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

We're not just trying to kill another hour of our week, dear God, but we're here because we need the truths of the Bible preached desperately, dear God, and so please speak to our hearts from the message this morning. And in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now this is kind of an odd story in the Bible. I remember the first time I read this, and we were talking about laughing, when you read the Bible, the first time I read this story, I laughed when I read it because it just was so ridiculous. This is the craziest story I've ever read in the Bible. Let me explain to you the story and I'll get right into the message. But it starts out in the beginning of chapter 17, and this is a little more like a Bible study maybe this morning than a typical Sunday morning sermon that I preach, but it starts out with a man named Micah. And he says to his mom, hey mom, you remember the 1,100 shekels of silver that you lost? And that's a lot of money, by the way, if you study the Bible. Remember all that huge sum of money that you lost? Remember you were cursing about it, he said? I mean, you were so upset, and you asked me where it was, and I said I didn't know. He says, listen, mom, I took the money. It was me, I took it. And she says, oh, son, God bless you, I'm so glad that you came clean and told me this. I was going to use that money for you anyway, son. And this is the interesting thing, she said, I was going to use that money to make a graven image and a molten image. So she's going to build this idol for her son, this woman that's Micah's mother. She said, I was going to construct this idol. But notice the word there in verse number 3 of chapter 17, it says, silver unto the Lord. See the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's not just talking about any god. I mean, that's talking about Jehovah God, that's talking about the one true living God Almighty. That's actually a name when it says Lord in all capitals like that. So she says, I had dedicated that to the Lord to build this idol for you, son. And he says, look, mom, trust me, you can have the money back, it's all right, I'm going to give it back to you. And so she takes the money and she builds the idol, she builds this graven image unto the Lord. And then Micah, he decides that he's going to have a house of gods. So he builds in this house a special little room, he sets up this idol. And he sets up an ephod and a terephim, these are like religious clothing and religious objects. And he sets up this little sanctuary in his house. And look, verse number 6 says, in those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And so here he has this little house of gods built. And one day a man that's a Levite comes, and he's just wandering through town, and he's just looking for something to do. And if you study the Old Testament, of course, the Levites were gods, people that were chosen to, they would handle all of the instruments of the tabernacle, of the vessels of the sanctuary and the temple. They were the ones who would take down the tabernacle, put it back up, they would offer, the priests would offer the sacrifices, and then the Levites would serve the priests. The priests were a certain family of the Levites. And then the Levites were a more broader group that would just help do the menial tasks and so forth. And so here this guy comes through town, he's just looking for something to do, you know, he's just wandering around, has nothing to do with his life. He wanders into town, and he runs into Micah, and Micah finds out that this guy's a Levite. And he says, wait a minute, you're a Levite? This would be perfect to add to my little religion here that I've created, this little house of gods that I have. I would love for you to come and be my own, very own personal preacher. I will hire you to be my priest. He says, I'm going to make you my father. You know, this is, by the way, this is the only time a priest has called father in the entire Bible. He says, I'm going to call you father, maybe you can turn your collar around backwards for me, and maybe you can be my little priest and worship here in this room. And my text verse here, and this is a little more into the story than that, but I just wanted to give you the overview. But in verse 17, here's my text verse, I'm sorry, verse 13 of chapter 17, it says, Then said Micah, Now know I, that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. Do you see, this man Micah had a huge problem, and it's the same problem that a lot of us have. And it's the same problem that most of Christianity has. He seemed to think that the events of life that happened to him determined that that was how he could know whether God was blessing him. That was how he could know whether he was doing right. He says, look, God must be pleased with me. God is going to do me good, because look at me, he sent this guy my way, this Levi, to be my very own priest. God must be blessing me. And then the other key verse is verse number six, it says, In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Now, did Micah think he's doing wrong? No, he thought he was doing right. But see, he was doing right in his own eyes. See, there's a philosophy that Christians have today. They think that if things go well for me, God must be blessing me. I mean, everything was going great for this guy. He thought, surely God is going to do me good. And he says, I'm going to do right in my own eyes. And if God blesses me, if things go my way, it must have been the right thing to do. And then there's an opposite philosophy that says when things go wrong, God must not be blessing me. I must be out of God's will. I must be doing wrong. See, the problem in both cases is that this man did not have the Word of God as his direction and his compass for his morality. He didn't decide what was right based on what the Bible says. He decided what's right on two things. Is it right in my own eyes? Do I think it's right? And he decided what's right based on are things going my way? Are things going well? Let me tell you something. If you live for God, things are probably not going to go your way. I hate to break it to you, okay? You know, you're going to have to tell that. I'm sorry, Mr. Joel Osteen and whoever these TV preachers are now, Mr. Smiley Face. Listen, sir. If you live for God, the Bible says, Ye and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer. That's what the Bible says. They shall suffer persecution. And you say, wait a minute. I thought that if I started going to church and reading my Bible and praying and I paid my tithe and I went soul winning and did everything, I thought that all my ducks would be in a row. I thought that my life would go great. I thought my health would be great. I thought my bank account would be great. I thought I'd live to be 120 years old. Look, that's not the way it is because I'll tell you something. When you signed up for being a Christian, when you decided to come to Faithful Word Baptist Church, when you got out of King James Bible and said, this is my God, this is my authority, you said, come on, devil, let's fight. You opened yourself up to a fight. You opened yourself up to a battle. You put yourself in a position to be attacked. Look, if you don't want to fight, then just go be a lame, boring Christian like everybody else. Go in, just go to church, some lame liberal church on Sunday. You can check off that you've been there. And then don't read your Bible all week and don't win anybody but Christ if you want to just live an easy life and just cruise through life. Or you can say, well, look, here's how it works. You go all the way in and you say, I'm going to be a sold-out Christian. I'm going to live for God. I'm going to eat, breathe, and sleep the Bible and soul-winning and living for God. Look, that's not going to be easy. It's called being hot is what God calls that. And then there's where you say, you know what? I'm going to just go into sin. I'm going to live like hell. I'm going to be like the devil. I'm going to go out and drink and cuss and smoke and do drugs and fornicate and do whatever I want and party down. Hey, look, you're not going to be very comfortable over here either in the cold side. See, either hot or cold is not very comfortable because either way you're either going to be suffering the punishment of horrible sin. Over here, you're going to be fighting daily to maintain that hot on fire for God position. But God said, I would that thou lurk cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, he said, I'll spew thee out of my mouth. He said, it makes me sick. It makes me sick when somebody won't decide whether they want to live for God or whether they want to live like the world. He said, choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. He said, I want you to decide because there's nothing making me more sick than somebody who won't get on one side or the other. Hey, nothing makes me more sick than a church that won't get on one side or the other, huh? Talking about a church that won't tell you what they believe. They want to have it both ways. They got their little Yellow Pages ad that tries to look as liberal as they can. It tries to look like the world. It tries to look like the charismatic church down the street. But then they got their statement of faith, says something totally different. And then there's what's preached in the pulpit, totally different. And then there's what the guy that believes in the pew, totally different. Because they can't decide which way they're going to go. I already decided a long time ago which way I'm going to go and I have no desire to try to be in the middle somewhere because I don't want to make God sick. And you say, but look, isn't him more comfortable? Couldn't you just relax a little bit? Could you just relax your preaching a little bit? Could you just relax your pace a little bit, your lifestyle? I will not relax my pace because I want to please God and so I've got to decide which side I'm going to be on. Now look, everything in the Christian life is based on one word, faith. How do you get saved? Saved by faith. It says by grace are you saved through faith. Now look, what is faith always based on? The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So faith is based on one thing, the word of God. The whole Christian life, salvation is by faith. You get saved by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. That's where you believe what God said in his word when he said, believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved. When he said, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's where I've got my faith to give me to heaven, okay. But when I live the Christian life, it's the same thing. It doesn't always make sense, but I have to believe what God said. Let me tie it into the story. Remember how the Bible says that he did that which was right in his own eyes. He thought, I'm going to be religious. I'm going to do right. It seems right. Now look, the Bible says in Proverbs 14, 12, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. And then in Proverbs 16, 25, it says the exact same thing again. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You see, there's a way that seems right, but he says the end of it is death. Look, it doesn't seem like it's wrong. Look, let's talk about salvation, okay. Doesn't it seem right that a good, nice citizen of the United States, you know, somebody who works, they pay the bills, they love people, they give to charity, they're friendly, they haven't done anything that's really that bad, hey, they're not really hurting anybody, right? Wouldn't it make sense that they would go to heaven? And then wouldn't it make sense that the guy who's a drunk and a murderer and a dope dealer, wouldn't it make sense that he would go to hell? I mean, it seems right, doesn't it? It seems right that good people would go to heaven and that bad people would go to hell. That seems right to me. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, it makes sense that Adolf Hitler would go to hell, right? I mean, it makes sense that Mother Teresa would go to heaven. It makes sense. It seems right. But God says that religion of you be good to get to heaven, he said it seems right, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And so what seems right is not necessarily right because it's not what the Bible says. The Bible says it's he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. The Bible says he that hath not the Son of God shall not see life but the wrath of God abide by the Father. Let me break something to you. Hey, newsflash, and you're not going to like this, but that's all right. Mother Teresa's in hell right now, okay? Did you hear me? I said Mother Teresa's burning in hell right now. You say, what about all those people that she helped? What about all those little kids? Did you know that Mother Teresa was a diehard Roman Catholic? Okay, she said the pope forgives my sins. She said that when he takes that cracker, he'll turn it into Jesus' flesh, and I eat it, and that gets me saved. She went around damning people to hell with her lies of Catholicism. She's in hell right now. You say, that doesn't seem right. I don't care whether it seems right or not. It's what the Bible says. And so, yes, there is a way that seems right unto a man. Yes, Micah did that which seemed right in his own eyes. Yes, he had everything going for him, but I'm going to tell you something. That doesn't mean that God's blessing you just because things are going well. Turn, if you would, in your Bible to Psalm number... Let me find my page here. Psalm number 73. I'm going to show you something. You see, you've got to come to the place in your life, and this is just kind of the introduction, but the whole sermon is this. You must come to the place in your life where what you see with your eyes, what you experience in your life, what you feel in your heart means nothing to you in comparison with what this book says. You have to get to where it doesn't matter anything that happens. Just, if the Bible says it, you just know that it's true. You just believe it because the Bible says it. That's faith. God's going to bring you to a point in your life where your faith is going to be tested, where he's going to see whether you really believe what this book says because it says it or because you've seen it in your life. You see, faith is when you haven't seen it, when it doesn't make sense. But this book says it. You say, I'm going to believe it because God said it in the Bible. Look at Psalm 73. The Bible reads here, Truly God, this is spoken by a man in Asaph, the chief musician. Truly God is good to Israel, even if such as are of a clean heart, that 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're not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride compasses them about as a chain. Violence covereth 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 couple rung out of them. And they say, how does God know? And is there 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 vain and washed my hands in innocency. You see what he's saying? He says, look, I know that God's good, but he said, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well-nigh slipped in verse number two. He said, I almost just completely fell out of church. I almost just completely got out of the will of God. Because he said, I looked around me and I saw that everybody around me that seemed to be prospering, everybody who seemed to have it together, everybody who seemed to be driving the nice car and having the nice little family and the nice little situation, it seems like all of them were wicked people who had nothing to do with God. I mean, they weren't the people that were soul winning. They weren't the people that were in church, and here they are. They're the ones who prosper in the world. It says they have more than heart could wish. And he says in verse number 11, he says, they say, how does God know? Is there knowledge of the most high? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. And look at verse 13, verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. He says, look, this is a joke. Why in the world did I become a Christian? He said, why in the world I started living for God? Every day I suffer. Every morning I'm chastened. Every day I'm plagued. He said, this is a joke. I've cleansed my heart in vain. And he says, if I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against a generation of thy children. He says, well, what are my kids going to think though? If I just throw in the towel on Christianity. People are watching me and I can't just quit on God now. And in verse number 16, he says, when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. And then here's when it was solved for him. He said, until I went into the sanctuary of God. He says, then I went to church. He said, you know, I was just down and boy, don't tell me you've never felt this way. You're just down and you're thinking, man, I live for God? I push myself, I try to live for God. I try to do what's right, try to get people saved. I mean, here I am working hard and struggling every day to follow God's commandments, to read the Bible, to do what's right. And everybody else around me seems to be prospering. And it seems like my life's just going downhill. And he says, but then I went to church on Sunday morning. He says, then, he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I therein. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou casteth 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 waketh, so, O Lord, when thou wakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus was my heart grieved and I was pricked in my reign. So foolish was I, and ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou has sold me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. You see, he said, I went to church. Then I got my mind back in the things of God. And I said, boy, I was such an idiot. I was such a fool. He said, I was like a beast. I was like an animal. I was so stupid when I thought that I was actually going to envy the unsaved crowd. I was actually going to envy the worldly crowd. He says, look, God set them in slippery places because in a moment they're going to be cast down to destruction. In a moment they're going to breathe their last breath. They're going to be burning in hell. And he says, I'm going to be received up to glory. Hallelujah. Because you've got to understand that this life is like a vapor. They disappear for a little time and then vanish away. And so you've got to understand that the only thing that matters is serving God in this life because there's heaven and there's hell and it's just around the corner for all of us. Just before you know it, you're going to be there. Before you know it, it's all going to be over. It's going to be there. And so you say, boy, I just can't take it anymore. I can't take it another day. Just take it one more day. Take it one more day. You can take it. Keep going. Keep on going all the way to the finish line. And God's going to receive you to glory. Oh, would you rather live it up now? Would you rather have the boat now? Would you rather have the toys now? Would you rather have Saturdays and Sundays just to yourself now? Would you rather have it all now? Because I'm going to tell you something. It's not what it's cracked up to be. Ask the people that have it. They're not happy. It's not what it's cracked up to be. And then the end of it all is going to be when they get to heaven, if they're saved, and they've wasted their life. Or worse yet, the unsafe crowd, which is most of the people who prosper in this world, the ungodly, God said, the people who speak against God, people who have nothing to do with God, hey, they're going to be burning in hell. And I remember the story in Luke chapter 16, or I'm sorry, Luke chapter 11, where Jesus said to the man who built his bigger barns, he said, you know what? I've got so much money. I've got everything going for me. I've got all this wealth. He says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to tear down my barns. I'm going to build greater. And I'm going to fill my barns with all my money and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, sold off many goods laid up and sold for many years, eat, drink, and be merry, he said. And God said to him that same night, he said, thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. And what shall become of all thy goods? See, what shall pop in a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And so if you say to yourself, I've got it so bad. I mean, I don't have anything in this life. Look, you've got a home in heaven waiting for you. You've got a mansion in glory. You've got a joint airship with Jesus Christ. You're going to be in heaven. Jesus' brother. You're going to have all the wealth shared with you of God the Father himself. You're going to have all your sins forgiven. You're going to get to heaven. It's going to be like you've never sinned before. God's never going to bring it up to you again. You're going to be in a perfect place for all eternity. You can take it now. See, God has given us that hope of eternal life so that we can make it through the tough times right now, so we can make it through the rough times. You say, well, things aren't going my way. I think I must be out of God's will. Wrong. You're probably in God's will. You're probably in God's will when things are going bad because that's when you know. See, whenever there's movement, whenever you're moving forward, whenever you're fighting, whenever you're doing something, there's always going to be friction. And friction creates heat and heat creates discomfort. And so when there's friction, you know you're doing something. You just sit around and do nothing. There's no friction. There's no heat. There's no strife at all. And so when you're trying to go against the grain a little bit, when you're trying to perhaps undo, some of us have, you know, maybe a path that you're trying to undo, you're going against the grain because you set things up a certain way and now you're going the other way. That's hard to break that. Sometimes maybe you come from a family where it's like your dad and his dad and his dad all lived a wicked, sinful life and now you're trying to live for God. You know, you're moving backwards. You're moving against the flow. It's going to take work to break that cycle. It may be in your life you've lived a certain way. Now you're saying, I'm going to live for God. It's going to take some work to break against that. But you've got to just keep on fighting that battle because as soon as you stop fighting the battle, as soon as you stop pushing forward, you know what? You're going to just start moving backwards. You're going to just fall into the same pattern that everybody else has fallen into. And so my first point, number one, is the events of life, positive or negative, they don't determine whether something, whether you're being blessed by God or not, let's put it that way. Whether you're being blessed by God has nothing to do with the number in your bank account. Whether you're being blessed by God has nothing to do with how much sleep you got last night. Whether you're being blessed by God has nothing to do with how well your relationships are working out in life. And I'm tired of listening to these prosperity preachers. And when I listen to them, it makes me sick. It makes me mad. When I even in an independent fundamental Baptist church, you go to some church and they tell you, you know, you put this money in the offering plate, and it's going to come back to you double. I say, that's a bunch of baloney. And I've heard that's not an independent fundamental Baptist church. You just throw the money in the plate, and God's going to return you. And they'll have some testimony about some guy who he only made $8,000 last year, but he just had all the money he needed. And you're just like, what? You think I'm an idiot? $8,000 is like nothing. That's like how much you pay in taxes, you know? I mean, $8,000 is like a food bill in this house. But hey, $8,000 is nothing, and they'll get up and tell you about it, but I gave what I had, and then all this money came back to me and stuff. Look, I'm tired of this prosperity preaching because it's not in the Bible. I'm tired of people getting up and preaching and saying that if you live for God and if you just follow these five little things, read your Bible every day, pray every day, go soul winning, go to church, and I don't even forget, I don't even remember what the other one is. That's how much I care about their little five thing checklist. Hey, if you keep these little five checklists, you'll be what the world calls successful, I've heard it said. You'll be, people, the world will look at you and say, I want your success. I want a life like you have. Look, yes, if you're a boring, lame, liberal Christian who reads the Bible for five minutes a day, prays for two minutes a day, goes soul winning for 59 minutes a week, and puts in your 10%, hey, yeah, maybe you will just cruise through life, but that's not the life I want to live. I want to sell out for God. I want to be all the way hot, and I'm going to tell you something if it's not easy living for God 100%, and pushing yourself all the way for God. It's not. And you say, well, I don't want that. Then don't do it. But as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And so you've got to come to the place where you don't measure your success in Christianity or how much you're pleasing God by how things are going in your life, whether they're going good or bad. Think about Job. Turn, if you would, in your Bible to Job chapter four. Think about Job. Here's a man who the Bible says was the greatest man in the entire world at this time. He was a great man. He was an upright man that feared God and eschewed evil. Here he was living for God. I mean, just to the extreme, he was living for God. And he was a very prosperous man. Things were going great for him. And in chapters one and two, we see God talking to Satan. And Satan says to God, does Job serve God for naught? He said, he doesn't serve you for no reason. He said, he serves you because you're blessing him so much. He says, if you take away what he has right now, he says, he'll curse you to your face. So, of course, God says, okay, fine. You do whatever you want with him. You do it, Satan. And so Satan comes and just takes away everything he has. All 10 of his children are killed in one day. All of his property is lost. All of his money is lost. All of his servants are killed. He's left with nothing. He still says, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Then in chapter two, God comes to the devil again and says, hey, Satan, hey, big mouth, where's your mouth now? You took away everything he had and he still loves me. He's still doing right. And he says, okay, all that a man has will he give for his health. He says, if you touch his body, he'll curse you to your face. Because look, let's face it, health problems are a lot worse than financial problems or anything else. I mean, when it's your body that's affected, that's the worst thing there is. And so he says, touch now his body. And God says, okay, touch his body. Do whatever you want to him. Just don't kill him. And of course, Satan afflicted Job with just sores all over his body, just extreme itching, painful sores all over his body from the top of his head to the bottom of his foot. And the Bible talks about him just scraping the sores just to try to get some relief. And he sat down and put ashes all over his body. And he's to the point where he wishes he was dead. He said, I wish I'd never been born. Look at my life, it's in shambles. Well, three of Job's friends come to comfort him. And they come and they sit with him for seven days straight. And they don't say anything to him. They're just there for him. And they just sit there for seven days straight. They don't say anything to him. They just spend some time with him. And they're just shaking their head. They just can't believe what they're seeing has happened to their friend. And then in chapter 4, one of them begins to pipe up, Eliphaz the Temanite. And if you remember, last Sunday night, the sermon about how to study the Bible. And we were talking about some of this. We were talking about some of this in the book of Judges. And we were talking about how in Job chapter 42, God said that what the three friends said was wrong. He said, what they said concerning me was wrong. And what Job said was right. And he says it twice in a row. And so you have to understand when you're reading the book of Job, what Job says is always right. And what the other people say is wrong. OK, so we're going to read what this guy says that's wrong, Eliphaz the Temanite. Look at chapter 4 of Job, and look at verse number 7. And it's funny, because some people actually, they'll take verses that are said by these wrong guys. And they'll say, see, the Bible says, you know, and so I believe. And they're like, wait a minute, this guy's wrong. But anyway, look at chapter number 4, verse number 7. Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent, or where were the righteous cut off, even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. But look at that, what he said. He said, look, whoever perished being innocent, he says, Job, do you expect me to believe that God is judging you and you didn't do anything wrong? Do you expect me to believe that your 10 kids died and you're saying you haven't done anything wrong? I mean, you must have done some wicked, awful sin for you to lose everything you have like this. God is punishing you. You see, look, here's the same mentality again. They think that gain is godliness, the Bible says, in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Supposing that gain is godliness from such a turn away, they think it's godly when you have everything in a row, when you have all your finances laid out, when you have your little 2.5 children and your little white picket fence, they think that's godliness when you succeed in life, so to speak. But he says, look, nobody ever perished being innocent. He says, it's your fault, Job. And then look at verse number 12. You'll see why he has this flawed thinking. It says, now a thing was secretly brought to me and my ear received a little thereof. And thoughts from the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth on men. Listen to this. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. I mean, listen to this story. He's sitting in his bedroom at night, right? And this spirit comes in the room. He says, Job, this is how I know what I'm talking about. This spirit came into my room. The whole room was lit up. He said, I got scared, right? I started shaking. And all of a sudden, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. And then a spirit passed before my face. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. The image was before mine eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, shall mortal man be more just than God? See, look, what's his authority? Is it the Bible? Is it God's law? Is it the Ten Commandments? No, his authority is some little vision that he had, some little revelation he had, his personal experience. You know, his little charismatic, Pentecostal experience that he had in his room is going to supersede the Word of God. Hey, name it, claim it, brother. If you just name it and then claim it, God will give it to you. Whatever you ask for, he answers prayer, brother. Just take your medication and throw it on the altar and just claim healing. Because I saw, and you know what, I always ask these people that say they saw Jesus, you know, he appeared to them like this and the hair on their neck stood up and everything. I said, okay, you saw Jesus? What did he look like? That's always the first thing I ask. I say, what, I say, do you have short hair or long hair? I can tell the truth about it. I say, oh, you have long hair. I say, you saw some queer, man, because Jesus has short hair, okay? And I show them that in the Bible. But you know what the most common answer I've got when I ask that question, what does he look like? It's the same answer that this guy gave. In verse 16, it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. I don't really know what he looked like, you know, but I saw him, you know, and I know he was there, and he told me that, you know, you're in sin, and he gave me a word of knowledge. Look, my friend, prosperity preaching is wrong because Job here was a righteous, godly man, but yet he went through something that probably nobody's ever gone through anything as bad as Job went through, and yet he was the greatest man who ever lived up to that time. And so, obviously, God puts some of his children and some of his favorite people through some of the hardest things. But how would you like to have a whole book in the Bible written about you? How would you like to have people read about you every day for thousands of years after your life was over? I mean, you know how many times I've read through the book of Job? How many times have people read through the book of Job and been comforted by it and been taught the word of God by reading the book of Job? Look, I think he's pretty happy now because this probably went by for him like it was nothing, and now he's in heaven rejoicing for all of eternity. But look at what one of his other friends says. Look at Job 5, verse number 3. Job 5, 3. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them, whose harvest the hungry eateth up and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robbers swalloweth up their substance. He says, look, everybody who does wrong ends up getting caught. Everybody who does wrong ends up losing all their money. Everybody who does wrong ends up suffering, and their kids die and all these bad things. Look, that's just not true. We just read in Psalm 73 that the wicked are the ones that prosper in the world. They have more than heart could wish. They live a great life, and I get so tired of people saying, you know, everybody has this God-shaped hole in them, and nobody's happy until they get saved. Look, there are all kinds of people in this world that are happy that are unsaved, because they're living it up, man. They're partying. They want nothing to do with God. And you say, oh, if they just had Jesus in their life, they'd have joy. Look, they're having the time of their life, some of them. They're like that rich man that was sitting there saying, I'm going to build a bigger barn. This is great. But the problem is they're in slippery places, because any time they could breathe their last breath and be in hell, that's what God's saying. And look at one more. Look at Job chapter 8. I'll show you one more example of this. Job chapter 8, verse 3, the Bible reads, Does God pervert judgment? This is another one of his friends speaking. Does God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If thy children had sinned against them, and he have cast them away for their transgression, if thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, if thou were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. He says, for sure if you were living for God and you had a pure heart, God would bless you and he'd make you prosper and you'd have money and your kids would not die. Look, this is wrong. This is wrong teaching, because God says, look, the way that you know whether I'm blessing you or not has nothing to do with finances. Here's what it has to do with. Deuteronomy 11 26, I'll just read this for you. It says, behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known. He says, look, I've set before you a blessing and a curse. He says, if you do what this book says, you'll be blessed. And if you don't do what this book says, you'll be cursed. Now look, that should be end of story. I don't care if you live for God and do everything that this book says and your life is going horrible and it's going down the tubes. Hey, God says you're going to be blessed. You have to have the faith to just keep going until you see that blessing. You say, but it's been a year. Good night, a year is nothing with God. Think about Isaac and Rebekah. They prayed for 20 years to have a child. They were barren and they prayed for 20 years from the time that Isaac was 40 to the time that he was 60 before God answered that prayer. You know, it's a space of about three verses, but it's a time period of about 20 years that they were praying and asking God for that. Look at Abraham prayed to have children for 50 years or something like that. And boy, he just stayed faithful. He just stayed true and finally God answered that prayer. You see, you have to know that you're being blessed by God because you know that you're doing what this book says. You say, but I can't really see that. I need something tangible. I want to see some kind of a result. Look, this is the only tangible thing that you need to see is what's written in the Word of God. This is the answer. This is how you know you're being blessed by God. But at the same time, let's say you did something wrong, right? You say, you know, I'm just going to try it. I'm going to try and do something wrong. I'm going to see what happens. Hey, nothing happened. Everything's going great. Look, the Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out. He said, there is a curse on those who don't. Well, I talked to, there was a lady recently that I talked to and she was going to church very faithfully. Going great, right? This is what she said. She said, I just wanted to try it one Sunday staying home from church. This is what she told me. She said, I just want to try it one Sunday and I just want to see what happens if I stay home from church. Because she'd been going to this book. She had not missed a service. She'd been going very faithfully. She said, I'm just going to try it and see what happens. Never went to church again. Never been to church since that I know of. Because she just wanted to try it and see what happened. Because she stayed home from church. Wasn't really much different than when she went to church, so she's never been in church again. Let's go look her up in 20 years, shall we? Let's go look her up in 10 years. Let's go look her up in 30 years. Let's see whether she got the blessing in life or whether she got the curse in life. That's number one. But number two, how things go in life, the events of life, whether you feel like you're being blessed or you feel like you're prospering or not prospering, does not determine what's right or wrong. So number one, it doesn't determine whether God's pleased with you or whether God's blessing you. Look, you may be going through the worst time you've ever gone through. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love you. That doesn't mean that you're not living for God. You might be exactly doing exactly what God wants you to do straight down the line, but God's just strengthening your faith. He's just testing you. Or you may just be out living horrible and doing wrong and things seem to be going well for you. Don't let that give you a false assurance. That means nothing. The only thing that means anything is what this Bible says is right and wrong, period. And you have to come to the place where this is your authority. But how about this? Putting personal experience on the level with what the Bible says for what's right and wrong. You see, there's a way that seems right. I was thinking about this. People always say this, spanking doesn't work. You've heard that before? I try spanking. They don't work. Who's ever heard somebody say that before? I try spanking my kids. Because you tell people, listen, your kid's a monster. Spank them. They're like, I tried spanking. It doesn't work. Look, my friend. Who am I supposed to believe? God or am I supposed to believe you? Am I supposed to believe the Holy Bible that says, train up a child and the way he should go and when he's old, he'll not depart from it? Am I supposed to believe the Bible when it says, thou shalt beat him with the rod and he shall not die? Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell? Am I supposed to believe the Bible which says the spankings do work? Or am I supposed to listen to you, your little personal experience, the spankings don't work? And so, look, people always tell me, remember, almost always when I disagree with someone doctrinally, which is almost never, but when I disagree with someone on what the Bible says or what the Bible teaches and I disagree with somebody doctrinally, it always comes down to this. Well, look, the Bible says right here, friend. And this is what they say. Oh, yeah? But I know a guy and they'll start telling you some story. Look, that means nothing to me. I always tell them, I say, look, you're not speaking my language. I don't care what you know. I don't care what you saw. Oh, whoa, this history book. Or this science book. Look, this is the book right here. Show me out of the Bible or I won't believe it. You know, you've heard of those people that just always have to have a chapter and verse for everything. That's me. I'm one of them. Because I want a chapter and a verse for everything because this Bible is the only thing that I believe. Because this Bible is all truth is right in this book right here. And I don't care what anybody says. I care what this book says. I don't care what I say. I care what this book says. And so I say, spanking doesn't work. Look, then God's a liar if spanking doesn't work. So is that what you're trying to tell me, that God's a liar? No, spanking doesn't. Maybe you're just not spanking your kids right. Look, come here, Isaac. Let me show you this. Isaac, no, no. OK, that's not a spanking. Does that hurt, Isaac? See, smile. Look, that's not a spanking. Do you understand that? And that's why people say spanking doesn't work. No, no, Isaac. Look, you need to use the rod here. This is a wooden cooking spoon. This is what I use to spank my kids. And I spank them in the proper padded area that God provided. I don't want to abuse my kids. And so you spank your kids to where it's actually going to make an impression. Because if you don't spank your kids like it's going to make an impression, then you're right. It won't work. And if you spank your kids like this, they're going to think you're a joke. They're going to laugh at you. They're going to laugh in your face. And you say, well, you know, I'm just going to use time outs. Look, show me time outs in this book right here. Show me time outs in this Bible right here. You say, but they work. I don't care if they work. Are they in the Bible? If somebody could prove to me right now that time outs work better than spankings, I would still spank and not use time outs. I don't care, because this is what the Bible says. I don't care what you've seen. I don't care what the studies show. I care what the Bible says. And I have more faith in what the Bible says than what I see physically with my own eyes right now. And I believe more what the Bible says. You say, well, soloing doesn't work. You say, soloing doesn't work. You've got to do the big advertising. You've got to do the TV commercials where you're wearing a Hawaiian shirt. And you've got to go out and reach these people where they're at. You've got to have a Starbucks in your auditorium where you sell coffee before the service. You've got to have a small group, Bible study and sell groups. And you've got to have these support groups where everybody gets to pipe up and give their opinion and everybody just kind of raps. You know what I'm saying? And you've got to be able to reach people where they're at. You know, if they like the Golden Oldies, you know, they've got to play the Golden Oldies when they're on their way in. And if they like country western, you've got to be playing that country western while they're on their way out. Look, my friend, soloing does work. Because you know what the purpose of soloing is? Let me just blow you away. The purpose of soloing, get ready, the purpose of soloing is getting people saved. Wow, man, isn't that something? It's not to fill this place up. It's to fill that place up. It's to fill heaven up, okay? It's not to fill this place up. It's to fill heaven up. You say, how are you going to know when soloing works? Well, two ways I'm going to know that soloing works. Number one, I know soloing works because the Bible says it works. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Daily in the temple and in every house, they teach not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. That's how I know it works. But I'm going to tell you something. I'll know it works when I get to heaven and see all the people I want in the Lord. So I guess this is a lifelong experiment. It's a lifelong experiment of just going soloing every week, winning people in the Lord every week, every week, every week, every week, and I'm going to just hope that they're all there, right? That's my experiment. Look, I don't care whether you tell me that soloing is outdated. You say that's from the past, that's from another generation, that doesn't work anymore, it just doesn't work. I don't care whether it works or not because I was winning people in the Lord this week. I had people saved this week. So it works, okay? That's all I need to know. You say, well, how do you know that they were really saved? I don't, neither do you. But they said, I believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They said, I believe that if I die right now and go to heaven because I've asked Jesus Christ to save me and I can't ever lose it. That's what they told me. They said that they could never lose their salvation because it was all based on what Jesus Christ did on the cross and they prayed and bowed their hand and said, Jesus Christ, be my savior. You're the only way to heaven. I'm not trusting good works. Hey, you going to tell me that they're not saved? Why, because they didn't get baptized? Okay, then go join the Church of Christ across the street. Why, because they didn't start living for God? Okay, then go join the other Southern Baptist Church across the street because that's what they teach. But you're in an independent fundamental Baptist church where we believe that salvation is by grace through faith. And Jesus said, by the words of thy mouth shalt thou be justified and by the words of thy mouth shalt thou be condemned. And if a person says to me, I believe I'm a sinner, I believe I'm on my way to hell, but I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and I believe that if I asked Jesus to save me right now he'd do it because of what he did on the cross and that I'd be saved eternally and I could never lose it because it's based on him. Good night. That's salvation. If they're not saved, then I'm not saved. Now, yes, there could be somebody who lies or somebody who's a Judas Iscariot, but you know what? The vast majority of them are saved. I'll tell you that right now. Because they put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Now, look, does soul winning work? Yes, it works because the Bible says it works. Or how about this one? I'll preach a sermon against the Roman Catholic Church. Yes, I will, okay? You say, I don't like that. Then you know what? You go start a church and you preach whatever you want. But in this church I preach against the Roman Catholic Church and say it's wrong. And I say Catholics are going to hell because they're not saved. Now, I love Catholics, that's why I say that. My wife is a converted Roman Catholic. I want her to the Lord. And I'll say, yes, Roman Catholics are going to hell. But you say, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, it doesn't matter what denomination you are. Look, Roman Catholics don't believe that salvation is by grace through faith. It's not because they're called a Catholic. It's because of what they believe as a Catholic. They believe this by good works and the sacramental works. And I'll say, Roman Catholics are not saved. They need to get saved. We need to win them the Lord. And then they say, well, wait a minute, I got a buddy, right, I know this guy. And he's a devout Roman Catholic all his life, but he's saved. And I'm supposed to say, oh, really? Oh, okay, you're right then, there must be saved Catholics. Oh, and I know this guy who's a Catholic priest and he's a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, but he's saved and he's trying to evangelize them. Oh, okay, really? Oh, really? Okay, well, let me change what I believe then because you told me that. Look, that's stupid. Look, I'm going to go by what the Bible says. The Bible says, my sheep hear my voice, they will not follow another stranger they will flee from for they know not the voice of strangers. You see, a saved born-again Christian does not follow the mother-whore Roman Catholic Church. Now, yes, saved Christians can fornicate and get on dope and live like hell. Yes, I believe that because that's what the Bible gives examples of them. How about Samson? How about King Saul? On and on. But no, a born-again Christian is not going to go join the Mormon Church and say, now I believe in Mormonism. Now I'm a Roman Catholic. I believe the Pope is the vicar of Christ on earth. Look, I don't believe that, friend, because that's not what the Bible teaches. And you can tell me about your friend and your Aunt Plutie that's a Catholic that's saved and you can tell me all this stuff because you're blue in the face, but I'm going to tell you something. Show me in the Bible. Show me in the Bible the saved Roman Catholic. Show me in the Bible the saved Mormon and then I'll believe you. But until then, I won't believe you. And you say, that's not popular. I've never heard that preached before. Hey, I've never heard it preached before either but I'm preaching it right now. It feels pretty good to be preaching it right now because I've been reading in my Bible since I was a little kid. And so we must come to the place in our life where the Bible is our authority. What is faith? What is faith? Faith is where you say, I know I'm going to heaven because my prayers get answered. No, I know I'm going to heaven because one time I got a near-death experience and God saved me and I made it through a car accident. No, how do I know I'm going to heaven? Because the Bible says I'm going to heaven. How do I know what's right and wrong? Because the Bible says it's right and wrong. How do I know that you fell in the blank? I know it because the Bible says it. And that's what living a life of faith is where the only thing that matters to you is what this book says, period. You don't care what anybody else says. You don't care what you've seen with your eyes or heard with your ears. You care one thing, what does this book say? And people may laugh at you. They may say you're a fool. They may say that you're not prospering like you could and you're failing in life because you're doing wrong. But look, my friend, if you live your life by what this book says, in the end, you're going to be the one that's glorified. And they're going to be the ones with the egg on their face. And so I don't care what the popular way to build a church is. I don't care what the popular way to raise my kids is. I don't care what the popular way for me to be preaching right now is. I don't care about any of it. I care what God says in this book, period. And look, how are you going to know what God says in this book if you don't read it? Okay, and I'm not talking about your little devotion. I'm not talking about our daily bread. I'm not talking about your little one chapter a day. I'm talking about where you actually do some serious reading in the Bible. Because if you don't study to show yourself approved unto God, you're going to be ashamed, the Bible says, because you won't even know what's right and wrong. And if you don't know what's right and wrong, how are you going to have faith in God's word if you don't even know what God's word says? You never even read it cover to cover one time in your life. You don't even know what God says. So don't tell me that I'm preaching wrong until you've read this book cover to cover and you can show me where your faith is because this is where my faith is in this book right here. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, I thank you so much for the anchor of the word of God. I thank you so much that I can...