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

Now the Bible starts out here in Psalm 40, verse number 1, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. Now, these two verses are very famous, and you've probably heard them a lot before. And really, you could apply these a couple different ways. You could look at it, first of all, as salvation. I can't think of a more horrible pit than hell. And basically, he's saying that he's been saved from going to the bottomless pit, from going to hell for all eternity. He says that God brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. Of course, that rock is Jesus Christ. He said in verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Now, salvation, according to the Bible, and there's more in this chapter that supports this, but the Bible, salvation is just by grace through faith. I mean, salvation is through Jesus Christ. It's not of works, thus any man should boast. And really, it's going to be through Him, or we're not going. I talked to a young man today. I knocked on his door. He was Baptist. But basically, he thought that he had to, on a daily basis, confess his sins to God, and turn from those sins, and repent of his sins. Just every time he sinned, he had to turn from it. Go down, if you would. I'm not trying to skip around too much. But if you go down a little bit, he says in verse number... Let me find my place here. He says in verse number 12, For innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities... And iniquities is another word for sins. He says, Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart filled me. So according to the Bible, we have more sins than the hairs on our head. You can't even number the amount of hairs that are upon your head. So to sit there and say, Well, every time I sin, I have to confess it, and forsake it, and be sorry for it, and turn from it in order to be saved every day, then none of us would be saved. Because the Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I don't even know what all my sins are. David said, My sins are more than the hairs on my head. And David was a pretty good guy. David was a man after God's own heart. And so the way to salvation is by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. And that's why it says, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It's just by believing on Christ. That's it. And that's the only way you're going to be saved from that horrible pit. And that's also the only way that your feet, look at the end of verse 2, are going to be set upon a rock, and that your goings are going to be established. You see, this world is a shifting sandwich. It changes constantly. I mean, people who you know that believed one thing ten years ago or five years ago, you know, they believe something different today. Our whole culture has changed dramatically in the last, even just the 30 years almost that I've been alive. It's changed dramatically. And if you go back to my parents' lifetime and my grandparents', it's like a completely different country. It's a completely different culture. What was considered right then is considered wrong now. And what was considered wrong then is glorified today. And I'm here to tell you something. There is no stability. There is no rock upon which to fix yourself besides the Holy Bible and Jesus Christ. All these other religions are constantly changing. I mean, the Catholic Church is always changing. I mean, they're constantly. You look at the Methodists that you've been to. You look at the Lutherans. I mean, they're always changing all the time. This book doesn't change. But yet the world changes. Politics changes. People's opinions change. You've got to be established on a rock. And if you don't have the rock, then what do you believe? I mean, what is it even based upon? Nothing. Your own mind. What somebody told you. What you saw on TV. What you heard somebody just say. Look, this is what I believe. This is the rock upon which I'm fixed. This is the anchor that I'm anchored to and that's why I don't have to change. And you know, 20 years from now, I hope I'm preaching the same thing I'm preaching today. This is the same preaching I heard when I was a child because the Bible hasn't changed. So why are churches changing so much if the Bible doesn't change? Because they're not founded upon a rock. That's why. If they were founded upon this rock, they'd never change. I mean, you'd go there 10 years later, 15 years later, 100 years later and the same thing would be preached. But yet you see churches dramatically different than they were 20 years ago, 30 years ago. That tells me something's wrong. Because I don't think everybody was wrong back then. So if anything is new, then it's wrong. Because the Bible says there's nothing new under the sun. And if there's some new way to heaven, some new gospel, some new religion, other than the same religion, the same gospel, the same doctrine of Jesus Christ that's been passed down through the centuries. Look, God is not new. The Bible is not new. That's why I don't have the New King James Version. I'm here to tell you something. God doesn't change. Therefore, we don't have to change what we believe. Our church doesn't have to change. Because we're founded upon a rock. It's solid. You know, I don't have to wonder, is what I'm preaching right? Well, look, the Bible said it. I'm just going to preach it with authority. It's right. And so that's what it means to be founded upon the rock. Not to just be floating and tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. You're founded upon something because you actually believe in something that's solid. Something that has stood through the ages. That will stand for all eternity. God's word that he spoke. Not just what some church told you. Or not just what you think or you feel. Or you heard on TV or heard in a classroom. But God's holy, unchanging word. So that's what it means to be founded upon a rock. Verse number 3 says, And he hath put a new song in my mouth, Even praise unto our God, Many shall see it, And fear and shall trust in the Lord. What this is saying is that, look, after you get saved, you shouldn't have the same song in your mouth as what you had before you got saved. Or if you were not living for God, if you were living a wicked life, or you were out in the world just doing whatever, not caring about the things of God. You know, when you get right with God or if you get saved, something should change about the music that's sung in your mouth. I mean, shouldn't this be the same thing that you're saying? It shouldn't just be, well, you know, I used to listen to Metallica and ACDC and all this hard rock. And then I got saved and I just steal it. Hey, get a new song in your mouth that's praise to our God. And let me tell you something. The world's music is praising everything that's unwhole. That's right. If you really just think about it. I mean, it's promoting everything that the Bible is against. That's right. And therefore, what business do we as Christians have just constantly filling our minds with all the rock and roll and rap music and whatever genre, you know, you pick and say that you like. It's all coming from the world. It's all coming from pretty much unbelievers. It's coming from people who live a wicked life. It's coming from homosexuals. It's coming from perverts and weirdos. You know, that's not what I want to listen to. And more important than that, he didn't even say, he put a new song in my headphones. He said he put a new song in my mouth. Like he didn't say he put a new song in my ear. We as Christians need to listen to less music. That's what I say. I think Christians are listening to too much music anyway. We live in this society where music is just pumped at us all the time. And we get in the car and the music's on. You're pumping gas now and they're playing over loudspeaker music. You know, you go to church and instead of picking up the songbook anymore and singing songs, the typical church, you sit down and just listen to people sing. You know, you're a spectator instead of being a participant. We live in a spectator society. You know, instead of playing sports, you just watch sports. How many of you played soccer in the last week? I saw a solid one. Okay, how many of you watched soccer in the last week? See what I mean? Okay, you see the difference? You know, I don't even know anything about it. Isn't there a big soccer thing going on? I don't even know what that means, okay? But I almost played soccer like a week ago. I was on my way to go play soccer with my brother-in-law, but I didn't get there in time, so we ended up racing go-karts instead. But the point is, we didn't watch the go-karts, okay? We rode in the go-karts. And we live in this spectator society that comes over to Christianity. We want to come to church, throw a little money in the plate, sit back and relax, and enjoy the show. When in reality, we should be coming to church, opening our mouth, and singing praise to God. Not just listening. And then in our personal lives, instead of driving on the road, just listening to some Christian CD or Christian artist, that's just basically singing for money. They're paid, they're a performer, they're an expert. I think that God would rather hear you sing, no matter what your voice is, because He's the one who created you, He loves you, you're His child. He wants to hear you sing praise. That's why the command that's repeated more often than any other command in the entire Bible is the word praise, the imperative word. Because God is commanding us to praise the Lord, to sing His praises, and it ought to be a new song in our mouth. You say, well, I just have no song in my mouth, I'm just not a musical person. You ought to get a song in your mouth, because the Bible tells this. And even if you just took this one thing from the sermon, and I preached about this a little bit on Sunday, but take the hymnal home with you. If you don't have one of these hymnals, take it home with you. Of course, it's available. We don't sell anything. It's not a house of merchandise. If you need a hymnal, take it home. If you would just get that hymnal and sing those songs throughout the week instead of listening to music, that right there will dramatically change your Christianity. It'll change everything about your life, honestly. It'll change your attitude. If you're on your way to work and you're having a bad attitude, if you sing these songs, the songs are uplifting. And they're uplifting because they mean something. These old hymns that we sing, they have meaning, they have depth, they have doctrine, they have Bible truths in them that are life-changing. That's what we ought to be singing, not just on Sunday and Wednesday, but all throughout the week. Instead of just pumping our mind with whatever Britney Spears or whatever has come out with, whatever the popular music is, get the new song in your mouth. And it says, Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Look at verse number 4, it says, Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Now that sounds great, but look at the next part of the verse. And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Now isn't it true that in today's world you're told to respect everybody? Isn't that true? Respect everybody. You don't have to agree with everybody, but you do have to respect everybody, right? You know, they say, Hey, respect all religion. You know, you may not agree with it, but respect all religion. Is that what this verse says? Let's read it. It says, and I hope I'm not undermining any of the community college teaching here. I'm just kidding. Anyway, actually I hope I am undermining it. It says here in verse number 4, Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. You know, should we respect a lying religion? No. He says if you want to be blessed by God, you won't respect lies. You know, you won't respect the proud. You won't, and you know what? Pride is really Satan's main tool. I mean, it's really the tool that he uses to keep people in false religion, because pride is man working his own way to heaven, and that's what every religion in this world is based upon, except Bible Christianity. It's based on work your own way to heaven. I turned from my sin. You know, I repented of my sin. I got baptized, and I joined the church, and I'm living again. That's why I'm going to heaven. God said that salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast. I mean, what do prideful people do? They boast. Boasting me bragging. And if it were by our own works or goodness that we go to heaven, you could brag and say, Well, I'm going to heaven because I did this. When the Bible says no, it's by faith. It's the gift of God. I mean, there's nothing to brag about if somebody gives you a gift, right? I mean, if you think about it, it's not really anything that you did. I mean, they were the one who was generous. They're the one who gave you the gift. Jesus is the one who died on the cross. Just because we received the gift, you know, that's humility to say, Well, hey, I'm a sinner. I deserve to go to hell. I don't deserve to go to heaven. Jesus gave me salvation freely. That's the only reason I'm going. It's not because I'm righteous, because the Bible says there is none righteous. It's not because I do good, because there is none that do what good, the Bible says. It's through Jesus. But pride says, Well, I'm going to earn it myself. I'm going because I'm this, or because I'm doing this, or I do this, or I've been baptized, or whatever it is that you think is going to get you there if you're not saved. It's pride. I don't respect a prideful religion that's based on a man working his own way to heaven. I don't respect lies. I mean, look, do you think I respect murder? Do you think I respect adultery? Do you think I respect all the sin and everything that's ungodly? I don't. You know, and we're conscious. Respect everything. Respect it. Where did that come from? Where's that in the Bible? You know, just because that's a trendy thing, or just because that's the way, you know, we're taught to think, that's not the way I think. This is where I'm taught to think, right? And it says, You know what? There's nothing respected about a lie. The truth is what we ought to respect. I respect the truth. Let's lift up and elevate the truth. And not just say, Oh, you know, I remember I went rafting, and we had the guide, you know, on the rafting trip, and they tell you all the cultural, you know, stuff, and they were basically telling us these stories about, they were saying the Native American beliefs of this area we're rafting through, and this guy is just telling it to us like it made sense, or like it was backed by this kid. He jumped in the water, and he turned into a snake, and then, you know, and then he was like a snake for a while, and then he went back to the tribe, and then, you know, it was just like all this made-up stuff. I don't respect, I don't think that's cool, you know, because the sad thing is there are people who actually believe that. You know, there are people who actually believe that the earth was formed on the back of a turtle, and there was a big rooster, and all this, you know, in the Navajo tradition. There's been, you know, I don't respect that. Well, you know, that's just as valid as the Bible. No, it's not. Because the Bible's true, and that's a lie. And so you say, you need to be more respectful of the roses. No. If it's true, I'll respect it. If it's a lie, I'll disrespect it. Period. You know, and whether people like that or not, that's what the Bible says. You know, and look, the Bible is the rock. The Bible is the truth. If someone else is going to say something that just totally contradicts and goes against the Bible, you know, I'm not going to say, well, I respect that. You know, I'll be polite. You know, I mean, I didn't say anything negative to that tour guide. I just kind of laughed and said, yeah, that's interesting. It's funny. Like, you don't think that's real, do you? But it's like, but the thing is, I don't respect it. I don't think, well, you know, they've got a point with that rooster thing. You know, it makes sense. But anyway, it says, Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respect not the proud, nor such as turns out. Now look, when you look at the Bible, the way things are worded is very important. Because it doesn't say, like, blessed is the man that trusted the Lord. Look very carefully about the way this is worded. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Now the reason that the sentence is in that order is because he's saying, look, everybody makes something their trust, if you think about it. I mean, everybody trusts someone. Everybody believes in something. And it's saying, blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Instead of, you know, well, you just trust the Bible? Yes. What am I supposed to trust? You know, the Quran? Am I supposed to trust the university with the devil as their mascot? You know, Devil State University over here in Tempe? You know, is that who I'm supposed to trust? Somebody who wears a t-shirt with the devil on it and says, like, this is higher learning? This is education? This is the truth? You know, who am I supposed to trust? You? You know, who am I supposed to trust? TV? Because everything on TV is true, right? The new CNN, you know, because it's fair and balanced. Or who's the one that says it's fair and balanced? Fox News. Fox News, you know, fair and balanced. Is that who I'm supposed to trust? You know, everybody... Oh, I don't trust anyone. You know, it's like, yes you do. Everybody believes in something. You know, and many people are just trusting themselves. And you know what the Bible says? Who so trusteth in his own heart is a fool. You know, that's what the Bible says. And so my trust is in the Lord. My trust is in God's Word. My trust is in the rock of my salvation, Jesus Christ. Where's your trust tonight? Who do you trust? You know, a church, a religion? I hope you don't trust me. Because it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. I don't trust you. You know, the only person I trust is the Lord. God, that's the only one that you can trust. That's why he says blessed is the man, and it's important the way it's worded. Okay, blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Okay, that's where his trust is. He says, and respected not the proud, nor such as turn aside to life. Verse 5, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us' worth. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak them, they are more than can be numbered. Now, this verse kind of goes hand in hand. Go to the end of the chapter. That's verse 5, but if you would, jump down to verse number 17. It says this, but I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. You know, even though in the scheme of things, you know, let's say there are 7 billion people approximately in this world, God still cares about us on an individual basis, according to this verse, because it says in verse 5, many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us' worth. Now, keep your finger here and go to Psalm 139. Just flip over to chapter 139. You're in Psalm 40. Just flip over to Psalm 139, and look what the Bible says in Psalm 139. It says in verse number 13, it says, for thou hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, yet there was none of them. Look at verse 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. So according to the Bible, God's thoughts toward us are more than the number of the sand by the sea. I mean, God can somehow, even though there are seven billion people in this world, you know, He basically can think about you all the time. He can focus on you. And in a way, it's almost like, to Him, it's like the world is revolving around you. I mean, He basically deals with you in such a way as if you were the only person that mattered, in that He can think about you 24 hours a day, personally, because He's God. And so He's able to deal with you on an individual basis. It's not that He's just a distant God who just doesn't care, doesn't know what's going on. I mean, God is looking down upon you. He knows everything you're doing. He knows if you prayed Him, even if you just pray silently in your mind, or just say a quick prayer, or just ask Him something or tell Him something, I mean, He hears you. He's there all the time. He's thinking about you. I mean, isn't that an amazing thought in and of itself? I mean, there are going to be seven billion people in the world, and not even the people. I mean, the Bible says that God is the one who feeds the sparrow, and God's the one who's controlling the animal kingdom. And so how is it that God can do all this? And even with the whole universe, which who knows how big it is, you know, and all the different creation that He has and that He maintains, He can still look down and see you and care about you. That's why David said, What is man? He said, When I consider the heavens, you know, when I look at the stars and the constellations, what is man that thou art mindful of him? You know, what are the son of man thou visitest to him? Like, why do you even care about me? But yet God does love us. God does care about us. I mean, God created man to have fellowship with himself. And so God's thoughts are toward us all the time. He says in verse number six of Psalm 40, as we move through the chapter, Sacrifice an offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Keep your finger here in Psalm 40. Let's go to the New Testament, Hebrews chapter 10, where this is quoted, because Hebrews 10 quotes this. And a lot of times, things in the Old Testament are usually a little bit more unclear in the Bible because of the fact that, obviously, people who were in the Old Testament time had less information than we have today. You know, Jesus Christ had not yet come. I mean, there were a lot of prophecies pointing toward Jesus Christ, but they didn't know exactly what all those meant. The New Testament is much clearer and actually explains the Old Testament. That's why the New Testament quotes the Old Testament so much, because it takes Old Testament scripture. It doesn't negate the Old Testament. You know, Jesus said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy but to fulfill. So nothing in the New Testament negates the Old Testament. It basically just explains and clarifies and gives more depth of meaning. And so here we read something in Psalm 40. You don't get a real clear meaning right away, okay? You get a little bit of an understanding, but when you get into Hebrews chapter 10, it is explicitly laid out what Psalm 40 means. And that's why you should always use the New Testament to interpret the Old Testament. You know, the New Testament is shit. Maybe interpret's not the best word to cast light upon the Old Testament and expose a little more what it means. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 where this quote from Psalm 40 is. It says in verse number 3, we'll start, we really could read the whole chapter, but we'll just read the most applicable part. Verse 3, but in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Talking about the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, where they would kill a lamb, they would kill a goat, they would kill a calf and so forth. It says here, for it is not possible, get this in verse number 4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Now, there are even some people today who believe that people were saved in the Old Testament because they offered an animal as a sacrifice. It's not possible to be saved through this. It never was. It's not possible today. That's not what salvation is. He explains that it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, the context here, he is Jesus. When Jesus Christ cometh into the world, he is saved. Here's the quote from Psalm 40. Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not, but a body has thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. This is all an exact quote of Psalm 40. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings for sin, thou wouldst not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. And he says in verse number 11, and here's a key verse. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, speaking of Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And so look, the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. The Bible says, once for all, that was the atonement, that is salvation. It's one time through Jesus Christ, and we only have to receive salvation one time by believing on Jesus Christ. Because it says, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's past tense. Half perfected forever. Them that are sanctified. Past tense. I'm saved. And then notice the D on the end. Saved. Because it's past tense. Because it's done. I'm not being saved. You know, and this is part of the reason why we're King James version only here. Because a lot of new Bibles will attack this doctrine. Help me out with this for a second. All right. Help me out with this, Brett. 1 Corinthians 1.18. A lot of people will try to make salvation a process. And it's not a process. It's once for all. It's you're saved. He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Look at 1 Corinthians 1.18. I don't know if I told you to turn there. 1 Corinthians 1.18. We're done in Hebrews 10. But 1 Corinthians 1.18. Great verse in the Bible here. 1 Corinthians 1.18. It says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. You know, the unsaved person hears preaching from the Bible. Preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the cross. And it's foolishness to them. You know, they laugh at it. Of course, the Bible says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. But then the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world. You know, it's just two different, it's two totally different worlds here, apart. One is the spiritual and one is the natural man. But he says here, 1 Corinthians 1.18, he says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are what? Saved. Saved is the power of God. Okay, now the new King James, what does the new King James say? The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power of God. Okay, so notice what the new King, you know, new and improved, these and those, you know, and it's saying now, those of us who are being saved, you know, instead of just a one time, hey, we're saved, you know, we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're saved. He said these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, you already have eternal life, you're already saved. The new King James, you're being saved. Okay, because the new King James is not, it's not the new King James, because King James has been dead for a long time and they didn't dig up his grave and he didn't sign it with his dead hand. Okay, the King James Bible is the King James Bible and the new King James is a corrupted perversion of the King James Bible. Read the most popular, you know, the new modern, cool new, you know, if you go to the Christian bookstore, this is what they'll sell you, the NIV. Okay, go ahead and read that version. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved is the power of God. Okay, same thing. And notice, isn't it funny how the new King James is just like the NIV? Why don't they just call it the old NIV? You know? But they attached King James Version to it to try to deceive the believer. I remember how many times I've had people come to our church or I win somebody to Christ and tell them, you know, be sure when you get a Bible that you get the King James Bible and then they come back with the new King James. Oh, this is what the lady in the store told me that I'm too stupid to understand the other one so I need this new King James. You know? It's like, look, get over the these and the thows. It means you, okay? You know what I mean? Just get over it. Thou means you. Now you just open up a whole world of a whole Bible. You know? It's nothing easier to understand. It's just wrong. It's just different. It's just a different book. But anyway, I don't want to spend too much time on that, but I said on my finger in Hebrews 10, but back in Psalm 40, where that quote came from, he talks about the fact that, you know, it's not the sacrifice and the offering of the Old Testament. That was just a picture of Jesus Christ, okay? Salvation's only been ever through the blood of Jesus, okay? It's not through any animals or anything like that. But he continues to speak along the same lines here. He says, I'd like to be thy will of God. And at the end of verse 8, he says this statement, Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, you've heard the term learning something by heart, right? And this concept is found throughout the Bible. It's funny because it mentions it in Psalm 40. He mentions the same thing in Hebrews 10 right after, when he says, I will put, you don't have to turn there, but he says, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. David said, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Okay. And so when you have God's word in your heart, that helps you to do right. And so this is memorizing the Bible. And by the way, this is a lost art among Christians. Memorizing the Bible. But we need to get back to having God's word in our heart. You see, today, you know, people basically, they want the shortcut to everything. They don't want to work for anything. And it's funny, when we go about soul winning, I'll tell you what's going to make you ten times better of a soul winner, is memorizing God's word. You know, because sometimes, you know, so many times, you're fumbling trying to find, I always turn the pages and show people in the Bible. But you know what, I haven't memorized anyway. You know, you really ought to have memorized. I remember when Brother David started, so I remember telling him. You know, you got to memorize this. And he went through and memorized the verses. You know, because you want to know it. You want to have it in your heart. And not just memorizing the plan of salvation, but if you have a particular sin that you're struggling with, David said, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Memorize your own that specific sin. You know, whatever the sin may be. If you have a problem with, you know, if you look upon a woman with lust, you could memorize a verse like where Jesus said, Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. You know, and you could memorize other verses that say, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. Whatever the sin is, whatever it is, if it's lying, you could memorize verses about telling the truth. That will help you not to sin. Let's say you have a problem with smoking. You know, and you want to stop, you know, you could remove the pack of cigarettes from your pocket and put a New Testament there, or flashcards of memory verses, and memorize verses like that say, you know, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. You know, and to glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Verses about being clean and taking care of yourself. Okay, and that could help you overcome that sin in your life. There are all kinds of verses that I have memorized just for that exact purpose. To help in times of temptation. Okay, but not only that, memorizing the Bible is one of the best ways to learn the Bible. Because when you're meditating upon it, sometimes when you're reading the Bible, and I'm all for reading the Bible a lot, and you ought to read the Bible cover to cover, many, many times, at least once a year, even if you're just a new Christian, just read it once a year cover to cover. It's about 15 minutes a day. You'll be through it cover to cover in one year. And if you've never read the Bible cover to cover, can you really say that you know what the Bible says? Or you could really just say, well, I know what I heard in church. But unless you've read the book cover to cover yourself, only then do you really know what's in the Bible. And if you read it for 15 minutes a day, it'll take one year. We have all kinds of charts and everything for how you can do that and check it off and so forth. It's about four chapters a day. And so, reading through the Bible cover to cover is great, but when you memorize a chapter of the Bible, you're focused. You're saying over and over. In order to memorize a chapter of the Bible, you have to go through that chapter hundreds of times in your mind. And anybody can do it. My son, when he was five years old, memorized the entire book of Ecclesiastes 12 chapters long and quoted it back to us without making a mistake. At age five. And you say, oh, it's easy for kids. It's easy for looking. That's just an excuse of why you don't want to do the work that it takes to memorize. And people will look at somebody who has a lot of Bible memorized and say, oh, you're talent. It's not talent. It's work. I'm sure there are some people in this world that can memorize the phone book and they're in the Guinness Book of World Records and all that. But you know what? I don't know anybody like that. I know people who can memorize better than others, but I don't know anybody. Do you know anybody like that that has a photographic memory where they can just recite to you the first few pages of the phone book and all this kind of stuff? But it's just work. But the good thing is that the work that it takes to memorize the Bible is part of the blessing of memorizing the Bible as you're learning it. As you're going through it, you're learning. As you're memorizing it, you're just quoting it over and over. You're learning. You're learning. And you get to the point where you have a lot of Bible memorized, it's just coming into your mind all the time. And especially if you want to preach, it'll revolutionize the way that you preach. Because when you're preaching, you'll just be preaching along. Verses are popping into your mind. chapters are popping into your mind. And you don't have to say, oh, let me turn. Where was that? It's in your mind. Nobody can ever take the Bible away from me If someone were to take the Bible from me and kidnap me or put me in jail, you'd probably think it'd be crazy that I would ever go to jail. Oh, yeah, I already went to jail. But anyway, and you say, what would you do if you're in jail and they won't give you the Bible? I don't need the Bible. Because I have the Bible, not the whole Bible, but I have a lot of the Bible memorized. I'd be quoting through hundreds of chapters. And the first thought that I had the one time that I went to jail was literally just the first thinking in my mind, man, I wish I could memorize more Bible. And I started quoting through what I knew, started going through it, started going through it. What else do you have that cannot be taken away from you besides what's in your heart? Everything else in this world can be taken from you if you think about it. Everything you own can be taken from you. But no one can take away your heart. No one can take away what's inside you. And that's why if you memorize the Bible, it's always with you. Plus, you know, sometimes I just don't have the Bible with me and I want to give someone the Gospel. I can give them the Gospel because I have the verses memorized and I can tell them, hey, I don't have to show you the Bible, I can just tell you. Romans 3.23 says. Romans 6.23 says. John 3.16 says. John 3.18 says. Memorize it. Then it's always with you. Or sometimes you go to talk to somebody and you start to open the Bible and they're kind of like, oh, I know. But sometimes if you just verbally give them the Bible, it's like they don't realize what you're doing, right? They don't realize what you're doing. They don't realize what you're doing, right? No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, you know, you can quote them the Bible and just, you're bored, you're standing in line at the post office or DMV or something like that. You know, you can just quote through the Bible. I mean, it's always with you. And so, I would encourage you to memorize the Bible. Anybody can do it. Start small, but get God's word in your heart. You know, start out with just individual verses. Start with the plan of salvation to get people saved. Start with verses about sins that you deal with. Then pick a really short chapter and try to do your first chapter. You know, then pick a really short book to try to memorize your first book of the Bible. You know, and you can do it. It's possible. I remember when I was a teenager, somebody said to me, you know, that someone had Psalm 119 memorized, which is the longest chapter in the Bible. And I was like, man, can that even be done? Is that even possible? You know? And then my wife, my wife about five years ago showed me a link on the Internet that said, And I was like, there's no way. It's not even possible to memorize the entire New Testament of the Bible. But then I sat down and started looking at it and saying, this is very possible. You know, we have these barriers in our mind that this attitude like it can't be done when in reality it can be done. You know, if you learned one verse a day, think about this. One verse a day for one year. That's 365 verses. Just one verse a day. In a year, you'd have the entire book of Hebrews memorized, and you could also have the entire book of Titus memorized in that time. That's pretty amazing, right? You have Hebrews and Titus memorized. One verse a day. You know, and to memorize the New Testament in five years is five verses a day. You know, so it's not even that extreme and you just have to, you know, go over what you've learned. There's a system to do that. You know, you want to memorize 404 verses. So, it's just going to take you a year and two months, even if you just learned one verse a day. You know what I mean? It's doable if we would do the work. You know, if we would put in the effort and the time to do it. And the benefits are amazing of memorizing the Bible. It'll revolutionize your life. And so, give God's word in your heart, but let me move on from that. He said in verse nine, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord. Thou knowest, I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Now, notice the words that are used here. He uses the word hid. Well, first in verse nine, he said refrained. Second, he said hid. Then he said, I've declared it. He said, I've not concealed it. He said, I've not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserved. So many people today are holding back. And he's saying, look, I haven't held back thy salvation from the unsaved. You know, and a lot of times people think that, you know, well, I'm not going out and getting people saved, but, you know, I'm still doing what I'm supposed to do. I'm still a Christian. But hold on. This is what Jesus said. He that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. And so, according to the Bible, if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, and you're not bringing people to Jesus Christ, if you're not preaching the gospel to every creature like he commanded, it's not that you're just neutral, like, well, I'm just not really doing anything. According to the Bible, you're actually part of the problem. I think it was Winston Churchill who was famous for saying, like, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. But you know what? He was really just trying to just rip off what Jesus said, which is, if you're not with me, you're against me, and if you gather not with me, you're scattering abroad. And so, we ought to take that seriously and say, hey, am I furthering the cause of Christ? Am I furthering the gospel? Or am I actually hindering the gospel? Am I actually part of the reason why people are getting saved? It's not just that you're not doing something bonus, some great thing by giving someone the gospel. He says, no, you're reframing. You're hiding the gospel. He said, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, whom the God of this world has blinded, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in and that they be saved. And so, don't hide, you know, you remember the song light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. You know, hide it under a bushel. No! You know, does anybody know that song? Yeah, okay, yeah, a few people have. You know, if you grow up in Sunday school at church, they sing that song. You're hiding it, okay, if you're not preaching it, you're hiding it. And especially if you're a pastor of a church like I am. You know, it'd be very easy for me to refrain from preaching certain parts of the Bible, right? And guess what, that's the difference anyway, because they're not reading the whole Bible. So if I just got up and just preached all the parts that I wanted, and just preached all the parts that you want to hear, you know what, it'd be very easy for me to do that, but you know what, it's wrong. Paul said, I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. You know, it's not my job, or any preacher's job, and you young guys who one day are going to preach and pastor, it's not your job to decide what part of the Bible needs to be preached and what part doesn't. It's just, preach the Word. You know, who are we to stand in judgment of God and say, well, I don't think this part is really appropriate. You know, it's like, who are you? You know, who am I? Who is Pastor Stephen L. Anderson to decide and to stand in judgment of God's Word? Well, I don't think that God should have used that word. You know, I've literally sat in church and heard a preacher censor the Bible. Like, he changed the word, because the word is like bastard. You know, and he's just like, he just inserted a different word. You know, who do you think you are? I mean, if that's what the Bible says, if that's what God wants to say, just because Tipper Gore told you that's a bad word, you know, if that's what the Bible says, just say what the Bible says. And then they try to censor it and water it down, and you know, we don't want to say, hell, you know, or damn, you know, because somebody told you that that's a bad word. Hey, the Bible says that's a bad word. And you're going to sit there and say, well, you know, that's not really for children. Look, I hope that my children grow up with every word that's in this book, man. And think about the garbage that's being crammed on kids' throats today anyway. The first book they read is like a book on witchcraft. Harry Potter, I mean, what age are they giving that kid to kids at? Answer me. Elementary. Elementary. It's elementary, isn't it? Yeah, it's elementary school. Elementary. You know, here, read this witchcraft, but don't, you know, don't go to church and hear about, you know, the word bastard, or damn, you know, that's not appropriate, you know. It's not suitable for young little ears. You know, I thank God that I grew up on this book and these kids are growing up on this book and this is what they need. Not Harry Potter Witchcraft Manual. Not The Lion, Lord of the Rings. It's all this like satanic, sorcery, witchcraft, voodoo, that's crammed in. I mean, that's like the three most popular books among kids. It's all about witchcraft and casting spells and the demons and there's the white magic and the black magic and the force be with you. I mean, that's what it's all about. And then they're going to censor the Bible and they go home and watch whatever on TV. Look, I don't decide what's right and wrong on some parental advisory label. This is what tells me what's right and wrong in this book. And you know, I'm surprised there's not an advisory on the front of this Bible. Maybe it's just an old Bible. But you know, I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow I went to the store and it's like, warning, explicit language. Warning, this book contains explicit content. You know, warning, you know, the word hate is used in this book. Warning, you know, when you bring it up to the register. Like, you know, there's 10% sales tax and then there's a hate tax. You know, I'm surprised you don't have to pay the hate. You know what I mean? You gotta pay because it talks about hell, you know. You gotta pay a penalty on it. You know, it's gotta have the little, it's like, it's right next to the new album from like Dr. Dre with like a parental advisory on it. You know what I mean? I mean, and just not care and just preach what it says. You know what I mean? And if you're not gonna get up and just preach everything that it says, then you have no right to be a preacher. And I don't care what degrees are behind your name or who ordained you or put you in a stupid robe and maybe that's a dress. You know, call it what it is. I'm wearing a pair of pants right now and I'm here to tell you I'm gonna preach what this book says all of it and I don't care what anybody says. We don't need any more watered down, sissified, queer little preachers. I'm sick of it. We don't need any more. We have enough. But what we need is some more hair-legged man to stand up and say, not say it the more and just preach everything in the book from cover to cover. You know? And look, if I wanted it to be censored or cut up, hey, I wouldn't go to an independent fundamental Baptist church. I come to an independent fundamental Baptist church because I want to hear the whole thing. Look, I'm the type of person when I buy a book, I don't buy a bridge. Is anybody else like that? Put a brand new like that. I never buy a book that says a bridge. I don't want a bridge. I want the whole thing. You know, I don't want somebody deciding what part they're gonna give me. I want to get the whole thing. You know, I want the original. I don't want one that's been cut down and tailored, altered. Look, if we come to church, let's just get the whole thing. That's what this church says. The good, the bad, and the ugly. That's what I say. And you know what? If it's God's word, it's all good. The Bible says every word of God is pure. He's a sheila and this book is more pure than anything that you've ever seen, my friend. And so this is what we ought to have as the standard. Not man as the standard. God's word is the standard. And so don't withhold it. First of all, don't withhold the gospel from your loved ones. You know, don't hide the gospel from those that you work with because if you don't, if you're not, you're hiding it. You're refraining it. You're burying it. But not only that, if you're going to preach, and you know, not everybody's going to preach, right? Not everybody's going to pastor a church. That's not everybody's calling life. But if you're going to preach, you better decide to get this straight. Like you know what? One day, and I decided this long before I started church. I mean long ago as a teenage boy sitting in the pew, I said, you know what? When I get up and preach, I'm not holding anything back. I'm like, oh man, you know, the visitors here or whatever, you know, right above. Or like, oh man, you know, the rich deacon is guilty of this and I'm going to lose that offering. You know what? I just sat there and for years and years I just decided like when I get up there I'm going to preach it all. Amen. And if that's not what you're thinking right now, then don't ever, do us all a favor and don't ever get behind this pulpit or any other pulpit if that's not the truth and love. Try to be as civil and gentle as you can be without trimming the message, without cutting it down. That's what it is. You know, our goal is to be at peace with all men, but we've got to preach it like it is. Let's hurry up and quick, keep reading here. We're running a long time here, but He said, withhold not thou tender mercies from me, O Lord. So basically He's saying, look God, I didn't withhold the truth. I didn't withhold the gospel. I haven't held anything back. And so therefore, God, you know, don't withhold your love and kindness from me. See how it's a two-way street with God. He says, look, I didn't hold back as a preacher. I didn't hold back to God. So please don't withhold anything good from me. Let thy love and kindness and thy truth continue to preserve me. Verse 12, we already touched on this verse, but for innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart shall be healed. Verse 13, be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that stand in me. Aha. Aha. Now is that a blessing or a curse right there that he's wishing about? It's negative. I mean, he's saying, look, these wicked people that are out to get me, he says, Help me out. God save me from these people. Okay? And I don't want to spend time on that just because... Good night. We're on Psalm 40. So for the last 39 weeks, we've been through Psalm after Psalm, and how many times was David praying these kind of so-called imprecatory prayers? You know, so there's no reason to go through it again. You know, if you've been here, you know what it's about. Good night. Look at verse 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love by salvation think continually. Is that what it says? No. It says, Let such as love by salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. You know, we ought to open our mouth and praise God. We talked about it earlier with singing songs, with singing a new song in our mouth. But also, just in our speech, we should constantly be opening our mouth and preaching salvation and praising God for his salvation, thanking God, and magnifying the Lord with our mouth, lifting him up, you know, glorifying him. He says in verse 17, But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Remember, thou means you. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, oh my God. Who do we look to for help? Who do we look to for deliverance? You know, really, there are a lot of people that can help you, and I've had people help me in my life, and I really appreciate it. You know, a real friend. I mean, most friends are a fair-weather friend, and believe me, I know what it is to be a fair-weather friend. I've had a lot of people when things have gone wrong for me who've turned on me, and I thank God for good friends who have stood up for me even when it was not popular or even when it could harm their reputation or whatever. You know, that's what a real friend is. I mean, this is like something that you should have figured out in junior high. You know, as soon as you're not popular, then everybody gets away from you, you know, because they don't want to be in the... When I was a kid, it was called the nerd herd. You know, like you didn't want to be in it. There was two groups. There were literally two groups. There was the cool group. This is literally what it was called. You were either in the cool group or you were in the nerd herd. You know, and guess what? You start talking to people from the nerd herd, people are going to start thinking, you're in the nerd herd. Okay? But you know what? When it comes to preachers, okay, I'm probably in the nerd herd. You know what I mean? Like I'm on Baptist. I'm not in the cool group. I'm definitely not in the cool group. Maybe I was just that kid that's kind of sitting off by himself. You know what I mean? Like, I'm in the spiritual nerd herd of Baptist. You know, of Christianity, of fundamentalism. And by the way, you're never going to be popular if you're doing the right thing, by the way. You know, I think they nailed Jesus to the cross, didn't they? They crucified him. Didn't they stone Stephen? And my name is Stephen. Okay? And there you go. But the thing is, my parents prophesied that when they named me that, apparently. But the point is that, you know, wouldn't you hate it if you somehow found yourself in the nerd herd, you know, whether spiritually or economically or whatever, and all of a sudden your friends don't want to know you anymore? And you've had friends like that. Soon as you don't have anything to offer, soon as you're not fun anymore, they don't want to know you. They don't want to be around you. Hey, thank God for good friends that will be with you and help you. You know, and I've helped a lot of people out in my day, and you know what? I thank God a lot of people have helped me out. People have helped me out when I was in need. I mean, I can stand up here and recite for you people who've helped me when I needed help. You know? And I've tried to help others. But at the end of the day, really, the one person that you can really rely on to help you is just God. Because sometimes you come to a point in your life where everybody forsakes you. Or where you just can't get the help. People can't help you. Only God can help you. I mean, you look at the characters of the Bible. I mean, we're not going to go through it, but we could go through one story in the Bible. People who got to a point where it was just them. You know, you think of Elijah, you could think of the apostle Paul, where everybody forsook him and it was just them. So you've got to rely supremely on God as your help and your deliverer. People that you can rely upon. The Bible talks a lot about that. People that you can fall back on. People that you can rely on. And that's why, you know what, that's why I would get my friends from good godly Bible-believing Christians that even know what friendship is. Not just from, oh, you like Super Nintendo? So do I. You know, that's like what friendship is based upon today. Oh, we both listen, you know, we're both into, you know, techno music, you know, cool or whatever. We're both into country line dancing. You know, and it's just, you just find these friends just based upon really shallow reasons. You know, it's good to have a common interest with your friends. Not that I'm into any of those things, but, necessarily, but, you know, the bottom line is I want to have friends where my friendship with those people goes a little deeper than that. And I thank God I have some friends like that. And that's really the only kind of friendship I'm interested in. You know, somebody who's going to be my friend, who's going to stick up for me, and I'm going to stick up for them, and if I need help, they're going to help me out. And I'll help them out. That's what a friend, it's about being a friend, not about having a friend. The Bible says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I mean, you can have a friend in your life that will stick closer to you than your brother. And God tells you, you know, friends are great. And, you know, we ought to have people that are godly people who are going to really love us and stand up for us and be our friend and we can rely upon them and they'll bail us out. You know, literally bail us out. You know what I mean? Whatever. You found that out. After, you know, we heard that you were in jail, we bailed you out, brother. And it's funny, because I told him, I said we're going to come up with a new slogan for our church after he got bailed out. I was like, you know, the church that bails you out. Amen. Amen. But the bottom line is, God's really the one who's going to give you that final bailout. And now, you know, the word bailout is kind of a rude term. I'm getting into all kinds of strange areas right here, you know. I'm not talking about getting bailed out of jail. I'm not talking about the banker bailout, okay? I'm just talking about figuratively speaking, be bailed out, okay? God's the one that has to bail you out in the end, at the end of the day. It's good to have great friends and have friends that are Christlike. They're the ones that will bail you out in every sense of the word. But God is the one that's really the final deliverer, you know what I mean? And that's who you want to have on your side. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and we thank you for salvation. I thank God that salvation is not through me because otherwise I wouldn't even be going. I'm not good enough. But Father, I thank you for giving us salvation through your blood, and I thank you so much for the Bible to be a rock on which I could found what I believe, what I can found, my parenting, my marriage, my business, whatever I do in life, I don't have to wonder if I'm doing right. I can just open the Bible and verify whether what I'm doing is right. Thank you for the rock of our salvation. Please, Father, just help us to rely upon you, not to trust in man, not even to trust Pastor Anderson or any other past. Help us to just rely upon you and your word. You know, that's how we got saved, but help us to live that way also, dear God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.