Proverbs chapter 7, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
My son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee.
Keep my commandments and live in my law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart, say unto wisdom
thou are my sister and call understanding thy kinswoman.
And what he's saying here in the first few verses is that he's going to give some instructions,
he's going to give him words, actually the word of God, and he's telling him that these
are things that he needs to remember and he says to lay up these commandments and to write
them upon the table of your heart, he's saying, you know, engrave this into your heart.
Remember this for the rest of your life, what I'm telling you right now.
When he says bind them upon thy fingers, you know, you think sometimes people will tie
a string to their finger to do what?
To remind them of something, to help them to remember something.
And so he's really emphasizing that you need to listen to God's word and you need to remember
it.
You need to lay it to heart and lay it up.
And when we see the word lay up there in verse number one, when it says lay up my commandments
with thee, often the Bible uses the term laying up when it talks about people setting aside
money.
You know, like for example, the Bible says lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where
thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is there will your heart
be also.
So laying up is like you're putting aside something for later.
You don't need it right now, it's not something you're going to use right now.
You know, if you're laying up treasures upon earth, you know, maybe you're stockpiling
money or you're stockpiling goods and it's not to use today, it's for future use.
That's what laying up is.
For example, the Bible says laying up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time
to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.
So laying up has the idea of putting something away for later.
Now what's interesting is right after he explains how we should lay these things up and write
these things at the table of our heart, then he goes on to tell this story about the man
who sucked in by the strange woman and ends up, you know, committing adultery with the
strange woman in Proverbs chapter 7.
So what's interesting is after he tells that story about this guy getting involved with
this strange woman in adultery, jump down if you would to verse 24.
This is right after he finishes explaining the situation of how this guy ended up being
with this wicked woman.
It says, Harken unto me now, therefore, O ye children.
Now let me ask you this, are the sins described in chapter 7 really the sins that afflict
children?
I mean these aren't really the type of temptations that children have.
If you want to talk about the sins that children are committing, you know, we're probably going
to think of stealing or lying or cheating or, you know, something along those lines.
Disobeying their parents is probably a big one.
You know, something along those lines.
They're not really thinking about adultery and fornication and those type of things.
But he says, Harken unto me now, therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of
my mouth.
God not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths, for she had cast
down many wounded, yet many strong men had been slain by her.
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
And what the Bible is explaining here is that, look, a lot of times you hear things preached
or you read things in the Bible that may not apply to you right now.
And you might think, well, this isn't, this doesn't apply to me, I don't need to listen
to this.
Because, look, everything that you hear from the Word of God, everything that's preached
unto you, you need to lay it up and remember it, write it on the table of your heart, because
you're going to need it later.
Because it's a lot smarter to learn about the strange woman, learn about the warning
signs, learn about the dangers of adultery and fornication before you get to those temptations,
before you're put into this, rather than during or after.
And so what he's saying is, listen children, hearken unto me now, listen to me now, later
you're going to be faced with this temptation.
Someday this woman is going to come to you, she's going to kiss you, she's going to want
you to commit a sinful act with her, and you need to remember what I'm telling you and
the warning that I'm giving you right now.
You see, everything that you hear preached might not apply to you right now, but someday
it will apply to you.
For example, you might be a child and you're hearing preaching about marriage, and you're
thinking to yourself, I'm not married, or I'm not going to be married for a really long
time, I think I'm going to color and draw a picture, no.
You better listen up, because that's something that you're going to need later.
You know, and you might be listening to preaching that's talking to you about marriage, saying
well I have a great marriage, everything's perfect, but you still need to listen because
you might need that information later.
You might hear preaching that talks about going through persecution, going through tribulation,
going through hard times, and you know, things are going great for you right now.
And it just doesn't feel like it applies to you, but the Bible is saying lay up those
things in your heart because you may need them later.
Let's look at the story here, what he says in Proverbs 7.
He tells this story and it's geared toward children.
He's saying look, I'm telling you and warning you about what you're going to deal with later
in life.
He says in verse 6, for at the window of my house I looked through the casement and be
held among the simple ones.
I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.
This is a guy who never heard this warning.
He didn't know this, he's void of understanding.
And it says, passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house.
And then what's interesting is the next verse it says, in the twilight, in the evening,
in the black and dark night.
Now aren't those three different things?
Because when you're in the twilight, that's not the black and dark night, right?
And the evening is something different.
So that's a progression of time here.
First comes twilight, then the evening, then the black and dark night.
So notice, this guy's hanging around that area.
He's there for an extended period.
He goes the way toward her house.
You know, maybe he's seen around, and you know, this shows the danger of just getting
close to sin.
Because you notice that this guy is not necessarily ready to commit this sin, because if you look
at verse 21, it says, with her much fair speech, she caused him to yield.
That shows he's putting up resistance.
That shows that he doesn't necessarily want to go all the way here.
And it says, with the flattening of her lips, she forced him.
Do you see that at the end of the verse there?
She forced him at the end of verse 21.
Because we see here that this guy thinks he can just play with sin.
He's going to get close to it.
He probably just wanted to look at her.
You know, he just wanted to see her beauty, because she's a very beautiful one.
He just wants to look at her.
He just wants to, you know, just kind of check it out and just kind of hang around.
But you know what happens?
You start playing around with sin, it always takes you further than you always wanted to
go, and it always keeps you longer than you wanted to stay and cost you more than you
wanted to pay.
That's how sin is.
It's just like what I preached about this morning with alcohol.
You know, you think, hey, it's just a couple beers, no big deal.
But that's how everybody starts drinking.
Pretty soon a couple beers don't do anything.
And then you need more.
And then you need to mix it with drugs.
You know, and you've got to keep escalating your drinking because of the fact that you're
not getting the same fulfillment out of it.
So it always starts out with just, well come on, I'm just going to play around with it.
One beer?
No.
And then it becomes two, three.
You start playing around with sin, you start hanging around the way to her house, you start
hanging around bars, you start watching the dirty movies, you know, you start whatever,
getting into the rock and roll crowd and the rock concerts and everything.
It always starts small.
It starts with just, well I'm not going to go commit a fornication, I'm not going to
commit adultery, I just want to look.
I just want to go the way to her house.
I just want to be in that area in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night,
and just think about it.
But you know what?
Once he's there, he gets sucked into sin.
And it says in verse 10, Behold there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and
subtle of heart.
Now look, God is the one writing the Bible here.
This is God's word.
He's saying this woman met him with the attire of a harlot.
Wouldn't you hate for God to look down from heaven on you and say, you have the attire
of a harlot?
I mean what do you think she was wearing?
A long skirt, a modest dress?
What do you think she's wearing?
I mean when God says there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, what do you think
that is?
Probably a miniskirt, right?
Something short, something revealing, something low cut.
Whatever it is, Christian ladies should not be caught dead wearing it, whatever it is.
You know, the attire of a harlot today.
And if it's not for sale, then take down the for sale sign, you know?
And today, a lot of the women that we see in our society scantily clad, God would look
down and say, you know what?
That's the attire of a harlot.
You say, well I'm not a harlot, then quit dressing like one.
The Bible says, look, you can not be a harlot but still have the attire of a harlot and
dress like a harlot.
It's ridiculous, you know, and in high schools today, that's what a lot of the girls are
dressed like.
Like harlots, like hookers, like whores.
And it says here that there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot.
And then in verse 11, it tells us a little about her.
She's loud and stubborn.
Now look, that's not a compliment for a woman to be loud and stubborn, because when God
talks about a righteous woman, a God woman at 1 Peter 3, it says that she has a meek
and quiet spirit.
That's the opposite of loud and stubborn, meek and quiet.
That's what it says in 1 Peter chapter 3.
Here it says she's loud and stubborn.
Her feet abide not in her house.
Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth and wait at every corner.
Obviously he's not saying women can never leave the house, but what he's saying is this
woman's feet don't abide in her house.
She's not satisfied with what's in her house.
She's always out looking for something else, okay?
And here it says she's without, she's here, she's there.
But look at the end of verse 12, this is the key.
She lieth and wait at every corner.
You know what that tells me?
Look, it's not possible for one person to be at every corner, is it?
But you know what it's saying?
This type of woman lieth and wait at every corner, meaning this woman is a dime a dozen.
I mean, you can find as many of this type of woman as you want to find.
If you're looking for a woman with the attire of a harlot that's loud and stubborn, that's
going to be easy, that woman's pretty easy to find, is what the Bible's telling us.
And then contrast that with Proverbs 31, where the Bible says, who can find a virtuous woman
for her price is far above rubies, okay?
It says in verse 13, so she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said
unto him, I have peace offerings with me.
This day have I paid my vows, oh she's Christian, she's religious, oh everything's fine.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I found thee.
Now look, that's a lie.
She's not looking for him, she's looking for someone.
You know, oh I was diligently just looking for you, and in fact you're the only person
I've ever just walked up to and kissed when I didn't know them.
Here's a news flash, okay?
If a girl just comes up to you and kisses you and doesn't know you, you're not the first
person that she's done that to, and you're not going to be the last either, okay?
And so it says here, you know, oh I've diligently seek thy face.
I've decked my bed with coverings of tapestry and with carved works with fine linen of Egypt,
I perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Let us take our fill of love until the morning.
Let us solace ourselves with love.
For the good man is not at home.
He's gone a long journey.
He had taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day of point.
Now it says the good man is not at home.
You know, I don't know if that's her dad or her husband or who that is.
You know, I hope that's not her husband.
Good night.
Is she married?
Is this adultery?
You know, or is this fornication?
Either way, it's wicked, it's ungodly.
But he says here, you know, the good man is not at home.
He's gone a long journey.
He had taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed.
With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield.
With the flattering of her lips, she forced him.
What does flattering mean?
Making you feel like you're really something, right?
Flattering is when I compliment you and just tell you how wonderful you are and how great
you are.
And so this guy, his ego is being stroked here.
Oh, I've diligently sought you.
I've found you.
You're exactly what I'm looking for.
Where have you been all my life?
You big strong hunk of man, you.
You know, you are just exactly what I'm looking for.
And you know what?
Men often have a weakness of just looking for their ego to be stroked, right?
And maybe their wife does not compliment them.
And maybe their wife does not praise them.
And so basically, they go out somewhere else and they find someone else who will praise
them and who will compliment them.
And they say, oh wow, I'm getting so much great attention here.
And by the way, wives who talk bad about their husbands, shame on them.
And husbands who talk bad about their wives, shame on them.
And you know what?
As a husband, you should praise your wife.
Because the Bible talks about the virtuous woman, it says her husband also and he praiseth
her.
But you know what?
It goes the other way too.
You know what?
Husbands should not go around talking bad about their husband and husbands should not
go around talking bad about their wife.
And if somebody comes to me and tells me something bad about their wife or bad about their husband,
I'm going to rebuke them.
You know, because I don't think it's right.
I don't believe it.
And you know what?
I'm not perfect, but do you think I want my wife going around telling everybody, you know,
about all my bad habits or whatever?
You know?
You think, I mean look, I'm sure that there's plenty of things that my wife could complain
about me.
You know?
She's nodding her head right now.
Okay?
Because you know what?
I don't fix things around the house or whatever.
You know?
Or I go to, and you know what?
Wives are constantly complaining about their, he works too much.
He works too little.
You know?
I mean, it's just, both, you hear both.
And it's wicked.
You know?
Just shut up is what I say to that.
And you know what?
Honestly, I'm sure that my wife could find plenty of things to criticize about me and
tell everybody that I don't fix things and you know, whatever else.
You know?
See, that's the only thing wrong with me.
That's why I keep repeating that.
That's why I keep repeating that over and over again.
But anyway, you know, nobody's perfect, everybody has bad, you know, traits.
Okay?
And you know, my wife doesn't.
So this is not a temptation for me.
But I'm saying, you know, that's not right to sit there and bring other people into that
and tell other people bad things.
On the contrary, you know, I like to compliment my wife to other people.
I like to publicly compliment my wife.
And you should publicly compliment your husband.
And you know, I'm not saying that a husband should need all this ego-stroking, you know,
that's not what I'm saying.
But I am saying this, you should probably be careful about how you compliment somebody
else's husband.
You know what I mean?
Because they may not be getting that at home or whatever and then you say, oh, you're so
wonderful.
Unlike, you know, this guy that I'm married to.
You know, I wish he was more like you.
You know?
I mean, we need to just learn to be content with our marriage and with who we're married
to and not complain about it.
But you know, this guy, he's getting this ego-stroke and you know what, honestly?
We need to be aware of the flattering lips and the flattering tongue.
The Bible warns us that a lot of times the people that flatter us the most are the most
dangerous people.
They're the ones that are actually out to get us.
And so we need to be careful with that.
But if you would, or let's finish the story here.
She flatters him, she strokes his ego, and then he just gives in to this.
He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction
of the stocks.
Now the correction of the stocks, I believe that this is referring to when they put their
head and their hands into that thing.
You know what I'm talking about?
Back in the old days where they would get stuck in that thing and then, you know, people
throw rotten vegetables at them or whatever.
But you know, they get into the stocks.
And you know what, he's telling children, look, when you see this beautiful woman that's
a loose woman, that's a promiscuous woman, that's a strange woman, if you follow her
into that room, he's saying basically just picture you're like a cow going into the slaughter
house.
You know, you're being led into the slaughter.
And you're like a fool going to the correction of the stocks.
And it says that her chamber is the chamber of death in verse 27.
He says, till a dart, verse 23, till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth
to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life, but he's warning the young that
they're going to need this information someday, even though they might not be dealing with
this temptation right now, this is something to think about later.
Go if you would to John chapter 16.
John chapter 16.
And we'll see a similar concept of laying up God's Word, laying up His commandments,
laying up preaching.
See, you're building up a store or a bank account of preaching and a bank account of
the Word of God in your mind, stuff to draw from later.
And say, you know what, when things happen, I can remember, wait a minute, I remember
reading about this in the Bible, wait a minute, it's exactly what God told me was going to
happen.
Wait a minute, I heard this sermon and it preached this.
But look at John chapter 16, verses 1 through 4, it says, these things have I spoken unto
you that ye should not be offended.
They shall put you out of the synagogues.
Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.
And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.
But these things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I
told you of them.
And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you.
He's saying, look, I'm telling you this for the future.
You're not dealing with it right now.
But he's saying, look, the time is going to come when you will be persecuted, you will
be thrown out of the synagogue, you're going to get kicked out of church, you're going
to get kicked out of the Lion's Club, you know, you're going to get kicked out of your
family reunion for doing what's right.
And he's saying, look, I want you to remember that I'm saying this to you now so that when
the time comes you won't be offended.
He says at the end in verse 33, these things I've spoken unto you that in me you might
have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I've overcome the world.
So he's warning them, look, you're going to go through trials and tribulations.
You're going to be persecuted.
You're going to be thrown out of the synagogue.
And he said, I want you to remember that and to know that going into it.
You're not being persecuted now but you will be in the future.
And you may not be persecuted.
You know, when I first started Faithful Word Baptist Church, I wasn't really being persecuted.
You know, there wasn't a lot of persecution.
And I remember thinking, you know, why am I not being persecuted?
But you know, I didn't have to wonder that for too long.
You know, because eventually the persecution comes.
It may not be here today but it will be there tomorrow.
And you know, the Bible says, you don't have to turn there, but in 1 Thessalonians chapter
3 verse 3 it says that no man should be moved by these afflictions for yourselves know that
we're appointed there unto.
For verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even
as it came to pass.
And you know, see when you know things going into them it makes it a lot easier to deal
with it.
When you know, okay, you know, I'm going to suffer persecution.
I'm going to be put out of the synagogue.
I'm going to go through tribulation.
I might be cast into prison.
People are going to lie about me.
People are going to, you know, it's easier to handle than just everybody, you know, Joel
Osteen tells you everything is going to be all sweetness and light, right?
And then all of a sudden you're losing your job, your family is kicking you out, and everybody
hates your guts and you're like, what's going on?
I must not be in the will of God.
I must not be doing right.
As it catches you off guard, people start lying about you and you're shocked.
But that's why the Bible says, my brethren, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, like, oh wow, what's
happening?
I mean, when you get persecuted, it should just be, well yeah, of course, it's what God
said would happen.
You know, and obviously when a young person grows up and comes across these loose women
that you're going to come across, he's going to say, wait a minute, I remember this.
This doesn't surprise me.
Loud?
Check.
Stubborn?
Check.
A tire of a harlot?
Check.
You know?
And it all comes back to you.
You say, this is bad news.
This is a bad situation.
Flip back, if you would, to John 14.
You're in John 16.
Just go back to John chapter 14 and look at verse 25.
Jesus said, these things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said
unto you.
So again, laying up in store the commandments, laying up in store the Word of God so that
later the Holy Ghost can bring these things to your remembrance and teach you all things.
Verse 25 is the key.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
You know what?
You can't have things brought to your remembrance that Jesus said to you if he never said them
to you.
Right?
I mean, he said, I spoke to you, first of all.
Then I'm going to bring it into remembrance later.
But if he never spoke to you, he can't bring it into remembrance because how can you remember
something that never happened?
How can you remember something that you've never heard?
And so the more you have laid up in store, the more of the Word of God you've heard,
the more preaching you've heard, and the more Bible you've read, and the more Bible you've
memorized, you're giving the Holy Spirit more tools and more ammunition to bring to your
remembrance.
You see, if you go out soul-wetting and you've done a ton of Bible reading, and a ton of
Bible memorization, you know, when you're talking to somebody, all kinds of great verses
come to your remembrance.
Like, whatever the situation you're dealing with, great verses will come to your remembrance.
Just to give you an illustration, I was given the Gospel to a young lady today, and I went
through the whole plan of salvation with her, pretty much my standard spiel.
I went through the whole thing with her, and I got down to the end of it and she just didn't
quite get it.
And I asked her, I was just kind of trying to ask her, what do you not get about this?
You know, just trying to kind of figure out what was going on.
And she told me, she said, well, I kind of have a problem, it's just kind of, I don't
pick up on things real fast.
And I said, okay, I said, well, do you mind if I show you a few more scriptures and try
to help you understand?
She said, yeah.
So I went, I just went back to the beginning, and I just went through the whole plan of
salvation again using completely different verses.
You know, just completely different scriptures, completely different illustrations, I just
went through it a second time.
And that time she got it, you know, because she'd heard it now twice from two completely
different angles.
And so I went through the whole thing twice, okay.
Then it was like, okay, now I see it, okay.
So what I'm saying is, it's good to have more verses to draw from.
Because I could have done it a third time, you know, and used different verses.
Because you know, after you've been soul winning a lot, you learn things.
Somebody brings up, well, what about this, and you know, you've got that verse.
And you know, you have something to draw from.
But even more so, you'll be in your life, you'll run into positions and situations where
you're wondering, what do I do?
We all have decisions where sometimes we don't know what to do.
What should we do?
Which way do we go?
What do I do?
How do I handle this situation?
Now, a lot of times you get in a situation like that and you have to make decisions fast.
Spur of the moment.
What do I do?
What do I say?
And the more scripture you know, it's like the Holy Spirit will just bring it to your
mind.
Like, you'll be like, what do I do?
And then it's like, boom.
The perfect verse pops in your mind that just tells you exactly what you should be doing
in that situation.
God's word is what the Holy Spirit uses.
The Bible says He'll not speak of Himself, meaning something that He came up with on
His own, but rather He said He will take of mine and show it unto you.
He's going to take the words of Christ, the word of God, the Bible, He's going to take
that and He's going to use that to speak to you.
You know, I hate it when people say like, you know, God just told me, and then they
just make stuff up.
Like, you know, God spoke to me and told me to go to this city, and you know, God spoke
to me and said, you know, Stephen, I want you to go to Tempe.
You know, or God just spoke to me and just said, you know, go witness to that person.
You know what?
No.
God does not speak to you except using these words.
You know, people just say, you know, I remember one time, the pastor said, you know, man,
you know, God just spoke to me, I just know that we're supposed to rent so and so the
building.
And then they fell through.
It's like, well, I thought God told you that.
You know, but the Bible says, add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee and thou
be found alive.
You know, a lot of times that's your imagination, these voices that you're hearing, okay?
Because you know what?
We have the book here.
We have the Word of God.
It tells us what we need to do, and you need to be very careful just saying, you know,
God just told me, and then you just start saying stuff.
You know, God told me it just wasn't the right time to just quit that job.
No, He didn't tell you that.
What are you talking about?
He didn't know.
Did He appear unto you in the burning bush in your backyard and tell you, don't quit
that job, you know.
And so we need to be careful not to put words in God's mouth, but here's the thing though.
You know, we do want God to guide us and to direct us and to teach us and to give us information
that we need in a certain situation, and the way He does that is that He'll bring to remembrance
the Word of God.
The more you've read, the more He'll bring to remembrance.
The more you've memorized, the more it's going to come to your remembrance.
The more it can come back to you.
If you haven't memorized it and you haven't read it, it isn't there.
Go to Matthew chapter number 13, Matthew chapter number 13.
You know, and this is the importance of doing a lot of Bible reading, a lot of Bible memory.
This is what God's going to use to teach you, and some of the things you're learning you
need today.
Some of them you're going to need tomorrow, and you don't even know it yet, and you might
learn something in a sermon and it's going to come into play many years from now.
Lay it up.
Treasure it.
Remember it.
And the Bible says something similar here in Matthew chapter 13 when it says in verse
51, Jesus saith unto them, Have you understood all these things?
They say unto Him, Yea, Lord.
Verse 52, Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out
of his treasure things new and old.
He's saying if you're a scribe that's instructed in the word of God, you're like a householder
bringing out of your treasure things new and things old.
He's saying it's just a stockpile of goods that you have.
And I'd much rather have a huge storehouse of knowledge, huge storehouse of Bible verses,
chapters of the Bible, verses of the Bible, principles of the Bible, sermons preached
from the Bible.
I'd rather have a huge stockpile like that than money.
You know it's more important, wisdom is rather to be chosen than rubies and gold and the
Bible says more to be about the commandments of God, more to be desired are they than gold,
yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey of the honeycomb.
And so the Bible tells us here that a scribe of the kingdom of God is going to pull things
out of his treasure and that treasure is a treasure of God's word.
And it's laying up God's word in our hearts and in our minds.
And it is valuable, it is precious.
The knowledge that you have is very valuable, very precious, treasure it, appreciate it.
He's saying you pull it, and that's what you do as a preacher by the way.
You know those of you guys who are going to preach someday and I know we've got a lot
of guys in the room here who preach now and are going to preach more and maybe be a pastor
someday, you know when you preach, you want to always be preaching things that are new
and old.
Do you see that in the verse here?
Because he says he pulls out of the treasure things new and old.
You see a lot of preachers, it's just all old.
You know what I mean?
Like you go to the church for a year and then the sermons start over again.
You know what I mean?
It's like you're like, wow, look at all these different sermons, this is cool.
Great sermon, great sermon.
And then it was like, whoa, we're repeating kind of fast.
This is, I remember hearing this one, heard this one before, heard that one before, heard
that verse.
And it gets to the point, I knew a guy who every time the pastor preached on any verse
he'd underline it.
It got to where the pastor never preached anything that was not underlined in his Bible.
So the pastor would just name a book, turn to Malachi, and he'll just point.
This is where he's going.
And that's where he went, sure enough.
You know, because it's just, it becomes just old, old, old, old, old.
And you're just like, okay, I feel like I've learned everything I can learn at this church,
I'm not being fed because I just keep hearing the same thing over and over again, never
hearing anything new, never getting any new teaching here.
It's just all stuff that I already know and I keep hearing it over and over and over again.
Okay.
And the opposite can also be a problem, where it just becomes new, new, new, new, new.
And it's like, you know, why don't you ever preach on, oh I preached on that back in 2007,
you know.
But there's constantly new people coming.
So you can't just say, well I preached on alcohol back in 07, I preached on it again
in 2011, you know, preached on it, you know, I don't, go back and get the tape.
No, what you need to do is, as a preacher, you need to constantly be hammering on certain
fundamentals, certain basics, certain things, man, you just have to hear them over and over
again.
You don't want to just say, well I already preached on fornication, you know, I mean
that's something you got to keep preaching, you know, or, you know, I already preached
on eternal security of the believer.
No, it's like you need to keep nailing that down.
So what I'm saying is, I strive as a preacher to put into every sermon new and old, you
know, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, you know, that's
my formula for sermon.
But anyway, I'm just kidding, but anyway, what I'm saying is, when you preach, you got
to mix old and new, you know, to the guys in here that want to preach.
Don't feel like every time you get up to preach, it always has to be all new all the time,
you know, because then you're just going to start making stuff up.
Because I mean, look, I've preached, just in this church alone, I've preached like 1150
times here, let alone preaching that I've done elsewhere, okay.
So here, I've preached 1150 times, so if I just feel like it always has to be new, then
I'm just going to start pretty soon just making stuff up, okay.
So what I have to do is every sermon should contain a little bit of old and a little bit
of new.
Hammer on some old truths that you just can't hear too much, hammer on it for the new people,
people that weren't here back in 07 or 11 or 9 or whatever, and also bring out something
new for the people who have listened to all 1150 sermons.
Let's show them a new scripture.
Let's hit it from a different angle.
And so that's the ideal of preaching, is pulling out of your treasure things new and things
old.
And by the way, if you're ever going to preach someday, you better start building up that
treasure big time by doing a lot of reading and a lot of memorization and listening to
as much godly preaching as you can so that you can build up a treasure so that you'll
have a lot to draw from and a lot of ammunition to use.
Because someday, if you're going to pastor a church, you've got to come up with three
sermons a week, you're going to be preaching for three hours a week, you better have three
hours of material that's worth listening to and not just repeat, repeat, repeat.
But anyway, if you would, go to 2 Peter, do you remember hearing this sermon the last
time I preached it, a few years ago?
But anyway, go to 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1, it says in verse 14, 2 Peter 1.14,
knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ has
showed me, moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease, he's saying
after I'm dead, he's saying that after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
A lot of stuff I'm preaching, I want you to remember it after I'm dead and remember this
stuff because you're going to need it later.
Go to Acts 20, Acts chapter 20, while you're turning to Acts 20, I'll read for you from
Deuteronomy 11 verse 18 where it says, Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart
and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets
between your eyes, saying lay up my words, lay up my commandments with you, write them
on the table of thy heart, bind them to your hands, put them in front of your eyes, keep
them in front of you all the time, laid up so that it will be there when you need it.
David said, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
God's word being laid up in our heart will prevent us from sinning many times.
Because a lot of times you'll go to sin and then boom, that verse pops into your mind,
right?
For example, maybe you see a magazine that you shouldn't look at, you walk over, you're
going to pick up the magazine and start looking through that dirty magazine and then it comes
into your mind.
Boom.
But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.
Ooh, not going to pick up that magazine.
You know, you go to turn on the TV, you know, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
I hate the work of them that turn aside, they kind of go, ah, you know, get this out of
my head.
No, I'm just kidding.
You know, basically that stuff's going to come to your mind and stop you from sinning.
You know, you get around the strange woman and then Proverbs 7 comes back to you and
it warns you and it prevents you from doing wrong.
So many different situations you could be at.
You know, something as simple, children, as, you know, you want to take something that's
not yours, thou shalt not steal.
It ought to pop into your mind, you know, when you want to put that stick of gum or
that candy or whatever into your pocket in the checkout lane and steal it, you know,
or whatever.
Or, you know, how about when you're tempted to disobey mom and dad kids and you remember
children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
And that could make you say, wait a minute, I need to obey my parents.
I need to not steal.
I need to, you know, do right here.
And so there's so many times when God's word can keep us from sin when it comes to our
mind and convicts us right at the point where we're about to do something that we shouldn't
be doing.
Look at Acts 20 verse 28, it says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God.
He's talking about through preaching, you know, feeding them the word of God.
He says, Feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood for I know this
that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock
also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them.
Therefore watch and what?
Remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day
with tears.
So think about this.
What if Pastor Anderson just dropped dead tonight, right?
And I say, you know what, man, remember, seven and a half years I preached to you guys.
And then what happens if somebody came in and filled the pulpit, somebody came in and
started preaching or pastoring, right?
And starts preaching perverse things.
Are you just going to sit there and just, oh, whoa, this is great, you know, duh, duh.
And that's what happens all the time.
You know, you have independent fundamental Baptist churches where there's a good pastor,
a straight pastor, great preacher, and then the next guy comes in, preaches a bunch of
heresy, brings in the phony Bible versions, brings in false doctrine, and everybody's
just, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, it's just so stupid.
They don't know.
They haven't remembered the preaching and the word.
And they're sucked in by it and Paul's saying, man, I'm afraid that's going to happen.
I don't want that to happen.
And he says, look, it's not always an outsider.
He says also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away
themselves.
He's saying, look, it could even be possible that Pastor Anderson were to drop dead or
get arrested or whatever and, you know, be put in jail and, you know, somebody else has
to come in and be the pastor, right?
It could even be somebody from the congregation who has chosen to take over, right?
But you know what, are you ready to judge the preaching and say, is this the truth?
Is this the same doctrine?
You know, is this the word of God or is this something a little bit perverse?
Is this something a little bit off?
Is this something that is not biblical and not of God?
I'm not saying I'm perfect.
I'm not saying anybody who says something different than me is perverse.
But I'm saying if it's crooked from what the word of God states, it's perverse.
You better know enough word of God and enough memory of the Bible to be able to judge that
and to know that and to be able to say, is what I'm hearing right?
Say well, we shouldn't judge.
The Bible said judge not.
No, the Bible, go to 1 Corinthians 14.
1 Corinthians 14 teaches that we should judge the preaching.
We should judge the preaching.
Your job while I preach is to judge me.
Don't you judge me?
Well, no, I want you to judge me.
Sarah Anderson wants to be judged by you, okay?
Because you know what it means to not judge?
It means that you're just mindlessly just accepting whatever is being told to you.
Judgment, what does judgment mean?
You're discerning whether what you're hearing is right or not.
And look, every time I preach, you should be judging what I'm preaching.
You know, Paul said judge ye what I say.
You know, I mean we should judge it because you need to decide whether it's right.
Like the Bereans in the book of Acts, the Bible says they were more noble than those
in Thessalonica because they heard the Word of God, but then it says they heard the preaching,
but they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so.
So basically they came to church and they heard a sermon, right?
Then they went home and got out their Bible and said let's search the Scripture and let's
see if what we heard today was biblical.
Oh man, I'm afraid if people do that, they're going to find out what I've been preaching
is a bunch of nonsense.
No, I'm not afraid of that.
In fact, I want you to read the Bible.
I want you to read it 20 times.
I want you to read it 50 times.
I want you to take my preaching and scrutinize it with the Bible and make sure it lines up
so that you're not just mindlessly following whatever I say.
And look, when the Bible talks about the prophet or the preacher speaking in verse 29, look
at 1 Corinthians 14.29, let the prophet speak two or three and let the other do what?
So okay, so when the prophet is speaking, what are you supposed to be doing?
Judging.
And you know how you judge it?
Not just based on this just doesn't feel right.
You know what?
My sermon this morning probably didn't feel right.
You know what I mean?
But it doesn't matter whether it felt right.
It was right.
Everything I said this morning when I preached was straight out of the Bible, it was right.
Now it might not have felt right to you, it felt pretty good to me, but I'm just telling
you right now that it's your job to judge what I say and you judge it based on the word
of God.
Now question, if you've never read the Bible cover to cover, can you really effectively
judge my preaching?
Are you really qualified?
I mean people, it's funny, people will say, the Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
Have you ever read the whole Bible cover to cover?
No.
No, it's not in the part that you didn't read.
That Bible never says to do that.
Have you read the whole thing?
Guess what?
It's tucked away deep in the book of Leviticus, okay?
It's deep in the book of Numbers.
That's why you never read it when you were reading the Proverb of the Day, okay?
Because you know you got to read the whole word, the whole counsel of God, and so you
know you don't even know what it says, you don't even know anything, you know, read the
whole Bible cover to cover, then read it again several more times, then sit and judge
me and decide whether what I'm saying lines up.
And I welcome the scrutiny.
I want to be challenged.
I want to be judged.
I want you to take everything I say with a grain of salt, all of it.
All right, just trust me.
Just trust me, folks.
I wouldn't lie to you, you know, I'm not going to lead you, I'm your pastor, I love you,
I just trust me, okay?
Just believe me, okay?
No, no, don't trust me at all.
It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man no matter who that man is.
Now look, I'm not going to lead you astray, I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm going
to preach the truth to you, but judge me just to make sure.
And you'll find out that that's the case anyway, that's why I'm not afraid to say that, because
I know that it lines up with the Word of God.
But look, you're going to hear a lot of preaching in your life.
You're going to hopefully read a lot of Bible in your life.
You're going to have elderly people give you good advice or friends that give you good
advice and you're going to hear a lot of good counsel and wisdom and preaching and Bible.
If you're smart, you'll lay it up in your heart.
You won't ever tune out the preaching and say, this sermon doesn't apply.
You don't know what situations in life.
You might say, oh, 1 Timothy 3, the qualifications for being a pastor and a deacon?
I don't need this.
What do I need this for?
I'm never going to be a pastor.
You know, there are a lot of people who said I'm never going to be a pastor and then later
they became a pastor.
You know what I mean?
Now, some people will never be a pastor because they've already disqualified themselves.
But there are a lot of people who just thought, oh, I could never do that.
But you know what?
You never know.
You know, when as life progresses, how things can change and situations change and you might
find yourself needing preaching that you didn't think at the time you needed, later on you
needed it.
So lay it up in store.
Get a good treasure going.
The more you read, the more you memorize, the more preaching you hear, the more the
Holy Spirit can bring to your remembrance, the more you're going to know what to do when
the situations arise.
You're going to have that knowledge at your fingertips and the Holy Spirit's going to
have the tools to bring to your remembrance what you've heard.
If you haven't heard it, he can't bring it to your remembrance.
If you heard it once and forgot about it and you know, barely even, he's not going to be
able to effectively use that in your heart.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and boy, you want to talk about a treasure.
Thank you for the treasure of our Bible.
The entire word of God, I mean the people in the Old Testament, they only had part of
it.
A lot of the early New Testament believers only had part of it.
People in other nations in the world sometimes only have parts of it.
Thank you that we in the United States of America have the entire Bible at our fingertips.
What a treasure.
Help us to lay it up.
Help us to store it up and learn it and put it in our memory banks and store it away so
that we will know the information that we need when the times come that we need it.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.