16 the Bible reads, but unto the wicked, God saith,
what hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
is that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth,
seeing thou hatest in destruction,
and castest my words behind me?
When thou sawest the thief, and watch this,
then thou consentest with him, and hast been
partaker with adulterers.
And what I want to preach about, and I'm
going to go a little further into it right there,
I'm going to preach about partaking
in the sins of others.
Now, there are plenty of sinful people in this world
that we live in, and they would definitely
like you to partake in sin with them.
First of all, all the way back to Adam and Eve,
the first thing that the Bible tells us in Genesis 3.6,
you don't have to turn there.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took up the fruit thereof and did eat.
And then in the same breath that she's committing sin,
it says, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat.
You see, people who are committing sin,
people who are doing wrong, they always
want to get other people involved with them
in their sin.
We need to be careful that we don't let other people drag us
into their sin with them, that we're not partakers
in other men's sins.
Now, we can see a few ways here in Psalm 50
that we can become partakers in other men's sins.
First of all, when we consent with people in their sin.
The Bible said, when thou sawest the thief,
then thou consenteth with him.
We approve of people who do wrong things,
and we approve of their sins.
That's a way of partaking in their sins with them,
according to the Bible.
When we consent to the things that we see going on
that are wicked and sinful, we are partakers with them,
according to the Bible.
It says, when thou sawest the thief,
then thou consenteth with him.
And hast been partaker with adulterers.
We'll come back to that thought.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
and thy tongue frame it to see.
Thou cynicism speakest against thy brother.
Thou slanderest thy own mother's son.
Look at verse 21.
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.
And watch what happens when you keep silence
and all the ungodliness and wickedness around you.
It says, I kept silence.
Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such and one as thyself, but I will reprove thee.
And set them in order before thine eyes.
He says, look, when you're consenting to filth
and wickedness and sin around you,
and when people are doing wicked things
and saying wicked things, and you keep silence,
the Bible says that people will think
that you're such and one altogether as them.
People will think that you approve.
And my mom used to teach me when I was a child,
just saying that she drilled in my mind.
Silence is agreement.
Who's ever heard that before?
Silence is agreement.
You know, when somebody says something
and you keep silence, basically,
you're agreeing with it in a way.
And he says here, these things hast thou done,
and I kept silence.
Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such and one as thyself, but I will reprove thee.
He said, I am gonna open my mouth and tell you,
hey, this is wrong.
Hey, I don't approve of this.
No, I don't consent under this.
And it reminds me of Ephesians chapter five
when God told us, have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret.
We need to be careful that we're not partaking
in other men's sins with them.
Go to Ephesians chapter five, if you would,
Ephesians chapter number five.
Find a similar concept there in Ephesians chapter five.
I love the short verses in the Bible
where God just makes one short statement
and he packs a lot of meaning into that statement.
So it's just a verse all by itself,
even though it's just a short statement.
And Ephesians 5, seven is kinda like that.
But go to verse three if you would, let's start there.
But fornication, and what is fornication?
That's any type of going to bed with someone
that you're not married to.
And all uncleanness or covetousness.
Let it not be once named among you as become a saint.
And look at verse four, neither filthiness
nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient
but rather giving of thanks.
Now I think that what God is saying there in verse four,
all has to do with your speech,
all has to do with what's coming out of your mouth, okay?
Because of the context there,
because he's contrasting filthiness, foolish talking
and jesting which are not convenient.
He's contrasting that with giving of thanks,
which is what oughta be coming out of our mouth.
So he's talking about things that come out of our mouth
that could be filthy or stupid or bad jokes,
inconvenient jokes, and look up the word convenient
in the Bible, it's gonna lead you to some stuff
that you shouldn't be joking around about,
I'll tell you right now.
And so the Bible says neither filthiness
nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient
but rather giving of thanks.
For this ye know that no whoremonger nor an unclean person
nor covetous man who is an idolater
have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no man deceive you with vain words
for because of these things cometh the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience.
Verse seven, be not ye therefore partakers with them.
The Bible's saying look, God is angry at the ungodly.
God's wrath is upon the wicked and the unsaved
and the reason why his wrath is upon them
is because of these sinful things that they're doing.
It's because of the things that he listed there.
It's because of fornication, uncleanness, covetousness.
It's because of the things that come out of their mouth
that are filthy, that are foolish, that are not convenient.
He's saying that's why God's mad,
don't be partakers with them.
Now a lot of people believe that no one who's saved
would ever do those things.
You know people have this false Calvinistic doctrine
that when you're saved you just automatically
live a clean life, you just automatically
live a righteous life and they twist scripture
and they misinterpret scripture to believe
that a person who is a sinful person or living in sin
is not saved but the Bible says if we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us and that was spoken
by the greatest of Jesus' 12 disciples, John,
who leaned upon his breast in the Last Supper
who was the disciple whom Jesus loved
and he said if we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Paul said, oh wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this dead?
He said the things that I would not,
that I do and what I would, that do I not.
He said I'm constantly doing things that I don't wanna do.
The Spirit truly is willing, Jesus said.
Jesus looked at his disciples who were disobeying him.
He said stay awake and pray and they fell asleep
and he said the Spirit truly is willing
but the flesh is weak.
He knew that their heart was in the right place
and so he said the Spirit truly is willing
but the flesh is weak.
There will be times when we commit sin as God's people.
That's why, let him to think that he stand
and take heed lest he fall.
That's why we need to be so careful to guard ourselves
and be sober and be vigilant because we know
that our adversary, the devil, walketh about
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour
and this scripture proves that because the Bible says
here's what the unsaved are doing.
Here's what the children of disobedience are doing
and he says be not partakers with them.
Don't you do the same things that the unsaved are doing,
proving that a saved person can get into sin,
can backslide, can fall into sin
because they would be a partaker but here's the thing.
If we go a little deeper with it,
if we compare it to Psalm 50,
if we compare it to some other places,
we can see that being a partaker of filthiness,
foolish talking and jesting which are not convenient
can be just by listening to it.
We can partake and say what does it mean to partake?
Well partake means participating.
Partake, the word partake throughout the Bible,
just take it and reverse it and you'll know what it means.
Take part, that's what partake means.
It's just another way of saying taking part in something
or participating, that's what it means
and the modern word that we would use is participate.
He's saying don't participate with them.
Don't participate in other men's sins
and turn if you would to Isaiah 33,
I'll show you what I'm talking about.
You see when people are talking about filth
and smut and sin, when you sit and listen to it,
you're partaking with them, you're participating with them
and it's brother Gary and I were talking last week,
he was talking about a lot of filthy stuff
that people were saying at his job
and he told me there were some people there
who they didn't really talk about the filth
but he said they seemed to just want to hear about it.
He said they just seemed to just desire to listen
to these sick, filthy, wicked conversations
that some of the workers were having
and even people who were calling themselves a Christian,
they seemed to gravitate toward it
and desire just to listen to it, just to hear about it.
And look, if you wanna hear about filth
and smut and weird things, it's out there.
I mean there are all kinds of TV programs
and radio programs and internet programs
where you can sign in and listen
to whatever kind of garbage you want
and some Christians think it's okay,
well as long as I'm not doing it,
as long as I'm not the one saying this weird stuff
and as long as I'm not the one doing the actions
that are being referred to, I'm just listening to it.
Just out of curiosity, just a morbid curiosity,
I just wanna hear about it.
But no, when you listen to ungodliness,
when you just want to hear and desire to hear filth
and look, let's face it, we can't help
but hear certain things that are bad, right?
I mean there are gonna be times when you hear stuff
that you didn't wanna hear,
where you see stuff that you didn't wanna see.
But when we choose to listen to it,
when we choose to watch it, when we gravitate toward it,
when we desire to hear it, when we wanna sit there
and be a part of that conversation
and sit at that lunch table and just listen to it
and just go along with it,
maybe even give a little courtesy laugh
every once in a while when it's called for.
At smut, at filth, at ungodliness, it's wrong.
Look at Isaiah 33.
This is a great passage.
It says in verse 14.
The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly.
He that despiseth the gain of oppressions,
that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes,
that stoppeth his ears, listen to me now,
that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood
and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.
He shall dwell on high.
His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks.
Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.
See, God expects us to shut our eyes
and stop our ears at certain things.
And he says, you know what?
God's gonna bless you
if you choose to not listen to certain things.
And if you choose to not look at certain things.
And so that shows you right there
that just watching whatever
and listening to whatever is not right.
And it says the Bible says,
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
We need to be careful what we see and hear
because in seeing and hearing,
we're partaking of their sins with them.
We're participating with them.
You see, Jesus said it when he said,
when I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman
to lust after her,
had committed adultery with her already in his heart.
You see, it's a sin for ladies to walk around immodestly
because God commands them to wear modest apparel.
It's a sin to walk around exposing their nakedness.
It's a sin for them to dress
in a provocative, promiscuous way.
That is their sin.
That is their problem.
That is between them and God Almighty.
But when we choose to look at them
because they're dressed that way,
now we're partaking with them.
Now we're committing adultery with them already in our heart
and we are in sin.
You see, it's possible for other people
to drag you into their sins.
A woman walks down the street scantily clad,
that's her sin.
But when you look upon it,
you know, you might accidentally see it.
You can't help that.
We all live in this world.
We drive around, we do our job.
You might look at it by accident,
but as soon as you take that second look,
now you're partaking with her.
Now you're participating with her in that sin.
Let her have that sin all to herself.
Don't you be a participant with her.
And there are so many other ways.
The Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man.
Neither be partaker of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure.
We need to keep ourselves pure.
We can't make the world pure.
We're not gonna clean up Tempe.
We're not gonna clean up Arizona.
But the one thing we can clean up is ourself.
We can keep ourself pure.
We can keep our mind pure.
You may not have a pure workplace.
You know, I mean, unless you work in a business
with saved, godly people,
I don't think there's probably anybody here
that lives and works in a totally pure workplace.
I mean, who here would say my workplace is completely pure?
It's a godly atmosphere.
But I mean, tell me about it.
See, honestly.
I know what you do.
Okay, that's good, all right.
Yeah, I know, you always said that, nevermind.
You know, his last workplace,
his boss was giving him all kinds of free food
and I think they brought in a chiropractor
to give him a massage while he was working or something.
I mean, he's always got the best food.
But hey, the rest of us don't, amen.
The rest of us, you know, I think of my work,
I don't have a workplace as in
a place that I go to the same place every day.
You know, some jobs go to the same place every day.
My business that I'm usually doing
is it's taking me all different places.
You know, because I'm doing fire alarm systems
here, there, and everywhere.
But you know, pretty much everywhere I go,
stand and bounce.
You know, I'll be in stores and working
and then there's the lingerie section
with all kinds of horrible advertisements.
Or let's say I'm doing a fire alarm system in a mall,
there's all kinds of weird stores in the mall.
Or let's say I'm doing a job in a drug store,
you know, there's all the magazines everywhere
that are bad, there's all the liquor everywhere.
There's all kinds of bad stuff.
Even just driving to the job,
I'm seeing all kinds of bad stuff.
You know, we live in a sinful world.
You're not gonna purify that workplace.
It ain't gonna happen, okay?
You're not gonna purify the city that you live in.
But you need to keep yourself pure.
And if Jesus could do it, you could do it.
Because honestly, Jesus Christ was tempted
in all points of life as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus didn't live in a bubble.
Jesus lived in a real world.
He walked the streets of Galilee,
he walked the streets of Nazareth,
he walked the streets of Judea,
he went about doing good,
he went about the cities and villages.
I guarantee you, he saw things that were not right.
I guarantee you.
There's no way that he lived in a bubble
where he was just awake from all sin.
I mean, he ate Republicans and sinners.
But he did not partake in their sins with them.
He didn't have fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather he reproved them.
You say, how do you know that?
Because that's what he commanded us to do,
and he was without sin, and he did everything right,
and that means he obeyed all this.
Because he did always the things that pleased his father
when he walked on this earth.
And Jesus Christ did not partake in other people's sins,
and he lived in the same world that you live in today.
You say, well, it's worse today.
It's worse, it's just more of the sin,
but it's the same types of sins that were around back then.
All the sin that's around today
is all the same sin that was around back then.
It's just a little bit different format,
and maybe there's just more of it.
Maybe it's just hitting us more frequently,
but honestly, Jesus walked in the same world
that you walk in, and he was tempted
in all points like as you are, yet without sin.
So don't just throw up your hands and say,
well, what can you do?
Well, you can do what Jesus did
and be clean and pure and righteous.
And I'm not saying you're gonna be perfect,
but that's the goal, that's the example.
That's the standard to compare yourself to
is the purity of the light that Jesus lived
when he was on this earth,
and he did not seclude himself in some compound somewhere.
He did not move to some distant place
and put up a barbed wire fence
and have a little compound
where he's gonna keep himself in a cloister or a monastery
and separate himself from the world completely.
He said of his disciples in John 17,
he said, I don't want you, Father,
to take them out of the world,
but I want you to keep them from the evil.
We live in a sinful world.
We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation
among whom we shine as lights in the world.
But just because we live in the world,
just because you're in a sinful workplace,
you do not have to partake of other people's sins with them.
You can be in the world without being out of the world.
He said, well, you know, there's bad stuff in my job.
Should I change jobs?
Well, unless you're working in his workplace,
you know, I mean, I don't know if they're hiring
because probably you're gonna go out
and prying for him into the fire.
Because somebody, you know, you might leave a workplace
because of sin.
Now, there's probably gonna be a bunch
of sin in your next world.
Now, look, if it's something where you're being forced
to partake in it, then yeah, get out of there, you know?
I mean, I'm not saying, well, this is life, you know?
If you're forced to partake of it, then yeah,
there comes a time when obviously you gotta get out of there.
I wouldn't do a job where I was forced to participate
in sin or partake of sin.
But if there's just sinful things going on
in that business, welcome to the planet.
I mean, welcome to the nation that we live in, you know?
I mean, you can't avoid it
because this world's a sinful world.
But you can keep yourself pure.
You're not gonna turn all of your coworkers,
and I wish you could, and try.
Get them saved.
Preach them God's will.
But you know what?
You're not gonna turn your whole workforce of colleagues
into fundamental Baptists.
It just isn't gonna happen.
But you know what?
You don't have to sit down
and listen to all their dirty jokes.
You don't have to sit down and laugh at their jokes.
You don't have to sit there and talk about filth and smut
and have them bring up every type of sodomy and wickedness
and just act like it's okay.
Why don't you just go on record and say it?
I don't believe in any of this.
Amen.
I don't agree with any of this.
I think it's all sin.
I think it's all ungodly.
When somebody says to you, hey, check out this girl,
check out this porno, or hey, listen to this building.
Just say, for the record, I'm a Christian.
I'm not into that.
I don't wanna hear about that.
Oh, if people are gonna get mad,
they're gonna think you're holier than that.
You don't have to be rude about it,
but you can just firmly just say, hey, I don't know.
Anything to do with this stuff, it's an abomination.
It's wicked.
It's ungodly.
Oh, but somebody might not like that.
Well, okay.
And they like Jesus, right?
And they like Stephen, and they like John the Baptist,
and they like the apostles.
No, they didn't.
Because, of course, nobody likes being told
that something that they're doing is bad.
Okay, people don't like rebuke.
And I don't think that you should necessarily
go in guns-a-blazin', rebuke and everything you see.
You know, you look at Daniel, and Daniel refused.
He said he purposed it as hard not to defile himself
with the king's meat.
But he humbly entreated and was kind about the way
he said it in Daniel chapter one,
but he had no intention of drinking the king's wine,
and he had no intention of eating the king's meat,
and he was vocal about it,
and he made it clear where he stood on that.
It doesn't mean that you have to be rude or mean about it,
but you know what, you can take a stand
and not participate in the sins of others.
Now, go to Proverbs 25.
So not only can you partake of other men's sins
by seeing and hearing what they do
and just feasting your eyes on it and just listening to it,
when they are telling you about things
that he listed there in Ephesians five,
filthy things, foolish things, dirty jokes,
or blasphemous jokes.
Sometimes people make blasphemous jokes about God,
about Jesus, you know, he shouldn't be partaking in that,
he shouldn't be involved in that either.
And honestly, sometimes you think people are gonna get mad
when you rebuke it, but sometimes they don't.
I mean, sometimes you rebuke stuff,
and people see your point.
Sometimes they'll apologize and say, hey, I'm sorry,
I shouldn't have gotten there.
You never know how people are gonna react to it.
And you know what you can do,
you can also just choose to just pick up your lunch pail
and just go eat somewhere else,
and just say, hey, this conversation's way too weird for me.
This is just ungodly.
I don't wanna hear about this stuff.
You know, one thing I used to do,
and I'm not saying I recommend this, or what,
but I just remember I had a job
where I was working on construction sites all day long,
and some of the music that they would play,
and I mean, I know that all of the world's music
has problems because it's all of the world
and not of the Father, but man,
some of the music that they would play
at these construction sites was really bad.
Obviously, all the music that's on
all these worldly radio stations is bad,
but let's face it, some of it's a lot worse than others.
And I mean, I remember some of this music
was just unbelievable.
I was just wondering, I can't even believe
that this would even be allowed to be played on the radio,
because I thought that the FCC has rules or something.
I don't know what their rules are,
because it's crazy stuff that's on the radio.
And so I'm listening to this stuff,
and I remember I used to just bring a Walkman
and just put on my Walkman, just listen to preaching,
and just listen to the Bible on tape,
and just listen to something else, because it was so bad.
I mean, some of it was literally just pornographic.
I mean, it was just so, especially at the hip-hop station
was probably the worst, you know?
And I'm not saying that other forms of music
aren't bad, because they are, but I mean,
that hip-hop music that I remember hearing
on those job sites, it was really bad.
I mean, it just blew me away how bad it was.
And so I used to just put on my Walkman and just,
you know, and look, some job sites, that wasn't allowed,
but when it was allowed, when it was okay,
you know, when they would let me do it,
that's what I would do, and that just
kind of solved the problem.
Other times I chose to, you know,
sometimes I would choose to take a second shift
on some of those job sites, just to do my own thing,
just to get away from bad stuff.
But anyway, we need to be careful
about being a partaker of other men's sins, you know?
There's bad stuff out there,
but let's keep ourself pure from it.
Go to Proverbs 25, here's another way
we can be a partaker of other men's sins,
is when people, because remember,
we're supposed to stop our ears
and shut our eyes at certain things.
You know, what about when somebody comes to us
and they're basically coming to us
with a back-fighting tongue, okay?
And the Bible says in Proverbs 25, 23,
the north wind driveth away rain.
So does an angry countenance of back-fighting tongue.
So in order to be a back-fighter,
it takes two people to allow that to take place,
because there has to be the one who's doing the back-fighting
and then there has to be a listener,
because nobody's just back-fighting into thin air.
You say, what is back-fighting?
It's basically when you go behind somebody's back
and talk bad about them.
You know, you just go behind their back and say,
did you know that so-and-so is into such-and-such the sin?
And it's not for the purpose of, you know,
obviously if it's a really major, wicked sin,
you know, hey, it needs to be exposed.
You know, if somebody's committing adultery
or something in the church, then yeah,
obviously the Bible talks about throwing people
out of the church, you're committing fornication,
adultery and stuff like that.
Obviously then, you know, you take two or three witnesses
also and you deal with it, okay?
But I'm talking about just stuff that's not of that caliber,
stuff that's not murder and adultery and molestation.
I'm talking about just, hey,
did you know that so-and-so smokes cigarettes?
You know, did you know that so-and-so listens
to this rock music CD that I found in their car?
Did you know that so-and-and here's the thing,
you know why you're telling that story,
you know why you're tattling about that?
The Bible uses that word, tattling.
Tattling, busybody, back-biting.
You know why you're doing that?
It's just because it's fun to just drag other people down
or you just like to repeat stuff
because you got nothing better to say,
nothing better to talk about.
Say you just talk smack about other people
and it's just, I mean, there are people
who this is their personality.
And look, maybe that's a little bit of your personality
or maybe that used to be your personality.
You need to guard this and be aware of this,
not to just glory.
And I think of 1 Corinthians 13,
the chapter about charity, and it says,
though I speak with tons of men of age
who have not charity, I've become a sounding grass
or a tinkling cymbal.
And remember he says, charity, rejoice it, not in iniquity.
You remember that part?
Rejoice it, not in iniquity, but rejoice it in the truth.
Look, there are people out there who rejoice in iniquity.
They think it's fun to talk about other people
who have failed.
And they talk about, oh, did you know that so-and-so smokes?
Did you know that so-and-so watches this movie
and watches this TV in our church?
Did you know that so-and-so, I saw them at this place
and here's what they were doing.
And look, I'm not talking about just horrible,
gross, major sin.
I'm just talking about nobody's perfect.
People haven't grown to that level yet
and they make mistakes and they do things that are wrong.
That's where wisdom and charity covers a matter.
And I'm not talking about covering up for pedophiles
and adulterers and fornicators and drunks.
If you see Brother Dave or me or Brother Segura
or is somebody, just whoever, Brother Antonucci, whatever,
if you see one of us stumbling out of a bar drunk somewhere,
then yeah, you need to tell somebody about that.
Come to me and tell me about that.
What about you?
Then tell somebody else about that.
Tell everyone.
You know what I mean, though?
Because that kind of stuff, that's like really bad stuff
that the Bible says that we should not have that
in our church at all.
But that's not what I'm talking about.
If it's on the specific list in 1 Corinthians 5,
the specific list where God said,
these are the things where you can't have any fellowship
with a brother who's doing these things.
Anything that's not on that list,
I don't want to know about everybody's faults
and neither should you want to know about everybody's faults
because there's nobody who's without sin.
There's nobody who's perfect
and we don't need to just tattle and repeat
and be a busybody about everybody's failings in their life.
I mean, just small things that don't matter
and yet there are people out there who just want,
did you know this about so-and-so
or just repeating just stupid things that people do,
just trying to make them look like an idiot
and just, can you believe so-and-so, he's this, he's that
or even just hating people in the church.
There could be people in the church
who you just don't like them for whatever reason.
And let's say I just come to brother Donny
and I just say, you know, I just don't like brother Matt.
I'm sick of him, I'm just tired.
I mean, I've just, I've been putting up with the guy
for so long and I mean, he's just so annoying.
You know what I mean?
Like even that, so I'm not, I'm not tattling
some little sin that I found in Matt's life
because everybody has a little sin in their life.
Nobody's perfect, okay.
It's not like I'm tattling to him
about some little sin that I found in Matt's life.
I'm just saying, I don't like him.
Okay, can you believe what,
can you believe what she said to me?
Did you hear how she, you know,
yeah, no, I wasn't there, I didn't hear that.
Well yeah, didn't you hear?
She walked in and said this
and she was rude to me like this and she did that.
You know what I mean?
Just stuff that has nothing,
like it has nothing to do with brother Donny.
What goes on between Matt and I.
You know, Matt was rude to me or something
and I'm just telling him,
yeah, Matt was really rude to me the other day.
It's like, okay, so what?
Why are you telling me about it?
But it's being a back-biter when I go to brother Donny
and tell him what I don't like about Matt,
just whatever I don't like about him
or whatever he did that I don't like
or whatever he did that offended me
and I just bring it up.
Because what I ought to do if I really have a problem
with him, first of all, I should just let it go
and just live my life and just go to bed
and wake up and forgive and let it go
and have no thoughts of it.
But if it really bothers me that much,
I'm just supposed to go to him and say,
Matt, I'm sick of it.
Here's my problem with you.
Here's what you've done.
Here's what I don't like and to just deal with him alone.
And not to just go around and just, yeah.
Has he been doing the same thing with you?
You see what I mean?
Yeah, exactly.
So back-biting, my friend.
Back-biting is when you talk bad about people.
And there have been people, I mean, just over the years,
there have been people who back-bited me in this church.
Just over the years.
I mean, it hasn't been a long time.
But people will go to other people in the church
because they had a problem with something
that I did or said.
Now, first of all, I was right in what I did and said.
But let's say I wasn't right, just for sake of argument.
No, I'm just kidding.
And obviously I make mistakes.
Obviously I do things that aren't right.
And here's the thing.
Let's say I treated somebody wrong, right?
Let's say I was rude to somebody.
Let's say I was a little too hard on somebody
and I came down hard on somebody.
You know what?
If they have a problem with that,
they might as well just come tell me about it
and not just tell everybody,
yeah, Pastor Anderson clouded up and rained on me.
Well, you know what?
You probably needed somebody to cloud up and rain on you.
Now, I'm sure there have been times, though,
when I clouded up and rained on somebody
that maybe didn't need to be clouded up or rained on.
But that's not the point.
They need to deal with me on that or deal with God on that
and not just bring in a third party
that has nothing to do with the situation.
And the Bible says,
He that meddleth in strife not belonging to him
is like someone who takes a dog by the ears.
We should not get involved in other people's strife.
And when the back biter comes to you,
how do you deal with it?
Because I know I've been in situations
where somebody came to me and started telling me stuff
that I didn't want to hear about.
And they started saying bad stuff about other people.
And who's ever been in a situation
where somebody starts telling you bad stuff
about other people and you just don't really know
how to react?
You're kind of like, you know, you don't want to be rude,
but you feel bad.
You feel bad listening to it.
And maybe it's a person that you love and it's your friend.
And they're talking bad about that person.
And when you back bite to other people,
you're kind of putting them in a weird position, too.
You're putting them in an uncomfortable position
when you start back biting,
because they don't know what to do.
Because they're either going to kind of betray their friend
by saying, oh yeah, I know what you mean.
Or else if they rebuke you,
now there's a problem between you and them.
But the Bible tells us how to handle it here.
In Proverbs, he says the north wind drive it the way rain.
So does an angry countenance, a back biting tongue.
You know, the response that we need to have
when the back biter comes to us is anger.
That's the response that God has given us here.
And if we would get angry when people would back bite to us,
they're not going to do it again.
And he said it's like the wind pushing something away.
He says, as the north wind drive it the way rain.
You know, it's raining and then the wind comes.
And then it's not raining anymore.
Well, when the back biter comes to you and you get mad,
then the back biter just, is gone.
Problem solved.
Seriously.
And you know, back biting is something that,
you know, we need to be careful of it.
It's something that can cause problems in a great church,
in a godly, righteous church,
when people just let personalities and things
cause them strife and anger and bitterness.
You know, I just wish, if there's one thing
I can just get across to people sometimes,
it's just let it go.
Like just those three words,
I just wish I could just get those three words
and just get people to really let them sink down
and live by them.
And especially in marriage.
Good night.
You're never going to stay married
unless you just learn to let it go.
Because if you hold a grudge about everything
that your spouse has done,
and they hold a grudge about everything you've done,
that's a lot.
I mean, and the longer you're married,
that's a lot to be bitter about.
That's a lot to get upset about.
And that's a lot to tell other people about.
I mean, if I wanted to just sit you down
and backbite my wife to you,
and you know, I could sit down
and go over the last 11 and a half years with you,
and I'm sure I could find plenty.
And you know what?
If she wanted to be a backbiter and backbite me,
she could sit down with you
and she's got 11 and a half pages of notes.
You know, I mean 11 and a half years of experience
to backbite me.
Look, let it go.
Let it go.
Oh, but she said, do you remember what she said
to me at the camping trip three years ago?
Don't you remember?
Don't you remember that chili cook-off?
You know, I mean, it's like,
you know, when my chili was really better,
and somebody said something bad about my chili,
let it go.
It's over, move on.
Forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth under those things that were before.
Let it go.
I mean, look, you shouldn't even be holding grudge
of something that happened a week ago,
let alone a month ago, let alone two years ago,
let alone a decade ago.
Let it go, move on, forget it.
Honestly, just push the reset button, just start over.
Just live your life, forgive.
Even as Christ has forgiven us,
we need to forgive the brethren.
We need to forgive each other.
We're gonna do each other wrong, forgive.
I'm sure I've done somebody wrong.
Forgive me, let it go.
I'll forgive you, I forgive all the stupid things
you've done, you forgive all the stupid things I've done,
and we're gonna get along great.
We can have a happy life together.
And backbiting is done by people who can't let things go.
So they just keep, you know, bringing stuff out
and trying to drag other people into it.
You gotta get mad at it.
If you sit there and somebody comes to you, listen to me,
if somebody comes to you and talks bad about me
or talks bad about anybody else in this church
and just starts telling you all the scuttle bud
and starts just criticizing people to you,
and you just sit there and listen to it
and just, yeah, I know what you mean, you know what?
Aren't you partaking?
Whereas the angry countenance, the mad face,
the angry response that says, hey, I don't wanna hear that,
I'm not interested in that, that will solve the problem.
That will get rid of the problem.
But not only that, I'll quickly say this, go to 2nd John.
Not only are we partaking in other people's sins
when we feast our eyes upon their sins,
when we look at their sins and watch it
and enjoy looking at it or listening to it
or being a part of it, when we let other people
drag us into their sin with them,
whether it be backbiting or foolish talking
or filthy talking or so forth, but not only that,
you know, we can be partakers, the Bible says,
of the evil deeds of false religion
when we consent unto false religion.
And that's what we see in 2nd John.
Because you see, we started out in Psalm 50.
We see stealing, we consent to it, we think it's okay.
You see, there are people today
who think that abortion is okay.
They consent to it.
They approve of it would be the word
that we would use probably in our vernacular
to express what God was expressing in Psalm 50.
If you approve of it, that's a sin in and of itself.
And you say, well, I'm not the one doing the killing,
but you approve of killing.
You approve of murder, you know.
You approve of adultery, you approve of sodomy,
you approve of wickedness.
That makes you a partaker with them.
But when it comes to false religion,
you can actually be a partaker
of the evil deeds of false religion.
The Bible says in verse seven,
for many deceivers are entered into the world
who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Now let's stop.
Who would this involve?
And let's keep reading.
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things
which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, hath not gone.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath both the Father and the Son.
Now, if somebody comes to you
bringing a false doctrine,
and I'm not talking about just
they have a slight disagreement
on a finer point of scripture or doctrine,
but somebody who's not abiding in the doctrine of Christ,
somebody who's saying Jesus Christ didn't come in the flesh,
somebody who doesn't believe in the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, for example,
somebody who doesn't believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord,
somebody who doesn't believe in the basic tenets
of salvation through Jesus Christ, okay,
the doctrine of Christ,
he said that person hath not God,
that person is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Now, would this include the Jewish rabbi?
Yeah.
Does he believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?
No. No.
Okay, what about the Jehovah's Witnesses?
They don't believe that he died and buried
and rose again in the flesh.
Now, here's what I say about the Jehovah's Witnesses.
If the Bible says that death, burial, and resurrection
is what you have to believe in, right?
Right.
Because the Bible says two things happened
at the resurrection of Christ.
It said his soul was not left in hell, Acts 2.31,
neither did his flesh see correction.
So two things happened at the resurrection of Christ.
His soul was not left in hell,
and his body physically rose from the tomb,
whereby he showed them his marks and his hands and his side
that they would be not faithless but believing.
Now, what does the Bible say you have to believe in
to be saved?
The Bible says you gotta believe in the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Now, let me ask you this.
Was his soul buried?
Did they bury his soul in the tomb?
What did they bury?
The body.
So if you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection,
what is it that you believe rose from the dead?
The body.
And that's why Jesus said destroy this temple
and in three days I'll raise it up,
but he's faking the temple of his body.
You say, well, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe
in the resurrection because they believe his spirit rose.
They don't believe in the burial and the resurrection.
And my whole life I wondered, what's with the burial?
Because my grandpa used to always emphasize
the dead, burial, and resurrection.
Dead, burial, and resurrection.
And I was like, why?
I mean, I understand the significance of the death.
And I understand the significance of the resurrection.
What is the significance of the burial?
It's to show that what was buried rose again.
The body rose.
It's a bodily resurrection.
That means he rose in the flesh.
That's what it means, flesh.
Flesh and bone.
And Jesus even brought up that work
when he came to the apostles and said,
look, I have flesh and bone.
I am not a spirit.
A spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see that I have.
And the Jehovah's false witnesses come to your door.
They're not bringing that message of Jesus Christ
in the flesh died and buried and rose again.
They don't believe that.
And the Bible says that the Jews obviously,
who don't acknowledge the son,
they don't have the father either.
The Mormons come to you with their polygamy
and polytheism and I don't know what other polys
they're into, but they got a lot of poly stuff.
It's weird.
Many gods, many wives, you know, many planets,
many solar systems, many galaxies.
And they come with their wicked false doctrine.
They just came to my door.
This week, I got hit by the Mormons and the Jehovah's false.
Who got hit by the Jehovah's witnesses in the last month?
Few hands are going up.
Why?
This is their big push.
Ironically, Easter.
They don't even believe in it.
It's their biggest day of the whole year.
They don't even believe in it.
They don't even believe in the physical bodily
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I confronted one on it and he said,
why does that even matter?
That just shows you where he's at spiritually right there.
When you don't think that the bodily resurrection matters.
And I got hit by the Jehovah's false witnesses.
My wife actually got hit by that or I wasn't there
or I was in the backyard or whatever.
And then I got hit by the Mormons this week.
And the Mormons came to my door and I said,
hey, are you the Mormons?
And he said, yes.
I said, I won.
This is what I said, I won.
Nothing to do with you.
Amen.
I said, I don't want anything to do with you.
I have no interest in anything you have to say.
I'm a Christian and I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and I have no interest in what you have to say.
And they said, oh, okay, but that's fine.
But can you just tell us that you're neighbors?
I said, I'm not going to tell them.
I said, you don't get it.
I don't want to help you at all.
I want to help you in no way, shape or form.
Whatever you're asking me right now.
I'm not going to give you the answer
because I said, you are doing wickedness
and I will not be a partaker with you.
I said, I want nothing to do with it.
And look what the Bible says.
If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God's feed.
Don't let him in and don't even say to him,
hey, have a good day.
Don't even say, God bless you.
Goodbye.
Watch this.
For he that biddeth him God's feed
is partaker of his evil deeds.
Now that shows you, now look,
I know this just applies to false religion,
but apply it to the whole rest of the sermon.
God looks down from heaven and sees you blessing someone.
Are you listening?
Who is bringing false gospel and heresy
and damnable doctrines and devils of the gospel of Christ,
perversion of the gospel of Christ.
He said, even if you just say God's feed to him,
I look at that as you partaking with them.
I look at that as you participating with them.
Doesn't that show that God wants us to not participate
with what people are doing that's wrong?
He said, even just saying God's feed, you're participating.
You know why?
Because you're encouraging him, that's why.
Give him a glass of water, God bless you.
You're encouraging him.
You're making him feel better about what they're doing.
He said, don't help them.
The Bible rebuked, it said Chronicles 19, two,
Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer,
you don't have to turn there,
went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat,
shouldest thou help the ungodly,
unloved them that hate the Lord?
Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.
He said, even when you just help those
that are fighting against the Lord,
you're a partaker with them.
Wrath's upon you now, because you're participating in it.
And so when the Mormons come to me,
I don't let them in the house.
I don't want to talk to them.
I send them on their way.
And I don't send them on their merry way.
I just send them on their way.
Okay, it's the same thing with the Jehovah's Witnesses,
the Mormons, I just send them on their way.
And I send them, I don't bless them,
I curse them in the name of the Lord.
They are bringing damnation with them.
And so I make it very clear to them
that I want nothing to do with their evil deeds,
whether it be the Jehovah's Witnesses,
and get this, get this, receive him not into your house.
Everybody got that?
So why are we letting them in God's house?
Can you explain that to me?
Can you explain to me why a Baptist church
brings in a Jewish rabbi?
He said, don't receive him into your house.
Do you think God wants us bringing him into his house?
Now look, I don't let him in my house.
I don't let the Jewish rabbi in my house.
I don't let the Mormon missionary in my house.
I'm not gonna let the Jehovah's Falls Witness in my house.
What if you were house-sitting for me,
and I got home, I pull out the driveway,
and you were taking care of my house,
and I walked in, and you got a whole Jehovah's Witness
circle with the watchtower all around the coffee table,
and you're all studying with Jehovah's Witnesses.
And you say, well, I'm trying to win him to Christ.
I tell you, this is my house.
Get out of here, get out, and you know what?
If God Almighty were to take on human form,
like he did, in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he became flesh and dwelt among us,
he does not want that kind of stuff going on in his house.
And when you put the wrong stuff back in his house
back 2,000 years ago, he was flipping over tables.
He was mad about it.
And so we don't have the right to bring in false teachers.
And a lot of these colleges,
and a lot of these big churches,
I don't know what they call them.
Maybe it's the wrong word.
It seems like I heard this word like symposium.
You know, some stupid word, like I don't know.
I don't want to know about all these big words
that aren't in the Bible.
You know what I mean?
The big words I need are the ones in the Bible.
Other than that, I'll speak in plain English.
But you know, they have these like symposiums or something
where they'll bring in false religion and just kind of talk.
You know, and they'll bring in,
like to a Baptist Bible cause,
they'll bring in like baby hen,
or they'll bring in like a sodomite pastor,
or they'll bring in like, you know, a rabbi,
or they'll bring in like a Muslim imam
or whatever they call them.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Who's ever heard of stuff like that?
You know, they'll bring in like a Muslim cleric,
and they'll bring in a rabbi
and just kind of talk about their differences.
No, don't leave those people outside the door.
Just leave them out.
Don't bring them in.
Bring those people in.
Don't receive them into your house,
and dead sure don't receive them into God's house.
They're not welcome.
You say Mormons aren't welcome?
No.
Do you have any questions?
I mean, look, if somebody come,
look, if a Mormon, listen to me now.
If a Mormon individual came here
for me to preach the hell out of them,
then come on in and sit down and shut up,
but leave your name tag at the door.
And you take off your bike helmet and your name tag,
and then you can sit and listen to me
rattle my cage for an hour.
But you know what?
I hadn't let a Mormon missionary
come in here with that name tag on.
Amen.
I'm not kidding.
I'm dead serious.
Because, look, you say, well, it's the same person.
Yeah, but when he comes in the capacity
of Mormon missionary,
when he's bringing,
because it says if they're coming to you
and bringing out this doctrine,
when he's bringing his doctrine,
and you say, well, he'd never do it.
You don't know how this works.
I've said, who's been in churches
where the Mormon missionaries came in
in a Baptist church and sat and went
through the whole service?
Anybody?
I've been to at least three services
where the Mormon missionaries will come,
and this is part of what they're taught to do.
They'll go to churches of other denominations.
When I was in Germany,
I was in a Baptist church.
Two Mormon missionaries came in
and participated in the whole service
and everything and said, oh, we're just like you.
We like you.
And the pastor went up to them
and rebuked them, and they started crying.
And they left.
It wasn't me.
It was some other pastor
that was doing what he was supposed to do.
And he wasn't even,
I mean, I don't even think,
he wasn't even rude to him.
It was just the truth of God's word,
I think cut to the heart
because he turned to some scripture
and showed it to them,
and they started crying and left.
He told them that they were not saved
and that they were on their way to hell.
But you know what?
I'm telling you right now,
I don't want Mormon missionaries
coming into this church.
If I'm not gonna receive my house at home,
I'm not gonna receive them into this house
because this is God's house.
And I'm gonna say no.
If you want to shed your white shirt,
untuck your shirt,
come in just a white t-shirt,
this is rules.
Listening Mormon missionaries,
these are the rules for coming to faithful work.
You have to take off your tie,
take off your bike helmet,
take off your name tag,
untuck your shirt,
and look like you're not a Mormon missionary.
And then I'll pretend you're not,
and I'll scream and yell at you,
and you're gonna shut up and not say a word,
and if you open your mouth,
you'll be thrown out.
Don't bring,
you can't bring any doctrine,
and you can't even look like you're bringing doctrine.
Don't even make me think
that you might be bringing doctrine
because you got the wrong doctrine.
I don't want to hear it.
We don't need to let them in
to reach them and get them saved.
I don't let them in.
I don't even talk to them on the doorstep.
When they come to my house,
I send them away.
Are you listening to me?
I send them, bye, see you later.
Now, I'll go knock their door.
I'll bring them the doctrine on my turn.
But they're not bringing me their doctrine
because it's lies.
And some people will inevitably say,
well, what's the difference between what they do
and what you do?
When you go out sobering,
do you want people to treat you that way?
The difference is that I'm right and they're wrong.
Get a clue.
There's the truth and there's lies.
What's the difference?
What's the difference between you saying
the Bible's the word of God
and the Muslims saying the Quran's the word of God?
The difference is that the Bible really is the word of God.
And that the Quran is a wicked piece of garbage.
That's the difference.
And so all I have to say is,
don't be partakers of other men's sins.
Keep thyself pure.
Your job is gonna expose you to stuff
that you don't wanna be exposed to.
Your daily life, your drive, your commute,
your life is gonna expose you to stuff
that you don't wanna be exposed to.
That's life.
Face it.
I'm not saying that you have to switch jobs
because you know what?
I know that I get exposed to stuff
that I don't wanna be exposed to.
But when you're participating in it
is when you're going, oh, yeah.
About all their smut and all their drunkenness.
You know, it just isn't right.
You need to be able to do your job
and to keep yourself pure and to keep yourself right
and keep your heart right
and not be sucked into other people's sin.
And don't be sucked into the sins of false religion
and be careful getting too buddy-buddy with false religion
and too buddy-buddy with wickedness.
Just keep yourself pure.
Don't participate in other people's sins
as far as that word of prayer.
Father, please just help us to keep ourselves clean and pure.
It's more and more difficult,
but we know that you dealt with the same things
when you were on this earth
and so help us to do the best that we can
and give us your grace to live a godly life.
Help us not to be sucked into partaking
in other people's sins.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.