Psalm 5, the game, verse number 1, it reads,
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation,
hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God,
for unto thee while I pray.
Now, I remember last week we talked about in Psalm 4,
David was basically praying that God would hear his prayer.
He kept saying it all went over again,
and then he finally explains why God is going to hear his prayer.
And one of the things that we talked about last week was that
if we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight,
the Bible says, Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him,
because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
You see, God is not just this kind of like a candy machine or something.
Whatever you ask for, he just gives it to you like he's the tooth fairy or something.
You just have to really believe.
He said, wait a minute, yes, you must have faith, yes, you must pray believing,
but you have to also keep God's commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in his sight
if you want him to answer you, if you want him to even hear your prayer.
And of course, those that turn away their ears from hearing God's law,
even their prayer is abomination, the Bible says.
And so here he says, Give ear to my words, O Lord,
consider my meditation,
hearken unto the voice of my cry,
my king and my God,
for unto thee I pray.
Now, look what he said there, consider my meditation.
What does it mean to meditate?
Meditation is the thoughts that are in your mind.
It's basically speaking to yourself in your mind.
Now, wait a minute, God knows your thoughts,
because he said right here, consider my meditation.
God knows that there's not a thought in your head,
but that God knows it altogether, the Bible says.
And so you ought to be careful and guard your mind
about what you think about.
Jesus said that if you look on a woman to lust after her,
you've committed adultery with her already in your heart.
When lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin,
and sin when it's finished, bringeth forth death.
A lot of people think, well, as long as I don't act upon it,
I can think on all these bad things,
but he said, no, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are a good report,
if there be any virtue and if there be any praise,
think on these things.
And you need to be very careful what is your thought life.
David said that he would meditate on God's word day and night.
He said that he would not, you know,
he didn't want to meditate on a woman that he's not married to,
he doesn't want to meditate upon sin.
And sometimes people will basically live in a dream world
where they enjoy the thought of committing all these sins
that they would never do in real life.
Let me give you an example.
People play video games where they're basically,
and I don't really know, because when I was playing video games,
it was like Mario and Luigi and the Mushroom and all that stuff.
But nowadays, yeah, there's video games where you basically
go into this video game, and in this video game,
you're living out what it is to be a murderer,
what it is to be a thief and a gangster and a criminal,
and kids are playing this, and let me tell you something, it's wicked.
Because they're corrupting and polluting their mind
playing these types of games.
And so don't play a video game or think about something
or imagine or fantasize about something that's not right.
If you wouldn't do it in real life, you know,
you shouldn't be doing it vicariously through a video game
or whatever other method.
That's the thing that's come into mind.
But just really, it should be the right things in your mind all the time.
You know, keep your mind clean.
Now, those of you who maybe have lived a sinful life in the past,
like, you know, a very sinful life,
there's all kinds of wrong things in your mind, okay?
Because you probably learned the lesson that things go in,
but they don't easily come out.
And even when I was a teenager, just all the wrong music
and all the movies that I watched,
all that stuff is still in your mind.
And so you have to put away those foolish thoughts.
You have to push that stuff out of your mind.
And one way to do it is by getting the Word of God into your mind.
I remember when I first really got right with God,
started doing a lot of soul-winning God in the fundamental Baptist church,
the first thing I got was the Alexander Scrooby Bible on tape.
And, man, I used to listen to that all day long
because I found that if I wasn't listening to that
or if I wasn't listening to preaching or something,
sometimes throughout the day my mind would just wander
and I'd start singing all kinds of wrong music.
Next thing I know, I'm acting out movies that I've seen and everything.
And so you've got to put something clean into your mind
and sing the hymns, listen to the Bible on CD,
listen to preaching, think about things that are right,
keep your mind busy because an idle mind is the devil's workshop.
And so you've got to be careful about your thoughts.
David here is making a pretty bold statement.
I mean, do you want to say to God,
okay, God, take a look at my thought life, consider my meditation.
You know, but he does whether you say that or not.
He still knows what it is anyway.
And you need to keep your mind clean
because the thoughts of your mind will eventually translate into actions.
And so you need to keep your mind clean and pure as possible.
Now, bad thoughts are going to come into your mind.
You can't avoid it because we live in a sinful world.
You're going to drive down the freeway, see some wicked side,
you're going to hear some wicked thing on the radio,
as you're walking by, as you're in the store, whatever it is.
But the question is, are you going to choose to meditate on that?
Are you going to choose to just try to brush it off,
you know, push it aside and move on to something else?
But he said in verse three,
my voice shout out here in the morning, O Lord,
in the morning while I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up.
Now, that's how we have to start our day right there.
It's important.
Paul said I die daily.
And so you've got to put off the old man and you better walk in the spirit.
Hey, start first thing in the morning
because when you wake up in the morning, you're in the flesh
and it's time to put off a new man.
I mean, it's time to right away start the day off by speaking with God,
looking up, acknowledging God.
I remember when I was a teenager one time,
I realized and I thought this,
I have not even thought of God for three days.
I remember I just had this thought in my mind.
I was thinking to myself, you know what?
The thought of God's existence has not even come into my mind
over the last three days.
And I felt bad about it.
I felt like I speak knowledge in God.
I hadn't read the Bible.
I hadn't been praying.
I was just living my life just doing whatever and the thought.
But we ought to be meditating upon God and things like that.
We should be constantly looking up to God.
I mean, first thing in the morning,
the first thing that we should do is basically speak to God.
I mean, when you wake up, this is the habit you should be in.
When you wake up in the morning, speak to God.
Talk to God.
Just write then and there.
That should be the first thought that you have every morning
because otherwise your mind's going to go all the wrong places.
You're going to get into your day.
You're going to start doing everything wrong.
You've got to acknowledge God right away
when you wake up in the morning.
Now, a lot of people have different times
when they like to read the Bible.
Sometimes they like to read it in the morning.
Other people read better at night
just whether they're a morning person or a night owl.
Personally, I do a lot of readings throughout the day.
I don't really pop up first thing in the morning
and do a lot of reading,
but I always wake up and start talking to God right away.
I always wake up and start quoting some memory verses,
quote a song, quote a chapter or something,
just to get my mind in the right place throughout the day.
The way that I do my Bible reading
is more like throughout the day.
I'm taking time throughout the day.
I've got my new test in my pocket.
I've got my CDs,
and I'm going through it throughout the day.
You may be like that.
You may be more of a night person, morning person,
but don't let that say,
well, I'm going to do my devotion, quote unquote, at night.
Hey, you need to put on a new man first thing in the morning.
God, it says right here,
God should hear your voice in the morning right away.
How's God going to hear your voice?
When you're driving to work,
why don't you sing the hymns right in the morning?
That'll put you in the right attitude for the day.
Then you won't walk in like that person at the office
who always walks in.
They're always just like a pain in the neck.
They're always grumpy and in a bad mood all the time.
They're always complaining.
You know what?
If you sing Blessed Assurance, Jesus Mind,
on the solid rock, I stand on the way to work,
you're not going to be like that.
You're going to be in a much better attitude.
You're going to be filled with the Spirit.
You're going to be a better Christian the entire day.
Start out in the morning.
If you don't already,
just set in your mind and make a point
that when I wake up,
the first thing I'm going to do is talk to God.
First thing, boom, I have to think about it.
Okay, here's where I'm at.
This is what I'm doing.
This is why I'm here.
Speak to God.
But it says in verse number four,
he said, I'll direct my prayer unto thee,
and we'll look at verse four.
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness,
neither shall evil dwell with thee.
Now, this goes back a little bit
to when I was talking about meditating
what you think about.
Taking pleasure in wickedness.
You say, well, I didn't do the wickedness,
but you enjoy watching someone else do it,
or you enjoy the kind of people that do wickedness,
and he said here,
neither shall evil dwell with me, he said.
So basically, don't even take pleasure in unrighteousness.
Don't even take pleasure and watch it on a movie and say,
oh, you know, homosexuality is funny.
Look at this guy.
He's acting like a queer hollis, laughing about it.
There's something funny about it.
Fools make a market sin, the Bible says.
And so don't sit there and enjoy
what other people do wrong.
You know, you're not going to do wrong.
You're not going to commit adultery,
but you're going to watch the Days of All Uns,
you know, or whatever.
I don't know what the modern seal buffers are
or whatever, but who cares?
I don't want to know.
I thank God that I don't know what they are.
I thank God I don't know what they are,
because they're all trash is what they are.
And if you watch them, you're not right with God.
Because you say, well, I would never commit adultery.
Then why would you want to watch a show
that's all about people committing adultery?
Why do you want to watch a show
that's all about people committing fornication?
Why do you want to watch movies that are produced
by the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood?
Hey, I don't want to take pleasure in it.
I don't want it to dwell with me.
I don't want to meditate upon it.
I don't want to think about it.
Hey, we need to get this kind of trash out of our mind
and be separate from the things of this world,
because the entertainment of this world is garbage.
Now, it's tempting.
Its multi-hundred-million-dollar budgets
go into these movies to make it so cool,
to make you want to watch it,
but it's going to corrupt your mind.
It's trash. It's garbage.
I mean, I was sitting on the airplane today and yesterday.
Probably the day before that.
I was on an airplane today.
I was on an airplane yesterday.
And, you know, right on the seat back in front of me,
they've got this old TV screen, you know, right there.
Boom.
And, you know, you plug in your little headphones
if you want to watch them,
which obviously I didn't do.
And, you know, to shut it off,
you keep pushing down on the brightness.
You just make it dimmer and dimmer,
and then it just goes up.
But then it just keeps, like, rebooting,
like, every 20 minutes or whatever.
And, I mean, I can't even believe the garbage
that they put on these things.
You know what I mean?
It's just all just smut.
That's all it is.
It's just a bunch of smut.
They make a little story to deliver the smut to you.
And it's garbage.
I mean, I just catch the little beat,
not even the sound, just catch little images of it,
and you can tell what it's about.
It's garbage.
Don't try to justify it.
Just live a clean and holy life.
Get your meditation right with God.
Don't let the foolish stand in your sight.
Don't take pleasure in wickedness.
It says in verse 5,
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.
We learned about leasing last week.
Does anybody remember what it means?
Remember last week?
False said.
You got the little cheat.
Hey, you're busted, buddy.
I mean, I got this.
This isn't my Bible.
I'm using this other Bible.
And it says on a little note, false said.
Is that where you're getting it?
Well, that last week.
I'm just kidding.
I'm just teasing you.
But, yeah, false, lying,
saying things that are false.
I was like, that's what mine says, too.
False said.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, colon.
So the thought is not over.
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into thy house
in the multitude of thy mercy.
Now, when the Bible says hate here,
it doesn't really mean hate.
It actually just means that he likes them just a little less.
But the sad thing is,
if you're 99% of independent Baptist churches,
that's what's being preached.
Right.
Oh, it just means he's indifferent.
Okay.
God is indifferent toward the bloody and deceitful man.
God likes him a little less.
No, it says God hates him.
And just to make sure that you didn't misunderstand
what he meant by the word hate,
he used another word in verse 6, abhor,
which is another word that means to just hate, to despise.
And all throughout the Bible he used these words,
despise, loathe, hate, abhor, contempt.
And people still will not believe this.
They will not accept this.
And it's all throughout Psalms.
It's not just Psalm 5.
I mean, it's all throughout Psalms.
God hates people who are bloody and deceitful men.
That's what the Bible says.
I mean, it's clear.
You say, well, you know, he's going to destroy them.
That's people easing their life.
He's talking about the same people, though.
He's not just talking about anyone who lies.
Look at the colon.
It's the same sentence.
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
Who does God hate?
Well, look at Psalm 11.
You say, well, God doesn't hate anybody.
You know what?
Read the Bible.
That's why you're here on Wednesday night.
That's why we have to go through the book of Psalms
so that you can see this.
Meet God.
It says in Psalm 11, verse 5,
The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked in him that loveth violence,
his soul hateth.
Upon the wicked he shall rain,
snares, fire, and brimstone,
and an horrible tempest.
This cup, I mean, this shall be the portion of their cup.
For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
This countenance does behold the upright.
So God, it's very consistent.
If you look up all the times that God talks about who he hates,
who he loathes, who he despises,
who he abhors, who he contempts,
it's always these bloody, bloodthirsty, deceitful,
basically these kind of perverted people,
the pedophile, the rapist,
people who love violence, they love to harm innocent people.
God hates them, period.
Now you say, oh, you're preaching hate.
Yes, I am. I'm preaching the virus.
And if the Bible talks about hate, I'm going to preach hate.
If the Bible talks love, I'm going to preach love.
If it talks about salvation, I'm going to preach salvation.
I don't care what the world thinks or the media thinks
or what your pastor thinks or your buddy thinks
or your mama thinks.
Hey, if the Bible says hate, I'm going to preach hate.
If the Bible says love, I'm going to preach hate.
I'm going to preach the whole counsel of God.
You say, oh, that was the Old Testament.
Oh, but then all of a sudden, God just started loving, bloodthirsty perverts?
When did that happen?
I don't remember that part of the New Testament where He said,
you know, I used to hate these people.
I used to want to rain fire and brimstone on them like Sodom and Gomorrah.
But now I want them to become a pastor.
Now I want them in Sunday school.
Now I want them to be your buddy at work.
And look, you ought not to hang around with these kind of people.
And I'm going to tell you something.
America is filled with wicked people.
That's why we're experiencing the judgment of God.
What's the percentage of women in America that have had an abortion?
What's the percentage? Does anybody know?
Is this a huge percentage, like half or 40% or some crazy number?
It's a huge number.
Let me tell you something.
Every single one of them is a murderer.
Yes, you heard me right.
Every woman who's had an abortion is a murderer.
You say, oh, you don't like that?
Then go find another church that will lie to you and tell you that murder is not murder.
That killing an innocent person is not murder.
It's murder.
And every woman who's had an abortion is a murderer.
She needs to get right with God and confess it as a sin to God.
And every doctor is a mass murderer who's performing these abortions.
He's a serial killer is what he is.
He ought to be taken out like a dog and shot.
Yes, shot.
That's what the Bible says, that murderers should get the death penalty.
So don't give me this garbage about, oh, you know, we're just supposed to love everybody and forgive everybody.
Then why doesn't God forgive everybody?
Why are all these people burning in hell?
Why did God say that who so shadeth man's blood and my man's shall his blood be shed?
If God just forgives and loves everybody, then why is it that he sends people to hell?
Why is it that he commands the death penalty?
Because he does not love people who are filthy, vile, mass murderers, perverted, wicked.
He hates them.
That's what the Bible says.
Say, oh, what about salvation?
What about forgiveness?
Hey, those who believe on Jesus Christ shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.
And so, look, if somebody's committed murder, but then they believe on Jesus Christ, they can be saved.
But those who do not believe on Jesus Christ will go burn in hell for being a murderer.
That's what the Bible says.
Now, can everyone get saved?
Well, some people, God hates.
They've gone too far.
They've crossed the line.
They've been rejected by God.
They're a reprobate, and all they can do is just wait to go to hell, because that's where they're going.
And that's the fact of the matter.
You say, oh, man, I don't even know if it's legal for you to preach like that.
I don't care whether it's legal for me to preach like this.
It wasn't legal when they preached the Bible and the Book of Acts either.
That's why they constantly went to jail.
I don't need the law to tell me what to preach.
This is the law of the Lord.
It's going to tell me what to preach.
I'm not going to let some government agency tell me what to preach.
I'm going to preach the truth, whether they like it, whether you like it, whether anybody likes it.
This is God's word.
This is our authority.
This is the boss, not me, not you, not anyone else.
That's what it says.
That's what I believe.
That's what I'm going to preach.
Now, look, I'm not going out on some crusade to go kill anybody.
I'm not condoning going out and killing anybody.
But you know what?
They ought to be killed according to the Bible.
And if we had a government that was just and all, it would be carrying out justice on the evil doer and the wicked doer.
And I'm not going to apologize for the truth.
I'm not going to get up here and tell you, oh, I'm sorry it hurts your feelings.
If it hurts your feelings, then God hurts your feelings.
I'm sick and tired of a bunch of churches backing down and letting the devil push them around, letting the world push them around.
Hey, I don't care whether it's popular, whether it's in season or out of season.
You put it in your pipe and smoke it.
God hates the bloody and deceitful man.
He's going to burn him in hell.
Deal with it.
And so don't tell me it's Old Testament.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.
I am the Lord God.
He said, I change not.
God does not change.
And God is a God of love.
Yes, that's why he'll forgive you and save you if you believe on him.
But to those who want to go out and harm innocent people and will not believe on Jesus Christ, he will damn them to hell.
It's a fact. It's the truth.
And it couldn't be any clearer. This is just one chapter.
But he says in verse number 7,
But as for me, I would come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy hand.
But what is he talking about when he's talking about God's house?
Well, in the Old Testament, they would go into the temple. That was God's house.
But in the New Testament, the Bible says that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
So we don't have a temple that we go and worship in.
The Bible says that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
And God didn't even dwell in the Old Testament temple.
Solomon said God does not dwell... Solomon's the one who built the temple.
He said God dwelled not in temples made with hands.
He said the heaven of heavens cannot even contain God.
I've just built this house just to offer sacrifices to him.
But he doesn't live here.
He said God dwells everywhere. God is too big for a house.
And so our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
But when we're talking about the house of God, we're talking about the church of the living God.
He said, as for me, I will come into thy house.
Psalm 120 says, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.
We ought to be in church. He's saying, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy,
and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
We ought to have a fear and reverence for God.
The world has no fear of God.
They just think they can do whatever they want, say whatever they want.
There's going to be no consequences.
There's going to be a rude awakening one day, my friend,
when people realize that God does not let you do whatever you want.
And we ought to fear God and have reverence for God.
Let me explain something to you.
The economy is bad, right?
And a lot of people are worried about the future.
You know, my business is not doing well.
Everybody's suffering financially because of the economy.
But let me tell you something.
You know who it is that can make you basically stand or fall financially?
God.
It's the truth.
I mean, God can make you collapse financially.
God can lift you up financially.
So why don't you think about what does God want you to do instead of just thinking,
well, you know, the economy, I've got to do what I've got to do.
You know, whether it be skipping church, whether it be whatever the case may be,
moving to an area that doesn't have a good church in it,
you know, or everybody now wants to join the military.
It's like every week I'm hearing about somebody else who's going to join the military
because of the fact that, you know, they can't get a job.
You know, they just, so they're going to government jobs.
You know, the military, the police, because they just cannot get a job
because the economy is so bad.
I mean, it is bad.
I mean, I know a lot of people who are looking for jobs
and they're just, they're trying, they're trying, they're trying,
and it's tough to get a job right now.
But let me tell you something.
God is the one who holds your faith in the balances.
God is the one who holds your destiny in the palm of his hand.
And if he wants you to get a job, he'll get you a job.
If he wants you to succeed at your job, you'll succeed.
If he wants you to be laid off, you'll be fired, you'll be laid off,
you'll be fired, you'll be let go because God is the one that you ought to please.
Fear God.
Don't fear man.
Don't fear the economy.
Don't fear Obama.
Fear God.
God is the one who controls your destiny.
And when you realize that, you'll stop and consider before doing something wicked,
before considering a sin, because you say, wait a minute, God's going to chastise me.
God's going to judge me.
And look, God keeps us leaner than we want to be sometimes.
Sometimes he puts us in a position financially, not because we've done anything wrong.
Look at Joe.
He lost all his money.
He hadn't done anything wrong.
God puts us in a position financially sometimes because he's trying to get us just to rely on him.
He wants us to hit rock bottom or he wants us to basically be a little bit leaner than maybe we want to be
because he wants us to toughen up maybe or whatever.
Who knows what he's doing?
But God's the one that holds your faith in his hand.
That's who you ought to fear.
Fear not then what's killed above.
Fear God.
God is the one who controls the outcome.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
and all these things will be added unto you.
You've got to put God first if you want to be able to make it in life.
And I'm not talking about being rich or wealthy or prosperous.
I'm just saying if you want to make it in life, you want to be successful,
and you want to be blessed by God, it's all about pleasing God,
not about pleasing anybody else.
It's about pleasing God, and that's all.
But he says in verse number 7 of the Internet,
And in thy fear will I worship toward thy Lord.
The only legitimate fear is fearing God.
And verse 8,
Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies.
Make thy way straight before my face,
for there is no faithfulness in their mouth.
And this is going back to those people that God hates,
these bloody, deceitful, abominable, murdered...
I mean, think about how wicked some people are.
Some people in this world are so wicked it's beyond comprehension.
You say, I can't believe that God would hate anybody.
There are people in this world that are so wicked.
They torture, they kill, they don't care.
I mean, people who could just brazenly cast...
I mean, look at history.
Joseph Stalin, just torturing millions and millions and millions of people.
And you say, oh, I believe that God loves Stalin.
No.
The man is one of the most wicked people that's ever lived.
Adolf Hitler.
Just torturing people, murdering them, killing people.
Okay, wicked, ungodly.
It's funny, this reporter from Germany came out and interviewed me
about my sermon that I preached a few months ago about Obama.
Okay, and this reporter from Germany comes,
and he was not a Christian.
He was just a worldly reporter from a news magazine.
And I sat down and ate with him,
and he's talking about, you know,
well, hate, isn't that a strong word?
And I said, wait a minute.
He's like, should we love or whatever?
And I said to him, I said, hey.
Because I knew this would get on with him.
I said, what about Adolf Hitler?
I said, do you think we should love him?
If he were alive right now, would you love him?
And he said, no.
Because it's clear.
I mean, it was just obvious to him.
He's like, no, he's like, obviously not.
He's like, that would be insane to love Hitler.
You know what I mean?
To love someone who's that sick, twisted of a monster.
He said, no.
And I said, well, there you go.
There you have it.
See, it's not hard, folks, if you're not brainwashed
by a feel-good, cozy little, soft-soaked Christianity
that's not really what the Bible teaches.
If you're just thinking normally, like a normal person,
you basically will know that, wait a minute,
some people are sick, twisted, evil people.
They need to be killed.
They need to be executed.
They need to get to death.
Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler.
You name these big names, but there are a lot of other people
that do the same type of things.
And that are just as bad.
God warns us about it.
He says, there is no faithfulness in their mouth.
Their inward part is very wickedness.
That means basically they're wicked to the core,
is what he's saying.
They're rotten all the way to the core.
They say, well, deep down, he's a real sweetheart.
I remember I read this newspaper article
whenever Saddam Hussein was in jail.
I don't know where he was jailed, but he was in jail.
And the guards were talking about how he loved to eat
nacho cheese Doritos.
And they were saying, he's actually a really nice guy.
He likes Doritos.
He likes to smoke cigarettes.
He likes to sit outside and enjoy nature
while he reads the Quran.
And they were saying, read the Quran, eat some Doritos,
smoke some cigarette.
He's a really nice guy.
Yet when he's not torturing and killing people,
he's a nice guy.
No, God says these people are rotten to the core.
Well, there's a little good in everybody.
Have you ever heard that before?
There's a little good in everybody, right?
The symbol of the Taoist religion.
Right?
You know what I'm talking about, the yin and yang?
And it has the little white dot and the black.
It's like there's a little bit of good,
and everything gets bad.
And there's a little bit of bad, and everything gets good.
No.
He says here, their inward part is very wiggly.
You go all the way down to the inside, it's rotten.
He said their inward part is very wiggly.
Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Now, what is a sepulcher?
A sepulcher is a grape.
Now, let me tell you a really nasty story.
When I was a kid, my friend had a hamster.
And this hamster died.
And so we basically took a little Ziploc bag,
and that was like the little body bag.
And then we used the Ziploc box.
It was like the coffin.
And we dug it.
We dug down, and then we put it.
We made a grave.
And then for some reason, you know, we're kids.
We're like nine years old.
We had this stupid idea of,
let's go back and see if it's still there.
We're like, let's dig it up.
So we basically, you know, I'm nine years old.
Give me a break.
So we go back there.
We dig it up.
We dig down in the same spot where we had it all marked.
It was out in some field, like miles from our house.
We're like, let's see if we can find it, you know.
So we dig down, we dig down, and we found it.
And that was the worst stench that ever smelled in my life.
I mean, it was bad.
It was horrible.
And that's just a hamster, you know.
I mean, let alone, I mean, I've never,
I guess I've never been around dead bodies.
But I'm just saying, I'm sure that it's bad.
He's basically, but think about this.
How would you like God to describe your throat
as an open sepulcher?
Like, what's coming out of your mouth is what he's saying.
Think about this now.
What's coming out of your mouth is so vile
that it's a stench in God's nostrils
like that of a grave that's been opened up.
Remember what they said about Lazarus
when he'd been laying in the grave for four days
and Jesus said, roll the stone away?
And what did Mary say?
He stinketh, you know.
Master, by now, he's stinking.
And they didn't even want to open that grave.
They didn't want to open the sepulcher
because they didn't want that stench to come out.
Now, I would hate for God to describe
what came out of my mouth
as being like opening up a sepulcher.
Remember what Jesus called the Pharisees,
whited sepulchers?
And he says here, the throat is an open sepulcher.
They flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God.
Oh, man, I can't believe that David would say that.
Why would God pray for God to destroy these people?
Because they're evil,
because they're hurting innocent people.
Now, look, if someone is a sick, twisted individual
like a Hitler, a Stalin, a Mao Zedong,
they're going to hell anyway.
So the sooner they get there, the better,
because they're just going to harm and kill
and rape all the way there.
So David's just saying,
let's just destroy them.
Destroy thou them, O God.
Let them fall by their own counsels.
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
for they have rebelled against thee.
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy,
because thou defendest them.
Let them also that love thee...
I'm sorry, let them also that love thee
be joyful indeed,
for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.
With favor wilt thou compass him as with the sheep.
So God is saying that, look, we should be rejoicing.
We should always be shouting with joy.
Why? Because God is going to defend us.
And this is the theme of the book of Psalms.
It's been in every Psalm so far, pretty much.
We saw it in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4,
now it's in chapter 5.
All throughout the book of Psalms,
God is telling you He's going to protect you.
He'll protect the righteous.
Do what's right and God will protect you.
Do the right thing, God will take care of it.
But, He said, you want to go the wrong way?
He said wrath, destruction, judgment,
fire, brimstone, damnation.
This is who God is.
He loves the righteous.
He hates those who love violence.
Period.
I mean, this is God.
You say, well, and I've heard people say this many times.
Well, my God,
my God is always loving.
Wait a minute.
Then you don't worship the God of the Bible.
What you're saying is that you're an idolater.
You've created your own God.
What do you mean your God?
There's only one God.
And my God, your God, His God, their God,
is the God of the Bible.
And so when you sit there and say,
I just can't see a God that would blank
and it's something in the Bible,
you got the wrong God, my friend.
Everything that you need to know about God is in this book.
And if it's in this book, that's who God is,
whether I like it, whether you like it,
whether anybody likes it.
And we need to stop and say, wait a minute,
God is not maybe who we have imagined Him to be.
Let's open the Bible, read it, and let's find out who God is.
The best thing I ever did was when I was about 16, 17 years old,
I decided I was going to read the Bible cover to cover, first of all.
But not only did I decide I was going to read the Bible cover to cover,
I decided I would put away preconceived ideas.
I decided, you know what?
I don't want to try to force what I believe upon the Bible.
You know, I've been taught this, I've been taught that,
I've been taught the other.
I don't want to go to the Bible and just assume all these things.
I want to go to the Bible and see whether I'm really right about these things.
And if I'm wrong, I want to be corrected.
And there were a lot of things, when I did that,
that I ended up changing when I believed.
Because maybe I've been taught a certain way,
but when I read it, it was just different when I read it.
And so the best thing I ever did was when I went to the Bible
and just said, you know what, God?
Show me who you are, God.
I want to know you. I want to know the truth.
I'm not just going to go by what I've been taught.
I'm just going to read the Bible and see what it says and believe it.
And so many people today, they just don't want to accept
certain things that the Bible teaches.
They choke on it. They can't handle it.
And sometimes it's negative things like this.
There are some positive things that people don't want to receive.
Like where the Bible says salvation is free.
That it should believe, that it's faith, that it's eternal security,
you can't lose your salvation.
That's a very positive thing, and yet so many people just cannot accept it.
Here's something negative in the Bible that people don't like,
and they say, well, God would never hate anybody.
God's the only love. He doesn't hate anybody.
Well, then what is this verse talking about?
What does this mean?
And like the pastor recently said, he said, well, hate doesn't really mean hate.
He said it just means, you know, you're indifferent or you like him.
And I said, well, wait a minute.
Then you should agree with my sermon,
because my sermon was called Why I Like Obama Little Less.
You know, because I mean, I meant the same thing that God meant.
You know what I mean?
You see how dumb that logic is? It doesn't make any sense.
I mean, it's funny how, you know, when we say it, it means one thing,
but when God says it all, it means something totally different.
You know, that's not really what it means.
People will criticize us for using the term solely
and saying we won somebody a prize. We won somebody the Lord.
We led someone to Christ.
And they say, well, you didn't do it. It was all God. It wasn't you.
And then I show them the verse, and I say, Paul said,
I've become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.
And I show them that verse, and here's what they say.
Well, that's not what he meant.
And I always just say the same thing. Well, then that's not what I meant.
You know what I mean?
Well, he meant that he's just the one who told them about Jesus,
and Jesus is the one who said it. I said, that's what I meant.
And he said it stronger than I said it. You know what I mean?
I don't even go around saying I saved people.
Hey, I saved three people today.
But if I did, it would be legit, because that's what the Bible says.
That's what Paul said.
But you show them, and they say, that's not what he meant.
It's like, okay, well, that's not what I meant either.
No, you're saying you didn't.
Look, words mean what they say.
I mean, you've got to just open them.
I mean, it seems stupid, but you've got to just open the Bible and read it.
That's what it says?
Okay, that's what I believe. That's what it means.
That's what it says. It's that simple.
And so he says here,
But let all those that put their trust and need rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them.
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Now notice, three times he said in one verse,
He said, Rejoice, shout for joy, and be joyful.
Right? Three times, right or wrong.
God commands us to be joyful.
Do not be down in the mouth as a Christian.
Do not be a negative person.
Do not just be...
And look, all of us could have a tendency to get negative,
to get depressed,
to get complaining and down like,
Oh man, everything's going wrong.
But wait a minute, God commands us to rejoice.
He said in the New Testament, Rejoice evermore.
He said, I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall be continually in my mouth.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
And that's every day.
And so you've got to make a point to rejoice.
You say, well, Pastor Asher,
how can I help if I'm down?
How can I help if I'm sad, if I'm upset, if I'm depressed?
But wait a minute, God's commanding you to rejoice.
So it must be something that you can choose to do
or else He wouldn't be telling you to do it.
If it's just an automatic thing, you're either rejoicing or not,
He wouldn't command you to do it.
He's telling you, in spite of the circumstances, rejoice.
Rejoice.
You must choose to have joy.
And you say, well, how do I do that?
Well, first of all, choose to dwell upon the things
that are good in your life
instead of the things that are negative in your life.
I mean, we all have negatives in our life all the time.
Right now, the negative thing in your life
could be your finances.
It could be your health.
And that's one of the worst things to have as a problem
is bad health.
Job, remember, that's where Satan took it to the next level
was when he attacked his health.
That was the last thing he did.
Your health could be the problem.
Your marriage, your family, your children,
your child-bearing, your friends,
I mean, whatever it is, your church.
You go to Faithful Word, that's your problem.
Whatever it is that's the big problem right now,
you can choose to just be hung up
on that one thing about your life that's messed up.
Or you can choose to be thankful for all the good things
that God's done for you.
He's saved you.
He's protecting you.
You've got the Bible.
You've got the church.
And be thankful for the people that you have in your life.
I don't think anybody in here is starving today.
I hope not.
If so, I'll take you out to eat.
I can serve and see how you're starving.
But most people here have food, have clothing.
We ought to be there with content
and be happy with it and rejoice.
Dwell upon the things that are good.
Think about all the things God's done for you.
In fact, don't just think about praying.
Thank God for them.
And you'll start feeling better.
You'll start rejoicing.
You'll start being thankful.
There's always something negative.
If you choose to dwell on that, you'll always be down.
Because your life is never going to be perfect, ever.
Remember Haman in the book of Esther?
He had everything.
Everything was perfect,
except one guy, Mordecai, would not bow down to him.
And because that just made him mad and ate up him.
He even looked at his wife and said,
I've got money.
I've got power.
I'm the second in the kingdom.
I've got ten children.
I've got riches.
But he said, all of it avails me nothing
as long as I have to see that guy, Mordecai.
I mean, that's what he said.
Breathe it.
He said, just none of it will matter.
I can't be happy because this one guy
with the whole kingdom won't bow down to me.
But see, that's the way the world is.
They're never happy.
You know, it's always something.
None of it matters.
It's just this one thing.
But that's how you can be sometimes
when you fixate on the one thing about your life
that you don't like.
You've got to learn to just make the best of it.
Just rejoice in the Lord.
Make the best of it.
Make the best of it, whatever it is.
You know what?
Just realize, and here's what I realized a long time ago.
Whenever you finally get that one thing
that's bothering you straightened out,
it's going to be something else right after.
And so sometimes I kind of think,
well, this thorn in my flesh, it's not that bad.
I think I'm just going to keep this one
rather than take whatever's behind thorn in one.
Because, you know what I mean?
Because it could be something worse.
Hey, I'd rather have a financial problem
than a health problem.
Or I'd rather have this problem than who knows what problem.
And you're always going to have a problem.
So sometimes you might as well just stick
with whatever problems you've got.
Because I guarantee you there's people
that have it worse than you, no matter who you are.
There are people who would love to be in your exact situation.
I mean, it's hard to believe for some people
that are going through a rough time.
And I'm not trying to belittle your problems
or make light of it.
I'm just saying, you know what?
There's always somebody else who's worse off.
And so just rejoice that you're not them.
You know, just rejoice and thank God that, you know what?
There's so many good things you have.
Don't worry about and get hung up on the one thing
that you don't have, okay?
And he says, verse 12,
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous
with favor wilt thou come to piss him as with a shield.
So God's going to bless the righteous.
What's the message behind this psalm?
Let me just sum up the whole psalm 5 for you.
What's he saying?
He's saying, look, you do right, you're going to be blessed.
You do evil and wickedness, you're going to be destroyed.
It's that simple.
You'll be destroyed without pity, without mercy.
You will be destroyed.
You do what's right, God will protect you,
God will defend you, you can rejoice.
And let me tell you something, as a Christian,
because I'm preaching, probably everybody here is saved
in this church, you know?
And that's the way it's supposed to be, you know?
I mean, church is for people that are saved, you know?
And when we bring people in, we try to get them saved first,
and then bring them to church.
But, you know, I'm speaking to saved people,
I'm speaking to Christians,
I'm speaking to people that are saved,
they're going to heaven, no matter what happens,
you can't lose your salvation, you're secure,
you're a child of God, you're on your way to heaven.
And so you have the choice, though.
And you're not, you know, you don't fall into this category
of these open sepulcher, wicked, you know,
bloody, deceitful people.
But I will say this, the path to God's blessing
is always through the door of obedience.
You have the choice in your life.
Obey God and be blessed.
Or disobey God and be chastened and chastised.
And be disciplined and be scourged as a son.
That's the choice for you, my friend.
And so, think about that.
It's not just random whether you succeed in life or not.
I'm not talking about money, I'm not talking about all that garbage.
I'm saying whether you succeed spiritually is not random.
It's based upon whether you obey God or not.
That's the basis right there.
You want God to bless you.
You want Him to shine upon you with His favor.
You must do right.
You must clean up your meditation.
You must clean up your life and keep His commandments.
Let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer.
Father, please just bless the sermon to our ears, dear God.
Sometimes the truth is not pleasant, dear God,
but help us not to live in denial.
Help us not to try to change God's Word to fit what we believe
instead of just reading it and seeing what it says.
And God, help every single one of us to walk in righteousness,
to rejoice, to be joyful, not to get down and upset, dear God,
but to dwell upon the things that are right, to do what's right,
to live a right life knowing that you're going to bless us, dear God.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.