Thank you very much for watching.
All right, everybody, we're gonna go ahead
and get started this evening.
If you would at this time, take your hymnals
and turn to hymn number 210.
Wonderful grace of Jesus.
Hymn number 210.
Just a reminder on that second page men if you could sing the bottom line and women if you could sing at the top line
I think that would make the song sound the best so women sing the top part and men sing the bottom part
We'll go ahead and start there
Right on the first
wonderful grace of cheese
Good singing this evening. Let's open with a word of prayer. Dear Father, thank you for this church
and all the members that we have here this evening. I pray at this time that you'd bless
the service and also that you'd be with those that were saved out this evening, Lord. In Jesus'
name I pray, amen. For our next song, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 406.
Who is on the Lord's side?
Hymn number four hundred six
Start there right on the first
side
through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and Usher
will bring you one. We do have on the front our Bible memory passage of the week, Genesis
verse 14 and if any kiddos 18 or under can quote this perfectly to an adult non-family member
you will get an ice cream after the service we got plenty stocked up on the inside we do have
our service times listed there Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening at 4 30 and of course our
We do have all of our soul winning times listed there and all those meet here first at the church building
Then we have our year-to-date updated statistics. Great job on soul winning there
Upcoming events, of course finally next week is the Bahamas mission trip
I'm super excited especially after I saw the schedule that was released today
So if you're going and you've not seen that schedule, let me know and I'll make sure that you get it after the service
But it's just gonna be packed
with soul winning and fellowship and just fun activities.
And so please, please be praying for this event,
whether you're going or not, please just be praying
that this would be a very fruitful
and just great mission trip.
And of course, we're very thankful to Steadfast
because it's a lot of work putting these on.
So make sure when you go that you're very appreciative
of Pastor Shelley and all their church family.
We do have October 12th.
Which is the Sunday we return from the Bahamas the evening service is going to be a men's preaching night
There's a sign-up sheet in the back if you want to participate in that. There's plenty of people preaching
So don't be shy if you have a sermon, please do preach
We do also have on October 18th is our fall family fun day
And that's going to be at the ore family farm
You're gonna need to sign up for that by October 15th. Let him you know how many people in your group
that are two years and older.
Under that, they're free, of course,
but please do invite friends, family, neighbors.
It's a great time to invite people.
And Pastor Aaron Thompson and his wife Sherry
will be in town for the whole weekend.
So they'll be going to the Family Fun Day with us
at the farm.
And of course, the next day, October 19th,
he'll be preaching both services for us.
So we're definitely looking forward to having him.
October 31st coming up is the chili cook-off which anything past the Bahamas
feels like a million years away from me right now so I'm really focused on the
Bahamas but we'll get some more details on that pretty soon. November 22nd
that's our one-year anniversary weekend we're gonna have a big soul-winning
marathon on Saturday then Sunday special guest preacher Pastor Shelley will be
preaching both services for us as well. November 26th we have a pie
Fellowship. On the back is a little place for notes there, our online visitor card,
and our online giving. If you'd like to help us with that. And on the right on the inside is our
prayer list. Of course the main thing on there is just that we would have a successful, fruitful,
and safe trip to the Bahamas. But if you have any requests, as always please email the church,
and I'd be happy to add that for you. But at this time let's go ahead and go to the Lord in Prayer
as a church family.
Lord, we thank you for this evening's service.
Thank you for Anchor Baptist Church
and the ability that we have just to freely gather together
and worship and pray to you
and hear preaching from your word.
I pray that you would bless this evening's service,
that you would just fill this room with the Holy Spirit
and I pray for the upcoming Bahamas mission trip
that everything would go very smoothly with the logistics
that flights would be on time
and that they'd be safe, Lord,
that everything would go well with transportation
lodging, food, and all that. Just pray that all the carnal things would be taken care
of so that we could really give all of our focus and attention and energy to
the spiritual of getting people saved. I pray that
You'd please just use us in a mighty way as we head over there that you'd fill us with
the Holy Ghost, that you'd give us boldness to preach to as many people as we can, that
you'd just open up the doors of opportunity to us, that you'd put the right people in
our path that need to hear the gospel, Lord.
And I just pray that this would be the greatest harvest of souls that we've seen in a missions
trip, Lord.
I pray that this would just be a huge work for you, for your honor and glory.
And I also pray for the steadfast family that she would just bless them as they're working very hard on this trip
Pastor Shelley and evangelist fur. I pray that you mightily use them and God
We also want to pray for brother Theodore who's coming home to us soon
I just pray that his travels would be safe and
That he would just be reunited with us soon Lord
We also want to pray for the houseburg family that she would bless brother Miles health that you give sister Rhea strength and just give her grace
to help her during this time of her life.
I pray that you bless their whole family, God.
And also we wanna pray for the church members
that we have here who have unsaved loved ones,
that those family members would just have many, many chances
to hear the gospel, but that their heart would be softened,
they'd be ready to accept it when they hear it.
Again, I pray that you bless this service this evening.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, that's gonna be it for announcements.
This time we'll go to our third song.
Alright, for our third song, if you would, take your hymnals and turn to hymn number one hundred forty-three
Blessed assurance
Him number one hundred forty-three
Go ahead and start there right on the first
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God Board of His Spirit, watch it His life
This is my song, raising my stage
I say
Watching and playing
Good singing this evening as the offering plates are being passed around.
Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter number 26. Proverbs chapter 26.
verse 26, the Bible reads, As snow and summer, and as rain and harvest, so honor is not
seemly for a fool, as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless
shall not come, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool, cuteth off the feet and drinketh damage.
The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
As he that bindeth a stone and a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool.
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
The great God that formed all things, both rewardeth the full and rewardeth transgressors.
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a full returneth to his folly.
Seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit?
The slothful man saith, or is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets.
As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.
The slothful hideeth his hand in his bosom, it grieveeth him to bring it again to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser, in his own conceit, than seven men that can render a reason.
He that passeth by, and medalleth with strife, belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.
As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and seeth, and not I in sport.
Where no wood is, there the fire go without, so where there is no tail bearer, the strife
ceaseth.
As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
The words of a tail bearer are as wounds.
They go down into the innermost parts of the belly, burning lips and a wicked heart are
He that he that hadith dissembled with his lips and layeth up deceit within him, when he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart, whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
Whoso digeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him.
a lying tongue, hey to those that are afflicted by it,
and a flattering mouth, worketh ruined.
That's by our heads for a prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for staying in our church.
And we just ask that you fulfill
past roles or past with the Holy Spirit,
and that's just how this too has some travels
on the missing trip.
And we love you and Jesus in the pregnant.
Man, well, we're in Proverbs 26 and this chapter really deals a lot with the fool, the sluggered, and the flatterer.
And so we're gonna go ahead and get started in verse one. The Bible says in verse number, I'm sorry, yeah, verse number one.
As snow in summer and as rain and harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.
So we learned in the last chapter that snow was used in a positive context. It was used as something that's good.
But even though snow is good it has its appropriate season and you don't expect to get snow in the middle of the summer.
That's not very seemly. You know, you plan a day at the lake, you don't expect it to snow.
It's not very fitting and in the same way honor is not seemly for a fool.
So, you know, honor in and of itself is something that's good in its proper place. Honor is not fitting for a fool.
And when I read this verse, I was thinking of what are some honorable positions, some
places in our society that are deserving of respect? You know, one that I thought of is like
that of a police officer. You're supposed to be respectful to the police officer. You're supposed
to obey their commands. And I was just thinking how, you know, they have a lot of responsibility.
They have a lot of power. They deserve that respect. But if someone is foolish and is in a
position of a lot of responsibility and power, well, then things can get kind of messed up.
And I remember seeing one of these videos, and I'm sure you've seen many videos like this of, you know,
these constitutionalists, the stand on the sidewalk, and those people annoy me.
Okay, I'm just going to be honest, they annoy me.
But, you know, this cop was called out and this guy said,
hey, I have a First Amendment right to be here.
And that person was correct.
But this cop, this big, gigantic, burly cop, he said, actually, that's the Third Amendment.
He's like, get your facts straight.
And the 3rd Amendment is actually makes it to where you don't have to quarter troops in your home.
So the 3rd Amendment has not been used for a long time in the United States,
but you know, it's annoying when someone's in a position of power
and they are acting foolishly or they don't know what they're doing,
they don't know what they're talking about, they're making bad decisions,
they're misusing their power and their authority,
and it's like, man, it should be honorable, but it's not seemly for a fool.
So, you know, some sort of stupid, foolish police officer, it's like, man, this position's
worthy of honor, but man, it's not seemly when you're acting like a fool.
Verse number two, the Bible says, as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so
the curse causeless shall not come.
Now, you gotta be careful not to take a statement in the Bible and run too far with it, because
I think some people would look at a verse like this and just say, any bad thing that
happens in life was like God cursing someone.
But that's not necessarily true, because the Bible says that time and chance happeneth
to them all.
So, you know, there could be bad things that happen in our life that are not a curse.
Because what is a curse?
A curse is when like God is supernaturally moving his hand against you.
When God is causing something to go wrong in your life and make no mistake, God curses people.
God curses the wicked and God could even curse the save in a sense if we're just disobeying his commandments
Not regarding his reproofs stiffening our neck, you know areas of our life can be cursed
Malachi says like if you don't tie that you're cursed with a curse
It's not saying that you're not saved, but here's the thing when God curses when God moves in someone's life
When God brings a natural disaster when God brings
even you know nations to invade another country when God moves against someone that is always for a reason
The curse causeless shall not come not every bad thing is a curse though
But if it is a curse, it's for sure it for sure has a cause and I even think about of course men like Job
Where yes, God's hand was moved against Job, but it was not without cause
God was testing Job God was trying Job God was bringing him forth like gold and
God was using Job's life and Job's testimony
as something that we could look back on thousands of years in advance to say,
here's how I should react in times of hardship, in times of trial,
that we're not going to lose our integrity when things go bad for us.
We're not going to curse God and die like Job's wife tells him to do, right?
So there's exceptions like that where you know, it seems causeless,
Job doesn't know what's going on, but at the end of the day,
there's a good reason for what's happening.
And if you would go to Romans chapter number eight,
Romans chapter number eight, this could be a very comforting verse here in
Romans chapter eight when you just don't know what's going on and you think to
yourself like man is God's hand moving against me, am I being chastised, am I
being punished, or is this time and chance happening to them, all what's going on?
Verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
See, here's how you could have the peace of God
that passeth all understanding
when things are going on around you
that you don't quite understand
is you could at least know that you love God.
Now, here's the thing.
You actually have to love God for this to be true for you.
Because if you don't love God,
you know, he being often reproved,
hardened at his neck,
shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
And it's like, where's the happy ending in that story?
There isn't one.
But if you love God, if you have integrity, if you're doing what's right and God actually sees everything
and he actually knows that you love him, well, when something happens that you just don't quite understand,
you can hang on to that promise of, hey, all things work together for good to them that love God.
And this could transform your mind.
into seeing every single hardship in your life, every railing accusation, every criticism,
every lie, you know, every whatever happens in your life as an opportunity for God to make you
a better person and to allow God to use you for good to come of your situation. You know,
I don't know the mind of God as far as how he works in every single situation, but I think about
And, you know, at first it's kind of like, why God?
This is such a zealous soul winner.
You know, he has a young wife, a young baby.
They're newly wed and it's just crazy.
Like, man, why did this happen?
But then you look at how many people that I've seen
that have been extremely fired up to preach the gospel
because of Kevin Rowe.
And I'm not saying that it's like good that that happened,
but what I'm saying is that God can use bad things that happen
for good in the long run.
When you love God, those who are the called according to His purpose,
go back to Proverbs 26.
Connecting back with verse one, how it said it honors not seemly for a fool,
we're going to get back to talking about the fool in verse three.
It says, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
Very poetic how that sounds there.
But this is just saying like, hey, honor is not seemly for a fool,
but let me tell you about some things that are fitting, that are seemly,
and it's like a whip for the horse.
That horse needs a good kick or a good whip for you to tell it to go.
You know, I remember one time I was riding a horse.
I was actually with my wife.
We were in Washington and this girl, she asked, you know,
have you ever ridden before?
I'm like, yes, I've ridden before.
And she goes, okay, well, when you ride this horse,
don't be afraid to give him a good kick.
You know, don't be afraid to really kick him because, you know,
he likes to run.
I'm like, great.
I like to run too.
Let's go.
You know, I start kicking this horse and she's like, wait, you know,
not that hard.
You just said, like, don't be afraid to kick.
I'm like, I want this thing to run.
You know what I mean?
So like, you need that whip or that kick
to get that horse going sometimes.
And same thing for the ass.
You know, I've never ridden an ass.
It's a much smaller animal.
But you know, a bridle for the ass.
You're going to want that bridle, you know,
the reins to tell that thing where to go.
That's fitting for an ass.
The whip is fitting for the horse.
You know what's fitting for the fool?
A rod for the fool's back.
You know, the Bible is pro-corporal punishment and nuts to the world that says it's wrong.
The Bible says it's right.
And what the fool needs today is the rod.
And you know what?
This even starts with children because the Bible says that foolishness is bound in the
heart of the child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Now, obviously, adult criminals are getting beaten at a way different level than children.
But you know what?
Something that God prescribes it drives that foolishness out of them and you know
Unfortunately, a lot of people don't get spanked and they grow up to be adults and that foolishness is still bound in their heart
You know, these are called leftist protesters
Where you know, you got people in their semi trucks and their vehicles and they're trying to drive through town
And what are these fools do?
What are these idiots do in places like Portland and Seattle is they just stand in front of the vehicle?
You know what a person needs?
That does something like that?
A rod to the back.
Oh, 1990s.
The police needs to be out there with rods
and just beating the crap out of people that do that.
That's what needs to happen today,
because the Bible says that a rod is for a fool's back.
Do I need to explain to you why it's foolish
to stand in front of moving vehicles?
And many of these people are getting killed
as a result of their stupidity.
And people would say, man, it's so, you know,
hateful.
to beat the criminal,
but yet their stupidity often gets them killed.
Like which one is actually better for them in the long run?
And I've seen many states,
they're like changing their laws
because of this new phenomenon of protesters
just blocking vehicles where they're just saying
like you could use lethal force
if someone's blocking the road.
And I'm like, man, there's a lot of people
that'll take these leftists up on that.
It'd be better if they were just beaten
and dragged off the streets
and actually had a change of heart by the rod.
Speaking of the fool again it says answer not a fool according to his folly
lest thou also be like unto him answer a fool according to his folly
lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Now people who are very simple minded would look at this and say
oh here's a contradiction in the Bible because it says in verse 5
Answer, not a fool according to his folly.
Then in verse six, answer a fool according to his folly.
What you have to understand is that the word of God
is a little more sophisticated
than a lot of people want to make it out to be today.
And this is very interesting what it's saying,
but I think one of the things it's teaching here
is that basically when it comes to dealing with fools,
you can't win.
That's one of the things I think this is getting across here
It's just like when you're dealing with a stupid person and a fool and remember what a fool is a
Fool is not someone who just you know doesn't have a lot of knowledge
But they're working on it
You know they're a child and they're working on it the Bible says and elsewhere in Proverbs that fools hate knowledge
So when when the Bible is talking about like the fool in Proverbs like the villain the fool
We're talking about a wicked person here
We're talking about someone that hates knowledge.
We're talking about someone, if you bring to them facts, evidence, Bible verses,
these are not things that are going to change their mind.
And so how foolish would it be just to sit here and bang our heads against the wall all day,
answering fools according to their folly.
So it's saying, hey, answer not a fool.
According to his folly, less thou also be like unto him.
So on one hand, if you sit here and you give every fool the time of day and you answer every
single anonymous comment and you sit here and engage with every stupid question, you yourself
end up looking dumb.
because there's some things called foolish questions.
The Bible says avoid foolish questions.
The Bible teaches to avoid foolish people.
It says go from the presence of the foolish man
when you perceive not in him the lips of knowledge.
You know, so avoid foolish questions, avoid foolish people.
If I'm sitting here and having an hour-long discussion with someone
who tells me that space isn't real,
which I've literally had someone in person who I know in real life tell me that space isn't real.
Do you think I answered him for one second? I just said, wow, man, hey, I got to go,
you know, have a good one. I'm not going to sit here and be like, well, let me explain to you
all the quadrillion reasons to prove that space is real. It's just like, this is a fool right here.
I'm leaving this conversation. I would look silly if I sat here and tried to explain to someone
But then on the other hand, here's how you could also lose.
It's a lose-lose.
Answer a fool, according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own conceit.
One of the things that's so frustrating
about dealing with fools, it's like, well,
if you do walk away, if you don't answer,
he's going to be wise in his own conceptions,
in his own thoughts, in his own mind.
So it's like, hey, Pastor Oz, I don't think space is real.
I'm just like, all right, you know, see you.
Have a good day.
I got to go.
And they'd be like, yeah, he had nothing to say.
Yeah, you know, he's a NASA shill.
I got him, I caught him.
Someone call Candace Owens right now.
I have to do a podcast about it, right?
You know, these fools that they'll just think like,
oh yeah, you didn't answer.
That's because I've got the truth.
And man, talk about stupid, annoying conspiracy.
There's Candace Owens is one of the dumbest human beings alive.
This woman is a retard, folks, and she constantly just makes all these demands.
She's like, come on, TPUSA, I want you to make a clear statement,
a written statement right now, saying that you have not killed Charlie Kirk.
Come on, what are you trying to hide?
What's going on?
And it's just like simple, stupid people actually think that we should live in a
world where some random psycho, flat earth podcaster should just make
demands of people and we should just answer.
No, how about you just answer not a fool according to his folly?
But then here's the thing, when you don't answer, then Candace Owens is like,
yeah, they're too scared, they're too afraid, you know what I mean?
It's like these idiots that walked up to the astronauts post-apollo program
and they're like, hey, why don't you put your hand on the Bible right now and swear to God
that you landed on the moon?
And then people are like, oh yeah, see, he didn't want to do it,
that's proof right there that they didn't land on the moon.
No, that's proof that the astronauts weren't complete idiots
that are answering fools according to their folly.
You know, maybe they understood the Bible verse that says not to swear at all.
If someone walked up to me and told me put your hand on the Bible and swear right now on this,
you think I would do that? Absolutely not.
Well, that means I'm hiding something, right?
No, it just means that there's a lot of stupid people in this world
and you're kind of damned if you do and damned when you don't when it comes to fools, okay?
Now, for me personally, when you look at the ministry of Jesus Christ,
I think he sets a good example because, you know, when he's dealing with false prophets,
when he's dealing with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, those who are like reprobate,
you know, he's rebuking them, he's not really answering them,
he's speaking to them in parables, in fact, so that they don't understand.
Like, that's what the Bible explicitly says, he's speaking those things so they don't understand.
But, when he's in the audience of a crowd,
When there's people's souls in the balance that could be swayed one way or another,
then sometimes he would answer fools according to their folly for other people's benefit.
So it's like, when do I answer a fool? You would answer them, I believe,
when it would benefit other people. Here's when you will not answer a fool.
When you're doing one-on-one soul winning.
When you're doing one-on-one soul winning and the black Hebrew Israelite comes out and says what color was Jesus?
Do you eat pork? You just walk away. You just leave, you know, and sometimes I troll these people
I just say he was white and I leave even though look I don't believe Jesus was actually white
But in Revelation in his glorified state though it says his head and his hairs were white as snow
So it's like, you know, answer a fool according to his folly right there.
He was white. See ya. Have a good day.
Raaah! You know, they're freaking out.
But I'm not going to sit there and actually have like an intelligible conversation with a black Hebrew Israelite.
These people are wicked and believe just insane things.
Chances are you're not going to convince them.
Look at what it says in verse number six.
Cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage.
So again, you want to get away from fools in your life.
You don't want to hire fools because when you send them to do a task
or you entrust them to repeat a message,
you know, you're cutting off the feet.
You're drinking damage.
You're having harm as a result of this person.
It brings harm. That's what it says in verse 8, too.
As he that bindeth a stone in a sling.
So is he that give it honor to a fool so you know
I grew up and my parents would buy me the slingshot and anyone have the slingshot grown up real fun
Right and you put that little metallic ball in there
You pull it back and it shoots out or you pick up rocks or whatever
And I think that's kind of what this is talking about here
Here how he that bind at the stone in a sling so is he that give it honor to a fool
You know when you're giving honor to a fool
It's like you're loading the gun and handing it to him and saying like please hurt me
Please hurt my company. Please hurt my reputation. Please hurt our church. You know, you won't you don't want to give honor to a fool
You're basically allowing him to hurt yourself and other people
Says in verse number nine as a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard so is a parable in the mouth of fools
So, why does a drunkard have a thorn go up into his hand?
Well, because when you're drunk, you're stumbling all over the place, you don't know what you're doing,
your body's doing things that you don't even remember, and your pain tolerance is really low.
So, where you and I, we would harm ourselves in some sort of way and we would kind of like
immediately stop and fix the issue where it's like the drunkard, he could just put his hand
on the thorn and it's just going deep into the hand, he's leaning on it, he's harming
himself and he doesn't even know.
Proverbs 23, right?
The person wakes up and he's like, man, you know, I've got all these wounds that I didn't
know about.
They've stricken me, thou shalt say, and I was not beaten, right?
So these people are harming themselves, they're not even knowing it, they're being careless
And a fool is very careless when it comes to scripture,
when it comes to the Bible in general,
and especially when it comes to parables.
When it comes to parables, we need to understand
that as we're building doctrine,
we need to build doctrine off of clear statements in the Bible.
This is just good Bible study advice when we're saying,
hey, what are we going to believe about salvation?
What are we going to believe about the Trinity?
We're not going to go to a parable first
We're going to go to clear verses.
You know, what are we going to believe about hell?
You know, we're going to go to Revelation 14.
We're going to go to Revelation chapter 20.
We're going to go to Revelation 21.
And we're going to see clear descriptions about hell, how hell is everlasting.
How the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night, right?
We're gonna get clear statements saying hey hell is eternal people are suffering there once they're there
They're there for forever. There's darkness. You're not gonna go to some sort of parable
Salvation. How about John 3.16? That's a good place to build your salvation doctrine.
How about the whole book of Romans where the Bible, excuse me, where the Bible is making it super clear
how to be saved and how that it's without works, right? But then what do people do? They go to a parable.
They'll go to Matthew chapter 25. They'll bring out some parables.
And instead of taking what we already know from the clear statements of the Bible and saying,
Well, we know we can't lose our salvation.
We know that from clear statements.
Now, let's go in and interpret a parable.
That's someone who's sober,
but someone who's drunk is just kind of waving those parables all over the place
and not understanding what they're doing with it.
You know, the quintessential example, it's not really a parable,
but it's just something that people misinterpret so much
is James chapter number two.
It's so frustrating. You know, you preach sermons or you make posts just posting clear as day Bible verses
That salvation is by faith. Hey, let's look at some of them real quick. Go to Romans chapter number four
Romans chapter four
Here's a great verse that just proves that salvation is by faith
Romans chapter number four
Look at verse number four.
It says now, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
So when we're working for something, the Bible says that's not grace.
Now doesn't the Bible say all over the place that salvation is by grace?
Yes, it does. Work is not grace. Verse 5.
But to him that worketh not, it doesn't say who worketh a little,
but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Right, so the Bible is saying, no works, you don't work at all, but you believe on him
that justifies the ungodly, who is he that justifies the ungodly, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well then your faith is counted for righteousness.
God looks down, he sees, hey, you've put all your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation,
and he looks at you as completely righteous in the eyes of God.
Now, does that mean that we should not live a good life?
Of course not.
You know, shall we continue in sin?
That grace may about God forbid.
That's not the mentality that we have.
But here's the thing.
If we work not, if we do no works whatsoever,
will we be saved?
Absolutely.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You know, when it says here about Abraham, look at verse 1,
what shall we say that Abraham our Father,
as pertaining to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath wear of to glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the Scripture, Abraham noticed,
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So here, Romans 4, very clear that Abraham believed
or trusted in the Lord, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
James chapter number two.
It asks this question
in James 2.
It says in verse 14,
What doth it profit my brethren?
Though a man say he hath faith
and hath not works, can faith
save him? So notice the first question
is asking, is having faith
without works profitable?
Then it says, can faith save him?
Sometimes people see the word salvation or save in the Bible
and they just automatically assume that that means spiritual salvation.
But there's this thing called physical salvation too,
where people are saved from dying or saved from other bad situations in their life.
Like starving to death, how about that?
In verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked...
and destitute of daily food.
And one of you say unto them,
depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,
not withstanding, you give them not those things
which are needful to the body.
What doth it profit?
He says, hey, let me give you an example.
You know, if someone is literally naked and starving,
and you tell them, be warmed and filled,
but you don't help them, how is that profiting them?
How is that actually helping them?
You know, sometimes people say this and they're just being nice,
but it's funny, you know, you're out soul winning in the winter
and it's super freezing and it's snowing or it's raining.
And they'll just be like, stay dry, you know?
It's like, I won't, thanks for letting me know, you know?
Be warmed and filled.
You know, they didn't say like, here's an umbrella,
here's a jacket, here's some hand warmers,
then their faith would have been profitable unto me.
But what does it profit me when they're just like,
be warm and filled, stay dry, you know, that doesn't help at all.
And notice, it compares these things, verse 17.
Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
And to that I say, amen.
It is dead. How does the Bible define that?
Meaning that it's not profitable.
It's not helpful to other people.
Look, if I stop soul winning,
then my gospel is hid to those that are lost.
If I stop preaching,
then the church is not going to be getting edified by my sermons.
If you stop loving your brothers in Christ,
helping them in the ways that you do that,
well, then they're just not going to receive those blessings.
Faith without works is dead.
But you know what the fool does? They'll just say,
James 2, faith without works is dead.
Oh, salvation's by works.
And they'll just discard the rest of the entire Bible.
It's like they're drunk.
You know, you have to be drunk to believe that salvation is by works,
because it's that stupid.
So think that you could be a good enough person to get to heaven.
Go back to Proverbs.
The great God that formed all things, verse 10, both rewarded the fool.
and rewardeth transgressors.
Verse 11, as a dog returneth to his vomit,
so a fool returneth to his folly.
So, you know, the dog.
When it when the dog throws up and eats its own vomit, you're thinking like what a foolish stupid beast
What a dumb animal that this thing, you know is doing this where it obviously ate something that hurt their stomach
Or that's poisonous to them and then they just throw it up and they think you know, it's a good idea
You see that vomit right there. I'm just gonna start lapping that sucker back up
You're just like what is wrong with this creature, you know man's best friend
And by the way, that's the thing that you let lick you on the face is the creature that the Bible says will vomit and just lap that stuff back up.
Don't let your dogs lick you on the face. All right. It's gross. It's nasty.
But here's the thing. I mean, we look at that and we're just like, what a foolish animal. This is a dumb beast.
But this in the same way that a dog doing that is just crazy. It's the same way when a fool returns to his folly.
So, for example, a drunkard that goes out and drinks alcohol and they get sick, they
throw up from getting super drunk, or they get in a car crash by being drunk, or they
put their hand into a thorn like the Bible talks about.
They get all these injuries, they ruin relationships, they commit adultery, they have all these
things going in their life.
You know what they should do is they should learn from that situation and say, hey, this
I'm going to stay away from it.
Just like when you vomit,
you feel better and you're saying,
okay, let's flush that down the toilet.
Let's get that out of our life.
Not thinking like, hey, should I lap this up?
It's crazy. But it's kind of a crude example,
but it's what the Bible says.
Be the type of person that learns from your mistakes.
You know what successful people do?
Take it at your workplace.
People that rise to the top in the workplace,
they are not perfect people.
They are not people that have never made mistakes.
They are not even people who haven't majorly screwed up.
But you know what really successful people do is that they only make those mistakes once.
They make that mistake and they learn from it.
When someone just keeps making the same mistake over and over and over, you start to think
like you're being foolish.
You're acting like a gross dog going back to his vomit.
Once you see your life is being destroyed, by a sin, you know, immediately confess and
forsake that sin.
And people who are successful Christians, they are people that are not perfect that
make mistakes.
But you know what?
We learn from those mistakes.
And you're not just this dog that's constantly going back to its vomit, you know, that is
what a foolish person is.
There is more hope of a fool than of him.
So, the fool already is painted in a very negative light in the Bible, but the person
who's just wise in their own conceit, meaning they're having these thoughts in their brain
like, I know everything, I'm wise, I know all the right answers, I mean, I've been soul
winning a lot of Russian areas in Vancouver where you knock on the door and say, we are
Russian Pentecostal and we know everything.
from multiple Russian Pentecostals.
And it's like, well, there's more hope of a fool than of you.
There's more hope of the Black Hebrew Israelite than of you.
There might even be more hope for the flatterer than of you,
who thinks you know absolutely everything.
Don't be the person that's wise in your own conceit.
Have a humble view of yourself realize that you always need to learn more
You always need to read the Bible more. You always need to pray more
You're always gonna need Sunday morning service and Sunday evening and Wednesday evening
And you're never just gonna get to this place where you're just wise in your own conceit and it's actually true
You know those who are wise in their own conceit. They're prideful and they're blinded by pride
You know, I've said this before and I'm telling you just open your eyes and look at this world.
People who are prideful do not realize they're prideful and it's frustrating and it's annoying.
And people who are prideful often project that onto other people and it's like mind-blowing,
seeing someone, you know, you accuse someone else of pride while they are just have this
giant beam of pride in their life.
Don't be that person that's just wise in your own conceit.
So, I don't care where you go in life, how high you rise in your company, don't think
that you have all the answers.
You will never have all the answers.
Now, this will have all the answers, constantly be seeking this, hey, there's a multitude
of counselors here, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, John, hey, there's lots of counselors here.
Go to other wise people in your life, but don't be a fool, don't be someone who's wise
in their own conceit.
Verse number 13, now he talks about the slothful.
The slothful man saith, there is a lion in the way,
a lion is in the streets.
As the door turneth upon his hinges,
so doth the slothful upon his bed.
So the slothful person, ironically, they're always tired,
but they can never sleep.
And you see the homeless, and what are they doing all day long, laying down, tossing and turning, and they're sleeping back.
In the middle of the day, where they look like they're on the verge of passing out, but they don't, they just turn like a door on its hinges back and forth all day long.
You know, why? Because they're lazy. God has created us to work.
And, you know, we live in this society that has a mentality of wanting to escape all physical
labor, wanting to escape going to the gym, wanting to escape having to exert ourselves,
whether that's mentally or physically.
And look, you have the opportunity to be the laziest generation that has ever existed.
You know, you just do.
You could, if you want, just have a remote job and not exercise and kind of phone it
in at your job and not push yourself really hard and kind of phone in your Bible reading
and you could live just a very lazy, sedentary life, but you know that's not fulfilling.
You want to know how it's not fulfilling because you can't even sleep at night.
You know what's nice is when you go to bed and you hit the pillow and you fall asleep.
The beloved sleep, it's not something you want to give up.
But when you're lazy, you can never sleep.
And here's the thing, if you don't have a hard life,
if you don't have physical struggle,
if you're not really mentally pushing yourself,
you have to make your life hard.
You have to put things in your life to make your life hard.
You know, some of you, you like to just put,
you know, 15 mile runs on your Saturday evenings
and stuff like that's great.
You know, we need to do hard things in our life
to make sure that we're working hard every day.
Look what it says in verse number
15, the slothful hideeth his hand in his bosom,
it grieveeth him to bring it again to his mouth.
Boy, what a picture that is.
You know, it grieves this person to actually fall asleep.
They can't even sleep.
They're tossing and turning.
Then they have food and they're so lazy,
they can't even bring it to their mouth to eat it.
And who has seen the homeless camps
that's just full of half-eaten food everywhere?
It's every single one.
Why?
Because it's just so much effort to actually finish their food.
And it's so much effort to not be a waster.
You know, why?
Because they're just lazy.
Oftentimes, because it's drug induced or alcohol induced.
And maybe these people, if they could get off that stuff,
could be hard workers.
But in the time being, they're just being lazy.
They're not even eating all their food.
And notice their pride in verse 16,
the sluggered is wiser in his own conceit
than seven men that could render a reason.
So, you know, there's seven men, these hypothetical men, and they have an excuse.
And I kind of read this as maybe they even have a legitimate excuse.
And these seven men, they have a legitimate excuse.
But a sluggered is wiser, again, I love this phrase, in his own conceit.
He's not actually wise, but he thinks himself wise.
And in his mind, he thinks, you know, I'm smarter than the next seven guys.
I've got more excuses than the next seven guys put together.
the super long list of the boohoo story
and all the excuses that they have in their life.
And it's like, you know, I may have already told this story.
I'm sorry if I'm repeating it.
But last week, I ran into this woman in Target
who was a complete scammer.
She's Middle Eastern.
She's got the long Middle Eastern garb on.
She's got a baby in her car seat.
She's got like formula in her car seat.
And you know, she makes eye contact with me.
She stops me.
She goes like, oh, wait, wait, wait.
And she shows me something on her phone.
And it's this paragraph in English saying like, I'm a Ukrainian war refugee.
And I'm just like, you don't look like you're carrying a Russian, but I was like, okay,
I'm a Ukrainian war refugee.
Can you please buy what's in my cart for my baby?
We're hungry.
We need help.
And I'm just thinking like, wow, this is interesting.
Well, here's the thing.
I speak a little bit of Russian and basically all Ukrainians speak Russian.
And so I just said in Russian, I said, oh, you're from Ukraine.
Only Russian then I said in Russian. What do you want? And she's just like only Russian. I just like get out of here
I'm just like no, but here's the thing. Oh, you know, they're wiser in their own conceit
They have all these reasons they can give you they have all these long excuses and stories
But again, they're wiser in their own conceit. They're not actually wise. What are they really lazy?
They're just lazy, you know, it's just laziness to want to get, you know,
people's hardworking money that they've earned, what do they do?
They take that baby formula, they go return it for 50 quick easy bucks,
they didn't work for it, and they're just taking advantage of suckers.
Here's, you know, watch out for this scam, because believe it or not,
that exact scam happened to me once before in Texas.
and I was also texting some of my friends in Texas and they said that has happened to us multiple
times in Target specifically. So if a Middle Eastern woman walks up to you in Target, just leave,
go away, it's a scam. But again, they've got all these reasons, don't they?
Verse 17, he that passeth by, and medalleth with strife not belonging to him, is like
one that taketh a dog by the ears.
So obviously it's not a good idea to just walk up to some dog and just start grabbing
its ears, you know, hitting it, doing stupid things, but why?
Because you're going to get bit.
It's the same thing when you go and try to get involved with strife not belonging to
you.
I've seen this happen to multiple people before where they go and insert themselves into drama
or into strife not belonging to them.
When they put themselves in that position and they're criticizing other people, they're
calling out other people, and all of a sudden they get bit.
They get hit back.
They get criticized back.
And then they just want to cry.
And they just want to say, like, whoa, what are you doing?
How does this happen?
You're so mean.
You're so un-Christian.
And it's like, look, buddy, you could cry all you want.
But if you go up to a dog and just grab it by the ears,
you're an idiot, and you're going to get bit.
And you don't get to sit here and complain and cry victim.
It's like, oh, my hand hurts so bad.
Have you seen my wounds?
It's like, you're an idiot, though.
Why did you do that?
Why did you go up to that dog and grab him by the ears?
Don't allow yourself to get bit with strife not belonging
to you.
You know don't don't be that person where guys are beefing on the side of the road
And you're just gonna throw yourself into these random guys that you don't even know what's going on
You don't know who's the aggressor. You don't know who's innocent. You know, you should try to stay out of situations like that
You know, if people are in an active shooter situation,
people often get themselves in trouble
because they want to be a hero.
You know, there's a shooting that happens inside the store
and they're like, oh, I know what I'll do.
I'll grab my rifle out of my truck
and run in there with my rifle.
It's like, that's a good way to get killed by the police.
You know, I've done a lot of training
and one of the things that they taught us
is that if you're in an active shooter
and you do have a weapon,
you leave that thing holstered until the moment you need it.
Don't go around clearing rooms
because police is gonna show up and not know who you are.
and you're going to get hurt.
But again, this, of course, this could apply
in just many different ways in life.
Look at what it says in verse number 18.
As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,
so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith,
am not I in sport.
Right, be careful of people who are always just joking.
They're always just playing around.
You know, we need to be sober as Christians.
We need to be serious.
And yes, we could joke around, we could have fun.
But you know, there's some things that are not funny.
And not everything is a joke.
And not everything is a prank.
Oh, it's a prank, bro, as you're doing something super dangerous or illegal.
You know, these things are deadly that it's talking about.
Firebrands, arrows, death.
You know, kids, don't play around with guns.
Don't point a gun at someone and say like,
oh, I'm just playing around.
We're just having a good time.
Throwing knives, doing stupid stuff like that.
Don't do dangerous things.
Be like, oh, it's just a prank.
It's just for fun.
No, it's not funny.
It's a foolish thing to do.
Verse 20 says, where no wood is, there the fire go without.
So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth.
You know, you show me a church, an organization, a family that just constantly has all this
strife, and not godly strife of, you know, striving against the wicked, fighting for
the faith, but just bad strife division, I'll show you a bunch of tail-bearers.
I'll show you a bunch of gossips.
And you know, gossip and tail-bearing.
and railing will just destroy the culture of your organization,
will destroy your family, you know, with extended family members and stuff like that.
Look, if you don't want to have strife, if you want the fire to stop, you take the wood out.
If you want to stop having all this strife, you take the tail bear out.
Do not be that person that is a tail bearer.
Do not be that person that values your juicy gossip session above the unity of the cause of Christ.
You know, it frustrates me to know in, when I see people getting destroyed or organizations
getting destroyed because there's a bunch of gossiping women, loudmouth women, hurting
that culture and organization, you know, just get the wood out of the fire and the fire
will stop.
Get the tail bear out of the situation and the strife will stop.
Verse 22.
or 21, as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire,
so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
So look, it's not just women.
There are those contentious men that are out there.
And what are they usually?
They're super full of pride.
They wanna fight everyone.
They wanna settle every score.
They wanna get back at every little issue that they've had.
You know, that's the type of person
that's just gonna keep on kindling strife.
What we preach about this Sunday, forgiveness.
Our default as Christians should be instant mercy, instant forgiveness, instant long suffering.
Yes, there's a time and place to defend yourself.
Yes, there's a time and place to go to your brother and fight in these things.
But you know what? You should not be a person who in general is just going to start strife
and going to start conflict. That's not a godly thing.
Verse 22, the words of a tailbearer are as wounds,
and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
So, you know, why is it you don't wanna be a tailbearer?
Because you're harming people.
You're actually harming then.
The Bible's saying, hey, it's as wounds.
How is it like a wound?
Well, what does a wound do?
A wound hurts, a wound harms you.
So the words of the tailbear harms you.
You know, lies are just annoying.
It's so annoying when someone goes and spreads lies about you,
especially when good people believe it.
That's very frustrating.
You know, one of the things, one of my just knee-jerk reactions
when I see people lie about me is I pray this prayer to God.
I just say, God, I just pray that good people
would not be influenced by this lie,
but I pray that you would scatter bad people away from me
because of this lie.
Because, you know, if a wicked person wants to just believe a lie about me,
but it keeps wicked people away, then I don't care.
Believe whatever you want.
But it's like, what I don't want, though, is I don't want good people being led astray by the air of the wicked.
That happens.
That that to me as a pastor is so frustrating is seeing good people people who were steadfast
People who were three to thrive people who were soul winners just stop because they believed lies
And so the words of a tail bearer are as wounds
I know people say this trope and I know what they mean by it and I agree with the spirit behind it
You know sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Here's the problem with that. It's not biblical
It's just not.
I understand what people mean.
What they're saying is don't be a snowflake and amen to that.
Don't be a snowflake about the preaching of God's word.
Don't get offended by things in the Bible.
Don't get offended by Bible words like bastard and piss and ass and damnation and dung and
sodomite.
We're not afraid of words like that.
But here's the thing.
Here's where you should be careful is when you're being a tail-bearer.
Yeah, you should worry about hurting other people by being a tail-bearer.
What is a tale bear someone who just carries stories a tale bear you're carrying tales that could be true
That could be untrue and so look even if it's true
If it's something in someone's past and they've moved on and they've apologized and they're they're going forward in their Christian life
Don't be someone that carries that tale forward
Oh, do you know what she used to be into?
You know what her and her husband used to do?
Oh, you know what this guy, you know that he was in this gang
and he has this criminal, that's garbage.
People should be able to live things down.
And like, for example, a criminal record is garbage.
We shouldn't have a criminal record in our society
because, you know, things like stealing,
you should get a beating and repay what you've stole,
and then you should be able to live your life normally again.
And you shouldn't have to have this thing hanging
over your head for the rest of your life,
saying like, you are a thief.
You are a burglar, whatever it is that you've done.
But here's the thing.
Capital crimes, you don't need a rap sheet because you're in the ground.
It's like, oh, you know how are we going to stop rapists from working around kids or whatever?
Kill them, legally, not spiritually, literally, but legally, alright?
Kill them legally, then you won't have to worry about pedophiles, rapists, murderers.
These people should be put to death.
Verse 23, burning lips in a wicked heart are like a pot shirt covered with silver dross.
Then we get to the flatterer in this last portion.
You've got to beware of the flatterer.
Look what it says in verse 24.
He that hadeth, dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him.
When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart.
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
Whoso dig of the pit shall fall therein.
When he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him.
A lying tongue, hadith, those that are afflicted by it.
In a flattering mouth, worketh ruin."
Let's break this down.
Verse 24,
He that hadith, dissembleth with his lips.
You're not going to always know at first.
when someone is dissembling, when someone is lying,
when someone is being manipulative,
when someone is not being truthful with you.
But you do get some pieces of information about someone
after you've learned that someone is a liar.
When you have learned this fact about someone that someone is a liar someone has been dissembling to you
You can realize that this person first of all they for sure have done a hateful act
Because sinning against your neighbor is hateful love is the fulfilling of the law you love your neighbor
So you don't covet his wife his ox his ass his house if you love your neighbor
You don't lie to your neighbor. So whenever you lie in that moment
That is a hateful act, okay?
Now, I'm not saying that if you've ever told a lie,
you are just like a de facto hateful person
for the rest of your life,
but here's the thing.
There are some people though that are like that.
There are some people where you're like,
okay, look, this person didn't just tell a lie.
You know, obviously everyone gets in the flesh
and everyone lies.
Everyone lies.
Let me say that again.
Your kids, everyone lies, okay?
But here's the thing.
When you find out that someone's just been lying to you
for long periods of time,
or lying to you about very serious things,
you have to realize that that person's been harboring a lot of hatred towards you
that you didn't even, you weren't even necessarily aware of.
When someone's just dissembling with their lips like that.
Notice what it says.
He that hated dissembled with his lips and layeth up deceit within him.
See, sometimes even Christians, even godly people,
you know, they get put in a bind, they're in a pinch,
and they allow the foolishness of their flesh to get the better of them and they lie.
And look, that's wrong.
It's always wrong to lie.
I don't believe this doctrine that it's it's OK to lie.
If the Nazis come to your house and ask if you have any Jews in your basement,
it's always wrong to lie.
But there are some lies, though,
that just from a human perspective, I could be like, OK,
I understand though why you were tempted with that.
And I don't think you're just some sort of insane, evil, horrible person.
But listen, there are other people
where they're just constantly laying up to seat within them.
They're just living day after day and they're living a fake life.
They're a fake person.
They're a politician.
What are politicians?
Just fake people that are constantly dissembling with their lips that are pretending to be
one way, but they're really another.
They're pretending to believe one thing, but they really believe another.
When it comes out that this person is not who you thought you were, it makes you realize
like, man, this person was laying up to see within them.
This person was being hateful towards me or towards you or towards whatever group they
Then it says in verse 25,
when he speaketh fair,
believe him not,
for there are seven abominations in his heart.
Again, this is not something
that you can necessarily identify at the time.
Because this doesn't say that it's flattery, right?
Flattery is over the top praise or insincere praise
or interchangeably both of those things really.
But of course we could speak fair to each other
and that could be sincere.
right? Hey, I like your tie. Hey, great job at that door preaching the gospel.
Hey, I like that sermon. You know, hey, nice car. We could say sincere compliments and you're
speaking fair towards that person, but you're not being deceitful. But here's the thing,
sometimes you find out later though, sometimes you find out and you could look back and you could
say, wow, all those fair things that they were saying to me, what that actually was, was flattery.
Now, here's the thing, two people could say the identical thing to an individual and one person, if it's sincere, it's not flattery.
You know, if I say like, man, that was like such an awesome sermon, I really love that, and I'm being sincere, that's not flattery.
But if another person says like, hey, good preaching, but inside they hated it?
They don't have to be over the top with their mouth. They're just speaking fair. They're speaking positive towards you
But they're lying. That is flattery and that is a hateful person
That is a dangerous person that is a person you don't want to follow and that you don't want to be around
Because they will stab you in the back. They will harm you
Notice for there are seven abominations in his heart. You don't know that at the time
You just think someone's speaking fair to you.
But later you found out, wow, there were seven abominations in their heart.
And you know what I've noticed about people that flatter over the years?
Is that they generally don't just flatter one person.
Usually they've got about seven abominations in their heart.
Usually they're just a completely fake person to everyone.
You know, ladies, let me give you a tip.
And you know, oh, I, you know, I stayed up till midnight texting my bestie and then everyone tells you, oh, so did I, oh, so did I, people of other churches, oh, same here, yeah, we're all besties.
That's probably a flatterer. That's probably not a sincere friend where every, really everybody is her best friend.
I don't have a bunch of best friends. I don't have guys that I text till midnight. That sounds awful.
Please don't do that. I'm gonna ignore you. All right, unless you need to go to the hospital or something that I'll talk to you
But you know what I mean like people could be speaking fair
You don't know it at the time but later you find out like wow they had seven abominations in their heart
They had problems with everyone. They just disliked everyone. They hated everyone
It's like weird. You just hated everyone, but yet you spoke so positively to all of us. What was that? It was flattery
That's what it was
Notice what it says, verse 26,
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
Here's what the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend.
Someone can genuinely love you.
And I thought that we believed this in the new IFB.
I thought that we actually believed that hard preaching is love.
But there's a lot of people that get offended by hard preaching.
And a lot of people would be like, well, that was about me.
That's loving then.
Isn't that what we believe?
That open rebuke is better than secret love?
Isn't that what we believe?
That showing someone where they're wrong from the Bible
is actually helping them with their life?
But you know, you got a bunch of snowflakes today
that they perceive that the preaching is about them,
or they think that the preaching was about them.
They may not even be right, and they get all mad,
and they get all angry.
Let me tell you, you're wicked.
And let me tell you, the person that rebukes you and that tells you when he has a problem
and brings issues to you, you know, and of course we can do this in an attackful way,
but the person that does that actually loves you.
Let me tell you who hates you is Candace Owens.
Okay?
People will just tell you what you want to hear.
Candace Owen Baptist Church, or the preacher, is always going to tell you what you want
to hear.
He's always going to tickle your ear, whatever the audience wants.
The preacher that actually tells you what you don't want to hear sometimes.
It actually steps on your toes and actually says,
yeah, I said something different and he just corrected that.
That's actually a loving person.
But here's what the hateful person does,
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
See, if I tell you that I like you and I'm nice to you to your face
and I give you all these compliments and I say good things about you
and I mean that, then I'm your friend.
I correct you and I tell you when you're doing wrong and I fix something from the Word of God in your life
I'm also your friend
But let me tell you if I say nice things to you and I pretend to be your friend and I publicly support you
I say all these nice things to you, but inside. I actually dislike you. That's a rotten person
That's a deceitful person and what that person is the Bible says hateful
hateful, you know flatterers hate you
And that's why they're so dangerous is because our pride wants to be scratched where it's
just like, oh man, this person is saying so many great things about me.
They have all those nice things to say.
And that wants you to lower your guard, put your defense mechanisms down so that this
person can hurt you.
Why?
Because they hate you.
So look, if you find out that someone is speaking positively to you, give them the benefit of
the doubt.
Here is the solace that you could take, though. Notice what it says in verse 26,
whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
Here is the peace that I have about Flatterers, is I'm not going to change how I live my life.
I'm not going to just stop having friends.
I'm not going to stop being nice to people. I'm not going to stop giving people the benefit of the doubt.
But here's what I know and I've seen it time after time after time and you probably have too.
is that when you thought someone was your friend
and they said all these positive things about you
and then, you know what happens if it turns out that they're lying
and that they're flattering you?
It ends up being shown before the whole congregation.
You eventually find out.
A birdie eventually tells the matter to someone.
It eventually gets brought before the congregation and here's what you have to do.
Here's what you got to do when you reach that situation, where you found out this person
was not your friend, they were lying, they were being flatterer, is you have to just
let that friendship go.
You have to cut your losses, which is hard for people because there's a lot of friendships
You were sincere in what you were saying to this person.
You actually liked them. You actually loved them.
But then you find out that they never liked you.
That it was not that way.
And here's what you got to do is you got to realize,
oh, well, I'm putting my emotion and my support and my loving to something that's fake.
And that doesn't make sense.
You know, we want to love real people.
We want to love, you know, people who love us back, right?
We don't want to just put all this effort and energy
into a flatterer that secretly hates you.
So look, when you find out, you know,
that co-worker that flatters you
and you find out he's going behind your back to the boss,
just say, hey, that's not a friend
that I'm gonna have at work.
I'm letting that go when people are going around and they're so nice and they're so friendly and they're saying all these positive things and
They're just over the top, but then you find out that they hate you to say like hey
Thank God it was made known before the whole congregation
You know and usually other people find out about it too
Thank God it was made known because I don't want to have this sunk cost fallacy where I keep throwing good money after bad
You know, I want to have real meaningful fulfilling friendships in my life
And thank God I have that in my life.
I hope that you have that in your life.
I have that with members of this church.
I have this with family members all throughout the world.
I have this with different pastors.
I am so happy with the way that my life is
as far as friends go.
And so what I have to tell you is like,
when you get that feeling where you don't want to let go,
trust me, just let go of that bad friend.
Cut that person out of your life.
God will have someone better for you.
And of course, this is also a warning
to people that would flatter.
Because your wickedness is going to be showed before the whole congregation.
And you're going to be made to look like the duplicitous, deceitful, hateful person that you are.
So you should be fearful of doing that.
And one more thing I want to say about that.
When it's showed before the whole congregation, again, this is important and you should do this.
This is my prayer. This is always my prayer.
God, let the righteous people not be swayed by the lies.
and let the wicked people go away from us.
Let the wicked people believe lies.
I mean, second, Thessalonians 2,
God punishes the wicked who didn't love the truth
and had all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
He punished them by making them believe a lie.
By giving them deception and saying, okay, you know, you want to be foolish. You don't love the truth
You don't want to believe what's right. I'm just going to punish you by allowing you to believe lies
And you know what people who are bad friends people who are flatterers, you know as a punishment from God
You might find yourself surrounded by a bunch of bad friends
Because you were a flatterer or you were a backstabber or you were just a bad friend
And you know what sometimes God answers that prayer. He sends all the wicked people to you
Whereas I think that if you pray that in an earnest heart God don't allow righteous people to be swayed
But go ahead and let the wicked believe it and then you have peace just let go and just say like hey
This person believes it. That's probably not someone that I wanted in my life anyways
You know life is too short to spend it with a bunch of snakes and traders and flatterers
Verse number twenty-eight or twenty-seven who so dig at the pit shall fall therein
And he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him just like what I'm saying, right you reap what you sow
You want to go around to be a flatterer and you want to rail and you want to gossip and you want to back bite
You better expect to be surrounded around people. They're gonna gossip and back bite and forsake and flatter you
You dig that hole you're gonna fall there in you roll that stone
It's gonna roll right back on you
So it does not pay to be a deceitful duplicitous person
Do not feel guilty about yourself when you pour love into someone and you pour energy into someone
You pray for someone and you support someone and your friend to someone and you're there for someone and they turn their back on you
Don't feel guilty that you did that. You know, God sees your heart
I know it's cliche, but God sees your heart. God can see your integrity
You know what? God could also see your seven abominations in your heart. I may not be able to see it
You may not be able to see it, but eventually it's going to be showed before the whole congregation
That should be a fearful thing
Verse 28, a lying tongue, hateeth, those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
When someone flatters you, you just have to remove your emotions, however you felt about this person,
all the love and care you had about this person, and you just have to face this cold, hard reality,
this nasty big pill that you have to swallow, realizing this person didn't love me.
This person didn't care for me this person was not a friend
You know you have to do you swallow that big great nasty pill and then you go love someone else
You go invest in someone else you pray for that person you pray for their good
You bless them in the name of the Lord and you go and love other people and do not ever stop loving people
No matter how many times people across you don't be one of these idiots
That gets church hurt and then you stop serving God
No, look, if someone hurts you, keep loving God.
If a pastor hurts you, go love a good pastor.
If a brother in Christ hurts you, pray for them, bless them in the name of the Lord, and love a different friend.
But don't be this person that just backs off from everyone.
No friends, no love.
You know what you're going to do? You're going to find yourself surrounded by crappy people.
and you reap what you sow.
Let's pray.
Lord, I pray that you bless our ride home this evening.
I pray that you bless the remainder of the study
that we have throughout this book,
that you would reveal truths to us,
that you'd help us to apply these things to our lives.
We love you very much and pray that you bless
the Bahamas Mission Strip next week.
We love you and Jesus name you, pray.
All right with that we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service if you would take your hymnals at this time and
Turn to hymn number
364
Standing on the promises
Him number
364
We'll start there right on the first
Standing on the promises of Christ, my King,
Through eternal ages, let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God,
Standing, standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God,
I'm standing on the promises of God, standing on the promises that cannot fail.
When the owens' horns are down and hear us sail, by the living word of God I shall prevail.
I'm standing on the promises of God, standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior, standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God, standing on the promises of Christ the Lord.
Sound to him eternally, by love's strong word.
Overcoming daily with the spirit's sword.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God.
the promises of God, standing on the promises I cannot hold.
Listing every moment to the spirit's call, resting in my Savior's
Good singing this evening with that you are just