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

Jeremiah chapter number 15, the Bible reads in verse number one, then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight and let them go forth. Now this is just another chapter continuing on the theme of the entire book of Jeremiah, which is the impending doom of the children of Judah. God's wrath is upon the children of Judah. The Babylonians are going to come and take them captive. Many people are going to be slaughtered and destroyed and God is saying that these people are so bad and they've gone so far that even if Moses and Samuel stood before him, yet his mind could not be toward this people. Now the reason that God brings that up is that Moses was one who interceded for the people when they had committed a great sin in the book of Exodus where they're worshiping the golden calf and God says that he's going to destroy them all in a moment and make of Moses a great nation instead of the children of Israel, but then Moses intercedes and prays to the Lord and turns away his wrath from a wicked people. God's saying that even if Moses were there, even with that intercession that he made for the children of Israel, it would not work this time because these people are so bad that not even Moses could get his attention. And then of course Samuel was one who came on the scene and turned the people back to righteousness after they'd gotten away from the Lord for decades and Samuel came in and turned their hearts back to the Lord and was able to deliver the people in the book of 1 Samuel. So he's saying, cast them out of my sight. He's saying let them go forth, verse 2, and it shall come to pass if they say unto thee whither shall we go forth? Whither means to where? Where do you want us to go? Where are you telling us to go God? And he says, well, then thou shall say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, such as are for death to death, and such as are for the sword to the sword, and such as are for the famine to the famine, and such as are for the captivity to the captivity. I'll appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord, the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. He's saying you pretty much have four options of where you're going to go. You're either going to go to death, you're either going to go to the sword, which is sort of like death, it's just a different way of getting to death, and then he says other people will starve in a famine, other people will be carried away in captivity. Basically the ones who are being carried away as slaves into Babylon are the lucky ones that don't stay behind and starve and die of other things. He talks about how he's going to send the sword to slay them and then wild animals will also have their way with them as a punishment from God. Verse four, and I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. Now let me emphasize to you that when he says that they would be carried into all kingdoms of the earth, he actually meant that, literally. In the most literal sense, when the Assyrians took the northern kingdom of Israel captive, they brought them into all nations, and then again when the southern kingdom of Judah was carried away captive by the Babylonians, they went literally into every nation under heaven. I mean, we're talking about brought deep into Asia, deep into Western Europe, deep into Africa, they literally were carried away captive into all nations. History tells us that, and not only does history tell us that, well, God tells us that right here that they would go into all nations. The reason that that is significant is that basically that gene pool, that DNA of the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has intermingled itself with every nation on this planet for well over 2,000 years. There was a dispersion around the 8th century BC of the northern kingdom of Israel. There's this dispersion around the 6th century BC of the kingdom of Judah, and then of course in the 1st century AD, they would be scattered once again into all nations. So this thing of, well, the Jews and the Gentiles and never the twain shall meet, well guess what? It's just fiction because we're not living in biblical times anymore. We're not living in the time of Christ or in the time of the New Testament. Thousands of years have passed since Christ walked this earth, and that nation of Israel was completely decimated in the 1st century AD, and they were scattered everywhere for the third time, and so every single one of us has a little bit of that DNA in the sense that we all have some Jewish or Israelite blood mixed in. Nobody's just purely white or purely black or purely Korean. Sorry, brother J. You're not as purely Korean as you think because we've all been mixed over the years, and that's why the Bible says we're all of one blood. And so this attitude that says, well, the Jews are special because of their ancestry, because of their DNA, because of their lineage or genealogy or ethnicity is meaningless because that has ceased to have any significance today because of the fact that they've been mingled with all peoples for thousands of years, that you say, well, they preserved their culture and religion in Europe while mingling with Europeans, bringing Europeans in, them going to the Europeans, and so on and so forth. They did not maintain a racial purity or whatever. I mean, think about it. Even in Bible days, they were intermingling with the heathen. How much more in the last 2,000 years? That's why the Bible tells us to avoid genealogies in the New Testament because it no longer has any significance who your daddy is. It doesn't matter that Duane begat Raymond and Raymond begat Steven Anderson. That's not relevant. The only thing that's relevant is whether we're begotten of Jesus. If we are begotten of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we are his sons and daughters, that's the only thing that has any significance. Think not to say within yourself you have Abraham to your father unless you're saved, unless you're a child of God because the Bible says, as many as be of faith, they're blessed with faithful Abraham. The ones who have the faith of Abraham are the children of Abraham, according to Galatians chapter 3. But I want to point out something really interesting in verse number 4 here because he says they're removed into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh. Now let me just point out to you that when this is being preached, Manasseh is already dead and gone. He's already off the scene. But yet the punishment is coming upon the nation because of the sins of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. Now go back, if you would, to 2 Kings 24, and this is only one example that I'm going to show you. I could show you many examples of this, but the Bible puts great emphasis on the fact that Manasseh shed a great amount of innocent blood in Jerusalem and in Judea. And the blood that Manasseh shed could not be pardoned. Burt's sacrifice would not pardon it. There was no way to make an atonement for the blood that he shed, and so therefore judgment had to come upon the land of Judah for the blood that Manasseh had shed. And there are many scriptures we could turn to on that subject, I'm just going to take you to one. Look at chapter 24 verse 1, in his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim became his servant three years, then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees and bands of the Syrians and the bands of the Moabites and the bands of the children of Ammon and sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord which he spake by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did. So why are they being carried into Babylon? Because of the sins of Manasseh and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon. You have to understand that God takes the shedding of innocent blood very seriously, very seriously. Not only does God hold a person accountable who sheds innocent blood, he also holds the region where that crime was committed responsible unless they punish the offender who shed innocent blood. So and again we could go into the law of Moses and read all the salient passages but this is clear in scripture. I've done whole sermons on it about the fact that when a murder is committed, when an innocent person is slain, that the elders of the land are to make diligent inquiry and try to figure out who committed this murder. And if they can figure out who committed that murder, they have to put that person to death if it was a premeditated murder. Otherwise if it was not premeditated, if it was a crime of passion, if it was a second degree murder, then that person could flee to the city of refuge and they would remain at the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Now this is because when blood is shed on this earth, someone has to pay for it. Justice has to be satisfied and God's justice requires that whoso shedeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man. And that's in Genesis chapter 9 where that's instituted when Noah gets off the ark. So the person who commits a premeditated murder must die to pay the price for the person's life that they took. And if it's a second degree murder, then God is gracious and the death of the high priest atones for that murder which is symbolic of Jesus Christ, our high priest who died for us and made an atonement for all of our sins. If they can't figure out who committed the murder, they still have to go through an important ritual where they would say, we don't know, they would swear to the Lord that they do not know who committed this crime and that they've made a diligent inquiry and they did their best to solve it and they couldn't solve it and then they would perform an animal sacrifice and ask the Lord's forgiveness for the land where it was committed. What does that mean? God not only holds murderers accountable, but he also holds the society accountable that allows murder. The reason that God did this and said that the region has to be cleansed by either a burnt offering or the death of the high priest, you know, when he would die, of course, of natural causes, you know, that would basically put an end to the wrath of God upon the land. The reason why God is so serious about this is because he doesn't want society to tolerate murder. He doesn't want people to be able to commit murder and just get away with it and there's no punishment, you know, so he really tries to impress upon man the importance of putting murderers to death, giving them the death penalty and not only that, making diligent inquiry, trying to actually solve crimes and investigate, not just saying, well, we don't really know who did it. Well, you know, you got to try and figure out who did it and do your best and then if you do your best, then God's grace will pick up where that leaves off. Manasseh had shed a whole bunch of innocent blood. He wasn't punished. Nobody was punished. The people involved weren't punished and so there was a bunch of wrath that had built up God's wrath on the land of Judah. God's vengeance was coming and it could not be stopped. He would not pardon it. There was no way to stop it. Even if Moses and Samuel stepped in, they couldn't stop this judgment that was coming. The only thing that they could do by turning to the Lord was sometimes just delay the judgment but once a bunch of innocent blood was shed, something's going to happen. I mean, why did God flood the whole earth in the days of Noah? Well, the Bible clearly tells us it was because the earth was filled with violence. Read Genesis 6 and it repeatedly brings up the violence that filled the earth. God hates the shedding of innocent blood and God will not just hold the perpetrator accountable. He will hold the society accountable that allows it to be shed. They will be judged just for allowing it to go forth and allowing it to happen. How does this apply to us today in America? You say, oh, well, it must be the Orlando shooting. Well, no, that's not innocent blood. A bunch of filthy homos aren't innocent. Oh, innocent people. They're filthy. They're predators. They're pedophiles. Okay? That's not what we're talking about. I'll tell you what we ought to be mourning about in this country. How about the innocent blood that's shed every day through abortion? Even if you just only counted the partial birth abortions, even if you just only counted the ones where the baby is fully developed and it's being brought partway out of the womb and being slaughtered like an animal, even if you just counted that, there's so much innocent blood that's not just being shed by individuals who are wicked and misguided, but rather are being condoned by a government that just says it's legal. Not only is it legal, it's protected by the Supreme Court's decision, Roe versus Wade, that protects and enshrines abortion as being a right. I mean, women have the right to murder their baby. Well, God can't pardon that. Now God can pardon the individual who has an abortion and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will cleanse them from all sin if they'll believe on the individual. But here's the thing. Societies don't accept Jesus Christ as Savior. You know, the Laib's Book of Life in the list of countries and cities and towns and counties. It's a list of individuals. So yes, the individual can be pardoned. Yes, the individual can be saved. Many individuals were saved in the land of Judah at this time. But what God doesn't pardon is the nation that allows innocent blood to be shed. He will not pardon. And that's why there is zero doubt that America will be destroyed and judged. I don't need to get a word of knowledge or have some prophet tell me that because I already know that based on the principles of the Bible, America will be destroyed. America will be judged because of the innocent blood that has been not only shed but allowed and sanctioned. And that's even worse when a society, when a government, when leaders actually sanction innocent blood being shed. And that's just one aspect of the innocent blood that's been shed in our nation. There are all kinds of other murders that take place that aren't dealt with biblically. When people commit first-degree murder in this country, they're put in prison usually. They're not usually executed. That doesn't satisfy God's justice. That doesn't satisfy God's wrath. When the police sometimes will just gun someone down wrongfully, like I think it just happened in Mesa, you know, okay, that's a crime of passion. Maybe you could say that's not premeditated. Okay. God's not saying he should be put to death but he's not receiving any kind of punishment whereas God says that there should be an exile or some kind of a punishment that takes place when you commit that type of a crime. Okay. What about the fact that, you know, our military will often, you know, violate the rules of warfare laid down in the Word of God and laid down through various treaties that we've made and we've signed our name to and covenants that we've made with other countries. When we are a truce breaker that would actually murder people in violation of that and rendition people and torture them to death and everything like that, you know, that's innocent blood that God won't pardon. But really the big elephant in the room is really abortion. But there's a lot of other innocent blood that we're involved in shedding all over the world through the military. And I'm not saying that all warfare is wrong. I'm not saying that it's wrong to ever be a soldier. I'm telling you that our country is involved in shedding innocent blood as a nation. God will not pardon the United States of America. He will pour out his wrath upon it. That's a sobering thought. And we need to never downplay shedding of innocent blood. It doesn't just destroy a person. It destroys a whole nation, a whole society. We don't know when that judgment's coming. But I don't pray for God to bless America and spare America because, honestly, I don't like wasting my time. I mean, if I'm going to spend my time praying for something, I want to pray for something that God's actually going to do. He already told us he's not going to pardon it. He doesn't pardon countries that allow innocent blood to be shed with no repercussions. He doesn't do it. And he keeps telling... Jeremiah was arguing with them in the last chapter. And he keeps telling Jeremiah, no, not going to do it. So here's what I pray. I pray that when the judgment comes upon our nation, that God would spare his people. I pray that the innocent would be spared. I pray that God's people, that Christians would be spared, people who love the Lord would be spared, and that he would not slay the righteous with the wicked. That's what I pray. I think that's a biblical prayer. Let's keep reading the chapter here. It says... Or actually, let's get back in Jeremiah 15 where we belong. Verse number 5. Who shall have pity on thee, O Orlando? I'm sorry. Who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? Thou has forsaken me, saith the Lord. Thou art gone backward. Therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee. I'm weary with repenting. Now, I love that statement because it's funny because a lot of people, whenever they see the word repent in the Bible, they think it means repent of your sins. I think you were the one that preached about this, right? Yeah. Whenever they see repent, they think repent of your sins. But actually, if you look up the word repent, the person who repents more than anyone else is God. And God doesn't have any sins. So when the Bible uses the word repent, it just means to turn or change. You have to go with the context to figure out what's being turned from, what change is taking place. So when repentance is used in regard to salvation, ask yourself this question. What do people need to change in order to be saved? They have to change what they believe. They have to change whom they are trusting. So if they're trusting Buddha, that's going to have to change for them to get saved. Can't trust Buddha and Jesus. They must believe in Jesus with all their heart. Hey, if they're a Roman Catholic and they're trusting in the sacraments to save them, that's going to have to change in order for them to be saved. If they're Mormon and they believe that they're going to be their own god of their own planet and they're worshipping, you know, a host of heaven, that's going to have to change. The Jehovah's false witnesses who deny the bodily resurrection of Christ, what's going to have to change for them to be saved? They're going to have to start believing in the bodily resurrection of Christ and reject the Jehovah's Witness cult, the Watchtower cult. What's going to have to change in the life of a Jew in order for them to be saved? They're going to have to receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah, as the Son of God, as their Savior. That's what needs to change. So when the Bible says repent and believe the Gospel, he's telling them quit believing the false religion you're believing in, whether it's the Sadducee religion or the Pharisee religion and believe the Gospel. The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, to repent of what? Their ignorance, their idol worship. Why? Because idols are a substitute for Jesus. We're supposed to be looking to Jesus as our Savior. They're looking to an idol as their Savior. That's a substitute for Jesus. They have to turn from the idol to the living God. That's biblical repentance in regard to salvation. But does the Bible teach that you have to repent of drinking alcohol in order to be saved? No it doesn't. Does the Bible teach you have to repent of fornication to be saved? No it doesn't. Does the Bible teach that you have to repent of, you know, greed or covetousness or any other sin? No. The thing that you have to repent of in regard to salvation is a false doctrine, a false belief, a false religion. Because that's necessary to embrace the Gospel because you can't do both. You can't believe with all your heart in Jesus and still have room for Buddha in there. He's too fat. He doesn't fit. All right? You know, you can't fit both Buddha and Jesus in your heart. All right? It's not going to fit. So you know, God repents. Just the fact that God repents should show you right there that these people who are trying to say repent means repent of your sins, that they're out to lunch. Because God repents so much, and this is what I like about this statement, God repents so much that he actually says, I'm sick of repenting. I mean, I repent so much, I'm weary with repenting. So you say, well, how could God change his mind? I thought God never changes. Here's the thing. God does not change in the sense that his nature never changes. Who he is never changes. But God does change his course of action. His essence does not change, but his actions change. So for example, here's God's action, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. That's an action that God's going to perform. He's going to overthrow Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh believed God turned unto the Lord, they had so much repentance that not only did they put sackcloth on their own bodies, not only did they fast just to be safe, you know, these people are kind of ignorant people. They don't really know the Bible. They don't know the Word of God. They said, just to be safe, let's put sackcloth on the animals. Let's make the animals fast, just in case. Now there's no place in scripture that God tells you, hey, you know, your animals, you know, need to put on sackcloth, you know. I mean, that was the first doggy sweater in the Bible is actually sackcloth. But in their zeal, I mean, that I think God just gives us that tidbit just to show us. I mean, these people are really sorry and they're really trying to get God to back down. And so they're putting sackcloth on the animals. They're fasting. The animals are fasting. You know, that's why I thank God at the end, kind of tongue in cheek says, hey, you know, in the city, there's a hundred and there's, what did he say, six score persons that don't know the right hand for love. And there's a lot of cattle. I mean, you know, hey, I've heard the cattle in their sackcloth, you know, the cattle are going to be spared. But the bottom line is though that God, when he saw that the Bible says that the Lord repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So God changes his course of action. See God may be ready to come down on you really hard right now, but if you will get right with him and make supplication unto him, he'll turn away from his wrath because he's merciful. He's slow to anger. So don't let people confuse you on what the word repent means. The word repent is a word that we don't use in our modern vernacular. So that's why people don't understand it. Spanish speakers I think might have a little bit of an advantage on this because they still use the word repent. They would say something like, hey, I was going to go to the grocery store, but I repented. So they understand what that means, you know, that basically I was going to go, I changed my mind or I changed my course of action or, you know. So in English though, we've stopped using that word for some reason. Now we just say, I changed my mind or, you know, I decided to do something different or whatever. But that's what it means there. He says, I'm weary with repenting. Basically he's saying, look, I've already turned away my wrath a bunch of times. I've been long suffering. I've been slow to anger, but I'm sick of it. I'm bringing the judgment. The hammer's going to come down. Verse 7, I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land. I will bereave them of children. I will destroy my people since they return not from their ways. Now look, returning from your ways, wouldn't that be a type of repentance? Turning from your ways would be repentance. But you say, well, but I thought repentance just means to change your mind. Repentance just means to change or turn. It can mean a change of mind. It can mean a change of direction. It can mean a change of action. It depends on the context. You have to go with, look, if you're going to the grocery store and you repent, the context of that is what did you turn from? You turned from your plan to go to the grocery store. If you're living in sin and you repent, then you turn from your sins. I mean, look, there is such a thing as repenting of your sins. Christians should do it every day and every week. But it's just when you add that to salvation, though, now you're corrupting the gospel because the gospel is by faith alone. So if you add works to grace, then it's no more grace. And turning from your evil way, according to Jonah 3.10, is works. So works are good. Doing good works are good. Turning from your sins is good. But when you apply that to salvation, now it becomes evil. Because now it becomes you glorying in yourself instead of giving God all the glory for purchasing your salvation through his blood by his death, burial, and resurrection. So here he says I'm going to fan them. What does that mean fan them? Well think about a fire and then you fan it and then it, right? Fanning it is referring to increasing the heat and the fire there of their punishment and their destruction. They're not turning from their ways, so he's going to destroy them. Even though they were his people, they were not exempt from judgment. It says in verse number eight, the widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas. Meaning, you know, so many men are dying, just widows everywhere. I brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at noonday. I've caused him to fall upon it suddenly and terror is upon the city. I mean, what he's saying is they're being robbed in broad daylight. Spoilers at noonday, right? What's a spoiler? Somebody who's taking something that doesn't belong to them. Be like, sort of like what we would consider today the looters. That would be the modern equivalent of what we see here. Looters at noonday, right? And we have seen that before in this country. Look at verse nine. She that hath borne seven, meaning that she has seven kids, languishes. She hath given up the ghost. Her son has gone down while it was yet day. She's been ashamed and confounded and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies sayeth the Lord. So that's the Lord pronouncing judgment. Now in verse 10, we switch to Jeremiah. And this is something really common in the book of Jeremiah. We get a lot of the personal views of Jeremiah. We get a lot of insight into what's going on in his heart and in his mind. God shows us his feelings. Here's what Jeremiah says. Woe is me, my mother, that thou has borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. He said, good night, mom. I feel sorry for you that you gave birth to a guy like me that the whole world is against. The whole world hates me. The whole world's fighting me, mom. And you gave birth to me. You must feel terrible. He says, I've neither lent on usury nor men have lent to me on usury, yet every one of them doth curse me. Now that should show you right there among many other scriptures that lending on usury is not a good thing. That's when you charge interest. By the way, according to Nehemiah chapter 5 verse 10, 1% is usury. See in our modern vernacular, people think that usury means high interest rate above 30%. No, no, no, 1% is usury according to the Bible. Any charging of interest is usury. One scripture that I would point to, and I've done a whole sermon called The Sin of Usury where I looked up every time it's mentioned and proved from the Bible that we should never charge interest unto anyone when we loan them money. But one scripture that often comes to my mind is Psalm 15. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contempt. Let me just repeat that one part. In whose eyes a vile person is contempt, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that putteth not out his money to usury. Nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Now, if you want to have that promise applied unto you, the promise of Psalm 15 that says, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Lord, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Who's going to stay in church? Who's going to stay with the Lord? Who's going to stay right with God and in the will of God? Well, it's the person who does the things found in Psalm 15. One of those is not to put out your money to usury. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. That's a great promise. He said, I didn't lend on usury. Men didn't lend on usury to me. He's saying, they're not mad at me because I borrowed money and didn't pay the usury. And he said, yet every one of them doth curse me. Now a lot of the Jews of today say, well, everybody curses us, but it's like, did you lend on usury? You know what I mean? Because Jeremiah say, well, I didn't lend on usury so these people don't have any reason to be cursing me. If you lend on usury, people are going to curse you. I'm not saying it's right, but they're going to. That's life. The Lord said, verily it shall be well with thy remnant. Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, in the time of affliction. And God fulfilled that promise with Jeremiah. The enemy did entreat him well. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not. For a fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn upon you. That wording reminds me of Deuteronomy chapter 32, 22 when he says, for a fire is kindled in mine anger and it shall burn unto the lowest hell. That's the first mention of the word hell in the Bible. He said, a fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn upon you. Oh Lord, this is Jeremiah speaking again, oh Lord thou knowest, remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Now this scripture where Jeremiah is praying for God to revenge him on his persecutors is a biblical prayer, it is something that's prayed throughout the book of Psalms under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by David the prophet. And it is scriptural, the imprecatory Psalms, praying for God's vengeance because God said vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, I will repay. We are not to avenge ourselves. You know, we are to leave that unto the Lord. When people persecute us, we are to take it patiently and let the Lord avenge us on our adversaries. Now I'm going through a little persecution right now, but it's pretty little though, it's pretty small. This is a very small persecution, it's a light affliction, very light. So it's, you know, when you read a book like Fox's Book of Martyrs, you know, you read about all the things that people have gone through, it makes the stuff that we deal with in 2016 just seem like almost not even worth mentioning. Hey, I got, you know, 700 voicemails in the last, you know, three days that, you know, talking about how they want to violently kill me and violently rape and kill my children and I have had plenty of emails graphically describing all those things in the last like three or four days because, you know, because I'm so hateful, you know, and so all these really loving people, you know, because here's the thing, when you're hateful, it makes loving people get offended. So that's why I've received so many loving emails. Now thankfully, the deacon, you know, this is what deacons are for, scriptural deacon, scriptural deacon folks. He goes through all that junk and finds the real emails and the real voicemails. So his mind has been warped beyond repair, you know, probably, but I, you know, I've been there, you know, but oh man, am I telling the truth? Yeah. That was the understatement of the year. But here's the thing, I mean, look, sticks and stones may break my bones, but voicemails will never hurt me. And you know, it blows me away though how God's people today in 2016 fold like a deck of cards at just the lightest affliction, the lightest persecution. Come on. Now look, I, you know, I've gone through more serious persecution, like for example, where, you know, my business was destroyed, I lost my, I mean, well, I didn't lose my job because I was in business for myself, but I lost all my customers, so I didn't have any more work to do, so I had lost my job in that sense. You know, I went through that and, you know, right now, some of my fellow independent fundamental Baptist preachers who actually have the guts to preach the Word of God in season and out of season, you know, they're going through some persecutions right now where, you know, one of them, their job was threatening to fire them from their job just for preaching the truth and, you know, that right there is more serious than just a bunch of voicemails and a bunch of, you know, but we've had sodomites go around to all the tenants in our complex here where we rent space, they've gone door to door multiple times to every single tenant in this complex badmouthing us and saying that they need to demand that the landlord evict, faithful Word Baptist Church, thank God the landlord has always stood up for us, praise God for our landlord, and he said to them, he said, well, you know what, he said, they're one of our best tenants, and he said, I'll talk, this is what he told them, I love this, he said, I'll go as deep doctrinally with you guys as you want to go as soon as you're willing to rent his space for 5,400 square feet, as soon as you're willing to rent 5,400 square feet of commercial property from me, then we'll talk doctrine, and they said, and they said to him, oh, so this is just a business to you then, huh, and he's like, yeah, pretty much, it's a business, you know, but see, these bunch of lefties and commies and gatheists and fagnostics, they don't even know what business is, because they're on the government dole, their dream is to get a government job, their dream is to be a career student and get a PhD in lesbian poetry on the taxpayer's dollar, I mean, that's pretty much their dream, so, you know, when you start talking about like money and business, to them, that's like a cuss word, this guy's in business to make money, the landlord, he's a landlord, he's a property manager, what do you expect him to do, but anyway, thank God he's blessed us and he's blessed me and he's protected me, and I believe that he will protect me all the way until the bitter end, and if I perish, I perish, but honestly, I believe that I will be protected until the bitter end, that's my prayer, I hope that's your prayer for me, right? I'm praying for you, all right? We need to all pray for each other as we enter perilous times, but I'm telling you, there's persecution happening amongst God's people, I thought it was interesting that the mayor of Sacramento, California, came out and condemned Pastor Roger Jimenez, and he came out and made a public statement that Pastor Jimenez does not represent Christianity, and Pastor Jimenez does not represent Sacramento, California, and I've been condemned by the mayor here, I've been condemned by our Jewish congressman, Mr. Representative Shapira, but you know what, I've knocked Shapira's door just in the course of soul winning, I mean, when you knock every door, you're eventually going to knock on the politicians, and I tried to give him the gospel, you know, did I, I didn't just, you know, turn him over to a reprobate mind, you know, maybe the Lord has, I don't know, I don't know if he has or not, so I tried to give him the gospel, I tried to preach the gospel to every creature, and you know what, what more loving thing could I do to Representative Shapira than to go to his door and try to give him the gospel of Jesus Christ, and let him know that he's not going to Abraham's bosom, just cause he's one of the chosen people, cause that's what he told me, he said, I'm a Jew, so I'm automatically going to Abraham's bosom, that's what he said, but here's the thing that I thought was funny about that, okay, is that the mayor of Sacramento is issuing condemnation on Pastor Roger Jimenez, and yet, the vast majority of independent fundamental Baptists in this country that are well known, that are nationally known, that have a platform where people listen to them across the nation, they're actually bringing the mayor to their church and parading him across the platform and honoring the mayor, and they're getting along with the mayor, I mean, you know, you know, and people didn't like it when I preached about Paul Chappell a few weeks ago where he's inviting all the worst filth into his church and teaching others to do likewise, but you know what's funny is that the very morning that I preached that sermon he had the mayor and he had the, literally the morning I was saying that, and I didn't even know that, that exact morning he was having the mayor and everything, so it's funny how his church can be there for 30 years, right, and the mayor loves him, and the government officials love him, and the police chief loves him, and the government, and they're just like, them and Pharaoh are getting along great over there, all right, I'm kind of getting into my Sunday morning sermon, I don't want to steal my own thunder here, my brother gave me a really good idea for a sermon about Pharaoh, but you know, they're getting along great with Pharaoh, and Caesar, and everybody else, okay, but it's amazing because I don't think that the mayor of Tempe is going to be in our church anytime soon, honoring us, or being honored by us, I don't think that the mayor of Sacramento is ever going to be honoring Pastor Jimenez, or giving him the key to the city, I don't think that the mayor of Fort Worth is going to be honoring Pastor Donnie Romero anytime soon, I don't think that the mayor of Prescott Valley is going to be honoring Pastor Verzins, you know, I don't think the mayor of San Antonio is going to be honoring Brother Manley Perry, you know, I don't see that ever happening, why? Because we preach the whole Bible, and we preach the truth. So ask yourself this question if you say, well I don't know, I think I'm kind of tempted to turn more toward the pastel wearing version of fundamentalism, you know, the sweet spirited kind of love everybody, cold hell, good devil, good sin, you know, whatever, the kind of softer side of seers, or the softer side of fundamentalism, just ask yourself this question. If you have one brand of fundamentalism in this country, if you have one branch of Independent Baptists in this country that are hated of the government officials, that are condemned by the congressmen, that are condemned by the mayor, that are condemned by the media, and they are basically hated of all men, hated of this world, receiving persecution, receiving attacks, and then you have the other style of Independent Fundamental Baptists in this country that are just hand in glove with the mayor, and buddy-buddy, and rubbing elbows with all of the wicked politicians and leaders in their area. Ask yourself this question, which one matches up with the book of Acts? Which one matches up with what Jesus said when he said, you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake? What about when Jesus said, you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake for a testimony against them? Hey, that is fulfilled when the mayor of Sacramento is condemning. Amen. Right. Roger, amen. So you see, a mayor today of a city of two million people is ruling over more people than a governor or a king did in the past, I mean, you know what I mean, if you think about it? I mean, the city of Tempe has as many people in it as a typical kingdom would in the Old Testament, just because the population of our world has exploded. So basically, when the governors and the kings and the mayors and the representatives and the senators are condemning us, you know, that right there is a fulfillment of what Jesus said, they hated me and they'll hate you. The governors, the kings, all these, you know, you're going to be brought before them. Look at the book of Acts, how many times they're under arrest. I mean, the best they could hope for from these corrupt politicians is just that they would be neutral and just say, well, I don't want it. I don't want this guy. Just, you know, send him to send him to Felix, send him to Festus, you know, what about Agrippa? He's here. He can talk to him. How can you sit there and look at a church that is buddies with the mayor of their city, buddies with the governor, buddies with the senator, buddies with the congressman and say that that church is preaching the word of God? How does that work? How does that fit in scripture? Where are these people getting this? But yet, all the Bible believing churches I know that are actually preaching the whole counsel of God, that are unashamedly preaching everything in the Bible, they keep getting persecuted by the government, persecuted by the homos, persecuted, I mean, look, we've had our share of protests, in fact, they said they were going to do a big protest at our church this Sunday morning. And you know, our church that runs about 250 on Sunday mornings, 250 people, they had 11 people signed up on Facebook. And you know how it is when you're signed up on Facebook, they don't always all materialize, right? They had 11 people signed up on Facebook to come protest our church, but I think they might have looked at the weather forecast, because the forecast for Sunday is like 120 degrees, okay? And I'm thinking like, look, if these people want to get a taste of hell, you know, maybe that's what they're after trying to build their tolerance, because you know, I mean, standing out on that sidewalk protesting on Sunday morning be pretty rough, because it's air conditioned in here, buddy. We got ice cold water and air conditioning and Gatorade in here, they're gonna be out, you know, without our dogs, and sorcerers and whoremongers, and whosoever loveth and make it a lie. So they canceled the protest, because I think they looked at the weather report, you know. But you know, I guess they're gonna be protesting, Pastor Jimenez, but you know what, rejoice, sleep for joy. I mean, look, it's a light affliction. I mean, good night, they're protesting, why don't we cry about it? I mean, oh, I got a mean voicemail, I got a mean email. And you know what, even if you lose your job, God's gonna give you a better job. That's been my experience. I mean, my experience, whenever God has allowed me to go through something like that, I always look back and say it was a blessing in disguise when I lost my customers. It's a blessing in disguise when the IRS came after me. You know, I always ended up better off in the end. I mean, the latter end was better than the first, like Job. So the reason I bring that up is just, I don't want you to faint. Don't just faint, don't just fold like, and that's why these pastors won't preach right, because then the mayor might tweet about them. I mean, look, okay, so the mayor, I mean, look, the mayor tweeted about past three minutes. So what? It's like, you shall be tweeted of all men. You know, I mean, our ancestors and our spiritual fathers and our spiritual mothers that went before us, they were beaten, they were imprisoned, they were stoned, they were saunasundar, but you got unfriended, you got tweeted about. You had to look at some protesters that were 50 feet away from the front door of the building, you know, when you got to church, and then you just turned around and went home because it was so scary. Folks, don't faint. The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. So I just bring that up because, you know, Jeremiah, he's talking about his persecutors, O Lord, thou knowest, remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. I praise God that Pastor Jimenez is being persecuted right now with a light affliction. Not because I would want to see anything bad happen unto him because I love him and he's a good friend, but you know what, because I know that his reward is great in heaven because he's hated of all men tonight. He's condemned of the world tonight. He's condemned of the mayor of Sacramento tonight. Praise God for our brother in Christ. Praise God for an example, a role model, Pastor Roger Jimenez, for people to look at. He's taking a stand. He's enduring affliction, and they came to his house and tried to intimidate him, put all the cameras and microphones in his face, and he said, I don't take back anything I said. Amen? Amen. I know 99% of the time when the world accidentally says something right about homos, they always take it back. Thank God for Brother Jimenez standing up. And I praise God for the light affliction that he's going through and that other men of God are going through because of the fact that it will make him a better preacher and it will strengthen him and increase his faith. And they shall, and this is the biggest reason why, because they shall know that a prophet hath been among them. Because everybody in Sacramento is going to hear that he exists. And you know what, whether they hear or whether they forbear, they shall know that a prophet hath been among them. Let's hurry up and finish the chapter. I'm out of time. But he says in verse 16, thy words were found, this is a beautiful verse, thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. I mean that verse doesn't even need any comment. Beautiful verse. It's a pretty verse. Let that be the prayer of our hearts today that we would feel that way about the word of God. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced. These are the people that mock the word of God, that ridicule biblical preaching. They ridicule the laws of God. They ridicule the book of Leviticus, especially. I love the book of Leviticus. Sounds like a great bumper sticker. But anyway, I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced. I sat alone because of thy hand, for thou has filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuse it to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail? Therefore thus saith the Lord, if thou return, then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me. And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. I like what he says there, thou shalt be as my mouth. That's really the job of a preacher, to be the mouthpiece of God, to speak his word. Not to say, it's so funny, I did an interview a couple days ago on the Irish radio. Don't listen to it unless you like to hear four letter words a lot. But these Irish, these Irish, they, they, you know, I guess they cuss like an Irishman, you know, or whatever. But you know, I went on this Irish radio and man, they're cussing me out and hating on me. You know, I'm trying to give them Bible verses and give them, this is what they kept saying over and over again. Oh, the Bible, you know, don't give us the Bible. Oh, that book, oh, you just give us the Bible. But what, don't you have an opinion, Pastor Anderson? What do you believe? Aren't you? Can't you think for yourself? You know? Oh, the Bible, the Bible. But you know, but here's the thing, I just kept telling them, I don't have an opinion about this. I have the mind of Christ as my opinion. I mean, I'm not just going to come up with my own opinion. Hey, I'm not up here to give my opinion. I'm supposed to be up here as a mouthpiece for God's word. I'm up here to read to you Jeremiah chapter 15 and expound it to you to apply it to the day that we live in, to give you the sense and the meaning of the passage, not to just get up here and say, well, here's how I feel. Here's what I think about Orlando or homos or anything else or the mayor of Sacramento. Who cares what I think? A bunch of people in Ireland apparently, but I don't care what I think. You shouldn't care what I think. What does the Bible say? You need to just not just give our own opinions. We need to give God's opinion on things. And if I have an opinion and I know it to be contrary to God's opinion, I'm going to change my opinion because my opinion is dung compared to his opinion. So I'm going to swap that out for his opinion. And look, are there things that I'm wrong about? I'm sure that there are because I'm not all knowing. But here's the thing. If I'm wrong about something, it's not on purpose, it's by accident. Because I want to be conformed to the mind of Christ. That's the goal. So I like what God says here to Jeremiah, thou shalt be as my mouth. That's what God told Moses too. And that Aaron was to be Moses' mouthpiece and that Moses was to be God's mouthpiece. Verse number 20 says, and I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee to save thee and deliver thee, saith the Lord. You see, when a man of God preaches the word of God faithfully and the attacks come and the media comes and the sodomites come and the haters come, you know what? They ought to be like a brazen wall. Not through their own strength necessarily. Not through their own character. But you know what? If they will be filled with the Holy Spirit, God will make them like a brazen wall. Have you ever talked to somebody and you felt like you're just talking to a brick wall? Like you're not getting anywhere? That's how God's man should be when the world comes to them and says, hey, you need to take back what you preached. They told Brother Jimenez that he needs to sit down with other spiritual leaders and have them like kind of work through these passages with him like Leviticus 2013. But what they don't realize is that the Red Hot Preaching Conference is coming up. So we can sit down with Brother Jimenez with Pastor Romero and myself and Brother Garrett Kirschway is going to sit down with him and we're going to sit down with Pastor Dave Burzis and we're going to go, do you mind if we go through Leviticus 2013 and see if we can help him to preach harder? No, he doesn't need to preach harder. He was right there. He nailed it. But anyway, verse 21, and I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. I mean, do we believe that or not? Well, if you believe that God's going to redeem you out of the hand of the wicked and out of the hand of the terrible, then why don't you be like a brazen wall when they come at you and try to get you to change your doctrine? Let God make you a brazen wall. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and for the promises that are in the Bible, precious promises. And Lord, thank you for men of God, like Pastor Jimenez and others, that we can look to, Lord, and that we can learn from and that we can follow, Lord, and basically men that are being a role model for this generation, being an example of what it means to have faith and what it means to have character and what it means to have boldness. And not to be like a reed shaken with the wind, but to be like a John the Baptist and to be that brazen wall that you made Jeremiah. Lord, please just bless us this weekend as we hopefully, Lord, God willing, see a great harvest of souls. Many people saved, Lord. Perhaps Satan, you know, I don't want to speak about things that I know not, but perhaps Satan is on the attack because of the great work that's going to be done this weekend. We don't know what's happening in the spiritual realm, Lord, but we do know that a hundred and some, possibly two hundred, spirit-filled soul winners are going to descend on Southern California with a King James Bible in their hand and the Holy Spirit in their breast and Lord, we pray that you would do an amazing work where the heathen would just stand in awe at the great works that are performed, Lord, in your name. We pray that you would do a mighty work this Saturday, Lord, that it would be something that we will remember for the rest of our lives, Lord. Help it to be the greatest outpouring of your spirit that we've ever seen at a soul-winning event and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.