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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. All right. Got it. Okay. And then what about today? Sunday. Two with brother Scott. Okay. Gotcha. Got it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Here we go. Come on. Here we go. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Let's get this one. Come on. Come on. Come on. Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three verses, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before thee, which word and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful men thy glory may not see, holy thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in thine, love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name, in earthless God and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three verses, blessed Trinity. All hail the power of Jesus' name, hymn number 167, let's sing it out unto the Lord this evening, hymn number 167. All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate long, bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Be chosen, saint of Israel's grace, be ransomed from the fall, hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial hall, to Him all majesty a strike and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty a strike and crown Him Lord of all. O thou with yonder sacred calling and His name called, we'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter number 20. Jeremiah chapter number 20, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Jeremiah 20, starting in verse number 1. Jeremiah 20, the Bible reads, Now Pashor the son of Imur the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashor smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashor brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashor, but Magor-Misabib. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and ye shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Moreover, I will devour all the strength of this city and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, and I will give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. And thou Pashor, and all that dwell in thine house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies. O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed. I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil, for the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shot up in my bones, and I was wary with forbearing, and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. For the Lord is with me as a mighty, terrible one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper. Their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But, O Lord of hosts, that tryest the righteous, and seest the rains in the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for unto thee have I opened my cause. Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord, for ye have delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. Cursed be the day wherein I was born. Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee, making him very glad. And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not. And let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide, because he slew me not from the womb, or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame. Father, thank you for the opportunity to come and hear your holy and precious word. I pray that you fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our ears to receive your word. I pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this evening is Punishment for the Persecutors. Punishment for the Persecutors. If you would, flip over to Psalm 7. The book of Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible. And if you find Psalm 7, we're going to look, starting in verse number 9. This world can be a frustrating place. And sometimes we look around and we see wicked people prospering. We see people doing evil and getting away with it. And there are so many Psalms that deal with this subject. I mean, I feel like this is a huge theme in the book of Psalms, is just looking at the world and seeing injustice, seeing people do wrong, dealing with persecution, and saying, God, what's going on? What are you going to do here? And so what I want to preach this evening is the fact that God will deal with the wicked. Everybody gets what's coming to them. And there's going to be a punishment for the persecutors. Look what the Bible says there in Psalm 7, verse 9. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just for the righteous God. Try at the hearts and reigns. My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will wet his sword. He hath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. And so what we have to understand is that God is angry with the wicked every day, but that does not mean that God always instantly punishes those who deserve it. In fact, he virtually never does. If you study the Bible and you see when people have a punishment coming toward them, usually it's something that happens eight months from now, a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, or even decades later. These punishments are often slow in coming because we have to remember that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. It's not that God is not angry with the wicked every day. It's not that God does not see what's going on. It's not that God is not a just God who is going to give to everyone their desserts. It is simply that God does things in a certain timeline for a certain reason. And it can be frustrating sometimes for us to have to wait on the Lord and be patient for that. You think about in the book of Revelation when the souls of them that were beheaded for the word of God and so forth, they say, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? You know, they're up in heaven and they're saying, What's going on, God? When is the punishment coming to the persecutors? And they're told, Hey, you just need to rest yet for a little season. It's coming. It's always coming. Now, why are people not instantly punished? Well, obviously, because without faith, it is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Right? Has to believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And if you think about it, if you did the right thing and just instantly got rewarded every time, and then every time you do something bad, you just instantly got punished, wouldn't that just make faith totally unnecessary because it would just be so obvious, you push the button and the light bulb comes on. Right? And here's what happens. Wicked people don't get punished and this emboldens them. And they think, Nothing bad's happening to me. So I'm just going to keep going. And you want to be very careful in your life that if you're involved in sin and you say, Well, how do I know I'm involved in sin? The Bible tells you when you're involved in sin. How do I know? Is it, you know, is God blessing me or things going good or things not going? That is not how we determine right and wrong. We determine right and wrong based on what is written in the Bible. Okay. Stealing's wrong because the Bible says thou shalt not steal. Killing's wrong because the Bible says thou shalt not kill. If you could steal and kill and commit adultery and get away with it, no, you didn't get away with it. You're only temporarily not being punished because God is patiently waiting to come down on you like a ton of bricks in his timing and in such a way that will not mean that just everybody just obviously sees it every single time because then no faith would be required in God in the first place. Okay. And so it could be frustrating for Christians as they go through life doing right and maybe not being rewarded right away and then seeing wicked people do wrong and not necessarily being punished right away. Look, it's a law of sowing and reaping. When you plant a seed in the earth, you don't reap the fruit the next day. You plant a seed and it grows and it grows and you plant that fruit tree. It may be years before you actually get the fruit from that tree, but it's coming. It's inevitable. And so you have to patiently wait for these things. God has prepared, according to verse 13, instruments of death for the persecutors. He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit and digged it and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. Go if you would to chapter 35, Psalm 35. So you see that those who do mischief, do evil, persecute the righteous, they are going to get their comeuppance. It just takes time. But be not deceived. God is angry with the wicked every single day. It's not that God isn't upset, that he doesn't know, that he doesn't care. There's a reason why these things take time. And sometimes there's even an obvious reason why and it's so that people can be given enough rope to hang themselves with. And we see wicked people persisting in their wickedness. Now listen, let me just say this right now. This sermon is not for the persecutors. And I'm sure they're listening because they listen to every single sermon that I preach. Every idiot who persecutes me listens to every sermon that I preach. There's sick weirdos who can't stop listening to my preaching. Pastors who hate me and rip on me and they're listening to every single sermon that I preach. Well why wouldn't they? I mean I'm preaching something actually halfway interesting unlike you guys. So you might as well tune in and actually learn something from the Bible. They listen to every sermon that I preach. Just, they just are just conniving and scheming against me and plotting against me. This sermon is not for them because they're too stupid to understand what I have to say tonight. Okay, the persecutors, here's the thing, the reason why there are persecutors in the first place is because they have no fear of God. They don't care. They look at something like honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you and that your days may be long on the earth. That means nothing to them. Just whoop, right over their head. They're not afraid of that. The eye that mocketh at his father despiseth to obey his mother. The ravens of the valley shall pick it out. The young eagle shall eat it. Means nothing. It's a boogeyman unto them. God doesn't care. I'm getting away with it. I'm going to keep going. Look, when you see people persisting in wicked, slanderous, evil behavior, it's because they don't have the fear of God. People who fear God, you know, they wouldn't want to take those kind of chances. And it's not even a chance. It's a guarantee that you're going to get messed up when you do those kind of things. And you know, I'm not going to lie. Hey, I serve the Lord every day with fear and trembling. You know, I mean, obviously I love God and Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So that motivates me to want to keep God's commandments. But you know what? I also am in fear and trembling of the chastisement of God. I don't want God to come down on me. But when you see people just raging and confident in their sin, it's because they don't fear the Lord. You better walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long and understand that God is real. God's punishments are real. And don't bless yourself in your heart saying, oh well, things are going good even though I'm violating this verse and violating this verse and violating this verse. Don't let that give you confidence, my friend. Because you will get what's coming to you, unfortunately. Psalm 35 verse 1, plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear and stomp the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind. And let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery. And let the angel of the Lord persecute them. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Right, so here we have the psalmist speaking about the fact that these people have persecuted him. They've been his enemy without a cause. They've attacked him. They have lied about him. They have slandered him. And he says, make their way dark and slippery. Let the angel of the Lord persecute them. These are not the kind of prayers that you want to be prayed against you, okay. They without cause, verse 7, have hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they dig for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares. You see, the destruction comes suddenly, okay. The punishment comes suddenly. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Let destruction come upon him at unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction. Let him fall. And notice, have you seen a theme in Psalm 7 and Psalm 35? He digged a pit. He fell in it. You persecute, you get persecuted. He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. He that leadeth into captivity must go into captivity. This is the patience and the faith of the saints. The Bible says that we as the saints, because we have faith in the word of God, we can patiently endure tribulation because we know that those who lead into captivity are going into captivity. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. And so when you see these people doing wickedly, just realize it's going to come right back around and bite them. And often it's quite a poetic justice that people get exactly what is coming to them. Exactly what they dished out is what comes right around to get them. And that's a theme that we see over and over again in these Psalms that the Psalmist is saying, punish them by giving them that which they've dished out and give them more. In the New Testament, of course, we have the scripture about Babylon saying, reward her double even as she rewarded the saints and so forth. It says in verse 8, let destruction come upon him and unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himself. Into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation. And look at that verse 9, being joyful in the Lord rejoicing in his salvation. Again, who's the sermon not for? It's not for the persecutors because I'm not casting my pearls before swine tonight. I'm not interested in giving that which is holy unto the dogs. They don't care. They can listen to hundreds of hours of my preaching and be too stupid for it to sing in because a reproof enters into a wise man more than a hundred stripes into a fool. And it's going to take chastisement from God. It's going to take punishment from God to wake these people up. No words that could come out of my mouth can straighten these people out. They just can't. They're going to have to be punished from God. They're going to have to fall into the pit that they digged. They're going to have to get caught in the net that they laid and so forth. So who am I preaching to? I'm preaching to you. Preaching for you, right? Who am I preaching to? I'm preaching for you. Now why am I preaching this to you? You're not a persecutor. You're not out there conniving and scheming and slandering and backbiting and doing these wicked things. But here's the thing. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And if you're not being persecuted now, you've been persecuted in the past. And if not, you're going to be persecuted in the future. Because the Bible says all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall, not might, shall suffer persecution. And when you go through that persecution, you're going to get frustrated. You're going to be frustrated. You're going to say, what's going on? Why is this happening? I don't deserve this. What's the deal? Why are these people just getting away with everything? And I'm preaching this for you so that you will realize, hey, wait a minute. God is my salvation. God is the one that's going to reward me and he's going to reward them as well. And he will give them what's coming to them. The Bible says vengeance belongs to the Lord. The Lord will repay. Now this is, again, the patience and faith of the saints, right? How do you endure tribulation patiently? One of the ways that you endure tribulation patiently is by realizing this maxim that he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. That's comforting. Amen? It's comforting. Say, I don't know, I seem kind of negative. I don't know, it makes me feel better. You know, knowing that he that kills with the sword is going to be killed by the sword. He that leadeth into captivity shall go to... I don't know, it doesn't sound like a New Testament attitude. Well, I found it in the New Testament. I found it in the book of Revelation. It said this is the patience and the faith of the saints. You know, the saints have patience because they realize that there's a scoreboard in heaven that's always reading the right score and people can cheat and lie and steal. But up in heaven, all the records are 100% accurate and the scoreboard reads the right score. God knows the truth, God knows what's going on, and God will give to every man according to his works. Verse 10, all my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him? Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him. False witnesses did rise up. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. Right? It's like you're getting accused of all this stuff and it's like sitting there watching, what are they going to say next? Because I don't know this story. Because it isn't real. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother. You see, sometimes the people that you do the most for are the people that burn you the worst. And this isn't just me. Please. This isn't just me. Have you ever heard this saying, no good deed goes unpunished? I didn't make that up. That wasn't made up about me. That's just life. You know, I remember my dad telling me this when I was a kid. Hey, if you want someone to hate you, loan them money. If you want someone to hate you, give them money. Because of the fact that people that you do nice things for will often have this weird bitterness or resentment towards you or mistreat you more than anyone else. And it makes no sense. And it's totally counterintuitive to normal people. But the world is filled with people like this. And this is why the Apostle Paul even talks about the crazy. You know, it seems like the more I love you, the less I'm loved by you. And so we see here, and look, when I say that maxim that no good deed shall go unpunished, okay, I don't want you to walk away and say, well, I'm not going to do good anymore. Okay, because we need to keep doing good. What does the Bible say? Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. So look, we're not going to stop helping people. We're not going to stop being good unto people. We're not going to not loan someone money that needs it or give someone money that needs it. That's not the point. Because at the end of the day, Jesus said it as much as you've done it unto the least of these my brother and you've done it unto me. And so here's the thing. If I've ever done anything good for someone, and then that person turns around and bites the hand that feeds them, well then you know what? It's no harm, no foul because I did it unto the Lord. I did it unto the Lord. You know, people can sometimes get bitter as well when they donate money to a church and it goes to something stupid. Or it goes to something wicked. It goes to something satanic. And it can get frustrating, right? You know, you donated your money to some church somewhere and they used it for something stupid or wicked or satanic or illegal or whatever. And it can be frustrating. And I remember when I was growing up, you know, we went to some churches and we donated and then things went bad. It was like, oh man, what a waste. But here's the thing, it's never a waste because of the fact that you weren't really giving it to them, you're giving it to the Lord. You know, at the end of the day, God sees you giving and he blesses that. You know, and he doesn't, uh, he doesn't just say, oh well you gave to something stupid. You know, if your heart's in the right place and you gave to a Bible believing church, God's going to punish the Judas Iscariots who stole the money and used it for something wicked. But he's going to bless you for giving to the Lord's work, okay? And it's the same thing with anything that you do. You help someone out. You know, you help out somebody and then they turn around and attack you and lie about you, throw you under the bus, harm you in some way. Or maybe you loan them money and they just never pay you back, right? It can be frustrating, but remember you did it for Christ. Because inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, Jesus said, you've done it unto me. When you gave to the church, you're giving to the Lord. When you help out a brother or sister in Christ, you're helping Jesus. That person doesn't have to appreciate it. Jesus appreciated it. And this will help you to keep on doing good even as the people that you're good unto turn around and don't appreciate it and are not thankful. They're ungrateful and so forth. At the end of the day, the righteous are going to be blessed. The wicked are going to be cursed. It's that simple. Look at verse 15, but in my adversity, they rejoiced and gathered themselves together. So he's saying, look, whenever they were going through a bad time, man, I was there to help them. You know, I treated them like family, right? I was there for them. I helped them. You know, I rejoiced with them. They rejoiced. I wept with those that wept. I remembered those that were in bonds as bound with them. But then in my adversity, they rejoiced. And they gathered themselves together. Yea, the abjects, and what's an abject? A reject. Okay. It's just a different prefix that kind of means the same thing. The abjects gathered themselves together against me and I knew it not. They did tear me and ceased not with hypocritical mockers and feasts. They gnashed upon me with their teeth. Lord, here's the frustration that I'm talking about over and over again in the Bible. Lord, how long will thou look on? Like, what's going on, guy? Just looking down and watching? How long will thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation. I will praise thee among much people. Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. Now here's the thing. Here's the thing. These things would be disturbing and they would be upsetting and they would be disillusioning if they happened and the Bible had not already predicted that they would happen. You know, it's funny. Sometimes I'll be out soul winning and I'll run into some guy that says something like, you know, I just don't believe in God because I, you know, I've seen, you know, I was in Vietnam and I just saw too many things over there, man. You know, or I saw too many things over here. You know, I've seen all these bad things, man. I just, I just don't believe that there is a God. Now here's the thing. If the Bible were a book of all sweetness and light and then you went and saw those things in Vietnam, I could see why you'd become disillusioned or disenchanted with the God of the Bible. But when we read the Bible, it is a gnarly book from cover to cover. The problem is that people are going to churches that are only selectively just giving them the sweetness and light portions of scripture and purposely skipping over the things that are rough and gnarly and ugly and all these things. They skip over all of these violent twisted things that are described in the Bible and the problem is they give people a wrong view of the way the world works and a wrong view of the way God operates because the Bible says the habit, the dark places of the earth, the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. The Bible already told you that. I'll tell you this. If I went through life and everything was sweetness and light, that would make me doubt the Bible because the Bible isn't like that. But guess what? Reality matches the Bible. Oh, you're getting frustrated? Well, the Bible and its authors are expressing that same frustration. The exact same things are being described and so think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you because of the fact that the same temptations are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world. This world is a messed up place and let's just be honest. Let's just face it. Did I tell you to flip over to Jeremiah 17? Go to Jeremiah chapter 17. We're going to leave the book of Psalms. We started out by reading Jeremiah 20. That's where we're going to end up. That's kind of the main chapter that I was thinking about with the sermon but I wanted to give you those things from Psalms first. But Jeremiah chapter 17 and you know let's just be honest about the fact that we are some of the most fortunate people in the world because we live in Arizona and because we live in the United States. Okay, I mean like you don't understand how messed up the world is. I mean there are just billions of people just living in horrible conditions, scary places. I mean there are people that are getting up in the morning and they're surrounded by terrorism. They're surrounded by warfare, violence. They're surrounded by just horrific poverty that they can't get out of and you know there's just some bad situations in this world. We're over here in one of the nicest places on the planet just living in the lap of luxury. We go to bed every night and we're just totally safe. I mean how many of us and I don't know maybe you live in a kind of messed up part of town. But even if you live in a messed up part of town, it's still safer than a lot of countries that are in this world. But I guarantee you probably 99% of us are going to go to bed tonight and we're going to, the thought of someone coming into our house and invading isn't really entering our mind because it's such a remote possibility. The thought of some other country invading the United States is just not on our radar at all. It's just not something we're thinking about because it's just so out there of a concept. I mean when was the last time we had a war on our own American soil? You know what I mean? And don't say Pearl Harbor okay because you know we had foreknowledge of that attack and you know Hawaii wasn't even a state yet. It was some territory like way far away. I'm saying like how much warfare have we really had in the United States of America in say the 20th century, 21st century? Virtually nothing okay. I mean we don't have troops coming in and invading. Think about other places. I mean they have all kinds of war going on in their backyard. I mean can you imagine just soldiers marching down the street in tanks and planes and everything and just being in a war zone. You know it's just something that is so unlikely to happen. We will, even the youngest in this room is probably going to live their whole life and grow to be an old man or old woman without that happening. And we live in a super prosperous, super safe, super nice area. And yet we still get exposed to some messed up things don't we? Even in America we get exposed to some messed up things. But it's even more messed up everywhere else. And so we got to understand that if we are just waking up in the morning and having food and raiment and being safe, we need to be content and just be super thankful that God has blessed us with food and clothing and safety. And I mean you know that's worth so much right? And to understand how good we have it and so forth. Look if you look at Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 14 it says, And I shall be healed. Save me and I shall be saved for thou art my praise. Behold they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. Right? And again what am I talking about throughout the sermon? The punishment for the persecutors, it doesn't come right away. It's a delayed reaction. Study the Bible. Look up all the different stories and all the different instances. You know Jeremiah will tell somebody, hey you're going to be dead in less than two years or something. And it's like ten months go by and the guy dies or whatever. You know, hey what about Abimelech? You know killing the seventy sons of Gideon. And then for three years everything goes great. And then after three years all hell breaks loose and he ends up getting killed and everything. I mean we could go on and on through all the different examples that are like that. But the wicked say, you know, where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. Sort of like the people that mocked the second coming of Christ. Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And they mock the second coming of Christ and all of the judgments that will precede the second coming of Christ as well. It says, as for me, I've not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee. Neither have I desired the woeful day. Thou knowest. That which came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me. Thou art my hope in the day of evil. Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let me not be confounded. Let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction. Again, similar to what we see in Revelation chapter 18 about Babylon. Now what does it mean to be confounded? The modern word that we would probably use is confused. Right? Confused. You know, let me not be confused. Confuse them. Right? Discombobulate them. And you often see the enemies of the Lord and the enemies of men of God and the enemies of the work of God often making very stupid, bizarre, idiotic decisions where they kind of just shoot themselves in the foot and cut off their own nose to spite their face. It's because they're being confounded by the Lord. The Lord is causing them to make stupid decisions and to do ridiculous, idiotic things because God is in the process of destroying them. And part of that punishment is confusion. Being confounded. Let them be dismayed. Let them give up hope. But I don't want to give up hope. I want to hope in God. I want to keep trusting the promises of the Lord. I want to keep serving God. I want them to get despair. I want them to get dismayed and give up. I'm not going to give up. Bring upon them the day of evil. Destroy them with double destruction. Now go to Jeremiah chapter 20. This is kind of the main chapter that I wanted to talk about tonight. Jeremiah chapter 20. This chapter kind of came into my mind because it's an experience that Jeremiah goes through that lasts for one day. And, you know, this morning in my sermon I kind of described a bad experience that I had that also lasted for one day. And when I came out of that one day long experience, I kind of felt a lot like Jeremiah felt here. And I was kind of, you know, saying some of the stuff that Jeremiah was saying. And so this chapter kind of popped into my mind and I kind of related to it. Now what did Jeremiah go through? You know, it sounds to me like what Jeremiah went through was worse than what I went through. Okay? I don't really know exactly what Jeremiah went through, but if it's what I think it is, it was worse. So let's look at it together. It says in verse number one, Now Pastor the son of Imre the priest, who was also the chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pastor smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which is by the house of the Lord. So what does this mean, being put in the stocks? Maybe I'm wrong, but my understanding of this is that basically, and again it's sometimes hard when you're reading a document that is thousands of years old and obviously things change over time. So maybe sometimes we can anachronistically take stuff from like the middle ages and like apply it to back there. But you know, when I hear that he's put in the stocks, my understanding of that is basically that thing where they basically put your head and your two wrists in that thing and you're basically just stuck like this. Who knows what I'm talking about? And who has heard that called the stocks? That's what I've always heard. So when I read this, that's what I'm thinking about. Maybe I'm wrong, but even if I'm wrong, it doesn't really change anything about the interpretation of the passage. He went through something bad. Okay, now would I rather go to the nuthouse for 24 hours or be put in the stocks for 24 hours? You know, that's a tough one, but I think I'll take the nuthouse simply because, you know, this is super uncomfortable. And as I've said, and as we all kind of know, if we're honest, physical pain kind of trumps a lot of things, doesn't it? And, you know, being put in a really awkward, uncomfortable position where you can't move around and you're kind of stuck, that's super uncomfortable. To be locked in that weird position and you're going to get all stiff and uncomfortable, it's going to be a physical torture, not as much a mental torture. And so obviously he's going through something bad. It's just a one-day thing because look what the Bible says. It came to pass on the morrow, right? So the next day he gets put in the stocks, but then the next day he gets out. He goes through this ordeal. It's painful. It's uncomfortable, but it's short. It's one day, right? It came to pass on the morrow, verse 3, that Pashor brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks, then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashor. Oh, your name is not Pashor. Your name is not Lionel. He said, But Magor, Missabib, for thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Now look, Jeremiah doesn't sound like he's in a very good mood when he comes out. I mean, he's been in this super uncomfortable thing, and he says, Listen, buddy, God's going to make you, and this phrase always stood out in my mind. This is one of those really memorable Bible verses, and I'm always thinking about this part about how he says, I'm going to make you a terror to yourself and to your friends. You know, for some reason that phrase has always just stood out in my mind. I'm going to make you a terror to yourself and to your friends, meaning that basically when they see what happens to you, and when they see what's happening to themselves, and they think about what you did, you know, they are going to be absolutely terrified and horrified at what's happening to them. Terror, what is terror? Terror is fear. Terror is more extreme than fear, though, right? There's fear, and then there's terror. There's being scared, and then there's being terrified. What does it mean to be terrified? It means that you have an extreme crippling fear. That is an overwhelming fear, a fear that you're having trouble handling. You know, and the Bible talks about how God's going to bring the fears of the wicked upon them. The thing that they fear is going to happen to them. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends. And then he describes exactly what's going to happen to him. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies, thine eyes shall behold it, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and that there shalt thou die, and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies. So notice Jeremiah is emotional here, and you say, Well, I don't know. I don't think Jeremiah is emotional. I think Jeremiah is just, you know, preaching the word of God like he always does. No, he's pretty emotional, because we're about to see what he says next. But the first reaction that he has here is anger, right? And he's rebuking the persecutor, and pronouncing God's judgment upon him. But then, that's what he says to Pashur. But look what he says to the Lord. He says, Oh Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived. Now look, this is not another day at the office for Jeremiah, is it? He's upset. He says, You deceived me, Lord. Now, obviously, God is not a deceiver of his people. Did God really deceive Jeremiah? No, this is obviously Jeremiah. He's a human being. He's upset, and he's crying out to God in his anguish, and saying, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I. He's saying, You win, God. Thou art stronger than I, and has prevailed. You deceived me. You win. I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me. Now, stop and think about this. When he's in those stocks, we can maybe get a little bit more of a picture here now, that we don't just have the physical discomfort, but remember, he's up in the high gate next to the house of the Lord. So basically, he's up there to be a gazing stock, to be something that people would look at, and walk by, and mock, and make fun of. So, you know, again, you think of the medieval style of this. You know, maybe I watched too many cartoons as a kid or something, but you know, they're throwing the tomatoes or whatever, right? And kind of messing with the guy that's in the stocks. I don't know if that happened or not, but he was definitely being made fun of, because that's what we see in the passage, right? And he's sort of blaming God a little bit, saying, God, I thought you were going to bless me. I thought it was going to be cool. And then, you allow this to happen to me? For since I spake, I cried out. I cried violence and spoil, because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily. So he's saying, look, I'm getting mocked and made fun of. I'm getting attacked. I'm preaching the Bible here. What's the deal, God? Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. He basically just says, you know what? I'm done. You're going to sit here. You're going to put me in the stocks, make fun of me. God's not going to bat for me. What's the deal? I am out. I'm done preaching the word of God, because the people are not getting it. They're just mocking me. They're just ridiculing me and so forth. And so he's just ready to throw in the towel. He's just like, I'm done. I'm out. I'm not even going to mention the name of God. I'm just going to go live a quiet life. But what happened? But it says halfway through verse nine, his word was in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. You know, the spirit-filled servant of God, the true saved child of God who loves the Bible and loves God's word is never going to stop preaching the word of God. He's never going to. And again, we're not just talking about necessarily preaching as a pastor or preaching in church or whatever. The man of God cannot stop preaching the word of God. Okay. And every man, woman, boy, and girl who loves God is going to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ and his word. They're not going to stop. You know, you get frustrated. You get upset. You know, that's it. I'm done. But you know what? You keep going, because it's all you can do. You can't stop. Why? Because God's word is like a fire that is burning inside of you. And so, yeah, you're going to give the gospel. You're going to do soul-winning. You know what? I'm just going to be real honest with you. You know, and maybe this is a little too honest. I'm going to be real honest with you. When I was in that place, I was so angry. I was so upset. I was super pissed off. And I was not thinking about soul-winning. And what's funny is I've gone to a mental institution and gone soul-winning before. I've gone into a mental institution, purposely went in there and went soul-winning, and it wasn't as weird as this place. Thank God. And I actually got people saved that time. But I was in there, and I was just upset, and I was just like, screw this. And I was just in a bad mood, and I was not in a good place because, you know, of all the reasons that I mentioned this morning. But you know what? I ended up finding somebody that was lucid enough to understand what I was even talking about, and I ended up giving somebody the gospel just because it was just, it's almost just like a reflex. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, it's like, it's just you, you just, it's like, what are you going to do? Just not, and I mean, I was even thinking like, man, I'm not witnessing anybody in here. Screw this. I'm, I'm pissed. But then it's like you just end up accidentally witnessing. Because it's just who you are because of the fact that we've been soul-winning for decades, right? And you've been reading your Bible, and you got the truth, you got the gospel, you got the word of God. You just end up defaulting to that. When an opportunity arises, it's just next thing you know, you're just witnessing. You know, maybe, maybe you have Jonah's attitude, but you're still doing it. And so he says, look, I, and look, you say, oh, you know, you have a bad attitude. Well, so does Jeremiah. Jeremiah's like, I'm done preaching the Bible. But then he's like, I can't stop. I can't stop talking about the, I'm not going to mention his name. He just can't stop talking about God. He can't stop talking about Jesus. He can't stop talking about the Bible because of the Spirit of God. God's word was in his heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones. He said, I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. He just had to preach. Verse 10, for I heard the defaming of many fear on every side. Reports say they, and we will report it, all my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure, he'll be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. Now, stop and think about this. Take our revenge on him? Now, was Jeremiah going around hurting people, stealing their stuff, breaking their stuff, ripping them off? What are they talking about? Like, what are these people? And these are his familiars, right? These are his family members or close friends, probably both. Obviously, familiar family, right? These are people that are related to him or else they are super close to them or whatever. And it says, we're going to get our revenge on Jeremiah. Revenge on him for what? He didn't even do anything. There's no record of Jeremiah being a guy who's out hurting people and ripping people off. If he were that kind of a guy, then God wouldn't have even called him to be a prophet and been using him mightily. Obviously, he's a righteous man. He's a godly man. What are they talking about? Again, it's literally revenge on Jeremiah for stuff that he preached, right? I mean, it's just stuff that he said. He said stuff that they don't like and they're just mad about it years later, months later. That sermon, you know, that sermon where you preached congratulations on your bastard and I'm just still mad about it five years later. Seven years later, you know. And by the way, you know, I recently went back and watched that short YouTube clip that was just called congratulations on your bastard. And I listened to it and I was just like, this is such a well-balanced sermon and it just makes so much sense. I was just thinking like, how can anyone not agree with what I'm saying in this clip because it's just Bible teaching. It's super clear. It should be obvious to anyone. How could anyone be offended by what I'm listening to right now? Because I'm just like, man, people are so mad about this. Let me go back and listen to it and try to, you know, be objective and I'm just like, amen. Thumbs up. Let's go. We got to take revenge on Jeremiah. Taking revenge on a preacher. Take revenge on Pastor Anderson because Pastor Anderson preached stuff that offended us. What is it that causes people to have this mentality that says, I must take revenge upon the man of God. I must take revenge upon him. You know, I'll tell you what it is. It's pride. People's ego got bruised. Their pride was hurt because people in our day, especially in 2024 America, they don't like being corrected at all. So you give them just the mildest correction and they're bitter about it. And if, God forbid, you actually give someone a stern rebuke. Oh, now you've made an enemy for life. The Bible says, rebuke a wise man, he'll love you. Right? No, no, no. You just have people that want to take revenge on you, right? Or children that have to take revenge on their parents for disciplining them. They did wrong. They got disciplined as prescribed by the Bible and now they have to get revenge. Pastor gets up and preaches hard on sin and it hits where you live because you were congratulating somebody's bastard or something and now you're just offended for the rest of your life. Folks, this is a wicked mentality. And you know what? It's amazing how people can be converted into what we sometimes have referred to as the trash can cult or referred to as trash can baptists. Right? And you say, well, a cult isn't a cult when people are like, it's not really a cult, it's more like an anti-cult because they don't have a leader that they're obsessed with falling, they have a leader that they're obsessed with hating. Right? It's like an anti-idol. You know, instead of worshipping it or lifting it up too highly, they just devote their entire life to getting revenge on their anti-idol. And you have literally pastors and ministries who have built their entire ministry on listeners from Faithful Word Baptist Church and then they turn around and become a hater of and a trasher of and a revenger of Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's just, I just don't understand how do you wake up in the morning and live with yourself realizing that your entire ministry is a reaction to someone else. Like instead of just having your own walk with God, your own ministry, your own works, you are a reaction to someone else. You go from being a positive reaction to them to being a negative reaction to them, but that's what you are. You're just a reaction to someone else. Do your own thing. Do your own thing. He says that these familiars are saying, peradventure he'll be enticed and we shall prevail against him. We'll take our revenge on him, they're saying about Jeremiah. Right? But the Lord is with me, Jeremiah says, as a mighty, terrible one. Therefore, my persecutors shall stumble and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper. Their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous and seest the reigns in the heart, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for unto thee have I opened my cause. And again, it's easy to get mad at Jeremiah and say, well Jeremiah, I just don't think you have the right attitude there. Bro just got finished coming out of the stocks. He's still got a neck ache. Jeremiah hasn't seen the chiropractor. His neck's all messed up, his back's messed up, he's been mocked, made fun of. He's mad, he's upset, he's angry, then he's sad. Then he's crying out to God saying, what's the deal, it's not fair. In fact, I'm done preaching. Just kidding, because I can't stop. And then, he starts to have faith again saying, you know what, God's with me as a mighty, terrible one. God's going to punish these people. God's going to go to bat for me. They're going to be greatly ashamed. They're not going to prosper. Their everlasting confusion should not be forgotten. And he says in verse 13, sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord, for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. I mean, it really seems like he's doing pretty good there. In verse 11, verse 12, verse 13, he's like, man, God's with me, these people are getting smoked. It's going to be great. And then he's just like, cursed be the day when I was born. What is that? Because didn't it seem like he'd kind of come out of things? And he's got the right attitude, but then he's just like, dang it. Cursed be the day when I was born. Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father saying a man child is born unto thee, making him very glad. Let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew and repented on. It's like, whoa, buddy, this is just the guy, this is just the guy who worked at the hospital telling your mom it's a boy. Do we really have to smoke this guy like Sodom and Gomorrah? Let him hear the cry in the morning and shouting at noontide. Basically, let him be in the mental institution and just hear screaming all the time. Because he slew me not from the womb or that my mother might have been my grave and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow that my days should be consumed with shame. End of chapter. End of story. And guess what? Flip the page. The next chapter is just about something else. That's it. That's it. That's the end of this episode. Because what you have to understand about the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah is a series of episodes and they're not always even in chronological order. If you really dig in and study the book of Jeremiah, you'll see that, you know, it's not even in chronological order necessarily. A lot of it's thematically arranged. And so this is like a little episode, you know, think about like, you know, back in the day they used to have these little 30 minute sitcoms or, you know, Gilligan's Island or something, you know. And it's like everything's kind of wrapped up by the end of that 30 minutes. There's a little story, there's a little conflict, it's resolved, happy ending, credits, you know, 30 minutes. You know, this little episode doesn't really end that way, does it? It doesn't end with a little happy ending. It ends with Jeremiah going, dang it, why was I even born? This sucks. Right? And then it's just like, alright, next chapter. Next chapter. You know, why does the Bible have stuff like this in it? Because sometimes life just be like that. That's why. You know, life is like that. Life is not always pretty. Life is not always smooth. Life is not always just this little, you know, once upon a time and then this bad thing happened and then it's all better and they live happily ever... Life gets gnarly. And you know what? Men of God, preachers, pastors, prophets throughout history, hey, they're human. They're human beings. And the stress can wear on them. And the persecution can wear on them. And life can wear on them, right? And we see how many preachers in the Bible do you see getting upset and saying things like Jeremiah is saying here. You know, when you think about guys like Elijah, right? And you remember when Elijah is at the end of his rope and he's refusing to eat and he's just going on some super long hike out in the wilderness. He just takes a little tour to Mount Sinai all by himself out in the middle of nowhere. He's out there despairing and upset. You see, obviously, Jonah getting angry, being upset, telling God, you know, that he doesn't even want to continue living, all these things. And again, we could go on and on. We see, even in the New Testament, men like Paul and Peter, you know, despairing and going through things and being upset and so forth. And so, if you would flip over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, this is the last place that we'll turn, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. You just need to understand that when you're going through these things, because remember, I'm not preaching to the persecutors because everything I'm saying is going whoop right over their head right now. Now, I'm the good guy. I'm for the victims. I'm for the one who's mocking his dad. I'm against abuse. You know, all their bull crap that they don't have a single Bible verse for, right? All their, I mean, I, you know, you know, it's, it's, they can, they can huff and puff and blow the house down. They don't have a single Bible verse for their crap. They don't have a single Bible verse telling you, hey, this is when it's okay to rail on your parents, to dishonor your parents, to malign your parents. They don't have a single verse for any of that. And they don't have a single verse for any of their other marriage or child-wearing bull crap either. It's all just their little made-up opinions and their dumb things that aren't in the Word of God. It's funny, I get up and I preach the Bible. Listen to my sermon on corporal punishment and notice that I'm opening the Bible, reading verses, and applying them in context what they actually say. Just what they say. You know, listen to my verses on marriage. Listen to my verses on, excuse me, my sermons on marriage. Listen to my sermons on child-wearing. Listen to my sermons about honoring your parents. Listen to my sermon called, my answer to them that examined me is this. And we're turning to Bible verses. We're looking them up. We're applying them rightly in context what the Bible says. And then you have just all this mental gymnastics right now and all of these just circus acts of just twisting the Bible to basically approach the Bible with a preconceived idea. You already know what you believe. Let's find something that kind of sounds like that and back set up. Folks, you can make the Bible say whatever you want if you approach the Bible that way. The Bible has 31,000 verses in it. If you want to make the Bible teach something, if you approach the Bible dishonestly and you have a preconceived idea and you just want a proof text, you can do it. Okay? But at the end of the day, we need to preach what the Bible actually says in context and not rest the scriptures. To fit your little simping bullcrap. And that's what's going on right now is just a bunch of preachers getting up and just let's kick Pastor Anderson while he's down. Let's try to just make him look stupid. Let's try to make him look bad. Let's go ahead and preach a bunch of straw men and make it sound like he believes in things that he doesn't even believe in. Like, oh, we're in the middle of this controversy. Here, let me just get up and say, you know, let me just get up and take a bold stand. I'm against abusing your wife. Yet, you and every other person on the planet. It's like, what kind of weird platitude is that? But they just get up and basically just preach all these straw men to try to demonize me or try to make it sound like I'm doing things or saying things or teaching things that I've never taught, that I've never believed in, that I've never practiced all this crazy stuff that they're saying, that I'm somehow this horrible abusive person. Again, it's not based on scripture and then they twist the scripture and now they've gone so far the other way that now they're basically getting up and telling their wives point blank, you can do whatever you want and I have no recourse. That's what they're openly teaching now. They're literally saying, you can disobey me, you can disrespect me, you can defy me and there is nothing that I can do about it. Amen. Amen. Oh, great sermon. And then we have wives, we have literally all over America men supporting me and their wives telling, no, you can't support him. I mean, the wives are taking over in these homes of these weak men. I wonder how many of the people who've quit our church in the last few weeks, it was the wife's decision and not the husband's decision. Is it 100, 100 percent? 100 percent or 90 percent? I don't know. But it makes me wonder, what percentage is the wife saying, we're not going back. And you know what? The joke's on them. The joke's on them because you know what? I, Steven Anderson, have an awesome marriage. I am in love with my wife. My wife is in love with me. And you know what? Let me just say this. We have had a renaissance in our marriage this year to the point where I am not exaggerating to say that my wife and I are more in love with each other than we've ever been in the history of our marriage, including when we were newlyweds. We have the best relationship right now in 2024 that we have ever had. And we are super happy together. And you know what? No matter what happens, we know that we're going to be okay because we have each other. And you know, just because I'm not on Facebook all the time, like, oh, my wife and I love each other so much, and that's why we have a joint Facebook account and whatever. You know, look, just because I'm not on there just proving that to everybody all the time, let me tell you something. God knows that my marriage is freaking awesome. My wife doesn't love me. She adores me. And I adore her. We have a great relationship. And you know what? God knows that I'm telling the truth right now. Because God knows everything. The very hairs on my head are numbered. God knows how awesome my marriage is. And then we got a bunch of guys getting up and deciding that I have a bad marriage or that my wife's unhappy or something. When in reality, my wife's super happy and we're getting along great. But some guy 3,000 miles away thinks I have a bad marriage. When I just don't. I mean, it's hilarious. But here's the funny thing about that. They're the ones getting up and saying to their wives, hey, you can defy me, you can disobey me. And there's, I mean, look, one of these guys literally just got up and preached recently. Where, you know the verse that says it's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling and contentious woman? I might be quoting that a little bit wrong, but it's generally what it says. He said, hey, it's better to dwell in the wilderness than with the contentious and brawling woman, the loud woman or whatever, right? This guy literally got up and preached to his church and said, what the Bible's teaching there is that if your wife contends with you, retreat. Go hide. He literally says when she's mouthing off to you and go hide, go to the wilderness, go to the corner. Like, hey, idiot, the Bible's not telling you to go in the attic when your wife yells at you, I got to get out of here. Retreat, retreat, abort the mission. Yeah, right, that's, you really, you know what, I think you need to step down, Joe Jones, because it doesn't sound like you know how to rule your home. The Bible says you got to rule well your own house. I demand that Joe Jones step down because he got up and publicly said that if his wife mouths off to him, he's going to retreat. He said it's better to retreat than to beat, you know, with his stupid little rhymes. If things aren't going swell, find a temporary place to dwell. Sorry, I'm not going to be getting a hotel room, Joe Jones. I'm not going to the doghouse, Joe Jones. I'm not sleeping on the sofa tonight, Joe Jones, because I rule my house well, unlike you. What kind of a stupid crap is that to get up and teach husbands, hey, if your wife fights with you, you got to just flee. Then he turns to the Bible verse where David confronts Michal, and remember when Michal, David's wife, makes fun of him and rebukes him? And then David basically gets mad at her and it just says, therefore, she had no child until the day of her death? Let me translate for you. They're never going to have sex again. Everybody understand? And he's like, see, David did this because he's a man after God's own heart. Okay, so that's what we do. When there's strife in marriage, we just run away. We just literally retreat. We just find a temporary place to dwell. We just go to the doghouse. We just go to the sofa. We just go get a motel room. Or maybe, like David, we just don't ever come back. Great advice, great teaching on the home. Bravo. Meanwhile, I'm going to a warm bed tonight, you know, and enough said. Retreat. It's insanity. That's not Bible preaching. That's being publicly a retarded simp on YouTube. But not only that, these guys are literally getting up and telling their teenagers, hey, you guys can do whatever you want. We're not going to whip you. We're not going to beat you because I'm not going to get up here. They're literally saying, quote, I'm not going to be spanking a 14-year-old. I'm not going to spank a 15-year-old. So basically they're telling the 14 and 15-year-old, hey, you know what? I'm not going to discipline you. I'll take away your toys. I'll take away your Xbox. I'll take away your phone. But you know what? There's not going to be any serious consequences. Well, you know what? It's funny. A bunch of guys with toddlers are talking about how they're not going to whip their teenagers. They've never even had a teenager, but you think that they'd be smart enough to remember when they were a teenager and the fact that they went out and got into trouble and did something. Let me tell you something. Teenagers are looking for a boundary. And if their parents don't show them a boundary, the police are going to show them a boundary. The nuthouse is going to show them a boundary. Are you listening to me? Teenagers are looking for a boundary. And you know what? It's our job as parents to keep our teenagers safe and to keep them away from drugs, away from alcohol, away from fornication, away from adultery, away from gambling, away from vandalism, away from pornography, away from all of these thieving things that kids get into at that age and the wickedness that they get into. And you know what? It's better that they be disciplined by their parents. It's better that they be disciplined at home than by the cops that put in juvenile hall. But at the end of the day, here's the thing. I'm a happy man and I'll tell you why. Because at the end of the day, no matter what problems I have, no matter what enemies I have, no matter what disappointments I have in my life and in my family and in my ministry, you know what? At the end of the day, I'm not the one who has to live with this stupid doctrine that they're teaching. Because I would much rather have all of my current problems than to have this doctrine come out of my mouth that, hey man, there's literally nothing that you can do if your wife rebels against you except just retreat. You just got to get out of there, man. And to just get up and say that the wife's submission to her husband is 100% voluntary on her part and that the husband has no authority to enforce anything. She'll obey when she wants to obey because she loves Jesus. But the husband can't enforce anything. That's what's being taught right now. You know what? You think I'm lying? Go listen to Joe Jones' stupid rambling bull crap sermon. In fact, just listen to the last 10 minutes because that's where he says the dumb crap that I just said. That's what's being taught now. And you know what? It's the same crap that Jason Robinson's teaching. It's the same crap that David Berzins is teaching. And you know what? These people are going to have to live with the false doctrine that they're teaching. And at the end of the day, you know what? I'm going to live happily ever after with my wife who loves me and adores me and respects me. Look, am I going to have problems in the future with teenagers? Yup. And you know what I'm going to do? Give them a whipping. And guess what? They're not going to be on drugs. They're not going to be out partying. They're not going to be out vandalizing and stealing and doing this. Now look, if they grow up and be an adult, at that point, I don't know what they're going to do. You know, hopefully they will be productive members of society making six figures or whatever they brag about doing. Right? I mean, hey, hopefully they all grow up and are homeowners and working hard and making money and having families and doing things, whatever. But you know what? I'm not going to have some juvenile delinquent teenager that terrorizes me. When they're living in my home, they're going to do what I say. And they're going to live according to my rules. And I'm not going to let children rule over me. I'm not going to let children terrorize me. I'm not going to let a woman rule over me. I'm not going to let a woman terrorize me. And you know what? The real losers today, the real sad situation is the people who have to live with this doctrine that's being taught. You know who the real victims are? Are the men in these churches who are being emasculated by their own pastor. And you know what? I remember this from the old IFP. I remember sitting in an old IFP church and listening to pastors get up and tear down the husband's authority, tear down the father's authority, and it made me mad. And I remember thinking, you know what? When I'm a pastor, I'm not going to preach this crap. I'm going to teach it straight like the Bible says. You know, I remember one time sitting in church and hearing one of these stupid sermons. So, oh, everybody's got to submit to each other. And the husband's not really in charge of the wife and all these different things. And I remember just getting in the car with my wife after that sermon and saying, you know what? I don't care what that pastor says. The Bible says you're to submit to me and be subject to me and obey me. And of course she agreed. That's what women want. Women do not like being married to a namby-pamby. And you know what? This is a recipe for miserable bad marriages. This lesbian style marriage doesn't work and it doesn't make the husband happy, but it's not just the husband who isn't happy. The wife isn't happy either. Okay? Wives want to be married to a strong leader. They want that stability. They want that responsibility. They want their husband to have actual authority, not to just be the queen of England, a paper tiger, but to actually have real authority. It's what they want. It's what my wife wants. You say, well, that's not what my wife wants. Well, then you know what? Maybe your wife's just a total female dog, but that's not my problem. But guess what? Women in general do want that. And shall I prove it to you from the Word of God? Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. Let me say that again. Genesis 3 16, thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over you. Oh, you know, but my wife says she doesn't want to be ruled over. Yet she probably also says she doesn't want to go out to dinner, but she still does. She also says she doesn't want dessert, but she does. What if I told you the women don't always tell you what they want? Let me tell you something. Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee. That's what the Bible says. And look, I'm not teaching anything radical. I'm not teaching anything crazy. I'm not up here teaching some militant marriage or militant home. As I've said before, I will say it again. The discipline that I have practiced in my home is moderate, and people who know me well would say that if anything, I'm probably too nice and too lenient. People who actually know me in real life. That's how I tend to be. I'm not talking about anything crazy, but I will say this. I will say this. I have been married for 24 years, and I am the boss. Okay? And you know what's funny to me right now? People criticizing me. Some of the people that have called the police and sent them to my house, like Sam Osborne, is somebody who has a failed relationship and isn't even allowed to see his kids. And you know what? How about Colin Schneider? Sorry, I don't mind calling the names of people who've slandered me publicly and sent the police to my house. Okay? Colin Schneider, before he ever set foot in this church, had a dysfunctional marriage that was falling apart. Okay? He'd already had a screwed up marriage for years, and now, oh, he figured out how to be a good husband now. No, he discarded his wife and got a new one. Okay? Now look, that's not the same as fixing your marriage, folks. Everybody understand? Here's a little real talk for you. And I'm sorry to offend you, but here's some real talk. There's people who fixed their marriage. Great. Amen. Praise the Lord. Then there's people who discard their spouse and get a new one, and now things are going great with your new one. Wow, I'm so impressed that you found your little new model that's going to do everything right and right out of the box. Not impressed. Because you know what? Some of us are actually staying married and we're actually going through problems and fixing problems and getting to that renaissance, getting to those better days, getting to that light at the end of the tunnel, and actually getting to the other side of difficulties in marriage, instead of just discarding our spouse and getting a new one. And then, after we've discarded our spouse and got a new one, or been discarded by a spouse, either way, you either discarded or got discarded, and now all of a sudden, you're going to tell me a man who was a virgin on his wedding day and has only had sex with one woman in my entire life, you're going to tell me how to run my marriage and my home when you're divorced? Nah, man. Nah. But Sam Osborne's got to take revenge on Pastor Anderson. What did I ever do to that guy? Did I pay him too much money to make documentaries for me? I was constantly being generous with him, helping him, paying for him. I think I just paid for him to go on a mission trip this year. I mean, help me out. I'm pretty sure somebody came up to me in the year of our Lord, 2024, and said, hey, is it okay if our church pays Sam Osborne's expenses on these mission trips? And I said, yeah, buddy. Caleb, can I get a witness? Yeah. Bro is private messaging members of our church, calling them Kool-Aid drinkers if they support me right now. And Bro's family, his original family is in New Zealand and he can't see them. His original common law wife and kids or whatever, right? But he's going to tell me who actually has been successfully married for 24 years. You know, let not him that put a thaw on the harness boast as him that taketh it off. Who here has been married for at least 24 years? Put up your hand if you've been married for at least 24 years. Keep it up. One, two, three, four. There are only four people in this. There are only four men in this room that have been married as long as I have. Okay? Right? So guess what? What if I told you that I've actually succeeded at marriage? And that I can get up here with God as my witness and say that I love my wife more than ever and she loves me more than ever and that things are going great. But we've got a bunch of bozos talking about how I must have some horrible relationship with my wife and your relationship must be so messed up and whatever. Well, in your dreams, pal. But it's not. And I'm sorry to go off like this, but you know, I'm feeling a little bit like Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 20 here. Okay? And you know what? I don't mind unloading on you like this because I am doing you a favor because this is stuff that you need to hear, my friend. Okay? You need to hear this stuff. We have got problems in America. We have got problems with rebellion. We've got problems with feminine, feminism. This is not my problem. It's not like, oh, Pastor Anderson's got a problem. Faithful words have a problem. The new wife people. No, America is having a problem. You think I'm alone up here dealing with this stuff? It's an epidemic. And right now we need men of God to get up and preach what the Bible actually says, not this retarded twisting of scripture. Well, God's telling you to just flee from your wife when there's a problem. If it isn't swell, find a temporary place to dwell. Alright, sorry Snoopy. I've got to take your house. He's probably watching it live, the bastard. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, we thank you so much for our church. Lord, thank you that there are 7,000 men that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. Thank you so much that we had great attendance this morning, great attendance tonight, Lord. It's so encouraging to me as a pastor to know that there are still people in this world who love you, love your word, appreciate things and appreciate our church and what a treasure it is, Lord. And that understand that no leader is ever going to be perfect. No husband, no father is ever going to be perfect. But that the Bible is what determines what's right and wrong. And Lord, thank you so much for an army of soul winning Christians that are still going and that are going to keep going no matter what, Lord. And I thank you for the word of God being like a fire in my bones. And Lord God, help me to continue serving you all the way up till the end. Lord God, anybody in here that goes through persecution, which is going to be every single person who loves and serves you, they're going to go through it eventually. Lord, help them to realize that though you do things in your own timing, everybody eventually gets what's coming to them. And there's nothing hidden that should not be revealed and everything's going to be uncovered, Lord, and the truth is going to be known. Lord God, help us to be comforted by that and give us safety and blessing as we go our separate ways. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's take our psalm books together. If you need the words, number 48, I'll be so glad. We'll sing it twice and be dismissed. Number 48, I'll be so glad when day is done. Let's sing it out. I'll be so glad when day is done.