Second Samuel chapter twenty two the Bible reads in verse number one, and David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. This song, this same teaching is found in the Book of Psalms also but this chapter is just packed with a lot of great teaching. One thing that I love about the Book of Psalms is that the songs in the Book of Psalms really teach a lot of great doctrine and they cover such a range of topics. Sometimes I feel like the songs that we sing don't cover the whole range of Biblical subject matter, whereas the Book of Psalms, it has a lot of really positive songs.
It has some negative songs. It has songs that tell all kinds of Bible stories. The Book of Psalms really is a great book. This song in particular, it says David spake this unto the Lord in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. This is much earlier in his life. This is like forty some years before the end of his life. Look what the Bible says in verse number two. He said, the Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliver, the God of my Rock. In Him will I trust. This is a theme of this song where he keeps coming back to the fact that God is the rock. It's interesting because he says, the LORD, with the all capital. Capital L, capital o, capital r, capital d.
He says, the Lord is my rock, then, a second later he says the God of my rock. What is that rock? We know that that rock is the world of God. Jesus Christ said, that whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them shall be likened unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not. For it was founded upon a rock. He said, everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man that built his house upon the sand and the rain descended, the floods came, the wind blew, beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. The wise man builds his house upon the rock of God's word. He said that's the one that hears these sayings of mine and doeth them. Then the one who is a foolish man is basically one who's hearing the word of God and not doing it. He's building his house on the sand.
What's the rock then? It's the sayings of Jesus Christ. It's the word of God and of course the famous verse says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's interesting that God is the rock, but then He's also the God of the rock. The Word is God and the Word is with God because of course there's the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one. It says the God of my rock, in Him will I trust. Here's another theme that comes up over and over again. He is my shield. Now jump down if you would, to verse number thirty one. The Bibles says in verse thirty one, as for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that trust in him. Now, buckler is another word for shield. This is again talking about the fact that God is a shield. Another verse in Proverbs said, the words of the Lord, I'm sorry, every word of God is pure. He's a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Add thou not unto His words lest He reprove thee and thou be found a liar. Look at what it says there in verse thirty one. As for God He way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. Not only is the word of God a rock, but the Bible says it's tried. Now what does it mean to be tried? If we talked about the tried and the true, what would we be talking about? Something that has been tested and something that has shown itself to be faithful over and over again. It's not some new thing that, we're going to give it a shot. Now, it's been tried. It's tested. It's true. Even the very name of our church is Faithful Word Baptist Church, meaning the word that you can trust. That's what faithful word means. It means that God's word is faithful. It means that we can trust it. It's a rock. It never changes. It doesn't shift like the sand where it's going to say something different a few years from now then what it says right now. No, it never changes.
It always says the same thing. It's the rock of our salvation. It's the God of the rock. It is the rock and if we build our life on it we know that we're building on a firm foundation. It shields us from all the fiery darts of the wicked. All the garbage that comes our way. People trying to tell us all kinds of lies and get us to believe false things. This shields us from all that and this is the foundation that never changes. It's amazing just how things change in our society. I was speaking at the community college today in South Phoenix and when I was speaking at the community college the teacher brought out the fact, because of course all of the students are all pro homosexual. That's all the propaganda and the teacher, he flat out said to the students, he said, eight years ago when I started teaching, there was almost nobody in the class that was okay with homosexuality back then. Even just eight years ago. This isn't a secular school. This is ate South Mountain College.
He would have these discussions, because it was philosophy 101, was the class that I was speaking in. In philosophy 101 they have these discussions where people put forth different ideas and the basically debate different ideas and so forth. He said, he would have a hard time finding anybody that would represent the side of, it's okay. Even eight years ago, they were saying it's gross, it's disgusting, it's false, it's wicked. Where as nowadays pretty much everybody in the class was aligned against me, that they're okay with it and so forth. That just shows how times change. Just in eight years there's been a shift just at that college. I've witnessed a huge shift amongst the independent baptist, even, in the last twenty years where they've just changed their stance on these things. I just want to say to them, are you guys founded on the rock or what? What are your changing? What are these shifting sands here that your building your preaching on if you're not preaching the same stuff that you were preaching twenty years ago?
It's okay to change your preaching if you learn more from the Bible. Sharpen it up a little bit from the word, but to be changing with the world where your changing the same way the world's changing, something's wrong with that picture. God is the rock. He never changes. Somebody, literally, when I was preaching today at the community, said to me, are you sure that maybe God hasn't just changed His mind thousands of years later? Are you sure God never changed His mind? I said, the Bible says, Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and today, and forever. I said that it also says in Malachi, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. To sit there and say, maybe God's changed, no, maybe He's God. He never changes. He is immutable. Unchangeable. He's a rock. The wind and the rain and they can huff and puff and blow the house down but it's founded on the rock. It's not going anywhere, but those that are founded on the shifting sands of what's popular, they're going to be constantly changed.
If you're going to go with what's popular you would've had a dramatic shift in the last twenty years on some of these subjects. As our county becomes a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says here, the God of my rock. In Him will I trust. Verse three. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation. My high tower and my refuge. My Saviour. Thou savest me from violence. I will call on the Lord who is worth to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried to my God and He did hear my voice out of His temple and my cry did enter into His ears. He's talking about crying out unto the Lord for help against physical enemies in this song.
A lot of times in this song he's talking about physical battle and people attacking him and he's fighting back and so forth. When the Bible says saved it's not always talking about going to heaven versus going to hell. Sometimes it's just talking about physically being saved where you call out to the Lord to save you from a physical circumstance. Some people will mistakenly look at scriptures where David's calling upon the name of the Lord for physical deliverance and they'll say, that's always what calling upon the name of the Lord is. They'll try to disassociate calling upon the name of the Lord from salvation in the sense of going to heaven. We know that calling upon the name of the Lord is relevant to salvation because of Romans chapter ten. Romans chapter ten says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture sayeth, whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed.
For there is difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All of those versus start with the word, for. Which is a conjunction meaning because. It says, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Then it has these series of for's. For with the heart believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture sayeth. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. They disconnect whosoever shall call upon the name of Lord shall be saved. To disconnect that from, that is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus makes absolutely no sense. It's all one thought.
You confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you shall be saved because whosoever shall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus is the name of the Lord that you're calling upon. That's what the confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus is. It's the calling upon the name of Lord. Those two things are connected in Romans chapter ten. When the Bible uses the term, calling upon the name of the Lord, that could be salvation from any set of circumstances. You could call upon the name of the Lord to deliver you from a bad situation on this earth. The most important time that you call upon the name of the Lord is when you call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Then after you're saved you would call upon the name of the Lord just to save you out of bad situations or to save you from physical enemies that are trying to attack you or kill or harm you or whatever.
That's where people get confused. Calling upon the name of the Lord is associated with salvation. Of course in the New Testament the Bible says, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, and in that context they said, this is in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. The name that we call upon to be saved in the New Testament is the name of Jesus. Now the Bible talks about how Abraham called on the name of the Lord. The name that he called upon was the name God Almighty, because in Exodus six three it says, I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. The main name that God used in the time of the patriarchs was God Almighty. Then in the days of Moses and afterward, the main name that He went by was the name of Jehovah or what we have in the King James Bible as the LORD with the all capital L-O-R-D. Then in the New Testament the main name is Jesus.
God has multiple names. He doesn't just have one name. People make a mistake when they think He just has one name. No, He goes by different names, but the one Name that's above any other name and the one name that's associated with salvation in the New Testament, now that it's been revealed, is the name of Jesus. People in the Old Testament didn't need to know the name of Jesus to be saved. It hadn't been revealed yet. They called upon God Almighty for salvation. They called upon Jehovah for salvation. Now that we're in the New Testament and the Son of God has come and have given us an understanding that we know Him that I true. We are in Him that is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life, the Bible says, in First John chapter five verse twenty. Right here we see calling upon the name of the Lord to save from physical circumstances that he's in. Then there's also an underlying symbolism here of being saved from hell also, symbolically.
The Bible says in verse number eight, then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven moved and shook because he was wroth. Wroth means very angry. It's like the word wrath. It says, because He was wroth, there went up a smoke out of His nostrils. Now, keep in mind, who are we talking about here? Who's got smoke coming out his nostrils? This is God. This is the Lord. It says, He had smoke coming out of His nostrils and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub and did fly and was seen upon the wings of the wind. And He made darkness pavilions round about Him. Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Through the brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them.
Lightening, and discomfited them. And the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord. At the blast of the breath of His nostrils. This is using very poetic language just to talk about basically the terrible aspect of the Lord. The fearsome aspect of who God is. A lot of people today in two thousand and fifteen have forgotten this aspect of God. They basically focus on the scriptures that say, God is love. Or they'll focus on the still small voice. Or they'll focus on the rainbow that's above His head and the sea of glass and the throne and the angels singing. Those are all legitimate images of who God is but we don't want to just half the picture here. There is a lot of scripture like this. We're looking at one passage. This isn't the only passage like this. There are a lot of scriptures that talk about the wrath of God and that portray God as vengeful and wrath. The Bible says, vengeance belongeth unto Me sayeth the Lord. I will recompense. There are a lot of scripture that show the wrath of God.
The vengeance of God. That say that God is terrible and fearsome and that He is one that's going to judge and bring punishment. A lot of people, they've never even been exposed to this. I don't think Joel Osteen's preaching on this passage tonight. I don't think he's ever preached on this passage and I don't think he ever will. It's like it doesn't exist unto him, let alone all the other passages that are like it. Let me show you a similar passage. This says here in verse nine, there went up a smoke out of His nostrils and fire out of His mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. Go to Isaiah and go to chapter number thirty. Isaiah thirty. This is an interesting verse in Isaiah thirty. Look at the last verse of the chapter. Verse thirty three. Isaiah thirty, thirty three. The Bible says, for Tophet is ordained of old. Ye, for the kind it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.
This place Tophet is also known in the Bible as the Valley of The Son of Hinnom or Gehenna. This is a place that represents hell. It was a physical place, yes, on this earth but it represents hell. It's used as a picture of hell because it was a place of fire and brimstone. When the Bible says here Tophet is ordained of old. Yea, for the king it is prepared. He hath made it deep and large. The pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it. This is talking about hell. That's what the symbolism is here when we see Tophet or Gehenna, it's being used to refer to hell. When he says here, it's kindled with a stream of fire and brimstone from the Lord's mouth, you have to understand that God is the one who created hell. The Bible says in Mathew twenty five, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Who prepared hell? It wasn't the devil that prepared it.
It was prepared by God to punish the devil and his angels, as a place of punishment. When the devil goes to hell he's not going to be ruling and reigning with a pitchfork. He's going to be down there being punished and suffer. He's not going to be reigning. He's going to suffer and be punished in hell. It's the Lord who is the one who rules over hell. Who is the one who created Hell, who has all the power over it. He said, I have the keys of hell and of death. Even the one who is known as the angel of the bottomless pit is not Satan. It is one of the Lord's angels. That angel of the bottomless pit will one day throw Satan into hell, in the Book of Revelation. That angel of the bottomless pit is known as Abaddon or Apollyon. That's not Satan. Satan doesn't have any power over hell. Hell is going to be a punishment for Satan. It's not like the porky pig cartoon where he's ruling and reigning. There's even a saying amongst Satanist.
This is the Satanist mantra. They say, it's better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven but they're not going to be ruling in hell. They're going to be punished and tormented and suffering in hell. They're very misguided indeed. It's God wrath. The Bible says it's God's wrath that kindles the fires of hell. That's why the Bible says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him. It's God's wrath that culminates in hell itself. This is an image of God that we need be aware of. Yes, He's the God of heaven but He's also the God of hell. Yes, He's the God of love but He's also a God of wrath and vengeance. This Psalm actually explains that difference as well, when it says in verse, are you there in second Samuel? Go back to second Samuel twenty two. There's a statement in second Samuel twenty two that explains this. It says in verse number twenty six, it says, with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful.
With the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory. That's in verses twenty six and twenty seven. We see in the at scripture that how God deals with us is based on us. Which side of God do we want to be on? Do we want to be on the side of God's love and affection or do we want to be on the side of His wrath and vengeance? Obviously the primary thing is whether or not we're in Christ. If we believe in Jesus Christ and we're saved then basically we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We are in God's love because of that. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, the Bible says. Those that are not saved they're going to face His wrath. It's really up to mankind which God they face. The God of love or the God of wrath. It's one God, it's just two different aspects of His personality.
God is complex. He's not just this simple, put Him in a box and he's just all love all the time. No. He has more attributes. To just say, God is love and then just end it there is to misrepresent who God is and to give a very one dimensional view of who God is. Instead of showing all the teaching of the Bible to get a complete picture of God. You really don't have a complete picture of God unless you read the Bible cover to cover from Genesis one to Revelation twenty two. Then you know who God is. If you read one chapter you don't really know everything about God's personality. You have to get the whole Bible to give you all the different aspects of who God is. It's like where the Bible says in Romans one. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. It's a reaction to man. Man doesn't want to retain God in his knowledge, then He'll turn that man over to a reprobate mind.
The Bible says, to the pure God will show Himself pure. To the froward or wicked, God will show Himself unsavory. It's based on man. It's based on the free will of man. Man's choice of whether or not to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour or whether or not to walk in His ways and be blessed by Him or to get on His bad side as it were. The Bible says, back up in verse number sixteen. It says, the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were discovered. Discovered there means uncovered. Most of the time when the Bible uses the word discover, it's a old meaning of being uncovered or being exposed. It says that the foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them that hated me. For, they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity but the Lord was my stay.
What's he saying? He's talking about being in physical battle. This is David. He's fighting against physical enemies with the sword. He's giving God all the glory for his victories. This is part of why he was a man after God's own hear. He's humble and he's giving God the glory. He could've said, you know what? I went out there and I tore them up. I beat them as small as powder, which he's going to say later but you know what he says first? He says, you know what? They were too strong for me. They prevented me. They got the better of me but the Lord delivered them into, basically he's giving God all the glory, saying, I could not have won the battle without the Lord. The enemy was too strong for me. It was only by His power and might that I was able to win the battle. God wants us to give Him the glory for the victories and successes in our lives and not to just, I know I did a pretty good job.
He wants us to be humble and say, you know what? It's all through God's grace and God's might that anything was accomplished. He says in verse number nineteen at the end there, but the Lord was my stay, meaning he relied upon the Lord. He brought me forth also unto a large place. He delivered me because He delighted in me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For, I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For, all His judgments were before me and as for His statutes I did not depart from them. I was also upright before Him and have kept myself from mine inquiry. Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His eyesight. Then of course the verses that we read, with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful. All these verses are saying that you know what? If you do what's right God's going to bless you and if you do wrong you're not going to be blessed.
That's what the Bible teaches from cover to cover. It says in verse twenty eight, and the afflicted people thou wilt save but thy eyes are upon the haughty. Haughty means prideful, that thou mayest bring them down. For, thou art my lamp oh Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. By thee I have run through a troop. By my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that trust in him. The way of the Lord is perfect, meaning that God's way of doing things is the right way of doing things. When it comes to marriage the way is perfect. When it comes to child rearing it's the Lord's way that's the perfect way. What is the right way to run your business or to do anything? The way of the Lord is perfect. What about running the government? Different people have different ideas and they'll point to different things in the constitution or different political parties, but really His way is perfect.
If lawmakers were wise they'd go to Deuteronomy and figure out how to run a government. His way is perfect. The Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect. His way is perfect. Sometimes we think we know better. We have better ideas. Better ways of doing things. No, God's way is perfect. We should trust on the way of the Lord. A lot of people have all kinds of ideas about how to do things but the word of the Lord is tried. That's the tried and the true when you're following Biblical principles. You don't have to worry about experimenting, with marriage or child rearing or whatever because you're doing it God's way it's tried. When it comes to preaching or pastoring a church or soul winning there's the tried and the true and then there's the new fangled flavor of the month that comes out. The tried methods of the Bible. When you start going against what the Bible teaches and doing things your way that are completely different from GOd's way. It's a jungle out there.
You're going into uncharted waters and you can't really be assured that you're going to succeed. God's way is perfect. It's tried. it's tested. it's a shield. Who is God, the Bible says in verse thirty two, save the Lord? He's saying there is no God other than the Lord, and it says, who is a rock, save our God? There's no one else that you can trust and really rely on and anchor your soul to. God is my strength and power and he maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet and setteth me upon my high places. Hinds are like deer. The reason he says, He makes my feet like hind's feet is because deer are very light on their feet and very quick. Can dart around. Especially in a hilly or mountainous terrain. That's why the Bible often talks about God making our feet like hind's feet upon His high places. It talks about how as a Asahel, David's brother in law was as light afoot as a young roe. Another similar animal, that he ran really quickly and was agile and so forth.
He says, he makes my feet like hind's feet and setteth me upon my high places. He teaches my hand to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. He's talking about, in battle, speed, agility, strength. We're not fighting a physical battle as David was. We are fighting a spiritual battle. It is a fight. It's not just, we just serve the Lord and it's all happy and smiles and fun. Now, the Bible says, fight the good fight. The Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. It's not that we don't wrestle. It's just that we don't wrestle a physical battle. We wrestle a spiritual battle against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. The Bible says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical but they are spiritual and mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds and so forth. The Bible teaches that we are in a fight. We are in a spiritual battle. Having our shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Our feet being like hind's feet upon high places would be, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. That's being quick and ready to go out and preach the gospel and to give the gospel unto every creature. Obviously the strength and the fight and the battle in the New Testament would be knowing GOd's word and being ready to preach it with boldness. That's the sword of the spirit that we would use to fight the spiritual battle. You have to be able to apply these things to that, when you read this and understand the spiritual application. We're not in a physical fight. I've never been in a real sword fight and I've never broken a bow of steel with my bare arms. You have to be able to look at the spiritual application of this obviously because those things are probably never going to happen to us in our life. Maybe someday I might end up breaking some steel with my arm but probably not.
Obviously there's a spiritual fight. Don't just read over that and just glaze over it but think to yourself, I need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God. Take that shield of faith and the sword of the spirit and the feet shod with the preparation of gospel. You might not be as Song of Solomon says, leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills, physically but spiritually. If you come to Mount Humphreys later this month, I know we're all going to be running to the top but this is obviously talking about spiritual things. It says in verse number thirty six, it says, thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy gentleness hath made me great. One of the fruit of the spirit is gentleness. When it lists off love, joy, peace, long suffering. One of them is gentleness. Now what does it mean to be gentle? Being gentle is when you're not being abrasive. There's a time and a place to abrasive.
The Bible talks about some people and it says, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Those of the circumcision who are teaching lies and subverting whole households. Rebuke them sharply. Titus one. You know what though? There's also a lot of times when we need to be gentle. There are a lot of times when people are abrasive when they should be being gentle. David says here of the Lord, thy gentleness hath made me great. We know that gentleness is one of the fruit of the spirit. God does want us to be gentle in situations where gentleness is called for. The Bible says, let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt. The Bible talks about speaking the truth in love and so forth. Obviously when you come to church the preacher gets up and preaches hard because first of all, we're preaching to the choir as it were. Basically, virtually everyone here is saved. Ninety some of the people here are saved.
We're talking to fellow Christians and what we need to hear in church as fellow Christians, the Bible says we need preaching that will reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. We do need a swift kick in the pants sometimes through preaching. We need that rebuke from preaching. We need that reproof from preaching, but remember when the apostle Paul talked about going out amongst the unsaved. He said, I determined not to know anything among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When he's going out soul winning to unsaved, he's talking about Jesus. He's talking about the gospel. He's talking about being saved. He's talking about the death, burial, and resurrection. The hard preaching against sin is for the saved. Honestly, the unsaved, getting sin out of their life isn't really going to help them very much. The Bible says, when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none.
Then he sayeth, I will return to my house from whence I came out and when he's come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself, seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worst than the first. So shall it be also unto this wicked generation. What's he saying? The person who cleans up their life, but without Jesus, without being saved, it's not necessarily even going to do them any good in this life and we know it's going to do nothing for them as far as heaven and hell. Cleaning up your life doesn't get you into heaven. It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that gets you to heaven. When we go out soul winning the goal should be to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified and to try to get people saved preaching the gospel to every creature which is the Good News that Jesus paid for all of our sins. He died, was buried, and rose again and all we have to do is just believe in Him.
We just have to accept Him by faith and we shall be saved. That's the Good News. That's the gospel. That's the message that we bring when we go out soul winning amongst the unsaved. A lot of people have been deceived by this false teacher. I'm just going to call out these false teachers by name because in the New Testament the apostles were constantly calling out false teachers by name and warning people and saying, this guy is a false teacher. He's preaching lies and let him be accursed. I've delivered him unto Satan that he may learn not to blaspheme. One of the biggest false prophets that has deceived many people for decades now is Ray Comfort. Ray Comfort is a horrible false teacher. Don't tell me, he's a brother in Christ. He's a little mixed up. No. He's not a little mixed up. He's preaching lies and he has deceived thousands and thousand or people and he's been corrupting God word and corrupting the gospel for decades with his living waters publications and his buddy Kirk Cameron that helps him spread his lies.
Ray Comfort has changed the gospel from being the Good News that Jesus died for our sins to just going out and badgering people about their sins. And badgering them and being obnoxious and going on and on about your sins. Your sins. Repent of your sins. Your sins. With this little New Zealand accent. No offense to people from New Zealand. You know, you've got to repent of your sins. I'm not even doing it right. Here's the thing. It's not about your sins that's going to get you saved. Badgering you about your sins isn't going to get you saved. They take this verse that says the law is our school master to bring us to Christ. They totally twist the meaning of that whole passage. Twist the whole thing. No. The Bible says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the Good News. The glade tidings. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the death, burial, and resurrection.
He said, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. See, what he think is, badgering people about their sins is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that repenteth of their sins. That's what he teaches. He teaches the law. The law is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that repenteth of their sins. That's not what the Bible says. If salvation comes by the law then Christ is dead in vain. Salvation does not come by the law. The law was our school master to bring us to Christ. That sounds like the Old Testament. Hello. Read the chapter. It's talking about the Old Testament versus the New Testament. What they want to do is they want to spend a very extended period of time preaching to people about how wicked they are, and just going on about how sinful and how wicked they are and badgering people about their sins. Then, almost as an afterthought, it's like, by the way, Jesus died for your sins. That's not where the emphasis is at all.
The emphasis is all on the sin. Very little emphasis is on the gospel of Jesus. Then when it comes time to be saved it's a false gospel. Instead of being salvation by believing it's salvation by turning from your sins. It's all about your sins. You're wicked. You're sinful. You're a rotten person. How do you be saved? By turning from your sins. Then at the end of it, he'll ask people, when are you going to turn from your sins? When are you going to repent? You know what I want to ask you Ray Comfort? When did you turn from your sins? You're a liar because every single person's a sinner. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. I'll say it right now. I probably sin everyday. People can look down on me for saying that but you know what? It's the truth because the Bible says the thought of foolish is sin. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. To sit there and say, I haven't sinned in weeks or I have repented of all my sins.
Or every time I sin I ask forgiveness. That's a bunch of bologna. Salvation's by grace through faith and we are all sinners. There's none good but one and that's God. This thing of badgering people, it's obnoxious. It's doesn't work. That's why Ray Comfort uploads all his soul winning videos. You'll notice that almost never does the person even profess to get saved. Have you noticed that? His channel should be called how to fail at soul winning. It'll just show him badgering people and arguing with people and the people don't get saved. Not that they would ever get saved since he's not even preaching the true salvation by faith. He'll say believing is not enough. Faith's not enough. I guess John three sixteen's a lie then. Whosoever believeth. No. You have to turn from your sins. It's all about your sin. Honestly, it's obnoxious. This whole mentality of the street preaching, holding up signs, bullhorning. You know what? It's not the right way to go soul winning.
You know what? It's a way that people use that don't love people, and don't care about getting people saved. If you cared about getting people saved you know what you would do? Use methods that get people saved. Where your heart tonight, when it comes to soul winning? Why do you go soul winning? I know why I go soul winning. Why do you go soul winning? Somebody tell me, why do you go soul winning? What makes you? To get someone saved. Why do you want to get someone saved? We love people. Isn't that why we go soul winning? Think about it. Isn't that why you go soul winning tonight. Otherwise, why would you go? My goal when I go soul winning is to get someone saved. The reason I want to get someone saved is because I love people and as I'm giving someone the gospel I love that person and I want them to be saved. Here's the thing. How I talk to them is going to be impacted by what's in my heart. If my goal is to get them saved am I just going to go and badger them and be obnoxious?
That's not going to work. Why would I do it? Here's the thing. A lot of these people, and then they get on YouTube and they upload videos of them being obnoxious. Or they'll go to some queer pride parade and scream and yell at a bunch of sodomites. They're casting their pearls before swine. The Bible says, give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, least they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Then they get rended. They get rended and then they're like, we're suffering for Jesus. No. Jesus told you not to do stupid stuff like that or you're going to get rended. Or they'll go outside of a movie theater and just scream at everybody who's going to the movies. Or scream at everybody who's going into the strip club. Or scream at everybody who's going into the bar. It's so wicked, but here's what those people need. The gospel of Jesus.
Of course they're going to a movie theater and a bar and a strip club. They're not even saved. What do you expect from these people. Get them the gospel. Get them saved. This bullhorning, scream, repent or perish preaching. It doesn't work. I'm a saved believer and I'm embarrassed by it. When I'm walking through downtown Phoenix or downtown Tempe and I see one of these screaming, foaming at the mouth, repent of your sins preachers, I'm embarrassed and I'm saved. I don't even understand what they're saying and I'm saved. I don't even understand the message. It just comes off as just obnoxious and annoying and it honestly just gives Christianity a bad name. It's funny because later this month we're doing a soul winning marathon in Dearborn, Michigan. Paul and I are going to go out there and then we're meeting up with a bunch of people who listen to my sermons in Michigan. We're going soul winning in Dearborn. Who's heard of Dearborn, Michigan before.
Put up your hand. Lots of people. Here's the thing about Dearborn. It's the biggest concentration of Arab Muslims in America. It's a town where almost fifty percent of the residents are Arab Muslims and we're going to go to the part of Dearborn where it's the solid concentration. This is where the Muslims are. Here's the thing. We're going to go there and we're going to go soul wining and we're going to knock on doors and you know what we're going to do? We're going to give the gospel and we're going to be gentle. What's the point? To love people. I don't hate the Muslims. I want them to be saved. I don't hate the Jews. I want them to be saved. I don't hate Mormons or Catholics. I want them to be saved. We're going to go and we're going to preach the gospel. The Good News. We're going to tell them about Jesus that He's the Son of God. We're going to tell them that Islam is a false religion but we're going to do it nicely. We're going to show them the way, the truth, and the life through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's what's funny. People are like, that's really dangerous. You're going to need a lot of prayer brother, going to Dearborn. They're like, you're entering sharia law. Like they think that we're just entering sharia law and we're all going to be beheaded by the Muslims or something. You know what? Honestly, it's not true. I talked to a guy who lives three miles from there. He said, it's not dangerous at all. The reason why people think it's dangerous is because this is what'll happen. They have a big Muslim festival once a year where they have their big Muslim festival parade and whatever, then here's what, Christians will go to their Muslim festival with the bullhorn and with the obnoxious sign of, Mohammed's a pedophile. They're walking through their Muslim festival with a big sign that says, look, I'm the first one to admit that Mohammed's a pedophile. Is there any doubt about it? Here's the thing.
What's the point of going to their Muslim festival and walking through there with a big crowd of people with obnoxious signs and bullhorns and all this and just go in there to pick a fight so you can put it on YouTube and you know what? Then they put these videos on YouTube and everybody's afraid to go there. Oh look, the Arabs are cursing and throwing stuff at them. It's like, yeah, of course. Look what you're doing though. Is that really a Biblical soul winning method? To go to their thing and just hold up a sign? If you look at the apostle Paul in his soul winning, is that how he did it to the Jews? He went to the Jews which are a false religion and he went in there and preached Christ unto them. Even when he talked to the idolaters on Mars Hill in Athens he told them that their religion was wrong. As long as you're reading a King James. He told them, you guys are too superstitious. He's criticizing their religion in the sense that he says, you're too superstitious.
You're worshiping all these idols and gods. Let me tell you about the true God. He tells them the truth but if you read that passage he does it nicely and he wins people to Christ. People believe him. Some of the people believe him. In the NIV he's like, you guys are very religious. He's praising them for being religious. In the King James, he's like, you guys are too superstitious. The thing is though, when we see Jesus Christ. When we see the apostles. The rebuked false prophets and false teachers but hold on a second. When they go out amongst the people the goal is to get people saved and to talk to them and be nice to them and love them and give them the gospel. That's the goal. Somebody sent me this video on YouTube that said, Christians are being stoned in Dearborn. You know, where they throw rocks at people until you die? Christians stoned in Dearborn while the police just stand back and just let it happen. I click on the video. This is what the stoning was.
The Muslims are throwing empty plastic water bottles at them. That's not exactly a stoning. When somebody throws an empty plastic water bottle at you, sticks and stones may break my bones but plastic water bottles will never hurt me. Then they just get, on these videos, they get just so many thousands and thousands of views and everybody's like, they're being stoned. It's sharia. We've entered sharia law. We need to go in there with the military and take back Dearborn for the Unites States and everything. It's been completely taken over by Muslims. It's a fraud, folks. Like I said, I talked to the guy that lives there. The fundamental baptist that lives near there said, it's fine. He said it's a middle class area. There are other parts of Detroit. Look, you want to go to a scary part of Detroit? It's out there, but it's not Dearborn. It's another part of Detroit that's a scary place for other reasons. I went soul winning every weekend for two years in the worst ghetto in America, which was South Chicago, which is like Detroit.
I can say with authority that it is the worst ghetto in America because of the fact that the year that I was there doing the soul winning there were five hundred and ninety nine people murdered in South Chicago that year. It was the murder capital. I know Detroit wins that prize often as well but that year it was Chicago. We ruled. In Chicago it was five hundred and ninety nine murders. Let me tell you this. I was there when people were murdered. When I was soul winning one time, I heard the gun shots and I saw them load up the bodies. God can protect us, if we're going and preaching the gospel and everything. Obviously I'm not just saying, just put yourself in harm's way but God can protect you when you're trying to bring the gospel to the poor. God can protect you. You've got to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves but here's the thing. People who are scared to go talk to the Muslims, like every Muslim's just out to behead you.
You're listening to too much conservative talk radio. Are there wicked evil Muslims out there? Yeah. Of course. There are a lot of Muslims out there that are closet sodomites. There are wicked Muslims and there are Muslims out there that are murdering people. There's no question about that. I've heard a lot of people say this, all of these Muslims should all be killed. They're all wicked. Wait a minute. Do you really think that one point six billion on this planet are just these blood thirsty raving lunatics? It isn't true folks. Your average Muslim that you talk to is a nice person that's deceived by a false religion. You know what? The Bible says in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Not repentance from their sins but repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Repentance from Islam unto the Son of God, Jesus Christ. What's the goal. What's the goal of going to Dearborn? Why go to Dearborn?
So I can make a cool YouTube video of getting stoned? Get a lot of view? Get all the neo cons all fired up for the next war? No. You know what? I want to go to Dearborn for one reason. To get people saved. Get the gospel to people. Get them saved. That's the goal. That's the objective is to basically show them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any other objective when you're out soul winning, is a wrong objective. When you're just going out to make a show about tough you are. These bunch of repent of your sins idiots. These street preaching obnoxious buffoons, they've often said to me, you don't have the guts to go to one of these gay pride parades. You know what? You're right. I don't. If that's a definition of guts, I don't have it. You don't have the guts to go preach at the gay bar with me. No, I don't I'm homophobic. How wants to look at all that filth? Ask Lot if he was homophobic when he was surrounded by these raving sodomites around his door.
Look. Why in the world would I go to that freak show of sodomy and cast my pearls before swine. Just the fact that they'll come at a soul winning church with that accusation of, you don't have the guts to go bullhorn the queer pride parade with us. You don't have the guts. You know what that shows, what they're doing? What their goal is, with going to that parade? It's to show how tough they are. Show that we have the guts. You know what? God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why would I glorify myself, how bold I am and how much guts I have, that I have the guts to go and bullhorn the sodomite parade and I have the guts to go into the Islamic neighborhood with a severed pig's head on a stick. That's what these guys do. They took a severed, you're like, Dearborn. It's so scary. Yeah, because you're going in there with a severed pigs head. You're carrying around a bloody pig's head at their annual Muslim parade and then you wonder they they're mad at you.
I'm not preaching the gospel of pork. I love pork as much as anybody. We just went to Whole Foods and cleaned out all the ground pork. We took all of it. If you went there and couldn't find any ground pork, it was because we were there. I praise God for the New Testament and I love pork as much as the next guy but I'm not preaching the gospel of pork. I'm not out there to go carry around a dead pig's head and say, you bunch of Muslims. You're missing out on bacon. The fact that Muslims don't eat bacon is the least of their problems. They're going to go to hell because they don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Not because they didn't eat enough bacon. Now, they're missing out on some of the pleasures of this life by not eating bacon. I'll be the first to admit that but folks, you've got to keep the gentleness in perspective. Just as God has different sides and God is love but He also has wrath, but you know what?
We also should understand that to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to love and a time to hate. You know what? When we're going out amongst the lost, it aught to be with a tear in the eye. It aught to be with gentleness. It aught to be in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. The goal should be to be nice to people and get them saved. That should be the goal. Not just, go out there and, I showed them. What does that accomplish? It shows that you don't love people. If you loved people all you'd really care about is, are they getting saved? Obviously we love God more than we love people. We're not going to trim the message or we're not going to do anything sinful, to somehow think, this is going more people saved, if i drink a beer with them or whatever. Paul said, I've become all things to all me, that by all means I would save some. He loved people.
He's like, you know what? I just want to reach people and I'll become what I need to become to get them the gospel. We need to keep that in perspective when it comes to soul winning. Don't be one of these people that's obnoxious, out soul winning, and just going out and real obnoxious and picking a fight with everybody. That's not the goal. There's a difference between preaching in church and preaching at the door. Two different things. There's preaching to the saved, and then there's preaching to the unsaved, where it's like, you know what? It's just about telling them about Jesus. The other stuff, they don't need the gospel of don't go to the movie theater. They don't need the gospel of don't go to the strip club. They need the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Ray Comfort's a fraud. We need to quit following any of his methods as Christians. No one should listen to anything that that guy has to say.
He's preaching works based salvation thinly veiled as, repent of your sins, turn from your sinful life, and his whole method of badgering people about their sins and making that the emphasis is taking the emphasis off of where it should be. The love of God, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much that your gentleness has made us great, Lord. We thank you for the gospel and we pray that you would just fill us with your spirit, Lord, and help us to get as many people saved as we can, Lord. Help us to also live a godly life, Lord, and be a good testimony, unto those who we're trying to reach, Lord, and help us not only to get people saved, but also get them baptized. Not only get them baptized but also to teach them to observe all things whatsoever you have commanded us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
