Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, everybody.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Glad to have you here this Sunday afternoon.
Let's go ahead and take out our hymnals and turn to our first song.
Song number 274,
Come Unto Me.
Song number 274.
Song 274,
Come Unto Me.
All together.
Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed.
O ye heavy laden, come to me and rest.
Come no longer tarry, higher load will bear.
Bring me every burden, bring me every care.
Come unto me.
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly.
Come and trust my might.
Come, my yoke is easy.
And my burden's light.
Are you disappointed, wandering here and there?
Dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care.
Do unholy feelings, struggle in your breast.
Bring your case to Jesus.
He will give you rest.
Come unto me.
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly.
Come and trust my might.
Come, my yoke is easy.
And my burden's light.
Stumbling on the mountains, dark with sin and shame.
Stumbling toward the pit of hell's consuming claim.
By the powers of sin, deluded and oppressed.
Hear the tender shepherd come to me and rest.
Come unto me.
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly.
Come and trust my might.
Come, my yoke is easy.
And my burden's light.
I'll at last have you by temptation.
Often conquered men, has a sense of weakness, brought distress within.
Christ will sanctify you if your claim is best.
In the Holy Spirit, he will give you rest.
Come unto me.
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly.
Come and trust my might.
Come, my yoke is easy.
And my burden's light.
Amen. Great singing. Let's pray our hearts a word of prayer.
Dear Father, we just thank you that we can come together in your house tonight to hear the preaching of your word.
And I just pray you would speak to us through the message preached tonight.
You bless Pastor Shelley, you fill him with your Holy Spirit and help our ears to be open to the message and apply it to our lives.
And we love you, Father, and we just thank you for all you do and pray these things in Jesus Christ's name.
Amen.
Next song is going to be song number 112, Be Still My Soul.
Song number 112.
That's song number 112, Be Still My Soul.
Be still my soul.
The Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change a faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend.
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake.
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake.
O now, mysterious, shall be bright at last.
Be still my soul, the waves and wind still know.
His voice her own, them while he dwell below.
Be still my soul, the hour is hasting on.
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointed, when grief and fear are gone.
Sorrow for God, love's purest joys restored.
Be still my soul, with changed tears our past.
All safe and blessed we shall be at last.
Amen.
Good evening. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you still need a bulletin, if you didn't get one this morning,
you can slip up your hand real quick and we can have an usher come by
and get you a bulletin. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times.
And then we have our church stats. I'm going to get an account for the last few days real quick.
Was there anything to report from this past Thursday by chance?
Anything on Thursday? Is that five? Okay.
Anything? Is that two? Okay.
Seven? And what about Friday? Anything for Friday?
One. Okay.
All right. What about Saturday? Did you get a group total?
Two? Okay. Was there anything outside of that?
Is that another seven? Okay.
So nine for Saturday. What about today?
Six for the van. Was there anything outside of that?
Okay. So I guess ten for today. Praise the Lord on that.
Also, we have a baptism this evening, so if you want to stick around for that,
we'll have that as part of our service.
At the end, on the right-hand side, we have our list of expecting ladies.
Please keep all of them in your prayers.
We also have our prayer list.
If you'd like to submit any additional prayer requests,
you can submit those either via email or a communications card.
You would like to fill one of those out.
And then what we really like to see is those expecting ladies convert
to the congratulations we have down below.
So the congratulations to the Goodwin family.
And we have Ms. Hannah Eve Goodwin, and she was born 6'2", 21, 8, 53 p.m.
She's 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and 20 inches long.
So congratulations to them. And that's really exciting.
On the back, we have our upcoming events.
Ardmore, Oklahoma, June 12th, which is this Saturday.
So please make sure to sign up on our sign-up sheet.
That way we can have an accurate count,
and we can plan for food and everything like that.
And then also we have a couple other events there to take note of.
I think that's pretty much all I have for announcements this evening.
Let's go to our third song, 471, Cleanse Me, 471.
Again, that's song number 471, Cleanse Me.
Sing nice and loud.
Make me pure within.
Fill me with fire where once I burn with shame.
Bread my desire to magnify thy name.
Lord, take my life and make it holy night.
Fill my poor heart with thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride.
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee.
Send a revival, start the work in me.
Thy word declares, Thou wilt supply Your need.
For blessing now, O Lord, I humbly plead.
Amen. Great singing.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Judges 11.
Judges 11.
Judges 11. The Bible reads, Now Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of an harlot.
And Gilead begot Jephthah. And Gilead's wife bare him sons, and his wife's sons grew up.
And they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit our father's house, for thou art the son of a strange woman.
Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tab, and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
And it came to pass, in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.
And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tab.
And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we might fight with the children of Ammon.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house?
And why are ye come unto me now, when ye are in distress?
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them.
And Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord and Mizpah.
And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land.
When they came up out of Egypt from Arnon, even unto Jabak, and unto Jordan, now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon, and said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon.
But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness under the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh,
then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land, but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto.
And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab, but he would not consent, and Israel abode in Kadesh.
Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab,
and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab, for Arnon was the border of Moab.
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jehaz, and fought against Israel.
And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them.
So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Wilt not thou possess that which Chemos thy God giveth thee to possess?
So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, then will we possess.
And now art thou anything better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab?
Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, while Israel dwelt in Heshbon, and her towns, and in Aurore, and her towns,
and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon three hundred years?
Why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but now doest me wrong to war against me.
The Lord the judge be judged this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead,
and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon, and Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said,
If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me,
when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands.
And he smote them from Aurore, even till thou come to Meneth, even twenty cities,
and under the plain of the vineyards with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances,
and she was his only child. Beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low,
and thou art one of them that trouble me, for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which has proceeded out of thy mouth,
forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me. Let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains,
and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months.
And she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
And it came to pass, at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed,
and she knew no man, and it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah,
the Gileadite, four days in a year. Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church and all the souls that were one today in this past week.
Please, Lord, bless Pastor Shelley with your spirit that he might preach your word boldly, and please help us pay attention,
and please fill us all with your spirit that we might glorify the Lord in the coming days, and in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. We're here in Judges chapter 11, and I've already preached the whole sermon specifically on this chapter,
and so if you want to know everything that's going on in this chapter, I'd really encourage you to hear that.
I'm just going to kind of skip to a very specific point in this story,
but if you look at verse number 34 again, the Bible reads,
And Jephthah came to Mizpe unto his house, and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances.
And she was his only child. Beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said,
Alas, my daughter, thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me,
for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.
And just to give you a quick, you know, basically recap of this chapter,
what's happening is that Jephthah went out to battle, and before he went to battle,
he makes this promise or this vow or he swears to the Lord that if the Lord grants him victory when he comes home,
he will sacrifice whatever it is that comes to meet him first at the door.
Now, you know, just reading between the lines, it's probably very clear that he was thinking
whatever sheep, cow, oxen or whatever would come to the door.
He was not anticipating his daughter would do this.
And so when he comes home and she's the first to greet him, he's very upset.
He's very distraught. He says that he's troubled.
And it's very clear that he does not want to sacrifice his daughter.
That's not something that he intended. That's not what his wish was or his desire.
But because he made a vow to God, he feels obligated to honor that vow.
Now, humanly speaking, this is a horrible story because literally sacrificing your own child
has got to be probably one of the worst things you could have to go through
or one of the worst pains or anything like that.
But obviously God uses this story to illustrate the intense amount of pain and discomfort
God had to go through himself to sacrifice his own child for all of us.
And so we still have the gospel being clearly illustrated in Judges chapter 11, and that's great.
But I want to kind of focus on the carnal aspect of this for a moment.
Now, when it comes to Jephthah, you know, I believe that he made this vow, you know, with good intentions.
He wasn't doing anything wrong necessarily. He wasn't trying to make some kind of a weird vow or whatever.
But when you make these vows like he did, you kind of set yourself up to where something bad could happen.
He basically made a vow that he didn't necessarily have to.
And by making this vow, he made himself vulnerable and then put himself in a really bad position when he showed up at home.
And really what I want to talk about this evening is this.
Jephthah was in a situation where he had no good option.
And that's the title of my sermon, is No Good Option.
Now, really this sermon is mostly for the children and the young people, even though some of us still could put ourselves in situations in the future.
But people will often put themselves in positions in their life where they literally have no good option.
And it's really heartbreaking, especially as a pastor, because people come up to you and they'll bring up situations, scenarios that they find themselves in.
And they'll say, hey, pastor, what should I do?
And the reality is they have no good option.
It's not like, oh, A, you know, choose A or B.
It's like, you know, A is not good and B is not good.
Have fun.
I mean, there's not really...
Jephthah in this situation, he has one of two options.
Break his vow to God or sacrifice his daughter.
He has to pick one.
If he doesn't sacrifice his daughter, he'll be in rebellion to what he said to God.
He'll break his vow.
If he honors his vow, he has to sacrifice his daughter.
There's not a good option there.
He has to choose between two bad decisions, two bad options here, two bad choices here.
And here's the thing.
People will often put themselves in these type of situations.
And so the point of this sermon is this.
As I go through and show you the bad options is trying to warn you to not put yourself in these situations.
You can put yourself in really bad situations, children.
You can put yourself in an awkward situation where you literally have no good options anymore,
where you're going to have to make a tough decision where both are going to have consequences to that.
Look what it says in verse number 36.
And she said unto my father, If thou so open thy mouth to the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth.
And we see the obedience of the child, which is a picture of the obedience of Jesus Christ.
And in verse 39 it says, And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned unto her father,
who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed, and she did know man, and it was accustom to Israel.
So he does end up choosing to sacrifice his daughter like he had made the vow unto the Lord.
Now, go if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 for a moment. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5.
Why would he go through with the vow? Well, obviously it's a picture of the gospel.
So that's one aspect of it. But the Bible makes it clear that you're supposed to keep your promises especially to God.
The Bible makes it clear that you're not supposed to just vainly say you're going to do something and not do it.
That would be a sin in and of itself.
And you can make this even worse by making promises to God that you don't keep.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, look at verse 4,
So the Bible is basically saying if you promise something to God, you're supposed to deliver.
There's not an exception of breaking your vow to God. That would be wrong.
And the reality is while sacrificing your child is a horrible thing, and no one in their right mind would ever do this,
and Jephthah is not like he really wants to do this, but he takes his vow to God.
He takes his relationship with God above even his own children.
And really, at the end of the day, you could argue that that would have been maybe the right decision is to honor God over your own family.
Go to Matthew chapter 5.
But what I want to explain to you is this.
Even though one option may be less worse, the title of the sermon is this.
No good option. No good option. Meaning what?
Lots of times people put themselves in a situation where, yeah, maybe one's a little bit better in the sense of one's not as bad,
but there's still bad options.
This is like every single election that we have.
It's like, well, the Republicans are not as bad as the Democrats, some might argue.
Or some might even argue the Democrats are not as bad as the Republicans.
I don't know who argues that, but somebody might. It doesn't really matter.
But they'll argue about who's not as bad.
But here's the thing. We never have a good option.
It's just no good option.
That's why I refuse to vote many times is because there's just no good option.
I'm not against voting. I'm against voting for bad options.
I'm against putting ourselves in these situations.
And you know what? Our country has put itself in lots of bad situations where we have no good option, especially when it comes to politics.
That's a different sermon, all right?
But Matthew chapter 5, look at verse 33.
The Bible says this, Matthew chapter 5, verse 33, again,
Ye have heard that it hath been said by them the whole time, Thou should not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
Now the word for swear means to break your vow, break the swear that you made.
So he's saying you're not supposed to break your swear.
You're supposed to perform whatever it is that you promised.
He says in verse 34, But I say unto you, swear not at all,
neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool,
neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Now Jesus is really expanding in this section of scripture on the law.
He's taking what the law says, and then he's upping the ante, as it were.
He's basically making it more righteousness.
He's giving them more strict commandments, in a sense.
Like if the Bible says thou shalt not kill, he's basically saying you shouldn't even be angry with your brother and your heart.
Which means what? That's a lesser form of evil in our mind, but Jesus is still proving that that would be sinful,
that's still wrong, and you could still go to hell just for hating someone.
You could go to hell just for having a lustful thought.
You could still go to hell, I mean, just for doing something minisculely wrong would be bad.
And what he's trying to illustrate is this, obviously breaking your vows wrong.
That's always been the case, and Jesus is confirming that.
But he's saying, you know, let's take it a step further.
Just don't even swear. Just never make vows.
Just don't go around swearing and this over-the-top promising.
Now, I don't believe that what this is saying is you can't make a promise.
Because he clearly says, let your yay be yay and your nay nay.
So if someone asks you a question, like, can I see you tomorrow?
Oh, I don't want to swear, brother.
You could say yes.
But you don't want to get up there and be like, I swear on my mother's grave, yeah, I'm going to be there, or whatever.
Or this stupid vow I heard of Manly Perry.
He's like, I vow to God that if I commit adultery that God will just kill me.
I'm just like, what in the world?
And he's like, every man in this room should make that vow.
And I'm thinking, like, how about swear not?
How about what Christ actually said?
He said never to swear.
Now, obviously, I think, hey, if you want to get married, you should promise that you're going to be faithful to your spouse and promise that you're going to love them and whatever.
But you're not going to make an over-the-top, like, I swear on my mother's grave and on God's throne.
He's saying, don't do that. That's evil.
Usually when people swear, it's because they're trying to persuade you.
They're trying to say something.
They're not really meaning it.
They're trying to persuade you because they don't actually mean it in their heart, okay?
Now, I illustrated these points to make this greater point.
Look, be careful what you say.
Be careful what you utter.
Be careful what you promise.
Because here's the thing.
You can entangle yourself with the vows and the promises you make.
Now, Christ is saying, just don't even vow, you know.
Say yes if someone's asking you a question.
You can say yes and no and everything like that.
But a lot of times you look at the New Testament authors, they're saying, like, God willing, even in lots of different scenarios.
Like, I'll see you tomorrow, God willing, you know, because they don't want to be presumptuous about anything.
And it's silly to make weird vows.
And if Jephthah had had the attitude of, I'm not just going to make this weird vow, this weird swear, this weird promise to the Lord that no matter what comes out of there, I'll sacrifice.
Here's the thing.
If you'd really slowed down Jephthah and said, like, do you really mean everything?
What if your daughter came out?
I bet he would have been like, oh, you're right, maybe I shouldn't say that.
Because people are just too hasty with their words.
They're not really thinking about what they're saying.
I even preached this before.
And it's funny.
I preached this at a church.
Go to Genesis chapter 19 for a moment.
Go to Genesis chapter 19.
But I preached in a sermon one time.
I said, don't ever come up to me and say, I'll do anything, Pastor Shelley.
Because I'm like, no, you wouldn't.
You wouldn't do anything.
And I literally, like, was teaching this.
And then I had someone come up to me after that sermon and say, I'll do anything, Pastor Shelley.
It's Bo Ballard.
Okay, so obviously he's a bozo.
But it was, like, so flabbergasted.
I was so flabbergasted, I was like, what in the world?
Like, don't get up and just say things that you don't mean.
You should mean everything you say.
Let's go back to a world where we actually mean what we say.
I'm so sick and tired of everybody not meaning anything they say.
And everybody always having to apologize for everything they said and all this cancel culture.
And everybody's happened to take everything down and make all these apologies
and constantly retract every statement that they make and edit everything.
Why can't we just decide what we believe and then just say that?
Why do we have to constantly alter it and change it and modify it and do whatever?
No, let's just say what we mean.
Now, again, how do you avoid Jephthah's problem?
Don't make stupid vows.
You young people don't make promises or vows that you do not intend to keep until death.
I mean, if you're going to say to your spouse, till death do us part, mean it.
And you say, well, that sounds scary.
Yeah, because you're supposed to actually be careful in that decision.
Decisions that you're making, you should take with gravity and sincerity and sobriety
and not be hasty to just say stuff.
Not be hasty to just make some kind of a vow or a promise.
Make sure if you're going to promise to do something, you will do it.
Otherwise, you can put yourself in a situation where you have no good option.
Now, here's a situation where there is no good option.
And it's crazy, but the Bible brings up horrible situations.
Now, look at what it says in Genesis 19, verse 36.
Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
And here's a reality for some of you young bucks that like to go out.
And if you have an idea, hey, I want to go to the college scene
and I want to go and get drunk and just whore around with a bunch of women.
You know, you could get two girls knocked up at the same time.
Then explain to me what good option you have after that.
You say, well, that would never happen.
It happened in the Bible.
Lot literally, by getting drunk, by getting intoxicated with alcohol,
ended up getting two different women impregnated within a day apart from each other.
That doesn't sound like a good option to me.
And you know what?
There's a lot of people in college today that are just rolling the dice on these things.
Just constantly rolling the dice, getting drunk, drinking alcohol,
whoring around, living a promiscuous lifestyle, doing things that they would never do.
Look, you will wake up and have no good option.
You will wake up and you'll say, what do I do?
And it's like, you don't have a good option.
What do you do?
And in fact, in this scenario, obviously it's even weirder,
but it's like New Jersey or something, okay, where incest is legal.
Sorry for you Jersey folk.
I used to make fun of Kentucky, but I looked it up.
Jersey is more pro-incest than Kentucky.
I can't even believe it, but you know, they're trying to take back that title, I guess, or whatever.
Go over to Proverbs chapter number six, Proverbs chapter number six.
But look, even Judah, he lies with his own daughter-in-law.
And look, when you're a whore, when you drink alcohol,
you can put yourself in really, really bad situations where you have no good option.
So what's the warning, young people? Don't drink alcohol.
Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging.
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
You say, well, that was a horrible story. Yeah, it's reality. People do this.
People literally, I mean, I'm trying to remember.
There was a quarterback. He played in the NFL.
I think it's Cromartie, okay?
I think it was like Antonio Cromartie, I think is his name, if I can remember correctly.
You look it up, all right?
And I think he played for New Jersey.
I think he played the Jets or something.
I think he played with the Jets.
He literally had like eight kids in like three years or something ridiculous, or like five years.
It's just like, the numbers were just like mind-boggling.
And every single kid was a different woman, I think.
You look it up. You fact-check me, and the real story will be even weirder than I said.
It's like, what in the world?
Look, people are putting themselves in this.
What do you do when you have, I mean, how do you even manage your family
if you had eight kids with eight different women?
What would you even do?
I mean, you can't realistically have a relationship with those children now.
You can't realistically, you can't marry all, it's not Mormonism, okay?
You can't marry all those women.
I mean, you're just stuck in this horrible, horrible situation.
And really, probably, where he made no decision, he was probably drunk when he did it,
I'm just conjecturing, but a lot of people make these decisions when they're intoxicated.
They're not even thinking straight.
Just a moment, just a quick flash, and their whole life is just completely just
saturated where they have no good option.
And the Bible warns about evil people that are looking to destroy you.
Now, I talked a little about this in Proverbs chapter 7,
but look in Proverbs 6, which has similar connotations.
Look at verse 26.
For by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread,
and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
You know, Lot got in that really bad situation because of his daughters.
His daughters are the ones that actually brought that horrible situation upon him.
And when you look at other men in the Bible, look at Delilah, what she did to Samson.
She destroyed Samson's life.
And you know what?
The adulteress, they don't care.
They will literally destroy people's lives and walk away and just not even care.
She'll just wipe her mouth, and she'll just say, I've done no evil.
And you know, there's lots of guys that go in college, and they'll ruin their life,
and you say, well, if she's not wanting to be with me, then it was no skin off my back.
Yeah, but she could leave something behind with you.
You know what it's called?
STD.
There are lots and lots of whores with STDs.
And you know what that, that lasts with you forever.
And you know, if you go to the doctor, and you say, I have herpes.
You know what they're going to say?
You have no good option.
I have AIDS.
You have no good option.
You have gonorrhea.
No good option.
Having an STD is no good option, period.
Let's magnify that even worse.
How about you married folk, you decide to commit adultery, and you get an STD.
Now, think about the position you're putting your spouse in.
Either they never honor you in marriage, and do the duty of marriage,
or you're basically signing them up to get an STD.
What a horrible position to put someone in.
And you say, well, one of these is better, not as bad as the other, but it's no good option.
And you say, why are you saying this?
Don't be a whore.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't commit these sins.
Don't do these things.
Go to Deuteronomy 28.
You want to talk about that no good option a little bit more?
Let's see what the Bible has to say about it.
Deuteronomy 28.
You say, what's the goal of this sermon?
I hope to prevent people from putting themselves in these situations.
Now, unfortunately, like I said, I'm not mad at people that find themselves in these situations,
because once you've found yourself in that situation, it's like, what do you do?
I mean, I don't know.
People bring up to me and I feel bad.
I sympathize.
I empathize with them.
But what I think is this.
I sure hope I can preach well enough that some people in the future won't make that mistake.
Some people won't put themselves in these situations.
They won't continue to spread STDs.
Because guess what?
If you're a virgin and your spouse is a virgin, let me give you a little tip.
You won't get an STD.
It works out great.
It's almost like God's plan works out great.
But whenever you're a whore, this can happen.
Deuteronomy 28, look at verse 27.
That doesn't sound like a good option.
You can literally permanently alter the rest of your life
and say you're going to have an itch in a place you never want to itch for the rest of your life.
And I've met people that are not saved, not Christian at all.
And you know what?
The only thing that stops them from being a whore all the time is the fear of an STD.
But they should have that fear because it's real.
And the people that really don't have a lot of STDs are the people that are not whoring around.
The people that are whoring around almost just take it to the bank that they probably have an STD.
And women are typically more active than men.
They have more partners than men, statistically.
So if you are a man deciding to be with a whorish woman, you're basically just saying please give me an STD.
I'm just being honest with you.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
1 Corinthians chapter 7.
Now look, I'm not describing pleasant things, okay?
I don't want anyone to be in this situation.
And you know what? I'm sorry someone's in this situation.
But if you are in one of these situations, you should want all the young people to not get in that situation.
Don't be like the devil and hope that everybody goes to hell with you.
You know, learn from your mistakes and try to help your kids not make the mistakes you made.
I've made plenty of mistakes in my past that I hope my kids never make, you know?
And I've done things that aren't right and I hope that I can correct those.
I don't want to just be like, well, I screwed up my life. I hope my kids, you know, turn out okay.
No, I'm going to be real proactive about it.
No, I'm going to try and guard them and protect them and put boundaries in their life and help teach them what the Word of God says so they don't.
Now, here's another topic that I want to bring up where people put themselves in a weird situation.
You know, the Bible makes it clear, be fruitful and multiply.
Okay, have lots of kids.
But sometimes, you know, people just really they haven't been provided with a lot of good information and so they kind of get led into a bad decision and then it alters them in this area.
And let me say this, I'm not trying to be like mean. I'm not judging anybody. I don't care.
But the reality is God did not intend for women to have a C-section, okay?
And in modern medicine, when women have a C-section, they're not looking at this woman and saying, are you planning on having 8 to 10 children in your life?
Because if they thought that, they would never do a C-section with you.
Because no woman is supposed to have like 8 to 10 C-sections because that's really going to put your body at severe risk, okay?
And I'm not saying don't do that. I'm just telling you that if you decide to have that many C-sections, you are literally risking your wife's life severely, okay?
Now again, a lot of people, they go in and maybe there's an emergency and they get, you know, they have to do a C-section.
I get that. I'm not trying to point the finger. I'm not trying to get mad at people.
What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to help people that maybe it's their first kid or their first few kids that they're not getting talked into a C-section just by, you know, just like that.
And realizing like they're going to be compromising their body in the long term if they want to keep having kids.
Because I have people, you know, come up to me and they say, look, I want to be fruitful multiply and I want to keep having kids. I've already had 5, 6, 7.
But the doctors are saying if we have another C-section like, you know, it's going to really be putting my wife at severe medical risk.
And it's like what do I do? Title the sermon. There's no good option here.
Because honestly, yes, by continuing to be fruitful multiply, you will be putting yourself at risk, okay?
And again, I don't want to get up here and just not tell you the truth.
There's a lot of medical, like having a child is just dangerous period.
Lots of women die. People, women die in the Bible having children, okay?
C-sections are a modern invention, okay?
Think about whether they're literally cutting the woman open with a knife.
Like that's not a normal thing, okay?
And then when they cut them open with a knife, okay, obviously they have to use anesthetic.
If you study C-sections, if you look up the history on it, okay, it was only used in the case where the mom was dead or about to die for sure.
And it was just as a last resort to save the child potentially.
But then over time, they went to some African countries and noticed they had figured out how to like put a bunch of alcohol in the system of these women or whatever and toxicate them.
And then basically they could perform the C-section.
But you go down to the hospital and the doctor is looking at you and saying you're going to have 1.74 children.
And look, you could have two C-sections and it's not, you know, it's probably not that big a deal.
But if you want to have 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, look, you're literally, that's really, that's a lot higher risk.
You ask medical professionals, they'll say you shouldn't do it.
They'll try to get you to take your ovaries and your uterus out.
They'll put a lot of pressure on you.
And you say, what do you do, Pastor Shelley? I'm not giving you any medical advice.
All I'm saying is people will find themselves in a no good option sometimes.
And so look, this is my personal opinion on C-section. It's a last resort option.
That's my personal opinion because you can put yourself in these weird scenarios.
And sometimes they'll even tell you after you have a C-section you can't do natural birth.
That's not necessarily true. You can.
But by having a natural birth after having a C-section, it is a higher risk.
Again, because stitches and stuff could, you know, come unraveled and there could be more trauma.
Things they won't tell you. They won't tell you about the epidural.
There's all kinds of risks associated with epidurals and problems with epidurals.
You know, we talked about that botch and those things going on in Deuteron 28.
You have an increased chance of getting hemorrhoids if you have an epidural.
Where does a hemorrhoid come from? From extra strain, you know.
If you're trying to strain really hard in that area, you can pop the blood vessels and have hemorrhoids for the rest of your life.
Well, when you have an epidural and you can't feel anything, you can push way too hard.
Okay. Epidurals cause you to not have, you know, breastfeeding doesn't come in necessarily sometimes.
You can have headaches. You could be paralyzed for the rest of your life.
And what are you trying to say Pastor Shelley? God's way is always better. God's way is always better.
And when you alter God's design, you can put yourself in a position where you have no good option.
Okay. And look, I'm not getting up here condemning anyone. I love every single person in this room.
I'm not mad at people for the medical decisions they've made.
People will continue to make medical decisions that maybe I don't personally agree with and I don't care.
I still love them. I'll still pray for them. I'm just telling you that we have lots of little kids.
We have lots of new mothers. Be careful about the decisions you're making.
And when you're making decisions that God didn't design, you should really think about it.
And I wish I could go all the way back before we had children and talk to myself about a lot of those things.
And a lot of decisions I made because I would have made some different decisions.
Okay. And I'm just warning you that when you're not doing what God naturally designed, you can put yourself in no good options.
You know, there's other women in this category where they've had their tubes tied already.
Or a man, hopefully not, but you know. I might judge you on this one, but they got snipped. Okay.
But then they'll come in and they'll say, what do I do? And they'll ask, am I sinning by not having a reversal?
And here's my personal opinion. My personal opinion is if you had, if you got snipped or you had your tubes tied, that was a sin.
But you're not in continual sin. Okay. That's just my view on it.
However, if you ask me what do I do, I just see you have no good option.
Because not having kids, there's going to be pros and cons to that. Okay.
But having the reversal, surgery is always a risk. It's going to cost a lot. But sometimes they're really expensive.
And even if you go through all that, you still may not even get pregnant necessarily. Okay.
All I'm saying is this, be careful of the decisions you're making.
And don't just trust, oh the baby boomers generation, they're going to give me good advice.
Not necessarily. Look, your advice should only come from the word of God.
And you should, you know, try the spirits, whether they are of God.
And let me tell you, someone that's not really of God is the modern medical world that we live in today.
Now I'm not saying that they don't make good decisions sometimes. Sometimes they do.
And you know, modern medicine has afforded us all kinds of options we didn't have in the past.
But just because you might have more options doesn't mean you should just forgo what God already designed.
God designed a lot of things to work really well, timelessly. Okay.
And I believe that you should always do it the way that God designed it.
Now if you're an atheist, you're not going to agree with God's design.
Let's figure out a new way to cut people open and do whatever.
And you know, it's like we'll do an artificial formula and we'll just put your kid in boarding school.
And you know, I mean that's not how I believe. I believe in the word of God.
I believe that God designed us and created us and he made everything that was sufficient.
We don't have to have, you know, someone come and cut me in half in order for me to actually fulfill his will.
Now again, I'm not trying to put shade on anybody.
I'm just trying to warn you about things that are constantly being shoved down Christian's throats today that are not found in the Bible.
Go to I Corinthians 7 and look at verse 8.
I Corinthians 7 verse 8.
I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.
But if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband.
Let me say this, you know, marriage is in connection with the Jephthah thing.
A lot of people find themselves in no good option as a result of marriage problems.
And what would be a marriage problem?
Being married to a reprobate.
Man, it's so heartbreaking.
People come, I've heard this from tons of people.
And it's just, there's no good option.
What do you do?
And you're just like, people will be like, divorce.
And it's like, but that's not a good option.
I mean, all you're going to do is like, let's give a lot of our money to a divorce lawyer and be in court all the time.
And can I remarry?
Well, still not biblically.
So I don't know what it afforded you other than just losing a bunch of money and more headache and problems.
But I see why some people make that decision.
They just want to get away from that person.
Then it's like staying, having anything to do with that person, that's terrible.
It's like, well, what do I do, Pastor?
It's like, you don't have a good option.
People put themselves in these situations and you say, well, what should I do?
Marry a saved person.
But that's a past decision, okay?
Or they get divorced and then their spouse remarries and then they're like, what do I do?
And I'm like, you don't have a good option.
But you know, the Apostle Paul said, you know, you could be like him and just remain unmarried.
That's what the Bible says.
Let's keep reading.
He says, but the rest I speak I, not the Lord.
If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.
Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.
A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace.
So the Bible says, look, if you're married to someone and they just hate the Lord and they just abandon you,
you don't have to necessarily go chasing after them to hell, okay?
However, the Bible's still clear that you're not supposed to get remarried, okay?
Go if you went to Romans chapter 7, go to Romans chapter number 7.
And you say, well, that sucks. What's the title of the sermon? No Good Option.
And you really, you can sympathize with Jephthah.
Jephthah's option, keep the vow that I made or break it.
That's, you know, keep this vow and my life is going to have really bad consequences to it or break the vow to God.
And then you have to decide which one's more important.
But if Jephthah can keep his vow, you know, and in fact, Nabal, think about Nabal and his wife, Abigail.
She's married to a reprobate, stays married to him.
Now she does pray for him to die, but she stays married to him.
And you know, that's my personal opinion. This is my personal opinion.
Hey, if you're married to a reprobate, just pray that they die as much as possible, okay?
Because that's the best option that'll end up happening if it does happen.
But you know, you're not guaranteed that. That way you just, this is why I say, you keep your reprobate at bay.
You know, when you have a beast that is known to push in times past, you're supposed to kind of keep it, you know, away from others.
So when you have a brute beast that's been known to push at times, you just want to keep him at bay, all right?
And just keep praying for it to die. Put old Yeller down, okay? Through prayer.
And I'll pray with you, okay?
But at the end of the day, there's just no good option.
Sometimes you find yourself in a bad situation, but there's still a good option.
But I'm telling you, there's a lot of people and just a no good option.
Romans chapter 7 verse 1,
Look, your only way to get out of marriage biblically is death. That's it.
Let me show you another verse on this. Go to Mark chapter 10. Go to Mark chapter number 10.
And in fact, if you get remarried, then you're just called an adulteress or an adulterer, depending on who's who.
And you say, well, I don't like that kind of preaching. I didn't write the Bible.
I'm just trying to warn you because, you know,
what makes me upset is people coming up to me and telling me the no good option they're in.
I want less people to have to come and tell me that. And you know how to do that?
Preach to the young people not to make these bad decisions. Be careful who you marry.
Be careful who you marry. Make sure that they're saved. Make sure you're equally yoked.
I mean, I can't emphasize that enough.
And some people say, are you telling me, Pastor Shelley, if I marry this person,
then I have to stay committed to them no matter what they do? Wasn't that what Jesus did to you?
But yeah, I am. And that's what Jesus is saying.
Mark Chapter 10, look at verse 11.
And he said to them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another committed adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married another, she committed adultery.
So guess what? It works both ways.
Hey, you're married to another person? Adultery. Either way.
And, you know, when they ask, when they're talking to Christ about this, he says,
He that hath an ear, let him hear. He says, not all men can receive this saying.
Meaning what? It's hard preaching to say.
Look, when you said, till death do us part, God wanted you to actually mean it.
Which it's like, that just makes sense.
Okay? And you say, well, why would God expect me to stay married to a reprobate?
The thing about this, Christ died for the sins of every reprobate.
He loved them at some point. Every reprobate.
But God so loved the world. Right?
And you say, well, that sucks. Okay, it does.
That's why you encourage your children not to make that mistake. Okay?
And at the end of the day, you know, marriage, just as I'm on this topic,
I've seen a lot of people, they're not necessarily in that extreme,
but they're in a little bit less extreme bad situation in marriage.
And it's basically where they're unequally yoked.
Where the man is really zealous and the woman's not at all.
Or the woman's really zealous and the man's not at all.
But if I were to say which one's the most likely scenario,
it's that the man is zealous and the woman is not.
I've seen a lot of men who are very zealous for God,
and then they get married and everything changes.
And in fact, they're unrecognizable.
Like, the person that you knew that was unmarried,
now that they're married, you're like, who are you?
They're a completely different person.
And you say, why? Well, you know, the Bible, you know, again,
I'm not ragging on women because women have their role,
but the Bible does clearly teach that kings were not supposed to multiply wise
because it was going to do something.
It was going to turn their heart away from God.
And let's be honest, who drug who down?
Did Adam drag Eve down or did Eve drag Adam down?
Eve drug Adam down. Okay?
And so that's why God put man in charge.
Why? Because it's easier to pull someone down
or to drag them down than to pull someone up.
You know, if I'm on the stage up here,
it'd be easier who was down here to pull me down
for them to pull them up.
You know what God did? He made men stronger than women.
So why don't you use your flex your muscles a little bit
and pull your wife up to wherever you're at spiritually.
And don't let your wife destroy your zeal.
Destroy where you're at spiritually.
You know, you drag your wife to church.
You drag her out soul winning.
Now, obviously, she's highly pregnant and it's the summer.
Okay, don't drag her out soul winning.
All right? Let her be.
Okay? Obviously, there's clear...
When she's giving birth, don't be like,
are you ready to go soul winning on?
Like, you want me to cut that cord? You got it?
I mean, it's like, no.
Obviously, your wife has other job duties.
Okay? And you don't want to put your wife or her baby at risk
or anything like that.
Sometimes she's got to stay with the toddlers.
But look, when it's safe to do so, drag your wife out soul winning.
Read her the Bible.
Teach the Bible to her.
Explain things to her.
Lead your wife.
Don't just let marriage destroy your zeal.
You're supposed to do this.
Lead.
You're like, well, it seems like I'm more spiritual.
Well, even if you think that, which it's not a competition,
then go ahead and lead her.
You're supposed to.
If she has a question, she's supposed to ask you.
You know this morning's sermon,
you know why there's so many loud and stubborn women?
Because there's no man to wrangle her in.
That's why I have like zero respect for men that are married
and their wife is a loud and stubborn woman.
That's the one going around defending.
It's an intruder comes in and she's the one getting out of bed.
What? Are you kidding me?
You know, I don't need my wife to go around and fight all my battles.
Look, we need some men to step up and to fight the spiritual battle of the day
and to lead their wives and to lead their families
and don't let marriage destroy your zeal that you have for God.
You say, well, how do I ensure that?
Well, make sure you don't marry the wrong woman.
I've seen all kinds of people just totally decimated by marriage.
And look, it could even happen the other way.
I've seen it the other way where a woman who loves the Lord
and is trying to serve God, her husband is not interested in things of God
or she marries a bozo or marries a loser
and that's even harder because they're not the leader.
They have to submit and try to serve God at the same time
and it's like ten times harder.
Kudos to a woman that wants to serve God.
If you'll notice, there's a lot more single guys that come to a church like ours than single ladies.
There's a reason.
And you know what, we need some men to get up and to lead
and to make sure that they're putting themselves and their families in a good position
that they're not finding themselves in a bad position.
Go to Matthew 23 for a moment.
Young people, be careful of the decisions that you make.
Now, here would be a thought that I don't want you to have as a young person, though.
I don't want you to have an analysis paralysis
where you're so afraid to make decisions because of possible consequences
or you feel like you can't make decisions quickly
because of the fact that there could be really rough consequences.
Here's how you decide if you're going to make decisions.
Is it biblical?
Hey, if it's what the Bible's saying, do it right now.
Don't hesitate. Do it immediately.
And you know the Bible even says,
Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
There's nothing wrong with getting married really young.
Don't be like, well, I'm afraid I'm going to marry the wrong person.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with getting married young.
There's nothing wrong with serving God young.
There's nothing wrong with making quick decisions when you know they're right.
Really, the most important thing you can learn is
I need to be looking at every decision through the lens of this book.
That's really the biggest emphasis.
And, you know, not making decisions quickly or being too hesitant
or having this analysis paralysis is actually bad, too.
You need to be able to make quick decisions.
But you need to make sure that they're biblical.
You need to make sure it's what the Bible actually teaches.
Matthew 23, look at verse 33.
Yeah, I guess it is.
Ye serpents, ye generations of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation?
How can ye escape the damnation?
Oh, okay, I remember why I put this.
I was like, why do I have this person here?
Here's a no good option, okay?
Being a reprobate.
And think about it this way, all right?
Because being married to a reprobate is a no good option.
But if you're a reprobate, the longer you live on this earth,
the more wrath you're storing up against God.
But the alternative is going to hell right now.
No good option.
Go if you would to Romans chapter one for a moment.
Go to Romans chapter number one.
And you say, well, maybe I can give up sin.
No, you have a problem.
It's like, well, maybe I'll live a better life.
Nope, you're screwed.
I mean, reprobates literally have no good option.
Think about it.
Now, look what the Bible says about reprobates.
These are people that hate God.
They never want to believe in him.
And he makes them into a faggot or a lesbian.
It says in verse 29, being filled with all unrighteousness,
and it gives a list.
But look at it, being filled.
Meaning what?
You're going to get worse every day.
Every day, reprobates get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.
And you say, why is that a problem?
Well, because they're supposed to be put to death.
Look at verse 32, who knowing the judgment of God
that they which commit such things are worthy of death.
So the Bible teaches, even in the New Testament,
that Sodomites should be put to death.
It's super clear.
It's the best thing for society.
And in some ways, it's better for them.
Let me explain this.
Look at Romans 2, verse 3.
And think as thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God,
or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself,
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
So they say, look, the longer you live and reject God,
the worse it's going to be on judgment day.
So as a reprobate, you have no good option.
You can just continue to treasure up wrath unto thyself under the day of judgment,
or you can just go to hell now.
It's like...
Now, you know why it's dangerous for them to live?
Because they have no good option.
When they realize they're in the...
And look, I remember going soul-winning recently.
It was me and my brother Urbanic.
We're going out soul-winning, and he's talking to this lady.
And he's like, do you think that people deserve to go to hell?
And she's like, yeah, I'm going to hell.
I deserve hell.
And I was like, okay.
And she's like, yeah, my family always is telling me because I'm a sodomite.
She's like, I'm bi.
And Urbanic is like, good night.
She knew she was on her way to hell.
And look, I'll tell you what.
Most sodomites I meet, they know they're going to hell.
It's weird.
I run into unsaved people all the time, and they don't think they're going to hell.
But sodomites are always like, yeah, I deserve hell.
Yeah, I know I'm going to hell.
It's like, that's a dangerous person.
Someone that knows they're on the way to hell.
There's nothing they can do to change that or fix that.
What are they going to do?
Cause as much damage as possible.
And be as selfish as possible.
I wonder if that's what we see in this world today.
Oh, yeah, it's exactly what we see in this world today, isn't it?
Go over to Proverbs chapter 3.
You say, well, how do I fix that?
Get saved.
Look, you don't want to be in these bad situations.
Let me help you.
Don't make stupid vows.
Number two, don't drink alcohol.
Number three, don't be a whore.
Number four, do everything the way God designed it.
Number five, get married to someone that you're equally yoked with.
And number six, get saved.
I've done a whole bunch of really horrible situations.
But if you just do that simple list, you won't find yourself in any of those.
And that wasn't even that hard.
Saved.
I'm pretty sure everybody, check.
Get married to someone that's saved and equally yoked.
That was probably the hardest one.
Number three, you know, just do the way things God designed it.
Don't be a whore.
Don't drink alcohol.
And don't make stupid vows.
Those are not that hard.
Like, you hear this sermon and you're thinking like, oh, man, there's all these minefields out there.
But I'm like, when you break it down, it's not that hard.
It's not that hard to know what to do.
It's hard to maybe not succumb to that pressure.
You know what would make it easier?
Going to church three times a week and reading your Bible and going soul winning and serving God and loving the Lord.
It would make it a lot easier.
If you decide to get out of church and start going and doing your own thing, some of these start getting put on the table again.
Your work, I guarantee they have alcohol parties.
And you know who's at those alcohol parties?
Whores.
And you know who's else at that party?
Este, gonorrhea.
And chlamydia.
And everything else there that you don't want to know about.
I like to know that it's, I like to not think that it's there or not realize.
You say, what is the sermon about?
No good option if you break God's commandments, but you know what, the opposite is true.
Look at verse one.
My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments.
For length of days and long life and peace shall they add unto thee.
Don't let that one word escape you.
Peace.
Every scenario that I brought up, this is what I could say about it.
This is like, it's not, there's no peace.
Right?
I mean, you're just not going to have rest.
You know, STD, no peace.
Married to a reprobate, no peace.
I mean, there's, being a reprobate, no peace.
Right?
I mean, you think about these scenarios, I mean, being married, or not being married,
but having two women with multiple kids, there's no peace in that.
It's going to be constant struggle.
You look at the guys that actually had multiple wives even, it's like, well, what if they got married?
Look, there's all kinds of conflict between Hannah and Penina, all kinds of conflict between Rachel and Leah.
I mean, these guys aren't having a peaceful time.
I mean, just think about how many anniversaries that Solomon forgot.
Do you remember when we got married?
It's like, no, not at all.
And it's like multiple women on the same day.
You have a thousand.
He had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
I mean, just the wives alone, he has two every day.
So think about, think about all the gifts he has to buy.
How many anniversary dates he has to go on.
I mean, you're just failing.
There's no peace in that.
But look, breaking God's commandments, you show me the life that's breaking God's commandments and has peace.
You know what, I bet a lot of people in this room actually have real peace, a peace that passeth all understanding.
And look, even if you find yourself in one of these bad situations, I'm not here to tell you that your life's over.
Jephthah was in it.
Lots of these guys are in bad situations.
And you know what?
You can just still serve God.
If you have breath in your lungs, you can serve the Lord.
But what you should do is you should encourage the young people and the people in your lives not to make those decisions.
And to try to have as much peace as they can in their life.
Close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father for this sermon and the truths that you've given us from the word of God.
I pray that we would have respect under your commandments and that we'd realize the importance of following your rules.
And that you could just bless the young people in this room to have the wisdom that comes from the Bible.
That they could learn through others' bad mistakes and bad decisions so that they would not put themselves in those bad situations.
And that they would continue to have respect unto your commandments so that you can give them peace their entire life.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
With that, let's take out our hymnals for the last song for tonight.
And don't forget we've got a baptism right after the service.
Go ahead and take out your hymnal and turn to song number 105.
All That Thrills My Soul.
Song number 105.
Again, that's song number 105.
All That Thrills My Soul.
All together.
Who can cheer the heart like Jesus
By His presence, O Divine?
True and tender, pure and precious,
O how blessed to call Him mine!
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me.
At the faris of ten thousand,
In my blessed Lord I see.
Love of Christ so freely given,
Grace of God beyond decree,
Mercy higher than the heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me.
At the faris of ten thousand,
In my blessed Lord I see.
What a wonderful redemption,
Never can a mortal know,
How my sin, the red like crimson,
Can be whiter than the snow.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me.
At the faris of ten thousand,
In my blessed Lord I see.
Every need is hand supplying,
Every good in Him I see.
On His strength divine relying,
He is all and all to me.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me.
At the faris of ten thousand,
In my blessed Lord I see.
By the crystal flowing river,
With the ransom I will see,
And forever and forever,
Praise and glorify the King.
All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
He is more than life to me.
At the faris of ten thousand,
In my blessed Lord I see.
We have Brother Blake coming for baptism this evening.
Brother Blake, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
Yes, I do.
Then I baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of His death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Make sure to congratulate Brother Blake on his baptism. You are dismissed.