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Sing it on that first verse!
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Thank you so much for every precious soul that's here, Lord God, this morning.
We do pray that you please bless them, Lord God, for making time to be in your house this morning as well.
And I do pray that you please also be with our service.
I pray that you would please just bless every aspect of it.
That you would please just bless the singing unto you.
And that you would also just please bless the most important part of the service, the preaching of your word.
I do pray that you would please just feel passionate with your Holy Spirit.
Guide him through the Scriptures. Help him, Lord God, to bring to remembrance of the things that he has studied, Lord God.
And I do pray that you would please help us also to be attentive with our hearts and our ears, Lord God.
That we might leave here changed this morning because we heard your word being preached and applied it to our lives.
We pray now that you would please just be with us now. In Jesus' name, Amen.
You may be seated. Song number 439, count your blessings.
Song number 439, count your blessings.
Song number 439 there in your hymnals. Singing on that first.
When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed.
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy if you're called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly.
And you will be singing as the days go by.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
When you look to others with their plans and goals.
Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy.
Your reward in heaven wore your home on high.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
So amid the conflict, whether great or small.
Do not be discouraged, God is over all.
Count your many blessings, angels will attend.
Help and comfort give you to Jesus.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
Of course, our services are as follow.
Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5pm.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
Currently going through the book of 1 Samuel.
And so hope to see you there on Thursday evenings.
We are a family integrated church.
And so infants and children are always welcome to stay in the service with their parents.
For your convenience, there is a mother baby room located in the back of the building.
And it's available there should your child need some diversion.
Changing tables are available there as well.
Make sure you utilize that.
Do not utilize the fellowship hall or the foyer.
That's designated for the men if they need to take out their children.
But ladies, we do have the mother baby rooms located on the side of the building there.
And you see this so many times in teams.
If you want to learn how to preach the gospel, how to get people saved.
See me after the service, we'll be placed on a team.
And you'll receive some training on there.
We don't throw you in the deep end right away.
Obviously, you go out with a partner and you kind of see how it's done first for the first couple of months.
And then when you feel like you're ready, then you can actually start talking to people.
And so I want to encourage you to be a part of that.
You see the list of expecting mothers. Please continue to pray for them.
The important reminders there at the bottom.
And then some of the upcoming church events.
Of course, we have the homeschool field trip to the Discovery Cube in Orange County on Wednesday, September 14th.
All the activities at our church are free.
And so if you homeschool your children, I want to encourage you to be a part of that.
You can see my wife in more details about that.
Samaria mission strips coming up on Saturday, September 24th.
Men's prayer night is on Friday, September 30th.
And then we have our fall program kickoff on Sunday, October 2nd. Amen.
And I'm excited about the fall program especially, of course.
Just different things that we do each week and encouraging people to bring visitors.
Of course, everyone gets points and there's gifts and rewards that you can get at the very end of that.
And then of course, it concludes with the annual church banquet.
And so that's going to be great. We're looking forward to that.
And be in prayer over that.
You see there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee.
Make sure you're not loitering in the foyer or fellowship hall during the preaching service.
If you see the men standing in the back there, those are the ushers.
They're there for a purpose so don't think that that's a good reason for you to go out there as well.
Just keep that in mind.
And then you see there, the quiet time is from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the whole building.
That means the lights are off. Make sure you respect that.
I don't want to keep announcing that on Sunday night that, you know, hey quiet time, what quiet time is.
Everyone knows what quiet time is and what's supposed to happen there.
So just please keep that in mind.
And then make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
And that is it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
Song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear. Song number 45.
Song number 45. See it on that first verse.
When I can read my title clear to vengeance in the skies
How bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes
And wipe my weeping eyes
How bid farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes
Should earth against my soul engage and my retards be hurled
Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning world
And face a frowning world
I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning world
Let cares like a wild day lose come and storms of sorrow fall
May I but safely reach my home, my God, my heaven, my home
There shall I bathe my weary soul, seas of heavenly rest
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful breast
Across my peaceful breast
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful breast
Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering.
And please turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 7.
Thank you.
Romans chapter 7.
Romans chapter 7, the Bible reads,
Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them know the law?
How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.
But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she should be called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ,
that ye should be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held,
that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.
For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,
for without the law sin was dead.
For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Wasn't that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.
But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do, I allow not.
For what I would, that do I not.
But what I hate, that I do.
If not I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,
but to will is present with me.
But how to perform that which is good, I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not.
But the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Let's pray, dear Lord God. Just thank you for everything that you've blessed us with.
Thank you for this opportunity to assemble here this morning for the preaching of your word.
Just ask that you would meet with us here now,
and please just bless and pass from here with your Holy Spirit as he preaches,
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Okay, we are in Romans chapter number 7 this morning,
and the title of my sermon today is The Impact of Exaggeration.
The Impact of Exaggeration.
Look at Romans chapter 7 and verse number 12.
It says,
I want to preach on the effects of exaggerating today,
and give a few biblical examples of when exaggerating is actually necessary,
and others where it could actually be detrimental.
Now, what does it mean to exaggerate?
Well, exaggeration simply means, by the dictionary,
simply means to magnify beyond the limits of truth,
to overstate, to represent disproportionately.
This means to increase or enlarge abnormally.
In other words, you're essentially adding information that wasn't there to begin with,
and you're lying in order to prove a point, okay?
And so when people exaggerate, they'll often give a little bit of truth,
but they'll also kind of cake on the salsa a little bit on that taco
in order to kind of help them prove the point that they're trying to make.
But, you know, another way of saying that is that they're lying, okay?
They're essentially, you know, lying.
They're giving an untrue statement.
They are bearing false witness of a particular situation, person, whatever.
But another definition of exaggeration is to make greater,
more noticeable than usual.
And this isn't necessarily adding information that isn't there,
or lying, or anything like that.
It's just essentially magnifying the truth without adding anything to it
because of the fact that maybe that person that you're telling this to,
the story to, or explaining something about, you know,
that situation may be small to them,
but they need to be communicated that it's actually bigger than what they think it really is, okay?
And we're more often familiar with the first definition, right?
Magnifying beyond the limits of truth.
People who do this type of exaggeration will often overstate a story or a statement
in order to give themselves credibility, you understand?
So they'll tell a story, they'll talk about a person,
or they'll make some sort of statement,
and they'll add more information than is necessary
or more information that's just not there.
They'll actually begin to lie about that particular story
in order to give themselves more credibility
or to get a reaction out of people, right?
The audience that they're speaking to isn't necessarily impressed,
so they feel the need to twist the truth a bit to make it more palatable and interesting.
And sometimes people exaggerate because they're just plain wicked, okay?
They add more information, they lie.
You know, a good example of this, a bad example actually, would be the Pharisees, right?
The Pharisees throughout their ministry of persecuting the saints of the New Testament
would often exaggerate what the disciples and Jesus Christ were doing
in order to recruit people to persecute them as well.
In order to recruit the baser sort to hate the disciples
and hate Jesus Christ and hate Christianity,
they would say, these that have turned the world upside down.
I mean, that's an exaggerated statement.
Number one, because of the fact that the disciples,
if you really want to say what they were doing,
is they were turning the world right side up.
You know, they were actually correcting that which was lacking.
They were correcting false doctrine.
They were correcting the Pharisees and the false prophets of the day.
They were actually turning the world right side up.
And so there's plenty of examples of the Pharisees that would make exaggerated statements.
You know, they fill Jerusalem with their doctrine.
In other words, what they're saying is they're preaching Christ and him crucified, right?
And they're making it seem as though they're pestilent.
They're making it seem as though they are, you know, they would often say,
these that are teaching contrary to the law of Moses.
Well, that's an exaggerated statement, okay?
Because of the fact that they were obviously teaching what the New Testament teaches,
that we're no longer under the law but under grace
because of the fact that Jesus Christ concluded the Old Testament with his death on the cross.
But they were not teaching contrary to Moses
because what Moses was preaching is the same thing that the disciples were preaching.
They're preaching the same gospel. They're on the same team.
It's an exaggerated statement in order to recruit people to hate Christianity,
the Lord, the disciples, to kind of discredit them, okay?
And so, but let me just say this,
is that there are instances where the proper exaggeration is needed
in order to magnify a particular principle, okay?
And we're going to go over those briefly in just a bit.
First, before we get into the negative ones,
stay right there in Romans chapter number seven.
You say, when is it proper to exaggerate in order to magnify a principle?
Well, you know, think about this one.
The Bible talks about the strange woman, okay?
The strange woman in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs, is synonymous with the whore.
It's synonymous with a woman who is just, you know, out there fornicating.
She's committing adultery. She's committing fornication.
She's an unclean woman, and obviously this can be applied to men as well.
But the Bible spends a good chunk of the book of Proverbs talking about the strange woman.
And the Bible tells us that the strange woman, that her feet take hold on hell, right?
That's an exaggeration because it's not like literally her feet are going to hell.
They're not taking hold on hell, right?
The reason the Bible's stating that is to emphasize and magnify the consequences
of getting around a strange woman, okay?
She'll make your life a living hell, is essentially what the Bible's trying to communicate here, okay?
Her end, the Bible says that her end is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell.
This is a proper exaggeration because we want people to fear the consequences of sin.
We want young people to fear the consequences of fornication.
We want young people to fear the consequences of adultery.
Why? Because they have some pretty devastating repercussions to them.
And so in order to communicate that properly, you need passages like this that say the strange woman,
her feet go down to death.
Her steps take hold on hell in order to magnify the consequences of being with such a wicked person.
And so there's instances in the Bible where the proper exaggeration is needed.
Why? Well, because of the fact that sin is obviously sinful and has some pretty devastating repercussions to it,
but to some people, it's not, right?
To some people, it's just like, yeah, it's pretty bad, but it's not that bad.
Well, we have to make it look, what does the Bible say? Exceeding sinful.
Look at Romans chapter number seven.
We're going to look at the fact that the law exaggerates sin, okay?
Why? Well, it exaggerates it to make sin appear exceeding sinful, which is exactly what it is.
Look at Romans seven, verse 13.
It says, Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Now, let me just help you out here.
Sin is already exceeding sinful.
Sin is exceeding sinful.
It's wicked in the eyes of the Lord.
It is the transgression of the law by biblical definition, but to some people, it's not.
And so, therefore, we need to bring the law to their attention to make sin look exceeding sinful,
that it might appear exceedingly sinful and needs to be brought to the person's attention.
Go to Romans chapter number two, if you would, Romans chapter number two.
Romans chapter number two, let's give an example here.
Look at verse 14.
Verse 14 of Romans chapter two says, For when the Gentiles...
Now, when the Bible talks about Gentiles, it's often synonymous with just unsafe people.
The Bible would consider us to be Gentiles before Christ, before we got saved.
So when it says the Gentiles, obviously it's referring to anybody who's not a Jew per se,
but it's also referring to just people who are not saved.
It says, For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law, are law unto themselves.
Now, what does it mean when it says that these have not the law?
In other words, they don't have the first five books in the Bible in their hand.
They didn't have the Pentateuch with them.
The Gentiles who are the heathen, who are of other nations, who are foreigners,
they're aliens to the commonwealth of Israel.
These individuals, they don't have the law of God physically in their hand.
However, the Bible says that by nature, they do those things which are contained in the law.
So even though they don't have the physical scrolls of the Bible back in those days,
according to the Bible, they naturally do or don't do the things that are contained in the law.
And what is it referring to?
You know, they don't commit murder because they know that it's wrong.
They don't steal because they know that it's wrong.
You say, well, how do they naturally know that?
Well, because of the fact, look what it says in verse 15,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts,
the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
So we would say today, their conscience is bearing witness.
Their conscience is what's telling them what is right and what is wrong.
And that's because the law of God is written in their hearts.
Does that make sense to everyone?
Now, everyone in this world has this within them.
They have the law of God written in their hearts.
But let me just say this is that even though a person may have the law of God written in their hearts,
sin may not still appear exceeding sinful to them.
Because there's plenty of people out there who even though they know they're doing wrong,
they still do it.
It's not really a big deal to them.
They still fornicate, commit adultery, they're thieves, they lie.
Why? Because, you know, they might be able to just excuse themselves from it
and say, well, you know, everyone kind of does this.
It's just, you know, but hold on a second.
What if you bring to their attention what the Bible actually says about those things?
What if you bring to their attention that adultery is not just some sin like everything else,
but it's a sin that, according to the Bible, merits the death penalty?
Well, at that point, it becomes exceeding sinful.
What if the Bible tells us, what if we're presented with the Bible,
that the Bible tells us that fornication is wicked, it's unclean,
and it is a sin that can destroy life or it's a sin that can give you STDs,
it can give you unclean diseases, it can produce bastard children,
it can do all, it has all these negative repercussions, according to the Bible.
You know, at that point, it becomes exceeding sinful.
Now, this is like, it's not the cool thing to do to fornicate,
to be a whore monger or be a whore.
Now, because of the law, it's become exceeding sinful.
The law has exaggerated fornication, it has exaggerated adultery,
it has exaggerated the sins that you know were bad in the first place,
but now they're magnified, you understand?
So that's why it's important that we talk about what the law says, right?
It's important that we recognize and we teach and preach about
what God thinks about specific sins and how some are actually greater than others.
And in fact, you know, you say, well, don't all churches do this? No, they don't.
And here's the proof. You know, you have churches today that are accepting of sodomites.
And they'll say, you know, it's just like every other sin.
But you know why? Because they're not reading the law of God
that actually says it's an abomination before the Lord.
They're not reading Leviticus 20-13, which states that it's an abomination worthy of the death penalty.
It's a capital crime.
You see, the people out there are just like, oh yeah, it's sinful, just like every other sin.
Wrong. Let's go ahead and take a look at the law of God
that makes it exceeding sinful to the point that they deserve the death penalty for that.
And so, you know, too many people spend too much time just in the gospels
or just in the book of Proverbs.
You know, we need to spend equal amount of time throughout the entire Bible.
You say, are you saying that we shouldn't listen to Jesus?
Of course we should listen to Jesus.
But you know what? The Bible says that when Jesus Christ was rebuking his disciples,
he said, O ye fools and slow of heart to the belief all that the prophets have spoken.
And beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
So Jesus Christ referenced the Old Testament because they're on board with what he was teaching in the New Testament.
It all coincides with all God's word.
And God expects for us to teach, preach, and believe the entire Bible, not just bits and pieces.
And we need a nation today that makes sin look exceeding sinful.
But in order for us to do that, we need to make sure we bring them back to what the Bible actually says.
And not just say, well, that's just Old Testament.
Well, thank you for locating that for me and helping me find where that particular part of the Bible is.
That doesn't make, it makes no difference.
You know, for you to say, well, that's just Old Testament.
You're saying that we should just toss out all the books of the Old Testament and only listen to the New.
But there's a reason why the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, is canonized for us.
It's because God wants us to know the entire thing and esteem, listen to this, esteem the entire thing as well.
So we can't minimize sin.
And when sin is minimized to this world, it's because Christians have failed to exaggerate the repercussions of sin by bringing them to the law
and showing them the magnitude of those repercussions of committing those particular sins.
Okay, making it look exceeding sinful.
Look at Romans chapter three, if you would.
Romans chapter number three.
You know, in this instance, it's a good thing to exaggerate sin.
You know, it's a good thing to preach to your congregation and tell them if you fornicate, God just might strike you dead.
Oh, you're exaggerating.
Well, that's funny because God struck down like thousands of people in the Old Testament for committing fornication.
You think he just overdid it a little bit there?
I thought that everything that God did was good.
And yeah, you know, fornication is not a sin punishable by death, but you know what?
God can easily just say, well, you know what?
You're the exception to that rule.
Because there's thousands of people who are the exception to the rule where he struck them down dead.
Okay.
Look at Romans three, verse 19.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in the sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
And so obviously everyone has a knowledge of sin in the sense that they have the law of God written in their hearts.
But that repercussion, those sins become even more magnified when you bring to their attention the Bible.
When you show them what the Bible actually says about it, then they're just like, oh man, God actually feels very strongly about this particular sin.
God feels very strongly about drunkenness.
You know, you have Christians today who minimize drinking alcohol.
They're just like, you know, Jesus turned water into wine.
That's like their text verse.
But you tell them, where is that story in the Bible?
Show me where that story is in the Bible.
They're like, what's in the Old Testament somewhere, you know?
They can't point to where it's at.
They're just parroting with some alcoholic pastors telling them, some reformed wine bibber out there who just wants to drink and he wants to justify his drinking.
Whereas if you actually look at the entire Bible, you see that the Bible makes alcohol look exceeding sinful.
So how do you know?
Well, because the Bible says, look not thou upon the wine when it is red.
That's magnifying how grievous it is to actually commit the sin of drinking alcohol.
And it is a sin.
Okay.
Go with it if you would to Mark chapter 16.
Mark chapter 16.
So it's important to magnify, it's important to exaggerate, you know, the effects of sin, the effects of drinking alcohol, the effects of fornicating, the effects of committing adultery, the effects of divorce, the effects of being effeminate, the effects of sodomy in the land,
the effects of bestiality, the effects of incest, the effects of these particular sins that are known in this world.
Okay.
And not just minimize and say, well, they're just like every other sins.
Churches that say that sin is sin and, you know, we all sin, obviously they don't know the Bible.
Or they're ignoring the Bible or they're just plainly lying to you about the Bible.
Okay.
Because there are sins that are exceeding sinful in God's eyes.
Now, what's another thing that we should exaggerate?
Well, you know, preaching the gospel to every creature, that's an exaggerated statement.
Right?
Look at Mark 16 verse 15, it says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now, that's an exaggeration.
He said, why is that?
Well, because he's talking to disciples who have no vehicles, no airplanes.
So they have to go, he's telling them, you got to go into all the world.
Okay.
He didn't say your known world.
He just said, go into all the world.
And of course, this is also reiterated in Matthew 28 when he says, go ye therefore and preach, or when he says, teach all nations.
So all nations is not just subject to the Middle East, to Israel, to Egypt.
It's all over the world.
Now you say, well, why did he give such a exaggerated command to go everywhere?
Well, number one, to communicate the urgency to preach the word of God.
Because if you think about it, if we have this command today to preach the gospel to every creature and to go into all nations, go into all the world,
it creates a sense of urgency because we only have one life to live and there's only so much you can do with your life.
But it helps us to realize, okay, that means that the gospel is a priority.
Soul winning, preaching the gospel, getting people saved must be a priority if God said we have to go into all the world.
And folks, we live in 2022 where there's airplanes, there's the internet, there's all types of fast types of transportation.
I mean, we have no reason why we can't go into all the world per se.
But even then, even with all this advanced technology, even with the internet, we're not going to be able to preach the gospel all over the world.
You understand? But you know what, that command will help us to place a sense of urgency on that command to do what we can.
And if every church understood the exaggeration of the statement and understood, hey, we all have this responsibility to do our part,
to get the gospel to every creature, then you know what, we might win the world to Christ.
But obviously it's not going to happen because not all churches have that priority.
And so when he says going into all the world, that's an exaggerated statement in order to help us to realize that it's urgent, okay.
And in order to help us to realize that it's important to God, it's a priority.
You know, churches today have not made soul winning a priority.
It's no longer a priority to them.
Churches become a social club to most churches.
They come, they hang out, and don't get me wrong, you know, we're kind of like a social club, you know, we hang out.
I mean, we hang out a lot, a little too much sometimes, okay.
And now we just installed like a power lifting gym in the back here.
I mean, it's going to get even more, yeah.
People are PRing tonight after church, man, Marcos is PRing.
They're going to get the whole church behind you on this one, right.
Dead lifted, we got the whole nine.
Now people are going to fellowship more.
But you know what, that's not the priority though.
You know, the fellowship thing that we do, it's great, but that's not the priority.
What is the most important thing?
It's preaching the gospel.
That's why we're called first words, Baptist church.
To emphasize the importance or placing soul winning as the most important thing that our church can do and does, okay.
You know, think about what the Bible says in Jude 22.
You don't have to turn there.
Go to Matthew chapter 5, if you would, Matthew chapter 5.
Think about what it says in Jude 22.
It says that if some have compassion making a difference, it says others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire.
Well, that's an exaggeration, but it's an exaggeration meant to communicate the fact that we're saving people from hell.
It's not like every door you knock on is going to be like lit in flames.
We're not firefighters here.
This is not a call to be a firefighter to just pull people out of a burning building or something like that.
It's meant to communicate the fact that when we get people saved from a spiritual perspective,
we're literally pulling them out of hell per se.
We're saving their souls from the wrath to come.
But it's an exaggerated statement that's necessary in order to imprint in our minds that you're not just going out there spinning your wheels.
When you go out there, it's not just you're talking to one person getting rejected, another person to call upon the name of the Lord.
It's just an all day's job.
No, when you actually get someone saved out there and they call upon the name of the Lord in God's eyes, you're pulling them out of the fire.
You've changed their eternal destiny from being under God's wrath to having eternal life.
And so it's an exaggerated statement, but it's a necessary exaggerated statement.
And in fact, one of the exaggerated statements that we see in the Bible is that I might by all means save some.
And a lot of people have a problem with that statement.
Like, whoa, you don't save anybody.
You don't save anybody.
Jesus saves them.
Well, if Jesus saves everyone, then let's just not do anything.
But you know what? That's not what he commanded us to do.
He commanded us to actually go out, open our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel.
And there's examples of people in the Bible who took credit for saving people.
Not because they were sacrificed for the remission of sins, but because they partook in the ministry of reconciliation.
You understand?
And so when the apostle Paul said that I might by all means save some, he's right about that.
He's the one who's saving them because of the fact that he's the one who's giving them the gospel.
And in fact, God gives credit to the person who wins the other person to Christ.
That's why we even, you know, we get those rewards.
Because we're reaping what others have sown, and the Bible tells us that when we turn them to righteousness, we're getting rewarded for those things.
And look, most people who have problems with that phrase,
yeah, I got this many people saved, are people who don't get anybody saved.
Or don't even try to get people saved.
You know, they want to be these holier than now type people, like, oh, you don't save anybody, Jesus does.
You know, so how many times have you gone on salt winning this month?
How many people did you preach the gospel to?
You know, folks, these are biblical phrases that are meant to communicate
the fact how important, the important role that you play in the ministry of reconciliation.
If God is willing to accept and allow the disciples and the apostles to say that I saved these people,
it's because he's helping us to communicate that we're instruments in God's hand to go out there and preach the gospel.
It's to show the importance of that, and not to minimize your role in this matter of getting people saved.
Right? Because you know, it's like, oh man, who am I? What can I do?
Well, according to the Bible, you can save people. So shut up and go do it.
Stop trying to make excuses and why you're not talented enough, you're not gifted enough.
Folks, we have God in us, the hope of glory. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
We have everything that we need, and God's command is to go out there and actually go preach the gospel and get people saved.
Let's give another example of a necessary exaggeration.
Now this one is very, how can I say, it's not obscure, but it could be hard to understand,
and that is the plucking out of the eyes, or the plucking out of the right eye, the cutting off of the right hand, the cutting off of the foot.
Okay, look at Matthew 5, 29.
Jesus speaking here says,
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Now, false prophets and false teachers love this passage.
Because people who believe and preach a repent of your sins gospel, what that means is you have to repent, you have to turn from your sins in order to be saved, which is a false gospel.
The Bible says you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you should be saved.
If you believe on Jesus Christ, if you trust Jesus Christ, essentially meaning that you believe that his death, burial, and resurrection is sufficient to save you, then you're saved, you could be saved.
Call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe at thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
But there are people out there who claim to be Christians who preach or repent of your sins gospel, and they'll point to verses like this.
Because here it says if your right eye offends you, then you should cut it off.
And they'll interpret that as meaning, well you have to stop that particular sin that you're doing.
You've heard that before? You have to cut off your right hand, if you're sinning like that, you've got to cut off that sin from your life.
Because if not, then your whole body is going to be cast into hell.
And obviously this is reiterated in chapter 18 and also in Mark chapter 9.
Let me read it to you from Mark chapter 9, you don't have to turn there.
Verse 43 says, And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
Where the worm dieth naught, and the fire is not quenched if thy foot offend thee cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life, life into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire, that never shall be quenched.
Where there worm dieth naught and the fire is not quenched, if thy eye offend thee pluck it out,
it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of god with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire where there worm dieth naught and the fire is not quenched.
You say okay what is the interpretation of that?
of that well I've often given the secondary and third applications to
this particular verse but I'm gonna give you the main interpretation this
morning okay let me just say this is that this is obviously an exaggeration
and if you don't see that right away then you got rocks in your head
because nowhere in the Bible do you see anybody who's committing some
particular sin who is being caused to stumble literally just chop off
their limbs in order to get right with God and not go to hell it's never
happened okay in the Bible I'm not saying it's never happened in the world
because there's weird people in the world who you know but think about this
how do we know it's an exaggerated statement well let's just you know use
some smarts here okay because think about this when he says if thy right eye
offend the pluck it out first and foremost if your right eye is offending
you you know you use your left eye to see the same exact thing to your right
eye looked at you does that make sense everybody I mean I know that this
is really deep biology here whatever your right eye is looking at your left
eye was looking at too it's not like they got their own separate
agendas here not only that but nowhere in the Bible does it record anybody in
heaven as maimed why because flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of
God my friends it's not like someone's in heaven like just missing an arm and
you're like you know you know it's got one eye in heaven it's like oh I
know how you got here right so no one in heaven is maimed no one in
heaven is missing their right eye no one in heaven is missing their right
foot okay and if your right hand is offending you your left hand is probably
partaking in whatever your right hand is doing okay it's it's an exaggerated
statement just like when Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 don't let your
right hand know what your left hand is doing now is that possible to do
it's just like what's he doing over there you might see some people hey
you might see some people off the off the freeway who are just high off of
drugs doing some stuff like that but this is not talking about that okay
it's just like it's just like one half is trying to eat and diet and do
right and the other one wants burgers and they're just like what are you
feeding them over there it's just like you understand so for people to take
this as in like oh your right hand is causing you to stumble your right eye
is causing you to stumble your right foot you know by the way wherever the
right foot goes the left foot is gonna go to you know this isn't talking
about like oh this right foot just hopped to one place to go sin or
something like that it's like they don't have separate agendas it's
nonsensical to interpret it that way okay you say well what does he mean
that well look at chapter 20 because or I'm sorry not chapter 20 verse 20 in
chapter 5 much of what Jesus is saying is an exaggeration or what we
would refer to as hyperbole it's an exaggerated statement meant to
communicate a spiritual principle now what is the spiritual principle that he
wants to communicate well look at verse 20 here it says for I saying to
you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case answer into the kingdom of
heaven now think about this let me ask you a question okay and this is
rhetorical but you can answer if you want okay did the scribes and Pharisees
have any righteousness whatsoever okay right so he's saying unless your
righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees which
by the way they have none you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of
God now let me ask you this does anybody have righteousness not
according to the Bible Bible says that there's none righteous no not one the
Bible says that we are all as an unclean thing and our righteousness are as
filthy rags in the eyes of God essentially telling us that even the
good that we do is still not good enough for God to enter into heaven
you understand so when he says that except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees he's exaggerating because
he wants people to realize wait a minute but the Pharisees aren't
righteous and it's just like you got it so therefore we need the
righteousness of Jesus Christ to be imputed upon us because we can't do
enough righteousness to get into heaven we need someone else's
righteousness the righteousness of Jesus Christ now what the Pharisees and
the scribes would often communicate is this outward appearance right they
would have this outward display of righteousness okay they had a form of
godliness but they denied the power thereof and much of their good deeds
or good works or righteousness that they had was based upon the outward things
that they would do okay they would clean their hands wash the pots they
would tithe twice a week that would fast twice in a week or whatever they
would do all these things outwardly to display their righteousness and so
the reason he's sharing this hyperbole this exaggeration of cutting off the
right eye the right foot is because it's saying just as the Pharisees are
doing this outward expression that that's what you would have to do you
would have to exceed that in order not to go to hell okay he says in verse 21 you
have heard that it was said of them of old time thou shall not kill and
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment but I say unto you
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be
in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in
danger of hell fire look at verse 27 you have heard that it was said by
them of old time thou shall not commit adultery it's the physical act of
adultery verse 28 but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart
and then he rolls right into and if I write I defend thee pluck it out now
what is this communicating here well do you think plucking out your eye is
gonna help you get rid of your sins because he's saying here you
shouldn't commit adultery but I say to you the whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after has committed adultery already with her with his eye no in his
heart so why does he give this exaggerated command or this statement
of cutting out plucking out the eye cutting off the right hand cutting off
the foot it's essentially to remove from them the fact that there's
nothing that they can do on their part because anybody with any brains would
say I don't think plucking out my right eye is gonna help me none
because obviously this is a heart issue cutting off my right hand is not gonna
do anything because my left hand is gonna continue doing whatever my right
hand was doing my left eye is gonna continue to look at what my right eye
was looking at my left foot is gonna the problem is not the members of our
body per se it's the heart issue right so you can mutilate your body
all you want it's you're still wicked person the Pharisees can put
phylacteries on they can you know deck out their their their robes and and do
all these outward appearances of righteousness they can abstain and cut
off certain things from their life to make themselves righteous but at the
end of the day they were still wicked individuals at heart because the
problem isn't your right eye the problem is in your right hand the
problem is in your foot the problem is you are just not righteous period no
matter how much you cut off from your body okay you know and by the way we're
doing that today they're just like I'm not perfect enough I need to do the
XY and Z you know and they they cut off their breasts they cut off their
privy parts but here's the thing there's still reprobate it's not gonna
change anything there's still wicked individuals my friend so what is Jesus
trying to communicate here he's trying to strip them of their own
righteousness to help them to realize there's really nothing you can do
because it's such an exaggerated thing to command to pluck out your eye your
hand and no I guarantee you no one who was in this crowd was just like all
right I'll do it if you do it so like they're friends they're not like
right this is crazy but I guess that's what Jesus said we have to do or
something everyone knew what he meant right they understood like okay this
basically means that I can't save myself because the members of my body
which are controlled by the old man right are causing me to sin and no
matter what I mutilate no matter what I cut off no matter what I dismember of
my body it's not gonna get rid of my sin problem because I'm gonna
continue to sin even thereafter it's like when the Bible says you know
whosoever you are justified by the law ye are fallen from grace now let
me ask you a question is anybody in this world justified by the law not a
single person it's referring to people who think that they're justified by the
law right so it's an exaggerated statement to help people realize that
there's nothing that you can do to save you other than believe on Jesus
Christ you know the Bible says that our old man is crucified with them
that the body of sin might be destroyed that we should henceforth not serve
sin and it says for he that is dead is free from sin so the only way to
get rid of those sin problems of your members per se is to believe on Jesus
Christ which means to be dead with him understand and then thereafter you can
actually have some victory over the bad habits do you have because then
the Bible also tells us that to reckon yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey in the lustre of
neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God and so Romans 6 tells us
explicitly hey you know the only way you can even overcome sin is by not
being under the law and the way you can be not be under the law is to be
under grace and the only way you can be under grace is to believe on
Jesus Christ so that's why he's communicating them but you can see
why it would be important to exaggerate this claim or to make such an
exaggerated claim is to help people understand you have no righteousness in
and of yourself now think about this okay because the law makes everything
look exceeding sinful like we mentioned in the beginning right so when
we look at the law we're like whoa God's standard is super high there's
no way we can keep all this we were all confronted with the long like no
way we've already broken all this and the Bible says who's ever keeping the
whole law yet offend on one point he's guilty of all so with that in mind
think about the hypocrisy because when we look at the law we say the law of the
Lord is perfect it's wonderful and there's only one man who's able to
keep this law and that's why I need his righteousness in order to be safe
so when people try to bring you back under law and say no you have to keep
the law to be safe it means that sin has not become exceeding sinful to
them it means they're not looking at the law of God for what it really is
because it's not appearing exceeding sinful the reason we even came to Christ
it's because the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ we
saw our exceeding sinful nature in light of the law which pushed us to
the foot of the cross it's just like this means that I'm a wretched man this
means that I'm gonna split hell wide open this means I have no
righteousness and of myself I need Jesus Christ whereas those who want to
be under the law they're like oh yeah I kept these from from my youth
up you've got to keep all these laws man that's what you got to do it's
obviously not exceeding sinful to them then because they think they can keep
it still they think that they've kept it and you know what they're
essentially saying they don't need Christ there's only one person who's
able to keep the entire law and that's Jesus Christ himself okay what's
another example of appropriate exaggeration well how about this
think about this when the Bible talks about magnifying the Lord right because
what does it mean to magnify means to take something that's small and make
it big now that's an exaggerated statement because God's already big God's
already big but he sometimes guess what he's small to others though
right so sometimes God is actually small to Christians so therefore we as
Christians need to magnify the Lord to make him bigger than what he really is
perceived to be by them you understand so we magnify the Lord we magnify
him by talking about his word by talking about how powerful he is how
omnipotent omnipresent and omniscient he is how Almighty he is because we
want people to view God in a big way and you know what I find that when
Christians are fearful when Christians are worried when Christians start
you know take their focus off of the Bible is because they're not magnifying
the Lord because when you magnify the Lord it's just like oh man whom shall
I fear then who shall separate me from the love of God if God before us
who can be against us if this God who is this big is for me then I have
nothing to fear but the person who is afraid of everything even of their
own shadow is a person who's not magnifying the Lord because once you
put the Lord in her magnet scope um is that you call it my microscope
magnet scope when you put God under a microscope you end up finding that
he's bigger than that obviously you're like I don't even need this anymore
because God is actually really big God is able to deliver me he's able to
provide he's able to protect he's able to do all these things but that's when
it's necessary to magnify the Lord and help Christians to realize that God is
bigger than what you think he is okay now go with me if you would to 1st
Kings chapter 19 all right so those are all the positive ones let's get that
out of the way because I want to get into the negative one right I'm a
negative person now obviously some a dishonorable mention as far as negative
exaggerations would be what Eve Satan right but it's just like neither shall
you touch it lest he die we can't touch it lest we die you're exaggerating Eve
chill out you only said don't eat it okay but let me give you one another
an example of a negative impact of exaggeration Elijah and the seven
thousand prophets okay what is the exaggeration I'm the only one serving
God I'm the only one look what he says in verse 13 of 1st Kings 19 and it was
so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and
went out and stood in the entering of the cave and behold there came a voice
and Tim said what doest thou hear Elijah and he said I have been very
jealous for the Lord God of hosts because the children of Israel
forsaken thy covenant throw down thine altars and slain thy prophets with
the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away
Elijah you're exaggerating he's exaggerating because isn't he the only
one left and in fact look at verse number look at verse 17 it says and
it shall come to pass that him that escaped with the sword of Hazael shall
Jehu slay and him that escaped with the sword of Jehu shall Elisha
slave yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel all the knees which have not
bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him so you're exaggerating
Elijah you're not the only one serving God you're not the only one
who's jealous for the Lord and guess what you're not the only one who
hasn't bowed down to the image of Baal either there's actually seven
thousand men who have not done that now this is what I would refer to as
a superiority complex where they think well I'm just like the only one serving
God I'm like the only godly person and I don't know if individuals will
necessarily say that but you know what churches can often become this way
and we asked first words Baptist Church never want to build a
superiority complex where we think that our church is better than everyone
else now we obviously know and believe that our church is the best that's
why we're here now some of you are probably here cuz you're like well this
is the only church I got or whatever this is the best church in my area or
whatever there's another pastor in the new IP who's across the street I'll
probably go to that church well too bad there's not gonna be so you're
stuck with me okay but you know what people can get this complex where it's
just like we're the best independent fundamental Baptist Church and there's
no Baptist Church like ours we're alone we're jealous for our God another word
for jealous is zealous right we're zealous well wrong there's 7,000
independent fundamental Baptist churches in fact it's probably more who
have not bowed the knee to bail do not get the superiority complex where
you think you're just like the cream of the crop you're just the best thing
since the New Testament started it's not true my friends now given you are like
Elijah but you know what there's other people who have not bowed the knee to
the reprobates you know there's others who still don't like them
there's others who are preaching from the King James Bible okay there's
others who are teaching the right salvation there there's others today
and yesterday who have gone soul winning who have won people to Christ I
would dare say there's some out there who are probably more faithful to
church than maybe some of you are you hear that pin I'm sure there's people
out there who are not new IFB who are fundamental Baptists who are probably
more disciplined more faithful than even some new IFB people it's just
like well I don't want to talk about that though well you know I'm just
saying Elijah exaggerated a little bit there okay you know we're the only one
serving oh we're not the only one serving God okay there's plenty of
other people out there that are serving God now look at chapter 18 so
let's get that straight okay it's good churches out there may not agree
with them 100% but you know they're serving God they're leading their
families they're in church Sunday morning Sunday night midweek service
they are praying to the same God that we pray to they're reading their
Bibles every single day they're praying every single day they love the
Lord with all their heart soul mind and strength I mean they're they're serving
God and they're in their church they're singing the same hymns you know
they they have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within them they are filled
with the Spirit as well there's 7,000 who you know have not bowed the need
to build don't make this exaggerated statement that we're just the best
church that the you know 2022 has ever seen because it's not true okay now I
will say this though there's 7,000 prophets who have not bowed the need to
bail but let me just remind you where there's 7,000 were though in this
particular story okay look at first Kings 18 verse 1 and it came to pass
after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year
saying go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth and
Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab and there was a sore famine in Samaria
and Ahab called Obadiah which was the governor of the house now Obadiah
feared the Lord greatly for so for it was so when Jezebel cut off the
prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by
50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water okay so this 50 are the
ones who have not bowed the need to bail but I'm just gonna be honest
with you though they're in there they're hiding okay they're not wicked
people they're just they're hiding okay so if I were to choose between the
7,000 prophets and our church I'd go with our church because I want to be
with Elijah out in the field confronting Ahab slaying the prophets of
Baal just doing all the great cool stuff right like we want to be used of
God if you need to put me on the front lines let's go to the front lines if you
need to put me on the newspaper on the news on channels to just make me look
like the offscouring of this world and 7,000 don't want that I'll take it
if you want to make me look like a homophobic misogynist and all these
things and you want to promote that to the world hey I'll sign up for that
where what time is the interview because you know what 7,000 prophets don't
necessarily want to do that it doesn't mean they're bad isn't doesn't mean
they're wicked it just means they're just you know they're in the cave you
know it's like they prefer bread and water in a cave they prefer to just
kind of not be you know you know fighting these at these these these
battles and these wars they prefer to just do their own thing at the
that's perfectly fine but that's just not my ministry though our ministry is just
like whatever we do is out in the open people can take any sermon they want and
cut it up and and take me out of context and I mean please take my
sermons and publish them and and expose me on tik-tok and expose me on
Instagram expose me on YouTube do it because that's that's I consider that a
good thing bad publicity is still good publicity to us okay and so yeah you
know obviously there's 7,000 prophets who are still serving God but I do want
to make myself clear that I'd rather be with Elijah than the seven thousand
prophets I'd rather be with Elijah Elijah right which is why Elisha went
with Elijah because he's kind of doing he's out in the open doing the
ministry and let me just say this is that the seven thousand prophets we
don't know what their names are but you know what we know who Elijah is though
we know who Elijah is those who went on the front lines and did something
great for God and were willing to suffer open reproach by the world those
who are willing to be persecuted for righteousness sake we know who they are
okay but we should never have this attitude where we're just we're better
than anybody else because it's not true okay and that's pride that's
arrogance seem never have this attitude superiority complex where no
one else is serving God other than us it's not true at all go to Matthew
chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 talking about exaggerating here okay and
obviously we've all done this myself included to certain extents where we
make this exaggerated statement like yeah everyone is just wicked over there
you know I mean I pretty much made I make statements like that about LA all
the time like wicked is LA is so wicked but not everyone in LA is wicked okay I
mean some of you I think live in LA so you're obviously it's not true okay but
sometimes in in haste we make statements like that right like David
said the same thing he said you know I said in my haste all men are
liars but you can see why he said that because he's being backstabbed so
much that hastily he just said you know you can't trust anyone but you
that's obviously not true that's why even David recognized I said in my haste
all men are liars okay now what's another exaggerated statement that we
should stay away from look at Matthew 19 and verse number four let's
look at the disciples exaggerating here a little bit and he answered and
said to them have you not read that he which had made them at the
beginning made a male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave
father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one
flesh wherefore there are no more twain but one flesh what therefore God has
joined together let not man put asunder they say to him why did Moses in
command to give a writing of divorce man to put her away he saith unto them
Moses because of the hardness of your heart suffered you to put away your
wives but from the beginning it was not so and I saying to you that
whosoever shall put away his wife except to be for fornication and
shall marry another committed adultery and whoso marrieth her which is put
away doth committed adultery look at verse 10 his disciples saying to him if
the case of the man be so with his wife it is not good to marry now I hate to
tell you this but the disciples were some of the first miktals they they
kind of slipped into being a miktal momentarily you know those men going
their own way crap we shouldn't even marry them stop exaggerating okay this
is not for in fact verse verse 11 but he said unto them all men cannot
receive the same save them to whom it is given he's basically saying you guys
aren't even mature enough to like get this okay and you know but you know
what the same concept is around today these miktals is just like all women
are whores and they sleep around and they won't love you and they're just
gonna use you all women are like that you're exaggerating sit down and grow
up get a job you know cut your hair brush your teeth make yourself
presentable pursue a woman get her to like you and get her to follow you and
not all women are like that no all women are whores wrong wrong and that's a
cop-out that's code for I can't get me a girl that's what that's code
for miktals are not these superior men of this world you know who are just all
about manhood their weenies is what they are who were just rejected so many
times they're just their next best thing is just like well let's just say
that women are just all wicked and that's why we can't get married
either one you're just as ugly as sin or two you just don't know how to talk
to ladies or three maybe you ought to get off your video games for a
little bit and actually man up you know and and go lift some weights or
something okay go do something manly for once and maybe you will attract oh yeah
you're not gonna track the whore and the slut which is exactly what you
don't want to attract but you know you're gonna attract a godly woman you
know get into church read the Bible become exercise yourself rather unto
godliness read the Word of God get a job be disciplined be a man and you
know maybe you'll attract a godly woman you like how do you know I don't know
because thousands of people have done it for thousands of years everyone's done
it in every generation miktals the only generation that has not been able
to do that I don't know maybe shut off Andrew Tate for once okay shut off
Andrew Tate which by the way this guy is so fluid in his beliefs he's tossed to
and fro cared about with every wind of doctrine because you know at first he's
just like Islam is the best religion that's the only religion and Christianity
is lame you can't you know you can't say anything bad about Islam you can't
get away with that and he's like talking all this smack about
Christianity and then recently he just comes down he's just like the world is
so crazy you know I'm gonna join myself to a religion that actually
promotes family values and therefore I'm an Orthodox Christian now but you know
he deserves to be an Orthodox Christian let him be an Orthodox Christian let
him get around a bunch of men in dresses that's what Orthodox
Christianity is it's just another version of Catholicism they're wearing
dresses it's gay okay but this guy's over here now I'm an Orthodox
Christian and he wants to demonize women and and and you know just boast
about his ability to be a whoremonger and all this stuff it's it's nonsense
folks MGTOW is of the devil and anytime someone tells me or tries to
approach me with that type of philosophy I just translate it as oh
you're oh oh you're a loser okay so how many times have you been rejected
that's how I take it as I don't even think MGTOW existed when I was a team
we just saw it as you ain't got no game bro that's what we saw we're like oh
this person doesn't have any game you know you don't know how to talk to
girls you can't get someone to date him but you know this is what we see
this exaggerated statement where he wants the disciples want to paint with
a broad brush now think about this for a minute think about this for a
minute okay because you know MGTOWs think that they're so superior the
Christian Christian MGTOWs because there's Christian MGTOWs out there
unfortunately the one thing they're so superior to those who are married and
have kids but you know as I recall one of the disciples was married Peter well
they were better than Peter well as I recall Peter was like the leader of the
disciples hmm wonder if that's a coincidence Peter was married and I
believe he had children as well okay because he became a pastor in order to
be a pastor you have to have children and yet Peter you know I'm sure he's
and by the way Peter was he's one of the older disciples older apostles I'm sure
he's in the background like these guys because many of the disciples were
younger obviously okay during this time so that's why they're making these
blanket statements they're just like oh then we shouldn't even marry or
whatever it's nonsense after Jesus just got finished teaching principles of
marriage it's like dude grow up you know don't bring that MGTOW nonsense to
our church by the way okay and if that's what you believe you keep your mouth
shut and support the marriages in our church and don't don't go around saying
you know trying to flaunt your prideful arrogant MGTOW attitude
because we don't respect that here I'll just be honest you probably get
clowned on if you start saying your MGTOW and all this stuff you you
you're gonna get roasted back because we don't view it as a as a
honorable thing to be a MGTOW honorable to us is when you get married when you
love your wife as Christ loved the church when you are when you have
children and you raise children for the glory of God when there's a family
unit in the household that is is being led spiritually that's an
honorable thing in fact that's what the young people in our church aspire
to have they're like man I want a wife one day with kids and be able to
leave my family and teach them the Bible and go to church and go
soul winning and just serve God people I mean that's what we like not this
MGTOW nonsense go to Numbers chapter 13 number chapter 13 stop exaggerating
stop giving information that's not really there stop lying okay look at
Numbers 13 talk about the spies here in Numbers 13 look at verse 26
Numbers 13 and verse 26 it says and they went and came to Moses and to Aaron
referring to the spies who went out into the land of course they're going
out into the promised land to kind of survey the land to see what's going on
there and this is a land that essentially God wanted them to have
okay he was this is their inheritance so Moses sends them to go kind of
survey the land and see what's going on you know and bring back a report kind of
encouraged Israel to make sure they get into the fight okay because this is
what was gonna be theirs verse 26 they went out and came to Moses and to
Aaron to all the congregation of children of Israel unto the
wilderness of Peran to Kadesh and brought back word unto them unto all
the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land so they brought back
these grapes these fruits huge I mean it's just like whoa look at the land
it's bountiful and they told him and said we came into the land whether thou
sent us to us and surely it floweth with milk and honey and this is the
fruit of us is like this is a really good land this is good real
estate here nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land and the
cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of Anak
there the Amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the Hittites
and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the
Canaanites go by the sea and by the coast of Jordan so what are these guys
doing you know they're doing well up until the point where they want to
bring all this negative stuff they're like oh it's great but people are
they're pretty strong you know and then they're everywhere okay now Caleb
he's not with this crew he's hearing this and then he realizes all these
guys are being weenie about this verse 30 and Caleb stilled the people before
Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are able to overcome
it so he just cuts them off and he's like let's just go right now because
this is easy this is for our taking okay still the people in other words
he's like calm down we can take it verse 31 but the men that went up with
him said we be not able to go up against the people for they are
stronger than we and they brought up an evil report of the land which they
have searched unto the children of Israel saying the land through which we
have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof well
I thought it was a land full of milk and honey and all the people that we
saw in it are men of great stature you know even people are like
what and they're just caking on this exaggeration look at verse 33 and there
we saw the Giants the sons of Anak which come of the Giants thank you for
that observation and we were in our own sites a site as grasshoppers and so we
were in their site already did you ask them that now what is it you know
grasshopper he didn't give this exaggerated comparison saying because
they're so tall we're like grasshoppers in their site and then
they're like grasshoppers in our side and they're like in their site
as well you never even asked them then they don't even know you were there and
the Bible says that this is an evil report my friends when they start caking
on information that was never there to begin with and you know what that
cost them a lot they have to wait thereafter because people are so scared
because the reputation the lands reputation was marred before the
children of Israel because of these people that made an exaggerated
statement okay you say what's what's the point there we don't we got to be
careful how we communicate information sometimes whether about a person whether
about you know whatever whatever it is we need to make sure that we are
accurate in our statements okay and we all have a tendency to exaggerate
just a little bit but let me if you have that tendency to exaggerate a
little bit you just need to make sure that you give that caveat and say this
is my interpretation but this is what was actually said this is what the
person actually did and not try to intermingle both it's just like oh and
by the way we were like grasshoppers in their site too like
they think we're just like grasshoppers and roaches it's just like
how do you know that though oh you made that assumption on your own okay
and so you know exaggeration can be used for good but it also could be used
for bad too you know here here's an example everyone in the church is doing
this it's like is everyone in the church doing it everyone in the church
thinks this is have you been in the minds of every person in the church
seems it but often and it's like well how many people is that it's like
well three but it's everyone though so often when people say everyone it
often means like three okay and I've done this before because I you know
I've done this where it's just like yeah everyone in our church is
powerlifting right now but that's exaggerating because not everyone is
powerlifting that would mean like my wife is doing it you know like
heritage is cleans and everything you know it's not true a more accurate
statement would be a lot of people in our church are powerlifting now right
because it's true a lot of people are but we often say everyone because we
want people that we want people we want to exaggerate to make it seem as
though like oh you know I'm credible and you know this is happening but you
know we got to be careful with these types of assumptions these types of
exaggerations because you could destroy someone's life like that too you could
recruit someone to your side based off of an exaggeration adding truth adding
not truth but adding information that's just not there we got to make sure that
we're accurate we're gonna make sure that we're precise and if we think that
you know if we assume that a person means something by saying something and
we want to communicate that you just got to make sure you give the caveat
but that's just my opinion that person never said that before you've
never said that this person never communicated that but this is just
what I think okay because then if you don't communicate that they're gonna
say oh okay this person you know have you ever heard of telephone the game
telephone telephone is just a game of exaggeration and when I was a kid I'll be
honest with you I was the one who loved breaking that telephone it was
like the well is blue I'm just like oh man I'm gonna twist this
because I want to see what it comes to at the end because that game was
boring if you didn't twist it it was boring because then it would get
around to the final person if everyone just said what was said you know
it's just like okay the well is blue what now you know I'm just like let's
throw a wrench in there okay but we can't do that in real life though
cannot do that in real life don't be like me when I was you know in first
grade playing playing telephone you know we need to make sure we can we
communicate accurately we give the information and if you have a tendency
to exaggerate a little bit make sure you communicate that too and just say
I'm exaggerating a little bit because this is what I feel this is what I
believe but this is not what this person said this is not what this person did
okay you say oh is it really that big of a deal well I don't know you know
the Bible says it's an evil report so when you report something that's not
accurate in order to give yourself credibility or to mar the reputation
of another person the Bible considers that to be an evil report because
you're lying you're embellishing with the purpose of marring someone's
reputation or making yourself seem as though you're someone or something okay
and so we need to be aware of this type of behavior and obviously this is a
fun sermon so to speak talking about the negatives and the positives but we
need to apply this as well okay and make sure you know make sure we're not
exaggerating on you know the numbers that we're lifting right right yeah I
could I could deadlift 600 or whatever you know cuz now cuz now we're gonna test
that out now no we're gonna see if it's true and we have everything that you
need we even have chalk in there we installed it on the wall it's like you
can just we have belts if you need belts we have everything you need so now
and look if you say why I don't really do good with crowds you know I
mean hey you can go there by yourself it's fine we'll see it afterwards
cuz we have cameras in there as well the security cameras in there they can
see you actually you know be careful what you exaggerate okay you know make
sure that we are exaggerating the things that are proper to exaggerate
the biblical truths in order to magnify biblical principles magnify the
consequences of sin magnify the repercussions of breaking God's law
absolutely and let me just say this there's no way we can magnify hell
worse than what it really is so we can communicate hell and talk about how
it's the place where the warm diet not and the fires not quench it's a place
where you're gonna burn forever you cannot exaggerate hell enough but we
also got to make sure that we stay away from bringing up an evil report
because you can destroy someone's life like that you can destroy someone's
reputation like that and that's it so that's the impact of exaggeration let's
pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the
principles that we see Lord and and the things you know the Bible is so
relevant not just to give us doctrine that excites us but it even teaches us
just a practical things from day to day and I pray that Lord you help us
to take give heed to that and help us to be a people who are willing to
magnify the consequences of sin and even magnify the rewards of obedience
but also that we may avoid exaggerating giving extra information that's not
true that's not there because we could potentially ruin someone's life or just
cause problems in a church help us Lord to avoid that and bless us as we
go on our way Lord and bless the service tonight in Jesus name we pray
amen amen song in 145 it is well with my soul and at the beginning of the
chorus the ladies will sing the part where it says it is well with my soul
and the men will echo with my soul all right see you on that first when
peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll
ever my lot thou hast taught me to say it is well it is well with my
soul ladies
men
well it is well with my soul though Satan sure
try oh sure come let this bless the show
rinse control that cries as regard did my helpless estate and hath shed his
own blood for my soul ladies
with my soul it is well it is well with my soul
my sin oh the bliss of this glorious my sin not in part but the whole is
nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul
ladies
it is well it is well with my soul on that last and Lord hates the day
when my faith shall be sigh the clouds be rolled back as the scroll the
Trump shall resound and the Lord shall deep said even so it is well with
my soul
my soul it is well it is well with my soul
amen wonderful scene you are dismissed
you