Thank you for joining us in the
book of Judges chapter nine, Judges chapter nine. As we go
through the book of Judges, we've noticed how blessed the Lord
is in his long-sufferingness. He's been long-suffering to Israel,
and he has done that through Judges. And in this chapter,
chapter nine, we're not introduced to a judge. We're introduced
to the son of a judge. and that is Gideon's son. He
also had 70 other sons, quite a family. And this section,
and we're not gonna go through it all tonight, but we'd like
to bring out just a few thoughts here about Abimelech. Now, if
you'll back up there to chapter eight, just the last three verses
of the chapter eight, we have this mentioned about Abimelech. It tells us there in Judges 8,
verse 30, Judges 8, verse 30, and Gideon had three score and
10 sons of his body, not adopted, begotten, of his body begotten,
for he had many wives, and his concubine that was in Shechem,
she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. All right, let's go to the next
chapter here. And we find out some things about
Abimelech. And we're going to find out in
this section of scripture that just because Gideon is a believer,
just because Gideon has been saved by the grace of God, just
because Gideon had put away the idols of Baal, just because he
had been used by God mightily to defeat the army that had invaded
Israel, it doesn't mean that he passed on any genes that would
cause his children to be saved. Now, in discussing that from
time to time, that would be very convenient. But it's not true. And we have that proved here
as we follow Abimelech after Gideon has passed away. So here
in the book of Judges chapter nine, Judges chapter nine, beginning
with verse one, and Abimelech, the son of Zerubbabel, went to
Shechem. unto his mother's brethren, and
communed with them, and with all the family of the house of
his mother's father, saying, Speak, I pray you, in the ears
of all men of Shechem. Now it's interesting that Shechem
is between two mountains there in Israel, Mount Gerizim and
Mount Ebal. It's in the valley between the
two. And if we backed up to the book of Numbers, we would find
out that it was from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal that Moses divided
the children of Israel, put half on one mountain and half on the
other mountain, and on the one mountain he gave great blessings,
and on the other mountain he gave great curses if Israel did
not follow his word." So here in the middle between is this
place called Shechem, and we don't have it mentioned by this
name in the New Testament, and I found it one time and I can't
remember, but it was about 34 miles north of Jerusalem. So
it was a place that probably was yet in the times of the Lord
Jesus. So we have this going on, and
it tells us here that this Zerubbabel, excuse me, Abimelech. Now Abimelech,
his mother did not have the rights of a wife. Even though Gideon
was married to a number of women, every one of those women had
the rights of a wife. But this was a concubine. And,
you know, I can't understand a man having all those wives
and needing a concubine, but in the providence of God. Now,
I will say this again. Only God can bring something
good out of bad. When we try to accomplish that,
we are going to be a failure and we're going to be upside
down with God. But only God can take sin and turn it into a blessing. And we find that as David himself,
as he sinned against God and had a child by Bathsheba and
later had another child by Bathsheba and his name is Solomon. And
Solomon reigns for, I believe, 40 years. So we just don't know
how God is going to do that. And then we find out that he
is a direct ancestor to the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus,
there in the book of Matthew and in the book of Luke. All
right, as we look at this, speak, I pray you, in the ears of all
men of Shechem, whether is better for you Not a question about what's best
for God or what's best for the nation, but what's best for you.
Either that all the sons of Zerubbabel, which are three score and 10
persons reign over you or that one reign over you. Remember
also that I am your bone and your flesh. This is where his
mother was raised. This is, no doubt, he had relatives
there in this place. And he brings up this point,
is it better for 70 sons to rule over you, or is it better for
one to rule over you? And he's going like this all
the time. I'm it, I'm it. And his mother's brethren spake
of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem, all these words,
and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said,
he is our brother. And they gave him three score
and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-baroth,
wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed
him." Now, again, we just notice here what kind of people this
man picked up to be his friends. They're not godly men. They're
not honorable men. In fact, it tells us, and he
went unto his father's house in Orpah and slew all his brethren,
the sons of Zerubbabel, which is another name for Gideon, being
three score and 10 persons upon one stone. Now I read one place
that they stack these suns up on the stone as cordwood. I mean,
they killed them all. And they exercised the viewing
of it as this is pretty permanent. So goes on and upon one stone,
notwithstanding at Jotham, the youngest son of Zerubbabel was
left for he hid himself. A miracle of grace that one son
escaped all of this slaughter by men hired by Gideon's son
to kill him. And then in verse six, it says,
and all the men of Shechem gathered together in all the house of
Milo and went and made a Bimelech king by the plane of the pillar
that was in Shechem. Now, if we remember our study
last week, that was one thing that Gideon did not want. He
did not want to be king, and he did not want his sons to inherit
the kingdom. But here is a man that we find
wanted notoriety. He was the son of Gideon, and
Gideon was an honorable man in the sense that God had revealed
Christ to him. He was able, by the grace of
God, to put away the idols of Baal. In fact, to destroy the
idols of Baal. In fact, to destroy the idols
of Baal that belonged to his own dad. He was instructed to
do that, and he followed through with it. He's an honorable man
because when it came time for God to prune down the number
of soldiers that would be in the battle. He did not complain
about it. We find no word. He just simply
had faith in God that this would happen. And we read over there
in the book of Hebrews that by faith, he followed God. So he was a faithful man. He
had faith granted to him by God Almighty. And here he is, an
honorable man, a believer in Christ Jesus, though a sinner.
And he'd be the first to admit that. But he was a believer in
God Almighty, a believer in Christ. He had faith granted to him.
He was able to do a great deal as God granted him. And we also
find out the Lord told Gideon that it's not you, but it is
me that will grant you the victory. And you know, it takes grace
for someone else to be given the honor of doing a victory
when you're sweating hard. So he just trusted the Lord in
that whole matter, and the Lord overthrew all the enemy and put
them out, and his 300 men went with him, and 300 men ended the
battle with him, and they lost not one. Well, we find here that
Gideon, he knew the gospel, but his son does not. Gideon had
faith, but his son does not. And what about the other 70?
It doesn't give us much insight about them, but we do hear of
the heart of this man, the heart of this son of a concubine, the
heart of this man that wanted the kingship, and he is given
the kingship. Now, there are several verses
I'd like to go to that this reminds me of, and one of them in the
book of 2 Samuel. Would you turn with me to the
book of 2 Samuel? we find David had a son by the name of Absalom. And the Bible tells us that he
was the fairest man ever to look eyes on. He was handsome, he
had lots of hair, and he just carried himself. So over here
in the book of 2 Samuel 15, if you join me there in 2 Samuel
15, we're brought to a point and David, is told that he is
a man after God's own heart. I am very convinced at this point
that I'm going to be bringing a message at 13th Street on Uriah. I've never heard a message about
Uriah. I've heard a lot about what David did in that chapter
of the book of 2 Samuel, but I want to bring a message on
Uriah. Uriah is the only innocent man in that whole chapter. He
is an innocent man, and he's the one that dies. Well, I think
he's a picture of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. As we follow
him, we see that as he approached the battle, everybody left him.
And that's certainly what happened to our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Well, as we look here, David has several sons, and in 2 Samuel
chapter 15, and verse four, it says, Absalom
said, moreover, oh, that I were made the judge in the land. Now
he is currying his own position. He is trying to encourage people
to like him. Now we're going to find out that
just because he's the son of David does not mean that he has
one wit, different position before God than the worst sinner, the
thief on the cross. There is no indication whatever. In fact, when Absalom dies, this
is the only time I find David wailing about it. Absalom, Absalom. He was brokenhearted that Absalom
died before the Lord saved him. Now, the Lord never intended
to save him, or he would have saved him, but he is caught in
a tree by his hair, and another man comes along and kills him.
Breaks David's heart. He knows where Absalom is. There is no question in his mind.
He is brokenhearted over this. He says here in the book of 2
Samuel chapter 15 verse 4, Abednon said, moreover, oh, that I were
the judge in the land that every man which has any suit or cause
might come unto me, and I would do him justice." Isn't that almost
what Abimelech did when he comes back to Shechem and starts talking
to his family? He says, wouldn't you rather
have me than those? I mean, that's seven. That's
too big a committee. And it's just too many in the
committee. And so he gets there, he gets them all killed. And
we follow out here with Absalom, 2 Samuel 15, verse 5. And it was so that when any man
came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took
him and kissed him. And on this matter did Absalom
to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel. What a statement that
is made here about Absalom. He's the son of the king. You
know, it's not gonna be very long. The king leaves Jerusalem.
Spares his life by leaving Jerusalem with his family. Absalom has raised up this great
idea that he should be king. And on this matter did Absalom
to all Israel, they came to the king for judgment. So Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And it came to pass after
40 years that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me
go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron.
Now there's no question in my mind that Absalom is a very religious
person, or at least he can sell that. He's very religious in
the sense that he is appealing to the king, David, his father,
that he go pay his vow and serve the Lord. And the king said unto
him, go in peace. So he arose and went to Hebron.
Now it informs us here that David had no idea in this world what
was in the heart of his son. Now, the only comparison that
we can have is remembering what we are. That's the only way we
can see what our children, our grandchildren, or we were to
our grandparents, is to realize what we are by nature, sinners
by nature. And David understood that. In
the 51st chapter of the book, or the 51st Psalm, he brings
that out, that he is a sinner, and against thee and thee only
have I sinned. But he did not see that kind
of reality in his own son. He did not see what was going
on. He's going to be usurping authority over David. So Absalom
sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel saying, as soon
as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom
reigneth in Hebron. So he is usurping authority over
King David. David has been anointed by God.
David has been raised up by God. David was made king long before
he ever got to sit on his throne. David had been anointed king
when he was a shepherd boy. He was anointed king before he
killed Goliath. He's been anointed king and he
waited and waited until Saul was taken out of the place and
then he is brought to the throne. And it's going to be some time
before he rules over the United Kingdom. He's going to be ruling
over part of it for a time, but he's going to rule over the rest
of it. So we have Absalom raising up against his own dad, raising
up against being a thorn in the flesh to Israel, and counting
it his privilege to take away from the glory of King David.
But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel saying,
as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, verse 10, then
you shall know, say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. And with
Absalom went 200 men out of Jerusalem that were called, and they went
in their simplicity, and they knew not anything. And Absalom
sent for Athiphael, the Gileadite, David's counselor for his city,
even the Tagola, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy
was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. how we see there's such a similarity
between Abimelech and Absalom, that Abimelech had no thought
about God's purpose. He had no thought about God.
He had no thought. He was just a sinner. God had
never arrested a sinner that God had never dealt with. His
father, we could go right there and say, God worked a work of
grace and that man changed him, upside down him. and brought
him to a position that he loved God and was willing to serve
him by faith that God had given him. Well, Absalom is dealing
in much the same way because the king is King David, his father. Now, Absalom is going to kill
a bunch of his brothers, too. Half-brothers, brothers, because
he does not want anybody to contend with him about this position.
Well, Solomon escapes. just like we have one son of
Gideon escapes that great treachery that came. And as we see this, it just reminds
us of the conspiracy that's in the hearts of people that have
not the gospel. It is so important that they
rise to a position, that they get a place, they get something,
and it's notorious or something that people will look to. And
we just see that all around us, that people are looking for something. What was it that the Pharisee
was looking for? What was it that they were looking
for when They went to pray on the street corners. They had
people announce, hey folks, we got a man praying right over
here, so you need to be quiet. Well, God said he's not pleased
with that. What was it that the Pharisee
did when he went down to the temple to pray? Lord, I thank
Thee that I'm not like other men. I thank Thee that I'm not
like this man. So we almost can see that in
Abimelech and we can see that in Absalom. I thank God I'm better
than everybody else. And it doesn't matter how many
people I hurt. to get to the place that I'm
in. We can also follow that with Judas. Judas was a man that had
no compunction about serving God. He carried the bag. He was the treasure. He's the
one that made all of the accusations against the Lord. Well, let's
follow this theme out over in the book of Acts chapter four. Would you turn with me to the
book of Acts chapter four as we follow this through the scriptures.
Now we're just touching on this subject. that unless God grant
us grace, there is no end of what we are capable of doing. Now, even after we're saved,
there's no end. We're thankful for the restraining power of
God that he restrains us, but there's no end. But a person
that does not know anything about grace is going to say things
that are completely backwards and they're gonna do things that
are completely against God. And here in the book of Acts
chapter four, We have this brought up and it's a passage of scripture
that shares with us what was going on. Now this is much what
we found in the second chapter of the book of Acts. In chapter
three, we're introduced to a lame man. And the lame man is healed
by Peter. And the rest of chapter three
and all of chapter four deals with that when Peter begins preaching
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's that whole message in
those two chapters. Well, here in the end, chapter
four, verse 32, we have these words left us as the Holy Spirit
gave it to Luke, the doctor, the physician. to write these
things. He said here in the book of Acts
chapter five, excuse me, Acts chapter four, verse 32, and the
multitude of them that believed were of one heart, almost identical
to what we read in Acts chapter two. When the work and miracle
of grace comes, it is certainly evidenced, and here it is, the
evidence, they believed were of one heart and one soul, neither
said any of them the ought of the things which they possessed,
how different this is from Abimelech and from Absalom. And for every
child, of every one born in this world that God does not deal
with, this is their whole heart. And they neither, here we have
it, they had no ought to things which they possessed, what a
change, what difference they have. And it says, it was his
own, but they had all things common and with great power gave
the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord. O Lord Jesus, and
great grace was upon them all, neither was there any among them
that lacked, for as many as were the possessors of lands or houses
sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by
the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the
son of consolation, a Levite of the country of Cyprus. Now
there's more mentioned about Barnabas in this one verse of
scripture than we find in any other place in the New Testament.
He is a, a son of consolation, he's a Levite, he's from Cyprus,
the island of Cyprus, having land sold it, brought the money,
and laid at the apostles' feet. Now these verses set the tone
for the next verses of chapter 5. So we're going to go to chapter
5. This is how God's people acted towards each other. This is how
Barnabas acted towards God's people. They were not selfish. They did not have any position.
They didn't want to rise above their position. Jesus Christ
was the King. Jesus Christ was the Lord. Jesus
Christ was the important. This is the one that they had
trusted. This is the one that they had believed in. This is
the one that had moved them. This is the one that had resurrected
from the dead. And so they had no idea in this
world to elevate themselves above anyone else. They believed that
the ground is flat at the cross, that everyone comes exactly the
same way, and those who come with a high mind are demoted,
and those who come with low minds are elevated. So here it is,
everybody is equal at the cross. And here it is exemplified here
in this passage of scripture. All right, join me if you would
in the next chapter. And here we have someone just
like Absalom, someone just like Abimelech. And his name, this
person's name is Ananias, and Sapphire, his wife, sold a possession. Now we think that's great. Well,
we follow this through and we find out they are liars. What is that? Liar in the fat
mouth? They tell the apostles, and Peter's
going to bring this up. It was yours. It was yours. You don't have to lie about it. All you have to say is, you know,
we sold it for this much and we want to give this much. Well,
they said they sold it for so much and gave it all. They have
that same attitude that Abimelech and Absalom have. that they are
elevated above everyone else, and they know not the gospel. There's not a thought in their
head about honoring Christ, about honoring God. In fact, they're
dishonoring God, just like Abimelech and just like Absalom did. And
we're going to find that throughout the scriptures, that there are
people that elevate themselves above their station and think
that they are better off in a lie than they could be in Christ
Jesus. All right, and kept back part
of the price. His wife also being privy to
it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet.
You know what the Lord says about giving? The Lord loveth a cheerful
giver. He never said a percentage. He
said, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver. Now, if we go back to
chapter four, we kind of find out what those folks are like.
Barnabas is an example of that. He sold what he had and distributed.
Now we mentioned the other day, Sunday, that those people that
the Lord saved lost everything. They were no longer welcomed
in their communities. They were no longer welcomed
on their job. They were no longer welcomed by their families. They
were ostracized because they had gone after another religion.
in those parents' minds, but in the minds of these believers,
this is the life, this is the hope, this is peace right here
in the resurrected Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they
kept back part of the price, and his wife was privy to it,
and they're gonna say, this is all of it. And Peter brings out,
as I said before, it was yours. It was yours. You could have
done anything you wanted to with it. But he brings out, you lied
to the Holy Spirit. Now God's people are not gonna
do that. They are prevented from doing that. We cannot, God's
people cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that indwells
us. We have the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. And that is going to prevent
us from doing a lie about the Holy Spirit. Now it goes on to
tell us, but Peter said unto Ananias, verse two, let's finish that,
also was privy, his wife was privy to it, and brought a certain
part and laid it at the apostles' feet. And Peter said unto Ananias,
why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Now
I've had this question most of my life, my Christian life, how
did Peter know that? I don't think, Ananias put it
on his forehead and bring a note saying, we sold it for 5,000
and I'm gonna bring 2,500 and I'm gonna tell you that's all
we got out of it. Peter knew something that was going on here
in almost a revelation, a revelation of what was going on. And we
find that this Ananias and his wife Sapphira are so much like
a Bemelech and so much like Absalom. They want the notoriety, but
they don't want the Christ. They want the elevated position,
but they don't want Christ. They saw Barnabas and the rest
of those folks and what they did and how pleasant they were
and how it affected them to serve the living God. And they're saying,
we'd like to have some of that too. And so they brought this
up and Peter said, you've lied in your heart. Satan has filled
that heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of
the price of the land. Whilst it remained, was it not
thine own? You know, I am convinced that
Absalom would have been given a great deal by his dad. David, king of Israel, if he'd
have just settled down. And I think the same would have
been true about Abimelech. He was an inheritor. Seventy
sons were inheritors. They were the children of Gideon. Don't think for a moment that
he didn't have some possessions. I know he had a whole pile of
gold. He made an ephod out of it. Turned into be a snare, but
they could have melted that down, parted it out. They'd had quite
an inheritance. Well, this guy apparently was
not interested in inheritance from God. He wanted to slap on
the back of the people in the church. I remember a very dear
friend of mine, some people that he pastored came to him and said,
we're leaving and you're going to miss our tithes. What nonsense? He says, we had more after they
left than we did before. We'd never missed their tithe.
Well, when someone tells me that they're going to tithe and that's
the reason they're doing it, they probably weren't tithing
anyway. God loveth a cheerful giver. All right. While it remained,
was it not thine own? And after it was in thy power,
why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast
not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell dead. Fell down, gave up the ghost,
and great fear came upon them that heard these things. Don't
you think that wouldn't happen today? I remember Rock Barnard
preaching. He told the church one time,
what this church needs is some funerals. And before the meeting was over,
there were seven funerals. Seven deacons died. They were
running the church and running it into the ground. All right,
it goes on, Ananias hearing these words fell down. Verse six, and
the young men arose and wound him up and carried him out and
buried him. And it was about the space of
three hours after when his wife, not knowing that was done, came
in. And Peter answered unto her and
tell me whether thou sold the land for so much. And she said,
yea. For so much, then Peter said unto her, How is it that
ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold,
the feet of them that have buried thy husband are at the door and
shall carry thee out. And she fell down straightway
at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young man came
in and found her dead and carried her forth, buried her by her
husband. So here is a couple. that are
doing exactly what we find Abimelech is doing, one in elevation, one
in position, at the expense of their own life. Well, it continues
on in the book of Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. We have Simon
the sorcerer, the magician. Acts chapter 8, verse 14. Acts chapter 8, verse 14. Thank
God, when he gives us the new creation, he takes this away
from us. It goes on to say, and when the
apostles were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the
word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Now, I can't
help but think that they were still just a little bit shaken
when Gentiles are saved. And I'm gonna send somebody over
there to find out about it. Well, that was in a sense a good
thing because now they're going to come back with word that the
Lord has been over there. Gospel has been preached. He
saved people. Who, when they came down, prayed for them that
they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was fallen upon
the none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Now, hopefully, by the time we
get to this passage, I'll be able to talk about that with
some intelligence. Because what I've read about
it, the guys have said stuff that I don't want to bring up.
It's nonsense. Then laid their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through
laying on the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he
offered them money. saying, give me also this power
that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Now, what he wants to do with that power is sell it. He is
a TV evangelist. I like that country western song. The Lord wants you to give- I'm
having trouble connecting to the internet. The Lord wants
you to send in your money, but send it to my address. All right, so we have here, saying, give me also that power.
And verse 20, but Peter said unto him, thy money perish with
thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased
with money. Apparently we find this is a
plague among humanity, that the gifts of God can be purchased
with money. The more I give, I remember someone
very dear to me saying, you can't out give the Lord because if
you give, you always get in return. Well, not necessarily. That's not the motive for giving.
The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. So it says here, Verse 21, thou
hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God. All right, let's look at one
other passage, and that's found in the book of Matthew chapter
25. Matthew chapter 25. During the Zoom meeting that
I had this afternoon, this passage of scripture came up, and it
was very interesting. There's one word. or one verse that shares
with us a great deal of meaning about this. And this is the parable
of the 10 virgins. I remember my granddad Cook sitting
on a concrete pillar in the church discussing this with someone
else, the 10 virgins. I'm less than nine years old
and they are pretending to know something about it. Well, you
can't pretend to know anything about this if you don't know
the gospel. That is criteria, number one criteria. They didn't
know the gospel. So they're discussing this. And
we have here, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto 10 virgins,
which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Now, five of these were wise and five of them were foolish.
And when it came around time that the bridegroom was come,
we have those who thought they were okay, didn't have any oil. It's an indication that they
did not know the gospel. And the part that struck me is
in verse 12. The bridegroom has invited five
to come in. The others are not there. And
in verse 12, we have this. I know you not. Verse 12, last four words. I
know you not. You know, that's in many respects
what Abimelech is going to hear. I know you not. This is what Absalom is going
to hear. I know you not. And Ananias and
Sapphira, I know you not. And Simon the sorcerer, I know
you not. It doesn't matter how religious
we are or what kind of pretense we put on, I know you not. So as we follow this in this
chapter, chapter nine of the book of Judges, we're going to
find out that that one son that escaped is going to have a prophecy. Things are not going to turn
out for Abimelech. And when this chapter is over,
we have four different judges in very short order. During this
chapter, we don't have a judge. We have the son of a judge who
thinks he's a somebody and ends up hearing in the end, I know
you not. Doesn't matter who we're related
to. Doesn't matter who our ancestors are. Doesn't matter who our children
are. This did not touch him. He was so far out because of
his nature. And we could say, well, Gideon
passed that onto him. Absolutely. Passed that sinful
nature right onto him, just as we find in Adam all sinned. And
the father is the one that brings that into the family. He did
that and there's not one thing about Abimelech that resembles
Gideon after the Lord saved him. Not one thing. He wants the exaltation. He wants to be exalted. He wants
to put his brothers all to death because they might raise up.
He's jealous and all the other things that we can find just
that indicate what it is to be a lost man before a holy God.
And then we look at Absalom, same condition. We look at Ananias
and Sapphira, same condition. We look at Simon the sorcerer,
same condition. And then we look at that whole
host of people that were saved in the fourth chapter of the
book of Acts. And brethren, let's be together. I don't care, I've
sold this all, let's share it. What an attitude, what a heart
that God gives to his people about what it is to know grace. And we're not going to go looking
for oil, it's already given to us. And God's people are not
going to hear, I never knew you. All right, we'll stop there for
tonight, and we'll pick this chapter up. Probably the rest
of that chapter is going to be the next time we meet, because
there's a lot of historical material there, and we'll see how God's
providence works out.