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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And it goes on, it says in verse 15, others said that this is Elias, which is the Greek name for Elijah. Others said that it is a prophet or as one of the prophets, but when Herod heard thereof, he said it is John who might beheaded. He is risen from the dead. So, King Herod is just convinced that Jesus is John the Baptist and other people have other opinions about who Jesus might be. It says there in verse 15, others said that this is Elias, and others said that it is a prophet. He is just another prophet in a long line of prophets, or as one of the prophets. It is not Elijah that has come back, but it is one of the other prophets that has come back. That is really an interesting detail when we get the general thoughts of who everyone thinks that Jesus is in the story. Herod is saying it is John the Baptist. Some people are saying it is Elijah. Other people are saying, no, it is not John. It is not Elijah. It is one of these other prophets. That is what I want to preach about tonight, is one of the prophets. Jesus is taken as one of the prophets. There is something we can learn from this about Jesus and about his preaching. What is it about Jesus that made people mistake him for somebody else or assumed that he was another person? I don't think it was his physical description. They weren't all holding up a picture of John the Baptist going, I think it is John the Baptist. There are some similarities here. They didn't have these sketches or anything like this. Oh, it looks like one of the prophets. It looks like Jeremiah or Isaiah or Malachi or Habakkuk or Haggai or Obadiah or Jonah or Micah. It looks like one of those prophets. What are you saying? They all look the same? Sounds kind of racist to me. Anyway, obviously that is not the similarity that they were that is not what made them mistake Jesus for somebody else was his physical appearance. Rather, it was the works that he was doing and I believe more specifically the things that he was preaching and the manner in which he preached them. It was a style of preaching that made people think this is either a prophet or one of the prophets or perhaps even Elijah or maybe as Herod mistakenly thought John the Baptist risen from the dead. So the thread of similarity between all of these preachers including Jesus is the manner in which they preach. Jesus is just taken as one of the prophets because of the way he preached. Now prove that tonight because people today they have a mistaken notion about Jesus. They want to cast him in a certain light when it comes to his preaching that Jesus only preached sweetness and light that he was just this soft you know borderline effeminate you know overly kind person. Now Jesus obviously was loving and kind and is loving and kind and all of that but Jesus dropped the hammer folks. Jesus was the hardest preacher that has ever lived and ever will live. Jesus rips face and if you've ever read the New Testament you know what I'm saying is true. Keep something there in Mark chapter 6 but go over to 1 Kings chapter number 18. 1 Kings chapter number 18. So Jesus is being taken as one of the prophets and I thought it'd be an interesting experiment to just go through the prophets and just look at some of their preaching and see if we see any similarities between them and Jesus. Now why is it that Jesus is being taken as one of the prophets? It's not the way he looked. I'm sure they were all very different in the way they looked. How could they have ever known what he looked like? Obviously it's the preaching that he's doing. It's the things that he's saying in the manner in which he says them. Now first of all he's taken as Elias which is Elijah. And we're going to go back and we're just going to look at some of Elijah's preaching. I believe that's where this mistaken notion is coming from. Where they're assuming that Jesus is somebody else other than who he is. They're mistaking him for a prophet. It's because of his preaching. So that tells us that we can get an idea of the type of preaching, the manner in which he preached, if we just look at the prophets. I mean we have his own preaching. If that's not evidence enough you can just read through the gospels and hear some of Jesus' own preaching and if you don't cherry pick and just go to all the famous verses that the liberals love and actually read what Jesus taught you'd see right off, right out of the gate for yourself that Jesus was a hard preacher. He was the hardest preacher. Let's go to some of these other preachers. Let's look at 1 Kings chapter 18. Let's start here in verse 17. Of course this is a very famous story where Elijah is confronting the prophets of Baal. Israel is deep in Baal worship. You have Ahab and Jezebel ruling over the land. It says in verse 17, So again here's another thread between these old prophets John the Baptist and Jesus is that they confront wicked leadership. They don't just roll over because somebody is in authority. Now I'm not saying we're going to commit insurrection or anything like that but when you have wicked leaders it's okay to call out wicked leadership. And that's exactly what Elijah does. Because Elijah kind of presses him and says Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubleth Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that he hath forsaken the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Balaam. I mean get the picture of what Elijah is doing here. Saying, oh no, no, no. I'm not to blame you and your father's house because you're a bunch of Baal worshipers. He's basically saying, you're a bunch of satanic worshiper. You worship Satan, right? Now look, that's something we could probably say of many of our leaders today. Quite literally. When they're living in a center of power is in Washington D.C. where you have the monuments and other key geographic points, different sites there, different buildings and structures that if you connect the dots make a literal pentagram, a Baphomet. It's not a wild-eyed conspiracy theory. You can just go on Google Maps and look at it. When they're surrounded by idolatry when they have all these close ties to Freemasonry and things like that, which is a Luciferian religion, we could say the same thing of our own leadership. We could point the finger at them and say, we're not the problem with America. You and your bunch of blood-drinking, devil-worshipping fathers are. That's the truth. You can see how this story all these thousands of years later is still relevant today. I love to just bring the Bible into modern times and make an application. There you go. Let's continue on with the story and see the kind of preacher that Elijah was. We see first of all that he's bold that he'll point the finger right back at wicked leadership and call them out for what they are and call them a bunch of Baal-worshippers, a bunch of satanic Luciferians. It says in verse 18 And he answered, I have not trouble with Israel, but thou and thy father's house, and ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord. And thou hast followed Baal, and thou therefore sent and gathered to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel. And the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves, four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So I have sent unto the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Okay, we get it, you know, this is Elijah preaching to the people. And he's kind of putting them on the spot. You know, that's what bold preaching does. It makes you, you know, make a decision. It draws you to a place of decision and say, hey, you're either going to do this or you're going to do that. You're going to get right or you're not going to get right. That's the kind of preaching that God's people, God's men are called to do. To call people to a place of decision. And often, that has to be done very directly and very boldly without, you know, you know, without trying to spare people's feelings. Sometimes you just have to say it like it is. And he's saying here, you know, you need to either stop worshiping Baal and start worshiping the Lord, or you know, you just keep right on worshiping Baal and quit, you know, paying God lip service. How long halt ye between two opinions? How long are you going to ride this hedge? You know, how long are you going to stay on the fence? Get in or get out? That's what he's saying. He goes on, you know, the people answer him not a word. Then said Elijah to the people, I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood and put no fire under it. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it down and put no fire under it. Now, kids, that doesn't mean dress it like like dress like put clothes on it. It means like like you dress a turkey, right? You get it ready to eat. OK, just making sure we're all on the same page here. He wasn't dressing a cow and then putting it on the altar. All right. Just trying to keep you with me here. It says in verse 24 and call you in the name of the Lord of your gods and I will call upon the name of the Lord and the God that answerth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answer and said, it is well spoken. And Elijah said of the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves and dress it for ye are many and call the name of your gods and put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, oh Baal, hear us. But there was no voice nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, it said, cry aloud for he is a god. Either he is talking or he is he is pursuing or he is in a journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awake. And he's saying it like that because it says he's mocking them. Right. He's not saying, well, you know, maybe he's just he's sleeping or his adventure. He's he's mocking these people. Right. This is why I never have a problem when a man of God gets up and mocks false religion and calls it out for what it is because it's false and it leads people down a wicked path. Okay. And Elijah is doing that. He's taking the opportunity to kind of just let loose. Okay. And he's mocking them and it says, and they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets to the blood gushed out them out upon them. And it came to pass when the day was passed that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. And there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded because there is no bail. Bail is not a god at all. And Elijah said, and all the people come here unto me and all the people came here unto him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Elijah took the twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord and made a trench around about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed. So he's taking it a step further than these guys. They didn't build a trench. He takes it and puts it upon the altar that is repaired and then digs a trench enough to carry, you know, hold two measures of seed, however much that is. Apparently it's significant enough to make note of it. Okay. So we should be impressed by that. And he put the wood in order and cut the bullocks in pieces and laid them on the wood and said fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. So now you see the purpose of the trench. Then he's going to just douse this thing in water right and then it's going to run and gather in the trench. And said do it the second time. And they did it the second time. So now he's got this trench filling up with water. The entire thing's soaked. So now you can kind of, if you're there and you're about to see what's going to happen you can't really dismiss it. Right. Because if there had been no water maybe they could say, oh, it was slight of hand. You know, somebody else was in on it. You know, somebody, you know, there was some pyrotechnics involved. You know, somebody who whoever put the bullock up there, they were in on it with Elijah. You know, this was like, this was a trick that they did. He's saying, no, we're going to pour water on this thing and then we're going to have water all around it so you know I'm not like lighting a fuse or something that's going to run over there. Like there's no way that there's any slight of hand or trickery taking place. That's why he's pouring, I believe, all this water on it. And he said, do it the second time. They did it the second time. We're in verse 34 and he said, do it the third time. They did it the third time. And the water ran about the altar and filled the trench also with water. So now there's just all of this water there. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the England sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came here and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O God, hear me that this people may know that thou art God and that thou hast turned their back again. Now notice, the prophets of Baal had been cutting themselves with lancets. They're bleeding themselves out. All day they're doing this. Elijah gets up and just makes a few statements. Two verses is all it takes. Because he's got the truth on his side. He just says these two words. What happens? Or these two verses verse 38, then fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice in the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. Elijah said to them, Well, I'm glad everyone came around. Now let's try to convince the prophets of Baal of this too. Right? Now this is where it gets gnarly. This is a cool story. But then look at what Elijah does next in verse 40. Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape. And they took them and Elijah brought them down to the book of Kishon and slew them there. He takes them down to the river and says, All right, guys, if we're going to get right with God today, we're going to kill all the prophets of Baal. And it says that he's the one that did it. I wonder if he was just like, next, next. And they're just bringing the prophets of Baal. He's just like running them through as they come. I mean, it's quite the scene. But when you got a man of God calling down fire, you kind of go along with whatever he's saying. You're like, maybe we're next. I don't know. But that's the kind of prophet. And you don't see in the story anywhere where God says, Well, you know, you went too far, Elijah. You took it a little too far killing, you know, all those Satan worshippers. You took it a little too far, you know, killing all the priests of Baal. You went too far there. No, that's who Elijah was. That was the kind of bull preaching that he did. He'd stick his finger right in the face of that wicked leader and call him a son of the devil. He'd go and he'd call down fire from heaven and he slew all the false prophets of that land. And yet here we are in the New Testament, so people are going, you know, Jesus might be Elijah. Maybe he reminds us of one of those guys. Or maybe he's one of the prophets. And you say, oh, that's just one instance. That's just one instance, one story that you could turn to. I don't think that there's any correlation there. I think you're kind of reaching to try and say that the reason why they mistook Jesus for Elijah is because of his preaching, because of his boldness. Well, they also said he's like one of the prophets. Perhaps he's one of the prophets, not Elijah, not John the Baptist, but another one of the prophets. There are many. So what I did this afternoon is I just went into each of the prophets and just went to the center of the book and read it. And just to see what it said. So let's do that tonight. Let's look at it. With the exception of one book. My theory proved true that Jesus is being mistaken. Go to Isaiah chapter 33 for one of these prophets because of his bold preaching. And I just said, you know what? I bet you could just open up the book of Isaiah to practically anywhere. Open up the book of Jeremiah to practically anywhere. Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. You could probably just open up to any one of these prophets and just hear some of the most hardest face-ripping preaching that there is. And lo and behold, I was right. Is anybody shocked by that? Probably not. We're going to Isaiah chapter number 33. And we're going to look at verse 12. Isaiah chapter 33 verse 12. Now, I will admit sometimes I had to move around a little bit in the chapter a few verses before or after halfway to kind of get the context here and figure out what's going on. Let's just back up. I mean, we can back up to verse one. I mean, this is amazing. But just to make my point quickly here, let's go to verse 10. Now will I rise, saith the Lord. Now will I be exalted. Now I will lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff. Ye shall bring forth stubble. Your breath as fire shall devour you. Beloved. This is hard preaching. I mean, you know, you say, oh, this morning's sermon was kind of harsh. It doesn't hold a candle to this. Your breath as fire shall devour you. And that's the kind of preaching they're doing. And they're like, you know, Jesus reminds me of them. I think this is the way he looks. And the people shall be as burnings of lime as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear ye that are far off what I have done. And ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings? This is hard preaching, folks. You know, so so far, you know, one for one. Right. Let's continue on here. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter number 26. So you're just proceeding right in your Bible. Right. Jeremiah chapter number 26. We'll start looking here around verse 12. Well, this is where let's back it up to verse 11. Then the prince spake the priests and the prophets and the princes into all the people saying, this man is worthy to die for he hath prophesied against this city as you have heard with your ears. Because remember, Jeremiah is preaching doom and destruction. He's saying, you guys are done for. And they're saying he's a traitor and he's worthy to die. We need to get rid of him. Right. His preaching is practically got him killed. And if it wasn't for the intervention of some other people, Jeremiah would have died. I mean, obviously God could have stepped in any time he wanted. But my point is, is that's the kind of preaching that Jeremiah did. And this is the kind of preaching that you see done repeatedly all the way from Moses to Jesus and to the apostles and onward. And then it's like you get today. It's like, where have these preachers gone? You know, how? Why is it that hard preaching is so rare and so hard to find? I mean, if this is the kind of preaching that's taking place when men are filled with the spirit of God, why don't we see more of it today? I mean, he's here. He's preaching. He's delivering God's message, and they're ready to kill him. Verse 12. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against the city, all the words you have heard. Therefore, now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord, your God and the Lord. Repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hand. Do with me as seemeth good and mean unto you. But know ye for certain if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon the city and upon the inhabitants thereof. For of a truth, the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. He's not saying I'm not just some hate preacher. I'm not just some wild-eyed fanatic. I was sent by God to preach these words unto you, and you can do whatever you want to me, but you're going to bring blood upon your own hands. You're going to bring judgment upon your own head if you treat mishandled me, because I'm of a truth that's been sent by God. In a sense, a lot of God's men can say the same thing today. They can say, the Bible tells us to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they shall not endure sound doctrine, but shall heap themselves, teachers having itching ears. The Bible says we need to preach the word to be instant, in season, out of season. That's the kind of preaching we're supposed to do. We, like Jeremiah, have been sent to preach the word of God, whether people like it or don't. However people handle it or don't handle it is on them. That's kind of the point I'm making tonight. That's the main point I'm trying to drive here. We have to preach the way that we do, because that's the type of preaching that has always been done. That's what God wants. Go to Lamentations, chapter number 3. You know, just go read pretty much any chapter in Jeremiah. I mean, Jeremiah is just full of hard preaching. Go to Lamentations, chapter number 3. Lamentations, chapter number 3. We'll look at verse 44. He says there in Lamentations, chapter number 3, verse 44. Let's look at verse 41. Lift us up, let us lift up your heart with our hands unto the God in heaven. We have transgressed and have rebelled and thou hast pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger and persecuted us. Thou hast slain. Thou hast not pitied. So he's lamenting, right? It's the book of Lamentations. He's lamenting what God has done unto them. Thou hast covered thyself with the cloud that our prayer should not pass through. Thou hast made us as the offscoring and refuse in the midst of the people. All our enemies have opened their mouth against us. I mean, he's just saying we're laid waste. We're destroyed. Go over to Ezekiel, chapter number 24. Ezekiel, chapter number 24. Let's look at another one of the prophets. Because after all, that's what they said, some of the people said about Jesus. Well, he is as one of the prophets. What exactly did they mean by that? Well, he's wearing the same attire. You know, he's got the same haircut. You know, he wears his beard the same way. No, it's the preaching that he did. The manner in which he preached. Ezekiel, chapter 24. Let's look at verse 9. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city. There's an exclamation point there, folks. It means it's an exclamation. It means it's being heard emphatically. Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for great fire. Heap on wood, kindle fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. This is such great literature. It's powerful, man. I've never preached anything that hard. Never had reason to, right? These guys were calling down the wrath of God. They were warning about it. Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, of the brass of it might be hot and may be burned, that the filthiness of it may be molten out in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. She hath weary herself with lies, and her great scum went forth out of her. Her scum shall be in the fire, and thy filthiness is lewdness, because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged. Thou shalt not be purged from my filthiness anymore, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. God's saying, I'm going to punish you. I'm going to try you before you. I'm going to burn you and get all your iniquity out of you. This is hard preaching. It's so funny to me today when a pastor and a preacher just gets the least bit worked up about lies, gets the least bit worked up about somebody just being completely off on something, calling out sin, calling out falsehood, calling out lies, and standing up for the truth, and they just get the least bit worked up. They just get a little bit passionate about it, and it's just like, oh, he's mean. You know, that's usually the response of a failing position. You know, personal insult is the last bastion of those that are losing. Right? You know, people would just turn to, uh, uh, you're mean! It's because you have no argument. Maybe we're mean, but are we right? That's what matters. And if we're a little passionate about it, you know, forgive us! You know, we love the truth! The truth ought to make people zealous. Thy word is truth. Be a little zealous about the truth. Love the truth. You know, I'm not going to go to Daniel because when you fall in the middle, it's kind of just, uh, it doesn't really make my point, but we could definitely think about some of the preaching that Daniel did, and some of the stories in Daniel. Go to Hosea, chapter number seven. Hosea chapter number seven. We're getting closer to the New Testament, so perhaps these guys will tone down as Jesus draws closer to the scene, right? The closer we get to the New Testament, where, you know, God mellowed out, maybe the guys that are, you know, by the time we get to Malachi, it'll just be all chill, right? Well, let's see, right? No, you know, Daniel, if we don't forget, he went in and interpreted the writing on the wall for Belshazzar and said, you know, thou art found in the balance, thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting, right? And your nation, and your kingdom is going to be divided, and that night, he was murdered in his bed. So it's another preacher who's just, you know, calling out a wicked leader, because remember, he'd taken all the vessels out of the house, that they had got out of the house of God, and drank, and threw a party, and worshiped the gods of stone and of wood, and the vessels that were used in the worship of the Lord God. And then the hand shows up and makes the writing on the wall, and yet you have another man of God in Daniel, just boldly telling a wicked leader right to his face, you're done, you're wicked, it's over, right? This is the kind of preaching that God's men did. Daniel chapter number, no, Hosea, sorry, Hosea chapter number seven. Let's look at verse 13. Maybe as we get into these minor prophets, they'll tone it down a little bit here for us. Let's just go, you know, we just got it. Let's just go back to verse one. He's saying they're a bunch of drunken adulterers. That's basically what he's saying here. The strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not, yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not, and the pride of Israel testifieth through his face, and they do not turn to the Lord their God, nor seek him for all this. Ephraim is also like a silly dove without heart. They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. I mean verse 13, woe unto them. There you go, there's that exclamation point again. Woe unto them, for they have fled from me, destruction unto them, because they have transgressed me, though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. I mean, this is, it doesn't seem like the minor prophets are chilling out at all, right? We're getting closer and closer to the time of Christ, closer and closer to the New Testament, and these guys aren't backing off. Let's go to Joel. Joel chapter two. Joel chapter two. Look at verse, we'll begin around verse 16 here. Let's see where we can land. Verse 15, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, those that suck the breast, let the bride groom forth out of his chamber and the bride out of her closet. Let the priest and the minister of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, and that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God? Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and pity his people. I mean, again, I'm just kind of dropping in in the middle of these books, and you can see where God's calling them to repentance because things are not going well. Go to Amos chapter number five. Amos chapter number five. We're going to look at verse eight. Start right around there in Amos chapter number five. Verse six. Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph. Get right with God unless he burns you. Right? That's what he's saying. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there shall be none to quench in Bethel. Ye who turn judgment into wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, seek him that maketh the seven stars in Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night, and calleth for waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord is his name. Verse 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. And it's true, the same is true today. People hate righteous preaching. They hate people that speak uprightly. You know, they hate the light, neither come to light, lest their deeds should be reproved. You say, why do people hate biblical preaching? Why do people hate the word of God? Because it shines the light on sin. You know, if we read the word of God, it's like looking, you know, we're like a man beholding his face in a glass, the Bible says. And sometimes it confronts us with our sin. It confronts us, you know, with things that we need to get right. And sometimes, you know, the preaching of the word of God does the same thing. When we start just preaching the word of God, you know, it's going to step on our toes. And we all love hard preaching until it's our toes that's getting stepped on. You know, we love it when the preacher gets up and rips on the homos and everybody else. You know, that's none of us. Right? There you go. I'm going to get you guys trained. I'm going to get some amens out of you. I'm just going to hit that amen button. Amen. Didn't have to on that one. Praise the Lord. You know, we love it when we're ripping on, you know, these easy targets that are out there. But man, when the preacher starts to take the word of God and direct it towards us, you know, our relationships, our marriages, sins we might have in our lives, then it's like, I don't know. You're mean. Well, you know, maybe you don't like the way it's being said, but is it true? I mean, I don't see, you know, I don't I don't see any of these prophets being so far being delicate with their words. You know, they're not, you know, they didn't Elijah didn't put the prophets of Baal down humanely. They died bloody, violent deaths. It's like sometimes that's the way it's got to be. We just got to get take out the sword of the Spirit and do some slaying, slay some sin, take the hammer of God's word, you know, and beat the devil out of some people and beat the sin out. Let's go to where are we at, Amos? I mean, folks, we could just go on and on. Do I have to belabor the point or do you just want to hear some hard preaching, right? Well, if you want to hear hard preaching, you know, let's just keep going here. Let's go to Obadiah, chapter number one, right? Obadiah. Well, move along quickly here. Tell you what, you go to Micah 3. Micah 3. I'll read from Obadiah. Obadiah, chapter number one. You know, I'm just going to skip Obadiah. There's some good stuff in there. You're in Amos. No, Micah. Micah 3. I'm not going to belabor the point more than I need to, but it's some good preaching here. Let's back it up. We got to back it up. Verse one. And I said, Here I pray you, O heads of Jacob, you princes of the house of Israel. So who is he speaking to? Oh, you know, all the heathen hordes out there who got it coming. Nope. The hardest preaching that's done, and now God does call down a lot of judgment and preach against all of the nations. But you know who he preaches at the most and the hardest often? His own people, right? His own people, right? He preaches the hardest and he sends his men to go preach at his people and he doesn't take it any easier on them as he would the heathen. Right? Here I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment? Shouldn't you know better? Who hate the good and love the evil? Who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones? Who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as for the flesh within the cauldron? Then shall they cry unto the Lord and he will not hear them. He will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doing. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people to err, that bite with their teeth and cry for what is it they cry? Peace. And he that putteth not his hand into their mouths they even prepare a war against him. Therefore a night shall be unto you and you shall not have a vision. It shall be dark unto you. You shall not divine and the sun shall go down over your prophets and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall all their seers be ashamed and their viners confounded and they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God. But I am truly a fool of power to the Spirit of God and of judgment and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sin. So Micah is saying, you know, I am full of the Spirit. I am full of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, and I am full of judgment. I judge not. Yeah, judge not that you should not and you will not be judged. But judge righteous judgment. Obviously he's not saying don't be a hypocrite. He's saying don't be a hypocrite in judgment. He's not saying never judge. Judge according to the appearance is what Jesus said. Judge righteous judgment. And here we see Micah is literally full of the Spirit of the Lord to go and pronounce judgment. And he's doing a pretty good job of it. And of might. He's given boldness to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. This is hard preaching. This is what biblical preaching is. And this is what Jesus did. Let's just move ahead. I'm running out of time. Let's go to Matthew 23. Say, I'm convinced. And look, if you're not convinced, go read the minor prophets. Go read the rest of them. If you haven't already or are going to. And I'm sure you are convinced. You know, and I took the time to read all that because remember in Mark 6 the thing that they said was oh, Jesus is as one of the prophets. Why did they say that? Because the manner in which he preached and what he said. That's why they mistook him for one of the prophets. Say, well did Jesus ever preach that hard? Matthew 23 is probably one of the most face ripping sermons you'd ever hear. I mean this is gold. Verse 23, verse 1. Then speak Jesus to the multitude and to the disciples saying, the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do. But do ye not after their works for they say and do not. The problem is their hypocrisy. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seats in the synagogues. And greetings of the marketplace and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi. But be ye not called Rabbi for one is your master even Christ and all ye are brethren. And call no man father upon the earth for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters for one is your master even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. You know, period. And that wasn't too bad. I mean, you know, you kind of read battalion lines, you kind of get what Jesus is saying. If you were a Pharisee, you'd probably be offended already. You know, and Jesus, you know, that's not too on the nose for the Pharisees. I mean, he's kind of in a roundabout way, kind of pointing out their hypocrisy, right? But it's not like he just came out and said it. Oh, wait, he did. Except that he did, right? Except that he just calls them right out. And I'm warning you right here. I'm just going to go and tell you right now, there's an apostrophe or an exclamation point again. But what to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of God heaven against men for you need to go in yourselves. Neither suffer you them that are entering in. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour wives widows houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore, you shall receive the greater damnation. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you you blind guides which say whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple he is a debtor. He fools and blind for whether is greater the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold and whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing but whosoereth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. He fools and blind for whether is greater the gift or the altar that sanctified the gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whosoever shall swear by the temple, swereth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that swere by heaven, swereth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise in coming, and have emitted the mightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees! Hypocrites! For ye may clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter, but within are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee! Cline first that which is within the cup and the platter, and that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from this city to this from city to city. That upon you may come all the righteous blood that shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barakas, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Barely I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often I would gather thy children together, even as a hen gathereth their chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. I mean that's a face-ripping sermon. I mean imagine being there and hearing Jesus say that out of his own mouth. I mean I can't do it justice. Imagine being a Pharisee. Imagine being a scribe and just having Christ calling you hypocrite, viper. You can't escape the damnation of hell. You know you're full of dead man's bones. I mean that's intense. You can start to see why people say, well he's one like one of the prophets because he ripped face and he didn't spare and he was full of boldness and might and the spirit of Lord to rebuke God's people. That's what he did. And the only people that can't stand it and hate it are people that are either one wicked or are guilty and they hate hard preaching. And go back to Mark chapter number six which is exactly why they killed John the Baptist. You know, John the Baptist got killed for similar preaching. And look, John the Baptist, we're going to read the story, didn't say anything near as offensive, quote unquote, as what Jesus said. It's not even a quote unquote offensive. It was straight-up offensive. And he didn't care. Let's review the story again. Mark chapter six. When Herod heard thereof, verse 16, he said, it is John whom I beheaded. He is risen from the dead. For Herod, verse 17, had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. So he's committing adultery with his brother Philip's wife. For he married her. So whether it was a divorce, a divorce took place and he married his brother's wife. This is kind of weird, okay? I mean, that would be an awkward family gathering. Thanksgiving is going to be kind of weird, you know. You're probably not getting together at that point. You say, well, I mean, he married his brother's wife. He committed adultery. It's like, okay, I mean, people, they might not do that. You know, maybe you're not marrying, you know, your brother's wife. But people get divorced, remarried all the time. You know, they, it's not that big of a deal. Well, John, he had said unto Herod, it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. No exclamation point. That's all he said. He said, you know, this isn't lawful. It's just another man of God sticking his finger in the face of a wicked ruler and pointing out his sin. You know, and saying, hey, and by the way, I think it's appropriate because people follow leadership. You know, our leadership sets the tone for the country. You know, why do you think our country is as bad as it is? I mean, often leaders are a reflection of the country, but, you know, one hand washes the other. Why do you think we have a bunch of adulterers, you know? Because we've had a lot of adulterers in the White House. JFK? Anybody? Right? I'm right about that, right? Yeah, big time. Hanging with a bunch of, a bunch of the, you know, whores and whoremongers of Hollywood. Let's bring, you know, you say that was a while ago. Okay, Bill Clinton. You and I say more. Okay? You know, these are the people that, it's like, so, you know, praise God for a Baptist preacher or a man of God who'll stick his finger in his face and say he's an adulterer. Wicked. People are supposed to, you know, that's a, that's an office that should be revered. People should look to that as a, for a role model. Should set an example. But it's like, we're at this country now where Bill Clinton did the things that he did, and everyone's just like, well, you know, it's a, it's a joke. You know, Monica Lewinsky's on reality TV. You know, she's selling the dress on eBay or something and making millions probably. It's disgusting. That's where we're at. You know, and it's nothing new. John the Baptist pointed it out. He just said, hey, it's not lawful for you to have her, according to the Word of God. This is adultery. Therefore, Herodias had a quarrel with him, right? She got all miffed about it and would have killed him, but she could not. I mean, that's all he preached. He just said, hey, it's not lawful for you to have her. I'm gonna kill that preacher. Oh, I'm gonna get that guy. I'm gonna have his head cut off and delivered to me in a charger. Whoa. Chill out, lady. Right? But this is what preaching does. It pisses people off. So let's not do it. You know, that's why, you know, you want to know why there's so few preachers out there today preaching like this? Because it pisses people off. They're more concerned about being popular. They're more concerned about filling up the seats than they are preaching God's Word. Look, I'm not saying every single sermon that we preach has to be some face-ripping sermon that's just gonna make people mad and uncomfortable, but if it's, you know, if it's just always love, always compassion, always grace, all the time, it's like, where is the hard preaching? How can we read book after book after book, passage after passage after passage of men of God just ripping face, and then it's just like, you get today, you listen around today, and it's just crickets. It's just wind blowing. I'm not saying they have to do it all the time, but it's like, once? Can you preach one hard sermon against the Sodomites? Once in your entire career as a preacher? Can you preach against adultery one time? Can you preach against fornication and drunkenness and call it out with some zeal and some boldness just one time in your preaching career as a pastor? Just once? When other men of God throughout the ages have literally been put in prison, run out of their homeland, called traitors, beheaded for preaching, you know, what were really benign topics. They won't do it. You know, preaching against drunkenness and fornication and adultery, to me, that's not that hard. You know, it's hard preaching, but it's like, you'll get used to it. You do it enough. I was great when I said, hey, when I'm gonna preach tonight, and I turned, you know, well, let's continue on a mark, and I read this. I was like, hey, great. Get to preach about John the Baptist, calling out some wicked rulers and pissing some people off, you know, and Herodias is getting just all bothered by it. Preaching on divorce got John killed. She could not kill him, verse 9, Herodias. Verse 24, Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and holy and observed him. But when he heard him, he did many things and heard him. The day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his Lord's high captains and chief, a state of Galilee, and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod with them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he swerent her, whatsoever thou ask of me, I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth and said unto her mother, what shall I ask? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. She could have had anything. Sometimes you ladies need to just let things go. I mean, women, they never forget that. She's just been grinding that axe forever. You know, maybe even literally, this is the axe I'm gonna get him with. She's finally waits for her opportunity. Get me the head of that preacher. Why did he say something wrong? No, he said what was right. It's true. He just didn't like it. You know, guilty people hate hard preaching. Wicked people hate hard preaching. God's people love it. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. What a weird thing for a damsel to ask for. And the king was exceeding sorry. Yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. Well, I've got a reputation to maintain after all. And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison. I mean, think about who John, Jesus said that John the Baptist, that there was not a greater man born among women than John the Baptist. I mean, he was the one, you know, his cousin born of Elizabeth, miraculously, who literally was the one that prepared the way. Baptized Christ. I mean, what an exalted position. He was in the deserts and to the day of his showing, he pointed the way to Jesus. And this is how he goes out in some dirty cell somewhere, just alone, getting his head cut off by some stranger because some woman doesn't like his preaching, has got an ax to grind. Man, it's like, why preach? Why do it? Why would God put that story in there? It's not exactly encouraging for preachers. This is where it leads. You know, that's the cost of preaching. If you're gonna do it right, you know, and look, I'm not saying it's gonna cost you your head today, but you know what? Some people might sever themselves from you. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if I got up and preached some sermon one day and people walked out and just never came back. Wouldn't be the first time. Won't be the last. What am I supposed to do? Quit preaching it? Stop saying it's not lawful? Stop calling out sin? Stop preaching the Word of God? You know, that would make me a coward. Well, I'm afraid of the consequences. Coward. You know, and if that's the thought that goes through some of these preachers' heads, well, I'd preach that. I know it's right. You know, you're like Herod. You observe the Word of God. You observe John. He observed John the Baptist. He knew he was a righteous man. I know that's what the Bible says, but you know, I've just, I've got a reputation to maintain. I don't want to upset anybody. You're a coward. I don't know what else to call it, and that's the problem today. You know, that's kind of why we're at where we're at, because no one's calling it out, and people are just going out there in the world today and just basically being brainwashed to accept all kinds of filth and iniquity and sin in their lives and just being told that it's normal. It's normal to commit, to be drunkards, to be adulterers, to be in fornicators. It's just what everybody does. They do it because no one's calling it out because they're a bunch of cowards. Go to Luke chapter 6. It says, when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid in the tomb. Jesus said in Matthew 5, Blessed are you, man, which your men shall revile you and persecute you, and say, All men are evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exciting, glad for great is your glory in heaven. For so persecuted the prophets which were before you. The prophets were persecuted for the things that they preached. John the Baptist was persecuted for the things that he preached, and who else was persecuted for the things that he said? Jesus. They killed Christ because of the things that he said. Because of the claims that he made. I mean, you can kind of understand where they're coming from, why they would do that after you read Matthew 23, why the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees might not have been a big fan of Jesus. Because you're typically not a fan of the person that's sticking a finger in your face and saying, You're wicked. You're wrong. Get right. That's typically, you know, a lot of people have the reaction Herodias did. I'm going to get him. And you know what? They crucified Christ. Now, obviously, we understand he let it happen. But look at Luke 6, verse 22. We'll end on this thought. This is where we started. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you. And it's like, why are preachers today so worried about being hated by people? Why? Jesus said it's a blessing. When they shall separate you from their company. Why are they so worried about, Oh, you know, if I preach hard against that, if I call that sin out or I say something, it's a little too on the nose. People are going to leave the church. It's separate from my company. Why are they worried about Jesus? It's a blessing. When they shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil. Oh, that preacher over there. Oh, you can listen to that guy over there. Oh, he's one of those types. They cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy. I'm not going to demonstrate that for reasons I've stated previously. I think this is only half-inch plywood under here. And I don't know what the spacing is on the studs. I might go right through the floor. But if that happened, you know, I'd probably rejoice and leap as best I could anyway. Your reward is great heaven for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. You preach like that. You preach like one of the prophets. You're going to, you know, chances are you're going to have some things happen to you that are similar to some degree as to which happened to them. But woe unto you that are rich for you received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full for you shall hunger. Look at verse 26. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets. You know, it'd be a lot easier as far as, you know, man's perspective would go for me to just start preaching, you know, tone it down a little bit. Don't preach against sin. Don't call things out. Don't deal with things. Don't preach that kind of, you know, just tone it down, you know. And people would probably be less upset and people might be more prone to come back and never leave. And maybe we'd have to get a bigger building one day and yada, yada, yada. But you know, that would that would make me a coward, right? You know, maybe I could be more like Franklin Graham, right? Wasn't Franklin Graham. He was just in town, you know. Billy, Billy Balaam's son was just in town. He passed through, graced Tucson with his presence. And you know, and I thought about it. I was like, I should probably preach against that guy. Not that I was worried about anybody in this church going to see the Franklin Graham convention, wherever he was. I don't know. And I thought, do I really, I really don't want to waste my time going through Franklin Graham's preachings and writings trying to prove that he's a false prophet. Because I already have all the proof I need that he's a false prophet. How do I know? One, I'm sure the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But two, all men speak well of him. His face is plastered on billboards before he got here. And no one said a word. No one went up there with a spray paint can and put corns and a, you know, mustache on them and a little devil tail coming up from behind and a pitchfork. No one said false prophet. No, they all speak well of him. They all speak well of Billy Graham, the same guy who said, you know, the Muslims are just following the life that they have. They all speak well of Joel Osteen, who doesn't want to call out the homos of sin. They all speak well of all these other makeup pastors, you know, who are afraid to, you know, call abortion murder. You know, they speak well of those guys. You know, the guys that get up and preach the word of God, they're not going to be popular. They never have been and they never will be the popular crowd. But, you know, there'll be the crowd that's blessed of God. And Jesus is just, you know, was one of those prophets. Obviously he was the prophet, right? He's Christ the Son of God. But you know what? They looked at Jesus and said he's like one of the prophets. And it was his preaching that made him, caused him to be taken for just another prophet, just another one of these guys. It was his boldness. So don't get this mistaken notion today that's out there that Jesus was just this, you know, this gentle little lamb that never heard a fly. Jesus was like one of the prophets. He was a man of God. He was the Son of God. And he ripped face. You know, and excuse the pastor when he has to get up and do a little face ripping himself and maybe get that finger out and point it out a little bit too and call some things out. It's literally the job of the pastor. It's literally the job of the preacher. That's prophesying. That's the preaching the Word of God. It's the example we see in Scripture repeatedly. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for this wonderful book, this great book. And thank you for all these great messages that are in it, Lord, that are passionate, that are bold, that are zealous for you, that take a stand, Lord, and that aren't afraid to say what needs to be said, Lord. Help us as God's people to embrace that kind of preaching. And Lord, be thankful that we have men of God in our lives that will say it like it is because it's a rarity today. It's not something that's popular. And Lord, we thank you for the boldness of Christ that he displayed when he was on this earth and set that same example for us, that same example that was set by all the prophets of God. We thank you for these things in his name, Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go ahead and close in a word of prayer. One more song first. What a day that will be. What a day that will be. When by Jesus I shall see. When by the Lord the Lord is grace. The Lord will save me by His grace. When He takes me by His hand. When He takes me by His hand. What a day, what a day that will be. When by no star will tear. No more word is to bear. No more sickness or pain. No more glory, no prayer. In forever I will be. In the Lord will I be. What a day, what a day that will be. What a day that will be. When by Jesus I shall see. When by the Lord the Lord is grace. The Lord will save me by His grace. When He takes me by His hand. When He takes me by His hand. What a day, what a day that will be.