Music
Morning. We're in John chapter number 16. John chapter 16 in the Bible reads,
These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended.
They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that you do with God's service.
These things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me.
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them.
And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you.
But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away.
For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.
But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more.
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.
For ye shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.
Ye shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.
All things that the Father hath are mine.
Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.
A little while, and ye shall not see me.
And again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
And said some of his disciples among themselves,
What is this that he saith unto us? A little while, and ye shall not see me.
And again, a little while, and ye shall see me.
And because I go to the Father.
They said therefore, What is this that he saith? A little while.
We cannot tell what he saith.
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them,
Do ye inquire among yourselves that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me?
And again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament,
but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come.
But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,
hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.
Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs,
but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs,
but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
At that day ye shall ask in my name,
and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you,
but the Father himself loveth you, because he have loved me,
and have believed that I came out from God.
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.
Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly,
and speakest no proverb.
Now we are sure that thou knowest all things,
and needest not that any man should ask thee.
By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come,
that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.
Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
These things have I spoken unto you,
that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Let's pray, dear Lord God.
Thank you again for this opportunity to assemble in your house.
Just ask that you would meet with us here now this morning,
and please bless Pastor Mahieu with your Holy Spirit
as he preaches your word unto us.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in John chapter 16,
and look down at your Bibles at verse 20.
It says, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice,
and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
And the title of my sermon this morning is
The Negative Effects of Christianity.
And you know, there's this common misconception amongst Christians
that once you become a Christian, once you get saved,
or even once you start serving God,
and you've been faithful to the Lord for a certain amount of years,
that everything should just be positive.
Nothing bad should ever happen, and everything should be hunky-dory,
and you know, no evil will befall you.
And the reality is this, is that we obviously know
when we read the Bible, when we hear preaching,
that Christianity is filled with a lot of positive outcomes.
The number one being that we're going to go to heaven when we die, Amen.
But even aside from that, there's plenty of blessings that come with being a Christian.
There's a lot of positive things that happen to you.
Obviously, the Christian life is superior to any other way of living in this world.
It's the best life there is, and you know, obeying the Word of God,
and implementing its principles will give us just a greater life,
an abundant life, as the Bible puts it.
But here's the thing, is that it also has a lot of side effects.
Negative side effects.
And when people hear that, it's just like, whoa, hold on a second, you know,
what do you mean it has negative side effects?
That sounds kind of bad, you know, why are you speaking about Christianity in that way?
Well, let me just tell you that that way of thinking is completely wrong, okay?
Because people are assuming that just because something is negative, it's bad.
But here's the thing, is that negativity is very good.
And in fact, we need negative outcomes in our personal lives.
We need negative outcomes throughout our Christian life
because it works together for good, but it also teaches us life principles, it humbles us.
There are certain things that happen when we go through negative circumstances,
evil circumstances, that are necessary in our lives.
If only positive things happened to you in your life when you became a Christian,
you'd be a horrible Christian, okay?
If you only experienced positive outcomes, you've never experienced evil,
or failure, or what it's like to be defrauded,
what it's like to be sick, what it's like for your health to be compromised,
what it's like to have God's hand against you,
you'd just be a very arrogant and prideful Christian,
you wouldn't be able to condescend with men of low estate,
and you'd be completely useless in this life.
You see, Christianity, although it has a lot of positive things about it,
it's filled with a lot of negatives,
and the negative aspects of it are very good because it helps us to balance out the positive things.
And in fact, in order for positive outcomes to continue to happen in your Christian life,
you need a good amount of negative. Why? Because it keeps us humble.
Because of the fact that if only good things happened to you,
you would think, well, there's nothing wrong with me, you know?
I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to do,
I have no deficiency in my faith,
and I'm always doing that which is right in the eyes of the Lord,
but when you have a negative outcome in your life,
it causes you to kind of take inventory of your spiritual life and recognize,
maybe I'm not all that I thought I was cracked up to be,
and then it makes you kind of reevaluate your spiritual life,
search the scriptures, pray, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God,
and then what happens? Well, then you have a positive outcome outside of that.
And so I want to talk about this morning about some of the negative effects of Christianity.
Number one, because of the fact that, you know,
when you first get saved, you can have that attitude,
but even if you've been saved for a long time,
you can often also have this attitude.
Because, you know, think about a Christian who's been saved for decades,
and they've been serving God for a long time,
they win souls, they're faithful,
and then they have a lot of bad stuff happen to them,
they can have the temptation to point the finger at God and say,
well, what's going on? Why is all this bad stuff happening to me?
You know, if I'm serving God, I love the Lord,
I'm reading the Bible, I'm coming to church,
I'm not like, you know, backslidden ex-person over here,
I'm not like living a carnal life,
I'm trying to do the best that I can to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord,
and yet this stuff is happening to me, why is that?
And so this is essentially just the kind of a reminder that,
along with the positive that comes with being a Christian,
you need to embrace and accept the negative as well, okay?
Now we see this in John chapter 16,
so it should come as no surprise to us why negative things happen.
In fact, Jesus said in verse 20,
that ye shall weep and lament.
What does that mean?
It means you're going to cry, you're going to be sorrowful,
you're going to have pain, you're going to have grief,
and to add insult to injury,
and verse 20 says, and the world shall rejoice.
What does that mean?
While you're in grief, while you're depressed,
while you're discouraged, while you're going through a hard time,
you're going to see someone who's not serving God,
who's not a Christian, everything's just going great for them,
and they're like rejoicing, and they're posting their selfies,
and how great everything's going in their life,
and they're getting the raises, they're having a great marriage,
their kids are turning out to be functioning members of society,
and no bad is happening unto them,
and it's just like, why is the world rejoicing?
Well, because Jesus said right here that ye shall weep and lament,
and that the world shall rejoice.
That's just a way of things in this life.
He says, and ye shall be sorrowful,
but here's the promise, here's the outcome,
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
So it's not a matter of God just telling us,
hey, your life's just going to be completely miserable this side of eternity.
Enjoy.
You know what I mean?
You've got to serve me, and you've got to live a godly life,
a holy life, and you're just going to be miserable while you're doing it,
and that's pretty much how life is going to be for the rest of your life,
and so, you know?
No, he's obviously giving us a promise that at the end,
our sorrow will be turned into joy,
and it's one of those things where you have to recognize
that the Christian life works in intervals of positives and negatives.
You go through seasons of positive outcomes,
then you go through seasons of negative outcomes.
You'll go through positive again, negative again,
but at the end of the day, at the end of your life,
it's all going to turn out great.
We have the last laugh, so to speak, okay?
Now, you know, you have this sect of Christianity
that preaches these positive only sermons, right?
And these are the health and wealth gospel preachers,
and obviously it's a false gospel,
but they're the ones who constantly promote this idea
that if you serve God, if you give your life to him,
then you're going to be rich, you're going to be wealthy, healthy,
and everything's going to turn out great.
And obviously they're defrauding a lot of people
because of the fact that that's not true,
and that's not biblical Christianity.
And it's funny that when you confront these people
with the testimony in the lives of those in the New Testament
and how bad it went for them in certain instances,
you know, they don't have nothing to say about it.
Last time I checked, you know, Stephen was stoned to death
for preaching the word of God and was killed.
Last time I checked, Jesus Christ was crucified,
and the Bible says if they called the master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more shall they call they of his household?
In other words, if we as Christians are part of the household of God,
and they're calling Jesus the devil,
they're calling him a false god,
they're calling him a demon,
then how much more are they going to call you if you're serving him
because you're part of his household?
In other words, don't have this attitude that
everyone's going to love you,
everything's going to be hunky-dory,
it's all positive, and when negative things happen,
oh man, I must not be serving God.
No, in fact, when you serve God,
you're going to have a new element of negativity entering into your life.
One of the most annoying comments that I see is just like,
someone watches a video and is like,
I claim no negativity from this video or something.
It's a video.
They think like someone's going to reach out and like,
touch them or something like that, you know,
and it's just this weird superstitious view that negativity is wrong or something.
You know, preaching is negative at times,
and I love negative preaching,
because it fixes my life, it helps me to stay on track,
and it tells me what I need to hear about sin,
and it's absolutely necessary.
If you only had positive, only preaching,
then we would just be a really horrible, heretical church.
Okay?
Because the vast majority of what preaching needs to be is negative.
Preach the word, be it in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort,
with long-suffering and doctrine.
So it tells us to reprove and rebuke,
that means correct them, you know,
tell people that they're wrong,
and then yell when you're doing it,
and then you build them up.
So you got to tear them down before you build them up, right?
That's basically what he's saying.
So let's get into some of these negative effects of Christianity.
Now go to Romans chapter 7, if you would,
Romans chapter number 7,
and I'm going to start really basic this morning,
because of the fact that, you know,
we have new people in our church
that need to learn these principles
that once you become a Christian,
or once you start serving God,
maybe you have been a Christian for quite some time,
you've been saved for a long time,
but you haven't necessarily started serving God.
And, you know, it's important to learn these things
so that you don't fall by the wayside in the coming months,
because, you know, sometimes when people get back into church,
or they start getting serious about serving God,
they go through a honeymoon stage, right?
And the honeymoon stage is that, like,
everything's just positive.
Everything's just great.
I love life!
But then you get, like, nine months into it,
or a year into it,
and sometimes even shorter at that,
and then, you know, people are just,
then you start realizing that there's a lot of negative stuff,
because the pastor starts preaching on your sin,
and you don't really like that now, do you?
You don't really like me stepping on your toes
and calling out your sin,
and then you realize that, you know,
you gotta do this for the rest of your life,
and it's just like, oh, man,
I don't know about this anymore,
and the honeymoon's over,
and then you can fall by the wayside
because of the negativity, you know,
but what I'm here to tell you this morning
is claim the negativity, amen?
Claim all the negativity from this sermon, okay?
Now, the first negative effect of Christianity
is that you won't be able to enjoy sin
the way you used to.
You can't enjoy sin the way you used to.
Why is that?
Well, because when you get saved,
you get what's called a new nature,
and that new nature can be described as,
the Bible puts it, the new man,
along in conjunction with the Holy Spirit
that indwells you,
because once you get saved,
the Holy Spirit of God comes to indwell you.
He is the earnest of our inheritance.
He's there until you die.
He's never gonna leave you nor forsake you,
but when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you,
he basically resurrects your dead spirit.
All adults, to a certain extent,
unless there's like an exception to this,
someone who doesn't have the faculties
to be able to understand the laws of God,
all adults have a dead spirit,
and so that's why people in the world
can just sin and not really blink an eye,
bat an eye at it.
It doesn't bother them.
They can continue in adultery,
fornication, drunkenness.
They can continue in, you know,
covetousness and greed and defrauding,
and yeah, they might have a little prick
in their conscience that says this is wrong,
but you know, it doesn't really bother them that much,
which is why they can continue in it.
You understand what I'm saying?
And that was probably you,
but when you got saved,
the Holy Spirit, your dead spirit,
and now you have a new man dwelling in you, okay?
And that new man rejoices in the truth.
It rejoices in doing that which is pleasing unto the Lord.
It rejoices in sowning and coming to church
and singing the hymns.
It just rejoices in the things of God.
There's no sin in the new man,
and in fact, it can't sin, okay?
It's been redeemed 100%.
But the problem is this,
is that the new man is encapsulated within the old.
So the new man is in here,
but the old man is still, it's right here.
You know, you're looking at the old man that's encapsulated,
or the new man that's encapsulated within the old.
And so just because you get saved
doesn't mean your old desires go away
because the old man is still there.
Now look at Romans 7 and verse 14.
It says, 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 do I.
Now try to say that five times fast.
If then 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.
For 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 what I would not,
it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Now what is Paul the apostle saying?
He's not making excuses here.
And he's not trying to give you like a riddle
or something like that.
He's explaining the conflict that he experiences
as a believer on a day in, day out basis.
And what he's basically describing is these two natures.
Essentially saying that the carnal aspect
of his being, meaning the old man,
wants to do evil.
It wants to do that which is not good.
It wants to do that which the new man hates.
And then the new man rejoices
after the law of God inwardly.
And then so they're constantly combating,
they're constantly fighting.
There's no reconciliation between the two.
He says in verse 21,
I find in the law that when I would do good,
evil is present with me.
And what is he referring to?
He's referring to the old man.
Now let me just take a break here
and explain to you why Paul Washer
is a damnable heretic.
Aside from the fact that he believes
in a repentier sin's gospel,
he literally says that there's no such thing
as a carnal Christian.
And yet one of the greatest believers
that is exemplified in the New Testament,
in the Bible, is the apostle Paul,
who said, number one, I am carnal.
But somehow Paul Washer's better than him, of course.
He is able to repent of all his sins
and all those things,
and he doesn't do that which he hates.
Evil's never present with him
because his ideology and his false doctrine,
which he probably doesn't even believe himself,
he's a damnable heretic, he was a charlatan,
but the ideology that he claims to espouse
and that he's promoting
is that once a person gets saved,
you're never going to desire to do wrong.
But that is stupid because of the fact
that the Bible's clearly telling us here
through the apostle Paul,
who's one of the greatest examples of Christians
in the New Testament,
and we would say, man, this guy knows the Bible,
he's used greatly of God,
he loves the Lord,
yet he's saying, but sin dwells in me.
And he's like, I'm trying to do right,
but then I do wrong,
and the wrong that I do, I hate,
and that which I hate, I end up doing.
I mean, what's going on here?
Well, he's referring to his two natures.
Yet Paul Washer wants to gaslight Christians
into thinking, well, if you're saved,
you're never going to do wrong,
and if you desire to do wrong,
then you're not really saved to begin with.
No, Paul Washer, you're not saved.
Because you're only carnal.
There's no new man in you, okay?
You're completely unregenerated.
You say, well, how do you know?
Because the works of the flesh are made manifest,
and one of them is heresy.
And that man embodies heresy
by teaching that false doctrine.
There's no new man there.
You know why?
Because the new man would actually be honest.
Who's the one speaking here?
The new man.
The old man is the one who wants to justify himself.
The old man is the one who wants to make excuses
and claim that he's perfect,
and that he's not condemned,
and all these things based upon his works
and his righteousness.
The new man is actually honest with himself
and recognizes and observes
that conflict between two natures.
Whereas you have Paul Washer
who believes there's only one nature, apparently.
And here's the thing, folks, is that, you know,
what is the answer to our fleshly problem?
You know, because we have this inward man,
but what is the answer?
The answer is not repent of all your sins
because you can't do it.
The answer is the resurrection.
That's the answer.
God has already provided the solution to your problem,
which is your sin nature,
and the problem is we need to discard
that old man, that flesh,
and you need an upgrade is what you need.
It's not like the old version doesn't work.
It will never operate.
It's a different iOS.
It's not going to operate well.
It's not going to work.
You need a new phone, okay?
And you need a complete different upgrade
that's completely absent of sin.
It doesn't have the viruses.
It doesn't have all the whatever bots or whatever
that they need to fix.
It's just completely, you know, deficient of sin.
It doesn't have any of that.
It's absent of it, and that is the answer.
Now, obviously the Bible teaches us that
even though we have the resurrection as a promise,
God expects us to live a life of sanctification
this side of eternity.
So that's not an excuse to say,
well, I'm just going to live however I want
because there's obviously consequences to your actions
and God will whoop you this side of eternity
if that's how you want to live.
And of course you're going to have
a terrible judgment seat of Christ
if that's how you choose to live.
But the point that I'm making here is that
one of the negative effects of Christianity
is that, you know what,
if you try to go back to that particular sin
that you were committing in times past
and try to revel in it,
you're not really going to enjoy it much
because you've got a new man living within you
that's going to be grieved,
it's going to be bothered,
your conscience is going to bother you.
It's just going to constantly be like this cloud
hanging over your head.
Now look, go to Galatians chapter 5.
Here's the thing is that
obviously there's Christians
who can blot out that voice.
Right?
If you are living a life of just unfettered sin,
you're not repenting,
you're not getting right with God,
you can become hardened.
But let me just say this is that
you can turn down the voice
but the voice doesn't permanently ever go away.
Because in your bed at night
when you're sleeping, you know what's right.
So you can do everything you can,
everything you can to drown out
the voice of the new man,
the promptings of the new man
throughout the day,
but once you go to bed at night,
he's still there.
He doesn't sleep either.
Let me keep reading from Romans 7.
You're in Galatians 5.
I'm going to keep reading from Romans 7.
It says in verse 22,
For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man.
So, you know, I hate to break it to you,
but the only aspect of your being
that actually likes the Bible
is the inward man.
So if you ever find my sermons boring,
you're just being carnal.
Kiddos, there's a bunch of seats.
Yeah, just sit next to Miss Kelly right there.
All right.
You know, if you ever don't like something
that I'm preaching that's from the Bible,
it's because you're just a carnal person.
So you've got to come to that conclusion
on your own and not come ask me
because I'm just going to tell you that.
Like you're just being carnal.
You're being a fleshly person
because, you know, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man.
The inward man is just like,
I love it.
It's great.
It's the flesh that's not subject
to the law of God.
Neither indeed can be,
the Bible says in Romans 8.
He says,
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.
He says, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me
from this body of death?
And the question is obviously rhetorical
because he teaches us what it is
which is the resurrection.
God's going to deliver us
from this body of sin
at the resurrection
and we will no longer have to
suffer this constant battling
in this world, okay?
But look at Galatians 5 and verse 16.
He reiterates this concept once again.
In verse 16 he says,
This I say then,
walk in the Spirit
and ye shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh.
Now if once you got saved
everything was just great
and you just served God
all the days of your life,
there'd be no need
for verse 16 whatsoever.
Why would he tell you
to walk in the Spirit
if that's just what you do naturally?
He's telling you
because of the fact that
we need to be reminded of that
because we're always
in and out of the Spirit
because we have the flesh
and we have the Spirit.
He says,
For the flesh lusteth,
meaning desires,
against the Spirit
and the Spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary
to what the Bible says.
These are contrary to one to the other
so you cannot do the things that you would.
Now what's interesting is
that Romans 7,
it says that these two natures
war against one another.
So the picture that you have here
is like they're fighting each other, right?
Whereas here in Galatians,
it seems to imply that
the flesh lusteth,
meaning it desires,
against the Spirit,
meaning it's pulling away from the Spirit.
The Spirit pulls away from the flesh.
And I think that's a great way
to describe what it's like
to have that conflict within us.
It's like we're being pulled apart
in two separate directions, right?
You're just like,
Man, my flesh wants to do this,
but then my Spirit wants to do this.
They're never going to be
in accordance one with another.
And that is a negative effect of Christianity
because prior to being a Christian,
prior to getting saved,
you're only going in one direction.
You didn't have anybody guilt-tripping you
and telling you this is wrong
and making excuses.
You never had that voice.
You never had the word of God abiding in you.
So you're just going in one direction.
But now that you're saved,
here's the negative effect
is that you're being pulled apart
every single day.
It's just like,
Ugh!
And you know what?
That's how it feels sometimes.
But the way you can minimize that pull,
listen to me,
the way you can minimize that pull,
not eliminate it,
but the way you can minimize it
is by walking in the Spirit.
What does that mean?
Pull with the Spirit.
You know?
The Christians who just don't read their Bibles,
they don't go to church,
they're not feeding the Spirit,
they're constantly feeling that
and then they're feeling a tug
more towards the flesh,
whereas the one who's walking in the Spirit
is pulling with the Spirit
against the flesh.
And then it makes the flesh
do the things that
it doesn't want to do,
but you want to do.
You know, you get up in the morning
and you're supposed to read your Bible,
that's you pulling against your flesh
with the Spirit to read your Bible.
Pulling your carcass out of bed
to go read the Bible.
I see a bunch of people this morning
that pulled against the flesh
to come to church.
You know?
Instead of sleeping in
and I don't know,
watching football or whatever it is
that people do on Sundays.
What do people do on Sundays?
I don't know.
Barbecues or go to the park
and you know,
go look at the sky or something,
whatever it is that you do.
You know, I see a lot of people
who just said,
no, I'm going to pull against the flesh.
I'm going to lust against the flesh
with the Spirit
and I'm going to pull myself into church.
Pull myself into the Bible.
Pull myself into the soul
and pull myself into
walking in the Spirit
and doing that which is pleasing
in the sight of the Lord.
And here's the thing, folks,
is that you won the pool today,
but tomorrow's another pool.
You got to pool again tomorrow.
And that's why it's
such a negative effect
because the battle that you win today
is insufficient for tomorrow.
It's like, oh man,
I had such a great day on Sunday.
I heard preaching.
We sang the hymns.
I read the Bible.
I understood it.
And then it's just like
you think tomorrow,
you can carry that over,
roll over victories into Monday or something.
You get into Monday
and it's just complete failure.
But it's because you
fail to realize
that you have to pool again tomorrow.
And that's the negative effect
is that we're just constantly
in this battle.
And you're like,
man, I just get tired of fighting so much.
Yeah, but here's the thing is that
the person who's out there in the world
who doesn't have Christ,
who's not saved,
he's not pooling anything,
but he's going to hell.
He's going to hell.
So what good is it?
What's the point?
Oh man, they're having so much fun
and they're just living life
without consequence.
No, they're not.
It's just the consequence
comes later on in life.
If they don't get saved,
they're going to split hell wide open.
That's just the way it works.
But we who are saved,
now we have this new nature.
Now we can understand the Bible.
We can rejoice in the truth.
We can become more intelligent,
spiritual,
live lives that are pleasing unto the Lord.
But here's the negative side effect
is that you're just constantly
going to experience
this battle of this pool
between the flesh and the spirit.
And you know what?
If you find yourself being
just a really carnal, fleshly Christian,
where it's just you're not walking in the spirit,
it's because you're pooling against the spirit
and you're always giving into your flesh.
That's why.
You're just always giving into the flesh.
You're just allowing the flesh
to pool you in one direction.
You don't fight back.
You don't read the Bible.
You don't quote scripture.
You're constantly placing yourself
in the presence of temptation.
And that's why.
And so that is a negative effect of Christianity
is that you can no longer enjoy sin
the way you used to.
Now let me just say this is that
I'm not saying you can't enjoy sin
because sin is pleasurable,
but hold on a second for a season though.
And afterwards thy mouth
shall be filled with gravel,
the Bible tells us.
So bread stolen in secret is sweet,
but afterwards your mouth
shall be filled with gravel.
So the initial feeling of
committing sin or whatever it is
that you may be battling with,
whatever sin that entices you,
it may be sweet in the short term,
but afterwards it's dry,
it's disgusting, it's bitter,
and the ramifications of committing that sin
far outweigh the pleasures
that you had when you initially did it.
That's just the way it works.
And those are the negative effects my friends.
And so when you become a Christian
don't think to yourself,
oh man I just have this new desire
and now I'm never gonna go back to alcohol.
I'm just never gonna go back to smoking pot.
I'm never gonna go back to my old friends
or I'm never gonna go back to fornication.
And you know what,
for the short term that might be true
because once you have that new nature,
that new car smell,
getting that new vehicle,
you know when you get a brand new vehicle
you're like no one is able to eat in my car.
No one can eat in my car.
It's like no trash, no one can eat.
Nine months down the road,
you're eating in your car.
You're leaving the cups.
You're leaving the trash bag.
That's how it always is.
And some people are more disciplined
and they maintain that standard.
But here's the thing is that
the ones who are disciplined and maintain that standard
are like those who maintain the discipline
to just keep walking in the spirit
even after they've gotten over the new car smell.
So enjoy the new car smell of the Christian life
but then just realize later on
you're gonna wanna leave some trash in the car.
Don't do it.
And then you're gonna have a friend like
hey can I just eat this in the car real quick?
And then you just wanna make an exception for everyone
and then all of a sudden
now you have McDonald's bags all over the place.
Cups are all over the place.
That's just how it is.
That's just how it is in the Christian life.
Go to first Peter chapter five
if you would first Peter chapter five.
You're not gonna be able to enjoy sin
the way you used to.
And here's the thing is that
here's another reason why I don't have this in my notes.
Here's another reason why you can't enjoy sin
the way you used to
is because there's certain sins
that you didn't even know was a sin.
Right?
So like you become a Christian
there's some things that you already know is a sin
but then you get saved
and you're just kinda doing life
and you're trying to like serve God
but then you get preaching in
and you start reading the Bible
and you're like oh man
I didn't know this was like a sin.
And then you're like oh man
that's another thing that God expects of me
oh man
he didn't know what to do good
and do it tonight I just sinned it to him.
Then you start realizing
there's like a lot of sins
that you could be committing
and it's just like oh whoa
this Christian life
seems so negative.
I guess I can't do a lot of things.
But yeah you can't do a lot of things
yeah you can't eat of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil
but there's a bunch of other trees
you can't eat from.
So obviously it's a matter of perspective.
Now what's another negative effect of Christianity?
Well number two
number one we said that
you will never be able to enjoy sin
the way you used to
but number two
you will permanently have a target on your back.
Permanently.
What does that mean?
Satan is your adversary from here on out.
Now don't get confused
and don't let these people in the world
think that they're fighting Satan.
You always run into people
Denzel Washington
putting out these inspirational videos
like the devil wants to keep you down
it's like you work for the devil.
What are you talking about?
These people in Hollywood
these people who are not Christians
they always talk as though
they're in opposition to the devil
or the devil really just has them
and they're pawns of Satan is what they are.
And I'm not saying that
Satan is their friend or anything like that
because he hates them as well
but he's using them
they're instruments in his hand
they're not really doing anything to affect his kingdom
they're not a detriment to him
you understand?
They're actually being used to promote
his wicked devices.
The true enemies of the devil are us.
The true adversaries of Satan are believers.
And if we want to get a little more specific about it
it's believers who are actually serving God
preaching the gospel
and doing that which is pleasing unto the Lord
because there's other Christians out there
who obviously Satan would hate more than those
who are in the world who are not saved
but here's the thing is that they're so docile
they're just not doing anything
so they don't pose a threat to Satan
Satan's not scared of them
he's not working overtime
to deceive them
they're not doing anything
they're just like a spiritual vegetable
incapacitated, not doing anything
so they don't really pose a threat
the ones that pose a threat to Satan
are those who are actually serving God
and are awake to the things of God
not this fake being awake
or it's just like you know about
every evil in the world
no, we are wise concerning good
simple concerning evil
we know what the Bible says
we are the actual ones who pose a threat
churches that are preaching the gospel pose a threat
because we are literally pulling people
out of the flames of hell
you understand?
we are literally taking people
who've been taken captive
at his will
and so we pose a threat
once you become a Christian and you start serving God
well you know
God is no longer against you
because before you were an enemy of God
in your minds according to the Bible
and now God's your heavenly father
it's all these positive things
but also I just want to let you know
Satan is out to get you for the rest of your life
he's not going to be able to take away your salvation
but he will do everything he possibly can
to make sure that number one
if you are serving God
and number two if you are serving God
he's going to try to hinder you
as much as he possibly can
number three if you seek to have a godly family
he's going to go after your children
he's going to go after your wife
he's going to go after your husband
he's just relentless
so I'm not trying to scare you or anything
but I am trying to scare you
and to tell you that once you become a Christian
Satan is your permanent adversary
and don't take it lightly
look at 1 Peter 5 verse 8
be sober
be vigilant
because your adversary the devil
as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom
he may devour
so the Bible is telling us that Satan
can be likened unto a lion
and you know we're likened
unto sheep
so we're always on his menu
he always wants to devour us
he wants to eat us up
he wants to destroy us
he wants to kill, steal, destroy
he wants you to make
as many bad decisions as you possibly can
so that you are
100% incapacitated from serving God
he wants you to be a
useless Christian who doesn't do anything
he wants you to be
a member of the liberal fund center
to give you
this thought
that maybe you are serving God
when really you're just not
he wants you to be a part of a church
where you think you're serving God
but you're actually not
you're not soul winning
you're not reading the Bible
you're not doing that which is pleasing in his sight
you're not furthering the kingdom of God
he wants you to be like that
and obviously you know there's other people
other Christians that may struggle with vices
he wants to keep you in that vice
because if that's what it takes
to keep you incapacitated
then that's what he wants
so aside from the fact that you have to fight your flesh
for the rest of your life
you have a target on your back and there's someone who's
constantly campaigning against you
you're like well what do I do
well it says here you have to be sober
and you have to be vigilant
sober meaning no alcohol
no weed
and whatever other recreational drugs there are
mushrooms
that's all I know
whatever it is
whatever drug makes you
drunken
and it doesn't give you a sharp mind
it doesn't allow you
to use the faculties
that God has given to you to consume
and digest the word of God
and know that there's an enemy
God says I want you to be sober
because of the fact that
there's a lion out here who's trying to devour you
who's trying to destroy you
and if you're spiritually drunk
you're not paying attention
you're not being vigilant
you're not being aware of your spiritual surroundings
he's going to get you
and the worst thing that a Christian can do
is just think ah, you know
not me though
I can beat the devil
I can beat Satan
I remember years ago when I first got saved
my pastor was preaching
and after the sermon
and it was like, I think I was just a couple weeks in
and I just went to go talk to him
and just thank him for the sermon
but some guy had already beat me to him
and he said, you know, I really like your sermon
and I just want to let you know
Satan's a wimp and he'll never get me
and my father-in-law was just like
well, you know, you don't really want to say that
he's like, no, no, no
I can beat him
and it was just like
and in my mind, because I was such a young Christian
I thought to myself, wow, this guy's pretty bold
you know?
and my father-in-law was like
yeah, that's not going to happen
Satan is very powerful
he can destroy your life
he's been doing this for thousands of years
he's taken down many mighty
he has a very extensive track record
of destroying Christians
he has a very high success rate
of incapacitating Christians
so you don't want to have this attitude
that Satan is just this
oh man, he can't do anything to me
yes he can, he's very powerful
and therefore, we need to make sure
that we esteem the word of God
and the principles thereof, and listen to me
esteem the warnings that God gives
and not take them lightly and say
well, you know, be sober, be vigilant
but you know, I am
he's not going to get me
you know, take heed lest he fall
heed that stand and take heed lest he fall
he says in verse number 9
whom resist steadfast in the faith
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world
so it's basically telling us that Satan is after all Christians
not Catholics
not Mormons
you know
not Jehovah's Witnesses
not Pentecostals
he's not going for any of those
if we're to study the Bible
we know who he's going against
and it's always funny when like
the Catholic community tries to gaslight
the world into thinking that Satan is only against them
the church
you are Satan, you're the vicar of Satan
you work for him
you're one of his most successful religions
he created Catholicism
and he's very proud of you
he loves you
because you hate Christians
and you've damned billions of people to hell
so no, you know
Satan doesn't hate men in long dresses
claiming to preach the Bible
you know when it says
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
it's referring to other safe people
ok
and so you have to understand that one of the negative side effects
of Christianity is that
once you become a Christian, it's not always roses and daisies
it's not a bed of roses
in the Christian life
you have a legitimate enemy who wants to just
destroy your marriage
destroy your kids
and he has zero mercy
he will not spare you
he will not spare your little ones
he will not spare your wife
he will not spare your church members
he will not spare anybody
if you're serving God
he's out to get you
you say, oh man, what do I do then?
well, keep serving God and you'll be fine
because here's the thing
is that if God before us
who can be against us
so as long as you have God's favor
and you're serving God
and you are doing that
which is pleasing in God's sight
Satan can't really do much
without God's permission
and whatever God allows him to do
it's still under God's protective cover
understand what I'm saying?
but here's the thing
if you're just a backslidden Christian
then you know what God does?
He just unleashes Satan on you to destroy you
and now you have no protective cover
now that's scary
I mean read the book of Job
and obviously he wasn't backslidden
but God essentially released Satan
upon him to destroy him almost
and you know
he came out as gold because he's a godly man
look at Luke 22 if you would
Luke chapter 22
go to Luke 22, we're talking about the negative
effects of Christianity
negative effect number one is that
you won't be able to enjoy sin the way you used to
and instead of just kind of
dwelling on that, develop
godly desires, godly
habits, change your appetites
to desire that which is good
and pleasing in God's eyes
delight yourself in the
Lord, hunger
and thirst after righteousness
and it's
just a lot easier thereafter
but
number two is that you have a permanent target on
your back which is Satan, let's look at an example
here, look at Luke 22 verse 31
and the Lord said, Simon, Simon
this is talking to Peter
Satan hath desire to have
you that he may sift
you as wheat
now think about
how incredible that statement is
that Satan
because you know, what does he mean by that
Satan, how does like Jesus know that?
Well first of all he's God
but we've actually seen a live action
in the Bible, example of this
where Satan went to God
and you know, was essentially asking
to destroy Joe
so Satan went to Jesus
he went to God and he's like
I want that guy right there
now that's like
seems like an honorable thing like wow
that's pretty amazing but it's kind of scary too
is it not?
like there's 12 disciples
a bunch of apostles
and Satan comes and says, I want him
and I want to sift him as wheat
I want to chop him down
and the implication here
is that he's going to be given
an opportunity
to chop him down
now
look at verse 32, but
amen?
but
because that sounds really scary but hold on
I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not
and I like the belief that he has in Peter
and when thou art converted
strengthen thy brother
it's kind of like instilling within him
like hey, once you come out of this
once you're converted, once you're made stronger
once you're made better
strengthen your brothers
now
this is like the guy that you know
went to my father-in-law
he said unto him, Lord I am ready to go with thee
both into prison and to death
he's just like, you know, I'll die with you
and then the Lord had to kind of like correct him
and he said, I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not
curl this day before thou shall
thrice deny that thou knowest me
now isn't that interesting is that
Jesus knew that Peter
was going to deny him
but yet he said that his faith
would not fail and that he
would be converted and that he would
strengthen his brother, now how do those
two ideas, how do we reconcile those
two ideas if he's also telling them
like you're going to deny me, well here's
how we reconcile it, you know, a just man
falls seven times, but hold on a second
he rises up again
so you can't allow yourself
to just be characterized by
some failures in your life, in your Christian life
you know, if you've failed
once before, that's not going to, that
shouldn't be your identity for the rest of your life
because the Lord's
praying for you
the Lord's praying that your faith fail not
and the Lord
is assuming that
you will be converted and that you
after your conversion to
serve him, that you will
strengthen your brother
so yeah, Peter did deny him
and he went in a dark place
but you know what, he ended up doing great things for God
thereafter because at the end of the day
sometimes we do fail
sometimes we do mess up, sometimes we do
sin, we do that which is not
right in the eyes of God, but you know what
God is praying for you, Jesus is praying for you
and so get back up, don't
put yourself under the juniper tree and say
well I've sinned so therefore I'm going to take a break from church for
another nine months or something
and when I'm converted I'll strengthen my brother
and it don't work that way
the point that I'm making with this is that
Satan has these
devices and you know
one of the negative effects of Christianity is that
he's going to use them all against you throughout your life
now the Bible tells us that if
we resist Satan
he will flee from us
resist what? His temptations
his you know
persecutions, everything that he throws at us
we just have to keep resisting
resisting, resisting
and then he flees, he runs, but
the Bible tells us that he flees for what?
a season
so you'll take off for a little
a little bit and then you'll come right
back again and guess what
you have many seasons in this lifetime
you're going to experience
a lot of seasons, you'll have a season of
peace where you're reading the Bible
you're serving God, you're growing
in the Lord and then BOOM he hits you
again and then you just got to
use the same formula over and over again
you're like
man I thought like the Christian life was just
like learning the Bible
reading the Bible, going to
work, serving my family, it is
but you know there's some negative things to it too though
the devil wants to kill you
he wants to devour
you, we're not
you know there's Christians out there just like there's good God
good devil, good everything
it's like nothing's ever bad and you know
you know it's not
like that, I don't know why you got to explain it that way
that's how the Bible
explains it
but you can't
overcome the wicked one if the word of God
abides in you the Bible says
okay
go to
let me see here
go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 12
so negative side effect
number one is that you'll never be
able to enjoy sin the way you used to
negative side effect number two is that you will
always have a target on your back
Satan will always
fight you to the bitter end
yeah he may take a break, he may
take a season off, but he's going to come after you
and look, one of the challenges
for me as a pastor
listen to me, one of the challenges for me as a pastor
is to try to peel back
the spiritual world, the realm
and show you that the problem
in your marriage
isn't you two, it's just Satan trying to get in between
you two
the problems with you and others
is not you and others, it's just
Satan is stirring things up
like I have to constantly try to peel back
and show people hey, the problem
is not your husband, the problem is not your wife
really it's just
Satan just kind of stirring things up
and you have to have
enough spiritual discernment
to see that
you know the problem is not your brother
in Christ, the problem is
Satan is probably trying to turn you against your brother in Christ
and so know your enemy, amen
but here's another negative
side effect of Christianity and that is
listen to this, God will
put you to the test
as a Christian, now this is apart from
Satan wanting to kill you
that's a different part
here's a negative side effect
of Christianity is that God's not like
alright, you're saved now
enjoy your life
no, as you grow in the Lord
he's like okay
well let me put you to the test
let's see how strong you are
and you know Christians don't like that
Christians don't like when you put more
weight on the bar
Christians don't like when they ask you to run
another mile
Christians don't like when you go an extra
why, because it puts us to the test
but you know what, God is always
adding more weight to the bar
as the years go by
he continues to add more weight
because he wants to put you to the test
he's not happy with
you just being where you're at
right now, you know the command is to
grow in grace
so that means like you got to like change
but the way you change is
by God testing
you, pruning you
putting you through really
hard trials
that you've never experienced before
to kind of see what you're made of
and you know what, no one likes
that
we don't like to be challenged like that, like why you got to say it like that
what do you mean what I'm made of
want to see
if you're a wimp or not
want to see how strong you are
you know
he wants to know where you're at
you've been reading the Bible
you've been coming to church
talking a big talk
winning souls to Christ
alright, here comes the season
let's see how you do
and you know what
that's going to happen for the rest of your life
and it's one of the most unpleasant
experiences that you'll ever have
because trials
and I'm referring to trials that God allows you to go through
they review who you really are
and who you really are
you end up becoming surprised
you end up becoming surprised because you're like
I thought I was better than this
you know, it kind of reveals
yourself to you
like wow, I kind of suck
dang
I'm a punk
and then you realize
I'm not all that I thought I was cracked up to be
that's what trials do to you
they humble you
and God is in the business of always putting believers to the test
now I'm not talking about those who just
don't do anything
if you're not growing in the Lord
if you're not consistently reading your Bible
and just checking off the basics
of the Christian life
you know, you got to get past that
you have your own set of problems to deal with
which is just governing yourself
but if you've governed yourself
you're a disciplined person
you're spiritually disciplined
you have your priorities in place
your spiritual priorities are in place
the tendency of a Christian is to
when they have their priorities in place
they're just like
easy
we're at 10 chapters today
coming to church Sunday morning
and Sunday night
and Thursday
and I'm going soul winning
and I'm listening to sermons throughout the week
and I got 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 down
the 4th chapter
and I got 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 down
the 1st week
good
amen
but here's the thing
you know, you keep that up
God's like, okay
nice
time to put you to the test
let's see what you're made of
time to put you in hot water
because all of us are like tea bags
right?
we're all like tea bags
and you don't really know what's inside
the tea bag until it's placed in hot water
and then the contents
of that tea bag are revealed
and you know
sometimes people don't like what
they blame the water
but it's not the water's fault
it's just revealing who you really are
so here's a negative side effect
of Christianity
is that throughout your life
if you really want to get serious about these things
if you really want to grow in the Lord
you're going to go through some really painful
hardships and trials
because God is going to put you to the test
because he wants to know what you're made of
I'm going to read you a couple of verses here
Psalm 66 verse 8 says
silver is tried
thou broughtest us into the net
thou laidest affliction
upon our loins
thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads
we went through fire and through water
hold on, but thou broughtest us out
into a wealthy place
what he's saying is like God you just like
put us through the fire
you made us go through some hard times
and you know what he called it? proving you
he wants to try you
Psalm 17 verse 3 says
thou hast proved mine heart
thou hast visited me in the night
thou hast tried me and shall find nothing
I am purposed that my mouth shall not
transgress
what I have here in 2 Corinthians
so the apostle Paul
for example was used greatly
of God
I mean one of the greatest
missionaries of the New Testament if not the greatest
in comparison to the other apostles
and let's look at what he said
look at verse 7
lest I should be exalted above measure
what does that mean? lest I should be prideful
that's just another way of saying that
alright
through the abundance of the revelations
there was given to me a thorn
in the flesh the messenger
of Satan to buffet me
meaning to beat him
to wound him to afflict him
lest I should be exalted
above measure
he was giving him all these revelations
he was giving him all this scripture
and so God's like so just to make sure you're not proud
I'm going to give you a thorn in the flesh
to keep you
humble says in verse 8
for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart
from me and he said unto me my grace is
sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in
weakness most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest
upon me he said
turn with me if you would to Deuteronomy
chapter 8 go to Deuteronomy chapter 8
Deuteronomy chapter 8
I'm going to read to you from Job 23
and verse 10 as you're turning there
I'm going to read to you from Job 23 it says
but he knoweth the way that I take
this is Job speaking when he hath
tried me I shall come
forth as gold my foot
hath held his steps
his way have I kept and
not declined neither have I
gone back from the commandment of his lips
I have esteemed the words of his mouth
more than my necessary foods
so what is the common denominator with all these men
who went through these trials that God has put in them
through well when God puts you to the
test he wants to see so are you going to keep
reading the Bible
when you're in a hard time
are you going to keep memorizing
the scripture
are you still going to go sowing and tell others about
the gospel and how to be saved even
though you're crying at night because
you're in pain are you
still going to show up to church when you're going through
that's his way of trying people
you see uh when God
proves us and tries us
he wants to see if we can
maintain the weight we were doing before
plus other weight
you understand what I'm saying
yeah you can rep that one out
ok great
let's put some other weight on there and see if you can continue
to perform those reps
he wants to see how far you can go
and let me tell you you're going to go through
some really hard times
extremely hard times
times in your life
where you're just like I don't even know if I can
handle this anymore like what am I
going to do you say
well what should I do pastor keep reading the Bible
keep coming to church
keep sowing
keep repping the weight that you were doing
before the trial
as he adds more weight
cause here's the thing eventually the weight comes off
and then you realize oh dang I'm a lot stronger now
look at
Deuteronomy 8 verse 2
and now shall remember all the way which
the Lord thy God led thee these forty years
in the wilderness to humble
thee and to prove
thee to know what was in
thine heart he said
whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no
he's like I
put you through that just to see if you know you would still
obey me even though I'm like afflicting
you right now
I want to see if you would still keep my commandments
even though you have a health issues
I want to see
if you keep my commandments even though now you're
broke
even though people are forsaking
you and you're going through hardships
I want to see if you can
still walk the walk
even when I'm allowing this to
happen in your life and he says there to prove
you and he humbled
thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna
which thou knewest not neither did thy father's
no look at verse 3 that he might make
thee to know that man
doth not live by bread only but by everywhere
that proceed out of the mouth of the Lord doth man
live what's another reason why he proves us
to get us closer to the Bible
cause when you go through hard times
you have one of two choices either go back to
your vices your other things that you
use to drown out the pain
or you go to the Bible
so what is the negative effect of Christianity
God's like putting you to the test
he's like a really hard
coach
he's just going to push you to your limits
and I feel like I have to remind
the church this every couple of months
because I don't want anybody falling away
you know to the wayside
because you are going to go through
a hard time and it's often something that blindsides
you that you would never expect
and it's going to hurt bad
it's going to be very difficult
but just keep doing it
just keep serving the Lord
keep at it
and to never have this attitude is just like
yeah well I can do it though
I can do it
you know I can handle that way
I've done it before I'll do it again
you know I can do it
I guess we'll see
and that is the negative effect
because the Christian life is not
just God allowing you to just be comfortable
and everything is hunky dory
nothing ever goes bad
no he's trying to build you up
he's trying to strengthen you
and part of strengthening you is like
allowing bad things to happen to you
to make you stronger
mentally, spiritually and emotionally
go to Matthew chapter 10 if you would
Matthew chapter 10
here's my last point
then I'm going to give you a squat illustration
and don't worry you'll be able to understand
even if you don't squat
if you're tired of these illustrations too bad
I'll probably come up with another one next week
here's the last negative effect
and obviously I think we could pull out a ton of other ones
but these are just very general
and again I'm addressing this
to new Christians and Christians who just got
either saved
or you've just gotten into the Christian life
and you're serving God
here's the last negative effect of Christianity
you're going to be hated
people are going to hate you
and what I mean by that is
they're not going to want to be around you
and you know some people
have problems with that because
in general we just want to be liked
and don't be like not me
yeah you do
everyone wants to be liked
but the truth is
is that if you serve God
a lot of people are not going to like you
hey if you start believing the Bible
and actually embracing
what the Bible says
and even at its most basic level
you just live a Godly life
a lot of people are just not going to like you
whether at your job
your family
your spouse
your adult kids
your friends
cousins
uncles
neighbors
I don't know where it's going to come from
it's just fact
some people are just not going to like you
and here's the thing is that
we're to live as much as lies within us
to live peaceably with all men
but you know what
I am for peace but when I speak
they are for war the Bible says
and sometimes you just can't help
someone just not liking you
because you're a Christian
and here's the thing it's not like
being a Christian
a lot of people just don't like Christians
in general and sometimes
people attack Christians who aren't even doing anything
for the Lord
you know what I mean?
just because they said Jesus on their Instagram
or something
they get attacked or something
now just imagine you though
because we say more than just Jesus
we try to say everything in the Bible
if people get offended just at the name of Jesus
how much more of the stuff
that he spoke about
if we start talking about the things that he actually talked about
what if we actually start talking about
the things that are in the Old Testament
all the things in the book of Leviticus
and in Deuteronomy
we start going over the story
I mean people are just not going to like it
and people will separate you
from their company
that's a negative side effect of Christianity
and you know obviously strangers
who cares what a stranger thinks
but you know what often the most painful
feeling is when it comes from someone you actually love
and care for or close to
but that will happen
because ye all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution
look at Matthew 10 verse 17
but beware of men
just in general
beware of men in general
for they will deliver you up to the councils
and they will scourge you in their synagogues
verse 18 and ye shall be brought before governors
and kings for my sake
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles
but when they deliver you up
take no thought how or what ye shall speak
for it shall be given you in that same hour
ye shall speak for it is not ye that speak
but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you
and listen to this
the brother shall deliver up the brother
to death
that means your own blood brother
will hate you so much
this is what he's saying
even to the point
where he's willing to just
willing for you just to die
now some of you might have a sibling
who you know
maybe they don't like hate you to that extent
but you're like I can see my brother
getting to that extent though
and the father
the child
and the children shall rise up against their parents
and cause them to be put to death
and ye
shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake but he
that endured to the end shall be saved
what is he saying
have the expectation that people
are just not going to like you
and don't be fooled by this
lame, limp-wristed Christianity
out on internet land
that seeks to be the friend
of everyone and wants to
please every Tom, Dick, and Harry
it just doesn't want to make anybody mad
it doesn't want to offend anybody
because they want to please everyone
and they don't want anybody mad at them
it's wrong
because they want to promote Jesus
without all the negative side effects
but folks
they nailed Jesus
to a cross
think about that
and he tells them
if they called the master of the house Beelzebub
how much more should they call them of his household
he says in verse 24
the disciple is not
above his master
nor the servant above his Lord
he's like you're not better
than Jesus
so you'll never like go
beyond what Jesus did and you know what
if they persecuted Jesus they're going to
persecute you too and if they're not
persecuting you throughout your life
if you don't receive some form of persecution
throughout your Christian life
you're not doing it right
you ain't doing it right
like I just don't feel the
I don't feel the burn
yeah because you're not doing it right
you have bad Christian form
you have bad Christian form because you can't feel it
you know when you do it right
you get hated
well not me you know I just have a lot of
discernment on how to talk to people
you know I just know how to
speak to people oh what you're saying is
you're above your master
and you're a disciple who's above
Jesus that's what you mean because that's what Jesus
is saying here
but at the end of the day
you're going to piss off a lot of people
and some of it will be unintentional
it's just because you're just
a Christian so don't be surprised
that when men shall hate you
okay these
are the things that you should expect
as a believer
that at the end of the day
you know these are the negative
side effects and you'll never
as a Christian you'll never be a person who just the
world just loves if the world loves you there's a
major problem and in fact the Bible says if the world
loves you then you're like a false prophet
I'm not saying they won't listen to
you I have a lot of people who listen to me
on Instagram but I guarantee you
okay so I have like 8,000 followers
on Instagram but I guarantee you 7,000
of them hate me and the
other 1,000 are just like new ideas
I don't know
if that ratio is correct but I'm pretty sure it's close
I guarantee the vast majority of
people that follow me actually don't like me at all
so even
if it goes up to 10k, 20k
the vast majority of those
followers probably hate my guts
you say well how do you know that?
cause I literally have Catholics who hate me
who watch my stories
every single day they message me
every single day and I'm thinking if you don't like
what I'm saying why do you persist to follow me
you're weird
you're like a stalker
but that's like a thing
they just keep
up with everything that's being said
everything that's being taught
cause they just hate you
that's just how it is
they're like oh man I don't like that
well those are the negative effects of Christianity
your sister might go against you
your cousin might go against you
your uncle might be against you
your aunt, your mother, your father might be against you
you just have to have the expectation
that this negative side effect
will happen to you one day if you do it right
you say well
man what's the answer then?
well the answer to
the negative side effects of Christianity
here's the answer, Christianity
now the way I came up with this sermon
the way I got this sermon was that last
Saturday I was squatting, it was my secondary
squat day
don't tune me out
you
listen
I was doing my secondary
squat and it was a lighter day
and you know when you lose weight
your leverages change a little bit
so it was
super light, it wasn't even anything crazy
and I think on my second rep
I came up and my back was like
tweak, I was like
wow that was painful, I'm like maybe it was just
a hiccup, I'll just go do the third rep
because I'm supposed to do six
and I did the third rep and it was like
tweak even more
and then I racked it
I was like that hurt a lot
so I kind of walked around
and I was just like
maybe I'm just imagining
just imagining
I'm like I need to complete this
I dropped the bar, tightened up
brace, went down, tweak
and then I stopped
I was like I'm done
and then it was one of those things
I was just like ah
oh man this is painful
and it was like that pretty much
you know Saturday
Sunday I'm up here, I'm in pain
well Monday is squat day
again
but Monday is the heavy squats
I have to do like a top heavy
heavy single
and heavy reps
and so you know
the natural man
wants to be like take a break
just put some icy
hot on it
put some Ben Gay on here
just relax
and you need to just take a break
for a little bit
but I've learned something in powerlifting
I've learned that the way to fix things
is to do the same exact thing
you know what I mean?
it's often the cure to the injury
believe it or not
when it comes to powerlifting
so on Monday
I was like well I'm going to go for a top heavy single
we'll see how far I can go
brace well
was very slow
in my prep
and then I think I did like 3 10
that day and then I did 2 95
for reps
and as soon as I was done the pain was gone
I was like well that's cool
squatting was the cause
of my injury
but it also became the cure of my injury
and that's what I've learned
throughout these last few years
that I've been lifting is anytime I have
an injury I have to make sure
I keep doing that same workout
and it ends up fixing it and in fact
a year ago I had a
shoulder injury and it just was not getting
better and then John's like you have to do lateral
raises and I'm like I can't even do that
he's like you have to do it
and you have to do it like a lot
very lightweight but just do it a lot
he's like just do it
those cable raises just keep doing it
and then it's just now the pain
is completely gone
the cause of the injury
is often also the cure
the cause of your
spiritual injuries which is Christianity
is also the cure
so if you ever get injured
spiritually because you're offended
or you're going through a hard time
the answer is not sit out
and put Bengay on it
and don't go to church
and just take a break
and just listen online
every once in a while and just put it
on first gear and not do
anything, get back under the
bar
perform some reps, get back out there
soloing, get back in
church, listen to preaching
get back in the Bible
and you'll realize a weekend
it's gone
get some blood flowing
through that injury, movement
is medicine
and now I'm squatting again
tomorrow
that's just how it is
but the problem is with Christians
here's the problem, they go through a hard time
and it's just like oh I quit
I'm not going to read my Bible
I'm not going to go to church, I'm not going to go soloing
when they don't realize that Christianity
is the cure to that injury
yeah, yeah, it's the problem
of course it is because there's negative side effects
to Christianity
but if you want to experience the
positive ones, keep doing it
now don't take my illustration too far, okay
because
obviously there's other details that go into that
the principle
still applies though
is that you don't quit just because you got injured
you have to keep moving
you have to keep coming
you have to keep serving God
and the pain goes away
and in fact you end up getting stronger
spiritually
because of it
positives, ton of positives
but there's a lot of negatives
but embrace both, amen
I claim all negative energy from Christianity
let's pray, Father we thank you so much
for your word
and thank you for the hardships of life
and Lord may you prepare us for those
that we're going to experience in the coming
days, months and years
Lord, may they not blindside
us and when we feel like
they became unexpected
may we continue to exercise the principles
that we've learned in times past that kept us on
the right track and I pray Lord
that you bless us as we go on our way, we love you
we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name, amen