Yeah
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
It's great to see everybody here tonight. If we can go and find our seats, we will get started.
And once we've all found the seat, let's grab a hymnal.
And for tonight's first song, we will go to song number 66.
Song number 66 at Calvary.
Lord, we love you and we just thank you so much
for this church once again.
We thank you so much for the ability to gather here
and just be with your people and hear your word preached
and sing unto you, Lord.
We love you and we just ask you to help us lift up
our voices unto you this evening.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our next song, let's go to song number 81.
Song number 81.
fries
Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you didn't already get a bulletin,
you can lift your hand nice and high.
One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin.
On the front, we have our Bible memory passage,
Jude 1, verse 16.
And then on the inside, we have our service
and soul winning times.
Church stats, please make sure,
submitting that into our group chats on the right.
A list of several expecting ladies,
please be in prayer for them.
Upcoming events, we have...
The, we had, uh, the, or we have, I guess, yeah, this Saturday is the joint baby shower
and then also our teen adventure, Park Night, um, we have a Men's Retreat August 14th through
the 16th, FBBF Conference August 27th through the 31st, uh, Mission's Trip, Mexico City,
that's going to be September 8th through the 12th, and then Tyler, Texas Solonny Marathon
The Teen Adventure, if you haven't already,
please make sure you just indicate
to sign up on our Adventure Park planning,
and then the baby shower details are listed below.
On the back is our prayer list.
We'll quickly go over that.
We continue to pray for the Carlson's
for their mother and father's health,
and then if you could continue to pray
for Miss Miller's friend's mom, her cancer.
We've been praying for both the Scots and Miss Olivia.
We've been praying for Brother Garcia's health.
If you continue to pray for the Foley's, dad for his kidney disease, continue to pray for
the Urbanics for their grandmother and also one of their friends, pray for Brother Goodwin's
brother-in-law David who's been recovering from a surgery, and I think we needed to update
the bullets on that.
Brother Illy said his dad, I think, was doing good on the kidney stones, so.
We need to get that one updated brother Gabe
His mother has got a foot issue if you'd pray for her pray for miss. Ginger's cousin miss Wilson
Who is diagnosed with breast cancer and then if you would also pray for brother Stewart's father-in-law who had a recent heart attack?
So hopefully he'll recover from that soon. We'll just say a quick word of prayer for our church family
Thank you Heavenly Father for all the ladies are expecting in our church. Thank you for those blessings
I pray that you would just help them with their children's development. Please help them give give them a timely birth
Please help them with their difficulties
I pray that you'd also bless those that have recently had children that you would just be with them strengthen them
Allow their children to continue to grow and develop healthy, and I pray that you would just
Bless our church family that needs health or needs a miracle
Not just our family, but our friends and our loved ones that we're praying for.
I pray, if possible, you could just give them recovery, give them healing.
Please help them during their difficulty.
Those that need to hear the gospel,
I pray that you would give us the boldness
to preach unto them.
I pray that you'd also bless our church family
that's needing help with their job or with their work
or with favor right now that you would just bless them.
And I pray that you'd please bless our upcoming events,
our teen events and our baby showers and our conferences.
And I pray that you'd bless the work that's going on
in the Philippines, continue to bless the church
that's being planted over there and our evangelists
I pray that you bring in more laborers.
Please be with their father and mother-in-law,
with their health.
And I pray that you would just continue to bless
the works of our church.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
That's all I have as far as announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 126.
So it's in our special Psalms in Himbinder, Psalm 126.
Sing it out nice and loud.
All right, that was Psalm 126.
It's all singing out together, Psalm 126.
When the war turned again,
luck and activity as I are,
we were like nymphs and dreams.
Then was our mouth built with plaster,
and our tongue was...
Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the sound,
May the soul with tears shall reap in joy,
May the soul with tears shall reap with joy.
It's the day among the evening,
The Lord hath done great things for them,
The Lord hath done great things for us,
We are glad.
He that goeth forth to meet them,
very precious he shall doubtless come again.
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his seeds with him.
Then say, they among the heathen,
the Lord and the great thanks to them.
as the offering plates are being passed around.
Go ahead and open your Bibles to the book of 1 John chapter four.
That's 1 John chapter number four.
First John chapter number four the Bible reads, beloved believe not every spirit but try the
spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the spirit of God every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is of God and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and
You're of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in the and you then he that is in the world
They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God, he that knoweth God, heareth us.
He that is not of God, heareth not us.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
No man hath seeded God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.
Hearing is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in that day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God and hateeth his brother,
he is a liar. For he hath
He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this church. Thank you for allowing us to be here.
Thank you for all the souls that have been saved. I just pray that you bless Pastor Shelley as he
preaches to us. Help him fill him with your Holy Spirit to preach unto us, Lord. And I pray that
you'd help us to apply the message into our hearts to become better Christians. And I pray this in
And men, here in chapter four of the Bible begins,
beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God,
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
And this is a reality not only at this time,
but also currently that the vast majority
of Christian preachers and people that put themselves
forth as a minister of God are false prophets.
And I believe this doesn't only extend to Christianity.
It goes beyond that to just essentially any
kind of religious leader, any kind of a spiritual leader claiming to have truth,
that we see that there's many false prophets in the Bible's warning here about testing the spirits,
trying the spirits. And throughout this entire epistle, we've been getting lots of different
tests, lots of different things that we can look at and try to evaluate someone and try to figure
out if they're really of God, if they have the true fellowship of God, if they're headed in the
Go through these last few chapters with me again,
just highlighting a few verses.
In chapter one, verse eight, it says,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
and the truth is not in us.
Verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
Those that would claim that they either have no sin
currently or that they've never sinned,
which is even more extreme,
these people are not of God and they do not have the truth.
And so that's one way to test an individual
and try to figure out if they're really of God.
Those who are truly of God will still admit,
yes, we sin.
Look at Romans chapter number seven as a great example where the apostle Paul admits to us and admits to the audience and admits to the world and admits for all time that he is carnal, he says I am carnal.
And he says the things that I would that do I not and the things that I would not that do I he's saying hey things that I wouldn't allow
I'm doing it and the things that I want to do I'm not doing it and I struggle and who's going to deliver me from this body of
Death because if we could truly
Sanctify ourselves to a perfect standard if we could really get to the point upon which we never sin
What would be the point of redeeming our body? We would have redeemed ourselves. We would have
fully sanctified ourselves, but yet we need God to actually redeem our body and give us a new body
because we can never be perfect in this flesh, in this particular body. That's why we need a new body.
As we keep going in chapter two verse four, it says,
he that sayeth I know him and keepeth not his commandments
is a liar and the truth is not in him.
Another test is those who are in obvious open sin,
yet they claim, yeah, I'm drawing close to the Lord,
I'm right with God, I'm of God.
God, you know, wants us to keep the commandments
and while we're never gonna be perfect,
obviously those who are in open rebellion to God's word
are not of God, these are the people we don't want to follow.
In verse 18...
Little children is the last time and as you've heard that antichrist shall come even now are there many antichrists?
whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us
But they were not of us for if they had been of us
They would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all
of us. So the Bible says that there are certain people that will be among us that will leave us
and they are anti-Christ. Now what is an anti-Christ? Well the Bible tells us, look in verse 22,
who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is anti-Christ that denies the
comes out from among us and starts denying the truths about Jesus Christ,
denies the divinity of Jesus Christ, denies that Jesus Christ came,
denies that there's the Father and the Son.
These people are anti-Christ.
If someone left our church and becomes a Muslim,
they are not saved and they were never saved.
If someone leaves our church and evidences,
hey, they become this deconstructionist
where they're saying,
I don't really believe the Bible anymore
and I think all the things about Jesus or fairy tales,
that person is not saved.
Otherwise, this verse would be meaningless.
Now, it's funny because I got in a conversation with someone online one time about this particular passage,
and this individual calls himself a free gracer.
And here's the thing, I'm not against free grace, great term.
I'm not against what a lot of people that, you know, it espoused that particular label believe,
because obviously salvation's free, grace is free, but there's a certain contingent.
of the free grace movement online that just starts ignoring clear verses in the Bible
and they'll start saying weird and bizarre things like,
yeah, as long as you just, you know,
ascent to, you know, faith in Christ at one point,
you can become an atheist, you can become a Muslim,
you can become any of these things and you're still saved.
Because once saved, always saved.
What is the thing?
Once saved, always saved is as true as the day is long.
But let me tell you something.
Claimed to believe in Jesus Christ and then later is now denying the father and the son or denying Jesus Christ
They are not saved and they were never saved
Otherwise this verse would be meaningless
Otherwise this verse has no impact and no purpose to ever even make this particular statement because if that was true
Let's just say hypothetically I could just say yep
I believe in Jesus and then later do literally anything
and I'm still saved,
well then how could I ever manifest to anybody that I'm not?
I mean, if I could do anything literally, and I'm still saved,
then how could I ever truly manifest that I was actually fake and insincere and didn't believe it?
Because according to this free grace crowd, they believe you can literally do anything.
You could be a flaming sodomite, a pedophile, you could join the Catholic Church,
you could become a Muslim, an atheist, you could go start a Mormon cult and you're still saved.
And I'm thinking like, what would be the point of these verses in the Bible if you could do that?
Look, let me tell you something, I do not believe for one second
if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will ever stop believing in Jesus Christ.
I don't believe it's possible.
Otherwise, these verses would have no meaning or purpose.
Just like I don't believe there is an adult on this planet
that could come up to me and say,
yeah, I believe that Santa Claus is real.
And when I was younger I was told that he wasn't real and I thought he wasn't real and now I've gone back and now
I believe Santa Claus is real
That person never understood the truth about Santa Claus or some say 2 plus 2 is 5
They never understood 2 plus 2 is 4.
And look, there are certain facts, there are certain realities you'll never change your mind on.
I don't care what you do.
Like, my mom and my dad are my parents.
I look a lot like my dad.
Like, I just, I mean, if you've ever seen us, we look a lot alike.
Just separated by about 40-something years.
But he looks good for his age, I'll be honest.
I'm catching up way faster to him than he's slowing down, you know?
And it wouldn't matter, like, I could go just be a terrible person,
I could commit grievous sin, I could go hurt a lot of people,
I could make bad decisions, I could get apathetic, but you know what, I'll never be like,
yeah, my dad's not my dad.
Because it's just not reality in the same way. Yes
Someone could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved and technically get wrapped up in adultery like David did and yes
They could technically get wrapped up in murder like Saul did or like David did or like other individuals
But let me tell you something. They didn't get wrapped up in Hinduism
They didn't get wrapped up in becoming an atheist or some kind of a Mormon or something bizarre
Look when someone does that they're not saved
And you know what's weird is there is a group of people that have like left our church and some other like-minded churches
and they have this weird hive of hatred that they all consort in, this consortium of freaks.
And this consortium of freaks was releasing this video I saw the other day attacking us.
In this video the individual in the video that they're sharing and promoting to attack us is an open atheist
Who doesn't believe in the Bible? He's a deconstructionist. He hates Christianity
He's saying everything in the Bible is a fairy tale, and I'm just thinking like how are you attacking us?
By using some God-hating atheist that rejects everything in the Bible
And what I've realized is people like this they have no standards and no beliefs and no unity as long as they just
Attack God's people they're on the same team. Why because they're of that antichrist spirit
Why is it that Muslims and Catholics and Jews in some context can actually get along?
I understand there's the Middle East and blah blah, but that's just a facade because a lot of context
you even see Muslims and Jews getting along behind closed doors and stuff like that.
How can all these people get along?
Because they have unity around hating Jesus Christ.
About being literal anti-Christ.
And we have to understand that, hey, God is telling us, look, there are people that will come out from us
and they will, quote, deconstruct from the faith.
They will break away from the faith.
And we should realize this person is not of God, we should stay away from them, have nothing to do with them.
They share just the weirdest viewpoints, they do the weirdest things, they have no standard.
No belief system someone could preach complete heresy, but as long as they're attacking us now, they're a good person
Like, it just doesn't matter why, because they don't have an actual conviction,
they don't actually love the Lord, they just are a hateful person.
And because of their hatred, they're united through hatred.
Of course, this anti-Christ spirit is being against Christ,
wanting to replace Christ with something else.
And what I've noticed in the last decade or so, which is phenomenal to me,
is how many people have been sucked into a revisionist history.
where they'll get up and they'll start believing things that say like the whole Bible's a fairy tale and myth never happened, Jesus never existed, all of history's wrong, we've been lied to, it's all a sigh up, and they just start going down a weird path where they almost just reject all reality, they reject everything that's true.
And you kind of see this, look at verse,
we're skipping ahead to chapter four, look, verse six.
We have God, he that knoweth God here with us,
he that is not of God here with us,
hereby knoweth the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Notice that being with God is God a specific spirit.
What is the spirit?
The spirit of truth.
And then there's the spirit of error.
And when someone has the spirit of error,
let me say something, they're allergic to truth.
They can't say anything. That's true. They don't believe anything. That's true. They're just always wrong
And it's amazing. It's like every time you open your mouth. You're somehow wrong about it
It's because they have a spirit of error and look when you go down this path
You know you you start to see oh wow this person's not of God because they don't have a spirit of truth
They reject all truth
Look the leftist and Democrats in our country went down this rabbit trail hard didn't they lately?
Rejecting even men being men and women being women and just all this kind of nonsense, why?
Because that's where the antichrist spirit will take you.
That's where the spirit of error will take you, is where you would deny all reality, all truth, anything that's right.
Whereas when you have the spirit of God, you accept all truth and you embrace truth and you like truth.
We see this antichrist spirit is going to be that which is just perverting truth
You know when the true antichrist comes when the real antichrist reveals himself
He is not going to be a lover of truth and those following are not going to be lovers of truth
Their entire movement is going to be based on lies and deception and falsehood
And so those who love truth and know the truth will not be caught up in such lies because they you know when it talks
About this in second Thessalonians. Let's go there for a second
2 Thessalonians, it talks about these people being punished because they just don't love truth
That's like explicitly mission 2 Thessalonians. Look at chapter 2
In verse 9, let's get even verse 8,
And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure and unrighteousness.
Verse 13,
But we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. Notice this.
And believe of the truth.
What is it that saves us?
Belief of the truth.
What is the truth? The truth is, there really is, God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they really are the ones who created us and gave us our being, and we really are sinners,
and God is really angry at us for that, but yet He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to take the punishment that we deserve, to die on the cross for our sins, was buried in Rose again,
and the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus. That's the belief of the truth.
And the world wants to lie to you and wants to deceive you
and wants to tell you that's not true and of course attacking
core, or core tenets of this would be saying there is no son, there is no father.
It's all imaginary or attacking us or claiming that Jesus
is not the son that was supposed to come. It's a different person.
There's another Christ. He's not the real Christ. This is just rejection of the
truth, rejection of
We should stay away from these people who are proposing a rejection of reality.
This particular deconstructionist that all of our haters are sharing and loving his video for some reason,
he said something about the Bible because he's talking to somebody,
and this guy's kind of asking questions like,
You know, there's obviously some epistles and stuff that people are writing about the resurrection and you know
I even have to admit like first Corinthians was written really early and the Apostle Paul's making it clear in first Corinthians
15 that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and there was a lot of witnesses
So what do you say to that and this guy's like well, don't you think that if somebody had risen from the dead someone would have written about it?
And I'm thinking like
you're arguing, you're talking about a piece of literature that was written about it,
and then claiming there's no literature written about it.
And I'm trying to think like, okay, riddle me this expert philosopher.
Tell me another thing that happened in 30 AD.
Tell me one thing that happened in 30 AD other than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tell me anything that happened in that decade.
That happened that you know about tell me anything that you know about that decade. That's not in the Bible
Look, I think somebody wrote about it. Oh, I don't know like Matthew or Mark or Luke or John or all the New Testament epistles
I mean, what is this guy even talking about? This is the kind of insanity that people listen to oh, I don't like steadfast
I'm gonna listen to this guy. I
Don't like Pastor Shelley. I like this guy that doesn't even understand history whatsoever
That's a complete anti-Christ. Why? Because they don't have the spirit of truth. They have the spirit of error
You know think think about the world we live in the Bible is the most important literature of mankind
We have the most manuscripts, the most physical documents of any literature ever is the Bible, and the King James is of course on the top of that list.
I mean the number one literature, the most printed document, the first document on the printing press of the West is the Bible.
The King James Bible being literally called the book in American history because it was just the one text that everybody had.
Because not everybody could afford a book, books were expensive, but yet everybody just had one book.
You know what it was? The book, the King James Bible.
You went to public school hundreds of years ago, and you know what book you used for your reading? The Bible.
For your literature, the Bible. For history, the Bible. They were just using the Bible as their textbook.
You went into the court of law and you put your hand on the Bible.
Oh yeah, and then a whole group of people that left Europe and built a nation based on the Bible became the world superpower.
Not only that, you have a calendar today based on something because it's 2025 today.
It's August 6, 2025 from what?
Oh yeah, Jesus Christ's birth.
Our entire world is all calculated and based on the Lord Jesus Christ's birth.
The largest religion is based on Jesus Christ and that's including I mean if you look we want to include Catholics
You want to include Protestants you want to include all the cult groups. I mean it just the most
Not only that the most educated and successful
Countries throughout history have been Christian and based on Christ teachings
Look how in the world can you sit here and just deny all that because you have the spirit of error not the spirit of truth?
Well, you want to oh, I don't know how to figure out the truth is I don't know how about the most
Influential book the most influential religion the most influential countries. I mean, what are you even looking for?
About the book that has the most power. I mean if you just read this and compared to any other literature, it's not even close
It doesn't even, the other texts don't even pass the SNF test.
Look, the truth is obvious.
Just like 2 plus 2 is 4 is just so obvious.
How do you know it's not 57?
Well, I know, I just know it's not 57.
How do you know the Bible's real?
How do you know it's true?
Because it's true.
It just witnesses of itself.
And look, you know, the Antichrist of this world,
Muslims, Jews, atheists, these people are not of God.
Atheists obviously are not of God, they just deny so much reality.
The Bible says the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.
The fool, they're saying they're stupid.
In fact, I would argue that a flat earther who believes that Jesus is real is smarter than an atheist.
Flat earthers are smarter than atheists.
I mean, that's how stupid atheism is.
To look at this whole world and say nothing created it
is arguably the dumbest thing you can possibly believe.
I mean, people that have physical deformities
or brain issues can't understand that Jesus created this world,
and yet atheists can't.
They are dumber than people that are born with a brain deficiency.
That's how foolish atheism is.
Obviously, Muslims are not far behind
with the fact that they follow an illiterate pedophile as their prophet.
and they deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And of course, arguably one of the most evil group of people on this planet is Jews.
And Judaism is a religion based on denying that Jesus is the Christ.
Why in the world would Christians say, oh you are a Judeo-Christian nation?
These are exact opposites.
These are opposite religions.
You can't have Christ and anti-Christ.
No, we need to separate that and divide that
and have nothing to do with the nation of Israel,
with anti-Christ, with Judaism.
It is a wicked, false religion.
They are not of God. They're not saved.
And as Christians, we should be rebuking them.
Not giving them money.
What is it? Donald Trump recently got in the news
supposedly saying states will not get federal funds.
If they do not sign some kind of advocacy for Israel, or if they boycott Israel or something,
what country is this?
The United States of Israel?
I mean, why in the world would our nation, founded on Christianity,
say, hey, we're going to dedicate money to anti-Christ?
To God-hating anti-Christ that hate Jesus and want nothing to do with them.
And if they aren't anti-Christ, then who is, according to this book?
The Bible is warning about Antichrist.
You know what? We should have nothing to do with them.
We want nothing to do with them.
They're evil. They're wicked.
They're going to bring in the worst persecution and martyrdom
that's ever happened of all time.
The Antichrist.
And coming through this spirit of these individuals.
We should have nothing to do with these individuals.
They are of that wicked one, is what the Bible says.
Even Satan.
Who's coming with all kinds of lying wonders and deception?
I mean, we need to understand these truths how many churches they have an Israel flag up on their stage
How can you read this verse?
How can a church have an Israel flag on their stage prominently placed?
Bring rabbis into their church saying we're giving money to rebuild the antichrist temple. I
Mean it is it's insanity today
It is insanity, and it is not the spirit of truth, it is the spirit of error that's crept into that church,
crept into that pastor's mind, crept into his heart.
And look, I think some of those people are just probably of the devil, not all of them.
Some of them are just getting yoked up with evil and wicked people,
but at the end of the day, I don't want to go to a church that's going to support this nonsense.
And how dare you leave a church and go join another church that's going to support literal anti-Christ?
Just like the people that leave our church in this report show videos of anti-Christ.
What does the Bible say in our first text?
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they have God,
because many false prophets are going out into the world.
You're going to now go to a church that's praising anti-Christ.
How in the world do you do that?
You must not love truth enough.
You know, you should love the truth enough to not drag yourself to a stinking church
where we're going to lift up and praise a bunch of antichrists,
especially when you have the option.
I mean, if you're in a foreign country, if you're in a weird place,
and the best church you can go to, Zionist, I mean, okay.
But at the end of the day, if I have a choice, I'm not going there.
I don't want to go to a church where I'm constantly lied to
and I have a spirit of antichrist that's constantly being put forth through the messages.
That doesn't make any sense.
And look, that's not where the closest fellowship of God is,
is where they're promoting antichrist doctrine.
It just doesn't make any sense.
It's nonsensical.
Look at verse 26.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
Look, he's saying saved people are going to get sucked into this stuff.
It's real.
Save people and save believers and save churches will get sucked into these anti-Christ and be seduced by false doctrine
Why for a love of money over the love of the truth?
And you know we should never be sellouts
It's a lot of sell out. There's enough sellouts in the world. Can we just have one church is not gonna sell out
And you know what, God bless our church, we've been growing, but who cares if we grow or not?
There's nothing in the Bible that says we need to grow, and I will not grow at the sacrifice of not preaching things that are in the Bible.
or toning down the message, or getting softer,
or capitulating to people, or trying to just
beg people to come to this church.
Look, hey, I reach out to people,
I try to encourage them to come to church,
I try to help them, but you know,
I'm not gonna babysit you,
and I'm not gonna helicopter mom you.
And at the end of the day, you know what?
We shouldn't be trying to just drag everybody in
that doesn't wanna be here.
I wanna be in a church that actually cares about the truth.
And frankly speaking, I would be mad if my church,
if I couldn't find a parking spot on Sunday morning,
or it was hard for me to find a place
to sit on Sunday morning,
because the pastor won't tell me
the harsh truths of the Bible.
I would rather him just keep preaching it hard
so I can find a parking spot or something.
You know what I mean?
Like I wouldn't want to be like, man,
I don't want to just grow
so we can be more uncomfortable.
It's like we better be growing despite the preaching.
You know what I mean?
Not because of it.
Just because some people, they're just like,
I just want the truth.
I want to hear what the Bible has to say.
Look at what it says in chapter 3 verse 7.
Little children, let no man deceive you.
He that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous.
Do you notice the pattern in this epistle?
People being deceived, people seducing, liars, anti-Christ.
This is leading up to chapter 4.
Look at verse 10.
In this, the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil,
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother.
And that was so funny.
He's like, I took this verse and I just put it online
because I just, I love the verse.
And I was just saying, hey, people that hate soul-winning
and hate us are just children of the devil.
I mean, how is that?
Not what the text is saying.
Look, if you are saved, how would you not want people to get saved?
And if you're saved, how could you just hate all saved people?
Because the Bible is basically just saying, if you just hate saved people, then you're just not of God.
And it's so funny, this person that used to go to our church,
used to go to step fast Baptist church, commented on this post,
and was saying, well, then I guess I'm of the devil.
I'm thinking like, well, thou sayest it.
And he said, because I do despise, you know, not just me, just our whole, just the new
IP movement.
He despises all of us or something.
And he was like talking how our soul winning is bad and evil and wicked or whatever.
And I'm just thinking like, and I know this person, I mean this person went to our church
or whatever and I didn't even have a negative opinion of him at all.
And then I just like looked it up and it's like a kid that was going to our church.
Somebody that was going to our church not that light was a teenager when he was at our church is already now
the pastor of a united Methodist church and
He's a Calvinist
Now I think that the church like broke away with the United Methodists and now they're becoming Calvinists or something
I don't know. They're in some weird transitionary phase or something
Especially bringing in a 24 year old kid that just got married a few years ago
No kids to be their pastor and he was criticizing me saying like it was so wrong for me to become the pastor of steadfast
And I'm thinking like what in the world?
This particular individual and it's just like
Hardcore Calvinists sharing John MacArthur sharing John Piper look this person does not have the spirit of truth
They have the spirit of error
And why is it? It's like everybody that leaves our church is the quote normal people
The quote normal people are the kids that become a pastor at 24 with no kids
Loving John MacArthur of a united Methodist church
That's the normal people, the normal people that leave our church go and listen to videos by atheists and God aiding freaks and psychopaths
That's the quote normal people. Look, it should just be so so obvious
That look obviously we are of God now does that mean we're perfect? No
Does that mean that we've arrived that we can't get better absolutely not?
But at the end of the day, here's what I know.
I know that we're of God, and I know that soul winning works,
and I know that the King James Bible is the word of God without error.
And hey, I know that our doctrine is right, and our doctrine is sound,
and I know that we're headed on the right path.
Why? Because all the adversaries just prove it to me every day.
Look, we had a guy years ago that tried to be a pastor of a like-minded church of ours,
tried to be our friends, and then he came out as a literal Antichrist.
And he said, hey, the new IMB is like my biggest foe.
Well, it's like, okay, you have an example of someone that's a clear Antichrist.
There's no question.
I mean, the guy is denying that Jesus came.
He's saying he's literally Jesus.
He got an alpha and omega tattoo on his face.
I mean, you've never had a clearer picture of Antichrist in your entire life.
the worst people out there.
My biggest enemy is the new IVB.
That should just be a big green light to you,
like these people are of God.
I mean, think about it.
When the apostle Paul is walking through town
and you have a demon-possessed woman,
she's like, these are the servants of the Mosai God.
They freak out and they're all weirded out.
They're like, hey, Peter I know and you know, John I know,
but who are you?
It's like, hey, the devils know who is of God.
Oh yeah, the church is being protested and look, the group that has protested us for years is just atheists, witches, you know, paganists, all kinds of just, just the consortium of Satan, literally.
People are saying, we're joining the church of Satan just to protest this church and it's just like, wow!
You would think you would think you could like figure it out like hey
Who's of God when all of the evil people are rallying together and attacking the exact same institution attacking the same church?
Look, we're getting lots of people saved. We're changing people's lives. Let don't get confused about this stuff
There's always that temptation to get confused, but then when you just back up and you look at the big picture
It just becomes real obvious again. Okay. Yeah, this is this is real obvious again
These people are of God now does that mean that there isn't other people of God that art in our movement?
Of course there are even the disciples ran into people that were not of their movement
Not disciples with them that were serving God and doing things of God, but let me tell you something
We are of God
And the people attacking us are not of God.
They are evil, they are wicked.
People that hate our soul winning and hate us are of the devil.
Because they don't want people to get saved.
And they want to drag you down with them.
Look at what it says in verse number 13.
Marvel, not my brethren, if the world hates you.
Look, we are very hated from the world.
I am so banned, it's stupid, it's so annoying.
I just look at even some of our friends,
I'm more banned than them and it makes me mad sometimes.
I'm like, why can't I have Facebook?
You know, why can't I have all of these things?
Why can't I have Airbnb?
Why can't I have, you know, sermon audio?
Why can't I have all these platforms?
You know, it's like, oh, look,
if you were God, you'd be reaching people.
I can't even be on these platforms.
How is that fair?
You know, why are they so afraid of me being on there?
Why are they so afraid of our sermons getting on there?
Because they're afraid of truth getting out there
and actually changing people's lives, aren't they?
Let's go let's just go to verse one again though. What was the context people that you know do all these things?
We're testing them testing and testing them
Why because there's many false prophets kind of the world verse 2 here
I know you the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit
They confess it not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of anti
Christ where have you heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world?
So we were brought up and chatted the two about the Antichrist spirit,
reminded again in chapter number four of the same Antichrist spirit,
and noticed it saying, those that say, hey, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,
those are the people of God, the people that say He's not coming to flesh, these people are not of God.
Now of course at this time in history, this would have been a really clear test,
because at the end of the day, like, you went out into the world, it's all pagan.
It was all pagan, and to just admit that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh would basically admit this person was a believer they had trusted in Christ.
There really wasn't as much time for as much heresy at this point in time, right?
Now, don't get this overly hyper-literal explanation of this particular verse to say,
well, if anybody just says Jesus has come in the flesh, they're up to God.
Because, you know, it's funny, like, Pentecostal false prophets started doing this.
They would just say, well, anybody that just makes that statement is just of God.
So they would act like, hey, I know that, like, somebody in their movement would get called out for being a heretic or a weirdo,
and they would just make a video being like, hey, say Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh.
And they would just say, Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh.
Oh, see, he's of God. See this verse.
Well look, what we should understand about this verse is, it's giving us a test.
What's the first test?
If they say Jesus Christ is not coming to flesh, we're just, oh, definitely not saved, definitely not of God.
But just because they say that doesn't mean we throw out every other test and every other verse in the Bible
and pretend like there are other ways that we should evaluate someone.
It's just one of the tests that we evaluate people by.
And it's one of the really clear examples.
If anybody says this, we just know four fact.
Just case closed, this person's doomed.
This person's done.
This person's not of God.
There's not even a question.
Then there's going to be obviously people that would say that,
give lip service to Christianity,
and they're actually still not saved.
They're not of God.
And there's other ways that we can test them.
That's what we've been doing through the entire pistle.
And like, don't believe that someone can't say all the right things and not be saved.
Go to 2 Peter 2.
Again, this is why, you know, salvation is not mental ascent to the right facts and being
able to say them with your mouth.
False prophets can understand the gospel, can say the gospel out loud, and not believe
it.
And here's the thing.
for you to articulate it.
It's very hard for you to articulate it.
And that's what you'll notice a lot of times,
like false prophets and false teachers,
they're really nervous about going off script.
You know when they have to get up and get speeches or talk about things they want to have like meticulous notes or just read their
Sermons or something like that because they're afraid when they go off script
They're gonna say something weird because they don't actually believe it and when you run into people that
You thought believe something a certain way and a few years later you can talk to them
They're saying something weird and you're thinking like how is this person saying this?
It's because they never actually believe whatever they were saying in the past
You know, they were just making stuff up, they weren't sincere, they don't actually
understand these things.
And so someone that's actually a believer in Jesus Christ, hey, they're going to retain
some of that.
Whereas fake people, they aren't going to necessarily retain all that and they lie.
What does it say in verse 3?
And through covetousness, shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you?
The Bible says about the false prophets in chapter number 2 that they have feigned words.
What does feign mean?
Fake.
meaning somebody could tell you the right answer is about salvation and not believe them.
Because it's two different things. There's a difference between understanding the right answer
and believing the right answer, putting your faith in the right answer.
And like when someone puts their faith in the right answer, when they believe in Jesus Christ, they're saved forever.
Now what I think happens, and I think this is something that you'll experience, especially in the Bible Belt,
is that a lot of people go to a Baptist church to raise that as a kid, maybe go to the Southern Baptist church,
or they go somewhere, and they've heard the right answer 150 times, or a thousand times.
So they can repeat it, they can tell you it, and they even would say, because they were a child, they believed it.
But they didn't believe in the sense they actually put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.
They just kind of thought that was generally true at the time being because they were a child and they didn't know any better.
And so they just kind of, you know, hook, line, and sink or went for it, right?
But then as they grew up in their heart, they never really believed it and they never really trusted in Christ.
And then later they'll say like, oh, well, you know, I used to believe that and now I don't.
They're not saying they actually believed in Jesus Christ and got saved.
What they're saying is they just kind of went through the motions,
not really understanding what they were doing,
and they never actually trusted in Christ.
Because anybody who actually believes in Jesus Christ will never reject the faith.
They will never apostasize.
Yeah, can we have a lapse of faith?
Yes, but faith can be understood in two different contexts, right?
I know my dad's my dad.
But I may not trust my dad or have faith in my dad in every area of my life and every situation
Just like hey if there was a burning building and I was supposed to jump down and my dad's like hey
I'll catch you when my dad's like 80 something. I might be like yeah, I don't know
I'm not questioning whether or not he's my father though
Right and in the same way someone could lose faith in God or have an absence of faith
Temporarily in God in some situation or some context they could not be not believing in God in some area
That doesn't change the fact they're trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior and some people like they'll twist things and like
Second Timothy about like if we believe not yet he abided faithfully cannot deny himself
That is not about you denying your faith in Jesus Christ
Okay
That is you having a lapse of faith in some area of your life and yet God still delivers.
Think about Peter walking on the water.
Doesn't he lose faith in Jesus for a moment and then he says,
Lord save me, he still pulls him out of the water.
Does that mean that Peter got unsaved or like stop believing in Jesus Christ?
No, he got nervous and he lost a little bit of faith in that moment.
Okay, you can always lose a little bit of faith in the Christian life. That's why it tells you to be steadfast
That's why it tells you do you know
Stand fast and to quit you like men and all these different
Encouragements to continue being faithful because there's more to being saved when it comes to the word faith
But at the end of the day obviously our trust and our confidence when we put it in Christ
We have it and we're saved forever. So don't get confused when these people, you know, hey
They could have the right answer not be saved
I'll tell you what there's been a ton of homosexuals that have told me the right answer is about salvation and
Then it's obvious when I ask more questions. They don't believe it though. It's a joke to them. They think it's funny
It's like lots
Sons-in-law
Whenever he goes out and he tries to tell them hey this city's gonna be destroyed and they mock him they ridicule them
They think it's funny. They think it's a joke
They don't actually believe it.
You know how many people like I run into that are normal or straight
that can give me the right answers about salvation
and then say they don't believe it?
It's almost never.
But then it's like 50% of faggots that I meet.
Isn't that a weird coincidence?
Isn't it like a weird coincidence that they somehow can just give you the right answers
and then say they don't believe it, though?
It's because they're reprobate. It's because they rejected it. It's not like they didn't know it. They didn't know it
That's the reason why they're reprobate. Okay, and
We have to understand hey, we need to test people we need to figure out where they are
If someone says that Jesus Christ isn't coming to flesh, they're definitely not of God.
But we need to go beyond that because we live in a tricky world and the devil's a subtle creature
and he's even bring false prophets that with feigned words would lie to you and deceive you.
And look, there's going to be people that come into our movement, pastors, people in our ranks,
people in our churches that pretend like they like, believe with us and they agree with us
and they don't at all.
And when they show themselves to be who they are,
reject them, you have to walk away.
It's not fun.
It's not a cool thing.
I've had to do it.
I've had close people, close friends,
people that I brought over to my house,
fed them meals, did stuff with them,
bought them presents, did things on their birthday,
and then they come out and they just believe heresy,
dandable heresy, they're weirdos, they're freaks,
and you're just like, what's wrong with me?
You know it's nothing wrong with with loving people and giving them benefit of the doubt and
You know at the end of the day if you want to have a lot of friends
This is what I know you almost have to like just love like 50 to one ratio or something
It's like you have to like you have to be like a great friend like 50 people to get like one friend
That'll actually last for a while and and I think it's just like God just realizes like hey even if and a lot of times
It's not even the same people
Like I just think like throughout my life
I've invested in so many people and so many friendships and so many relationships that just turned into nothing and
Arguably even like decade like here's a decade where I was just so good to so many people
Try to be friends with all these people and in this decade. I got no lifelong friends. No good friends out of it
And then it's like, but you know what?
Just being a good friend, God's like,
okay, I'll bring somebody in your life
that will reciprocate or actually match your friendship,
and then you can actually line up
with those people in the future.
And so, you know, don't get discouraged
if you don't have a lot of friends,
or if you feel like you invest a lot in relationships
and it doesn't work out.
But at the end of the day, you know,
if you only invest, like, I'm only gonna try it
with one person, you probably won't have friends.
That's why it says a man that has friends
must show himself friendly.
You have to just like constantly put yourself out there.
to hope to get, you know, one or two.
This is, single guys, you want a wife?
You gotta be putting yourself out there, man.
You gotta be like, hey, are you interested?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Then, you know, you actually get this thing
called humility after you do this a couple of times
and you'll realize your dating purchasing power
is maybe not as high as you thought.
And then you're like, okay, but here's the thing,
you only have to find one that says yes.
You just have to find one.
And then, you know what?
Hey, you're set, you're set for life, right?
Go find a good one.
But I'm telling you, some of you need to just be like,
be like cold calling, you've got numbers just dialing.
I mean, it's just like, ring, are you interested,
are you interested, are you interested?
Just play the numbers game or something.
Hey, the good news is that like most young men of our generation are not wanting to get married and are like avoiding marriage
So you have less less competition than you've ever had before and
Men are really weak and soft and weird. So like if you could just do, you know a little a little bit
So I'm gonna tangent this is this is
This is what I this is my personal opinion for a second. All right
My personal opinion is when it comes to getting married or getting you know a wife
You only need one of three things. Okay, you either need money
looks or confidence
You don't even have to have all three.
If you even have just one of those, you can definitely get one.
Now, the more you have of each of these, the more options you have.
The more like the pick of the litter that you have.
But you know what?
Good news is like the middle one, the looks.
You may not be able to affect a lot, but you can get buff or something, you can get strong, or whatever.
But if you're healthy and strong, and you start making good money, and then you get some confidence,
I'm telling you, this guy's living, and I'm not trying to pick on people, but I'm just saying this.
A lot of times, when I run into young single guys that are saying, man, I'm really struggling,
I'm thinking like, well, you don't have a lot of money, you're not working out.
and you really lack in confidence.
And I'm just thinking like, hey, just work on one,
like work on these categories, and it will really help you.
That's my personal opinion.
You can check the Bible, it pretty much matches
a lot of those opinions, but ask a lady
and she'll be like, yeah, okay, that's typical.
I mean, think about like David.
I mean, David, you know,
He becomes the king. He's got the money. He's considered in the Bible super good-looking
Obviously very confident. He's willing to take down Goliath. I mean this guy doesn't struggle to find a woman
He struggles to stay with one. Okay
That is the reality for guys that are in those categories, so as we're reading this passage though, let's get back to the passage
I know I'm sorry. All right
He says in verse four year of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you
Then he that is in the world, you know, I think there's a great verse indicating once you get saved
You can't be even possessed, you know, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you
You have the truth that can overcome these things. He's gonna guide you into all truth
But these people are of the world the only thing they can speak of is of the world
They're of the world, they've were speaking of the world, and the world here with them.
We are of God, he that knoweth God here with us, he that is not of God here with not us,
here by knoweth the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
Look, obviously anybody that say can still get mixed up a little bit,
we're all learning together, people can have varying, you know, errors when it comes to
positions and doctrines, but there are certain lines that when someone crosses,
it's just saying like, this person is just not of God.
when they're just not hearing you, when they don't like truth, when they're allergic to truth.
You know, clear lines would be like what we just saw, denying that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh.
Other clear lines, I think, they become a Hindu or they become, you know, Orthodox.
Look, if you were in the new IFB and now you're Orthodox, you're not saved.
And you're never going to get saved because you already had the truth expose you that much.
Like you are just not of God, you're not saved, you're a flatterer, you had feigned words,
you were fake the whole time.
And we can just see this person's not of God, they have the spirit of error, they don't have the spirit of truth.
But even beyond that I think...
You know when someone's just wrong and just virtually every doctrine in the Bible they can't seem to be right on things
You know that's just giving me the indication you're not of God
Because if you're a God you would hear the truth because I'm not speaking of myself notice this as they would hear us
Look, it's not like you know
I express some personal opinions and and people disagree with me all all day long in this stuff
They'll be mad about my personal preferences, especially when it comes to things like food or just my opinions on Texas
And it starts to worry me if they have the spirit of truth.
But I'm just saying, like, you don't have to necessarily agree with my personal opinions on everything, okay?
But like, most of what I preach, and I try to be really faithful to the text,
like most of what I'm preaching is just what the Bible says.
And so if you're just like, I just don't like your preaching.
Well, what do you mean by that?
Because most of what I'm saying is just the Bible.
Anybody that likes the truth should just like a lot of our preaching because it's just the truth.
And look, I could give you...
You know, at least five bucks, if I had a nickel every time,
someone tells me they bring their visitor, their mom,
their grandma, someone listens to one of our servants online,
and they'll say, well, I agree with what he said.
I just don't like how he said it.
And it's like, well, at least that's an indication
the person saved, because at the end of the day,
if you like, I mean, if you are of the truth,
you will like the truth.
Even though you might be like, I don't really like
how you said it, but I still like the truth.
because people that are of the truth like the truth.
And what's an evidence of someone that's not saved?
They just don't like the truth.
They don't like the Bible.
They don't like the Word of God.
We can all have blind spots.
We can all have areas where we struggle
with a specific sin or passage and we justify it.
So don't hear me wrong.
What I'm saying is when people just are just rejecting
huge doctrines of the Bible, core doctrines of the Bible,
you know, this is just indication this person's not saved.
This person's not of God whatsoever.
It says in verse number seven,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God,
and everyone that love it is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.
So the Bible again tells us that God is love.
And I touched on this on Sunday, but to reiterate,
again, I believe this is a metaphor.
Now, what is a metaphor?
A metaphor is when you compare two things
each other to get a better understanding.
You know, I used a couple examples,
but I'll reiterate one in particular,
if I said, hey, this guy is like,
or this guy is a lion on the battlefield.
What we understand is that this man is not a lion.
It's not like saying he's kind of a lion. He's literally not a lion in any way. He doesn't have fur. He doesn't have a mane
He doesn't you know walk on fours. He's not an animal. He has a soul there. He's not a lion
What are we saying? We're saying that he has strength, power, might, he's ferocious,
he's just slaughtering people by the dozens. That's what we're meaning by that.
And so when the Bible is saying God is love, it's not saying that God is literally love.
It's taking two things that are not each other and comparing them so you get a deeper meaning though.
Because when it says God is love, though, what are we thinking, though?
Okay, that means that God is expressing all kinds of love and compassion and care and He's long-suffering.
I mean, if we understood what love is, we would say that's what God is like.
Okay, what is love?
Here's Pastor Shelley's definition of love.
It's showing goodwill towards someone even when they don't deserve it.
showing goodwill towards someone even when they don't deserve it.
Isn't that God?
God reigns on the just and on the unjust.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for every man.
The Bible says that He should taste death for every man.
That He's the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
Calvinist.
Hey, it's not just the elect. It was for everyone that Jesus Christ died for showing that love according to the dictionary
Love is an affection for something according to the dictionary. Love is liking or enjoying something
According to the dictionary love is compassion or care for something according to 1 Corinthians 13 if you want to turn there
It gives us a biblical definition of true love. What's called charity?
The word charity is synonymous for love
But I like that the King James Bible uses charity
because love could be used in an insincere way
and still be accurate because you can love bad things.
The Bible says,
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
The Bible says that without our dogs
and it gives us lists of all these people
that are not going to heaven.
And at the bottom of that list it says,
whosoever
love it and make it a lie.
Well, obviously that's a different kind of love
than 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
which is charity and charity is the idea
of a true, sincere love.
A true, sincere love, a godly love that exists.
There is a love of the world and there's a love of God.
And the Bible is telling us that God is love in the sense of the charity love, the true
love, the righteous love, the good love, the love that loves right things.
What is this?
It suffers long.
Charity suffers long and is kind.
Charity envies not.
Charity vaunted not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh
not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceeth not in iniquity.
Look, true love does not rejoice in iniquity.
You can't be the person who loves, who loves lies and be of God and of true love.
It uses the same word, but it's in a different context, a different meaning.
God is love, is a love that has no rejoicing in iniquity, no rejoicing in sin, hates sin.
says, but rejoice it in the truth
Barreth all things believe with all things hope with all things endure with all things
So if we were to try and understand who God is who is God he's someone who suffers long
He's someone who's kind he's someone who envies not he's someone who vaults not himself
He's someone who's not puffed up. He's someone who's not behave himself unseemly. He's someone who's not seeking his own
He's someone who's not easily provoked. He's someone who's not thinking evil. He's someone who's not rejoicing in iniquity
He's someone who rejoices in the truth
That's who God is when it says God is love it's saying all of these things wrapped up in God because he epitomizes love
He metaphorically represents true
Love and then our passage in 1st John chapter number four
Looking at verse 9. It'll tell us
What is it? What does love look like in this was manifested the love of God meaning made obvious to appear to all men
What is it?
The love of God toward us because that God's son has only begotten son of the world that we might live through him
So God gives us the ultimate example of not seeing his own the ultimate example of
Caring for others and being kind and willing willing to sacrifice and loving others
It's by sacrificing his own son to redeem us his very inferior creation
What is man that thou art mindful of him?
and the Son of Man that thou visitest him.
God came down from heaven to redeem us,
we are but dust of the earth and full rebellion,
sinning every day against him,
and yet he redeemed us to show us what real love is like.
He condescended to men of low estate,
and he loved us, that is why we can say, God is love.
God is love.
No one represents or is metaphorically symbolizing love more than God.
God is what the true picture of love is, understanding who God is and what He did for us.
Notice this thing.
This was manifested, the love of God.
Verse 10, here in His love...
Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Look, you being saved is not you loving God, it's you receiving the love of God.
We love Him because He first loved us.
Beloved of God, so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
What does that mean? That we show good will towards others.
And we have to understand, you know, look, God is not literally love in a really clear
obvious example of the fact that love is not hate.
Okay, go view it to Hosea chapter 9 for a second, go to Hosea chapter 9.
But sending someone to hell is not what 1 Corinthians 13 just told us.
It's not kind.
It's not doing good under that person
It's not having affection for that person. It's not good will towards that person. It's not care or compassion towards that person
It's hatred
Why? Because God is a complex being.
He's a personal being that, yes, does manifest love towards His creation,
and it is true He loved every single person.
Because the Bible says for God, so loved the world with a D at the end
because He didn't always love them, and He won't always love them.
In fact, the Bible clearly states there are some people that even when they were alive,
God said, hey, I don't love you.
So is it true that every single person in hell was loved by God?
Yes, they were.
Yes, and God is love, and God showed love toward those people.
But as love runs out,
Hosea 9 verse 15,
all their wickedness is in Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
For the wickedness of their doings,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more!
All their princes are Revolters look the people who die without Christ God will love no more
And they will spend eternity and fire and brimstone and the lake of fire
Where their worm die if not and the fire is not quenched and yet God is love
But let me tell you something that love is not sending them to hell that love was sending Jesus to die on the cross and
Taking their place in hell and rising again. That was the love
Hell is his hatred and his kindling anger towards them
because God is more complex than just being a particular attribute of love.
He has love and he embodies love and he metaphorically represents love,
but let me tell you something he also hates and he also has anger
and he has a whole range of emotions and he's going to manifest them for all
of eternity
not just as love through those that are redeemed in heaven, but those
of his wrath and his anger and his hatred
for sin and for evil and for wickedness.
Because if he sent everyone to heaven,
well, he's rejoicing in iniquity now.
But you know what, he doesn't rejoice in iniquity
because he's love.
Therefore, in combination with love,
he has hatred for that which is evil
and that which is wicked.
In fact, I would argue this.
In order to truly love, you have to balance it out with hate.
Otherwise, you don't really love anything.
In order to love something, you have to hate something.
And in order to hate something,
you have to love something.
Those who love lies hate the truth.
Those who love the truth hate lies.
The more you love something, the more you'll hate something.
And vice versa.
You know,
If you really love your wife, the more you'll hate the ideas of, like, adultery and perversion.
And, you know, the more you love God, the more you'll keep His commandments,
the more you break the commandments, the less you love God.
And that's why it's showing yourself.
The more you love your brother, the more you love God.
Because, and you know, if you actually love your brother, you know you'll hate doing ill to your brother.
You'll feel gross.
You know, if your brother said,
hey, I need a ride or I need help,
and you say, I'll be there, man.
and then you call them up and you're like,
yeah, I can't make it, figure it out on your own.
That would make you feel crushed,
you'd feel bad that you disappointed them,
that you let them down.
Whereas the person that doesn't really love,
it just, it doesn't bother them.
It doesn't bother them to burn people.
It doesn't bother them to hurt people.
It doesn't bother them to lie about people.
It doesn't hurt them to interfere in people's marriages
and try to destroy their personal lives
for all of eternity.
You know, the Bible says that we're supposed to have discretion, and the Bible says the wounds of a tail-bearer,
I'm sorry, the words of a tail-bearer go down as wounds in the innermost parts of the belly.
If you actually love people, you would keep your stupid mouth shut and you wouldn't share
all kinds of gossip and smut and lies and whatever's going on and tattle about your
brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you actually love them, people that hate you will go online and they'll share all
of your dirty secrets.
They'll tell all the people in your closed circle, look if you know something about someone
that could hurt them, you better not say something about them.
Because if you actually loved them, you would keep your stupid mouth shut and you'd pray
and ask God to bless them.
Discretion shall preserve thee.
You know, love cover the multitude of sins is what the Bible says.
It doesn't go around and just share everybody's dirty secrets and tell everybody every bad
thing you know about everybody.
Then we'll just have, you know, then we'll just have a newspaper.
I mean, what does the newspaper do?
Then we'll have a gossip tabloid where we just share all of our dirty secrets and try
to just shame each other and make everybody look bad.
That's not Christianity.
And you know what?
Praise God, God covers our sins.
Praise God, we're not going to walk around in heaven and be like, hey, remember when
you did this?
It's forgotten, isn't it?
Praise God, we get to live it down.
Why can't we let other people live things down?
If you're going to get to live all of your sins down for all eternity, can't you let
And look, we're not talking about covering stuff up.
We're not talking about excusing, grievous sin.
Sometimes we have to deal with it.
But look, if it's been repented of,
if it's been forgiven or if it's a private matter,
keep it private.
Just do your best to forget about it.
That's what real love looks like.
Let me tell you something, you know what?
God gets to a point where He's done with people.
And, you know, he was long-suffering, he was kind, he was gracious, he did sacrifice for them.
He's not the propitiation for our sins only, but also for the whole world.
He tasted death for every man, he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
And the Bible says, for God so loved the world.
He did love everybody, and he is love, but he also has hatred.
And so we cannot just abstract God into just elements and just say, he's just literally love.
and then start becoming these Catholic theologians
who start denying God's anger,
denying other parts of him,
saying he's not a person,
saying he's not someone that we can relate to.
You know, you just start getting to a point
where you're just insane.
You deconstruct God into nothing.
And it's weird.
I talk to these people and I'm thinking like,
how am I made in God's image?
Because God's nothing to you.
He's not a body.
He's not emotions.
He's not any, I mean like what,
and what way am I like God?
According to you and they don't they can't they can't explain that they can't understand that
They have no separation between the father and the son. They extract God into nothing
Go view it back and we'll finish our chapter here
The rest of this chapter is really gonna focus on just the one point that we've we've been hammering throughout this entire epistles that
You know loving God is loving your brother
Someone who claims to love God and is not loving their brother's a liar
Show me somebody here in our church that just loves a lot of people and is doing a lot of good for people
and I'll show you someone that loves God and
someone that's lying about their brother
Tatling about their brother gossiping about their brother not being friendly not being kind not being gracious
Not being helpful as someone that does not love God
And let me tell you something someone that doesn't go so many how can you say you love God because you don't love your brother
You're not going out there and trying to get your brother saved
And look, I understand the vast majority of people we talk to aren't saved, but we're
not going soul-winning for them.
We're going soul-winning for the elect's sake.
And we're enduring for the elect's sake.
And we're enduring for our brother.
And if you loved your brother, you'd give him the gospel.
You'd preach him and tell him how to get saved.
How can you say you love God when you don't even try to get one of them saved?
Oh, I love my brother.
I'm watching my entire house burn down and they're inside, and I'm not doing anything
People would say you're insane.
Oh, you just want your brother to just die?
You just want them to all burn alive in a house fire?
People would think you hated your family if you did that.
You must hate your Christian family when you don't go soul-wining.
I mean, if you don't go soul-wining, you hate your Christian family.
In fact, it would be worse if you actually understood what I'm saying.
It would be worse for you to not go soul-wining
than it would to watch your entire family burn alive to a crisp in a fire right now.
as insane as it would be to just watch them do that and not say anything,
not warn them, not try to help them in any way.
That is more reasonable than you never preach in the gospel
because let me tell you something, you can burn in a fire in the house and still go to heaven.
But these people that die are going to hell where the fire is never quenched.
It is a worse fire, it is a worse punishment,
it is a worse fate for these individuals.
And look, if you don't save them, no one will.
If you don't say anything, someone might call the fire department for you, and they might show up.
But let me tell you something, if we don't go out and preach the gospel, almost no one is ever going to tell these people how to go to heaven.
I mean, the labors are fused what the Bible says.
We need to be the ones on fire going out and preaching the gospel.
Why do you get so mad Pastor Shelley? Why do you defend yourself?
Why do you call out the weirdos attacking you?
Because let me tell you something, the work that we're doing matters.
It's important. It has eternal consequences.
And you know what? I love people too much to let a bunch of losers run our church.
Let a bunch of heresy look these people are weak and lame and they look like losers and they talk like losers
And they act like losers and they share loser videos, and you know what? I want nothing to do with them
Let me tell you something. I don't care what they say
They can call me whatever they want and I just get more wars in heaven. So praise God
But you know what, I love the brethren too much to stop soul winning.
I love the brethren too much to stop the work that we're doing in the Philippines.
I love the brethren too much to not want to go spend a bunch of money
in Bahamas and get a bunch of people saved and go to Mexico
and go to Tyler, Texas and go to all these places.
You know how many Christians today are willing to go to South Dallas to preach the gospel?
A bunch of racists out there want to say that we're racist or say that we're bad people,
yet they won't even go into South Dallas and preach the gospel, will they?
They'll only go some three minutes away from their building because they just want people to show up and give them more money for their building
You know what? I would like to have a nicer building
But you know what? I'm not gonna forsake soul winning to try and get a nicer building
And you know what if we never do but we can keep going soul winning if we can keep our soul winning up
That's all I care about
That's what I'm focused on
You know
We need to make sure that we have the right kind of love
Because who cares we could just we could build some giant huge building and
Then you know I die and we give it to somebody and he's a fake and he just runs everybody off and shuts it all down six months later
It's happened before
It's like, what's wrong with these people?
People that are allergic to the truth.
They come in and they act like they like you
and say they have all the right doctrine
and then they're just like, they're a freak, you know?
Nothing else to say, they're just weirdos.
Bible says in verse 12,
no man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us
and his love is perfect in us.
Hereby know we dwell in him and he in us
because they've given us of his spirit.
Look, you haven't seen God.
So you can't can't like love him from what you've seen, but you can see your brother and so it's saying like
How do you show that you love God through faith?
By loving your brother if you were just showing love to the God who you see that wouldn't be faith
How do you show God who you love through faith by loving someone else and then his spirit testifies with our spirit
That we are the sons of God
It says in verse 14,
And we have seen as you testify,
The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he and God.
Notice again, he's reminding of the core doctrines of the faith.
Jesus has been sent, we know he's been sent.
He's the Son of God, and that's the person that's of God.
Verse 16,
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
God is love!
And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.
The person who's truly dwelling in God is the person who's loving his brother and doing good.
You know, the Spirit of God comes inside of us.
It bears witness that we're the children of God.
We bear witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And, you know, when we are steaming other better than ourselves, when we're sacrificing for others,
that is us dwelling in the love of God.
What is dwelling?
I mean, like, dwelling we think of is like where you live.
Where do you live? Well, I live at this address or I live in you know, Arlington or Cedar Hill or I live in Roanoke
Or I live in wherever that's where I live
Okay, so how do you dwell in God?
Because it's not a physical location. You know you dwell in God, but I'm just always loving a brother
I'm always esteeming a brother better than myself. I'm always helping my brethren. I'm always going soul-winning for my brethren
I'm loving the people of the church. So you're just dwelling in God
That's where I dwell. I dwell there. Hey, going to church, you're dwelling where God is.
Going to church, going soul-winning, loving your brother, that's you dwelling in God.
Where's not dwelling in God? The bar? The casino?
There's all kinds of places where you can go where God's not at, where you're not dwelling in God,
On the rooftop with David, that wasn't dwelling in God.
He left the battle and he went to just go be selfish, didn't he?
He wasn't loving the brother and he was being selfish.
In fact, he was hating his brother.
Instead of standing beside Uriah and fighting with him,
he was attacking Uriah when he had no chance to defend himself.
He was hating his brother.
He was doing evil into his brother.
He wasn't dwelling in the love of God.
We need to dwell in the love of God.
It's a safe place to be.
Getting outside of the will of God getting out of sight of church not reading your Bible not doing things for others
Look spend your life doing good things for other people not yourself
That's dwelling the love of God
verse 17
Hearing is our love made perfect that we have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so we in this world
There's no fear and love but perfect love cast without fear because fear at torment he that fear that's not made perfect in love
I think we could look at this in two ways number one is that when you spent your whole life
Loving other people and doing good for other people,
you're going to have that much more boldness,
you're going to have that much more confidence,
you're going to not have fear when you stand before Jesus Christ in judgment.
And the Bible says,
therefore knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men.
It's a terrible thing when you get judged for your works,
especially when you didn't have any.
It's like when dad comes home and you didn't do the chores,
is a scary thing.
But when all the chores are done and you did everything your dad asked you to,
wow, you're more excited when he comes home.
you have less fear. I believe another way to look at this verse, it's a little bit
more applicable to me, is that when you have true sincere love, you're not afraid
of the consequences of that love.
in the sense that, hey, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
you know, because I love God. I'm not afraid of what persecution may come.
I'm not afraid of what man can do unto me. You know, I'm not supposed to only fear God
and when I have perfect love towards God and when I care only about what God wants me to do,
I don't have as much fear. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
hey, we're not careful to answer the in this matter. Hey, throw us in the fiery furnace.
They weren't afraid.
Daniel's not afraid to go in the lion's den
because he has a perfect love towards God.
He knows he's right with God.
He knows he's being persecuted for the things of God.
So he's not afraid.
And you know what? He's able to face death.
Jesus Christ dying on the cross has perfect love.
He's willing to face death for us
because of his love for us.
And at the end of the day,
when we have great love for the brethren,
we have great love for Jesus,
you know, death becomes less scary.
We have less fear.
Fear torments us.
You know, we can spend our whole lives being afraid of everything.
But when we just put perfect love in God, we just trust God,
and we're just loving our neighbors, ourself,
it eliminates the fears that we can have in this world.
He says we love him because he first loved us if a man say I love God and hated his brother
He's a liar for you that love is not his brother whom he has seen
How can he love God whom he has not seen in this commandment?
Have we from him that he love with God love his brother also?
You know the Bible says if you follow Jesus, he's gonna make you a fisher of men
Take that in coronation with this that how could you say you love God if you don't go soul-winning?
Because according to the Bible, if you love Jesus and you're a follower of Jesus,
you'll be a fisher of men, and if you love your brethren, you tell them how to get saved.
Look, someone that's not a soul winner, I don't want them to lecture me about how I don't love God and they do.
I am not willing to listen to someone that's not doing regular soul winning on how I'm not loving.
I immediately am going to reject that.
And what I've noticed is that when people get out of a church like ours,
almost always, probably 99% of the time, they do less soul-winning or no soul-winning afterwards.
And yet they want to tell us how we're not loving.
I'm not interested.
You know, if you're a great soul-winner and you're leading a lot of people with Christ
and you think I have an error, hey, I'm willing to listen,
I'm willing to hear what that person has to say,
but let me tell you something, non-soul winners, I'm not really interested because you're a liar.
Don't lecture me on the love of God. You got to get right first.
You got to be showing me how you're actually loving God and loving your neighbors yourself before I'm willing to even entertain.
You just even bringing it up. Let alone then still we're gonna make sure and look at the Bible and really evaluate if that's true.
But because this is my final authority. Let me just tell you something. I ignore. It's all noise to me.
When my Christian family and I'm not saying like
You guys I'm saying my physical family. That's Christian tries to tell me. I'm not loving, but they don't go so many
It's just I don't care
When friends and neighbors and whoever try to tell me well, you're not loving I don't care
Doesn't just in one ear and out the other don't even care. You don't even know what you're saying
Hey people that are actual soul winners that that's the type of people that I want to listen to and hey if they think
I got an error then I want to listen to this person
But at the end of the day people that don't care about getting people saved. I'm just not interested
There's too much work to do. There's too many people to get saved
We need to just keep our head down focused on the right thing and love our brother and you know what?
We we should always test people
Isn't that the whole point of this chapter test?
Hey, do you believe you just came in the flesh? Okay?
Do you have sin?
Okay.
Yeah?
All right.
How do you feel about soul winning?
How do you feel about all these people?
You know, if they don't pass that test, I'm just done with them.
You know, I don't want to have anything to do with those kind of people.
And you know, you should have the same attitude too.
Let's go to prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us this instruction and this wisdom.
Thank you for showing us the ultimate picture of love.
So that we could understand what love is, it's a sacrifice, it's a steam other better than ourselves.
It's to go out and to show kindness and grace.
It's for us to go out and love the brethren by preaching the gospel, by helping people, by loving people, by esteeming their things more important than our own.
by condescending the men of low estate.
I pray that we wouldn't get distracted by all the haters
and anti-Christ and weirdos and false brethren
and people are trying to constantly seduce us
and the liars and the deceivers.
I pray that we would just stay on the right course
that you would keep just helping us realize,
hey, we have the right Bible, we have the right gospel,
we have the right fellowship, we're on the right path.
Help us to not get led astray, but help us to be steadfast. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right for our last song of the evening, let's go to song number 82
Song number 82
When he cometh song number 82
All his jewels, all his jewels, precious jewels, his blood in his own.
Like the stars of the morning, his bright brown the morning,
they shall shine in their beauty bright and gentle.
They shall shine in their beauty, bright gems for his crown.
Little children, little children, who love their Redeemer,
are the jewels, precious jewels, his love and his own.
They shall shine in their beauty,
bright them for this vow.
Great singing, everybody.
You all just missed you.