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

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And so, uh, good job to everybody. Thank you for everyone who prayed and all of the hard work of our soul winners out there in the Bahamas, because it's definitely a fun trip. It's definitely beautiful. It's definitely entertaining, but at the same time, it is hard work, of course, you know, going out there and preaching the gospel over and over and over again and out there in the highways and hedges. And so, uh, we appreciate everybody's hard work on that. Very well done. On the back, we've got the note about the Mother Daughter Tea Party. There are two opportunities to partake in this, so if you haven't already, please RSVP and sign up for one of these dates and be sure to put exactly who's going. And remember, take the RSVP seriously, because even though the event's free, all of our activities are always free, but obviously it costs us money, so therefore, you know, want to make sure that if you sign up that you actually show up when the time comes. And so, please RSVP based on the instructions there. Other announcements. We've got the Baby Shower coming up for Shannon Betty. That is one week from today at 2 o'clock right here. And there will be some refreshments provided, but we're asking also that you bring a dish to share. And then, uh, not this coming Wednesday, but the next Wednesday, April the 9th, we've got Pastor Bruce Mejia coming from First Works Baptist Church, so even if you don't normally come on Wednesday nights, mark the calendar for April 9th. You're not going to want to hear missing, or you're not going to want to miss hearing, okay? Uh, we don't want to hear about you missing, but we don't want you to miss hearing Pastor Mejia preach on that day. And that is, and then we've also got Pastor Dylan Ause coming and preaching on Sunday, May 25th. And Pastor Dylan Ause, uh, those of you who may or may not know him, he did preach at our missions conference last year. He's the guy with the blonde curly hair, but he is preaching now in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He's the pastor of Anchor Baptist Church there in Oklahoma City, and he's a great preacher, and so that'll also be a treat to get to hear him on May the 25th. That is about it for announcements. Let's sing our next song. Come lead us. And, and you'll receive one. We'll sing it on that verse together. If you know this song, sing it out nice and strong to help those around you. And we'll learn this together farther along. Tempted and tried, we're off made to wonder. Sing it out now. Tempted and tried, we're off made to wonder why it should be us all the day long. While there are others living about us, never more lasted though in the wrong. Farther along will know what about it. Farther along will understand why. Here are my brothers who live in the sunshine. We'll understand them all by and by. Before we continue singing, how many of you do know this song? Okay, great. A bunch of people. So let's go back and do that first verse cause not enough know this song so let's go back and sing that first. Tempted and tried. Tempted and tried, we're off made to wonder why it should be us all the day long. While there are others living about us, never more lasted though in the wrong. Farther along will know all about it. Farther along will understand why. Here are my brothers living on the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. When death has come and taken our loved ones, it leaves our home so lonely and free. Then do we wonder why others prosper living so wicked year after year. Farther along will know all about it. Farther along will understand why. Cheer up my brother living on the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. Faithful till death sent our loving master a few more days to labor and wait. Toes of the road will then seem as nothing as we keep through the beautiful days. Farther along will know all about it. Farther along will understand why. Cheer up my brother living on the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. When we see Jesus coming in glory. When he comes from his home in the sky. Then we shall meet him in that dimension. We'll understand it all by and by. Farther along will know all about it. Farther along will understand why. Cheer up my brother living on the sunshine. We'll understand it all by and by. Amen. Great singing everybody. Let's turn your song books down to hymn number 81. Hymn number 81. When we see Christ. Hymn number 81. We'll sing this out together on that verse. Oftimes the day seems long. Our trials hard to bear. Hymn number 81. Let's sing this out nice and strong together on that verse now. Oftimes the day seems long. Our trials hard to bear. We're tending to complain. To murder and despair. But Christ will soon appear. To catch us right away. Our tears forever all burn in the eternal day. And we'll be worthy all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small. When we see Christ. One glimpse of His grace. All sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race. Till we see Christ. Sometimes the sky shines with not a ray of light. We're tossed and driven on. No human help in sight. But there's one in hand who knows our deepest dare. Let Jesus come. Just go to heaven prayer. It will be worthy all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small. When we see Christ. One glimpse of His grace. All sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race. Till we see Christ. Life's tables soon pass. We'll cross the great divide. To glory saved at last. We'll share the joys of heaven. A heart the home of crown. The tender will be found. It will be worthy all when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small. When we see Christ. One glimpse of His grace. All sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race. Till we see Christ. Amen. Good singing this morning. All right. This time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Galatians chapter number 5. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Galatians 5 beginning in verse number 1. In Galatians 5 the Bible reads Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. Ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded. But he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsufferingness, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to hear your holy, your hallowed, and your sacred word, as you fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit, that he may preach your word boldly. In Jesus' name I pray this. Amen. Amen. This morning we're going to continue talking about the fruit of the Spirit. We've been going through these one by one. Beginning verse number 22, the Bible reads, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness. And today we're going to talk about goodness, followed by faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Now, goodness at first could seem like kind of a difficult subject to tackle because it's kind of a big subject and it's a little bit broad, isn't it? Goodness in general. But I think that the idea here is that the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit and walking in the Spirit is going to make you a good person. It's going to make you a better person. Back up, if you would, to verse number 16. The Bible says, This I say, then walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. So there's this battle that's going on where it's the flesh versus the Spirit. Those of us that are saved, we still are the same person from before we got saved. That's the flesh, right? The old man, the old Stephen Anderson from before I got saved. He didn't disappear when I got saved. He's still there. He's still the same. And this is what a lot of people fail to understand. They say, Oh man, when you get saved, you're transformed, you're changed, you're a totally different person. But here's what they're missing though. Yes, when you get saved, you're a brand new creature in Christ, and God creates this new man. But what they're failing often to understand is that the old man is still there, and that the old man is exactly the same as he was before you were saved. Because the old man cannot be changed. He can't be reformed. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and it cannot be brought into subjection of the laws of God. And so therefore, it's kind of a little bit misleading sometimes. Oh, if you get saved, you're just going to totally change. It's like, well, not really. You're going to have a brand new creature that's brought in, and then the old man stays exactly the same. The only time you're going to see a change is when we put on the new man. The only time you're going to see a change is when you're walking in the Spirit. Because if you're walking in the flesh, you will continue to act the way you did before you got saved. And so people will sometimes say, well, if someone is living the same way after they got saved, as they were living before they got saved, well then they must not have really gotten saved. That is incorrect. All that means is that they're not walking in the Spirit. It means they're walking in the flesh. It means they're sowing to the old man instead of the new man. And so, you know, I wish people would understand this. It's something that Paul excuse me, hammers again and again in his epistles. It's such an important truth. But it says here that if you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And if you look at that list that we just read a moment ago of the works of the flesh, these are the type of things where if they characterize someone, you would say that's a bad person. Whereas, people whose lives are characterized by love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, you would say that is a good person. And so, you could really summarize this by saying walking in the Spirit makes you a good person. Not walking in the Spirit, you're going to be a bad person, okay? Now, one thing I really want to point out though in verse 17 is that it says, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one to the other. Look at this last phrase. So that you cannot do the things that you would. Now would in this context means want to, okay? And so it's saying you don't end up doing the things that you want to because the flesh is warring against the Spirit. So flip over if you were to Romans chapter 7. This is one of the most famous passages in the New Testament. It's so important of a passage and it's such a relatable passage to us as Christians because we're all dealing with this struggle between the flesh and the Spirit continually. But notice that Paul said in Galatians 5 17 so that you cannot do the things that you would. The idea here is that people who are saved deep down they want to do what's right. They want to do what's good because at the core of their being, they are a good person because the new creature is a good person. And the only reason that Christians end up acting like bad people or doing bad things is because they're not walking in the Spirit. They're walking in the flesh. Now look what the Bible says in verse 14 of Romans 7. It says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. You'll also hear people say, oh, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Well, apparently the apostle Paul doesn't exist because the apostle Paul just said, I'm carnal. So, yeah, if the apostle Paul is carnal, let me tell you something. All of us are going to be carnal at times if the apostle Paul is carnal. So what does carnal mean? Well, if you know what chile con carne is, right? What's carne in Spanish? Meat, right? So carne is meat. So carnal means you're fleshly as opposed to being spiritual. It's just the opposite of being spiritual. So the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. You know, I'm a fleshly person. I'm dealing with the flesh every day. I'm trying to walk in the Spirit, but there's a battle between the flesh and the Spirit going on every single day, which prevents me sometimes from doing the things that I want to do, the good that I want to do. Look what the Bible says in verse number 15. This is a little tough to understand sometimes, but it's a beautiful passage. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. So the apostle Paul is saying, look, I end up doing stuff that I hate. I end up being disgusted with myself. I'm disgusted with my own behavior. I want to do what's right, and I end up not doing the things that I would do, the things that I want to do, and I end up doing stuff that I hate. It says in verse 16, now if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good, now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And so what the apostle Paul's saying is that he considers the real him to be the new man, the saved man, the regenerate man, the inward man, the spiritual man, that's the real him, the new man, but then the old man, the flesh is getting in the way. And he says, so when I'm sinning, it's it's not really me that's doing it, it's sin that's dwelling in me. Okay, and then it says in verse number 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And again, what is the sermon about this morning? The fruit of the spirit is goodness. And so the idea here is that in my flesh dwells no good thing. So if I'm gonna have goodness in my life, if I'm gonna be a good person, if I'm gonna live a good life, it's gonna have to be by walking in the spirit, because in my flesh dwells no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. He's saying, look, the will is there, the desire is there to do what's right, but then I just can't figure out how to actually execute because the flesh keeps getting in the way. So the Apostle Paul is expressing frustration here with trying to live a good Christian life and struggling because of the flesh. Now again, these teachings that I'm showing you here from Romans chapter 7, they're found elsewhere throughout the Bible as well. And I feel like these should be like really basic rudimentary teachings that are just constantly being taught in churches all over America. Because these are like foundational truths. New man versus old man. You know, walking in the spirit versus walking in the flesh. What's the change that takes place when you get saved? But unfortunately, most churches and most preachers, they're not talking about this, or they're explaining it incorrectly and they're confusing people and they come up with all of these things that end up confusing people about what the gospel even is because they'll say things like this, well, you know, you've got to be willing to stop sinning in order to get saved or something. And they're like asking people if they're willing to give up sins in order to get saved. It's foolishness. It's madness. My friend, salvation is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. What must I do to be saved? And they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. But what you have to understand is that when you get saved, you are transformed in the sense that God creates a brand new creature, a new Steven Anderson, a new, insert your name here, but the old man is still there. The flesh is still there. Now you have two natures that are at odds with one another and you've got to choose which way you're going to walk in the Spirit, you're going to walk in the new man, you're going to walk in the old man. But here's what I'm constantly saying to people because I'll be out evangelizing and preaching the gospel, trying to get people to see that salvation is by faith alone. And here's what people will say, and we've all heard it. Yeah, but if you're really saved, you're going to live right. Because you're not going to want to do those old things anymore. You're going to live right because you're saved now. So anybody who doesn't isn't saved. But here's what's misleading about that, is that yes, it's true that the moment that we get saved we're indwelled by the Holy Spirit and our nature is transformed into a new nature and now inwardly, deep down, we desire to do what's right. That's all true. But where people are missing the boat is that they think that this is automatically going to translate into actually doing the right thing. And here's a key verse from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself that puts this thing to rest. What did Jesus say? The Spirit truly is willing but the flesh is weak. So this is what people need to understand and I end up quoting that verse to people out soul winning all the time when they try to argue, well if you're really saved you're just going to just want to do all the right things. Okay great. But that doesn't necessarily translate into actually doing all the right things. It's a big difference between wanting to do what's right and actually going on doing what's right. And by the way this is not a prerequisite for getting saved it's a result of getting saved. When you believe on Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit moves in now all of a sudden you have this new man as well and he wants to do what's right. That's a result. It's not like well you have to want to do what's right and then you can get saved. No, no, no. After you get saved now deep down you want to do what's right. But does that translate into doing what's right? Unfortunately no because what? The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So to sit there and say oh well someone's not living right that means they're not saved the problem with saying that is that you're insinuating a works-based salvation. Say oh people who aren't living right must not be saved that leads people to think that you have to live right to be saved. And that is not the case because salvation is not of works lest any man should boast. And I do not believe for one second in this idea that salvation automatically transforms someone's life because if that were true then God wouldn't have to tell us over and over again walk in the Spirit put on the new man. He wouldn't have to keep telling us to do what's right if it were automatic. Okay. It's not automatic. We're all going through this Roman 7 type struggle. If Paul's going through it I guarantee you you're going through it I'm going through it. So he says in verse 18 I know that in me that is in my flesh well no good thing. For to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. So sure yeah if you're saved the will is going to be present with you but that doesn't mean that you're going to actually perform that which is good. And how about this how about we just look around and notice that 99% of Christians are doing almost nothing for God. 99% of Christians do zero evangelizing. Zero soul winning. Preach the gospel to the lost zero. Okay. Is that a sin? Yeah. It is a sin. Right. Because God commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So I don't oh great you cleaned up your life you quit drinking whatever. Great. Amen. But if you're not out preaching the gospel to the lost you're not right with God anyway. And then you're going to sit there and say oh we'll save people. Everybody who saves is going to live right. Funny I didn't see you out soul winning so I guess you're not living right. Because the same people who teach this confusing stuff about salvation and try to add to the gospel works are the same people who don't evangelize. So you know they got a big beam in their eye don't they? And so it says here how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not. But the evil which I would not that I do. So the saved man yeah he wants to do what's right as a result of being saved now that he has been spiritually quickened now that he has the Holy Spirit living inside of him. He wants to do what's right but sadly most of the time he ends up doing things that he doesn't want to do. Right. And then it says you know the evil that I would not that do I. Verse 20 now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members. Members meaning body parts or flesh warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So look anyone who is truly saved deep down in their heart wants to do what's right and delights in the law of God deep down. OK. But according to what we just read in Romans 7 does that always translate into performance? Does that always translate into an external change? No. Of course there's a dramatic internal change when someone gets saved but in order for that to translate to an external change where we actually see them living a good life they're going to have to walk in the spirit. They're going to have to put on the new man. And you know I could preach a whole another sermon about how to be filled with the Holy Spirit but we're talking reading your Bible, praying, meditating upon the things of God, acknowledging God, singing praises to God, preaching the gospel, going to church, listening to preaching. These things are all going to contribute to you being filled with the Spirit. Right? Reading your Bible, praying, listening to preaching, going to church, singing hymns, singing praises to God, thinking about the Lord and meditating upon the things of God and the word of God. Right? If you do that, if you're sowing to the new man then the new man is going to get stronger and stronger. The more you feed him and the more that you feed the flesh with just everything that's sinful and wrong and worldly and wicked, well then the old man is going to get stronger and he's going to take over and you're going to be super carnal and you will be exactly, exactly like you were before you were saved and exactly like an unsaved person. Exactly. Why? Because the flesh cannot be reformed. Cannot be changed. You hadn't answered that. Flip over to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter number 8. That's an old school ringtone. It's like the newsroom. Hey, stop the press. We've got a hot new story here. Romans 8 verse 3. It says in verse 3, for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. And so what we see here in this passage is that giving people rules is not enough to make them a good person. You know, having a perfect set of rules, a perfect set of laws, a perfect environment is not going to necessarily make them a good person because if that person is walking in the flesh, what did Paul say? In my flesh dwell with no good thing. And since people are inherently sinful, the law can't make them righteous. The only thing that can really make us fulfill the law of God and walk in a way that is pleasing to God and follow the rules of the Bible is to be walking in the spirit. And then we'll end up automatically fulfilling them without even necessarily thinking about the laws because we're just doing good because we're just a good person so we're just kind of automatically doing good things because we love God and love our neighbor. It's that simple. But you've got to be spiritual. You've got to walk in the spirit. And so here's some advice. Let's say that you're trying to, you know, quit a certain sin in your life or you're trying to deal with temptations and there are certain things that you keep doing that you don't want to do. Instead of fixating on those things, maybe you should try an approach of just becoming a better Christian in general. And just getting more spiritual in general and walking in the spirit in general. You know, I read a quote one time. I don't have the quote in front of me. But it was something along, I think it was Isaac Newton or something. He said something along the lines of you know, if you just keep thinking about how you don't, you know, not going to commit fornication, not going to commit fornication, then you're kind of thinking about fornication all day. Even if you're thinking about not doing it and constantly dwelling upon those kind of rules. But he said instead, you know, and I'm super paraphrasing and there's probably nothing. Isaac Newton's like, what the heck? I didn't say that. But anyway, let's just pretend he did, okay. It was something like this. Saw it on the internet a long time ago. Vaguely representing what he said. Who cares? What I'm saying is good anyway, so it doesn't matter, you know. I'm just giving Isaac Newton the credit, you know. But basically, you know, instead of just fixating on that, right, you know, fill your life with godly spiritual activity that's just going to make you a spirit-filled Christian walking in the Spirit and focus on reading your Bible, praying, soul winning, singing hymns to God, right. Be filled with the Spirit and if you walk in the Spirit, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. As opposed to just fixating upon rules. The rules are important. The rules are there. The rules are good for a self-check of how we're doing and what's right and what's wrong. But at the end of the day, you know, walking in the Spirit is the ticket to being, you know, a successful Christian and not giving it a temptation. Says in verse 7, this is what I quoted a minute ago, because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now they that are in the flesh can either be a. an unsaved person or b. a saved person who's walking in the flesh, right. Because even after you're saved, if you're walking in the flesh, you're going to act like unsaved people. So that's why we're commanded and told to walk in the Spirit because it's not necessarily automatic. You know, uh, for example in Galatians 5 25, it says if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, right. It's not automatic. You got to make that decision to walk in the Spirit. Okay, so that's point one this morning. Point number one is that, you know, the Holy Spirit's going to make you a good person if you walk in the Spirit and that people who are saved deep down want to do good. But the only way they're going to actually perform those good works and be a good person in, uh, in reality is if they actually put on the new man and walk in the Spirit. But number two this morning is that goodness is that which is acceptable unto the Lord. Go if you would to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter number 5 a few pages to the right in your Bible. You see, God is the one who decides what's good, right. The fruit of the Spirit's goodness. Point number one is that walking in the Spirit is going to make you a good person. You're never going to be a good person until you become a spiritual person. You know, until you become serious about Christianity and walking with God and reading your Bible and memorizing scripture and preaching the gospel and singing hymns and praying. Those are the things that are going to make you a good person. Okay, because goodness is the fruit of the Spirit and those that are in the flesh they can't please God. They don't end up doing good. But number two, goodness is defined as that which is acceptable unto the Lord. God decides what is good and what is not. Good and evil are decided by the Lord. It says in verse 8 of Ephesians 5, for ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit that's what we're talking about this morning, is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Okay, that's what is good. It's that which is acceptable to God. Go if you would to 1 Peter chapter number 3. 1 Peter chapter number 3. The Bible also says in 1 Timothy 2-3 for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Because that which is good I mean who's the judge of what's good? God's the judge of what's good and what's evil. He's the one who decides. And the reason I'm making a point about this is because our world today has their own definitions of right and wrong. And their own definition of good and evil. And they will often call good evil and evil good. Look what the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 13. It says, And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So according to verse 13 the Bible's saying hey if you do good you're going to be okay. Right? Who's going to harm you if you're a follower of that which is good? Now what does God mean by that? Is he saying nothing bad is ever going to happen to you if you're good? That's not what he's saying. He's saying God's going to protect you from those bad things that come at you. It's not that the bad things aren't going to come at you it's that God's going to protect you. How do I know that? Because he says here who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? That's not saying oh you do good everybody's going to leave you alone. Unfortunately that's not the case. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That's why in the next breath he says but and if you suffer for righteousness sake. Happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror. Why should I not be afraid? Because God's going to protect me. God's going to take care of me. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. Now I think a lot of times when we read this when we think about being falsely accused a lot of times we're thinking about someone lying and saying that you did something that you didn't do. And obviously that is a major form of being falsely accused right? Somebody says you did something and you didn't do it. But there's another way of being falsely accused is when you do something good and everybody agrees that you did it, you agree you did it, they agree you did it, but the difference is they're saying it's bad when really it was something good that you did. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Because look I've read articles online attacking me and sometimes the articles are lying and saying that I said things I didn't say or saying that I did things that I didn't say. And you know these articles are kind of irritating and frustrating to read as a human being to hear somebody twisting what you did, twisting what you said and those type of things. That's one type of slander or false accusation. But then other times there will be articles that are very negative about me that are attacking me and I'm reading them and I'm just like this article is awesome. And I'm just like yeah yeah uh huh yeah. It's like he said this. Can you believe he said this? I'm like oh man you're picking all the best parts of my sermon. Thank you. That's like a greatest hits compilation here. It's like when people will take these clips of my preaching and you know label them on YouTube as you know crazy Pastor Anderson rants. Pastor Anderson's most insane moments or you know wildest crazy preaching from Pastor Anderson. A lot of people are literally going to those and listening to them as like oh this is a greatest hits compilation of Pastor Anderson's best preaching or something. Why? Because to one person this is horrible what Pastor Anderson is saying. And then to another person like this is great. Do you guys see what I'm saying? And so there's two different ways to attack Christians. There's two different ways to attack preachers. Either A you're lying and saying that they did things that they didn't do or said things they didn't say or B you're taking something that they really did say or do and painting it in a negative light and saying oh look how bad this is. And that's exactly what we see in this passage because in this passage it says that they are falsely accusing your good conversation of Christ and it says they speak evil of you as of evil doers. But he just finished saying in verse 13 that you're a follower of that which is good. And why are you suffering verse 14? For righteousness sake. So a lot of times you do something righteous say something righteous and then people will say look how bad this is. Look how wicked this is. Why? Because they have forgotten that God is the one who decides what's right and wrong and that good and bad is decided by the Lord not man. So what is good is that which is acceptable unto the Lord. So here's the thing. Point number one was that walking in the Holy Spirit is going to make you a good person. Amen? Because the fruit of the Spirit is what? Goodness. So walking in the Spirit is going to make you a good person but number two just because you're a good person it doesn't mean the world is going to say you're a good person. Because their idea of a good person and God's idea of a good person are different. Right? Because they will lift up some of the worst, most scummiest sleaziest, weirdest people, perverts, deviants, weirdos and lift them up as wonderful people. I mean it's like these billboards uh pass it on or whatever. Who knows what I'm talking about? It's like you know uh some kind of an attribute and I'm glad two people have seen the billboard. It'll be like some attribute pass it on and it's like the foundation for a better life or something. And you know here's some of the people that I've seen featured on these billboards. You all have seen it you just don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not explaining it right. But billboards and it'll be like uh you know I don't know just the billboards people. But anyway like here's some of the people I've seen featured. Elton John Elton John so there's a big picture of Elton John and oh you know he's this wonderful role model hero that we should be all following. So you're walking through the airport and there's this little inspirational advertisement and it's showing you Elton John and he's supposed to be our hero. Now here's the thing the world would say that Elton John's a wonderful person because he donated a bunch of money to AIDS research so that he could cure his own self I guess. You know. But we know he's a gross faggot. But to the world it's like oh and you know what by the way England knighted him. You know like you know how England they still kind of think they're in the middle ages a little bit sometimes. So you know the queen of England pulls out a sword and puts it on some faggot's shoulder and says Sir Elton John. Sir Paul McCartney. Like these are the knights of England like they're out there really even killing anybody. I mean I'm sure Elton John's killed a few people by giving them STDs but I'm saying like I don't know if Paul McCartney's ever killed anybody. How do you get knighted when you didn't even go on the battlefield and you know you didn't even slay the enemy. What is that? But here's some people that I've seen on these pass it on billboards. Elton John. Bishop Tutu. You know Bishop Desmond Tutu who said that if gays aren't allowed in heaven he wants to go to hell. And God's like okay. I find your terms acceptable. But I'm saying like you know if you look at the people that are featured on these things it's rarely anyone that you can even think for half a second that as a godly Christian it's rarely anybody that you would actually say okay that's a pretty good person. It's usually just the most leftist communist weirdos sodomites just everything that's liberal left wing commie ungodly anti-Christian anti-bible and these are lifted up as the heroes of our world. Okay. Why? Because what we as Bible believing Christians think of as a good person we're not really picturing when we picture a good person. We're picturing somebody who's you know faithful to their spouse right? And they're providing for their family they're going to church they're being nice to other people they're following the Ten Commandments they're following the Bible right? That's what we're thinking of when we think of a good person. Somebody whose life is in accordance with scripture and they're basically like a clean cut straight laced godly righteous individual. You know but the world has a totally different idea about what it means to be a good person. So who's right? Well the Bible's right. Because God decides what's acceptable. If you would flip over to Isaiah chapter 5 Isaiah chapter 5 while you're turning to Isaiah 5 I'm going to read for you from Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6 says for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding he layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly he keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveeth the way of his saints then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity yea every good path. So by meditating on the word of God then you will understand the Bible says every good path. You will know what is good by studying the Bible because God is the arbiter of what is good and what is evil. Look at Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20 woe unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter and we could add to this we could say you know what woe unto them and I'm not trying to add to the Bible I'm just saying to continue in the same spirit we could also say in our society woe unto them that put male for female and female for male. Cause the same idea here don't get things backwards right don't say good is evil and evil is good don't put sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet but we live in an upside down world where the vilest men are exalted the Bible says and so we gotta watch out for that and remember that when the Bible says the fruit of the spirit is goodness and when we say that walking with God makes you a good person we're talking about good by God's definition because what did God define as being a good person you're not giving in to the lust of the flesh so you're not this drunkard you're not this you know hateful malevolent harmful adulterous drunken you know thief murderer that kind of stuff right that's what the Bible defines as being a good person not doing all those kinds of harmful sinful things now if you would turn to Acts chapter number 11 Acts chapter number 11 so we said number 1 walking in the spirit is what makes you a good person and the first step to being a good person is to get saved so you can even have the new man so you can even have the Holy Spirit living inside of you because of the fact that if you're in the flesh you can't even please God you know and what did Paul say in my flesh dwells no good thing was that just cause Paul it just happened to be a psychopath or something no that's everybody all of us as far as the flesh we're sinful people by nature step one to being a good person is to get saved but that's not enough it's not like oh you're saved you're automatically going to be a good person oh he's not a good person must not be saved wrong there's some very bad people who are saved why because they're walking in the flesh and if I walk in the flesh I'm going to be a bad person if you walk in the flesh you're going to be a bad person which is why we need to focus on becoming more spiritual and what does that look like what does that mean well the result is going to look like what God says it's going to look like not what pass it on billboards of Elton John and Bishop Tutu are going to look like okay because they're lifting up the wrong people as heroes we need to walk with God so that we can become a good person by God's definition which means that we're a righteous person which means that we're not living a life indulging in sin okay a raunchy life a wicked life a harmful life a gross life that you know sin will take us into but thirdly this is that goodness will ultimately lead to much people being added to the Lord and another way of saying that is that many people will be saved as a result of our good life okay look what the Bible says in Acts 11 verse 24 it says and this is about Barnabas Acts 11 24 for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was added unto the Lord you see that when you have a good man who's full of the Holy Ghost and faith much people get added to the Lord that was the testimony of the life of Barnabas I mean can you imagine dying and having this verse on your tombstone right I mean what a testimony you know what here lies insert your name here he was a good man you know or she was a good woman you could say and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was added to the Lord what a great testimony I mean that's an epitaph I've ever seen one goodness will ultimately lead to much people being added to the Lord and if you would flip over to 2 Peter chapter 1 and I just preached a whole sermon on this recently that was called Aaron's rod that budded and in that sermon I showed a bunch of scripture and preached about the fact that if you are living a sinful life if you're a bad person you're not going to be effective at winning people to Christ you're not going to be fruitful in your Christian life you're not going to bring forth a bunch of fruit if you're living a bad life so if you're a backslidden sinful wicked Christian you are not going to end up winning a bunch of souls to Jesus Christ okay and part of the reason that I preached about this is because you know our enemies are always trying to pain us as just being really bad and pastor Anderson is bad and faith for Baptist Church is bad but then they can't really deny the fruit they can't deny the fact that multitudes of people are being saved and here's one of the reasons why they can't deny that is because usually their own church is filled with people who were won to Christ by moi or by one of us or by one of our pastor friends or by you know our church in general and so the thing is they can't really deny the fact that our church has gotten a lot of people saved but it's bad though you know well why is it bad you know and it's well you know and it's just all their little nitpicky things that they don't like about our doctrine that they're the ones who are wrong about by the way but they just have this attitude well he's bad and the church is bad but yeah they do win a lot of souls to Christ folks this does not compute this is not biblical and that's what that whole sermon was about Aaron's Rod the Buddha see the idea is that when you're good much people will be added to the Lord when you're bad you're not going to be effective at winning souls to Christ you're not going to be fruitful I mean this should be kind of obvious I would think but look what the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 5 it says beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue so faith is where the Christian life begins because we're saved by faith right so we're saved by faith nobody's saved unless they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that's where it all starts trusting Jesus Christ as your savior that is what saves you that's what starts the Christian life for you believing but we don't want to just stop there and make no mistake some people do stop there they believe in Jesus and they continue living the same sinful worldly life the spirit is willing deep down there's a guy in there that loves God but they're just not executing and they just keep going down the same path until hopefully eventually they get discipled they eventually grow something changes eventually externally what God wants us to do is to add to faith virtue and again it's not going to be automatic if it were automatic why would we have to take diligence to go from faith to virtue why would that take diligence if oh everybody who believes in Jesus is automatically living right and anybody who's not living right just isn't saved they just don't believe in Jesus wrong you got to give all diligence to add to your faith virtue okay and what is virtue you know it's a very similar word to goodness right you know what I mean it says it's having good quality attributes I mean the virtuous woman is what you know the virtuous woman is the one who is a great wife in many ways so add to your faith virtue and then add to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ so look if you don't have these things let's say you just believe in Jesus Christ but let's say you're not a virtuous person you're not a knowledgeable person you're not a temperate person you're not a patient person you're not a godly person you don't have any love you don't have any brotherly kindness or charity are you going to be a fruitful Christian if you don't have these things no these things are what stop you from being barren and unfruitful what does barren mean unable to reproduce if I said this woman is barren it means she's unable to reproduce if I said this field is barren it's unable to produce fruit okay so in order for us to be successful at reproducing right we've got to be virtuous loving and do these things and so being good like Barnabas results in much people being added to the Lord living a good Christian life makes you more fruitful so here's the take away sinful worldly backslidden ungodly Christians are not out there winning multitudes to Christ they just aren't and our enemies can make up this weird narrative about all these really bad churches and all these really bad people that are just winning multitudes to Christ it's a fiction it doesn't exist in fact I heard one of these guys say this he said you know what he's like here's my prediction about the new IFB he said I think the new IFB is going to continue to produce great soul winners and lousy husbands lousy fathers and lousy people but great soul winners how does that even make sense? and let's just say that that were true for a second let's just enter into the fantasy world for a second and let's believe for a second that faithful word is just awesome at winning people to Christ but we're just we're just rotten people we just suck as people okay you know what I would say to that I would say well just let faithful word just continue to suck because they're getting so many people saved and getting people out of hell is so important let them go let them go I mean think about how crazy this is to think we got to stop faithful word even though they're super good at soul it doesn't even make sense wouldn't you just be like well just let them go this is what you'd say let them go we want to we want to empower them and help them to win Multitudes of Christ then we'll go around making everybody a good person because we're so much more godly than they are and what's funny is that some of these people they get so they're so intent on debunking us or attacking us they'll say the wildest things like you remember a while back Pastor Manley Perry who said quote Judas Iscariot had more converts than any of the other disciples so Judas Iscariot according to Manley Perry was the most effective soul winner I mean can you imagine how weird it would be to think that to think that Judas you know and then Pastor Shelley said well I guess Judas hanging himself was the worst thing that ever happened to world evangelism because if bro hadn't hanged himself he could have just kept winning so many souls I mean that's so stupid Folks Judas Iscariot wasn't saved and so guess how many people he won to Christ? Zero because everything brings forth after its own kind and an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they're ravening wolves look Judas Iscariot was a wolf in sheep's clothing he's pretending to be one of the disciples he's pretending to be super into following Jesus but inwardly he was a ravening wolf and the Bible says that the bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit I mean look it's already a false doctrine and dumb to say Judas got people saved okay if somebody said that I'd be like well you're wrong but you could forgive someone for thinking that because they just don't understand this concept of reproduction and bringing forth fruit so I could easily forgive someone for saying okay you know I think Judas got some people saved they're a thousand percent wrong but you could at least see how a sane person could think that but then you have Manly Perry saying well I believe that Judas had more converts than anyone else you know he's just the ultimate soul winner that's just crazy right then Matt first is like okay hold my beer Manly Perry you know just when you're thinking you've heard the craziest thing from Manly Perry Matt first is like okay hold my beer Satan is the greatest soul winner according to Matt first like you can't you don't even believe me right now you don't even believe me do you I don't blame you for not believing me because it's so crazy you know I know you don't believe me that's okay fine don't believe me then but pastor Matt first said Satan he said you know who the greatest soul winner is the devil we know for a fact that Satan will have won the most souls in the end and it's like that's out of context there is no context somebody said to me I put the clip online and somebody said this is out of context I said okay here it is with two minutes before and two minutes after it's just like what the heck he's literally saying don't look up to soul winners because Satan is the greatest soul winner where does the Bible say anything like that Satan is the biggest soul loser the biggest soul dammer so he's like oh yeah you think soul winners are heroes you think you should look up to soul winners Satan is the best soul winner yeah it's just like okay I don't have the mic to drop but it's just like and he literally says like at the end of his video like it's just that's just it's like game over your move your move faithful word best soul winner is say okay manly Perry I see you're Judas and I'll raise you a Satan but again you know this is the kind of madness that people engage in to get away from this biblical truth that he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous that's what the Bible says okay now look I am not for one second saying oh just go soul winning and then then that'll make up for all the sin in your life absolutely not here's what I'm saying I'm saying that if you have a bunch of sin in your life you're not going to be an effective soul winner and if you go out and do a bunch of soul winning while you have a bunch of sin in your life then God's going to like the soul winning you're doing and then he'll purge you of the sin so that you can bring forth more fruit here's what I'm saying the more you go soul winning the more God will help you get sin out of your life the more you'll grow as a Christian the more you're out there preaching the gospel guess what you're going to be more filled with the Holy Spirit constantly preaching the word of God and praying for souls to be saved right you're the silent partner praying for the souls to be saved or you're the one doing the talking preaching the word of God you're memorizing the verses you're not going to believe this but that's actually going to help you to walk in the Spirit and be a better person and here's the thing anybody who is a very sinful backslidden Christian is not going to be effective at winning souls they're just not ok and if they do go soul winning a lot God's going to work on them because he knows that we're not going to be effective if we're not walking in the Spirit and if you're walking in the Spirit you're not fulfilling the loss of the flesh and if you're not walking in the Spirit you're not going to be a good soul winner because without Christ you can do nothing and again I'm not going to re-preach my Aaron's rod that budded sermon but that's the same concept that I was preaching in that sermon and I think it's pretty obvious and it's pretty clear look you've got to walk in the Spirit and be good if you want to add much people to the Lord it's just that simple ok and so I don't think any of this is complicated or difficult but it's just that you have people who are experiencing cognitive dissonance because of the fact that they are seeing a revival they're seeing great works accomplished for God and they're just like well this can't be right because this guy's pre-trib I mean he's not pre-trib I should say excuse me they'll see great works for God and revival this can't be right he's not pre-trib this can't be right this guy's not for Israel or this can't be right this guy spanks his kids too hard there's no way he's right with God winning all them souls oh well what it is is that the oh it turns out the worst people win the most souls Judas is scary it's the best soul winner no! scratch that Satan is the best soul winner you see what I'm saying it's really what they want to do is they want to attack good people good churches and say oh they're bad come to come to my failing us for no more church come to my failing high steeple few people church we're all good people over here we're not as good at soul winning we don't win people to Christ over here barely at all just once in a blue moon but you know and by the way Matt first who said that Satan was the best soul winner his church has no organized soul winning program zilch zero none none no soul winning so yeah of course he's got to say oh Satan's the best soul winner well then your church must be super far from Satan you know Satan's never been to your church it's crazy folks but anyway I want to say this number one you know people are saved and I'm preaching obviously to you all out there 99% saved I'm sure there could be a visitor or someone who's not saved or someone who is dragged here by a loved one but in general everybody here is a believer everybody here is confident that they're going to heaven by putting their faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross those of us that are saved we all deep down want to do what's right don't we I mean anybody here who says you know what I don't even care I don't want to do good I have no desire to do good no part of me wants to serve God or do good well that just sounds like you're just not even saved all of us who are saved deep down deep inside and hopefully it's not too deep we want to do what's right we want to do what's good and if we walk in the spirit if we put on the new man we will become a good person number one we will become a good person because the fruit of the spirit is goodness number two when we say that we'll become a good person we're talking about what the bible defines as a good person we're talking about somebody who is living a clean sober helpful not harmful life and being a good person being kind not being drunk not murdering not committing adultery we're talking about somebody who's and look obviously nobody's perfect but the more we walk in the spirit the less we're going to sin the less we walk in the spirit the more we're going to sin and then number three goodness isn't just about living a clean sober straight laced kind loving life it's also about much people being added to the Lord Barnabas was a good man much people were added to the Lord if we add to faith virtue, virtue knowledge, knowledge temperance, temperance patience, patience godliness, godliness brotherly kindness brotherly kindness charity some of those are listed as the fruit of the spirit right? love temperance if we add those things we're not going to be barren or unfruitful when someone's barren or unfruitful there's a problem with them spiritually because Jesus said if you follow me I will make you fishers of men somebody who's not winning any souls to Christ someone who's never getting people saved there's a problem there spiritually they need to get filled with the spirit they need to get the goodness and then that goodness needs to translate into people being saved and so I don't think it's a complicated sermon this morning walk in the spirit god will make you a good person if you get more spiritual through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit you'll be a good person number two you'll be a good person in god's sight you know you're not going to be on a billboard you know there's not going to be a pass it on billboard you know hard preaching pass it on right? it's not going to be like brother Jimenez after his Orlando sermon and it's like a picture of him like you know perseverance pass it on you know what I mean it's not going to be a picture of some you know soul winner up there you know winning souls in the Bahamas you know missions pass it on it's going to be Elton John it's going to be Jane Goodall it's going to be Bishop Tutu it's going to be who else have I seen on there? come on who knows what I'm talking about? does anyone know what I'm talking about? who else is on those billboards? the Dalai Lama oh, Dolly Parton I mean they got Dalai Lama and Dolly Parton they got all the dollies okay because I saw Dalai Lama on there you know I don't really know anything about Dolly Parton you know except that you know Jolene was trying to take her man away or whatever I don't I don't really know anything about her I don't know if she's a Christian or not but I know that Dalai Lama's in hell but anyway uh who else is on these billboards? Oprah, William Shatner William Shatner's a Jew so is Spock by the way but um the point is that you know it's going to be what God defines as good and then lastly this goodness is ultimately going to allow us to be better at bringing people to Christ right? let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven and obviously if we're out there soul winning and we're not filled with the Spirit we're not going to be as effective as if we're filled with the Spirit and look again back to my sermon the other day if you're not right with God and you're backslidden and sinful go soul winning anyway because bring forth some fruit and then God will purge you and then you'll bring forth more fruit it's a it's a cycle and you got to start the cycle somewhere start the cycle by reading your Bible and getting your butt out there out soul winning and so the fruit of the Spirit is goodness let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for your word we thank you so much for the Holy Spirit in our lives because Lord without the Holy Spirit and without the transformative uh nature of salvation and the quickening of our Spirit and the new man we would we would just all be rotten people because in our flesh dwells no good thing Lord God I pray that every single one of us would walk in the Spirit put on the new man and that all of us would grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help us to be good people who add much people to the Lord and in Jesus name we pray Amen Amen Amen Alright ladies and gentlemen take your hymnals please go to hymn number 60 hymn number 60 face to face hymn number 60 we'll begin on that first verse together it will be dismissed this morning hymn number 60 face to face with Christ my Savior face to face with Christ my Savior your face to face talking with me when with rapture I behold him Jesus tries to guide for me face to face I shall behold him far beyond the starry sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by only facing now I see him with the darkly building tree but a blessed day is coming when his glory shall be seen face to face I shall behold him far beyond the starry sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by what rejoicing in his presence when our man is free then when the crooked waves are straining and the dark things shall be played face to face I shall behold him far beyond the starry sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by face to face so joyful moment face to face you see and go face to face with my great giver Jesus Christ to love me so face to face I shall behold him far beyond the starry sky face to face in all his glory I shall see him by and by in all his glory just super quick before we're dismissed a couple of other announcements real quick as we almost always do on Wednesdays and sometimes we have on Sundays all that free food over there to take home but then also I guess there are a bunch of sandwiches and cheesecake and stuff that could be eaten now so if you want to grab some of that I think they're gonna cut up the cheesecake and you know cut up the sandwiches or whatever and then another thing I wanted to mention is that we do already have another group that's already out on the mission field on another cruise missions trip starting today which is consists of brother Daniel Ryder brother Kenton brother Kevin Rowe and brother Sean Conlon they're on a longer cruise missions trip they're hitting like I think six different countries over the next week and a half so be praying for them that they have a you know a lot of success and that many people are added to the Lord through their works but we got a team of four awesome soul winners out there hitting like six or seven countries or something in the next few days alright we're dismissed music how ya doin? good how ya doin? good music