And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me,
surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and she said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house, see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
Nabal came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king.
And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken, wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these tidings, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, and he died.
And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil.
For the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head, and David sent and communed with Abigail to take her to him to wife.
And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife.
And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord.
And Abigail hasted and arose and rode upon an ass with five damsels of hers that went after her, and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
David also took a Hinnomim of Jezreel, and they were also both of them his wives.
But Saul had given Michael his daughter, David's wife, Pithalti, the son of Laish, which was of Galem.
Let us pray. Father God, Lord, thank you for this gathering together. I pray now for the preaching and teaching of your word.
Phil Pastor Shelley, with your Holy Spirit, help him to illuminate this chapter and the teachings that he has for us, and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Let's look back at verse number 14, where the Bible reads,
One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on them.
Now, this is actually the first mention of the word rail that we find in our Bible.
And really what I want to do this evening is I want to show the clear difference between railing and rebuking in the Bible.
The title of the sermon is Railing, Rebuking, and Memes. Okay? Railing, rebuking, and memes.
And we're going to define these words, and we're going to clearly understand them from the Bible.
But what I want to help you understand is this. When I struggle to understand a word, or I don't know a word, or I'm unfamiliar with the word,
I will go to a dictionary, and I will read the definitions that the dictionary provides.
But here's the next most important step. After I get a sense of what the dictionary says that a word means,
I then take that back to the scriptures and try to put that in the context and make sure that that's accurate.
Because here's the thing. While the dictionary is helpful, and it's a good tool to use, it is not perfect.
It is not flawless, and sometimes the dictionary can contain an inaccurate description, or it doesn't provide the proper usage as an alternative definition.
Now, rail is one of those words where typically in our modern vernacular, or if you just go out into the world,
you're pretty much never going to hear this word used in the context that the Bible uses it.
Most people don't use the word rail in that sense. Now, let me give you the dictionary definition.
If you look up the word rail, the first 20,000 definitions have nothing to do with anything we're talking about.
It's like some kind of a railing that people grip onto or that. But one of the last definitions, it'll say to complain or protest strongly.
To complain or protest strongly. Now, that's a very broad definition, isn't it?
And in fact, if we were going to use that definition for the word rail, it would make the Bible super confusing.
Because now all of a sudden I'm opposing something or I'm protesting something that's making me a railer.
Now, the synonyms of the word rail in the dictionary are protest, condemn, or oppose strongly.
But here's what you have to understand about the word rail in your Bible. It's always negative, and it's always a sin.
So that would make opposing anything somehow a sin. That doesn't make any sense.
Because we have other words like rebuke, where the Bible's clearly telling us to oppose things strongly.
So there must be a distinction between a rail and a rebuke. Between someone railing or someone rebuking, and there is.
So let's slow down. Let's just look at how the Bible uses this word and try to figure out what it's meaning by rail.
Go to verse number nine. Let's see what he actually said.
It says in verse number nine,
And when David's young men came, they spake Nabal according to all those words in the name of David and sea.
So David asked for some food for his men. In verse 10 it says,
And Nabal asked David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.
Now, we have to understand about this context is David is literally, if not the most well-known person on the planet in this area.
I mean, it's not like you just wonder who David is, okay? David is the guy who killed Goliath.
David is the one who they're singing songs about. I mean, imagine someone going around being like, Donald Trump who?
I mean, you'd kind of be like, what rock are you living under, okay?
I mean, there's going to be certain people that just everybody's aware of.
Everybody kind of knows who this person is, and David is that person, okay?
So for him to first start saying like, who is David? What does that mean?
If someone is saying like, well, who are you?
Are they really saying like, well, my name's Jonathan Shelley. Very nice to meet you.
No, what are they trying to do? They're trying to put shade on whatever it is that you're asking from them, right?
Who are you to ask me to help you? Who are you?
That's what he's saying. Who is David, you know?
Who is this guy to get to come here and ask me to do things or tell me to give him any kind of food?
He's really just kind of putting down David.
And ultimately, here's the thing, it's a lie.
Because he knows who David is.
He already knows who David is. David's been there with them, protecting them and guarding them.
Then what's the next thing he says?
He says, there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.
What is he saying? He's saying that David is rebellious.
He's saying that David just broke away from his master. He's this rebellious young punk.
He's just this guy who's gone rogue. He's just gone AWOL. He's just too prideful.
He can't just submit himself, which is a false accusation because David is one of the most loyal servants in the Bible.
Now, obviously, he had to depart from Saul, but only because of the fear for his life.
Only because Saul was going to kill him. That was the only reason he departed.
And continually throughout the Scriptures, he's still subject unto Saul. He still is loyal to Saul.
He still loves Saul. He's not willing to put his hand against Saul.
He's only trying to preserve him and his life.
So what is Nabal doing? He's making up false accusations against David.
He's rebuking his authority in a sense, or really he's railing on his authority by saying he doesn't even know who he is.
So what can we learn about railing? Well, first of all, he's making up something false.
And let me just make it plain. Railing has to be false.
You say, I want to know what a rail is. It has to be false. If it's true, it's never railing.
And we're going to see this being consistent throughout the Scriptures.
Now what would be a rebuke? A rebuke is always true. It can't be false.
If I say something against you and it's false, I'm not rebuking you. I'm railing on you.
If I tell you something that's true, no matter how harshly, it's not railing. It's rebuking.
And we're going to see this consistently throughout the Scriptures.
Go to 2 Chronicles 32. We're just going to fly through the Bible quickly and go to some of these places.
So to take the definition of rail and say to oppose strongly is a real disservice to your Bible.
Because what you end up doing is you end up condemning people like, I don't know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who opposed strongly the Pharisees, who opposed strongly false doctrine.
You're putting down God. You're putting down His prophets who opposed strongly Jerusalem, opposed strongly the children of Israel,
opposed strongly wickedness and sin.
And really what you're doing is you're stripping away the power and the might of preaching God's Word.
You're stripping away the idea of someone rebuking anything for any reason.
Now we need to get a more tight definition of the word rail. We need to have a clear understanding of the word rail.
It's always something false. Look at 2 Chronicles 32 and look at verse number 17.
This is the second mention. It says,
He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying,
As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand,
so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.
Now this is Sennacherib is sending an ambassador. I call him Rabshakey.
Because he's trying to shake all the children of Israel away from the Lord or whatever.
Maybe Rabshakea, but who cares? I call him Rabshakey.
And he's railing on God. Isn't that what that says?
It says it very clearly. It says in verse 17 to rail on the Lord God of Israel and notice and to speak against him.
Now some people take this verse and they would say, Oh, he's speaking against somebody is railing.
Well, wait a minute. Let's understand what he said, though. What did he say?
He said that God was not going to deliver them out of his hand.
That's what he said. Now, is that true? No, it's not true.
Okay, so it's not that he just spoke against them. It's that he spoke something against them that was false.
That's what it meant to rail him, saying God can't deliver you. Don't trust in God.
Now he's railing on the Lord God of Israel, and because of that railing accusation that he made against God,
God gives a strong deliverance to them. He brings the angel of the Lord and smites 100,000 of them in the night.
Okay, so what does it mean to rail so far? Well, it's been false every single time.
It's speaking against, I agree with that, but only if it's negative. Go to Mark chapter 15, Mark chapter number 15.
Let's go to our New Testament and let's find a couple more places here where the Bible is using this word.
Look at verse 29. So we're doing a word search on the word rail and seeing how many times it's used.
It's used nine times, I believe, if I remember correctly.
Mark chapter number 15, and let's look at verse number 29. The Bible says,
And they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying,
Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes,
He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the king of Israel descend now from the cross.
They may see and believe. May they were crucified with them, revile them.
So notice what the Bible is saying. It's saying that there's people walking by the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross
and they start mocking him and ridiculing him and specifically railing on him.
Now what's the rail? Is it just that they're speaking against him? No.
They're saying that he cannot destroy the temple and raise it up again three days.
But what does Jesus do? Exactly that.
Because of their misunderstanding of the scriptures, misunderstanding what Jesus was teaching them and telling them about,
they end up railing on him and mocking him for something that he's going to actually do and be successful.
Here's another thing they said. He can't save himself.
That's also false because at the moment that Jesus Christ asked for angels,
God will send a legion of them to go help him.
God will send a whole host of angels to save him, deliver him.
But you know what? He had the self-control to die on the cross for our sins.
He had the self-control to be obedient unto God's commandments, even when people are mocking them.
Now that's impressive because there's a lot of men who are very strong physically
and some little pipsqueak comes around and start being like, you couldn't take me on.
You couldn't hit me. You couldn't punch my face. You couldn't knock me out in one hit.
And you're just thinking like, yes I can.
It takes a lot of self-restraint to know that for sure and then still not do it.
Because there's a part of you that just wants to knock their teeth out whenever they're talking trash to you.
But you know, the Lord Jesus Christ took that railing. He took that mocking so that he could fulfill his purpose.
Go to Luke chapter number 23. Luke chapter 23.
Has anybody said anything true so far?
And all the examples of a rail. When have they said anything that's accurate?
Oh, David, you're rebellious. Not accurate.
Oh, God can't save you. Not accurate.
Oh, God can't save himself. Not accurate.
I feel like we're getting a theme here, aren't we?
It's always false.
Luke chapter 23. Look at verse 39. Luke 23, verse 39.
We're leaving no stone unturned this evening.
And one of the malefactors.
Thou be the Christ. Save thyself and us.
So notice what he's doing. He's putting doubt and shade on the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
And he's making this railing accusation by saying, if you truly were the Christ, then what would you do?
You would save yourself and us.
So if you don't save us, that's proof that you're what? Not the Christ.
But that's a railing accusation because he is the Christ and he is going to die.
But that was his purpose. That was his mission.
So again, another false accusation. They're railing on him by trying to put doubt in shade.
That's what the devil literally said. If thou be the Son of God, command these stones that they be made bread.
But did Jesus do that? No, he didn't fall for that trap.
And you know what? There's a lot of provocateurs. There's a lot of trolls out there.
They want to just say something to get you to act in a certain way so as to prove,
oh yeah, prove to me that you're saved or prove to me that you're not in a cult.
And it's like, you're not going to prove to those people you're not in a cult.
You're not going to prove to those people all the things. You're just falling for their trap.
Oh yeah, I dare you. You don't have the courage to respond to my comment.
You know what? I'm not an idiot, so I'm not going to respond. That's what's going to happen.
They try to provoke you into doing something foolish or stupid. Just ignore the troll.
Notice what Jesus did. Just ignore the troll, okay?
And we have to constantly have self-control today. But look at the next verse. We have verse 39.
Look at verse number 40.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Condemnation. So we have two guys. We have a thief on one side, a thief on the other, okay?
One thief rails on Jesus. Why? Because he said something false.
The next guy, he rebukes the other guy. Now were they both saying something negative? Was it both public?
Yeah, but what was the difference? One was false, one was true.
He's saying, hey, don't you fear God? So notice how the Bible switched from railing to rebuke. Why?
Based on one word, truth. Truth. Truth is the difference between railing and rebuking every single time in the Bible.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We'll just read it quickly.
This doesn't necessarily give us any more information as far as what the definition of this word is.
But it brings a strong condemnation of those that are guilty of railing.
Verse 11, But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one, know not to eat.
Now, what I want to point out about this verse, and I know you know this verse probably, you've probably read this verse.
But let me ask you this question. Let's take railing off the table for a second, okay?
In this list, is there anything in this list that you could change the context and one of these sins would not be sinful?
Like, is there an appropriate time to be a fornicator?
Well, it just depends on the situation. Sometimes fornication is okay. No, it's always wrong, right?
Is there ever a good time to be covetous? No, it's always wrong.
Is there ever a good time to be an idolater? Never.
Is there ever a good time to be a drunkard? No.
How about an extortioner? Well, if it's the right person, you know, if it's the goyim, right? No.
It's never okay to be an extortioner. So let's put rail back on the table. Is there ever an appropriate time to rail? Never.
It's a type of sin that's always wrong. Some people try to say, like, there's a, you have to figure out when it's okay to rail and not, it's never okay to rail.
Because it's always a negative word. When would it ever be acceptable to lie? Never.
That's because railing is always saying something that's false or something that's a lie.
That's why it's such a harsh sin. That's why it's so wicked and evil.
Why do you want people to come to your church? They're just going to go around spreading horrible lies about other people.
You don't want that type of person. You want to get that person out until they repent of that sin.
Now, if they're going to lie about somebody and get it right, they can come back in.
If they get drunk and they get it right, they can come back in.
Hey, if they're in fornication and they stop or get married, they can come back in.
But we're not just going to let a bunch of drunk, railing fornicators that don't care what the Bible says, that have already been told no, just stay in the church.
That's going to poison the church. That's going to make it seem like the pastor has no authority.
When there's somebody just with glaring issues, you tell them that they're wrong and they're not willing to fix it.
Look, that's a bad sign when someone tells you not to do something and you just do it anyways.
That's a horrible thing. You should be someone that's never going to make that mistake.
Go to 1 Timothy, chapter number 6. 1 Timothy, chapter number 6.
So, again, I don't want to leave any stone unturned.
And if I come up with an idea, if I say, you know what, I think the word railing always means it's a lie.
But then I start going through the Bible and I find places where the word rails use and it's not a lie.
You know what happened? I'm wrong.
Then I have to change my idea.
So, if you think you have an idea for a word like the wine, well, I think wine is always alcoholic.
Wine is a mocker, or you say, yeah, wine is always alcoholic.
But then you go to certain places where it talks about Jesus drinking wine.
Okay, now you have a problem.
Even though it doesn't say that, it says he drank of the fruit of the vine.
It doesn't even use the word wine whenever it talks about it.
Or it talks about how there's a blessing in wine.
Well, alcohol is never going to bring you a blessing, so there must be somewhere there's a disconnect.
And, of course, words can have multiple definitions.
But as we're looking through the scriptures and we're studying a word, your definition should match the context of the scriptures or you're wrong.
We have to understand what the Bible is using these words for.
1 Timothy chapter number 6, look at verse number 3.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to Godliness,
he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words.
Whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the what?
Truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal of thyself.
Now, in this category of issues, you could say, well, it's kind of hard to figure out what the context is.
What is it? No. Verse 3 says, if any man teach, notice this, otherwise, and not consent to wholesome words.
So, if I'm teaching a doctrine, if I'm teaching something to you, and it is contrary to the Bible, you know what that is? A lie.
False, okay? So, we have a person who's teaching contrary to the Bible, they're opposing the words of the Bible,
they're not consenting unto the words of the Bible, that's false. Notice in verse 5, it says, their mind is destitute of the truth.
Now, if I have no truth running through my mind, what's going to come out when I speak? Lies.
It's like CNN's report, okay? It's just like the daily news media. It's just whatever Joe Biden is going to have on the teleprompter.
It's destitute of the truth. I mean, there's no truth in it. So, what does it become? It becomes railing.
But isn't that consistent with everything we've seen so far? It's destitute of the truth, it's opposing sound words, okay?
It's even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which is according to godliness. It's bad doctrine, is false doctrine ever good?
No, it's always wrong. Go to 1 Peter chapter number 3. 1 Peter chapter number 3. You say, Pastor Shelley, I already get it.
Well, some people don't, and so we're going to drive this in, alright? You're going to leave this sermon and you're going to learn the one difference between railing and rebuke.
And it's truth. It's always truth. 1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse number 9.
Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
So, the Bible says that if someone does something evil to you, we shouldn't just automatically return some evil back to them, which would be the normal response.
Someone punches you, you punch them back. Someone slaps you on the cheek, you slap them on the cheek.
What did Jesus say? Hey, just turn the other cheek. Just give them the other cheek. Don't just return evil for evil.
In fact, we're supposed to repay evil with good, which will heap hot coals in them.
Also, we don't want to return a railing for a railing. Now, up to this point, we've learned that it's a false accusation.
So, if someone makes a false accusation against me, I don't want to then return and make another false accusation against them.
And in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, we learned that we should throw Christians, saved brothers, out of church for railing.
So, you know what that tells me? Saved people can rail.
So, let's say someone makes up a salacious lie about me, okay, and they're spreading that.
Well, I don't want to just then in turn be like, well, they're obviously a reprobate then.
I don't know that. That would mean we're turning potentially a railing for a railing.
I don't want to just throw out a railing just because they did something negative to me.
Just because they're lying about me doesn't mean that I should then return the favor and just lie about them.
Now, if I know something about them that's true and I start saying that publicly, that would be a rebuke, okay.
But if I say something false back, now I'm returning railing for railing.
This is basically the debates between the Democrats and the Republicans.
It's just returning railing for railing. They just constantly rail back and forth to one another.
We should not do this. Now, what is evil?
Evil would be a curse. What does it mean to have evil upon someone? It's to harm them.
If I wish a curse upon you, what do I want to happen? Something negative to you.
So, what's the opposite of a curse? A blessing, right?
So, that's what the context is. That's why he's saying, but, contrary-wise, blessing.
Now, if I make up a lie about you, is that a curse or a blessing? That's a curse.
If I tell you something that's true, is that a curse or a blessing?
Always a blessing, even if it's in a rebuke form. And I'm going to prove that and just keep that in your mind.
But we'll find a proverb where it literally says that when someone rebukes you, it's a blessing.
So, that tells me that what's the major difference between the railing and the rebuke, if it's true or not.
If I tell you something that's true, no matter how harshly I do it, no matter what medium or format I do it in, you know what? It's not a curse.
It's always a blessing. If I lie to you, no matter how sweet and syrupy it is, no matter how flattery I put into it,
Oh, you look so good today. You don't. You don't. That's what I'm thinking in my mind. I'm like, you look so great.
It doesn't matter how sweetly I word it. It's a curse. It's a curse for someone to lie to you, to flatter you, or to rail on you in any situation.
Go to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. Flip the page. Look at verse 10.
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
But these natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.
So notice the Bible is talking about reprobates. It's talking about people that are rejected, evil, men that are basically destined to hell.
Not in the sense of Calvinism, but the fact that they'll never believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate God. They've completely rejected him.
And because they've rejected God, God has in return rejected them. Okay. Now, this group of people, what are they like?
They're people who would bring railing accusations, yet the angels, which are greater in power, do not. Okay.
Now, again, what are we trying to understand? We're trying to understand what a railing accusation would be.
Now, accuse is kind of something that you're not really sure of. Right? If I'm accusing something of, I'm not going to accuse you of something necessarily that I know for sure I could potentially.
But a lot of times accusations are kind of thrown out there like, I think you've done X, or I believe you've done X.
But, you know, I don't necessarily have all the proof, or maybe I have circumstantial evidence or something.
So what would be a railing accusation would be a false accusation saying like, I bet you're a pedophile, you know, you didn't shake my hand or whatever.
It's like, what are you talking about? Or, you know, just you make up something about them. You presume something about them.
Oh wait, presumptuous are they? You're presuming something. You don't know if it's true. It's just putting out these false accusations.
Who's like this? Oh yeah, the devil. Who did he presume about and bring a railing accusation?
He brought that against Job, saying that he would curse God if he took away all the blessings in his life. But was that true? No, it wasn't true.
Job retained his integrity, but it was the devil that was willing to just speak evil of Job, and curse Job, and bring a railing accusation against Job.
But notice the angels will not bring a railing accusation against the devil himself. Okay?
It says they don't bring a railing accusation against even these wicked people. Now, I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.
There's another place where it talks about the devil itself, but right here it's saying that the angels will not bring a railing accusation against reprobates.
So that, you know, that tells me that we shouldn't either. If an angel's not going to make up a railing accusation against Hillary Clinton, then I shouldn't.
And look, there is plenty to say negatively about Hillary Clinton. Okay? There's plenty that we know is true, that we know is factual.
We know that Joe Biden sniffs kids' hair. Okay? And we know that he does a lot of creepy things. We know that he's wicked.
But we don't want to just then, because we know all these things, start bringing all these railing accusations against these people.
We want to stick to the facts. And when we stick to the facts, it's a rebuke. When we presume, it's a rail in many cases.
Now, if it ends up being true, then you're just kind of lucky. But I don't want to sit here and make all these railing accusations not really knowing.
Okay? And it turns out false, because that's what it would have to be for it to be railing. And then it ends up being a reproach upon me.
Because railing is always bad. You know, God never says that someone's wicked and they're not. God never rebukes somebody and it turns out false.
No, it's always true. Okay? God's not presuming about things. He's speaking about things from a perfect clarity of mind.
Notice what the reprobate does. He, in verse number 12, speak evil of the things that they understand not.
That's why they make so many false statements. They don't really understand things. They're not understanding the context.
Like when Jesus Christ said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again. They said that was false because they didn't understand it.
He even says that in the passage. They understood not that he spake of the temple of his body. Right?
So because they don't understand it, they end up making false accusations, railing accusations.
And when you're not sure about a situation, when you don't understand all the concepts about it, just don't give an opinion then. Okay?
Or stick to the facts that you know. Stick to the information that you know because we don't want to return railing for railing.
We as a church actually exercise church discipline. We identify railing and sometimes people take this to an extremity and they identify a railer and so they think that it's cool to rail on them back.
But it's not. We don't want to return the favor. We don't want to stoop down to their level and stoop down to their low. We want to keep everything above board.
Go to Jude chapter number 1 verse 8, Jude 8. And let's look at another mention here that's very similar.
It says in verse 8, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise them and speak evil of dignities. Notice they always hate government.
It's interesting to me when the reprobates always hate government and hate all power and all authority and then all these Christians just hate government so much.
And look, I'm against a lot of things in our government but government as an organization is legitimate and God has ordained government.
Now what's frustrating is when government gets out of that role. You know what? We should desire government. We should desire authority and we should desire to be respectful to those that are in power.
Not just quick to rebel and quick to speak evil of them. That's an attribute of a bad person.
Jude chapter number 8 verse 9, yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, ders not bring against him, nor rebuke thee.
Now Michael himself, and of course, if we're going to talk about the most wicked person, who is it? It's the devil. But even him, he's not going to presume something against the devil.
And I hear a lot of things spoken against the devil and I'm like, you don't know if that's true. You know, they're like, you know, my car broke down, the devil's trying to get me.
And it's like, maybe you should have put oil in it. Maybe, maybe you got it. You know, if my car breaks down, I'm not going to blame the devil. It's got 311,000 miles.
Okay, it's overdue, right? You know, when bad things happen, you can't just always blame the devil, okay? That would be a railing accusation.
But the Bible does give us certain things that the devil is always, you know, basically behind the scenes or we know his agenda. We're not ignorant of his devices and we can understand he's attacking us.
And so we can sometimes mention the things that he's doing, but we don't want to just constantly just blame the devil for everything because even Michael the archangel, he's not going to bring a railing accusation against the devil.
He's not just going to presume that everything negative is always the devil. You know, sometimes it's God that brings negative things upon people because it's his will, it's his desire.
And he'll even use the devil, but it's at the same time God's will that it's being taken place. And notice what he does. He wants the Lord to rebuke him.
Now, how do you get the Lord to rebuke somebody? Well, by reading the scriptures. Hey, if I bring up a Bible verse about somebody that applies, that's the Lord rebuking them, not just, not really me.
That's a bad point, isn't it? The Lord rebuking, you know, hey, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you're going to split hell wide open.
That's not really me saying that. That's the Bible saying that. And I'm just trying to illuminate your eyes so that you don't fall into that trap of dying and going to hell.
But look at verse 10. He says very clearly right after this, but these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute briefs and those things they corrupt themselves.
So again, why is it that they would bring a false accusation? Because they don't know what they're speaking. They don't know what they're saying. They're ignorant.
Now, I think we've got a very strong grasp of the word rail. That was every single mention. Show me where railing is anything other than false.
Isn't it like crystal clear? I mean, sometimes words can have multiple definitions, but I think it's the exact same definition.
And if God was going to say, I want to throw people out of the church for railing, don't you think you would have given us other places where it's mentioned so we could have an idea of what that means?
He's not going to give us a random word. You know, don't be a bugger. And you're like, what's a bugger?
You know, you just have no idea. It's not defined in the Bible. That's hard. How do you execute judgment as God's people? We have no idea what that even means.
In order to exercise the church discipline, we have to have a clear boundary for each one of these words. And when we don't have clear boundaries, then we can't exercise discipline.
Now, go over to 2 Peter chapter 2. Go back. We're right there. Let's understand rebuke then. Let's get a better idea of rebuke.
Now, if you look up in the dictionary rebuke, this is what the dictionary says, express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone because of their actions.
Isn't that pretty similar to the rail definition? I mean, oppose strongly or condemn. I mean, you're condemning someone's actions or you're opposing them or you're protesting them.
So, the dictionary doesn't really have much of a difference. But let me give you some synonyms that I believe the Bible uses to delineate these two words.
Here's a synonym for rail, slander. Here's a synonym for rail, lie. Okay. Here's a synonym for rebuke, reproach, reprimand, scold, abrade, or chasten.
These are very different words. Okay. Slander is always lies. Libel is always lies. Lies, you know, false accusation, these are what the Bible is talking about with railing.
Rebuke is telling someone that they're wrong strongly, but it has to be true. If it's not true, it's no longer really a rebuke. Okay.
Now, in 2 Peter chapter number 2 in verse number 16, where we're talking about these false prophets, the Bible is going to give us some more information.
It says in verse number 16, talking about Balaam, but was rebuked, notice this, for his iniquity.
Iniquity. So what happened? Balaam sinned, he did something wrong, then he got called out for doing something wrong.
You know what people oftentimes call that? Railing. It's like, that's not railing. We know that he did something wrong.
He did iniquity and notice what he was rebuked for, his iniquity. Was the donkey, was the ass presuming something about Balaam?
Or did he already sin? He already sinned. He already had the iniquity in his heart.
So if I point out someone's sin, if I point out someone's iniquity, how can you, and it's true, it's already happened.
How can you ever say I'm railing on that person? You can't. Jesus Christ constantly rebuked people's iniquity.
He never railed on them though. Jesus never railed. He would never be thrown out of the church.
That's a bad definition of the word rail. Now, even in Mark chapter 16, go back to Mark chapter 16.
A similar word, and I want to use this for a moment and then we'll go back to rebuke, but a similar word would be up to a braid.
Let me give you a proof text here of Jesus doing this. Mark chapter 16, look at verse 14.
After
braided them, unbelief and hardness of heart, which had seen him after he was risen.
Upbraid is a synonym for rebuke. And notice what Jesus did after the death, burial, and resurrection.
After the gospel, he upbraided the disciples for what cause? Their unbelief. Now, is unbelief a sin?
Yes, it's a sin in the Bible. He's not railing on them. He's rebuking them for their unbelief, for their hardness of heart.
Go to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter number 2. Now, I've heard this. I've heard preachers even say this.
They say, oh, you know, there's this guy. He publicly called someone out and spake negatively about them.
That was railing on them. It's like, I'm pretty sure Jesus publicly spoke against a lot of people.
Well, let's see if that's even true. You know, is it okay to speak negatively about someone in a public format?
Well, whenever we have a question, this is the only thing that matters. What does the Bible say?
What does the Bible say? Can I say something negative about somebody in a public format or in a strong context?
Well, let's see what the Bible says. Titus chapter 2 verse 15.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
The Bible says for the pastor, for the preacher to sometimes get up and rebuke with all authority.
Now, if you're going to do it with authority, is it going to, that was maybe wrong.
Nay. I don't know. This wasn't the best. You know, that's not really rebuking with authority.
Okay. You want to get up and you want to make it known. You're going to make it manifest and rebuke with all authority.
Notice you should have no reservation about it. Oh, I don't like that.
Well, that's your problem because the Bible says you shouldn't despise me for rebuking with all authority or anybody.
Okay. Look at chapter 1 in verse number 13.
This witness is true. Wherefore, don't say anything negative about them publicly.
Wherefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
So notice the Bible's telling the preacher, he's saying, you know what?
There are certain people that need to be called out publicly and notice how it says with sharpness.
Now, you know how you make a sermon illustration or you make something sharp? By using their name.
It really sharpens the point. It really comes to a head.
You know how you really sharpen your illustration? You use the words that they said.
You say, here's this person. Here's what they said. And this is why it's wrong.
That's using sharpness to rebuke their false doctrine.
And you know what? When you don't use sharpness, people are dull.
And you know what? There's congregations that are dull today to false doctrine.
They're dull to false preachers because nobody will get up and rebuke the madness of the prophet.
And then they'll get mad at me and say I'm a railer, which is a false accusation. They're railing.
Hey, for to get up and say that I'm calling someone out publicly is railing, you're railing.
You're the one that's making the false accusation. Show me in the Bible.
Because the Bible says to rebuke with all authority.
And don't let people get, oh, your pastor's always getting up there railing on people.
When did he say something false about anybody?
If I say something false about somebody, I'll fix it. Because that is not right.
And you know what? I could make a mistake. I could say something, you know, in ignorance or whatever.
And if I make an honest mistake, you know what? I need to correct that.
But if I'm getting up here and just constantly railing on somebody, I should be thrown out of church.
I shouldn't be getting up here and just making a constant false accusation and making stuff up and going on whims.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number 4. 2 Timothy chapter number 4.
Now, let me explain one other concept here to you, though.
You are allowed as a person to have an opinion.
And this does not fall in the category of railing per se.
If someone comes up to you and says, OK, well, I have a situation. There's this guy.
Every sermon that he preaches is false doctrine.
He split a church. He only cares about himself.
There's really weird financial improprieties going on to this person.
He never listens to the Bible. He's hard hearted and stiff necked.
What do you think about this person? Sounds like he's probably a reprobate.
Is that railing? No, it's having a personal opinion.
OK, but if I go out and I'm just like saying definitively like this person's, you know, super wicked and a proven pedophile and this guy's molesting children.
Now, all of a sudden, I've gone way out of bounds. I don't know that he's done that.
And even people that are reprobates, we don't know they've already molested children per se.
OK, but I can't say this. All fags are pedophiles.
And you say, well, is that railing, Pastor Shelley?
Well, here's the thing. You know what the definition of a pedophile is?
Someone is attracted to children. It doesn't mean they've acted on it.
It doesn't mean they've gotten caught. It means they're attracted to it.
And you know what? Every fag is attracted to children. All of them.
And they'll even admit that. I mean, they're open about that.
So that tells me all fags are pedophiles. We see it every example in the Bible.
OK. Now, just because someone didn't get caught doesn't mean it's not true.
Second, in chapter four, look at verse number two. The Bible says,
Preach the word, be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
So a commandment is to rebuke. What does that mean? To tell someone that they're wrong strongly.
But notice what you're supposed to do it with. With doctrine. Is doctrine true? Yes.
So therefore, what's the difference? If I get up and call someone out publicly and I use their name,
I'm really mean about it. I'm really harsh about it. But everything I'm saying is true.
Even if I throw a personal opinion in there, too, on top of it, OK, that's just rebuke.
Now, if I start saying things that I have no idea about, I didn't witness, I didn't see,
I have no, you know, I didn't have any connection with this person, then that could be a rail.
So we have to have the understanding that railing is false, rebuking is true.
Look at chapter five, first Timothy chapter number five. Yeah, but I don't like that it's public.
I think the public aspect is what changes the difference between a rail and rebuke.
Well, you're gonna have a problem with this verse, because this verse literally commands you to do it publicly.
Look what it says in First Timothy chapter number five, verse number 20.
Them that sin rebuke before all. I can't believe that you just go online and tell everybody.
Wait a minute. What does the Bible say? Them that sin rebuke before some.
Just a few people, all. You say, why would you do that? That others also may fear.
Notice there's certain things that cross a threshold with the Bible.
There's certain sins that cross a certain line. And what does the Bible say?
It says rebuke these people before all. What was the context? Bringing a false accusation against a pastor?
When people are bringing up false accusations against a pastor and they're unrepentant about it,
you know what I'm commanded by Jesus Christ to do? To publicly call them out in front of everyone.
Now that's not fun. No one likes that. No one enjoys that. I don't enjoy that.
I don't want to have to go down that road. I try to give people as many chances for that to not happen.
But you know what? I believe every verse of the Bible, even the ones that don't sound very much fun,
and they're like, you're railing. I'm doing what the Bible says. And I'm rebuking that person.
I can't believe you made a video calling Adam Fanning out. I'm calling him out for what he did.
I said, hey, here's this guy. He's self-willed. He's asking for a $10,000 raise.
He doesn't care anything about anybody in the church. He's believing false doctrine.
And you know what? I personally, from all this circumstance, think he's a false brethren.
That's me rebuking the madness of the false prophet.
He's not railing on the guy to make some public stand.
That's what the Bible says. He's the one going around speaking evil of me and making false accusation against me.
And when he's unrepentant about it, the Bible already told me to tell everyone.
So the problem is with you believing the Bible, not with me following it.
Go to Proverbs chapter 28. Proverbs chapter 28.
I want a nice sermon. Well, come in the morning.
The light of the world is Jesus, okay?
I like all the Bible good, bad, ugly.
And I like having, I like understanding it.
You know, there's some preachers, they get up and they, after the sermon, you have more questions than answers.
I want you to walk away and be like, all right, a railing is false. A rebuke is true.
Case closed. I mean, we're, we're settled.
It's not like now I have no idea when it's a rail or when it's a rebuke.
I mean, that's bad preaching. When someone walks away and they have no idea what the heck communicate, what the message was about.
Proverbs 28. Look at verse 23.
He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue.
So notice the Bible saying that rebuking someone can actually be positive.
Why is it positive? Because it's true.
If someone does something wrong and you tell them that it's wrong strongly, they can still appreciate that.
You know what? I don't, I don't get mad at people for telling me that I'm wrong.
Really harshly. I get mad at people for flattering me.
For telling me that I'm doing good when I'm not.
Just tell me that I suck. You know, just, just tell me that I did it wrong.
Just tell me that this is bad. You know, don't tell me that I'm doing something good when I'm not.
Your shirt looks good.
No, don't say that. If it looks bad, just say it, right?
We should not be afraid of rebuke.
The Bible says in chapter 27, just right there on the page, verse five,
open rebuke is better than secret love.
Oh, it's railing.
No. Open rebuke is not even a problem in the Bible.
The Bible says it's more loving to tell someone that they're doing something wrong.
Chapter 24, look at verse 24.
Chapter 24, verse 24.
He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse.
Nation shall abhor him.
So notice this person's flattering. They're lying to this person.
But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and notice this, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
Notice what happens when you rebuke somebody. Blessing.
What happens when you rail on them? Cursing.
Evil. These are completely different words.
They're not related. They're like exact opposites, really.
They're not exact opposites because they're both negative, but they're opposite in the fact that one's completely true and the other one's completely false, though.
One's a blessing. One's a cursing. There's a lot of distinction between these two words.
Go to chapter 9 and look at verse number 8.
Chapter 9, verse number 8.
The Bible says, reprove not a scorn, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Let me tell you this. I will never love you for railing on me.
But I could love you for rebuking me, right?
Now, go to Proverbs 19. I want to give you one last thing to think about, okay?
Memes, alright? And say, what's a meme? Well, let's go back to the dictionary, alright?
It's not a word found in your Bible, so we can't cross-reference it with scripture to say like, where's the meme section, okay?
I have a glossary. It has a rebuke and rail section. It didn't have a meme section.
But somehow, because there's a misunderstanding between railing and rebuking, then they just condemn memes, okay?
Now, what is a meme? A meme, according to the dictionary, is a humorous image, video, piece of text, copied, imitation, or a variation.
It's conveying a feeling or an emotion.
If you condemn a meme, basically you're just condemning communication, okay?
Let me explain something to you. A meme is just a form of communication.
Texting is a form of communication.
An email is a form of communication. A video is a form of communication. A letter is a form of communication.
Talking to someone face-to-face is a form of communication.
Forms of communication are in and of themselves not sinful.
They could be, and they don't have to be.
Facebook is, well, you know, except they're moderators and everything, is theoretically neutral.
It's not that it's necessarily just sinful, okay?
But does that mean that every form or use of Facebook is good? No.
Guns. There's nothing wrong with guns, right?
But could you use a gun poorly? Yeah.
Plaxico Burrow shot himself in the leg when he was at the nightclub. That was a bad use of his gun, okay?
But could you use guns for good? Yeah. Okay.
So there's a lot of things out there that, in and of themselves, is kind of a neutral thing.
Communication, in and of itself, is neutral.
But can you use something? You can.
And they're just conveying a feeling.
You know, they see something that's funny.
They see, you know, a squirrel with two acorns in its cheeks, and it's got a puffed up mouth.
So they think of a situation where someone's got a mouthful, okay, and they just make a joke about it.
Oh, it's so sinful that they made a joke about it.
You know, they see a cute picture of a baby with an angry face, and they just say something.
They're conveying the emotion of anger, right?
It could be an emotion of anger, joy, happiness, sad, frustration.
Any and all emotions can be displayed in a meme.
Just like an email.
Like, is there only one emoji, or is there all kinds of different faces?
It's a form of communication, and I like communication.
I like talking with people. I like conveying feelings.
Sometimes memes aren't even a picture, they're just a text.
It's a funny way that something's worded.
Or the way that somebody spelled something, it's kind of interesting or funny or humorous.
The way, you know, it has a double meaning or something, per se.
So there's nothing wrong with a meme.
But here's where people get this misconstrued.
They think that memes are always mocking.
Okay, now, a lot of times they are.
But, they're not always mocking.
Is mocking always negative?
Here's your answer. No.
Because God mocks.
Now, we found a word, rail. Was it ever positive? Never.
We found the word, rebuke.
It's truthful, so it's not really, per se, ever negative.
The Bible even says in Leviticus, chapter 19,
that thou shalt not hate thy brother and thy heart,
but thou shalt rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him.
So the Bible commands a rebuke.
But what about mock? Is mock always good or always bad?
Well, I have a little bit of news for you. It's neither.
It can be good and it can be negative.
Okay, so you say, well, how do I handle something that is not just black and white?
It's called discretion.
There are things in the Bible that you have to use discretion
to understand the right circumstance.
So when would I use mocking or when could mocking be appropriate?
Well, I want to read this verse.
Look at Proverbs 19, verse 11.
The Bible says, the discretion of a man defereth his anger
and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Now, I think that there's two categories where I would say mocking is always fine with me.
Okay, number one, it's against a false prophet.
I'm not going to extend grace to a false prophet.
I'm not going to spend any love or I'm not going to hold back.
Also, I'm not going to do that to false doctrine.
False doctrine and false prophets, you see God constantly mocking.
You see Elijah mocking.
You see the Lord Jesus Christ mocking.
You see the apostles mocking.
Okay, they're not holding back on false doctrine.
Jesus Christ, when he's talking to Nicodemus,
he says, art thou master of Israel and knowest not these things?
What is he doing?
He's kind of putting down the fact that he has the position of a master in Israel
when he doesn't even know the basics of Christianity.
He doesn't even know the simplest thing of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and being saved.
Okay, so is it wrong to mock?
Well, you're never going to upset me or God by mocking a false prophet.
Okay, or a false doctrine.
I don't believe that for one second.
Now, here's your discretion.
Sometimes people mock someone for being an idiot or stupid.
Now, I think that this just comes to your personal discretion.
If I mock someone for being stupid, is that wrong?
I don't know that it's necessarily wrong.
But let me say this, it's not gracious.
If I go around and I mock everybody for every bad thing that they do,
when it's true, okay, is that sinful?
I don't know that it's sinful necessarily,
but it's certainly not gracious.
It's certainly not kind. It's certainly not loving.
And a lot of people do this to their brethren.
Now, sometimes, you know, we need to razz each other
because you make a really stupid mistake
and you need to be called out for it
and that'll help you in the future not to make that dumb mistake.
You'll figure out, wow, that was a really bad one.
And I can think of a lot, okay.
I don't want to refrain.
But, you know, if I do something really stupid
and someone mocks me about it,
I can still appreciate the fact that, you know what,
I can take that information, if it's true, and fix it.
If they're mocking me as something that's not true,
now it's railing, okay.
But if it's true, it's just a rebuke.
What was a rebuke?
To be told that you're wrong harshly.
What's more harsh than being mocked?
But you know what, if I believe the pre-trib rapture
and you put my face on the screen with some kind of clever meme
about how I'm stupid about believing that doctrine,
I'll be like, thanks for saving me from that stupid doctrine.
That's what my approach should be, right?
But if you attach something that's false,
now you're railing, okay.
So is a meme in and of itself bad?
Not necessarily.
Is mocking? Not necessarily.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 28.
Let me give you an example of a meme in the Bible
or how the Bible talks about memes in a sense.
It calls them this.
It calls them proverbs and it calls them bi-words.
You know, the proverbs are pretty much like a meme
because they have like a positive and then a negative, right?
Somebody kind of has a statement that's kind of going one direction
and then all of a sudden goes the opposite direction.
That's what a lot of the proverbs are.
And people that become proverbs, what does that mean?
It means they did something foolish or stupid
and now that negative emotion is attached to that person
or that stupid idea is attached to that individual.
Deuteronomy 28, look at verse 37.
This is talking about the cursings.
It says, now shall become an astonishment,
a proverb and a bi-word among all nations,
whether the Lord shall lead thee.
So he says, hey, if you guys reject me,
I'm going to end up cursing you and taking away your posterity
and then you're going to become a bi-word.
They're going to be like, you don't want to be like Israel.
Let me give you a bi-word, Sodom.
Nobody likes that.
Lot.
Who has a kid named Lot in here?
It's become a proverb and a bi-word.
Don't be Lot.
Don't pull a lot.
Isn't that kind of mocking Lot?
Oh, you're so mean to Lot, Pastor Shelley.
Well, sometimes he needs a strong rebuke
because you don't want people to follow in that footstep.
You don't want people to make the same type of mistake
and it's actually being loving to that person.
Go to 1 Kings chapter nine.
Let me give you another example here.
1 Kings chapter number nine.
I want to give you a clear delineation of these words
so you can get them right in your mind.
First Kings chapter number nine, and look at verse number seven.
Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them
in this house, which I have hallowed for my name.
Will I cast out of my sight, and Israel shall be a proverb
and a bi-word among all people.
So God is going to do something negative these people,
negative to these people, which is going to cause them to be a proverb and a
byword. Now, why would he allow them to become a proverb and a byword so other
people won't make the same mistake? They forsook God, and because they
forsook God, they became a byword. You know, someone that does something really
bad, you'd be like, you don't want to pull a fan in, you know. You don't want to pull
a baker, right? They become a proverb and a byword, and he's like, I can't believe
you'd mock these people. Well, what was my first point? I'm not going to get
offended at false prophets or false doctrine. You're not going to offend me
by mocking those things. We actually need those literary devices to help keep them
in remembrance. I want people to remember these things. Now, go to Proverbs chapter
14. Let me explain the other side of this equation, though, because are you
giving me a green light, Pastor Shelley? I can mock and ridicule people just at a
whim? No. Mocking in your Bible is the majority of the time negative, okay, and
it should not be our character. It should not be our attitude of a person that we
just are mocking anything and everything all the time. We need to be sober people.
You know, there's certain people that can only make jokes. They can never be
serious, and it ends up undermining a rebuke, okay, because you actually tell
someone something negative, and they're like, are you rebuking me? No, I'm just
joking, and it kind of undermines, and it lessens the authority of what it is that
you're saying. If someone's not really a joker, and they kind of mock you about
something, it's going to really sting, and it's going to really sit in there, and you
might think, wow, I need to change that. Someone that's always joking, and always
mocking, and always ridiculing everything, you really just kind of dismiss
everything that they say. It ends up not having the same effect. We don't want to
have a type of personality where we're just mocking and ridiculing everything. Look at
Proverbs 14 verse 9. Fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous there is
favor. So, notice an attribute of a bad person is they're mocking sin. A fool is
mocking sin. Now, obviously, God's people shouldn't be doing this, but just in
general, if I were to look up the word mock in your Bible, 90-some percent of
the time, it's wicked people mocking. Mocking God, mocking the Bible. That's
their attitude. That's their characteristics. So, we don't want to be
this type of person who's like, hey, do you know Pastor Shelley? Yeah, he's always
mocking things. That would be kind of a bad testimony. You know, I'd rather be
known for the things that I'm for than the things I'm against. I'd rather be
known for being for the King James Bible, and for soul winning, and for being
Baptist, and for big families. And you know what? Every once in a while, all, you
know, you will get known for being against certain things too, but I don't
want that to be my only characteristic. Well, Pastor Shelley's only ever mocking
false prophets. You know, you're not going to build a church if every sermon is
just mocking, if every sermon is just a constant ridicule of the negative things
around you. You also need to preach the love of Jesus. You also need to be a
gracious person. We want to balance these things, okay? Is there a place for a
little bit of ridicule? Yeah, I like it. I like a good joke every once in a while.
And let me tell you this. If your meme is not true, it's not funny. This is why they
say the left can't meme, right? False prophets can't meme either. They can't
make them. Why? Because there's no truth in it. A non-truthful meme is not funny.
You know why it's funny? Because it's a little too true. You see that meme,
you're like, wow, that was really true. It becomes hilarious. It causes a
spark of emotion in you, okay? If it's not true, you're just kind of like, meh. But
that's not even really true. It's just fake. It's not something that, you know,
makes sense. Go to chapter 17, look at verse number five. So because mocking is
so negative in the Bible, I want to limit those interactions. I want to limit that
emotion and that characteristic in my life and keep it in its place, okay? It
has its time and place. And I'm not against it per se, but I don't want to be
known as just that's my attitude. That's who I am all the time. That's the
only thing I can do or talk about or be. Proverbs chapter 17, look at verse five.
Whoso mocketh the poor, reproacheth his maker, and he that is glad at calamities
shall not be unpunished. Now, notice this verse. This is an important verse. I
talked about mocking people that are false prophets, mocking people who are
false doctrine. What if I just start mocking somebody because they're poor?
Like, oh, you're so poor. You can't even buy yourself anything. Oh, you know, must
be sad to be you to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now the Bible is
actually saying I'm in sin because I'm just mocking somebody that's made in
the image of God. Why would I just want to go around and have that type of
attitude? Everything I think is negative. Everything that I think is bad. Now it
could be true what I'm saying, but that's not a very gracious spirit, is
it? And you know what? The Bible says blessed are the poor. And so we want to
be careful that we don't take mocking or ridicule to an extreme. Hey, you mock
Kenneth Copeland until Jesus comes, okay? You mock Joel Osteen, and you
mock John MacArthur, and you can mock the Jehovah's false witness doctrines,
and the Book of Mormon, and the false Bibles, and you mock purgatory, and you
can mock all those things until the cows come home. But you know what? We
should be careful when we're talking about our brothers and sisters in
Christ. We need to be careful when we're talking about just even the unsaved and
the ungodly. You know, we want to make sure that we're not even bringing
railing accusations against them through the form of mockery. So we need
to have balance. We should never rail. Point one, never rail. We need to number
two, rebuke when appropriate. Meme when appropriate, okay? And let me say this,
not every joke is in good taste, okay? Sometimes you can mock somebody, and
it's like, that's just, you know, you're just picking on someone. You know, you
want to be careful. Go to Proverbs 17, the last verse we're going to look at,
verse 28. The Bible says this, even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted
wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Let me
give you this last thought. We've talked about railing. We've talked about rebuke.
We've talked about means for a moment. If you're uncertain, if what you're gonna
say is right, let me tell you what you should always do. Don't say it. Just don't
say it. Just shut your mouth. You know, there's a lot of people going around and
they're like, I don't know if I should say this, but you know what they should
have done? They should have thought that and then not said anything. Pretty much
every time someone starts that sentence that way, they shouldn't have said it.
Well, I don't know if I should say this or not, but don't say it. You know, there's
a lot of times in your life where you should be thinking this, I shouldn't say
that. You're like, I never have that thought. We know. You're a fool.