You ready to begin? Chapter 1, verse 14. Title of my message is Crooked Things. Crooked Things. Solomon, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, says, I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. And behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. And then he's going to tell us in verse 15, That which is crooked, cannot be made straight. And that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Dear Father, bless the preaching of Thy Word. Thank You for it. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that inspired it, preserved it. We thank You, Father, for the people of God that You used to give up their lives in many situations to give us this word. Now speak to us and everyone, Lord, give good and honest hearts to hear. In Jesus' holy name, Amen. I believe the last part of this is saying when something's lacking, you cannot fill it up. Now Solomon does not mean in every situation you can't make anything straight or you can't make up a difference. But he's saying there are things in this world that you cannot make straight and there are things that will never be fulfilled. And I believe there are several things that we can learn from this observation of Solomon. And let's take them right now counting one by one as the old preacher tells us to do in this book. So we're going to begin with the first thing. I have probably about five or six points for you today. It's not a three point sermon. It's a five or six point sermon. But let's see if we can actually see what time it is. And all right. That way I don't keep you all day and weary you. But we do want to make sure. that the Lord gives us what we need today, and I pray He will bless this sermon. Now, the first thing I want us to realize is this. Unless God allows it, whatever is crooked cannot be straightened. And this is gonna have several, or a couple of branches to it. Let me say that again. Unless God wants to make it straight or allow you to make it straight, you're not going to get it straight. That's very important. Job chapter 26 says, By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens. His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. God made it crooked. Whether physical things in this world star clusters up in the sky. If God has them crooked, you are not going to make them straight, unless God allows it. They're going to stay that way until God wants them straightened. So we're gonna have to understand that. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7, where we have a similar statement from Solomon. Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? All right. In this first point, I wanna apply it to chastisement. Now moving beyond just the mere reality that you're not going to get up there and straighten up any stars, let's look at this in regard to our Christian walk, and let's get one thing straight. In regard to chastisement, when God messes something up in your life as an affliction or punishment, You will not be able to fix it unless God allows you to fix it. That's important to understand. In the book of Job, it says in chapter 9, Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. Wow! There are many enablers, as you know, who keep people from repenting. They're proud helpers. But there's nothing these proud helpers will be able to do to stop God from bending the circumstances into a sore judgment. Haman, look at all of his authority and power and honor. But when God began to bend the circumstances and make things crooked for Haman, his family and friends says, oh, you're in trouble. You're not going to be able to stand now. There's nothing they could do. The proud helpers that were lifting up Haman, they backed up from him. He said, there's nothing we can do now. In fact, while God's bending the circumstances in judgment, and you will not be able to make them straight, He'll go ahead many times and bend those that are in His way, trying to puff up people that He wants to bring to repentance. They're going to stoop under Him. They might pretend they're upright, but they're not upright in their dealings, and God will make them crooked. Job chapter 12 says, ìBehold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again. He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.î Now Jeremiah lived at a time when Israel was under great judgment, and speaking for the nation, and some of the things he experienced and saw. Jeremiah wrote the Lamentations where he lamented the sore afflictions that came upon Israel. And listen to what he says in chapter 3. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my path crooked. That doesn't mean he turned Jeremiah into a thief. It means that he's under affliction. Things are not straight in his life. As he says in verse 11, He hath turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. Not what he's saying here in verse 11, but what he's about to say. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. So Jeremiah, in the midst of his great afflictions and watching these terrible things come upon the nation of Israel, Jeremiah says, I have hope. I have hope in these afflictions, even though everything's crooked right now. Everything is just out of order. Everything is bent. Nevertheless, I have hope in God's mercy. He's not going to cast off forever. He will have compassion. So when things begin to be crooked in your life, when things get out of order, by all means pray and hope for mercy. But the one thing we want to stress right here today is that don't think that you can go down to Egypt or make a covenant with death or hell to escape God's chastening rod. See, a lot of the Israelites did not repent when Jeremiah warned them of destruction. First, they didn't believe it could happen to them because they're Israelites. And number two, they said, well, even if it did happen, even if the king of Babylon does come and attack us, we, I got it all planned out. I'm not worried about that. Aren't you afraid that God might begin to discipline you like Jeremiah said? Oh, no, no, I'm not worried. Look at Egypt. You know, Egypt will help us. We'll be able to make a covenant with Egypt and everything will go okay. Jeremiah said, I wouldn't do that if I were you. I tell you what, when God begins to smite, you will not be able to get out from under his rod. You understand that? So all your little craftiness and all these things you think, all your plans, no! God will pull the rug right out from under you. He'll begin one by one to knock your chair legs out from under you. So, it's important to have hope in God's mercy through our repentance and subjection and submission. But it's very important that you don't get wise in your own conceit and think that, oh well, if God makes it crooked, I'll just straighten it right back up. Wow! You'll never outwit God. It says in Job chapter 5, He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. You think you'll have it all together. You think that you found a way where you have a backup plan that even if God does this, you'll just do that and you'll be okay. You watch it all evaporate. You watch God begin to work. on all your plans. And you'll see that no, when God begins to plan out how He's going to discipline you, you will not get out from under it, folks. If you do, it's through the mercy of God, and He allowed it. So you better come humbly and walk softly when God begins to smite. So we better fear the Lord, give Him reverence, give Him submission in our afflictions, and it's the only hope you can ever have to undo anything He's begun to bend or twist. Now let's apply this to God's providence in general. You all have, we all have afflictions and crosses and disappointments, and they're not always punishment for sin. Sometimes they are punishments for sin, but not always. But we can take the wisdom of Solomon here and we can learn a big lesson and that is there's some things we're not going to be able to straighten out. We're going to have to accept that some things are bent and crooked. Turn around and be still. There are some things we are not going to be able to fix. And you're not going to be able to reconcile them with perfect justice. God is perfect. His plan is perfect. But you're not going to be able to reconcile some things in this life. This is the atheist with all his questions. Well, what about this? What about that? Well, if you give God a little bit of time, or if you wait till you grow up and get some wisdom, you start understanding a lot of the things in God's wisdom. But some things, because of the nature of your mind being small compared to God, and also because God's not finished yet, there are some things that are crooked that you're not going to make straight. And the sooner we realize that in life, We can get on with serving God and rejoicing in spite of the things we can't change right now. Remember the song, farther along we'll understand it. Farther along we'll understand why. That's what it's talking about. Paul says we see through a glass darkly right now. We can't really see how the picture is going to end up. Our Lord Jesus says, thy kingdom come, we are to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Why do you pray thy kingdom come? You pray, Thy kingdom come, because we don't like how things are down here in one sense. Things are messed up. We want the Lord to come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We want Him to begin to rule this earth so there is perfect justice. Right now, justice is in God's time and providence and plan, and in many cases, He allows evil to be used in that plan. And we look forward to the day when the Lord Jesus comes and rules this world with a rod of iron. And you need to understand there are crooked things that are not going to be straight. There's things that are just not right. Things that are happening, suffering, afflictions, injustice. I've suffered injustice from the state of Texas. through street preaching. That's just not right. Petitioned the Supreme Court to have it all evened out and made right. I didn't get justice. Maybe I will in this life. But one thing I'm sure of, when the Lord comes, there'll be justice. There will be justice. And in any cross or affliction or injustice that you have suffered, God will straighten everything out. Isn't that a blessing? Look at Isaiah 40, every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and look at this, the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. The rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. The promise of the coming kingdom, is that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming and everything that is crooked is going to be made straight. Physically and morally and in regard to God's justice. Nobody is going to say on that day, they better not, that God has done something wrong. And as far as justice, Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. The design of due process in our court system, if it was operating properly, is not going to be able to judge every evil. I mean, you can be sure you get the guilty criminal if you just don't give anybody justice or due process. Just judge everybody. If you're accused, go ahead and just give you the penalty. Then you can make sure nobody gets away with anything, right? But in the process, innocent people will be suffering punishments they don't deserve. So our system is imperfect. And you got crazy, naive people that think that somehow or another they can just get rid of due process and we will be able to have this wonderful kingdom. No, what you take away from one side, now everything's in unevency. You can't take from here to try to fix something over here. Now, innocent people are getting punished. Some people say, well, what do we do? Understand, this isn't the kingdom. This is not the time of perfect justice. Get as close as we can, but we've got to wait on the Lord to make the crooked things straight. We've got to wait on the Lord. He's going to judge everybody. You say, well, what about the person? If we give due process, if they get a jury trial, if they get to face their accusers, if they get to cross-examine, and if the guilt has to be established beyond a reasonable doubt, why, some people will get away with things. Well, you foolish person. How are you going to fix it? Get rid of due process? So now innocent people? Now innocent people get punished? No. We wait for the Lord to come. We do the best we can right now, but understand this is not the kingdom. You pray every day. This is what you pray every day. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is why it's wrong to murmur against God. It's not our place, but God hasn't finished the picture yet. He's painting a picture, and many things are going to work out even in this life if you give God time. Isn't that wonderful? Look at Joseph. Wow, talk about injustice. Talk about some crooked things. Look what his brothers did to him. Then he was attacked in Potiphar's home, falsely accused, went to prison, left in prison. Talk about injustice and crooked things, but hey, God smoothed them all out in this life. God began to make those... just give God time, and He begins to fix things and straighten them up, and you begin to see the picture even in this life. What a blessing! We can have hope in the land of the living! But for those things that are not completed here, we have hope of the coming kingdom. And many people will die not seeing perfect justice. There will be many martyrs. There will be many things that are just not right in this life. And the crooked things will not be made straight. But praise God, we know that in the coming kingdom, God will fix them. So what we need to do is understand that murmuring is so wrong because you've got to let the artist finish his picture. You gotta let the one writing the story finish his story. Philippians 2 says, do all things without murmurings and disputings. that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world." So you've got the world, and the Bible says that there'll be murmurers in the churches in the last days, complainers walking after their own lust. And I'm going to tell you one thing right now. What God says is they cry up to God and say, you're crooked, you're not right. God looks down and says, you're crooked. You're crooked. Because who are you to reply against your Maker? The pot's going to reply against the potter? And not only that, you're misjudging God because He's not done yet. It's like a spoiled kid who gets a birthday present and the parent had what the child asked for out back, but it gave him a temporary present. The child throws it down and says, this isn't what I wanted. What a spoiled little brat. This is what Americans have become. See, this isn't what I asked for. Well, why don't you give God a little bit of time? God is good and God is tender and of tender mercy. Give God a little time. And we don't always get what we asked for because God has to teach us lessons. But our God is good. Let Him finish the picture. Now, there's a problem. that compounds this thing. When you walk in sin, you can't see straight, Luke. When you walk in sin, things become crooked in your eyes that are not crooked. You perceive them to be crooked. The smallest little thing you perceive to be a cross because of your sin. The old word used to be peevish. Charles Bridges says, providentially, how often do the divine appointments appear crooked to man's eyes? Ahab, with all the wealth of his kingdom, for one of a little plot of ground, lays himself down on his bed in vexation. Isn't that amazing? He was the king. He had everything, but he says, life is just crooked. Old Jezebel That rebellious, loud, stubborn witch harlot came to him and says, why are you upset? Why are you fretting? And then he sat there with his thumb in his mouth and pouted. He said, I want that piece of ground right there. I want that vineyard of Nabal. Isn't that something? Isn't that life? See, Solomon says, under the sun, if you're going to walk this way, in the natural earthly man, if you're going to walk this way, The ear will not be full. The eye will not be satisfied. Desire will not be satisfied. He that gets silver won't be satisfied with silver. Your lust will never be satisfied. I mean, people go from mate to mate to mate to mate. Boyfriend, girlfriend. Boyfriend, girlfriend. God forbid, boyfriend, boyfriend in this perverted day and age. They go from marriage to marriage to marriage. Oh, that one will make me happy. That one will make me happy. No, when you're operating in the flesh, fella or gal, you'll never be satisfied. Well, I'll be happy if I'm over there. Well, I'll be happy if I'm over there. Well, maybe life will be better over here. No, because you'll still be there. You'll still be there. And you'll still have your lusts. And you'll still have your inability to rejoice and accept your circumstances, which you've never trained and allowed your patience to teach you in maturity. And the proof is Ahab. You say, well, if I had everything, the wealth of the kingdom, then I'd be happy. Ahab wasn't happy. They say Alexander the Great, if it's true, got down, when he had conquered everything, he got down like a spoiled brat and threw a tantrum, kicking his feet, because he didn't have anything else to conquer, you know. Folks, wow. What about Haman? We mentioned him earlier. Charles Bridges says, ìWith the monarchís favor, the adoration of the people, immense riches and honor, he had a crook.î That means something was not straight. He says, all this availeth me nothing, so long as the bended knee of one poor Jew was wanting, Mordecai wouldn't bow. All of his glory, he confessed it. He said, I don't care about my money. I don't care about my honor. I don't care about all of the good things of the kingdom that I have. None of it matters to me anymore because he won't bow. There it is. There it is. There it is right there. So what am I telling you? I'm telling you not only are there crooked things that will not be made straight in this life, but I'm telling you a lot of the things you think are crooked are because you're looking under the sun. You're not looking at them in God's plan. See, the Bible says the way of transgressors is hard. And we don't look right when we get away from God. And let me tell you this. This is one of the most murmuring, complaining generations that's ever walked the face of the earth. And that's the fulfillment of prophecy. The Bible said there will arise a generation. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2. Look at Jude. There is a generation. that is the most unfulfilled, unsatisfied, dissatisfied, complaining, murmuring generation that ever walked the face of the earth, I believe. And see, here's one problem. Not only are you not being raised right and trained right to not be selfish, But you've got a Facebook generation where everybody posts, look at me, I'm happy, look at my marvelous life, look what I'm doing, look at this, see I'm having fun and you're not. And what these teenagers do is they spend day and night looking at everybody else's post And for a while they try to play the game. They say, well look at me, I'm having fun too. And look at me, I'm having fun. Oh yeah, well you're having that. Well look at me. And they go back and forth and back and forth. But they say, the more you're on Facebook, the unhappier you are. The more unfulfilled you are. Study after study. Why is that? Because you're envying others. You're sitting there with the social media, And you're depressed because, hey, let me tell you one thing. The Bible says the sparks fly upward for everybody, okay? Especially transgressors. These people have crooked things in their life. Don't look over at their life and say, well, look at this. No, they're having flat tires. They're having horrible things happen in their life many times. And when you look at things right, you understand that they have crooked things in their life, just like there's some things that are not straight in your life. So as we move on, I want to go to my next point, and that's this. Don't let the reality of things you cannot change bring you into despair or fatalism or laziness or apathy. This is what happens, folks. I have seen Christian... Wake up now. I've seen Christian after Christian. start out really good, on fire, they learn about the preservation of the Bible, they learn about the accountability truths, and of course they learn the gospel, the free grace of God through faith, they learn all of these doctrines, they get excited about them, and you know what they do? They even learn about family, they learn about standards, they learn about holiness, and they're excited, and they take off running, and they get out here, and they look at this world, and all of a sudden what gets out of the car is this tattooed, pink-haired looking, britches falling down, And they start looking at the world around them. And then they look at Christians. And they look at what's happening in the churches. And you know what? They say, these people, we're in the last days. And it's all over. And you know what they do? They say, why even try? You can't change anything. And you'll hear them. They sit around and start eating donuts and Twinkies and hanging out together. And they say, oh, you're not going to change that world. Who cares about the abortion clinics or street preaching or door knocking? I'm not going to get involved with anybody and start discipling them because they don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear it. And I've had people tell me and look me in my eyes. I said, well, are you leading anybody to the Lord? Are you discipling anybody? They say, oh, they don't want to hear it. I don't have any patience for these people. But somebody had patience with you. Somebody had patience with you. But we're not going to have patience with anybody else. Old John Rice got so afraid of this happening that he began to deny that the prophecies in the Bible were about the last days. When it says in the last days, perilous times will come, they will not endure, sound doctrine, etc. etc. Old John Rice said, well I'm not even going to apply that. That's talking about the days of the Apostle. Now he was wrong about that. Whatever application was for the days of the Apostle, it's looking on to our day. But he says, no, people will use it to stop going soul winning. People will look at the day that we're living in, and they'll say, well, then let's just give up. These people are wicked. What God wants me to do is just drift along in my Christian life on flowery beds of ease, and just let these people go to hell, and let our community, and let our neighborhood, let our country go to hell. Because you're not going to save it, so who cares about anything? That is not the response that we're supposed to make. When Solomon says that there are things crooked that you'll never make it straight, that doesn't mean that you're to give up trying to make things straight that God will allow you to make straight. There's that old poem, I don't really know what it's about very much, but that starfish story where the fellow on the beach takes one of them and they say, well, what are you doing? What does this even matter? All these starfish. Well, he picks it up and he throws it in the ocean and he says it mattered for that one. I don't know what point he was trying to make in that poem, I know nothing about it, but let me say this. When you realize that I might not be able to change everybody in the Ozarks, but if I change that one, it mattered. That mattered. Whatever you're able to do, every good. The Bible says the Lord Jesus went about doing good. At that time, He didn't save the whole Roman Empire. Paul spread the gospel throughout all the Roman Empire. But He didn't change the whole Roman Empire. He did something. And that's what's important, folk. Do what you can. Are you doing something? The Lord Jesus said she did what she could. Are you doing something? He said, Oh, everything's all crooked. Man, do you see what's happening with the the masons and wow, the New World Order and George Soros? Have you seen what's going on here? Do you see what's going on with our country? Do you see what's happening in the churches and the false doctrine and all of it? Wow. Well, don't make that. Don't let that bring you to a place of fatality. I'm sorry, fatalism or depression or weariness. And this is the danger, folks. This is the danger. I have to wrestle with it. We all have to wrestle with it. You look around and you think, wow, people are getting worse and worse and worse. Kids just going crazy. Everything is just blindness. Hey, folks, we got to roll up our sleeves and get out of here and help them. Help them. Start talking to them. And then you get shocked. You realize, wow, This is actually working. I'm actually helping somebody see something. People can change. Why is it that we get so blind to that? I guess because it's getting harder and harder and folks are getting more stubborn and they're less open. They're not knocking the door down to come into your church. They're not asking you how can they change. And it's easy to get upset about things. Our Lord said it this way. He said, the poor you'll always have with you. That's an amazing statement. No matter what welfare programs, no matter what charity programs, you'll always have the poor. So does that mean we just give up helping anybody? No. Well, they'll always have sinners with you, especially in the last days. But don't give up! So now let's read our text again about the last days and see if we find anything very interesting here. Notice it with me, 2 Timothy 4, preach the word, be instant, that means pressing, urgent, lively, be instant, in season and what's it say? Out of season. So we are supposed to have the same energy, the same amount of activity, the same amount of diligence even when it's out of season. Wow, it says the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold. Man, it's hard to get out there when it's cold. Well, it's cold out there today. So what people do is Christians get in their little huddles and they get on Facebook and they play around their computer game. They say, oh, well, why aren't we doing anything for God? They say, oh, we're not going to do that. It's hey, there are people witnessing on Facebook. So I'm not I'm not telling anybody. I'm talking about the people that use it. And that's all they do. There's there's nothing positive or edifying that they ever do And as long as you're doing edifying things in your life, that's my point Out of season You still need to reprove rebuke and exhort now don't miss this with all long-suffering you ever wonder why that's in there and I have. Why lung suffering? What does that mean? That's because the people are not going to put up with what you try to tell them. As you try to tell them about the gospel, they're not going to put up with it because they don't think they have sin. As you try to help Christians grow, they're not going to put up with it. They're not going to endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, as the Bible says. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Long-suffering, God warns you. He says, now get out there, it's going to be cold. But that doesn't mean you just go back home. That doesn't mean you get out there and say, well, let's plow. Man, this is some fallow ground. It is hard. Oh, it's cold. And you start looking up at the clouds and say, I wonder what type of weather it's going to be today. And the Bible says you observe the clouds, you're not going to plow. I wonder what these devils are doing out here. Wow. Let's look at all the winds of doctrine. Look at all of this. And you need to study stuff so you can get out and work. But don't study it just so you can say, oh man, it's a mess out here. Wow, look at all of this. Winds of doctrine everywhere. Let's just give up. No! You start dealing with people and they begin to get angry at you. But hey, continue in the process. Who knows, you might save some. Who knows what you can do if you jump in and get to work? I've seen that on a local level in Mansfield. I barely did anything. Wrote a few letters to the editor and stood in front of the city council and then I watched the city council say, okay, we won't spray mosquito spray on everybody. And I sat there and I said, wait a second. I thought we couldn't change anything. There are things we can change. That's in politics, but what about other things? We can have success in many realms if we just get out of here and quit getting discouraged. You can't change everything, but you can change some things. So never let Solomon's observation depress you, make you lazy. My next point, what else can we learn from Solomon's observation, at least in chapter 1? You need to realize that there are crooked ways. Realize that there are crooked ways, Brother Caleb. I mean sinful ways. There are crooked ways out there. Look at Psalms 125. As for such as turn aside into their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be upon Israel. Look at Proverbs 2. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the what? The way of the evil man. From the way, from the man that speaketh froward things. who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths." They're swerving all over the place. There are people with crooked ways. Now keep this in your mind. Look at Isaiah 59. The way of peace they know not. There is no judgment in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. All right, here's my point for you out of all of that. There are crooked ways out there. Hey, listen to me, brother. Don't you think that you can walk these crooked ways and make things straight? This is an important observation. Oh, I wish I could get this through a lot of Christians today. You will not be able to make a crooked way work out right in the end. What am I getting at? I'm getting at this. People are trying to raise their families with crooked ways. It will not work. You will not find rest. The whole point in all of these verses is you're not going to know peace. There's no peace to the wicked. The wicked will walk in crooked ways. And if you're a Christian and you follow the ways of the wicked, the ways of the world, the ways of man, these new ways, the Bible says meddle not with them that are given to change. Seek the old paths and you'll find rest for your souls, says Jeremiah 6. But here's what people do. Oh, let's think off the top of my head. They say, I know what we'll do. I'll have the wife, the mother, dress like a man in our home. And maybe the father, he can put on a skirt. And if he doesn't put on a skirt, he might as well, the way he acts in the home. And so, look, we're just gonna do that and get everything all out of order. Oh, we're gonna have the wife go off and work outside the home so the little kids are put in daycare or raised by Hollywood or computer games or whatever it might be, public school. They walk in the ways of the world, not the old paths, and then they end up. I have heard them. I have heard them. I've been to a men's conference, an evangelical men's conference, and I've seen all around me men on these tables complaining and talking about it's not working. What are we doing wrong? It's not working. You can't do things the way the world does and expect godly, righteous results. See, the whole point of Proverbs is that you need to do things God's way, acknowledge Him in everything you do, let Him direct thy paths, and that is the only hope that you have for things being straight, folks. But see, when things begin to look crooked, People get desperate and they begin to adopt psychology or feminism or worldly nonsense and they begin to walk in these ways. The Bible says make straight paths for your feet. You can't walk crooked ways and think you're going to end up straight. The Lord tells you not to be a drunkard and He promises you strength to stand against it, but He tells you how to fight. He tells you how to fight. You can't walk in these new ways and say, oh, well, I'm going to go down to the bar. I'm going to actually drink a little bit and try not to be a drunkard. And then I've seen families that not only they become drunkards themselves, they raise teenagers addicted to alcohol. I know what I'm talking about here. I've seen these things that I'm preaching to you. They say, well, I wonder why I ended up snared by drunkenness. I wonder why? Because you didn't walk in the old path. God's way said, don't look at the wine. You got to fight God's way. He says, flee fornication and youthful lust. Flee, run from them. The Bible says there's a fool who goes the way to her house at night, knocks on her door. What an idiot. And he's trying to be strong. I'm not going to commit adultery. I'm not going to commit adultery. Hang up the phone. Get away from that situation. Run like Joseph did. You say, oh, I pray God will strengthen me. God will strengthen you when you do things His way. You can't walk in crooked ways and think you're going to end up with a straight path. Make straight paths for your feet and the way will be straight. You're not going to get good results from man's wisdom and ways. So what people do is they raise these children and they say, well, we want our children to be like the world. We want them to have fun. So we're going to set these movies before them and up. Wow. How hard that is before you know it. You got some pretty wicked things that come across that. Have you seen just a little bit? I mean, it's filthy even reading the headlines, but you've seen these Harvey Weinstein and all these studio producers, the horrible things they're doing to these actresses and actors, bunch of pedophiles and perverts. These are the people making the movies that people are sitting their children in front of. What do you think sodomites and feminists and witches and perverts and pedophiles, what do you think they're going to show your children? But there is this total Christian blackout today where they think, but evil communications aren't going to corrupt good manners. We can watch the father made an idiot and rebellion praised and witchcraft. Drudge Report the other day, paganism and witchcraft skyrocketing all across America, especially among the teens, and you think you can sit and watch these movies? Choose godly entertainment for your children and work hard at it. Work hard at it. Oh my! How can we raise godly children by some of the things that Christians are allowing their children to watch, people they're allowing them to be around, and we wonder what went wrong. You can't have crooked ways and get straight results. Now let me give you the next point as we move along here. We are very much on schedule here. I want you to notice something. Sometimes the word cannot is not absolute. I listed the verses here, Genesis 44, 26, Numbers 22, 18, Judges 11, 35, Ruth chapter 4, verse 6, 1 Samuel 17, 39, and 25, 17, Nehemiah 6, 3, Luke 14, 20. These are the ideas. Remember the fellow said to the Lord Jesus, I have a wife. I cannot come. Is that an absolute cannot? No, he can come. It means it'd be difficult if I did so. That's important. Nehemiah, just to give you another one, you can research all of these. He says, I'm up on the wall doing a great work. I cannot come down. Well, of course he can come down. He didn't stay up there his whole life. What he meant was it'd be very difficult. It wouldn't be morally right. It wouldn't be proper for me to come down. There are so many examples like this in the Bible. Now, what am I getting at? I'm getting at this. There are things that cannot be made straight if you try to do it in your own power. But that doesn't mean absolutely they can't be fixed. I mean, we've seen crooked out ankle bones in the Bible all of a sudden become straight. The Lord Jesus came and did amazing miracles. The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 18, He said, the things which are impossible with man are possible with God. Okay, now wait a second. At least in the chapter 1 when He says there are things that are crooked that you're not going to make straight. There are things under the sun with a lack of faith that you will never be able to straighten out in your life. But hey, what I'm trying to do is give you some hope. Sit up straight, children. I'm trying to give you some hope. Listen to me. Matthew 17, 20, Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Wow! Now let me get this straight. I'm not going to fix everything. Nor is every crooked thing in my life going to be taken care of. But there are so many things that we can remove. We have not because we ask not. There are so many things that can be made straight, but we just don't go to God to try to get them made straight. We don't have faith in God that He can do it. And so there are mountains that remain and crooked paths. In other words, we're not in the kingdom now. Hey, the Bible says there's going to be fruits in the kingdom and there's going to be leaves of the tree that are for medicine. Those are kingdom promises. But you know what's interesting? Sometimes the New Testament quotes kingdom promises for this life. Oh, I think of things off the top of my head. Peter said some of the things that were happening in the book of Acts is what Joel prophesied. Well, we know Joel is looking forward to the last days, but sometimes you can get in on things right now. We can get in on some kingdom promises. I don't mean bring in the kingdom. I'm not some post-millennialist. I'm certainly not a preterist. I'm not talking about that nonsense. I'm talking about living A life of an awareness that God, even now in this world, will do amazing things for us, and He will do impossible things for us, if we will have faith in Him. That should give us a lot of hope, folks. Now, people can walk around and say, that's crooked, you're not going to make it straight. Maybe God will straighten it up. Maybe God will straighten it up. Have you prayed? Have you asked Him? He says if you don't have faith, that we're not going to receive. Be it unto us according to our faith. You have to believe that God is there, that God is. You have to believe that God is willing and good, and that He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Okay, wait a second here. People say, well, I asked God, He didn't do anything. Well, are you sure you have faith? Are you asking God in faith? Believing in His goodness? Remember when Jesus tempted? He put opposition to that lady to test her, remember, or to manifest her faith. I mean, it gave her great opposition, but she continued to hang on and says, even so, Lord. You know, He called her a dog. She held on. First, He didn't even He didn't even respond to her. But the Bible says, Oh, he has not seen such great faith as in all Israel. Faith! People are too quick to think God doesn't care or God's not good. And when God's quiet, or seems to be, it's especially easy to get discouraged and think He's not even listening. He doesn't care. This is always going to be messed up. But let's be like that woman. Hang on, believe in the goodness of God, and hope in God, have faith in God, and it gives glory to God. It gives glory to God. But hold on, that's not all He said. If you have faith, you've got to ask in faith. And the asking that he's talking about is a praying without ceasing. And the Lord gave you the examples. Knock on the door. Irritate your neighbor and ask for bread at night. And he's going to say, No, I'm not giving you anything. I'm already cozy and in my bed. Now get out of here. He keeps knocking. He says, No, man, I really need this bread, Sophek. Please, brother, give us some butter, man. Can you please come out? We really need it. The Bible says that Sopeka gets so irritated, he says, you know, we're never going to get any sleep, sweetheart. Let's go out here and give him some butter, give him some bread. And so, the Lord said, that's what you have to do with God. You've got to continue to ask, continue to ask, until He absolutely shuts the door and you know God's telling you not to ask anymore. But wait a second, nothing shall be impossible unto you? That means there's nothing crooked that you can't straighten, praise God. But verse 21 is removed out of the New Bibles by the feminists and Luciferians and all that crowd that I wrote about in my book, The Word, God Will Keep It. Check that book out. I documented where New Bibles come from. I documented the secret societies. I documented everything. Look at it. But they Take this verse out in verse 21, one of the most important verses in our Christian life, how be it, how be it brother Mike, how be it, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and what? Fasting. Why can't we get this straight? Why can't I get it straight? Why can't we get this straight? That there are things that are not going to be moved unless you ask God to move them. And there are things that are not going to be removed if you ask God, unless you keep asking Him. And there are things that are not going to be removed unless you keep asking God in faith, believing that He'll do it. And then finally, they're not going to be moved out of the way and made straight unless you fast. Unless you fast. Wow! Go ahead. Ignore it. But we all ignore it to our own peril. And I do not want to arrive at the judgment seat of Christ and have the Lord tell me, you know, there's some things that could have been straightened out in your life had you prayed harder and fasted and believed me for it. Folks, don't get me wrong. I do not mean that you're going to be able to fix everything. But even when God told David, that baby is going to die in discipline for what you did, he fasted and prayed. And he sat there the whole time, not moving, not eating, not doing anything. Why? He says, even though God told me, who knows? God might be merciful. Nineveh fasted. A bunch of pagans fasted. They said, well, God told us in 40 days we're going to be overthrown, but what if God's merciful? And He was merciful. He was merciful to pagans, brother. If we fast and pray, maybe God will be merciful to His own people, His own children. Wow. I'm telling you, knock on that door and keep knocking, keep praying, keep believing, and fast! And while you're fasting, get down to the creek and find you five smooth stones. In other words, do whatever you can to make it happen in obedience to God. David had faith that he could kill Goliath, didn't he? But he went down and found him five smooth stones. He trusted God, but he knows God works through means sometimes. He told a man with a withered hand, hang your hand out here, stretch it out. A man with a withered hand, stretch up? Stretch my hand out? He did the work, and the Lord moved and healed him. He's told people that were laying can't get up out of bed, take up your bed and walk. That man could have said, well, I can't. That's a ridiculous thing to say. No, no. He got up and did what the Lord said. That's my point. Folks, let's go do whatever we have to do. Let's believe God and let's understand that there are many things that are impossible. They are impossible. The crooked things cannot be made straight as long as you're under the sun. But let's get up above the sun with faith, and let's see what amazing things we can do. And then testify to your children. Testify to the brethren all around you, because we need our faith encouraged, amen? We need our faith encouraged. The devil's doing everything he can. Oh, I tell you. Let me add one more thing. You can try everything under the sun, and there's a lot of crooked things that are not going to be made straight, because the Bible says, unless the Lord build the house, you labor in vain. The Lord Jesus says, without me, you can do nothing. Abide in the vine. People leave church, get away from God. Man, you better do things God's way. You better get with God. You're not going to get things straight unless you stay with God. Not by might, says the Bible, but by God, by His power, by His Spirit. Oh, let me tell you this thing. As we move along here in these last ten minutes or so, I want to tell you this. Please listen, if you've got any brain cells left, please listen. Sometimes these things that might be made straight with faith in whatever effort God ordains have a time limit. I should have got one of these kids to run outside and grab me a twig. I don't see one, but you could go outside and grab a little twig off a tree and wrap that thing all the way around your finger. And then you can straighten it right back up. You can make it grow straight. Put it this way, you could take a peach tree that's kind of leaning over and you could stake it to the ground and tie it. And that tree will grow straight. But you let that peach tree become a big peach tree and become limbs and branches and sticks, you're not going to bend that tree. You're not going to take a big old gnarly branch that's all crooked and you're not going to straighten that thing. What am I saying? I'm saying there's a time period when you can make crooked things straight. But once you pass that time period, you're not going to make them straight. God might have mercy upon you and do the impossible, but I'm telling you, there's a time period. You can take clay. Which of you children have ever played with Play-Doh? Caleb, Luke, y'all play with Play-Doh? Oh, these boys. Good. Well, Play-Doh is like clay, and you can take clay when it's soft and got the water, and you can make it into all kinds of shapes. What kind of shape do you like to make? What are some things you make out of Play-Doh? You don't know? Horses? Cows? Houses? Wow. Well, what if you were bending that Play-Doh, or that clay, and your house was all crooked looking? You know what you could do with Play-Doh? It's really neat. You could go straighten it all back up. But if you take that clay and you stick it in the oven really super hot, and you let it bake for a long, long time, and then you try to straighten it, you're not gonna straighten it. You will not straighten it. It'll break first. So what's the point? There are many things we can say here, and that's this. When you apply this to children, or to your habits. Habits come from bad choices and ways. Then the habits become ingrained. And the longer you let those habits stay there, pretty soon they become your character. And pretty soon, oh, it's almost impossible to ever bend back straight. which is why youth is so important. It's important for parents and it's important for you young people. It is so important that you grab a hold to every good habit that you possibly can find. And it's important that parents break every bad habit because for the rest of that child's life, Wherever that arrow goes, it's probably going to go in that direction. You understand that? Unless God does an amazing miracle, it's going to go wherever it's released. I tell you what, you raise it in Sodom, it's going to be planted in Sodom, and they're going to become Sodomite. Wherever that arrow is aimed is where it's planted and where it's going. You've got a certain amount of time to bring your children to the Lord, to teach them the Lord, to teach them to rely upon the Lord, to teach them the good things of the Lord, to teach them to fight sin and resist temptation, to teach them to clean up, to brush their teeth, to have good habits of cleanliness and godliness, and to be on time, to finish whatever they start, to be bold, to be courageous, The Bible says in Proverbs 13, he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The word betimes means early, during the right season, while there is time. O Solomon goes on and says wherever the tree falls, that's where it is. You've got a certain amount of time to bend that tree, to stake that tree, to make that tree lean whatever way, to make it straight. But wherever the tree falls, that's where it is. It says in the book of Revelation, He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. If you don't get this stuff straight, that's you. What am I saying? I'm saying, young people, you better grab a hold of God. And you better give God the first fruits of your life. before old age comes, because you're running out of time. Can you change when you get older? It's going to be harder. It gets harder and harder and harder the longer the clay sets in the oven. The longer that tree sits there in that sun the more rigid it becomes. You let these children grow up like little weeds and little plants and little olives. I'm going to tell you what, before you know it, you can't bend them. You can't bend them. You've got so much time to bend them. Train up a tree. Train up a child. Stake it where it needs to be. That tree doesn't like being staked. It says, well, you're not letting me do what I want to do. Stake it. Pull the arrow back! Richard Newton in 1856 says, as is true of clay and of trees, that if you begin at the right time and take the proper pains, you can straighten what is crooked in them. So it's true of boys and girls. Children, the Bible says, remember, Solomon says, remember the Creator in the days of your youth. There's a day coming when it gets harder and harder and harder to do things for God. You can serve God in old age, but why don't you give Him the first fruits of your life? The Bible says the first fruits belong unto God. That's a token of everything else that's to come. Teenagers, sin will harden you. The Bible says, "...exhort one another daily, lest ye be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Sin will harden you. You say, I'm just messing with it a little. Leave me alone. I'm just checking it out a little bit. It's like those people. I wonder what it's like to smoke a cigarette. Ah, this doesn't do anything for me. Oh, take a little drag of this cigarette. Oh, that doesn't do anything for me. Then all of a sudden it's like a cobra or a rattlesnake jumps out of that cigarette and grabs him and has him in a vice grip, a headlock. It's got him and it won't let him go. It's got him in a stranglehold. And now you're addicted, and they say, oh, I've had teenagers, I've had adults tell me, don't ever, ever even start. It's horrible, it's horrible. Well, it'll grab ahold of you. I've had that with caffeine before as a young adult. Why does anybody even want to drink this yucky stuff? Sometimes it smells good, but coffee, why do you? And I take a sip and say, man, what are people getting out of this whole thing? Then it grabs you. That's what drugs do. See? All drugs. That's what sin does. So I'm saying, don't even begin. And those habits that are already there, you say, I can't break it. Break it! It gets harder and harder. Break it now while you can, even with suffering. The longer you wait, the harder it gets. Old Jacob, I tell you what, he lived a hard life, didn't he? He was finally bent back straight. But he came limping, remember? He came limping. And you're not guaranteed you'll ever get back straight. You're not guaranteed you'll ever get back straight. So Luke, Caleb, all of you, I'm telling you, serve God now with red hot, fired up, zealous Christianity. Don't care what anybody says about you. Obey God. When I got saved, I wanted to eat healthy. I wanted to look at everything in my life. I didn't want to be cluttered. I mean everything, any bad habit I wanted to try to change. I didn't get it all overnight, and I still don't have it all done. But I'm doing my best, or trying to. We all need God's mercy. But I'm telling you folks, take off sprinting for God in your youth. Take off sprinting! Be fired up for God! It's your duty! And Solomon doesn't say, oh, it'll be terrible for you. No, he says it'll be the best thing you've ever done. You'll be so happy compared to what you would have been. Remove sorrow out of your heart. Fear God, keep His commandments. Oh, my. Give Him your youth. I'm not going to preach this last point, but as I close in prayer, I want to tell you this. that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and man can never be saved without the divine act of our Lord, His blood being shed upon that cross. And our Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, the Son of God, died on that cross, shed His blood, resurrected, ascended to heaven, and He tells you that through faith you can be saved. But people try to come, even though they're crooked, They think they can make things right with God. See, things are crooked between God and man. They're not right. They're not straight. And Jesus is that bridge, that Jacob's ladder to God. You will never have things straight with God. You will never have peace with God. You will never be justified without trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. So all of the moral religions so-called, all of man's psychology, all of the self-righteousness, none of it will avail anything. Dear Holy Father, we thank You that You've saved us. We thank You for the blood, even though new Bibles are taking it out, God. We thank You for that Bible that we have that You preserved for us in English. We thank You for that authorized version. We thank You, Lord, that it still has the blood. We thank You, Father, that we've been saved by that blood. We've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. And Lord, I do pray You'll lead many to You And Lord, not only lead people to the saving knowledge, but I do pray, Father, that You will lead many Christians through this sermon, through something I've said, God, use it to Thy glory, Father. Make the crooked things straight, Father. And I do pray that many Christians will stop trying that futile effort, Lord, to make the ways of the world somehow work. To make stupidity somehow be wisdom. To make sin somehow be righteousness. to make imprudence and indiscretion and foolishness somehow be holy discretion. I do pray in the name of the Lord Jesus that we would do things your way, fight your way. And Lord, please make this a praying church, Father. Forgive us where we have neglected prayer and faith and knocking on your door and the doors of others, God. And I do pray in the name of the Lord Jesus that you'll help us be about your business Let us, God, not make excuses because of the cold climate in people's hearts, the sin that is abounding in these last days. Let us please get out here and disciple people, Father, that we not be asked at the judgment seat, how long have you been saved? What did you do year after year to bring forth fruit? and why, oh, why did you arrive here at this judgment throne without fruit? Oh, God, We need you to bear fruit, but we need to obey you. Please help us help this church be a fruit-bearing church, a praying church, a fasting church, God. And let's see some mountains move. Let's see some impossible things done by you, Father. And I do pray that many crooked places and crooked roads could be made straight, many crooked things, and we'll give you the glory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for this church, these good people, those that watch us online, Father. And I do pray you'll use them those that listen on sermon audio bless them father in Jesus. Holy name. Amen