How to Survive in a Dangerous World — Isaiah 26

0:10 I didn't really wanna, you know, have your traditional Christmas message today. I didn't want to really mention the idea of the swaddling clothes and the Lord being born in a feeding trough for cows. But I guess I just didn't mention it. And mentioned the whole idea of the swaddling clothes, wrapped in swaddling clothes, you know, signifying of what manner he would really die. And and those gifts that he received, frankincense, myrrh, and gold, and talking about some of those were used for burial.

0:51 It's just... It's amazing. And I didn't really want to mention about the angel coming and talking to the shepherds. And the shepherds being those shepherds right five miles south of Jerusalem in those fields. The shepherds, and why would they ever...

1:06 Why would the angel come and mention and mention to them that they were going to see the lamb of God, really. Why would they mention them? Because they were they were sheeping... Sheeping. I feel I feel sheeping about the sheepish.

1:22 But, they were they were, tending the sheep of of sheep that would be for temple slaughter, sacrifice. And, the fact that he stepped into human history, the fact that God absolutely cares. If if you're a purveyor of any news channel, You can get depressed. Ain't that right? My mother said to me one time, she said, you know, I never watch the evening news.

2:02 I want to be able to sleep at night because it kept her up. And that was many, many years ago. And I think to myself, it's pretty nasty world. You have people out there and you look at what I mean, with the situations that people have, it it's just unbelievable of what... How people think, what people are doing, nations doing certain things that are just absolutely horrid.

2:34 We're terrified for the whole action. We in The United States are terrified of of terrorism. In Israel, I've been in Israel a few times, but in Israel, they they teach you... They teach their children if they see a package that's unattended, don't go near it. Tell an adult.

2:58 Oh, I mean, you'd imagine that, an eight year old going, hey, daddy, mommy, there's a package over there that could kill us, blow us up. And it's a it's a type of thing that takes place all the time. And, it's a dangerous world out there, isn't it? It is a dangerous world. Ideologies really are are really, changing in terms of our culture, aren't they?

3:27 We're looking at certain we're looking at certain ideologies that are taking place within the college campus. I'm 66. I'll be 67 this upcoming year, and I think to myself, you know, guys that are guys that are teaching now or have taught for the last thirty years, you know, from their ideologies are really unbelievable. Anti god. I mean, there's no questions about it.

3:56 The philosophical action that takes place with some of these ideologies is is just absolutely stunning, ungodly, unbelievably awful. It just really is. And we look at this and we say, well, you know, and we... My era is, you know, you gotta you know, you gotta go to college. You don't go to college.

4:19 You're nothing type of situation. And, and that was from my parents. My parents brought that on and on and on. And what are we what are we sending our kids to? It's just amazing.

4:31 It's a dangerous world. It is a very dangerous world. It really, really is. And I look at the the fierceness of things, you know. Maybe it's, you know, maybe it's it's always been fierce, but doesn't it seem to you like it's ratcheting up?

4:49 You know? Doesn't it seem to you like it's ratcheting up? And I have to tell you, I'm very personal. Personally, I just want to tell you that it gets me angry sometimes. It really does.

5:04 I get I get kind of angry about about the way things are going, especially especially true. I know that things are going weird with the culture in in general. I know that. I can see that. And I, as an evangelist, I want to be aware of what trends are taking place, and especially on the street, etcetera.

5:25 But it's ever so slowly. But the trends that are taking place within Christianity is is... Blows me away even more. It really does. It blows me away even more.

6:04 You've thought about this. You have thought about this. I'm sure of it. If you're a thinking individual, you've thought about this. How are we going to navigate through this?

6:14 The passage I like us to look at that I think answers this question is Psalm 37. Psalm 37. I'm not gonna read it flat out straight up all the way through 40 verses. We're gonna deal with these verses as we go. So if you can stick with me on this, I think it'll be very helpful for us because we look at this passage, Psalm 37, and it'll give us it it it really...

6:42 David wrote it, and he he he's gonna show us four steps on how to survive in this dangerous world. Four steps on how to survive in this dangerous world. And we look at this psalm, I mean, we look at this psalm and oftentimes it's one of my favorite. I I think it reflects how I feel about things and how I have felt about things and the Lord telling me to change my thinking, to change my thinking on things. So when we look at this, we're gonna look at...

7:18 We're gonna we're gonna jump all around. So I hope you don't mind. It's right still in Psalm 37. We might go to a few verses outside of Psalm 37, but we're gonna jump within this passage, within this Psalm to different places to make different points and, and look at these steps in survival. The first step of survival in this dangerous world is to realize from the Lord.

7:45 To realize from the Lord. And, and then we have number... The number two step is to rely on the Lord. Number three is to rest in the Lord. And number four is to rejoice in the Lord.

7:58 Thank you. Thank you so much. I always... When I do this, I shake when I do this. You know, like, Thank you so much.

8:12 Hope nobody sits on that. When you look at this and you, you know, you realize from the Lord, we're gonna look at verses one and two, and and verse seven, and then verse eight, parts of it. Okay? So look at verses one and two. Fret not thyself because of of evil doers.

8:31 Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and the withereth like the green herb. Interesting. And he tells us not to fret. Look at verse a one a.

8:48 Fret not thyself because of evildoers. Look at verse seven b. He tells us again, fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. And then look at verse eight c. Fret not thyself in any way to do evil, for the evildoers shall be cut off.

9:17 Isn't it interesting? He says to us, fret not. So, I mean, am I that selfish that I don't know what's going on around me? Am I that selfish that I... In other words, it's, as Francis Schaeffer used to say, he used to say that, you know, we are in the in the issue of peace, personal peace and prosperity.

9:42 You can see this on college campuses like crazy. Everybody... I... I've seen two people. They're, you know, this one guy sitting here, another person sitting here, and they're texting each other.

9:55 It's just amazing to me, you know. Or they're walking they're walking, and I've got my music, you know. I've got the music and I got the new things from Apple is with those things with the wireless earbuds, know, and they're just walking around. And they have... They're oblivious.

10:11 And it's scary when you go and talk to people on the college campus about Christ, know, you just want to go up to them. And I'm scared a little bit. I get real gentle. I say like this, what? You know?

10:22 And because they got the earbuds, they don't hear a thing except their music. You know? And so what people are doing is they're walling. They're walling themselves. And in doing that, we're not communicating with each other.

10:38 It's amazing to me. It is it is really amazing. The cell phone is is a great tool, and I really enjoy it, but it... At what expense is it is it doing this? And so I look at this, and I don't know what's happening around in my world.

10:55 Unless I got a news thing on there, and I'm looking at the news, and that really, man, that gets you mad. That gets you mad, especially if you hold to being a solid Christian or try to be a solid Christian and holding to the word of God. And you see what people are foisting out onto us, and you see, you know that they're lying like crazy. You know that this is taking place, and you go, ah. This word fret, by the way, in Hebrew does not mean, ah, oh, ah, oh, I'm scared.

11:27 It doesn't mean that. It means anger. There's an anger with this. You're getting really upset by this. And I found myself doing this.

11:39 I found myself, and God is telling Chris Schroeder, fret not thyself because of evil doers. Neither be thou dismayed against the workers of iniquity. Don't be this way. Fret not. He tells us three times.

11:54 He shows us, fret not, fret not, fret not. Don't do this. Don't allow yourself to be angry. So what is it telling me? What does it say of me, let me put it that way, when I become fretful?

12:08 When I become angry? What is it saying? Well, we're gonna address that just a little bit later, but the issue is I'm really not trusting. I'm not trusting God. I'm not taking God's...

12:22 Notice this is God's perspective. God is telling us, he's giving it to us and showing us from his perspective on how to live. We're looking at the world. We're looking at the, you know, the information glut that's coming in all over the all over the place, all the time. Right?

12:41 And we're looking at it and going, oh, this is... And we can get mad. We can get, like, oh, oh, really flustered, if you please. But this word fret is... Doesn't mean fluster.

12:53 It means you're getting... There's an anger. There's an anger here, and he's telling us not to do that, not to fret. So he says to realize and fret. Wait a second.

13:06 Wait a second. Just like Psalm 27 says, I went into the house of the Lord, and I realized I realized we need to get God's perspective on things. And we need to keep that in perfect focus. Isaiah said this in Psalm, Isaiah twenty six three and four, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.

13:40 You know, I, I got a friend, and he's a crew of 52. He's a crew member, and that's, you know, that's Wayne. Right? Gold fifty two. Right?

13:51 The crew of fifty two. That means we were born in 1952, so we're we're getting to be geezerly. And, if not already, you know? And, but I I pray... You know, Wayne, I pray for the crew of fifty two, the guys I know of.

14:08 You know, it includes you and also Dave. You know? And he came up to me and he said to me, I got Huntington's. It's it's worse than Alzheimer's, and I forget what else he said, combined, it's the worst thing. And he's, you know, he's moving like this, you know, and I said, you know, you...

14:30 Listen, bro, you've got to shave your head. You're getting a little you're getting a little long on the hair, you know, this kind of stuff. But you know what he told me? He said, I'm praising God through this. I'm praising God through this.

14:46 Oh, it's Parkinson's and Alzheimer's together. That's what it was. He says, I'm praising God through this. Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. You know?

14:58 And then this is the thing that is so so important. Fret not. Fret not. To realize and to fret not, and then to realize and envy not. Envy not.

15:11 We look at the world sometimes and we go, I wish I was like... No, you don't. In reality, you really don't. And look at what he says, and and he says this in verse one b. It says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

15:29 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither like the green herb. I was a landscaper for a while, and did you know that when you take grass and pile it cut grass and you pile it up, it stinks. It starts to rot. Oh, I love the smell of fresh cut grass. Not two weeks later, I don't.

15:54 You know? And, I'm I'm a vegan. I'm a vegan by by, you know, not because of philosophical issues, you know. I will... I'll wear leather and I say track them and whack them.

16:05 I mean, you know, that's what I say. But I eat a lot of herbs. I do a lot of herb things, you know. You take an herb, man. This this...

16:14 They don't last long. An herb goes... You know, you put an herb out, you go, oh, that's a really nice herb. I don't know why they don't call them herbs. You know?

16:23 But, an oyb, you know? So you got an herb in this thing. It doesn't last long. And this is the thing. Grass stinks after a short amount of time after being cut, and herbs just wither.

16:34 They go like crazy. You gotta use them right away. The nutritional value is history. Right? That's the evildoer.

16:44 They'll be cut down like the grass, and they will wither like the green herb. They just don't know that. They don't know that. But God's perspective is telling us this is what the... This is the story.

16:59 This is the story. It's what is gonna take place with them. And so realize this. Don't fret over this. Don't get angry and don't envy them.

17:11 Don't envy them. Oh, I wish I had their money. No no, I I... Don't do this. Envy now.

17:16 Look at verses 11 and following. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked ploteth against the just and gnasheth against him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him for he sees that this day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as are upright in their manner of life.

17:46 Their sword shall enter in their own heart, and their bow shall be broken. We're gonna envy that. You know, it said it said that the righteous, when we, when we get to heaven or when we see when we see Satan, who shook the foundations of the earth, the god of this world, the prince of this world, Satan. We will look at him and we'll say about him when the Lord's done with him. This is the one?

18:22 Are you serious? This is the one who choked the earth and this is the one who did all this damage? That's him? That's exactly what he's thinking about the wicked too. The wicked.

18:40 We get jealous of these guys because of the... Of their station or their salaries or whatever. Their position, you know, position or accolades or whatever. We get we get really jealous of them or how they're gonna do and we can envy them. Or we can get really angry with them.

18:58 Fret not. Realize that God is in control. Realize that God is going to work. Realize that God's perspective is not our perspective. And these things are going...

19:09 He's going to have the last word. I really liked and appreciated when you said, you know, the... About the rapture. You know, you talked about, you know, the coming of the Lord, and that was fantastic because he is coming again. He is going to have the last word.

19:28 And so we look at this. This is this is fantastic. And I I need to realize from the Lord, that's the first thing I need to understand. I need to understand this. I need to have my thinking changed.

19:40 And I want to have my thinking to be biblical thinking. If it's not biblical thinking, what kind of thinking is it? Really, seriously, think about think about that. What kind of thinking are we thinking? I think that we're thinking not correct thinking.

20:05 Sorry, I don't mean to be a hot dog about this, but that hot dog is from the Greek... Never mind. So you look at this and you you know, you say, we need to realize realize and we need to take that step. We need to realize from the Lord what's taking place. You know, I I am I am amazed.

20:27 I am amazed at how, how Christians are just falling for... I mean, it's... And it's true, they're falling for world world philosophical systems, worldly philosophical systems, and thinking this is it. I'm thinking to myself, you have no idea what you're talking about. Liberation theology.

20:56 I mean, you know, liberation... You know what liberation theology is? It's so prominent today, it's unbelievable. It is. The mixing of Christian theology with Marxism.

21:11 That's exactly what they're doing. Mixing Christian theology with Marxism. Marxism, Leninism. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, it's just basic communism. It's basic communism.

21:26 Communism, basic communism is ungodly. And the core of it is that there is no God. The core of communism. So, I mean, this is what's taking place. This is what is happening today.

21:42 And, even among Christians even among Christians, and this is what's taking place, and it's it's an awful awful thing. And so we need to realize from the Lord and fret not and envy not. And then now, we need to rely on the Lord. Look at verses three through six. We rely by trusting.

22:20 Verse 27. Look at verse twenty seven and twenty eight. He tells us to depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth justice and forsakes not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

22:38 So we are to trust God. We are to rely. So everyone here, I just want you to know, you say, well, trust is so difficult for me. I don't understand how... You're trusting right now.

22:52 I am? Yes, you're sitting. You're leaning your whole weight on the object of your faith, and that's the chair. I don't know how... I know we got a few engineers here, but, I don't know how many other engineers you got, but I don't see anybody going like this, you know, when they I didn't see anybody do that, especially from the crew of 52.

23:25 I I I think I can yeah. I wish I was in the front, though. I wish they put these chairs in the front... In the back. Yeah.

23:39 Why in the front? Nobody's up here except you. I mean, this is amazing. Just amazing. Backseat brethren, you know.

23:47 And then we we trust all the time. He wants us to trust in the Lord. He wants us to trust him. And all of a sudden we get real confused about this because we got so many voices telling us what we should be trusting. He says trust in the Lord and do good.

24:10 Well, the fret not, the fret... And when I fret, I I don't know about you, but me, I got a bad temper. When I played high school and college basketball, it was it was nasty. I mean, it really was. I was mean and nasty.

24:25 I got saved as a freshman in '18, so I can... I don't know about losing my temper after that and how I can explain that, but I really can't. It's... I get so mad. I get so angry for various reasons.

24:44 I felt like I couldn't accomplish it. So what do I do? I get ticked off. I get mad. I get...

24:51 I start... You know, in basketball, a guy takes a swing or elbow at me, I'm going at him. I could tell you stories about this, and I'm not going to. But this was... It was not a pretty sight.

25:04 Would you say when I'm in that state that I'm trusting God? I don't think so. I want to trust God. I want to... He's telling us, and do good because when we trust God, we're going to do good.

25:20 We are going to do good. We're not going to do evil. We're not going to go and do something against God. Being controlled by the spirit of God, that's what it means to be filled with the spirit. Being controlled by the spirit.

25:35 We need control today more than ever. We need more control than ever before. We have so many people walking around saying, it was my genetic makeup. It was this. I just can't control myself.

25:49 Ad infinitum, ad nauseam. That's Latin for getting sick to your stomach. And the thing about it is we say this all the time, but he's telling us, the spirit of God is telling us, I wanna control you. In fact, that's one of the fruit of the spirit. So if I'm out of control and doing the dictates of the flesh, I am not being controlled by the spirit of God.

26:14 And I need to be if my life is going to count for him. You know that verse or that that that poem, only one life, 'twill soon be passed. Only what we do for Jesus will last. Ain't that true? It really is true.

26:35 I mean, that's that's reflecting that that little prose is reflecting, a poem is reflecting what the Bible's been telling us for centuries. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. Listen, I don't know.

26:49 I I I didn't look it up. I don't know how many times the word trust is used. I don't know how many times the phrase trust in the Lord is used in the in the bible, but I bet you it's a lot. In fact, isn't that really one of the themes of the Bible? Trust me.

27:09 I get this all the time. I read it. Trust me. Me. Trust me.

27:13 Trust me. What do I trust him for? He tells me what I should trust him for. And quite frankly, isn't it... And and this is the thing that is so...

27:24 We trust him in everything. Plans, future plans, marriage partners, salaries, everything. What can you trust God for? What can you trust God for? It's everything.

27:45 So I don't know what to do. I don't know how to navigate through this. You're working on this. You're going to school. You're thinking, okay, Lord, do I do I I trust you in this test?

27:56 Yes. Of course, you study and you trust them through that, but you trust trust them in the test. You know, you go you know, go to exam without studying, do you? I'm just trusting God. No.

28:11 That's called stupidity. You know, that's not trusting God. That's called stupidity. You know, so study. And, the word of God tells us about studying his word, but also studying other things too.

28:26 And we are to really... We're to really to put in the time and to study and to trust. Relying on the Lord by trusting. And then look at verse four, would you? Rely on the Lord by delighting in the Lord.

28:46 You know, I I I... Barb, you have that bag? You have the bag? The mcdonald's bag? Okay.

28:58 So my brother gave me this. It's not a McDonald's. It is bread. And this guy makes bread. Right there.

29:12 Yeah. Him. Him. He's not looking up. But I gotta tell you something.

29:16 I got this. You know what? We... Bro, I go home, I just reach in, and I start going. And I wanna tell you something.

29:23 It's fantastic. It is fantastic. It is. Those of you who've had some of this, I go, oh, and I'll let you have a... I'll let you grab a bite, you know, a handful if you want.

29:38 I would. And then I start chewing on it and it's really delectable. And, I like, it it really bothers my heart but chocolate, you know, gets me put... It can put me into A fib, you know. So I I would try to avoid it, but when I get chocolate, oh my word.

29:59 I go, unbelievable. I start... Yeah. Yeah. My mouth just like that.

30:07 It explodes. My mouth explodes. You see this little nuclear right around my mouth. And then if I'm really... If I just yield to it and I might got around my around my mouth and my eyes start going in like this...

30:23 The top thing, you know, the circle. And I just I just love that. And I delight... I go, oh, man. This is fantastic.

30:57 You know, they they go, oh, and the first blush, you know, and they... Oh, oh. And they, you know, then they decide, well, maybe we ought to get married, and the guy, know, loses his... All his friends. And he's just fixated on this woman.

31:18 And Xi'an, the man. And it's... Yeah. It's really boring. And and we we look at that, but what are they doing?

31:28 They just wanna be with each other. Oh, where are you gonna go? Oh, honey, let's go. They just painted this wall over here. Let's go watch it dry.

31:38 Okay. I love it. This is the most exciting thing ever. Delight yourself in him. How many can honestly say that when you've been reading the word and you spend time...

31:55 And this is the thing that is so amazing because we can get so so distracted with the phones, with the news, with the games, with the... Life in general, we get so distracted we do not and think. We just don't stop and muse on something, thinking on something. Just sitting there and going, wow, Lord, you're great. Your word says this about you, and that's fantastic.

32:29 When you look at Chris Schroeder, I was going to say, what do you see? Oh, you know, that that could be a tough question, and I'm not going there. But I know this, when you examine Chris Schroeder, you start to see, you know, I I... He's got faults, man. Oh, man.

32:59 I I don't know. That Chris is... He's an alright guy, but look at him. Bad breath, ugly. Look at this.

33:13 Just really incredible. But I guarantee this, the more you look at Jesus through the word of God, you'll never find that at. And it's sweeter. It's sweeter. The deeper you go the deeper you go in finding out about Jesus Christ through the word of God, in searching and looking and and examining and and musing on it, the more you'll like it.

33:41 And it is not just that sugar rush. It's that deep wellspring of joy that comes into your heart and into your mind. And that is what you wanted in Christianity. It's a relationship. We don't...

33:58 We're not talking about... I... Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

34:00 I'm not going to go to hell. Yes. Praise God for that. But I want a relationship every moment of every day with him, that when he does take me home, it's a smooth transition, not a startled. Where am I?

34:20 It was an accident that took me? What? It's a smooth transition. It's normal. It's, oh, hi, Lord.

34:32 I'm talking to you. It's like the guy, I think this is so precious. It's like the guy who was bedridden, and somebody came to visit him. He was saying, you know, by talking about his prayer life, and he said, how's your... You know, what's your prayer life like?

34:49 And he's talking to the man who was in bed, you know, the bedridden guy. He says, well, I I just have this chair here right next to me, and I I just talk to him like he's sitting in the chair. And I just talked to him. That's my prayer life. The guy was stunned by that.

35:11 Was like, that's pretty cool. That is really cool. Sometime later, his family found him. Hugging the chair. Got out of bed, and he's hugging the chair.

35:32 What's your life like? What is your relationship with him like? He's he's imploring us to trust him. Not only is he trustworthy, but the more we trust him, the sweeter it is. The sweeter.

35:57 And we take that time. You know, we talk about, well, we need to have a personal quiet time in our life. Why? So we develop a relationship and we delight ourselves in him. That's why he's telling us to do that, to think on him, to to meditate, to to be enraptured with him.

36:23 And then when we do that, and you know, it's it's just not like I'm gonna just think about the Lord and the vicitudes of the bible regarding the Lord Jesus. No. I don't even know what vicitudes mean. But we look at this and look at verse five. Commit thy way unto the Lord.

37:06 Hey, it's not the same thing. What we do is we give them to the Lord. He picks them up. He does it. He does the heavy lifting on all of our problems.

37:18 But we just roll it upon him. He's the one who can take those issues. You've got issues. I know you do, because I got them too. And I want to roll them on him.

37:32 Whatever the issue is, whatever the situation is, roll it on him. And that's when he says commit thy way unto the Lord. Roll it on him. Why do you have to carry this? Roll it on him.

37:47 He will see it. He will bring it to pass. And this is exactly, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy justice as the noonday.

38:04 Wow. This is exactly what I wanna do. He'll bring this by committing to him. He'll bring it forth. By the way, no one...

38:13 If you're young, if you're really young, understand something. Gravity is going to get you. You're going to have the double, maybe triple chin. Not me. I don't care if you're doing Botox.

38:32 You know? You're going to have that double chin. You're going to have that flabby arm, you know, like you're waving twice, you know. And I mean, you're going to you're going to have this stuff. It's going to come if you last.

38:48 It's going to come. And this is why he said, I have been young and now I am old. And I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread. God does not care how you look in one sense. He cares about who you are in the best sense and the greatest sense.

39:10 He cares about your character. Who are you? Even the... The proverb says, even a child is known by his character. Who are you?

39:26 He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light. He shall bring it forth as the noonday. Bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy justice as the noonday. He will bring it forth. You trust in God, God will make you the man or woman of God he wants you to be.

39:44 Even if you're 66. Soon to be 67, hopefully. He'll still do that. And then he tells us to rest. You tired?

40:04 It's not Jericho that'll do it for you. It's rest in the Lord. Notice what he says in verse seven. It's rest by waiting. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.

40:19 I mean, there's so many verses. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord, Psalm 27. Wait on the Lord. Wait patiently for him.

40:33 He will do this. We wait on him. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Verse nine b says, wait but those who wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be, yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be.

41:01 Look at verse 34. Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee and and to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Payday someday. Payday someday was a famous sermon by a Baptist preacher, and that was the title of it.

41:28 And that's so true of the wicked. They do not know it, but it's payday someday. You cannot go against God and have no consequences. You cannot do this. I don't care if you're secular, Christian, it doesn't matter.

41:45 You cannot go against God and have no consequences. Payday someday. There will be consequences. We don't see this in the movies. We never see consequences.

42:00 We never see the body count. We never see how bad this has turned out, generally speaking. But there are consequences. And God is not a God... Mean, you know, you...

42:14 Whatever you sow, you're gonna reap this. And he tells us to wait. He tells us to wait on him. Tells us Christians to do this. And then also rest not only by waiting but by ceasing.

42:29 Notice, look at verse eight a. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. And then notice what the rest of it says, fret not thyself in any way to do evil. So you sake that.

42:49 You forsake that whole idea. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. How many... Well, let's see here.

43:07 Where's the Karens guy? Where's that guy... Place for Karens? Where are you? Okay.

43:12 Sit up. Will you? Because you got that good. Thanks. Because I want to see how tall you are.

43:16 You know, when I played in college... Okay. When I played in college, and the guy hit me or hit you, you... Let's say you're my team, he hit you, I'm going after that guy. I mean, literally literally, I did it.

43:28 You're my teammate, guy's going after you, I'm going after him. I mean, that literally and I I got stories. I do. I got stories and all fights. I played for Lakeland Community College.

43:40 A year after I was there, they... With Lakeland Community... Or Lorain Community College, they had an all out brawl. They had to clear the stands and not let anybody watch the game. Because they the stands, they were fighting like crazy.

43:55 I mean, was an all out brawl on the court, not only between the teams, but the guys in the stands. So if you're on my team, bro, I've got your back. That's really good sounding, isn't it? I got your back until that guy's bigger than me. You know?

44:16 That wasn't that wasn't it, you know? There... And you know, it's really funny. I was with my friend, and my friend is, and I'm gonna... Not gonna mention John's name.

44:26 We're at the Cleveland Indians. We're watching the tribe play. Right? And we're in right field. Seems like I spent my whole life in right field.

44:36 So we're in right field, and it's like a family section at the Jake or whatever they call it, Progressive Field. Right? And we're there, and these guys... There's five guys, and they're getting loaded. They're coming back with beer after beer after beer and you you know, oh, there you go.

44:57 It's good. And they go walking back and they go like this and sloshing beer all over the kids and all this kind of stuff. And my buddy Gorman... I say, John? Okay.

45:13 So my buddy Gorman, these guys are coming in, and they sit down, and then they they drink this... I mean, you know, we're talking gallons of this junk. Right? And so they're they're drinking this stuff, and they're getting up to go get more. They're going to go to get more.

45:36 John stands up and looks at those five. He played flanker back for the University of Louisville. He's one of the blue chippers of you know, I mean recruited by Ohio State. I told you all this stuff before, U of M, all this kind of stuff. Right?

45:54 Notre Dame. And he sits, he looks at those guys, those five guys, and he says, he says, sit down. No more beer. Sit down. My mind's going, okay, see, who's the smallest guy here?

46:13 Because I know we're gonna fight. I know this is going to happen. And I got to back John's play. I'm praising God that they they went like a... They just sat down like little kids, you know, adult men.

46:29 And I'm going, oh my word. But see, to fight those... The wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. It's not going to work that. It never works that.

46:42 It never does. So I don't have your back anymore, but God's got our back. God's got our back. And that's the thing that we have to really understand. We have to forsake wrath.

47:02 Forsake the wrath. That's hard to do sometimes Because in the heat of the moment, we feel righteous indignation. We do. I felt it. I'm going to teach them a holy lesson.

47:34 Rejoicing because of his provision. A little that the righteous man hath is better than the riches of the wicked... Of many wicked. For the arms of the Lord shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever.

47:56 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine. They shall be satisfied. Look at verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not only be cast down for his...

48:13 For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young and now I am old and I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor a seed begging bread. And many of you are asking yourself the question, ten years from now, how am I going to eat? Ten years from now, how am I going to provide? Five years or even tomorrow, how am I going to do this?

48:36 I have been young and now I am old and I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor a seed ever break... Begging for bread. God will provide, that's not some cheap platitude. That is a fact if we trust him. He will provide.

49:00 He will provide every time. How do we survive in this world? I don't want to go to the world managing money markets and all that kind of stuff. I don't want to go this all this economic and I need to plan for the future because I don't even know what the future is. I don't I don't know who holds the future.

49:25 He will provide. I trust him. Wow. He works it. He does it.

49:34 I asked JC, and I'm like like twitching on this one. How he got a... How'd you... He got a full scholarship to the University of Michigan. Ancient Near Eastern studies, he's finishing this.

49:49 He's got one more semester of this. A full scholar... I'm going, how did you do this? I mean, you know, Hebrew and Greek and Latin. He's in his third year Hebrew, third year Greek, teaching it at Pepsi now, and Latin, second year Latin, and he's he's full ride.

50:05 In fact, they gave money for living Expenses. I'm going, how did you do this? He looked at me, pays to be poor, dad. But his real answer is this. He's just trusting God for that.

50:25 And God provided everything for him to do that. Everything. It was just amazing, trusting. Provision. He does this.

50:37 He works it. Wow. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart, and none of his steps shall slide.

50:58 And it's also rejoicing not only in his provision but his pronouncements. His pronouncing, he has pronounced to us who he is. The wicked shall not perish. The wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be like the fat of lambs. They shall be cons...

51:15 They shall consume into smoke, they shall consume away. The wicked borrow and pays not again, but the righteous shows mercy and give. For such are as the blessed of by him shall inherit the earth and they who are cursed by him shall be cut off. I don't wanna be cursed by God, that's for sure. The wicked watch watcheth the righteous and seek to slay him.

51:43 The Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged. Just one little one little tidbit here that I think, you know, when we look at, you know, what are what are these steps we need to realize and rely and rest and rejoice? I... Can I just say one thing before we get to the the the grand finale of this of this passage? I want you...

52:08 I just want you to know something. The world is not your friend. If you think the world is your friend, you can kiss that one goodbye. They're not your friend. They don't love you.

52:22 They don't care about you. They don't. Take a look to your left and to your right and maybe front and behind. Brothers and sisters care about you. Why?

52:45 Because we're family. Because we got a god who cares about us. The wicked the wicked are going to have this problem. And that problem is just it's it's not going to go away until God has his vengeance, if you please. We'd say God is a God of love, and that is certainly true.

53:15 But the Lord Jesus held that passage in his hand and did not say what the scripture said in Isaiah 61, in the day of vengeance. He said, this day you you... This is fulfilled in your hearing. Right? But he skipped that one part in six...

53:34 Isaiah 61, the day of vengeance. God cannot have evil in his sight. This world is an evil system. Please understand this. And we need to trust in him.

53:51 We need to consistently trust in him. And to follow this, my suggestion to us is to read this Psalm 37 again. And and ask the Lord to teach us, maybe even way better than what we've talked about this today. Lord, show me and help me with this. Look at the last few verses of Psalm 37.

54:16 Let's look at the last few verses of that that Psalm. He is telling us how to navigate through this world. Mark the perfect man, verse 37. Behold the upright, and for that end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together.

54:33 The end of the wicked shall be cut off. But salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them, and he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him. Father, we ask you that we would trust you more.

55:02 Forgive us for not. And we ask you, Lord God, that we would be the men and women of God who are in love with you. We ask you, Lord God, that you would have complete control And that you would... You have told us, you're talking to us in your word and by your spirit, taking your word and driving it to our hearts. You're telling us to trust you because you love us so much.

55:32 And that you can do something in our lives, and that you can minister to us. Lord, we we're fools when we don't yield totally to you. We ask you, Lord God, to help us. Help us, we pray. Dismiss us with your blessing, and we thank you that we've got many blessings that sometimes we're not even aware of.

56:12 But help us, Lord, to rely, to realize, to rest, and help us to be rejoicers. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.