In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the reality of death and the importance of preparing for the judgment before God. He highlights the significance of renewing our minds and warns against filling our minds with worldly filth that can nullify our efforts in studying the Scriptures. The preacher also discusses the impact of a lack of biblical knowledge on various aspects of life, such as marriage and joy. He emphasizes the need to seek knowledge and understanding in order to avoid destruction and live a sound life. The sermon references verses from the Bible, including Romans and Hosea, to support these teachings.

He says, he says, you thought that I was like you, I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces and there will be none to deliver. Whoa, he's not a tame lion after all. Is he safe? No, not at all. Is he good? Yes. Let's go to Hosea for just a moment and then we'll go back to Romans and we'll be finished. Hosea, chapter four, verse six. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. See, it does all begin with renewing the mind, with renewing the mind, it does all begin there. He says, my people perish for a lack of knowledge, your marriage is perishing for a lack of knowledge, or at least it is nothing of what it could be because of a lack of biblical knowledge with regard to how you're to be a husband and how you're to be a wife. Your joy is perishing because of a lack of knowledge. The soundness of your life is perishing because of a lack of knowledge. Your time is wasted because of a lack of knowledge. He said, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and then he says, because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being my priest. I want you to understand something. To reject the knowledge of God is to reject God. To reject the knowledge of God is to reject God. I love God. How much do you love his word? I want to be everything God wants me to be. How much do you love his word? I love God. Then open up your mouth and tell me about him biblically, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. In rejecting the knowledge of God, in being apathetic toward the knowledge of God, you are just demonstrating a greater evil, your apathy toward the God of the word. It is true. It is true. And look what he says. I also will reject you from being my priest. Now, of course, this has an immediate Old Testament application, but let me tell you this again. I go back, young men, everybody wants to minister today. But the word of God, do you think that just because you learn how to go through four spiritual laws or you take a six month crash course in missions, don't you realize how wrong that is? Or even you've been to seminary. You don't go to seminary to learn the word of God so much. You go to seminary in order to gain the tools to study the word of God. People are saying, well, seminary really let me down. It could be because you were forcing upon it things it never promised to give, gives you tools. But how many times you go through this book from Genesis to Revelation is the key. You want a young man called me years ago, I was in Peru and a young man called me and said, I just I want to come down to Peru, Mr. Washer, and work with you. I said, I said, OK, I said, how are you in the word of God? He said, well, you know, that's just not my strong suit. You know, I just want to give my life away, Mr. Washer. And I said, well, you know, scripture, memory, expository, preaching, counseling, you know, how how centered are you in the word of God? He said, Mr. Washer, again, that's it's really not what I'm all about, but I just want to give my life away. And I said, young man, there's nobody here in Peru who needs your life. They don't need your life. They need God and they need someone who can come down here, open up their mouth and tell them about God. They need someone who knows enough about God's word to submit their own lives to the word of God so they can be an example to others. Now, I eventually did let him come down, but it was not so that he could help the Peruvians, but so that the Peruvians could help him. The amount of money that is squandered. On young people, mission trips is absolutely astounding. Christian vacations, if you were to take the same amount of money. And put that in in supporting full time missionaries on the field who have actually paid the price to be there, what a difference it would make. Look what he says. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children, sir, you did not see it necessary, madam, you did not see it necessary. To study, to show yourself approved, you did not see it necessary to meditate upon God's law, you did not see it necessary to think on these things, you did not see it necessary to train yourself in godliness. Well, guess what? You have heaped judgment upon your own children. You teach them nothing of his law. You do not be an example before him in his law. Look what you have done. Look what you have done, brother, Paul, it doesn't apply, it applies some way, my dear friend, it applies more than what you think. What are you doing? I remember preaching one time at this very posh, elegant First Baptist Church. And honestly, I don't know why they asked me there and why they kept coming back. I don't understand, except that they wanted to see be entertained by a madman raving. That's all I can imagine. But let me ask you a question. Now, look at this for a moment. What am I supposed to do if all this stuff is true? How am I supposed to feel? Think about it for a moment. I mean, if this is just all a circus, if it's all just a fantasy, if it's all just, well, let's just play church, then yeah. But then why am I giving my life to this and other pastors giving their lives to these things? Why? I mean, if it's all just kind of howdy doody make believe. I'd rather go bow hunting. If it's real. And that's the question, you see, the world has filled so much of your brain, it's not real anymore. You think that this world is the reality and you think heaven is the shadow land and you've got it just the reverse. This is not real. It's temporary. It's passing away and you're living for what you can see. And it's not even the reality. The reality is coming. But for those of us who are Christians, we have little excuse because having been given the Holy Spirit, we have a down payment of that reality. And it ought to move us to living for one thing. And we ought to look at our children with delight, but we ought to look at our children with fear. I have never been so afraid in all my life when my wife told me she was pregnant. I realized at that moment something I began to just go through my mind, what was my biblical knowledge of being a father? What was my biblical knowledge of raising children? And I cried out to God, God, I'm nothing more than a saved pagan desperately seeking out Scripture, desperately seeking out wiser men than myself, desperately seeking out church history and books and such and so forth to find out. What do you command, O Lord, with regard to these children of mine? You see, if it's not real, let's go eat barbecue or something. Let's take this whole thing and turn it into a roll of rain. If it's not real, if it's not real to you, then declare your atheism at this moment and walk out the door. But if it is real, then your entire life, your entire life must be guided by that one fact. This really is real. I am really going to die. My children are really going to die. I am going to stand before God. My children are going to stand before God. My nation is going to stand before God. My world is going to stand before God. How then? How then shall we live? Now, going back, says this. But the renewing of your mind so that you may prove. Well, let me say this about renewing. Remember what I said the other night? You can study the Scripture six hours a day, but if you're also filling your mind with the filth of modern day media, you're going to annul everything you're doing. You need to drop all the filth. You say filth? What do you mean filth? Filth. Let me show you how it's filth. Just let me show you. Now, I'm just going to give you a little just. I like to swim, OK? So I'm not against mixed bathing. I'm just against a whole bunch of it because of what people wear. They wear clothes. It's not that big a deal. But just listen to me for a moment. Now, I'm not against. I just want you to listen. This is just historic fact. Nothing else. Is it not true? Now, some of you, I know there's no one in here over 60. But let's just pretend some of you who are over 60, if some young guys stand up and say that's not true, I'm going to expect some older men to stand up and say, sit down and shut up, young man. It is true. OK, I mean, some of you guys fought in World War Two. You can definitely whip all these guys in here. Now, listen, is it not true that what Christians wear to the beach today, what Christians wear to the beach today? Sixty years ago, if someone had gone out in public dressed like that, they would have either the secular unbelieving authorities in this country would have either put them in jail, fined them or taken them to an institution. Is that not true? That is true. So now let's just ask ourselves a question. If just in 60 years, what is now acceptable to Christians was a crime and insanity to unbelievers only 60 years ago, don't you think we ought to be afraid? Think about it for a moment. Now, I'm not against swimming and things like that, but I just want you to get a grasp of how far we have fallen and sunk in the sewer and we don't even know it. And the reason we don't know it is because we judge ourselves by everyone else living in our culture. You know, I used to used to give a testimony that when I was before I was saved, I was really wild and I was. But I want to thank you for listening to these messages that Brother Paul Washer preached here at First Baptist Church of Briar, May 13th through May 16th, 2007. You may notice that this message ended abruptly or was cut off here at the end. The reason being is Paul preached for quite a bit of time and the battery went dead on his microphone. And so that's why we have lost the last part of this message. We apologize for that. But there's not a thing that we can do about it. However, did want to add a little bit of a report. We were very encouraged to have Brother Paul. He's a good friend of mine. Love him very much. His wife and children. And it was a joy to have him here. We had some good meetings. The Lord drew a great number of people to come here and be a part of the services. And we stayed each night up at around midnight here at the church, just talking and counseling and praying with people. And it was just a great time in the Lord and had an enjoyable time just visiting and fellowshipping and eating together before the services. And if it be the Lord's will, someday in the future, maybe Brother Paul will come back again. This was his second set of meetings in our church. We have enjoyed him both times. Highly recommend him to speak in other churches, if that be the Lord's will. Also, we'd like to remind you, although Brother Paul and I are different in some of our characters and makeups, God has made us different. We certainly are holding to similar doctrines and proclaiming similar doctrines. And here at our church, we do preach verse by verse through the word of God. We believe God's word is the final authority on all matters. And so we seek to honor God by honoring his word and having it properly proclaimed. Our church does not exist to entertain people in a sense or to meet felt needs. Our church exists for the glory of God and that he would be rightly honored and that people could rightly know him. And so if it be a location that you are close enough to be a part or to attend services here, we invite you to come and to experience worship here yourself and see if the Lord would have you to be a part of this church. Or if you live too far away to come and visit, we invite you to go to our website at www.fbcbriar.org and you will see our messages will be posted there on our web page and you can download those and listen to those yourself wherever it is that you may live. And we invite you to do that. There is no charge on those things. We also, if you are not available for Internet service, if you would like to have messages from our church, you would just need to send in a letter or request saying you'd like to be put on the CD mailing list and give your name and address and we could add your name and we could send you out a CD each week in order that you could hear the messages here. And so we believe it is the Lord's will that these messages by Paul Washer have been placed in your hands and our church can be of further help or assistance unto you. We will be glad to do so. And I hope these messages have been greatly encouraging. I hope that they have helped to conform and shape your life into the image of Christ. And if you are not involved in a local church, we beseech you, we plead with you that you need to be a part of a local body of believers. You need to be in a place in order that you can be held accountable and the word would be rightly preached and the sacraments, the Lord's Supper and baptism would be rightly administered. God's means of working in this world is through the local church. And so we encourage you to be a part of one. And if by chance that be here, we look forward to seeing you. If that be somewhere else, we encourage you to pray for your pastor, pray for your church in order that God's work and his kingdom would be furthered wherever it is that you are located. Thank you so much. It's been a joy to be a part of these things with you. We trust and pray that God would lead you and direct you and guide you in such a way that your life and your family would produce great glory for the great name of our awesome king, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.