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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So again, the writer here is saying, hey, guess what? God wasn't happy with those guys that sinned, and he did something to them, and he will do the same thing to you. Ephesians chapter number 4, look at verse number 26. It says this. . Look, we've talked about anger in this church before. It's not a sin to be angry because there is this message that the world is trying to push out if you get mad for any reason. You're hateful, and that's wrong, and we should never get mad, and we should just always be loved because God's only love. Well, we can be angry, but we're not supposed to sin, and we're not supposed to allow time to lapse. We're supposed to handle our issues today. Look, Matthew 18 is in the Bible for a reason. If you have a problem with somebody, you should go to that person and try to edify and try to work that thing out. Instead of running to reason files, running to all these stupid sites on the internet and just sending me stupid messages, letting me know that I know you know who we are and all this garbage. Yes, I know you're a person who's been to our church before, and I don't know your name because you signed it with two different names. I get that. I understand that. That is stupidity, but that's what these people will do. They will resort to stuff like that, to taking jabs. Oh, I'm going to send them a text message. That'll get them. Stupid, man. Why don't you grow up? Why don't you grow up and just come down here and say it? Let's talk about it. Let's just work this thing out. Unless you've been kicked out, then just deal with it. Go somewhere else. Leave me alone. Leave our church alone. It's disgusting. Verse 27. Neither give place to the devil. So when you're all upset and you don't heed to that sign over there, you know you're a melting snowflake. You come in here anyways and guess what? You're mad. You'll leave mad. You're mad Monday. You're mad Tuesday. You're mad Wednesday. I ain't going back there. Guess what? The devil will come in. You are allowing him to have reign over you. Verse 28. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Again, the idea here is when we are busy, when we consider Christ, we're naturally going to consider other people. You're going to be too busy to worry about the sermon that steps on your toes or hurts your feelings or whatever it is. You're not going to allow those things to bother you personally. You're going to say, yeah, that is me. Yeah, I am jacked up. Yeah, I do need to make that change. And whether or not you make it, hopefully you do, but don't ever get this attitude like, you know what, maybe the problem is you, Mr. Preacher. Maybe the problem is you and always screaming and yelling about how we should do this and should do that. Be instant in season and out of season? Do you think everything is always in season for us new IFB believers? Not at all. Not at all. Look, I don't care how spiritual you are. I don't care how many documentaries you've seen. I don't care how many sermons you've watched. There is something in this book that will stomp your toes. It will stomp all of us. We are human. We have problems. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Look, we all fall short on that. We all come short on that. We know we should do this, right? But we don't a lot of times. I get that. I understand that. Verse 30, he says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption. So there you have it. You say, is it possible to quench the spirit? Is it possible to turn your back on God? Yes. But you better thank God that he gave his life for you. You didn't give your life to him. Because that's what people say, right? Oh, you have to give your life to him and you can always take it back. Nope, not a chance in hell. You cannot lose your salvation. He says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Look, when you read Hebrews and you add Ephesians 4.30 to Hebrews chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, leading all the way up to 12, guess what? There are consequences for grieving the Holy Spirit. Okay? Now you better thank God and we should always thank God that his mercies are abundant. He gives us time. He allows us to work on these things so that we don't have to go down that road. But you know what? There can come a point where he says enough is enough. I'm done. You're going out into the wilderness and you know what? Your carcass is going to drop. You will die in the world. You will die being unproductive for me in my kingdom. Because God doesn't want to use people that are prideful and arrogant. You see, there's this whole spiritual battle that's going on. And a lot of times we don't think about that because we can't see it. But you know what? The enemies that are watching us, these demons and these devils, you know what they're doing? They're watching what we do when no one's looking and saying, yeah, look at that. Right? And then that ensues a spiritual battle outside of here. And it gets God's attention, obviously, and he's gonna have to deal with it. At some point, realize the decisions you make Monday, the things you decide to look at on Tuesday. Guess what? Someone is watching you. And a lot of times it's Uncle Sam. But that's the sermon for another day. Verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Verse 32 says, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. So understand this. The next time you've got beef with somebody in the church, hey, just realize you have been at fault at some point in your life, too. And you know what? You ought to realize, hey, Christ forgave me for everything I've done, the things that no one else knows about. So why not give other people that same gratitude, that same mercy? It will do us all good. Go back to Hebrews. Two more verses and we are done. Verse 18, Hebrews 3, verse 18 says this, and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not. So again, he's not saying you lost your salvation. That is not what's being taught here. He starts off by saying, hey, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, right? And it comes to this point here. And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest. The idea, the subject here is, hey, we should be aiming to enter into his rest. Guess what? The apostles, they eventually got there, didn't they? The arrests, the beatings, the shipwrecks, the doubt, the people coming in and turning these churches upside down and causing all this trouble. Guess what? It bothered them, but it didn't derail them, did it? They still found joy. They still found peace. They still operated as though they were in the promised land. And they did it because they made it a habit to consider Christ, to realize, you know what? He's the guy written down in Hebrews chapter number two, who lived in the flesh, who knows your temptations, knows what personality issues are really like. He understands that. Look, I mean, how many times was he dealing with Peter, James, John, you know, scrapping and squabbling over who's going to be the best? You know, those types of things happen in our lives, don't they? I mean, just all those types of things that we could spend hours talking about, he gets it and he understands it all. And you know what? All of that could be drawn from the Bible and is applicable for us. It's to help us grow. It's to help us flourish. It's to help us function as a community of believers with different backgrounds, with different families, with different situations and different pasts so that we don't bump heads for too long. There is a remedy. There is never an excuse for somebody to get so mad, so butthurt that you have to run out and start lying and saying things that aren't true. It's disgusting is what it is. And you know what? It's going to cause consequences. It will happen. I guarantee it. I promise you it will happen. Verse 19, he says this, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And we'll pick it up there in two weeks from now, but I'm about to lose my voice and I'm done. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this truth. I just pray, Lord, that we would all, everybody who listens to this, Lord, would just take seriously these warnings that you have for us, Lord, and to just understand that we were meant for promise. We were meant for the promised land. We were meant to operate in your kingdom, Lord, despite the chaos that goes on in the world. Please help us to understand and realize that and be with us as we go throughout the rest of the week, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, let's grab those hymn books one final time this evening. We'll sing one more song about our risen Savior. A great song, number 36, Christ arose. Great song. 36, Christ arose. 37, He arose, a victor from the dark domain, and did so ever with his sake to reign. 38, He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. 39, Mainly they watched his dead, Jesus my Savior. 40, Mainly they sealed the dead, Jesus my Lord. 41, He arose, with a mighty triumph o'er his coals. 42, He arose, a victor from the dark domain, and did so ever with his saints to reign. 43, He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. 44, Death cannot keep his grave, Jesus my Savior. 45, He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. 46, He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. 47, He arose, He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose. Amen. Brother Cane, will you close us with a word of prayer, please? Lord, thank you for this time we have to be assured this Easter Sunday for as we please bless the rest of our evenings and the rest of our weeks as well. The song is sung and all that. The song is sung and all that. The song is sung and all that. The song is sung and all that.