The words of the wise are as goads and as nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd. The verse that I really want to focus in on, is verse number 11, where the Bible reads, "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails, fastened by the masers of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd." I want to preach about the words of the wise tonight. Keep your finger there and flip over to Proverbs One. We're going to come right back to Ecclesiastes number 12, which is talking about, what a preacher should preach.
The words that he should seek and use, to teach the people knowledge and wisdom and so forth. This morning I preached about the two different types of wisdom. Is the wisdom, that's of this world, that is not from above. Then there's the wisdom that comes from God. The two are very diametrically opposed to one another. As opposed to Ecclesiastes 12, which is telling us, how a preacher should preach. Proverbs one is talking about the fact, that even those who are not preachers, should seek out to hear the words of the wise and to learn the word of God from preaching.
Look at Proverbs chapter one, verse five. It says, "A wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall obtain unto wise counsels. To understand a Proverb and the interpretation. The words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. According to the Bible, those who are wise, want to be instructed. They want to learn something. They want to get to these wise counsels and the dark sayings of the word of God and understand them and learn from them.
In Ecclesiastes 12 we learn something about the words of the wise. Go back to Ecclesiastes 12. We're going to see, not only the words that the preacher should be preaching, but also the words that we as Christians, should see to listen to. Even from the pew. This sermon is unto those who would preach, what type of preaching needs to be done. It's also unto those who would listen to preaching. What's the type of preaching that they should seek after and listen to.
We have many men in our church, who someday I believe, are going to go out and start churches and pastor churches. Thank God for that. There aren't enough.
Congregation: Damn straight, Amen.
Pastor: It's really a shame that we don't have more men, that are being trained right now for the ministry. Thank God we do have some. We've already sent several out. We've got a few more that are being trained. The harvest truly is plenty, but the laborers are few. Pray ye there for the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. The people today are truly as sheep having no Shepherd, as Jesus saw when he made that profound statement.
Today you young men who desire to preach and pastor a church someday, need to listen to this sermon, to understand what kind of wise words you need to seek out, when you're going to preach a sermon. What type of preaching we should do and seek after, is all really characterized in this verse, chapter 12 verse 11, when it describes the words of the wise. It says in verse 11 there, the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which given from one Shepherd. Three things in that verse. Let's start out by talking about the first one.
It says the words of the wise are as goads. Now, what is a goad? A goad is basically a sharp stick, that you poke someone with. That is what a goad is. You think about, of course Shamgar, the famous Judge from the book Judges, who slew 600 philistines with an ox goad. He used it as a weapon. A lot of times the children of Israel were prohibited from owning real weapons. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, they don't want to let you have real weapons.
For example in the days of Saul and Jonathan. No one was allowed to own a sword. The only people who had swords, were just Saul and Jonathan themselves. Everyone else had to sharpen tools and one of the thing that they sharpened was, they sharpened the goads. They sharpened other garden tools and other equipment that they could use, just as a weapon. A goad is a sharp stick, used usually like the Bible says. Shamgar used an ox goad. It's something that you poke oxen with. You could really poke any animal with it, to get it moving. To get it to do something.
The Bible says, first and foremost here, that the words of the wise ... Remember it's a preacher here. It says the preacher in verse nine, because he was wise, he taught the people knowledge. It says in verse 10, the preacher sought out to find acceptable words. The words that he found, the Bible tells us, those words were like unto a goad. The right words of preaching are like a sharp stick, that will poke you and get you do something. That's what the Bible says. That's the kind of preaching that we need today. Not the kind of preaching that soothes you and lulls you into a lethargy.
Rather preaching that pokes you and gets you moving and gets you to do something and change something tonight. That's the kind of preaching that we need. Why? Because there's a lot that needs to change. In my life, in your life, in our church, things need to change. We constantly need to be poked and prodded and motivated to do something different with our lives and to get moving, so that we don't get too relaxed and laid back about things.
Go to Second Timothy chapter four. One of the most famous passages in the whole Bible, talking about preaching. Ecclesiastes 12 is not a famous passage about preaching. It is a great instruction under preachers. Second Timothy chapter four on the other hand, is the famous passage that we would all think of, when we think about instructing preachers. The two in many ways are saying the same thing. There's a lot of the same thing, that gets across in these two. While you're tuning there, I'll just quote for you, from Acts chapter two, verse 37. This is when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, on to the Hebrews.
It says, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Think about that pricking, like being poked with a goad. It says when they heard Peter's preaching, they were pricked in their heart. Said onto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Notice that pricking of the heart, motivates a person to ask a question. "What do I need to do?" It gets you motivated to do something.
Look at Second Peter, chapter four. Of course the famous passage, look at verse number two. It says, “Preach the word." Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Those three words reprove, rebuke and exhort, are all demanding some kind of action to take place. Reprove and rebuke is telling you, "Hey you need to stop doing the wrong things that you're doing." Exhort is getting you to start doing something that you should be doing.
It's a goad. It's something that's pricking you to action and to do something. It says in verse three, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. After their own lust, shall they heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears. They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned onto fables. These people desire a preaching, not that's going to poke them and hurt and ouch and prod them. Rather, they want something that's going to sooth them and scratch their itching ears.
Now if you would, turn to Ephesians chapter five, verse 14. Ephesians chapter number five, verse 14. What are the words of the wise? What are the acceptable words, that a preacher should seek out, to use in his preaching. The Bible says first and foremost, the words of the wise are as goads. Preachers don't need to just get up and just fill time. I got to come up with three sermons this week, to fill some time. No, we need to get out the goad and get people moving and make something happen and do something and use our time wisely.
Look at Ephesians chapter five, verse 14. It says where for he say "Awake, thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee life. When you think about poked with a goad, it's definitely going to wake you up, if you're asleep. Can you imagine being asleep and somebody starts poking you with a goad. That will wake you right?
The preaching that do today needs to wake people up. Needs to get their attention. It says in verse 15, see them that you walk, circumspectly not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Where for be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will, the Lord is. The Bible is teaching here, that we have a limited time in our lives and we need to do something with our lives. We need to redeem the time we've been given. Good preaching is going motivate you to do something. To redeem the time. To get busy and make your life matter.
If you would flip over to Hebrews, chapter 10 and while you're turning there. Actually go to Ezekiel 46. Ezekiel 45, because this is an uncommon passage again. I want to have you actually lay your eyes upon it. Ezekiel chapter 46, verse nine. While you're turning there, I'll just read for you from Hebrews 10.
It says in Hebrews 10, 24, let us consider one another to provoke onto love and to good works. What is provocation? It's a call to action. He says, "To provoke onto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more, as you see the day approaching. As we see the day of Christ approaching. The Bible is saying, "Don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together." He says, "We need to exhort one another, so much the more, as we see the day approaching.
Now, if we think about our theme verse tonight in Ecclesiastes, he said, "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." Do you get that? The assemblies? Here he says, "Hey don't forget, forsake the assembling of yourselves together. When you go to that assembly, you ought to be exhorting one another." He says, "You ought to be provoking one another onto love and good works." The Bible is teaching that the church is a place that we go, to be called to action. To be provoked to do some good works. To be goaded on. Have you ever heard that expression. Somebody will say, "Hey don't goad him on."
It means don't encourage him. Don't get him to do more. That's what it means to goad someone on. It means to get somebody going. The Bible here is saying, that we should be goaded on, when we go to church. We need to be exhorted. We need to be provoked onto love and good works. Why? Because we tend to get lazy. We tend to get lethargic and apathetic and stop having the zeal that we should have to do great works for God. This is why soul winning is dying today in America. Why so many churches are phasing it out. I just did a bunch of research recently, where I looked at the website of every independent, fundamental Baptist church, in the state of Arizona.
I was just checking them out. What kind of soul winning programs they had going on. It blew my mind, how many of them have scaled back soul winning to once a month. Literally once a month. Some of them it's every other week. Then when you clicked on it, it's like, "Well we're going to hand out tracks." A guy just literally came to my door yesterday, from an independent fundamental Baptist church. All he did was just put something on the door and just get out of there. I went and chased him today. "Hey wait a minute. I want to talk to you. Hey I'm a Baptist too." I wanted to say hi to him. At least greet him in the name of the Lord and bless him.
It's just amazing to me, how the real bonified soul wining, isn't happening in so many places. It blows my mind. They rarely are even getting out into the highways and hedges. When they do, it's just a door hanger. It's twice a month, or once a month, or once in a blue moon, or whatever. Why? Because there's not enough provoking going on. There's not enough exhorting going on. The sermon has ceased to become an ox goad and it's become one of those wooded hands, that's a back scratcher.
Do you know what I mean? They've taken the sharp goad and carved it into a little hand. Then the people in the pew are like, "A little lower, a little lower. To the left, left. You just missed it. Oh yeah perfect, perfect. Oh Pastor, what a great sermon. Oh it feels so good." It ought to be like, "Oh man, what in the world. Oh man I guess I better ... Oh wow, oh wow, I need to wake up. Wow, I need to go do something." That's what it ought to be.
We need a swift kick in the pants today. We as Christians need a swift kick in the pants. God is saying, "Wake up. Thou that sleepest. Arise from the dead. You have a name that you live and you're dead." He's saying, "Get up and do something." That's the kind of preaching we need today, that will motivate us to get there, into the highways and hedges and compel them to command that God's house may be filled. Where did Ivy turn?
Congregation: Ezekiel.
Pastor: Ezekiel. Look at this passage. I like this passage. It's buried in a part of Ezekiel, that's a really heavy part of Ezekiel, where you're seeing a lot of visions of a Temple. They're a lot of measurements. It's one of the rough patches of Ezekiel. Starting in chapter 40, it gets a little bit tough to read. There are all these great nuggets of truth. I like this particular verse, where it's talking about the house of the Lord. It says in verse number nine, but when the people of the land, shall go before the Lord, in the Solomon feast. He that enters in by the way of the north gate to worship, shall go out by the way of the south gate.
He that enter in by the way of the south gate, shall go forth by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by the way of the gate, whereby he came in, but he shall go forth over against it. He said, "What do I care about the specifics of people walking into a Temple." Thousands of years ago, walking into this Temple from the north, the south. Here's the thing, it's symbolic, of you don't walk into church, the same you walk out. There should be a change. There should be something different. You walk into church one way, you should walk out different and not walk out the same way. You've learned something new.
You've been motivated to change something about your life, or to do something for God. It shouldn't just be, you just go in and out the same, same, same, no change. No he says, "If you go in by the north, go out by the south. If you go in by the south, go out by the north, because something needs to change while you're there. That's the symbolism that he's teaching there, about what preaching should do for us. It should change us.
The Bible says in Isaiah 58:1, cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. When somebody shows you your transgression and shows you your sin, it can be a little bit of a poking and a prodding. It can hurt a little bit. "Oh man. He's really getting on me today." That's what we need though. That's what preaching should do. Secondly in Ecclesiastes 12 he said, "The words of the wise are as goads." We covered that. We understand what that means. When he says, "It should be as a goad."
Secondly he says, "That the words of the wise are as nails. The words of the wise are as nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd." What does it means when God said, that the words of the wise are as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. That means that the guy who is running the assembly, his words should be nailing things down and fastening things down. Not only, do we need preaching that motivates us and wakes us up.
I remember when I was a kid, there was a song that we could sing. I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Who sung that song when you were growing up? Do you remember the next part? If the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack, ouch. Sit on a ... Who sung that song. Lots of people, yeah. You know who really needs to sit on a tack is Christians. I remember one time, I was in a preaching class. This guy got up and preached. The sermon was kind of dead. The instructor of the preaching class said, "You need to go sit on a nail or something. You need to get some fire with that sermon. You need to wake up. You need to start preaching hard. Go sit on a nail or something."
We're the ones who need to sit on a tack. We just want to sit and get ... "Ouch." Get us moving again and wake us up. The words of the wise are as goads. It's not enough if preaching just gets you fired up and riled up and motivated. "Yeah let's go do something." That's not enough. We also need to be fastened. We also need to be nailed down. Good preaching also confirms us in the doctrines of the faith and strengthens our belief and our doctrine and our knowledge, so that we actually know what we're doing. A lot of people have zeal today, but it's not according to knowledge.
We need to have both. The goad is the zeal. The nails are the knowledge. Not only should we be motivated and fired up and poked and prodded and get a little uncomfortable sometimes at church. We also need to be nailed down and fastened, so that we're not as children, tossed to and fro, with every wind of doctrine. We need both. Zeal and knowledge. We need both the goad of God's word, but we also need the nails of God's word, that will nail things down in our mind and fasten us down. What do I mean? I mean preaching that is heavy on doctrine.
Go to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter number two. We need doctrinal preaching today. We need preaching that really nails down the key teachings of the faith. Things like the eternal security of the believer, need to be constantly nailed down and strengthened and confirmed from the pulpit. We need to teach important doctrines, such as the doctrine of the father, the word and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. The doctrines of the deeds of Jesus Christ. The doctrines of salvation by faith alone. We need the doctrine that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all men to be saved.
Especially of those that believe, but he died for all men. He's the Savior of all men. The Bible says, "He by the grace of God did taste death for every man." We need to nail down key doctrines of the faith, in regard to salvation. In regard to the preservation of the word of God. In regard to the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. His virgin birth. His death, his burial, his resurrection. All of these key doctrines of the Bible, need to be constantly nailed down. Not just be taken for granted and think, well everybody knows that. Everybody believes that. Everybody is secure and sure up on that and nailed down on that.
You know what, a lot of times people do let, even some of the fundamental doctrine slip. They do need to be stirred up. Look down at your Bible there, in Hebrews two. This is one of my favorite versus. It says, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, less that any time, we should let them slip. Isn't the Bible telling us, there's a danger, where we've already heard teaching on something. We've already heard preaching, but we let it slip, when we don't take heed there on to. We start to get lured away and carried off with the error of the wicked, because we haven't been rooted and grounded in what we believe.
We begin to let things slip, the Bible says. Not only that, but in Colossians chapter two ... You go ahead and turn to Second Peter three, if you would, Second Peter chapter three. In Colossians two six, it says, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord. Walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, as ye have been taught. Abounding there in with thanks giving." God says he wants us to be established in the things where in we've been taught. We need to be taught doctrine today. We need Bible doctrine to be taught and nailed down and confirmed. Then we need to be reminded of things we've already been taught, so that they don't slip. Just keep the doctrine pure and keep people rooted in what they believe.
There's a lot of false teaching out there. There are many deceivers are entered in to the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ and there are people who are constantly being caught up in false doctrine. Just as sure as I'm standing here and faithful, we're a Baptist church, which is King James Bible only.
Congregation: That's right.
Congregation: Amen.
Pastor: There will be people who will leave our church and someday, they will go to a church that teaches from the new King James, or the NIV, or the New American Standard, or the ESB and tell themselves, "Well it's not really that bad." Why? Because you forget. At one point and I've talked to people, where I've showed them everything that's wrong with the new version. "Wow, I better stick with the King James." Then five years go by. 10 years go by. 15 years go by and pretty soon it's like, "Well I know we were always King James, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. I mean it's the new King James. It still says King James in the name." They'll basically let it slip a little bit. That's why we have to be constantly be reminded and constantly sure up on these doctrines.
There are many people who are sitting in the church here and believe like we believe. If they were to drift away. You can get caught up in a lot of false doctrine. You know what? It happened to me in my own family, when I was young. We started out, when I was born. We went to an independent, fundamental, King James, soul winning type church. I was born and raised a fundamental Baptist. That's how we were taught. Over time, things began to slip a little bit. What happens was, our church went through a major turmoil and a church split. There were all kinds of problems. When I was about 12 years old, we started looking for a different church. We struggled to find a good independent, fundamental Baptist church, where we were in Sacramento California.
Finally my parents just threw up their hands and said, "All these fundamental Baptist churches are so liberal, they're just pretty much trying to be like the big liberal churches. We might as well just go to the big liberal church, because that's where all our friends go. That's where they have all the fun programs and all the fancy stuff. Look, let's face it. The big liberal fun centers of our day, do have a lot to draw people in. They draw people in with the bells and whistles, and the lights and the cameras and the wonderful things, that they have going on. We know that the doctrine is not there. We know that soul winning is not there. It's all just a big show and whatever.
I call them fun centers. It's sort of like a McDonald's play place, is the way I like ... I would like it on to that. I would like ... Basically it's the question of, do you want to go to a restaurant, where the food is organic, nutritious, healthy, skillfully prepared food? But there's no playground. Do you want to go to McDonald's, because there's a playground. "Hey let's go." It's a question of, do you want to go to Round Table Pizza, where the pizza is really good. Are you going to go to Chuck E. Cheese, because they have a playground? They have the plastic balls, you can swim around in and everything. That's the way these churches are. They're a spiritual Chuck E. Cheese.
Chuck E Cheese Baptist. They're a McDonald's play place. You get a toy with your happy meal. It's spiritual happy meal. Pastor Ronald McDonald Olstein is going to get up and preach and give you a toy in your happy meal. He's going to make you happy and feel good. You can go somewhere you're going to get the fillet mignon of God's word. You're going to get the T-bone steak. You're going to get the ribeye. You're going to get some mashed potatoes and vegetables. Something that you can really sink your teeth into. You're going to be handed a steak knife of God's word. You're going to be handed a plastic spork and be told, "Here you go. Here's you McNugget."
Yeah, there are traces of real meat in the McNugget. Just like there will be traces of real Bible preaching, or the word of God in the sermon, down at fun center Baptist. Most of it is all the left over junk. That's what chicken McNuggets are. They take the chicken, they take off the breast and the thighs and all that, which people want to eat. Then all the left over junk, they steam it off the bone, with all the skin and all the organs and whatever. They grind it up into paste. They add a little bit of plastic and glue and other weird things. Then they put it all together.
That's what the fast food industry is serving. It's horrible. You know what people are looking for a fast food religion. A fast food sermon. Honestly kids, they don't even realize that the food is not up to snuff, because they're just looking at the play place. They're just looking at the big ... What's that purple guy of McDonald's? Grimace? Why is his name Grimace? I thought that's a face you make, when the food is bad. Every time I ate McDonald's I grimace too. The guy's name is Grimace. What in the world?
Grimace and then there's the ... Who else is there? There's Ronald, there's Grimace. Hamburgler? Yeah, the thief. He that enter within by the ... Is the thief and robber, you know. Jesus Christ is the real Shepherd who enters in by the door. I don't know why I'm preaching about this. The bottom line is today, that a real church and the real word of God, are going to nail down doctrine for us. Whereas the fun center doesn't want to talk too much about doctrine, because doctrine tends to divide people. Their goal is to bring in all kinds of denom ... We're non-denominational, because we want to bring in all denominations and we're seeker sensitive.
You're pathetic. Seeker sensitive. They just want to bring in just everything and all the doctrine and anything. We don't want to divide and we want unity. Yeah, I want unity too, around God's word in a local church. Not unity with all Christians. I want to withdraw myself from any brother that work disorderly and not according to the traditions that he receives from us. That's what the Bible says. Second Thessalonian, chapter three. We need to seek after the true preaching of God's word, where we're going to have doctrine nailed down for us. I'm telling you, if we don't constantly nail down this thing, of the preservation of God's word.
If we don't constantly nail down the doctrines of salvation. If we don't constantly nail down the doctrine and yes it's a doctrine, of going out and knocking doors and preaching the Gospel to every creature. That's a doctrine. The doctrine of soul winning today, of Evangelism, of going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to every creature. There are people amongst us that will let these thing slip. They'll go to a non-soul winning church, that's not King James, that's not preaching it straight on salvation and many other things.
Unfortunately, my family and I, we got to a point, where we threw in the towel of looking for a good church. We started going to these liberal type churches, when I was about 12. We went there till I was about 106. I turned 17 right after we got into a good church. We spent five years, 12 to 16 inclusively at these type of NIV preaching, rock and roll churches, dead as door nail. I literally remember one person getting bap ... I went to this one church for two years. In the two years I went there, three times a week, one person got baptized, in the two years I went there. Then we talked to her later and we were convinced that she wasn't saved.
We were there for two years. One person got baptized and then we actually talked to her. She didn't believe the Gospel. That's dead. The Baptistery is filled with Christmas ornaments and whatever. It's become a storage facility. It's the NIV and it's not doctrine. I remember the word "Hell." Never came out of the pastor's mouth once. Think about it, how much the Bible mentions hell. 54 times the word hell is used. There are other titles, the furnace of fire, the lake of fire. Other scriptures on everlasting fire, everlasting punishment.
My dad walked up to them, because my dad has this record of a preacher preaching on hell. Because why? We didn't have a tape of it. We didn't have a CD of it, because we couldn't find it. We had to go back to an LP and we literally had to get a record player out of the closet and plug in a record player. Record were archaic when I was a kid. When I was a kid, it was cassettes and then CDs came out. We got out the record player. I remember we all gathered around as a family. We sat in the living room and put in a record, called The Halls of Hell, by Glen Shunk. We put in this sermon, The Halls of Hell.
We sat and listened to that crackling record and we loved it. We were like, "Wow this is great. I haven't heard a sermon on hell, since I was a little kid." Or something. I can't remember, because our pastor would never say the word hell. Never even mention hell in any way. We listened to this sermon and we got all fired up about it. We said, "Let's go ask the pastor, why he doesn't preach on hell." My dad went to him and said, "Why have you never preached on hell, in the couple of years I've been here." Here's what he said, "Well I know that I should, but I just don't like to. It's just too negative. Just don't want to."
When you don't talk about hell, there's no goad. What is it that goads us, to go out soul wining? That there's a hell. That we want to get people saved. Pulling them out of the fire. Hating even the garments bodied by the flesh. It will goad you to get you to do something, when you think about that. He doesn't want to preach on hell. We need to sure people up on the doctrines of hell. There are false teachers out there now, preaching that hell is not a real place, or that hell is not eternal. All these different doctrines that are out there.
We need this kind of preaching. We got caught up in this. If my family, who were saved ... My dad got saved when he was 10 years old. My mom got saved at a similar age. I was brought with them, in a fundamental Baptist church. Look, if we could let it slip. If we could drift away and get caught up going to these NIV preaching churches. If we could backslide and so forth. Why do you think it could not happen to anyone in our church? By the way, people who have been at our church for a long time. We know that people have quite and gotten back slidden. Go to church nowhere. Go to a liberal water down church. Don't believe the same things that they used to believe.
Oh it's out there my friend. You know what, you could be that person. That's why you need to take heed, to the things that you've heard, less at any time you let them slip. The Bible says, "Let him that think he stand, take heed, less he fall." We all can fall. We can all get back slidden. You think, "How can I forget the things I've learned." You know what, if you don't hear it for a few years, you will forget it. Listen to me. I listen to old sermons for myself. Sometimes I'll listen to a sermon from myself, from 2006, 20078, 2008 and I'll learn a lot. It's like, "Wow, that was really interesting."
I'm thinking to myself, I don't think I've ever thought of that, but I must have, because I'm the one who preached it. You forget things. Isn't that true. I don't like listening to my recent sermons, it's boring, I already know it all. If I go back to 06, 07, 08, 09, I'm thinking like, "Wow, what am I going to learn today?" You forget things. We're human beings and it's easy ... How many times does the Bible talk, oh they forgot the Lord's works. They forgot the words of Moses. Even taught them in a song in Deuteronomy, because he says, "You'll forget the preaching, but you won't forget the song." Music sticks in your head.
He had them learn a song about it. We need to constantly be stirred up. Look at Second Peter three, verse one. It says this second epistle beloved, I now write on to you, in both which, I stir up your pure minds, by way of remembrance. You might say, "Well, I've already heard this before. I've already learned everything that Pastor Anderson has to preach. I've already heard it all. Here's the thing, you need to be stirred up in remembrance. You haven't heard it all, because I'm constantly learning new things. If I'm preaching stuff that I've never preached, then you haven't heard it before, because I just learned it last week.
The Bible is a deep book and we're all constantly learning from it, or we ought to be. It says, "I'm writing these letters to stir you up, by way of remembrance." Verse two, that you might be mindful of the words which were spoken before, by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the Apostles of the Lord and Savior. Go back to Acts, chapter 14. Acts, 14 and as you're turning back to Acts 14, I'll read to you from Second John, where the Bible reads, "Now I besiege thee lady. Not as though I wrote a new commandment under thee, but that which we had from the beginning. That we love one another. This is love.
That we walk after his commandments. This is the commandments, that you have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. Good preaching isn't always giving you something new. Sometimes it's telling, remember the commandment that you heard from the beginning, walk in it. You've already heard it, now do it. You need to remember it. I need to stir you up and bring to remembrance things that you've already known and heard. You need take heed under those things, less at any time, you should let them slip.
Yes the words of the wise are as goads, to motivate us, to prod us, to prick us at our heart and call us to action. The words of the wise are also as nails, to fasten down key doctrines and to remind us of things we've already heard, that we might be confirmed. This was a major ministry of the Apostles in the book of Acts, confirmation. The Catholics have ruined the word confirmation, haven't they? It's a Bible word. They'll take it and twist it. They'll twist everything. The Catholics will twist baptism in to sprinkling. When the word baptize literally means, to immerse in water, to dunk under water.
They'll twist baptism into sprinkling. Then they'll take confirmation and turn it into some weird things, where kids come. All I know is that when my wife was confirmed in the Catholic Church, the priest slapped her across the face and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost." By the way, that's where these charismatics are getting it from. There's no new thing under the sun. This hackela, handela, bow, where they slap them and they fall over. It comes from the Catholic church literally. Now they don't do it as much, I don't ... Maybe they do.
Was anyone else slapped in the Catholic Church? You were slapped in the Catholic church? You were as well? You got to the forehead? My wife got it like this. Ramone got it like this. Did you get the ... You got the old school, yeah. I've been really confirmed. They literally get slapped. My wife said they didn't slap her that hard, but in the old days, they used to really slap you. Now they've lightened it a little bit. You know, they water down everything now a days. The old days, they really slap you up the side of the head. Guess what? That's not in the Bible. You know what Jesus did, when he said, "Receive the Holy Ghost." Breathed on them. He didn't slap people in the face.
This whole slapping in the face thing, is not something that the Lord taught us to do in church. That's what confirmation is today. I'll slap you in the face and say, "Receive the Holy Ghost." Actually, Biblical confirmation is what we see in Acts. For example in Acts 14, look at verse 22. Let's get a bibli ... Don't let the Catholics steal our term. You know what this reminds me of? What's the street called, the north, south street, that's exactly one mile East of where I'm standing right now? What's it called?
Congregation: Priest.
Pastor: Priest Road. You know what somebody said, "Oh Priest Road. That's a bad ... That's a Catholic street." I'm thinking to myself, "No I'm a Priest." God has made us onto Kings and Priests. We shouldn't let the Catholic ruin our words for us. A priest ... They'll ruin the word Priest. They'll ruin the word Bishop. They'll ruin the word communion for people. "Oh don't say Communion, that's Cath ..." That's a Bible word. Communion, Priest, Bishop. Those are good words. We need to steal them back. Confirmation is another one. It says, "Confirming the souls of the Disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith. We must through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God. The Bible is saying, we need to be firmed up on the things and confirmed in the faith, so that we'll be able to stand strong and endure the tribulations that come our way. One day, perhaps if it's in our life time, even the great tribulation itself.
What you have to understand, there's a parable of the sewer that dealt with this. If you remember, there was the seed that was sewn among the shallow ground. It was stone ... It was sewn in stony places. It had no deepness of earth. Remember that one? It was sewn in the stony places and there was no depth of earth, because it had no root, when the sun came, it was scorched and it withered away. When Jesus interpreted that parable, he said, "He that receives seed in the stony places, is here at the word, with joy receive it." He said, "You have no root in himself, but he dureth for a while, but when tribulation or persecution arises, because of the word. By and by he's offended.
Did you get that? When any tribulation or persecution, any trouble or trials come, he's offended, because he has no root in himself. What is similar to a root, being nailed down. The tree physically has a root that holds it down. When we want to take something and hold it down, what do we use, a nail. We nail things down. In order to keep them in a solid place. The Bible says, "The words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given by one Shepherd. Why do we need to be nailed down and rooted and confirmed?
So that we don't fall away in times of persecution and tribulation and get out of the fight. Look at Acts 15, verse 32. We have Acts 14:d22, talking about their ministry, confirming the souls of the Disciples. It says in verse 32 of chapter 15 and Judas and Silos, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them. What's the operative part of the word confirm? Firmness. Being fastened. Being solid right?
He says in verse 41. He went through Syria and Silesia, confirming the churches. He fastening things down with the nails of God's word. We could go on and on, all the different scriptures. Go if you would to John 10. One last thing on the nails aspect of our preaching, was Ephesians 4:11, where the Bible reads and he gave some apostles. You're turning to John 10. Some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints. For the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. We all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, onto a perfect men.
Under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we hence forth be no more children. Tossed to and fro. You know it's pretty hard to be tossed to and fro, when you're nailed down. He says, tossed and to and fro and carried about with every wind with doctrine. By the slight of men and cunning craftiness, we're by the laid and wait to deceive and my friend, today, with all the strange doctrine that's out there. Everything is up for grabs, even the name of Jesus itself.
You want to talk about being confirmed on doctrine of salvation, baptism, the word of God, the Trinity. Even the name of Jesus is under attack. This Hebrew roots, garbage movement, that tells us, "Oh is real name is Yeshua." Yeah if you're un learned and unstable, you'll believe that stupidity. You know what? The New Testament, was never even written in Hebrew. Excuse me. The New Testament was never even written in Hebrew. What's this talk about, his real name, the original ... No the original says Jesus. Jesus, which is English is pronounced Jesus. Not Yeshua. Well but Yeshua was hach flem, hach ... He was Shalom by Mitzva. Hackla, gandala. No he wasn't.
It's a lie my friend. Well Jesus and he Apostles didn't speak Greek. Yeah, but they just wrote the New Testament in Greek, but don't let that confuse you. Yeah, they all wrote the New Testament in a language that they didn't speak. Makes perfect sense right? "No it was originally written in Hebrew." Zero manuscripts in Hebrew of the New Testament. Almost 6,000 hand written manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. In fact it has more manuscripts then any ancient book on the planet. Almost 6,000. 5,900 and some odd discovered manuscripts of the New Testament, all written in Greek.
Hebrew manuscripts of the New Testament, zero. Those that are unlearned and unstable are ... Listen to me. I'm preaching, because it's spreading like wild fire. You never used to hear this Yaway, Yeshua, now it's everywhere. It's a fraud. The word Yaway is a fraud. The word Yeshua is a fraud. It didn't come from reading this book. It came from a bunch of guys, who called themselves Rabbi, when Jesus said, "Be not called Rabbi." They wear long clothing. God said, "The Pharisee who love to go in the long flowing clothing." That's where ... People that are unlearned and unstable and have not been nailed down on doctrine fall for it.
We need to be nailed down, even on the doctrine of the name of Jesus. You know, on the doctrine of the name of the Lord and the name of Jehovah and the name of God All Mighty. We need to understand these doctrines, because there are people out there, that lie in wait with cunning craftiness to deceive us. Even get us to forsake ... I mean people just, "Did you know that his real name is Yeshua?" "Really?" People just fall for it. Why? Because they haven't been confirmed. Why? Because they're went to a church, where they're not being taught doctrine.
I can prove to you. I can prove to you from this book in my hand, that the name Yeshua is a fraud. I've studied this book. I know what it teaches and I've taught whole sermons on it. My sermon Hebrew Movements Exposed, was one that I did. I did another one just recently. Something about the ... I don't remember what it's called. Something about the name of God, or the name of Jesus Christ, or the name of Lord. I've done some sermons on the name, where I went into in all the teachings on it. You know what? There are people out there who literally ...
I mean there's a word in Hebrew and the word is Et. It's a word that has to do with direct objects. Who knows what a direct object is? Okay. Things that are a direct object in Hebrew, they have this particle in front of them called Et. Literally their whole website is saying that that word is a magical word and a mystical word and it represents Jesus. It's so bizarre. Any person who actually knows Hebrew would just laugh at that. There is so many weird things going on. So many weird teachings about these things. Even the name of Jesus is up for grabs. Even the name of the Lord is up for grabs.
People would just come at you with all this crazy stuff. We need to be solid and confirmed. Where did I have you turn? Did we do it yet? What I'm saying is, we need the nails to be fastened tonight. Thirdly, what was the other element of our preaching? Remember this is the preaching that we should be doing, if we're in the preacher. It's the preaching that we should be seeking after, if we're not the preacher. We should want to hear this kind of preaching. What type is it? Number one it's like goads. That means if you're going to a church and you're never motivated to change anything, or do anything. That's not goad preaching.
Speaker 6: Amen.
Pastor: If you come in the south gate and go out the south gate and nothing changes. You're comfortable, you never get poked. You never feel that sharp goad poking you. You're not getting the words of the wise. The words of the wise are like goads. It's that simple. He said, "They're like nails fastened." You need to be getting ... Preaching this teaching doctrines. Explaining doctrines, reminding us of key doctrines. Thirdly he said, that they're given from one Shepherd. It's from one Shepherd. Well look at what the Bible says in John chapter 10, verse 14. This is Jesus talking, not Yeshua, Jesus. Speak English.
If you want to go back to the original, then speak Greek. Not Hebrew. Hebrew is what the Old Testament was written in. Guess what? The name of Jesus is not revealed in the Old Testament. The name of Jesus is only revealed in the New Testament. That's the original my friend. Don't be deceived. You say, "Why does it even matter?" Because if you say the Greek New Testament is a fraud, you're saying that King James Bible is a fraud, because it was translated from the Greek New Testament. You're saying that every Bible that everybody has used for hundreds of years is a fraud, because they're all translated from the Greek New Testament.
Now, you've just completely taken out the foundation of everything we believe and just flushed it down the toilet. Just remember that, when you say, "Yeshua." You know what you're saying? The Greek New Testament is a fraud and has the name wrong. If it got the name wrong then everything about it is wrong. Then everything you believe is vein, then you might as well just get rid of everything you believe. Go out and become a Jew, a Christ rejecting Jew, is what you ought to go do then, if you want to go down that road.
That's where that road leads. By the way, that's who is behind it. Christianity has been infiltrated by Christ rejecting crypto Jews. There I said it, crypto Jews have crept in and brought in these lies and false teachings. They're trying to lead people back to Judaism, because that's what the anti-Christ is going to do. The spirit of the anti-Christ is the spirit that denies that Jesus is the Messiah. That's what the anti-Christ is doing. He's going to bring us all back to Judaism. That's what this Hebrew roots movement is doing. Just remember when somebody hits you with Yeshua and Yaway, excuse me, it's Jesus.
On what authority? On the authority of the Greek New Testament, which every New Testament is translated from, into our language, into King James, English Bible, that we hold and is the final authority of all our faith and practice. If you're going to throw out the Greek New Testament and say, "Well there's other Hebrew New Testament, that nobody knows where it's at." You're saying that the word of God cannot be found. Then we have to listen to some long haired, long skirted Yeshua, Yaway Rabbi tell us ... It's a cult, when you follow these people.
When you're following man, instead of following this book, you're in a cult. This book is the final authority. Man, I want to preach a whole sermon on that, because I get so fired up about people, with their crypto, Judaism infiltrating the church. That is another sermon and it's coming to a church near you. The Bible says in John chapter 10, verse 14, "I'm the good Shepherd." That's what Jesus said. I know my sheep and I know of mine, as the father knoweth me. Even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice. There should be one fold and one Shepherd.
Now, I don't know if you remember the exact wording of Ecclesiastes, but he said ... I'll read it for you again. The words of the wise are as goads, as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd. Then Jesus used that exact same term. He said I'm the good Shepherd and he said, "You know what? There's one Shepherd. There shall be one Shepherd." By the way he's talking about Jew and Gentile, one Shepherd. It means we don't need some separate Jewish church and a separate Gentile church. No, all believers in Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile, should all worship together in the House of Prayer for all Nations. The local church.
These bunch of Messianic Jews need to just become a Baptist. We don't need some separate church for people, who want to do all ... Look I got to stop myself here. I'm just going to go off on a tangent on that again. I'm going to get back on track, with what I'm supposed to be preaching right now. John chapter 10, he said there's going to be one fold. Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. He's talking about Gentiles. Them also must I bring, because he's reaching Israel, but he also wants to bring in the Gentiles. He says, there's going to be one fold and one Shepherd.
This is even prophesied in Ezekiel, you don't have to turn there, but in chapter 34 he said, I will set up one Shepherd over them. He shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepherd. Then in chapter 37, verse 24, he said David my servant, shall be King over them. They all shall have one Shepherd. They shall also walk in my Judgement and observe my statutes and do them and on and on. Great passage, I'd love to preach on it.
This all goes back to what Paul said in Second Timothy 4:2, when he said preach the word. Okay, he says, "Look the words of wise are as goads." We know what that means. "They're as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies." That means that the Pastor should be up here with a hammer, every service. The Bible says that God's word is like a hammer in Jeremiah. Basically a Pastor, spiritually speaking, should get up here with a hammer in his hand and just start hammering things down. I'm sick of everything floating around and drifting around. Everybody is being tossed. Let's just hammer this thing down tonight. Just hammer it down, it's not going anywhere. Yeah, hammer it down.
I'm literally hammering this nail all night, just to make the point right here. People have even contacted me and said, "I watched you online. You need to hammer in that nail. It's driving me nuts." You know the OCD. There are OCD people, that this nail drives them nuts. It's not that it hasn't been hammered down, it keeps drifting up. I keep hammering it down, you know. This one pops up. It's like that game where things pop up and you got to go ... What's that game called?
Congregation: Wackamole.
Pastor: Wackamole? You know what? We need pastoral Wackamole. We need Wackamole Baptist Church, where the Pastor, he sees things starting to loosen up. He say, "Oh Yeshua. Oh maybe Jesus didn't die for everybody." Shut that Calvinism up. He died for everybody. It's like, "Oh well maybe the new King James isn't that bad." Bam. "Oh let's have a woman get up and preach." Bam. "Maybe it is pre trip." Look, this is what it means to be a Pastor. All these little nails are popping up everywhere. You got to get a hammer in each hand be like, "Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham, wham," Say, "why do you beat the pulpit?" Because it's just to remind me, that I need to be up here hammering things down and nailing it down.
Here's what he's saying here. He says, "Preach the word." Because he said, "They're as goads. They're nails fastened by the masters of assembly." He said, "These words are from one Shepherd." What's that mean? That means that the Preacher needs to be preaching the words of Jesus Christ. That's why the Bible says in First Corinthians 2:13, which things also we speak. Not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. That saying that we should use Biblical words. Not only that, it means that if we preach for an hour. There should be a lot of Bible in that sermon.
Shouldn't be one verse, an hour of preaching. I mean that would be ... You know what that's like? That's like if you took a teaspoon of juice and put it in a glass of water. It's a pint. It's just ... "Oh here's your orange juice with breakfast." "What?" Have you ever make the orange juice and put too much water in it, or water it way down. It's just like barely have ... That's what this preaching is like. There's so much filler and not a lot of scripture. When he said preach the word, take it literally. Get up here, preach the word.
I mean actually you speak in verse. "Hey turn to this verse. Hey while you're tuning, let me read you some other verse. Hey let's go to Ezekiel, let's go to Colossians, let’s go to Second Peter, let's go to Jude, let's go to Mark." That's why ... Hold up your Bible, if you brought your Bible to Church. This is why people bring their Bible. This is why people bring their Bible, because we're using the Bible tonight. We're turning places, we're look ... We're getting the word of God tonight. Not just man's opinion, but we're getting the word. That's what preaching is supposed to be. It's supposed to be the word that comes from one Shepherd, from Jesus.
Congregation: Amen.
Pastor: That's the teaching that we need. If you're a Preacher and let's go just to Proverbs One to wrap things up. Proverbs One, come full circle here. We've already nailed down Ecclesiastes 12. Let's go to Proverbs One tonight to close. Look at verse number five, it says, "A wise man will hear and will increase learning. A man of understanding shall attain onto wise counsels. To understand a Proverb and the interpretation." This is the term from Ecclesiastes 12. "The words of the wise." We know what they are don't we? Goads, nails, from Jesus. He says, "The words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
What's it mean to despise wisdom and instruction? What's despise mean? You know roughly, it's its own word, it kind of means to hate. If it says, "Fools despise wisdom and instructions." They're not seeking the words of the wise. What's that mean? Foolish people hate preaching, that's a goad like preaching. Foolish people hate the nail preaching. Why? Because it's just too heavy. Too doctrinal. "Oh man, just way too ... Way too deep and doctrinal and heavy. How is this relevant. I need something relevant to my life." You need a kick in the pants and then you need to be nailed down on things.
Look, there's nothing in the Bible that's not relevant. Nothing in the Bible is not relevant. You know what? Sometimes we need to hence forth, be no more children. You need to get that teat out of your mouth, that's been in your mouth for the last 20 years and get a fork and knife and get the strong meat of the Word sometimes. Not just be a baby all the time. You can't just sit there and say, "It's too deep. It's too hard. It's boring. It's too doctrinal. I need something a little more practical." No, you need to be nailed down on doctrine. You need a whole sermon on the name of Jesus and the name of God.
You need sermons shoring you up on the Trinity and shoring you up on salvation by faith and on these doctrines of the Bible that are so critical and important. Those that are fools, they hate the nail type sermon. They hate the goad sermon, because it makes them uncomfortable. It wakes up and they're trying to get a good nap. Then also, the words of Jesus. The fool doesn't want to hear the word of God, doesn't want to hear the Bible. Whereas a wise person wants to hear God's word and they're going to seek it out and hunger and thirst for God's word and desire it. What's the Bible saying here. We need to seek after preaching that's wisdom and that's deep and that's biblical and that's the words of Jesus Christ.
Not be lured into a fun center, where we're going to be patted on the back and scratched and coddled. Let's put our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word Lord. We thank you for our church, where people do desire the truth Lord and they do desire the word of God. We have a church of wise people and the way that I know that is, because the Bible says, "He that wins souls is wise." We have a soul wining church. Therefor our church is filled with wise people Lord. Help our preaching to always be the words of the wise and help me as a preacher to preach wise words, as Ecclesiastes taught.
Lord, I pray that you would raise up a generation of young men, out of this exact church Lord, out of Faithful Word Baptist Church, that a generation would rise up of men, that would go out and do likewise and be masters of assemblies. Not a single assembly Lord, but you said master of assemblies. Lord, help us to have these men go out and start the Churches and goad on the people of some distant city and nail then down on the key doctrines that come from one Shepherd. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
All right let's sing one song. All right, that's twice in one day. We broke the record again. How many do we have tonight? 121, what was the old record? 115. Man we're smashing it. Here's the thing, when we break the record twice in one day, we don't do ice cream both times. The second time we do popcorn, all right?
