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

The verse that I'd like to focus on there in 1 Peter chapter 5 is beginning verse number 8 where the Bible reads, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. And the title of my sermon this morning is, Be Sober, Be Vigilant. Be sober, be vigilant. Now if you would flip over to 1 Timothy chapter number 3, what does it mean to be vigilant? Well, when we think of a vigil, this is when people stay up all night. If people keep vigil, for example, when they're protesting a cause or maybe for a funeral service or a catastrophe that happens, they stay up at night when other people would be sleeping, they're awake. That is a vigil. Being vigilant means that you are awake and you're aware of the danger. This is like a watchman, a security guard that would all night long be looking for that invader, that person who's there to attack. That's why the Bible says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Also when the Bible uses the term, be sober, be vigilant, there's another coupling that you'll see throughout the New Testament where he'll put together the words, watch and be sober. And watching, again, means to be awake. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. So vigilance is when we are awake and acutely aware of the danger that imperils us. Look at 1 Timothy 3, this is part of the qualifications for being a pastor or bishop. The Bible reads in verse 2, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Notice how soon vigilant comes up in this list. Even before his ability to teach is even mentioned, vigilance is critical because of the fact that the enemy would love to attack the church, and the pastor's job is to stand guard and to be awake and aware of what happens, not just asleep and just letting all kinds of sin and false doctrine and lies come in and ruin the church. The pastor has to be that spiritual watchdog to make sure that that doesn't happen. Now go back to Proverbs chapter 1, because I believe that the opposite of being vigilant this morning is to be naive, being naive. And naivety is when you think that bad things just aren't going to happen, and you think everyone's intentions are good, and there are so many people who unfortunately see the world through these rose-colored glasses where they don't realize that there are so many really bad people out there that are just laying in wait for them. I mean the Bible says in Psalm 11, you don't have to turn there, In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. The Bible talks about wicked people lying in wait, the arrow is in the bow, and they're just ready to nail you. They're just looking for that opportunity to destroy you. Now we shouldn't live in fear or paranoia, because the Bible tells us, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? In the Lord put I my trust, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. But God commands us to be sober and to be vigilant and to realize that the danger is out there and not to be caught sleeping, and then it will overtake us and we will be unaware. Now look at Proverbs 1, I just want to show you, and I want to show those this morning who would be naive, that there are just evil people in this world, and the Bible talks a lot about it, but look at verse number 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent, watch this, without cause. No reason behind it. Now a little later they, you know, they talk about, oh, we're going to steal stuff and this and that, but then there's also just the lurking privily for the innocent just without cause, just for grins, just going out and doing evil things for no reason. You know, somebody smashed in the window, and I mean obviously this is a minor thing in comparison to a lot of the bad things that happen in this world, but somebody smashed in one of the windows on our van this week, and it was just totally without cause. I don't even think that it was someone who hated us. I literally think that it was just someone just randomly bashing in our window, because this is just what some people do for kicks. They just break stuff, destroy things, I mean it's out there folks. But the naive are thinking, who would do that? But even worse than that, how about laying wait for blood, lurking privily for the innocent, without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. I mean, they're just chomping at the bit just to hurt somebody, just to make somebody bleed and suffer. Look, these people exist. What does the Bible say? Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay wait for their own blood. They lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Go to Proverbs chapter 4, just a few pages to the right in your Bible. Proverbs chapter number 4, and the Bible reads in verse 14, Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Read it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Watch this, for they sleep not, except they've done mischief. And their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. This is what they live for. This is all they do. They can't even go to bed at night until they've destroyed someone's life, until they've hurt somebody. But there are naive people out there who just don't think that this type of person even exists. Everybody's basically good, and they just are very naive about these things. No, the Bible teaches there are very evil people who, as it says in verse 17 there, for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. This is what they enjoy. This is what they do. Now go to Jude, the second to last book in the Bible, right before the book of Revelation. Turn to Jude, and the Bible warns us in a few places that these type of people will even creep into the church itself. Look at this in Jude, beginning in verse number four, it says, for there are certain men crept in unawares. So these are people that we're not aware of. We think they're good people, we think they're nice people, but they're the type of people that we read about in Proverbs, unfortunately. The Bible says, for there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not. What's he saying? A lot of the people who went with the children of Israel out of Egypt did not believe in the Lord, but they still came with them. They were still among them. And he says that they shall even be among us in the church in 2015. We will have these kind of people who creep in unawares, and they are unbelievers. They're not saved. They don't believe the word of God. And you say, well, why would anyone go to church if they don't believe the Bible? But see, you're thinking like a normal person thinks. See the problem is that because we're nice people, we can't understand the way these people think because we think, why would I do that? I would never do that. I mean, even if I weren't even a Christian, I wouldn't even do that. But you don't understand these people. Don't try to understand them. Just believe the Bible when it tells you that they exist. If the Bible tells you that these kind of people are out there that lurk privily for the innocent, they don't go to bed until they've made somebody fall, just believe it. It's real. What does it say here in Jude? They believe not. That reminds me of Judas Iscariot. Even at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he looked at the 12 disciples and said, there be some of you that believe not. And it says that from the beginning, he knew who it was that believed not and who would betray him. He said, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil. See a lot of people will foolishly try to say that Judas lost his salvation. Oh perfect example of somebody losing their salvation, except that the Bible makes it clear that he did not believe. He was never saved in the first, even in the beginning, he said. Even when he chose him, he said, one of you is a devil and he knew that there was one that believed not. It's impossible to lose your salvation because we have eternal life, it's everlasting life, we shall not perish. But there are people who've never been saved, they don't believe in Christ, who creep in unawares. Judas was one and he was with them for three and a half years and he was so convincing that at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, one of you shall betray me, you don't see anybody going, you know, it's Judas, you know. Every single person was saying, Lord, is it I? They suspected themselves more than they suspected Judas and even when Judas, I'm sorry, even when the Apostle John, who leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper, even when he said, Lord, who is it? He whispered to Judas, you know, who is it? And Jesus said, it's the one that I hand the sop to after I've dipped it. He dips the sop, hands it to Judas and says, that thou doest, do quickly. Judas gets up and walks out of the room. I mean, at that point, Peter and John should have known for sure because they just talked about it, asked Jesus, but here's what they say. None of them even realized that it can't be him. So when Judas is handed the sop, walks out of the room, they thought he was going to buy more food. They thought he was making a grocery run, you know, hey, we didn't prepare enough food here. We need more. I mean, this shows you how convincing people can be that are these people that creep in unawares. We need to not be naive, we need to be vigilant. And especially a naive person should never be a pastor because then all kinds of people will just walk all over him and bring in all kinds of horrible doctrine. And he's, oh really, what's happening, you know, because he's asleep. He needs to be awake and vigilant and sober. What does the Bible say here? He destroyed them that believed not that were among them. Look at verse 6. And the angels, which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness under the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh. Likewise means in the same manner, in the same way, likewise. What's he saying? These people will be so bad, they will be as bad as the people that you read about in Genesis 18 in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said they're those type of people. They're even that perverted, they're even that sick as Sodomites, he says. He says even as Sodom and Gomorrah, going after strange flesh, giving themselves over to fornication. Verse 8, likewise in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah, he's saying. These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves, woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feasts of charity, watch this, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. That means they were at the church picnic. I mean this is what it's saying, and here's the thing, I'm not saying that we have one of these people amongst us right now, but if we don't have one today, we'll have one tomorrow. And if we don't have one today, then we had one yesterday. I mean these people shall be among you, the Bible says. Woe unto them. He says here, these are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit wither it, without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. We can really read into this and spend the whole sermon on this, the sermon's about being sober and being vigilant, but just to point out a couple things, when you look at these attributes, they all have meaning. Each of these attributes, it's not just poetry, I mean it is beautiful poetry, but it also has profound meaning. Like when he talks about the fact that they're without fruit, these people are not winning people to Christ. They might go out and go through the motions, I mean Judas went out two by two and went through the motions, but I promise you Judas did not win anyone under Jesus Christ, because everything brings forth after its own kind, and only a saved person can bring forth another convert unto true salvation. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. So these people are without fruit. They are twice dead. What does it mean to be twice dead? This is someone who is reprobate. They're not just dead in the sense that their spirit is dead like every unsaved person's spirit is dead. This is one of those people, like it said of the Pharisees, that has been made twofold more the child of hell. This is the person who is twice dead, okay? They are actually reprobate, and that's a whole other sermon of itself. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds. So notice it says that they're carried about of winds, then it likens them unto waves, and then it also says that they're wandering stars. So three different metaphors here that have to do with them being tossed about, blown about, and also wandering, okay? So these people will sometimes go from church to church is what I see there, you know what I mean? Wandering, kind of they're here, they're there, they're everywhere, you know. And I'm not saying everybody who wanders is about, you know, somebody's like, I'm a truck driver, you know. But the bottom line is that these wandering stars, I think tossed to and fro can also have to do with their doctrine. The doctrine will change from place to place, from time to time. It says of the adulteress, her ways are movable. You know, you can't really figure out how to, you know, protect yourself against her because her ways are movable. And what is the Bible saying here with these people? Well, it talks about a double-minded man being unstable in all his ways, and it talks about him being driven like a wave and tossed. The Bible says in Ephesians 4 that we be not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. But these people, because their whole goal is just to come in and devour and destroy, they'll basically change their doctrine like a chameleon depending on where they are. Because the goal is just to fit in. The goal is to creep in amongst the flock to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. And so they'll change the doctrine to suit whoever they're trying to attack. I mean that's why sometimes you'll have people come in here that have been from another fundamental Baptist church and people have come in here and just all of a sudden they're just on board with everything. Like, oh man, this is great and they agree with us. But then they'll go to the next church and it'll be like they're on the New King James or the NIV over there. And you're like, whoa, because when they were with us they were all hardcore King James only, you know? It's like the doctrine changes everywhere they go. And listen, we have had many people through the years, our church has been around for almost ten years, who have come in and turned out to be wicked people, turned out to be violent people, turned out to be sodomites, pedophiles, turned out to want to commit adultery, men who wanted to commit adultery, women who wanted to commit adultery. I mean there have been people who have come in here and brought in heresy and false doctrine, tried to split the church this way and that way. You know, it's out there folks. And it's always shocking the first time you see it, but for those of us who've been saved for a long time, we've seen it a lot, it's not that surprising when it happens. And plus, the Bible has warned us over and over again. Look at verse 18. How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, not, or having not the spirit. And these same people are described in Acts chapter 20 as being grievous wolves that will try to draw away disciples after themselves and try to basically gain their own following that tries to split the church and cause disunity within the church and so on and so forth. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2. Now 2 Peter chapter 2 is a parallel passage with Jude, 2 Peter chapter 2. And you know, I'm talking about the church right now, but in a moment I'm going to step outside of the realm of the church and just talk about how we need to be vigilant in all areas of our lives. But first I just want to lay a foundation that we shouldn't have this attitude that the church is some kind of a safe place where we just let our guard down. And we're vigilant everywhere else, we're vigilant at work, we're vigilant at school, but then when we come to church it's like, oh we're among friends, well, except for Judas and he's always there. Now look what the Bible says in 2 Peter 2 verse 1, but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there might be, is that what it says? No it says, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily, that means secretly, shall bring in damnable heresies. They don't come in and just start trumpeting it, they start taking people aside and teaching them strange doctrines quietly. When the pastor's coming they change the subject real quick, hey how about those reds or whatever. So basically they say, they bring it in at privily, damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways. So these people do succeed. They do come in and they do take people with them and they do corrupt people by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetous shall they with fainted words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. The Bible's using really harsh language about these people because they are the type of horrible people that we read about in Proverbs. It says in verse 12, but these as natural brute beasts, and you know, maybe to us brute beasts doesn't really sting that much as an insult because we were never called that on the playground or anything. But if you think about it, brute means stupid and beast means animal. I mean he's saying these people are a stupid animal. I mean they're not, it's like they're not even human he's saying, they're like beasts. He says these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are in blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. So who are the targets here? The new believers, the unstable souls, the people who are immature in their faith, their babes in Christ, not bad people but they're just unstable because they're, or people who've been saved a long time and they're just still unstable because they're still a babe in Christ, they're just foolish. Or who else would be an unstable soul? Children. Obviously children have not yet grown up and become stable and confirmed and rock solid in what they believe. So they're beguiling unstable souls, unharmed they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter number 3. What are we talking about this morning? Being sober, being vigilant, the first step in being sober and being vigilant is knowing that your adversary the devil walking about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It's knowing that the devil himself is transformed into an angel of light and that it's no marvel that his ministers are transformed into ministers of light. You know, just knowing that these people are going to be amongst you, feasting with you, feeding themselves up here. That is a huge step in being vigilant. Just waking up to the fact that there's even a danger, that there's even an enemy out there. Not being naive about church, not being naive about our fellow man. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 5, having a form of godliness. So these people put on some kind of a show or facade or some kind of an outward godliness that we can see. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away because they deny the Lord that bought them. They deny Jesus in their hearts. That's the power anyway. He says this, for of this sort, that means this kind of people, for of this sort are they which creep into houses. I mean the word creep has been used multiple times about these people. Creeping in, privily, sneaking, okay. He says, of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Again, emphasizing the fact that they are reprobate. They're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It says in verse 8, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. There it is again. So the Bible's clear, evil, reprobate, creepy people coming in, privily, sneaking in. Their goal, just to destroy but what's the purpose, why? I don't get it. Of course you don't get it because you're not one of them. You would have to be one to understand the mindset. You just have to by faith believe that there are people out there who are evil. It's amazing how you talk to people and they think that every, every false preacher, every false prophet, they think that their intentions are good and they're just mixed up. But is that what the Bible teaches? No. The Bible says that the false prophets among you, they're creeping in, they deny the Lord that bought them. I mean these people know what they're doing. They enjoy it. It's a sport unto them. They come in only to kill and to destroy and to hurt people and to molest and to corrupt and to commit adultery, et cetera, et cetera. They are reprobate. They're evil people. You know, I don't think for one second that the Pope, for example, is just a guy who just a little mixed up on doctrine. Guy is an evil reprobate false prophet and all of his people that he surrounds himself with, these cardinals and archbishops and all these people. Now look, I'm sure that the vast majority of Catholics are not these type of people. They're nice people that are just deceived, you know, they're just fooled into it. But the people who are running it, the guy who's running the service, the guy who's up there preaching, you know, I'd say the exception proves the rule, but 99% of them are just bad people. I mean, it's that simple. So we need to get off this naive view of the world of just, oh, anybody who's a false prophet is just somebody who's just, you know, a little mixed up, hasn't learned yet. Now look, there are people out there like Paul where they're really into religion but they're just sincerely wrong. Paul was sincere. Paul did it ignorantly. But there are many people that are doing it knowingly according to the Bible. The Korah, Dathan, and Abiram of this world. Now flip over to Titus, just a few pages to the right in your Bible. A lot of warnings in the Bible, I mean, we're not even scratching the surface of all the warnings that God tells us to be vigilant, and especially in the church, especially about doctrine. But look what the Bible says in Titus chapter 1 verse 14, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth unto the pure, all things are pure. And this is kind of a mind-blowing statement, listen to this. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. I mean, can you imagine a person whose mind is so corrupt where nothing is pure to them. Everything is rotten unto them. Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable. I mean, that means they're doing things that are abomination. Being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate, okay, reprobate. Now if you would, flip over, let's change gears a little bit, but flip over if you would to Genesis chapter 34, let's get a Bible story from Genesis chapter 34. Now I want to change gears here, yeah, there are really bad people out there. There are wicked people that are in the church and the reason I bring that up about church is that sometimes people just let their guard down at church to where they just think that everybody at church must be a godly person. So the most important thing I want to say to you is do not leave your kids with other people outside your family and just basically just asleep over here and asleep over there and people babysitting your kids. And a lot of times people will literally let their kids be babysat by complete strangers as long as they're from church. I mean I had somebody come to me when I was in the pew at an independent fundamental Baptist church. They wanted my wife and I to go on a couples retreat and they told us leave your kids with so and so the family. I'm like I don't even know who that is. I've never even seen them. I've never, oh but they're from church. But to these people that was just case closed. I'm supposed to leave my kids overnight with people that I've never even met. Never even seen. Now I don't even leave my kids overnight or even unattended even for a few hours. I don't even leave my kids unattended with people even that I know very well for years I don't. Why? Because the Bible said that in the last days perilous times would come and we're living in those times and the statistics are mind boggling and the vast majority of these people who do the molestation they do it to people that they know. The vast majority it's a friend of the family. It's an aunt or an uncle or some cousin or it's somebody from church or someone that has their trust where they get their guard down. That's the majority of when this stuff takes place. And the best way to make sure it doesn't happen is to be vigilant and to make sure that you don't let your kids out of your sight. You make sure that your kids are not left unattended with strangers or with people that you don't trust with your life. I mean I'll have my own mother watch my children but I'm not going to sit there just because I know my mom and she raised me and I have no doubts about her. But even people that I know really well I wouldn't just leave my kids with them. And it only takes one time for you to have a bad judgment, leave your kid with the wrong person and then that kid gets scarred for life when they get exposed to something filthy. Now listen to me, we are living in strange times in the United States of America. I just saw a statistic this week, listen to this, that by the time kids are 16 years old now, by the time they turn 16, 90% of them have already watched pornography. And I'm not saying that they picked up a copy of, you know, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, you know, that's bad enough. I'm saying they've watched pornography, okay, they've watched video and this is a statistic coming from the world. I mean they're even admitting, hey, 9 out of 10 now. Now my question is where are they getting this stuff? Where are they getting, well guess where they're getting it, okay? A couple places. Number one, they're getting it from school. Why? Because when you drop your kids off at public school, basically they're unattended for hours and hours there. Oh no, the school's watching them. First of all, number one, the school doesn't have your morals. The school is not being run by godly Christians, number one. Number two is that no they're not watching, they cannot effectively watch all the kids all day. I went to Christian school and I went to public school and I'll tell you this, there were hours a day that we were totally left to our own devices and today left to our own devices would be quite literal. Now it's literally, you know, devices left to their own devices, okay? When I was a kid this technology didn't exist and I thank god that it didn't exist back then, not because I don't think there's a lot of good that comes from the technology because there is, but I just think to myself, wow, if I would have been a kid and I think about the way my friends were and I think about the way I was and I think about the atmosphere in the Christian school and in the public school and I'm just thinking to myself that the wickedness would have been exponential if we would have had access to these kind of devices as kids. I mean I remember being a 12 year old boy and being at a school, a Christian school, Baptist school, but there were so many reprobate kids and it's possible for someone to become a reprobate even before they're 18 years old, believe me. I've seen it firsthand, but I remember sitting in a class, in a Bible class, waiting for the teacher to come. We were waiting for like 15 or 20 minutes and the Bible class at this Christian school met in the library of the school, it was like a little room that was a library and we would all sit there and basically while the teacher is being waited for, the activity, because it was a men's, or not men's, boys, it was a boys Bible class, it was separated out, the girls were in one class and the boys were in another class, and it's just a whole bunch of guys in this library waiting for Bible class to start and the activity consisted of these older kids that are like 16, 17, because it was 7th through 12th grade, I was in 7th, just taking down the National Geographics from the wall and they had it all memorized, you know, Miss March 1983 page whatever, just basically all the black girls that are topless and all the black girls that are, you know, in Africa that are just wearing nothing or whatever, and then they're just, it was like the closest thing that they could find to pornography was the National Pornographic magazine on the, you know, take them down, and then it all memorized, I mean they could tell you, oh yeah, hey, grab 1985 September page whatever, pull it down, pass it around, and just literally, and I'm not, I don't like to preach about stuff like this because I don't want to corrupt young minds, so that's why I'm going to keep this real G-rated, okay, just for the sake of young years, but I just have to express to you what it was like back then in a Christian school, okay, just guys sitting around in the locker room, guys sitting around in the Christian school Bible class, and just sitting and just going through a list of every single girl in the high school and in the junior high just discussing whether or not they would like to lie with that person, if I could put it lightly, just one by one, oh no, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, just going through each one, every single one, just going through a list of every female student, now how would you feel if that's your daughter that these guys, or how would you like your son to be a part of that gathering, I mean this is the kind of junk that was going on in a Christian school, public school, the same kind of stuff's going on, sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but it's all rotten, because it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch, and when you get a bunch of kids together, it becomes the least common denominator, period, because kids don't usually have the fortitude at age 12, you know, I know I didn't stand up at age 12 and say, you guys are all going to hell, and start preaching or something, I didn't get up and say, you filthy reprobate, no more sodomite jokes, you know, because when you're 12 and they're 17 and beating up on you and everything, you just kind of keep your mouth shut and you're just waiting for the teachers to show up so you can crack open the Bible, study the Bible for a little bit, you know, but I'm telling you, and look, I'm not trying to paint it either that I was just without sin, because you know what, when you're a kid, you're stupid, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, and you know what, I did all kinds of stupid things also, and I got caught up in some of the sinful things, of course, because, you know, I was a human being, I was a sinner, but the thing about it is, though, that kids should not be just left to hang around with reprobates all day, and listen, there are reprobates in the Christian school, every Christian school I went to had reprobates in it, in fact, there are a lot of reprobates in the Christian school because they become reprobate by hearing the word of God so many times and they've rejected it, if they've rejected it, they're reprobate, because they hear it every day for years, so you know, I know a lot of you don't understand what I'm saying right now, but it's just because you didn't grow up in Christian school, who grew up in Christian school? Who could verify that there were some reprobates in the school? Yeah, see, every hand staying up, okay, and that one reprobate will infest a lot of people and bring in a lot of sin and teach a lot of people, I mean, in the Christian schools I went to, there was drugs, there was pornography, there was all kinds of stuff, you know, being passed around, the bottom line is, we as parents now, is what I want to change gears to, we talked about the church, let's talk about the home, we as parents need to be vigilant, do you want your child to be watching pornography before they're even 13 years old, I mean the statistics are showing that most of the kids are seeing it when they're 11, 12, 13, I mean at that age, their mind is being warped, they've never even had a normal relationship with their wife, they're not even close to being married, and their first exposure is just this weird filth that they're seeing, and it's as easy as literally as just one kid pulling out the smartphone, I mean kids today are being given unfettered access to the internet, I mean look, the internet has everything on it, it has good on it, and it has bad on it, it depends on where you go, but this is what it would be like, it would be like just dropping your kid off in just a downtown area, and just saying go to any of these businesses, strip club, adult book store, bars, saloons, just go to any of these businesses, I mean wouldn't that be ridiculous, wouldn't that be a bizarre thing to do, but today parents are giving their children unfettered access to the internet, and here's the thing, even a child with good intentions will fall down the rabbit hole sometimes because this is what will happen, oh I can download this video game for free, and usually when you're downloading video games for free, you could sometimes be brought to some less than wholesome sites, shady type sites and everything, and next thing you know, I remember when I was a kid surfing the internet before when it was the early stages of the internet, and you'd click on something and all of a sudden just like 20 windows would open, you're just like brrrrr, and you're like, woah, you're just like, you just had to like unplug the thing, who's ever had that happen, tell the truth, right? So it's not even like, well my little Johnny, why would he go looking for triple X videos or whatever? But here's the thing though, he might not even be setting out for that. He might just be setting out, you know, I don't know what the new video game is, you know, I don't want to say Sonic the Hedgehog, you know, or, you know, Mario Brothers, and you know. There's a new Mario. There's a new Mario, yeah, that doesn't surprise me. It's probably in theaters, you know, they keep remaking movies and stuff. But the point that I'm making is they're just looking to download the newest Mario, or whatever, and then all of a sudden all this stuff starts popping up, and guess what, curiosity can kick in. Just, ooh, what is this, you know, and then, you know, nobody's around, curiosity kicks in. Even a good kid can be deceived, because children are young, they're unstable, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. I mean, it might not even be intentional. Do not give your kids unfettered access to the internet. Do not give them a smartphone that just has, and you say, well, you can't tell me what to do. Okay, fine, give them a smartphone. Give them a smartphone, put a computer with internet in their room by their bedside, and just send them to school with other kids with smartphones, and just let them have unfettered access to everything on the internet. I mean, who thinks that that's a smart way to keep your kids protected and out of trouble? It's ridiculous. Think, and you have to, think about when you were that age, were you ready to handle that responsibility of just having the whole internet at your fingertips? It's like the internet at your fingertips is like the world at your fingertips, like everything. I mean, you can find anything on the internet, good or bad. It's a great tool for information and learning, but at the same time, it's a great tool for corruption and wickedness. And so, giving your children unfettered access to the internet, leaving your children with people that are not trustworthy, leaving your children with people just because they're from church, okay, sending your children off to school for hours and hours and hours to be around the worst type of influences. Be vigilant, and if you're doing these things, you're not vigilant, you're asleep. If you don't think that these type of people and proverbs, that they're also teenagers like that, you're naive. You're not being vigilant. There are teenagers that fit this bill. Look at this story in Genesis 34. Here's a young girl who's just left unattended. Look how the story ends up. Young daughter just sent out unattended, Genesis 34 verse 1, and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, this is Jacob's daughter, it says, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. So is this girl going out saying, hey, I'm going to go be a whore. I'm going to go hook up with some dude. Is that what it says? What's her intention? It's a normal, nice intention of she just wants to go out and hang around with some of the girls. She just wants to go see the daughters of the land, you know. Hey, we're just going shopping at the mall or whatever, you know. Her intentions are good here, right? There's no evil or malice that we see here in verse 1. But it says in verse 2, when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her. Now this is the type of thing that happens when you have a young girl just going out on her own, doing her own thing, unattended, unsupervised, okay. And she's not even a bad girl, I don't think. But it's just some guy sees her, sets his sight on her, and let's face it, this is not an insult unto women whatsoever. It's just a fact that women are the weaker vessel, the Bible says. Women are the weaker vessel, okay. They're physically weaker. You know, I'm not really worried about my sons being out and basically some woman just kind of laying hold on them and lying with them, okay. But you know what, with the daughters though, it's even more critical that we make sure that they're supervised, that they're attended to, and not just send them out to see the daughters of the land and just to go out and do whatever unsupervised. Now in our culture today what I'm saying sounds crazy, but honestly I think it's crazy to just let your teenage daughter go out and do whatever, because why don't you just kiss her virginity goodbye, if you're just going to send her, oh but she's a good girl, yeah I know she is. But you know what though, she's going to be corrupted out there and I've seen it, I've seen girls where I looked at these teenage girls and thought to myself, you know, friends, people from church, people that you knew, where you thought to yourself, there's a girl who's got her head screwed on straight, there's a girl who loves the Lord, there's a girl who we don't have to worry about, and you know what, they ended up going out and committing fornication, getting out of church, getting drunk, everything else, and I honestly think that they were good kids, but it's just the world's influence is very strong and some people are too weak to withstand it and the younger you are, the weaker you are to withstand the temptations and the pressures, you know, especially a young lady, a man who's going to force himself on her or be very aggressive and entice her and seduce her and so forth, they're not really aware of these things as well as someone who's older and more able to defend themselves, okay. But today, we have a culture, and look, I have my own rules for my house and you have rules for your house and I'm not going to get up here and tell you, hey, you have to follow all my rules, you have to do things the way that I do them, but I am telling you that the Bible commands us to be vigilant and that you should take this story under advisement and think about it, but let me tell you the way that I'm going to rule my house and I have the right to rule my house however I want and you have the right to, and if you walk out of this sermon and say, well, no, I'm going to disregard everything you said, I'm going to send my daughter to public school, she's going to have unfettered access to the internet on her smartphone, she's going to go out and work over here and hang with these people, hey, that's your problem because it's not my daughter, it's not my little Dinah that's going to be defiled, but I want you to listen to what I believe is a wise decision as a parent. I'm going to tell you this right now, my daughters, number one, will never be dropped off at a school, number one, my children will be homeschooled, okay? Number one. Number two, my girls will not be sent off to college. Not happening. And it's amazing how people, they'll homeschool their kid, homeschool, homeschool, homeschool, and then send their daughter off to college, it's like, whoa, what are you doing? In fact, I saw this interview where this lady was explaining why, why she should let her child have unfettered access to the internet and even go out and be promiscuous as a junior hire. And she said, well, I saw too many of these girls in college who just really go wild because they were repressed their whole life and then they get to college and then they just go wild, so I don't want that to, yeah, so let them go wild when they're 12. Real smart, yeah, great idea. But what's so stupid about that is that, you know what, yeah, you keep them all repressed, and then just the girl turns 18, all right, you're free now, go to Devil State University. Go to Satan U in Tempe. And it's right here in Tempe, Devil State University right here, ASU. I mean, the thing is, it's like, I'm not going to send my daughter to college, she's not going to go wild in college because she's not going to college. You want her to be uneducated, all match my children's education up to what the public fool system's putting out any day of the week. And all match my wife's intelligence up to any female college graduate you want to put in front of me. All match my wife's intelligence. Because college and school doesn't equal intelligence. It equals beer pong. It equals sorority party. It equals drunkenness, promiscuity, whoredom, okay, so it's not, you know, you can actually get smart by reading these wonderful things called books, especially these books right here, the Bible. But you can also read other books and get all the education. You don't need some burned out hippie to explain it to you in front of a chalkboard in order to get these things. You can actually just read, you can actually just buy the book for that course and just do it on your own. And let me tell you something, when my daughters turn 16, they're not getting a job, period. You do what you want, do what you want. My daughter isn't getting a job at McDonald's or Taco Bell or Burger King or any of the, you know, I'm not going to send my 16-year-old daughter out to work. Not happening. Not going to do it. Why? Because where do all the sheikims of this world, where do all of these people lay hold on their victims, you know, they get corrupted through school and they get corrupted through the workplace. And you say, oh, you're just trying to shelter them. Yeah, I also shelter them when it's raining outside, I also bring them in the house. I mean, oh, you're just sheltering. They're girls. They're girls. I'm not trying to see how tough I can make them. They're girls. Oh, you're sheltered, they're girls. Now listen, when my sons are 16, they will get a job, immediately upon turning 16. And you say, oh, that's a double standard. Of course it's a double standard. And newsflash, men and women are different. It's like people are just crazy now, like, how dare you say that men and women have a difference. We're all the same. It's nonsense, people. He made them male and female. You know, I mean, it's a shame for a man to have long hair, but a woman's hair is her glory. A man should not put on a woman's garment. A woman should not wear that which there's a difference. But there's a double standard. Why? Because my sons need to grow up to be independent men that are going to lead and provide and work and go out and face the world, et cetera, et cetera. Yet, they need to go out and get a job when they're 16 and start working, start learning that responsibility and everything like that. Why? Because they are better able to protect themselves as a 16-year-old boy than a 16-year-old girl is, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. A 16-year-old boy is better suited at protecting himself, okay? And it's necessary for him to go out and work. Why is it necessary for my daughter to get fast food experience at age 16? Who do you think is going to teach her how to cook better, McDonald's or my wife? You've tasted the bean dip, people. There's no secret that my wife is an amazing cook. Taste my wife's bean dip, taste my wife's chili, taste her cornbread, then go to Wendy's and see who's got the best. And there's never been a finger found in my, no, that was a hoax, all right? The finger in the Wendy's chili was a hoax, all right? For the record. But anyway, kind of ruined, I used to like that Wendy's chili back when I was eating fast food and that kind of ruined it for me though, that finger thing. But now I don't eat fast food, except In-N-Out is the one exception. All God's people said, amen. But anyway, the point is, but the point is though, okay, hey, it's got John 3.16 on the bottom of the cup, it's sanctified by the word of God, amen. Sanctified by the word of God in prayer. But here's the thing, okay, the bottom line is though, there's no reason for my daughter to go out at age 16, because I know what it's like working at a restaurant when you're 16. I worked at a restaurant when I was 16. Now, you know, as a man at age 16, I was safe from the creepy managers who wanted to touch all the girls and stuff, you know, I wasn't a target because I was a dude. But I saw them, the supervisors and managers, every young teenage girl, giving them a hug, every shift, squeezing them, rubbing them. And the girls are, after the guy's gone, they're just like, ugh. But it's the boss, who's seen that at a workplace? Oh, wow, looks like, oh, look, Pastor Anderson's crazy, right? Then why did 50 other hands just go up that they saw the same thing? Okay, you know, the bottom line is there were all kinds of horrible influences, you know, nothing against round table pizza, but there were some bad influences when I was there. And I mean, as soon as the restaurant would close and we're cleaning up, the worst possible music was turned on. White Zombie, or whatever, Rob Zombie, who knows what I'm talking about, yeah, it was like the Devilman was the name of the song, Devilman, Devilman, you know, it's like, whoa, man. It was just like all the worst, it was Marilyn Manson, White Zombie, just all the most weirdest satanic stuff, I mean, horrible things were going on, things that I would not even mention from the pulpit that went on while I worked there. Now, there's no reason for it, yeah, but how are they going to get an extra mic? Look, I'll just say, here, instead of going and working three hours at McDonald's to get your 20 bucks, like, here's 20 bucks. I would rather just go work extra myself, right, men? I mean, men, can we go out and make an extra 20 bucks or what? You know, and just say, look, here, here's 20 bucks, okay, you don't have to go and work, it's not like they're making some huge amount of money, it's not like they're paying part of the rent or something, or paying the car payment, you know. Look, it's not worth, I want, and listen, I believe it's God's will that they go, and I think this is good for the sons also, but it's especially important for the daughters to go directly from dad to their husband. That's why dad used to walk them down the aisle. It didn't used to be that you had to call him to come in from a far country to walk you down the aisle, I mean, it was like you're living with him, you know. Honestly, you know, in a perfect world, that's how things would be. I understand that people are in other situations. I'm not trying to condemn you this morning if you've made mistakes in the past or if you're in a situation because there are so many situations because of divorce and because of, you know, bad circumstances brought about through sin, you know, we live in a sinful world. But let me tell you this though, there are a lot of people in this room who need to hear this preaching because otherwise they're just going to do what everybody's doing, well, everybody sends their kid to school, everybody sends their daughter off to college when she turns 18, everybody sends their daughter out to go get a job when she's 16, everybody's lets their daughter go out and see the daughters of the land every Friday night and go out and party and do all this stuff. You know, as long as she's home by the curfew midnight, no, not everybody does that and I'm not going to do it. I'm going to tell you something, my daughters are going to be supervised, they're going to be watched until I hand them off to their future husband. And let me tell you this, this is my goal and I believe this is biblical, I don't have time to turn to Deuteronomy 22 and explain this, but my goal is to be able to hand off my daughter under a future husband with a guarantee that she's a virgin because it won't have been humanly possible for her not to have been a virgin. She was never unattended that long. That's the truth, I mean, back then, I mean, they were going to the dad and complaining if the girl wasn't a virgin in Deuteronomy 22, you know, I mean, it shouldn't be that it's just like we go to, I'm not, listen, I'm not going to get on my knees every night and just, oh God, please help my daughters out to lose their fertility, as they're out partying, as they're out seeing the daughters of the land, as they're out working at the fast food place and doing all that, no, no, I'm not going to, it's just not going to happen. Now you do what you want to do, remember, I prefaced this with saying these are my rules and I'm not saying that you have to have my same rules, I'm just showing you how I'm going to apply the wisdom that I see in the Bible, here's how I'm applying it, my daughters are going to be supervised and taken care of, why? Because I treasure them and they're important to me and I want to make sure that they're kept safe and yes, there is a double standard for the sons, as the sons get older, they need to spread their wings more because they're going to be a leader someday, I don't want my daughter to become an independent woman, I want her to depend on me and then to depend on her husband and then what if her husband dies, then she's going to come back and live with me again, I'll take care of her again. It's all in the Bible, folks. Somebody can't handle this preaching over here, they're just weeping in a way, look, your parents aren't going to be enforcing these rules for a long time, right? You don't have to start crying about it when you're a toddler. He's like, no, I'm never going to have any freedom. There's a double standard for the boys, you're all right, no, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, but the bottom line is though, we need to be vigilant. Something's wrong when 25% of girls, by the time they graduate from high school, are saying that they're admitting that they've been molested because a lot of them are afraid to admit it, not because they've done anything wrong, but because it's embarrassing. They're embarrassed to even admit that, even though there's no shame in it, the Bible says it's not your fault if that happened to you, it's not your fault at all, it's like when somebody kills someone, it's not the person who gets murdered's fault. But still, people have a tendency to not want to talk about stuff like that because it's embarrassing to them. So it's probably more than, if 25% are saying it happened, there's probably a lot of times it happened that go unreported. Or where people just block it out because it's such a painful memory, sometimes they forget that it even happened, just because the human mind has a tendency to block out things that are horrific. It's kind of a defense mechanism that we have built in. But when 9 out of 10 are watching pornography videos by the time they're 16, when 1 out of 4 girls are being molested, not to mention all the boys that are being molested by these filthy sodomites, something's wrong. So we can't just say, well you know, I'm just doing what everybody else is doing, I mean everybody else is doing it, it's working for them. No, it's not working. It's not working. We need to be different. You can't do the same thing and expect to get a different result. We've got to do something different. And yes we need to teach them the Word of God. Yes we need to preach to them. Yes we need to read the Bible every day at home as a family. Yes we need to pray for them that God will protect them and keep them safe, but we also need to be vigilant and not just turn them over to the wolves. Look, when they're 5 years old they're not ready to get on that bus and just be sent off to wherever with whoever. I mean just Google it, janitor, school janitor, molest. See all the news stories. Bus driver, molested. You know, school teacher, elementary teacher, I mean look, it's all out. You know that it's out there by the tens of thousands, the stories. I don't want to be that statistic. I don't want my children to be a part of that statistic. You know, we need to stop and consider. And look, there are times when I let my children do something on the internet, but you know what? A child should not be given unfettered access to the internet. There needs to be some kind of a parental controls, but what you have to understand too is that sometimes the kids are smarter about the technology than you, because they grow up with it. And so they know all, they've got all the back doors built in and all that, you know. So you've got to be careful to just not let them use it alone anyway. Don't just leave them alone with it. And this is one of the benefits of living in a small house with ten people. You know what I mean? It's like, you know, it's hard to keep secrets in a small house with ten people. You know, so thank God when one of them's doing something on the computer, there's like a whole bunch of little faces right there, you know, like watchful, oh. And look, listen, use the buddy system, because listen, even if you put two bad kids together, two bad kids together will sometimes look at less bad stuff because they're embarrassed in front of the other. It's when people are alone and curiosity gets the better that they go down that rabbit hole. So I'm just trying to give you some wisdom this morning to let you know, number one, there's really bad people out there, period. Number two, sometimes they're even in church. In fact, they will be in church eventually. The Bible guarantees it, okay. And number three, we need to protect ourselves and our children from these kind of people. And we need to be very careful. And we live in the most perilous times ever. I'm not down on technology, I don't want to go live out in the middle of nowhere as the Amish do, but I'm telling you something though, you got to get this stuff under some kind of control, not just sit there and just let your kids have unfettered access to it. I mean, would you just hand your kid a loaded gun? I mean, I don't think guns are bad, but I'm not going to hand my kid a loaded gun and say, here, play with this, but be safe with it. You know, don't do anything stupid with it. I mean, have you ever seen kids with guns when they haven't been trained? They do all, hey, everybody's ducking, everybody's hitting the ground, hey, what do I do? And the internet is just as dangerous as a loaded weapon. You know, you don't just put it in the hand of a child and don't put them around other kids that just have the, it only takes, you get ten kids together, one of them whips out the smart, hey, check this out, plays the pornography video that can be easily queued up on any of these smart phones, because any website can be pulled up on a smart phone, right? And the parents a lot of times don't even understand the smart phone, so they'll like, they might have all the internet controls dialed in on their home computer password protect their computers, password protect the internet browsers and everything else, and they're just like, here's the phone, and they don't even understand that the phone can do everything that the computer can do, and more. Let's be sober and vigilant today as a church and as parents, as mothers and fathers, and let's keep our children safe and shelter them from this junk that's out there. You know, yeah, they're going to be exposed to it eventually when they're old enough to handle it, but they don't need to be exposed to this stuff when they're a little tiny kid. And obviously, yeah, my son's going to go off to work when he's 16 and hear Rob Zombie blasted while he's working, but honestly though, I don't really want my five-year-old, you know, walking around the house singing Devilman or whatever, I'm just saying, because they're not smart. I mean, you put a five-year-old, they're just going to soak it up. You know, my teenage boy at that point will be just like, yeah, this is junk, he's going to recognize it for what it is. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the gift that you've given us of our children, Lord. The Bible says children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Lord, please help us to be very vigilant, help us understand that there are molesters out there, there are predators, evil, wicked, pedophiles, violent people, just horrible people out there, Lord. And there are adulteresses and adulterers who want us to deuce us that are married adults. And Lord, help us to always be on our guard, always be vigilant, Lord, and help us not to be a victim of the devil who's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Help us not to be one of those may devour types where he just sees us and he sees a sucker and he's ready to get us, Lord. Please just protect us and give us wisdom also. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, we broke the record. How many people do we have? 185. 185. What was our old record? 180. 180 was the old record. We have 185 people here this morning. Every time that we break our attendance record, we have ice cream after the service. So stick around for ice cream.