(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we are there this evening in Psalm 55, Psalm chapter 55, and I want to start reading this evening in verse number 20. The Bible says, He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him. He hath broken his covenant. Verse 21, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. You know, here in verse 21, the Bible's describing a person that outwardly is very nice. You would think that if you met this person, this is a really nice person. What a friendly person. This person must want the best for me. Notice what it says. It says that his word, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter. Everything he says sounds so good. He talks really well. It says, but war was in his heart. So things aren't really matching what's coming out. It says, his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. So he wants to kind of give you the soft spoken treatment, sound like he's really harmless. He's not a big deal, but really he has drawn swords in his heart that he wants to harm people with. And I think the Bible is giving us this principle here that oftentimes in life, it's not necessarily your open sworn enemies that are the most dangerous people in your life. Sometimes it's the nice guy. Sometimes the person who's actually really dangerous in your life is the guy that wants to come up to you and speak really smooth words to you. And his speech is smoother than butter, softer than oil. Sometimes that could actually be the dangerous person in your life. The kind of nice guy that slips underneath the radar that you wouldn't really think much of. And the title of my sermon this evening is watch out for the nice guy. Watch out for the nice guy. Look, I'm not saying that you shouldn't be nice or you shouldn't be around nice people, or if someone's nice, they're automatically, that's automatically a red flag. But I'm for being nice. I'm for being kind. Okay. But what I'm against is the person that's only nice. The person that's only nice to everyone. This is your Joel Osteen. This guy, his words are smoother than butter. His words are softer than oil. I mean, this is the guy that is just speaking such nice things, but really what's in his heart, well, not the things of God, he's actually a dangerous person. And I want to give you a warning this evening of why you should watch out for the nice guy. I want to give you several reasons why you should watch out for the nice guy in your life. Number one, nice guys are often unfaithful. Unfaithful people. And you know, the Bible says that a faithful man who can find. It's a rare person to find a faithful man today. And nice guys are just the guys that aren't necessarily going to stick with you through thick and thin. They're not necessarily going to go through the hard battles with you. Nice guys are kind of just surface level. They're shallow people oftentimes. And in fact, when, when a man really has no substance to him and other people are talking about him, sometimes let's be like, yeah, he's a nice guy, you know, and there's nothing really else to say about him other than he's just nice. And I'm for being nice, but if that's the only characteristic you have, that's a red flag. That's a problem. Look at verse number 12. It says for it was not an enemy that reproached me. Then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that didn't 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 and walked onto the house of God in company. Notice this person saying it wasn't an open sworn enemy that ended up turning their back on me and reproaching me. It was someone that I took sweet counsel with. It was someone that I walked into the house of God with. It was a man mine equal. It was something that the psalmist here didn't expect. Now in context, what this is actually talking about, Psalm chapter 55 is a psalm of David and who he's referring to is Ahithophel. And if you remember, Ahithophel was his counselor at one point and he was a pretty good counselor because the Bible says that in those days it was as if one inquired at the oracle of God when they asked counsel of Ahithophel. But what happened to Ahithophel? Well, he turned on David and he went for Absalom. He completely was a traitor to David and he, you know, got on Absalom's team during Absalom's rebellion. And notice the Bible here kind of describes Ahithophel as a nice guy. I mean, just from these verses, it says, oh, you know, we took sweet counsel together. Kind of sounds like, oh man, we had good times. You were just a nice guy. Well, Ahithophel might've been a nice guy on the surface, but really what was he? He was unfaithful. He was unfaithful to King David. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 15. 2 Samuel 15, look at verse 12. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gileanite, David's counselor from his city, even from Gilo, where he offered sacrifices, notice, and the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom. So notice the Bible here explains that Ahithophel is involved in this conspiracy. And what is a conspiracy? That's a word. That's kind of a buzzword today. A conspiracy is simply a plan to do something. You could conspire and usually it has a negative connotation to it. It's usually the connotation is that you're conspiring to do something bad, but really it's just a plan to do something. Yes, the Bible is full of conspiracies. Of course, no, that does not mean every conspiracy in this world is true. This is a side note, but look at 2 Samuel 15 verse 31. It says, and one told David saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, Oh Lord, I pray thee, turn the council of Ahithophel into foolishness. So notice a guy who was really close to King David, someone that King David trusted, someone who was probably on the surface very nice, was a complete traitor the whole time, was someone who went after Absalom in his rebellion. You know, we ought to learn from that, that just because someone's being nice to us doesn't mean that they have our best interests in heart. Doesn't mean that they truly care about us. They actually may be planning to rebel or planning to turn against us for their own profit, for their own benefit. Go to 2 Samuel 16, flip the page. Verse 20 says, then said Absalom to Ahithophel, give counsel among you what we shall do. And Ahithophel said unto Absalom. So now Ahithophel has gone from being David's counselor. Now he's going to give some advice to Absalom. This is his genius advice he has here. Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. And all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. I don't know what his logic is here. He's saying, oh, here's how you're really going to get it, David. You're going to go sleep with his concubines. Then when the whole nation hears that David hates you, they'll want to love you. Not sure what this guy's thinking is. This is what he's thinking. Verse 22, so they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And the council of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the council of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom. And think about just the giant leap that this man Ahithophel made. Going from being King David's counselor to literally just selling out King David's women, his concubines, to Absalom and encouraging Absalom to sleep with his wives concubines in the sight of all Israel on a rooftop. I mean, this is a huge, huge leap that has been made here. So what does that tell us? Just because someone's nice to us doesn't mean that they're our friend, doesn't mean that they care about us. You know, they could be planning some really wicked stuff. And just because someone's nice isn't a red flag in and of itself, but if someone's only ever nice, it could be a warning sign in your mind. This person might not be a faithful person. You ever heard of a yes, man? What's a yes, man? It's a man that's really nice. And whatever his boss or authority or someone who he's trying to garner favor with thinks they're just yes, yes, yes, yes. And it's not because they actually agree with what that person's saying or the program that that person's on. That's one thing is that they just want to find favor with this person. So they throw their morals out the window. They throw their beliefs, their values out the window. They don't care about any of those things. All they care about is garnering respect for this person. It's a yes, man. What's a yes, man? A nice guy. That's what a yes, man is, is a nice guy. Go to 2 Samuel 17. 2 Samuel 17. Learn some more about this traitor here. 2 Samuel 17. 1 says, Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, let me now choose out 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. So now he's ready to kill David, not only just sell out his concubines. Now he's ready to literally get David killed. Verse 2, and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed and will make him afraid. And all the people that are with him shall flee. And I will smite the king only. Notice Ahithophel here. What is he? He is a bandwagoner. And look, you know, we want people to join the bandwagon for things that are good, right? Join the salvation bandwagon. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Join that bandwagon. But he thinks here in his mind, Ahithophel thinks, well, Absalom is doing well. So now I'm just going to completely turn on the real man of God, David, just because in my mind, Absalom is doing well. And he's thinking, oh, I'm just going to get David killed. So he was sweet. He was so sweet. And he was so nice. If you read Psalm 55, he was so sweet and so nice to David on the surface. But what was he doing later? Literally trying to get him killed. Look at verse 23 of the same chapter. And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order and hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulcher of his father. So this is the end of this loser's life for being a yes man, for being a traitor. His advice doesn't get followed and he just kills himself. So, you know, the lesson here is that again, just because someone's being nice to you, doesn't mean that they care about you. You know, think about this in the workplace. If you have some sort of authority in the workplace, don't just assume that because the employees are being nice to you, that they actually care about you or care about your jobs. Sometimes they could be being, you know, suck ups to try to get advantage place, advantages in the workplace. Scam artists, you know, scam artists, they're, they're very nice to you on the surface. They're like, hey, I've got this great product for you. It's going to help your life. It's going to make your life wonderful on the surface. They're going to be very nice to you. What are they doing? They're lying to you. And this applies in a lot of areas of life. Go to Proverbs chapter 27, Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs 27. Look at verse six. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Now is getting wounds a very fun experience? No, it's not. If someone gives you a wound, would you think right off the bat, that was a really nice thing that you did to me. You wouldn't really think that way, but notice the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend. So a real friend, someone that actually cares about you, would actually be willing to hurt you in some cases. And you know, the Bible talks about whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. You know, it's not fun to get a spanking from your parents. It's not fun to get a spanking from God, but you know, when God hurts us in a sense, it's temporary and it's for our own benefit. Anytime a wound is given to us, it's actually for our betterment in the long run. And a true friend may be willing to wound you in the short term to help you in the long term. But you know, the Ahithophels of this world, the nice guys of this world, look at the latter part of this verse. It says, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know, kisses, it makes you think, oh, how nice, how sweet, what a nice guy, but really what is it? It's deceitful. He's not your friend. He doesn't care about you. Look at Psalm 119, Psalm 119. Look at verse 75 of Psalm 119. Psalm 119, 75 says this, I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness has to notice this word afflicted me. You know, affliction never sounds fun. Affliction never sounds like something that's pleasant that you want to go through, but the Bible says that God does it in faithfulness. He afflicts us elsewhere. It says that it is good for me that I have been afflicted. So, you know, we need to be the type of people as friends where if our friends are going down a wrong path, they're going to do something that's harmful in their life. If they're in sin, that we would be willing to even afflict them. We'd be willing to even wound them by telling them the truth rather than just being this yes man, rather than just being the nice guy, because you know what? I'd rather be a faithful person than be a nice guy. So, I'd rather even have my authority a little upset with me, but I'm in my heart. I know I'm faithful to that person, but maybe I say something that has to be said, right? But still, I want to be faithful to that person. Go to Proverbs 29. While you're turning there, let me read Proverbs 14 five. It says this, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. You know, what's the opposite of the nice guy? A faithful person. And what is a faithful person going to do? They will not lie. You know what this makes me think of? Politicians. You know what politicians are? Politicians are nice guys, right? I mean, everywhere they go, they're smiling. Everywhere they go, they're shaking hands. They're signing babies. They're kissing babies. They're making commercials where they're happy. You know, it hasn't been since the 1940s really that there was a politician that was angry and mad. I think we all know who that one was. It was in Germany, if you're not understanding what I'm saying. Okay. But most politicians, they're not angry or mad. What are they? They're just so nice. They're so happy. I mean, look at Joe Biden. He's eating an ice cream cone. What a nice non-threatening old man. But you know what he is? He's a liar is what he is. He's a liar. Oh, he's a nice guy. No, he's actually wicked as hell. I don't care what's on his face. I don't care about the words that come out of his mouth when he's being fake. He's a liar. He's wicked. And by the way, Donald Trump is wicked too. Talk about a nice guy. I mean, he just has nice things to say about everyone. Oh, Juanita, the best cleaner I've ever had in my life. I went to a hotel. Nobody cleans better than Juanita, right? It's just like over the top. You're flattering. Just being such a nice guy. But what are you? You really think Juanita is the best cleaner you've ever had? I doubt that. I highly doubt that Juanita really is the best one, but he's just such a nice guy. And you know what? The nice guys aren't faithful because Donald Trump, the nice guy wants to talk about making America great again, but is he actually promoting anything in the Bible that's going to make America great again? No, he's not. So what does that make him? It makes him a liar. Speaking of flattery, go to Proverbs 29. This is point number two. Nice guys are often flatterers. Nice guys are often flatterers. One time when I was going to Sure Foundation Baptist Church, there was this really, really weird guy that was going there. And I remember one time, one of the cleaners, I can't remember which lady it was that was cleaning the building, found this handwritten note that this guy left. And this guy wrote on this note, he's like, you know, church plan, find woman, get married, get ordained as a pastor, and avoid Dylan and brother Remy and some other guys at the church. Okay, you remember this? This is a really weird guy. He left his master diabolical plan in the church seat. And so Pastor Thompson confronted him about it and said, hey, you need to go apologize to these men. And this weirdo comes up to me. And he just this is his apology. He's just like, hey, brother, Dylan, don't think anything about that note. I make notes like that all the time, which I'm thinking like, that doesn't make me feel better that you do notes like this all the time. He's like, I just want to let you know, you're just the best preacher I've ever heard. You're such a good speaker. And I'm just like, I know myself and no, absolutely not. But what was he he's a flatterer on the surface. He's just Oh, hey, brother, so and so. Oh, hey, brother, so and so I'm just such a nice guy. Meanwhile, he's in church. He's like, never talk to Dylan. He's evil. What is he? He's a flatterer. Nice guys are often flatterers. Real men might say something that'll piss you off every once in a while, but at least they're real people. Not just saying Oh, I love you. Meanwhile, you're writing little notes about how much you hate people. What a freak. What a weirdo. Proverbs 29, verse five. A man that flattereth his neighbor, spreadeth a net for his feet. It's flattery is such an evil, evil thing to do. Because people fall for it. People really fall for flattery. But when you're flattering someone, you know what you're doing, you're getting ready to hurt them. You're getting ready to harm them. When you're spreading a net for his feet. What is it? That's a metaphor for harming that person. And when people flatter, you just realize that it's a bad person that's behind that. They may seem like a nice person, but they're really not. Proverbs 28, verse 23. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. Notice a person that rebukes someone afterwards, the person that's rebuked, that is being rebuked is actually going to think more positively about the person that rebuked them rather than someone who flatters them. And I know that I feel that way. If someone rebukes me, I think, great. Praise God for that. If someone gives me a criticism and it's true, I'm glad to hear it. I need to know what's wrong in my life and we should all have that attitude. But I have zero tolerance for flattery. No tolerance whatsoever for flattery. If someone flatters me, I write that person off in my mind. This is a person I can never, ever, ever trust. And you need to have that attitude in your life. That if someone's coming up to you, giving you insincere, over the top praise, that that is not coming from a good heart, that's coming from someone that wants to harm you. And don't let the nice guy fool you. Don't let the nice guy fool you. He's trying to hurt you. Go to Proverbs chapter number six. Proverbs chapter number six. Now, sometimes it's not the nice guy. Sometimes you have to be aware of the nice girl too. Sometimes you have to be aware of the nice lady, the nice woman. Proverbs six verse 23. Look what it says. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Verse, excuse me, verse number 24. To keep thee from the evil woman, notice what she does, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman. Lest not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. You know, the Bible describes the adulterous woman as the woman that hunts for the precious life. You know, usually in modern culture today, when we think of a predator, we think of a man, but the Bible actually describes a predator oftentimes as a woman, the adulterous woman. What's she doing? Hunting for the precious life. And what is the tool that she uses to do this? She uses the tool of flattery, the over the top, insincere praise. Why? Because men are really susceptible to flattery because men are prideful. And if some pretty woman is telling a man how great he is, he's just dumb enough to believe it. But let me just warn you guys, no one in here is that cool. So don't believe it. You know, especially you married men don't ever get in a situation where all of a sudden some strange woman, some married woman is starting to give get a little too nice. Realize, whoa, this is actually a red flag. And in that situation, you need to be aware of the nice girl. Because these women are on every street corner. The Bible says they are everywhere. They're at your workplace. They're at your school. In a lot of churches, they're in your church. I hope there's none in here tonight that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be one in the future. But even churches oftentimes are hunting grounds for the adulterous woman. And what does she do? She flatters men. She flatters with her tongue. Look at Proverbs seven flip over. Proverbs chapter number seven. Verse 21, with her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. With the flattering of her lips, she forced him. Notice she forced him. Why? Because flattery is a manipulation tactic is what it is. Just how like if you know martial arts, you can manipulate someone's body to force them to move somewhere they don't want to move or to do something they don't want to do. This is what women do with their tongues by flattering men. They can literally get to the point where they're forcing them to do what they want. And so us as men, we have to be sober, be vigilant and realize we should never allow ourselves to even be in a situation where this could happen. You know, a good principle that you should have is to never be alone with a woman of the opposite or with a person of the opposite gender. You know, I make exceptions for women that are my grandmother's age. You know, I really don't care about that. Great grandma, whatever. I could pick someone up and help some lady from the airport, whatever. That's fine. But you know, you shouldn't be even playing with fire with this stuff whatsoever. Verse 22. He goeth after her straight way as an ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life. I mean, it could literally get you killed because a lot of times these men, they don't even know if this is a married woman that's coming on to them. And you make a mistake in this area. Next thing you know, you could have just committed adultery with another man's wife. And you know what might happen to you? He could literally kill you in a fit of rage. It happens all the time. And so you married men, you know, you better just turn that part of your life off and just realize I've already said I do. There's no flirtation that's allowed. There's no fun conversations with other women that's allowed. Just get that out of your life. It's a dangerous thing to have. Don't ever even play around with it whatsoever. Look at verse 24. Harken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her paths, for she hath cast down many wounded. Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. Notice it says that it doesn't say many weak guys have gotten destroyed by this woman. It says many strong men have gotten destroyed by this type of woman. You know, this is just an area of life that men need to have the humility to say, you know what, I'm not strong. I can't just be strong in my own, you know, carnal might. And so what the wise person would do is say, I'm just going to set up safeguards so that this can literally never happen. Just make it to where this this cannot happen. And you're gonna be a lot safer than just trying to be Oh, yeah, I just I'm a tough guy. I can. No worries. I'll be fine. I could talk to this girl alone. Nothing's going to happen. No, that's a prideful attitude. Proverbs 26 28. Proverbs 26 28. Flip the page there. Proverbs 26 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. In a flattering mouth worketh ruin. You know, this this verse specifically makes me think about false prophets and false pastors, because the Bible says that when you lie to someone, you actually hate that person. And all these false preachers and false prophets, they all have the same exact persona about them, right? They go around and they're very smooth. They're very soft. They're very polished. They're very well put together. And they're very, very nice. I mean, just on the surface, they're so sweet. They're always happy. But when a preacher lies to you, the Bible says that the lying tongue, he did those that are afflicted by it. So it does not matter how polished a man is, someone gets behind the pulpit, and they're teaching lies, they actually hate the people that are listening to them. And really, what they're doing is they just serve their own belly. They serve their own lusts. They're not in the ministry because they love people or love souls, or love God, and want to help other people to love God more. No, really, what they do is they love their bank account. And they see people as just a mere tool to help them to get rich. And so what they'll do, they'll lie to them from behind the pulpit. You know, what's a common lie that these people teach? The prosperity gospel. Look, that's a lie that preachers teach that is a hateful thing to do to people. Oh, full paycheck Sunday, right? You give your money to church and God's going to return it to you tenfold, or a hundredfold. Give $1,000 today, sign up, and, you know, God will send you a million dollars in the mail. This kind of stuff is out there. It may sound funny, it may sound ridiculous, because the new IFB is just so far removed from this kind of stuff. But, you know, I've seen Kenneth Copeland's mansion, and I've seen his his runway and his airplanes, and you want to know how he got that stuff? By lying to people. You're not going to become rich by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're not going to become rich by preaching hard sermons. You're going to become rich by flattering people. You're going to become rich by being a really nice guy and lying to people, but not by doing what's right when it comes to getting rich in the ministry. Go to Luke chapter number 11. I'll read for you 1 Thessalonians 2 5. Paul said this, For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. You know, that's the testimony that we need to have as Christians, that at no time whatsoever did we go around flattering people. And notice Paul even explains why people flatter. He says, as a cloak of covetousness. What I just explained, the Bible teaches that when someone, especially a preacher, someone in the ministry, is just flattering you, it's a cloak of covetousness. It's because they want your money. Number three, nice guys won't say what needs to be said. Nice guys won't say what needs to be said. You know, so far we've learned nice guys are unfaithful. Nice guys are often flatterers. And also nice guys just won't say what needs to be said. Look at Luke 11 verse 44. Jesus said this, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves, which appear not. And the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him, master, thus saying, thou reproaches us also. He's saying, Whoa, Jesus, your preaching is kind of hurting my feelings now. You're, you're getting onto me now. And what was Jesus's response? Verse 46. And he said, Woe unto you also ye lawyers, for ye laid men with burdens grievous to be born. And ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your fathers, but they indeed killed him, killed them and ye build their sepulchres. Now would the average person look at this passage and say, you know, this Jesus guy is very nice. No, they wouldn't. And yet today, Christians think that being nice is like the pinnacle of godliness. Like if you're max filled with the spirit, you are going to be a nice person. But you know, the Bible gives the fruit of the spirits and you know that one of the fruits of the spirits is not being nice. It's not listed there. It's never listed. And Jesus here, he's not being nice to these guys. He's preaching hard against them. He's telling them their sins. He's saying woe unto them. Yet is what he's saying true? Yes, it is. And here's the thing. Nice guys often won't say what needs to be said. Look at John chapter two. We'll see him do this again. We know that everything that Jesus said was right. Everything he said was true. Everything he did was right. Everything he did was true. John two, let's think about is this, is this nice, what Jesus is doing? And the Jews Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves take these things hence make not my father's house and house of merchandise and his disciples remember that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Look, this isn't very nice what he's doing here. I mean, I've never gotten a whip and just started beating people. I mean, just like we read the Bible or it's like, yeah, another story in the Bible. But think about that. He sat down, he made a whip, he walked into church and this is just kind of how I picture it. You know, the Bible doesn't give us the gory details, but I kind of picture him just walking in and just not even saying a word. Not even say like, all right, get out. No, I kind of picture him just with a whip and just like starts going to work and just starts whipping people. And all these Jews start scurrying out of the temple, you know, but that on the surface is not a very nice thing to do. That's, I mean, it's pretty awesome though. Right. But here's the thing. Oh, Jesus wasn't always a nice guy. Now Jesus is very kind. Jesus is very loving. I mean, Jesus was so kind and loving that he allowed himself to be brutally tortured to death and experienced hell for three days and three nights so that we can be saved. But when it came to people buying and selling in the house of God, he was willing to physically beat people up to do it and not just beat them up, but scatter all their assets everywhere to scatter all their little coins and, you know, watching them chase it down the sewers or something in New York city. I don't know. Look at what Jesus even said to his own mother in John two, verse three. And when they wanted wine, when they lacked wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? That's not necessarily the nicest thing to say to your mom. Right. But here's the thing. He's way above authority than his mom because he's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God in the flesh, but you know what? Not every, not every interaction Jesus had with people was he the nice guy, but you know what? He was always saying that which was true. He's always saying that which was right. He says, woman, what have I to do with you? Kids, don't say that to your mom. All right, go to Galatians chapter number four. While you turn there, let me read for you. Second Timothy four, two says this, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. You know, this country needs less nice guy preachers. There's way too many nice guy preachers in this country. You go to the everyday, you know, average church, and you're going to find a pastor who's never going to raise his voice. He's never going to hit the pulpit. He's never going to say the things that Jesus said. Why? Because they're all nice guys. They're all politicians as well. You know, we need less Andy Stanley's in America and more pastor Shelley's in America, less Joel Osteen's in America and more pastor Roger Jimenez's in this country. You know, and those guys aren't always nice, but you know what they are? They're biblical. And to me, it's way more important if someone's biblical than if they're nice. And if I'm looking for a church, I'm not looking for, let me find the nicest pastor that I could buy. Cause you probably the nicest pastor you could find is probably a woman pastor because women are very nice, but I'm never going to listen to a woman preach. Stay away from the nice guy. Stay away from the nice girl. Galatians 4 16. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you, but you might affect them. Look, you know, when Paul's rebuking the Galatians and the epistle to the Galatians, he's doubting their salvation. He's ripping them a new one. He's saying, am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth. And why does he ask that question? Because that's the attitude that a lot of people have. And that is the attitude that our country has today where they don't want to hear anything that's true whatsoever. You know, I heard pastor Anderson tell a story on Wednesday that he was watching a video on YouTube that was posted by a university. It's a scholarly video. It's posted by a university. And he made a comment where he cited cdc.gov and was citing statistics about the sodomites from cdc.gov. And he just said, hey, you're wrong about the statistics. Here's the source from cdc.gov. And they deleted that comment. Why? Because it was mean. But it was true, though. Who cares if it's mean? And look, we need some people to say what's true today about the sodomites, to say what's true that they're a bunch of filthy animals that spread disease in society, that they're a bunch of child molesters, that they're a bunch of rapists, that they're a bunch of reprobates rather than just being nice to them. What has been accomplished in America the last 10, 15 years by being nice to sodomites? Is it like Andy Stanley's church so that he could host a conference in October called the Unconditional Conference? He hosted a conference in October called the Unconditional Conference that was dedicated to LGBT youth and their parents. And in this conference, he invited two sodomites that were married to each other to preach sermons for the conference. And the quote from these two sodomites, we're talking about how they're so excited to be able to preach so that because it's the message that the children need to hear. So they're literally just admitting their heart like we're here behind the pulpit so that we could defile children with our message. That's where we've gotten as a nation by being nice to sodomites. You know, first it was they can get married. Then it was they could have all equal rights. Then it was, well, we could have drag shows out in public. Then it was, well, we could take children into the drag shows too. Then it was like, well, we could allow homosexuals to attend church. Then it was, well, we could now let drag queens attend church. Now there's faggots behind the pulpit. Why? Because of nice guys like Andy Stanley that won't say what needs to be said, which is that these faggots should get a bullet in their brain, that they should get the death penalty, not be preaching behind the pulpit. What a nice guy Andy Stanley is. What a nice guy you are for letting children in your congregation be abused by pedophiles. How nice of you, Andy Stanley. How nice of all the pastors today that are enabling sexual predators in their church to harm people permanently, to scar them for life, to hurt them spiritually, because you just want to be nice. Well, you know what? Go to hell, Andy Stanley, and every single pastor like you, go to hell. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number eight. Psalm 127 says, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. You know, that's what preaching is like. You preach what the Bible says. It's not always nice, but you know what? If you're preaching what the Bible says, it's always true. It's always true. My last point this evening is this. Nice guys won't put wickedness in check. You know, nice guys are the type of guy that lets their wife get pushed around at a baseball game and does nothing about it. Have you ever seen videos like that where some dude will attack some guy's wife and he's just too timid to do anything about that? I've seen videos like that. You know what that guy is? He's just a really nice guy. You know what? We need some guys that are willing to put wickedness in check in America and not just be the nice guy. Look at Ecclesiastes 811. It says this, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. The Bible teaches that if you don't punish crimes, you don't punish sin, people's heart is going to be even more lifted up to think that it's okay to go commit those crimes or okay to commit those sins. We have states like Washington State, Oregon, California today, where there's a big problem right now where foreign immigrants are going into people's houses, they're squatting there, and the police are not removing them. Has anyone heard about this stuff going on? Literally, there's just random foreign immigrants in your home. They're doing something illegal, but you know what? These governments are just too nice. They just have a little bit too much of a bleeding heart. They said, well, these poor people have nowhere to go, so we're not going to kick them out. We need some real men in America that are going to pick these people out and throw them out of our country, not to mention out of people's homes. I'm kind of blown away that we live in such a nice society and such a polite society that someone can literally go into your home, and the man of that house doesn't just go in there and grab you by the throat and throw you out of your house. But you know why he's not doing that is because the police would side against him, because the police would then arrest that man, and then his life is ruined, and he can't provide for his family, and he can't protect his kids anymore. Why? Because people are too nice. Look at Proverbs 20 verse 26. A wise king scattereth the wicked and bringeth the wheel over them. You know, the wise king in the Bible isn't always nice. You know why? Because a wise king would destroy wicked people. Let me talk about the Old Testament for a second. In the Old Testament, you know what a wise king would do? He would see Sodomites by the house of God, and you know what he would do? He would kill them physically. I'm not talking spiritually right now, okay? I'm talking Old Testament. There's facts by the house of God. The wise king would say, hey, go level their houses to the ground and kill those people and get them out of the land. That's what the wise king would do in the Old Testament. Well, today, obviously, we're in the New Testament, and I 100% believe in the rule of law. I 100% believe that people worthy of death should be put to death through the proper channels, through the government, but even that isn't really happening a lot of times now. You know, for example, in the state of Texas, if you rape a child—sorry to use a crude word, but let's just talk about a crude subject for a second—if you rape a child, you do not get the death penalty on your first offense. It has to take two. It has to take two children, because one child's life isn't worth it to the state of Texas. It needs to be two. And by the way, if you murder someone in the first degree in Texas, you don't automatically get the death penalty. Only if you murder a police officer, then it's worth it. You know, what I think is if you murder anyone in the first degree, whether you're a cop or a grocery store worker or a DoorDash driver, you should be put to death. It's not like some person's life is more than another, and I don't think you should have to rape two children. I think that you should be a sodomite and be put to death, because I already know you're a pedophile. I already know what you're capable of, and so that's the point where you should be put to death. You know what this verse makes me think of? It makes me think of Donald Trump, because Donald Trump, if there's anyone that knows how truly corrupt and how infiltrated our government is by sworn enemies of our country, it's Donald Trump, because he's seen the law fair. He's seen people try to put him in prison. He's seen people try to stop him from speaking on social media, which is insane to stop the President of the United States, who's elected by the people, to not be able to talk to the people that elected him. He's literally seen someone try to take his own life, literally was shot at in the head by someone, and you know, instead of Donald Trump getting up and saying, let me just level to you what a bad situation our country is in, we're infiltrated by communists, we're infiltrated by people that hate America, we need to fight these people, we need to root these people out of our government and out of our country. You know what the first post he made after he got shot was? He said this, we need unity. But the Bible says that the wise king would bring the wheel over the wicked. That tells me Donald Trump's not a wise man. Because the last thing that America needs right now is unity. You know, we need unity in here. Why? Because we have something common we could unify around. We could unify around the King James Bible, we could unify around the truth. You know what, what is America nowadays? What are we unifying about? We have people from all over the world with all different religions, with all different beliefs. What is there to unify over? You know, am I supposed to unify with people that actually like Kamala Harris? Am I supposed to unify with someone that thinks it's okay to brutally rip to pieces a child in its mother's womb? You really think that I should have unity with someone like that? You think that I should have unity with someone that thinks it's okay to give their child over to a drag queen to be in some sort of sick festival with these people? I want no unity with these type of people. I don't want unity with communists. I don't want unity with Democrats whatsoever. You know what I want? And I'm not saying it's going to happen. This won't happen. What I want is for America to be a Christian nation. That's what I want. Now, of course, we see our world just going down the tubes. I understand that. But the only unity that I would ever be interested in having is with another Christian. That's it. And how Donald Trump could have, I mean, think about this. You're the commander in chief of the United States. You swore an oath to defend and protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And you and your brain think that the election was stolen and that someone's about to usurp the office of the presidency against the rule of law and against the will of the people. And all you do is just complain on Twitter about it. You do nothing about it. You're not a wise man. You're not a wise man. You're not a real leader. And you know what? He's too nice. Donald Trump is too nice of a guy, which is hilarious because what does the left say about him that he's the meanest guy on earth? You know what my criticism is of him? You're way too nice. That's why I don't like Donald Trump. You're too nice. You're way too accepting. You're not saved. You don't believe the Bible. We don't need unity with the wicked. And here's the thing. I'm not just preaching my opinion because go to 2 Corinthians 6. What I just said is not just my opinion. 2 Corinthians 6 14 says this. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So when are the only time we're supposed to be yoked together with someone? When they're a believer. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Verse 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. Now I will receive you. Look, as Christians, we should not be interested in unifying with wicked people. And I don't care what label they give themselves. I don't care whether that's a church that's wicked, like repent of your sins, Pentecostals, no fellowship with them. I don't want anything to do with them. I don't care if that's Catholics. I don't want anything to do with them. I don't care if that's God-hating Democrats and Communists. I don't want anything to do with them. And the Bible has commanded me to come out from among them and be ye separate. So no, Donald Trump, the last thing that we need right now is unity between all these wicked people and Christians. Go to Proverbs chapter number 23. Let me change gears for a second here. We're talking about how nice guys, they won't put wickedness in check. And we talked about how the government isn't doing that. The police aren't doing that. The president's not doing that. You know, sometimes parents aren't doing that too. Parents, you better not be too nice. You better put the wickedness in check in your home too. Look at Proverbs 23 verse 13 says, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. You know, there's a lot of parents in America that are just way too nice. And they think I would never spank my kids. That's so mean, but really that is the nicest thing you could do for them is correct them because the Bible says that it will deliver their soul from hell. And you go out soul winning. It's funny because when you only spend time with God's people, you see what children are like. And even sometimes then you're thinking like, Whoa, these kids are crazy. Right. And my own included sometimes. All right. I'm not throwing any jabs there, but then you go out soul winning and you're like, Holy crap, these kids are like demon possessed or something. But what is it? It's that their parents just never spanked them. And I mean, never spank them. There are some people in church where they don't spank even close to as much as they should. And you should spank your children a lot. You should correct your children a lot, but then you go out soul winning and you could tell, wow, these are children that have never been spanked at all. And then that's them at age five, age 10. Then they reach age 20. And what are they? They're Antifa members. They're black lives matter members. They're a bunch of communists is what they are. They're a bunch of Biden voters, a bunch of Kamala voters. You know, we gotta, we gotta not be so nice with our children sometime and realize that really what the kind thing to do is not necessarily what the nice thing to do is. It's not really nice. It's not really fun to spank your child and make them cry. But you know what it is? The kindest thing you could do to them. It actually is the most beneficial thing you could do for them. But at first Corinthians five, you know, this also can apply to church where sometimes a pastor or the leadership of a church can just be way too nice and not put wickedness into check. But you know, the Bible commands us that there's times where a preacher or a pastor must put wickedness in check in the local church. First Corinthians five, look at verse one. It is reportedly calm. It is reported commonly that there's fornication among you such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you're puffed up and if not rather mourn that he have done this deed might be taken away from you. Notice it says that they're puffed up. You know, this makes me think of makes me think of the new evangelical liberal church. That's literally proud and literally boasting about how accepting they are of people that should be kicked out of church. Like look at how godly we are. Look at how long suffering we are. Look at how charitable we are. Why you ask? Well, because we have sodomites in the front row tonight. Or man, I'm so loving as a preacher because we have so many, you know, fornicators in this church and we just love them so much more than any other church. And back there, this is the idolatry section. We just love them so much. We're just so glad that the idolatry section is here tonight. You know, that's being way too nice. Look at verse three. For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already. You know, don't be afraid of that word judgment. As though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You know, the Bible teaches that there's times where a pastor would literally have to kick someone out of church, deliver that person unto Satan for their life to be destroyed. And you know, here's the thing, that actually is the loving thing to do for the congregation. Because let me tell you, when church discipline doesn't happen, it's vexing. It's vexing to be in a church. You know, I was in a church one time, an old IFB church, where there was this family that was an ex-Pentecostal pastor's family. Dad was an ex-pastor and these three twin girls were there. And they were going around the church telling people about the doctrine of modalism. They're going around the church telling people that Jesus is the father. And you know, I appreciated the fact that a guy did that at Sure Foundation Baptist Church and Pastor Thompson kicked him out. Let me tell you about this one guy that was kicked out of church. All right, I'm just bringing up the old Sure Foundation stories today, I guess. There's this one guy where we would go soul winning with him and he would knock on the door. And as soon as the door would open, he'd put his foot through the threshold and he would go, my feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I'm here to preach the gospel to you. Do you remember? Okay, you remember. Wow, that sucked going soul winning with that guy. It was so annoying. It was so terrible, so weird. And this guy, believe it or not, you're going to be shocked. He was a modalist, oneness heretic. He was completely unsaved. He was a complete weirdo. But you know, during the time he was going to that church, it was vexing. I was just like, please don't pair me up with this guy. I don't want to go soul winning with this guy. You know, I don't want to hear this guy preach at the men's preaching night. I don't want to talk to this guy. And you know, during that time where he's not yet kicked out, it's vexing. And you know, when the pastor actually exercises church discipline, it's such a weight released off of your shoulders. It makes the church so much better not to have a guy in the church that preaches a sermon called, don't poop on God's car. Literally. That was his men's preaching night sermon. And he literally just went like this. He's like, and I took my staff, even beauty. God is faithful by whom you were called. The anger of the Lord has divided them. The fool has said in his heart. So answer that riddle. Explain the riddle right now. Explain the riddle to me right now. That was literally his sermon. And I'm just sitting there thinking like, I hate this guy. And I was like, pastor Thompson, can you please get this guy out? And then it happened. And I was like, thank you, God. Look, you know, thank God that pastor Thompson wasn't just too nice. You know, cause a lot of churches would say, Oh, you know, God's just working on him. We just got to be patient with this guy. He's like, you believe oneness heresy. You believe in modalism and you're corrected on it. And you dig in, get out. You believe in damnable heresy and you don't want to repent Lee. Why? Cause we don't want to have unity with that type of people. We want to have unity around people that actually believe the Bible. And we want to have leaders today that are not too nice. Last verse. I'll have you go to Galatians chapter five. I kind of mentioned this in passing go to Galatians chapter five, Galatians five, look at verse 22. It says this, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such, there is no law. You notice what's not listed there. Nice. Being nice is not one of the fruits of the spirit. Being nice is not the ultimate goal that a spiritual leader can attain to. And just like, wow, my pastor is so great. Why? Because he's so nice. You know what? That's not the goal of our lives is to be nice. Okay. Now, like I said, at the beginning of the sermon, I'm okay with being nice. I want to be around people that's nice, but I don't want to be around people that are only nice. And I don't want to be around people that are nice to the wrong people or nice about the wrong subjects. I want people that are actually going to sometimes hurt my feelings if I need to be corrected. I want someone that's actually going to say what needs to be said, whether it's positive or not. You know, I'm glad that we have a savior that would go into a temple and whip some people that need to be whipped. You know, I wish that we had a president that would actually put wickedness in check. I wish that we had leaders of police departments that would enable police officers to put wickedness into check. I wish that was the case today. And I wish that we had more pastors in America that would put wickedness into check and say what needs to be said. I wish we had more parents in America that wouldn't just be nice, but they would actually do the kind thing by correcting their children and by putting wickedness in the check. You know, let us as God's people tonight, not just strive to be nice, but strive to be biblical and be aware of the nice guy in your lives. Beware of the nice girl in your lives. With that, let's pray, Lord. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the warning in your word. I just pray that everyone here would be vigilant and that they would see warning signs of someone was trying to manipulate them or flatter them or get something from them. And I just pray that everyone here would be having a heart that's willing to be corrected and hear some things that are mean from time to time, as long as those things are true. And just pray for just the hearts of everyone in our country that people would stop being so offended by the truth, but that they would actually desire truth in their lives from the word of God. In Jesus' name we pray.