At the beginning of verse 7, where the Bible reads,
the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
Now, what a beautiful passage.
This may not even rhyme in many places.
What a beautiful book the Word of God is.
But the part that I really want to focus on is that one statement at the beginning of verse 7.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
That's the title of the sermon this morning.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
Now, in order to understand that statement,
the first thing you have to understand is that the Word of God is perfect.
Look at Psalm 12.
You see, the law of the Lord can be used to refer to the Bible as a whole,
but many times it's specifically referring to a certain part of the Bible,
which would be Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy,
known as the Mosaic law, the first five books of the Bible.
Now, in order to understand the fact that God's laws are perfect,
we have to understand that the Bible that we have in front of us,
and that I have right here in my hand, is perfect.
It's the perfect Word of God in order to understand that statement.
Look at it. Where did I return?
Psalm 12, verse 6, the Bible reads,
The words of the Lord, and notice the plural, the words,
not just the thoughts or the ideas, or not just the word as a whole,
as a book, as a chapter, as a verse.
No, he says, the words of the Lord are pure words,
as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
Now, you say, wait a minute, is that saying that the Bible's been purified seven times?
No, it's saying that it is as pure as silver
that has been purified in a furnace of earth seven times.
If you were to take a furnace made of earth and heat it up to extreme heat
to separate the silver from the droughts,
and you did that seven times in a row,
he's saying, that's how pure God's Word is.
That's how pure the Bible is.
Every single word of it is pure.
And he said in verse 7, thou shalt keep them.
He's saying, he's going to keep them pure.
He's going to keep them on this earth.
He said, thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
Look at Matthew chapter 5.
Look over, actually, look at Proverbs, since you're in Psalms.
Go one book forward in the Bible to Proverbs chapter number 30.
And while you're turning there, I'll read you another scripture.
Matthew 5, 18, for verily I say unto you,
till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.
And then in verse 35, Matthew 24, he said,
heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.
Look at Proverbs 35.
Every word of God is pure.
He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Hey, God's Word is perfect.
God's Word is pure.
Now you say, wait a minute.
When it was written, it was perfect.
When it was written, it was pure.
When it was written, it was inspired by God.
But how do we know that we have God's Word today?
Because he said, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.
He said in Matthew 4, for man, as it is written,
but he answered and said it is written,
man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
shall man live.
How can you live by every word if you don't have every word?
How can God tell us that we must live by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
and then we don't have every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God?
And you say, wait a minute.
It's got to be in the original language
and that's a popular movement.
And you say, well, it's always been around us whole.
Of course, there's nothing new under the sun.
The devil was attacking God's Word
in Genesis chapter 2 and 3.
The devil has always been twisting,
corrupting the Word of God.
The false doctrines of today
are the false doctrines of yesterday.
There is no new thing under the sun.
Is there anything whereof it may be said?
Behold, this is new.
It had been already of old time which was before us.
That's what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 1.
And so this doctrine that purity is only in the original language
is what they say.
And then in order to understand the Bible,
you must go back to the Hebrew.
You must go back to the Greek.
Now, are you telling me that God can only speak two languages?
Now, look, if God can only speak two languages or three,
because you say, well, part of the Bible is in Aramaic,
part of it is in Greek, and part of it is in Hebrew,
if He can speak three, why not four?
Right?
I mean, it's not like He gave us the whole Bible in Hebrew.
It would be one thing if He gave us the whole Bible in Hebrew
and this is just God's language.
He says He only speaks one language, Hebrew.
But wait a minute.
Isn't the New Testament in Greek?
But wait a minute.
Aren't courses of the book of Daniel and the book of Jeremiah in Aramaic?
That's three languages.
And let me tell you something.
When Jesus Christ was walking this earth,
He was speaking Aramaic, not Hebrew.
Every time He spoke Hebrew,
the Bible makes a specific point of saying,
He said this word in Hebrew.
And it makes a point about that.
He was speaking Aramaic.
He had a Hebrew Bible that He was quoting from in Matthew 4.4,
when He answered and said it is written.
He was referring to what?
The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 3, written in Hebrew.
He's speaking Aramaic.
Then Matthew wrote it down in Greek.
And yet it was still God's Word.
Because God can speak in all of the languages of this world.
The Bible can be translated into any language,
into any tongue, for any people.
God is not limited.
You say you're limiting God.
No, you're limiting God when you say that God's Word can only be in one language.
I believe that God's Word can be in all languages translated.
And it ought to be!
Now you say, well wait a minute.
You people that are King James only,
you know, you're trying to limit God to one book.
You know, I'm not limiting God to one book.
I'm saying God can speak in any language.
They're limiting God that He is only trilingual.
God can speak His Word in the English language.
Now people banter about foolishness such as,
well you always lose something in the translation.
Well did God lose something in the translation?
When He quoted the Old Testament and the New Testament,
and took it from Hebrew into Greek,
did He lose something?
When He said to Timothy that from a child that was known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,
that's how you get saved, the Holy Scriptures.
And Timothy knew them as a young boy.
You don't have to speak a certain language in order to know God's Word,
and to speak God's Word.
That is a Roman Catholic doctrine of teaching and preaching in a dead language,
and telling people that you need a priest to help you understand the Word of God.
When the Bible says,
ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in him,
and now that it shall abide in him.
You don't need me to tell you what it means in some foreign language.
Hey, we've got the Word of God preserved for us today.
The inspired, infallible, inerrant Word spoken by the mouth of God
before the world began in our language.
Now, I personally speak many languages,
and I can tell you right now,
you don't always lose something in the translation.
Most of the people who have said that to me,
I ask, well, how many languages do you speak?
One.
Most of these preachers that are getting up,
this is what I always say every time a preacher goes back to the Greek,
I walk up to them and say,
Do you speak Greek?
And we just agree, a Greek sentence.
And he's like, huh?
Because none of them even speak Greek.
They have a Greek-English dictionary.
They have a lexicon.
They have a concordance.
And they're going to talk in a language that they don't even understand,
and pretend to understand it,
and speak it to you,
and tell you that they know what it means
when they don't even speak the language.
They took some class.
How many of you took Spanish in high school?
Now, how many of you can speak Spanish fluently?
So you see all the hands go up,
and then all the hands go down.
And yet these guys take a couple semesters of Greek,
or even...
Who went all the way to Spanish 4?
Put it up your head.
Who speaks Spanish fluently?
All right.
You see what I'm saying?
And yet they take four years of Greek,
and they think they're going to understand the subtleties and the nuances
of the original languages.
It's a lie, my friend.
It's a lie.
It's people putting themselves on a pedestal,
trying to keep you down,
and trying to keep them up, right?
So that they know the truth, and you don't.
Hey, if you have the Bible in your lap,
you have the Holy Spirit living inside you,
you saved on your way to heaven,
you can understand the Bible as well as Pastor Anderson
can understand the Bible.
Period.
And that's what I believe.
Hey, I believe that God's Word is perfect,
and therefore I believe that the law of the Lord is perfect.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Look at Isaiah chapter 30.
So before, I mean, before we even get into the sermon,
we have to establish that.
You've got to know that the Word of God is perfect.
The Bible is perfect.
Because if it's not the King James Bible that's perfect,
you know, this is not a sermon about the King James Bible,
but if it's not the King James Bible,
I need somebody to show me what it is.
Because I need to live by it, I need to preach it,
I need to use it out solely.
You know, somebody, please, get me a copy of it.
If it's the NIV, stand up and tell me it's the NIV,
which says that no one has ever gone into heaven in John 3.13,
which says that Joseph was Jesus' father in Luke 2.33,
which says that to beat yourself and beat your body
and make it your slave, 1 Corinthians 9.27,
which has Jesus being kicked out of heaven
in Isaiah 14.12 instead of Lucifer.
Go ahead and, I mean, stand up and tell me if that's what it is,
because if it is, I better be reading it.
But let me tell you something.
God's Word is perfect, and it's been preserved as He promised.
It has not passed off the face of this earth.
And by the way, it never did pass off the face of this earth.
That's why this modern idea of going into archaeology,
digging up old manuscripts,
they're still 200 years after the fact,
but digging up these ancient manuscripts and saying,
well, this one's older, it must be more reliable.
No, if it was under a rock and nobody was believing it,
preaching it, reading it for centuries,
and man was copying and copying and preaching and preaching his Word,
hey, I'm going to go with the received text
that we have received passed down to us
from generation to generation of creatures
and soul-lenders and Bible-believing Christians,
then some book that somebody threw away in a trash heap
that got buried, and then somebody digs it out again
and says, well, this one's right,
and the one that you have received is wrong.
How do you tamper with a book
that's been copied millions of times for the last 2,000 years?
How can you tamper with it?
Are you going to change every copy?
But you can tamper with one archaeological find.
Think about it now.
You can't tamper with a received text
that's been copied millions and millions of times
throughout the centuries.
How do you tamper with it?
Do you think somebody went around and changed everyone's Bible?
No.
That's why the received text is the right text,
and this textual criticism is garbage.
This archaeological finding, some buried,
hey, if it was buried, it wasn't God's Word,
because God's Word was preserved.
If it was hidden from man for 1,700 years or 1,600 years,
it cannot be God's Word,
because God wouldn't have kept us in the dark for 1,600 years, my friend.
And so that's what you've got to believe
if you want to understand that the law of the Lord is perfect.
But look at Isaiah chapter 30.
Is that where I have the term?
Look at verse 9.
That this is a rebellious people,
lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the Lord.
And that will not hear is saying they don't want to hear.
They have no willingness to hear.
He's saying they will not hear the law of the Lord,
which say to the seers,
see not, and to the prophets,
and of course a prophet is a preacher,
and to the prophets,
prophesy not unto us right things,
speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits,
get you out of the way,
turn aside out of the pack,
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us,
wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel,
because he despised this word,
and trust in oppression,
notice that word, oppression,
and perverseness, and stay thereon,
therefore this iniquity shall be to you
as a breach ready to fall,
swelling out in the high wall,
whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant,
and he shall break it as the breaking
of the pot of his vessel that is broken in pieces,
he shall not spare,
so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it,
assured to take from the heart,
or to take water withal out of faith.
So the first point you have to understand,
in order to understand that statement,
the law of the Lord is perfect,
you've got to say, wait a minute,
the word of God is perfect.
The Bible is perfect.
The Bible of my hand is perfect.
But number two, the second thing you have to understand
is this statement.
God is right, and you are wrong.
Okay, just let that sink in for a second.
God is right, you are wrong,
if you disagree with the Bible.
Because God's law is perfect.
God's word is perfect.
I'm not perfect.
You're not perfect.
And therefore, God is right,
and you are wrong in any disagreement, right?
So here we see that rebellious people,
lying children,
they don't want to hear the law of the Lord.
They don't want to come to church
and hear the truth preached.
They don't want to hear the Bible preached,
as it's written.
They will tell the preacher what to preach,
and they'll tell him,
give us something that goes down smooth.
Give us something that will make us feel good.
Just go ahead and lie to us.
Prophesy deceits.
They're just asking to be lied to.
Lie to us.
Tell us something smooth.
And by the way,
what's the opposite of smooth preaching?
Right preaching, according to this passage.
The opposite of smooth is right, okay?
Now, yeah, but you're right, rough.
What's the opposite of smooth?
Rough.
Sometimes what's right can be rough.
Sometimes what's right can be a little coarse.
Look up all the antonyms,
get a thesaurus,
and get the antonyms of the word smooth.
You're going to find the word coarse.
Somebody said to me,
don't use coarse language
like you've been using behind the pulpit.
What do you want to hear, something smooth?
You know what I mean?
Hey, don't get up,
and what they call coarse language
is because I use the word queer.
Woo!
Sorry.
Emily, that's what that's about, you know?
Or because I use Bible words,
you know,
words that are in the Bible that they don't like
because Tipper Gore told them that they're profanity or whatever.
Like the word bastard,
which is, you know,
it's a word that God uses to describe,
many times throughout the Bible.
And on the other,
Tipper Gore told them that it's a bad word,
and so they don't like it,
but you know,
the Bible says every word of God is pure, right?
So if I'm preaching in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches,
and by the way,
I've sat in a church and listened to a pastor read the Bible,
and when he came to a coarse word,
he substituted a different word as he was reading.
That's right.
I've been there.
I mean, I've heard it.
Who's heard that?
I've sat in a church
and had them substitute the word that was written in the Bible.
And I thought to myself,
who do you think you are?
God is right.
You are wrong.
You don't like that word.
That's God's word.
Who are you to stand behind the pulpit
and say,
what I will substitute is a cleaner,
better word than what is written in the Holy Bible?
Who are you?
Who made you spell thyself?
And so that's unbelievable.
I've heard it.
I mean, I've seen it.
I've seen it done.
Where they'll skip over it and say,
we're not going to read this verse.
You know, because it said,
you know,
one of them said the word piss in it,
and they said,
oh man, we're not going to read,
you know,
let's skip down to the next verse.
Who do you think you are?
To censor and edit God's holy word
is what I'd like to know.
You say,
well,
I can't believe you just said that.
Well,
you know what?
Maybe you should do a little more Bible reading
since you don't,
since you think that that's a bad word or,
you know,
and on and on.
And so why don't you get a concordance,
go home and look it up.
It's under P.
The word is piss.
Why don't you look it up?
It's B.
It's faster.
Look up the word damn and hell and you say,
oh man,
I can't believe the stuff that's coming out of your mouth.
I can't believe what's coming out of Hollywood.
I can't believe what's on the magazine rack.
I can't believe what's on the billboards.
I can't believe what comes out of the mouth of Christians that I know.
Hey,
God's word is right.
You're wrong.
Amen.
And you justify yourself before men,
but God knows your heart.
If you spoke in the words of the Bible
and used God's word
and then cut all the other filth
and smut and adultery and fornication
off your TV and out of your life,
maybe you could get your head screwed on strike
and come to church
and say God's right,
I'm wrong.
That's what the Bible says.
Every word of God is pure,
wholesome words,
good words.
Now,
I'm sure that we could arrange the words in the Bible
in combinations that would not be good.
You know,
if I said things that were wrong or offensive
or false or lies or terrible,
but at the same time,
to censor and edit God's word
shows a person who is basically saying,
I'm right,
God's wrong.
That's the attitude.
Think about it now.
I'm right,
God's wrong.
And so,
what a holier than thou attitude
where you think you're more righteous than God is.
My language is better than God's language.
Right?
My choice of words is better than God's choice of words.
Well, wow,
maybe we should just bow down and start worshipping you.
Okay?
And so,
God's right,
you're wrong.
You got to understand that
to understand the Bible.
Look at Isaiah 5,
24.
Because what are we trying to teach this morning?
The law of the Lord is perfect.
First of all,
you got to understand
when we talk about the law of the Lord,
we understand the Bible is a perfect book.
Right?
And that we have it in our hand.
Number two,
we got to understand,
wait a minute,
God's right,
we're wrong.
We're not God.
We're not greater than God.
We're not smarter than God.
We're not better than God.
Look at Isaiah 5,
24.
The Bible reads,
Therefore,
as the fire devoured the stubble,
and the flame consumed the chap,
so their root shall be as rotten as,
and their blossom shall go up as dust,
because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts.
And watch the next phrase,
and had despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
See how the word and the law
are pretty synonymous there again?
They said that they cast away the law of the Lord of hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
There are people who hate the Bible.
They'll hear a verse from the Bible and say,
I don't like that.
I don't like the way he words that.
I don't like the way he phrased that.
I don't like the way he said that.
I don't like what he decided about that.
I don't like what the Bible says about that.
Whoa.
He says,
Wait a minute.
If you cast away God's word
and despise the Holy One of Israel,
he said in verse 25,
Therefore is the anger of the Lord
kindled against these people.
He says that makes God angry.
When we don't like the Bible,
or we don't like a verse in the Bible,
we don't like a chapter in the Bible,
or we want to get rid of part of the Bible,
or not believe or live by part of the Bible,
he says that makes God angry.
And he has stretched forth his hand against them,
and has smitten them,
and the hills did tremble,
and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Look at Amos 2, verse 4.
Look at what Amos just put to the right in your Bible.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and then you get into the Minor Prophets,
Isaiah, Daniel, Joel, Amos.
Amos chapter 2, verse number 4.
The Bible reads,
Thus saith the Lord.
And by the way, I find it interesting.
All throughout the Old Testament,
you'll find that phrase, right?
Thus saith the Lord.
What did Jesus always say?
Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Right? You know what I mean?
You won't find him saying,
Thus saith the Lord.
You just find him saying,
Verily, I say unto you.
And I say unto you.
I say unto you.
How many times?
Because if he says that it's coming from the Lord,
because Jesus Christ was God in the flesh,
according to the Bible,
but look at Amos 2, verse 4.
Thus saith the Lord.
For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof,
because they have despised the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his commandments,
and their lies caused them to err,
after the which their fathers had walked.
So what did they put?
They did tradition over what God said.
Right?
Well, this is what Dad said.
This is what our fathers said.
You know, this is the way it's been
throughout history of Baptist, or whatever.
And they put that above what God said,
and that caused them to err, to make a mistake.
Putting tradition above God's word.
Nothing can be placed above God's word.
Christ is the head of the church,
and this book is the rule of faith and practice,
no matter what anybody else says.
But, he says in verse 5,
But I will send a fire upon Judah,
and he shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
Look at Psalm 119.
And while you're turning to Psalm 119,
I'll read Psalm 1-1.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the young godly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Right?
The person who's blessed by God,
who shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
to bringeth forth his fruit in this season,
his leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,
if he delights in and loves the Bible.
Do you love the Bible?
I love the Bible.
Don't you love reading the Bible?
I mean, isn't it just a joy to sit out and read the Bible?
I mean, if you are not a person
who reads the Bible throughout the week,
you may not understand this.
You may enjoy hearing it preached.
You probably love to hear it preached.
But, boy, sitting down and just opening the book
and reading it is really a joy.
It's not a drudgery.
It's not something that we do
because we have to.
I mean, we are commanded to read the Bible daily.
But, boy, I just love to read it.
I delight in it.
I think it's great.
I love the way things are worded.
I love what he says.
I love the stories.
I love the teachings.
Hey, I love the Bible.
We ought to delight.
And that's a pretty strong word.
Delight.
Extreme pleasure in the Bible,
in God's Word.
So have delight in God's Word.
Don't walk into counsel of the ungodly.
You know, the way of sinners should not be our way.
Sitting in the seat of the scroll.
No.
Our delight should be in the law of the Lord.
And in His law,
we should meditate day and night.
And then we'll be successful.
But look at Psalm 119, verse 1.
Now, this is a long chapter.
The longest chapter in the Bible.
176 verses.
Divided into 22 sections of 8 verses each.
Based on the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet,
the first letter is Aleph, right?
Which would be like our letter A.
Look at the first statement.
This whole chapter is about the Word of God.
Every verse mentions in some way the Bible,
the Word of God.
Whether it's called His law, His statutes,
His ways, His ordinance, His Word.
But look at this statement.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way
who walk in the law of the Lord.
So out of all the 7 words that he chooses,
in this chapter, besides Word,
he chooses 7 other words to refer to His Word.
The first one that he mentions is His law.
He said, blessed are the undefiled in the way
who walk in the law of the Lord.
Now, look at James chapter 1.
Turn to the book of James.
This is toward the end of the New Testament.
While you're turning here,
let me read you some scriptures from the Old Testament.
2 Chronicles 17, 9.
And they taught in Judah.
This is King Jehoshaphat sent out a group
of preachers, Levites, and people with a commission
to go throughout all the land of Judah
and to teach people the law of the Lord.
They were like, you know, they had an RV and everything,
you know, and they were traveling around.
No, I'm just kidding.
But they were preaching God's Word
and teaching people the Bible in Judah
at the command of King Jehoshaphat.
It says this, and they taught in Judah
and had the book of the law of the Lord with them
and went about throughout all the cities of Judah
and taught the people.
And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms
of the land that were round about Judah
so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
You say, wait a minute, I don't understand that.
That doesn't make any sense to me.
Why is it that when Jehoshaphat
went around preaching people the Bible,
he sent out all these teachers
that were Levites and priests and prophets,
preaching the Bible, they had the Bible with them.
They taught people the Bible.
All of a sudden, as a result of that,
it says the fear of the Lord fell upon
all the kingdoms of the land that were round about Judah.
That's not where they were preaching.
But it says that the fear of the Lord fell upon
those that were around them
so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
You say, why?
Because it was an act of God.
Because when you do what's right in the sight of God,
God will protect you.
Did you hear that?
When you do what's right in the eyes of God,
when the Bible is taught and preached,
that will protect a nation.
Righteousness exalted the nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people.
You see, we are scared to death right now
of all these people attacking us,
but it's because we know that we haven't
sent people out preaching the Bible
and preaching the truth,
and we've been inundated with false doctrine
and false teaching and sin and abomination in this country.
We don't have that hand of protection
that God can put around a nation
like he put around the nation of Judah
during this time that Jehoshaphat
was teaching the law of the Lord
throughout the nation.
That was God.
God acted that.
But Ezra 7.10, you're in James 1,
but I was reading a few passages in the Old Testament.
For Ezra had prepared his heart
to seek the law of the Lord and to do it
and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
Nehemiah 9.3,
and they stood up in their place
and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God
one fourth part of the day,
and another fourth part they confessed
and worshiped the Lord their God.
Three hours, fourth part of the day,
the Bible of days 12 hours and nights 12 hours.
Three hours they read in the Bible.
Three hours they confessed their sins
and worshiped the Lord their God.
This was a long service dedicated to studying
and knowing the Bible and confessing their sin.
First they read the Bible for three hours,
then they realized everything they'd been doing wrong.
That's when they started confessing their sins
and worshiping God
after they realized the things
that they'd been doing that were wrong.
So number one, we learned that what the Bible's perfect,
the word of God's perfect.
Number two, we learned, hey, God's right, we're wrong.
Who are we to disagree with the Bible?
Who are we to question what God says in the Bible?
But number three, God's laws are perfect.
Okay, look at James chapter 1 and verse 25.
The Bible reads,
But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty,
see that phrase, law of liberty,
and continueeth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Look at just the next chapter,
James chapter 2, verse 12.
The Bible reads in James 2, 12,
So speak ye, and so do,
as they that shall be judged
by the law of liberty.
Look at Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew chapter 7.
So he said here,
Who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty,
and continueeth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 2, 12,
So speak ye, and so do,
as they that shall be judged
by the law of liberty.
God is defining his law as the law of liberty.
That's what he's named it.
God's laws.
So let me ask you something.
Did the people who lived in ancient Israel,
when Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
were the law of the land,
let me ask you this.
Did they live in a free country?
You better know they lived in a free country.
Did they have liberty and justice for all?
Yes they did.
Did they have freedom?
Did they live in freedom?
Of course they did,
because their law was the law of liberty.
Because their law was the perfect law.
Because their law was God's law.
So look at Matthew chapter 7.
Here's Jesus.
He gives this great teaching
in Matthew 7, 12,
known as the golden rule,
is what we call it.
But in James,
he talked about,
if you fulfill the royal law,
according to the scriptures,
he said it's this.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
He says, then you do well.
Okay, so we have the royal law,
the law of liberty,
God's law that says,
hey, love your neighbor as yourself.
Here he prays it this way,
Matthew 7, 12.
Therefore all things whatsoever you would
that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them.
For this is the law and the prophets.
Okay, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
2 Corinthians chapter number 3,
and then we're going to look at 1 Corinthians 7,
but look at 2 Corinthians chapter number 3.
You say, Pastor Anderson,
these are your opinions.
We're looking at a lot of Bible.
And in fact, I think that I'm backing up
everything I'm saying right now with the Bible.
Because I don't want to preach to you
what I think you'll believe.
I want to preach to you what the Bible teaches you.
And so look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17.
The Bible reads,
now the Lord is that spirit,
and where the spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
Now, what did Jesus say in John chapter 6?
He said, the words that I say unto you,
they are spirit,
and they are life.
You remember that?
The Lord's spirit,
the spirit of the Lord,
and God's word cannot be separated.
We have the Trinity, right?
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
And these three are one.
Now, the Word is Jesus Christ
was the Word made flesh.
God's Word, but still the Bible,
still the Word, okay?
That was made flesh and dwelt among us
as in the form of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Ghost is another name for who?
The spirit of the Lord.
It's one and the same person.
The spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost,
or the Holy Spirit are the same person.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
these three are one.
I mean, God's Word and His spirit
are part of the same Godhead
of Father, Word, and Holy Ghost, okay?
God's law, God's Word is the law of liberty.
It's perfect.
If it disagrees with us,
it's right, we're wrong, okay?
And I've proved all that from the Bible.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 7.
1 Corinthians chapter number 7 reads this.
1 Corinthians 7, 21.
Art thou called being a servant?
Care not for it.
But if thou mayest be made free,
use it rather.
For he that is called in the Lord being a servant
is the Lord's free man.
Likewise also, he that is called being free
is Christ's servant.
Ye are bought with a price,
be not ye the servants of men.
So let me ask you something.
Is freedom something that God promotes,
believes in, and gives us a law
to achieve in the Bible?
Is freedom good or bad?
Is liberty good or bad?
Hey, liberty is the evidence
of the presence of God's Spirit.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.
That's how you can tell
whether God's Spirit is present,
if there's liberty.
You can tell that there's freedom
when God's Word is being preached,
believed, followed.
Now this can apply to a church
or this can apply to a nation.
How do we treat people in church?
What kind of an attitude do we have
toward people in church?
Hey, we love them as we love ourselves.
Do we try to control them?
Do we try to oppress them?
Do you remember the word oppression?
Earlier on in the sermon
when I was back in the book of Isaiah,
I talked about people despising God's Word
and choosing oppression.
The opposite of the law of liberty,
the opposite of being a follower of the Bible
and God's Word is oppression.
Now listen to me.
Mankind has a sin nature
and has a desire to control and oppress someone else.
You say, why?
Why would anyone want to oppress people?
Think about the word oppress.
Think about pressure.
Think about pushing someone down.
That's what oppression means,
to lift yourself up.
It would be like using someone.
It would be like if I was using him to climb up higher
and I was just stepping on him,
shoving him to the ground,
using him as a human ladder
to climb up where I want to be.
That is the opposite of liberty.
That is the force throughout history,
throughout the Bible,
that war is against God's spirit of liberty
and freedom for mankind.
Hey, it's oppression.
Surely oppression is making the wise man mad,
the Bible says.
Mad not meaning anger,
but a craze of anger.
Madness.
Oppression.
I'm talking about controlling other people,
pushing other people down,
wanting to exert power over other people.
The Bible says this.
Jesus said it this way.
He said, the Gentiles...
He said...
Man, I can't remember what he said.
He said that among the Gentiles,
they that exercise authority
are called great among them,
but he said that it shall not be so among you.
He said, for he that is greatest among you,
let him be your servant.
He said they exercise lordship and dominion
and power over other people,
and that's who we call great.
God said, that's not my plan.
That's not what I teach.
I teach liberty and freedom in my laws.
Oppression.
Why is it that mankind has a desire
to control someone else?
It's not right.
Why is it that mankind has a desire
to run other people's life,
to press them down,
to keep them on a certain leash, as it were?
This could creep into a church,
where a pastor, for example...
Let's start at the top, in the church.
Let's talk about the pastor.
A pastor who wants to tell his people what to do, right?
Who wants to come into your house and say,
hey, do this, don't do that.
Who wants to control where you work,
where you live, tell you what to do.
I have no desire to tell you what to do.
Pastors who want to tell young men and young ladies
who they should marry.
Now, sure, we ought to preach and, of course,
take a stand that, hey, marry a believer.
Hey, marry someone who's not divorced
and remarried, you know, and being remarried.
Those are Bible principles that I will stand on,
but I'm going to tell you something.
It's not my right to decide
what young lady and a young man can or can't marry.
Hey, if it fits God's criteria
of someone being saved in an equal yoke,
that is not my business,
and I have no desire to preside over
the lives of the people of this church.
I will not tell a man who he should or should not marry,
if it's just in accordance with the fact
that they're a believer.
And even then, hey, you have the right to disobey me
and reap the consequences of disobeying God.
The Bible says to obey them that have the rule over you
who have spoken unto you the word of God
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
It doesn't say blindly obey a pastor.
It says obey him when he spoke to you the word of God,
because you're really obeying the word of God out of his mouth.
I do not have a desire to tell anybody in this church
what to do, what to believe, what to say.
Hey, I believe in freedom,
and freedom's got to begin at the house of God.
Judgment must begin at the house of God.
You wonder why our country is not as free as it used to be?
You wonder why every day it's less free than it was the day before?
Take a look at God's house for a while,
and you'll see the liberty taken away from Christianity first.
You'll see the liberty go out of God's house,
and then you wonder, hey, if the light that's in you'd be darkness,
how great is that darkness?
I mean, the place where liberty should be the most promoted is church.
Is that what you find today in America?
Do you find the pulpit promoting both political, religious, spiritual, individual liberty?
And then you wonder why our country is in this situation instead.
You wonder why people vote for the people that they vote for.
Because we've lost God's teachings,
His laws, where He said the law of liberty,
where He said freedom, not to lord over God's inheritance.
He said to the pastors that they should not be lords over God's inheritance,
but examples to the flock.
Now, obviously, there's a place where a pastor needs to rule
and say, okay, this is what the preaching is going to be,
you know, in accordance with God's word, this is what the music is going to be.
You know, I do have authority in the church,
but you know what, when we walk out that door, my authority is gone.
That's what I believe.
You could say, oh, man, I was taught something different.
Then you were taught something that's wrong
if you believe that a pastor is in charge of your family,
or that a pastor should be in charge of a nation.
See, God created nations, yes.
He created families, and He created churches.
And the pastor is the one who's the ruler in the church.
He answers to Jesus Christ, who's the true head of the church.
He just represents that authority, okay?
But the pastor's not infallible.
Jesus Christ trumps the pastor.
The pastor has no authority in your home.
Amen.
And guess what?
Your home is not going to run this church.
This church is not going to run your home.
This church is not going to run our nation.
And our nation, hear me now, is not going to run this church.
Okay, these are separate, three separate kingdoms of this world.
It's a separation of powers between the family.
Who is the head in the family?
The man, right?
The husband, the father.
Who's the head?
The husband, the father.
And by the way, wives are supposed to obey their husbands
even as unto Christ.
Let the wives be obedient to their own husbands in everything.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I don't care what the women's lib says.
I don't care what the Baptists are doing.
I don't care what your little family conference thing
told you to submit to each other.
Is that like playing leapfrog?
Is that how you submit to each other?
Who knows how to play leapfrog?
Who knows what?
Who wants to come up here and play leapfrog with me?
Brandon, come on up here.
Come on up here.
This is the teaching today.
This is what churches are teaching, my friend.
You got to spot that right here, right?
Okay, this is what churches are teaching about authority, right?
Submit to each other.
Whoo!
All right, now I'm on the bottom.
Oh, he's on top.
Now I'm on top.
Wait, we're still playing.
We can go.
I'm cheering you on the way.
I'm sorry.
Hey, let's keep submitting to each other, right?
And we got to keep doing it really fast
so that none of us is ever on top, right?
We got to keep leapfrogging and change.
You're no fun, man.
Look, that's not what the Bible teaches.
The word sub means under like submarine.
And if we're submitting to each other,
then there is no submission.
That doesn't even make sense.
I mean, come here.
I want to teach you this morning.
Come on up here, Brother Dave.
Look, we're trying to learn here.
First we saw leapfrog.
Now arm wrestling, okay?
Look, let's submit to each other here, okay?
First I'm going to submit to Brother Dave, right?
Oh, no, but he's going to submit to me.
You know, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
This is marriage, right?
This is how to have a happy marriage.
This is how you're going to get along with your wife.
I learned at a family conference.
No, this is a good marriage.
Ah!
Hey!
One person has to be in charge.
And God has ordained a man to be in charge.
Somebody's got to be in charge in the church.
Don't you have a free-for-all?
Everybody's got a psalm.
Everybody's got a song.
Everybody's got something to preach.
Everybody's got something that they believe.
Everybody's got something to say.
That's not the biblical order of a church.
Somebody's got to be in charge.
Somebody's got to rule in the house of God, okay?
I rule in the house of God.
I answer to Jesus.
I'm not infallible.
I can be questioned, okay?
You rule in the home, sir.
Take the bull by the horns, okay?
If you have to, okay?
It might get ugly, you know?
But you've got to go like this and decide who's going to be in charge.
That's not popular.
I don't care if it's popular.
It's the truth.
You say, well, what if my wife won't submit to me?
Be a better leader.
Right?
I mean, look, and by the way,
a man should never hit his wife in any way, shape, or form.
But you should spank your children.
The Bible teaches spanking your children to keep them in submission.
But you know what?
You know how you lead your wife?
You lead her by example.
You lead her with gentleness.
You be an example.
You say, come see my zeal for the Lord.
Just the way I lead this church.
You see, the way I lead this church is different from how I lead my children
because you're not my children.
That's why I don't call myself Father.
Father Anderson.
Hold on.
Let me turn my collar on backwards.
Oh, Father Anderson is here, my son.
What can I do for you, my son?
No.
I heard this funny story from a preacher.
He was sitting on a train.
And this Catholic priest was sitting across from him.
And he was reading his Bible.
And the Catholic priest said to him,
excuse me, my son.
And he just ignored him.
And the Catholic priest said to him again, this is a true story.
He said, excuse me, my son.
And the preacher just nudged the guy next to him.
He's like, hey, your dad's talking to you.
And then he tapped and said, hey, my son.
I'm not.
I'm talking to you.
OK.
Look, I'm not your dad, right?
Now, my kids, my children, they are my children.
And guess what?
I will use force to make them obey
because they're too young to make their own decisions.
The Bible says that the child, when he's young,
the latest chapter 4, differs nothing from the servant.
But it says when he comes to years,
that's where he inherits manhood, freedom, adulthood.
But a child, obviously, you think I just
let my two-year-old have freedom?
Freedom for every two-year-old.
Ice cream for breakfast.
Stay up as late as you want.
Never brush your teeth again.
Liberty.
No.
But guess what?
When you're an adult, you ought to have liberty.
And that's why my wife is not spanked into subjection,
for crying out loud.
My wife obeys me because she chooses to obey me,
because she wants to obey me, right?
That's why she obeys.
And a wife doesn't want to obey.
She disobeyed God.
Her heart's not right with God, and that's the problem.
So you've got to be a leader, men.
And maybe pick a woman who's not rebellious, also.
That's a real good start.
But what I'm saying is, the way that I rule my children
is different than the way I rule my wife.
You say, rule your wife!
I can't believe you said that!
OK, Genesis 3.16.
He shall rule over thee.
Come on.
I know you haven't read the Bible cover to cover,
but did you get to chapter 3?
That's what it says in verse 16, that the man
is to rule over his wife.
He used that exact word.
And the law of the Lord is perfect.
But wait a minute.
The way that I lead my wife, hear me now,
this is an important part of the sermon,
is very similar to the way that I lead the church.
And in fact, that's why the church is related to a wife
in Ephesians chapter 5.
Christ is the head of the church.
The husband is the head of the wife.
And the Bible talks about a man having his wife and children
in subjection in order to be qualified to be a pastor,
to have wives that are not slanderers, sober,
faithful, and all things, and so forth.
And so we have to think about this.
You young men that are one day going to pastor a church,
get married first, number one.
And that's why the Bible says that in order
to be a bishop must be the husband of one wife.
Tell that to the Roman Catholic Church.
A bishop must be the husband of one wife.
Why?
For if a man do not have to rule his own house,
how should he take care of the Church of God?
Think about this now.
Your wife is basically your, that's
your practice right there for the way
that you're going to lead a church one day.
And if you fail to lead your wife,
you're not qualified to lead the church.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That's 1 Timothy chapter number three
and Titus chapter one teach those things.
And so wait a minute.
Do I rule this church like a tyrant?
No.
Do I rule my wife like a tyrant?
No.
But do you think that I will allow people
to bring in false doctrine to this church,
wrong music into this church?
No.
So there is a firmness involved of saying,
here's the line, draw the line in the sand,
and we're not going to cross that line.
And I'll die before we cross that line.
Or you'll throw me out here kicking and screaming
before we cross that line.
Look, that's the way I lead in my house, too.
Are you listening to me?
I draw a line and say, this is the line.
And the line's not moving.
The line's not going to change.
Now, does that mean I'm a tyrant or a dictator?
Well, ask yourself.
Is Pastor Anderson a tyrant or a dictator
if they think we're bad as church?
Has he ever come to you and told you what to do?
Has he ever come to you and said,
you need to stop doing this or start doing this?
Anyone who's been here, who's been here
for a couple of years, two years, yep, many of you.
Who's been here for at least one year?
In addition to the others, raise a hand.
Has Pastor Anderson ever done anything like that?
Come over here and say, you need to do this,
you need to change this, you need to do this?
No.
I teach, I preach, I expound, I try to motivate.
That's the way it is in your marriage.
Liberty.
I don't tell my wife what to do every five minutes.
In fact, I go out of town and go to work,
and she'll be at home for a couple of days.
She'll tell you, I'm not calling her saying,
okay, where were you at 0300?
What are you doing right now?
No, tell me exactly where you are.
What street sign are you passing right now?
I don't want to know you're in Tempe,
I want to know what street you're on in Tempe.
I'm not going to install a GPS tracking unit
on my wife's body to see where she is at all times.
I'm not telling her what to do.
You know what, I like to give my wife freedom, okay?
Now, but does that mean that I'm going to let her
put on a pair of pants?
No, does that mean that she's going to wear short shorts?
No, does that mean that she's going to go out
and buy a TV and start watching soap operas?
No, but when it comes from,
once we've gotten outside of God's laws,
my wife can eat whatever she wants for lunch,
she can eat what she wants for dinner,
she can go where she wants to go on which day of the week.
Hey, freedom is what I'm talking about.
Adults have freedom in a free society.
Children do not have freedom.
We don't believe in an Islamic-type society
where women have no freedom.
I believe that women should have freedom,
but that they should be under the authority of their husband
and that their husband has the right to tell them
this is yes, this is no,
but he ought to do it in a way,
are you listening?
That's generous and gentle and loving.
You say, well, what if he doesn't?
That's when the government steps in, right?
Wrong.
What if he doesn't?
That's when the church gets involved.
No, okay?
No, wrong.
These are three separate kingdoms, okay?
And so, no, I will not mediate your marriage problems, right?
Because people have marriage problems.
I'm not going to be the referee.
I've had people come to me and say,
counsel my marriage.
I said, no, I don't do that.
And they say, well, let me tell you what happened.
I said, I don't want to hear what happened.
I don't care what happened, you know?
And they'll try to expound on me things,
and some of it's not even, you know, clean.
I shouldn't even hear anybody.
I'm like, why am I going to listen to this?
None of my business.
Because Pastor Anderson lives his own life.
And you want to live your own life, okay?
And not try to run other people's life.
Parents will sometimes try to control the lives
of their adult married children.
It's not right.
They'll try to control lives.
Now look, children that are unmarried,
living in the home, obviously, hey,
it's not a magic number when you turn 18.
You know, a man leaves father and mother
and cleave into his wife,
and they too should be one foot.
That's where I cut the tie from my parents' authority
was when I got married and left the house.
That was when I became free from their authority.
But I'm going to tell you something.
You do not have the right to control the lives
of your adult married children.
They have the freedom to live how they want to live, okay?
You do not have the right to control other families
in this church or other people in this world.
The government should not have the right to tell me
where to live, what to eat, what to say, where to work.
Hey, that is not freedom.
And you will not find those things in God's laws.
You see, we start in church creating an atmosphere of freedom.
We don't have a dress code.
See, this is not freedom.
Here, sign this paper that says you're never going to dress
other than what we preach.
Okay, sign this paper saying
you're never going to drink alcohol again.
Sign this paper that says you will not watch Hollywood movies.
Wait a minute.
Are people doing things because they want to now?
Are they doing things because if they love Jesus,
they keep his commandments?
Or are they doing it because they're being forced to by man?
That's exactly what Bible college is.
Forcing adults to follow God's rules.
And it is not of God.
It is not freedom.
You can say whatever you want about it.
You want to know why we live in a society
where a big brother wants to tell us what to do all the time?
They want to take our children away.
What's the new thing?
Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff of Obama,
said three months out of your life between 18 and 25,
you're going to serve the government for three months.
Every man, woman, boy, and girl between the age of 18 and 25
will give three months to be trained and indoctrinated
by the federal government and to serve the federal government.
Junior hires and high schoolers will be forced to do
a certain amount of hours per year serving the federal government.
You say, why is this happening?
Why are we going into a state like in Europe
where there's no freedom of speech,
where there's no freedom to do what we want?
We're forced into the military.
We're forced into community service now
according to this three-month plan.
If they could, they'd put us in the military for a year.
They'd put us in social services for a year.
Why are they doing it?
Why is it happening?
Because the Bible has ceased to be preached and taught,
and so freedom is going out the window.
And if a Bible college is going to tell me
when I need a haircut, what to wear,
when to get up in the morning, what to do,
what to say, where to go,
I'm going to tell you something.
It's no wonder that Uncle Sam wants to do the very same thing.
When I was in Bible college, I was married and had two kids,
and I had somebody telling me when to cut my hair,
what to do, where to go, how to dress.
I didn't need that.
You see, the Bible college had a rule against rock and roll.
I didn't listen to rock and roll.
In fact, I didn't even watch TV, and they said the TV was fine.
If you were an off-campus married student,
you were allowed to own a TV and watch TV.
But if you're in the dorm, you can't.
You're not allowed to drink.
Okay? You're not allowed to smoke.
Do you think I needed those rules?
Because if I didn't have those rules,
I would have drank and smoked, right?
And if they hadn't had that dress code, man,
my wife would have been walking down the street
in a halter top, right?
You know that's not true.
You say, well, that's different, Pastor Anthony.
That's because you love God.
That's because you want to keep his commandments.
And you know what?
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.
And he that is filthy, let him be filthy still.
He that is holy, let him be holy still.
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still.
You can't make somebody obey God.
You can't make somebody get saved.
You can't make somebody dress like a Christmas.
And you know, people, even parents sometimes,
they want to control their kids to the point
where they're just going to watch them on surveillance
24 hours a day.
Children who want to disobey will find a way to disobey.
They will find a way to smuggle the magazine.
They'll find a way to smuggle the rock and roll.
They'll find a way to smuggle that movie.
They'll find a way on the college campus.
They'll find a way, hey, you've got to get to the heart.
You've got to preach righteousness.
And people should do what's right because they want to,
not because they have to.
Amen.
And when you have to do something,
it's not freedom if you didn't choose to do it yourself.
God says, do it if you love me.
And I say, I love you.
I'll do it.
But I don't want to have another man forcing me to do it.
And this church, you'll never find them.
You'll never find people forcing you to go soloing.
Go another hour.
But sir, I said go another hour soloing.
Mr. Anderson, it's 115 degrees outside.
Two hours.
You want to talk back again?
You say, that's absurd.
I've been to churches where you're handed out
a little seat where you signed off.
How many hours you went soloing?
You signed off.
Did I pay my tithe?
You signed off your attendance.
We don't take attendance here.
We're not checking off to see who was here.
Stuckey, Matthew, sir.
You missed three services in the last month.
Explain.
This is not the world that I want to live in.
And let me tell you something.
God's law is perfect.
And God's law is the law of what?
Liberty.
Freedom.
People should do.
Does a small child have liberty?
No.
But as they grow up, as they become righteous,
as they learn, they gain liberty.
They gain liberty.
Until they're turned out of the house,
they're free to do as God wants them to do.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, what are you talking about?
I've been in churches where oppression exists.
I've been in churches where people are commanded
and told to do.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 1.
And this is a very common thing, these little contracts
that you sign.
Signing a paper to follow the rules of the church.
Who has seen the paper that you signed?
Put up your hand.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Oh, wait, a lot of people have their hands up.
Sign a paper.
You say, well, what's the matter with that?
What's the matter with it is that it's not
found in the Bible.
What's the matter is that the pastor's not
supposed to lower it over the flock
but be an example to the flock.
You see, I'm not going to say, go soul-witting.
Because I said so.
I'm going to say, hey, come soul-witting with me.
And if you don't want to, then stay home.
And we'll win people to Christ.
We'll be blessed by God.
And you will be unfruitful and barren.
And we will have the blessings.
And you know, it's funny how our church,
even though we've never had a sign-up,
we've never made people sign a commitment card.
We've never walked up and said, you need to be out soul-witting.
You will go soul-witting.
Yet we have more people going soul-witting per capita
than any church I've ever been in in my life.
For more hours.
More man-hours per person.
Why?
Freedom.
Why are our offerings so high?
And our offerings are very high because of the size of the church we have.
Why are the offerings so high?
Because Pastor Anderson doesn't have a thermometer on the wall.
Because Pastor Anderson does not beg and plead for money.
Because Pastor Anderson never stands up and says, oh, we're behind on the budget.
There have been times when we were low on cash.
There have been times when we were scraping by.
And had to, you know, loan personal money, and give, and whatever.
You know, there have been times like that.
Pastor Anderson doesn't get up and say that.
Because you know what?
I want, God loves a cheerful giver.
Not by constraint, but willingly.
Now, do I believe tithing is scriptural?
Absolutely.
I believe in tithing in the house of God.
But we don't enforce that.
And you know what?
I don't rather, I don't preach about that.
I preach about that about as much as it's mentioned in the Bible.
But I don't get up and just harp on it.
Harp, money, money, money.
And you know what?
The pastors who do harp on money, money, money, thermometer, thermometer, thermometer.
Many times, they have lower offerings per capita than we have.
Because people like freedom.
Because they were given, by God, the spirit of the Lord, the moment they got saved, dwelling inside them.
Mankind has a nature of oppressing another man.
But when he gets saved, he gets a new nature that wants to give liberty, and promote liberty and freedom.
And wants to allow people to do as they choose.
And to do what's right because they want to do what's right.
Okay?
And so, does everybody understand this?
I mean, it's God's law is perfect.
God's way is perfect.
And God's way promotes liberty and righteousness and freedom.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 1.
Let's apply it on a political level.
First, we said, okay, in a church, in a family, right?
We've gone through those two institutions.
In a family, Dad has supreme authority in the house.
He rules that house.
But, should he rule it as a tyrant?
No.
Should he dictate every hour of his wife's life?
No.
Should he even dictate every hour of his children's life?
No.
He should be teaching and promoting a spirit of freedom.
But is it the wife's job, or the government's job, or the church's job to correct him and straighten him out on that?
And force him to do what's right?
No.
He still has the liberty to be a bad leader.
If I want to, I can be a bad pastor.
You know?
You can be a bad father, bad husband.
Okay?
And you shouldn't have somebody coming from one of these other kingdoms, do you understand?
And ruling over and usurping the authority.
And playing leapfrog, and arm wrestling, and everything else that we did today in the sermon.
But anyway, let's talk about government.
Let's talk about society.
You say, why do you preach so much about government and politics and society?
Because we are living in perilous times, that's why.
You say, I think you preach too much about that.
Wait a minute.
Hold it now.
We've got a whole five books of the Bible, the law.
We've got law after law after law that has nothing to do with what we would consider moral law.
There are chapters and chapters of the book of Exodus that describe political and civic law.
And I believe that we need to read those and understand them and believe them and practice them.
Just there, the police just drove by again.
Okay?
It has nothing to do with the sermon, but I decided from now on that every time while I'm preaching, the police drive by, I will point at them and point at them.
Last Sunday morning was two times.
So far the police count is up to one.
Help you keep track.
Okay?
And I don't know why they drive by on Sunday morning, but maybe they're just trying to catch a little of the sermon.
You know, I don't blame them.
I think this is great Bible teaching.
And I'm glad that they're picking up a little of the sermon.
Okay?
And so, no, I don't encourage them for driving by every Sunday morning.
But where did I turn Deuteronomy into one?
Why is it so important?
Because just in the last two months, scary, scary things are happening.
Say, oh man, you're one of those conspiracy people.
Conspiracy?
Let's see.
Spending $800 billion to bail out the banks.
Spending $800 billion to increase the size of police, education, health care, and unemployment.
Oh, wow.
I guess there's some weird spooky conspiracy.
It's not even a conspiracy anymore.
It's just out in the open now.
It's not even being hidden what they're doing.
They're buying up the banking industry.
They're buying up the health care industry.
They're now controlling almost every area of the US economy.
When they control the money, they control everything.
And that's what they're doing.
They're taking money out of our check.
Giving it to the banks.
Giving it to all these government employees.
Our government is becoming a monster.
We're being attached to debt.
Don't tell me it's a conspiracy theory or something.
It's just out in the open.
Can't you see that our way of life is changing?
Can't you see that Obama is trying to create a totalitarian government in the United States?
A police state?
A dictatorship where what we believe doesn't matter?
What we want doesn't matter?
98% of the people in this country said no to Wall Street bailout and passed.
That's right.
But we live in a democracy, right?
We live in a republic, right?
Wrong.
People of California say no to gay marriage.
Supreme Court says yes to gay marriage.
And gay marriage happened in California.
And for six months, the queers lined up.
I can't believe I said that.
The queers lined up.
The filthy, sodomite, perverted, bile queers lined up and got married in California for about six months.
And they're all still married today.
Except the ones who are divorced or whatever.
But I'm saying, they didn't nullify them.
And then the people struck back and said, no, wait a minute.
We said no.
And you know what the Supreme Court right now is doing?
Trying to decide whether they have the right to do that.
Because it doesn't matter, my friends, whether you want gay marriage.
The powers that be want gay marriage.
And we don't live in a free country anymore.
How do I live in a free country when I have cameras watching me everywhere I go?
How do I live in a free country when I can't spend my own money the way I want to spend it?
But it's being taken away from me at an insane rate.
Both on the way out and on the way inside.
Okay.
What does God say?
What does the answer be saying?
Is it the Republicans?
No.
Is it the Democrats?
No.
They're working together.
They're a team to oppress us.
But what is the answer?
Why don't we see the Bible's plan of government?
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 113.
Here's the answer, my friend.
You say, wait a minute.
God's laws?
This is the Old Testament.
That was another dispensation.
Hold on a second now.
Didn't we determine that God's laws are perfect?
Didn't we determine that God's laws promote what?
Freedom.
Liberty.
Let me ask you something.
Are the laws of the United States superior to the laws of the Bible?
No.
Is the Constitution of the United States superior to the Holy Bible?
No.
Are any laws that we have today superior?
So wait a minute.
Yes, there they go again.
The police.
Second time.
Number two.
If God's law said the death penalty for homosexuals and the U.S. law says let's protect them as
a constitutionally protected lifestyle, who's right and who's wrong?
God's law.
You know what?
God's law would be to what?
Execute every murder.
Is that U.S. law?
Who's right?
The United States or God?
We have lost that idea today.
We think that whatever the government says is right, that's legal, that's right, and
what they say is wrong, that's wrong.
Hey, God's laws should be followed today by our government.
If our government would say this is our starting point for law right here.
We're going to start with the book of Deuteronomy and we will create just laws in the United
States based on the book of Deuteronomy.
We would live in a freer country than we live in right now.
You say, oh man, death penalty for homosexuality, for adultery, for murder?
Who's right?
You?
TV?
The United States or God?
And the great thing is that when our country was founded, it was based to a great extent
on God's laws, which is why it was such a free country, but we're watching that change
around us.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter one.
It's amazing how the Bible has all the answers about everything.
Deuteronomy 113, take you wise men and understanding and known among your tribes and I will make
them rulers over you.
And he answered me and said, the thing which thou have spoken is good for us to do.
So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you, captains
over thousands and captains over hundreds and captains over fifties and captains over
tens and officers among your tribes.
This is a very sophisticated form of government.
He said, and I charged your what?
Judges at that time, saying, hear the causes between your brother and judge righteously
between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him.
You shall not respect persons in judgment, but you shall hear the small as well as the great.
Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's and the cause that
is too hard for you, bring it unto me and I will hear it.
So who chooses the rulers in God's law?
The people.
He said, take you, look at verse 13, take you wise men and understanding and known among
your tribes and I will make your rulers over you.
So who chooses the leaders?
The people.
That's why our country was founded upon a republic, where we choose leaders that are
what?
Righteous, godly men who will not respect persons in judgment and listen to this now,
they'll judge the small as well as the great.
Not a society ruled by the majority.
That's not what the Bible teaches, because let me explain something to you.
The majority is always wrong.
The majority has always been wrong.
The majority will always be wrong.
Think about that.
Whether it's with church, whether it's with anything.
Nowhere does it say majority rules.
No, we choose righteous leaders who will govern us according to God's laws and that will respect
every person, the small as well as the great.
Not just one big special interest.
Not just, well this makes 90% of the people happy so we'll do it.
No, protecting the individual.
I mean every person in this church is important to me.
The least of these my brethren is important to me.
And society should be the same way.
Every person should have a voice.
Every single person should be respected and given the right to live in freedom,
to petition the government, to petition the judges.
Like it said here, they can take it to the judge if there's a problem and be defended by the judges.
No matter whether they're small or great, rich or poor.
No matter what race they are.
The Bible says the stranger that comes and dwells among you,
there should be no difference between he that's born in the land.
Whether they be born in another country, whether they be of a different race or whatever.
Hey, rights for everyone.
Equality under the law.
Equality in the house of God.
These are Bible principles.
These are the answers for our society.
I'm not going to seek to teach you this morning, the sermon's about over.
I'm not going to seek to teach you this morning God's laws.
I'm not going to get up right now and go through the Bible.
We could start in Genesis and go through Deuteronomy.
We could especially emphasize Deuteronomy and say, let me show you God's laws.
Let's go to Exodus 21, 20, 22, 23.
Let's look at God's laws.
I could expound to you right now God's laws for society.
I could show you a pattern of government in the Bible.
I could show you a pattern for church.
I could show you a pattern for your family.
I could show you God's laws in respect to society, but I don't have time to do that this morning.
I'll show you different facets and different sermons, but what's the purpose of this morning's sermon?
It's to understand this fact that the law of the Lord is perfect.
Don't tell me that there's some law in the Old Testament that would be better not instituted in 2009.
I won't believe it for a second.
Oh, back then they had the death penalty for this group, but it shouldn't be that way anymore.
Wait a minute, the law of the Lord is perfect.
You say, wait a minute, we'll live in a freer country if we do this and that than if we do what God said.
Wait a minute, God's word promotes freedom.
What I'm trying to do this morning is to give you the tools to understand politics,
to give you the tools to understand church government,
to give you the tools to understand how to run your household,
how to rule over your wife and your children.
It's found in the Bible.
I can't teach it all to you in one sermon, but what I am teaching you, it's God's way.
If you want to know how to run the country, it's in the Bible.
God's law must be supreme.
You want to know how to govern a church?
People have all kinds of ideas about parliamentary procedure in a church.
Who will give us the first?
Okay, so and so seconds in, all in favor say aye.
We have all these traditional proceedings, but wait a minute.
How to run a church, shouldn't it be found in the Bible?
If God's ways fly in the face of our ways, we're going to go with God's ways.
If God's ways to run a country fly in the face of the Republicans and the Democrats,
you know what, we've got to rise up and say no.
And say no, we'll vote for people who are going to give us freedom per God's laws.
I won't vote for Obama.
And you know what, somebody told me recently that there was a poll at Pensacola Christian College
and that a huge number of the students voted in this poll saying,
we support Obama, saying we choose Obama.
They would choose him as President of the United States
in a poll that was given among students at Pensacola Christian College.
A mass number chose Obama.
There's a church that's not, oh I forgot it's not a church.
I know they have a puppet on strings that's the campus pastor.
Okay, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to say?
You know, I'm not a puppet.
Did you hear me? I said I'm not a puppet.
But Pensacola Christian College has a campus church with a puppet on a string.
And he's not teaching them anything if they think that Obama is who should be voted for.
Mr. Parsiforth Abortion, Mr. Communist Takeover, Mr. Fascist Government, Mr. Police State, Mr. Communism.
They're not teaching them anything.
You see, I've tagged a political sermon.
Hey, you've heard the sermon that will make you into a non-Obama supporting Pensacola student.
That's what you heard today.
Okay, because I'm going to preach the whole counsel of God.
That's a sad thing today when Jack Scott from Hammond, Indiana said, oh man, am I making you uncomfortable now?
Stands up and says, hey, Obama's a born-again Christian.
That's a pretty weird society where we're living.
When a Pentecostal, United Church of Christ Obama is declared a born-again Christian by an independent fundamental Baptist.
When he says, I'm excited about an Obama presidency.
And he said, I think this year's going to be just like the last year.
Nothing's going to change. Don't worry about it.
Everything's fine. They're lulling you to sleep, my friend.
And these pastors are guilty of it too.
They're lulling us to sleep while they change America.
And I'm going to tell you something. This preacher's not going to roll over and die.
I'm going to get up and preach it to you and teach you.
Hey, wait a minute. Freedom.
Hey, wait a minute. Liberty. Not security. Not homeland security. Freedom!
How do you get security?
When you preach God's law, he'll put the fear of God in the nations around you and protect you.
But when you're wicked in the sight of God, you have to control everybody and fight everybody and commit war.
Hey, let me tell you something to you.
I am for peace.
You say, oh man, I can't believe you said that. That's what the Bible says.
That's Psalm 121. Or 120. Right?
Psalm 120, right?
In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper.
Woe is me that I sojourn and beset that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
I am for peace.
And my soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
That's what David said.
You say, are you against war, are you a pacifist?
I'm not a pacifist. I'm not against war, but I'm for peace.
I'm against unnecessary war.
I'm against going out and fighting a war to create an empire.
I'm for a defensive war.
I'm not for going out and taking over other countries.
I believe that God ordained separate nations.
I don't think America should run the world.
But one day America will run the world.
And guess who's going to be at the head of it?
It's going to be the one world government. It's going to be the Antichrist.
So you go ahead, Mr. Republican, and tell me that we should run the world.
And then, you know what? I'll tell you that one day we will run the world.
And that the Antichrist will be put in power of the United Nations,
which is based in the United States in New York City.
And one day the United Nations is going to be the one who gives up their power to the Antichrist.
Read Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 and 18.
There will be ten kings that will relinquish their power to the Antichrist and put him into power.
Ten powers of this world, ten superpowers, kings, will give up their power to the Antichrist.
And so I'm for peace. I'm for freedom. I'm for liberty.
You say, I just like war.
But you like people's heads being blown off and their body parts being blown apart.
You say, I don't care about freedom. I just want to be safe.
Okay, let me tell you something.
Every country who's ever existed in this world, when they took away freedom,
they also took away the lives of millions of people.
Stop and think about the totalitarian regimes of our century.
Adolf Hitler executed millions of people.
Joseph Stalin killed 60 million Russian people, you know, is the estimate.
You say, oh, communism. Listen to me now.
I've sat in a college class and heard with my own ears the professor sing the praises of the USSR.
Did you hear me? I've sat and listened to it myself.
I've heard a professor say, so what if they had to wait two months to buy a pair of shoes, you know?
Because they had everything given to them by the government.
They didn't need to really buy them hardly anything.
You know, you only need the new pair of shoes once a year anyway.
And they said they had free health care, free food, everybody had a job.
Oh, but you forgot about the 60 million people that were executed.
Yeah, it was great for you if you stayed alive.
It was great if you were an idiot and willing to just follow all their rules and live life.
Yeah, communism was great, huh?
But let me tell you something. Stalin murdered millions of people.
Hey, Adolf Hitler murdered millions of people.
In Cambodia, when it became communist, two million people died.
Brutal, horrific deaths.
All throughout history it was that way, my friend.
So when we lose, it's not just a question of we don't get to choose whether we eat at Panda Express or Chipotle.
We don't have freedom.
It's going to be a question of believe what they tell you to believe, receive the mark of the beast, or be beheaded.
That's what the Bible says is going to ask.
And you call me a fanatic, but maybe you just need to read Revelation chapter 13 and Revelation chapter 6.
So I'm telling you that we need to stand up for freedom.
And it's got to begin in church.
We've got to create an atmosphere of freedom and liberty in church.
And we've got to create an atmosphere of freedom and liberty among our children
so that they can grow up and understand and believe and know and feel deeply in their heart
a feeling that says, I love liberty.
I love God's law.
And you know what I love about God's law? That it promotes liberty and freedom.
That's what we've got to do.
That's where I want to be preached.
And if every Baptist were preaching it across America, freedom in this country would be a different place.
And there wouldn't be a takeover of the kind that's coming in the near future.
You say, I'm a fanatic.
It'll only take a few years to prove what I'm saying right.
It'll be in your lifetime, my friend.
You'll see who I'm saying.
Maybe not the Antichrist, maybe not the second coming of Jesus Christ in our lifetime.
But the oppression that I'm speaking of will come in our lifetime.
I can promise you that.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we love you and thank you so much for the Bible.
God, if I didn't have the Bible, I would not know how to get along with my wife or to run my household.
I would not know how to raise my children.
In fact, God, if I did not have the Bible and if I were not a Christian, I would not even want to have children.
Because I wouldn't even know what to tell them.
I wouldn't even know how to raise them. I'd be afraid to make a mistake.
But God, thank you so much for giving me the Bible to teach me how to relate to my wife.
How to have children and raise children for your glory.
Dear God, thank you for the Bible, showing me how to pastor, how to lead, how to be an example, not to be a typer, not to be a dictator.