I'm going to be continuing the series I started several weeks ago entitled Get Right or Get Out.
And in that series, if you've been following along, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we've been talking about the different sins that are listed there
that would warrant church discipline being exercised upon an individual, and that is a very biblical concept.
We have a lot of people today that would object or criticize a church that would practice that, but it is the clear teaching of Scripture that
if we are found guilty to be participating in these specific sins, and we can turn to other passages and see what others are listed,
that we would be worthy of being removed from the body, as it's put.
And a lot of people today, this gets to be, and I mentioned this this morning by way of introduction as well,
they really criticize sometimes a person who will get up and actually preach this, and they'll say things like
that's so arrogant, that's so puffed up, that's so mean, and even criticize me personally for having used a term like
get right or get out, which I think is pretty mild. Especially in light of the way Paul put it in 1 Corinthians chapter 5
where he said to deliver such a one unto Satan, the destruction of the flesh. So if you're a bit of a snowflake
and you can't handle my title, I don't think the Apostle Paul is going to be any better for you.
But thankfully, that's nobody in this room, right? That's usually the online crowd that has to have,
and we're going to talk a little bit about the online crowd tonight, but specifically as we've gone through these different sins,
we've made our way here to railing. It says there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11,
But now I have written unto you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator,
or a covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one know not to eat.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do you not judge them that are within?
But them that are without, God judges. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
So again, you see the different sins that we're going to focus in on the fact that someone cannot be a part of the local church
and be what is called a railer. And railing is kind of one of those terms that we have to kind of scratch our heads
and wonder what exactly is meant by that. And I've heard some different things, but I think it becomes pretty clear
when we just look at scripture what it means to be a railer. And really the world's definition is correct.
I mean, they would say that to rail is to complain bitterly or to criticize severely in a very open and loud way.
So that would be somebody who would go out and be very critical and very, and complain, and they would do it, you know,
not, and again, in a very open and very loud way, you know, beyond what would be considered acceptable.
And we'll see in here later that, you know, you can definitely have your differences of opinion.
You can disagree with people, and you're even welcome to voice those opinions.
But there is a line that we can cross if we're not careful to where we actually become what's called a railer.
And at that point, you know, that's when we leave ourselves open to church discipline.
Now it says, again, to rail or to complain bitterly. And if you would, turn over to, keep something there in 1 Corinthians,
but go over to 2 Chronicles chapter 32. And I just want to tell you sometime, I really don't have a lot of notes.
I don't think this is a very deep, you know, theological study that we're diving in here to tonight.
But it's something that really we should, you know, watch and be careful in our modern, in the day that we live in.
It was a day, it was a problem in Paul's day, obviously, it was something that he listed.
And even today, probably even more so, because so many more people have an opportunity to go out and to complain very openly and very loudly.
And by that, I mean social media. I mean, that's a reality that we have that people can go out and can just be very vocal and very critical.
And I'm not saying you can't have a difference of opinion and put those things out there.
But again, there's a line that we can cross to now where it's become this, again, a severe criticism.
And even, you know, just a complaining that is, you know, what would be considered bitter.
And I think scripture kind of shows us where that line is.
You know, and it says here in 2 Chronicles chapter 32, did I have to go there?
2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 9.
After this did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, send his servants to Jerusalem.
So of course, this is again during the siege of Jerusalem.
And this king, the king of Assyria, sending his messenger to deliver this message to the people there in Jerusalem.
Unto Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and to all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria,
where on do you trust that you abide in the siege of Jerusalem?
So again, you can see he's already kind of being, you know, kind of critical of them.
What are you trusting in? Where's your trust?
Where on do you trust that you abide in the siege of Jerusalem?
Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die in the famine by thirst, saying, so what's he doing here?
He's already criticizing Hezekiah, right? Can you see the criticism there?
You're trusting in this guy? This guy's going to be giving you over to what?
You're trusting him that he would give you over to die by the famine, by the thirst?
You know, this guy's going to get you killed if you continue to trust in him.
Saying, thus saith, thus saith, excuse me, the Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria.
So you can see where he's becoming a railer against not just the king, but even God.
To where he's now saying, oh, you're trusting in that God's going to deliver you. Oh, okay.
Verse 12. Have not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars,
and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, you shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it?
Know ye not what I and my fathers have done under the people of other lands,
where the gods of those nations, of those lands, of the nations of those lands,
any ways able to deliver their lands out of my hand?
And verse 14, he says, who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed?
That could deliver us people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand.
So you can see he's bringing this, you know, he's being very critical of the God of Israel.
He's being very critical of Hezekiah. He's mocking them, in fact.
And he says in verse 15, now therefore, let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you of the standard,
neither yet believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand,
and out of the hand of my fathers, how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?
So you can see he doesn't realize which god he's dealing with.
What Sennacherib doesn't realize here with this messenger is that the God of Israel is not like the God of these other nations.
That he's actually running himself up against the real God, the true living God.
But he doesn't understand that, and he's being very critical, and he's trying, of course, to persuade them.
And it goes on in verse 16, and his servants spake yet more against the Lord.
So everything he's been saying at this point is him speaking against the Lord, and against his servant Hezekiah.
He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, to speak against him.
So what is it to rail here? What is it that we see when he is railing on the Lord God, when he's speaking against him?
When he's saying, he's not going to deliver you, if you continue to serve him, you're going to starve, you're going to perish.
None of these other gods are able to deliver him. Who do you think you are? This is that type of railing.
This is that very open, right? He's saying this to all these people, he's writing all these letters.
He's being very open about his criticism, and it's a very severe criticism.
I'm going to say, Hezekiah is going to destroy you. Your god's not going to protect you.
This is what the Bible calls here, a letter of railing on the Lord God.
To speak against him, saying, as the god of the nations of other lands have not delivered the people out of my hand,
so shall not the god of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.
So I think this is a good example that shows us what it means to be a railer.
It's somebody who's being very open, very public, and very critical, to a very high degree.
I'm not saying you can't ever be critical, but I'm saying you can take it to a place where it's inappropriate.
Where now you've become not just somebody with a legitimate complaint or concern,
but now you've gone to actually being a railer, by being very open and open and overly critical.
Go over to 1 Samuel chapter 25.
And again, I'm just laying down this definition, because this is a word that kind of gets thrown around today.
People will say something and say, oh, you're a railer. But are they really?
Or people will say, well, I'm just expressing my opinion, or I just feel this way about this pastor,
let me tell you all about how he's this and he's that, and I'm just exercising my right to freedom of speech.
Yeah, you're doing that, but in the process you've become a railer.
So we've got to define this word and find out where this line is, and make sure that we're not going to cross it.
You're going to 1 Samuel 25, in Luke 23 it says, and of course this is when they were crucifying the Lord,
and they said, and one of the malefactors which were, hey, railed with conscience.
So this is one of the themes that were there.
And it says that he railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
So again, this mocking, kind of openly critical, you know, saying, oh, if you're really him, save us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, that's not enough, you're God.
Now you're there in 1 Samuel 25.
Look at verse 4, and of course this is when David is wandering in the wilderness, running from Saul,
and he comes across this guy named Nabal.
I like that story.
And the Bible says in verse 4, and David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep,
and David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men,
give you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.
And so he's being very cordial, he's being very polite, he's being very amicable.
And he says in verse 6, and thus shall you say to him that liveth in prosperity,
peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
I mean, that's a pretty warm greeting on David's part.
He's being a nice guy here, he's being very friendly, right?
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers, now thy shepherds which were with us, we heard them not.
Neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
Ask thy young men, and they will show thee.
Wherefore, let the young man find favor in thy eyes.
For you were come in a good day.
Give I, pray thee, whomsoever cometh to thy hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal,
according to all the words in the name of David, and ceased.
And Nabal answered David's servant, and said, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?
So he gets this warm welcome, excuse me, and David is saying,
Hey, we protected you, we protected your sheep and your shearers, we were with them, we've been taken from them.
And now he's kind of asking a favor in return.
Because again, he's on the land, he's running.
And of course Nabal, even though he has all this wealth and this prosperity,
like David said, he says, because he's coming a good day, right?
He mocks and he ridicules, and he does it right to David's men.
And he says, Yeah, you know what, go back and tell David that he's a nobody.
That's basically what he's saying.
And Nabal answered David's servant, David's servant said, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break every way a man from his master.
Shall then I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give it unto them?
Whom I know not whence they be?
So David's young men turned their way and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
And David said unto his men, Gurk on every man his sword.
And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword.
And there went up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff.
So you get a pretty clear idea of what these guys are getting ready to go do.
They're going to go tell Nabal what's up.
It says in verse 14, But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,
Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on him.
Now what was it that he did?
What was the railing that Nabal did?
Well, we only read a little bit there.
And what was it?
Just this open criticism of David.
Just this mocking, just criticizing David.
Just saying, who are you David?
You know, lots of people break away from their master.
And the Bible is saying, look, he's railing on him.
But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed me anything,
as long as we were content, or excuse me, conversant with them, when we were in the fields.
So one thing we could see from this, you know, first of all, is that, you know, railing, again,
I think from these examples shows that it's just this very, you know, critical, just very open,
just very dismissive attitude of people that we should not be dismissive towards.
And that dismissive attitude that Nabal had here, that's what led to his railing.
You know, he was just saying, no, David's a nobody.
And he had no problem just saying whatever he felt like saying about David.
Now, was David a nobody?
Of course not.
David was the anointed of the Lord.
I mean, David was the future king of Israel.
He was man of God's own heart.
He wasn't a nobody, and Nabal should have known that, and at least shown some respect.
You know, and maybe he would still in his heart say, you know, I really don't want to give this meat to David,
but it's David.
Go ahead, David.
You know, that probably would have, you know, kept him from being a railer
and probably would have, you know, saved his, kept his life.
We know David ultimately didn't do anything, that Abigail comes to him and pleads with him
and treats him and gives him those things that he needs, and he stays his hand.
And the news finally gets back to Nabal.
Remember, when he was married with wine, he'd gotten drunk, and he gets the news,
oh, David was coming to kill you, and it says he became like a stone, right?
And then he died a few days later.
But, again, what was the railing here?
You know, it was just this dismissive attitude, and it stems from him just not considering the person of David and who he is.
Go over to Mark, chapter 15, Mark, chapter 15.
So, again, just defining railing.
That's all we're doing, really, tonight, just going through it, looking at it, what it is, where it comes from.
It says in verse 27, again, this is going back to when they crucified Jesus, and it says in verse 27,
And with him they crucified two things, the one on his right hand and the other on his left,
and the scriptures fulfilled which say it, that he was numbered with the transgressors, in verse 29,
and they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying,
Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves, with the scribes,
He saved others himself he cannot save, let Christ the king of Israel descend now from the cross, and we may see and believe.
So, again, the Bible says that they were railing on him, and part of that involved them mocking him.
And, again, where did it stem from? This just dismissive attitude.
They were saying, ah, it was Christ.
You know, he said you were the king of Israel, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Look at you now, right, this is this kind of mocking attitude, then that's what led to their railing.
You would go over to 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter 2.
I'll begin reading, in verse 1 it says,
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there also shall be false teachers among you,
who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by a reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
It's this evil speaking. That is this type of railing.
Because it's going to go on and talk more about what these people do.
And part of what they do is this evil speaking.
The way of truth being evil spoken of.
Verse 3, And through covetousness they shall with fain words make merchandise unto you,
whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell,
and delivered them to chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment,
and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly,
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overflow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly,
and deliver just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,
for that righteous man going among them, and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul
from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knoweth not to deliver the godly out of temptations,
but to reserve the unjust in the day of punishment,
but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.
Again, here's this dismissiveness of something that warrants a more serious attitude.
You know, despising government. The government's not just there, it's an authority.
You know, whether we like it or not, it's an authority that's in our life.
And these, he's saying, these false prophets that bring in damnable heresies,
these people, they despise government, and what is it going on that's as presumptuous are they,
and self-willed? They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
So again, this is all, you can see how this is all being tied in together.
With this, in every instance we're looking at this, it's just people who are disregarding
people who deserve to have a little bit more clout.
It says in verse 11, whereas angels which are not greater in power and might,
bring not rain and accusation against them before the Lord.
So he's saying, look, even the angels which are greater than these false prophets,
in power and might, they don't even bring accusation against the Lord.
And so again, I think we get an idea of what railing is.
And railing is just this, you know, overly critical, this excessive,
just very open criticism of people that really we have no business criticizing.
And a lot of this, you know, quite frankly just exists online today.
You see a lot of presumptuous, just self-willed, just, it becomes railing.
And you know what, I think of several examples of this even recently.
You know, if anyone saw that creation stream that Pastor Anderson did,
you know, there was a clip on there that was made about the moon landing.
And you want to talk about some triggered people.
You go look at that comment section, people are triggered.
And it's so funny, it's almost funny because it's like, you have people just,
and I don't care what your opinion is on the moon landing, it doesn't matter.
But the people in the comment section, apparently it's a big deal what you believe
about the moon landing.
It's like make or break it for them.
I mean, there's people, I'm not kidding, I'm reading comments,
and they're just like, Pastor Anderson, they won't even give him the title pastor,
which is this passive aggressive attack, you know, Anderson.
You know, he lost all credibility with me with this one.
And I described to my other, really?
The moon landing?
He's lost all credit with you over the moon landing?
You know, it makes me wonder how much credit he really had with you to begin with.
You know, how much clout did he really carry with you?
If something, if his opinion about the moon landing is going to send you running,
you know, and cause you to just lash out, you know,
I don't know how many comments are on there, oh, he's a shill.
You know, he's on, he's literally, he's on the payroll for the CIA.
NASA is paying him to say this.
It's unbelievable.
And what are these people doing?
They're being very presumptuous about things they don't really understand.
We can talk about the moon landing after church, okay?
And they're being very self-willed, right?
And they're being very openly critical of somebody
that deserves a lot more respect than they're giving them.
You know, a man of God.
Who is, you know, endeavored to serve the Lord with his life,
has preached the word of God.
I mean, people that will be praising him on one day,
and just saying, oh, the greatest preacher ever.
But then he gets wrong on the moon landing,
and it's just like, you know, to hell with this guy.
You know, he's a nobody now.
And they'll just go on there and just rail and rail and rail.
You know, another area where he got a lot of criticism,
obviously, was for the position we've taken with this COVID-19, you know?
And look, people can have different opinions.
I'm not saying we can't have different opinions about this.
We can disagree. It's fine.
But when we, there's a lot of people that have gone out there,
you know, and again, it's the online community.
You know, people, quite frankly,
you know, nobody in church, thank God, has done this.
You know, although, to be honest, you know,
probably the vast majority of, to be honest,
probably disagrees best about this, right?
But at least these people that come here
have enough sense, enough respect,
to, you know, voice, if they do want to voice their opinion,
to do it in a respectful manner.
So I'm not saying you have to, like, just, you know,
if you disagree, you can't say anything.
No. The Bible says, you know, rebuke not an elder,
but entreat him as a father.
There's a way to go about disagreeing with people.
But to just go online and just start, you know,
railing on a man of God is not the way to do it.
And it just makes people that do that look really bad.
It just makes them look like immature jerks.
You know, like, when he, when I remember
when he first put the video out,
hey, we're shutting it down until April 30th.
You know, oh, you know, first aid, not the assembly,
you know, I can't believe, this is, this is,
and these people are just going, quoting scripture at them,
and I just, is that what your pastor did?
What did your pastor do?
What are they doing at your local church?
Crickets. It's like, hello? You there?
Oh, you don't go to church, but you're gonna sit there
and tell other people how to run a church,
but you don't even know. Gotcha.
Right? And what is that?
It's just this open, just critical, severely critical,
railing is what it is.
If you would, go over to Jude chapter 1,
which is kind of a parallel passage, of course,
with Seth and Peter.
You know, I'll say this about this whole COVID thing,
because I know it's kind of on everybody's minds, right,
is I've learned a lot of lessons through all this,
and the one thing that I've really learned
is that you can disagree with people and still be friends.
You can, so you can disagree with people
and be very amicable about your disagreements.
I mean, there's pastors
that have taken the completely opposite side
on this issue, and yet have had, you know,
civil dialogue with our pastor.
And likewise, these remain calm
and talk about things in a mature way,
and, you know, and respect the other side.
You know, respect the other side's position
and understand where they're coming from,
and even, to a certain degree, be glad that they're there,
that they have that position,
that they've taken that stance.
It's just a matter of opinion, really.
Some, you know, believes one way about something,
some people believe another way.
But it's not, you know,
what we don't want to do is fall in this trap of,
well, let me just go out there
and tell everybody exactly what I think
about why that he's so wrong
and just become very critical
and go to that place of now we're railing
and we're not really getting anything accomplished.
So we hear there in Jude chapter 1, look at verse 3,
he said, Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you the common salvation,
it was needful me to write unto you an exhortment
that should earnestly contend for the faith
which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men,
krypton is aware, who were before old,
ordained this condemnation on godly men,
turning the grace of our Lord into lasciviousness
and denying the Lord and only, excuse me,
the only Lord God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Jump down to verse 9, where it says,
look, verse 8, he said,
Likewise also these filthy dreamers
defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities.
Now those, you know, dominion, dignities,
these are authorities.
So people who like to rail, they rail against authority.
You know, they'll lash out at authority.
Now I'm not saying this includes anyone
who's been critical of the government.
Everyone knows that the government's got a lot
of criticism coming its way and it's warranted.
But when it just turns into this just, you know,
despising everything that they ever do
and just speaking evil, you know,
just being very open about it,
and to a place where it's just hypercritical,
you know, that's where you're kind of crossing lines.
He said, Yet Michael the archangel,
when contending with the devil,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation.
So again, what's interesting here is that
Michael the archangel, when he was contending with the devil,
did not bring a railing accusation against him.
So it's, you know, you kind of see there that, you know,
just contending with somebody
or having a difference of opinion
or seeing things a different way,
that doesn't make you a railer.
That's just saying, Hey, I'm going to contend with,
you know, we're going to have, we're going to,
I disagree with your position.
That in and of itself does not make person a railer.
That's just a person having a difference of opinion.
People are welcome to do that.
People are, you know, we want that, you know.
It'd be foolish to sit here and think
everyone's going to agree about everything all the time.
It's not going to happen.
But what the problem is, is that,
and what Michael the archangel understood,
was that he's not going to bring a railing accusation, right?
Just this unfounded accusation that has no basis.
But said the Lord rebuke thee, right?
But these speak evil of those things
which they know not what they know naturally as brute peace.
Go over to First Peter chapter three.
First Peter chapter three.
Again, it's not going to be a real long sermon night, folks.
You know, this isn't, you know, I'm going through this series
and railing, I don't think it's a real complicated issue,
you know, but it's something we want to apply to our lives.
It's certainly, I mean, if any,
this COVID-19 thing has taught us anything,
it's how much, how precious church really is.
How much we really should value the opportunity to go to church.
Sometimes we don't appreciate things the way we shouldn't
until they're taken away.
And when they're gone, we miss them.
So now that we see that, now let's look at First Corinthians five
and say, well, man, I understand the value in church,
I see how important it is,
how much I need to have it to be a part of my life.
Let's be on guard not to be guilty of any of these sins,
covetous, fornication, idolatry, railing, you know, so on and so forth,
all the things that are listed there.
Extortion, okay?
Look there in First Peter chapter three, verse eight.
Finally, be all one mind, having compassion one of another,
love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous,
not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing.
If someone's gonna start railing,
the last thing we wanna do is rail back.
You know, we should take the higher road.
And he's saying, look, have one mind,
have compassion of one of another, love as brethren.
And I'm saying, when he says be of all one mind,
I don't think he's saying agree about everything.
Agree about everything in lockstep.
Don't ever have a disagreement.
That's not what he's saying there,
but I think the one mind that we're all supposed to have is like,
hey, we're not gonna disagree in some certain areas,
but we're still gonna have compassion one of another.
We're still gonna be patient with each other.
We're still gonna love one another as brethren.
We're still gonna be pitiful.
We're still gonna be courteous.
We're still gonna be kind.
We're not gonna render railing for railing or evil for evil.
Even if somebody starts to rail on you, you know,
that's the one thing that you could definitely say
about Pastor Anderson, with all the railing
that's been done on that matter over the years online
and even, quite frankly, at times within the church.
People have come out and just turned into complete railers,
you know, even out of the church.
It's been fewer and far between, and we're glad for that,
but you could say this, that for all the railing
that's been done on him, he hasn't done any of that.
You don't see him contending with the internet bozos, right?
Because that would be a full-time job right there,
just going back and forth, trying to defend yourself,
calling them out for what they are.
You don't see that.
You see what a contrary-wise blessing,
knowing that you are there,
as you call it, the ancient heritage blessing.
The Bible says,
For they that will love life and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil,
and his lips that they speak no guile.
I mean, that's a great promise right there.
You want to love life?
You want to see good days?
Then refrain your tongue from evil.
You know, we don't ever want to meet somebody
that's called out as a railer,
because it's just not good,
and it's coming from a wicked place,
and not to let our lips speak guile.
Again, I'm not saying you can't have a difference opinion.
I'm not saying that you can't voice that opinion,
but what we don't want to turn into
is just this railing on whoever it is,
whether it's the pastor, our brother, brother,
sister in church.
You know, this could even happen within a marriage.
You know, people could just get mad at one another
and start railing on each other,
and just start accusing them of this,
and being over-critical here,
and just going at each other,
and they end up rendering railing for railing,
and they end up divorced or having a miserable life.
But if someone would just stop and say,
You know what?
I'm not going to render railing for railing.
I'm just going to keep my lips from speaking guile.
I'm going to refrain my tongue from evil.
You know, a lot of times, it would just die out
in and of itself.
The Bible says,
Where there is no wood is so that the fire goeth out,
so where there is no tail-bearer,
the stripes cease it.
You know, if we take wood out, there's no fire.
If we take the tail-bearer out,
you know, you get rid of the railer,
the strife ceases.
Are you in 1 Peter?
Remember 1 Peter chapter 2?
And that's the example of Christ.
That's who we're supposed to be like.
It's the Lord.
I mean, if there's anybody that had a right
to stand up for himself and say,
Who do you think you are talking to me like that?
It was the Lord.
I mean, he could have turned right around
to that mal factor in the cross and said,
You know what, buddy?
One of those people that passed by,
maybe I will come down here off this cross,
and show you who I really am.
But he didn't do that.
He bore that reproach.
He did not render evil for evil.
He did not give railings to rail him.
Look there in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 19.
For this is thank worthy,
if a man for conscience towards God
endured grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if you would be buffeted
for your faults, you take it patiently.
But if, when you do well, you suffer for it,
you take it patiently.
This is acceptable with God.
The Bible says it's acceptable for God
for you to suffer wrongfully.
Lord, I'm suffering wrongfully.
They're persecuting me on the job.
They're persecuting me for the sermon I preached.
They're persecuting me for what I believe about this.
Whoever it is, friends, family, whatever.
The Lord says, Yeah, good.
It's acceptable.
I approve of that.
That's what they did to my son.
That's the example I want you to follow.
Verse 21.
For even here unto were ye called.
I mean, that's the Christian life.
To have people that are going to get upset with what you believe,
upset with what you preach,
upset with what you teach,
and they might even go so far as to rail on you,
and to buffet you,
and to cause you to suffer wrongfully,
that's where unto you were called.
Welcome to the Christian life.
Because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth,
who when he was reviled,
reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not,
but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Yeah, today, God's going to sort it all out.
The Bible says, the Lord said,
Vengeance is mine, saying to the Lord,
I will repay.
I mean, really, you have enemies or something like that,
you want God, someone you want to get even with,
the best thing you can do is just put them in God's hands.
You know.
Reminds me last night,
I'm trying to go to bed early in our neighbors.
You know, I've had this bird across the street.
Anyone see that post I put up on Facebook?
I have never heard a bird make so much noise
in the middle of the night.
I mean, it felt like daylight.
I thought the sun was coming up,
and we were going to make coffee.
Because this bird is out there,
and it's not like, you know, some birds,
it can kind of fade in the background
because they have a consistent bird call.
Not this bird.
I mean, it was like one of those car alarms
from back in the day.
It was like, wow, wow, wow, ee, ee, ee, ee,
just like every other thing.
It's a different call.
Somebody online educated me on this bird
that it actually mimics all these other birds that it hears,
which would be fine if it wasn't as soon as the sun went down
until the sun came up.
I'm not even exaggerating.
You can ask my wife.
All night.
All night, this bird, just as loud as it can,
just unbelievably loud.
Last night, this bird finally shuts up.
I'm like, it's gone.
The neighbors right next door
have some kind of a birthday party.
They got the bounce houses out back.
And, you know, the kids go to bed at like 9.
They start bringing them in around 9, 10.
I'm like, oh, good.
Okay, we're getting some peace and quiet.
Then the teenagers come out.
And they're out there until 2.30.
I'm having to sleep out on the couch.
And I, you know what, I was suffering wrongfully.
I didn't deserve that.
I deserved a good night's rest.
I'm coming down here trying to do the Lord's work.
I need to have some energy.
I was getting pretty frustrated, you know.
And I even went out the door and stood in the driveway
and kind of looked over there.
I don't think anyone noticed.
You know, but part of me wanted to just go over the,
put my head over the wall and just start yelling.
How do you think you're doing?
Punks, go inside.
You know, and just start going after them, you know.
But I decided I'm just going to leave them to the Lord, you know.
Let God deal with that.
What will probably happen is I'll do something stupid
that annoys them and we'll be even.
I don't know what they had to do with the sermon,
but I thought I was going to get an illustration out of that
and I don't think I did.
But I got that off my chest
and that should come for something.
But anyway, the point being is that, look, you know,
we don't always have to go and avenge ourselves
and, you know, vindicate ourselves, you know.
And we ought to always be on guard about that, you know.
And going back to this whole thing that's going on right now
with this COVID thing is that, you know, I've heard,
and I agree with this, I've even heard pastors say that,
you know, I hope we're wrong.
If anyone's going to be wrong in this situation,
I hope it's us, those that have taken this stance that we have.
Because if the other side's wrong,
it's not going to turn out well.
I mean, if we're wrong, we get a little egg in our face
and they say, well, yeah, we overreacted, you're right.
That's the worst that's going to come of it.
But on the other side, it's not going to go so well.
I mean, it could get serious.
Now, it looks like, you know, maybe there was some overreaction
and we could talk about that later.
But the point being, you know, we don't have to sit here
and go back and forth at each other.
You know, we can disagree,
but we don't have to turn into railers about it,
and nobody has.
And that's, you know, that's a great thing.
But, you know, what we want to do is just leave it
in the hands of the Lord at the end of the day.
He knows what's going to happen,
and we don't have to, you know, go out there
and vindicate ourselves.
Just like I don't have to go over there with a jackknife
and slash the bouncy house and tell them to go inside.
You know, I can just let it be, it'll pass,
and life will go on.
Let's go over to Proverbs chapter 30.
We'll wrap it up.
Proverbs chapter 30.
Of course, we always try to make an application here.
We always try to apply these verses.
And again, I don't think anyone, I don't know anybody
that I would say, this guy's railing, this lady's railing.
It hasn't happened.
Besides some, you know, comments from anonymous accounts online
that are probably linked to some bozo
that's living in his mother's basement somewhere.
But what if we ever did?
What if we did find our place?
Man, I'm railing.
You know, I feel like, you know, we've been called out for it.
We said something we shouldn't.
We've gone too far.
What if that happened?
What's the solution?
It's really easy, just stop.
Just quit.
It's that simple, like any other sin.
Proverbs chapter 30, look at verse 32.
You know, that's a nice way of saying shut up.
You know, if we're out there, just put it out there
and just, you know, and people have done this,
I've done it, just said things that,
because once we say things, they're kind of out there.
It's kind of hard to get them back.
And if we've done that, the best thing to do
is just stop talking and to just be quiet.
Because surely the churning of milk bringing forth butter
and the wringing of the nose bringing forth blood.
And if you don't believe me, you know,
we can try that out after church.
We'll wring some noses, we'll churn some milk.
So the forcing of wrath bringeth strife.
You know, if we're just gonna insist on railing,
insist on just forcing, you know, how upset we are,
how much we disagree, and just force this
to the point where now we're just railing
and all we're gonna do is we're gonna bring wrath
that's just gonna bring forth strife.
That's all it's gonna accomplish.
It's not gonna accomplish anything.
Railing accomplishes nothing but stirring up strife
and sowing discord.
And often that's what railers, that's all they're there to do.
That's the whole goal.
They might not even totally believe what they're saying.
They're just there to just, well, let me see how many,
how much of a, you know, how many other comments
I can get in this comment thread or whatever.
They want to just go in there to see how many people
they control and get upset with their railing.
A lot of times that's all they're there to do,
just sow discord among the brethren.
So here's the thing.
You know, if we've done this
or if we end up finding ourselves doing this one day,
you know, it's not something we want to take lightly.
It's a serious thing to be a railroad.
And again, it's something that I don't think we have,
I don't think I've really heard a good definition of railing
or what it means to be a railer.
And hopefully after this sermon,
we can have a little bit clearer of an understanding that,
you know, railing is not just contending with somebody.
That's fine and good.
It's okay to have a different contending.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's when we become so severely critical
and we're very open about it
to the point of mocking, name calling, you know,
he's a FEMA pastor, you know, he's a shill,
these type of things.
That's when we've gone too far.
Now we've crossed over from,
yeah, I disagree with position two.
Now I'm just going to be a railer.
So if we've done that
or if we find ourselves doing that one day,
just stop, right?
Because if we don't, the other option is to get out.
That's the name of the series
is the sense that, you know,
that would get a person kicked out.
So we either get these things right
or we're going to get out of church.
Let's go ahead and pray.