This sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance, surrender, and obedience to God. It discusses the need for something in us to die in order for something new to live, highlighting the significance of submitting to Jesus as both Savior and Lord. The speaker stresses the essential role of emptying ourselves to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and the need for spiritual renewal through waiting upon the Lord. The message also addresses the spiritual decay caused by consuming worldly entertainment and the critical role of men in leading their families in godly ways.

We don't like to talk about it. I sure don't like to talk about four little kids. But the truth is that God said, I sent My messengers to warn them because I had compassion on My people and on My dwelling place. But they mocked My word, they despised My messengers, and they scoffed at My prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against His own people until there was no remedy. See, if all we do is hide behind the love of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God, and never talk about the judgment hand of God that must fall on a rebellious people, the reason He sends difficult messages like this is because He loves us. I've never seen an arrogant man repent and turn to Christ if all he is is coddled in his sin. And comfort, oh, it's because of this and because of that. No change ever takes place. Either the love of God will compel somebody to repentance, or the hammer of God will crush them to repentance. Those are our two options. So you have to say, something in you must die in order for something to live. And I truly believe there are stages in Christianity. Stages probably isn't the right word. But there are people, and I'm not saying it's your fault and pointing fingers. We're all susceptible to this. But we can become so full of ourselves that there's no room for God. He becomes a servant. Bless my plans, do this for me. When He says, no, I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. If He's not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all. He can't just be Savior and we put Lord on the back burner. John MacArthur caught a lot of heat for this 30 years ago when he talked about Lordship salvation. About, hold on now, you can talk to me afterwards. Don't throw that out just yet. He talked about Lordship salvation. Right? So we have the Lord Jesus Christ and we have Savior. Many people are saying you've got to divorce. You can't tell people they've got to submit and surrender and obey. They can just know Christ as Savior, but not know Him as Lord. Well, I don't know what Bible you're reading because it's surely not this Bible. He is Lord of all. When you submit to the cross and surrender, you are bowing your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved me. He's not just a Savior you put in the back pocket and pull Him out sometime when you need Him. He has all of me. So something must die. Something must die. That's a problem with our nation. That's a problem with the church. That is probably one of the problems with West Side Christian Fellowship is there's too many people who haven't quite got there yet. They haven't died to self. And that's why I preach these difficult messages because He puts in my heart, He breaks my heart, and then I just come and break hers. That's how it works. My morning this morning was spent worshiping since 4.30 this morning. Lord, I can't do this without You. I need to get out of the way and have You glorified. Lord, if You don't move, I'm gonna get up there and stammer and stutter and forget where I'm at. You've gotta fill this broken vessel, and it's not until the vessel's empty that the Holy Spirit can bring His power. Elijah told the woman, go get as many vessels as you can. Bring back the empty vessels, and the oil kept flowing. The oil kept flowing, flowing, flowing, but the oil ceased. And what happened? There's no more empty vessels. That's all we are is empty vessels. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency may be of the power of God and not us. Paul said, we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, and struck down, but not destroyed. Why, because I'm just the vessel. If the church falters, I'm just the vessel. If the sound isn't working like it was this morning, I'm just the vessel, Lord. It's Your church. I'm not trying to glorify myself. He humbles me enough to keep me in check. When I get home, my wife says, go change your diapers. I don't care how great your sermon was. I'm tired, I need to eat. You take that baby for two hours. Oh, home will humble you. You cannot, if you take anything, you might say, oh, that guy didn't even open the Bible. I don't need to open the Bible because it's in my heart. We're gonna be opening the Bible all year in the book of Matthew, verse by verse by verse, expository preaching, I love it, I love it. But sometimes the hammer of God needs to come out and say, thus saith the Lord, you need to return to me, oh, backsliding people. Sometimes it has to be said, something has to die. That's number one problem. The number two problem, and this wasn't in my notes from last night, I just put in this morning, so I hope it helps. You cannot know life if you consume death. That's one of the themes of my ministry of tearing down this modern day entertainment too. You cannot know spiritual life if you consume death. All we're putting into our mind is death and destruction. That's all we watch. Vampires you call, witchcraft, illicit sex, this, this, this. We wonder why we have no spiritual death. It's because you're filling your mind with things that directly oppose the will of God. You need to live in this. Oh, it's boring, it's old-fashioned. No, it's not. Somebody just said the other day, we don't even need the Old Testament. We don't even need the Old Testament. If I look, Genesis tells me that God created the heavens and the earth. Exodus tells me that I should not bow down before any other gods. Leviticus says that without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. Numbers tells me that I cannot curse what God has blessed. Deuteronomy says that God will put a nation high above all the other nations that submit to him. Joshua tells me that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Judges tells me that Samson, Samson comes in many different forms and facets to take a man down. Esther tells me, or Ruth rather, tells me that my king's been redeemer. It's a foreshadowing of that. What does Kings tell me? That though I walk through the valley of shadow death, no, that's Psalms. King tells me that I cannot falter between two opinions. If God is God, follow me. You can find Christ throughout the entire Old Testament as well. Chronicles says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will heal their land. Ezra was a great encouragement because it says God can use a man to change a nation. Nehemiah says, why should I not be sad when the place of my father's tombs lies in waste? Esther says, I may have been chosen for a time as this, and if I perish, I perish. Job says, my redeemer lives, yet though he slay me, I will trust him. Psalms, oh, the Psalms, where can we start? Spurgeon said that Psalms is medicine to the soul. It is medicine to the soul. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him with his hand. Where can I go to flee your presence? Nowhere, if I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, even you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, even you are there. You are there to hold me and sustain me. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because the Lord upholds me. What Bible are you reading? How can you get along without it? And you can go through the old prophets, Isaiah saying, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That's a message right there for half this room. Those who wait upon the Lord, not jockey for position, not push, not get angry. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Jeremiah tells me, thank God for Jeremiah 23, that his word is in my heart like a burning fire. Thank you, that's a good thing. That his word is like a fire that devours, a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces. But he says, you have perverted the words of the living God by not proclaiming the truth of God's word. That's how important this text is. Ezekiel says, I sought for a man from among them who would build a wall, stand in the gap before me, but I found no one. You see how powerful this is? It's God calling his people. And you can go down to Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, the whole consistency there. The theme is repent, turn to me, repent, people, get in right relationship with me. I'm calling people back. I created heaven and earth. People sinned, I had to have judgment. I pulled out Noah as a remnant. Through Noah I brought Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. Through one of them is going to come the Messiah. The Messiah is going to live. He's going to die a sinless life. He's gonna live a sinless life and die a perfect death on a cross. That's how I'm gonna redeem people. So you have to go back to the beautiful word of repentance. That's your only hope right now. If you don't like what I'm saying, that is because you need to hear what I'm saying. Anytime you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear it. God is calling us back. And he gets through the entire Old Testament, ends at Malachi. Ends at Malachi, what does he say? I am the Lord thy God, I change not. Malachi, tell my people, I am the Lord thy God, I change not. And then he drops a bomb in there that is a verse for many people in the church today. I hate divorce. What? Where does that come from? He goes, I hate the deterioration of the family. As the family goes, so goes the nation. What you're seeing today is the spiritual condition of the family. Before you chew out the president and his policies, you better go look at the family. Because men, may I be honest with you? Can I just talk to men for a minute? We are the abomination that's a stench in the nostrils of a righteous, holy, pure God. For the love of God, would you get off the video games, get off Facebook, kill that porn habit, and tell your ungodly friends to hit the road jack, don't ever come back. That's the reason we're in the condition. This is a wake up call to men as well. Start leading your family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You're not called to be a passive observer or an angry tyrant. You're called to lead, love, and die for your family. And I'm getting quite upset with all these emails and all these things because of men are not leading at home. They want me to come up here and preach a sermon that they do not want to listen to. It starts at home. Oh, it's tough to hear.