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

The verse I wanted to look at first was there in verse 32 where the Bible reads, He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, then he that taketh the city. And you know a lot of different times when you're looking in the Bible, in the Proverbs it's going to say a lot of the same things. Talk about wisdom, it's going to talk about instruction, talk about knowledge. But I think a lot of times in these chapters there's kind of a theme. There's kind of something that you can really emphasize in a different light. The way to look at wisdom, the way to look at knowledge. And I think this chapter, one of the best ways to look at it, is he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh the city. I mean, we need to be able to rule our spirits as Christians. So if we go back to verse 1, the Bible says the preparations of the hardened man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Now turn with me to Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10. Very famous section for anybody that goes out soul winning. But I'll start there in verse 9, it says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So right here we have it saying for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. So there at the beginning of verse 1 it says the preparations of the hardened man and the answer of the tongue, says here in the rest of verse 10, it says with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, is from the Lord. So a lot of times people don't go soul winning, a lot of churches don't have a good outlook on soul winning. And you say, well what am I doing? Why am I going out, and why am I preaching the gospel, and what am I doing, does it have any purpose, and what am I doing, have any power, and what am I doing, is it just of me? No, it's from the Lord. And if we skip down a few verses it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith the Lord, who hath believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. A very famous chapter, a very famous verse. How hard would it be to go out and get somebody saved if you weren't using the word of God? Just imagine you coming up with some story, just some imagination of your own heart, and then converting somebody to that religion. I mean that would be impossible, that would be so difficult. That's why I see the Mormons, that's why I see the Jehovah's Witnesses going out and failing. Why? Because it's not you that's getting the person saved, it's the word of God. It says the preparation of the heart and man, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Where does that come from? From the word of God. By the word of God implanted in their heart, and the answer of the tongue comes from the word of God. Many times when we're praying, we're just praying what this book says. We're putting different pieces together, we're praying a prayer, that's the answer of the tongue from the Lord. How do you know what to pray? Because of what the Bible says, right? You're confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you're believing that he rose from the dead, you're asking him to save him. You're asking him to save you, right? That comes from the Lord. So when you go out soul winning, never get discouraged thinking, oh, I'm just doing this of my own will. Oh, I'm just doing this of my own thoughts. And look, you're using this book, know it's coming from the Lord. You're preaching what God wants you to do, and how is anybody going to get saved without a preacher? Without somebody getting sent? You know, and it's interesting, it says, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace? The enemies of soul winning, I want to know, what do they think of that verse? I mean, are they thinking like the altar calls of people walking down the aisle, that's the beautiful feet? I mean, they're thinking the street preachers are just standing there, screaming at people walking up and down, that's the beautiful feet. No, it's your feet. It's your feet going out and preaching the gospel and walking up to strangers and confronting them about the gospel. But you know, it's interesting too, a lot of churches, they would say, well, we support missionaries. You know, the way that we spread the gospel is we have all these people going across the earth. But you know, notice the Bible didn't say how, you know, how beautiful are them that move. You know, just because you're a missionary doesn't mean you're using your feet. Just because you decided to move to some other place doesn't make you a soul winner. You know, me and my family, we moved here. That doesn't make me a soul winner. That doesn't make me special. That doesn't make me fulfilling the gospel. If you want to be a soul winner, you got to go out and preach the gospel. And these missionaries, they just move somewhere and they say, oh, I did this great service for God. Oh, I moved my feet. If they're not going out and knocking doors and confronting people with the gospel, they're not fulfilling this verse. They're not doing what the Bible says. So I found an article and you know, there's this website called GodQuestions.org and you know, it's a really popular website. It's got a lot of articles on there about the whole Bible. So they asked this question. They said, is door-to-door evangelism an effective method? That's a good question, right? I mean, if we're going to look at evangelism, there is a lot of different things in the Bible that talk about how people got saved or different things. So is door-to-door evangelism, you know, effective method? Well this is what they said. They said, whenever door-to-door evangelism is mentioned, people invariably think of Jehovah's Witnesses and to a lesser extent, Latter-day Saints, Mormons. Whereas only a tiny proportion of Mormons undertake two years missionary work. All Jehovah's Witnesses, whether baptized or not, are expected to take part in door-to-door work. They are referred to as publishers. They have to report their activity, which includes the number of hours spent each month going from house to house and conducting Bible studies with interested people. Now I didn't know before this article that all the Jehovah's Witnesses were supposed to go out. That's kind of interesting to me. So they got some statistics, they say in 2012, with 7.5 million publishers, meaning Jehovah's Witnesses that go out and knock doors, it says they saw 260,000 people baptized into their organization. So they calculated how many hours it takes for them to get one baptism. It said 6,500 hours. It says it takes the effort of them for 6,500 hours to get one baptism. Now if you went out soul-winning, like let's say two hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that's about 100 hours soul-winning. That would take 65 years to get one person baptized. Now is that the power of God? Is that the preparation of the heart and man and the answer of the tongue from the Lord? I mean the Bible says that the gospel had power. How are you going to believe that that's power if you're saying one convert for 65 years of faithful soul-winning? I mean two hours every week for 65 years, that's pretty faithful to see one person baptized. But of course this article wants to highlight Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, their success rate. So then it says this, it says, door-to-door evangelism is hugely time-consuming activity. Well if you were going to have those kind of statistics, yeah I would say man that doesn't sound like a good method at all, but they didn't interview our church. The Bible says here in this article, Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything he commanded. I believe with that, you know they're using a false Bible version, but at least it says the same thing. They say the Great Commission is not an option, it's a mandate. I agree with that. We should go out and preach the gospel, it's not just a suggestion, it's a commandment. But it says if only more Christians were as prepared to share the gospel as Jehovah's Witnesses are to promote their teachings. But is door-to-door evangelism the way? So they kind of set up their premise, they say look, these guys really aren't doing well at it. It's a lot of time and effort. Is this really the good way to go? Well in Mark 16 verse 15 the Bible says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now whether or not you decide that soul winning is effective or not, how else are you going to reach every creature? How else are you going to get every single person the gospel if you don't systematically go door-to-door? I mean, tell me what that way is. Now they don't even address that point. It says in Mark, it says in verse 20, and they went forth and preached everywhere. The Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. So that's what the Bible says is soul winning effective. Yeah, they went out and preached everywhere and they had great success in the book of Acts. But this is what this article says, it says how did Jesus and the disciples go about their work? It does not seem they went from door-to-door uninvited. Now that's kind of an interesting verse, or interesting sentence that they said. It does not seem like the disciples went door-to-door uninvited. So I don't remember when Jesus Christ said, hey, I want you to go and preach to all these cities and villages, they got all these Facebook invites to go to all these houses and preach to them. I mean, he said, and whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide until you go this, and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Now why in the world is somebody invited to your house, are you inquiring on who to stay with? I mean, wouldn't that be the same kind of, you know, somebody comes up to you and says, hey, you can stay with me, and you're like, okay, hey, who should I stay with? I mean, do you really think that's what the disciples were doing? No. They were going out and they were preaching to strangers. They were preaching to people they didn't know. They were going into houses of people that they had never met. And it said, look, if someone didn't receive them, right, how could someone not receive you if they invited you to their house? I mean, they're playing like, hey, you want to come to my house? And then you walk to the door and they slam the door in your face. I mean, it's ridiculous. So this sentence, it does not seem they went from door to door uninvited. What did it seem like? I mean, were they really getting invited to come into houses? I mean, Jesus wasn't sometimes, but when the disciples went out, no, they were going out to all the cities, all the villages, and they're preaching to people they didn't know. That's very clear from the Bible. It says, yes, Jesus sent out his followers and peers to prepare the way for him to preach in outlying towns and villages, but he did not instruct them to go door knocking. In Luke 10, verse 5 through 7, Jesus issues these instructions. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals and do not greet anyone on the road. When you enter a house, first say, peace to this house. If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. If not, they will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking, wherever they give you. For the worker deserveth his wages. Do not move around from house to house. So they highlight the end of this verse and try to say, look, he told them not to go from house to house. So we shouldn't do so in it. But that's not what that verse says, and obviously they're using a false Bible version, but the other, the King James Bible does say from house to house. They shouldn't go from house to house. But what is he saying there? He's saying, look, when you enter into the city and you're staying with somebody, don't just hop houses. He's like, don't just stay with this guy for a night and stay with this guy for a night and then go to somebody else. No, just stay in one house, but then go out and preach the gospel. It wasn't saying that they shouldn't go out door knocking, that they shouldn't go preach the gospel to the whole city. But imagine this, imagine you went to a neighborhood and you knocked on someone's door, you inquired that they were worthy, you asked if you could stay with them, they said, sure. And then everybody in that neighborhood came to the house to hear you preach the gospel. Would you go and knock all the doors after that? No, of course not. And we see a lot of times when the disciples or Jesus go to house, everybody would come to them. So of course we don't see them then go systematically knocking doors, but then they went to another city where they're preaching something they didn't know. So whether or not they're going from city to city preaching to people they didn't know or neighborhood to neighborhood, what does that matter? They were still going from house to house preaching the gospel to people they didn't know. But this article just discounts all of that. It says Jesus' disciples did not go from house to house uninvited. I guess they were just invited everywhere they went. What ridiculous nonsense. But they get into a house where they were welcomed to stay with that family telling them about Christ. But you know the thing about God Questions is there a Calvinist website and you know it seems to us like a Calvinist to say the only people you can go preach the gospel to are those that just invite you to your house and say please give us the gospel. Because how many times does that happen? Never. The Calvinist is so lazy, he hates the gospel, he doesn't want to go out and preach the gospel, so he says look, the only way you can get somebody saved is if they just come and they beg you to come to your house and they feed you and they fall down on your knees and they're like what do I have to do to be saved? But they're in jail for preaching the gospel the night before so they didn't have that guy actually fall down on their knees and ask him how to be saved. And this Calvinist, they hate the gospel, they hate the Bible, they're so lazy, they're so wicked. But if we go to the rest of this article, it just doesn't even make sense. It just says after Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, so it just jumps into this thought. Jesus was so oppressed by what Jesus told her that she went back to her town and persuaded many to come back with her to meet this Jesus Nazareth. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. They persuaded Jesus to stay with them for two days and many more became believers. Jesus and his disciples did not canvas the Samaritan village first. So they're trying to make this straw man argument saying because Jesus Christ didn't go into Samaria to preach the gospel that they don't go door to door sowing. Well Jesus Christ didn't come to preach to the Samaritans. He came to preach to the lost house of Judah. He came to preach to Jerusalem first, to preach unto his people. So they're just ripping that out of context. But then they give a story about a woman. They literally say, this woman went to her town and preached to a bunch of people and they got saved. Well, what was she doing? Did she just go to one house that she was invited to and all the men just happened to be there and she just gave all them the gospel at one time? No! Of course she was going throughout the whole town telling all kinds of people, all kinds of strangers about Jesus and they all came out. But that doesn't mean that they didn't go door to door sowing. Says in Acts chapter 20 that Paul went from house to house. Now a lot of people would discount that and they would say, well that just means he went from one disciple to the next disciple. But it says that he preached to the Jews and to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if he's preaching that message, is he preaching to the saved or to the lost? To the lost, right? So if he's going to a lost person's house and preaching them the gospel, how is that not door to door sowing? I mean, what do we have to look at? It says there is nothing wrong with going door to door. It might produce results. I mean if you look at the Jehovah's Witness results, they don't work. It says, and we are grateful for any soul comes to Christ, but there is no biblical precedent for that particular method. So now he's going to tell us what's a good method, okay? And this is just ridiculous, this is mind-blowing. He says, probably the most effective method of evangelism is to speak personally to friends and neighbors and co-workers. This type of evangelism Philip models in John chapter 1, 45 through 46. So he says the best example of soul winning is when Jesus was calling on his disciples to become his disciples and he told Philip and Philip went and told his brother to come follow Jesus. Now I don't remember him preaching the gospel. I don't remember faith towards God. I remember what happened is when his brother came unto Jesus, he said, thou art the Christ. And Jesus said, you think I'm the Christ because I told you that you're sitting under a tree? He said, you're going to see greater works than this. I mean just think about when Peter came unto Jesus, he said, I will die for thee Christ. And he's like, no, you're going to deny me three times. He was rebuking him. And when this guy came, he said, well just because you gave me this prophecy saying that you saw me under this tree, I believe you're the Christ. And Jesus is rebuking him saying, no, you're going to see even greater works than these and you're still going to doubt me. So that guy wasn't saved at that point. Jesus Christ wasn't getting him saved in that moment. His brother didn't get him saved. That's a ridiculous point. I've never heard anybody tell me that Philip was the best evangelism method, at least that Philip. Now there is a good Philip, that's a good example of evangelism. Acts chapter 7, but did he preach unto somebody he knew? No, it said the Lord told him to join himself unto a unit in which he didn't know and he just walks unto a stranger and preaches on the gospel and then leaves. I mean, talk about, it maybe wasn't during, it was chariot to chariot soul week. I mean, maybe that's what we're supposed to do. I mean, why can't we just apply that today and say, hey, does it really matter if you're going house to house, from park to park, from car to car, from sidewalk to sidewalk? What does it matter where the location is? We're supposed to go into people that don't know the gospel and preach them the gospel. We can't wait around hoping that somebody's going to invite us into our house and fall at our knees and ask us to be saved. Because let's be realistic, does that ever happen? Does that ever happen to the Calvinist? I mean, they're not talking from personal experience. So then they say, well, that was a good way. But we'll listen to another good example. A good biblical example of evangelism is the young Jewish girl captured and taken to Syria as the servant for Naaman's wife. The little girl's faith in God of Elisha prompted her to spontaneously speak of his course. Her faith and her concern for Naaman's health resulted not only in Naaman being healed, but also coming to faith in Yahweh. Now I don't even have enough time to preach against that whole like garbage sense paragraph right there. But I'll knock a couple of points. Turn to 1 Kings. Turn to 1 Kings real quick. He says a young Jewish girl was captured. Now the interesting thing is the word Jew hasn't even been used in the Bible up to this point. In 2 Kings chapter 5, the first time the word Jew is used is in 2 Kings chapter 16. But I heard you turn to 1 Kings 19. It says in 1 Kings 19 verse 16, And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shall thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Abimlaah, shall thou anoint to be thy prophet in thy room. I mean, even if you go to Wikipedia and you look up Elisha, he says he was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel, not Jerusalem. This girl was not a Jew, she was an Israelite. So it just gets that wrong, but she's taken to Syria for Naaman's wife. Turn to 2 Kings chapter 16, 2 Kings chapter 16. It says the little girl's faith in the God of Elisha prompted her to spontaneously speak of his miracles. So basically this guy has leprosy and she says, man, I went to God that you were with the prophet Elisha because he would heal thee. And he's like, well, I better go find him out. And so he goes and he gets healed. But it says he came to faith in Yahweh. Now Yahweh is not a biblical word. It's not found anywhere. I studied the, it's the Tetragrammaton, right? The name of God. It's the four letters in the Hebrew alphabet and a lot of people say, oh, that's Yahweh. Well, there's no biblical evidence for that, but he doesn't even say that he comes to faith in anybody. At the end when, when Naaman gets healed, he asked Elisha, he says, will you pardon me because when I go back unto my king, I'm going to, I'm going to still bow down to the king of Remmon and I want to make sure that God will still pardon that. Now tell me if someone, if you got somebody saved and they say, hey, is it okay if I still, you know, bow down and pray to Allah? Is that like a good thing? Like, is that okay? Would you maybe doubt that person's salvation just a little bit? I mean, what in the world? This is one of the best examples of getting somebody saved and where does the Bible say at the name of Yahweh that we're going to be saved? No, it says in the name of Jesus that we'll be saved. And in second Kings chapter 16 verse five, the Bible says, then raised in king of Syria and Pekah, the son of Remiliah, king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome it. At that time, raised in king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria and dragged the Jews from Elath and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day. So it says, look, the king of Syria and the king of Israel came to get to Jerusalem. And so now we have a definition for who was a Jew, one of Jerusalem. So in this sentence, when it says a Jewish girl is captured, he couldn't get that right. But nothing in this article is right and the Calvinist, you know, you say, well, I think Calvinists are saved. This isn't the spirit of truth. This is the spirit of error and the Calvinist, I mean, the only way I could believe that somebody thinks this is true is if they're blinded. I mean, how in the world can you say this is the best example of evangelism? I mean, I can't even explain it. It says all Christians need to be equipped to share the gospel, the good news with others. We might not all be teachers and preachers, but we should all be so grateful that we have been saved that we want to tell others and explain what God has done for sinners such as us. Whether we're going door to door, leaving tracks at a restaurant or engaging friends in evangelism, we should be sharing the gospel. Jesus commands it, duty demands it, and gratitude prompts it. So this guy basically, he doesn't even answer the question. He never even said, is soul winning? He never answered the question of, is it effective? He just basically said, hey, the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses really fail at it. But what else would you expect? I mean, is the Bible believing Christians must have believed that they're super effective? No. Go back to verse one in Proverbs, go back to verse one, the preparations of the heart and man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Why? I could never go out and get somebody to be a Jehovah's Witness. I could never go out and get somebody to be a Mormon. Not because, obviously because I'm saved now and I don't believe that it's a false gospel, but look, that's not the power of God. When you get there and you stand somebody and you preach the word of God and they get saved, it's the power of God. It's the word. That's what gets somebody saved. So never get discouraged. You know, you might go out and it might take you an hour or two hours or three hours or a couple days or a week to get somebody saved. But look, if it was just you, it would take a lifetime and you might get one. You know, it talks about the Pharisees crossing sea and land to make one cross-like. I mean, a false religion is never going to have the power. How can you know this book is real? Just try. Just try to make up some false religion and go door to door and get people to convert to religion. Never happen. You could never see great numbers. And in this church where we go out and faithfully preach the gospel, we see people saved. Why? Not because of us. Not because we have some special method. Not because we're so great. Not because we can say great things. Not because I can talk so smooth and I got all the moves. Not because our invitations look so great. I mean, no. It's because it's the power of God. And so never forget, never be discouraged that what you're doing is of yourself. If you're going out and you're preaching this Bible, you're from the Lord. And you want to be sent by a church that will send you out. Let's go to verse 2. The Bible says, all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord wayeth the spirits. Turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 30. Second Chronicles chapter 30. Now the interesting thing here is, it says in Hebrews 11 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now man in his own eyes just thinks everything that he does is right, but you know what? God weighs the spirits. What does that mean? That means even if you were to follow what God says in his commandments, but your heart wasn't right with him, it wouldn't count. I mean those people that go to church and they tithe, but their hearts not in it, doesn't count. They go out and they go to church and they read their Bible and they follow his commandments by just physical in the flesh, by their carnal, you know, I have to do this. It doesn't count because without faith it's impossible to please him. And there's Catholics that go to church every week. There's Catholics that have been baptized. There's Catholics that pray every day. How much does that count? I mean how many rewards in heaven are they getting? None. Because without faith it's impossible to please him. And you know, even in your own eyes, if you're reading the commandments you say, oh man, I think I'm doing right. God's going to weigh your spirit. And you know, it's the spirit that matters so much more. It's interesting because in 2 Chronicles we see a story where they're not even doing that which is right, which is according to the Bible, but God is still partisan because their spirit is right. Look at verse 15, it says, then they killed the Passover on the 14th day of the second month and the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord and they stood in their place after their manner according to the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received at the hand of the Levites. For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified. Therefore the Levites had the charge of killing the Passovers for every one of them that was not clean to sanctify them unto the Lord. For a multitude of people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying, the good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened unto Hezekiah and healed the people. So what happens in this story? Well the children of Israel and the children of Judah are constantly forsaking the Lord. But we see Hezekiah, a righteous king, tries to turn his city, tries to turn Jerusalem back unto the Lord. And now they're trying to get their hearts right. They say, you know what God, we've turned away, we've forsaken you, we haven't been following your commandments, but we just want to do what's right. And the Passover was supposed to be observed in the first month on the 14th day. And God made a revision. He said, if for some reason you're not clean, or for some reason you can't fulfill it in the first month, do it in the second month. But we see they started out already in the second month. But there were still so many people that had not been cleansed. They were unclean according to the law. But they still ate of the Passover, which was against the law. God even said if someone would eat the Passover, you know, being unclean, they should be just cast out from the people. I mean, we're talking about a big sin. But guess what? Their heart was right. And they prayed, and Hezekiah prayed to the Lord of them, and he hearkened unto them and healed them anyways. Why? Because their heart was right. Now, I'm not preaching that we should just break God's commandments and, oh, bless His heart. His heart's right. He just loves the Lord. No, of course not. But we see that the heart is so important to God that He's even willing to overlook minor transgressions, that He still just, He just wants His people to come back. I can't imagine a son or a daughter that forsakes their way, but they come back, how gracious you could be unto them. You're just like, man, think about the prodigal son, about the father just giving him blessings even though he didn't deserve it. He'd already given him half his inheritance, but he still gave him a robe, he still gave him a feast. And so even though the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, the Lord weighs the spirits. Go to Isaiah chapter one. So the thing that's important here is where is your heart? Is your heart on the things of God? Are you doing things of contention? Are you doing things of pride? Do you think some man of God that gets up and preaches a sermon, but he's just lifted up in pride, God likes that? I mean, he's following what God said. What if he just even preaches the word right, but he's just so lifted up in pride, he just loves himself so much, he's just preaching because he wants to have respect of persons. Is God giving respect to that sermon? No. Lord weigheth the spirits. And so in everything that we do, we need to get our heart right, because it's more important where our heart at. We need to get our heart right and follow God's commandments with faith, then God will be pleased with us. And Isaiah chapter one and verse ten says, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of your God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts. And I delight not in the blood of bullets, or of lambs, or of he goes. But when you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain ablations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot await with. It is iniquity. In the solemn meeting, your new moons and your appointed beasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear you. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil from your doings, from before mine eyes, cease to do evil. So you see a group of people, they're actually following God's commands. They're offering the sacrifices, they're observing the new moons, they're observing the feast days. Does God like it? No. Because without faith, it's impossible to please him. And these people honored him with his lips, but their heart was far from him. And God waved the spirits, but in their own eyes, they were clean. They were following his rules. They were doing what he said. But even a Christian can get off the wrong track because his heart's not right. But he that ruled his spirit is better than he that taketh a city. We need to be ruling our spirits. Psalms chapter 19, you don't have to turn here, I'll read you a couple of verses. It says, Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Psalms 51, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalms 51 10, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Our prayers unto God should be continually for him to cleanse us. For him to just give us a right spirit. So we're not only just following his commandments, but we're doing them in faith. We're doing what God wants of a good heart. God weighed the spirits. Even though it may be clean in your own eyes, he said, Purge me from secret faults. I mean there's so many sins in the Bible, sometimes we're just ignorant or we forget that something we're doing is a sin. Maybe a foolish thought. Maybe we're not having a right heart towards God even though we're doing what he said. Maybe we're doing our alms before men instead of in private. Go back to verse 3 and Proverbs 16, Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. Turn to Psalms 37, Psalms 37, in Romans 3, the Bible says, What advantage did that the Jew or what prophet is there of circumcision? Let every way chiefly, because that in them were committed the oracles of God. What does it mean to make a commitment? It means that you're purposed unto them, that you're joined unto them, that you've decided to give it all to them. So the Bible is saying if you commit your works unto the Lord, your thoughts will be established. It says in Psalms 37, trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto him, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. But God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He wants all your thoughts to even be on him. But the only way you're going to get there is if you commit yourself unto him. The only way you're going to have the right thoughts is if you commit your heart unto him. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. You know where they go through the brain too. You know you want to have your thoughts right, you've got to get your heart right. If your heart's not right, you're not going to have the right thoughts. But if you commit yourself unto the Lord, he'll give you the desires of your heart and it'll come out of your mind, it'll come out of your mouth, it'll be everything you desire, it'll be everything you want. You say, oh man, I struggle with thinking about all these wicked things, or I'm chasing the vanities of this life, or I have all these foolish thoughts, it's a heart issue. You've got to get your heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to commit thy works unto the Lord. Just decide, I want everything that I do to be for the Lord. I just want to commit myself unto him, I want to get my heart right. And then if you rule your spirit, even your thoughts can be right. Romans chapter 12, it says, renew your mind. Transform yourself on his word, not on the world of his flesh. 2 Corinthians 10, it says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. How are you going to bring your thoughts into captivity? By getting your heart right. By ruling your spirit. You know, it's not going to just come easy. You're not just going to think of the things of God by just living your life, going out into this world. No, you've got to read this book, you've got to go to church, you've got to sing praises, you've got to follow his commandments, but you're not going to have the right thoughts. You're not going to be able to bring captivity of every thought into the obedience of Christ unless you're filling yourself with these words, unless you're filling yourself, you're committing yourself unto his works. Let's go to verse 4, the Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Now this is kind of an interesting verse because a lot of people would say, you know, God created the wicked. He created evil. That's not really what this verse is saying. It says the Lord hath made all things. So he's just saying, I've made everything, the good, the bad, all of the people. Now does that mean that he created evil people to be evil? Did he create the wicked to do all these abominations and to commit all these sins? No, that's not what the Bible says. Turn to Romans chapter 9 and in Ecclesiastes 7 I'll read for you, lo this only have I found that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. Very important verse, God made every man to be upright. He made every man to do that which is right. He wants them to live a good life. He wants them to be, you know, a clean vessel unto him, but they sought out many inventions. People are the ones that decided they want to do evil, but God gives everybody free will. You have a choice how you want to live your life, who you want to serve, what you want to do, and God made every single person. He didn't, you know, some people would say like, they have this weird false doctrine called the serpent seed where like Satan has like literal children. No, Satan is not the creator of anything, he's just the father of life, that's the only thing he's ever created. But it says in Acts chapter 17, I'll read for you another verse, it says, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth dwells not in temples made with hands. So he says, well why did he say even the wicked for the day of evil? Well God being omnipotent and being, knowing all things omniscient, he knew that there would be wicked people. He knew if he created a whole bunch of people and gave them free will, there would be those that would turn away. And God loves judgment. The Bible says so many times, the Lord loves judgment. He's not going to just let people get away scot-free. So he has to punish the wicked, and that just shows his love even more. I mean if God never punished anybody, if there was never a hell, how much would his love mean? I mean you say, oh everybody goes to heaven, I guess God just loves everybody. Pastor Anderson said it so great, if you told your wife, I love every woman, she wouldn't feel special, she wouldn't feel like she was like some great value, but when God selects the people that love him back, you can feel special. You can see that, oh man, I was saved from wrath, I was saved from judgment, and you can love the Lord so much more, but he's made the wicked for the day of evil, in Romans chapter 9 verse 19 the Bible says, thou shalt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but oh man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay? Of the same lump to make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory? So God created all things, and he said, look, there's going to be those that are vessels of mercy and vessels of destruction, but he showed all long suffering into those vessels of destruction. Instead of just destroying wicked people instantly, instead of just, you know, like, so many people just died instantly in the Old Testament, and we have people that would sin, and then God would just strike them dead. Instead of doing that, he showed a lot of long suffering to wicked people, but there will be a day of judgment. There will be a day of reckoning. In Ephesians chapter 2 it says, for we were his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. God wants everybody to do good works. He wants us to do good things. He wants us to follow commandments, but man has a choice. It says, for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power in Godhead, so they're without excuse. I mean, God gave everybody a chance. God loved everybody. God's willing to save anybody. God's willing to be long suffering, but the wicked are reserved on the day of judgment, is what the Bible says. And so he shouldn't be confused and thinking, oh, God made wicked people to be evil. No, he made everybody to do that, which is right. He made man to be upright, but they sought out many inventions. But those that decide to reject him, he's just going to have long suffering and eventually, when time runs out, they're going to be reserved in the day of judgment, reserved in the day of destruction. In verse 5, going back to Proverbs 16, the Bible says, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand joining hand, he shall not be unpunished. It's interesting in Exodus chapter 23, you can turn it if you want, the Bible's saying, look, even if someone was super proud, God's going to always, you know, bring them down. He's always going to punish them because it's an abomination to him. He hates pride and says, even though hand joining hand, even if our whole nation, just every single person, we all decided to be lifted up in pride and we're like, we're all here, Lord, and we think it's good to be proud and we're going to stand together and God bless America. No, you're not going to go unpunished, America. Though hand joining hand, though we just lift ourselves up and say we're so great and God has got to bless us, we're so great, we're so wonderful. No, it doesn't matter. You shouldn't fall in multitude under, you know, some sin. We should just, we should depart from evil. When we turn to Exodus chapter 23, verse 1 says, thou shalt not raise a false report. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shall not fall a multitude to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. So even if everybody in America, we all decided to just follow abomination, to be lifted up in pride, even if you're the only one, God said not to go with them, to not go hand joined in hand. Look, even though it might seem like strength in numbers, you got all so many people with you. It's in God's law that we shouldn't raise a false report. We should not put our hand with the wicked. We should not go with them righteous. We should not be lifted up in pride. God gives grace unto the humble and resisted the proud. In verse 6, going back to Proverbs chapter 16, the Bible says, by mercy and truth and iniquity is purged and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. Turn back just to two chapters, Proverbs chapter 14, Proverbs chapter 14 and Proverbs 3, the Bible says, be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. Look, we need to just realize that we might think that we're doing right. We might think that we're doing good, but we need to have fear of the Lord. We need to fear his, I mean, God is the creator of this whole universe. How much should we just pay attention to his words? Should we fear his word? And the only way you're going to depart from evil is by fearing them. Well how do you fear him? In Proverbs chapter 1, I made it very clear by reading your Bible. If you never read your Bible, do you really fear God? I mean, can you imagine your parents coming in with you and giving you a list and saying, all right, we're going to go on vacation and we have this list of rules that we want you to follow while we're gone and it's super important, okay? And they post it on the wall and then you never read it. Did you really fear your parents? Did you really, were you really worried about what they'd say when they came back? But how about the Christian who doesn't read his Bible says, oh, I fear God. No, if you're not reading his book. If you don't know the laws of God, you don't fear him. How can you rule your spirit if you don't have the words of God written on your heart? If you're not reading, if you're not reading your Bible, you have no fear of God according to the Bible. And there's no way to depart from evil without the fear of the Lord. Why are the heathen chasing fornication? Why are they chasing sin? Why are they chasing wickedness? Because they have no fear of God. How are they going to get the fear of God? By this book. So when they say, oh, I hate this book. Get away from me. Nope. They will never depart from evil. Don't be confused. The wicked, the unsaved person's never going to depart from wicked, from evil. In Job 28, 28 says, and unto the man he saith, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. You know what? Understanding to actually do what God said. You know, you can say, oh man, I understand that if I lie, that's wrong. And I understand that God will punish it. But then if you just go ahead and lie, did you really understand it? Did you really understand what he was saying? No. Fearing the Lord is understanding. And understanding is following his commandments. In Proverbs 14 verse 16 it says, a wise man feareth and departed from evil, but the fool rages and is confident. So they don't depart from evil, they run to it. They desire it. They're just chasing it. In verse 7, going back to Proverbs chapter 16, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with them. Go to 1 Kings chapter 5, 1 Kings chapter 5. I mean, do you really want your enemies to, you know, have success over you, to have victory over you, to be able to persecute you, to be able to afflict you? The Bible says when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with them. You know, that's one of the things that I would pray for and hope for in this, in my lifetime. You know, America is a very wicked country. There's a lot of enemies of the gospel out there. I mean, there's so many people that hate Jesus Christ. They'll say they hate Jesus Christ. Think about all the reprobates, think about the sodomy agenda in this country, think about how many nations hate the gospel. There's a lot of enemies. Don't you just want them to just kind of be at peace with you to some degree so you can just go out and preach more, so you can get more people saved, so you can do great things for God. So maybe you could turn this country around. In 1 Kings chapter 5 verse 3, the Bible says, Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house under the name of the Lord his God. For the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under his soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that neither, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And behold, I purposed to build an house under the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son whom I have set on the throne of my room, he shall build an house under my name. Now when God was talking to David, he said, you know, you want him to build a house, that's pleasing unto him. And what did the Bible say? It said, when a man in his ways pleased the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be peace with him. Now I believe this, in reading the Bible, the people that were persecuted, or were chastened to the Lord, or were afflicted, that was always, if they were right with God, it was always to further the Gospel. I mean, when you think about Stephen being stoned, that's a horrible affliction, but it's so that the Gospel could go forth more. I mean, when we see the disciples in jail, they get at least the jailer saved, and they go out and they preach the Gospel with more boldness. They go out and they're constantly afflicted, and they're persecuted, but the Gospel goes out more. And I believe this, a man of God that's right with God, that's doing what he said, that's going out and preaching the Gospel, God will make his enemies at peace with him, as long as it's not to further the Gospel. I believe the only way that a man of God that's doing what God wants him to do, would suffer any kind of punishment or affliction, would only be for the Gospel's sake, would only be for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. I don't believe that God would just let some random accident happen to him, or just some heart attack, or just some brain aneurysm, no, God wants to reserve his saints. He promised them that would obey their father and mother, they'd live a long life. Do you not believe the Lord Jesus Christ can make even your enemies at peace with you, if you're doing what he said? Now a lot of times what happened, when the men of God would compromise, when they would stop, when they would sin, a lot of times that sudden judgment would come. Think about Josiah, he did so many great things for God, but then when he finally forsook what God said, he died. He died in battle. And so the man of God needs to be careful, he says, hey look, it's like, it's either great or bad. You either do what he said, and even your enemies can be at peace with you, or you forsake him and you could have harsh punishment of the Lord. I mean God wants to bless you, he wants to preserve you, if you're doing what he said. And I believe that with my whole heart. I believe that as long as I follow what God's saying, I would never die, nothing bad would ever afflict me, unless God wanted that for the furthest kingdom. To further maybe the Gospel, to maybe help the church, to maybe help people come to Christ, I believe that with all my heart. And so if you decide, hey, I don't want to, you know, go through suffering, I don't want to go through persecution, unless it's for the Gospel, then be pleasing unto the Lord. Then always doing what he's saying, then following his ways. How are you going to do that? By ruling your spirit. If you're not ruling your spirit without faith, it's impossible to please him. You gotta rule your spirit. How are you going to do that? By reading his word, by fearing God, go back to verse 8, it says, better is little with righteousness than great revenues without right. I'll read for you in verse John, it says, for if our heart can dim us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart can dim us not, then have a confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive them because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. The Bible's saying, look, a Christian that knows he's doing right, that's following his commandments, that has faith in the Lord, he can pray and know God will just answer him because he's doing that which is right. We can have confidence as men of God, as women of God, as children of God. We can know, hey, if I'm going out and preaching the Gospel, it's from the Lord and he's going to protect me. He's going to preserve me. But if I decide to go out and live in sin, if I decide to just go back to Egypt, God might afflict me. God might punish me. That's why I'm never, you know, I go to these neighborhoods and people will be like, oh man, it's a scary neighborhood. Oh man, there's a serial killer walking around. Oh man, there's these scary dogs. It doesn't bother me for a second. If I fear the Lord, what else am I going to fear? God will preserve you. God will, you know, reserve you. And it said, better is little with righteousness than great revenues without right. We should desire to do that which is right so much more than money. If you ever had the decision at work, say, hey man, I don't know, I feel like I might get fired unless I go along with them. Never do that. Just think about what God wants. If you're pleasing unto God, he's going to preserve you. He's going to take care of you. Never make a decision to chase money rather than doing that which is right. I mean, haven't we seen so many places where God's saying, look, I'll do these great things for you if you follow me. And if you don't, there's death, there's destruction. I mean, he's going to, he's going to destroy the pride, the prideful. We need to rule our spirit. And if you don't have a rule over your spirit, when you're put in a difficult situation, when you're in that job and, you know, it's looking at you and they're like, hey, are you going to follow us? Are you going to let the company down? Are you going to get us bankrupt? Are you going to have auditors coming here? Do you just hate us? And you're like, what do I do? What do I do? If you don't have rule over your spirit, if you haven't decided already you're going to fear the Lord, you can stumble. You can fall. So that's why we have to get it settled in our hearts now because then even your thoughts will be established. Let's go to verse nine, it says, and a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Look, your heart has plans, but before you were saved, I mean, do we just have like no plans? You just have like no purpose. No, even the heathen have a purpose. They have a desire. They just want to lift up themselves and your heart's trying to figure out where to go. He has plans, he has schemes, but the Lord should direct your steps. You should let this book decide where you go. You know, I've had thoughts before where I've said, I think it would be great to just live in the country and have a lot of land and have this really nice house and build a garden and maybe have some cattle and have some horses, but that would be a lot of time and a lot of effort and I wouldn't be able to go out soul winning as much. I wouldn't be living in the city. It would be harder for me to be a pastor, it would be harder for me to do the things of God. You know, my heart might desire that, my heart might devise that, but I'm going to let God decide where I go. I'm going to let God decide what I'm going to do and I'm not perfect, but I hope that every time I have a desire, I have some kind of idea that I go back to this book and see is that what God wants me to do. I'm going to let him direct me. That's why it says in Psalms 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. In this world, it's hard to figure out what to do. It's hard to understand where to go. There's so many opportunities and you're always going to be missing out on something. You can't have it all. So when you're looking, where do I go, use this book as a lamp. If it's super pitch black outside and there's this one little path and every other way is mud or dirt or death or destruction, wouldn't you be like, oh man, I better get this lamp. I don't want to fall off the cliff. This life is like that. You want to go down the straight and narrow, you got to use this word. Pretend like, I mean, really think about it. This world has so many dangers, so many traps. The broad is the way which leads to the destruction. I mean, we need his word to know where to navigate and he says, it's going under your feet. I mean, you're just, oh, where do I go? I got to follow his word. So we get through the rest of this chapter, I'm going to read a few of the verses together. I think they have some combined thoughts. We go to verse 10. It says, the divine sense is in the lips of the king. His mouth transgresses not in judgment, a just weight and balance are the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are his work. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness for the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the light of kings and they love him that speaketh right. The wrath of a king is the messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it and the light of the king's countenance is life and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. So we have a lot of verses here combined. They're talking about the king, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is who? The king of kings and Lord of lords. A lot of this is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, one thing would be like, why do you use the King James Bible? Well, you know, I've heard a lot of people say, what about the new King James? I mean, you know, it's basically the same. Well, it's interesting because the verse 10 says, the divine sentence is in the lips of a king. But listen to the new King James, it says, divination is in the lips of the king. Now when he's talking about the king here, it says his mouth transgresseth not in judgment. Now what earthly king has his mouth never transgressed in judgment? Who's this talking about? It's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the new King James is trying to say that the Lord Jesus Christ has divination coming out of his mouth. It's a false prophet. It's a false book. I don't want to use it because it's calling Jesus Christ a witchcraft, a sorcerer having divination coming out of his mouth, a diviner. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 18, Deuteronomy chapter 18 says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 1, then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. So now when the King James Bible is talking about a divine sentence is in the lips of the king, it's not talking about divination, talking about something sweet, talking about something great. It's talking about something that you desire, that's pleasant. I mean are we really saying that the ordinances of divine service were divination or witchcraft or familiar spirits? No. The word divine can mean great or sweet or awesome or something that you really enjoy. But divination is not the same word. Divination is, you know, conjuring spirits by dividing things in the future, trying to forecast that which is in the future. And Deuteronomy 18, 10 says, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh a son or his daughter to pass through the fire or that useth divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consulter of familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination of the Lord. And because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before them. So now we get a really good definition of what divination is in this verse, right? I mean, it's talking about familiar spirits, talking about a charmer, talking about a wizard. Does that sound like the Lord Jesus Christ? No. That's why you should always use a King James Bible because it's never going to make a foolish mistake like that and be a liar and a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious and a irreverent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like that. Look at verse 11, it says, all the weights of his bag are his work. This is a just weight and balancer of the Lord's and it talks about in the law many times a just weight is God's delight. He loves it when you give a right judgment. When you see two people in a conflict and you're not a respecter of persons, you just do what's right. You say, oh, I know this one guy's really rich and everybody loves him and this other guy's poor and nobody really likes him, but the rich guy was in the wrong. So I'm going to give a right judgment. I'm not going to be a respecter of persons and I'm going to deliver the right judgment. I'm going to punish that guy even though he's more liked. I'm going to do that which is right and it says that all the weights of the bag are his work. What is that talking about? What does that mean? Turn to Romans chapter 12, it says, for the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Romans 37, 28, for the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off for I, the Lord loved judgment. I hate robbery for burnt offering and I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with the Lord loves judgment. So what is he talking about? Just wait. He's saying judgment and God, all the, all the bags of the weights in the bag are his work, meaning he's going to make all the judgments. He's the final judger. And it says in Romans chapter 12 verse 19, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay it, sayeth the Lord. Look, God's going to take care of the judgment. God's going to make sure that everything that happens is judged and judged rightly, judged with equity, judged with a just weight and all the weights of the bag are his. He's going to make sure that judgment is taken care of. Even if man fails at judgment, God's going to make sure that judgment is always right. We don't need to worry about, oh man, this wicked guy seems to get away with it. Nope. God's going to make sure in the day of judgment that they're going to get what's right. They're going to get the just weight. It says the righteous lips are the light of kings. Proverbs 15 says the thoughts of the wicked are abomination of the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant words. Everything that comes out of the Lord Jesus Christ's mouth is pleasant. It's always righteous, it's always good, it's a delight of kings when God hears you say pleasant words. He says the words of the pure are pleasant words. God likes it when he hears you speak good words. It says the wrath of the king is his messengers of death. It says by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, has seen him who is invisible. So when Moses was on this earth and he left Egypt, did he fear the wrath of the king of Pharaoh? No. He feared God, and so the wrath of the king is the Lord Jesus Christ and his messengers of death. I mean, as much as we go out and preach the good news, don't we give them the bad news first too? I mean, we're saying, look, if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to go to hell. That's not a good message. But it says the wrath of the king is messengers of death. You don't want God's wrath upon you, and he that believeth not hath the wrath of God abiding on him. Right? It says in Psalms 2 verse 12, Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and he perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but little. Blessed are they that put their trust in him. Look, God's going to pour out his wrath on the wicked, and the wrath of the king is his messengers of death. It says in verse 16, going back to Proverbs, it says, How much better is it to get wisdom than gold? To get understanding rather than to be chosen than silver. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better is it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoiled with the proud. So turn to Psalm 73, Psalm 73, I'll look at one verse, I'll read for you from Psalms 37 16. It says, A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of the many wicked. The Bible makes it very clear, look, we're not supposed to pursue that which is for money. We're not supposed to pursue money in this life, we're supposed to pursue that which is right. And the Bible's going to say it over and over. But it says, How much better is it to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding than to be chosen as silver. It says, He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. Why is it better to do that which is right than have the money? Because a lot of times people would think, well how is it benefiting me to have wisdom rather than this money? I mean, I'm struggling to get food on the table, I'm struggling, you know, to make ends meet. Well what if God just takes your life? Isn't that better to have had, you know, a little bit, than just God just destroy you? To throw you into the gutter? And it's better to have righteousness because God will preserve your soul. It says, Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Those that chase the money, they're going for destruction. It says, Better is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. What are we talking about in this chapter? We're talking about, you know, keeping your soul, keeping your spirit within yourself. You know, refraining your spirit from wanting the wicked desire of this world. From having the pride, from chasing after money. You need to keep your spirit. You need to control your spirit. By getting this word of God. Verse 20, let's go to Proverbs 16, it says, He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good. And whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. Understanding is a wellspring of life on him that happened, but the instruction of fools is followed. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. Pleasant words are as in honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. The Bible says in Psalms 119, it says, How sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. When the Bible says pleasant words are as honeycomb, I mean, when you hear the words of God, when you hear that right proverb, when you're struggling, I mean, isn't it just so great when you have that wisdom of God just come and it just speaks to you and just changes your perspective, changes your life, gives you joy, gives you happiness, gives you understanding. But the person that doesn't rule his spirit, he doesn't handle a matter wisely. He doesn't increase in learning, he doesn't increase in understanding, he doesn't teacheth his mouth, he doesn't add learning, you have to get that from the words of God. It says the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. How are you going to do those things right? By getting his words. By getting the pleasant words as in honeycomb, desiring it. I mean, it's talking about, we were talking about the first verse that the Lord wayeth the spirits, right? So even if you're reading this book, but you just weren't desiring it, you're not going to get as much out of it. Have you ever just been reading the Bible and you just kind of like read a whole chapter and you're like, I have no idea what that just said. I mean, you're not getting anything out of it. But sometimes when you, you know, you've been in that season where it's just you really desiring the word and it's just really sweet unto you, it's like every verse is just coming off the page. It's just speaking life unto you. It's just increasing learning. It says the sweetness of the lips increaseeth learning. How are you going to get that? By just desiring his word, getting your heart right, ruling your spirit, deciding, hey, you know what? I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to do these things and help getting yourself in the right spirit. Maybe sing a hymn. The Bible talks about singing the hymns, it'll give you joy and then maybe you can be in the right mind to read his word. I know a lot of times, even before preaching, just singing the hymns, it just gives me more life. It gives me more spirit. It wants me to just preach harder and if we desire his word, it's going to help us so much more. It's going to be sweet unto the soul. It's going to be health to the bones. It says in verse 25, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Look, what you think is right is probably not right. I mean, you can't just trust yourself. You have to go back to the Bible and the end thereof is the ways of death. It says you need to go through the Bible. There's so many ways to death. How are you going to avoid them? By going to this book and then you've got to rule your spirit. You've got to decide, hey, I'm not going to just have knowledge and wisdom. I'm going to have understanding by doing it, by following his commandments, by having the fear of the Lord. In verse 26, the Bible says, he that labereth labereth for himself, for his mouth craveth it of him. An ungodly man diggeth up evil and his lips there's a burning fire. A forward man soweth strife and a whisperer separated chief friends. A violent man enticeth his neighbor and leadeth him in a way that is not good. He shutteth his eyes to devise forward things. Moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass. If you don't rule your spirit, your lips there's a burning fire. If you don't rule your spirit, you're going to sow strife. If you don't rule your spirit, you're going to whisper and separate the chief friends. If you don't rule your spirit, when the violent man comes and entices you, you're going to be taken away by him. You're going to be desiring to go with him. You're going to be led onto the way that is not good. When you don't rule your spirit, you're going to devise forward things. Isn't that so true? Have you ever gone into a season where maybe you weren't reading the Bible for a few days or for a week or a month even? And you start chasing the things of this world and then all of a sudden your thought life gets a lot different. You start desiring things that you didn't want to desire. Maybe you start backsliding. When you start backsliding at heart, when you start gaining out the desires, it's hard to get back on the right track. And if you can't rule your spirit, then you're going to fall into these bad things. The Bible's not saying that, oh man you're saved, so you're never going to say anything wrong. You're never going to sow strife. You're never going to separate chief friends. I mean, wouldn't that really hurt you if you started spreading gossip, if you started whispering to your friends and it started destroying relationships in this church? I mean if you saw two guys that were really good friends and you found out some private knowledge and you decided, you know what, I'm just going to tell some people about that. And then it destroyed their relationship. Look, we're not perfect. And the Bible says if you see your brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, you should pray unto God and you'll give him life. If you see somebody do something wrong and it's not a wicked sin, a sin that's according to the Bible for death, pray to God for him. Have you ever thought, oh man this guy did wrong, I'm going to go straight to God and pray. No, what do most people do? Did you hear what so-and-so did? Did you hear what, I saw this guy at the bar. I saw this guy with this girl. I saw her say this stupid thing on Facebook. Look, there's so many stupid things on Facebook. I hate Facebook so many times sometimes, you know, and it can be used for good, but it's a big temptation for a lot of people. And you know, if you see your brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, why don't you just pray unto God for that person instead of letting it affect your heart. But if you can't rule your spirit, how are you going to rule your spirit? By praying unto God. The person that decides, you know what, I'm just going to share that gossip. I'm just going to separate chief friends. I'm going to destroy relationships in this church. I want this church to be brought about out of strife and contention, I'm going to devise forward things. It says in Ecclesiastes 3, it says, I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and do good in his life, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God. Look God wants us to live our lives. He wants us to work hard for him. That's what we have to live for. But if you can't rule your spirit, you're going to go fall into all these wicked sins. And God's going to weigh you in your spirit. You need to rule your spirit so even if you were technically doing the right things, but your heart wasn't in it, I want you to still get the rewards. I don't want you to go out and you know, do you think the silent partner soul winning that's not in it, that has no faith in it, that doesn't desire, God's just like, oh man I'm just giving you all these rewards. I mean do you really think the people that are just going to church three times a week, giving their tithe out of obligation, that God's really blessing that? No. No, God's weighing the spirits. Look at verse 31, it says the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. Now there's a couple things in this verse, and I know I'm going over a little bit of time, but you know you can go to some other church on Thursday night, which doesn't exist. The Bible says the hoary head is a crown of glory. Now I think it's very interesting, when I was growing up, I loved to dye my hair, like permanently dye my hair, I'd dye it like bleach blonde. Now I believe that was sinful, because I think that God does not want us to change the color of our hair, and he says the hoary head is a crown of glory. How many old people do you know dye their hair, because they're ashamed? You know what, it's a glory to have white hair. Go to 1 Peter chapter 5, no I'm sorry go to Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 1. In Leviticus 19 32 the Bible says, thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God, I am the Lord. We're supposed to have respect under the elders, well how do you know there's an elder? By the hoary head. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 36, neither shalt thou swear by the head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. So even if you were to like pour some chemicals and change your hair color, God's like you didn't change your hair color, you can't even make them, why are you black? So why are you doing that? Why are you just figuring yourself? You know the hoary head should be a glory. We should look into those that have a white head, and have so much respect, and looking to them as elders, it's a glory to have a hoary head. But look what the verse says, it says, if it be found in the way of righteousness. If you don't rule your spirit, and you get to a long life, and you have the hoary head, is that a glory? Is that a crown of righteousness? I mean God's saying look, you're going to get a crown of glory if you do that which is right for a lifetime. You know, the Christian life is not five minutes. It's not one week, it's not a year, it's not a decade, it's a lifetime. And you know it's a crown of glory to see a man that has white hair, and he lived his whole life for God. I mean think about that Jehovah's Witness that went out soul winning for 65 years, and got one baptism. Think about the guy that was on fire for God for 65 years. Isn't that a crown of glory? Isn't that awesome? Why is he wanting to be ashamed of his hair? I'll read to you in 1 Peter 2, it says, when the chief shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. But God will give a crown of glory unto those that serve him, that desire that, that desire him. And in Revelation chapter 1 verse 12 it says, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one likened to the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about the path to the golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white as wool, and white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire. Look, the Lord Jesus Christ has white hair. You think the Lord Jesus Christ is ashamed of that? No. Old people should not be ashamed of their white hair, and we shouldn't desire to permanently dye our hair or alter our appearance. God made us the way he did for a purpose. He wants us to look like that. We can't make the colors of our hair change. You know, and the way, it's not just a glory to have white hair, it's not just a glory to be an old person, it would be found in righteousness, if we lived the righteous life, if we followed God's commandments. That's the crown of glory. And he's saying it's represented by the white hair. And who else had white hair? Jesus Christ! I mean, I want to be like Jesus Christ, I want to, I mean, what could be better than to look like the Lord Jesus Christ, with a flaming fire in his eyes? That's what I want to be like when I'm an old man. I've got a flame of fire in my eyes and white hair, and I'm preaching hard. I mean, I love, I love the idea of retirement, you know, from the secular job, so I can go out and preach the gospel more. You know, so I think, hey, if I want to get there, I've got to rule my spirit now. Because if I don't, God could destroy me. But if I want to be preserved, if I want my enemies to be at peace with me, if I want to have righteousness, if I want to be preserved in this life, if I want God's favor, I better start ruling my spirit. By doing what? By getting this book, by getting my spirit on the writings of God, without faith it's impossible to please him. Turn to Romans chapter 8, it'll be the last place we turn. It says, he that has slowed anger is better than the mighty, he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. And then in Romans chapter 25 it says, he that hath no rule over his spirit is like a city that is broken down without walls. If you decide not to rule your spirit, temptation, sin, the devil, they have no wall. They have nothing stopping them from coming and destroying your life. And even a Christian can destroy his life. So you've got to rule your spirit. It says in verse 33, the lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You know, it's kind of an interesting verse, it says, the lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is the Lord. It doesn't immediately come to mind what that means, but what God's saying is, look, what does it mean when the evil people in Proverbs chapter 1 were saying, cast in thy lot among us? He was saying, look, give us your life, commit yourself unto us. And it says the lot is cast into the lap, meaning, look, you have the decision to make for your life. You get to decide what you're going to do. Just think, God put you on this earth, in this time place, for a reason. He wants you to be successful. He wants you to do great things, and the lot is cast in your lap. You have the choice. Are you going to rule your spirit? Are you going to do great things for God, or are you going to forsake the way? And you say, oh no, I don't want to rule my spirit. I don't want to fall after righteousness. Says in Psalm 37, 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighted in his way. Though we fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Look, even if you were to stumble, even if you were to fall, if your heart's right towards God and you're a good man, God's going to direct your steps. Even as we saw, look, the children of Israel sometimes weren't even doing what was right, but they had their heart right, and God still directed their steps. And look at the last verse, it says in Romans 8, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are called according to his purpose. Look, all things can work together for good. Even if you're not here tonight and you say, oh man, I haven't been ruling my spirit. Oh man, I've screwed up my life in so many ways already. Look, it can still work together for good, and God can bless anything in your life. And if you just decide to rule your spirit now, even if you've made mistakes in the past, you can still do great things for God, and you can still make all of your enemies at peace about you. Let's close our heads and bow in prayer, or bow our heads and close our eyes in prayer. Thank you Jesus for giving us this great chapter. I pray that we would read your word and allow your word to rule our spirit, that we'd have the fear of you and that we'd keep your commandments, and that we would just be preserved. I pray that you would just preserve every person in this room that wants to follow you, that wants to have a heart of desire after you, and I pray that all of us would just have a bigger heart to desire after you, to desire after your word, and do big things for God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.