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Good evening, let's take our seats this evening and turn to number 421. If we could please find the hymnal close by. Once you're in your seats, number 421, the first snow well. Hymn number 421, lift it up on that first verse, the first snow well. The angel did say number 421, sing it out on this first verse. Sing that second verse, we're going to have the ladies sing that second verse. Ladies, sing it out on the second. And the angel did sing it out on this first verse. And the angel did sing it out on this first verse. Sing that third verse. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, For is the King of Israel, Then entered in those wise men three Forever and plea upon their knees, And offered there in his presence Their old and poor and frankincense. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, For is the King of Israel. Father in heaven, thank you for the gathering of the church tonight. I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson and the singing worship to exalt and honor and glorify you, Father. And help us, your children, become better and better in the faith. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. And now let's turn to number 422. Number 422, thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown. Number 422, let's sing it out on that first verse. Number 422. Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown, When thou kingless to earth for me. But in Bethlehem's home was there plowed a room For thy holy name's unity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for thee. Heaven's arches ring with the angels sing, Rolling thee thy royal degree. But of lowly birth didst thou come to earth, And in grace humility. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for thee. The foxes countest and the birds their nests In the shade of the forest tree. But thy cows was the sod, O thou Son of God, In the deserts of Galilee. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for thee. Thou gaveth the Lord with the living Word, That should set thy people free. But with mocking storm in the ground, A thorn made for thee to calorine. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for thee. When the heavens shall ring and the angels sing, Hath thy coming to victory? Let thy voice call thee home, saying, Yet there is room, there is room at my side for thee. My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, When thou comest and callest for me. Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study. This week will be in Judges chapter two. Excuse me. And the so many times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. We've got the December birthdays and anniversaries across the page there, and the short little Bible memory passage just to round out the year, Deuteronomy 7, 9 through 10. On the back, congratulations to the tall couch family on the birth of Braylon Peter, born on Sunday, November 22nd, and please pray for Amy's speedy recovery. Christmas caroling is this Friday night, so you want to get here at five o'clock so we can get everybody organized, get everything planned. So be sure to be here by five, and then we'll break into teams of about 20 people each, at least like 20 people each, and then we'll send you out caroling from about 5.30 to 6.30, and then head back here for cookies and hot cocoa. So that's going to be a fun time this Friday night. And then the cookie bake-off is on Wednesday, December 23rd, so that's a couple hours before the Wednesday night service. And you can enter as many batches of cookies as you want. So we want a lot of people to make a lot of cookies so that we can have a lot of cookies to eat, right? And all adults will get to vote. So basically everyone receives a blue stone, a green stone, and a red stone, and there will be a jar next to each type of cookie, and then you just drop your vote into each one. And that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul-wedding for the past few days. Going back to December 3rd, Thursday. Anything from Thursday. Anything from this past Thursday. How about Friday? Anything from Friday. How about Saturday? Okay. Anything else from Saturday? What about... Oh, gotcha. Okay. What about today? Anything from today? Scott. All right. Three for the main group with brother Scott. We got two, one, three. Okay. All right. Anything else from today? One, two, three. Okay. All right. Anything else from today? All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul-wedding. And with that, let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. We're going to sing Angels We Have Heard on High. So you should find that insert in your hymnals there. If you don't have one, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will get to you with one. Let's sing it on the first verse. Angels We Have Heard on High. Angels We Have Heard on High. Sweetly singing o'er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains Gloria Gloria Gloria Gloria Gloria Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria Gloria In excelsis Deo Shepherds why this jubilee Why your joyous strains prolong What the gladsome tidings meet Which inspire your heavenly song Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing Come adore amended he Christ the Lord the newborn King Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Sing within a manger playing Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth Mary, Joseph, land your aid Sing with us our Savior's birth Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Amen, we're gonna sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Right behind that sheet Let's sing it out in the first verse God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy From God our heavenly Father A blessed angel came And unto certain shepherds Brought tidings of the same How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy Fear not then said the angel Let nothing you affright This day is born a Savior Above your virgin bride To free all those who trust in Him From Satan's power and might O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy The shepherds and those tidings We just left such in mind And left their flocks a-feeding In heaven's storm and wind And went to Bethlehem straightway The Son of God to find O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around And as the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Psalm 73 Book of Psalms 73 As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1 Psalm 73 starting in verse number 1 Follow along with Brother Raymond as he reads Psalm 73 in verse 1 the Bible reads Truly God is good to Israel Even as such as are of a clean heart But as for me, my feet were almost gone My steps had well nigh slipped For I was envious at the foolish When I saw the prosperity of the wicked For there are no bands in their death But their strength is firm They are not in trouble as other men Neither are they plagued like other men Therefore, pride can passeth them about as a chain Violence covers them as a garment Their eyes stand out with fatness They have more than heart could wish They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression They speak loftily They set their mouth against the heavens And their tongue walketh through the earth Therefore, his people return hither And waters of a full cup are wrung out to them And they say, How doth God know? And is there no knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly Who prosper in the world They increase in riches Verily I have cleansed my heart in vanity And washed my hands in innocency For all the day long have I been played And chastened every morning If I say, I will speak thus Behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children When I thought to know this It was too painful for me Until I went into the sanctuary of God Then understood I therein Surely thou didst set them in slippery places Thou castest them down into destruction How are they brought into desolation As in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors As a dream when one awaketh So, O Lord, when thou awakest Thou shalt despise their image Thus my heart was grieved And I was pricked in my reigns So foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Nevertheless, I am continually with thee Thou hast holden me by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel And afterward receive me to glory Whom have I in heaven but thee And there is none upon earth That I desire beside thee My flesh and my heart faileth But God is the strength of my heart And my portion forever For, lo, they that are far from thee Shall perish Thou hast destroyed all them that go Ahoring from thee But it is good for me to draw near to God I have put my trust in the Lord God That I may declare all thy works Father Charlie, will you pray for us? Lord, thank you for today Lord, please bless Pastor Anderson as he preaches the word to us Lord, open our ears and soften our hearts That we may grow and continue In Jesus' name, Amen Amen, Psalm 73 I want to preach tonight on the subject of envying the wicked Now I'm not starting up the Psalm series again Kind of seems that way since I just preached all the way up through Psalm 72 But I just really wanted to preach on this particular Psalm right now Because I feel like this is something that A lot of people need to hear from time to time Especially young people So the Bible says in Psalm 73 verse 1 Truly, God is good to Israel Even to such as are of a clean heart So the author here Who is Asaph You know, he's just telling us right away You know, he understands that He gets it That God is good and that God blesses Those that are of a clean heart But he's going to tell us a story About some bad thoughts that he had Or a wrong attitude that he had A bad phase that he went through He says in verse 2 But as for me My feet were almost gone My steps had well nigh slipped For I was envious at the foolish When I saw the prosperity of the wicked So he's talking about the fact that Even though now that he's writing the Psalm He realizes that God is good There was a time when he had this thought Of envying the foolish When he saw the prosperity of the wicked So what he's doing is He's looking around And looking at people that are without Christ They're not Christians They're not saved They don't love the Lord They're not following God And he's looking at them And saying you know what I think I'd like to have that life That they have over there And of course as the saying goes The grass is always greener On the other side of the fence So sometimes it's possible for this Kind of a foolish thought To enter into a Christian's mind Of looking at wicked people And thinking hey you know what Actually maybe I'd rather be Living like them Or maybe I'd rather be like unto them And especially this could be a thought That Christian young people could have You know it's possible It's very likely that Asaph Probably grew up in a God fearing home Or whatever So maybe he's never really even experienced That other side of life And so he's looking at it as an outsider Not actually having experience with it But just looking at what it looks like On the outside And thinking hey that looks pretty good Because I'm looking at the prosperity Of the wicked I'm looking at the wicked doing well Or seeming to flourish Seeming to thrive Now many people in this auditorium tonight They've actually lived a wicked lifestyle In the past And they're not looking at it and envying it Because they've been there And they know It's not what it's cracked up to be There's no joy there There's no real pleasure there It's just pain and suffering and sorrow It's not what it's cracked up to be But here's the thing For Christian young people You know they haven't experienced that They look at that And it could be tempting unto them You know and me personally I grew up in a Christian home You know I was born and raised An independent fundamental Baptist And so I've never had experience Being out there Drinking Partying Fornicating Taking drugs You know those are all things I've never done And I don't know what it's like To not go to church every single week I mean it's just That's just what I've always done my entire life Go to church Read my Bible You know we've just always been Christians You know the longest I've ever gone Without attending church Was like less than three weeks And it was due to sickness So this is just something that I've had my whole life So people like me That could grow up like me They could fall into this trap That Asaph was falling into Where they look at the wicked and think Hey maybe I'm missing out on something Or maybe the wicked are actually prospering He says I was envious at the foolish When I saw the prosperity of the wicked Envying means you want what they have You want to be like them For there are no bands in their death But their strength is firm They're not in trouble as other men Neither are they plagued like other men Therefore pride compasseth them about As a chain Violence covereth them as a garment He said I mean these people do a lot of bad stuff But yet their eyes stand out with fatness They have more than heart could wish So he's looking at the cars The clothes The houses And here's the thing That's how the world measures Prosperity And success You know he says Well I saw the prosperity of the wicked What's that prosperity? He saw Financial prosperity He saw The vehicle He saw the nice food The car And here's the thing When you look at that Don't be deceived by that Because there's a lot more to life than that Right It's not life More than meat It's not the body More than raiment And when you look at Financial prosperity Realize that that will never satisfy anyone It doesn't satisfy the people who have it And it won't satisfy you when you get it Because the Bible says He that loveth silver Should not be satisfied with silver And it's just human nature To want those things But what good are they To the owners thereof The Bible says Except just the beholding of them with their eyes You know eventually I don't care what kind of car you drive You drive it for a couple weeks It's just your car It's just transportation It's not going to feel that cool anymore As when you first got So you might as well get a sensible reliable vehicle That's easy to maintain Because at the end of the day That's what you want Is just to get from point A to point B And sure The car that's fancy Is going to be fun for a little while But you know what Have you ever noticed how pretty much Everything in life The newness eventually wears off And the only thing that's going to provide Lasting satisfaction Lasting satisfaction in life Is serving the Lord In His presence is fullness of joy In His right hand There are pleasures forevermore But the world's prosperity Looks great on the outside And especially children Because they don't really understand life yet They think Oh if I just have that And X and Y and Z I'll just be so happy It's going to be so great But here's the thing Those of us who've grown up And we've gotten X, Y, and Z We realize It's all vanity It's all vanity The Bible is right when it says Everything's vanity You know And it's our walk with God That actually means something in life And that's really the only thing That has ultimate meaning in our life Is our walk with God But Asaph is looking at The fact that they have more than heart could wish I mean these people are doing great They're healthy They have prosperity In verse 8 it says They're corrupt And speak wickedly concerning oppression They speak loftily They set their mouth against the heavens He's like Look I hear them blaspheming God They're blaspheming Jesus Christ Obviously I'm modernizing this Into the Christian era Because of the fact that that's where we live But you know He hears all them blaspheming And he says in verse 10 Or sorry verse 9 They set their mouth against the heavens And their tongue walketh through the earth Therefore his people return hither And waters of a full cup are rung out to them And they say How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the most high? Behold these are the ungodly Who prosper in the world They increase in riches Pfft Fairly I've cleansed my heart in vain And washed my hands in innocency For all the day long have I been plagued And chastened every morning So he's saying Look I'm going through all kinds of problems in my life I'm looking at these people They look healthy and rich They're blowing off their mouths They're blasphemous They're sinful Here I am I wake up every morning Sick to my stomach Or pain Or whatever the ailment That he was going through But he's saying Look I'm plagued all the day long I'm chastened every morning I wake up in the morning Feeling like garbage And I'm looking at these people You know on the Budweiser ad And they look like they're having a great time You know I'm looking at these worldly people over here And they seem to have Uh life by the tail And he says Man I've cleansed my heart in vain What's the point? Why am I even living the Christian life? I'm miserable they're doing great! But then in verse 15 he says If I say I will speak thus Behold I should offend against the generation of thy children Cause this is an adult Keep in mind this is an adult who's having these thoughts Asaph is having these thoughts as an adult And he's envying the wicked And thinking that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence But then when he thinks about what it would be like to actually voice these things out loud You know these things that are going on in his head He says that he doesn't You know he feels like that would offend the generation of the children And when I thought to know this it was too painful for me So he's saying look I don't want to start talking this way Cause I don't want the Christian kids to hear me think this And then they'll you know think Well maybe we should go out and just live a wicked life and a simple life So isn't it funny what he's saying He's like I don't want other people living a simple life I'm just thinking maybe for me I could have a good time Now stop and think about that That doesn't really make sense does it? But this is remember this is his foolish thinking He's talking about having these foolish thoughts When he's on the verge of being really backslidden And going off into sin So he's having this thought of like Man maybe I should just go out and do some of the partying And have a good time and see how the other side lives But then he's like Well I don't want kids to do that I don't want the young people to do that you know And that's kind of when he starts to think about it And get his head screwed on straight here Like wait a minute I don't want other people to live that way How can I live that way Because I live that way But notice what the solution is in verse 17 Because he says when I thought to know this It was too painful for me Verse 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God Then understood I therein And here's the thing The equivalent of that in our day would be church Because the sanctuary of God is talking about the tabernacle It's talking about the temple So it's the house of God in the Old Testament So he's basically saying then I went to church Then understood I therein Now this is one of the important functions That church performs in our lives Is that a lot of times we could drift a little bit spiritually And then going to church is like a reset button That kind of gets us back on track Gets our mind right Because we can start getting distracted With the cares of this world And just start getting busy with everything else Or maybe even just getting a bad attitude I can't even count how many times I was just depressed And down And then I came to church And then I just felt great And was happy Renewed Excited Or just getting a little back sledding And then come to church And boom You know It's like a reset button spiritually You're filled with the spirit You're ready to go You're ready to live for God And that's what we see with Asaph He's having these dumb ideas Then he goes to church And he understood therein Now here's what the idea is Let's say we look at worldly sinful people And let's say that they actually are having a good time Maybe they actually are having fun And enjoying life And they're healthy and prosperous What we need to understand though Is that the end thereof is going to be bad When you're blaspheming God When you're blowing off your mouth When you're hurting other people When you're doing sinful things Eventually the bill is going to come due Eventually you're going to have to pay the piper Eventually you're going to have to suffer the consequences Of what you're doing And so he says I understood their end Now let me say this though A lot of what you're seeing With the worldly people enjoying life And having a good time Is an illusion Because those that are in this room Who've lived a sinful worldly life in the past They could tell you Hey outwardly I seem fine I go home and I'm crying I'm scared I'm upset And the Bible says Even in laughter The heart is sorrowful And the end of that mirth is heaviness You know what heaviness means? Depression would be our modern word for that Being depressed Being sad Being miserable So just because you see You know Whatever the Instagram influencer You know Smiling and happy And look at me I'm glamorous I'm traveling the world How do you know that that person's not living a miserable life And look how many Hollywood types And rock and roll types End up committing suicide Even though outwardly Seems like they got it all going for them And they're so cool And they're so fun And they're so glamorous And they're traveling to Europe this week And Asia next week And they're on tour And everything's great The new album And then they kill themselves Why? Because those things aren't actually satisfying And a lot of people put on an outward show of happiness But it doesn't really mean That they have real joy in their heart You know I know that I have joy in my heart You know whether or not you have joy in your heart But when you look at someone from the outside As long as they can put on a pretty good facade But on the inside they're in a lot of pain And they're not satisfied And they don't like their life And the thing is Social media makes it especially easy To perpetrate an illusion And a lot of times people could envy people on Facebook And they Oh man You know I wish I had that marriage Or I wish I lived in that place Or I wish I had that job Or I wish I had that lifestyle You know what It's so fake On social media You don't even begin to compare your life To what you see on social media Because you know what Everybody puts their best foot forward on social media And by the way The couples that kind of lay it on The thickest on Facebook Are probably the couples with the most problems You know It's like Oh look at us We're so in love Every single day Everything's perfect You know It's like Come on Nothing's ever going to be that perfect What are you trying to hide The point is That don't look at what you see on Facebook And think it's reality Nothing's real That you see on social media Because you know That picture That pretty picture You didn't see the 57 bad pictures Before they got to the one That actually looked good They tilted that camera Every single possible angle Until they finally Were able to look decent For that camera You know All the homely pictures went in the trash And you know They got that perfect picture And then That was before all the filters And effects went on it And then it was even The apple was even further polished So the point is We don't want to believe We don't want to fall into the trap of just believing everything we see Like Oh look how happy these people are That's the fun life My life as a Christian is Look at that great life Folks it's a lie The Christian life is the best life that there is By far Now look Obviously we're going to heaven And unsaved people are going to hell But even just the Christian life itself Is filled with joy And it's a blessed life Okay And doing things God's way is a blessing You know what the Bible says The way of transgressors is hard The way of transgressors is hard You ever see people that say they live a hard life Oh man She looks like she's lived a hard life It doesn't mean she really read the Bible a lot And prayed a lot And she was real active in church She lived a hard life Living for No no Hard life equals Partying And why It takes its toll Because it's a destructive lifestyle And so He went in the sanctuary of God And understood therein So number one Don't be fooled by what you see Because it's not an illusion But let's just assume for a minute that it is real Because I'm sure there are Some people out there living a sinful life That actually are happy and having a good time Okay I'll grant you that They're having a good time They're living it up They're enjoying life But you know what you need to understand is their end You need to understand what the end thereof is going to be like The Bible says In verse number 18 Surely thou didst let them in slippery places Thou casteth them down into destruction How are they brought into desolation As in a moment And are utterly consumed with terrors As a dream when one awaketh So O Lord When thou awakest Thou shalt despise their image He's saying man These people are going to get destroyed And it's going to happen fast It's going to be just Boom They're just going to get nailed And he realizes this When he goes to the house of God Verse 21 Thus my heart was grieved And I was pricked in my reigns Verse 22 So foolish was I And ignorant I was as a beast before thee So he just realizes Man what an idiot I am How could I have envied these people for one second When I know that they're set in these slippery places They're going to crash and burn They're going to be wiped out They're going to be destroyed Even if they are enjoying it now It's not worth it Because of how it's going to end up Oh man Look at the people They're partying in their twenties Okay but you have to pay for those consequences later And so he says Man I was such an idiot How foolish I was I was as a beast before you He's just like I'm just like a big dumb animal Why would I think these stupid thoughts He says I was foolish Ignorant I was as a beast before thee Verse 23 Nevertheless I'm continually with thee Thou is holding me by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel And afterward receive me to glory Whom have I in heaven but thee And there's none upon earth that I desire beside thee My flesh and my heart filleth But God is the strength of my heart And my portion forever For lo they that are far from thee shall perish Thou has destroyed all them that go whoring from thee But it is good for me to draw near to God I've put my trust in the Lord That I may declare all thy works Now go to Psalm 37. It's kind of easy to remember these two Because 73 and 37 And they're both kind of about envying the wicked, right? Psalm 73, Psalm 37 Look at Psalm 37 verse 1 it says Fret not thyself because of evildoers Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity And look it's the same reason given in Psalm 73 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, right? I mean basically they're whatever is as grass And God is the lawnmower, right? And he's saying they're going to be cut down like grass And wither as the green herb Trust in the Lord and do good So shalt thou dwell in the land And verily thou shalt be fed Delight thyself also in the Lord And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Now look, isn't that what we all want? The desires of our heart If God says I will give you the desires of your heart What is it that you really want? Not just on the surface but deep down What is it that you really want? Well you know what God's saying? I'll give it to you I will give you what you want God will give you what you want You know the Bible says that God will give good things unto his children Just like a father gives good things unto his son You know if his son has bread he's not going to give him a stone If he has a fish he's not going to give him a serpent If he asks for an egg he's not going to give him a scorpion He knows to give good things unto his children And so God doesn't want to just kind of mess with you And just torment you and torture you Look, when it comes to what you really want deep down God has promised to give you the desires of your heart if you delight in him Now here's the thing The people out there that are living the worldly and sinful life That you stupidly would covet or envy Or look at that as somehow better than the Christian life They will not get the desires of their heart They're not going to find it They're going to keep searching They're going to keep looking They're going to keep trying They're never going to achieve this But yet the Christian is guaranteed to receive the desires of their heart If they delight in the Lord If you trust in the Lord and do good You're going to dwell in the land And you're going to be fed Isn't that what we all want? I mean look, we all want to live in peace We all want to have safety, security And we want to be fed We want to eat We want to have a secure dwelling place And we want the desires of our heart to be met And God says, hey, I'll take care of it You just got to trust me Now is God going to bring us through some pain along the way? Of course But life is filled with pain And pain makes us a better person Suffering, no pain, no gain Okay Think about people who go out and run marathons They don't do it because there's no pain involved If there was no pain involved Then running across the finish line would be meaningless The whole joy of making it across the finish line Is the pain that you've endured to get there Okay And so a life free from pain No one's going to experience that Obviously we're going to go through trials and tribulations The Christian life involves suffering It involves sorrow It involves mourning It involves bad times But in the end You come forth as gold In the end you receive the desires of your heart You win You prosper You succeed Look at the end of Job The guy who went through the worst misery But in the end Everything was perfect Everything was great He received everything And so the Bible says Delight thyself also in the Lord And he shall give thee the desires of thy heart Commit thy way unto the Lord Trust also in him And he shall bring it to pass He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light And thy judgment as the noonday Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth his Don't look at that guy Don't look at that wicked jerk that's prospering And doing well And everything's going great Don't even think about that guy Don't fret for him Don't think about that guy who prospers in his way Because the man who brings wicked devices to pass Verse 8 Cease from anger He's saying don't even get mad at that guy Don't even get angry and just worked up about that guy For sake wrath Cease from anger Fret not thyself and any wise to do evil For evildoers shall be cut off But those that wait upon the Lord They shall inherit the earth Look, here's what he's saying Don't fixate on wicked people There's two ways you could fixate on wicked people Number one, you could fixate on wicked people You could fixate on wicked people thinking Huh, maybe they have something that I could have You know, maybe they're enjoying life more than I am Maybe it's not so bad Maybe I could live that lifestyle a little bit You know, I'm saved, I'm a Christian You know, maybe I could go and live that life too He's saying, you're an idiot It's stupid It's brutish It's the thought of a beast Like, are you serious? That's what Asaph taught, right? But he's saying, look, don't fixate on the wicked to envy them and think, oh man, must be nice But also he's saying, don't fixate on the wicked to be angry at them and hate on them And look, I'm known as a hate preacher You know, I mean, that's the moniker that I've been given But here's the funny thing about that Here's the ironic thing about that Is that I have so little hate in my life Ironically You know, for being Mr. Hate Preacher Leader of a hate group, you know, certified and everything But the point is, like, do you really think that Mondays and Tuesdays I'm just sitting around just seething and just angry and just burning in my rage and wrath toward the sodomites of this world toward our wicked government toward the weirdos and perverts Now look, I get up behind the pulpit and I rip face on these things And you know what? All the emotion that you see is real When I do think about these people Man, that's how I feel And I'm enraged And I'm just super angry when I think about these things But here's the thing I don't sit around thinking about these things all day Because the Bible says whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report If there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things And so the majority of my life is spent on dwelling on positive things And here's the thing People who actually know me People who actually live with me My wife and my 11 children They know me to be a very joyful and positive person Rarely angry Rarely upset Rarely am I down or seething Now look Are there things that we should get mad at? Absolutely And you know what? Over and over again in the Bible we see righteous anger righteous indignation I'm for it I mean, does anyone doubt my anger and wrath and hate credentials? I've got them But you know what? I'm not going to sit there and go through life angry Because that's not what God wants me to do Because the Bible says anger resteth in the bosom of fools Now look, Jesus Christ got angry He got angry in the synagogue about the Pharisees trying to attack him for healing someone on the Sabbath day All the guys do is just stretch out his hand and it's healed and they think that's work or something And it says Jesus looked on them with anger I mean, Jesus got angry when they're selling things in the house of God and he made the whip and chased them out You know, God is angry with the wicked every day But here's the thing about that You know, the Bible says Make no friendship with an angry man Don't learn his ways Don't become an angry person Because have you ever known people that are just angry people? It's like Monday they're angry, Tuesday they're angry, Wednesday they're angry They're just constantly angry You know, that's a bad attribute If that's you, you need to change You need to get that attribute out of your life Now is there a time for anger? Is there a situation? Of course But you know what though? I'd rather spend the majority of my time meditating on righteous things, godly things, pure things, lovely things Look, do we have to deal with sin? Yeah, we have to deal with sin Do we have to deal with the wickedness of our world? We don't want to just stick our heads in the sand and just kind of hear no evil, see no evil and just pretend that everything's good and everything's fine Look, we need to confront these issues We need to confront the issue of the sodomites We need to confront the wickedness of our day the adultery and the drunkenness But here's the thing though We don't want to fixate on that We need to spend more time fixating on the right things the things of god Does everybody understand what I'm saying? We just don't need to fixate on the wicked period We should spend more of our lives meditating on the word of god enjoying our families thinking about good things being positive and then spend some time dealing with the negative as it comes up, as we need to We go to church and we deal with these things But you don't want to become obsessed with that Some people just get obsessed with the negativity and they're just so negative and it's just every day It's all they can talk about And you know what? There are people on Facebook like that It's just how many negative things they post every day It's just like everything's doom and gloom Doom, gloom, doom, gloom You know what? Eventually, you're not going to be able to handle that anymore Or the people around you aren't going to be able to handle that anymore That kind of negativity It's just, it can be too much You know, and look Do you see Jesus Christ get angry a couple times and really just go off? Yeah, but do you see Jesus just in a continual rage? Is the book of Matthew just this rage fest? And the book of Mark is just rage in chapter one Rage in chapter two Rage in... That's not really how Christ was, is it? There was a time for anger There was a time for some face-ripping preaching But then there were a lot of other times of just being a peaceful person and getting along and thinking about the nice things and the good things So don't fixate He's saying, look, don't fixate on the wicked to envy them Which is what a lot of people do They follow all the celebrities and they idolize them and want to be like them But then he's also saying Don't fixate on them Just be mad at them and hate them You know, you need to just Trust in the Lord Rest in him And cease from anger, forsake wrath Fret not thyself and any wise to do evil And why is it that we don't need to fixate on the wicked to idolize them And we don't need to fixate on the wicked To just be mad and angry at them all the time And hateful toward them all the time Because he says in verse nine For evildoers shall be cut off But those that wait upon the Lord They shall inherit the earth Verse 10 For yet a little while And the wicked shall not be And this is exactly what Asaph taught in chapter 73 And I love this next part Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place And it shall not be You know, whatever happened to that guy Whatever happened, you know, you say what You're trying to figure out what happened to them You know what, they got wiped out They got destroyed They crashed and burned Is what he's saying You're not gonna be able to find them But the meek Verse 11 Shall inherit the earth And shall delight themselves In the abundance of peace The wicked plotteth against the just And gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him For he seeth that his day is coming The wicked have drawn out the sword And have bent their bow To cast down the poor and needy And to slay such as be of upright conversation There's, it's like, well what are we gonna do? I mean, they're after us They've got the bow bent They've got the sword drawn They're out to get us They're out to destroy us Persecution of Christians Is coming What are we gonna do? And you know, I love what it says in verse 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart You know who they're gonna destroy It's not me It's not you You know who they're gonna destroy? Themselves And folks, this is a relevant message right now Because of the fact that right now There are a lot of wicked people Pulling a lot of wicked shenanigans And everybody right now is wondering Where is this going? You know, we look at everything that's happened in 2020 We're rolling into 2021 And we've got all of these things That concern us And that we're worried about And look, are there wicked people behind the scenes Plotting a new world order? Absolutely But guess what they're gonna do? Guess what that sword that they've got in their hand Is gonna do? They're gonna plunge it into themselves And you know what? At the end of the day I'm gonna be okay And you're gonna be okay Because we love the Lord And all things work together for good For them to love God We're gonna be blessed We're gonna be fine So that's why we don't need to fixate On the rulers of the darkness of this world Because they're ultimately gonna destroy themselves And we're gonna be great We're gonna be fine So I'm not, you know You know, some people might think I'm pessimistic About 2021 You know, going into 2019 I said it's gonna be the best year ever And it was the worst year ever Going into 2020 I was like okay That was a bad year This is gonna be the good one It was worse So now I'm going to 2021 Just like It's gonna be bad You know I'm trying a new approach You know I'm trying to use a little reverse psychology here So I'm going into 2021 With an attitude Just to kind of expect But here's the thing Some people are like Well that's pessimistic But here's the thing When I say 2021's gonna be bad I don't To me that's not a bad thing Because I don't care Because I'm like 2021's gonna be bad Let's do it Because I'm just ready for anything Because you know what I know that all things work together for good To them that love God So I'm not worried about it being bad I just kind of know it's gonna be bad And I'm just like It's gonna be bad You know I'm okay with it I'm at peace with it Okay Why? Because I know that Oh man these wicked people What are they gonna do You know what they're gonna do Their sword is gonna enter their own heart Just remember that Their sword will enter their own heart You know All the people that you're worried about You're worried about the bankers And George Soros And you're worried about Joe Biden And Kamala Harris And you're worried about Bill Gates And everybody else You know what Their sword's gonna do Their sword's gonna enter their own heart They're gonna wipe themselves out They're gonna destroy themselves They can't destroy me It's impossible I'm invincible You know Only God Is the one who controls my destiny No one else You know And here's the thing What can they do They can kill the body They can't kill the soul And they can't even kill my body Unless God allows it Unless God up in heaven says Alright It's time for Steven Anderson to go Then I'm not going anywhere Then I can't die until God decides that I'm ready to die So why would I worry about it? If that's what God decides Well you know Am I gonna argue with God? And so don't worry about these people They're gonna destroy themselves What a great verse Their sword shall enter into their own heart I mean That alone is worth the price of admission tonight At Faith Forward Baptist Church And their bows shall be broken A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked How about that? You know You young people You teenagers Oh look at that car Look at those clothes Hey The little that your mom and dad have that actually love the Lord Your parents are richer than they are Because the little that the righteous man has The little that your pastor has And your mom and dad have And other godly people in your lives have Grandparents or aunts and uncles that are living for God Friends You know The Christians of our church The little that they have That is better than the riches of many wicked Okay For the arms of the wicked shall be broken But the Lord upholdeth the righteous The Lord knoweth the days of the upright And their inheritance shall be forever They shall not be ashamed in the evil time In the days of famine they shall be satisfied Oh man what about the economic downturn I'm going to be satisfied You know I guarantee you one thing that's going to happen I will not starve to death And my family will not starve to death No matter what happens It will not happen It's impossible David said I've never seen the righteous forsaken I've never seen his seed begging bread The Bible said my God shall supply all your need According to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus I don't know how I'm going to die There are a multitude of ways I could die Starving is not one of them For me or my children Because God has promised to give us our daily bread And to feed us and take care of us Now sometimes we might have to be a little lean Sometimes it might be a vegetarian meal Or rice and beans or whatever Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches But you know what God is going to sustain us And the Bible says right here That in the days of famine It's not that we're just going to have enough food To just barely get by Hey in the days of famine We're going to be satisfied We're going to eat until we're stuffed We're going to be okay We're going to have enough I'm not worried about it You know I'm not stockpiling anything Because I know that in the days of famine I'm going to be satisfied You know you might not have toilet paper But you're going to be satisfied with food You're going to have enough food And toilet paper isn't a necessity It's a luxury, amen That's right He says in verse 20 But the wicked shall perish And the enemies of the Lord Shall be as the fat of lambs They shall consume into smoke They consume away Just sit like Think of fat like sizzling on the grill It's just gone That's what's going to happen to the wicked The wicked borroweth and payeth not again But the righteous showeth mercy and giveth Verse 22 For such as be blessed of him Shall inherit the earth And they that be cursed of him Shall be cut off The steps of a good man Are ordered by the Lord Now notice what the Bible does not say there Does the Bible say The steps of every single man Are ordered by the Lord Is that what it says? That's what the Calvinist thinks, right? Calvinists just kind of think Everything that's happening is God's will And God's in control Here's the thing The steps of a good man Are ordered by the Lord You know what? The steps of a bad man Are not necessarily ordered by the Lord So here's what you do in life You focus on being the good man You focus on being the good woman And then God will direct your path In all thy ways acknowledge him He shall direct thy paths If you want your steps to be ordered by the Lord And you don't want to just be kind of Going this way, that way I don't know what to do I don't know what to decide I don't know which way to go Hey, if you be a good man The steps of a good man Are ordered by the Lord And then you know what you do? You live a couple years of life And then you look backward And you say, wow Everything just fell into place It's like God was leading me Everything just worked out Even the bad things Ended up being good This bad thing I thought it was bad It actually helped me It was better It was a bonus Why? Because you're being a good man You know So you focus on serving the Lord And then you have that assurance Of knowing my steps are ordered Look What is that worth Just to know I'm on track I'm going somewhere God's got a plan for my life And I'm on it That's what it means To be a good man And God delights in our way The Bible says But no, he does not delight In everyone's way And no, everyone's steps Are not ordered by the Lord The steps of a good man Are ordered by the Lord Though he fall He shall not be utterly cast down For the Lord upholdeth him With his hand I've been young And now I'm old Yet have I been Yet have I not seen The righteous forsaken Nor his seed begging bread He's ever merciful And lendeth And his seed is blessed Depart from evil And do good And dwell forevermore For the Lord loveth judgment And forsaketh not his saints They're preserved forever But the seed of the wicked Shall be cut off The righteous shall inherit the land And dwell therein forever The mouth of the righteous Speaketh wisdom And his tongue talketh of judgment The law of his God Is in his heart None of his steps shall slide The wicked watcheth the righteous And seeketh to slay him The Lord will not leave him in his hand Nor condemn him when he's judged Don't worry about the enemies And the wicked people plotting against us Wait on the Lord And keep his way And he shall exalt thee To inherit the land When the wicked are cut off Thou shalt see it I've seen the wicked in great power And spreading himself Like a green bay tree Yet he passed away And lo, he was not Yeah, I sought him But he could not be found Mark the perfect man And behold the upright For the end of that man is peace Notice the end is peace But the transgressors Shall be destroyed together The end of the wicked Shall be cut off But the salvation of the righteous of the Lord He is their strength In the time of trouble And the Lord shall help them And deliver them He shall deliver them from the wicked And save them because they trust in him Now look folks, this is powerful stuff In Psalm 73 and Psalm 37 I mean, you should walk away from these two Psalms And look, remember these two Psalms They're easy to remember Because again, they're just You just invert the two numbers, right? You got 37, 73 This is your dynamic duo of chapters To tell you, hey, you want to go see what it's like Living like a worldly, sinful, wicked person Guess what? That's a stupid thing to think about And why don't you just trust the Lord I guarantee you That if you follow Christ Your life will turn out the way that you want it to turn out It might not turn out the way that you expect It might not turn out Maybe the way you would have chosen But in the end You will like the way it turns out You'll be glad You'll say, you know what? My life turned out perfect It turned out exactly the way I want it to turn out You would not trade I guarantee you Get to the end of the Christian life You wouldn't trade it for some skank Some whore Some whoremonger Some derelict You wouldn't trade with them You really think that That wicked people when they get old Are just like, man, I'm so glad I partied so hard when I was young You think they're just in the nursing home Just wishing that they would have partied a little more Is that what you think? Because they're not But you know what? People, when they get older, they're glad That they did right You know, look, where I'm at in life I'm glad for all the good things that I did All the righteous things I did And I regret all the bad things I did I don't just, man, I wish I would have partied more Man, why didn't I get into drinking? Why didn't I fornicate, you know? Why didn't I take some drugs? No one thinks that way It's stupid It makes no sense You're glad that you stayed clean and pure and did right And you know what? If you're sitting there as a teenager, a young person And you're just thinking Well, you know, that's what Pastor Anderson says What does he know? Let me tell you something You're a teenager You don't know anything about life Okay? I'm not trying to insult you or anything But it's just true I don't care how smart you are I was a smart teenager Okay? I didn't know anything about life Okay? But thankfully, I was smart enough To just trust the people who told me Don't fornicate Don't drink You know, I didn't understand everything about life But at least I just trusted in the Lord I just trusted what God was saying And I just said, you know, I gotta follow God's rules And obviously I wasn't perfect But at least I was able to stay on the right path Because I just trusted the Lord Because I didn't know very much about life But you know, I sure thought I knew a lot about life When I was 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 But you know what? I knew, looking back, I knew very little I'm, you know, here I am at age 39 Looking back at 20 years ago Just thinking, man, you knew nothing 20 years ago Compared to what you know now And I'm sure every older person in the room feels the same way Like, yeah, when I was a teenager, man, I didn't get it I didn't understand But every teenager thinks they get it So here's the successful teenager You know what they're gonna do? They're gonna trust the wisdom of the Word of God ultimately Trust the wisdom of their pastor That's telling them there's nothing out there worth experiencing In that bar or that strip club or that casino There is nothing in those places that's worth it Well, how do you know, Pastor Anderson? Did you try it? No, I don't have to try it, okay? Because I trusted the people who taught me that But there are plenty of other people in this room who have been in those places and experienced them And they can tell you from experience There's nothing there that's worth doing There's nothing there that's worth experiencing There's nothing there except pain and suffering and misery And it's foolish and it's wicked And there's no joy to be found there Okay, but look, I'm telling you, you've got to trust Pastor Anderson telling you that You've got to trust the Word of God telling you that You've got to trust your mom and dad telling you that Because I'm sure that if you're here with your parents I'm sure your mom and dad tell you these things, right? And if not, mom and dad, what are you doing? Because you know what? I shouldn't be the only person preaching to your kids You need to preach this to your kids You need to tell your kids Hey kids, there's nothing out there In that cesspool of sin and iniquity Called the casino or the bar or the strip club Or whatever, nightclub, whatever places that people go to indulge in sin You know, you need to trust your parents When they tell you that You need to trust your pastor, trust the Word of God Because you know what? Frankly, you as a teenager are not going to have the wisdom To fully grasp all these issues of life And understand why God's way is best Okay But that's why what Isn't it interesting that chapter 37 is all about How the wicked are doomed And the righteous are going to be super blessed What's the word that keeps coming up over and over? It's just like trust Trust me Trust the Lord Trust God Why? Because of the fact that they're, you know They say experience is the best teacher But you know with a lot of these things Someone else's experience is the best teacher Because you know You don't want to have to go learn everything yourself the hard way Eventually you Christian young people will know Someday you will know that everything I'm saying is true right now Someday you will know that Period Twenty years from now you will know But you'll either know it one of two ways You'll either know it because A, you listened to me You listened to your parents You listened to the Word of God And you actually lived a clean and godly life And went the Lord's way And you're blessed and prosperous And you see all these other people crashing and burning You see all these other people suffering You understand more about how life works You understand more about the Word of God And then you're like You know what? Pastor Anderson was right I'm glad I did things God's way And followed Psalm 73 and 37 Okay Or B You're going to be 20 years from now And you disregarded the sermon And you disregarded the warnings And you went out and screwed up your life And you went out and you had fun for a while Down at these wicked places And then you hit rock bottom And you felt the emptiness And the vanity And the worthlessness of it all And you'll get there And you've already done Permanent damage to your life Permanent damage to your body Permanent damage to relationships Permanent damage to your walk with God And then you're going to say You know what? Pastor Anderson was right I should have listened to him But you know what? You will eventually know That what I'm saying tonight is right So don't be an idiot that has to go Experience it for yourself I mean do you think I just have to Experience everything myself Like you know Well I just have to touch that electric fence Just to see I just want to step on a landmine myself Just to see You know I think I'm just going to Put my hand on that hot stove plate And just see what happens You know I'm just going to swallow that tide pod And just see what happens You know what I mean? I just I'm just going to eat that spoonful of cinnamon Myself and see if I die Do I just have to just test everything myself Experience everything myself You know No I'm going to learn from other people's mistakes So you know what No I don't have to try drugs Or try alcohol Or try all these illicit things Because I already know That it's not worth it How do you know that? Well you know what Because the Bible said so And you know what I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm trusting The people Who raised me And taught me The pastors that I had The parents that I had The word of God And And And so I don't have to learn everything the hard way You know it's an idiot Who has to go out and learn everything the hard way Instead of just listening to other people Right? Just listening to advice Just listen Listening to people who are older People who have made the mistakes Telling you Don't do it People who have done it right Telling you Do it right Don't do that But you're just like No no I think I'm just gonna just reinvent the wheel And just figure it all out myself Well you know what The problem with that is That when you're a Christian You're held to a higher standard by God And unto whom much is given of him Shall much be required And so some of the people in this room Who who lived a pretty wicked or sinful life in the past And now they're living for God You know part of the reason why they kind of You know They ended up okay Cause you might look at them now and say Hey they're okay Yeah but here's the thing That's cause a lot of them were doing that out of ignorance Right They weren't necessarily raised in a church Where it's all being just Put out there Shown to them Taught to them And you know It's very likely That you won't be here 20 years from now Saying Pastor Anderson was right Like I predicted Let's add option C Cause we've got option A Option B right How about option C You're up in heaven saying Pastor Anderson was right Because you died Right You think that that's possible Because you know I've seen Christian young people killed And you know what God Will chastise and chasten his children And if they get too bad He'll just He'll just do like he did to King Saul He'll just take you out And look I'm telling you You might think Well I'm gonna go out and sow my wild oats or whatever Yeah okay You might just get a disease That just never goes away You might just get infected with something That you have permanently Or God might just snap his fingers And put you in a car wreck Where you're just disfigured permanently You know And you know you're so prideful and proud About your pretty face You know God could mutilate your face In a moment It's called a car accident And you know how many car accidents happen every day In America It's a lot Okay He could just He could just mutilate Your pretty face Just like that If you're gonna be all proud And puffed up And that's all you care about Stupid carnal things You know And look I'm just telling you the truth I mean He that being often reproved Hardened at his neck Shall suddenly be destroyed And that without remedy You know You can ruin your life In ways where there's no fixing it I don't want that for your life I want you to You know what I want you to live a happy I want you to be as happy as I am I want you to have a happy life I want you to have joy in your life You know And I'm talking to the young people You know I want you young people To enjoy life Yeah I want you to serve God I want you to do great things for God But you know what I love you And I don't want to see you suffer either I don't want to see you Just in misery And pain And ruining your life I don't want that I don't want that for you It's not that your parents And your pastor It's not that we're just You know Out to spoil your fun And we're just these fuddy duddies And we're just sort of like ASAP Where you know We just don't want the kids Doing bad stuff You know It's like But we're thinking about it No my friend We want You To live A righteous life Yes for the kingdom of Christ But also for your own benefit Because we love you And we don't want to see you We don't want to peel you off the pavement either We don't want to go in the hospital And you know Change out your feeding tube Okay We don't want to have to see you You know Divorce for the fifth time And Paying a bunch of alimony And paying a bunch of child support And we don't want to see you married To an unbeliever And by the way Let me just throw this out there too You know Just because I'm kind of just Talking to the young people Let me explain some of you young people If you marry an unsaved person Here's the problem with marrying unsaved people Every single unsaved person has the potential To become a reprobate I mean How would you like to be You know And look Obviously lots of unsaved people Will go through their whole life Without ever becoming a reprobate It's obviously a minority of people that are reprobates But just keep in mind Any unsaved person has the potential To eventually become a reprobate And think about it Don't you think that unsaved people as life goes on Might kind of get worse and worse Without Christ They could get worse You know I mean that's probably one of the scariest things About marrying an unsaved person Is that they could Have the potential And even if it's Even if it's just a one in You know A one in fifty chance or something That's a scary thought Maybe it's a one in twenty chance Or one in fifty chance But I You know How would you like to be married To a reprobate That's That's horrible right But you know You're dating unsaved people You're playing with fire Oh God's going to protect me Hey God's going to protect you When you're When you're doing his will When you get outside the will of God It's a jungle out there You know Don't play with that You don't want to be married to a reprobate You know And you know what Forget reprobate You just don't even want to be married To an unsaved person anyway You know what You want Man you want to have a godly wife You know And so don't just be enamored By all the bimbos out there And just thinking about Only physical appearance Don't be an idiot That's like if you just bought a vehicle Based only on the appearance And you don't even think about the fact That this car only has two seats You know Or the Look at the back seat Look how tiny the back seat is Where are you going to go This is not a family vehicle Or the fact that every time you need to do Maintenance on it It costs a fortune Because you're driving some weird sports car Instead of a sensible car Right And look You girls You know You want to be married to a man Who's going to provide for you Right I mean Do you want a guy that's going to pay the bills Or what Or do you want him Just taking all the money And spending it on himself Do you think there are husbands out there Who spend all the money on themselves Okay Do you think there are wives out there Who blow all their husband's money And they get a hold of their credit card And they max it out on stupid vain things For themselves You know what That's called selfishness A husband who spends all the money on himself A wife who blows all the money on herself You know what I don't want to be married to a selfish person I don't want to be a selfish person You know what Marry a Christian That loves the Lord And you know what it means When somebody loves the Lord They're not going to be selfish Someone who loves the Lord is going to love you You want to have a husband that loves you You want to have a wife that loves you Someone who loves the Lord Trust the Lord Do not stupidly Envy the wicked Marry an unsaved person Live a worldly life It's garbage Marry a Christian Live a godly Christian life You will be much happier Let alone the fact That you're earning rewards in heaven You're blessed But even just on this earth You're going to be a lot happier Do not be fooled by the devil's lies My friend Trust what the word of God is saying Let's pray Let's have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much For this great psalm By Asaph Lord And sharing some of his feelings When he You know Admitted to having some stupid thoughts Lord And truth be told We've all had stupid thoughts like that We've probably all thought the same thing at some point That's why it's in the Bible Because we can relate to it But Lord Help us Like Asaph To go to church And hear sermons like this And get our thinking right And push that reset button And not be fooled into thinking that this world Has anything genuine to offer And in Jesus' name we pray Amen Let's grab our hymnals And let's turn them to number 423 Number 423 Joy to the world Number 423 Let's sing it out on that first verse Number 423 Joy to the world The Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare him room Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and nature sing Let heaven and heaven and nature sing Joy to the world The Savior reigns Let men their songs employ What fields and floods Cross hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow No more to pass the crown He comes to man His blessings flow Far as the curse is found Far as the curse is found Far as, far as, the curse is found He rules the world with truth and grace And makes additions prove The glories of his righteousness And wonders of his love And wonders of his love And wonders, and wonders of his love Remember to sing it tonight for Christmas Thanks for watching!