Jeremiah 42 here, let me just quickly wrap up what the chapter was about before I get
into what I want to preach about. Basically, all these people, all these leaders of the
children of Judah, they come to Jeremiah, and if you understand the context of the
book of Jeremiah, these guys had done a lot of wicked things in the past, and
they had led the people astray. They'd led them away from serving God and from worshiping
God. But they've kind of had a change of heart, it seems like, at the beginning
of the chapter, because they come to Jeremiah at the beginning of chapter 42, and they say,
look, we're ready to obey God. We want to do what God wants us to do. We've had a
change of heart, and so we want you to pray to God for us and see what he
wants us to do. And whatever you tell us to do, whatever he says, we're going to
do it. We're going to obey the voice of the Lord this time. Look down, if you
would, at your Bible in Jeremiah 42. It says in verse 2, and they said to
Jeremiah the prophet, let we pray thee our supplication be accepted before thee,
and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant. For we are
left but a few of many as on eyes to behold, that the Lord thy God may show
us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. Then
Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray unto the
Lord your God according to your words, and it shall come to pass that
whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you. I will keep
nothing back from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, listen these people, the
Lord be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not even according
to all the things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the
Lord our God to whom we send thee. Then it may be well with us when we obey the
voice of the Lord our God. So these people are saying, look we don't care
what he says. Ask God what we're gonna do. Good, bad, evil, we'll do it. We will
obey. We want to do what's right. So ten days go by, and Jeremiah gets the
answer from God after ten days. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah and he gives
him the answer. But the problem is it wasn't the answer that they wanted
to hear. So look at chapter 43. They wanted to know, should we stay in
Jerusalem or should we go to Egypt? And basically Jeremiah is saying, stay
in Jerusalem, don't go down to Egypt. Look what it says in chapter 43 verse 1,
It came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all people,
all the words of the Lord their God for which the Lord their God had
sent him to them. Even all these words, then spake Azariah, these are the same
guys who just asked him. And Joannan the son of Korea, and all the proud men
saying unto Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely, the Lord our God hath not sent
thee to say, go not unto Egypt, sojourn there. But Baruch the son of
Nariah, saideth theon against us for to deliver us into the hand of the
Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives
into Babylon. Now who was Baruch the son of Nariah? That's his scribe,
that's basically Jeremiah's follower, that's his servant. And they're saying,
well he's actually the one pulling your strings and he told you to tell
us that, he told you to say that. It says in verse 4,
So Joannan the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces, and
all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land
of Judah. Isn't that an amazing story? Many people come to him in
chapter 42 and say, look just tell us, just preach us the truth, we just
want to hear the truth, just tell us what to do, no matter what the
answer is. If it's to stay, if it's to go, if it's to go, we'll do it.
And then he says, okay here's the answer, stay here. No, we're not
going to do that, you're lying. Now go to 2 Timothy 4. You see
oftentimes people believe what they want to believe. And a lot of
people, they act like they want to know the truth, and they act like,
you know, we could apply this today to coming to church. You know,
they go to Jeremiah who's a preacher, and they say they want to
hear the truth preached. They say that they're going to obey God.
They say that they love God, but when it comes down to it, they
only want to obey God when he tells them what they want to hear.
Look at 2 Timothy 4. It says in verse 1, I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
is appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant, in season,
out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. Watch this verse. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make
foolproof by ministry. He said the time is going to come
when they won't endure sound doctrine, but they'll heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. It's like they'll amass to themselves
all kinds of preachers and teachers and prophets
who will tell them what they want to hear,
who will scratch them behind the ears and tell them what they want to hear
instead of them coming to God's house
and wanting a man of God to preach the word of God and just give it to them
straight, just tell us what God said. Instead they want to tell them what
they want to hear. Look at Isaiah chapter 30.
Isaiah chapter 30. And then we're going to go to James 1.
So we're going to go to Isaiah 30 and then we're going to go to James 1.
It says in Isaiah 30 verse number 9 that this is a rebellious people,
lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord,
which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us
right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
You see they're going to the preacher and saying tell us what we want to
hear. Now wouldn't it make more sense if they
don't care what God says to just not even go to the preacher at all,
not even go to church at all? Why even go to church?
Why even go through it? Because they want to pretend
that they care what God says. They want to give lip service and say we love God.
We want to obey God. And if the preacher tells us something that we
don't want to hear, well we'll just say well that's not
really what God said. Well that's not really the truth
thing. We need something a little more smooth. That's a little too rough for
us to handle. Look at James chapter 1. And this is a perfect example in James 1
of how today's Christians in many cases they will give a lot of lip service to
the fact that they want to love God and obey God and follow God.
But when it comes down to it they want to be preached a message that they
want to hear. Look at James 1 27. This is what the
people in America they don't want to hear.
This is what they don't want. James 1 27 is what they don't want.
It says pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this
to visit the fatherless and widows and their affliction
and to keep himself unspotted from the world. And today the word
religion is literally like a cuss word to Christians.
You know what I'm talking about. I mean I've talked to Christians all the time.
And they say oh man we don't believe in religion.
I hate religion. We've got a relationship.
No we don't want a religion. We just got a relationship.
Well the word relationship is not in the bible and guess what the word religion
is. And it's funny how people will turn this into a bad word. Does it look like
a bad word in James 1 27? No. God's telling us pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this
to visit the fatherless and widows and their affliction and to keep
himself unspotted from the world. I saw a billboard. I was driving down the freeway.
I saw a billboard. I'll censor it a little bit.
It said religion. I'll just change what it said a little bit.
Religion stinks. And it was an advertisement for a church.
It said something a little bit more stronger than that.
I'm just toning it down a little bit too. Religion stinks.
And it's an advertisement for a church. Because we're taught today that
religion is a bad word. Because let me tell you something.
The people in America today they don't want religion.
You know why? They don't want to visit the fatherless and the widows and their affliction.
And they dead sure don't want to keep themselves unspotted from the world.
That's why they don't want religion. That's why they just want their relationship.
Well guess what? If you want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
you better walk in the light as he is in the light.
Because if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
then he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But you see, people don't want to admit that they sin.
They don't want to confess that. They don't want to walk in the light as he is in the light.
They want to live in sin and think that they have a relationship with God.
Look, I'm not saying that they're not saved.
You can be saved and all you have to do to be saved is just believe in Jesus Christ.
But religion takes a little more than that.
Walking in the light involves hard work.
It involves being a disciple of Christ,
taking up the cross daily and denying yourself and following him.
You see, being saved is just the beginning.
Being saved is by faith alone.
Being saved is a gift of God, not a work the same as supposed.
Being saved is believe only.
Being saved is eternal life that can never be lost.
But living the Christian life is a daily battle
of denying himself and taking up the cross and following him.
And yet people, they literally think that religion is a bad word.
I mean, that shows what people don't want to hear.
And I constantly ask myself this.
Why do people listen to some of these famous preachers that you see on TV?
You know, the Joel Osteen.
I just today, some of our soul winners were out.
And who was it though? Was it you?
Brother Chris Broaden knocks on the door this afternoon.
And he's trying to give the gospel.
And this lady says, I was just watching Joel Osteen.
And he literally was just saying that someone would come
and knock on my door and would deceive me.
She said, Joel Osteen was literally preaching today
that people were going to come to my house
and knock on my door and try to deceive me.
And Chris Broaden is like, he's talking about me.
But why do they love Joel Osteen?
Why do they love the boring, lame, effeminate preachers of today?
And you see, because they're smooth.
Exactly.
They want the smooth preaching.
And there are so many preachers like Joel Osteen
and other preachers who are just so smooth.
But honestly, let me just break this down.
I spent five years as a teenager in the New Evangelical World.
For five years, I went to these churches as a teenager.
And I've been saved ever since I was six years old.
So I was saved.
But I was a teenager, and I went to these churches.
And they had the rock and roll band.
They had the NIV.
No soul winning.
Never would preach on sin.
The word hell never even came out of my pastor's mouth
the whole time I went to church there.
Not even once.
Like it didn't even exist.
And I went there for five years.
And let me tell you something.
It is the most boring place to be.
It's painfully boring.
And I remember when I first got into an independent fundamental Baptist church.
I would still go to my liberal church in the morning.
Because they had the early service and the later service.
So I would go to the early eight or nine o'clock service at the liberal church.
Because that's where all my friends were.
So I'd go to the liberal service.
And the pastor would preach for 20 minutes and it seemed like two hours.
Then we would drive across town to the fundamental Baptist church at Regency Baptist.
And the pastor would preach for like an hour and 20 minutes.
And it seemed like five minutes.
And when it was over, after like an hour and 15 minutes,
it was like, oh man, I was just getting into this sermon.
I want more.
And literally the liberal church was so short.
I mean it was like you were in a time warp.
It like defied the laws of reality.
There's no way this has only been three minutes.
He's been talking for hours.
It's like we're three minutes into it.
But why?
Why would they go to a boring church where they don't even learn anything.
Where it's just the same thing.
Where it's just so watered down.
Why?
Because people don't want to hear the truth.
But they want to go through the motions of being spiritual.
So they want to say, I go to church.
Yeah, I went to church.
And I brought my Bible and I dressed up nice.
And they can check it off that they went to church.
But they don't want to hear the truth.
And the reason that these preachers are so popular
is because they won't step on anybody's toes.
That's why.
I was thinking about people that I know.
And there are people that I know who love these preachers.
And you know, the guy that I ripped on this morning,
that Calvinist guy, John Piper.
You know, I know people who really love him.
And they really love these other preachers.
And I look at their life and basically they do a lot of drinking.
I'm talking about these people that I know who love these preachers.
They do a lot of drinking.
And by the way, this is a pastor that I'm thinking of.
He's a pastor.
He does a lot of drinking.
His wife goes to bars and drinks.
They watch all the R-rated videos and the DVDs.
I'm talking about a pastor now that I know of.
Okay.
And they love John Piper.
You know, and they love.
And then you list all these big name famous, you know, type preachers.
And they love these guys.
And I'll tell you why.
It's because these guys are not ripping on their sin.
And these people do no soul winning.
Well, he's not going to tell them that they need to be on soul winning.
And you see, a preacher that's going to be popular
is the one that's going to tell you,
you don't need to be worried about going out to the widows and the father.
You want to talk about the fatherless.
You know, go out soul winning with us in the ghettos.
You know, half of those people are fatherless, my friend.
You know, going out and knocking the doors and preaching the gospel to every preacher.
That's not what people want to hear when they come to church.
They don't want to hear that the world's going to hell.
And then we need to go out and preach the gospel and get it saved.
That's not what they want to hear.
They want a little pick me up.
They don't want to hear that we ought to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.
They don't want to hear that the movies that the world puts out are filled with smut.
And filled with sodomy and filled with fornication and filled with ungodliness.
They don't want to hear you preach against their TV show and Seinfeld and Friends.
They don't want to hear their movies ripped on and their rock and roll music ripped on.
And they don't want you to call out their sins.
And they don't want you to challenge them to go out and preach the gospel to every creature.
And to care about and love the fatherless and the widow.
And not just sit in your little ivory tower of your life somewhere and say,
Oh, isn't God so good?
Isn't he good?
You know, we have such a relationship, don't we?
And we've got such a fancy building.
And we're so comfortable.
And we have such a nice car.
And we have such a nice house.
And isn't it just great?
Isn't God just good to us?
Well, that's what everybody likes to hear.
And God is good.
But God's mad, too.
And they don't want to hear about that.
God wants us to go to work.
He says, Son, go work today in my vineyard.
But they don't want to hear that.
God says to keep yourself unspotted from the world.
God says, Love not the world.
God says, I'll send no wicked thing before mine eyes.
God says, This is the will of God,
even your sanctification that you abstain from fornication.
God said, Woe unto them that tarry long at the wine
and go to seek mixed wine.
And look not on the wine when it's red,
when it's given its color, the cup, when it moves itself right.
At the last, it biteth like a serpent,
it stingeth like an arrow.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
and thy mouth shall utter perverse things.
That's what the Bible says about alcohol.
It says you'll see strange women
that you shouldn't be looking at.
And you'll say perverse things
when you're at the influence of alcohol.
But they don't want to hear that.
They'd rather hear a smooth preacher.
Now, Pastor Anderson is not the smoothest preacher
in the world, by the way.
You just look at my face and see that I'm not that smooth.
But honestly, it's not about being smooth.
It's about being right.
It's about preaching the truth.
It's about giving a clear message.
And when they went to Jeremiah,
they should have known that they're going to get the truth.
It might not be what they like, but it's the truth.
And if you look at Jeremiah's message
that he gave in Jeremiah 42,
it wasn't a totally negative message.
Actually, it was a pretty positive message.
Considering all the bad stuff these people have done,
he was actually giving them a second chance.
He actually told them.
He said, you know what?
God's willing to forgive everything you've done.
God's willing to let all that go
if you'll just do the right thing right now.
If you'll just stay in Jerusalem
and serve the king of Babylon,
God will bless you.
And God will stop pouring out his wrath on you.
But if you disobey, God's going to punish you.
God's going to kill you and destroy your whole family.
So it wasn't a totally negative message.
It just wasn't what they wanted to hear.
It just wasn't what they needed to hear at that time.
And so they basically just decided
to just lie to themselves and say,
well, that didn't really come from the Bible anyway.
Look at the book of Proverbs, if you would.
Proverbs chapter nine.
Proverbs chapter nine, let me read for you another verse.
Amos chapter five, verse 10 says,
they hate him that rebuketh in the gate,
and they abhor him that speaketh upright.
The Bible says that when you speak right
and when you speak uprightly,
people are going to hate you for that.
People don't want to hear that.
The majority doesn't want to hear the truth.
They want to hear what they want to hear.
But he says in Proverbs chapter nine, verse seven,
he that reproveth a scorner, get it to himself shame,
and he that rebuketh a wicked man,
giveth himself a blot.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee.
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Give instruction to a wise man,
and he will be yet wiser.
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
So the scorner versus the just man, or the wise man.
The scorner doesn't want to learn anything new.
He's happy with what he already knows.
He doesn't want to learn anything new.
And he dead sure doesn't want to be repute
or told that he's wrong.
He wants to continue being the same way
that he is right now.
He doesn't want to change anything.
He doesn't want to change his view.
And he doesn't want to change his life.
So he wants to go to a church that already fits him,
that's just going to tell him what he wants to hear
and tell him what he already believes,
and basically to tell him what he was going to do anyway.
I mean, these people in Jeremiah 42,
they were going to go to Egypt no matter what.
They already decided.
And Jeremiah even said to them,
even when you asked me,
you already knew what you were going to do.
You already dissembled in your heart,
and you were going to go down to Egypt
no matter what I told you.
So basically, they already knew what they wanted to do,
and they're only going to obey God
if it's what they wanted to do anyway.
I mean, think about that.
For example, let's say my wife and I, for example.
We're married, right?
And the wives also obey the husband, according to the Bible.
So what if the only time my wife obeyed me
was just when she wanted to do that anyway?
If I say to her, honey, make tacos for dinner tonight.
And she's already got the hamburger meat thawed,
she's already got the tortillas ready to go.
And I said, you know, honey, make tacos.
She said, yes, dear.
But she's already planning on doing it.
But what if she wanted to make pizza tonight?
And I said, honey, you know,
and I don't tell my wife what to cook
because I don't really care.
But I'm just using an example.
I just, whatever's put on the plate, I just eat it.
I don't make special requests, usually.
But let's say I said, no, honey,
we're having tacos tonight.
She said, no, we're having pizza.
I said, no, we're having tacos.
You're gonna make tacos because that's what I want.
Now that's where obedience even takes place.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Because if you're gonna do it anyway,
then it's not really obedience.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
I mean, they're gonna go down to Egypt
so they figure, well, we got a 50-50 chance.
Let's see what God says.
And if he says what we were gonna do anyway, great.
Now we're obeying God.
And if he tells us to stay here, we'll just not listen.
We just won't obey.
I mean, isn't that dumb?
It doesn't even make sense, does it?
But you see, this is what people want.
They want to come to church
and hear everything preached that they already know
and that they already believe
and that they're already doing.
And they say, fine, I just can't find a church.
You know, I'm searching for a church
and I can't find one.
Because I'm looking for a church
that believes exactly like me
and that tells me to do everything
that I'm already doing
and that preaches to me all the sermons
of the Bible of stuff that I already know.
That's what I'm looking for.
But that's literally what most people
are looking for in a church.
When in reality, they ought to be looking for the church
that'll tell them something that they don't know
and tell them to change something
that needs to be changed.
Because nobody's perfect.
Nobody's arrived.
We all have something to learn.
And so we should be going to some place
that's going to tell us something different,
that's going to challenge us to do more for God,
that's going to challenge us
to maybe get some sin out of our life
that needs to come out of our life,
that's going to tell us
what we don't already know about the Bible.
That's called learning.
Something that you didn't know before
and then you went to church
and you walk away
and you know something that you didn't know.
That's the definition of learning.
Going to church and hearing stuff
that you already know is not learning.
It sounds basic, but you know,
I'm breaking this down to you.
So we see two kinds of people.
The scorer.
So that's the scorer, right?
He wants to just go to the place
that tells him to do everything
that you're doing already.
Amen.
Preach it, brother.
Come on.
He wants to just go and say amen to that.
But you see, the wise man
wants to be rebuked.
He likes to have someone point out
where he's wrong
so that he can fix it.
It says in Proverbs 9-8,
Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee.
You reprove that other guy, that scorner.
He's going to hate.
He's going to say, I hate that church.
That's why I go down the street over here.
Rebuke a wise man
and he'll love thee.
Give instruction to a wise man
and he will be yet wiser.
Teach a just man
and he will increase the learning.
So the opposite guy is the wise man.
He wants to come to a place
where he's rebuked
and he also wants to come to a place
where he's learning new things,
where he's increasing in knowledge.
Do you see that wording?
Increasing his knowledge.
He's learning more.
He's getting taught how to do things.
He's being instructed in the truth.
I remember me and my good friend
Roger Jimenez,
we used to, you know,
we went to the same church
when he was just a teenager
and I was a real young adult
and we went to the same church
and I remember we'd gone to that church for years
and I remember we were out to lunch one time
and brother Roger and I
were talking about this
and saying, you know,
sometimes I just feel like,
you know, we've heard the preaching
and we're kind of doing everything
that's being preached
and we said we kind of miss that feeling
of going to church
and getting our face ripped
on something that we're wrong about.
You know what I mean?
Because it's like,
we've already kind of got the,
we've got a lot of this stuff down.
It's like, man, I want to go to church.
I love that feeling
where you're just getting ripped, you know,
and where you're being rebuked
because you want to grow.
You know, you want to learn.
You want to move forward
and it's, you know,
we wanted to hear some preaching.
Let me just put it a different way.
We wanted to hear some preaching
that would challenge us
and when we got those kind of sermons,
those were the sermons
that we liked the most at that church.
When we got challenged on something,
we were looking for something
and we were joking about the fact
that the more you get right in your life,
the less sermons are really applying to you.
Because you go,
okay, I got that one straightened out
and so you keep getting new sermons
and a lot of them,
you know, you've already got that straight
and already got that straight,
but then you get to that one
where he really hits on your sin
and you're almost just like,
yeah, come on, hit me again.
It's called wisdom.
Wanting to be corrected.
Wanting to learn something new.
Wanting to change.
Wanting to grow.
Wanting to get better.
I mean, think about it.
Let's say you went to get a,
you wanted to do a workout.
You know, I did a workout a week
and a half ago with my brother-in-law.
You know, and he said,
oh, I'm going to,
he's like, I'm going to show you this workout.
And he had all the weights and everything.
He had this thing all set up in his backyard.
It was some kind of workout
that I'd never been exposed to.
Some CrossFit or something.
It's the new craze or something.
So he's like,
okay, I'm going to show you this new workout.
I'm like, okay, let's do it.
You know, because I was working in Sacramento
so he was going to do this workout with me
before I went to my job.
And I did this workout
and it was really challenging
because it was a lot different
than anything I'd ever done.
And the next day I was really sore,
you know, because it used all different muscles
than what I was used to.
Now, that's what you would look at that and say,
hey, that was a good workout, right?
Why?
Because it caused pain.
Are you listening?
Because it meant that I'm growing.
It means that I'm getting stronger.
But if my brother-in-law
would have taken me aside
and said, hey, I got this workout for you.
And it's just, you know,
it's just really easy.
I would have said,
that wasn't a very good workout.
You know, that was weak.
That didn't do anything for me.
I'm not getting anything out of this.
This is a waste of my time.
I'm not accomplishing anything.
But that's how it is too with coming to church.
You know, you want to come to church,
you might be a little sore the next day.
You know, consult a physician before,
you know, attending big, poor, badly-nosed people.
But you know, you might be a little sore the next day.
You know, it might hurt a little bit.
But you know what?
That means that you're growing.
That means you're getting stronger.
That means that you're challenged.
You know, you're learning something.
And that's what it ought to be.
And a wise man, he's looking for rebuke.
He's looking to grow.
He's looking to progress.
He's looking to be challenged.
He wants to do something new.
Just as somebody who's looking for a workout,
they're looking for a workout
that's going to push them to the limit
so that they can go further.
Look at Proverbs 27, verse 5.
Proverbs 27, verse 5.
It says in Proverbs 27, verse 5,
open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
You see, sometimes the person who rebukes you
is actually your true friend.
And the one who tells you everything you want to hear
is actually an enemy.
So you got to be careful
that you look at the source of things
and understand that, you know,
God's word is the authority.
And if somebody's rebuking you from God's word,
they're actually, it's probably because they love you.
It's probably the truth.
Look if you would at John chapter 3.
John chapter number 3.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
John chapter number 3.
Think about it, kids in school,
you know, they go to school
and they love that class that's an easy class, right?
Oh man, this class is easy.
So easy, like just every test.
I mean, the teacher's probably given you the answer.
It's so easy.
But you know when an adult goes to a class
when they're trying to learn something,
they don't want it to be easy.
Oh man, it's so easy.
I mean, it's so basic.
Because an adult actually wants to get something
out of that class and learn something.
Not just, oh, I'm just trying to get through this class
to get to recess.
You know, and that's how it is when you're a kid,
you just want that easy class.
You know, when you're in high school,
there's like thousands of students.
I went to high school with about 2,000 students.
So you pretty much can choose,
and it's like, hey, take chemistry with this guy.
He's easy, right?
Hey, you better get in biology with this guy.
Don't take Mr. So-and-so, that's hard.
But it's just an immature attitude
of wanting to learn as little as possible.
But to just put in your time
and get that grade and get that A.
And that's how it is with church, too.
Just, you know, hey, go to so-and-so Baptist.
It's easy.
I mean, and I've literally, it sounds like a joke,
but literally, I've heard people talk like this.
Man, if you just show up at that place
three times a week and you'll be the star down there.
I've literally heard people talk like this.
Man, you want to be a big fish in a little pond?
Go down to that church.
I mean, your face will be in the bulletin every week.
I mean, if you just show up and just do the minimum, man,
you're going to be all over the bulletin.
Because that church is dead.
You go to so-and-so for a half hour,
you're going to break a record with those people.
You know what I mean?
And that's kind of the mentality.
Yeah, it's easy down there.
Faithful word Baptist is too hard.
I mean, everybody's not doing all the so-and-so.
Yeah, and it's like nobody's making you do anything anyway.
Nobody's expecting it.
But you know, people don't like it
when other people around them are doing stuff
that they don't want to do.
You know, they don't like to go to a soul-winning church
if they're not soul-winning.
Because then it's like, oh man, it's going to be look bad.
Everybody else is not soul-winning.
I'm not doing it.
And everybody's welcome.
But you know, look at John 3.19.
It says, this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world.
And men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil,
this is an interesting verse.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they're wrought in God.
So the Bible tells us that when we have sin in our life,
when we have evil in our life,
we don't want to go somewhere that's going to expose that.
Like let's say I have a particular sin in my life.
I don't want to go to a church
that's going to point that out.
And I'm not saying point me out,
but I mean just preach that.
I want to go to a church that condones my sin.
Right?
I mean if I've got sin,
I want to go to a church that condones it.
Because no one who does evil
wants to just step into the light and be exposed.
So for example,
let's say I'm a man and I have this flowing long hair.
Right?
Do you think I'm going to go to a church
that just rips and says,
the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
I'm not going to go back to that church.
I'm either going to do one of two things.
I'm going to get a haircut,
or I'm probably going to quit going to that church.
Now look,
I preached on men not having long hair
because it's biblical.
I mean the Bible makes it clear
that men should have short hair
and ladies should have long hair.
The Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair,
but a woman's hair is a glory unto her.
The Bible is real clear.
1 Corinthians 11 spells that out,
that men should have short hair,
ladies should have long hair.
There should be a difference in appearance
between men and women in their clothing,
in their hair,
in the way that they look and act.
There should be a clear difference
between man and woman.
Now I preached that sermon
and there were men who came with long hair that day,
and I'm not going to change my sermon.
Like if I see a man walk in and he's got long hair,
I'm not going to add that to my sermon.
Oh, somebody's got long hair.
I have to ring that bell this morning.
But at the same time,
if it's in my sermon and a guy walks in with long hair,
I don't say,
Oh, better get a new sermon.
You know, I keep a little stack of extra sermons.
Just in case I hit the nail a little bit too closely on the head.
No, I don't change it.
So I've preached that with men here with long hair.
I've done it.
And you know, you could go down the list
of other things I've preached
where people were here,
guilty of whatever I was preaching,
and I wasn't doing it intentionally.
And it was no harm to them.
And you know, hey, after the service,
I made sure to make a beeline to that person.
Hey, how you doing?
Glad you're here.
God bless you.
You know, just to show them,
I don't have an end for them.
I'm just preaching the Bible.
Just preaching the truth up here.
You know, if the shoe fits,
you know, that's not my fault.
But let's face it,
you know and I know
that that guy's either getting a haircut
or he's not coming back.
Not because, I mean,
as far as I'm concerned,
he can come here every week with long hair,
and that's fine with me.
I'm not going to throw him out.
No problem.
You know, that's between him and God.
I'm not trying to tell people what to do.
But the fact of the matter is,
you know and I know
that he's either not going to come back
or he's going to get that haircut.
Because of the fact that people
don't like to be recruited.
They don't like to be reviewed,
especially not publicly.
And he said,
open review is better than secret love.
You know that open review?
People don't like it.
And I never preach specifically.
Never.
I never point out certain people.
Hey, brother so-and-so,
you need to straighten this out.
I've noticed in your life.
I basically am just preaching the Bible,
but people know,
people apply it for themselves.
No, I'm not thinking.
I'm never thinking of specific people
when I preach.
I'm just preaching the Bible.
But people don't want to hear it.
And that's what keeps a lot of people
from going to a good church.
Sin in their life
is what takes them out of a good church
and puts them in a lame church.
Because they just can't take it.
And let me tell you something.
You've got to get over that in your life.
You've got to decide in your life,
I'm going to be that wise man.
Where when somebody reviews me
and it applies to me
and it's my TV show that's getting hit
and it's my music that's getting hit
and it's my lifestyle that's getting hit
and it's my sin that's getting hit
and it's my haircut that's getting...
I'm just going to say,
you know what?
I need to be hearing this.
This is helping me.
This is challenging me.
This is pushing me to a new level.
We've got to get that attitude
where we decide
we're going to be the wise man,
not the scorned.
And not come to church
or not come to a pastor.
I'm talking about church and a pastor.
Really, same thing with your Bible reading.
You ought to come to your Bible reading
with an attitude that says,
whatever God says,
I'm going to do it.
Not looking to make the Bible fit
what you already think
and the way that you live your life.
Make the Bible fit that.
But rather going to the Bible and saying,
how does God want me to live my life
and what do I need to change?
What do I need to fix?
What am I wrong on?
What do I need to learn?
What do I need to correct?
That's how we need to come to church.
That's how we need to come
to our Bible reading every day.
Come to the Bible and say,
okay, what do I need to fix here?
What can I learn that's new here?
What can I change today?
And that right there
will change your life right there
if you get that down
and figure out the fact
that you are not perfect.
You don't know everything.
I don't know everything.
I'm not perfect.
And so we should be on a quest
to be reviewed.
We should be searching
for new information
to increase learning,
to increase our knowledge
and to constantly be growing.
And if you're in a church
and look,
if you're in this church
and you're not growing at all
and you're not learning anything
and you're not being challenged,
then you know what?
Go to some other church
that'll challenge you.
But you need to be in a church
that motivates you
and challenges you
and teaches you something new.
Not where you just go every week
to get a pat on the back.
You know?
I'm tithing.
The pastor's preaching on tithing.
Great.
Love it.
Amen.
Pastor's preaching on reading the Bible.
I read my Bible every day.
Amen.
It's right.
You know,
that guy needs to hear this.
Hey, the pastor's ripping
on long hair on men.
Well, my hair is nice and short.
Amen.
Say that again.
But then when he gets on your sins,
oh man, you know,
what's the deal?
And look,
you may not even agree
with everything that I preach.
Maybe I preach something out of the Bible
and you don't see it that way.
And you say,
well, I just think he's wrong about that.
Okay, well, so what?
You can still keep coming to church.
You know,
you have to agree with every little thing.
But it's like,
people don't like you to preach
against anything that applies to them,
even if they don't even believe in it.
You got to just lighten up
and be able to take it.
When somebody,
when somebody preaches hard,
you got to be able to handle
that hard preaching.
If you're going to be a wise man,
if you're going to learn,
if you're going to grow,
if you're going to progress,
it's like that workout.
There's going to be a little bit of soreness,
a little pain,
a little bit of stiffness.
Okay.
But shake it off.
You know, that means you're growing.
Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for your word
and for the wonderful things
that you teach us through God
and for the truths that are there.
I thank you so much, God,
that I know that I have not arrived.
And so I thank you
that there's always more to learn
and that there's always more.
Every time I read my Bible,
I can learn something new
and something different.
And I thank God,
I thank you, God,
that you didn't just,
that you don't just tell us
the same things over and over again,
but that rather you've given us
this huge book of information.
Father, please just help me
to take my own advice tonight
and to take a review
to read the Bible and change.
And Father, help everyone in our church
to constantly be challenged
and motivated to do more
and to learn more.
Help us not be like these people
in Jeremiah 43.
And please just bless the refreshments
that we have after the service
and give Brother Stuckey a safe trip.
And in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.