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Now, keep your finger there, Leviticus chapter 11, and while I introduce the sermon to you, turn to Genesis chapter 9, and I just want to introduce the theme of the sermon, and have you to understand why we just read that passage in Leviticus chapter 11 to get us started. Look at Genesis chapter 9. The Bible reads in Genesis chapter 9, verse 3, Every moving thing that liveth shall be neat for you. Now, there's nothing unclear about that statement, is there? God is saying to Noah as he gets off the ark of any animal that there is, he said, go ahead and eat it. I mean, anything. He says, Every moving thing that liveth shall be neat for you, even as the green herb am I giving you all things. And of course, in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, God tells Peter, when he brings the sheep down from heaven in Acts chapter 10, and he sees all manner of unclean beasts, some of the ones that we've read about in Leviticus chapter 11, he tells Peter, arise, slay, and eat. And Peter said, Not so, Lord, for there is nothing common or unclean coming into my mouth from his childhood. He said, What God hath cleansed, that cometh out unclean. And of course, the Bible talks about a commandment to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving, of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. But, in Leviticus chapter 11, there's still many great lessons for us, because the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is not was, it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly purposed unto all good works. So, Leviticus 11 is of great importance to us, although before the nation of Israel, God allowed people to eat whatever meat they wanted, and although in the New Testament, God has said, eat whatever meats you want, and God said in Hebrews chapter, whatever chapter it was, that it was a figure for the time then present, until Christ came, that these dietary laws, meats, drinks, divers washed his carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation, but Christ being come, and high priests with good things to come, on and on and on. It's clear that we don't live by these dietary restrictions. You know what I had for dinner last night? I made myself a sandwich. I got home from the airport late last night, I made myself a sandwich. You know what the primary meat was? Ham. You know what my favorite meat is? Ham. Okay, I love ham. Thank God for living in the New Testament. But the point is, in Leviticus chapter 11, many people, they throw out whole sections of the Bible. It's foolishness. It's madness. All scripture is profitable for doctrine. And I'm going to preach to you on the first eight verses of Leviticus chapter 11. Look down at your Bible. God wrote these things for our admonition, the Bible says, upon whom the end of the world is come. And so let's read it together. The Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses and the Aaron sang unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which he shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Okay, and if you look at the last verse of the chapter, he says to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beasts that may be eaten and the beasts that may not be eaten. You saw how scores of times this word kept coming up. Unclean, unclean, unclean, all throughout Leviticus 11, unclean. And I'm going to tell you something. Uncleanness in the Old Testament is a picture of simple uncleanness in your life. Now, God uses physical uncleanness, I mean, being physically dirty with dirt and germs, as a picture of the sinfulness of your life, the uncleanness of your heart and spirit. And so here he says in verse number three, Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and sheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless, these shall ye not eat of them that shew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divided not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. Look down at verse number seven. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you. Now let me tell you something. God is giving us here a formula for cleanness and righteousness in our lives. And the title of the sermon is this, Parting the Hoof and Chewing the Cud. That's the title of the sermon, you're like, what in the world? Parting the Hoof and Chewing the Cud is the title of the sermon. You see, it's not enough just to part the hoof. You must also chew the cud. But don't stop chewing the cud, because God says you must also part the hoof to be clean. You say, what are you talking about? I'm talking about, for example, walking the walk and talking the talk. It's not enough just to have a clean mouth, right? You say everything right. You say everything right. You preach it to everybody else. Hey, you better part the hoof. You better walk the walk and talk the talk in your life. It's not enough just to have a clean mouth. You better have a clean walk. And so you gotta talk the talk and walk the walk. Acts 1, 1, you don't have to turn there. The former treatise said, I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began hope to do and teach. See, Jesus' life was a life of do and teach. Not just teach. Not just do, but do and teach. Look through it in Matthew 11, verse 1. Flip over in your Bible. The first book in the New Testament. Walking the walk and talking the talk. Many people have it all together on the outside, don't they? Like the Pharisees of old in Matthew 23. He said, they say, but they do not. He said, they're like whited sepulchers, which appear indeed beautiful, outward demand. But inside, they're full of wickedness and dead men's bones. You see, talking the talk is much easier than walking the walk. Some people who say one thing often do another, according to Jesus, in Matthew 23. Look at Matthew 11, 1. I love this. In Matthew 10, if you know your Bible, he just finished teaching the apostles by soloing him. He sent them out two by two to preach and to teach in all the cities and villages. And it says in verse number 1, and it came to pass when Jesus made an end of commanding his 12 disciples. What did he do? He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. He didn't say, oh, I'm going to teach you how to go soloing. I'm going to preach to you soloing. I'm going to tell you as you go, preach. He sent them out two by two and said, as you go, invite them to the church. Wrong. He said, sent out two by two and said, as you go, hang a door hanger. Wrong. As you go, be the Avon lady. Wrong. He said, no, as you go, preach. But then he said, I'm not just going to tell you to preach. Hey, I'm not just going to tell you to go soloing. As soon as he finished commanding them, he said, now I'm going to go and do the very same thing. Hey, I'm going to go soloing. I'm going to go teach and preach in the cities and villages. It says, they came to pass when Jesus made an end of commanding his 12 disciples. He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Hey, Jesus Christ was leading by example. He didn't just talk the talk. He then turned around and said, let me show you how I walk the walk. And so we don't want to just chew the cud all the time. But then we don't park the hoof. And he said, what else does it represent to chew the cud and to park the hoof? Well, look back at Leviticus chapter 11. And, you know, before we get to what else it represents, because I've got more things that I know that this represents, but in Leviticus chapter 11, notice that not only is, we see, we would often think of somebody who talks it, but they don't walk it. Right? I mean, that's pretty gone, right? The hypocrite. OK. And we think of the one who chews the cud but does not park the hoof. Now, God gives us three examples. In verse four, he gives us the camel. He chews the cud, but he doesn't park the hoof. He gives us the coney in verse five. He chews the cud. He doesn't divide the hoof. In number six, he gives us the hare, which is like, I guess, a rabbit. And he said, well, he chews the cud, but he doesn't divide the hoof. But then in verse number seven, he gives an interesting example. And this is the dirtiest one of all. The swine. I mean, is there a dirtier animal? No. And he says here, the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cold and footed, yet he cheweth not the cud, he is unclean to you. You see, there's also something wrong with somebody who walks the walk, but they don't talk at all. It's wrong. It's wrong. I mean, I'm talking about preachers. I know churches where the preacher, man, he believes it right. He believes it straight down the line, and he even lives it right. But he won't get up in the pulpit and tell it right. He's toning it down. He's holding back. He's not preaching all the counsel of God. And so he's just as dirty as the guy who's preaching it but not living it. He's living it but not preaching it. And we have parents who live a good Christian and godly life, and they dress right, and they talk right, and they act right. But then their kids do whatever they want. Their kids go out and live like the devil. Their kids live ungoverned and without rules. Hey, I'm telling you something. That person needs to quench his divine hope. They need to chew the cut in their house. They need to preach the truth and teach the truth to their children. The things which God has heard of me among many faithful witnesses. The same cometh out of other men who shall be able to teach others also, Paul told Timothy. And so it's just as dirty when you'll live it but you won't preach it. You know, people who won't tell anybody that they're a Christian, they don't want to be known at. They want to deny Jesus Christ the workplace. They don't want to be shown up that they're different or laughed at. And God says, touch not the unclean thing. I think he said about 10 times in Leviticus 11. And then he reiterated it in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He said, wherefore come from among them, and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing, sayeth the Lord, and I will receive you. See, last night I was on an airplane, and I sat next to a guy. And this guy was drinking one of those little bottles after another. He had six of those little bottles. And the male queer stewardess kept just giving him another one, giving him another one, giving him another one. And he's just drinking one after the other, you know. And the guy was pretending like he didn't want the guy to have another one. Okay. You know, after three, he's like, are you sure? Are you drunk? It's like, no, he's not drunk. He just drank three bottles of hard liquor, but he's not drunk. Are you sure you're okay? Here's another one. And then he's like, all right, this is the last one with number five. So he gives him the last one. And then he comes back and he's like, now you don't want another one, do you? Because we're landing in 25 minutes. And the guy wasn't even going to ask for another one until he gave him the idea, you know. And then he extorted it. He got the guy drunkier than the skunk. And then he extorted a big tip out of him at the end of it all. Because the guy was so drunk, he didn't know what was happening. He took it from anybody. He's like, all right, so this is my tip, right? You know? And he ended up walking away with a fat tip. Stinky faggot. Yes, he is. If you don't like that, you go to a different church. Because at this church, we're not going to mollycock a bunch of queers. Come to this church. You know what? This is one of those churches that's going extinct. It's like a dinosaur. It's one of those churches where the pastor's not afraid of people. It's one of those churches where the pastor gets up and preaches. And he chews the cut, and he divides the hoof in his life. OK? And so you can light it or lump it. And why was I telling that story? This is why. Because the guy next to me, he had to go use the bathroom for the 50th time. Because he was drinking. He drank about, you know, a pint of orange juice with every bottle of hard liquor. Because he's mixing it together and mixing up a stupid drink. And he was Irish, so he had a thick throat. He's like, hey, hold this for me. I said, you know what? I'm not going to touch it. I said, I don't even touch that stuff. Amen. I said, I'm not going to hold it for you. Amen. You know, I was friendly to the guy the whole time. I was nice to him, even in his drunkenness. I gave him the gospel. I talked to him. And the whole time, I was friendly to him all the way down to the end. But when he asked me to hold his liquor, I said, no. I said, no. I draw the line there. I'm not going to touch it. The Bible says not to even look upon it. I said, I ain't touching it. I said, you go ahead and do something else with it. And he found some other guy. Well, will you hold it? And the guy said, OK, I'll hold it. It was last night. OK, I'm telling you something. Touch not the unclean thing. But we feel like we get so close to sin. You say, what's wrong with holding the cup in your hand? I don't know about you, but I don't even want to touch the unclean thing. I don't want to be anywhere near it. I don't think, you see, my life is not a game where I'm trying to see how close I can get to sin without falling off the edge. That's not the game that I play. Now, what else does it represent? What did that story represent? You know, I talked to Tom. I didn't just walk the walk and not drink. I talked to Tom and said, bring me to sin. And he said, you know what? And he even said to me, he said, you know, I was begging you for that. He said, at least you're going to heaven. I said, you know what? That's not why I'm going to heaven. I'm going to heaven because I'm the evil Lord Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with whether or not I drink. But not only does it represent walking the walk and talking to Tom, it represents something else. It represents separation and rumination. Separation and ruin. Now, separation, notice he says they divide the hope. Okay. That's a picture of separation. See, God is a God of separation. You may not know this, but in Genesis chapter one, God is continuing to divide you. Did you notice that? First he made the light from the darkness. The first thing I'm going to do, I better divide the light from the darkness. Hey, I'm going to make the sea and the air. He said, I'm going to create a firmament to separate the waters above the firmament from the waters below the firmament. Then he made the dry land on day three. He said, wait a minute. Let's divide the dry land from the sea. God said, let's put a difference between clean and unclean. He said, let's divide from right, wrong, hot, cold, good, bad. God is a God of division. Dividing the hope. Rumination. The word ruminate means to chew the cud, but it has another meaning. It means to meditate and to dwell on something. You see, when an animal chews the cud, I'm going to get back to this in a moment, but when an animal chews the cud, it eats grass from the field, perhaps, and it chews it up and swallows it. Now cows have four stomachs. Did you know that? Yes, sir. They have four stomachs. And so the cow eats the grass and it goes into the first stomach and it begins to be digested in that first stomach. Then he regurgitates it back into his mouth and begins to chew it a second time. This is what chewing the cud is. He begins to chew it the second time. Chews it on for a while, chews it up, swallows it, it goes into the second stomach. Then it begins to be digested in the second stomach. Then he regurgitates again. Okay. And he chews it up for a third time. Okay. And he chews it up and swallows it again and it's digested in the third stomach and then one final time, you know what's coming, throws it up, chews it up in his mouth a fourth time and swallows it into that fourth stomach. Now that's what makes the animal clean. Okay. Because all this food is being very well processed and everything like that. And so these animals are clean according to God. Now I'm going to get back to rumination in a moment but let's talk about separation right now. So number one, what does the story represent? Walking the walk and talking the talk. Don't just chew the cud, park the hoop. And don't just park the hoop, chew the cud. But not only that, it represents separation and rumination. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Let me turn there for a moment. But 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I haven't memorized that. Get out, sorry. Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus. That is, you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would have bound more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you have stained from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification. Remember, we learned about that on Wednesday nights, set apart, holy. Sanctification and honor, that every one of you should possess, know how to possess his vessel in sanctification, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we all shall foreward you and testify. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness. Remember the word from Leviticus 11? God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Hey, God says holiness is abstinence from lust, an abstinence from fornication, a separation from the wickedness of this world. The Bible says he indulters and adulterers is, knowing not that the friendship of the world is the enemy with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God. That's what the Bible says. He's saying, listen brethren, listen fellow Christian, if you are hanging around with the world, if you're a friend of the world, you and all your worldly friends, hey, you're committing spiritual adultery, God said. He said, you're an adulterer if you're worldly. You're an adulterer. See, I didn't commit adultery. Hey, if you're a friend of the world, you're an adulterer. Yes, sir. That's what he says, because he said you're married to me and you're cheating with the world. I'm going to tell you something, I've seen more than one Christian, I've seen many a Christian whose downfall has been worldly friends. Yes, it has. Yes, sir. Yes, it has. I'm telling you what, you start hanging around with a bunch of worldly, ungodly friends and you make excuses for it and you say, I'm just trying to get them saved. Hey, you're not going to get them saved. They're going to get you saved. They're going to wing you over to their wicked ways. Now come on up here, brother Chris. I'm going to, you're going to be my victim. Now look at this. Stand up on that chair. Go ahead and stand up here. Okay. Brother Chris, here's a guy who's living for God. Here's a righteous Christian. Here's a godly Christian. And I'm his worldly, unsaved friend, right? But it's okay because we have a lot in common. You know, even though I'm not saved, even though I don't go to church, even though I don't love God, you know, we still have a lot in common, right? Okay. And so he's going to go ahead and lift me up to his level. Go ahead and lift me up onto that chair. Come on, you're friends with me because you're trying to help me. You're trying to win me to Christ, remember? You're going to help me. You weakling. Okay, now, let's see how hard it is for me to get him down. Now, I understand I'm a lot scarier than him, but it was still a lot easier. Go ahead and have a seat. Thanks. You see what I mean? It's a lot easier. There's something called gratitude. And it tends to pull people down, rather than people to lift them up. He said, oh, you're a fundamentalist, you know. You just want to isolate yourself and don't want to have any unsaved friends. How are you going to win people to Christ? Hey, let me ask you something. How did I win four people to Christ last week? How did I do it? When I wasn't palling around with the world, I still won four people to the Lord last week. And I won people to the Lord the week before that. And the greatest soul winners in this church are not winning a bunch of unbelievers across the table from the barstool. They're not winning people to the Lord. Sitting in front of an HBO movie saying, let me talk to you about Jesus. They're winning people to the Lord. Out knocking people to Jesus Christ. Or calling people on the phone and saying, hey, come get together with me. I'm going to talk to you and talk to you about the Bible. And it's funny, I'm going to keep talking to people about the Bible. Your worldly friends seem to leave on their own. They seem to depart the hoop from you. You don't even have to depart the hoop from them. Now, with lighted or lumped, I mean, unsaved, ungodly, worldly friends will destroy your life. I know people are divorced. It was unsaved friends. It was worldly influences. I'm going to tell you something. You start pounding around with the world, it will take its toll on you. And what fellowship happened? What part of you believed in the infidel? What fellowship at Christ would fly out? What part of the light would die out? What communion? That's what God said. Come out from among them. Be separate. Now, go ahead and have all your worldly, unsaved friends and say that I'm wrong. And you're going to straighten them out and everything. That's fine. I'm not telling you what to do. You can do whatever you want. I'm just warning you. If you don't part the hoof, you're going to end up being unclean in your life. It's just a warning from the Bible. You can believe that or not believe that. And you know, I'm not going to follow you around and enforce what you do. I don't care what you do. I'm just a preacher. I preach it how I see it. I preach it how the Bible says it and let the chips fall where they may. I can sit there and tell you what to do in your life, but I'm going to tell you what the Bible says. And so this is what the Bible says. Part the hoof from your ungodly Christian friends. The Bible says if any man who may not are worked by this infidel, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. That's what the Bible says. It kind of not as an enemy, but as a brother. That's a brother. That's a saved Christian who is disobedient to the Bible living a worldly life. He says have no company with him. The Bible says, I wrote it to you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. Yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or with extortioners or with idolaters. For them as he needs to go out of the world. But now I've written unto you not to keep company if one that is called a brother be a fornicator or a covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner. He said, We such in one know not to eat. What have I to do to judge them also, then or without? Do not ye judge them that are within? That them that are without, God judges. Wherefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. That's what the Bible says. The Christian who is a drunk. The Christian who's an extortioner. That means he works for the IRS. The Christian who's a railer. The Christian who's covetous. The Christian who's worldly and ungodly. He says, Park the hoof, my friend. Park the hoof from worldly. Now look, nobody likes to do that. But God calls the holiness and not the uncleanness. Now look at 1 Timothy 3 verse 1. And again, don't get up here and say that I'm some kind of dictator or a tyrant. I'm not telling you what to do. You do what you want. I'm preaching the Bible and you take it and you chew on it and swallow it into your third stomach and do whatever you want with it. But I'm preaching the Bible and this is the truth and you do what you want. I'll love you anyway, but you know what? You'll be unclean. And so look at 1 Timothy chapter 3. The Bible reads, and this is talking about a pastor. It's talking about a bishop. The Bible says, this is the truth saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. A bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife. Vigilant. Sober. Of good behavior. Given to hospitality. Act to teach. Not given the wine. No striper. Not greedy. A filthy lucre. A patient. Not a brawler. Not a covetous. One that will dwell in his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity. Now, think about this for a minute. Do you think that me as the pastor of a church, do you have different rules and commandments that I'm supposed to abide by that you don't? No. Okay, look. If lying is wrong for me, lying is wrong for you. Right? If stealing is wrong for me, stealing is wrong for you. If fornication is wrong for me, fornication is wrong for you. See, there's no double standard. I'm not a God man. You know, I'm a human being. I'm just like you. And so there's no difference between the rules that I'm asked to abide the same 10 commandments, you know, the same lists of rules all throughout the Bible, the same Sermon on the Mount that you have. Okay, we all have the same rules that we live by. Right's right, wrong's wrong. God's not a respecter of persons. Right? So when God lists this list here, he's not saying that the pastor has to live by these extra rules that nobody else has to live by. He's just saying if the pastor's going to stand up and chew the gut, better part to prove. If he's going to stand up and talk the talk, he dead sure better be walking the walk. So he's just saying you shouldn't even consider someone for being a pastor unless they're living up to this standard. Not, well now I'm a pastor and now I got to live by the rules. No. He said ordain elders in every city as I have appointed thee, if any be blameless. That doesn't work. He said just go find somebody who already fits these qualities because these are the same rules that every Christian should be living by. Every Christian should be in good behavior. Okay, every Christian should be holy that God said for I am holy. Call us all to holiness and not uncleanness. And so he says here that I'm to be blameless. You're to be blameless. Okay, but the difference is that if I'm not blameless, I can't be the pastor. If you're not blameless, well, the same on you. Okay, but you're not going to lose your position. The pastor cannot work. The husband of one wife. Everybody should be the husband of one wife. Hello, anybody out there? Everybody should be the husband of one wife. Okay, but not being the husband of one wife disqualifies one from being the pastor. Do you see what I'm saying here? It's not a different set of rules. It's just a greater degree of accountability for the pastor. There's accountability where somebody's going to enforce it and say if you don't follow these rules, you know, you're not qualified to be a pastor. But everybody should still be living to the same degree of cleanness and holiness. I mean, it's not a different God, a different Bible, different rules. He says, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. He says, look, if you're going to stand up and preach the word of God, you must live by every word of God. He said, if you're going to stand up and preach the Bible, nobody's perfect. But if you're going to stand up and preach, it says in Romans chapter 2, thou therefore that creatures, a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayeth to man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhors titles, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law to shockest thou God? And so God says it's very important for a preacher to walk the walk that he talks. And you know, I've heard a great sermon before, but I knew that the pastor did not walk the walk. That sermon kind of went in, you know, I shouldn't listen to it anyway, he said, who's going to listen to what the Bible says? But the sermon kind of went in when I heard it out here. You know what I mean? Just because of who would say, I just said to myself, he chews the cud, he doesn't part the roof. And many creatures will ruin their testimony by living a worldly and ungodly life. And people don't listen to them anymore. They don't want to hear what they have to say anymore. And that's why God says they shouldn't be passionate and always listen to them anyway when they live in uncleanness. He says they should be vigilant. What's vigilant mean? Very careful, on watch all the time. Vigil is when people stay up all night on guard, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, act or having the ability to teach, not giving them wine. Well, it's okay for Christians to drink wine and strong drink and beer and wine, just not faster. Wrong. But the Bible says, of course, the Bible says not to even look at it. I decided that I didn't want to hold this guy to drink with my eyes closed because I was trying to hit some turbulence and I spilled all over myself. My wife would wonder why I can't hold him smelling like vodka, you know? And so I didn't get a hold of my eyes closed, so I told him no. But he says, where was I? Not giving the wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre. He's not in it for the money, but patient, not a brawler, not a covetous, one that ruleth well his own house. Having his children and his collection would all grab you. For if a man knew not how to rule his own house, how should he take care of the Church of God? If he can't park the hoof on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, how's he going to stand up on Sunday and choose to cut, is what he's saying. But he says this, and I want to focus on this point. Moreover, he must, well, this would be a plus for a pastor, no? Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. What does that mean? A good reputation. That means that people don't look and say, well, I work with him in business and he's a crook, right? That's a bad report from them that are without of the church. Or somebody says, well, I saw him do this. I see him doing this. I live next to him and he does this. Hey, he says he must have a good report of them which are not. Now let me give you an example. Think about an I, Pastor Steven L. Anderson. Let's say that God forbid my wife passed away. It would be a terrible name. Let's say she died, okay? And of course, the Bible says, whoever lived with him believed in me shall never die. So of course, the body who died should be living on another. And let's say here I am widowed. And here I am, Pastor Steven L. Anderson, and I've got my four kids and I'm widowed. So I'm going to mourn for my wife and now it's time for me to get remarried, right? I've mourned for my wife, but now it's time for me to get remarried. And so I'm going to start dating, right? And so here's what I'm going to do. I start dating this girl, right? And then I decide, you know what? I think she's going to come spend the night at my house. Now, we're not going to do it. We're not going to fornicate or anything. We're not going to sleep there. She's sleeping in another room, but she's going to come spend the night at my house. You think that would be okay for me to do that? Who thinks that that would be okay for her to sleep in my house down the hall? And we didn't do anything. No, because the Bible says, abstain from all appearance of evil. The Bible says, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Hey, the Bible says, flee fornication. The Bible says, let him that think of thee stand to take heed lest he fall. What do you think my neighbors would think when they see me making orange juice with my girlfriend in the morning after she just spent the night at my house? What do you think they're thinking? They're thinking that we're selfish. No, they say there's another phony preacher. That's what they're going to think. What do you think my friends and relatives are going to think? What do you think my mom and dad are going to think? See what I mean? The Bible says, give none offense to any, no, not the churches of God. Flee fornication. Now, Brother Edwards, I'm sorry, you're going to represent fornication. Come on up here, Mr. Fornication. And Brother Edwards is a clean, decent man, I'm just kidding. That's why I'm choosing him here. So stand right here, Mr. Fornication. Okay? Now, let's understand the word flee. Let me read this verse for you. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that comitteth fornication sinned against his own body. Now, what does flee mean? Well, the Bible says this, the wicked flee when no man pursueeth, but the righteous are as bold as mine. So in order for me to flee fornication, fornication must be pursuing me and chasing me, or else I wouldn't be fleeing. Fleeing means to run away from somebody who's after me. That's fleeing. People are in battle, they're losing the battle, they're scared. They're trying to get away. Okay? So Mr. Fornication is after me. And by the way, young people, and everybody, he's after you too. Because this Bible is not written to this one person, it's written to everybody. Flee fornication. So Mr. Fornication, he's out to get me. He's trying to trap me. He wants to get me in a position where he can devour me. Right? And so what am I supposed to do? I have an idea. I'm just going to get as close to fornication as I can. You can't get me. Okay? He can't get me. Why? If he's not a super Christian. Let him that thinketh he's had to take thee, lest he fall. Pride goes before destruction, the hottest spirit before the fall. And so here's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to get as close to fornication as I can. Just to show how tough I am. You think that's what God wants? Okay, well look. This is where he ought to be. Right? As soon as he... Hey, no, no, no. Whoa there. Okay, that's what the Bible says. Flee. Get away from it. Look, you don't flee something like... Come on, chase me. Flee means you run fast. Okay? Now look, what's the point of fleeing? So that you can get apart from the danger. So you can part the who. Right? So that you can put a distance between you and sin. Okay, the Bible says, lead us not into temptation. He said, forget sin. I don't want to be in temptation. Hey, let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted with God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any man. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away in his own lust and in vice. Mr. Lust here, Mr. Fornication, is going to try to drag me into sin. And I'm not letting him do it. Because I'm the one screaming in the other direction. I'm not even going to make provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. I'm going to build a wall here. I'm going to build rules here that are going to protect me. And listen to me, Pastor Stephen L. Anderson, who's 26 years old, who has four kids with the fifth one on the way, who's married, who runs a business, who pastors a church. I don't just live my life freestyle. I live by rules. Now the reason I'm, you say, what are you, a slave? No, freedom is not living with no rules. Freedom is living by rules that you choose. That's what freedom is. Anybody who lives by no rules is not free. They're just a servant of Satan. They're just fulfilling their own lust. Okay. And so the wise man lives by rules. The wise man frames his doings. The wise man creates his own set of rules that he lives or dies by. Not because even they're always in the Bible, but just because there are rules that are going to help me flee fornication. There are rules that are going to help me. Now when was the last time one of you ladies in church, you know, did I go out and take pile around with you and call you on the phone and take you out to eat and pile around with ladies one-on-one? No. Why? Because the Bible says no? Because I'm just fleeing sin. Okay. I have rules and I have all kinds of rules and my rules may not be your rules, but you ought to have rules that you make for yourself and if you live without rules, you're a fool and you ought to be careful in that thing that you allow. Not to damn yourself. Okay. And I'm not talking about your spiritual soul. I'm talking about you damn your reputation. Destroy your walk with God. Destroy your, you're not going to have a good report of them with or without when you're committing appearance of evil. Go ahead and sit down, Mr. Poincatian. And please don't wake up, you may think. Mr. Lasciviousness. Mr. Concupiscence. And so, look, he says, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach in the stare of the devil. Likewise, must the deacons be great, not double-tongued. He says, part your hoof, but don't part your tongue. Don't be double-tongued. Don't say, talking out of both sides of your mouth, you know, like some preachers, they kind of, they kind of stroke the fundamental crowd for a while. Can I give an Amen? The King James Bible is the word of God. You know, they're like, Christi, Amen, buddy. King James Bible is God's word. Come on, cooperate. King James Bible is the word of God. Amen. And then they say, well, you know, there's a lot of Catholics that are, you know, they're saved and that, you know, and then they kind of, both sides. No, you won't find both sides of this church. This is the most one-sided church you've ever been in. It's the Lord's side. And that's all there is to it. Oh, you're so one-sided. You're so narrow. Why thank you? Oh, you're old-fashioned. Thanks. But, not only is it separation, we saw that it's walking the walk and talking to the dog. We saw that it's separation and rumination. And you know, I want to say to many Christians, what part of love, not the world do you not understand? Love, not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not in the Father, but is of the world. And the world passed away and the lust thereof, and he did what the will of God abided her. What about that are we not understanding? That all that is in the world according to God is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Every movie you say, you don't even know what movies are being played. I don't know. I couldn't even name the movies. I'm sure it's like Batman 27, and The Dukes of Hazzard, Park 35, and Spider-Man 10, and I'm sure they're just remaking all the same garbage that they've been remaking for years. But I couldn't name all the movies to you right now that are out there. But I'll tell you one thing, all of them are the lust of the flesh. Every single one of them is the lust of the eyes. Every single one of them is the pride of life. You say, how do you know they're the pride of life? None of them are about Jesus. None of them are about Jesus Christ. None of them give him the glory. They give man the glory. And not every single one of them. You expect me to believe that I'm going to go down to that movie theater, or you hypocrite, you phony, that brings the movie theater into your house and thinks it's any different just because you don't have a flopped down seat, just because you have a round bag of candy instead of a square box? You think it's different to watch the movie at home because it's not a square box of milk duds but a bag of milk duds? You think it's different because your chair doesn't pop up when you get out of it or something? You think it's different because your carpet is shag and it's not that thin stuff at the movie theater? What's the difference if you watch the same movie in your house, you hypocrite? Either make the tree good and the fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by the fruit. Hey, if the movie theater is corrupt, then rent it at the video store's corrupt. Make them both good for all I care. If you want to go out here and say, I'm going to go to the movie theater and watch movies and rent it on the DVD, I'll say fine. I disagree with you, but you know what, do what you want to do. But if you walk out here and say, I'm not going to go to the movie theater, and then you go to Blockbuster and you come out with a shopping cart full of videos, you're not ready with God. You're a cud chewing hypocrite and you need to part the hoof and either make the tree good and his fruit good, either make the movie theater good and his movie good, or else make the movie theater corrupt and his movie corrupt. For the movie theater is known by his movies, right? It's the truth. It's that butter fling. It's that butter that comes out of a squeeze that's why it's wrong to go to the movie theater. Don't you dare go to the movie theater. That squeezed popcorn butter is wicked in the sight of God. That doesn't make any sense. What's wicked about the movie theater? I know. It's those cummerbunds that the people who work there wear. That's what it is. It's the white shirt and the cummerbund. That's what makes it wrong. No, I'll tell you what, it's all those slanted hallways, you know, where you're kind of like walking uphill and the next thing you're kind of walking down there. That's what's wrong with it. No, you know what's wrong with it? Keanu Reeves. You know what's wrong with it? Leonardo DiCaprio. You know what's wrong with it? Angelina Jolie. You know what's wrong with it? Brad Pitt. You know what's wrong with it? Tom Cruise. You know what's wrong with it? Tom Hanks. You know what's wrong with it? It's the world. That's what's wrong with it. David said, My eyes will be upon the faithful of the land. Are those people I just listed the faithful of the land? No. He said, He that telleth lies shall not carry in my sight. He said, My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them to turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. And so we see separation needs to be a cloven-footed, she-cud-chewing kind of separation. And this is a cud-chewing, cloven-footed, partying the whole Baptist church that you're shitting in this morning. And let's keep it that way. Okay? And anybody who wants to bring sin into this church can get a swift kick in their rear end from me. Try to tone down my preaching. Just try coming to me afterward and telling me to tone down my preaching. That's fine. But you know what? I'll be nice to you. If you tell me, I'll smile at you and say, you know, thanks for the advice. And then tonight I'll preach the meanest, most radical sermon I can even imagine. But not only that, not only is it separation, it's also rumination. Now turn to Psalm 119. We'll talk about rumination and then we'll be done. Now rumination, as I said before, let me read for you just from the dictionary. This is what the dictionary says. Rumination, definition number one, to chew the cud. To chew the cud. This is from Merriam Webster. Number two, to meditate or muse, to ponder. Check it, or not check it, the definition number three, to chew again or over and over. Definition number four, to meditate on or ponder. Okay. Now chewing the cud, it's interesting because whenever God talks about memorizing the Bible, or meditating upon the Bible, or thinking about things about him, he doesn't only talk about your ears very much. He always talks about your mouth. It's interesting. Whenever he talks about like meditating or musing on the Bible, he talks about your mouth is the body part that keeps coming up. Okay. And it's this picture of an animal chewing the cud. It's a picture of us eating God's word and then chewing on it, meditating upon it. Now notice that when the animal chews the cud, it's not taking a fresh patch of grass from the ground. Okay. See, let's say the grass in the low water field would represent the Bible. Okay. So we go and we eat something from the Bible. The Bible says man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, see that mouth of God. And we take a bite of God's word. We chew on it, we think about it, and then we swallow it. Now the next time we don't go back and get it again, we bring it up out of ourselves. The only way to do it is to memorize the Bible, right? You memorize it into your heart. Okay. Now once you eat physically, the Bible says goes into your belly, you know, but what you see and hear goes into your heart. Okay. And so when I study and memorize the Bible, I look at the verse, I hear the verse, and I meditate upon the word, I memorize it, I'm hiding it in my heart. The Bible says thy word have I hidden in my heart, in my heart that I might not sin against thee. See, in order to be clean in your life, in order not to sin against God, you must part the hoop, yes, but you must also chew the cud of God's word in order to be clean in your life. And so the second time it comes from your heart, and the third time it comes from your heart, and the fourth time it comes from your heart, as you digest God's truth. Now Psalm 119 is the meditation chapter of the Bible. Now let me, let me just, before you turn the, or before we look at it, the Bible says this in Joshua 1-8, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate there in day and night. So you meditate with your mouth, or in the Bible, okay? But thou shalt meditate there in day and night. Why? That thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. So he says, in order for you to obey the Bible, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed there to have ordered thy word? In order for you to part the hoop, you must chew the cud. You must meditate on God's word in order to be clean, according to Leviticus chapter 11. And so in the book of Psalms chapter 119, meditation is mentioned seven times, which is kind of a perfect, complete number in the Bible, but it's mentioned twice in one section, which is the section that starts with an M. Mem, which begins in verse 197. Whose Bible has the Hebrew letters above the text, above the alaf, beth, yemo, you got those? Well, look above 119-97, it says mem, like memorize, like meditate upon the Bible. And meditation is mentioned twice in this section, and this section is really all about memorizing the Bible. The Bible says, oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all day, said all day I'm just chewing on it. All the day I'm just bringing it back up from my heart and speaking it with my mouth and meditating on God's word that I've memorized. Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than my enemies, watch this, for they are ever with me. What? The commandments, he's saying, are ever with me. He said, oh, I have my Bible with me. I have my Bible with me. You see, when you meditate on God's word, when you memorize the word, you always have a Bible with you. I mean, you would need to give the gospel to somebody and you can't get somebody to say, faith comes by hearing and hearing about the word God. Okay. And so when you get around somebody, you want to give them the gospel, you say, hi, I have my Bible. You have, you ought to have a Bible with you in your heart and you ought to be able to speak God's word and preach the gospel to them from memory. I take my Bible with me everywhere I go. When I'm here, I was carrying all my bags in the airport and I was, uh, dragging all my luggage. And I was saying, Paul, and you know, I'm lonely, none of my grand people think I have, like, Tourette's syndrome or something, because I'm walking through the airport saying, uh, Paul is the wealthiest, the servants of Jesus Christ, all the saints of Christ, Jesus, my friend Philippi, who is the biggest, great thing I do with peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always and every prayer of mine, for you all be with Christ with joy. For your fellowship with the gospel in the first day until now, be confident in the very thing that you have done, that the God that did work in you will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. Even if it be for me to think this of you all, because I give my heart and blood, both in my flesh and in defense, in confirmation of the gospel, you are all born takers of my grace. But God is my record. I bring that along after all the vows of Jesus Christ. This I pray that you love me, but I'll get more and more knowledge and all the judgment that's made, and I'll know it. I quote the whole book of Philippians by the time I got to the baggage cart, okay? And I didn't go quite that fast, because I didn't want people to arrest me and grab me and throw me a pack of, you know, a police car. But the bottom line is, hey, I always have the Bible with me. You know, there are people in France, or somebody told me this recently, there are people in France called the Lullards, somebody over here, I don't know. And it means the mumblers, because they were known for walking around quoting the Bible as they memorized it and meditated upon it. And they had a little piece of the Bible they would bring with them, or a New Testament, and they would meditate the Bible constantly, memorize the Bible. Hey, the book of the law should not depart out of your mouth. It can be hard for you to walk into the bar saying, be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, under the glory and praise of God. But I really should understand, brother, that things which happened to me have fallen out right away. Hey, get out of here. You're not going to walk into the bar saying that. You're not going to walk into these filthy movies saying that. No, because I'm worried about hitting my heart that I might not sin against anyone. You say, you're crazy. No, I think you're crazy if you think that you can be clean without chilling the cut and part of the hope. When God wrote that whole big giant chapter on and on telling you about 500 times, no. But let's keep reading. It says, they're ever with me. Verse 99, I have more understanding than all my teachers. You could know more, you'll know more Bible than me if you start memorizing the Bible and memorize it all. You'll know more than the teacher. You'll know more than the preacher. I don't. You think I have some special revelation from God? You think God comes and speaks to me? He doesn't. This is how he speaks to me right here in the Bible. I'm not charismatic. I'm not Vinny Hinn. And so, hey, look, God here is telling you, don't be restricted and say, well, you know, I'm just going to go, this is my teacher, this is my pastor. He's the standard. No, God's the standard. David said, I'm going to surpass every teacher and preacher that preaches me because I'm going to meditate on the word God. Amen. Hey, the same anointing, which he had received him, abided in you, even now that any man teach you, because the same anointing teaches you of all things, and there's truth and there's no lie. And even if this isn't part of you, you show abide in him. Hey, the Holy Spirit is the same Holy Spirit in you as in me. The same Bible, same Bible I have. He said, I have more to say than all my teachers, for that testimony is in my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep that peace. I believe it's possible for a small child to have more wisdom than an old man if he meditates on the Bible. It's the truth. I refrain my feet from every evil way that I might keep thy word. Sorry, my routine is to keep it up with them, memorize it. I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou has taught me how sweeter thy words unto my taste. Again, the mouth is what's involved. Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I have yet understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119 verse 15, I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. Verse 23, Princes also did sit and speak against me, but thy servants did meditate in thy statutes. Verse 48, My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate in thy statutes. Verse 78, Let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause, but I will meditate in thy precepts. Verse 148, Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in the door. He said, I stand up late at night, memorizing the Bible. That's what he said. Genesis 24 through 63, don't turn there, Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide, and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and the old disciples were coming. You know, when he was meditating upon God's word, is when God answered his prayer, and brought him to the wife he was looking for, Rebecca. That's when he memorized and meditated on God's word. The Bible says, If ye abide in me, Jesus said in John 15, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask whatsoever you will, and I'll do it. Wow, Isaac understood that. Psalm 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, he parts the hoof, nor standeth in the way of sinners, he parts the hoof, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful, he parts the hoof, but his desire, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night, he chews the cut. Three times he tells them to part the hoof. One time he said, Chew the cut, which is exactly what he did in Leviticus. He named three animals that don't part the hoof, and one animal doesn't chew the cut. He said that the camel, the coney, and the hare, they don't part the hoof, and he said the swine, he doesn't chew the cut. Those four animals are unclean. Psalm 63, 6, When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. He wasn't bringing the Bible and flashlight under his arms. Okay, he had to memorize his heart. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands. My meditation of him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord. Say, what about the New Testament? 1 Timothy 4, Till I come, give attendance to reading. To exhortation, to doctrine. By the way, reading is a lost art in most churches. You get about one verse out of the Bible read, and then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now you may sit there and say, well Pastor Anderson's a bunch of blah, blah, blah. But you know what? At least I blah, blah about having what I say in the Bible. At least I blah, blah the word of God. You know, the foolishness of preaching. Yeah, maybe what I say is foolish. Maybe I'm a weak vessel. But you know what? At least I preach the word. And we need to give attendance to reading. That's why we always read one whole chapter at the beginning. Before we even get into the sermon, we read the Bible. Ah, it's boring. You know what? If you think the Bible is boring, if you can't sit through, it's the test. If you can't sit through the Bible reading at the beginning, if you can't sit through Leviticus chapter 11, you're not going to like the sermon anyway. So it's a good test, right? Again, so you can kind of get out there in prayer or something. Till I come, give attendance to reading. To exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. He says, meditate on the Bible. Give yourself completely to the Bible. So using and ruminating and meditating upon the Bible should be your whole life. I think that's all cows do, it seems like. It seems like they're always chewing on something, or they're asleep. Why? Because they've got to eat their food four times. Think about this. Think about if you had to eat your three meals four times. Good night. Can you imagine? Eating the three meals a day is such a pain in the neck. I used to end up skipping meals. I didn't eat breakfast this morning. Busy. You know, you skip meals. Imagine having to eat them all. 12 times a day eating. But that's the life of a cow. And so God said, chew the cut. Eating all day long. Not the food, not the meat that perishes, but the meat that endures all the way to life everlasting. He said, that's what you ought to be eating. And so what does it mean to part the roof and chew the cut? It means to walk the walk and to talk the talk. Both. Both to do and teach. And we have a spiritual dearth in this country. We got a country where everybody comes to their little country club Baptist church. Right? They come to country club Baptist church. They dress themselves up like some kind of a fashion show. You know, like that's all it's all about. They chew the cut. Well, in many cases, they walk in, they're dressed up like a fashion show. They see all their little friends and all their little buddies, but the pastor won't chew the cut from the pulpit. The pastor won't part the roof. The pastor won't make a difference between clean and unclean. And if he doesn't, the people in the pew dead sure aren't going to. And you know what? Why don't you use this as an examination in your life? If there's ever something that you're not sure whether it's right or wrong, and you're thinking about doing it, just think if you'd like to see me doing it. There should be a double standard. I mean, do you want to see me with a beer in my hand? Do you want to see me holding orange juice and vodka in my hand while somebody uses a bathroom? No. That's appearance of evil. I'm not going to hold his little cocktail. You understand what I'm saying? Okay. Would you like to see me sitting down watching Jerry Seinfeld and Friends and Beverly Hills 90210 with these shows that are 20 years old? Can anybody list some modern shows for me? Who's the world's latest person out there? No, I'm just kidding. Explosions. Come on, help me out. I know you're out there. You know, would you like to see me watching it? Would you like me to watch the bedroom scene that you're watching? Would you like me to have the dirty people magazine that you have on the back of your toilet? Would you like to find that on my toilet? You wouldn't. You ought not. Would you like me to be doing all these things and maybe you should think to yourself, maybe it's just not right. Maybe that's why I don't want Pastor Anderson doing it. And so we need to chew the cud, yes. We need to part the boob. We might, we need to separate, be separate. Come out among them and be separate. Separate ourselves. Live a life of separation. Make a difference between clean and unclean. Separate and ruminate on God's word. That's the recipe for cleanness from the Bible.