- Amen, it's great to be here at Faithful Word Baptist Church.
First of all, I just wanna say thank you
to Pastor Anderson and to the staff here.
And thank you to everybody here for showing up this morning.
And just wanted to say how much Faithful Word means to me.
It's been a great church for me to learn a lot of things
just like you all do.
I listen to a lot of the sermons
that come out of the pulpit here.
And Pastor Anderson's been a great teacher
for me throughout the years.
And I wouldn't even be a pastor
if it wasn't for all the great teachings
that I hear from him.
And the title of my sermon this morning is "Traders."
"Traders."
And the reason why I'm preaching it
is because I was just thinking,
well, today's Pearl Harbor Day,
so what better day to preach a sermon than today
called "Traders."
So if you don't know what that Pearl Harbor Day is,
it's the day that 1941 is when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
And there's that famous speech,
and there's like a little clip of it.
And I think it's after the tribulation where--
what's his name?
The president gets up and says, Japan,
this is a day that will live forever in infamy,
and that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
And I realized that there's a lot of people
that believe that it was a false flag attack and all that.
Who believes that in here?
Just raise your hand real quick.
Yeah, OK.
I'm not saying I don't.
I just haven't really looked into it that much.
I mean, would America ever do anything like that to its own people?
I mean, I don't know.
9/11-- so-- and I always remember this day also because it's my son-in-law's birthday.
So I just want to say happy birthday to my son-in-law Brandon D. Haas.
And it was a day that lived forever in infamy for when he married my daughter.
So anyway, no, I'm just kidding.
Brandon's a great guy.
So anyway, so let's look down at our Bibles at verse number one in the chapter here.
It says, "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall
be lovers of their own selves."
What would we call that in modern day?
A narcissist, right?
So there's a lot of narcissists, people labeling people as narcissists these days.
But the Bible does say in the last days that perilous times shall come, and this is one
of the characteristics that people have, they'll be lovers of their own selves.
And so we call those people narcissists.
There's a lot of them out there today.
But not everybody's a narcissist.
So don't just label people that if you don't really know for sure.
But covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good.
And then the next word there, traitors.
And the definition of a traitor is a person who betrays a friend or a country or a principle
or a spouse, just anything that somebody would betray.
So someone that's a traitor betrays things or people, so on and so forth.
And the definition of betray is to expose a country or a group or a person to danger
or treacherously giving information to an enemy.
You know the name Benedict Arnold, who's ever heard of Benedict Arnold?
Why do we remember him?
Because he was a traitor to the United States and was giving secrets to the British military.
And of course the biggest traitor in the whole Bible we remember is Judas Iscariot.
He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ with a kiss and sold him for 30 pieces of silver.
And of course Ahithophel, he betrayed David and tried to have him killed.
And then he actually hanged himself exactly like Judas ended up hanging himself also.
So someone that betrays or is a traitor is disloyal to somebody also, it could just mean
someone is disloyal.
So and what does it say in verse 5 at the end of that sentence, it says, "From such
turn away."
When people have these characteristics, the Bible says that we should turn away from them,
not hang out with them, not join some kind of Facebook group with them, and be friends
with them.
It says that we should turn away from them.
So when someone is a traitor, they've betrayed us, they've betrayed you, it doesn't say
to be their best friend, it doesn't say that no matter what they believe, as long as they're
confederate for your cause, that you just be friends with them.
I'm not going to go out and be friends with a Jehovah's Witness.
The Bible says to avoid people that preach a false gospel.
It doesn't matter whether they're on your side about one thing or another.
The Bible rejects the ecumenical movement.
We're supposed to come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord.
We're not supposed to bid them God's speed.
We're not supposed to say, "God bless you," to some Mormon that comes to our door and
knocks on our door and tries to preach a false gospel to us.
It's funny how we're not supposed to feel sorry for them either.
It's funny how they spin Judas as some, you know, the poor Judas, he just kind of got
caught up and, you know, somehow became this betrayer.
And this is how modern scholars will treat Judas.
This is how people, when we knock on their doors, they'll say, "Well, Judas, you know,
he just lost his salvation."
No, Judas didn't lose his salvation.
Judas never had salvation.
The Bible makes it very clear, and Jesus even said that he was a devil from the beginning.
He never believed.
And because of that, Satan was able to influence him and actually possess him.
And I'll talk more about that tonight when I preach about that a little bit more.
But Judas was a traitor.
And he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ because he refused to get saved.
And when people refuse to get saved, the devil can use them.
The devils that are out in this world can use them for any means necessary.
Because they are captive at his will.
See when we belong to the Lord, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Satan can no longer possess a saved person.
They might be able to influence us and get us to do things that we normally wouldn't
do, push our buttons so to speak.
But we can never be possessed by them.
And when Judas, the Bible says when Jesus dipped the saw, Judas was possessed by the
devil.
When Jesus was possessed by Satan, the Bible doesn't say that about any other person in
the Bible.
You know the snake obviously, the serpent in the garden, you know Satan used that serpent
to beguile Eve.
But no other man, I'm not saying he's never done it before, but the Bible never says that
he possessed any other man besides Judas.
And what is he called?
The son of what?
Perdition, which is what the Antichrist is going to be called also.
So more about that tonight.
Let's look at verse number six where we're at this morning.
It says, "For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captives, silly
women, laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth.
And now as Jans and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith."
So what Paul's talking about, he's talking about the worst of the worst types of traitors.
And this is what Judas was.
He was a high-level infiltrator to the point where even the disciples didn't even know
that they were blaming themselves.
Is it I?
Could it be me?
They were thinking it was more them than it could be Judas.
That's how slick he actually was.
And there's people that have been among us that are in similar fashion, can be just as
slick and just as tricky.
And so sometimes we're like, "Well, I knew that guy was bad the whole time."
But not everybody knows.
Not everybody has the same discernment level with certain people.
Sometimes you're like, "Oh yeah, I knew that the whole time."
But not everybody did.
So just because you have discernment with one person doesn't mean you're going to have
discernment with everyone.
Because all the disciples, none of the disciples thought that Judas was the traitor.
Only Jesus knew.
And even when Jesus said, John just specifically asked him, "Who is it, Lord?"
And then he said, "The one for which I dipped the sop and gave it to him."
And he still didn't know.
It's like he just drew a blank to him or something.
So it says, "But they shall proceed no further."
See, this is the warning to somebody that would be a traitor at this type of level.
It says, "They shall proceed no further."
These types of people have a bad end coming to them.
People that would be a traitor on this type of level, of this type of Judas level, they
don't have a good end coming to them at all.
It says, "For their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs was also," or theirs
also was, excuse me, "but thou hast fully known my doctrine."
See, Paul's saying, here's how you know the difference.
Listen to what I'm preaching.
Listen to the doctrine that I'm giving to you.
This is how you can separate the sheep from the goat sometimes.
Listen to the preaching.
What is he teaching?
What is Paul teaching?
He says, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine."
Listen to what I'm saying to you.
Manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions.
When you see people that are going through massive persecutions and afflictions and you
know that their doctrine is right, you know that you see all their manner of life and
how it is, and it says, "Which came to me at Antioch and Iconium and at Lystra, what
persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Look, this is
just a fact. If someone is living godly in Christ Jesus, they're going to suffer
persecution. And look, look what it says there, "Live godly." So are we supposed to
live godly? Are we supposed to live a godly life in front of the Lord? Of
course we are. But you know, according to some people that are traders, trader
type pastors, according to the, you know, some of these tards that left, you don't
really have to live a godly life. You don't have to go soul-winning. You don't
have to tithe. You don't have to read the Bible. You don't have to pray. You
don't, don't go soul-winning. You don't have to live a separated life at all
because Jesus already did all that for you anyway, right? We just don't have to
do anything. That's good preaching for people that want to be lazy. Oh well
that's, that's, you know, that's music to people's ears. Oh you mean I have no
accountability in this life? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard and I
really hope that people don't get sucked into that loser preaching. Look at verse 13.
"But evil men and seducers shall wax better and better." The world's gonna get
better and better until the kingdom comes. Is that what it says? No, it says wax
worse and worse. That means this, it's gonna get worse and worse. So Paul's
preaching this or writing this letter, what, 2,000 years ago? So is it, has it
gotten worse since then? Obviously it has. It's gonna get worse and, and, and like
Paul's saying, you know, by the Spirit of God that in the last days it's gonna get
worse than this. And what do we see today? Do you think there's more
narcissists today than there were back then? I mean I'm sure there were
narcissists back then, but it's gotten worse. When people are walking around
with selfie sticks all the time and there's like 1,500 glamour shots of
the same girl doing the same duckwhips and all this other stuff, you know, it's
gotten worse. I mean when dudes are doing their own glamour poses and stuff, that's
when it's gotten real weird, okay. Guys, you know, take take off the skinny jeans,
you know, put on some real pants, whatever, or shorts. It says, but can, but so it
says that they're gonna get worse and worse, but it says, but continue thou. So
even though these problems are gonna happen in our life, even though there's
gonna be traitors in our life, you know, because this church has seen a lot of
traitors, hasn't it? It's, you guys been stabbed in the back lots of times. Your
pastor's been stabbed in the back lots of times, but what's Paul say here? Even
though this is gonna get worse and worse, people are gonna be deceived and be
just, you know, it says deceiving and being deceived. So these deceivers not
only are deceiving, but they're also being deceived themselves. It's like
they're reaping what they sow, but it says, but Paul says, but continue thou.
You're saying you need to continue, because isn't thou a singular? So, but
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and it has been assured of
knowing of whom thou hast learned them. He's saying, hey, I'm Paul, listen to what
the doctrine that you've heard from me, that you know, you know the life I've
lived. See, there is something to the effect that you can see how someone's
lived, you can hear the doctrine they preached, and know, hey, this person isn't
a traitor, this person isn't this list that you've seen above, and those are
things that you can hang your hat on. See, our faith is built on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the prophets, and the Apostles, right? And so, and of course the Word of
God. So we should be able to count on these things. Look, the Apostles weren't
bad guys. There's only one Apostle that was a bad guy. His name was Judas, and he
was a traitor. So stick to the doctrine that you've learned, and who has taught it
to you. You guys have Pastor Anderson as your pastor. He's a great teacher of the
doctrine. I mean, and he lives his life according to what the Bible says. So, you
know, there's guys that change doctrine right after leaving. You know, they're
like, "Oh yeah, we're, you know, we're so new at IFB," or whatever, and then as soon as
they leave, what do they do? They start preaching weird stuff. They start
preaching false doctrine, and then even just the regular people
that leave, they start, you know, "Hey, now I'm an Anglican," or "I'm a Catholic," or
whatever else they do. It's like, how have you been a supposedly sold out on fire
Baptist, and now all of a sudden you're a Catholic? You know how? Because they were a
traitor the whole time. They're a liar the whole time. They are a traitor. So,
and it's just like, you know, it just proves that they were just a rat from the
beginning. They were never trustworthy to begin with, and it's, you know, it's
one thing to change doctrines that you believe as a pastor because you study
something out, and you're like, you know, because as a pastor, of course, you're
supposed to read the Bible a lot, but when you really zero in on a passage
that you're teaching, you're like, then you really, you know, get down to the
details. Sometimes there's things you're like, "Huh, I never really looked
at it that close before," you know, because the Bible's a big book, has a lot
of stuff in it, and when you really get down to some details and some chapters,
it can make you change some of the things that you believe. So there's
nothing wrong with that. You know, if the Bible changes your mind because it's
what the Bible says, there's nothing in the world wrong with that. Now of course,
we're never going to change on the essentials, you know, three to thrive.
That's not an essential necessarily, but I think it is. But you know, what is
super essential? Salvation by faith alone is essential, isn't it? The fact that we
believe that the King James Bible is the Word of God, that's essential, isn't it?
So many is essential, isn't it? Eternal security is essential, isn't it? We can't
just stop believing in eternal security. If I just came here this
morning and said, you know what, I think that you could walk away and lose your
salvation. I mean, I would probably have a bunch of armed men, you know, drag, drag
me out of here, drag this bozo out of here, and live stream cut, you know, it'd be
over. And rightly so, because we're not supposed to change on things like that.
But, you know, it's funny that these, these, these haters, you know, they join
because they want to get famous. They want to just build off of what other men
have done. And they, then they, they want to enjoy their 15 minutes of, you know,
hater ranks to tell everyone, you know, what they really believed. That's when
it really comes out. They just want to tell everybody, this is what I actually
believe the whole time. Why'd you lie about it the whole time you're around
then? It's not like everybody has to believe every single thing, walk, and
step, because that's just not true. That's an accusation that's made against us. But
we have variations of things that we believe as pastors. Everybody knows that
that's true. But when you change to fit, to make new friends, and then as soon as
you leave, you want to go back to your other friends, or make new friends, and
then you change, because you know that they won't be friends with you unless
you change that doctrine. That's called a compromiser. That's called a fake from
the beginning, that you don't really believe the things that you're teaching.
You know, some of the thoughts, sometimes people will say they don't believe what
they're really teaching. No, you don't believe what you were really teaching
before. That's why you say, "Oh, Jesus didn't go burn in hell." No, I actually still
believe that. Even if I just decide to just break fellowship with the
new IFB or whatever, I would never say, "Oh, Jesus didn't go to hell." I believe
that with all my heart because that's what the Bible says. But see, then
they'll just be like, "Well, no, the hell that he, you know, the hell that he went
through was when he was on the cross." How do you go through hell on the
cross when you're still alive? See, hell happens after you die. I know a lot of
people say, "Well, we're in hell on earth right now." That's what unsaved people say.
So when people say that kind of stuff, I'm like, "Well, are you unsafe too? Why
would you say that Jesus is in hell on the cross?" Because you don't understand
the Bible, right? I mean, that's weird. Or that you're just so desperate to have
new friends that you just are a compromiser. You're a traitor to what you
believed. So I want to look at things because, you know, sometimes our family
can betray us. And when you're a Christian, it's just a fact of life. And
so this morning I want to look at a few things. And the first thing I want to
look at is family, when family betrays us. Now let's turn to John chapter 7. John
chapter number 7. Jesus's brothers and sisters did not believe in him. And it's
not directly implied that they wanted him to get killed here, but it is
kind of, it's an undertone in this passage. And I think that Jesus susses it
out here and kind of makes it known that he knows what they're trying to do. Look
at John 7.1. It says, "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not
walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him." So there came a point when
Jesus just, he would not walk in public. He would kind of walk around the outskirts
and then head into the town. And it says, "Now the Jews feast of Tabernacles was at
hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, 'Depart hence, and go into Judea,
that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.'" So when it
says his brethren, it's talking about his literal brothers, okay? Jesus had
brothers. I know the Catholic Church, you know, says they were his cousins or
something. But, you know, he actually does have brothers. So it says, "For there is
no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If
thou do these things, show thyself to the world." So they're like, "Yeah, just go
out." So it just told us that he doesn't want to go out openly because they're trying
to kill him. And what are his brothers trying to do? They're trying to send him out openly.
So I mean, to me, it's like they're trying to get him killed, right? Is that what you
would deduce from that? So show yourself to the world, Jesus. "For neither did his brethren
believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come, but your time is
all the way ready." So when the Bible says, "My time is not yet come," what is Jesus doing
most of the time when that happens? They're getting ready to try to kill him, and then
he escapes out of the midst. They're always trying to kill him, but somehow he gets out
of it. He just walks away or gets through them somehow, but it's not ready. So what's
it saying? He's not ready to die yet. So that's why he's saying this, because they're trying
to get him killed. So it says, "The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because
I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up
yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come." When he had said these words
unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went
he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. So he waited until they
left. Why do you think that is? Because they probably were going to try to get him killed
on the way up too. Here he is! Here's Jesus! So he just didn't want to go with them because
well first of all they're just trying to get him killed and he susses them out. So I mean
family, when we get saved, sometimes you're in a family that is saved and they love you
and embrace it all and your mom and dad are saved. But most people, that's not their testimony.
If you're a first generation Christian, that means that your parents aren't saved and in
a lot of cases they don't get saved. So like in my family, most of the people in my family
aren't saved. And so they don't really love, you know once you start saying hey I go to
church on Sundays, I can't go to that birthday party or whatever, it starts making them mad.
Or your politics change. You know you used to be some stupid liberal or whatever and
then now all of a sudden you're a little more conservative in your thought. And I don't
think any die-hard liberals saved. I mean I just, I don't think if you're, I'm not
saying you have to be Republican, I'm just saying if you, you know, if you don't stop
being some kind of baby murdering freak, then I kind of doubt your salvation. But I don't
know. I mean I'm sure it's possible it might be out there, maybe they just don't know the
Bible or something, but I don't see how, I mean, I was a Democrat just because my family
was Democrats. I didn't even know why I was a Democrat. I didn't even understand what
being a Democrat was. I didn't care. I wasn't into politics. And then when I found out
what they believed after being saved, I was like, "I ain't no Democrat. Not at all."
But I mean, I voted Democrat. The first time I ever voted, I voted for Al Gore because
I knew George Bush was evil. But I didn't know that Al Gore was evil at the same time.
So that was, you know, that was under the blood. You know, that was before I was saved.
So but Jeremiah the prophet, his own family hated him and wanted to kill him. And I don't
have time to get into that story this morning, but his own family from Anathoth wanted to
kill him. And they were seeking his life. And God even prophesied that he would destroy
that place and all the men there because of them seeking after his life. Now let's sort
of Matthew chapter 13 verse 53. Of course, there's many stories in the Bible where, you
know, one person would get saved. You know, I think about Gideon, how his whole family
served Baal and then, you know, the whole town turned against them when he smashed the
altar and destroyed everything in the grove. And then his dad even, but his dad kind of
stuck up for him. So I don't know if his dad ended up getting saved or whatever, but you
know, Gideon turned the tide. But our family sometimes are just going to hate us and that's
just the way it is. But we have to deal with the fact that our own family will betray us
as Christians sometimes. And that's a hard, I think that might be one of the hardest things
that we have to deal with as Christians. Look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 53. It says, "And
it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when
he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue in so much that they
were astonished and said, 'Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is
not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joses
and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man
all these things?' So here they name the brothers, but the Catholic Church is just like head
in the sand, you know, 'Oh no, he didn't have brothers. These are his cousins.' Even
though it says his mother Mary, his brethren James, Joses, Simon and Judas, and his sisters,
are they not with us? Somehow they become cousins according to the Catholic Church.
But anyway, and they were offended in him. So who are these people? The people in the
place where he was from, where he grew up. But Jesus said unto them, 'A prophet is not
without honor, save in his own country and in his own house.' And look, let me tell you
something, if you're a soul winner today, or you preach at all, you are kind of like
a modern day prophet. You're going and proclaiming the word of God, and in your own house, you
could have people against you. Isn't that what the Bible says there? 'A prophet is not
without honor, save in his own country and in his own house.' And he did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief. See, when people don't believe in the God, they're
going to turn against the people that do. It's kind of just par for the course. Turn
to Mark chapter 6, Mark chapter 6, Mark chapter 6 verse 1. The Bible says, this is kind of
a parallel passage, but it says it a little bit differently. It says, 'And he went from
Vinson, came into his own country, and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath
day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying,
From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him,
that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Judah, and Simon, and are not his sisters
with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without
honor but in his own country and among his own kin. So kin is what? His direct relatives
and in his own house. So it does say it a little different, but it's just, I just wanted
to show that to you so that you'd see that he's talking directly about his direct household,
his direct family members. And let's, I'll just read for you, go ahead and turn to Mark
10. And I'm going to read John 4, 43. John 4, 43 says, "Now after two days, he departed
thence and went into Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in
his own country." So now he also said that in his own country. So a country is a lot
bigger of an area, isn't it? The whole country here would be the United States. And I'm pretty
sure that your pastor is hated in this country, isn't he? And a lot of us are just hated in
this area, you know, or in whatever area you live in. I mean, when we go to knock doors
a lot of times, these apartment demon managers from hell will come and just start pulling
all the invites off the doors and chasing us around and, you know, freaking out and their
demons manifest in front of us and all this other stuff. And why do they do that? Because
they hate us, because they, you know, they're minions of the devil. I think that they have
to sign their contracts in blood or something in order to be apartment manager or something.
But it's weird, isn't it? So Matthew, did I say Mark? I'm sorry. Turn to Matthew chapter
10. Excuse me. Just flip there real quick. Matthew chapter 10. I'll start reading while
you get there. Matthew 10 33. It says, "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will
I also deny before my father, which is in heaven. Think not that I'm come to send peace
on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I'm come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. And a man's foe shall be they of his own household." So the Bible
is very clear that this happens. It's not like this is some weird anomaly. Jesus is
preaching about this 2,000 years ago. His own brothers and sisters hated him. It's
not like they only hated Jesus. This is a phenomenon that happens in all Christian life,
in all Christian homes. I'm sure that if I just ask for a raise of hands, which I want,
but I'm sure everybody in this room has family members that hate their guts. Actually, I
will. Pan the camera away. Are there people in here whose family hate their guts because
they're saved? Raise your hand. If you're afraid, that's okay. Don't raise your hand.
I'm sure there's family members in here that hate your guts because you're saved. Maybe
they don't say it, but they just scroll past your stuff on your Instagram or your Facebook
and they don't like it. If they could, or if they were a little more rude, they would
say something. Every once in a while they might. But the Bible says that there's going
to be household members against household members. Look at what it says, "And a man's
foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me." Why is he saying this? Because there's a choice that happens. Are
you going to follow me, or are you going to care more about your mom and dad that don't
love me, that do hate me? And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me. Are you going to choose your son or daughter that hate me, or are you going to
choose God? And look, he said, "If you deny me before men, I will also deny them before
my Father which is in heaven." It's not saying that you're not saved, but maybe what you're
asking for is going to deny. Maybe he's going to just deny you the things that you desire.
Why would he give you the things that you need and want when you won't even acknowledge
that you're his, that you belong to him? It says, "And he that taketh not his cross and
followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he
that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." Sometimes we've got to count the costs
in our life. Is having to maintain a relationship with this certain toxic person in our life,
is it worth it? Is it worth it to throw away our Christian walk? Is it worth it to throw
away our family, our marriage, or whatever it is for this person? Because sometimes people
get so attached to family members that they'll just throw away their life in Christ. They'll
throw away relationships that actually matter. Because our church family does actually matter.
We're not called church family for no reason. We're of the household of faith. It's called
the household of faith. We're all going to be together forever. You might not like each
other right now, but guess what? You have to deal with each other for the rest of your
eternity in heaven. And sometimes I say, "Well, I don't want to see you for 10,000 years,
but eventually we'll hang out." But have you ever heard the term "get a life"? Get
a life, buddy, or whatever. But what does that mean exactly? Well, it means start living
a fuller and more interesting existence in this world, right? So when Jesus says, "He
that findeth his life shall lose it," you know, these people that want to, you know,
they're saved and they're like, "I just want to have the life that I've always wanted,"
or whatever. And it's like, yeah, but Christ wants you to live your life the way He wants
you to live it. We're supposed to live our life the way the Bible says to live it. We're
supposed to do the things that please the Lord. You know, and obviously He's not saying
don't have fun. Don't, you know, enjoy your life because the joy that we have in our life
should be, you know, lining up with what God wants. But that's why He's saying, "He that
findeth his life shall lose it." If you want to get a life, then you're going to lose that
good life that you think you're having. But then He says, "And he that loseth his life
for my sake shall find it." So if you think that, you know, chasing after that wayward
child is more important than your life with Christ, you know, that's a road that's not
going to end well. It's not going to end well for them, it's not going to end well for you.
You know, we shouldn't put any kind of relationship above the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just, it's
folly, it's shame. Turn to Matthew chapter 24 verse 9, Matthew chapter 24 verse 9. And
speaking of the end times, you know, people are going to betray each other. This is going
to happen on a massive scale. So Paul is just kind of, you know, he rattles off this list
of things, and Paul loves lists. The Bible loves lists. There's a lot of things in the
Bible that are said through lists, but Jesus here in Matthew 24 verse 9 says, "Then shall
they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations
for my name's sake." So just the name, just saying that we trust in Christ and that we're
saved, it says we'll be hated of, what does it say there? You shall be hated of how many
nations? All nations. There's a movement in this world, and that movement is called the
new world order, the one world government. It's everything's kind of moving towards that
direction. The global currency, the one world ruler, the one world religion. There's a movement
and it's been moving for a long time. It's been moving for thousands of years towards
that direction. And the thing is, is that eventually everybody's going to hate us. Everybody's
going to hate Christians. And it says, and then shall many be offended and shall, what
does it say there? Betray one another. And what is betrayed connected to? Being a trader.
And shall hate one another. And it says, well, that's all I want to read there, but the Bible
says that people will betray one another. People will be traitors. People are going
to sell each other out, their own family members. Look at Micah. Turn to Micah chapter 7. Micah
chapter 7. Because Jesus quotes this in the New Testament, Micah chapter 7 verse 6, because
family members will turn against each other and have them put to death. I mean this happened
in, this happens in communism. Every time some communist coup happens, even family members
will turn in family members, because nobody wants to die. So they'll turn on each other,
but they'll do it because they hate God also. And they hate you because you love God. Look
at Micah 7.6. It says, "For the son dishonoreth the father. The father rises up against her
mother." The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, which that happens a lot. But a man's enemies
are the men of his own house. I mean, look, the Bible says that this stuff's going to
happen. This is in the Old Testament. This is being prophesied. There's no new thing
under the sun. These things have been happening to Christians for thousands of years. But
Jesus, go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 10 now, but Jesus quotes this in the New Testament,
or at least alludes to it. Matthew 10-21. It says, "And the brother shall deliver up
the brother to death." I mean, your own brother turning you in to have you killed. "And the
father the child." I could not imagine turning my own child over and having them killed.
"And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death."
I mean, this is perilous times, is what this is talking about. I mean, I can't even imagine
this happening, but the Bible says it will, doesn't it? This is what you would call "traitors."
I mean, for children to rise up against their own parents and have them put to death. It's bad
enough that they rise up against their own parents anyway. I was given a ride. I got
an Uber yesterday from the airport, and I was talking to this guy, and I was telling him about
this video that I watched. I don't know. It's been years now, but it was a YouTube video. I'm sure
it's probably taken down now. I hope it is. Where this kid, he's with his friends, and his
grandfather is like reproving him, and he's like probably 80 years old, maybe 75 years old, and this
kid is probably, I don't know, 15, 16 years old. He punches his grandfather in the face and knocks
him out cold, where he's like, you know, stiffened up and everything, and it's like his friends are
laughing about it, and he, you know, obviously he's doing it to impress his friends or something,
but I mean, it's so wicked. It's so vile. I would question whether that kid's even alive today.
I mean, I just, I can't even imagine doing that to my grandfather. I can't imagine, you know,
and the grandfather, he was just like saying, "Hey, you shouldn't be doing this," or whatever.
He wasn't, it wasn't like abusing him or anything, but the kid just, I mean, that's the times where
we're living. This is like five years ago or something that I saw this video, but I mean,
there's all kinds of wild stuff. You know, we're living in a world today where people
don't spank their kids, and look at, look at how things are turning out. Bad. Mark chapter 13,
mark chapter 13. I'll move on from this. Basically saying the same thing though. Mark chapter 13,
verse number 12, the Bible says, "Now the brother shall betray the brother to death." So what is
betraying again? Being a traitor, isn't it? "Now the brother shall betray the brother to death,
and the father, the son, and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause
them to be put to death." I mean, I can't think of a bigger betrayal than to have your own family
members be killed. "And he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that shall endure
till the end, the same shall be saved." So this is what talking about, what period of time is this
talking about? Talking about the Great Tribulation, isn't it? So, I mean, and obviously this, you know,
this is the worst of the worst times, but horrific things happening in these last days that your own
children or their fathers having their own children put to death. Why? Because you're saved. So now,
we should make sure, of course, as Christians, that we're not betraying our own family.
Well, you're like, how so? Well, our actions can betray the name of our family. We can make our
own family look bad, and it's a betrayal of, we can betray the trust of our family as children.
You know, your parents trust you with things. Look, you know the Word of God. You're under the
preaching of God's Word, and you have a responsibility to behave yourself also. If you're
saved and you're a kid in this church, or you're a teenager in this church, hey, your parents,
you know, they give you a reasonable amount of freedom. Don't, don't, you know, abuse that
freedom and choose to do wickedly. You can betray their trust, right? And you don't want to betray
your parents' trust and make them not trust you. And you're like, "You don't trust me!" Yeah, you
know why they don't trust you? Because every time they give you a little rope, you go and hang
yourself with it. And it's like, well, they can't trust you with social media because you act a
fool. You're private messaging people, trying to, you know, have dates with people that you're not
supposed to be or whatever. I don't know. I don't know what kids are doing. But kids want to be on
social media. I know that. And it's probably not a good thing. But I'm not your parent, I'm not
their parent, your parents or whatever, so. But what about people you're friends with? You can
befriend the wrong person. And like, I know, I was a teenager once too. I understand this. You're
like, "But they're my friend!" Yeah, but look, if your parents are telling you that that's a bad
friend or that's someone that I don't want you dating or I don't want you being friends with that
person, you should listen to your parents. They're older than you. They're wiser than you, whether
you want to believe that or not. I know that when you turn 13 you think you know everything,
but guess what? You don't know everything. Your parents have gone through things. They've seen a
lot more things than you have. They have more life experience than you. And, you know, you should
listen to what they're saying. They're not stupid like you think they are. They're actually wise
and they're trying to help you. They're not trying to ruin your life. They just want to ruin my life.
No, they don't want to ruin your life. They want to help your life. Why would they want to ruin
your life? They love you. They don't want to ruin your life. They want to help you. So, don't betray
them by, you know, going against, you know, what they want from you. You should listen to them.
How about revealing personal information about your family? Guess what? Your family business
is not everybody else's business. You know, and look, I'm not saying you can't talk about,
you know, certain things, but maybe you shouldn't. You know, a tale bearer reveals secrets.
Secrets are things that are secrets. You know, you shouldn't as, you know, I'm saying this in
general, don't, you know, you're, you could be betraying your spouse's trust. You could be
betraying your, your, uh, your mom and dad's trust children by saying things that maybe your parents
don't want being told. It's not anybody else's business. You know, sometimes things need to be
kept in house, because guess what? Everybody deserves to have a private life. I'm not talking
about some crazy sin. I'm talking about just your general life. And, and even if it is some kind of
sin, maybe it's not some, it's not everybody's business. You know, if someone's smoking behind
the church, it's not everybody's business. You know, obviously if it's adultery or some kind of
sin that we get kicked out of church or something, that's different. But hey, we need to be able to
let people learn and get right with God on their own sometimes. Because guess what? If they're here
and listening to God's Word, God will convict them of things and help them to get right with God.
If someone smokes, they know that they smoke. Guess what? You don't have to tell them every
five minutes that it's bad for them because guess what? They already know. I mean, you can literally
put a skull and crossbones on a pack of cigarettes and guess what? People will still smoke them
because they're addicted to them. They know. You know those are bad for you, right? The, you know,
in every, you know, that picture with Ben Affleck where he's standing against the wall and he has a
cigarette in his hand and he's rolling his eyes. That's what every person that smokes does in their
mind when you do that. So, I'm just telling you. So, but revealing personal information, look, I
mean, it's not your business to repeat things that are none of your business. So, just saying. Now,
let's look at friends. Let's look at Psalm chapter 41 verse number nine. Psalm 41 verse nine. Of
course, a lot of the Psalms are prophetic about the Lord Jesus Christ, but it says,
this one specifically is for sure, about Judas. It says, "Yea, my known familiar friend in whom
I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Now, it's bad when family
betrays you, but let's just face it, sometimes family, there's some family that you really
didn't want to have a relationship with anyway, and you becoming a Christian kind of helped you
out sometimes, but when a friend that you're actually close to, and you trusted in them,
and you hang out, and you have a good relationship with them, when they stab you in the back and you
didn't realize that that's what they were going to do, it hurts. I mean, it hurts when a family
member does it too, don't get me wrong, but it does hurt when you've told them things that, and
look, I tell people this, and you can take this for what you want, but if you just met somebody,
and you just became best friends or whatever, I would highly caution you to not tell them
everything about your previous life. Again, information, you know, IT solutions or whatever,
you need to have some protection with what you tell people, because guess what? People turn into
traitors all the time, especially for whatever reason in churches like ours, and guess what?
They're going to put it all over the internet later on. They're going to put you on front street,
and look, I'm not saying don't trust anybody ever about anything. I'm not saying that,
but if you have some kind of bad thing in your past and you're just trusting someone that you
just met or someone, you know, I mean, I would just say even if it's something super bad between
maybe you and your spouse or just something that you just don't want the whole world to know,
maybe you should just keep that between you and God, okay? That's just a piece of advice that I
would like to give as a pastor because when, you know, people just love to betray people. I mean,
it's just, it is what it is. It's what, I mean, this is what Judas did. He lifted up his heel
against Jesus and Jesus was nothing but a friend to him. Jesus did nothing but good to him. There's
people that I've been friends with that have betrayed me that I never did anything but good
to them. There's people that I've been a pastor of that I never did anything but good to them
and they betrayed me and for whatever reason. I don't know but it's happened to your pastor.
It's happened to you and here. You were friends with someone and look those hits can be hard.
You're like well why am I going to make friends if they're just going to betray me every time
and and I know that people go through that because it just I've gone through it. I know
what it's like. So look at Psalm 55. Psalm 55. I mean this passage here describes someone that's
super close friends with someone they even go to church with this person. It's David just talking
about someone that he's super close with and actually went to church with. Look what it says
in Psalm 55. 12. It says, "For it was not an enemy that reproached me. Then I could have born it."
It's easy when it's someone that you don't like, right? But it says, "Neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me. Then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou,
a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together. We walked into the
house of God in company. Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quickly into hell,
for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them." Well, that escalated quickly.
It must have been pretty bad of a betrayal, though, right? It must have been a pretty bad
traitor. And this happens in church life. It's like, you know, things get pretty serious
in these betrayals. I'm not saying every betrayal is like this, okay? Not every betrayal is like,
"Hey, you need to go to hell because you betrayed me on this." I mean, there's different levels of
traitors. There's different levels of betrayal. But, you know, when it's someone that you took
sweet counsel together and walked into the house of God with and all of a sudden there's some
modalist heretic or some, you know, crazy believer in some strange diverse doctrine that's a damn
noble heresy. And it's like, how did I become friends with this person? It hurts. Turn to
Proverbs 26. Proverbs 26. Micah 7-5 says, "Trust ye not in a friend. Put ye not confidence in a
guide. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom." I mean, there's some people,
you know, what's it saying? Don't trust everybody. I mean, the one that lieth in thy bosom is
your wife. You know, God forbid that we shouldn't be able to trust our wives. That's why I say,
you know, also make sure you're marrying the right person. You know, if you can't trust
to tell things to your wife, then who can you trust? I mean, God, you can trust God.
So let's see, Proverbs 26, it says in verse 18, "As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows,
and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith, 'Am not I in sport?'"
This is people that like, you know, they want to deceive their neighbor, but they're saying,
oh, I'm just joking. It's like the passive aggressive person. And it says, "Where no wood is,
there the fire go out." So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth. And traders end up
being those tail bearers a lot of times. The ones that, you know, they have all the gossip. They
know all the latest juicy stuff. And they're also flatterers a lot of times. They'll come to you and
flatter you to your face and say, oh, you're the best this and you're the best that. And they do
that so they can gain your trust. And once they've gained your trust, then they want to sell you
juicy secrets or tell you juicy secrets so that you'll put your guard down and tell them something
about maybe somebody else or share your thoughts about somebody else. And then they have you in a
trap so that then they can just do all this to you. And then you can't really say anything
because they know that you have said something to them and then they got you over a barrel.
And so if you ever say anything about the things that they're doing, then they can just say, well,
they said this about so and so. And so they kind of have you trapped like that. So, you know,
don't fall for this trap of letting your neighbor deceive you, letting someone pretend to be your
friend and flatter you. Look, if some lady is always telling you that you're the most beautiful
girl in the church or whatever, she's probably lying because no woman likes to give compliments
like that. Hardly anybody. I mean, some women are sincere like that, but usually they don't,
you know, usually they're more haterish than that. But I'm just kidding. But it's kind of true a
little bit. But look what it says in, let's see, verse 24. It says, "He that hateth dissembleth
with his lips, and layeth up the seat within him." So people that hate people, the haters,
they disassemble with their lips. They want to divide people, right? This is what the haters do
with us. They want to just divide our churches. They want to divide our members. They want to
divide our friendships and things like that. It says, "When he speaketh fair, believe him not,
for there are seven abominations in his heart." People like this are just wicked. They're traitors.
They're evil. And it says, "Whose hatred is covered by deceit." See, this is how they operate. This is
how traitors operate, people that are betrayers. "His wickedness shall be shown before the whole
congregation." This is what always ends up happening. You know, I call them sleeper cell
reprobates. You know, they're there for a while, they're dug in, and then all of a sudden their
jihad comes out or whatever, and they reveal themselves. God allows them to be revealed
as these reprobates or whatever. "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a
stone it will return upon him." See, they think that they're setting up traps, but usually,
you know, the traps end up springing on themselves. "A lying tongue hateth those
that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin." Don't fall for the flattering
tongue. Look, this is how they get your trust, and then they use it to try to destroy you.
Ahithophel betrayed David. Jehoiada, the priest, his son, was killed by the king whose life he
saved. Talk about a betrayal. I mean, Zechariah was, you know, just trying to straighten the king
out, but he only followed God until Jehoiada died. Once Jehoiada died, you know, he listened to the
people that the princes came to him and got him to serve Baal. And so what's he do? He has Zechariah,
his son, stoned to death in the court of the temple. Turn to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26.
What a scumbag. He only followed God when he had someone to kind of lead him by the hand or whatever.
And then, I mean, to kill the guy's son after he dies? That's just the ultimate scum ball move.
Matthew chapter 26 verse 47 says, "And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve came,
and with a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same as he,
hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, master, and kissed him. And Jesus
said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took
him. Talk about a scumbag move also. You come up and, you know, that's the sign, is the person
who he kisses on the side of the face. Now this is how you know that Jesus didn't have long hair.
Nobody kept long hair during that time. So if Jesus was the one with long hair, he would just say,
get the one with the long hair. But anyway, he said the one I kiss on the face, because it's
not like they had pictures, you know, of Jesus or something. So we just have pictures of him now,
for whatever reason, even though we don't know what he looked like. So, and usually he has long
hair in those pictures. But anyway, but it's so crazy that he says, the last words that Jesus
ever spoke to Judas on this earth were what? "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Why are you
here? What did you come here for, Jesus? And, you know, he's just like, "Hail master, what a piece
of garbage." This man kissed the very door of heaven. I mean, Jesus is the door, right? He kissed
the very door of heaven and went to hell. I mean, none of us have kissed Jesus on the side of the
face or whatever. Judas did and went straight to hell. I mean, not too long after this, he goes,
"Hell, let's look at Matthew chapter 27." But yeah, people will just have sympathy towards Judas and
all these stupid made-for-TV, you know, movies like The Chosen and all the, you know, they kind
of paint Judas as a sympathetic character. Even modern scholars, so-called scholars. Matthew 27
verse 3, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him," he's a traitor, "when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
saying, 'I have sinned, and that I have betrayed the innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that
to us? See thou to that.'" Like, that's your problem, buddy. We got what we wanted. That's funny,
these guys are so wicked that they don't think it's bad that they had this guy killed for 30
pieces of silver, but they don't want to take the money and put it in the treasury, because that
would be wrong, because it's the price of blood. It's like, they kind of have a weird honor system,
don't they? We'll pay to have them assassinated, but, you know, don't put the money in the offering
plate. Buy this field of blood instead. But it says, "And he cast down the pieces of silver in
the temple and departed and went and hanged himself." And a lot of times, you'll even see this today,
that, you know, people hang themselves or kill themselves, and sometimes you kind of wonder,
like, why did they do that? There's, like, no suicide note or whatever. I'm not saying that
every time it's because they're a traitor, but I feel like that, I mean, the example you see in
the Bible were Ahithophel. Why did he do it? Because he was a traitor, because he betrayed David.
Obviously, that's a picture and a foreshadowing of what Judas was to do, but Judas, I mean, it's
funny because the thing that led me to leaving the Baptist Church I was in where I was a Sunday
school superintendent and I was a junior church preacher and teacher. I was like the youth leader
there. I preached a sermon called about Judas repenting of his sins and dying and going to
hell. Then I got turned in by the deacon and the deacon's wife for that. It's like, it's true,
though. It says he repented. Judas repented. So why did he go to hell then? Because he didn't
get saved. That's why. I mean, he felt bad that he turned Jesus in, but not bad enough to get saved.
Guy was a reprobate, though. And then it says, "They took counsel," let's see, "and the chief
priest took the silver and said, 'It is not lawful to put them into the treasury because
it is the price of blood.' And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to buy
strangers in. Wherefore the field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then it was
fulfilled out which was spoken of by Jeremy the prophet saying, 'And they took the thirty pieces
of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value,
and gave them for the potter's field as the Lord appointed me.' So, Jeremy the prophet bought back
his land from Anathoth, the place that they were trying to, the people were trying to murder him,
and I think his uncle's son came and let him redeem that property. So, it's tied together
with Jeremiah the prophet for whatever reason with that. So, it might pay to be a trader at
the time for these people, but in the end, it's a horrible feeling, like Ahithophel felt,
like Judas, and they took their own life, and look, no money in the world is worth being what
these guys, the end that they got. Look at verse, let's look at Proverbs 17, Proverbs 17. I mean,
Jesus was his friend to the end. I mean, he called him friend as he kissed him on the side of the
face. What better, I mean, Jesus, what a friend we have in Jesus. He was even friend to a reprobate,
even as he betrayed him. I mean, that's a, I don't think any of us would do that. I mean,
Jesus was, was definitely a special, very special man, and God, by the way. Proverbs 17, 17 says,
"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Turn to John 15. I'm going
to read Proverbs 18, 24. Proverbs 18, 24 says, "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly;
there's a friend that sticketh closer to a brother." What kind of friend should we be? A type
that loves at all times. That's what we should be like. Not like Judas, that would sell someone out
for 30 pieces of silver. And we should be the type of friend that shows himself friendly. Hey,
you want to be friend, you want to have friends, show yourself friendly. And hey, if somebody
betrays you, should you just stop being friendly to people? No, just make new friends. You know,
I've been stabbed in the back by friends lots of times, but you know what? It's never stopped me
from wanting to have more friends. So I like the friends that I have now. But if any of them ever
betray me, guess what? I'll just make new friends like I always have. I mean, does anybody still have
the same friends from kindergarten in here? How about first grade? How about second grade? How
about third grade? How about fourth grade? I mean, look, we've been making friends our whole lives.
Just keep making more friends, you know? And if they betray you, I mean, don't just go, "I'm quitting
because I can never find, I can never keep friends for more than five years," or whatever. It's like,
look, you haven't your whole life. It's not, it's not changed really, has it? But I'm sure you
probably have friends in here that you've been friends with for many, if you've been going to
the church for a long time, you probably have friends in here that you've been friends with
for many years. It's better as a Christian. The betrayals are hard, but you know, just because
someone is a bad friend to you doesn't mean you have to be a bad friend of them. And this is my
thought on this is that, you know, Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them to do unto
you," right? Not do unto others as they do unto you. That's the way we like to deal with things,
right? We want to deal with people how they deal with us. You know, I'm more righteous than they
now, like Samson. You know, he's paying the Philistines back for everything that they do to
him. But, you know, I just want to try to be the friend that I want others to be towards me. So I
just, that's kind of how I, how I am. Maybe someone's not being the friend that I want them to be,
but I still want to be the friend that I want to, I want others to be towards me to them.
That makes sense. So just be the friend of people that you want them to be, and maybe you'll find
that friend that's the same way that you are. But don't turn into a worse friend. Don't be the
standoffish person that doesn't want to have or meet new friends because you got burned by so and
so in the past. You know what, who cares? There's traders all, it says in the last times, perilous
times are going to come and people are going to be traders, right? So it shouldn't be like something
that we don't expect. Our families are going to turn against us and friends will turn against us
too. It says, "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You're my friends if you do
whatsoever I command you." And at least if nobody likes you at all and you're just an unlikable
person, nobody wants to be your friend, even the dog doesn't want to be your friend or whatever,
your cat won't let you pet it, your hamster bites you, AI rejected you or whatever, you always have
a friend in Jesus, right? He'll never leave us nor forsake us. And, you know, we're not always
super loyal to him. You know, we break his commandments and we don't always do the things
that he says, but he will never leave us nor forsake us. So we should be not the type of
friends that stab other people in the back. We should be like Jonathan. Jonathan was a good
friend. Or Ruth to Naomi. Even Rahab. Rahab the what? Why are you guys calling her a harlot?
What's wrong with you? Can't she ever live that down? Isn't that funny though? Like your
pastor got in all this trouble for saying, you know, calling, you know, saying whore or whatever
on Twitter. And it's like, there's a character in the Bible, even in the New Testament, calls her
Rahab the harlot. It's like, do you think she's mad about that? No, her name's in the Bible like
over and over again as a person that was faithful because she could have betrayed them and gave them
up and said that here's the spies, there they are. But no, she protected them and took care of them.
So she was a good friend to them and she's in the Bible forever because of that. So your spouse,
and I'll just, I know I'm kind of running out of time here, but let's turn to Malachi chapter two.
It's important to not betray your spouse. Don't be a traitor against your spouse if you're married
here today and if you're not, hopefully you will. You know, if that's like a goal of yours to be
married, learn this now. Be loyal to your spouse. God looks at it and he's going to require it.
When you make vows to someone, they're for as long as you both shall live, right? I mean,
I think you remember your vows, right? Maybe you don't remember them by heart, but maybe you should
go back and watch the video every once in a while and just remember what you said. Or maybe you can
just get a copy of them from Pastor Anderson or something. Maybe you didn't get married by Pastor
Anderson, but I'm sure you could find the vows somewhere online and maybe just kind of remember
them. But it says in Malachi chapter 2 verse 14, it says, "Yet you say, 'Wherefore?' because the Lord
hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously.
Yet she is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant.'" Look, when you get married,
you make a covenant. You're saying, "Hey, I'm going to be with this person for the rest of my life."
That's what you're saying. And God is a witness between that marriage. It doesn't matter where
you got married. It matters that God is a witness and that it is a covenant. It's something that you
go, it's not like someone, you know, they call these things shotgun weddings sometimes, right?
Probably because in the south or whatever they actually did hold a shotgun to you and say you're
getting married to my daughter or whatever. You're gonna, you know, I don't know. I don't know where
the term came from. I didn't, I haven't looked it up or whatever, but I'm sure it has some kind of,
you know, southern roots in it or something. But I don't know, it's just a guess, but no offense
against southern people. Anyway, but so it says, "And did not he make one?" Because we become one
flesh, right? "Yet had he the residue of the spirit, and wherefore one?" Why one? That he might seek a
godly seed. But God, when two Christians get married, what's the end game here? He's seeking
a godly seed. He wants you to have children so that you can get those children to get saved also
and pass out on to the next generation. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal
treacherously against the wife of his youth." Don't try to trade in for a younger model because
you know that's just, it's wicked, it's treachery. I mean it says, "let none deal treacherously." He
says it in both verses, "treacherously." What does that mean? Betraying trust, violating faith or
confidence like a friend who reveals your secret, deceitfully, being untrustworthy, or acting with
hidden motives to harm someone like cheating on your spouse, trying to trade her in, going behind
their back, dangerously unreliable, something that seems safe but is actually hazardous or unstable.
Look, I'm not saying that only men do this because women do it too. And look, not all
treachery in marriage is just going outside the marriage bed. You can be treacherous by telling
other people about your problems. Look, you shouldn't go around and run down your husband
to anybody else, ladies. And men, you shouldn't be running down your wife to other people either.
I'm sure that your pastor, I know your pastor teaches that. What are some synonyms? Faithlessly,
traitorously, deceitfully, unfaithfully. Look, treacherously is a bad word. Don't be treacherous
against your spouse, whether you're male or female. Look at verse 16, it says, "For the Lord, the God
of Israel, saith that he hateth the putting away." So what's he actually talking about? Getting
divorced. Don't get divorced. So he uses the word treacherously three verses in a row. "For one
covereth violence with his garments, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit
that ye deal not treacherously." Don't do it. And he says, "You have wearied the Lord with your words."
Yeah, you say, "Have we wearied him?" When you say, "Everyone that doeth evil is good in the side of
the Lord." Well, it worked out for the best that we got divorced because now I met so-and-so.
That wearies God. You think he likes that? He doesn't like that. When you say, "Everyone that
doeth evil is good in the side of the Lord, and he that delighteth in them." Or, "Where is the God
of judgment?" Well, God hasn't judged me yet. Or, "Only God can judge me." I mean, that's a stupid
tattoo to get. The Bible talks about not... I don't have time to go into all this, but in Proverbs 5,
it talks about drinking waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well.
Look, don't go, you know, drinking waters. Don't go chasing waterfalls or whatever. You've probably
heard that song before, right? I don't know if that's where they got that song from or whatever,
but don't watch the music video. It's horrible, but you want to stick with the waters that you're
used to, right? Dang it, now the song is stuck in my head. All right, I gotta move on. Hebrews 13,
4 says, "Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled that whoremongers and adulterers God
will judge." Look, we gotta be loyal to our spouse and that means in our speech that we don't talk
about them to other people. You know, we don't go outside the marriage bed. We don't talk about them
at work. You don't talk about them to your children. You don't talk about what happens in your bedroom.
I mean, that's just weird. As Christians, we just shouldn't do that anyway. Why would you? You don't
talk about your fights to your friends, to your parents. I mean, especially to your parents. Like,
this is like a problem. It seems like when people are super, you know, close to their parents, when
they first get married, they just want to tell their parents all their problems. And that's,
that's, you know, that's cool if you just want your parents to hate your spouse, because that's
what happens. Because they just love, they love their little baby boy, or they love their baby
girl so much. I mean, if you want them to hate them, then by all means, just tell them everything
that happens in your marriage. And then, you know, when you're like, then you defend them,
and then it doesn't matter. Once you've got them to hate them, they're just going to keep hating
them. This is how it works. So my advice to you when you get married, don't go to your parents
and tell them all your problems. I'm not saying don't go for advice, but what do I do if he says
I hate, you know, what do I do if my husband says that he hates my cooking? Mom, what do I do? Don't
go to mom on that. Just, you know, just make it the way he wants. Add some salt, add some pepper,
add some spices. Believe it or not, salt is good, you know, whatever spices he wants. I taught my
wife how to cook the way that I wanted her to cook, you know, that's why I'm so, uh, yeah,
that's what made me gross. It's just such a big boy. I taught her too well, that's the problem,
but now I had to unlearn her. No, but my wife could only make sandwiches when I first met her.
That's it, cold, cold cut sandwiches. And I was just like, all right, I'm gonna have to,
I'm gonna have to teach her mom's recipes, my grandma's recipes, and now she cooks way
better than I could even hope for. She out cooks me any day. But you know, we just have to,
we have to learn to dwell on knowledge with each other. And one of those things is just don't go
outside your marriage with all your problems. When it says leave and cleave, it's not talking
about leave and then cleave back to your parents. It's talking about leave mother and father and
cleave to your wife, cleave to your husband, and leave all those problems in your house.
And work things out with your spouse, because remember you made the vows? Don't build
treacherously, and it's not just about adultery and all those things, it's about being loyal to
them in other ways. Don't go out and, you know, your wife should be able to trust in the fact
that you can make a living. Go make a living, guys. Work, all I can't make this, you know,
all I can do is do minimum wage. Well, you better just start driving Uber or making ends meet,
doing something to make more money, okay? So, and, you know, just don't deal treacherously. And the
last thing is that God will never betray us. And that's the one thing that we can, that's the one
person we can trust that will never betray us ever. So at least we have that to count on, right?
And, but, you know, a lot of times people do betray God. And I'm not going to go, I know I
got to be done here, but I think about Peter. I'm not going to go to the verses, but Peter
denied the Lord three times. And I just think about the verse where he, you know, the cock crows for
the last time and then Jesus looks at Peter and they catch eyes and then Peter leaves and weeps
bitterly. But the thing that's, that's beautiful about God is that no matter, it seems like no
matter how many times we mess up, that God's just there for us. He's always got his hands stretched
out to come back to him again. And maybe you've betrayed God or something in some way, shape or
form. We all do. We all do in some way, shape or form, probably on a weekly basis. But the thing
about God is that he's always got his hands stretched out. He's always ready to have us come
home. He's always ready to forgive us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And sin keeps us from this book sometimes.
We don't want to read because we feel ashamed for the things we've done, but that's just a stupid
thing to do because he wants us to read the book. That's what gets us right. You know if you're
reading the Bible then he's going to help you get right. You know if we go to him he's going to come
to us. He's drawn near to God, he'll draw an eye into you. And you know try your best to be the
best spouse you can be. Try your best to be the best friend you can be. Try your best to be the
best family member you can be, even to the extended family. And hey you know what? Look we don't have
to just keep continuously battering our family with the gospel over and over again. You've given it to
them, leave the ball in their court, and then just try the best you can to get along with them. And
if they want to separate themselves from your company, the Bible says that they will do that.
So you know you can just do all you can do is just do the best you can. The Bible says that
people are going to betray us. The Bible says that people are going to trade against us. Hey but we
don't have to be that way to other people. And be the friend that you want others to be towards you.
Be the you know be a good family member. Be a good spouse. And you know what be good to God. Don't
betray him. You know don't deny him. And obviously Peter got right with God. And I think about the
time when he when he restores Peter. He says when you're converted meet me in Galilee. And you know
Peter's just he's quit the ministry. He's denied the Lord three times. He's in the boat and he
sees the Lord on the land and he realizes it's him. He just jumps in the water and swims toward
shore. He doesn't even want to wait to paddle back to the shore. And Jesus has bread and fish
cooking on the fire and he feeds them. You know then he tells Jesus feed my lambs, feed my lambs,
feed my sheep. But you know he gave the example first he fed them with food. You know the weight
of every Baptist's heart right. And he feeds them. But you know he's there just waiting.
You know he wanted to restore. He knew what Peter was going to do. But you know he's not ready to
just throw us aside for every time that we wrong him. And I'm happy that God's like that because
sometimes we're not like that. You know and not every betrayal by a friend is something that you
have to just completely you know get rid of them forever. Not every betrayal is a Judas betrayal.
Sometimes we're going to talk bad about a friend or have a dispute with a friend. And those things
can be gotten back. I mean we do we just we betray our spouse sometimes as far as like you know we
say things we shouldn't say or whatever. And you know those things are fixable. So not everything
not every betrayal or trader traderistic thing that we do is necessarily something that that
can't be come back from. So like oh you're a trader I'm done with you Benedict Arnold. You know our
marriage is over. No marriage is to tell death to its part. So we need to figure it out right. So
that's all I got for today. Let's just bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father
we thank you Lord so much for the scriptures. We thank you Lord for dying for us and the fact
that you're just always there with an outstretched hand ready to receive us. And Lord I pray that
you'd help us to be good friends, good spouses, and good family members. And Lord I pray most of
all that we would not betray you and your trust and that you would the trust that you entrusted
us with the gospel. And we thank you for this great church here that you just bless as we go
on with our day and the soul winning and the day to follow. In Jesus name we pray, amen.