You
All righty good good afternoon everyone good to see you all in the house of God
Can I get you to grab your hymnals and turn to him number four hundred and twenty-nine
Him number four to nine hark the herald angels sing
Him number four to nine and when you found it, can I get you to stand please?
Oh
Angels sing glory to the new born King
See my God and sinners
Joyful all ye nations
rise join the triumph of the skies with
Angelic host proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem
The hair of angels sing glory to the new
Christ the
Everlasting Lord late in time behold him come offspring
Veiled in flesh the Godhead singing hail the incarnate deity
Please as man with men to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel
Well the herald angels sing glory to the new
Son of righteousness
And life to all he brings risen with
Mild he lays his glory by
for that man
more may die
more to raise the sons of
born to give
The Herald angels sing glory to
These nations come fixing us I humble
Cruising us
Adam's likeness now we face
Stampedine image in its place
The second Adam from above
Reinstate us with
The Herald angels sing glory to the new
Alrighty brother Jason do you mind opening in a word prayer?
Say we love you
We're thankful for everything you've done for us Lord
And we thank you that we can meet again for the second service
I pray you'd be with us and you'd be pleased with everything that we do Lord that you would be glorified and your name
exalted and lifted up
Can I get you to turn now to him number
147 him number one four seven leaning on the everlasting arms number one four seven
You
What a fellowship water joy divine leaning on the everlasting
arms
water
blessedness water peace is mine leaning on the everlasting arms
cleaning
Hey safe and secure
Leaning on the everlasting
Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way
How bright the path grows from day to day
Hey
Say Ben secure from all alarms
Hey
on the
everlasting
What have I to dread what have I to be?
on the everlasting
I
Have blessed peace with my lord. So me leaning on the everlasting arms
Safe and secure from all
On the everlasting
Alrighty final him before the Bible reading
Can I get you to turn to him number 255 him number 255 come and dine
Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed him as his chosen people come and die
With his man a heat of feed and supplies our every need Oh to sweet us up with Jesus all the time
Come and dine the master call us come and die
You may feast at Jesus table all the time
He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine to the hungry callers now come and die
The disciples came to land us obeying Christ's command for the master called unto them come and die
They found their hearts desire bread and fish upon the fire. Does he satisfies the hungry every time?
Come and dine the master call it come and die
You may feast at Jesus table all the time
He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine to the hungry callers now come and die
Soon the land will take his bride to be ever at his side or the host of heaven will assemble be
Oats will be a glorious sight all the saints in spotless wine and with Jesus. They will feast eternally
Come and dine the master call it come and dine
You may feast at Jesus table all the time
He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine to the hungry callers now come and dine
All righty good singing I can I get you to grab your bubbles now and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 10
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and brother Brody's coming up for the Bible reading
From the Bible Ecclesiastes chapter 10
Dead flies caused the ointment of the apothecary to send forth the stinking saber
So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor a wise man's heart is at his right hand
But a fool's heart at his left
Yea, also when he that is a fool walketh by the way his wisdom fail at him and he saith to everyone that he is
A fool if the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee leave not thy place for yielding pacifies great offenses
There is an evil which I have seen under the Sun as an error which proceedeth from the ruler
Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place. I
Have seen servants upon horses and princes walking a servants upon the earth
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it and who so breaketh and hedge a serpent shall bite him
Whosoever removeeth stone shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby
If the iron be blunt and he did not wet the edge then must he be put to more strength
But wisdom is profitable to direct
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment and a babbler is no better
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious
But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself
the beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and at the end of his talk is mischievous madness a
Fool also is full of words a man cannot tell what shall be and what shall be after him who can tell him
The labor of the foolish wait where is everyone of them because he knoweth not how to go to the city
Woe to thee O land when thy king is a child and thy princes eat in the morning
Blessed art thou our land when thy king is the son of nobles and thy princes eat in due season for the strength and not
for drunkenness
By much slothfulness the building decayeth and through islandness of the hands the house droppeth through
Our feast is made for laughter and wine maketh Mary but money answer with all things
Curse is not the king curse not the king
No
not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and
That which have wings shall tell the matter
Dear Lord, I thank you for this day and everybody here
I pray that everybody can learn something useful from the sermon that Kevin has to provide in Jesus name. I pray amen
So normally the Sunday afternoons I've been going chapter by chapter through the Bible and I did mention that we're going to start going
through the book of John
And that was my intention and even even up to yesterday
But I just remembered how long some of these chapters are in the book of John and it's a third
It's an afternoon service. I didn't want to preach too long, especially afternoon service
So what I decided to do, I'm gonna save the book of John for our Wednesday night services
And I've decided to continue the series that I've been working on
English idioms influenced by the Bible English idioms influenced by the Bible part 3 is today
So we got we read Ecclesiastes chapter 10 that's basically so we get to last verse verse number 20 there
Let's have a look at this
It says curse not the king no not in thy thoughts and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber
For a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which have wings shall tell the matter
This is where we get our English idiom a little birdie told me a little birdie told me so as we keep going through this
Series don't forget. We're looking at how much the Bible the King James Bible has influenced our English language
And we see here that hey look if you be careful about what you say especially have people in authority
You know you might think it's a private matter. It's a secret. You know it's a
Situation but be careful what comes out of your mouth because it's very likely a little bird or somebody will go and report what you?
Said to someone else and of course that saying a little birdie told me is
To know a hidden truth, but keeping the source a secret to know a hidden truth
But keeping the source a secret and we even get this commandment there all right in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 be careful about what we say
we know the Bible often speaks about how we need to be careful about our tongues the words that we speak and
And you know if I can just be as honest as I can just complete transparent
And I'm comfortable being transparent because I'm assuming you guys are the same
But you know there are things in this brain that gets processed. You know certain information
Observations of people or families of things that process in this brain some of those things are true some of those things are false
But before they come out of my mouth in fact. There's a lot that doesn't come out of my mouth
Let me put it that way
Come out of my mouth because I realize this thing you know we need to be people that guard our tongues
Okay, and you know is it is it is it appropriate for me to say this about somebody you know it might be my brain
It could be false. I don't know what if I say something and even though it's in you know it's a
Private matter and maybe I'm sharing a secret
you know how can I expect somebody else to keep that secret if I could not keep that secret myself and
You know you might say something and you know something might come to your mouth
And then you know you did not want an individual to hear about that and then you find out they hear about it make
Situations awkward could cause conflicts hey if you say something about the king the king can come down hard on you
Just because you said some some words that maybe you should have been more careful about and so this is essentially teaching us
That we need to be careful of our tongue. We need to learn how to control our tongue
You know it is easier to correct a wrong thought right we can have wrong thoughts
It's easy to correct the wrong thought there then to correct it after it's come out of our mouth
Because people might think hey you've made an accusation. You know you said something
Which you know you've not you know you've not fully processed in your mind
And you know we need to be we need to be people that learn how to you know keep thoughts private you know
Unless number one we are sure that it's true and even if it is true
you really need to speak it is is it really your place to say such things and
We need to be really careful about this in the day and age that we live in
Because everything I'm preaching right now is on YouTube by the way
Did you know that like there was a time back in the 80s and 90s that?
Preachers could preach and say whatever they wanted to say they could be completely honest completely transparent
Because they weren't concerned the words. They'll speak would get out of the walls where they preached
You know and I need a little bit more careful
It's not stopping from preaching what I want to preach
But I'm also a little bit mindful hey that what we say in this church is going out there on the Internet
And one thing you need to learn especially young people
You know because the social media world that we live in that what goes on the internet stays on the internet forever
Forever
Okay, there are websites that have closed down that you can don't have access to anymore
But you go back to way back time machine, and you can find the website all
Everything's been recorded. You know you might post something on Facebook, and then I'll delete that yeah, but you know somebody could just take a
screenshot of what you wrote and
You might have great regrets
You've got to be careful about what you communicate
Because now there's a lot of little birdies that are telling a lot of little people okay about things that you may have said
You know before becoming a pastor
I went back to all my social media accounts and went back to my comments on Facebook my photos
And I deleted and I cleared everything that could potentially look a little damaging toward me
And there wasn't anything excessively horrible, but for example
Maybe I you know I went to a work events and maybe there was alcohol served at that work even though
I don't drink alcohol
But just saying you know bottles of beer or something like that on a table that I'm sitting at could you know communicate the wrong?
message
You know so I was you know before I became a pastor
I made sure that I just went through deleted whatever there was
Untagged myself from whatever photos may have looked a little bit inappropriate
You know and because oh, you know obviously what we want to have a clear testimony
We want to we don't be communicating something that is not quite right or not not true
so we need to be just watchful about what we say and
You know when it comes to secrets you know I've got a very different opinion to many people at secrets
We all have secrets we all have things that we you know are private to us
And we may only be comfortable to share certain things with certain people like for example my wife knows all my secrets
Like I'm comfortable with her knowing my secrets
But there are things that my wife knows about me or whatever that I don't want everyone everyone to know right
But you know what happens a lot of times is that you've got a secret
And you really want to tell you know you kind of need to get it off your chest
You need to tell someone so you tell someone a secret and then you tell them look don't tell anyone
All right, and that's the expectation. I reckon I can trust you with these words, and then before you know it
They are that little birdie that has gone and told someone else and then you get mad at them you get mad at them for
Revealing your secrets, but you're getting mad at the wrong person the one that first spoke the secret was yourself
Okay, how can you get mad at someone else revealing your secrets when you're the one that reviewed it to them to begin with?
Like how can you expect that other person to keep something secret that you yourself could not keep secrets?
So when someone
Titles a secret out there
I don't get upset with the person that said it I get upset with the person that began with that secret
The one that should have kept a secret right, but hey this is a true saying you know be careful about
What you say because a little birdie will take that you know and before you know it. It's out there in the world
Sometimes there are people that you know as a pastor they want to share things with me, and it's fine
Understand, but you need to understand like there might be things that you say to me and not intentionally even maybe completely
Accidental it might come out of my mouth when I'm talking to someone and then I'm like oh, I wasn't meant to say that
Okay, like you know not that it's intentional not that you know I'm trying to go and reveal secrets
But it's something that I've heard and you know it's just how it is
It's hard to sometimes you know if a situation presents itself
And you think those words might contribute to the conversation you might say something
Inappropriately that really was meant to be private or a secret and so I strongly encourage listen
You know if you want to share some burden with me. That's fine. I get what you're coming from I'm a sinner as well
I know I know what it is to sin
I know what it is to have regrets and the consequences of sin
But I don't need to know every single piece of dirty laundry in your life
Okay, I really and you know no one in this church needs to about know every single
You know dirty laundry that you have in your life like not like you don't need to share all your skeletons in your closet
so everybody in the church because
A little birdie could come along take that information, and then it's known by people that you were not hoping
You know would hear about that. You know all your all your you know secrets all the dirty laundry all those all the skeletons in closets
You can't tell Jesus though you go to the Lord God say Lord. This is my situation
You know can you please forgive me for what I've done
You know and here's the one that you need to talk to if you want to share secrets
You can't help but keep a secret you know and you got to tell someone go to Jesus and tell Jesus your secret
He knows it anyway. You know the Lord God knows these things anyway
So you might as well tell him that gives the opportunity to get it off your chest
And you know that he's not going to tell anyone because he's forgiven you right as far as the East is from the West
You know then our sins we removed from us
Alright, let's go to Isaiah now. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 40 Isaiah chapter 40
So as I said these are English idioms influenced by the Bible
We're just looking at different idioms that have come from the Word of God and that we still use today in our English language
But Isaiah chapter 40 please Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 15
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse number 15
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse number 15 the Bible reads
Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket
All right, so we have our next idiom a drop in the bucket as we will say it today
Right when we use that idiom. It's a drop in the bucket. You know you'd say that it's a it's a very small
Insignificant matter it's a very small insignificant thing
Alright, this is where I say like everyone's got an opinion and like if you get bothered about everybody's opinion
Everyone's opinion is just a drop in the bucket. It's a drop in the ocean
So you better learn not to get offended by everyone's opinion, or you're gonna be offended for the rest of your life
But everyone's opinion everyone thinks their opinion is so important and so you know amazing, but really it's a drop in the bucket
What really matters for us of course is the opinion of God now going to God's Word God
What do you have to say about this matter?
You know there are some people that would ring 10 pastors to hear 10 opinions
And they'll say well this one pastor agreed my opinion, so I'm gonna do what he said
That's just you're just doing what you want to do
But you know what our opinions our truly is a drop in the bucket
I think it's it's humbling to remind yourself that you know what you have you know if it's the Word of God
It's the Word of God. Okay. That's the biggest. That's the greatest opinion. There is it's not an opinion
It's a fact it's the truth, but you need to just remember that yourselves what you have to say
You know it's it's a drop in the bucket
And it says here in Isaiah 40 15 behold the nations so the nations are as a drop in the bucket the nations are
Insignificant okay in what sense it says and are counted as the small dust of the balance
Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing
Now of course when we think about our our world our society you know
The you know when you think about powers that be we would often think about the greatest powers being the powers over the nations
All right that you know every sovereign nation is a you know it has power and authority of course it does
But inside of God, it's just a drop in the bucket inside of God. It's a very small
Insignificant thing and this is really helpful for us as Christians because
We know that this world is going down the toilet
We know that the wickedness is increasing the laws that have been passed are more ungodly as the time goes on
And it just seems like man. You know like the whole world right like to us the world is this big thing
You know to us this world
You know it seems like like we're just it kind of feels like are we the only ones
Like are we the only ones that just truly love the laws of God
You know the world is going a completely different direction
But again when we look at it from the side of God God says look don't worry about that
It's just a drop in the bucket
It's just a very small thing the nations of this earth are just dust as it were a small dust
Not even dust small dust right in the balance behold he take off up the Isles as a very little thing
This number 16 and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn
Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering
Now of course when when you read about the burnt offering you know of course that's been a sacrifice unto the Lord
Right the burnt offering was to picture the ultimate burnt offering which is the Lord Jesus Christ
All right his sacrifice
him being that perfect Lamb of God that will die for the sins of man and
It's tell us here
You know even if God
Even for the whole nation the whole nation of Lebanon or all the beasts of Lebanon was to be offered as a as a sacrifice
It says that there's not enough beasts to be sufficient for the sacrifice
Like there's like no good on this earth
Really like you cannot offer an entire nation all the animals on that nation to be made right with God
You cannot fix this world by sacrificing a nation unto him
then it says in verse number 17 all nations before him are as nothing and
They accounted to him less than nothing and vanity
all these powers
you know
All these laws to God it's nothing
In comparison to what though verse number 18 to whom then will you liken God or what likeness?
Will you compare unto him?
so in comparison to God
All these other powers that are on this earth are nothing. They're a drop in the bucket
They're like a very small piece of dust. They're a very small thing in comparison to our Lord God and
Again it's very encouraging for us
Because we might say hey the world does not respect the Bible the world does not respect the Word of God
but brethren
Who cares about the world?
It's a very small thing. It's vanity
It's vanity right our Lord. God is promises us. He promises us a new heaven a new earth
All right new nations new kingdoms to come I don't know exactly how these nations of kingdoms are gonna be divided
But God says so in his word
All right, and again in comparison to God isn't it great that we have
Such a great God like when you think about his creation that's such a great thing you think about the nations as great powers
But they are so insignificant in light of God in fact as we keep going for this
Idioms you'll notice just how you know the nations the powers are just in God's hands
You know it's God's decision whether it's going to rise up kings will take him down. It's in the hands of God and
So it's great comfort to know
That you know the nations are a drop of a bucket. You're there in Isaiah. Please come with me to Isaiah 57
Isaiah 57 verse number 19
Isaiah 57 verse number 19 and
While you're turning there
I'm gonna reach to you from 2nd Corinthians 4 18 which says while we look not at the things which are seen
But the things which are not seen for the things which are seen a temple for the things which are not seen are eternal
So again the nations in comparison to God we can't see God
Okay, but he's eternal. Okay. We trust on the Lord God through faith, but the things that are temporal these things are gonna pass away
They're not always gonna be here. We know that Christ is gonna come back one day, but Isaiah 57 verse 19
Let's look at the next idiom Isaiah 57 verse number 19
It says I create the fruit of the lips
Peace peace to him that is far off and to him that is near save the Lord and I will heal him
You know the only place that we can find true peace is in our Lord God
The only place you know when someone passes away you say rest in peace the only person that's resting in peace are those that have trusted
Christ the Savior, but that peace comes from the Lord all right look at verse number 20
But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt
There is no peace save my God to the wicked
There is no peace to the wicked
The next idiom that we're looking at is that idiom that we say there is no rest for the wicked
Have you heard that one? There is no rest or there's no peace for the wicked and
This idiom in our English language is kind of
It's kind of like this humorous idiom like for example
You know if you're working long hours you're working overtime on the job right and someone goes to you say man
You're still working so yeah, there's no rest for the wicked
It's kind of like this humorous type thought like you're just blowing it off
You know like kind of like yeah, I'm just wicked you know I got all these hours to do
You know when you're trying to meet a deadline, but you're just being overworked. That's how our world kind of uses this idiom
But actually it is very serious like it's not humorous at all what we find in the Bible
It's actually so serious because we saw earlier that peace is available
Available from God right the moment. We've trusted Christ as our Savior
We've made peace with God and we no longer need to carry that burden
You know we don't have to worry about where we're going because we know that we've made peace with God
But those that have not turned to the Lord when it says here. There is no peace saved all to the wicked of
Course there's no peace in this life
All right, I mean it might seem like sometimes that the wicked are getting away with what they've done
It seems like they're having a great time
Trampling over other people being greedy right taking advantage of people it might seem like they're having a good time
But God is telling us. They really have no peace they have no peace. You know they've got the regrets. They've got the you know
They
Don't know where they stand for eternity
They don't know where they're going to stand before God and that when they stand in judgment day
But not only do they not have peace on this earth of course
We know when they pass away the Bible makes it very clear
That there's a place called hell a place of fire and torment where they're going to be tormented day and night forever and ever
And so it's not a humorous thing no rest for the wicked. It's not humorous thing
It's actually quite a serious thing you know for those that have not trusted Christ as Savior
They're not going to find rest on this earth. They're not going to find rest in the world to come
It's interesting how many people say rest in peace when people pass away, but they're not at peace
They're not there. They're in torments
Okay, they're in torments unless they have trusted Christ and so once again. Just a reminder brethren that
In fact let's go look over some 19 again. I create the fruit of the lips
You know where to be fruitful where to use our lips to be fruitful aren't we we have the gospel message?
Where to use these lips where to use this mouth to bring full fruits?
Okay, to plant the seed of God's word in someone's heart that they can know Jesus Christ as a savior
Man, what a wonderful work that God has given us because it truly is no rest for the wicked
Please come with me to Isaiah 52
Isaiah 52 in verse number 7
Isaiah 52 verse number 7
Alright this one's another interesting idiom. Isaiah 52 verse number 7
Familiar passage to many of us it says how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings
That publish of peace remember that the wicked have no peace
Hey we go and publish peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publish of
Salvation that's safe unto Zion thy God reigneth
It's our job to publish peace isn't it it's our job to make peace between God and man
Hey, we can't make peace on this earth. This this earth is going to have wars until the day Jesus Christ comes back
Okay, there's gonna be wars. We can't make peace on this earth, but we can bring peace between man and God
individually
Okay, it's our job to publish salvation. It's our job to use our lips to publish peace
Look at verse number 8 thy watchman shall lift up the voice
Now of course we're talking about the city of Jerusalem here
They've got watchmen that are looking within the walls to make sure things are running well in the city
They're also looking outside to make sure enemies are not trying to come in and infiltrate the city
It says the watchman shall lift up the voice with the voice together. They shall sing
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord shall bring again Zion the next idiom is to see eye to eye to see eye to eye
How do we use that today?
Well, when we say hey, you know, we see that eye to eye. What are we saying?
We're saying that we're in agreement. All right, we have the same we're saying we have the same views
We have the same opinions. We see this eye to eye
all right, and
What are they seeing eye to eye about
The watchman lift up shall lift up the voice. We're talking about those that publish salvation
You know what brethren we are watchmen
We are watchmen if you have the good news of salvation in your mouth. You are a watchman
Okay, you ought to be watching for at our community watching your family watching your friends those that are destined to help you those
that you know and haven't received Christ the Savior and
We're trying to get people to see eye to eye with us
Hey, these watchmen see eye to eye with an with each other will touch upon that soon
But we're trying to bring people to understand that Christ is salvation
Look at verse number nine break forth into joy sing together. I seen eye to eye we're together
So I love Church because we all have different backgrounds
We all have different ethnicities
You know some of us grew up in a Christian home. Some of us did not
But we can come together we can sing together we can praise God together because we see eye to eye
So I the morning sermon was so important because if we don't see eye to eye on the gospel
Can we truly see eye to eye on the most important doctrine of the Bible?
Let's start there. Let's start on the gospel. Let's make sure we see eye to eye on that
Look, we're not gonna see eye to eye on every single doctrine of the Bible
Can I honestly say that every church I've been at I've seen eye to eye with the pastor on every single thing is
No, I can't say that. I don't even see eye to eye with everything with my wife
Okay, and we're one flesh. We don't still we still don't see your things like you're never gonna see eye to eye
You know on every single issue with every single person on this planet
Okay, it's not possible
But what do these watchmen see eye to eye about?
that
The need of publishing salvation
That's what they see eye to eye about. Okay, the need to publish salvation
Let's look at verse 9 again break forth into joy sing together
You waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord have comforted his people and have redeemed Jerusalem
Have you been redeemed? Have you received salvation then we need to see eye to eye
Okay, what is the mission of this church?
Is it to just have a
Just to get together with some random people
Is it just a ticker box? I went to church now brethren. We've got a mission
Okay, we've got a mission in this church to preach the gospel to the lost
Okay, we have soul winners that go out door to door preaching the gospel and they're not doing it to show off
They're not doing it. So hey, look at me. Look how much I look how great of a Christian I am
They're doing it because we must publish peace
We must tell people how to be saved we have the words of eternal life
Do we see eye to eye on this
You say pastor. I'm just not up for it. I'm not I'm not a soul winner. I can't speak the words
I can't I've never given the gospel to anybody
Well, maybe that's the case, but you can still see eye to eye with us
You know, you know who's not welcome to this church
Who's not welcome to this church anyone that comes to this church and says preaching the gospel is a waste of time
That I don't care if that person's even saved you're not welcome in our church because you're just gonna be discouragement
Say past those guys that go soul winning between services. I think they're just doing it for the praise of men
Well, I know they're not but just say well
Let's say they really are doing it for the praise of men at least they're preaching the gospel
Something most Christians don't do at least they're publishing the words of everlasting life
Okay, and then let God sort them out at the day of judgment whether they did it for the Lord or for themselves
But brethren this church I want to see eye to eye
Not on every single little doctrine because I don't like some of the men we get together on, you know
Thursday, you know Bible study. We don't see eye to eye on everything do we I don't think so
But can we see eye to eye on the most important things?
Of course we can. Okay, this brings unity in our church. We must have unity in the gospel
you know
Paul of course takes Isaiah 52 here and he writes, you know, he repeats it in Romans chapter 10
I'll just read it to you Romans chapter 10 verse number 15
He says how shall they preach?
except they be sent as
It is written as it written in Isaiah as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
And bring glad tidings of good things
You see brethren we need to see eye to eye on the gospel
we must have unity on the gospel unity in the mission of winning the loss to Jesus Christ and
You know what? If you're on board, then you're welcome to church
You know what? If you say pastor, I can't get out there, but I'm willing to pray
I'm willing to pray that God will use the soul winners
I'm willing to pray for those that have heard the gospel that they would be convicted
They would truly understand what it is to be saved
Then you're on board then we can see eye to eye. We're in agreement then
That's the most important thing. I don't want to just have church for the sake of having church
I don't have just church for the sake of feeling better. Hey, you know, there are some other Christians and
Okay, good. Good. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. But let's go win the loss
Who's gonna do it
It's got to be you. It's got to be me. It's got to be us that
Preach the gospel of the good news
Alright, please come with me to Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60
There's quite a few idioms in the book of Isaiah
Isaiah chapter 60 and verse number one
Isaiah 60 and verse number one
The first two words arise shine arise shine. What's the English idiom that we use today?
rise and shine
Rise and shine. We don't say that. Does anyone use that lingo in the mornings rise and shine wake up get up early
Rise and shine. That's where it comes from. It comes from this very
From this passage here in Isaiah 60 and of course that idiom rise and shine means to wake up and get out of bed
Rise up. It's it's no longer dark. The night's over. You know, the morning has come rise up early and get out of bed
what I really I really like this because I
Mean, I remember I mean, it's not in my vocabulary so much, but I remember going to like
School and we had like a school camp and then our teacher would walk into the cabin
Rise and shine
So, but where's that come from where those words sort of come from?
Well, it's I always find it interesting when if it's in our English language, there's something
Within us there's something
That wants to be stirred up
Like I'm just talking about humanity in general like there's this desire to wake up to some
Reality and what we read about here in Isaiah 60 verse 1 it says I rise shine
For thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee
So when we think about that term rise and shine we think about hey the sun's out the Sun is risen
But in context of Isaiah 60, it's the glory of the Lord that is risen upon thee
Okay. Now the context of here is not an individual person
But it's about or I believe it's the nation or the city of Jerusalem
This is about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the second time, okay when he comes back to establish his kingdom
Let's keep going there. It says in verse number two
Or maybe it's you know, look you can see verse number two says for behold the darkness shall cover the earth
So again when we think of that word rise and shine we think okay night is over. The morning has come. It's daylight
well behold the darkness shall cover the earth and
gross darkness the people
But the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee
look at verse number three and the Gentiles shall come to thy lights and
Kings the brightness of thy rising now you can continue reading this in your own time
But this is definitely about the coming of Christ when he sets up his millennial reign upon this earth
Arise shine Christ has come like the whole world is saying. Hey, you've come out of the darkness
We
Know that before Christ comes the Antichrist is going to set up his kingdom
It's a kingdom of darkness is what it is. All right, but you know what when Christ comes back the morning star
Alright, he's going to shine
You know his glory and light upon this earth and the Kings those in authority those of all nations
Are going to come and worship him one day one day this entire world is going to be under the authority of Jesus Christ
okay, and I really like this because
If we use this terminology rise and shine wake up in the morning
it kind of just shows me that programmed within our language a
Desire to see Christ come back though. We're not fully understand it like it's in our language people use it
It's a but it's almost like subconsciously
There's this desire like God when are you going to deliver this world from darkness and sin?
Okay, we know that Christ will come back and rule of this earth a rise shine
All right, Jeremiah chapter 13 come with me to Jeremiah chapter 13
Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse number 23
Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse number 23 and
Brother Jason, I think this was your favorite idiom
Well, you mentioned one of them anyway
Jeremiah 13 23
It says can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots
Hey, so what's the idiom there a leopard can't change his spots. All right, a leopard can't change its spots
So God's asking this question. Can Ethiopian change his skin. Can he go from dark skin to light skin? I
Don't know how Michael Jackson did it
I'm like normally most people can't change the color of your skin
Alright kept all the leopardy spots. Can the leopard change that it's programmed in their DNA, isn't it? Okay
Then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil. God is speaking to the southern kingdom of Judah
He says look you can't even do good
You can't like just like like the Ethiopian can't change his skin just like the leopard can't change his spots
He's telling Judah. Look you can't even do good like you're so accustomed to do evil
Like it's such a you've got this habit to just be wicked people and
God's realized you've gone too far
Like this nation cannot change any longer
Now if you know the book of Jeremiah
God gives the nation time and time again time and time again to get right with him and as he's given them time
God is also allowing the Babylon kingdom to gain power
You know and and essentially using that kingdom to one day wipe out the southern kingdom of Judah
To take the people into captivity. All right, God is getting that judgment ready
But he's giving them time and time and time again to be made right with God
He just keeps telling them look just come back to me and you'll be you know, you'll be fine things be okay with the nation
But we see there are certain points of the book of Jeremiah. He realizes look you're just like a leopard that can't change its spots
Now, how do we use that today?
You know often say leopard can't change what we're saying that you know
There's a person that cannot change
You know that a person can't change their character or habits usually in a negative sense, right? They've got a bad character
They've got bad habits. Say look a leopard can't change its spots. You know, he can't get any better than that. And
So it comes of course from this passage here
Now let's keep going there verse number 24 Isaiah 13 24 it says
Therefore because you can't change your spots because you're just so accustomed to the weevil
Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness
So, you know, of course the people take into captivity
Verse number 25. This is thy lots the portion of thy measures from me safe Lord because thou has forgotten me and
trusted in falsehood
They've trusted in there. If you know the story they their false idols, you know, they worshiped other gods
It did not worship the God of the Bible
God says they come to a point where they can't even change their spots. They can't even they can't do this anymore
Which makes sense because you know, God speaks about this nation in I'll just quickly read to you from Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 30 says
reprobate silver
Reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them the word reprobate means rejected
Okay, they rejected the Lord
Lord's rejected them. They can't change their spots
One thing we learn is just that that doctrine, you know, once someone is reprobate they cannot change
Once they've given up a God God's given up on them
I'm not gonna teach that to that today, but I'm just trying to show you that that generation
Was reprobate not everybody not every single person in that nation was reprobate
There was a lot of good men like Jeremiah like Daniel and his free friends that were taken into captivity
But God is saying as a generation that was a reprobate nation they could not change their spots
They could not change the color of the skin. They're done for they're gonna be wiped out by the Babylonians and
Then God would have a new generation not a reprobate generation
Okay
But a generation that has learned to trust the Lord again that new generation would be the ones that would come back into the land
after those 70 years
But
One thing that I want you to understand you're not reprobate. Okay, you're children of God
Okay, I know we use this language. I'll let it can't change your spots, you know, brother so-and-so brother Brody's bad habits
You can't change it. I can't like just like let me can't change the spots
You can't change his bad habits, but that's actually the wrong teaching
You can change your spots if you're a child of God. Okay, the reprobate can't but you can you've got bad
Habits you've got bad character traits
Please don't turn around and say pass. I'm too old. This is just the way I am. No, no
God's given you a personality that cannot be changed
You are who you are, but your bad character traits can be changed. You can change your spots
Okay, you can it just becomes harder as you know, I understand that. Okay. I'm in my 40s. I realize up
It's hard for me to change now
Now that's an excuse but we can still change keep your finger there and come with me to
Come with me to Ephesians chapter 5
Come with me to the New Testament Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 25
Ephesians 5 25
Ephesians 5 25, please
Ephesians 5 25, so, I don't know whoever the eldest person in this church is you might say pass. It's too late for me
I am what I am. No, you can change your spots
You can you can you can clean up yourself a little bit more you can become a little more holy
Okay, you can change your bad habits. You can change your back to characteristics because the Bible says in Ephesians 5 25
husbands love your wives
Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word by the word
That he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spots or
Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish
Reverend you can become more holy you can get rid of the blemishes the bad habits the bad characteristics you have
Okay, don't turn around and say my bad character. That's my personality. You got it wrong
Your personality is given to you by God. He's not going to give you bad character
It's just our selfishness or bad upbringing. Maybe we weren't raised properly by our parents
We were not taught to have good character. I had to overcome those selfish. No, maybe we weren't taught to be selfless
We've been taught to be selfish. Okay, but please don't get to a point where you say pastor. I can't change
If you say look I can't change I can't get any better then I don't know why you're at church
Because what we see here
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word
you see you ought to be desirous to come to church to be washed by the water of his word and
To pass I've got spots. I've got wrinkles. I've got blemishes and
Look, I don't need tonight. Like I said, I need to know all your dirty laundry. Let God's Word reveal that to you
Okay, and with his help, it's the washing of his word. It's the washing of Jesus Christ
He can help you live a more holy and clean life
So don't take this idiom and apply it to yourself. Olympic can't change its spots. You can change your spots
And I'm glad you're in church this afternoon so you can wash yourself for the water of his word
Come with me to Ezekiel now Ezekiel chapter 18
Ezekiel chapter 18, please
Ezekiel chapter 18 in verse number one
Just give you a moment to turn there Ezekiel chapter 18 and
verse number one the Bible says
The word of the Lord came unto me again saying
What mean ye that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel saying?
So let me just bring you up to speed here
There is a proverb there is an idiom if you want in the land of Israel at this time that is saying these words
It says saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and
The children's teeth are set on edge
So this is a saying this is a proverb that is being said in the time of Israel
So essentially what it's saying is that if as parents if you eat sour, if you eat sour grapes like you're probably I don't know
You know when you eat sour things you're kind of like you kind of react, right?
And a sour is the difference of bitterness, but you get the idea like it's kind of bitter
You know now the father's ate the grapes if it's gonna affect anybody it should affect the father
It's not the children the children aren't eating the grapes
Okay, but the problem goes if the father have eaten the sour grapes and the children set up children's teeth on an edge
It's like what the parents do what their sins and who's saying the concept of this is that basically there's a saying that goes
That children are going to bear the sins of their parents or that children are accountable for the sins of their parents
And this is a proverb that's been said in the land of Israel during this time, so God's asking this question
Why is this probably being said because it's not true, okay? Let's keep going there
So sorry, what is the idiom? What is the English idiom?
You know that you've eaten sour grapes have you heard that before?
You've eaten sour grapes. How do we use that today?
Basically when someone becomes angry or bitter
Because something developed not the way they did not want it to develop
all right, I mean maybe you know I've seen this in the workplace where maybe someone expected to get the job and
Someone else gets the job, and they you know and you see their anger you see their bitterness about it
They think I was better qualified. I should have got that position
It's how that person's eating sour grapes. That's how we used to say don't we okay that that bitterness the
Anger when things do not go their way
But how were they using it here in the time of the Bible?
God corrects them in verse number three says as I live safe the Lord God
Ye shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel. You guys stop using this proverb. It's not true
Verse number four behold all souls are mine as the soul of father
So also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth it shall die
God is saying look the one that has eaten the sour grapes the one that has sinned
Here's the one that's going to face the consequences of that sin
We cannot blame children for the parent sins, and we can't blame parents for the children's sins
Okay, it doesn't work that way everyone is accountable for their own sins in their life
But the problem was
Back then and God's angry at they're using that is well. You know the kids are accountable for their parents sins
That soul shall die now some people if you read the book of Ezekiel 18 some people think this is about salvation
Like the salvation of the soul going to heaven, but it's actually talking about
Civil governance and judgment on this earth so for example
Let's say you know a father had done a crime worthy of the death penalty
All right for whatever reason justice could not be served to that father then the child
The proverb is I'm not sure if they were doing this or not
But they were basically saying the child should then be the bearer of that crime because of what his father did
God's saying no the soul that sinneth it shall die okay the one that has committed a crime
Worthy of the death penalty that is the person that should be put to death not their children
Okay, so God is is correct in this in the nation of Israel
And of course this just brings back to the reality and it's kind of sort of what I mentioned in the morning again
You know children know it's good that your parents bring you to church
But you have to make your own personal decision one day whether you're going to trust Christ as your Savior
Yes, he's a savior of your parents, but is he your Savior have you trusted Christ?
You know you cannot go to heaven based on what your parents have done or not done
And
You know
I'm just thinking about this young man that I once preached the gospel to at work
He was he was a Muslim, and he asked so many questions. I gave him the gospel and he said to me
You know out of all the ways to heaven what you explained to me makes the most sense
Like what you explained to me that we cannot go on our own we needed a sacrifice and that sacrifice was Jesus who is God
because that makes perfect sense to me and
He goes I would love to believe it
But I can't believe it because I know my parents won't believe it
And I can't accept this thinking then that my parents are going to go to hell because I know they're not going to receive this message
So it says well if my parents aren't going to get saved then I don't want to be saved either
It's basically that problem
No, we're all accountable for ourselves I
Mean I don't think it's young man realized, but hey if you made the decisions to trust Christ
Then the Lord can use you to reach your parents
But you know we're all accountable for our own sins and look and I understand you know
It we even read about this in the Bible that the consequences of our sins can carry to the third and fourth generations
The consequences and parents wins remember this like the wrong things that we do will affect our children
Could affect our grandchildren etc ok but the sins that we have committed are not going to be put upon our children though
There might be consequences, but the sins themselves are on us
You know and this is why each one of us is why we believe
You know in in personal salvation each person has to make a decision
Whether they're going to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ or not
You know everybody has to do that on their own and of course this is the way that God intended things to be
You know we can't say to a child are you going to hell because your dad was such a wicked person
Maybe that that was the most wicked person on the planet okay, but the child of that person has their own
Ability and decision to trust Christ as Savior. You know that they are not responsible for the sins of previous generations
We live in that society now don't we?
We I mean, that's the society we live in now like the black lives matter thing
It's like all white men are to blame for slavery
even though
You know Africans put themselves in slavery
Took their own people and saw them off to white some white people and they blame white
It's like this is like generations ago this happened
Like I don't think anybody today would be like yeah, you know let's just enslave
You know all these Africans, but that's they want to blame
You know current generation for what the previous generations have done
That proverb is actually comes to true right now in 2022 that proverb that God said not to use is back
Okay, everyone's accountable for the previous generations now apparently
Anyway, that's not the way God intended things to be
Everyone is accountable for themselves all right, please come with me to Daniel chapter 5 Daniel chapter 5, please Daniel chapter 5
Daniel chapter 5 in verse number 4
So the previous idiom that we looked at was eaten sour grapes
How it's used today, and how it was used in the time of the Bible
But Daniel chapter 5 in verse number 4, please
Daniel chapter 5 in verse number 4
we're coming to the end of the Babylonian Empire here and
This is not King Nebuchadnezzar, but this is King Nebuchadnezzar's grandson
Belshazzar it says in verse number 4 they drank wine and
Praise the gods of gold and of silver of brass and iron of wood and stone
So
Belshazzar he's got this big party going on
They're all getting drunk having a great feast and they're worshiping false gods in verse number 5 in the same hour came four fingers of
a man's hand and
wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and
The king saw the part of the hand that wrote
So as they celebrate and have a drunken feast all of a sudden a hand appears on the wall and starts to write something on
the wall
And this is where we get our English idiom. The writing is on the wall
The writing is on the wall. You guys familiar that one writing is on the how do we how does that get used?
In fact the way it gets used today is very similar to the of course with what we see in the Bible
when we say the writing is on the wall, we're saying that something unpleasant or
Unfortunate is about to happen
Right. Maybe you got suspicions that you're gonna be fired from the job because you really messed up
Some might say man the writings on the wall. Yep. It's gonna happen
Yeah, you know something unpleasant something bad is about to happen and of course when this hands hands
Man's hand was writing upon this wall this miracle and just this hand, okay
Obviously, it was something unpleasant that would happen to King Belshazzar. Let's keep going there verse number six
Then the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him
So that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another
Okay, because it's just this vision this apparition that appears all right now, what was the writing on the wall?
Let's drop down to verse number 25
So they essentially they end up getting Daniel Daniel to come and interpret
What has just taken place and interpret the words on the wall in verse number 25?
It says and this is the writing that was written
many many
tackle apportion
This is the interpretation of the thing
Meaning God have numbered thy kingdom and finished it
I won't keep going there. Okay, but God have numbered thy kingdom and finished it Daniel is saying look
This is the hand of God. God is telling you your kingdom is over Belshazzar. It's done. It's finished
And this brings us back to the first idiom that we looked at that our nations the powers that be
They're just a drop in the bucket
Okay, we should not fear powers. We should not fear the wickedness of man
We should not fear the laws that get brought into
Put into place that are contrary to God's word because God can just take down a government
God can take down a king God can take down an entire kingdom if he so wills
you allow the next person to come and rise to power and
So the writing was on the wall for King Belshazzar the writing was on the wall for the Babylonian Empire drop down to verse
number 30 it says in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldean slain and
Darius the median took the kingdom being about free school and two years old
Okay, so that was the end of the Babylonian Empire then you got the Medes and Medo Persian Empire
They come in and they take over of course the Babylonian Empire
the writing was on the wall for the Babylonians and
So that's the final idiom that we're gonna be looking at today, but just to bring it all together
you know
powers
Insignificance a drop in the buckets. Yeah
So insignificant in comparison to the power of our Lord God
Reverend our Lord has this world in his hands
He's in control of it all
Okay, God allows the wicked to rise he takes them down when it's when it's time
Okay, there is no rest for the wicked by the way. It seems like these men of power
You know the corruption looks like they get away with it, but they're not gonna get away with it
In fact most of this world's not gonna get away with the sins that they've done
Okay, only those that trust Christ only those that trust Christ can truly have peace, but don't forget brethren
We've got the words of peace
You know God can use us to reach people to bring men and women into the peace with God salvation
And don't forget once we're saved. Hey, that's just step number one praise God free gifts step number two
Change your spots
Okay, look at your bad habits. Look at your bad characteristics. Don't say oh, that's just how I am
I'm stuck in my ways past and I know you're stuck in your ways well
That's what God says about the Israelites of old. They're stiff next people we can be stiff next sometimes say Lord
I know what you want me to do, but
Lord I'm 41 now Chris Emma again. Am I 41? Okay. I'm 41 now Lord
I'm a pastor. Is that enough?
No, there's still stuff that God needs to refine in my life
I'm sure there's still things that God needs to refine in your life. All right, let's pray
Heavenly Father Lord just want to thank you Lord for your Bible or thank you for these idioms
That have influenced our language or there's so much even just in the way we speak law that comes from your word
So we can truly see Lord your hand in our language and the hearts of men and
Yeah, God just just thank you for showing us the power of your word and Lord
I just thank you that you've allow us to have peace with you for the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and Lord
We're looking forward to Christmas to remember in the birth of Christ
The fact that you sent him here Lord because of your great love toward us. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen
All right, please take your hymnals
Take
Your hymnals
Matthew have we got 306 hymn number 306
Have thine own way Lord
You if not, we can sing 305
306 all right. Let's try 306 have thine own way Lord
You
Have my own way
Thou art the part
I am
While I am waiting
Oh
Wash me
As in my presence
Humbly I
Oh
Help me I pray
Surely is
Touch me
Me
By
My me
Now see
I
You