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All right, we're here in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, and we're continuing our series on false philosophies. And the false philosophy we're looking at in this sermon is ancestor veneration. And when you say veneration, you're basically meaning to worship. So basically it's worshipping your ancestors. This is a very common thing that takes place in a lot of Asian countries, a lot of African countries, with their kind of traditional religions and philosophies and things like that.
Where they basically tell you not just to worship, you know, your parents or your aunts and your uncles, but your dead relatives. You know, your great grandparents that have passed away, your great, great grandparents. And they tell you to worship your dead relatives. Now you say, well, why would they actually do that? Like, what's the reason, right? Because a lot of these philosophies are hard for us to understand because we grow up in a Christian country, right? I mean, everybody here, I mean, this is the one country in Asia that has a Christian background.
So a lot of these philosophies are just kind of like, really strange to us, right? So why is it that people do this? Well, this is what it says about ancestor veneration.
The custom of venerating deceased ancestors who are considered still a part of the family and whose spirits are believed to have the power to intervene in the affairs of the living. So the basic teaching is this with ancestor veneration, that when your ancestors die, they're basically floating around in this spirit world and they can still interact in this world.
So basically, it does you a benefit to basically worship them and they'll help you out in this life. Whereas if you don't honor them and you don't worship them, they can actually curse you in this life, okay?
Now, the basic idea of this that they're going to be able to interact is built on this assumption that when somebody dies, their spirit or their soul is just kind of still out there, right? Of course, this is not what the Bible teaches.
But let me just read you from a couple different philosophies and religions here. With voodoo, it says, ancestors may be good or bad, but you must keep them happy.
So the idea in voodoo is that, you know what, your ancestor might have been a terrible person and an evil person, but if you don't worship them, then they're going to cause you a lot of problems.
With Taoism, it says, the spirits of deceased ancestors will look after the family, take an interest in the affairs of the world, and possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living.
In Buddhism, ancestor worship entails belief in the protective power of the deceased members of a particular family, lineage, or tribal group.
Very common in Buddhism, you'll see at those houses, you always know in the US that you're knocking a Buddhist house because there's food left on the door.
So basically, when you have rotten corn and rotten fruit, you know, hey, a Buddhist lives here, right?
And so that's very common. And of course, in the Catholic religion, at All Saints Day, what do you do? You leave out food for your dead ancestors, right?
So even in a Catholic country, there is some remnants of this idea.
Confucius, it says about Confucius' teachings, ancestor worship refers to rituals designed to commemorate and venerate the spirits of one's deceased forebearers.
Mormonism, they do baptisms for the dead, where basically, your relatives have passed away, they're dead, they didn't make it to heaven, but you can get baptized for them, and that's going to help them.
So the idea is this, that you know what, if your granddad died and he was not a Mormon, you can actually step in and get baptized, and they'll say the name of your grandfather instead, and that will help them make it up to heaven.
Right? These are a lot of very bizarre and weird teachings. It's obviously not what the Bible teaches.
But the idea is this with ancestor worship, that your ancestors are part of your blood, okay?
So basically, your great-great-grandfather has part of his DNA in you.
The idea is that you know what, if your grandfather struggled with drinking, then you will probably struggle with drinking.
Therefore, since he's already passed on, he's learned how to conquer alcohol, so now you pray to him, and he'll help you conquer alcohol. That's the teaching.
You say, Brother Stuckey, that's so bizarre, I've never heard anything like that. Well, is it really that much different than praying to saints?
You struggle with doubting, pray to doubting Thomas. Right? Isn't that what they teach?
You struggle with denying Jesus, pray to Peter. Right? Because he denied Jesus too.
Now let me just say, just from a common sense perspective, even if this actually worked, and people could interact in this life, wouldn't it make more sense to pray to someone who was successful than a failure at something?
I'm just saying, let's use common sense. If you're trying to get good at something, you say, Brother Stuckey, I want to win this chess tournament.
So I'm reading a book, I'm studying, I'm learning. Well, doesn't it make sense to read a chess book written by someone who knows how to play chess, rather than someone who doesn't know how to play chess?
It wouldn't make any sense to learn from someone who doesn't know how to do it.
Right? And so look, it would make the opposite sense to pray to someone who failed at something. Instead, why not pray to someone who succeeded?
Right? This idea, it's like, well, somebody has been divorced five times, but you know what, they're going to be the ones giving me marriage advice.
Why not get advice from someone who's had a successful marriage? Right? I mean, just common basic sense.
But it's not that much different than the Catholic Church, because that's what they do praying to saints.
They say, you struggle with this in your life. Well, you know what, Daniel knows what you're going through. Right? So pray to Daniel.
And he's going to help you out, because he knows what it's like to grow up in the Babylonian Empire. You live in a tough government or whatever, pray to Daniel.
He knows what you're going through. Right? This is nonsense. This is not what the Bible teaches.
Now, let me just read to you before we go to the Bible, from the main philosophy I want to look at with ancestor veneration, is the religion or philosophy of shamanism.
Who knows shamanism? It's very similar to voodoo. It's common with a lot of native tribes.
And here's what it says from this article.
In the animistic indigenous religions of the pre-colonial Philippines, ancestor spirits were one of the two major types of spirits with whom shamans communicate.
Ancestor spirits were known as umalagad, guardian or caretaker. They can be the spirits of actual ancestors or generalized guardian spirits of a family.
Ancient Filipinos believed that upon death, the soul of a person travels, usually by boat, to a spirit world.
So with shamans that were here in the Philippines, they would basically act as sort of like witch doctors, and they'd be the ones that would communicate between the spirit world and earth.
Between heaven and hell or the spirit world and earth. And so it's very common in shamanism, which is basically a worldwide religion.
Well, how do we know? And let me just say this, that the philosophical belief on ancestor worship is the idea that they can interact in this life.
However, I would say most people that practice ancestor worship, it's not for philosophical reasons.
It's really probably because they miss their loved ones that passed away.
They miss their grandparents or great-grandparents that have died. And so they get sucked into this because they don't want to forget about their relatives, right?
But what does the Bible say about this? Well, number one, there is a separation that takes place from your family at death.
When somebody dies, that's it. This is what it says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 6.
Ecclesiastes 12, verse 6.
Now, these are all symbolic or metaphorical ways to describe what takes place when somebody dies.
Some of these are kind of obvious. The golden bowl being broken, think of your head as shaped roughly like a bowl, right?
And if your head breaks, you're going to die, right?
It said,
Well, think of like your umbilical cord. The umbilical cord for a baby is very important, isn't it? Right?
You know, our daughter, Christabel, when she was born, she actually had a knot in her umbilical cord.
And the reason why a knot takes place in an umbilical cord is when the baby is doing gymnastics in the womb, where they're basically...
And, of course, Christabel is very mackerel-y, so it makes sense, right?
But she basically had a knot in her umbilical cord. Thankfully, it wasn't too tight.
Because if it was too tight, then she would have died. It would have been a still birth, right?
But the umbilical cord is basically your lifeline for a baby. The umbilical cord is vital.
Well, the silver cord is basically linking the physical and the spiritual realms together.
And see, once the silver cord separates from the physical and the spiritual, for as the body without the spirit is dead, right?
So once the silver cord is loosed, that's when somebody actually dies.
In fact, one of our songs in our hymnal, Saved by Grace, it starts off with that line, you know,
One day the silver cord will break, I think is the line of the song.
And what that's referring to is when the spiritual and the physical basically are separated, and that's when a person actually dies.
Verse 7.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
So of course, we're made of the dust of the ground, and then your body dies, and it just goes in the ground, and that's it, right?
But the Spirit returns unto the Lord.
Is there any indication in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 7, that the Spirit is just kind of trapped here in this spirit realm, and is like a ghost-like creature?
Right? Because when you're a kid, you see these, you know, TV shows and things about ghosts and stuff like that.
That's not what the Bible teaches, though, right?
When somebody dies, they go to heaven or hell immediately, right?
There's no second chance. There's no floating around in outer space.
You're either in heaven or hell immediately.
Go to Luke 16. Luke chapter 16. Luke 16.
And see, this whole philosophy is built on the concept that when somebody dies, that's not it for them interacting here on this earth.
But see, once you mess up this built-in assumption, it changes everything.
And see, the Bible teaches that when a person dies, they're in heaven or hell immediately.
There's no second chance. There's no floating around like a ghost-like creature.
They're in heaven or hell immediately.
Luke 16, verse 19.
There is a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores.
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels in Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried.
So, in this story, you basically have three people mentioned.
You have Lazarus, you have Abraham, and then you have the rich person.
Now, people say, well, why doesn't it mention the rich person's name?
Because he's not saved.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them, right?
He doesn't mention his name because he's not saved.
But make no mistake about it, this rich person exists.
This person is in hell right now, right?
And the reason why we know that is because it does use real names.
When Jesus told parables in the Bible or told stories, he'd be like, there was a certain, you know, husbandment.
But it doesn't give a name.
But it does give the name of Abraham.
It does give the name of Lazarus because this is a real story that actually took place.
Now, this is a miraculous story because this is not a common event where people from hell communicate with those from heaven.
What the Bible is doing is giving us an inside look on what hell is like.
Okay?
And it says, the rich man also died and was buried.
Okay?
Now, it mentions him being buried because the first thing that happens to your body after you die is generally you're going to get buried.
Right?
That's the scriptural method of what you should do when somebody passes away.
But basically the body gets buried, but what takes place to the soul?
Where do they go?
The Bible says this, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
So he wakes up and he's immediately in hell.
Right when he dies, boom, his body's in the ground, his body gets buried.
He's immediately in hell.
Do you notice how he's not just floating around?
Do you notice how he's not in purgatory?
Do you notice how he's not in, you know, whatever people would want to call it, different things depending on the religion and philosophy?
There's no, like, intermediate stage.
He's immediately in hell.
Right?
When a person dies unsaved, they immediately drop into hell.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And the Bible says he's in torment.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how do you know that hell is a literal place of fire?
Uh, because this guy's in torment?
He's in a lot of pain?
Maybe the pain is just symbolic of, you know, separation from God.
Well, you're not separated from God when you go to hell.
The Bible says in the presence of the Lamb.
Because the Lamb's the one who's actually keeping that fire hot.
Right?
It says in verse 24,
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
Now, when it says that he cried, it's not saying he cried a tear.
What crying a tear would be in our Bible is the word wept or weeping.
Wept.
Okay?
Or he wept, I should say.
When it's crying, it's like cry aloud, spare not.
Right?
It's basically yelling.
Okay?
And he cries out for mercy from Abraham.
He says, can I just have, you know, just one drop of water because of this flame?
So look, if this is just a story and that's not referring to literal hell, then what is that symbolic of?
Right?
I mean, mentions a literal flame.
He says, can I have water because I'm really hot?
Can you cool me down?
I'm tormented in this flame.
It's obvious hell is a place of fire according to this.
Right?
But then notice this in verse 25,
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things.
But now he is comforted and thou art tormented.
And notice this,
And beside all this,
Right?
So he's saying, even beside everything I've talked to you about,
Even the fact that you had a nice life and you didn't believe so you went to hell,
Beside all this,
Between us,
Which is Abraham and Lazarus, which are up in heaven,
Between us and you,
There is a great gulf fixed.
What he's saying is this,
You know what?
We would love to bring you water,
But there's a great gulf.
You say, why does it say a great gulf?
Because there's a great gulf between heaven and hell.
There's a great distance between heaven and hell.
Right?
He says there's a great gulf fixed, meaning you can't change it.
Meaning it's fixed.
It's permanent.
It's not going to change.
And by the way, just on a side point,
That alone would disprove this idea of Abraham's bosom because it's fixed,
The gap between heaven and hell.
Right?
So for, well, heaven just changed locations.
Well, it's fixed.
The Bible says a great gulf fixed.
Right?
So the Bible's saying there's a great gulf between heaven and hell,
A great gulf fixed,
So that they which would pass from hence to you cannot.
And what Abraham's saying is,
Hey, you know what?
There's a great gulf fixed,
And there are people that would pass to you.
You say, well, why would somebody in heaven want to go to hell?
To rescue their loved ones that are in hell?
Right?
Let's say you have a lost loved one that died unsaved.
Wouldn't you love to do anything you could to bring them to heaven if possible?
Right?
And Abraham's saying, you know what?
There are people in heaven that would be willing to go down to try to rescue their lost loved ones,
But you can't.
There's a great gulf fixed.
Then it says,
Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.
And he's saying,
Hey, you know what?
I know you would love to go to heaven, but you can't.
Right?
Look, if it was possible,
That'd be great.
But you know what?
It's not possible.
Right?
I mean, look, all of us have unsaved relatives or unsaved friends that died,
And they're in hell forever.
You know what?
That's a sad thing, but you know what?
It's also reality.
You can't deny reality and just say, well, you know, maybe they're going to get a second chance.
There is no second chance.
I mean, they had first, second, third, fourth, fifth chance here on earth.
There's no chance after you die.
And look, yes, people would pass to hell to try to bring people to heaven,
But you know what?
You can't.
And of course, those in hell would love to go to heaven.
Even the most ardent and hateful atheists in this world,
Because, you know, you hear these people and they say,
Well, you know what?
If that's like what heaven's like, I mean, if heaven doesn't allow any homosexuals,
I don't want to go then.
It's like, well, don't worry.
You're not going to go.
Right?
It's just like if God's that hateful and he doesn't let most people go to heaven,
I don't even want to go.
Don't worry.
You're not going.
Right?
But those same people right now that are in hell, they are crying out for mercy, my friend.
It's not a joke anymore to them.
They can laugh and deny it and not believe it or whatever.
But you know what?
They are crying in pain right now, screaming out because they're in torment.
And they would do anything they could to go to heaven.
And you know what?
It's too late.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Go to John chapter 3.
John 3.
So look, the idea of ancestor worship is built on the idea that your ancestors can still
interact in this world.
They're in this spirit world.
You can communicate to them.
You can pray to them.
And you know what?
Here's what's funny about this because they say, well, you know what?
You should worship your ancestors because they know the things you're going through.
You have their DNA.
You have their blood.
So basically, your granddad struggled with smoking.
That means you probably struggle with smoking.
So why not just pray to your granddad to help you out?
Right?
Yeah, but here's the thing.
The Bible says about Jesus, he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.
Right?
Jesus Christ knows the things and knows the temptations we go through.
The difference is he succeeded.
So instead of praying to your ancestor, why not pray to God?
Right?
I mean, it makes no sense to me.
And you know what?
It's understandable with religions like shamanism or Taoism.
I don't understand Catholics, though.
Like, why don't you just pray to God?
Why would you pray to a saint?
Does that make any sense?
Like, why would you pray to Peter?
It's like, why don't I just always pray to Padre Pio?
That's just what I do.
Like, why not just pray to God?
Right?
Like, why would you pray to a saint?
Why would you pray to a person?
Why not just pray to God?
It makes absolutely no sense if you say you believe the Bible.
John 3, verse 36, it says,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
In John 3, 36.
Now, hath is a makalumong word for has or present tense.
What the Bible says is, if you believe on the Son, you have everlasting life.
Right?
Meaning, you don't have to worry about what if one day I commit a sin.
You already have everlasting life.
Meaning that when you die, you're immediately going to heaven.
Okay?
But then it says,
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him.
So the Bible says God's wrath abides on the person that does not believe.
So look, when they die unsaved, they're in hell because God's wrath is abiding on them.
They're not just getting to float around like Casper the Friendly Ghost or something.
Right?
They're in hell immediately.
The Bible teaches.
I mean, it's just that simple.
Right?
Go to 1 Timothy 2.
1 Timothy chapter 2.
And they believe a lot of weird things, like with shamanism and these religions.
I saw this video, and I put the documentary on YouTube on double speed because I didn't
want to waste too much time.
But they had this drum, and they said that, you know what, when we worship ancestors,
what takes place is the spirit of our ancestors is inside this drum.
And so they had this drum, and I had it on double speed.
They're already beating it fast, but then they're like, oh.
And just doing that for like, you know, 30 minutes.
I'm just like, are you doing anything else?
They just kept beating it and just doing all these chants and everything.
And they say that when they beat that drum, the spirit of their ancestors will wake up
and help them out in this life.
Right?
I'm just like, this is just so bizarre.
It's strange, but this is what they teach.
Right?
They teach that their ancestors are going to help them out in this life, but that's
not what the Bible teaches.
What the Bible teaches is your ancestors, if they were saved, then praise the Lord,
but they're in heaven, they're not helping you out on earth.
And look, if they're unsaved, then they're in hell.
That's what the Bible teaches.
It says in 1 Timothy 2 verse 5,
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
The Bible says that Christ Jesus is the one mediator.
And you say, why is he the mediator?
Because he was the one who bridged the gap between heaven and earth.
He's the one who was all God and all man.
Right?
This is why you don't worship Mary, the mediatrix, as the Catholic church says.
I mean, she wasn't God.
Right?
The Bible never says she's our mediator to talk to God.
The Bible says the man Christ Jesus is.
He's the only mediator.
Which means none of your deceased relatives are mediators for you to commune to God.
Right?
And by the way, you say, well, Brother Stuckey,
but there's a lot of mediators out there that talk to the spirit world.
Yeah, they're helping you talk to devils.
They're not helping you talk to God.
I mean, okay, King Saul, go for it.
Right?
You want to communicate with devils?
You want to just try to...
I mean, that's creepy.
That's weird.
What the Bible teaches is that there's one mediator, and it's the man Christ Jesus.
Go to Matthew 22.
Matthew 22.
Matthew chapter 22.
Not only that, but you have to realize something, that you know what?
When a person passes away and goes to heaven,
and then you one day will pass away and go to heaven if you're saved,
your relationship is going to be different in heaven than it was on earth.
It's not going to be the same thing.
Right?
You know, people have this idea,
well, our relationships are always going to be the same and everything.
People have this idea, you know, like,
my spouse and I were meant to be together,
and in heaven we're going to be married together.
And that's not what the Bible teaches.
This is what it says in Matthew 22, verse 29.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
Ye do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.
From the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven.
And what the Bible says is, you know, just as angels are not married,
you know what, in heaven, the person that you're married to now
is not going to be your husband or your wife in heaven.
Right?
You know what you're going to be is brothers and sisters in Christ.
That's what you're going to be.
Your relationships are different.
Right?
I mean, if you've got relatives that are saved,
you know, you've got your dad, your granddad, your great-granddad,
they're going to be your brother in Christ up in heaven.
Right?
Our relationships are going to be different in heaven than they are on earth.
So, you know, it makes no sense to worship your ancestors.
Look, that relationship is different than it is on earth.
Go to 1 Peter 3.
1 Peter chapter 3.
Now, let me just give you a verse real quickly that they use as an argument,
because no matter what the false teaching is,
people will try to use the Bible to support it.
And there are people that would look at the Bible and say,
well, you know what, the Bible teaches worshipping ancestors.
Now, I'd love to see the verse on that.
Right?
Does anyone ever remember a moment where Jesus said,
you know what, I want you to worship your dead ancestors?
Because I seem to remember him even saying, you know what,
hey, let the dead bury their dead.
Right?
Like, where does he say, you know, worship your dead ancestors?
Like, worship your ancestors from hundreds of years ago.
Where's that in the Bible?
But they're going to point you to 1 Peter 3, verses 18 and 19,
where it says,
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.
And they'll go to a verse like this and say,
Well, you know what?
After someone dies, their spirit's in prison.
They're just kind of floating around out there.
They're in prison.
They're out there.
And you need to communicate with them.
Okay?
Now, let me just say this.
Whenever you're forming your doctrines and what you believe,
use clear verses.
Not just a vague phrase that you don't even know what it means.
Because if you were to ask them,
well, what does that actually mean, a spirit in,
why does it say prison?
What?
It's just what it says.
Right?
I mean, it is what it is.
It is what it is.
I mean, they're just kind of floating around out there.
Right?
Well, if they're able to float around, that's not prison.
Because in prison, you're kind of stuck in one place, my friend.
Right?
But let me just disprove that to you from the Bible.
Go to Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61.
And there's a lot of weird teachings on this verse.
Some people say, well, you know, after Jesus died,
you know, he went and basically mocked those in hell.
And he preached unto them saying, ha ha, we won, ha, we won.
Right?
That's weird.
That's a strange teaching.
Or some people say that, you know, Jesus Christ,
you know, basically he was in paradise for three days,
and he basically was preaching sermons to other people in paradise saying,
hey, we're finally going to get to go to heaven or whatever.
Right?
Let me just show you very clearly what it means to be a spirit in prison.
Isaiah 61 verse 1.
Now, what is preaching good tidings?
What does that mean?
It means the gospel.
Right?
The good news.
You're preaching the gospel or the good news.
And it said,
The Bible says that when we preach the gospel,
we are opening up the prison to them that are bound,
to those that are stuck in prison.
You say, why would the Bible say that?
Because here's the thing about being in prison.
If you're in prison, you're stuck there.
You're not getting out.
Right?
You're stuck there.
There's somebody watching you, not letting you out.
And here's the thing.
Unsaved people are stuck being unsaved no matter what they do.
There's literally nothing they can do to get out of prison.
The only way they can get out of prison is if we open up the doors for them.
Right?
We preach the gospel, and we open the prison to them that are bound,
and it's their option if they're going to walk out or not.
Right.
It's up to them.
Right?
But until we open that door, they have no hope of being saved.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And so the Bible says the spirit's in prison because as unsaved people,
they are stuck being unsaved unless we actually help them out.
What it's not saying is that your dead relatives are just up here in space,
just like, well, I'm just kind of stuck here for a while.
I'm kind of in prison.
How am I going to get out of this state?
That's not what the Bible's teaching.
Okay.
Now turn your Bible to Matthew 10.
Matthew 10.
And of course you show people a lot of verses,
and they'll come back at you and say, well, you know what?
I know that my relatives can still interact because, you know what?
I've talked to my relatives.
And people will say things like, I've seen them before.
They've come back and visited me.
They said I've had dreams, or at nighttime I felt their spirit in the room.
Here's the thing.
I do believe some of those people, they're just kind of in the head.
They just get their minds playing tricks on them.
I don't think they're all faking it, though,
but I've had people tell me that they saw dead relatives, or they had dreams.
They felt the presence of their, you know, husband that had died in the room.
Now, whenever I hear people tell me stories, at least for me personally,
it's always been unsaved people that have told me these stories.
I've never had a saved person tell me, you know what?
My dead husband, you know, visited me yesterday.
But I've had unsaved people that have told me stories like this.
Now look, I believe that some of them are actually being realistic.
They actually do believe they talked to their dead spouse to say, what is that?
It's called a devil.
It's called scary.
That's creepy.
Right?
I mean, to me personally, this whole concept's strange
because I would be creeped out if my dead relative was, like, visiting me,
and I was praying to it, and it was coming.
I mean, that's creepy.
That's weird.
Right?
Once they're dead, they're dead.
Right?
That's what the Bible teaches.
But when people say, well, you know what?
I've talked to them before they visited me.
Well, what they talked to was a devil.
They talked to a fallen angel that is basically manifesting itself
as an angel of light in disguise
because, look, your husband or your wife or your parents
or your aunts or uncles that passed away, they're gone.
They're either in heaven or hell forever.
They're not going to come and visit and talk to you.
Okay?
Matthew 10.
So number one, there's a separation from family that takes place at death.
But number two, there's a separation from family that should take place
during life, not just at death.
I mean, there's a permanent separation at death,
but during life, there should be a separation.
Now, as saved people, we understand that if our relatives are saved,
we do not sorrow as others which have no hope.
Right?
We are going to see them again one day up in heaven.
Okay?
But you're not going to see them down here on earth.
I mean, David said, you know, I will return to him.
You know, he's not going to come to me.
Right?
Because once you have, you know, obviously that was his baby son,
but what he's saying is, hey, I will one day in heaven be reunited,
but David understood I'm not going to be reunited here on earth.
Right?
Matthew 10, verse 34.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father
and the daughter against her mother
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Now in these verses, this is not saying you should try to fight with your relatives.
It's just stating as a matter of fact that the Bible has a way of dividing.
Right?
I mean, the Word of God just has a way where it basically divides people
on this side and on this side.
Now, certain things are very obvious.
Is Jesus the only way to heaven?
Well, that's a very divisive topic, right?
I mean, look, if your brother's a Muslim,
it's going to be pretty hard to have much fellowship with them,
because that's a pretty big topic to disagree on.
Is Jesus the way to heaven?
Is Jesus the Son of God?
Do you believe in the Trinity?
I mean, these are very divisive topics.
Right?
But, you know, when it comes to just our Catholic relatives,
there's a lot of divisive topics.
A lot of things you're just not going to see eye to eye.
You say, why, Brother Stuckey?
I mean, listen to this sermon.
I've been bashing the Catholic church.
Look, your Catholic relatives are probably not going to like this church
unless they get saved.
Right.
I mean, you're not going to stay at this church for years and say,
well, I'm a hardcore Catholic while I'm bashing the Catholic church.
It's not really me bashing the Catholic churches.
I'm just showing you what the Bible says.
Right.
And, look, there are things that just divide.
And, look, the reality is, when it comes to us and our lives,
unfortunately, there's often a division from a lot of the rest of our lives.
From a lot of the rest of our family.
And, look, if you get your relatives saved
and they want to start coming to our church,
praise the Lord for that.
Right, even if they don't believe everything like us
or it takes time or whatever,
but the reality is you're not going to get every single person
in your family tree coming to our church.
Right.
I mean, unless you grew up as like five generations of Baptists
and all the brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles,
I don't know anybody in that situation, though.
You might have a lot of Baptists in your, you know, family tree,
but not everybody's a Baptist.
I promise you there's a lot of Catholics in your family tree.
And, look, they're just not going to all come to this church
because the Word of God is a way of dividing.
Right.
Verse 37.
He that loveth father and mother is not worthy.
He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross and falleth after me is not worthy of me.
And what Jesus Christ said is,
Those that would put their parents above me are not worthy of me.
Now, if you believe on Jesus, you're saved and on your way to heaven,
but the Bible's speaking towards following God with all your hearts.
Now, to be saved, all you have to do is believe, but here's the thing.
If you want to follow God, you've got to be willing to separate
from those that are just against the things of God.
And, unfortunately, oftentimes, it's your parents.
It could be your kids.
Right.
Probably most of us were not raised as independent Baptists.
I mean, was anybody?
I mean, some people in this room were raised as Baptists,
but most weren't.
I wasn't raised Baptist.
So, look, obviously, you were raised in a different religion by your parents.
Right.
You know, one thing I've also seen is this.
You know, praise the Lord that the Word of God has a way to, you know,
reach people even when they're older in life,
and sometimes people get saved at an older age.
I know people that get saved, you know, when they're 30s, 40s, 50s.
One thing that's sad, though, is you'll have somebody who gets saved
when they're 50 years old, start coming to church, start serving God,
but their kids want nothing to do with Christianity.
Because, obviously, you know what?
They weren't saved when they were raising their kids,
and, unfortunately, sometimes there that requires a separation from your kids.
Now, of course, how big of a separation?
That's for you to make that decision in your specific situation.
I'm not saying you should never see your family or never talk to them.
What I'm saying, though, is this,
that it's not appropriate to just hang out with unsaved relatives
while they're getting drunk and doing things like that.
It's like, you know what?
Unfortunately, sometimes you've got to separate from certain things.
Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew 12.
There's this idea people have, and it's very common in Asian cultures,
of being incredibly close to your family,
that you should be best friends and always hang out.
That's just not what the Bible teaches, though.
If you're able to do that, that's great.
But, you know what?
For most people, that is not the case.
For most people, you have to actually make a separation.
And here's the thing.
Jesus said this in Matthew 10,
but he gets put to the test in Matthew chapter 12.
Notice what it says in Matthew 12, verse 46.
Matthew 12, verse 46.
Matthew chapter 12, verse 46.
So, what's basically going on is Jesus is preaching a sermon.
He's having a service.
He's teaching.
He's organizing.
It's basically in a church setting.
And then all of a sudden,
his mom and his brethren are outside, knocking on the door.
Right?
It'd be like, for example,
we're having service here,
and all of a sudden there's a knock,
and then all of a sudden you open up,
and it's like,
hey, Brother Stuckey, your parents are here.
Now, I would be pretty shocked,
since they don't live in the Philippines.
I'd be like, all right.
But you know what I'd say is,
hey, come join the service,
and then we'll talk after the service.
Right?
And Jesus is in the middle of having service,
and his mom shows up,
his brethren show up, verse 48.
But he answered and said unto him that told him,
Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?
And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said,
Behold my mother and my brethren.
For whosoever so do the will of my Father which is in heaven,
the same is my brother and sister and mother.
And what Jesus said is this,
I'm closer to those that are serving God
than my literal, physical, blood family.
That's what he said.
Now you say, well, Brother Stuckey,
you know, that's just because of, you know,
this specific situation.
But here's the thing.
Realize that with this family
of his mom and his brethren,
you've got a mix of saved and unsaved,
because his brethren don't believe on him.
The Bible says this time, right?
But his mom obviously does.
Obviously, and that's kind of a weird upbringing,
where it's just like, you know,
your mom believes that you're the Christ,
but not your brothers.
It's kind of, you know, kind of crazy to think about.
But it's just like his mom's saved.
And here's the thing about this.
It's not just that Mary is saved.
Mary is one of the godliest people in the entire Bible.
I mean, I've preached before about her.
I've showed verses that show
she was a very virtuous and godly person.
But here's the thing.
For whatever reason, she's not in church.
Maybe it's because of the fact
Jesus' brethren didn't want to go
and she wanted to keep the family together.
I'm not really sure.
But basically, she's not there.
And then when she shows up,
Jesus is thinking,
why aren't you in church?
Why aren't you here?
It's not that He's trying to avoid her,
but He's saying, hey, you know, we got church.
And the same thing happens in 2022
where people would skip church because,
well, I'm hanging out with family.
Right? I'm hanging out with my relatives.
Right? We're having a family get together.
But see, the Bible says
that we ought to put God above anything else.
And what Jesus said is,
these are my brethren.
This is my family.
And look, if your physical family
gets on board with serving God,
that's great.
Right.
If they don't, though,
you have to be willing
to make a bit of a separation.
I'm not saying you never talk to them
or never visit them.
You ignore them on Christmas.
That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is that shouldn't be
the people that you hang out
with all the time
because you're just going
to disagree on stuff.
The closest people in your life
ought to be people that are serving God.
Go to John 19.
John 19.
Now, look, I don't want you
to misunderstand what I'm saying
because I believe God gave you
your specific family for a reason.
You know, if you're in this room
and, you know, obviously,
you know, your mom and your dad,
you know, you were specifically
given to your parents.
And obviously that's God's choice
of why He did that.
But, you know, obviously God
gave you a specific family.
I mean, it makes sense,
doesn't it, that you should be
closer to your mom and your dad
than somebody else's mom and dad.
Obviously, you're in that family
for a reason.
And there are certain things
that I do believe that God
wants you to be committed
as that is part of your blood family.
But you have to be willing
to make a separation as well.
Notice what it says in John 19 verse 25.
Now, there stood by the cross
of Jesus' mother
and His mother's sister Mary,
the wife Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene.
Now, there's a lot of Marys
in this verse,
but I'm focusing on Jesus' mother Mary, okay?
And it says here in verse 26,
I personally believe that
Mary's husband Joseph
has already passed away, right?
The Bible doesn't really mention
what happened to Joseph.
I'd say, you know,
he ended up passing away.
You know, he probably didn't live to be,
you know, a really old person.
He ended up dying.
But basically the indication is that
Mary is now all alone.
And Jesus is leaving.
And what he says is,
woman, behold thy son.
And what he's basically,
and then saith he to the disciple,
behold thy mother.
And from that hour,
the disciple took her onto his own home.
So basically that disciple
takes care of his mom
because Jesus knows he's leaving
and he wants to make sure
his mom Mary is taken care of, right?
And so look,
I do believe that you ought to have
some love for your family.
Obviously, you were born into that family
for a reason.
Obviously, if you have kids,
there's that natural love
that you have towards them.
I'm not saying that's a bad thing,
but you also must be willing to make
a separation if necessary in your life.
Turn your Bible to Genesis 12.
Genesis 12.
And I don't know,
maybe I just have a different mentality,
but for me personally,
with relatives and people I know
that have passed away,
maybe it's just understanding the Bible
that there's just finality there,
that they're either in heaven
or hell forever,
but to me it'd be creepy
if they were able to actually come back,
that they were dead
and then they came back.
Because a lot of these cultures,
they're literally praying
to their dead relatives
and they'll often keep
the ashes of them in the house
and they'll hold that
and pray to them every day
and everything.
And it's just like,
for me personally,
when someone passed away,
they passed away.
To me it's like,
you know what,
zombies kind of creep me out
if that was real, right?
It's just like,
that would be strange to me.
When I was a kid,
I read a lot of books
and I read a lot of short stories.
There's a really famous short story
called The Monkey's Paw.
I'm not sure if people have read that
or heard of that story,
but it's like this story of,
and I'm not advocating this story.
It's like a story,
the paw is sort of like a genie in a lamp.
You get like three wishes,
but it gives you like
an evil version of your wish.
So basically the first wish is,
you know,
the family wanted a lot of money
and then all of a sudden
their son died
and then the company came to them
and said,
here's the severance money
for your son who died
and it was the exact amount of money.
And then like on the second wish,
the mom wishes for her son to be back.
Then all of a sudden,
you know,
there's like a sound at the door
but the dad's creeped out
because he understands
that this monkey's paw
gives you like an evil version
of this wish
and then the third wish,
he wishes his son to be gone.
That's kind of my mentality.
Like I would be creeped out
if somebody came back from the dead.
I mean it's kind of weird, right?
But regardless of what your perspective
is on that,
when somebody dies,
that's it.
It just is what it is.
They're in heaven or hell forever.
There's a separation that takes place
at death that's very final.
Now if they're saved
and you're saved,
then you get to meet them again one day
and praise the Lord for that.
If they're not saved,
you can't do anything about it.
It just is what it is.
Anyway, I understand
this is a difficult thing
and I'm preaching this sermon.
I have plenty of people I know
that were family members
that died unsaved.
It's not like every single person
in my family tree is saved
but you know you can't change reality
and you know what?
If your family member died unsaved,
instead of spending your whole life
being depressed about it,
why not use that as a motivation
to try to get your family saved
before they died?
Because I mean it is what it is.
I mean I understand.
When I got saved,
my grandfather on my dad's side
died before I was born.
He died of a heart attack
when he was in his 40s.
But then after I got saved
within like eight months,
less than one year,
two of my other three grandparents
passed away.
And my mom on my dad's side died.
And I remember
I was newly saved
and so I was learning all this stuff
but certain things I did know.
Like I knew once you're saved,
you're always saved obviously.
But I also knew very clearly
that you must believe that to be saved.
So I remember I was talking to my grandmother
on the phone
because she lived in a very distant place
and I remember talking to her on the phone
and she was all excited to talk to me.
And I didn't really talk to her that much
because we just weren't necessarily
that close or whatever.
We lived a long distance.
We never really saw each other.
But she wanted to talk to me on the phone
and she said,
I'm really excited.
She's like,
I heard you got religious
and you're reading the Bible.
I'm so happy.
I'm so proud of you.
And she's like,
I heard you're a Baptist.
And she's like,
I'm excited.
She's like,
I really love the Baptist.
That's great.
And she's like,
there's only one thing
about the Baptist that I don't like.
And she's like,
it's that doctrine of once saved, always saved.
And for me on the phone,
you know what?
I didn't know whether my grandmother
was saved or not.
I mean,
I went to the Nazarene church,
but I didn't know what the church
of the Nazarene was.
And then all of a sudden,
you know,
when she made that statement,
it felt like,
you know,
a bullet wound,
like,
ouch,
because I was like thinking,
yes,
she likes Baptist.
That's good,
right?
I mean,
maybe she's saved.
It's just like,
and then all of a sudden,
this one thing I don't like about Baptist,
it's this doctrine of once saved,
always saved.
And just within a couple of months,
she passed away.
But it is what it is.
I mean,
I can't change that.
Right?
I mean,
there's nothing I can do.
I mean,
and my dad on my mom's side,
or my granddad on my mom's side,
you know,
he died as an atheist.
He died,
you know,
probably eight months after I got saved.
And you know what?
I remember on his deathbed,
I didn't really know how to preach
the gospel.
I just left an invitation.
And he was an atheist,
so he didn't believe in God.
So it's like,
well,
unless he had a last second conversion
and heard the gospel from someone,
obviously,
you know,
he ended up in hell.
But here's the thing.
I can't spend my whole life
just depressed about that.
What I can do is use that as motivation
and say,
if any one of my relatives
is going to die unsaved,
it's not going to be because
I didn't give it a shot.
I can say,
you know what?
I'm going to make sure
I preach the gospel
and give them a shot.
At least they have a shot.
But not spend your whole life
just depressed about it.
Genesis chapter 12, Genesis 12 verse 1.
Genesis chapter 12 verse 1.
The Bible reads,
Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country
and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will show thee.
So in Genesis 12,
God tells Abram to separate from his family.
I personally believe at this time,
Abraham is already saved.
And the reason why he's being told to separate
is because he's saved,
but his family is not saved.
Okay?
And I don't have time
to go into all the verses
I was going to for sake of time,
but go to Joshua 24.
Let me just prove to you
that his father was not saved.
Joshua 24.
Because look,
if you're saved
and then the rest of your family is not saved,
it's going to be pretty hard
to really get along with one another,
especially if the rest of your family
is very religious.
It would be one thing
if they weren't all that religious,
but if your unsafe family is very religious,
I mean, just imagine
unsafe Catholic relatives
that are just really, really, really
hardcore Catholic,
and they go to the Feast of the Black Nazarene,
they go to All Saints Day,
they do all these traditions, right?
It's going to be very hard
to be able to have
any sort of fellowship with them
because you're going to disagree
about everything.
Joshua 24, verse 2.
And Joshua said unto all the people,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Your fathers dwelled
on the other side of the flood
in old time, even Terah,
the father of Abraham,
and the father of Nachor,
and they served other gods.
See, what the Bible says
about Abraham's father
is he served other gods.
He served false gods.
He was unsaved, right?
And so God told Abraham,
I want you to separate
from your unsaved family
because they're worshipping
a different god, right?
Imagine if your family was Muslim
and then you believe on Jesus Christ.
Can you really have
much communion with them?
There's kind of some major differences there
that you're just not going to get over,
and they're either going to get saved
when you give them the gospel
or they're going to end up hating you.
That's just the way it works.
What I've found is that
when you preach the gospel
to unsaved people,
eventually they're either
going to get saved
or they're going to hate you.
That's the way it works, right?
Go to John chapter 1.
We'll look at a couple more places.
John 1, John 1.
See, point number 1 was
there's a separation
from family at death.
Point 2, there should be
a separation from family at life.
And point 3, quite simply,
when you get saved,
you are placed in a different family.
You're placed in a different family.
Now look, you know,
by all means,
if you can get along with
your physical blood family,
then that's a good thing.
But realize that when you get saved,
you are placed in a different family.
And look, when you're up in heaven,
for all eternity,
you're in a different family
than you were on earth.
That's just the way it works.
The saved people that are up there,
they are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is a different family.
You've got brothers,
you've got sisters.
That's the way it works.
You are equally born again
into God's family,
and they're your brother
or your sister in Christ.
That's what the Bible teaches.
John 1, verse 12.
But as many as received Him,
to them gave you power
to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name.
See, what the Bible clearly says is
that when you get saved,
you become a son of God.
You become a child of God,
indicating you are not a child
of God before that.
Now, with the Catholic Church,
they claim that everybody's a child of God.
Isn't that what they say?
They say, well, we're all God's children.
Well, there's a false assumption.
There's a potential
future false philosophy, right?
That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible doesn't teach that
we're all God's children.
What the Bible teaches is
that we've all been created by God.
We're not all God's children, though.
To be God's child,
ye must be born again.
That's what the Bible says.
You become a son of God.
Here's the thing.
When you become a son of God,
you're being placed
into a different family.
You're being placed
into a spiritual family.
Go to Joshua 2.
Let's close up here.
Joshua 2.
Now, look, of course,
we understand that if somebody
has a lost loved one who dies,
there's obviously a grieving process
that takes place.
I mean, if you had a tragic death
that took place yesterday,
like your spouse passed away
or somebody very close to you,
obviously, there's going to be
a grieving stage.
We don't expect you.
It's not a guy saying,
hey, you know what?
Quit crying about it, all right?
It already happened.
It's the past.
Forget about it.
Look, obviously,
I think that would be ridiculous.
Obviously, there's a natural
grieving stage that takes place,
but I'm just saying that
people can take this
way, way too far,
and it's like years and years
and years and years down the road,
they're still praying
to their dead ancestors,
and it's just like,
eventually, you've got to move on, right?
And use that as motivation.
Notice what it says in Joshua 2, verse 12.
Now, therefore, I pray you,
swear unto me by the Lord,
since I have showed you kindness,
that you will also show kindness
unto my Father's house,
and give me a true token,
and that you will save alive
my father and my mother
and my brethren and my sisters
and all that they have
and deliver our lives from death.
Now, in this story,
Rahab is speaking about
physically being saved,
physically being spared,
but obviously, there's symbolism
we can use for spiritually being saved.
One thing that's interesting
here in this story
is that Rahab is by no means
the godliest person.
She's known as Rahab the harlot
for a reason.
It's not a nickname.
It's her career, right?
Or it was at this time, right?
But it's very clear that
when they show up,
she believes in the Lord.
Obviously, she already heard
the gospel from someone.
She had believed.
She had gotten saved,
and when she shows up,
she says,
I know that your God's a true God.
Can you please spare us?
Right?
And she cares about her mother,
her brethren, her father, her sisters.
Look, this is the attitude
that you ought to have
for your lost family members.
Take it upon yourself and say,
you know what?
I'm not going to allow
any relative of mine
to die unsaved
unless I at least gave it a shot.
At least you can give it a shot,
because here's the reality.
If you don't preach the gospel
to your family member
that's not saved,
probably nobody else is going to.
Don't count on somebody
to knock their door for you.
Do you know what the odds
of that actually happening are?
I mean, and look, I'm not saying
you can't pray for it,
but I'm just saying
it's probably not going to happen.
It's probably going to be you
that needs to do that.
And if you don't do that,
who's going to do it?
Right?
I mean, if you don't take
the opportunity to preach
to your unsaved family,
who's going to do it?
And see, the one thing
that's good about having family
that's unsaved is, you know what,
you can give it more than one shot.
We go soul winning,
we knock a door,
and we try to get people saved.
If they don't get saved,
then you know what,
we're probably never getting
a second chance, right?
Now, if the seed was planted,
they might end up believing
in getting saved
even after we preach to them.
But the reality is,
we knock on a door,
and we give it a shot,
and if they don't get saved,
you know what, we're probably
not getting a second chance.
It's different with family, though.
I hear people say,
well, you know what,
I try to get my parents saved,
I try to get my mom saved,
try to get my dad saved.
They're just never going to get saved.
It's like, well,
how many times do you try?
I gave them the gospel for 10 minutes.
They didn't believe.
It's like, really?
Is that how much your love is
that you give up after 10 minutes?
I mean, I'm not trying
to be harsh to you.
I'm trying to be helpful.
I'm just, look,
I've got some family members
that are saved,
and I've got some that are unsaved,
but let me just say that
when I got saved,
my family, as far as I know,
was saved.
They got saved because
I didn't just give up
after 10 minutes,
because I didn't just give up
after one year or two years
or three years.
I kept going year after year
after year, and eventually,
I saw family members get saved.
You say, Brother Psyche,
you don't understand my situation.
They would never get saved.
Realize this about family,
family, whether or not
you're making sense to them
is going to be stubborn
and act like you're not
making sense.
Do you understand
what I'm saying?
If you're having a discussion
with someone that you know,
and they're losing the discussion
or losing the debate
or the argument,
oftentimes, they're going to
pretend like they're not losing,
because they don't want to
admit it.
And you know what?
This is the way family is.
You preach the gospel
to your unsaved family,
they're going to act like,
I don't believe this.
This is nonsense.
It doesn't make any sense.
But actually, on the inside,
they might be thinking,
actually, this is making
a lot of sense.
It'd be like if you preach
the gospel to a friend
and they're rejecting it,
they're going to act like
what you're saying makes
no sense oftentimes.
The reason why I know that
is because my friend
got me saved in college
and I just acted like
it was nonsense to him.
And he's explaining the gospel
and on the inside,
I'm thinking, wow,
this is really making sense.
Right?
So I told him the next day
when I got saved,
because I didn't get saved
in front of him,
and then all of a sudden,
he didn't believe me,
because I had just
argued with him
for like an hour and a half
the night before.
He didn't believe me.
Right?
And then, of course,
a couple days later,
he's like,
I guess you really did
get saved.
He's like,
I thought you were just,
you know, I don't know.
Right?
But that's just generally
the way people often are.
They'll argue and look,
this is what your family
might do,
even if it's making
sense to them.
So look, don't give up and say,
well, you know,
I gave him the gospel once
and now I'm done.
Keep going after it.
And look, the way it works
with family,
you might not be able
to give the gospel
for 20 straight minutes.
They might not listen to that.
They might get mad at you
or whatever.
There's a couple methods
that you can use
that can be effective.
One thing is you can just
kind of throw out a verse
from time to time.
At Christmas time,
you can briefly explain.
It's like, wow,
thank you very much
for this gift.
Right?
You know, a gift means
there's no work.
I don't have to do
anything for it.
It's just like the gift
of eternal life.
The Bible says the gift
of God is eternal life.
He died and paid for our sins,
meaning we don't have
to go to church
or get baptized.
And you get enough out
to just change the subject
before it starts a huge fight.
Right?
But honestly,
what you're doing
is planting a seed
and that can be effective.
Realize that, you know what,
it might not be one conversation.
It might be a little bit here,
a little bit there,
and then eventually
they might end up
getting saved.
Don't give up with your family
after just one try
and say, well, that's it.
I gave them the gospel.
That's it.
They're never gonna get saved.
I wouldn't give up that easily.
I think it's worth it
if you actually care
about your family,
if you're close to them.
But look, this idea
of worshiping
your dead ancestors,
it's like your ancestors
that have passed on,
they're in heaven or hell.
There's no changing that.
Use that as motivation
to make sure
that you give the gospel
to anyone in your family tree.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us
to be here today
and getting to see
your word on this topic
and help us just to realize
how foolish this is.
This is not what the Bible says
and help us be able
to disprove all these
different false teachings
that we look at.
Amen.