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

Alright, we're here in John chapter 18. We're going to go verse by verse and cover this whole chapter. But kind of the main theme I want to bring home from this chapter is really founded in the second verse. But before we get there, in the name of the sermon, it's a time to relax. A time to relax. And we'll get there in a second. Let's do the verse number one in John chapter 18. We're about to read. When Jesus spoke in these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brokhedron, where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples. Now, I want you to pay close attention to verse number one where it says with his disciples over the brokhedron. The brokhedron. Now keep your place in John 18 and go back to 2 Samuel 15. And so this verse here is actually pretty interesting because what's at the base of John 18 is Jesus is about to be betrayed. And he's going over the brokhedron, but actually in the Old Testament you see something kind of very similar, which gives a lot of symbolism toward Jesus Christ. Now notice what it says in 2 Samuel 15 verses 22 and 23. And David said to Ittai, no one passed over, and Ittai the Ittai passed over and all those men and all the little ones that were with him. And all the country left with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king also himself passed over the brokhedron. And all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. And so this is just a different spelling of what we saw in John 18 verse 1 where it was the brokhedron. C-e-d-r-o-n or k-i-d-r-o-n. But in 2 Samuel 15 what is taking place? Well, David's son Absalom is betraying him. His son is betraying him. What was taking place in John 18 verse 1? Well, I mean Judas is about to betray Jesus Christ. And so quite honestly the symbolism of Jesus is throughout the Bible. And you know I'm sure there's a million things I've never even noticed before that are in the Bible that show Jesus Christ and point toward Jesus Christ. And so every word is very significant. Now go back to John chapter 18. I want you to notice where it said he went forth with his disciples over the brokhedron. Remember that's really similar to 2 Samuel 15, but what I want to do is read you this verse in the NIV. John 18 verse 1. When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the kid-drawn valley. On the other side there was a garden and his disciples went into it. And it says in the NIV in 18 verse 1, the kid-drawn valley. Now we saw very clearly the brokhedron is what the Bible says, the King James Bible. And you go back to 2 Samuel 15, we're also seeing the symbolism with the brokhedron. Now what is the difference between a brook and a valley? Well, a brook is right by the water. A valley has no water. Now look, does that change our doctrine on salvation? No, it doesn't. But every word is significant. And it destroys the parallel from 2 Samuel chapter 15 that's there. And so it decided to change it to the kid-drawn valley. Now why did they make a change? Is the word brook confusing? I mean, is the valley simpler? But what is the devil doing? Well, he's destroying the symbolism that's there in the Bible. And so when people say, well, you know, this verse, I know it's changed, but it doesn't really change what we believe. You know, every word is there for a reason. And even a minor change that would normally seem insignificant. You go back to 2 Samuel 15, there's a reason why it says the brokhedron. Now, notice what it says in verse number 2. And it says in John 18 verse 2, And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus oftentimes resorted thither with his disciples. And it says he oftentimes resorted. And what does it mean to resort? You know, well, in America oftentimes people go on a beach resort. And basically it's like a vacation home. People will buy a house on the beachfront and they just rent it out to various families throughout the year. And that's how they make money. It's obviously very costly to have that house right by the beach. But basically it's known as a resort. It's basically a place for vacation. It's a place to relax. And so when you're saying that you're resorting, it means you're relaxing on vacation, basically. You're taking a resort. And what we see here in verse number 2 is that Jesus oftentimes resorted. There was a place that Judas knew about because he figured this is probably where Jesus is. Because very often, oft times, very often, Jesus would go with this place, with his disciples, to relax. And this is not something you'll usually hear preached that often. Because when you think of Jesus Christ, he's always going to go, go, go. Paul the Apostle is always going to go, go, go. You know, a concept in the Bible is also taught that you do not want to burn yourself out. And so yes, there are the verses that say, hey, make yourself basically a living sacrifice. And that's true, but you have to understand the false balance is an abomination to the world. And you need a proper balance on things. And so yes, you want to push, push, push. But you also have to know when you need to calm down and just kind of relax and rest. Think about somebody who's running a race. And he just sprints the entire race, but it's like a thousand meters. You're going to burn yourself out. You're going to stop out for 100 meters or 200 meters and be like, you're going to finish your last place. Why? And you need to kind of rest a little bit along the way. And quite honestly, our race is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And look, I used to run long distances very often. And when you run long distances, during that run you oftentimes will have something like a pain will come in your side. And you just have to kind of fight through that. But when you have a pain in your side, you slow down a little bit. And you're just trying to chug through that. And then you get refreshed. And then you have the energy to keep going. This is a sort of race sprint. Now go to Ecclesiastes 7. Now I don't really look at Jesus Christ as someone who would take a week vacation. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I kind of look at it as a place you go to just to get a few hours just to kind of relax. Because then we're obviously doing a lot of work. And when you're doing a lot of work, sometimes you need to just kind of refresh yourself and relax. This is something that's caught in the Bible. And in Ecclesiastes 7 verse 16, it makes mention of this well word. It says, Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over what. Why should thou destroy thyself? What does it mean by being righteous over much? It basically means you take on too big of a responsibility spiritually. You know, basically you're trying to do too much. And the Bible says that you can do too much. Be not righteous over much. Neither make thyself over what. Why should thou destroy thyself? See, what the Bible's showing here is that if you try to do too much, you will destroy yourself. You're going to hate your life. It's going to be just too much to handle. And see, when it comes to something like this, if somebody's able to just hit the acceleration and never slow down, I don't want to kill their deal. But I also believe in preaching every single word that's in the Bible, every single verse. And we're in John 18, and it talks about resorting. And honestly, Jesus Christ, even himself, he had a relationship with his disciples where they would relax from time to time, and they were able to get refreshed. And so when it says be not righteous over much, look, you don't want to run yourself out. You don't have to go sobering four times a week. There's no verse that's going to say you must go sobering four times a week. Now, I personally believe everyone should go sobering weekly. But I don't think you're living in sin if you don't go more than that. Now, if you have the ability and the energy, man, push yourself as hard as you want. But what you often see is people really push themselves, and then they push themselves off the cliff, and then they're done. And it's like you need to find out where the balance is in your life of how much can I do. Look, as a church, we want to do a lot of things. And, you know, honestly, there's not really a whole lot of churches doing stuff, so there's a temptation where we've got to just do everything. We're just going to start with, like, six church plants next month. And, you know, we're going to have so many marathons every single week. And, you know, we just can't do that. It would be way too much for our church to handle. And it's a tough balance because I was actually just saying the other day, me and Brother Justin were talking about this, and I was looking at the schedule, and I'd like to do three so many marathons before the end of the year as the weather's getting maybe a little bit cooler and stuff like that. And I would love to do 20, but, you know, you can only do so much. You only have so much energy. And, you know, quite honestly, we will burn ourselves out if we don't find a chance to relax and get refreshed. I'm excited for this day night coming. You know, we can have it. It's going to be nice just to relax, fellowship, and quite honestly, ever since we got those board games, I think it's been great for our church because we've been able to fellowship, get close to one another, and just get a chance to relax. Because we do a lot of soul-winning. But, you know, honestly, it's good sometimes just to get to relax. Now, when it comes to something like this, this is an individual thing for you. Look, if there's somebody at the church that is really pushing me, going soul-winning six times a week, I mean, don't discourage their zeal if they want to go for it. But if somebody's going soul-winning less than you, you don't want to insult them because they're going less than you. Because of the fact it might be best for them not to go several times during the week. And so I personally, we have a lot of soul-winning times, and I show up for all those times, but I don't try to really push people in the times. But I don't try to say, hey, you're living in a sin if you're not going twice a week. I don't believe that. And you can end up making somebody burn themselves out. And this is something that sometimes, you know, people that are kind of younger, and you hear a preach sometimes where, you know, you're not right with God if you don't go soul-winning three times a week or something. And it's like, well, yeah, I mean, you're a single person. You don't have kids. And it really makes a fiery service. And then you do, well, quite honestly, I don't really think that's the proper balance you seem to have. And quite honestly, you know, people are reading the Bible every day, and they're praying every day. They're coming to church, and they're going soul-winning. But even if God's doing as much as you, then that's fine. Because they're still trying to serve God, and if they do more, it might just be too much. One thing I've heard is on some of the mission strips, and I didn't hear that here, but I heard on some of the mission strips, some of the soul-winners were telling people, hey, you've got to go off for like eight hours. Six hours isn't enough. Eight hours. Like, they're taking their vacation and spending $1,000 to go to some foreign country to win souls, and they go soloing for six hours, and they're ragging on them. They're not doing more. Now, what's interesting is a lot of those people that were ragging on people end up being bad people themselves. But it's just like, you know what, people need a chance to take a break sometimes. For me personally, honestly, when I came here and stuff like that, you know, everything's new. It's been a mission strip, finding a building, just getting used to running organizations, stuff like that. One thing I kind of noticed even recently is I've been going to the gym to kind of relax. You know, we have a gym where we live. It's just really quiet. There's usually not a TV playing. There's no music. There's really nobody there. It's not really a great gym, but that's a good thing because it makes the atmosphere okay. But quite honestly, for me, going to the gym, that makes me feel better, refreshed. And so quite honestly, when it comes to you and your personal life, it's probably a good thing for you to find something where you can oftentimes resort or relax and get refreshed. This is not going to be the same thing for everybody. For me, I love playing real-fashioned chess match. Next, you're kind of good at playing soccer or working out. For you, that might not be the same thing. But I think it's good for everybody to find something where they can basically relax and get refreshed. I'm not saying you're taking a break from church or just quitting reading the Bible, but it's good to find some sort of hobby or something to do. You say, what would happen if I don't? If you don't, then you're probably going to get upset at your husband or your wife, even though it's not their fault that you're burning yourself out of life. Or you'll get upset at, you know, your girlfriend or boyfriend. And you'll get frustrated all the time. Where, honestly, you could do more for God and be in much better mood if you just kind of embraced a little bit and just found something you could do for 20 minutes a day or something. And so I don't know what it is for everybody, but I do want you to realize that, you know, it's not like you're living in sin. Oh, man, I'm reading Bible for 30 minutes a day and other people are reading it for two hours, so I need to just read it for two hours. I mean, people are in different situations in life, and quite honestly, you personally need to know what is your breaking point. Right. And you don't want to push yourself past that point. Go back to John 18. And honestly, it's a tough balance to find because life is busy as it is anyway, but also because when you're trying to live for God, you always feel guilty about not doing more. You know, I always feel like, man, I could have read the Bible more today. I could have memorized the Bible more today. I could have not sold more today. And that is true. Quite honestly, we waste a lot of time that honestly we can use that time for something more beneficial. But, you know, honestly, it's not bad if you are able to serve God, to also say, okay, I've got everything done. Now let me just spend 30 minutes for myself doing whatever that makes me happy. And I'm not saying something sinful. There's a million things in this world that are not sinful. Don't get your rewards in heaven for things that maybe you enjoy that can help you last in the Christian life. You know, I preach against rock music because, well, obviously, worldly music. I preach against television because 99% or whatever is on there is garbage. But honestly, there's a lot of things that you could do that wouldn't be sinful. You could find a documentary that would be okay. You could do a lot of things. You know, playing a game. It's nothing sinful. It doesn't get your rewards in heaven. It's not a spiritual thing, but it could be a good thing. And notice John 18, verse 3, in the Bible reads, Judas then, having received the band of men and officers from the two priests of Pharisees, come to thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. And so, notice that in John 18, verse 3, they're coming with weapons, lanterns, torches. What I want you to realize is it's very obvious what's going to take place to everyone, including Judas. It's not that Judas accidentally betrays Jesus Christ. Because, you know, depending on if you've seen movies and stuff like that, you know, you're sitting on the Bible, you see that, you know, at the end, Judas is, like, he seems repentant. He seems real sorry. It's as if he has a conscience. He doesn't have a conscience. I mean, he knows exactly what's going to take place here in John 18. It's not like, for example, they say, oh, I just want to sit down and have a conversation. And kind of talk about Dr. Wilkie. They're coming with weapons. They're obviously coming to destroy him. He doesn't have a conscience. It's just people, people, when they see things are going against them, that's not very good for them. Okay? So Judas very clearly understands what's taking place. And this is someone who was his friend for three years. Now, look, you get mad at people sometimes, even friends, but, you know, your betraying has been death. Okay? I've had plenty of time with friends of mine who have made me frustrated for various reasons. But it's not like I ever reached a point where I said, man, I hope this person is supposed to be dead. And so, look, Judas doesn't care about Jesus Christ at all. He's a man with no conscience. There are some before him. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus, Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am he. And Judas also was betrayed and stood with them. And so notice that Jesus Christ is not heightened about who he is. Now, there were times before this where he was careful. In fact, there were times in the Bible where he says, don't tell anybody about him. Now, why would he do that? Well, because he realized that his time was not yet come. Now, at this time, his time has come, so it's not like he's trying to hide from just standing up for the truth. But quite honestly, there's times where you know you've got to be smart about what you do. And Jesus Christ did that at this time. Now, at this time, he's just plainly saying who he is because it is his time. He spoke about that the last few chapters. Verse six, as soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. And so basically they asked him and then he tells them and they just fall down to the ground. Now, this is not a Pentecostal revival that's taking place. It's not like Jesus Christ was just like smacking him with a suit or just a little punch in the face or something like that. I think it just shows the power of the word of God. And they come and then all of a sudden, he speaks to them and they fall back onto the ground. Verse number seven, then asking them again, whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. And so Jesus is saying, hey, you're looking for me. You're only after me. Verse number nine, the same might be fulfilled which he spake, of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malthus. And so Simon Peter takes the sword and swings it and cuts off the ear of Malthus. Now you say, why did he cut off his right ear? Why did he aim for the ear? He didn't aim for the ear. That's just what it is. I mean, when you're emotional, if you've ever seen a fight in sports, because they don't expect a fight to take place. I'm not saying a boxing match where you're just ready and organized. I'm saying two guys on the field and they just end up getting in a fight. They swing. They miss their punches by this much. They're swinging just wildly. It's like, what in the world are they doing? It's not like it's organized and it makes sense. They're just swinging wildly because they're emotional. Simon is basically just really emotional and he's just wrong. And quite honestly, Malthus might have moved as well. We don't really know. I mean, it's not like if a sword's coming at you, you're just like, I'll just stand here still. All we know is the swamp and what he got was the right one. I believe you're probably aiming to kill him, but what we have to understand is we're not in a physical battle. And yes, the Bible speaks about self-defense and having a weapon and things such as that, but we're not taking the fight too deep. And Peter needed to understand that this is the time for Jesus to go. So we don't have to fight him because this is what he's coming to do as he is anyway. Verse 11. And so Jesus basically says, hey, this is my cup. This is what I'm here for. This is my lot in life. Now this is something we can take to us because we don't know what our cup is going to be anymore. I invoke my cup, my lot in life. What God has for me is to stay in the Philippines permanently. And my children will grow up and love the Lord and we can help start churches and have to thrive in so many ministries and just serve God here. I don't want to be a martyr. I don't want to be killed. I just want to be able to preach the gospel. I don't really want to get arrested. I'd rather just preach and just have a great church and things will keep going as they're going. But look, what if that is not my life? What if some hardcore Catholic is elected president and they just see the sermon series I preached against the church and they just say, you're getting arrested. You know what? If that's my cup in life, it is what it is. Obviously you want to be smart about how you handle things, but at the same time, we don't know what's going to take place. And I think it would be very vocal to think this world is going to get better. I don't think it's going to get better. I think it's only going to get worse. So although we don't really have a whole lot of persecution now, who knows what's going to take place in 20, 30, 40 years. I mean the world has changed a lot since I was a kid. When I was a kid, you didn't really see a whole lot of sodomites. And I'm sure it's the same way here. The way the world is changing, it's really hard to tell what's going to take place in 20 years. Because if you had said when I was a kid that every state in the U.S. is going to legalize being here. I'm not sure if it's every state now. It's not been almost every state. Look, people would have thought you were crazy. And nobody would have been for it. And they knew it would never take place. They tried to push these pro-LGBT shows on TV when I was a kid. And they got taken off the air immediately. He did that. See, being liberal back then would be conservative today. Because people would all become really liberal and against conservatism and stuff like that. The world's changing a lot. Now it's like 50-50 on what you think about pro-life versus abortion. It's like, what in the world? It's like there was a day when everybody thought only a child was wrong. Because the world's changing a lot. I don't know what it's going to be like. And so, what's my cup of 50? I don't know. What's your cup of 50? I don't know. What we have to be willing to do is accept the help that we're given in life. Serve God the best we can and whatever happiness happens. Verse number 12. Then the man and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. He led him away at the end of his first, for he was the father of the body of Caiaphas, which was the higher priest that was sitting here. Now Caiaphas was he who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. That disciple was known under the higher priest and went in with Jesus and led the palace of the higher priest. But Peter stood at the door of thou and then went out that other disciple, which was known under the higher priest and spake on the earth and kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door of Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. Now wait a minute. Isn't this the same deer that tried to swing pretty wildly with the sword and cut off some of his ear? And then now, I mean, he swung and cut off somebody's ear, somebody who actually was trying to arrest Jesus. He could easily throw him in jail, put him to death or whatever. And yet here, he just backs down when the damsel asks him, you know, aren't you one of his disciples? What does that show you? It shows you that the boldest people in the world still have peace for their beautiful people. And yes, you know, we're not supposed to be fearful people. We're supposed to fear God, but outside of that, we're not supposed to fear what man can do unto us, but we all do from time to time. You look in the Bible at Elijah, and Elijah stood up against the bullfrogs of hell. When you read that chapter, you're in that chapter thinking, man, there's nothing that can destroy Elijah. And what ends up happening in the next chapter? Jezebel basically runs in and immediately he's afraid. And so what do you see? You see the boldest of people who have moments where they back down. Yeah, okay. So what does that tell us? Well, it tells us that we should always be careful with ourselves, make sure we want to serve God and things such as that, but also not get so hard on people that maybe have weak moments and are fearful and back down. Now, obviously, there's a balance to this. I'm not saying people that never run so early in their lives and never set foot in a church like this, but I'm saying if we let us serve God, we have to realize they will have moments where they don't really act all that spiritually. Because we have the old man and the new man, we don't automatically walk in the new man. It's a choice we make, and sometimes, quite honestly, we're going to be like Peter here, and he's afraid. He's back and down. Now, honestly, it's not really that surprising he's afraid. What's kind of surprising is he had the guts to try to kill the mountains. And so, you know, honestly, when I look at characters in the Bible that are fearful, I kind of think, well, that's the logical thing to expect. You expect when Eliza is being threatened by the king's wife to be killed, you'd expect him to be afraid. What doesn't really make sense about Eliza is how are you not afraid in verse 18? And so we look at the parts where they are afraid. Quite honestly, it's just amazing when men of God are standing up for the truth and not being afraid. Verse 18, The servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold. And they warmed themselves, and Peter swipped with them and warmed themselves. The high priest had asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Verse 20, Jesus answered them, I spake openly to the world. I haven't taught in the synagogue and in the temple whether the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing. And so Jesus said he spoke openly to the world. He taught in the synagogues. Why didn't he teach in the synagogues? It says that's where Jesus always resorts. It's where they had their vacation was in the synagogues preaching the false gospel and stuff like that. A lot of them were, at least the Pharisees. What I want you to understand is why was Jesus teaching there? Because there's a lot of people who get sick. Why don't we send a group to the park every single Sunday? Because there's a lot of people resorting. Why do we always go to the resolve park when we were in Manila? Because that's when people are resorting and so you can reach more people with the gospel. Jesus was teaching in the synagogues. It's not that he's teaching for ungodly people or whatever, but he's teaching people one-on-one. I'm sure he preached sermons as well. He preached sermons, not in the gospel, but he preached in the large crowds. He preached sermons, and he talked to people and preached the gospel, and he would get people to say it. Verse 121. Why hastest thou me? Ask them which heard me. What I have said unto them, behold, they know what I say. And so they're asking Jesus basically of what his doctrine is and things such as that, and Jesus says, Why are you asking me? Just ask them which heard me. Ask the people that actually listen to me. And so here's the thing. If you want to know the things that I believe someone who visits this church, they don't really need to ask me what I believe. Because everybody in this room can tell them what I believe. I haven't been secretive about what I believe. If you want to know what I believe about the rapture, I mean, it's pretty obvious why. Because I've preached it. I've said it. You want to know what I believe about the reprobate doctrine? I've preached it. I've said it. You want to know what I think about Calvinists? I've preached it. I've said it. And I'm not going to change anything. I believe the same exact thing since this church started. And so quite honestly, when you go to most churches, though, you go to Baptist church, you visit, if you were to ask members of that church, Hey, what does the pastor think about the sons of God? Does he believe they're fallen angels? They have no idea what the pastor thinks. You say, why? Because the pastors don't preach anything. So the members have no idea. And that is why you get a church filled with people of all kinds of different beliefs. Because they don't even know what the pastor believes. Because he doesn't preach on them. Now, look, at our church, everybody knows what I believe. Now, I'm not saying that everybody necessarily agrees with everything I say, but it's fine. You don't have to believe every single thing that you hear preached. But everybody knows what I believe. If you want to know what somebody actually teaches, you can ask their followers, and you're going to know. What do I think about repentance? He's pretty clear. What do I think about infant baptism? He's pretty clear. What do I think about any manner of topics? And if there's any topic that you're curious, hey, I wonder what brother Shekim thinks about this topic. What does he think about this verse? It's kind of controversial. You can ask him, and he'll tell you. I'm not afraid or embarrassed about the things that I believe in. There are verses that can be taken different ways, and I'm sure I'm wrong on some of the things that I strongly believe. But, you know, I don't hide what I believe. And so all I have to do is ask these followers. Verse number 22. And so what you're seeing is these people are not very good people. You say, well, he's a high priest. Look, most religious people are bad people. They're not good people. Most religious people, most pastors don't reprobate. Now, are members of the church that reprobate? No, I mean, the average member of the church, they don't even know what the pastor believes. Most people are just normal, everyday people. But when it comes to people that are physicians and influence, people that are preachers and teachers, most of them need more reprobates. Say, well, how do you know the reprobates? Well, look, when you're preaching with false gospel for years and years, you're preaching repentance and sin for years and years. You're preaching Calvinism for years and years. You're preaching Catholicism for years and years, and you graduate from their seminary, and you get trained for years and years and years. Look, you're going to end up either saved or reprobated. You're not going to hear the gospel in most of the places. So it's like, you know, there's really only a limit to it. Because if you know so much, then you're going to end up being saved and will be reprobated. When it comes to people that are religious teachers and preachers, look, if they're preaching hand in hand with heresy, there are a bunch of reprobates. They're not just normal members. They're people that have been teaching. And so these people, they don't care about Jesus at all because they're not very good people. Verse 25, And so this is the third time that Peter denies Jesus. And Jesus told him that would happen. He said, you will deny me three times before you talk to them. And so did Peter feel like at the time the prophecy hit, he was very bold, he was very zealous, but when he's actually in this situation, it's a little bit harder to stand up for the things that he thought that would come when he was weak. Now, verse number 28, If you were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up on to thee. Now, this just kind of boggles your mind when you stop and think about it. In verse 29, Pilate says, what is the accusation? And in verse 30, well, he wasn't like a really bad guy. So basically, they don't answer the question at all. Basically, yeah, he did something bad. What's your accusation, Paul? He did something. Look, you have to actually do somebody something specific. You can't just say, hey, somebody's a bad guy. That's what they're doing to them. What accusation bring me against this thing? You want somebody to be put to death, what is the crime they committed? I mean, did they commit murder? Did they commit adultery? Why are you bringing them to me? What exactly did he do? Well, if you weren't a malefactor, we wouldn't have delivered him. You say, why is it that they say that? Because, you know, people don't really like to just tell people to face the odds. You know, even when it comes to reparations, they usually don't like telling people to face the odds. And so people, they just tend to just tell half-truths and things such as that. They're misleading with what they say, rather than just being honest. It's like having to go to a new visited church, and look, I've been to a lot of Baptist churches, not only on vacation, but members of a lot. And, you know, you just try to talk to a pastor to find out what he believes. And, you know, when it comes to talking to a pastor, you literally know this guy's either a man of God or a man of the devil. It's going to be one or the other when they talk to you. And when it comes to somebody being a man of the devil, they will do their best and not tell you what they believe. You just avoid it. It's really frustrating because when you first start, you know, visiting churches, you just kind of assume they're going to be honest with you. And then you find out that they're not honest at all. And look, I was a member of a Calvinist church for a year because of the fact I didn't know the pastor was a Calvinist. We asked him directly what he believed about specific things and he was very misleading. And so we thought the church wasn't any kind of functional Baptist church, King James only. And it turns out there are most Calvinists. You say, what? Because Calvinists are the biggest liars there are. And there's a bunch of phonies. And it's just like, I literally preached a sermon in that church. I preached three times in that church. And when I first went to the church, I liked it because for one, the pastor really preached hard against sin, or at least he seemed like this was like my perspective with prophet James now, but you know, he didn't believe in Bible college. I wanted to be a pastor. He said, you know, just get training in the local church. They didn't have an article. I said, this is great. There's a lot of things I really liked about that church. And so I preached at that church, you know, a few times before he realized he was a heretic. But in my first sermon, you know, I mentioned Calvinism and I ripped on Calvinism. And he's like, Amen! And it's just like, it turns out he's a full-blown life of a Calvinist. It's like, why are you screaming in it because he's a bold-faced liar? He's built reprobate from out of conscience. What his vote was, obviously, let's just get these college guys here and we'll change their beliefs. Here's the reality of it. They actually did change their beliefs on something. Because we used to go so many ways before we went to that church. We felt like we were right when we got out of that church because the preacher preached hard and it really seemed like a church that was without the hand of King James only and stuff like that. Then when I really looked back at it because I left the church I was like, man, I was a lot more zealous before I went to that church. And so church will sometimes do that. They make you feel spiritual when you're not spiritual. I remember I was at that church and they had a basketball night you know, every once in a while and I was talking to my pastor you know, I was talking to the pastor of that church I was talking to the cross prophet of that church. I was talking to him about hey, I have a friend of mine that I'd love to get saved and at the time I didn't have a lot of confidence in my soul and I thought he's a pastor and he's going to do a much better job than me. Because I wouldn't be doing this for a year. And I said I'd love to bring him here to one of the basketball nights or whatever some of you can talk to him and give him the gospel and he said, well, I don't think that's the best idea because it's just kind of a church fellowship when it comes to preaching the gospel what I'd like to do is have a six week Bible study and he said I'd like to do a six week Bible study and he said once a week for six weeks and he said I'd really like to give the spirit time to work. Now look, if I knew what I knew now, if that started saving I'd be like, whoa, what kind of church am I in? But you know, I was only saved for like a year and a half or whatever. But he really wanted to give the spirit a chance to move you know, and really convict and really reprove convict and make you feel like a guilty, wicked sinner. And so, you know but anyways, we did this church though I mean, he was a full blown cow in this church and I realized because of what he was teaching about how so many of you spend six weeks what it does is it makes you feel like you can't get somebody to save you. And so once I realized looking back I realized, man, I didn't want to do a whole lot for God when I was at that church. What verse are we on? Verse number 31 Then said Pilate unto them Take ye hand and judge it according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto them It is not lawful for us to put any man to death saying in Jesus' mighty fulfill where she spake, signifying what death ye should die. It's not lawful for you to put any man to death but you have no problem helping someone. Shows hypocrisy. Now verse number 33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment called again, they called Jesus and said unto them Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him Sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it be of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thy own nation and chief priests have delivered unto me. What hast thou done? Verse number 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world then would my servants find that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom and so once again what we're seeing is that it's not a physical kingdom that Jesus is setting up and so it's not a physical battle we're fighting against a spiritual act my kingdom is not from this it's not of this world and so when people want you to try to take on the government or get really involved in politics or just spend all your time at anti-abortion rallies or anti-sodomite rallies but quite honestly that's not really the battle of the whole fight and it's basically a waste you're never going to be elected president of this country and turn the world upside down now is it true that there are people that God views like Nebuchadnezzar and the insiders that is true but you have to understand that they weren't making it their goal to basically correct the world's problems basically they were just in a position and God put them there that God could use them it's not something for Christians that are saved hey my goal in life is to be some high level politician and stuff like that that should be your goal your goal should just be to be part of the local church serve God and that's what God calls you to do verse 37 Jesus answered to this end was I born and to this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness on the truth everyone that is not the truth hear my voice when he said this he went out to get on with the Jews and said I thought of them now in verse 7 what he said is everyone that is not the truth hear my voice and this is a concept throughout the Bible that people that are saved will understand the voice of the shepherd and so when it comes to the Bible look the Bible is pretty simple and if you're reading Genesis 1 and you walk away and say the earth is billions of years old you're not saved? how can you say that? because it's so incredibly obvious that you can't unite there are a lot of things in the Bible like hey we can turn to a random verse and let's see let's see what we're going to do what do you mean to the mind of God? I don't know, Zachariah chapter 11 verse 12 you can have different things but when it comes to simple clear verses in the Bible when it comes to simple clear doctrines you're not going to get confused on these things and so when somebody believes these really crazy doctrines that are so far off of what the Bible says it's because they're not saved now people, they don't like it when you preach like this because they say well you know you're taking the judgment into your own hands and you're making judgment calls and it's true that when I hear people say certain things I am kind of putting the judgment in my own mind of what I think about that person but what you have to understand is salvation is by what you believe not what you do and so when it comes to somebody just not believing anything the Bible says I would question their salvation now if somebody's newly saved they don't understand these things but if somebody's been in our church for like six months and they walk away and just say you know what? I just decided I'm a Roman Catholic I'd be like I don't think that person's saved now here's the thing if somebody gets saved and they stay with the Roman Catholic church that's different but if you sit in our room for six months and you hear what the Bible's saying and you walk away saying I think I need to keep the sacraments from being saved and you pull out rose rigor beads after six months like hey I decided to get rose rigor beads I'd be like what in the world? I mean what do you believe? you know I go to your house and you just bought this giant Buddhist ashtray and you're like do you really believe the gospel? you know you would have to wonder about it now if somebody's living the same life if somebody is a drunk I would not question their salvation at all if they believe the gospel I would not question their salvation at all there are plenty of drunks that are saved and on their way to heaven there are plenty of people that are addicted to drugs that are saved and on their way to heaven but there are not plenty of plenty of people out there that are hardcore evolutionists there's not a lot of people that have these really false beliefs say I don't believe Jesus is God look they're not saved that's the reality of the matter because salvation comes down to what we believe now there are plenty of things in the Bible that people put up their committees when it comes to what we believe as a church we believe a lot of things that different Baptist churches would disagree on and just because they disagree on the timing of practices that doesn't make me question their salvation it makes me question how much they know the Bible or how much they believe the Bible or whether they've actually read Matthew 24 or read Revelation without a commentary I wouldn't really question their salvation but when they're messing around with salvation I would question their salvation on something like that because it's something that's very very obvious. Now what I want to say is this about the pre-trib post-trib argument generally when people are pre-trib they just don't know anything about the Bible and when it comes to pastors they do a really good job of just avoiding the discussions and avoiding thinking about it and avoiding reading those chapters so what they're doing is they're really worried they're wrong and they just don't want to figure it out for themselves they don't really know what they're doing they just want to hide from the truth but I don't really question their salvation I just question whether or not they're willing to stand up or are messing up very clear things in the Bible it's like they don't hear the voice of the shepherd when you can read Genesis 1 and walk away and say I think there's a 4.5 billion year battle between verses 1 and 2 it's like what in the world I've never even thought about that unless I had heard somebody comment when somebody just walks away from just clear things in the Bible and they say hey this is what I believe in totally horrible old Bible when you read a verse in the Bible and say hey no Acts 16 it says you know that him and his whole house were baptized so maybe one of those people in his house was a baby so now we should do baby baptism I've heard people say that before and I cannot say it I mean what in the world they clearly just don't understand Bible now look at verse 39 actually in verse 38 what you see with Pilate he wants to avoid this situation and he doesn't really think that Jesus is a bad person but he's kind of scared about what the truth is and he makes kind of a foolish statement what is true because the truth is not significant it doesn't really matter and I guess when you're a high level politician who doesn't really matter you're scared about money and things such as that but you know Jesus said I am the way the truth Jesus is truth and you know when it comes to going to certain churches people should go to churches where they're actually teaching the truth and say why? because church is the pillar and ground of truth and so for people who attend churches that just read different Gospels or even if they have the same Gospels they just are really lame they don't do any sowing they don't teach anything it's like why are you going there? because when it comes to church people learn the truth and so it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense people devalue you according to truth verse number 39 he had a custom that I should release on you one in the past so will you therefore that I release on you the king of the twos? then cried they all again saying not this man but Barabbas now Barabbas was a robber and so what you see Pilate do is that he tries to persuade them to pick Jesus and he can't get them to do that what he ends up doing is basically saying well I'm free from this blood's on your hands but it doesn't change the fact that you're still guilty you're not as guilty according to Jesus you can say the one that delivered me is more guilty and so when it comes to being in situations like this you've got to just decide to do what is right now I don't think Pilate ever got to take me on to leave me some help but even as believers when you take that principle if you're put in a position where you must stand up for truth you must choose to stand up and not back I think the chapter kind of ends in a kind of weird verse the chapter is kind of added you know it just kind of ends it doesn't really end in a I guess I don't think the chapter will be shorter but obviously the thing I want you to take away from this is actually a recent beginning is remember in life there is a time for a lot of this you need to find out what that is you don't want to burn yourself out you're on the bottom of that philosophy field now you're going to get to see the word John 18 just leave the chapter collected in the book of John and help me so