2 Samuel chapter 22 the Bible reads in verse number 1
David spake unto the Lord the words of this song
in the day that the Lord had deliver him out of the hand of all his enemies
and out of the hand of Saul this song this this same teaching is found in the
book of Psalms also
but this chapter is just packed with a lot of great
teaching and one thing that I love about the book of Psalms
is that the songs in the book of Psalms really teach a lot of great doctrine
and they cover such a range of topics you know sometimes I feel like
the songs that we sing don't cover the whole range of biblical subject matter
whereas the book of Psalms it has a lot of really positive songs it has some
negative songs it has
songs that tell all kinds of Bible stories and and so
the book of Psalms really is a great book this song in particular it says
David spake this unto the Lord
in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies
and out of the hand of Saul so this is much earlier
in his life you know this is like 40 some years before the end of his life
look at the Bible says in verse number 2 and he said the Lord
is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer the God of my rock
in him will I trust now this is a theme of this song where he keeps coming back
to the fact that God is the rock
but it's interesting because he says the Lord with the all capital you know
capital L capital O capital R capital D
he says the Lord is my rock but then
a second later he says the God of my rock now what is that rock
well we know that that rock is the Word of God you know Jesus Christ said
that whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them
shall be likened unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock
and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that
house
and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock he said everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man that built his
house upon the sand
and the rain descended the floods came the wind blew beat upon that house
and it fell and great was the fall of it so the wise man builds his house upon
the rock
of God's Word he said that's the one that hears these sayings of mine and doeth
them
and then the one who is a foolish man is basically one who's hearing the Word of
God and not doing it
he's building his house on the sand so what's the rock then it's the sayings of
Jesus Christ it's the Word
of God and of course the famous verse says in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word
was God so it's kinda interesting that that God is the rock
but then he's also the God of the rock okay because you know the Word is God
and the Word is with God because of course there's the Father
the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three
are one so it says the God of my rock
in him will I trust here's another theme that comes up over and over again
he is my shield okay now jump down if you would to verse number 31
and the Bible says in verse 31 as for God his way
is perfect the Word of the Lord
is tried he is a buckler
to all them that trust in him now buckler is another word for shield so
this is again talking about the fact that God is a shield
another verse in Proverbs said that you know the words
the words of the Lord I'm sorry every word of God is pure
he's a shield unto them that put their trust in him
add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee
and thou be found a liar look what it says there in verse 31 as for God his way is perfect
the Word of the Lord is tried so not only is the Word of God a rock but the
Bible says it's tried
now what does it mean to be tried well if we talked about the tried and the true
what would we be talking about something that has been tested
and something that has shown itself to be faithful
over and over again it's not some new thing that we're
we're gonna give it a shot no it's been tried it's tested it's true
even the very name of our church is faithful
word Baptist Church meaning the word
that you can trust that's what faithful word means it means that God's Word is
faithful
means that we can trust it it's a rock
it never changes it doesn't shift like the sand
where it's gonna say something different a few years from now
than what it says right now no it never changes it always says the same thing
it's the rock of our salvation it's the god
of the rock it is the rock and if we build our life on
it we know that we're building on a firm
foundation it shields us from all the fiery darts of the wicked all the
garbage that comes our way
people trying to tell us all kinds of lies and get us to believe false things
this shields us from all that and this is a foundation
that never changes you know it's amazing just how things change in our society
I was speaking at the Community College today
in South Phoenix and when I was speaking at the Community College
the teacher brought out the fact because you know of course all the
students are all pro-homosexual because that's you know that's all the
propaganda
and and the teacher he flat-out said to the students he said you know
eight years ago when I started teaching he said he said there was almost nobody
in the class
that was okay with homosexuality back then even just eight years ago and this
is in a secular school this at South Mountain College
because he would have these discussions in philosophy
because it was philosophy 101 was the class that I was speaking in
and in philosophy 101 they had these discussions where people put forth
different ideas and
and they you know basically debate different ideas and so forth
he said you know he would have a hard time finding anybody that would
represent the side of hey it's okay
because even eight years ago they're saying it's gross, it's disgusting, it's false, it's wicked
you know whereas nowadays pretty much everybody in the class was
was aligned against me you know that that they're okay with it
and so forth so that just shows you how time changed just in eight years
there's been a shift just at that college okay I know there's I've
witnessed a huge shift
amongst the independent Baptists even
in the last 20 years where they've just changed their stance on these things
and I just want to say to them you know are you guys founded on the rock or what
what are you changing? What are these shifting sands here
that you're building
you're preaching on if you're not preaching the same stuff
that you're preaching 20 years ago
now it's okay to change your preaching if you learn more from the Bible
sharpen it up a little bit
from the word
but to be changing with the world where you're changing the same way the world's
changing
something's wrong with that picture
God is the rock
he never changes
and somebody literally when I was preaching
today at the community college
somebody literally said to me
were you sure that maybe God hasn't just changed his mind thousands of years
later
are you sure God never changed his mind? I said the Bible says
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday
and today
and forever
and I said that it also says in Malachi
I am the Lord I change not therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed
and so to sit there and say well maybe God changes well no maybe he's God he
never changes he is immutable unchangeable
and he's a rock
every you know the wind and the rain and they can huff and puff and blow the
house down
but it's founded on the rock it's not going anywhere
but those that are founded on the shifting sands of
you know what's popular
they're going to be constantly changed
I mean if you're going to go with what's popular you would have had a dramatic shift in
the last twenty years on some of these subjects
as our country becomes a modern day
Sodom and Gomorrah
but the Bible says here
the God of my rock
in him will I trust verse three
he is my shield
and the horn of my salvation my high tower
and my refuge
my savior thou savest me from violence
I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised
so shall I be saved
from mine enemies
when the waves of death compass me
the floods of ungodly men made me afraid the sorrows of hell compass 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
so he's talking about crying out unto the Lord for help against physical enemies in this song
a lot of times in the song he's talking about
you know physical battle
and you know people attacking him and he's fighting back and so forth
now when the Bible says saved it's not always talk about going
you know to heaven versus going to hell
sometimes it's just talking about physically being saved where
you know you call out to the Lord
to save you from a physical circumstance
now some people will mistakenly
look at scriptures where David's calling upon the name of the Lord
for physical deliverance
and they'll say well hey that's always what calling upon the name of the Lord is
and they'll try to disassociate calling upon the name of the Lord from salvation
in the sense of going to heaven
but we know that calling upon the name of the Lord
is relevant to salvation because of Romans chapter 10
because Romans chapter 10 says
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead
thou shalt be saved
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
for the scripture saith whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed
for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
so all of those verses start with the word for
which is a conjunction meaning because
so it says that if thou shalt confess thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead
thou shalt be saved then it has these series of for's
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
for the scripture saith you know for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
so to disconnect
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
to disconnect that
from
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus makes absolutely no sense
it's all one thought
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead
you shall be saved
because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
because Jesus is the name of the Lord
that you're calling upon
that's what the confessing your mouth the Lord Jesus is
it's the calling upon the name of the Lord
those two things are connected
in Romans chapter 10
so when the Bible used the term calling upon the name of the Lord
that could be
salvation from any set of circumstances
you could call upon the name of the Lord
to deliver you from a bad situation on this earth
but the most important time that you call upon the name of the Lord
is when you call upon the name of the Lord to be saved
but then after you're saved you'd call upon the name of the Lord
just to save you out of bad situations
or to save you from physical enemies
that are trying to attack you or kill you or harm you or whatever
so that's where people get confused
but calling upon the name of the Lord is associated with salvation
and of course in the New Testament the Bible says
neither is there salvation in any other
for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved
and in that context they said hey this is in the name of Jesus of Nazareth
so the name that we call upon to be saved in the New Testament is the name of Jesus
now the Bible talks about how Abraham called on the name of the Lord
but the name that he called upon was the name God Almighty
because in Exodus 6 3 it says
I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the name of God Almighty
but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them
so the main name that God used in the time of the patriarchs was God Almighty
then in the days of Moses and afterward
the main name that he went by was the name of Jehovah
or what we have in the King James Bible as the Lord with the all capital L-O-R-D
and then in the New Testament the main name is Jesus
okay so you know God has multiple names
he doesn't just have one name you know people make a mistake when they think he just has one name
you know he goes by different names okay
but the one name that's above any other name
and the one name that's associated with salvation in the New Testament
now that it's been revealed is the name of Jesus
you know people in the Old Testament didn't need to know the name of Jesus to be saved
it hadn't been revealed yet
they called upon God Almighty for salvation
they called upon Jehovah for salvation
but now that we're in the New Testament and the son of God has come
and has given us an understanding you know
that we may know him that is true
we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ
this is the true God and eternal life the Bible says
in first John chapter 5 verse 20
so you know right here we see calling upon the name of the Lord
to save from physical circumstances that he's in
but then there's also an underlying symbolism here
of being saved from hell also symbolically
but the Bible says in verse number eight
then the earth shook and trembled
the foundations of heaven moved and shook
because he was wroth
wroth means very angry it's like the word wrath
so it says because he was wroth
there went up a smoke out of his nostrils
now keep in mind who are we talking about here
who's got smoke coming out of his nostrils
this is God this is the Lord
and it says he had a smoke coming out of his nostrils
and fire out of his mouth devoured
coals were kindled by it
he bowed the heavens also and came down
and darkness was under his feet
and he rode upon a cherub and did fly
and 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 before him were coals of fire kindled
the Lord thundered from heaven
and the Most High uttered his voice
he sent out arrows and scattered them
lightning and discomforted 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 the breath of his nostrils
so this is using very poetic language
just to talk about basically the terrible aspect of the Lord
the fearsome aspect of who God is
and a lot of people today in 2015 have forgotten this aspect of God
they basically focus on the scriptures that say
God is love
or they'll focus on the still small voice
or they'll focus on you know the rainbow that's above his head
and the sea of glass and the throne and the angels singing
and those are all legitimate images of who God is
but we don't want to just get half the picture here
there is a lot of scripture like this
we're looking at one passage
this isn't the only passage like this
there are a lot of scriptures that talk about the wrath of God
and that portray God as vengeful and wrathful
I mean the Bible says vengeance belongeth unto me
sayeth the Lord I will recompense
so there are a lot of scripture that show the wrath of God
the vengeance of God
that say that God is terrible and fearsome
and that he is you know one that's going to judge
and bring punishment
and a lot of people just don't eat
they've never even been exposed to this
I don't think Joel Osteen's preaching on this passage tonight
I don't think he's ever preached on this passage
and I don't think he ever will
it's like it doesn't exist unto him
let alone all the other passages that are like it
now let me show you a similar passage
because this says here in verse 9
there went up a smoke out of his nostrils
and fire out of his mouth devoured
coals were kindled by it
go to Isaiah and go to chapter number 30
Isaiah 30 this is an interesting verse in Isaiah 30
and look at the last verse of the chapter verse 33
Isaiah 30 33 the Bible says
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
the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone
doth kindle it
now this place tophat is also known in the Bible as
the valley of the son of Hinam or Gehenna
okay and this is a place that represents hell
it was a physical place yes on this earth
but it represents hell
it's used as a picture of hell
because there's a place of fire and brimstone
and so when the Bible says here tophat is ordained of old
yea for the king it is prepared
he's made it deep and large
the pile thereof is fire and much wood
the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone
doth kindle it
this is talking about hell
okay that's what the symbolism is here
when we see tophat or Gehenna
that's that's it's being used to refer to hell
and so when he says here
it's kindled with a stream of fire and brimstone
from the Lord's mouth
we have to understand that God is the one who created hell
you know the Bible says in Matthew 25
depart from ye cursed into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels
you know who prepared hell
it wasn't the devil that prepared it
it was prepared by God to punish the devil and his angels
as a place of punishment
when the devil goes to hell
he's not going to be ruling and reigning with a pitchfork
you know he's going to be down there being punished and suffered
it's not going to be raining
he's going to suffer and be punished in hell
okay it's the Lord who is the one who rules over hell
who is the one who created hell
who has all the power over
he said I have the keys of hell and of death
okay and even the one who is known as the angel of the bottomless pit is not Satan
it is one of the Lord's angels
and that angel of the bottomless pit will one day throw Satan into hell
in the book of Revelation
and that angel of the bottomless pit is known as Abaddon or Apollyon
but that's not Satan
okay see Satan doesn't have any power over hell
hell is going to be a punishment for Satan
okay so it's not like the porky pig cartoon where he's ruling and reigning
and even a saying amongst Satanists
this is the Satanist mantra they say
well it's better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven
but they're not going to be ruling in hell
they're going to be punished and tormented and suffering in hell
so it's they're very misguided indeed
but it's God's wrath
the bible says it's God's wrath that kindles the fires of hell
and that's why the bible says he that believeth on the sun
hath everlasting life
and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life
but the wrath of God abideth on him
you know it's God's wrath that culminates in hell itself
and so this is an image of God that we need to be aware of
yes he's the God of heaven but he's also the God of hell
yes he's a God of love but he's also a God of wrath and vengeance
now this song actually kind of explains that difference as well
when it says in verse are you there in second Samuel
go back to second Samuel 22
because there's a statement in second Samuel 22 that explains this
it says in verse number 26 it says
with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful
and with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright
with the pure that will show thyself pure
and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory
that's in verses 26 and 27
so we see in that scripture that you know how God deals with us is based on us
you know how which side of God do we want to be on
you know do we want to be on the side of God's love and affection
or do we want to be on the side of his wrath and vengeance
you know obviously the primary thing is whether or not we're in Christ
you know if we believe on Jesus Christ and we're saved
then basically we shall be saved from wrath through him
and we are you know in God's love because of that
where and nothing can separate us from the love of God the Bible says
but those that are not saved they're going to face his wrath
so it's really up to mankind which God they face
you know the God of love or the God of wrath
and it's one God it's just two different aspects of his personality
God is complex he's not just this simple put him in a box
and he's just all love all the time
no he has more attributes so to just say well God is love
and then just end it there is to misrepresent who God is
and to give a very one-dimensional view of who God is
instead of showing all the teaching of the Bible
to get a complete picture of God
you really don't have a complete picture of God
unless you read the Bible cover to cover from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22
then you know who God is
if you read one chapter you don't really know everything about God's personality
you have to get the whole Bible to give you all the different aspects of who God is
it's sort of like where the Bible says in Romans 1
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient
so it's a reaction to man
man doesn't want to retain God in his knowledge
well then he'll turn that man over to a reprobate mind
you know and the Bible says to the pure God will show himself pure
to the froward or wicked God will show himself unsavory
it's based on man
you know it's based on the free will of man
man's choice of whether or not to accept Jesus Christ as their savior
or whether or not to you know walk in his ways and and be blessed by him
or to you know get on the get on his bad side as it were
so the Bible says back up in verse number 16
it says the channels of the sea appeared
the foundations of the world were discovered
discovered there means uncovered
it's an old
most time when the Bible uses the word discover
it's an old meaning of being uncovered or being being exposed
so it says that the foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord
at the blast of the 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 state
so what's he saying he's talking about being in physical battle
I mean this is David he's fighting against physical enemies with the sword
and he's giving God all the glory for his victories
and this is part of why he was a man after God's own heart
he's humble and he's giving God the glory
you know he could have said hey you know what I went out there and I tore them up
I mean they I did I beat them as small as powder which he's going to say later
but but you know what he says first though he says you know what they were too strong for me
they prevented me they got the better of me but the Lord delivered them in it
so basically he's giving God all the glory saying
I could not have won the battle without the Lord
because the enemy was too strong for me
it was only by his power and might that I was able to win the battle
and God wants us to give him the glory for the victories and successes in our lives
and not to just kind of you know yeah I know I did a pretty good job
no he wants us to be humble and say you know what it's all through God's grace
and God's might that anything was accomplished
he says in verse number 19 at the end there but the Lord was my stay
meaning you know he relied upon the Lord
he brought me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me
the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness
according to the cleanness of my hands that he recompense me
for I've kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God
for all his judgments were before me and as for his statutes I did not depart from them
I was also upright before him and have kept myself from mine iniquity
therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness
according to my cleanness in his eyesight
and then of course the verses that we read with the merciful
thou wilt show thyself merciful
so all these verses are saying that you know what if you do what's right God's going to bless you
and if you do wrong you're not going to be blessed
I mean that's what the Bible teaches from cover to cover
but it says in verse 28 and the afflicted people thou wilt save
but thine eyes are upon the haughty haughty means prideful
that thou mayest bring them down for thou art my lamp oh Lord
and the Lord will lighten my darkness for by thee I have run through a troop
by my God have I leaped over a wall as for God his way is perfect
the word of the Lord is tried he is a buckler to all them that trust in him
the way the way of the Lord is perfect meaning that God's way of doing things
is the right way of doing things
you know when it comes to marriage the way of the Lord's perfect
when it comes to child rearing it's the Lord's way that's the perfect way
you know what is the right way to to run your business or to do anything
the way of the Lord is perfect what about running the government
you know different people have different ideas and and they'll point to different
things in the constitution or you know different political parties
but really his way is perfect you know if if lawmakers were wise
they'd go to Deuteronomy and figure out how to run a government
because his way is perfect that was the law of the Lord is perfect
his way is perfect so sometimes we think we know better though
we have better idea better ways of doing things but no God's way is perfect
we should trust on the way the Lord see a lot of people have all kinds of ideas
about how to do things but the word of the Lord is tried
that's the tried and the true when you're following biblical principles
you don't have to worry about experimenting you know when with marriage or child rearing
or whatever because if you're doing it God's way it's tried
you know when it comes to preaching or pastoring a church or soul winning
you know there's the tried and the true and then there's the new fangled
you know flavor of the month that comes out the tried methods of the bible
you know when you when you start going against what the bible teaches and doing things your way
that are completely different from God's way you know it's a jungle out there
you're going into uncharted waters and you can't really be sure that you're going to succeed okay
but with God's way is perfect it's tried it's tested it's a shield
who is it God who is God the bible says in verse 32 save the Lord
he's saying there is no God other than the Lord and it says and who is a rock save our God
there's no one else that you can trust and really rely on and anchor your soul to
God is my strength and power and he maketh my way perfect
he maketh my feet like hind's feet and says me upon my high places hinds are like deer
and so the reason he says he makes my feet like hind's feet is because deer are very light on
their feet and very quick can dart around you know and especially in like a hilly or mountainous
terrain so that's why the bible often talks about you know God making our feet like hind's feet upon
his high places or it talks about how as a hell David's brother-in-law was was as light a foot
as a young roe you know another similar animal that he ran really quickly and was agile and so
forth so he says he makes my feet like hind's feet and said of me upon my high places he teaches my
hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms so he's talking about you know in battle
speed agility strength now we're not fighting a physical battle as David was we're fighting
a spiritual battle and yes there is a spiritual it is a fight it's not just hey you know we just
we just serve the lord and just and we basically just it's all happy and smiles and fun no the
bible says fight the good fight the bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood
but against principalities and powers so we it's not that we don't wrestle it's just that we don't
wrestle a physical battle we wrestle spiritual battle against the rulers of the darkness of
this world against spiritual wickedness in high places the bible says the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal or physical but they are spiritual and mighty through god for the pulling down of
strongholds and so forth so the bible teaches that we are in a fight we are in a spiritual
battle you know having our our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace you know our
high our feet being like hind's feet and upon high places would be you know how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things you know
that's being quick and ready to go out and preach the gospel and and to give the gospel into every
creature obviously the strength and the fight and the battle you know in the new testament would be
you know knowing god's word and and being ready to preach it with boldness you know that's the
sword of the spirit that we would use to fight the spiritual battle and so you have to be able
to apply these things to that you know when you read this and understand the spiritual application
because we're not in a physical fight i mean i've never been in a real sword fight you know and i've
never i've never broken a bow of steel with my bare arms you know so i you know that you have to
be able to look at the spiritual application of this obviously because those things are probably
never going to happen to us in our life i mean you know maybe someday i might end up breaking
some steel with my arm but probably not so obviously there's a spiritual fight so you know
don't just read over that and just glaze over but think to think to yourself you know i need
to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god take that
shield of faith and the sword of the spirit and the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
you know you might not be as song of solomon says leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the
hills physically but spiritually you know if you come to mount humphries with us you know later
this month you know we're going to be you know i know we're all going to be running to the top
but uh but this is obviously talking about spiritual things it says in verse number 36
it says thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy gentleness hath made me great
now one of the fruit of the spirit is gentleness right when it lists off love joy peace uh long
suffering is one of them is gentleness okay now what does it mean to be gentle well you know being
gentle is when you're not being abrasive now there's a time and a place to be abrasive the
bible talks about some people he says hey rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith
you know those of the circumcision who are teaching lies and subverting whole households
rebuke them sharply titus one but you know what though there's also a lot of time when we need
to be gentle and there are a lot of times when people are abrasive when they should be being
gentle and god you know david says here of the lord thy gentleness has made me great
and we know that gentleness is one of the fruit of the spirit so god does want us to be
gentle in situations where gentleness is called for and the bible says let your speech be always
with grace seasoned with salt okay and the bible talks about you know speaking the truth in love
and so forth now obviously when you come to church the preacher gets up and preaches hard
because first of all you know we're preaching to the choir as it were i mean basically virtually
everyone here is saved the vast 90 some percent of the people here are saved okay so we're talking to
fellow christians and what we need to hear in church as fellow christians the bible says we
need preaching that will reprove rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine
so we do need a swift kick in the pants sometimes through preaching we need that rebuke from
preaching we need that reprove from preaching but remember when the apostle paul talked about going
out amongst the unsaved he said i determined not to know anything among them save jesus christ and
him crucified so the when he's going out soul winning to the unsaved he's talking about jesus
he's talking about the gospel he's talking about being saved he's talking about the death barrel
and resurrection the hard preaching against sin is is for the saved because honestly the unsaved
getting sin out of their life isn't really going to help them very much because the bible says when
the unclean spirit has gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and
findeth none then he sayeth i'll return to my house from whence i came out and when he's come
he findeth it empty swept and garnished then go with he and taketh with himself seven other
spirits more wicked themselves and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man
is worse than the first so shall it be also under this wicked generation what's he saying you know
the person who cleans up their life but without jesus without being saved you know it's not it's
not necessarily even going to do them any good in this life and we know it's going to do nothing for
them as far as heaven and hell because cleaning up your life doesn't get you to heaven it's
believing on the lord jesus christ it gets you to heaven and so when we go out soul winning the goal
should be to preach jesus christ and him crucified and to try to get people saved preaching the
gospel to every creature which is the good news that jesus paid for all of our sins he died was
buried and rose again and all we have to do is just believe in him we just have to accept him
by faith and we shall be saved that's the good news that's the god that's the message that we
bring when we go out soul winning amongst the unsaved now a lot of people have have been deceived
by this false teacher and i'm just going to call out these false teachers by name because in the
new testament the the apostles were constantly calling out false teachers by name and and warning
people and saying look this guy is a false teacher he's preaching lies and you know let
him be accursed i've delivered him unto satan you know they made lord not to blaspheme and one of
the biggest false prophets that has deceived many many people for decades now is ray comfort
and ray comfort is a horrible false teacher and don't tell me oh he's a brother in christ he's
a little mixed up no he's not a little mixed up he's preaching lies and he has deceived thousands
and thousands of people and he's been corrupting god's word and corrupting the gospel for decades
with his living waters publications and his buddy kirk cameron that helps him spread his lies and
ray comfort has changed the gospel from being the good news that jesus died for his sins to just
going out and badgering people about their sins and badgering them and being obnoxious and going
on and on about your sins your sins you say repent of your sins you say you know with this little
new zealand accent no offense to people from new zealand but you know oh you got to repent of your
sins but here's the thing i'm not even doing it right but anyway but here's the thing
it's not about your sins that's going to get you saved badgering you about your sins isn't going to
get you saved and they take this verse that says the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to christ
they totally twist the meaning of that whole passage twist the whole thing no the bible says
the gospel is the power of god unto salvation see i'm not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ
which the good news the glad tidings i'm not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ which is
the death barrel and resurrection he said for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone
that believeth but see what he thinks is badgering people about their sins is the power of god unto
salvation to everyone that repenteth of their sins i mean that's what he teaches he teaches
the law the law is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that repenteth of their sins that's
not what the bible says hey look if salvation comes by the law then christ is dead in vain
salvation does not come by the law okay the law was our schoolmaster bring us christ that's
talking about the old testament hello read the chapter it's talking about the old testament
versus the new testament okay but what they want to do is they want to spend a very extended period
of time preaching to people about how wicked they are and just going on about how sinful and how
wicked they are and badgering people about their sins and then almost as an afterthought it's like
oh by the way jesus died for your sins but that's not where the emphasis is at all the emphasis is
all on the sin very little emphasis on the gospel of jesus and then when it comes time to be saved
it's an it's a false gospel because instead of being salvation by believing it's salvation by
turning from your sins so it's say it's all about your sins you're wicked you're sinful you're a
rotten person and how do you be saved by turning from your sins and then at the end of it he'll
ask people so when are you going to turn from your sins when are you going to repent you know what i
want to ask you ray comfort when did you turn from your sins that's right and you're a liar because
every single person's a sinner i'm a sinner you're a sinner you know i i'll say it right
now i probably sin every day and you know people can look down on me for saying that but you know
what it's the truth because the bible says the thought of foolishness is sin and to him that
knoweth to do good and do it that not to him it is sin and to sit there and say oh i haven't sinned
in weeks or i you know i've repented of all my sins or every time i sin i ask forgiveness
that's a bunch of baloney salvations by grace through faith and we are all sinners there's
none good but one and that's god so this thing of badgering people it's obnoxious it doesn't work
that's why ray comfort uploads all his uh soul winning videos you'll notice that almost never
does the person even profess to get saved have you noticed that i mean his channel should be called
how to fail at soul winning because he'll just show him badgering people and arguing with people
and the people don't get saved not that they would ever get saved since he's not even preaching the
true salvation by faith he'll say believing's not enough faith's not enough okay well i guess john
316 is a lie then whosoever believeth no no you have to turn from your sins
it's all about your sin now look honestly it's obnoxious this whole mentality of the street
preaching holding up signs bullhorning you know what it's not the right way to go soul winning
and you know what it is a way that people use that don't love people and don't care about getting
people saved because look if you cared about getting people saved you know what you would do
about getting people saved you know what you would do use methods that get people saved
i mean where's your heart tonight when it comes to soul when i why do you go soul winning i i know
why i go soul winning why do you go soul winning somebody tell me why do you go soul winning what
makes you to get someone say and why do you want to get someone saved because we love people i mean
isn't that why we go so i mean think about it isn't that why you go soul winning tonight
i mean otherwise why would you go i mean my goal when i go soul winning is to get someone saved
and the reason i want to get someone saved is because i love people and as i'm giving
someone the gospel i love that person and i want them to be saved and so here's the thing how i
talk to them is gonna is gonna be impacted by what's in my heart so if my goal is to get them
saved am i just gonna go and badger them and be obnoxious and you know if that that's not gonna
work so why would i do it and here's the thing a lot of these people and then they get on youtube
and they upload videos of them being obnoxious where they go to some or they'll go to some queer
pride parade and scream and yell at a bunch of sodomites they're casting their pearls before
swine the bible says give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast your pearls before swine
lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you and then they get rended
they get rended and then they're like oh we're suffering to produce no jesus told you not to do
stupid stuff like that or you're gonna get rended okay the goal and and they or they'll go outside
a movie theater and just scream at everybody who's going to the movies or scream at everybody
who's going into the strip club or scream at everybody who's going into the bar oh it's so
wicked but here's what those people need the gospel of jesus i mean what what do you of course
they're going to a movie theater and a bar and a strip club they're not even saved what do you
expect from these people get them the gospel get them saved but this bullhorning screaming repent
or perish preaching it doesn't work i'm even i'm a saved believer and i'm embarrassed by it when i'm
walking through downtown phoenix or downtown tempe and i see one of these screaming foaming at the
mouth repent of your sins preachers i'm embarrassed and i'm saved and i don't even understand what
they're saying and i'm saved i don't understand the message and it just comes off as just
obnoxious and annoying and it honestly just gives christianity a bad name and you know it's funny
because we're later this month we're doing a soul-winning marathon in um dearborn michigan
paul and i are going to go out there and then we're meeting up with a bunch of people who
listen to my sermons in in michigan and we're going soul winning in dearborn who's heard of
dearborn michigan before put up your hand yeah lots of people and here's the thing about dearborn
it's it's the it's the biggest concentration of arab muslims in america you know it's it's a town
where almost 50 of the residents are arab muslims and and we're going to go to the part of dearborn
where it's it's the the just solid concentration of just this is where the the muslims are and
here's the thing we're going to go there and we're going to go soul-winning and we're going to knock
on doors and you know what we're going to do we're going to give the gospel and we're going to be
gentle you know what what's the point to love people to get i don't hate the muslims i want
them to be saved you know i i don't hate the jews i want them to be saved i don't hate mormons or
are Catholics.
I want them to be saved.
So we're going to go and we're going to preach the gospel, the good news.
We're going to tell them about Jesus, that he's the son of God.
We're going to tell them that Islam is a false religion, but we're going to do it nicely.
And we're going to show them the way, the truth, and the life through the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now here's what's funny.
People are like, oh man, that's really dangerous.
You're going to need a lot of prayer, brother, going to Dearborn, because they're like, you're
entering Sharia law.
Like they think that we're just entering Sharia law and we're all going to be beheaded by
the Muslims or something.
But you know what?
It's honestly, it's not true.
I talked to a guy who lives three miles from there.
He said it's not dangerous at all.
But the reason why people think it's dangerous is because this is what will happen.
They have a big Muslim festival once a year where they have their big Muslim festival
parade and whatever.
And then here's what Christians will go to their Muslim festival with the bullhorn and
with the obnoxious signs of, hey, Mohammed's a pedophile, you know, and they're walking
through their Muslim festival with a big sign that says that Mohammed's a pedophile.
Is there any doubt about it?
But here's the thing, what's the point, what's the point of going to their Muslim festival
and walking through there with a big crowd of people with obnoxious signs and bullhorns
and all this and just go in there to pick a fight so you can put it on YouTube.
And you know what?
And then these videos, then they put these videos on YouTube and everybody's like afraid
to go there because like, oh, look, the Arabs are cussing and throwing stuff at them.
It's like, well, yeah, of course, look what you're doing though.
Is that really a biblical soul winning method?
Just to go to their thing and just hold up a, I mean, if you look at the Apostle Paul
in his soul winning, is that how he did it?
To the Jews?
I mean, he went to the Jews, which are false religion, and he went in there and preached
Christ unto them, you know, and then even when he talked to the idolaters on Mars Hill
in Athens, he told them that their religion was wrong.
As long as you're reading a King James, he told them, you guys are too superstitious,
you know.
So he's criticizing their religion in the sense that he says, hey, you're too superstitious.
You're worshiping all these idols and gods.
Let me tell you about the true God.
So he tells them the truth, but if you read that passage, he does it nicely and he wins
people to Christ.
People believe him.
Some of the people believe him, okay, where, you know, in the NIV, he's like, oh, you guys
are very religious.
You know, he's like praising them for being religious.
In the King James, he's like, you guys are too superstitious.
But the thing is, though, when we see Jesus Christ, when we see the apostles, you know,
yeah, they rebuked false prophets and false teachers, but hold on a second.
When they go out amongst the people, the goal is to get people saved and to talk to them
and be nice to them and love them and give them the gospel.
And so that's the goal.
And, you know, somebody sent me this video on YouTube that said, like, Christians are,
Christians being stoned in Dearborn.
They're stoned.
You know where they throw rocks at people until you die?
Christians stoned in Dearborn while the police just stand back and just let it happen.
I click on the video.
This is what the stoning was.
The Muslims are throwing empty plastic water bottles at them.
Okay, that's not exactly a stoning.
When somebody throws an empty plastic water bottle at you, yeah, sticks and stones may
break my bones, but plastic water bottles will never hurt me.
All right, so it's just, but then they just get on these videos, they get just so many
thousands and thousands of views, and everybody's like, oh, man, they're being stoned.
It's surreal.
We've entered surreal law.
We need to go in there with the military and take back Dearborn for the United States and
everything.
It's been completely taken over by the Muslims.
You know, it's a fraud, folks.
Like I said, I talked to the guy that lives there, the fundamental Baptist that lives
near there said, hey, it's fine.
He said it's a middle class area.
Now, there are other parts of Detroit.
Look, you want to go to a scary part of Detroit, it's out there, but it's not Dearborn.
It's another part of Detroit that's a scary place for other reasons, okay?
And look, I went soloing every weekend for two years in the worst ghetto in America,
okay, which was South Chicago, which is like Detroit.
And I can say with authority that it's the worst ghetto in America because of the fact
that the year that I was there doing the soul winning, there were 599 people murdered in
South Chicago that year, and it was the murder capital.
Now, I know Detroit wins that prize often as well, but that year it was Chicago.
We ruled.
But in Chicago, it was 599 murders, and let me tell you this.
I was there when people were murdered because when I was soul winning one time, I heard
the gunshots, and I saw them load up the bodies, you know.
But God can protect us, you know, if we're going and preaching the gospel and everything.
But obviously I'm not saying, hey, just put yourself in harm's way.
But you know what, God can protect you when you're trying to bring the gospel to the poor.
You know, God can protect you.
You got to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
But here's the thing, you know, people who are scared to go talk to the Muslims, like
every Muslim's just out to behead you, you know, you're listening to too much conservative
talk radio, okay, because there's one point, and look, are there wicked, evil Muslims out
there?
Oh yeah, of course.
There are a lot of Muslims out there that are closet sodomites.
You know, there are wicked Muslims, and there are Muslims out there that are murdering people.
I mean, there's no question about that.
But do you really, but I've heard a lot of people say this, just like, all of these Muslims
should all be killed.
They're all wicked.
But wait a minute, do you really think that 1.6 billion people on this planet are just
these bloodthirsty, raving lunatics?
It isn't true, folks.
Your average Muslim that you talk to is a nice person that's deceived by a false religion.
And you know what, the Bible says, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, not repentance
from their sins, but repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
Repentance from Islam unto the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
What's the goal?
What's the goal of going to Dearborn?
Why go to Dearborn?
So I can make a cool YouTube video of getting stoned, get a lot of views, get all the neo-cons
all fired up for the next war?
No.
You know what?
I want to go to Dearborn for one reason.
Get people saved.
Get the Gospel to people.
Get them saved.
That's the goal.
That's the objective, is to basically show them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And any other objective when you're out soul winning is a wrong objective.
When you're just going out to just make a show about how tough you are.
And these bunch of repent of your sins idiots, these street preaching obnoxious buffoons,
they've often said to me, you don't have the guts to go to one of these gay pride parades.
It's like, you know what, you're right, I don't.
If that's the definition of guts, I don't have it.
You don't have the guts to go preach at the gay bar with me.
It's like, no, no I don't.
I'm homophobic.
Who wants to look at all that filth?
Who wants to be, you know, ask Lot if he was homophobic when he was surrounded by these
raving sodomites around his door.
I mean, look, why in the world would I go to that freak show of sodomy and cast my pearls
before swine?
But just the fact that they'll come at a soul winning church with that accusation of, you
don't have the guts to go to the, you know, go bullhorn the queer pride parade with us.
You don't have the guts.
You know what that shows, what they're doing, what their goal is with going to that parade
is to show how tough they are.
Show that we have the guts.
Yeah!
But you know what, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Why would I glorify myself how bold I am and how much guts I have that I have the guts
to go and bullhorn the sodomite parade and I have the guts to go into the Islamic neighborhood
with a severed pig's head on a stick.
That's what these guys do.
They took a severed, you're like, oh, Dearborn, it's so scary.
Well, yeah, because you're going there with a severed pig's head.
You're carrying around a bloody pig's head at their annual Muslim parade and then you
wonder why they're mad at you.
I mean, is this, look, I'm not preaching the gospel of pork.
I mean, look, I love pork as much as anybody.
I just went, you know, we just went to Whole Foods and cleaned out all the ground pork
that they had and we took all of it.
So if you went there and couldn't find any ground pork, yeah, it was because we were
there.
You know, I praise God for the New Testament and I love pork as much as the next guy, but
I'm not preaching the gospel of pork.
I'm not out there to go carry around a dead pig's head and say, hey, you bunch of Muslims
are missing, you're missing out on bacon.
You know, the fact that Muslims don't eat bacon is the least of their problems.
They're going to go to hell because they don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, not
because they didn't eat enough bacon.
Now they're missing out on some of the pleasures of this life by not eating bacon.
I'll admit, I'll be the first to admit that.
But folks, you've got to keep the gentleness in perspective.
You know, just as God has different sides and God is love, but he also has wrath.
But you know what?
We also should understand that to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose
under heaven, a time to love and a time to hate.
And you know what?
When we're going out amongst the lost, it ought to be with a tear in the eye.
It ought to be with gentleness.
It ought to be in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.
The goal should be to be nice to people and get them saved.
That should be the goal.
Not just go out there and I showed them.
But what does that accomplish?
And it shows that you don't love people.
Because if you love people, all you'd really care about is like, are they getting saved?
Now obviously we love God more than we love people, so we're not going to trim the message
or we're not going to do anything sinful to somehow think, oh, this is going to get more
people saved if I drink a beer with them or whatever.
But Paul said, I've become all things to all men, that by all means I would save some.
So he loved people.
He's like, you know what, I just want to reach people and I'll become what I need to become
to get them the gospel.
And so we need to keep that in perspective when it comes to soul winning.
Don't be one of these people that's obnoxious about soul winning.
And just going out and real obnoxious and picking a fight with everybody, that's not
the goal.
And there's a difference between preaching in church and preaching at the door.
Two different things.
Because there's preaching to the saved.
And then there's preaching to the unsaved where it's like, you know what, it's just
about telling them about Jesus.
The other stuff, they don't need the gospel of don't go to the movie theater.
They don't need the gospel of don't go to the strip club.
They need the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
And Ray comforts a fraud.
And we need to quit following any of his methods as Christians.
No one should listen to anything that that guy has to say.
He's preaching works based salvation, thinly veiled as repent of your sins, turn from your
sinful life.
And his whole method of badgering people about their sins and making that the emphasis is
taking the emphasis off of where it should be.
The love of God, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much that your gentleness has made us great, Lord.
We thank you for the gospel and we pray that you would just fill us with your spirit, Lord,
and help us to get as many people saved as we can, Lord.
Help us to also live a godly life, Lord, and be a good testimony to those who we're
trying to reach, Lord, and help us to not only get people saved, but also get them baptized.
And not only get them baptized, but also to teach them to observe all things whatsoever
you have commanded us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.