And asking the Lord's blessing on this time and by God's grace and by my good time management, that's a joke, we will finish chapter 28 today. So let's go ahead and let's pray. Father, we just thank you so very much for your son, Jesus Christ, who's come and died on the cross for our sins, who was buried and rose again on the third day. We just ask, Father, that as we look at this text, that you'll be with us, your spirit will be leading us, guiding us, that we would be encouraged to live for your son Jesus, that we would see those things which so easily entangle us, and that we would repent of those things, that we would leave those things, that we would mortify the flesh, as you tell us in the New Testament, and that we would yield to the power of your spirit. We just thank you so much for all that we have in Christ and all of the incredible blessings. We thank you in your son's name, amen. So when I was in India, I got the opportunity to go to a zoo. I like going to zoos. I think everybody likes going to zoos. I think that's why there's so many of them. But this one was kind of unique. When I was there with Behit, Behit decided to book me a private tour that I paid for. So that was neat. No, it was good. So I got a private tour of the zoo with the zookeeper, right? So the zookeeper was there, me, Behit, and our driver, and Raul, and That's just a fun name to say. So I was yelling Raul the entire time. Every time he got close to anything, I started to yell, Raul, you're in danger. Raul, you're in danger. Anyways, one of the parts of the tour was that I got a bus to myself. It's the only time this has ever happened. I got a bus. It fits, like a tour bus, to myself. And we drove into the Lion. section. And we got pretty close to lions. Obviously I wasn't allowed to leave the bus. I was not even pretending like I was trying to leave the bus to go pet the lions, but I got a chance to see the lions. And even though tigers are bigger and I'm mesmerized by tigers, there's something about seeing a lion, right, that just, there's just something different about it. I don't know if it's just because of the metaphors or how many times I've seen it in the scriptures, or we affectionately refer to them as the king of the jungle, but there's just something about them. And as I've been thinking about lions this past month, but really this past week, I realized that, did you know that a lion in a single meal will eat 15% of its body weight? That's a lot of food. Also, kind of interesting too, you can put a lion in an enclosure, let's say India, where there's a fat American tourist on a bus, those lions, they will act like kittens, they're tame, they'll act like cats, and something will happen where they just snap, and they'll just attack, and then they'll go back to the way they were. There's just something inside of them that even though they look tame, they're never really tame, And one of the other things, too, that's kind of interesting is you can hear their roar about five miles away. And when you do that, there's something really scary about hearing a lion. And there's a reason why people who live near lions, when they find them, they kill them, because they're pretty dangerous and scary, okay? As we're going through this text, we're talking about these two lions, right? So in Proverbs chapter 28, this is the chapter of the lions, okay? So in verse one, go with me to verse one of chapter 28, notice what is said here. It says, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. So here's the good traits of a lion, and from verses one all the way down to verse 14 discusses a good lion, the good things, right? We said the best lion is that one which looks like Jesus Christ, right? So Christ is that lion that we want to emulate. He's the good lion. Then when you get then to verse 15, it says, like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people. And so here we started to talk about bad lions, dangerous lions, scary lions. And one of the things that I've thought about as I've looked at this text is that any one of us can turn into a bad lion, right? We have this thing that we struggle with, which is the flesh, and when we act fleshly, that bad lion comes out, and it's never good when that bad lion comes out, okay? And so, this week, we're gonna look at verses 21 through 28, and we're gonna look at a bad lion. My hope is to warn us against this these bad lions in our nature, right, that easily come out, and the hope is that we would look at this text, we would be encouraged by the text to live for our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would see these things and be warned of these things, and as we're warned of these things, we would make the appropriate adjustments, the appropriate points of repentance, the appropriate, appropriate responses in our life so that we don't do these things, okay? And we're going to see a couple things about a bad lion here in this text. So in verses 21 through 22, we're going to see the greed of a bad lion. The greed, right? A bad lion is greedy. Eats 15% of its body weight in a single meal. That's a lot of stuff, right? Verses 23 through 27, We're going to see the possibility of a bad line. Within this text, there's going to be this phrase, whoever does this, whoever does this, demonstrating that any person who's reading the text can either do something that is foolish or do something that is wise. So whoever does this, whoever does this, and it has this polarity, right? The good and the bad. And then lastly, in verse 28, we're gonna see the reaction to bad lines. What happens? What happens if you act like a bad lion? Do you just only hurt yourself? What really happens when we do these things? So let's look at this. Let's first look at the greed of the bad lion and go with me to verse 21. Notice what is said here in verse 21. It says, to show partiality is not good. Not a good thing. Now, there's many who look at this and go, well, this is obviously speaking about a court scene, right, where there's a judge who has to judge, and he's gonna judge based off of the guy who has the most money, or based upon who's the guy that his friend, and of course, there obviously is that implication here in the book of Proverbs, but I think it's a lot broader than that, don't you? I mean, Is it possible to show partiality? Period? I mean, is it possible for us as believers to do something on the basis of partiality? Right? It's amazing how many times the scriptures remind us that God is not partial. That's an interesting attribute of God that we don't often think about, that he is not partial to anyone. We as humans are definitely partial, right? That is one of the things that we are really good at, at being partial, of making determinations about a person and their character and giving preference to the people we like and acting really mean and rotten towards the people that we don't like, right? That's partiality. It's to lend your ear, to lend grace, to lend help to one side and neglect the other. So it's not good to show partiality, it's not good for a believer to show partiality. Jesus, I think, was one that never showed partiality, right? I don't think he was, I think he was a very fair man, I think he loved humans, he loved mankind more than anyone else has ever loved mankind, and when he, said things, and when he said and he acted, they were well-reasoned. But there's another situation that's happened in the New Testament that shows the possibility of the partiality of believers. This is found in James chapter two, so let's go to James chapter two. Notice what happens here in James chapter two. Got this interesting issue. You have a whole bunch of Jewish believers who are displaced from their home, they're going around the ancient world and they're in these congregations and in these places and James is telling them, brothers, you gotta act in love towards one another, you gotta act in a sense of maturity. And so notice what happens here. James chapter two, verse one, he says, brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here, a good place, while you say to the poor guy, you sit over there, or you sit down at my feet, have you not made distinctions among yourself and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. and are not the rich ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you've been called? If you're really. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law of transgressions. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who has said do not commit adultery has also said do not commit murder. And if you do not commit adultery but murder, you become a transgressor of the whole law. So speak and act As those who are to be judged under the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to the one who shows no mercy, mercy triumphs over justice. And then he goes on, and notice the implication of what he says in verse 14. What good is it, my brothers, if anyone says he has faith but does not have works? So the idea is that when we act in this way, can we really say we're acting like believers from our faith? Because that's inconsistent, right? It's inconsistent not only because it violates that great commandment to love your neighbor as you would want to be loved, but it also is a violation of The nature of God who does not show partiality to others. This is a sin, as James says. This is something that we easily do and unfortunately we do it so easily and we do it so righteously and piously, right? I mean, we can do this really easy. Now here, back in Proverbs 28, verse 21, to show partiality, there's a reason why we show partiality. Notice the reason that Solomon gives. He says, but for a piece of bread, a man will do wrong. You see, the idea is here, the one who is partial is doing so because he might get something from the person. Oh, that's the point, right? Why do we show partiality? Is it just because we like to sit around beautiful people? Or is it the fact that if we sit around beautiful, rich people, we might get some of that riches from them? We might get something from them by being around them. Oh, it's not really purely innocent, is it? It's, I'm looking at someone as an avenue to enrich myself. That is never good. And as a church, we should never view any person as a means for us to enrich ourselves, right? That's completely against the gospel. Notice here, it's interesting. For a piece of bread, a man will do wrong. Now, this has far implications. On the surface, the principle is that We are willing to act unethically and grossly for the smallest thing. You talk about a piece of bread. That's a really small thing. It also could speak to the fact that there might be somebody who needs that one small thing, and here's this opportunity for them to get it, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get that piece of bread. Regardless, it is this activity of greediness, of stinginess, of self-righteousness, one that lacks to trust God, right? We believe that God provides, and he provides for those who are faithful, and he provides for our needs. And you'll do that through various means, and sometimes we have to wait for that. And we have to walk in faith, going, he's going to provide. I don't know when, I don't know how, but I'm going to do what the Lord asks me to do. In that time of where it gets very uncomfortable, that is where Faith is tested, isn't it? Because some people go, well, God's taken too long to provide for my needs, so I'm gonna provide for myself by doing something unethical, doing something morally gross. I'm willing to steal in order to provide for myself. It demonstrates a lack of trust towards God that he will provide. So this is bad, right? And then notice what it says next in verse 22. A stingy man hastens after wealth. That's why he's stingy. He's stingy so that he could get more, but notice the result of this greed, of this stinginess, of this partiality, and does not know that poverty will come upon him. So the very thing he's after, the opposite will happen. He wants to get rich. He wants to get powerful. He wants power. He wants to get something. And what's the divine judgment? He'll lose it all, right? He'll become impoverished. See friends, when we act according to the flesh, not according to the spirit, When we forget ourselves, when we forget that we're placed in Christ, when we forget the power that we have because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, when we forget that we're saved by grace because Jesus Christ came down, died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again, and that we're saved solely on the basis of faith alone, the person and work of Christ alone, when we forget that about ourselves, This bad lion comes out. The flesh comes out, and it's all kinds of bad hair day, right? It's all kinds of nastiness and meanness. And what ends up happening when you indulge that? You think you're going to get something out of it. There's going to be some sort of relief or goal that you're going to get. And friends, you will never get what you think you're going to get. That bad lion is always hungry. He's never satisfied. He's always greedy and stingy. And when you let him eat, he's going to continue to eat, continue to eat, continue to eat, and you'll never get what you think you're getting, and it's going to turn out badly, right? We know from Paul in the New Testament that the only solution is to consider who we are in Christ, realize that Christ has already put that old lion up on the cross, right? That old man's on the cross. He's been crucified with Christ. Consider that and consider I'm dead to that. I don't have to listen to him. I don't care what kind of thing he says. He's not my boss. He's not my dad, right? I don't have to listen to him. I now have this new master, this good one. I have the Holy Spirit, and I have the Word of God, and I have Jesus Christ, and that's who I'm pleasing. And Paul says that if we walk by the power of the Spirit, guess what'll happen? We don't let that lion out. We don't let that bad lion out, right? So how do we combat greediness, and how do we How do we combat stinginess as believers? Walk by the power of the Spirit, and guess what will be produced? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control. Yeah, God's already got it figured out. We just got to trust His way. Now, you may say, well, I'm not a greedy person. Have you seen me? Have you seen my house? Have you seen the car I drive? You can never claim me to be a greedy person. But here is the dangerous part of bad lines. Notice the next verse in verse 23. It says, whoever, oh, oh. You get the point, right? So he's talking about all this bad stuff. Now he's gonna say whoever does this, whoever does this, meaning it's possible for even the wisest person to commit this. And then notice again in verse 24, whoever, oh man. Then notice in verse 26, whoever. And notice in verse 27, whoever. There's four whoever's. To me, this screams, be careful. Every single one of us has the potential of doing the things that he's about ready to say. That there's this opportunity that's placed before us each moment of our life to either do the thing that's pleasing to the Lord or that thing that's not. And I will say this, that we as believers are uniquely qualified to make this decision, right? To do what's right and to not do what's wrong. We know from Paul that even though non-believers may do things that look like they are righteous, they are not and they are slaves to sin. We as believers can submit ourselves either to sin or to righteousness. So if you're a believer, Yeah, this is a real possibility. That's also a scary reality, too. Realize this, that when you sin, you can't say, well, Satan made me do it. Or the culture made me do it. Or the stupid TV made me do it. or the radio, the podcast, social media, my neighbor, the government. Nope. As a believer, when you sin, that's on you. So we gotta be careful, right? Now I'm not saying those other things can't influence us. I'm not gonna say that they don't excite the flesh, right? The flesh is very excitable. It wants to be excited. And so we can put ourselves in a situation that gets it all excited, true. But when you pull that trigger, that's you pulling the trigger. So notice the first, let's be careful, notice it says, whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor. So obviously this is speaking of someone who loves someone so much that they're willing to tell them the hard truth, the hard truth about sin, the hard truth about Jesus. Clearly this would be a person who is using discernment and wisdom as they are giving this rebuke that you are in the wrong, saying you did something really bad. And so there are, as we've already seen in the previous chapters, that a true friend is one who's willing to tell you, hey, not looking so good. You're not doing the right kind of things. Hey. You need to be living for the Lord, encouraging them to live for the Lord, being willing to say those really hard truths in love with discernment and wisdom. So it's possible to do that. It's possible to use your words in a way that edifies your brother, that edifies your sister, in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, that isn't just going around nitpicking and being belligerent, right? But notice the opposite, right? So there's a guy who will find favor, but there's an opposite thing that can happen. This person will find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue. Oh, you see, we have a tongue and we can either roar like a good lion or roar like a bad lion, right? Any given moment, we can do that. We can either walk by the spirit or we can walk by the flesh, right? One's good. One's bad. And notice the bad one. The bad one's flattery. Why is this bad? Because it's willing to skirt truth. It's willing to change truth. It's willing to lie to the person. It's willing to leave out those inconvenient things and say these other things. But flattery also has this idea of I'm gonna say this in a certain way at a certain time so that I can get something out of you, right? So once again, this is something that is for personal gain. I'm going to say something nice to you so you like me so that I can get something. Oh, all right. Notice the next thing that can happen. Ready? Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, that is no transgression. So two bad things already. Three bad things, right? Well, there's a whole bunch of bad things here. So here's somebody who's willing to steal. Who are they stealing from? Mommy and daddy, right? That's not honoring, right? Not honoring your parents, so this is bad, right? And then what are they doing? Then they go, what? That really wasn't bad. So what are they doing? They're marginalizing their sin. They've robbed from the people that love them and care for them. They go, well, I didn't really do anything wrong. Man, I wish I could say that I've never seen a believer do this to their parents. that as believers in the church, we've always honored our father and mother. Man, this is bad, right? This is a bad thing. This is a bad thing. And then notice what it says. It says, is a companion to a man who destroys. So if somebody's willing to steal from mommy and daddy, and then go and say, I didn't sin, or the thing I did wasn't all that bad, guess what? You're kind of like in the company of people that just destroy stuff, that ruin stuff, that doesn't care about stuff. Not one that's building up, but one that's tearing down. Now notice, Solomon kind of bears down on this, and he says, a greedy man, oh, you see? That's the other undertow thing, right? So why would you steal? Because you're greedy. Who are you stealing from? Mom and dad, right? Mom and dad want to take you to court, almost the perfect crime. And then when somebody says, hey, you stole from your parents, you go, I didn't really sin. You're like a destroyer. And notice what this type of person does. Stirs up strife. Yeah. Think about it. Think about if you've ever had somebody steal from you before. Do you become best friends with that person that steals from you? Like, no, there's some strife. I think that's a really good way of putting it. There's some strife. There's some stuff that has to be worked out, right? So here's what a bad lion does, right? Bad lion eats all this stuff, and he just eats and eats and eats and eats. And so here's that flesh. That flesh is willing to break all kinds of commandments because I'm greedy, right? But then notice the other one. This is interesting. But the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. Now, notice how trust is set against theft and robbery and admitting sin. Don't you find that interesting? How trusting in the Lord is contrasted with those other ones. Meaning that if I steal, I don't honor my father and mother. Then I lie about the sin and I'm greedy. That is opposite to faith and trust and relying upon the Lord to provide. Relying upon the Lord for my life, right? You see how those could be opposite of each other? But then what's interesting is it says this person will be enriched. Now, we gotta put on our hermeneutical Helmets here for a moment. And we gotta remember that Solomon is writing at a different time to different people, still under the Mosaic Law. And it is true that being under the Mosaic Law, if you trusted the Lord, guess what? To quote Mike Lamey, he's gonna bless the socks off ya, right? Which to me is not really a blessing for some people, but to other people I guess that's the blessing. You have no socks. Here's the thing, there's just going to be so much blessing that's going to come. You're going to be blessed beyond your wildest dreams, right? That's what's going to happen. You obey the law, you obey God, you stay faithful. Things are going to happen that are just going to demonstrate God's divine approval of this people. And the idea was in the Old Testament that all the other nations would then look and say, why is Israel so prosperous? Why? Why is this small little patch of land so prosperous? And why are these people so prosperous? And the point would then be that they would say, well, it's because of our relationship with the Lord. And then those people would say, well, we need to learn then about this Lord. But Paul also talks about this too, doesn't he? He talks about how contentment is means for great godliness. Contentment, yeah, it's also for great godliness, but it's also for great riches, right? You can become very rich by being content, and the question is why? You ready? It's nothing magic. You're not going out and spending money on stuff you don't need, because you're content. So guess what happens when you keep your money because you're content? You keep your money. Guess what happens when you use your money in a way that honors the Lord? You're using it in a way as a good steward and you're not just getting rich, you're having this full life from using your money and your wealth and your time and your resources in a way that's pleasing to the Lord and this life is full of richness and depth, right? That's what happens, right? Do not think of enrichment here as just simply the fact that we'll get rich. I don't care how much money we have. What I'm concerned about is that we're living for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't care how much money you have in the bank. You could have zero to three million. But if you are not trusting in the Lord and not content in Him, your life is not enriched. I think it's important for us as parents to remember this when we're talking to our kids and grandparents when you're talking to your grandkids. You should not care what they become when they get older as long as they live for the Lord. If my kids have a menial job in Astoria making minimum wage, but they love the Lord, I would not be any happier, right? That would be the happiest thing. They're living for the Lord. Who cares? Who cares what they have? Who cares what car they drive? Who cares what house they have? Who cares what kind of clothes they wear? They know the Lord and they're walking with the Lord. That's the more important thing. By the way, to my children who are listening, that does not mean that they can skimp on their homework, because I go, I don't care what you're going to be when you grow up. I still want you to do your homework well, because you know kids. They're going to say, well, Dad, I thought you didn't care if we did try our best. No, that's not what I'm saying. All right, let's go to the next whosoever, right, the next whoever. Notice this in the next verse 26, whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool. So notice, once again, the arrogance, right, arrogance. Arrogance is contrasted with faith. And so you have this interesting parallelism of the center crescendo, as it were, is those who trust in the Lord will be enriched. And notice how it's contrasted with how you act with money and with wealth and whether you're willing to rob. And then notice that it's contrasted with trusting your own mind. Oh, man. It's sad that this happens on a daily basis for all of us. We trust ourselves more than we trust Jesus. We trust ourselves more than we trust the book, right? We do that proverbial, hear God, hold my mountain due while I do this. And I would hope that as believers we feel really ashamed when we're arrogant and we act pridefully and we go and we repent of those sins. And I trust that you do. But isn't it sad when you start talking to other believers and there is There's nothing inside of him that says, well, maybe I shouldn't trust myself. It's almost as if they put themselves on par with God's word and their own ideas become as equal with God's word. And this is very foolish. Arrogance is very foolish. Now notice what it says, it says, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. The idea is if you're only consulting yourself, you're going to fail, but when you're consulting God, walking in his wisdom, walking by the power of the spirit, you'll have success. So notice, whoever, verse 23, how the lion roars, right? You can either roar like a lion, Good lion or a bad lion? Notice the next one, verse 24. How you get stuff, right? The consumption, right? How you get funds. Are you trusting in your own sinfulness or are you trusting in the Lord, right? A good lion does that. A bad lion trusts in himself. Now notice this next one. If you're arrogant, you're a bad lion. That's the flesh. But if you're walking in wisdom, God's wisdom by the power of the spirit, that's a good one. Now notice verse 27, whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. So once again, here you have this idea that it is better to be generous. Why? Because it's not yours, right? The Lord has given you what you have to be used for his honor and his glory. If you fail to realize that, that's bad. And so the giving of the poor just isn't this strange view of just giving everybody I see who doesn't have as much as I do everything that I own. This is looking at a situation with discernment and saying, okay, if somebody is needy, I'm going to help them in need that's appropriate to their situation. Sometimes it is possible for someone to give something to the poor that's not helpful to the poor. Sometimes what a poor person needs is a ride more than money, right? So we gotta look at this with wisdom. We can't just throw money at things. We can't just say, well this is what I would need in this situation. No, you gotta look at that situation and it's looking at someone's situation and empathizing and looking at it through the lens of God's word demonstrating discernment. That's what this is a call to. But if you do the opposite of that, it just hides your eyes and just go, I don't care. I don't care, it's all about me. All about my stuff, I'm gonna keep my stuff. Oh, that's a bad lion, right? It's a bad lion. Now, there's something else that will happen. So what happens if we act like a bad lion? Notice the next verse. It says, when the wicked rise, people hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase. Now, I know that many of us would love to talk about the political implications of wicked rulers and go, of course, when there's a whole bunch of wicked rulers, everybody goes and runs and hides, and I guarantee you, everyone in this room, you would say the wicked ruler is the one that I didn't vote for, right? That's the wicked one. It is true that when the wicked have power, oh, that's bad for everybody underneath them. And it is true that when they're gone, righteousness flourishes again. Righteousness outlives them. I don't think this means that the righteous people flourish. I think this means that there's people that want to do righteous things, and now that the wicked ruler's out of the way, now that righteousness that they do increases. Now, for us as believers, and I think of this, I think about inside of a church. What happens when you have a whole bunch of bad lions in one church? What increases wickedness? What do you think happens to other people that come into a church full of bad lions? You think they wanna stay and invest their life? Of course not. Everyone is out to get them and eat them and use them and spit out their bones, right? So guess what happens when there's a church full of bad lions? People separate themselves. What happens when that church is gone? Righteousness flourishes. And I had this thought, and I gotta say it, it's in my crawl. You're not gonna like this thought, but that's okay. Wouldn't it be sad if we were this person? That when we're in a room, we dampen righteousness? and people distance themselves from us? And when we leave the room, then righteousness flourishes? Oh, that would be the worst, right? That would be the worst thing. What does this speak to? This speaks to when you act fleshly. Oh, everyone around you suffers. People flee, people run, people go the other way, you hurt people, you leave a pile of bodies behind you. You don't love people, you love yourself. You don't love God, you love yourself. And in the midst of that, you hurt everyone around you, and everyone runs, scared, like we do towards a scary line. And when we leave, guess what happens? They are able to worship. That is not good. I pray that that's not our testimony and I pray that that's not us. But let's be honest, there's a possibility for us to be greedy. There's a possibility for any one of us to turn into a really bad mangy old big cat, right? And there's a possibility for any one of us to ruin and soil our testimony through a couple actions. and we'll never be able to repair that. We'll never be able to go back to where we were. So my advice is don't turn into a bad lion. Don't walk by the flesh, but know who you are in Christ. Claim that and walk by the power of the spirit. In the turn of the century, the 1900s, there was a railroad being built in Kenya over the river Savo. You might have heard of Savo. What happened was the English were building this railroad bridge, and they brought in a whole bunch of people to build this bridge, and two lions came and killed from anywhere. We don't know exactly the number of how many people, but they killed over at least 35 confirmed. There might be as much as even 100 people that it killed. They called in professional hunters to come in and take care of this lion, right? Like these lions would go and they would go to the hospital and attack people in hospitals. They actually made a movie about it called Ghosts in the Darkness. The book is a lot better. But anyways, you can read Colonel Patterson's diaries of him trying to bushwhack this lion. And there's lots of different things. He eventually kills them. you can actually go to, I forget which museum it is, I think it's in Washington, D.C., you can actually see these lions. And there was lots of theories of why these lions did what they did, we don't really know. Some people said it was because they had some, when they looked at the skulls, there were some dental problems, and so it couldn't necessarily bite into the prey that it normally eats. Some people said, well, what ended up happening was they, One of them just did something that was unnatural. They killed a human, and then they all ate it, and then they got taste of a human, and they said, oh, well, this is good. Some of them said, well, it has to do with the environment. There wasn't a lot of water. The prey had left, but here's 200 people that are sleeping in the middle of the night, and they don't run away when we attack them. We need to be careful because When we walk by the flesh, we too can be tempted and exploited by our weaknesses, right? We might have some bad teeth. We could be exploited there. We need to be careful because we can look at the behaviors of others and go, well, it looks like they're getting away with it, so I can get away with it too. Or it's possible that we just have such a bad diet spiritually. Right, we're not in God's word, we're not praying, we're not availing ourself to the fellowship here, we're not walking by the power of the spirit. And guess what happens when you don't do that? You turn into a bad lion. So it's my hope that as you listen to this, that you go, I wanna be like Jesus. And I wanna walk by the power of the spirit, I wanna spend time in the word, I wanna pray, I wanna be one of those good lions that they make documentaries about, right? That people go, look at such a good lion. Let's not be like those man-eaters of salvo that leaves a body of lines and piles of bodies behind us. So, may the Lord give us both the will and the ability to all that we heard today. Let's go ahead and let's pray. Father, we just thank you for today. We thank you for your love, your mercy, and your grace that you've lavished upon us in your Son, Jesus Christ. We just ask that as we Go downstairs, and as we fellowship with one another, that we would encourage one another to live for your son, Jesus, and that this would be a good time of us encouraging one another, learning how we can pray for one another, and just having a good time. I just thank you for everyone that's here, and just ask that the rest of the day would be one that we honor and glorify you. We thank you and love you. In your son's name, amen.