Wisdom of Sirach - Chapter 1-2

Grace be with you and peace from God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed to be here with you all again. I'm thankful for a place like this to gather and think how God's assembly or the church or the assembly of God would or could gather anywhere. At the seashore, on the mountains, sometimes in the temple, sometimes in tents. In fact, according to at least what the words in scripture says, there for a good while, let's see, maybe, oh, I don't know how many years, 40 years in the wilderness, and however many years it was from the wilderness to David, God said he dwelled in tents. David wanted to, David got to thinking about his house of cedar and how the Lord dwells in tents and it was unsatisfying to him and he wanted to build him a house. Solomon ended up building him a house. But as it says, as I think Peter preached this there on the day of Pentecost or some, maybe it was Stephen's sermon, where he says the Lord does not dwell in buildings made with man's hands. In fact, the heavens are his seat, the whole earth is his footstool, he's made all these things. How should he dwell in something that we make? Rather he wants to dwell in what he has made, he wants to dwell in us, right in our midst, right within the assembly, within our hearts. I think there's a psalm somewhere that says he inhabits the praises of his people. And so, if we were singing praises this morning from a true and sincere heart, then he was dwelling in that, that was his home, he was inhabited therein. Let's pray, let's stand to pray. Oh Father in heaven, we thank you for this new day and your mercies that are new today as they are every morning. We pray Lord that you would be with us today and guide us, and guide our thoughts and hearts and minds and tongues. We pray Lord that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. As we look into your word Lord, we just pray that you would give us understanding. We pray for your blessing on this assembly, blessing on each and everyone that's here. As well as those who are not here, think especially of Daniel and Harvey today and their travels, keep them in your care. Just be with them wherever they are and with whoever they meet. We pray in Jesus name, amen. Amen. I don't have a, I don't have a specific topic or subject that I'm minded to talk about today. This didn't, didn't really have, I wasn't really inspired about something like that. I'm going to do a bunch of reading and maybe share some thoughts that I had this morning while I was reading. I'm going to read In the Wisdom of Sirach, which has a lot of similarities to Proverbs and some differences but time to time I'll read it and I just really find there is a lot of wisdom there. There's a lot of very, very deep wisdom as well as just a lot of very practical, practical teachings and things we can easily apply to our life right now. So, I'm just going to start reading in Chapter 1. We'll read about wisdom, we'll read about the fear of the Lord, we'll read about quite a few subjects. I'll probably make some comments on certain passages, but if you hear some of these sayings of wisdom and some of these sayings of fear, just feel free to comment on them either as we go or at the end. Chapter 1. All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with Him forever. Who can count the days of eternity? Who can search out the height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the abyss and wisdom? Wisdom was created before all things and the insight of prudence was from eternity. To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? And who has come to know her great deeds? There is one who is wise and is feared exceedingly, he who sits upon his throne. The Lord himself created wisdom. He saw and numbered her and poured her out on all his works in the midst of all flesh according to his gift and he provided her for those who love him. Then verse 3 he says, who can search out the height of heaven? Something that no one has ever discovered. Who can search out the breadth of the earth? Something that is not very definitely known. Or the depth of the abyss? Again, nearly unsearchable and then in that same category he says and wisdom. I think there is no end to searching out wisdom. But it is something to be sought after. It is something to be dug for. It is something to be pursued. Hunted down like it is something we need to hunt for. A couple of weeks ago when Norman gave that message and he talked about how there are some things like wisdom and patience. God doesn't necessarily just hand these things on a platter to you. But he puts us through things that we can learn them from. He wants to teach us patience. He wants to teach us wisdom. Even Solomon who asked for wisdom and he ended up being the wisest man on the earth. Maybe you could say, well God just gave him all this wisdom. Maybe to some extent he did bless him with the thing that he granted. But if you read what Solomon wrote you see that he sought things out. He observed the ants and he gained wisdom. He looked at the cones and the slothful man's lot and the thistles and metals that were growing there and he learned wisdom. He saw the eagles in the air and the ships in the sea and the serpents on the rocks and he learned wisdom from those things. He says I think in Ecclesiastes how he set himself to seek out all these things and thereby he gained a lot of wisdom. That's the nature of wisdom. It needs to be dug out. It needs to be learned by the very things that we go through. In fact later he says in verse 7, the Lord himself created wisdom, he saw and numbered her and poured her out, her being wisdom, poured her out on all his works. If you observe creation, if you observe the works of God, therein is wisdom if we can find it, if we can see it. There's a proverb that says, I think Proverbs 17:24 says, Wisdom is before him that has understanding, but the eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth. There's this weakness that man has that thinks if I could get someone to go somewhere else, it's in those far away places or it's those long ago things that in those things would I find wisdom. But that's the way of the fool. The wisdom that the Lord wants us to learn is right before us. Before him that has understanding, it's right there. And the more of those things we learn, the more we find out how little we know, and this wisdom will bring about us a humble spirit, a teachable spirit. It'll bring about the fear of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord will also bring about more wisdom. And the reason is because God's ways are so unsearchable. And I wonder sometimes, if we even have time to notice it, like do we, like sometimes my children find these little really interesting things, just tiny little interesting things, and I completely miss them. And I wonder if I, and then I remember back and think, oh when I was young I used to notice more of those things. And sure there's some weightier things that I have to think about than what my children do, but I just see how the devil has geared this world up to a speed that is totally not conducive to being a man of understanding who can dig out wisdom of things right in front of him. We're just not, we're just so prone to run with this rat race. I sometimes wonder, oh sometimes as I go about my day and I just, maybe for just a little while observe people traveling to and fro, rushing here and there. You know interstates lined up with cars moving both directions. And I think, like I just try for a little bit to like as best as I possibly can in this feeble mind, like put myself, put myself at a place where this whole thing would be visible like God would see it. And I just wonder what he thinks. What is this running helter skelter to and fro for? While his spirit so jealously longs for us. But what's really just sobering to me is like do I, do I look any different? If it looks like a world full of rats running helter skelter in a race, like do I, do I look any different than any of the other rats running to and fro? I think we should as God's people but I, I just, I just see that I don't, for sure not always. That, that song that Lloyd sang on that last CD that he put out about, about Adam where are you? That song just gets me sometimes. Just cause I'm sure it has to do with the music and it's, but it has to do with the words like how, how, how God is calling like Adam where are you? The sons of Adam are running helter skelter with their fingers in their ears. While God is saying Adam where are you? Let's keep reading. Verse 9. The fear of the Lord is glory and boasting and gladness and a crown of rejoicing. The fear of the Lord will cheer the heart and will give gladness, joy and long life. For those who fear the Lord, it shall be well to the utmost and on the day of his death he will be blessed. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and she was joined with the faithful in the womb. She constructed a foundation of life among men and will be trusted among their seed. The gratification of wisdom is to fear the Lord and she intoxicates them with her fruits. She will fill every house of theirs with objects of desire and their storehouses with her harvest. The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom making peace and soundness of health to flourish. The Lord saw and numbered her and poured out the power of comprehension and he exalted the glory of those who hold fast to her. The root of wisdom is the fear of the Lord and her branches are length of days. Verse 13 says there, she, and I think it's still talking about, here it's still talking about the fear of the Lord. She constructed a foundation of life among men. And I've just, like when the fear of the Lord is lost in a, in the fear of the Lord, in a society or in a group. Okay, like what I thought this morning is, maybe brothers can comment on this and correct me if I'm on the wrong track with this, but like I think it is possible for somebody to have what could be called the fear of God, but not be a Christian. Not be saved, not be in the kingdom. At least what I'm talking about here is something that I would say something like, I think there could be false religions even who have something that could be called the fear of God. I don't know what else to call what the Muslims have, but that they have a fear of their God. Let's put it that way. Or the Jews, like they're not all together without the fear of God, but they are without knowledge of the Savior. Again, if this is misleading, go ahead and set it straight. But then when you have a society of people who become completely atheistic and they deny God all together, like there's not even a foundation of life there anymore. Like that society crumbles fast. You can see it in communism, Russia, where they were trying desperately to convince everybody that there is no such thing as God. And other societies like that, I don't know, I don't know, and they crumble real fast. There's no foundation of life anymore. I'd say in our present day we see it. It's like coming in like a flood. You can see it in Portland, Oregon and Seattle where these totally lawless people are trying to rule parts of a city. There's not even a foundation for life there anymore. The fear of God gives foundation to life. It gives some kind of a realization that this is not just all about me. He goes on here in verse 14, the gratification of wisdom is to fear the Lord and she intoxicates them with her fruit. Some translations may just say filled or inebriate, some translations say created. Okay, and then she will fill every house of theirs with objects of desire and store houses with her harvest. I had to think of a passage in James where it talks also about wisdom. James chapter 3 and 13, he says, Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior, his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambitions in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but it is earthly, natural and demonic. But where jealousy and selfish ambitions exist, there is disorder in every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure and peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Okay, and then going back here to Sirach. So there we see James talking about wisdom and then the fruits of it, like gentleness, mercy, full of compassion, without hypocrisy, without partiality, unwavering. Now if we go back here to Sirach, he is talking about how wisdom fills or creates or in this translation intoxicates us, I would say something like fills us with excitement maybe, with her fruits. And then it goes on to say how she fills up the storehouses. And then in verse 16 it says, The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom making peace and soundness of health to flourish. So if you can imagine if physically speaking, if our granary and our cupboards were full of really wholesome fruit and vegetables, food, and that's what we'd be eating, we'd probably be pretty healthy, right? We would flourish. As it says here, we would have soundness of health, it would make soundness of health to flourish. Well how, spiritually speaking, how would you like your granary and your cupboard to be full and we eat these fruits, we're filled with gentleness, mercy, no partiality, peacefulness, goodness, no hypocrisy, just very sound, like spiritually we would be very sound in our health. Those things are what we can have, what we are filled with or intoxicated with if we seek out wisdom and we have the fear of the Lord. Let's keep reading. Verse 19, Unjust anger cannot be justified, for anger's decisive influence causes his fall. A patient man will hold fast until the proper time, and afterwards gladness shall burst forth from him. He shall conceal his words until the proper time, and the lips of many will tell of his understanding, and the treasures of wisdom are the parables of knowledge. But godliness is an abomination to the sinner. If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments and the Lord will supply it to you. Jesus said something somewhere, I think it's in John and I don't know the reference at all, but something along the lines of, test my words, try them and see if they be from God. And I'm real blessed with that. I sometimes have even used that when skeptics would ask me, how do you even know anything's true that's written here? Like what? Like there's just, we have an old book here, or this is a translation from 2000 years ago, look who all messed with it. How can we know this is all true? One thing I've figured out is I've tested the words of Christ and I've found them to be from God. Just for an example, Jesus would say that we cannot overcome evil in any other way but to overcome it with good. That's not just so because he said so. That is from God, that is just a truth that is universal, there's no exceptions. The only way to overcome evil is to overcome it with good. I can test it, I can put it into practice, I can do this thing that he says, like I desire wisdom, and I can keep those commandments and he will supply it to me. It's obvious that it's from God. That's one small example of the many things that Jesus taught. For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction, and his good pleasure is faith and gentleness. Do not disobey the fear of the Lord, and do not come to him with a divided heart. Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men, and be careful with your lips. Do not exalt yourself, lest you fall and bring dishonor to your soul. The Lord shall reveal your secrets, and in the midst of the assembly, he will strike you down, because you did not come in the fear of the Lord, and your heart was full of deceit. He says, do not come with a divided heart. Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men. A divided heart and hypocrisy, these are things that God hates. He opposes these things, and he has no stronger condemnation for anybody but the hypocrites. The prophet Jeremiah says, cursed be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully. Go on to chapter 2. My son, if you draw near to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. I think that's powerful. Telling a young man like, my son, if you're going to prepare yourself, or if you're going to commit yourself to serving the Lord, just prepare yourself for temptation. It will happen. See, when we turn away from the kingdom of darkness, when we say no to the things of this world, and to the devil and to self, and we set our face to the Lord, the devil sees us as a runaway slave. The devil sees us as a rebel. We're not just easily let off. No, but he will set snares, he will have pits, he will set up ambushes, he will do everything to bring that runaway slave back to him. So if you're not prepared, you become a super easy target. In fact, you just become a sitting duck for the devil. If you're not prepared. It's difficult enough if we set our heart to it, right? If we're prepared, let alone not even be prepared. I have to think of what Jesus said about the seed that fell on the rocky soil, and it received the word with gladness, and it sprung up. But it was not prepared. For the heat that would come, and the drought that would come, and there was no root there, and it just quickly withered away. In fact, when I was thinking about that, I thought, there I think is at least one of the reasons why Adam and Eve so easily fell. I think they were totally unprepared for temptation. Unless there's a lot that was communicated that we don't read, which is possible, I don't even know if they knew that there was someone who would tempt them. They were so innocent. And in that innocency, they were so unprepared for those little twisting of words. My son, if you draw near to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. Set your heart right, and be steadfast, and do not strive anxiously in distress. Cleave to Him, and do not fall away, that you may be honored at the end of your life. Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in exchange for your humiliation, be patient, because gold is tested in fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of abasement. Believe in Him, and He will help you make your way straight, and hope in Him. Acceptable men are tested in the furnace of abasement. They are tested in being made humble, being brought low. Therein, God figures out what, or it is made evident what they are made out of. You who fear the Lord, wait for His mercy, and do not turn aside, lest you fall. You who fear the Lord, believe in Him, and your reward will not fail. You who fear the Lord, hope for good things, and for everlasting gladness and mercy. Consider the ancient generations, and see who believed in the Lord, and was put to shame, who stood fast in his fear, and was forsaken, who was called upon Him, and was overlooked. Because the Lord is compassionate and merciful, He forgives sins, and saves in time of affliction. Here Sirach is just pointing out, look at the examples we have. Who called upon the Lord, and the Lord just totally missed it, just overlooked him completely? Nobody. Who had the fear of the Lord, and was forsaken? I think he is implying nobody. Who believed in the Lord, and was put to shame? Nobody. Verse 12 says, and here is another powerful one. Woe to the cowardly hearts, and weakened hands, and to a sinner who walks on two paths. Somewhere in the Revelation toward the end, one of the last chapters, it talks about those who will have their part in the lake of fire. Included in that, is not just the unbelievers, and the whoremongers, but the cowardly, the fearful. They will have their part in the lake of fire. I mean there is a whole world full of cowards. God doesn't need those in his kingdom. In fact they will not take his kingdom. You know in that story in Judges about Gideon, God told him to gather himself an army, and go defeat the Midianites. And he sent out word to all Israel, and he gathered together 32,000 soldiers. Now this comparably I think there might have been, either it says innumerable, or nearly 100,000 Midianites. So comparably those 32,000 men, is a lot of men. It is still pretty small. Each one would have to take out at least 3 of them. And God said there are too many. And he said he wants the cowards to go home. Those who are afraid, go home. And I am not going to go through this whole story, but I want you to think about this a little bit. So here is 32,000 soldiers gathered together, and Gideon just instructs, let the cowards, those who are afraid, let them go home. And people started walking off. Until 22,000 soldiers walked away, and there was 10,000 left. And I just think of that scene. It seems like such a shame. I see some of them slinking away. The crowd gets smaller. Others are watching their friends and comrades walk away. And they become fearful. It looks too big. They walk away. And more and more people walk away. What do you think these men's wife and children thought of their fathers when they came home and said, we came home because we were afraid. It is such a shameful scene. And yet I wonder, if God doesn't see that. God is looking for a handful of men to fight against the onslaught of the enemy. He is looking for men who are not cowardly. The enemy is coming in. He is coming in like a flood. We look around and we see fallen comrades all around us. Mighty men around us falling and our courage is almost gone. And he is looking for a handful of people who won't get cowardly and be afraid. To fight this onslaught. And it is so easy. It is so easy to just lay down our guard. Oh no, we won't all together give up the faith. No. But we start relaxing. We just start slinking away a little bit from the truth and the convictions that we had. Witnessing all of them that walked off. They started with 33,000. It would probably be pretty discouraging. I can see why their courage could have been very low. But yeah, I know that. I don't think, at least I think from what God is talking here about, He is not just talking about people who just get so cowardly and fearful they just completely throw in the towel. Obviously those fall into this category. But I just think it is pretty easy to think that we have not completely thrown in the towel, but we have just had enough. We have had enough of just fighting through strained relationships. We are just about tired of just keeping on disciplining and disciplining a child and trying to train him. We start to lay down our guards. I have seen this thing that I think is so bound to happen in man. A man is in his 20's and his 30's and he is full of zeal and he is full of vigor and he has convictions and he wants to uphold God's standard of purity. But then by the time he gets to his 40's and 50's, and unfortunately it is about the time when his children become teenagers, he has gained some victory. He has conquered some of these personal sins and he starts laying down his guard. Or maybe forgetting what these teenagers, like how vulnerable they are at that age to some of these impurities and to some of these sins. I have seen that. I saw that when I was growing up. In times of my worst and fiercest battles against these things, I watched these 40 and 50 year old fathers and thought, they don't have any conviction at all left anymore. They don't care. And yet some of these same men would attest to how they were on fire when they were young or they thought similar thoughts that I did. This is where we really need patient endurance. Did I read that verse already? I forget where I am going. In verse 13 and 14 he says, Woe to a fainting heart because it does not believe therefore it will not be sheltered. Woe to you who have lost your patient endurance. And then in verse 14 he says, Woe to you who have lost your patient endurance. What will you do when the Lord visits you? What's going to happen if we've cast off some of the armor because it's too heavy and we've laid down some of the guards because it's just too hard? What's going to happen when the Lord comes back to visit us? Oh sure, we think we're still eating at the Lord's table, we're listening to his preachers, we're singing his songs. Jesus had a word for that. In Luke 13, I'll just read it. It's pretty convicting I think. In Luke 13 verse 24 he says, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and begins to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord open to us. Then he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence, you taught in our streets. And he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers. We will not be saved by associating with saved people. We will not train our children by having them run around with trained people. That's like thinking that we could train a horse by running him into a pen full of trained horses. It doesn't work that way. There have been many a person who have hung around the right people, but they themselves were not right. Like I think of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, one of the great prophets of old. And Gehazi was his servant. And he did a lot of good things but when it came down to it, he is not saved because Elisha is a saved man. He is not great because Elisha is a great man. His filthy, lustful, covetous heart became exposed when he thought he could kind of secretly get away and have some of these riches for himself. The prophet Amos says, woe, something like this, woe to those who are at ease in Zion and who lay in their couches, who stretch themselves upon their couches and they eat the lambs and the calves and they enjoy the music and drink bowls of wine but are not grieved at the afflictions of Joseph. The reward is for those who endure to maturity They are for those who are like that farmer who patiently endures and does what it takes until the latter rains have brought his crop into maturity. Those are the ones who will get the reward. I'll share a little story about Norman and I when we were growing up. We went fishing a lot together and there was this place along the wall hunting river there is the Mohawk Dam. If you go downstream that is a pretty good fishing spot. But if you go downstream a little ways there is an area kind of a backwaters. In the spring when the river is high there is a backwaters that goes back into this woods and it ends up kind of being like a swamp because there are a lot of trees. A lot of times of the year there is no water there but in the spring there is usually water there. And I once discovered those backwaters. They are kind of hidden. I think the time I discovered them I don't know if I even fished in them. I discovered them and thought that they would be a good fishing spot and later I found out that northern pike go in those backwaters to spawn. Northern pike are not real common in Ohio so they are kind of a prized fish. I would really have liked to catch northern pike. But one time when we were floating down that river and we came to the Mohawk Dam there and we were going to camp there and I told Norman hey I know where these backwaters are and I think we can catch pike back there. Him and I went back there and it was so horrible with mosquitos. It was so horrible with mosquitos I just got discouraged. I don't know if I made a cast or two but I was pretty discouraged about all that and I went back up to the main waters where there weren't so many trees and weren't so many mosquitos. Norman stuck it out and after an hour or so he comes up with a few nice pike on his stringer and I was like that's it. What good did it do me to know about those waters? What good did it do me to be there first and to lead him there? I didn't endure it out. I didn't endure the mosquito bites and it's just an example of like the fruit or the food or the fruit is not for him that knows. It's not for him that races there first but for he that patiently endures until he has it. Alright back to this second chapter of wisdoms here. Verse 15 and chapter 2. Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his words and those who love him will keep his ways. Those who fear the Lord will seek his approval and those who love him will be filled with the law and those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts and will humble their souls before him. We will fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men for as his majesty is so is his mercy. It says we will in verse 18 we will fall into the hands of the Lord. Years ago I was telling I think maybe it was when we were living in north Missouri and I was telling somebody at a maybe I was just with you Adly I can't remember it seems like you and Adly were there in March the lean and we were talking with a cashier about the gospel. I don't even remember just like speaking specifically to her life this lady's life but she was like you guys make it sound so scary and I remember telling her like it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But here's what it says for as his majesty so is his mercy I think it would be safe and scriptural and sound to say all men will fall into the hands of God and that is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But that is only why like it says here in verse 13 those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts right? And with that they will humble their souls before him. And then as it says in verse 18 as his majesty is great his majesty is so great that is why it is such a fearful thing but so is his mercy great. Brother Tommy in New York he was telling me how when I was there visiting and we were talking about some of his contacts there and I think he was saying how he had started making contact with Sister Molly there and one time this was before Molly was really converted but she asked him like how do you read Jesus teachings without being scared? And Tommy said we don't. These words are weighty. There is a severity about them. But it is not without I just really like how this says when we have that fear of the Lord then we prepare our hearts and we humble our souls and his mercy is every bit as great as his majesty. Mercy triumphs over judgment. I am going to close by reading a poem that I found. It just says a psalm of life. Tell me not to mournful numbers. Life is but an empty dream for the soul is dead that slumbers and things are not what they seem. Life is real. Life is earnest and the grave is not the goal. Thus thou art and thus returnest was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment and not sorrow is our destined end or way but to act that each tomorrow finds us further than today. Art is long and time is fleeting and our hearts though stout and brave still like muffled drums are beating funeral marches to the grave. In the world's broad field of battle in the bivouac of life be not like dumb driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife. Trust no future however pleasant. Let the dead past believe it's dead. Act. Act in the loving present. Heart within and God o'erhead. Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. Footprints that perhaps another sailing over life's solemn main a forlorn and shipwrecked brother seeing shall take heart again. Let us then be up and doing with a heart for any fate still achieving still pursuing learn to labor and to wait. Can I be with you? Praise God and thank you for the message. I was thinking about the part where you were talking about the atheists and how they're trying their best to convince people that there is no God. But it seems like when you interact with people like that they're trying very hard to convince you that there is no God. But do you ever wonder why? It seems like they're bothered by the very things that you're trying to preach. And if they weren't offended in some way they probably wouldn't have anything to say. I was talking to a couple of people last night and I don't know if they're just coming out of contention or if they're coming out of trying to understand but then in trying to understand they're not patient enough to actually hear you out or to listen to you. They say they've had plenty of arguments and plenty of contention with people over the subject but they themselves are not patient enough to hear the very response that they're coming to you to ask you about. So like there's a lack of patience and a lack of humility in that and it just kind of exposes the folly in that and then like if they were really humble. What's that verse that says God resists the proud? Does he say wisdom or gives wisdom? Grace. Okay, gives grace to the... Well anyways. I tried to explain that to them and they weren't willing to listen. One lady stormed off and she said like God gives allowance for killing thousands of people or something or like Jesus would give allowance for this or like children. I was like I don't think you know what you're talking about and she came back with the example of like Herod ordering all the children like a year or two under to be killed. I said do you even know what that example is about? Like she was just looking for any reason to just disregard it and she didn't even... Like I told the guy that was with her like you need to go in. If you've never read scripture and they were giving me like the flat Bible theory like this is how you're supposed to read it and I was just like well that's not really the case. Like if you can read Mark, Luke, Matthew and John and then... I was like do you think I was raised Christian? Like do you think that was something that I was raised with? He was like no I don't think so. I said so why do I believe in that? Why would I choose to? Because we were going over the topic of what is sin? What is sin? I was trying to give him examples of like what it could be and so I went to Galatians 5 and all the acts of immorality that Paul was speaking about and he says yeah but I don't agree with that. Like that's not my morality. I don't believe in those things. I said yeah but you asked me like what I'm defining sin as. It's like this is the faith that I carry out so this is what I believe that it is. And then I said well according to that yeah I am in sin. I was just like well you at least recognize that. Like this is the testimony against it. He says yeah but I don't agree with that. And I was like yeah but you already confessed. You think you're in sin according to this. So he wanted me to give some like some example that was outside of the bounds of the Bible and I was like that's not why I'm here. I'm not trying to express those things. So I just think the fact that anybody could hear Christ's message and either not be offended or not just be like rejoicing over the fact that it's being said or to even be fearful like there's some kind of response that takes place. Like whether they want to accept it or not. And so I just I found it to be a real blessing. I like the message and even though it wasn't a particular message but I just want to say amen and praise God. Yeah I just came in to express my thankfulness and opening as well. Brother Hadley shared it was encouraging. I didn't have much I wanted to add. I was just thinking about those men that were with Gideon or those that left him. I don't know where their courage those that remained I don't know what courage they had but I know I believe one thing they did have they were willing to lay down their lives for the king or for God the Lord. And this is the difference one of the differences at least of with Christianity. If we're not willing to lay down our lives we cannot be of his. And we'll forsake him. We'll leave. We won't do these things that are required of us. I guess that's a hard saying that we have to lay down our lives. But whatever that means we need to embrace it. I think it means when it says we're going to go against 100,000 if that's what you'd say 100,000 means. And so 66% of the people leave. Those that were left I think they were willing to lay down their lives. And so that's encouraging to me. May God bless us. Yeah thanks Brother Dwayne. Appreciate the message. I just had a couple of thoughts. Just thinking about courage. I guess I've been taught most of my life that to be courageous doesn't necessarily mean to be unafraid. But just to be willing to face whatever the challenges. I think about I just think about that. I don't know if courage is the absence of fear or if courage is just standing in the face of fear. And anyway I think about that sometimes. And then regarding like the patient endurance. It just brought to my mind something that I read yesterday from a slightly different angle or perspective. There was a man and I can't remember his name. He on his own endeavored to work on one of the first exhaustive English dictionaries. It wasn't Noah Webster. It was somebody who predated him. And I guess largely he undertook this thing without any help. And when he was all done there were some people who were pretty quick to point out some of his errors. And it was a it was a big work. I imagine it took him years to try to assemble definitions to English words. And people were pointing out his errors. And one guy was a prominent lord over in Great Britain I guess. And he he said to this guy something. It's a little bit of my paraphrase. But he said is is not a patron my lord. Somebody who looks on a man as he struggles for his life in the water with unconcern. And as soon as he reaches the shore rushes up to him to offer him aid. I just thought that was interesting. You know here was this man who had struggled largely without any help without the help of this lord who had criticism for him when he was all done. And and he was he was willing to put in the effort. He was willing to put in the work. The hardest part of having an automobile is maintaining it. The hardest part of having animals is is the daily maintenance. The hardest part of gardening is the daily maintenance. It's a lot of fun to plant. It's a lot of fun to try to harvest. But the in between is why my garden is just a pile of weeds and brown dirt. And anyhow I just think that but the patient endurance in whatever we put ourselves to and especially in the spiritual is something I think that we have to be willing to shoulder by ourselves. And even if there is criticism for us at the end at least we were willing to endure. Amen. Thank you brother Duane. There's many thoughts that are edifying and challenge us and challenge me. Roger Hurtz will say once he didn't like people to say challenged. He said he would rather they be convicted or it was another word he said he was he was kind of wary of people saying I'm being challenged but he was saying well put it into action rather than to be challenged. But I think that man that you were talking about brother Max could have been Johnson. Samuel Johnson. Now they have a course in college. It's Johnson. He did the dictionary. Samuel Johnson. Yeah I remember reading that too. Just a few scattered thoughts that on wisdom that brother Duane brought out that in the New Testament it said the Greeks asked for wisdom but we preached Christ crucified. The stumbling block to the most of the Jews and the Greeks. The stumbling block to when they searched for the ends of the world. And I wonder about technology today. I remember years ago someone said that increasing knowledge brings about pain. And when you have all these the smarty phones and all that and all the knowledge we can get at our fingertips does it really help us in our walk or does it bring more obstacles. You say obstacles. Well we're not focusing on the simplicity of the gospel. The wise man who builds his house upon the rock. And of course Solomon concluded his book with this is the conclusion. Fear God. Keep his commandments. I know the early Christians talk about in first Peter reading their commentary on first Peter they mention three things. To hold on to faithfulness, obedience and first Peter. Suffering. Persecution. That's the four types of soil. When the suffering comes hard times come. See you later. Nice sticking around for this. The suffering. Faithfulness, obedience and suffering. And of course second Timothy echoes the same point. In the last time there's itching people. They won't endure the sound doctrine with itching ears carrying lust for themselves. And that of course would be the prosperity gospel today and many other things. God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and go to 99 percent of the mega churches or just the churches. God is love. It's all the fluff. You're doing God a favor. Anyway that's when we realize that on our judgment we're going to be judged by Jesus' words of spirit and life and let's hold on to the pearl of great price which is the everlasting gospel. And I thank the Lord for all you brethren. The Lord be magnified. I appreciate that story of Gideon quite a bit. It's pretty interesting because it's pretty obvious that God was looking for courageous men. Men to stand up. But he made it very clear too that he wanted lesser numbers to proclaim his power. That they didn't just draw it to themselves and say they conquered through their own strength. There in Judges 7 verse 2. And the Lord said to Gideon the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midnight's into their hands lest Israel claim glory for itself against me saying my own hand has saved me. It's just obvious that it's through courage and through his strengths. I was thinking about what you said Max about how if courage is the absence of fear or how that works. But I just thought for every person what courage would look like is however much fear they have they've got more of something else. And I think that's what it is. Maybe they just have a little bit of fear. Maybe they have a lot. But either way they have more of something that causes them to push forward. Even so I heard this guy say one time, or it was the pastor of the Baptist church where Florence went to Bible college. He was just famous for being a very busy man, a very diligent man, a very hard working man. And one time he said, I'm the laziest man you'll ever meet. Which if you get the context for all of us to hear this was just astounding. He said I'm the laziest man you'll ever meet but I work my tail off because I don't want anybody to know it. And I thought of that point. Dwayne brought up about how courage is the absence of fear I wonder if any of those men that stayed to fight were just like, maybe just as scared as the rest. Maybe even more scared than the rest but they possessed an unwillingness to return home to their family and admit it. I don't know. And so that, because it doesn't matter how much of, I'm just saying this for how much fear one possesses but that they possess more of an unwillingness to go home or to quit. So much so that, I thought, that I heard a, I saw a video of a guy who went and he was, I guess he was evangelizing, I think he was talking to people about, I think about abortion. But he would lead these people through a series of questions and he asked, something to the effect of what if bad guys came and they said, you have to hurt these people and if you hurt these people then we'll let you go. If you don't hurt these people then we're going to kill you and we're going to get somebody else to hurt these people, they're going to get hurt either way. Would you do it so that you could be set free? And this is one of those just unrealistic hypothetical situations. And there was a woman being interviewed and just by appearance she appeared to be an ungodly woman. She was masculine and outspoken and some of her other answers were just very, just showed a lack of fear of God and yet she was one of the ones who said immediately, I'm not, no I wouldn't do it. And the guy was like, and the interviewer, he's trying to push them, and the interviewer says, but it's going to happen anyway, at least you can live. And she said, well if it happens, it happens, but it's not going to be by my hands. And this is like an example of one of these questions that I've asked myself and the principles could apply to other situations and here I was just like confounded by this woman, I'm assuming, who just displayed herself to not fear God in many ways, seemed to not fear God in many ways, and here she just answered this question that had persisted for years in my soul, like oh how do you weigh these things out? And it was just like, well, not by my hands. And I was like, that's the answer, okay, even, and there has to be something in us that says, I'm not going to quit. Well, but you get mosquito bit. Well, I'm not going to quit. Well, it gets worse. Well, I'm just not, I'm just not going to quit. And it'd be like, I feel like there's times that I cry out to God when my soul is fainting and I'm just like, it's so hard. I just, I feel like I can't. And it's nowhere near death, but it should be that even if, even if a heart would say to God, this, if I keep holding on, this is, this is going to kill me. I'm going to die. But God is looking for people who would be in that circumstance and say, even if I die, I'm not letting go. I'm not going to, I'm going to keep, I'm going to be with the men who stayed with Gideon. I'm going to, well, my, my hand is not going to be the hand that does some evil or I am not going to, to faint and give in and, oh, like Dwayne Redd said on my couch, you need the calves and lambs. Even if it looks like it's, it's, even if it looks like a losing battle, even if we do lose, and even if I do die, it will not be because I turned back or fainted. And it's nowhere near death, but it should be that even if a heart would say to God, even if I die, I'm not letting go. I'm not letting go. I'm not letting go. I'm not letting go. But God is looking for people who would be in that circumstance and saying, even if I He is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and Monarch divine. Hail the stars that forever bright in His kingdom shall shine. Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace. Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus, the Ruler of all. From tombs and their sad ruins all shall perish, crowns and their splendors shall fall. Here shall be our eternal leaders, faithful and true to the last. While in thy mansions eternal rest and their warfare is fast. Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race, Yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace. Righteous are the men of God, and have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve our King of Kings. Rise up, O men of God, His kingdom bear His throne. Bring in the day of brotherhood, and end the life of wrong. Rise up, O men of God, the church for you doth wait. Her strength unequaled you heard as rise up and make her great. Lift high the cross of Christ, and bear His feet and crown. As brothers of the Son of Man, rise up, O men of God. Oh, there are kings and empires now of old that went and came. The Lord thy church is praying, yet a thousand years the same. We are her godly palaments, and her foundations strong. We hear within her solemn voice a bare unending song. Oh, not like kingdoms of the world, thy holy church, O God. Though earth quake, shores are threatening her, and tempers are abhorred. Unshaken as eternal hills, timber of all she stands. A mountain that shall build the earth, her house not make her fence.