Message would speak to the heart and that we've learned something that will bring us closer to you and in Jesus name we pray
Amen now in verse number one the Bible reads the king shall joy in thy strength. Oh Lord and in thy
Salvation how greatly shall he rejoice now this chapter is really a dichotomy
Because the first part of the chapter is very positive
It's talking about all the blessings of being saved and all the wonderful things that God is doing for David
How he's answering his prayer he's giving them things they didn't even pray for
but then it goes on at the end of the chapter in verses 8 9 10 and
Talking in talking about the destruction of the wicked all the horrible things that are gonna happen to them
And that's what we're gonna get into tonight
But before we do look at verse 1 says the king shall joy in thy strength o Lord and in thy salvation
How greatly shall he rejoice keep your finger in Psalm 21 flip over to 1st Peter 1st Peter chapter 1
1st Peter chapter number 1
He said the king shall joy in thy strength o Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice 1st
Peter chapter 1 and beginning in verse number
3 it says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
Which according to his abundant mercy had begotten us again?
Just like the term born again that Jesus used with Nicodemus in John 3 had begotten us again
Unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and
Undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God
Through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly
Rejoice remember he said I'll rejoice in the Lord's salvation
Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be you're in heaviness through manifold temptations
That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold to perish it though it be tried with fire
Might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen
Ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory
receiving the end of your faith
Even the salvation of your souls now being saved is something to rejoice about something to be excited about
I mean God explains here that not only did Jesus die for us on the cross
But he was also buried he rose again from the dead and therefore through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
The Bible says we have salvation
The Bible says if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son
It's it much more being reconciled. We shall be saved by his life
Okay, the resurrection is what saves you the fact that Jesus died for our sins
He was buried and then he rose again from the dead and because he rose again from the dead and because he's alive today in
Heaven the Bible says that we are kept by the power of God
We are kept. What does that mean? It means that he keeps us safe
You see you don't have to get saved over and over again. You have to get saved on a daily basis
You have to earn your way to heaven. The Bible says that we're begotten again
We're born again not born again and again and again
We've been born of the water of the water birth when our mother gave birth to us
We've been born of the Spirit when we believed on Jesus Christ
We're born again and God keeps us safe the blood that's in heaven
The Bible says speak it better things than that of Abel and there it is in heaven on the mercy seat
Keeping us safe. We're kept by the power of God
We have an inheritance in verse 4 it says
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away
reserved in heaven for us is waiting for us in heaven an inheritance a
Mansion Jesus said in my father's house are many mansions if it were not
So I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you
And so we have a lot of things to be excited about
We're kept saved all our sins are forgiven as far as the east is from the west
The Bible says so far God has separated us from our sins
You know if somebody needs to tell that to some preachers who tell you that one day you're gonna stand before God
He's gonna run through your sins with you
Who's that you know who's ever heard that before you're gonna have to answer to God for your sin
The Bible says that God has forgotten my sins
It says there's sins and iniquities
Well, I remember no more his sins shall not be mentioned unto him
The Bible says as far as the east is from the West God has separated us from our sins
He's put all our sins behind his back the Bible says and thank God when we get to heaven
We won't have to give an account for our sins
We won't have to be punished for our sins because Jesus already paid that punishment for us
And so thank God for salvation. Thank God for the forgiveness of being saved. Thank God for a home in heaven
Thank God for that. He keeps us safe because we couldn't keep ourselves safe
You see well if you sin you're gonna lose your soul. We'd lose it every day
Jesus is gonna say to those that are cast into hell one day depart from me
I never knew you and you see once you're saved once you're born again
He said I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee you're kept by the power of God
we're preserved in Jesus Christ and called the Bible says and so even though as it says in verse number six
Right now we may be in heaviness
heaviness would be sadness sorrow
Because of manifold
Temptations all the various trials and tribulations and troubles that we're going through we might be a little bit down from time to time
But he said but we rejoice with joy
Unspeakable and full of glory because we're saved and and did you notice just even in this passage?
And I don't know about you, but when I'm when I'm out soul wedding, and I'm giving people the gospel
I don't think I've ever turned to this passage
You know what I mean
I haven't you know I've turned to a lot of passages showing people that
salvation is by faith alone
And this isn't really a passage that most people would think but how many times even in this passage that he mentions by faith
It's believed, and you know that's the message of the whole bio
I don't care what chapter you're in you'll see it over and over believe believe believe faith faith faith
I mean right here. He says in verse five or kept by the power of God
through faith
Ready to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in verse number
Eight it says whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing
You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls
I mean, it's just a few times just a few verses
It's all throughout the Bible and when people talk about salvation in terms other than believe and faith
It's because they're not using the Bible's terminology
And they're not getting their salvation message from the Bible because when I had the way I read the Bible it seems like every chapter
Just believe believe believe faith faith faith whenever it's in regards salvation 90 times in the book of John alone
He said believe the word believe is used 90 times
Verses like that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life
90 times and at the end of the book he said if we were to write down all the things that Jesus did all the
books in the whole world couldn't contain it, but he said these are written that you might believe and
That it by believing you'd have eternal life. You know I'm paraphrasing that portion, but go back to Psalm
21 if you would you see we ought to rejoice in our salvation we ought to be happy about it
You say oh, you don't know what my life is like it no matter how many temptations you're in right now
No matter what kind of trouble you're in the fact that you're going to heaven and you're saved
That should be enough our life is but a vapor that appeared for a little time and vanish at the way
One day will be in heaven for eternity rejoicing with Jesus Christ new heaven new earth
All the former things will be passed away. We need to endure
Hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ the Bible says because very soon one day
We will be in a place where there's no sorrow no sadness no sickness and no pain
So the Bible says the king shall join thy strength the Lord and in thy salvation
How greatly shall he rejoice and then what's that punctuation mark at the end of verse 1?
exclamation point
See a lot of people
Think that there's no exclamation points in the King James Bible
I've had people say that to me before and they're actually like about a thousand
Okay, and you know God God is basically saying something so exciting here that they put an exclamation point how greatly
How greatly shall he rejoice look at the last verse of the chapter verse 13 be thou exalted Lord in thine own
Strength so will we sing and praise thy power you see we ought to be rejoicing now
Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief, and we go through sorrow in our life. We have sadness heaviness
Temptations, but we should still be rejoicing we shouldn't go through life
Glom and depressed and down and and down we ought to be rejoicing the Bible says it rejoice evermore
one of the shortest verses in the Bible only two words rejoice evermore and
Everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you we ought to have joy in our life as Christians
Peter said even though I'm going through some bad stuff right now. I rejoice with joy unspeakable
He said I can't even put into words the joy that I have of being saved
and we ought to rejoice and one of the ways that we can express our joy on being saved is
Found in verse 13 where it says it so will we sing and praise thy power now?
one of the ways of praising God is through singing one of the ways of rejoicing in the Lord is through singing and
There's a reason why we sing when we come to church. It's not just because well every church
I grew up in that's what they did so that's what we do
You see the Bible says in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee in Hebrews chapter 2
God wants us to come to church and be in an assembly of believers and to sing and to
Lift up our voices in fact the imperative verb most found in the entire Bible is the word praise
The most common command if you look up every command word a word that's telling you to do something
More than anything else God tells you to praise and so we're to be praising God
That's why we shouldn't come to church and just go through the motions. You know turn in our book
We're talking about this that
I've been to a church before
Where the singing was not very exciting and people were singing really quiet
They weren't really singing out loud, and we turn to the first song and I opened my song when I started singing really loud
But then pretty quickly I realized that other people around me were not singing so loud, and then I quieted down
Yeah, you don't want to be the only one just
And so what I'm trying to say is that you know when people come in here
They should feel at liberty just to belt it out
Because a lot of people are maybe shy about singing, but if everybody else is singing at the top of their lungs
Then they'll sing at the top of their lungs
So you say why is that matter because the Bible says to lift up your voice and praise God
The Bible says to sing it to the Lord with a loud noise
Okay
We're to sing out loud and praise God like we mean it from the heart
Not just going through the motions or that's everybody's around me is doing so I'm just gonna lip-sync or whatever
We should come and sing and mean it and sing it out the Bible says be not drunk with wine
We're in a success, but be filled with the Spirit speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord
The Bible also says about the church in Colossians 3 16 teaching one another
teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
And so we're to get together and sing to one another sing amongst ourselves, and it's it's it's in the midst of the church
I will sing praise and not just I'm gonna listen to others praise you
He didn't say I'm gonna go to church and listen to other people saying now a lot of church you go to maybe it's just
You just sit back and the lights dim and watch a performance
But you know what we ought to be doing in God's house is seen with our own voice
God wants to hear you sing and throughout the week not just on Sunday not just on Wednesday
David said seven times a day
Will I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments seven times a day he said and so this isn't just when we come to church
We should be praising God throughout the week and many times. We'll go on a long trip with a family
We'll bring a hymnal and just sing the songs our family will just be driving down the road
We'll sing the songs when I'm by myself driving the car
I'm singing the songs that is an important part of your spiritual life singing praising God music and and and nowhere in the Bible
Do you find any mention of listening to music nowhere? You'll never find where God tells you listen to the right music
I'm not saying that it's a sin to listen to music
But I'm saying that there's nowhere in the Bible that tells you listen to music and there's hundreds of times
Where God's telling you to sing out to the Lord and praise God?
Let everything that breath praise the Lord the Bible says we ought to be maybe shutting off all the electronics sometimes
You know and I don't listen to any music by the way. I don't have you know Christian CDs
I don't I don't listen to it because I'd rather just sing praise
Yeah, and I have a feeling that God would rather hear me sing and you sing
Than some paid professional
Who's singing in order to make money, and you say I don't have a good thing was well
God's the one that gave you the voice that you have
So I think he wants to hear your voice sing to him and by the way if you're not good at singing
You'll become better at singing by practice
You know maybe you just haven't maybe you just haven't sung a lot
So if you start coming to church and singing out take a hymnal home with you and by the way if you don't have a hymnal
Take it home with you, and you say well
I want to buy one if you want to buy one buy it somewhere else because we don't make God's house a house of merchandise
but we always say this whoever wants him, they'll just take one home and
And who here has already taken home one of our one of our green him you see?
You know you already taken home and whoever hasn't take it home today
I just ordered a bunch more because they could they go down in number
Because people take home because that's what we want to happen
Because that hymnal is something that you can use and sing those songs and praise God throughout the week and learn songs
I remember when my my first son was born he used to love
Singing and it would calm down signs of you crying or fussy so sometimes
I would literally just stunned just sing to him for like an hour and a half
Because that would keep him calm and happy and give my wife a break
He'd be sitting in the car seat or sitting in a chair or whatever and it just is a very small child before you can even
Speak and he just loved to sit there just look at me
And I would say and I would just turn the page in the hymnals and saying saying saying, but you know what?
Thank God for it, and we ought to be we ought to be singing praises to God put away all this stupid
rockabilly Nashville Southern Baptist liberal Christian music
With a bunch of wrong doctrine anyway, and why don't you praise God for a while?
Why don't you sing praises to God instead of just all just listen to it?
You know that's what our society has become a society of spectators
You come to church, and you just watch the show or you sit in the car
You just listen instead of playing basketball or playing football. You just watch football or watch that and then you say we won
You know yeah, oh, we're going to the Super Bowl. We won. Oh, we beat you didn't do anything
And we've become spectators, but don't come to church to be a spectator
Come to church sing out the praise of God yourself pull out the Bible you turn to the verses read the verses
You know and then go out soul-willing and be a doer of the word and not a year only
Deceiving your own self the Bible says and so we ought to be singing praises to God this ought to be a part of your
Life even if you don't get anything else out of the rest of the whole sermon
Just this one point will change your life if you start to sing every day
Monday Tuesday wait singing praise to God every day will change your life
How are you gonna have a bad attitude if on the way to work? This is what you're saying?
praises to God on Christ the solid
Rock I stand that's that's not going to give you a bad day at work
That'll make that the problems that you have seem smaller when you're rejoicing in salvation when you're rejoicing in God's Word
That's what's going to change your whole attitude about things and and and give you a better attitude and and cause you not to be so
down all the time
Instead of taking drugs and and and all these other things that that people will tell you that you need because you're depressed
You what this is the drug that you need?
You know God's Word is the only thing that you need and singing praises to God will straighten you right out
but look at verse number two it says in verse two thou has given him his heart's desire and
He's talking about himself in the third person when he talks about the king
Because he is the king of Israel at that time David
He says thou has given him his heart's desire, and it's not withholding the request of his lips
So basically he answered his prayer, and then he says in verse three for thou preventest him with blessings of goodness
Thou saidest the crown of pure gold on its head now the word prevent flip over to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4
I want to help you understand the word prevent
Because we we use the word prevent a little bit differently than it was used back when the Bible was translated in English
Usually we think of preventing as maybe stopping somebody from doing something like we're going to prevent that but the word prevent
Look if you would at 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. I'll show you another usage of the word prevent
That's in a famous verse and this might help it kind of click in your mind
But the Bible says in verse number
1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13 it says, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep
That you that's talking about those that passed away
It says that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not
Prevent them which are asleep. Do you see that?
Now he explains that at the end of verse 16 what he meant by the fact that we will not prevent them which are asleep
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God and here's
The explanation and the dead in Christ shall rise first
See the word prevent, what do you think pre means?
Before like pre-kindergarten writer or whatever pre means before
Okay
Prevent you stop and think about who speaks Spanish in here
Prevent you think of the verb veneer, which is you know obviously a lot of English words come from Latin
this is one of them you know it means to come and
Prevent just means to come before he's saying we're not going to we're not going to go up before them the dead in Christ shall
Rise first we that are alive and remain shall not prevent them which are asleep meaning to go before to come before
Okay, now go back to Psalm 21 and see if it makes a little more sense to you where he says
Basically that in verse 2 God did not withhold the request of his lips
That's what he specifically asked for with his mouth, but then he basically says in verse
3 for thou preventest him with blood the blessings of goodness basically what he's saying is that he's
Blessing him with things before he even has a chance to ask for them
He basically beats him to the punch before David even asked for it
And there are other verses where he says that in the book of Psalms
How how basically God gave him things before he even asked for them you see God?
no, the Bible says your Heavenly Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask and
You think of Solomon remember Solomon was told by God to ask whatever he wanted
He said whatever you want
I'll give it to you, and he asked for wisdom and knowledge and an understanding heart and God said to him because
You asked for wisdom, and you did not ask for riches or length of days or the life of your enemies
He said I will give you wisdom
I will give you knowledge and understand, but he said I'll also give you what you did not ask for
I'll give you riches. I'll give you long line because you have to think it's right you see God
Will even give us things that we don't ask for
You see if you're praying for others if your concern is about others
And you're thinking about other people God still knows the desires of your heart
He still knows what you need and he'll bless you and give you the desires of your heart even things that you didn't even ask for
I mean how many times have you been at Christmas time for example you open a present?
and
This is the perfect gift, and this is what you strive to do when you give a gift to someone
It's when somebody gets exactly what they wanted, but they didn't even know that they wanted it right. They didn't know that they needed it and
They open it well
Then they didn't even think that's the ideal gift, and that's what God will do for you here
He's saying basically that God knows what you need and what's going to make you happy even better than you do and
So basically if you're doing what's right if you're serving God, and you're praying for others and worried about other people
He'll step in and give you blessings that you didn't even know that you need you didn't even think to ask for
He'll prevent you with blessings the Bible says and then it says thou set us to crown a pure gold on his head
He asked life of thee and thou gave us to him even length of days forever and ever
His glory is great in thy salvation
Honor and majesty has thou laid upon him for thou has made him most blessed forever
Thou has made him exceeding glad with thy countenance
So he's just talking about the joy gladness that he has by serving God by being saved
by by God's face shining upon him verse 7 for the king trusted in the Lord again referring to himself in the third person and
Through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved now. He changed his gear in verse 8
First he's just praising God. I'm so happy. I'm so glad God's been blessing me
He's given me what I asked for he give me what I didn't even ask for then he changed his gear inverted years in verse 8
He says thine hand
Shall find out all
Thine enemies say God has enemies
Yes, he died God has enemies
Now God forbid that somebody would find himself in a position on the enemy of God
Stop I think about that. That's a pretty scary thought, huh?
I'm the enemy of God
That's not a position that anybody wants to be in
But there are people who fill that slot. Let me let me show you an example. Look at James chapter 4
Now I mean you really if you if you know your Bible you probably can't help but think of this example because it's it's so
Blatant what he says here and it's very clear what he comes out. It says in verse 4 of James 4
He says ye adulterers and adulteresses
Know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God now that that's amazing verse because you think what would a
Person have to do to be God's enemy
Well, they have to do something really bad to be God's enemy, but basically
Being a friend of the wrong people
Okay
Helping the wrong people
Spending time with the wrong people can cause you to become
God's enemy of course, and I didn't write this verse. I mean, this is God's Word
He said whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God
I mean, it's very clear what the Bible says you see look at 2nd Chronicles 19 to this a good scripture
To drive this point home 2nd Chronicles 19 to you say pastor Anderson. I don't see what you're getting at
Well if you think about in the Old Testament there were the two kingdoms at this time at 2nd Chronicles 19 to there was the uppermost kingdom
Israel is what it was known as the capital city was Samaria
And then there was the the southern kingdom of Judah whose capital city was Jerusalem now throughout the history of these two kingdoms
At first it was a united kingdom of all twelve tribes of Israel King Saul King David King Solomon
Well after Solomon died it was split into two kingdoms the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom
and if you look at the history of the northern kingdom there were very few good kings and
The ones that were good kings weren't even all the way good. They were only partially good men like Jehu
There were only a few kind of good rulers in the northern kingdom and most of the northern kingdom was steeped in idolatry
They were worshiping these two golden calves one of them was at Dan one of them was at Bethel and
Jeroboam the son of Nebat introduced this false religion where they would worship a golden calf at these altars
And that was what the nation of Israel worshiped for centuries, and they had all these wicked kings over them
Well in the southern kingdom there were a lot of bad kings, but there were also a lot of really good kings men like Jehoshaphat
Josiah
Men like Uzziah was also a great man, and these these godly kings these righteous kings in the southern kingdom
Were very different than these wicked men in the northern kingdom, but sometimes
Sometimes the northern kingdom would try to get the southern kingdom to unite with them against some common entity and
God made it very clear to these men like and and let's just do the case in point here Jehoshaphat a
Righteous godly king
Well on the northern kingdom while Jehoshaphat was on the throne in the southern kingdom was Ahab
Who was a very wicked and ungodly king now even more wicked than Ahab because Ahab still in his heart
There were some good things in his heart. You see come out from time to time, but his wife
Was the real problem she was Jezebel and the Bible says that Jezebel was the one who basically?
pushed Ahab to do a lot of the wicked things that he did and
This woman Jezebel her father was the king of the Zidonians
And he worshipped Baal which was even worse than this religion where they're worshiping the golden calf
Baal worship was just flat-out satanic. It was evil. They would sacrifice their sons and daughters. I mean just horrible things
So basically because Ahab took the throne he was married to this wicked woman Jezebel who was the daughter of this king of Zidon
This brought Baal worship into Israel
Okay, so this was a very wicked man, and God made it very clear to Jehoshaphat
He should have nothing to do with this guy
Because what happens is when you mix things that are good and bad. It's all bad
I mean if I were to take a glass of dirty water and
A glass of crystal-clear water if I just took one drop of clean water and put it in the dirty water
Would that better clean it right?
No, but if I took one drop of that dirty water and put it in the clean water you watch it spread like a cloud and
Defile the whole glass of water
I mean if I put one drop of the of the filthiest liquid into a glass of water you wouldn't drink
99% pure
It's 99.9% pure
But wait a minute that 1% that .001% is enough to make you ill
To make you sick to make the whole thing taste disgusting well
That's the context of the chapter Jehoshaphat has teamed up with this wicked king in the north Ahab
He's gone to battle and helped him and he wants to because Jehoshaphat was one of these guys
He's just kind of a nice guy just wants to be everybody's buddy. You know what I mean
What a sweet guy
Who wants to be his buddy he wants to be his friend
But look what it said look what God had to come rebuke Jehoshaphat
It says in verse 1 this is he just got back from the battle and Jehoshaphat king of Judah
returned to his house and peace to Jerusalem and
Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat
This is the prophet that God sent to rebuke him. He said to him shouldest thou help the
ungodly and
Love them that hate the Lord
Therefore is wrath upon thee
from before the Lord and then in verse 3 says nevertheless there are good things found in thee and
that thou has taken away the groves out of the land and has prepared thine heart to seek God and
Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim and
Brought them back into the Lord God of their fathers
So basically this was a good guy
Jehoshaphat was not a bad guy
The prophet comes and rebukes him and says shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord
Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord and he said nevertheless there are good things in you
You're a good guy
But you need to stay away from this guy because otherwise God's wrath will be on you
God will be angry with you. God will punish you for
Helping and loving this enemy of God this evil man Ahab and he you know
Basically, Jehoshaphat continues doing the right thing in verse 4
He goes out throughout all the land he's preaching and trying to turn people back to to God
And so back to Psalm 21 just just to help you understand one way that somebody could be an enemy of God
Can sometimes just be by trying to be mr. Nice guy and and buddy buddy with an evil person
you know you think of these these preachers who want to be everybody's buddy and
They're their enemies of God. I mean these preachers who want to get up and they're the friend of the world
Yeah, you think of Billy Graham immediately?
Rick Warren, you know Rick wasn't Rick Warren the guy who held the Bible for?
Or no, you didn't hold the did he hold the bar. He prayed or when Obama was inaugurated. Is that true?
Did he actually hold that Bible for him?
You know Rick Warren who holds the Bible for Obama and it's funny because whenever you held the Bible for Obama
You know Obama kind of tripped up on the oath, you know
What if it's just cuz he's coming in contact with God's Word, you know
I kind of it kind of reminded me of that time in the Bible
When they brought the Ark of the Covenant and they sent it in the house of Dagon their false
God and if you remember when they put the Ark of the Covenant house of Dagon they all went to bed that night
Well when they got back in the morning basically the Dagon statue had fallen on its face
You know before the Ark of the Covenant and it was just the stump of Dagon that was left because the face had been bust
Off from it crashing down. It's like, you know, you get the Bible around the bar
What's my name again? You know, what's this? What are these 20 words? I have to repeat
But the guy who was holding it
Was not a real man of God, I mean the preacher who just can get along with anybody
You know Billy Graham said, you know, oh the Pope and I agree on just about everything
That's what Billy Graham said about John Paul the second
Billy Graham said I feel just as comfortable in a Mormon Church as a Baptist Church Presbyterian Church
They they asked a question. They said what do you think about the fact that you're what that your daughter has been ordained as a preacher?
And
Graham, you know, do you think it's okay for women to preach? You know, do you think women should be preachers and pastors?
he said
Well, that would depend on what circles
You know, I mean just trying to be everybody's buddy
But let me tell you something as soon as you start joining hands with the Pope
As soon as you put your arm around the Pope as soon as you put your arm out people are preaching a gospel
That is not the gospel at all, but it's a perversion of the gospel according to Galatians 1
They are preaching a message of damnation
Telling people that they can earn their way to heaven and one day they're gonna find out that it's not good enough
And they're gonna be cast into hell
And you're their friend. You're their buddy. You want to help them?
You're the enemy of God and that's why Billy Graham is the enemy of God. No one's more of a friend of the world
I mean Billy Graham could be on any TV channel. He wants to
Anytime he comes to town every TV station will be there. They all love him. Stop and think about it when the world loves you
God said woe unto thee when all men speak well of thee for so they did with the false prophets
He said the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord
It's not for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord if they called the master of the house
Beelzebub how much more so they call them of his household, but they don't call Billy Graham Beelzebub
They don't call Rick Warren Beelzebub the world loves him
Jesus said
To those that were not saved. He said the world cannot hate you but me and hated
I think he said because I tell the truth of it. You see Jesus was was hated by the world
Jesus was hated by the religious leaders of his day. He wasn't at a prayer breakfast with with the Pharisees and Sadducees
They hated him and he said they hated me and they'll hate you and so be careful with just saying well
I'm gonna err on the side of caution and just be everybody's buddy
You know every every
Pedophile every child molester every rapist every mass murderer and communist dictator. I just want to be their buddy
Because I can't go wrong just loving and helping everybody
Just that's the safe way
well
Is it the safe way when God says it's a sin and second chronicle 7 19 verse 2 and?
when God said that you'll be the enemy of God if you do so you see God has enemies and
His enemies are those who are working against the cross of Christ Philippians 3 one more place on God's enemies
I'm trying to hurry through this
Just a couple references on God's enemies
Philippians chapter 3
The Bible says this in verse number 17 Philippians 3 17
brethren be followers together of me and
Mark them which walk so as you have us for an example now. Thank God for a man like Paul who could say
Follow me as your example, and that's the way you ought to live your life that you would that you
I mean, what would it be if you said to people just follow my example?
Would they live for God if they followed your example?
I mean
Can you truly say to your children grow up and be like me because you ought to be able to?
You ought to be able to see like Paul follow my example follow me as I follow Christ
So you got examine yourself and say do I want everyone else at church?
to follow my example
You know that's a good self-check right there
But he says so as you have us front and sample verse 18 for many walk of
whom I have told you often and
Now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ that tells us right there. There are many
enemies of the cross of Christ and not only that Paul
Warned them about it often
You see this wasn't a sermon that he preached once a year
51 weeks of sweetness and light and one week a year he'd preach and and warn
He said I've told you about the enemies of the cross of Christ
Often he said even now as I write this even now as I'm warning you. I'm weeping to think about it
He says and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction
Whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly?
Thanks for our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ go back to Psalm 21
See God has enemies there are enemy there are many enemies at the cross of Christ
And if you're gonna be if you're gonna preach like Paul you'd warn people about him often
Because that's what Paul did there are many people who preach another gospel
There are many people who are paving the road to hell with their lies and heresy and doctrine
There are many people who are enemies of God
Because they're a friend of the world
Look what he says in verse number eight thine hands shall find out all thine enemies
Then he says thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee you see there are many that hate
God the Bible says in Romans chapter 1
About the homosexual he said men with men
He said leaving the natural use of the woman they burned in their lusts one toward another
Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was me
I've got grandma's Bible on you
This is grandma Anderson my dad's mother
she wrote next to the verse receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which is me she wrote the word AIDS and
It's funny because I told my grandma I said
And I said grandma. I love that Bible you gave me
This is the Bible my grandma gave me and she studied out of this Bible for like I
Don't know 10 or 12 years before she gave me, so it's filled look at all that right
And I said grandma I said I said I only want you to leave me one thing
I only want to inherit one. Thank me. I don't want any money. I don't want any stuff
I said there's only one thing I want to inherit I said I want to inherit the Bible that you're working on right now
You know cuz she gave me this one, but she's working on a new one, and she always has this New Testament Psalms
It's like the exact same one that she's working on now
So I said hey grandma, let me let me see your Bible
Because you know she wrote AIDS next to that receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which is me
And she's a really sweet old lady, so don't get mad at her
I'm not the one who said it
But I said hey give me that Bible grandma. I want to see it. Yeah, so I took her Bible
I looked at it, and I wanted to see if she wrote AIDS in the new one
And you know what you know what you know what it said next to HIV
Same grandma
That's what that's what any normal person thinks of when God said you know they have that recompense in themselves of the error of their
Filth and perversion and it says in the next verse right after it says and even as they did not like
To retain God in their knowledge
They wish they could just forget that there even is a God and they try their hardest to do so
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, but it's not done there the sentence isn't even over
being filled with all unrighteousness
Fornication
covetousness wickedness
maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity
Whisperers backbiters haters of God
Despiteful proud
Despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding
covenant breakers without natural affection
implacable
Merciful who knowing the judgment of God that they would commit such things are worthy of death
Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them you see there are people who hate God
Who's ever run into somebody that said I hate God or you knew they hated God?
I mean you can think of people that are hateful toward God the Bible says that the homos they hate God
The Bible talks about his enemies that hate him
they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge and
The Bible says here that God will find out those that hate him and in verse 9
It says thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them
See hell is a real place, and it's described here as a fiery oven
It's described elsewhere as the furnace of fire you think of a furnace
It's basically a large oven the furnace of fire
The Bible says in first Thessalonians 1 8 9 in flaming fire because some people think oh the fire is metaphorical
That's why he said flaming fire
There's no doubt about what that is he said in flaming fire
Taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with ever
lasting
Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power
He said in verse 41 of Matthew 25, and these shall go away into
everlasting punishment
but the righteous into the light eternal you see the unbeliever awaits an everlasting punishment and
It's a horrible thought, but hell is a real place, and it is a furnace of fire. It's a place of flaming fire
And it's an awful place. We don't want anybody to go there
We want to get to them before it's too late
We go out there and knock the doors and try to get people saved before it's too late
Some people have already sealed their faith
They're going to hell
but there are many many many multitudes of people who would get saved if we would preach them the gospel and show them the truth and
So we ought to be reminded of this horrible place for two reasons
You say why does the Bible talk so much about hell because if you read the Bible you know it does talk a lot about
Hell Jesus talked ten times as much about hell as he did in heaven
There's two reasons why God is constantly reminding us of hell, and it's not a pleasant thought
I don't like to think about it. I can't even fully grasp or wrap my mind around it
You know we as human beings we don't have full understanding like God does and
Certain concepts in the Bible are difficult to understand some people say they have a hard time understanding the trinity
You know the trinity doesn't really boggle my mind that much, but you know what does boggle my mind hell
Because I can't even grasp eternity I can't fathom what it is to be punished forever with no hope I
can't fathom having no hope and
No forgiveness forever. That's a hard thought to even grasp. I mean we don't I've lived for 28 years
You know I can't grasp what it is to have no hope
Because whenever I go through something bad. I'm always just thinking it's gonna be over
You're waiting for it to be over, but hell's never over I can't even comprehend that that's probably the thing that boggles my mind
But does that mean I don't believe it you better know I believe it because it's in the Bible over and over
I believe it from the top of my head above my feet
Because just because I can't fully comprehend something in my tiny little pea brain
When compared to God's mind that doesn't mean I'm not gonna believe it
I'm not gonna call God a liar the Bible's clear over and over hell two reasons. Why God talks about hell number one
He's warning, and he wants us to warn those who are going there
He doesn't want the young unsaved to remain unsaved so he warns them of help
He lets them know what's coming so that they can act before it's too late
And so we need to warn people though God's warning us though, but there's another reason why?
If we take the immediate context of this passage
This is a psalm of rejoicing
David has been rejoicing in verses 1 through 7, but you know what he's still rejoicing here because he's rejoicing the fact that the
haters of God and
That the evildoers of this world will one day get what's coming to them. That's what he's rejoicing
I mean if you just read the chapter and take it for face value. That's what it is
He's he's saying by hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee verse 9
I shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them their fruit shall thou destroy from the earth and their
Seed from among the children men for they intended evil against thee they imagine the mischievous device
Which they are not able to perform
Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon my strings against the face of them
Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength
So will we sing and praise thy power does it sound like he's upset
the side David is is is
Sorrowful about what God's gonna do that not in this passage
Now there are many places where Jesus wept
He didn't even just weep that one time when says Jesus wept other times
It's recorded that he prayed and made supplication to God with strong crying and tears Hebrews chapter 5
You see Jesus wept
Paul and
And the other apostle they wept over the sea
They it was sorrow in his heart when he saw Athens given totally to idolatry
Jesus looked at the rich young ruler who is unsaved and the Bible says he had
Compassion on him and it says he'd be holding him loved him. He had compassion on him
But you see there's two reasons why hell exists and there's two reasons why God tells about hell number one
Is so that we can warn and beg
There out of love and compassion for the Bible says and if some have compassion making a difference
Others save with fear pulling them out of the fire
Hating you in the garbage spot of others
But there's a second reason why we need to be reminded of hell
To be reminded that vengeance belongeth unto the Lord and that he will repay
You see there are times in our life when we come across people that are wicked evil people that have done us wrong
Somebody who imagine having someone that you love murdered or molested or some horrible thing to happen
Your your instinct is going to be one to take revenge, right?
Your instinct is going to be one to take things into your own hands and and kill that person that that murdered your loved one
Or or raped your loved one or like Absalom where he was eaten up because justice was not being carried out
His sister was raped and defiled and it ate away at Absalom. He looked right. He saw no justice
And so he took vengeance upon himself
But you see we don't have to take vengeance
Because the Bible says vengeance belongeth unto me sayeth the Lord. I will repay
We don't have to go out and revenge ourselves. The Bible says avenge not yourselves
We don't have to take revenge because God will punish
whoever it is the most wicked evildoer in hell and
Hell is far worse than anything we could ever do
You say well, I don't even understand how you can say that pastor answer
Well, maybe maybe you've never had someone do something very wicked that you knew
But but you know when that when something is so horrible, it's so awful and so wicked
You can say you know what thank God for hell
Thank God that someday that horrible person will get what's coming to them and you see that's what David's saying here
He's basically praising God for his power saying you know what God will judge and you know, you got to think about it
Do you think it would be right? You see I don't understand you president. You think it'd be right for somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer
To not be punished for all the horrible things that he's done. I mean think about how many people he hurt
Think about the suffering he caused you think it'd be right for somebody to go out and commit murder and for a judge to say
Oh, that's okay. Don't worry about it
Would that be a good judge? Would that be a righteous judge? And so God is a God that judges
You see we're not to take vengeance but God is a God of vengeance. I
Mean just look up the word vengeance at the Bible. God is a God of vengeance and wrath
Now, thank God those who believe on Jesus Christ will receive mercy because Jesus has already paid for our sins
But to those that are that are evil and wicked and ungodly and unsaved
They will face the wrath of God the anger the Bible used the word about this fiery oven in verse number 9
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath
God will deal with the wicked evildoers of this world and you know, sometimes you can just get all upset
And in a bit about all these horrible people in this world and the wicked things that they've done and then they get away with
It no one gets away with anything
They don't get away with it
Hell's a real place and they will get what's coming. We don't have to take it into our own hands because God will judge and
He will do worse to them than we could ever imagine
And so we better just leave it in God's hands. Don't take revenge. Don't take vengeance because God will revenge and
So I think of the woman several years ago her son is molested
She knows she's not gonna get any justice in America
You know what a slap on the wrist is gonna be out in a few years, you know that I'm telling you the truth
I mean, it's it's a fact my friend look up read the newspaper
We read the newspaper and and this this horrible molester much guys kids and then you read about his criminal record
He's been in and out of jail separate lines for the same thing. They just keep letting them out like a revolving door
And
This woman her dear young son that she loved was defiled by this monster. She knew there wasn't going to be any justice
she knew that the guy wouldn't get the punishment that he deserved which the Bible says is death and
So what she do she snuck a gun into the courtroom and she blew him away right there on the court
Who knows the story I'm talking about, you know, and she she blew him away
You know and you can understand why?
But you know what?
We don't have to do that because we can say to ourselves, you know that if that happened we can sit there and say
You know what?
God will do it. We don't have a sheep. Maybe she probably thought he was getting away with it
But you know what? I know that nobody gets away with it and that one day God's wrath will burn like an oven and
That man went there. He went to hell a little bit sooner
Because that lady, you know just blowing him away
But you know what whether they go to hell in five years or five hundred years
It's a vapor
compared to eternity and so we don't have to take things into our own hands vengeance belongs to the Lord and
If you miss that teaching in this chapter, you've missed the chapter because he spent four or five verses here
Dealing with that and it's not he's not being negative about hell now most of the time when I'm thinking about hell
It's an it's native. Oh, man. I wish people wouldn't go there. Let's get him saved. Let's get him the gospel
They don't go to that horrible place
But here it's in a different light because it's talking about very violent
Wicked evil haters of God that are going there and he says well, I'm just gonna praise God for his power
he's gonna come one day and burn these people like an oven and they said praise God and
So don't miss what the Bible teaches. Don't don't get a touchy-feely religion that says well
You know good God good sin and cold hell, you know
Everybody's fine
And let's just love everybody and and everybody's wonderful and we want to put our head in the same
About bad things. We want to just if we just pretend hell doesn't exist. It's gonna somehow go away
Or if we just pretend that abortion doesn't exist, it'll just it's like it's not even happening
You know because I can't see it from my house
You know if we pretend that bad things don't happen. No, we need to face it my friend. We need to face the truth
We need to face it and realize that God's a God of judgment God's a God of justice and then we can deal with it
And we can still go through life. Joyful
We can still you know
I don't want to be a bitter person and I've run into some people that are very bitter and
One of the reasons why is this idea of vengeance?
They just can't let stuff go
It's just and they're just mad and they wake up mad and they go to bed bad. That's not how I'm gonna live my life
I'm not gonna let the Sun go down on my rack. I want to go through life rejoicing
And when I sit back and look at it from God's perspective, I see heaven. I see hell. I'm going to heaven
I've got an inheritance incorruptible
God's gonna judge the wicked
You know, I can just go through life happy and not let this stuff eat up at me
Yeah, especially people read the news a lot. You know, you're reading the news a lot man
You just it just burns you up some of the stuff that happens
But you know what? You've got to get it in perspective and not let it burn you up be be happy rejoice
See it through God's eyes and realize hey, we're on the winning side
Let's just go out and get as many people saved as we can
Let's rejoice. Let's do the right thing. Let's make sure we don't have anything to do with these people
Let's stay as far away from let's condemn them. Let's rebuke them. Let's warn God's people about them often like Paul did
But let's not let them ruin our joy
Because we know that God is a God that judges in the earth. Let's bow our heads and have word of prayer father
We love you and thank you so much for your salvation dear God
No matter how bad anything in our life is your God. Praise God. We're going to heaven. It's gonna be great perfect place
Help us not to be down because of all the trials and tribulations
Help us to rejoice dear God and to go through life
keeping eternity in view heaven and hell keeping our emphasis on getting people saved and loving people and
Realizing that this world is gonna pass away heaven and earth shall pass away
Help our life not to just be about treasures upon earth money
Help us to just go through life thinking of eternity and then we won't get all upset
To where we can't live our life in a rejoicing way just because we think somebody is is getting away with with murder
so to speak and literally
We love you father and thank you for the joy of being in your house with your people
We thank you for faithful word Baptist Church and in Jesus name we pray