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The truth is, a lot of saved people, they backslide, they never rise up.
Right? So sometimes in the Bible, a righteous person is referring to a saved person, that although he is not fully righteous, he is actively striving to serve God and do what is right.
Verse number 16, it says, for a just man falls seven times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Now the first point is this here today, that no matter who you are, no matter how godly you are, there will be times when you fall.
It does not say a just man might fall seven times.
It doesn't say a just man, if he falls, rises up again, no it just says a just man falleth seven times.
Now I don't believe that the number seven is like exact and it's always seven, it's using just a number for an expression, but basically what it's saying is, as a saved person, you're going to have times where you fall, you're going to have times when you backslide, no matter who you are.
Now in the Bible, the word fall is often linked with someone dying. There fell in that day 23,000, but obviously it's not saying a just man dies and resurrects seven times from the day.
But in the Bible, falling oftentimes is for a saved person who basically backsides, gets out of the will of God.
Kind of the picture I understand is that we're pressing toward the mark, we're trying to climb up to God, and if you're climbing a mountain, sometimes you fall, you stumble back a little bit.
In the Bible it's saying that as we're striving to serve God, there will be times when we backside and we fall a little bit.
Now go to 1st Corinthians 10.
I mean, if you never fell, it would be pretty easy to climb a mountain, right?
But if you ever climb a mountain or something very steep, there are going to be times when it's very difficult and you're really trying to work hard to get up.
You know, sometimes you kind of stumble with your feet and slide back a little bit.
What's the same thing in the Christian life? If you're striving to serve God, you can't say that every single day you're just pressing upward and you're more zealous than you were the day before.
There will be times and even seasons in your life where you're trying to serve God and you find yourself not reading the Bible, not meditating on the things of God, having a worldly mind.
You say, why is that? Because we fall. Sometimes we backslide. I wish it was as easy as being saved means you automatically serve God more and more every day.
That's not what the Bible teaches, okay? Now a lot of most prophets say things like that, but the Bible never teaches that.
It's an active fight every single day to walk in the new man and walk in the Spirit, but you know what? There's going to be times when we choose to walk in the flesh and we mess up, okay?
You say, Brother Stuckey, though all men will fall, not me, well, notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
See, the Bible is saying the person that thinks that he's okay and he's never going to mess up is probably more likely to be the one that stumbles and falls.
You say, why? Because you're being arrogant. You're being private by saying, I would never mess up no matter what happens.
You see a lot of godly people that make some major, major sins in their lives. I mean, they...
That's pretty extreme, isn't it?
...for you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And with the Bible saying, anything you struggle with, it's not like you alone struggle with that. Any one of us could struggle with that.
You say, what are you talking about, Brother Stuckey? Well, don't we all struggle with pride? It's not just you. It's not just me. We can all struggle with pride.
Can't we all struggle with being bitter? Can't we all struggle with being envious or covetous? Look, we struggle with the same things.
And obviously, depending on who you are, maybe you struggle more or less depending on what it is. But any temptation, any struggle you have, that is common to man.
Other people go through the exact same thing. It says, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
So the Bible says, it is possible to overcome that temptation. Now, we understand we're never going to be perfect, and we sin every single day. But when you're going through an individual temptation or struggle, you do have the ability to overcome it.
Now, it might be difficult, but it is possible. You think in the Bible of Joseph in the Old Testament, and he's stuck in a situation where, you know, basically his boss's wife wants to sleep with him.
And look, it doesn't tell us, but I think it's obvious she's probably an attractive woman. There's obviously some sort of temptation. But you know what? He runs out of there. There's a way to escape, right?
And look, no matter what your temptation is, you do have the ability to overcome it. Now, go to 1 Timothy 3. You have the ability to overcome it, but you also have the ability to give in to that temptation.
Because there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. And if it's possible for King David to commit adultery, it's possible for any one of us in this room to commit adultery.
If it's possible for King David to commit murder, it's possible for any one of us to commit murder. Now look, I don't think any of us think that we're going to commit sins like that, but it is possible because there's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man.
That's what the Bible teaches. So here's the thing. If you're a wise person, what you do is you don't put yourself in situations where you're going to screw up. I mean, you try to avoid these situations as much as is possible.
Now look, we live in the world. We don't live in this big bubble that we can avoid everything. We're going to have these temptations in front of us, but you don't want to do it intentionally.
You want to try to avoid them, but if you are in these sorts of situations that are bad situations, the Bible says you have the ability to overcome it. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 6. Here's another example of somebody falling that's a saved person.
It says, Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now when it comes to someone being ordained for the ministry, one of the requirements is he's not a novice.
And what that means is he's not a beginner. It means it's not brand new to him. It's not like he just got saved six months ago and now he's a pastor. It's like, no, that would be a novice, right?
Look, there's nothing wrong with being a novice. That's not sinful to be a novice. But there is something wrong with someone being a novice and then being a pastor where you're in charge of leading a group of people and you've been saved for six months.
You're not married, you don't have kids, but you're going to stand up here and give people advice on how to have a good marriage, right? And the Bible says, you know what, you can't be a novice.
And see, the problem with being a novice is it's very easy to get lifted up with pride and then fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now look, of course we're never going to ordain somebody who's not qualified and someone who's not married and has those basic requirements.
But here's the thing, if you have basically too much of a spiritual situation or influence and you're not ready for it, you're going to get lifted up with pride, right?
You're going to think that you're the greatest thing in the world and you're so awesome. And if you're not ready, the Bible says it's going to be dangerous because it's easy to get lifted up full of pride, okay?
Nothing wrong with being a novice, but if you have too high of a spiritual position and it's all new to you, you're going to get lifted up with pride.
Go to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. You say, Brother Stuckey, what's the proof of that?
Well look, I'm sure many of us, if we were honest, and I could say the same with me, that you start listening to some online sermons, you learn some new doctrines, and you start finding yourself getting lifted up full of pride very easily just because you heard a certain sermon that somebody else didn't hear.
And look, I'm all for learning new knowledge. I think that's great, but the reality is people that get this big influence of knowledge really quickly oftentimes get lifted up full of pride.
It's not necessarily healthy to get that much in such a short time. It's sort of like, I'm thinking of arm wrestling here today, and it's like somebody taking steroids.
It's like, hey, you take steroids, you gain strength very, very, very quickly, but that doesn't mean that it's actually healthy for your body.
Most bodybuilders die when they're 40 years old because it's not healthy for your body. It's not good for you, and it's artificial.
See, you take steroids, and you quit taking them. What happens? You're like a balloon, right? It's like, man, look at this strength, and then that balloon gets popped, and you just deflate.
And it's like, wow, how did that person lose like 25 pounds of muscle in a couple weeks? He stopped taking steroids, right?
And that is reality. It's the same thing, though, when it comes to our knowledge, and it's very easy to get lifted up full of pride once you start getting some knowledge.
1 Timothy 6 is another example of people falling that are saved people, and notice what it says in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6.
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment let us be there with content. When the Bible speaks about raiment, it's talking about clothing.
And the Bible says that we should be content with food and clothing. Look, every single person in this room obviously is wearing clothing, right?
And obviously you eat food because you're alive, right? So the Bible says we should be content with the fact that we have food and we have clothing, right?
But notice what it says in verse 9. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Now when the Bible says they that will be rich, it's not saying somebody who is rich. It's saying somebody who has that desire to chase after money.
They will be rich. They love money in the context. Look, there's nothing sinful about somebody having money. Job had a lot of money.
Was he a sinful person? Not compared to the average person, right? There's nothing wrong if you're successful. If you have a job and you have a good salary, there's nothing sinful about a job where you're not doing anything wrong and you have a good salary.
And there's nothing wrong with a guy working hard and providing for his family and having a good salary. Nothing wrong with it.
But what is wrong is when you have this desire to be rich. And the Bible says you fall into temptation and a snare and look, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
When you start loving money, it's going to destroy your life, the Bible says. When it's saying a snare, just think of like a mouse trap, right?
We put mice traps out like every day and oftentimes you hear that clapping sound where it got one. That's basically a snare. And the Bible is saying you're like a foolish mouse who smells the cheese and goes after it and then boom, you're stuck.
Here's the thing. Once a mouse gets caught in a mouse trap, there's no way out. If it's a good trap, the mouse is already dead, right? But even if it's just caught, it's not going to be able to get its way out of there.
And see, the Bible is saying if you start chasing money and loving money, you could get yourself trapped and there is no way to escape. There's no way out of it.
See, the secret to being successful is just hard work and trusting God to bless you, right? Look, a lot of sinful jobs, you can get money very quickly.
Let me give you an example. Being a drug dealer, right? Isn't that a way people make a lot of money? But I presume most drug dealers, it seems like a lot of drug dealers get killed when they're like 30 years old or whatever, 35 years old, right?
I don't think that the average lifespan of a drug dealer is 80 years old. I could be wrong. I haven't done a deep study on it, but it just seems like drug dealers end up getting shot by someone, arrested or whatever, and it's like they start chasing money.
Once they start getting a little bit of money, guess what? They want more money. I'll just do this one thing that's sinful, then I'll be okay, but then they just keep taking it to another level because they're never satisfied.
Look, when you listen to people that are billionaires and multimillionaires, when you listen to them talk, their goal is to have more money than anybody else.
It's like you're the seventh richest person in the world. What is your big goal? I want to be number one, right? That's the truth. I mean, we feel like we're going to be happy with more money, but that is not what's going to make you happy.
Paul said, I've learned to be content whether I had a lot or whether I did not have a lot. It says in verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And the Bible says, you start loving money, it's the root of all evil. It's the starting point of all evil.
And look, in the context, you know, we're looking at people that obviously this can apply to unsaved people, but it's really looking at saved people.
The Bible says people that are saved can fall into loving money. And look, as a guy, I can say that that's probably the number one thing I have to safeguard myself with because that is something that guys really meditate on when it comes to their family of finances and providing.
And once again, there's nothing wrong with having a good salary or having a good job. There's nothing sinful about money in and of itself, but when you love money, that's where the problem is.
Kind of an example would be if someone basically says, I'm going to forsake serving God to just chase after the almighty dollar. And look, people won't say that, but that's what a lot of people do with their lives.
A lot of people just basically say, well, you know what, I'll serve God one day, but right now it's all about money, money, money, money, right?
You're going to pierce yourself through with many sorrows. If you've ever read things about people that have won the lottery, it's the worst thing that could happen for them.
There's this guy, you know, that was famous in the U.S. He won the lottery several years ago, and they said the guy was a hardworking guy, a humble guy in the community.
He won the lottery, got rich. Then all of a sudden, you know what, he starts going to strip clubs. This is a married guy with kids, starts going to strip clubs.
His niece dies when she's like 17 of a drug overdose. She never took drugs before. His whole life just spun out of control. Why? Because he loved money. That's the reason why.
Look, it's not necessarily a blessing to have a lot of money. There's nothing sinful about money, but if you love money, it's going to destroy your life.
And we need to just trust in the Bible when it says it's going to pierce yourself through with many sorrows, sadness, regret.
You think of a lot of people who basically, you know, as they're growing up and everything like that, and they have a family, they basically forsake family to make money.
And they have this attitude that one day I'll spend time with my family. But you know what, oftentimes that day never actually ends up coming because it's just money, money, money.
And here's the truth about it. You know what, when I was a kid, I had a lot of free time, right? But you know, once you have your own family, you don't have free time all the time just to be doing everything.
So here's the thing, if you forsake that time when your kids are growing up, then you know what, that time might never be available when you're at the point to retire.
It might be gone because your kids might be really busy. There's a famous song in the U.S., and I'm not condoning rock music, but this is like the one rock song that actually had a redeemable value taught in it.
It's a famous old song called The Cats in the Cradle. Has anyone ever heard that song, The Cats in the Cradle?
And what that song is about is this guy who's always too busy for his kid, too busy, too busy.
Then all of a sudden he reaches the point where basically he has time, and then he calls up his son, and his son's like, yeah, you know, that's great dad, but you know, I'm busy. I don't have time.
And he's like, you know, I can't remember the exact things that he says, but you know, it actually has a redeemable value, which is a rare thing for a rock song, but that's actually reality. This happens in a lot of people's lives.
And see the Bible says, do not love money because it is the root of all evil. It says, but thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Now it talks about fleeing these things. We have to understand the word flee is a very strong word to get away from the situation, and the indication is it's very easy to get caught in that situation.
Flee these things, meaning don't allow this to take hold of you because it could very easily take hold of any one of us.
You say, Brother Stuckey, that would not happen to me because I'm not covetous, but wait a minute, the Bible says there's no temptation taking you, but such is his common demand.
And the Bible is saying many people fall because of this one thing, right? Verse 12, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, weren't you thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses.
Now here's the thing in verse 12, it says lay hold on eternal life, and I've heard people use this verse to say, see if you want to go to heaven, you've got to lay hold on that eternal life, and if you let that eternal life get away, then you're going to end up in hell.
That's not what it's saying. What it's saying is as a saved person, you ought to consider this the source of your life, that your life is guided by what does the Bible say, and you're serving God 100%.
Lay hold on eternal life. Don't let it be something where it's like, well, yeah, I got saved, but who really cares, I'm going to go about my life. It's something you should take very seriously.
Okay, turn in your Bible to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3.
You know, we're just looking up a few verses and passages that use that word specifically of falling, but the truth is there are a million things that we could fall and destroy our lives.
You think of the parable of the sower, and you've got three out of four people are saved, the second, third, and fourth, but only one of them is really serving God, right?
And when you look at this world, are most Christians serving God? Like what percentage of Christians are serving God? Because I remember when I first got saved, you're shocked when you find out about salvation.
It's so easy. It's a gift, and I remember just thinking like naturally inside of myself, man, there's probably so many people that don't know this.
If I just told people about it, all these people are going to get saved and everything like that, but you know, you start finding out that you know what?
There's a lot of people that already know this. They just don't tell anybody about it because they're not laying hold on eternal life. It's not that important to them.
They're laying hold on, you know, whatever, their job or Facebook or social media or whatever. It's like they're not really caring about the things of God, right?
The Bible says in 2 Peter 3 verse 17, ye therefore beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
So obviously Peter's writing to save people, and he's saying saved people can be led away with the error of the wicked and fall from their own steadfastness.
This is not saying losing your salvation. It's saying that you're serving God, and you stop serving God.
You're really serving God. You're doing right. You're reading the Bible, and you get led away with the error of the wicked, and you fall from your own steadfastness.
Look, this is something that's very common. Most Christians don't serve God. They're obviously fallen from, you know, the things of God. They're not serving God.
Verse 18, how do we guard against this, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
The Bible says grow in grace and grow in knowledge. Two different things.
Now when you think of knowledge, it's reading the Bible, you know, hearing a lot of preaching, you learn a lot of doctrines, and you know knowledge is very important.
But the other thing that's very important is growing in grace, and this speaks more toward your character and your personality.
And this goes back to the steroid example where people who listen to all this preaching, they grow in knowledge really quickly while they remain an obnoxious jerk.
Right? Isn't that true? I mean, I'm excited when there's people that come to our church that listen to online preaching, and they believe the same things and everything.
But here's what I also know about that. The person who's new to our church is going to be one of two people.
Either a great church member or a horrible church member. We have a lot of great church members.
We have had a lot of horrible church members. Horrible church members. Obnoxious, rude jerks.
And some of them had a lot of knowledge, but you know what, they had no grace whatsoever.
And they might not realize that, but it's obvious to anyone that's looking at it.
It's like we need to grow in both of these things. This is why I advise people, it's good to listen to preaching and see those documentaries.
You know what's better is actually reading the Bible, because there's a healthy level of where you're growing and learning this knowledge.
And you know what, my philosophy has always been, if I'm part of a good church that preaches the whole Word of God, I really don't need to be listening to like five hours of sermons every night.
I get it if you're not getting motivated by your church, but if you have a good church and you're hearing the Word of God preached, you don't need to hear like every single thing under the sun.
And you know the problem with that is, you're going to grow in knowledge, but you're never going to apply stuff, and you're not going to grow in grace. That's what the Bible teaches.
You are better off doing the slow, steady, non-steroid growth of reading the Bible and memorizing the Bible.
Turn to Galatians 2. Galatians chapter 2.
Galatians 2.
Galatians chapter 2.
It's also a reason why we should really invest in bringing new people to church that know nothing about these doctrines.
He walked up to them and said, hey, you know, are you IFB? IFB. What's the I? What's the F? What's the B?
And then you say independent fundamental, oh, I know Baptist. I haven't heard of the other one.
It's like, you know why? Because people like that, you know what, it will be a slow growth. Maybe they don't have as much knowledge, but you know, they rarely end up being the massive, massive problems.
We need to reach new people.
And here's the truth. There are people that are around this community of doors that we knock that, you know what, they do want to serve God.
They might not know what that means, but they do want to serve God. We're going to look at it in the next sermon, but we're going to look at a man, Cornelius, who very clearly, according to the Bible, was a man who feared God as an unsafe person.
And there are unsafe people here in this community that fear God. They have a conscience, and they're trying to do what's right.
They might not know all these doctrines, but you know what, they just want to do what's right. They fear God, and those people will be great church members. We need to reach people like that.
Let me give you a couple examples of people that fell from their own steadfastness in the Bible, and there's so many examples you could look at, but notice Galatians 2 verse 11.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I would have stood him to the face because he was to be blamed. So in Galatians 2 verse 11, we see that Paul rebukes Peter to his face.
Why? Well, because Peter just basically fell from his steadfastness. He was too associated with the Jews and wasn't trying to reach everybody with the gospel. Anyway, Paul basically rebukes Peter.
Now let me say this. This does not mean you're rebuking a pastor. Acts 21.
And look, if Peter can really screw up, you know that you can really screw up too. Acts 21. Acts 21 verse 10. You say, well, that's Peter, brother Stuckey. Well, the man who rebuked Peter was Paul.
A certain prophet named Agabus. Agabus. Now, he said, brother Stuckey, who is Agabus? Well, turn to Acts 11. Acts 11.
Anyway, Agabus is not a very common name, but he's a good Bible character. So, you know, I remember when we were at Verity, you know, we wanted to name our child Zephaniah, a name that was unique, that we liked, a godly character in the Bible.
There's not a lot of people named Agabus. So if you're trying to come up with a name that nobody's chosen, you know, Agabus, you know, could be a name that you could choose. He's a good character in the Bible.
But I'll show you that Agabus is a good character here in Acts 11 verse 28.
And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dirth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudia Caesar.
Now, a dirth is basically a giant famine. And Agabus says there's going to be a giant famine. And, you know what, the narrator of this says he's signified by the Spirit.
So the narrator is telling you, by the Holy Spirit, Agabus says there's going to be a dirth. So it's not just his words, but it's actually the Holy Spirit.
But we also know it's true because it comes to pass. It says in verse 29, then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief onto the brethren which dwelt in Judea.
So basically, you know, Agabus stands up ahead of time and says there's going to be a giant famine. He stood up and said there's going to be this new thing called COVID that's going to last for five years.
And there's going to be a struggle financially, so prepare for that day. That's the sort of thing that is taking place, right?
Go to Acts 21. Acts 21.
And I'm not literally saying it's going to be five years. It's not a prediction. I'm sure it'll be a lot longer than that, but I'm just saying that's the sort of thing where if you can prepare ahead of time like, hey, this is going to happen.
Well, it's actually, you know, helpful to know this sort of stuff ahead of time. Acts 21 verse 11.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle. This is Agabus taking Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews of Jerusalem bind the man that owned this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Now, here's the thing. I showed you Acts 11 because naturally if you hear that somebody gets in an argument with Paul the Apostle, your reaction would be, well, of course Paul the Apostle is right.
Wouldn't that be what you would think off the top of your head? Because it's Paul the Apostle. And Agabus is a character who he doesn't appear a lot of times.
So if you read Acts 21 and you miss, because it's very easy to miss names in the Bible or read a name and then forget it because, you know, it's hard to remember all of them.
If you don't see the cross-reference there, you might just assume, well, Paul is obviously right because it's Paul, but he's not right.
Agabus says by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, I'm saying this to you and he's telling the truth because this does happen. Verse 12,
And when he heard these things, both we and they of that place besotted not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart?
For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we cease saying, The will of the Lord be done.
So Paul has warned this is going to take place. He's going to be arrested. He doesn't take heed to it and says he's willing to die.
But the truth is that not only was Agabus right, but Paul should have taken heed to this because he would have been better able to preach the gospel if he did not do this.
Now here's the thing, though. Paul screws up, but he also doesn't spend the rest of his life in prison just complaining like, I screwed up, my life is done.
He still serves God until the very end of the day because he fell, but he rose up again, didn't he?
I mean, when you read the rest of the stuff he did in his life, you can almost think he made the right choice, which I don't believe he made the right choice because Agabus is saying by the Holy Spirit.
But Paul is so successful after screwing up that you're like, wow, right? I mean, he's the one who wrote the book of Philippians.
Pastor Mendez is going through a book about joy and it's like he's writing about the joy found in Christ while he's in prison.
That's pretty powerful, right? And he was still serving God and doing what was right, but he did fall, but he rose up again.
Now turn in your Bible to Proverbs 24. Proverbs 24.
So what are kind of some examples of this? Well, when it comes to going to a new year, I always like to reflect on my life and think back, how many times did I read the Bible?
How much did I memorize the Bible? And not only just in a spiritual sense, just in all areas of my life, but I reflect on my life spiritually.
For example, when January 1st, 2022 hits, I'm going to think back in my head, how much did I read the Bible this past year? How much did I memorize the Bible?
Anyway, I've been saved for 18 years and here's the thing, it's not like every single year I read the Bible a little bit more than the year before.
There have been some times I got to the end of the year and I'm just thinking, man, why is it I was not as successful this year?
Why is it I didn't memorize the Bible as much? Why is it that I was a little bit more worldly this year than I was in another year?
And it's like sometimes we have to just stop and reflect and say, okay, I kind of fell, at least in certain areas, what do I have to change?
I mean, if it was just an uphill climb with no problems, that would be very easy, but the truth is we mess up, we screw up, and sometimes we come to the end of the year
and if we're honest with ourselves when we look at the spiritual mirror, we can say, I'm not more zealous this year than I was last year.
So the question comes, why? Now look, your life might be more busy so maybe you don't have as much time to read the Bible and that's a valid reason.
But I'm saying, I can be honest with myself and say, it's not like every single year I've been more zealous than the previous year.
You say, why is it that happens? Well, sometimes people commit sins, they get caught up with the cares of this world or the riches of this world.
Or oftentimes what takes place is you're serving God and trying to do what's right, but you kind of go through a different stage in life and it's hard to adjust to a different stage.
When I was single before I got married, it was like clockwork, my alarm went off at either four or five in the morning, start reading the Bible, start memorizing the Bible, and then of course you get married and have kids and it's like, you know what, sometimes you haven't gotten much sleep through the night so when that alarm goes off, you're just like, snooze, right?
And it's difficult because if you live on your own, it's very easy to avoid distractions. You can read the Bible at any time, there's no distractions. But then you have a family, then you know what, oftentimes there's distractions.
And being married is a great blessing and I pray for the single people to find the right spouse and get married, but you're going to go through an adjustment and sometimes changes are what cause people to get out of the will of God.
Even though it's a blessing, it's also a little bit different and you have to adjust to it.
Sometimes we go through new jobs or new situations and you have an adjustment period and sometimes it's hard, but you have to be honest with yourself and look at the spiritual mirror and say, you know what, I've fallen from where I used to be.
I used to be more zealous, I need to make a change.
And see, that's what we're talking about, rising up again, which is the second point. And see, here's the thing, rising up is more important than your ability or your skill or your zeal because your zeal comes and goes.
But if you have the attitude, I'm always going to rise up, then you're going to keep fighting to the end.
It says in Proverbs 24 verse 16, for adjustment follows seven times and rises up again, rises up again.
Now, when you're looking at our lives spiritually, we are in a spiritual fight. We are in spiritual warfare, right?
Well, we can look at earthly examples such as a physical fight to get an understanding of this.
And look, I know I use a lot of sports analogies, I use a lot of math analogies. It's not hard to tell the things that I've been interested in in my life, right?
But a physical fight is a great example because they'll say about somebody, he's a really great fighter, a really great athlete, but how does he do with adversity?
Because it's very easy when you're winning to just no problems whatsoever.
If you're the big strong boxer, you're winning every fight, but once you fight someone that punches you back, you don't necessarily know how someone's going to react to that.
You can be the greatest ever, but then once you have someone who's about your level and is basically challenging you, some people end up folding up and they can't take it.
It doesn't even matter how big of muscles they have, some people are just not able to rise up again, right?
And look, I'm not an expert at boxing, but there's I'm sure thousands of examples you could look at.
And I remember there was a fighter. His name was Michael Spinks. He was the heavyweight champion of the world. He was the best fighter.
Undefeated, he was like 30-0 or something like that. And then all of a sudden he had beaten a lot of heavyweight champions.
Then he fought a guy with the name of Iron Mike Tyson, right?
And here's the thing, he got knocked out in the first round. He got knocked out a couple times and he just gave up.
And look, I'm not trying to criticize the guy because if I got punched by Iron Mike, I wouldn't stand up either. I'm just using this as an example, okay?
I'm just saying he got punched and here's the thing, he might have been able to rise up again, but oftentimes boxers are on the mat and then all of a sudden they have the ability to get up, but in the back of their head they're thinking, I'm just going to get knocked down again.
It's like, I got my paycheck, I'm done. I'm just not going to fight through it.
You don't even have to just look at boxing. You could look at other sports where there's a team that dominates every single team, but then they go to another team that's on a pretty even level.
And even if they're better and more skillful and have better ability, once this team is basically challenging them, they end up just folding and they can't take it.
This happens all the time. And look, you don't really know how well someone is going to do when things are going well in their life.
You really find that out when people are going through turmoil.
When they're going through storms, do they last through that fire or not? And that really tells you because you don't know if somebody's going to rise up again.
It says in verse number 9, the thought of foolishness is sin and a scorner is an abomination to men.
Verse number 10, the Bible says, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
So let me just kind of basically explain what this verse is saying. If you faint or give up when it gets difficult, it's because you're too weak.
Now look, the world is a lot different than it used to be, but when I was a kid, the biggest insults you could tell to a guy is that he's a homo or that he's weak.
You're playing a sport and somebody calls you a homo. It's like, what did you say to me?
Somebody calls you weak? It's like, oh, we'll see who's weak, right? It's like, that is something that as a guy, you call somebody weak, it is a massive, massive insult to call somebody weak.
And see, the Bible's saying, you know what, if you fall and don't rise up, it's because you're too weak. And that makes logical sense.
And look, isn't it true that a lot of people give up on serving God because it just gets too difficult? They're just not strong enough to last through it.
Some people that fade out of serving God, sometimes it's not people that you would expect. Some people fade out and you're like, man, I thought that person was going to last to the very end.
He was jealous, he was excited, and then all of a sudden he's got one of his friends or relatives that makes fun of him for being a Baptist and is like, oh, I can't go to church anymore.
I mean, this is the truth. A lot of people fade out because they can't deal with the adversity, they can't deal with being mocked, or they can't deal with the fact that, you know what, they're struggling and it's hard.
And instead of rising up, they just say, you know what, it's a lot easier to make excuses and preserve my pride than actually get back up and keep serving God.
Go to Jeremiah 8. Jeremiah chapter 8. Jeremiah chapter 8.
And look, you honestly don't know who is going to last through difficult times. They might seem like they're the most zealous and excited.
And going back to the boxing analogy for a second, Mike Tyson, people thought was going to be undefeated forever, but actually whenever he dealt with adversity, he always lost.
I mean, that's the truth. I mean, I remember being a kid when he bit off Holyfield's ear. Well, he bit off his ear because he was losing the fight, right?
And it's just like, just because someone seems like they're strong and spiritual and they're going to last to the very end, I've seen some of the most zealous people in my lifetime just fade out on serving God.
And you're like, that person always talked about the Bible. He was always about the word of God. That's what his life revolved around.
But you know what? That doesn't tell you how he's going to do once he goes through adversity. Because many people when they go through difficulties, they just fade out. They just give up. You say, why?
Because they're too weak. They're not strong enough. They don't rise up because they're too weak for the challenge.
Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 4. Moreover, thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Shall they fall and not arise?
And see, the idea is, hey, if you're going to fall, you need to rise back up. Shall they turn away and not return?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slid back by perpetual backsliding? So when we're talking about falling, we're talking about what? Backsliding, right?
Backsliding is a very common term in Baptist churches. And what we're saying by falling is somebody who backslides because you're falling backwards when you're trying to get close to God.
And see, the Bible is saying if you fall, if you backslide, you need to rise back up. And God's saying, why are my people not rising back up?
But isn't this what happens a lot of times? We're so excited for new people that visit church and new people that join our church.
And it's exciting and you're thinking, man, our church is growing and everything. But you know what? A lot of people end up just fading out of church eventually.
There's been a lot of good people that used to be part of our church that used to go soul winning and just kind of slowly drifted out of church.
And look, this takes place. You say, why? Because sometimes you fall and you don't rise back up. Go to Micah 7. Micah 7. Micah 7.
Because you know what? Sometimes you come to a new church like this and you're excited, you're like, man, I love the soul winning, I love the preaching, the fellowship, I believe the same things.
It's great and everything. But see, that's when you're in a period where things are going well in your life. What about when you go through adversity and struggles?
You know what the reaction is from a lot of people? They just kind of give up on church, blame the church or whatever, and just kind of fade out of serving God.
It's like you've got to be able and willing to last through that storm. Later today, if your arm's like this for like 10 minutes, you've got to last through it and come back in that arm wrestling match.
It's like you've got to last through adversity. It says in Micah 7 verse 8, rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise.
So he doesn't say, you know, if I fall. He says, when I fall, because it's going to happen, I shall arise.
And see, that ought to be the attitude that, hey, you know what? No matter what happens in my life, no matter how much I'm going to get back up and keep serving God.
Go to Proverbs 9. Proverbs chapter 9.
One of the things that makes this difficult is because oftentimes when we backslide, we either are not aware of it or we're not willing to admit it.
We're basically, it's like we've fallen and everybody can tell, right? But we either don't want to admit it or we're just not aware of it ourselves.
And that can be a very difficult thing. You say, well, how do you figure it out then?
Well, you figure it out when you read the Bible and you see yourself getting pierced by God's Word or when you hear sermons and the truth is preached.
And then you have to have an honest and a good heart to what's being said according to the parable of the sower.
You have to be willing to look at that spiritual mirror and not make an excuse for ketchup being all over your face, right?
It's like, that's the analogy in James 1. I mean, imagine you shave and then all of a sudden you look at the mirror and it's like, oh wow, I messed up. I've got blood here. You just make an excuse. Well, that's not my fault.
It's stupid, right? Obviously you cut yourself, right? It's like, yeah, now it's time to fix the problem, right?
And this is the same way people are with the spiritual mirror. They see exactly what the Bible says, where they're not right with God, they're in sin, but they make excuses.
Proverbs 9 verse 8, reprove not a scorn or lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.
Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning.
See, the just man and the wise man is the person who wants to be rebuked. You say, why? He wants to fix his problems.
The foolish person is the one who wants to come to church and get a pat on the back that you're just the greatest thing ever when there's a lot of problems, right?
And look, this is the reason why people like this church. Now, our church is never going to be the biggest Baptist church in Metro Manila, right?
But that's the reason why you that are here like this church though, because you like being rebuked. You like being told you're not right with God.
You want to fix the problems in your life. And it's mind boggling to me, but most people don't want the truth.
And see, the Bible speaks about that. It talks about people that want lies. They want to be lied to. This is what people want.
They want to walk into church and be told they're the greatest thing ever and walk out feeling spiritual without being spiritual.
That's the truth. And this is why you are at this church, but this is also why our church is never going to be the biggest Baptist church.
You see, Brother Shaki, even if we do all this sowing and invite lots of people, you know what? We're still never going to be the biggest church because people start coming and then fade out once they get rebuked.
Now look, I believe in speaking the truth in love. I'm not a pastor who's going to just start calling people by name and say, all right, today I'm going to focus on this row.
Let me start with this person. Here's your biggest sin, Brother Franklin, all right? And then just go down.
Look, I don't believe in that. I don't believe in being a jerk, right? But you know what? When you preach the whole word of God, look, I might not know about your personal problems, but I'm sure certain people are getting rebuked from the sermons here today and I'm not even aware of those problems.
But because when the word of God is being preached, you know what? We're guilty sometimes. Now look, here's a news flash to you though.
When I write the sermons, you know what? Sometimes I'm guilty when I'm writing things and I'm looking at it and I'm like, man, this hurts me, right? Because I need to make some changes.
I don't try to avoid anything in the Bible. I try to show everything the Bible says. I'm not perfect, but you know what? I'm willing to be rebuked and you know what? If you want to serve God, you must be willing to be rebuked.
And if you're not willing to be rebuked, eventually you're not going to last at our church unless I change. And I'm not planning to change, right? I'm planning to just preach what the Bible says and you must be willing to take it if you're guilty.
And if you're not willing to take it, the Bible says you're the opposite of a wise man, which is Bobo. You're a fool.
I mean, here's the thing. Let's say you're really screwing up being a husband and then all of a sudden you hear a sermon preached and then it's very clear in the Bible you're screwing up and the answer is very simple.
Wouldn't you be a fool if you didn't take heed to what the Bible says? Just logically speaking, yeah, you know what? It's the wise person that when he gets rebuked says, hey, you know what? I'm going to make the change.
Look, if you see something that will fix your life and you refuse to do it because you're prideful, you're a fool. It's stupid. It's like just humble yourself and fix the problem. It's that simple.
You fall, you're messing up, just rise up again. And turn to Jonah 2. Jonah 2. Jonah 2.
Yeah, the Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. It says faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
See, here's the thing. You think Joel Osteen really loves you because he says, you know, your best life now and love, love, love, actually he doesn't care about you at all.
Actually what he cares about is rolling in that dough. Money, money, money, right? It's like, you know, you say, what's the proof of that? Well, the proof of that is he never rebukes anybody.
And the Bible says open rebuke is better than secret love. And it says faithful are the wounds of a friend. You say, brother, he's such a jerk because he preached against my sin and everything.
Actually that's proof that I'm being a friend to you. Because if you actually care about someone, and look, that is my job, preaching these sermons. My job is to teach you what the Bible says.
Anyway, I understand that when people are new to this type of church, at first it's like, whoa, man, all my other pastors were just so much nicer. But, you know, actually it's shown they don't care about you.
Because if you have a problem, then you need to know that. And that's why I show you what the Bible says so you can make the changes in your life and fix them, and then you can start serving God better.
Right? Open rebuke is better than secret love. And, you know, the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend.
Look, think about if one of your friends, you know, comes up to you and they're thinking about doing something stupid. Okay? And I'm going to use an extreme example just to prove a point.
But let's say your best friend comes up to you and says, you know what, I'm struggling with money. I'm thinking about being a drug dealer.
Now, here's the thing. If you're really a friend, what are you going to tell them? It's like, are you an idiot?
Smack them on the face. They're like, what in the world is going on in your head? Right? But what about if you don't care about them? Man, that sounds like a great idea. Just remember me if you start making some money.
Right? Who's the one that actually cares about, well, the person that tells them, hey, you're making a foolish decision.
Hey, you know what the truth is? All of us make foolish decisions. And when the Word of God is being preached, you need to take heed to it.
Let me give you an example of someone who really screws up his life but ends up fixing it is in the book of Jonah. Jonah 2, verse 7.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came on to the end of thine holy temple. This is when he's inside of the whale's belly.
And it says in verse 8, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Now what Jonah says is this, that if you observe lying vanity and basically make excuses for your sins, you're forsaking your mercy.
Now here's the thing. Obviously Jonah needed mercy when he was inside of the whale's belly. And he was willing to admit, I screwed up, and you know what? God was merciful to him because he admitted his faults.
Now look, we do see here a proof of the fact that you can get right with God for a very short time because he ends up, you know, backsiding again.
But here's the thing. What Jonah said is you will have no mercy unless, you know, you basically admit your fault is what he's saying.
So obviously he's willing to admit his fault and get right with God. It just doesn't last very long. Here's the thing. Let's say though he was prideful and he sat inside that whale's belly.
Well, it's just not fair. Assyria is such a wicked empire. I should not have had to preach to them. It's not fair. It's not right. You know what? He would have died inside the whale's belly.
But he got mercy because he admitted that he screwed up. And here's the thing. You know what? If you're backsiding, if you've fallen, if you've messed up, and you hear the word of God preached, you are a fool if you don't admit it.
And you will have no mercy from God because I'm just the messenger for God. Now I'm not a perfect messenger. I make mistakes. I don't know everything perfectly in the Bible.
But here's the thing. My goal is to just teach you what the Bible says and I'm just the messenger passing on the message. There's really no reason to get mad at me when the Bible is what says this.
Now go to Proverbs 1. We'll look at a few more places. Proverbs 1. This is not a particularly deep sermon here, our first sermon. Point number one is there will be times you mess up. There will be times you fall. Number two though, more important than falling is the ability to actually rise back up.
But here's the thing about this. Point number three and our last point is you should learn from your fall. You should learn when you backslide, not to make the same mistake over and over.
What is said in Jeremiah was a perpetual backsliding. You think of like with annuities into perpetuity which is basically forever. And basically God's saying just you're always for all eternity just backsliding, backsliding.
It's like we need to learn from your fall. If you fall in a specific area and you get it right and then you end up doing the same thing a month later, it's like man, you need to eventually learn from your fall.
Because here's the thing. No matter how much you want to rise up, if you get knocked down 20 times in a boxing match, two times for the first 10 rounds, you're eventually going to just say it's not worth rising back up because I'm just going to get knocked down again.
If you allow yourself to just always get knocked down and never learn from your mistakes, eventually you're going to fade out on the serve of God no matter how much you want to rise up.
Because eventually it's going to come to the point where it's like man, my head hurts, my life's like man, I'm not doing it. So you need to learn from your mistakes and not make those same mistakes again.
Proverbs 1 verse 5, a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel.
So the Bible says if you're wise, you increase learning. So you learn something new, you fix the problem, don't go back to it.
Go to Philippians 3. A famous quote they say is that the definition of insanity is someone who does the same thing over and over and over again expecting different results.
What that basically means is let's say for example you're going on a diet. You're trying to lose some weight and then all of a sudden you say today, brother Stuckey, I'm going on a diet, I'm really excited for this, I'm zealous.
And then you come back next week and I say hey, how's your diet? It didn't work out for me.
And then it's like well what was the problem? Man, it's just all these cookies I was eating in my house.
And it's just like oh, maybe you want to take the cookies out of the house when you go on a diet. Doesn't that make sense? Get rid of the junk food. Isn't that kind of a basic tip?
Get rid of the junk food. And then all of a sudden two months later you're like okay, I'm excited about it again. It's like I'm going back on this diet, I'm going to go on this diet, I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to get in shape and everything.
Then all of a sudden it's like oh great. You come back a week later. Hey, how's your diet? Man, it didn't work out for me.
It's like what was the problem this time? I just had all this Coca-Cola in my fridge and I promised myself I'm only going to drink one per week and then all of a sudden I had like 15 in one day.
It's like just get rid of the Coca-Cola. Get rid of the junk food. Look, that's actually a very practical, very basic tip if you're going on a diet. Just get rid of the junk food.
Get rid of the stuff that's going to make you fall. And it's the same thing spiritually. If there's something where you keep messing up, it's like hey, here's the tip to fix it. Fix it. Don't keep messing it up.
Here's an example. What about reading the Bible? Why is it that people oftentimes struggle to read the Bible?
Cell phone. Brother Sucky, man, I keep trying to read the Bible and I don't know. Everyone kept texting me. Turn your phone off. Right?
Brother Sucky, man, I was trying to read the Bible and I found myself on YouTube and just as I was watching video, I turned your computer off. Right?
Go to a place without social media. Go to an area with no, I mean, very basic tips are usually what will fix our problems in our lives. Isn't that true?
And instead of doing this yo-yo thing or oscillating back and forth like a tennis ball bouncing back and forth on both sides of the net, hey, you know what? Just learn from your mistake and say, oh, man, you know what? That's perfect advice. I never thought about that. I'm just going to start taking heed to it.
You know, my situation is not the exact same now, but you know what? When I worked in Maryland in the United States, I always showed up for work a few hours early.
I often clocked in at 4.30 in the morning and my shift started at 7.30. You say, why? Well, I had to study for my actuarial exams and once you get done from work, you're not that excited to study math. Right? Especially when you're on Excel all day.
And I had to read my Bible and memorize the Bible. So I showed up for work a few hours early and I just, what else are you going to do at 5 in the morning at an office? You turn on your light. What else am I going to do? Right? It's like I just read the Bible. There's no other options.
And like basically put yourself in a position where you're going to succeed. So look, if you're screwing up in an area, make the change and fix it. Don't just keep screwing up and just say, well, I'll just be more excited and zealous next time. No, you won't. Because excitement comes and goes. Right? You're going to eventually fail.
Philippians 3, notice what it says in verse 13. We'll close up here in Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 13.
Brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
So Paul is pressing toward that mark. Notice this, let us therefore, us as saved people, let us therefore as many as be perfect, which perfect basically means complete, but in this context it's basically someone who's pressing toward the mark.
He's saying let us that are pressing toward the mark of getting close to God, he says, be thus minded. Now in the book of Philippians, it talks about having the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
So what the Bible is saying is have the mind of Christ. You're serving God. You're trying to do what's right. And basically let us that are striving to serve God be thus minded. And notice this, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
What the Bible is saying is if you're striving to serve God and you honestly fear God, you're trying to do what's right, the areas where you're not doing right, God will reveal that to you.
If you're pressing toward the mark. Now most Christians are not pressing toward the mark, so they're not going to have those things revealed, but here's the thing, as we get closer to God, it gets brighter.
The light will shine on your problems, and guess what? Everything is made manifest by the light. Whatever, misquoting in Ephesians 5, but whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
When you get close to the light of God, it will be manifested what your problems are. So look, if you're serving God, here's the thing, no matter how much you're serving God, you're still going to have problems that you need to fix.
But as you get closer to God, God is going to reveal those things to you. If in anything ye be otherwise minded. Maybe you're very zealous in reading the Bible, but maybe this area of your life is really messed up, and as you get close to God, God's going to shine that light, and then you've got the choice to make the change or not.
But notice when it says in verse 16, Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
So here's the thing, if there's something, one area of your life where you've already attained, make sure you keep it, is what the Bible is saying.
So for example, if you're very successful with reading the Bible, once you reach that level, keep it. Don't lose it. You don't want to just be always going back and forth and messing up.
Learn something new and keep it, and then another problem will come up, learn from your mistakes, fix the problems, and then keep serving God. Basically, learn from your mistakes.
And look, you're at a church that's going to shine the light as bright as is possible in your eyes. This church is one where basically you're just waking up in the morning and I take my cell phone and just shine the light right in your eyes.
That's what this church is like. The light is being shown in your lives to reveal your problems. So here's the thing, number one, you will have times you fall. You will have times you mess up. It happens to all of us.
Number two, though, you need to have the attitude you're going to rise up, and that is more important. But number three, learn from your fall. Don't just keep making the same mistake over and over and over.
And you know what, honestly, most people, the areas you screw up, it's probably the same thing over and over and over again. There's probably certain areas of your life that you've got down and you're doing good, but then you have this one area where you keep screwing up over and over.
You need to eventually learn from that. Because if you do not learn from your mistakes, you're going to fall one day and just say, you know what, I'm not getting back up. It's too hard. It's too difficult.
You're going to eventually fade out unless you have the attitude I'm going to rise up, but I'm also going to learn from my mistakes. Let's close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us to apply this to our lives, including myself. Help us to avoid falling as much as is possible, God, but help us to rise back up if we do backslide.
Help us also to learn from our mistakes and not just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. We just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Verse 384, in the service of the King.
First Sansa Puttaiya, I am happy in the service of the King. First Sansa Redi, sing.
First Sansa Puttaiya, I am happy in the service of the King.
Every talent I will bring, I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, oh so happy, to the sunshine that I can see in the service of the King.
In the service of the King, every talent I will bring, I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, oh so happy, to the sunshine that I can see in the service of the King.
Every talent I will bring, I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
First Sansa Puttaiya, I am happy in the service of the King.