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Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? How you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? How you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Hey, how you doing? Pray for the Lord of Ireland, Pray for the Lord of all. Pray for the Lord of Ireland, Pray for the Lord of all. Pray for the Lord of all. Pray for the Lord of all. Hail Him who saved you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saved you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all. Wherever we live, wherever we try, All is your rest, your all. To give all majesty, As one can crown Him Lord of all. To give all majesty, As one can crown Him Lord of all. To give all majesty, As one can crown Him Lord of all. We'll join Thee in our last incentive, And crown Him Lord of all. We'll join Thee in our last incentive, And crown Him Lord of all. Let's go ahead and bow our heads in that word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity we have to gather here on this Wednesday night. We pray, Lord, that you please bless the singing and help us to be in tune to the music. We thank you for your word, fill our pastor with your spirit as he preaches and help us to receive what he would have for us tonight and have everything that's said and done tonight bring honor and glory to your son Jesus Christ, for it's in his name we pray, Amen. Back to 96. Hymn number 96, God Leads Us Along, number 96. Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood, Some through the great sorrow that gives us all, In the night season and all the day long, Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet, At least we're children of God. Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood, Some through the great sorrow that gives us all, In the night season and all the day long, Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet, At least we're children of God. Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood, Some through the great sorrow that gives us all, In the night season and all the day long, Sometimes we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet, At least we're children of God. Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the flood, Sometimes we'll have heard the sound of the quiet, At least we'll have heard the sounds of the quiet, At least we'll have heard the sounds of the definite, But we'll always be the voice of depression and brain arrest, And tears of sorrow that gives us all, In the night season and all the day long, The wink of the gyre of fate for the plain, If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one on the inside. We have our service time Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at six, Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study and tonight we will be in Ezekiel chapter 27. We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms. And then across the page is the congratulations for the Serret family on baby Penelope Joy born Thursday, February 10th at 4 44 PM. And so be sure to congratulate them. We've got the soul winning day trip planned for the U.S. side of Nogales tomorrow, leaving here at seven a.m. and getting back by 11 at night, including a stop off at the Tucson Church Service. And then below that, the weekly singing class has temporarily been postponed and will resume on Sunday, March 6th. And then on the back, we got the movie night down in Tucson on Friday, March 4th at seven p.m. They're watching being Baptist and then a missions trip to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands on May 15th or 21st. We could go to Raymond for more details. Keep praying for those pregnant ladies, and that's about it for announcements. So let's go and count up the soul winning for the past few days. So we said we had four for the church van today. I'm going to put that down. But going back to Monday, all right. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Anything else from Monday? And then how about Tuesday? Okay. And then anything from today outside of the four in the church van? Is that a one? All right. Anything else from today? All right. Very good. Keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. We're going to sing our next song, books to him, number 260. 260, he is able to deliver the number 260. Begins, tis the grandest theme through the ages rung, number 260 on his first verse all together now. He is the grandest thing for me to see, He is the grandest thing for all of us. He is the grandest thing that the world can see. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less, Our God is able to deliver thee. He is the grandest thing that the earth can see, He is the grandest thing for all of us. He is the grandest thing that the world can see, Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less, Our God is able to deliver thee. He is the grandest thing that the tide can see, He is able to deliver thee. Our God is able to deliver thee. Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less, Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Oh, what sin of Christ goes to him for less, Our God is able to deliver thee. Amen. Up to him, number 406. Who is on the Lord's side? Number 406. Who will serve the King? Number 406. Let's sing it out on this first verse all together now. Who reigns on the Lord's side? Who will serve that King? Who will feed his helpers other than to fear? Who will lead the world's eye? Who will face the throne? Who is on the Lord's side? Who forgive the poor? I, my God, have mercy. I, my grace, divine. We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are thine. From the way of glory die for foul and wrong. Enter me the army praise the Lord your Son. But for love I claim and rise for him be thine. He who teaches me him must be on his side. I, my God, have mercy. I, my grace, divine. We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are thine. Jesus, thou hast bought us. God with old fortune. God with mine own blind blood. Lord, I die again. With thy blessing fill me. Each who comes to me. Thou hast made us guilty. Thou hast made us free. I, my grace, divine. I, my grace, divine. We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are thine. We are on the Lord's side. I, my grace, divine. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. We are on the Lord's side. Savior, we are thine. All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 27. Ezekiel chapter 27, as we always do, read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Hester as he reads Ezekiel 27, starting in verse number 1. Ezekiel chapter 27, the Bible reads, The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Now thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus, and say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situated at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles. Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy shipboards of fir trees of cenar. They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make mass for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars. The company of the Asherites have made thy benches of ivory brought out of the isles of Kidom. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail. Blue and purple from the isles of Elisha was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidane and Arvid were thy mariners. Thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebel and the wise men thereof were in thee thy cockers. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army. Thy men of war, they hang the shield and helmet in thee. They set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvid with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gamadims were in thy towers. They hang their shields upon thy walls round about. They have made thy beauty perfect. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches with silver, iron, tin, and lead. They traded in thy fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants. They traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. The men of Dedan were thy merchants. Many isles were the merchandise of thine hand. They brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making. They occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants. They traded in thy market wheat of minnith and panag and honey and oil and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making for the multitude of all riches in the wine of Helben and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs bright iron, cassia, and calamus were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia and all the princes of Keter, they occupied with thee in lambs and rams and goats, and these were they thy merchants. The merchants of Sheba and Ramah, they were thy merchants. They occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones and gold. Haran and Canna and Eden and the merchants of Sheba, Asher, and Kilmid were thy merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou was replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters. The east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and thy men of war that are in thee, and all thy company which is in the midst of these shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots, and all that handle thee o'er, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, and they shall stand upon the land, and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads. They shall wallow themselves in the ashes, and they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing, and in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou fillet'st many people, thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise, and all thy company in the midst of these shall fall. All the inhabitants of the isle shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid. They shall be troubled in their countenance. The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee. Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. Dear Father, heaven, please fill the path through your spirit, and just all ears to hear. Receive wisdom from the servant in this night. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Tonight we are finish, or not finishing, but continuing this trilogy of chapters talking about the judgment upon Tyre. And it started in chapter 26. Last week we went over that basic part. And then it's going to culminate in chapter 28. And chapter 28 is one of the most interesting chapters in the book of Ezekiel. And it has to do with Satan. And so we'll be talking about that next week. So we're still sort of building up to that. But just to remind you, Tyre is this city. It's often associated with Zidon. You'll often hear it in one breath in the Bible. Tyre and Zidon. And these are two cities on the coast just north of Israel. So north of the tribe of Dan. And these are cities of the Phoenicians. And so they're a seafaring people. And God is talking about how their destruction is going to come upon them. Because they took the opportunity to kick Judah while they were down. And kick Jerusalem while they were down. God's going to bring judgment upon them as well. So it says in verse number 1 of chapter 27, The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Now thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus. And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many miles. Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. So we see that the downfall of Tyre is being prideful and arrogant because of her wealth and because of her beauty. And this is going to play into the same thing that we're going to see in chapter 28 about Satan being lifted up because of his beauty. Because in chapter 28, the Lord is going to compare the king of Tyre unto the devil himself, Satan, who was in the Garden of Eden, tempting Eve and all that. Very interesting. But here we see that the downfall is being lifted up and saying, I am of perfect beauty. That's a lesson to anyone today who would become prideful or full of themselves or vain because they happen to be blessed with beauty or handsomeness in men or beauty in women. This is not something to become prideful or arrogant about. It's really meaningless. Okay. The Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. Vain means it's empty. It doesn't matter. It's meaningless. And so thinking that you're so great because you're beautiful or maybe looking down on other people who are a little bit homely in this world's eyes is a wicked attitude that God is rebuking in this chapter. We don't want to get caught up in our appearances. Far too many young ladies are spending too many hours primping and preening and worrying about their appearance when really what's inside is what matters the most. Are you spending as much time on what's inside as you're spending on the outside? Because that's what's really important. If you spend that time reading your Bible and praying and studying to show yourself to be approved unto God, that's a lot more important than the way you look. And I'm not saying not to take care of the way that you look, but don't let that be the emphasis. Don't let that be who you are. The Bible says in the New Testament that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel, not embroidered hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but as professeth women professing godliness with good works. And so the modest apparel there, often we would use that scripture to say, hey, dress modestly so therefore don't have the low-cut tops and the short skirts and things like that. But that's not really the primary meaning of modest there. The primary meaning of modest there has to do with not being too fancy. Now obviously showing all this flesh is not what God wants you to do either. That's also immodest because whether you're wearing flashy expensive clothing or whether you're dressing promiscuously, you are still drawing attention to yourself. You're saying, hey, look at me with your appearance, which is immodest. Because modesty is when you don't brag or you don't boast or you don't show off. And wearing fancy clothes and having a fancy hairdo and all these expensive things is just a way to show off. Hey, everybody, look at me just drawing attention to yourself, lifting up and exalting yourself. We need to be humble and meek and unselfish people that are not wrapped up in ourselves. And you know, if you think about it, spending a lot of time on your appearance is really kind of a selfish activity where you're kind of just in the mirror looking at yourself, focusing on yourself, working on yourself, get more of a focus on other people and quit worrying so much about your appearance because it's vain. It doesn't really matter. And by the way, let's say you are one who is young and beautiful. Guess what? You're not always going to look that way. You know, the older that you get, your beauty will fade. Now, you know, you may age really well. I hope you age really well. But let's face it. Eventually, there's going to come a time when you're just not as beautiful as you once were. Now, think about how sad your life would be if it's wrapped up in something that's always declining. I mean, think about that. If your life is just wrapped up in your appearance, you know, that's going to get sad for you when your appearance starts to fade. But if your life is wrapped up in serving God, you know what? You can do that all the way to the end. You can still love God and commune with God and serve God. And you could actually keep abounding in that and growing in that. Think about how sad it would be if your life was just wrapped up in sports and it's a sport where people peak when they're 25 or when they're 30 or something. Okay, what about when you're in your 30s and 40s and 50s? What are you going to live for? You better find something else that's worth living for than vain, empty things about just, you know, appearance or sports. And again, I'm not against looking good. I'm not against playing sports, but these things ought not be the focus of our lives. They should be side things and the Lord should be number one and other more serious pursuits of life. Our job, our family, things like that should take precedence to these kind of vain, empty things that people get so caught up in. And really, if you read this whole chapter, which we just did before the sermon, oh, I'm of perfect beauty. And then we go through all this merchandise and it talks about all the fancy things that they have from so many places, right? And it explains where everything comes from. Like, for example, in verse six, it says, of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars. The company of the Asherites have made thy benches of ivory brought out of the isles of Kitim. Fine linen with broidered work. Oh, and it's from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to thy sail, blue and purple from the isles of Elisha. So notice all these place names where things are from. Basically, it's sort of like the Italian suit and the Cuban cigar and the champagne from France. You know, it's just importing the German automobile and, you know, bringing in the Swedish furniture from Ikea. No, I'm just kidding. That's not it. That's not a thing. But anyway, you know, just having all these fancy things from all these fancy places and remember, what's Chapter 28 going to be all about? It's going to be all about Satan. And let me tell you something. The reason why the subject of Satan comes up in Chapter 28 is because what we see in Chapter 27 with all the emphasis on physical beauty, fancy things, fancy furniture, fancy clothes, import this from there, import that from there, the best that the world has to offer, lifestyles of the rich and famous, because guess what? That is exactly what the devil wants you to spend your life on. The devil wants you to become obsessed with this kind of stuff. He wants your life to be all about getting that certain vehicle, that certain clothing, getting that certain jewelry, and just having nice things and expensive things. And let me just remind you that the love of money is the root of all evil. So if the love of money is the root of all evil, it shouldn't really surprise us that this chapter here that's all about merchants and merchandise and buying and selling things from all over the world and the blues and the purples and the fancy things from everywhere around the globe leads into a discussion about Satan. Because of the pride and arrogance behind that kind of conspicuous consumption of goods. And I guarantee you that there are young people right now who are growing up, they're teenagers and maybe younger or maybe into their 20s, I guarantee you there are young people growing up and they sit around and they just fantasize about all the things they're going to buy someday. And they're fantasizing about the mansions and the vehicles and the clothing and the accessories and all these different things. But let me tell you something, that mentality can lead you down a dark path. Because the love of money is the root of all evil. So don't get that mentality. Don't become materialistic where it's just all about desiring all of these goods. This is what Tyre was all about. Tyre is not a place that's known for worshiping the Lord. It's not a place that's known for spiritual greatness. No, it's a place that's known for importing fancy stuff from all over the world and man do they look good. What good does that do them in the day that the Lord visits them. It doesn't do them any good at all and they get punished. And so that's the idea here with all this merchandise that's being listed. So at the end of verse 3, O Tyre, as thou said of perfect beauty, says thy borders are in the midst of the seas. Now what does that mean? That's saying that the border of Tyre isn't just up to the water but that they dominate the seas themselves. So if you were drawing the borders of Tyre, you'd include a big section of water that Tyre dominates this region or this area. Today we have international waters and sometimes you'll see maps where a country, there will be a little line showing like well this part of the water belongs to this country and you can kind of see where it stops being the United States because it's not like if I go to the beach in California and I swim out a few hundred feet it's like I'm not in America anymore. I'm still in the United States, right? But if I go far enough out then now I'm in international waters. So the Bible's just saying that Tyre has a dominance in the sea where their border is way out in the middle of the sea because they control all that as part of their territory even though it's water. Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They've made all thy shipboards of fir trees and then this is where we get into this from this place and that from that place and all the embroidered things and not only do they have fancy items and goods from all over the world but they've also imported people from all over the world. So it says in verse number 9 the ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia and of Lud and of Futt were in thine army thy men of war. They hanged the shield and helmet in thee. They set forth thy comeliness the men of Arvad with thine army. So now it's going through a list of people, these people from this place, basically the experts, the people who are the best at everything from every place have come and they've imported all the best labor. So they've got all the experts and specialists from different parts of the world. So this is a very cosmopolitan city. It's a world renowned city that attracts some of the best talent from all over the world. I mean they've got it together. Right? But you know when you read this it really reminds us of the United States of America. Right? I mean we import all the fancy stuff from all over the world. We import all the food and drink. We import all the furnishings and the clothing from all over the world. I guarantee you there's not a country in this world that isn't exporting stuff to a lot of places where a lot of it isn't ending up in the United States. I guarantee you we're the recipient of the most exports from other countries. We are just like Tyre in so many ways. Now as we're reading this chapter and when we get to the end of the chapter your mind probably, if you've read the book of Revelation a lot, your mind probably went to Revelation 18 because Revelation 18 is very similar to the end of this passage if you're familiar with that great Babylon chapter in Revelation 18. Because look what the Bible says if you want to jump down to verse number 29. It says, and all that handled the ore, the mariners and all the pilots of the sea shall come down from their ships. They shall stand upon the land and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly and they shall cast up dust upon their heads. They shall wallow themselves in the ashes. So exactly like in Revelation 18 all of the seafaring men are going to be standing on the shore weeping and wailing at the destruction of Tyre. And they're going to be putting dust on their heads and wallowing in the ashes. It says in verse 31 they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee and gird them with sackcloth and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing and in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee. And this is where it starts to sound exactly like Revelation 18. Saying, what city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? What does it say in Revelation 18? What city is like great Babylon? Babylon the great is fallen. And then it says, when thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou fillet'st many people, thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. Now keep your finger there and go to Revelation 18. And I want to just show you how striking the similarity is. Obviously Revelation 18 is echoing what we find here in Ezekiel 27. So it says in Revelation chapter 18 verse number, let's start in verse number 8. It says therefore shall her plagues be in one day, death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and live deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for the fear of her torment. So just like in chapter 27 of Ezekiel, they're standing off to the side on the shore, they're lamenting, they're wailing and saying, alas, alas, that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore. So just as Tyre is the one who is a merchant, lots of merchandise, lots of things coming in, Babylon in chapter 18 of Revelation is the same way. Keep your finger in Revelation 18, go back to Ezekiel 27. It says when thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou fillest many people, thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. Just like in Revelation 18, it mentioned the kings of the earth lamenting because of the riches and so forth. And it says in the time when thou shalt be broken by the sea in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise, again mentioned, and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall and all the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee and their kings shall be sore afraid. They shall be troubled in their countenance. Go back to Revelation 18. And in Revelation 18, it says that when Babylon is destroyed, they will weep because no man buyeth their merchandise anymore. And then it goes through this litany of merchandise, the merchandise of gold, verse 12, and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all thine wood and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood and of brass and iron marble. You know, this reads just like the long list in Ezekiel 27. Now in Ezekiel 27, the list is longer of items, but it's the same type of luxury goods that we see here because these items that are listed here, they're not just merchandise, but they're expensive merchandise, fancy things that rich people would have, just like the stuff that was explained in chapter 27 of Ezekiel, except just without all the place names of where it came from. It's abbreviated here. Verse 13, and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and souls of men and the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, right? And this is what I was talking about, covetousness, lusting after things that you don't have or can't afford, fantasizing about the fancy house and the fancy cars and the fancy clothes, coveting those things. The Bible says thou shalt not covet, lusting after these things and thinking about these things. It says in verse 14, the fruits that thy soul lust after are departed from thee. So if you live your life the way Satan wants you to live your life, where your God is mammon, your God is money, your God is fancy things, fancy clothes, expensive stuff, wining and dining, you know, if you live your life that way, you're not going to succeed. Those things will be taken away from you. You're going to lose those things someday. Even if you ever achieve them in the first place, they don't last. They're temporary. They're here today, gone tomorrow. And so here when God judges, he says the fruits that thy soul lust after are departed from thee and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all, and so on and so forth. Verse 17, for in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every ship master and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade by the sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, and tell me if this sounds like Ezekiel 27, what city is like under this great city? So I mean there are some exact parallels here. A lot of the same merchandise, the same type of merchandise, the same standing afar off and throwing dirt and ashes. What city is like this city? Some of it's worded almost exactly the same. What do we make of this? What we make of this is that there's not just one place like this. It's not just Tyre. It's not just Babylon. It's also New York. It's also Los Angeles. It's also Paris or Berlin. Any city can be like Tyre or like Babylon in the sense that they're just full of themselves, arrogant by reason of their wealth and costliness and fancy architecture and where the people live their lives not thinking about spiritual things but thinking about money and clothes and jewelry and their image and the car and all of these carnal worldly type things. We as Christians need to be content with such things as we have. You need to be happy living a modest life. I'm not saying to live in poverty. I'm not saying to live in unsanitary conditions or cramped spaces or anything like that. But you know what? You should live a modest life meaning that nothing you ever buy should be about impressing other people. If you're buying a certain vehicle because you want other people to look at that and think that you're cool or think how great you are or just to show everybody, hey guys, look what I can afford. Look how successful I am at my job. I can afford this ride. Look at the clothes I can wear. What is the point of wearing suits that cost thousands of dollars? What's the point of wearing a dress that costs thousands of dollars? You can look good in just a normal priced outfit. And by the way, if you're ugly, it doesn't matter what you wear, you're still going to be ugly. Let's just be real for a second. If you're ugly, you're ugly. And clothes aren't going to fix it. And someone who's good looking, you can put them in a bad outfit, they're still going to look good. You know what I mean? If you put a beautiful woman or a handsome man in poor clothing, they're still going to be good looking. And ugly people are still going to be ugly and beautiful people are still going to be beautiful. Let me just explain that real quick for those of you who don't understand that. But you say, well what are you trying to say about ugly people? Here's the thing, is that number one, looks aren't what's important anyway. So let's say you haven't really been blessed with good looks and you're not exactly the one that people would say, wow he's such a handsome man or oh what a beautiful lady. You know what, who cares? Because that's not what life's about. Your life is about your character and who you are on the inside and what you do for God. It's about your soul and your spirit, not your physical body. And you know what, those that are super beautiful naturally, guess what, it's only temporary anyway. It's not going to last. And so, by the way, don't be so foolish as to pick your spouse based on looks. You know, don't be a guy that just will only think about dating the most beautiful girls. Because you know what? You are making a big mistake if that's what you emphasize. You ought to be looking for quality on the inside. That's what the Bible teaches. You know, the verse favors deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman in the spirit of the Lord, she shall be praised, is a mother giving advice to her son about what kind of woman he needs to look for in a wife. Okay? And you know, in fact, let's compare a wife to a car for a second. Right? You know, there are some cars that look pretty cool going down the road, but they're not necessarily the most practical vehicle. Have you ever ridden in the back seat of one of these sports cars? You know, you're all jammed in, you're all uncomfortable. They're not built for comfort. They're built for two people. Well, let me tell you something. There are some wives out there that are built for two people. You know, meaning that they're not necessarily going to be a great mother. They're not necessarily going to do well to raise your family. I mean, think about it. Your wife is raising your kids while you're at work. Do you really want to have a wife that is just going to fail in that area or you want to have a wife that's going to have some character and she's actually going to be a good influence on the children and teach the children and care for the children or you want a wife that's just going to kind of just stick them in front of a video game or stick them in front of a TV and just kind of abandon them somewhere so that she can go get her, you know, manicure and facial and pedicure and just spend hours and hours at the salon while they're dropped off at day care. You know, she drops the kids off at day care so she can go have her salon day and pilates and whatever. Well, here's the thing about that is that you want a more practical wife than that. Just like you want a practical vehicle. You know, these fancy sports cars, what happens when something breaks? It's expensive to fix it, right? You know, when something broke on my Hyundai Sonata, it was like a $7.00 part or something and it was easy to fix. But when something breaks on your Lamborghini, it might not be that simple when something breaks on your German import or whatever. Now, my wife is a German import, okay, but that's another story. But she's low maintenance, amen? You know, you don't want to emphasize the wrong things because eventually you're going to have to drive that car to work. You're going to have to drive that car across country. You're going to drive that car places and you're going to want it to be practical. You're going to think about the gas mileage. Oh, this car is so cool. It's not going to be cool when you go to gas the thing up. It's not going to be cool when you need to fix something. It's not going to be cool when you want to put people in the back seat. It's not going to be cool when you're trying to put a car seat into the back of that Testarossa or whatever. You know, it's just not going to work. And it's the same thing with a wife. You know, you have to be practical about these things. Now, I'm not saying to marry someone that you're not attracted to. Obviously, you should be attracted to your wife, okay? But, if that's the big concern that you're worried about, you're immature and stupid. There, I said it. Okay? You need to think about more what's on the inside. Okay? And not just thinking about, oh, you know, what's the most beautiful woman I could find? Or comparing the looks of women to a bunch of fake pictures and videos that aren't even real. Because they're airbrushed and photoshopped and tricks of lighting and tricks of camera and things, where the women, the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood, you know, they look really good on the screen, but a lot of that's not even real anyway. And, by the way, those people, if you got to know them in real life, would be a total pain in the neck. Because they're often scummy people. Just because they play some character on a movie or something that's so caring, that's not real. That's not them. They're an actor. It's an actress. Okay? Don't think that that's real. And so I could give the same advice to the ladies on the flip side of this. It's not just men who are dumb in this area. You know, girls could be the same way, where they're just looking for the most handsome man and they're just, all they care about is how tall he is or what kind of muscles he has or what kind of car he drives or how cool he is. You know what? You know that really cool dude? You better make sure that that guy actually knows how to make money. Okay? And that he's not just going to become this cool dude that lives off you and sends you to work while he just kind of stays home and be cool. If that's even a word. But anyway, you want to make sure that you are actually marrying a godly man who cares about you and is going to take care of you. And, by the way, there are men out there. You're not going to believe this, ladies. There are men out there that they make money at their job, right, and the money comes into the family bank account and you know what they do with that money is they go out and spend it on themselves. You think this exists, ladies? I guarantee you there are guys who are taking the family's money and you know what they're using most of the family's money on is toys for themselves. Right? Recreational type, you know, vehicles and, you know, they're putting all the money, you know, oh, he's so cool. He's so dreamy, you know, with his fancy clothes and his fancy car. Okay, but how about when you're married to him and you're on a super tight budget for groceries and toiletries and household furnishings because, you know, his 4x4 budget is where the money's going. You know, I mean, he's got to keep his sports car in tip-top condition and he's got all the fancy clothing and the fancy vehicles, you know, something's got to give at some point. There's only so much money to go around. So if you're enamored by, you know, this dude who's kind of a tire kind of dude or a Babylon kind of dude where he's got the looks and he's perfect with all the clothing and the brands and the fancy car, okay, well, is he going to want to keep living that lifestyle because once you get married or, you know what, he might just tell you, no, we're not having kids because I just need to spend more money on myself because if we have kids, how am I going to buy designer clothes? If we have kids, how am I going to pay for my Porsche? How am I going to pay for more accessories for my 4x4 if we have kids? So guess what? You're going to take birth control pills and, you know, mess up your hormones and grow a beard and, you know, whatever. You see where this eventually leads? You end up at home with a beard and he's out driving a 4x4 without you with some other chick. Yeah, that's what happens, folks. True story. You end up, or no, then you get cancer from all the birth control pills that you've been taking, right, and then also, you know, your husband totally loses interest in you because you're not as cool as he is anymore. You used to be cool, but he made you uncool by spending all the money on his partying and leaving you at home and abandoning you and putting you on a super tight budget because he's a selfish guy. Let me tell you something. Selfish guys aren't going to spend all their money on you. They're going to spend it on themselves. They're not going to spend time with you. They're going to spend it all on what they want to do, right? And you know what? Same thing is true too with the ladies. You know, some selfish, self-absorbed, preening woman who preens in front of the mirror for three hours, boy does she look good after working on herself for three hours, but you know what? What about when you want her to do something for you when you're married and it's like, she can't be cooking. She's too busy doing stuff for herself. She can't rear the children. She's too busy doing stuff for herself, right? She doesn't want to spend time with you. She wants to spend time doing things for herself. You see how when you marry a selfish person, it can really backfire? And what if I told you that people that stare at themselves in the mirror for hours a day are probably selfish people? Think about it. And so don't be sucked in by the, you know, the devil would love for you to think that the successful people of this world are the people in the fanciest clothes, the people on TV, the people reading the weather on TV, and the people on the little morning show where they just talk about nothing all day and just blah blah blah around some little coffee table in the morning. Morning shows have to be the stupidest form of entertainment on this planet. Morning shows are all trash. Just like talking about nothing, just blah blah blah. But you know, you look at them and they're all dolled up, all these airheads, these airheaded dudes and airheaded women, and they're all fancied up sitting around the coffee table. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. Oh, sports and blah blah. Oh, fashion. Oh, did you hear about this? Celebrity and blah blah blah. Bunch of brain dead idiots but you look at them and think like, this is the successful people. You know who I would look at? I would look at successful Christians. You know, I would look at men and women who are living a Christian life, they're raising their families for God, they're going out soul winning, they're faithful to church. I mean, you know, that's success. And I don't care how much money they're making. I don't care if all their clothes are coming from the thrift store. If so, then they and I have something in common. You know, hey, if all the clothes are coming from the thrift store and they're driving beat up vehicles, they're driving used worn out vehicles, so what? It still gets you from point A to point B. And you know what? I'd rather be serving God with my life. I'd rather wake up every morning and actually have a meaning, actually have a purpose and wake up and read my Bible instead of blabbering about nonsense and just blah blah blah-ing with a bunch of face painted Jezebel weirdos and a bunch of effeminate dudes sitting around a coffee table. You know, they have nothing to talk about that matters. Every single day I have something to talk about that matters because I read my Bible every day. So I can actually talk about stuff that matters. You know, and I actually have meaning in my life because I serve Christ. And so I've got the Lord in my life. I've got Jesus Christ in me, the hope of glory. I've got the Holy Spirit. My life matters. I don't care if I have to walk everywhere. I don't care if I'm riding a bike. I don't care if I'm driving the most beat up piece of trash that, you know, barely, I have to pray for three hours to get it to pass smog or something. You know, and I'm begging God, I'm pleading with God, praying through to get the thing through smog. Hey, that's success if I love the Lord. Some dolled up whatever is meaningless to me. And you know, you young people are, you know, you might still be deceived by this because the devil's a deceiver and this is Satan's plan for your life. Satan's plan for your life is make the most money that you can make, buy the most expensive things and then flaunt it in front of everybody and be prideful and arrogant and try to make other people feel bad who don't drive as nice a car as you, who don't have as nice a clothes. You know, go out in public and snicker about people who are ugly or they don't have nice clothes or they drive a stupid vehicle. That's what the devil wants you to do. He wants that to become your religion. Worshipping mammon. But you know, a godly person doesn't look down on other people because they're not dressed in nice clothes. A godly person doesn't look at someone and say, oh, they're homely, they're ugly. I don't want to be around them. You know, you're ugly. I don't want to be your friend. It's like, what? What kind of a stupid, shallow, idiotic mentality is that? Looks don't matter. Appearance don't matter. And by the way, the more you get to know quality people, the better they look. And the more you get to know rotten people, they just get uglier and uglier. You know, because beauty is from the inside and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And so if you marry someone because of their appearance and they're not a quality person, you know, you're going to have a rough life. You've got a long life ahead of you, buddy. And let me tell you something. If you actually pass over, you know, that young lady because she's just not some super gorgeous whatever in the world's opinion or whatever, you know, you might be missing out on a really quality individual there. Or if you pass over that dude because he's not tall enough or he doesn't have big enough muscles or whatever, you know, you might be passing over a really quality godly Christian because you're emphasizing all the wrong things, because you have this tire mentality, this Babylon mentality that says it's all about the gold and all about jewelry and the clothes and the fancy things. You know, it isn't right to emphasize those things. And that's why as a church, we don't emphasize those things because we're trying to teach you that. So, you know, we don't want to get up and say, hey everybody, it's not about appearance, it's not about looks, it's not about money. And then meanwhile, we're in some palace of a church building with super expensive stained glass windows and super expensive things. I mean, look where we're meeting right now. Look around a little bit. Look around. I mean, is this, this is an adequate facility. Am I right? Is there anything wrong with it? Everybody comfortable? I mean, the temperature's right. The chairs are comfortable. We've got plenty of space. We've got the restrooms, some other baby rooms, a little bit of artwork here, just so that it's not too clinical in here. I mean, you know, is the ceiling high enough? Is anybody bumping your head or anything? Anybody hitting your head on these fire sprinklers? I mean, it's fine. How about the parking lot? I mean, I know it's got some potholes in it. It's a little rough, but I mean, was everybody able to park okay? Anybody have trouble finding parking out there? Everybody okay? Okay. I mean, the carpet is doing what carpet does. You know, I mean, it's getting that job done. But you know, yes? There's a Wendy's across the street. Yeah, okay. I don't approve of Wendy's. But the thing is, you know, we have what we need here. This facility is adequate. But you know, many people would literally scoff at this facility and go, oh, you know, where are you going to get a real church? This is a real church, because a church means assembly. Church means congregation. Church is the people that are assembled here. It's not the building. But I remember, even someone that I respected, this is not a relative of mine. This is a non-relative, spiritual advisor of mine in the past that I respected. You know, oh, so you're still meeting in this strip mall? Still meeting in office space? And I'm just like, yeah? Oh, man. And you know what? I'm not kidding when I say this. I want to meet in an office space until Jesus comes. And you know what they say about us? In the media, they'll say things like, oh, yeah, this tiny church meets in an office space. You know, they're trying to make it sound like we're like crammed into a little 10 by 10 office or something. You know. They're not mentioning the fact that we run over 300 on Sunday mornings. Often we're around 350 and higher. And so, you know, they're not mentioning the fact that we're in like an 11,000 square foot office space. You know. But here's the thing about that, though, is let them think that. Let them think, yeah, this tiny church in an office space. Oh, yeah. Laugh it up, buddy. Because you know what? This is a church of people who actually care about the things of God. Actually reading their Bibles. Actually going out and evangelizing. So you know what? Yeah, it meets in an office complex. And you know what? I hope, I pray to God that 20 years from now we're just meeting in a bigger office space. And you know, I want to rent until Jesus comes. That's what I want to do. And here's the thing. You know, you can just keep renting bigger spaces. And people are like, well, eventually, I've had people tell me like, well, eventually you're going to grow to the point where, you know, you're no longer going to be able to do that. I'm like, what are you talking about? Because look at all the stores that go out a bit. Barnes and Noble goes out of business. That's a big building. Right? Staples. Yeah, I mean, 48th Street and Broadway, there's a Staples that went out of business. That's a huge building. What about Whole Foods went out of business, or they didn't go out of business, but they moved. That Whole Foods on Rural and, what is it, Baseline? And I mean, boom, that's Faith Ford's, you know, location someday. I mean, you could rent like a grocery store or a department store or anything. I mean, you could just keep renting a bigger building. They say, oh, you want to get something a little nicer? No! Why? This does the job. And you know what this says? You know what this says? This building that we have here, it says, you know, business. Not show. Not facade. Not impress you, but just, we mean business. And you say, oh, it's a business. Well, last time I checked, Jesus said, I must be about my father's business. Business is only a bad word if you're a communist, okay? Business is good. I must be about my father's business. And you know what? When I look at a building like this, I say, this church means business. You know what this place is? It's a factory, is what it is. Right? It's a soul winning factory. It's not some kind of a fancy museum of stained glass, long hair Jesus artwork. Who are we trying to impress? You know, there are churches in Arizona that are good churches. Soul winning, independent fundamental Baptist churches. There are churches that are considerably smaller than ours when it comes to how many people show up, but have a much bigger fancier building than us. I mean, there are churches that are like maybe two thirds of our size that have the giant, huge vaulted ceilings and the fancy platform and the video screens and all the bells and whistles and super fancy, super nice. But you know what? What's the point? Does that really, if that's what's important, then why are you here? You should be at that cool building church. Because they've got a cool building. But I suspect that the first time you walk in, that building's super cool, and the second time it's super cool, and the fifth time it's super cool. But I suspect that after you've been to that church 20 to 30 times, you're probably not really thinking about the building as much, and you're probably just thinking about the preaching. And you're probably just thinking about the soul winning program, and you're probably just thinking about the fellowship. You know what I'm saying? And you're thinking about who you're fellowshipping with, and what your children are learning, and what the church is doing for God. You're probably not just like, oh man, this building, I just never get over it. I just never get over how cool this building is. But you know, if you really want the coolest building, you should probably just go be a Roman Catholic. Or East Orthodox, or whatever, right? I mean, I'm sure some mainline Protestants have some pretty cool buildings too. But if you mean business, well, here we are. And you know, I hope that our building sends a message that we want to do that, which is practical, not to try to impress people. I remember the first time I really got into a really good red-hot, soul winning, independent Baptist church. And this church was in Sacramento, California, and it had no air conditioning. And it was summertime. They had all the doors open, a couple big fans blowing, and metal chairs with the words stenciled on the back of the chair, nuestra casa. And I don't know why they said that. They got it from some Mexican business, or Mexican restaurant, or I don't know. They got it from you know, it was like really cheap chairs, and they're stenciled on the back. And this is not a Spanish speaking church. There's no Spanish at this church. Because I walked in, all the chairs said nuestra casa, and I'm like, is this like a Spanish ministry? There's no Spanish. Bunch of metal folding chairs, fans blowing, doors open. And I remember, I'd been going to the church for like three weeks. I was brand new to the church, and the pastor was sick, and he couldn't preach, and so one of the staff was up there preaching. And this guy's just ripping face about soul winning. And I'm 17 years old, sitting on a metal folding chair, just sweating profusely. And I just remember thinking, this is so awesome. Like this is the best church I've ever been in my life. I love it. I love this place. This is awesome. And you know what? There were like 150 other people in there with me at that service that felt the same way. You know, everybody was loving it. Everybody's shouting amen. Everybody's listening to the red hot sermon on soul winning, and nobody cared that there was no air conditioning. Nobody cared that we were in a metal folding chair. Nobody cared it was some weird like, it was one of those like temporary type buildings or something. I mean, who cares? I didn't care. And you know what? If you would have gone back in time about a month earlier, we were going to a church with a super fancy building, and the preaching was super boring. And it was this fancy building, and nobody's being saved, and the preaching is lame. Who cares? It's about the work. Well now, you understand that that's our philosophy of Faithful Word Baptist Church. We don't emphasize money. We don't do building programs to have fancy things and whatever. You know, we have what's adequate. Now take that same philosophy and bring that over to your personal life. And look, there's nothing ugly about our church building. It looks fine. You know, take this over to your personal life, and you know, you don't necessarily have to just be super duper impressive with your house, and super duper impressive with your car. Why not just have a good solid vehicle that gets you from A to B and a good house where your family can worship the Lord, and just live a normal humble middle class life, and not have to show everybody, look how cool I am. And you know what? When people have to do that, they're overcompensating anyway. The churches that have to show you, ooh, look how fancy we are, it's because there's nothing there. You can almost graph it. You can almost make a graph showing the relationship between how fancy the building is and how bad the preaching is. How lame it is. How dead the preaching is and how fancy the facility is. You know, and there'd be a correlation there. Okay. So why in your personal life do you feel like you need all this merchandise? The fancy clothes, fancy cars, fancy house, fancy things. You know, it's vain. It's meaningless. And again, I'm not saying not to look good. I'm not saying not to dress nice. You know, just like we would want our building to look as nice as we can. And we want the chairs to be comfortable, and we want to have some nice artwork and some things to make it look a little nicer. But at the end of the day, that's not what it's about. So we're not going to put that much effort into it. We're going to put more effort into the Spirit and the Word of God. Well, now take that same philosophy and bring that into your personal life. And not just about spiritual things, but what about your relationship with your spouse? What about your children, your family? What are you emphasizing? You know, when it comes to my kids, here's what I'm not emphasizing. Impressing other people. So I'm not putting expectations on my kids of, hey, you need to go into the ministry. You need to be a pastor. You need to be a missionary. You need to marry a pastor. And there are pastors out there where they're raising their daughters to only marry a pastor, and they're raising their sons to be in the ministry and so forth. But you know what? That's not what I'm doing because it's not about me living through them. And then, you know, there are other parents, it's like they want their kid to go to the Olympics. And who's ever known people like this, where they're just hell-bent on their kid going to the Olympics? And so they're just pushing their kid and hiring them all the trainers. It's like they're not really doing that for their kid. They're trying to live vicariously through their kid, and they're really trying to impress other people. Hey, look at me. My kid is in the Olympics or something like that. You know, I don't want my kids to go to the Olympics. Do I want them to be physically fit and have a good time exercising and playing sports? Sure. Yeah, as a fun thing, but not as the focus of their life. You know, I'd rather see my kids get up early in the morning and read their Bible than to see them get up early in the morning so they can go figure skating for eight hours a day or something with their Russian trainer brought in to teach them how to do some triple axle whatever. They can go to the Olympics and compete against everybody else who's also taking drugs and whatever. I mean, I wonder how many people at the Olympics have never used any performance enhancing drugs in their entire life. Nowadays. That's what I'd like to know. They've never used any steroids or EPO or whatever in their entire life. But you know what? There are people who want their kids to impress everybody. Or how about their wife? You know, they want to have the trophy wife. Hey, look at my wife. Look how my wife... When you want other dudes to look at your wife, you have something wrong with your head. There's something wrong with you. Normal men, they don't want other dudes lusting after their wife because they wouldn't encourage their wife to go out dressed promiscuously. Who's she trying to impress? If she wants to look that way for you at home, that would actually make sense. But sending her out of the house scantily clad, you have something wrong in your head. A normal man doesn't want that because he wants her only for himself. That's his wife. That's her husband. But again, what's this Tyre and Babylon mentality? It's about pressing other people, showing off, showing off, oh look, my kid's in the Olympics. Oh look, my kids are all in the ministry. Oh look, you know, the fancy clothes, the fancy cars and whatever. You know, we need to be careful that we don't get sucked into this American materialistic kind of Babylon, Tyre and Zion. Because look, Tyre and Babylon, you could pretty much just sub in the word America into these chapters. Substitute America for Babylon and substitute America for Tyre. And it would fit like a glove. But let us be different. Our citizenship is primarily in heaven. And so don't get caught up in the wrong things. Emphasize the right things in your life. Father, we thank you so much for giving us meaning and purpose to our lives beyond just fabric and textiles and furniture. And Lord, I feel sorry for people whose greatest joy in life is showing off their house to people and showing off their cars and clothes and so forth. Lord, thank you for giving us a more meaningful purpose in our lives where we actually have a reason to get up in the morning to worship you and to love you and serve you, Lord. Help know young people, Lord, to get sucked into thinking that success equals fame, success equals money, success equals winning the Olympics, Lord. Help none of us to get sucked into that mentality but to just live humble lives serving you, loving our families, loving you, loving the brotherhood at church, and the brotherhood of Christians all over this world, Lord. And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Take your song books, please, and go to hymn number 327. 327, Higher Ground, number 327 begins I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day, number 327. I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day, new heights I'm gaining every day, more than my feet on higher ground, more than the earth can let me stand, I think of heaven's stable land, higher plains than I have found, more than my feet on higher ground, my heart has no choice but to stay, where God's blessing is his name, I pray well for he's around, I pray my faith is higher ground, more than the earth can let me stand, I think of heaven's stable land, higher plains than I have found, more than my feet on higher ground, I want to live above the world, your faith has come to join us now, the song of saints on higher ground, more than the earth can let me stand, I think of heaven's stable land, higher plains than I have found, more than my feet on higher ground, I want to sail the utmost high, but still I pray that I have found, more than the earth can let me stand, more than the earth can let me stand, I think of heaven's stable land, higher plains than I have found, more than my feet on higher ground. More than my feet on higher ground. More than my feet on higher ground. More than my feet on higher ground. More than my feet on higher ground.