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A Study in Psalms - Psalm 53 · CCC West Covina

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It was just a couple weeks ago, it seems like that Lance was
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preaching in Ecclesiastes, right?
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And if you remember, he had a message in Ecclesiastes 11.
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I'm sorry, Ecclesiastes 10 called the description of the
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fool. And when I saw that, I'm like,
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oh man, he's going to steal my Thunder because I was going to
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preach Psalm 53 all about fools. But I decided to go ahead and do
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it because I'm excited about this tonight.
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But let me ask you tonight a question.
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Have you heard about this group of people called the Flat Earth
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Society? Anybody heard of those people?
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They got a lot of recognition a few years ago because Kyrie
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Irving, who's a basketball player for the Dallas, is it
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Mavericks joined them and came out saying he believed the earth
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was flat. So I did AI was reading an
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article about them and this is this is on their web page.
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It says the Flat Earth society man's the guns against
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oppression of thought and the globalist lies of a new age
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standing with reason. We offer a home for those
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wayward thinkers that March bravely on with reason and truth
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in recognizing the true shape of the Earth flat.
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Come join us in our forums and get started learning about the
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greatest lie ever told. You know, I read that and I was
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preparing this message about fools and because the earth was
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all settled, that it was round by Greek philosophers.
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Aristotle, you know, in the 384 BC, knew it was round.
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And there's a guy named E Ruth Pasethus, if I could say his
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name, in the 3rd century, he actually calculated the
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circumference of the Earth round.
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Islamic scholars knew that in the early nineteen, 10th
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centuries, knew the Earth was round.
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And of course, European navigators sailed the Earth,
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knew it was round in the 16th century.
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If you've ever been to Russia with us and you fly the plane
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way up, you can actually see the curvature sometimes at night in
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the airplane. OK.
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And then there are millions of pictures of Earth.
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Ellen Musk must send a rocket ship every week up north, up the
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skies. And they always shoot back
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pictures of Earth. And guess what?
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It's round, right? So you look at the sky and you
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see the moon. The planets are all round.
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But what's really strange is there's even some Christians
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that have joined this society. But what does the Bible say?
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It had it right 3500 years ago. Isaiah 4022 says it is he who
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sits above the circle of the earth.
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Proverbs 827 says when he established the heavens, I was
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there when he drew a circle on the face of the deep.
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God had it right thousands of years ago.
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So I think these Flat Earth society are a bunch of fools
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now. I would call them stupid, but my
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wife says I'm not allowed to use the word stupid anymore.
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Apparently it's not politically correct.
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But I always tell her, well, Proverbs 12/1 says whoever loves
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discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is
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stupid. But then the new legacy standard
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Bible just changed it. They changed it to whoever loves
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discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is
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senseless. So maybe that's a better word.
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I want you stupid so at least I can call them fools and
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senseless. We've had incredible advances in
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education, science, medicine, and especially technology.
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We can send spaceships to Mars, cure diseases, all the
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incredible advancements of society.
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Yet we have more fools than ever.
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The Bible has a lot to say about fools, especially in the wisdom
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books or the poetry books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
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and not so much Song of Solomon. But it mentions fools 95 times
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in those five books out of the 117 times in the entire Bible.
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And if I had time tonight, we're going to have a baptism tonight.
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So I'll go a little quicker. But next time write down
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Proverbs 26. Proverbs 26 is the Fool and
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Sluggard chapter of Proverbs. And if you read the first 12
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verses of Proverbs 26, you will notice that 11 of the 12 verses
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talk about fools. So I won't read it tonight, but
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I'll let you do it, OK. And so tonight we're going to
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read not just Psalm 53, but we're going to read Psalm 14.
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And I think you'll see why. So turn to me to Psalm 14.
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Our Psalm tonight is only 6 verses, but we're going to read
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Psalm 14, which is 7 verses. And we'll talk about why did the
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Holy Spirit put these two almost alike Psalms in our Bible.
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So First off, Psalm 14 says to the choir, master of David, the
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fool says in his heart, there is no God.
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They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds.
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There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven
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on the children of man to see if there are any who understand,
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who seek after God. They have all turned aside
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together, they have become corrupt.
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There is none who does good, not even one.
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Have they no knowledge. All the evil doers who eat up my
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people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord, there
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they are in great terror. For God is with the generation
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of the righteous. You would put to shame the plans
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of the poor, but the Lord is His refuge.
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Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion when the
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Lord restores the fortunes of His people.
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Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
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Psalms 14 Now turn to Psalms 53. And I know it's hard just
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reading it to see the differences.
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Psalms 53 says to the choirmaster.
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According to a Mahalath, a masculine of David, the fool
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says in his heart, there is no God.
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They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity.
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There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on
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the children of man to see if there are any who understand,
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who seek after God. They have all fallen away
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together. They have become corrupt.
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There is none who does good, not even 1.
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Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people
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as they eat bread, and do not call upon God.
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There they are in great terror, where there is no terror.
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For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you.
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You put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
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Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion.
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When God restores the fortunes of His people, let Jacob
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rejoice, let Israel be glad. Father in Heaven, we thank you
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that we can read these two short Psalms tonight.
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May your Holy Spirit speak to us tonight.
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That everyone here would not be a fool, would not be foolish,
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but they'd have wisdom and that they would follow Jesus Christ
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and be born again in Jesus name, Amen.
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So did anybody notice any differences between Psalm 14 and
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Psalm 53? Anybody have a legacy standard
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Bible? It probably pops out there more.
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I'm not reading out of that tonight.
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Well, First off, Psalms 14 has seven verses, right?
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And Psalm 53 has 6 verses. And that's because verse 5 of
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Psalm 53 replaces verses 5 and 6 of Psalms 14.
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OK, we'll look at that later. OK, so verse 5 of Psalms 53
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replaces verse 5 and 6 of Psalm 14.
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Now you may not notice that Psalms 14 has seven verses and
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the name of God is mentioned 7 times and the name Lord Capital
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Yahweh or Jehovah is used four of those seven times in Psalms
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14. Yet when we read Psalms 53 it
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also mentions God seven times, but it does not use the name
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Yahweh. It uses the Hebrew name Elohim.
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So in the legacy standard Bible you would notice it because as
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Yahweh in your English Bible you would have to see the Lord in
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Psalms 14 and just God in Psalm 53 for Elohim.
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And that makes sense because remember, Psalms is five books.
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And in book 1, which is Psalms 1 to 41, the common name or
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predominant name for God is Yahweh.
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And in book 2, Psalms 42 to 72, Elohim is the prominent name for
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God. You can see that as you study it
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closer and closer. And then what's the difference?
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Well, most commentators believe that Psalms 14 seems to address
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Israelite fools who ignore God, while Psalms 53 addresses
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Israel's enemies, foreigners who think they can attack and
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destroy God's people. And another reason is why
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they're two Psalms. Well, what's the Holy Spirit
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telling us through David? Some commentators believe David
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wrote Psalms 14 as a boy and Psalms 53 late in his life as an
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older man. Spurgeon said David, after a
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long life, found men no better than they were in his youth.
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If our age has advanced from 14 to 53, we shall find the
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doctrine of this Psalm more evident than in our youth.
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And next, some have tried to make the claim that Psalm 53,
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even though it says it's ascribed to David, was rewritten
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by the worship leaders in the temple, the sons of Korra, to
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celebrate a great military delivery delivery.
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And I'll talk more about that when we get to verse 5, because
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verse 5 says, for God scatters the bones of him who encamps
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against you. So I, I, I'm going to lean
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towards that. OK, what type of Psalm is this?
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Well, some would say it's a lament, others would say it's a
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wisdom Psalm, but it's really a unique Psalm that just draws
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different genres. It's kind of wisdom, it's kind
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of lament, but it does teach us that God will eventually destroy
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all the enemies of Israel. And you have to go to Revelation
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chapter 19, verses 11 to 21 to see where God does destroy all
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the enemies of Israel. We have a superscription in
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Psalm 53. It says to the choirmaster
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according to a a MA hololith and that ma hololith is apparently a
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type of a musical instrument or a tune on musical instrument and
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mass skill, as we said last week, is a instruction or why
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sing? We have three points on your
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outline. If you have an outline tonight,
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I hope you do the depravity of fools.
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And we have a bunch of characteristics of fools and
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then we have .2 the destruction of fools, which is just one
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verse. And then we have in the last
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verse the faithful are delivered.
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Real simple outline. Let's look at point #1 the
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depravity of fools verses one to four.
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And these are just simply characteristics of the fools and
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a sub point. A fools deny God.
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The Psalm begins with the observation.
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The fool says in his heart there is no God.
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It just says the fool. Now, you know the Hebrew word
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for fool is novel, and we'll talk about that.
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Or Nabel, we'll talk about that. Because you remember he was
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married to Abigail. And in First Samuel 25, David
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went to get some food from him and he refused.
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Spurgeon said. The fool has said in his heart
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there is no God, and this he does because he's a fool.
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Being a fool, he speaks according to his nature.
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Being a great fool, he meddles with a great subject and comes
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to a wild conclusion. The atheist is morally as well
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mentally a fool, a fool in the heart as well as a fool in the
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head, a fool in morals as well in philosophy.
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With the denial of God as a starting point, we may well
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conclude that a fool's progress is a rapid, riotous, raving,
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ruinous. 1 He who begins and and impiety is ready for anything.
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No God being interpreted means no law, no order, no restraint
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to lust, no limit to passions. Now it's not just a reference to
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a particular person, but to every person in the human race
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who denies God, including Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus.
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They also are, in a way, atheists.
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The chief characteristic of of a fool is one who decides to live
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a godless life as if there is no God.
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Today we call these people practical atheists.
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When we hear the word fool, we think of a stupid person right?
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Or a senseless person. But this person makes a
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conscious choice to engage in destructive behavior.
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He lives to as a practical atheist who denies
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accountability to God and the judgement of God in the future.
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Fools who deny God, persistent living as if there's no God in
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his or her daily life. You're all familiar with that
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great chapter in Romans one which talks about these people
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in Romans one. We read it quite often in this
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church, verses 18. I'll read verses 18 to 23 in
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Romans one. It says, For the wrath of God is
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revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and
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unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress
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the truth. For what can be known about God
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is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
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For His invisible attributes, namely His internal power and
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divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the
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creation of the world in the things that have been made.
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So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they
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did not honor Him as God, nor give thanks to Him.
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But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish
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hearts were darkened. And then verse 22 says claiming
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to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of
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immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds,
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animals and creeping things. You have famous atheists like
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Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, the Science guy, Bill
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Nye, and very clear that God sees atheism as absolute
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foolishness. If you deny the existence of
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God, God says you are a fool. B Fools do iniquity.
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Continuing verse one says they are corrupt, doing abominable
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iniquity. There is none who do good here.
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We have one of the strongest statements in the entire Bible
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in the passages about the corruption of the human race.
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The first declaration is they are corrupt and the Hebrew words
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here mean rune or devastate. This is the word that was used
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to describe complete corruption of man prior to the flood in
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Genesis chapter 6 and Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19.
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The corruption is so bad that it deserves judgment like God did
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the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah.
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The second declaration in verse one is of the fool is that they
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doing abominable iniquity. We don't use that word today but
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it means abhorrent, it means appalling, it means awful, it
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means disgusting. The third declaration is of a
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fool is there is none who does good and if you notice that the
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verse of N1 it says there is no one who does good.
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The end of verse 3 again it says there is none who does good.
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This is called an inclusio. You see this a lot in the
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Psalms, which so that you have an inclusio which frames the
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description of the wicked. Yes, there are some believers
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who do good in their life, right?
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We all know them, but not in God's sight.
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I think a Mother Teresa where I live in India, we lived in West
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Bengal for many years. OK, but they're, they are, they
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may do good deeds, but they're not doing it for the glory of
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God. Their good is not pleasing to
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God. This statement is at the heart
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of what we call the total depravity of man.
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Proverbs 10/23 says doing wrong is like a joke to a fool.
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Proverbs 1319 says but to turn away from evil is an abomination
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to fools. So let's look at see fools don't
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seek God. Verse 2 says God looks down from
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heaven on the children of man. Our text says that God looks
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down from heaven and God really doesn't need to look down from
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heaven. We all know that he's omniscient
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and and knows everything. So we have a just a figurative
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statement here. This is there's a divine search
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God is is having among the unbelieving world to see who
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might be seeking God or attempting to please him.
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But it's a vain search, a search that will lead to judgement as
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in the other times in Scripture when God looked down.
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And if you've been with us, Lance has covered this and many
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times God looked down and Noah's flood, Genesis 6, God looked
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down at the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11 and God looked down
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at Sodom and Mora in Genesis 18. And those three times there was
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judgement in all three cases. It says that God looks to see if
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there any who understand who seek after God.
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You know when God speaks, we should listen, right?
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When God speaks twice, we should really pay attention.
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So when Paul, God speaks three times, we really need to pay
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attention. So you probably know that
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Apostle Paul uses the part of verse 2 and verse 3 to reiterate
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it in Romans 310 to 19. So the Holy Spirit records those
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verses three times in Psalms 14 verses 2 to 3, Psalms 53, verses
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2 to 3, and Romans 311 to 12. No one understands.
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No one seeks God. All have turned aside together.
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They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.
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So the Holy Spirit is saying three times, no one understands,
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no one seeks God, no one is holy and no one does good.
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The fool who is the unbeliever does not seek God.
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The human race apart from God is universally corrupt and
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depraved. Unbelievers don't like to hear
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about their sin, but the Bible is clear on the subject.
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Proverbs 18 two says a fool takes no pleasure in
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understanding, but only in expressing his opinions.
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Fools don't seek God. They don't want to read the
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Bible. They don't want to listen to
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your gospel presentation. Let's look at Dee.
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Fools are defiled. Verse 3 says they've all fallen
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away. They have be, they have they
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have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not
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even one. If you go to the the book of
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Proverbs, which I mentioned 65 times, it has verses on fools.
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The very first one is Proverbs 17 and it says the fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
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Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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And if you were to take the next Proverbs one, if you go to the
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next paragraph, verses 10 to 18, you will see that those fools
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will go down into a path of violence.
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OK, Jeremiah 422 says for my people are ignorant fools.
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They know me not. They are simple minded children
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who have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to
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do good they do not know how. And then E fools persecute the
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godly. It says have those who work evil
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no knowledge. This verse is at this verse God
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is asking a question, a rhetorical question.
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OK, God is saying, have they no knowledge?
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He's saying don't they know what they're doing?
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The fool is spiritually ignorant of the evil they do and of
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course its consequences. You know, we preach or share the
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good news of the gospel, but we always begin with the bad news,
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right? I always begin with Romans 323
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and tell a person that all have sinned.
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Every man, woman ever born in the world, exception of Jesus
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Christ has sinned. And then I tell him Romans 623
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that the the penalty, the consequences for that sin is the
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wages of sin is death. God is a righteous and just
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judge, and He must punish sin, and He will.
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And then I take him to Hebrews 927 that says, when we die you
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will face judgment. The unbeliever may know what sin
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is, but they deny its consequences or block them out
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of their mind. Only when the Holy Spirit opens
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their heart to understand can they have knowledge.
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Then has the line Who eat up my people as they eat bread, when
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it says they eat up my people as they eat bread.
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It's an analogy meaning fools devour God's people as it's as
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natural for us to eat bread in the morning when you have your
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toast. These fools persecute the godly.
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Roman Psalm 14 was about Israeli fools who ignored God.
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If Psalms 53 is about 400 armies that ignored God, they would
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persecute Israel. They thought they could come and
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conquer. They thought their gods were
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greater than the ones you're living God.
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But you know, they hate the ungodly.
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You know, I think of the violence that is out there with
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the LBGQ committee often, not always, but quite often, they
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target churches, they target Christian schools, and it has to
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be from Satan. I watched a video last night and
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I don't know what was going on, but there was some type of
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Christian service in Seattle, what Seattle, WA and Antifa was
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there blocking people to get in the service.
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And they actually surrounded a mom with a baby and that was
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what the video was. She's trying to go to this
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Christian service and they were blocking her, refusing her,
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allow her to go in. Now that's Seattle, but what
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happens when it's Los Angeles or out there?
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Matthew 510 says blessed are those who are persecuted for
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righteous sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
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It's happening in Seattle and it could happen elsewhere.
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Thomas Watson said 300 years ago.
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This is a Christ hating world and a St. eating world.
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And lastly, it says and do not call upon God.
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This sounds like it might mean to pray, but it's probably more
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having to do with calling upon God by worshipping him or
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acknowledging him. And they can't do that because
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they lack spiritual understanding.
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So the just a little bit of application in .1.
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I just wanted to mention a few of the fools we have in the
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Bible. First Samuel 26 verse 21 we have
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the fool of Saul. Saul says I have sinned.
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Return my son David, for I will not harm you again because my
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life was precious in your sight. Behold, I have played the fool
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and have committed a serious error.
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So not only did Saul disobey Samuel in God, but he was a
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fool. And then of course, first Samuel
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2525, you know the story of novel, OK, and you know that
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David's David's men protected him.
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And then on a feast day, David sent ten of his men to go to
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novel and say, can we have some food for the feast?
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And novel mock David and said no.
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And then when David heard about it, he is 400 men put on their
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weapons and they were going to go kill every person there but
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Abigail. A servant came to Abigail, and
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Abigail went and bowed before David, and she said, let not my
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Lord regard this worthless fellow novel, for as his name
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is, so is he novel is his name, and folly or foolishness is with
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him, and you know God would strike him down later.
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And of course, in Matthew 23, Jesus calls the Pharisees blind
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fools for their hypocritical act of, you know, ceremony, cleaning
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inside of the cup but being filthy, cleaning the outside of
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the cup but being filthy on the inside.
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And of course, we all know the parable of the rich man in Luke
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1216. OK, I think it was 30 years ago
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that Lance said, you know, this was the only place in the Bible
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where God directly calls somebody a fool.
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And Jesus said in a parable, the land of a rich man produced
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plenty. And he thought to himself, what
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shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my
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crops. And he said, I will do this, I
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will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I
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will store all my grain and my goods.
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And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for
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many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry.
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Verse 20 But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is
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required of you, and the things you're prepared, whose will they
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be? So is the one who lays up
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treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
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So there's four fools we have in the Bible.
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You know, there's joy in knowing Jesus Christ and having the Lord
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of your life. We are no fools.
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We may make mistakes, we may send some time and we confess
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that sin, but the Bible tells us that it's the unbeliever that's
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the fool. Proverbs 14 seven says leave the
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presence of a fool, for there you do not need words of
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knowledge. Have you ever talked to a fool?
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And after a few minutes, you just want to get out of there,
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right? So fools deny God, fools don't
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see God, fools are defiled, and fools persecute the godly.
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Let's look at at #2 the destruction of fools.
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And 1st off, fools are in terror, OK?
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It says there they are in great terror where there is no terror.
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So if you compare Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, they both begin verse
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5 with the line there they are in great terror.
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OK, But this is where the Psalms differ because Psalms 14
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continues with the line for God is with the generation of the
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righteous. But Psalms 53 on line 2 of verse
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5 says where there is no terror there they are in great terror
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where there is no terror. So this verse says there's a
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place where there was no terror, where the wicked had No Fear of
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God. And most commentators believe
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that Psalm 53 was rewritten as after a great victory, and that
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victory would be the victory of Sennacherib when he surrounded
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Jerusalem with 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
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This is one of the great stories in the Bible.
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How great is it? It's mentioned three times.
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Second Kings 18 and 19, Second Chronicles 32 and then Isaiah
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right in the middle of Isaiah 36.
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It tells the story and I won't take time tonight to read it,
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but it says his Syrian Army was encamped around Jerusalem.
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They're waiting to attack. They're not in terror.
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They have wiped out every army, every country.
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And if you read the story, the the generals go to Jerusalem
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wall and they're telling we conquered Lakish, we conquered
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this place, we conquered this place.
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What that what do you think your God's going to stop us?
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They're mocking the living God of the universe.
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And you know what happened? So there was no terror, but
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suddenly there was terror. The Angel of the Lord came out
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and killed 185,000 of them. So many people believe that is
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what this verse is talking about.
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Years ago, I think when I was in high school, there's a line of
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clothing that said No Fear. Do you remember that?
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No Fear. Well, we should change it to
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great fear. OK Dave Choppa, we need a
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T-shirt like that says great fear.
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But if you have Jesus Christ as your Savior, we are not fools
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and we're not in fear. First John 4718 says, But this
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is love perfected with us so that we may have the confidence
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for the day of judgement, because he is so also as we are
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in this world. There is No Fear in love, but
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perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment,
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and whosoever fears has not been perfected in love.
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B fools will be destroyed by God.
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So verse 5 continues, and it's different from Psalms 14 because
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Psalms 53 continues in verse 5. For God scatters the bones of
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him who in camps against them. What does that mean?
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Well in the story of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army, Isaiah
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3736 says the Angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000
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in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early
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in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.
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So for an ancient in ancient Israel or ancient times to leave
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a body unburied was very disgraceful.
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Even criminals who were executed were buried.
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Deuteronomy 2123 talks about that.
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You got to give a proper bearing.
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So for bones to be scattered, you can imagine 185,000 dead
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bodies. The birds of the air and the
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animals would eat them. That would be very shameful.
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Let's look at the rest of verse or the next part of verse 5.
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Fools will be fools will be shamed.
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And it says you put them to shame and did God put them to
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shame? So when you read the story,
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185,000 troops were killed. But it also says that I
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mentioned the envoys went to the wall of Jerusalem and they had a
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lot of mocking. The story actually in in Second
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Kings is 61 verses long. That's why I can't read it
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tonight. But one of time, one of the
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taunts was this. They came to the walls of
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Jerusalem and they said, don't let your God in whom you trust
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deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into
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the hand of the king of Assyria. And Second Chronicles says they
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even wrote letters of contempt to Hezekiah.
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God did deliver Hezekiah and Jerusalem and Sennacherib
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departed. He returned to shame into
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Nineveh, and he was murdered by his own sons.
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So God put the entire Assyrian army, including the king
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Sennacherib, to shame. Fools will be put to shame.
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There will be judgment on fools. A Christian, though, will never
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be put to shame. But God will shame the fools or
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the unbeliever. And I mentioned this verse makes
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me think of all the big shot atheists in our society.
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And I mentioned the three of them who who they think the
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unbelieving world is so intellectual.
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They think they are so smart with their many books and their
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anti God speeches. But they will be put to shame
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someday and we believers will be vindicated.
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Next fools will be rejected, it says, for God has rejected them.
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They're going to be put to shame because God has rejected them.
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And you remember the last verse in the parable, the rich fool,
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It says God said this night your soul has been required of you.
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You know, it's just a warning for all people who deny or
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oppose God. Hebrews 1020, Hebrews 10/31 says
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it is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God.
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And all fools someday will fall in the hands of God unless they
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repent and believe. And let's look at the last
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verse, verse 6. The faithful will be delivered,
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and it says his salvation is by God.
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The psalmist says, oh, that salvation for Israel will come
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out of Zion. The psalmist was long for
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deliverance and restoration to come from the Lord.
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The psalmist knows that God dwells among his people and that
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His presence is in the temple in Zion, which is Jerusalem.
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In fact, if this Psalm was rewritten, you know, changing
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slightly changing Psalm 14 about the destruction of the Syrian
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Army, it was a great deliverance, and it was so great
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that the Holy Spirit records it three times in our Bible.
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But it also speaks of a future spiritual salvation.
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Psalms 14 and Psalms 53 may be the strongest verses in the
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Bible on the depravity of man. And then match that with Romans
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310 to 19. There is no one righteous, not
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even 1. Salvation for Israel did come
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out of Zion for for them at that battle, and it will come out for
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Israel in the future. Romans 11/26 says.
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And in this way all Israel will be saved as it is written.
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The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness
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from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take
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away their sins. Salvation came out of Zion when
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Jesus died on the cross, making a way of salvation not just for
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Gentiles but for Jews and Gentiles.
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And then B. His restoration is by God.
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It says when God restores the fortunes of his people.
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God destroyed the Syrian Army, wiped them completely out, and
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he gave Judah and Jerusalem a time of peace.
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Hezekiah would have a few more years, maybe 15 more years to
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live. So the fools in Psalms 14 are
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Jewish and the fools in Psalm 53 are the enemies of God.
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God is going to destroy them and He will eventually.
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In lies Romans 11/26 says save the remnant of Israel and then
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see his celebration is in. God says let Jacob rejoice, let
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Israel be glad. The rejoicing and the
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celebrations would be brief because Hezekiah's reign didn't
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last too much longer. And then fools would take over.
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The kings would be and fools would lead Israel.
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And this will be a downfall. And God would judge Israel and
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they would be destroyed and taken to Babylon.
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But ultimately the salvation will come from the Lord when it
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comes to judge the world. And that will be a great day of
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rejoicing, a great day of deliverance.
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And So what can we learn from this short Psalm, the
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application? Well, I I was going to take a
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little bit of time talk about Proverbs.
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I mentioned in Proverbs 65 of the 117 times in our Bible, we
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have the word fool. But there's actually four kinds
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of people in Proverbs. I think I've shared with this
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before, but I'll do it again. OK.
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The first type of person Proverb mentions is a called in my
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translation simple. The King James may say naive.
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It literally means empty head. When that baby is born is
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literally an empty head. There's no knowledge in there.
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So that's the word simple. It's used 15 times in Proverbs.
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They're born simple. The second type of person in
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Proverbs is wise, and that's used over 60 times.
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OK, The third type is what we're talking about tonight, fools,
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and it's mentioned 65 times. And the fourth type of person in
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Proverbs is what we call a scoffer, and that's mentioned 13
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times. So you know, Psalms one, the
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very first Psalm says there are two paths.
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There's a godly path and there's an ungodly path.
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So the godly way, that simple mind, OK, that empty head, that
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knight head, mothers and fathers have a responsibility to fill it
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with knowledge, with biblical wisdom.
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And that child should become wise.
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And if they do, it says in Proverbs 1/4 to give prudence to
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the simple knowledge and discretion to the youth.
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In Proverbs 22, six says, train up a child in the way you should
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go. Even when he is old, he will not
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depart from it. So way #1 is the godly way.
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You take that simple mind, that empty head, and you fill it with
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biblical wisdom. OK, one of my favorite preachers
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I like to follow is Bodhi Bachman.
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And he says that if you send your children to Caesar to be
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educated, you should not be surprised when they come back as
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Romans. So too many parents are having
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their kids educated and not filling that mine.
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OK, let's talk about the ungodly way that Proverbs mentions.
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Same thing. You have that simple empty head
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with no knowledge. But if you don't fill it with
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biblical wisdom, or you let the Caesar or the Romans fill it or
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the school districts or whatever, they will become
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fools. Bodhi Bachman says that almost
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80% of children who grew up in churches, when they become
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teenagers and run off to college, they walk away from the
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faith. They they may have made a
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profession at VBS or something, but they're fools.
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They're not walking with the Lord.
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And so this is her greatest reminder.
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OK, I'm not done. I'm sorry.
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So the simple minded, then they come fools.
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And lastly, they could become scoffers.
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Have you talked to some of them? I was with the youth group 30
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years ago. And so we just had Easter, we
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just had Mother's Day, and some of the children that I wear in
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my youth group came to church those Sundays.
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And they're not walking with the Lord now.
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And there's hope for fools. There's hope for fools, you
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know, God will run after them. But scoffers, not so much hope,
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but there's some out there. So this Psalm is a reminder to
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us that the greatest disciples you mom and dads have are your
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children. You may never be a missionary,
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but actually we're all missionaries.
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The question is what kind of missionaries you are.
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Husbands, your greatest disciple is your wife.
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Mothers and fathers, your greatest disciple is your
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children. And you only have 18 or so years
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to fill that little precious mind with wisdom so they don't
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become fools. If you don't, they will go the
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way of the unbeliever. Let's talk now about unbelievers
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and believers. First off, let's talk about
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unbelievers. It says in our our Psalm there's
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no one righteous, not even 1/3 times Psalm 14, Psalm 53 and
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Romans 10. The whole world has become
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corrupt and chooses to live in defiance of God.
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When people ignore God or the idea that God exists, they
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ignore distinctions between good and evil.
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They are fools and they will face judgement.
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And yes, I'm talking about some of our relatives and it hurts to
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say that, but they are fools. But there, as I said, there's
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still hope for fools. Hopefully they haven't gotten to
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the next step in Proverbs, which is the scoffer, where there's
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little hope. OK, one commentator said, this
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Psalm gives a powerful description of the sinfulness
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and spiritual ignorance of the world in which the righteous
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must live. The destruction is not limited
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to a few enemies, but to the whole human race who persist in
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living as if there are no God. So if you have fools or you
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know, fools, we need to do 2 things.
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We need to pray for them and when you share the gospel with
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them again and again, we all know someone who's rejected God,
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the Bible, and the way of salvation, but Psalm 53 is a
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warning to them that they need to repent and believe in Jesus
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Christ before it's too late. We need to share with them.
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Second Timothy 2/24/26 says that that that they may come to their
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senses and escape the snare of the devil after being captured
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by him to do his will. They're not following God,
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They're following the devil right now.
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What about believers? You may think that this Psalm
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has nothing to do with me because I'm a believer.
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I'm not a fool. I am wise to salvation and I'm
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certainly I'm not a fool who doesn't believe in God or reject
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God. I believe in Jesus Christ.
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He died on the cross for me. He was buried and he rose from
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the dead and sits at the right hand of God and will come a
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second time to Take Me Home to be with him.
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Psalms 53 reminds us that Christians can act like atheists
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and fools sometimes. One commentator said.
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Every deliberate sin presupposes A functional atheist.
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When David sin, he didn't just get up and decide I'm going to
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commit adultery today. In the heat of the moment, he
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pushed all thoughts of God away to the back of his mind so he
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could have Bathsheba, his neighbor's wife.
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He was acting like an atheist, but we can do the same thing we
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are deliberately when we push God to the back of our minds so
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we can do what we want. So just five quick things need
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to remain in fellowship with other believers.
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You know, I'm talking to the choir tonight.
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You come out on Sundays, You come out on Wednesday nights.
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Our pastor is not here to tickle our ears on Sunday.
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He preaches Christ in all His Holiness and we need to be holy
40:13
as he goes. God is holy.
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You need to be continued to read your Bible daily.
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You know you heard that saying the Bible will keep you from sin
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or sin will keep you from the Bible, right?
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God speaks to us through Scripture.
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Third, we need to sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs in
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our heart throughout the day, keeping our minds on Jesus
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Christ, on His Majesty and his grandeur.
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Fourthly, thinking of heaven. And if you've been with us, with
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Pastor Lance and Thessalonians and almost every book of the
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Bible, you know, Lance said, the clearer you see the future, the
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cleaner you live in the present. First John 3 says, Beloved, we
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are God's children now, and what will be has not yet appeared.
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But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,
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because we shall see him as He is.
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And everyone who has his hope in him purifies himself as he is
41:09
pure. And #5 you need to run from
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anything that deadens your soul to Christ and blinds your eyes
41:17
to his beauty. Sin can cover your eyes like
41:20
cataracts and cloud your vision of God, but you need to keep
41:24
your eyes on Jesus. Let's pray, Father in heaven,
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and thank you for that. We can look at this short Psalm
41:29
tonight. And Father, I pray that every
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person in this room tonight would know Jesus Christ as the
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Lord and Savior in their lives. Father, I pray that if there's
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anybody that's not sure, anybody who's not following you tonight,
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that tonight would be the day of salvation and that they would
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obey you and follow you and they'd not be fools.
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And Father, I pray for my relatives, my nieces, my
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nephews, my relatives, and all the relatives we have here
41:54
tonight that aren't following Christ, that perhaps grew up in
41:57
church, that have wanted from the faith.
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On the CCC prayer letter, there's over 25 people asking
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for prayer for relatives who don't know Jesus Christ.
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Follow. They're fools.
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They're denying God. They may know of him, but they
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put him in the back of his mind and they need to repent and
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believe. Give us more chances to share
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the gospel with them. Help us to share Psalm 53 that
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that judgment will come and they can't escape that judgment to
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come. So we do pray for all of our of
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our relatives that they would come to Christ Father.
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We now pray for the baptisms that we're about to partake in.
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Jesus name, Amen.