["Pomp and Circumstance," by Edward Elgar, plays to the end of the program.]
Joy to the world! The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room!
And heaven and nature sing!
And let heaven and heaven and nature sing!
He rules the world with truth!
["Pomp and Circumstance," by Edward Elgar, plays to the end of the program.]
Come, little Lord Jesus, you sleep on the hay!
["Pomp and Circumstance," by Edward Elgar, plays to the end of the program.]
Good evening, everyone. Let's all find our seats, grab a hymnal,
and turn to song number 422.
And we'll all stand for this first song, which will be song number 422.
Thou didst leave thy throne.
Song number 422, all together on that first verse.
Thou didst leave thy throne, and thy king lay crown,
when thou camest to earth for me.
But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room
for thy holy nativity.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
there is room in my heart for thee.
Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang,
proclaiming thy royal decree.
But of lowly birth didst thou come to earth,
and in great humility.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
there is room in my heart for thee.
The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest,
in the shade of the forest tree.
But thy couch was the sun, O thou Son of God,
in the deserts of Galilee.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
there is room in my heart for thee.
Thou camest the Lord with a living word,
that should set thy people free.
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of board,
they bore thee to Calvary.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
there is room in my heart for thee.
When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
and thy coming to victory,
let thy voice call me home, saying,
yet there is room, there is room at my side for thee.
My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
when thou comest and callest for me.
Amen.
Wonderful singing.
Let's start off the service with a word of prayer.
Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day.
I thank you for the service this morning,
and I thank you for this opportunity
that we can sing these hymns unto you.
And I ask that you please just bless this service, Lord,
bless the preaching of your word, and bless these hymns,
and just bless the entire night, Lord.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Go ahead and turn the next page to the left,
421, the first Noel.
Song number 421, the first Noel, altogether on that first.
The first Noel, the angel did say,
lost to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay,
in fields where they lay, keeping their sheep on a cold
winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel,
and by the light of that same star three wise men came
from country far to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the storm wherever it planned.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.
This star-true night to the northwest, our Bethlehem,
it took its rest, and there it did.
Don't stop and stay right over the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel,
that entered in those wise men three full reverently upon
their knee, and offered there in His presence their
gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.
All right, great singing.
Thank you for being here this evening.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand
and one of the ushers can get one for you.
Our services are as follows.
Sunday morning is at 1030.
Sunday evening is at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock,
and we are studying the book of Acts on Thursdays,
and so make sure you don't miss out on that.
You see there's so many times and teams there as well,
and the list, excuse me, the list of expecting mothers.
Please continue to pray for them.
Ah, I got the info here.
Ah, all right, let's see here.
Where is Robinson?
Here we go.
Cilicia Ortiz was born on the second at 1120 p.m.,
weighing seven pounds, four point, oh yeah, 4.4 ounces,
measuring 19 inches.
And so thank God for that.
Pray for Miss Sarah and, of course, for Brother Robinson.
We're going to want to put some meals together for them
during this time, and so please see my wife about that.
But congratulations to them.
Some of the announcements here,
we are celebrating the December birthdays in the morning,
and so happy birthday to you all,
those in the month of December.
And just as a reminder,
please no food in the mother-baby room
unless you are a parent feeding your child.
And then we have the Couples Christmas Lights activity
this coming Saturday, December 12th.
Now, let me just give you a couple details about that.
We're going to meet at the In-N-Out on PCA.
On PCH at 6391 PCH.
You can get the address from me afterwards.
But we'll meet there at 6 p.m.
So it is a church-sponsored activity,
and so if you would like for us to pay for your meal,
show up at 6 o'clock there at In-N-Out,
and then we'll get some food, we'll fellowship, we'll eat.
And then we're going to meet at the Rite Aid at 5672nd Street at 730.
And you can just look up Rite Aid in Naples,
and you can find the address there.
Most of you have smart phones.
You can just, you know, put it into your phone there and find it.
If you have any questions about that, you can see me afterwards.
But please do this.
We need you to do this.
If you're planning to go, if you're saying, well, I'm going,
then please make sure you sign up in the back
because we do need a head account in order to coordinate
with the Christmas program and get with Maury
as far as the timing is concerned.
So please make sure you sign up in the back
so we can have a head count for that.
And then, of course, the Children's Christmas program
is coming up on Saturday, December 19th.
Sign up to bring cookies in the back as well if you want to do that.
And, of course, invite your family, friends to the program there
because the kids are going to be singing, quoting scripture.
It's going to be a great program,
but thereafter we're also going to be presenting the gospel.
And so it's a great time to invite your unsafe family members and friends
so they can hear the gospel, Lord willing, they would get saved.
And then also on Thursday, December 24th,
we have our Christmas fellowship – I'm sorry – Tuesday, December 22nd,
our Christmas Eve service.
And then we have a Christmas fellowship at pastors on Thursday, December 24th.
That'll be at 6 p.m.
And so anybody who – if you don't have a place to go during Christmas Eve,
or even if you do have somewhere to go,
but maybe you're part of those Hispanic families that, you know,
you guys celebrate Christmas at 12 p.m.,
you're welcome to come to Pastors House first and get some food fellowship.
We're going to be singing Christmas songs and just having a good time.
But the fellowship will end around 10 p.m., all right?
So make sure you just keep that in mind and be considerate of that.
And then we do have the Christmas program practice schedule there.
I believe there is going to be a practice after service tonight.
And so please see Brother Maury for more details about that.
Parents, make sure you don't leave right away.
We do need to practice.
And so please see him right afterwards.
He's going to be coordinating with everyone in regards to that.
And so make sure you silence your phones during the service.
It has to not be a distraction during the preaching of God's word.
And at this time we're going to take some soul winning numbers from last week
up until this afternoon.
So let's get some salvations from Monday up until Wednesday.
Salvations from Monday to Wednesday, yes?
One.
Brother Paul?
One.
Anybody else?
How about Thursday afternoon?
One.
Brother Glenn, one.
Anybody else?
Okay.
How about Friday and Saturday?
Friday and Saturday?
One.
Anybody else?
Yes.
Five.
Okay.
Anybody else for Friday and Saturday?
All right.
How about this afternoon?
Two for the hike?
Give me a second here.
All right.
Two for the hike.
Yes.
One.
Two.
Three.
Anybody else?
Did I miss anyone?
All right.
Keep up the great work on soul winning.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
431, Silent Night.
Song number 431.
Song number 431, Silent Night.
All together on that first.
Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glorious sleep from heaven afar.
Heavenly homes sing hallelujah.
Christ the savior is born.
Silent night, holy night.
Son of God, love's pure light.
Radiant beams from thine own face.
With the dawn of redeeming praise.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
Silent night, holy night.
Wondrous star, lend thy light.
With the angels let us sing.
Hallelujah to our king.
Christ the savior is born.
Amen. Wonderful singing.
The ushers will now collect the offering.
Thank you.
Please turn your Bibles through Judges chapter number four.
Judges chapter number four.
Beginning in verse number one.
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead.
And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan that reigned in Hazor.
The captain of whose host was Sisera which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord where he had 900 chariots of iron.
And 20 years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Rhema and Bethel in Mount Ephraim.
And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abenoham out of Kadesh Naftali.
And said unto him, hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded saying,
go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee 10,000 men of the children of Naftali and of the children of Zebulun.
And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude.
And I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak said unto her, if thou wilt go with me, then I will go.
But if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
And she said, I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor.
For the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh.
And Barak called Zebulun and Naftali to Kadesh.
And he went up with 10,000 men at his feet.
And Deborah went up with him.
Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses,
had severed himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent onto the plain of Zahnaim, which is by Kadesh.
And they showed Sisera that Barak, the son of Abenoham, was gone up to Mount Tabor.
And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron,
and all the people that were with him, from Harashath of the Gentiles unto the river Kishon.
And Deborah said unto Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand.
Has not the Lord gone out from before thee?
So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and 10,000 men after him.
And the Lord discomfited Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak.
So that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet.
But Barak pursued after the chariots and after the hosts unto Harashath of the Gentiles,
and all the hosts of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.
Howbeit, Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.
For there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite.
And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in my lord, turn in to me, fear not.
And when he had turned in unto her, unto the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.
And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be,
when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here that thou shalt say no.
Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand,
and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground.
For he was fast asleep and weary, so he died.
And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him,
Come, I will show thee the man whom thou seekest.
And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
So God subdued on that day, Jabin the king of Canaan, before the children of Israel,
and the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan,
until they had destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day, Lord.
I thank you for your word, and I ask now that you would just please fill pastor with your Holy Spirit
as he preaches from your word, and give us also attentiveness as we listen,
that we may apply what we hear. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Okay, we're in Judges chapter 4 this evening. Judges chapter 4.
Look down at your Bibles at verse 18 of Judges chapter 4.
It says, And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him,
Turn in, my lord, turn into me, fear not.
And when he had turned unto her into the tent, she covered him with the mantle.
And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.
And she opened the bottle of milk, and gave him the drink, and covered him.
Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be,
when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here, that thou shalt say, No.
Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand,
and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground.
For he was fast asleep and weary, so he died.
And the title of the sermon this evening is Hitting the Nail on the Head.
Hitting the Nail on the Head.
Now this is a great story in the book of Judges.
It's actually a pretty popular story about Jael and really the demise of this captain of the host named Sisera.
We actually get a pretty graphic image of his death by the hand of a woman by the name of Jael.
And so here we see that in the book of Judges it's describing a time when in Israel's history
when God's people were ruled by the system of the judges.
At this time there was no king involved.
There wasn't a King David. There wasn't a King Saul.
Prior to that there was a system of the judges where individuals operated as military generals
as well as those who would judge the people righteously and justly according to God's word.
So they would basically tell people, hey, this is what God's law says. This is what you need to do.
But they would also operate as a military general to deliver them out of the hand of the oppressors.
And one of the things that we see in the book of Judges over and over happening
is the fact that the children of Israel would serve God but then they would turn aside to serve false gods.
God will allow them to be oppressed by a foreign enemy.
They would cry out unto the Lord and then God would raise up and deliver them out of their hand
and then the cycle would continue over and over and over again.
We have multiple judges in the book of Judges and in fact in this particular chapter
we see that Israel has gone south back because of the fact that the only judge that is actually qualified
to even judge the people is Barak and a woman by the name of Deborah.
And this shows you the spiritual temperature or should we say the...
not the spiritual temperature but really it shows the atmosphere, the spiritual atmosphere of that day
that they would need a woman to be able to lead them as a nation.
Now this is not to say that women are inferior but the reality is the Bible teaches us
that men ought to be the spiritual leaders in a church, in a nation
and in fact the Bible considers it to be a curse when a woman is ruling over a nation.
That's what the Bible tells us.
Now there were magistrates, these judges were magistrates that would be used
to basically correct the sins of the people.
They would come and say, look God is judging you because you're idolatrous,
you're adulterous, you're idolatrous, you're forsaking the Lord.
This is what God's word says. This is what you need to correct.
I'm going to help you get out of this bind. I'm going to fight for you.
Now in this particular story of course we have Deborah and Barak.
Look at chapter 4 and verse number 1.
And the children of Israel again did evil on the side of the Lord when Ehud was dead.
And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan that reigned in Hazor,
the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord for he had nine hundred chariots of iron
and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
Now although it is Jabin who is the king of Canaan,
really the guy who's reaping havoc upon the people is this man by the name of Sisera
who has nine hundred chariots of iron and really oppressing them for twenty years.
And in fact if you look at chapter 5 and verse number 5 it says,
The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.
In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael,
the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways.
This is a pretty dangerous time to the point where people can't just roam the streets,
they can't walk through the highways, it's too dangerous.
You have nine hundred chariots out there that are being led by this man by the name of Sisera
who's oppressing them, he is mistreating them.
And so what do they have to do?
They have to walk through byways and the main roads are unoccupied.
This is how dangerous it is during this time.
It's basically showing us how much oppression the children of Israel are suffering
at the hand of Sisera, the captain of the host.
Go back to chapter 4 if you would.
You look down at your Bibles at verse number 4, it says,
In Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time,
and she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim,
and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
Verse 6, And she said and called Barak the son of Abinoham out of Kadesh, Naphtali,
and said unto him, Hast not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying,
Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali
and of the children of Zebulun?
And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army,
with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak said unto her, by the way, these are the saddest words in the Bible, okay?
If thou wilt go with me, then I will go, but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
Now folks, Deborah has already told them, this is what God wants you to do, Barak.
And so if God is the one commanding him to do it, that means he's going to equip him,
he's going to deliver his enemies into his hand.
He doesn't need another third party's permission to be able to win this war.
He already has the sanction of God, he already has the blessing of God to be able to overcome Sisera.
Look at verse 9, it says, and she said,
I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honors.
What is he saying?
Look, because you wanted me to go with you, now you're not going to be honored.
It's not going to be yours.
You're going to be the one who turns to flight the armies of the aliens, as Hebrews chapter 11 says,
but you're not going to be honored.
And why is that?
Because of the fact that he told Deborah, if thou will not go with me, I will not go.
Okay.
For the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedah.
So he's basically saying, look at verse 17, basically saying this, look,
since you just are not willing to believe the Lord and have faith that what he's telling you is true
because you need my support, okay, then you're not going to be honored.
The honor is going to go into a woman.
Okay.
Because of the fact that he's asking a woman to go with him for the war.
So at that point he's saying, all right, well, we're just going to give the honor to another woman.
If you don't want to do the job.
Look at verse 17.
How be it, Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Canaanite.
For there was peace between Jael and the king of Hazor in the house of Heber, the Canaanite.
And Jael went out to meet Sisera and said unto them, turn in my Lord, turn into me, fear not.
When he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
So she's, you know, acting like she's an ally of Sisera, right?
She's like, hey, come in here.
I'll protect you.
I'll cover you.
I'll give you a mantle.
Verse 19, and he said unto her, give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink for I am thirsty.
And she opened a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him.
So what is she doing?
She's basically trying to make him as, you know, the least amount of suspicious as he can be, right?
By, he's saying, you know, give me some water.
And she's like, water?
I'll give you milk.
And in fact, in chapter five, we see that she provides it to him in the lordly dish.
You know, she's basically showing him like, hey, I'm taking care of you.
You're my guest here.
I'm going to, don't worry about me.
I'm not your enemy.
I'm your ally.
That's what basically she's trying to do here.
It says in verse number 20, and again, he said it to her, stand in the door of the tent,
and it shall be when any man doth come and inquire of thee and say, is there any man here?
That thou shall say no.
So he's kind of like taking charge here.
He's all right.
You know, she's my ally.
I can order her around a little bit.
He goes, what I want you to do is go stand at the door and make sure you keep a lookout.
Anybody asks if I'm here, you just tell them no.
Verse 21, then J.L. Heber's wife took a nail of the tent and took a hammer in her hand
and went softly unto him and smote the nail into his temples.
Now, this is not referring to something like small little nail, right?
Nor is it referring to those plastic nails that we use for like, you know, volleyball
or whatever that comes with the package.
This isn't like either a brass nail or an iron nail.
It's probably very long, and in fact, it's long enough to first of all be able to fasten
a tent together, which is someone's home, but it's also big enough to be able to go
through his head and be fastened into the ground.
I mean, it has to be pretty long, okay?
Because one thing, to fasten it through his head or, you know, pierce it through his head
and get it to pierce the ground, it's fastening to the ground.
That means the ground can keep his head there.
She's pretty strong, okay?
You know, I like the way the Bible describes this.
You know, she's grabbing the nail, and she grabs the hammer, and she goes like softly.
She's all delicate about it, and she's like, boom, you know?
She's fastening into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary, so he died.
Look at chapter 5 and verse 24.
Hey, who needs Hollywood when you've got stories like this, amen?
And this actually happened, too.
Look at verse 24.
Of course, this is the song of Deborah singing of the victory that was given to them
over Sisera and over the king there.
It says in verse 24, blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the canine be.
Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
He asked water, and she gave him milk.
She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
She put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer,
and with the hammer she smote Sisera.
Look what it says.
She smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
This tells me that the nail is pretty thick as well.
And I'm not trying to get too graphic here, but think about it.
This is how the Bible is describing this, okay?
If you're to strike a nail that big into a watermelon, it's going to split, basically.
That's what it means when it says it smote off his head, okay?
It says she put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer,
and with the hammer she smote Sisera.
She smote off his head when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he laid down.
At her feet he bowed, he fell.
Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
Basically saying, like, he's done, okay?
This is a very interesting story here.
And, you know, J.L. was in the right place at the right time,
and we can say of her, hey, she hit the nail on the head, literally, right?
You know, this is a term that we typically use in idiom,
as people would like to call it,
to basically describe something that's done with accuracy, okay?
When you say, hey, that person hit the nail on the head,
who knows, maybe this is where they got it from, I don't know.
But when they say they hit the nail on the head,
it's referring to the fact that they were accurate, okay?
They spoke with accuracy, what they said was right, what they did was right,
they hit the nail on the head.
She didn't have to smite Sisera twice.
She didn't have to do it three times, she didn't have to do it four times,
it was one hit, and that was it.
And look, I don't think she was just like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
I think it was just boom, just once through,
hitting the nail on the head with accuracy.
And look, to do something with accuracy, to find the right answer,
to be precise, to describe the cause of a problem or a situation,
this is a virtue to have, amen?
To be able to discern what is the nail,
what is the head that we need to drive the nail through
is something that is important for every Christian to have.
Now look, if she would have killed one of the soldiers,
it really wouldn't have made much of a difference, right?
If one of the soldiers came by and she just got him and just killed him,
it really wouldn't have done anything.
But because she got Sisera, the captain of the host,
which is the head of the army, at that point, the war is done.
So it wasn't as though she got some other individual,
some no-namer who had no power, no authority, no threat.
She took off the head in the most literal sense
and in a figurative way as well.
She was able to identify who the true enemy was
and based upon that, take his life and disperse the army there.
She hit the nail on the head literally and figuratively as well.
Now, how do we apply that?
Because obviously this story is here for a reason
and I don't think it's a coincidence that we have that phrase
and we have this story as well.
You know, being accurate and being honest is an important virtue.
And we as Christians need to be able to hit the nail on the head
with accuracy when it comes to different things in our life.
Now, go with me if you want to Mark chapter 9.
Mark chapter 9.
Hitting the nail on the head is the title of the sermon this evening.
When are we to hit the nail on the head?
In what points?
Well, number one, we need to be accurate in who we attack.
Right?
And just as we mentioned here, we have J.L. who is extremely accurate
and who she was attacking.
She knew who the enemy was.
She was able to identify the enemy of the host.
She knew that that guy was the captain.
That's the guy we need to take his life.
That's the guy who needs to die.
I'll take care of it.
One hit.
He's dead.
Accuracy accomplished.
And in like manner, you know what?
By the way, we're not literally talking about,
hey, we need to make sure we beat up the right people
or kill the right people.
I'm not promoting violence here.
We're taking the spiritual application to this, okay?
And the spiritual application is that we need to know,
we need to be accurate in the people that we attack.
And let me just say this, is we should attack certain individuals.
Absolutely.
And an individual who says, oh, we're not supposed to attack anybody.
Christians are supposed to be peaceful.
Folks, the Bible says that we're peacemakers,
and that is in context of us preaching the gospel,
reconciling the lost and dying world to Jesus Christ.
And even then, the Bible calls that spiritual warfare.
Because in order for us to be able to teach someone
what the right way of salvation is,
we need to be able to identify what the wrong way of salvation is as well.
Okay?
Now, with that being said, we need to make sure that we do this right, though.
Okay?
You know, Jael knew who the real enemy was.
He was able to identify him and therefore put him to death.
Look at Mark chapter 9, verse 38.
It says, And John answered him, saying,
Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name,
and he followeth not us.
And we forbade him, because he followeth not us.
So what do we see here?
We see another group of individuals that is not part of the 12,
not one of Jesus' disciples necessarily,
those who are actually running with him,
and they're casting out devils.
They are preaching God's Word,
and the disciples come to Jesus and basically say,
Hey, we told them to stop doing that.
Why?
Well, because they're not part of our gang.
They're not part of our crew.
Verse 39, But Jesus said, Forbid him not.
Forbid him not. Why?
For there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name
that can lightly speak evil of me.
For he that is not against us is on our part.
Now, what he's basically saying here is this.
Look, if those people are phonies,
they're not going to be able to really,
if they're not phonies, excuse me,
they're not going to be able to speak lightly of me.
They're going to be able to actually do it
if I give them the authority to do so,
but if they're phonies, they're not going to be able to do anything.
And if, look, if they're not against us,
then we can safely assume that they are on our part, okay?
Look at verse 41, For whosoever shall give you a cup of water
to drink in my name because he belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Now, how do we apply this to ourselves today?
Well, you know what?
As in light of Christianity,
or just when we observe Christianity just in general,
obviously we refer to ourselves as independent fundamental Baptists,
and I would have it no other way.
But look, that's not to say there's not a denomination out there
that believes right on salvation,
that actually goes soul-winning,
that actually uses the King James Bible,
that has these fundamental doctrines down,
but maybe they don't call themselves independent fundamental Baptists.
Maybe they don't even call themselves Baptist period.
They just call themselves Christians, and it's out there, okay?
I don't remember what trip it was, if it was to Belize.
It was to Belize, excuse me.
It was the first time I went to Belize.
I was sitting next to Milan on the plane,
and we had our Bibles out, and we were just talking.
I think we were talking about Bible prophecy or something.
And the steward, I don't know, what do you call a male stewardess?
Isn't a stewardess just...
Oh, just a steward, okay.
Well, anyway, the stewardess, I'm just kidding.
The steward, he was working there,
and he kept coming back and forth,
and he was looking at our Bibles.
And then he's like, hey, are you guys missionaries?
We're like, actually, yeah.
You know, we just came back from Belize.
He's like, right on.
He's like, how'd it go?
I'm like, we got a bunch of people saved.
It's great.
He's like, man, that's awesome.
He's all, man, me and my church, we just took a trip.
And this guy was like hippie status, okay?
Let me just be honest with you.
He's like, we just took a trip up to,
I don't remember where he said he went.
He goes, he's like, we saw 35 people saved,
call upon the name of the Lord.
Folks, not a Baptist, okay?
But he's using the lingo.
He's talking about sowing.
And he had the right gospel.
And I remember like, me and Leon looking at each other like,
whoa, that's rare.
Because typically, you know,
it's independent fundamental Baptists
who use that type of language.
You know, get 35 people saved.
Other people would be like, why are you counting?
You know, like, you shouldn't count them.
You know, there's Jesus who saves them, not you.
And you know, they say all these things or whatever.
You know, us as Baptists, we know what the Bible says.
And we say, yeah, we got 35 people saved.
They called upon the name of the Lord.
We went sowing.
We preached the gospel.
These are the type of phrases that we use
when we talk about evangelism.
And he was using that type of terminology.
And you know what?
We didn't forbid him.
Because obviously, he was on our part, right?
He was for the work of the Lord.
He was obviously doing it correctly.
And it seemed as though he had the right gospel.
Okay.
And so, you know, we need to be careful
not to attack just every Tom, Dick, and Harry
who's not an independent fundamental Baptist.
Now, obviously, the vast majority of people out there
who, you know, from other Christian denominations,
they've gone apostate.
They don't believe the right gospel.
They use a different Bible version, et cetera.
And at that point, obviously, they merit being called out.
But when it comes to other individuals
who are just different from us,
even if they're independent fundamental Baptists,
we shouldn't necessarily attack them
if they're doing the work of the Lord, okay?
Now, look, if they're like harboring pedophilia
and they're like, you know, backing them up
and defending them and keeping them in their church
and stuff like that, they deserve to be called out.
That's a shame for any pastor to be able to defend
a pedophile, an individual who desires to destroy
a little child, innocent child's life, okay?
But we need to make sure that we do not make an enemy
out of everyone, okay?
You know, when you have a hammer,
everything has a tendency to look like a nail, right?
You know, our type of church, you know,
we are very thoroughly trained in identifying
the false prophet and the reprobate.
We know what the Bible says about it, right?
But here's the thing, it can get to a point
where you just think everyone is.
And we obviously know that that's not true, okay?
You know, the goal is to hit the nail on the head
to identify the right enemy, okay?
Attack the right person, the right enemy, et cetera.
Now, go to Deuteronomy chapter 13.
And look, God takes this very serious, folks.
You know, He's not just for throwing out there
the people are just evil individuals and wicked
and reprobate and sons of the devil.
Actually, He wants us to make diligent inquiry,
the Bible says, okay?
When someone is behaving as such.
Now look, if there's a pastor out there
who's teaching a false gospel,
he's saying that people don't burn in hell,
he's saying that Jesus Christ did not die,
okay, that's all we need.
That's all the evidence that we need to say,
yeah, Manly Perry is a wicked reprobate,
that guy's not saved.
He's teaching false doctrine to the point
where he is gonna damn someone to hell
who doesn't know the gospel,
is deceived by that type of teaching.
And yeah, we don't need to make that much diligent inquiry
because he's saying that out of his own mouth.
It's straight out of the horse's mouth, right?
And look, this is what frustrates me sometimes with people
is that they go to the opposite extreme
and they say, well, you know, don't judge him.
You know, it's not what he meant,
you know, you're taking him out of context.
Well, I would try to get more context,
but the problem is that he takes down his videos.
Because he's afraid that you might find the context
and it confirmed that, yeah, he is wicked.
You see, folks, I never take down a video.
By the way, if I preach something, for example,
and maybe I make a mistake,
not a huge mistake, but maybe a little mistake,
I'll leave it there.
If it's a little mistake, then, you know,
so people can see, look, I make mistakes,
I was wrong in this area.
In fact, I remember teaching through the book of Judges.
As I'm teaching through, I found something,
I say, hey, I was actually wrong about this.
Initially, I taught this in the beginning of the series.
I'm actually wrong about this.
I made a mistake, but now I'm right
because this is actually what the Bible says.
You know, that's what we should do.
But, you know, when someone teaches false doctrine
and then they're just like, take down the video,
you're misquoting me, you're taking me out of context,
then why'd you take it down, right?
Well, why would you take down the video
of you teaching false doctrine
and accuse us of taking you out of context
where now we can't look at the context, right?
But when it's coming out of someone's mouth,
that's different, okay?
I mean, the horse's mouth.
Now look at Deuteronomy 13, verse 12.
This is God commanding his people regarding that.
Look what it says.
If thou shalt hearsay in one of thy cities,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there,
saying, Certain men, the children of Belial,
now this is a pretty strong accusation
because who's Belial, the devil?
Who are the children of Belial, the sons of the devil?
Okay, these are wicked reprobates.
And he's saying this, if you hear about this,
he didn't say, look, if someone just said this,
just go strike them down and kill them
and, you know, be done with them.
He's saying, look, if you hear about this,
certain men, the children of Belial,
are gone out from among you
and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city,
saying, let us go and serve other gods
which ye have not known,
then shalt thou inquire and make search
and ask diligently.
Think about that.
Now look, no one hates the children of Belial more than God.
Right?
No one hates reprobates more than the Lord hates reprobates.
But he's specifically telling fallible men,
look, if you hear about this,
because it's such a condemning accusation
that this person would be a reprobate,
we need to make sure, you need to make sure
that you inquire, you make search,
and ask diligently if that individual is really that wicked.
If they're trying to get you to serve other gods,
they're withdrawing inhabitants,
if you hear about that,
you need to investigate to see if this is true.
Now again, how do we apply that to today?
Well look, if they bring out a video
where they say damnable heresy,
we don't have to inquire,
make search, or ask diligently.
Because it's coming out of his mouth.
It says, thou shalt inquire, make search,
ask diligently, behold if it be truth,
and the thing certain.
Can you see something here?
He's like, you got to make sure it's true,
you got to make sure it's certain, why?
That such abomination is wrought among you,
thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants
of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly,
and all that is therein, the cattle thereof,
I mean not even the animals survived that,
with the edge of the sword.
So this is why he tells them,
hey, you need to make sure that you are right about this,
you need to make sure you hit the nail on the head,
yeah, the nail on the head,
you got to make sure that you are accurate
in your judgment, because of the fact
that it's going to cost an entire city their lives,
even the animals are going to die, okay?
Now go to Deuteronomy 17, Deuteronomy 17.
Where is brother Ulysses?
Is he around here?
Oh, there he is.
Turn it up, man.
I can't handle this, this is too warm in here.
So what is he saying?
Hey, be accurate, be accurate, okay?
Make sure you make diligent search,
you inquire, you search out the matter,
you make sure that it's certain
before you pronounce judgment upon that individual,
because it's going to cost them their life, okay?
Deuteronomy 17, verse 2 says,
if there be found among you within any of thy gates
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman,
that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God
and transgress in this covenant,
and hath gone and serve other gods and worshiped them,
either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven
which I have not commanded,
and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it,
and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true,
and the thing certain, I mean, can you see,
like the lap is just layering it on.
Make sure it's certain,
make sure you've inquired diligently,
make sure it's true,
that such abomination is wrought in Israel,
then shalt thou bring forth the man or that woman
which hath committed that wicked thing unto thy gates,
even the man or that woman,
and shall stone them with stones till they die, okay?
Go to Deuteronomy 19.
Deuteronomy 19, go to chapter 19.
Now look, this is especially important in a church setting, okay?
We are a church family,
and so as a church family,
we're brothers and sisters in Christ,
and you know what's going to happen when there's brothers and sisters?
The same thing happened with the little brothers and sisters
in your household growing up.
You guys are going to fight, right?
You guys are going to fight, you guys are going to disagree,
there's going to be contentions, you know,
but the goal is not to bite and devour one another.
The goal is to make sure that we keep the spirit of unity in our church
and not make an enemy out of every individual in our church, okay?
We need to make sure that we inquire diligently
what we hear about certain things, right?
Look at verse 16.
It says, if a false witness rise up against any man
to testify against him that which is wrong,
then both the men between whom the controversy is
shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges,
which shall be in those days,
and the judges shall make diligent inquisition.
And behold, if the witness be a false witness
and hath testified falsely against his brother,
then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother,
so shall thou put the evil away from among you.
So what's the situation here?
Well, the situation here is that an individual is bringing a false accusation
against another citizen in that camp there,
and he's not doing it because he actually believes
that this individual is guilty of that.
He's doing it because he wants to harm that individual.
He is railing against that individual.
He has ill intentions towards that person,
and so he wants that individual to be punished
for something that he did not do.
This is obviously wicked, right?
And this is why it says there
that if it's false, if that person is not guilty of that, verse 19,
then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother.
It's like, hey, I heard this guy did this, so he needs 39 stripes.
He's like, are you sure he did it? I'm sure.
And then you investigate. It's not true.
It's like, all right, now you get the 39 stripes.
Because what is that going to do?
It's going to teach that guy,
oh, man, I'm never going to falsely accuse anyone ever again.
I don't want another 39 stripes.
This is what it means that thou shall not bear false witness, okay?
It says in verse 20, and those which remain shall hear and fear
and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you,
and thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
This is talking to the judges.
So if an individual comes and says,
hey, this person is a sodomite.
They're a son of Bela. They're a sodomite.
They deserve to be put to death.
And they make diligent inquiry and realize that he's not a sodomite,
then the person who accused them is put to death.
Pretty severe, but just.
Because it kind of shows you how serious God takes a false accusation, okay?
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 7, if you would, Ecclesiastes chapter 7.
Let me read to you from Deuteronomy 17 verse 6.
It says, at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses
shall he that is worthy of death be put to death,
but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
Now, look, we're not putting people to death in our church, okay?
We're not sanctioned to do that.
But the same principle applies.
And the principle is this, is that we need to make sure
that if we hear something of another individual in our church
that there's more than two witnesses, okay?
Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses the Bible says
every word shall be established in the New Testament.
And so, and look, but here's the thing.
Let's say, let me give you some practical things here, okay?
Let's say Adon hears something about hike, okay?
Adon hears that hike, you know, is, I don't know,
he's stealing hymn books or something.
Or he's stealing styrofoam cups.
He's like, this guy's stealing those cups, okay?
Because he went and he saw and he sees hike
just grabbing these stacks of cups.
And Adon is just like, I think this guy's stealing that stuff.
Now, let's say Adon doesn't really have any ill intentions
towards hike, but, you know, because hike's not abstaining
from all the parents of evil, okay?
Adon is just like, this looks like stealing.
You know what?
It's right for Adon, even though he's the only witness
to come and tell me about that, okay?
Because this is something that he's seeing.
So Adon comes to me and says, hey, pastor,
Brother Hike is stealing styrofoam cups.
And I'm like, how do you know?
And he's like, I saw him.
You know, everyone during quiet time, they're sleeping,
but I had one eye open and I saw him right there
in the back and he was grabbing those things
and he was taking them outside, you know?
Well, even though he's the only witness to that,
I still should know about that.
Because now I as the pastor am gonna make diligent inquiry
to see if these things are so, okay?
So I go to hike, Adon and I confront hike
and we say, hey, hike, do you need cups or something?
Are you struggling or something?
What's going on here?
You know, Adon said that he saw you taking cups
and it looks like you're stealing some cups.
Is that what's happening?
And he's just like, no, I'm actually just relocating them
to the shed.
I'm grabbing the cups and I'm taking them outside
and I'm actually putting them in the shed
to make more space.
I don't need cups, I have cups.
And if I needed a cup, I wouldn't steal from the church
to get a cup, okay?
I'd steal from a store, no, I'm just kidding.
So it turns out that it's false, okay?
Even though Adon thought that it was true.
Now here's the thing, Adon is not a wicked person
for bringing that to my attention.
Now here's the thing, if Adon was just like,
came to me and said, you know, Hike is a wicked person,
I think he's an infiltrator.
I'm like, why?
Because he's stealing styrofoam cups from the church.
I think this guy is a wicked devil and all this stuff
and he has ought against him.
Or, you know, let's say Adon just does not like Hike,
just doesn't like Armenians.
You know, he just has his thing against Armenians
and he's just looking for something to get on Hike about.
At that point, he's in the wrong
and he shall be disciplined for that.
He shall be strongly rebuked for that
once we find out that Hike's not stealing the cups.
You understand?
But if he brings a concern that he genuinely thinks
is something bad and he brings it to my attention
and I diligently inquire of that,
Hike can't get mad about that.
Because we're fallible people who need to make search inquiry
to make sure these things are true or not.
Because there's pastors out there, listen to this,
there's pastors out there, you bring a concern to them,
a genuine concern, and they do nothing about it.
You tell them, hey, I think your Spanish pastor
is stealing money from the church
and nothing is done about it.
You tell the leadership, hey, this person,
I'm pretty sure this guy's a pedophile.
I saw him behaving very wickedly
around some of the little girls in our church.
We should go to the authorities
and they just do nothing about it.
That's wicked, folks.
That is evil.
That leader needs to go to that individual
and say, are you a pervert?
Are you a pedophile?
Were you playing with these girls?
Do you have past experiences with this stuff?
Are you a sex offender?
Well, yeah, get out.
We're calling the police on you.
I remember my father-in-law, he was a pastor,
and he was a pastor of a very large church,
like 1,300 members at the time,
and a guy came to him and basically said
that he was a pedophile.
And he came for counsel or whatever.
He was just like, yeah, I'm a pedophile.
He's like, you're a sex offender?
And he said, yes.
He goes, and I want some counsel.
He goes, okay, just wait here.
Walks out, comes back.
He's like, I just called the police.
Go on.
They're coming to get you.
You can't be here.
Because it's out of the horse's mouth.
He said it himself.
He's not going to be like, well, just keep it under wraps,
and I'll give you a position here and stuff like that.
He wasn't going to tolerate that nonsense.
But the mouth of two or three witnesses,
every word shall be established.
Now, let me say this, is that even in these days,
even when there's two witnesses,
I guarantee you there is moments
when even they were still wrong.
Because sometimes that happens.
Sometimes people are just in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
Something is misunderstood.
Something is said that was not said properly,
whatever it may be.
And maybe someone was put to death
and they were innocent.
Who knows?
But this is still God's perfect law
because this works still.
And out of every one person that was falsely accused,
I guarantee you it worked 50 or 100 times
every other time.
So what's the principle that we need to learn here?
Hey, Adan, you need to make sure
you hit the nail on the head.
And look, if you see high stealing styrofoam cups,
first and foremost, it's good to just go to him
and ask him, hey, where are you taking those cups?
And if he's like, well, I'm stealing them.
I need cups.
You know, Adan shouldn't be like, well, give me a cut
and we'll, you know.
It's pandemic, man.
You down to get some toilet paper too?
No, I'm just kidding.
But look, either way, whether he goes to hike
or he goes to me, both of them are fine, in my opinion.
Both of them are fine.
Whether he goes to hike because he's close to hike,
he's friends with hike, and says, hey, man,
are you stealing stuff?
I saw you taking some stuff.
Is that what you're doing?
No, I'm just relocating them.
Oh, okay, cool.
Or if he's just like so taken back by the situation,
he just comes to tell me.
There's nothing wrong with it because here's the thing,
we're diligently inquiring of potential evil
that's taking place.
And if hike is innocent,
he shouldn't get offended about that.
Because hike's gonna have moments in his life
where he might falsely accuse another person
in our church as well.
It's gonna happen.
Where do I have eternity?
Ecclesiastes 7, verse 24 says,
that which is far off and exceeding deep,
who can find it out?
I applied mine heart to know and to search
and to seek out wisdom and the reason of things
and to know the wickedness of folly,
even of foolishness and madness.
What is he saying?
Be diligent.
Don't just falsely accuse someone of wrongdoing.
We need to make sure that we hit the nail on the head,
that we are accurate with our judgments.
Now let me show you this.
Go to Genesis chapter 18.
We talked about Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah in Genesis 18
regarding Isaac's miraculous birth.
And I kind of talked about Sodom and Gomorrah
and how he was gonna destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
And I was thinking about this
as I was preparing this sermon,
obviously God is omniscient.
What does that mean when we say that God is omniscient?
It means he knows everything.
He knows the inner recesses of our hearts.
He knows all the secrets of man.
He knows everything.
There's nothing that he does not know.
He is all knowing.
He's omniscient, right?
But even when it comes to evildoings,
even God who is omniscient still makes diligent search
to pronounce that individual 100% guilty.
Let me give you an example of this
because Sodom and Gomorrah is your basis
of why we teach about or how we teach about
Sodomites, homosexuals, right?
And how God destroyed them.
And look, God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities about them in like manner
for the wickedness that they committed
their abominable acts because they're Sodomites,
they're homos, and God destroyed them for that.
They received a great eternal fire destruction
from the Lord, okay?
But before that happened, look what it says in verse 20.
And the Lord said,
because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
because their sin is very grievous,
I will go down now and see whether they have done
all together according to the cry of it,
which has come unto me, and if not, I will know.
Think about that.
Because remember the three angels who came,
one of them was Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ.
And the Bible says that he's like,
I'm gonna go down to see if these things are so.
Now he already knows.
He already knows what they're doing.
He's heard the cry.
He sees everything that's taking place.
But even then, he decides to go down
to see if these things are so.
Isn't that amazing?
So what can we say of that?
He makes sure, I mean, when he hits the nail on the head,
it's perfectly fastened.
His accuracy is impeccable.
He leaves no room.
No one can look at that and say,
oh no, God, you shouldn't have done that.
Those people weren't that bad.
Kidding me?
When they're trying to rape angels?
They go there and they try to rape angels, folks.
Even when they're smitten with blindness,
they're groping for the door as blind as they are
to try to still go inside the house
and rape the individuals who are in that house.
Okay?
So go with me, if you would, to 2 Peter chapter one.
So what's my first point?
I spent a lot of time on the first point,
but it's important, okay?
Because of the fact that, you know,
the longer our church is in existence,
the more likely these things are gonna happen.
It's not bad.
It's part of church life.
Okay?
It's part of church life, and you need to make sure
that if you have an issue with another individual,
you know, that you go to that person.
If you personally have an issue with someone,
you need to personally go to that individual and fix it.
Okay?
But here's the thing.
If that individual is involved in something
that could potentially, you know, hurt the church
or, you know, hurt me as a leader,
or if it involves even the leaders in our church,
I should know about those things.
It's not bad for me to know about those things.
Now, don't bring every single issue to me
that's just like, hey, you know,
I saw brother so-and-so going to Del Taco the other day.
I know you don't like Del Taco.
I'm like, I just want to let you know about that.
I don't want to know about other people's sins.
I don't want to know about their disgusting lifestyle
and all the filthiness they do
and all that stuff that they practice.
You know, that which they do in secret, you know,
I don't want to know about those things.
Okay?
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm kidding.
Every Del Taco person here like hates me right now.
Okay?
I'm just kidding, sort of.
The main point is this,
is that we want to make sure we attack the right person,
not the wrong person.
Okay?
And look, you know,
people accuse us of attacking pastors and all this,
but it's just like, yeah, but hold on a second.
That horse has said it out of their own mouth
that they're that wicked.
But that's the doctrine that they're teaching.
So we're not making an unjust judgment on that person.
They actually judge themselves.
By thy words thou shalt be justified
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
We live in such a weird world
where even when the very person they're defending
is condemning themselves,
people are still like, well, that's not what he meant.
He literally says that's what he meant.
Weirdo.
But in like manner,
we don't want to bite and devour one another.
We don't want to get offended if someone is inquiring
or is doing an investigation.
And on the same token,
we don't want to go on a witch hunt
against anybody in our church.
We want to make sure
that we keep the spirit of unity in our church.
Amen?
And look, you ought to give the benefit of the doubt
for every individual in our church.
So what if there's an infiltrator though?
Well, then their folly shall be made manifest.
We don't have to worry about it.
I'm not worried about it.
If there's a Judas Iscariot in here
that we don't know about
and they're playing the part,
I'm not really worried about it
because eventually their folly shall be made manifest.
God's favor is on our church.
His hand is on our church.
He loves our church.
He is protecting our church
and he has shown himself faithful in times past
manifesting the folly of those infiltrators
before he's going to keep doing it
because this is his church.
And he knows that we're not omniscient.
He knows that we are fallible men.
He knows that we don't know everything.
Therefore, he will impart the wisdom and judgment
to be able to discern when those things come to pass.
And we'll expose those people for who they are.
Now, I presumably don't believe there's a Judas Iscariot
in our church now.
But then again, I thought that like a year ago
or earlier this year and there was.
But here's the thing.
Don't go on a witch hunt trying to figure out who it is.
Just assume that everyone is a good person in our church.
People who love the Lord, who are just trotting along,
they're trying to do right.
They want to love the Lord.
They want to win souls.
You know, work on loving them
and developing great relationships with them.
What if they backstab me?
Then welcome to the club.
It's part of life.
That's just the way life is, folks.
That's the way life was even before salvation.
I mean, weren't you backstabbed before salvation?
How much more now that we're saved
when we have Satan, the world, our flesh,
the enemies of God going against us,
it's going to keep happening, okay?
All right, so let me get off that point.
So make sure you hit the nail on the head
when it comes to, or be accurate
in identifying who the true enemy is.
Not only that, but we ought to be accurate
in our doctrine, right?
Look at 2 Peter 1, verse 19 says,
we have also a more sure word of prophecy.
Now, what does sure mean?
Well, it means that it's fastened.
It means that it's accurate.
Where until you do well that you take heed
as into a light that shineth in dark place
until the day dawn and the day star
arise in your hearts, knowing this first
and no prophecy of the scripture,
look what it says, is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came down in old time
by the will of man, but holy man of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Now, often in the Bible, we read it in chapters
because that's how it's laid out in our physical Bible.
But we obviously understand that the chapters
are not necessarily inspired, okay?
That's to help us to memorize, to keep track where we're at.
So the thought actually continues into chapter two.
Look at chapter two, verse one.
But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.
So privily bringing in damnable heresies
is synonymous with verse 20 of chapter one
where it says that they have a private interpretation.
They're privily bringing in damnable heresies
even denying the Lord that bought them
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
So we need to make sure that we as preachers
or as fathers, as leaders, we're accurate in our doctrine.
We hit the nail right on the head
when it comes to that which is essential.
Now look, let me just make something very clear.
There's passages in the Bible, let's say for example
end times Bible prophecy where things are not very clear.
Right?
They're not very clear.
So what do we do?
We speculate.
We surmise.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
You know, my revelation series,
there's much of that revelation series
where I was speculating, I was surmising,
I was saying this could potentially be the case.
But I was not speaking with, you know,
definitively that that is what the Bible says
because I didn't know.
When it comes to secondary or third issues, you understand?
But when it comes to matters of salvation,
we need to hit the nail on the head.
Right?
When it comes to the Trinity,
we need to hit the nail on the head.
When it comes to the sonship of Jesus Christ,
the deity of Jesus Christ,
we need to make sure we hit the nail on the head
where there's no question about what we believe.
We're not surmising.
We're not speculating, hey, well, you know,
maybe he doesn't die because he is God.
That's weird.
The Bible says that he died.
That's part of the gospel.
His death, burial, and resurrection.
You know, we're not surmising whether he went to hell or not.
The Bible says he did.
Okay?
Acts chapter 2 tells us he did.
You know, the book of Jonah where he went into the well's belly
is proof that he went into hell.
He specifically said that he was going to go into the heart of the earth
as Jonah was, and Jonah specifically says
that he cried from the belly of hell.
So that's not something we have to surmise or speculate
or wonder or maybe, I don't know.
No.
It's like these are things that we can hit the nail on the head
and say this is true.
We know this is true.
We need to hit the nail on the head on what Bible we use.
Amen?
We're King James Onias.
That's a nail that we hit on the head over and over again
because that's what we believe.
We know and we believe that it is an inspired and preserved
word of God for the English-speaking people
and that all other modern perversions of the Bible are bad versions.
Why?
Because they tamper with salvation.
They remove verses.
They add to them and therefore they have corrupted God's word.
That's not something we need to surmise.
Well, I think the ESV is bad.
I think the ESV is pretty bad.
No, we know it's bad.
Amen.
Why?
Because we have searched.
We've made diligent inquiry.
We know and see in the Bible, those Bibles, and see what they said,
the content that they hold, what they teach about core doctrines,
and they're wrong.
Amen.
Therefore, we can hit the nail on the head when it comes to that, right?
You know, the Bible tells us to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
And look, our type of church is the kind of church where,
hey, you have a pastor who's always growing.
I'm going to be learning new things in the Bible,
not things that no one's ever heard of, but new facets of the diamond.
We're still looking at the same diamond,
but we're always going to turn it upside down, right side up
to look at different facets of the diamond
and teach us new things about the word of God.
But here's what you won't get at our church,
a new doctrine every single week.
Something wrong with that, right?
A couple of years ago, there was a guy by the name of Tyler Doka,
who was a Flat Earth pastor, who literally came out with the doctrine
like every week, I don't know, for like six weeks.
He was on a six-week series on new doctrines,
saying that Christians are going to go to hell for a short period of time,
the lake of fire for a little bit of time.
Weird, weird stuff, teaching that the earth is flat
and the Bible teaches that.
It's like weird stuff, nonsensical things.
And he was literally coming out with doctrine every single...
You know what it made him look?
It made him look stupid, is what it did.
Shameful, okay?
It says, but shun profane and vain babblings,
for they will increase into more ungodliness,
so on and so forth.
Now turn here, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 11.
Go to the book of Proverbs,
and this is where we're going to finish off.
Talk about hitting the nail on the head.
Hitting the nail on the head when it comes to being accurate
about who the real enemy is, teaching sound doctrine,
sound speech, as the Bible puts it,
that cannot be condemned,
that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of you.
And lastly, this is kind of out of the loop,
but it definitely applies,
being honest and accurate in our business dealings.
The reason I say that is because we actually have
quite a bit of people in our church who have their own business.
And thank God for that, amen?
You know, men and women who have their own business,
whether it's a home business or men in our church
who maybe have multiple businesses,
that's a great thing.
But you need to make sure that you hit the nail on the head
and you're honest in your dealings in your business, okay?
Look what it says in Proverbs 11, verse 1.
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
but a just weight is his delight, the Bible says.
Go to Proverbs chapter 20.
Now what is it referring to when it says a false balance?
When you think of like the balances, right?
What people would use to be able to purchase
certain resources and commodities.
You know, they would use shekels or, you know,
spices to pay for those things.
A false balance basically means, you know,
you put the weight, a shekel on that balance,
and the guy's kind of like holding it up or whatever.
You know, he's like, oh, you got to put a little more in there.
That's called a false balance.
It means you're cheating.
It means you're lying, okay?
And look, I don't care what the most popular tactic is
in the business world.
If you're a Christian, you should be honest in your dealings.
Well, in this type of realm, we can't be honest,
and you need to get out of that realm.
If in your job you cannot be honest,
if you cannot be, hit the nail on the head and be accurate
and be a Christian, then you should get out of that business.
It's not for you, okay?
Because God does not want you to be,
it's never wrong to do right to do,
it's never right to do wrong to do right.
Well, I got to put food on the table,
so I got to cheat sometimes.
Wrong.
False.
Proverbs 20 verse 10 says,
diverse weights and diverse measures,
both of them alike are like abomination to the Lord.
Verse 23, diverse weights are an abomination unto the Lord,
and a false balance is not good.
So over and over again, we see God admonishing masters,
owners of business, you need to make sure that you deal
honestly in your business ventures, okay?
And that is, you know, the way you can apply it is this.
Hey, make sure that you pay your employees right.
Right?
Make sure that you offer legitimate things
and not try to cheat people out of what you're selling.
You know, we work for a guy that used to sell batteries
and he would literally tell the sellers,
like, hey, this is a lower voltage,
but I want you to put this higher voltage
on the actual battery and advertise it as such.
And some of our guys who used to work there,
they'd be like, that's lying though.
And he would get upset at that individual
because he didn't want to do that.
You know, that's wrong folks.
This guy is over here changing the voltage,
like offering, it's false advertisement is what it is.
It's called lying.
In order for you to make money off of people,
we should never be those types of people
where we have to falsely advertise something.
And by the way, that applies to churches.
This church is a business.
Our father's business.
So therefore, I try to make sure that when I advertise,
I advertise what we're actually offering, right?
We're King James only, we're sowing, we're fundamental.
This is what we believe.
Hey, you can go on our YouTube channel,
look at all the sermons, look at all the clips.
You can see the catalog of that which we have to offer.
We're not hiding anything.
Whereas you have other churches
that claim to be independent fundamental Baptist,
but when you go there, it's just like,
what in the world?
They don't believe this stuff.
They're using the ESV.
I thought you guys were independent fundamental Baptist.
You guys don't even go sowing.
What in the world?
You don't even teach the right way of salvation.
False advertisement, right?
False advertisement is not right, okay?
Whatever product you offer, be accurate about it.
Don't lie.
Because God can't bless your business
if that's what you're doing.
And you say, well, you know,
my business has been blessed and I've cheated.
Okay, then, you know, if you're a Christian,
it's probably God's mercy on your business,
and guess what?
Now after this sermon, now you know what's right to do.
And if you persist to continue to cheat,
you persist to offer false advertisement
and bad products and lie to your customers
and mistreat your employees,
God's gonna punish you for that.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, okay?
So pay your employees well, offer good services,
make sure that you're hitting the nail on the head
when it comes to your business.
And yes, in 2020, you can be an honest business owner.
A legitimate, honest business owner who is biblical,
who does things the right way, and God can bless that.
What's the sermon tonight?
Hit the nail on the head, man.
Be accurate in everything that you do.
And obviously, again, we're fallible,
we're gonna make mistakes,
and sometimes our nail might be a little off.
It may not hit as accurate as we would want it to hit,
but our intention should be to always hit it
right on the head, be as accurate, as humanly possible.
Amen?
Inspire heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and for the accuracy of your word, Lord,
and how it relates to everything that goes on
in our life, even today in 2020.
Help us as your people to be as honest as possible
to make diligent inquiry, to search,
and to investigate, Lord.
Help us to identify the enemy, the real enemy, Lord,
and seek to give people the benefit of the doubt
in our church until they show us otherwise.
I pray also, Lord, that you help us to be sound
in our doctrine, to be accurate in our preaching,
and also honest in our business dealings.
We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Please turn in your hymnals to song number 433,
Away in a Manger.
Song number 433 all together on that first verse.
Away in a manger, no rib for no bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head,
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay,
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes,
I, lovely Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh,
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay,
Close by me forever and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with thee there.
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.
Amen.