The First Step of the Drift

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, October 25, 2026 Give Thanks · Lesson 3 · Romans 1:21

► Watch this lesson on video (43:53)

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Unthankfulness Is the First Step Down — Thanksgiving Is the First Step Up

Sunday morning • Give Thanks, Lesson 3 • Romans 1:21-25 • Luke 7:36-47 • 2 Timothy 3:1-2 • Exodus 16:15 • Numbers 21:5 • Philippians 2:14 • Psalm 50:23 • Psalm 103:2

This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday morning - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday morning - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

Let’s see. Romans 1:21 will be where we’ll start. And if we have time, we’ll do Luke chapter 7, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and Exodus chapter 16. Romans 1 and 21 will be our text. Then time permitting, we’ll look at Luke chapter 7, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and Exodus chapter 16.

Now, we’ll begin here in Romans chapter 1. And Romans is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the city of Rome. And the first chapter in the book of Romans tells how a world that once knew God decided to turn its back on God.

Romans 1:21. Now you’ll notice there are the first two signs of trouble. They did not glorify God, and they were not thankful. Bible says:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” - Romans 1:21 (KJV)

And as a result of not glorifying God and not being thankful - notice what happened. They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Now the first sign of trouble was not something big, like, oh, they committed this awful crime. It was first of all not bringing glory to God, and not saying thank you.

Now to not bring glory to God, that actually means in everyday language not putting God in the place that He should be. You know, we get a nice piece of furniture, we put it in the living room - we don’t leave it out in the yard in the rain. Well, to not bring glory to God in everyday terms - we don’t value Him enough to put Him in our life where He should be, but we leave Him out in the rain. And things happen to relationships that are not maintained. Well, the same thing is going to happen to our relationship to God if that relationship is not maintained. That’s not going to be God’s fault. It’ll be our fault. But that kind of gives us an idea of what not bringing glory to God means.

And you know, what about going through life and not ever telling God thank you? Unthankfulness is the first step that we take downward in - well, we’re talking about our relationship with God. We’re talking about the fellowship that we have with God. We’re not talking about earning salvation. We’re not talking about maintaining salvation. We’re talking about the type of relationship that we have with God after we are saved. And unthankfulness is that first step that we take away from a good relationship with God. And on the other side of the coin, thanksgiving - thanking God for things in our life - that’s the first step that we take toward a meaningful relationship.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

The staircase down

Now, in past lessons, we’ve already stood on that first step. We’ve taken that first step up toward a better relationship with God. Do you remember what that was? Remember we talked about the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If we don’t properly respect God - if we leave Him out in the rain, out in the weather - we’re not putting Him where He should be in our lives. We’re not bringing Him glory. That kind of ties together. Putting God where He should be - that’s our first step up. While Romans chapter 1 and verse 21 is explaining the first step that we take away from a meaningful relationship with God.

Let’s look at verses 21, 22, 23. And you’ll notice as we read this, you’ll see two failures, and then you’ll see four results which come from those two failures. And each one of the results, if you will, is taking us further and further away from where we ought to be. That’s leaving what we’re supposed to value out in the rain longer and longer and longer. You get the idea. Romans 1 beginning in verse 21:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;” - Romans 1:21a (KJV)

Okay, those are the two failures. But - and I’m adding an explanation here - because of these two things, their lives moved. They became something that they weren’t before.

“. . . but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” - Romans 1:21b-23 (KJV)

Now, they knew God. They were aware of who God was, but they gave Him no glory. They gave Him no thanks.

And for them to become vain in their imaginations means that their thinking became empty. There was nothing of substance in their thoughts. You know, the first thing that pops into my mind - and I’m not anti extracurricular activity, I’m not anti-sports - but when you compare sports with spiritual health, which one do you think weighs the most? When we are constantly focused on things of the world - whatever it is - that’s empty. It’s meaningless. There is no Super Bowl in heaven. All right, you get the idea. Not putting God where He should be put and not saying thanks - our thinking becomes without substance. We think on the here and now, and we forget all about eternity. I got a news flash for you folks: eternity is a lot longer than the here and now. All right.

Another thing - their heart went dark. You remember, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Well, for our heart to go dark, that means we prefer the shady areas as opposed to being out in the exposure of the truth.

They claimed to be wise and became fools. I don’t know, you could fill in the blank there. They relied on their education. They relied on their good behavior. They relied on their wealth, their strength. Okay? They put their confidence in the wrong area. And as a result, they were not able to protect what they considered to be valuable. They were wise - they thought they were doing the right thing - but end result, they were foolish. They lost it all.

And then at the very bottom, they worshiped birds, animals, images of men instead of God. Bottom line there is, as far as their lives were concerned, God really didn’t exist. Okay? They had totally replaced Him.

Now you see, a person who stops thanking God is not a person that stops worshiping. They are a person that simply starts worshiping something else. The paycheck - I’ve got to make more money. My truck - it’s less than what I want. I really need something else. And my desires and what I want are really what is fueling my life. He begins to worship the gift instead of the One who gave him the gift. Notice Romans - stay in chapter 1 - verse 25. This says it pretty straightforward:

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” - Romans 1:25 (KJV)

The god of youth and pride

Now, in my youth, I had similar thoughts. All right. And I suppose the best example I can give you is to explain and admit - confess - some of the thoughts that I had when I was younger.

When I was younger, I was strong. I thought I was smart. And I’ve always basically known the difference between right and wrong. So what I realized I was guilty of - I traded the God of heaven for the god of youth and pride.

Now, obviously, I knew that I needed God for the big things. But you know, I honestly thought I could handle - if you have a list of 1 through 10 of things in life - I had a pretty good handle on items 1 through 6. I could do that myself. But I did leave 7 through 10 to God. I needed God a little bit. All right. Well, the point is, if God did less for me, then I had less to thank Him for. And that is just being honest. That’s how I began to slip in my youth.

Let’s look at Luke 7:36-47. We’re going to kind of read through that rather quickly. We don’t want to get bogged down and be here till noon. Luke 7 beginning in verse 36 - talking about Jesus:

“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” - Luke 7:36-39 (KJV)

Like I’m not. Okay?

“And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.” - Luke 7:40-41 (KJV)

Two people owed this person money. One owed a great big huge amount, and the other one owed a lesser amount.

“And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” - Luke 7:42-47 (KJV)

GOING DEEPER · SHE LOVED MUCH BECAUSE SHE WAS FORGIVEN MUCH

Not preached on Sunday morning - extra study.

Notice verse 47 - and notice the two debtors in verses 41 through 43. She loved much BECAUSE she was forgiven much. Her love was the result of forgiveness - it was not the price of forgiveness, or what it took to get forgiven. The man who owed five hundred pence did not love his way out of that debt . . . he was forgiven first, and the love came after. That’s the same order for us. We don’t thank God in order to be saved - we thank God because we have been.

Now you see, I’m going to tie this back to the staircase we’re talking about. The downward drift starts with a thank-you that never actually got said. “Well, I do need God, but I don’t need Him as much as” - and then we pick out somebody in our mind - “I don’t need Him as much as so-and-so does.” You know, that’s an easy trap to fall into.

The church is not immune

The church is not immune. You know, we think as individuals, okay, well, I need to avoid this, I need to avoid that. Well, last time I checked, the church was made up of individual people. And if our collective attitude is over here where it shouldn’t be, then the attitude of our church is also over here where it shouldn’t be.

Look at Second Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Now, what we have here is Paul’s list of what people will be like in the last days. And you’re going to notice some of the things on this list - oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s right, that’s right. But I want you to notice that unthankfulness is also on this list. And I’ll remind you as we read this - just because there’s several things on here that we’re not guilty of, or we think we’re not guilty of, that doesn’t mean that we’re not on the list. Because all of us could use a bigger dose of thankfulness.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,” - 2 Timothy 3:1-2a (KJV)

Oh, this is just super important to me, preacher. And they leave God out in the rain.

“. . . covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,” - 2 Timothy 3:2b (KJV)

Unthankful is right in there in that list. Now, you know, once again, just because we can name some things on this list that we’re not guilty of, that doesn’t mean that we’re not on the list. Because if we were honest, unthankfulness is something that is going to peg every single one of us.

Let’s look at Exodus 16 and verse 15. Now, what we’re going to read about here is the manna - the food, the sustenance that God gave to the children of Israel as they were wandering in the wilderness. Now, at first - oh, this is good. But they kind of got used to it. And notice how their attitude went from, “Oh, this is a miracle from God,” to, “Oh, yuck. I’m not satisfied with this.” Verse 15 - talking about the manna:

“And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.” - Exodus 16:15 (KJV)

Now, okay. Let me ask you this. We can all look at circumstances or things in our lives and think, “Well, I wish that circumstance was different. I wish I had a blue one instead of the red one.” Well, does God ever give anything bad? Does He ever make a mistake - “Oh, I should have blessed you this way, I should have given you that”? That’s not the way it works. God loves us enough to die for us. I think sometimes we forget He loves us enough to give us the best. Now, not the best that the world has to offer, but what’s best for our own spiritual health. All right.

Look at Numbers 21 and verse 5. After the newness began to wear off of this manna - after the paint began to fade on that new truck, all right, whatever - when the shingles needed to be repaired on that house - you get the idea.

“And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread,” - Numbers 21:5a (KJV)

Wait a minute. What happened to the manna?

“. . . neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.” - Numbers 21:5b (KJV)

Now when we go get some light bread from Kroger - okay, well, that’s white as opposed to wheat. Well, the language here indicates that light bread, the way it’s used here - their attitude - this bread is worthless. That’s actually what it means. So they weren’t just dissatisfied - it’s the same old thing. They are saying that God’s blessing is worthless.

Well, for them, the miracle of this daily bread - and again, I want us to not forget that this daily bread that they got tired of was God’s provision for them. Folks, your house, your job, everything that you experience in life is God’s way of providing for you. When we complain about God’s provisions, we’re just as guilty as these Israelites were complaining about the manna.

What drift looks like in church

Well, what does drift look like in church? Well, how about prayers that gravitate toward more asking and less thanking? How about - oh, we always pray at mealtime, preacher. Well, is that prayer more of a habit and less about actually being thankful? What about - well, let’s see, you ask me what God did for me today. Let me think a minute. I’ll come up with something here in just a minute. Okay. When’s the last time you took a breath? Whose air was that that you breathed? Okay, it was God’s. And He can turn that spigot off just any time. Sometimes we forget that.

Now, I guarantee you, I could start over here and I could ask every one of you, tell me something that you’re disappointed that you didn’t get or didn’t go your way this week. You could rattle something off without having to think for a second. But then if I started over and asked, “Tell me something that you’re thankful for that God did for you” - we might have to stop and think a little bit longer. You see, our focus has become - our focus is toward things with no substance. Our focus should be toward eternity, not the things of the world.

Young, healthy and bulletproof

Now, I remember when I was younger - again, I was young, I was healthy. I looked at myself as practically - I use the expression bulletproof. Okay? I mean, there’s not much that’s going to affect me, not much that I’m not able to do. Well, I took all of that for granted.

We see old and sick people every day, but do we ever stop to thank God for our own health? And instead of thanking God and trying to take the time to comfort those who basically just get in our way - “Would you move out of the way? I’ve got places to go, people to see, and you’re slowing me down. Move over.” Instead of thanking God and trying to comfort those like this, do we just plow ahead with our current projects? Oh, and these projects, folks, they just have to be done. The world’s going to end if I don’t get whatever it is done by Friday.

Do we ever come to the realization that, you know, I might just be too busy? I might need to X off some of those projects. If we’re too busy to comfort the weak, if we’re too busy to help that old person that’s slow in front of us, then we’re just too busy.

You know, what about - talking about projects - you know what the most important project any of us could have or should have? Well, first of all, our children should be our most important project. Now, I’m not saying, “Oh, we need to take them to this activity, to this practice, to that.” No, I’m talking about the spiritual health of our children should be the most important project that we have. And right alongside that - well, my children may be grown and gone, but what about that spouse? You know, the happiness and the joy of your spouse - that should also be way, way up there on the importance of our projects.

But you know, talking about the slow people right in front of me - “I’ve got places to go, just get out of my way” - almost overnight, I became one of the slow ones who used to be in my way when I was younger. And you know, the sooner we agree with God that this attitude is and was not healthy, the better our lives will become.

You know, the projects that we have in life - and I know we’ve all got stuff that we need done. You know, the oil needs changing, the house needs painting - the list is endless. But the list will always be there. There’ll always be something on the list. We’re never going to get it all accomplished. But you know, our time to count our blessings in life - that does have an expiration date. And I wonder - do you know how close you are to your expiration date? Do you know how close you are to not having another opportunity to comfort that one that’s in front of you that’s slow, that’s crippled, that’s always in your way?

You know, our children grow up and leave home. There’s an opportunity that’s going to expire. Our spouses - they get old, and they’re eventually going to die. Rarely do a husband and wife die at the same time. The opportunity to put a smile on that spouse’s face and a twinkle in their eye - that opportunity has an expiration date. You know, the only thing that lasts is something that’s done for God.

Now, Philippians chapter 2, verse 14. Once again: unthankfulness is the first step down. Thanksgiving is the first step up.

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” - Philippians 2:14 (KJV)

To murmur is to complain.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

The staircase runs both ways

The glory that they held back in Romans 1:21 - now that glory is something that can be given back to God. We can take that piece of furniture out of the rain and put it in the house. We can take that car and we can put it in the garage where it’ll be protected. Notice the 50th Psalm, verse 23:

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” - Psalm 50:23 (KJV)

Whoso offereth praise - that’s worship - glorifieth me, God says. And to him that ordereth his conversation aright - to the person who arranges their lifestyle properly - that’s a blessing.

And you know, we can take the first step up the staircase that we’re talking about this morning right now, in the pew, without moving an inch. We do that by remembering what God has done. Now, King David said it this way, the 103rd Psalm, verse 2:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” - Psalm 103:2 (KJV)

Well, to remember is the opposite of forgetting.

So our homework this week is a murmur check. By that, I mean - are we a complainer? And what I want us to do is every time we catch ourselves complaining about something this week, I want you to stop and thank God for something specific about the very thing you’re complaining about.

“Oh, I hate this truck.” Well, does the truck start? That’s a blessing. Okay. Is the truck paid for? Well, if it is, that’s a blessing. “Preacher, I just don’t like my job very well.” Well, wait a minute. Do you have a job? Are you getting a paycheck? I don’t think I’ve ever had a job that I really liked. I like cleaning carpets, and I absolutely love preaching - but I don’t consider preaching a job. That’s just life. Okay - blame Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. You’re probably not going to like your job, but you do make money.

You know, how often we catch ourselves complaining about something will tell us just how far we’ve begun to drift.

The thank-you I owed

All right, I’m out of time. So I’d ask our musicians to come forward. We prepare for an invitational hymn.

You know, I remember going back to when I was younger - I complained. I was 24 years old before I got married. All right. And ever since I could remember - oh, probably 15, 16, to 24 - I knew what a fairy tale romance was. And I kind of got aggravated, you know, going through college and everything. It’s like, I’m never going to find a woman, a girl, a wife that’s fit to marry. Okay, there was a lot of candidates, all right, but they were not good people - and I was patient. I didn’t really have any choice. I mean, what are we going to do? You know, the famous Sally Sue - I go out with Sally Sue one, it’s not going to work out. I do Sally Sue two, it’s not going to work any better than Sally Sue one. So what do I do?

But when God finally answered my prayer, I owed Him a huge, huge thank-you - for loving me enough to answer my prayers, and for being patient enough with me, okay, to continue working with me, continue teaching me the value of a good spouse, or anything. I didn’t just figure that all out myself.

Point is, when we find ourselves complaining - “Well, He’s not answering me fast enough for this, this, or this” - God never gives us anything bad. Everything He does is for our benefit. And that’s where faith comes in. “Well, yeah, but God, I can do this better.” Well, you know, you couldn’t. Okay, that’s the humility part. If you did it, you’d mess it up. There’s enough things in my life that I did my way that just messed up. Am I the only one? I don’t think so. We learn over the course of our lives just to back up and consider.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

401 in the big book.

GOING DEEPER · WHICH STEP DID WE TAKE THIS WEEK?

Not preached on Sunday morning - extra study.

Which step did we take this week - down, or up? If somebody asked us at the supper table tonight to name one kindness God showed us this week, could we answer without stopping to think? Complaining about the truck? Thank God we have one. Complaining about the kids? Thank God for each one by name. The staircase runs both ways, and the next step - down or up - is the one we take this week.

When the Line Is Clogged — Hindered Prayer

The water is still on out there at the faucet . . . the hose is kinked.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

Part Seven ended on James and the words ye ask amiss. This part picks up right there, because James is not the only place the Bible tells us why a prayer does not get through – and the list is longer and plainer than most of us are comfortable with.

And I want to say at the front – what this lesson is not . . . this is not about a man losing his salvation . . . nothing in here can un-save anybody . . . a child who has made his father angry is still his father's child . . . but he is going to have a hard time getting anything out of him until they have talked.

That is what we are dealing with . . . not the relationship . . . but the line… the fellowship…

THE VERSE THAT NAMES IT

Psalm 66:18 — “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”

Regard. That is the word the whole verse turns on – and it is not the same as commit… So we are not being told – if we COMMIT iniquity – God will not hear me… Notice

“To regard” something – is to look at it and to keep it… To have it in our view… To hold onto it – and to defend it… The idea here is to make room for it in our lives... David is not talking about a man who fell into something and hates himself for it… He is talking about a man who has a sin he intends to keep.

And notice where it is... In my heart… Not in my hands where anybody could see it… The point here is – that this can be a sin that nobody in this church knows about – except the man himself – and God.

Isaiah says the same thing – and puts it in the plainest terms we will find in the Bible…

Isaiah 59:1 — “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:”

Isaiah 59:2 — “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Read verse 1 again . . . because it is the mercy in the passage. His hand is not shortened. His ear is not heavy. There is nothing wrong on God's end . . . the power is not less than it was – and the hearing is not worse than it was.

So if nothing came through – the trouble is not up there.

THE FAUCET AND THE HOSE

Every one of us has done this . . . you go out to water something in July and nothing comes out the end of the hose . . . and the first thing a man thinks - is that somebody turned the water off.

So – you walk back to the house and check – and the faucet is wide open . . . the water is on, and it has been on the whole time . . . you walk back out following that hose and somewhere in the middle of the yard – it is doubled over on itself (kinked) . . . and you are standing on it.

That is this lesson… The pressure never dropped… The line got kinked . . . and the fix is not to go argue with the water company… the fix is to straighten out the hose…

Simple truth: God did not turn the water off . . . something in the yard has that hose doubled over . . . and a man can go find it… unless that man is trying to guard that kink… (iniquity)

NOW WHAT THE BIBLE ACTUALLY NAMES

The Bible does not leave us guessing about what kinks the line . . . it names them . . . six of them, and I am going to give them to you – the way Scripture gives them.

One — cherished sin

That is Psalm 66:18, and we have already had it… A sin which a man is holding onto on purpose.

Two — praying while I will not hear God

Proverbs 28:9 — “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”

That is a hard sentence . . . not his prayer shall be weak – his prayer shall be an abomination… A man who will not listen to God has no business expecting God to listen to him – and God says so.

And it is fair – when you turn it around . . . we would not put up with it from a child who would not hear a word we said – and then came in wanting fifty dollars.

Three — a life that contradicts the asking

Proverbs 15:8 — “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

Both halves of that verse are worth having . . . the first half warns… The second half is one of the kindest things in the Bible – the prayer of the upright is his DELIGHT... God is not putting up with our praying... He likes it.

Four — asking for the wrong reason

James 4:3 — “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

We took this one up in Part Seven . . . a man can ask for a right thing for a wrong reason and God will not answer that prayer...

Five — how a man treats his wife

Now here is the one that is rarely preached, and I am going to preach it anyway because Peter put it in there on purpose…

1 Peter 3:7 — “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”

That your prayers be not hindered… Peter runs a straight line from the way a man treats his wife – to whether his praying gets anywhere…

And notice what he does NOT say. He does not say she is worth less – he says heirs together of the grace of life… Equal before God – and given to the man to honor.

So – a man can be right on his doctrine – and faithful in his attendance – but if he is hard on his wife at home – then Peter says his prayers are hindered . . . that is not my opinion . . . that is straight out of THE BIBLE…

Six — an unforgiving heart

The Lord Himself hung this one on the model prayer back in Part Five – and then He went back and explained it – when He explained nothing else:

Matthew 6:15 — “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

A man cannot draw on a mercy he refuses to pass along to others... Or he can try, and find the kinked hose of iniquity – that he is protecting...

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

To be entirely honest – I can look back and see five of these six in my life that have hindered my prayers… There have been times in my life – when I have “cherished” sin – protected it – guarded a kinked hose… which leads directly into “not listening to God” because if I listened to Him – I would have to give up my pet sin and unkink the hose… which takes us to #3 and a life that is inconsistent with Godliness and contradicts the asking… the next step being asking for the wrong reason – if our heart is not right – then our motives will not be right either… and then we get to number five and the treatment of our wives… I am a lot of things – and I have actually cherished sin in my heart so that my prayers have literally been hindered – but for everyday of my married life – I have not for a single minute failed to understand/appreciate the blessing which God gave me in Summer… she has and always will be – the jewel in my life… and then there is number six – about being stingy with forgiveness – I am guilty here as well…

The point here is… To be a Christian – is to GROW – to climb the staircase – to add to our faith – to build on the foundation of faith – using gold – silver – precious stones instead of wood – hay and stubble… and to remember that a building is not built in a moment – and neither is a life… It is extremely common in a building project for a sudden rain to get the inside of the house wet – before the roof is finished… In life it is also a common thing – for a storm to blow rain through an open window and get the carpet wet and ruin the floor in a bedroom… but we should always remember – that Jesus was a carpenter – and He can fix anything… — C.T.

AND THE ONE THAT IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

There is one more verse people put on this list, and it belongs in a different place entirely:

John 9:31 — “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”

That is the blind man in John 9 – and we had it back in Part One . . . this is not about a Christian with a kinked hose . . . this is about a lost man who has no hose that runs to the house at all.

And there is one prayer – that God has promised to hear from the lost man – and that is the prayer of the publican – God be merciful to me a sinner . . . that door is not shut – and I don’t intend to let anyone close it...

HOW THE KINK COMES OUT

Now for the good news – and it is very good news...

1 John 1:9 — “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Faithful and just… Not merciful – though He is… BUT Just – because the debt was already paid and it would not be right to charge it twice...

And confess is a plain word . . . it means to say the same thing about it that God says about it… It doesn’t mean to explain it – and it doesn’t mean to compare it with somebody else's sin – and it doesn’t mean to give it a softer name – it means to agree…

That is all it takes to straighten the hose . . . and a man can do it standing where he is - without waiting for Sunday…

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

An example of me finding the kink – can be described by me first WANTING to find the kink – I finally got to the point – where I wanted to have a better relationship with God – than the relationship I was trying to protect with sin… There is pleasure in sin for a season – but what I learned is that there is PAIN attached to that pleasure (physical – emotional and spiritual)… and the long and short of it is – it simply wasn’t worth it… The high’s were not worth the valleys… So I abandoned my partnership with sin – and I moved in with humility – I became friends with UNDERSTANDING – I got to know WISDOM – and I learned to seek KNOWLEDGE of God instead of seeking pleasure… Every promise God had ever made – was trapped in the hose – and I was the one who was responsible for the kink… Repentance works every time – repentance gets the water (blessings) moving again… Taste the Lord that He is gracious – and you realize how BITTER the world is… — C.T.

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Do not turn this into a checklist for other people… Every one of these six things is meant for the man reading it – and not to be used as a way to judge our neighbor . . . the minute we start using this list on somebody else – whose prayer did not get answered – we have turned a mercy into a club – and that is exactly what Job's friends did…

And do not read every unanswered prayer as a hindered prayer... That is the mistake this lesson could cause if we are not careful — so let me say it as plain as I know how.

Paul had no kink in his line… Paul asked three times – and got a no – and God told him why . . . and it had nothing to do with sin.

Part Four of this study is about “that kind” of no – and Part Four is the other half of this part… We need them both or we will get this wrong… Because there are two different kinds of no – and they do not look one bit alike.

Some no's are about sin... Something is in the way — the hose is kinked and the man knows what it is – if he will stop and be honest about it.

Some no's are about wisdom… Nothing is in the way at all… God simply knows something that we do not know. . . and He is not going to hand His child a thing that would hurt him…

And a man who cannot tell those two apart – is going to go wrong – in one of two directions…

One man decides that “every no” is wisdom… So - he never looks at himself at all — he has a ready answer for everything – and he never once walks down that hose… That man can carry a kink for twenty years and call it the will of God.

The other man decides every no is sin… So he tears himself apart hunting for a fault that may not even be there . . . he buries a child and lies awake at three in the morning asking God what he did wrong… That man is being crushed under a load God never put on him.

I have sat with both – and the second one is worse… So – how does a man tell?

He goes down the list — honestly – one at a time... If God shows him something – he deals with it and quits looking… And if God does not show him anything — then he leaves it alone – and lets it be Paul's kind of no.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

His hand is not shortened – His ear is not heavy . . . that is where this started and that is where it lands.

If the water is not coming out the end of the hose – then it is worth walking the line before we decide God has gone quiet on us… And most of the time the kink is close – and it is small – and it has a name.

And the confessing does not cost anything but honesty.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Go down the six things which will hinder prayer – slowly – and one at a time . . . not as a list of sins – but as a walk down the hose… Look for…

Something I am holding onto… Something God has said that I will not hear . . . a life that is arguing with my asking . . . a wrong reason underneath a right request . . . my wife… or Somebody I have not forgiven.

And where you find the kink – say the same thing about it that God says . . . then go on and pray – and do not spend one more minute on it – because He is faithful and just – and the matter is closed.

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NEXT — Part Nine: The Helper We Forget. Paul says we do not know what we should pray for as we ought . . . that is a hard admission . . . and God did not leave us alone with it.

God Is Light — The Deep Study

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, October 21, 2026 1-2-3 John · Unit 2 Deep Study · 1 John 1:5-10

► Watch this lesson on video (35:16)

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THE ONE POINT: God is not asking for a perfect record — God is asking for an HONEST WALK.

Last time we were in 1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through 10, and we saw that God is light and that John named three things people SAY that are lies. In verse 6 they say, “I have fellowship with God” while they are walking in darkness. In verse 8 they say, “There is no sin in me, I’m perfect now.” And in verse 10 they say, “I have never sinned” — and I believe that one probably grows out of a twisted idea about predestination, that now that I’m saved I don’t sin anymore. Tonight we are going over the same six verses, only slower, and we are going to notice some of the words John picked out on purpose.

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 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 that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5–10)

Notice that the blood cleansing us in verse 7 is not talking about WORKING to gain our salvation or to keep it — it is talking about something completely different, and we will get to that.

The three claims get bolder

The first claim is about our RELATIONSHIP — “I have fellowship with God” while we are walking around in the shaded area (less light, a little compromise) — and if we say that, we are not telling the truth. The second claim is about what is IN us right now — “I’m a child of God, so there is nothing evil or dark in me anymore because I’m born of God” — and we say that in an effort to deceive others into thinking we are something we are really not. The third claim is about our PAST — “I have never sinned” — and I suppose that comes from thinking, well, I was predestined to be a child of God, so surely I have always been a notch above everybody else. The first two are bad enough, but the third one is literally contradicting God, calling Him a liar to His face.

Now you say, preacher, that is kind of harsh. Well, look at Romans 3:23 and after reading what it says, how could anybody in their right mind say “I have never sinned.”

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)

It seems to me those three claims are an attempt to make our life look like Mary Poppins — practically perfect — but once again God is not asking for perfection, He is asking for honesty. Can we say the same thing about our life that God says about our life?

A walk is a pattern — not a snapshot

We talk about our walk of life, but what does that mean? A walk is describing a PATTERN, not a snapshot. Somebody says, “I got a picture of you when you stumbled” — well, that is not our walk of life. Our walk is our DIRECTION, not one picture of the many mistakes we all make over and over. A fall, a stumble, a trip — that is not the walk of our life, and the devil would love for us to think it is, so we will get all discouraged. But a child of God can trip and fall right in the very brightest part of the day, in the full light.

Now you say, preacher, if we are really saved, would we get off the straight and narrow? Well, what about Peter? Do you think Peter was lost when he denied the Lord not once, not twice, but three times, boldface, even cursing — “I know not the man”? Peter wasn’t lost, he was tripped up. And what about Thomas, “I’m not going to believe it unless I stick my hand right through His side” — and then the Lord shows up and Thomas says, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas wasn’t lost either, he just stumbled. And don’t you sit there and say, “Oh, I would never do that,” because you are setting yourself up for a fall.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

Notice what Proverbs 24 and Psalm 37 say about the man who falls:

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16)

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23–24)

Do you think the good man gets up after he falls because he is a good man — or because the Lord is holding his hand? When this preacher falls and stumbles like Peter and Thomas did, I don’t give up because I’m something special and strong — look what the Psalm says, the LORD upholdeth him with His hand. Now I’m reminded of the sow and the dog going back to their mire and their vomit. If I make a false profession of faith it is not uncommon to be on fire for a while and then just give up and go back to the way it was before, because my nature never changed — I just got emotional, and when reality set in I went back to the way I had always been. But if salvation could be lost, then a fall COULD utterly cast us down, and God says it is not going to happen.

I think a good way to explain it is that some of us are just quicker learners than others. In school they have ordinary school, and for those a little slower to get the concept they have after-school tutoring, and if you still don’t get the lesson they have summer school. Children of God are just like that — some get it the first time, some have to stay after school, and some have to enroll in summer school — but nobody gets expelled.

And think about a little baby. When we were teaching Haley and Sarah to walk, Summer would sit on one couch and I would sit on the other and we had the biggest time going back and forth, and sometimes Haley would fall — but the point is she always fell MOVING TOWARD HER DADDY. That is the picture I want us to keep in our minds. We are not going to live a perfect life, but there is a difference between falling while we are moving closer to God and His will, and falling while we are trying to get away from God.

My own stumble — and the shoe

I have told you about my college experience. Proverbs was always right in my line of sight, and my direction toward what was good, toward Christianity and righteousness, never changed — but I did stumble. My error in thinking was, “All this stuff is just around me, you can’t get away from it,” so I talked myself into following the wicked from a distance — not right behind them, but from a distance. I stepped off the path just long enough to see what was going on, and I justified it by always keeping one foot touching the straight and narrow. I am long-legged, and I stretched that other foot just as far away as I could without ever actually leaving what I knew to be true.

Pretend you are all dressed up for a fancy wedding — tuxedo, shiny shoes, the whole works — and everybody looks at your feet. One shoe is shined up like a mirror, but the other one has cow manure all over it, and nobody has to look down to know something is wrong because when you walk in the room it is “Oh man, do you smell that?” That is what my attitude was in college. I didn’t cross the fence, I just got close to the wire, I was still headed toward God, I was not off the beaten path — that was my justification — but I was ignoring the mess on one of my shoes.

An honest walk is a DIRECTION, not a spotless record. But our direction never gives us permission to sin (“it’ll be okay, I’m still touching the straight and narrow” — well, what about the foot that’s in the mess?), and it does NOT remove the consequences. King David was forgiven, but bad things happened, and the children of Israel went into the promised land and fell short of complete obedience — they didn’t get booted out, but they sure have had problems ever since because of the consequences.

Confession is agreeing — not performing

Now to confess is to AGREE, not to improve our behavior. We have already learned that to confess means to say the same thing about our sin that God says about it, instead of justifying ourselves because we are really close to where we ought to be. Tonight let’s see what confession is NOT. It is not crying enough over what we did. It is not promising “I will never do that again.” It is not punishing ourselves like penance. And it is not justifying it by saying “well, I’ve got one clean shoe.”

Have you ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar and wondered, did God honor my confession, was I sorry enough? God never asks you and me to get out a quart jar or a measuring cup and measure the tears we shed over our guilt. All He asked us to do was AGREE with Him. And here is what jumped out at me as I studied this — if we can’t see our hand in the cookie jar, we will never take it out. So confession is a TEACHING tool. One purpose of confession (I guess there are others) is to show this preacher that I’m not where I ought to be.

David simply acknowledged his sin and God forgave him.

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5)

And in Luke 18 the publican prayed only seven words, and that is all it took — Jesus said he went home justified rather than the other.

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:13–14)

Now even when we truly regret some misbehavior, we often think — and I have thought it myself — “I really feel bad about this, but there must be something wrong with me because I’m still struggling to stay away from what I got caught with.” Does that mean something is wrong with me? Notice Galatians 5:17, and notice before we get there that it says we CANNOT do the things we would, for a pretty obvious reason.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17)

There is nothing about the Christian life that is one-and-done, like a ball tournament where you lose and you are out. I can’t say, “I conquered that particular sin and I will never face it again.” Just because Dardanelle beats Danville this year does not mean there won’t be a struggle to do the same thing next year. I may conquer my weakness today, but I will face exactly the same thing tomorrow. So the test of a Christian is not PERFECTION, the test of a Christian is ENDURANCE — are we going to keep up the struggle or are we going to quit? Our walk is going to be covered with falls and stumbles, but in spite of falling are we going to get up and continue? Ball players don’t quit after a loss, they practice and go back out on the field the next week, and a Christian is not somebody who is perfect but somebody who never changes directions.

Think about the North Star. You are in a ship, and there are two things moving it — the sails catching the wind, and the currents in the sea. The sail is your steering wheel, and you are pointing the vessel toward the North Star, but you can’t do anything about the current that is constantly trying to push the ship off course. If we keep our eye on God’s will, it will be pretty obvious when we begin to drift, and we make an adjustment with the sail so we true our course back up. So have we been feeling bad about something instead of simply surrendering and agreeing with God about it?

Faithful and just — punishment and chastisement

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

To be FAITHFUL means God will keep His promise — if we confess, He WILL forgive. To be JUST means the debt has already been paid. And there is a difference between punishment and chastisement. Punishment is payment owed for something done wrong, the way you pay for a crime by going to prison. Correction is not punishment, correction is teaching how to avoid the crime. Punishment satisfies the law of the harvest, but chastisement CHANGES the child of God and teaches him how to avoid the misbehavior. What is wisdom? Wisdom is being able to see the difference between good and bad, and there is nothing much better than a lesson from God to remind us to pay a little better attention. The last time I didn’t avoid it I got that mess all over my good shoe, and I don’t want to repeat that. If we were never corrected we wouldn’t have a clue we were doing anything wrong.

I skipped over quite a bit of material because I was running out of time (that will be posted on our website as a fill-in for anyone who wants to go a little deeper). Let’s go to Romans 3:26.

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)

So God is just, and God is the One who justifies the believer who receives and accepts the payment. Jesus is saying, “I have paid his debt for him,” and the Holy Spirit in our hearts is like the receipt. Why do we keep a receipt? To prove we purchased the item. Why do you think the Holy Spirit is in our hearts? To give us proof our sin debt has been paid.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

The word cleanseth does not mean one-and-done, it means He KEEPS ON cleansing, every day that we choose to walk in the light. Have you ever had a splinter? You pick it out and that is a relief, but there is still a sore place, red and irritated. When we confess our sins God pulls out the splinter, but then He also puts salve on the wound to keep it from getting infected. And the correction we receive through chastisement is like God saying, “Preacher, if you are going to handle splintery wood, what do you think a glove is for?” If I pay attention to the lesson and allow myself to be corrected, then every time that temptation comes I remember — put the glove on — and the glove protects me from being wounded the way I was before. That does not mean we have to be saved over every week or every month. He is talking about our physical lives, and if we want to stay uninfected by the temptations we tend to yield to, we need to learn what the glove is. You remember Proverbs on the way of the wicked — avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, go some other way.

David — the penalty paid, the harvest not cancelled

“And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13)

David was forgiven, but then the child died, and God said the sword would never leave his house. The cross paid for David’s sin, but the sin David committed had a lingering effect — that is the law of the HARVEST, and it gets worse, because sin produces fruit and once it is set in motion it just keeps growing bigger and bigger. God cancelled the penalty (David’s death) but God did NOT cancel the harvest. Once a seed is planted it sprouts and produces more and more seeds. Have you ever wondered why the world just keeps getting worse and worse? Plant one seed and it grows up and produces more than the one it started with, and that is what sin does.

The cross was never about stopping sin. The cross was about PAYING for sin, about allowing the sinner to escape the penalty of sin, and chastisement is what teaches us how to avoid a repeat performance. For God to show Himself just means He is FAIR. God did not erase the harvest of David’s sin, the cross paid the price to save David’s soul because David was guilty, which is different from God breaking His own law of the harvest to show favoritism by erasing the consequences. The Bible tells us these things happened to them for examples so we would not lust after what they lusted after, and if God removed the consequences of sin for David, why wouldn’t He do the same thing for me? That is the difference between paying the price for my sins and correcting my behavior — teaching me how to avoid the things that will bring bad consequences into my present life and rob me of rewards in the future.

So don’t get confused. The penalty has already been paid. Chastisement is not punishment — chastisement is TEACHING, teaching us how to be better so we will have a better quality of life and a better relationship with Jesus Christ.

(Invitation — hymn number 392.)

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 7: The Bible Agrees With Itself

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 7 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took John 14:15 home, and read its next-door neighbor:

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." — John 14:15

You read the whole verse, then its neighbor, verse 16: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter." The neighbor promised help — you do not keep His commandments on your own strength; the Spirit of God abides with you. That was last lesson's tool: a verse has neighbors; read them.

Now weigh one word in it — keep. Do not read it as merely "behave." In the Book, "keep" is a watchman's word: to guard, to watch over, to hold safe. Paul could say at the end, "I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7) — he guarded it whole, to his last breath. So "keep my commandments" is more than good conduct. It means guard His words: treasure them, hold them fast, and let no one twist them or take them from you — the way you saw last lesson that a verse can be twisted. Love guards what it loves. Now, one more tool.

The Verse

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." — John 13:34

The Question

Jesus calls it a new commandment — to love one another. But turn back to the Old Testament, and God said it long before: "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). If love was commanded all the way back there, how is this one new? Does the New Testament throw out the Old? Do the two halves of the Book fight each other?

The Tool — walked together

First, the tools you already have. Ask your questions. WHO? The Lord Jesus — and this is a command, so who is it spoken to? His own disciples; the "one another" is the family of believers. WHAT? A command: love one another. WHEN? The verse does not date it — an empty box; but the neighbors (John 13) fill it: the Last Supper, the night before the cross. WHERE? The upper room, from that same chapter. WHY? The verse gives its reason in four words: "as I have loved you."

Run the rest of your tools before we name the new one. Read the whole verse to its end — "as I have loved you, that ye also love one another"; the measure is in the last words. Every command has an address — you found it: His own, the family of believers. A verse has neighbors — and John 13 gave you the when and the where. Is there a word for the Bible's own dictionary? Yes — new — and we draw it up below. Does a clear verse need to explain a dark one? Not here — that tool rests; this is not a dark verse, but two verses that seem to disagree. And settling that is the new tool.

So here it is. TOOL #7: the Bible agrees with itself — it never contradicts itself. When two verses seem to fight, the fight is in our reading, not in the Book. Read closer, and they lock together like a key in a lock. (When two verses seem to clash, look up the word they share — The Helper page shows how.) So "new" cannot mean the old command was wrong or thrown away. Look closer at that one word.

ONE WORD

NEW. The language the New Testament was written in has two words for "new," and they do not mean the same thing.

One means new in time — young, lately come. A calf born this morning is new that way. It did not exist yesterday. Yet it is no different from every calf before it — the same old kind of creature, only younger.

The other means new in kind — a thing of a sort that never was. The first airplane was new that way. Men had traveled for thousands of years — on foot, on horses, in carts, in ships. But when that first machine lifted off the ground, it was not a faster horse or a bigger cart. It was a new kind of thing altogether.

John 13:34 uses the second word. So the duty to love is not young — it is old as Moses: "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). What the Lord makes new is the KIND. The old command measured love by yourself — love your neighbor as you love you. The new command measures it by Him — "as I have loved you," all the way to the cross. It is the same old duty to love, lifted to a new order — the way flight is still travel, but travel of a kind the world had never seen. The New did not throw out the old command; it raised it. The Book agrees with itself.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. As you read it, watch for a signpost in the very first words:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." — 1 Corinthians 2:9

Did you catch it? "As it is written" is a signpost — it means Paul is quoting Scripture. He reaches back to the Old Testament, to Isaiah (64:4), and sets it down in the New. Two Testaments, hundreds of years apart, one Book, agreeing perfectly. That is the tool in your hand. And do not miss what it says: no eye, no ear, no heart has ever taken in "the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." That is your hope — and the reason to love Him and follow on.

Your Toolbox So Far

1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY.   2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word.   3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to.   4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.   5. Clear explains complex — let a plain verse light up a deep one.   6. A verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after.   7. The Bible agrees with itself — when two verses seem to clash, read closer; they lock together.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: sometimes the word we need is bigger than our own can carry — and the Book reaches for a stronger one.

‹ Lesson 6 — Read a Verse's Neighbors  •  The Course Index — all lessons

Job — When We Don’t Know Why

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, October 18, 2026 Route 66 · Book 02 · Job 28:28

► Watch this lesson on video (37:03)

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THE ONE POINT: God does not ask us to figure out WHY we are having the trouble we are having — God asks us to keep turning away from evil, even in the middle of that trouble.

Why We Open in Proverbs

Now you remember our homework from the last time we were in Job — a chapter a day in Proverbs. And I meant it . . . a chapter a day, and when you get to the end, don’t quit — start back over at chapter one. A chapter a day in Proverbs for as long as we live would not hurt a single one of us.

I said we were going to take a deeper dive into Job tonight, and we are — but there is a REASON we open in Proverbs . . . hold that, and you will see it before we are done. Notice Proverbs 4, verses 14 and 15:

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

In our daily walk of life there are only two directions we can travel — we can go on in the same direction the world is going, the path of the wicked — or we can turn clean around and avoid it. Now I am not talking about taking a stumble every now and then . . . I am not talking about whether we can live a wicked life . . . I am talking about the DIRECTION we have pointed our lives.

And do you remember the three lies we found over in 1 John 1, verses 5 through 10? One lie said, “I can have fellowship with God and still walk in darkness.” The second said, “There is no sin in me — I have arrived.” And the third looked back and said, “I have always been in the truth — I have never sinned.” Those three lies are exactly what grows up in a life that will NOT avoid the path of the wicked — we deceive ourselves . . . we deceive others . . . and in the end we flatly contradict God, for He tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Wisdom Has to Be Dug For — in the Right Place

Last time in Job we saw the miners — men who turn the mountains over by the roots, who dig in the dark places of the earth. And the point was this: a man can dig to the very center of the earth hunting for wisdom and never find it there. Wisdom is found in the Bible. Now it is true that wisdom CAN be found by searching — but only if we search in the right place. Notice Proverbs 2, verses 1 through 5:

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Seek her as silver . . . search for her as for hid treasures. Keep digging.

The Key Verse — Two Halves

Every book in the Bible pretty much has a key verse — one verse that opens the meaning of the whole book. The key verse of Job is chapter 28, verse 28. And notice it falls into two halves — and now you will see why we started out so heavy in Proverbs:

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

The fear of the Lord — that is the first half . . . to depart from evil — that is the second half. And right there is the ONE POINT of our lesson. God does not say, “Your job in life is to figure out WHY you are having all this trouble.” Our job in life is to depart from evil — He has handed us a shovel to dig for wisdom, and He wants us NEVER to lay that shovel down.

Job Was Already Living the Key Verse

Now when we first meet Job, we find a man who was ALREADY living this key verse, long before any storm ever came. Notice the very first verse of the book:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Now “perfect” does not mean sinless — it means mature in wisdom and understanding . . . a man who had spent his whole life searching for wisdom the way you would search for silver and gold. And “eschewed” — there is a word we do not use anymore — “eschewed evil” means he TURNED AWAY from evil. When Job saw evil over here, he did not do the way you and I so often do . . . ease a little closer just to see what all the fuss is about . . . no, when he saw evil, he turned, and he went the other way.

And those are the very two things we just read in the key verse — fear God, and turn away from evil. Even God said the same two things about him. Notice chapter 1, verse 8, when Satan claimed Job only served God for the blessings:

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Proverbs says the same thing in chapter 3, verse 7:

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

This is the great commandment lived out — to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Notice Matthew 22, verses 37 through 40:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Job had settled that love in his heart BEFORE the storm ever came. He did not wait until the storm lifted to love God — he loved God before the storm, in the storm, and after the storm was over.

The North Star — a Word of Testimony

Now when I was in college there was every temptation you could think of, every single day. My dad always told me that a schoolteacher could not out-teach what a child learned at home. And having been there and bought that t-shirt, that is one of the few things I will have to respectfully disagree with my dad about. I had classmates raised in the same kind of God-fearing home I was raised in — and when they got to college . . . living a Christian life was not even under consideration anymore.

I can say with the psalmist, “my feet were almost gone.” Notice Psalm 73, verse 2, and then verse 17:

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

I did not survive college by any superior willpower — I made it through by FAITH in Proverbs 4:14 and 15. I saw the end of that kind of life . . . and I was not particularly righteous, I just did not want the scars. I had seen enough of a garden to know that if you plant onions it is foolish to stand there expecting tomatoes. Notice Galatians 6, verse 7:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

So when all those temptations came knocking, I had a choice — I could look at God’s word as a CAGE, or I could look at God’s word as PROTECTION. And I am living proof that we do not have to be sinless to be guided by God’s word. Those two verses were my north star. Now being guided by the north star does not mean we travel a dead-straight line — we get caught in a current, we get blown off course, we trip, we stumble. But the whole goal is this: when we DO stumble, we stumble in the direction we are already traveling.

Job Lost Everything

Now Job lost everything. Notice chapter 1, verse 3:

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

And in ONE DAY it was gone — every possession, and ten children dead. Notice what he said — right in the middle of the worst set of circumstances a man could humanly be handed — chapter 1, verses 21 and 22:

And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

So what is the one point of our lesson? God does not ask us to figure out WHY — God asks us to keep turning away from evil, even in the midst of those circumstances.

Never Lay the Shovel Down

He has given us a shovel to dig for wisdom, and He wants us never to set it down. Think of a man with a metal detector out on the beach. He is covered in sand . . . the sun is hot . . . he is thirsty . . . he has carried that silly thing all day long — and it is getting HEAVY, and he has not found a single thing. “I was saved, preacher — I have been trying to do right — and I still did not get that promotion, and I had two flats this week.” You see the comparison? Sometimes the metal detector gets heavy — but the patience of Job teaches us: do not EVER lay the metal detector down. Notice Job 23, verse 10:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

God knew the direction of Job’s life — Job was just a man, he may have drifted a little to the right or the left — but he never changed DIRECTIONS . . . and in the end he came forth as gold.

To Depart from Evil Is Understanding

Now look again at the second half of the key verse — to depart from evil is understanding. This is the road that leads to the casino, and this is the road that leads to church. You are never going to get to the church at the end of this road as long as you are walking the road that leads to the casino — we have to make a CHOICE. To depart means to turn OFF the road we are on . . . to take the detour. And understanding is being able to tell the difference between the right road and the wrong road.

It is like me standing here without my glasses. I can tell there are people out there, but I could not tell you which is which. Wisdom is what brings it all into focus — now I can see without a doubt, THIS is wrong, and THIS is right . . . and I need to avoid the one and give myself only to the other.

The Shadows

Temptation knocks on the door of our heart — and it knocks HARDER the deeper we get into the shadows. Remember we had a lesson not long ago on how God is light. Well, if God is light, what is a place of less light? That is where God begins to lose His influence over those who serve Him. We wander off into the shadows . . . the temptations grow bolder . . . and they knock harder. Now this does not mean we lose our salvation — it simply means we have quit minding our heavenly Father.

Have you ever been bitter when you had no real cause to be bitter? Have you ever been tempted to take a little shot of something just to settle your nerves and sleep a little better? Those are the very shadows a child of God has to turn away from. “Well, preacher, I know my life is not what it ought to be right now — so I am going to wait until things get better, and then I will start coming to church.” Now listen to how that sounds: “I have got a bad pain, and I am afraid my cancer has come back — but I am going to wait and go to the doctor when I start feeling better.” We would never say it about the doctor . . . but we say it about the church and the Lord all the time, and it makes no more sense the one way than the other.

It is like a frog. Throw a frog into a pan of hot water and he will jump straight out — but set him in the pan while the water is cool and then warm it up slow, and he will sit right there until he is boiled. That is exactly how a child of God comes to sin, once he has grown comfortable sitting next to it. Notice Proverbs 4:14 and 15 one more time — avoid it, pass NOT by it, turn from it, and pass away. My mistake in college was that I would not jump into the middle of what was wrong . . . I would just ease a little closer . . . just get close enough to see what all the fuss was about. And that has an effect on a child of God, and it is not a good one.

Job’s Friends Were Wrong

Now Job had some friends sitting there telling him the reason for all his trouble was plain — he was being punished for some sin, and all he had to do was admit it and everything would be fine. I have known a lot of people who look at every hard circumstance as God punishing them for something. But that is simply not so. Notice what God Himself says to one of those friends in Job 42, verse 7:

And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

Now let me be honest about myself. If every sickness, every broken bone, every lost loved one were God paying me back for my misdeeds, then I would never have a well day — every bone in my body would already be broken, and I would have no loved ones left living. That is not the way God works.

Chastisement is not punishment — chastisement is God teaching us what to avoid. The reason it BURNS when we touch a hot stove is so we will learn to stay away from the hot stove. Pain does not have to be permanent — but it does have to be sharp enough to get our attention. We sang it tonight . . . Jesus paid it ALL. If He had to punish me for every wrong, then He has not paid it all. But He has. So when a hard thing comes, it is not sent to collect a debt that Jesus already paid — it is sent to teach me I have gone too far in one direction, and every time I touch that stove it is going to burn, until I learn to stay away from it.

How the Book Ends

So how does the book of Job end? Job never did get his explanation — not one that we can read. But he got something better. Notice chapter 42, verse 5:

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

He had heard of God all his life . . . now he SAW Him. And his latter end was greater than his beginning. Notice chapter 42, verse 12:

So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

Now we have to be careful right here — this is NOT a promise that God will hand us more stuff after a hard time than we had before it. Notice James 5, verse 11:

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Let me tell you about my own big catastrophe — the cancer. On this side of it, after a world of pain, the cancer is cured. But on this side of the cure I did not find a latter end that was richer than the beginning. I had to sell eighty acres. I had to sell what to me was the perfect house — and neither one has ever been replaced. I am in a house with eight-foot ceilings where I hang my head in the ceiling fan. Cancer ruined about every plan I had made for my golden years.

But the latter end of THIS was not more prosperity — the latter end of this, for me, was more KNOWLEDGE and more UNDERSTANDING. I know more on this side of cancer than I knew on the other side of it . . . I am literally a changed man. And is a comfortable present worth more than that? Would we trade good circumstances in this short life for only average circumstances in all of eternity? Notice 1 Corinthians 3, verses 12 through 15:

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

It is possible to enter heaven with a saved soul and a lost LIFE — saved, yet so as by fire. What this unpleasant thing has taught me is worth more than everything I had planned, and more than everything the cancer took.

Keep Digging

So as we close — once again, God does not ask us to figure out WHY we are in the shape we are in . . . God asks us to keep turning away from evil, and keep digging. Our goal ought to be to enter heaven with a shovel worn plumb out — not a shovel that barely had the paint scratched. We get hold of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding by searching for them as for a hid treasure — and hid treasure is always buried . . . always hard to find. They are the greatest gems a man could ever get his hands on in this life.

Use your shovel . . . follow Job . . . and every single day for the rest of your life, read a chapter in Proverbs. That is the only way I made it. I was raised in a godly family — but the world around us can out-teach what mom and dad teach . . . I am sorry, Dad, but that is the truth . . . and a chapter of Proverbs every day can help even the balance. Please consider what you have heard.

Let the Redeemed Say So

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, October 18, 2026 Give Thanks · Lesson 2 · Psalm 107:1-2

► Watch the video (3:39)

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A note about this lesson: early in the message the phone that was recording this service lost its signal, so the video on YouTube carries only the opening of the lesson. Because there is no recording of the whole message to write up, what follows is the manuscript Pastor Chuck preached from, so the whole lesson can be read even though the whole lesson could not be watched.

The One Point

IF WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED - THEN WE NEED TO SAY SO.

I. A Psalm That Some of Us Already Know

All right. This morning - we are in the 107th Psalm.

And some of you are already smiling - because we spent a good part of this summer - on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights - in the 107th Psalm. For those of you who were not with us on those evenings - the 107th Psalm tells us about FOUR kinds of people who got themselves into trouble . . . and God rescued every one of them.

And if you will remember - two weeks ago - on the morning that we stood on the first step of the Great Staircase - we closed our lesson on the first two verses of this same psalm. This morning - I want us to open those two verses up.

“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” (Psalm 107:1-2).

Last Sunday morning - we were in the 100th Psalm - and we learned that thanksgiving is the front door to all worship. Well - this morning - the 107th Psalm tells us WHO is told to come through that front door - the REDEEMED. And the 107th Psalm tells us WHAT the redeemed who walk through that front door are supposed to do - the redeemed are supposed to SAY SO.

My story - a time when I got help and said so

I remember when I had cancer - and all of the help that I got from Andy and Haley. Sarah was just about to have Wyatt when I started having problems - and by the time I started treatments - Wyatt was just a newborn. Haley did “everything” to get my treatments started - Andy took off work to take me to Chicago for one of my treatments . . . What they did for me was a big deal then - and in my mind - it is STILL a big deal. I say this to put meaning behind the statement “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” My daughter, in all PROBABILITY, saved my life - and I am certainly NOT ASHAMED to say so . . . God saved our eternal souls - so why are we so often hesitant to say so?

Now, the one point of our lesson this morning is that - if we have been redeemed - then we need to say so. There is NO REASON at all not to.

II. What It Cost

A. Redeemed means being bought back.

Think about a pawn shop. A pawn shop makes its money like this - I have an item - I take it to the pawn shop - they take the item - and they give me a few dollars along with a ticket that I can use to get the item back. Suppose I pawn the pocket knife that I got from my dad. I can’t go into the pawn shop and just take my dad’s knife. To get the knife back I have to show the ticket, which proves ownership - and I have to PAY THE PRICE to buy it back (to redeem the item).

B. Israel in Egypt.

“Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:” (Exodus 6:6).

In regard to our pawn shop example - Pharaoh had a claim on the children of Israel. And God walked into the devil’s pawn shop - with the intent of REDEEMING the nation of Israel.

The example here is that when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden - all of mankind FELL into sin - which means that sin put a claim ticket on our soul - “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The only way to cancel that claim ticket - and keep our souls out of Satan’s hands for eternity - was for someone else to PAY the price. The price for this claim on our souls was the voluntary death of a totally sinless man - and this is why God literally became a man - and went to the cross.

And Jesus did not pay the devil one dime. Jesus paid that price to GOD - “an offering and a sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2) - and THAT is what broke the devil’s grip on us.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

You see - in verse 2 - “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed (bought back) from the hand of the enemy.” Before we were saved - SIN had a claim on our soul. The enemy had his hand on us like Pharaoh had his hand on Israel - and was preventing us from escaping. And there was NO WAY that we could pay the price that our enemy was asking - all have sinned - so there was no “sinless” sacrifice available (try picking yourself up by your own boot straps). So - what did it COST God to buy us back - to redeem us from the hand of SIN?

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9).

C. The price of our redemption.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (way of life) received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

To be REDEEMED with the blood of Christ is THE GOSPEL in eight words. The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus - as He took our place in death - providing an escape from spiritual death - through our faith in Jesus.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

When we think about our salvation - do we think about how that, because of sin, our souls have been claimed by Satan - and in order to keep us out of hell - Jesus is literally required to buy them back with the sacrifice of His sinless blood? This is what it means to be redeemed. The nation of Israel were once slaves to the Pharaoh of Egypt . . . but one day God claimed His children and He set them free from the authority that Pharaoh once had over their lives.

D. Four rescues - and ONE answer.

“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses” (Psalm 107:6).

“Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8).

If we forget the cost - then we forget to be thankful.

Now - in each of our lives - we can all go back to a time when we were sinking in the pit - and how God reached down to save us - when we could not save ourselves. And after our salvation experience - not a single one of us has developed some type of super strength so that we no longer needed God to help us in life. If we have been saved - then God has pulled us out of the pit - delivered us from the power that sin once had over us (Pharaoh was master of the slaves in Egypt). But God has not been hiding His helping hand from us since we have been saved. What about that pit of lust - the pit of anger - the pit of doubt - the pit of hypocrisy?

REMEMBER the day that - as one of His children - God pulled us out of this pit and set us free from the hold which this sin had over us. I am not saying that we need to name the pit - but what I am saying is that we need to say that GOD has pulled us out of more pits in life than simply the pit of hell.

So - the redeemed are the ones who should remember what it cost. And the man who remembers what it cost is the man who wants to SAY SO . . . he is the man who is thankful.

III. Say So

A. Why would we WANT to say that we have been redeemed?

“And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing” (Psalm 107:22).

1. God (not self) gets the glory.

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth (properly arranges) his conversation (way of life) aright will I shew the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:23).

Now - I understand that we are PROUD of our freedom - we look at FREEDOM as a RIGHT - and I am not going to argue with that - but there are lots of things that we say are “rights” - but my point here is that just because it is a RIGHT - this does not mean that it is guaranteed. I say this to point out that a Christian life is a life of being set FREE from sin - so that we can become a SLAVE (servant) to God.

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).

I am major patriotic - and I am not remotely interested in living under oppression like Israel was oppressed by Pharaoh. Now - for God to get glory - when we “say so” (regarding our redemption) - is sending a message - and that message is - as much as I value FREEDOM I am willing to give up that freedom to become a SLAVE to God’s will.

Now in the history of humanity - I know of no culture that has ever existed where slavery was valued over freedom . . . but that is exactly the way it is with CHRISTIANITY. For a person to give up his freedom to follow God says something about the person - but it speaks volumes about GOD. And the whole concept of CHRISTIANITY is a burr in the side (source of conviction) to those who choose freedom instead of slavery . . . and this is WHY those who value freedom to serve Satan more than they value the slavery of Christian service lash out so violently against Christians.

2. The church gets fed. Somebody three pews over may need to hear what God has done for us.

“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16).

3. The lost get to hear it. Jesus sent the man that He set free from the demons back home to tell it.

“Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (Mark 5:19).

WHAT WE VALUE - WE CAN’T KEEP SECRET.

Let the REDEEMED of the LORD SAY SO . . . Now we can approach this from several different angles - I’m not embarrassed to say I am saved - but I just don’t want to be pushy - I want to rely upon -

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

Well - that is all fine and well - but if we are not a slave to Jesus through a Christian life - then there will never be any reason for anyone to ask us about a hope in Christ - which will never be visible in our lives.

I am an American - and don’t care who knows it - I believe in traditional American values - and I honestly do not care who knows it. I believe in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ - not of works lest any man should boast - and I am not the least bit concerned about offending someone by shouting this from the top of my voice. My point is - I don’t care who you are - or what you are - a person CANNOT possibly keep from advertising what they value and what they believe.

You cannot keep what you value THE MOST in life a secret - but you can keep what you are ashamed of a secret that you take to your grave - in fact a person will go to great lengths to keep shameful deeds a secret.

“Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42-43).

They did not SAY SO - because they valued something else MORE than they valued God.

IV. This Week

So - if we want to depend upon 1 Peter 3:15 - “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” - then we really need to live our lives so that our neighbor will have REASON to ask us about our faith.

This week - let’s tell ONE person how we got saved . . . just like I am not ashamed to say what Haley and Andy did for me - let’s not be ashamed to SAY SO about what God did for us.

THE ONE POINT: IF WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED - THEN WE NEED TO SAY SO.

Is our life SAYING SO this week? And I suppose that there is MORE than one way to SAY SO other than saying so with our mouth . . . I think that our lives are what should be SAYING that we have been redeemed.

Scripture used (all KJV): Psalm 107:1-2, 6, 8, 22 · Exodus 6:6 · Romans 6:22-23 · Ephesians 5:2 · Hebrews 2:9, 14-15 · 1 Peter 1:18-19 · 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 · Psalm 50:23 · Psalm 66:16 · Mark 5:19 · 1 Peter 3:15 · John 12:42-43.

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The Transcript of What Was Recorded (3:39)

This is the part of the message that the phone recorded before the signal was lost, written out from the video the way it was preached. The "uh"s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. The Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. The manuscript above is what Pastor Chuck preached from; this is what was actually said on the recording.

. . . and look at some of the other things that I put up there.

Now, we have spent some time in the past talking about the things that are found in the 107th Psalm. I'm not going to redo all that, but you remember briefly that there were four different types of people that were described in the 107th Psalm. Four types of trouble, and God rescued every one of them. A couple of weeks ago, we were on the first step of the Great Staircase. Remember the very first thing that is required of us, if we ever intend for our life to be pleasing to God at all, is we need to first learn to fear the Lord.

Now, those were found in the 107th Psalm, the first two verses, and we talked about those at length in a previous lesson, but today we're going to go a little bit more in depth in regard to these two verses. Let's read that 107th Psalm, verses 1 and 2. 107th Psalm, verses 1 and 2.

“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalm 107:1).

And what we're going to focus on this morning is, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” Now, initially, you look at that and you think, well, preacher, you're wanting me to stop everybody on the street corner and tell them about Jesus and tell them that I've been saved. No. Okay, erase that little concept out of your mind. That's not where we're going with this.

“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” (Psalm 107:2).

Now, last week we looked at the 100th Psalm and we learned—you remember what we learned? What was the one thing that we learned from last lesson? Thanksgiving is the front door to all worship. The idea being, if we fail to be thankful in our heart, then our worship really doesn't amount to much. This week, the 107th Psalm, as I say, we go a little bit deeper, tells us who is told to walk into the front door of worship.

Well, it says, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” So the Bible is telling us that if we have been saved, if we are a born-again child of God, then we need to walk through that front door of worship, and we need to be proud enough of what Jesus has done for us that we're willing—even if we may be a little bit shy and hold back on saying, “Well, I'm saved,” saying, “This is what the Lord did for me,” with our mouths—we ought to at least be willing to live the type of life that is a witness.

The recording ends here, when the phone lost its signal.