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I'm going to show you how to do it. Good evening, welcome to Faith Word Baptist Church. Take your seats, we'll get started. Turn in your song books to song number 89, Does Jesus Care? Song number 89. Song number 89. Song number 89. Song number 89. He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I try and fail? Did He take my temptation strong? If I be grieved by my own belief, Oh, my tears flow all the night long. Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Does Jesus care when I say goodbye To the dearest on earth to be? And I send our praise till the weary breaks, It ought to end as He sings. Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Singing about the name. Till it's softly slowly says the hearts of praise. Jesus singing of plenty. Wishing all our saves. Jesus in a feeling long for all our pains. Jesus in a fullness making powers that in the battle certainly the same. Jesus name of victory. Stretching far away. Right across her four fields to the plains of day. Jesus be our joy and hope in this veil of seers. Till we reach the home there in eternal years. We're going to do one more song. Song number 93. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Song number 93. Song 93. Art thou weary? Art thou languid? Art thou sore distressed? Come to me strength one and love me at rest. Have the arts to lead me to him. He'll be my guide. If his feet and hands are wound transmit his sight. Is there die again as honor gathers round the doors? May God round his very shirty but unharmed arms. If I ask you to receive me gladly, safely, then God will lead away. Finding, calling, keeping, struggling, is he sure to bless? Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, cancer, yes. We'll read the entire chapter. Follow along silently with brother Hester as he reads. Psalm 59, beginning in verse number 1. Psalm 59, the Bible reads, Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. From them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. For lo, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord. They run and prepare themselves without my fault. Awake to help me and behold. Therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, Silah. They return at evening. They make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. For who, say they, doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget. Scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath. Consume them that they may not be and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth, Silah. And at evening, let them return and let them make a noise like a dog and go around about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. For thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing. For God is my defense and is the God of my mercy. Brother Child. Lord, we thank you that we gather here today to hear your word. Lord, I ask that you would fill Pastor Anderson with your spirit and open our hearts and soften our ears and soften our hearts so that we can hear your word in Jesus' name. Amen. Man, Psalm 59, beginning in verse 1, the Bible reads, Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. Defend me from them that rise up against me. Now, it might seem that I'm a little bit repetitive. You know, on Wednesday nights, I just keep preaching about enemies and being surrounded and attacked and backstabbed. But it's not me that's being repetitive. It's the Bible that's being repetitive. I mean, week after week, we've been in Psalms. Hasn't it been over the last few months, just week after week after week? This is the subject in this portion of Psalms. When you're in the 50s of Psalms and even a lot of the 40s, this is what you're dealing with. And I think one of the things that we can learn from this is that if we serve the Lord, our life is going to be filled with battles and we're going to have enemies. Otherwise, if God gives us a Psalm book with 150 Psalms in it, why do so many of them say, Deliver me from my enemies? Wipe these people out. Destroy these people. Consume them. Why? Because it's something that we're going to have to deal with. It's life, right? Look what he says. Deliver me from my enemies, oh my God. Defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. And again in this passage, we see that the type of people that he's praying against are not just run-of-the-mill sinners or people that aren't that nice. I mean, these are the worst kind of rotten people because if you study that term, the workers of iniquity in the Bible, this is reserved for the worst scum, the reprobates, the most evil possible people. And also, you can see here that these are violent people because it says in verse number two, Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men. These are bloody men, meaning that they are violent. If you would, go back to Psalm 5. Keep your finger there in Psalm 59. Go back to the beginning of the book of Psalms and look at Psalm chapter 5. The Bible reads in verse 4, For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with thee. Psalm 5, 5. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Watch this. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Now look, God doesn't hate Joe unsaved, because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God only hates people that have gotten so bad, they've gone so far, they've become a reprobate. Okay, this is a special class of people in the Bible where God says that he hates them. God loves not only the saved, but he also loves the lost. But he doesn't love reprobates. There are people that have crossed a line and become so vile and so evil, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. And these people are known as the sons of Belial, or the workers of iniquity, or reprobates. And here he says that God hateth all workers of iniquity in verse 5 there. And then it says, Thou shalt destroy them that speak leezing. The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Abhor is another word for hate. And he says God will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Flip over to Psalm 11, just a couple pages over to the right, and we'll see that it's consistent in Psalm 11, verse 5. It says, The Lord tryeth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. So who does God's soul hate? The one who loves violence, the bloody worker of iniquity, violent, wicked, evil, reprobate people. Go, if you would, to Psalm 59. So that's who we're talking about in Psalm 59. This isn't just someone who isn't very nice, or David doesn't really like them very much, or they're just kind of a bad guy or a jerk. I mean, these people are horrible, super wicked, super evil. And here's what we need to understand. There are people in this world that are just scum. They're just so evil, and there's nothing you can do to fix them. Now, our society in many ways has been brainwashed by Hollywood that there's good in everyone. You know, kind of this little yin yang mentality that, you know, hey, there's a little bit of good and the evil and evil and the good or whatever. Folks, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does now, obviously, every good person has a little bit of evil in them because we're all sinners. But it is not true that well, there's good in everyone, and we can fix everyone, and we can reach everyone. There are people that can't be reached. There are people for whom it is too late. And again, you know, the media and Hollywood and fiction will portray just the worst kind of reprobate scum, you know, getting right in the end. You know, this is a silly illustration, but I think of Darth Vader, you know. I mean, here's a guy who blows up an entire planet. But then it's like, I sense good in him. What is that? It's Hollywood just teaching you that, hey, everybody's got good in them, and these evil horrible people, they can still be reached, he's still going to take off his helmet or whatever. But let me tell you something, no, that's not real life. There are some people that no matter what you say to them, no matter what you do for them, they're not going to get right. And that's why you have to learn when to just shake the dust off your feet and move on. And not just keep beating your head against the wall, casting your pearls before swine. And here, the people that we're talking about, these are not just sinners or unsaved people, these are reprobate, horrible scum. That's why David is praying so harshly. So we don't want to read Psalm 59, we don't want to misunderstand it, and just start praying these kind of prayers, you know, against everybody who does wrong by us. And just start applying this to everybody we don't like. Or everybody who's unsaved just start praying. You know, this is reserved for the worst scum, you got to keep that in mind, okay? So he says, in verse 3, for they lie and wait for my soul, and you'll see why I say that, because he prays some very harsh things against these people in this chapter. For lo, they lie and wait for my soul, the mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord. He's saying, look, I didn't do anything to deserve this, these people are my enemies without a cause. And the Bible tells us in the book of 1 Peter 2 and 4, it talks about how, you know, if we be buffeted for our faults, there's really no glory in that. You know, if we do wrong, and we reap what we sow, if we commit a crime and then we get thrown in jail, there's really no glory in that. But, if we suffer for doing good, this is thank-worthy before God. This is acceptable with God. You know, if we actually do what's right and then get persecuted and punished, then you know what, there's glory in that. God's going to reward that. If we get thrown in prison for preaching the gospel, there's glory in that. If you get thrown in prison because you did shoplifting or sold drugs or something, you know, there's no glory in that. And so, David is saying, look God, I'm not being attacked by these people. I'm not being lied about and slandered because I did something wrong here. It's because these people are wicked people that are attacking me. They hate me without a cause. It's nothing that I've done to deserve this, Lord. And so please intervene and avenge me of my enemies. It's not for my transgression, nor for my sin, oh Lord. They run and prepare themselves without my fault. So they're just in a hurry, they're just trying so hard to find something they can pin on me, some way to assault me, attack me, ruin me, whatever. Awake to help me and behold. Thou therefore, oh Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, Selah. Now that's, those are some strong words. Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. He's saying, don't show any mercy, Lord. Wake up and destroy these people. Now why is he telling God to awake? What does that mean? Is that disrespectful for him to say that? No, because this is actually a metaphor that God uses himself. God talks about awaking out of sleep and judging the heathen and everything. And the reason why is that a lot of times we see wicked people getting away with things. And we see just day after day, month after month, year after year, we see the wicked prosper and it seems like nothing bad's happening and they just prosper. And you could almost get the feeling that God's asleep. Like God, are you asleep at the wheel? Wake up and punish. Now obviously we know that God's not asleep, but we might feel that way. But also stop and think about it. When the apostles were in their time of need in the sea of Galilee, Jesus was literally asleep in the bottom of the ship. But he woke up and he fixed everything, right? And what we need to understand is that God is like unto a man that is asleep. There's a metaphor that God uses like that and it talks about how God, when he wakes out of his sleep, is going to wipe these people out. So that's something that God actually says. I believe in the book of Isaiah he talks about that. So that's a concept that he uses as an illustration as well. That sometimes it feels like God is asleep, but we just need to have the faith to know that you know what, when he wakes up, heads will roll. And that is what's going to happen. So we need to be patient and understand that the wicked will not always be punished immediately. Now wouldn't you love it if the wicked just got punished immediately? I mean wouldn't you just love it, just these scum, these Hollywood scum and political scum and they do these horrible things. Wouldn't you just love to see every once in a while just a chasm opening in the earth and they just fall in or something? You know, and you'd love to see God just immediately judge and immediately punish. What you have to understand is that there are many reasons why God doesn't do that. And we want our enemies wiped out today. But there's a reason why God doesn't always do that. Now a few reasons are that number one, the reason God doesn't always do that is because if every time somebody did something super wicked, the earth opened up or you know some kind of a fire broke out or you know it was just immediately a flood or they got struck by lightning or something. You know then there'd be no faith required to serve the Lord because it would just be like well if I push the button the light bulb comes on. You know every time somebody does something wrong they get wiped out then there'd be no faith required. You know God wants us to live by faith and he wants us to do what's right because of what the Bible says. Not because we saw someone get struck by lightning right after they committed some sin. So he doesn't just show us things that plainly because then it'd be too obvious and there'd be no faith required. And without faith it's impossible to please God. That's what the Bible tells us. But secondly, the reason why God doesn't wipe out wicked people is because wicked people on this earth exist ultimately to fulfill the will of God. To fulfill the will of God. Now I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that sin is ever the will of God. Sin is not the will of God. God doesn't desire for any of us to sin or for us to do wickedness. God is not the author of wickedness and evil. You know that's from man's own corrupt heart and his corrupt mind that he does those things. So I don't want you to misunderstand that. Here's what I want you to understand though is that God ultimately allows wicked people to do what they're going to do so that he can fulfill his greater purpose. Now if you're skeptical about what I just said I'll prove it to you. That's why God lets the devil out of hell after the millennial reign of Christ to fulfill his will ultimately. Now how can you argue with that? I mean here he's got the devil. He chains him up and throws him into hell and locks him there for a thousand years. And he can't deceive anyone. He can't hurt anyone. Now if we were making the rules, if we were in charge we're thinking leave him there. Just leave him there. But God purposely opens the jail lets the devil out of hell so that he can go out and deceive everyone. Now God's not a deceiver but God allows the devil to come out of hell and deceive people so that ultimately his will can be done. Now why would it be God's will for the devil to be left out of hell? Well because the devil is acting as a trash collector. God wants to remove from his kingdom all things that are wicked and that offend and so he uses the devil to corral them. Now he also does this before the millennium because if you study the book of Revelation when the vials are being poured out and the sea of Euphrates is dried up and the armies are coming from the east and everything. If you remember there are three unclean spirits like frogs that come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophets. And these three unclean spirits the Bible says are the spirits of devils working miracles to go forth and deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth. He's trying to gather them together to battle so God allows these three unclean spirits to go throughout the earth convincing people to do what? To make war with Jesus Christ and to come and be gathered at that great battle of Armageddon. So why do all these wicked armies of the Antichrist come to Armageddon? They're gathered there by these three unclean spirits. Look that is the devil acting as a trash collector because he gathers all the trash in one place and then the Lord shows up and wipes them out. And then at the end of the millennium again they're gathered together in one place. Fire comes down from God out of heaven and consumes them. But they are gathered the Bible says gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn. And so we see that the devil acts as a trash collector but let me tell you something wicked people right now act as trash collectors that's why they exist. You know I look at some just horrible preachers in this world false prophets, wicked false teachers and you think why does God even allow these people to exist? Their job is to deceive the wicked. That is why they exist. To gather the trash. To gather them together. Now you may not fully understand that I may not fully understand that but that is the way the world works. And God wants us to have a choice and he wants there to be preachers in this world that are preaching the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ but he also allows there to be these other wicked false prophets. He could just stop their heart beating if he wanted to but he allows them to exist for the same reason that he pulls the devil out of hell at the end of the millennium. They exist to tempt the wicked, collect the trash, deceive those that are wicked people. That's why the devil exists. That's why wicked people exist. I mean God could have just created the Garden of Eden not to have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But he allows that to be there and he allows the serpent to be there. He could have prevented the serpent from entering the garden. But he wanted the serpent to be there. He allowed the serpent to be there so that Adam and Eve could be given a choice. He wants us to go through life choosing to serve him, choosing to love him, having free will, having choices. And as we go through life even when bad people harm us or attack us, lie about us, injure us, steal from us, rob us, assault us, ultimately all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. See if God were to remove all evil from this world we would all become a bunch of spoiled brats and we would all become rotten people. Because it's the bad things in our life, it's the pain and suffering in our life that in many ways have made us who we are and in many ways made us a better person. The Bible says it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might keep thy word. If we would have grown up good looking, athletic, academically successful, talented, everything we touch turns to gold, we would be trash ourselves. I'm telling you, I know myself, I know my heart, hopefully you have enough introspection to know that if you grew up and everything went your way you'd be a real jerk and so would I. I would have been a total jerk. I'd be so arrogant and full of myself and prideful if everything went well for me, but you know what, it's all the bad things that happened to us, all the setbacks, the pain, the suffering, it's all the people that didn't like us and attacked us and harmed us that actually made us humble and made us be able to enjoy the good times because we've gone through the bad times. Because if everything was just good, good, good, we'd be a spoiled brat. What if you just give a kid everything that they want? What if you have a kid and you never make them suffer, they never have to work hard, they never have to wait for anything, they never have to do without anything, they just get what they want, get what they want, you're going to raise a spoiled kid. Well guess what, us grown-ups could get spoiled too if everything is just always being handed to us on a silver platter. We've got to struggle, we've got to fight. And so God allows the wicked to exist in this world so that we have an adversary, so that we have an opponent, so that we have a struggle and a fight so that we can go through those struggles and fights and we can pray to the Lord like David's praying in Psalm 59 and go through these things. This is part of the experience of life. God has us here on this earth yes to evangelize, yes to preach the gospel, yes to do good works, but He also has us here being trained. We're going through life and we're being conformed to the image of Christ and we have to go through trials and tribulations. Even Jesus had to go through trials and tribulations. He had to go out in the wilderness and be tempted of Satan. Is that necessary? You know, it happened, so it must have been necessary. That's what Christ had to do, right? He had to go out in the wilderness, no food, no water, you know, dealing with the devil, dealing with wild beasts, and He had to be out there suffering, going through pain. We're not even talking about the cross yet. I mean, we're just talking about His life. He had to go through hard things in His life. Why? It was just part of the human experience that we all have to go through. We all have to go through periods in the wilderness. We all have to deal with enemies and battles, and look, if you go through life with no battles and no enemies, I don't even think you're even living the Christian life. Now, maybe you're not having any battles and enemies now. Don't feel bad. You know, you just got saved less than a year ago. Don't feel bad, alright? There's a little bit of a breather there, a little bit of a grace period, a little growing room, but let me tell you something. You hang in there, you stay with the work of the Lord, you're in for a fight. There are going to be fights, and listen, the more you do for God, the more enemies, the more pain, and the more fighting. Great, sign me up. It's true, though, but the rewards are worth it. You know, there's joy unspeakable. Keep your finger in Psalm 59. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. You know, if you expect the Christian life to be a picnic, you've been listening to too much Joel Osteen auto-playing at the end of a Pastor Anderson sermon, you know what I mean? It used to be, back in the old days of YouTube, when you finish watching one of my sermons, you'd roll into another sermon from me, or a sermon from another Fundamental Baptist, or a sermon from Pastor Emanism. Now, it just seems like as soon as my sermon ends, you're either watching John MacArthur, Joel Osteen, or, you know, the auto-play just takes you there. You know, some of you have been let that auto-play just keep going. If you think that you're going to go through life, and it's going to be all sunshine and roses, okay, Joel Osteen's not telling you the whole story. He's telling you part of the story. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of sunshine and rainbows. It's going to be, except the rainbows are protesters outside your building, they're going to take you apart. But anyway, you know, there's going to be some unicorns and rainbows in your life, but there's also going to be a lot of pain and suffering that Joel forgot to tell you about. For that, you've got to go to the book of Joel, okay, not Joel Osteen. But anyway, look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, and look at what the Bible says in verse 8 of chapter 4. Now you're full. Now you're rich. You've reigned as kings without us. And God, you did reign. That we also might reign with you. He's saying, man, you guys have had it good. You're living like a king. And you know, we in the United States, in many ways, we literally live like kings used to live. I mean, kings would have loved the climate control that we enjoy. Kings would love the foods and drinks that we take for granted. Produce flown in from South America, you know. We freak out during coronavirus because the shelves are half full. Right? It's like, oh no, they don't have any bread. All they have is English muffins, tortillas, raisin bread, waffles. It's like, oh no, what are we going to do? But let me tell you something, we live in many ways like kings. You think your house is too small? You know what, a lot of people have lived in a lot smaller places throughout history with less climate control, less food, less drink, less amenities, less convenience. We live like kings in many ways in this country. But he says in verse 9, for I think that God has set forth us, the apostles, last. You know, the first shall be last, right? I mean, the apostles are spiritually, you know, the top guys walking the earth. I mean, think about it, if you're living in the first century A.D., I mean, who is of a higher spiritual caliber than the apostles? These are the top guys, am I right? Peter and John, the apostle Paul, Barnabas. I mean, these are the front lines in God's army. I mean, and Paul says, no, I actually think that God has set forth us, the apostles, last. I say, whoa, wait a minute, I thought, you know, it's first apostles. I mean, these are Jesus's right hand men. I mean, they walked and talked with Jesus Christ. He says, no, no, no, here's why I think that he said at last, as it were appointed to death, for we're made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. He says, I'm looking at you guys over there in Corinth, in your messed up church at Corinth, and you guys are living like kings over there. Meanwhile, you know, I'm a spectacle to the whole world, and I'm, as it were, appointed to death. He says, we're fools for Christ's sake, but you're wise in Christ. We're weak, but you're strong. You're honorable. We're despised. Even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. Now, let me ask you this. How many people do you think right now are living a lukewarm Christian life, they're barely doing anything for God, barely go to church, barely read their Bible, half in, half out, living a totally lukewarm Christian life, just totally apathetic, but they live in a really nice house, have a really good job, drive a really nice vehicle, when they get home, the neighbors water, hey, Fred, how you doing? Neighborhood loves them, right? Popular at work. Do you think that there are people out there that exist like that? Of course. Then you gotta, is that how the apostles lived, though? No, so I mean, look, if you're gonna do a lot for God, you're not gonna live this idyllic, perfect life. You know, you're gonna have problems. And so the apostles, they're doing tons of work for God, they didn't have everything going for, they didn't have a nice house, they had no certain dwelling place. You know, they're hungry, they're thirsty, they're struggling. Now look, I'm not saying that we need to live like the apostles, I'm not saying that we need to go sell everything and become nomads or something like that. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, quit expecting your life to be perfect. It's not going to be. You're gonna go through pain, you're gonna go through suffering, you're gonna go through trials, you're gonna have problems. And here's the thing, if you really want to be on the front lines for God and do great things for God, then don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. Now look, if you want to be a do-nothing nobody, then you might be able to just cruise through life with very little persecution for being a Christian. But all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And if you want to be like the apostle Paul and Peter and John, look, remember what John and James and their mom asked Jesus? They said, hey, when you come in your kingdom, we want to sit one at your left hand and one at your right hand. What do you think? Now that was, you know, when they asked that, the rest of the disciples got mad. It's like, well, who are you guys? You know, there's twelve of us and here's two guys, hey, we want to sit at the right hand on the left. We're gonna be the top guys in the kingdom. What do you think? And here's what Jesus asked them. He said, first of all, you don't know what you're asking. He said, are you willing to drink of the cup that I drink of? And are you willing to be baptized with the baptism wherewith I'm baptized? He said, do you want to be immersed in what I'm going to be immersed in? Do you want to drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? And they said, we're able. And he said, well, you know what? You're going to. You will indeed drink of that cup. You will indeed go through that baptism by fire. But let me tell you, but he said, you know, but to give you this place seated at my right hand, that's not mine to give, but the Father will give it to those for whom it's prepared. And tell these oneness idiots to put that in their pipe and smoke it. Jesus is like, well, I can't, I can't, I can't give that. Only the Father can. Just kidding, I am the Father. I got you taken care of. It's nonsense. This oneness doctrine turns the Bible into nonsense. He said, that's not mine to give. The Father will give that to who he has prepared that for. So what we understand is that, oh, God, give me great rewards. Help me to do great things. Lord, I want to be your right hand man, Jesus. He said, okay, are you willing to suffer? Are you willing to go through pain? Now, they said, we're willing. And they ended up doing what? Being greatly used by God, suffering greatly, and, you know, of course, we know James was martyred for Christ. John, of course, lived to an old age, but he was in exile on the isle of Patmos. He went through persecutions, trials, tribulations. And so we understand that the more we do for God, we got to be careful not to bite off more than we can chew and not be righteous over much, lest we be destroyed because, let me tell you something, you got to count the cost of serving Jesus. There's a price to pay. And I'm not trying to discourage you from serving Christ because it's worth it, but I want you to have a realistic expectation and not have a Joel Osteen mentality of, oh, serving Christ means living my best life now. Look, God does bless us, and I've got to experience a lot of great things. I've got to enjoy a lot of great blessings over the years, but I've also gone through a lot of misery and pain and sorrow. Okay, it's a mixed bag. You got to take the good with the evil, but at the end of the day, what else is there to live for that's even worth it? It's all about Christ. To live is Christ. To die is gain. And look, we should know our own limitations, and God's not going to tempt us above what we're able. And so, look, I'm not trying to discourage you, but God said, if you're going to be my disciple, count the cost. And remember that Jesus had somebody come up to him and say, Lord, I'll follow, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever you goest. And he said, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. Is that what you're signing up for? And so you have to understand what you're getting into. Jesus told people there's a cost to being my disciple. You have to be willing to forsake everything. You have to be willing to let go of things. So I say all that to say that there's going to be struggle in your life if you're serving God. And so that's why we have all these psalms about the enemies and deliver me and I'm in trouble, help me God, save me. So look where we are there, no certain dwelling place, verse 11 of chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians, verse 12, and labor, working with our own hands, being reviled we bless, being persecuted we suffer it, being defamed we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all things under this thing. You know I've got a recommendation for Joel Osteen's next book title. Imagine this, Joel's smiling face on the cover, the filth of the world. What do you think? Can you picture it? Barnes and Noble, smiling Joel Osteen, the filth of the world. My message this morning is entitled The Filth of the World. That's you. You too can be the filth of the world. This is my Bible, I am what it says. I want to be the filth of the world don't you? Folks, he's not going to preach that. But that's what the Bible said. He said we're like the filth of the world. People look at us with disdain and disgust. And let me tell you something, I've had people look at me with disdain and disgust because of just saying things directly out of the Bible. He said we are the off scouring of all things. That's the follow up book. This is a two book series. The first book is called The Filth of the World. The second book is called The Off Scouring of All Things. And to this day, I write not these things to shame you. He's saying look I'm not trying to shame you like, hey look I'm suffering for Christ, I'm in jail, and you're living like a king. He said I'm not trying to shame you, as my beloved sons I warn you. What's he saying? You're next. You're next. Yeah, I'm going through all the suffering, you're living like a king, your turn's coming if you're going to serve Christ, you're going to go through hard things. And look, the only reason I'm saying this is just so that you go through life with a realistic expectation. Because it's a lot easier to deal with things when you know they're coming and you're not blindsided by them. And that's the problem with Bible teachers like Joel Osteen is that they're not preparing people for what's actually coming. And that's the problem with this pre-trib rapture teaching. It's just telling everybody, hey don't worry we're going to be out of here. You know, I'm not looking for the undertaker, I'm looking for the upper taker. Well you know what, I'm looking for both. Because I'm telling you something, we are going to go through the tribulation if it happens in our lifetime. We're not leaving until after the tribulation when the sun and moon are darkened at the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation chapter 6. And so you know, they're not preparing people. They're telling people oh no don't worry about it, you're going to be gone you don't have to worry about it. And then people like Joel Osteen are telling them, oh you know, it's going to be great God's going to bless you and you're going to make all kinds of money and it's going to be, I mean just look at me. But see that's because he's not serving Christ. That's why he has all that money. Any pastor who's just filthy rich and living in luxury is clearly not serving Christ because of the fact that he'd be going through persecution. He'd be going through these things if he were doing what's right. So let's go back to Psalm 59 with that in mind. While you're turning back to Psalm 59 I just want to read one other verse for you from 2 Corinthians chapter number 11 while you're turning back to Psalm 59. But there's a similar concept in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 if I can find my place here. And I can't find my place so we will skip that verse, alright? You're going to have to just go home and read the whole book of 2 Corinthians because it might not even be in chapter 11 what I'm looking for. So that's your homework. Okay, read it before next week. So Psalm 59 he says in verse number 5 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, Selah. So again, Selah is some kind of a musical punctuation maybe a pause. No one knows for sure what it means. That's why it's just left as Selah and not translated into English. But it's usually like a gear change in the Psalm. And it says in verse 6 They return at evening. They make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. For who say they doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Now when we're studying the book of Psalms we're looking for parallels. You know, I've often talked about parallelism where in the book of Psalms things will be stated twice, restated a little bit differently. And there's a really nice parallel in this Psalm between verses 6 and 7 and verses 14 and 15. So in verses 6 and 7 we're given this picture of the wicked, evil, reprobate, horrible people that are attacking David. That they're basically like dogs and they're going round about the city. So you know, he's in the city. The city is his defense. It's his fortress, the walls. He's inside and the enemy's outside and they're going around the city making a noise like a dog. So you picture dogs circling you. Who's ever had angry dogs circle you? That's what dogs do, right? They walk in a circle around you like,"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr". And they do that in a circle. So that's the picture that the Bible's painting here of David's enemies circling him and making a noise. And it says that their Their mouth, swords are in their lips. So, you know, it's an aggressive sound that's coming from these dogs. You know, you can think of growling, threatening noises from a circling dog. But of course, God's gonna step in. God's gonna judge them. God's gonna punish. God's gonna protect David. So look how the story ends up. Look at verse 14, where we come back around to this dog theme. So in verse six, it said, they return at evening. In verse 14, it says, and at evening, let them return. Let them return, right? So at first, he's talking about it as a bad thing. Like, you know, man, they're going around the city. They're belching out these violent noises and growling and circling and whatever. But then he talks about, hey, God's gonna laugh at these people. God's gonna punish them. God's gonna consume them. And he says, you know what? In verse 14, at evening, let them return and let them make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they'd be not satisfied. That picture is painted of what we know as the rez dogs. So who's been out on the rez a lot and put up your hands if you've dealt with the rez dogs. Almost everybody, because we've all gone on the Indian reservation soul-winning trips. You have all these dogs on the reservation that don't necessarily really belong to anybody. They're kind of just these mangy, just dirty. A lot of them are skinny. Like they're not getting a lot to eat and they just kind of roam around and usually they're pretty friendly. They're not scary. Now there are some scary dogs on the rez. They're called pit bulls. Some people have pit bulls and violent dogs like that, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about these rez dogs that just kind of roam the rez and they're kind of just these mangy, dirty, hungry dogs. And they usually come to you very meekly, looking for a treat, looking for some love and affection. So they're pretty nice. I kid you not, I've been soul-winning on the rez and just had this phenomenon happen. And my kids would attest to this, where a rez dog will start following you and it'll just stay with you. And then another one. And I've literally become just like a Pied Piper of rez dogs, where by the end of it, I had like seven or eight little dogs following me. And you can't shake them. You can't get rid of them. The only way to get rid of them is when you finally get in the car and drive away. And even then you're like trying to drive away without running over them because they're all over the car and stuff. But I've literally, kids, you remember when we've had like the little trail, we were calling them, what were we calling them? What do we call them? The disciples? Is that what we call them? Wasn't there like a Judas? I'll have to get that story from them. We were calling them our disciples because we had all these dogs. So we're going slowly. And then this was the problem though. You walk up to a door with all your disciples and then they have a dog that doesn't get along. And then sometimes you can just initiate a big dog fight. But my number one favorite dog occurrence on the rez was one time we were standing in front of Bashas on the rez. I probably told this story a few times, but it bears repeating. I stood in front of Bashas and this was the funniest thing I've ever seen. We're standing there waiting for some people using the bathroom in Bashas. And we're just standing outside and all of a sudden three dogs walk up. Three rez dogs walk up, the automatic doors open, they walk into the grocery store, the automatic doors close. And we just looked at each other like, what just happened? What just happened? Like three dogs just walked up and activated the door, walked in there and it's just like, no problem. It's just another day on the rez, hashtag rez life. But anyway, so you think of these dogs that you feel bad for them. They're not like a scary thing. You're just looking at them like you're pathetic. And this is the image that God paints. These evil enemies that are, they're painted in verses six and seven, they're more like an angry pit bull, circling the, argh, argh, argh. After God's done with them, they're just kind of like, argh, argh. They're just a mangy rez dog by the time we get to verses 14 and 15. Because now they're wandering up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied. So they're still circling, but now they're circling like, would you please give me some food? Instead of like, argh, I'm gonna tear you apart. Hey, he's saying the enemies of the Lord are gonna get what's coming to them. He says in verse eight, but thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Thou shall have all the heathen and derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defense. And look, when God's your defense, that's better than any alarm system. That's better than any security cameras. That's better than any vicious dog that you have. That's the ultimate defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Slay them not. He's saying, you know what, God? Don't even kill these people. Scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord. He's saying, God, don't kill them, humiliate them. Humiliate them. I don't want my people to forget. I want people to see what happens. I don't want them to, if they just die, then people will forget about it. I want them to continually be reminded every time they see their mangy, flea-bitten, pathetic carcass to remember what happens to those who hate the Lord. You think of these disease-filled sodomites, rock stars, weirdos who just pine away. You know, when they die when they're like 27 or 29, then they're just a hero forever. Isn't that the rock stars that everybody loves the most, the ones who died when they were like 23, 27, 29? You know, because then it's like, oh, they die. But you know what? The ones who live are the ones where we get to see the end of that lifestyle. The ones who die young, that's why they glorify the ones who die young, because they die before the consequences of sin have fully caught up with them. The ones who live to be 40, 50, 60, 70, you start seeing how ugly that life can end. And so that's kind of what David's getting at here. He's saying like, don't just kill these people. Destroy them, bring them down, humble them, turn them into a mangy res dog so that people can look at them and be warned and say, hey, this is where hating the Lord gets you. Bring them down, O Lord our shield, for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth, Selah. And notice that the dog metaphor comes after the word Selah in verses six and seven, and then it comes after the word Selah in verses 14 and 15. So there's a structure to this. Remember, this is music, it's the book of Psalms. So it's like a song, this is like the chorus. You know, the first chorus, the dogs are one way, the second chorus, the dogs are the other way and there's the Selah and everything like that. We don't know exactly how it was sung, but you can kind of get the picture of the pattern here as you read this. And so we see that God is going to avenge us. We don't know when it's gonna be. Sometimes it takes a long time, sometimes it's a delayed reaction, but God's justice is certain. And when it comes, it's swift. But we just don't always know what his timeline is gonna be like. It's not always gonna happen the way we want it to happen because sometimes God has a reason for keeping rotten people around, you know, to fulfill his will ultimately. And at the end of the day, it's not our will and our plans that matter, it's God has an ultimate plan that's more important. And so sometimes we have to take one for the team and realize that God's got a bigger plan going on than just our life. So it says in verse 16, we already talked about 14 and 15. In 16 it says, but I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. And to thee, oh my strength, will I sing, for God is my defense and the God of my mercy. So God, it starts out in verse one, he says, God defend me. And then at the end in verse 17, he says, God is my defense, okay. So what's the Psalm about? It's about being surrounded by enemies, circling vicious enemies. The Bible says in this chapter that they are lying at the end of verse 12, they're cursing him, they're lying, they're violent, they're evil. And he prays for God to consume these people and in the end, he knows God's gonna defend him. God's gonna be on his side. And you know, if God before us, who can be against us? It's what the Bible says. But think about that word in verse 13, consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be. What does that mean that they may not be? To be means to exist. In the Bible, being often has to do with being alive. You know, when they thought that Joseph was dead, they said Joseph is not, meaning he doesn't exist on this earth. He's saying consume them that they may not be, that they don't even exist, consume them in thy wrath. Now look, let me ask you this. Is it ever right for me to get on my knees in the year 2020 and pray about a certain person or a certain group of people? Consume them, consume them in thy wrath that they may not be. Break their teeth, oh God, in their mouth. Let them be as a snail which melteth. Is it ever right or appropriate for me to pray that about anyone or any group of people? And of course, the answer is yes because this is what the Bible says. Now, is that always appropriate? Of course not. There are a multitude of situations where that would not be appropriate. There are many times and groups of people where that would not be appropriate whatsoever, but there are other times and places and situations where these type of prayers are appropriate. That's not the topic of the sermon tonight, but we never wanna take a portion of scripture and just discard it like, oh, well, you know, that was back then. Folks, what has changed? Are we still fighting a spiritual battle or not? Are there still reprobates in this world or not? Are there still workers of iniquity and evil God-hating devils that cannot be fixed? Do they exist or not? They do, and this is relevant. And God even tells us in the New Testament to sing these Psalms, and we've put many of them to music, many others before us and many after us will put them to music and sing them. Even in the English language, we sing these. And many of them make for great singing, great songs. And so don't ever let anybody tell you, oh yeah, forget that, that was back then. Jesus taught us something different. Yeah, Jesus did taught us something different, but you know what he taught us? Things that are compatible with this. He didn't come and say, all right, everybody, we're starting over, trash the Old Testament, trash Psalms, let me give you a new song book. In fact, I can't find a single song that Christ taught. You know, I'm looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I don't see him teaching any songs. I mean, yeah, I see Moses teaching a song to the people. I see the song of Deborah. I see David being the sweet Psalmist in Israel. I don't see Jesus having any kind of a songwriting career. In fact, there's virtually no poetry in the New Testament whatsoever. A lot of poetry in the Old Testament, virtually none in the New Testament. You know why? Because it's already there in the Old Testament and God didn't come to destroy the law of the prophets. Jesus didn't come to destroy the law of the prophets, he came to fulfill. And so Psalms are still relevant. And you know what? When I read these Psalms, I find great relevance in them because I've been stabbed in the back and surrounded by angry enemies and had people foaming at the mouth and hating me and cursing me, lying about me, slandering. And I'm sure you've gone through similar things. And if you haven't, you probably will in the future. And so these Psalms are relevant. They give comfort and you say, well, I just think is, I just can't believe that anybody would pray something like that. What kind of a person would pray a prayer like that? Well, here's the, it beats being violent. I mean, look, I've prayed, I confess, I've prayed some prayers like that. You didn't know that, did you? Hey, I've prayed some prayers like that, but you know what, you know what I've not done? Never killed anybody, never assaulted or maimed anybody. But you know what? There are a lot of people out there in this world that would say, oh, how could you pray a prayer like that? And then they murder their baby. And then they're gonna stand in judgment of me because of what I prayed or stand judgment of David because of what he prayed. Folks, prayer beats violence. You know what? I plan on going to the grave without ever killing anyone. I hope that I never have to hurt anyone or break anybody's bones or kill anyone. You know, I hope to go to the grave not harming anyone physically. I mean, I'm sure you want the same thing, right? Nobody wants to go out and get in a fight and hurt people or kill people. I mean, if you do, there's something wrong with you. If that's what you wanted, if you're just like, man, I just want these looters to come to my house so I can just start picking them up. I mean, that's not the right attitude. I mean, yeah, be ready with the guns loaded and everything, but I'm saying you shouldn't just be like, yeah, I hope it happens. That's immature. That's like a little kid who's watched too many action movies or something. He thinks he's Chuck Norris or something, right? Invasion USA or whatever. Look, I'm telling you that we should strive to go through our lives in peace. Hey, I don't want to ever punch anyone in the face or kill anyone or do anything like that. Look, because I'm a man of peace. And look, I've been a pastor for 15 years and haven't assaulted anybody yet. You'd think I had, you know, the way that people talk about me, but guess what, I didn't. But you know what, here's the thing. We live in a violent world. We live in a world where people are punching people in the face and stabbing people, shooting people. Right, am I right? Is that going, is that happening out there? And you know what I'll bet these people are not doing? The people who are out today and tomorrow and the next day in Chicago and Detroit and on the rez or wherever, you know, stabbing, shooting, beating. You know what I bet they're not doing? I bet they're not getting on their knees and saying, oh Lord, please consume my enemies, Lord. Break their teeth. They're not. They're not praying that prayer. You know what they're doing? They're taking things into their own hands. But you know what the Bible says? Vengeance belongeth to me. Sayeth the Lord, I will repay. So here's the thing. Sometimes the workers of iniquity, the sons of Belial, they're gonna get you mad. They're gonna get you enraged. And you know what you do? You don't reach for the baseball bat. You don't reach for the chainsaw. You don't reach for the gun. You don't reach for the pitchfork. You reach for the handle of your prayer closet and you get on your knees and say, God, avenge me. And then you say in Jesus' name, amen, and you get up and you know what? You could be totally nonviolent. It's funny how when I prayed for Barack Obama to die, people thought like, this is a threat to the president of the Secret Service. It's like, I'm flattered that you have that much faith in my prayer life, that I have that kind of power that I can just pray and people just fall over dead. But here's the thing. But praying that is the opposite of violence because it shows that I'm saying, you know what? I'm leaving it in God's hands. I'm going to pray for something to happen to that idiot and leave it in God's hands. I don't have to do it myself. I don't have to be violent to anyone. A lot of people are like, we'll try to provoke you to be violent. And hey, we've got to go attack these people. No, I'm nonviolent. I am nonviolent peaceful, but I do get on my knees sometimes and pray for God to wipe out these horrible, wicked, evil, God-hating reprobates. Amen? Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for Psalm 59, Lord. What a great book. Psalms is so deep, and it's just even the same theme, Lord. Even reading 10 songs that are all on the same theme, they all have these little nuggets of truth and these unique little things in them, Lord, that make them special. And so, Lord, thank you for giving us this rich treasury of Psalms, Lord. And, Lord, when we get consumed with anger or wrath, Lord, help us to turn to the Psalms for comfort. And, Lord, when we're dealing with people that are reprobates or evil workers of iniquity, Lord, help us to take comfort in the Psalms and pray that you deal with these people rather than ever thinking of taking these things into our own hands, Lord. Help us to leave it in your hands. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Let's start our next song, song number 95. The Lord is my shepherd. Song number 95. Song 95. The Lord is my shepherd. What shall I go? Cleaning green pastures, refolded I rest. Heedeth my soul where the still waters fall. Restored me when wondering redeems when oppressed. Restored me when wondering redeems when oppressed. Through gravity and shadow, from death though I stray, since thou art my guardian, illegal I fear. But God shall defend me, my sad thing I say. No harm can be caused, I comfort her here. No harm can be caused, I comfort her here. In the midst of affliction, my table is spread. With glassings unmeasured, my cup not hit the earth with perfume and oil. My mind is my hand. Oh, what shall I ask of? I call it his glory. Oh, what shall I ask of? I call it his court. Let goodness and mercy, my bountiful God, still follow my steps till I meet thee above. I seek by the beverage my forefathers draw. To the land of their sojourn, my kingdom of love. To the land of their sojourn, my kingdom of love. To the land of their sojourn, my kingdom of love. To the land of their sojourn, my kingdom of love. To the land of their sojourn, my kingdom of love.