I do thank the Reverend William McRae for those kind words of welcome, even though he insulted me a little earlier on, and now he's telling I'm too small for this microphone. There's another one here. I was asking the reason for that. Nobody knows what it's for, and neither do I, but it must be for something. It's a joy to be with you. I have to admire the wisdom of your minister, choosing a hymn, 230. A free Presbyterian church could never sing that hymn at the beginning of any service. Because so many people would be embarrassed, be in time, be in time. I remember going to Gospel Mission, and that was the first hymn they were singing. And we put our hand on the door to go in, and as we opened the door, they were singing that chorus, Be in Time. And the lady was so embarrassed, she closed the door and she wouldn't come in. And I've always thought to myself, it's always good to keep a hymn like that. to the very last of the service, but thankfully no one was coming in as we were singing that. It's a joy to be with you. I was to be here last evening, and I'd missed out on the Harvest Supper I heard. I was enquiring tonight, was there supper? He says, no, that was last night. And I was sorry I changed, but I had to. There's nothing else I could have done. We had our service on the radio this morning. I can tell you the blood pressure has only started to go down. this afternoon. I started a three-week gospel campaign in Ballygown, Free Presbyterian Church, this afternoon. And then coming here, I'm absolutely wrecked, and that's the truth. But we're looking to the Lord, and when we're weakest, I believe that's when we're strongest, because we're depending on the Lord. We're looking for help outside of ourselves, and I'm looking to God tonight to give help and power. in the ministry of his word. The Lord has given me a message for this meeting and convinced of the mind of the Lord and a message from God for you. It's found in the Old Testament, 2 Samuel, chapter 3. We're commencing to read at verse 28. It's a difficult passage to deal with for various reasons, not only because it's the history of the Old Testament, but perhaps God's people are not as familiar with their Bibles as they should be, and therefore it would be, I believe, appropriate to give an explanation in the context of our reading. 2 Samuel chapter 3, commencing to read at verse 28. Before we do that, let me give the context of the reading. After the death of King Saul, Abner, who was his commander-in-chief, took Saul's son Ish-bosheth. And Abner made Ish-bosheth Saul's son king in the room instead of his father. And the war between the house of Saul and the house of David was going on for many years. There was bitter rivalry between David and Saul. And Abner was commander-in-chief of Israel's army. On the other hand, David had a champion by the name of Joab, an individual who, as far as being a general in the army was concerned, if the United States of America had a man like Joab to the fore of their military campaign, they wouldn't be, as it were, pussyfooting around with the enemies that they have. Here was a man skilled in every strategy of war. He was David's right hand man. And on the other side, there was Abner. He was Saul's best man. And Joab and Abner hated one another. More so, because whenever Abner was out in battle, Asahel, Joab's brother, he was pursuing him. And Abner told him, Asahel, Turn around and take the armor from another man. Don't go after me or else I'll have to kill you. And then how will I face your brother?" But Asahel wouldn't listen. And so he chased after Abner. And Abner, with the hinder part of his spear, he slew Asahel. He fell to the ground. And Joab swore vengeance. He said within his heart, No matter what happens between the house of Saul and the house of David, I swore vengeance upon Abner, the son of Nir. Things started to change because Abner, who had placed Ish-bosheth on the throne, was now insulted by him. Ish-bosheth accused him of sleeping or lying with one of his father's concubines. And Abner said, I have given my life for your father Saul. I have given my whole life over to the defense of Israel, keeping the kingdom out of the hand of David. And now you insult me? And he said before God, from this day I will now turn aside and I will bring all Israel with me. And we shall now fall into the hand of David. David is Israel's rightful king. And today, Abner will take Israel out of the hand of Isphosheth and bring it to the feet of King David. And Judah and Israel shall be one. Abner went to King David in Hebron and he said, And your sworn enemy, yes. But this day God will bring Israel to your feet. He will fulfill his word. And you shall be king over a united nation. David sent him away in peace. He arrived at the well of Sinai. And Joab returned from battle. And when he returned, it was told him that Abner had come. And in a fit of temper and rage, he barged into King David's throne room. And he said, more or less, David, you're a fool. Abner's not here to bring Israel to your feet. He's here as a traitor. He's a spy. Why have you let him go? Then secretly, without David knowing anything, Abner sent after, or Joab sent after Abner, brought him back again. And he said, I want to speak with you just outside the city gate. And there, as the revenger of blood, Joab slew Abner. David was infuriated. And in verse 28, we take up our reading in that context. And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever. From the blood of Abner the son of Ner, let it rest upon the head of Joab and on all his father's house. And let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread. So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. David said to Joab, And to all the people that were with him, range your clothes and gird you with sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bear. And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And all the people wept. And the king lamented over Abner and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth. Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters, as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. We'll end our reading at verse 34. And we know that the Lord will indeed bless this public reading from His own precious and infallible Word. The verses 33 and 34 will, you'll find my text tonight. Died Abner as a fool dieth. Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. With God's Word open before us, we'll take time to still our hearts in the presence of the Lord, and we'll ask help of God in the ministry of His Word. Let us all pray. Our gracious God and eternal loving Heavenly Father, We thank Thee for a sense of Thy presence with us already. We bless Thee, O God, for the singing of the harvest hymns. We thank Thee for this special ministry in song. And we pray Thou wouldst bless our sisters as they have ministered to our hearts. We thank Thee, O God, for the reading of Thy holy word. And as we come now to the preaching of the message, grant, O God, that this preacher may know what it is to be anointed to preach. Give to me, O God, that energy from on high, the infilling of Thy Spirit in wisdom and power. God grant that even in this house there will be an intensifying of the presence of Almighty God. Father, in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He said, If ye then, being evil, Know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? I ask thee now for the infilling of thy Spirit. And Father, in answer to prayer, Glorify Thy Son, because we ask these things in His precious and worthy name. Amen. A great lamentation was made for Abner, the son of Mir. David himself, the king, joined in the congregation that day. And there was weeping and mourning for this great man and prince who had fallen in Israel. Amidst the bitter cries there comes forth from the heart of King David this heartbreaking lamentation. Died Abner as a fool dieth, thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. Can it be true that Abner, with all his mental prowess, with all his skill in battle, has now died as a fool does? His hands were free. His feet were not fettered. He was not an individual who was dragged to his death. He went there of his own accord. He was not bound. Therefore, the death of Abner is the death of a fool. And I want to say this evening that the death of this great man, Abner, is not unlike the death of a sinner who dies without Christ. And I want us to consider solemnly why Abner's death was the death of a fool. Firstly, he died as a fool because Abner was deceived by a well-known enemy. King David lamented, and no doubt he marveled at the fact that Abner had been slain by his arch rival. He had been slain and deceived by a well-known enemy. David lamented, Because this man, for all his greatness, was so gullible to be taken in by this enemy of his. Had not Abner been schooled at the very feet of King Saul, he would have known the art of political speaking. We have to be careful, for we have a politician behind us. But the art of political speaking is this, to conceal your thoughts. to say one thing with the mouth and in your heart mean a totally different thing. Yet Abner was deceived. He fell for a bait that even a fool would have seen through. Joab hadn't changed. His heart was filled with vengeance because of the death of his brother Asahel. He may have given the impression all is well, Things are all right, but it was only a cover for the murderous, evil intent of his heart. And Abner was blind to the deception of his sworn enemy. And sinner, the enemy of the soul is Satan himself. He has murderous intent within his heart. The Bible says he is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He is the great deceiver. And he cannot hide his real intention. For the Bible reveals what it is to take as many souls to hell as he possibly can. He is your enemy. He has one aim in your life, sinner, and that is the damnation of your soul. And you cannot trust him. He never changes. His aim is the same. He wants to destroy your life and at the end of it, let your soul perish in a lost sinner's hell. And perhaps He's deceived you already. Perhaps you've fallen prey to the deception of the devil. Oh, He comes along and He says, Sinner, all things are well. You have nothing to worry about. There's no such thing as hell, you know. There's no judgment. Don't listen to the fire and brimstone preacher. Don't listen to those individuals. They're only ranting and raving. Listen to me! There's no hell. There's no judgment. There's no day of reckoning. No season of accounting before God. God is love, you know. And he will never punish a sinner in hell. Did I not say he's a liar? God is love. We don't dispute that. But the doctrine of hell is not founded on the love of God. It's founded on the justice of God. God is love. And he saves sinners. But God is just. And he punishes sin. And so the devil has you deceived when the Bible says, after death, the judgment, the Bible says the wicked shall be turned into hell and you've been deceived by a well-known enemy. Always, perhaps he said to you, well, sinner, you know, you need to get saved. Listen, he deceived me because I knew I needed to be saved. I knew there was a heaven, there was a hell. And I knew God's way of salvation. So what did the devil do? He simply says, don't get saved now. Wait. You have plenty of time. And already the devil has been working. And you have been deceived by a well-known enemy. How many sinners, listen to me, how many sinners tonight are in hell because the devil said, You have plenty of time. Don't worry about it. One day you'll get saved. One man said to me, when I'm on my deathbed, I shall call upon the name of the Lord. And we don't doubt that a man or a woman or a young person can get saved on their deathbed. The thief on the cross is the prime example. One example, not many, so that you might be warned when you're on your deathbed. You're not thinking about death. You're thinking about how you are going to stay alive. Talk to people who've been nearly on their deathbeds, thinking, yes, of death only for a moment, but fighting for life, not looking for death. And a deathbed conversion may never come. Don't be a fool. Don't be deceived by the devil. Oh, he says to you, don't listen to what those people preach. Why? Because you live a good life. You do nobody any harm. And he is you convinced that you're not a big sinner as they're making out to be. You're not just one of those sinners that the Bible describes here. No, you're not a down and out. You're not a drug addict. You're not a murderer. You have never committed adultery. You have never stolen. You don't tell lies. You come to church. You're a good person. And the devil has you deceived into believing that you're good enough for heaven. But what a fool you are. Listen to what the Word of God said, speaking of heaven itself. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it. But they which are written in the Lamb's book of life, there are many things the devil will tell you, sinner. There are many ways he will try and seek to destroy you and to deceive you. Abner was a fool, and he died as a fool. Why? Because he was deceived by a well-known enemy. And how many are languishing in hell because the devil has deceived them. But let me say secondly, Abner was a fool and he died as a fool because he died within reach of safety. If you look with me there at the verse 27, for instance, in the chapter 3. And when Abner was returned, look at the word, to Hebron. Hebron. was one of those cities of refuge. And I say to you that in the Old Testament, God appointed six cities to be cities of refuge. If you had slain a man in self-defense or accidentally, then as Abner did with Asahel in self-defense, then he could have fled. to a city of refuge. And so long as he remained inside those city walls, he could not be touched. No one would violate the sanctity of a city of refuge. And he's a fool. I would lament for this man. Why? Because there he was in Hebron. And Joab was subtle. He was crafty. He says, Abner, I want a word with you. But he was crafty enough to take him one inch outside the city wall. There was no protection there. The sanctity of the city meant nothing. Why? He was outside the city wall. And Joab, knowing now that he had Abner in the place where he wanted him to be, outside the city of refuge, one inch from safety. What a fool! Abner, do you not know that you're outside the city? Do you not know you're standing before your archenemy? Do you not know that soon you will be out in God's eternity? He died as a fool because he died within reach of safety. And sinner, listen to me. I am convinced, I am absolutely sure that if one sinner, God forbid, perishes from this congregation, you will die as a fool, because you are within reach of safety. Week after week, you have had the gospel preached unto you. You have been brought by God's faithful servants to the very threshold of heaven. You have been brought face to face with your need of Christ. You have been shown God's remedy for sin at the cross. God's way of salvation through the blood. You have been brought right to the door of heaven only to turn away. And if you die like that, then you die as a fool. Sabbath evening. After Sabbath evening, harvest weekend, after harvest weekend, God's servants have sought to bring you to the cross, to show you that Christ died for sinners and you are a sinner. You have been brought face to face with Christ. He died for sinners. He shed His blood to redeem us from the curse of the law. He rose again from the dead. He's alive forevermore. And He's able and willing to save. But you failed to take Christ as your Savior. You have been brought to that fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. But you failed to plunge beneath that flood and lose all your guilty stains. deliberately and repeatedly you have been shown that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But you stubbornly, unwillingly refuse to come to Christ and be saved. If you die like that, then you will die like Abner, as a fool dying. within reach of safety. Why? Why will you die when you can be saved? Why will you perish when you can be delivered from sin, from death and from hell? I ask you the question, why are you not saved when in this house you have been brought so near to the Lord? I urge you, I plead with you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, seek the Lord. Come to Him. Receive Him. Trust Him now. Repent and believe the gospel. My friend, if you die now without Christ, you die like Abner, as a fool dying, within reach of heaven's door, on the threshold of the kingdom of God, one step from heaven, one step to hell, perished within reach of safety. Abner died as a fool dieth because he was deceived by a well-known enemy. And secondly, because he died within the reach of safety. But there's one final thought, and it's this. He died as a fool dieth because he was responsible for his own death. It says, Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. He was not a man who was chained. He was not bound hand and foot and dragged screaming to his death. He died as a fool. Dieth why? For he walked into the trap. and he was responsible for his own death. David had the wisdom in mourning to say, here's the reason why I lament over my enemy. He died and he was responsible for his own death. He simply stood still. Stood passively by and he allowed Joab to kill him. What a fool. to have such liberty to prevent his own death, yet stand still and let his enemy slay him. And sinner friend, are you not doing the same? Your hands are not tied. Spiritually speaking, your feet are not bound. The Bible makes it very clear that the devil is dragging your soul to hell. And you are doing absolutely nothing about it. If you have any concern for your soul, it's all of God. You may say, well, I want this conviction to deepen. Don't be a fool. If you have any concern at all for your soul, you should act upon it. If you say, preacher, I am concerned, then act upon it. You say, preacher, I am troubled. I know I'm a sinner. I know I need to get saved. Then act upon it. Do something about it. If you perish in hell tonight, then you're responsible for your own death. Don't blame Christians. How many sinners are blaming Christians? I'm not saved because of such and such. I'm not saved because of the way they're living and the things they're doing. You'll still be responsible before God. for your own death. There's only one thing you possess, and that is your soul. And that soul must be fitted for God's eternity. It must be saved. Its sin must be forgiven. And the soul must be cleansed in the precious blood of the Lamb. And I'm going to say something to you. You are not bound by ignorance. You cannot say, Preacher, I was dragged down into hell by the devil because of ignorance. I didn't know. You know the gospel. You know there's a heaven. You know there's a hell. You've heard the gospel. These things have not been hid from you. They have not been done in a corner, as Paul said to Agrippa. No, they've been out in the open. We have sought to bring you even tonight to the gospel and to the cross and show you the way of salvation. You're not fettered by lack of privileges. You possess a Bible. You have a preacher. You have praying people. Perhaps a godly witness, an example in the home, in the schoolroom, in the university campus, in the office, in the workplace. You're armed with the truth. You know why? You should be saved. You're furnished with the gospel. You know how you can be saved. Why die as a fool dying when you're not bound or fettered? Why perish when Christ has died to save sinners? There is nothing to hinder you but your own unwillingness to come to Christ. There is nothing to thwart you tonight from getting saved but your own stubbornness and sin. But if you perish, God forbid, then you will be responsible for your own death. You're to blame for your soul's damnation. Don't be a fool sinner. Don't allow the devil to deceive you. Don't die within reach of safety. Don't be responsible for your own soul's destruction. But will you come to Christ? Will you receive Him tonight? Will you look by faith to Calvary's middle cross? Will you see that bleeding sacrifice and know for sure that you have peace with God? Will you look to Him and live? Don't die like Abner, a fool. deceived, within reach of safety, but come to Christ, look to Him, and ye shall live. May God bless His Word to all of our hearts.