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

This morning I want to preach about the subject of the false left-right paradigm. And really what I want to cover this morning is the fact that a lot of people will try to claim that there are contradictions in the Bible. And you'll hear people all the time claim that the Bible's filled with contradictions. Sometimes they'll try to pit the Old Testament God against the New Testament God, and try to act like God was a certain way in the Old Testament, but now in the New Testament he's really softened up or gotten a lot nicer. In reality, the Old Testament God was a loving, compassionate, merciful God all the way starting in Genesis, and we still see the wrath of God all the way in Revelation at the very end of the Bible. God doesn't change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed, or they'll try to pit Jesus against the apostle Paul. Well, Jesus taught this, but the apostle Paul taught this, and it doesn't fit. Or Paul versus James, or whatever, they'll try to find contradictions in the Bible, but really what the Bible is doing is giving a balanced view on every subject. The Bible is actually providing a balanced view, but to those who don't understand the things of God, they see it as a contradiction. So God talks about love, contradiction to them, right? But we see here in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 that to everything there is a season, verse 1. A time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. So if the Bible is telling us over here to plant, and over here it's telling us to pluck up that which was planted, that's not a contradiction. God is giving us the whole picture. He's giving us a balanced view that there's a time of war, and there's a time of peace, a time of love, a time to hate, a time to rend, and a time to sow. But the Bible says the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So unsaved people and unlearned people will try to say that the Bible is contradicting itself when in reality the Bible is balanced. But they have this view of a left-right paradigm where you're either just hard left or hard right. You're either Republican or Democrat. You're either liberal or conservative. Instead of letting the Bible shape our views, they're trying to fit the Bible into their artificial view that they already have, that the media taught them to think a certain way of left, right, conservative, liberal, whatever. So let me get into some specific examples this morning showing you that the Bible is not contradicting itself, but rather giving a balanced view, and that the Bible does not fit into the fake left-right paradigm that's in our media today, okay? If you would, go to Galatians Chapter 3, and I want to start out with the example of what does the Bible teach about women. And in fact, all of my examples are going to be taken exclusively from the Apostle Paul. So we're just going to stick with one New Testament author, the Apostle Paul, and we're going to look at what he taught on these subjects and how there's no contradiction here, but rather a balanced view, a right view is being given even though it doesn't fit into the world's way of thinking, okay? Let's talk about women. The Bible does not teach feminism, but on the other hand, the Bible does not teach misogyny or hatred of women like we see amongst Muslims and other people who have views of women being inferior to man or of less value to man or whatever. The Bible teaches neither. So the Bible is neither left nor right on this issue. Look what the Bible actually teaches. Look at Galatians Chapter 3, Verse 27. The Bible reads, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. Watch this. There is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So according to scripture, in Christ, there is neither male nor female. So God does not look at women as a second-class Christian or a second-class citizen, just like the Gentiles are not second-class Christians. We're all one in Christ Jesus. We're equivalent in value. One is not superior or inferior to the other. That's what the Bible clearly teaches about women, okay? But if we go over to some other scriptures, if you would flip over to 1 Timothy Chapter 2, and while you're turning there, 1 Corinthians 14 says, Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. So what we see here is that the Apostle Paul, in another scripture, is teaching and saying, Look, women need to keep silence in the churches. It's not permitted to them to speak. So they can't preach behind the pulpit. They're not going to be teaching the Word of God in the house of God. Wait a minute, Paul. I thought you said in Christ there's neither male nor female. Which one is it? Guess what? It's both. God gives us a balanced view of women, where women have equal value, equal worth, equal standing in the eyes of God. But do they have the same role in society? No they don't. They do not have the same role. Men have a role, and women have a role. Men and women are not the same, okay? So we get a balanced view by studying the whole scripture instead of going overboard on the one side and becoming a feminist, or going overboard on the other side and your wife's walking 20 feet behind you and in a burqa, and she basically is considered second class. Those are both wrong. We need to go with what the Bible teaches. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 2, verse 11, Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. Ouch. Right? That is enough to make liberals' heads explode right there. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. That I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. Okay. The Bible is crystal clear. How can you have women stand up in church and preach or female pastors in light of these super clear scriptures? It's crazy. You might as well just throw your Bible in the trash if you're just going to ignore what it says. Nothing could be clearer than these verses. But God doesn't want women to be mistreated. He doesn't want women to be looked down upon or devalued, so he gives the balance. Let me show you some balance. Flip over to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. And listen to what Paul says in Romans 16. He says, I commend unto you, Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Sancria, that ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she hath been a suckerer, suckerer means a helper, of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. So we see this scripture in Romans 16 where Paul gives a shout out to Phoebe, and he says, look, I'm commending Phoebe unto you. She is a servant of the church. Help her out with whatever she needs. She's my helper. She's assisting me. So this woman was doing great work for the Lord. She's serving the church. It's not that women can't serve the Lord or that they can't do soul winning or that they can't preach the gospel in a one-on-one setting or from house to house or privately. It's just that they're to keep silence in the church. They're not to get up in church and preach. They're not to lead the church. They're not to be an authority in the church. You see how the balance is there? The Bible is giving a balance. And we even see where Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. So God is giving a crystal clear command against women being pastors and publicly preaching and speaking in the church and so forth. Lest we go overboard on that and think, oh, well, we need to devalue women or be rude to women or they don't have any say or they can never say anything, well, then he gives us the balance by showing that outside of church, outside of church, they do have a role of even taking the Bible and teaching someone something. Outside of church. And you'll see these bozos sometimes even on Facebook or YouTube or something where a woman will leave a comment on something and they're like, you need to keep silence in the church. Hey, last time I checked, YouTube isn't church. Last time I checked, Facebook isn't church. But you know what? These keyboard warriors, they think it is church. That's why they don't even come to church. They're down in the basement eating chips off their chest, keep silence in the church, you know, because they think the Internet's church. The Bible doesn't say let your women keep silence everywhere they go every day. It says let them keep silence in the church, let them learn in silence. If they have a question, ask their husband at home, they shouldn't pipe up in the church, they shouldn't be preaching, we shouldn't have Joyce Meyer, et cetera. But you see how the Bible's not contradicting itself, it's giving a balanced view so that we don't go overboard in the wrong direction, in either direction. Here's another one. Did you look at Philippians there? Are you in Philippians 4? Look at verse 2. Paul says, I beseech Euodius and beseech Syntyche. And by the way, these are two women's names, that they be of the same mind in the Lord, and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel. Now notice, he doesn't say they labored with me in the kitchen, he doesn't say they labored with me in the laundry room, he says they labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the Book of Life. So you can see how women can have an important role in serving God, to the point where they're getting shout outs in Paul's epistles as being great helpers and fellow workers and soul winners and they're getting people saved. And remember in Acts chapter 2, when Peter got up and preached, it wasn't just Peter that preached, the whole church was there. There were 120 people there at the day of Pentecost, and the Bible says that it was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel that God would pour out his Spirit upon the servants and upon the handmaidens, and they would prophesy. So in Acts 2, the soul winning that was going on was done by men and women, and I thank God that our church, we have women who go out soul winning. It's not just the men that go out soul winning, there's some churches where only the men do soul winning. I think it's great for women to get out and do soul winning, not only just doing soul winning in their personal lives, I think it's great for them to get out there and knock some doors and win souls to Christ, I think it's great and it's a great opportunity for women to preach, right? You say, are you four women preachers? Yes. Door to door, soul winning, one on one, but not getting up behind the pulpit and leading the church or preaching in a public assembly. Why? Because the Bible says no. So quit trying to fight what the Bible says, argue with what the Bible says, try to claim the Bible's contradicting itself, and twist it. Why don't you just relax and let God tell you what to do? Just sit back and say, okay God, if women are to keep silent in the church, they're going to keep silent in the church, but if they're supposed to be out there serving God in other roles, great, let's let them do it, let's have them do it. So God's not devaluing women, is he? He just has women with a certain role, and men with a certain role, they both have equal value. My 11th child is on its way, and I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, who cares? You say, well you got a lot of both, well that's true. But the point is, I got plenty of both, but you know what? A girl is just as valuable as a boy. You know, I'm not some communist Chinese hoping that it's a boy or something. You know, I don't care what it is, right? Because you know what? I love my boys, I love my girls the same, right, because they have the same value. And they can do the same amount for the Lord. You say, well men can do more for the Lord. No they can't, because guess what, women are raising the children, and the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, okay? So they have a very important role, they can still win souls, they can still do a lot of the work of the ministry, it's just that there's certain things that they can't do, right? So instead of worrying about the one tree that you can't eat the fruit thereof, why don't you look at all the other trees in the garden that you can't eat from, right? But you can't eat from that pastor or deacon tree, and you can't eat from that televangelist tree either, okay? So you see how the Bible has a balanced view on women. Not a contradictory view, a balanced view. People don't understand it, because they don't have the Holy Spirit, so that's why they pick it apart and say that it's contradicting. Number two, go if you would to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, here's another issue. Number one, we talked about the issue of women, how about number two, the issue of them that have not, as the Bible says, them that have not. And of course, many, many years later the communists would pick up on this and talk about the haves and the have nots, right? But the Bible used that term, those that have not. What does the Bible teach about people who have not? What does the Bible teach about people who have no money, they have no food, they have no lodging, they have no clothing, they're lacking in their physical needs? What does the Bible teach? Well, the Bible teaches two different things, okay? This is not a contradiction, this is a balance. The Bible teaches that number one, when it comes to the poor, we should care for the poor, remember the poor, give to the poor, be a blessing to the poor, amen? Respect the poor, treat the poor well. But then when it comes to the lazy, the Bible says that if they don't work, they don't eat. You see, there's a difference here between the poor and the lazy. Now, our world today wants to mix this together and they want to just have this category called them that have not and have it include people who work and people who don't work and just throw them all in and call them the poor, wrong. You know, these homeless people are not poor people. Don't ever quote me a Bible verse about the poor, about one of these young able-bodied homeless derelicts in Tempe, they are not poor, they are lazy. Now, what does the Bible say about the poor? And again, we're focusing on the Apostle Paul, okay? What did Paul teach? Obviously, he's inspired by the Spirit of God, Paul's teachings are the Word of God. He said, if any man among you think himself to be spiritual, let him to acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord, okay? Peter in 2 Peter 3 calls Paul's writings the scripture and he compares them to the other scriptures. Paul's writing is scripture, it's the Word of God, it's authoritative. It is inspired by the Holy Ghost. What did Paul say? Well, in Galatians 2 verse 10, he talked about how they told him, only they would, that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. So Paul said, I was forward to remember the poor. Forward means, you know, you take the initiative, you get in there and do it, right? That's what it means to be forward. He said, I was forward when it came to remembering the poor. If you remember, Paul talked a lot about taking up a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. He was collecting money from some of the Gentile churches to be a blessing to the poor church at Jerusalem because they were going through a hard time. So Paul cared about the poor. But look what he says in 2 Thessalonians 3 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but their busy bodies. Now them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. They need to work and eat their own bread. So we've got the poor over here and we've got the busy body over here. You know what a poor person is? A poor person is somebody who, if they're able-bodied, gets up every morning and goes to work and works and does their best. And standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign, that's not work. Somebody who actually gets up and works to the best of their ability six days a week and still can't make ends meet or barely makes ends meet or doesn't have nice things and just kind of struggles and scrapes by paycheck to paycheck. That is a poor person. And are there people like that? Yeah. Not in America. But in other countries there are. In America that would be super rare. It's out there I'm sure. 99.9% of people in America are not poor by the world's standards. There are some people who do work really hard and barely scrape by. But what we consider scraping by is like, oh, we have to share a vehicle or oh, we have to set the thermostat a little bit higher in the summer, a little lower in the winter. But you know what? If you go to places like Guyana in South America, those people are making a lot less than minimum wage, a lot less than minimum wage. And yet things cost almost the same down there as what they cost up here. How do they get by? Folks, they get by by just growing things in their backyard and just eating simple food and so forth. But they get by that. Those are poor people down there. Right? They're poor. They work hard and they scrape by. They have trouble affording things. That's a poor person. Okay? A guy who refuses to go to work is not poor. He's lazy. Right. And he needs to be rebuked. If he starves, so be it, because the Bible says if a man won't work, neither should he eat. Okay? And today we have an epidemic of young people, able-bodied, sitting on the street corner asking for money habitually. And some of them have come to church here. They've attended services here. We've talked to them. I'm thinking of one in particular. I see this guy all the time, you know, just living in Tempe for the last 13 and a half years. And this guy came to me and he's lied to me so many times. He's come to services at our church. He lies. He tells all kinds of stories. He claims to be super smart. He's able-bodied. But yet I keep seeing him on Baseline and 48th Street, or not 48, Baseline and the I-10 freeway asking for money, asking for money, asking for money, over and over again. Or he's online trying, I found him online asking people for money. Okay? He's getting online trying to scam people, how he's doing a research project. He just needs you to give him 100 bucks. He's going to complete the research. He's going to end war in the whole world and bring world peace. And he's going to invent a perpetual energy machine and all this stuff. So we got all these people out there just not going to work. And today, people want to tell us, give them money, feed them, it's the church's job to feed them. Wrong. I won't give a cent. I won't give a cent. Okay? But you know what we've done many times, and Brother Segura can vouch for this. You can talk to Brother Segura. We've had people who came here and said, hey, we don't have any money. We don't know what to do. And you know what? He sets them up with a job. He's got a place. How far is that place from here? Two miles away? Yeah. We've got a place like two miles away. And will they hire anybody? Pretty much if you have a pulse, you're hired, okay? They're pretty lenient who they hire, right? And they'll start them the same day. Say what? Yeah. Yeah. And there's a landscaping place that we've sent people to. There's a day labor place. We've sent people to the landscaping place. They'll put them to work that day, or the next day they're working, and they'll take almost anybody. But you know, whenever we try to help people with that, they're not interested. They're like, oh, can I do it three days from now? We're like, are you busy? But you know what the Bible says about people who don't work at all? You know what it says they are? Busy bodies. Isn't it amazing how busy people are when they don't have a job? They're busy. Why? Because they're busy doing all the wrong things. They're busy with sin. They're busy getting drunk. They're busy taking drugs. They're busy just getting involved in other people's matters and getting in trouble and getting into mischief. Folks, it is a lifestyle that people are choosing. Oh, the homeless problem in America. They're choosing that lifestyle. They choose that lifestyle, okay? Because there are so many programs. It's crazy how many programs there are in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, where they can show up and get a shower and get clothes and get food, get job skills, get hired. I mean, there are all these people trying to pull these people out of that. They don't want to leave that life because they're taking drugs. Okay, show me one homeless person who never drinks. Show me a teetotaling homeless person. You're laughing because it's so ridiculous. So folks, it's not that the Bible is contradictory here. It's that the Bible is giving a balanced view that says, hey, people that are truly poor, we need to love them, we need to help them, we need to bless them, we need to care about the poor. When people are struggling, let's reach into our pockets and help them out. Let's get them out of a jam. Let's bail them out of jail. Let's give them whatever. But you know what? When it comes to people who are refusing to work, these people should be shunned and rejected. Look, I call this the Jimenez doctrine because Pastor Jimenez is the one who taught me this. He said he will throw people out of the church who refuse to get a job. So if people are coming to the church and they won't get a job and they're just refusing to work, he'll throw them out of the church because what does the Bible say? The Bible says that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. And it says that the disorderly people are the people who don't work at all. And it says if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him. And the context is people who refuse to work. So men who just refuse to go to work, they refuse to do any work, they're just lazy derelicts there to be shunned and rejected from fellowship. I call it the Jimenez doctrine, and I'm a subscriber, all right, amen? So the Bible gives a balanced view. The Bible is not saying, hey, we don't care about the poor, it's their fault if they're poor. No, it's not their fault if they're poor if they're working hard and doing their best. But homeless people begging for money by the side of the road, that is their fault when unemployment is at a record low and we can point them to places that will hire them. The only person who should be legitimately begging by the side of the road is someone who is physically seriously handicapped to the point where they can't work. I mean, if somebody has no legs or something and they're out there asking for money, hey, I've got nothing to say against that, okay? If somebody's elderly and been turned out in the street or something, okay, that's a different situation, folks. I'm talking about people in their 20s, 30s, 40s that are out there able-bodied collecting 100 bucks a day, 200 bucks a day to do nothing because they're lazy and want to drink and sleep in and do drugs and whatever they want to do. All right, let's move on. But the Bible is giving a balanced view, isn't it? He's telling us this is what we do with the poor, help them, bless them, be kind to them. Here's what we do with the lazy. And the Bible says we should consider the cause of the poor. It doesn't say indiscriminately give the poor money, consider his cause. Basically figure out, okay, what's going on? All right, yeah, let me help you out because I see your situation. All right. Number three, how about how do we deal with the lost? What's our attitude toward the lost? Is the Bible giving us a contradictory view or is the Bible giving us a balanced view, okay? Go if you would to 1 Timothy Chapter 1, 1 Timothy Chapter 1 when it comes to the lost. Now obviously we're supposed to love the lost. We want to reach the lost, give the Gospel to the lost, seek the lost, show them the love of Christ, be kind unto them, be a good testimony unto them. That's our attitude toward the lost. But specifically there are some scriptures that tell us when it comes to people who believe in false doctrine that we should be gentle to them and meekly instruct them and kindly show them the error of their ways. But then there are other people where the Bible tells us rebuke them sharply. So is that a contradiction? If over here he's saying, hey, be gentle unto all men, patient in meekness instructing them. And then over here he says rebuke them sharply. Which one is it? What the Bible's doing is it's giving us a balanced view. It says there's a time for war and a time for peace, a time to sow and a time to rend, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time to love, a time to hate. There's a time and a place for different attitudes or different behavior toward the lost. Look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy Chapter 1 Verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious watch this, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief. So according to the Bible, why did Paul obtain mercy? He tells us. He says this is why I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Now think about this. What if the Apostle Paul would have known the truth, understood the truth, and rejected the truth and said, you know what, I'm going to fight against Christ anyway. Would he have obtained mercy? The reason that he obtained mercy, according to the Bible, is because he did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now this is similar to what Jesus Christ said when he was on the cross. What did he say? Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Isn't that kind of the same thing Paul is saying here, like I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't realize what I was doing. But believe it or not, there are actually wicked people in this world who knowingly do wicked things. It's not that they're ignorant or mixed up or that they think they're doing right. They actually know who Christ is. They know who God is. They know what the Gospel is and they hate God. Now this is not the same as an Apostle Paul who thought he was doing right. Okay. There's a big difference. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter number 2. And what's the sermon about? The sermon is about the false left-right paradigm. And it's specifically about people who try to say that there are contradictions in the Bible. It's not that the Bible is contradicting itself. The Bible is giving us a balanced view, different attitudes for different situations. When it comes to women, we're not feminist. But we're also not misogynistic. We're also not negative toward women. We have the right biblical view. It's neither left nor right. We're not right. We're not left nor right. We're not radical Islam and we're not a liberal Democrat. Okay, folks. We are having a biblical view that defies this left-right paradigm. Okay. When it comes to the issue of the have-nots, the poor, we differentiate between the poor and the lazy. That's where we get a biblical view. Okay. And then when it comes to the lost, we differentiate between the unsaved, which is 99% of unsaved people, and then the reprobates, the ones who actually hate God and nash on him with their teeth and don't want to hear the truth and just have they don't have ignorance as an excuse. They knew God and they glorified him not as God, as Romans 1 says, and they were given over to a reprobate mind. So look at 2 Timothy 2. The Bible says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive. Strive means argue. It says, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure maybe, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him and his will. So the Bible is saying, look, as a servant of the Lord, we shouldn't go out and argue with people and get in fights with people. When we're out soul winning and we knock on somebody's door and they don't want to hear the gospel, we don't get in a fight with them or argue with them, we just say, hey, have a good day, see you later, and walk away. Just move on. Just go to the next door, right? And even when people are wrong on doctrine, they're wrong on the gospel, their beliefs are all wrong, we don't want to jump down their throat or be rude to them and tell them they're an idiot or tell them, you know, you're so wrong, that's the worst answer I've ever heard to the question of why you think you're going to heaven. That just takes the cake for just the foolishness. You don't want to act that way, you want to be gentle, kind, just trying to help them to understand nicely explaining things, right? Isn't that what the Bible is teaching here? But look at the different situation over in Titus chapter 1, just go a couple pages to the right in your Bible, here's a different situation in Titus chapter 1 verse 10. It says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. See there's a big difference between the deceived and the deceiver. Do you see the difference? One person's deceived, forgive them, they know not what they do, then there's the deceiver. The Bible says there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially if they have a circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own said, the Christians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, this witness is true, watch this, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Under the pure all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work, reprobate. So these deceivers, the Bible says, nothing is pure to them. Their mind is defiled, their conscience is defiled, they are reprobate, they've been given over to the reprobate mind. These wicked false teachers creeping into houses, they're deceivers, they're liars, he says rebuke them sharply. Here's how I've heard some people misunderstand this verse. Sometimes it can be confusing in the Bible what a pronoun is referring to, when you see a he or a them, sometimes you're trying to figure out who's the he, who's the them, especially in Daniel 11. In my opinion that's the hardest chapter in the Bible, Daniel 11. But if you look at this right here, when he says rebuke them sharply, the them there that you're rebuking sharply are the false teachers, right? These devils that are creeping in, they're reprobate, they're teaching lies, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in faith. Not so that the false teachers can be sound in faith. These guys are reprobate, their mind and conscience is defiled. They're not going to be sound in faith, folks. The people that they're deceiving will be sound in faith, because notice he brings up the people that they're talking to. He says that basically they're going into whole houses and teaching things which they ought not. And then one of themselves, even a prophet of their own said, the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, this witness is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, the false teachers, that they, the Cretans, the people that they're preaching to, would be sound in faith. And then he says, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So the reason that we know that the second them is referring to the people that they're lying to is because the second them is supposed to not give heed to this garbage being taught by the first them. They're not going to give heed to the Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. The men that turn from the truth are the liars who are teaching them false doctrine. The false teachers are trying to deceive them. Paul needs to rebuke the false teachers, not because you can fix these false teachers, but because by rebuking the false teachers, these people will be sound in faith. Smite the scorner and the simple will beware. So you're smiting the scorner for the simple's sake. When you get up and rebuke a false prophet, it's not because that false prophet's going to say, oh, you're right, I'm a wicked televangelist. Here, let me donate my billion dollar jet and let me just take down all my videos from TBN and everything. I'm so sorry. Folks, these guys are seared with a hot, these guys are reprobates. You know these evil televangelists teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake, right? The multi-billionaire lying Kenneth Copeland's and whoever. Okay, folks, we rebuke them so that they, the people that they're lying to, the people of Crete that these false teachers are lying to, okay, would be sound in faith. See what's going on, and just to give you a quick, I don't want to spend the whole morning on this, but just a quick context of Titus here. Titus is left in Crete to basically set in order the things that are wanting, ordain elders in every city. So in Crete, there's a Judaizing false teacher that's going around, right, or many false teachers rather, that are teaching Jewish fables, they're of the circumcision, and what they're trying to do is have an attitude that Jews are better than Gentiles, right? So they're saying the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bugs. So they're basically talking bad about the Cretans in general because they have a pro-Jew bad Gentile attitude. Paul's rebuking this and saying, hey, rebuke these fools so that basically the Cretans don't get Judaized and feel like they have to become a Jew in order to be saved or be in Christ or to be one of God's chosen people. Does everybody understand? Judaizing is a big problem that the New Testament authors are constantly fighting against. Paul is fighting against it, Peter speaks against it, even though he got sucked into it for a minute there in Galatians chapter 2. But we see that Judaizers were trying to say, you've got to be circumcised, right? Acts chapter 15, if you're not circumcised, you can't be saved, right? This kind of lying false teacher. That's the kind of stuff he's dealing with in Crete. These Judaizers needed to be sharply rebuked so that the simple would beware, all right? Go to Titus chapter 3. How do we handle the reprobates? How do we handle the false prophets? Well, the Bible says rebuke them sharply. Now the Bible's not saying just if somebody's not saved, rebuke them sharply. You don't want to just find Joe unsaved and rebuke them sharply, you want to be nice and friendly and gentle. He's talking about these big false teachers and false prophets that are creeping in. They're not the deceived, they're the deceiver. They're not doing it ignorantly and unbelief. They know the truth and they have rejected the truth and gone after money instead or gone after the devil or whatever. Look what it says we should do toward the false teachers or heretics. It says, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they're unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such as subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself. So when we run into a heretic, we give him one admonition, second admonition, and then it's see you later, bye. We don't just sit there and argue and fight and contend with them. So in one place you say, well over here the Bible says contend for the faith and then over here it says avoid contention. Is the Bible contradicting itself? No. There's a time to contend for the faith. You know when you contend for the faith is when people are actually listening, when people are actually interested, when people are actually receptive. When you don't contend is when you admonish him, it's like talking to a wall, second admonition, talking to a wall, see you later, I'm wasting my time, this is unprofitable and vain. This is why I don't believe in debates, this is why I don't do debates. I'm always getting challenged to a debate, all the time challenging me to a debate. And my flesh wants to do debates, I'm just being honest. In my flesh I want to do debates. You know I grew, look, just ask, my mom's here, did I argue when I was a little kid? Yeah, I was an arguing child, okay. Hey, I can do debate, friend. But you know why I don't do debate is because the Bible said don't do debate. The Bible said to avoid contentions, strivings about the law. The Bible said that the reprobates are filled with debate, okay. And Paul said when I show up I don't want to find strife in debate. You know, in Isaiah 58 he talked about them fasting for strife in debate. It's always negative. And the only time you can find God telling you to debate is where it says debate thy cause with thy neighbor between thee and him alone. That's not a debate. What we would think of is it? That's just two people talking privately about something. Okay, it's not, okay, let's bring in the TV cameras and have a televised debate. I don't like debates because of what the word of God told me about debates, okay. The flesh wants to debate. The flesh would love to just chew these guys up and spit them out with their false doctrine, right. Because, friend, I got the answers. I'm ready to go. Let's do it. Is that what God has called me to do? To debate and contend and strive and argue? You know what I've noticed about these debates is that nobody ever says this, you know, you got a pretty good point. I'm going to have to think about that. When was the last time you saw that happen in a debate? When was the last time you watched a Republican debate, Democrat debate, religious debate, and they said, you know, that's a pretty good point. You got me there. Is that what they say? Because they're not even interested in learning, right. They have no interest in learning the truth, only that their heart would discover itself. They just want to go out there and just be right and you can prove them wrong and they're just going to find a way to argue. And you know who wins the debate? The guy who's better at arguing. Not the guy who's right. The truth isn't necessarily going to win because you could have the guy who's on the side of the truth and he's bad at arguing and then you got the liar and he's good at arguing, he's going to win the debate. And it's not really about learning. It's just about two guys getting together and having basically a peeing match is what it is, right. They're just going to get together and just, you know, hey, I'm smarter than you, I'm more clever than you, and whatever. They're just getting up and just flexing their mental muscle or whatever. It's not really about the truth because you know what? I've sat down with people who I didn't agree with, okay, and had a discussion with them. I don't want to call it a debate. I've had a discussion with them and you know what? There were times when both of us said, hey, that's a pretty good point. You know what? You're right. You know, I'm thinking of when I sat down with that transhumanist atheist guy. Remember that long haired transhumanist atheist guy? I sat down with this guy and talked to him for like an hour and a half and we were discussing transhumanism, we were discussing atheism, Christianity, and everything like that. And we had a really nice, friendly, interesting conversation. And there were times when I acknowledged, hey, you just made a really good point. And then he said, yeah, that's a good point. That's actually where you're getting somewhere, where you're actually talking to somebody who's interested in the truth, who wants to learn, who likes to think, not just interested in being right no matter what. And then a lot of people actually said to me, you know, I didn't understand why you were so nice to that guy. Why would I not be nice to that guy? The guy was a nice guy. Look, he's a nice guy. And you know what? He wasn't a reprobate. He didn't hate the Lord. He didn't hate God. He was a nice guy. And you know what? He was open to the truth. He was open to learning. And so we were able to sit down. We didn't agree with each other. But we were able to sit down and have a good conversation. I think it was interesting. People learned a lot. You know, that would be great if people could always have conversations like that. But the problem is, you have this debate culture that's just, I'm right. And look, nowhere is this more evident than in politics, where basically when the Republicans have their guy in office, he can do no wrong. And in the eyes of the Democrats, he can do no right. So Trump and Obama could do the exact same thing. But if Trump does it, the Republicans say it's right. But if Obama does it, the Republicans say, oh, that was wrong. And vice versa. Have you noticed that? Anything Trump does is going to be defended by Republicans and condemned by Democrats, even if it's what they like. And then anything Obama did. If he did a good thing, it's wrong, because he's Obama. And if he does a bad thing to the liberals, it's right because he's Obama. Has anybody ever observed that? Folks, it's stupid. It's ridiculous. It's like, how can people take these news sources seriously when they're listening to these news guys and these talk shows and everything, and all they do is just defend their side no matter what and never acknowledge any point made by the other side. This is the stupidity and foolishness of debates, strivings, contentions. That's why the Bible said they're unprofitable and vain. A heretic, a false teacher, that's why sitting down with them is usually going to be impossible because they're so hardened that after the first and second admonition, you end up just having to walk away. Because it's just like, this is not going anywhere. Jesse Lee Peterson. Yeah, that guy, oh man, don't even get me started, man. That needs a whole sermon, all right? That's a whole sermon. So anyway, let me give you just a couple, in the closing moments of the sermon here, let me just give you a couple other examples, because I kind of dwelled on those three examples of what the Bible teaches on women, what the Bible teaches on the poor, and what the Bible teaches on what our attitude or behavior should be toward the lost or people of other religions. And while we're on other religions, and I'm just going to bring up a few other quick examples, just blow through some examples in the closing moments. While we're on other examples, how about Islam? How about Muslims? What should be our attitude toward Muslims? Well, on one side, you have the liberal side that just wants to just embrace Muslims and basically say, it's a wonderful religion, it's so beautiful, it's a religion of peace, and we want them all here, and it's so great, let's all put on a head covering just to show our solidarity. Have you seen that liberal mentality? But then you have the conservative mentality or the Republican mentality that just wants to nuke them, just kill them all and let God sort them out, and just bomb them into the Stone Age. Look, I've heard that people say that, and they were not kidding. They literally said, Iran should just be wiped out, just nuke Iran, just bomb them, and just go there. Folks, those are both wrong views. They're both wrong views. What's the balanced view or the biblical view? The right view is that we should love the person, love the individual, and hate Islam. We should not respect Islam, we should not respect false religion, and we should not be for just importing mass hordes of Muslims into our country so that they can take over our country and turn it into some kind of a Muslim culture here, turn it into the kind of a whatever hole that they came from, okay? So basically, what we want to do is we want to love them and see them as a human being, right? I mean, look, when I think of the people of Iran, you know, I think they're human. And I'll bet there are a lot of really rotten people in Iran, and I'll bet there are a lot of really good people in Iran, nice people, and you know what? I would love to get as many people saved in Iran as I possibly could. Unfortunately, the Muslims running the country make that almost impossible. But you know what? We've translated some of our films into Farsi and have tried to do what we can to try to, you know, reach people over there that could be online or whatever, but, you know, soul winning and missions are, you know, almost impossible there. But I'll put it this way, you know, I'm not so worried about that because there's so many other places we can do missions, why don't we finish all the places where it's legal and then God will open that door? I promise you one thing as sure as I'm standing here, if we effectively evangelize every country in the world where it was legal, God will just, the illegal ones will start opening up like dominoes because God wants the gospel to go forth. But why would God work a miracle and open up the gospel to these countries like North Korea or Iran or something like that when we're not even going soul winning where it's wide open as Christians in general? Do you see what I mean? Let's clean our plate before we ask for seconds. North Korea is seconds, Iran is seconds, you haven't even cleaned your plate. Look what's on your plate, Guyana. Look what's on your plate, Suriname. Look what's on your plate right there, right, Jamaica. Look at that food on your plate, Mexico. Finish your plate and then we'll talk. So here's the thing, when it comes to Muslims, we should love the people, consider them human, try to reach them with the gospel, but we shouldn't act like their religion isn't wicked. Their religion is wicked. And don't act like the Quran doesn't say to kill everybody and it's pretty bad, folks. I've read it myself, I'm not getting it secondhand, I've sat for hours and hours and hours and hours and read the most boring book on the planet, which is the Quran, and you know what? It says all those things. So there's no way around it. What about the environment? You know, what about the left right view of the environment, right? On one side, we got the eco-warriors, you know, chaining themselves to rocks because they don't want to build a dam and they're worried about the spotted owl and the condor and everything else. You got the eco-warrior vegan types on one side. But then on the other side, you've got basically conservatives who basically just think just anything goes in regard to the environment. Now here's my view on the environment, and you want to know what's funny, because I'm not an environmentalist at all. I'm not an environmentalist whatsoever. I don't believe in global warming, except actually I do believe in global warming because God said the elements are all going to melt with fervent heat. And when God's going to scorch men with heat in Revelation, that's the global warming and it's coming. But here's the, yeah, my brother was saying we should have a bumper sticker, I believe in global warming, 2 Peter 3.10 or something, you know, where it talks about scorching it. So anyway, the thing about it is that if you actually look at my life though, I'm greener than the green when it comes to my lifestyle. One time we were shopping at Whole Foods and we got stopped, and that's not where I buy most of my food because it's expensive, but I do buy some things there. So we're at Whole Foods and this college student comes up to me and my wife and she wanted to interview us about being green, how we live green, what we do to help the environment be green. And I told her, I'm like, I don't care about the environment, you know, I'm not an environmentalist. But then she started asking me questions and I was like greener than anyone she'd ever talked to. Because think about it, think about this for a minute, okay? I eat all organic food, so I'm supporting the organic farming, which is not supporting all the pesticides and GMOs and garbage that's destroying the environment, amen? So I'm eating organic food, all of our cleaning products, we get the natural organic cleaning supplies. Okay, my wife and I share a vehicle, 90% of the time I come to church or down here to work in my office, I either walk or ride my bike. Look at the greenness, my friend. Okay, not only that, all of my clothing is used. So this wasn't made in some sweatshop somewhere and this wasn't, you know, there wasn't some big black smoke coming out of some factory to make new clothes for me. I recycled somebody else's old clothes, amen? See how green I am? And you say, well, but you have 10 kids. Yeah, but here's the thing, we're living in this greenhouse because of the fact that we actually have 12 people in a 1,500 square foot house. Yeah, that don't even make Ikea blush, okay? So what I'm saying is, you know, here we are, we're being economical and green with our housing, okay? We're driving one fuel-efficient vehicle and riding our bike and walking whenever we can, wearing used clothing, eating organic food, and you know what, I don't litter. Now every once in a while, let's say I'm out hiking, I have a personal rule for myself, if I'm out hiking, you know how every once in a while the wind will just blow something out of your hand and you'll accidentally litter? Who knows what I'm talking about? And I can't handle that because I hate littering, like I was brought up like you don't litter. Littering drives me nuts. Even when I just go on a walk in my neighborhood, I just want to pick up trash. I have to fight the urge to pick up trash. I don't want to end up like that guy in that video you sent me, but anyway. So basically, you know, whenever I'm out and about and something accidentally blows out of my hand, I have a rule, if I accidentally litter, I have to pick up two pieces of equivalent trash to do penance for the one, you know what I mean, like if I accidentally littered, I have to make an atonement by picking up at least two equivalent pieces of trash. I mean, does anybody think that's fair? If I deposit one, I'm going to remove two, amen? But that's only an accident. I never litter on purpose. I hate littering. You pack it in, you pack it out, amen? I feel very strongly about littering. So does this make me an environmentalist? No, but you know what? Any idiot knows not to just trash your own backyard, not to trash where you live, not to throw trash around. Look, we live here, folks. And I'm not worried about the planet because I know that God promised that summer, winter, springtime, and harvest are going to continue until the end of the world. And that's his department. We don't need to engineer the climate. That's up to God. But I will say this, I'm totally against dumping toxic waste in the river. And you know what? The government is the biggest polluter that there is in America today, is the United States military, the government. So if they're going to tell me that I have to pay carbon credits and green tax, folks, they're the ones who are polluting the environment, not my vehicle or whatever. They fly around in a jet and tell you how your SUV is putting out too much carbon monoxide. It's hypocrisy, folks. So look, am I an environmentalist? No. But does that mean I just want to trash everything? No, because obviously there are biblical principles on being a good steward of things, being clean, being respectful, doing unto others as you'd have them do unto you. And so I think a godly Christian who's walking in the spirit is not going to be throwing their trash on the ground and saying, here, let's just pollute the air, pollute the water, pollute the food. Hey, I'm against it. I want to be healthy. I want my kids to be healthy. I want you to be healthy. So I'm not going to pollute your food supply. I'm not going to pollute your water. And what did God say? He said, if you have to go to the bathroom, you leave the camp. You don't do that in the middle of your camp. And you know what? They're dumping worse stuff than that in our air, our food, our water. And I'm not for that. So you see how there's a false left-right paradigm. On one end, the right wing says, yeah, dump all that waste. And you're anti-business. And shut up and let them dump whatever. Let them put whatever poison and chemical. They try to label the GMOs and say, warning, this contains GMOs. And the Republicans are like, no, don't label that. And then you've got the liberals over here chaining themselves to the rocks to save some owl or something. Folks, they're both wrong. Don't get sucked into that. Have a common sense, normal, biblical view of just being a good steward, being responsible, protecting yourself and your family and everyone around you from toxic substances. We shouldn't pollute. I'm against pollution, even though I'm not an eco-warrior. See the balance there? When it comes to warfare, what's our view on warfare? We're against warfare. We don't think we should be fighting all these wars all over the place. But at the same time, does that mean that we don't believe in self-defense? We believe in self-defense. There's a balanced view. I mean, you'll talk to some liberals. They'll sit there and say, well, you shouldn't have a gun. You say, well, what if somebody breaks in my house? Well, you can't shoot them. I hope you'll just do the right thing when the time comes and not shoot them and just let whatever happen. No, I'm going to shoot them. I mean, if somebody's coming in to hurt me and my family, I'm going to shoot them. The Bible teaches self-defense, but does it teach wars of aggression? Does it teach building an empire all over the world? No. See the balance there? Yes, the Bible teaches peace. Yes, the Bible teaches turn the other cheek. Yes, the Bible teaches to be a peacemaker, but it also teaches self-defense. Is it contradicting itself? No, it's giving a balanced view. So let's get a balanced biblical view. Don't listen to fools that are saying it's a contradiction. Embrace both teachings. Put both teachings into the computer. Make sure that you understand both so that you can be balanced. So I'll close on this scripture. You don't have to turn there. It says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So the Bible says we need all scripture so that we can be thoroughly furnished all the way through, furnished unto good works, right? So that we're not half-baked. You know, a leftist, hard right, hard left, no, no, no. Let's get all the scripture. Let's believe all of it. Let's balance all of it. Let's make it all fit and walk away, not with a left-wing view, not with a right-wing view, but with a biblical view. It's a powerful example of a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you that all the scripture you've given us is inspired and is edifying, Lord. Help us never to try to pit Jesus against Paul or Paul against James, Lord. Help us to take the totality of scripture and believe and embrace and practice all of it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.