(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in Psalms chapter 18, and this is a pretty long chapter, so we're not going to really go in super big detail in every verse, we're just going to hit various highlights along the way. And I want you to see here, starting in verse number one, quite simply the first point is this. We're going to talk about who is the rock according to the Bible. Who is the rock? Psalms 18, verse 1, the Bible reads, I love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. And so Psalms chapter 18 is the first chapter in the book of Psalms that calls the Lord the Rock. Maybe that's a future trivia question, I'm not really sure, our next Bible trivia night. But it's the first chapter in the book of Psalms that calls the Lord the Rock, yet after it first comes up in the book of Psalms, chapter 18, it appears a lot of times in the book of Psalms. And all throughout the Old Testament, you see the Lord is the Rock, the Lord is the Rock, the Lord is the Rock, the Lord is the Rock. And you say, why is that important? Well, because we live in a Catholic country. And Catholics say that Peter is the Rock. Now look at verse 46 here in Psalms 18. Psalms 18, verse 46, the Bible reads, the Lord liveth and blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. And so over and over again, you're going to see this three times in this chapter that the Lord is the Rock. It's throughout the book of Psalms, but turn to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. So you need to understand that when we're studying the Bible, one of the best tools we can do is cross-reference things. Basically, you look up various phrases, you look up various words, and that's kind of the main thing about being King James only. It's the belief that every single word is in its proper place, and you can look things up. There's a reason it says rock, it doesn't say stone, it doesn't say something kind of similar. Every word's there for a particular reason, and so you can cross-reference. So in Matthew chapter 16, where the Catholics say that Peter is the Rock, well, when you look throughout the entire Bible, I mean, Christ is solid rock I stand, like we sung. Throughout the Bible, it calls Jesus Christ, it calls the Lord the Rock. Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. Matthew 16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And so they're naming some of the great people that ever lived, and so when Jesus came on the scene, they said, man, he's like John the Baptist, he's like Elijah, he's like Jeremiah, or he's one of them, maybe he's risen again from the dead, he is them. But obviously, the Lord is so much greater than John the Baptist or any man who ever existed because he's perfect. And so what it says in verse 15 is this, he saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am? So everyone else says, I'm John the Baptist, I'm Elijah, I'm Jeremiah, I'm one of the prophets, but what about you guys? Whom do ye say that I am? Now it says in verse 15, whom say ye? So he's talking to multiple people because ye is plural. And so he's not just talking to Peter, he's talking to multiple people, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And so in verses 13 through 16, what you're seeing is we're contrasting the Lord versus other great men that have existed. And we're seeing there's no comparison. We're seeing the Lord versus John the Baptist, the Lord versus Elijah, the Lord versus Jeremiah. And then we're going to see a contrast between the Lord and Simon Peter. Verse 17, and Jesus answered and said unto them, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now when he says upon this rock, this is what he's saying. He's saying, thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this rock. You say, how do you know that? Because he's contrasting. He's contrasting the Lord versus Peter. And before that he was contrasting the Lord versus John the Baptist. He's contrasting, okay? So he compares himself to all of these other people. And so he's doing that once again. He kind of sets this up for Peter so he kind of understands this. He knows how the conversation is going to go. And he's comparing himself to John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. And then he talks to Simon Peter. And he says, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. You say, why does he say that? Because he's trying to drive home the point that all of us are just men. Every single church, the Lord is the head of that church. Now Catholics will tell you, Catholics will say that he's referring to Simon here where he says that upon this rock. He's saying, thou art Peter, and upon this rock. Well, the wording doesn't really make sense there. Because he says, upon this rock, thou art Peter, and upon this rock. So there's a contrasting there. And in the context you see that, but there's many different problems with this. For one, throughout the entire Bible, the Lord is the rock. Where does it say Simon Peter's the rock ever? Okay? Now I understand that a lot of people that are Baptist, they'll go back to the Greek to try to prove this point more. But look, we don't have to go back to the Greek to prove anything. Because you just look in the English, and the Lord is the rock throughout the entire Bible. And they'll go back to the Greek and say, well, the Lord is the rock. And then the Peter means basically kind of like a smaller stone. But we don't have to go back to the Greek for that. We can just see that in the English. And we saw that in Psalms 18 that the Lord is the rock. And so when you're cross-referencing, it can't be referring to Peter. That's not the only problem, though, with saying this is referring to Peter. Because I want you to understand, let's say that Peter is being referred to when he says, upon this rock. Because that's what the Catholics say. Here's the thing. The Catholics believe in one church, a universal church. So first off, the Bible does not teach a universal church. And I don't have time to prove that, but you know, we know the Bible teaches individual local churches. There's Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, Verity Baptist Church Manila, Verity Baptist Church Fresno, Verity Baptist Church Pampanga, probably a lot more in the future. But those are different churches, okay, in different locations. There's not one big universal church. There's individual churches, because our church isn't going to be able to reach Africa with the gospel, because we're not located there, okay? There's individual churches. But I want you to understand, if the rock is referring to Peter, then that means Peter is the head of every single local church in the world, even today. See, it doesn't make sense, because here's the thing. We believe in a living God. And so even after Jesus Christ was crucified, He's still the head of this church. In a thousand years, He'll be the head of every individual church. But if the rock is referring to Peter, and believing in local New Testament churches, that means Peter is the head of our church. And it's like, well, I guess we might as well convert to Catholicism if we're going to be praying to someone who's long died. And look, Peter was a great man, and despite all of his failures in the Bible, I'm sure he accomplished more than I'm ever going to accomplish. But I want you to understand that if the rock here is referring to Peter, that means Peter is the head of our church, too. But we don't believe in a universal church. We believe in local churches, and Christ is the head of every individual local church. Verse 19, And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. So in verse 19, he talks about the authority that he's going to be giving to Peter and anybody else who's running churches. So I want you to understand that, yes, the Lord is the head of this church, but we believe in pastor-run churches. Obviously, the Lord's not going to come down from heaven and partake in a meeting with us to discuss things. He obviously has to transfer some of that authority, and what he says is, Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. But that does not change the fact that in verse 18, the rock is clearly referring to the Lord because we see a contrast there. And so before he tells us to Peter in verse 19, he makes it clear to him that, Hey, you know what? The rock is the Lord. I'm the rock. I'm the head of the church. Now turn to Psalms 18. Psalms 18. And so I want you to understand that when referring to the Lord as the rock, that is not a term that you should be calling other people because the Lord is the rock. In fact, there's a famous actor in Hollywood who used to be a professional wrestler, and he calls himself the rock. Now, I don't know if he named himself that or if someone else did. I don't want to make a false accusation because I really don't know, and I didn't bother to do the research, but whether or not somebody calls you the rock or whether or not you call yourself, you better change that title because I don't want to be referred to as something that needs to be referred to only as the Lord. The Lord is the rock. Nobody should be called the rock, and that's a blasphemous term to call yourself the rock. When the Bible says the Lord's a rock, and throughout the Bible over and over and over again, the Lord's a rock. Look, so when it comes to calling something a rock, either the Lord or an actual rock are the only things that should be called the rock because that's a term given to God. We need to be reverent to his name. Now, turn to Psalms 111. Psalms 111. See, that's not the only term that is blasphemous for people to call themselves. If you call yourself the rock, obviously that's blasphemous because that's a name, that's a title given to our Lord, the one Lord we believe in, but there's a lot of terms. Obviously with the Catholics, the Catholics refer to people as Father, and the Bible says call no man father, and I don't have time to go into all those verses. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I want to show you a different one in the book of Psalms that is a blasphemous term, and let me tell you something. I grew up as a Protestant, and in the Protestant church, they call their leaders reverent. That's how they call them. Minister is kind of like a secondary term because we would call people either pastor, bishop, or elder are kind of the secondary terms, even though those are biblical terms, or even shepherd would be a secondary term, but pastor is kind of the main thing we call people, but any of those terms are fine. In the Protestant churches, at least in the United Methodist, they call their leaders reverent, and kind of the backup title is like minister, but notice what it says in Psalms 111, verse 9. Psalms 111, verse 9. He sent redemption onto his people. He hath commanded his covenant forever. Holy and reverend is his name, and so the Bible referring to the Lord says, holy and reverend is his name. Now you say, what does reverend mean? Reverend basically means worthy of being revered, okay? Revere is basically like a very strong respect, basically a worshipping sort of, not just like I respect my father, but basically you're worshipping someone, and so basically when you walk around and call yourself reverend, you're saying I'm worthy of being respected. It's like a very prideful thing to say, but you have to understand this term is one time in the Bible, and the only time it's in the Bible, it's in reference to God, and so for anyone to say, hey, I'm a reverend, that is a blasphemous title. Say why? Because the only time it's in the Bible, it's in reference to God. Now look, the Bible refers to Jesus as the bishop of our souls, but we can still be called bishop if you're an ordained pastor because that's a biblical term, but the word reverend is in the Bible only one time, and that's a reference to God, so it would be blasphemous to call anybody reverend. That is not a title anyone should have, and look, I grew up in church where they would call their leaders reverend, but that is not a biblical title for someone who's a leader. It's a blasphemous title, and notice what it says in verse number 10. Psalms 111 verse 10. Psalms 111 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments. His praise endureth forever, and the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and I'll be quite honest with you. I would be afraid to allow someone to call me reverend or a title that is basically not correct. I remember once I preached a sermon, and somebody kind of made a joke, and they said, oh, we'll start calling you reverend Stuckey, and it's like, no. I was like, that term's only given to God in the Bible. I was like, is that a bad joke? It's like, don't call me reverend. I mean, that's kind of like offensive. I'm not a Protestant, and I want you to understand, I don't call myself pastor either. Why? Because that's not a biblical term at this point. Now, one day that could be a biblical term, but if it's not biblical, then you shouldn't be called by it. Now, turn back to Psalms 18. Psalms 18. And so the first thing we saw tonight is just who is the rock according to the Bible. Recap, it's not a professional wrestler. It is not Peter. It's the Lord Almighty. But I want to also show you here in Psalms 18 where we talk about physical salvation here in Psalms 18, and this symbolizes spiritual salvation. Psalms 18, verse 3. Psalms 18, verse 3. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. Now, obviously in verse 3, when it says, so shall I be saved from mine enemies, it's referring to physical salvation. This is not referring to spiritual salvation. It's referring to physical salvation. But you have to understand, the physical actually helps us understand the spiritual. And notice what it says in verse 4, the sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Now, when it says he called upon the Lord and the sorrows of hell compassed him about, it says salvation or caligtasan. It's not saying this is the moment he spiritually received caligtasan. That's not what it's saying. But the physical explains and helps us understand the spiritual. And so that's why it says the sorrows of hell compassed me about. And look, when you're worried about dying, do you know what you're going to do? You're going to call out to God. You're going to ask for help. Save me. Look, if you were drowning in water, what would you say? You would say help. You would ask someone to help you or to save you, right? When it says here the sorrows of hell compassed him about, it says I called upon the Lord in verse 6. That's not saying that spiritually that's when he got saved. But we can understand spiritual salvation from this because when somebody truly believes that Jesus is their savior and that they need to be saved and that they cannot save themselves with good works, they can't save themselves with baptism or repentance of sins, if they truly believe that, do you know what is going to easily come out of their mouth? Please help me. Please save me. Whatever the words are, when you say, hey, do you mind if I lead you in a prayer and help you tell God you believe this and you want to be saved? If they really believe in their hearts, then they're going to say it. Quite honestly, they probably already said it inside their heart before you even say it if they really believe that, okay? Look, I believe a lot of people that we talk to, they've already asked Jesus to save us during the conversation. But if they really did that, then honestly, and they really believed and did that, they'd have no problem saying it vocally a minute later, okay? But sometimes when you're preaching the gospel, you get to the end and you try to pray with them. And if they're really understanding what you're saying but they don't believe it, they'll just say, well, you know, I'm not sure. Maybe later. And it's like, you know why? Is there something wrong? Did you not believe this? And then you find out, yeah, they didn't really believe it. That's what happens when they're refusing to pray. They just don't quite get it yet. And sometimes you need to spend more time. That's why the prayer is so important for us as soul owners. Now, I want you to notice something in Psalms 18. And we're kind of hitting a lot of different topics today because this is a long chapter. It covers a lot of different things. We saw who is the rock? You know, only the Lord should be referred to as the rock. And then we see the example of physical salvation symbolizes spiritual salvation. But the point number three, I want to talk to you for a while about natural disasters. Because we're basically at the one-year anniversary of one of the biggest natural disasters in what's called a natural disaster in American history. And it was actually pretty close to where I lived in Sacramento right before I moved. It was known as the biggest fire of the century. Now, the way they measure various things, because for example, Mount Pinatubo is known as the second biggest volcano of the 20th century. But it kind of depends on how you look at it. Because very few people died in Mount Pinatubo. I mean, it destroyed so much. Like, my wife's family was out of their home for like a year. Because if you were anywhere near Mount Pinatubo, it was going to destroy where you lived. And so basically, on various metrics, it was the second biggest volcano. But it kind of depends on what metrics you're looking at. When Mount Pinatubo hit, it cooled off the temperature of the earth by about a degree for a whole year. And the reason why a big volcano cools off the temperature of the earth is because it blocks the sun from heating the earth. So when Mount Pinatubo hit, it cooled off the temperature of the earth for a whole year by a degree. I think that degree is in Fahrenheit, so it's like half, basically half a degree Celsius. But it cooled off the earth because of that. Now, that would be known as a natural disaster, okay? But I want you to see here in verse number seven, verse number seven, Psalms 18. It says, Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed to heavens also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And the Bible speaks about the earth shaking and trembling. And you can think of an earthquake. It gives like poetic language to talk about natural disasters here. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. You can think of a volcano. You have to realize when it comes to a bona fide natural disaster, not only does God have the ability to stop these things from taking place, but quite honestly, sometimes he starts them, especially when you're looking at a big disaster. My personal opinion, and I can't prove this two plus two equals four because we don't necessarily know this, but I believe Mount Pinatubo happened because God was angry at the Catholicism in Pampanga. That is my opinion because of all the crucifixions, because it happened pretty much right after they were doing the crucifixions. That's when it started to rumble and wake up when you study that out. That's my personal opinion. That is what you call a natural disaster, and I would say an act of God. I would also say it's an act of God that he allowed most everybody to escape there without dying. But when it comes to the disaster that took place one year ago in the US, the Paradise Fire, I don't believe it's a natural disaster though, and I'll explain to you why. A natural disaster is something that happens basically by nature. It's completely natural. When you study what took place with the Paradise Fire, it wasn't a natural disaster. It was basically incompetence or stupidity, or more accurately, the love of money for why this took place. I'll read you a lot of information on the Paradise Fire. I know you guys don't live in California, but we're on the one year anniversary of one of the biggest, not really a natural disaster, known as a natural disaster in American history, and I want to read you a little bit of information about this. It says, in Tower 27-222 looms almost 100 feet tall in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a hunk of steel that is endured through 18 United States presidents. The transmission lines that it supports keep electricity flowing to much of California. On the morning of November 8th, a live wire broke free of its grip. November 8th, 2018. A power failure occurred in the line affecting a single customer, but 15 minutes later, a fire was observed nearby within hours. Flames engulfed the region, ultimately killing 85 and destroying the town of Paradise. Now, I have a lot of information to read here, but I want you to realize right off the bat, this was a power line. This wasn't just kind of like, in nature itself, this natural disaster occurred, okay? Now, I want you to understand that when this took place in California, even though we lived a long ways away from there, the smoke came so far that, quite honestly, you know, we went soul winning that Saturday after it took place, and all of us, you know, the next day we had sore throats, you know, we were coughing, and the smoke carries that fall. I mean, it was terrible, you know, when it took place. We had to cancel soul winning on one Saturday. Do you realize what it would take for Pastor Menes to cancel soul winning? And he canceled soul winning on a Saturday because, you know, basically the health advisory said it wasn't safe for people to be outside, and people were getting sick and everything like that, and it was looming around for a while because when a fire starts, it's very hard to put out. It kind of brings James 3 to light because when this was taking place, I was thinking of James 3, you know, the tongue starts a small fire, then you can't even put it out. And so it was quite a big disaster in California. Now, it says the equipment belonged to the states. Actually, when I came here to the Philippines, I was still a little bit conting masakit from the fire in California, just because from my lungs, you know, it was actually a lot cleaner in Ermita. It was a lot cleaner, it was Mas Molinas in Ermita, Kaisasi in California where I was because of all the smoke that was there. So it says the equipment belonged to the state's biggest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, or PG&E. This is basically the utility company for like everyone in that area. To the company's critics, the tower and its vulnerability reflect a broken safety culture. And so the big debate that took place was, was this the fall of PG&E? Were they to blame? Are they liable? Will they end up owing a lot of money? Will they go out of business due to what took place? Five of the 10 most destructive fires in California since 2015 have been linked to PG&E's electrical network. So since 2015, five out of the 10 biggest fires are due to this one utility company. And it says regulators have found that in many fires, PG&E violated state law or could have done more to make its equipment safer. And so it says that they violated state law, and we're going to read a little bit about that, but basically there are certain codes of how you have to do things and they did not follow the instructions. You say why? It's due to the love of money. Now, quite honestly, it's not just the love of money of PG&E though. If you trace this back, it's also the worldliness of the average person living in that area. Because what was taking place, and I'm not an expert on this, I've just talked to various people about this. And from what I understand, you know, people will basically lose their electricity. They wouldn't be able to watch TV for a few hours. And they'd get really mad. They'd call PG&E because they want to watch TV. They got to watch that episode of Sign for, I don't know, whatever's on TV now. But basically they get really upset. And so basically PG&E, because they dealt with this regularly, they basically didn't follow things to code so it would be less likely, this is a simplified version, it would be less likely they would lose power. But it makes it more likely that you have a massive fire as a result of this. So basically you have the worldliness of people that say, I can't be without my TV for a couple hours. And then you have a company that doesn't want to lose its money. Then it says, long before the failure suspected in the Paradise Fire, a company email had noted that some of PG&E structures in the area known for fierce winds were at risk of collapse. So they were warned about this. It reported corrosion of one tower so severe that it endangered crews trying to repair the tower. The company's own guidelines put tower 27, 222 a quarter century beyond its useful life, but the tower remained. So basically this was supposed to be replaced 25 years in the past. Look, when it comes to wires, you can't mess with this stuff. They get frayed. It can cause a disaster very quickly. And this was 25 years past. You say, why wouldn't they replace it? Money. They figured it would be okay, we don't want to lose money. In January the company saw bankruptcy protection saying it might face more than 30 billion dollars. 30 billion dollars. Realize this is one over one, about around 1.6 trillion pesos. That's a lot of money. 1.6 trillion pesos. That is quite a bit of money. 30 billion dollars in wildfire liabilities. Its financial straits could hamper its preparations for the next wildfire season and those beyond, even as weather patterns increase the fire risk. The state has not finished its investigation of the blaze known as the Camp Fire, which became California's deadliest ever. But the company said recently that its equipment was probably the cause. Look, when a company admits our equipment messed up, it's because they have to admit it. Otherwise they're just going to cover it up. Think about the sermon that we did in live stream where I talked about the big cover-up in this country. Look, the only way they'd admit this is if they have to. And utility experts were incredulous that PG&E had let tower 27-222 stand for so long. The company's critics say the utility could have easily obtained approval from state regulators to replace a tower and recover the cost from rate payers. Some people believe that you run equipment to failure. Catherine Sandoval, a former California regulator who has been pushing for improved maintenance of electrical poles and towers, they believe run to failure to save money. This is the danger of run to failure. Now, you run things to failure like, you know, a can opener. Basically you keep using them and it's like, oh, I can't open a can anymore. Okay, I gotta, you know, spend 80 pesos on a new can opener. You don't do that with power lines. I mean, that's retarded. And the reason why is, obviously, a can opener is a lot less expensive than replacing your power lines. It costs a lot of money and they just figured nothing's going to happen. I mean, isn't it kind of the same thing, the love of money is the root of all evil? Going back to the sermon I preached, well, you know, it's probably safe enough we can just, you know, whatever, and then all these kids die. And it's just like, you know, the love of money is the root of all evil. The Bible proves itself to be true. State officials also blamed PG&E equipment for starting 17 of 21 major fires in 2017 that ripped through Northern California, including wine growing, Napa, and Sonoma counties. So basically, you have a company that's kind of greedy. They want money and they had a monopoly on the business. They didn't take safe protocol on things and a lot of people end up dying. Now, like I said, this isn't really a natural disaster because it occurred really due to the love of money and greed. Now, I don't, obviously, God has the power to stop things or allow things to take place. My personal opinion is basically God allowed people's the love of money and the worldliness and sometimes, you know what, you reap what you sow. And you say, what's your point? My point is this, that in life, if your life gets screwed up, you can't blame God for it. I say, why? It's the love of money when you look at this case. But in our lives, you know, if we make poor choices, we do things for the wrong reasons, and our life gets screwed up, don't blame God at the end and say, well, this is just the path God led me down. No, it's basically, you know, your love of money or whatever the situation is. And so, you know, here in Psalms 18, turning back to Psalms 18, in Psalms 18, we are looking at bona fide natural disasters. I don't personally think the Paradise Fire was that. People can have different opinions, that's fine. But I want you to realize that when it does come to a real natural disaster, like, because we can't create a volcano like Mount Pinatubo that erupts. There's no question with that. You know, when it comes to the Paradise Fire, people could have different opinions of why it started, why did God allow it, and things such as that. But I want you to realize that if we do have this major earthquake or major volcano, and God allows a lot of people to die, then I think we could look at it and say, wow, God's judging us, okay. Now, in Psalms 18, verse 10, the Bible reads, it's just amazing how, you know, that verse where it says the love of money is the root of all evil, it's kind of like the first time you hear that verse. It's kind of like, it's really hard to understand that, because you're thinking of all evil, not just some evil, but then when you see things take place in life, you realize, man, it really does always come back to the love of money at the very root of things. And it says in verse 10, and he rode upon a cherub and did fly, yet he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomforted them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke. O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sinned from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. Now, let's look at our next point, and that isn't getting forgiveness from God. Getting forgiveness from God. And this chapter doesn't really have a set theme, so we're kind of kunting magulo tonight. You know, just kind of hitting high points along the way. But it says here in verse 19, it says, he brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. And see, what the Bible says here in verse 20 is the Lord rewarded the psalmist based on his righteousness. Because he was godly, basically God was merciful to him. And see, what you have to understand is you reap what you sow, whether it's good or bad. See, if you live a wicked life, you're going to reap what you sow. If you live a godly life, you're going to reap what you sow. No matter which direction you go, you will reap what you sow. It depends on what are you actually sowing? Okay, what are you actually doing in your life? Verse 21, for I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Now notice in these verses, he keeps talking about God being merciful to him, because he's obeying God's rules. He's not committing iniquities. You say, Brother Stuckey, isn't it enough if I'm a soul winner? Can't I just be like a soul winner and a little bit worldly, and God's going to be okay with me? Well, not according to the Bible. According to the Bible, you're going to be rewarded based on what you do. Look, I understand in the grand scheme of things, compared to the average Christian that's doing virtually nothing in this world, going soul winning just once a week, you're doing far more than the average person. Even if you hardly ever read the Bible, you're still doing far more than the average person, but that doesn't make you innocent because somebody else is really guilty. Look, I use this example when I go soul winning. I'll explain sometimes when I'm in Revelation 21 8, that I understand other people are a lot worse than you. Other people have committed adultery, all these different things, and you know maybe you're a pretty nice person, but you don't become innocent just because somebody else is more guilty than you. Look, if you murder one person, your defense can't be, well, so-and-so murdered 10 people. It's like, sure, I'm innocent. I mean, they murdered 10 people. I only murdered one person. That doesn't make you innocent. That makes you still guilty. You're still Mysala if you've murdered one person. You have to realize that in your life, if you have blood on your hands, if you have sin on your hands, if you have worldliness on your hands, it doesn't matter how much you go soul winning. You're still going to reap what you sow in that area, and I want you to understand that the good does not cancel out the bad, but you know the whole world thinks they're going to work their way to heaven, and they think, well, I've done 50 good things today and only one bad thing. Well, that means you have to pay for that one sin. The next day, I did 100 good things and one bad thing. Now you have another sin to pay for. You say, but I did 100 good things. That doesn't get rid of the bad. Look, if you're in a courtroom and you tell the judge as your defense, you know, when you've committed some sort of crime, that, you know, hey, this is the only crime I've ever committed. I've done a million good things. You know, I've helped, you know, little old ladies cross the streets. You know, I volunteered in the soup kitchen. You know, I volunteered at church. You know, that doesn't make you innocent. It doesn't matter how much good you have. You could literally be the greatest person in the entire world right here today, but if you commit murder, you're still guilty. It doesn't matter that you've done more good than anybody else in the world. And so you have to understand, you pay for what you do wrong, and even as a saved person, because we're never going to pay for our sins in hell as a saved person, but you're going to pay for your sins here on earth. And if you live a worldly life, you're going to pay for that. Verse 24, Therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands and his eyesight. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. With an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure. Now that sounds great. And with the froward, thou wilt show thyself froward. So I want you to understand, if you're merciful to other people, God's going to be merciful to you. See, if somebody at church does you wrong, and you just hold this grudge against them, and you're bitter, and you won't forgive them, well go ahead, but when you need forgiveness from God, don't expect him to be that merciful when you're not merciful to other people. So I want you to understand that when you're upright, you're pure, you're merciful, that's good because you want every single one of us from time to time is going to need that mercy from God, because we all make mistakes. Now notice what it says in verse 27, For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down high looks. High looks is an arrogant person that on their face, they're just super mayabang or suplato. And he says he's going to bring down high looks, it's a guarantee. For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. So let's move on to another point, and that is talking about the strength to battle, the strength to battle. And it says here in verse 29, For by thee I have run through a truth, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect, the word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the Lord, or who is a rock save our God? And so Catholics, who is a rock save our God? Not save our Peter. It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. And there's another verse in the Bible, actually turn to Psalms 144, Psalms 144. It's a pretty similar verse, Psalms 144. Psalms 144 in your Bible, Psalms 144. In verse number one, Psalms 144 verse one. In Psalms 144 verse one, the Bible reads, Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. So this is pretty similar to the verse we saw in Psalms 18 verse 34. Now I'll tell you this, that when it comes to people that are fighters, whether it's boxers or UFC fighters, the number one verse they have tattooed on their chest is Philippians 4-13. I can do all things through Christ with strength. It never says it in the King James. It says, what does it say? I can do, not in the King James, but the way they always write, it's like I can do all things through God who strengthens me or something. They change the wording from the King James. They always have that verse tattooed on their chest. And usually the people that do are like the worst people. They're like the people that are in and out of jail for various things. But we actually just read the second most common verse they have tattooed on themselves, and that's Psalms 144 verse one. Blessed be the Lord God my strength, the Lord my strength, who teach my hands to war and my fingers to fight. This is like the theme verse for a lot of UFC fighters and pro fighters and pro boxers, and it's like God teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight. It's like I really don't think that the context of that verse is God is giving you the ability to beat people up to make a million dollars for entertainment. Modern day gladiator games, but they tattoo that on their chest, and they say, well, look at this. God gave me the ability to beat somebody up. It's not really the context. So go back to Psalms 18, Psalms 18. Now here's what I do believe, though. I do believe that if you're someone who needs safety and protection and you're a godly person, that in that moment, even if you're not trained in fighting, if you have no ability, he can teach your hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by your arms. He can do what he needs to to help you to keep you safe. You know, the world is trusting in horses and Egypt and all these different methods for safety. As God's people, that's not the way we get our safety. Now, I'm not saying that it's bad to have any sort of training. I mean, it's good to prepare yourself for various things that take place in your life. But quite honestly, I would trust more in being a soul winner every week instead of saying, I got to just quit soul winning so I can practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I got to quit soul winning so I can practice boxing. Look, I'm not saying there's anything sinful about having that as a hobby, but if you're skipping out on things of God, there is something sinful for that. And look, we all have various hobbies we'd love to partake in. You know, I used to love working out and playing sports and doing things such as that, but quite honestly, you got to make your choices in life. And if you're skipping your Bible reading and just to train and be in shape, look, you know, you're much more likely to die at a young age than if you were just a soul winner who loved the Lord. That's what I believe. And we preached that before in the biblical health series, and it is a biblical concept. Verse 35, thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath hold me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. And so, gentleness is something that, you know, oftentimes we don't really think about. We talked about it recently in our series on the fruits of the Spirit. This coming week, we're going to be talking about meekness. We're going to be talking about meekness and violent psychopaths. Those are the two sermons. And so, I don't know if you could morph that into one sermon, the meek violent psychopath, probably not. But meekness is one sermon and the violent psychopath is the other. But meekness and gentleness are very similar in the Bible. They're often in the same verses. They're very closely related. And, you know, obviously we need to, at times, you know, we stand firm for what we believe, but we also need to be gentle at the right time as well. One great example is when it comes to new people that come to church. We've got a lot of visitors this last month and a half, people that have, people that got baptized this past Sunday, people that have been coming to our church. And, you know, I've been really impressed with people from our church bringing new people to church. It's great. It's exciting, you know, to be a part of a church where we're bringing new people. When we bring new people, though, one thing we need to remember is to be gentle with them, right? They don't know what new IFB is. They don't know what IFB is. They probably don't know what, you know, the B is, really. That's why we rush Being Baptist on Sunday. They don't know those things. They don't know about clothing standards. They don't know about any of that stuff. It's all brand new to them. It's hard for us sometimes, because we've been saved for different lengths of time. I got saved when I was 18, and sometimes it's hard for me to think back to what was really in my mind, you know, like, 17 years ago. But, you know, when I first got saved, there's a lot of stuff, you know, I didn't understand at all. An example of this is the first sermon I ever heard, really, on clothing standards, because I was looking online for various sermons to listen to, and the first sermon I ever heard from Jack Hyles was, Many Skirts in Light of the Bible. And I was like, you know, many skirts in light. And keep in mind, I was a college student where people are not dressing, you know, appropriately. And so I remember listening to that verse, and, you know, the shame of it was, because if I listen to that sermon now, because I haven't heard it since, you know, I was 19 years old, I'm sure I would agree with everything he said, but listening to it, he didn't really use a lot of Bible verses, so I kind of left thinking, you know, I don't know about that. But here's the thing. When you listen to a sermon like that, especially when you're in the world, you're in college, it's going to be tough to take that at first. It's going to take some time. Now, I've changed my stance on those things now, but that's been 17 years. When people first get saved, within the first year, I would expect if they stick around our church for a year, there's going to be times where they're basically kind of grumbling like, oh, I think Brother Stuckey was a little bit mean. He shouldn't have said that. That's just kind of the way it works. When people are kind of new at this, there's some stuff they're not really going to like. That's fine. That's just the way it is. We need to remember to be gentle. Why? Because we want to make them great. And I really believe that we can change people through the preaching of God's Word. I don't think we need to rely on internet preaching either to do that. I believe we can reach new people in this community that live here in Pasig or the surrounding areas, bring them to church, they'll get baptized, and they'll slowly grow and take steps. Here's the thing. We need to put in our effort to do this. Then they've got their free will of whether or not they're going to keep going or not. Because along the way, a lot of people do fade out. It is what it is. We've all known people like that. We need to put in our effort, but we need to remember to be gentle as we're trying to help them out. Verse 36, thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise, they are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength under the battle, thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Notice that these bad people are crying out to the Lord, and then God's just not answering them. You say, why? Because sometimes you can push God too far. I'm not going to go in great detail about this, because we're in the middle of that sermon series. We're going to go in great detail about this. But look, people can push God too far. Not even talking about reprobates, though. You think of King Saul, and he basically pushed God too far. He was a believer, and there was really no turning back for him. If he had gotten down on his knees and begged for forgiveness and said, hey, I'm not worthy to be the king. I just want to serve God. For example, let's say there was a pastor who really messed up in his life, but he really humbled himself, kind of like David with Nathan. Just hit his knees and say, you know what? I'm not worthy to be called pastor anymore. I screwed up, but I want to serve God. Yes, that person is going to reap what they sow in this life, but they could end up serving God and getting another hundred people saved in their life. Quite honestly, we see people in the Bible like that, because David serves God after he commits adultery. We see Samson in the Bible, who kind of went through good and bad spells and things such as that. But you can get back on your feet, and King Saul, he could have just humbled himself and still served God. Obviously, we're not talking about pastors here, but in the modern day, you know what? You don't have to be a pastor to serve God. That's kind of a big misunderstanding people have. I don't know necessarily misunderstanding, but it's kind of like people that are pastors oftentimes, especially here in the Philippines. It's like, well, if you're really right with God, you're going to be a pastor. So I guess that women can't be right with God. I mean, that doesn't make a lot of sense, right? I mean, you can serve God, and quite honestly, God has different roles for all of us. But anyways, going back to Psalms 18, it says in verse 42, Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of the heathen, a people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves onto me. The strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the people under me. He deliverth me from mine enemies, yea, thou lifteth me up above those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Now, it mentions here the violent man, and in the context, these are not just enemies of David. These are enemies of God as well. Sometimes in life, you have personal enemies, people that don't like you or rude you. It doesn't mean they're bad people. Here, David's referring to people that are not just his enemies but people that are enemies of God. They hate God. Notice how it says the violent man. One thing you're going to see when it comes to people that are reprobates or children of the devil, all of them would fit under being the violent man. I'm going to explain the difference. All of them are violent. They're all violent. They're all psychopaths. It doesn't mean that they're all violent psychopaths. They all have these things within them. They could do these things. An example I'm going to talk about on Sunday and show you in detail is Haman in the Bible. Haman is not a violent psychopath by the category of Cain, Balaam, and Korah. He was violent. He was a psychopath. But when you really look at him, he wouldn't really fit under the violent psychopath. What you see is he wants power. He wants control like Korah. And when necessary, he has no problem with doing violence to someone. So they'll misunderstand me from what I said on Sunday. I'm not saying only some of the reprobates are violent. No, they all have that within them. They will all do that if necessary. If it comes down to them losing a million dollars, if I have to kill someone to keep this million dollars, then they would have no problem doing it. Why? Because if that's all they care about, some money, they'll do whatever to protect it because they don't care about anyone. And so when it says violent men, every time you see these violent ones that they refer to as the ungodly, the reprobates, this is not just referring to one segment of reprobates. It's referring to all of them. I'll explain more on Sunday. I don't want to confuse you. I know I kind of covered a lot of stuff on Sunday. Verse 49, therefore will I give thanks unto the O Lord among the heathen and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king and showeth mercy to his anointed to David and to his seed forevermore. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be in your house this evening and ask you to help us apply these things to our lives, God. This is a great chapter in the word of God. So many important lessons here found in Psalms 18. Help us continue to love your word and continue to bless our church, God. Help us to grow here in our second year of Verity Baptist Church Manila. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.