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

Very good to see you all here on this Sunday night. Let's all take our seats, please, and take your song books. We'll begin with him, number 429. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, number 429. Glory to the newborn king, number 429. Let's sing it out on this first verse all together now. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hailed in heart and deity. Please as men with men turn loud, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Hail! The heavens of peace! Hail! The Son of righteousness! Light and light to all He brings, Prince with healing in His wings. While He blazes glorified, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give a second birth. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Come, these ire of nations come, face it as my humble home. Rise above this wandering sea, bruise in us the serpent's head. Adam's life is now in place, stand by image in its place. Second Adam from Allah, re-estate us in Thy love. Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Amen. Good singing everybody. Let's go ahead and ask Father Barron to open us up for prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for this day. Thank you for the church and your Bible. God bless this service. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. Hymn number 422 is next. Thou didst leave Thy throne, number 422. Thou didst leave Thy throne, and thou didst work for me. God in heaven and home was there found no room for Thy holy day till I see. Lord unto my heart, Lord Jesus, where is room in my heart for me? Heaven's arms is free with the angels sing, proclaim in my glory free. But the holy work is the lonely work, and it breaks with melody. Lord come to my heart, Lord Jesus, where is room in my heart for me? The fox is as blessed as the birds there is, with the shade of the forest trees. By my house the Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee. Lord come to my heart, Lord Jesus, where is room in my heart for me? Thou didst move forward with the living work that shall set my people free. But the mark is torn in the crown of thine, and you are dear to Galilee. Lord come to my heart, Lord Jesus, where is room in my heart for me? And the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing, and Thy promise to fear toward me. But Thy voice, holy one, say, that there is room, there is room in my sight for thee. My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, and let them come on this convulsion for me. Alright, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you need a bulletin, put up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service times. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6, Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we're in Ezekiel chapter 17. We've got the soul winning times listed below as well as salvations and baptisms. All the birthdays and anniversaries listed there. Tomorrow is Mexico Monday for those who want to do some soul winning. South of the border is a day trip. See brother Segura for details on that. On the back we've got the ladies wreath decorating activity. That's this Friday. It's going to be strictly no children. It's ladies and teenage girls, but nurselings are okay. You know, if you have like a nursing baby in your arms, that's totally fine. We just don't want kids running around at this particular activity. And Mrs. Suzanne Forte is the one to RSVP to, and tonight is the last night, so be sure to RSVP to her if you're going. And then the annual Christmas caroling is Tuesday, December 21st at 5.30. So we'll meet here at 5.30. We'll get organized. We'll break into groups of about 30 people each. So you don't have to worry if you're shy. You're not going to be just in like a quartet or something. There's going to be like 30 people you can blend in. And so we'd love for you to participate in that. And then we'll go out for like an hour, come back and enjoy cookies and hot cocoa. And then we've got, speaking of cookies, on December 26th, we'll have 4.30, the cookie bake-off, and so forth. Now, there are some people out in our parking lot right now, and I have a feeling that they're not in the Christmas spirit at all, okay? Because they're kind of checking all the boxes out there, okay? They're flat earth. Somebody had like a Hanukkah-looking T-shirt. They're out there protesting us and holding up signs, telling us how wicked we are, you know, and they're condemning us for being for the COVID vaccine, which is a little confusing to me since I've literally written hundreds of exemption letters for people to get a religious exemption not to take the vaccine. We've literally given out hundreds of them. I'm not getting the COVID vaccine. Nobody in my family is getting the COVID vaccine. And I'd be surprised if hardly anybody at our church got the COVID vaccine. So when I pulled in, I walked up to these guys. They have all this stuff, and they're telling me I'm this horrible, sinful person that I need to repent of my iniquities. And I said, you know, you do realize that our entire church is not taking this COVID vaccine. We're all against it. And he's like, yeah, I know. And I'm like, so why are you here? And he's like, well, but you said it's not a sin, though. Because I said, if your job is forcing you to take it and you take it under duress, I don't think it's a sin to take it because the Bible doesn't explicitly say, don't take this vaccine or something. So it's a personal choice. And, you know, I don't care how popular it is or how exciting it is or how many viewers it gets on YouTube or whatever, I'm not going to get up and say that it's a sin because I don't believe that it's a sin. And I'm not just going to start teaching for commandments the doctrines of men. The Bible has enough commandments in it, I'm not going to start adding commandments based on my understanding of science or medicine or my preferences. I'm not just going to start adding commandments in the Bible. Last time I checked, sin is the transgression of the law. So, you know, show me in the law of God where it says that, you know. But anyway, and these guys are flat earth. They've got a globe and a beach ball out there as references. And so enough said. And by the way, while I'm on the subject, let me just go off on Hanukkah for a minute, okay. Because I think these are some kind of Hebrew Israelites in their own mind or whatever and they've got a menorah on their t-shirt. Let me tell you how silly the holiday of Hanukkah is, okay. Hanukkah is celebrating the rededication of the temple. The rededication of the temple that God destroyed in 70 AD and doesn't exist. So isn't it great to celebrate the rededication of a building that later got destroyed and doesn't even exist. There is no temple in Jerusalem. It's gone. God destroyed it. God, here's what the Bible says, God sent forth his armies and destroyed it. The Roman soldiers who came in and destroyed it, they were actually the hand of God. They were the tool of God. God used the Romans to destroy that temple. Jesus prophesied that as a result of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, their city would be burned and he pointed at the temple and he said, not one stone of this temple will be left upon another that should not be thrown down. And to this day, it's completely thrown down. It's gone. It doesn't exist. So while we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, they're celebrating a building that no longer exists. There you go. All right. That was, say what? Yeah, show up in the daytime. I mean, you know what's always funny when people protest on Sunday, shouldn't they go to church? Go to your own church. Oh, yeah, you don't have a church. You think these guys go to church? Their church is, the Internet is their church. They got their own little cyber synagogue that they do online. All right. That had nothing to do with the sermon. That was a little mini sermon for you. Come, oh, nope, nope. You got to do the soul winning. So any soul winning report from Thursday. Let's count up the, all right, we got two, one. See, this is actually the real work of God. Actually going out, telling people about Jesus, explaining the Gospel, winning people to Jesus Christ. This actually represents real fruit, not just being a fruit out in the parking lot of some church saying, oh, let me just go off again, sorry. They're saying the vaccine's the mark of the beast. So riddle me this. Is anybody getting the vaccine in their right hand or in their forehead? I didn't see Dr. Fauci like stabbing himself in the head with it. How is it the mark of the beast? It has literally nothing in common with the mark of the beast. It's not in your hand. It's not in your forehead. You don't have to worship the antichrist to get it. Give me a break. All right. Friday. Let's get through this before I get distracted again. All right. Anything else from Friday? What about Saturday? Oh, is that Friday? Okay. How about Saturday? Got it, got it. Got it. Oh, okay. So for the Solomon overnight trip, you guys had four saved down there? Yes, sir. All right. Anything else from Saturday? What about today Sunday? Three. Three for Saturday, okay. Friday. Friday. Dude. All right. And then what about today? Scott? Two. Two. All right. Got it. Anybody want to go back to Thursday or anything? All right. With that, let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right. On the cover of your hymnal, you should find the insert with the two songs. We'll start with God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day. To save our soul from Satan's power when we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. O tidings of comfort and joy, from God our heavenly Father. Here a blessed angel came, and unto certain shepherds the tidings of the same. How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. O tidings of comfort and joy. Fear not this, said the angel, let the pain give a fright. This day is born a Savior of a perversion fright. To free all those who trust in him from Satan's power and might. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. O tidings of comfort and joy. The shepherds and those tidings rejoiced in fudge and fire. And left their fawns a feeding tent this morning there. And went to Bethlehem's great way, the Son of God, to find. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. O tidings of comfort and joy. Amen. Good singing. Flip that sheet over, rather. And we'll sing Angels We Have Heard on High. Angels We Have Heard on High. If you know the parts to this, please sing it out. Angels We Have Heard on High. Sing it out. Angels we have heard on high, Sweetly singing o'er the plains, And the mountains in reply, Echoing their joyous praise. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Shepherds, why this humbly, Why your joyous praise prolong, What the glad sometimes be, When chins by your head we saw. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Come to Bethlehem and see, In whose birth ye angels sing, Come, adore, abandon thee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Sing within a danger lay, Jesus Lord of heaven and earth, Mary Joseph, lend your aid, Sing with us our Savior's birth. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Gloria, in excelsis Deo. Amen. Good singing. All right, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Psalm 84. Book of Psalms is in the very middle of your Bible. Psalm 84, follow along silently with Brother Dan as he reads. Psalm 84, beginning in verse 1. In Psalm 84, the Bible reads, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young, Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My king and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, They will be still praising thee, Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, In whose heart are the ways of them, Who passing through the valley of Bacchae make it a well, The rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, Every one of them in Zion appearth before God. O Lord of hosts, hear my prayer, Give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah. Behold, O God our shield, And look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thine courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold From them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Dear Father in heaven, please fill the path through your spirit And please give us ears to hear, To receive wisdom and understanding From the sermon this night. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon tonight is The Christian Life is Better. The Christian Life is Better. The Bible says here in Psalm 84, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, Yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh Cryeth out for the living God. This is a great scripture talking about what it's like for the Christian who loves the Lord. He wants to be in church. He wants to read the Bible. And this is how we should feel. You want to get to this place where you thrive on the things of God, where you look forward to going to church, where you want to hear preaching, you want to sing praises to God. And so this is how we should all strive to be in our lives, to have this feeling. It says in verse 3, Yea, the sparrow hath found an house and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will still be praising thee, Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, and whose heart are the ways of them, who passing through the valley of Vaca make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools, they go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appearth before God. So here we get the idea of just the triumphant Christian life, just a life of joy and rejoicing and gladness, just going from strength to strength. You go through a desert, and God makes it into a well, and he turns the worst situation around and uses it for good. All things work together for good to them who love God. It says in verse 9, Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. And here's the part I really want to focus on, verse 10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. You know, a day with the Lord is better than a thousand days without the Lord. A day of the Christian life is better than a thousand days as a heathen. He says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. You know, I'd rather be serving in the house of God, the doorkeeper, one of the lowliest positions of just letting people in or just watching the door or even just being on the fringe of God's house versus dwelling in the tents of the wicked. You know, enjoying all of their dainties and all of their bounties. What God has to offer is so much better. It's literally, according to this, it's a thousand times better living the Christian life than whatever the world has to offer. It says, for the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. There is not any good thing that we will lack as Christians. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Everything that we need, God gives us and He's not going to withhold from us any good thing. If God withholds something from us, it's because we don't need it. It's not good. It's not for us. He's looking out for us. God is not up in heaven trying to make our lives as hard and miserable as possible, but rather, He will not withhold from us any good thing. God's going to take care of us and give us what we need. And, not just what we need, He's going to give us a bounty of blessings. I mean, the Bible says in Psalm 23, my cup runneth over. God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. He anoints our head with oil. Our cup runs over. I mean, we have an abundance of blessings, not just the needs met, but even an abundance above that. Living the Christian life is a great life. Now, if you would, flip over to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. You know, I'm constantly thinking about how good it is to live the Christian life and how much better the Christian life is than the life that people out in the world are living. Just how much more joy there is, how much more peace there is, just how we have it better as Christians. And the people out there don't even know what they're missing as far as what it really means to live the Christian life and to just enjoy all the bounty of God's blessings. So I think about that all the time. You know, I'm constantly thinking about how good it is to be a Christian. I'm thinking about how smart it is to follow God's laws and how our lives just end up so much better when we're following God's laws instead of just leaning on our own understanding and just doing what we think is right. When we do things God's way, he blesses in so many ways. I'm always thinking about that. And then I'm always reading my Bible. And God keeps saying the same thing in the Bible. You know, he's listing, hey, these are all the blessings if you follow God's laws. These are all the cursings if you don't follow God's laws. And he's constantly talking about all the joy and how great it is. And then I was thinking about how in the Epistle of Peter where he talks about how, you know, even though we're going through if necessary manifold temptations and trials and so forth, yet in spite of that we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so the Christian life is just so much better. So there's a verse that I've been kind of wrestling with over the past couple of years. I've been actually kind of chewing on this for the last couple of years because it seemed to go against my own experience. It seemed to go against what I see everywhere else in the Bible. It just, this verse kind of perplexed me a little bit. And I spent some time this afternoon. I was talking to Pastor Jimenez about it. I was kind of explaining to him my conundrum with this verse and what was on my mind. And we talked it out for a while and we got to the bottom of it. We were both satisfied that we have finally, we've solved the mystery. And in fact, this mystery goes back even before we were born, okay, because of the fact that there is a famous preacher, Brother Jack Hyles, that many people have probably heard of, and another famous preacher, John R. Rice. And these guys used to travel together and preach as like a team, like one night, the one guy would go first and the other guy and then they'd switch. And they went around America for 22 years. Every Monday, Tuesday night, they did this. So, you know, Pastor Hyles, he pastored his church in Indiana and he would preach three times a week there. But then every Monday and Tuesday night for 22 years, him and John R. Rice would hold these Sword of the Lord revival meetings all over America. And my dad used to go every year, actually, in Los Angeles, California, back in the late 60s, and he would listen to Brother Rice and Brother Hyles and he would listen to this double feature of sermons. And so Brother Hyles would tell a story about just how, I guess, even how close friends or good buddies can still sometimes kind of burn one another and yet they could still remain friends. So Brother Hyles talked about how he was preaching a sermon one time and he was preaching first. And he preached kind of along the lines I'm preaching tonight. He was preaching about, oh, it's so great being a Christian and it's such a blessed life. And then he even made the statement, he said, you know what, even if there were no heaven, like, it's, you know, I would just still just want to live the Christian life just because it's so good even right now, living the Christian life. I mean, I'm thankful for heaven, but it's so good right now. It's better now. Yeah, we're going to heaven, that's great, but it's even better now. And I'm thinking like, yeah, amen. So then John R. Rice gets up afterward and he says, well, I guess, and he says this publicly in his service. I don't know if he's just having a bad day or what, but he gets up and he says, well, I guess Brother Hiles disagrees with the Apostle Paul because the Apostle Paul said that if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. And then he just starts preaching his own sermon. So it's like, man, burn, right? So I remember hearing that story and laughing about it. You know, and this is, again, this is probably going back 75 years or something. I remember hearing that story and laughing about it, but I never really figured out, you know, fully who was right on that. I always kind of wondered like, huh, that is kind of weird, you know. What is going on with that verse? Because I lean more toward Brother Hiles' interpretation, but here's the verse. Let's look at the verse here in 1 Corinthians 15, 19. It says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. The context here is that there were some people that were coming to Corinth and teaching that there was no resurrection. And this is still a common teaching among Jews. Obviously, there are all different types of Judaism, just like there are different denominations of Christianity, there are different denominations of Judaism, but a lot of Jews don't believe in any kind of an afterlife. And we see this in Scripture, don't we? Because you have the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the Sadducees say that there's no resurrection. That's why they're sad, you see. That's how I learned it growing up. But anyway, they believe that there's no resurrection, that's the Sadducees, whereas the Pharisees did believe in an afterlife, they did believe in heaven and hell and so forth, whereas the Sadducees did it, okay. Even today, you'll find the same thing. You'll find a lot of Jews don't even believe that there's any kind of an afterlife. So that's a false doctrine. And then some people will try to claim that the Old Testament doesn't talk about afterlife. But hold on, my friend. You know, the book of Job is really clear on this. The book of Job actually describes a bodily resurrection even, because Job says, after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. After his body's eaten from worms, he says, in my flesh I'll see God. And he talks about basically a resurrection there. And I'm not going to go into that for the sake of time. Daniel chapter 12 is really clear on the resurrection. And we could go on on there, verses about heaven and hell and afterlife and, you know, all throughout the Old Testament. That's literally an entire sermon. We could just look at them all, okay. So the Apostle Paul is preaching to the Corinthians and saying, hey, what's this garbage about there being no resurrection? And he's saying, if there's no resurrection, you're basically saying that Jesus didn't rise again. And if Jesus didn't rise again, then you basically just eliminated the Gospel. And your faith is in vain. We have no hope. And people that were Christian loved ones who died, you know, they're just gone. And we're never going to see them again. And you're saying Christ isn't raised. So basically you're saying every apostle is a false prophet because we're all preaching the resurrection. That's the main crux of our message. All throughout the book of Acts, that's what's being preached, the resurrection of Christ. When we go out soul winning at Faithful Word Baptist Church, what are we doing? We're telling people about the death, burial, and resurrection. And one of the verses that most people would use out soul winning is that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And so this is a big doctrine of the resurrection. And so Paul is talking about that in 1 Corinthians. And he's just going through all the list. Oh, so you don't believe there's a resurrection. So you're saying that we're false witnesses, that all the apostles are wrong, that Jesus didn't rise again. You know, he's just showing the stupidity of this false doctrine. And then he just kind of throws this in there. So let's get the context. It says in verse 18, Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. You know, if there's no resurrection. And then he says in verse 19, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. And then he goes on about the resurrection. Let me point out one verse that I think is relevant in this discussion. The verse about Ephesus. Look at verse 32. It says, If I, after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageeth it me if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Okay. Now again, you know, we talked about this this afternoon. We both walked away very satisfied that we had solved this. And I think that the problem here is a misunderstanding of the word miserable here. Okay. I think that we, with our 2021 minds, when we hear the word miserable, we're thinking of an emotion or a feeling. Like, oh man, I'm just so miserable. But that's not necessarily what this word means. In fact, if you look it up in the dictionary, one of the definitions of being miserable is one who is worthy of pity. Someone that other people would look at and pity them. Okay. And so really it's just talking about the condition that you're in. It's not necessarily talking about how you feel. Because here's the thing. I believe that what this verse is saying is that if an outsider were to look at our lives and see how we're living our lives for Christ, they see us maybe, you know, like the Apostle Paul, going to prison, getting beatings, getting shipwrecked. And they would look at that and they would say, wow, everybody hates you guys. You're getting persecuted. You're going to jail. You don't have a certain dwelling place. You're constantly going through all this suffering. They would look at that and say you're living a miserable life as opposed to people in this world who are just heathens and just living a more comfortable life. So I don't believe he's saying if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're just, we just, oh man, it's just so depressing because our lives are just so bad. We're just so, we're just the most miserable people on earth. Because let's face it, folks, people out there are pretty miserable. I mean, we see a lot of unhappy people out there. There's a lot of sad, depressed people. And I mean, especially in 2021 America, depression's on the rise, even among young people. Teenagers are depressed. People in their 20s are depressed. You know, the world out there isn't just loving life right now, okay? People are sad. They're depressed. And you know, even the ones that are laughing and seem to be having a good time, you know what? It doesn't even come close to the kind of joy that's described in Psalm 84 that we just read. The kind of joy that we have as Christians is so much greater. It's joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so I believe that we've been misunderstanding this verse when we read this as, oh man, it's so horrible, you know. We're just kind of living for the resurrection. You know, it's just kind of, we just got, it's all about heaven for us. And look, don't get me wrong. Heaven is for sure there, and it's exciting, and we're looking forward to it, and it's a blessing. And we do think about that, and we do think about those rewards, and we can't wait to when we all get to heaven, you know. We're all, hey, it's great. I'm for it. But you know what? I'm sorry, I'm not just biding my time until I get to heaven. I'm enjoying the Christian life right now. There's a lot of joy in the Christian life right now. And I'm not saying it's all just fun and games, but you have to understand that the apostle Paul, even when he takes a physical beating and gets put in jail, he's still singing praises to God. The apostles get beatings, and they're praising God and rejoicing and whatever. So doesn't that mean that they're happier than maybe somebody who's got all their money and everything right and comfortable, but they're sad and depressed and lonely and want to die? Versus the Christian who has nothing and he's getting beaten and thrown in jail, but he's just like, woo. Who's happier? So I think that the misunderstanding of this passage is that miserable here is not an emotion. It's not a feeling. It's a situation of just the guys who are really working hard for Christ, you know, what's happening to them? They're losing everything. They maybe don't have money. They maybe don't have the popularity. They don't have the same opportunities. They're getting persecuted. You know, they're suffering, but I think that it's more like objectively they're miserable. Not subjectively, not how they feel, but just objectively they're in a miserable situation. But it doesn't mean that they're miserable. You know, their situation is miserable. I mean, think about what does the Apostle Paul describe? You know, battling with beasts at Ephesus. That's miserable, whatever that even means. I don't want to do it. But here's the thing. The Apostle Paul spent a night and a day in the deep. You know, being shipwrecked and you're out floating in the Mediterranean Sea for a day and a night, would you say that's miserable? Would you say it's miserable to be in jail chained between two guards? I mean, can I at least get my own cell or something? No, no, Paul is chained between two guards, okay? I mean, thrown into the lowest dungeon here. He's getting 39 stripes with a whip over here. He's getting beaten with rods over here. You know, I think just objectively from a third-party standpoint, that's miserable, okay? And I think that what he's saying is, you know, people would look at that from an outside perspective and say, okay, that's miserable, but you're going to spend eternity in heaven. That's great, but that's miserable. I think that that's what he's referring to. I don't think he's actually saying that, oh, man, this life is so bad, but, you know, at least we got the resurrection. Don't take that away from us. We got nothing. I think that's a misunderstanding, so sorry, John R. Rice, but you're wrong and Brother Hiles is right, okay? We've settled it finally after all these years. So, anywho, let's go, if we would, to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. And here's the thing. While you're turning to Psalm 23, you know, Jesus said that if we give up anything for Christ, he said that if anybody forsakes anything for his name in the Gospel, whether it be houses, lands, brothers, sisters, whatever we forego for Christ, money, a job, whatever it is that we give up for Christ, you know, Jesus said that he would repay us a hundredfold in this life. In this, that's what it says, in this life. But he said you'll be paid back a hundredfold in this life, and then he throws in this other little prepositional phrase that people forget, with persecutions. So, he said, it's not the prosperity gospel of, oh yeah, it's going to be great, you're not going to have any problems. He says you're going to be paid back a hundredfold in this life, with persecutions. And, in the life to come, you get the eternal life, you know. And let me just be clear, of course, eternal life is not earned by suffering anyway. Eternal life is earned by Jesus suffering. All we have to do to be saved is just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall be saved. But we have heaven, but then the works that we do, what they earn us are rewards in heaven. So we're going to heaven no matter what, the question is, are you going coach or are you going first class? You know, are you going and getting all the rewards, or are you just kind of just basically, you know, barely making it in by the skin of your teeth because you just believed in Christ and that's it. But believing in Christ is enough. You're saved, it's done. Whatever works you do for Christ, you're earning rewards. That's icing on the cake, but salvation's already paid for by Jesus. It's a free gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But Jesus promised even rewards for us in this lifetime, okay, and in the world to come life eternal. Now you say, you know, well if I give up a house, am I going to get a hundred houses? You know, how does that work? Like how do I get a hundred houses or a hundred sisters, a hundred brothers, a hundred mothers? How am I going to get these things that I've sacrificed? But, you know, obviously if you think about this, it's not necessarily saying you're going to have a title deed to all of these things. But if you stop and think about it, you know, if I spend my life serving Christ, I guarantee you that there are a hundred homes that would just take me in like that if I just said, hey, I need a place to stay tonight. It's just like a hundred doors are open to me. I could go for dinner at a hundred places. You know, I think that's the way this ends up actually literally getting fulfilled. You know, let's say your Christian faith and your walk with God, God forbid, but let's say that it ruins a relationship with a family member. You know, God gives you a whole bunch of other brothers, a whole bunch of other sisters. And I think that that's how these things get fulfilled. You get to enjoy all the lands and houses. Not necessarily that you have a title deed. Who needs a title deed anyway? As long as I get to enjoy it. You know, if I get to enjoy the houses and the lands and the vineyards and the food and drink and the friends and the fellowship and the brothers and sisters in Christ, I mean, that's what matters. And I think a key thing to understand too about this is that the Bible says that God will give us the desires of our heart, but what you have to understand is that when you're filled with the Spirit and you're walking with God and serving God, your desires do change. So when we say God's not going to withhold any good thing from them to walk uprightly and God's going to give you the desires of your heart, what you have to understand though is that when you're mature as a Christian, you're not just sitting around daydreaming about a Ferrari and you're not just sitting and daydreaming about, you know, mansions with S-shaped, you know, hedges and spiral staircases and, you know, Olympic swimming pool in the backyard. You don't really need all that stuff. You know, as you grow as a Christian, the things that you delight in are the things of God, friends, family, Christian fellowship, learning the Bible, winning souls to Christ. You know, you start to desire different things, but here's the thing, either way, you're still getting what you want. If God gives you what you want or changes what you want to what he's giving you, either way you're happy, either way you're rejoicing, either way it's great, either way it's a lot better than out there chasing after some happiness that you'll never find out there. Okay, out in the world with all the drinking and the drugs and the fornication, it's a fool's errand out there because you're not going to find what you're looking for. You're not going to. The Bible says in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He may give me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now look, who could want more than what this Psalm is promising? This is everything. What else do you really need in life? I mean, he says in verse 1, all your needs are met. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. I don't lack anything. He may give me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. You know what that means? He's giving peace. Peace. And you know what? Peace is such a blessing. Peace. You know, just being able to just relax. And just not worry about anything. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which path is all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds to Christ Jesus. I mean, what could be better than just experiencing total peace? Just relaxed, not worried about anything. You know, people are stressed out, they're worried, they're scared, they're anxious. That's miserable. And so I want peace. I want to have peace in my heart. That's one of the greatest things I could achieve in life, is just finding peace. Well, you know what? God delivers peace. He restoreth my soul. You know, when I read that verse, he restoreth my soul, if something needs to be restored, that means there's something wrong with it. You know, if I have to do like a system restore on the computer, I'm not just doing that for my health. It's not just like, hey, you know, I think it'd be kind of cool to do a restore today. You don't choose to do that, right? You're doing that kind of a restore or some kind of a factory reset because it's needed, because something's broken, something's not working right. You know, we're going to go through pain and suffering, trials and tribulations. We're going to sustain damage in our life, damage to the soul, and God restores our soul. You know, he heals our wounds so that we can keep on going. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. You know, another great thing that God gives us is direction in our lives, because without the Lord, we wouldn't even know what to do with our lives. Like, what do we even do? There's so many decisions that we have and, you know, searching for ultimate meaning in our life, but you know what? God can give us the meaning that we crave for our life by leading us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake and showing us where to go, what to do. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Look, if you're a Christian, it doesn't mean you're not going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. You're going to. It's not that you're not going to go through bad things as a Christian. It's just that you're not going to care because of the fact that God's going to give you peace and you know that even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. You'd rather be in the valley of the shadow of death You'd rather be in the valley of the shadow of death with God with you than to be out in the happy fields without God with you. You need God with you and then everything's fine. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Is God saying you're not going to have any enemies? You're going to have enemies. Paul had enemies, all the apostles had enemies, but he'll prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. You know, you're just kind of chowing down as the enemies gnash on you with their teeth and you're just not, you know, you just have peace about it. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. My cup runneth over, it's just an excess of blessings. More than we could even ask for. He does, exceeding abundantly for us above all that we could ask or think. Our cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You know, there are people out there, they're pursuing happiness and chasing after that joy that seems to evade them. But you know, as Christians, we don't actually set out with the goal of I've got to go find happiness. You know, I don't wake up on Monday like, what can I do to find happiness today? What can I do that's going to make me the happiest? This week's all about enjoying. That's not how I'm going to approach this week. I'm not going to approach the week as, man, I just want to enjoy this week as much as I possibly can. I just want to have the most happiness, the most, that's not how I'm going to approach the week. You know, I'm going to approach the week with an attitude of like, okay, this is the work I want to do for the Lord. This is what I want to accomplish for God. You know, my goals are about preaching and studying the word of God and winning souls to Christ. That's what I, I'm not just on a mission for joy this week. It's all about how happy I can be this Tuesday. That's not, that's not the way I'm going to approach my life this week. Because goodness and mercy follow me. I'm not chasing them, they're chasing me. The happiness finds me. The goodness finds me. The mercy finds me. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't have to go out just looking to be happy. You know, I go out and just serve the Lord and praise the Lord and just do what I'm supposed to do and it's just the happiness is just a byproduct because the fruit of the Spirit is joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love. The fruit of the Spirit is peace. And so these blessings, they find us as Christians. It's ironic, isn't it? The world that's out there living for themselves and for their own happiness doesn't find it. Doesn't gratify self and doesn't find happiness. And then people who spend their life serving others, the happiness pursues them. You know, if I go out and do something nice for someone else, I'm going to end up feeling good. If I win someone to Christ, that's going to give me joy. If I help someone that's in need, if someone's going through a hard time and I can be a blessing to them in some way, if I can encourage them in some way, if I can teach something to someone or give them a word of encouragement or give them what they need if they need some money or if they need a ride or if they need help with something, fixing something, you know, that's going to bring me joy. Whereas the people who live for themselves are just, they're miserable anyway. Even though their whole life is about making themselves happy, ironically it doesn't work and they're not happy. And then people who don't really think that much about their own happiness, they're thinking about making their spouse happy, they're thinking about making their kids happy, they're thinking about getting people saved, they're thinking about what they can do to be a blessing to brothers and sisters in Christ, all of a sudden they're happy. Isn't that interesting how that works? Go to Psalm 34. It's a few pages to the right in your Bible, Psalm 34. Psalm 34, the Bible says, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Now you see why I've been a little perplexed by 1 Corinthians 15, 19? Because if the Bible is saying, taste and see that the Lord is good, that didn't really seem to jive with the fact of, well, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable if we're understanding misery to be a feeling, which is a wrong understanding of that verse. Because if we're the most miserable, then if I tasted that, hey, let me taste the Christian life. Oh, this is the most miserable thing I've ever done. Is that what the Bible says is going to happen? No, he says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Joy and, you know, in thy presence is fullness of joy. That doesn't sound like a miserable feeling. So when the Bible says if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable, he's saying just objectively, we're going through some really bad stuff here, and if this is our only life, then it's just a life of pain and suffering. He's appealing to other people's logic. I don't think he's saying that the Christian life is that miserable. Now, admittedly, I'm not suffering as much as Paul because I'm not as great of a Christian as Paul. But don't worry because you aren't either, all right? So we're in the same boat. Neither of us is the Apostle Paul. But at the end of the day, though, you know, we're serving God, and we go through some stuff. We get some persecution. We go through some trials and tribulations. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But, man, I'm just loving the Christian life and enjoying it. And you know what, even when, and look, I'm glad that I'm not in prison today. I'm glad that I'm free, and I live in America, and I'm going to be sleeping in a comfortable bed tonight. I eat good food, and I live in the greatest state, and I get all the sunshine and everything. Hey, it's great. It's the vitamin D state, all right? But here's the thing, though. You know, even if I do go to prison, I make you a promise. I'll be happy there. I don't want to go. But you know what? Wherever I go, if Jesus goes with me, I'll find joy there. Because I'm going to, the joy is inside. Okay, the joy is from the Holy Spirit. You know, I'm not saying I want to go there. I'd much rather enjoy all the bounty and blessings. And you know what, if you're smart, you'll serve God when all the bounty and blessings are there, because people who rebel against God and get backslidden, He'll often put them in a really bad situation in order to get their attention and get them focusing again on the right things. So if you're smart, you'll serve the Lord when things are good. And I, you know, like I literally have told this to God in prayer. Because you know, when people go to prison, they end up reading the Bible. Even if they're not even a Christian, they read the Bible because they just have a lot of time in prison, and the Bible's there, so they read it, okay? You know, every once in a while, I literally, I kid you not, I say to God, look God, I'm reading my Bible, you don't have to send me to prison because I'm reading it out here. I'll make my room its own prison, and I'll read the Bible for hours, and you don't have to put me in prison to make me read a lot of Bible because I'm going to read a lot of Bible out here. No need to send, and I say, you know God, no need to send me to prison because I'm witnessing to people out here. I'm so willing out here. You don't have to put me in prison so I can get my cellmate saved and get the people in prison saved. You know what, because it's the only thing to do, because there's nothing else to do but win him to the Lord, and at least if we win him to the Lord, we know he's not going to become a reprobate, you know, but the point is, you know, sometimes I just tell God, hey God, I'm already reading my Bible. You don't have to send me to prison to get me to read it. You don't have to send me to prison to get me witnessing because I'm doing that stuff right now, God, so why don't you just leave me out here and let me do my thing out here? I've said that to God many times. But could you say that to God? If you haven't read your Bible in weeks, you're not going to be able to say that. Maybe God's going to find a way to get you in prison for a little while, get you to read your Bible finally. I'm not threatening anybody or anything, but I'm just saying, you know. Taste and see that the Lord is good. You know, I believe that the Christian could be happy in any situation because Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content. And you see the disciples rejoicing in prison, rejoicing in bad circumstances. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints. There is no want to them that fear him. Same thing as Psalm 23, one. No want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger. Say, oh, I want to be a lion. Well, I'd rather be a Christian human. Because young lions get too hungry sometimes, okay. They just don't get fed as often as I do. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. And again, want here means lack. They will not lack. They will not be found wanting. They will not lack any good thing. Come ye children, hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may seek good? Look, who doesn't want that? Doesn't every single person in this world want life? And they would love to have a long life, many days, and they want to see good. They don't want their days to be evil. They want their days to be good. They want a lot of them. They want to be alive. They want things to be going good. That's what everybody wants. So he says, all right, listen up children. I'm going to teach you the fear of the Lord. Okay class, I have a question for you class. Who wants to be alive? Who wants to be alive for a long time? Who wants to see good and not evil? That's what he's saying. Okay, well kids, here's how you get that. Verse 13, keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. This is good advice, right? Quit saying hurtful things. Quit saying things that are harmful. Don't say evil things. Don't say blasphemous things. Don't say perverted things. Don't say hurtful and harmful things. Don't speak guile. Don't be malicious in your speech. Depart from evil and do good, and seek peace and pursue it. It's not the pursuit of happiness. It's the pursuit of peace. Pursuing peace, meaning with your fellow man. Try to get along with people. Be nice. Be loving. Be kind. Do good. Preach the gospel. Love thy neighbor. Do these things. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Again, not saying nothing bad is going to happen, but the end will be peace, and you will have joy all along the way. He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. None of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Look at, uh, just right across the page to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 4, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Now, in some cases, that's because God changes your desires, and he causes you to desire the right things, and then he gives you the right things, and then you're happy. Either way, you get the same point. But, you know, he's not always just going to change our desires. A lot of times, he actually just gives us what we want. We actually just get what we want. And there, you know, there are so many things that I've wanted in life, that I've desired in life, and God has given them to me. Even things that, I'm not talking about spiritual things. I'm not talking about church-related things. I'm just saying just like personal stuff that I wanted, or stuff that I wanted to do, or stuff that I wanted to experience or achieve. You know, God has given me a lot of those things, and it's just been great how sometimes I got them like 20 years later than I wanted, or 10 years later, but it's like, if you live the Christian life, you know, he'll give you the desires of your heart, the stuff that you want out of life. And, you know, sometimes you might have to put the stuff that you want on the back burner, and seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, right? Because what did God say? You know, you make sacrifices. You, you know, you forsake these things, or give up these things for my sake in the Gospels, and then I pay you back a hundredfold. Okay, so there are certain things in your life, certain pursuits or goals, or things that you want to do, and you end up putting those things on the back burner, so that you can serve God. You put God first. But you know what ends up happening? When you put your desires and your wishes on the back burner, and you put God first, you know what ends up happening, though? Eventually, God will take that stuff off the back burner, and he'll put it on the front burner for you and say, you know what, I'm going to give you what you wanted. Now stop and think about it. I'll close on this thought. Ruth is a great example of this. You know, Ruth, her husband dies. What does she want? You know, she wants a new husband. She wants a family. She wants kids. That's what she wanted. Her chances of that in the land of Israel were slim. Her chances of that hanging around with Naomi are slim. Naomi doesn't have that to offer. She has no sons. She's a foreigner coming into Israel. She's not exactly necessarily the one who's likeliest to get married or whatever. You know, and Naomi flat out tells her, you know, if you go back to Moab, go back to your false god, stupid Moab. You know, I'm just saying. That's what she basically says in Ruth chapter 1. You know, go back there, and I hope you get married, and everything goes well, and you know, you probably have a better chance of that back home. But you know what Ruth said? She said, no, no, no. Don't tell me to leave. And I'm paraphrasing, but she says, I'm going to follow you because your god is going to be my god. And she made the spiritual decision saying, I'm going to Israel for one reason. You know, your god is going to be my god. I'm going to go there. And she said, you know, I'm going to be buried there. I'm going to die there. Like, I am in it to win it. I am not just testing out. Well, let me see what it's like living in Israel. She's like, nope, I'm going to Israel because I want to serve the Lord, and I'm going to adopt your god as my own god. And she goes, and what does she end up getting? She ends up getting to marry a very successful, wealthy, godly dude, and having children, and having the family, and in fact, she even is the ancestor of King David himself, right? So she has these great kids, godly heritage that leads to King David himself, and ultimately even leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that even she's in that genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, the first chapter of the New Testament. Now look, do you think that it worked out for Ruth or what? I mean, she's in the Bible. She gets a whole book named after her. How many women get a book named after them? It's pretty much Ruth and Esther, right? She gets a whole book named after her. She's in the lineage of Christ. She gets the guy. She gets the kid. She gets the prosperity. She gets it all. But did she say, you know what? I'm going to marry a wealthy man, and it's all about me, and I just want to make sure that I get the family I want and the recognition. She didn't set out for any of those things. You know what she set out for? Your God's going to be my God. I don't care if I'm poor. I don't care if I'm a pauper. I don't care if I'm out just living with my mother-in-law as my only family member, and I'm just out gleaning the fields. You know what? If the Lord's with me, that's what I want. Let's do it. And God gave her the desires of her heart. You see how that works? She didn't go out living for herself. She lived for the Lord, and then God gave her the desires of her heart, what she originally wanted. So let me ask you this. Do you think that you're different? You're the exception? No. If you put the Lord first and seek first the kingdom of God and put his work and his word and the Gospel, you put that stuff on the front burner in your life, you know what God will do? God will turn up that back burner, and he'll cook that in the background, and you'll get it anyway. So you don't have to be in it for yourself all the time. And ironically, if you're in it for yourself, you're not going to get what you want. So the way up is down when it comes to God. You know, you've got to seek first the kingdom of God. Let's probably have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. I pray that everyone that's here would understand how joyous the Christian life is, how great it is to have your desires to change and also to be given the desires of your heart. And Lord, I know there are people that are going through hard things and painful things and difficult things, and maybe people are at a difficult period of life or a rough patch. People are sad. Maybe they're broke. Maybe they're lonely. Maybe they're physically ill. Whatever the trials and tribulations, Lord, I pray that we would all think about other people and think about serving you so that even in the bad times we can have joy. And Lord, there's stuff that all of us want for personal reasons, Lord. Every single one of us, myself included, we just desire things that are just for us. But Lord, we're thankful that you think about us and you give us the desires of our heart and you do give us happiness even though you've already given us so much just by giving us salvation. You also give us so much joy and happiness and we're thankful for that. And I pray that you'd meet all of our needs, Lord, and also just give us extra blessings so that our cup may run over. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Take your hymnals and let's turn to hymn number 431. Silent night number 431. 431 on this first verse together. Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin Mother and Child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night. Silent night, holy night. Shepherds wake at the sight. Glory singing from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night. Son of God, love's pure light. Way and beat from thy holy face. When the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Silent night, holy night. Wondrous star, blend thy light. When the angels let us sing. Hallelujah to our King. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born. Hallelujah to our King. Hallelujah to our King.