["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
We'll meet one next time.
Whosoever meaneth me
All my hopes have been raised
So his name be praised
His glory has filled my soul
I've been lifted up
And from sin set free
His blood hath made me whole
Whosoever surely meaneth me
Surely meaneth me
Oh, surely meaneth me
Oh, so ever surely meaneth me
Whosoever meaneth me
Oh, what wonderful love
Oh, what grace divine
That Jesus should die for me
I was lost in sin
For the world I find
But now I am set free
Oh, so ever surely meaneth me
Surely meaneth me
Oh, surely meaneth me
Oh, so ever surely meaneth me
Oh, so ever meaneth me
That's great.
We thank you, Lord, for this morning.
Thank you so much, O God,
for the good God that you've given us for today.
We pray, O God, that you would bless
each and every part of the service.
I pray, Lord, that you would bless
the foundation of sin,
the reading of the word,
and the preaching of your word, Lord.
I pray that you would bless
Brother Saki and fill him
with your old spirit,
that he could preach
with all boldness and character.
Lord, give us the understanding
that we need, Lord,
for us to be able to understand
and not only to understand,
but also to apply it in our lives.
I'm asking, Lord,
that you would bless
the weather this afternoon
and give us a good fellowship this day.
And ask all these things
in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
For our next song,
let's turn to hymn number 209.
Let's sing the song,
Sunshine in the Soul.
Hymn number 209.
Let's sing the song,
Sunshine in the Soul.
On first ready,
Third sunshine in my soul today,
For glorious and bright
Than those in any earthly skies,
For Jesus is my light,
Oh, there's sunshine,
blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful,
happy moments roll,
When Jesus shows his mighty face,
There is sunshine in the soul,
There's music in my soul today,
A carol to the King,
And Jesus, listening,
can hear the songs I cannot sing,
Oh, there's sunshine,
blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful,
happy moments roll,
When Jesus shows his mighty face,
There is sunshine in the soul,
There's springtime in my soul today,
For when the Lord is near,
The love of peace is in my heart,
The flowers of grace appear,
Oh, there's sunshine,
blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful,
happy moments roll,
When Jesus shows his mighty face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
On the last,
There's sadness in my soul today,
And hope and grace and love,
For blessings which he gives me now,
For joys to fade up above,
Oh, there's sunshine,
blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful,
happy moments roll,
When Jesus shows his mighty face,
There is sunshine in the soul.
Today is our game night.
So, basically after soul winning,
we're going to have a couple competitions.
One is a dessert competition,
and we'll find out how many desserts
there are entered.
One winner, you know,
no matter how many desserts
there are one winner,
and then we do have our
arm wrestling competition.
So, for the arm wrestling competition,
one rule I didn't mention,
you have to be a guy to compete.
So, if you get mad at me,
you know, whatever it's like,
but you know,
it's a men's arm wrestling competition,
and we'll have to come up with,
make sure we have all the rules
organized.
Obviously, we want to make sure
everybody is safe,
and there's no injuries or whatever.
So, I know one rule we're not going to have,
or we're going to have is,
you can't jerk,
like in a quick movement
where you get your whole,
because that's how somebody,
you know, quickly,
there are injuries in arm wrestling, okay?
So, we'll get the rules figured out and everything.
I'm excited about it.
It should be a good time,
and remember this is visitor month,
and so anyways,
after we have the soul winning and everything,
we're also going to be ordering food today.
We're going to be ordering some pizzas.
So, stick around the fellowship
if you're able to.
We're going to have a great time,
and at this time,
we're going to sing song number 218,
218 in your hymnal.
218, hallelujah, tis done.
Now, one goal we have is to basically sing
through all the songs in our hymnal.
This is not the most common song,
so you might be like,
I've never heard this song before.
So, if you know the song,
then, you know, sing it out
and everything like that.
But 218, hallelujah, tis done.
218, hallelujah, tis done.
On the first.
Tis the promise of God,
full salvation to give
unto him who on Jesus,
his son will believe.
Hallelujah, tis done.
I believe on the son.
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Hallelujah, tis done.
I believe on the son.
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
Though the pathway
be lonely and dangerous too,
surely Jesus is able.
Hallelujah, tis done.
I believe on the son.
I'm saved by the blood
of the crucified one.
This time we'll take our offering.
Amen.
Please open your Bibles to the book of Psalms 25.
Psalm 25.
And as a question, we will be reading the entire chapter.
Psalm 25.
Psalm 25, please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
Psalm 25, verse 1.
unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in thee.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Yea, let not that wait on thee be ashamed.
Let them be ashamed which transgress without cost.
Show me thy ways, O Lord.
Teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth and teach me.
For thou art the God of my salvation.
On thee do I wait all the day.
Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies
and thy lovingkindness,
for they have been ever of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth
nor my transgressions.
According to thy mercy, remember thou me
for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord.
Therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
The meek will he guide in judgment
and the meek will he teach his way.
O the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
and to such keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity for it is great.
What man is he that fear the Lord?
Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
His soul shall dwell at ease
and his seed shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,
and he will show them his covenant.
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me,
for I am desolate and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged,
O bring down me out of my distress.
Look upon my infliction and my pain,
and forgive all my sins.
Consider my enemies, for they are many,
and they hate me with cruel hatred.
O keep my soul and deliver me.
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee.
Let insecurity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait on thee.
Redeem me, sir, O God, out of all its troubles.
Amen.
All right, we're here in Psalm 25,
and we're going to be going verse by verse through this chapter.
We'll finish the whole chapter here today.
And the name of the sermon is,
Oh My God, I Trust in Thee.
Now, we don't really have any specific points in this sermon.
We're just going to go verse by verse
and cover what the Bible says here.
But let's start here with verse number one,
where the Bible reads,
On thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Oh my God, I trust in thee.
Now, that word trust can be used
in a couple different connotations in the Bible.
Go to Ephesians chapter one.
Let me show you one of those.
Ephesians chapter one.
And one of those connotations is with getting saved,
salvation, right?
We tell people, you know,
what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.
You know, sometimes when you tell people
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
they might be thinking,
I believed in Jesus my whole life, right?
And they're still trusting their lifestyle
or what they do.
You know, that's not believing on Jesus.
So one word that's very specific in Tagalog is
So it's
And is a little bit more specific
when we're saying that your trust
is not in yourself but in what Jesus did.
So for example, I tell people this out so many,
if I said I was going to heaven, you know,
or I go to church, or I read the Bible,
then where is my trust?
Is it in Jesus or Akhil Saridhi?
It's in Akhil Saridhi because I'm saying
Not because
but because I'm a good person,
I will go to heaven.
I'm trusting myself, right?
And see, when we're going soul winning,
most people think they believe in Jesus already.
And you tell them, well,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
they're thinking, great, I believe in Jesus,
I guess I'm going.
But they don't understand what you're saying, right?
And so we need to make sure we're very specific
that we're saying that you're basically putting
your belief or your trust in Jesus
and not in your lifestyle or your good works
or your baptism or your church,
but in what Jesus Christ did for us.
And this word trust is used with salvation in the Bible.
Ephesians 1 verse 13, Ephesians 1 verse 13,
In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
So you notice how believing and trusting in this verse
are used interchangeably, right?
But see, somebody might say I believe in Jesus
because I believe Jesus exists,
but that's not putting your trust on Jesus.
That's not putting your belief on Jesus, right?
And so trusting means to basically
put your trust in something.
For example, you sit down in a chair
and you trust that you're not gonna fall
when you sit down, right?
And the Bible's saying that to be saved,
we put our trust on Jesus Christ.
We do not trust our own good works.
Now go back to Psalm 25.
That is one example of trusting.
However, that's the moment of salvation
and that moment of salvation happens
only one time in your life.
And you're saved forever.
But that doesn't mean that you're gonna trust God
with all areas of your life no matter what, right?
It's our choice when we read the Bible.
Am I gonna trust what God says
or am I gonna trust what I think is right, okay?
And I don't believe that David is saying,
you know, oh my God, I'm saved.
I think he's saying that I'm putting my trust in you
for my life, okay?
Notice what it says after that.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.
Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
You say, Brother Succy, what does that word ashamed mean?
Well, when you see that word ashamed,
you might think it means to be like embarrassed,
but that's how we would say it in our modern language.
That is not what the Bible's saying here.
It's not saying, hey, I'm putting my trust in you.
Let me not be embarrassed.
What he's saying is basically let me not be let down.
That would be a good way to describe ashamed.
Basically, I'm trusting you, God, to deliver me.
Don't let me be let down before mine enemies.
This is a common theme throughout this chapter.
So when you look up ashamed in the Bible,
he's not saying don't allow me to be embarrassed.
He's saying don't let my enemies triumph over me.
I'm trusting you, don't let them triumph over me
where I'm being let down, okay?
Now, go to Romans 10.
Let me give you an example of this word.
Romans 10.
And let me show you here Romans 10, verse 9.
Obviously, this is a very famous section of scripture.
If you go soul winning, obviously this is very common.
Romans 10, verse 9.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised thee from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Right?
The Bible says believe in your heart,
confess with your mouth.
Verse 10.
For with the heart man believeth on the righteousness,
and with the mouth man believeth on the righteousness,
and with the heart man believeth on the righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Notice verse 11.
For the scripture sayeth,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, okay?
Now it says for the scripture sayeth,
so basically the scripture sayeth,
the Old Testament you're quoting back,
that whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, okay?
What is that saying?
What it's saying is,
anybody who puts their belief or trust in Jesus
is not gonna be let down and end up in heaven.
It's not saying, well, if you believe on Jesus,
you're not gonna be in,
because I've heard a couple ways
that people have described this verse.
Actually, yesterday the people in Pampanga
told me some new explanations from Baptist pastors
I've never even heard before, right?
But I've heard a few different things,
and one thing people say,
what I had heard before was this,
well, if you believe on Jesus,
you're not gonna be embarrassed
to call upon the name of the Lord.
That's not what it's saying in Romans 10, verse 11.
Now I will say this,
that usually that is the same thing
that if somebody believes in front of you,
they're not gonna be embarrassed.
However, if you preach the gospel
to five people that are friends,
sometimes people believe what you're saying
and they are embarrassed
to admit it in front of their other friends.
Usually it's true that if somebody believes
they're not gonna be embarrassed to call,
but that's not always true.
Sometimes they believe
and what they're embarrassed to call,
but here's the thing,
the Bible promises anyone who believes
is not gonna be let down.
If they truly believe, they will be in heaven.
Now look, a reflection of your belief,
according to John 4,
is that you would call,
and you know what?
That can automatically happen in the heart
before they ever say it audibly anyway.
And if they believe,
it's like somebody drowning in water.
If I'm drowning in water
and I know I'm gonna die
and then Ehrman is standing right by the water
and I know he will save me
and he's right there,
I believe that,
you know what a natural thing will be
that comes out of my mouth?
Help.
I just won't say help.
It's automatic, right?
And it's like it's automatic
that you would say help me or save me
because you know you're gonna die, okay?
It's the same way if somebody realizes
they deserve help
and Jesus paid for their sins,
if they believe that,
it's gonna be automatic.
Now look, I still believe
that we should use the sinner's prayer
and basically it's a great way
to end the conversation,
but here's the thing,
even if we never use the sinner's prayer,
there would still be people that got saved
because if they truly believed it,
then they would be saved, right?
So let me give you an example.
Let's say you preach the gospel
and then you just kind of show,
hey, it's eternal life,
you can never lose it,
and then all of a sudden you say,
all right, and then you walk away.
You say, well, what would be the problem with that?
Well, here's the thing,
there would be a lot less people that got saved,
but some would get saved
because if they truly believe it,
then they would get saved,
but here's the thing,
as soul owners we know
we get to the end of our conversation sometimes
and we think they got it
and then all of a sudden you're just like,
yeah, you know, I'll just think about it later.
Usually that's an indication
they don't actually believe it.
They're thinking about it,
it's interesting,
but they might still be trusting
their old religion, right?
They don't really believe it.
So the sinner's prayer really shows us
do they believe it or not.
Now, it's not a perfect technique
because of the fact
some people pray that they don't believe,
and it means nothing
because everybody prays every day anyway, right?
But if somebody truly believes,
the Bible says that they will call.
So in Romans 10 and 11,
the context here,
it's not saying that
if you believe on Jesus Christ,
you're not going to be embarrassed to call
because, well, I think
we've all seen exceptions to that.
Sometimes people get saved,
sometimes people believe,
but they're just too embarrassed
in front of you
and they might do it in their heart
or they're still thinking about it
or whatever,
but sometimes people do believe
and they're embarrassed in front of you
or embarrassed in front of their friends.
Usually that's not the case,
but sometimes it is.
It's not saying that if you believe,
you're not going to be embarrassed to call.
It's also not saying
that if you believe on Jesus,
you're never going to be embarrassed
to be associated with Jesus
because that's one thing
I heard yesterday
that some churches teach
that if you're really saved,
you're never going to be embarrassed
about being a Christian.
Well, there's a lot of exceptions
in the Bible to that.
Let me show you one in John 19.
John 19.
You know, sometimes people
don't believe in Jesus
because they don't believe in Jesus.
You know, sometimes I preach the gospel
to a group of people,
and for example, just a few days ago,
I preached the gospel to five people
in Nepal Park in Pampanga,
and usually when you preach
to a group of five people,
there's like one or two people
that are more talkative than the others,
and a lot of people are listening,
but it's really hard to tell what they're believing.
It's really hard to tell what they're thinking,
and oftentimes they just let their friends
answer the questions and everything like that,
and I got to the end of the conversation,
and you know what?
I didn't count anybody
because the people that were more talkative,
they didn't fully believe.
They weren't sure,
and then the other people,
it's like, I hope they believed it.
I don't really know, right?
Now, sometimes you do talk to a group,
and they all get it.
Yesterday, I talked to four people,
and they all got saved.
They all said, I believe this.
They answered everything right,
but you know, sometimes you talk to people,
and sometimes people are shy or embarrassed,
and you can't really tell what they believe, right?
It's hard to tell.
John 19, verse 38, notice this.
And after this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly for fear of the Jews,
verse 38 of chapter 19,
he saw Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus,
and Pilate gave him leave.
He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.
So the Bible says that Joseph
was a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly because he's afraid of the Jews.
Does this person believe?
Yes, he does.
Where is this person right now, heaven or hell?
He's in heaven, right?
Now look, he's ashamed to be associated with Jesus.
He's not doing it openly because he's afraid.
Look, there's a lot of people that live in Muslim countries
that believe and are afraid to let people know about it,
and they believe it, but they might not admit it, right?
But if they believe, they're saved.
It's that simple.
I mean, look at all the disciples of Jesus,
the closest followers.
They all rejected Jesus when he was crucified, right?
But they believe.
So look, saying, well, if you really believe,
you're never going to be embarrassed
to talk about Jesus or be associated.
Well, that's not true, right?
If we're honest, all of us have had times in our life
where we were embarrassed to admit what we believe
because of peer pressure.
Okay.
Now go back to Romans 10.
Romans 10.
The other explanation I heard yesterday that I've never heard
that someone's old Baptist church said
is that when you preach the gospel to someone,
if they believe, this verse is saying
you're never going to be embarrassed.
So basically, your friends will never make fun of you
when you're believing the message of Jesus and call on him.
So like, don't be afraid to call
because when you call, they will make fun of you.
It's like, I don't know.
I don't know.
But when you call, they will make fun of you.
It's like, that is not what Romans 10 verse 11 is saying.
You know, it's simply saying, the scripture says,
who so ever believeth on them shall not be ashamed.
Because doesn't the Bible say throughout the entire world
of God that if you believe you go to heaven?
Who so ever believeth in them should not perish
but have everlasting life?
Look, if you believe on Jesus today,
you do not have to worry about being let down
and thrown in hell one day.
It's a guarantee you're going to go to heaven.
And look, there will be times you're embarrassed
about Jesus Christ. There will be in times you're embarrassed about the
doctrines and things you believe in. You know what? There will be times where maybe
somebody says something that is against what you believe in and you're embarrassed to
just admit what you believe. That doesn't mean that you're not saved.
The Bible is saying if you believe on Jesus, if your full trust is in him, you
know what? You're not going to be ashamed. You are going to go to heaven. It's a
guarantee. For there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. So no matter whether you're
Jew or Greek or Muslim or Hindu, no matter what country you're from, you know what?
Those who call upon the Lord, they are going to heaven. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And once again, calling on the Lord is a
reflection of what you believe, but you know obviously when we're preaching the gospel we
want it to be as logical and make the most sense as possible to make it very
easy for people. You know if you just walked away into the conversation, you
would probably leave a lot of people hanging that could have gotten saved
that didn't because they're not quite sure yet. Because honestly you know when we're
preaching the gospel to people, often times people are hearing things and it's
making sense. And let's say they're a Catholic and they're hearing this that
you don't have to keep the commandments. You don't have to live a good life. It's
making sense, but they don't necessarily want to decide what they believe. And you
got to kind of force them and say, hey you know what? What I said is the gift of
God is eternal life. What the Catholic Church says is keep the seven sacraments.
Well which do you believe? And you know what? Often times questions like that will kind of force
people to make a decision and get them to change what they believe because they
can't get saved unless they change what they believe. Right. Go back to Psalm 25.
Psalm 25. Psalm 25. And what it said in verse 3 is, yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed.
Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Those people that hate our guts and those people that are enemies of ours and enemies of the gospel, you know what? They will be let down. They will be cast into hell forever.
And they might think, man, my life is going well now. I've got a good job. I've got all this money. No punishment. Well, they have a rude awakening coming one day when they end up in hell.
Verse 4. Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me. For thou art the God of my salvation on
thee do I wait all the day. And so David just has an honest statement here. He says, show me thy ways and teach me thy paths. And the way you can look at this is let's say somebody's going for a walk or going for a hike, you know, or whatever.
When you're going on a path, aren't there often a lot of side paths that you can go down? Right. You go on a hike, it's like a six kilometer hike, but then there's this option of this trail or this option along the way.
You know, sometimes you stop and you're like, I was planning to go this way, but that looks interesting. Right. And sometimes you might choose that path. Right.
You know, I did a lot of hiking, you know, especially when I lived back east in the U.S., and there's a lot of mountains and everything. And you start going on a hike, it's like a five mile hike or whatever.
But there's a lot of interesting options along the side. Sometimes you don't make it very far this way, you go another direction. Right.
See, here's the thing. Our life is a series of choices. And as we're going down the path of life, sometimes there's a side path and you don't necessarily know if it's better or not.
You can only see so far in front of you. You look at a path and it looks good for 100 feet, but what's after that 100 feet? You don't know. Right.
And maybe you start going down this path and maybe it ends up being the wrong choice and you realize and you turn around and start going on the path that you were in, or maybe it ends up being better.
We really don't know. And here's the thing. We don't really know what the end, you know, five years from now is going to be of a path that we take.
So before we make any major choices, we should pray and say, God, please guide me. Please help teach me the right path.
For example, let's say you're applying for a new job and you've got two job opportunities.
Well, here's the thing. You don't necessarily know which one's going to be better.
Now, depending on what it is, there could be an obvious no or something.
You know, going back to the drug dealing example, you got a friend who says, hey, I know a way you can make some money.
It's like, well, obviously the answer to that would be no because it's in the right.
You know, oftentimes you have different job opportunities. You don't know which is going to end up being better.
You don't know which will make you more money. You don't know which will give you more job security.
I mean, you really have no idea.
And see, the good news is, as a Christian, if you're trusting in God and praying on God to guide you,
I believe that God will guide us down the right path.
Now, of course, sometimes we might make choices by our own will and make the wrong choice,
but what David's saying is, you know, God, I've got so many choices to make in life.
I don't know what the best choice is. It's like, just teach me. Just guide me down the right path.
I don't want to go down the wrong path because I could end up screwing my life.
And look, our lives are a series of choices. We all have choices like this, and we don't always know what the right choice is.
Now, when it comes to basic things that are not life-changing things, it doesn't really matter.
For example, you know, you're saying, I'm going to go out to eat for lunch today.
You know, the Jollibee versus the Mangin Asal, right?
Well, Jollibee is a lot closer, so that's probably the best choice, but I would still pick Mangin Asal, okay?
But here's the thing. That's not a major decision. It doesn't really matter.
It doesn't matter if you eat spaghetti for lunch or a hamburger, right?
It doesn't matter if you eat chicken or, you know, fries or whatever, right?
Just eat whatever you want. But when it comes to major decisions in your life, like,
should I take this job or this job? Well, that's a big decision.
I don't want to be just trusting in my own flesh to make the right decision
because I don't know what's going to happen five years down the road.
And look, sometimes something will look like the right choice, and it's really good,
but then all of a sudden the problems come, and it's like, man, I actually made the wrong choice, right?
This is why it's so important to just pray to God and ask God to guide you to the right paths.
Verse number six. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses,
for they have been ever old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.
According to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
So what David's saying here is this. You know, God, you're very merciful.
You're very kind. You're very loving.
And then he says, don't remember the sins of my youth, okay?
Now, kind of a way to look at this is let's say you've got major decisions to make in life.
Isn't it true at those time periods, you know, when you pray to God,
you say, God, forgive me. I haven't been doing what's right.
Please don't hold my sins against me and make me go down the wrong...
Just help me pick the right thing, right?
You know, and honestly, we all run into those times where, you know,
once we need God, we pray to God, but then it's like, God, forgive me for everything I wasn't doing.
I'll never do it again, right? I'm going to get right with you.
I'll make the changes because we want God to guide us down the right path.
And David is the same way, saying, hey, remember not the sins of my youth.
But, you know, the good thing with God is that when we get right with God,
we have gotten right with God, and he does not hold our sins against us.
Now, sometimes you might reap what you sow. We understand that.
But it's not like God's going to bring up all your sins that you did when you were a kid or whatever, right?
Some Baptists teach that, well, when you get to the judgment seat of Christ,
God is going to have this big, you know, video projector,
and you're going to get to see every sin you ever did wrong.
Everything you ever did, God is going to show it,
and you're going to be embarrassed before the entire world.
Well, the Bible does not teach that, okay?
First off, there's the judgment seat of Christ for saved people.
There's the great white throne judgment for unsafe people.
And the judgment seat of Christ, you're getting rewards for the good you did,
but God's not going to embarrass you.
He's not going to show you on the playground as a five-year-old telling a lie, right?
Like, ah, there you are lying, right?
What do you have to say about that?
No, the Bible says we need to save your sins or cast as far as the east is from the west.
You start going east, you never start going west.
And the Bible is saying they're gone.
They're done, right?
One thing we should realize is this.
God does not hold past sins against us.
We should not with other people either, right?
If somebody made a mistake five years ago,
what's the point of bringing that up now?
There's no point, right?
Oftentimes, this is how marriages go.
It's like, well, you did this in March of 2017.
Well, you did this in March of 2016.
Well, you did this, and then all of a sudden you get to the point
it's like, man, you're bringing up everything.
Your parents told me that when you were seven years old, you did this.
And it's like, I heard you smoked a cigarette 19 years ago.
It's like, well, what's the purpose of that?
And look, Job's friends are like this.
They're bringing up all this stuff,
and Job's like, why are you bringing up stuff that happened so long ago?
I mean, look, any single one of us in this room
that is at least of a certain age,
if any one of us that's an adult had all of their sins
that they've ever done before the church,
that'd be embarrassing for any one of us
because we've all made a lot of mistakes.
We've all committed a lot of sins.
Do you want your sins being brought up?
Do you want everybody to know what you did when you were 19 years old?
I don't want everybody to know what I did when I was 19 years old
and all the sins I've committed.
So why would you bring up somebody else's sins
if you don't want yours brought up, right?
I mean, do on to others as you would have done on you.
It's really that simple.
And it's like, there's no point in bringing up something
that happened so long ago.
I mean, the past is the past.
OK, it's done.
It says here in verse eight,
good and upright is the Lord,
therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
The meek will he guide in judgment
and the meek will he teach his way.
Now, the word meek is very similar to humble,
but meek in the Bible
is more like humbleness in action.
So the Bible says Moses was the meekest man
and what that means is he was humble
and it reflected itself by how he interacted with other people.
You can see that he's humble,
you can see that he's meek
because when people are coming against him,
he's just trusting in God and delivering, right?
He doesn't lift himself up and say,
hey, I'm Moses, who do you think you are?
I'm the one who parted the Red Sea.
He doesn't do that, right?
He just trusts in God and delivering
and you see that he's humble in action.
And look, look,
you can only fake being humble for so long, right?
If you're an arrogant person,
you might have a good surface level of humility,
but everyone's going to end up finding out you're arrogant
because out of the abundance of the heart and mouth speaking
and if you think very highly,
because what is being arrogant?
Thinking far more highly of yourself than you ought to
and if you think very highly of yourself,
it's going to come out in your words, right?
That's reality.
And here's the thing,
if you are arrogant,
can God really teach you?
Can he really guide you in judgment?
Well, no, because you think you've got it all figured out.
And I'll tell you what,
when you come to a church like this,
one of the big reasons you come
is because you want to learn the Word of God.
You want to be taught.
If you have this attitude,
well, look at me, I'm so great,
then I can't teach you anything.
It's impossible if you're arrogant, right?
And look, this should be why you want to be at church
because you want to be taught your problems
and don't have this arrogant attitude.
Well, who is Brother Stuckey to tell me anything?
Well, I am the ordained evangelist at the church.
I've been saved and soul winning for a very long time.
I've been soul winning for about 18 years, right?
I've read through the Bible a lot of times.
You know, our Bible memorization challenges,
I've done every single one of those that we've had, right?
It's not like I'm just coming up here
and I'm a single guy who's never read the Bible cover to cover
and I don't have kids and I'm just like,
I'm the pastor of this church, right?
Look, whether it's me or somebody else,
you know, one of the men comes here
and preaches on a Wednesday night,
take heed to what they're saying.
Well, who are they to teach me
because they're just a church member like me.
Well, I mean, I believe God's speaking through them.
I believe they study the topic.
They're preaching the Word of God.
You ought to take heed to it.
Look, if we have somebody else who preaches on a Sunday
and I just preach the first sermon
and I'm listening for the second,
I have a person who preaches the Word of God.
I don't think it's just a big waste of time.
I believe that I can be taught God's work
and you know what?
The secret is just be humble.
And here's the thing.
God forces you
if you're going to be successful in the Christian life
to be humble.
You say, how is that?
Well, how did you get saved?
Did you get yourself saved?
No.
Somebody got you saved.
How did you get baptized?
Oh, I baptized myself.
Well, we need to redo it after the service thing.
Right?
Isn't it true that if you're going to be successful,
you learn?
I mean, you get a college degree,
your first day on the job,
how do you become the head honcho and be great?
You learn from people that have been in that company
for 20 years
and say, hey, here's your mistake.
Well, who are you to tell me that I got a 4.0 in college?
It's like, well,
it doesn't mean that you have
lots of actual experience at the job.
It doesn't mean that you're that great at stuff.
It doesn't matter what your degree is.
It doesn't matter what your skills are.
The bottom line is once you get to that job,
you're actually a newbie.
You're a novice, and you have to learn stuff.
You don't go from being a college graduate
to the CEO overnight.
Anything you do, you're going to fail
because you're not going to be ready for it.
The meekly guiding judgment
and the meekly teaches way.
Lord, our mercy and truth unto such
as keep his covenant and his testimonies
for thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Obviously, God wants his people to be
peculiar people.
He wants us to be zealous and obey his works.
And you know what?
If you're a safe person and God is judging you
and the world sees that,
that's kind of embarrassing for Christianity.
It's kind of embarrassing.
You're kind of bringing shame on the name of Christ
when you say, I'm a Christian,
alcohol, just stumbling around.
It's embarrassing, right?
You're representative of Jesus Christ
here on earth as a safe person,
and it's like if God has to judge you
and you have to look like a fool
in front of your unsaved friends,
it's embarrassing for the name of Christ.
Now, look at verse number 12,
and this is my favorite verse in this chapter.
Psalm 25, verse 12.
What man is he
that feareth the Lord?
Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose.
Now, the Bible promises
that if you fear the Lord,
God is going to teach you in the way
that he shall choose,
not in the way that you would choose,
but in the way that God would choose for you,
to those that fear the Lord.
It's not going to be automatic just because you're safe.
It's actually those that fear the Lord.
Now, a couple questions come up.
Number one, is it possible
for an unsafe person to love God?
Well, the answer to that would actually be no,
and we've talked about that through 1 John recently.
There's verses that show that.
We love him because he first loved us,
and before you're saved, you don't understand
what that means for Christ loving us.
You might be able to repeat it,
but you don't understand the fact
that he died and paid for all of our sins
because if you're not saved, obviously you don't fully get it.
And once you understand that love,
it's not a guarantee that you're going to love God,
but it is possible.
There's verses in 1 John 4
that say it's impossible for an unsafe person
to actually have that love.
It's also impossible for an unsafe person to please God.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
Now, you can be a safe person that does not please God either
because the Bible says you have to live your life by faith
to actually please God.
But it is possible for an unsafe person to fear God.
And I'm going to prove that to you.
Turn to Acts 11.
Acts 11.
The promise is that if you fear the Lord,
then you know what?
He can teach you in the way that he shall choose,
and this is actually possible
for an unsafe person to fear God.
And I believe God's promise
is not just toward a safe person in Psalm 25,
but anyone that fears the Lord,
God will teach him in the way that he shall choose, okay?
Let me prove to you first
that an unsafe person can actually fear God.
Acts 11, verse 13.
And this is the recap of Simon Peter preaching the Gospel to Cornelius.
It says in Acts 11, verse 13,
And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house,
which stood and said unto him,
Send him to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter,
who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be safe.
So Peter told words to Cornelius
and everybody in that house got saved.
So was Cornelius saved before?
No, Peter gets him saved, right?
And here's the thing.
People say, well, I think an unsafe person can get themselves saved.
Well, if that was possible, Cornelius would have gotten himself saved
because he's a man who fears the Lord,
and he's trying to do his best as an unsafe person.
Or in Acts 8, if somebody could get saved on their own,
it would have happened with Cornelius, but you can't.
So what does God do?
Well, he sends a soul winner to preach the Gospel to him
because he fears the Lord.
He's trying to do what's right.
That is how Cornelius gets saved.
Now you say, well, how do you know he fears God?
Go to Acts 10.
Acts chapter 10.
Acts 10, verse 1.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius,
a centurion of the band called the Italian man,
a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house.
According to Acts 10, verse 2, does he fear God?
Yes, he does.
It's not just him.
It says, all thy house.
And what that means is kind of like the end of Acts 16,
where believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and all thy house, meaning the same promises to everyone in that house in Acts 16.
But here in Acts 10, what we're seeing is Cornelius fears God,
and everybody in his house.
Now Cornelius is a successful man,
so he's married, probably has kids and everything,
but he also has servants working there,
and everybody in that house fears God, but they're not saved.
Okay?
It is possible to fear God as an unsafe person, bottom-set.
Now turn to Romans 2.
You say, well, how can you fear God if you're not saved?
Why did you get saved?
What was the reason?
You're afraid God was going to send you to hell, right?
That's why you got saved.
Why is it that before you were saved, you didn't just commit every sin under heaven
because you were afraid of what God would do to you?
You're afraid.
And see, here's the thing.
Everybody is born with a conscience, according to Romans 2,
and you know what?
There are some people that choose to obey that conscience the best they can,
and say, you know what?
They don't know the Bible verse.
They're not saved.
They don't know, thus saith the Lord, but they just feel wrong.
Like, man, their conscience would make them feel guilty if they do this.
Right?
I mean, there's a lot of kids that go to a convenience store
and it's like, oh, I'm just stealing a candy bar.
What's the big deal?
You know, there's other kids who just say, man, I'm not going to do that
because they feel guilty.
What is that?
What's the fear of God?
They want to do what's right, even if their friends are making fun of them
because they just don't feel right about doing wrong.
Now, they might not know the Bible verse, but they have a conscience inside of them
and they say, man, I just don't think it's right.
We shouldn't do this.
Why?
Because they do have a fear of God.
Romans 2, verse 14.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law are a law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.
The Bible refers to unsaved Gentiles who are obeying a lot of the commandments
because of the fact they have a conscience.
They don't know what the Bible says, but they have a conscience.
Did you know that there's unsaved Muslims that are trying to do what's right
because they have a conscience and they're trying to obey it?
Is Islam a wicked religion?
Absolutely it's a wicked religion.
But that doesn't mean that every single Muslim is just a wicked, evil person.
There are unsaved Muslims right now that have a conscience and they're trying to do what's right.
There are unsaved Hindus that have a conscience and they're trying to do what's right.
There are unsaved Catholics that, you know what, they have a conscience and they're trying to do what's right.
And see, here's the thing.
When there's people that are fearing God and trying to obey God's commandments even as an unsaved person,
well, that's the person that God shall teach and the way that he shall choose.
What's the first way God would want to teach an unsaved person?
The Gospel.
Right?
I mean, what was the thing that God taught Cornelius?
The Gospel.
By a Peter preaching the Gospel.
And look, you know what, what I believe is when you have people, and look, most people do not fear God.
I don't even think you could say most saved people fear God.
Right?
But I believe if you have an unsaved person that fears God,
I believe him shall God teach and the way that he shall choose.
I believe God will make it a point that we get the Gospel to that person and they end up getting saved.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how could someone get saved that there's no soul winner nearby?
Well, how did Cornelius get saved?
God sent a soul winner.
Right?
And I believe that no matter what the country is on earth that, you know what, there's saved people in every country.
And I believe that if there's someone who honestly fears God, I believe God will make it a point to have that person get the Gospel from whatever soul winners there are within a couple hours away.
Whatever the situation.
And look, you know, sometimes you hear some cool stories how people get saved.
They're like, for whatever reason I was walking on this path, I just felt led to walk on it, and then I ended up getting saved.
Or how often do you hear people say, I was looking for a church to go to, and then all of a sudden it's like, man, I was just thinking about this.
And then you knocked on my door, and then you told me about going to heaven.
Right?
That actually happens.
People are like, man, I wanted to do what was right. I was praying to God.
And then all of a sudden it's like, man, you just kind of showed up, and then there you were.
I believe that's what we call a divine appointment.
I don't believe it's a coincidence.
This stuff happens.
Right?
And I don't know everybody's story in this room, but I'm sure people have a similar thing, like how they got saved.
They were thinking about the Word of God, and just somehow you just kind of stumbled along the truth.
Somebody preached the Gospel to you.
Right?
This happens, and look, when it comes to someone being unsaved, what's the first thing that God wants to teach that person?
Well, obviously the Gospel, because they can't please God without being saved.
They can't love God without being saved, but they can fear God.
And God says, I like that fear. I appreciate that.
I'm going to get the Gospel to you from a soul winner.
Then when you get saved, then you know what?
God can start teaching you a lot more stuff.
Okay?
Now go back to Acts 10 for a second.
It also brings up another question here.
And you know what I'm about to preach?
Probably a lot of people don't agree with me.
And I know a lot of like-minded people that are good people that would have a different opinion.
But I'm just going to show you what the Word of God says and use Cornelius as an example.
And, you know, I always heard this in my church as I went to in West Virginia.
It's kind of a common thing.
And I know a lot of good people that think this.
I would disagree with them, though. I'll show you why.
But the question of, will God ever answer the prayers of an uncle?
Will God ever answer the prayers of an unsaved person?
And I believe we have the story of Cornelius to prove the answer to that is yes.
Because he does have prayers answered.
Let me show this to you in Acts 10, verse 2.
A devout man and one that feared God with all his house.
Now here's the thing. I think the fear of God is the key if you want your prayers answered.
Okay?
But it says, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God all way.
Now what are alms?
Well, alms are not a tie.
Sometimes people try to make them the same word.
For example, in Islam, you're supposed to give 2.5% of your money in almsgiving, which is 1 40th.
And for us, we're supposed to give 10% to God.
If you choose to give money to people that are struggling or help out with the charity, that's almsgiving.
Okay?
It's not your tithe. It's not a replacement for the tithe.
But it's something that you're doing out of, you know, the generosity of your heart, which is obviously a good thing.
That's your almsgiving.
So here's a man who is successful in his job.
And he gives alms to the people.
Right?
And prayed to God all way.
So here's a man who's always praying to God as an unsaved person.
And look, there are unsaved people here in the Philippines that pray to God all the time and are asking God to guide them but are not saved.
Right?
Probably many of you before you were saved would often pray and ask God to guide you.
Okay?
Here's what it says in verse 3.
God said to him, evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius.
And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord?
And he said unto him, thy prayers, plural, thy prayers in thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
So what said to him is this.
Your almsgiving and your prayers, plural, are come up for a memorial before God.
So God heard the prayers.
He feared God.
He's giving alms to the people.
And God's answering prayers of his.
Now, of course, the first thing he needs to know to accurately love God is to get saved.
And that's the gospel that he's hearing.
But what God says is, you know what, I've heard your prayers.
They've come up for a memorial or something to remember before God.
Okay?
Another great example is in the book of Jonah.
Why is it that God turned away his hand of wrath on the country?
Because a bunch of unsaved Ninevites begged and pleaded for forgiveness.
Now, look, I do believe a lot of people got saved in the book of Jonah,
but what Jonah preached was get rid of your sinner or I'm going to destroy you.
And then a king who we can presume was at least unsaved when he first heard that
probably ended up getting saved, I would say,
probably ended up hearing the gospel from Jonah or another soul winner or whatever.
You know, he says, you know what, I agree with this message.
Let us pray and beg God for forgiveness.
Who knows if God's going to be merciful to us?
And you've got largely a bunch of unsaved people that pray and plead for forgiveness,
and guess what, God is merciful in the country
because largely an unsaved country is begging and pleading for forgiveness.
So those are a couple of examples,
but where an unsaved person can actually have prayers answered, okay?
And here's the thing, if somebody fears God,
I believe that's someone who's going to end up getting saved
because God's going to teach them the gospel and the way that he shall choose.
So you could look at this and say, well, yes, Cornelius had prayers answered
because he would eventually get saved, and Jesus said,
I not only pray for those that are saved, I also pray for those that will get saved.
Right? So that is one way to look at it.
But go back to Psalm 25.
Psalm 25.
And I'll give you an example from my life of a prayer that was answered for my family,
you know, when our family was unsaved,
and I don't form my doctrines or my beliefs off personal stories
because your personal story can be misleading to you,
but I form my belief on the book of Jonah in Acts chapter 10.
I'm just giving you another personal story that kind of backs up what I'm saying,
which I don't see a logical answer to unless God answered the prayer.
Now, I wear contacts.
If I'm not wearing contacts, I'm wearing glasses because I do not have very good vision.
I started wearing contacts when I was probably around nine years old or something.
I don't remember exactly.
My vision is very bad, okay?
Now, growing up, my family, we didn't have a lot of money.
You know, we certainly weren't a rich family.
We weren't super poor, but paycheck to paycheck, we're just trying to survive.
But one thing my family did is we went on a vacation one time per year.
So money was saved up every week, just a little bit here,
$20 a week, $20 a week so we could go on a vacation.
So we went on a vacation once as a kid, and I have an older sister,
and we went to a beach house in the U.S., and contacts are very expensive, okay?
I wore hard contacts because although hard contacts are more expensive, they last.
So when you wear soft contacts, they tell you wear these for two weeks,
and nobody only wears them for two weeks because you're trying to save money.
So I wear these until my eyes really start to hurt, and then I'm like,
okay, I got to replace these, okay?
But when I was a kid, I didn't wear soft contacts.
I wore hard contacts.
The thing with a soft contact is if a soft contact falls out,
it will be destroyed in 10 minutes because it gets crispy.
It gets destroyed.
A hard contact is already hard.
It can actually be out in the air and not be destroyed, okay?
So as a kid, money is tight, and a hard contact back then probably cost 5,000 pesos.
I don't know what it costs today, but probably a lot more.
So this is a lot of money.
My sister and I are throwing a football at the beach,
and my parents are inside the beach house a couple hundred feet away from the beach house.
And then, of course, you get sand in your eyes.
So my natural reaction, I rub my eye, and my contact falls to the ground, okay?
Now, look, when you have a contact fall, it might seem really easy to just look down and pick it up.
It doesn't work that easily.
Sometimes you're looking around, and you're looking and looking and looking,
and then you find it the next day, and it's hard as a rock because soft contacts get hard.
So I look for it in the ground.
When it came over, we looked for like 15 minutes.
We couldn't find it.
Trying to find a contact on a beach, okay?
It blends in very easily.
So I went back to the beach house with my sister, and we told my parents about it,
and this is a couple hundred feet away from our beach house.
I told my dad about it and everything, and of course my parents were really frustrated
because this is a lot of money.
It's like, man, somebody just stole $100 from me.
That's a lot of money, right?
And 40 minutes later, my parents went on a walk,
but before they went on the walk, my dad just prayed to God and said,
you know what, I'm praying to God.
Let's find this contact.
And here's the thing.
My parents growing up, I've talked about it before,
they never smoked, never drank, they never said cuss words.
I think that they are the exact definition of unsaved people that fear God,
that were just trying to do what was right.
Now, they weren't perfect, but I was very blessed with how I was raised, okay?
Very strict parents, and you know what, they tried to be obedient and do what was right.
They were unsaved people that feared God.
They went out for a walk 40 minutes later.
My dad just prayed, help us find this contact,
a contact on the beach a couple hundred feet away from the beach house,
which my sister and I could not find when we knew where it was.
And then my dad just comes, gets the contact, comes back,
and he says, I found your contact.
It's like that's literally like a one in a million situation
because, you know what, usually a contact's going to blow away due to the wind.
After an hour, right?
If you drop a contact, especially a hard contact,
you know, because it won't be soft and sticking to the ground,
a hard contact is going to blow away.
But my dad found it an hour after I dropped it.
When I look at something like that, it's like I just think God answered the prayer.
But none of us were saved.
Now, my parents were saved now, but they weren't saved at the time.
You say, what is that?
Well, it's an example of just God answering the prayer of an unsaved person.
It is possible for God to answer the prayer of an unsaved person.
What the Bible does teach is that as saved people,
we have a special place in the heart of God to come before His throne at any time.
And it would be like, for example, if you have a child
and your son runs over and wants to tell you something,
you might stop what you're doing to listen to your son
because he's your son.
If some other kid runs over, you're going to be less likely
to take heed to what he's saying.
But I believe the Bible does teach it is possible.
God would say, you know what, I'm willing to listen to this person.
I believe the key there is that Cornelius feared God,
which is a very uncommon thing for an unsaved person.
But Cornelius was a man who feared God.
And you know what, his prayers and almsgiving came up for a memorial before God.
And it's the same thing in Nineveh because the king obviously showed a fear of God
because he was afraid God was going to judge them.
They begged for mercy, and God answers the prayers of unsaved people.
Now, look, this does not mean that most prayers of unsaved people are going to be answered.
I believe very few.
Because I don't think there's too many people that fear God.
But I do believe that God can answer the prayer of someone who is unsaved if they fear him.
Now, as saved people, there's no guarantee that all of our prayers get answered
because the fear of God is essential.
If you're living a wicked life and then you ask for something from God,
God might look down and say, well, I'm not going to answer that right now.
You need to get right with me.
We do have a special entrance in onto God,
but it is also possible for an unsaved person to have a prayer answered.
Now, go back to Psalm 25.
Psalm 25.
It also, it says, thy prayers.
It didn't say thy prayer singular because what I always heard in Baptist churches in West Virginia
is that the only prayer God will answer for an unsaved person is the prayer of salvation.
But it's not just prayer, it's prayers that are answered.
And this is not Cornelius praying for salvation.
Who knows what all of his prayers are?
I'm sure there are prayers like, help me choose the right thing in life.
Help me raise my kids for you.
Help me to be a good husband.
Help me to serve you.
He might have prayed, help me to know how to get to heaven.
That's probably a common thing because I know when I was unsaved, that was something I prayed to God.
God, help me, teach me.
But his prayers, plural, are answered, so it's not just one prayer.
Psalm 25 verse 12.
What man is he that feareth the Lord?
Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
So here's the thing.
As a saved person, if you want God to guide you and to teach you, what is the key?
That you fear God.
You fear God.
You obey what he says.
You say, what's the proof of somebody fearing God that you obey his commandments?
Think about a child.
What's the proof of a child fearing their parents?
Well, when they're doing something wrong and they're told, hey, you know what, you're going to get a spanking,
if they're afraid, then they stop doing whatever they're doing.
Right?
If they don't stop, they don't have any fear.
And look, when it comes to kids, of course we want to be friends with our kids
and you know that our kids are going to love us, but they also need to fear us
because we're their parents teaching them right and wrong.
And see, here's the thing.
The proof of whether or not you fear God is are you keeping his commandments?
Are you doing what he says?
If you're not keeping his commandments, God's not going to teach you in the way that he shall choose.
So look, if you don't fear God and you're a saved person living a sinful life,
don't be surprised if you end up flat on your face destroying your life
because you're not fearing God and trusting him to guide you.
And look, if you're living a wicked life and saying, God, guide me down the right path,
then you get drunk, guide me down the right path and you're not trying to get rid of your sin,
well, God's probably not going to answer your prayer because there is no fear of God.
You're just breaking his rules and then you're just trying to call on God like he's Santa Claus,
like, oh, God's just going to answer whatever, whether I'm good or bad, right?
It doesn't work that way.
Now, you're saved eternally once you get saved, but if you live a wicked life, God is going to judge you.
Psalm 25 verse 13, his soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant.
So the Bible says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.
The Bible speaks about the deep things of God, the secret things of God.
There's a lot of stuff in the Bible that is surface level, right?
Very easy stuff to understand, not difficult to figure out,
but there's also things in this book that are deep things, that are complicated.
People often think of the book of Revelation.
Well, honestly, the book of Revelation is nowhere near as confusing as a lot of other books, to be honest,
like Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, right?
These are books where if you read a chapter in Isaiah, you'll learn some stuff, right?
But there's a lot of stuff where you're like, is he being symbolic?
Is he being literal?
Is this something that happened in the past, in the present, or the future?
I really don't know, right?
There's some deep things in the Bible.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, who is the person who knows these secret things and these deep things,
the one that fears God?
The one who fears God, right?
If you're a saved person and you don't fear God, you're not going to know the Bible very well,
because God's going to reveal them to those that actually fear him and want to serve him.
And look, we run into saved people that know nothing about the Bible, nothing about the Bible, right?
I mean, many saved people you talk to, when they talk about the book of Revelation,
they'll talk about how it's like learning Mandarin Chinese or something, like, man, it's impossible.
It's called the book of Revelation, the revelation or revealing.
The very start of the book says, I'm revealing to you what this book is about.
He doesn't say this complicated, no, he says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto his servant.
So here's the thing, he says, I'm revealing to you what the Bible says.
Brother Stuckey, nobody knows when Jesus is coming back.
It could be pre or mid or post or whatever.
It's like, well, no, actually, if you fear God and you read the Bible, you actually know the answer to that.
Now, if you're new at church, I'm not expecting you to know all these doctrines.
Obviously, it takes time, and maybe you've never heard our sermon on that and stuff like that.
But it's actually not that complicated.
Many things that seem like very deep things to other people, and maybe they are somewhat deep,
they're actually not that complicated if you fear God and you know those things.
I'm confident that if you were to rate the average Bible knowledge of someone in this church
versus other Baptist churches around the area, there'd be no comparison.
No comparison.
Because think about before you came to this church.
Before you came to this church, many of you were Baptists, but how much did you know your Bible?
Maybe not so much, right?
Or you hear stories at other churches, because we have a Bible reading challenge we do every single January
where we try to motivate you to read the New Testament.
And if you're not able to read all the New Testament, it might motivate you to read a lot of it, right?
Get some Bible knowledge so you know these things for yourself.
You know, there's many churches where nobody reads the Bible.
And it's like, you know, they go down to the altar at the end of service and everything,
and they say, God, forgive me and guide me.
And it's like they don't even know anything about the Bible, though.
They've never read the Bible.
And look, if you're newly saved, I understand that's something new that you're taking on,
but we should be in a pattern of every day reading the Bible for ourselves.
Yes, this is the pillar and ground of truth, but you know what?
You should be learning that truth outside of church as well just by reading this book.
Not by saying, wait a minute, I got this question.
Let me go to Google and figure it out.
That's not the right thing.
Study the Bible for yourself and figure out what the answer is.
Memorize the Bible for yourself.
And you know what? Here's the thing.
God will reveal a lot of stuff to you.
Look, there's many things I can think of.
I mean, most things that I know and I believe and that I've learned from the Bible,
I can honestly say I learned from myself reading it or memorizing it.
Now, look, I've learned a lot of great things from other preachers,
a lot of great things from other pastors.
There's a lot I still learn when I listen to sermons.
Most of what I learn is through reading it for myself.
When we do these Bible memorization challenges and I memorize a chapter,
you know what? I learn a lot of things.
Psalm 25 verse 12 is never a verse I really thought about much,
but as I memorize a chapter, I was like, man, this is powerful.
Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
If you memorize the Bible for yourself, you know what?
You're going to learn a lot of things, a lot.
It's also more exciting when you learn it on your own rather than being taught it.
Praise the Lord for being taught it, but here's the thing.
It's even more exciting when you learn it on your own.
What's really exciting is when you see something new
and you know very clearly what the Bible is saying,
but you never knew before, and it's just so exciting.
You're like, man, I got it.
That is an exciting thing.
That's something that all Christians should be taking in.
You're saved. You have the Spirit of God inside of you.
Read the Bible for yourself.
Psalm 25 verse 15.
Mine eyes are ever turned to the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn thee on to me and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged.
O bring thou me out of my distresses.
Now, when I was memorizing this, verse 17 also stood out to me
because what it said was the troubles of my heart are enlarged,
and it talks about being in distresses.
And David in his life often had a lot of enemies.
He often had a lot of stress and difficult situations he was going through.
This is why he's praying to God to deliver him above his enemies,
don't allow him to be let down.
He's saying, I'm going through all this stress,
and he talks about the troubles of his heart are enlarged.
So I was kind of curious about this,
and I thought, well, what happens when someone's going through stress?
Is that possible that stress can cause an enlarged heart?
So I looked that up, and it is one of the major things that causes an enlarged heart.
Notice what it says from the Myoclinic website.
Let me read this to you.
And if I mispronounce things, we have a lot of nurses in this room.
My wife used to be a nurse.
Forgive me.
Okay, I don't know how to pronounce these big medical terms.
An enlarged heart, cardiomegaly, isn't a disease,
but rather a sign of another condition.
The term cardiomegaly refers to an enlarged heart seen on any imaging test,
including a chest x-ray.
The tests are then needed to diagnose the condition that's causing the heart to be enlarged.
An enlarged heart may be the result of a short-term stress on the body.
So the Bible says a short-term stress can actually cause your heart to be enlarged.
And see, what David said was, you know what?
I've got all these distresses.
I've got all these problems, and guess what?
The troubles of my heart are enlarged.
Now, here's the thing.
I don't think that David was really aware
that he was basically making a scientific proof of the Bible,
because obviously they wrote under the inspiration of God,
and it's very poetic, and it's also symbolic,
but I believe it's also literal that, you know what?
Your heart can actually be enlarged from distresses.
And they didn't necessarily know what they were writing
when they wrote these things in the Word of God,
but that is something the Bible's teaching us here.
Oh, the Bible's not scientific.
Well, it always seems to be pretty scientific when you actually study it out.
There seems to be a lot of deep stuff.
And look, I don't think that thousands of years ago
they knew that stress on your body caused an enlarged heart,
and yet that is what they know today.
Verse 18.
Look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins.
Consider mine enemies, for they are many,
and they hate me with cruel hatred.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why would David have enemies?
I mean, if he's a saved person and he wants to serve God,
why would he have any enemies?
Well, if that's your question, then you're obviously very new to this.
Because if you're serving God,
the Bible actually says that you're going to have some enemies.
Look, when you first get saved,
you're excited to tell your family about salvation.
You're like, man, my unsaved relatives are going to love this.
They can know they're going to heaven.
You start telling your relatives about this,
and some get saved and others start to hate you.
Well, how dare you say that I can't pray to Mary.
It's like you're just showing them the gift of God is eternal life.
And then oftentimes they get mad at you for what you're saying.
It's like, man, you end up having enemies that you never expected.
And you're not trying to do it.
I mean, you're just trying to preach the gospel to them,
but they end up being mad at you, right?
Because people have a lot of traditions, and they believe things,
and they just kind of take it as a fact without thinking about it.
I just saw a post yesterday on Facebook where it talked about the devil fears Mary.
And it's like, where are you coming up with something like that?
Where does the Bible say?
And then in this article, it's saying this is why you should pray to Mary,
because the devil will flee because he's afraid of Mary, right?
I mean, I'm pretty sure the Bible says,
submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
I don't remember the verse that says, submit yourself to Mary,
and then the devil will flee.
But people believe this stuff. You say, why?
It's a tradition.
They pray the rosary. Why do you pray the rosary?
Well, that's what my parents did. Well, where does it say that in the Bible?
It's got to be in there, right?
No.
It's like, well, you know, you got to keep the seven sacraments to be saved.
Well, one of the sacraments is getting married.
One of them is entering the priesthood.
Well, good luck doing both of those things.
You're not allowed to get married if you're a priest.
But people believe these things.
No, you got to keep the seven sacraments.
Well, you're only going to be able to keep six of them.
Best case scenario, people believe things because they've heard them.
And unfortunately, sometimes when you show people the truth,
they're not willing to be taught
because they're not willing to humble themselves.
And that's reality.
And, you know, sometimes you get enemies that are not,
I'm not saying children are the devil,
but just enemies because they disagree with what you believe.
Look, there are Baptists that are saved people that hate my guts.
You say, why?
Because we preach things they disagree with and then they get mad at it.
Right?
And look, when you're serving God, you're going to have enemies.
We had people that used to be members of our church that are my enemies.
They hate me.
It's like, whatever.
You know what?
You're serving God.
These things can happen.
Right?
Look, there have been people that went to Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento.
They hate Pastor Jimenez's guts now.
Why?
Because, well, they committed sins.
They either got bitter and left the church or they got kicked out or whatever.
And then they just end up, you know, if you're serving God,
you're going to have people that are going to hate you.
It's not just the LGBT that hates us.
There's other saved people that will hate you if you're serving God.
And, you know, it's a shame that that's the way it is.
But that is the truth.
He's saying, you know what?
I have enemies.
And he says, Consider mine enemies, for they are many,
and they hate me with cruel hatred.
Now, let me say this in passing, though.
If you have a lot of enemies in your life,
that doesn't guarantee that you're right with God, though.
Because the Bible says you should seek to be at peace with everyone if possible.
Look, your unsaved coworkers should not hate you.
If every single one of them hates you, it's probably you.
Right?
It's like, no, brother, every single person hates me
because, you know, they're Catholic and I'm not.
No, if they all hate you, you're probably a jerk.
Right?
If everybody at this church hates you, it's you.
Right?
It's nobody else.
If everybody hates you, because, look, I've known many unsaved people.
Most of my coworkers were unsaved, and you know what?
You know, they didn't hate me.
Okay?
But you know what?
If you're serving God, you might have enemies that hate you.
I remember a job I had, you know, a long time ago,
and you know, some of my coworkers told me that there's this other guy at the company,
and this guy was a homo.
He's a sodomite, bakla.
And you know what?
I had never talked to this guy.
And my policy when I go to work is just, in a secular job,
just work as hard as you can.
It's like you're being paid to work.
You know, you're not being paid to proselytize.
If you have that opportunity, praise the Lord.
But I'm not just going in there being a Bible thumper.
I'm just going, getting, doing whatever to get paid.
Well, this guy told some of my coworkers that he's going to wait for me
when I leave the store with a baseball bat and bash my head in.
It's like, I've never even talked to this guy before.
It's like, wow, you know, look at the heart.
Look inside the heart of Vice Pong Eaton.
Tell me what's inside there, right?
Here's a homo coworker that's going to bash my head in with a baseball bat
just because God's word says thus.
And look, this is nothing I'd ever said before,
but obviously he knew, well, he's part of that church, right?
And so it's like they want to, you know, destroy you.
You say, we're going to have enemies because the enemies of God will hate us
because we're serving God and preaching what the Bible says.
Oh, keep my soul and deliver me.
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee.
So what David's saying is, deliver me.
Don't let me be let down.
I'm putting my trust in you.
Do not allow me to be let down.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.
Now, what does it mean to be preserved?
Well, think about preserving a fruit or a vegetable.
It's when you keep it from going old, right?
Keep it from going bad.
Well, the Bible says that as saved people, we are preserved in Jesus Christ.
It does not say we persevere.
You can drop out of church and drop out of serving God.
That is very possible.
But if you're saved, you are preserved in Jesus Christ,
according to the book of Jude.
What that means is God keeps you saved.
Because a fruit doesn't persevere on its own.
We preserve a fruit or a vegetable in a jar or canning,
or whatever people do, and then it lasts, right?
So here's the thing.
We stay saved because God is preserving us.
Well, here's the thing.
When it comes to us being delivered in this life, though,
and having God's blessing upon us,
we actually will be preserved by our own integrity and uprightness.
So God preserves us, but it's based on you having integrity and being upright.
So kind of the thing to think about is that if you are fearing God and obeying what he says,
God has the ability to protect you.
However, if you're a saved person that's just living a really sinful life,
God has the ability to protect you, but he might just say,
whatever happens, happens, right?
Because you're not being obedient.
You're not doing what's right.
But if you do have integrity and uprightness,
I believe that God has the ability physically to preserve you in this life.
Now, look, obviously we understand in the Bible that there are martyrs and things such as that,
but at the same time, God does have the ability, if you're serving God,
to help protect you through difficult times.
And look, this is important because we're going to have a lot of difficult times.
We're going to have struggles in our life, and if we do not have God preserving us,
we're going to be in trouble.
What's the key to that?
Your own integrity, your own uprightness,
the fact that you're obeying God's commandments and you have good character.
If you are an obnoxious jerk and you're just committing all these sins,
well, who knows what God will allow to happen to you, right?
And so it says, let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait on thee.
Then it says, redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
That's a great chapter, and the name of the sermon was,
Oh My God, I Trust in Thee.
Let's close in the Word of Prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and getting to see your Word in this topic,
and I ask you to help us to apply this to our lives.
God, help us to trust in you and serve you and do right, God,
and we ask you to help deliver us from any difficult situations.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Hymn number 115. Let's sing this song.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
Hymn number 115.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
Hymn number 115.
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus.
On the first ready, sing.
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus.
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true,
I will tell you how He changed my life completely.
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the scene in darkness from me.
Oh, how much He cared for me.
On a second.
All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me.
All my heart was full of misery and go.
Jesus places strong and loving arms about me.
And He led me in the way I ought to go.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the scene in darkness from me.
Oh, how much He cared for me.
Every day He comes to me with new assurance.
More and more I understand His words of love.
But I'll never know just why He came to save me.
Because someday I'll see His blessed face above.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus.
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the scene in darkness from me.
Oh, how much He cared for me.
Barajeeh, can you pray for us?
Amen.