So now we're going to turn to the Word of God. I've got to get into this sermon because it is going to be a two-parter. Jay, if you didn't hear, if you weren't here, it's going to be a two-parter. Initially, it was not, but it is and it will be. Who knows? It could be a three-parter the way I go. Right? Amen. Amen. I'd like us now to turn in our Bibles. I do have it unfolded here as well as here to 1 Samuel chapter 14, and we're going to read the first 23 verses of this chapter. 1 Samuel chapter 14. And again, I've titled this message, It Takes Faith and Courage to Make a Difference for God. It takes faith and courage to make a difference for God. Are you making a difference for God? Does your faith measure up? And again, this is part of my series on the marks of a good Christian soldier. A good Christian soldier. A good soldier for Jesus Christ. 1 Samuel chapter 14, we will begin in verse 1, and the Bible says, Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side. But he told not his father. And Saul tarried in the outermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is a migrant, and the people that were with him were about 600 men. And Ahiah, the son of Ahitab, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinhas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest, and Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozes, and the name of the other was Sene. The forefront of the one was situated northward over against Michmash. and the others southward over against Gibeah. And Jonathan said to the young man that bears armor, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." I want you to keep your eyes on this verse. Alright? For there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Amen? And his armor-bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart. Turn thee. Behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go unto them. But if they say thus, Come up unto us, then we will go up. This is why. For the Lord hath delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us. And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armor-bearer, Come up after me. For the Lord had delivered them into the hand of Israel. Amen? Verse 13, now, and Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor-bearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer slew after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made was about twenty men, within, as it were, a half-acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. By the way, that's a miracle of God right there. That's a miracle of God. And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked. So it was a very great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul and Gibeah, Benjamin, looked, and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another. Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now and see who has gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. And Saul said unto Ahaiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priests, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased. And Saul said unto the priest, withdraw thy hand. And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle. And behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. Verse 21 now, Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day and the battle passed over onto Beth-Avon. Heavenly Father, we give Thee thanks, Lord, for the blessing of Thy Word here in this portion of Scripture. We give Thee thanks, Lord, for the courage and the faith of Jonathan here, Lord, and taking the stand for the Lord and for the things of Thee, Lord, and being in the midst of the battle, Lord. That's what we need to be as Christians, in the midst of the battle, Lord, that we may make a difference concerning the things of God, Lord, and what Thou has commanded us to do. Lord, I pray, Lord, that this message would be a blessing to Thy people here, Lord, and we have brethren tuning in online, Lord, so I trust, Lord, it will speak to them as well. Lord, I do ask that Thou wouldst give me the unction to preach, Lord, and to preach with clarity, power, Lord, that Thou, Lord Jesus, would be magnified and glorified. In Jesus' precious name I pray, Amen. Amen. So I'd like to first give you a little bit of a background before I get into the body of this message. To really understand the events of chapter 14, our text that we just read, or at least part of chapter 14, we need to look at what happened in the previous chapter, as this chapter, that is chapter 13, sets the scene for what I'm about to preach to you this morning. We learn that King Saul, Israel's first king, who reigned 40 years, in total had reigned here 2 years by this time, and had chosen 3,000 troops. 2,000 of which were at Michmash with him, and 1,000 with Jonathan in Gibeah. That is 1 Samuel 13 and verse 2. By the way, verse 1 of 1 Samuel chapter 13 is a verse that is attacked by critics of our King James Bible. It is. It is. Now if you read there, if I go back, Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 13. It says here, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned, two years over Israel. Now here, this is Dr. Chester Coulis, those so-called errors, right? Debunking the liberal, neo-evangelical, and fundamentalist myth that you should not hear, receive, and believe the numbers of Scripture. And particularly our King James Bible is under attack. This is what he says concerning 1 Samuel 13, verse 1. He says, 1 Samuel states, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years, over Israel. He goes on to say here, on the surface of it, no problem is apparent in this verse. Leon Wood, however, states a problem that many others see with this verse. He goes on, Leon Wood says this, 1 Samuel 13 verse 1 presents problems in its reading. Literally it says, a son of a year was Saul, and when he began to reign, and two years he reigned over Israel. He says here, the phrase son of a year is the regular Hebrew idiom for indicating a person's age. But obviously Saul was more than one year old at his inauguration. A number which gave Saul's age must at some time have been admitted by the copyists. That's what they believe. See, they don't trust God to preserve His Word. They don't believe that your King James Bible here is inspired. In fact, when I claim, and many others claim, that the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God, not only preserved, but inspired Word, inerrant Word of God in the English language, then they'll accuse you of double inspiration. By the way, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we need to take a stand for the King James Bible. Amen? goes on here to say, World Biblical Commentary states that in the first year of 1 Samuel, sorry, in the first part of 1 Samuel, quote, the number has dropped out. Blakey says, there could be no doubt that something has been dropped out of the Hebrew text. No, there hasn't. God knows what he's doing. I wish these stupid academics would just trust God and not lean on to their own understanding, not lean on to their own intellect. They're worse than the atheists. You do realize that. I actually have more respect for Dave Bailey, who's a filthy, stinking pervert, than some of these academics that doubt the Word of God. And they're therefore causing a stumbling block for the people of God, for many Christians. Oh yeah, that pastor in that church that milled Christian assembly there, he's a stumbling block. He has no final authority. It goes on to say here, a figure seems to have dropped out after Saul was, and another after he reigned. A blot of some kind may have effaced these figures in the original manuscript. It goes on to say here, the Defender's Study Bible states the Hebrew text in this verse is defective, possibly because of some ancient copyist error. No, there's no defection there. Central Baptist Theological Ceremony also takes exemption to this verse. In a book expressing the position of their faculty, W. Edward Glennie writes, quote, apparently at least one of the numbers in this verse has been lost. It makes no sense as it reads. At this point, Glennie is in agreement with liberal Henry, liberal, sorry, Henry Preserved Smith, who writes, quote, This verse, as it stands, is meaningless. Smith later writes, quote, It seems evident that a scribe, wishing to make his chronology complete, inserted the verse without the numbers, hoping to be able to supply these at a later date, which, however, he was unable to do. After a fundamentalist agrees with a liberal in the wrong assessment of a Bible verse, again, sorry, again, a fundamentalist agrees with a liberal in the wrong assessment of a Bible verse. Goes on to say here, that's coolest, Additionally, the approach of Glenny Wood and Blakey places the Bible on the same level as other ancient literature. That's what they do. There's nothing special about this book to them. Nothing. Oh yeah, the original Greek manuscripts and the original Hebrew manuscripts, they're very special that no one has ever read. Nobody's ever read. Except those who it was given to originally, right? How many thousands of years ago? At least 2,000 years ago for the Greek, right? Let's move on here. It goes on. For instance, concerning a portion of the chronicles of the Chaldean kings, Wiseman states, quote, the figure, 38 question mark, where object is now unfortunately lost. Also concerning the Assyrian chronicle, Grayson observes, quote, the number of years which Tiglath-Pileser, the third reign, is missing. There are two possible explanations for this omission. The original tablet might have been broken at this point. The other possibility is that the original author of the Chronicle did not know at the moment how many years Tiglath-Pileser had ruled. He therefore left a blank space to be filled. Right? So we're going to move on from that. And this is what Brother Kula says. I'm going to read on. I'm going to read it all because I think there's a lot of good stuff in here. Several solutions are available for the problems some have with 1 Samuel 13 and verse 1. Okay, I'm going to go back here. Some treat the Bible passages as if they were just like the Assyrian or Babylonian chronicles. But why would fundamentalists, he says here, treat the inspired, preserved words of God in the same fashion as man-produced ancient literature? This is disconcerting, to say the least. Some solutions. Several solutions are available for the problems some have with 1 Samuel 13, verse 1. Receive the number. It goes first, since Jesus states and promises that the Hebrew text is intact and will be preserved in Matthew 15 and verse 18, then one can have faith that no words are missing from 1 Samuel 13 and verse 1. By the way, the English text is just as preserved. and just as inspired. It's not double inspiration. Despite what scholars may say, the King James translators have done a fine job in how they translate this verse from the preserved text. One should simply receive the Hebrew text and the accurate, perfect, inspired translation of that text. I added a little bit to that, but he said the accurate translation of the text. Second, while it is true that the syntax for Saul reigned one year usually expresses the age of the monarch, this is not always the case. For example, 2 Chronicles 22 verse 2 says 40 and 2 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. Whereas 2 Kings 8 verse 26 says 2 and 20 years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign. Both of these constructions are similar to the one in 1 Samuel 13 verse 1. But if both are referring to the same time in Ahaziah's life, then it's obvious that both cannot be giving the physical age of Ahaziah. And that's not a problem with the text. They just are giving something else. They're relaying something else to you. 2 Chronicles 22 verse 2 is possibly presenting the age of the dynasty of which Ahaziah was part of, or the age of his mother. Likewise, 2 Chronicles 36 verse 9 says Joachim was 8 years old when he began to reign, whereas in 2 Kings 24 verse 8 says Joachim was 18 years old when he began to reign. Again, both of these constructions are similar to the one in 1 Samuel 13 verse 1. The figure in 2 Chronicles 36 verse 9 is possibly dating Joachim's reign from the time of the Babylonian bondage. These examples, he says, demonstrate that the Bible possibly uses this type of syntactical construction of something other than the age of the monarch. In the case of Saul, it expresses the age of his dynasty at the time. That is one year. He was the son of one year in his reign. son of one year. He goes on to say here, the use of son in 1 Samuel 13 verse 1 and possibly 2 Chronicles 22 verse 2 and 36 verse 9 constitute a somewhat metaphorical use of the word, which is in keeping with its use elsewhere. There's no contradiction. I can go on there. He says more concerning that passage. I figured I'd give you a little bit of a tidbit there that that verse is under attack in our King James Bible. In general, it's under attack. By the way, you know what? Before I go on, let me give you some modern version comparisons here of that verse. Obviously, our King James, our Authorized King James Version there, or King James Bible says, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel. It continues on, right? The NIV says Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign, or when he became king, and he reigned over Israel 42 years. Well, that's in direct contradiction to the New Testament where it actually says in the book of Acts that he reigned 40 years. Are you going to trust your NIV? I don't think so. The American Standard Bible from 1995 version says this, Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 42 years over Israel. Again, another contradiction. By the way, they all have footnotes here. The NIV's footnotes say, a few late manuscripts of the Septuagint Hebrew does not have 30. The second footnote says, a probable reading of the original Hebrew text, Masoretic does not have 40. Right. The footnotes here for the NASB, as in some manuscripts of the LXX, that's the Septuagint, Hebrew, Mitz 30. See Acts 13.21, Hebrew, and it's 40, right? And of course, ESV does actually have it right. Saul lived for one year and then became king. Or actually, you know what? It does have it wrong here. He lived for one year. No, that's in his reign, and then became king. Lived for one year? It doesn't even make sense. And when he reigned for two years, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, it continues on. Don't say Hebrew Saul was one years old when he began. Why don't you just say that, you know what? When I read the original text without ever looking at the original Hebrew or the Hebrew that underlies it, to me it's pretty obvious. He had reigned one year and then when he had reigned two years, this happened. Amen? Simple to me. I don't know. So we're going to move on now. We learn that King Saul had reigned two years. He had chosen 3,000 troops. 2,000 were with him at Michmash and the other 1,000 with his son Jonathan in Gibeah. Jonathan and his men had smitten the garrison of the Philistines in Gibeah. Verse 3, Gibeah. After this, the Philistines have substantially reinforced the position of Mikmash. 1 Samuel 13, verse 5, and there it says, And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, 36,000 there, and people as the Sam, which is on the seashore, a multitude. And they came up and pitched in Mikmash eastward from Beth-haven. Here we are told the Philistines had amassed 36,000 horsemen plus an innumerable multitude of people. By contrast, Saul was now left with only 600 men. Many fled. Verse 15, Then Samuel arose and got him up from Gilgal, on the Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about 600 men. We are told that Israel, out of fear, went into exile and hid themselves while Saul retreated to Gilgal where he was supposed to meet Samuel at an appointed time. While Saul waited, his forces had dwindled significantly. It was at this point that out of desperation, fear, and a complete lack of faith Saul sinned by offering his own sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel. He should have waited. He feared. He feared the people. He feared the Philistines. Now let's turn to verse 6. It's chapter 13 rather. 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 6. I'm going to read up to verse 14. And here it says, when the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Oh, they were fearful. They feared man. And he tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering, by the way, which he was not supposed to do. And it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end to offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and went out, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt offering. In other words, he rebelled. He was afraid. He lacked faith in God's promises. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. See, he lost the kingdom here. The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. That would be David. And the Lord had commanded him to be captain over his people. Why? Because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. And this seemed to be a theme with Saul. Saul's sin came at a great cost and with dire consequences. If only he had trusted the Lord and waited for Saul, things may have been different. Do you know sin? Some sins especially come at a great cost and dire consequences. Oh yeah, you're forgiven, but the consequences of your sin in this lifetime You'll have to pay. You will reap what you sow. You will reap. You know what? You can go up and hold somebody at knife point. Oh yeah. And then you get saved. But you still have to go through the court system. And if found guilty, and if you are guilty, and you are guilty, you're going to have to serve some time. Those are the consequences. You know a drunkard who gets saved? But you know what? His wife left him. His children want nothing to do with him. And she's divorced him. There's no guarantees he's going to get his family back. Certainly not going to get his wife back. There are consequences to sin. Oh yeah, you got saved. Oh yeah, you're a child of God. Even the Christian gets out of the will of God. God may have had a plan for you. And you went astray. Oh yeah, you can repent, get right, and God can still use you. There are going to be consequences. Maybe you burn some bridges. We've had people stroll right into this church who have burned bridges. And they've burned bridges wherever they've went, they've gone. Oh sure, they can get right with God. But that doesn't undo the damage they've done. See, the best of Saul's excuses did not change the fact that he had disobeyed God. And now he had to face the consequences. Some of you may have to face the consequences of your disobedience, of your sin. Saul, instead of obeying the Lord, blamed his circumstances to justify his disobedience. That's what we do sometimes. We look to our circumstances to justify doing wrong. We often do that which is right in our own eyes, like many of those in the book of Judges. In other words, it's perfectly wrong, or right to do wrong rather, as long as the ends justify the means. But this is nonsense. This is nothing more than situation ethics. That's what the company you work for operates that way. They will do wrong, they'll even be unethical. If the ends justify the means. By the way, your government here of Canada operates solely like that. Saul's excuse may have sounded rather spiritual. And even the right thing to do, But you know what? Disobedience is still disobedience. It's still rebelling against God. You can do what may appear right or to be right in the eyes of people, spiritually speaking. Yet what you're doing is in complete defiance and disobedience to the Word of God. It's rebellion. It's open rebellion. The consequences of Samuel's sin cost him dearly, and now he had to pay the price, or Saul's sin had to pay the price. The severity of the punishment showed the seriousness of his sin. Such disobedience, even if rather on the surface of it appeared right, had irreversible consequences. He would lose his dynasty. He lost his kingdom. And God gave it to a man after his own heart. See, God would later raise up a man, David, who would be a man after his own heart. And David was far from a perfect king. He had his own trials, and he had his own issues, and he had his own sin to deal with, which, by the way, he paid the consequences for his sin for the rest of his life. Oh, God forgave him. Oh, yes, he was repentant. Oh, yes, he came before the Lord with a broken and contrite heart concerning the matter of his sin. But there are consequences in his Christian life for his sin, and there are consequences in your Christian life for your sin. Oh, you can repent and get right, but there are earthly consequences. You may have burned bridges. You may have hurt loved ones. Oh sure, they may forgive you, but people have a hard time forgetting. Moving forward. We learn that the Philistines have now encamped at Michmash, where Saul had previously been. The Philistines' dominance left Israel deficient. You hear that? I would say Saul's disobedience left Israel deficient and paved the way for the Philistines' dominance. Here's what Butler says, and he quotes verses 19 and 22 of 1 Samuel 13. There was no smith, in other words blacksmith, found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears, there was neither sword nor spear. By the way, the sword, a type of the Word of God, Neither was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any people that were with Saul and Jonathan. But with Saul and with Jonathan, his son was their found." It goes on to say, the Philistines had so much control over the Israelites that they could stop the making of swords and spears. This certainly shows how powerless Saul was in his rule of Israel. Now finally this brings us to chapter 14. It is clear by this time that Saul's rule was to say the least unimpressive and deficient. His rule was unimpressive and it was deficient. Chapter 14 continues to provide more evidence of his defective rule. But Jonathan, on the other hand, we have another testimony. Jonathan was a soldier. And as a good soldier for his Savior, Jesus Christ, he did something that most Christians sadly don't do. And that is, he did not wait for others to make a difference. He stood up and he was counted. And he made a difference for his God. Are you doing that? He did what he could and then trusted the Lord for the rest. Rather than cower and retreat, he advanced because he knew his God was in control. And this brings me to my first point. Jonathan made a difference through his faith. He made a difference for his faith. Verse 6 now of our text, chapter 14, and Jonathan said to the young man that bears armor, Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us. Amen? And this is why, for there is no restraint for the Lord to save by many or by few. Oh, nothing's impossible with my God. Now I'd like us to note that Jonathan was a man of faith who was very courageous. And we see these traits of courage and faithfulness who are a man of faith highlighted in this passage of Scripture. Jonathan clearly exercised a strong faith in the God of Israel. Amen? Do you? Where's your faith at? I'm not talking about giving lip service. Because you know what? You're good at giving lip service. We do a good job as Christians of giving lip service. Of sounding spiritual. Some of you online, the same thing. I'm not absolving you from it either. See, Jonathan knew that through the power and providence of his God, the God of this King James Bible, any enemy can be defeated no matter how great the odds were that were stacked against him. Remember the words of Paul? What should we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Oh yeah, you can have this world come against you, opposition come against you, but if God be for us, who can be against us? Amen? Brethren, may I remind you that there's a lesson to be learned from Jonathan's experience. We can learn a few things. In contrast to his father's wavering faith, Jonathan's faith was a fearless faith. It was a courageous faith. It was a faith that was ready for the battle. You see, a weak, wavering faith in our Christian lives will lead to defeat, inevitable defeat. We're not called to defeat. We already had the victory in Jesus Christ. Why live your Christian life in defeat when you already have the victory? You see, a wavering faith will lead to a life of helplessness and hopelessness and despair. This is inevitable. It is the end of a weak faith. See, Jonathan knew that his God would not be limited by the number of men or would not be limited by a number of men. See, God's not impressed by numbers. God's not limited by a great multitude or even a few. He's looking for your willingness. He's looking for the willingness of the man to go out and do it. You know what, we can use a good example when we go street preaching. We've seen it this summer. There'll be five of us out there. At one time, it was just Luke and I against a multitude. I don't know how we've done it sometimes, honestly, with that multitude coming at you. It's just us. And you don't even think anything of it. You're just, OK, we're going to go and just right into the battle. I think it's an excellent illustration that going into the battle. Now, ladies, I don't expect you to be in that. You're not built for that. God hasn't built you for that. Why would we subject you to that? Jonathan was willing. God's looking for willingness. Are you willing? Ladies, this is to you. Are you willing to serve God? How are you serving God in this assembly here? Christians often limit themselves from being used by God largely due to a lack of faith, exercising the faith that God's given you. Whether the reason is educational background or lack thereof, physical limitations, spiritual upbringing, that is your family background, we are all often guilty of placing limitations on what God can do in our lives. Don't lie to me. I know you place limitations on what God can do. If you're honest with yourself and you look in the mirror, you place limitations. Every soul in here has placed limitations on God. I've heard it from your own mouths. See, let's face it. For many of us here, You live by sight more than you do by faith. You need to see it before you believe it. You're no different than doubting Thomas. He needed to see those wounds in the Savior's side and touch those wounds. I've been guilty of it. And I believe because I've been guilty of it, I have forgone some of God's blessing. I think because this church has been guilty of it, we have forgone some of God's blessing. It doesn't mean that God can't bless our church. We just need to change it. See, you know what? We've given the Charismatics and the Pentecostals free reign when it comes to God's blessing. We've given them free reign. And they don't have God's blessing. They've got the counterfeit. We've got the real thing here. Amen? We need to start trusting God. Brethren, our walk with God will often require us to step out in faith and just trust the Lord to provide, even when the odds are stacked against us. Sometimes you just gotta pray and pray fervently for God to do it. But are you willing to do that? Or are you comfortable just where you are, coasting along, never really doing anything for God? What are you doing for God? Are you looking to be used of God? Or are you just looking to sit down and be a pew sitter? A stagnant Christian doing nothing for God, but just sitting there. I think there's some of you here sitting this morning that are all talk and no action. Maybe this goes for you online if you're listening. I'm going to preach to you as well. Our Christian faith, my friends, is one of action. Our actions reveal our faith. Our actions are what speak volumes. Our actions are what show our faith. James 2, verses 17 and 18. He says here, Even so, if faith hath not works, is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. It's not talking about your faith being justified by works. In other words, it's not saying that, you know what, that you need to have works to be saved here. It's talking about your testimony, your walk. Your walk. You show your faith by your walk. People see your walk. The world sees your walk. Your fellow brethren sees your walk. And if your walk is a feigned walk, eventually that will be revealed in due time. Our Christian faith is one of action. Don't just say it. Do it. Do it. Sadly, some of you are just coasting along in this life, going through the motions, and you're really not serving God, and you haven't served God in years. I know these are hard words, but you haven't served God in years. What are you doing to serve God? I would love to see more than just pew sitters in this church. By the way, serving God is not just going out there and straight preaching. That's just one. That's just the ministry of this church. There's other things you can do in this church. And I'm encouraged by some of the things you do in this church. But you know what? That's not enough. Always look for more. Don't rest on the bare minimum. I want to quote J.C. Ryle here. He says this. It costs something to be a real Christian. According to the standard of the Bible, it costs something to be a real Christian. According to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, he says. Battles to be fought. Sacrifices to be made. And Egypt to be forsaken. That is the world. A wilderness to be passed through. A cross to be carried. A race to be run. Amen? There's a race to be run. Don't stop. Don't stop. Conversion is not putting a person in an armchair and taking them easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, He says, in which it costs much to win the victory. Amen. This Christian life comes at a great cost. Are you willing to pay that cost? Serve your Savior. Oh, He paid the ultimate cost to save your soul. Can't you give a little bit of yourself to Him? By the way, a little bit's a lot. We can never give back what He's given to us. You understand that? See, the faith that overcomes the world and gives us victory in our Christian lives comes at a great cost. And there is, my friends, a great cost to the discipleship. To discipleship. Discipleship rather comes at a great cost. Luke 14 verses 26 and 27, Jesus saith, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Some of you are put in family. You're more fearful of what your family thinks than what Jesus thinks. By the way, here, this is telling you, you know what? Your love for your family should be as hatred compared to your love for Jesus Christ. Not that you hate your family. That comes easy. Unless they do something that causes you to really dislike them. You shouldn't even hate them, but dislike them. Are you really a disciple of Jesus Christ? Or are you just a poser? You may think you are, but are you? I want you to look in the mirror and really examine yourself. Are you harboring any pride right now in your heart that needs to be scraped out? I'm talking to both the men and the women here. Oh yeah, we can be lifted up in pride and not even see it. Then bring that before the Lord and repent of it. Ask Him to break you. Maybe there's some breaking that needs to be done in your life. You know why, again, I believe that we have some good seats or pew warmers in this church. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to spring you into action here. God wants more than just a pew warmer. That's not biblical Christianity. All you do is show up, nod your head in agreement, or give the pastor the most sourpuss look you can give. I've had both. But in reality, you're doing nothing for Jesus. In reality, your Christian life has become stagnant, and it has been this way for some while. You're in what is known as a comfort zone Christianity. We're too comfortable here. You know what you need? You need God to bring some affliction upon you. And if He has brought that affliction upon you, you need to wake up and respond to it! Why? Because I believe God's trying to get a hold of your heart and you're completely blind to it. It's not just here, my friends, not in this assembly. We've got people tuning online, in online, who walk around, you know, like this, who walk around like spiritual giants, thinking they are the bee's knees, when in fact they are lone rangers, who are deceived into thinking they're actually walking with God, thinking they're doing something for God, thinking that they're in the battle when they're not. Oh, they put up these stupid, ridiculous videos on their YouTube channel, supposedly exposing the New World Order, showing clip after clip of how Satan runs Hollywood, the music industry, and all that. But their Christianity doesn't progress beyond that point. There is no true sanctification. I know, my friends, that we must reprove the unfruitful works of darkness and we're called to do so. We must reprove the unfruitful works and evil works of Satan. But we can't allow ourselves to be continuously preoccupied with that. That's not healthy. It's not good for your heart. Spiritually speaking, when you're filling yourself with all this darkness, it's going to affect your heart. See, I believe when a man's outward faith consists solely of exposing the NWO and the works of darkness, then it becomes an escape from what God would have him really deal with. It becomes an escape. It also becomes a mark of pride. You know why? Because you can betray yourself to the world as some kind of know-it-all spiritual giant. You see, you do all of this because you don't want to be accountable. This is what these people online do. Now, I'm not saying everyone. I'm not painting everybody with the same brush. Not everyone's of that mindset. I understand that there is a dearth of good churches out there and some really want to be in a good church and they're really having that struggle of taking that leap of faith and really surrendering the material that they have, if you will, to take that leap of faith and be where God will have them to be. Hey, well, you're almost done the first service there. Glad to have you, James. You see, they don't want to be accountable. You don't want to be accountable. You don't want to be accountable to a local church. And to the brethren and the pastor of that church who loves you, who prays for you, who has a burden for you, and who will hold you accountable and make you a real man. And you've got ladies here who will help you become a biblical woman. You don't want that. You just want to live in your own comfort zone Christianity. That's what online Christianity is. I've addressed you sitting in the pew here with your comfort zone Christianity. You want to live and you want to continue in your own comfort zone Christianity, shunning anything, shunning any affliction that God will bring your way. Any circumstance, shunning any circumstance that God wants to use to challenge you and to shake you up. You think your Christianity is real, my friend? And that's what you want your online buddies to see? But you know what? It ain't real. It ain't real. You see, one of the dangers of Lone Ranger online ministries and YouTube channels and that ilk is that it gives men a platform of authority that's outside of the authority of the local church. It gives men a platform that's outside of the authority of the local church. It gives them a voice that they would otherwise not have or deserve to have. And they don't deserve to have that voice. What they need to do is humble themselves, shut up, and submit themselves to what God would have them submit themselves to. That God ordained authorities. It allows them to express their inner diatrophies by enabling them to come across as the big cheese to their followers, who are a bunch of simpletons that have been seduced by a man's knowledge, eloquence, and presence. Oh, there's some eloquent men there, Lone Ranger men. Oh, they can fool you into thinking they're the real thing. Their followers have been bewitched by a man who cares nothing of submitting himself to God-ordained authority, who couldn't care less about you, who hasn't got one iota of prayer invested in your lives and in your life. Oh, he may convince his followers, who know absolutely nothing about him personally, that he's some great warrior of the faith and that he's making a difference for God. Oh, he may fool them. But in reality, he's just an out-of-order Lone Ranger who's in complete rebellion against his God. Who knows, he may not even be saved. Online Christianity is nothing more than a fantasy where you can divorce yourself from the accountability that exists within the local body. This is like your sister and your brother-in-law, or Mrs. Foreman, your son-in-law. There, you know who I'm talking about. Oh, they can align themselves with Now The End Begins, False Doctrine Pervert, Mr. Carnal, Jeffrey Greider. And then you know what? You can post these lengthy posts about how he's been out on the street corner, street preaching, how he's some spiritual giant, when he can't even lift a finger to go out to work, and his wife's out working. What a loser. See, online Christianity is nothing more than a fantasy where you can divorce yourself from all accountability that exists within the local body. See, here you are going to be accountable in this church. You will. Pastors are going to see things. People are going to see things. You know why? Because we love you. Your pastor loves you. I'm not looking to point out your faults. You realize that I'm looking to see you overcome those faults so you come out a winner. You're victorious in Jesus Christ. That your Christian life makes a difference for God. I understand that there's much to be gained and much to be profited from online ministries. You can, absolutely, in their perspective. Especially when they're under the authority of the local church. Local church authority, I believe that. But they can never replace the local church itself. You see, the local church is a haven where born again, scripturally baptized believers can assemble together, fellowship together, grow together, bear one another's burdens together, love one another together, worship together, and sit under sound preaching together. It is a haven for all of that. Your online community can never replicate that. It can never, it's a distant second, if you will. Now, I appreciate that they're tuning in to some sound preaching online if they don't have a good church in their area. See, you need to physically be in an environment where other believers are physically present, especially, and I'm talking about a sound church, understand. You don't get that online. You can't get that online. We must remember that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago in the flesh. He ministered in the flesh. He fellowshiped in the flesh. And He bled and died on Calvary's cross in the flesh. He didn't come as some pixelated image on the screen. He came in the flesh. His ministry was in the flesh. Not online? It must seem that God can't use even this church and our online ministry as a blessing to others. It doesn't end there, though, for them. You shouldn't rest in that. You should be uncomfortable that you're not in the local church. You should be grieved that you're not in the strong local church. And you should pray to God to give you the courage to take that step of faith to go where a good local church is and be there as soon as possible and stop making excuses. Stop portraying yourself as some great warrior for Jesus Christ as someone who's in the battle because you're not in the battle. You don't speak to me. You don't speak to me. And I'm saying that lovingly, you understand that. Jesus Christ, our Savior, did not come as some pixelated image on the screen. We need to assemble. You need to be scripturally baptized and assemble when these doors are open, or wherever we assemble. You realize we can assemble out in the field, be a bit too cold this time of year to do so, but we could. Maybe, Lord willing, when I get my privilege or be allowed to use amplification again, we'll do that. Jesus did not minister as a pixelated image on a screen. He ministered in the flesh. This is why I completely repudiate invisible universal church doctrine. I hate it. Because it lends credence to these parachurch, no authority ministries online. And what happens is these Christians who are given to that are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, whether they realize it or not. Now, of course, I understand that this doesn't apply to everyone online. I'm not painting everyone with the same brush. I'm just saying the evil fruit of online of those who are just given to online ministries and those online is quite apparent. Again, I understand that there's a dearth of good King James Bible believing Baptist churches. I understand that there are some even tuning in to us right now who desire to be in one of those churches and perhaps are making headway to be in one of those churches. But for many who profess Christ and claim to possess Him in their heart, possess Him in their heart, online Christianity is all they really want, though they may say and declare otherwise. Online Christianity, rather, is all that they want, though they may say or declare otherwise. You see, my dear friends, actions speak louder than words. You see, until you eventually take that step of faith by moving to where a good church is, That as far as I'm concerned, you are all talk. You won't truly do anything for God in any meaningful way until you get into a King James Bible-believing Baptist church. You can't. You can't truly serve God. I've got people online right now who haven't served God in years. They think they are. And don't think putting up videos and premieres on your stupid YouTube channel is serving God. That's a joke. Oh, Pastor Sapochnick, you're so mean. How dare you say that? Well, you know what? They need to hear it. You need to hear it. See, I know of one man who possesses this uncanny ability to filter out what he doesn't want to hear from the preaching. Especially when it is pointed and applies to him while I'm amening the rest of the sermon. See, that's the evil fruit. This is how it can numb you. Online Christianity can numb you. You're able to shut down the volume, just filter out what you want to filter out. But you know what, at this point the Bible calls you a scorner. Proverbs 15 verse 12, a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. You see, his heart needs to be broken. Her heart needs to be broken. And only God can break the hardened heart. And he often uses preaching to do that. But if you are an open rebellion, and don't respond to the preaching of God, and continue to not respond to the preaching of God, then God will use the reproofs of life, He will. He'll bring about circumstances in your life, if you will, to get a hold of that hardened heart, to break you. And if that doesn't work, He's going to take you home. There's a sin unto death. You're unprofitable. He's going to take you home if you're one of His. That's why you need to examine yourself whether you're in the faith. Maybe you're not. Maybe you're a reprobate. See, if God can get a hold of your heart, then you're not even in tune with the fact that God is trying to get a hold of you or trying to speak to you. What is it going to take for God to actually get a hold of your heart and heart? What's it going to take for God to actually get a hold of your heart and heart out there? You see, until then, your faith is not a faith that's actually making a difference for God. It's not. It's not. Brethren, may we endeavor to be like Jonathan. Jonathan made a difference for God through his faith. I want to quote another quote from J.C. Rowland. It's very similar to the last one. He says this, It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian and go to church or just sit in your duff online, putting up cheesy videos online, is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ's voice, follow Christ, believe in Christ, and confess Christ requires much self-denial. I can tell you many of those people tweeting online and some of you sitting here have not denied yourself. Deny thyself. You've not denied yourself. Don't think you have. You've not. He goes on to say it will cost us our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease. Oh yeah, I know some people online. Their ease. Our worldliness. All must be given up. We must fight an enemy who comes against us with thousands of followers? We must build a tower in troubled times? Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us count the cost. Heavenly Father, I give Thee thanks for the blessing of Thy Word, Lord, in this first part. I pray, Lord, that it served to be a blessing to thy people. There are some things that were hard to hear, whether it be in here, Lord, or those online, Lord. But may those who have been convicted by this understand that it was lovingly preached, Lord, and expressed from the pulpit. It's not with a heart designed to wound, Lord, but rather build up and convict and bring people to a point where they're going to make a decision for the better, Lord. I pray, Lord, for the rest of this service, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that Thou would continue to give me the unction to preach. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.