you
Good evening, church.
Welcome back to our services here at faith
forward Baptist church so nice to see you all here for our Sunday night service
find your seats now take us on book and go to him number 432 will get started
tonight him number 432 angels from the realms of glory him number 432 once
you find your place let's begin together right on that first verse 432 angels
from the realms of glory win your flight or all the earth number 432 sing
it out now angels from the realms of glory win your flight or all the earth
number 432 angels from the realms of glory win your flight or all the earth number 432
come and worship come and worship worship Christ the new born king
man good start to our thing tonight let's go the Nassar's blessing on the
service so we'll adjacent next time which ladies and gentlemen thank you for
bringing us back to church tonight and thank you for everything you do for us and
please bless all aspects of the service and please bless the music as if
you sing praises of the union Jesus name and we pray amen amen back to him
number 420 number 420 there's a song in the air number 420
it's the homes of the nations and Jesus
otherwise he rejoiced in the white and the echo the song let them down through the night
from the heavenly farm I reach out to the lovely
angel they pray and we pray in his cradle I see your hand in the air
this time we'll go to our announcements together if you don't have a bulletin slip
up your hand nice and high we'll get to you with one on the inside we have our
service time Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service Sunday nights
at six Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study this week we will be in
the second chronicles chapter number 31 we've got the soul winning times listed
there below as well as salvation and baptisms
the online soul winning marathon was a huge success and what this
is is where they go on this website called
omitv and they do video chats with people and they just kind of crank
through people that aren't interested and so it's really just like soul
winning at the door in the sense that you're one on one your face to face
you're talking to people and so forth and so they end up
they had six soul winners that participated
and in in four hours of this event they had 26 people saved
because they're they're able to just kind of crank through and get to the
people that are interested and so it's pretty cool how the technology
has opened new doors for reaching people with the gospel
in our modern time and so it's exciting to see people being creative and
and finding ways to leverage those things for getting the gospel out
below that we've got the note about the
expectant ladies just pray for them that they'll have a safe and healthy
pregnancy and delivery so there's the prayer list right there for that
and then on the back we've got the thank you to everyone
who came to the cookies and caroling on Tuesday
we've got a wedding coming up on January 18th we don't have the exact
time yet but it's going to be Saturday January 18th
at some point during that day at the church building right here
everybody's invited so don't be shy about coming you say well I don't even
know who that is well that that's even more reason you need to show up and
figure out who these people even are and so
it's a good time of fellowship there's cake punch and so forth
so that is coming up and that oh yeah then we've also on
January 22nd uh Wednesday night we're going to have Pastor
Aaron Thompson preaching at our church so that's on a Wednesday night
January 22nd so you can make a point to be there for that
I just had a chance to preach on Friday night
at the church in Spokane there and then of course we've got the big King
James conference coming up in Vancouver Washington
not Vancouver British Columbia but Vancouver Washington
right outside Portland Oregon that's coming up in the month of May so people
who are looking for a conference to go to
and they're lamenting the fact that there's no red hot preaching conference
in 2025 don't worry about it because we
got the King James conference and uh Portland
Oregon's a really cool area Pacific Northwest is beautiful I mean
look Arizona is the best I get it I I'm there I believe it
you don't have to convince me that Arizona is superior but
it is still one of my favorite parts of the U.S. you know besides Arizona is the
Pacific Northwest it's a lot of natural beauty up there
very nice it's a great place to visit and so I'm excited about that
coming in May all right I think that's about it for announcements let's
go ahead and count up the soul winning for the past few days so going back to
Thursday anything from Thursday okay gotcha
gotcha
okay anything else from Thursday how about Friday
okay
okay all right and then what about okay Saturday of course we had the
the 26 from the online deal and then how about outside of that event
anything else from Saturday outside of that okay and then how about today
Sunday all right brother Scott okay got it
and then okay any other groups from today gotcha okay
got it okay all right very good keep up the great
work on soul winning and with that let's sing our next song come
lead us all right you should find the
insert in front of your hymnal with the two songs we'll start with a come-o-come
Emmanuel
all come o come Emmanuel
and red sun can give Israel
and
until the sun of god
great joy
now
Shall come to thee, O Israel, O come, thou days bring come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent yearn, This burst of gloomy clouds of night
And as our shadows go to fight, Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel, O come, thou King of David come
And open wide our heavenly home, May save the way that thee are kind
And close the path to misery, Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel, O come, O come, thou Lord of light
And close to thy tribes on side by side, In ancient times it came along
In cloud and majesty and law, Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
Man, accent singer, buddy.
Flip that sheet over, we'll sing together.
Oh, oh, nice.
Holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of our dearest Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error, Mining till he appears and the soul found his word
A trail of hope, a weary world rejoices, For yonder and praise, a new and glorious moment
All on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine
O night, when Christ was born, O night, O holy night, O night divine
Let light the light of faith serenely leading, With glowing hearts, by his cradle he stands
Over the world, a star is beating, leading, Now comes the wise man, the more free is man
The king of kings, laid us in lowly manger, In all our trials, born to be our friend
We, those who are near, are free, as is no stranger, Behold your king
Behold, in lowly man, Behold your king, Behold in lowly man
Truly he taught us love for one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace
He shall be free, the slave is our brother, And in his name all oppression shall cease
We hands of joy, in grateful for his praise, We, with all our hearts, we praise his holy name
Christ is the Lord, O praise his name forever, His power and glory and
Remorseful praise, his power and glory and
Remorseful praise
All right this time we'll pass to offering plates around as the plates go around
let's turn our bibles to Leviticus chapter number 14 the third book in the bible is Leviticus
Genesis Exodus Leviticus chapter number 14 as we always do we'll read the entire chapter
beginning in verse number one follow along silently with brother Alex Larson as he reads
Leviticus 14 beginning in verse number one Leviticus chapter 14 the bible reads
and the Lord spake unto Moses saying this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing
he shall be brought unto the priest and the priest shall go forth out of the camp
and the priest shall look and behold at the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper
then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean
and cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop and the priest shall command that one of the birds be
killed in an earthen vessel over running water as for the living bird he shall take it and the
cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood
of the bird that was killed over the running water and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to
be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the
living bird loose into the open field and he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes
and shave off all his hair and wash himself in water that he may be clean and after that
he shall come into the camp and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days but it shall be on the
seventh day that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows even all his
hair he shall shave off and he shall wash his clothes also he shall wash his flesh and water
and he shall be clean and on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish and
one you lamb of the first year without blemish and three tenths deals of fine flour for a
meat offering mingled with oil and one log of oil and the priest that maketh him clean shall
present the man that is to be made clean and those things before the Lord at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation and the priest shall take one he lamb and offer him for a trespass
offering and the log of oil and weigh them for a wave offering before the Lord and he shall
slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burn offering in the
holy place for as the sin offering is the priest so is the trespass offering it is most holy
and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and the priest shall
shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the
thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, and the priest shall
take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, and the priest
shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of
the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.
And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip
of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right
hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering.
And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he shall pour upon the head
of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the
Lord.
And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to
be cleansed from his uncleanness, and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.
And the priest shall offer the burnt offering, and the meat offering upon the altar, and
the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
And if he be poor and cannot get so much, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass
offering to be waved to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour
mingle with oil for a meat offering and a log of oil, and two turtledoves, or two
young pigeons, such as he is able to get, and the one shall be a sin offering and the
other a burn offering, and he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing
unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord.
And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil,
and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord, and he shall kill
the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of
the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his
right foot, and the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own
left hand, and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of
the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord.
And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of
the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his
right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of
the trespass offering, and the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he shall
put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed to make an atonement for him before the Lord.
And he shall offer the one of the turtle doves or of the young pigeons such as he
can get, even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering and the other
for a burn offering, with the meat offering, and the priest shall make an atonement
for him that is to be cleansed before the Lord.
This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy whose hand is not able to
get that which pertaineth to his cleansing. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto
Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a
possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your
possession, and he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest,
saying, It seemeth to me there is, as it were, a plague in the house, then the
priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest go into see
the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean. And afterward
the priest shall go in to see the house, and he shall look on the plague, and
behold, that the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow
streaks, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall, and the
priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the
house seven days. And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and
shall look, and behold, that the plague be spread in the walls of the
house, and the priest shall command that they take away the stone in which
the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the
city, and he shall cause the house to be scraped within roundabout, and they
shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an
unclean place. And they shall take other stones and put them in the place of
those stones, and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the
house. And if the plague come again and break out in the house, after
that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house,
and after it is plastered, then the priest shall come and look, and
behold, that the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting
leprosy in the house, it is unclean. And he shall break down the
house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the
mortar of the house, and he shall carry them forth out of the city
into an unclean place. Whereover he that goeth into the house, all
the while, that it is shut up shall be unclean until the
even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes,
and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. And if
the priest shall come in and look upon it, and behold, the
plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was
plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean,
because the plague is healed. And he shall take to cleanse
the house two birds and cedar wood, and scarlet and hyssop,
and he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel
over running water. And he shall take the cedar wood and the
hyssop and the scarlet and the living bird, and dip them in the
blood of the slain bird, and in the running water and sprinkle the
house seven times. And he shall cleanse the house with the
blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the
living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the
hyssop, and with the scarlet, and he shall let go the living
bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an
atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. This is
the law for all manner of plague of leprosy and
scall, and for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, and
for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot, to teach
when it is unclean, and when it is clean. This is the law of
leprosy.
Father in heaven, we thank you for Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. We thank you for Pastor Anderson. We thank you for
faithful word Baptist Church Lord. We ask you to bless
Pastor Anna Sermon, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and
bless every aspect of his sermon and let it pertain to
our life today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Man, the title of my sermon this evening is
fretting leprosy in the house, fretting leprosy in the
house. Now the word fret, we typically when we think of the
word fret, we think of like worrying or stressing or
being upset about something. And the Bible does use the word
fret that way in several places. This is a different
meaning of the word fret. If you look it up in the
dictionary, dictionary definition number one is the
one I just mentioned, but number two is to cause
corrosion, to gnaw into something. Number three, to
make a way by gnawing, corrosion, wearing a way,
etc. Definition number four to become eaten, worn or
corroded, right? So when we talk about a fretting
leprosy, we're talking about corruption, corrosion,
plague, something that spreads and eats away and
destroys and makes something rotten. It makes something
worthless and unusable. Now throughout the Bible, this
word leprosy is used to discuss various diseases
and plagues. It could be a skin disorder or it could
even be rot and corruption in a piece of clothing or as
we see in the passage tonight, even in the walls of a
house. And if we were to try to think of a modern
analog of this, we could think of having mold in your
house, right? Sometimes people have found black mold
to be in the walls of their house and it's very bad
because it's something that spreads. It makes the
house unlivable. It can cause people to be very
sick and it causes all kinds of horrible problems.
And so it's kind of a big deal when you find mold in
your house, you have to get rid of it and you have to
go through all of these steps to get rid of those
hazardous materials. And that's what we see even
thousands of years ago. There's nothing new under
the sun, rot and corruption being in the walls of
a house, how to make sure it's clean, how to get
rid of the corruption before it just spreads and
destroys the entire house. So in tonight's sermon,
we're going to think about not a physical house
that we live in, but we're going to make a
spiritual application about the house of God, right?
Because there could be a fretting leprosy that
could enter into the house of God, right? There
could be a fretting leprosy that could enter into
our church. And so I want to show you some places
where the Bible uses this analogy. Go if you
were to 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15 in the New
Testament, 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, because
first of all, I want to tell you that heresy,
meaning serious false doctrine is a fretting
leprosy that will contaminate the house of God, right?
False teaching heresy is like a fretting
leprosy that will contaminate the house of God.
I'm going to show you that in the Bible. Look at
2 Timothy 2, 15. It says study. And he's
talking to Timothy, who is also a preacher. This
is one of the pastoral epistles because, you
know, Timothy is his young protege in the
ministry, and he's telling this pastor or this
preacher, study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. So if
Timothy does the proper study, and don't let
bozos come along and tell you that this doesn't
really mean study. Yes, it does. The Greek word
means study. The English word means study. It's
talking about studying. Okay. And that's why
it then talks about rightly dividing the
word of truth. And so if the man of God
studies, he's going to be able to rightly
handle the Bible. He's going to be able to
divide between that which is literal, that
which is symbolic, that which is prophetic,
that which is historical, on and on. And so
he's going to be able to preach good doctrine
because of having done the requisite study. But
then it says in verse 16, but shun profane and
vain babblings, for they will increase unto
more ungodliness. So you've got on one hand a
right man of God, Timothy, who's studying the
Bible. He knows the Bible. He's got the
spirit of God, and he's teaching good doctrine.
He's rightly dividing the word of truth. Then
you've got bozos coming along with a bunch
of profane and vain babblings. Just a bunch
of blah blah, stupid teachings and stupid
doctrines. The Bible says that those bad
doctrines, those babblings or stupid things
or false teachings, profane babblings, they
need to be shunned. Now what does shun mean?
It means to avoid them. Shut them out, right?
Shun them. Why? Why is it a big deal?
Why don't we entertain them? Why don't we
just allow them to flourish in the
church and just kind of have church be a
free-for-all where everyone's ideas are
welcome, and all doctrines are
respected, and all teachings are allowed
to be thrown out there. Because it says
their word, first of all it says they
will increase unto more ungodliness, and
their word will eat as doth a canker of
whom is Hymenes and Phyletes. And he
even names the names of some false
teachers, and says, these are the
kind of guys that you need to get
rid of because their vain babblings,
their false teachings, will increase
ungodliness and they will spread like a
cancer. Okay? Because if you look at the
word canker, this is actually from the
same lexical root from which we would
get our word cancer. Okay? The C and the
K have swapped out. This is where the
word cancer was invented from this
word right here. The older word, we
still use this word, right? We talk
about like a canker, sore or
something. We still have this word in
our vernacular a little bit. Okay? But
these things will eat like a cancer.
They'll eat like a canker, like gangrene.
They will spread like a fretting
leprosy if they're not dealt with. Okay?
And so we need to, we need to shun those
profane and vain babblings. Now, when
we talk about this, we're not talking
about just little minor differences of
opinion, and we're not talking about
side doctrines that don't really matter.
Peripheral things that aren't super
important. We're talking about essentials.
We're talking about important doctrines.
Okay? So we don't want to just label
every little difference of opinion as
heresy. We have an example here, given
of what the false teaching of Hymenace
and Phyletis was that was so serious
that Paul says you got to shun this,
you got to get rid of this stuff
because it's going to spread and corrupt
the body. Here's what they had wrong.
Verse 18, who concerning the truth have
erred, saying that the resurrection
is passed already and overthrow the
faith of some. So the serious false
doctrine here is that the resurrection
has passed already and this was
overthrowing the faith of some,
meaning some people are getting sucked
into this stupid doctrine and it's
spreading and it needs to be nipped
in the bud. Okay. Now what does this
mean that the resurrection has passed
already? You could look at this a few
different ways but any way you look at
it it's bad.
So on the one hand you could say the
resurrection's passed already, meaning
that there was already some bodily
resurrection in the past but that
there's nothing still coming in the
future. If the resurrection's passed
already then you know what that
sounds like to me, sounds like to
me that there's no life after death.
It sounds like to me we die, we're in
the grave, we're done and that's it
because the resurrection is passed
already.
That's a pretty serious heresy you know
and of course the apostle Paul deals
with this with the church of Corinth
in chapter 15. He says how in the
world do you have people in your
church and I'm paraphrasing you know
teaching that there's no resurrection
and what there's no resurrection I
guess Christ didn't raise from the
dead and I guess our whole religion
is vain. What's the point of
anything?
And he rebukes that doctrine hard of
saying that there's no coming
resurrection and he makes it clear
that there's going to be a second
coming of Christ.
There's going to be a resurrection
of the dead. The dead in Christ will
rise first, the trumpet sound, etc.
He teaches that throughout his
epistles.
Another way that you could look at
this heresy of well you know the
resurrection's passed already
is that maybe they're interpreting
this as some kind of a figurative
resurrection like well well the
resurrection already happened the
moment you got saved
because when you got saved your spirit
was resurrected
which is true your spirit is
resurrected but to say the
resurrection
is passed already any way you slice it
is saying that the resurrection is not
still coming
and that's a big problem that's
heresy.
You see look there are different
people have different views on end
times
and it's pretty hard to find any
two people
any two preachers for that matter
that are going to have the exact
same views on end times bible prophecy
it's a big subject
it's a difficult subject
it's a complicated subject
and so we should have grace with
people
who have a different understanding
of end times events or their
sequence or their interpretation
because it's a little bit of a
challenging subject
you know of course
but
there's still a certain essential
component
that we all must believe in
and that is the second coming of
Christ in general
right?
I mean if someone says that there's no
second coming of Christ
that is heresy
that is just to completely fly in the
face of the clear teaching of scripture
so somebody might believe in a
pre-trib rapture
a post-trib rapture
you know different views on these
things
and it's not necessarily a deal
breaker
but saying that there's no
resurrection coming in the future
according to the apostle Paul is a
deal breaker
saying that there's no resurrection
no heaven and hell
no afterlife
no bodily resurrection for the saved
no second coming of Jesus Christ
I mean that's heresy
you know you must believe in the
second coming of Christ
and the resurrection
of the just and of the unjust
those are essentials of the faith
people might have different little
details
wrong
but
their heretics if they deny the
second coming
or the coming resurrection
and so he says you know
that kind of serious heresy must be
dealt with
because it will eat like a canker
nevertheless verse 19 the foundation
of God's stand is sure
having this seal
the Lord knoweth them that are his
and let everyone that name it the name
of Christ depart from iniquity
but in a great house
there are not only vessels of
golden of silver
but also of wooden of earth
and some to honor
and some to dishonor
here's the thing
if you have a tiny church
then it's possible
that you don't necessarily have
a bunch of heretics creeping in
or false teaching in the church
or anything like that
but if you know in a great house
and great there is talking about size
if you have a big church
with a lot of people
there are going to be
some vessels of gold
and silver in that church
and there are going to be some
vessels of wooden of earth
there's going to be some vessels
unto honor
and some vessels unto dishonor
and the bible says
if a man therefore purge himself
from these he shall be a vessel
unto honor
sanctified and meet for the
master's use
and prepared unto every good work
and so there are some certain people
that have to be purged
right there are some people
that need to be shunned
because they are heretics
they are false teachers
teaching damnable heresy
denying the fundamentals of the faith
and again we're not talking about
their views on Israel
or end times
or minor issues
or just you know
different small things
we're talking about
the big fundamentals of the faith
and so it's clear here
that those things
need to be dealt with
Galatians also talks
about the same thing
if you want to quickly flip
over to Galatians chapter 5
Galatians chapter 5
I got a hurry here
but Galatians chapter 5
the context here is that
the entire book of Galatians
is really dealing with
the Judaizers
that had come into the
churches of Galatia
and are corrupting
the church with that
and some of the problems
are of course
works based salvation
that's of course
a horrible problem
other things like
Judaizing in the sense of
expecting people to be circumcised
or to keep Jewish holidays
or to keep Jewish dietary laws
and things like that
and the apostle Paul
deals with all those things
in the book of Galatians
Galatians is a seven day
Adventist worst nightmare
it's the Hebrew roots
movements first nightmare
of a book
and so it says in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 4
Christ has become
of no effect unto you
whosoever of you are justified
by the law
you're falling from grace
well news flash
if Christ is of no effect
unto you
it sounds like you're not saved
because if you think you're
justified by the law
you're not saved
okay
so the bible says
we through the spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith
right we don't have our righteousness
by the law
by the deeds that we do
following God's laws
you know
thou shalt not kill
thou shalt not steal
thou shalt not covet
it's not by following the rules
that we go to heaven
it's by believing in Jesus
that we go to heaven
and he says for in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision
available at anything
nor uncircumcision
but faith which worketh by love
ye did run well
who did hinder you
that ye should not obey the truth
this persuasion cometh
not of him that calleth you
and then here's the key
a little leaven
leaven at the whole lump
and so sort of like
our fretting leprosy
back in Leviticus 14
or our canker
in Second Timothy
we have this idea of leaven
which is something that
is an organism
that spreads
and it corrupts everywhere it goes
Galatians 5 11
if you just look down
two more verses it says
I brethren if I yet preach
circumcision
why do I yet suffer persecution
then is the offense
of the cross ceased
so look
the teaching of
works based salvation
or
Judaizing type teachings
trying to bring us under
these kind of ceremonial laws
of the Old Testament
telling us to get circumcised
and follow dietary restrictions
and and hach flim
hach eleganza
you know
Shabbat shalom
kind of stuff
you know that kind of stuff
is heresy
that's the kind of stuff
that's serious heresy like
whoa
we got to put a stop to that
okay
saying that the resurrection
is passed already
that's serious
works based salvation
that's serious
okay
Judaizing
that's serious
so
that is a fretting leprosy
in the house of god
but number two
not only is heresy
a fretting leprosy
in the house of god
grievous sin
go over to 1st Corinthians
chapter five
you would quickly
I'm not going to spend too much
time here
because it's such a familiar
passage that we talk about a lot
but grievous sin
is also a fretting leprosy
that contaminates the house of god
and in this passage
the specific sin
in question is
fornication
now
here's the problem
with fornication
in the church
the colossal problem
is that everybody knows about it
and therefore
it becomes normalized
and this causes it to spread
okay
that's why it says in verse one
it is what
reported commonly
look
everybody knows
that these people are living
in fornication
and when they're members
in good standing
what message does that send
to the congregation
hey this is just another way
to live your life
you know
these people over here are married
but you know what
hey these people
they just live together
and they're not married
and you know
everybody just kind of turns
a blind eye
and so
this is going on
there's fornication going on
in the church
and so
he says
in verse six
your glorying is not good
know ye not
that a little leaven
leaven at the whole lump
right that organism
that yeast
that leaven
you can just put a little bit in
and it will spread forever
literally
it'll just keep multiplying and growing
that's why
you can have that starter sourdough
and you can just keep feeding that starter
and you can be eating that sourdough
50 years from now
you know
and just keep that same culture going
you could theoretically do that
I'm not recommending it
but that is what you theoretically could do
okay
because it'll just keep going
it'll just keep spreading
and keep going
and so it's like that
fretting leprosy or that canker
in that sense
and so the bible says
that a person
who is living in fornication
in the church
must be cast out of the congregation
we should not eat with them
we should put away from ourselves
that we could person says in verse five
to deliver such a one unto satan
for the destruction of the flesh
that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the lord Jesus
course down at the bottom
it says in verse 13
and the latter part
therefore put away from among yourselves
that wicked person
because you don't want that to spread
right
because look
we live in a society
where in many cases
fornication is considered okay
among a lot of people
and we don't want the church
to have that culture
now look
nobody's expecting anyone to be perfect
right
where we've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God
there's not a just man upon the earth
that do with good
and sin at that
I am not sinless
no one in this church is sinless
we all are a work in progress
but
there's a difference between saying
well I'm not perfect
and living in fornication
you see
you can be not perfect
and not be an alcoholic
right
because there are certain major sins
that the bible brings up
in first Corinthians five
one of them is fornication
another one is drunkenness
another one's idolatry
look
yeah we're all sinners
but we're not all idolaters
we're not all drunkards
we're not all fornicators
we're not all railers
we're not all extortioners
right
and so
we don't want to hide behind this thing of
well we're all sinners
therefore anything goes
yeah that's true
we are all sinners
but there still has to be
some basic standard
to make sure that the house of God
doesn't become totally corrupt
okay
and so yeah
nothing's ever going to be perfect
but
certain things must be shunned
so number one
heresy
is a fretting leprosy
number two
grievous sin
is a fretting leprosy
now let's go back to leviticus 14
with this in mind
this is just
that was kind of a foundation
now let's get into the actual text
that we're looking at tonight
leviticus chapter 14
about the fretting leprosy in the house
because my third point is this
the man of God
must be on the lookout
for serious heresy
and grievous sin
in the congregation
right
it's part of the job
to kind of protect the flock
from these things
and kind of be on the lookout
for these things
and so the bible says in
chapter 14 verse 35 leviticus
he that owneth the house
shall come and tell the priest
saying
it seemeth to me
there is as it were
a plague in the house
now here's the thing
the common man here
is not necessarily an expert
on leprosy
in the wall of the house
so he's bringing in an expert
the priest is a guy
who deals with this all the time
why?
because when you have this in your house
you call the priest
so this isn't the first time
he's dealt with it
it's not going to be the last time
he's dealt with it
he is a specialist
he is a pro
it'd be just like if I thought
that I had mold in my house
you know I'd probably bring in
some kind of a contractor
that's going to come look at it
and tell me
what it is
what we need to do to get it fixed
and there are companies that do this
right these kind of
mold remediation type companies
and companies that fix
water damage and things like that
and so in this case
the priest in the Old Testament
is the specialist
who is better at kind of identifying
okay this is harmless
and this is something serious
that needs to be dealt with
right
so the person
who calls him says
well it's seemeth to me
there is as it were
a plague in the house
like hey it seems like it to me
but I don't know
because I'm not necessarily the expert
you need to come and take a look at this
right
so he brings the priest in
so then the priest
follows a certain protocol
and the priest shall command
that they empty the house
before the priest go into it
to see the plague
that all that is in the house
be not made unclean
and afterward the priest shall
go in to see the house
and he shall look on the plague
and behold if the plague
be in the walls of the house
with hollow streaks
greenish or reddish
which in sight are lower than the wall
then the priest shall go out of the house
to the door of the house
and shut up the house seven days
and the priest shall come again
the seventh day
and shall look and behold
if the plague be spread
in the walls of the house
yada yada yada
so the idea here is
either the plague is spreading
or it's not
either it's greenish
and reddish in color
or it's not
either it's sunken in
or it's not
these are the signs
that you're dealing with something
really bad malignant
dangerous
versus just something harmless
you know every discoloration
on the wall
may not necessarily be
this horrible
mold problem
or leprosy
or fungus
or whatever the problem is
okay
it may some things are harmless
they're not a big deal
and so I think the application
we could draw from this is that
you know not every false doctrine
or sin
that we come across in the church
is necessarily a problem
that needs to be addressed
right
because there could be
some wrong ideas
or wrong doctrines
that people have
that are just kind of harmless
like I said
they're not really
essentials
they're not a big deal
they're just kind of side issues
or matters of opinion
and they're just not necessarily
a big deal
obviously every sin
does not need to be addressed
by the church
otherwise we would just be
addressing sin all day
every day all day long
because nobody's perfect
and so if we were addressing
every little sin
then that's all we have time for
is just dealing with everybody's sins
that's not what we're doing
okay
and so there are going to be times
when people will come to the pastor
I've had people come to me
and say hey
you know if if someone in the church
is doing so and so the sin
is that something you need to know about
and sometimes if it's something minor
I'll just say no
I'm not worried about that
that's none of my business
that's not a big deal
let's not worry about that
let's mine our own business on that
right
but if somebody comes to me
and they bring
an issue where
someone's involved in these
grievous sins
like they're living in fornication
or they're a drunkard
or they're on drugs
or something right
then we might need to invoke
some of these bible passages
about disciplining people
you know as far as kicking them
out of the church and so forth
and so there's got to be some
discretion here
right
about whether
this problem
is even a big enough problem
to even need to be addressed
you know
and so that's what the priest is
looking at
he's looking at it and saying
okay
is it greenish or reddish
because if it's not
it's probably not a big deal
is it sunken in the wall
because if not no big deal
and then even if it is
he says that he goes out of the house
and locks it up for seven days
and then comes back seven days later
to see if it's spread at all
right
so maybe he puts a little chalk mark
or something
okay this is where it stopped
and then he comes back
and sees if it went further than that
and then he can tell
is it spreading
okay
because these are the things
that we're worried about
as pastors right
we don't want
a bunch of heresy
spreading throughout the church
because here's the thing
maybe there's someone who believes
a false doctrine
but they're not spreading it at all
right
sometimes those people
might just need a little time to learn
and grow
right
we can't just expect everybody
to just walk in here
and just know everything about the bible
and know all the doctrine
that you spent years learning
right
you spent years learning all this stuff
and then somebody walks in
and gets something wrong
you don't want to just freak out
and just think
oh man this person is a heretic
this and start telling people off
right because it could be
that this person is just
wrong but that they just
haven't learned
they haven't been taught
and so here's the
if somebody believes
something that's wrong
even if let's say somebody's not saved
let's say somebody
comes in
and believes in work salvation
let's say somebody walks through the door
and we ask them about salvation
and they're wrong on salvation
it's like get out of here you heretic
no because here's the thing about that is that
our goal is to get them saved
so somebody comes in here
and they're wrong on salvation
that's okay
because then we will preach the gospel to them
and they may not get saved
the first time they hear it
they may need to hear it a few times
they may need to come back a few times
so here's the thing
you got to be able to tell the difference
between the person
that believes a false doctrine
or believes a heretical doctrine
and the person who is
teaching and spreading heresy
I mean think about
what if you
let's say it's Christmas
or Easter
or something like that
or it's your birthday or something
and you want to bring
your unsaved family member to church
and let's say your unsaved family member is
some kind of Roman Catholic
or charismatic
or whatever
seven-day Adventist
is it like well you can't bring them
because they're a heretic
well the thing is
we would want to bring them
so that they could hear the gospel
so they could hear the truth
and you might even bring them a second
a third a fourth time
I mean we've had
people in our church
who've brought
unsaved family members
to services repeatedly
they might bring them
a few times a year
they might bring them
three four services in a row
and we're not just going to say
why is this Catholic
coming to our church
the Baptist Church
that'd be a ridiculous way
to respond wouldn't it
but what if we had
someone coming into the church
and they're handing out pamphlets
about how we need to be
worshiping Mary
and how Mary never sinned
that we need to be praying
to Mary and everything
there's a difference between
somebody coming into the church
to spread heresy
that's the fretting leprosy
right
that's where it's it's spreading
it's not just
one person has a wrong doctrine
well you know poor guy
God bless him
let's see if we can recover
this guy out of the snare
of the devil here
this person's deceived
let's see if we can get this
person saved
let's help this person out
so do you see the difference
between someone who is just
wrong but sincerely wrong
versus the false teacher
coming in and spreading heresy
going around and trying to
Judaize
look we could have some
Judaized guy come in
and he comes in
and he's all Judaized
and hopefully through
the preaching of God's word
we can get him past that
and crack open the book
of Galatians
and show him the error
of his ways
but the Judaizer
who comes in
and tries to Judaize us
there's the door
because we don't want
that fretting leprosy
in the house
does everybody see the
difference
so we want to make sure
that we're not just
paranoid
and just have this atmosphere
of just kind of suspecting
everyone
and just everything
you know
there's leprosy in that wall
that wall's got leprosy
there's leprosy
you know we don't want
to just start seeing
leprosy everywhere we look
right and sometimes
the man of God
can sometimes have
experience in these things
to be able to kind of
calm people down
and say hey relax
this this person's not a
threat
this doctrine's not a
threat
this isn't a big deal
let's cool it
because we don't want to be
just on a hair trigger
to just tell people off
throw people out of the church
be rude to people
right want to be kind
and loving
and reach out to people
and try to meet people
where they're at
but at the same time
there are grievous wolves
that come in
and there are false teachers
that come in
and we also have to
protect the flock
so you see there's a
balance between these two
ideas
and that's why we need
to look and say
okay first of all
is it even serious
is it even greenish
or reddish
is it even sunken
into the wall
and then secondly
if it is
well is this person
even spreading it
or is this just someone
that hopefully
we can work on and reach
and correct
let's give them some time
let's give them seven days
you know let's give them
a chance to learn
and get right
and not worry too much
about it
so not all false doctrine
needs to be addressed
some doctrines
are non-essential doctrines
they're not the
greenish and reddish
type of heresy
that we're worried about
and some of them
aren't spreading
and so we're just
you know we're just
bringing people in
and trying to reach them
and so forth
obviously most of our
reaching people
takes place out there
but again there's nothing
wrong with bringing
an unsaved person
to church
and and and hoping
that they'll get saved
but you know also
some sins are not of the
variety that gets you
kicked out of church
as we already mentioned
you know we're only
talking about
really serious stuff
like drunkenness
fornication
extortion
that's the kind of stuff
that we're that
we're worried about
okay and so some people
are holier
than thou
and they're just
kind of expecting
everyone to be perfect
and they're just
kind of going around
criticizing people
for things that aren't
even mentioned in the
Bible or something
just kind of
their little pet issues
or pet doctrines
their little hobby horse
that they are obsessed with
and you'll have
and look i've
talked to my
pastor friends
and heard about
situations
where somebody will
just get like
a pet doctrine
in their mind
and maybe it's
even something
that they're right about
but then they'll
just go around
and make sure
that everybody in
the church agrees
with them on
their little
minor doctrine
and whoever doesn't
they're just declaring
them a heretic
and this person's
a reprobate
and everybody's
a reprobate
whatever
you know
so we got to be
careful of that mentality
the the word
bishop
literally means
overseer
okay
and so
you know
it's
that's part of the job
of the pastor
is to kind of
look for
dangerous things
and and watch out
for the wolves
and you don't have
to turn there
you can stay
in Leviticus 14
but in Acts
chapter 20
the Bible
says
take heed therefore
unto yourselves
and to all the flock
over which
the Holy Ghost has
made you
overseers
to feed the
church of God
which he has purchased
with his own blood
so the
the overseer
or the bishop
his job
is to
basically
feed the flock
right
so feeding them
with knowledge
feeding them
with doctrine
so the Bible preaching
is is teaching you
truth from error
that's going to go
a long way
to protecting us
from these cancers
from false doctrine
or sinful lifestyles
Bible preaching
is going to go a long way
to protect us from that
right
but then he says this
for I know
this that
after my departing
Paul says
shall
grievous wolves
enter in among you
not sparing the flock
so he's saying
look I know
that they're going to be
these evil
grievous wolves
that come in
also of your own selves
shall men arise
speaking perverse things
to draw away
disciples after them
therefore watch
and remember
that by the space of
three years
I cease not to warn
everyone
night and day with tears
and so the apostle Paul
saying look
they're going to be
bad people who creep in
and then even
people among us
will rise up
and start teaching
a bunch of twisted doctrine
in order to just
kind of get their own
little following
or get
disciples to draw
away after them
leave the church
and take
a bunch of people
with them
or whatever
have their little group
so the bishop
is supposed to be
watching out for this
and guarding against this
okay
he's kind of checking out
the possible
leprosies in the wall
and seeing what needs to be
dealt with
and what doesn't
so back in Leviticus 14
verse 40 it says this
then the priest
so if it has spread
if it is spreading
if it is the bad kind
it says in verse 40
then the priest shall command
that they take away
the stones
in which the plague is
and they shall cast them
into an unclean place
without the city
and so this removing
of the stones
that have the leprosy
in them
would be removing
the people
that are contaminating
the flock
so the person
who's living
in open
unrepentant
fornication
or drunkenness
right
you
get rid of that person
we throw them out
of the church
that's what first
Corinthians five said
we shun them
we avoid them
we cast them out
we get rid of
the heretics
people that are
spreading false doctrine
or people that are
living in grievous sin
we gotta get rid of them
okay
why
we're trying to save
the house
because what you're gonna see
in a few verses here
is that if we don't do this right
we could lose the whole house
the whole house can be destroyed
so it's actually an act of mercy
on the rest of the house
to get rid of a few bricks
and that's being like
oh i just really like those bricks
i really like that wall
that's some
that's kind of my favorite part of the wall
and we just
oh you just can't bear to see it go
well you want to lose the whole house
you want the whole house to be
fretted with leprosy
you've got to cut out the cancer
right
and look
we've possibly known people in our lives
who had cancer
and they had to have parts of their body
amputated
to get rid of the gangrene
to get rid of the cancer
now look
nobody wants to get their foot chopped off
no woman wants to have her breast
chopped off
right
and look
except maybe angelina jolly
but like
no no nobody wants to have their hand
chopped off
or to lose fingers
or or body parts like that
but here's the thing
if i were told
hey
you have cancer in your finger
i'd say chop off this hand
because i don't want the whole body to die
just to try to save some finger
i'd rather lose the whole hand
if i have to lose an arm
in order to keep the body alive
i'll do it
we don't want to lose a finger
we don't want to lose it
and we're not saying that hands don't matter
we're not saying that the hand is important
look
the bible teaches
that every part of the body is important
okay
i don't want my gallbladder removed
i don't want my tonsils removed right
you know
i don't want anything chopped off
i want to keep everything
but
if something needs to be chopped off
then you got to chop it off my friend
right
your right hand offends you chop it off
and so obviously the hand is important
the nose is important
the ears are important
but if i had cancer
or gangrene
in one of these areas
and i were told
hey we can save your body
but
we got to
cut the cancer out of your body
then i'd say
yeah
do what you gotta do
remove what you need to remove
does everybody understand what we're saying
and so it's not that we
take joy
in excommunicating people
or that we're just looking to drop
at the drop of a hat
to just excommunicate people
or just cut people out
or just get rid of people
we're following the bible
the bible tells us
that this is something that we need to do
okay
and it needs to be done
to save the rest of the house
and so you gotta take those stones
in which the plague is
those people
that are contaminating the flock
right
and we gotta cast them out
into an unclean place
look at the next verse
verse 41
and he shall cause the house to be scraped
within a roundabout
and they shall pour out the dust
that they scrape off
without the city
into an unclean place
so picture a house
that's made of stone
masonry
brick
right
and you've got this stone house
right
you could picture whatever kind of masonry
bricks or whatever
okay
you've got the blocks
where you can see the greenish or reddish
where you can see the indentation
and you know that the plague is in those bricks
those bricks have to go
get them out
they're gone
they are the problem
but then even after those bricks are gone
you know what you're wondering though
wait a minute
hold on a second
what if
these bricks have already contaminated
some of these other good bricks
and we just can't see it yet
it's just a microscopic infection
right
because just because we remove
the offending bricks
does that really mean that we got it all
have you ever known someone
where they had surgery
to remove the cancer
and they said we got it all
and then six months later
ah we didn't get it all
that's the thing
and so therefore
there's a danger
that you think you got it all out
but you didn't get it all out
so therefore the next step is
after we remove the offending stones
we must scrape
the entire inside of the house
so you know
I'm not saying that this is you know
accurate
from a construction point of view
of you know
how ancient houses were built
or something like that
but we know that we're talking about
houses that are built of stone
we know that
so you know I'm just
in my mind
I'm just picturing like a
like a cinder block
type of a construction right
because I lived in a house
before my current house
that was from like the 1950s
here in Arizona
and probably many of you
also live in a house
that's from that 1950s, 60s, 70s era
and you know
it has the stones
of the house
and you could really picture
kind of like scraping
the outer layer of those stones
and creating a dust
as a result of just kind of just
scraping it down
and getting rid of that outer layer
that could contain
some of the contagion
some of the corruption
right and then
once you're done scraping the stones
you're going to have all this powder
that you've created
and then you got to scoop up all that powder
and you know
hopefully the
these guys are wearing a dust mask
while they're doing it
and they're going to scrape it
and get all that powder
and go put it in an unclean place
and so the children of Israel
would have certain places
outside the city
that are like a trash dump
that's a designated
this is a dirty place
so we've put all our diseased
corrupt junk over there
and just you know
you know to stay away from it
you don't live in it
okay
and so here's the idea
the scraping of the house
represents how
even after
we throw someone out
for a particular set
is that preaching needs to happen
on that subject
okay
so for example
you know many many years ago
almost you know
I don't know
what eight years ago now
or nine years ago or something
we had a faction in our church
we had some gangrene in our church
where this false teacher
was denying the Trinity
and teaching like a Jesus only baptism
and this is damnable heresy
it's a false doctrine
it's sometimes called modalism
it's most famous for
you know among the oneness
Pentecostals that believe
in this Jesus only baptism
and that there
there is no Trinity
that Jesus is God the Father
and that basically it's just
it's just God is just one person
instead of three persons
okay
and I'm not going to preach
a little sermon on this
and maybe when you first hear
about this
if you're uninitiated
when you first hear about this
you might just kind of think
oh what's the big deal about that
as long as they believe
Jesus is God or something
nah man
it's bad
you know
because I remember
when I first heard of this
I was a teenager
and this guy in the church
he told me about it
and we ran into it out
soul inning a few times
this Jesus only movement
and when I first heard about it
when I was a teenager
I was kind of like
I don't know
is that really that bad
but then the guy's like
well here's why it's bad
and he explained why it was bad
to me
and then I was like
oh man that is bad
you know
and that's why I have preached
against it
since day one of
pastoring this church
despite liars
and idiots out there
I've preached against
the Jesus only movement
since literally 2006
and this whole oneness idea
and this denial of the Trinity
right
the Trinity is an essential doctrine
it's not a side doctrine
it's not having a different view
on Israel or something
I mean it's literally believing
that Jesus is the Son of God
yeah that's kind of a core doctrine
and modalism oneness
this doctrine ends up being a denial
that Jesus is the Son of God
basically
and there are a million problems
with it
that I've already preached about
because I did a lot of scraping
back when this happened
you know
because back when this first happened
we threw the people out of the church
that believed this heresy
they were spreading it
they were doing it secretly
they knew I disagreed with it
they knew that I was against it
and they knew I felt strongly about it
because two months before
the whole thing blew up
I preached a sermon
about this
this book that's called The Shack
it's a radical book
and in that book on The Shack
I spent like 10 minutes
just rebuking this doctrine
hard
okay
and these guys are all sitting in the
Congress
and I didn't know that they were
teaching this
they're sitting in the congregation
and I'm just rebuking it hard
so they're keeping it
from me
but they're kind of
testing people
and trying to spread it
and they had a faction of this thing
so it's funny
when someone first came to me
and told me
there seemed to be
a fretting plague of leprosy
in the house
I remember it like yesterday
because I was coming out of
the Salvation Army
Croc Center
gym
because I used to swim laps there
okay
so I had just finished swimming laps
and my wife was picking me up
from the Croc Center
and I came out
and when I was first told about this
I was
you know
I was kind of just hearing about
some of this
and I just said
oh well you know
it sounds like maybe
he's just a little mixed up
because I'm always trying to have
grace with people
and and and give people
the benefit of the doubt
so I'm like
I'm like hey
he's probably just using
some bad analogies
about the trinity
and he sounds like he's just
a little mixed up
might be a misunderstanding
you know let's work with them
and whatever
you know because they're like
hey you know
look at this plague over here
you sure this isn't green
and red you know
and and I was like
you know I don't think it's a big
but then
they said well
because he's talking about how
you know we need to be
baptizing
in the name of Jesus only
and that's when my alarm bell
went off
because I was like whoa
because he was trying to change
the baptismal formula to
baptizing them in the name
of the father
the son
and the holy ghost
and that name is Jesus
so that like
Jesus is the name of God the father
you know
and so
that's when I knew
because I knew
that whole movement
of the oneness
Pentecostals
started
back at the beginning
of the early 20th century
at the Azusa street
revival
and then they had this camp
ground
and this guy
had this revelation
about Jesus only baptism
and it split
the Pentecostal movement
into 75 percent
that stayed with the trinity
and 25 percent
and and that's the modern
numbers today
75 percent
are trinitarian
25 percent
are oneness
back then
I don't remember the exact
split
but they had a big meeting
and they split
over the trinity
so whenever I heard
that Jesus only baptism
I mean that's the hallmark
of oneness
modalism
this heresy
and so
whenever I heard that
it was like boom
this is sunken in the wall
this is reddish in color
and then it was like
then it was like oh
this person
he spread it to
I'm like this thing spreading
in the house
this is a fretting leprosy
and so what did we do
we took those stones
and we cast them out
into an unclean place called
Jacksonville Florida
and so we cast those
we took those stones
out of the house
and we cast them
to an unclean place
and here's the thing
about that
is that after the stones
were removed
that wasn't enough
it wasn't enough to remove
the stones
then we had to do some scraping
and so Wednesday night
I did some scraping
with a sermon called
Oneness Pentecostalism Exposed
Sunday morning
I scraped more
Sunday night
I scraped more
right
because we're trying to just
scrape
the good stones
are the good people
that are still in the church
but we want to make sure
that they didn't get
that contamination on them
so they need to be scraped a little
okay
and you say well you know
pastor
why is it that when you
when you throw people out of the church
then you preach against those people
I'm scraping
why don't you want to scrape the house
I just don't think you should
preach against people
after they get thrown out
well look
we got to scrape
because and look
I'm not saying that
necessarily people
need to be preached
against by name
sometimes they do
if they're false prophets
and false teachers
they need to be
marked and avoided by name
but typically
these people
their names
aren't really relevant
because they're not actually people
that you know
are known
or out there
that would need to be
marked
and avoided or something like that
it's more like
just the doctrine
that needs to be dealt with
right
so we'll throw someone out
and then say
hey
here's what the bible says
about this issue
and we'll scrape that thing
and we got
don't be weary of the scraping
because here's the thing
yeah it'd be a lot easier
to just remove a couple of stones
put in some new stones
spackle it up
and just go about your life
okay
but
you're kind of risking the house
scrape it
the scraping is a hassle
the scraping takes hard work
the scraping is going to create
a bunch of mess
but guess what
we need to scrape
then
once we gather up all that dust
we get rid of all of it
then we can at least
have some confidence
okay we think we got it all
and you know
I've heard about people
who had cancer
and they're given a choice
like
do you want us to cut off the finger
you want us to cut off the hand
you want us to cut off the arm
you know where do you want
and it's like
you're kind of like
well you want to cut off as little
as possible
but you want to make sure you got it all
you know
I would almost probably err
on the side of cutting off more
you know if you knew
that it was a really bad cancer
or something
but I don't know
I've never been in that situation
thank god
but don't be weary of the scraping
right
the pastor's job
when there's a cancer
is to get rid of the cancer
and then to scrape
the inside of the house
okay
the outside isn't getting scraped
it's the inside that's getting scraped
it's us that need to get scraped
after there's been a cancer
but the last thing I want to show you here
is that
if that doesn't work
you have to tear down the entire house
look what the bible says in verse 42
they shall take other stones
and put them in the place of those stones
and he shall take other mortar
and shall plant stones
by the way
when we throw people out
isn't it interesting how other people
just immediately come and fill their spot
you know what I mean like
I remember when we
when we
because in that whole debacle
eight nine years ago or whatever
when we cast out the
the trinity denying sect
it was about 30 people
because it was families
you know
we cast out about 30 people
you know
it took probably six months
and and all the stones
were replaced and plastered and
and it was like
the tenants was the same
okay
so here's the thing
God is able to replace
these
we shouldn't just be like
well we just need as many bodies
in here as we can
nope you know sometimes
you got to remove some stones
and then you just put in new stones
we get we're constantly reaching new people
right where it's not like
we're just stuck with the same old stones
we're not just gonna have a hole in the wall
you know we're gonna
we're gonna replace
we're gonna plaster
and if the plague come again
and break out in the house
after the idea taken away the stones
and after he has scraped the house
and after it's plastered
I mean imagine if we had
cast out the non-trinitarians
I'm just using this one example
we could use other examples
but this is this is probably
the easiest best example
you know from our own experiences
those who've been here a long time
okay
here's the thing
is what if we had
dealt with this issue
we threw out the heretics
we preached all the hard sermons
scraped the house
of all the oneness modalism
and then all of a sudden
it's just popping up again
and it's just and it's just
taking over again
and there's just another huge faction of
I mean whoa then
there'd be really something wrong
with that picture
be pretty bad right
so that's what's happening in this house
it's like they've done everything
they can
they removed the offending stones
they scraped the whole house
and then they come back
and it's back
okay
and the plague is spreading in the house
it's like where they thought
they got all the cancer
oh it's metastasized
now it's everywhere in your body
and then it's like
you got this much time to live
your stage four cancer
you're going to be gone soon
right
and so
it's a fretting leprosy
it's unclean
it says in verse 45
don't miss this
he shall break down the house
the stones of it
and the timber thereof
and all the mortar of the house
and he shall carry them forth
out of the city
into an unfinished place
I mean think about this
this is the worst nightmare
for a homeowner
oh sorry your home's trash
we're going to tear it down
and throw the whole thing in the trash
and now you have to start over
that'd be terrible
nobody wants this
now do you see why we're moving
a few stones
isn't a big deal
now do you see why you should probably
put up with a little bit of scraping
after those stones have been removed
because this is a worst case scenario
you don't want the whole house to be destroyed
and I think that the whole house
being destroyed is analogous
to what Jesus said
in Revelation 2 and 3
where these churches had serious wickedness
and he said if you don't fix it
I will remove your candlestick
out of his place
what's he basically saying
he's saying look
I will tear it down to the ground
you know I will destroy you
and so the point is
that it's much better
to just get rid of the offending stones
and scrape the house
and follow the protocol
because this is your worst case scenario
right here
you don't want to lose the whole house
okay
and then the last thing I want to show you
is that
being in a heretical church
or a church filled with grievous sin
will contaminate you
because the bible says in verse 46
moreover
he that goeth into the house
all the while that it is shut up
shall be unclean until the even
he that lieth in the house
shall wash his clothes
and he that eateth in the house
shall wash his clothes
look
what's the whole point
why are we so freaked out
about this leprosy in the house
is just because we don't like the color
we don't like the greenish reddish color
we don't like the little indentation in the wall
I mean why don't we just hang a picture over it
why don't we just whitewash it
every once in a while
and just kind of cover it up
right
and this is what a lot of people want to do
right just kind of just
let's just cover it up
let's ignore it
let's pretend it isn't there
hang a picture over it
paint it
that's not the problem is
that it's unhealthy
I mean people have mold in their house
can develop serious illnesses
it gets in their lungs
and they're inhaling spores and everything
and it can make them really sick
it can even kill people
and so nobody wants to live in a house
with mold in it right
you got to get out of there
and even while they're working on it
they got to have all this hazmat gear
and you got to be out of the house
while they're scraping it
because you don't want to get contaminated
and God's saying
look if you're around the stuff
it's unclean
so here's the thing
don't go to a church
that is teaching serious false doctrine
and don't go to a church
where serious sin is allowed
to abound
and look
let's be frank
what could be worse
than going to a church
where open faggots are in the church
and just welcome there
what could be worse than a transvestite
sitting in the front row
but you know what
you say that's crazy
that would never happen
I can't even count
how many times
people have told me then
their old IFB church
and obviously I'm not trying to paint
with a broad brush
because every independent Baptist church
is different
that's why they're called
independent Baptist churches
but I'm telling you
King James
soul winning type
independent Baptist churches
and they said
I had to quit the church
there's a transvestite
coming every week
I mean I've been told
by friends of mine
that they had transvestites
coming to Sunday school
every week
for like a month or two
and then finally
when it when it tried to go
in the wrong bathroom
the pastor was like
that's it
Fox News told me
not to allow this
you know
it's like
it's basically like
the Bible
nah
doesn't matter
but then it's like
well Fox News
I heard this
I heard about this on
Sean Hannity
you know
you can't use that bathroom
and then that's when
the pastor put a stop
to it was when it
went in the wrong bathroom
folks that's not
going in the wrong bathroom
is not the problem
being there at all
is the problem
and so
that they
I mean can you imagine
just going to a church
where just open
sodomites are just welcome
and I mean
look
there was a pastor
I forget this guy's name
he's an old guy on YouTube
that said
you know
that the homosexuals
are welcome here
he said
we'll roll out the red carpet for
what what the
like how can you say
I'm going to roll out
the red carpet
for homos
this is
this is the world we're living
it's getting weird out there
man
it's a jungle out there
okay
you know
for all the people who
want to glorify
the old IFB right now
well be careful
because it's a jungle out there
because you know what
there's a lot of heresy
a lot of
and I'm not talking about
stupid views on
Israel and in times
because those don't really
matter
in you know
relatively speed
I mean everything matters
don't get me wrong
everything matters
what I'm saying is
relatively speaking
those are smaller issues
than say
how about
turn from your sins
salvation
instead of
salvation by faith alone
that's kind of a big one
that has infected
a lot of
independent Baptist churches
and you know what
if I go into an old
independent fundamental
Baptist church
and I go into church
and they're teaching
repent of your sins
for salvation
they have guest speakers
coming through teaching
hey if you're not willing
to stop sinning
you're not saved
you've got to get the sin
out of your life
or you know
you've got to repent
of your sins to be saved
you've got to turn
from your sin
this kind of turn
or burn or
oh you know
you're still doing
the same sins
that you did
before you were saying
well you're not saved
this kind of stupid teaching
you know
I'm like
this is looking greenish
this is reddish
this is
why aren't you teaching
salvation by faith
by faith alone
through grace alone
to God alone
be the glory
not well you know
you're smoking cigarettes
and you think you're saved
huh
yeah I do
now I don't smoke
and I don't chew
and I don't go with girls who do
but you know what
that has nothing to do
with the fact that
I'm going to heaven
just for the record
don't give me wrong
I don't smoke
okay
at all
you know
even if smoking
weren't to sin
I just wouldn't smoke
because it's bad for you
anyway
because
why would
why would anyone
want to do something
that's bad for your health
I don't understand that
you know
I want to be healthy
I want
you know
why would you want to
why don't want to spend money
to destroy my health
yeah
give here
here's $10
give me something that's going to
make me sicker
stupid right
but you know what
guess what
there are going to be a bunch of
people who smoke
and go to heaven
there are going to be people
who do all manner of sins
and go to heaven
why because Jesus died
for all our sins
now I'm not condoning
a life of sin
because whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth
and scourgeeth every son
whom he receiveth
and we don't want
to live a life
being disciplined by God
we want to live a life
being blessed by God
we don't want to be that kid
who just can't stop
getting spanked
over and over again
we want to be the kid
who gets the message
and straightens up
and flies right
and so
these kind of doctrines
of repent of your sins
for salvation
and you
you know
you have to be willing
to give up your sins
in order to be saved
and so
instead of just
that what Christ did is enough
and that you just
believe on Christ
but this kind of like
self-reformation type
of a gospel
okay
it's a fretting leprosy
in the house
it's serious
okay and sometimes
the Judaizing
can go over the line too
and I'm not the one
who said it
you read the book
of Galatians
and you figure out
where the line is
but the book of Galatians
is pretty clear
on some things
and so
churches with just
open homos
churches where
open fornication is a lot
look again
I've seen in a Baptist church
where literally
Bible studies
are being hosted
at the home
of a man and woman
living together
in sin
not married
two people
living together
in fornication
Bible studies at their house
that's a fretting leprosy
here's the problem
being in a heretical church
or being in a church
with grievous sin
will contaminate you
that's the problem
okay
that's why this stuff matters
that's why we need to
remove the stones
that's why we need to
scrape the house
we want our church
to live
we want our church
to survive
we want our church
to be healthy
and we want our church
to thrive
and so if we have to
get rid of a few stones
in order to save
the integrity of the house
so be it
it's a small price
to pay
because you don't
want to lose
the whole house
and that's why you don't want
to be weary of the scraping
if there's a
Trinitarian controversy
you should expect
several hard sermons
on the trinity
back to back
and sometimes
the scraping
you know might take
you know
10 sermons
depending on
what the issue is
don't be weary of it
for me
right
to say the same things
onto you
for me indeed
is not grievous
but for you it is safe
sometimes things
do need to be repeated
and sometimes
sometimes we might need to scrape
you know a little deeper sometimes
just to make sure
that we get it all
depending on how bad
the leprosy is
and so you know what I've noticed
and I'm almost done
but you know what I've noticed
throughout my life
prideful people
because
because what was the final point
being in the contaminated house
contaminates you
so don't go to a
heretical church
some churches can't be fixed
you know
it's like the Roman Catholic Church
it's done
you can't fix it
there's no
the
can't reform it
it's trash
and this is why new churches
have to keep being started
because the old churches
get corrupt
and many churches
cannot be fixed
there are a lot of churches
that you just can't fix
but you don't have notices
that there are these
prideful people
these prideful church hoppers
who think that it is
their ministry in life
and they will flat out tell you
my ministry
is to like fix
bad churches
right
you've known people like this
they have this
they're these prideful people
and they think it's their ministry
they think they're god's gift
to the sucky church
right
and that it's their job
to go around and fix bad church
that's a stupid way to live your life
here's a better way to live your life
get in the best church in your area
you know anybody who's listening to this
online
get in the best church in your area
well my sucky church needs me
now get in the best church in your area
and let the dead bury their dead
because you can't fix stupid
and you cannot fix
a messed up church
if it's if it's
once it's beyond a certain point
it's just trash at that point
okay
and and by the way
even if the church is not over the line
even if the church
is just maybe just in the early stages of problems
or just a dead church or something
here's the thing
this kind of like bottom up
reformation doesn't work
reformation of the church
has to come from the top down
okay
what do I mean by that
what I mean is if the pastor
is not a soul winner
if the pastor has bad doctrine
you're not going to fix the church from the bottom
you're not going to come in
and straighten out the pastor
and straighten out the church or whatever
it's not how it works
it's a fool's errand
you're much better off
get in
you know what
I didn't make this up
in fact most of the things I preach
I have a confession to make
my sermons are filled with stuff that I just took from other people
I did not invent these things myself
I am not as creative as you think
that's my confession to you
okay
because you know what
this is the preaching that I heard
20 some years ago
this is what they said
don't go to the church that needs you
go to the church that you need
you know what
faithful word doesn't need you
bye
think about it
there's nobody in this room
that could walk out that door
and the church would
seriously like
have a hard time functioning
everybody understand
faithful word doesn't need you
now faithful word loves you
faithful word wants you
but we don't need you
we love you
we want you
we do not need you
bye
but here's the thing
there are other church where
oh I gotta go to this church
because they really need me
now look
one exception to this is
I can understand
if a church is starting up
if it's a brand new church
starting from scratch
and you're like
hey I'm gonna go help
this guy start a church
that's great
amen
you know you want to help someone start a church
someone's starting a church from scratch
a good guy starting church
and you want to help him start up
amen that's great
and he might need you
because he's just starting up
but I'm saying like
these churches
that are just
they've been around
and their failures
and their flops
but and boy
they could really use you though
because your family would just like
transform
it would you you're just gonna
double their congregation
and transform their program
and you're gonna breathe
you're bringing like more energy
than the whole rest of the church combined
and you know what
prideful people love this
because then they could feel like
a big fish in a little pot
so prideful people
they love to come from a church
like faithful word
where they're
you know in a bigger pond
and then they love to go to like
some lame church
all of a sudden
they're just like a superstar
because here's the thing
in our church
you're just kind of like
another awesome person
but there's a lot of awesome people
there's a lot of people
that are super into soul winning
there's a ton of people
that know the bible real well
there's a ton of people
that are really zealous
about serving god
but if you go to one of these
really like dead churches
like high steeple
few people kind of churches
you're just a rock star
they need me
I'm gonna fix things
I'm gonna
I know this place is dead
but I'm gonna fix it
you know
that's a bozo move
and I'm telling you
I've known people like this
for decades
perennial church hoppers
who go from one lame church
to another
and then when there's a good
church they're not interested
some awesome church
will start in their area
or they'll move to an area
with an awesome church
they're not interested
because they only want to
go to lame churches
because then they're gonna fix it
they're the lame church fixer
well you know what
that's not the way leadership works
that's not the way church works
that's not the way life works
okay here's the deal
the guy who removes the stones
is the priest
he's saying hey get these
stones out of here
put these stones
you know you
you're not necessarily
gonna be able to just
make those decisions for other people
in places in situations
where you don't have authority
you can't just like march in
and be like hey
I'm just the self-proclaimed
leprosy inspector
and we're gonna get that rock out
we're gonna scrape here
it's gonna be like who are
get out
who are you
right
there's a proper authority
structure in the church
and if the pastor is not on board
you're better off
going and finding a church
where the pastor
wants to do things for God
and if the pastor wants to
do great things for God
get under his leadership
follow him as he follows Christ
and be a part of that team
but if the pastor is a dud
don't be like well I'm gonna
lead from the rear
I'm gonna lead from behind
it doesn't work
okay and I'm telling you
it's a prideful attitude
where people want to go
to these lame churches
because they think they're
gonna fix them
no they're just gonna
get contaminated
and just get worse
okay go to the best church
in your area
go to the church
that you need
not the church that needs you
okay go to the church
that's feeding you
that's blessing you
not the church
where like well they
you know
they totally suck
but when I'm
now that I come
they're gonna be awesome
sounds like you just have
like some kind of a
prideful complex
where you
you're just going around
fixing everything
and it just doesn't work
and that's why these people
are church hoppers
for the rest of their lives
and these people will
literally go to 10 churches
in 20 years
they go to this church
for two years
they go to this church
for two years
they go to
I've known people
like this my whole life
you know I've been here
for 19 years
right
man has been here
for 19 years
right
many of you have been
here for over a decade
don't be a church hopper
now look
obviously there's
if there's a reason to
switch like I said
switch by all means
go to the best
church in your area
if you think that
there's a better church
in this area
than faithful word
then please go there
okay but
the thing is
switching
for the sake of switching
or switching at the drop
of a hat
or switching
because you're a church hopper
who's going to go fix
everybody
and straighten everybody out
is a bad way to live your life
I'm out of time
let's bards and have
order prayer
Father we thank you
so much for your word Lord
thank you for our church
thank you that we
have such a great group
of people Lord
and thank you that
in the past
when we've had
fretting leprosies
and heresies
and sins
that needed to be dealt
with Lord
thank you that you've
allowed us
to survive that
and get through the removal
and the scraping process
Lord God help us
to always cherish
and love our church
and to be faithful to it
and to understand
the importance
of having a church
with the right doctrine
and an atmosphere
free of gross sin
and in Jesus name we pray amen
amen
all right ladies and gentlemen
take your hymnals please
turn to hymn 433
433
away in the manger
hymn number 433
we'll sing this out together
and be in a smith tonight
number 433
away in a manger
no crib for a bed
a little Lord Jesus
laid down his sweet head
the stars in the sky
looked down where he lay
the middle Lord Jesus
saw sleep on the hay
the cattle are lowing
the baby awakes
but little Lord Jesus
no crying he makes
my lovely Lord Jesus
look down from the sky
and stay by my cradle
till morning is nigh
be near
we Lord Jesus
I ask thee to stay
close by
before ever
and love me
I pray
bless all
the dear children
in thy tender care
and take us
to heaven
to live
with thee
there
amen
we are the smiths