Five Finger Death Punch

Here are some of the responses I got from my preaching:

• "Can you stop, I have a migraine?", and when I told him no, and started preaching again, he started screaming at me at the top of his lungs.  I guess he didn't really have a migraine.
• "You're god is a myth, your book is a myth"
• "You're doing it wrong, this isn't the way to reach these people, I'm going to pray for you"
• "We didn't come here to listen to *&# Sunday School stories"
• "Shut the $%* up"

Good evening Five Finger Death Punch fans… Hi friends, my name is Keith.  I’m a born again Christian and I'd like to share the Gospel message with you.    "Gospel", it's an old Bible word that means "Good News".   My goal here is to make the Good News make good sense to you.   

I did a little research on the bands playing here tonight, and I found out some really interesting information.  So I looked up the discography of Five Finger Death Punch albums and their songs. I read the lyrics of a couple of their songs and I listened to one or two of their songs on YouTube.  It's probably obvious these bands aren't my cup of tea, but believe it or not, the music I listened to when I was growing up on, back in the mid-to-late '70s was pretty in much the same genre as this; in fact some of the bands I used to listen to back then directly influenced these bands playing here tonight.  Back then we listened to music recorded on a 12 inch black vinyl disk or an 8 track tape in our car, but I have to tell you, FFDP (just like the music I listened to back then) does not have any good news. They don't have any good news to offer you.  Their vocalist is just going to scream obscenities at you and growl in that cartoonish voice that's supposed to sound like a demon who smoked 6 packs of cigarettes a day for the last thousand years.   

I found it interesting though, that even as dark and violent as this music is, (and it is dark and violent) it’s easy to find the Gospel message in it, especially since these guys are trying to mock the Bible and turn message of the Gospel backwards, upside-down.  Woe to them (the Bible says)  Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!   

I trust what the Bible says.  I believe the message of the Bible.  Now I know, so many times, down through the years people have twisted what’s written in the Bible to make it suit their own agenda, even through the Bible explicitly warns against that very thing in 2 Peter 1:20-21, where it says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."  One of the primary objections I hear against the Bible all the time is, "well the Bible was written by men, it's been changed so many times down through the years, you can't trust it."  But that isn't how history attests to the Bible or how the Bible attests to itself; in 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work." Psalm 30 says, every word from God is pure. Jesus said in John 17:17 sanctify your people in the truth; your word (oh God) is the truth.

So what I'm going to do is use the first FFDP album title and it's song titles, and kinda re-purpose them.  I'm going to use the song titles from the first FFDP album, "The Way of the Fist" as my sermon outline and I always like to start my sermons with a reminder of our mortality, and the song title "A Place to Die" gets right to the point.   So, I want you to think about your death, but it's not your friend, and it was never your intended destiny. You were created for life, not death.  But Death will have no sympathy on you; When it's your time, death will come. So it is true, we will all die.   We all have an expiration date.   Ten out of ten die.   Every day, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty thousand people on planet earth die.   They exit time and enter eternity.   That’s about 2 people every second.   Some day, one of those seconds is going to have your name on it.  The Bible says, it’s appointed for a man once to die, and after that comes the judgement.  When you you die, you have an appointment with your Maker to give an account of your life.   The Bible says God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.  So that’s the standard, righteousness.   It says God will judge the secrets of men’s hearts.    And he will render to every man according to his deeds.   Even every idle word that a man speaks, he will be made to give an account of on the day of Judgement; Every worthless profanity, vulgarity, obscenity and blasphemy will be brought into judgement.   So every thought, word and deed will be laid out as evidence against you on judgement day.  The reason we die is because of sin; it says, the soul that sins shall surely die, and the wages of sin is death.   

The next song title in my sermon outline uses the song title "Meet the Monster”, so I’d like you to meet the monster, and the monster is you!   Now I don't normally call names, I’m really not here to call names; but I would have you look in the mirror so-to-speak and judge yourself.   The mirror I’m going to hold up and shine in your direction is the mirror of God’s Law, the Ten Commandments...

Exodus 20:7
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.    

13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

This leaves us all guilty before a Holy and Righteous God.   Think for a moment about the song title "Can't Heal You". Your disbelief and rejection of God will not help you and "Can't Heal You" on the Day of Judgement.   You will be without excuse when you stand before your Creator to give an account of your life.   But God Himself provided the solution to our problem, herein is found the Good News, and the good news is that God Himself became a man in the person of Jesus Christ.   He was born of a virgin, and lived a perfectly sinless life.   But they took Him away on trumped up charges.   Make no mistake though, Jesus was completely in charge.   He was completely in control of the whole situation.   He willingly gave his life as a ransom for many.   He said, in John 10:18 No one takes my life from me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

Next song title I'm going to use at is "The Way of the Fist".   So they lead Jesus away to mount Calvary to be crucified, and he came to His crucifixion by "The Way of the Fist".  In Matthew 26:67 it says Then they spit in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him.  In Luke 22:63 it says that the men that held Jesus mocked him, and struck him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him in the face, and told him, Prophesy to us Jesus, tell us who struck you? And many other blasphemous things did they speak against him.   All this happened to Jesus to fulfill what Isaiah the prophet foretold some 700 years before Christ; Isaiah said, those who saw Jesus were astonished; because his face was so marred (disfigured) that he no longer looked like a man.   

The next song title in my outline is “The Bleeding”, which fits right in with the Gospel message, because they took Jesus and nailed Him hand-and-foot, to a wooden Roman cross, where  "The Bleeding" took place.  The Bible says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission (or removal) of sins. There is redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Jesus bore our sins upon that tree. He who knew no sin, became sin for us so we might become the righteousness of God in him.  The handwriting of ordinances that was against us that was contrary to us have been taken out of the way, having been nailed to the cross there with Jesus.

Consider the song title, "Death Before Dishonor".   Jesus was willing to accept "Death Before Dishonor", so that He could bring life and immortality to light through the Gospel.   So, that whoever trusts in Him would not be ashamed.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but three days later He rose from the dead. They had buried him in a tomb and rolled a huge stone over the entrance to the tomb, but three days after his burial, Jesus took up the same body again and walked out of that tomb alive.  So unless you repent, you will perish in your sins.   Repent is an old Bible word that means “change your mind”.   You must change your mind about sin and turn away from it, and turn to God for mercy. But, if you die in your sins, without calling on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will received a just recompense of reward for every transgression and disobedience;  Are you committed to your sin?   Are you that devoted to that sin?   Is it worth your life, even your eternity?   Come to your senses, for heaven’s sake.  Think about it; what is your sin good for; just DEATH.   Ditch your sin.  Drop it.  Let go of it.  Renounce it. Don’t make sin your pet; it’s your enemy; in fact it’s your worst enemy.   It'll turn on you and bite you.  It will be the death of you.    

The next song title “Salvation” says it all.   Jesus made the way of "Salvation" for all who would repent and trust Him, He provided not only eternal life, but new life for the here-and-now.   It says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.   It says, by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.   It says, it’s not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy has he saved us.  By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.   Jesus said, you must be born again.   He said unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.  So what does it mean to be born again.  Well, think about when you were born.  Your mom gave birth to you and you were born alive physically, but you were born dead spiritually.  You were born alienated and estranged from God, so you needed to be born spiritually.  When you repent and trust in Christ as your savior, God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit comes and takes residence in your heart and life. So that’s what it means to be born again; you’re born by the Spirit; born from above.    It says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.

So, if your life is messed up; shattered to pieces; if you suffer from depression, or have suicidal thoughts, you might identify with the song title Ashes.   Maybe the song Ashes represents your life.   But I'm here to tell you Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the meek (humble); he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to those that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord , and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To give you who mourn... beauty for “Ashes”, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of depression;, that the LORD would be glorified.   Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God and he will lift you up in due time.   You must come to God low, sorry, contrite.  Recognize God is holy, holy, holy.  He’s righteous.  He’s pure, without spot or blemish.   He is light and in Him is no darkness at all.   Without Him we’re all guilty, condemned.   

Next song title is “White Knuckles”... Stop resisting God with your heels dug in and your five fingers in a death grip around your sins, with "White Knuckles".  Don’t be stiff-necked, and hard-hearted. You must surrender to God.  Unless you’re willing to deny yourself; even die to yourself and follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are none of His.   Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" Romans 8:9.   You must accept His will for your life; submit to it.  Do you see yourself as the master of your own destiny and the captain of your own soul?   If you do, you refuse your only hope of salvation, eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

My last bullet point is the song title "The Devil's Own".   The Devil is a loser.   Make no mistake about it, Satan is a fallen angel, and he is your enemy and he has nothing new up his sleeve.   He uses the same tactics he's used since the dawn of time. He'll get you to question God's Word, and twist what God has said. We are not ignorant of Satan's evil devices, he'll play you like any con man would. He'll use the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,  and the boastful pride of life to draw you away from God.

Zechariah 3:1-2...   Rest assured, Satan will resist you if you decide to stand for the Lord.

1 John 3:10  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

John 8:44   Is your your father the devil?  Do you carry out his desires?  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Let me just give you a promise from the Bible.   You can take this one to the bank.   Romans 16:19-20... Satan will be crushed by God under our feet shortly.

Jesus called the devil a thief, and he says the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have life, and that more abundantly.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, friends, whatever is true, honest, fair and just, whatever is pure, lovely, and of a good report; if there’s anything of virtue, and anything praiseworthy, think on these things.

Set your minds on things above, come to Jesus Christ for life, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Place your hope and trust in Jesus Christ instead the temporary pleasures of sin.