that He be edified by the priests in the night, and we go out in a better way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Man, Jeremiah chapter number 42 here. Let me just bring you up to speed on what's going on in the story.
Of course, Jeremiah chapters 1 through 38 were over and over again. God, through Jeremiah,
pronouncing doom and destruction upon the land of Judah, and He was very clear that they were going to be completely wiped out.
The city was going to be destroyed. Even the remnant that was left after the battle would be destroyed.
People would be killed. People would suffer. He gave them all kinds of chances to get things right with God and change their ways.
But, of course, they didn't listen to Jeremiah as a nation, and so starting in chapter 39 we see that judgment begin to fall on them,
where the city is destroyed and burned and the king and the nobles are all killed and they're wiped out.
And God also made it clear earlier in the book of Jeremiah that their captivity or their destruction from being a nation would last for 70 years,
and then after 70 years they would be brought back. 70 years is a really long time.
It's going to be a completely different generation that would be brought back after 70 years that would trust in the Lord and get things right with God.
And, of course, that would take place in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Well, in the story here, after Jerusalem has initially been burned and destroyed, the remnant have come together,
and there's a guy by the name of Gedaliah who Nebuchadnezzar puts in charge over the remnant.
And things look like they're going to be okay for those that are left behind.
Gedaliah's in charge. Things are at peace.
The king, Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans, is kind of giving an amnesty to all the troops who fought against him and just saying,
let's get along, let's have peace, everything's going to be great.
But then Gedaliah, in chapter 41, was murdered.
And so because Gedaliah is murdered, now their dream is kind of falling apart,
and God's prophecy is coming to pass that really they're all going to be wiped out, they're all going to suffer, nobody's going to escape.
So, Johanan has sort of become their leader.
And this was the guy who wanted to preemptively kill Ishmael before he killed Gedaliah.
He's become their leader. We've got the remnant of the children of Judah that are left.
They don't have Gedaliah anymore. They're afraid that when Nebuchadnezzar finds out that his governor, Gedaliah, is dead,
they're afraid that Nebuchadnezzar is going to take them captive and they're going to lose everything.
So in chapter 42, verse 1, they're at a crossroads here. What do we do?
Do we stay here and risk getting in trouble with Nebuchadnezzar, or do we go down into Egypt and just flee into Egypt, run away?
Verse 1 of chapter 42 is where we pick up the story. This is what we're dealing with tonight, chapter 42.
Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Korea, and Jezeniah the son of Hoshea,
and all the people from the least, even unto the greatest, came near and said unto Jeremiah the prophet,
Let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God,
even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us,
that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
So it seems on the surface here like these people are finally getting right with God.
There's only a few people left. It's not a huge crowd, but every single one of them from the least to the greatest,
with one accord, goes with Johanan the son of Korea, and they go to Jeremiah and say,
Just tell us what God wants us to do. Just show us the way wherein we should walk, and we will do it.
We just want to do what's right. So this looks pretty promising, right?
Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I've heard you.
Now the reason that that's significant is because they said, you know, let our supplication be accepted before thee.
The reason why they're doubtful whether Jeremiah is even going to hear them,
whether Jeremiah is even willing to pray for them, is that they've treated Jeremiah very badly.
They've never listened to his preaching. They were behind him getting arrested in many cases.
You know, these people as a whole have rejected the word of the Lord.
Now all of a sudden they're coming to him saying, Look, we're ready to make a change here.
Will you take us back, and will you be our pastor?
You know, will you be our spiritual leader here and guide us in what God wants us to do?
So he says, I've heard you. Yeah. I mean, Jeremiah is ready to forgive and forget
and bring these people the word of the Lord and help them do what's right.
Behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words, verse four,
and it shall come to pass that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you.
I will keep nothing back from you.
Now, I love that statement here that a man of God is making to the people that want to hear the word of the Lord.
He said, I will keep back nothing from you.
And you know, that's what we ought to do as preachers, keep back nothing from the people.
See, too many preachers today are holding back.
They go to the word of God, and they figure out what the word of the Lord is,
and instead of preaching everything to the people that the Bible says, they hold back.
Why? Because they're afraid of offending people.
They don't want to preach that which is negative.
They only want to preach the positive, so they're holding back,
whereas Jeremiah is the kind of guy that could truthfully say here, I will keep back nothing from you.
I'm going to declare unto you exactly what God has said.
Verse five, then said they to Jeremiah, the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us
if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
I mean, they're saying, look, no matter what God's answer is, we'll do it.
Whatever God tells us to do, we're going to do it.
Verse six, whether it be good or whether it be evil,
we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us
when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.
I mean, this sounds great.
Of course, we already just read the whole chapter, so you kind of know how this is going to end.
Spoiler alert, you know, during the reading.
These people are not going to obey.
But isn't it interesting how vehement they are?
Just saying, hey, we're going to obey.
I mean, we don't care if it's good or evil.
If God tells us to do it, we're going to do it no matter what.
Sounds great.
So verse seven, it came to pass after 10 days that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah.
Then called he, Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces which were with them,
and all the people from the least, even of the greatest, and said unto them,
Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before.
If you will still abide in this land, then will I build you and not pull you down.
And I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I repent me of the evil that I've done unto you.
I mean, this is a really good answer.
This is the best possible answer that they could have hoped for.
That God's actually telling them, look, I repent me of the evil that I've done unto you.
I changed my mind, he's saying.
If you'll stay in the land, everything's going to be great.
If you'll just obey this one commandment of just stay in Judah, don't go to Egypt.
Then all, forget everything and forgive you and everything will be great.
It says in verse number 11, be not afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are afraid.
Be not afraid of him, saith the Lord, for I'm with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.
And I will show mercies unto you that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own land.
I mean, this is great news.
These people should just be like, wow, God's really forgiving.
After all we've said, all we've done, he's willing to just forgive everything, show mercy on us,
and he'll make sure that the king of Babylon doesn't destroy us and we don't have to be afraid.
Look at verse 13.
But, but if ye say we will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, saying no,
but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet,
nor have hunger of bread, and there will we dwell.
And now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, if you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt and to go to sojourn there.
Sojourn means to live there temporarily.
He said, then it shall come to pass that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt.
And the famine whereof you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there ye shall die.
So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there.
They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Pestilence is disease.
He's saying, look, you're either going to die by the sword, meaning troops are going to kill you,
or you're going to die by the famine, meaning you're going to starve to death,
or you're going to die by the pestilence, meaning you're going to contract a disease.
And it says, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
He's saying, everybody's going to be destroyed.
Nobody's going to escape.
Verse 18, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
as mine anger and my fury have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
so shall my fury be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt.
What does fury mean?
Anger, right?
If I said that someone were furious, it means that they're extremely angry.
He's saying, my fury is going to be poured out upon you.
Other places in the Bible, God talks about pouring out his wrath upon people, right?
It basically means that they're going to feel the effects of his anger when he brings the sword,
the famine, the pestilence, and all these judgments upon them.
And he says, when you shall enter into Egypt, halfway through verse 18,
and you shall be an execration.
Execration means that people are cursing you, right?
So here's what an execration is.
An execration is when I use a person to just represent that which is bad.
So like, for example, let's say there's somebody who is really weak, a really weak guy, okay?
And let's say that that guy's name is Jerry, you know, and I'm not saying anything about Jerry or anything.
I'm just using a random name.
And what if I said like, hey, don't be a Jerry.
And by that, I mean, don't be a weakling.
I mean, look, nobody would want their name to be associated with some bad attribute, right?
Or like a lot of times people will today use the Jews as an execration.
Like they'll say, don't be a Jew.
And what do they mean by that?
They mean like, don't be stingy.
Or don't be, you know, that concerned with money and love money, right?
So they say, don't be a Jew, okay?
Or somebody could say like, don't be an Indian giver, you know?
That's an execration, you know?
You know, I'm not saying that Indians are really like that.
I've never had any Indians give me something and then take it back.
But that's what people say, right?
These are execrations.
It's when you were to use a certain person's name.
You know, I remember when we were at a job where we were wiring up microphones.
And this one guy, he soldered on the wires before he put the cap on.
So then he had to like unsolder the wires and then put the cap on and then solder it on.
And the guy's name was Tom.
So then just forever, years and years after that, it was called pulling a Tom.
Hey, don't pull a Tom.
You know, when you see somebody start to solder it without putting it, it's like, don't pull a Tom now.
So that's what it means to be an execration, okay?
Nobody wants that kind of reputation for their people, for their nation, for themselves, right?
We don't want to be known as some bad attribute.
God's basically telling the Jews here.
He's saying, look, if you guys go down into Egypt, I'm not going to bless you down there.
I'm going to curse you.
You're going to starve.
You're going to get killed.
You're going to get diseases.
Everything's going to go bad for you.
And not only that, but while you're down in Egypt, you're going to be an execration down there.
Meaning that people will just think very ill of you or use your name and cast out your name as evil.
Hey, don't be like the Jews.
Don't be a Jew or we don't want to end up like the Jews.
Or, you know, the Lord do so unto you as he did unto the Jews, right?
That would be a curse that someone would place on someone.
So that's what it means to be an execration.
He says you'll be an execration and an astonishment.
What is an astonishment?
It means people are going to look at you and they're going to be just astonished and blown away at how bad things are going for you.
I mean, they're going to look at you and see how bad it is and just say, wow, I can't believe what God has done to punish these people.
It's really amazing the punishment that has come upon them.
That's what he means by being an astonishment.
He said, and you'll be a curse and a reproach, which a curse and a reproach are pretty much synonyms for an execration.
Those all kind of mean the same thing.
Execration, curse, reproach.
Now, a lot of people today have this teaching that no matter what the Jews do, they're blessed because they're Jews.
But that's not a biblical doctrine.
That wasn't even true in the Old Testament.
Because right here we can see the Jews being a curse, a reproach, and an execration.
We can see God's fury and wrath resting upon them.
Even in the Old Testament that wasn't true.
But how much more is that not true in the New Testament where in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
We're all one in Christ Jesus.
So it matters even less in the New Testament whether or not you're a Jew than it mattered in the Old Testament.
But even in the Old Testament he said, if you disobey my word, you're going to be an execration.
You're going to be a curse.
You're going to be a reproach in all the lands whither you go to dwell, and specifically here in Egypt.
And he says, you shall see this place no more.
He's saying, you think you're going down to Egypt just for a little sojourn, just for a little temporary relocation.
You're never coming back.
You leave and go to Egypt, you're never going to come to your homeland again, and everything's going to go terrible for you.
So this is a pretty clear chapter, really clear decision.
God's given them two choices here, life, death, blessing, cursing.
You stay here, you're going to be blessed, things are going to go well, there's nothing to fear.
You go there, everything goes bad.
And it's a really simple decision.
It's just, do you stay or do you go?
And God is very clear about the two alternatives.
And he's extremely gracious on the positive side that he's willing to forget everything and everything will be great.
Verse number 19 says this, the Lord has said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, go ye not into Egypt.
Know certainly that I've admonished you this day.
Now verse 20 is where Jeremiah has been told by God already what these people are going to choose.
He already knows what choice they're going to make.
For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, pray for us unto the Lord our God.
And according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
What does it mean that they dissembled in their heart?
It means that they were being duplicitous.
They're not being sincere.
When they came to him and asked him, what do you want us to do?
They already knew in their heart what they wanted to do, which was to go to Egypt.
They'd already made that decision.
But they went through the motions and pretended that they were asking Jeremiah and that they were going to do whatever he told them to do.
What they really wanted was for Jeremiah to just be a rubber stamp on what they already decided to do.
They wanted to just go to Jeremiah and if he tells them what they want to hear, they'll do it.
And if he tells them what they don't want to hear, they're not going to do it.
They'd already decided that in their heart.
But when they go to Jeremiah, they pretend that they're willing to do whatever he tells them.
He said, you dissembled in your hearts when you sent me unto the Lord your God.
It's not that something changed in those 10 days.
God told Jeremiah that even when they asked him and made all those promises, they were lying.
They were just lying through their teeth. It's that simple.
Verse number 21, and now I've this day declared it to you, but you've not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for the which he had sent me unto you.
Now, therefore, know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place whither ye desire to go into sojourn.
So he could have just said that right out of the gate.
He could have just started out and said, look, I already know you're lying.
I already know you're not going to obey.
You're all going to die.
You're all doomed.
You're all going to die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence.
Bye.
But instead, he gives them the two alternatives, and he shows them what they could have had and explains to them all the blessings and how it would go well if they obey.
But he's saying, you know what?
God's already told me that you were insincere when you asked.
But at this point, they could still change their mind at this point because, yeah, they were insincere when they asked.
Yeah, they dissembled in their heart.
Yeah, they haven't obeyed up to this point.
But maybe through Jeremiah giving them the two alternatives and preaching hard at them, maybe at this point, they can get things right.
But they don't.
Because look at chapter 43, verse 1.
And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people, all the words of the Lord their God, for the which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words.
Then spake Azariah, the son of Hoshea, and Johanan, the son of Korah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely.
The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there.
But Barak, the son of Nariah.
Now, look, there's so much we can learn from this story.
There are a whole bunch of things going on in this story that are the same type of things that go on even to this day because there's nothing new under the sun.
And human nature today is as human nature was then.
And preachers are today as preachers were then.
And the people who hear them are the same kind of people today as the people back then.
You see, often people go to the pastor or go to a preacher or go to church or go to the word of God itself only to hear what they want to hear.
They've already decided what they believe, they've already decided how they want to live their life, and then they're just basically looking for a preacher that's going to prop them up in their existing lifestyle.
Now, this is a wicked mentality to have, but they shop churches and shop preachers and shop pastors and maybe even shop Bible versions until they find someone who's going to tell them what they want to hear and to tell them what they already believe.
Now, what is the point of going to church so you can just have somebody tell you what you already know and tell you what you already believe and just pat you on the back?
I mean, do you really just enjoy getting patted on the back that much? It just feels so good to sit there and be told, hey, you're doing everything right. Everything's great.
I mean, what's even the point? To me, the purpose of going to church and the purpose of listening to preaching is so that I can learn something new.
So that I can receive correction, so that I can get instruction in righteousness, so that I can make changes in myself, changes in my life, changes in my doctrine and beliefs, so that I can get in tune with what the Bible says.
Right? So I can take anything in my life that's wrong and bring it in conformity with the Word of God. Take anything in my doctrine that's wrong, bring it in conformity with the Word of God.
Now, obviously, if you've read the Bible many, many times, scores of times, then hopefully you should have less bad doctrine than the guy who's on his first time through the Bible or second time through the Bible.
Okay. So somebody who's only read the Bible once or maybe not even cover to cover, or maybe they've only read it cover to cover twice or three times, you're going to be wrong about a lot of things just because you're unlearned in the Scriptures.
So you should expect to come to church and have some of your beliefs and ideas challenged, and you should expect to walk out of church maybe seeing some things a little differently than when you walked in because you didn't know much when you walked in.
And you're hearing the preaching, you're looking at the Word of God, you should expect some things to change.
Okay. Now, obviously, the more you're in church, the more you read the Bible, that's not going to be happening as often or as dramatically.
But still, all of us should be learning new things all the time, and all of us are going to find things that we were wrong about or errors that we made and correct those things in our beliefs, in our lives.
Okay. But today's Christianity oftentimes doesn't want to change. Set in their ways.
Look around our church, and you know what you'll notice? Very few older people in our church, which doesn't make any sense because of the fact that we sing old hymns, we use the old King James Bible.
You'd think that older people would love this church, old-fashioned. But yet, look around, and the average person in this church is like 30 years old.
And it's filled with children and young people and teenagers and people in their 20s, 30s, 40s.
And it's just a handful of people from the older generation, and I'll tell you why.
The reason I say that is because the older generation is set in their ways, doesn't want to change anything.
They just want to go somewhere comfortable that's just going to tell them what they already know and what they already believe.
And you know, those that are in our church that are older, I salute you.
I salute you for being a red-hot fundamental Baptist at your age because you know what? You're a rare person.
Because most people that are older, they want to just get comfortable and they're just set in their ways.
They don't want to learn anything new. They don't want to make any changes in their life.
So they're just kind of stuck where they're at.
But you know what? We should always be learning and growing all the way to the end of our lives.
I hope that when I'm in my 50s or my 60s or my 70s that I'm still learning and growing and improving, that I'm not just stuck.
The Bible talks about the old and foolish king who will no longer be admonished.
He says, better the poor, young, humble child is better than the old, wise, even the king himself.
Now, I keep saying wise, but I mean foolish.
The old foolish king who will no longer be admonished.
We should never get to an age where we'll no longer be admonished.
We will never listen to correction anymore.
Unfortunately, that's where a lot of older people get.
And that's why they don't really like a church like ours.
They don't really want to hear anything new.
They want to go to the church that's comfortable and safe for them.
This church is too scary for them.
It might actually challenge something that they believe or do.
So we see that a lot of people's mentality, they come to church and they act like they're sincere.
They claim to want to learn something.
They claim to want to obey the voice of the Lord.
They claim to want to do right in their lives.
But in reality, they're dissembling in their heart.
What they're really looking for is somebody to just rubber stamp everything that they already believe and preach and do and make them feel good.
And they're dissembling in their heart. They're lying.
Sometimes people will even just go to the pastor himself and act like they're seeking counseling or counsel or advice,
when in reality, they've already made up their mind what they want to do.
They're hoping that the pastor is going to tell them what they want to hear so that they can go tell other people,
well, I asked the pastor and he says I'm right.
You know, he said that what I'm doing is right.
But if he says no to them, then they'll just go shop around another opinion.
Okay.
The other thing that I notice about this chapter is that when people hear the word of God from the preacher
and it doesn't jive with what they want it to be, here's what they'll often claim, and it's a false claim.
They'll claim, oh, well, I just don't believe in that doctrine.
Because, you know, look what they say.
Nobody wants to admit, well, yeah, that's what the Bible says, but I'm not going to do it.
Right?
Because that makes them look bad.
So what they say is, well, that's not really what the Bible says.
Even though it's clearly what the Bible says, they'll claim, like, well, I just don't see it that way.
I just don't believe it that way.
And that's what they say to Jeremiah, like, well, the Lord didn't really give you that answer.
You're making that up.
In fact, this other guy, Baruch, who's actually Jeremiah's scribe, Jeremiah's subordinate,
but, you know, he's actually your puppeteer.
He's the one who told you to say this stuff.
But this is what I like to call the doctrine of convenience.
Okay.
Let me give you an example.
Today, a lot of preachers in America are afraid to preach out on the Sodomites because it's so unpopular
and because it makes people so upset and it'll even draw media attention.
If you just preach a normal biblical sermon about the Sodomites, people will just lose their minds.
Right?
So then what they do is when you confront these people, like, hey, man, why don't you have the guts to preach everything the Bible says?
Why don't you have the guts to preach the truth about the Sodomites?
Here's what they'll say.
Well, I just don't see it like you do.
I just don't believe in the doctrine, you know.
I just have a little different belief on that subject.
But it's funny because 10 years ago, they believed like us on it.
Or 20 years ago, they all believed like us.
But then they have this, what I call the doctrine of convenience.
Like, well, isn't it so convenient how your doctrine seems to magically adjust with society?
Right.
In lockstep with, as society changes, your doctrine kind of magically changes with it.
And you just conveniently happen to just believe the doctrines that are popular and not agree with stuff that could get you into trouble for preaching.
You know, so basically instead of just saying, well, I'm scared.
I'm afraid to preach the whole Bible.
They just say, well, I just don't agree with your interpretation of that passage.
Even though it's all in English.
It doesn't really need an interpreter.
It says what it says.
It means what it means.
But they, well, I just, you know, I just see it a little different, you know.
You know, there was a guy in Brother Jimenez's church that sat through his heart sermon back in June that got him into hot water with the children of Belial.
And loved every minute of it.
Talked about how great the sermon was.
Then he came under a little persecution in his personal life.
And a few days later said, well, I don't agree with that sermon.
Even though at the time he agreed with it, the day after, even after he slept on it, he still agreed with that sermon.
Three days go by, all of a sudden he said, well, I never saw eye to eye with Brother Jimenez on that one.
Well, isn't that convenient?
It's a doctrine, you know, that's what I call the doctrine of convenience.
The convenient little doctrinal shift when you're into hot water.
And, you know, it really blows my mind how, you know, people don't want to take a stand for what's right.
They don't want to be persecuted.
They don't want to go through any afflictions.
It's really amazing how at the first sign of persecution, some people, they fold like a deck of cards.
And it's really a shame.
You know, the Bible says that we should be steadfast and unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labor is not in vain, the Lord.
And, you know, if I actually believed that these people were seeing the doctrine differently, I'd have more respect for them.
Except I know that that's not true because in the past they all agreed with it and then all of a sudden they just conveniently shifted with the times.
Little hard for me to believe that that's a coincidence.
But people, sometimes they come at you with questions, you know, as a pastor and they're not really sincere.
They're not really asking you questions.
Do you remember when you were in school and that kid would raise his hand with a question but it wasn't really a question?
He'd then stand up and make a statement.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
He'd be like, does anybody have a question?
And then he'd say, well, isn't it true that, and then he just makes a statement.
Yes, Johnny, that's true.
Okay, thanks.
Sits down.
Right?
Ten minutes later.
Teacher, isn't it true that, you know, in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue?
Yes, Johnny, that's true.
Okay, thanks.
Just checking.
You know, that's his question.
So a lot of times people say it's a question, it's really a statement.
Okay.
So when people question you, they're not always being sincere, they're not always being legitimate.
It's funny because I was studying this passage for my sermon tonight and I got a phone call today that just totally exemplified this passage.
A guy called me up with a few questions today.
I always regret it when I answer the phone to a number that I don't recognize.
Every once in a while I do it and then I regret it and then I just think to myself, I'm not going to do it again, not going to do it again, not going to do it again.
So I let Brother Baker and Brother Cursway talk to all these people that call, you know, and talk to them and help them.
You know, and there's a lot of wonderful people that call, a lot of really sincere people, nice people, and there are a lot of people who have good questions and get good answers.
And, you know, so I don't want you to get me wrong, but there are a lot of bozos too, unfortunately, sadly.
I know because I used to answer the phone.
My wife, in the early days of our church, my wife answered the phone.
She wanted a cell phone and I said, you can have a cell phone on one condition.
It's the church number and you have to answer it.
Okay, you know.
So she spent years dealing with the bozos.
In 2009 it got too weird so she passed that off to me.
Then it just kind of was in a no man's land for many years and then Brother Baker now deals with it and other people deal with it.
So he's heard it all, seen it all, talked to them all.
So anyway, you know, I get this call and for a split second I thought, I think I know this guy.
But then just right as I'm pushing accept, I'm thinking, I don't know this guy.
What am I, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Okay, so then, you know, the guy says, oh, hi Pastor Anderson, you know.
Hey, I've got a couple questions about the, you know, about the, you know, your position on the timing of the rapture, you know, about the pre-wrath rapture.
You know, I got some questions about that.
He said, you know, I've seen after the tribulation a few times, listened to your sermons and I've got a few questions about this pre-wrath position on the rapture.
And, you know, so he's acting like he watched the movie, listened to the sermons.
He, you know, he's acting real positive.
He likes, he's just trying to clarify just a few points.
And he said, have you got a few minutes so that I could ask you these questions?
And I said, I said, you know, I don't have a lot of time, but yes, I do have a few minutes, you know, as long as it's something that's fairly quick, yeah, go ahead and ask me a question.
But I, you know, I pay, I pay very close attention to little things when people talk.
And one thing that jumped out at me right away was he said, you know, I have a question about this pre-wrath rapture, which just, the word this was a little out of place because it's, that's what you say about things you disdain.
Like, you know, you know, this, you know, this doctrine, this, you know, you'd say like the or your.
But I'm like, okay, you know, go ahead, fire away.
His first question was not even a question at all.
It was a statement.
Here's what he says.
He comes at me with this.
He says, well, isn't it, you know, didn't Paul say over in 1 Corinthians 15 that the rapture is a mystery?
You know, behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment and twinkling of an eye.
He said, so if Paul said it's a mystery, then basically what he's saying there, this is a question by the way, right?
Basically what he's saying there is that it's something that they've never heard of before.
So that means that Jesus never taught on it.
And Paul is rolling out the rapture as a brand new doctrine for the first time.
That's why it's called a mystery because it's never been mentioned, okay?
And he said, so Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 where it says after the tribulation, Christ comes in the clouds, the trumpet sounds, the elect are gathered.
He said, well, that can't be the rapture because the rapture is a mystery in 1 Corinthians 15.
So that's his question.
So what do you think about that?
Now at this point, I'm still giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, even though I could see where this is going, you know?
So I answered his question.
I said, well, I said, if we actually look up other mentions of the word mystery in the Bible, let's see if your definition of mystery jives.
So I said, how about 1 Timothy 3 16 and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh.
And I said, is that the very first time that the apostle Paul is rolling out this brand new doctrine that God was manifest in the flesh?
Says this, the first teaching in the Bible that God's going to become flesh.
I mean, didn't it say in Isaiah nine, six that, you know, be under us, a child is born under us, a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the Prince of peace, the mighty God, the everlasting father.
I mean, didn't it say that a virgin would conceive and be with child and his name would be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us.
So God dwelling amongst man, God being made flesh, the incarnation of Christ, the deity of Jesus Christ.
That's not something new that's being brought out in 1 Timothy 3 16.
The reason that he said great is the mystery of godliness is because that's something that's hard to understand.
I mean, how could God, the creator of the universe become a human being?
That's mysterious.
That is a mystery, right?
Without controversy, meaning nobody could argue with the fact, there's no controversy over the fact that it's a great mystery that God was manifest in the flesh because God becoming a human being is a pretty amazing thing.
It's mind blowing.
I said, that's what mystery means.
It doesn't mean it's some new thing.
And I said, when the Bible says, behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, we shall all be changed in a moment and a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.
I said, that's a mystery because how could dead bodies that have been decaying in the earth for years and years and years, how could they be raised up incorruptible?
And actually become a glorified body like unto his glorious body.
I mean, that's pretty amazing.
That's pretty mind blowing.
That's a mystery how that could happen.
You know, with what body do they come?
The foolish man would ask in 1 Corinthians 15.
But the wise man by faith believes God's word that even though we can't fully wrap our mind around the incarnation of Christ or God being made flesh, even though we can't fully wrap our mind around the resurrection of the dead bodily at the rapture, we believe it by faith.
It's a mystery.
How about open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel?
Is that the first time he's rolling out the gospel?
How about the deacons need to hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience?
Is that some new doctrine?
And then I said, if I went to Barnes and Noble and I went to the mystery section, should I expect to read about new things that have never been mentioned, that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world?
Or would I expect to read about things that I don't fully understand, that I don't fully comprehend?
I don't really know where the story's going until I get to the end of the book.
That's what a mystery is.
You don't really know the full story.
You're piecing it together.
You see through a glass darkly.
In the end, it all makes sense.
That's a mystery.
Okay.
Now, if the guy were really sincere, what would a normal person say at that point in the conversation?
Brother Shelley, what would a normal person say to that?
Great answer is what an intelligent person would say, or they would just say, okay, I see what you're saying.
Yeah, that's a good point.
That makes sense.
Let me think about that.
Let me study that further.
Even if they weren't smart enough to embrace that answer immediately for the obviously right answer that it is, because it's pretty clear that that's what mystery means.
But even if they were stuck on it, they would at least say, okay, yeah, that makes sense.
I'm going to check that out.
But this is the way.
He just ignores everything I say and just, well, next question.
Argues with me a little bit.
Well, but a mystery, but, I mean, Barnes & Noble has nothing to do with it, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Next question.
And I'm just like, what in the world?
And the guy, so then I, you know, at this point, I'm a little curt with the guy.
And he says, well, it sounds like you're getting annoyed with me.
And I said, well, I said, yeah, I am kind of annoyed because I said, I don't think this is a sincere phone call.
I don't think these are sincere questions.
I think you've dissembled in your heart when you called me.
You don't really want to learn.
You don't want to know what I'm teaching.
You're just calling to argue with me about why you just want to believe in the preacher rapture for whatever reason, even though it's not biblical.
No, no, no, no.
You misunderstand.
You know, no, I'm telling you, I wouldn't waste your time like this.
I have better things to do with my time.
I know you do.
And I'm thinking like, yeah, I know.
So he's like, well, you know, so I'm like, okay, what, you know, what's your, what's your next question?
His next question was even stupider.
The third question was stupid.
It was, I said, I said, look, the reason you called me is to give me a three point sermon on why it's pre-trip.
I said, look, if you want to believe in the preacher rapture, go believe in it.
I don't care what you believe.
I don't, I didn't call you.
Why are you calling me?
And wasting my, no, no, no, no, no.
I thought you'd be much nicer.
I listened to your sermons and I thought you'd be much nicer.
I'm thinking like, which sermon did you listen to, buddy?
Just kidding.
But I have, you know, but the funny thing is I am a nice guy.
And you know, a lot of people, even people who come at me disagreeing with me, especially on prophecy, if somebody disagrees on prophecy,
I don't think that means that they're a bad person or it's not a deal breaker for, for being friends.
So I can still be friends with people and, and have a friendly discussion, but it's just these type of conversations are, they're lies.
You know, when you sit there and say, oh, I, yeah, I, I, I'm listening to what you're saying, but I just have a couple of questions, but you know, I'm, I'm hearing everything you're saying.
I understand it.
It sounds great, but I just have a few questions.
He didn't believe anything that I taught.
I'll tell you what's really going on.
It's exactly the same as Johanan, the son of Korea.
That's why it's such a perfect illustration.
Why did Johanan, the son of Korea, think about this.
Why did he show up with all the children of Judah that were left and go through this charade of asking Jeremiah and then waiting 10 days for an answer just so that they could reject it?
It doesn't, does it really make sense?
Like, why would you do that?
Why even ask Jeremiah?
If you already know you're not going to obey, why go through the 10 day waiting period?
I'll tell you why.
Because he's putting on a show in front of other people because I bet you that there were some of the children of Judah that are there that are kind of not sure, man, I don't know if we should go to Egypt.
Maybe we should ask Jeremiah.
He doesn't respect Jeremiah, but probably some of the people in the crowd might've just wanted to set their mind at ease.
They wanted that rubber stamp.
Some of them did.
So I think Johanan is just going through the motions to kind of show everybody, see, we talked to Jeremiah.
He lied to us.
Let's go to Egypt.
You know, that's what he wants to be able to say like, hey, we tried it.
We talked to him.
We checked in with him.
And they're just basically trying to go through the motions, but they don't really mean it.
It's sort of like when King Ahab, you know, consults the word of the Lord.
And he brings in all these phony preachers that tell him.
And Jehoshaphat says, well, you know, is there another preacher we could listen to?
He could just kind of look at these guys and tell that they weren't legit.
So he says, well, there's another guy, but I hate him.
You know, Micaiah, the son of Imlah.
Then he's brought in.
He gives the opposite advice.
And, of course, he's arrested and put in jail and nobody listens to him and so forth.
So the point is that a lot of times people are just going through the motions.
I think this guy who called me, because, of course, here's a shock.
You ready for a shock?
He's in full-time Christian service.
Yeah.
You know why?
Because anybody who's in the pew, when they watch after the tribulation, they pretty much
walk away believing in it.
It's only pastors, assistant pastors, and missionaries who choke on this doctrine.
Hmm, might have something to do with their paycheck, their job, because they're going
to lose it if they switch, like Pastor Ram Angad who had 28 supporting churches that
all canceled him when he came out and said, I don't believe in the pre-trib rapture.
So, yeah, these pastors and assistant pastors and missionaries, they have an agenda to stay
on the popular doctrine, stay on the party line, stay on the pre-trib.
So, therefore, what a shock that this guy who's just completely stuck on this false
doctrine, just grasping at straws, but isn't it a mystery?
You know, he's grasping at straws.
Why?
Because he's in full-time Christian service because he's a youth pastor.
So he's going to lose his job.
He's going to lose his gig as the youth pastor if he's not pre-trib.
My prediction, and obviously I can only guess, what I know for sure is that the guy was calling
me, he was dissembling, he was lying.
That was crystal clear to me.
And what I also know for sure is that the guy, you know, has some ulterior motive for
being stuck on the pre-trib.
But here's my speculation.
Let me speculate a little here.
I'll bet you somebody came at him with after the tribulation, confronting him about being
pre-trib, stumped him, showed him up.
So he went back and watched after the tribulation a couple of times because I believe he was
telling the truth when he said, I watched the movie a couple of times and I have a few
questions.
He did watch the movie and he did have a few questions because people don't usually lie
directly.
They usually lie indirectly.
Okay.
So there's always a little truth that they mix in.
So basically, I think what happened is he's watching after the tribulation, trying to
debunk it, and he thinks he's all, ha, I got him on this mystery thing.
Okay.
So he's watching the movie.
He's going through the sermon.
Not because he's trying to learn, but he's trying to take it apart.
And that's the best he came up with.
Okay.
Question number one, the mystery.
Ooh, you just sunk my battleship.
Not.
Okay.
But then he said, so then what he does is he comes at us with these questions because
then he basically wants to go back to those people and say, well, I called Pastor Anderson.
He was mean to me.
Ergo, the rapture's pre-trib.
Case closed.
I mean, if Pastor Anderson was mean to me, that must mean that it's pre-trib.
Because he seemed real happy at the end of the phone call.
He seemed like he really got what he wanted out of his phone call because Pastor Anderson
chewed him out a little bit.
So now he can go tell people that I'm mean or whatever.
I just told a guy, at the end of the phone call, I just said, dude, why are you being
such a baby?
Why do you keep bringing up how I'm talking to you?
You want to call me back when you reach puberty?
I mean, what in the world?
Like, you can't just talk man-to-man.
I have to handle you with kid gloves or something?
Like, you're not being nice to me.
You're being mean.
I mean, I wasn't calling the guy names just because I'm telling him, no, you're wrong.
No, I said, that doesn't make any sense.
That's silly.
It's like, can we talk like adults?
Too many babies in this millennial generation.
You know, the baby boomers got their own sermon.
The millennials need a sermon too.
On being a baby, like, they can't receive correction.
Or they can't even just have a debate without just getting all, ah, you're mean.
It's like, whoa, buddy.
Some of us actually get fired up about what we believe.
Sorry, and I wasn't mean to the guy.
I just got a little bit upset and angry when somebody's lying to my face because the Bible says the lying tongue hated those who were afflicted by it.
And I told the guy, I said, I'm not stupid.
I wasn't born yesterday.
I said, I've answered hundreds and hundreds of questions legitimately to people.
And I've had plenty of people come up and try this number that you're trying with me right now.
And I told the story to Brother Baker and he said that that happens to him all the time.
Where people call him to ask a few questions and they're just preaching lies to him.
Right?
So anyway, this story kind of came to life today for me.
Because, you know, Johanan, the son of Korea, he wants to ask questions of the man of God.
He goes to church.
He listens to the sermon.
But he's not really there to learn.
He's there to just say, well, I don't believe in it and I'm going to do what I wanted to do anyway before I even got here.
Now, the Bible does say that we should search the scriptures daily whether the things that are preached are so.
We come to church, we hear preaching, we should search the scriptures and see whether those things are so.
But it also says that we should receive the word with all readiness of mind in the same verse.
It said that those that were in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica because it says they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scripture daily whether those things were so.
So we don't want to come at Bible teaching and Bible scripture just with a desire to debunk because we already know what we believe and we're not ready to learn anything or listen to anything.
You know, especially when you believe in something as ridiculous and unbiblical as the pre-Trib rapture.
Let me just say it like it is.
Get a clue, friend.
Anyway, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the book of Jeremiah, Lord, and we thank you for the man Jeremiah that was a great example.
Lord, help us not to be like Johanan the son of Korea and the children of Judah here that just they approach preaching, they approach the Bible, they approach church with a desire to hear what they already know and what they already believe.
Help us to have a desire to grow and learn and if we're wrong to admit we're wrong and embrace the truth.
Help us not to be prideful and arrogant, Lord, like you called these guys in chapter 43, all the men of pride.
Help us not to be men of pride that just won't listen to the word when it's preached to us from the Bible itself.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.