Two weeks ago I started this series called English Idioms Influenced by the Bible, and
I've always been blown away just how much the King James Bible has influenced our
English language, how when this Bible was translated, it was at a time when our English
language was developing, the spelling, the punctuation, the grammar was developing,
and even the sayings, the idioms that we use in our English, as we speak and probably
use many times, we don't realise many times that many of the phrases that we use actually
come from the King James Bible.
And so the title for the sermon this evening is English Idioms Influenced by the Bible
Part 2.
I'm not sure how many parts there's going to be, but there's going to be quite
a few parts in this series.
So we started there in 1 Kings Chapter 2, and like I said, it was a bit of a lengthy
chapter, really appreciate it, but it's a chapter where we see a transition from King
David to his son, King Solomon, taking over the kingdom.
And at the very beginning there in Chapter 2 in verse number 1, we see some great words
that David says to his son.
He says here in verse number 1, Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die,
and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth.
Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man.
Show thyself a man.
The idiom, of course, that we get from this is, be a man.
When someone says, hey, be a man, you know, that is an idiom that actually comes from
the Bible here, where David says to Solomon, hey, show yourself, Solomon, it's time
to grow up.
You're going to have to be the king, you've got to be the man, you've got
to be in charge of this place.
Show thyself a man.
And so we get that idiom, be a man, when we think about that phrase, how do we use
that today?
You know, often if we think maybe there's a man who's a little bit weak, you know,
a man who's kind of being pushed around, you know, when he should be taking authority,
when he should take responsibility, you know, when he's shying away from the
things that he needs to accomplish, you know, you might say to that person, hey,
be a man, right?
If our, I don't know, my boys haven't gone to work yet, but if our boys are
working a job and they're like, you know, the boss is a bit hard on me, you know,
I'm going to say, hey, toughen up, you know, be a man, you know, right?
And this is something that we use and, you know, the idea that we use today, of course,
is, you know, to take responsibility, you know, don't be weak, right?
Don't be pathetic, don't be a loser, stand up, right?
Do what is right, show yourself to be someone of a strong character.
And of course, you can utilise that even in many ways, you know, when it comes to
this passage, but I want to show you the difference.
When David says to his son, show yourself a man, or Solomon, be a man, what is he referring to?
He's saying, hey, Solomon, right, you know, pump some weights, right?
He's saying, Solomon, right, become the wealthiest you can be.
You know, what is it that, you know, David is saying to Solomon, this is what it means
to be a man, this is what it means to show yourself a man, what is he saying?
Verse number three, he explains what that is.
Show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways.
Men, boys, if you want to be a man, you want to show yourself a man, walk in the ways
of the Lord.
Be a man, that's it.
What God says, say, Lord, I'm going to do it.
Say, Lord, it's hard for me to do it, but I'm going to strive to walk in your
ways, I need your help, Lord.
That's what it means to be a man, according to the Bible.
What else it says there, to keep his statutes.
What's a statute?
A statute is a law, a law that is, you know, what is it, yeah, it's something
that is written down in the law, something that is documented down in the law.
And so when it says there, you know, to keep his statutes, we understand that the
law of God was written down in the first five books, the books of Moses, the law
as it's known.
Say, look, to keep his statutes is to obviously understand what God has
instructed, you know, what the laws of God are, not in accordance to a church,
not in accordance to society, but in accordance to God's word.
Say, Lord, what have you written down?
What are your statutes?
I want to know what they are.
That requires study, that requires reading the Bible, understanding what God's
position is on certain issues.
It says, and his commandments.
So there are things that, yes, we know how God feels about a certain issue, but then
God gives us commandments, doesn't he?
You know, he wants us to walk in a certain path, right?
You know, a commandment is, hey, soul-winning, that's a commandment, right?
Being in church is a commandment, reading the Scriptures is a commandment, praying
is a commandment.
There are many commandments that we have in the Bible.
You know what, boys, you want to grow up to be a man, do his commandments.
Do what the Lord asks from you.
What else?
And his judgments.
So what God passes judgments on, that gives you great wisdom, all right?
You know one thing about being wonderful about being a Christian, like it's a very
complicated world.
You know, sometimes if you didn't have the Bible, or you didn't know what God
felt about a certain issue, or what God's judgment is about a certain issue, you
might feel like we live in a very grey society, where we don't even know what's
right or wrong these days, right?
We don't even know, you know, when a child is born, you know, we don't even know what
gender that child is, for example.
We live in a very grey world.
You know, when you, as a Bible and Christian, just say, you just give your opinion, or
you just say what the Bible says, you say, look, God says this, God says X, Y,
and Z.
People are like, oh, come on.
It's not that straightforward, it's not that black and white, and yet it is black
and white.
One of the greatest things about being a Christian is I don't have to decide what is right
and wrong.
I can just go to God's word.
God, what is your judgment?
What do you say is right?
What do you say is wrong?
Then I don't need to figure it out.
Well, hey God, you said so.
Lord, I'm just going to stand what you said.
Lord, when you've passed judgment, I don't need to pass judgment, I'm just going
to go with what your judgment says.
You know, if there's something that is good, then it's good.
If there's something that is wicked, then it's wicked.
There's no grey areas with God.
We looked on Sunday how God divided the light from the darkness.
There's no grey area.
Hey, when there's light, there's no darkness.
You know, the darkness flees in the face of lights.
Let's keep going there.
It says, and his testimonies.
God's testimonies.
To testify is to, well, when a man testifies, you know, the idea is that they're telling
the truth.
Okay, but you don't know with man, but when it comes to God, of course, his testimonies
are true.
Okay, and again, we don't have to worry, like, is this false?
Is this true?
And again, I often share this with you guys, like, you know, you might be watching
the media and you're wondering, man, is that true or is that false?
Is that partly true?
What parts do I believe?
And hey, it's the same thing when you go to, you know, YouTube and you go to your
alternative media sources, you know, you've got to determine, is this true?
Is this false?
It's mixed.
Again, what's beautiful about the Bible, it's always true.
God's testimonies are always true.
What does it mean to be a man?
To just line up where God stands.
Say, God, you are here on that area.
I'm going to line up with you.
Even if it offends everybody that I know, Lord, I'm just going to be where you stand.
Where are you, Lord?
I'm not going to go stand on my own.
I'm not going to create my own position.
Say, God, what is it that you've decided?
God, what is it that you've commanded of me?
Lord, I'm going to stand right there.
That's what it means to be a man.
Okay, so it's not going to the gym and pumping up muscles.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with trying to make a name for yourself, you know, to some extent.
You know, you've got to be productive.
We don't want, you know, lazy, lazy children.
We don't want lazy bums, right?
We want our children to be productive and to take care of themselves, you know, to have
something for themselves so they can be generous when God opens those doors.
But what it really means to be a man is to know what God says and just to stand
where God stands.
That's what it means to be a man.
What does it say there?
It says, and his testimony is as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest
prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest of thyself.
You can prosper in all that you do, but you've got to be a man, all right?
You've got to be, boys, I'm talking to the boys here, you've got to be a man.
You want to do well in life?
You've got to be a man.
You've got to show yourself a man, okay?
You just line up where God says so.
You just say, God, all right, what do you want me to do?
All right, that's what I'll do.
You know what?
And God promises you that you'll do well in life, all right?
Hey, if you decide not to do what God says, your life is going to be challenging, okay?
And you're not going to show yourself a man, okay?
It's a position of weakness when you walk away from the Lord.
All right, you're there in 1 Kings, please turn to me, to 2 Kings chapter 20, 2 Kings
chapter 20, please, 2 Kings chapter 20, 2 Kings chapter 20, we're now looking at
King Hezekiah.
In 2 Kings chapter 20, look at verse number one, it says, in those days was Hezekiah
sick unto death.
And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him, thus saith the
Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.
Now if you're just reading verse number one alone, like you don't have any context
around this, you might be going, hold on, well, I mean, King Hezekiah, I mean,
God's come to you and just, you know, God's come to you and say, King Hezekiah,
you're going to die because you're not going to live anymore.
I mean, what did you do wrong?
Like that's probably, you know, if you just had that one verse, man, what did he do
so wrong that God's going to slay him?
But of course, he's done nothing wrong.
In fact, King Hezekiah is a really great man, is a really great king, a very godly
king, you know, you can read about this in your own time.
But of course, the idiom there, when Isaiah comes to me, it says, and said unto him,
thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order.
Have you heard that idiom before?
Set thine house in order.
Now before we explain Hezekiah's situation here, you know, I've, I've often heard
this phrase used sort of in a negative sense, where someone might, someone might say, look,
set your house in order, or I've got to set my house in order because the household
is fallen apart.
Like because there are major problems, there are major issues in that man's family
life or whatever, you know, then you might, you know, often again, you know, modern
use of this idiom, we would say, you know, yeah, I need to set things in order
because things are disorderly.
Things are not orderly the way they should be.
And so it does, in many ways today, carry that negative connotation.
So it's about arranging your affairs or solving your problems.
You've got problems, solve your problems.
That's how we use that today, set your house in order.
In fact, I recall a man who would become a pastor, you know, being, being kind of
pushed into the position and he said, look, I'm not ready, I need to set my house in
order.
I remember those, those words.
And by that, he meant, hey, look, I've got issues at home, I've got issues with
my family.
I need to fix this first before I can step up to become a pastor.
And again, you know, that's the, that's the thought, it carries this sort of negative
connotation.
But again, when you consider that King Hezekiah has been a very good man, a very godly
man, in fact, when Isaiah comes to announce that he's going to pass, this isn't
a, this isn't a judgment of God, God's actually given him a heads up, right?
Like you're going to pass, you're going to die, you know, set your house in order,
meaning, you know, look, your time is up, you know, it's all going to end now.
God's actually been very kind, you know, because many people pass without knowing.
Now some people, you know, they sort of slowly pass and sometimes, you know, I've
seen this many times where someone, you know, feels like, look, this might be my
very last day and they call for their family, call for the people that they love,
you know, they give their last goodbyes, they, you know, they say a few words and
literally they just pass away.
It's like they somehow were just able to hold on for those last few breaths.
They knew that it was coming.
But a lot of people pass without, you know, it could be an accident, you know, freak
accident, just, does our bodies break down without knowing, you know, sometimes
people pass and they're not able to get, you know, say their goodbyes.
Well, God's actually been very kind to Hezekiah.
He's letting him, look, you've been sick, it's your time to go, set your
affairs in order, get your house in order, meaning, hey, you know, get ready for
your son to take over the kingdom, you know, make sure your will's done, make sure
everything's fair, however else you want to kind of consider it.
But this is actually, you know, a nice gesture that God has given Hezekiah because he's
been such a godly man.
Look at verse number two, let's keep going there.
It says, then he turned, this is King Hezekiah, then he turned his face to the wall and
prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked
before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in
thy sight, and Hezekiah wept sore.
So it's quite interesting, Hezekiah doesn't want to pass.
If God came to you with the news, look, you're going to pass away, you know, you haven't
got long to live, set your house in order, get things organised.
You know, I think we'd probably say, okay, cool, you know, like, alright, I'm ready
to go to heaven.
But you could say that in Hezekiah, even though he's been a godly man, you know,
he put the Lord first, I mean, he's like any man, he makes mistakes, of course,
but you know, he loves the Lord, but even then, you can see that within him, he
doesn't want to go just yet.
He starts to weep, he says, look, Lord, I've been serving you, I've been walking
your paths, I've got this clear conscience, I've got a clear heart before you.
Verse number four, when it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle
court, that the word of the Lord came to him saying, so after Isaiah's given
this news that you're going to die, Isaiah starts to walk away, but before
he even gets out of the palace, he's in that inner court, God answers the prayer
of King Hezekiah.
It says he's saying, verse number five, turn again, so go back to Hezekiah, turn
again, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, thus saith the Lord, the
God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold,
I will heal thee, on the third day, thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord,
and I will add unto thy days 15 years, wow, and will deliver thee and this city
out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own
sake, and for my servant David's sake, wow, I mean, this is wonderful, this is
amazing, right?
I mean, God gives him 15 more years, because he said, Lord, come on, Lord,
give me some more time, and I've been walking your ways, I've been leading
this nation, you know, in a godly path, and one of the sad things about this
story, of course, King Hezekiah's son, forget his name right now, you know, is
one of the most wicked men, you know, one of the most wicked kings of the
kingdom of Judah, but Hezekiah had things right, you know, the Lord was,
you can see how the Lord answers such a prayer, where even when God says
your time is over, but if you're walking with a clear conscience, a pure
heart, before the Lord, say, Lord, just give me a few more years, God says,
all right, I'll give you 15 more years, and they had the fear of the
Assyrians, because the Assyrians had already conquered the northern
kingdom, because, look, your 15 years are going to be years of peace,
you won't have any problems, all right, with the Assyrians, and God grants this to him, all right,
so, again, set in your house in order, has a negative connotation, we can see
that it's a positive thing that God was doing to Hezekiah, giving him a
heads up, Hezekiah asked for a few more years, God gives him those extra 15
years, what an answer to prayer, and of course, he heals him from that
sickness that was going to end his life, I mean, and Brethren, when we see these
stories, yeah, you say, oh, that's the Old Testament, the God that we, we call
this the Lord's house, it's the same God, right, the same God that answered
these prayers, is the same God that we worship today, tonight, okay, the one
that can answer your prayers, you know, the one that extended his life,
can extend your life, the one that healed the sick, can heal your sickness,
it's the same God, but set thine house in order, and I think, you know, one
thing that we can take out of this is, you know, we should have our house in
order, we have a family, you know, God's given us family, hasn't he, you know, and
well, ideally, not everyone's in this situation, but ideally, your families
together, you know, these are the most important people that God has given you,
like, you have the most influence on your family, all right, like, I've
always shared with you guys, my family comes first, my ministry comes second,
like, if my ministry is affected my family in a bad way, I will step down
immediately and say, guys, I can't do this, all right, my family comes first,
always, always has, all right, my family does not exist for my ministry, but I
have a ministry because of my family, if my family gets wiped out, I have no
ministry, as far as I'm concerned, okay, you know, God has given me a wife, okay,
God's given me children, these are the people that I can influence, these
are the people that I've got to help to be in order, right, to help my
children love the Lord, like I said, to show themselves a man, show themselves a
woman, to love the Lord, our influence is to our family, you know, so just
remember that, you know, it's such a, family is such a precious thing,
such a precious thing, you know, before you know it, your kids will be out of
the house, and you know, part of your brain is like, woohoo, I've got more time
for myself, but another part's gonna be, man, it's gone so quickly, I wish I
really appreciated the time that I had with them, you know, so really, again,
appreciate the family that God has given you, can you please turn with me to Job,
the book of Job, Job chapter 19, Job chapter 19, and verse number 19, Job
chapter 19, and verse number 19, now we've got a verse here, it's gonna be
verse number 20, but we have two idioms, two idioms, two English idioms, that have
been influenced by verse number 20, but let's look at Job 19 verse 19, and you
know the story of Job, he's suffered, he's had great losses, his physical
health, in fact, primarily what we're gonna be looking at here is his
physical health, okay, we know that he had sores all over his body, but we get
some further description of what Job looked like when his friends saw him,
Job 19 19, Job says all my inward friends abhorred me, so Job says all my
friends hate me, and they whom I loved are turned against me, right, because he's
lost it all, right, he was a wealthy man, all right, hey, when your life is going
well and you're wealthy and you can be a blessing to others, then that's when
your friends want to be around you, but when you can't offer anything,
when you lose it all, hey, this is what human beings are like, they turn
against their friends, look at verse number 20, my bone cleaveth to my skin
and to my flesh, my bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, so what he's saying,
he's really thin, like you can see from his flesh, you can see his bones,
right, and so the idiom that we get out of that is basically skin and
bones, right, like if someone's like really thin, you might say that person,
they're just skin and bones, well did you know that came from the book of Job,
because when he says like my skin cleaveth, my bone cleaveth to my skin and to my
flesh, it's like that there's no muscle as it were, he's been very
descriptive and all you know, all you can see are bones, he's lost so much weight,
my bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, then he says this and I am
escaped with the skin of my teeth, you guys know that idiom, the skin of
my teeth, all right, or by the skin of your teeth, how do we use these
idioms that we see there in verse number 20, well number one, where your bone,
skin and bones as we say it, you know we would say that so many skin and
bones when they're very thin, you know, in a way that is unhealthy and people
are normally, people can be skinny but to a point where it's just,
there's something not right, this person is malnourished, right,
you say that person is skin and bones, right, and it carries like a
negative connotation, it does, right, you know Job is saying that his friends
view him like that, like he's just like skin and bones, right, and then it says
there again, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth and so that idiom we
say that in terms of the, you know, by very narrow margin or, you know,
it's something that was a very close call, I've escaped by the skin of my
teeth, all right, you say hold on, does teeth even have skin, I'll talk
about that in a minute but let's keep going there, verse number 21, Job says
to his friends, have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the
hand of God have touched me, why do you persecute me as God, and are not
satisfied with my flesh, so what are they doing, they hate Job, they look
at him, he's lost it all, look at him, his skin and bones, look at him,
he's got sores all over his body, right, and he says look, this is the
hand of the Lord, he goes, why are you persecuting me, and I think, you
know, one great lesson, because we know that Job is righteous, we know
that Job from the Bible is a great man, a faithful man, a man who loves the
Lord, right, I mean Job's done nothing wrong, like Job is not deserving of
what he's gone through, but what we see is that his friends, they pass
judgment, look at him, they start to persecute him, oh Job, we, and, you
know, you're such a horrible man, right, you must have done something wrong
for God to judge you like this, you know, what we see this is the danger of
judging a book by its cover, is that another idiom, that's another idiom,
isn't it, okay, but sometimes, you know, you might look at someone,
and, you know, imagine if Job lived in our lifetime, and he was just
walking down the road, right, we see this sickly looking man, skin and
bones, all right, sores all over his body, all right, he's got no
possessions because he's all been burnt up, you know, his wife doesn't
want to be with him, you know, he's just, he's all alone, he might go,
man, what happened to that guy, I am, you know, I mean look at that lazy
bum, you know, and sometimes we can pass judgment on the appearance,
and that was the big issue that his friends had done, they had
looked at his appearance, but Job had done nothing wrong, all right,
and so, yeah, it's just a reminder here that we need to be
careful not to judge someone by their appearance, you know, and
be careful, you know, don't go up to someone and say, oh,
just, you're just skin and bones, because it actually carries a
negative connotation, these people are passing, are persecuting Job,
they're using this kind of language to persecute him, look,
some people are naturally skinny, some people eat, you've
all seen this, right, I mean, I know this because my kids, some
of my kids are a little bit chunkier, some of my kids are
skinnier, and I tell you, man, one of my skinniest kids
here eats the most, I mean, just eats everybody, like, it's
more than anybody, right, and it takes care of the leftovers,
and then for breakfast, anything left has been eaten up,
you know, but yeah, just be mindful, if I'm calling someone
skinny, like, you're skinny, you're skin and bones, they
might not receive that well, because it actually does
carry a negative connotation, you know, be careful how you
judge someone, you know, some people a little bit, have a
little bit more fat, you know, that's in their genes,
you know, their metabolism isn't as fast,
all right, I mean, there's obviously a different
difference between someone that is severely overweight or
obese versus someone that is just a little bit chunkier,
because that's their genetics, you know, we should not,
you know, we should not mock people for their appearance,
I truly believe that, and like, I like to joke around, I
actually like to muck around about things, right, and like,
but there's one thing that I don't joke around about,
that's people's appearance, like, things that are not in
their control, okay, because I really believe that
everybody's beautiful, everybody's been wonderfully and
fearfully made by God, like everyone's got an appearance
that is unique and special, you know, you're a creation of
God, so I don't like mocking people's appearances,
like whether someone's overweight or someone's skinny,
it could just be their genetics, right, someone's tall
or someone's short, to me, I don't think that's worth
joking about, because you're kind of making fun of God's
creation, that's what I think about it, you're kind of
making fun of God, okay, now look, if you grow like a
mullet or something, I might, you know, have a laugh at
you there, okay, because that's in your control,
all right, I mean, if you like, you know, you know,
or if you, man, if you come to church in a pink,
you know, shirt, I might have a, you know, I might poke fun at you or
something, okay, but that's in your control,
all right, but look, when it comes to things that God has created,
all right, you know, I don't, I don't muck that, like if someone has to wear
glasses, you know, to read, you know, I'm not
going to mock them for wearing glasses, just their eyes, you know, there's
defects, you know, there are genetic issues that happen,
things that are outside of their control, why would you mock someone, you know,
you know, by the way that God has created them to be, and we all know that
our bodies are breaking down, like there's not like, there's not an
ultimate body, there's not like this ultimate man, we
all have bodies that are decaying and are full of sin,
and they're all going to perish, they're all going to die anyway, okay, so just be
careful about, you know, what you muck around with, all
right, you joke around with, if it's a mullet,
I say just make fun of it, anyway, let's keep going there, Job chapter 19,
and verse number 28, Job chapter 19, you're there already, verse number 28,
so this is another idiom that we see here, it says, but you should say,
why persecute we him, seeing the roots of the matter
is found in me, what's the next idiom that we see there, the roots
of the matter, now you've got to get to the root of the matter,
I like that, I like going to the root of the matter, what does that mean,
how do we use it today, well, when we talk about, when we use that idiom, it
means that it's the, we're looking for the essential cause,
the essential cause of something, okay, to understand what happened,
all right, so let's say maybe you've got a cold, maybe you, you're not
feeling too well, you know, you might say, look, I might
go to the doctors, I might get checked up, I might take you to a specialist,
you know, when they take you to a specialist, they're not really wanting to
treat the symptoms at that point, they're trying to figure out what is
the roots of your sickness, what is it really that's actually causing
all these other symptoms to arise, I like going to the root of the matter, that
was one of my expertise, right, in the business world,
when there were certain issues, certain systems,
you know, processes that wouldn't work
very well, I loved taking on that responsibility,
to just try to trace it back, funnelling what the one issue was, or
maybe multiple issues, and those things that
need to be fixed up, that's going to then fix,
you know, all the other symptoms that are there, going to the root of the
matter, and again, you know, the way we use it,
is a little bit different to the way we see here in the Bible, but
it's still similar, you're trying to figure out what is that key issue,
and again, we often think about it in terms of problems, okay, there's a problem,
what's the root of that problem, but Job uses this to defend himself, all
right, these are the words of Job again, why
does he say this, in verse number 28, what does he say,
but you should say, why persecute with him, so they are persecuting him,
seeing the root of the matters found in me, because why are you
persecuting me, you know, when you know, and I know,
we've been talking about this, we know what the root of the matter is,
so why are you persecuting me, that's what he's asking,
so let's backtrack a little bit, let's go to verse number 26, Job 19,
and verse number 26, what is the root of the matter,
he says this in verse 26, and though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God, what powerful verses, aren't they,
he says look, I know this body's going to die, I know one day worms,
maggots, they're going to eat this body away one day,
he goes, but yeah, in my flesh I'll see God, what's he saying,
because I believe in the resurrection, I know that I'm going to have a
resurrected body one day, that's going to see God, verse number
27, he says, whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reigns be consumed within me, but ye should say, why persecute with him,
seeing the root of the matter is found in me,
he goes look, I'm saved, I've got everlasting life,
like I know that when this body dies, you're judging me by the outward
appearance, well this body's going to perish, I know I'm going to be with God,
I know I'm going to have the resurrection, I know I'm going to see him
face to face, what is Job saying, the root of the
matter is that I'm a saved person who loves the Lord,
and I can't wait to be with the Lord, that's his attitude,
that's the root of the matter, so then to turn around
and say well look how much Job is suffering, he must be a wicked man,
he must not be right with the Lord, when you go to the root of the matter,
this man loves the Lord, this man is saved, this man can't wait to see the
Lord in the resurrection, so therefore they should not be
persecuting him, because when they go to the root of
the matter, no this man's saved, he's walking with the Lord, and again
the danger of passing judgment on appearance,
someone that is going through difficulties, someone that is having
health issues, someone that is having financial
problems, they've lost it all, it can be tempted to turn around and
say ah this man must not be right with the Lord, look what he's going through,
but look if you know what the root of the matter is, you go look I'm
having hard times, you know, people hate me, my friends
despise me, I'm losing it all, I've lost my possessions,
I've lost my family, look if you're in a bad place,
if you're going through troubles and tribulations, you know what you need to
do, go to the root of the matter, examine
yourself, say Lord am I right with you,
right, Lord am I right with you, you know, am I walking in your ways, am I
in church, Lord, am I reading your word, am I
using the opportunities that you open up, Lord, to see souls saved,
Lord am I being used in your capacity, am I walking with you, Lord, am I excited
for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and if you say man you know what, that part, I've got a clear conscience,
I know I love the Lord, I know I'm walking in his ways, then you can turn around
to your problems and go well I know I'm suffering these problems not
because God hates me or God's been judging my
weakness here, right, but you go to that self-examination,
Job's done it, he goes no, I'm right with the Lord,
it's good, you know, when you go through trials it's good to have a
self-examination because I think you'll find some from
time to time there is something that might be in your life that is not
quite right and you need to clean it up, you need
to fix it up, okay, but you need to get back to the root
of the matter, all right, let's continue there in verse number 29,
and this is why we need to be careful about passing judgment,
because someone might be right with the Lord and they're going through problems,
look at verse number 29, he says to his friends, be afraid of the sword
for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword
that ye may know there is a judgment, Job says to his friends hey be careful,
you know, you're persecuting me a child of God, I'm right with the Lord,
all right, well hey you be careful because God might send his sword
upon you, God might pass judgment upon you for
passing judgment on me incorrectly, so there is a warning, you can see that
very clearly, you know, there is a warning about, you
know, making judgments just on the appearance,
when someone might very well be right with the Lord even though they're
going through difficulties, all right, turn with me to Psalm 72,
turn with me to Psalm 72 please, Psalm 72,
Psalm 72 in verse number 8,
Psalm 72 verse number 8, it says he shall have dominion also from sea to sea
and from the river unto the ends of the earth,
of course this is prophetically speaking of Jesus Christ, right, when he
comes back he's going to reign upon this earth,
right, from sea to sea to the ends of the earth,
everybody's going to be under his authority,
look at verse number 9, they that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust, the enemies shall
lick the dust, this is where we get the idiom to
bite the dust, when someone says, you know, this
person bit the dust, all right, there's that famous
song that I don't recommend, right, another one bites the dust, have
you heard that one before, another one bites the dust,
I don't recommend it but it's a very popular song, all right,
this is where it comes from, to bite the dust, what does that mean?
Well this is one time when when basically the way we use it today is
exactly the same as it is in the bible, to bite the dust is to perish is to die,
okay, it's to pass away, to bite the dust and one thing that we see here
when it comes to the reign of Christ, right,
Christ has not come in the same way that he came,
all right, in Bethlehem as major, all right, in humility,
okay, Christ has not come in the same way, right, when Christ comes to
reign on this earth for that thousand years,
his enemies shall lick the dust, God's going to wipe out his enemies,
okay, this is going to be a time when Christ rules with an iron fist,
look at verse number 11, same same Psalm, Psalm 72 verse 11,
it says, yea all kings shall fall down before him,
all nations shall serve him, what a day,
what a day to be on this earth and of course we are going to be there
because we're going to come back in our new resurrected bodies when
Christ comes to rule this earth, but what a day to see the whole earth
bowing themselves down serving Jesus Christ
and look if people turn against Christ and make themselves an enemy,
they're going to lick the dust, they're going to bite the dust, okay, they're
going to perish, all right, Christ is coming very
differently the second time, I'll quickly read to you in
Revelation 19 15, it says, and out of his mouth go with a
sharp sword and with it he should smite the nations
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, king of kings and
lord of lords, I like that phrase, I like that title for Jesus, the king of
kings and the lord of lords, like I like it today, I really like it
today because it reminds me that even though there's
wicked powers in this earth, the power above all powers is Jesus
Christ, the king of kings and the lord of lords, okay,
I like it today but how much better is it going to be when he's actually on
this earth, right, living on this earth and all
nations, all kings, all powers will have to say to
Jesus, you are the king of kings, you are the lord of lords,
what an amazing time, don't forget we're going to be part of that,
you know, we're going to be here with Christ, reigning with him, what an
exciting time for our lives, but yeah, you know, to bite the dust
is to be killed, okay, and that's how Christ is going to come back,
all right, you better get on board with Jesus Christ or you're going to suffer
fate, all right, please go to Psalm 107, Psalm
107, we'll do one more, Psalm 107,
Psalm 107 verse number 23,
Psalm 107 verse number 23, it says, they that go down to the ship, to the
sea in ships that do business in great
waters, okay, so we're talking about like a crew, you know, that's on a
ship, right, those people that go on ships,
verse number 24, it says, they see the works of the lord
and his wonders in the deep, okay, so it's a great Psalm, just highlighting
the fact that if you go there out in the deep in the oceans,
right, when you see the weather, you see the wave rolling, you see
the sea creatures, you know, it brings to
remembrance the great wonders, the great works of God, so that's the
context, we're talking about these people that are on ships,
drop down to verse number 27, it says, they reel to and fro, because they're on
the waters, and stagger like a drunken man, look at
this, and are at their wits end, and are at
their wits end, all right, so the next idiom we're
looking at is, at your wits end, have you heard that one before, and someone
says, man, I'm at my wits end, what are they saying,
basically what it means is that they're so exhausted with worries,
all right, so exhausted, like not knowing what to do,
all right, they've just got into the end of any
hope, the end of any possible thoughts of solution,
right, they're just at the end of it all, I just know what to do moving
forward, right, being exhausted with great
worries, and this actually makes sense, because these people on the ship,
they're being tossed around, right, by the winds, by the storms of the deep,
and they're at their wits end, but again, when it comes to the Bible here,
you know, the wits is referring to wisdom,
right, they're kind of like, man, we know how to steer this ship, but
man, we're using all our wisdom, we're using all our intellects,
right, to get through this storm, right, to get to the other side, and
you know, they're using all their understanding, all their wisdom,
that's what it means to come, be at their wits end,
and have you ever felt, I can't, can I say that I've ever felt this way in
life, I don't think I can, I don't think I've ever, look, there are points,
there are times when I've been stressed, there have been times that I've been a
little cast down, just a bit overwhelmed, right, but I can't ever say that I've
ever been at my wits end, like where I'm just like, man, it's
all over, I don't know what to do, right, but maybe you've gone through
that, I don't know, maybe you've experienced that in your life,
okay, so what do you do when you get to that point where your wisdom, your
understanding, you know, your ability to form
solutions out of that problem, you just can't,
you say, I can't do this anymore, I can't figure it out, all right, I just feel
like giving up, all right, what do you do, well what do
they do, verse number 28, then they cry unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he bringeth them out of their
distresses, he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waters thereof are
still, then are they glad because they be
quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired
haven. So you know what this is teaching us, that there are many sailors, many
people on ships, that actually when they go through
storms, okay, even though they might not be
saved, when they're at their wits end,
when they've been overwhelmed by the waves, and they feel like, man, are we
going to perish at the sea, that it's a natural response for man
to just cry to God, say, God help us,
that's a natural response, did you know that, even people,
even people that aren't Christians, even people that don't go to church,
even people that don't pick up their Bible, when they get to the wits end,
that's when they go, hey God, please, are you there, help me,
if there is a God, something along those lines, and so just giving that
reality that even these sailors do that, when they get to the to the
end of all hope, and again the lesson we can take
out of this, of course you know what I'm talking about,
all right, when you're at your wits end, what do you do, you cry unto the Lord,
you don't rely upon your wisdom, you're limited, we're limited,
all right, as educated as as anybody can be,
all right, you're going to get to a point in life when you just don't know
what you're doing, okay, in fact, the more you know, the
more you realize you don't know, that's just part of growth, that's part of
maturity, you know, you can't, you can't know it all,
all right, you can't figure it all out,
you know, thank God, that we've got a God that knows it all,
all right, he knows it all, he doesn't even have to figure it out, because
he's the one that allows it to be, he knows what a storm is, he knows
how much rain is falling, he knows how powerful those waves are,
God knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning, God
knows it all, he doesn't have to figure it out, he's
got the answer, we just need to go, God, please
give me the answer, oh Lord, can you just sort it out,
I mean these men, they can't control the storms, they can't control the seas,
they can't, all they can do is cry to the Lord and the Lord has to calm the seas
and then they're at peace, okay, then they're at peace
and so again, I don't know what you're going through, I've never been really, I
can't even say, even if I thought about a time when
I'm at Wits End, I can't even, I hope it doesn't come, I don't think it
feels that great, must feel like a real hopelessness,
right, to get to that point in life,
I'm just trying to think, there was one time I almost drowned, maybe at that
point I felt like I was at my Wits End, maybe, I'm just trying to think, I don't
know, there was one time I was almost kidnapped on my way to
home from school, kind of panicked at that point, I don't know if I ever got
to a point and I did, I did cry unto the Lord at that time,
you know, I guess we all have stories, we all have times when we've had to
yell to the Lord, say Lord, I just can't do this, I can't, I don't know, I
don't know what life holds, I don't know what tomorrow holds,
Lord, can you fix it and he does, you know, we're his children,
when you're at your Wits End, you cry unto the Lord, he's got the solution,
he's got the answer, okay, all right brethren, English idioms
influenced by the Bible part two, part two, we'll continue this as I
keep going on these Wednesday nights, all right, let's pray.