man the title my sermon tonight is name calling in the Bible name calling in the
Bible today it seems that people are more Christian than Christ and you know
if Christ were to walk among us in 2018 he would be accused of not being
Christlike even though he is Christ okay as ironic as that is because today
people say don't call names this kind of hard preaching is not what's going on
in most churches today and if this kind of preaching were to take place in a
church today people would say that the preacher had a bad spirit or that he's
not Christlike or he's not loving hey we know that Jesus Christ was as loving as
any human being could possibly be we know that the Lord Jesus Christ had the
spirit upon him above measure beyond measure without measure I mean Jesus
Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit he was without sin he was the perfect
preacher and when we see examples of his preaching we see hard preaching and
specifically we will see him calling names now a lot of people have this
attitude that it's never right to do any kind of name calling don't call people
names but let's see how many times Jesus called people names in this passage and
how many names you can identify in this passage that Jesus Christ called people
let's just start in verse 13 for sake of time but woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees hypocrites now that's name number one I mean when you look right at
somebody and say you're a hypocrite I mean that's name calling that's pretty
harsh he said for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men see he
also said shut up there no I'm just kidding yeah where you shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves neither suffer
you them that are entering to go in now you can understand why Jesus is so angry
here because these people are not only going to hell themselves that'd be their
own problem but they're also hindering other people from getting saved they're
trying to take as many other people to hell with them and that's what's got
Jesus so mad in this passage he said in verse 14 woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees hypocrites free devour widows houses and for a pretense make long
prayer therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation what's he saying there
you know when you do wickedly that's one thing but when you do wickedly under the
guise of religion when you hide behind religion or the Word of God or even the
name of Christ in order to do something sinful and you're using religion as a
cover you know that's double wickedness that's gonna get you an even greater
damnation the Bible says look at verse 15 woe unto you scribes and Pharisees
hypocrites for you can pass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he's made
you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourself so not only has he
called them hypocrites now he's calling them what children of hell you're a
child of hell that's a pretty mean name to call somebody look at verse 16 woe
unto you ye blind guides there's another one which say whosoever shall swear by
the temple it is nothing but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple he
is a debtor ye fools and blind there's a couple more for weather is greater the
gold or the temple that sanctify at the gold jump down if you would diverse 23
woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint and
anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment
mercy and faith these are ye to have done and not to leave the other undone
ye blind guides which strain it a gnat and swallow a camel woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter but within they're full of extortion and excess thou blind Pharisee
you blind Pharisee you blind guide you child of hell you hypocrite you fool
this is Jesus Christ preaching but yet today people aren't comfortable with
that we've got to be respectful toward everybody we've got to be nice to ever
really because when people are false teachers false prophets teaching
damnable heresy leading people to hell they need to be rebuked sharply the
Bible says rebuke them sharply Titus chapter 1 that they may be sound in
faith the Bible says it says here in verse number 27 woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees hypocrites for you are like unto whited sepulchres which indeed
appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men's bones and of all
uncleanness even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within
ye're full of hypocrisy and iniquity woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites
because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of
the righteous and say if we'd been in the days of our fathers we would not
have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets wherefore you be
witnesses unto yourselves that you're the children of them which killed the
prophets that's what you just admitted right now that's what you just said
fill ye up then the measure of your fathers you serpents you generation of
vipers how can you escape the damnation of hell he called him hypocrites fools
children of hell blind whited sepulchres blind guides serpents and a generation
of vipers go to Luke chapter 13 let's see what Jesus had to say about a wicked
leader about a wicked politician a wicked ruler of the nation King Herod
when he was warned about King Herod and hey you're gonna be in trouble with King
Herod buddy Luke chapter 13 verse 31 says this the same day there came
certain of the Pharisees sang unto him get thee out and depart hence for Herod
will kill thee and he said unto them go ye and tell that Fox behold I cast out
devils and I do cures today and tomorrow in the third day I shall be perfected
that that's not a compliment when he calls someone a fox he's basically
referring to someone who is devious someone who is cunning in a bad way
someone who is evil and malicious so he says yeah well you go tell that Fox that
I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do I'm not afraid of him is basically what he's
saying and then later when he's dragged before this exact person King Herod when
he's dragged before this Fox what does he do refuses to even say a word to him
refuses to answer him so then Herod gets mad and has his troops make fun of him
and beat him up and send him back to Pontius Pilate but you can see here that
he had names even for the scribes the Pharisees and for the corrupt
politicians of his day and they were not flattering names that he gave them
now some people would respond to this and say well that's Jesus he can get
away with it cuz he's Jesus but hold on a minute didn't he leave us an example
that we should follow in his steps I mean if Jesus got up and preached a
sermon is he basically saying now listen guys I'm gonna rip some face right now
but don't kids don't try this at home don't you preach like this John don't
you preach like this Peter James no name-calling you know I can do this
because I'm the Son of God is that you think that's what he's doing no
obviously Jesus Christ he's teaching us how to preach he's giving us examples of
how to preach now the thing is Jesus Christ preached a lot more than what's
recorded in the Bible I mean if everything that Jesus said and did were
recorded in the Bible then the world itself could not even contain the books
that would be written right so obviously the Sermon on the Mount lasted more than
15 minutes but if you open Matthew 5 6 & 7 and read it it's only gonna take you
about 15 minutes I mean do you really think Jesus got up and preached a 15
minute sermon absolutely not the Bible records him preaching for days him
preaching for hours and hours and people are skipping meals to stay and hear more
preaching he gets in a boat they push the boat out into the sea and he
preaches for a while the Bible doesn't record the sermon in that case many
times Jesus preached and he preached long he preached for hours what the
Bible is giving us when we read the Sermon on the Mount when we read this
sermon in Matthew 23 when we get into Matthew 24 what we're getting is a
sample of Jesus preaching we're getting a sampling is what we're getting we're
not getting all of the preaching we're getting what God wants us to have in
Scripture and so it's a sample what does that mean it means that it's a pattern
of showing us different types of sermons to preach in different ways to preach so
this is an example in Matthew 23 that Christ is giving us of a face-ripping
sermon against false teachers and false prophets this is what it sounds like
this is what it looks like now I wonder how many churches there are in America
today that never have a sermon anything like Matthew 23 or if they got up and
had a sermon like Matthew 23 like today I'm just rebuking religious hypocrites
and false teachers false priests and preachers and I'm just gonna rebuke them
and call them all kinds of names and expose all their wickedness explain what
all their sins are and scream about how they're going to hell I mean people
would freak out they have a heart attack but that's exactly the preaching that
Jesus did here of course Matthew 24 is the sermon that really gets under the
skin of the fundamental Baptist because it says that after the tribulation he's
coming in the clouds and the trumpets gonna sound he's gonna gather the elect
look if you look at Jesus Christ preaching it ought to be an example for
us to learn how to preach and for us to take things from this and take lessons
on preaching from Jesus when we see the Apostles preach we should be taking
notes taking lessons and saying okay that's how you preach that's an example
of how to preach and I'll take it a step further even when you go back to Isaiah
Jeremiah and Ezekiel those are lessons on preaching from great preachers now
obviously in the New Testament we have New Testament subject matter but the
style is the same the the the idea of how to preach is there in the Old
Testament and the New Testament you see the Bible does not teach for us to
handle false prophets and wicked sinful people or reprobates with kid gloves but
he teaches us to smite with the hand stomp with the foot cry aloud spare not
lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and
the house of Israel their sins we're supposed to preach hard hard preaching
is biblical now go if you were to act 13 acts 13 now there are different types
of preaching some sermons are an encouraging sermon some sermons are a
sermon that goes deep into doctrine and really tries to teach you doctrine and
shore you up on foundational doctrines or or even go deeper into scripture just
teaching you what the Bible says teaching you who God is teaching you
what he wants us to do so there are sermons that are educational there are
sermons that are encouraging and uplifting there are sermons that are
motivating and then there's hard preaching against sin and then there's
hard preaching against false teachers and false prophets and reprobates these
are all types of sermons that we need and if we get out of balance and only
have one type of preaching then we're not doing everything that God told us to
do and we're gonna have an unbalanced ministry and our church is not going to
be a healthy church it would be sort of like if you had an imbalanced diet right
you're just never eating any fruits and vegetables you're gonna get out of
balance your body's gonna be out of balance you're gonna have problems okay
or let's say you're a vegan or a vegetarian well guess what you're
balanced you're out of balance there buddy okay because of the fact that you
need those animal products to provide you with vital nutrients yeah that's not
true I can get it from a vegan diet yeah yeah by flying in produce from all over
the world and spending hours a day meal planning and figuring out how to get
enough protein and enough nutrients in your diet but you know what a vegan diet
would have been impossible at any other time in history the only thing that even
makes a vegan diet possible is burning a bunch of fossil fuels out the back of
some vehicle bringing you produce from the other side of the world because if
you only ate the local produce anywhere in the world you will not be able to get
a balanced diet from that you must also take in the animal products okay and
it's true you can't piecemeal a vegan diet if you import stuff from all over
the world and want to spend your entire life planning your your meals okay but
I don't live to eat I eat to live and we need a balanced diet right if you know
you got to get your fats you got to get your carbs you got to get your proteins
and you've got to get your minerals and vitamins and nutrients you want to make
sure you have a balanced diet that everything is coming in that you need
and that you're not off that you know some people they cut out most of the
fat out of their diet these people are not fun to be around because your
nervous system and your brain operate on fat they need fat and so when people are
not getting enough fat in their diet they become neurotic and crazy because
their nervous system and their brain aren't functioning the way that they're
supposed to function it's just a physiological fact that you have to take
in healthy fats that's why they're called essential fatty acids not
optional fatty acids okay EFAs not OFAs your omega-3 and omega-6 you know you've
got to take in the right diet well here's the thing there are churches
today that are lacking in omega-6 they're lacking omega-3 they're lacking
protein they don't have any fat they're not getting vitamin A like they should
or they're not getting vitamin C like they should or vitamin D like they should
you know there are certain essential nutrients that we must have in our diet
and it's the same way with church spiritually you need a balanced diet you
don't want to just get one kind of preaching all the time a lot of churches
you go there and it's just pastries sugary pastries coming at you all the
time sugary pastries no meat no vegetables no potatoes no you know just
just a bunch of sugary sweet Krispy Kreme and candy bars and M&Ms and
Skittles and rainbows and unicorns and cotton candy and that's what they're
giving you and you're just like all the little babes in Christ they're just like
you know their tongues all blue from all the artificial color of all the junk
food that they're eating you know but then they wonder why they're sick
spiritually anemic spiritually stunted growth spiritually because they're not
being fed a balanced diet we need all types of preaching and Matthew 23 style
preaching is an important part of a balanced breakfast okay you must have
those essential nutrients of ripping some face on the false prophets you know
any pastor who never gets up and calls out false religion and calls out false
prophets and preaches hard against the false teachers and calls them serpents
and vipers and everything else you know he is delinquent in his preaching he's
not preaching like Jesus he's not following the example he's not following
the model he's following some other model that someone else gave him he's
not following a biblical model of preaching now there are other types of
preaching and I feel like today in many independent fundamental Baptist churches
it's not that the preachings bad it's just that sometimes they get off balance
where they have a certain kind of preaching down but then they're missing
a different kind of preaching right and they're imbalanced in different ways the
way I see it is that there are three things that you really need to look for
in a church in 2018 and obviously you know you could make your own lists of
all the components and you could come up with a lot more than three okay but
these are just three things that I'm gonna throw out there right now that
churches need to have in 2018 you know what we need today in 2018 is we need
preaching about soul winning we need preaching about so I mean we need
pastors to get up on the pulpit and remind people that the lost are on their
way to hell they need to be saved how there are so many people out there that
if we would just give them the gospel we could pull them out of the fire and just
remind them of how Christ said that if you follow me I'll make you fishers of
men we need preaching on soul-winning you know you you wonder why people
aren't going soul-winning in churches you know that's right how do you get
hundreds of people to go soul-winning Pastor Jimenez you know how do you get
hundreds of people to go so like you know what Dave Burzis just started a
church in Atlanta and everybody goes soul-winning how's he doing it here's
how you do it number one you go soul-winning yourself
that's step one all right you set the example by being a zealous soul-winner
and then number two you preach about soul-winning you talk about and
emphasize soul-winning and guess what people go soul-winning all right so we
need preaching about soul-winning number one number two and these are no
particular order and then number two we need hard preaching against sin why do
we need hard preaching against sin because of the fact that if you don't
preach hard against sin sin will creep into our lives we all need reminders
about how bad sin is and and warnings to stay away from this sin or stay away
from a God doesn't want you to do this that or the other we need that
admonition because we start slipping into sin then we show up at church the
preacher starts hitting on our sin and you know what it does it reminds us and
convicts us and we say you know what I need to get that out of my life so we
need hard preaching against sin and then thirdly we need doctrinal teaching
we need the deep biblical teaching now there are many churches that have these
things out of balance where they might have hard preaching against sin and
they're doing the deep biblical teaching but there's no soul-winning they're not
reaching anybody they've lost the first love okay that's not gonna work now let
me say something about what we affectionately call the old IFB and the
reason we call it that is because the fact that you know it's the IFB of the
past generation okay when I was growing up I was an independent fundamental
Baptist and most of the churches that we went to were the type of churches where
they would be possibly associated with Hiles Anderson College or maybe they
would send their college students to Hiles Anderson or places like that okay
or people like that here's the problem with that crowd okay the crowd that I
grew up in you know I grew up an independent fundamental Baptist and I'm
forever indebted to the independent fundamental Baptist of that generation
because they got me saved and they preached hard against sin which helped
me to keep my life clean and on track and they embedded in me a soul-winning
zeal you know that crowd was really good on soul-winning as far as motivating
people to get out soul-winning and they were really good on preaching against
sin I mean they preached hard against sin they ripped on sin but you know what
they were lacking is the theological teaching the the biblical teaching the
giving you the doctrines of the Bible you know going verse by verse through a
chapter and teaching you what the Bible says see a lot of those sermons that
motivated me to go soul-winning or motivated me to get sin out of my life
they would literally start with one Bible verse and then just an hour of the
preacher talking you didn't go verse by verse through scripture you never did
what's called expository preaching so there's two kinds of preaching there's
topical preaching and then there's expository preaching topical preaching
is where you pick a subject and you preach about that subject expository
preaching is where you take a chapter and you preach through that chapter now
in order to be balanced here at faithful word Baptist Church on Wednesday nights
it's always expository preaching on Wednesday nights we go verse by verse
through a book in the Bible right now we're in the book of first chronicles
and look most of the independent fundamental Baptist they're not
preaching verse by verse through first chronicles or Deuteronomy or Leviticus
or anything I got or Exodus or things like that but that expository preaching
is important because we we learn what the Bible actually says we get things in
context and it forces me as a preacher to preach things that I might not
normally talk about but because the chapters there I've got to preach it so
it keeps us balance then on Sundays it's usually a mixture some sermons are
topical some sermons are expository right so this morning sermon about
thirsting for God or loving God that's a topical sermon last Sunday night sermon
about Isaiah 53 that's an expository sermon right because I went verse by
verse through Isaiah 53 for an hour and I preached on those things but see
expository preaching is anathema unto many of the old IFB they don't preach
like that they even are sometimes against expository preaching and they'll
only preach topical sermons and the topical sermons are great but the
problem is that much of that crowd and I'm not saying all of them but much of
that crowd are about as deep as a frisbee when it comes to their biblical
doctrine they don't teach the deep things of God they in fact they even
make fun of it and if you start digging deep into the scripture they'll call you
a deeper lifer and make fun of you and yeah you know you want to do deep and
whatever I'm just an old country boy bless God you know and literally many
people in that group they almost take pride in being ignorant they take pride
and being uneducated and not knowing what you know just just let's keep it
simple for me brother I'm just a simple country then sit down and shut up and
let's put somebody behind the pulpit who has a brain in their head because you
know what I'm all for simple country folk but I'm not for them leading a
congregation of hundreds of people and determining their doctrine because we
need somebody who knows the Bible and you know what that crowd I thank God for
their soul winning I thank God for their preaching against sin but you know what
they need to read the Bible more they need to spend at least an hour a day and
I'm not talking about laymen but I'm saying the preachers they need to get in
their Bible for at least an hour a day they're preachers now look if you're a
layman and you read the Bible for 15 minutes a day God bless you you're doing
great read that Bible 15 minutes a day get through it cover to cover hey if you
read it more than that praise the Lord if you read it longer than that but at
least read it 15 minutes a day for crying out loud but let me tell you
something if you're a preacher you can't read the Bible for 15 minutes a day and
be the pastor of the church I mean that's just ridiculous I mean look when
you go to the doctor don't you expect him to know a little more about health
than you do why is that because he spent hours and hours studying for years and
years he read and read and read and studied he memorized the name of every
bone in the human body he memorized the name of every muscle so that it's all
just right there he knows the body he knows diseases he looks at the symptoms
he knows what he's talking about why because he spent years and years and
years studying for what about a lawyer you know do you expect the lawyer when
you're in the courtroom and you got the defense lawyer defending you do you
expect him to just look at you like you got any ideas what do I say to that no
you expect him to jump up and say objection your honor you know and invoke
the Brady rule and section 5 8-3 whatever you want him to be citing case
law you want to be giving examples and Supreme Court decisions and you want him
to know that stuff like the back of his hand and you know what that's what
lawyers can do I've been there I've sat there I've had the lawyer defending me
and you know what they know a lot now I picked up a little bit you know just
from sitting with them and watching them in action but they know a lot they have
these big thick books that they read and read and read and readness can you read
one book and study this and you know people act like our requirement for
pastors is too strict because we won't ordain a pastor who hasn't read the
Bible ten times cover-to-cover Oh boo-hoo Wow you can't read the Bible
ten times cover-to-cover that's way less than a doctor studied that's way less
than a lawyer has studied that's way less than an engineer has studied to get
his PE and become a professional engineer hey people are working to get
bachelor's degrees and master's degrees and doctorates and PhDs to become
dentists and doctors and lawyers and engineers hey you are doing an important
job if you're a pastor you better learn the Bible you better know what you're
talking about and look every lawyer can make a mistake and every doctor can make
a mistake look preachers are gonna make mistakes they're gonna be wrong about
things but you know what they better know the Bible they better read the
Bible a lot reading the Bible ten times is a minimum okay but why because we
need to know and take our job seriously we got too many pastors in the old IFP
they don't know the Bible you try to talk to them about the Bible they don't
even know what you're talking about what about this chapter well I'd have to I'd
have to look that up or something you know and it's something that's really
basic something that's really really I mean my dad was talking to a pastor and
this guy didn't even know the requirement for a bishop to not be given
to wine he said well I have to see that in the Bible you'll have to show me that
it's like what in the world you don't even know the qualifications and you're
doing the job it's two chapters it's first Timothy 3 it's Titus chapter 1 we
need pastors who know the Bible and can teach the Bible and we need biblical
teaching why do we need biblical teaching what's wrong with with the
simple country boy approach I'll tell you what's wrong is that people with a
brain are gonna get bored real fast and after six months you know what they're
gonna say well I've heard everything there is to hear in this year I've
learned everything I'm out of here okay we've gone through the book of John
we've gone through Proverbs now we're going through John again then we're
gonna go through Proverbs again all right I need to go somewhere and what
do they say I'm not being fed is now what they say I left that church because
I wasn't being fed why because they're tired of having you know Lucky Charms
spooned into their mouth and they're ready to move on to the t-bone steak and
the potatoes and the asparagus that you know they're looking for adult food now
and all it is like all right everybody we've been on coke we've been on a cocoa
puff series for the last few weeks and now we're gonna get it at Count Chocula
you're like that's not that different
right and then after Count Chocula it's gonna be cocoa crispy it's like no I'm
sick of it you're longing for a vegetable you're
longing for some meat right you're longing for something a little more
grown-up okay so we need but but here's the thing a lot of people have the
opposite a lot of church you go to a church and man they're teaching the
Bible I mean they're going line by line they're doing the expository preaching
they're delving into the doctrine they're explaining to you and teaching
you everything that the Bible is off so it's it's it's something different it's
something new but here's the thing but they never rip face right there they're
they're very scholarly and eloquent and educated and you know they know their
doctrine very well but then they don't know how to scream and yell about whores
and bastards amen why can't we have both why can't we have a pastor that gets up
and screams about the the Pharisees and the hypocrites and the blind guides and
the whores and the bastards and the faggots you know and he says all right
now you know let me do some expository preaching through the book of Deuteronomy
why not have both why do we have to choose you know what Jesus is the
deepest possible preacher right he knew the scriptures deeper than anyone else
he taught deep doctrine he gave a lot of parables and dark sayings and I mean you
know people thousands of years later are just still trying to unravel his
teaching because he taught such deep things but yet he also knew how to get
up and just scream and holler and rip some face you know and here's the thing
today if you get up and scream and rip face in a sermon you know people
automatically say oh that guy's uneducated that guy's uneducated you
know why because that is the reputation that independent Baptists have built by
being uneducated okay you know what I'm saying so now when people hear hard
preaching they just assume Oh hard preaching that must be coming from
somebody who's really simple in their Bible knowledge really undereducated
because that's the reputation that's there okay well it ought not be that way
no matter look no matter how smart you are no matter how deep of a preacher you
are you get up and preach hard and rip face people are gonna say up country
bumpkin backwoods imbecile that's what they'll call you because that's the
reputation but that's sad you know and then and then you know anybody who
actually knows the Bible really well and has a lot of knowledge they have the
reputation for what oh that's gonna be a boring preacher he's not gonna know how
to really rip he's not gonna know how to preach hard on sin he's not gonna rip
face and call the names because he's too civilized or too educated you know we
need to have balance today okay and then here's the thing once we balance the
face-ripping preaching with the edifying knowledge-building educational deep
doctrinal preaching once we combine them then we add to that that third chord of
reaching people soul-winning the evangelistic arm now there are some
people who they just think the evangelism is all that matters they
don't have the deep Bible preaching nor do they have the hard preaching against
sin this is your fun center crowd this is your community church non-denom it's
just all they talk about is just what just reaching people they don't teach
any doctrine they don't rip on sin it's just about reaching people reaching
people let me ask you this the people who focus only on reaching people how
good are they at reaching people not good at all because we win their church
members to Christ every week every week we knock on the doors of their church
members and we ask them do you know for sure if you died today you go to heaven
and they say well I hope so I'm a pretty good person yeah I mean I go to church I
mean I've been baptized I think so I think so you know so how good are they
at reaching people not you know who's gonna be the best at reaching people is
the one who also preaches hard against sin and the one who knows the Bible
really well and by the way you know who's gonna know the Bible the best the
guy who's also reaching people and also preaching hard against sin you say well
this guy he just defaults his whole life to study all he does is study you know
what that guy's not gonna know the Bible as well as the sole winner and you know
why because the Bible says if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer he's
like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass for he beholdeth himself
and goeth his way and straightway forget is what manner of man he was but who so
looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue with therein he being not a
forgetful here but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed
see there are two kinds of people the forgetful here and the doer of the work
the doer of the work remembers what he read remembers the Bible the Bible says
for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach
you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and it becomes
such as I've need of milk and not of strong meat for everyone that uses milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he's a babe but
strong meat belong it to them that are a full age even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so how do you learn
to discern the scripture how do you learn to understand the Bible by using
the Bible how do you remember what you read and retain biblical knowledge by
being a doer of the work so you've got to be a doer you've got to be one who
uses the word of God and that's the one who's going to understand plus the Bible
says God gives wisdom to the wise unto him that hath more shall be given and he
shall have more abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even
that which he seemeth to have and he that wineth souls is wise and God's
gonna give even more wisdom to that wise person and so you're gonna understand
the Bible better when you're doing it and so that's why you have to have all
three and obviously there are a lot of other aspects of the Christian life but
I'm just talking about these three elements that seem to be the three
things that are most often missing today in 2018 right I mean if we're gonna take
Christian churches that where the people are actually saved I'm talking about a
biblical church not talking about some false religion but a biblical church
where the people are born-again children of God and if I were to say there's
something wrong with that church what would be the problem typically no soul
winning when that isn't that one you'd run into a lot well these people are
saved okay what's the problem with the church well there's no soul winning well
that's a problem or we'd say you know what's wrong with the church well I mean
the church is great I mean they have soul winning but it's just like the
pastor will never preach against sin he'll never say anything negative it's
all sweetness and light all the time what's the danger of that well then the
church just becomes a den of iniquity because everybody's getting divorced
everybody's getting drunk everybody's getting high everybody's fornicating
committing adultery because there's no preaching against it there's no hard
preaching it's just anything goes becomes the culture of the church the
women are coming to church dressed like a hoochie mama and a hooker oops name
calling you know the the the men are dressed effeminate and queer in their
skinny jeans and polka dots and everything else and you know they're
not getting any guidance or instruction in righteousness from the pulpit okay so
if you were to stop and think what's the problem with churches these days you
know it's they don't have soul winning or there's no hard preaching that's a
problem or well I went there and I pretty much learned everything in the
first nine weeks and we just keep we're on loop because it's that shallow you
don't learn anything you're not being fed there's no growth happening there's
no doctrine and then the other danger in that is that false doctrine comes in
it's really easy for false doctrine to come in when the people haven't been
taught doctrine okay so we need to have a balanced diet of preaching so you
young men that are going to be preachers these are the three things that you
really need to cultivate you know you need to make sure that when you preach
that you have the ability to preach hard you say well I I just don't think I can
get up and preach hard you're probably not cut out to be a preacher now
obviously it comes with time so I'm not saying the first time you get up you're
gonna be able to preach hard but you need to at least have that potential or
at least that desire or goal to say you know what I'm working toward preaching
hard because we last thing we needs another soft preacher in 2018 another
watered-down wimpy preacher we don't need it why because Matthew 23 shows us
how to preach that's why and if you can't preach a Matthew 23 type sermon
then you're not cut out to be a preacher in the vein of Jesus Christ because
that's the example he sent of how to preach okay also you young men need to
work on soul winning you know if you don't love soul winning if you're not
zealous about soul winning if you're not consistent in your soul winning well
then you're not gonna make a good pastor a preacher because how can you lead
others to do that which you're not excited about doing yourself you can't
even get yourself inspired you're not gonna be able to get other people
inspired to go soul and then thirdly you need to be reading your Bible you
know young men come up to me all the time and they ask me what can I do to
prepare I want to be a pastor I want to preach someday what should I do to
prepare and often these are young single guys and my biggest answer to them is
always get married and have children and then we'll talk you're not ready to be a
pastor if you're a young single guy you know you got to get married you got to
have children then we'll talk if we're talking about being a pastor there's
other ways you can serve God without being a pastor but if you're gonna be a
pastor specifically that's the requirement so I always start there but
but I tell them you know in the meantime what you need to be doing is reading
your Bible read and read and read and read and read because what happens is we
get a lot of guys where they're ready to go in every other area they've got a
family they're solid on soul winning they're consistent to church they have
good people skills they have the ability to preach they're a blessing to everyone
around them but oh how many times you read the Bible cover to cover well I'm
on my fifth time been saved for ten years well what's going on there buddy
so you came and read the Bible for 15 minutes a day you need to be reading the
Bible for more like an hour a day if you're gonna be the pastor of a church
and you know what some of these guys they need to do some back reading and
make it two hours because they're behind on their reading okay so what I'm saying
is that we need all types of preaching and obviously you know you don't want to
just come to church and every sermon is screaming and name-calling every sermon
Jesus preached isn't screaming in name-calling but guess what Matthew 23
he's screaming in name-calling other places in the Bible apostles are
screaming name-calling did I have you turn to Acts chapter 13 remember how I
said you know some people will say well Jesus can get by with it because he's a
son of God well I'm God's son to any believer is a child of God okay but yeah
but he's the only begotten son of God and he's you know the Savior and he's
perfect or this what they'll say well it was okay for him because he could read
minds so he knew that they really were that stupid you know he knew that they
really were that blind or he knew that they really were you know what sometimes
we can know that for sure too even without x-ray vision all right but
they'll say well it's okay for Jesus well let's see if it's okay for the
Apostle Paul acts 13 verse 8 said but a limous the sorcerer now look this isn't
just a run-of-the-mill sinner this is a sorcerer this is a really bad guy right
I mean this guy's way out there from being a righteous person he's a
sorcerer okay it says a limous the sorcerer for so is his name by
interpretation withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith then
Saul who is who also is called Paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes
on him and said Oh full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the devil
thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right
ways of the Lord now look that's Paul filled with the spirit and he's doing
some name-calling isn't he and now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee
and thou shalt be blind not seeing the Sun for a season and immediately there
fell on him a mist and a darkness and he went about seeking some to lead him by
the hand then the deputy when he saw what was done believed being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord now let me point out a few things about this story
first of all when this happens this is where Saul becomes Paul it's kind of
interesting because up to this point Saul has always been known as Saul but
right here at this moment is where it says that Saul is also called Paul and
then he just stops calling him Saul it only calls him Paul after this he's just
Paul thereafter so this is where he seems to you know come into fruition as
a preacher you know this is where he graduates to a new level of preaching
when he can really rip some face in Acts chapter 13 and he goes from being Saul
to Paul another thing I want to point out in verse 12 is that the deputy when
he saw what was done believed being astonished at the miracle is that what
it says he was astonished at the blindness of the sorcerer is that what
it says no he was actually astonished at the doctrine of the Lord what I want to
show you is that hard name-calling preaching does not turn people away as
is often stated right oh you're turning people away from you know when you
preach hard like this you're turning people away from God yeah wicked people
you know whenever I hear people say well preachers like you you're the reason why
I don't even want to go to church all the all the judgmental hard preaching
and name-calling and rebuke you're the reason why people don't I'm just
thinking myself why don't you say I'm awake I'm wicked that's what I hear you
know it gets translated by the time it gets to me because this thing up well
you're the reason why people don't come well good oh I'm the reason why
reprobates don't want to come I'm the reason why stubborn wicked people who
don't want to learn anything who don't want to grow in the Lord who don't love
Jesus Christ don't want to come well good because I didn't want them to come
anyway and you know what if you don't like it then go somewhere else and last
time I checked nobody's forcing anybody to be here tonight everybody's here of
their own free will because they want to hear hard preaching they want the hard
preaching and they want the doctrine and they want the motivation to go soul
winning and they like it and you know some of the hardest sermons that call
the most names and rebuke the most people you know what they bring in the
most crowd people will come you know why because everybody isn't a soft little
snowflake they can't handle our some people want the hard preaching some
people like it I don't I like it you know when I was a teenager and I got
into a church that preached hard man I loved it I you know what I thought to
myself where has this been all my life this is the greatest thing ever it
didn't turn this guy away this guy got saved he liked it and you know another I
don't have this in my notes and hopefully I'm not wrong about this but I
believe in Luke chapter 11 Jesus preaches some pretty hard preaching in
chapter 11 and it's actually the same you have to flip over there it's the
same stuff he preached in Matthew 23 so it's this whole face-ripping woe unto
you lawyers woe unto you your father's killed the prophets look at verse 40 of
chapter 11 you fools and and ripping on how all the blood from Abel to Zachariah
it's gonna be brought on this generation it's a lot of the same stuff word for
word that he preached in Matthew 23 it's a very similar sermon tell me if
it's a coincidence that after Jesus preaches this super hard sermon look
who's mad in verses 53 and 54 oh man the Pharisees and the scribes they're trying
to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things lying away
for so look did his preaching make some people mad oh yeah he made some people
really mad some bad people some wicked people the Pharisees and scribes why
because it was a little close to home for them he made them mad but now look
at chapter 12 verse 1 in the meantime when they were gathered together an
innumerable multitude of people in so much that they trode one upon another he
began to say unto his disciples first of all beware ye of the leaven of the
Pharisees which is hypocrisy notice Jesus preaches his most face-ripping
sermon ever and in the meantime what happens an innumerable multitude comes
here in preach now the Bible numbered some multitudes of 4,000 5,000 this is
more than 5,000 people thousands and thousands of thousands of people are
coming to hear Jesus preach but aren't we told today Oh hard preaching will
turn people away if you call names if you preach hard if you rip on sin if you
rebuke false prophets you're gonna push people away you're gonna turn people
away that's funny because when Jesus did it there was an innumerable multitude
gathered people came to hear the preaching now did he turn some people
yeah he turned the scribes away he turned the Pharisees away he turned the
children of the devil the whited sepulchres the vipers the serbs turn
them away good riddance bad rubbish but you know the right people they came to
hear and preach we've been lied to today and told people can't handle hard
preaching no it's the preacher who can't handle our preaching the people can
handle it you know and explain to me why our church is growing continually
explain to me why our church is bigger every year than it was before explain to
me why more and more pastors are starting to preach hard and their
churches are growing and the more they're getting into soul winning and
ripping face and preaching heart their their their churches are growing all
across America there's a whole movement of churches that are getting back to
hard biblical preaching in the style of Matthew 23 and it's working and isn't it
funny how pastor soft soap pastor polka dot pastor skinny jeans pastor Bon Jovi
they can't seem to get people saved you don't see them getting a whole bunch of
people say you don't see their churches filled with legitimate new converts no
their churches are filled with unsaved people why because of the fact that it's
their junk that's turning people away from the gospel it's their junk that's
shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men it's their junk that's
making people twofold more the child of hell than themselves no actually if you
look at the last hundred years and you look at the people who've done the most
aggressive soul winning they were hard preachers and you know we could look at
thousands of years but you know we don't have as good of records but I'm telling
you in my lifetime and in my parents lifetime and in my grandparents lifetime
the same preachers who would get up and rebuke and preach hard on sin were the
same ones that had the most people getting saved and getting baptized why
because when you follow Christ's model it works and we need balance today we
need balance in our personal lives we need balance in the church we need to
have the whole package not be a cake not turned where we are just all soul
winning no I'm not also winning I'm so winning and Bible study and hard
preaching that's what I want to be I don't want to be known as mr. soul
winning and that's all I'm known for is just well he's good on evangelism no I
hope to be known as being good on knowing the Bible you know I would hope
that I'm known for preaching hard against sin and I would hope that I'd be
known for evangelism you know I I would hope that I'm not just a one-trick pony
and you don't want to be a one-trick pony either we need churches day they
get the whole package and you know there's really nothing new about the new
IFB all we're doing is taking the best of a couple different worlds and putting
it together we're taking the soul winning and the hard preaching that we
inherited from the previous generation and we're including more Bible reading
and Bible study and more scripture in a sermon and that's you mix it together
and and put it in the oven and this is what you get okay that's what we're
trying to do we're not reinventing the wheel there's nothing that I do that's
unique to me I didn't come up with any doctrine that I preach or or another
it's unique to me you know it's just a matter of putting it all together and
too many people they're out of balance you know we don't have to choose between
zeal and knowledge we don't have to choose between grace and justice you
know we don't have to choose between hard preaching and encouraging preaching
we don't have to choose between being an intellectual and being a hard preacher
we can have both we should strive to do both and we should have the balance and
you know there's a time to be nice there are people that we should be nice too
but then there are people that need to be called what they are and that's what
Jesus did and so this blanket rule against name-calling is nonsense and to
sit there and say oh well how dare you you know call them homos well you know
the Bible calls them dogs right I mean that's what the Bible says isn't that
name-calling that's worse you know what about scriptures like where the Bible
says the dog is returned to his vomit and the sow to a rolling in the mire
that's a person that he's talking about what about when he talked about preaching
to certain people is like giving that which is holy unto the dogs or casting
your pearls before swine oh how could you refer to people as swine how could
you refer to people as dog how could you call people trash how could you call
them brute beasts how could you call them filthy because the Bible called
them all those things and so we need to get on the Bible's program and yes we
should be loving yes we should have mercy yes we should be kind and
forgiving but we also need judgment to begin at the house of God and just as
your car will not run with only a positive battery terminal it will also
not run with only the black negative battery terminal connected you know we
need both terminals of the battery hooked up in church not just it's just
so negative I'm just gonna unplug the negative out of my car let's see how far
you drive that car and you know what some people are all negative and that's
bad too they never preach on the love of God they never preach on forgiveness or
compassion they don't have any love they don't preach on the gospel they
don't preach the good news that's that's just as bad right all positive is bad
all negative is bad we need the balance let's buy rides in a board of prayer
father we thank you so much for this great sermon in Matthew 23 Lord where
you taught us how to preach Lord I pray that you'd help me to preach at my best
and help me to learn from you and your example of how you preach Lord I just
pray that you would please just help the young men in our church who aspire
to be preachers to take their Bible reading seriously to take studying the
Bible seriously and to go above and beyond and not to just do a minimum 15
minute a day one time through in a year type of library that's great for laymen
but Lord I pray that the preachers or aspiring preachers would dig in and have
a whole hour in the Bible and actually learn a lot so that they could be
responsible for leading your people someday Lord and I pray that also we
would we would understand that we need to be both positive and negative and not
to buy into this new-age positive thinking positive only sloppy agape love
love love type of a doctrine Lord help us to get the whole counsel that you've
given us in Scripture and in Jesus name we pray amen