Amen so beginning there in verse 1 the Bible says and David spake and Lord the words of the song and the day that the
Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all of his enemies and out of the hand of Saul
so if you remember last week talked about how
You know these last couple of last few chapters are not exactly in chronological order
You know most of the book has been in chronological order so far
But then we're just kind of getting these highlights
Where the the narrator of Scripture is kind of taking us back and reminding us of some things that took place earlier on in David's life
And here you have this prayer
That he prayed in the day that he was what delivered out of the hand of his enemies and out of the hand of Saul
And he says there in verse 2 and he said the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer
So there's a phrase right there. Of course, you know, this is probably a lot of will bring up some other passages for you
Other things might come to mind other scriptures when you read the Lord is my rock
And he goes on in verse 3 and says the God of my rock in him
Will I trust right so he talks about God how he is his rock and of course, you know
That would make us think of passages like Matt Matthew chapter 7. You don't have to turn there
But where Jesus talks about how his sayings are like a rock right that that a wise man will
You know dig deep and build his his his house upon a rock, right?
And that those rot that rock are is his sayings, you know
So the rock that we build upon is the Word of God
He said the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer so we can see that you know
The Word of God here is a place for spiritual refuge, you know, and the Bible talks about this
in several different places where it reminds us that the Lord the name of the Lord the Word of God are a
Is a place for spiritual refuge and that's important to understand because we'll see here in a minute, you know
We have we have enemies right? This is this is David
Expressing his prayer, you know
This is his psalm about how he he got victory over his physical enemies, right?
Because we understand that he was you know, he had a physical battle
We today don't have a physical battle like David did but we have a spiritual one
So you could liken this unto a spiritual warfare and you know, that's important to understand that
You know when we're going into this like David is that we don't want to boast ourselves of our own strength
We don't want to act like we can do it all on our own
Okay, David here towards the end you hear about a lot of the of his exploits
But you'll notice that throughout the passage throughout this chapter. He he's giving the glory to God and right here
He's starting out by saying look the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliveries saying the only reason I'm standing here
Today, the only reason I've made it
the only reason I wasn't delivered in the hand of Saul is because of God and because of the Lord and
Again, that's the same for us
that's the application we need to take away from this is that if we're gonna make it in the Christian life if we're
Gonna have victory it's gonna be through God. It's not gonna be speed through our own
Fortitude or through our own just strength of will like now listen, we have to have fortitude
We have to have determination character all that but you know
All of that will fail when in times of weakness when things are too great for us, you know
We need to make sure that we're founded upon the rock which is the Lord and that rock is the Word of God
You know, that's you know, that's it's why it's important to be in church to hear the preaching the Word of God
That's why it's important to be in the Bible
You know reading it on a daily basis in your own personal life
Because that is the rock that you need to build your life upon. You can't say I'm building my life upon the rock
I'm gonna withstand all the storms
I'm gonna be able to withstand all the the you know
The assaults of this world and the devil when you're when you're not upon that right when you're not in the Word of God
You're not founded you might you can tell yourself you are you can think you are you can tell there's around you that you are
But you know whether or not you really are if you're not in the Word of God
insurance for the preaching Word of God
You're not building your life upon that foundation and also, you know, it's not just a matter of just reading it
You know, but also doing those things right applying it to your life
That's how you make the Lord your rock, you know in life and look
We're living in crazy times. We're living in a you know in a fallen sinful world
It's just getting increasingly more wicked. It's getting farther and farther away from God, you know, and if we're not careful, you know
That storm is gonna sweep us up and carry us off
You know if we just build our lives upon the shifting sands of the world's philosophies
The world's approach to all the different areas in life
You know when it comes to work and family and just everything every aspect of our life
Should be founded upon the Word of God upon the rock
That is the place for spiritual refuge. Okay, and we need it, you know, we need that spiritual refuge
The Bible says every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him
Add thou not unto his Lord's list. I'll be unless you approve thee and thou be found a liar, right?
So he's saying look God's Word is pure that his word is a shield unto them that put their trust in him
Okay, and there's other passages that talk about this Psalm 61
He says hear my cry Oh God attend unto my prayer from the end of the earth
Will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I?
You know, this is that the rock that the Lord, you know being our rock is is a is a is a rock that is higher
Than us, you know, it's it's a something that God has to lift us up to right? It's something we have to get from God
It's a spiritual thing that we get from God. It's not something that we just
Get by, you know, just adopting a certain philosophy or just having a certain mentality or whatever
There's a spiritual aspect here and and to be on that rock that is higher to be found upon that rock
You know, that's something you have to go to God for you know, you have to go and acknowledge that you need God's help, right?
You know, that's you know, that's a big step right there getting on that rock actually going to God and saying I'm going to fail
Right. That's what he said in Psalms when my heart is overwhelmed, right? He's saying look, I'm not gonna make it
You know when we're faced with some temptation or some sin
There's some trial or some hardship that you know is gonna just feel like it's bearing down on us
You know, and by the way, we're all gonna go through that to some degree or another in our life
You know, it's gonna come to every single one of us, you know
When we feel like we're just overwhelmed like David, you know
That's when we need to cry out to the rock to the our God and ask him to what to to lead us to the rock
That is higher than I you know, that's that's the spiritual refuge that we have
In God's Word and it's you know, David is starting out in this Psalm here by acknowledging the Lord
By acknowledging the Lord
Okay by acknowledging God not boasting of his own exploits because you might think that later because he's talking about he's got hinds feet
You know how he's you know, he he he's able to break a a bowl of steel with his arms
He how he's done all these valiant things all done these mighty things
But he knows better than anyone
The only reason he did that is through God because God's the one that delivered him because God's the one
that
Gave him those ability
So he starts out acknowledging him
He says in verse three the God of my rock in him will I trust?
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation my high tower my refuge my savior that savest me
Thou savest me from violence
Right, and of course we've already looked at David's life in first Samuel and second Samuel we saw
All the things that he's gone through
When by being persecuted when he's persecuted by Saul and you can see why he's saying he saved me from violence, right?
But notice there he says in verse two the Lord is my rock
And then he says in verse three the God of my rock. You might get a little confused by that
Well, which is it? The Lord is my rock or and then there's the God of my rock
So the Lord is my rock with the God there's a God of my rock
You know, and I think this is just a great
uh Old Testament, you know, um
You know picture of the trinity, right?
Because who is the rock? Well, that's Jesus, right?
We know that he's called in revelation chapter 19 he is he is what his name is called the word of God, right?
John 1 in the beginning was the word
And the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God, right?
So the word is Jesus, right? He says the Lord is my rock, right? And that's Jesus, but that's also the word of God, too
What's Jesus called the word of God, right? He is the living word and then you have the God of my rock, right?
Which would be God the father. Okay, and I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on that because it's a long chapter
But you can see right there. That's a great picture of that
He's saying he's referring to the Lord is my rock and then he's saying the God of my rock. Okay?
So he says there in verse four I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from mine enemies now keep something here go over to Romans chapter 10 Romans chapter 10
He said in in uh, verse four I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from mine enemies when is he getting me saved?
When he calls upon the Lord, okay
Now, of course David here is referring to his physical salvation, right?
Now every time you hear somebody that you know, you see that phrase being saved or he saved me or salvation
You know or the opposite where you see passages talking about being condemned
You know where it's not necessarily talking about salvation a lot of times it's talking about our physical
Well-being, you know whether we're going to be condemned
Physically or we're going to be saved, you know, there's passage we could turn you think about peter right when he walked out in the water
And he began to sink when he saw the waves boisterous and he and he cried out and said what?
Lord save me right and he wasn't crying out for salvation
He was reaching out his hand saying I don't want to drown right? He's like save me like literally save me
And that's what david I believe is referring to here. He's saying look I call will call on the Lord who's worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from mine enemies, right?
Now, of course, this could be a great picture of salvation, right? This could we're going to see here that god, you know
We're going to get into
God's wrath and hell and things like that. We have a spiritual enemy
but
I want to talk a minute here about this calling on the name of the Lord because this is something that just
Consistently comes up over the over the years. It seems like every so often this doctrine
Of you don't need to call the name of the Lord to be saved rears its ugly head
And it just keeps getting beat down and beat down and beat down and it just keeps popping back up
and a lot of times, you know
It's probably is because people
Aren't saved themselves or teaching some false doctrine in order to soothe their own conscience
but a lot of times I think it's just people being overly, you know, just very pedantic and people who are just trying to
You know pick apart the minutia of salvation and they end up teaching false doctrine in the process, you know
And if they're in there if they're you know, and if only the proud will not correct themselves on this issue
But you know the bible talks a lot about calling on the name of the Lord and again
I don't have time to go into everything here tonight
But let's just look at romans chapter 10
Okay, and see what the bible says about calling on the name of the Lord because you know
This isn't something I want people to get confused about in this church
You know, if someone comes along and I guarantee you it'll happen
Somewhere along the line somebody will start thinking. Well, what do you really have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved?
What if the bible says just believe?
You know and that's true. The bible does say just believe right?
But the bible also say it does also say that you have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved
Okay, if you look there in romans chapter 10 look at verse 8
But what sayeth it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith
Which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved
Okay
So what are the two elements here that we see in salvation?
You have to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead
now again where people will get pedantic or just overly either when I just want to
Just you know
Really pick this apart say well you have to call specifically with your mouth. What if you're mute?
You know all these things the reason why he's saying with your mouth
He's talking about that that's he's referring to there has to be a calling on the name of the Lord, obviously
If you can do this in any way like if you you could verbally call this out loud
You could verbally pray you could pray to your to your in your heart
I'm, not going to go so far as to say you have to say these words to get saved
But there has to be a calling upon the name of the Lord right because you know, some people are mute
You know, obviously if it's something in your it's got to be something that comes from your heart
But you know what out of the abundance of the mouth out about the abundance of the heart the what the mouth speaketh, right?
So that's what it's getting at here that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, that's call on the Lord, right?
It's just another way saying that thou shalt believe in thine heart and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead
Thou shalt be saved
So it's you got to have both, right?
And obviously if you don't believe you're not going to call, right?
But I will say this if you believe there will be a calling
You will call upon the name of the Lord if you believe in some way or another i'm getting ahead of myself a little bit
Verse 10 says for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
For the scripture sayeth whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed and what he's saying
There's like he's saying whosoever shall believe in him shall not be ashamed
He's saying not that you're going to be uh, you know afraid to confess christ, but that you're going to you know
You're going to uh, you're not going to be disappointed, right? You're not going to be let down
You know if you believe on him you're on that day, you know, we're gonna we're gonna be a stand before him with boldness
Right because we know we're saved
He says in verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Okay, so there again
It's the calling and the belief
You have to have both
And i'll you know, i'd go so far as to say that there it's pretty much the same thing that one follows the other
When you believe you're gonna call
Whether you do that out loud in a prayer when you do that privately in your heart
You know, there's gonna and you know, it might not even be some long eloquent prayer prayer. It might just be
Lord save me
I believe
You know, but there's some kind of an acknowledging you speaking to god and acknowledging
That he is god that you're a sinner all of that an acknowledgement of the gospel, okay
And here's the question I have for people who would argue and say no there's no calling involved
You don't need to call upon the name of lord
If someone says they believed and they never call upon the name of lord, they're saved. Look. I don't know who these people are
I don't know who these people are that are believing in the gospel, but not calling out
It doesn't make any sense. The bible says in second corinthians four i'll read to you verse 13
We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written. I believed and therefore
Have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak paul is saying I believed and therefore I have spoken, right?
Look, if you really believe the gospel
You would you would call out to god
In one way shape or form people want to say well, you know, I never prayed a public prayer
You know our public private, you know, whatever i'd ever prayed a prayer. I never you know, verbally expressed my need for salvation
Yeah, but you probably did that in your heart if you're saved
And if you've never called on the name of the lord you're not saved
And you've probably never really believed it. I mean think about how ridiculous it is
To say well, you know, I believe but i'm not going to call up on the name of lord. It'd be like, you know
If I you know, I we're going to get married me my wife. I said, okay, let's get married
You know, we come to the altar. Everyone's there
The preacher gets up and he starts to go through the vows and he you know
Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife to have him to hold to love and to cherish for better for worse?
Love and to cherish for better for worse sickness and health. I had it memorized a little while ago, but you know that whole thing, right?
And I just didn't say anything
Just no not a yes not a no
You know went to say the vows, you know repeat after me
You know
I corbin take thee michelle to be my lawful wedded wife to have him to hold from this day forward for better for worse
And sickness and health and poverty and wealth and forsaking all others, you know, i'm mixing it up there, right?
But if he asked me, you know, if he asked me that to repeat that after I just didn't say anything
You know, would I be married to my wife?
I mean I showed up I had I had the tux on I was there
You know, I had the ring we had the rings ready to go
I wanted to marry her but I just didn't I just didn't say the vows
Would you say as a married man?
I would say no
Right because that that you know being married is saying the vows that's being joined in holy matrimony is pledging yourself under that person, right?
So why why would somebody believe the gospel
Say, you know, I believe that jesus is god that there really is a god in heaven. This really is god's word
You know, there really is a heaven there really is a hell god is listening. God can hear me
And you know, I I believe all that but i'm just not going to acknowledge god in prayer
I'm, just not going to call upon the name of the lord
It's ridiculous
To think that there's people out there that even think that way
That people are actually behaving in this manner. It's it's it's it's stupid
you know and it's people want to split hairs over things like this and it and it just gets
You know, it's it it's just foolishness to me because if you really believe these things look
I'm, not saying if you've never verbally prayed a prayer you're not saved
But i'm not i'm saying this if you've never in some way shape or form called upon the name of lord in your heart
Whether out loud or inwardly you're not saved because the bible says you have to confess with thy mouth and believe on thine heart
And thou shalt be saved
Because if you really believe these things guess what you would do you would speak
Because that's what the bible says. I believe therefore have I spoken?
You know of god, you know, it'd be like hey I have this gift, you know this great gift whoever speaks up can have one
You know and you're sitting there. I really want that gift man. I believe you'd give it to me
And you just never asked for it. You think i'm going to give it to you?
No, because you haven't asked for it because there's no calling out for it, right?
You know the calling out unto the lord that is is just the receiving of the gift, right?
You believe the gifts there
You believe everything that that you know, you've been shown from the bible
You believe the gospel
Calling out. It's like you just reaching out and taking that gift
It's as simple as that and I don't know why it just this thing keeps coming up all the time
Every few years it seems like this has to be dealt with, you know
And I know there was just recently a bunch of sermons that were preached online about this
I know pastor anderson just did one, you know, several other people have preached on this
I'm not going to go on and on about it, but to me it's always just seems so cut and dry
It just seems so simple. It just seems like such a basic thing
If I really believe the gospel i'm going to ask god to save me
If I read romans 10 and someone reads it to me and explains romans 10. Hey, you got to believe
You know, that's one of the things we ask at the door, you know, at least I do I say hey, you know
Do you believe that jesus christ the son of god? Yeah
Do you believe that he loves you died for you?
Do you believe that if you asked him for the free gift of eternal life, he'd give it to you?
Yes, I do
You know and then I say hey, how long would it be yours for eternal, you know, but I ask him that question
I say if you believe that you ask him for the free gift of eternal life and give it to you
Yes, I believe that right then it's like okay. Well, let's ask him right now
I'll even give you the words to say, you know
You can just pray after me as long as you mean these things in your heart and can receive that gift
Right now is it possible for me to to to give some of the whole gospel and have them believe everything that I showed them
And then not pray with me and get saved later. Sure
You know, they might go inside that, you know, the chances are less likely
The bible talks about how you know that which is sown in their heart
The devil will come along and take it and take away that which has been sown in their heart. I believe that
People will forget what they heard
They'll stop thinking about it. You know when you confront somebody with the gospel
That's what's great about door-to-door soul winning is you're just immediately putting them on the spot about their soul
You know confronting them with the gospel something they're probably not going to do on their own
You know, I mean, of course there's exceptions to every rule, but the vast majority of people
Aren't out there
Wondering about what's going to happen when they die. They're trying real hard not to think about that
You know, they're doing a really good job at it, right?
But look if we go and pray with or we go and give somebody the gospel why not take the time to pray with them
Right then and there
Why not help them, you know pray and and receive the gift
You know, why not say okay. Well, you know what the bible says believe
All you got to do is call upon the name of lord. I'll let you figure that out
On how to do that
They don't even know what to say a lot of times, right? You just gotta say hey
let's just let's just pray right now and I say
You know a lot of times they'll do this like oh, you know
They think they're gonna have to like wax eloquent in their doorstep or something. I say we won't get fancy or anything
You know, we'll just you just tell god you believe these things that way, you know, we have eternal life
Right and and they receive eternal life when they believe and then when they call upon the name of lord
Now I could just walk away and say well you believe
All you need to do is call upon the name of lord
Tell god that's what you believe and ask for that free gift and he'll give it to you
Have a nice day. Hopefully I see you there
You know, but that's really poor soul winning
Okay, that's another thing and these two things are related a lot of times people that
That believe, you know, you don't have to call upon the name of lord
That's something they get into in their in their soul winning practices. They just stop praying with people
And I don't understand why you know, the hardest part is actually explaining what the scriptures say
You know just praying a prayer with somebody that's like the easiest part of the whole presentation
I mean, sometimes it's hard for people to like to get that person to pray along with them
You know and there's there's things we could talk about, you know with that
Like one thing I I do is I don't typically I don't ask people to pray with me
You know because if people don't want to pray they'll stop me
Without me even asking do you want to pray right now?
I'll just say hey, well if that's what you believe, you know, and i'll go through the whole thing
I'm not going to go through right now, obviously
But if I believe that they got it that they understood the gospel
and I say hey, let's
Well, let me just let's just pray right now and you could tell god that's what you believe that way
You know have eternal life
We don't have to get fancy about it. We'll just we'll just pray a simple prayer
You can just pray you can repeat after me dear lord and I just go into it
I said just let's just bow our heads and they most people go along with it, right?
Now to people who don't believe, you know, i've already by the time I get to that point
I've already weeded that person out whether or not they believe
I know i'm kind of going off on a tangent but
You know how I do that how you weed people out that don't believe
Is you ask them this question at the very end and everybody everybody that takes me up on this and their soul winning comes back
to me everybody 100
comes back to me
And says unless the people that have and it didn't work out aren't coming to me, right?
But everybody that has come back to me
Has said you were right
And this is what I ask him. What do you personally believe you have to do to go to heaven?
You've got to get i'm telling you
Do that in your soul winning I didn't do that for the longest time and I was praying with a lot of people
A lot of people are saying they believed
That they were they were going along they're saying. Yep. They're agreeing with me. A lot of people are just polite
a lot of people just
Because here's the thing about human nature. We don't like to look stupid
Right. We don't like to get the answers wrong, right? We like to just say yeah, i'm tracking with you
I'm getting it i'm understanding what you're saying
You know, and they'll say I believe that jesus they'll answer all the questions, right
And then you'll ask that last question at the very end. What do you personally believe a person has to do to go to heaven?
What do you think?
They will tell you what they believe
And i've had people sit there and say oh, yeah, it's all by faith. I believe that. Yep
I believe all that and then i'll ask that question. You'll say oh just be a good person
They've gotten all the other questions, right?
Because they under they've they've you know intellectually they've assented onto the information, right?
They they've received
The information they understand what i'm saying, but they don't believe it
Okay, and when I started asking that question
There was a you know, it was it just shocked me how many people were just going along, okay
But look once i've asked that and i've determined as best as I know how that this person believes the gospel that there's been a
Change in their heart and mind about the gospel
That's when i'll pray with them and I don't ask them to pray
You know, I I don't I don't twist their arm either but I just say well let's pray right now
And and because a lot of times if you say well look
Can I pray with you right now and you could tell god they just people are shy people don't they don't know
They think they're going to have to come up with something
You know what and then and then what if they don't call upon the name of lord, you know
They believe these things but they haven't called upon the name of lord. They don't do that. They don't know how to do it
You know, that'd be a real shame wouldn't it to have them that close?
Right and then they just stop
That's why I say look. Let's just pray with them. Let's call upon the name of lord. Let's do what romans 10 says
And actually call upon the name of lord
And people will get saved
Why would you not call that's what I don't get
Oh, i've never called upon the name of lord never I believe but then you're not saved
Because I doubt whether or not you've actually ever believed it or if you like so many others have just had an intellectual understanding
Understanding of the gospel
You know not it's not a heartfelt thing
Look if I realized in a moment of time that at some point in my life
That up until the moment I heard the gospel I was on my way to hell
And that jesus is real and he died for me and he's in heaven listening. Why would I not call upon him?
You're going to tell me there's going to be no kind of expression at all
Of acknowledging god and acknowledging the gospel
It's it's ridiculous. I just don't
Anyway, I gotta I gotta move on why would you not call upon him if you believe that?
I mean, that's the example we get here a little bit with david
He said I will call upon the name of calling the lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved for mine enemies?
Not just I believe there's god there and he's willing to preserve he's willing to save me for mine enemies
And hopefully he does that
So i'm not going to call on him though
He says no i'm going to call on him because if I do I know he'll save me for mine enemies
Verse five when the waves of death compassed me the floods of ungodly men made me afraid the sorrows of hell
Compassed me about the snares of death prevented me
In my distress. I called upon the lord and cried to my god
And he did hear my voice out of his temple and my cry did enter into his ears
Then the earth shook and was trembled the foundations of heaven moved and shook
Because he was roth
Now that's some powerful scripture there. That's a real
This is not
Something you typically hear about the nature of god in most churches today
that when you know, I called upon god and he came down and in in a
in a beautiful cloud and and I saw this bright light and
You know and god, you know some miracle miraculous thing happened. No, he's saying look when I called upon god
And he heard me the earth trembled and the earth shook and trembled the foundations of heaven moved and shook
Because god was mad
And what's he mad about? He's mad about david being mistreated, right?
That tells me that god takes a vested interest in his children
Right, and he he wants to move on our behalf
The problem is is that you know, we don't call upon him. We don't ask god for that. We don't cry out to god
I mean david was he says in verse seven in my distress, right? We read verses five and six again
I mean he's the sorrows of hell the snares of death the waves of death floods of ungodly men
I mean he's in a real serious hard situation
And what did he do took some prescription drugs?
You know we turned to alcohol and drugs
To try to numb the pain or try to get away from it. No, he says I called upon the lord
I cried on a god
right and god moves
When when his children when his people turn to him
I mean he he's you know
I don't know what we're going to do what you can do against god when he shakes the earth
And when he when he causes heaven to move and to shake
You know, that's who's on our side
You know, that's our god
Now look, I don't know that god's going to show up like that for us in that exact manner these days
But I know there's but then again, I don't know that we're being compassed about by floods of ungodly men
You know, we might have other problems in life that are are you know, i'm not trying to downplay them
They're not as severe as this
But they're not they're not even as as severe as what david is going through, but we still don't call upon god
We still refuse to call out to god
Look, we have all these problems. We should cast all our care upon him for he careth for us the bible says
We should come boldly before the throne of god to find mercy and help in time of need
We should go we should go and ask god for that help. He will move
and look at in david's case it wasn't just
You know pat david on the head there there. It says he was roth. He was mad about way. David was being
uh
You know handled being treated verse nine
We get to see this aspect of god's nature that god has is wroth, you know
Like wrath wrathful angry mad to a very severe degree. That's what it means to be wrathful
or to be wroth
He says verse nine there went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it
You know god's wrath is not something that is passive
God doesn't just get mad and say well i'm mad i'm upset, you know, it doesn't give us the silent treatment, you know
When god gets mad he moves man. He he does things, you know and and
You know god's not this one-dimensional person
He's he's multifaceted he has you know, he's there's a lot of different aspects to his personality
And one of them is is that he can be angry
Now is that what's popular today to preach? Is that what people want to hear?
You make god mad
That's not that's not the popular message the popular message is god's not angry with you god's not mad at you
God is only interested in the best your best life now
Right, right beloved, right
Now is god does god those other things too? Yeah god is love isn't he
But it's really up to us which side of god we're going to get
If we're going to get god's angry side or we're going to get god's good side
We're going to get the wrath or the blessing, okay
But just either way the takeaway is this is that god is not passive
God doesn't just sit up in heaven and suck his thumb because you know
People are misbehaving or people are doing the wrong things because people are wicked
He moves against people he judges people he judges entire nations
And he has he is and he's going to right yet once more he will shake heaven and earth, right?
We understand, you know revelation and end times and all that god's not done judging the earth
That's something he's still going to do literally going to judge this earth and the people that are on it
and notice, you know and beyond that it's it's if you would go over to uh,
We'll go over to isaiah 30 and keep something in isaiah isaiah 30
You know beyond just god's judgment here on earth god actually goes so far as to judge people eternally in hell
You know, but again, that's not the popular message is it
God's not angry. Well explain hell to me then
What does what else what else is hell but besides god's wrath just being poured out for all eternity among people?
Well, that wasn't god's idea. No, that was god's idea
The bible says that he created hell for the devil and his angels, right?
The bible says in isaiah 30 where you are verse 33
For tophat is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared
He hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood
And tophat is another
Symbol of the the valley of the sons of hinom in the scripture. That's a picture of hell. Okay?
And he says that tophat he has made it deep and large what's hell called the bottomless pit, right?
The pile thereof is much fire and wood is fire and much wood meaning it's going to burn for a long time, right?
This is obviously
You know a literal place here in isaiah, but it's it's a it's an allegory. It's an allusion unto
hell itself
And hell is a place where the smoke of their fire or the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever
Why because it's a place of everlasting fire
It's not just much wood, right? If there's much wood, it'll burn out, but it's a picture of hell that play
It's a literal place of literal fire
And look at verse go it goes on it says much wood and the breath of the lord
Like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it
So who's responsible for lighting the fires of hell god?
God himself is the one that created hell
So why would we it'd be a very foolish thing to sit here and say god never gets mad at anybody
God gets so mad that he made it a place called hell for the devils and angels when man fell and when man became sinful
He said you're going to go there too
Forever to a place that I light on fire with my own mouth
And we know revelation that says that that they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the lamb
That's the lord
Not only it's not like god just lit that on fire and just pretends it's not there. He's present in it
People say oh hell's hell is just separation from god
That's all it is. It's just being separate from god from all eternity
No, bible says that they're gonna be they're gonna be tormented in the presence of god
Well, how can god be in both places? Well, you know, he he can be everywhere at once
You know, that's something he's omnipresent. You know, we talked about that at length a few months back
So
when god we got to understand that god isn't just
You know, he he's not passive
And it's not just we will say. Oh, yeah. I know god gets mad. God gets angry
We upset god and we do things that displease god
Yeah, that's true. But don't forget this. Sometimes we forget the fact that god's not passive in his anger
I mean he goes so far as to make a place called health. He's not just sitting there twiddling his thumbs hoping we get right
I mean, we all know hebrews 12. He chases every son whom he receiveth
You know a lot of times if things are going wrong in our life
And i'm not saying every time you have a problem or you get sick that god's chasing you
You know, we should never say that about other people either if we see somebody else going through something
We should go. I wonder what they've been into
I wonder what kind of sin they got in their life, right because we understand that sometimes
You know life happens and sometimes we have testings and trials that just come to us
And just life itself has its own ordeals. But look
It would be it would behoove every one of us
If when we are going through some difficult time to maybe search our hearts and say maybe is this god chasing me?
I know I could look back in my life
And I can see seasons where I know it was god. Just just coming down on me. Just give me a whooping
Finances are a mess health was a mess
Nothing was working out, you know, and it was I I look back now and say that was god chasing me
Because this is the point i'm making when god
God is angry
And then he's also not passive in that anger the smoke comes out of his nostril the fire comes out of his mouth
Look at verse 10. He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet
And he rode upon a cherub and did fly and he was seen upon the wings of the wind
And he made darkness pavilions round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies
through the brightness
Behold before him were coals of fire kindled
Excuse me
The lord thundered from heaven the most high uttered at his voice and he sent out arrows and scattered them lightnings that discomfited them
And the channels of the sea appeared the foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the lord
At the blast of his breath of his nostrils. He sent from above he took me. He drew me out of many waters
He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them that hated me for they were too strong for me
They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the lord was my stay
So again before david talks about his exploits. He's talking about everything that god did he's giving god all the glory for this
He's saying look the only reason I made it out is because god was my stay
Verse 20. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted me
The lord rewarded me according my righteousness according the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me
For I have kept the ways of the lord and have not wickedly departed from my god
That's a key verse
To this whole passage man. I love for god to show up for me like that
Well, i'd like to know that if I ever got in a pickle like that god was going to be on my side
Well, you know the reason why he did all that for david is because verse 21
He rewarded me according to my righteousness because he was living right because he had god's blessing on his life
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me, right?
He's saying god did all this for me because I was right with him
You know if god if david were out of sorts with god if he wasn't right with god god might have just left him to it
Things might have turned out very differently for david. Okay
and we know later in david's life that he was judged severely by god for his sins because he
You know, he didn't always have clean hands. He wasn't always
Walking according to his righteousness, right?
But look verse 22. He says for I have kept the ways the lord have not wickedly departed from my god
So I know I want god's blessing my life then don't depart from him
Then don't you know, keep his ways live your life according to god's word and he will bless it, you know
I and many people can attest to that
That they've had god's blessing on their life since they got right with god, okay
He said in verse 24, I also I was also upright before him and i've kept myself from my iniquity
Therefore the lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in his eyesight
God's watching, you know the eyes of the lord are go throughout all the go to and fro in the earth
Beholding the evil and the good, right?
God is watching god does keep track
And he's saying
You know, that's why I was recompensed
He has recompensed me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in his eyesight
Without with the merciful thou will show thyself merciful and with the upright man that will show thyself upright
And again, that's a real important principle, right?
that's why he was blessed when we talked about it when we were going through, uh for sam when he
You know when he was
All the times that david delivered saul when he could have killed saul remember that
And he didn't he was what merciful and god in turn was merciful unto him
And that's something that we have to practice in our lives if we want mercies from god
You know what? We should extend mercy to other people
He said well I do that with with everybody at church well, I hope you do but you know, it extends beyond just
these walls
We should be merciful to the unsaved as well
You know because one we want them to get saved
We want those people to be saved. Why would we treat them poorly?
You know
It's you know, they're already on their way to hell
You know, let's not make go out of our way to make life more miserable for them
But he's saying look I will god's going to show himself merciful unto the merciful look at verse 27 with the pure that
Will show thyself pure with the forward that will show thyself unsavory
And the afflicted people that will save but thine eyes are upon the hottie that thou mayest bring them down
For thou at my lamp. Oh lord, the lord will light my darkness for by thee now
We're getting into what david did but notice we're at verse 30
And it's just all about god did this and god did this and god did this yeah, I walked in my uprightness
Here's why god god's blessing and now he's starting to talk about the things that he did for by thee
I have run through a troop and by my god still giving god the glory. I have I leaped over a wall
Right. So he's he's talking about his exploits in battle and david was a was a
Obviously a very fierce warrior. He was a great military commander
Military commander and he was someone who was very strong in battle
Verse 31 as for god his way is perfect
The word of the lord is tried and he is a buckler to all them that trust in him
You say well, you know that also finds it sounds fine and good
But why should I want to go along with the way god does things?
Because god's way is perfect
Whether we understand it or not, whether it makes sense to us or not. We have to acknowledge god's way is perfect
You know that should be where you start with god
You know when you start to read things or hear things from the word of god
And and you start to say well that just goes against everything i've been taught that goes against
You know my upbringing that goes against what I want to do when you find yourselves at odds with the word of god
You shouldn't say well
Let me let me try to figure out why it makes more sense to do things god way and then maybe i'll go along with it
You know, you should just say this ask for god his way is perfect
And i'm just whether I understand it or not whether I agree with it or not
I'm, just going to go along with the way god wants things done and you will understand it later
Later, it will make sense
You know, it will make sense later when you say well, why why do we have to keep ourselves pure in a marriage?
Why can't we just go around and fornicate like everybody else?
Doesn't make any sense
It'll make a lot more sense when you finally get married
When you finally have that relationship or you know, why can't we uh be drunks and alcoholics and and potheads and everything else
Well, it'll make a lot more sense when you start to meet people that are that and see the way their lives turn out
Why do I have to raise my kids a certain way? It doesn't make any sense
Why do we have to do what the way the bible says?
well when you have when you turn out kids that don't love god that are you know, uh,
Our displeasure to you that don't bring you joy that our grief of heart to you, then it'll make sense
But you know by then it's too late
Then you will agree with god because you see the error of your own ways
You know what? It's better to just start out and say god's way is perfect
I don't understand it. I don't get it
Uh, you know, I don't even agree with it maybe but you know what? I agree with this. It's perfect
It's right and i'm going to go along with it and i'll see how it turns out
And i'm just going to trust god
I mean don't you think david if anybody had any reason to doubt here in this passage? It's david
David's, you know
Saul samuel shows up and anoints him. You're going to be the next king next thing, you know within a few years
He's running around in the wilderness with a bunch of discontent people
Which with a bunch of you know people that are in debt and rebellious and everything else
And discontent he's running around and say well wait this is this doesn't make sense to me. I thought I was going to be king
You know, you know what? He said no god's way is perfect and i'm going through a season
I'm having a hardship right now. Maybe it's not how I would have things or have done things
But it's the way god's doing things his way is perfect. The word of the lord is tried
He is a buckler to all them that what trust in him
See, that's the key word. You have to trust god
You have to say you know what? I I don't understand it all but I trust god that he's perfect. Okay
and you know
If you're really having struggles with this just look around and ask yourself is man's way better than god's
And how is it turning out for us?
Doing things our own way
Not so good
And that's why it's so foolish to me when people get so excited
About some politician or something like that thinking that some guy is going to come along and fix problems for man
I mean, they might put a band-aid on it, but they can't fix the real issue
Man, you know, they're gonna man is gonna fix the problems man created. No, he's not
Okay, because he's gonna do things man's way
If man decided hey, let's do things god's way things will get better
You know if congress and everybody else all the lawmakers opened up leviticus opened up their armies
That's a pretty good idea. Maybe you know, we don't necessarily understand perfectly
But let's give it a try and see how it turns out things would get a lot better
I mean that's part of part of the reason for millennium folks through a thousand year reign of christ
god's gonna show up and say okay you had your turn now, let me show you how it's done when you actually do things because
By the word of god because in the millennium it's peace or else he's going to rule with a rod of iron
And it's not and he's going to break them as a as a potter's vessel. He's going to dash them in pieces
It's going to be you're going to have to go along with the word of god. It's not optional
There's not going to be a vote in congress
You know the the the school board's not going to get together and decide whether or not they're going to let the bible in the room
Anymore, you know, it's going to be god's way or the highway
That's it
You know what people are going to find out?
That god's way is perfect
That it works
That there can be peace when we do things god's way, but we're never going to do things god's way
Until god, you know makes us, right?
But look
Obviously, that's the way the world works. But in your personal life, why don't you just have that attitude of just trusting god
Just saying hey god's way is perfect
Maybe I don't understand it
You know part of me doesn't agree with it
But I believe the bible is the word of god and if god wants me to do things a certain way
I'm, just going to go along with that
And i'll be blessed in the latter end
The bible says the word of the lord is right and all his works are done in truth
You say well, I don't get it I don't know I don't understand
Well, you know the bible says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither your ways my way saith the lord
For as the heavens are higher than the earth
So are my ways
Higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts
You know, we don't have to sit here and so i'll agree with god when we can explain it to me when I can understand it
When it makes sense to me
Maybe just say well if it's coming from god
If these are god's thoughts on the matter there you already know they're coming from a higher place than yours
Right. It's a it's a higher
wisdom that's there
You might as well just receive that instruction
It's like parents who come to their kids and say no this is the way you need to do this
This is the way things ought to be done
Well, I understand I know because you haven't lived as long
Believe me it's been trial and error for generations. We figured this out. Okay
Just trust us our ways are higher than your ways
And if you just trust us eventually you'll get it and you'll agree say yeah, you're right
It's the same way with us and god it's the same with man and god we have to just trust god and just say you know
What his ways are higher?
I don't know why god says I got to discipline my kids like this. I got to have my marriage like this
I've got to work like this. I've got to do I don't I don't understand it all but i'm just going to trust him
And you know what? You'll find out that his ways are perfect
Look at verse 32
Of uh second samuel 22 he said for who is god save the lord and who is a rock save our god
God is my strength and power and he maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet and seteth me upon
My high places he teacheth my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken
By mine arms. So again, he's talking about his exploits, but notice in verse three. He said god is my strength and my power
He said he maketh my feet like hind's feet and hind is like a roe or a roebuck or a deer is what we would call
it today
And of course he's talking about the fact that you know
He was very agile, right?
He was very light on his feet like instead of asahel that he had
He had the the feet as of a young roe, right? He was light on his feet, right?
And he uh, he made his feet like hind's feet and he seteth me upon high places
Remember david was spending all that time running from saul in the mountains, right?
And god gave him the strength and the ability to just you know, run at those high altitudes, right?
Like some of us that went up to mount humphreys this last summer we we can attest to this way. We saw the spectrum
Of people who had feet more like hind's feet
And people who had feet less like hind's feet, right? We'll just leave it at that
You know, we had some of the younger guys here that were were literally running up the mountain, right?
More than once
I don't know. They're going back and forth, right? Then there were others of us
Who will remain nameless
Namely me
You know, it took us a little bit longer to get up and down. We didn't have the hind's feet, right?
But that but look, I mean that's that's an account you say what's so big about that?
Well, you go run at high altitude on my humphreys and you tell me how easy it is
And he set me upon high places. He teacheth my hands to war
So that a bow of steel is broken by nine mine arms
and you know this just remind us again that
We have a you know say well
How does this apply to my life?
You know
God's going to make me
Be able to run at high altitudes. He's going to make i'm going to be like a strong man and just put on a show but
Obviously david needed to do this
these particular things
Because that was his situation. He was being pursued by by literal
Army by a literal army, right?
You know, we don't we aren't pursued by a little army, but we do have an enemy, right?
Who walk about seeking whom he may devour right as a roaring lion
And we we know the scriptures that that we are fighting a spiritual battle that we're we wrestle not against flesh and blood
But against principalities and powers in high places, right?
So that's why we have to apply this spiritually
We can make a spiritual application that we need to endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ, right?
And that we need to be strong in the lord and the power of his might we need to put on the whole armor of god
Right and having done all to stand
So there's a spirit the spiritual application is what needs to be made here
Look at verse 36. Thou has given me the shield of thy salvation
And thy gentleness hath made me great
So he's saying look thy gentleness hath made me great and I think this is a really important principle that we need to understand is that
Especially if you know as parents or even if we're just trying to persuade people in the same things
The way the way we see them like if we're in soul winning
Or maybe even a marriage or whatever relationship where we're trying to help somebody else
You know gentleness goes a long way. It reminds me of that saying you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, right?
You mean either you can kill them with kindness is another saying right?
And look that's what made david great the fact that god was gentle with him that he was long suffering that he was patient
That he was merciful, right
And look that's what we need to be in our lives. We can't just be these abrasive
hard
just
uh, you know
Rough people who just treat people poorly. We need to learn to be gentle people
And I mean that's something the bible talks a lot about
I won't turn you in all these passages for sake of time, but if you would
You know go over to uh, go over to titus three let's go there
I'll i'll just read to you some of these other passages to talk about the fact that we should be gentle
I mean think about the fruits of the spirit. I mean, that's one of the fruits of the spirit, right?
Joy, peace long suffering gentleness faith meekness goodness temperance against such there is no law
But what was that? You know, what was in there gentleness?
Being a gent you say well, you know, i'm this big burly guy. I can't be gentle nobody
I'm, so tough, right? Well, you know what that maybe maybe you don't have the fruit of the spirit
Maybe you don't have the filling of the holy spirit
You know being being sealed by the spirits one thing being filled with the holy spirits another thing
And look if we're filled with the spirit the bible says we're going to have love joy. Peace long suffering, right gentleness
These things are kind of related being long sufferings people being gentle with people
You know waiting for people to come along, you know, this is something that
You know, I practice as somebody who's pastoring a church
You know, you can't you can't when people because people come into church at all different stages in their life
Not just not just in their in their you know their age
But even in their own spiritual maturity some people just got saved some people have been saved for years decades even
A lot of people come in they're already equipped. They already understand the bible
They already know the doctrines. They already know what it how to be a good church member and they just they just fall right in line
There's no need to even really shepherd them along
Other people come in there. It's first time even in a church first time in a baptist church, you know
first time in an independent fundamental baptist church
They've never even heard some of these things
You know and it'd be and it'd be real easy for me to just you know, start trying to just
Ram this all down their throat. Why don't you get it, you know and just start getting after people
But is that gentle?
Would that is that going to help them?
For me to just come down on every single little thing that they're doing wrong. Just every transgression every you know, and just
That's just going to run people off. It's just going to discourage them
You know what I've found is that people if you're just give them time and be patient with them
They'll figure things out on their own
Eventually, they'll they'll connect the dots and say oh that that's why we we don't do that. Oh, that is why we do that
And just be gentle with people right and that's something I practice that's something but that's something we all need to practice in our lives
You know, that's something that we could apply in our child rearing
And with just which everybody in in our lives to be gentle with people let people come along
You know, he told paul told the thessalonians we were gentle among you even as a nurse nurse cherishes her children, right?
That's the picture that he's painting there how he brought the thessalonians along as a nurse cherishing her child, right?
And look if there's anybody that can get impatient with somebody it's a nursing mother. Okay
And he was like, okay time for solids, you know, it's just like I haven't got any teeth. Yeah, i'm i'm out of patience
You know what there's a gentleness there
And it's not it's not for the sake of the mother
You know having to put out all those extra calories all the discomfort of nursing
all the inconvenience of nursing
Right. This is a great illustration. This is something i'm very familiar with having, you know
Five kids and who are all breastfed. My wife knows a lot about this
And you know what? It would be a lot easier to just just put them on the formula and just put start shoving, you know
Gerber whatever down their throat and just say well I can't be in convenience with that
But that's not going to be good for them in the long run, you know
They're not going to have the immunity and everything like that
But you know, I want to get all that but here's here's the picture though, right?
Is there's a lot what there's gentleness involved there's long suffering involved not for the sake of the mother
for the sake of
the child, right
That's why you know, it's so hard for people to do this sometimes to be gentle to be long suffering to be merciful with people
You know, it reminds me of people who uh, you know, sometimes when people want to help out
they say hey, can I do anything to help it's like
I want to say yes, but I know that if I say yes, i'm gonna have to explain everything. You know what I mean?
I'm gonna have to tell you I might as well just do it, right?
Like we might do that with our kids our kids, you know, they want to help
You know dad, can I help change the oil?
So
It doesn't yeah, can I just give you the oil in the wrench and just say go to town
No, i'm gonna say okay now put the pan there take that nut out
slowly
You know, okay, make sure you put oil back in it change the filter. Don't put in too much
It's how much you put in it's how you pour it. I'm going to explain all that, right?
What's that going to take on my part gentleness?
Now, why don't you get it? What's wrong with you?
You know, that's that's the white that's the wiper fluid. You don't put oil in it, you know
Whatever, you know what I mean?
That's why but that if we're going to help people if we're going to benefit other people if we're going to bring them along
We have to be gentle with them. We have to be like a nursemaid to them
We have to let them learn things and we have to take the time to instruct them, you know
The bible says in second timothy 2 he says the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle unto
the people that they like
The people that don't get on their nerves
The people that go they do go to church with no, it's a gentle unto all men all men
App to teach patient and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves
You know, we should be gentle with the unsaved
It's because of the fact that they oppose themselves
You know, this will really help you in your soul winning
when you go out there and you knock on a door and someone's rude or
Crass with you and look it happens all the time. I get emails almost every day, you know voicemails every day
Of people being nasty on the phone because someone left an invite on their door
You know, I get it. It's a lot easier to do it over the phone than in person, but people it happens in person, too
right
People cuss you out people slam doors, right?
They're rude
Right, but you have to understand is that they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting the gospel. It's nothing against you personally
It's what you stand for. It's the bible in your hand that they don't like
It's the message that you're bringing I guarantee if you showed up that same door with a giant check and balloons
You know, they would they would just burst out the front door
They'd be so happy to see you
And again, it's not because of you not because of your face or what the way you dress or anything
It's because of the message you're bringing
You know if you're if you were ed mcmahon bringing, you know, the the publishing clearinghouse sweepstakes winner, you know
That message is a message they want to receive no matter how rude they are
But if you're bringing the gospel, you know, people are going to be triggered by that. They're going to be made upset
That's why you have to instruct in meekness and understand that they're opposing themselves
Less pre-adventure god will grant them repentance, right?
But look at titus chapter 2 or titus 3 verse 1 put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates
To be ready to every good work to speak evil of no man
To be no brawlers, but what gentle?
Showing all maintenance unto all men
Look, this might be something that we struggle with a little bit more as men because gentleness is not something that we're just
It's always part of our nature to be gentle towards all men
Right, but the bible does say that we have to be gentle
you know and not and not just
Like the bible says, you know
Answering railing for railing, you know, someone treats us poorly
We do what we do better to just
Overlook the transgression
And kill them with kindness. Just do something nice
Now that's not to say there isn't a time to be stern
Because there is a time to be stern isn't there?
The bible says to reprove to rebuke to exhort with all long-suffering doctrine, but you know who that was written to to a preacher
You know the time to be stern, you know this, you know
He said well you brother corbett you get up and you rip face and you preach hard and and and you say
You're not very gentle up there sometimes
Right
But that's because that's you know, there's a time and place for all of this
God isn't always gentle either is he I mean god got mad. We just read about it
But god's not like that all the time
right
And a lot of times people make the mistake of saying
Oh, they see how the preacher is in the pulpit and they think that's how they're going to go be in their life
With other people that they interact with
That's a big mistake. Right? This is there's a time and place to to reprove to rebuke to exhort with all long-suffering doctrine
Let's move on here in the chapter says in verse 37 thou has enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip
I have pursued mine enemies and destroyed them and turned out again until I consumed them
And I have consumed them and wounded them that they could not arise day
They are fallen under my feet for thou has girded me with strength to battle them that rose up against me
That was subdued under me verse 41
That was also given me the next of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me
They looked but they there was none to save even unto lord, but he answered them not so god does pick sides, doesn't he?
Then I did beat them as a small as the dust of the earth
I did stamp them as the mire of the street and did spread them abroad
Thou also has delivered me from the strivings of my people though has kept me from
Kept me to be head of the heathen a people which I knew not shall serve me
Stranger shall submit themselves unto me as soon as they hear they shall be obedient unto me strangers shall fade away
And they shall be afraid out of their close places
The lord liveth and blessed be my rock and exult and exalted be the god of the rock of my salvation
It is god that avengeth me
You know david he just goes through this whole litany of things
So how he just destroyed all these other people and how he just brought all these other people into submission, right?
But he's saying look the only reason I did is because it was god that avenges me
You know, we need to understand it, you know, i'm going to close on this thought is that
You know, we should be gentle and meek with people
Because you know, even people that do us wrong god's the one that avenges us
He said vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the lord
You know, we don't have to take all these matters into our own hands. We don't have to right every wrong
I'm, not just speaking in generally i'm saying like in our personal lives
When people do us wrong when things don't go our way when someone does us dirty or treats us poorly
You know, we have the option of just leaving that in god's hands
And i'm not saying that god's gonna beat them down or you know destroy them or anything like that god might just let them
Go on, right?
Why because he wants to be gentle unto them too. Okay, because that's what's going to make them great
That's what's going to get them saved. Okay
So remember it's god that avenges us. We don't have to take everything
You know and and and upon ourselves god's the one that will repay
He's the one that will determine whether or not you know, some transgression is even worth being punished
Right
That guy cut me off in traffic, you know now i'm going to tailgate him for the next 30 miles
And then i'm going to cut him off after I cross a double yellow
Right. I mean it's out there folks. People are insane on these roads
I know I talk about it a lot, but it's just like such a perfect example
Of people just that's why you know, it's best just not even getting to road rage
Because you don't know what that other person is like behind that car
Seriously, they they will people flip out
People die get seriously hurt over over what he didn't use his blinker
I mean at the end it's so petty
Do you think anybody that's ever gotten in some colossal wreck road raging has ever walked away and said worth it?
Never it's never happened
right
That's why it's better. Just overlook a transgression. Just let it go
You know, just keep that safe following distance, you know, let that I mean I struggle this for a while
But I got the place where i'm just like look just get away from me, you know
If people start tailgating me, I just slow down. It's like get around i'll pull over
Let me get in the you know, I will say get over to the other slow lanes people
I can't believe it. I wish that were a law here. Isn't that a law in new mexico?
You can't ride in the in the in the far left lane unless you're passing. No
It's it is it's an okal. It is in oklahoma. I got you there. I know for a fact it is
Right because I was in oklahoma driving everybody go over as soon as I cross the the board over to texas
Everybody's over the left hand side again. Yeah
All right
texans tell you
I said
Right, but this then, you know that this i'm just using it as an illustration to say look
Obviously, it's a very petty thing, you know road rage. But what about when there is a serious transgression when someone really does
Harm you does spite you does something that really is
evil towards you
You know, you don't necessarily have to take that into your into your hands you can just commit them unto the lord
And so, you know what god will avenge me and god's justice will be perfect
He'll know just how much they need to be punished or how much vengeance needs to be doled out if any at all, right?
You know, but the same here's here's the other let's flip the tables around though
God takes vengeance on those that disobey right meaning we can find ourselves on on the receiving end of that
Of that vengeance, you know of that chastening we could be the ones that god says, you know what i'm going to repay you
For what you've done?
It's all dependent on our behavior, isn't it?
You know god is going to determine
You know
How he's going to act in our lives based on what on our gentleness or the lack thereof, right?
Whether we're merciful like david said with the merciful that will show thyself merciful
You know why it's a good idea to just be merciful to people because one day you're going to need some mercy
I mean look at david's life. I mean, he said that he's a walking example of that
He was just merciful to saul over and over again
Then one day, you know, he has uraya that hit tight killed and commits adultery with his wife and gets murdered adultery. What's he get mercy?
Say that's not fair. Well, you know what god's ways are higher than our ways
God's way is perfect. Mercy is not getting what you deserve, right? I'm not saying god blessed him
That would be god's grace getting what you don't deserve, right? I'm just saying he didn't get what he did deserve
He was shown mercy
And look, we're all going to need mercy. So we might as well just learn
To be merciful people as david was let's go and pray