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services kicked off this morning. If you would find a seat and grab a hymnal. Our first hymn is
number 250. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Hymn number 250-250. Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
Days are filled with sorrow.
Congrats with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day,
for another opportunity to gather together,
to sing praises in your name,
and to hear preaching from your word.
I pray that you would be with us for our service,
that you'd fill Brother John with your spirit,
and that you'd open our ears to the messages
he's prepared for us today.
As well, Lord, I also would like to just pray
for the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship happening,
the conference down there in Texas,
that you would just be with all those families
that are either traveling or have traveled,
that you would just keep them safe and bless them
and their services as well.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, our next hymn this morning, 412,
Onward Christian Soldiers, 412, 412,
Onward Christian Soldiers, 412 there on the first.
This is the end of the video.
Thank you for watching.
At this time, we'll go through our announcements for the morning.
So if you don't have a bulletin, just raise your hand.
Brother Eric can get those passed out.
Of course, all the same information you're used to.
We have a pretty regular crowd here this morning.
We have a.
the memory verse there on the front,
but also the new IFB fan club pictures on there.
This is the logo that they had designed
for the conference for FPBF 2025.
So of course that's going on this weekend,
which is why some families are traveling.
And definitely I would recommend checking out the services
going on at FPBF.
We were able to, my wife and I were able to make it
on Wednesday and came back and they are killing it down there.
I wanna say they had
Correct me if I'm wrong. They had like 340 some odd in service for pastor for enter pastor Anderson 350
Which is crazy 357 ish somewhere right around there, which just shatters their record
I guess the new IFB is dead or something, but they're just killing records
It's great a lot of fellowship and even if you couldn't make it definitely check out the sermons online
They've all been great so far. I believe today brother Diego is preaching the Spanish service in the morning
And then the AM English service is Pastor Thompson,
and the evening service will be Pastor Shelley.
So you definitely don't wanna miss any of those.
I guess if you speak Spanish,
you definitely don't wanna miss Brother Diego.
I don't know that I would get much from it,
but he's a great preacher.
He's preached at the Men's Retreat before.
He does a great job in both English
and I assume in Spanish as well.
So that's awesome that they've got that filled.
We're gonna go ahead and go through
the rest of the announcements.
Of course, our service times and soul link times
as you're all familiar with.
I don't know if this is an updated stat list. I'm going to assume that it is.
So we have our updated total for 2025, including the work that has come out of the Philippines,
1836 for the year, which is just awesome. You want to talk about shattering records.
That's such a cool record to have or such a cool number to hit,
because it's more than a number, right? I mean, it's a soul. Each one of those is a soul,
and we're probably conservative.
on that. Just talking with Brother Eric, who was over in the Philippines, you know, Brother Theodore
still there. Brother Eric has indicated to me that they were even pretty conservative on what
they reported. There's probably even more, honestly, but we just want to be conservative,
be surprised when you get to heaven, right? And it's like, hey, there's actually more.
Upcoming events, September 6th is the Ardmore, Oklahoma, soul-winning marathon.
I know that says September, but that's a week from today, because we're like at the end of August.
So just make sure that you have this in mind.
September 6th, Ardmore, Oklahoma, soul-winning marathon.
Pastor Shelley did mention this in his announcements for the FBBF for those that are there,
because it's kind of like a midway point, right, for us and DFW-ish.
So we may expect even people to come up for that.
So you definitely don't wanna miss that if you can make it.
The day after is the men's preaching night
on September 7th.
And then very shortly approaching,
October 6th through 11th is the Bahamas Mission Strip,
which everyone here is aware of.
The prayer list, we have an edition.
I'm not sure if this was here on Wednesday,
but I know it's been talked about.
Just to be in prayer for Pastor Reyes,
he...
Fell my understanding and broke his clavicle at the men's retreat. So they're just I mean you got to be a strong man
I guess or they'll make you strong, you know, no pain no gain
But he I think he's doing well. I talked to brother James who's down there and has been kind of filling in at Spring Crest
I believe pastor Reyes is doing well
But of course anytime that you have, you know broken bone or you're going in especially like arm or shoulder related surgery
Just want to keep him in prayer be in prayer for brother Theodore both at the Philippines and for his grandma's
shoulder surgery recovery,
Brother Miles for his health,
Miss Reed and Brother Zach Family Salvation.
We have the visitor card.
I don't think anyone's going to be making use of the visitor card this morning,
but that's okay. We've got the regulars here.
If you want to, you can. And of course the giving there.
There's a spot on the back for notes.
With that, we are going to go into our next hem for the morning.
216.
Shirley Goodness and Mercy.
two hundred sixteen, two one six, surely goodness and mercy.
And remember, after the third verse, we'll do that part slowly, all the days of my life at the very end,
but that's only after the third verse is over.
Two hundred sixteen, surely goodness and mercy.
We'll sing there starting on the first.
The pilgrim was I and the laundry
In the cold night of Simitec Rome
When Jesus, the kind shepherd, found me
All the days, all the days of my life, surely goodness and mercy shall fall.
Oh
Shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life.
Spread for me, surely goodness and mercy shall.
Good singing this morning as the offering plates are being passed turn if you would to Leviticus chapter number 19
Leviticus chapter number 19
Leviticus chapter 19 the Bible reads and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto all the
congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God
am holy ye shall fear every man his mother and his father and keep my Sabbaths I am the Lord your
God turn ye not unto idols nor make to yourselves molten gods I am the Lord your God
and if you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will.
It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow.
And if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable. It shall not be accepted.
Therefore, every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity,
And that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
And when ye reap the harvest of your land,
Thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field.
Neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest.
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard.
Neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard.
Thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger.
I am the Lord your God.
Ye shall not steal.
neither lie one to another, and ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt
thou profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor,
neither rob him. The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the
morning. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind,
ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment.
Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor,
nor honor the person of the mighty,
but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not go up and down
as a tailbearer among thy people.
Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor.
I am the Lord.
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart.
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor,
and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy
people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Ye shall keep my statutes.
Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with the diverse kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with
mingled seed. Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bond made, betrothed to an husband,
and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, she shall be scourged. They shall not be put to death
because she was not free. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord,
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he had done.
and the sin which he had done shall be forgiven him.
And when ye shall come into the land
and shall have planted all manner of trees for food,
then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised.
Three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you,
it shall not be eaten of.
But in the fourth year, all the fruit thereof
shall be holy to praise the Lord with all.
and in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof.
I am the Lord your God. Ye shall not eat anything with the blood. Neither shall you use enchantment,
nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall that mar the corners
of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.
I am the Lord. Do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore, lest the land fall to
hortom, and the land become full of wickedness. Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary.
I am the Lord. Regard not them that have familiar spirits. Neither seek after wizards to be defiled
and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God, I am the Lord.
and if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him, but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and now shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God, ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meat yard, in weight, or in measure."
Just balances, just waits, adjust Ifa,
and adjust him, shall ye have.
I am the Lord your God,
which brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes
and all my judgments and do them.
I am the Lord.
Let us pray.
Dear Father, thank you for this church
and this time that we have to listen to preaching.
I pray at this time that you'd fill
Brother John with your spirit.
and give us a ten of years to hear the message and not just hear it, but to also apply it to our lives, Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
All right, amen. Thanks brother Eric for reading it.
All right, I want to start off by thanking Pastor for the opportunity to preach.
It's definitely an honor anytime you get an opportunity to preach.
You're there in Leviticus chapter 19.
Look back at verse 15 where the Bible says,
You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment.
Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor,
nor honor the person of the mighty.
But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer
among thy people.
Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor.
I am the Lord.
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt in any wise
rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.
Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people,
but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. So in this chapter we have
commandments of God. Some are applied to the Levitical priesthood.
the carnal ordinances that have been done away with.
Some have an application to God's moral law,
and that's why it's important that we're rightly dividing
the word of truth, that we understand
which of these commandments
apply to us today and which have been done away with,
and the
You know the the great commandment Jesus quotes in the New Testament is to love thy neighbor as thyself
And of course most of Christianity is familiar with that because of that quote in the New Testament
But it is true that most mainstream Christians will not even go back to the source of when this was given in Leviticus
Most Christians won't even go and read the context let alone the entire chapter of what's being said here
But the Bible says in verse 17,
thou shalt not hate thy neighbor in thine heart,
thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor.
So the title of the message this morning
is rebuke thy neighbor.
And we see here rebuke your neighbor
is contrasted with hating thy brother in thine heart.
Meaning that there are situations,
there are
situations that call for rebuke, rebuke in your neighbor, and if you withhold rebuke when it's due,
that is hateful. It's actually hateful to withhold correction when it's due.
And mainstream Christians would hardly identify rebuke as a loving thing.
And mainstream Christianity would often contrast
rebuke with love and would say that rebuking someone
is not loving.
If that's true, this passage could not make sense
because rebuking someone, rebuking your neighbor is loving.
That is how we art to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Turn to 2 Peter chapter two, 2 Peter chapter two.
So, there's several reasons why rebuke is not popular and often times rebuke gets a
bad name because people are rebuking in the wrong way and like all of God's commandments,
there is a way to observe God's commandments.
You know, if you're just flying off the handle rebuking everybody for any situation that
you want to, it can get out of hand and that's not the correct way to rebuke.
2 Peter chapter 2, the Bible says in verse 1,
but there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction,
and many shall follow their pernicious ways,
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not."
The Bible says that there are many, mainstream, many that would follow after false prophets
who will with feigned words make the way of truth evil-spoken of.
That the way of truth is that we should be rebuking when rebuke is called for
But with feigned words they will make that seem like that's that's actually evil
That's actually the wrong thing. They're calling bitter for sweet sweet for bitter. They're twisting what's right into what's wrong
And there's a lot of feigned words out there such as
if you can't say nothing nice at all, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
And that stuff sounds good on the surface, but it doesn't match up with what the Bible actually says.
And I agree that our default mode should be kind. We should be long suffering with people.
But you know, there's a lot of churches that take the stance of we just don't judge anything here
There's no judgment. This is the judgment-free zone. Welcome to Planet Fitness Baptist Church, you know, and there's no
There's no righteousness in their judgment. Everything's just surface deep shallow preaching and
They they say things that are impossible to do as though they love everybody
According to, if you apply that to Leviticus 19, if you love everybody, you should literally
actually be rebuking everybody.
And that's not even possible to do.
You can't love everyone, otherwise you don't love anything.
Proverbs 27, I'm just going to read, verse 5 says, open rebuke is better than secret
love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
So here, we have contrasting kisses of an enemy, which is, of course, how the Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed,
and rebukes from a friend.
Though both are hurtful, they're hurtful for different reasons.
And I would much rather be rebuked by my friend than kissed by my enemy.
The rebuked coming from the friend is coming from a place that wants to correct, that wants
you to get better, that wants you to grow past what you've gotten wrong, whereas the
kiss of an enemy is filled with deceit.
They want to harm you, they want to do evil to you, whereas the rebuked actually wants
you to do better, wants you to grow from that.
Well, if my friend is correcting me, that must mean they have a problem with me.
I don't think they really like me, but trust me, and we're going to prove this more, that
if you have a friend that rebukes you, you have something special.
You have something that's meaningful.
You have someone that cares about you, and it's better to have the wounds from a friend
than to have kisses that are fake, that are deceitful.
When thou, with rebukes, dost correct a man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume
away like a moth.
Surely every man is vanity, sealah.
So the Bible says here, when you're correcting a man, when you're rebuking a man, it kind
of changes their countenance.
It's not a good feeling.
And different people have different levels of discomfort when it comes to issuing out rebukes.
And that is another reason somebody would withhold rebukes from somebody is just, it's uncomfortable.
It doesn't feel good not to give rebukes. It doesn't feel good necessarily in the flesh to receive rebukes.
But...
It's a good culture to be able to issue rebukes, to feel comfortable issuing rebukes and receiving rebukes.
And I think a lot about the military and just kind of how the culture is in the military.
I mean, it is very common every day for people to just get rebuked all the time.
Withholding rebukes is a bad thing to do because if you're going to observe Leviticus 19, the Bible says that thou shall rebuke thy neighbor.
You know, if you're never rebuking anybody, that's a bad thing.
But it can go way over the top, the other direction to where everything's a rebuke, everything is just over the top.
And so we want to have balance with this.
Romans chapter 2, one of the biggest reasons that Rebuke gets a bad name and people would
say Rebuke is not biblical or Rebuke is not a good thing or not a loving thing is because
of hypocrisy.
Whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judges another, thou condemnest thyself,
for thou that judges does the same things.
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits
such things, and thinkest thou this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and
doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God.
We're talking about here to the Jews and it's important, especially in leadership, that you have righteous leadership.
Righteous leadership is really important because when you have unrighteous leadership, you know, if they're not going to be a hypocrite,
unless they're going to be a hypocrite, they can't really judge correctly, they can't really correct things without being a hypocrite.
And, you know, if you receive correction from a hypocritical leader, it really kind of is ineffective, it just doesn't feel like it's appropriate, it doesn't feel corrective, it doesn't render the same results.
Look down at verse 21.
Thou that preachest a man should not steal, does Thou steal?
Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, does Thou commit adultery?
Thou that abhorous idol, does Thou commit sacrilege?
Thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law, dishonorest Thou God?
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written."
and it's prevalent that it causes people to blaspheme God,
that it gives the right way a bad name.
And it's important as leaders,
especially that we take our role seriously,
that for the sake of our leadership
and the effectiveness of our role,
that we should be righteous,
that we should strive to be as righteous as possible
so that we are effective in that role.
You know and the Bible does doesn't say that if you're a hypocrite if you've got these major sins in your life
That you should just never correct
The Bible does say you know Jesus says if you've got a beam in your eye to cast the beam out
To see clearly to get the moat out of your brother's eye. So don't just
Rest in that state of having a beam in your eye get the beam out of your eye
Then you can see clearly to help your brother out
So, when you're out soul-winning, you run into jaded Christians a lot of times, and this
is how a lot of Christians get this way, is they receive unjust judgment.
They receive hypocritical judgment from somebody in a church that's probably not even a biblical
church, probably not even saved, probably got a wrong gospel, but it gives the way of
truth a bad name.
Chapter 14, if you're following along.
So, hypocrisy is a big reason why rebuke gets a bad name.
And another reason is, you know, the Bible does in certain cases give us biblical liberty to practice how we see fit.
And when someone takes that liberty and observes it a certain way, you know, someone judges
that unrighteously and rebukes them for observing it the way they do, for taking the liberty
that they have, it is a reason that rebuke is called evil.
Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak, eateth herbs.
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge
For God hath received him, who art thou that judges another man's servant?
To his own master he standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to
make him stand, one man esteemeth one day, above another, another esteemeth every day
alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
comes up, I think about what I'm reading this is you know in Jeremiah, in fact
I'll just read, in Jeremiah 10 you know people people will apply this passage to
Christmas trees and they will rebuke other Christians for celebrating
Christmas for honoring the Lord on Christmas and it's obviously not what
this passage is about. Jeremiah 10
I'll read in verse one, says, hear ye the word of the Lord, hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you,
O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven,
for the heathen are dismayed at them, for the customs of the people are vain.
For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe,
they deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers,
that it move not, they are upright as the palm tree, but speak not, they must needs be born,
because they cannot go, be not afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil neither is it in them to do good
So the Bible is talking here about somebody who had cut a tree down and make an image out of it and
You know, it's so different than a Christmas tree
Because I would never wonder if my Christmas tree is going to start talking
Or if it's going to start taking up and just moving around or if I you know because you had to carry it
It must needs be born you had to carry it in there. You had to set it up
It's obviously not talking about a Christmas tree, but you know somebody who's misinterpreting
the Bible is applying, they think they're applying scripture to a correction to a rebuke.
This is another way that rebuke is called evil and rebuke is given a bad name is when
You know, I'm glad we have a lot of liberty in many of the things that we choose to observe and
You know, I think it's I think it's a bad idea to get involved so closely in someone's personal life
To where you're going to be rebuking them for having a Christmas tree
But, you know, it's strange interpretations of Scripture, like Mormon's secret underwear
or head coverings.
These are misinterpretations of Scripture, and rebuking someone on that basis can give
First Timothy, chapter one, look at verse six.
From what some having swerved have turned aside
under vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law,
understanding neither what they say,
nor whereof they affirm,
but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully.
They say, well, I rebuke them according to scripture,
and that's great, but was it lawful?
Did you have a good interpret? Did you interpret that correctly?
You know, it's
rebuking someone off of a
misinterpretation of a scripture is not using scripture lawfully
and using a lack of scripture
basing something off of your opinion. It also is ineffective because
It lacks conviction, you know, your opinions don't convict someone. It is the word of God that
convicts
You know if I just
Oh, let loose on my opinion and rebuking somebody for the color of their tie, or you know, you
said a dirty word that's on my dirty word list over here, you know, how can I keep track
of your list, you know, we should all submit ourselves to the Word of God.
And as the people of God, it's our responsibility with the Holy Spirit that we have the words
of God, we have the mind of Christ, and we can make judgments based on that.
Hebrews chapter four, I'll just read.
So, you know, the Bible can help us discern between the closest of things.
The joints of marrow are very close things, and the Bible is illustrating here how even
things that seem so closely intertwined can be discerned, can be cut with the sharp words
of God.
And that is what we should be using to make judgments, especially when we're going to
And I'll just read John 7, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
So another reason that rebuke gets a bad name is someone is rebuke based on how things look.
Without any substantiated proof, without evidence, they just receive a rebuke and they're even unaware that something is wrong or that they were even suspected of committing some kind of offense.
And while all of these things give rebuke a bad name, it's unrighteous rebuke because
The Leviticus 19 said that in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor and it's important that we're righteous
Also, if there's any scripture that you're uncertain about that you're unclear about
You know, it is never a good idea to rebuke someone based on something that you're not even sure about and
James chapter 3 you're falling along
So, we should be absolutely certain not only that someone is guilty of some kind of offense
before they get rebuked, but that we have basis in the Bible, it is interpreted correctly,
that we ourselves are not being a hypocrite, that all these things are righteous judgments
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work,
but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
Not only without partiality, or without hypocrisy, that it should be without partiality,
which means just not being a respecter of persons.
Leviticus 19 also says that you shouldn't respect the persons of the poor.
that you shouldn't honor the person of the mighty,
that you shouldn't have what we have in the United States
is a two-tier justice system, where if you have money,
if you have wealth, if you have stature in society,
that you could almost get away with anything you want
because you can just rack up the lawyer bills
and keep the courtroom going
and eventually just run whoever you want out of money.
And, unfortunately, this is the case in the United States.
We have, by and large, a broken legal system.
And it is an unrighteous judgment.
It's unrighteous.
But we shouldn't selectively correct somebody, selectively apply judgment, and selectively
rebuke people when somebody else is guilty of the same things.
it rebukes everyone.
We all can get rebuked by the word of God,
and we should get rebuked by the word of God.
And those are reasons that rebuked gets a bad rap.
A lot of Christians, they don't want to rebuk
because all they have in their mind about rebuk
is these examples of a hypocrite rebuking somebody
off a misinterpreted scripture or on their own opinion,
or they've selectively applied that rebuk.
But if rebuke is done righteously, if rebuke is righteous, it is a loving thing to rebuke somebody.
And rebuke is important.
So rebuke is not only just a commandment of God to do that, to rebuke people.
Leviticus 19, thou shalt not hate thy neighbor in thy heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor.
Notice it says, and not suffer sin upon him.
So, the purpose of a rebuke is to get sin out of our lives, to keep someone from sin.
And that is the loving thing to do.
Ezekiel chapter 3, if you're following along, it's not loving to see somebody struggling,
to see somebody headed toward a cliff, toward destruction, toward sin, and not give them
a warning.
And in Ezekiel chapter 3, we have a commandment of God to the watchman.
Ezekiel 3, chapter 7, or verse 17, rather.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel.
When I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way
Thou shalt save
To save his life
The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand verse 19
Yet if thou warned the wicked and he turned not from his wickedness
Nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul
so
You know the Bible is here is giving a charge that it is the responsibility of a man of God
to
to say, hey, I understand what the will of God is,
I understand the commandments of God,
and here's a chapter in verse for you,
that's wrong, that's wicked,
and notice if you do that, it's not on you.
But if you refuse, if you withhold the correction, if you withhold the warning, then his blood is on your hands.
And us as the people of God, with the Word of God, it is our responsibility to repute our neighbor.
And there is a situation when we do not rebuke, when the situation calls for it, and we withhold the rebuke,
that it is our responsibility that we've neglected, that we have a dereliction of duty, as it's called.
neglected. And a lot of times people will use cheap substitutes for rebuke.
People will make excuses for other people. People will blame something else.
They'll flatter with their words. They'll, you know, I think of gentle parenting.
You know, this idea where you're only going to just enforce and try and promote the good
things that they're doing without correcting the bad, and while I'm all for praising good
things that children do, there is a time where we need to correct the bad behavior.
And by just enforcing positive behavior, it kind of seems like you're manipulating your
that you're withholding the correction that they need
and you're just trying to get them to do positive things
by rewarding them with, you know,
for all the positive things that they're doing.
And it seems like, you know, you're kind of teaching
your child that manipulation is the way to go,
that we don't get corrected,
we just have these positive things that we do
to get rewards.
You know, that doesn't seem like a very good approach
to parenting.
There is,
ignorance plead also like I just didn't know and ignorance isn't an excuse but
when it comes to rebuke you know God deals deals with us with mercy when we
don't know when we send through ignorance you know we get we still we're
still punished by before those things but when we send willfully you know the
punishment is is a lot
stronger. And I think, you know, when it comes to rebuke, when someone's just
unaware that they're even in the wrong, you know, my opinion is that it's
probably less fitting, less meat, that somebody should get rebuke for that.
But we have the law of liberty, we have the mind of Christ, we have the veil removed from our eyes,
we can see from the Word of God what is right, what's holy, what's profane,
and we should be letting people know about that, we should be warning people.
in his sons. First Samuel chapter 2 verse 22 Bible says now Eli was very old and heard
all that his sons did under all the Israel how they lay with the women that assembled
at the door of the tabernacle, of the congregation,
and he said unto them, why do ye such things?
For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people,
name my sons, for it is no good report that I hear.
Ye make the Lord's people to transgress.
If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge them.
But if a man sin against the Lord,
who shall treat for him?
not withstanding they hearken not under the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them.
So we see in this situation, Hoppni and Phineas have
lain with the women at the gates of the Tabernacle.
This is a grievous sin. Like I can't even think of anything more grievous than this.
And when you look at Eli's response, verse 24,
he's just like, name my son,
for it is no good report that I hear.
He's not really strongly rebuking him.
And it doesn't really even seem kind of fitting.
Now, Hoppe and I are fitting this,
the Bible makes it clear that there's sons of Belial.
I don't think they were going to receive
whatever correction, however it was delivered,
probably not even going to receive it.
But it does kind of illustrate
that there are situations where
isn't quite enough. It's not quite enough just to say, hey, I don't think it's good to just sleep
with women out here right here with, you know, that's kind of, you should be rebuking that.
And Grievous Inn should be rebuked. And I'll just read Proverbs 9 verse 8 says,
rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.
Another purpose of rebuke
is to attract the right people. To have the right culture
you know if you rebuke a scorner
he's gonna hate you. But do you really want scorners around you?
I mean nobody really wants somebody that's just constantly just scorning
everything
but if you rebuke a wise man he's gonna love you.
He's going to appreciate you. He's going to see that for what it is,
a loving act, and he's going to love you.
So,
inappropriate rebuke, you know, that is
kind of what people usually think of when they hear about rebuke,
that it's not a loving thing, that it's usually done incorrectly
from a lot of churches, from a lot of Christianity, not understanding the Bible.
Especially false religion, you know, they can't they'll use the scripture, but they have no idea what the Bible even teaches
but rebuke is a very important aspect of the Christian life when applied correctly and
There are situations that call for rebuke and
Rebuke is appropriate in these situations first Corinthians chapter 14. I'll just read
Starting in verse seven says,
And even things without life giving sound,
whether pipe or harp,
except they give a distinction in the sounds,
how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound,
who shall prepare himself to the battle?
So likewise ye accept ye utter by the tongue,
words easy to be understood,
How shall it be known what is spoken for each shall speak into the air?
So the Bible is making it clear here that that if you just hear this weird sound
You're not going to know how to respond. You're not going to know what needs to be done
And what's what's important about rebuke is that there's usually no menacing of words
You can usually get exactly what you want me to get with the rebuke
And that's why I like saying move please.
Move please is one of those things where it's just like,
hey, I said please and I said I should move.
And we don't have to go any far beyond that.
The communication is solid.
And that's how it is with rebukes.
The communication is solid and being clear with people
gets results.
And
Rebuke is important, and Rebuke should be issued, especially in preaching, especially from the pulpit, 2 Timothy 4, verse 2 says,
Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
a pastor that he should reprove, rebuke, and exhort.
And so I think some aspects about rebuke can be found here
because it says with all long suffering and doctrine.
And so I think with rebuke specifically,
Pairing that with long suffering because a lot of people will say well
Yeah, I rebuke them because I I kind of got in over my head. I lost my temper and
rebuke if if we're being all
long suffering
With people rebuke is not reserved for when you're out of patience rebuke is not
It's situationally dictated, not for when you've had it, when you're at your wits end.
You know, obviously when you've had to correct somebody with the same correction over and over again, I kind of see that.
But the Bible is saying here that we should reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
And so correcting someone with a rebuke...
It should have doctrine with it, it should have teaching with it, it should be constructive,
it should help them to get past whatever offense they've committed, and it should tell them
why they're being rebuked from the Bible and how to fix it.
Because if somebody doesn't know how to fix what they're being rebuked for, oftentimes
it can be hard for them to move on past that.
We want to include doctrine and teaching to correct to build people up to help them move forward to help them learn and grow
So that's not just you know that there's a difference there also between
Reproving and rebuking, you know a reproof is kind of a softer correction. Whereas rebuke is more sharp. It's
You know kind of got a little bit more grit to it
And there's a situational difference when either one of these could be applied, but
if you're only reproving and you only got soft corrections, like, it's just not wise
to wear a woman's garment as a man, you know, that's not a rebuke.
You're just reproving people at that point.
And the Bible says, thou shalt rebuke thy neighbor.
You know, if you're withholding that rebuke, if everything's a reproof, if it's just not
wise, well then why is it that God is telling us to rebuke people?
We have to have rebuke in the Christian life.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12, in no less, probably more than anywhere, we should have rebuke
Please, he asked, he's Chapter 12, Verse 9, Bible says, And moreover, because the preacher
was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, yea, he gave good heed and sought out and
said in order many proverbs, the preacher sought to find out acceptable words.
that which was written was upright even the words of truth the words of the
wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are
given from the shepherd so notice he's using acceptable words he's using the
correct words he's considered the exact words he's going to say and use
And notice that the words that are coming from the wise are as goads, they're pushing into people, they're correcting people, they're causing people to go whatever direction that they should go in and the preaching of God's word should be like goads, should be
Very specific words should be founded in the Bible and causing a response shouldn't just leave you wondering
What exactly was the preacher talking about? You should know exactly what it is
That's being communicated. It should be a specific sound
first Timothy chapter 5
Verse 19 says against an elder
Received not an accusation
But before two or three witnesses
Then that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear
a lot a lot of Christianity has an issue with this but
preaching from the pulpit at
times means
public rebuke and
That is so that others can see that rebuke and fear
You know we should have
mind that accepts that. But you know it is a lot of times the preaching from the
Bible can be a rebuke just against sin in general and it applies to a lot of
people. It applies, it has what I like to call that is it eye effect you know
where where it's like you know Jesus is like hey one of you is gonna betray me
and everybody's kind of like is it eye? Like when the preacher's getting up and
Well, yeah, if it applies, it's talking about you.
Luke chapter 11, if you're following along.
But when sin's being rebuked in general, you know, in a smaller church, kind of like
we have, I've always been in a smaller church.
I'm used to being in a smaller church.
It kind of fits me well.
Just, you know, historically, it's always, I've always thrived in a smaller church.
But, you know, especially in a smaller church, when there's some kind of issue going on and it just gets preached about, nobody's name has to be mentioned.
And, you know, sometimes you're just kind of like, I think I know maybe what's going on here.
And while that happens in a small church,
If you're thinking that, a lot of times what's happening is you're missing the real application.
The real application from the preaching of God's Word is, where am I in this situation?
How does this apply to my life?
How can I benefit from hearing this?
Luke chapter 11 verse 44, Jesus says, what one do you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
and the men that walk over them are not aware of them,
then answer one of the lawyers and said unto him,
master, thus saying, that will approach us also.
And he said, what on do you also, you lawyers?
So, you know, they're saying,
hey, you're talking about them, right?
But you kind of hit me too, you know?
And he's like, you're right, what on do you also?
You know, if the shoe fits, wear it, and the preaching of God's Word, when we're buking
sin, it's going to apply to us all, because we all have sin in our life.
We all have things that we need to get right.
So always try to apply the rebukes from the preaching to yourself.
That's where it should hit mainly.
That's where it should land home.
says, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren.
The Bible here, and I think this is probably one of the more well-known commandments about
rebuke is that you're not to rebuke an elder, you're not to go up to a pastor and rebuke
the pastor.
It's probably the more well-known teachings on rebuke, but one of the most commonly violated
teachings on rebuke.
Not only that, but we see that when someone is in a place of authority, it is a special
role and that someone in authority has the privilege of having preferences.
is that when you're in authority, when you're the boss at work,
you can say, hey, I want you here 15 minutes early.
Now that, I didn't find that in the Bible.
That's not in the Word of God.
But if you're over and over again,
just not listening to your superiors' preferences
and showing up late.
You know that is a cause for rebuke that isn't based on the Bible. That is an exception to the rebukes
That is someone in authority has the authority to rebuke
But
Matthew chapter 16
So we have a lot of people that will rebuke pastors
That give
rebuke a bad name, Matthew chapter 16 verse 21 Bible says for that time
forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must needs go
into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him
Saying be it far from thee Lord
This shall not be unto thee
Verse 23, but he turned and said unto Peter get thee behind me Satan
Thou art an offense unto me for thou savorous not the things that be of God, but those that be of men
So we see here
Not only is someone rebuking an elder
which should not be the case, but Jesus is literally perfect.
So this cannot be a good form of rebuke.
It's not possible. But then Jesus says
in return, essentially rebuking him back,
saying thou art an offense to me, calls him Satan,
says he doesn't savor the things that be of God.
And another really important aspect of rebuke is when someone rebukes someone
unbibically, that is in turn grounds for rebuke.
Rebuke already has a bad name. I mean, people in Christianity
already think if you're rebuking someone, then you must be a hateful person.
Then you must not love people. When the Bible teaches that that's
actually completely different, that rebuke is loving,
that when it's done correctly, it's not only biblical, but it is the loving thing to do.
But, you know, how many people
have rebuked a pastor based on their own opinions.
I think about Pastor Oz.
He moved down here.
He sacrificed a lot of things.
He wasn't sure that anything was going to pan out.
He came down here to be a minister to us.
And you had people rebuking him for their own opinions.
About things that didn't even involve him and that is in turn grounds for rebuke
It is a disgrace
The the way that he was treated by some of the people in our church
It's disgusting. It's garbage and it's grounds for rebuke
Matthew chapter 7
I'll read Revelation 3 he says as many as I love I rebuke and chasen
Be zealous therefore and repent so even God he's saying hey if I love you. I'm gonna rebuke you
You know all of us do things wrong all of us are gonna be in need of rebuke from time to time and if we're loved of God
He's going to do it
Matthew chapter 7
verse 6 says
Give not that which is holy under the dogs
neither cast your pearls before a swine
lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.
I think about like street preaching.
Somebody's going to go to a sodomite parade or you know, a strip club and just born,
unsaved people by and large
about their sin.
That is the dumbest thing ever. Not only are they most likely, in their exceptions, probably not saved,
About the strip club anyway
Not so my brain, but you know, you know, it's it's it's unbiblical
To go around casting your pearls before swine, but notice in this verse
Because I've kind of been thinking about this lest they trample them under their feet who's the them referring to I believe that's referring to the pearls
That I've got I've got this treasure that I've got from the Word of God, and I'm gonna rebuke you for it
I'm gonna correct you for it
But if you're not worthy of correction if I'm casting my pearls before swine
Notice that they're gonna actually come after the pearls
They're gonna come after the things that I said from the Bible
They're gonna try and make that look stupid. Not only that they're gonna go beyond that and try and trample me and
It's fitting to rebuke somebody you love.
If you love someone, if there's somebody close in your life, if you care about them and they're
in the wrong, if they're headed towards destruction, you should rebuke them when the situation dictates.
But somebody who's just going to take what you've given them and trample it under their
feet and then come and get an attack of you for trying to love them.
That is not a person you should rebuke.
Rebuke is reserved for the people that you love,
not only that, but rebuke is reserved
for somebody who's willing to receive it.
If you rebuke somebody in the past,
or if you've seen somebody get rebuke
and they just cannot take it,
they can't take any kind of correction,
well, you know, it's probably not gonna be profitable
to rebuke them.
Proverbs chapter 13.
Verse eight says, the ransom of a man's life are his riches, but the poor heareth not rebuke.
I believe the poor are poor because they wouldn't hear rebuke.
But I kind of thought on this, this first part, the ransom of a man's life are his riches.
What I believe that's kind of talking about is somebody who has a lot of riches, who has a lot of things, who has a lot of substance,
not just monetarily, but might have a lot of things worth value in his life.
A lot of important things in his life is going to have a certain level of responsibility.
And usually people with a lot of responsibility,
when you come at them with a rebuke, when you come at them with a correction,
they're going to hear it because they've got a lot of things to care for.
You know, and if they are actually wrong, it could be detrimental to those things.
Whereas when somebody's poor, you know, it's like, hey, don't, don't get a lottery ticket
again.
I don't care.
Apathetic.
You know, not really going to take that, take that correction, take that rebuke.
And apathy is a, is a huge, you know, hurdle in the way of rebuke.
People just not caring.
You correct somebody who just, I don't know, I don't care.
And it's common, especially among poor people.
We see this again over and over again in Proverbs, but Proverbs 13 verse 18 says, poverty and
shame shall be with him that refuses instruction, but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.
Again, somebody who's not receiving instruction, not getting the correction, more likely to
Probably not going to be successful in thriving in life.
Proverbs chapter 10 verse 17 says,
he is in the way of life that keepeth instruction,
but he that refuses reproof ereth.
Go to Mark chapter 6.
Mark chapter 6 verse 17.
Talking about John the Baptist here.
John the Baptist is known for a very specific correction.
We talked about Eli and his sons,
Haphenius, the grievous sins that they were involved in,
that that was worthy of rebuke.
Verse 17 says, for Herod himself had sent forth
and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison
for Herodias' sake.
His brother, Philip's wife, for he had married her,
For John had said unto Herod it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife
Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him
But she could not
For Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man in the holy and observed him
When he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly
So we see John here is rebuking
Herod because he took Herodias which is a you know she's already married to his
brother and she's family and this is a most grievous sin and another situation
where rebuke is called for is in grievous sin and notice that you're not
to people in high authority without getting some kind of feedback.
You should expect persecution.
If you're going to use the Bible and rebuke people in high places,
when you're calling out sin for what it is with the Word of God specifically,
you can expect to be persecuted.
John was cast into prison, eventually being beheaded, right?
And we see that kind of, it's a common theme throughout the Bible when men of God telling people how it is when men of God are using the word of God to correct these things in society, they're getting persecuted, they're getting thrown in jails.
You know, I think about the Hall of Faith, they were saunasunder, you know.
And you can expect that when you're rebuking with authority.
Acts chapter 8 verse 18, we see here a great example of how to receive rebuke.
Simon here wanting to have gifts, it says, and when Simon saw that through laying on
saying, Give me also this power that on whomesoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that
the gift of God may be purchased with money, thou hast neither part nor lot in this manner,
for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray, God, if perhaps the thought of thine
heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou art in the gull of bitterness, and
in the bond of iniquity, then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that
none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
So here we have a great response. Hey, pray to God for me. I don't want any, I
can see how that's wrong.
You know, accepting that, being able to accept that, and it's important because the flesh
often cringes when you get rebuked.
It's not a great feeling. We talked about that, but there's three things
I think when you recognize about rebuke that can help you receive the rebuke.
One is that
The love that's required for somebody to get over how uncomfortable it is in general to rebuke somebody,
the love that's required just shows you that that person loves you.
If somebody without or just someone around you is looking at you and thinking that you're worthy of rebuke
because the Lord Jesus says, whom I love, I rebuke and chasten, you know, they're seeing you as somebody who will accept this correction,
who is worthy of rebuking, and you can see that as a very positive thing.
Secondly, if someone's rebuking you,
notice that they're actually following what God's commanded them to do.
It's a commandment of God to rebuke thy neighbor, and if somebody's observing that,
you should take that as them trying to please God, trying to follow God's commandments,
and it's important that we will be able to receive that.
And thirdly, it's something we should look at and actually apply
What's wrong with this with the doctrine that is involved with rebuking us?
Why we were wrong and how we can get better from that
Learn and grow from the rebukes that you receive in life because it's probably not every day. You're getting rebuked, right?
I mean if it is you know, that's rough
But you know, it's probably not something you get all the time and when you get it you should cherish it
It should be something that's important to you and it should be something that you can grow from
Second Samuel chapter 11, we're almost finished here.
Second Samuel chapter 11 verse 1, oh you're right, King David here, he should have been
in battle.
says, and it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when kings go forth to battle
that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon
and besieged Reba. But David tarried still Jerusalem and it came to pass at an eventide
that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house.
From the roof. He saw a woman washing and washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon
And David said and inquired after the woman and one said it's not this Bathsheba
the daughter of Eliam the wife of Uriah the Hittite and David sent messengers and took her and
He came unto them and he lay with her for she was purified from her from her uncleanliness uncleanness
And she returned into her house.
You know, this situation here, it's just people coming back to me, hey, isn't this, isn't
this your wife?
You know, it should have been the rebuke there.
David does eventually get rebuke for this.
Look at verse 11 says, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee
out of thine own house.
thy wives from before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the side of the sun, for thou didst sit secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel.
And before the sun, and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, and Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.
Notice, though, if David had a neighbor, someone that was a neighbor to him before this situation
could have happened, perhaps he could have been rebuked before it was too late.
And that's my last point, is don't wait until someone's at the cusp of committing some grievous
sin in their life to rebuke them.
The rebuke is there to suffer not sin upon your neighbor.
you know, sent somebody to check, check, you know, Bathsheba out and they came back to him saying, David, you do not want to do this, you know,
and just rebuked him for wanting to do this, this thing with Uriah, you know, with the wife, wife of Uriah, you know, maybe, maybe it would have saved him from, from committing this grievous sin.
So, we need to also rebuke before it's too late.
So,
Rebuke is important. It's important that it's observed the correct way in righteousness, not being a hypocrite,
applying scripture,
not applying to
some people by partiality and others just letting them slide.
It's important that we observe that. We have to observe the commandments of God and Leviticus 19.
It's very clear that we're to rebuke our neighbor.
And there are certain situations that dictate that we should use rebuke.
So with that I'll end it a word of prayer
Gracious Lord, thank you so much for our church. Thank you Lord for your word and for all the commands that we have showing us how to live
Pray Lord that you help us to know when to rebuke and to have the resolve to do it. In Jesus name we pray amen
our last hymn for this morning will be number 248. 248. Now I belong to Jesus. 248. 248.
Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever, from him no power of people can sever, he gave his life to ransom my soul, now I belong to him.
belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for the time
Once I was lost in sin's degradation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation.
Lived in me up from sorrow and shame, now I belong to...
from sin that long had enslaved me, his wrecious blood he gave to redeem, now I belong to