And then chapter 5 verse 1, the Bible reads,
And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake.
But the fishermen were gone out of them were washing their nets,
and he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land.
And he sat down and taught the people out of the ships.
What we see here is Jesus Christ getting onto this ship
and teaching people from the ship because there's such a big crowd there.
The Bible says in verse 1 that they pressed upon them to hear the word of God.
So it was a little too tight, a little too confined.
So he gets out on a ship and then he can speak over the water
because the water tends to carry your voice.
So the crowd is assembled on the shore.
He stands on the ship to preach.
You know, the first thing I want to point out here is that preaching the word of God
can often draw a crowd, and it is possible to preach to large crowds,
just preaching the word of God, because the Bible says
that they pressed upon him to hear the word of God.
That's what they were there for.
They weren't there for any gimmicks or anything.
They weren't there because there was a Christian rock band
that was going to be playing before Jesus preached, and that was the attraction.
They actually came just to hear the word of God preached.
That's what motivated them to be there.
That's why they were pressing toward him to hear the word of God.
And today, in 2017, the word of God still has power,
and it's still possible to reach people with the word of God,
and to assemble a crowd of people to hear the Bible being preached
without using cheap tricks and gimmicks to do it.
Too many people today, they think that in 2017, the only way to engage the culture,
you know, the only way to connect with the youth, is to use some kind of a gimmick
where we have to dress up like a teenager, or bring in a rock and roll band,
or bring in the dancers and the backup singers in their short skirts.
But actually, just sound biblical preaching from the word of God has power,
and sure, there are a lot of people who don't want to hear it,
but nuts to them.
Let's cater to the people who do want to hear it.
You don't see Jesus tailoring his message to whatever's going to bring the biggest crowd.
In John chapter 6, he preached a very unpopular message,
and a lot of people left and wouldn't follow him anymore.
He looked at the people that were left and he said,
So, will you also go away?
He said, Don't let the door hit you on your way out, is what he meant by that.
He's saying, Hey, if you guys want to leave, go ahead and leave.
Jesus did not trim his message or tailor his message to fit what people wanted,
he preached the word of God, he preached it without adulterating it or watering it down,
and there were people who wanted to hear it.
And Jesus just kept saying over and over again,
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.
Basically, what he's saying is if you don't have ears to hear it, tough.
I'm not going to change the message.
And that's the attitude that we should have today as preachers,
where we just get up and just preach the Bible,
just teach the truth, don't sugarcoat it, don't cut anything out,
don't add anything to it, and don't rely on gimmicks.
Now, you know, music is an important part of our service
because it prepares our hearts to receive the preaching.
The Bible says that we should be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.
So it's an important part of the service.
It's part of the teaching is through song.
It's also getting us in the Spirit, ready to listen to the preaching of God's word,
ready to preach the word of God.
And so it serves a vital function.
But our church is not built on music and no church should be built on music.
And no great soul winning movement has ever been built around music.
You know, music has its place, but the emphasis is on the preaching of God's word.
You say prove it.
Okay, well, how about if we read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
and show me all the music acts that Jesus and his disciples perform for the crowds
and then show me all the sermons that they preach and all the Bible that they preach.
Now, we know that they did sing because if they didn't sing,
they'd be disobeying the word of God because the Bible tells us over and over again
to sing unto the Lord a new song and to lift up our voices and praise the Lord.
There are plenty of commands like that.
And we see examples, for example, at the last supper where Jesus' disciples sing a hymn.
But is that what's being emphasized in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans?
But yet in many churches, that's the emphasis.
You'll have 45 minutes of music or more and then a 15, 20 minute sermonette.
And that's the emphasis.
And it's all about drawing people in.
Look, I remember when Billy Graham came to Sacramento, California when I was a teenager
and I was in a backslidden condition.
We'd been out of fundamental Baptist churches for a long time.
We were going to a liberal church and I was actually tempted to go there
even though I'd heard my dad my whole life rail upon Billy Graham as a false prophet.
But you know how teenagers are.
Sometimes they think they know better than their parents.
And so as a teenager, I was thinking to myself, I don't care about Billy Graham,
but I want to go because there's all these bands playing before Billy Graham.
That sounds fun.
I was just going to go for the concert.
All the Christian rock bands that are going to be playing,
all your friends are going, all the youth groups are going.
And that's how all these big crusades are.
When you get a flyer for the crusade, it's like pages and pages of pictures
of all these weirdo looking bands, all these long haired dudes
and all these skanky looking women and all these effeminate guys and everything.
And it's just all these weird punked out rock bands.
And then it's like, oh, and by the way, here's the special speaker.
And you're like, who's that guy?
You don't even care.
And they bring in crowds and crowds of people.
And then he said, oh, look how successful this preacher is.
Look how successful this crusade is.
Look at all the people who are being saved.
When in reality, it's just everybody's showing up for a rock concert.
Because you know what?
If a rock band showed up, they'd have the same crowd.
Same thing.
Say, well, yeah, but at least they're hearing the word of God.
No, what they're hearing is a soft soap sermon from the NIV,
which isn't going to save anybody.
Because it's not even the incorruptible seed of God's word.
It's a corruptible seed.
It's a perverted gospel from a perverted Bible.
It's not even the word of God.
It's not even the King James Bible.
It's not even that which has been preserved and passed down to us.
It's a new version that changes the meaning.
And then it's a gospel that's a false gospel.
Give your life over to Christ and make a commitment to Christ.
Not about salvation by grace through faith,
but something that's just a thinly veiled works-based salvation
or commitment-based salvation.
But the real thing that's going on there is just the music.
It's all about the music.
And we need to make sure that we keep the emphasis on the word of God.
That's where it belongs.
And we don't need to have a gimmick,
but let's also not get this attitude that I've seen among some fundamentalists
that they say,
well, today because we're living in the last days,
it's impossible to grow.
Because, you know, the Bible said there'd come a time
when people would turn away their ears from the truth.
And so nowadays you just can't grow.
I don't believe that.
I believe that in any generation we can win people to Christ.
We can grow.
We can have a big church.
We can reach people.
It can be done in all generations.
In fact, I think some of the greatest exploits for the Kingdom of God
will be done in the last days before the second coming of Christ.
The Bible prophesies that those who know God in those days
will be strong and do exploits.
And that those that are wise among the people will instruct many.
And the Bible says he that win its souls is wise.
So I believe that there's going to be a lot of soul winning in the end times.
And our church is a part of that.
And all believers everywhere should be a part of that.
We need to be fishers of men.
And we need to understand that God's Word is every bit as powerful in 2017
as it was when Jesus Christ stood on that boat and preached.
And people wanted to hear it so bad they're pressing against him.
You know what?
There are a lot of people in our nation that are hardened to the Word of God.
They don't want to hear it.
But there are still 7,000 men who haven't bowed the knee to Baal.
There's still a remnant that does hunger and thirst after righteousness.
And at this church they're going to be filled.
We're not going to cater toward the ungodly.
We want to cater toward the people who actually hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Now there are other places in the world where you can go
where people really are hungry for the Word of God.
And where people are thronging you and lining up to hear the Gospel.
This isn't one of them.
But that's okay because we'll go out and find the one who is.
Because no matter where you go soul winning,
eventually you'll find that one that's hungry for the truth.
That's hungry for the Gospel.
So he preaches the Word of God from the ship.
The Bible doesn't record the sermon but it says in verse 4,
Now when he had left speaking,
so he finishes the sermon,
he said unto Simon, this is Peter,
launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.
And Simon answering said unto him,
Master, we've toiled all the night and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break.
So he said, we've toiled all night and caught nothing.
Now Jesus said at the end of verse 4, let down your nets, plural.
Let down your nets.
And Peter answers in verse 5 and says,
Well, we've toiled all night and caught nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word I'll let down the net.
Singular.
Because you're telling me, I don't think it's going to work.
We've already been fishing all night.
We didn't catch anything.
It's obviously not our day and it's probably easier to catch them at night
than it is to catch them in the daytime.
But he says, nevertheless, at thy word I'll let down the net.
So it's kind of a partial obedience.
He's told to let down all the nets, pull out all the stops.
But then say, well, I'll let down the net.
Singular.
Well, when he does, it says he enclosed a great multitude of fishes and the net break.
You know why the net break?
Because it's supposed to be two nets, that's why.
It broke because they're trying, you know, God sends them two nets worth of fishes
and they're trying to catch it in a single net.
And so, you know, it says they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship
that they should come and help them.
And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink.
And Simon Peter saw it.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down to Jesus Pete saying,
Depart from me for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was astonished and all that were with him at the draft of the fishes which they had taken.
There's so much we can learn from this story.
One thing that comes to mind right away is that working harder is not always better.
Sometimes you need to work smarter.
You can get more done sometimes by working smarter than just by working harder.
Now, Peter and his co-workers had been working pretty hard.
They toiled all night, but they caught nothing.
Here, in a very short period of time,
they're loading their ships so full that their ships are sinking.
So they're working smarter.
And in this case, working smarter is by doing it according to the Word of God.
If we're talking about the Christian life, if we're talking about serving the Lord,
working smarter means working according to God's instructions.
So if we follow God's instructions, if we do what He tells us to do,
we're going to have more success than if we're just doing it on our own,
even if we're working hard.
Now, there are a lot of churches today that are working very hard,
but they're not really accomplishing much.
And they're toiling all night and working so hard.
And they think to themselves, wow, we're working so hard.
The rewards are going to be amazing, but they're not really getting much done.
They need to worry less about how hard they're working
and start doing it according to God's Word.
Now, if you can do it according to God's Word and work hard,
that's the winning combination right there.
That's where you can really get a lot done.
But what are some examples of people working really hard for the Lord
and getting virtually nothing done?
How about tracts, gospel tracts?
When I first started soul winning,
you know, I learned bona fide soul winning when I was 17 years old,
and I've been going ever since.
But even after I learned bona fide soul winning,
some churches that I would go to, like, for example,
when I was in Germany for three months, they were really into tracts.
So they were getting me into just distributing a lot of tracts.
Hey, we can distribute.
And I've been a part of distributing 10,000 tracts in just several days.
And that's a lot of work because it doesn't sound maybe like a lot,
but distributing 10,000 tracts, I mean, that takes a long time.
And I remember when I used to distribute a lot of tracts like that,
and then, you know, even when I was back in Sacramento,
I'd still do a lot of soul winning,
but then other times I would just hand out tracts
or just put tracts on people's doors and stuff.
And I remember just thinking, oh, man, you know,
we're putting out all these tracts.
Think about how many people are going to get saved.
You know, people are going to read this and get saved.
But as I got older and wiser and smarter,
I started realizing that these tracts are virtually worthless.
They're almost totally worthless.
You hand out, I mean, if you hand out 10,000 tracts,
chances are you got zero people saved, chances are.
Now, a lot of people get offended by that.
I preached a sermon back in 2007 called why tracts are worthless.
And it made a lot of people really upset.
But I stand by everything in that sermon.
That sermon is the truth.
You know, and the problem, I hate tracts.
I hate them.
I'm against tracts.
You know why I'm against tracts?
Because they're a cheap substitute for the real thing.
That's why.
Because people hand out tracts and they absolve themselves
from actually preaching the gospel.
And so you'll have a bunch of people handing out tracts thinking,
okay, I've done my duty for the Lord.
They don't do the real soul winning.
And then people go to hell because people don't just get saved from getting a tract.
And you might have some anecdote of how one person out of a million
got saved from a tract or whatever, but it's pretty rare, folks.
I'm not going to sit there and hand out a hundred thousand tracts
and spend hundreds of man hours to maybe hopefully get one fluke person saved
because I could go out solely for one hour.
And if I'm in a receptive area, get somebody saved in one hour.
How many tracts can I hand out in one hour?
60, 70?
Okay, well, I'm about 1% complete toward getting one salvation,
which I don't think anybody even gets saved from tracts, anybody at all.
That's my opinion.
But even if somebody does just get saved from just getting a tract out of nowhere,
then anyone would tell you it'd probably take 7,000 of them or something
to get to that one person that happens to get saved from a tract, right?
So I can go, what if I went solely for 100 hours
instead of tract passing for the 100 hours it's going to take to put out those 7,000?
You know, I could get in 100 hours, I might get 30 people saved.
I might get 50 people saved.
I might get 75 people saved.
Why, you know, it's just a cheap substitute.
It's just a way to just hand somebody a piece of paper and just say,
okay, I've done my duty now.
I've given that person the gospel.
No, you have not given that person the gospel.
The Bible says, open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
You say, well, Pastor Anderson, I think you're wrong.
Okay, show me a gospel tract in the Bible.
Show me one example in this book of somebody handing out a gospel tract.
No.
And you say, well, it's not a sin to hand.
Of course, it's not a sin to hand out a gospel tract.
But you know what?
Why don't we just let the mailman do that?
If you want to just deliver things to people's door,
there's a guy who does that full time for a living.
He's called the mailman.
In fact, why don't we program a robot to do that?
We can program a robot to just go for, put the track on the door.
But you know what it's going to take to win somebody?
The Lord is a spirit-filled soul winner who opens their mouth and preaches the word of God.
And the Bible says, open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
It says, preach the gospel to every creature.
And a tract is just an easy cop out, just an excuse.
And most of these tracts are a repent of your sins type gospel anyway.
They don't even make the gospel clear anyway.
Now, our church invitation, I don't even like to call it a tract.
I call it an invitation.
It's an invitation to the church.
It shows how to get there.
And it has the plan of salvation on the back.
I, okay, we go through 20,000 of those invitations.
I think right now it takes us about three or four months to go through 20,000 of those things.
Okay, so how many have we put out since the church started?
Obviously, we've ramped up in the last few years.
But I mean, we have to put out hundreds of thousands of those invitations.
Let me just go on the record right now saying that out of the hundreds of thousands of church
invitations that we put out that have the Bible way to heaven on the back.
I personally, Steven Anderson, do not believe that a single person has ever been saved reading
the back of that.
That's my personal opinion.
Now, maybe I'm wrong, but my opinion is I don't think anybody's ever gotten saved from
reading the back of that thing.
The purpose of even putting it on there is number one, as a review so that you can actually
preach the gospel to somebody.
And then after they get saved, you can say, hey, there's a review that you could also
use to show someone else how to be saved.
You could use this to help you get someone else saved.
Or at least you can give them a verse.
You could talk to them a little and then say, hey, read this.
And then maybe that could water the seed.
But to just hand that thing to somebody and nothing else, I mean, we go through tens of
thousands of them.
Every month we're putting out many thousands of those.
So I don't see droves of people showing up at church from those things.
I don't see droves of people contact.
Hey, I got saved from that.
It's ineffective.
And that's why don't you ever go out of here on a soul winning time and just go leave those
on doors without knocking the doors.
If you are not comfortable doing soul winning, just be a silent partner.
You know, we'll pair you up with somebody who knows how to do the soil.
This is a soul winning church.
It's not a door hanger church.
It's not a tract passing church.
We will never have a tract passing time.
We will never have a door hanger time.
And you know why this preaching makes people mad?
Because churches have replaced soul winning with a door hanger.
Because they become so spiritually weak that they can't even open their mouth and just
talk to somebody about the gospel.
They're so carnal that they can't even muster up enough of the Holy Spirit's power to go
through the Romans road with somebody.
So it's just, let's just put this on the door and do like a doorbell ditch and run away
scared.
The righteous are as bold as a lion.
The wicked flee when no man pursue it.
And we got a bunch of door hanger Baptists, visitation Baptist, tract passer outer Baptist.
It's worthless, friend.
It's not working.
It's a bad idea.
There's no substitute for looking someone in the eye with the Holy Spirit inside of
you and a Bible in your hand and giving that person the gospel one-on-one.
There's no substitute for it.
It's effective.
So you see how you can work smarter and catch more fish.
Oh man, we toiled all night putting out these tracts.
Yeah, but you caught nothing.
But at thy word, we can go soloing for one hour and if a bunch of us go out soloing for
one hour, we're probably going to get somebody saved because we're working smarter because
we're working in accordance with God's word.
So many churches, they're busy.
I mean, they're super busy on the building program.
They're super busy on the Christian school raising someone else's brats.
They're super busy, you know, doing this program.
And that program, but they forgot the first love, you know, there's no soul-winning.
There's no love for the lost.
There's no following of Christ's command to go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
So there's a lot of activity going on.
A lot of churches have a lot of movement, a lot of activity, a lot of action, but no
results because toiling all night doesn't really get the job done.
It's doing it according to God's word that gets the job done.
Letting down the net, according to his word, that's, what's going to get the job done.
That's the way to do it.
I've been trying to get better at swimming lately, and I've never been a great, I've
always known how to swim just from growing up around water and having a pool in the backyard,
but I've never had a formal swimming lesson.
So my swimming form is a little bit ugly.
So I, you know, I was trying to improve my swimming form, trying to learn, get some tips,
looking up stuff online, asking people that I know who are good at swimming to tell me,
hey, you know, can you give me some tips?
Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Because here's the thing about swimming.
Sometimes you can work pretty hard and you're just inching forward.
And people who are good at swimming, it's like they get in the water and they're putting
forth very little effort and they're just flying.
And it's like, what in the world?
You know, I'm working way harder.
Why is he blowing my doors off?
Well, the reason why is because he's working smarter and you're working harder.
You know, you got to figure out how to swim in such a way where you're always propelling
yourself forward, not just kind of moving around a lot of water, making a lot of bubbles,
making a lot of action.
That's how a lot of churches are.
They're just like flailing in the water.
They're thrashing about like a drowning man.
You know, what we need to be doing is just a nice, perfect form, freestyle stroke.
We're doing a flip turn.
We're doing, we're lapping them and lapping them, you know.
Why?
Because it's not because we're in better shape.
It's not because we're stronger.
It's not because we have more energy.
It's not because we don't sleep enough or because we're skipping, skipping sleep and
sleeping.
It's not because we don't sleep enough or because we're skipping, skipping sleep and
skipping meals and burning the candle.
No, no, no.
It's that we know how to swim, right?
We learn the technique.
We learn the force.
Look, get into the, get into the manual here and learn the stroke.
Get into the manual here.
Learn what God tells us to do.
Get out there and do it.
And it's amazing how effective it is when you get out there and do things his way.
You get things done.
So that's what I love about this story is it shows the difference between working hard
at something that God did not tell you to do versus obeying Christ's command, putting
forth a little effort.
And then you know what else is great is that when you start catching fish, then you can
start motivating other people to get involved because notice how it says that when they
start catching a lot of fish, they beckoned under their partners, verse seven, which were
in the other ship that they should come and help them.
And they came and filled both the ships so that they began to sink.
See, that's what we want to do.
We don't care whether the fish go into our ship or other ships, other churches.
We just want to get fish into the ship, right?
It doesn't really matter.
We're all on the same team.
We're all partners in the gospel.
If we all believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, if we're all believing
in the same word of God, the King James Bible, not these modern substitute Bibles.
But when we start catching a lot of fish, then we beckon, hey, buddy, come on over here.
Help us out.
We have a soul winning marathon.
Other people from other ships show up.
We start pulling in the net.
We start bringing in the fish.
And then they go back to their ship and they start using the methods that they learned.
So soul winning can spread here to other ships, to other churches.
And that's what we need.
And you know what?
Every generation has had movements like this where people get excited about soul winning
and it spreads like wildfire.
Other churches pick up on it.
A lot of people get saved.
But today, a lot of churches, they're in decline instead of being growing and getting excited
and winning more souls than ever.
They're just on a controlled demolition.
Just a controlled fall, a controlled descent.
We need to beckon to these other ships and get them to get some fish into their own ship.
So they were astonished.
And the Bible says in verse 10, so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which
were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him.
So we see here that Peter and Andrew and James and John, they stop fishing.
Actually, this is where they don't fish anymore because from henceforth, from here on out,
they're going to catch men.
So they stop being a physical fisherman and they become a fisher of men.
And for the next three plus years, they're going to be out preaching every day.
They're out soul winning.
That becomes their main job.
That becomes their livelihood.
That's all they do.
You never see them fishing again until after the resurrection, when Peter gets backslidden
and he goes back to the old way of life of fishing and he brings a bunch of people with
them.
Jesus shows up immediately and corrects him.
And he says to him, you know, love us thou me more than these.
You say, why are you going back to the fish?
You need to follow me.
You need to preach the word of God.
So that's a one lapse where Peter goes back to fishing.
But here's my question then.
So why is it that the teaching is out there amongst a lot of people that preachers must
work a secular job also?
That's what they teach.
You know, be like the apostle Paul and make tents.
Well, that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
You don't see Peter working a secular job.
You see him being specifically told not to work a secular job and to focus on fishing
for men.
See, if you wanted to be one of Jesus' apostles, it was not a part time position.
It was a full time position.
Anybody who said, hey, I got to do this.
I got to go bury my dad.
I got, you know, he said, no, you follow me now.
I'm leaving now.
Let the dead bury their dead.
Oh, let me go say goodbye to everybody at home.
He said, hey, any man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the
kingdom of God.
It was follow me.
It's full time.
It's not a part time position.
Now, I don't think it's wrong for a pastor to work a secular job.
That's what I did for the first four and a half years.
I didn't get paid at all from the church.
I just worked full time in the world and I started the church because the church is small.
It's starting out.
There was no money to even pay anyone.
So I basically just worked my full time job for four and a half years and I did this.
And then for many years thereafter, I did both.
I worked part time for the church, part time, my secular job.
And then as of, I believe, uh, the end of 2013, I think, I think the beginning of 2014
is when I became full time to where I'm just working full time for the church and I don't
have a secular job.
Well, here's the thing about that is that this, the lifestyle of working full time and
pastoring full time was not really sustainable for a lifetime.
It was one of those things that you have to do for a while and you know, you got to get
the church off the ground, you do what you got to do, but you can't really live that
way for your whole life because you need some time with your family and your kids and it's
not a healthy lifestyle.
You know, just working crazy hours, skipping sleep all the time.
So I was working like 75 hours a week at my job and pastoring and it was just, it was,
it was a nightmare, but it was just something that you got to get done.
You know, at times in life you do things like that, but I wouldn't have wanted to live
that lifestyle for my whole life.
Now you say, well, you know, Paul and Barnabas did it.
Yeah, but the other 80 plus apostles didn't do it.
The other 80 plus apostles did not have jobs.
Paul and Barnabas said, we're the only ones who are working.
He said, don't we have power to forbear working like all the other apostles?
And by the way, the difference with Paul and Barnabas too is that Paul and Barnabas were
single.
All the other apostles are married.
Every bishop, elder, pastor in the New Testament is required to be married.
He's required to have children.
And so that's a little different than Paul, who's one guy.
He can travel, make some tents.
And by the way, Paul also lived off of offerings as well.
He did not only just live off the tents.
See, we need to read the Bible a little more carefully.
He's constantly talking about people sending money for him and sending him food and taking
care of him and giving him money.
Now, certain places he refused to take anything like in Thessalonica because they were so
lazy he wanted to show them an example of how to work hard.
So he set that example.
Other places, he did take the support from them.
Jesus was not running a carpentry business on the side.
The Bible lists off people who were ministering unto him of their goods.
There were a whole bunch of people who were supporting him financially, supporting him
physically and taking care of him.
And so Jesus, the apostles, the bishops, the pastors, the elders in the Bible, they lived
of the gospel.
Now, when you're starting a church, that's often not possible.
And I salute every pastor who is working hard right now, a secular job and pastoring the
church.
It's a difficult balance there to do both.
But I personally don't think that that's the best case scenario long term.
But if somebody wants to do that long term, great, good for them.
But I think that it's God's will that we put down the net and focus on fishing for
men as pastors, as preachers, as men of God.
That's what the Bible teaches.
So they forsook all.
They forsook the nets.
They forsook their business.
And they followed him by faith.
Look at verse 12.
And it came to pass when he was in a certain city.
Behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus fell on his face and besought him, saying,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean.
And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
And he charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for
thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.
Which proves, by the way, that animal sacrifices were still going on at the time of Christ.
There are other passages that get more specific about different offerings that people offered
when they're cleansed of leprosy or when a baby was born or things of that nature.
Also, it's interesting that it tells them, offer the gift that Moses commanded for a
testimony unto them.
I'm quoting Matthew now, but it's pretty much the same wording here.
To offer the gift that Moses commanded for testimony unto them, basically expecting him
to know what that is or to go look that up in his Bible.
Right?
So at least he has to know the word of God or research the word of God on that.
But so much the more, verse 15, went there of fame abroad of him and great multitudes
came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
And notice, they weren't all just coming for the healing.
Many of them just wanted to come to hear.
They just wanted to hear the word of God.
Verse 16, and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.
And it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
And behold, men brought in a bed, a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means
to bring him in and to lay him before him.
And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the
midst before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said unto them, and to him, man, thy sins are forgiven
thee.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, well, who is this which speak
in blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
So notice, it says in verse 17, the Pharisees and doctors of the law came.
And then he performs this miracle of, or he's about to perform this miracle of healing.
And then it says that the Pharisees began to reason with the scribes, saying, well,
you know, he's speaking blasphemy because only God can forgive sin.
So basically, these doctors of the law are the scribes, right?
Because it's used interchangeably.
First says the doctors of the law and the Pharisees.
Then it says the scribes and the Pharisees.
Now, in the Bible, whenever we see people being called the doctors, it's never the apostles.
It's never Christians that are called doctors.
You know what I mean?
It's these Pharisees and scribes, these unbelieving Jews who Jesus is constantly saying they love
the accolades of man.
They love to be exalted of man.
They love the long clothing.
They love the greeting in the marketplace.
They love the high seats at the synagogue.
So why should we as Christians take the title doctor?
Now, if you have a stethoscope, then yeah, you're doctor.
There's nothing wrong with being called doctor if you are a doctor.
Is there a doctor in the house, right?
But don't call yourself doctor as a spiritual title.
Why?
So you could be like the Pharisees or the scribes.
Which one are you trying to be like?
Because you're not trying to be like John the Baptist.
He's not called John the doctor.
He could have called him that if he wanted to, right?
Then cometh John the doctor preaching in the wilderness.
No, but why do people like to be called doctor?
Because they like these letters of commendation
and these titles and to lift themselves up.
Now there's nothing wrong with using a biblical title.
What's wrong with Bishop?
What's wrong with pastor?
What's wrong with elder?
Why do we need doctor?
People are always trying to come up with these titles to exalt themselves
instead of just taking a normal title.
The purpose of being called a pastor is just that's what you are.
A deacon, a pastor.
It's a biblical role.
It's a biblical job.
Going beyond that, calling yourself master of theology, doctor of divinity.
Or there's this thing in Africa now where people call themselves a major prophet.
Like there's a prophet and there's a major prophet.
So you know how you have like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel are called the major prophets.
Then you have the minor prophets.
But it's funny how you don't have a lot of guys going around in Africa
calling themselves a minor prophet.
Now, you know, if I read the Bible, there's five books
and it's the books that are called that by the way.
But you know, the five books called the major prophets.
Then there's 12 books that are called the minor prophets.
But over there in Africa, there's way too many chiefs and way too few Indians.
Because I, you know, for every minor prophet, there's probably 20 major prophets.
I mean, what kind of a full of themselves person goes around
calling itself major prophet Anderson?
Major prophet.
It's like, how do you get to that level of being a major prophet?
And by the way, a lot of these pastors and preachers who call themselves doctor,
they just give each other doctorates.
They start these Bible institutes, they start these Bible colleges,
and then they just like parade each other across their platforms.
Like, you know, why don't I just start a little faithful word Bible college
and then I'll give a doctorate to Roger Jimenez.
And then he could give me a doctorate and then I could give a doctorate to Dave Burzins.
And then we're all just going to be called Dr. Anderson.
Dr. Jimenez.
Dr. Burzins.
You know, just all of our we just give all of our friends doctorates.
It's lame, right?
What's the point?
And you know what it is?
It's a need to persuade.
It's insecurity.
Where you have to give yourself this lofty title to try to show everybody,
hey everybody, I know what I'm talking about.
See, we should be able to know that you know what you're talking about
without you having to put THD, PhD, DD, DDS, BS, right?
That's the most common degree that I think these Bible colleges should be handing out.
Bachelor of Science.
Amen.
But, you know, it says all these titles and degrees.
And look, there's nothing wrong with the title pastor.
A pastor is an important job.
Pastor is a position of honor.
A deacon is an honorable position.
It's an important job.
Those titles are biblical, but instead of staying with biblical titles,
we want to up the anti-major profit.
Doctor of Divinity.
Masters of the universe.
You know, and what in the world?
Bachelor?
Why is that something to go?
I was trying, I spent part of my life trying to not to be a bachelor.
These people spend years trying to achieve bachelor status.
I got married so I wouldn't be a bachelor.
That's the whole point of getting married, I thought.
But anyway, I digress.
So, you know, the doctors of the law, they say, well, this is blasphemy.
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
And you know what?
In a sense, they're right.
But what they're not recognizing is the divinity of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is God.
Yeah, who has power to forgive sins but God alone?
Well, here's the thing.
Jesus is God.
And so Jesus knows their thoughts.
He perceived their thoughts.
He answered and said unto them in verse 22,
What reason ye in your hearts?
Weather is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk.
But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.
He said unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise and take up thy couch,
and go into thine house.
And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay,
and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
And they were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying,
We have seen strange things today.
I love that statement.
We have seen strange things today.
And after these things he went forth and saw a publican named Levi,
sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, Follow me.
And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
So you see the theme in this chapter.
People are forsaking all.
They're leaving everything and following Christ.
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house,
and there was a great company of publicans.
Publicans are tax collectors or government workers, public servants.
Company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying,
Why do you eat and drink with public concerns?
I think God says their scribes and Pharisees.
So I guess this is like their pastor.
Because it uses that possessive pronoun, right?
Their scribes and Pharisees.
So these guys, you know, their own pastor is throwing them under the bus.
Like, you know, do you know how bad these people are?
That you're having over for dinner?
Their own leaders, their own religious leaders, their scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus answering and said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick.
See, what the Bible calls a physician is what we call a doctor today.
Say, well, Luke was a doctor.
Well, but Luke's called a physician.
In the Bible, because he was actually a medical doctor.
And like I said, there's nothing wrong with being a medical doctor.
It's just when people just feel the need to give themselves these titles of Dr.
Anderson.
I've had people call me Dr.
Anderson.
I've had people walk up to me at a soul winning marathon that didn't know me.
Be like, Dr.
Anderson, it's such a privilege to meet you.
And I'm like, all right, you know, I'm sorry.
I'm not a doctor, you know, if you're if this is an emergency, hang up and call 911
because I'm not a doctor.
So he said, you know, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
So this is something that we can learn from that in our church or at our meals or at our
fellowship or at a church activity or something.
It's okay if we have some rough looking people that show up or if we have some some some
scantily clad women that show up.
Or if we have some some whores and whoremongers show up or why?
Because we want to reach people.
But notice he said, I came to call sinners to repentance.
He didn't say I came to call sinners, hang out with sinners, tell sinners that their
lifestyle is fine.
So it's not come as you are, stay as you came.
It's come as you are and get the hard preaching so that you can change.
Now, again, it's not about salvation.
Salvation does not require a lifestyle change.
Salvation requires faith and faith alone, believing on Christ.
But we also are to win people to Christ and baptize them and teach them to observe all
things that Christ commanded.
So Christ ministry was not just about getting people saved.
It's also about getting people right with God.
It's also about calling sinners to repentance.
And so, yeah, the the the publicans are welcome.
The prostitutes are welcome.
The rough people are welcome.
But we need to preach the word of God to them so that they can learn to get the sin out
of their life.
A lot of churches, they say, yeah, we're going to bring in all these sinful people.
Well, great.
But then you're not going to preach on sin.
Well, then what's going to happen?
You're just going to be presiding over just a den of iniquity.
Now, of course, we're all sinners, but we're not all fornicators.
We're not all drunks.
We're not all extortioners.
We're not all publicans and harlots.
And the Bible specifically talks about certain people that are being cast out of the assembly.
But it says if they're called a brother and they're a fornicator, if they're called a
brother and a drunkard not to eat with that person, put away from among yourselves that
wicked person.
But these people aren't called a brother.
These are just brand new converts or just brand new, not even conversation, unsaved
people that just their their buddy, Matthew or Levi, their buddy, Levi or Matthew.
Same person.
He got saved.
He's following Christ.
He's one of the twelve apostles.
So they're showing up at his house because Jesus, his fame has gone abroad.
He's been preaching powerful sermons.
He's been performing miracles.
So when they hear think about it, you know, let's say you're just a worldly person and
there's some famous preacher, famous prophet, and all of a sudden your buddy becomes one
of his apostles and, hey, we're having dinner at my house.
Jesus is going to be there.
Come on down.
They're excited.
They come down.
They want to meet him.
And of course, Jesus Christ is going to be the best possible person to reach them.
And he's probably going to reach many of them, not necessarily all of them, but he's going
to reach many of them.
And he's saying, this is why I'm here.
I'm here to call sinners to repentance.
They the behold need not a physician.
Why would I want to just get together with everybody who's perfectly righteous and just
talk about how righteous we are?
We're trying to reach new people.
We're trying to get new converts.
And when you go to a church and everybody looks perfect, that just probably church is
not reaching anybody.
Now, if you go to a church and everybody looks like a whore and everybody looks like a whoremonger,
well, then that church isn't preaching on sin.
What you ought to find is you go to a church where there's a lot of people that look like
they're living a pretty clean life.
And then you've got another segment of people that are the new blood, the new converts.
And everybody at some point was that new convert unless they grew up in a Christian home.
So there's nothing wrong with being that new guy.
Nothing wrong with being a publican today, if that's where you're at, as long as you're
not going to be a publican tomorrow.
Or at least next month, you're not going to be a publican.
You need to be growing.
You need to learn.
And especially on these major areas of sin.
And what are publicans?
Publicans were extortioners.
So this is something where you'd eventually be thrown out.
If you're going to just continue in extortion, you're not going to fit in in the local church.
But look, if somebody is drunk, we still bring them to church, get them saved, teach them.
But if they just want to continue in drunkenness or they're an established Christian that gets
into drinking, then it's time to cast them out, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
So we see here that we don't want to get this holier-than-thou attitude where we can't have
any sinners around us, everybody has to be dressed perfect, everybody has to be clean
and righteous and a mature Christian.
We're supposed to be reaching people.
So there should be people at all different stages, including people who are just babes
in Christ, all the way up to mature people in Christ.
So the Bible says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers?
And likewise, the disciples of the Pharisees but thine, eat and drink.
So they're just trying to pick them apart.
He's performing miracles, he's winning a ton of souls.
His church is packed with new converts that used to go to their church.
Their Pharisees and scribes just lost a member to Jesus and his church.
So they're just trying to find a way to pick them apart like, well, I mean, you guys are eating.
You're eating stuff.
What about the fasting?
Why don't you guys fast?
What did Jesus already teach?
He said, hey, when you fast, hide the fact that you're fasting.
Don't let anyone know that you're fasting.
Appear not on demand to fast.
That's what he said, right?
And when he said when you pray, go into your closet and shut the door and pray to your father in secret.
And then what are they saying?
You guys aren't fasting and praying enough.
They fast and make prayers.
You guys eat and drink.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
When you're doing as much work as Jesus and the apostles,
when you're doing as much soul winning as Jesus and the apostles, you got to eat.
It's pretty easy to fast and pray when you're overweight and you don't do any soul winning.
You could just hibernate like a bear for a week or something, right?
Just slow down your metabolism, slow down all your body's processes.
You know what?
And by the way, look, I'm for fasting.
I believe in fasting.
I believe there's a time to fast and a time not to fast.
Jesus and his disciples didn't fast while he's on.
He said, while the bridegroom's with him, they're not going to fast.
But then when the bridegroom's taken from them, then they'll fast in those days.
So there is a time when it's appropriate to fast and a time when it's not appropriate to fast.
I'm for fasting.
Fasting is godly.
Fasting is biblical.
Fasting is not a commandment.
Fasting is a free will activity.
Fasting is something that you choose to do as a free will activity.
It's not like a required once a week, once a month, once a year.
No, no, no.
It's just as the Lord leads, as you desire to fast for whatever the biblical reason.
Fasting is a whole sermon of itself.
Fasting is not required.
So we can't attack another believer.
Look, if you're criticizing other believers for not fasting,
you're a holier than thou type, like I preached about a few weeks ago.
Why aren't you fasting, buddy?
Why aren't you praying more?
How do you know what they're fasting or praying?
And since when is it your job to enforce fasting?
Here's some guys who went three and a half years without fasting.
And they were right with God.
But we see, and look, don't fast and go on a big soul winning marathon at the same time.
Because you're going to faint in the way.
It's going to be a medical emergency.
And then we're going to have to call these preachers to come resuscitate you.
Right?
Because they're doctors, right?
I mean, they should be able to get you back on your feet.
So why don't they fast?
Well, he said to them, can you make the children of the bride chamber fast
while the bridegroom's with them?
But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them.
And then so they fast in those days.
So fasting is for times when you really need something from God.
Let's say you're mourning, you're sad.
That could be a time of prayer and fasting.
You have an important decision to make, or you really need God to answer a prayer.
You can fast and pray and things like that.
But times of intense labor for the Lord are not fasting times.
But we're not always intensely laboring for the Lord.
So there are seasons of fasting, and then there are seasons of hard work and output.
And you know your body, what you're capable of, and what you should do.
The most common fast in the Bible is a one-day fast.
So fast don't have to be crazy seven-day fast, 14-day fast, 40-day fast.
The most common fast, if you look at all the fasting in the Bible, is one day.
Or sometimes it's just fasting until the sun goes down.
So you can do other moderate types of fasting.
You don't have to just go straight for the 40-dayer.
You know, tackle that 40-day fast.
And by the way, fasting doesn't make you spiritual,
because Gandhi fasted for over 40 days, and he's in hell right now.
So there you go.
It says here in verse number 36.
I'm just going to finish this part of the chapter.
I'm running out of time.
It says,
He spake also a parable unto them, no man put the piece of a new garment upon an old,
if otherwise then both the new maketh a rent,
a rent is a tear, like rending your garment,
and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old,
and no man put a new wine into old bottles,
else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled,
and the bottles shall perish,
but new wine must be put into new bottles,
and both are preserved,
no man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new,
for he saith the old is better.
Now this parable is a parable that you could use for a lot of things.
It's sort of one of these principles of life
that you kind of find yourself pulling out a lot and saying,
well, you know, the Bible says you can't put new wine into old bottles.
It's just something that you throw out there as a maxim or a proverb,
and it's something that has a lot of applications.
But if we look at where it is in the Bible,
I think that there's a primary application
that Jesus is directing this at based upon the context, right?
Now in the next verse, we move on to a totally different subject,
a different day.
So the context is that which precedes this passage.
And like I said, this proverb could go for a lot of areas of life.
It's sort of a universal type proverb.
But I believe that specifically what he's referring to
is these people who are saying to him,
because what have they just finished saying?
You know, why don't you be more like the Pharisees?
And why don't you be more like John the Baptist and his followers?
That's basically the gist of what they've been attacking him with.
Well, the Pharisees do this, and John the Baptist did this.
You know, why are you doing this?
And then he goes straight into this parable.
And so I believe that this parable is relevant to what just happened.
Otherwise, why would he just pull this out of thin air and just,
oh, by the way, let me tell you a parable.
It would make more sense if it had to do with what just happened, right?
Or what was just stated.
And you say, well, there's a little paragraph symbol in my Bible at verse 36.
So it's a new paragraph.
Those paragraph symbols were added in 1894.
Okay, just so you know, I believe that's what I've heard.
But I know for sure they weren't in the original.
I think they only go back to 1894.
That's my understanding.
But it says here that no man puts a new wine into old bottles or a new garment upon an old.
They're not going to agree.
It's not going to work.
I believe what this is referring to is that Jesus Christ, when he came to this earth and
he started the church, the New Testament church, he was starting something new.
And he started the New Covenant or the New Testament that was sanctified with his blood on the cross.
And so what we have to understand is that the New Testament is new.
The Old Testament is old.
Okay, now keep your finger here and go to Hebrews chapter eight.
Hebrews chapter eight is an important verse.
Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13.
Now, first let me explain to you that covenant and testament are both synonyms.
They both mean the same thing.
They're used interchangeably in the Bible and in the book of Hebrews.
The Bible says in Hebrews 8 13, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
So what we see there is that the Old Covenant or the Old Testament, meaning the old agreement,
the covenant that God made with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, that was sanctified
when Moses sprinkled the book and the people with the blood, that Old Testament, that Old
Covenant, that old agreement is no longer in force.
We are under now the New Covenant.
The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant.
And this is known as replacement theology.
And I believe in it.
Replacement theology, New Covenant, New Testament replaces Old Covenant or Old Testament,
meaning that the Jews can't just forget Jesus, forget the New Testament.
I'm just going to go through the Old Covenant and I'm one of God's chosen people by virtue
of the Old Covenant.
The Old Covenant is ready to vanish away.
That was a couple thousand years ago he said it's about to vanish away.
It was already in the process of vanishing away.
It was a transitional period of, hey, the New Testament began with the blood of Jesus
Christ and the Old Testament is fading away.
And we're moving into the New Testament only.
Today we are not under the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
We are under the New Covenant which replaces the Old Covenant.
It's important to understand that.
You don't just have these two different programs that God has going on.
One for the church and one for Israel.
No, no, Israel is done.
Put a fork in it.
It's done.
We're the new Israel.
We're the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh.
So what he's saying is, look, I'm not here to just put some new cloth onto an old garment.
I'm not here to put some new wine into an old bottle.
He's saying I'm bringing a new bottle, new wine, new garment, new cloth.
Now he didn't come to destroy the law of the prophets, but he came to fulfill them and
to bring in a New Covenant.
And you know what?
It even goes so far as to call it a better testament.
In Hebrews it calls it the better testament.
The better covenant.
So I believe that that's the primary application that he's making here is don't try to tell
me that I need to be more like John the Baptist.
I'm Jesus.
I'm bringing in the New Testament.
Get on my program.
Understand that I'm starting something new here.
Obviously, he's building upon the foundation of the prophets, but he's starting something
new, not putting new wine into an old bottle.
It's a whole new bottle.
It's a whole new garment.
Now verse 39 says this.
It says no man also, if you're there in Luke 5, 39, no man also having drunk old wine straightway
desireth new, for he saith the old is better.
Now this is a verse that people often point to to try to get you into drinking.
Right?
And they'll tell you, hey, you know, the old's better, amen.
But here's the thing.
You have to be drunk to believe that the old is better.
That's what it says.
This verse does not say the old's better.
You know what this verse says?
It says that the guy who just drunk old wine says that the old's better.
Does it say that God says the old is better?
Does it say that a sober man says the old's better, a righteous man, a pastor says the
old's better?
No, no, no.
It says no man having drunk old wine straightway desires new, for he says the old's better.
So if we were to go find a guy, let's go to a wine bar after church, and let's experiment
with this.
Let's go to a wine bar.
Let's go find a drunk, and let's offer him grape juice and see if he's, which one do
you want?
Bartles and James or Welch's?
I mean, when was the last time you heard of a person, you know, drinking their Don Perignon
Chateau de France or whatever?
You know, Zinfandel, and then said, oh, waiter, can I just get a glass of Welch's grape juice?
Can I get an apple juice?
Can I get an orange juice to follow that up?
Doesn't happen.
But see, people will just take this scripture and just say the old's better.
No, no, no.
Drunks think the old's better.
And you know what I've noticed?
People who believe in both the old and the new covenant happening concurrently, who say
like, well, we're under both.
And they're like the Hebrew roots type or the Judaizer type.
You know what?
They always say that the Old Testament's better.
They do.
They'll say, well, the root is not greater than the fruit.
That's one of the sayings of the Hebrew roots.
You know, we got to get to Hebrew roots.
They want to talk about the Torah.
They think that the greatest part of the Bible is Genesis through Deuteronomy.
And they think that the Torah is better than the gospel.
These Judaizer types, they totally emphasize the Old Testament.
Why?
Because they're trying to do, they drink the old wine and they say the old's better.
Whereas we need to get on the new program of the New Testament.
Now, we still read the Old Testament because all scripture is given by inspiration of God's
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
But that's not the covenant that we're under.
But people will use this to try to promote drinking.
You know, on Sunday I called out this phony pastor, Jeff Durbin.
I keep wanting to say Dick Durbin because there's that senator, right?
The Illinois liberal senator.
I just keep mixing that up.
But Jeff Durbin from the Apostasia Church in Tempe, I called him out this Sunday, you
know, and he tried to respond by saying, well, I can't even remember the last time I had
a drink.
Well, yeah, people often forget when they drink.
It's called blacking out while drunk.
But he said, I can't even remember.
Well, let me remind you.
Let me help you, Jeff.
It was when you came back from Ireland with a bunch of whiskey that you gave to James
White and your friends.
Does that help?
Check your calendar, buddy.
But this fool wants to say, hey, you know, I can't remember the last time I drank.
And all of his followers are defending him right now.
And what are they saying?
They're all saying, well, it's fine to drink.
That's their response.
Even that it's fine to drink whiskey.
We're not even talking about beer, folks.
We're not talking about beer that has 3% alcohol in it, which I'm against that.
But we're talking about hard liquor, 60%, 40% alcohol, stuff that didn't even exist
in Bible days.
Because in Bible times, they didn't even have that technology.
That came out in the Middle Ages, distilling hard liquor.
So they say, you know, oh, well, it's OK for a pastor to drink hard liquor and to do
shots of whiskey.
Here's what's so dumb about that.
The thing that's so foolish about that is that even if you were going to take the viewpoint
that drinking's OK for Christians, right?
When some Christians say, hey, you know, use a little wine.
And they misinterpret those scriptures.
And they think that drinking is OK in moderation, just so long as you don't get drunk.
Well, here's my question then.
What about where the Bible says that the deacon is not given to much wine?
And then it says that the bishop not given to wine.
So even if you were going to take the view that it's OK for Christians to drink in moderation,
which I don't believe, but even if you were to take that view, it still wouldn't be OK
for a pastor to drink in moderation at all.
At all.
And if God said that the pastor's not supposed to drink wine, how can you justify drinking
hard liquor that is way more alcoholic than wine?
It doesn't make any sense, folks.
It's a false doctrine.
It's a doctrine of convenience for people who want to drink for whatever reason, whether
they want to drink because they like being drunk, or they like the buzz that they get,
or whether they want to drink because it's a way to fit in and be cool around their friends.
You know, whatever the motivation is, it's sin and it's wrong.
And if the Bible says, look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in
the cup, when it moveth itself at right, at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth
like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, thy mouth shall utter perverse things.
If the Bible is saying that there's a certain type of wine that we shouldn't even look
at, and if the most alcoholic wine that even existed in Bible days without modern technology
was about 12% alcohol, then the most dramatic drink it could be telling you not to look
at is 12%.
Well, all the wine down at Walgreens and down at Fry's and down at BevMo or wherever you
get this stuff, Trader Joe's or wherever, all that wine is more than 12% because now
they use industrial yeast that ferments it to 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%.
So whatever God's telling you not to look at in the Bible, it was 12% or less.
But then you're going to tell me he wants us to drink something that's 13% to 17%?
Or Durbin wants us to think that we should drink hard liquor, that that's okay, 40%.
You know, thank God for the Middle Ages.
Get some real booze.
It's nonsense.
And then to take it a step further and say it's for the pastor.
It's for the pastor to drink.
It's garbage.
But this is the type of verse that they'll use.
They'll take a verse such as Luke 539, and they're not actually going with what it
actually says.
It says that a guy who drunk it is going to think it's better.
It doesn't say everybody thinks it's better.
Jesus thinks it's better.
That's not what it says.
And so don't buy into this drinking doctrine.
And listen to me.
Let me just make this real clear.
And you can like this or lump it, but drinking is not tolerated at our church.
And anyone who's found to be a drunkard will be cast out of the church in accordance with
1 Corinthians chapter 5, because that's what the Bible says.
Any brother that's a, anyone who's called a brother that's a drunkard, not to have any
fellowship with that person, not to eat with them and to put them out of the church.
That's what the Bible says, let alone for the pastor to be involved.
He's not even supposed to be given to wine whatsoever, let alone the hard stuff.
And you know, these people, isn't it funny how Christians always want to justify drinking
wine and hard liquor, but beer is the last thing they usually justify when beer has the
least alcohol.
Beer has like one fifth as much alcohol as wine does, depending on which brand you buy.
And look, I've never even tasted beer.
I don't even know what it tastes.
I know what it smells like.
It smells like piss.
But, oh, oops.
Did I use a Bible word?
But, you know, I don't drink this stuff.
I never have.
I don't even know what it tastes like.
But I'll say this.
If you were going to make a case for consuming some kind of alcohol, it would make a lot
more sense to make the case for beer than wine.
But you know why they don't?
Because beer seems trashy and wine seems so sophisticated and civilized.
And we can use our hard liquor and whiskey to have a, you know, all these martinis and
cocktails and all these fancy drinks with fancy tropical names.
And, you know, we can be cool and have our little bar and our little wine cellar.
And, you know, a 24 pack of Natty Ice just doesn't have that effect.
So it's just, you know, they're trying to polish the turd and trying to make it seem
like it's not as bad what they're doing.
When it's wicked.
They're drinking hard stuff, whether it's wine or hard liquor, it's the hard stuff.
Quit being a hypocrite.
Pull out a Budweiser and look like the trailer trash that you want to be.
Don't try to impress us with your wine cellar, you wino.
We need to bring back that word, wino.
Drunkard.
Derelict.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.