Now the part of the chapter, there's a lot of interesting things in this chapter, but the part that I really wanted to focus on is just right at the very beginning of the chapter when it says in verse number 2,
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest a judgment.
And that's what I want to preach about this morning. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.
You know, people have a tendency to follow the crowd. Look at Matthew chapter 7.
People have a tendency to follow the crowd. It's part of our human sinful nature to go along with the flow of what's happening around us and to look to others around us for approval of our actions.
And to basically think that if everybody's doing it, it must be okay.
And that's what this is saying here. It says thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Just because you see a multitude of people doing something, you see, that doesn't make it okay.
If it's evil, it's evil. If it's wrong, it's wrong. Don't follow the crowd.
Now here's why you should never follow the crowd. Because the crowd is always wrong.
You know, I saw a sign when I was in school and it had up on the wall as a child that said, what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular.
But I'd like to change that. I'll say what is popular is never right. And what is right is never popular. That's really the true story on that.
Look at Matthew chapter 7. First of all, when it comes to salvation, don't follow the crowd when it comes to the gospel.
Because if you follow the crowd, the crowd's on its way to hell, unfortunately. That's where the majority is going. It's a sad truth. But look at Matthew chapter 7, 13.
It says, enter ye in at the straight gate. Straight there means narrow. Notice it's spelled S-T-R-A-I-T. That's narrow, like the straits of Gibraltar, the straits of Panama.
It says, enter ye in at the straight gate. But wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be which go in their act, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
Now you say, well wait a minute pastor, I don't know if that's talking about salvation. Okay, keep your finger in Matthew 7 and go to Luke 13.
Keep your finger there in Matthew 7 and flip over to Luke 13. And you'll see Jesus make a similar statement and you can get a little more context of this in Luke 13.
Because you'll see that he makes the statement in response to a question that's asked unto him in Luke 13, 22.
It says he went throughout, he went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem, then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved?
Now that's a good question. That's an interesting question. This guy, he's hearing Jesus preach. Jesus has just come into his town and began to preach the word of God.
And he says, Jesus, are there few that be saved? Look at Jesus answer the question. And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the what?
The straight gate. Not straight as in not crooked, but straight as a narrow.
For many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able, when once the master of the house is risen, and it's shut to the door,
and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not which you are.
Then shall you begin to say, we've eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets.
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not which you are. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out.
And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
By the way, some people have nonsensical doctrines. This just popped into my mind as I'm reading this.
I heard somebody say, well, King Solomon wasn't saved. Or David wasn't saved.
They'll pull out Bible prophets. Doesn't it say here that all the prophets will be in the kingdom of God?
All the true prophets from the Old Testament were saved or else they wouldn't have been one of God's prophets.
I mean, get real. But people will try to say that Old Testament prophets, and by the way, Solomon was a prophet, so was David, so was Moses, all these people.
Yes, of course they were saved. Isn't that nonsense? But I've heard that. You hear everything, you know?
But the bottom line is here, the Bible says here in verse 24,
Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many I say to you will seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master of the house is risen.
He's saying there's going to come a time when it's too late to be saved.
And when people will be standing figuratively speaking at the door of heaven, banging on that door saying, open to us, open to us.
You know, you taught us in the street. Go back to Matthew 7 where we were.
You know, we've eaten drunk with you. We know you. And he says, but I don't know you, apart from me.
And they're going to be cast out. There's a lot of people, according to that, who think that they're saved and they're not.
And they're even claiming the name of Jesus Christ because they're going to him and saying, hey, we did it in your name.
And he says, I never knew you.
Look at Matthew 7. It says in verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in whose name? In thy name, in the name of Jesus.
And in thy name have cast out the devils. And here's the problem with these people. Here's why they didn't make it in.
And in thy name done many wonderful works. That's what these people are trusting in to get them into heaven.
They're saying, well, Lord, we did all these works. You're not letting us in?
Then will I profess unto them, verse 23, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
That's also a good verse for those who say you can lose your salvation. He didn't say, I used to know you.
He said, I never knew you. Because once he knows you, he knows you. Once you're in the family, you're in the family.
Now you say, well, what does that mean to do the will of his Father? Well, I looked up that phrase.
I want to see what Jesus said the will of his Father was. And he kept saying it along this effect.
Here's one of them, John 6.40. You don't have to turn there. Actually, turn to John 6, because we're going to go there anyway.
In John 6.40, it says, And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day.
You see, the plan of salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
It's not do many wonderful works, and thou shalt be saved. It's not cast out devils in my name, and you'll be saved.
And these people are relying on their own works, just like the Jews were told in Romans 10.
It says, They, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
So salvation is by faith, it's not by works. And the Bible teaches that those who are trusting in their works
one day will be told, I never knew you. Depart from me.
And that's a sad date. And the sad thing is that the narrow way is the one that leads to salvation.
And the wide gate is the one that leads to destruction, according to the Bible.
So look down, if you would, at John 6, verse 35.
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me and believe not.
So in verse 35, he's telling you, believing is what saves.
In 36, he says, there are some that don't believe.
And then verse 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me.
And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise, what's that last two words there?
He says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out me.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which have sent me.
That of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life.
And I will raise him up at the last day.
Jump down to verse 47, he said, verily, verily I say of you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
And so we see here that if you believe on Christ, he said, if you come to me and believe on me,
he said, I will not cast you out.
He said, I will in no wise cast out.
Don't turn there, but Matthew 8, Jesus said this.
When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed.
Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west,
and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So he says, you're going to weep if you are standing there one day and see all the prophets,
see Abraham, Isaac, in heaven, but you yourselves thrust out,
you yourselves cast out because you thought it was your wonderful works.
But that's what the majority is trusting in, their own selves, their own religion.
They say, I'm going to heaven, I'm a pretty good person.
Don't follow the multitude when it comes to salvation.
Take the narrow way, which is putting your faith and trust in Jesus alone to save you.
And look, when we go out soul-willing and knocking doors,
we run into a lot of people that are saved, don't we?
I mean, if we go out soul-willing, we run into a lot, but it's still by far the minority.
I mean, we'll run into a lot of people that are saved,
but we run into ten times more and twenty times more that are not saved.
When we ask them, do you know for sure if you died today you'd go to heaven,
you know, we're refreshed when somebody gives us the right answer,
says, yes I do, I'm trusting Jesus alone.
And no, you can't lose your salvation because it's all by grace, it's all by faith.
Usually it's, I hope so, I'm trying.
Or nobody can know that for sure.
Because the majority is wrong about salvation.
Don't follow the crowd.
But it doesn't stop there.
Go to Luke chapter 16.
And while we're on salvation, let me hit one other point on salvation.
In Galatians chapter number, I'm not going to read out Galatians 4 for the sake of time,
but in Galatians 4, the Bible says,
Cast out the bond woman and her son shall not inherit with the son of promise.
And the Bible just explains that those who are trusting the law to justify them
are like spiritual Ishmael that will be cast out.
They don't believe on Christ and they're not trusting the promises of God for salvation,
but rather in the flesh, in their own works.
But in Galatians 2, there's an interesting part where Paul talks about having to rebuke Peter.
Because of the fact that Peter was in error, let me read it for you, it's Galatians 2.11.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I would have stood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
Now Peter was a good guy.
Obviously he's one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, he's a great man.
But there came a time, nobody's perfect though, right?
And Paul had to rebuke him actually.
And it says, he would stood him to the face, for before that certain came from James,
he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision.
So here's what happened.
Peter is with Paul, Paul's got all kinds of people saved in Antioch.
And if you remember, this ties in with what we just did on the book of Acts.
Remember how they went to Antioch and got all those Gentiles saved,
and the people in Jerusalem were really surprised about it?
So basically Peter shows up, and he's sitting down and eating with the Gentiles.
And by the way, this is after the situation with Cornelius.
So he already should have known that, because we're getting this on Wednesday night in order,
going through the book of Acts.
He already knew that God had already told him not to call any man common or unclean.
But yet Peter, he already knew that, so he's sitting there, he's eating with the Gentiles.
He's fine with that.
But then as soon as his buddies from Jerusalem show up from James,
oh man, he wants to get away from the Gentiles.
And all of a sudden he's better than them.
All of a sudden he's high and mighty, and doesn't want to be with them.
And why? Because he was influenced by the crowd.
All his buddies come, and all of a sudden the peer pressure,
he's not doing what God told him was right,
but rather he's trying to please his friends.
And then in the next verse, it says in verse number 13,
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with them.
So then when people saw Peter do that, then all the Jews give up and say,
well we better not eat with these Gentiles.
And listen to this.
It's so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
Even Paul's closest buddy Barnabas,
even he got up, because everybody else got up from the table.
Even Barnabas got up and went with him too.
And Paul had to stand up and rebuke Peter to his face,
and withstand him to his face.
It says in verse 14,
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel,
I said unto Peter before them all,
If thou being a Jew liveth after the manner of the Gentiles,
and not as do the Jews,
why compelest thou the Gentiles to liveth as do the Jews?
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,
this is what Paul is preaching to Peter,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,
and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
And so Paul had to get in Peter's face,
and rebuke him about this,
because Peter started following the crowd.
And then everybody else started,
even Barnabas started following the crowd.
You see how one person can do something,
and everybody just follows.
And then they just follow a multitude to do evil.
They should have just told those guys from Jerusalem,
hey, you guys are a bunch of phonies,
you know, why do you expect everybody to be a Jew?
You're not better than these people.
God has made all nations of the earth of one blood.
You can't sit there and say, oh, well, they're a Jew,
so they somehow are higher on God's list,
or because you're white,
or because you're Asian, or Chinese, or whatever.
It doesn't matter, okay?
And that's what these people were following a crowd,
and just saying, well, if they're ashamed to be with him,
then I better get up, too, and go over there.
You know, this is the way people are, though.
You've seen this in school.
You can see this on the playground.
But the sad thing is when adults
would have the same mentality
of just mindlessly following the crowd.
Children do this.
I mean, if you go to school,
you know, one kid's got to serve a brand,
and everybody's got to follow that style.
One kid, you know, does something,
and then pretty soon they're all doing it, you know?
But come on.
Grow up.
Be your own man.
You know, make your own decisions.
Decide what you believe.
Don't follow the crowd.
Look at Luke chapter 16, where I had you turn,
beginning in verse 15.
And by the way, that's why our church is an independent Baptist.
We're not following the crowd.
We're not following a denomination.
We're not tied in with a denomination.
We're just following Christ.
We're just independent.
We make our own decisions here.
We follow Christ.
He's the head of our church.
We're going to have some headquarters.
It's funny how they call it the denominational headquarters.
Well, you know, our headquarters is in heaven,
where our head is seated at the right hand of the Father.
We're going to have some headquarters.
Where our head is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and his name is Jesus Christ.
But it says in Luke 16, 15,
and he said unto them, this is Jesus speaking,
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men.
But God knoweth your hearts,
for that which is highly esteemed among men
is a abomination in the sight of God.
He's saying, look, there are things that this world
lifts up and respects and adores,
he says, that are an abomination with God.
So why would you justify yourself before man?
When man's rules are not God's rules,
what God highly esteems,
man considers an abomination and vice versa.
He goes on to say this.
He says, that which is highly esteemed among men
is an abomination in the sight of God.
The law and the prophets were until John,
since that time the kingdom of God is preached
and every man presseth into it,
and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass
than one tittle of the law to fail,
and then listen to this in verse 18.
Whosoever putteth away his wife,
and marrieth another, committed adultery.
Now, does that fly today in mainstream American culture?
Is the multitude going to agree with that statement?
Is the multitude of Baptist churches
going to agree with that statement?
Are the multitude of preachers going to preach that?
Absolutely not.
This is not what the multitude will go with,
but don't follow the multitude to do evil.
He says, look, just because it's highly esteemed among men,
it could be an abomination with God.
He said, whosoever putteth away his wife
and marrieth another, committed adultery,
and whosoever marrieth her
that is put away from her husband,
committed adultery.
And look, that's Jesus Christ preaching here,
saying, look, man's not going to like this,
and he preaches this in Matthew 19.
We're not going to turn there, but in Matthew 19,
he preaches the same things to his disciples.
They say, you know, is it awful for a man
to put away his wife for every cause?
They're saying, can we get a divorce
for any reason we want?
And he says, actually, God made them male and female,
and what God, and he said the two shall be one flesh,
and what God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder.
And here's what the disciples said to them.
Well, if the case of the man be so with his wife,
it's not good to marry.
That's what they say, like, well, man,
I don't even want to get married then
if I'm going to be stuck with her the rest of my life.
And he says, he says to them,
all men cannot receive the same,
but they to whom it is given.
He said, well, everybody can't handle this.
And, you know, there's a lot of people today
who can't handle that kind of preaching either.
You know, and I could say at the end of every sermon,
all men cannot receive the same,
because there's a lot of people
who don't want to receive a lot of my sayings, okay?
But you know what?
It's not really my sayings.
I'm just preaching what the Bible says.
I mean, I didn't make that up.
I don't care what it says.
You know, I love my wife.
I'm married.
I've been married, you know, for over 10 years.
You know, I don't care what it says.
If it said divorce is okay,
I would preach that divorce is okay.
If it said divorce is an abomination
or that it's wrong or that God hates it,
I'm going to preach that it's wrong,
because I'm not going to stand in judgment of God.
I just am going to follow and believe
and preach what the Bible says.
I don't have some motive, you know what I mean,
to preach this.
I'm just preaching it because it's in the Bible.
In fact, I have a lot of motives not to preach that.
It's called people quitting and leaving the church
when they hear that preached.
And I have several people who left the church
over that exact verse.
I could give you a list after the service
of a bunch of people who quit coming to church here
just because of that verse right there
because I showed them that verse.
And, you know, they came to me
and asked my opinion, and I showed them that verse,
and they never came back,
and I could give you the list, my friend.
Okay, so I don't have a motive to preach it.
I'm just preaching it because it's in the Bible.
You know, it's God's word.
And I'm not going to follow the multitude to do evil.
I'm not going to follow the multitude
of Baptist pastors and just preach what they preach
and do what they do.
I'm going to follow Jesus Christ.
And that puts me in the minority every time.
Every time.
You know, when you really take a stand,
you're in the minority.
You're never with the crowd.
So don't follow the crowd, my friend,
because it will lead you astray.
Turn, if you would, to 2 Timothy 2.
2 Timothy 2.
And while you're turning there,
I'll read for you from 1 Timothy 5.
You're turning to 2 Timothy 2.
In 1 Timothy 5, the Bible says,
lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partaker of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure.
He says, look, the people around you
may be living in sin.
He said, but be not a partaker of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure.
You know, I can't keep you pure as your pastor.
But I can keep myself pure.
He said singular, thyself.
Keep thyself pure.
You know, and that's the only person
that you can really keep pure.
But if everyone around you is in sin,
you can still keep yourself pure.
Don't follow that multitude around you
to do evil.
Do right.
But look, if you would,
at 2 Timothy 2.
It says, study to show thyself.
Verse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God.
A workman that needed not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Look at Romans 12.
Don't follow the multitude.
What I wanted to show you there
is don't follow the multitude on doctrine.
You know, study to show thyself approved.
Not just, well, this is what the majority
of Bible theologians have done.
Here's what, you know,
here's what Bible scholars pretty much agree upon.
Well, then you're probably wrong.
Whatever it is.
If you say, well, the majority of Bible scholars,
the majority of Bible theologians,
here's what they've come to this consensus,
you pretty much can just take it to the bank.
It's wrong.
Amen.
It's true.
Yes, sir.
You know, most scholars,
I don't care most.
God said, study most scholars.
No, he said, study to show thyself approved.
Do it yourself.
Don't even trust Pastor Anderson.
Don't come here and just,
well, Pastor Anderson, breathe.
No, you study to show yourself approved unto God.
Amen.
You get in the Bible yourself
and decide what's right and wrong.
You know, you say,
well, I don't agree with you on divorce.
Well, you saw that scripture.
Go look it up when you get home
and go study to show thyself approved.
Read Luke 16.
Read Matthew 19.
Read Matthew chapter 5.
And then come to me,
you know, with your opinion.
But study to show yourself approved
and don't come to me
and tell me what some Bible teacher said
or what some theologian said.
Show me what you found in the Bible.
In fact, show it to yourself
because I already know what I put inside there.
But the bottom line is,
and where did I return to?
I'll be happy.
I'm getting like three different answers.
Romans 12.
All right, good.
Yeah, the people who know for sure
got to say it out the loudest.
All right, Romans chapter 12.
It says this,
I beseech you, verse 1,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service,
and be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God.
He says don't be conformed to this world.
And the word form means shape.
You know, form is the shape of something.
And when I think of being conformed,
I think of a pattern.
You know, I think of my wife.
She sews and she cuts out that pattern,
and you can also think of like a cookie cutter.
You know, you got that pattern
and you make them all,
and they're all in conformity.
They're all the same.
They all have the same shape, okay?
So when you take that cookie cutter,
you know, and when I was a child,
when we made Christmas cookies,
we scorned all cookie cutters.
You know, we basically refused.
My mom and everybody, we did freestyle, you know?
We just believe that the juices from your hands
are something...
No, I'm just kidding.
They give a special texture to the cookie
that just a cookie cutter can't do.
You know, when you're forming it
and molding it,
all those oils and everything gets in the cookie.
Just kidding.
But anyway, you know, we always did freestyle.
You know, it's like,
oh, you want to use a cookie cutter?
You know, we want to build our own shape.
We would make our Christmas cookies.
We'd make, you know, our own snowman,
candy cane, you know, trees, whatever,
but we did it ourselves.
You know, we didn't want to just have this conformity
of where all the cookies look.
It's like, hey, you know, there's a place for that,
but we were trying to be artistic
and make different cookies, okay?
And what he's saying is don't be patterned after.
When he says don't be conformed to the world,
he's saying don't be patterned after the world.
Don't pattern yourself.
Don't pattern your life after this world.
He said don't be conformed, be transformed.
Be completely different.
The Bible says that he redeemed us from all iniquity.
He said he wanted to make us a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.
He said I want you to be different.
I want you to be peculiar to this world,
he said in Titus chapter number 2,
to sanctify himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.
And he says don't be conformed to this world,
be transformed, and that transformation
takes place in the mind.
It says here be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God.
He said don't just be conformed to the world around you,
but rather get into God's word and prove for yourself
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Figure that out for yourself by studying to show
thyself approved, not just,
well this is what everybody else do.
No, no, what does the Bible say to do?
How does the Bible tell us to live our lives?
That's how we ought to live our life.
Not just mindlessly conform ourselves to the people
around us and even in the church.
Don't just conform to our church.
You know, yourself alone has to make decisions
for yourself and we're put in a mentality today
of just be with the group, go with the flow,
you know, do what everybody else is doing.
It starts at a child, they're trained that way in school
and all the way up and then you have adults
who just have to keep up with the Joneses
and fit in and live their life exactly like everybody else
and have an opinion that's the same as everyone else.
You see, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they didn't go with the crowd.
I mean they're standing there and they're told
that everyone is going to bow down to this golden idol,
this golden image and everybody did fall down
except three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and because of that, they were threatened
with being thrown a fiery furnace
and they said, we're not careful
to answer the concerns.
They said, we don't care.
God can deliver us and if not,
we still won't worship Him, even if God won't deliver us.
They would rather burn than bow
and they were thrown in the fiery furnace.
God worked a miracle, kept them alive
and they ended up being exalted to high position
because they didn't go with the crowd,
they didn't go with the flow
and they could have justified it.
They could have said to themselves,
well, I'm going to bow down
but I'm going to be praying to God in my heart.
And that way, no, they just said no.
If it's wrong, it's wrong.
I'm just going to stand up.
And it's hard and it's easy to be in a service here
thinking in your heart, yeah, stand up, yeah,
go against the flow, swim upstream.
But you know what?
What about when you get in real life?
See, right here, you're in the group here
that's for you, that's supportive of you,
that wants you to do right.
But when you get out into the workplace,
when you get out into your school or wherever you're at,
the pressures are completely different.
And it's a lot harder when it comes down to it
to stand up and be the only one,
to be the one who's laughed at.
You know, the Bible says of Jesus Christ,
He was despised and rejected of men.
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.
You see, when it comes down to it,
nobody wants to be that outcast.
Nobody wants to be laughed at and made fun of
and hated and called names and attacked.
But when you're standing up for what's right,
that's going to happen.
And you have to decide right now
that you're not going to go with the crowd.
And you know, when you stand up,
other people will follow you.
Other people will break from the rest of the crowd.
When they see you do it,
then that will give the other people voltage.
But somebody's got to be that first one,
you know, to stand up
and to basically go against the crowd,
go against the flow.
Somebody's got to be the first one.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 6.
2 Corinthians 6.
You know, it's easy to get caught up in things
and follow the crowd.
But God is demanding us to not be conformed to this world
but to be transformed, to be a peculiar,
to be different.
And I'm not saying to be different
just for the sake of being different.
You know, some people just want to be different
just for the sake of being different.
You know, you'll see ladies, for example, okay,
and they don't want to be conformed
to this world's, you know, clothing standards
or lack thereof, okay.
And so they'll, you know,
they'll dress modestly and decently
and properly like a lady should dress
according to the Bible.
But then there's others who,
just to make a point,
they just want to be different
for the sake of, you know,
they just dress like Little House on the Prairie.
You know, and there's nothing spiritual
about dressing like you're from
Little House on the Prairie, okay.
It's just a different time period.
I mean, back then,
that was considered cool, you know,
what they were wearing, okay.
It's just a different,
so just wearing something from a different decade
isn't what makes you righteous, okay.
You should wear something that follows God's guidance.
It doesn't have to be something
that's totally out of style
or you don't have to wear some kind of a burka
or some kind of a strange ethnic garb
that doesn't fit in with the United States.
You know, you can dress,
I mean, like right now,
I'm not dressed outside of the norm
for the United States.
I mean, if I walk down the street,
I just look like a normal person, right.
I mean, do I look like just,
whoa, man, who's this guy?
I perceive that thou art a prophet.
You know, and they see my clothing.
They just know I'm a,
they don't know that I'm a creature
because I'm dressed like a normal person.
But let me ask you this,
is there anything sinful
about the way that I'm dressed right now?
No.
I mean, conformity with God's standard of clothing.
I mean, I'm covered.
I'm not showing any nakedness, okay.
I'm not dressed like a slob either.
I mean, you know, I'm dressed fine.
But yet, I fit in with the world.
I fit in with the world.
But guess what?
I don't fit in with the world
as soon as you start to talk to me.
You know what I mean?
As soon as you start to see what I believe
and how I live my life,
I'm not going with the flow.
I'm not.
So I'm not saying just be different
for the sake of being different.
But if you are righteous,
that forces you to be different.
That's what I'm saying.
Not just, well, be different
just for the sake of being different.
No, be righteous,
and that will make you different
because we're living in an unrighteous world,
because we're living in an unrighteous nation.
And so I'm not saying, ladies,
that you should wear something
that's just, you know,
from a hundred years ago
or fifty years ago
or, you know,
have a big bouffant hairdo
just because that was popular,
you know, forty years ago.
That has nothing to do with it.
But you know what, ladies?
You ought not be conformed
to this world's manner of dress at all.
Because the Bible says,
in like manner also,
that women adorn themselves in modest apparel
with shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls
or costly array,
but which becometh women professing godliness
with good works.
God commands women not to be flashy
in their appearance,
to wear expensive fancy clothes.
God commands against it.
He says modest apparel.
Modest as in like,
you know, a modest income.
You know, he said not costly apparel,
not the flashy gold, jewels, precious stones.
He said,
why don't you be adorned
with a meek and quiet spirit?
How about your personality?
How about who you are?
Not just the outward adorning
of putting on of apparel.
And he also commands us against being naked.
He commands us to be covered.
And the Bible teaches,
in Exodus 28, 42,
that your nakedness goes
from your loins to your thighs.
And yet we see the short shorts today.
We see the short skirts
that are exposing the thighs.
And we see the low rider pants
and the low rider skirts
that are exposing girls' back sides today.
And you know, it's amazing.
I never saw that growing up.
And I'm a young man.
But it seems like in the last few years,
this thing of just exposing
your backside in public
is the new trend.
That's the trend.
So are you going to follow that?
You know, are you going to follow
the multitude and say,
well, if showing off your backside now,
and you know,
it used to be that
that was the plumber's job.
You know what I mean?
No offense, Jerry, okay?
It used to be,
it used to be, you know,
the plumber comes over,
and you know, I saw a plumbing company
the other day that had that
as their logo.
And I'm thinking to myself,
you know, this used to be something
that was considered vulgar, okay?
To just be showing your nakedness
in public like that.
It was considered a shameful thing.
And yet today, teenage girls,
and you know,
God help us,
but boys alike, you know,
basically exposing nakedness
of their backside in public.
And today, we just go with it,
and we think it's normal.
It's not normal.
It's weird.
And God also says in Isaiah,
I believe chapter 28,
that your backside,
your buttocks is your nakedness.
That's the word that he uses.
You know,
and yet we don't define that
as nakedness.
Well, what do you define
as nakedness?
You know, God tells us
your thighs, your loins,
your buttocks.
He said,
that's your nakedness.
Keep it covered.
Don't have it exposed.
Except between the man and his wife,
the Bible says
that's the only time
it should be exposed.
Don't be conformed to this world
and just say,
well, that's the style.
I'm just going to go
to the mall, girls,
and go to the,
not the grocery store,
the department store
and just buy
whatever they're selling,
whatever the fashions are.
No, if it's wrong,
it's wrong.
You know,
you need to go out
and find clothes
that are modest,
that are feminine,
that are righteous
in the sight of God,
and not to just put on
whatever because that's
what everybody's wearing
this year, you know?
That's the style,
you know,
the plumber style,
you know,
the carpenter style,
you know?
I mean,
that gives a whole new meaning
to carpenter pants.
I thought they just had
a place for a hammer,
you know?
But yet,
they've got,
you know,
this style,
it's wicked.
And, you know,
it'll be a cold day in hell
before anyone in my family
goes out of my house
who is anything near
that kind of exposure
and that kind of nudity.
It'll never happen.
Let me tell you
that right now
because I want to have
God's standards here
of right and wrong.
I'm not going to be
conformed to this world
and you don't have
to look like you're
from outer space
not to be conformed
to this world.
You can dress
like a normal person.
You know,
girls,
if you wear a long skirt,
you're not going to
look like a weirdo.
You could wear
a long, nice skirt
that's actually in style.
You don't have to
add something that's
from Little House
on the Prairie.
You can have a long skirt
that's in style
but wear a long skirt
so that you can be
dressed in conformity
with God's word
and not in conformity
with the world.
Who wants to dress you
like a man,
put you in short hair
and a pair of pants
and tight clothes
and a plumber outfit
and all this.
You know,
get on God's program.
Don't follow
this world's dress.
And I'm not following
the world's dress
for men either
because men
is getting pretty
effeminate out there.
Get real.
I was in the store
this morning
picking up something
and I saw this guy.
He's like
the teeny bumper star,
okay,
and turn to
1 Corinthians 6,
if you will.
Where are you at?
You're in 2 Corinthians 6?
We'll come back there
in a second.
Go to 1 Corinthians 6,
okay.
We're in this store
and I see this poster
of what I thought
was a girl with bangs,
like a girl with bangs.
It was a big giant poster
and it said
Justin Bieber.
And I'm like,
Justin?
You know,
and this was,
I mean,
I could have sworn
this was a girl
with lipstick on.
I mean,
it looked like a girl
and it was,
you could tell,
and then there was
another poster right
next to it
where this thing
looked a little more male.
And so I was
thinking to myself,
they've done this photography
on purpose,
literally,
because this kid
looked like a boy
in another picture
that was next to it.
They had purposely
done the photography
to make him
look like a girl,
like to make him
look really effeminate.
Which is,
that they're pumping
into our minds today,
of wanting men
to look feminine.
Okay?
And basically,
this boy,
Justin Bieber,
looked exactly like a girl
until I saw the name Justin.
And then next to it
was a picture of him
still looking effeminate,
but at least you could tell
that it was
of the male gender.
Look at 1 Corinthians 6.
You say,
Preach the Bible.
Okay,
here's the Bible.
1 Corinthians 6,
verse 9.
Know ye not that
the unrighteous
shall not inherit
the kingdom of God?
Not to see
neither fornicators,
nor idolaters,
nor adulterers,
nor what?
Eminent.
And it's in this list
of sins.
Okay?
It's in a list of sins.
Of course,
the Bible says all liars
shall have their part
in the lake of fire.
You know,
we know that if we're saved,
all our sins are forgiven,
all our sins are washed away.
But,
when we get to heaven,
we won't be,
there's no sin
allowed in heaven.
You know,
we were talking about this
before the service, Michael,
about how, you know,
when you get saved,
you know,
the only reason that you sin
is because you're in the flesh.
When the flesh dies,
your soul will go to heaven.
You know,
and your soul is without sin.
And the reason that we sin
is because we're living
in this flesh today.
And that's why,
when we get to heaven,
we will no longer sin.
But,
that doesn't change the fact here,
being effeminate is clearly a sin.
And it's not talking about
being a homo.
You know,
that's what people will try
to spin this thing.
Well, that's a homo.
No.
I've met a lot of guys
who were not homos,
you know what I mean?
It's,
and the term for that today
is being,
Metro.
You know,
and no,
I'm not Metro.
I'm,
Metro.
Okay?
You know,
I'm not Metro.
And they say like,
oh,
he's just Metro.
And you know,
I'm sick of Metro Christians.
Sick of,
you know,
this effeminacy.
We ought to understand
that God created us to be men.
We ought to embrace being manly.
We ought to not be pretty boys.
And little sissified,
effeminate little twinkies.
Look,
this is Bible preaching today.
That's Bible,
it says not to be effeminate.
Somebody needs to preach that today.
That's right.
Because feminine is a positive word
because it's about women.
Women being feminine,
that's a good thing.
Right?
If I said to you,
oh, my wife is very feminine,
I'd be complimenting her.
But if she said,
my husband's feminine,
that would not be a compliment.
And that's not even the right word.
The word would then be effeminate.
Because when it's a man,
it's effeminate.
That's what it means.
And we are not glorying being effeminate today.
And today we have all kinds of people
that are glorifying this in Hollywood
and in rock and roll
and in the movies,
on the posters,
where I saw the image just this morning
and I pointed it out to my children
because I don't want them to be brainwashed by it.
I said,
look at that guy.
He looks like a little girl.
Isn't that disgusting?
You know,
just to put the right idea in their head
so that they don't just think,
oh, that's cool.
That's the world.
That's what's in style.
That's what's popular.
Don't follow the multitude.
Follow the Bible.
And the Bible teaches,
he said on and on,
you'll see great men in the Bible,
like David,
you'll see great men in the Bible
preaching to their followers,
play the part of a man.
Show thyself a man.
Be a man.
I mean, there are statements like that
throughout the Bible
where great men and great leaders
are telling their followers to be men,
to act like men,
quit you like men,
be like men,
be like men.
And so,
we ought not follow this gender neutral,
you know,
movement in America
that wants to make women masculine
and it wants to make men feminine.
You know,
I'm not going to follow that.
I don't care what they do.
I'm going to keep following
what God is telling me right here
to be manly,
not to be effeminate,
not to be a sissy.
Okay,
turn to 2 Corinthians 6.
And by the way,
there are many things
that this world justifies
that are an abomination in the sight of God.
I was on a really long drive yesterday.
I started out the day
in San Jose, California,
drive all the way down to,
drove all the way down to Phoenix,
you know,
and one day is kind of a long drive.
And so,
I worked on a Bible memory,
worked on, you know,
some other things mentally.
But I, you know,
I just got a little bit bored.
You know,
this is a pretty long drive.
Pretty much done all the Bible memory I could do.
I flipped on the,
I have XM radio in my car,
and it's like the talk,
you get like a talk only package,
so you're not paying for like
all the music and everything.
Because I, you know,
my music is right here.
This is my music right here.
Okay,
so I don't need XM for my music.
Okay,
I just, you know,
do the hymns.
Okay,
but I'm sitting there,
I tune in to C-SPAN a lot,
you know,
because C-SPAN is where you can
listen to the government,
like listen,
you know,
they're listening on me all the time.
So, you know,
they're probably tapping my phones
and everything else,
you know.
So I figure,
hey, I'll listen in on you guys for a while.
So I'll listen to like the Senate
and the Congress and everything,
and then there's different like
news channels and whatever.
So I'm flipping through there,
and it was some kind of a radio talk show,
and they're talking about abortion
on this talk show,
and they're going back and forth about it.
And this guy who's the progressive,
you know,
he's basically saying on there,
he's saying,
well, abortion is fine.
You know,
and basically they're asking this guy,
and he was some politician,
I don't know what his name was,
but this guy who they're talking to,
he was a politician,
he was some kind of an elected guy,
you know.
I forget whether he's in Congress
or Senate or whatever,
but they're asking him about abortion,
and they're arguing with him about it,
and he's saying,
abortion's fine,
and then they said,
well, you know,
what if it's just 48 hours
before the due date?
You know,
is it okay to go in
and kill that child?
And he said yes.
Hands down,
unequivocally,
he said,
it's always okay.
I support abortion in every case,
in every circumstance.
You know,
that's a woman's right to choose,
and we can't take away people's rights,
and we're not going to,
you know,
even if you just do it just five minutes
before it's born,
because once you make that illegal,
you're saying it's a human being,
you're going to have to make
the whole thing illegal.
You know,
because where do you draw that line?
You know,
if it's a lie,
it's not a lie, it's not a lie.
And by the way,
you know,
when the Nazis killed all the Jews,
I don't know if you know this,
they said that they weren't human.
You know,
if you've studied World War II,
they said that the Jews were not human.
That's how they justify killing.
They said that they were
a lower evolved species,
or that they were more like the animals
and so forth.
And so that's what wicked people
have always said
when they murder.
You know,
and just like now,
they murder babies,
and they say it's not human.
It's not a lie.
It's nonsense.
Of course it's a lie.
The Bible says
they bring up children
from the birth,
and from the womb,
and from the conception.
Okay?
The Bible teaches,
in Matthew 1,
it says,
Behold,
a virgin shall be with child.
Yeah,
a virgin shall be with child.
And then in Isaiah,
the exact same quote is,
Behold,
a virgin shall conceive.
Because,
conceiving and being with child
are synonymous.
I like that term,
by the way.
I like that better than pregnant.
Let's use God's term.
She's with child.
That's what the Bible uses
for pregnancy.
It's like,
she was with child.
I wonder if abortion
would be the same in America,
if we still use
that English term.
Maybe if people would have
been reading this Bible,
and preaching this Bible,
and instead of this word
pregnant,
you know,
I'm not against the word,
but it's not in the Bible.
I wonder if everybody just called it,
well,
she's with child.
Oh, okay.
Well,
she went and had abortion,
and aborted the child.
Killed the child.
You know,
that would change
the perspective here.
And this man
literally is saying
that even 48 hours
before the due date
of the nine-month term,
hey,
go ahead and kill it.
Okay,
and my blood was just boiling,
mama says.
I screamed and yelled
at that radio.
I was out in the middle
of the desert.
Nobody could hear me.
I was yelling at the radio.
I was calling that guy,
all kinds of names and everything.
But I'm listening to it,
and basically,
this is what they asked,
and this is when
I really started yelling at them.
This is what they asked them next.
They say to them,
well,
what if a baby is born
prematurely?
Let's say
it's only seven months
into the,
you know,
seven months gestation.
What if that baby is born,
okay,
because it's actually
two months younger
than the other one.
And what if it's born,
and maybe the parents
just didn't want the gender
that it was born,
or they just,
maybe the baby had
some health problems
or whatever.
Would you give the parents
the right to kill that child?
And he'd say,
yes.
He'd say,
yes,
that's their choice.
I'd give it
six months,
okay.
Is that unbelievable today?
But that's what people,
that's the kind of stuff,
and you say,
oh,
that's not true.
Nobody thinks that.
Well,
that's what this guy said,
okay.
And even if you could say,
well,
nobody thinks that.
What is the difference
between doing it
two minutes before
or two minutes after?
And literally,
there was an abortion doctor
in the news
a few weeks ago.
He got thrown in jail
because he was killing them
after they were born.
So isn't that a hypocrisy
of our nation
that will throw the guy in jail
for killing it
two minutes later,
two minutes before,
it would have been funded
by the governor.
It would have been paid for
by the governor.
And I don't care
what your political beliefs are.
This has nothing to do
with politics.
This is about being
a human being.
And I'll tell you something.
What kind of a person
could do that job?
And I remember,
you know,
I've always been against
abortion my whole life.
That's the way I was raised.
But I didn't really fully
understand it
until my son was born.
When my first son was born,
and I stood there
and watched him come out
and saw that newborn baby,
my son Solomon,
I literally,
one of the first thoughts
I had was like,
how could anyone harm this child?
How would anyone
have the heart
to harm this child?
You know,
and it just blew me away.
Just what kind of a monster?
And I'm sorry.
That's the only word for it.
You have to be a beast
to be able to kill
a baby.
You know,
and just be a monster
to do that.
And yet,
that is exactly
what they are telling us
is called choice.
You know,
and you can call it
whatever name you want.
It's murder.
And calling it
anything less than murder,
let me call you something.
A compromiser.
Yep.
That's what you are.
A compromiser.
Okay,
and any pastor
who would call it
anything less than murder
is a compromiser.
It's killing a human being.
And people will
justify it.
And if you go with
the multitude,
you know,
on that, I mean,
thankfully the majority
in America these days
thinks it's wrong.
It used to be that
the majority thought
it was okay.
That's changing
because of just people
being educated on this.
You know, thank God.
But, you know,
if you follow
the multitude on this,
you know,
worldwide or whatever,
you know,
hey, you could be
condoning murder.
You know,
the multitude's
going to condone
homosexuality.
The multitude's
going to condone
homosexuality against God
and the multitude
is going to laugh
at the Bible
because the Bible says
the things of the Spirit
are God.
He says the natural man
received not the things
of the Spirit of God
for they are foolishness
unto Him.
So they'll laugh at it.
They'll say it's foolish.
He says foolishness
unto Him
because they're
spiritually discerned.
But we look at the
wisdom of this world
and we say that's
foolishness unto God.
You know,
the evolutionists
will get up and say,
oh, you're a fool
if you don't believe
in evolution.
Well, you know,
they'll say you're a fool
because evolution
explains nothing.
It explains how one
animal supposedly
turned into another
even though we've
never seen that.
But it doesn't explain
where that original
animal came from,
my friend,
or where that
original plant came from.
Where did the first
plant ever come from?
Where did the first
animal ever come from?
Where did the
big bang come from?
Where did all this
stuff come from?
How can things
come to life by themselves?
Do you think
lices turn out
by themselves?
How can things
just come to life
by themselves?
And I was reading today
this article about
they're trying to drop,
they're putting
all kinds of sugars
and proteins
in the bottom
of like a chute
and they're dropping
rocks on it
from 10 stories high
trying to figure out
how life started.
I'm going to bring
it tonight
and read it to you.
They say they're trying
to learn about
the origins of life.
So they're trying
to simulate
a meteor hitting.
So they're trying
to simulate
a meteor hitting.
So they're trying
to simulate
a meteor hitting.
And then there's
this 19 year old
college student saying
yeah this is really
cool experiment.
Yeah I did stuff
like that when I was
a kid too.
It sounded pretty cool.
But it's not going
to explain where
life came from.
I mean Frankenstein
made more sense
with the lightning rods
and everything.
At least that
made some sense.
But they wanted you
to believe that
it's foolishness.
But you know
the multitude today,
the multitude of scientists
is going to say
it's real.
You know?
And they're trying
to say it's real.
You know?
Is that what you go by?
Just oh well that's
what everybody says.
Well that's right.
You know I got
one more thing
I want to show.
I got this
in the mail yesterday.
You know?
And this came in the mail
and basically
this is inviting me
to this big,
it's called
the Arizona City Fest
with Luis Palau.
Does anybody know
who this guy is?
Can you pronounce
his name for me?
It's Palau.
Palau?
Okay.
Yeah.
Luis Palau.
I got this thing in the mail
inviting me to this
Luis Palau crusade
at Tempe Town Lake
and it shows this guy.
He's the preacher.
And then it shows
this rock band
you know with all this
smoke and everything
coming off the stage.
And here's what it says.
Now when I first got this,
now this sounds good.
Listen to this.
Arizona City Fest
with Luis Palau.
This is coming up.
And they were trying
to get our church
involved in this.
And they wanted us
to join in with this.
And it says
4,500 people
trained and ready
to share their faith.
That's what's going to happen
at this thing.
Okay, are you getting this?
4,500 people
trained and ready
to share their faith.
150,000 people
will hear the gospel.
That sounds good, right?
I'm saying it sounds good, okay?
But listen.
Thousands will receive
Jesus Christ as their savior.
All of Arizona
will hear the voice of God
and know he loves
and cares for them.
Unite!
But listen to this.
Unite!
More than 800 churches,
civic agencies,
and nonprofits.
You know, and basically
you come to this thing
and you get to see Skillet.
It's a pretty scary sight, okay?
Pretty creepy.
And then this guy,
I think that this is Toby Mac.
Now is he like a solo act
from the Village People?
I think one of the Village People
has gone solo.
That's what this Toby Mac is.
Because he's wearing this hat
and looks like a homo.
And then the band Perry,
it looks like a man
that became a woman
and two men that are
in the process of becoming women.
And look, come look
at the picture of yourself
and tell me I'm wrong about that.
And you know,
this is where they want us
to all join in and be here.
But here's the part
I want to point out about this.
They sent me this list,
and this is supposed to get me
to want to join.
A list of all the churches
that have already said
we're signing off,
we're going to be there,
we're going to be part
of that group.
So I'm supposed to look
at this list of 800 churches
and say like,
oh man, well let me see
if there's anybody
I know on here, you know?
Oh, well if he's doing it,
I think I'm going to go
to that rock concert too
and that Louise Palou too.
But listen to this.
Remember those 4,500 people
that are trained
to share their faith?
Well, some of them
are coming from
Christchurch Anglican.
Anglican?
What?
Some of them are coming
from Christ's
Evangelical Lutheran.
Now who here was
raised Lutheran?
Right, Brother Garrett,
anybody else?
Brother Garrett,
did the Lutherans ever
give you the Gospel?
No.
He was raised Lutheran.
He never got saved.
Because they don't preach
the Gospel,
because they don't
believe the Gospel,
because they believe
in salvation by works,
that's why.
Okay, and then we've got,
let's see,
Christ Presbyterian Church.
Who here was
raised Presbyterian?
Brother Dave,
did the Presbyterians
ever give you the Gospel,
Brother Dave?
They ever tell you
how to be saved?
Oh, okay,
who got you saved,
Brother Dave?
Who was it?
But it was Baptist
or somebody preaching
the Bible, you know.
Whether they were
Baptist or not,
they were somebody
who believed the Gospel,
not Presbyterian or Lutheran
or Anglican,
you know,
which was basically
just Catholic light, okay?
And, you know,
Chandler Church
of the Nazarene,
you believe you can
lose your salvation.
Now I'm saved,
now I'm not.
Now I'm saved,
now I'm not.
You know,
you've got
cross in the desert,
United Methodist Church.
And look,
the United Methodist Church
right here down the street
is pastored by a sodomite.
An open sodomite,
a female sodomite,
a lesbian,
is pastoring
the United Methodist Church.
Is it right
for us to be a part
of this multitude
right here?
You know,
I mean,
and look,
you say,
oh, you're just
right.
It's not right
for us to
look at 2 Corinthians 6 here.
Let me show you
the scriptures here.
And you tell me
if I'm wrong about this.
If I'm wrong about this,
then correct me on this.
Look at 2 Corinthians 6.
It says in verse 14,
be not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship
had righteousness
with unrighteousness?
And what communion
had light with darkness?
And what concord
had Christ with Belial?
For what part
had he that believeth
with an infidel?
And what agreement
hath the temple
of God with idols?
He said in verse 17,
wherefore come out
from among them,
and be ye separate,
saith the Lord,
and touch not
the unclean thing,
and I'll receive it.
He says,
don't yoke up
with unbelievers.
Don't yoke up
with idolatry.
And you know,
if all these churches
are here,
you know,
some of them are Baptist.
But we've got
City in the Desert
Metro Church.
I think that encompasses
a lot of them, really.
You know,
United Methodists,
who deny the virgin birth
of Christ,
who deny the bodily
resurrection of Christ
at the time,
who have sodomites
preaching behind the pulpit
and homos actually
as the pastor of the church,
Nazarenes who believe
you can lose your salvation,
and excuse me
for preaching the truth
so loud.
But it's true,
these churches teach
another gospel.
The Lutherans are almost
just like the Catholics.
I mean,
they have idols,
you know,
they do all this.
And you know,
I was in a Lutheran church
in Germany,
and it had Jesus
hanging on the cross
in a Lutheran church.
You know,
and the Lutherans
around here,
they believe in work
salvation.
You know,
and I'm not used
to just bashing them.
Look,
I'm preaching against
false doctrine and lies.
You know,
and you've got
all these churches on here,
you know,
and it sounds great,
4,500 people trained,
but it's 4,500 people
from all these
different churches.
All these churches
together.
But God didn't call us
to be,
he calls us to be separate.
He calls us to come out
from among unbelievers.
And you know,
we'll be glad to unite
with other believers
right here
who believe what we believe
and preach what we preach.
But we're not going
to unite intimacy
with Jesus' church.
You know,
and then you come
down the aisle
at this crusade,
you know,
with Luis Palau,
or Palu,
or Palin,
or whatever,
you know,
you hear this,
you hear this Toby Mac
guy from the Village
People looking guy,
or you can hear
Skillet,
and you just come
down the aisle
to get saved,
and somebody's right there
from intimacy
with Jesus' church,
you know,
to tell you
how to be saved,
or from so-and-so Anglican,
or Presbyterian,
or Lutheran.
Now look,
if you want to go
to a Lutheran church,
then go to a Lutheran church.
But I'm not going
to a Lutheran church
because I'm going
to a church that stands up
for the authority
of the scripture,
that stands up
for being independent
local church,
that stands up
for salvation
by faith in Jesus Christ
alone,
not of works
lest any man
should boast.
And many
of these same people
will be knocking
on that door one day
saying,
Lord, Lord,
open to us.
Don't you remember
when I came
down the aisle
and Luis Palau
at Tempe Town Lake,
and that person
from intimacy
with Jesus' church,
you know,
gave me the gospel,
and I gave my life
to Christ,
and he'll say,
I gave my life
for you,
and you're just
supposed to believe that.
You're supposed
to trust that,
and yet these people
have perverted
the gospel to give
your life to Christ.
No,
he gave his life
for us.
We don't have
anything good to give him.
We don't have
anything good to give him.
I mean,
what do we have?
Oh,
here's my life,
God.
It's filthy rags.
Hey,
believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
We don't give him,
he gives it to us,
but God's eternal life.
And so,
we've got to be careful
not to just
follow the multitude.
You say,
wait a minute,
Pastor Anderson,
are you saying that
all 800 of those
churches are wrong?
Is that what
you're telling me?
You know,
I've talked to Catholics
trying to give them
the gospel,
and they say,
are you telling me
that one billion
Catholics are wrong?
And I just ask them,
well,
are a billion Hindus
wrong?
And they say,
well,
you know,
are a billion
Muslims wrong?
Yeah.
Broad is the way
that lead to destruction,
many there be
which go in their act.
Stray is the gate,
an arrow is the way
which lead them to life,
and few there be to find.
That is not
a justification
for doing something.
Saying,
well look,
are you saying that
you're right
and all 800 of these
are wrong?
Yes.
Now,
if you brought up
to me a piece of paper
with 800 numbers on it,
one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six,
seven,
eight.
You brought me up
a paper
and then you said,
what's two plus two?
I said,
it's four.
You telling me
that all these
answers are wrong?
Oh,
so you're right
when you say
two plus two is four,
but all these
other answers
are wrong,
huh?
So 753 is wrong
too,
huh?
Yeah,
but here's the thing,
there's only
one person telling you
to study to show
thyself approved.
Don't follow
the multitude.
And if the multitude
at our church
starts doing something,
let's say a bunch
of people at our church
start drinking.
Does that make
drinking okay?
You know,
let's say a whole bunch
of people,
whoa,
they're a faithful word
and they're these
great soul winners
and you know,
you know,
if everybody
starts doing something,
if everybody starts
dressing like a queer,
you know,
you say,
well,
I want to thank you
for this passage
in the Bible
that tells us
that we're going to be
alone many times,
we're going to have
to stand against the crowd.
Help us,
dear God,
to have the fortitude
and the backbone
to stand up
and be different.
Help us not
to just blindly
follow the crowd,
dear God,
and help us
to make the gospel clear
that it's by faith alone.
Help us not
to be yoked up
with people
that just don't
believe that.
And Father,
we love you
and thank you
to the believers
and in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.