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🎵Piano music plays🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 🎵Piano music continues🎵 Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find your seat, please grab a song book. Turn to song number 409. Song number 409, the fight is on. Let's all stand together for this first song, if you are able. Song number 409, the fight is on. All together, nice and strong on that first verse. 🎵The fight is on. The trumpet sound is ringing out. The cry to arms is heard afar and near. The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory. The triumph of the Christ will soon appear. The fight is on, O Christian soldier, and face to face in stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engaged today. The fight is on, but be not weary. Be strong and in His might hold fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is on, around ye soldiers brave and true. Jehovah leads and victory will assure. Go buckle on, the armor God has given you and in His strength forever will endure. The fight is on, O Christian soldiers, and face to face in stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engaged today. The fight is on, but be not weary. Be strong and in His might hold fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. The fight is on, around ye soldiers brave and true. Jehovah leads and victory will assure. The fight is on, around ye soldiers brave and true. Jehovah leads and victory will assure. The fight is on, O Christian soldiers, and face to face in stern array. With armor gleaming and colors streaming, the right and wrong engaged today. The fight is on, but be not weary. Be strong and in His might hold fast. If God before us is better or us, we'll sing the victor's song at last. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start our service this morning with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for giving us another day that we can come to your house, Lord, and we thank you for bringing us all here safely, and Lord, we thank you for our salvation, for your word, Lord, and for the fight that you've allowed us to be in, for your name, Lord, and we just ask that you please bless the service this morning, and please bless the singing most of all. Please feel pastored to be here with your spirit as he preaches unto us, and give us your spirit also in the congregation that we may leave here edified. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Turn to song number 310. Song number 310, Footprints of Jesus. Song number 310, all together on that first verse. Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, Come, follow me, And we see where Thy footprints falling Lead us to Thee. Footprints of Jesus That make the pathway glow, We will follow the steps of Jesus Where'er they go, Though they lead o'er the cold, dark mountains Seeking His sheep, Or along by Siloam's fountains Helping the weak. Footprints of Jesus That make the pathway glow, We will follow the steps of Jesus Where'er they go, If they lead through the temple, Holy preaching the word, Or in homes of the poor and lowly Serving the Lord. Footprints of Jesus That make the pathway glow, We will follow the steps of Jesus Where'er they go, Then at last when on high He sees us Our journey done, We will rest where the steps of Jesus end At His throne. Footprints of Jesus That make the pathway glow, We will follow the steps of Jesus Where'er they go, All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 106. If you want to get that ready in your songbooks, abide with me, song number 106. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Some important information on there. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We are currently going through the book of Matthew which is a verse by verse Bible study on Thursday nights. So hope to see you there. We are a family integrated church and so infants and children, they stay with their parents. We don't have Sunday school classes or nurseries, but for your convenience, there is a mother baby room located in the back of the building. Should your child need some distraction, if they need to get changed, you need to take them out of the service for a little bit. You can do so. Speakers and screens are available in there as well as changing tables and you can bring them into the service at your discretion. So that's available for you. Of course, the rooms in the back are for the mothers and dads, if you are on diaper duty, we do have a men's restroom right here available with the changing table there as well. And dads, if you are taking out your kids, just to distract them a little bit, if they are kind of getting out of hand, you can use the foyer and there are speakers and screens available there as well so you can still tune into the preaching. Today is the September birthdays and so let's get some birthdays here. Whose birthday is in September? Do we have any birthdays? Okay, one there, one here, okay one right there, right there. Alright, don't be embarrassed. I know September is not the best month but you know, hey, it's what God gave you so be proud of your month. Anybody else? Did I miss anybody? Alright, we are going to sing Happy Birthday to those in September. Ready, here we go. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday God bless you, happy birthday to you. Alright, hope you enjoyed all those healthy donuts there in the back. You see the soul winning teams and times. If you would like to learn how to preach the gospel, share your faith and share the word of God with someone so they can get saved, whether that be your family or friends. You can see me after the service will put you on a team where you can receive some training for that. And of course we have different soul winning teams and times. Times that you can participate in and learn how to preach the gospel. That's on the left hand side there. You see the list of expecting mothers. Please continue to pray for them. And the list is growing because we have another family in our church expecting and that is Brother Marcus and Miss Ariel, amen. So give them a round of applause. Congratulations to them. You see the important reminders there at the bottom. You can read that on your own. Some of the upcoming church events. Next Monday, September 11th is the TJ Soul Winning. And so you do need a passport. Not to go there but to come back. And so if you want to participate in that you can. We do want to only encourage Spanish speakers who are able to preach the gospel in Spanish to participate. And so if you have any questions about that you can see Brother Ulysses Hernandez. And we will be leaving the building approximately around 9 o'clock. And so we're looking forward to a great time there. Lord, we'll see a lot of people saved. And then on Saturday, September 16th at 9.30 a.m. there's a Fontana Soul Winning marathon as well. Meet at Veterans Park. You have the address there. If you have any other questions you can see Brother Ulysses. Sunday, September 17th is our sixth year anniversary. And we're looking forward to a great anniversary day. And it's going to be exciting. We don't know exactly what we're going to do. It's just going to be exciting. For sure it's going to involve like food. And you know we'll add to that later on. And so we'll give you more info as we approach. And then the home school field trip is coming up on Friday, September 29th. That'll be at Kids Space Children's Museum at 9 a.m. You have the address there. Of course that's free. All our activities at our church are 100% free. So you don't have to pay. If you want to participate in that you can see Brother Ulysses. Or you can talk to my wife for more details. So we can plan accordingly with that. And so and by the way there is a sign up sheet in the back at the Usher station for the Soul Winning marathon. If you can sign up so we can get a head count of everyone that's coming. It would help us a lot to coordinate and organize the event. And so that is it. You see there no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Please make sure you're not loitering in the four year fellowship hall during the preaching service. We've taken out your children to distract them for a little bit. And then quiet time this afternoon is from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Take advantage of that. Take a nap. Take a power nap to get ready for Sunday night service. And then lastly please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 106, Abide With Me. Song number 106, Abide With Me. All together on that first verse. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee. Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's little dames. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me. I need thy presence, every passing hour. What but thy grace can, for the tempter's power. Who like thyself my guidance they can be. Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me. Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. As morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, oh, Lord, abide with me. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forth to receive the offering. You can turn your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel chapter number 33. Ezekiel chapter 33. The Bible reads, Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchmen, if when he seeth the sword come upon the land he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchmen see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman under the house of Israel. Therefore, thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die. If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if ye do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, for as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness, neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live, if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered, but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. If the wicked do that which is lawful and right, if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he committed shall be mentioned unto him, he hath done right. He hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal, but as for them, their way is not equal. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness that he shall live thereby, yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came, and it opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened and I was no more dumb. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, the land has given us for inheritance. Wherefore, say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood, and shall ye possess the land? Ye stand upon your sword, you work abomination, you defile everyone as neighbor's wife, and shall ye possess the land? Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beast to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through. Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them. With their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Ezekiel chapter 33 this morning. And the title of my sermon this morning is A Very Lovely Song. A very lovely song. And that's actually taken from Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse 32 where it says, And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, but they do not know that a prophet hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. And so I want to talk about this subject of a lovely song and how it correlates to preaching, how it correlates to the preaching of God's word, how it correlates to a sermon. And I'm going to get into that in just a little bit. But let me give you some introductory teaching here regarding this particular chapter. And I'm going to talk about the subject of a lovely song. And I'm going to get into this chapter. Chapter 33 is very familiar to a lot of Christians simply for the fact that it talks about the watchman. And that's something that a lot of Christians know about when it comes to the book of Ezekiel, the concept of being a watchman and warning others. Look at verse number one. He talks about first the duty of a watchman. He says in verse number one, Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, take a man of their coast, and set him for their watchman, if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. So what's this referring to? God is basically explaining to Ezekiel that when a city has a foreign nation, for example, an enemy coming upon them and he wants to conquer them, they want to take them over and destroy them, that particular city will obviously set up a watchman, someone who can watch throughout the night and essentially be able to warn the people if there's some sort of foreign enemy that's coming, right? And so when he's looking out and he's watching and he sees a band of soldiers coming with swords, coming with torches, just looking like they're going to do something pretty, they're going to judge that city, then obviously the responsibility of the watchman is to blow a trumpet, okay? And the trumpet signifies, hey, we're about to be taken over, everyone get ready, okay? He's warning the people. And it says there that if there's someone in the city who hears the sound of that trumpet and they're just kind of like, eh, you know, whatever, what's that supposed to mean, you know? And they just kind of do nothing about it, it says, okay, then the sword's going to come, it's going to take him away and his blood shall be upon his own head. In other words, it's his fault, okay? Because the watchman did everything he could. He took care of his responsibility, he saw that the enemy was coming, he blew the trumpet, he warned the people, but the people in the city chose not to give heed to that warning, okay? Then you know what, there's only so much the watchman can do, it's the guy's own fault for not taking heed to the warning. It says in verse number five, he heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning. His blood shall be upon him, but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. You know the person who actually listed to the trumpet is obviously, you know, and they're actually giving heed to it, they're going to prepare themselves, they're going to grab their sword, they're going to grab their shield, or if they don't know how to fight, they can flee, they can take, they can flee with their family and protect themselves and essentially run from the judgment to come. Essentially what it's saying here, this person can prepare himself because he's actually listening to and esteeming the sound of the trumpet, the warning that's being sounded forth. Verse number six. So that's the example of a good watchman, right? Someone who actually does his job. Sounds the trumpet, warns the people, etc. But then there's also examples of negligent watchman. Because look at verse number six. But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So in other words, there's examples where the watchman see the enemy coming and for whatever reason, whether it's because maybe they're in cahoots with the enemy or because of the fact that they had the paralysis of the analysis, they don't really know what to do, they don't sound the trumpet and then the city ends up paying major consequences because of the negligence of the watchman. And in fact, the death of the people in that city will be upon the hand of the watchman because he chose not to warn the people. So there's a major responsibility here, right? He can't be negligent in his job. He can't just have the paralysis of the analysis. He has to make sure that he's vigilant. While everyone else is sleeping and taking care of their business, his main job is to watch for the enemy and to blow the trumpet if they're coming upon the city. Look at verse number seven. Here's the commission, the application that God gives to Ezekiel. He says in verse number seven, He gives a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, thou shall hear the word in my mouth and warn them from me. So here's the application that he gives. Son of man, Ezekiel, you're the watchman and your job is to sound the trumpet which by the way, in the Bible, sounding a trumpet is likened unto preaching, right? The Bible talks about cry out loud and spare not, show my people their transgression, the Bible talks about. It often likens preaching to sounding a trumpet. And he says there, you're gonna hear what I tell you and then I want you to warn them about some foreign enemy. No, he said warn them from me. So who's the enemy of Israel at this point? God is. Because he's coming to judge Israel for their wickedness, for their covetousness, for their idolatry and he's telling them, you know, I'm giving you guys a chance to kind of change your ways. So I'm gonna send a watchman which is Ezekiel. He's gonna go and preach to you. He's sounding the trumpet and obviously we're gonna see later on if a person decides to give heed to it and turn from his wicked ways, he's gonna save his soul. Not his soul literally, the way we would think of the soul, the spirit. The soul often is used interchangeably in the Bible to refer to just the body. He's basically saying you're gonna save your body, you're not gonna die in this judgment. He says in verse number eight, when I say unto the wicked, oh wicked man, thou shall surely die. If thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die by thy hand. Same instruction that he gave to the watchman he's telling Ezekiel. Verse number nine, nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if you do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. Therefore, oh thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus he speaks saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and we pine away in them, how should we then live? And basically what he's saying here, verse number 11, let's finish off with verse 12, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. What is he saying here? I don't wanna come and just destroy everyone in this city for their wickedness. My desire is that they get right with God, right? That's what God wants. He's gonna bring the sword because they're deserving of it. They've blasphemed the Lord. They've offended him exceedingly. However, he's saying there, but if they decide to repent from that, I'll do what? I'll spare them. I'm willing to take away the sword and they won't suffer the consequences of their actions. Now, how is this applicable to us? Because this is a fantastic story, fantastic analogy even for us as Christians today. Well, think about the office of a pastor. Myself and other pastors included, our job is to be a watchman so that we warn the congregation of impending judgment. We preach every Sunday, evening Sunday night and midweek service and we're constantly warning people of the consequences of their actions. We're constantly warning people of false prophets and heresies and the wolves and Satan and of their flesh and we're just constantly sounding that trumpet. Well, there's a couple reactions that people can have to that, right? Either one response is they're just not gonna listen and what happens? They suffer the consequences and they change their ways and they don't suffer the ramifications of their inequity because they decided to repent, they get right with God and they're essentially spared from God's judgment upon their life. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 14, you don't have to turn there, and even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sound, how shall it be known what is pipe or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, Jesus' teaching is that how do you know what's being played? How do you know what's being sounded if there's not a distinction in that particular instrument? And the application here is that it's important for the watchman to be clear about what he's saying and not leave you in confusion. A lot of pastors, they speak very obscurely, they kind of tiptoe around the tulips, they beat around the bush because they don't wanna tell you how it is and they're afraid to offend people they're afraid that people just might walk out of the service and they'll never come back and they have all these fears about the people but that's a negligent watchman because at the end of the day our job is to sound the trumpet to warn people and the response of the people is not based upon the watchman based upon how he's sounding the trumpet because if he has a distinct sound to it he's making the message clear he's telling you what sin is he's telling you the consequences of your actions and the response is upon your own head whether you wanna deliver yourself or not from the judgment to come from the consequences to come so obviously this can be applied to a pastor who preaches God's word week in, week out warning God's people of the decisions that they're making the actions that they're taking the relationships that they have the direction that they're going in we're constantly preaching about these things because we're trying to warn you from the consequences that are to come from the decisions but also on a more practical level you know, soul owners are basically like watchmen right? people who preach the gospel and go door to door they're like a watchman they're going door to door sounding a trumpet at each door warning them of the wrath to come referring to hell, right? referring to the fact that there's constantly people in our church week in, week out preaching the gospel to every person of God's judgment which is hell the wrath of God that's going to come upon an individual if they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation okay? and obviously there's negligent watchmen out there, right? who don't make the message clear or they don't go sowing or they're just not taking that responsibility serious well you know what? at that point that person is going to suffer the consequences of their actions which is they might die without Christ and so we can see how this is definitely applicable go to verse 15 if you would now what's one of the responses of the people this is all introduction I'm going to get into my main point in just a bit but I want to explain some of these principles here so what's one of the responses of the children of Israel to what Ezekiel is saying okay? he says in verse 15 if the wicked restore the pledge give again that he robbed walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity none of his sins that he had committed shall be mentioned unto him he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live so if a person in Israel changes his ways God's like okay that's enough I will spare you from the judgment to come it says in verse 17 yet the children of thy people say the way of the Lord is not equal but as for them their way is not equal so they're hearing this preaching from Ezekiel and here's their number one response that's not fair the way of the Lord is not equal well that's not fair that's their response God is gracious enough to send a watchman to warn them about the consequences of their sin because they're involved in wickedness and he's trying to spare them and this is what they say well that's not fair and what does God respond with he says there in verse 16 excuse verse 17 yet the children of thy people say the way of the Lord is not equal but as for them their way is not equal he says you guys aren't fair you guys aren't righteous you guys aren't just because they expect God to bless them in spite of the fact that they're involved in iniquity and sin that they're rebelling against him he's like you're not equal actually God isn't fair it's actually true because he's actually not giving them what they actually deserve and he's not being fair because he's being gracious with them which is essentially giving them what they don't deserve says in verse 18 when the righteous turned from his righteousness and committed iniquity he shall even die thereby I mean that's logical if a person who's righteous deviates from the ways of righteousness and decides to live a life of sin and iniquity and he dies thereby that's equal that's just the way life is right that's what it means but if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right he shall live thereby yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal oh ye house of Israel I will judge you everyone after his ways he's like look if there's a wicked person who's doing wickedly but then they give heed to the warning God essentially is willing to wink at that ignorance and not allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions that's mercy so he's like your way is not equal you're criticizing God you're criticizing his laws his statutes but your way is actually the way that's not equal look at verse 30 so that's one response and you know what this is true today you know you preach God's word you talk about God's standard you talk about doctrine and then it's just like well that's not fair you know you talk to people about hell and it's like well I don't think that's right I don't think God to cast people into hell and it's just like well you're gonna have to take that up with him because who's gonna convince him otherwise God is the God of the universe he takes orders from no one he's the boss and so you can say that's not fair all you want you gotta play by his rules and so you know I'd rather just allow my mind to be transformed by the word of God and recognize that the ways of the Lord are equal that he is just that he is righteous he's just in accomplishing these things and just align myself with the statutes of God's word instead of standing in judgment of God's word because you're not gonna convince him otherwise but if we run into people like this all the time door knocking I just don't think that's right I don't think that's fair you know and it's just like you know I don't know what to tell you that's what the Bible says and you having a different opinion doesn't change reality just because you think it's not fair just because you think it's not right doesn't change what's real you can have a different opinion and God allows us he's made us autonomous human beings who can think freely how we want to think and have our opinions but it doesn't change reality there's no such thing as you know that's your reality no no no we all live in the same reality okay you don't have a different program differently this isn't the matrix this isn't a dream okay this is real pinch yourself you'll feel pain it's real life and this entire world runs on God's system that he's already instituted there's laws that are in place and if you don't agree with it then one you can either suffer the consequences of your actions or two you can align yourself with God's word and go by his rules and his laws which is obviously the better option okay look at verse 30 so there's another group here it says also thou son of man the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses what does that mean because Ezekiel is well known amongst the Israelites at this point because he's preaching I mean he's preaching at the trees he's preaching at the mountains he's preaching at Israel in a great way so and so he's pretty much famous in the camp per se so people are talking about him but it's not because they like him so they're gossiping about the man of God behind closed doors because it says that they're still talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses you hear what Ezekiel said he said that God's gonna do this he doesn't know what he's talking about who does that guy think he is and they're criticizing him and this is hypocrisy why because later on we see that they speak love to him you know in other words they're flattering him right it goes on to say everyone his brother's saying come I pray you and hear what is what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord so this is weird so they're at home they're criticizing the man of God behind closed doors and then they tell their brother now let's go and see what else he's gonna say now you would think that if you don't like the prophet listen to the prophet right like if you don't like the pastor that you're under you're not gonna go every service or you're not even gonna go to that church you would just go somewhere else like if you really disdain that pastor and that man of God and you're constantly criticizing him behind closed doors you know the logical thing we'll do let me go find another church but these people they're just like we hate them but let's go listen to what he has to say this Sunday that's weird so we can hate them even more verse 31 and they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them listen to this for with their mouth they show much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness oh pastor that was we love this church we love you that was a great sermon I hate this guy and their heart is just like they hate them this is a very strange thing to do okay and it's what the Bible calls flattery okay flattery you know the way people use flattery today is not the way that the Bible uses it you know people think of flattery as like a compliment but flattery is excessive insincere compliments that are designated to kind of throw you off or deceive you because the person who's giving you that compliment has some other underlying motive against you basically okay so they kind of butter you up because they don't want you to know how they really feel about you so this is what they're doing because they don't like Ezekiel but they show him much love with their mouth right and it says there but their heart goeth after their covetousness verse 32 says and lo thou are unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice they hear thy words but they do them not now one of the reasons that they're not really taken serious with what Ezekiel is saying through the word of the Lord it says there because their heart is filled with covetousness and when you look at the Bible in the New Testament the Bible talks about in Mark that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things entering in choke the word and they become unfruitful and everything is going on in the heart that's kind of taking away their attention from the most important matter at hand which is the preaching of God's word and in this particular case it's covetousness they're thinking about money they're thinking about possessions and that's kind of blocking the word of God from coming in and working in their hearts but I want to talk about the fact that preaching can be compared to a lovely song and I think this is a great comparison here because a sermon preaching is a lovely song is entertaining you think of whatever song that you're thinking about right now it's like yeah that's a nice song it's entertaining not only that but it invokes deep emotion too there's certain songs in this world certain scores or soundtracks or whatever that can invoke deep emotion and you know what preaching does that it can be entertaining you know you catch me on a good Sunday when I'm on a roll it can be very entertaining you're just like laughing you're smiling you're like this is great this is funny not only that but you know sermons can actually invoke deep emotions such as sadness it can invoke empathy and passion and zeal and hatred and love and it can move you to tears to a point right I've been under preaching where they preach with such passion and there's so much empathy in their hearts and in their voice it brings me to tears you know and I weep thinking about lost souls or thinking about those who have strayed from the ways of the Lord or just thinking about the love of the Lord right there's certain things that preaching can do it's so powerful in the delivery aspect that it can invoke deep emotions so a lovely song is entertaining a lovely song can invoke deep emotions and there's nothing wrong with that he just wants preaching to be that way he wants preaching to be entertaining he wants to invoke deep emotions why because it captures the audience if you have a pastor who's preaching and he's just dry as dust he's not excited about the things of God he's not raising his voice he's not angry at iniquity and sin and the state of the nation if he's not passionate about what he does you know it's really boring to listen to and this is why God even tells Ezekiel when he preaches he told him he said look aside from what I want you to preach this is how I want you to preach because he would tell him like smite your thigh stamp your thigh preaching he would tell him that in Ezekiel chapter 6 he says make sure you stamp with thy foot and smite thy thigh he's like go wild while you're up there so that you know people are walking by you're not like hey the word of the Lord is saying hey the word of God he's just like the word of God you know and he's like judgment is coming and he's because it obviously reflects how true the the sermon really is you know if you got a guy preaching God's Word and he's talking about sin and judgment and these negative things but he's doing it in a very mild manner you know people are just not going to take him very serious okay he even tells him cry and how you think of what he told Isaiah cry out loud and spare not he told Ezekiel cry and how now I'm not going to howl for you right now because my voice would probably crack if I did but you can you can picture how that would look okay and I'm not even sure exactly how Ezekiel did that okay but I'll tell you this whoever was there never forgot it because which leads me to my next point is that a lovely song is memorable right there's certain songs that you know from back in the day that are just stuck right here and everyone who's smiling is thinking of it right now why because they're memorable right well there's certain sermons that are just very memorable you just you'll never forget them okay maybe it's a sermon from here from other churches there's certain sermons that you just you might not remember it verbatim but there's aspects of a sermon that you just will never forget because it's like a very lovely song that's memorable and so when it comes to preaching you will undoubtedly or should I say I will undoubtedly preach to someone who only views the sermon as just that though as a lovely song a pleasant song a beautiful instrument and guess what nothing more than that which is how Israel is viewing the preaching of Ezekiel that's why they want to go listen to them they'll go listen to me like this is this is interesting this is entertaining this is like fun it's like a very lovely song he sings well and here's a good way to explain this you know have you ever gone soul winning and you knock at a door and you preach the gospel to someone they don't get saved but they're but they're kind of impressed by your ability to communicate the Bible they're just like you know you speak very well right they're like you speak very well you seem to know a lot about the Bible but in your mind you're like then why don't you get saved like why don't you believe what I'm telling you then and they're just like wow I've just never heard it's almost like they're like pulling verses out of the Bible like no man ever speak like this before but then they don't get saved right and it's just like why because you're just a very lovely song to them you're just like a beautiful instrument you're just like someone who has a pleasant voice and I've I've gone so many many times throughout the 16 years that I've been saved and multiple times that's happened to me where it's just like no thank you but you speak so well you know that like I like the way you communicate that the way you kind of worded everything and show me the verses I think that's just that's beautiful and I'm just like thanks I guess but it's kind of like in vain if you're not accepting what I'm telling you you know I mean but this is the reason why and you think to yourself yeah that's happened to me but you know that's happened to me or like I'm preaching the Bible and I preach because I want people's lives to change people to repent of specific sins to get right with God and it's just like great sermon pastor but they don't change because it's just a lovely song to you sometimes it's just like a pleasant instrument it's just like something like you come on Sunday you hear the Bible that's good but you do you go and you don't do the things that were told for you to do the Word of God is becoming to you as a very lovely song nothing more it's a dangerous place to be my friends and so obviously this all has to do with the delivery of a sermon but if the person in the pew only views it as a lovely song and not a call to action then it's a major problem okay it becomes a major problem when it comes to God's word you know it can make you here's the thing is that the Bible has a lot of power behind it it's a lot of power because it's God's Word but really it only has so much power as you allow it to have in your life right like if I preach the Word of God I can preach the most doctrinally sound emotion evoking just hits where it hurts but at the end of the day you have to choose to actually affect your life and if it doesn't I mean that's as far as the Word of God can go it can be sown in your heart but it's really up to you if you're going to do something about it okay now let's talk about first and foremost Christians who are already saved you know the danger in the sermon becoming a very lovely song is that the Word of God becomes dull into you you become bored with preaching and that's definitely a possibility sometimes where you're in church for so long you hear so many sermons and sometimes they're very repetitious same concept same doctrines it just becomes dull into you and what happens when the Word of God becomes dull into you it becomes a very lovely song it's not something you feel like you need to apply the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 11 you don't have to turn there of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered seeing your dull of hearing for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have neither one teach you again which be the first and it becomes such as have need of milk and not of strong meat the Apostle Paul is basically saying you know I preach the Word of God and there's so many other things I want to cover but you're kind of already dull of hearing of just the basics so I can't really go beyond that because you're bored with the basics and so it's definitely a danger amongst Christians to allow sermons to just become a very lovely song and don't don't misunderstand what I'm saying you know if you enjoy a sermon that's great you know I'd rather have you just enjoy the sermon then not listen to a sermon at all because you're so cold towards the things of God you don't even want to hear the Bible right but never get to a point where oh I've already heard this before or and this is not applicable to me or and you know that's not a cool I was good I guess you know a lot to touch your heart right and one thing I learned when I was a young Christian is that even if I felt like the sermon didn't 100% apply to me at that moment I would always ask God how can I apply this sermon because it's God's Word so there's always a way that you can apply it and I would always make certain decisions in my life based upon a sermon that wasn't necessarily geared towards me but I think to myself Lord there's something in that sermon that I needed and if anything may have moved me to just be a better Christian by reading the Bible by praying more by you know maybe being more bold and witnessing to my family members that I don't see very often I would try to look for some application in that sermon even though maybe I thought it was a very lovely song I wanted to memorize that song I wanted it to move me to actually do something about it okay now here's the main point that I want to I want to get this morning and that is there's a danger listen to me very closely in allowing the song to become very lovely unto you and you're not saved now I think the vast majority of people in here are saved okay you know we've communed with one another we've talked about doctrine as far as I know a lot of people in here are saved but I'm sure there's a couple people that are not saved okay maybe they've joined our church within recent months or even years or they're just here today and they're not saved okay and sometimes unsafe people can enjoy the preaching of God's Word too because preaching is just enjoyable all across the board okay I know this for a fact when you expound on God's Word at any capacity through any avenue there's always someone willing to listen even if they're not saved okay I have people online that listen to me through Instagram and other avenues and some of them are just not saved I have full-blown Catholics listen to me online and they tell me that they're Catholics and they believe Catholic doctrine but they like listening to my sermons now I think that's really weird because I preach against Catholics all the time and they know that but to them it's just like a lovely song to just enjoy listening to it you know they just to them it's like a pleasant instrument a pleasant voice and I've even had people tell me like hey that was a really good explanation but I know this person I'm like this person is not saved like we've talked about salvation and they're not saved you know we're talking about end times prophecy they really like the teaching but it's just like but they're not even saved so this is very common and it's common out there and it can be common in churches too okay now I want to talk about the reprobate doctrine for just a little bit because this is kind of how I want to tie it in let me just deviate from the lovely song concept for just a bit because I want to talk about the reprobate doctrine just for just a moment what is a reprobate let me just explain briefly what a reprobate is according to because this is a biblical concept it's a biblical doctrine a simple definition of what a reprobate is is someone who is beyond the world there's a there's a concept out there that people think well it's never too late but that's actually not true sometimes it is too late for people okay for people to be saved obviously even though the people who are currently in hell it's already too late for them but the Bible also describes individuals who are currently in this world who it's already too late for and they're referred to by the Bible as reprobates reprobate is a synonym for the word rejected and according to the Bible they've been rejected by God not because you know God did something to them or because he just chose them to be that way these individuals have essentially rejected the Word of God to such a inordinate extent that God basically says okay if you don't want me then I'll help you with that and you'll never have me kind of a thing that's basically what it is there's people in this world that hate God so much because of whatever reason that eventually God says okay because obviously God's the one who sees the heart and you think to yourself well yeah you don't know their hearts yeah but God does though so when someone says that they hate the Lord you actually don't know to what extent they hate the Lord but God knows how deep their hatred is for him and so there's instances even in the Bible where someone hates the Lord to the extent where God says okay then I'll never make myself available to you ever again it's a sad thing and that's when they they go beyond the hope of salvation they're given over to a reprobate mind and the Bible says they become reprobate concerning the faith in other words they can no longer believe on the Lord and you know people have a hard time with that you know and that's where people bring up hey the way of the Lord is not equal that's not fair but here's the thing though is that God is only giving them what they want which is to not which is not God because the Bible says that they don't want to retain God in their knowledge so you know and let me just say this is not the vast majority of the population either this is this is certain people in this world that can get to a point where they hate the Lord they hate the Word of God they hate the truth and they tell him to his face essentially and God says okay then I will never be available to you ever again salvation will never be available to you God essentially assists them and their rejection of him it's basically how it is you know God's not a stalker you know he's not gonna force himself on someone he's not like hiding behind a bush like are you sure you know you know I mean like like a dude who stalks a girl or something he's just you know he just can't take no for an answer right I mean I hopefully that's never happened to you but or hopefully you're not that person but but I'm saying you know there's no answer they just don't get all the the the signals right and they just keep persisting and the girl just wants nothing to do with them well you know what God gets the hint he actually gets the hint and so when people hate them and they blaspheme him and they even say in their hearts that they hate the Lord they want nothing to do with them God's like fine I will seal the deal and just never let you believe ever again and you'll perpetually be in that state of mind forever so that's what the Bible actually teaches my friends okay now how do people become reprobates well sometimes you know because when we think of reprobates according to the Bible the most obvious example is a sodomite okay people call homosexuals right and people would say well homosexuals become that way through recruitment right and that is true to a certain extent but really that's not the entire story because when people are recruited by sodomites they're often molested violated and that person the molestation doesn't make that person a sodomite okay what the molestation does is it causes the victim to become bitter towards God because then they think why did God allow this you could have prevented this and then they begin to harbor anger and bitterness and bitter feelings towards the Lord and they shift the blame on God rather than on the violator and so then that bitterness ends up turning to hatred ends up turning to rejection and then eventually they end up just rejecting the Lord altogether they become a reprobate and they're given over to do those things which are not reprobate okay but let me say this is that's not the only way people become reprobates you say what's another way that a person becomes a reprobate to the point where they're just beyond the hope of salvation listen to this consuming large quantities of truth with the intention to reject it let me say that again consuming large quantities of truth with the intention to reject it now the people out there don't really have an opportunity to do that because they're at their homes you know they might get a soul winner every once in a while and they just reject it offhand but what I'm referring to is a person who purposely positions themselves to hear God's Word only because they want to reject it and I'm not referring to safe people I'm referring to unsafe people meaning there's people in this world they will they will attend a church where they know they'll get Bible preaching they know they'll get the truth in large quantities but they go there anyways knowing full well that they're gonna reject everything that's being stated now to you and I that's crazy it's like I don't believe that that's that's it you know why you can't believe this because you're saved because you actually woke up in the morning say I'm gonna go to church I want to hear preaching I want to sing the hymns but folks there's actually people out there that are like that they consume large quantities of preaching and truth and in the Bible and they literally do it because they don't like it because they want to reject it you're like how do you know that to be true well didn't we just read in Ezekiel how they're criticizing the man of God and then they're just like let's go hear them right you think that's only in Ezekiel's day that's going on today as well where people will literally attend a church here preaching for months even years on end and they just don't believe it they sit there and they're not saved they don't want to get saved people are constantly giving them the gospel they're just like no no no they're constantly rejecting it rejecting hours and hours and hours of biblical preaching not because they don't understand it but because they're rejecting it they don't like it they think the way of the Lord is and you know what let me just say this that's a mockery of God they're mocking God because they're saying I will go to your institution I will listen to your preaching I will listen to the Bible and I'll still reject it that's that's mocking God and so be not deceived God is not mocked God's not just gonna stand there and watch you consume large quantities of the truth and just completely reject it when there's other people out there who want the truth you know there's people out there who are hungry for the truth you know there's people out there who would love a clear presentation of the gospel they would love for someone to just come and knock on their door because they're confused about salvation they would want to know about salvation and get saved they would want to know what the Bible says but they can't because how can they except some man should guide them and so with that in mind think about a person who knows where that's where that that truth is available and will willingly attend that church willingly go to that institution and just not even care they're just like I'm not getting saved I'm not gonna listen to that that produces reprobates what a second Corinthians chapter 13 second Corinthians chapter 13 well I just think they didn't have a chance to be saved well the Bible says because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened I want you to listen to that because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God you know when people unsaved people come to our church obviously if they agree with what's being said and they agree with the the the gospel presentation they're not gonna be like glory to God right what does that mean it means they give recognition to the Lord that this is of God they glorify the Lord and so when people come to our church they hear the gospel and they're like I do want to get saved that's a form of them glorifying God because they're in agreement with what's being stated you understand but there's people who have been given the truth and they don't glorify him neither are they thankful for the message neither are they thankful for the word of God they become vain in their imagination and then their foolish heart is becomes dark and they become a reprobate look at second Corinthians 13 verse number 5 examine yourselves this is the Apostle Paul speaking to the church at Corinth which by the way was started by the Apostle Paul so they're receiving two letters from the Apostle Paul they're getting weekly preaching and now they're rejecting the Apostle Paul he says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you listen to this except he be reprobates what's the implication if you're a reprobate you don't have Christ because a reprobate is beyond the hope of salvation so he's saying and what he said why is he accusing the church at Corinth of possibly being reprobates because they're going to church every week listening to all this truth consuming these large quantities of the Bible and they're rejecting I mean they're questioning the resurrection right first Corinthians 15 they're like don't even know if there is a resurrection I mean that's a major doctrine they're rejecting all these truths it's just like maybe you guys are going beyond the hope of salvation then he says but I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates go to Hebrew chapter 6 Hebrew chapter 6 now let me explain to you where this is very common I said that it was common within churches but then there's ministries within churches where it kind of streamlines this process so what do you mean like Christian schools Christian schools Bible colleges can often streamline the process of reprobation you say why is that how is that well because if you have safe parents listen closely you have safe parents who want their kids out of the public school system they want them to be in a Christian environment they think the next next best move is to place them within a Christian school where it doesn't have all the worldliness and all that and they're constantly being fed the Word of God so they're being forced to go to these Christian schools for hours a day five days a week Bible classes aside from all the other classes that they have on top of that is Bible classes they have chapel so they're constantly getting the Word of God and I've worked in a Christian school so I know what I'm talking about then when I taught some of these students they hated Christianity they did not want to be there whatsoever they were willingly in the Bible and I would think to myself why are these kids here like they seem to just hate church hate the Bible hate the Lord but they're here why and you know their parents just think that's just the best option but what they don't know is that because their kids aren't saved their heart is becoming hardened towards the things of God because of the preaching because they're constantly being preached to shown the Word of God and they're constantly hardening their hearts and hardening their hearts and I can tell you person after person after person who after high school just became a full-blown apostate reprobate hater of God even sodomites who came out of a Christian school because they're getting saturated with the Bible constantly so the Christian school streamlines that Bible colleges streamline that because you know if their parents are forcing them to go and they don't want to be there and they're being forced you see you shouldn't be forced to listen to preaching right God wants you to choose to listen to preaching no one forced you to come here unless you are a child of a parent who's making you come here which by the way that's okay according to the Bible but obviously you're gonna get to an age where you can choose not to come anymore and even parents you know you don't have to come here you can stay home and sleep in and barbecue and do whatever and not be so you're obviously choosing to come here the Bible so you have a willing heart to listen to the Word of God so think about these students and young people who go to these institutions they're forced in these institutions they're not and they're not people are not checking on their salvation they're not preaching the gospel to them and maybe they maybe in some instances they are but they're just rejecting that gospel rejecting the Word of the Lord they're bitter towards their parents they're bitter towards the pastor and then reprobation it happens and it's a very scary thought you say well how can the Word of God do that well the Word of God is light and so when we get saved it's like we're enlightened to the truth right well you know what light does to a person that just doesn't want it it sears their conscience look at Hebrews 6 and verse 1 he says therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go into perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment and this will we do if God permits let me explain this little passage right here the possible saying let's leave the principles of the doctrines of Christ meaning the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith let's go let's mature a little bit and move beyond that let's move beyond foundational doctrines right he talks about baptisms laying on of hands and he says let's move on from that to perfection to maturity and then he says this in verse 3 and this we will do if God permit so in other words you can move on and mature in your knowledge of the Bible if God allows you to now why would God forbid someone to move on to perfection well if you're rejecting the doctrines of Christ you can't go beyond you know the Bible talks about they shall proceed no further there's like a limit he says verse number four for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away fall away means gone apostate to renew them again into repentance seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God is in shame in other words if someone just has knowledge of the foundational truths they've been saturated with these these principles of the doctrines of Christ and they reject them that it's impossible to help them to renew them again to repentance it's impossible to get them to mature because they've essentially stunted their growth by reparation look at verse 7 for the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off the pond it and bringeth forth herbs meet for whom it is dressed receiveth blessings from God but that which bear thorns and briars is rejected and is nine to cursing whose end is to be burned so when it talks about the rain the rain is is symbolic of the Word of God so you think about rain coming upon the earth it has an effect on two types of grounds one ground that's receiving the Word of God it bears fruit right it receives blessings it bears fruit but then rain comes upon that earth that has rejected the Bible bears thorns and briars why because it's rejected it's showing you the capacity and the power of God's Word to either bless a life or curse a life and it's all based upon the recipient of that truth and so if you're in here Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday week in week out and you're not saved you're in a dangerous place I would much rather you just leave our church to spare you reprobation if you are here you just don't agree with what's being said you don't agree with the preaching you don't agree with the Word of God you don't agree with the doctrine but you want to keep coming you know I would tell you and obviously we're probably never gonna have this conversation but I would tell you you don't agree with it in order to spare you the possibility of having a seared conscience or the better option would be just get saved believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and then you're sealed until the day of redemption you'll never become a reprobate you're saved folks this happens it's happened in our church it's happened in multiple churches where people come and they listen to the Bible over and over and over again they're not saved let me say this if you have maybe you say like man I'm not saved but I've told people that I am saved just out of pride I just but I'm not saved just get saved today then like yeah but I'm embarrassed you listen listen to me you'll be way more embarrassed when you actually go to hell that's just the honest truth so better to just humble yourself and say you know what I've been saved but I'm not saved but today I want to get saved and so you know I this is a very lovely song for a long time but I actually want to get saved now and so you know there's there's a danger you know this is this is a great church I believe it's a great church because that's great people and I believe it has great preaching because we have a great Bible and I try to do my best to saturate our church with as much Bible as we possibly can and just get ourselves spiritually fat from God's Word but you know what there's a danger in someone who's not saved coming to our church and let me just say this is that you need to make sure that your kids are saved now don't get all extreme about it and and you know force them or something like that you need to lovingly bring your children to the knowledge of Jesus Christ can't force that on them okay lovingly bringing a you say well how do I do that well you can do it week in week out just teaching them about the gospel day in and day out every opportunity you get when your child brings up salvation heaven hell you teach them what the Bible says about that and you interact with them what do you think about that what do you think about that I mean that's how it was with my son is that for about a year or so he would just ask questions about salvation right before bed and my wife would explain it to him and she would enforce it on him she was just waiting for his tender heart to come to the realization that that's what he needed you know and you know what the word of God has power and we're raising him in a Christian home so it's expected that we give him the gospel to the point where he realizes that he needs salvation and we had faith that that would happen that's that's what happened he ended up you know calling upon the name of the Lord he got saved you can ask him yourself you know and can he knows you can't lose your salvation and so you know that's important for me as a father to make sure my kids are saved and look the church is not a babysitting center for your children it's not a daycare for your children don't expect me or anybody else to do the work for you you're to teach the Bible to your kids I don't know how to do that yet didn't learn okay this is not a daycare for your children you're to take care of your children you're responsible for their souls you're responsible to sound that trumpet for your children and you can't force them to be saved but you know what don't just play the part when you come here okay you need to make sure that you're living the life that you live here is the same life you're living back home don't be a fake too many phonies too many phony Christians out there just living a facade just fake and phony just just trying to save face folks that's not the way to go you're doing your children a disservice when you do that and you know what's gonna happen your kids are gonna start coming to church only to hear the lovely song and nothing else they don't want to apply it they don't want to learn from it they want nothing to do with it all they want to do is what's the next song and that's the danger my friends when the sermon becomes just a very lovely song to your kids you know this is a new call to some parents to say you know have have a heart-to-heart conversation with the children about salvation don't force it on them but just be sincere tread lightly don't get frustrated with them don't get mad at them if they don't understand incrementally teach them about salvation until they get it now I have an example here of what I mean by a very lovely song okay because I was like how do I explain this concept in a way that the church can understand you know because you're like a very lovely song I mean how does that what do you mean by that exactly well I think of one of our hymns at Calvary that's a pretty nice little tune right it's very like upbeat and happy and brings warm feelings right well I changed the words okay and it has a different message and I'm gonna ask Moses not to just burst out in laughter okay just just restrain yourself please I have to like say this those of you like who's Moses don't worry about it just I know what I'm doing though okay and he knows what I'm talking about well you think of like at Calvary right that the tune is like it's just very happy song one of the happiest hymns that we have in our in our hymn book we like singing it people have memorized it it's really good right well I changed the words let me let me sing to you my version for this particular sermon we're not this is never gonna be sung again okay we're not gonna sing this in church like this place is a cult they sing these weird songs I'm this illustration okay although I agree with what I'm gonna sing here so listen to this years you've listened to God's Word in church reading every chapter and its verse knowing you were only getting worse you reprobate you listen to preaching in that chair God spoke to but you didn't but you didn't did not care now you claim that God's not fair you reprobate I'm not done hold the clapping please now your heart is only filled with hate gone apostate and it's just too late now you'll never see the Heaven's Gate you reprobate you listen to preaching in that chair God spoke to you but you did not care now you claim that God is just not fair you reprobate that's funny but you know what it's not funny you know why it's funny because of the two and the song is going to two but you know what the message is not funny and I wanted to give you an example of how an unsafe person listens to a sermon they're like oh that was funny that's a cool little song and you know the preacher's like but you didn't listen to the message you're not listening to the message you're about to become apostate you're about to become a reprobate now obviously we as God's people who are saved that's this is we can enjoy this obviously and laugh at it but you know what an unsafe person you know what's what's bad is when an unsafe person laughs at it because it might be talking about them through the history of our church we're gonna have to just come to church and just listen to the preaching and never get saved and they'll go down this route and you put the most unfortunate thing listen to me is when it's someone's kid is when it's someone it's a teenager in a church or something that's the unfortunate thing and so don't let the Word of God be a lovely song and to you even if you are saved you know don't take the Word of God for granted you know hey let me say this don't let the Bible don't let the preaching be like another podcast to you don't let the preaching be some podcast to you did you just listen on the you know take it serious when you're listening to it listen with the intent to obey don't just let it be a pleasant song a pleasant instrument listen to it and obey it but let me say this if you're not saved here today and you've never heard this before get saved today it's free all you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ I mean it's not hard to be saved at all God has offered it to you as a free gift take the gift all you have to do is trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior plus nothing minus nothing recognize you can never lose your salvation believe that you're a sinner that you deserve hell understand that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross that he resurrected on the third day and that all you have to do is believe on his name for salvation call upon the name of the Lord amen and be saved I hope you don't walk away thinking that was a really good song and that's it let's pray father we thank you so much for your word Lord I pray that you'd help us as your people to now not allow the Word of God to fall upon deaf ears and may it never be dull unto us even as your people may it never be dull and just something that we enjoy listening to but are not listening to it with the intent to obey and Lord help us as your people to kindly graciously and with fear and trembling approach people who are not saved and and tread lightly because we want them to get saved and explain it clearly help us to be faithful watchmen and Lord may you bless us as we go on our way help us as your people Lord to give heed in Jesus name amen please turn your song books of song number 145 song number 145 it is well with my soul now on the chorus for this song as is traditional we'll have the ladies sing the first it is well and the men will sing the second one and vice versa for both of those there and what that means ladies is you have to sing it very loud so that you don't get totally overpowered by all the men okay song number 145 all together on that first verse when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul it is well with my soul it is well it is well with my soul though Satan should buffet though trial should come let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul it is well with my soul it is well it is well with my soul my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul it is well with my soul it is well it is well with my soul and Lord hates the day when my faith shall be sigh the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trunk shall resound and the Lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul it is well with my soul it is well it is well with my soul amen wonderful singing you are dismissed