You
Folks welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. We're going to go ahead and get started this morning.
If you would find a seat, grab a hymnal and turn to our first hymn, number 41,
sweet by and by. Hymn number 41, four one, sweet by and by.
Hymn number 41, we'll sing there starting on the first.
your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and for all your many blessings that
are just new every morning and your mercies. I pray that you'd be with us for the service that
everything's done decently and in order that you would open up our ears to the message and that you
would fill Pastor Oz with your spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our
5-3, Bula Land.
53 there starting on the first.
I've reached the land of joy in my head.
All that's rich is freely mine.
Here's Shrine and Sublim-
Restore
one please raise your hand and then Usher will bring you a bulletin. On the front is our Bible
memory passage of the week Galatians chapter 1 verse 11. Keep working on that chapter. On the
inside is our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m. and our
Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are all listed below that
and all those meet here at the church building.
Below that you'll see our nursing home ministry schedule brother Theodore preaching today next week, brother John Reed and
Below that our year-to-date
Statistics having a great month of soul winning so far so definitely keep up the great effort out soul winning on the right
Please be in prayer for miss Whitney Reed are expecting lady of the church
Also below that you'll see our upcoming events April 13th. We're gonna have another men's preaching night for the evening service followed by
some potluck food there.
April 19th is our Easter soul winning marathon in Oklahoma City. May 16th through the 18th the King James Conference at Sher Foundation Baptist Church.
May 31st the Durant Oklahoma soul winning marathon.
with Steadfast. June 28th is the Tinker Air Show fellowship day and after that on
June 29th that weekend brother Ben Naim from Steadfast is going to be
preaching both services for us that day so looking forward to having him
visiting us on that weekend. August 27th through the 31st is the Fire
Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast. You definitely want to go to that if you
can.
and October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas mission trip.
I get more and more excited by this by the week. Pastor Anderson and Pastor
Shelley were just there this week and they're reporting that it's going
really well. It's very receptive and of course it's beautiful and fun as well.
So really looking forward to that. Below that there's
information about giving to our church.
On the back you'll see our prayer list updated there. If you have any updates or requests,
please email the church and I'll make sure to update that on a weekly basis.
As well, we do now have on our bulletin this visitor card information, so just
So our ushers are aware. You don't have to necessarily give visitors a communication card anymore.
You could just show them that and I'll announce it as well. But praise the Lord,
we've had a lot of visitors lately, last four weeks in a row. We've had first-time visitors.
So you may be like, what? But as a pastor, it's something I pay attention to. So we've had a
lot of visitors lately and that's a blessing. Do be praying for our church. Things are going
Below that I'm starting something called the anchor SWAT team and we kind of had a pilot session of this yesterday
Where the Oklahoma City Police Department?
They released like bulletins whenever there's like an officer involved shooting or murder in our city
And what I want to do not necessarily every time there's a big event because that could just take all of our time
But you know when we feel led and when there's something that we can make a difference in whenever there's like a fire
of tornado, some sort of crazy event, some tragedy,
some shooting, some murder or something like that.
I'd like to send our SWAT team members out to that area,
which is soul winning action team.
We're not gonna be the physical response for us,
but we're gonna be the soul winning action team.
And a lot of times when people experience tragedy, hardship,
it could kind of push them one of two directions.
It could either make them really hardened to the gospel
and bitter against God,
or it can make them extremely receptive
and they're thinking about death.
thinking about heaven. They're thinking about eternal life. And so we want to, you know, strike
while the iron's hot on that. And also, it's kind of just a good opportunity as Christians to show
the love of Christ, to be ambassadors for Him, to send, you know, Christians out in the community,
and be the front lines spiritually for people that are hurting. So...
Yesterday, we went to an apartment complex where, last weekend, a teenage boy was murdered, unfortunately.
And, you know, that's obviously a terrible thing, but we want to go to do the best we can for them.
There's nothing we could do, really. We can't bring their loved one back.
We can't do a bunch for them carnally, but we could give them the gospel.
And we got five people saved yesterday.
at that apartment complex.
And one of the guys, me and brother John,
was talking to, was talking about that
and was very aware of what had happened the weekend before
and that guy got saved.
He was probably thinking about those things.
So when this stuff happens throughout our community,
we want to take that opportunity, minister to people.
And who knows, maybe this could even grow
into something where something happens in Tulsa,
something happens in another state
and we could just send some soul winners there.
I've had this idea actually for years and years.
What made me first think of it is when the Uvalde shooting happened.
And I just was thinking like, man, that community is hurting so bad right now, they're losing
a bunch of kids.
It would be nice if some soul winners could go.
And we didn't do it at that time, but it's something that's been in my heart for a while.
And so when I see these things, I'm like, we need to, you know, take advantage of that.
So you don't have to participate in that at all, you know, if you don't feel comfortable
going to areas where there was violence or chaos and stuff like that, we're not going
to judge you or anything.
There's plenty of other maps you could hit.
But we're going to have some SWAT team members at this church.
hey you know if you want to be a SWAT team today you're the SWAT team and go out and
and do some good in the community so I just want to let you guys know about that if you're praying
for that and that's going to be it for announcements we'll go to our third song
all right our third hymn this morning number 64 shall we gather at the river
hymn number 64
64 shall we gather at the river?
64 there on the first
Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God
On the bosom of the river where the Savior King we owe
We shall meet and sorrow never meet the glory
as the offering plates are being passed,
turn a few wood to Hebrews chapter number 4.
Hebrews chapter number 4.
Hebrews chapter 4, let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the
gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached not profit them not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it for we which have believed do
As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world, for he spake in a certain place of the seventh
day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day
from all his works.
And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest,
seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not
He limited a certain day saying in David today after so long a time as it is said today
If you will hear his voice harden not your hearts
For if Jesus had given them rest
Then he not afterward have have spoken of another day
There remain it therefore arrest under the people to the people of God
For he that is entered into his rest
He also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his
Let us their labor therefore to answer into that rest less any man fall after the same example of unbelief
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword
Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow
And it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
Open unto the eyes of him to whom with whom we have to do
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens
Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our profession
For we have not in high priests, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly, under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need."
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thank you so much for our prayer.
We thank you for the revival that we have today.
The prayer that you help us to the occasion of preaching.
And so, also all of you, the spirit,
and you, the third pray, amen.
Amen.
The Bible says, for the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The title of my sermon this morning is Intents of the Heart.
This is a very beautiful and powerful verse.
explaining the power of the word of God and the Bible tells us that not only can the word of God
explain and define human nature, our thoughts, the way that we are, the actions that we do,
but it can also explain the intentions behind the actions that we have. It could tell you your
motives, why you do the things that you do. And so it's obviously a very powerful tool,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight.
But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
So you know, God, the Bible says that Jesus is the Word of God.
We know that Jesus is God and God can just see you for who you are.
All things are just naked and open unto him and the Word of God is able to discern your
And sometimes people like to, you know, repeat this phrase,
well, only God can judge me, only God can judge me.
And here's the thing, that is true that God can judge you,
and it's true that God is the only one that can judge you perfectly 100% of the time.
Now, the Bible tells us that we should judge, but our judgment can be flawed at times.
Our judgment can sometimes be flawed by our opinions, our experiences, our perception
of facts and reality if we don't have the full picture.
But here's the thing about the Bible is that its judgments are always right.
It's judgments always know exactly what you think and exactly why you do the things that you do go to 1st Corinthians chapter 2
1st Corinthians chapter 2
But you know people will kind of say this like well only God can judge me as an excuse to
Kind of just push to the side biblical preaching
You know they'll hear a preacher
Rip on the word of God and just use the word of God to point out sin and to point out people's actions that are wrong
And they'll just say well only God can judge me
But notice what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14.
It says,
For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual, judgeeth all things."
That's a powerful statement right there.
Oh, you know, Christians should never judge.
Judging is a sin.
The Bible says that those that are actually spiritual, judge all things.
Now, how do we judge, though?
It says, yet he himself is judged of no man.
for who have known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.
So it's like man, man's human reasoning, our little peon brains, we can't sit here and instruct the Lord
and really fully understand his ways from a carnal perspective, but we, the saved, we can, how?
Because we have the mind of Christ.
How is it that we have the mind of Christ because we have the word of God?
By having the word of God, we can judge accurately.
We can sometimes understand people's actions and motives and intentions how through the
mind of Christ.
Go to John chapter 3.
John chapter number 3.
So, yes, our judgment can be flawed, but God's judgment is never flawed.
So, when we're judging things according to what the Bible says, we know that that is a right judgment.
By the way, this idea of the Bible being able to discern your thoughts and the intents of your heart,
this is why people hate the Word of God.
This is why the wicked hate the Bible is because the Bible is just laying bare for all to see who they really are.
And people like to put up a facade and pretend to be something they're not,
but the Bible is going to expose you for who you are, whether good or bad.
John 3, 18.
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation that
light is come into the world and
men loved darkness
rather than light.
So remember, Hebrews 4 said that the Bible is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So here's a thought that the wicked have. They have this thought that they love darkness rather than light.
Now, can we find out why? What's the intent of their heart? Why is it that they love darkness rather than light?
Well, it says right there, because their deeds were evil.
So you see how you could look at someone and you could identify using the word of God their thoughts
What actions they're doing their state of being and the reason why they're in that state?
See I could actually make the judgment and say why does someone hate the light?
Why does someone hate the word of God? Why does someone not want to come to the word of God?
Well, I know exactly their motivation. You say are you mind reader? No, can you look into their heart?
No, but I can with the word of God because the Bible says because
Their deeds were evil.
The reason people don't like church, the word of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ is because they are wicked.
That's why.
And I know that for a fact because the Bible has discerned that.
Verse 20,
Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Why do people want to get the Bible out of our society?
Why do people want to censor voices that are preaching the Word of God?
Because they're evil, they're doing evil, and they don't want their deeds being reproved.
This is like what the Jews did after Jesus Christ was crucified and risen again.
and the apostles were going forth everywhere,
preaching the word of God.
What were the Jews wanting to do?
To shut their mouths,
to command them to not speak anymore
in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Why? Because Paul and Peter
and all these guys are preaching,
hey, look, these are the people
that killed the Lord Jesus, right?
And so by shining the light of the truth,
it's reproving those who had done evil deeds.
Verse 21.
But he that doeth truth, that's an action, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God.
You see, if someone comes to the light, if someone reads the Bible, if someone loves church, if someone loves the Lord Jesus Christ, that's someone that loves the truth.
And I could tell that they're motivated by truth. How do I know that? Because they came to the light.
If you come to the light, that means that you wanted the truth. You love the truth.
Go to, if you would, Proverbs chapter number one.
So we see this observation from Hebrews 4 that the Bible says that it's a discerner of the thoughts and
Intense of the heart it knows what you're thinking it could define what your actions are and it could also tell us
What or why you're doing the things that you do so number one this morning the Bible exposes you the Bible?
Exposes you and what I want to do is I want to do just a little bit of a Bible study here
Just through Proverbs and really this principle can be found all throughout the word of God
where it tells you what you're doing and why you're doing it.
But boy, proverbs is really where this just comes up over and over.
Well, it tells you an attribute about someone
and then explains why they have that attribute, the intent of their heart.
Look at Proverbs chapter one, verse 22.
Notice what it says, how long?
Ye simple ones.
So, being simple is a state of being, right?
Someone is foolish, someone is stupid, someone is simple.
The question is, why are they that way?
Can I understand the intent of their heart by the fact that they are a simple person?
Yes, I can.
Let's keep reading.
It says, how long you simple ones will ye love simplicity?
You see, when you look at someone who's simple, who's foolish, who's ignorant, who is stupid,
the question is, why are they that way?
It's because they love it.
It's because they love being stupid.
It's because they hate knowledge.
They love being an idiot.
They love being uneducated because if they actually loved knowledge, they wouldn't be
stupid.
Do you understand what I'm saying right now?
Look, this is the word of God.
You could actually look at someone and say, okay, this person is stupid.
Why? Well, they just didn't have all the opportunities. Well, you know, they were just had this different disadvantage in life. Look
There's I'm sure there's exceptions of people out there that are born literally mentally retarded. Okay, I'm not talking about those people
There's people that are literally retarded. I'm using that as the the medical word there and I'm not judging those people
But it's like, there's nothing wrong with you, you don't have some sort of learning disability,
you just have never read any books, you've never done any study,
you never took school seriously, you didn't pay attention in church,
you don't read the Bible, and let me tell you, now you're simple, now you're stupid,
and you want to know whose fault it is, it's your fault! It's your fault! The intent of your heart
is that you love simplicity. You want to know why leftist communists are so stupid? It's because
You want to know why atheists are so stupid is because they love stupidity.
Oh yeah, nothing exploded in the universe and turned into everything.
You foolish idiots. You person that loves stupidity you.
And so I don't look at an atheist and think like, oh man.
He was born into an atheist home.
He just had no chance to learn the truth.
No, no, no, you had a chance and you rejected it.
And here's the thing, I don't fault someone
for being born into a Mormon home.
That's not their fault.
But let me tell you, if you stay a Mormon, that's your fault.
Oh, I don't fault people born in India
being born into a Hindu religion.
That sucks, I'm sorry, that's terrible.
But if you stay a Hindu, that's your fault.
You're born a Muslim, not your fault.
You stay a Muslim, your fault.
You're born a Catholic, not your fault.
You stay a Catholic, your fault.
By the way, this is why hell is just.
It's not like God is sending people to hell
that don't deserve it.
The gospel and the truth is just out there
crying in the streets,
trying to get you to know the truth,
love the truth, hear the truth,
but some people, they just love simplicity.
Some people, they hear the word of God, being preached, and they just scoff at it,
turn their ear away from it, and they just stay stupid, and you know whose fault that is, that's their fault.
Let's keep reading.
And scorners, oh, someone's a scorner, why?
Delight in their scorning.
And fools hate knowledge.
See, if you're simple, if you're a scorner, if you're a fool, the reason you are that is because that's what you love to be.
And people that are smart, the Bible says, through desire,
a man having separated himself,
Intermediate with all knowledge.
Right? So someone who's wise,
someone who is educated,
they didn't get that way by accident.
They got that way because they love knowledge.
They love instruction.
They love wisdom.
And that is why they got to that point.
Verse 23 says,
Turn you at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you.
I will make known my words unto you."
So notice, God is more than willing to just pour out his spirit on someone.
And just to make known his words unto someone, God loves the world and wants people to be
saved.
God wants people to hear the gospel.
God wants people to repent from unbelief, to trust in Jesus Christ.
That's God's heart.
That's God's desire.
But you know what's stopping people from getting saved is from loving lies.
From loving false religion from loving themselves, right? Oh, no, no, no. You have to do good to get to heaven
Oh, you don't understand. I'm a good person and I go to church and I read the Bible and I live a good life
You see that person they're unwilling to turn to the truth of the gospel because they just love themselves so much
They think so highly of themselves. No, you need to love the truth. And if the truth says you're a sinner
If the truth says there is none good
If the truth says that if you've transgressed the law at one point, that you're guilty of all.
If the truth says that every single human being is worthy of hell,
you should put down the thoughts of your heart that says you're so great
and submit yourself to the Word of God and say, hey, if that's the truth, then that's the truth.
If I'm wicked, if I'm a sinner, if I'm deserving of hell, if that's what the truth is,
then you know what, I'm just going to believe the truth.
And I'm going to believe in Jesus Christ to save me.
Because, verse 24, I have called, and ye refused.
See, God's calling people today.
I've stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.
But ye have said it not, all my counsel.
and would none of my reproof."
You see why people reject truth?
Why they reject knowledge?
Why they reject the gospel is because they don't want it.
That's why.
They're not some poor little victims.
Poor little victims.
Look, if soul winners of this church
knocks on a door of a human being in Oklahoma City
and offers them the gospel and they turn away,
they love, they love scorning.
They love being stupid.
They love being simple.
They love lies because here was God just calling to them.
Here's the word of God.
I wanna pour my spirit out unto you.
I want you to be saved.
When they reject that and they go to hell,
you know whose fault that is?
That's their fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not your fault.
Hey, our hands are clean from the blood
of the people that we warn.
Our hands are clean.
It's done.
It's on them.
Go to Proverbs chapter three.
Proverbs chapter three.
So notice, you can identify the intentions of people's hearts.
The Bible exposes us for who we really are.
And like I said, I as a human being, I can make poor judgments.
If I don't have all of the facts, if I don't have all of the context, I could sometimes
as a human rely on my own understanding, I can make mistakes in my judgment.
But if we are judging things according to the Word of God, we could actually know for
And you know, I want to be careful drawing those two distinctions because today we live in this like pseudo-intellectual world where everyone's a psychologist
and everyone wants to say that you're a narcissist and everyone wants to say you're an abuser and everyone wants to like be some sort of armchair psychologist.
You know, that's, that can get too far. That could be weird.
But when we're judging according to the Bible, we can know the intense of people's heart.
Even God himself, look at what it says, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth.
God correcting someone, can I know the intention behind the Lord's heart in Him correcting someone?
Can I assign motive to God Himself as to why He's doing something?
Yes, I can, because notice what the Bible says,
Whom the Lord loveth.
See, even I could look at God Himself and see God correct me as His child, God correct
you as His child, and I could say, hey, I know why God is doing this.
It's because God loves me and because God loves you.
And I could actually say for a fact, this is the motive behind even God Himself.
Let's keep reading.
Even as, so now it's going to be applied to us, even as a father, the son in whom he
So, if I see a father correcting his son, if I see parents disciplining their children,
giving them spakings, giving them the rod, you know what I could say?
I could say, hey, those parents delight in their children, right?
But notice what it says in verse 24 of Proverbs 13, if you'll turn there.
Proverbs 13 verse 24.
So action motive God corrects God loves father corrects father loves what about this verse 24 of Proverbs 13
He that spare his rod action motive hate if his son
But he that love with him
Chasing if him be times see the Bible exposes you for who you really are you say no, no, no, I love my child
In fact, I love them too much to discipline them.
No, actually, I love my child so much.
You know, I have to wait until they get to this magical age of, you know, eight years old to start spanking them.
It's like, now, hold on.
Your mouth is telling me one thing, but the Bible is saying that your heart is different.
The Bible is saying that if you spare the rod, you hate your son.
Whom am I supposed to believe?
This helps you with judgment in this life.
When you realize that the Bible is a discerner of the thoughts and intense of the heart,
thought, oh, you know, I'm going to not discipline my son, okay, you hate him.
You hate your child.
Go back to Proverbs chapter six, Proverbs chapter number six.
A wicked man walketh with a fro-word mouth.
What is someone that's fro-word?
It's someone who's stubborn, contrarian,
hard to deal with, right?
These are people that I've just noticed
that are just like allergic to the truth.
People that are forward. It's like every single time. There's a battle every single time. There's a controversy
They just somehow always find themselves on the wrong side of judgment and it's like man
What's wrong with this person? Well, let me help you. Let me help you. It says a wicked man
Walketh with a forward mouth. Why is someone contrarian? Why is someone never having right judgment always bucking at leadership?
It's because they're wicked. That's why
Verse 13, he winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.
Fowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief, continually, notice, he soweth discord.
Huh? Why is this person sowing discord? We talked about this on Wednesday. Oh, you know people will like to say
Oh, I just care about the truth. I just care about right doctrine. I just care about us having a loving spirit
I just want us to be a loving church. Well, hold on if you're sowing discord. It's because you're a wicked person
Here's action action sowing discord motive. You're wicked. You're evil. You're a wicked person
Look at verse number 16 of Proverbs 6
these six things, that the Lord hate,
yea, seven are an abomination unto him.
Notice a proud look.
See, sometimes you could know the intense
of someone's heart just by the look on their face.
That's what the Bible is saying.
And you're like, what's a proud look?
Watch a sports game.
Watch any sports game and when a touchdown's made you'll see the prideful dance and the spiking of the football and the
Prideful look and you could say hey here's the look on their face. What's in their heart? What's their motivation?
What's the intense of their heart pride?
And you know, man, it's really annoying how sports has gotten like this because it kind of just I don't know about you but it cringes me out seeing people be super prideful.
And I used to really appreciate the coach that I had when I was a kid playing baseball is that like my coach would discipline the fire out of anyone on our team caught being prideful.
He's like, if you hit a home run, you keep a straight face.
You know, if you win, even if you destroy the other team,
you shake their hand at the end of the game.
Good game, having good sportsmanship.
You know, you pick up your team, you make a great play.
You just stand there and just have a straight face.
You don't sit here and gloat and showboat.
And it's like.
Baseball specifically and you baseball fans out here know what I'm saying is true
It used to be known as like a gentleman sport, right?
But now it's like dudes hit home runs they throw their bat 500 feet in the air and do a cartwheel and start trotting the bases
It's just like it's cringy, right?
It's just gross to look at but you know what when I see someone with a proud look
I could identify the intense of their heart that they're a prideful person
A lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that devises wicked imaginations.
Feet that be swift in running to mischief.
A false witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Go to Proverbs 6 verse 3.
Notice what it says,
bind them upon thy fingers,
write them upon the table of thine heart,
say unto wisdom thou art my sister,
and call understanding thy kin's woman,
that they may keep thee from the strange woman,
from the stranger which flattereth with her words."
The Bible warns over and over and over about people who will flatter you,
people who will give you insincere compliments,
and they're doing that because internally they actually hate you.
You know, they're hiding hatred with deceit.
And so when you run into the strange woman,
That flatters you with her lips. You know the foolish person person the person who has no judgment says oh, man
This lady really likes me. Oh, man. She really does think that I'm more attractive than Tom Cruise or whatever the guy is nowadays
Right. Oh, she really does think that I'm just all this in a bag of chips
It's like no she's a flatterer and you know what that means
It means she's the strange woman and what does the Bible tell you to do with the strange woman?
Don't even go by her house
Get far away from her
You know a whore is a deep ditch the Bible says like get away from that trap that's gonna hurt you
When you identify that, it should tell you everything that you need to know about that woman.
Verse number six,
For at the window of my house, I look through my casement and I beheld among the simple ones.
Here we go, state of being,
I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding.
passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house.
How is a way that we could appropriately judge this situation, okay?
If we see a young man...
who spends time around a bunch of whores,
I know something about that young man.
He is foolish.
He is devoid of wisdom.
He is simple.
He is stupid.
And you could judge that situation saying like,
okay, action.
Man hangs out with whores nonstop.
Okay, what's his heart?
He's stupid.
He's foolish, right?
That's what the Bible is saying.
Verse 9 in the twilight in the evening in the black and dark night and behold
There met him with there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and
subtle of heart
Can you judge a woman that dresses like a harlot? Yes, you can
And you should know, oh, she's dressed like a harlot.
She's dressed like a whore.
Well, she's probably subtle of heart.
She's probably a flatterer.
She's probably a wicked person.
And it's so funny how there's all these conservative influencer
girls nowadays where their thing online
is that they're going to be like the conservative housewife
in the kitchen.
And she's going to make all these videos of her inner kitchen.
And she's dressed like a whore while doing it.
right? But she's like this trad wife, she's this traditional ultra-conservative, back 200 years,
is ready to obey her husband, but dressed like a whore. Okay, let me tell you, I don't care that
her handle says like conservative babe or whatever it is, I could tell you that she is a whore.
I could tell you you're not conservative because a conservative woman who actually fears God and
loves her husband, you know what she's doing? She's focusing on her family.
She's in her kitchen making great meals for her husband without a camera
Why does why does the world need to see what my wife is doing in the kitchen?
Like why do you guys need to see my wife folding laundry?
Why do I need to see your wife making the bed and doing the laundry and you're doing all the stuff at home?
It's freaking weird guys
And look, I could see the intense of your heart because by nature you just filming yourself and putting yourself all over the internet
and trying to get your name out there and look at me, look at my life, look at how I'm dressed, look at how conservative I am, look at how godly I am.
It's like, okay, you're not conservative then.
You're not godly, you're not, and here's the thing, these guys are just simple, right?
What the Bible says, they flock to these women and it's like what really ends up happening
is that there's probably a little extra link on her site somewhere taking you to her only
fans or something where you could be an idiot and spend money on that garbage.
Like these conservative babes that are dressed like whores, let me help you, they're not
conservative.
Okay, conservative housewife social media account for millions of people to see it's like this is an oxymoron, right?
This doesn't make any sense. It's just you could see a person's heart in that situation
Passing verse 8 through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house or I'm sorry go to verse 11
She is loud and stubborn
Her feet abide, not in her house.
Boy, that could apply to social media today, right?
Loud and stubborn.
Look, if you see a woman that's dressed like a whore,
that is loud and stubborn,
you could identify some things about her.
You could say, okay, this woman's loud and stubborn,
this is a wicked woman.
You know, young men that aren't married yet don't just marry someone because they're beautiful and overlook the fact that, huh, why is she dressed like a harlot?
Huh, why is she loud and stubborn?
Huh, why doesn't she want to have her feet abide in her house like you're going down a very bad path?
And many, many men have been destroyed by going after some woman just because she's beautiful, just because she's nice to look at, overlooking all the major red flags.
Specifically, Proverbs is here to give us wisdom to warn us about certain things so that we
can understand the motivation behind certain people's hearts, and you should just see a
woman like that and just run away and say, look, God has told me what this type of woman
is like.
I don't care that she's beautiful.
I don't care that she's nice to talk to or whatever.
This is a red flag you need to run.
Run away from these people.
So who are we supposed to believe?
Are we supposed to believe the Bible
that says when women are loud and stubborn,
when they're dressed like harlots,
that they're wicked, that they're people
that you should avoid?
Or are we supposed to believe the bio
on the Instagram that says,
Tradwife, I love God,
John 316, here's all my pictures
of me half naked.
It's like, come on, you have to not be so stupid today,
but man, so many men are just so simple.
And so dumb, and you know what it comes from is not reading the Bible,
not reading Proverbs that would have warned you about these women.
1 Timothy 5 verse 11.
But the younger widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ,
they will marry having damnation because they have cast off their first faith,
and with all they learn to be idle.
Wondering about from house to house, and not only idol, but Tatlers also in busybodies,
speaking things which they ought not.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none
occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
that looks at a woman and says,
yeah, you know, I know she spends all day on social media.
Yeah, I know she's constantly like getting arguments
with pastors online.
Yeah, I know she's going house to house.
I know she's a gossip.
I know she likes to tell, you know, tales about other people,
but she's actually really godly though.
You have to understand.
No, actually, she really does love God.
No, she actually is super, it's a great Christian,
loves the Lord.
And it's like, no, no, no,
let the Bible tell you what she's like.
Don't rely on your own understanding.
See, this is where your judgment as a human being gets wrong.
It's when you're relying on your own understanding.
When you're trusting in your own heart
and you say, oh man, she's beautiful, I love her so much.
Wait a second.
Don't rely on your own understanding.
What does the Bible say about women like this?
These women have turned aside after Satan.
And boy, oh boy, there's so much feminism in this world today.
And I'll tell you, feminism has crept into America.
Feminism has crept into Christianity.
Feminism has crept into Independent Fundamental Baptist.
Feminism has crept into the new IFB, folks.
Let me tell you, feminism is in the new IFB.
And it just blows my mind sometimes how women view themselves so much differently than what
the Bible says they should be like.
That they should be meek and quiet, that they shouldn't be going around house to house
speaking things which they ought not, you know, being a gossip, being a busy body.
What should they be doing?
Marrying, bearing children.
Guiding the house, serving God, reading the Bible, loving your family, loving your church
family, being a soul winner.
There's so much good that you should be focused on.
But then it's like people will go on Facebook and just blow their mouths off all day long
about what pastors are doing, what pastors are preaching, getting fights with other churches
and it's shameful.
It is disgusting, it's sickening to see, and it's just safe, and even men should apply
this often times, it's safe to just be so much more quiet in your life, and just not
to open your mouth as much, and sometimes it blows my mind, like I see people asking
very serious questions, whether it's Facebook, email, whatever, people will be asking advice.
for a very serious situation in their life that's going to affect their life.
It's going to affect them spiritually.
And it's like this question is asked and pastors will get on there
and offer advice and offer the Bible and offer counsel.
Men who have read the Bible 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 times cover to cover,
who have the Spirit of God, who have been men ordained and chosen by God
to lead God's people.
But then Mrs. Housewife
We'll go on there and offer her two cents, too.
How gross is that?
How disgusting is that?
But what has it come, like what about social media
has caused people to just lose all shame?
Because could you imagine if someone came to me
or another pastor and asked for counsel
and I'm right there in front of them talking to them
and some sister in the church walks up
and just pushes the pastor aside,
let me tell you what you should do.
Wouldn't we all just be like, what the hell is this?
Like are you out of your mind like do you not see how gross and disgusting that is but every woman she just thinks
Oh, wow, I'm just gonna go on Facebook and I'm gonna argue with pastors. I'm gonna offer my two cents
It's like no you know what you're doing
You're giving occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully and shame on Christians today that we've allowed
Feminism in the new IFB and you know, I've been told oh, I'm a mig towel. That's married with kids
Folks no, no, no, I'm just judging according to what the Bible says
I love my wife. I love women in this church. I want to protect them.
I want them to be thriving in the role that God has given them.
What I don't want is them making a fool out of themselves.
I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to make it to where people don't look at you
and say, oh, Christianity gross.
Oh, yeah. Christianity is so great that women will call pastors punks.
Wow, that's awesome religion, right?
No, you are turning aside after Satan.
You are giving the enemies an occasion to blaspheme God Almighty.
And so I'm not going to let people despise what I'm saying right now
because what I'm saying is the truth from God's word.
And I'm judging rightly this morning.
How do I know? Because look what the Bible says.
And so, I can look at someone's actions and it's like, action, here is a woman rebuking
a pastor, intention, you're a wicked feminist.
You are turning side after the devil.
That's your opinion.
Nope, the Bible is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and if you as a woman
rebuke a pastor, you are wicked, period.
I don't care if you're a pastor's wife, I don't care if you're a layman, I don't care
It doesn't matter, it's inappropriate, it's uncomely, it's disgusting.
It needs to be called out and corrected.
Go back to Proverbs chapter 8 and let me tell you, who should really be ashamed is men that
allow their wives to do this on Facebook.
That's who should really be ashamed because look, human beings are sinners, but God has
created an authority structure in the home and He has put the man in charge of the wife.
He is in charge of her, he's supposed to be the boss, he's supposed to be telling her what she can and cannot do,
and what kind of a man, what kind of a man allows his wife to rebuke a pastor?
One with no stones, I'll tell you that.
One who is a weak, pathetic excuse of a leader.
If my wife went on Facebook and called a pastor a punk, I would throw her phone in a river.
I would smash it with a hammer.
That's what would happen.
And then the pastors are hiding in the corner.
It's okay. I accept what she's doing.
You weak freak. Unbelievable.
Look at Proverbs chapter 9 verse 13.
Proverbs chapter 9 verse 13.
A foolish woman is clamorous.
She is simple and no with nothing.
Just amazing how much the Bible tells us about people.
Clamorous.
What is clamor?
A loud uproar.
A vehement expression of desire or dissatisfaction.
Any loud or continuous noise.
That's what the Bible is saying.
A foolish woman is clamorous.
Okay, action.
This woman's loud.
Wow, this woman's constantly expressing her vehement dissatisfaction at the world
and at pastors and at her husband.
Okay, I know something about you.
You are a fool.
You are simple.
You know nothing.
Oh, she's really smart though, but she's really, no, she's stupid.
She is a fool. She knows nothing.
Go to Proverbs 10. Are you starting to see how the Bible tells us a lot about people?
Proverbs 10. He becomeeth poor, that dealeth with a slack hand.
But the hand of the diligent maketh rich, right?
Why is someone poor?
And of course, we could talk about exceptions to the rule too, but in general, why is someone
poor?
Not, you know, our modern definition of poor, where it's like you live in an apartment,
you have an Xbox, you have a computer, you have two cars, but you're poor.
It's like, no, no, no, someone who's actually poor, right?
Why is someone that way?
Well, he become a poor that dealeth with a slack hand.
Often times, not always, but often times people who are poor are poor because they love being lazy.
They love dealing with a slack hand. They don't want to work. They don't want to get educated.
They don't want to get skills. They don't want to put their nose to the grindstone and put in the hard labor.
They want to deal with a slack hand. They become poor.
But the hand of the diligent make it rich.
Want to know why most rich people are rich is because they work hard.
Now again, are there exceptions?
Yes, but the rule, most people who are rich are rich because they worked hard.
Because they got educated, they got skills, they worked hard in their trade, they built
a business, they spent years investing into a business that made no profit whatsoever
and they finally started turning the corner and they have some money, it's because they
work hard.
The Bible tells us the intents of people's hearts.
Proverbs 10 verse 8, the wise in heart will receive commandments.
but a prading fool shall fall.
What does it tell you about someone
when they receive the word of God?
When a sermon is preached and the commandments of God are thundering forth and someone receives that and they say,
Man, I love that. I love the Word of God. I want to hear more of that.
What does it say about them? It says,
The wise in heart will receive commandments.
You know, someone who loves the Bible, someone who loves church, someone who reads it, someone who wants more of it,
that is a wise person.
And you know, I want to be around wise people.
And so part of the way I make judgments in my life is like,
Who's going to church? Who's going three to thrive?
Who's reading the Bible? Who's going soul winning? I'm like, hey, this is a wise person.
This is a good person to be my friend because they're wise. Iron sharpeneth iron, right?
Go to verse number 14. Wise men lay up knowledge.
But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
See someone who's wise?
They're gonna be constantly trying to get knowledge.
They're never gonna be stagnant or be content and say,
hey, I went K through 12,
but the day I'm done with high school
is the day that I'm done learning.
No, that's a foolish person.
The wise person is constantly wanting to learn, constantly wanting to read the Bible and study it deeper and deeper.
You know, we are never ever in our lifetimes going to understand everything in this book. Not even close.
But you know what I want to do? I want to understand as much as I possibly can of it.
I want to study it and I don't even want to just study the Bible. I just want knowledge in general.
I just want to read books. I just want to learn things. You know, I want to study languages.
I want to learn how the world works. This is what wise people do.
of, sorry, Proverbs 11 verse 13, Proverbs 11 verse 13,
a tail-bearer revealeth secrets,
but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
See, if someone's being a tail-bearer,
And someone's gossiping, someone's revealing secrets,
that's their action.
What is their heart?
They're not faithful.
Because the Bible says that someone who is
of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.
So when someone's gossiping,
when someone's being a tail bear,
you should recognize, hey, this is not a person I could trust.
This is not a person that I could trust with my secrets
because you know what they're gonna do?
They're gonna turn around and tail bear against you.
And you know, spread your business all over the world.
So you can know they're intense in that way.
I mean, it just seems like every chapter in this book is constantly telling you not only
what people do, but why they do it.
Proverbs 12 verse 1, who so loveth instruction, loveth knowledge.
But he that hadith reproof is
Brutish so again, it's kind of rephrasing what we talked about in Proverbs 1 if someone's a brutish. They're dumb
They're stupid. They're like an animal. Why is it? It's because they hate reproof
Right, and so not only just knowledge. We should love yes knowledge, but we should even love reproof
We should love when someone tells you you're wrong about this
You should love when you come to church and hear a preacher tell you that something's wrong
You should actually love that the Bible says.
Not cringe at it, not make an angry face,
not storm out of the church as soon as the service is over.
You should actually love that.
That's what a wise person does.
Look at Proverbs 13 verse 20.
Proverbs 13 verse 20.
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."
See, I can know a lot about a person,
and you can know a lot about me and about everyone,
by looking at who their friends are.
You know, if your friends are wise, the people that are three to thrive, the people that
are soul winners, the people that do sincerely love God and want to live a godly separated
life, the Bible says you yourself will be wise.
But when you're a companion of fools, you are going to be destroyed.
And so by the Bible, giving us that insight into the hearts of men, then we can make judgments
about who we want our friends to be.
And it's like, okay, your friends with all these fools,
your friends with all these people
that don't like the Bible
or that talk crap about our church and don't like us.
And it's like, okay, you're on a bad path here.
You're on a dangerous path and you need to realize,
man, if I'm gonna be a companion of fools,
then I'm going to be destroyed.
I need to be friends with the wise.
Proverbs 14, verse nine.
But among the righteous there is favor right so someone that makes a mock at sin
That jokes around about things that are wicked and sinful. What does the Bible tell us about that person?
That person is a fool that person is it is an idiot right you have these like
Christian prank channel influencers on YouTube like Cassidy Campbell
where he's like, yeah, I'm a Christian.
I'm an independent fundamental Baptist.
I'm a soul winner.
You want to check out my YouTube channel
where I just pick up other women all day?
Where I go and flirt with married women as a married man?
Oh, but don't worry, because it's just a joke.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
You're a fool.
You're an idiot.
And so, hey, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Don't follow that idiot on social media.
Don't don't like that guy's Facebook page for crying out loud. Don't be don't be following him on YouTube or on rumble
Or an X or whatever because at that point you're like do you want to be a companion of fools?
You want to be friends with that guy?
You know, it's one thing when someone is new to church and they've got a lot of problems
but we bring them in because we're hoping that they're going to grow, we're going to
invest into them, we're going to love them, they're going to get the preaching of the
Word of God.
But when people just have rejected that, they're done, they don't want to hear it anymore.
It's like, okay, this person has submitted himself as a fool.
And the wise thing to do would just be to get away from that person.
You know, don't listen kids, if people grow up, when you grow up, you're going to be around
That will make jokes about doing drugs that will make jokes about how cool it would be if you wouldn't drink alcohol
That'll make you know young boys. They'll be there'll be boys around you
That'll make jokes about women and girls and their bodies and stuff like that when you start noticing your friends
Joking around about sin you better realize you better get away from those people
You better not be those people's friends. Those people are gonna lead you to destruction
And you know, kids, you should probably tell your parents
when other kids are joking around
about filthy, disgusting things.
That's something that adults should know about
so that it can be corrected.
Go to, if you would, verse 15, Proverbs 14, verse 15.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible.
The simple, believe it every word.
My goodness, is this so true?
But the prudent man looketh well to his going.
You know, man alive do we live in a time where people just believe everything they see, everything they hear, any short reel, any YouTube video, any ex post they see, it's just, wow, they immediately believe it, and what does that tell you about that person?
They are simple.
they are stupid.
You know, I saw this picture the other day
that just every time I see stuff like this,
I think of this verse and it showed in,
I forget if it was like the Nevada or Arizona desert
where NASA astronauts were doing some training out there
in the desert because they hypothesized
that that's what the surface of the moon is gonna look like
and they're like, see, the moon landings were all filmed
in the Arizona desert.
I'm just like, wow.
How do you even drive around like how do you drive to your job without crashing your car?
Like how do you even like put food to your mouth without like stab it yourself in the eye?
Like you're so stupid. You're so foolish. You say that's your opinion. No, no, no, no. That's what the Bible says
The simple, believe it, every word.
Oh man, look at this, look at this.
Hillary Clinton has been captured.
She's in autonomous bay.
She's being tortured and spilling all the state secrets
and she's been executed.
Yeah, wow.
I hate these conspiracy videos, guys.
I mean, it's just, it's so sad how there's real conspiracies
in this world and real things that we should be talking about,
but they're constantly being destroyed by all this stupidity
of people denying the moon landing and stupidity of people
just talking about all these ridiculous conspiracy theories.
And it's like, look, why does someone,
I'm just gonna be real specific here.
I talk about this all the time and I don't care if it offends you, okay?
The moon landings are some of the most well-documented events in human history.
The moon landings are a fact, my friend.
And if you don't want to see that,
it's because you want to be simple.
You want to love simplicity.
You don't want to actually look into things,
do any research, and you're just like,
I'm just gonna believe whatever I hear
because I saw a funny video
of astronauts training underwater.
So ha ha, it never happened.
It's like, you are dumb.
You are foolish.
And I'm sorry to say this,
but you're making Christians look bad.
That's why I'm saying this right now,
because I don't want Christians going around
giving people a reason to think we're stupid.
There's all these stereotypes about Christians.
Let's not make them true, please.
If the Soviet Union was tracking Apollo 11 the whole time
and other countries were, and it happened,
and all these other countries were like, yes, America did it.
Yes, we're congratulating them.
It's like, I'm pretty sure our greatest enemy during the time
would not have given us that win if it didn't happen, folks.
And I could go for hours about why this was real.
Maybe I'll do it in a video someday.
That's just an example I think of with that verse.
Go to Proverbs 15, Proverbs 15 verse 5.
Proverbs 15 verse 5, a fool despiseth his father's instruction,
but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
What kind of a person doesn't want to listen to what their dad has to say?
What kind of a kid is going to hear their dad giving them instruction, giving them wisdom
and just not regard it, not listen to it.
It's a child that is a fool.
God has given parents to their children as a blessing and it's parents' jobs to instruct
them, to give them wisdom, to give them the word of God and your parents' kids love
you.
Your parents want you to be successful.
They want you to get a good job.
They want you to go to church.
They want you to be a soul winner.
And when they're giving you instruction,
they're giving it to you to that end,
to try to help you.
And a child that just doesn't want to listen to mom or dad,
that child is foolish.
That child has a character issue.
Proverbs 16, let's keep going through these great Proverbs here.
Proverbs 16, verse 27.
An ungodly man diggeth up evil.
And in his lips there is as a burning fire,
a froward man soweth strife,
and a whisperer separated cheap, cheap friends.
You know, why is it that someone would want to constantly
dig up evil on people?
They always want to hear the drama.
They always want to find out all the latest scuttlebud.
What everyone's saying about everyone else,
it's because they're ungodly.
It's an ungodly attribute to want to dig up evil on other people.
You know, the Bible says that love covereth a multitude of sins.
I mean, think about it, if there was something really bad in someone's life, that was 20 years ago.
It's already been dealt with. People have already apologized. People have already repented.
People have already reconciled. People have already gotten things right.
Why would I ever want to hear about that?
I mean, would I want other people to hear everything I've ever done in my life?
Would you want that done to you? Of course not so someone comes up to you
Hey, let me tell you what brother so-and-so did before he got saved. It's like why would I want to hear that?
That's gross, you know, that's not a Christian attribute. Christianity is about forgiveness grace love
Letting things go. Oh, you messed up or hey, you know, you believe something stupid in the past, but you've changed never bring it up again
Let it go. Hey, praise the Lord plenty of things. I've learned
Plenty of things that I used to believe that were stupid.
Plenty of things that I needed to get corrected on.
Plenty of times I've come to church,
and my sins are being ripped on,
but when I fix those things, I expect people to let it go.
I expect people to not bring it up again, right?
Oh, remember that one time you were out soul-winning,
you said this really stupid thing?
Did you correct it? Did they change? Just let it go.
You know, don't bring it up all the time. It's not right.
Here's a really great verse.
Proverbs 17 verse 4.
giveth heed to false lips, and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
See, not only does the Bible condemn people that lie, people who have the false lips,
the Bible says that if you even listen to liars, that you yourself are wicked.
Not, well, you know, it's not my fault that people lie to me.
It's not my fault that they're, you know, all these other people are saying these
You can identify truth. You can find truth. How can you do that? What we've been doing this entire sermon
Looking at facts, looking at situations, what does the Bible say, what does it mean, how do we apply it to this person?
You can actually do that in real life, with real situations.
And when someone is a known liar, when someone's railing against another person and you listen to it, you give heed to it, you give it credence, you want to listen to more,
you want to put them up as someone who's telling the truth even though they're lying, you yourself are wicked.
You're not just, oh, they're taking advantage of,
oh, they're just foolish.
No, someone who listens to liars is a wicked person.
Wicked person.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 18.
Proverbs chapter number 18.
We talked about this verse earlier verse 1 through desire a man having separated himself seeketh and intermettleth with all wisdom
A fool have no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover its self. Why does someone have wisdom?
Why is someone walking in the right paths because they wanted that because they diligently sought it?
They wanted it. They sought it with their heart, but someone who has no delight in understanding the Bible says is a fool go to Proverbs 20
We'll look at a few more of these examples in Proverbs.
Proverbs 20, wine is a mocker.
Verse one, strong drink is raging.
Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
See, I could look at action.
This person drinks alcohol.
Oh, this person condones of drinking.
Oh, here's this Calvinist pastor that says,
oh yeah, let's drink beer, no problem,
not a sin whatsoever.
That person is a fool.
That person is not wise.
Action, drink alcohol, intent of the heart, you're an idiot.
You're a fool.
How can you just judge people that drink alcohol
with a blanket, you know, statement like that?
Because of Proverbs chapter 20 verse one, that's why.
Because God, I have the mind of Christ.
I can look at things through the way God looks at them.
Proverbs 28, Proverbs 28 verse four,
they that forsake the law praise the wicked.
but such as keep the law, contend with them.
See, when someone praises a wicked person,
it has told me something about that individual
that they have forsaken the Bible.
They don't care about the Bible,
they've turned their ear away from hearing the law,
and as a result of that, you see them praising the wicked.
But such as keep the law,
so people who love God's Word,
love what the Bible says, they contend with the wicked.
So, you know, you see a church that's constantly preaching against the wicked, preaching against bad, preachers, preaching against false prophets, preaching against the sodomites, the reprobates, whatever.
That's a church that loves God. That's a church that loves the Word of God.
Go to Proverbs chapter number one.
So number one, the Bible exposes you. The Bible exposes me.
It really shows us who we are, and you cannot hide behind God's Word.
God can look right through you, He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart.
Number two, the more Bible you read, the better judgment you will have.
You say, I want to be a good judge of character.
I want to learn how to judge situations, judge people's motives, judge people's actions.
How does that happen? It comes by reading a lot of Bible.
Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1,
the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
to know wisdom and instruction,
to perceive the words of understanding,
to receive the instruction of wisdom,
judgment and judgment and equity,
to give subtlety to the simple,
to the young man knowledge and discretion.
So how is it that you get wisdom, knowledge, discretion?
The best place to ever get those things is from the Bible.
And specifically, the book of Proverbs itself was written to give the young man wisdom,
discretion, you know, knowledge.
We should be constantly reading the Proverbs because it's going to give us a lot of wisdom.
And you know, there's going to be a big difference between judging ability.
and just discretion in life between a Christian who's never read the Bible
and a Christian who's read the Bible cover to cover five times, ten times.
Like, there's going to be a massive chasm between them of judging ability.
If you want to get good at judging,
if you want to be a good judge of character,
you know, by the way, parents, you should try to be this.
You should care about this
because your kids are going to marry someone someday.
Don't you want to be able to identify some things?
Don't you want to be a good judge of character?
Don't you want a good man to marry your daughters
or a godly lady to marry your sons, right?
Well, you're going to have to be a good judge
and you should be a good judge.
How does that happen by reading the Bible?
Go to 1st Corinthians 6, 1st Corinthians chapter 6.
You'll be able to pick up on, oh, this person's lying.
What does that tell me about him?
Oh, this person's friend with fools.
Oh, this person believes everything they hear.
Oh, this person likes to give heed to liars.
Oh, this lady dresses like a whore.
Oh, this person's a flatterer.
And you're gonna start to realize, oh wow,
I'm gonna understand what's their motive behind that.
What are they trying to do?
And this could save you from a lot of mistakes in life.
You know, it could help you avoid a lot of pain.
1 Corinthians 6 1 dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints
Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters
Know you not that we shall judge angels
How much more things that pertain to this life if you then have judgments of things pertaining to this life
Set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. Here's the truth
Christians are the best judges
The best judges so much so that the Bible saying like look rather than going to the world for judgment to the unsaved
People that are murderers adulterers idolaters people in false religions people who've never read the Bible
Instead of going to those people for judgment
You would rather go to someone who's saved in the house of God who's the least esteemed
Who's someone's like, oh yeah, this guy's never really preached, no one really knows much about this guy.
You'd rather that person judge you because they're saved, because they have the Holy Spirit of God,
because hopefully they've been reading their Bible, because if they've done those things,
their judgment is going to be so much better than the world's.
This is why it's important as a country that we try our best to make sure that Christians are in offices like being a judge.
I mean, I don't know about you, if I were to go to a court of law, I would really hope
that the judge is a Christian.
And you know, I've preached to you guys a while back about the qualifications for being
a congressman during the 13 colonies, they're like, you have to say that you believe Jesus
is God.
Like, you have to say that you believe the Old and New Testaments are divinely inspired
by God because why would you want someone judging for your nation that doesn't have
step one?
I mean, it's like step one for ability to judge is that you're saved.
Step two is that you actually read the Bible, and the more that you read the Bible, the better of a judge you will be.
Go to Matthew chapter 12.
Not only that, the more you read the Bible, not only will you be able to judge people better,
but you'll be able to more easily identify false doctrine and things that are being preached that are wrong.
You know, I've noticed
babes in Christ,
Christians who are kind of culturally Christian before they got saved after they get saved
I noticed that they often post videos and
repost
Shorts of false prophets preaching
And it's like, this person saved. I know this person saved, but they're retweeting this false prophet.
They're sharing this video of this really terrible preacher that's preaching false doctrine.
It's like, why has the connection not been made yet?
It's because even though they're saved, they haven't read much Bible.
Since they haven't read much Bible, they're not able to identify false doctrine as easily.
They might be able to identify big things like if a Muslim came up to them and said,
you know, Muhammad is the true prophet.
Okay, every Christian's gonna be like, no, that's not true, right?
But within Christianity, there's all these different flavors.
There's all these false prophets.
There's all these people that want to teach their own private interpretation.
And how do you discern what's right and what's wrong?
You discern with the word of God.
Look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 33.
Either make the tree good and his fruit good,
or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt,
for the tree is known by his fruit.
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things, for out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh?
See what people say reveals something, their heart, the intent of their heart.
A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things.
See, good preacher, good doctrine, good preacher, good sermons.
What does the Bible say?
And an evil man out of the evil treasure of what of his heart bringeth forth evil things.
Constantly bad preaching, constant bad sermons, constant bad doctrine, bad preacher, bad pastor, bad tree.
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words
Thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned."
Obviously, preachers are going to get up, and they're going to at times mix up their words.
Or they're going to get a fact wrong. They're going to conflate things in their minds,
stuff like that. But when a preacher gets up and says, like,
hey, there's nothing special about the blood of Christ, it's like, okay, bad words, bad tree.
Bad preacher. Oh, you know, you have a religion out there that teaches that Jesus was a created being
Mormonism that Jesus is not God
But that he's just one of billions of gods in their own galaxies that he was created
He was a created being that Jesus is just our bro, and he's also Satan's bro according to Mormonism, right?
Okay, bad doctrine bad tree
And I could say, oh, Mormon, I know you have a nice family.
I know you look nice on the outside.
I know that interacting with you, yeah,
you're a pretty nice person.
You guys are clean.
You guys don't really commit a lot of crimes.
Mormon neighborhoods are usually chill, no big deal,
nice areas.
But hold on a sec, the words coming out of their mouths,
I could tell you, they're false prophets.
It's a false religion.
Go to 1st John chapter four, 1st John chapter number four.
You identify false prophets, not by their works.
not by the things that they do,
not by how nice their church is,
not by how many outreach programs they have,
you identify a false prophet by what he says
or what she says nowadays, right?
It's just like, that's just an obvious one right there.
First John four, verse one,
beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God,
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Right? So someone, just because someone says they're religious or clergy or even a Baptist or pastor,
you ought not to just immediately assume, oh, this person's great.
This person's of God.
No, you have to try the spirits to see whether they're of God.
Hereby, know ye the spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.
This is that spirit of Antichrist where you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.
You know, at the time that 1st John was being written, New Testament Christianity was a very new thing.
So you pretty much only had a few religions out there.
You pretty much had true Christianity, the New Testament version of true Christianity.
You had Judaism, and you had just pagan, random pagan religions, right?
So at this time, it's pretty easy to tell who's of God, because if someone's saying, Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the Messiah,
Jesus is God come in the flesh, I mean, that person is of God, right?
And if someone is saying that Jesus is not come in the flesh, well that's an anti-Christ.
Now today, where there's so much more versions of Christianity,
I think that the way that we apply this is that people need to have the correct doctrine of Christ, right?
You have to believe that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. You need to believe he's the Messiah.
And you need to believe that he's eternally existed as God because he has come from where, right?
He's come in the flesh. You also have to believe Jesus is a hundred percent man.
100% God, 100% man. He's the Messiah.
You have to believe the right things about Jesus Christ or you're not saved. First John 5.
You know, so when I when you hear someone preaching heresy about who Jesus is
You can know that's a bad tree. That's a bad preacher first on 510
He that believeth on the Son of God have the witness in himself
He that believeth not God have made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son
So you got two people one believes the record that God gave of his son one does not the one that does not is calling God a liar
Verse 11, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son.
See, to be saved, you must believe that salvation is eternal life, not temporary life.
Not, well, if I sin in the future, I'll lose my salvation.
So any preacher that teaches you could lose your salvation, and not of God.
False prophet.
And that this life, it says, it says, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.
Right? You have to believe that it's exclusively through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He that hath the son, hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that ye may know.
That you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God
See if someone believes and has put their faith in the Jesus of the Bible
I know that that person saved
And I have put my faith in Lord Jesus Christ and I know for a hundred percent certainty that I am saved.
And if I see a preacher that preaches damnable heresy about the Lord Jesus Christ or about salvation,
I know just as surely as I know I'm saved, I know that they're a false prophet.
I know that they're wicked.
We could judge that way by knowing the Bible.
See, when you read 1 John, when you understand these things, it gives you a tool to judge.
Also, go to Romans 13, Romans 13, understand this, that the more Bible you read, the better
you'll be at judging bad behaviors.
Not just doctrine, but behaviors.
Romans 13, 8.
Oh, no man, anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled
the law.
For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
You know, let's use marriage as an example real quick.
Let's say a husband. He just says I love my wife. Oh, I'm I'm a good husband. I love my wife
I would die for my wife
But are you committing adultery?
Because if you're committing adultery that's in direct opposition with what the Bible says love is and you could kid yourself
And you could try to lie to yourself and you try to lie to other people. Oh, yeah, I'm such a great husband
Oh, I love my wife, but if you're committing adultery you do not love your wife
If you're going out flirting with other women, trying to pick up other women, let me help
you something.
You don't love your wife.
You're a liar.
And I could look at your actions and I could compare them to your words.
And I say, okay, this man says he loves his wife, but he's committing adultery.
You don't love your wife.
You're a liar.
Okay?
What about for ladies?
I'll just read for you.
Ephesians 5-33.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself and the wife
see that she reverents her husband.
Oh, you've got to understand, I'm a trad wife.
I am a godly woman.
I reverence my husband.
I respect my husband.
Okay, really?
Do you hang up the phone on him when you're on the phone?
Like you revere your husband, but if you ever hang up the phone on him, God help you, you do not respect your husband.
Oh, when you're talking to him, do you storm away?
Do you get in the car and go drive off in the city?
Oh yeah, you respect your husband and you're a liar.
Try to fool yourself all day long try to fool me. Do you yell at your husband?
Do you rebuke your husband? No, that's not reverent and like I said boy as feminism crept into this world
because you know what I would never do in a million quadrillion bazillion years is
Be on the phone with my boss at work
You know what I would never do in a million years to him is hang up the phone on him
God help me if an employee
would hang up the phone on his boss.
I mean, you know what that shows?
It just shows the utmost disrespect towards that person.
Do you think if my boss pulled me into his office
and said, hey, I need to talk to you,
there's this issue going on?
And I just went, you know what happened?
I get fired immediately.
Obviously, you can't get fired in marriage, but you could do a lot of harm to your marriage
ladies by being such a disrespectful little brat.
You could pretend to the world that you're godly, that you're reverent, but when you
do these actions, it reveals the thoughts and intents of your heart.
Because you know what's funny about Sarah?
not in the audience of other people that could see how you're interacting with your husband and putting on a show
Sarah actually called Abraham Lord from her heart
That's actual respect
You know, men, how do you think about your boss in your heart?
Do you actually respect or care about your boss in your heart?
Do you actually want to give him the reverence that he's due for his title in your heart?
You know, this could apply to any type of leadership.
You know, it's rebellion, it's stubbornness, it's wickedness
when you would make these kind of actions to your authority.
Storming away, hanging up the phone.
Look, don't fool yourself.
And that brings me to my last point.
Go to 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3.
My last point is this, when the Bible convicts you, don't lie to yourself.
Don't lie to yourself.
Here's the thing, folks, every single person in this room, myself included, is constantly
going to be reading things from the Bible or hearing things that are being preached that's
going to step directly on your toes.
That's going to directly be speaking to you.
And at that moment, you have a choice.
You can sit here and lie to yourself
and pretend like it doesn't apply to you.
But here's why that's so stupid,
is that the Bible is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart.
And you can't hide from God.
So when the Bible convicts you, you know what you should do.
You should just admit it and just pray to God
and just fix the problem.
That's what you should do.
Look at 2 Timothy 3.16.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine.
That's teaching of truth, right?
For reproof, telling you that you're wrong.
For correction, telling you what's right.
For instruction in righteousness, telling you how to do something right.
That the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.
Let me tell you something, the Bible is for you.
Say are you preaching against me right now? Yes, that the answer is always yes
You feel like a sermon is against you. It's because it is and here's what's funny about that is I when I'm writing the sermon
Probably didn't even think that probably didn't even intend that but if you ever feel I'm just answering in advance
If you ever feel was the sermon against you the answer is yes
Why because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Don't you want the Bible to be about you?
Don't you want the sermon to apply to you? Or do you want to come here and just waste the time
that you have on a Sunday just hearing about how other people need to change? How other people
know you need to change. You need to take things to heart. You need to realize that, yes, I'm talking
You, not your spouse, not your kids.
You, I'm talking about you.
And the Bible is talking about you.
And when you're reading the Bible,
you should be thinking about your wife
or your other people in your life.
No, you should be thinking about you.
And I'm thinking about me.
And I'm taking the word of God and I'm applying it to me.
That's what we all should be doing.
Go to Hebrews chapter four again, Hebrews chapter four.
But you know, here's the thing.
Reading the Bible is an exercise in futility to people who are not willing to humble themselves
and apply anything to themselves.
I mean, it's literally just an exercise in futility because the Bible is given there
to reprove you, to correct you, to instruct you.
And if you're not willing to take reproof, instruction, correction, or any of these things,
then you're just wasting your time.
The Bible is not going to profit you by you just putting your eyes on the words on the
page.
It only profits you when you apply it to yourself.
And, you know, listening to sermons, they only help you if you apply it to yourself.
You don't just, like, become godly by hearing sermons.
No, you become godly by applying what's being preached to your life.
Hebrews 4-12, for the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are
naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
Man, that's scary if you're wicked.
That's scary if you're insincere.
But you know what?
If you actually want to be corrected, if you want to get better, if you want to be instructed
from God's word, then you say, okay, God, my heart's open and before you, and I'm naked
before you, and I can't hide from you, and you can see who I am.
I want you to instruct me.
I want you to tell me where I'm wrong.
You know, this is why the Bible is either so treasured and loved by people,
or so just detested and despised.
The wicked that don't want to be exposed, boy do they hate the Bible.
But you know, those of us who love God and want to be sincere,
it is a treasure unto us.
It is precious unto us and we love it with all of our hearts.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not in high priest, which cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet
without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
I don't think it's a coincidence that in the same chapter that it explains the
awesome power of the Word of God, how the Word of God is alive, how the Word of
God is able to discern our thoughts and intents and how we're just naked and
open before God, how it tells us that hey you know you should do, we've got this
high priest, he hasn't been touched or he hasn't not been touched with the
feelings of our infirmities, he was tempted in all points like as we are
yet without sin, but you know what we should do as a result of that is come
and ask for grace to help us in time of need.
See, there's going to be times.
You read the Bible?
Yeah, that's about me.
Yeah, the preaching is about me right now.
Yeah, Pastor Oz is talking exactly about me.
And you know what the reaction you should have?
You got two choices at that point.
Ignore it and lie to yourself.
You're not fooling God though.
You could lie to yourself and act like you don't need to change.
Oh, the sermon is not about me.
Oh, you know, I do all those things, but I'm actually a godly husband.
Oh, I know I do all those things, but I'm actually a submissive wife.
Or you could just say like, wow, the Bible got me.
Man, God just saw it right through me.
Man, you know what?
I'm naked and open before him and I can't hide and look, God just got me.
He called it out. You know what I should do? I should just pray to God.
Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm wicked.
I've got these problems and you caught me, Lord, but we just help me to do better.
I hear what you're saying. I want to listen to it, God.
I don't want to turn away my ears from hearing the law.
Right? I don't want my prayer to become an abomination.
Oh, you convicted me. You got me.
Okay, Lord, you got me.
Help me to be better. Help me to do better next time.
You know, come to the Lord and ask Him
for grace to help in time of need
because I'll tell you what.
The Bible exposes you, the Bible exposes me, you can't hide from Him, so you might as well just
have a clean heart and submit to the Lord. Let's pray, Lord, we thank You for the Word of God
and what a great, powerful, special tool it is. And we just pray that all of the people here would
love the Word of God, would seek for knowledge, seek for wisdom, seek for truth from the Word of
God. And I pray, Lord, that when I read the Bible, when anyone in this room reads the Bible,
when something hits us at home,
that we wouldn't hide from it or lie to ourselves
or pretend that we're not guilty,
but that we would just realize,
okay, Lord, you've seen us.
Help us to do better.
Help us to seek truth.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our last hymn this morning, turn if you would to number 81, When We See Christ.
81 there, we'll start on the first.
Of times the day seems long,
our trials are to bear.
We're tempted to complain,
to pervert and despair,
but Christ will soon appear to care.