so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come into thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. What is he referring to? He's referring to preaching. And you know what, let me say this. A lot of churches nowadays have people in their churches that are starting to kind of confront people with the Bible. And you know what, sometimes pastors want to remove people from their congregation that believe certain things, what the Bible says, but I'll tell you why. It's not because they're troublemakers. I'll tell you why, it's because the Bible's cutting them, and they're uncomfortable with those truths. Preaching divides, it's like a sword. You say, man, but does preaching always have to be offensive? Well, here's the thing, there's times when I preach a sermon and I didn't intend for it to be offensive, but people end up getting offended anyways. Do you know why? Because it just hits home to you, it's cutting your heart, but it's important for us to always take the sword, to bring it in, in order to get you right with God. It needs to hurt. And you know, one of my favorite stories in the Bible that illustrates this is in Judges chapter three, right? With Ehud and Eglon. Let me give you synopsis of that story. You have Ehud, who is a left-handed man, he is one of the judges, he's a deliverer of Israel. At that time, they were under the oppression of Eglon, who the Bible says, not me, the Bible's saying this. This is not my opinion, I wasn't there, but I believe it, because the Bible says, it says he was a very fat man. OK, now let me just say this. If the Bible has to say that he was a very fat man, the Bible's modest. So it means that he was pretty big, you know? He took the bulk a little too far, is what that means. So what happens is Ehud comes to him, he comes to assassinate Eglon, and he puts a dagger in his cloak. He says, I got a present for you. And you know, Eglon, because he's big, he's probably like, oh, it's food or something, you know? It's probably some chicken, it's probably McDonald's, it's probably some food of sorts. And so he thinks it's food, so you know, Ehud comes and he takes his dagger and he basically thrust him through. And this is how we know that Eglon was a very fat man. Because when he pierces him through, the Bible says that the fat enclosed upon the handle. My favorite knife! So he stabs him and he's just like. It just encloses upon the handle. So he's just like, well, my dad gave me that. It's gone. But the story is so unique, because after that, what does the Bible say? What does that special phrase? And the dirt came out. Now the dirt that it's referring to, it's not referring to soil. The dirt actually means crap, because he's obviously piercing him through his intestines. This is causing the fecal matter to essentially come out. I'm not trying to be graphic here, it's just I'm telling you what the Bible means. Just in case you thought it was literal soil or something like that. It says the dirt came out because it's essentially referring to all that that's coming out of his intestines. And you know, he ends up dying and Ehud delivers the children of Israel. And us boys, we love stories like that. We're like, that's cool. Yeah. But what is the spiritual significance of that? Spiritual significance is that that's what the word of God does. The word of God goes in and the dirt comes out. You put the word of God in and the crap comes out. You know, you got a bunch of nonsense in your heart. You got nonsense in your soul, nonsense on your mind that you've been feeding with the entertainment of the world, with your friends, nonsensical ideologies. Well, guess what? When the preaching goes in, the crap comes out. When the preaching goes in, it hurts. Guess what? Because the word of God cuts to the heart. But you know what the result of that is, is the dirt comes out. You know why we come to church? So that Ehud here can just stab you, pierce you through, and get the dirt out. You know why we come back Sunday night to get some more dirt out? You know why we go to church on Thursday for Bible study? I'll tell you why, because it gets the dirt out. Because you've collected some dirt from Monday to Wednesday. You come back on Thursday, and I'm just like, ugh. And the dirt comes out. Because that's what the word of God does. And you know what? When you wake up in the morning and you open up the word of God to read it, you know what you're doing? You know, seppuku, or whatever. What is that called? Is that what it's called? You anime people. What is it? Whatever he said. Japanese suicide, right? You're putting the sword in when you're reading the word of God, and you're getting the dirt out. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word, the Bible says. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. But what we see with the men in Acts chapter 7 is that they're getting the truth. And there's nothing undoctrinal. There's nothing false of what Stephen is saying. Everything he's saying is true. But what are they doing? They're responding like a hazel. What am I, a dog? I can't believe he's saying this. And what do they do? They're cut to the heart. They're bothered by the preaching. And you know what, that's why sometimes it's easier to go to a fun center than a fundamental Baptist church. It's easier to be under nice preaching because no one gets offended. It's all cotton candy. It's all sweetness and light. It's all easy to listen to. It's a good God, good devil, good hell, cold hell. Everything is just fine and dandy, but you don't grow because of it. And then they come to a place like this, and then it's just like they just become hazel elves. I can't believe you said that. I don't like what you said. No, you just don't like when the word of God is being given to you, and it's piercing your heart and stepping on your toes. What else do we see? What's another way that they responded? Well, it says that they gnashed with their teeth. So it says that they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. Now, when I read that, I'm like, man, this is childish. It's almost like cartoonish if you think about it. Because what does it mean to gnash? Gnar, gnar, gnar, gnar, gnar! That's what they're doing to him. I mean, this is the narrator speaking. And the narrator's saying they were cut to the heart because he can see the heart. And then he's like, and they're gnashing. Now, what does this mean? Why does it say that they gnashed on him with their teeth? Well, can someone tell me what's another instance in the Bible where people are gnashing their teeth? Hell. You know, they're weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth. Can someone explain to me why they're gnashing their teeth in hell? Because they're in pain. Which shows me that when the word of God is preached and it cuts the heart, you know what it does? It hurts. Why do people gnash at me with their teeth? I'll tell you why, because it hurts. But hey, don't kill the messenger. I'm just doing my job. And you know what? They gnashed him with their teeth. They were angry with him. They were upset with him. But he's just the messenger. Look what it goes on to say in Acts 7, verse 57. It says, and they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon them with one accord. So they're cut to the heart. They're gnashing on them with their teeth because they're in pain. They don't like what the Bible says. And then they stop their ears. I mean, talk about childish. Like, ugh. This is not a proper response, Hazael. And obviously, we're not gonna have people here who do this stuff. If you do, then you got issues. Just leave, bro. You gotta be here. You can just go somewhere else. You don't gotta be all dramatic like that. But I've had people come to church where, I don't remember what sermon I was preaching, but I was preaching about something, and I just casually mentioned the replacement of the Jews. But it was just such a, it was like a passing thought. I just had a moment. It just, you know, I was just like, the Jews aren't God's chosen people. And it wasn't even part of my point. It was just kind of like, just a reminder type. You know, it was just, it was just, you know. I wasn't really passionate about it either, you know. And a person literally got up and said, no, no, no, no, no, and walked out, just like. And yeah, psycho. And I was thinking to myself, like, what are they tripping on? Like, that was interesting. But then I remember, I was like, oh, it's because of the statement I made about the Jews. And it was like this person who were stopping their ears. They didn't want to listen to the truth. And you know what, as Christians, we never want to be hazel where we get defensive because the man of God corrects us, where we begin to gnash upon the preacher with our teeth. Don't look at me all mad. Don't get upset at me. Don't let your countenance fall. And don't close your ears to the truth. I don't agree with that, you know. I'm just gonna, you know, just not gonna listen. Well, it's kind of weird if you come to church to not listen to preaching. And here's the thing, folks, is that, you know, God does punish people who close their ears to the word of God, plain and simple. So what does he punish them with? A lack of understanding. If you close your ears to the preaching of God's word to what the word of God is saying, he just removes more understanding from you. Why? Because he that hath an ear, let him hear what the word of God says. Let him hear what the Holy Ghost say to the churches. He wants us to listen to what the word of God has to say. And if you're closing your ears, you're showing yourself to be someone who hates the truth. Go with me, if you would, to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. What's the sermon? Am I a dog that I should do this thing? Well, I'm trying to prevent you from being a dog who should do such a thing. And so when you hear a truth that offends you, when you hear a truth that rubs you the wrong way, you know, when you hear a truth that steps on your toes, don't be like Hazael, don't get defensive, don't gnash with your teeth, don't be the person who stops their ears, actually receive the truth and say, you know what? That hurt, I'm embarrassed, I didn't like that, but I gotta change because that's true. Be lovers of the truth. Says he gnashed them with their teeth, they cried with a loud voice, they stopped their ears in Acts seven, they ran upon them with one accord. Now, what's the point here? The point is is this, is what we see in Acts chapter seven are people who do not know how to respond to the preaching of God's word, right? To the point where they kill the prophet. Now, I don't think people will just rush me here. And if you do, oh man, that'll make for a good clip. You know, I don't think that'll ever happen. You know, I don't think anybody is childish enough to do such a thing, but just remember this, if you come rush me, I have the high ground, right? But here's the thing is that, you know, let's talk about the right way to respond to heart preaching, the right way to respond to offensive preaching, and that is to have a softened heart, a tender heart. Because what's the problem with the men in Acts chapter seven? The problem is that they're cut to the heart, but their heart has become hardened to the word of God. And the Bible tells you, you don't have to turn there. Hebrews 3, seven says, wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation, in the wilderness, when he says, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, the way we hear the voice of God today is through the word of God, through the preaching of God's word. And he's saying, when you hear the voice of God, through the preaching, through your own personal Bible reading, don't harden your heart to that. How do you do that? Like, I don't wanna listen to that. I don't like that concept. I don't like this kind of preaching. I don't like the fact that he's saying that. That's hardening the heart. You see, our goal as Christians should be that we want a softened heart. Look at Acts 2, verse 37. Now, this is Peter preaching. And after his sermon, it says in verse 37, now when they heard this, listen to this, they were pricked in their heart. Now, that's different, right? In Acts 7, it says that they were cut to the heart. Here, it says that they were pricked in their heart. Now, what does that tell us? If a heart is being pricked, it's because it's tender. Right, it's tender. It's, they're allowing the Word of God to touch them, basically, in a spiritual sense, right? And you know what, let me say this. If you're offended at preaching, let me say this, that's a good thing, right? Like, if you feel like the preaching applies to you, that's good. If you feel like, oh man, this is only for me, or I feel like preacher's getting on me or something like that, hey, that's a good thing. And sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not. Sometimes I'm done preaching, people are like, were you preaching against me? I'm like, no, but I guess in general, yes I was. It just means that you have a softened heart, a tender heart, that is able to be pricked by the Word of God. The point that I'm making here is that we need to make sure that we keep a soft heart so that it's not become like Hazael, how do we keep a softened heart? Well, how about this, make it a daily practice to receive the engrafted word with meekness and fear. You're receiving the Word of God. When you're reading the Word of God, ask the Lord, open down mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Lord, deal with me through the Word of God. Help me to know mine end, right? Help me to get things right. Help me to be filled with the Spirit. This is how you keep a softened heart, a tender heart towards the things of God. But not just that, when you come to church, come to church prepared to hear the Word of God. Come prepared to seek the Word of God. Now, it's great if we're already disciplined to come to church, I think that's a great thing, but you know what, more discipline is required in just coming to church being ready to hear, right? Saying, you know what, I wanna hear something from God's Word, I wanna learn something from God's Word, and if I don't learn any new information about God's Word, I wanna make direct application to whatever it is that I already know to my current situation, I want the Word of God to prick me. I want the Word of God to prick me. Go to Hebrews chapter five, if you would, Hebrews chapter five. Don't be like Hazeel, where you just resist the Holy Ghost, you're resisting the preaching, you're defensive about what's being stated, you're stopping your ears, you're gnashing your teeth. Hey, the Bible says, despise not prophesying. You know what that tells me? It tells me that it can be pretty easy to despise prophesying, right? If the Bible literally commands us don't hate preaching, that means there's a tendency to hate preaching, right? Because if it just came naturally to love preaching, there would be no command for it. But the reason the Bible's commanded us not to hate prophesying, not to hate the preaching of God's Word, is because God knows our natural inclination to not like the truth when it's being given to us. Hey, if I start getting on your political party, if I start getting on your political ideologies, don't get mad at me, especially if I'm showing you from the Bible. If I start getting on your ideologies and your culture and things that you believe that are maybe contrary to God's Word, don't get mad at me, don't get mad, get glad, amen? Some of you are not old enough to know what I'm talking about when I said that. Man, brother. Look what it says in Hebrews chapter five and verse 11. See, the danger in having the has-I-on mentality is that you actually become dull of hearing. Like, you don't wanna hear the Word of God. You're bored with the preaching, or you don't wanna listen to the truth. Look what it says in verse 11 of Hebrews five, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Now, what does he talk about? Well, he's actually specifically talking about Melchizedek. Okay, and the Apostle Paul is writing about Melchizedek. It's a very interesting topic, very interesting subject, and he's like, there's a lot of things I wanna say about Melchizedek, and there's a lot of difficult things that I need to say about him, but I can't because you're dull of hearing. What does it mean to be dull of hearing? He's like, you're bored with just the truth. So what he does here is that he deviates, and he starts preaching against the recipients of the message here, and then he gets back on Melchizedek in the following chapter. But here he's saying, he's like, I have so many things to tell you, so many things to preach about, so many things for you to learn, but I can't because you're dull of hearing. You're bored with just the fundamentals of the faith. You're bored with just stories of the Bible. Look over verse 12. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. What is it telling us? It's telling us that babes in Christ can't handle preaching on Melchizedek. You know, they get a sermon on end times prophecy, it's like, hmm. They get a sermon on Daniel's 70th week, hmm. They get a sermon on Melchizedek, hmm. They give me the Chewbacca sound. And according to the Bible, they're a babe in Christ. Why, because if we've tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, if we're eating of the word of God, our spiritual taste buds are supposed to be developing and hungering for knowledge, hungering for the truths of the word of God, regardless of what it is. Developing an appetite for these things. And the Bible tells us that if you're a babe, what this essentially translates to is that you're unskillful in the word of righteousness. What a diss. What an insult. It's like, oh, you don't like the whole Melchizedek? Oh, you're just unskillful in the word of righteousness, I gotcha. He says in verse 14, but strong meat, you know, that ribeye, that tri-tip, that pecania, that skirt steak, what's another one? The kebab, I see you there. What's another good meat? Sirloin, did I say prime rib? Prime rib. Strong meat, delicious meat, belongs to them that are a full age. So what's the implication here? You're acting like a baby who needs to be fed with a bottle or breastfed, should I say. Because you're not a full age to receive the deep teachings of the word of God. Now, he says, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. It sounds to me that God wants us to develop an appetite for the entire counsel of God. How do we keep a tender heart for the things of God? How do we keep a tender heart for the word of God except all the teaching? And if you sit there and you're like, oh man, I'm really not interested in that particular topic, make yourself interested in that particular topic. Develop an appetite for the ribeye. Forget the french fries. If you put french fries before me in a prime rib, I'm going for the prime rib. You know, if you put, and I like french fries, I'll just be honest with you, I just, really good. You know, if you put a potato or macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes or, I'm hungry obviously, if you put all these sides and you say, what do you want this or do you want skirt steak, you want pecan, I'll say give me the meat. I want the meat. I want the savory meat is what I want. Why, because I'm a full age. Right? I am a full age. Now obviously sometimes we need the milk of the word. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the foundational truths of the word of God, the first principles of the oracles of God, the doctrines of Christ. We need those reiterated, but hold on a second, let's also have an appetite for the deep things of God as well. You know, we need to have an appetite for the book of Isaiah and let me say this, the book of Isaiah is strong meat and not a whole lot of people can handle that strong meat. Some people are just like, oh man, just judgment, people dying, you know, more judgment and then Assyria and then Babylon. Yeah, it's called prime rib. Yeah, it's called skirt steak. Yeah, it's called, you know, whatever other delicious meats are out there. Is it even called skirt steak, am I saying that right? That's correct, right? It's called, you know, ribeye, that's what it's called. It's just like, yeah, but I just, you know, I just don't know if I can really handle the book of Isaiah. You know, you're going through chapter 47 this coming week. I just don't know if I can handle that. Grow up, become a full age. Say, Lord, give me an appetite for Isaiah 47. Help me to this, because you know what, it's still the word of God, just like the book of John is the word of God. It's the word of God, just like the book of Proverbs is God's word and guess what, it's just as delicious. The problem is, is that you might be a babe unskilled for in the word of righteousness, because you can't handle the truth. Amen? Strong meat belongs to those who are full age. Lord, give me strong meat. I don't want to be considered someone who's a babe in Christ. That's, you know, I want, give me the best of the meats. Give me foge of the chow. Give me Texas de Brazil. You know, when I go to those places, if I get a gift card and I go to those places, they're like, oh, you know, you can choose a salad bar. I'm like, what? I'm almost insulted by that when they say that. And anytime I, if I take my wife or I take my kids or something like that, you know, my wife just offends me by that, because she's like, I want to go to the salad. I get angry because it's just like, this is a place of meat. We should only eat meat. I look, you know, I'll have the little fried banana, because it's so good. But quite frankly, that's it. You know, they give me all these sides. I'm just like, I'm not interested. And then I, you know what I do when I get there? I get the little, the little, little disc and I flip it on green and just like start bringing. And you know, they, they, they bring the sausage and I'm like, they bring the chicken. I'm like, they bring the bacon wrapped chicken. I'm like, then they bring the sword with the, with the fat chunk of meat and I'm just like, and then they slice it off. I'm like, where are you going? Keep it cool, we get two of those, three of those. And then they, sometimes they think it's for my wife. I'm like, oh no, no, she wants one too. But I want, you know, just give me about two or three slices of that. I want the meat. That's what I want. And you know what? When I hear preaching, I want meat. I need to give out milk on Sunday mornings because some people need milk and we need to give a balanced diet, amen? And I love the milk of the word because the milk of the word is the foundational truths of the word of God that need to be reiterated. They need to be restated. They need to be retaught. We need to remember those things. But folks, let's go on into perfection. Let's go to the book of Isaiah. Let's have the house of God full on a Thursday to come get the meat of the word, amen? Prepare your hearts to hear the preaching of God's word. This is why the Bible says, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. What is he saying? He's saying those who have developed a desire for righteous things, God will satiate that with biblical truths. Go to Acts chapter nine, Acts chapter nine. We're almost done. Acts chapter nine. So they're pricked in their hearts. Look at Acts nine, verse three. This is the story of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus when he sees the vision of the Lord and says in verse number three, As he journeyed, he came to your Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. I want you to notice this. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. What is he talking about? The pricks of God trying to get his attention. He's like, it's hard for you to kick against this. In other words, he's implying that the Apostle Paul is like a mule who's kicking against those pricks. Now that's a pretty good illustration right there. You know, we don't want to be like a mule. We don't want to be like an ass that when the pricks are coming, you just can't take it. You're just kind of kicking against it. You're just like, I don't want to hear it. No, get that away from me. I don't want to, I'm gonna cramp up. I don't want to hear that stuff. No, it's hard for us to kick against the pricks because when the word of God hits, guess what? It pricks. When the word of God hits, it's being preached, it's gonna prick your heart. Don't kick against it. Let it tenderize your heart. You say, well, what if I have a hardened heart already, Pastor, you know? I am getting kind of bored with the things of God. I'm getting bored kind of like dull of hearing with reading my Bible, with preaching. I feel like I'm not as excited about it anymore. I just, you know, I feel apathetic towards the things of God. What is the remedy to that? Let me read to you from Jeremiah 23 verse 29. Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? You want me to tell you what helps with breaking a hardened heart? Preaching. Reading Bible is actually what helps with that. So let me just tell you this, be in church more. Hear preaching, because the word of God can set the heart on fire, flame of fire, and it can break it like a hammer to tenderize it once again. What's the sermon today? The sermon's simply this. You know, don't have the Haziel mentality. Don't be a babe in Christ. Don't be offended, little Christian, when a hard truth is being presented in the house of God. You just automatically become defensive. You put your bars up. You don't like what's being stated. You don't like the truths that are being stated. Hey, when I call you out as a husband, fix it. If I call you out as a wife, fix it. Don't get offended by it. If I call you out as a disobedient child, fix it. Don't get offended by it. If I call you out as being a lazy employee, fix it. Don't get offended by it. If I call you out for being effeminate, fix it. Don't be offended by it. Don't be like a Haziel that says, what am I, a dog? What am I, a dog, that I should do this great thing? You know, you're asking the wrong question. That's not the question. You know, the question should be, what can I do to change that? If Haziel was sincere after the man of God came to him, he should have been like, I do not wanna do those things. What can I do to change my course of action so that I don't commit heinous criminal acts of murder so that I'm not remembered for these things? What can I do to change and change? That's the question that needs to be asked. Not, what am I, a dog, that I would do these great things? No, ask, what can I do to change that? What's the sermon today? Don't be Haziel. You know, we're in a church where you will hear hard preaching for the rest of your life. You will hear hard truths, and let me say this. The hard truths aren't necessarily the reprobate doctrine. We all love that one. That's easy. The hard truths isn't preaching against the Jews. That's easy. That's like sweetness to us. The hard truths isn't end times Bible prophecy. You know what the hard truth is? When I start calling out your conduct. Your character or lack thereof. Lack of Christian conduct. Your lifestyle, things that actually hid home to you. Your lack of reverence and obedience to your husband. Your lack of love and care for your wife. Your lack of disciplining your children. Your lack of following your parents. Those are the hard truths, huh? Those are the ones that hurt. Those are the ones that prick. Those are the ones we can say, okay, now you're stepping on my toes. And you know what? Yes, I am. And I hope that you're not like Haziel. It gets defensive. You know, may you be like the guys in Acts chapter two that say, what must we do? Men and brethren, this is what they say. What shall we do? Don't be like the ones in Acts seven. Eh! Eh! No, be like the ones in Acts two that say, men and brethren, what shall we do? And of course, those men end up getting saved. They receive the word with gladness. They end up joining the church. They end up getting baptized. They end up continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Why? Because they said, what must we do? That is the proper response to the hard truths. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And thank you for the bad example of Haziel. And for that astounding statement that he made in 2 Kings eight. Help us never to have that type of attitude and response when we're called out. Or maybe something that we're doing is in question, Lord. If we're gonna grow, we need to be told that we're wrong. Myself included, Lord. And the truth hurts. It hurts me, it hurts others. But there is no growth without truth. There is no growth without the application to the truth. Help us as your people to continue to have a tender heart towards the preaching of God's word. And if anyone in here is feeling apathetic towards the preaching of God's word, towards the deep truths of God, Lord, may the hammer of your word, may the fire of your word melt away the ice from that heart and break in pieces that hardened heart to tenderize it once again to hear the voice of God through the preaching and through the reading of the word. I pray you bless us as we go on away. We love you, we thank you. Amen. Amen.