Amen. Good to be in church on a Wednesday. You got a roar for us, brother? Amen. Take your Bible, go to 1 Kings chapter 15, 1 Kings chapter number 15. What's that? Yeah, we need to be in prayer for Sister Curran's mother. She's in the ER right now with some chest pains. So Gail Heaton there. So please, please pray for her. They can figure out what's going on and what's causing it. And whenever you're dealing with that, it's a scary situation. So keep that in prayer if you would, please. First Kings chapter number 15. Believe it or not, this will be, I think, the last message out of this chapter. I thought that last week, but I was wrong. When you find your place there, 1 Kings 15, I'll have you stand. We'll read a few verses and see what the Lord has for us tonight, beginning at verse number 25. The Bible says in verse 25, And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. And Baashah the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baashah smote him at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines. For Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibethon. Even in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, did Baashah slay him and reigned in his stead. And it came to pass, when he reigned, They smote all the house of Jeroboam. He left not to Jeroboam any that breathed until he had destroyed him. According unto the saying of the Lord, which he spake by his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite. How'd you like to be that fellow right there? His message is known for your whole family all done. What a message, man. Verse 30, Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger. Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the book of Chronicles of the King of Israel? And there was war between Asa and Beasha, king of Israel, all their days. In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, began Beasha, the son of Ahijah, to reign over all Israel in terms of twenty and four years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. That completes chapter number 15, and there's been just a bunch of stuff in there. We might have to pick and choose moving forward, or we'll be here a month of Sundays. I appreciate you coming out, and more than that, I believe the Lord has something for you tonight. Brother Cole, why don't you pray, ask the Lord for help tonight. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. And like he mentioned during the announcements, keep praying about the sign. The Lord supplied the funds, and now we've got the contractors, and now we've just got to trust the Lord and pray that they get here and do their part. I think we've got two inspections on that sign before we're done, one with the footings. I actually think we're at the point where we need another one. I just asked Sawyer, our architect, if we need to get inspection done. And then, of course, when it's all done, they've got to inspect it. so forth and so on and so forth. So keep praying for that and Lord to keep that moving along. I sure would like to see that before the snow flies. Amen. And but here in First Kings Chapter 15, last time we were together, we left off with the rule and reign of King Asa. And you know what? Despite we did preach some negative stuff last week, but you know, he was a good king. He really was a good king. He had a great start. And I don't know about you, but I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from him where he started right and kind of where he kind of got stuck in a couple of places. But if you look at 1 Kings 15, 24, it says, And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. So as we go through the book of Kings in comparison to some of the bad kings you're going to come across, Asa turns out pretty good. He turns out okay. But now the Holy Spirit shifts away from the southern reign of the kings in Judah. And what the Holy Spirit does is he pans the camera north and to what is going wrong in the north. Amen? We could just park there and preach for a while. There's a lot wrong in the north. Amen? We live in the north and things are kind of dead up here. Amen? But at any rate, the North is referred to generally as Israel and the South is referred to as Judah, as you know. And here we pick up the reign of Jeroboam's son, who you see is named Nadab. And let me say this, there's no flower we start. Nadab's just a rotten guy. He really is. He's just a rotten king. He's a bad apple, whatever adjectives you want to use. But you got to remember this, in life, everyone, believe it or not, is a blessing to you. Some, when they walk in the door, and some when they leave, amen? And you know, you can learn from everybody in life. You can learn from people how to do things right, which is a rarity it seems. And then for the majority, you can learn how to not do things. So the Bible is really no different. You can learn from every character in the Bible. And if you've ever owned a business, you are already by nature a negative or a critical thinker, aren't you? If you've raised children, you are a critical and negative thinker. If you have done none of these, other, or all the above, well, you might be somewhere in the mushy middle. I don't know. But what you need to understand is the Bible is no different. Nadab is a rotten king. And what he does is he teaches you and I how not to live the Christian life. And as I read this, and the first time I read it, Bible's a funny book, not like haha, but it's an interesting book and when you read it you think you're going to get something out of it and it just looks like words on a page, doesn't it? But then you go back and you read it again and you read it again and all of a sudden the more you spend time on it, then it begins, in my mind anyways, to slowly make sense. The quick perusal of the scriptures doesn't often reveal the golden nuggets, if you could say that. Sometimes it just seems like word type and word setting and conjunctions and prepositional phrases and direct objects and all that other goofy stuff. But the more I read this, I said, you know what? I said, what can I learn from him? Well, I can't learn anything positive about my Christian life, so I'm most going to have to look at this thing negative. Amen. And that's one thing you and I have got to keep doing in the Christian life is learning to look at things with a negative perspective. I know some people don't like that, but they'll have to grow up sooner or later because they're unbalanced. And this world will give you plenty of positive, won't it? It'll give you positive when you walk out the door and turn on the radio. Smile, FM. This feels so wonderful. And what you need every now and then is just a good dose of negativity and reality. And where I teach school, some of the communication is, well, what can we do to incentivize him? And you know what my response was? Kick him out. We're looking for an incentive. Yeah, the kids had nothing but incentive. He's lived off mom and dad. He's lived off the generosity of people. Do right or get out. So I start like that, but you need to understand Proverbs chapter 10. I want you to see this verse. This is a real practical application of what we're going to try to do here today. Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs chapter 10. Look at verse number 7. Now Solomon says here, The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. You see that? The name of the wicked shall rot. So I want to preach a very positive message today on how to be a rotten Christian. Amen? And of course you're going to see this rottenness come right through the text of the King James Bible. And the King James Bible is the only Bible, that's the one that God uses and the devil hates, and you know that and I understand that. But let me say this, if you want to be a rotten Christian, or if you want to become one, The first thing I see here in the text is this. If you want to be a rotten Christian, number one, just go ahead and keep doing what you're doing, but just do it out in the open. Just go ahead and keep on doing what you're doing, but now just do it out in the open. Look at verse 26. As I read this passage, I saw this, and it says about Nadab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And it got me to thinking about that, and now, listen, every Christian sins. Amen? Now, we shouldn't sin, but you do sin. But you know about that sin? That thing ought to be, you ought to keep that thing hidden. If you have a problem with something, you ought to keep that thing. Doesn't that remind you of Joshua chapter 10? When them kings, they fought them kings, and they took them kings, and they rounded up and caught Joshua and all the king's horses and all the king's men, and they stuffed them in the cave and they put rocks over it, right? That's a picture of your sin that you hide. But the thing of that thing is, is you've got to keep that thing hidden and that's a picture of society today. You know what society has done? They've just let all the devilment right out into the open. See, when my generation is going to school, the sodomites are starting to come out of closet. When some of y'all went to school, they stayed in the closet. And now what's happened now is they got rid of the closet and they're trying to put you, a straight person that loves God, fears God, and you're not a queer, I mean a sodomite, and they want to put you in there. And they want to put a rock over you. But if you want to be a rotten Christian, just go ahead and just keep doing what you're doing. but just go ahead and do it out in the open. And that's what I see with Nadab. Verse 26 said, He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and just go ahead and let everything out of the cave. You see what I'm saying? You hear things like this, just keep telling everyone you've got liberty to do what you want. Now I'm going to step all over everyone's toes tonight, and there's no agenda but the scriptural agenda what the Lord gave me. Just keep telling everyone in town you've got liberty to live however you it is you think you're supposed to be living. Did you two remember in the Bible, in Galatians 5, verse 1, you and I were given liberty not to be a patriot, but we were given liberty to serve God. Not only that, but in Galatians 5, verse 13, you and I were given liberty so we could serve one another in the local church. we could serve the body of Christ. So we're given liberty. I'm telling you what the Bible says about it. You're given liberty to serve God. You're given liberty in 5.13 to, by love, serve one another. But in 1 Peter 2 and verse 16, you and I were never given liberty to sin. Peter says, nor a cloak of maliciousness. And that's what that is. A lot of Christians these days, and I'm being ambiguous for the sake of making an illustration, is whenever they want to do something wrong, they say, well, you know, preacher, I've got liberty. I've got degree, you know, that goes under the arm. I guess you're, you know, whatever covers up your stink, right? And just go ahead and keep telling everyone you've got liberty. How about this one? Here's another one. If you're going to just keep doing what you're doing, do it out in the open, just go ahead Keep thinking you can 1 John 1 9 everything and not have a consequence. I'm telling you tonight how to be a rotten Christian, and Nadab is the example. Just go ahead and think that every time you mess around with your besetting sin, you can always 1 John 1-9 it, and there'll never be a consequence. Listen, that Bible says, if you sow in the flesh, you're going to reap in the flesh. Now, when I sin, it can't change my eternal destiny, thank God. But when I sin, that thing can affect me physically in the flesh. And one of those things, if you're going to keep doing what you're doing and do it out in the open, the misconception is, well, I can just go ahead and I can just apply 1 John 1, 9, which is, by the way, if we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, which is true. But don't think you can just sit there and paint that verse across your sin and there'll never be any physical consequence because there will be. The Lord just might be merciful with you right now. You're messing around with something you shouldn't. You're goofing around with this thing over here and you're being dishonest over here. That thing will catch up with you. And you want to be a rotten Christian? Just think, well, you know, I messed up last week and I first John 1 9 at which you should. But one day there's coming a consequence. Just keep thinking you can put first John 1 9 and everything. Never consider your personal testimony, right? I'm teaching you how to be a rotten Christian here. Say, preacher, I don't need any help with that. Never consider your personal testimony. How about this one? Never consider the testimony of your local church. A lot of people think, well, it's my business and it's my life and, you know, you don't like it, go fly a kite. I understand the way we think as Americans. I really do. Because just about the time someone's playing their music too loud or having a party a couple houses over, I'm about ready to go all, you know, patriot on them, right? And there ain't nothing I can do. Which is a blessing because if I want to go crazy and have a party, then I can do the same thing. Say, what are you going to party with? We'll get about three or four preachers and just turn the volume way up. Wouldn't that be a blessing? I keep thinking that. Down the road about a half mile from us there's this group and man, they are whacked out and jacked out and man, you can hear their music for over a mile through the woods. And I'm thinking, I need to do, I need to get me some Brother Lentz. or Brother Reagan or Brother Peacock or something. And I did put on my Bose FS 840 and just crank her all the way up. Yeah, and just make every neighbor in the world hate my guts, you know. But just keep thinking, you know, just stop worrying about your own testimony like it don't matter. Stop thinking about the local church. A lot of Christians do that. You'd not believe how many Christians live like the devil in the community. And then it gets back to us. And they're like, oh, they go to your church. I'm like, well, hey, you know, they don't give an account to me. They give an account to Jesus Christ. But that's what happens when you stop being concerned about your personal testimony. Your personal testimony is everything. Not only that, but the testimony of this church is something, too. You say, well, yeah, I know some people that used to go, yeah, used to whatever. I get it. There's always going to be people bailing out and jumping out the windows and jumping ship. I get it. But it's not like we change what we're preaching here. We're still flying the old 1611, amen? And by God's grace, we're going to keep sailing it until he calls us on home. And finally, in this whole grain of thinking, don't consider the weaker conscience of another brother. You see what I mean? Don't think about your testimony. Don't think about the testimony of your local church. And then don't think about the testimony or the conscience of a weaker brother. I can do whatever I want. Sure you can, but there's a consequence. A lot of Christians do that. A lot of rotten Christians, they do whatever they want and they don't think about their brother. You think about your brother when you're about to partake of your liberties? You don't often, do you? Why? Because you really don't think it's any of their business. Now that's just where the chicken scratches, ain't it? All right, just keep telling everyone you got liberty to do what you want. Just keep thinking you can first John 9 everything. And how about this one? Here's a tough one. Just keep thinking, Christian. If you want to be bonafide rotten, just keep thinking you can keep going, visit the fire country and always come back. You know, I'm sorry about the prodigal son there. I mean, you've heard so much preaching about the prodigal son. You hear preaching about the prodigal, the son. You hear preaching about the father. You hear preaching about the older brother. You hear preaching about the servants. Imagine one day they're going to have a sermon about the fatty calf or something like that. Amen? But, you know, you think that, well, you know, I'll always come back. You think so? Okay, so yeah, they were excited when he came back. That's a blessing, isn't it? When a sinner comes back into fellowship, in the type and picture that comes back into fellowship with the father there, they were excited when he came back, amen. And the father rejoiced, amen, and he will. And they even threw a party, right? But do you realize there are some other things that went on? It wasn't just a party. The prodigal son came back, the father rejoiced, the family had a party, but the older brother stumbled at his return. You ever stop and think about that? We get on the older brother and yeah, he was a, well, he was a piece of work, amen. And he was all bitter, right? Bitter as bitter as could be. But he stumbled at his return. And then do you ever stop and think about the prodigal son? When he came back, he came back scarred from a sin. He came back scarred. He came back a different person. Yes, the father still hugged him and wept on his neck and all that. You ever stop and think he needed shoes? That passage of Sarah says, put some shoes on his feet. And it said, give him the best robe. He needed a change of clothes. He needed to cover up the feet from being in the hog pen around the hogs and around the hog dewy. Right? He needed shoes and all of that. They said, put a ring on his finger. He said, what's that all about? Just to remind him who he is. You see, you leave God's fellowship, you're still his son, but you don't get his glory. And you come back, that thing's restored. They put the ring on his finger, the shoes on his feet, and the best robe. You ever stop and think about them servants? I mean, y'all work, y'all boot collar people, hardworking people. You ever stop and think what the servants saw? Well, the servants, when that boy came back, those servants, what they did is they saw a bad testimony restored and immediately a good testimony ruined with bitterness. It makes you wonder that them servants must have been so conflicted like, yeah, we got the one brother back. And OK, well, wait a minute. The older brother, he's he's gone. It said he wouldn't come in. I wonder where he went. I mean, we're left to wonder, aren't we? We say, what are you saying? You're not always guaranteed to come back. That's a great story. It's a great it's a great story of fellowship and God's grace and mercy. But if you want to be rotten, just go ahead and think you can keep going to the far country whenever you want to and you'll keep coming back. You won't. You won't. Not everybody comes back. That's a fact, Jack. You will not always come back from the far country. You ever stop and think about Amnon? You ever stop and think the fact you are never guaranteed a safe return on this earth when you go to the far country? You need to think about that the next time you're tempted to fill in the blank. I love reading my Bible, I think about old Amnon there, and the Bible says over there Amnon had a friend, right? David's son Amnon. And you know what took him to the far country? Lust. And once he went there, he never came back. He was killed by his brother. You see that thing? Amnon, he took a trip because of lust. Well, not just Amnon, there are several examples of it in the Bible. You keep reading your Bible and you come across Judas. And Judas, he was a pretty good fellow there doing miracles with the Lord Jesus Christ and ministry with him and, you know, fellowship with Jesus Christ and all the disciples there. And all of a sudden he went to the far country for money. For money. And he never came back. He never renewed his fellowship. He cried bitterly. He tried. He said, I've killed the innocent blood. Never came back. Went out and killed himself. You think about Demas there, Paul's companion in the ministry with Luke and Timothy and all there. Demas starts off strong and he's a fellow helper, he's a fellow laborer. And at the end of Paul's ministry, he says, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. What happened? Demon went to the world. Worldliness snuck in there and he never came back. You say, well, we really don't. You're right. The Bible doesn't tell us. You say, why? To let you know that you can flirt with this world long enough and it'll finally just take you out. You're not guaranteed a safe return when you go to the fire country. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just trying to be stinking real with you tonight. We're all just here by the grace of God, by the mercy of God, the things that we have done this week, the Lord hasn't killed us for it. Amen? But you need to remember, and Nadab is the example, that if you keep going to the fire country, He'll take you out. And that should be a stern warning to all of us. Well, not only Demas, but I think Diotrephes. Now, here it kind of gets close to home. Diotrephes in the book of, what is it, 3 John? He's a preacher. Surely a preacher wouldn't have trouble with the fire country. Well, Diotrephes went to the fire country in a church for power. He had to have power. He had to have all power. And he had to be the one that declared all truth. And you can only know something if I tell you it is so to be. And you're not going to fellowship with this preacher over here. And you're not going to fellowship with these jaybirds. You see what I mean? And he became a narcissistic pinhead is what he did. And he went to the far country for power. And you read that thing in John and it never tells you he gets right. You better be careful when you go to the far country. Well, that's the first thing I see how to become a rotten Christian. Just keep doing what you're doing, but now, do it in the open. Do it in the open. People, Christians I've run into, they're like, well, at least I don't hide it. Well, yeah, that's real great. Yeah, do it out in the open. That's stupid. Way to go, you know. But just go ahead and put it out in the open. I'll give you a second thing. If you want to be a rotten Christian, according to the passage I see here, I'll look at verse 25. Just go ahead and make everything in life about you. Look at verse number 25. Just go ahead and make everything in life about you. It says, Nadab, talking about him, reigned over Israel two years. Now, that's a very historical statement. The more I got to thinking about that, he was the one. It was all about him. His whole two years in power. I mean, he didn't even get four like the presidents get, right? His whole two years in power. Isn't the governor race two years or is that four years too? I don't know. Should be none, right? But it's all about Him. And Christian, I'll tell you what, you want to be a rotten Christian like this fellow Nadab here, he gives you a great example of how to do it, just make everything about you. Just go ahead and live for yourself. You read the couple blurbs in the chapter here, Nadab lived for himself. He did not live for the Lord one bit. Take your Bible, go to 2 Samuel, real quick. I'll give you an example, Absalom. You remember Absalom. 2 Samuel, I believe it's chapter 18, 666. And then go to verse 18. 1818. Now, here's a perfect example. Not only is he a type and picture of the Antichrist, but Absaloman, he was a narcissist and all that stuff, and everything had to be about him. Look at verse 18. 2 Samuel 18, 18, the Bible says, Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale. For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called after his own name. What a humble guy, right? So he has this pillar, this statue made, and what's funny about this and what's terrible at the same time is because at the end of the book of Samuel, I believe it is, or at the end, he does have children. So he jumped the gun on this thing and he made this statue and he's like, I have no son, so no one's gonna be able to remember me. So I'm gonna build a statue and I'm gonna name it Absalom because I'm a pretty good guy. You see what I mean? This guy's a pinhead. And everything Absalom did was about himself. I mean, it's funny, but it's just, you're kidding me. You work with people like that, that the entire world revolves around them. You want to be a rotten Christian? Just make everything about yourself. When you walk in the back door of the church, just suck all the air, all the oxygen right out of the room. Amen? When someone's talking in a group, get ticked off when they're not talking about you. Amen. That stuff goes on in little churches like ours. Well, I'd talk to them, but they're cliquish. Well, get off your tail and go talk. Well, nobody shook my hand. Well, you didn't either. You see this stuff? People just need to grow up in the Christian life. Amen? They make everything about themselves. And here's Absalom. He's a terrible example, but something we can learn by. And it parallels Nadab. And Nadab sowed two years of unbridled hell is what he did. And let me tell you what, friend, you will reap what you sow. So just go ahead and live for yourself and just go ahead and Live life in the fast lane. Don't worry about who you run over. I was working at the ice cream company. One of my higher up bosses' name was Mr. Cochran. And I won't say what he said because he was kind of crude about it. He said, Jeremy, so you want to make sure that on your way up the ladder of success, you don't kick everyone's tail. I said, why not? He says, because you're going to have to kiss it every time you come down a rung, which is kind of tough for a pastoral illustration, but it's a lot of truth. You gotta be careful how you treat people. But just go ahead and live life in the fast lane and don't worry about who you run over. You say, what in the world are you talking about? Okay, don't keep any standards or convictions at all. You wanna be a rotten Christian? Don't keep any standards. Don't keep any convictions. Say this, it's just too legalistic. You're rotten, man. You're telling on yourself. Don't keep yourself back from any appetite. You know, because I'm sure you were deprived as a child. Right? And now that you have the ability and you have the checkbook and you have the ability to do what you want, you just never hold yourself back. Why you gotta give yourself everything you do? This is what Nabab did. He gave himself everything he wanted. That's what I see. He said, I don't see it like that. That's why I'm preaching it. Amen? He gave himself whatever he wanted. That's why it only lasted two years. All right, don't keep yourself back from any appetite. Don't be moderate in everything. Always be extreme. Now guys, we're terrible at this. Say amen, somebody. We get interested in something and it could be chainsaws, it could be tools, it could be guns, it could be knives and whatever it is you're hung up with. And it's like, if you're interested in it, you go to the extreme like yesterday. And there's never, oh, yeah, I gotta have that. Oh, I gotta have that. Oh, I gotta have that. And then you get, oh, I already had that. Oh, you can't have too many, you know. Don't be moderate with anything, right? You know, you start eating out. True story. You start eating out. Oh, we got to try this place. Oh, we got to try that place. Oh, we got to try that. Do what you want with your money, Christian. I mean, you stand before the Lord with that thing. But sometimes you just got to go, no, we're not eating there. Sick and tired of heartburn. I'm just trying to make a point here. Don't be moderate in anything if you want to be a rotten Christian. And go ahead and always give your flesh what it wants. Never tell your eyes no. Never tell your ears no. Never tell your feelings no. Well, go ahead and live for yourself. Go ahead and live life in the fast lane and go ahead and don't do anything for the Lord. We doing all right? I told the Lord this was going to be a flop. I'm just letting you know to go ahead and don't do anything for the Lord. You say, why do you say that? Because in the passage, Nadab does absolutely nothing for the Lord. You see it now. You said, no, that's right. It's not there. That's why I said it. Don't do anything for the Lord. You say, well, you know, it's my life. I can do what I want. You sure can. But soon on Earth, this life will pass. And only what's done for Christ will last. As a friend of mine said a while back, what have you done for the Lord lately? Right? Good question, isn't it? Well, that's ridiculous. But what have you done for the Lord lately? Well, I read my Bible. That's for you. What have you done for the Lord that nobody else knows about but you? I'm going to vote. Really? Are you serious? The Lord's like, oh, I'm so glad you are. That's my guy right there. I'll tell you what, he's going to go home. All right, go ahead and don't do anything for the Lord. And Nadab does absolutely nothing for the Lord. You can go ahead and serve your tummy like Nadab. Make money just for you. Go ahead and squander your talents like Nadab. Use your talents just for you. You can go ahead and spend away your treasure and earthly things and never lay anything up in heaven. It's exactly what Nadab does. Well, let's get past that one. Let's get into something a little bit more negative this evening. Number three, just go ahead and make sure you stay in the same ruts that your parents did. You want to be a rotten Christian today? Stay in the same ruts that your parents got stuck in. Look at verse number 26. It says that he walked in the way of his father. You see, when you walk in the same ruts that mom and dad did, well, verse 26, you end up in the same mess. You see it? You end up in the same mess. Not only do you end up in the same mess, but you end up with the same sins. Verse 26 says, and in his sin. Not only are you in the same mess, but you're the same sin. And then finally, when you get stuck in the rut that your parents got stuck in, you end up causing others to sin. Verse 26, He made Israel to sin. You see it? Same mess, same sin, and now you become the one that causes everybody else to sin. Over there in Matthew chapter 15 verse 14, He says, If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Now there's one good way of getting into a ditch, shut your eyeballs. Amen? But once you're in the ditch, someone's following you, guess what? They're going to go right into the ditch with you. So Nadab's daddy, Jeroboam, he went in the ditch, and Nadab's like, that looks like a pretty good place to go. Daddy did it, he did all right there, and he goes right in there with him. And what does he do? He just keeps having Israel go right in the ditch with him. You see that? Causing everybody else to sin. Just keep getting stuck in the rut your parents. You do realize your parents are human beings, right? They're not robots. They're not the fourth part of the Trinity. They are not perfect, even though you know that. Amen. All right. So just go ahead and stay stuck in the same rut your parents are in. Let me ask you this question. Do you even know if you're in a rut? It's a good question, isn't it? Now, if you're in the car on a dirt road, which we don't, we still have dirt roads around here. And for a handful of years, we grew up on Rempert Road, and then they moved a mile over to Oates Road. And brother, let me tell you what, there's some ruts in them roads in the springtime and in the fall. All right? And when you go in the ditch, you know you're in the ditch. But spiritually speaking, can you tell if you're in a rut? How about this? You talk with somebody, and within five minutes, you always are going to that thing that's tripping your trigger the most. Right? There's some brother and I love dearly, they don't go here, they're good friends of mine. And within five minutes of talking to them, they go right there. Well, you know, you know, someone did me wrong. See what they're doing? They're bleeding, man. They go right in the rut, right in the ditch. Five minutes, not even five minutes. Well, you know, they never recognized me. In the ditch. Well, you know, it's just the way it is. Right in the ditch. But you even know if you're in a rut. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 26 says, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Don't you ever feel convicted sometimes about what you talk about? Sure you do. And don't you walk away from a conversation, man, I probably shouldn't have. But yet you keep going there, and then you keep going there, and you keep bringing it up, and you keep bringing it. You say, what is that? You're in a rut. Do you even know how to identify if you're in a rut? Solomon says, ponder the path of thy feet. You ever watch where your feet go? You ever watch where your lips go? You know, where you talk about? You ever notice what you gravitate towards? What topics you gravitate towards? And some Christians, all they do, they gravitate right to politics. You say, why? That's because they're stuck in Fox News. They're stuck on whatever it is. Some Christians, they gravitate to their work. That's all they talk about is their work. Why? They're stuck at the workplace. Now, not every rut's bad, but not every rut's good either. You ever stop and think about those ruts that you have in your Christian life? Let me give you a couple things about ruts. When you're in a big rut or you have a little rut, you have very little control at all. I probably told you this, the boys and I had a chance to run a, what is it, big old timber jack back in 17 and 18, and man, that thing, I mean, make ruts a very small family in a small cottage at the same time, you know, just, you know, eight-foot tires. They're just huge, just ridiculous, you know? And you'd tear up the landscape so bad, you'd have ruts literally from that floor right there to right about there. Is that about right? About there. And those ruts and, you know, so basically you'd have about that much of the axle on the bottom of the machine off the ground. And so when you get in that rut, you have no control. You just let go of the steering wheel and it goes where the ruts are at. You see what I mean? I'm saying when you're in a rut, you can't steer right. When you're in a rut, you don't control it. It controls you. Are you in a rut in your spiritual life? Not only that, but when you're in a rut, you know, notice about those ruts, there's no growth in that rut. There's no grass. There's no weeds. There's no fruit. There's no vegetation. There's no trees. You say, why? It's just run right down and packed tight. You say, what is that? That's just no fruit of the Spirit. When you get stuck in a rut, you're not producing any fruit. You see what I mean? You're not producing any joy. You're not producing any love, any peace, any long-suffering. You're just stuck right in your rut, and that thing's taking you wherever it wants to go. Now, here's the thing about a rut. You know, you can get stuck in a rut. I mean literally, not just like wandering around where the rut goes, but that rut can get so deep you bottom right out and you can't move. You have ruts in your spiritual life. If you're not careful, it'll just stop all progress whatsoever and you'll bottom out. It's kind of like a diet, right? You're like, oh, I'm losing, I'm losing. Oh, I'm the loser now because I'm not losing anymore. and you just get stuck, don't you? Why? You're in a rut. Your metabolism's in a rut, your diet's in a rut or whatever, but in your spiritual life, you can get stuck in a rut and you stop moving altogether. But notice this thing about a rut. I notice this even just not in the big ruts, but it's real easy to get into a rut. I'm sure it's hard to get out. You say, well, how in the world do you get out of a rut? Well, you can You can risk your own peril and just see where it goes, but that's dangerous. What you got to do is you got to stop. You got to get on the brakes. And you got to say, okay, how do I get in this thing? And you got to throw that thing in reverse, don't you? And you got to slowly climb out of that rut. Let me tell you what, ruts in your Christian life, you are not going to get out of overnight. The Lord has been trying to deal with some of you about making decisions for him and you're so stuck in a rut. He's like, hey, when you get a chance, put that big old thing in reverse and start inching it back because you can't. I know I'm right here and you're right there and he walks with me. But you've got to get back here because we've got to go all the way back to where you fell in so you can get out again. They're easy to fall into, but they're super hard to get out. So that's number three, just go ahead and make sure you stay in the same rut your parents got stuck in. Because in verse 26, old Nadab, he just does the same thing as daddy did. Well, you know, my daddy did. It must be all right. No, it must be not. I love my dad, but there are some things that I can't follow in his footsteps with. And if you're honest, you love your parents, you can't follow in the same footsteps. Why? There's heartburn with it. You get stuck in a rut. Let me give you number four here. Look at verse number 27. You want to be a rotten Christian tonight. I know you don't, but I'm speaking figuratively. But if you want to be a rotten Christian, you want to become a rotten Christian, then go ahead and ignore the fact that you've lost spiritual ground. Just go ahead and ignore it. It's not a big deal, you know. Just ignore the fact that you've lost ground spiritually. Look at verse 27. It says, And Beasheth smote him at Gibbethon, which belongeth to the Philistines. Can I say this? No, it did not, originally. Did you pick up that? Which belongeth to the Philistines, baloney. Originally, that thing, that Gibbethon, or G word there, it belonged to Dan. Not like Brother Dan, but the tribe of Dan. And you find that in Joshua, Joshua chapter number 19, verse 40, and then verse 44. that when they went through, the seventh lot fell to Dan, the northern tribe, and Joshua's like, okay, you get Bay City, Saginaw, and Gibbathon, Detroit, you know. And you get this stuff, right, all these cities, and then later when the Lord picked up the Levites, right, then you had a redisbursement, a redistribution of all these cities, and then in Leviticus, I'm sorry, in Joshua chapter 21, 21, it was given to Levi. So it went from Dan to the Levites. So how did it get in the hands of the Philistines? That's a great question, right? Because if you pick it up with Saul, David, and Solomon, the Philistines were in subjection because David whipped the snot right out of them and got all the ground back, right? So all you can do is come to the conclusion that It was lost to the Philistines probably when Jeroboam took over. You say, what are you saying? Not a big deal. It's just one town. You notice he meets his Waterloo at Gibethon, doesn't he? A place he used to be familiar with, but he had lost it. He thought he knew it real well, and it ended up taking him out. Something to think about tonight. If you want to be a rotten Christian just when you lose spiritual ground, go, it's not a big deal. It's okay. I've got liberty, right? I've got liberty. It's going to be okay, you know. I'll get through the judgment seat of Christ. It'll be okay. You ever been like that? You know, I used to read my Bible every day. Amen. I mean, I really do like reading the Bible. I just used to read it every day. I just don't read it at give-a-thon now. You know, I used to spend time in prayer. Man, I tell you what, when I used to pray, I used to wonder, how did I make it without praying? You ever been there? And next thing you know, it's like a week later, you're like, You probably should start praying again. You say, what is that? That's your give-a-thon. It got taken from you, it's not a big deal. You used to pass out tracts. You used to see people on the streets and said, you know, they got a soul. Lord, give me a chance. Give me an opportunity to give a track. And now you're like, stupid people, get out of my way. What happened? Now your give-a-thon got took. It's not a big deal. Well, they're the ones rejecting the Lord, you know. Your give-a-thon, it's not a big deal anymore that you lost it. It's just ground that you lost that you haven't gone back and taken yet. Every Christian in the room has ground that they have spiritually lost. It should be a big deal to you. It should be a big deal. You want to be a rotten Christian? Well, just ignore the fact that you've lost ground spiritually. A Christian that loses ground and it doesn't bother them is rotting from the inside out. You say, preacher, I just, man, good grief, you're just nailing us to the wall. I'm not doing that at all. I'm a poor shot. I'm a poor aim. That's the Holy Spirit of God. Thank Him for it. Amen? That's your gibbethon. There's the light. What ground you've lost, you don't think is a big deal to take it back. And in your Christian life, you ought to be aggressive in taking back ground spiritually that you lost. But Nadab goes back there and ends up getting killed there. He thought he knew it. He thought it was his. Well, guess what? I understand there's a conspiracy in all that, but that's how that thing works. Let me give you the last one here, number five. You want to become a rotten Christian according to Nadab? Just go ahead and refuse to take the battles in your Christian life seriously. Just refuse to take the battles that you face in the Christian life seriously. Look at verse 27. It says, For Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbothan. Like, okay, you're not going to leave this give-a-thon thing alone. Thanks, Pritchard. Well, you know what laying siege is? Take the first word. They're laying. They're laying around. Laying siege is where everyone just sits around and puts on a show that they're going to get you, but they ain't really getting you. They just got you surrounded. Yeah, when you come out here, boy, we're going to let you have it. And all Israel's like, yeah, we're going to take Gibbathon back, and they're just laying siege. And you know what? They're doing nothing is what they're doing. That's why I read that thing. But yes, preacher in the Bible, laying siege, I get all that. But still ain't nobody fighting. They're just laying around. You know what that reminds me of? He's laying under the tree in Gibeah and that passage over there in 1st Samuel says he's under a tree and he's got a spear and all his navy seals are around him and they're all dressed up and they got all their weapons but ain't nobody doing any fighting. and the only one doing fighting, his boy Jonathan and that armor bearer. And they had to go by faith, amen. And they had to pray and ask God for the victory. And then when they got to the place where the fighting was, it took effort to get up to the rock. And they took a chance and they said, if he says this, we're going to go whoop him. The Lord's given it to us. And when they get done fighting, then he needed some honey to refresh himself, didn't he? But old Saul's back there sitting on the stool of do nothing. And then all of a sudden news comes through, oh, you know, and, you know, there's a great victory. And so you know what they say? Let the Hebrews hear, Saul has slain, blah, blah, blah, blah. And as the old preacher says, Saul slew or Saul blew and Jonathan slew. He took credit for what he didn't do. But to get back to my point here, this is the thing is don't take your battle seriously. Just lay around. You got the King James Bible, you got the best weapon in the world, and you're continually sizing things up. Okay, okay, okay, all right. But you won't take a stab at it. You won't take that sword and you won't stick it in and draw blood. And you hear what people say at work, and you're like, oh, they're just so wrong. Okay, well, did you say something? No, I did not. I didn't want to get fired. Okay, all right. Don't get fired yet. But laying siege is where everyone's laying around, just sitting around and thinking about fighting, but ain't nobody fighting. And in the Christian life, let me say this, I'm almost done here. You were not called to lay siege to nothing. Nowhere in the Bible can you see where Paul said, you need to lay siege. That sounds silly, doesn't it? Let's go lay siege. All right. You were never told that. In the Christian life, I hate to say it, You're just told to fight. Amen? Now, some of y'all in here like to fight, don't you? You like to fight with each other. You like to fight with your spouse. You like to fight about politics. You like to fight about sports teams. You like to fight about how many times your significant other irritates you. But how about fight the battle for Jesus Christ? There's a fight out there for souls, man. You know what Paul said? This is what he said, fight the good fight of faith, 1 Timothy 6.12. Fight the good fight. You know what David said? David said in 1 Samuel 18.7 that he was supposed to fight the Lord's battles. That's pretty good, ain't it? I must lay siege to the Lord's battles. No, fight the Lord's battles. Paul also says in 1 Timothy 1.18, to war a good warfare. I understand planning and strategy, but man, there comes a time you just got to get to it. Amen? You want to be a rotten Christian? Just lay around, never get to fighting, never take a swing, never draw blood. Jeremiah 48.10, Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. You see what I mean? Be that guy. Never you're told to lay around and think about it, but that's what Nadab's doing. He's laying siege. He's laying siege to all of his sins. When I read my Bible, 1 Timothy 6.19, what Paul said, he said, lay hold on eternal life. That's what he said. And then he said in Hebrews 6.28, lay hold on the hope that is set before us. That's what you got to lay hold on. But never lay siege and hope the enemy surrenders. It's like standing out there to one of your sins and going, all right, I'm going to stand here until you quit tempting me. See how ridiculous that is? It don't work that way. You got to fight that thing. And you got to learn not to lay siege, but you need to learn to lay hold. and pick up that sword and pick up that spear and pick up the gospel gun and all 66 calibers and man, just pack it up and go at it. And when you fall down and you fail your week, regroup, heal back up, come back, get some more ammunition and go at it again. And then you'll win some and you'll lose some, you back up and prepare again and go at it again. But I'll tell you what, if you want to be a rotten Christian like old Nadab gives us the example of being a rotten Christian, just go ahead and refuse to take the battles in your Christian life seriously. I don't see him win a single one. What an epitaph for a Christian to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and to have never won a battle. Never won a battle with his flesh because he just gave it everything it asked for. Never won a battle with the world. The world always bullied him and it always won. I'll go to the bar with you. I'm not supposed to, but I'm only going to drink milk. You see what I mean? I know that's stupid, right? I'm trying to keep you alive here on life support, but always letting the world win. You ever just stop and think about saying, you know what? I don't do that. I don't go there. And it doesn't matter what your opinion of it is. And I've told you 20 times already. So leave me alone. Well, you'll never. Okay, help yourself. It just comes a point in time where you've done your best to be Mr. and Mrs. Sweetheart to this world that you finally got to go, Get off me! Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 10, 7, The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. There are three people in the Bible named Nadab. Two are wicked and one is neutral. So the name Nadab in the King James Bible goes down as a terrible name. And I don't know about you, I don't know any Nadabs, do you? So the name of the wicked shall rot. I sure do know a lot of Joshua's, a few Caleb's. I don't know too many Moses's. I think I met one fellow with a middle name of Moses. There's no doubt about the name of Nadab. He was a rotten king. The question you need to ask yourself in the light of this historical text is, am I living like a rotten Christian would live? You need to learn to ask yourself the difficult questions. Am I openly living against the Lord and his word? Am I consumed with living for myself? Am I stuck in a rut spiritually? Am I ignoring the fact that I've lost ground lately and it doesn't bother me? Or am I refusing to take the battle in my Christian life seriously? If you can answer yes to any of those, you need to stop and ask the Lord to help you. Put it in reverse. Put it in reverse. But I wouldn't move until the Lord deals with you. Because Proverbs 4.26 says, Ponder the path of thy feet. The next verse says, Go not to the right or to the left. Just stand still and draw close to Jesus Christ. He'll show you what direction to go. But too many times we just kind of knee-jerk reaction and, oh, I got to quit doing this. Oh, okay, fine. If it's wrong, quit it. If you can't kick yourself, I get it. But you need to wait and let the Lord direct you out of the rut because this rut you're in will no doubt turn to rot and rot always turns to ruin. Nadab was a rotten king, but will you let yourself stay stuck in a rut tonight? All right, tough message for sure, but definitely needed for our generation. Why don't you stand? I'll say what Paul said. Consider what I say and the Lord give the understanding in all things.