We have, dear God, in this book, I just pray that you would speak to all of our hearts
tonight in the message. And God, I just pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit
as I preach tonight, dear God. If I stood up in the flesh and just preached some kind
of an oration, there's no purpose for that. Dear God, it's a spiritual book. These are
spiritual people. It needs to be a spiritual message, dear God. Father, I pray that you
would just meet with us tonight. And in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Now I want to draw special attention in this passage to those words uttered by Moses in
verse number 26. I'm sorry. The Bible says in verse 26, Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Those are the words that I want to focus
on tonight. Who is on the Lord's side? And then the response is, Let him come unto me.
And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. The title of the sermon
tonight is, Whose side are you on? Look at Matthew chapter 10. We'll get right into the
message here. Matthew chapter 10, verse number 34. Whose side are you on? Matthew chapter
10, verse number 34. And we'll see the words of Jesus Christ. Matthew 10, 34. The Bible
reads, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a
sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall
be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Now we see here some
very strong words from Jesus Christ. Now you remember that when Jesus was born, those
very words were uttered by the angels that we saw a few weeks ago when we were looking
at Luke chapter 2. Peace on earth, good will toward men. But when Jesus Christ came to
this earth, he said, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. One day Jesus Christ
will bring peace on earth. It's called the second coming of Jesus Christ. But you know
what? He said, I didn't come to bring peace on earth. He said, I came to bring a sword.
Of course, he is the word of God in the flesh. So it's no wonder that he said, I've come
to bring a sword, the sword of the spear, which is the word of God. The word of God
sharper than any two-edged sword. What is the effect of this two-edged sword? Well,
he said it divides families. He said it divides people from their friends. He said it divides
a father and a son sometimes, unfortunately. Unfortunately, sometimes it divides a mother
and a daughter. Sometimes it divides in-laws one from another. And it divides people and
separates them into two camps. That's why Moses said in Exodus chapter 32, where we
were reading, he said, Who is on the Lord's side? They had to choose. If you're not on
the Lord's side, you're on the devil's side. And so they had to choose. He drew a line
in the sand, so to speak. He said, You've been into this witchcraft, this idolatry,
this rock music partying, this nakedness and filth. He said, I'm drawing a line. You're
going to have to come out from that crowd. You're going to have to step out from the
worldly crowd and come unto me if you want to be on the Lord's side. Because there's
only two sides, my friend. There's the world's side and there's the Lord's side. Those are
the two choices. And he says that when the word of God is presented, it's going to divide
people into two groups. It's going to divide people into those who are on the Lord's side
and those who are not on the Lord's side. You know, number one, and I have several points
written down here, but number one, decide which church or what kind of a church you're
going to side up with, number one. Decide what church you want to side up with. Look
at you at Romans chapter 16. I'm showing some scriptures at the beginning here to build
a foundation for the message, but look at Romans chapter 16. An often misunderstood
and misquoted verse. Romans 16, 17. The Bible reads in Romans 16, 17. You must read the
Bible very carefully. He says, now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. Now at the
casual read, somebody who's not paying attention to what they're reading or somebody who has
a different agenda reads that and says, see, you're not supposed to cause division. Now
is that what that verse says? No. He says, mark them and avoid them which cause divisions,
period. No. He says, which cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which you've learned.
So who's the one causing the division? It's the one who's going away from Bible doctrine.
It's the one who's going away from the doctrine that we've learned from the Bible. If we were
as a church tonight to take a vote, and we would never do this, okay, this has never
happened in a million years, but let's say we were to take a vote tonight and say, should
we use the King James Bible or the NIV tonight? What Bible should we use as a church? And
let's say every single one of you rose your hand and said, the NIV is what we want to
hear, Pastor Anderson. I know that's not the truth. But if every single person in this
room said, we all want the NIV. And I even said, I want the NIV. Okay? Hey. And then
Brother Dave said, you know what? No. Let's keep it the King James Bible. Brother Dave,
why are you so divisive? Huh? Well, we need to have unity as a church, Brother Dave. We
can all agree, we can have unity or you're going to be divisive. Let's mark him and avoid
him. Is that what the Bible said? No. The Bible said to mark the person that's causing
the division contrary to the doctrine that you've learned. So if I were to stand up and
say that and everybody got around the NIV and Brother Dave said, no, King James, King
James Bible, he is the one that's for unity. I'm being divisive. You're being divisive
if you get on board with me. Because the division is always contrary to God. If Brother Dave
is with God, then he's right. And everybody who's on the other side of the line from him
is wrong. Who is the divider? Is it the person who stays with God and says, I'm not going
to move? I don't care if this whole church goes liberal. I don't care if the whole world
goes liberal. I don't care if this whole country goes liberal. I shall not be moved, as David
said in the book of Psalms. That is not the person that's causing division. Let me tell
you something. A long time ago, I drew a line in the sand and said, I'm not going any further.
I'm not going to let anybody move me doctrinally. And just because the winds of doctrinal change
are blowing across this country tonight, I'm not going to change. Now, does that make
me divisive? And it's so silly anyway, because why would the person who's King James only
be divisive? That sounds unified. One Bible. Everybody used the Bible that I used. And
then we'll all be happy. And you say, well, come on. Yeah, it's the one that everybody
used for the last 400 years, my friend, until they came out with all these new Bibles. And
so the people who are on the false Bible crowd, they're the divisive crowd because they're
putting a different Bible in everybody's hand. That sounds pretty divisive, my friend. And
most importantly, it's contrary to the doctrine that we've learned. So there is a division
tonight between a man who gets up and says, the King James Bible is the word of God because
God has preserved his word, every jot, every tittle. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
my word shall not pass away. There's a division tonight between the preacher who says that
and the preacher who says, well, it's the best we've got. It's close. It's in the ballpark,
my friend. Well, is that division a positive thing? No. The division is not a positive
thing because everybody should be on the King James side. But if there exists a King James
only side and a side that says, well, close enough, well, then you know what? That is
a good division because God said, I came to send that kind of division. You understand
what I'm saying by that? But who's right and who's wrong? The guy who's with the side that's
the doctrine that we've learned is the right side. The guy that's trying to change what
we've learned is the wrong side. Now, I don't care if 99% are on the wrong side. The person
who's the 1% is not the division. Otherwise, every born again Bible believing Christian
in the history of mankind would be divisive because it's always been the narrow way. Isn't
that right? Has there ever been a majority of the people on planet earth saved and born
again and on their way to heaven? Never in the history of planet earth. Let's face it.
So division is not one person staying by the stuff and refusing to change. Division is
when people try to change what God said and try to change the doctrine that we've learned.
So divisions, you must decide, what I'm trying to say is you must decide what church you're
going to line up with because there's a marking and avoiding that you're supposed to do of
the false teacher. Now, I had a guy, there was a guy that recently told me and he was
a good guy. I mean, he was an independent fundamental Baptist. He was a nice guy and
he told me, he said, anybody who's saved, if they're preaching the gospel, any church,
any person who's saved, it's wrong to separate from them. If they're saved, you should just
open arms. They're your brother. They're your sister. You should be their buddy. You should
be their pal. You should have everything in the world to do with them. And I told him,
I said, that's not true. I said, you're wrong about that. I said, let me show you from the
Bible that you're wrong about that because he was telling me, he said, look, you're going
to be with these people in eternity in heaven. You know, how can you reject them now? And
I said, well, let's see what the Bible says. This is where I took it. Because he said,
where are you getting this separation from the Bible? He said, I don't see it in the
Bible. He was being honest. He wasn't trying to be, you know, contentious or argue with
me or anything. He just wasn't really seeing it. He wasn't getting it. And I said, let
me show you where I get my division from the Bible. I took him to this verse and I said,
the Bible says I'm supposed to mark certain people and avoid them, people that teach false
doctrine. And I took him to some other places too, obviously, many places in the Bible.
But I said, you know what? I'm supposed to mark and avoid them. What does it mean to
mark somebody? It means, you see this guy right here in the second row? You see him?
He's the one who's causing the division. He's the one who's preaching wrong. He's the one
who's trying to get us to change Bibles. That's what God said to do. You say, well, I don't
like that. Well, you don't like the Bible because that's what God said to do. He said,
mark them and avoid them that cause divisions. And we just learned that the causing of division
is the person who's preaching false doctrine. It's not that he preaches false doctrine.
They're going to divide people into those who drink the Kool-Aid and those who stay
with Bible doctrine. Now, think about this. You got to decide what church you're going
to go to. You got to decide what's the right kind of a church, you know, more importantly
you do. And when you decide, you got to just jump in full speed ahead. Now, I've met so
many people in my life, and I've even been this kind of a person, and I've met other
people who said, I go to a church and it's okay. You know, you've met people that say,
well, my church is okay. They're never that involved in their church if they don't like
the church, if they're not enthusiastic about the church. Do you know what I mean by that?
You say to them, how's your church? And they say, well, that's pretty good. Is it a pastor?
I mean, can you preach? Do you learn something? Is it exciting? Well, you know, it's okay.
That person's not going to be out knocking doors until they fall over. That person's
not excited about church. That person's not going to bring visitors to church because
they're not enthusiastically excited about their church. You've got to find a church
where you can get on the side of that church and say, I am on the faithful word Baptist
church side. I love this church. I mean, when I invite people to this church, I'm enthusiastic
about it. I know you are too. You know, when you invite people to church, you say, man,
I love this church. It's great. It's straight out of the Bible. It's preaching that it'll
change your life. It's Bible that will change your life. And when you're excited about the
church you're in, that's when you're going to jump in. That's when you're going to bring
the visitors. That's when you're going to be out soul winning. That's when your walk
with God is going to be strengthened and sharpened by your church when you're excited about the
church that you're going to. You say, I don't feel that way about my church. Then go to
a different church and find the church where you can't feel that way. And you know, if
somebody ever complains to me about their church and says, well, I like my church, but
it's kind of liberal in this way and they're kind of changing in this way, it irritates
me to be honest with you. This is why it irritates me. Because number one, if it's so liberal,
why are you there? Why do you go there? Why are you so, why do you still go there if it's
so liberal and lame? Why? It's not right to go around criticizing your church. Go to a
church that you can get excited about. And you know, even if it was okay, even if, I'm
sorry, if it were okay to criticize your church, you're never going to be effective for God.
You're never going to be an enthusiastic servant of God unless you go to a church that you're
excited about. That's going to spark your Christianity. I remember just many times growing
up when my parents and I just searched for good churches and we had a hard time finding
them many times. Because there was a time in Sacramento, California when a lot of churches
were changing very rapidly in the late 1980s and early 90s. And we sought for the right
kind of a church. And I just remember yearning in myself for a church where I could really
just plunge in and just get involved with the whole program. You know, the Sunday morning,
the Sunday night, the Wednesday night, the soul-winning, the activities, the whole thing.
I just wanted to be in and part of it, but I just couldn't get excited about the churches
we were going to. Then when I was 17 years old, found a great church, King James Bible,
soul-winning, hard preaching. I remember, you wouldn't believe this church. We walked
into this church, metal chairs, I mean metal folding chairs. And they said nuestra casa
on the back. I don't know if they were at bottom from some, you know, some kind of a
Mexican place or something because it had all Spanish written on the back. No air conditioning.
I started going there in the middle of July, height of summer, okay. And this building
had about, you know, maybe 125 people in it on a Sunday night. And it was about, it was
a six o'clock service. And in Sacramento it's a little different. In Sacramento, five, six
o'clock is the hottest time of the day for some reason. I'm not sure why, but at five
or six o'clock in Sacramento, it's hot. And this was a hot summer. It was in the height
of summer. We walked in that building. It had to be 110 degrees in that building. It
was a metal building. 125 people packed in there. Even the guys on the platform were
on a metal folding chair. And I remember the preacher got up and he yelled and screamed
and stomped and he said, he said, you got to be willing to go into these neighborhoods
where nobody else is willing to go. This is, I just remember this part from the sermon
for some reason. I was 17 years old. I sat in the, in the, not in the pew, I sat in the
metal chair. He said, you got to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands
dirty in these ghettos and these slums and win people to Christ. And he was talking about
sewing and he was talking about it was exciting. And I said, glory to God, I found something
that's real. I found something that's like the book of Acts. I found something that's
like the Bible that I read every day. I can live it and win people to Christ and have
excitement and real preaching with fire and enthusiasm. And I remember how my Christianity
went from just, why? Because I got in the right, I got in a good church. I got in the
right church. It's so important what church you're in. And you say, well, I don't feel
that way about my church and get in the church. You say, I don't feel that way about this
church. Then you're in the wrong church. This is church where people get excited about being
here, you know, and they love it. You will get excited. I'm just kidding. But you know,
this is a church that's kind of like you're in or you're out type of thing. And it's not
based on us. It's just based on, that's the way the Bible is. It just kind of divides
people who want to be on the Lord's side and people who don't want to be on the Lord's
side. It's amazing how people who don't like to be on the Lord's side, they don't like
to hear people talk about what the Lord's side is like because they know they're not
there. That's the problem. But, and you know what, by the way, let me just put this in
here. There are people that I've known all over and these people talk to me every week
that criticize their church to me. And it irritates me because they're really insulting
themselves because they go there. They picked going there. They're not switching to something
else. And I just don't think it's right to criticize your church. I mean, I don't think
it's right if you're a child to criticize your mom and dad. I don't think it's right
for me to criticize my boss. I just don't think that you should just be criticizing
authority all the time. That's a bad habit. But these people, they think that they're
going to resurrect some dead church from the dead. They think they're like a missionary
to their liberal church. They're going to straighten it out. I mean, think about this.
You think some liberal is going to come in here and straighten me out? Okay, well then
how is some fundamentalist going to go to one of these liberal churches and straighten
them out? And these churches die. And then it's like they're in the operating room. They're
trying to do CPR. Can you imagine doing a CPR on a dead body that's been dead for like
seven hours? How ridiculous that is. That's what they're doing. They're trying to breathe
life into something that's dead. You cannot change a church from the bottom up. You change
the church from the top down. The pastor gets up and preaches and he leads. And if the pastor's
a liberal, get out of that church. Go to the right church, period. And that's what I tell
these people. I say, you know what, if your church is so liberal, then get out of that
church and let me tell you about a better church. Go to a fundamental Baptist church.
Go to an exciting church. Get out of that dead mess that you're in and get in a red-hot,
screaming, yelling, stomp your foot, soul-winning, knock doors, eat, breathe, sleep, live the
Bible 24 hours a day. That's the kind of Christianity that I want, my friend. And so look at Ezekiel
chapter 47. I'll move on to my next point, but Ezekiel chapter 47. See, God's plan is
never reform the church. God's plan is come out from among them and be separate. Reformation
is never God's plan. You can't put old wine into new bottles, my friend. And God never,
you know, think about salvation for a moment. Let's talk about why you're turning to Ezekiel
47. And boy, this is, this is that real exciting part of the Bible that you get to from Ezekiel
chapter 40 through 48, when you see all the temple and it's measuring it. Isn't that great?
It's about nine chapters of just pure excitement. But while you're in Ezekiel 47, let's talk
about salvation for a minute. I was talking to a man the other day who was confused, or
he wasn't confused, actually. He was very not confused. And he saw exactly what's going
on where people try to spin the gospel, you know, to make it kind of work salvation. Like,
well, you got to turn away from your sins and kind of change your life a little bit.
Or if people don't change their lives, they're not really saved, type of thing, instead of
just faith alone, through grace alone, to God alone be the glory. You know, they don't
believe that. They say, well, there's got to be some change. And this is what that man
said to me. He said, you know what? If somebody has to change when they get saved, or there's
no change, they're not really saved. They didn't really believe because there's no change.
He said, if somebody had to change, he said, that would be like a reformation. That would
be like a reformation of what they were and they're going to change. But you know, you
can't change the old man. You can't change the flesh. What happens when you get saved
is not a reformation, it's a transformation. When you get saved, your spirit is transformed
into a brand new creature. Your flesh stays exactly the same as it was before you got
saved. The same old flesh, the same old sinful appetites are there. You could fall back into
the sinful. Don't think you're above it. You could fall back into those same temptations
if you start walking in the flesh. But if you walk in the spirit, you'll not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh. And so it's not a reformation that gets you saved. It's not
turning over a new leaf. It's not changing your life before or after you get saved. It's
a transformation when God creates in you the new man. He creates in you a brand new creature.
And now you have the choice whether you're going to walk in the spirit or walk in the
flesh. And that's up to you. So to say, well, that guy, he hasn't changed at all. He's not
saved. Well, he's walking in the flesh and the flesh, my flesh didn't change either.
As soon as that guy would start reading the Bible, he's going to start feeding the spirit
a little bit. As soon as he starts to pray and go to the right kind of a church, he's
going to feed the spirit. Now he's going to put on the new man. He's going to put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's when you're going to see a change, which is not really a change.
It's him walking in the new creature. It's a transformation. And the guy, the man who
told me that, he said, when I was a kid, I used to play with transformers. Whoever played
with transformers when you were a kid. All right. I was a boy toy, I guess. Only the
guys played with transformers. I used to love transformers more than meets the eye, right?
And GoBots was like the off-brand, I think, of the transformers. Transformers and GoBots.
Now look, when you, it went from like a car to a robot, or it went from like a robot to
a submarine or whatever, something like that. But you know, it didn't just become, you know,
a robot with a wheel for feet or something. I mean, it was a total change. I mean, it
became something completely new. It was completely transformed. It went from a complete car to
just a total robot. And you couldn't even see how one could be the other. I mean, they
were, you know, they were well designed. And that's the way salvation is. It's not just,
well now it's a robot with some wings on. No, he becomes an airplane, my friend. And
so that's what salvation's like. It's a transformation into a brand new creature. Old things are
passed away, all things have become new. And that's not talking about your lifestyle, because
then all things would have to become new, and you'd have to be living a perfect life,
which none of us is doing. But that new creature is a completely different new creature. He
loves the things of God. He hates the things that God doesn't like. And the flesh is the
exact opposite. And the spirit warth against the flesh, and the flesh wars against the
spirit. And the two are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do the things that you
would. But look at Ezekiel chapter 47. We're talking about taking sides, so to speak. And
finding a church that you can really take sides with. And let me show you what I'm talking
about in Ezekiel 47 here. Look at verse number 1. The Bible reads in Ezekiel 47, I'm sorry,
I lost my page there. Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house. And behold,
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the forefront of
the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the
house at the south side of the altar. It's just as exciting as you remembered it. No,
I'm just kidding. Then brought he me, but watch this, then brought he me out of the
way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the other gate by the
way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when
the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits,
and he brought me there, I'm sorry, he brought me through the waters. The waters were to
the ankles. So let me explain this real quick. He sees this house, the temple of God. He's
seeing into the future of the new heaven, the new earth actually. And so he's seeing
this temple of God. And he's seeing this water of life, and you'll find this in Revelation
22, 1 and 2, described in the book of Revelation. But he sees this river of life flowing out
from under the house, flowing out and watering all the area round about. Now look if you
would at verse number 4. He says, the water flowed out, and the man brought him into this
river, and he stepped into the river up to his ankles. Okay, now look at verse number
4. Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters. The waters were to
the knees. Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through. The waters were to
the loins, that's the waste. Afterward, he measured a thousand, and it was a river that
I could not pass over, for the waters were risen waters to swim in. A river that could
not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought
me and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold,
the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said
he unto me, these waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert,
and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the
river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because
these waters shall come thither, for they shall be healed, and everything shall live
whither the river cometh. What's he saying? The river of life here, this river that's
a healing stream, that's a river of waters of life that flows out from the throne of
God. It represents the blessings of God. Everywhere it touched, it made trees grow
and bloom and be fruitful and productive. You know, nothing can produce fruit or be
effective without water. No plant can grow without. Even these cactuses need a little
bit of water in the desert here. Everything needs water. And God said this river of life
flows out from the throne of God, from the temple of God, and waters the whole land,
and everything shall live whither the river cometh, God said. But he said the angel that
was with him took him and took him just up to his ankles. And he stood in there up to
his ankles, and then he went another thousand cubit, or whatever the measuring reed was,
I think it's nine feet long, I'm not sure, but he took him and got him up to the ankles,
and then he said let's go a little further. And he got in up to his knees, and he said
let's go in a little further, he got in up to his waist. And pretty soon he got to where
he was swimming in the water, and he couldn't go any further. You see, that's what God is,
what God's trying to teach us here is that that's the way the Christian life is, that's
the way the blessings of God is, that's the way the Bible is, that's the way the power
of God is. He says you can get in up to your ankles, and you step in up to your ankles
and say well, what's the big deal about this? So my feet are a little wet. But he says no,
come a little further. Get a little bit further into this thing. Come a little bit deeper
into this water of life. He says you have the choice whether you're going to be in up
to your ankles, whether you're going to be in up to your knees, whether you're going
to be up to the loins, or whether you're going to just jump in full blown and just swim out
into the blessings of God, and just be inundated with God's blessings, to be inundated with
the Word of God, to be filled with the Spirit of God. That's what he's talking about here.
You've got to go to a church, and you've got to have a Christianity that compels you to
get all the way in. Do you think that God wants you ankle deep in Christianity? Do you
think he wants you in Christianity up to your knees? Or do you think he wants you to eat,
breathe, and sleep the Bible and the things of God? See, you've got to decide which side
you're going to be on, and then just get all the way on that side, all the way in or all
the way out. God said I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. He said it's so important
to decide which side you're on and to get on that side. God wants you up above your
head in the Christian life, all the way in, like he brought Ezekiel. Ezekiel said, well,
you know, it's up to my knees. Keep coming, Ezekiel. Come further. Keep going. Keep coming.
Keep getting in further. Or you're going to have to rely on God because you can't pass
through these waters without me there with you. He says get all the way in. Now, if you're
going to get all the way in, you've got to be in a church that gets all the way in because
the church is the center of God's program in the New Testament. Everything centers around
the local church. Now, are you on the faithful or Baptist church side or not? Are you on
the side of the King James Bible or not? Are you on the clean and decent living side or
not? Are you on the old-fashioned kind of preaching side or not? Are you on the independent
local church side or are you on this denominational side? Are you on the no-compromise side? Are
you on the soul-winning side? Because if you are, there's a line in front of you. And
on the other side is the liberal community church. That means you're against, you're
in opposition to the liberal community church. It means that you're against the NIV side.
It means that you've got to be against the worldly, sleazy living that we see in our
day to day. It means that you're against the namby-pamby, sissified preaching that won't
name the sin and hit on the sin and hit it right on the head, nail it and put it down
on your level where you can say like David when you hear Nathan say, thou art the man.
Yes, I'm talking to you. That's the kind of preaching we need. Are you on the independent
local church side? Well, if not, then you're on this denominational, non-independent conferences
where everybody yokes up together. If you're on the independent side, you're against that
crowd. Are you against compromise? If you're on the non-compromising side, you're standing
in opposition to the compromises of this world. You're pointing them out. You're marking
them and avoiding them. You've got to be against the non-soul winning, dead as a doornail kind
of a Christianity. Now, let me read for you a few verses that are important on this. You
don't have to turn there. Matthew 12, 30. He that is not with me is against me, is what
Jesus said. And he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. In the words of Winston
Churchill, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. I think he was
borrowing from the Bible. Because Jesus said, if you're not gathering with me, then you're
scattering abroad. He said, well, I'm just not involved. No, you're involved. Everyone's
involved. You're either gathering with Jesus by being a soul winner, or you're scattering
abroad by refusing to be a soul winner. He said it again in Luke 11, verse 23. He that
is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. He says,
you're part of the problem. If you won't choose sides, if you won't take sides, what is a
person who doesn't take sides? They're neutral. And according to Jesus, they're part of the
problem. He says, he that is not with me is against me. Do you see how simple this is?
He says either you're with me or you're against me. And if you're not against me, then you
must be with me. And if you're not with me, then you're against me. That's why the Bible
says, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You say,
what? Why can't I be friends with God and friends with the world? Because if you're
not with him, you're against him. And if you're against him, you're with... He said it both
ways. See, if you study your Bible, he says, he that is not against me is with me. He says
in another place, if you're not against me, you're with me. Here he says, if you're not
with me, you're against me. He says it four different ways throughout the Gospels. Just
to make it clear to you so you understand that you must make a choice and take sides
and decide whether you're going to be on the Lord's side or on the world's side. You must
choose. You must decide. You must take sides. You say, I don't like to take sides. I like
to be neutral. You can't be neutral. If you're neutral, you're automatically on the opposite
side from the Lord, is what he says. Because if you're not gathering, maybe you're just
doing nothing, right? I mean, if you're just not gathering, he says you're scattering.
As soon as you do nothing, you're scattering. As soon as you're not winning souls, you're
scattering. As soon as you're not fighting the battle for God, you're scattering. You're
hurting the cause of Christ, unfortunately. And so it's very important that you take sides
in Christianity. Get on the Lord's side. Now let me ask you this. Are you for... And this
kind of goes back to where we were reading in Exodus chapter 23. Are you for... Which
side are you on? Let me ask you this. Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of what
God says that people should dress or what the world says that people should dress like?
Which side do you want to be on? Now you have to be on one side or the other. Isn't that
right? Well, the Bible says in Jude chapter 1 verse 23, actually there's only one chapter,
but Jude verse 23, the Bible says, and others save with fear. I'm talking about unsaved
people, getting them saved. And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now what does that say? That says that there's
clothing that we as Bible-believing Christians should hate. Is that what that says? Let me
read it for you again. Let me make sure I'm reading this right. Jude 23, and others save
with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now
does the Bible say that there's a garment that I should hate? That there is clothing
that I should hate? You see, when you take sides, you are for something, and that means
that by necessity, you're against something. I'm for Jesus. I'm for dressing right. I'm
for the King James Bible. I'm for what's right, but I'm not against anything. No. You see,
you're talking, to those of us who know the Bible, you're talking nonsense. You're talking
gibberish that doesn't make sense, because if you're for one thing, you are automatically
against something else. You say, you know, I'm not into sports at all, but you say, I'm
for the Phoenix Suns. Then you must be against the team that they're playing against. You're
automatically, you know, if you went to some diehard of some other basketball team and
said, go Phoenix Suns, you're going to incite them to anger, because you're automatically
slapping the face to their team. Isn't that right? See, the world knows this when it comes
to sports, that whenever you're for somebody, you're always against somebody. Why? Because
there's a war going on between good and evil. In World War II, if you said, I'm for Great
Britain, well, you must automatically be against Germany right away. You say, well, I'm not
against Germany. I'm just for Great Britain in World War II. I'm going to fight for Great
Britain, but don't make me fight against anybody. You know, I don't want to fight against the
Germans or anything. I'm just going to be for Great Britain. You've got to be for, automatically,
the other side of that coin is that you're going to be against. You say, Pastor Anderson,
it seems like you're against everything. Everything that I'm against, there's something I'm for
on the flip side of that. And everything I'm for, there's something that I'm against on
the flip side of that. You see how that works? And so, if I'm going to be for women dressing
in the right kind of clothing, well, then that means that there's some clothing that
I'm against. And that means there's some clothing that I'm going to preach against.
And you say, well, if you preach against clothing, you're going to make people upset. Well, I
hope I don't make anybody upset, but it doesn't matter, because I'm trying to make God not
be upset with me. I'm trying to preach what God wants me to preach. You know, the Bible's
so clear about what men and women should dress like, so clear. You say, well, it's kind of
a gray area. The Bible doesn't really talk about it. You know, the Bible is extremely
clear about it, if you want to be honest about it. Like, for example, here's the hot button
issue. Let me just push the button. Pants on women, huh? Let's push the button right
now. Deuteronomy 22, 5. Turn there, if you would, and we'll talk about this hot button
issue. And you know what? This shouldn't even be a controversial issue in independent Baptist
churches. This should just be the bottom rung. This should be kindergarten. But for some
reason, the Baptists in America have succumbed to the world and to Hollywood and to the television.
Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 5. Don't take my word for it, my friend. Let's see what
the Bible says. Verse number 5 of Deuteronomy 22, the woman shall not wear that which pertain
unto a man. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so are abomination
unto the Lord thy God. Now let me ask you something. Does this verse say that putting
on a woman's garment is an abomination unto the Lord God? No, it doesn't. It says that
the person who puts on the woman's garment is an abomination. You see that? Look at it
again. It says, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Now look, that's very
strong language. Look up every time the Bible says abomination and see what it's talking
about, because it's not talking about stealing a piece of candy from the candy store. It's
not talking about telling a lie. It talks about a lot worse things when it talks about
an abomination, because an abomination means it's something that makes God sick, is what
it means. It makes him sick, like he spews out those that are lukewarm. He said, it makes
me sick. When people are lukewarm, they can't decide whether they're hot or cold about Christianity.
Churches who can't decide whether they're hot or cold. And he says, people who dress
in such a way where they can't decide whether they're a man or a woman. He said, that also
makes me sick. That's also an abomination to me. Now let me ask you something. And people
say, well, pants on women, they say pants are not men's clothing. Pants go both ways.
Okay, now think about this for a second. The Bible, first of all, we understand that what
it means about a man putting on a woman's garment. If I were to come to church tonight
in a dress, would you approve of that? If I came out in a dress with flowers on it and
ruffles and I curtsied for you like I would stand in front of the queen in England, hey,
you'd think that was disgusting. You'd feel like God feels about it, wouldn't you? You'd
feel like it was an abomination. You'd say, you make me sick. Now, think with me for a
second. And I wish, I was talking to Brother David about this today, I wish every Bible-believing
Baptist and every Christian and every preacher especially would study math. I think the Bible
colleges set off for math in every semester. I think it should be calculus one, two, three
and four. Because if people would understand math, they'd be able to reason with their
mind. And we were talking to some people today that were totally unreasonable. We talked
to a Jehovah's Witness, I showed her in her Bible where it says that Jesus is a God. And
it talks about the big capital G God and the little a God in the same verse in John 1.1.
I said, that verse says that there's two Gods. There's God and then there's a God. I said,
how many Gods do you believe there are? She said, one. How many Gods does your religion
teach there is? One. I said, how many Gods does your Bible say there is? Well, I just
don't know that much about it. I said, look, two plus two is four. I said, look at it.
You know, she just would not accept the facts of what her Bible was teaching. But let's
look at this, let's look at this math problem. Do you ever do word problems? Like, in school
you know, story problems? They call them story problems. In math, you do story problems.
This is a math story problem, believe it or not. Look if you would at it. It says, X equals
the woman's clothing. No, I'm just kidding. It says, the woman shall not wear that which
pertaineth unto a man. Now stop for a second. If God is commanding a woman not to wear something
that pertains to a man, do you think that there's clothing that exists on the face of
this earth that pertains to a man? Or is God just talking about this imaginary clothing
that women should not be wearing? Okay, think about it. There must be something, right?
So we have a variable in our algebra equation, we're going to call this variable X. That
which pertaineth to a man equals X, okay? So, there is a clothing in this world that
pertains to a man, because I don't think God is just paranoid and making up some story
about, don't ever wear anything that pertains to a man. What is that, God? Well, I don't
know, but don't do it. Obviously there is a woman's garment that we see a little later.
We'll call that Y. Y equals the woman's garment. It must exist, because if it doesn't exist,
why would God be talking about it, okay? So according to God, there's a woman's garment,
and there is clothing that pertaineth to a man. Now, you solve for X. You do the algebra.
You do the math. Tell me, what clothing on the face of God's green earth pertains to
a man? Tell me something. Tell me something. Is it a sweater? Is it a sweater that women
are not supposed to wear? Sweaters are for men only. Do you think that's what it is?
Okay, well, we've got to use the process of elimination. See, we have to deal in the set
of real numbers. We're dealing with integers. We already got rid of the imaginary number
set, okay? Now we're dealing with real numbers, and so we only have a few choices. Is it a
sweater? Is it a t-shirt? Is it a long-sleeve shirt? Is it a skirt? Is it a dress? Is it
pants? Is it socks? Is it shoes? Is it a hat? What is it? Now, you tell me what it is.
You say, Pastor Anderson, tell us what it is. You tell me what it is. You're racking
your brain right now, aren't you? You can't think of it. I can't think of it either, except
all I can think of is pants. That's the only thing I can think of, because when I walked
into the airport the other day, I walked up to the restroom, and I didn't have any trouble
deciding which door to go through, because there were two symbols. One was a symbol of
pants, and one was a symbol of a skirt. And immediately, me and the guy from East India,
next to me, with a turban on his head, from Pakistan, he was carrying a Cobra coming out
of his suitcase. We both walked into the same door, even though we don't speak the same
language, even though we've never been to this airport before, we both just walked right
in, right beside each other into the restroom. Why? Because universally, the symbol for a
man is a pair of pants, and universally, the symbol for a woman is a skirt. Now, is it
a shirt? Is it a jacket? Think about it logically with me. And you say, well, I don't like that.
Think about it logically, okay? You cannot tell me what pertains to a man if it's not
pants. It's pants. You know that it's pants, okay? And you know that what pertains to a
woman is a skirt or a dress. It's very clear in the Bible, and it's very clear in society
even. You know who started wearing all the dresses, my friend? It wasn't Jesus' disciples,
like you saw in your Sunday school material. It wasn't Jesus' disciples and Jesus wearing
a dress, and Jesus had long hair. No, the people who started wearing the dresses in
the Middle East is called Islam. Did you know that? Islam is when men started wearing dresses
in the Middle East. Men in the Middle East don't wear dresses. They wear pants. Read
about pants in the Bible. Read about britches and hosin in the Bible. Read about men wearing
pants, and they had a robe over their pants. Wow, I have a coat on tonight myself. I wear
an overcoat over that sometimes when I'm in cold weather. And in the Bible, men wore pants
in the eighth century when Islam started. That's when they started wearing dresses on
men, and it's wrong, and it's an abomination to God. You're not going to see me up here
in a dress with my collar turned around backwards, dressed like some kind of a Catholic priest?
No, my friend, I'm going to wear a pair of pants tonight, and I'm not wearing a dress.
And I expect that you would understand from this that if there's a clothing that's gender
specific for a man and clothing that's gender specific for a woman, that a woman should
wear the woman's clothing and a man should wear the man's clothing. Now, you say, well,
in our society things have changed, and now pants are just unisex, genderless. Well, does
that please God, who wrote a book about men and women's clothing? No. Well, why don't
we all just do our hair the same, and dress the same, and act the same, and we can go
to work side by side, and we can do everything the same, and me and my wife can split the
housework and split paying the bills, and we can split everything, and why don't I give
birth to half the kids and you give birth to the other half while we're at it? It's
God has set roles for male and female. God has set clothing for male and female. God
has set hair for male and female, short hair on a man, long hair on a woman, pants on a
man, skirt on a woman. You say, you are radical. I'm radical because I'm telling a woman to
wear a skirt and a man to wear pants? That's, Roy, isn't that insane? I must be from another
planet. I must have come down on the UFO. But if somebody walked in here and told you
that it's okay for a man to wear a dress as long as he's Islamic or Scottish or a Catholic
priest, and it's okay for a woman to wear pants because, hey, this is 2007, that's normal.
But I'm a radical fanatic. It's all relative, my friend. And so I think that we can put
a little box around our answer and say X equals pants, and pants on women are wrong. It's
a sin. I didn't make that up. I just taught it to you from the Bible. Go home and figure
it out and see if you can find another solution to that answer. But I'm not seeing it, my
friend. And so you have to decide which side you're on on that issue, okay? Now, does that
mean that you're unkind to somebody who's dressed? Absolutely not. Women come in here
wearing pants all the time. And kind to them, it's great to have them. If they come here
for the next 50 years wearing pants every time, glory to God, we love to have them.
We love people in church. We love everybody who walks through those doors. But you know
what? I'm going to tell you something. I'm against women wearing pants. Period. I'm against
it. And I'm not going to say, well, you know, I prefer that you don't do it. No, I'm against
it. And so I'm going to fight it. And I fight it by standing up, stomping my feet, yelling
and saying, put on women's clothing if you're a woman and if you're a man dressed like a
man. That means get off the Abercrombie. Yeah, let's sit on the men for a while, okay?
You say, pass your hands to your brow beating the women. Let's sit on the men for a while.
Get off that Abercrombie and Fitch sweatshirt, bunch of homosexuals. Get off your tight little
tailor fitted pants. Get off your little hip hugging pants. Get a haircut off your shaggy
haircut. Get your women's jewelry off, sir. And look, dress, act, smell like a man. God
is for separation. God is for division. That's why he asked the question, whose side are
you on? Who's on the Lord's side? How long halts you between two opinions? Why can't
you decide, Elijah said, whether you're going to serve God or whether you're going to serve
Baal? He said, how long are you going to halt between two opinions? Choose you this day
whom you're going to serve. As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord, is what Joshua
said. And so God is constantly saying, I'm not here to send peace. I'm here to send division.
I'm here to send a sword. I'm come to send a man of variance against his father. Because
he says, I'm going to draw a line in the sand on every issue in the Bible. I'm going to
draw a line in the sand on salvation. Is it by faith or is it by works? I'm going to draw
a line in the sand on what I believe about women's clothing. Women should be wearing
a skirt or dress. The Bible clearly states that it should be down to the knee. It's Isaiah
47 three, it's Exodus 28 42. The Bible clearly says that a man or a woman's thighs is nakedness.
That means everything between the loins and the thighs should be covered on both genders
or else it's nudity, according to the Bible. I'm going to clearly take a stand on that.
I've decided which side I'm on. Which side are you on? You say, well, I don't know. Pick
a side. Have you ever sat down with people to watch some kind of a sporting event? I'm
not talking about on the television. I'm talking about actually sitting down and watching.
I remember I was in a motocross race with a friend of mine. We were both children actually.
We were young teenagers. I said to him, I said, I'm rooting for Jeremy McGrath. This
was the motorcycle dirt bike rider that I used to like. He rode a Suzuki RM 125 and
boy, he was, he was good. And then I said, Oh no, I'm sorry. Jeremy McGrath was what
the other guy was rooting for. Okay. Uh, Jeff Emig, that's who I was. Jeff Emig, it's been
a long time. He wrote a, uh, the Kawasaki KX 125 and I was for Jeff Emig and my buddy
right here, he was for Jeremy McGrath. And it was exciting cause we're trying to see,
you know, who's going to win and my guys had his guys at. And then we look over at the
side, you know, who are you for? Who are you rooting for? I don't know. I don't care. Hey,
take sides. Take a side, man. Get in on this. You got to decide what side you're on. Nothing
more irritating than somebody who won't take sides. You know, you talk about politics with
people. What do you think? I don't care. Like man, pick a side. Believe something. I mean,
we have the Bible, you know, politics can be a gray area sometimes, but you know, we
have the Bible. We have the word of God. We have the sword that just easily divides the
truth from error. Take sides. How do you feel about faithful or Baptist church? You
like, love or hate it. Okay. You got to take sides. How do you feel about the King James
Bible? Is it the word of God or is it a doorstop? Because if it's not the word of God, I don't
want to read it. I want to read something from the mouth of God. And if I thought that
something else was the word of God, I'd use it for a paperweight, but I believe it's the
word of God. And so I'm going to take a strong stand on that. Now, what do you believe about
the King James Bible pastor? I don't know. I mean, it seems accurate to me. Seems good.
No, it's the word of God. It's perfect. It has no mistakes in it. Any other questions?
Make it clear what you believe. Take a stand. Pick sides. I'm a Baptist. I'm not ashamed
to say that I'm a Baptist. And I'm going to tell you something. This church will always
be a Baptist church. I've drawn a line in the sand and said, I'm on the Baptist side.
Go ahead and be on the community church side. We were out soul winning today and this lady
said, I go to such and such community church. It's a Southern Baptist church. And I said,
I said, it's a Baptist church? You just said it was called such and such community church.
You remember that? She said, yeah, Baptist church. But they're afraid to say that they're
a Baptist church because they don't want to take sides. They want to just please everybody.
They want to just reach across and grab everybody in and just reach across and play both sides
of the game. No, my friend, I drew a line in the sand. I only want the people on the
Baptist side. Now we want visitors and unbelievers and everything like that to come in and we'll
get them saved and we'll get them on the Baptist side, my friend. You say, well, those nominations
aren't that bad. Which one are you talking about that's not that bad? The Methodists
who baptized babies? The Presbyterians who baptized babies and sprinkle them? Talk about
the Charismatics who say, now I'm saved. Now I'm not. Now I'm saved. Now I'm not. I could
lose my salvation tomorrow. Now I'm saved. Now I'm not. Now I'm saved. Depart from me.
I used to know you but I don't know you anymore. Is that the one that's not that bad? Or which
one's not that bad? The Roman Catholics, are they not that bad? Or is it the Lutherans
who baptized babies and think the Baptism gets you to heaven and Martin Luther said
that himself? That Baptism cleanses away your sins? Which one's not that bad, my friend?
Now I'm not saying that the Baptists, there are some religions that have people that are
saved in those religions. I understand that. But I'm going to tell you something. The non-Baptist
world is bad. Okay? I'm just telling you the truth. If you don't like that, then you
use the process of elimination and you show me the church that's in this city that's not
a Baptist church that preaches the Gospel and believes the King James Bible. And I'll
say it's not bad. But I haven't found one yet. And so you've got to take sides. That's
what the sermon's about. Pick a side. Decide which side you're going to be on. If you're
going to be a fundamental Baptist, be all the way a fundamental Baptist. If you're going
to be a Christian who loves God and goes to church, hey, come three times a week. Come
to every time the doors are open. If you say, well, if I love the Bible, then read it every
day. And don't read it for, you know, a few minutes a day. Spend a half hour reading the
Bible. Spend an hour reading the Bible. Spend two hours reading the Bible. Get in the Bible
and read it. Delve in. Don't get ankle deep in the Bible, my friend. Delve in. Read it
and read it and read it and read it. Hey, if you want to be in a hard preaching kind
of a church, then come to a church that preaches hard. You want to be in a soft church, go
to the softest, most liberal church you can. Go to the church that's just as liberal as
hell, my friend. If you want to have a soft, liberal church, I'd have more respect for
you. Or get in a church that breathes fire from the pulpit of soul winning, soul winning,
King James, love God, read the Bible, love people, go to the ghetto, roll up your sleeves,
reach down, pull them out of the fire, hate the garments spotted by the flesh, hate worldly
clothing, hate worldly movies. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in
you. If you love God, the love of the world is not in you. That's the way it works. So
if you love God, you hate the world, you hate the devil, you hate the clothing, you hate
the rock music, you hate the bad movies, you hate all of it. Because it's in opposition,
it's on the other team, it's on the wrong side. Nothing worse than playing sports against
somebody, nothing worse than having a boxing match with somebody or playing a basketball
game with somebody or a football game with somebody who doesn't want to win. Do you ever
play with people who don't care? Oh, we're just playing for fun. That's boring, my friend.
Play to win. Whenever I'm going to play sports with somebody, I say, you know what, I'm going
to tear you up. You know, you start talking trash before the game. You know, men, when
they get together, they play sports. They say, you know what, I was talking to my friend
Stefan the other day, I said, you know what, he was taking some martial arts training up
in Redding. I said, you know what, next time you come out here, we're going to get the
boxing gloves out. And I said, I'm going to tear you apart. I said, we're going to spar,
you know, and we're going to see whether Muay Thai kickboxing is better or you're, I don't
even know what he calls it, some other, some other lame one. And I said, we're going to
see which one's better. And he's like, you know what, I'm going to tear you up. He's
like, I'm going to chew you up and spit you out. You know, and now look, that's fun. It's
competition. You know, obviously we're good friends, we're buddies and everything, but
it's good, clean, fun competition. Or if we play basketball, it's like, man, I'm going
to beat you. I want to win. But you ever play with somebody and they're just like, I don't
care if I win or not. It's boring. You play board games with people, play Monopoly with
people, don't care about winning. Look, hey, get on a side, pick a side, get all the way
in, jump in and decide whether you want to be cold or hot, whether you want to be up
to your ankles or whether you want to be above your head in the Christian life and in the
things of God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, I thank you so much
for the Bible. It's such a clear book, dear God. It's not hard to understand for those
who decide that they want to sell out for God 100%. It's really not that difficult for
those who say, I want to get in above my head. I don't want to be up to my ankles. Good night.
Because if I'm only up to my ankles in the things of God, that means the whole 90% of
my body is in the world. And so God, please just help everyone that's here, myself included,
to say with Moses, ask ourselves the question, who's on the Lord's side? And then let us
like the Levites come unto you and say, God, I want to be with you. I want to have fellowship
with you. I want you to receive me. I want to step out from the world's side and I want
to get all the way on the other side of the line. I'm not going to stand on the line.
I'm going to get all the way on the Lord's side. God, please help us to do that. And
I know it's not overnight, but God, just please help us daily to come closer to you, further
away from the line, further on the Lord's side. God, please just help us to be motivated
by love in our lives, to love the lost enough to tell them the Gospel, to love the Bible
enough to read it and read it and turn off the TV and read it and read it and read it.
Please help us to love lost souls, to win them. Please help us to love this church enough
to attend here and help make it succeed by attending, by bringing visitors, by fighting
the battle with this church for the things of God. We love you so much, God, and please
just dominate every part of our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.