Pray that you would bless the service this morning and use the Word of God in all of our lives
and teach us what you'd have us to learn from the Bible this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Now this chapter that we just read, Hebrews chapter 11, we read all 40 verses
and this chapter deals with the most important subject of faith.
And by the way, I don't mind reading the whole chapter 40 verses. The Bible says in the book of 1 Timothy,
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Those are the three things that Timothy was instructed to do as a preacher.
Number one, publicly read the Bible.
Number two, exhortation. That's preaching.
And so I don't make any apologies about reading long passages of the Bible every single service
because we need that reading as a group, as a church, to sit down together and read the Bible.
But the Bible in this chapter emphasizes throughout the entire chapter
one great subject of faith.
Now what is faith? Well let me give you two definitions of faith.
And these are the two definitions that I've come to the conclusion of just from studying the Bible.
These aren't from a dictionary.
Number one definition is believing God's Word, believing what God has said.
God tells you something, you believe it, that's faith.
And number two is when you can see the invisible.
You can see something that God tells you about but that you can't see with your physical eyes, that's faith.
Now look if you would at this passage and notice how many times that sight is mentioned.
Look at verse number one.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Look at verse number three.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God
so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Look at verse number five.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
Look at verse seven.
By faith Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet.
Look at verse number 10.
For he looked, he's seeing something, he's looking for something,
he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.
Look at verse number 13.
These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off.
How did they see them?
By faith.
Of course verse 14.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Seek means look for, it comes from the word see.
On and on throughout this chapter, verse number 23.
By faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents
because they saw he was a proper child.
Verse number 27.
By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king
for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
And on and on throughout this chapter and throughout the Bible
you'll see the great verse of course in 2 Corinthians 5-7.
For we walk by faith not by sight.
And so faith is when you can see something that's invisible.
But quickly let me go through the first definition.
Number one, it's believing what God's word has said.
Now look quickly, I'm just going to blow through this, this is just the introduction.
But look at verse 3.
Through faith we understand that the words were framed by the word of God.
See.
Look at verse number 7.
By faith Noah being warned of God.
See God speaking to him, he's getting God's word.
Verse number 8.
By faith Abraham when he was called.
That's God speaking to him in Genesis chapter number 12.
Look at verse number 11, the very end.
Because she judged him faithful who had promised.
She's resting on the promises of God's word, speaking of Sarah there.
Verse number 17.
By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac
and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
And so all throughout this great chapter on faith
you'll also see an emphasis on the word of God
because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
You see, faith in God or faith in Jesus Christ
is none other than faith in the word of God.
You say, well I did such and such by faith.
Okay, what Bible verse, what scripture are you referring to
when you say that you did it by faith?
Because if you do anything by faith
you must have some kind of a Bible verse that you're back met up with.
You understand what I mean by that?
Because faith is a result of hearing God's word.
You say, well, I'm going to move to such and such a town by faith.
Well, did God tell you to move there?
Did He show me the Bible where you moved there?
No.
So that's not faith.
I'm not saying it's wrong to move to any different town.
But are you doing it by faith?
No.
You say, well, I'm going to sign over my whole paycheck this morning.
I got paid on Friday.
I'm going to sign over my paycheck and throw it in the offering plate by faith.
God never told you to do that.
That's not faith.
Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to sign over your whole paycheck
and put it in the offering plate on Sunday morning.
It's not faith.
Because faith is a result of seeing a command in God's word.
Seeing a promise in God's word.
Seeing a calling in God's word.
All these different ways that God describes it.
Seeing a warning in God's word.
And responding to that by saying, I believe what God has said.
And so by faith I'm going to do what God is telling me to do.
God says, if you do this, then such and such will happen.
Well, if you believe that, that's faith.
And then your faith is going to lead to you doing what God has said
because you believe the truth that he says.
Now, faith is always based on God's word.
What about salvation?
Salvation is by faith.
I can't understand sometimes how people are so confused about salvation.
Even independent fundamental Baptists, and even people who believe right.
But I'll look at their, they'll give a little plan of salvation maybe
on a leaflet that they hand out or an invitation to church
or maybe on their website, some kind of a doctrinal statement they'll give the gospel.
And they will not mention the word believe or faith.
Or they'll barely mention it.
And I'm having trouble understanding that.
They'll talk about that you're a sinner.
They'll talk about that Jesus died on the cross for you.
And that you need to receive Jesus Christ as savior.
But they don't seem to emphasize this thing of faith.
Believe.
That's what God emphasizes.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
But what is it that you have to believe in order to be on your way to heaven?
If believing is what gets you to heaven, what is it that you have to believe?
Well, you have to believe God's word.
Because that's what all biblical faith is based on.
Think about when you're out soul winning.
And anybody who's been out soul winning for any amount of time knows, you know,
when you ask people the question that we often ask,
do you know for sure if you died today you'd go to heaven?
Some people say, yes, I know.
And you say, well, how do you know that?
And you think about some of the answers that you get.
One time, and this is a very common answer.
Anybody who's been out soul winning knows this is a very common answer.
I was in a car wreck one time.
Okay?
Who's heard this one before?
I was in a car wreck one time and the car flipped over and I just,
I know it's God that saved my life.
You know, he kept me alive and said, I know I'm on my way to heaven.
I know I'm saved.
That's pretty, that's not faith.
I just have faith that I'm going to heaven because I got in a car wreck one time
and God saved my life so I know I'm going to heaven.
That's not faith.
It's faith in something but it's not faith in God's word.
It's not faith in the Bible.
It's not faith in Jesus Christ because faith in Jesus Christ is faith in the word of God.
And I've, or here's another one.
Well, God answers all my prayers.
You know, I pray and God answers my prayers so I must be going to heaven.
And you know, by the way, what I always tell people when they tell me the one about God saving their life,
I say, you know why God saved your life?
Because he knew that if you would have died back then you would have gone to hell.
And so he saved your life so that I could come here today and give you the gospel
so that you could get saved and go to heaven when you die.
That's what I tell them.
But, oh, God answers my prayers.
And I've even been in independent Baptist church and asked somebody how they know they're going to heaven.
Oh, I know I'm saved.
God answers my prayers.
That's the wrong faith, my friend, because that's not a good way to know.
I'm not saying that person wasn't saved but that's not the way that I know I'm going to heaven.
I know that I'm going to heaven because the Bible told me so.
And I often ask people when I'm out soul winning if they say one of these strange answers or,
oh, I talk to them every morning.
I know I'm saved.
I pray every day.
Or recently we were in Tempe and this woman told me that because she had these 11 cats that she takes care of
that were from abused homes.
Eleven cats.
She takes care of these 11 cats from abused homes.
She said, I know I'm going to heaven because I'm good to animals.
Okay, this is what people think.
And whenever people tell me, or how about this one?
I was in South Chicago, you know, in the ghetto in South Chicago.
And I asked this guy and he said, well, my grandma's a preacher.
He said, my grandma is a preacher.
I know I'm going to heaven.
Now try telling that to Jesus Christ on Judgment Day and see what he thinks about that.
Grandma's going to be in hell, son, because she's a Pentecostal charismatic that has no place preaching
and she believes you can lose your salvation.
And she's going to be burning in hell and you're going to stand before God and be cast into the lake of fire right beside her, my friend.
And so this is what I say to any of these people, any of these reasons, or maybe they don't give me a reason.
They say, yep, I know I'm saved.
Or even if they say, well, I know I'm saved, it's because of Jesus.
This is what I ask them.
I say, well, is there some kind of verse in the Bible that you're basing that on?
You know, is there some kind of statement in the Bible you can look to?
And if they're saved, you know, usually they'll have some kind of a verse maybe or something and say,
well, the Bible says whosoever believeth.
Oh, well, the Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him to the dead, thou shalt be saved.
And maybe they don't even quote the verse, you know, they don't have it memorized, but they'll say,
well, the Bible just says that it's whosoever believeth.
Oh, well, the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
because salvation, Bible salvation, is based on the Bible.
When I got saved as a six-year-old boy, I was shown the Bible.
If you got saved, you were shown the Bible.
You heard the Bible.
And that's where you got the faith, because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
I get tired of people saying you don't need the Bible to be saved.
They quote verses like that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus shall believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him to the dead, thou shalt be saved.
No Bible, right?
Okay, well, let's keep going.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed,
for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be saved?
As is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel,
for his eyes saith, Lord, who hath believed all report,
so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Now, I don't understand how that could be much clearer,
but if you isolate one verse, you can say,
well, salvation does not involve the word of God.
Well, you're... read the whole chapter, friend.
Read Romans chapter 10, and you'll find out that the whole chapter is about the word of God.
It's about faith coming from a preacher, preaching to you the word of God,
so that you can believe on Jesus Christ, so that you can call on Jesus Christ.
Calling on Jesus Christ without believing in Jesus Christ,
how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
You can't do that.
And so on and on, the Bible teaches that the word of God leads to faith.
What did I say faith was?
Believing God's word, believing what God has said,
and then faith leads to salvation by calling on Jesus Christ.
That's the doctrine of salvation.
And anywhere in life, when you say you're doing something by faith,
there must be some kind of a verse to back that up,
some kind of a scriptural basis for what you're doing, or else it's not faith.
I'm not saying it's wrong what you're doing,
but it's not faith in God's word, it's faith in something else.
Now, number two, though,
number one is believing what God's word has said,
but the one that I want to emphasize is seeing the invisible.
Remember we saw all those different references to sight, to seeing, to looking, to seeking,
to seeing something that other people can't see?
Look, if you would, at verse number 27 of Hebrews chapter 11,
and we'll see a reference to the story of Moses,
and I love these passages in the New Testament such as Acts chapter 7,
Hebrews chapter 11, where we are given a synopsis of the events of the Old Testament
and sheds a little more light on it.
It's very interesting to read these,
but you can learn a great deal about the story of Moses
by comparing this with the account in Exodus,
and the Bible reads in verse number 27,
By faith he, meaning Moses, forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king,
for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
Seeing him who is invisible.
Remember the great verse in Matthew chapter 5 in the Beatitudes?
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall what?
See God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
The Bible says of Moses that he saw him who was invisible.
Even when he was still in Egypt.
This is before he went to the burning bush.
This is before he went to Mount Sinai and went up and got the Ten Commandments.
This is when he was back in Egypt.
He forsook Egypt.
He went into the wilderness, to the desert of Madian,
and he saw God.
He saw...
Yeah, you say, how did he see him?
Did he see him physically?
No.
Later on he would see God's hind of hearts physically,
but he saw him who is invisible by faith.
Because faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Evidence, what does evidence mean?
Look at the letters, V-I-D, evidence.
It's like video, like seeing something.
Evidence.
Evidence is an eyewitness account, something that you can see.
It says faith is the evidence of things not seen.
Things that you can't see, you see by faith when you hear God's word.
And so, what did Moses do by faith?
Well, he forsook Egypt.
What does Egypt represent in the Bible?
Well, Egypt represents worldliness.
Egypt represents the sinful, ungodly world without Jesus Christ.
Of course, the children of Israel we know were in Egypt,
they're in the world, living like the Egyptians.
They're worldly.
What happened?
They got saved by applying the blood to the doorpost of their door.
That pictures salvation, the Passover lamb.
Christ is called our Passover in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
And they put the blood on the doorpost,
and then they left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea,
which was a picture of baptism,
and then they went out into the wilderness,
just as Moses did 40 years earlier,
and they endured as seeing him who is invisible.
Now, did every single person who put the blood on the doorpost
leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea?
Probably not.
I mean, there were probably a lot of people who put the blood on the doorpost
because they were scared of dying,
but they decided, you know what, I like it here in Egypt.
I think I'm just going to stay in Egypt where I'm comfortable.
I think I'm just going to stay with all the commodities that are here,
the riches that are here, the monies here.
I don't want to take a chance.
I don't want to step out by faith and obey God and forsake Egypt
and go into this wilderness, this desert,
where I'm not sure if there's going to be food.
I don't know if there's going to be water.
I think I'm just going to stay right here in Egypt.
But the Bible says that faith is when we forsake Egypt.
Now, look if you would at one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible,
Proverbs 18, verse 1.
Proverbs 18, 1.
This is a great verse in the Bible about faith.
The Bible reads in Proverbs 18, 1,
Through desire a man, having separated himself,
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
Through desire a man, having separated himself.
Now, you see, the first thing that happens is desire, the Bible says here.
This is talking about separation.
This is talking about forsaking Egypt.
This is talking about a lack of worldliness.
The first thing that comes is a desire.
The second thing that comes is separating yourself.
The third thing that comes is wisdom.
You see that?
Through desire a man, having separated himself,
he already did it, seeketh,
seeketh, and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
Look if you would at the book of Titus, and I'll explain this.
Look at Titus, chapter 2.
Right before the book of Hebrews, where we were,
just a few books before the book of Hebrews,
Titus by Laman Hebrews.
Look at Titus, chapter 2, and verse number 11.
Titus 2.11, the Bible says,
For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation,
hath appeared to all men.
So there's salvation by grace.
Look at the next verse.
Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us, watch this,
that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.
So there's two reasons why he gave himself for us.
There's two reasons why Jesus died on the cross for us.
Number one is to redeem us from all iniquity.
That's to give us salvation.
That's to forgive our sins and deliver us from wrath to come.
But number two is to purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.
You say, all we need to do is just try to get
as many people saved as we can.
You're only getting half the purpose.
Well, the Son of Man came to seek and to save
that which was lost.
Well, that's only half of his purpose
because the other half of his purpose is to purify unto himself
a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Are you peculiar to the world?
Does the world look at you and look at this church and say,
well, that's a little bit peculiar?
That's a little bit...
Listen to Pastor Anderson's preaching.
It's a little bit strange.
It's a little bit odd.
It's a little bit different.
What does peculiar mean?
Well, peculiar means unique.
Means different.
That's what it means.
Someone has a certain peculiarity.
It means that there's just something
that's a little bit different about them,
a little bit unique.
And so I think that the world looks at us and says,
well, and then at least they ought to.
They ought to look at us and say,
that's a little bit peculiar.
This is a lot different than what I'm used to.
I walked in the door of Faithful Word Baptist Church
and it wasn't what I expected
because it was a little bit different
than the kind of preaching that I'm used to.
Well, I got talking to some of the people who go there
and they were just a little bit different
than the average person in 2007
who claims to be a born-again Christian
and a disciple of Jesus Christ.
They just seemed a little bit peculiar,
seemed a little different than what I'm used to.
That's what God says is the goal.
That's why I died for you, he's saying,
is to number one, save you,
and number two, to purify you.
How do you become peculiar?
How do you become different?
Do you put on some goofy T-shirt from the Christian bookstore,
some stupid corny T-shirt with some slogan about Christianity?
You put some stupid bumper sticker on your car?
No, my friend, if you want to be a peculiar person,
you don't be an oddball on purpose,
you purify yourself
and purifying yourself makes you peculiar.
You know why?
Because we live in a very impure world.
We live in a world where the thoughts of men
are only evil continually,
where the thoughts of men are impure,
where the thoughts of women are impure,
where people's motives are impure,
when their lifestyle is impure,
where their video cabinet is impure,
where the CD case is impure,
where the magazine rack is impure,
and God doesn't want to purify you,
and in purifying you,
that's all the peculiarity you need.
You have to walk around talking like some goofball.
Hey, praise the Lord, buddy, how you doing?
On the job or something with your hard hat on?
And put a bunch of little stickers
and dumb little slogans about,
yeah, you know, these,
and by the way,
the Christian bookstore makes me sick,
I'll say that right now.
If I could get it at Borders and Barnes & Noble,
I'll go to Borders and Barnes & Noble
before I walk into that stupid place.
And I do go there, you know, every couple weeks,
so I have to just go in there
and just bite the bullet and just buy stuff,
you know, at this stupid Christian bookstore,
but that place makes me sick.
It makes me sick when I walk in there
and see all the rosary beads.
I saw an advertisement in there,
they have this new line of clothing,
and it's this logo that just looks like
some satanic rock band.
It is N-O-T-W,
stands for Not Of This World.
But you can't even read those four letters
because they're all just mingled up together
in some weird satanic-looking,
you know, black t-shirt
with some satanic-looking weird,
I don't even know how to describe it to you.
The guy wearing it on the advertisement
had a ring in his lip, okay?
You say, what's wrong with that?
If you have to ask me what's wrong with that,
you're in the wrong church, okay?
He had a ring, the guy he's wearing
has a ring in his lip,
he's got the little sodomite little goatee going on,
and I'm not saying all goatees
make you look like a sodomite,
but this one sure did.
And he had this little goofball,
little sodomite-looking goatee,
he's got a ring in his lip,
he's got a ring here,
he's wearing a,
his shirt was kind of tailored,
he had lowrider pants on,
the guy looked as queer as a $3 bill,
and I'm going to tell you something,
it makes me sick to go on the Christian bookstore
because it's in the name of Jesus Christ
and it's ungodly and it's wicked as hell.
That's not the kind of peculiar,
yeah, you're right, that is peculiar,
but that's not the kind of peculiar
that God's talking about.
Yeah, it is peculiar when people have
500 bumper stickers on the back of their car.
Honk if you love Jesus.
Yeah, that is weird.
That is strange.
That's not what God's talking about, okay?
God's talking about peculiar
because you're so pure,
people find that strange.
People find that odd.
People find that a little bit unreasonable,
how peculiar you are.
And we need to have a resurgence
and a revival among God's people
of purity, purity, holiness,
holy cleanliness, righteousness.
Boy, the bar has been set so low
and you know who sets the bar?
You want to know who sets the bar?
The preacher does.
The pastor does.
Because some pastor gets up and preaches,
he's got more DVDs than Hollywood Video does.
He could open his own stinking DVD rental store
out of his house
and that's the standard for purity and godliness.
It doesn't surprise me that the person in the pew
is watching every filthy movie themselves.
God help us in America
unless somebody starts realizing
that God's purpose is to get people saved
and to purify on themselves a peculiar people,
jealous of good works.
You want to know why churches don't get people saved?
Because why would God give them power?
Why would God breed his Holy Spirit onto them
and fill them with the Holy Spirit
to see multitudes saved
if they're not even going to teach them right anyway?
They're not even going to preach right to them anyway
and purify them.
This is what I was trying to purify to myself.
Bunch of liberal, worldly Christians.
And you know what?
God's glad that they got saved
but he'd be twice as glad
if both sides of the coin were accomplished
and they'd get saved and be purified.
And I'll tell you something.
You say, if you preach like this,
people won't come to this church.
Then fine.
Then nuts to them.
Because you know what?
I'm going to preach like this
and the people that I went to Christ,
they may not come to this church.
I may win them the Lord.
They come one time.
They never want to come back.
Maybe I win them the Lord.
They look at the invitation
and they don't even show up one time.
But I'm going to tell you something.
They're going to know one day.
They're going to remember.
They're going to say,
Steve Anderson won me to Christ
and he told me to live a pure life.
And I didn't do it.
But he told me to do it.
And so I've done my part
and that's the way I see it.
And so we need to raise the bar.
I was talking to a teenager the other day
and her youth leader
watches American Idol every week with his family.
This is the youth pastor in her church.
This isn't somebody who got saved last week.
This isn't some backslidden Christian somewhere.
This is the guy who comes in.
I'm the preacher, right?
He's the youth pastor.
He's got a title.
He gets up and preaches to the teenagers every week.
He preaches how they're supposed to live right
and not listen to rock music.
And he does preach that, by the way,
if they're not supposed to listen to rock music.
He watches American Idol with his family every night
or every weeknight or whenever the stupid show comes on.
I've never even seen the show.
But I'm going to tell you something.
That youth pastor needs to forsake Egypt.
He needs to see something that's invisible.
He needs to quit seeing his television screen,
which he can lay his eyes on,
and start seeing someone who's invisible,
seeing a God who says,
I want to purify unto myself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works,
because he said,
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
You say, how does this relate to faith?
Well, because by faith you forsake Egypt.
And by faith you see the invisible.
And when you're pure in heart,
that's when you see God.
That's when you have faith.
You want to show me a person that's pure in heart?
I'll show you a person that's full of faith.
I'll say, there's a man of faith.
There's a man of great faith.
What do you look for if you want to find somebody
who has a lot of faith?
Well, I'll find the purest person I can.
Say, well, there's somebody who has faith,
because blessed are the pure in heart.
They shall see God.
That person can see him who is invisible.
That person's going to endure
at seeing him who is invisible,
as it's said in Hebrews 11.27.
By faith, Moses forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king,
for he endured
as seeing him who is invisible.
What does endure mean?
It means he's still going to be in church
20 years from now.
He's not going to come for a little while
and then fall out.
No, he's going to endure.
Why? Because he's pure in heart.
Why? Because if you're pure in heart,
you see God.
Why? Because if you see God,
you see him who is invisible,
and you endure,
and you keep on going,
and you stay in church.
You stay a soul winner.
You stay serving God.
See how this all just
ties together in the Bible?
See how God makes it so clear?
Oh, you want faith?
Be pure.
Read the Bible and be pure.
Those are the two sides of the coin of faith.
Hear the word of God.
But God, when I hear the word of God,
how is it that I'm going to have faith
to believe the word of God?
Well, purify yourself,
and then you'll see God,
and when you see God,
you'll see the invisible,
and when you see the invisible,
that's faith.
It's very simple.
That youth pastor is in Egypt,
and he's probably bringing
his whole youth group into Egypt,
and he's probably not going to endure.
I'll tell you that right now.
We'll hear about him down the road.
We'll hear about him.
He's a liberal.
He's a phony.
He's a shame.
He's probably a pervert,
and we'll hear about him down the road
because he's not going to endure,
because you say,
what's wrong with American Idol?
You're making such a big deal about it.
Well, look, number one,
it's on television.
You say, Pastor Anderson, you're nuts.
Preach against television.
You know, no, you're nuts.
You're nuts if you think God is pleased
with what's on television,
and if you think that Jesus Christ
would sit next to you.
Next time you sit down
in front of the television,
hey, just look over and just picture
Jesus Christ sitting next to you
because he's there.
He said, I'll never leave thee
nor forsake thee.
He's there, and ask him,
what channel, Jesus?
See what he says.
What channel?
He's not even going to know
what to tell you.
He's going to be at a loss.
He's going to be like he was
before Herod,
where he didn't say anything.
He's not going to have a word
to say to you.
What channel?
Come on, Jesus.
ASPN?
What about all the beer ads?
Where all the rock music?
Come on, Jesus.
The Super Bowl?
Oh, okay, so you can watch
Janet Jackson expose herself
like she did a couple of years ago
at the Super Bowl halftime,
which I heard about.
All right, I better move on
from that now.
But you know what?
It's so easy for me to see
what's wrong with American Idol.
That's number one.
Number two, it's not of the Father.
It's of the world.
Why do you love it?
Number three is rock music.
Why are you preaching against
rock music if you watch it?
Number four, or do they sing
the hymns on American Idol?
I've never seen it.
Is it Amazing Grace,
How Sweet the Sound,
The Wretch Like Me?
I once was lost.
Boo!
I don't think they're
going to win the trophy.
Number four, it's a bunch of
whores and whoremongers
of Hollywood that are...
I don't know the show.
I think it's a bunch of
Hollywood actors and rock stars
that sit on the little
judging panel.
Thank God if nobody knows
what I'm talking about,
because I don't know.
And number five,
the name is wrong.
American Idol.
I-D-O-L.
Doesn't the Bible say
little children keep
yourselves from idols, amen?
Doesn't the Bible say
flea idolatry?
Doesn't the Bible say
that an idol is wrong?
I remember as a small child
about Solomon's age,
sitting in an independent
fundamental Baptist church
in Sacramento, California,
when I was Solomon's age,
when I was five years old,
that a pastor got up and said,
and I remember it,
and I don't remember
that many sermons
from when I was that age,
but I remember him saying this.
He said rock music is so wicked.
He said that they take
these rock music stars
and they actually call them idols.
They call them a rock and roll idol
because they literally
worship them
like they're some kind
of a god man.
Have you ever been
to a rock concert, my friend?
Because I've been
to a rock concert.
I've been to a rock concert
as a teenager.
I've been backstage.
I've had backstage passes
before the rock concert,
and I've seen girls
crying,
I can't believe
that I get to meet so-and-so,
crying, bawling,
hysterical,
literally worshipping
the rock and roll singers
and rock and roll stars.
Look, you've got
a poster up of them
that says,
rock and roll stars,
and you've got
a poster up of them
that's life-size
in your bedroom.
You're not tell...
You're gonna tell me
that's not worshipping a man?
God says...
What does God
say worship is?
God says worship
is when you make
an image of somebody
and worship it.
Isn't that what he says?
He says,
you're gonna make
a statue,
you're gonna make
a picture.
Now, I'm not saying
that having photographs
is wrong,
but you know what?
If you take a life-size
photo of somebody
and put it on the wall
in your bedroom
and you look up at night,
you're...
That's worship,
my friend.
God...
That's what God
defines as worship.
He says when people
worship false gods,
they make images of them
and bow down to them,
and that's what you're doing
when you have
the big, giant stars.
The idol.
Oh, he's my idol.
And they don't even
try to hide it.
They call the show
American Idol.
Boy, if you're deceived
by the devil's tricks,
you're not very smart
because he doesn't
even try to trick you.
He just said,
this one's for you.
This one's for you.
He just said,
this is what it is.
It's an idol.
You want to worship with me?
Do you want to worship?
Do you want to worship with me?
Do you want to go
to my worship service?
You want to turn on the TV
and watch my worship service?
It's called American Idol.
It's on primetime,
7 o'clock,
Eastern Standard Time.
Hey, you can worship an idol.
So that's what's wrong
with American Idol.
And that youth pastor
can go jump in a lake
as far as I'm concerned
because he needs to get
right with God
and get out of the pulpit
and there's no excuse.
You say,
well, you're judging him?
Yes, I am.
Yes, I'm judging him.
Do you have a problem with that?
Because the Bible says
the spiritual man judges all things
and yet is judged of no man.
Go ahead and judge me
according to the Bible.
Go ahead and judge me
and if I'm wrong,
I'll repent and change
if you show me
that I'm wrong from the Bible.
And you know what?
Judgment must begin
at the house of God,
the Bible says.
The Bible says,
judge not that ye be not judged
for with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged
and with what measure ye need
it shall be measured you again.
Hey, go ahead and judge me
on watching American Idol.
I threw my stupid TV
in the trash so long ago,
I don't even remember
what it was like to have one.
So go ahead and judge me.
And so the spiritual man
is not afraid to be judged,
the Bible says.
Rebuke a wise man
and he'll love thee.
If somebody rebukes me
for something I'm doing wrong,
I love that person.
Okay?
That's what God said.
If my heart is right
at that point,
obviously I'm not perfect.
But it says,
rebuke a wise man
and he'll love thee.
If somebody rebukes me
and I get angry,
then I'm wrong.
If somebody rebukes me
and I'm right,
it doesn't matter
if it's a child rebuking me.
It doesn't matter who it is.
If somebody rebukes me
and I'm wrong,
I should love that person
and take that rebuke.
And somebody who's watching
American Idol with his family
needs a serious rebuke
and they need
a swift kick in the pants.
But the next point,
Hebrews chapter 11,
go back to the passage
and I'm going to show you this.
Look at Hebrews chapter 11.
I lost my place in my outline
because I was yelling
about American Idol.
All right, let's close in prayer now.
All right, Hebrews chapter 11.
Actually, you know what?
I wanted to show you
something else.
Look at Leviticus chapter 15
quickly.
I'm sorry.
Leviticus chapter 15.
Leviticus chapter number 15.
And look at verse number 31
because we're talking
about the separation.
Remember we saw
that great verse,
through desire,
a man having separated himself?
Well, we're talking about
the separation.
Remember we saw
that man having separated himself?
Seeketh and intermeddleth
with all wisdom.
What does separation mean?
Well, here's the definition
of separation.
Look at Leviticus 15, 31.
We'll see what
biblical separation is.
The Bible reads,
Thus shall ye separate
the children of Israel
from their uncleanness.
Now, thus means in this way,
in this fashion.
Thus shall ye separate
the children of Israel
from their uncleanness,
that they die not
in their uncleanness
when they defile my tabernacle
that is among them.
And, of course,
we know that the body,
the human body,
is the temple
of the Holy Ghost,
the Bible says,
to the New Testament believer.
The Bible says that,
Know what?
Know ye not
that your body
is the temple
of the Holy Ghost,
which dwelleth in you
and you're not your own,
but are bought with price?
Therefore glorify God
in your body
and in your spirit,
which are God's.
And so God says,
Don't defile my tabernacle.
Separate yourself
from the uncleanness
that's defiling the tabernacle
that I've given you.
Now he's not just talking
about physical uncleanness
such as sanitation,
which I do believe
that you should keep
your body sanitary
according to the Bible
and not be unclean.
But not only that,
he's talking about
purifying yourself
from all filthiness
of the flesh
and of the spirit.
I believe it says
in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1
where he says
you need to sanctify yourself
both physically,
clean yourself up physically,
and clean yourself up spiritually.
That's what separating it,
separating yourself
from the uncleanness
is what God's talking about.
Well, you don't understand
everything and have wisdom
and then say,
Well now I understand
what the Bible teaches
about right and wrong.
Now I understand
what the Bible teaches
about separation.
I think I'm going to
separate myself.
God says, No.
What you need first
is desire.
Proverbs 18, 1,
if you remember,
through desire
a man having separated himself,
wow, through desire.
Seeketh and intermeddeth
with all wisdom.
The first step
is to have a desire
to please God,
a desire to see God,
a desire to have faith,
a desire to see many people saved,
a desire to have God
greatly use you in life,
and through that desire
will come a separation.
If you have a lack of separation
in any area of your life,
it's a lack of desire.
You say, I can't give up
such and such a sin.
Not enough desire.
I can't start, you know,
doing this good thing,
going soul winning.
You don't have enough desire.
You say, I can't give up
this sin.
Your desire is lacking
because separation
comes through desire
and through desire
a man having separated himself
seeketh and intermeddeth
with all wisdom.
For example,
I used to be heavily
listening to rock music
and wrong kinds of music.
I mean heavily.
I mean I listened to it
from sun up to sun down
literally.
I mean I had thousands
of dollars of music
equipment in my house.
I mean I had a whole room
in my house.
As a teenager,
my brother moved out
and I just moved,
I took over that room, you know,
before anybody knew
what happened.
You know, it was a
four bedroom house
and as soon as my brother left
it's like I just invaded
that room and started
putting my stuff in there
and this became
my auxiliary room, okay?
And I filled it up
with all my music equipment
and I had guitars.
I had bass,
fretless bass guitar.
I had electronic synthesizers,
four track recorder.
He says, thousands of dollars
of stuff, okay,
to produce, you know,
the hymns.
It wasn't the hymns, okay.
It was wrong music, you know,
that I was playing with friends,
you know, we play in bands
and stuff like that.
And there came a time
when I had a desire,
when I was about 16,
17 years old,
I had a desire
to see people saved.
I had a desire
for God to use me.
I had a desire to see God.
I had a desire
to know the Bible
and even while I was listening
to all that rock music
and doing all that,
I read the Bible
and one time I read it
four times in a year
when I was 18 years old
and I still was listening
to all that music
and I was also reading
the Bible.
Talk about a dichotomy
of reading the Bible
four times in one year,
going out soul winning
every week,
and just pumping my mind
full of rock music.
See the dichotomy there?
You can't keep that up forever,
that kind of a war,
that kind of a battle
of two different things.
How did I give up
my rock music addiction?
Well, through desire.
I didn't even think
that it was really wrong
to be honest with you.
I mean, think about it.
If I'm listening
to rock music all day,
my mind's going to be
so warped,
how am I going to tell
whether it's right
or wrong or not?
And so I thought,
oh good night,
the preacher keeps preaching
on this,
I don't even see
what's wrong with it.
I don't even see
what the big deal is about it.
You know, I got rid
of all the music
that had cussing
and whatever, you know,
it's still worldly trash
and I just said,
I don't see
what's wrong with it.
But I started to see
a little bit in the Bible,
but I still didn't fully
see it and I wasn't
really convinced
that it was wrong.
But I just said,
you know, every preacher
that I listen to
is preaching against this.
You know, I'm seeing things
in the Bible that seem
to indicate that it's wrong,
although I'm not
really convinced.
I said, you know what,
I have such a great desire
to see people saved,
I have such a great desire
to be used by God,
I just couldn't imagine
if this is what's
holding me back.
If this is the thing
that's holding me back
from really seeing God
pull out his blessings
and my desire consumed me
so much that I was willing
to say, even though I love
this music, even though
I listen to this music
more than I read the Bible,
even though I'm spending
more time on this music
than I spend with God,
because I love this music,
I said, you know what,
I just have to get rid of it
because I have such a desire
to be filled with the Spirit,
I have such a desire
to see people saved.
And I've said it before,
how I took the last
of my rock music in the car
down to the church,
down to the church building,
nobody was around
on a Tuesday night
and I dumped it
in the dumpster at church.
And I cried out to God
on top of my lungs audibly,
I said, God, I said,
I don't need this music,
if this is what's
holding me back,
I said, just do what it takes,
show me what I have to do
for you to use me greatly,
show me what I have to do
to be filled with the Spirit,
I threw it in the trash.
And I went out knocking doors
and saw somebody saved.
Because God says through
desire, a man having
separated himself,
seeking an inner metallus
with all wisdom,
I didn't really understand
fully why I was wrong
at the time,
I'll be honest with you.
But once I got rid of it,
a couple weeks went by
and I understood a little more
what was wrong with it.
And as my mind was cleared
of all that junk,
six months later,
a year later,
two years later,
today I could give you
a hundred things
that's wrong with it.
Why?
Because since I've had
the desire,
since I separated myself,
and since I've
seeken and intermeddled
with all wisdom,
boy, I've intermeddled
with all wisdom.
I can tell you all
the wise reasons
why not to listen
to rock music,
why not to poison your mind
with rock music.
And that's just one example.
There are other things
that I've had a desire about,
that I've separated myself from.
And then later on
I kind of understood more.
And separation is something
that's a process,
it's not something
that you do overnight.
You know, there are things
that I've separated
by itself from more recently.
Because I've not arrived,
nobody's perfect,
and so I'm constantly
trying to purify myself.
I'm trying to let Jesus Christ
purify unto himself
a peculiar person.
Pastor Anderson,
zealous of the word,
that's my goal,
and so I have to let him
purify me constantly.
And I constantly
have to separate myself
through what tool?
What's the tool that I use
to separate myself?
What's the tool that I use
to let God purify me?
Desire.
You say,
I'm having trouble
with separation.
Work on your desire.
Work on desire
and separation will come
through desire.
But quickly I have to hurry,
I'm a little bit late
in the sermon here.
But look if you would
at Hebrews chapter 11.
Are you still there
in Hebrews chapter 11?
I think I had
to turn to Leviticus.
But look at Hebrews chapter 11.
And look at verse number 27.
The Bible says by faith he,
I'm sorry,
look at the verse preceding
verse number 27.
By faith Moses,
this is verse number 24.
By faith Moses,
when he was come to years,
refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt,
for he had respect
unto the recompense
of the reward.
Now notice a few things.
Number one,
he says the reproach of Christ.
So did Moses know
who Jesus Christ was?
Absolutely,
because he esteemed
the reproach of Christ
greater riches
than the treasures in Egypt.
Don't tell me that people
in the Old Testament
didn't know about Jesus.
The whole Bible's about Jesus.
They knew about Jesus.
And it says the reproach of Christ,
that's shame.
Reproach is when somebody
mocks you for what you believe,
when somebody makes a fool
out of you because you're
taking a stand for what's right.
And it says that he chose rather,
in verse number 25,
to suffer.
Why would someone
choose to suffer?
Think about that for a second.
Look at that verse
and think about it.
Why would somebody
choose to suffer?
Why would somebody choose
to be reproached by others?
Why?
Well, the answer is
in verse number 27
when it says he endured
as seeing him who is invisible.
See, he saw something
further on down the road.
He saw because it says
he chose rather to suffer
affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin
for a season,
he saw the destruction
that the ungodly crowd
was headed for.
He saw the hell that
unbelievers would be headed for.
He also saw the ruined life
that Christians who don't
live for God and Christians
who don't separate themselves,
he saw what their kids
are going to turn out like.
He saw the destruction
that they were going to face
in their marriage possibly.
He saw all the fruits
of the tree of worldliness
and lack of separation.
He said,
I can see down the road
and I'm not going to enjoy
the pleasures of sin
for a season because
I don't want to end up
down that road.
I'm going to choose to suffer.
I'm going to choose
to suffer affliction.
I'm going to choose
to be reproached a little bit
because I can see
what's at the end of the road
for me when I stand up
on Mount Pisgah's lofty heights,
as the song says,
and look at the great
promised land and be taken
by God to heaven immediately
to an even greater
promised land in heaven.
And so he could see that.
Now look quickly,
I'm going to close with this.
Look at 1 Samuel 9.
1 Samuel 9.
And I hope that this sermon
is helping you to understand
a little more what faith is.
Faith is the same word
as belief.
I want you to know that.
The noun belief,
even though the word
believe is used
hundreds and hundreds of times,
that verb believe,
the noun belief
with an F on the end,
is only used, I believe,
maybe once, maybe twice,
because the word faith
is the noun that corresponds
to the verb believe.
Belief is only used
once for euphony,
and faith is the word
that God uses.
So believe and faith
are one and the same.
What is faith?
Well, it's always based
on the word of God, isn't it?
It's always based on where
you see something in the Bible
and you decide to do it
even though it may not
make sense,
even though it may not
be convenient,
even though it may not be
what appears to be
with your human eyes,
you obey anywhere,
you believe what God says,
that's faith.
And number two,
faith is where you can
see something that
other people don't see
because God told you about it
so you know it's true,
so you can actually,
it's so real to you
it's like you can see it.
That's what faith is.
It's the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.
Look at 1 Samuel 9.
The Bible says,
Before time in Israel,
when a man went to
inquire of God,
thus he spake,
come and let us go
to the seer.
For he that is now
called a prophet
was before time
called a seer.
Then said Saul to his servant,
Well said,
come let us go.
So they went unto the city
where the man of God was.
And as they went up the hill
to the city,
they found young maidens
going out to draw water
and said unto them,
Is the seer here?
Now, what does it mean,
a seer?
Well, the Bible says that
a person who is now
called a prophet
was called a seer.
Now, a lot of people
misunderstand some of the
words in the Bible.
One of them is prophecy,
prophet, prophesy.
That word does not mean
necessarily to predict
the future.
That's what most people think.
Like, if he's a prophet,
he can tell the future.
He can tell us what's
going to happen next year.
Now, that's not
necessarily true.
God does tell the future
in the Bible.
And so because prophets
were speaking God's word,
they were often
telling a future event
that was going to happen
because God had revealed
that to them.
But is that all that
prophecy is?
No, not necessarily.
Because a lot of the times
the Bible will talk about
a person prophesying
about something.
Nothing to do with the future.
It will be about the past
or it will be about the present.
Because prophecy
is our modern word
of preaching.
You can see that in
1 Corinthians 14.
We don't have time
to turn there.
But the Bible calls preaching
prophesying.
Like, where I stand up here
and I preach about all manner
of different subjects,
Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night,
I preach about sins
that you shouldn't do.
I preach about things
that you should be doing.
I preach to try to motivate you.
Whatever I'm preaching on,
that's called prophesying
by the Bible.
If you look at the word
preaching in the Bible,
the word preaching
throughout the New Testament
is nine times out of ten
referring to preaching
the gospel.
And it's referring
to soul winning
more often than not.
If you look at it
in the book of Acts,
the word preaching
is constantly being used.
You believe in women
preachers, Pastor Anderson?
Absolutely.
Praise the Lord.
Women soul winners, that is.
Do I believe in women
prophets like Joyce Meyer
getting up and preaching
the Bible to large crowds?
Absolutely not.
Not on your life.
And by the way,
she needs to grow her hair
long like the Bible says
and not have that
short bobbed haircut either.
Let's throw that in.
But women preachers,
quote unquote,
is a sin.
It's wrong.
But every woman should be
a preacher of the gospel.
Every woman should be
out soul winning preaching
the gospel.
And that's what God uses
that term to mean that
more often than not.
Sometimes he uses
the word preaching
to refer to what
I'm doing right now.
Sometimes he does
use it in that way.
And so that's why
we use it in that way.
We're not incorrect
in calling this preaching.
But more often than not,
God chooses to use
the word prophesy
when a man is preaching
the word from the mouth of God.
You say,
you heard words
from the mouth of God?
No, but the Bible says
we have a more sure
word of prophecy
in the New Testament
because the Old Testament prophet,
we had to really
check him out and say,
is this guy really
you know, the Bible says
how you're supposed
to check him out.
You know, is this guy
really preaching
what God said?
Whereas we've got it here
in black and white,
the King James Bible,
you can tell very easily
whether what I'm preaching
is what God says.
And so we have a more
sure word of prophecy.
This is the prophecy.
This book that I have
in my hand,
and when I preach this book,
I'm prophesying,
preaching prophecy.
But God says that that man
used to be called a seer.
Why?
Because a man who's
a man of God,
as the Bible says
in 1 Samuel 9,
a man who's a preacher,
a man who's a prophet
should be a man of faith.
And a man of faith
is a seer
because a faith
is seeing the invisible.
And so think about this
for a moment.
What if you could,
when you read the Bible,
what if you opened your Bible
and read Luke 16
or read Revelation chapter 20
and you read about hell?
What if you could just see
the fires of hell
when you read that?
Boy, that'd make you
a soul winner, wouldn't it?
Boy, that'd get you
a soul winning this week
if you opened your Bible
and read it
and you could see
the fires of hell.
Or what if you could
open your Bible
and read Revelation 21 and 22
and read about
the glories of heaven
and the glories of what
it's going to be like in heaven
and you could actually
see heaven.
What about if in Revelation 4 and 5,
what we learned about
the last few weeks,
you could see
the great glory of God
and hear the four beasts
saying,
Holy, Holy, Holy!
And that great answer
arises with God.
What if you could see God
when you read the Bible?
What if you could see heaven
when you read about heaven?
What if you could see hell
when you read about hell?
I'm going to tell you something
that would change your life
and make you live for God.
It would make you be
on fire for God
and make you live for God
with such a passion
and it would be peculiar
how pure you'd be.
There's a land
that is fairer than day
and by faith
we can see it afar.
See that?
If you would think about
what heaven is like,
if you could see off
in the distance
as the songwriter said,
he said,
I can see the sweet by and by.
I can see heaven
just over on the other side
of the river.
He says,
I can see heaven.
Your trials and troubles
will not seem as bad
if you can see
what it's going to be like.
Heaven.
How are you going to endure?
There's a lot to endure
in the Christian life.
I'm not saying it's easy.
I've never gotten up
and said it's easy.
Boy, if you live for God,
it's going to be a piece of cake.
I don't know why people
live such a burdened down life.
Okay, I'm going to be
like a liberal preacher now.
Why are people so burdened?
Why don't they just lay
their burdens at the cross?
They live such a burdened life,
and they live such a defeated life.
Why don't they just claim the victory
and just,
they make it so hard on them.
No, that's a bunch of garbage.
Okay.
The Christian life is difficult.
It's hard.
There's suffering.
There's sorrow involved.
But hallelujah,
praise be to God one day.
No more sorrow.
No more suffering.
No more tears.
On the other side,
that's how you're going to endure.
I mean, endurance,
that sounds a little bit negative.
I mean, you're enduring pain.
You're enduring criticism.
You're enduring hardship.
You're enduring a struggle.
Why do you endure?
Because you see Him who's invisible.
Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
God, I thank you so much
for the promises of the Bible
that can give us endurance
because we know what's coming
on the other side.
We know what's coming down the road,
dear God,
and please help us to have the faith
as we read your promises
to believe what you've said in the Bible.
Both believe the positive
and believe the negative.
That if we live for God,
God's going to bless us
and He's going to show us great things
and give us good things.