0:00:05.665,0:00:07.870
You know what keeps those things

0:00:07.870,0:00:10.672
from coming in and just laying hold on me

0:00:10.672,0:00:13.416
and carrying me away so that I make shipwreck?

0:00:13.416,0:00:14.804
It's the Word, brethren.

0:00:14.804,0:00:16.213
You get in the Word all the time.

0:00:16.213,0:00:17.864
And what does the Word do?

0:00:17.864,0:00:19.110
What is it that we do with one another

0:00:19.110,0:00:22.061
when we exhort one another from the Word?

0:00:22.061,0:00:24.032
There's a deceitfulness in sin,

0:00:24.032,0:00:25.625
and there's the truth here.

0:00:25.625,0:00:27.451
And what it does is it comes back,

0:00:27.451,0:00:28.953
it brings us back again,

0:00:28.953,0:00:31.096
today, every day, we come back,

0:00:31.096,0:00:32.226
we're in this Word,

0:00:32.226,0:00:34.388
and it helps us to see things right.

0:00:34.388,0:00:35.758
I see things right.

0:00:35.758,0:00:37.801
Brethren, we were having devotions the other day,

0:00:37.801,0:00:40.339
and my wife says, "you know what jumped out at me?"

0:00:40.339,0:00:42.156
"They spit on Him."

0:00:42.156,0:00:43.522
And brethren, I'll tell you what,

0:00:43.522,0:00:45.793
sometimes just a thought like that can come.

0:00:45.793,0:00:46.962
And they spit on Him.

0:00:46.962,0:00:48.354
You think about that.

0:00:48.354,0:00:50.737
Those wicked men, those sinful men,

0:00:50.737,0:00:52.964
and they spit on Christ.

0:00:52.964,0:00:54.086
And you know what that can make me do?

0:00:54.086,0:00:55.842
That can make me look at my bike and say,

0:00:55.842,0:00:58.613
I'll ride it to get exercise, so that my mind is clear

0:00:58.613,0:01:00.556
when I go to study the Scriptures,

0:01:00.556,0:01:02.260
but I'm not making an idol out of it.

0:01:02.260,0:01:03.141
Why?

0:01:03.141,0:01:04.939
Because they spit on Him.

0:01:04.939,0:01:06.630
You say, "I don't see the connection."

0:01:06.630,0:01:08.239
I'll tell you what, there is one.

0:01:08.239,0:01:10.146
And I feel it in my heart

0:01:10.146,0:01:12.289
when I go to Scripture and I see things like that.

0:01:12.289,0:01:13.799
They spit on Him.

0:01:13.799,0:01:16.018
They spit on Him. How then should I walk?

0:01:16.018,0:01:17.444
I need to walk worthy.

0:01:17.444,0:01:19.896
And it's not making an idol out of that thing.

0:01:19.896,0:01:21.442
And it's not doing this thing.

0:01:21.442,0:01:23.635
And I'm not going to get snared by that.

0:01:23.635,0:01:25.271
Because I love Him too much,

0:01:25.271,0:01:27.222
and He got spit on for me.

0:01:27.222,0:01:28.961
And I can see Him there with that spit

0:01:28.961,0:01:30.475
coming down His face.

0:01:30.475,0:01:32.088
No, I'm not going there.

0:01:32.088,0:01:33.725
And you see the warnings,

0:01:33.725,0:01:36.000
and you see, you come back to Christ.

0:01:36.000,0:01:38.757
And over and over, and I'm not being drawn away by

0:01:38.757,0:01:39.787
your things, why?

0:01:39.787,0:01:41.564
Because I see your lies.

0:01:41.564,0:01:43.977
When I look at Him, I find Him more beautiful.

0:01:43.977,0:01:45.300
And you're a lie.

0:01:45.300,0:01:46.946
And I see it and we come back.

0:01:46.946,0:01:51.009
Brethren, the day David's friend went off

0:01:51.009,0:01:53.655
and did whatever he did to leave church

0:01:53.655,0:01:55.530
and lose his family,

0:01:55.530,0:01:56.865
he was not in the Word that morning

0:01:56.865,0:01:58.868
seeing how precious Christ was.

0:01:58.868,0:02:00.651
And knowing the truth of God's Word.

0:02:00.651,0:02:03.542
Today. That's what he's saying to us.

0:02:03.542,0:02:05.880
Today. And he says, the Word of God,

0:02:05.880,0:02:09.362
it is that which pierces into the heart.

0:02:09.362,0:02:11.846
You can't reach your heart,

0:02:11.846,0:02:13.292
but this Word can.

0:02:13.292,0:02:16.033
And you get in it, and believe in it, brethren.

0:02:16.033,0:02:18.244
It's not just reading it flippantly,

0:02:18.244,0:02:20.556
it's not just doing your five minute little thing,

0:02:20.556,0:02:22.588
it's getting in this Word prayerfully,

0:02:22.588,0:02:25.396
it's getting in this Word so that you believe it,

0:02:25.396,0:02:27.574
so that when the promises come,

0:02:27.574,0:02:29.138
you believe it.

0:02:29.138,0:02:32.123
Brethren, how do you say, you know what?

0:02:32.123,0:02:35.513
I'm not sinking a bunch of money into some project here.

0:02:35.513,0:02:38.042
I'm giving it to the ladies' Grace House.

0:02:38.042,0:02:41.035
Because you were reading in Matthew 6

0:02:41.035,0:02:43.888
and it says, don't store up treasures

0:02:43.888,0:02:45.920
here, store it up there.

0:02:45.920,0:02:47.775
And you say, wow, there really is treasure,

0:02:47.775,0:02:49.314
and you get to meditating on it.

0:02:49.314,0:02:52.440
Hey, the Lord's return rate must be a whole lot

0:02:52.440,0:02:55.025
better than anything I can get in a mutual fund,

0:02:55.025,0:02:57.136
or anything I can get in something here.

0:02:57.136,0:02:59.282
And I'm going to give it there.

0:02:59.282,0:03:04.281
Brethren, what this book does, is it fuels faith.

0:03:04.281,0:03:06.352
And if you don't think that doesn't have anything to do

0:03:06.352,0:03:07.609
with what's going here,

0:03:07.609,0:03:08.705
brethren, you've got to remember,

0:03:08.705,0:03:11.064
what in the world's happening by the time we

0:03:11.064,0:03:12.803
get to Hebrews 11?

0:03:12.803,0:03:14.973
It's all about faith. It's about faith.

0:03:14.973,0:03:17.056
It's about people who endured.

0:03:17.056,0:03:18.187
And they pressed through.

0:03:18.187,0:03:19.462
Why? Because they had faith.

0:03:19.462,0:03:21.094
And faith comes by what?

0:03:21.094,0:03:25.712
Hearing. And hearing by what?

0:03:25.712,0:03:27.761
Brethren, today.

0:03:27.761,0:03:29.883
Today.

0:03:29.883,0:03:32.531
If you don't get anything else out of this message,

0:03:32.531,0:03:35.986
it is today, you have to be in this Word,

0:03:35.986,0:03:37.732
every day as long as it's called today,

0:03:37.732,0:03:39.189
you've got to be in this Word.

0:03:39.189,0:03:40.732
And then that day as well,

0:03:40.732,0:03:42.177
you've got to be taking what God shows you

0:03:42.177,0:03:43.241
out of that Word, and you've got to

0:03:43.241,0:03:44.546
be going and be exhorting others.

0:03:44.546,0:03:45.849
And as we do it, brethren,

0:03:45.849,0:03:48.766
our hearts don't get hardened

0:03:48.766,0:03:50.033
by the deceitfulness.

0:03:50.033,0:03:52.737
Because we keep shining the light on.

0:03:52.737,0:03:54.242
Brethren, go into this book.

0:03:54.242,0:03:55.921
Have your faith strengthened.

0:03:55.921,0:03:56.951
Believe what's there.

0:03:56.951,0:03:59.141
See the promises and above all,

0:03:59.141,0:04:03.920
see the Christ.

0:04:03.920,0:04:08.977
Your heart will have such things done to it

0:04:08.977,0:04:13.669
that you keep going.

0:04:13.669,0:04:16.505
It was Spurgeon that said some people

0:04:16.505,0:04:21.009
can write "damnation" in the dust

0:04:21.009,0:04:24.447
on their Bible.

0:04:24.447,0:04:28.780
Not God's children.

0:04:28.780,0:04:31.972
Man does not live by bread alone.

0:04:31.972,0:04:34.673
Brethren, this is where we've got to feast.

0:04:34.673,0:04:37.390
This is where we've got to live.

0:04:37.390,0:04:39.803
I trust you see it in these verses.

0:04:39.803,0:04:42.021
I trust you see it.

0:04:42.021,0:04:45.649
This is what the writer said.

0:04:45.649,0:04:47.978
He comes into this thing.

0:04:47.978,0:04:53.433
He says, "pay much closer attention

0:04:53.433,0:04:55.003
to what you have heard."

0:04:55.003,0:04:56.991
What does that mean?

0:04:56.991,0:05:02.757
Closer attention.

0:05:02.757,0:05:08.445
Brethren, I've heard, and I know this in my own life,

0:05:08.445,0:05:10.799
men who preach.

0:05:10.799,0:05:12.708
And they say, one of the things

0:05:12.708,0:05:14.595
that is a real help about preaching

0:05:14.595,0:05:17.278
is the time it puts me in the Word.

0:05:17.278,0:05:19.862
Because when I'm not preaching,

0:05:19.862,0:05:22.021
I'm not in the Word as much.

0:05:22.021,0:05:23.427
Brethren, I'll tell you what,

0:05:23.427,0:05:24.812
there may be some reality to that,

0:05:24.812,0:05:26.306
but that can't be an excuse.

0:05:26.306,0:05:28.132
You may not be a preacher,

0:05:28.132,0:05:29.976
but you've got to live in this Word just as much.

0:05:29.976,0:05:32.454
And if that's a reality, and men that preach realize it,

0:05:32.454,0:05:34.292
then how much we should be convinced,

0:05:34.292,0:05:37.209
all of us.

0:05:37.209,0:05:39.537
If it really helps us that much,

0:05:39.537,0:05:41.147
then we've got to get into it.

0:05:41.147,0:05:43.162
We've got to have discipline.

0:05:43.162,0:05:46.080
We heard it in the Sunday school.

0:05:46.080,0:05:47.403
Self control, brethren.

0:05:47.403,0:05:48.682
We've got to be self controlled.

0:05:48.682,0:05:50.415
We've got to buffet this body.

0:05:50.415,0:05:51.621
Brethren, be in the Word.

0:05:51.621,0:05:53.598
If there's discipline in any place in your life,

0:05:53.598,0:05:54.743
it's to be in this Word.

0:05:54.743,0:05:56.242
It's to see Christ.

0:05:56.242,0:05:58.093
You've got to live on Christ.

0:05:58.093,0:05:59.306
You've got to walk with Christ.

0:05:59.306,0:06:00.359
You've got to see Christ.

0:06:00.359,0:06:01.648
You've got to trust Christ.

0:06:01.648,0:06:02.776
You've got to believe on Him.

0:06:02.776,0:06:05.062
And brethren, not just some figment of your imagination.

0:06:05.062,0:06:06.574
You've got to believe on Him as He really is,

0:06:06.574,0:06:08.750
and this shows us Him - how He really is.

0:06:08.750,0:06:12.198
And when you see Him as He really is,

0:06:12.198,0:06:16.542
that keeps you from falling away.

0:06:16.542,0:06:18.603
Because when you go here,

0:06:18.603,0:06:20.056
you see Him for what He really is,

0:06:20.056,0:06:23.447
and you see the bike, or the investment,

0:06:23.447,0:06:27.448
or the lawn project, or the new car

0:06:27.448,0:06:29.417
for what they really are.

0:06:29.417,0:06:31.592
The money making endeavor,

0:06:31.592,0:06:33.722
the new t.v.,

0:06:33.722,0:06:35.630
Facebook,

0:06:35.630,0:06:37.820
cable t.v.,

0:06:37.820,0:06:39.600
Detroit Tigers,

0:06:39.600,0:06:42.458
you see them for what they really are.

0:06:42.458,0:06:46.043
And they're not much when you compare them to Christ.

0:06:46.043,0:06:50.398
But you don't think that way, brethren.

0:06:50.398,0:06:54.130
Your heart isn't geared that way

0:06:54.130,0:06:58.520
unless you're in here all the time.

0:06:58.520,0:07:00.549
You show me somebody that drifts

0:07:00.549,0:07:07.106
and falls away, and you'll see it right here,

0:07:07.106,0:07:10.026
in their interaction in the Word.

0:07:10.026,0:07:14.116
Guarantee it.

0:07:14.116,0:07:16.093
Brethren, that's the calling.

0:07:16.093,0:07:18.495
Today. Today.

0:07:18.495,0:07:21.575
Every day as long as it's called today.

0:07:21.575,0:07:23.904
Hear His voice.

0:07:23.904,0:07:27.473
Hear it.

0:07:27.473,0:07:30.273
That implies He's speaking.

0:07:30.273,0:07:34.312
Put yourself where you can hear Him.

0:07:34.312,0:07:36.430
God help us, brethren.

0:07:36.430,0:07:39.615
Amen.