Thank you again, Pastor. Well, good evening, everyone. And I'd like to quickly thank Fairhaven Baptist Church for hosting the conference this week. I've enjoyed myself. You are definitely given to hospitality. I have been well taken care of in the room I'm staying in and all the things provided for me. So I want to thank you that you're here tonight. I want to thank you for that. And then I will tell you what I told the youth conference, I believe it was yesterday. I did move to North Dakota. I will readily agree that North Dakota is the best-kept secret in the Union. We love it up there. We're glad to be there. We are privileged to serve the Lord at New Testament Baptist Church, and it's a wonderful church, good people, and I feel very honored that the Lord would find me and my family willing or able to go up there and serve Him, and we are definitely glad to be up there. Matter of fact, we're live streaming right now because technology. This is where I relate to young people. technology and also because I am a young person that's why it's that's why it's it's difficult for brother Dameron no I'm just no no I I'm saying it's good it's wisdom you surround yourself with people that are younger than you that's good yeah that's all that's that's all I was saying but I was gonna say we're live-streaming and if I if I'm correct my wife Jen and my daughters are watching right now. So if you'll excuse me for a minute. Hey, girls. Hey. I'm not going to get mushy. I just want to say hi to my girls, and I'll see you tomorrow. And I can't wait. All right? Also watching on the live stream from Ohio are my parents. Yeah. Just give me a minute. I don't get to talk to them that often. Well, that's not true. I talk to them often, but I mean over livestream, so give me a second. Hey, dad, hope you're recovering well. He had surgery. Hope you're recovering well, and I have good news. I can say with authority that Pastor Armacost has found his sparkle. Only three people will get that joke. And then also, mom, don't forget the camera adds 10 pounds. The other five was White Castle down the road, amen? Get it while you're here, amen? No. I am really glad to be here. And all joking aside, I am glad to be here. And I know that it's the end of the conference. The youth have had a wonderful time. And I've seen it. I've observed it. And I know that after the message, there will be awards given out. And there will be some more fun. But I want us to, for the next 40 minutes or so, ask the Lord to help us be serious-minded towards his word and be focused on the message at hand. I don't say this lightly. I come to the pulpit tonight confident that the message I have tonight is the one the Lord wants me to bring. I'm gonna trust that that's answered prayer for the dozens of churches around the country that have been praying and many here that have been praying for me and I want to thank you for that. But I want you to remember that as we go into this message. I think that the skit that was done earlier was such a good introduction to the message. Because what Dr. Mitchell was saying, the drill sergeant, here's what he was saying, that's just biblical Christianity. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 that those believers at Thessalonica, they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Christianity is all about service. And what's happening, the more I see our country, the more evident it is that our country is a mission field itself, and our young people are a mission field. And we need to take serious what the Bible says Christianity is, and not give in to what the culture has begun to say Christianity is. And so with that heart, I'd like us to go to the Lord in prayer, and I'd ask you to ask the Lord to help me, as I preach to you tonight. Our Father in Heaven, thank You for the privilege it is to be here at this conference. I do ask that You would enable me to preach in such a way that every person here, not only the young people from the youth conference, but even those that attend Fairhaven, I pray that every person here would get something from Your Word tonight. Father, I pray that You would keep me from emotionalism. I pray that You would help me discipline my mouth. I pray that You would guide my words. I pray that I would preach in a way that's pleasing to You. I pray that the burden that I believe You've placed on my heart, I pray that it would be seen clearly. And I pray, Father, that all those here sitting, listening, would respond in a way that is pleasing to You. Father, we commit the message to You. We ask that You take it. Make it what You want. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. If you would take your Bible and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and then put your bookmark or finger there, and then also go with me to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 2. We're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians first, but 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and then 1 Samuel chapter 2. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, Many of you have read through this book before. It's a great book focused on a local church. But he says in chapter 10 of First Corinthians, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them." The rock that followed them. Amen? And that rock was Christ. And we realize that Jesus is not a rock. We know that there are pictures and types of our Lord in the Old Testament. Matter of fact, later on in chapter 10, if you look with me at verse 11, the Apostle Paul says, moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition. It happened to them, but it's for our good, he's saying. upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There is, excuse me, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Paul is saying here a very simple truth, simple understanding, that there are pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament, and the things that happen in the Old Testament, they happen for our learning and our good. Before we go back to the Old Testament, I want you to think about who designed the pictures. It wasn't Moses. It was God. God knows His Son. The Son knows Himself. The Spirit knows the Son better than anyone. And so when they make pictures, you can be sure that they're beautiful ones. There's no mistakes in them. Now, the good news is that they're just types and shadows. And I love this about our Lord. Hebrews tells us that we don't need types and shadows anymore. We have the real thing in Jesus Christ. But here's how wonderful Jesus is. I said this last time I was here a couple years ago. I want to remind you. All the types and shadows in the Old Testament They were all needed to show us how wonderful Jesus is. And it would do us well to go back and look at some of the pictures in the Old Testament. God knew how to give pictures that would show who Jesus would be and what He would do. In the Old Testament, you'll find that capital punishment was God's law, but there was something called an avenger of blood from the family of the person who was slain. God knew that there would be perhaps some accidental deaths, and so if that happened, If somebody killed somebody else, he should be put to death. But, if he said, well, it was an accident, there were places that that man could run to. They were called cities of refuge. God designed these, provided a place for the slayer, the one who killed, to flee and to be safe until the facts could be determined. These cities of refuge were a gift from God to Israel, and they are a beautiful picture of Jesus for us. I want you to take your Bible and go back with me now to 2 Samuel 2. 2 Samuel 2. And I hope you'll bear with me tonight as I kind of give you the in-between stories. We don't have the time to read through all the chapters that give us the detail. We'll be looking at those isolated verses as we need to. So I trust that you'll be listening as I give you the background. What's happened is King Saul has died. And Ish-bosheth has taken his place as king. But he's kind of a weakling. He's not a good man. And there's a man named Abner that stays loyal to King Saul's family. And Abner is kind of the one who's the great Oz behind the scenes running everything. And he props Ish-bosheth up. And Abner is his commander-in-chief and his general. And the lines are drawn. David is now settled in Hebron. He is king of Judah. And he has a general, a commander-in-chief, named Joab. And so you can imagine Abner and Joab are rivals. And one day Abner and Joab meet, and they say, you know what? Let's send the young men out. Let's let them fight with each other. And that happens, and they all end up killing each other. And Joab had a younger brother named Azahel. And Azahel saw Abner, and he just couldn't stand the man. He just wanted him dead. He was King David's enemy. And he didn't want him living. He didn't want him trying to continue King Saul's reign. And in a very immature, overzealous decision, this young man Azahel chases after Abner. And it's an unfair fight. Abner basically says this. Abner warns Azahel, don't come after me. Look with me at verse 18 of 2 Samuel chapter 2. He knows what the consequences would be. And there were three sons of Zariah there. Joab, Abishai, and Azahel. Azahel was as light a foot and as a wild roe. And Azahel pursued after Abner. And in going, he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, Asahel, and he answered, I am. And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me, wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? Listen, how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? Howbeit, he refused to turn aside. Wherefore, Abner, with the hinder end of the spear, smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him, and he fell down there, and died in the same place. And it came to pass that as many came to the place where Azahel fell down and died, stood still. Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner, And the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Amah, that lieth before Gilah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. And Joab's brother is dead. Abner killed him. And Joab wants revenge. And Joab is chasing after Abner. He doesn't get him. He doesn't capture him. But Abner made it very clear, don't mess with me, young man. You're going to die. I'm going to kill you. And that's exactly what happened. And why does all this matter? It matters because Joab has not forgotten what Abner did. Time goes on. David is establishing himself in the kingdom. His armies are getting stronger. And Abner and his puppet king, Ishbosheth, are getting weaker. Ishbosheth, perhaps out of insecurity, falsely accuses Abner of immorality. Abner is infuriated. He's upset. And he decides to switch sides and be loyal to David. And so without Ish-bosheth knowing, Abner goes over to meet with David. And David is excited. He is supportive of Abner and offers him peace and sends Abner on his way to go do what Abner said he was going to do. You can imagine how enraged you would be if the king that you have served so faithfully, and loyally, has secretly met with the man who murdered your brother. You can imagine how mad you'd be. You know how mad Joab is. And Joab, enraged, mistreats King David, speaks disrespectfully for him, and sends after Abner. If you'd go with me to chapter 3 of 2 Samuel, and join me in verse 24. Then Joab came to the king and said, What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came unto thee. Why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? We had him. He was here, and you let him go. Verse 25, Thou knowest Abner the son of Nir, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all thou doest. Joab is angry. He's mad. David, you got played. Verse 26, And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah. But David knew it not. I want you to know that Abner had come to David and David sent Abner away and he went away in peace. The king sent Abner away and said, go do what you're going to do and we'll make peace and there will be peace in the kingdom. And all of a sudden Abner gets this message, Hey, Joab wants to talk to you. Now, what do you think that should have done to Abner? Verse 27, And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak to him quietly and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died. for the blood of Azahel his brother." Note verse 27. Joab smote him. He killed him. Why? For the blood of Azahel his brother. And David finds out about this in verse 31. And David said to Joab and to all the people that were with him, rend your clothes and gird you with sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bier. And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And all the people wept. And the king lamented over Abner and said, "'Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou and all the people wept again over him." Why is there such remorse from David? Why is this such a tragic story? Why did David say Abner died like a fool died? Why did he say that Abner died as a fool and he's weeping because it's so tragic? Why is it so tragic? Because it did not have to happen. The Bible not only tells us that Abner died, The Bible tells us where Abner died. In verse 27, the Bible says that Joab took him aside in the gate and smote him there. You see, it's tragic because Hebron was a city of refuge. A few more steps and Abner would have been safe. But he died in the gate. because he wasn't in the city. And I believe there are too many people like that today. They are in church, but they are not in Christ. They are close. But when it comes to our eternity, when it comes to living a life that is supposed to be one of bringing glory to God, close is never good enough. And young people, those that attend Fairhaven, hear me. You do not want to die in church. You want to die in Christ. Abner died in the gate when he could have lived in the city. Why would Abner allow that? I'm going to give you four reasons I believe Abner would allow that. Number one, Abner forgot his position. He knew when Azael was chasing him, if I kill you, Joab is going to come after me. And then somehow when that very man calls and says, hey, I want to meet you, he goes right on back. Why? I think he got comfortable with where he was. He just got word from the king that everything was going to be OK. He heard directly from the king. You go and do what you're going to do and there'll be peace. But see, he got distracted. He turned away from what the king had sent him to do and got distracted. Abner forgot he was a condemned man. If Joab found him, he'd have the right to avenge his brother. Two times in the text of chapter 2 and 3, it tells us that. He forgot his position. Secondly, he forgot his relationship with Joab. The Bible says in John chapter 3, Jesus is speaking and says, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world. And the world loves that. Jesus wasn't a condemner. No, you missed the point. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world because the world is already condemned. Nothing has to happen to show us that we're guilty. We're condemned already. And Abner forgot his position. He forgot the relationship that Joab had with him. Perhaps he dismissed the idea of anything being serious now. Too much time has passed. He used to be concerned about it, but not anymore. He thought he was safe. Things going so well, David said, I'll be fine. I don't have to do what I said I had to do right away. I can go see Joab. Young people, listen, hear me. Your familiarity with truth does not forgive your sin. Christ forgives sin. And being in a good youth group and being in a good church isn't enough. You must flee to Christ. He died for what he had done, but here's the sad part, he didn't have to. David said his hands were not bound, nor his feet in fetters. David understood what happened. David got it. That's why it's so tragic. And there are lost people, even here in this group, who are not bound by confusion of atheism. They're not bound by the delusion of religion. You know the truth. You're not tied to religious rituals or rights. You're not tied to social pressures. You're not bound or fettered. You're in church. But are you in Christ? The cities of refuge are beautiful pictures of Jesus Christ. I want to give you three ways they are. Number one, God appointed the cities, not Moses, not the priests. God did. Why did God do that? Because God knew they'd be needed. John 3.16, there's a reason it's a great verse and popular. For God so loved the world. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Young people, we didn't make that up. God did. The cities of refuge were not Moses's idea. They're not the priest's idea. It was God's idea. Why? Because it's a beautiful picture of grace. Secondly, God's Word announced the cities. And therefore, because God's Word said these are the cities, then those would be the only cities. If you would take your Bible and turn with me to Joshua chapter 20, verse 7. Joshua chapter 20. We're going to be going around a little bit in the Bible. If you're not there when I begin reading, I'm just going to ask that you stop trying to find it, and then you just listen. I want you to hear the Word of God. Joshua chapter 20, verse 7. Well, actually, let's start in verse 1. The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand of Moses." So this is God's idea. This is God talking. Verse 7, and they appoint in Kedesh, and Galilee, and Mount Naphtali, Shechem, and Mount Aphraim, Kerujah. I'm going to, you know what that one is. which is Hebron in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side, Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben and Ramoth and Gilead out of the tribe of Gad and Golan and Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. Listen, these were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel. You understand what that means? That means this. Other cities may have looked bigger. They may have looked stronger. They may have looked nicer. But those cities weren't approved by God. These cities were. And you say, well, I just want to go to the nearest place. If it wasn't approved by God, you can't expect to find refuge. Why does that matter? Because here's why. There's a lot of denominations out there. There's a lot of churches out there that look good and feel good and want you to feel good. But there's only a few that are approved by God. And those are the ones that adhere strictly to what the Bible teaches. God's word said what the cities were, and those are the only cities that would work. In other words, other religions may look better, but God approved only one way. Jesus. And it doesn't matter if it says Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, or Baptist. Traditions don't forgive sin. Jesus does. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. Period. It's not by me and our baptism, and me and rosary beads, and me and candles, and we would all may amen that. But it's also not me and my good work, and my effort, and my attendance, and my dedication. It's Jesus plus nothing. It's only Him. And so other religions may look better, but God only approved one way. Thirdly, the cities of refuge are like Jesus Christ because anyone could access these cities. They were well placed. That was on purpose. They were accessible to all tribes. I want to note something very important about this, because Christians, like the priests in the Old Testament, and I wish we had time to to preach a series on the cities of refuge, but the priest and the city had responsibility to make sure that the way to the city was clear and that obstacles would be removed. In other words, we are to help the lost get to the city of refuge. We ought not be hindering them to get to the city of refuge. We ought to be making sure that the way to Christ is clear. And that when we preach, and when we evangelize, and we live our lives, that nothing gets in the way of Jesus. That He's clearly seen for those that need Him. We are to help the lost get to the cities of refuge. But while those three ways may make the cities of refuge like Jesus, I want to tell you that Jesus Christ is better than the cities of refuge, too. You see, back then, if you had committed, if you'd killed somebody and you needed to flee that city of refuge, and you needed to get there, and you knew that the family of the slain was after you, and they had every right to be after you, and if they caught you, that you would die, you better believe you'd want to get to that city of refuge. But what happens if you get hurt? What do you do then? What if in your effort to get to the city, you're running in the dark so fast and you don't see that tree that fell or that rock that's in the way? And you fall down and you hurt yourself and you can't go any farther. What then? What happens if it's too far away for you? You see, the types and shadows fall short. But the reason Jesus Christ is better than the cities of refuge is because we don't have to make it to where Christ is. He came to us. Some may have gotten hurt on the way, or perhaps they didn't have the strength to make it all the way. This is why I love Romans 5 and verse 6, because it says, But when we were yet without strength, I don't have the ability to get to where I need to get. I don't have the ability to go as far as I need to go. I'm without strength. I'm without hope. But when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. That's me. I could not go to where He was, but praise His name, He came to me. I want you to think about what that means for us. Brother Parrish, is this your son? Does he get embarrassed easily? Okay, could you come up here, buddy? You're gonna picture a sinner, okay? Paternal genes. All right? I want you to stand right here, okay? Now, this is only for the sake of the illustration, okay? I'm not suggesting that I'm this way, all right? But I'm gonna try to illustrate the Lord, God, goodness, all right? And buddy, You can't do anything to get up here where I am, right? But I want you to give me your hand so I can pull you up. You're going to have to do better than that. Come on, man, work harder. Don't you want it? You can't climb up some other way, man. Yeah. Do you want to come up here or not? You're going to have to jump a whole lot higher. You're going to have to go out there and get stronger. You're going to have to work out. You're going to have to do a whole lot of stuff to jump up here and get here. Or, I could come down to where He is, knowing that there's no way physically possible He could get up there. The demand is too great. But what I can do is come down to where He is. This is why Jesus is better than a city of refuge. And we have in religion. Thank you, buddy. You can be seated. We have in religion. We have people working really hard to try to earn God's favor. And before we start thinking Catholicism, Protestantism, we have it in Baptist churches, too. I was one of them. I was a teenager who went forward and rededicated my life for the 12th time, 13th time. I'm crying because I don't have a burden for the lost. Why don't I have a burden for the lost? Why can't I get victory over sin? Why can't I get victory over sin? And I had a well-meaning youth director put his arm around me and said, you need to pray harder. Ask God to give you a burden. Ask God to give you faith. Ask God to help you. And I was. I was trying to do that. But that didn't help. I'm still here. I'm still mad. And then you know what I started thinking? Maybe it doesn't work. Maybe it's just dad and mom's thing. Maybe it doesn't work. But I blessed the day that a man loved me enough and told me, hey, you don't have to try anything anymore. You don't have to try harder. What you got to do is give up. You have to surrender. You have to realize that Jesus did all the work. And so yes, you're in church, and yes, you're in a good church, but you're not in Christ. And that was the day I realized, wait a minute, I can be though. And I didn't have to go a far distance. He had already come to me. Praise the Lord for that. So cities of refuge had to be run to, but Jesus is better because He didn't wait for us to come to Him. He came to where we are. And Jesus' refuge is permanent, and it's eternal. Beloved, our high priest will never die. If you were a person who ran to the city of refuge, as long as the high priest lived, you could live freely in the city. When he died, it would be determined if you were guilty or not. But here's the good news, amen. Praise the Lord, amen. Our high priest is never going to die. We're always going to be okay. Romans chapter 8 says there's no condemnation. To who though? To who though? To those that are in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. In Christ, he's a new creature. I believe with all my heart the reason that we get so frustrated over the lack of the supernatural is because we have accepted the lack of supernatural. We have stopped demanding from our folks and our people that what the Bible says is to be expected. And we have to stop excusing sinful behavior and start expecting holy behavior. Because that's what the Bible says God's people do. It's how they live. And our young people aren't too young to live holy. Our young people aren't too young to live right. But they're in church, but are they in Christ? Young people walking around with doubt and confusion, well-meaning people say, well, it's just the devil that wants to make you doubt. Jesus, God's Spirit, told the Apostle Paul, you say, you look upset. I do get upset about this. Because we're talking about our young people's eternities. And by the way, church members' eternities too. Just because I have a great church, we had two saved this past Sunday. One of them was a church member. Praise the Lord. Everybody needs the gospel. I'm not mad, but I'm burdened. Our young people are frustrated, and we have perhaps well-intentioned people giving, no, it's okay, the devil wants to make you doubt. The Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to say, examine yourself whether you be in the faith. It's okay to take inventory. It's okay to say, hey, is there any evidence of God's work in my life? It's okay to do that. You need to do that. Salvation is real. It's supernatural. It still happens. God hasn't changed His expectations. He hasn't looked at Gabriel and said, well, it is 2019 down there. No, He's still greater than the world. And He's in us. Preaching is lacking potency. Why? Because anybody with talent or anybody that doesn't get nervous in front of people can stand up and preach a set of notes. But if you want to stand up with the authority of God and speak to people's hearts, you're not only going to need to be in Christ, but Christ in you. Galatians 1, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, to do what, Paul? To reveal His Son in me. Not to me, in me. Why? That I might preach Him among the heathen. You want to make an impact among the heathen? You're going to need Christ in you. It's going to take more than an education about Jesus to reach the lost. It's going to take Jesus in you and you in Jesus. I've got to tell you, one of the most beautiful things, and we're done with this, is the meanings of each city. Remember, God designed the cities of refuge. God created this picture. Every time you read about a city of refuge, it's like another beautiful paint stroke across the canvas of who Jesus is. The first city is Kedesh. It means righteousness. It means holy place. Righteousness. We need Jesus' righteousness. Amen? If I stood before God with my own righteousness, that wouldn't happen. But Jesus' righteousness, I can stand before God. Shechem. It means shoulder. Why shoulder? Because He's our rest and He's our strength. I want you to think about, young person, what Jesus did on the cross. The Bible says He bore our sins. Here's why that's beautiful. because He wasn't crushed by them. He bore the sins of the world. Do you understand that? You try to lift up something that's heavier than you are, or heavier than what you can carry, you might eke it up there, but you know what's going to happen sooner or later? It's going to throw you to the ground. But that never happened to our Lord. That's how strong He is. That's how mighty He is. He wasn't crushed by the weight of the sin. He bore it. He carried it. And He cried out like a man from the cross. He didn't whimper, it is finished. He cried out, it is finished. He wasn't whimpering out of existence. He was in complete control of all of His faculties. And to make sure everybody knew, He cried out with a loud voice, it is finished. That's our Lord. But that kind of strength and that kind of power, that ought to be seen in our lives. He's not just the author of your faith. He's the finisher. He which hath begun a good work in you, it will be faithful to complete it. But we've accepted American Christianity where there's no sign of Christ's work in lives. There's no strength. It doesn't take the power of the resurrection to walk through doors of a church. But it does take the power of the resurrection to love that person you couldn't love before, to forgive that family member you couldn't forgive before, to have the attitude you never could have before. That takes the power of the resurrection because that takes the changing of our natures. Shoulder, stress, strength, not only that, Hebron is fellowship. Amen, amen. I'll amen your amen. Remember God in the garden? Before the fall, God would walk in the cool of day with Adam. And then sin happened. Sin causes this chasm. And what happened, young people? When Adam sinned, what did he do? Did he go running to God and saying, God, help us! Save us! No, Adam went and hid himself. But what did God do? God went looking for Adam. That's what God did. When he told Moses, I want you to build a tabernacle, he called it my tabernacle. Read Exodus. It's God's house. It's God's place. Why did God want a tabernacle? Why did God need a tent? Keep reading. That I may dwell among them. How good is our God to want fellowship with us? But there's a problem. We fall short of the glory of God. God will allow no sin in His presence. I remember when I was engaged to my wife, Jen, I worked construction. And I worked with my brother-in-law, which wasn't a good combo. We did construction. We had dug out a basement foundation. And we had tried to seal that basement outer wall with tar. And I say tried intentionally. I got more on me than I did on the wall. He was lowering it down to me with a rope. And if you knew my brother-in-law, you knew that he tends to do things quicker than most others. and it caught a rock and tipped this way and it went all over me. I wasn't happy, right? You try to walk around with tar on you, right? I had it, young people, I had it on my t-shirt, my jeans, I had it all over me, it was disgusting. I was so mad, I can't believe this was. But you know, an interesting thing happened to me. The longer the day wore on, the more used to it I got. By the end of the day, I forgot it was even there. It had dried, I had been working around the rest of the day, and it wasn't that big of a deal. It used to bother me, but not anymore. I got used to it. It wasn't as much of a problem as it used to be. Remember when your attitude used to bother you? Remember when your thought life used to bother you, not so much anymore? You're getting used to it. Well, I made a mistake that day. I'd called my then-fiance, Jen, because after work, we were going to go over to the house for dinner. My mother-in-law is a phenomenal cook. It's where my wife gets it. And it's why I look like the way I look now, all right? True story. My daughter saw my wedding picture, or our wedding picture. She was about four years old. And she looked at the picture. She looked at me. She looked at the picture. She looked at me. And she asked me what happened to my chin. Yes. I doubled it, sweetheart. So I'm going over to my father-in-law and my mother-in-law's house for dinner, and it's great, she's a great cook. If memory serves correctly, she was making chicken parmesan, but because I was coming to the family, it was called chicken parma-josh. See what I did there? Well, no, they did it, I didn't do it, so anyway. So I get to the house, and here's what happens. I pull in. I'm with John. I get out, and John had it all over him, too. And we were all messed. And Jen comes running out, the little evangelist that she was. And she says, stop! Dad said, well, she didn't say it just like that, but because she's watching right now. She says, I didn't say it like that. But anyway. She said, she said, stop! Dad said you can't come in the house. What? Honey, we're hungry. We worked all day. Dad said you can't come in the house. He said you have to wash off with this. And on the deck was a metal can with skull and crossbones and plastic, I'm not joking, plastic wrapped around it, which doesn't give off the impression that this is safe, right? But she said, Dad said you gotta wash off with this so you can't come in the house. Now here's the thing, young people, I want you to hear me out. Did my father-in-law want me in his house? Yes. But not in the condition I was in. But in my stubbornness, I tried to go into the basement, go into the shower down there, wash it off normal. I'm not gonna put that stuff on me, but guess what? It didn't work. I had to use what Jen's dad bought to wash off what was keeping me from going in the house. I think you get the idea. You see, God's not a mean God. God wants fellowship with us, but not in the condition we're in. And no amount of offering, no amount of church attendance, no amount of effort is going to wash off your sin. There's only one thing that can take care of your sin, and it's what the Lord bought. It's His blood. You need that. But see, that doesn't happen by just osmosis. There comes a time when we are humble enough, humbled by God's Holy Spirit, to say, I need that. I need that. I'm apart from God. God wants fellowship with me, and I want fellowship with Him. But I am a sinner. I have fallen short, and I have to take care of this. And there's only one way that that can, and it's Christ. And you flee to Christ. You turn to Him. Number four, Bezier is a fortress. It's a stronghold. Praise the Lord for that. Psalm 61 verse 2, When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Amen? I love that. I love that. I mean, we get overwhelmed, but Christ is above us. He's over us. And He's the one that can place us in there. He's our fortress. He's our stronghold. Ramoth means exalted. Oh, these are beautiful paintbrush strokes, are they not? Righteous, shoulder, fellowship, fortress, exalted. You know, there's a name that's above every other name. And it ain't Baptist. It's Jesus. Hey, look, I love being a Baptist. I'm a Baptist. And I know that there's like, well, we got to take the name Baptist off because there's a bunch of people out there making the Baptist. I get all that. I get all that. But what I believe is that what we do then is we show them what Baptists are truly like. We don't change who we are. We just work hard to show the real thing. No, I don't know of anybody that stops spending real money because there's counterfeits out there. Like, I'm gonna try to find a different currency. I don't wanna be involved in all that counterfeit stuff. That's ridiculous. And if you feel that way, you could give it to me. And I'd be more than happy to carry on the old paths, amen? But the point is this, is that I'm proud to be a Baptist. I'm not ashamed of being a Baptist. I love being a Baptist. But I know this, that no Baptist church can save anybody. Now we can point to the one that can, but we can't. But I'm telling you because I've seen it. I've seen it. So I know it happens. Especially in America. Our young people develop a dependency on church. A dependency on activity. A dependency on a schedule. A dependency on people in the church. And they don't need me. And they don't need you. They need Christ. There must be an utter dependence on Christ. On His work. We have to point Him there. He's exalted. Golan means separated. I'd like you to take your Bible and turn to Colossians chapter 1 and we're done after this. Colossians chapter 1. Golan means separated. That means this. And this is pretty, this is pretty good. This will make Brother Ferguson want to step out. Amen? It means different than all the others. Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 says this. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the prominence. Is that what that says? No, there's a big difference between prominence and preeminence. Prominent means it's just one out of many. He stands out among the crowd, but that's not our Lord. Our Lord doesn't stand out among the crowd. Our Lord stands above the crowd. He is not prominent. He's preeminent. He's over and above how many things? Everything. Everything. That means that in all things, He might have the preeminence. That means in the lessons we give and the messages we preach, in the testimonies that we show, in everything, He has the preeminence. He said, well, you know, we can't make everything about Christ. Jesus did. The Bible says when he began showing the disciples on the way to Emmaus, he got Moses and the prophets and the Old Testament, and he began to show them himself through the Old Testament. I'm not saying that you have to find every verse and make it about Jesus, but I can tell you this, that he's the theme of Scripture. And if we're not careful, we'll develop a bunch of busy, young, nice people. But what they need to be are productive Christians. And that happens only one way, by making Jesus preeminent. It's not about me, and it's not about you, it's about Him. Abner died as a fool died. He knew better. But he wasn't paying attention like he should have been. He accepted meeting Joab in the gate when he should have been mindful and said, I can't meet you here, I need to be in the city. And we have, listen young people, listen Fairhaven, I don't want you stepping into eternity in church. I want you in Christ. I don't want you dying as a fool dies. I can understand the pagan in Papua New Guinea. What I can't understand is a young person who has 66 books God inspired on their lap, knows the truth, knows what's right, and yet never submits to it. I don't need that. I'm too good. Hey, hey, hey, I'm too good. You ever see what I do at church? You ever see how much work I do? You ever heard me preach? Jesus had something like that in Matthew chapter 7. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils? You've got it wrong, Lord. You're saying, I've got to go away, but hold on, look at all the things I've done. Jesus will look at them and say, depart from ye that work iniquity. That word matters. You're lawbreakers. You broke the law. You could have committed a transgression against the law. And all that good work never made up for anything. All your righteousness is as filthy rags. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. That's tragic. There's another group of people at the end of Matthew. Remember them? The Lord says, hey, I'm going to reward you because you fed me when I was hungry, you clothed me when I was naked, you took me in, and you know what they said? Remember what they said? When did we do that? When did we do that? You know why? Because they weren't keeping track. Matthew chapter 7 guys were. I will tell you exactly why I know I am saved and everything has to do about what I'm doing. And not one time did they say, but Lord, remember when you died for me? Remember when you called me by your grace? Remember when you convicted me? None of that. It's all about what I did. I prayed a prayer. I went to church. I was baptized. I was confirmed. All I, I, I. But when Jesus said that in the end of Matthew, they said, when did we do that? He said, when you did the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. Here's why they didn't remember, because it was just part of who they were. It was in their character to just live that way. An orange tree doesn't really stress about producing oranges, it just does. Why? Because there's life in it. We have the living God in our lives, amen? And we have the ability to show forth His fruit on our branches. It's not fruit of the branch, amen, it's fruit of the vine. But it's seen on the branches. Praise the Lord for that. But I think it's time that we start challenging our young people. And stop excusing poor behavior, and ungodly behavior, and rebellious behavior. And ask them, you need to examine yourself whether you'd be in the faith. You're in the gate right now. I want you in the city. Don't die as a fool died. Don't die like Abner. Don't live your life like Abner. Live your life understanding who you are, understanding who God is, and flee to Christ. Flee to the city of refuge. Flee to Christ. He came to you. Amen? No great effort has to be given. Just a simple, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Amen? Praise the Lord for that. And that's all a sinner does. Sinners say, you're right. God's right about him. He's right about me. I don't say this lightly. I know that's the message God wanted me to preach tonight. I struggled with it. I'll admit. I fear man too much. I do. I do. I know you guys don't. I do. And I thought, well, here I am. It's a youth conference. And this is about young people who are in church, but not say, but you know what? I'm not saying this with any arrogance. I don't. But I, I obey the Lord. I have to. I'm going to answer to him one day. And I don't want to leave here knowing what I should have preached and not preached it. But here's what that tells me. And I don't say I don't say this lightly. God doesn't speak to me. He uses this to speak to me. But here's what that tells me. It tells me that there are some people here tonight that needed to hear it. And God loved you enough to put it on the guest speaker's heart to make sure he preached the message to say, don't die in the gate, get in the city, don't settle for church, flee to Christ. Our Father in heaven, thank you for these texts and these