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This beautiful Sunday morning, let's all take our seats, please, as you take your song books. We'll begin with our congregational singing this morning. We'll turn in hymn number 165 this morning. 165, O worship the King, all glorious above. Hymn number 165. Let's lift our voices together on that first verse. Hymn number 165. O worship the King, all glorious above. And gratefully sing his wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of games. A billion did splendor and girded with praise. O tell of his light, O sing of his praise. Whose robe is the light, whose canopy's face. His chariots of red, honey, thunderclouds soar. And dark is his baton, the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful pair, what tongue can recite. It breathes in the air, it shines in the light. In streets long the hills, with these sets the plain. And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. The frail children of God, and feeble as frail. In these who we trust, Lord, find me to fail. Thy mercy's how to save her, how proud to be in. Our maker, defender, reliever, and friend. Amen. That's for the Alex Larson, if you want to set more prayer. Lord God, pray, Lord, you please bless the last days of the service. Lord, help us, God, to focus on preaching, or focus on singing praise to your name, Lord, and focus on the preaching, Lord. Listen to your word and to learn and to grow in the faith, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for this day. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, God, we pray, amen. Amen. Number 54. Number 54, oh, that will be glory. Number 54, it begins, when all my labors and trials are o'er. Hymn number 54, let's sing it out nice and loud, all together on that first verse, hymn number 54. When all my labors are o'er, and I am standing on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by His grace I shall come upon His face. That will be glory, glory for me, when by the gift of grace He could give praise. I am a born and intended place. Just to be there and to look on His face, the worthy ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by His grace I shall look upon His face. That will be glory, glory for me. Fresh will be there, I have long gone ago, joy like the river around me will flow, yet just a star from my Savior I know, will through the ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by His grace I shall look upon His face. That will be glory, glory for me. At this time, we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter 9. We've got the so many times listed below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, join us next Sunday at 10 a.m. for donuts and coffee before the service in honor of those celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries in the month of October. And then below that, we have begun taking portraits for the annual yearbook. Please sign up at the rear of the auditorium. The backdrop color is pure brown muslin. I don't know what that means, but I'll Google it like you will. And so below that, we've got the Sierra Leone missions trip coming up on the 6th of October through the 12th. And so be praying for those that are going on that. And then below that, as a friendly reminder, we ask that parents do not permit their children to run or roughhouse in the auditorium for the safety of themselves and others. And the mother-baby rooms also are only for those who use them for their actual babies or toddlers. So it's not just like a hangout for big kids after the service. So just, we wanna try to make sure this doesn't just degenerate into just some kind of a wild playhouse after the service. So just keep your kids under control after the service is pleased. I'm glad we have a lot of children in our church. It's a blessing. And so we don't wanna just let it, we don't wanna let the inmates run the institution though. All right, and then on the back, we've got the bridal shower in honor of Chandler Young on Saturday, October 23rd from two to 4.30 p.m. This is hosted by Mrs. Grace Young. And so mark the calendar for that. All ladies and girls are invited to that. And then below that, keep praying for our expectant ladies that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. It looks like we have about 12 right now. And then below that, if you wanna help out with a meal for the Ventura family, speak to Mrs. Amanda Wright. Other upcoming events are listed there below, and that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. All right, you should find the insert of Where the Soul Never Dies in the front of your hymnal there. If you don't have one, please raise your hand. Where the Soul Never Dies in Caitlin's Land, I'm On My Way. Sing the parts if you know them. To Caitlin's land I'm on my way Where the Soul Never Dies I'm not against my will And to Caitlin's soul Where the Soul Never Dies In sad mountain lands Where the Soul Never Dies Where all is well And the Soul Never Dies Our clothes is blue Be there for me Where the Soul Never Dies And I will spend eternity Where the Soul Never Dies In sad mountain lands Where the Soul Never Dies Where all is well And the Soul Never Dies Our love light beings across the fold Where the Soul Never Dies Is tried to light the shores of old home where the soul of wither dies. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light where all is calm and the soul of wither dies. My life will live in deathless sleep where the soul of wither dies. Where everlasting joys await where the soul of wither dies. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light where all is calm and the soul of wither dies. I'm on my way to that fair land where the soul of wither dies. Where there will be no party and where the soul of wither dies. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light where all is calm and the soul of wither dies. With the exception of the singing class, who has never heard that song in their life? OK, well, we'll sing it twice again this week. So 349, you're cuddles now. 349, the comforter has come. Hymn number 349. 349, those spread the tithes now. 349, lift up your voices together on the first verse. 349. Oh, spread the tithes now wherever man is found, wherever human hearts and human hearts are bound. Let every Christian tongue proclaim the joyful sound. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The holy ocean's end. The father's talk is still. Oh, spread the tithes now wherever man is found. The comforter has come. The long, long night has passed. The morning breaks at last. And thus the dreadful will and fury of the glass has o'er the golden hills. The day advances fast. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The holy ghost's end. The father's talk is still. Oh, spread the tithes now wherever man is found. The comforter has come. Oh, the breaking of peace with healing in his face. To every happy soul, a full deliverance brings. And through the naked cells, the song of triumph brings. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The holy ghost's end. The father's talk is still. Oh, spread the tithes now wherever man is found. The comforter has come. Oh, boundless love we lie. How shall this love abide to one great mortal cell? The bastion's grace divine that I, a child in hell, should in his name it shine. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The comforter has come. The holy ghost's end. The father's promise still. Oh, spread the tithes now wherever man is found. The comforter has come. Amen. Great singing this morning. This time we'll quickly pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Hebrews chapter number 12. Hebrews chapter number 12, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Raymond as he reads Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1, the Bible reads, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard and treated, that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so, and if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Brother Eric, will you pray for us? Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the King James Bible. Lord, thank you for the book of Hebrews. I just pray you be with Pastor Anderson, Lord, and fill him with the Holy Spirit, and help us to apply this sermon to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this morning is God's Commandments Are Not Arbitrary. God's commandments are not arbitrary. Now, what does the word arbitrary mean? Well, according to the dictionary, it has many different definitions, but the definition that we're talking about this morning is founded on or subject to personal whims, prejudices, et cetera, capricious. Another definition is based on whim or personal preference without reason or pattern. So if rules are arbitrary, they're rules that are just because. They don't really have any logic or reason. They don't even necessarily make sense. It's just, hey, do it because I said so. But this is not the way God's laws and God's commandments are. God's commandments and God's laws are based on a purpose. They're based on a reason. He has a point. And when God tells us to do something, it's actually for our own benefit. It's not just him saying, do it because I said so, although we should do it because he said so. There is a reason behind everything that God does. Now, look at your Bible there in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9. Let's see one of the main reasons behind God's laws and why they're not arbitrary. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, watch this, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. So God's rules and the punishments that enforce those rules are for our profit. They're for our benefit so that we can have the privilege and the blessing of being partakers of God's holiness. Now the Bible says here, look, you know, we respect our parents, our physical parents, mom and dad. They had rules going up and they punished us when we broke those rules and we gave them reverence. We honored them, we respected them, we feared them. And the Bible is saying, you know, how much more if we respected, reverence, honored and feared our parents should we do the same for God. You know, God deserves even more respect and we should have even more fear of God. And it says in verse 10, they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now what does that mean when it says that our parents chastened us after their own pleasure? Well, there are two reasons to discipline your kids. Number one, you discipline your kids because you love them and you want them to grow up and do the right thing. You want them to learn how to be a good person so that they can live a good life. You don't want them to grow up and be some horrible criminal or some miserable backward person. So you discipline them and make sure that they turn out right for their own good because you love them, right? But there's another reason that you discipline your kids is because you don't want them to be a pain in your neck. And if you just let your kids do whatever they want, they're just going to torture you. And so he says, you know, they chastened us after their own pleasure because of the fact that they don't want footprints on the ceiling. They don't want the kids ripping the house apart and being obnoxious and getting into trouble and causing them problems. So, you know, there are two legitimate reasons for disciplining your kids. One is because you love them and want to do what's right for them. And then two is that you don't want them to destroy your property, your life, your sanity, or anything else. So you've got to have them under control. You know, when people hear about those of us who have big families, we have a lot of big families in this church, you know, how can you have five kids or 10 kids or 12 kids, you know, how can you? I can barely even handle my one or two. And I'm thinking to myself like, well, I wouldn't want 10 of him or 12 of him, you know, because, yeah, if you're not training your kid, if you're not disciplining them, if they're spoiled and allowed to do whatever they want, you're right. It would be literally impossible to have 10 of them in a house. It wouldn't work. You know, the only way you're going to be able to have a big family is to run somewhat of a tight ship. I mean, obviously, you have to have some serious rules and you've got to have a system. You can't just have a bunch of kids and then just let them run wild. That would truly be insane. Now, here are some scriptures from Proverbs to kind of back up this idea of our fathers, according to the flesh, chasing us after their own pleasure. Our physical parents punishing us, obviously, because they love us, but also their rules were there for their benefit too, okay, which is fine. Proverbs 29 verse 17 says this, correct thy son and he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Proverbs 17, 21, he that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow, watch this, and the father of a fool hath no joy. The father of a fool hath no joy. Proverbs 19, 13, a foolish son is the calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife are continual dropping. So here we've got God commanding us to rule our homes, to discipline our children, to follow the Lord with our lives, and enforce those things at home. And at the end of the day, this is actually a blessing to us and a benefit to us because if we beget a fool, we're going to have no joy. If we correct our son, he'll give us rest. A foolish son is a calamity unto his parents. And so God is comparing our physical parents with our Heavenly Father. Our physical parents have rules because they love us and for their benefit. God, the Bible is actually saying, is even on another level where it's just all for our benefit. I mean, he's saying, look, they chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit. I mean, obviously parents are doing it for their kids' profit too, but the Bible seems to be indicating that God is really thinking 100% about us with a lot of these rules that he makes. So, you know, God is not just up in heaven making rules to just make our lives miserable and just to be a big spoilsport and a big stick in the mud with all these strict rules. All the Christian life is just so hard and God has so restricted us and everything. That is not true. That is a lie. That is a deception that the devil wants you to believe. He's been doing it all the way since the Garden of Eden when he tries to make it seem so restrictive that God lets them eat of all the trees of the garden except one. And then Satan comes like, well, you know, did God say you can't eat of all the trees of the garden? I mean, he's not letting you eat everything when in reality he just says one rule. The devil wants to deceive you and make God seem restrictive when in reality it's sin that brings you into bondage and makes you miserable. And God is actually blessing you by giving you these rules that will help you to live a better life. Now, one illustration for this would be like a guardrail or something. You know, the guardrail on the side of the road keeping you from driving up the cliff. Man, it's just so restrictive. You know, I just want to be able to drive wherever I want. Why can't I drive there? You know, if there's no guardrail it's like, ah, God's rules are a guide rail not to restrict you but to keep you safe so that you don't ruin your life. Now look at verse 11 there in Hebrews chapter 12. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous. And keep in mind that word grievous. You know, the chastening seems grievous. It doesn't seem joyous. It seems grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So in the end it is joyous. It does bring joy to your life to get disciplined. Not in the moment you're getting disciplined. In the moment you're getting disciplined it's grievous unto you. It grieves you. It makes you sorrowful. But in the end you're glad that it happened. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet. Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. And look at this next phrase. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. You see people who rebel against the Lord or for that matter rebel against their parents. They become bitter people. They become bitter. What does it mean to be bitter? Well when we study bitterness in scripture it usually has to do with not forgiving. Not letting things go. Some wrong that you feel has happened to you whether real or imagined. And usually the latter. You know you feel that you've been wronged. Maybe you weren't even really wronged. Maybe you were the one that was done the wrong. But people they feel like they got a bum deal or they were wronged or they were treated unfairly. And then it becomes this root of bitterness that just festers and gets worse and worse and this can lead you down a really dark path. Okay. Getting bitter against God is the worst thing. Getting bitter against your parents is also destructive. Getting bitter against your pastor or other people in your life that have maybe laid down the law at some point in your life or you know put some boundaries in place or preached at you or told you the word of God or whatever. Okay think all the way back to Cain. You know he was corrected by God and then got all bitter about it. And then that bitterness festered to the point where he murdered his own brother. Okay. And then we see you know of course Esau getting bitter as well in the book of Genesis and wanting to murder his brother, desiring to murder his brother. You know as soon as my dad dies I'm going to murder my brother. Now thankfully his dad lived for many decades after that. And so by that time he'd grown up a little bit and let go of his bitterness and Esau ends up forgiving Jacob and hugging him and crying and kissing him and everything's great. You know it's a good thing dad didn't die right away. So you know we see this all throughout scripture. People getting bitter and getting angry at authority and just that festering and God's saying look you need to realize that the Lord himself and other authorities in your life are there for your benefit. Don't have this attitude that everybody's just out to get you when in reality people are trying to help you. Your parents, pastor, and the Lord himself of course. So if you would go to Deuteronomy chapter 4 in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 4. While you're turning there I'm going to read for you 1 John 5.3. It says for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. Remember God's discipline seems grievous but it's not. His rules might seem grievous but 1 John 5.3 says that God's commandments are not grievous. They're not something that should make you sad or down or give you pain. No they're there to bless you, to help you, to be a benefit to you. You're better off following God's rules. You say oh the Christian life is so hard. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says the way of transgressors is hard. It says in Proverbs 13 and 15, good understanding giveth favor but the way of transgressors is hard. And when you see someone say that they've lived a hard life. Usually this is said about women. They say like she looks like she's lived a really hard life. You know what they don't mean? She changed a lot of diapers. A lot of sleepless nights with a colicky baby. You know she did a lot of cooking. She really worked hard around the house. You know she really worked hard being faithful to her husband. You know man that must have been hard being married to one man for decades. That's not what they mean. When they say she lived a hard life, what do they mean? They're usually talking about drugs, alcohol, or other things that are sinful things. That's what they mean. Why? Because that is a hard life. That is a hard life. You know we get up on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. We get up as men and we go to work and we stay busy. We get things done. We make things happen, right? And we work hard. Other people meanwhile are skipping work, refusing to work, lazy, and choosing a lifestyle of just doing what they want, sitting around, being a bum. Okay but I submit to you they are living the harder life. They are living the harder life. You know these bums that refuse to work and they're just begging for money on the street corner even though they're totally able bodied, even though they could fix their life if they wanted to. Listen to me. They are living a harder life. Now they thought that by shirking responsibility and discarding religion and indulging in alcohol and drugs and disobey, they thought that was going to bring freedom unto them. But you know what it has done? It has put them into a bondage and made them miserable and they're not just the happiest people in Phoenix today. They're just living the dream out there. They're not. They're living a hard life out there. I feel bad for them. I mean I wouldn't envy them and say like, oh man, you know, it must be nice to just, you know, get up and just kind of hang out all day. No way. You know what's nice? What's nice is getting up and going to work and, you know, opening the lunch box and having all the wonderful bounty that, you know, your wife has prepared for you. Okay. Going to work, coming home, sleeping in a bed and there's no bed bugs. Right? I mean that's the life. That's happiness. You know, not working doesn't make you happy. You know, oh, I just wish I could win the lottery and then I won't have to work anymore. That's stupid because no matter how much money I have, I would work all day every day. Because work is life. Like why would I just sit around? It's boring. It's not what human beings were created to do. We're created to work. And so the way of transgressors is hard. Now is the Christian life hard? Yes it is. I'm not saying the Christian life's easy. The Christian life's hard but so is the sinful life. Here's how it works. Life's hard. Christian life, hard. Sinful life, hard. Life's just hard. So if they're both hard, you might as well do the one that's righteous in the sight of God and actually has blessings and benefits. You see, the sinful life is hard and then it's just bad on bad. There's no benefit to that hardness. It's just bad for you. It's just you end up bad. And we were just talking about this right before the service. You know, when you're a Christian, your life gets better and better. And when you're a sinful person, your life just gets worse and worse. Sinful people, they're just like, oh, you know, back when I was a teenager. Oh, my 20s. Oh, the glory days. And their life's just been going downhill ever since. You know, people are living a godly Christian life as they go into their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It's like they're reaping the rewards of the seeds that they've sown younger in life and their life's getting better and better and better. Okay. So they're both hard except that the godly life has all these rewards with it even in this life and then rewards in heaven. The sinful life is just hard and then it just gets worse and then it's just you get all the punishments for what you did. Now, look at Deuteronomy chapter 4. The title of the sermon is God's Commandments Are Not Arbitrary. They're all there for a reason. They all make sense. They're for our benefit. God loves us and has these rules to benefit us. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments even as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do so in the land whether you go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Now stop and think about it. If God's commandments were arbitrary, then would outsiders look at them and say, oh, these rules are incredible. What a great system. These laws are great. These statutes and judgments and ordinances, man, these are great. If they were just arbitrary where God's just having us go through motions and just do stuff because he said so and do stuff just because he said so with no reasoning behind it, outsiders who don't believe in the Lord wouldn't look at it and say, this is great. They'd just be like, wow, this doesn't make sense. Because look, I look at other religions and see the stuff that they do and I say to myself, that doesn't make any sense. You know, just all the things that they go through and the rituals and song and dance and I'm just thinking to myself like you're pouring milk on that idol's head. It's a metal statue. You're pouring honey on its head. You're pouring milk on its head. You're putting food in front of it and then the food just kind of like withers and decays and nobody eats it. It doesn't really make sense. And I'm looking at like the laws of right and wrong and other religions, you know, looking at like in, in the, in the Quran studying Islam and it's like, you know, oh, you know, if you, if you want to divorce your wife, you have to say three times, I divorce you. I divorce you. I divorce you. But then, you know, it's like, no, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. It's just like, it's just all these stupid laws that make no sense. And then like, oh, well, I just got a revelation from God that, you know, uh, men are allowed to marry their stepson's ex-wives. Hey! You're just like, what? Why would God give a special revelation to you that dudes can marry their stepson's ex-wife? This is a whole surah in the Quran, but I'll tell you why. Because Mohammed wanted to marry his stepson's ex-wife. Because he's just this lecherous, dirty old man, adulterer, and his, his stepson's wife came over one day and he, he was just like, whoa, you know, I need to have a revelation because I want to be with this woman instead of, instead of my son. What a, what a weirdo. What good, no, he's, and you know what, that's why people all over the world, you know what they're not doing today? You know what people all over the world aren't doing? They're not going like, wow, Islam is, has such great rules. Those laws are so good. Oh man, dressing women up like a black ninja. Brilliant. Why didn't we think of this? We could have been dressing our women up like ninjas the whole time. Oh, we're not worthy. Mohammed, Quran is so wonderful. No, you're looking at these Islamic laws and customs and you're thinking it's backwards, it's weird, it doesn't make any sense, it's absurd. Why, that's why, that's why academic study of the Quran, please, it's a piece of junk. The only people who believe in it are the deluded, brainwashed followers of that religion. People outside that religion are just like, whoa, this is such great literature and you know, we just want to study it just from a secular perspective. But what do we see in scripture with Deuteronomy? Even the world, even unsaved people, even non-Christians, even people who don't believe in Jehovah God in Deuteronomy are going to be saying what? This is good stuff when they look at the Word of God. And even to this day, unsaved people, atheists, agnostics, people of other religions, they would still point to the Bible and say, wow, there's a lot of really good stuff, this is really interesting, you know, this is great literature, these rules make a lot of sense. And you have other religions constantly borrowing things from the Bible and saying, well, these rules make a lot of sense, governments saying, well, these laws make sense and using these things because they're so good. Okay, and so we see that God's laws are not arbitrary, otherwise the nations around them wouldn't be impressed by them. They'd be saying, this is weird and doesn't make sense. Instead, they're like, wow, we should have thought of this, this is brilliant. What a great idea. When they hear all these statutes, part way through verse 6, they say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Now let me tell you this, if you young people live your lives according to the Word of God, you know what, even non-Christians are going to look at the way you're living your life, and they might even say, well, I don't even believe in your religion, but I like the way you're living your life. I think the way you're living your life makes sense. You know, they're going to see you being faithful to your spouse, raising children, and working hard at your job, and living a clean and sober and godlike, and they're going to look at that and say, you know what, I can respect that. Even if they don't even believe in it themselves, and that's what we see in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 7, they say this, for what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day? And so Moses is saying, look how great this stuff is. Look how great these laws and statutes are. Well, you want to go to some other country because their laws aren't going to make as much sense as these laws. These are great laws. These rules are great. Why is Moses so enthusiastic about how great these rules are and how great these laws are? Why are other countries so enthusiastic about them? Because they're that great. Because people that are smarter than you, thou teenager or young adult, have realized that living the way that this world is now promoting in America today where anything goes is not a wise way to live your life. And the fornication and the drunkenness and the adultery and the partying and the drugs is a good way to destroy your life. And even unsaved people figure that out. It's just they figure it out later in life. Whereas Christian young people, they get taught this going in. And so you today are very fortunate as a child or a teenager to be hearing the word of God at a young age and learning these things so you're getting the ultimate head start on life. You're going into life like way ahead of everybody else because it's like you've already learned these other lessons that people are going to be learning the hard way in their 20s and 30s and 40s. You're learning it when you're 8, 9, 10, 11. They're learning it the hard way when they're 50. Okay? And so God's laws are righteous and anybody can recognize that even objectively, even as an outsider you can see these laws make sense. Now go through to 2 Chronicles chapter 9, 2 Chronicles chapter 9. I added this to my sermon at the very last minute just because I was reading my Bible and this kind of jumped out at me so I'm going to have to turn there myself. 2 Chronicles chapter 9 verse 23 and this is that chapter where the queen of Sheba comes to Solomon and she's so impressed by everything and she wants to test him out with hard questions. And so she hits him with all these questions and he's got all kinds of really wise answers and he just blows her away with his understanding. And look what the Bible says in verse 23. It says, And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart and they brought every man as present, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and raiment, harness and spices, horses and mules arrayed year by year. Think about what are these people getting in return? I mean, they're basically giving precious metals unto Solomon. They're giving him gold, silver, horses, whatever wealth they could muster just to pick his brain, just to talk to him and hear the wisdom. And it's not just because Solomon was anything special, this is the wisdom that God gave to him. And guess what? God gives that same wisdom to anyone who applies themselves to the word of God. Because the Bible says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God to give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not. God will liberally give you wisdom. If you seek wisdom and ask the Lord to give you wisdom and study the word of God, he will liberally not, he won't just be like, okay, let me throw you a bone of wisdom. Just here's a little bit. No, he will liberally give wisdom to those who seek his face. And so Solomon has all this wisdom from God and I mean people are willing to pay in a sense. I mean, it's not like, okay, he's charging money. It's not like that because they're just, they're giving gifts though in return because they're so grateful and because they want to get his attention like, hey, can I get a few minutes? Can I get a few hours with Solomon? So here, check out all this cool gear I'm bringing. Okay, let's talk. And he'll talk to them. You know, these guys are smart because they know that wisdom is way more valuable than silver and gold. It's way more valuable than any possessions. Wisdom is the principle thing. And so again, this shows that God's word, God's laws, the wisdom of God is not arbitrary because of the fact that even outsiders and non-believers and people of other faiths would still come to him just to get the wisdom, just to get the smart answers to their questions. You know, we could go through a ton of things in the Old Testament that to someone who's ignorant might seem arbitrary. And throughout history, ignorant people have thought these were arbitrary. But then as time goes on, we start realizing, oh, now I see why God did that. You know, for example, all the sanitation laws in the Old Testament. You've got all these laws about how if someone's sick and they sit on the bed, you've got to wash the bed, you've got to wash the chair, any vessel that they ate or drank out of, you've got to wash it with running water. So anybody who touches them has to bathe their flesh in water and be unclean until they're even. And you know what's so foolish is that Jewish rabbis have interpreted this not as clean and unclean as your King James Bible would read, clean, unclean. And these are really hard words in the KJV, aren't they? You know, this is that really difficult language, the Elizabethan English. Clean, unclean. That's an archaic word. I wonder what it means. I mean, we wouldn't say unclean in 2021, we'd say dirty. Put the King James in a museum, man. We didn't say dirty. What's this unclean business? I think anybody understands what it means to be unclean. It means it's not clean. It's the opposite of being clean, unclean. Okay. Any questions? So here's the thing. These Jewish rabbis have interpreted that as ritual impurity and they will literally say that it's arbitrary. They'll even use that word arbitrary and just say, you know, it's just arbitrary. It says God just decides that certain things are ritually pure and certain things aren't. And I kid you not, these Jewish rabbis would literally say that leprosy in the Old Testament was not contagious. That's what they'll say. I'm not kidding. They're like, no, that's a different disease, different skin disease and it's something that's not contagious. Now I'm sure it is a slightly different disease because diseases never stay the same. Everything's changing and evolving and adapting, plants, animals. And here's the thing. Animals and plants change very slowly, okay, whereas like bacteria and viruses and germs, you know, they're like multiplying sometimes like every second or whatever so they can change a lot faster and adapt faster. So that's where you get the delta variant or whatever. And again, just to be clear, I do not believe that human beings evolved from animals and I do not believe that everything on this planet evolved from, you know, a single organism. I believe in the biblical literal creation account of Genesis 1 and 2, amen. That's not, don't get me wrong, but obviously it's a fact that animals and plants do change over time and there is microevolution taking place. And so obviously the diseases that we read about in the Bible of leprosy and the skin disease that's there is not going to be exactly the same as what we have thousands of years later. It's going to be quite different. But to sit there and say, oh, it's not contagious. It's just God just has these arbitrary rules. It's just symbolic. I mean, that's absurd. The whole reason why the guy who has leprosy has to ring a bell and say, unclean, unclean, so that everybody can get away from him is so they don't have an outbreak of leprosy. And this is why he has to cover his upper lip and say, unclean, he has to put a cloth over his mouth so he's not spitting germs everywhere, spreading leprosy, okay? And, and he's supposed to dwell outside the camp. He's supposed to be out there so he doesn't spread leprosy. You know, and the clothes and the vessels, they're all contaminated. They're unclean. Wash them. Now look, to us in 2021, this makes a lot of sense. Somebody's sick. Wash the bed. Wash the clothes. I mean, think about it. If you have someone sick in your house, you might try to keep them away from the other people that are not sick and wash their stuff. You're not going to drink after them, eat after them. You know, oh, here, let me borrow your hoodie or something. You didn't wash that thing, okay? Because your phrase contaminated. But again, these, these, uh, unbelieving Jews, the Bible says that they, they have the veil over their eyes when they're, when they're reading the Old Testament and so they don't get it. They don't understand. So then they have the gall to say that these things are arbitrary. They're not arbitrary. It was to keep you san, sanitary. And, and, and it was way ahead of its time. I think Leviticus chapter 15 is such a powerful example of the Bible just being way ahead of its time as far as science is concerned. Because I mean, you only have to go back a few hundred years where people are washing their hands in standing water instead of running water or where they don't even understand germs at all and where they're just spreading infection and have no clue. But if they had been following Leviticus 15, they could have avoided that. So it's not arbitrary. What about the Sabbath day? You know, that seems arbitrary, right? Except no, the Sabbath was made for man, the Bible says. The Sabbath was made for man. You know, and that's why God constantly in the book of Leviticus, he says it's a Sabbath to the Lord, but you know what else he says? He says it's a Sabbath for you. It's a Sabbath for you. It's a Sabbath for your servants. It's a Sabbath for your slaves. It's a Sabbath for the hired servants. It's a Sabbath for the animals. And then he even says it's a Sabbath for the land. And then what do they do? Every year they have a Sabbath for the land where they sow the field for six years and they reap the field for six years. What do they do in the seventh year? They let it all just go wild and just grow on its own. And then the animals go out and graze in the field as it goes wild. They use the bathroom. So what are they doing? They're fertilizing it. By saying let the animals eat the produce of the field in the seventh year. Let it all go wild. Let anybody who wants to eat it, the poor, the fatherless, the widow, uh, servants, bondmen, freemen, animals, wild animals, domestic animals. Let everybody just kind of do whatever. Let it all go wild. But see now, with modern science, we totally understand the necessity of doing that. Because you will wear out the soil. If you just keep growing the crops year after year, it'll wear out the soil. You have to let it go wild every once in a while. You have to let it be fallow. And when it's fallow, don't plow it. Because then you're, you're, you're, you're causing more erosion. So let it actually just alone, just leave it alone for a year. And the, the manure and everything else is going to fertilize it. And it's going to be better that way. So yes, there's something symbolic about the Sabbath. But at the end of the day, isn't the Sabbath a blessing to them? Okay, how about this? I don't care what workout book you read. You know, because if you read five different books about exercise, you'll get like five different answers. And they all say they're right and everybody else is wrong. Anybody who's ever tried to read books about like running or weightlifting or they're all just like my way is the only way and it's the opposite of what everybody else is saying. No, you can't get two fitness experts to agree. But you know what the one thing that they all seem to agree on is? Hey, one rest day per week. I mean, that's like universal to 99% of workout programs. You could look up all the different marathon training programs, weightlifting training programs. That's one common denominator that you'll find in virtually all of them is one day of rest per week. Now it sounds like our bodies benefit from having one day of rest per week. So was that arbitrary? No, that wasn't arbitrary. Resting the land, was it arbitrary? No. Now again, we're not in the New Testament under the law so we don't have to follow these things to a T. But these principles still are things that we use in our lives. I always take a rest day from exercise once a week. I take one day of rest from exercise every week. And three times in the year they're supposed to take a whole week off. So I take three weeks off a year, not from work because I'm a workaholic, but I take three weeks off from physical exercise. You know, where you take whole rest weeks where you won't lift any weights or run or swim. You know, you just have these times off. Because I know that these things were a physical benefit, okay? A psychological benefit as well. Not only that, but you know, I would include these sanitation laws into my life. Even though I'm not like required morally to follow the clean and unclean rules of the Old Testament, wouldn't I still take the principle and say, hey, avoid germs or wash your hands or take a bath or whatever. You know, you'd still follow the principle even if we're not following the law as law, we would still follow it as what? Principle, we understand the wisdom behind it and we would incorporate it. You know, in the United States we're not just going to have farmers, you know, sow their seeds for six years and then just not do it in the seventh year. But we would tell them, hey, rotate your crops, let the land go fallow, you know, use different fields or whatever. And we would still follow those principles because they're right, because they make sense. Go to Proverbs chapter five. Other things that could seem arbitrary would be like, you know, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priest's garments, the meat offering and the drink offering. But again, these aren't arbitrary because they're all pointing us to Jesus Christ. They're symbolic. They have important religious meaning. And so those things are pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. They still have a rationale behind them. We don't practice those today because Jesus Christ has already come. We don't need to look at a shadow of Jesus Christ because we see face to face in the New Testament. We've got a detailed account of the Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, all the way to Revelation. And so we don't need those things. Go to Proverbs chapter five and verse one. God's commandments are not arbitrary. They're for our benefit. They make sense. They're wise. Even an outsider should be able to recognize the wisdom of following God's word. Proverbs chapter five verse one, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman draw up as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Now, does it sound like God is just trying to stop you from having a good time with this woman? Because he just doesn't want you to have fun with this woman? No, he doesn't want you to be with this woman because he knows that she's filled with STDs that you can't even see with your naked eye. You know what I mean? He knows what she's going to do to you, how she's going to torment you and torture you and ruin your life in other ways. She has other ways of hurting you. Hear me now, verse 7, therefore, you children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house. Verse 9, lest thou give thine honor unto others and thy years unto the cruel. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labors be in the house of a stranger. You know, it sounds like God's worried about you. He's saying, look, this is why you don't want to do this. Here's how it's going to hurt you. Here's how it's going to mess up your life. Here's what you're going to suffer. And it says, and thou, and thou mourn at the last. You're the one who's going to be crying in the end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed. And say, how have I hated instruction? And my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Boy, it really sounds like God's just trying to make us miserable with his rules, huh? Suppose God doesn't want you to be miserable. He's making these rules so that you can live a happy, blessed, successful life. Sounds to me like God's looking out for us in Proverbs chapter 5. And this is just one chapter. We could go to hundreds of chapters where God is looking out for us. The pastor gets up and screams and yells about all this sin and, you know, people get mad. Like, how dare he get on, you know, my entertainment or the stuff that I'm into or the stuff that I like to do or the stuff that I like to wear or whatever. But here's the thing, I'm not mad at you. I'm up here rattling my cage about these things for you. I'm worried about you. I want you to succeed. You know, when your parents lecture you for an hour and a half, teenager, it's not because they just want to just get on your case and they're just like, you know, I got an extra hour and a half. Come on down, teenager. Let me torture you for the next 90 minutes. Oh, man, I love this. This is what I live for. Oh, I love to just watch the painful expression on his face as I scream and yell. You know, and look, obviously, you know, nobody likes getting lectured by their parents as a teenager. I remember getting hour long lectures and two hour long lectures and I'm not saying that that's necessarily the best way to parent either. But it's out there. It happens. We've all done it. We've all experienced it. We've all received it. But look, just stop and think for putting emotion aside for a second, okay? Putting emotion aside, I look back and think about the times that my parents lectured me for hours. I can remember just being in the living room and it just goes on and on and you're just like, how do I get out of here? You know, what do I need to say? You know, and here's the thing. I've done those lectures, but here's the thing about it. You know, looking back, what was my parents' motive? Were they just like, they don't have a punching bag so they do this instead of hitting a punching bag? Like they just need to get out some aggression or something? No. You know, looking back, why did my parents lecture me even if I didn't agree with them, even if I didn't like it or whatever? Why did they lecture me? They lectured me because they were worried about me. Because they loved me, because they cared about me and they were trying to get through to my stubborn teenage brain. They're trying to get through to me. That's what's going on, my friend. Your parents love you. They're worried. You know what? When I see parents who basically just let their kids do whatever they want and they, oh, they never lecture them and oh, oh, it's so wonderful. You know, and a lot of kids will look at other kids' parents and think, oh man, I wish I had parents like, like so and so has. Because his parents never lecture him. They never tell him no. They let him watch whatever movie he wants. He can be out all night and they don't, they're just like, good morning, would you like breakfast? You know, they just don't even care. You can just fornicate right in their house. It's just like, here you go, son. Here's the bedroom, son. Go fornicate. Alright, we'll see you in the morning. Oh, would you like some drugs, son? I mean, look, those kind of parents, you know what it just means? It means they just don't give a rip about their kids is what it means. They just don't love their kids. They don't care. So yeah, they're fine with them, you know, taking drugs or whatever. You know, I remember I had a friend when I was a teenager and her mom had no rules. And I remember, you know, I, I was taking this girl to a school event. It was like some kind of a homecoming or one of those type of things. And basically I go, uh, over there and her mom is supposed to drive us and her mom's just like, I don't feel like it. You drive. To the 15 year old daughter who doesn't even have a learner's permit, who's never driven. Literally just tossed her the keys and said, I don't feel like taking you. You have to drive yourself. So I get in the car and she's driving, she's like driving like you would expect someone to drive who's never driven before. So then, and I didn't have a driver's license, but I had at least gotten some training. So then finally I'm just like, hey, I need to drive. But, but I, I wasn't comfortable with that because I don't have a lot, I don't want to be driving without a license. But I'm like, at least I know how to drive. Now, now look, so I ended up driving us, you know, and thankfully we didn't get pulled over or anything because I didn't have a license. But, but look, you know what I would say about that, about her mom? Her mom didn't love her. Her mom didn't care about her. Her mom, you know what, her mom was a total derelict and she's just drinking and I think that's why she couldn't drive us. I think she was literally drunk. You know, and so, you know, the point is, this girl didn't care, this girl's mom didn't care about her. She didn't, she's just like, do whatever, go wherever you want. Here, take the keys to my car. It doesn't matter if you have a license. Oh, that sounds like such a cool mom. That's not a cool mom. That's messed up. And I guarantee you that this girl would have loved to have parents that actually had rules and actually took care of her instead of these parents that just let her do whatever. And I mean that, you know, maybe that's kind of a weird example, but, you know, that's what I got this morning, okay? You know, I'm just trying to think of, you know, because most of the kids that I was around growing up, their parents did love them and have rules for them and were strict. You know, so I was trying to rack my brain for an example of a parent that just let their kids do whatever, and that was the biggest example I could think of. I mean literally just tossing them the keys, just here you go. She didn't care. She didn't care what her kid did. Is that a loving parent? No. And so we see that God's rules are to protect us. Our parents' rules are to protect us. If the pastor gets up and preaches hard on sin, it's because he wants us to have a blessed life and not to go over the cliff, so he puts that railing up and tells you. And we could name any sin, and I guarantee you, I could explain to you, even just from a logical human standpoint, why you don't want to do that sin. Why is the fact that you're angering God, you're offending God, God will punish you. Just putting that aside, I could explain to you all the reasons why you don't want to kill, steal, commit adultery, drink, do drugs, whatever. Because it's all going to hurt you. You're hurting yourself when you do those things. Look what the Bible says in verse 18, Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe. Let her breast satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Let me give you an answer to that, because you're stupid. That's why. You're stupid. Now a lot of people would say like, oh well I just want to go out and enjoy all these women that are out there, and he's saying you're an idiot. Get married and enjoy your wife and keep the only unto her so long as you both shall live. Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to be with that strange woman? Why do you want to be out there sleeping around? I'll tell you why. Because you're stupid, that's why. And we all are stupid in some area. Now obviously the Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from them. You know, children start out with a lot of dumb ideas that don't make sense. Because they don't understand the world, they don't understand life. But then when they hit 15, now they understand everything about the world. No they don't. And then when they turn 18, something magical happens. They go to bed when they're 17, and then when they wake up at 18 it's like, all of a sudden like adulthood comes and visits them at night like the tooth fairy. And like this glow comes out like, ohhhh. And then the next day they're just a completely different person. Now they have all this wisdom and understanding. No, they're the same person the day they turn 18 as they were when they were 17. And guess what? Even when you're in your 20s you don't understand everything. And guess what? You're going to understand more when you're 30 than you did when you're 20. You're going to understand more when you're 40. I understand more at 40 than I did when I was 30. Look, I've been pastoring for 16 years now. Do you think I understand more now at age 40 or at age 24 when I started the church? When I started the church at age 24, you think I knew everything that I know now? No. And so the point is that, you know, we all have blind spots. Even me at age 40 having studied the Bible my entire life, I got saved when I was six years old. I had the blessing of godly parents that took me to church three times a week and I studied the word of God my whole life. And I've been a pastor so I've really obviously delved into it as my job even. But yet I guarantee you that when I'm 50, I'm going to look back and say, here's all the things I didn't understand when I was 40. Okay, and so people that are older and wiser than us or maybe people that are even younger than us but they are wiser in a certain area, we've got to listen to other people. And hear their wisdom and especially children need to listen to their parents and, you know, people need to listen to what the pastor is saying because he's studied more, he has more experience, he's older, whatever the reasons, you know, why we listen to people in our lives and get instruction. Because the things that seem so appealing to us, like we look at that strange woman and then they're looking down like, are you stupid or something? You see what I'm saying? Because it's like the guy who's saying, the narrator here in Proverbs 5 is older, wiser, he's past this. He's not tempted to go hang around the strange woman's house. He doesn't want to go that way. To him, it's just the last thing on his mind. But he knows that the young guy is going to be dumb enough to step in that. And so he's basically warning him and saying like, listen to me, you know, don't do it. And he's just like, man, why do you even want to do it? Like, don't you get it? Like, don't you understand there's a better way to live your life? There's a more excellent way. Why do you want this? There are things that when you're a teenager just make so much sense and then later you're just going to be like, wow, that was so stupid. I can't believe I thought that. I can't believe I said that. I can't believe I wanted that. Why would I have wanted that? It's absurd. You know, that's the way life is. As you get older, you learn. You know, if you're on a Christian path, sometimes ungodly people, they get dumber and dumber. As they literally, they literally are dumber when they're 50 than they were when they were 40. Then if you want to find them when they're really stupid, get them when they're 60. And they've just become a complete idiot. It's true. I mean, there are people who are getting dumber every day. The more time they just don't learn and don't, you know, take counsel and listen to the word of God or use their brains even. And, you know, they're just rotting their brain in front of just the TV or whatever. They can actually get more foolish. But I'm saying as a Christian, though, you know, we're getting wiser. As Christians, because we're going to church, we're reading our Bibles, we're living life, you know, guided by the Holy Spirit. So, you know, theoretically we're getting wiser, right? I mean, we better be. And so therefore, you know, there are going to be things that now might seem like, man, God's restricting me, but I guarantee you later you're going to be like, well, I'm glad God had that guardrail in place. Because I'll be perfectly honest with you. When I was a teenager, I would have committed fornication if I were not scared to death of the wrath of God. I'm just being honest. I'm not going to lie to you. I wasn't just like, you know, it's just so much smarter to just keep yourself pure until you're married. It's just going to lead to such a better marriage and a better life. Now, those are true things. It's very true. Much better off being a virgin when you get married. But you know what? That's not why I didn't commit fornication. Because I was too young and stupid to realize that. Just like a lot of you teenagers are too young and stupid to realize the virtues of being pure when you get married. But I'll tell you why I didn't is because God killed 23,000 people in one day because of fornication. That's why I didn't commit fornication. I'll be perfectly honest with you. Why, Pastor Anderson, did you not commit fornication as a teenager? Is it because you were so wise and smart ahead of your years? No, it was just because I'm like, God said if I do it, he's going to kick my butt so I'm not going to do it. Because God killed 23,000 people in one day and I knew that to whom much is given of him so much be required. And so I knew God had allowed me to be born into a Christian home with good Christian parents and I'm getting all this good teaching from the Word of God and I know the Bible and I know what God says about this. If I go out and do, you know, someone else might go out and commit fornication and get away with it, but I'm like, you know, I know that as I as a Christian, if I go out and do this, God is going to punish me severely. Now I knew it had nothing to do with salvation because my salvation is already paid for by the blood of Jesus. It's a free gift. There's nothing I can do to lose my salvation. But you know what? I didn't want God to whoop up on me on this earth. And I didn't want God to punish me and ruin my life. I wanted to be blessed. And so that fear of God kept me from sin when I was too young to understand the virtues of not committing fornication. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Well guess what? There might be things that even in your 30s, 40s, 50s you don't really understand. Why does God prohibit this? But you know what you got to do? You got to just say, hey, God prohibited it. By faith I'm just going to obey. Or when you're three years old and mom and dad tell you when you're three, no, no, don't do that. It's not like, well, but why? Even if they explain why, you might not understand. You know, don't look directly into the sun, kids. Why? Why not? You know, well, a lot of people at Woodstock ask that same question and they end up in the hospital for staring at the sun because they were so drugged out they didn't know what they were doing. And so the thing is, you know, yeah, there are a lot of things that your parents are just going to tell you. Don't do that. Don't do that. And they'll explain to you the reasons why in that hour long lecture. But a lot of it just might go over your head because you're just not smart enough to grasp it at that point. But let me just kind of close on this thought, okay? If I would have gone to church, because look, I preach in the sermon to you because it's so true that God's commandments are not arbitrary. He's looking out for you. He loves you. He cares about you. He wants you to be blessed. It's for your benefit. I'm preaching it because it's true. But I want to say this. When I was a teenager, if that was the only thing I ever heard preached was just, oh, you're going to be so glad you saved yourself till marriage. If that would have been the only thing that I heard, I would have got out of committed fornication anyway and just said, well, no, I'll take the portion of the inheritance that falls to me now, is what I would have said. You know what we need? We do need this kind of preaching this morning, but we also need a hellfire and damnation type preaching. And we also need a preaching about how God killed 23,000 people in one day because of fornication. We need that too. And this chapter, Proverbs 5, is basically doing both. Do you see how it does both? Because in Proverbs 5, he's saying like, you're going to hate life. It's going to be bitter as wormwood. She's going to destroy you. You're going to be, your flesh and your body is going to be consumed. But then he's also just like, why would you want to do this, son? I mean, you know, it's a better way to live. Enjoy your wife. You know, he's using both. But I'll tell you what, a lot of churches out there, they only are telling their young people like, oh, be pure and save yourself. But they won't get up and rip some face and preach hard against fornication and preach hard against adultery and preach hard against drunkenness because they're afraid to offend people by preaching hard on sin. You know, it always cracks me up when I see people who quit Faithful Word Baptist Church and go to some liberal watered down church when they have teenagers and they quit and go to some liberal watered down church and then they're just like, well, I got offended or whatever. It's like, hold on a second. If I were you, I would want my kids in a church that preaches hard on sin every week because there's already so much working against them out there. There's already so many bad influences. The world is teaching them the opposite of what God says. So, I mean, I would want to get my kids under hard biblical preaching as often as I could. And you know what? Let's say I were one of these parents that's a little offended by some of it. And I guarantee you probably everybody in here has been offended by something I said at one point in my life. Like, anybody who's been here for years, I'm sure I've offended you at some point. And that's okay because you're not a bitter person. So you've let it go a long time ago and so that's why we're friends. Okay. But I guarantee you I've probably offended everybody at some point. And you've probably offended me at some point. It's just life. Okay. But here's the thing. You know what? If I were one of these offended parents, you know what I would think to myself? If the pastor's getting up and preaching a little too hard on sin, or maybe he uses like a word that's kind of a bad word, you know, like faggot or something, you know, it's like the new F word is faggot. You know, or he gets up and he uses like a word that's, you know, he said kind of a word that offended me, like slut or something, you know. You know what? You know what? I would be thinking to myself, I'd be, you know what? I'd be thinking to myself like, you know, I don't know if he should have said that word or, you know, this is a little rough. This might be a little over the top, but man am I glad my kids are hearing this. That's what I'd be thinking. I mean, that's what a smart person would think, like, hey, it's better a little too hard than a little too soft. And I'd just be thinking like, man, that was a rough sermon. That kind of hurt me a few times. That kind of offended me a few times. That was a little bit close to home. But man am I glad my kids are hearing this. Because let me tell you something, hard preaching against sin works. I don't care what anybody says because I'm a product of it. My friend Pastor Roger Jimenez that, you know, went to the same church as me for years as a teenager, you know, he and I went to that same church and we spent teenage years in that same church in California. And you know what? The hard preaching, it got us flying right. It works. I'm telling you. And I, you know, there are hundreds of people here that would say that it worked for them. And then there are thousands of people online that would say that it worked for them. You know, so the hard preaching works. Get your young people under the sound of the hard preaching. I'm not saying it's going to make them perfect because nobody's perfect. It's not going to make them without sin. But you know what? It's going to at least give them a fighting chance in this world. And it worked for me. It worked for a lot of other people. God's commandments are not grievous. The preaching isn't grievous. Even if the preaching makes you squirm a little bit sometimes or maybe a little uncomfortable sometimes, you know what? That's good because hopefully it's making your teenagers a little uncomfortable too. And at least if they can just get one thing, maybe they're even zoned out for half the sermon, but maybe they'll just at least walk out and be like, man, I better not commit fornication. I better not be drinking whatever. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your commandments, Lord. Thank you for the rules. Thank you for the do's and don'ts that everybody wants to discard and act like they don't matter, Lord. Thank you for the rules. Thank you for the judgments. Thank you for the chastisement that you bring into our lives when necessary, Lord. It's not fun at the time, but Lord, thank you for looking out for us and keeping us on the right path. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's turn our song books to 377. 377, Rescue the Perishing, number 377. Rescue the Perishing, Care for the Dying, hymn number 377. On this first verse together. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Though they are citing him, still he is waiting, waiting the penitent child to receive. Lead with them earnestly, lead with them gently, he will forgive if they only believe. Rescue the Perishing, Care for the Dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Down in the human heart, crushed by the tender, feelings lie buried that grace and restore. Crashed by the building, awakened by kindness, cores that are broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the Perishing, Care for the Dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Rescue the Perishing, duty demands it, strength for thy labor the Lord will provide. Back to the narrow way, patiently with them, tell the poor wonder a Savior has died. Rescue the Perishing, Care for the Dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Amen. Good singing this morning, Artist List. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.