Go ahead and get started this evening. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. If you
would, go ahead, find a seat, grab a hymnal. And our first hymn this evening,
number 188, The Love of God.
188, 188, The Love of God.
The 188, they're on the first.
The-
Amen, at this time, we'll open with a word of prayer.
If you'll bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we just thank you again
for another day to gather together,
that we can just freely gather,
that we have your word available to us very easily.
I just pray that you would fill us with your spirit,
that you would open our ears to the message,
and that you would just fill pastor with your spirit,
that you would embolden them to preach the message
that you've laid on his heart.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our next hymn this evening, one hundred forty, we have an anchor.
If there's ever a song to sing out at Anchor Baptist Church, one hundred forty, we have an
anchor. Lift your voice up to the Lord this evening, one hundred forty.
One hundred forty, we have an anchor on the first.
I'm tough
one please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our
Bible memory passage of the week Galatians chapter number one verse 15 on
the inside you'll see our service times are listed Sunday mornings at 10 30
Sunday evenings at 4 30 and our Wednesday evening Bible studies of
course at 7 o'clock soul winning times are all listed there below and just as a
note remember no Saturday rally this upcoming weekend for the soul winning
nursing home ministry schedule listed below that as well as our year-to-date
soul winning statistics. Like I mentioned this Saturday is the Easter soul
winning marathon and it's actually
a big mega marathon because several other churches across America and the world are celebrating
or are participating in soul winning this day.
So we're definitely going to do the same, we're excited for it.
Now it is supposed to rain on Saturday and you know, you have an excuse, there you go.
You have an excuse, if you don't want to go soul winning, there's your excuse, but or
you could just you know, be tough, you won't melt, go soul winning, you know, hell is a
lot worse than standing out in the rain.
So we're going to preach the gospel anyways, we're meeting at nine o'clock at Frederick
and coffee, and we'll start soul winning at 10 o'clock.
We'll come back at noon for lunch.
We're having Panera bread catered for that.
It's gonna be a good lunch.
And then we'll go soul winning again at two o'clock.
The next day I'm really excited is Easter this Sunday.
And we are catering a big lunch in between services.
You know, Easter is a great time to invite people to church.
Of course at our church we believe that the preaching should be geared towards the saved,
towards God's people. We don't want to hear a salvation message every single Sunday.
But you know Easter is definitely the time of year to bring a visitor and they're going to hear
gospel related sermons. They're going to be hearing about Jesus Christ's death barrel and of course
his resurrection. So it's a great time to bring visitors plus you got barbecue to give them.
I mean they're going to have a good time. They're going to love it. And then in the evening we're
service as a church family. Looking forward to that. May 16th through the 18th is the King James
Conference at Shure Foundation Baptist Church. May 31st is the Durant, Oklahoma,
Fellowship event followed by Brother Ben Naeem preaching for us the next day both services
Really looking forward to hearing and preach for us
August 27th through the 31st Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church and
October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas
Mission trip really looking forward to those events. It's gonna be a packed year of soul winning on the back
We do have our prayer list. We have an updated prayer request
from Brother Travis, who's asking us to keep him in prayer.
He's gonna be taking a test for his job soon,
so he's just praying that he would retain the information
and do well in his test, so if you keep him in prayer
for that.
as well as our other prayer requests that have been on there. Keep everyone in prayer.
As always, if you have any requests, please do email the church and I can add them to the list.
Or if you have a private request, I'll pray for you myself. 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.
We thank you for Anchor Baptist Church and just for the blessings that you've given us.
the word of God, the institution of the church,
our friends here.
I pray that you bless this service, Lord,
that you bless the people in our church
and that you'd answer their requests according to your will.
We pray for Brother Travis for his upcoming test
at his job, that he would do well,
that he would pass it if it's your will, Lord,
that he would get into this new industry
he's desiring to get into,
should help him to retain the information he needs to,
that you just help him succeed in his career, Lord.
We also want to pray for the Halsberg family, for Ms. Rhea, just for her strength and also
for Miles, for his health, for pray that she blessed them and their family, and we also pray
for Brother Alex, who's been dealing with illness. We pray that you please help him to feel better.
I also want to pray for my father-in-law, Pastor Thompson, that she would help him with
his mouth pain that he's been having, that she please bless him, especially in time for Easter
We pray for Miss Remy for her traveling process,
that she'd have a good time over there,
that she'd be safe,
and that she would return her to us safely, Lord.
We also pray for Miss Whitney, for her brother Cole's salvation, for brother Zach, for his family member's salvation.
And Lord, just pray that you would bless this upcoming weekend, that we would see many souls saved this Saturday and Sunday.
Pray that we would see baptisms this weekend, Lord, that we would see people just get on fire for you,
that you would make a difference in people's hearts through...
preaching of the word of God and that we would honor the death barrel and
resurrection of your son this upcoming week. We love you and thank you for all
that you do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It's gonna be it for announcements this
evening. We'll go and go to our third Psalm.
I
Saw 150 there on the first
His sanctuary, praise Him in the
Turbid of His power, praise Him for His mighty act,
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness,
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet raise.
the timbrel and dance, praise him with strength instruments and organs,
praise him upon the loud cymbals raise.
as the offering plates are being passed,
turn if you would to Proverbs chapter number four.
Proverbs chapter number four.
Good evening Proverbs for the Bible Reads. Here, you children, the instruction of a father and attend to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law, for I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth.
for sake or not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore, get wisdom, and with all thy understanding.
And with all thy getting, get understanding, exalt her, and she shall promote thee, she shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory, she shall deliver to thee, hear my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many.
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in right paths.
when thou goest thy steps shall not be straightened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble.
Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life.
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men, avoid it,
pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away, for they sleep not except they have done mischief,
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence
But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more
Unto the perfect day the way of the wicked is as darkness
They know not at what they stumble my son attend to my words and climb night nine ear unto my sayings
Let them not depart from my knives. Let them keep them in the midst of thine heart
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.
Remove thy foot from evil."
Let's bow our heads for our prayer, Father in heaven.
We thank you for this day, and we thank you for our church, our pastor, and his family.
We ask you to bless them, and let you feel our pastor feel his spirit.
Amen, all right, where we are in Proverbs chapter four.
Let's read verse number one.
The Bible says here, ye children,
the instruction of a father,
and attend to no understanding.
And when you look at Proverbs chapter four,
the whole chapter is basically
a father's instruction to his son.
So, you know, this chapter is definitely very applicable to those of you who are parents
and those of you who are children, but really this sermon is going to apply to everyone
because God is our Father and God gives us lots of instruction.
Number one, if you're taking notes this evening, fatherly instruction.
Let's read that again, verse one.
It says, here ye children, notice the instruction of a father.
and attend to no understanding.
You know, first, I want to point out how it's nice
that this father is giving their child instruction.
You know, we need dads in this world today
that are actually gonna love and care
about their children enough to give them instruction.
And you know what I love about God, our Father, is that God has given us a lot of instruction.
You know, he's not just left us hanging here to dry, trying to figure out how to navigate
through life, how, you know, through this world, through our own wisdom.
No, he's given us a lot of instruction.
and that instruction is going to make us successful, it's going to keep us safe,
and you know it's good to have fathers today that are not just paying the bills, though that's great,
not just giving food to their children, but are actually instructing them
in wisdom of this life, and most importantly the wisdom of the Bible.
You could stay there, I want to read for you Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4.
The Bible says,
an admonition of the Lord.
So children, they need both nurture
and admonition from their fathers.
You know, a godly father is gonna make sure
that they show love towards their children,
that their children know, hey, dad loves me,
dad spends time with me when he can.
You know, he says he loves me.
You know, us as fathers, we should tell our children,
I love you, simple things like that.
But also we should raise them
in the admonition of the Lord.
Meaning that we should be teaching them
And we need to remember every once in a while that we're not here as parents just to simply fill our children's foods with Bell or belly with food and just pay their bills and just take care of their needs.
Those are good things to do, but really God gave you a human soul.
God gave you a child to take care of to raise up in the ways of God.
And just because you do your carnal duties as a father
does not necessarily mean that you're doing everything that you should.
We as parents should be giving our children biblical instruction.
And notice verse 2, it says,
So notice, Dad here knows, hey, I'm teaching you what's right.
I'm teaching you what is good.
And from the parents perspective,
we need to make sure that we're giving our kids good things,
that we're teaching them the Bible.
And looking at this from a child's perspective,
you need to realize that your parents
have your best interests at heart.
And when your parents are telling you something,
when your parents are opening the Bible
and trying to counsel you and show you something,
they want you to listen to them
and you should listen to them.
Because notice what he says.
I give you good doctrine for
sake you not my law.
You know it's important for everyone,
whether you're a child, adult,
to consider the source of
information that you receive.
And you know as you grow up,
as you get more mature,
you become better at parsing
good information from bad.
As you grow up, hopefully you've read the Bible through cover to cover a couple times, your living life, your gaining wisdom.
You're going to be better the older you get, hopefully at parsing good information from bad, but you know you have to have somewhere to start.
And you know where you start? You start, your default should be trusting your mom and dad.
A good source of information for you children is mom and dad, yet today we have so many
rebellious children and they're being helped by rebellious teachers and all sorts of bad
influences that want to just cast doubt on mom and dad, make the home something that
should be mocked or ridiculed or don't listen to your fuddy-duddy parents or grandparents
or anything like that.
But you got to realize that your parents, if they go to Anchor Baptist Church, they're
giving you good doctrine.
and you would be wise not to forsake their law.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three.
2 Timothy chapter number three.
2 Timothy chapter three.
Notice what it says in verse 14,
but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
and has been assured of.
Notice, knowing of whom, thou hast learned them.
Even when you get older children,
your whole life, our whole life we're going through
and we're deciding who we're going to listen to.
What information we're gonna allow into our hearts,
who we are going to trust and even as adults,
we ought to consider holding fast the things
that we've been taught and considering the source
of where we learn things.
You know what's a good source?
Kids, your parents are a good source.
Hey, you know what's a good source?
The Bible is a good source.
See there needs to be just some starting points in your life, parents, Bible, but you know as you
get older you still need to consider the source of things that you hear. There is a million,
probably more. There's probably more than a million preachers online that want to teach
you the Bible. But you know what, there's many false prophets in this world.
And you would be wise not just because someone says their pastor or someone has a platform to just think this person's automatically telling me the truth.
Everything that they say is good. You know, when you read a book, I love reading books.
You ought to pick up that book with a critical mind and thinking how things jive with the Bible.
not just soaking everything up, believing everything you hear, the simple believe it,
every word. You need to get some discernment and realize, hey, I need to consider the source
of information that I'm learning. Look at verse 15.
It says in that, from a child, thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness.
Solomon here, as the father is saying,
I give you good doctrine for sake, not my law.
That's also a picture of God.
And how God has given us the Bible.
The Bible says that every word of it is inspired by God
and is profitable to us.
And you know what?
We need to trust in the word of God.
We need to not forsake the word of God,
not forsake the law of God.
Not for a sake, the commandments of God realize that these are good things.
The Bible is always true.
It's the best thing that you can rely on.
You know, when you consider sources, you ought to realize like,
hey, is this person a known liar?
That would be a bad source.
Or how about a false prophet?
This would be a bad source to listen to.
How about Jewish news media?
This would be something that if I'm listening to anything from the Jewish news media,
I'm going to approach that with a heavily critical ear.
doesn't mean that 100% of everything they're going to say is a lie, but you know
everything that the Jewish news media is telling me, I'm going to approach very
critically. Atheists, these are people that I'm going to approach very critically.
Why? Because we need to consider the sources that are going into our hearts.
Go back to Proverbs chapter number four. Proverbs chapter number four.
So he's telling his son, hey, don't forsake what I'm telling you that he says in verse
three, four, meaning because I was my father's son.
tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me,
let thine heart retain my words,
keep my commandments and live."
So Solomon, he grew up to be a great man of God
and it's not a coincidence that he had a father
and a mother that loved him greatly.
You know, he was secure and his parents love says that he was only beloved in the sight of his mother and his father.
What taught him his father said, Hey, let your hearts retain my words.
Keep my commandments and live.
You know, if we want to give kids the best chance at serving God, you know,
getting saved, loving God, living a successful life,
it's going to be from having a mom singular and a dad singular.
in that child's life their whole life.
You know what harms kids multi-family homes?
Having two dads, having two moms in two different situations
that believe different things that are teaching you conflicting ideas,
this is going to be damaging to a child.
The best situation where hey Solomon grew up to be a great man of God,
he had a father that loved him and that taught him God's word
and he had a mother that loved him too.
That is a recipe for success.
These statistics in 2023 about 26% of children under 18 years old in the United States lived in single parent households.
That is that is crazy to think about one out of every four child children that are under the age of 18 are growing up with just one parent in the home.
This comes from the Census Bureau data.
with roughly 21.5% living with a single mother
and 4.6% with a single father.
So of that 26%, the vast majority of that
is kids just being raised by a single mother.
And you know what?
That causes a lot of problems in life.
God created marriage that he can seek a godly seed.
God wants both a father and a mother in a child's life.
And of course, sometimes tragedies happen
and dad dies or mom dies
and sometimes things are just unavoidable.
And that sucks, that's terrible.
But you know, a lot of the harm that's being done
to young children in the United States
is just inflicted by selfishness.
is inflicted by parents,
not considering their children's future,
not loving them enough to stay married.
And sometimes people scoff at the idea
of staying married just for the children.
Hey, that's a good enough reason
to stay married right there.
Because you should care and love for your child deeply,
care for them a lot and stay married.
And of course, you should stay married
for other reasons too.
I hope you love your spouse.
I hope you have a great marriage.
I hope no one's ever considering divorce.
But if you ever are considering in your heart,
God hates it, but second, know that you're going to cause serious damage to your children.
You're going to harm them.
And you look at the statistics of kids that get involved in drugs, alcohol, gangs, kids
that get arrested very early in life.
It almost always comes from single parent homes.
It's a serious problem in America, and it needs to be talked about more.
Get understanding, forget it not,
neither decline from the words of my mouth.
Notice how this father Solomon here,
he's deeply concerned with the growth of his child.
Not just the physical growth of his child,
but his child getting wisdom, getting understanding.
And you know, we ought to be concerned
about the education of the next generation.
This is a good reason why you should be free to thrive.
is because notice the heart of this father.
He wants his son to get wisdom, to get understanding,
to not forget it, to not decline from the words of his mouth.
Look, going to church every time the doors are open,
not only is it going to benefit you,
it's going to benefit your children.
And foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
The Bible says that you need to make sure that you're getting
as much opportunity for your kids to get wisdom as possible.
You want to make sure that you're taking homeschooling seriously,
that you're giving them a real education,
that they're reading the Bible, they're learning to do these things on their own,
and that they're in church as much as possible.
Wisdom is super, super important.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 31.
Deuteronomy 31.
And of course, this is also one of the reasons why I just love the family integrated church model.
because we want kids to be getting wisdom as early in life as humanly possible.
Deuteronomy 31 11 says,
When all Israel has come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose,
thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Gather the people together, men and women,
notice and children, and thy stranger
that is within thy gates, that they may hear,
that they may learn, notice and fear the Lord,
your God, and observe to do all the words of this law.
We want our children to hear the word of God,
to learn the word of God, and most importantly,
to fear God.
I don't know about you, I want my kids to fear the Lord.
I want them to have a healthy fear of God instilled in them at a young age so that when they get to their teenage years and their hormones are going off and their brain isn't working properly,
there's hopefully some fear to prevent them from sinning. From doing wickedly. Notice verse 13.
And that their children notice which have not known anything.
May hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land
Whether you go over Jordan to possess it
You know these kids are born into this world and you know how much they know nothing
They know absolutely nothing and they are this little empty sponge that you could
play a huge part into molding and shaping your children's future and wow
we're not Calvinist here. I don't think you could guarantee the outcome of your
children's spiritual life. You know you can do a lot of influence in their life
though and you know one of the greatest ways to do that teach them the Bible,
Notice so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God go back to Proverbs chapter number four
Proverbs chapter number four
Notice verse number six it says forsake her not and she shall preserve thee
Love her and she shall keep thee.
So by not forsaking God's word,
by not forsaking God's commandments
and the wisdom of God,
it's supposed to have an effect on your life.
What is that effect?
That it is going to preserve you.
This is why hard preaching is loving.
This is why preaching God's commandments is the loving thing to do because when someone is taught hey
Don't forsake God's wisdom. Don't forsake the Bible. Don't forsake the commandments of God. It's gonna do something for you
It's gonna preserve you
You know what it's going to preserve you from?
It can preserve you from a lot of things.
It can preserve you from a life-long, you know,
miserable existence from the consequences of sin.
Because guess what?
Sin harms people, folks.
And of course, that's not the only reason sin is bad.
The most important reason is that it offends God.
And that God is angry at you when you sin.
Do you know that?
The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day.
You know?
But also, on top of that, sin hurts you.
Sin hurts each other sin hurts our family sin hurts our communities and our churches and you know what?
The loving thing to do is to preach super hard against sin
You know, I think about a few weeks ago. I was soul winning and this young lady opened the door
She looks like she was maybe between the ages of 18 and 21
young lady just starting off her life and she's got this child with her.
She's in this extremely rundown apartment and we just got done talking to his
neighbor and her neighbor and her neighbor was like some false prophet who
was saying that like he's a prophet, he's an apostle, he's God.
She's living in a rough place, but here's this pretty young girl who had everything going for her.
I hear some little baby crying in the background.
I'm just thinking, oh, this woman ruined her life by committing fornication.
And that's my assumption.
I think I'm right on that.
She's alone in a rundown apartment, no man supporting her.
Here she is just ruining her life at a young age.
You know what?
That's terrible.
My heart breaks for that.
It's like, why did this young lady's life get destroyed so early?
You know, her value to other men are going to be diminished by the fact that she's been a whore,
that she has a bastard child.
You know, there's not going to be a line of virgin, independent, fundamental,
Baptist young men that want to marry that young lady.
I hate to say it.
But, you know, people want to criticize us for preaching hard against fornication,
saying that we're judgmental, saying that we're unloving because I use the word whore.
because I use the word bastard.
But what about that young lady
whose life was destroyed?
Wouldn't it have been loving
for her to have grown up hearing hard preaching
and being told to not forsake God's commandments?
Then maybe she could have gotten married as a virgin
to a good, honorable, decent man
and had lots of children and been blessed by God.
But here she is in a rundown, dirty,
roach-filled apartment across from God himself,
apparently, some delusional freak.
That's sad.
That's terrible.
And that's why hard preaching is the loving preaching.
Hateful preaching is the preaching that tones down the
severity of sin.
Hateful preaching is the preaching that says God's never mad at you.
You can never be, you know, God can never be upset with you in any way.
You know, this hyper grace mentality that just because you're saved and just because salvation is by faith alone,
that therefore your works don't really matter.
God's not going to be angry at you if you're not doing good works.
God's not going to be angry at you if you're breaking God's commandments.
Look, that is actual hateful preaching.
That's the bad spirit preaching.
Real love is going to shoot straight with you with what the Bible actually says.
And that's why it says in verse 7,
notice, wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore, get wisdom.
And with all thy getting, get understanding.
We want to be instilling into the hearts of our children.
Look, you need to get wisdom.
You need to get understanding.
Why? Because it will preserve you.
it will keep you, it will bless your life.
And I don't care what anyone says,
I don't care who wants to put the false accusation
against me or my fellow preachers
that we are hate preachers.
No, you know what, we are the biggest preachers
of love on this planet.
Because we will actually tell people
the consequences of their sin.
We're not going to shirk from it, we're not going to hide from it.
We're going to tell people, hey, wisdom is the principal thing.
With all thy getting, get it.
That's why I literally said, hey, you don't have time to read the Bible.
You should literally skip breakfast then because wisdom is more important.
Oh, you don't have time to read the Bible.
It's literally better for you to miss hours of sleep than to not get the Bible
because God's words are going to keep you safe.
God's commandments are going to bless you and keep you safe and bless you in great ways.
Exalt her wisdom, and she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her."
So there's a direct correlation between those
who get the wisdom of God, knowledge, understanding,
fear God, keep his commandments.
There's a direct correlation to those
who promote those things, and then what happens?
The fruit of those things promote them.
And you see people who are successful in life, even people who are unsaved,
they often have leveraged the wisdom of the Bible.
You want to know why your boss is your boss?
99% of the time is because your boss is not a slugger.
and because your boss is educated,
because your boss is smart and works hard,
and that's why he's the boss.
That is the 99% rule of our world.
Why? Because those that exalt wisdom,
it says that they will be promoted.
Exalt her and she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor
when thou dost embrace her.
Wisdom, knowledge, understanding is important
in business and in church too.
You could stay there.
I'll read for you 1st Timothy 3.6.
About a pastor, it says not a novice.
Lest being filled up with pride,
he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
We don't need someone being in the office of a pastor
who is a novice, someone who has not attained to wisdom
and understanding and knowledge
and hasn't studied the word of God.
Why? Because that person's gonna be filled with pride
and it's gonna be condemned of the devil
that person's going to fail.
The exact opposite of what wisdom does,
exalt wisdom, wisdom exalts you.
You don't exalt wisdom, you don't care about wisdom and truth and the Word of God.
Well, you're going to fail, you're going to be cast down, you're going to become a shame.
Look at verse number nine.
It says, she wisdom shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory,
she shall deliver to thee. So again, I've talked about this recently, what is an ornament?
It's something that goes on something else to make it look better.
right? It makes you look better, makes you look prettier, makes things look nice.
That's what an ornament is, a crown of glory that's going to be put on a king's head and it's
going to exude strength and glory and kingship and might. So by exalting wisdom, you know what this
is saying is that you're going to make Christianity look good. You're going to be an ornament and a
crown and it's going to make the things of God look good. Go to Titus chapter number two.
Titus chapter number two God's people being wise God's people having understanding God's people keeping God's commandments
These things are gonna make Christianity look good. You know makes Christianity look dumb people who are Christians and believe in a flat earth
This makes Christianity a shame. This makes things look bad. Notice tight Titus chapter number two verse six
Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing
thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned.
That he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you.
So what is our goal as Christians and especially the goal of preachers?
It's to have sound doctrine.
It's to have sound words that are in accordance with the Bible, with God's teaching, with correct doctrine,
so that our enemies, those that are of the contrary part, are not able to speak against us.
What does that imply?
When you teach false doctrine, when you lie, when you have sloppy preaching,
what does it do? It gives people an occasion to make Christianity look bad.
You do right. You exalt wisdom. It makes Christianity look good. Why?
Because the Bible's good. Because God is good. Because His Word is good.
And as long as we're in line with that, Christianity is always going to look good.
But you show me an example of someone that the world scoffs at who's a Christian that says oh look at this hypocrite
I'll show you someone that is not in alignment with God's word
Right people who get in all these sexual scandals and stuff like that and they'll blame Christianity for that when the truth is like
Okay, someone committed adultery well good news the Bible actually says that adulterers should be put to death
That's not the Bible's fault.
That's that wicked person's fault.
But still, just to the world,
it's gonna make Christianity look bad.
Right, so that's why I wanna make sure
we're exalting wisdom, exalting good doctrine.
Notice verse number nine, here's an example.
exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters
and to please them well in all things, not answering again.
So here is an example of one of the commandments of God.
This is a commandment here.
That servants, or we could think of in our modern vernacular as like employees at the job,
that servants, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters.
You know, the Bible teaches that a good Christian, godly employee,
they should be obedient, submissive, and subservient to their boss at work.
You should be respectful to your boss.
You should speak kindly to him.
You should obey everything that he tells you to do.
You should seek to please him on the job.
And guess what? That's God's commandment.
That's what God is telling you to do.
And guess what? If you do that, there's a result.
Notice the end of, or look at verse number 10, not perloining, but showing all good fidelity, notice
that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, and all things.
See, by you keeping the commandments to obey your boss, to be a good employee,
it makes the doctrine of Jesus Christ look good.
And you know what? The opposite is true.
If you go to work and you back-talk your boss,
and you talk crap about him, and you don't obey him,
and you don't do a good job at work,
and people know you're a Christian,
you know what they're going to think?
Christianity sucks.
Anchor Baptist Church sucks.
Oh, King James only us, they suck.
Oh, Independent Fundamental Baptist, don't hire those people.
They won't work hard.
There's a direct correlation with these things.
And so it's like, look, if God's telling us to do this,
to be good employees and that if we do it,
we're gonna make Jesus look good,
don't you think that God's angry with you
if you're a bad worker
and you're making Christianity look bad?
Don't you think God's mad at you?
Now, would it be so loving for me to tell you,
oh, you could just be a crappy employee, no worries,
God's never gonna be upset, God's never gonna be mad at you,
he doesn't care that you're making the doctrine of Christ look bad?
Or should I tell you like, hey, do you want to avoid God being pissed off at you?
Be a good worker on the job.
And I don't really care which one motivates you.
Like, you just love God so much, you just want Christianity to look good,
or you're just scared of breaking God's commandments that he's gonna come down on you?
I don't care which one motivates you, do the right thing.
Because regardless of which one motivates you, it's still true
that if you do good, you make Christianity look good, you do bad, you make it look bad.
It doesn't really matter what your motivation is there.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 3.
Proverbs chapter number 3.
Exalt wisdom, you get exalted.
But what happens when you don't do that?
Proverbs 3 verse 35.
The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
You bring shame to Christianity when you are a fool.
You bring shame, children, to your parents when you grow up
and you don't listen to any of their things that you were taught.
You bring shame to the name Baptist when you act like a fool.
You bring shame to the name Baptist when you preach foolish things.
You know, when we do anything outside of God's word, we're bringing shame to the cause of Christ.
You know, we should care about that.
That should motivate us to some extent.
Look at verse number 10 of Proverbs 4.
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings.
Notice, and the years of thy life shall be many.
See, it's loving to teach God's commandments
because sometimes it can literally translate
to longer lifespan.
Like how about honor your mother and your father?
That thy days may be long upon the earth.
That is a promise from God, and you know what, we should preach hard against kids rebelling against their parents and disrespecting their parents or cursing their parents.
Why? Because those kids are hurting themselves at the end of the day.
I mean, if you honor your mother and father, you'll live a long life.
If you don't, God can literally take you home early.
That is what the Bible is teaching.
You know what's not good is making light of God's commandments.
You know, it's not good is teaching people that God's not really angry at you when you sin.
These type of things is actually not loving preaching. It's hateful.
And you know, it hurts me that I have to call out someone tonight who I love for a long time and have been friends with,
but is teaching doctrine so bad and so harmful.
And I'm just worried about people being influenced this that I have to do that, but that's Pastor Joe Jones.
And let me make it clear. I don't hate this guy.
I love him. I want his church to succeed.
I don't want people to leave his church.
I want his ministry to do well,
but you know some of the things that he's
preached lately has been extreme
heresy and I would say even blasphemous.
And so as a pastor,
I find it my job and my duty to
warn you about it this evening.
He preached a sermon on Romans chapter 6 and he starts off kind of like mocking the idea of a preacher preaching that you should be three to thrive.
He said this, he says, we always push this, you know, you got to be three times a week to thrive and you got to do all these things and that if you don't, God's going to come down on you and really put the boots to you.
He's going to make you pay the price.
I'm going to expose the fact that that is not true.
whatsoever. Now, go to Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10. Now, I will grant
nowhere in the Bible does it say, thou shalt go to church three times a week.
But why as a pastor, why as a Christian would I try to downplay the importance of going to the house of God
or trying to act like, hey, it's not a big deal if you're not going to church?
Like, I want us to esteem church very highly.
And is that because of just my personal opinion or that I just personally like church?
No, I actually get it from the Bible.
Look at Hebrews chapter number 10, verse 25.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, notice and so much the more.
as you see the day approaching.
See, I will grant you, the Bible does not say,
thou shalt go to church three times a week.
But you know what it does say?
Is that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is,
but so much the more should we gather,
so much the more should we assemble in church
as we see the day of Christ approaching.
And as we see the day of Christ approaching,
I want to not downplay church,
not make people feel like, hey, no big deal.
If you just skip church on a whim, I want to make church as reverent and as held up in esteem as possible.
I'm trying to wake people up constantly telling them like,
look, hey, serving God is all that matters in life.
There is nothing else to live for.
The Bible literally says that this is the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.
It's the whole duty of man.
Okay, so forgive me if I try to tell people you should be in the house of God every time the doors are open.
And you know what? I'm not trying to just make people feel as comfortable as they can for skipping church on a whim.
You know what I want you to feel when you skip church on a whim?
Ashamed of yourself!
Why? Because Jesus Christ died for the church!
He shed his blood for it!
He gave us this great institution.
And why would I, as a pastor, sit here and downplay it?
It's insanity.
It's ridiculous.
And here's what the Bible says.
So the Bible just got done telling us,
don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
Then it says, for if we sin willfully.
So you know what you're doing when you're forsaking church?
You're sinning willfully.
It says, for if we sin willfully,
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
Here's the thing, in Leviticus, when someone sinned, the Bible prescribes,
Here's what happens if one of the common people sin.
Here's the offering that they need to offer.
Here's the offering when the congregation sins.
Here's the offering when the priest sins.
And the priest offering was more than the common person
because that person had more responsibility.
But they were doing these offerings
not to be absolved of their sin.
Obviously salvation's never been by works.
It's never been by sacrifices.
It's always been by trusting in Jesus Christ.
But this sacrifice would kind of
restore fellowship with God.
would restore the relationship that they had,
and it was an important thing to do in that process.
It was God's word.
But in the New Testament, notice what it says.
It says,
For if we sin willfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
If you sin, if you don't go to church,
you don't get to get out of punishment
by just offering a lamb, offering a goat,
offering something like that.
There are no more sacrifices for your sins.
You know what you have to look forward to if you do that?
Keep reading.
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.
Now, I didn't write the Bible, that is God's word.
What someone has to look forward to when they sin willfully,
which shall devour the adversaries, then he gives an example.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
And here's the thing, that verse isn't given to you to think like,
oh man, it was so much more severe than the Old Testament.
God was so much more judgemental than the Old Testament.
He judged people so much harsher.
No, notice what it says in verse 29.
Of how much sore punishment.
Suppose ye.
Shall he be thought worthy who hath trod and underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified and unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
I mean, someone who just has zero regard for God's commandments, doesn't fear God whatsoever, is using grace as a cover for lasciviousness and wickedness and sin.
I mean, they're just doing despite unto God's grace, right?
We shouldn't just take God's grace and just abuse the fact that God gave us grace.
where we sin, grace abounds, every single time.
But we shouldn't just take that and just abuse God's love.
Abuse God's grace.
No, that is wicked.
And then it says in verse 30,
for we know him that hath said,
vengeance belongeth unto me,
I will recompense, sayeth the Lord,
and again, the Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Does it sound like we should fear God?
Does it sound like we should be afraid of God?
Well, I read you those verses because this is what Pastor Jones said.
He said this,
It's time that we stop scaring people into obedience.
He said God does not do that to us,
nor should we do that to God's people.
Well, it's weird because when I open my Bible,
like every single page is making me fear God.
I'm just constantly seeing God's judgment in the Old Testament.
I'm reading New Testament verses about how it's fearful to fall into the hands of the living God.
How we're going to be of a soarer punishment when we just do despite unto the grace of God.
And then we have fundamental Baptist pastors saying it's time that we stop scaring people.
No, it's time we start scaring people.
I wish someone would have scared that young lady that ruined her life by committing fornication.
You know, I wish those drunk drivers that went into Lake Overhoelser a few months ago
would have been scared straight by a fundamental Baptist preacher screaming about drinking alcohol.
I wish they would have been scared so they're not dead in the hell right now.
Oh, but it's just so hateful. It's so bad. These Baptist pastors that cause people to fear God.
You know what? Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.
Why are we sitting here making light of making people fear God?
Why are we preaching false doctrine that says that God doesn't scare people into obedience?
I'm reading Hebrews 10 and I'm like I'm pretty scared.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God.
Don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and you know what it's like
Oh, you're gonna make people feel guilty. Good. Maybe you need to feel guilty every once in a while
Because I feel guilty every once in a while. I read the Bible. I'm just like, yeah, I'm guilty. I need to change
Right, or should we just give people excuses for everything and just let them off the hook?
You know, you could give them excuses you can make them feel better about themselves
But that doesn't change the consequences of ruining their life from sin
People go out and drink alcohol.
They commit adultery.
They bastard children.
They get drunk driving accidents.
They get divorced.
They go through all these terrible things.
You know what?
The consequences of those sins are way more painful to them
than hearing a hard sermon about those subjects.
Way more painful to them than reading the Bible,
condemning those subjects.
And this is why hard preaching is loving.
and this type of preaching of toning down sin,
saying that God doesn't really get mad,
God's not trying to scare people into obedience.
This is not a good spirit, folks.
This is not a loving spirit.
This is not biblical.
This is going to cause people harm.
Okay, then it gets worse.
He starts off in this quote,
and what he starts saying, you know, starts good.
It says,
We spend a lot of time exposing work salvation.
We know the gospel is free.
We get that. That's crystal clear.
We understand that. No works involved. Amen.
Salvation is by faith alone. Praise God.
Only by faith.
He says this, okay,
but where the enemy comes in,
now who's the enemy? Satan.
So he's saying, where Satan comes in,
where the enemy comes in and says, okay,
yeah, that's true.
But we need works, you know, we got to have some works if you're going to be accepted with him if you're going to be
one of God's
disciples now, there's a couple of
serious problems
With this quote first of all he says that the devil is gonna whisper in your ear agreeing that salvation is by faith alone
No, folks, the devil is not whispering in people's ears saying,
yeah, you're right, salvation is by faith alone.
Yeah, you're right, it's grace through faith.
No, the devil is giving us the Catholic Church,
telling us that salvation is by works.
The devil is giving us Hinduism.
The devil is giving us Mormonism.
The devil is not whispering in people's ears saying,
salvation is by faith alone, by trusting in Jesus Christ,
that He died for your sins and rose again.
And if you only put your trust in Him, you'll have eternal life.
First of all, the devil is just not doing that.
So, already, this is just not true, okay?
But then he says that the devil is going to tell you that you have to do good works to
be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
He's saying that it's a doctrine of devils to say that doing good works is necessary
to be a disciple.
Guess what?
That's what the Lord Jesus Christ taught.
That you need to do good works not to be saved, but to follow him.
to be a disciple and that's why I say that this false doctrine has crossed into blasphemy because he's saying that the devil, that Satan, is whispering in people's ears saying that salvation is by faith alone and that you have to do good works to be a disciple.
Well, let's look at some Bible. Go to John chapter number 14. John chapter number 14.
And look, like I don't want to preach this.
I don't want to talk about this.
I've liked Pastor Jones for a long time.
We're not friends anymore because he made it really clear
in his preaching that anyone that didn't stand up
for him against Pastor Anderson is not his friend anymore.
And you know, the Bible says can two walk together
except they be agreed.
Pastor Jones thinks that my friend is some wife abusing,
child abusing maniac.
And he preaches that.
I think that my friend Pastor Anderson
is a great man of God.
Obviously we just don't agree.
it is what it is. You know, I don't hate Pastor Jones. I want his ministry to succeed. I want
him to do well. I want him to repent of this stuff because this type of teaching is going to hurt
people. John 14 verse 15, it says this, if you love me, keep my commandments. See, Jesus taught
So downplaying works to be a disciple of Christ and to say that the devil is actually telling you
Oh Satan's telling you you got to do works
To be accepted with him and to be a disciple. No, Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments go to John chapter 15 verse 12
John chapter 15 verse number 12 says this is my commandment that ye love one
another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man
lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I
command you. How do you become the friend of Jesus Christ? Is it by getting
saved? Nope. Because in James it says that if you are a friend of the world
So you could actually be saved and be an enemy of Jesus Christ.
How do you become Jesus' friend?
It's not just by being saved, it's by doing whatsoever he commands.
And you know what? I want God's people to be friends with Jesus.
I want us to be disciples of Jesus.
And you know what that's going to take? That's going to take work.
That's going to take doing work.
And notice how it says in verse number 12 that his commandment is to love one another.
Some liberal preachers would say hey, no big deal. Don't worry about the commandments. It's just love love love
Okay, but what does the Bible actually say that love is go to Romans chapter number 13?
Let's let the Bible define for us what it means to love
Romans chapter number 13 verse 8 it says this 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 is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. Notice verse number 10, love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
See, salvation is by faith alone.
But if you want to be a loving Christian, you know what you're going to have to do?
You're going to have to keep God's commandments.
If you want to love Jesus Christ, you're going to have to keep God's commandments.
If you want to be the friend of Jesus Christ, you're going to have to keep God's commandments.
We're not going to downplay keeping God's commandments.
We're not going to act like God isn't angry.
God isn't upset at people.
And go listen to his sermon in context and come tell me that I'm preaching him out of
context.
Go to Luke chapter number 14, let's talk about some specific instances where Jesus talks about the requirements to be his disciple.
Luke chapter number 14.
Luke 14 verse 26 it says if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and
Sisters yay and his own life also. He cannot be my disciple
That is a lot of work
That is a tall order that Jesus is demanding for someone to be his disciple
Because sometimes that word hate in the Bible could mean to esteem something higher than something or esteem something lower than something else
Right, so you can't love God
and mammon. You have to hold to the one or hate the other. It's not saying that you have to rip up
your paycheck or anything like that when you get paid, but it's supposed to be that obviously God
is esteemed way higher than money. And here the Bible is saying that you have to hate your mother,
father, all these different people. You know, most people do not prioritize God over their family.
Most people use family as an excuse to not serve God.
I mean, they're always busy on the weekend, they're busy on Sunday because they're hanging out with their family.
Oh, can't go soldiering on Saturday because they're on the barbecue with their family, right?
I mean, people—or they just can't take a stand for God because it would make their family mad.
Their family's been Catholic their whole life. They don't want to piss them off. They don't want to make that stand.
Many people do not do this.
Why? Because it's actually hard work to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
And it's not the devil that's whispering in your ear that says,
you have to prioritize God over your family. It's Jesus telling you that.
This is the words of Jesus.
Look at verse 27. Tell me if this sounds like hard work.
And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
I'm pretty sure bearing the cross was extremely difficult.
I mean, it's supposed to be a picture of, like, the hardest thing ever.
And the Bible says that we're supposed to take our cross and follow Him to be disciples.
The Bible says, endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Look, being a disciple is hard. That's why few people do it.
It's hard to just be sold out for God, but you know what? It's what you should do.
It's what Jesus is telling you to do. It's not what Satan is telling you to do.
It is what Jesus is telling you to do.
For which of you intending to build a tower siteth not down first and count at the cost whether you have sufficient to finish it
Lest happily after yet found the foundation at lay the foundation and is not able to finish it
All that behold to begin to mock him saying this man began to build it was not able to finish
What king going to make war against another king siteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with
10,000 to meet him that come up against him with 20,000
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he senteth an embassaged and desired conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you, notice that for sake, if not all that he hath.
He cannot be my disciple. You know what salvation? It's all faith, but being a disciple
It's all about the works. It's all about the works. And you know what?
I want to emphasize to the unsaved. I want to emphasize to them grace grace grace faith faith faith
No works. That's what I go to the door. That's what I emphasize
But you want to know what I want to emphasize to God's people work work
Work.
Why?
Because, hey, you don't need that anymore, you're already saved, you can't lose your salvation,
you're eternally secure, I don't need to preach you the Gospel again, I need to preach
you to get your butt in church, I need to preach for you to get your butt out soul winning,
I need to preach for you to start keeping God's commandments and to fear God so you
don't destroy your life, so you don't destroy your children's life, so you don't destroy
You know what? It's serious.
And you know what? I love you.
I love God's people, and so that's why
I preach hard on sin.
That's why I'm not going to sit here and tell you
like, oh, it's not a big deal.
Don't do the works. It's stupid, folks.
Go to, if you would,
Proverbs chapter number four.
And look, it's not just like a
minor interpretation
of, you know, an obscure doctrine.
This is a serious doctrine and it's crossed into blasphemy
teaching that Satan is whispering things in people's ears
that really Jesus taught.
It's wicked.
It needs to be called out.
I don't mark people lightly.
I don't like preaching this.
It's not fun.
Hasn't been a fun afternoon thinking about this.
I want his church to be blessed.
I want him to change.
I want him to repent.
I want him to stop preaching this stuff
just because it's wrong and it's hurting people.
But you know what?
I feel like it needed to be said.
Proverbs 4 verse 11 says,
in the way of wisdom, I have led the in right paths.
The father kind of continues his exhortation to his son
and there's kind of a twofold approach to his leadership
and it's something that everyone who's a leader should follow.
He taught his son in the way of wisdom
and notice he also led in right paths.
And this is good.
No matter what position of leadership you are in, whether you are just a mother or a
boss at work or a pastor or whatever, it's important to make sure that you're teaching
what's right, that you're giving good doctrine, good instructions, and you're also showing
a good example.
People often like to focus on one or the other and really emphasize one or the other, but
you really need both in leadership.
It's not enough for me to get up here and just tell you guys to go soul winning if I
That would be bad leadership, right?
And you know, Jesus, he was a perfect leader
because everything he said was right
and everything that he did was right.
We're obviously not gonna be perfect leaders,
but we should look to that example
as our pattern for leadership.
That we need to make sure that we're teaching what's right
and doing what's right.
Go to Luke chapter number 24.
As you're turning there, first Corinthians 11,
verse one says, be ye followers of me.
even as I also am of Christ.
You know, Paul was able with a clear conscience
with all honesty to look at his followers
and say, be ye followers of me.
And you know, if you are a leader,
that should be your goal is with a clear,
sincere heart to look at the people you are leading
and say, be like me, follow me.
Believe the things that I'm teaching you do the things that I'm doing not just you have one or the other
But you've got both going for you Luke 24 verse 17 says and he said unto them
What matter of communications are these that you have one to another as he walk and are sad and
The one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said unto him art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem
And has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days and he said unto them what things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty, notice in deed and word before God and all the people.
I love that phrase there, that Jesus was mighty in his deeds, his miracles, the way he was living his life, and also in his words.
And you know, that's what we need to strive for is being a good example of what we say and what we do.
Go back to the Proverbs chapter number four.
Then it says in verse 12, it says,
That word, straightened, means constricted, confined, or hindered.
And when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
So notice, by following wisdom, by following God's commandments,
it's not going to constrain you and confine you like the world likes to say
that the Bible's so restrictive.
It's actually going to give you the most freedom.
The most Liberty when you have the word of God when you're on the right trail
You're not going off into the bushes that hasn't been you know
Taking care of or anything like that. You're on the straight and narrow path. That is the safest way to run
You've got the most freedom. You're not gonna be stumbling all over stuff
Your steps aren't like constrained and taking these little tiny steps like you could just sprint ahead knowing what you're doing
It's right knowing that it's safe to go in the direction that you're going
It's the best way to live your life following God's commandments. I mean think about this people will
Do drugs right people just take drugs for an example people that take drugs they experience a very short term
High that's what it's called a high right a dopamine rush. They're having all this pleasure flooding to their brain
They're having a great time. They're feeling good. They feel free
There's a reason people do drugs and it's probably because it just makes them feel really good. That's why they do it, right?
But, if they continue down that life, are they living a life of freedom or are they living
a life of slavery?
Look, addiction is just a life of slavery.
You look at the homeless population of OKC, you look at the people where their jaws like
up to their nose, they got no teeth from all the meth that they smoked.
Those people are not living a life full of freedom and happiness and blessing.
Their steps are constrained.
When they're running, they're stumbling.
Literally.
When they're walking, they're stumbling.
I mean, it's crazy and so sad seeing the life
that these people live.
Every single day I go to work, I pass several homeless people
asleep on the side of the road.
It's like 6.30 AM.
I'm walking past them, and it's 3.45 in the evening.
I'm walking past them, and they've
been sleeping there all day.
Just asleep when I get to work, asleep when I leave.
It's like, that is sad.
That's a rough life.
But you know what, the real path to freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Living according to God's commandments is the best way that you can live.
Verse 13, that's why it says,
Take fast hold of instruction and let her not go. Keep her for she is thy life.
Number two this evening, a warning against bad company.
A warning against bad company.
Verse 14, the Bible says, enter not into the path of the wicked.
and go not in the way of evil men.
You know, Solomon wants to make sure
that his son stays away from wicked people.
Why?
Because again, just like all of God's commandments,
when you break this commandment,
it's gonna bring you harm in your life.
Stay there. First Corinthians 1533 says be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners if your friends are a bunch of super wicked people doing a bunch of dumb stuff.
You know what you're going to end up doing the same dumb stuff that they are.
You're going to start saying and believing and acting like the dumb people that you're around.
So that's why you should not enter into the path of the wicked.
The Bible actually gives us several people that we are supposed to avoid,
that we are supposed to stay away from and shun.
Let me give you a couple of examples. Go to Romans 16.
Romans 16. You know, the first example I could think of that the Bible tells us to avoid to not enter their path to stay far away from is people that preach false doctrine.
People that teach lies, these are people that you should be aware of. Verse 17 of Romans 16, the Bible says,
to the doctrine which you have learned, noticed, and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
You know, we as Christians need to avoid false teachers, avoid people that preach false
doctrine and I strive to do my best to preach the truth every time I get behind this pulpit
and I believe I'm doing that, but obviously I'm a human being. I can make mistakes. I probably
have and probably will in the future say things that are not totally correct and that's why you
yourself need to make sure you're searching the Scriptures daily and you just have to have this
idea in your mind because who knows, someday if you move, if you go to another church,
you need to remember that the Bible tells you to avoid those that preach false doctrine.
So you're going to some church and the pastor starts preaching that you've got to repent of your sins to be saved,
realize that's a church you should leave.
You should not attend a church that is not clear on salvation.
You need to make sure you're attending a church that has the right doctrine.
Here's another group of people that we should avoid. Second Thessalonians chapter 3.
Those who refuse to work should be marked and avoided.
People are not welcome. Men are not welcome.
to attend Anchor Baptist Church
if they just want to be homeless
and not work perpetually.
I'm not saying someone's going through a hard time financially.
Someone who just refuses to work,
refuses to get a job,
is not welcome here.
You'd have to get a job. Why?
2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10.
For when we were yet with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
For we hear that there are some which walked among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy bodies.
Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.
But ye brethren, be not weary and well-doing, and if any man obey not our word by this epistle, notice, note that man
and have no company with him.
Why? That he may be ashamed.
See, it's good when people feel ashamed about their sin so that it could drive them to change.
We want people to feel that way,
but verse 15 says,
yet count him not as an enemy,
but admonish him as a brother.
Think about it,
if someone is in a situation
where they're perpetually not working,
they're just getting money from who knows what?
Asking random people for money,
maybe doing crime,
however they're getting money,
but they're not working.
They're not doing an honest job.
What would be the loving thing to do to that brother?
Would it be just to coddle him,
say it's totally okay?
God's not mad at you, no judgment.
This is a judgment free zone.
No, if you actually care about him,
if you don't view him as an enemy,
you're gonna do what the Bible says.
To mark him, to note that man,
and have no company with him.
That's actually the loving thing to do.
But people have just a twisted view of love today.
Like people conflate not offending people as being loving.
But sometimes offending someone, if they're in a terrible life situation, that's causing them harm.
That's offending God, that's getting God angry at them, offending that person, though it could be harsh,
is actually the loving thing to do sometimes, to cause them to change and get back into living according to what God said.
To get the blessing of God back on that person's life, to be able to be received back into fellowship.
And it's not like I'm saying, hey,
If you've ever been homeless, you're not allowed to anchor back to church.
If you've ever been unemployed, you're not allowed to anchor back to church.
That's not what I'm saying because that person got it right.
And when someone gets anything right in their life,
what are we supposed to do?
Forgive that person and let them live it down.
Never bring it up again.
Not shame them anymore.
It's gone.
Don't worry about it, right?
When someone repents, when someone apologizes,
when someone changes, let it go.
Let them live those things down.
But until then, the loving thing to do
is to note him and have no company with him.
That is our policy.
Here's another group of people we should avoid.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
Are people involved in grievous sin?
Yes, we should avoid people that are involved in grievous sin.
We should not go down the path of the wicked
like Proverbs 4 talks about.
What are some examples of that?
It says in verse 10,
yet not all together with the fornicators of this world,
or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters,
for then must he needs go out of the world.
But I've written unto you, not to keep company,
if any man that is called a brother,
be a fornicator or covetous or an idolator,
or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner,
with such in one, no not to eat.
So again, the Bible's giving us another time
where we should,
Mark people, not company with people, not fellowship with them,
not go down their path.
And again, many people have the same exact criticism saying,
it's so hateful that you kick out fornicators.
It's so hateful that you kick out these people.
But again, I submit to you that it is loving.
Why?
Because these sins right here will destroy your life.
And you know what?
If I love kids at this church,
I'm going to make it so clear that fornication is not allowed.
Why? Because if they do that, they're going to grow up and ruin their life.
And if I as a pastor, we just have couples in here, they're just living together, they're not married,
they're fornicating, the message I'm sending to everyone is that this sin is not a big deal.
It's no big deal. We're not going to judge it.
You know, God doesn't even get that angry about it.
No, God gets very angry about it.
You will destroy your life by it.
And so we're not even going to let people infect other people with their bad example.
The Bible isn't saying separate from all sinners. We're all jacked up. We're all sinners, but you know what?
We're not all fornicators. We're not all idolaters. We're not all
railers.
No, we're not all those things and those things will not be tolerated here. Why? Because of love,
that's why. Because of love for the truth, love for God and love for God's people. Go back to Proverbs chapter 4.
Verse number 15 says.
Avoid it, pass not by it.
Turn from it and pass away.
for they sleep not, except they have done mischief.
And their sleep is taken away
unless they cause some to fall.
You know, it'd be a mistake to hang out with these people
because whether you intend to or not,
these people's hearts are intent on mischief.
And they're planning mischief
and they're not even gonna sleep
until they've done something wicked.
And so if you're with them,
you're likely gonna get carried away with their stuff.
It says in verse 17,
for they eat the bread of wickedness
Now, this is some interesting phraseology here where it says the bread of wickedness
and the wine of violence.
I think what this could be referring to is sustenance or gain gotten by sinful means.
Right?
The bread of wickedness.
And what's funny is this is even kind of a slang term where, you know, it's like a gang
term where people say, you know, go get that bread.
Go earn that bread.
You know, these rap artists, they're talking about getting that bread.
And what are they talking about? They're talking about the bread of wickedness.
They're talking about getting money by being a drug dealer,
by stealing from people, by doing wickedness, prostitution, gangs, all these things.
You know, this is the bread of wickedness. This is the wine of wickedness.
And the Bible is saying, stay away from these people
because they're going to get all these ill-gotten gains.
They're going to be involved in crimes. They're going to be involved in all these types of sins.
Verse 18 says, but the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and
more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words,
Incline thine ear unto my sayings,
Let them not depart from thine eyes,
Keep them in the midst of thine heart,
For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh."
Number three, if you're taking notes,
Protecting your heart.
Look at verse 23, it says,
Keep thy heart with all diligence,
For out of it are the issues of...
life
He's kind of giving his son here some practical application to the warnings that he's been given the warnings to make sure he continues
Accepting his law that he doesn't forsake the instruction of his father and that he doesn't go down the path of the wicked
And how is it that we do that?
How is it that we live a life where we're consistently being steadfast following God's commandments?
Doing what he wants us to do and avoiding these pitfalls. Well, it's through keeping your heart
What I think that means is protecting your heart, being careful of the things that you're allowing
into your heart, the influences that you're listening to, the people, just all of the
worldly influences coming into your heart. And notice it says with all diligence. So you're supposed
to give a lot of attention and a lot of heed to protecting your heart. Why it says for out of it
are the issues of life. What I think that's saying is your whole life depends on having a good heart.
The trajectory of your life, how your life is going to go, is going to be dependent upon whether your heart is in tune with the things of God,
following God's commandments, reading His Word, or if your heart is going to follow after the wicked and the path that they're going down.
Go to Luke chapter number six.
Luke chapter number six, we're almost done this evening.
Luke chapter number six, verse 45.
Jesus said, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good.
And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil.
for of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
So notice what you put into your heart,
what you allow into your heart
is going to become who you are.
It's gonna become the things that you say
and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
We gotta be careful of what's entering into our heart.
How can we do that?
Go back to Proverbs chapter number four.
It kind of gives us some practical application of how we can keep our heart.
How can we protect our heart?
It says in verse 24, put away from the a forward mouth.
and perverse lips put far from thee.
Someone who is forward, someone who is contrarian,
someone who's a scorner, someone who's just like,
this person always has bad judgment.
They're always on the wrong side of every issue.
They're always preaching false doctrine.
They've always got some bad take on things.
It's like, put that person far away from you.
Put that person far away from you
and perverse lips put far from thee.
You know, we live in a day and age where people just want to tickle their pride inside of their heart
and they want to go on Facebook and they want to go on X, they want to go on YouTube
and they just want to argue with every fool and every throwward person and every idiot
just to show how much smarter they are and how much better they are and how much godlier they are.
You know what you need to do? You need to put away from you the throwward mouth.
perverse lips put far from you. You know some people want to act like blocking
someone on social media. It's like oh you're a coward man. You blocked me. If you
were a real man you'd engage with me and spend hours of your night argue with me
instead of I don't know hanging out with your wife, talking to your kids, reading
the Bible, working out, doing something. No no if you're a real man you sit on the
internet all night and argue with me. You know what? No an idiot does that.
A prideful person does that.
It's not like you're so tough because you refuse to block people.
No, you're just foolish.
You're just showing poor judgment.
Because if you actually want to keep your heart, you know what I want to do?
I want to get people that believe stupid things and lies and false doctrines
and people that lie about me and my family, that hate our church, that hate you.
I want all their poison out of my mind.
I want all their poison out of my heart
and out of being not even able to influence me in any way
or influencing my family.
And so, boy, thank God for the block button.
I love it.
And you know what?
Fine.
You're a better man than me.
You're just a tougher guy.
Okay.
There you go.
I'll give it to you.
You would just beat me up.
You're a greater guy.
You're a tougher guy.
Okay.
I'll just grant it to you.
Okay.
Are you happy now?
Now, how about you just spend some time with your wife?
How about you, you know, go for a walk?
How about you touch grass, man?
How about you lift some freaking weights?
How about you read a book?
How about you learn something but you're tougher?
It's fine.
All right.
You're cool.
Here's another thing you could do.
Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before you. You know what else affects your heart?
The Bible says mine I affecteth mine heart
What you let in your ears what you let into your eyes these are things that will affect you
Don't think that you're immune to it. You sit there and listen to garbage and crap long enough. It will affect you
You know, you need to make sure that you're guarding your heart.
You need to, and here's the best way to guard your heart
because we live in a sinful world
and we're gonna have mad influences come into our heart.
Here's the best way though that you could guard your heart
is just get it chock full with this.
Why?
Because out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh.
Get it filled with the Bible.
Get it filled with good preaching.
Lastly this evening, number four, consider your steps.
First 26 says, ponder.
the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.
Remove thy foot from evil."
You know, the chapter kind of ends with a call
to action for us to ponder the path of our feet.
What does that mean?
Look at where you are in life.
Take inventory of how you're doing spiritually.
How are you doing retaining God's words?
Are you straying away from the law?
Are you straying away from the commandments?
Are you straying away from what your parents are telling you to do?
Children, you know what you need to do?
Ponder the path of your feet.
Say, where am I right now?
And let me ponder this path.
Where is this path going to lead me someday?
You know, man, you got a lot of important decisions to make in your life,
especially the youth, especially the teens.
We've got so many important decisions to make in your life.
And you would just do well to right now in your life.
Look at where you are.
Take inventory of your heart.
Consider where you want to go.
Ask yourself, am I actually on the path to get there?
You know, we're all gonna have to constantly do this
all the time in our life.
Ponder the path of your feet.
Check where you are.
Check where your path is.
We wanna make sure that we're setting a good example both
giving our kids the right words,
giving them the right doctrine
and also showing them the way.
And that's what we need to do for God's people.
Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for Proverbs chapter number four. We thank you for your commandments,
that they're not grievous, they're there to keep us safe. Lord, I pray that we as a church,
we as individuals would fear you, would fear your judgment, would honor you, would respect you,
and would love you, Lord. And I just pray that you'd help us all to ponder the path of our feet,
help us to correct issues in our lives. We love you and Jesus, and we pray. Amen.
If you'll grab your hymnals, our last hymn this evening, number 156,
156, 156. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
156 on the 1st.
There have been a name that I have loved to hear,
but never has there been a name so dear
to this heart of mine as the name divine,
the precious, precious name of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know
And He's just the same as His lovely name
And that's the reason why I love Him so
Oh Jesus is the sweetest name I know
There is no name and earth or heaven above
And we should give such honor and such love
As the blessed name, let us all acclaim
That wondrous glorious name of Jesus
Jesus is the sweetest name I know
And he's just the same
And why I love Him so.
Oh Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
And someday I shall see Him face to face.
To think and praise Him for His wondrous grace.
reason why I love him so. Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.