Man, the title of my sermon tonight is receiving correction.
Receiving correction.
Now you don't have to read very far in the Bible before you find human beings who are
not doing a very good job of receiving correction.
We as people, we don't like to be told that we're wrong and we don't like to be corrected
but if you're going to be a Godly Christian and really just if you're going to be a person
of character in general, you need to be able to be corrected.
You know, when I was an employer and I had employees working for me, in fact, I still
have employees working for me now as a pastor, I think one of the most important character
traits of an employee was that I had to be able to correct them.
You have to be able to tell them that they're doing something wrong so that they can get
it fixed but some people, they just, they bristle, they get upset or any time you point
out that they've done something wrong, they make excuses about it, they try to blame someone
else.
They don't have any personal responsibility.
They won't just admit, I made a mistake, I did something wrong or I'm sorry but we as
Christians need to work on this.
It's pretty important.
Now in Genesis chapter 3, we see this right away in verse 12.
This is when God is confronting Adam and Eve for having broken the rules in the Garden
of Eden and they've eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and it says in
verse number 11, and he said, who told thee that thou was naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, the woman whom thou gaveest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and
I did eat.
So right away, not only is he blaming someone else for what he did wrong but in a way, he's
even blaming God himself by saying, well, it was the woman that you gave to be with
me.
You know, you put this temptation with me, this woman who's going to give me the wrong
thing to eat.
And then when it comes to verse 13, it says, the Lord God said unto the woman, what is
this that thou has done?
And the woman said, oh, the serpent beguiled me and I did eat.
So everybody's got an excuse, they're all blaming someone else.
Go if you would to chapter 4.
I mean, this is the very beginning of the Bible and you're going to see this all throughout
the Bible and you're going to see this all throughout life where people are just confronted
with things that they've done wrong, sins that they've committed, mistakes that they
made.
And instead of just admitting, I'm sorry, I messed up, they make excuses, they blame
other people, they just don't want, or they just won't even admit that they're wrong.
They'll just say what I did, what is even wrong, okay?
Now in Genesis chapter 4, this is the story of Cain and Abel and it says in verse number
2, and she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a
tiller of the ground, and in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an offering unto the Lord, and Abel he also brought of the first things of
his flock and of the fat thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering
he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?
And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and
thou shalt rule over him.
So here God is correcting Cain.
God's telling him you've done wrong, you need to fix it, if you do well, you'll be accepted,
I don't respect your wrong offering here, you need to do it right.
Now Cain just gives no answer, he gives no response.
And this is how it often is when you try to correct people, sometimes you might try to
correct your child, or correct an employee, or a husband corrects his wife, and just the
silent treatment.
Just no answer.
Just nothing.
That's disrespectful, right?
And then right below that it tells us what happened next in verse 8, and Cain talked
with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother and slew him.
So because Cain is so mad about getting corrected by God, and because he's being compared to
Abel who did it right, he gets so angry that he kills Abel.
And the Bible tells in the New Testament this is because his own works were evil, and his
brothers were righteous.
Look what it says in verse 9, and the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?
And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper?
And he said, What hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now art thou cursed
from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto the earth's strength.
A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
Now this is where you'd expect Cain to finally show some remorse and say, I'm sorry, I did
wrong, please forgive me.
But instead, he just says in verse 13, And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment's greater
than I can bear.
And then he just goes on to whine about the punishment, to whine about the correction.
What's missing?
Him admitting that he did wrong, him confessing his sins.
And look, this is a big subject in the Bible, because how many times does the Bible tell
us to confess our sins to God, right?
The Bible says that we've all sinned, that we all sinned.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
And the truth is not us.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
God wants us to confess our sins unto him and not hide our sins.
The Bible says that if we cover our sin, we won't prosper.
But if we confess and forsake them, we'll find mercy.
So with whether it's with God or whether it's with our boss at work or whether it's
with the pastor or just anybody who corrects you, just admit that you made a mistake.
Just admit that you did wrong.
Just get in the habit that when you do something wrong and you're confronted with it, you just
immediately say, you're right.
I was wrong.
I'm sorry.
Don't make any excuses.
Don't give all the reasons.
And don't point the finger and blame other people.
Make responsibility for your own actions and receive correction is a very important
lesson in life.
You're not going to succeed on the job if you don't understand this lesson.
You need to be able to be corrected.
Now I'm going to show you two men in the Bible.
If you would flip over in your Bible to 1 Samuel chapter 15.
I think the two men in the Bible who illustrate this point the best are King Saul and King
David.
They were both kings of Israel and they were both men who were handpicked by God.
God handpicked these men to be in charge.
But one of them ended up a complete failure and actually ended up committing suicide after
messing up his life and messing up his kids' lives.
And then the other one, King David, goes down as the greatest king in the history of Israel.
And he's known for being a great success.
And people love to name their children David, but few name their child Saul.
Why?
Because David was a great man.
He's a great king.
He's a man after God's own heart.
Now, what is the difference between these two men?
Well, if you look at their lives, Saul committed some serious sins, but so did David.
They both committed serious sins in their life, but the biggest difference is that when
Saul is confronted for his sins, he makes excuses.
He blames other people, whereas David, when he's confronted with his sins, he just admits
it right away and gets right with the Lord.
That's the big difference between these two men, even though some of the things that David
did were worse than some of the things that Saul did.
But God punished Saul more severely because of his attitude of not receiving the correction.
And that's what's so important.
Now look down at your Bible there in 1 Samuel chapter 15.
We're going to see where Saul is corrected by a preacher, Samuel.
Now God had given a clear instruction to King Saul.
He was to make war with the Amalekites, and he was to destroy the Amalekites, all of them.
And he was even to destroy their cattle and their animals.
All the animals were to be killed.
Look at verse 13.
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed
the commandment of the Lord.
Now he had not performed the commandment of the Lord because he only did a partial job.
It says in verse 14, And Samuel said, What meaneth in this bleeding of the sheep in mine
ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
He said, look, if you perform the commandment of the Lord, I wouldn't hear all these animals
mooing and baying because they'd all be dead.
And Saul said, they.
Notice just the first word, Saul said, they.
Notice it doesn't say Saul said, I.
But when he says that he performed the commandment of the Lord, was it we?
Was it we performed?
No, no, no.
It was blessed be thou of the Lord.
I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
I mean, he was ready to own that.
I did it.
But then all of a sudden it's like, whoa, what about the bleeding of the sheep?
Oh, well, they.
See the shift there where all of a sudden he wants to point at someone else.
As soon as it's negative, as soon as there's a problem, the first word out of his mouth
is to blame someone else.
So he says, you know, what meaneth this lowing of the oxen which I hear?
And Saul said, well, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people.
Notice him just always blaming others.
He's the leader.
He's the boss.
For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord
thy God.
And the rest we have utterly destroyed.
You know, but he's still, he's not going all the way back to I though.
It's like, well, we now.
Then he says in verse 16, then Samuel said unto Saul, stay and I will tell thee what
the Lord had done, had said to me this night.
And he said unto him, stay on.
And Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the
tribes of Israel?
And the Lord anointed the king over Israel.
And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites
and fight against them until they be consumed.
Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil
and is evil in the sight of the Lord.
Now notice, Samuel is putting the blame right back on Saul by using the word thou.
Thou is a singular word.
Whenever you see thee, thou and thy in the King James Bible, that's singular.
Ye, you and your is plural.
If it starts with a T, it's singular.
If it starts with a Y, it's plural.
He says, look, thou has not obeyed the voice of the Lord.
He said, thou didst fly upon the spoil.
So he's putting the blame square on one person, King Saul.
Verse 20, and Saul said unto Samuel, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.
See, he won't admit that he's wrong.
He wants to blame everybody else, change the subject and have gone the way which the Lord
sent me and have brought Agag, king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should
have been utterly destroyed.
So now he's admitting, okay, yeah, that stuff should have been utterly destroyed, but they
kept it to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
Verse 22, and Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams, for rebellion
is the sin of witchcraft.
What's rebellion?
Disobeying and doing wrong.
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
The stubbornness is where he's told that he's done wrong and he won't admit it.
He will not get it right.
He just wants to blame other people and make excuses.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being
king.
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned.
Now at this point, it seems like, okay, finally Saul is going to back down and he's going
to finally admit he's wrong.
He's going to finally take responsibility.
But if you read carefully, he's still not.
He's still not receiving correction properly because look what he says.
And Saul said unto Samuel, verse 24, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment
of the Lord and thy words.
But then look, the excuse, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
So again, he's still giving like a reason or an excuse and well, okay, but you know,
I was afraid of them.
It was really all their fault.
They're the ones, you know, the woman she gave me to eat of the fruit.
Oh, the serpent beguiled me.
Well, you know, I was afraid of them.
They got me to do it.
You know, he still is not taking full responsibility here, even at this point.
Now therefore I pray thee, verse 25, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship
the Lord.
And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee for thou has rejected the word of
the Lord and the Lord has rejected thee from being King over Israel.
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle and
it rent.
And Samuel said unto him, the Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day and
hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou.
And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should
repent.
Verse 30, then he said, I've sinned, yet honor me now.
I mean, look at this.
So finally, it took him a long time to even admit that he sinned.
He's blaming everybody, making excuses.
They said, well, I've sinned because, because I feared the people, because I listened to
them.
Then here when he says, I've sinned, it's I've sinned, yet honor me now.
I pray thee before the elders of my people and before Israel and turn again with me that
I may worship the Lord thy God.
So Samuel turned again after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord.
So again, it's just, it's all about what people think.
He says, okay, I've sinned, but honor me in front of the people, would you?
Make me look good, even though I've done wrong.
Now let's compare this with Psalm 51, flip over to Psalm 51.
This is where David is praying to the Lord and confessing his sin after he committed
a huge sin with Bathsheba.
See what he did with Bathsheba and Uriah is I think it's worse than what Saul did.
What he did was, I mean, look, what Saul did was bad, but what David did was worse.
But yet David ends up finding mercy and David's descendants sat on the throne.
Saul's descendants did not sit on the throne because he was stubborn.
That's why.
So we get into more trouble with the stubbornness, refusing to take responsibility, refusing
to take correction, refusing to admit we're wrong.
That gets us into more trouble even than the sin itself is when we try to cover it.
You know, if you make a mistake at work, you'll get in less trouble by just admitting it.
Just come forward with it, just do the right thing and just admit it and take responsibility.
Your boss would appreciate that more.
In all areas of life, this principle goes.
Let's compare, keep your finger in Psalm 51 because we're going to look at two things.
Put your finger in Psalm 51, go to 2 Samuel 12, because in 2 Samuel 12 we'll get the actual
story of where he was confronted and then Psalm 51 is where he prays to God and makes
things right with God.
But look at 2 Samuel chapter number 12 in verse number 7.
This is where Nathan the prophet confronts David about Bathsheba and he says the famous
words.
Nathan said to David, thou art the man.
And he goes into this long tirade attacking David and telling him how wrong he is and
what bad things he's done.
Now let's look at the answer.
It says in verse 13, and David said unto Nathan, this is David's answer, I have sinned against
the Lord, period.
That's it.
Do you notice what he said there, just, I've sinned.
I've sinned against the Lord.
Did he say, well, I've sinned against the Lord because, you know, you don't understand
how my wife Michael treats me and because she treats me bad, that's why I'm up on the
rooftop looking at Bathsheba.
You know, or you don't understand how my childhood was or you don't understand how, you know,
the temptations that it is when you're a king and you're surrounded by all these beautiful
women and all, no, no, there's no excuse, there's no reason given, there's no, well,
you know, what was she doing taking a shower where everybody could see her anyway?
Why does she have the shower curtain drawn?
You know, there's no excuse, there's no blaming anybody else, there's no, it's just, he just
admits it.
He just says, I've sinned.
I have sinned against the Lord.
And then what's the response from Nathan?
And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.
That was pretty painless.
I mean, David just says, I've sinned.
And Nathan says, you know what?
God forgives you.
What was the difference with Saul?
Saul made excuses and then Samuel just keeps laying into him, keeps preaching against him,
you know, keeps on chewing him out because he's just not admitting it and getting right.
Now look over at Psalm 51.
Let's get more about David's right response to being corrected.
The Bible says in Psalm 51 verse 1, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Notice how he's owning it.
He says, my transgressions, have mercy on me, not according to my goodness, not because
I did other good stuff, God, go easy on me.
He says, because of your mercy and your loving kindness, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
Verse 3, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only have I sinned.
Let me ask you this.
Is he wanting to be honored in front of the people about this?
Is that the first thing on his mind?
Okay, I've sinned, but honor me in front of the people.
No, he said, no, it's between me and God that I need to get this fixed.
So he says, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges.
Notice he's not looking to the judge and saying, you're too harsh.
My punishment's greater than I can bear.
You know, well, okay, I did wrong, but you're coming down too hard on me.
The punishment's too big.
It doesn't fit the crime.
No, no, no.
He is just saying to him, look, you are clear when you judge.
You're justified in your judgment.
I deserve whatever judgment you give me, God.
Whatever punishment you decide, I'll take it.
He said, behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold thou desirous truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me
to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall single
out of thy righteousness.
So what's he saying?
You know, he wants to be right with God.
He doesn't want to be cast out of his presence.
He wants to continue to serve him.
He wants to continue to win souls even because he said in verse 13,
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
He wants to keep serving God.
He wants to help other people to receive the truth, to get saved.
His attitude is right.
This is the way that we need to be when we do wrong, when we commit sin.
Just admit it, own up to it.
But today, we're living in a time where people are just low on personal responsibility.
It's the most frustrating thing in the world for a boss to tell his worker.
And people are such snowflakes these days that even just the mildest correction gets
them upset.
Even just mildly say to them, just, hey, you know, what you did here isn't up to par.
You need to improve this.
You need to do better.
I expect more out of you than this.
It's just like, you know, how dare you?
Let alone, you know, if a boss actually rebukes you because that's a reproof.
See, the Bible used two words, reprove and rebuke.
And as a preacher, I'm supposed to do both.
You know, the Bible says reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
And so a reproof is when you just tell somebody, hey, you need to fix this.
A rebuke is when it's done harshly or sternly, like where Samuel had to really come down
hard on King Saul or where Nathan the prophet had to come down hard on David and they're
yelling at him and they're telling him that they've done something seriously wrong.
And, you know, there are going to be times when the boss at work might have to yell at
you and chew you out a little bit.
You know, he might even really lay into you hard and maybe you even think it's too hard.
But you know what?
You need to shut up and take it like a man and you need to just say, I'm sorry, I was
wrong.
I'm going to get it right.
That's it.
No excuses.
Don't blame other people.
Just own up to it and get it fixed, right?
The Bible says that if you rebuke a wise man, he'll love you.
But see, the foolish man doesn't want anybody to ever tell him he's wrong.
Not even a reproof, not even the mildest form of correction can he handle.
Why?
Because he's like Cain, because he's like King Saul.
But if you rebuke a wise man, he'll love you.
A wise man wants to be corrected.
He wants to fix things.
He wants to get it right.
And that's how we need to be in our lives.
So when somebody has to correct us, we need to take it.
If we've sinned, we need to admit it.
But not only that, we need to be willing to admit when we're wrong about something.
You know, let's say we get in an argument with someone, or let's say there's a dispute
about some fact or about some doctrine.
We need to be willing to admit when we're wrong.
And today, many people, you can just prove them something point blank out of the Bible,
and they won't accept that.
That's a tragedy today.
I mean, think about all the pre-trippers, amen?
But how many times have they been disproven point blank from the Bible, and they won't
face it?
But I remember one time, I was visiting a pastor.
I was 18 years old, and I did some time on the mission field in Germany.
I spent three months over there.
That's where I met my wife.
And I remember I was riding in the car with a pastor over there.
And this pastor was talking, and it was just me and him in the car.
There wasn't even anybody else around.
It was just the two of us.
And this pastor started telling me something.
I don't know how this came up, but he was talking about how there's the genealogy in
Matthew 1, and there's the genealogy in Luke 3, the two genealogies for Christ, right?
And he said, oh, well, yeah, the reason that there's those two genealogies is because one
of them is showing Christ of the tribe of Judah, of the line of David, to show that
he's the king of the Jews, you know, Matthew 1, which is correct.
He was right about that.
And then he said the other one in Luke, chapter 3, is to show that he's from the tribe of
Levi so that he could be our priest.
And I'm thinking, like, what in the world?
So I told him, and I was very kind and delicate because, you know, I don't want to just start
talking down to somebody who's a pastor.
You know, I'm 18 years old.
This is a pastor, and his kids are my age, right?
So I didn't want to be rude or anything.
I said, well, you know, actually, that Levi in Luke, chapter 3, that's actually a different
Levi.
That's not the tribe of Levi.
If you look at it, that's a totally different Levi.
And then I started to quote him from the book of Hebrews, where in Hebrews, it says that
Jesus Christ is not of the tribe of Levi and how there's a, you know, Jesus did not come
from Levi because he's establishing a new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.
And I said, it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning priesthood.
And it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arise
is another priest.
For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which tribe Moses spake
nothing concerning the priesthood.
So I quoted in this big section from Hebrews, because I had memorized Hebrews already back
then, that part at least.
And so I quoted that part to him, and I told him, you know, our Lord specifically did not
come from Levi because it's supposed to be of the priesthood of Melchizedek.
And then I had my Bible in my hand, I'm in the passenger seat, he's driving, right?
And then I'm like, yeah, and then if you read Luke 3, and I read him the part where it was
the Levi, and I said, see, that's not, no, that's not the tribe of Levi.
See how it's from David and Judah, like they're both from Judah.
So I just kind of, I'm explaining this to him, kindly, in a friendly way.
And I go on and on for a few minutes, like I just did now, you know, but it's just given
all the scripture, reading it to him, explaining it to him, and he's just silently just driving
the car while I explain all that, right?
And I'm kind of waiting for him to say something, because he's just not saying anything.
Because I expected him to go like, oh, okay, yeah, I don't know where I got that or something,
you know?
Right?
I mean, what do you say, right?
Like, oh, my mistake, well, that's interesting, thanks for showing me that.
Wouldn't that be what a normal person would do, like the right, you know, just, oh, I
guess I was wrong, or yeah, I must, you know?
So he just, you know, the whole time I'm talking, it's like he's just, he's just silent.
And I explain all this to him, and we get all done, and I just kind of pause, and I'm
just kind of waiting, like, what's he going to say?
And here's what he said.
He literally, it's exactly what he said.
He said there's two genealogies, and one of them is to show that he's from the tribe
of Judah, and the other one shows he's from the tribe of Levi.
That's all he said.
And I was just like, I didn't say anything else, because what, you know what, what do
you say to somebody like that, who is a complete fool?
You say, how dare you say that about a pastor, about a man of God.
Look, I don't care who that is.
That is a complete fool, because this isn't a matter of opinion.
It's not like it's a different interpretation.
It's not like, well, I just have a different view.
Look, Jesus didn't come from the tribe of Levi.
Nobody believes that.
It's a fact.
I gave him the point blank scripture, and he just, he just still is going to believe
it.
That's wicked.
Don't sugar coat that.
That's foolish and wicked.
And by the way, you know, after hanging around with the guy a couple more days, I figured
out he's a Calvinist.
Total false teacher, false gospel, and I moved on to the next church.
But I, you know, I just, I couldn't even believe that.
It was just mind blowing to me to just give someone just point blank scripture that cannot
be denied.
It cannot be argued with.
There's nothing left to say.
And he just, nope, I'm still going to just stick with what I'm saying that Jesus came
from the tribe of Levi, of all crazy doctrines.
But this is the world that we're living in today where people are stubborn and it goes
all the way back to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, King Saul, all these people in the Bible.
You know, don't let that be you.
That's stubborn like that.
You know, when you see that you've been wrong about something, just admit it right away.
Just say, Oh, my bad, my mistake.
I was wrong.
I was in error.
And you know, that's what we expect people to do all the time.
Because when we go out soul winning and they believe in a false religion and we show them
what the Bible says, what do we expect them to do?
We expect them to repent of whatever they believed in.
If they thought that Catholicism was going to get them to heaven, if they thought that
it was through works or through the sacraments or whatever, you know, we expect them to do
what?
To repent.
To see the word of God and say, you know what, I was wrong.
If that's what the Bible says, then that's what I believe.
And when we go out soul winning, that's what people are constantly doing, aren't they?
We walk up to them and they believe it wrong.
We show them the Bible and they say, you know what, well, if that's what the Bible says,
case closed.
I mean, I remember one time when I was about 15 years old, a girl walked up to me and she
said to me, does God love everybody?
And I said, yeah, of course God loves everybody.
You know, I mean, God loves everybody.
And she said, okay, what about this verse?
And she showed me a verse where it talked about God hating people.
And I looked at the verse and it said, you know, Jacob, have I loved Esau, have I hated?
I think was what she showed me.
I mean, there are about 22 different scriptures that she could have showed me where the Bible
says that God hates all the workers of iniquity and that him that loveth violence, God's soul
hateth and on and on.
But she showed me this verse and I looked at the verse for a couple seconds and I said,
oh, you're right.
God doesn't love everybody.
And you know what?
She created a monster because ever since then, I've never believed, I've never believed that
God loves everybody since she showed me that verse.
And then what's funny is months later I walked up to that girl and I said to that girl, I
said, thank you so much for showing me that because I was so wrong.
And I told her, I said, I've been studying my Bible and there's all these verses about
God hating people, you know, that are just these really wicked reprobate people and violent
people.
And I said, thank you so much for showing me that.
And she's like, what are you talking about?
God loves everybody.
She's like, I was just showing you that verse because I want you to explain to me why it
didn't mean what it said.
You know, I want you to explain it away to me.
I'm like, well, no, I mean, that's what it says.
So yeah, I mean, if she only knew, you know, the hate, the hate that she's responsible
for.
But the point is, look, if somebody shows you something in the Bible, point blank, believe
it, believe it.
And look, obviously, yeah, I went home, I studied the context, I studied more, I dug
in deeper and it just confirmed that I was wrong.
So I changed.
Okay.
That's what we need to do.
There have been things throughout the years that I was wrong about.
And I had to say, you know what, I used to preach it this way, but I studied more and
I found out that's not true.
It turns out it's like this.
And you know what, pastors who've changed when they realized they were wrong on something,
it doesn't make their church disrespect them.
It usually makes their church respect them more.
That they were at least humble enough to admit that they'd made a mistake and that they're
able to be corrected.
Now, obviously, if your pastor is just constantly changing on every doctrine, you're going to
start wondering like, does this guy even know what he's doing?
Does this guy even know the Bible?
Does he even know what he believes?
But it's pretty reasonable to expect that no pastor is going to be right about everything.
No human being is going to be right about everything.
And therefore, if we're not right about everything, then as we learn, as we grow, there are going
to be times when we need to change and say, you know what, I was off on this, here's what
the Bible actually says, I dug deeper, this is the truth, and so on and so forth.
We need to be willing to admit that we're wrong.
Don't just get in an argument and just want to be right every time.
Look for the truth in that situation and be willing to admit that you're wrong.
And when you're being corrected by an authority figure, you're always wrong.
Even if you think you're right, submit to that authority figure and say, you know what,
okay, if the boss at work is telling you that your work's not up to par, then you need
to bring it up to his standard.
And not just, well, he's wrong, you know, no, no, you need to get it up to his standard.
He's the one who decides what the standard is of what is good enough and what is not
good enough.
And so we need to strive in our lives to be people who are good at receiving correction.
Let God correct you.
Let preaching correct you.
Let the Bible correct you.
And let authority figures in your life correct you.
And you know what, if you're wrong about something, let anyone correct you.
Let a five-year-old correct you if you're wrong.
Because when you're wrong, you're wrong.
And so great Christians are people who are great at receiving correction.
Not stubborn, because stubbornness is like idolatry and iniquity before God.
You know, God hates that stubbornness and he wants us to be easy to be admonished and
to be reproved.
And you know, the Bible says that a reproof enters more into a wise man than 10,000 stripes
into a fool.
Right?
I mean, you could beat somebody a hundred times and they don't get it if they're stupid.
But a wise man, you just tell him one time and he just receives that correction.
He just receives that.
And we don't want God to have to beat us and whip us.
We'd rather that he just tells us.
And then we just immediately say, I've sinned.
I'm wrong.
And then what does he say?
All right, God's put away your sin.
God's going to go easy on you.
God's going to be merciful to you.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And we thank you for preachers that you put in our life, the parents that you've given
us to teach us and raise us and godly Christians, brothers, sisters, friends, Lord, bosses at
work, just different people in our life that you've given us.
Help us to be humble, Lord.
Not to be prideful, Lord.
Help us to be humble enough to where when people show us that we're wrong, we admit
it.
And when people correct us, we receive the correction and we apologize.
Not the silent treatment, not making excuses, not blaming other people, but Lord, help us
to just right away apologize and take responsibility for our actions, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.