Pray with us, please. But Happy Father's Day to you fathers. And what a day, what a great day to be able to come together and worship our Heavenly Father. And it's, every Lord's Day is our Heavenly Father's Day, right? So, we do have a meal after worship. Thanks to everyone who has prepared and brought things, y'all are a blessing. And then virtual Bible study will continue on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 central time. I think we're still in chapter eight on Christ as mediator and joint camp. It's been a blessed time for those of you. Let's have A moment of silent prayer as we prepare for worship. The call to worship this morning is from the first chapter, the first epistle of John, verses 5 through 10. This is the message we have heard from Him in proclaiming to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship in the blood of Jesus, His Son, who lives in us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves that the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not false. Let's go to the Word. Father in Heaven, thank You for this beautiful day. Thank You that You have given us a day to worship You. and to rest in You. Lord, as the world celebrates Father's Day today, or at least the Western world, we come to You and honor You as our Heavenly Father. We thank You for Your love to us, Your mercy to us, all through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And Lord, sending Your Spirit that You would cause us to look to You, to repent of our sins, to trust in You, and to seek to obey You. Lord, we just read that we have fellowship with You and with one another when You work in our hearts. Lord, we come to You to worship You because of Your glory, because You are God. Again, because of what You've done in the work of creation, and redemption. And so, we will receive our worship through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Come and meet with us and help us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Please turn with me if you would to to hymn 115, All Creatures of Our God. And when you stand with me, if you're able, All Creatures of Our God. All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing, Alleluia, Alleluia! Thou burning sun with golden beam, Oh, praise Him! Oh, praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Oh, praise him. Thou flowing water, pure and clear, Make music for thy poor to hear. Alleluia! Alleluia! Thou art so merciful and bright, That fearless men both warmth and light, All will praise Him, all will praise Him, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's Praise God and on Him cast your care. O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! When all things their Creator bless, Oh, praise Him! Hallelujah! Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son! and praise the Spirit three in one. Oh, praise Him! Oh, praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. Amen. Brothers and sisters, what do we believe? We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, in the one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with the glory to judge both the living and the dead. whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son, together with His worship and glorify, who is told by the prophets. And we believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. It's probably worth saying in the last paragraph there, when we say we believe in the Holy Catholic Church, we're talking about the Universal Church. It's a little city, not a big city. Not the Roman Catholic Church. Let's go to the Lord in prayer together. Father in heaven, thank you that we can come to you and run to you and ask your little children to help us to do that. Lord, we can come to you and acknowledge our sin and Lord, we have sins of commission, sins of omission. Lord, we have committed sin, even this morning, for our sinful nature does rear its ugly head. And so, Lord, we ask You to forgive us. We ask that You would please help us to repent of things like sin and anger, or just an apathy to things of the Word. Lord, for not taking sin against You, our holy God, seriously, and for even spurning the cross, or the resurrection, any of these things were not holding up as our destiny or very worthy. for we are guilty of these things in one degree or another. So we ask that You would please have mercy on us and forgive us, and You promised to do so. We read this in 1 John moments ago, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Please do this. May this be the case in each of our hearts. And yet, Lord, if there is anyone here today who does not know You, I pray that You would work in hearts, that You would soften our hearts, open eyes that are blinded, and help those to run to You. For anyone who runs to You will not be disappointed. or not be ashamed. And so, Lord, thank You for forgiveness in Christ. Help us to walk in forgiveness, to walk as children of the light, to walk in the light, as we read earlier. Help us, for Jesus' sake, and it's in His name that we pray. Amen. The assurance of forgiveness this morning is from John 1. The last part of verse 29. Behold, the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. This is John, the baptizer, speaking of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Turn with me to 95. No troubles assail us, and dangers affright, No friends should all fail us, and foes all unite, Yet one thing secures us, whatever be tide, The promise assures us, the Lord will provide. The birds without garter or storehouse are fed. From them let us learn to trust God for our bread. His saints, what His giving, shall ne'er be denied. So long as His written, the Lord will provide. When Satan assails us to stop all our path, and courage all fails us, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us the wealth he has tried. His heart's earning promise the Lord will provide. O strength of our own and O goodness of the world! And since we have known not the Savior's great name, in this our strong tower for safety we hide. The Lord is our power, the Lord will provide. Amen. Father in heaven, thank you that you have called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. And as we read and pray, help us to walk in the light as your children. Lord, thank you that the glorious gospel is the good news for sinners like us. And so we ask that you would help us all worthy of this altar. Not that we can earn our salvation, Lord, but we love you because you first loved us and we want to give what is pleasing in your sight. Lord, we ask that you would help us to be salt and light, that you would help us to preserve truth and righteousness in the way that we live, and that we would shine the light of your truth and gospel on those that we encounter. Gordon, that's only possible when you shine the light of your grace on our hearts and in our lives. And so help us to live this moment, Gordon, as a testimony of your amazing grace. Lord, we pray for those who are not able to be with us today. We pray for the winters, that you would protect them, bless them. We do pray for your healing hand, your preserving hand on Dave, the conditions that he's experiencing. We pray for Joe's family, that you would be kind and merciful to them with a lot of turmoil going through. Lord, we pray for Many in our region this week, as it's supposed to be so very hot, please protect people. When I think of the farmers that are harvesting during this amazing busy season, please protect them, including my boys. Lord, thank you that we can trust these things to you. Lord, thank you so much for the Lord positioning their willingness to travel and be with us, their commitment to serving you, for the inspiration to those of us in this congregation. Please bless them mightily. Thank you for Pastor Gordon and his study this week. Please bless him mightily as he opened the door. Come and preach through him, Lord. And may we receive Your Word with joy. And may we penetrate our hearts that we may be changed into greater faith and becoming more and more like Jesus. Lord, bless these families, bless these dear children. Let each one of them call upon Your Name in truth in which You Raise up other families from there to continue to propagate your glorious gospel and to build your church as you promised to do. Lord, we pray for those who are persecuted. Our brothers and sisters all over the place who are persecuted, Lord. Lord, call them upon your name and give them testimony to having faith in you. Please sustain them and bless them. Lord, bless us, keep us. Would you help us to stand for truth and righteousness in the midst of this generation in which we find ourselves that is seeming to forsake all truth. Lord, have mercy and spark more love. Would you work in the hearts of people in this land to repent and trust in Christ. Help us to continue to give and trust in Christ. And it's in His name that we pray. Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to Daniel, chapter 3. This is... Not too long of a passage, but you have to be... It's tempting to read the whole chapter. I'm not going to do it. We, many of us, are familiar with Daniel's friends in captivity in Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they were part of the group that was commanded into worship. essentially to worship Nebuchadnezzar, at least his golden image, the king of Babylon. And they refused to do so. And I think I'm going to have to back up to listen to their response. I'm going to go to verse 16. and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. And He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. May the Lord give us that same resolve. Amen. Verse 19, Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression on his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bond Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, do not cast three men bound into the fire. They answered and said to the king, true, O king, He answered and said, But I see four men, unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their clothes were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies, rather than serve and worship any god except their own god. Therefore I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn from them and their houses laid in ruins. For there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Thus ends the reading of John's very word. We have an example of three men who were salt and life in their generation. Amen? And the Lord blessed them and blessed those around them because of their faithfulness. You should have an insert in your bulletin for a paraphrase of Psalm 101. We were going to sing this last week, but we didn't have these inserts. So we're going to sing it this week. So stay with me, okay? I'll step past love and justice for my song to you shall be. I'll strive to lead a blameless life when will you come to me? Within my home, the life I lead will show a blameless heart. My eyes will view no worthless pain. From then I will depart. I hate what faithless people do, it shall not cling to me. No wicked people I'll avoid, from people I'll stay free. I'll put to silence everyone who's had their seat with me. Proud men I will not tolerate who act so haughtily. I see the faithful in the land, and they shall dwell with me. May he who walks in blameless grace shall minister to me. One who practices this seed will dwell within my home. Nor will the one whose words are false be for me ever found. Amen. necessarily have the authority to cut off evildoers. What the Lord does, He and David had that authority in His realm at that time. And yet, we were reminded that the Lord conquers His enemies, much like He conquered those of us who are trusting in Him. Brother Matt Baldwin is going to come read the New Testament passage, of course. I wrote a new testament reading this from Matthew 5, 1-15. It reads, And seeing the multitudes, he went out on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came in. Then he opened his mouth and spoke them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their kingdom, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall see mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you. Also, for my namesake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great vision of the Lord your God. For so they persecute prophets in the kingdom of heaven. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing what to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. If you are the light of the world, a city that a settled hill cannot be, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but own a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine upon them that they may see their good works being glorified by your Father who hath made his work known. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Precious God, Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word and Your Spirit. O Lord, help me to preach, help me to hear and apply Your Word. I pray in Christ's name, for Your glory. Amen. Well, we continue on this in the Sermon on the Mount, the last time I was talking about being salt and how salt is to preserve flavor and to be a preservative, to keep from rotting. And so what about the flavor? Well, we should live as an adornment to the gospel. People should look at us and say, ah, they've got something I don't have. I want to be like that person. The joy, the peace. of the love that we have. People should be able to see that in us. I was riding my bike this past week, and I came upon a yard sale, and I saw a huge target. And so I stopped, and I didn't want to go through all the weeds. It was on a trail. I said, how much is that target? They said $5. I said, I'll pay you right now. I'll come back and get it later. And so I came back later, and I saw they had a lot of Christian books for sale. And so we got into a little bit of a conversation with two young ladies there. And they somehow brought up what's going on in society today. And they took a basically anti-Christian position on what they were talking about. And she was talking about how bad the Christians are. And now the Bible says, do not judge. And I said, well, you know the Bible. Jesus said, do judge, the righteous judgment. I explained the difference where he said, do not judge, and where he said, judge. One of them is, you know, it's not our place to condemn people to hell. But it is our place to say, here's what the Bible says, and to say it with kindness and gentleness. And so when I explained that to her, she didn't want to hear any more. And so that's part of the problem in our culture today, which is why we need salt and light. And this is why God has called us to be salt and light. And the scripture says in Luke 6, 45, the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil, for his mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. And so everything we're saying all day long, and I don't know how many words you speak, But Dave Ramsey says that women speak more than men and have gusts up to 30 or 40,000 words a day. And us men are hovering around 10,000. But whatever the case may be, we speak out of the abundance of our heart. And even if we're saying the same thing, an unsaved person is saying, we have something in our hearts. We have the love of God. We have the gospel. But we are to be salt and light. Now, the scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, when it talks about Israel in the Old Testament days, that the things that happened to them in verse 6, now these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in one day. Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. So anyway, God is dead serious about life, about holiness, about us being salt and light. And so, in Jeremiah, And we have an example. And we have an invasion of Oracle in chapter 6, verses 1 through 5. After saying that Jerusalem was going to be a refuge, suddenly Jerusalem, sometime later, was a trap. It reminded me of what's going on over there today. Jerusalem and Israel has enemies just about on every side, every front. But I want us to examine this a little bit carefully in the light of soft light and that these are an example for us. And so the invasion oracle in chapter 6 verses 1 through 5 sees that because of Israel's sin, verse six. For thus says the Lord of hosts, cut down her trees and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished in whose midst there is only oppression. And the rest of the section there gives reason after reason. First of all, they were so superficial. They had a form of godliness But they did not have the power of God in their lives. They were just kind of going through the motions. And so that was the first reason. And it's there in verse 7. As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me, says the Lord. Well, fresh water. It's not still, it's not stagnant. It's being refreshed all the time. That's the way their sin was. That's the way the sin is today over there. They're still having pride parades, the biggest in the world, in Tel Aviv. And that's what's going on in the United States too. The wickedness is being refreshed all the time. New wickedness being renewed. And so we ourselves, are trying to be solved and the Lord is using us as salt to preserve this church in the United States and in the world and to preserve the truth because we're going to see what they were doing with the truth too. Now, Proverbs 4.16 says this, For they cannot sleep unless they do evil, and i don't want to sleep a little bit someone's double they're they're having trouble sleeping and i don't know that it might have been maybe i could get someone to stumble maybe i could get so and so to join in this sin and immorality and they have trouble sleeping unless they've gotten their quota of that That's a little picture of how wickedness works, what we're up against being salt and light. Jeremiah 6, 8 says this. Again, the oracle of invasion. Be warned, O Jerusalem, or I shall be alienated from you and make you a desolation, a land not inhabited. Now notice the Lord says, you know, what he doesn't want is to be alienated from them. You know, the New English Bible translates this to paraphrase, lest my love for you be torn from my heart. Lest the love be torn from the heart, the Lord says. Well, part of their problem is the closed mind. in verse 10, moving on down. To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. Their ears were closed. They had no delight in the word of God. You know, when you're a Christian, uh... but the lord said you know to whom shall i speak and give warning that they might hear it their ears are closed there's nobody nobody and so judgment is coming Now, Moffat, who wrote this translation of the Bible, gave a speech at Yale, I believe it was. And I found it online. And he was talking about how people are always trying to improve Christianity. They don't like it, and so they're going to come up with a new version of it. It happened in Scotland. I was in Scotland a few years ago, and I was preaching, and a policeman came up to me, and he said, if you offend one person, you're going to jail. Just offend them. I found that rather offensive myself. But I guess I didn't count. But what they did in Scotland, which used to be a Christian nation, is they said, you know, we're going to dumb down Christianity. We're going to get rid of everything that anybody is offended by. and we're just going to narrow it down to just a few things. Well, that was the beginning of the end for Scotland. Scotland is not a Christian country now. You don't dumb down the gospel. Matter of fact, when it comes to what we are to do, you know, a lot of it is warning the old and new continually clash. They clash, the old and the new. And the same thing is going on today with the emergent church, so-called, liberalism. It's always going on. It's always a battle. But the Scripture tells us to preserve the Gospel, to let our light shine, to let the Lord work through us. Here's what the Scripture says in Isaiah 60, verse 1, and I love this. Arise, shine, for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. You know, we have the glory of the Lord upon us, believers. And shine, it says. And so, so many people come along, you know, and they just want to change. I even saw a book recently, The Hidden Message of Jesus. Like, it's been hidden all this time, and now this person is going to bring it out. No, no. It's an eternal gospel, the scripture says. Thus says the Lord. I love this. Jeremiah 6.16. Thus says the Lord. Stand by the waves and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. They say, we will not walk in it. That's verse 16. We're not going to walk in that. That's still, that's fencing. This is a new day. But what is the, what are the ancient paths? You know, the gospel comes from before the foundation of the world. God, in His decree, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit decreed salvation. So before the foundation of the Lord. And then, you know, you see the first messianic promise in Genesis 3. And in Genesis 12, 13, 14, 15, and through there, the Abrahamic covenant where Abraham was justified by faith. We see the gospel. The Abrahamic covenant fulfilled in Jesus Christ and ongoing. And in Revelation, it talks about an eternal gospel. The gospel doesn't change. The gospel is the same as it's always been. Now, to the unbelievers that Jeremiah is talking about there, the ancient ways means obsolete. You know, David said, lead me in the way everlasting. lead me in the way everlasting, the ancient ways. That's where the light is. That's where the truth is. Now, what Jesus says is this, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Now, we know about yokes, right? So the farm animals, they put this harness on them, a yoke, and attach a plow, and there would be a plow. And so when the Lord tells us, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, there's two things there, take it up and learn. Now to take it up, we are to join Him in His work. We are to be doing the work of the Lord. And we're to be learning at the same time. For I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. So if this doesn't lead us to rest, we're misapplying, we're misunderstanding something about the yoke and about learning from him. So we need to keep working until we come to his rest and rest in his salvation. So we need to be partners with the Lord, pupils of the Lord. And these people in Jeremiah, these examples to us, did not want to do that. They said, we will not walk in it, speaking of the ancient paths, the forever gospels. And in verse 17, I sent watchmen over you saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet. They said, we're not going to listen. I mean, there's so many people who do not want to hear the word of God. I mean, unless the Spirit of God is working in them, they don't want to hear it, and are normally hostile to it. Now, Moffat went on to point out that he wondered if there were any modern counterparts to these people, and the truth is, progressives, the emergent church, the liberals, are all where Israel was back then. Now, in Mark 4, 21 to 25, he said unto them, Is the lamp dropped to be put under the bushel, or under the bed, and not be put on the stand? For there is nothing hid, saying that it should be manifest. Now, keep that phrase in mind. There's nothing hid. He said, what should be manifest. Now, in other words, the light of God's truth is to be spread just like the light is in here right now. It's everywhere. And the light is like that. You don't put it under the bed. You don't put it under a bushel. Now, you might put it under a shade if there's a lot of wind or something. Now, this was in the olden days where the flame could be blown out. or maybe if it's too bright, you might put a shade on it because of your eyes. But the light is to be spread abroad. The truth, all the truth is to be spread abroad. Everything in the Bible is to be spread like light. Now what Warfield said, and I'm going to use his word, there's nothing esoteric about christianity. a little specialty language, you know, like, when I go to the eye doctor, he might as well be speaking some more language that a girl is speaking today, because I can't understand a word of it. I mean, I can't even begin to repeat. It's all esoteric. It's all a private language among eye doctors and their employees. I mean, I mean, you can look it up. They're not purposely trying to keep it from us. But see, there's nothing to be hidden about the truth of Christianity. We're not to dumb it down. We're not to hide some of it. Well, when Jesus spoke in parables, part of it was to conceal the truth. So the parables were a test of the hearers. So how did a person respond to a parable? Some people are just like, what? And other people, like the disciples, they're like, what does this mean? And they go and ask Jesus, can you explain this to us? So there is a place for the parable, and I'm going to explain that here in just a minute. well he had the exact opposite view of the kingdom of God that the Pharisees and the Sadducees had and it was so shocking it probably, according to Warfield, would have meant the end of Jesus' ministry if he hadn't done it like that there would have been such a violent reaction immediately immediately And so we're going to talk in a minute about how this applies to us also. Now, Jesus taught in parables. And not everything's in parables. The people who were hostile towards God, they would have just simply been killed. And instead of being outraged and driven to violence, they're just kind of puzzled. And Warfield says they were thrown back into a dull inertia. In other words, they were just kind of, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what's going on. And so, Thomas and Pericles. Now, what he taught, though, was lodged in the mind of his disciples. Now, they might not have fully understood it, but like I said, they would come, they would ask questions, and then they would understand it with the explanation of the Lord, and the help of the Holy Spirit, and the scriptures, and everything else. So, Jesus was being wise and prudent. Now, what's the bottom line here for us? We need to be careful how we talk to the unbelievers. You know, some people are just in your face. And this is what was happening at the arts club the other day. They were talking about, oh, these Christians, you know, they're just in your face. Well, they have hostility towards Christianity anyway, even though they were selling some Christian books. And they obviously, or the people that you were talking about in first job, they went out for us, but they were not really of us, you know? She wasn't interested in the truth when I began to explain it to her. And so, what do we do? Well, you may remember when David had sinned greatly, and he was not really responsible. Even though he was a man after God's own heart, he had sinned terribly. He had committed adultery and murder. And Nathan the prophet goes to He doesn't point a finger in his face and say, here's what you've done. No, he knows that would not be acceptable. He knows David's heart is not ready for that. But what could he do? He could pray for David. He could introduce a little story to David about a poor man with a little lamb, and how a richer man took that one lamb away from that poor man. And David is outraged at that man, and then they can say some other man. Now, the danger is, is that somebody might think that this teaching is promoting cowardice, or suppression of the truth. No, that's not what this is all about. Jesus did not suppress the truth. He shared the truth, even though it was imperilable sometimes. But I'm just saying that we need to be wise in how we talk to people. Notice Proverbs 15, 2. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly. Now this is a proverb. That doesn't mean that when we're wise with our tongue that every unbeliever can believe. We know better than that by putting this scripture in context. And we know that there's going to be hostile reactions on the part of some people. But generally speaking, The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly. Proverbs 15, 28. The heart of the righteous ponders not an answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things. A wise person ponders. How should I address this person? A wise person is going to pray and ask for guidance from the Lord, ask for wisdom from above how to address somebody. And again, Isaiah 60 verse 1, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Arise, shine, shine. Shine, but ask for wisdom on how to shine. How to present this truth to that person. If at all. Now, I ran across this in my study this week. I want you to turn to James chapter 4, verse 5. Because in being salt and light, there's wonderful truth here in James chapter 4. And here's how it starts out, talking about the quarrels that people had. Listen. What is the source of quarrels and conflicts like these? It's the source, not your pleasures, that wage war in your body's hearts. You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You do not ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says, to no purpose, he jealously desires the Spirit whom he has made to dwell in us? Oh, this is amazing. This is amazing. You know, I've read over that many times, and I have kind of felt guilty because, you know, God has given good things to us, and we have enjoyed them. So to put it all in context, you know, God, we're joint heirs of the grace of God. God has given us all good things to enjoy. But that doesn't mean that we become materialistic and worship those things and put those things above God. And that's what this is talking about. And here's the wonderful part, too. Which always bothered me, you know, that James has called people adulterers. That used to bother me a bit. But you know, you know what's so amazing about this? It's this speech of the love of God for us. You think about this for a minute. Someone who's trying to be the friend of the world is the opposition of God. You know, the Bible says we are the bride of Christ being the church. We, individual Christians, are in a figurative sense married to Christ. In a figurative sense. That needs to be said in this day and age. Figurative sense. Well, how does God feel about His bride? How does God feel about His bride? Jealous. Now, what do we mean here by jealousy? I remember one friend of mine, he told me that he kept going to these social events, and there was a guy that would come up and talk to his wife, and as soon as he would join them, the guy would be off and gone. And it continually happened like this. And he said to his wife, this guy's hitting on you. And she, oh, no, no, no, she said it. And he said, yeah, I can tell. I can see that. So he's jealous for her in a good way. it's not like that guy wouldn't let his wife hang clothes in the backyard to dry. Not that kind of crazy jealousy, but what kind of man is just going to let some guy hit on his wife? You know what I'm saying? That's not very loving. There needs to be, there's an element of jealousy that is good that God has for his people. God feels this love for us. Jealousy. He doesn't want us to love the world. Just like you don't want your spouse loving somebody else in a romantic way. It's wrong. You know, we're like the dove. We're meant for one. What's the scripture say? A man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh. Male and female. He created them. Two genders. Only two genders. And marriage is what God is for a man and a woman. Okay? And God is jealous over His people. And I think this is so wonderful because He loves us so much. Does anybody think He should just let us go? What kind of love is that? Let's not love. Let's not care. He's jealous. Now, I like the way the NEB suggested this translation. Our thinking that the scripture says in vain, that spirit which he made to dwell in us yearned for us unto jealous envy. you are and she was in the well-nouns it's from the latin means that's where we get our video and to look and see god is against us getting sidetracked, us loving the world. God is against competition because He loves us. And He loves us so much. The deep yearning which the Holy Spirit, which God has caused to dwell in us, feels for our undivided and unwavering devotion. So, you know, we may be like, well, it doesn't matter if I spend the quiet time today. It doesn't matter if I read my Bible today. It doesn't matter if I pray today. Yes, it matters. I remember a song, I think it was in the 70s, maybe early 80s, by Larnell Harris. I miss my time with you. And it was as if the Lord was saying, I miss my time with you. You know, do we feel alienated and isolated from God? or do we realize He wants us praying, praising, appreciating, just like in America, right? He wants that. He cares about that. It's wonderful how much He loves us. The deep yearning. What's a yearning? You know, I was thinking, for days about how the deer pants for the water broke in there this morning 15 feet from the window was a deer just laying there in the grass just looking at the window and we were like we don't want him to see us but we did want to look we took pictures you know 15 feet but yeah he wasn't panting but you know you take a dog most of us have seen a dog pant and I'll tell you what you take a panting dog you know they're sweating out the mouth and you sit some water down there and they're right on it because they're yearning for that water. Well, God is yearning in the relationship with us for us, for our undivided devotion, for our love back to Him. He cares. And so, He doesn't want us to love the world. And if we're loving the world, we're not really soft-lined. There's not room for two lovers. That's why he used the terrible word, adulteresses. I mean, that's pretty strong language. For James to speak to believers and say, you adulteresses. That's what it is. If we're trying to love the world, that's what it is. We need to repent. That's the one out. Ephesians 5, 28. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. Now remember the figure of marriage. You think God's going to tell a man to love his wife like that and God not do it himself? God loves His people with a yearning love, a burning love. It's amazing. I'll never look at this James Shepherd port again in the same way. Well, what about these who, in Jeremiah chapter 6, Be warned, O Jerusalem, or I shall be alienated from you, torn from my heart, Jeremiah 6.10, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them, and they have no delight in it. So how can we be sought light? We can delight in the word of God. You know, we can pick it up when we don't feel like it. If we refuse to pick it up because we don't feel like it, our feelings are number one. No, pick it up. By faith, pick it up and read it, right? Pick it up and read. Ask God, like David did. Show me wonderful things from your word, David said. We should pray that. So God says, to whom shall I speak and give warning? That they may hear. Behold, their ears are closed. They cannot listen. What if we got so far down the road, away from God, we couldn't even listen? You know, the Scripture warns about drifting. Drifting. So if we're going to be sought in light, we need to be careful that we don't love this world. We're only here for a short time anyway. And I'm going to close with this verse that I've quoted several times, Isaiah 60, verse 1. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. And then remember the verse in Revelation. that says we have an everlasting gospel. So we need to be careful how we speak to people. We don't want to be offensive ourselves. The gospel is offensive enough. But may we be kind and gentle and loving with the unbeliever. And may we speak to them appropriately and God will give wisdom whether it be like David receiving from Nathan the prophet Or whether it be like Jesus speaking in this parables. He will lead us. The gospel does not change. The word of God does not change. And none of it is esoteric. None of it is just for the few. This word is to be spread out like a flood. This word and us. we're facilitating that by the grace of God. I am what I am by the grace of God, Paul said. And this is what the grace of God does in us. A, through this beatitude, that's where it starts. And you know, some people think, oh, the lie of the world, that's just written to preachers. No. It's you are the lie. It doesn't say preachers. Now, preachers might be the leaders and elders, the leaders, and Dakin's the leaders and Sunday school teachers the leaders, but every person has the privilege of being salt and light. So let's go out of here after we eat. Being salt and light of unwavering and undivided devotion to the Lord. Let us pray. Gracious God, Heavenly Father, Lord, help us to be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves, and to be led by You when we talk to people about these truths, and to stand firm, not to be cowards, not to be like Jerusalem that was about to be invaded because of their sin, Lord. And we pray today for the peace of Jerusalem, that they would have peace with You through our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. So to remind us and to give us grace, our Lord Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me in this prayer. Heavenly Father, we ask You to set apart these ordinary elements for Your sacred use right now. to be a sign and a seal and a means of grace for us to remember the New Covenant and to remember our precious Savior who loved us and gave Himself for us and loves us still with a yearning love. We pray in His name. Amen. And so, he broke the bread and he said, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And we'll partake of this together. I said this is my body work for you to do this and remember to make us particular together. And in the same way, He took the cup after suffering. He said, this cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. The cup of His blood for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's wait to partake of this together too. Covenant in covenant. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace to us, your mercy, your love, your power to us. Let the very hairs on our heads remember that you know what we're going to say before we say it. You're closer than our breath. We pray to you and thank you. We return now to you some of what you've given to us. We pray that you would take it and further your kingdom with it. For Christ's sake, we pray. Amen. be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Now please receive the benediction. Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now, and forever. Amen.