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

Part of the chapter that I want to begin in is verse number 3 where the Bible reads, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Last week I preached on the humiliation of Christ, and I emphasized his poverty. This week I'm going to preach on the humiliation of Christ, emphasizing his rejection, the fact that he was rejected of men. And if you remember the text verse for this concept was Acts chapter 8 verse 33. You don't have to turn there. You go ahead and turn to John chapter 1, if you would, John chapter 1. Acts 8, 33 says, In his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation for his life as taken from the earth? So I'm preaching on the humiliation of Christ and specifically on his rejection. Look at John chapter 1 verse 10 and see that, first of all, number 1, he was rejected by his own people. He was rejected by his people. John 1, 10, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Go to John chapter 7. So first of all, Jesus Christ was rejected of his own people. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. He was of the Jews, and the Jews, by and large, rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and after he died and was buried and rose again, it ends up being the Gentiles who are the most ready to receive the Gospel, and the churches that are thriving, they end up being the churches among the Gentiles, not among the Jews. He was rejected by his own people. But number 2, he was rejected by his family. He was rejected by his own relatives. Look at John chapter 7, verse 1. The Bible reads, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Again, showing that he was rejected of his own people, the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacle was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. So his brethren, his physical brothers, rejected him. They didn't believe in him. Now after he was risen from the dead, thank God, they ended up getting saved and believing in him. But at this time, while Jesus was alive and spending time with them, they're ridiculing him. They're making fun of him here. They rejected him. They didn't believe on him. Because look what they're saying here. Verse 3, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. They're being sarcastic. They're making fun of him. They're not being sincere. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. Now the only reason that Jesus is not being open right now is because the Jews sought to kill him. So that's why he has to be smart about where he goes. Does somebody have like a cough drop or something? Too much preaching this week, I tell you. Twelve times in one week is too much to preach. So thank you. I don't know if I'm going to get through all these. I'm going to start with the Ricola, and then if I have to, I'll get out the heavy artillery, the hulls, big guns, right? We'll see if it comes to that. So what they're basically saying to him is just, oh, why don't you just openly waltz in there into Judea? And they're kind of accusing him of having a motive of wanting to just seek glory or fame for himself, because they're comparing him to just any man, because they say, well, there's no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. So they're just comparing him to just an average guy who just wants to be known openly. They're basically attributing him a motive that's a carnal motive of just, oh, I just want fame. I want to be popular. I want to be big. That's what they're acting like Jesus wants to do. Now, Jesus, he's willing to lay down his life, of course, but he knew that his time had not yet come. So he's waiting, and he doesn't want to be arrested just yet. It's only John chapter 7. He has more to do before he gets arrested and goes to the cross and so forth. And so one of the things that we can learn from this also is just that it's great to be bold. It's great to have courage, but that doesn't mean that we should just be stupid. I mean, if going to a certain place is just suicide, you don't go there, because there are other places to preach the gospel. There are plenty of places to preach the gospel that are not a suicide mission. And so even Jesus himself, the perfect preacher, the perfect soul winner, with perfect boldness and filled with the Holy Spirit, he didn't just throw himself into a situation that's just suicidal. He's playing it smart. He wants to get as much work done for the Lord as possible. So he's going to go to Jerusalem, but he's not going to go there openly. He's going to go there incognito. And then once he's there, then he shows himself openly where he's in an environment where he's safe, where he's in the temple and the people are around. And if anybody tried to arrest him or harm him in the temple, there'd be an uproar among the people. But if Jesus is just traveling by himself openly through Judea, they could easily take him aside, arrest him, and cause problems for him. So he's being smart. You know, people have often reproached us because they look at the fact that we'll do a mission strip to Botswana or to Guyana or to these places that are good places to go to do a mission strip. And here's what they'll say, well, why don't you go to Saudi Arabia? Why don't you go to Iran? Why don't you go do that in North Korea since you're so bold? Because that's not being bold, that's being stupid. Why would I go somewhere where it's against the law and they'll cut your head off to preach the gospel? You know, the Bible tells us, by the way, to go to preach the gospel to the people that are the most receptive first. That's why he said to go to the poor, the maimed, the blind, the halt, go to them first. Why? Because it's easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. Why would I go to the unreceptive when I go to the receptive first? You know, if I can get Hindus saved in Guyana, if I can get Hindus saved in Trinidad, you know, why would I go to just the most Hindu part of India where, you know, they're going to be violent to you if you preach the truth there? If I can do it here safely, it just doesn't even make any sense. Now, I do believe that we should get the gospel to all people and all nations and all tongues, but it makes the most sense to start here at home where we live, start with the house across the street from you, start with your own town, start with your own country, and then start by going to the places that are the most receptive. And another thing that, you know, Brother Paul Wittenberger and I were talking about, he actually grew up in a missionary family. So he knows a lot about missions and everything because his parents were missionaries his whole life. Paul Wittenberger grew up in West Africa in the country of Liberia as a missionary kid. And we were talking about this that different countries in Africa, they go through phases where they're safe and then they're dangerous and then they're safe. The situation changes over time. So it makes the most sense to go as a missionary to the country that's safer and get the gospel to all of them, preach everywhere, because you can get more done when you're not having to watch your back all the time. You can actually just focus on doing the work. You know, I don't think if we went to these super dangerous Muslim countries, we're just going to be walking into public schools and preaching to 700 kids. But what Paul was explaining was that the situation in Africa is constantly changing. So the countries that are dangerous today, in a few years, they might be safer. And then countries that are safe today might be dangerous down the road. So it makes more sense to try to hit the safe countries while they're safe and then pray that the dangerous countries will open up and that you can get in there and do the work that's needed. It's just using common sense. And that's what even Jesus did. That's what people in the Bible did. And not only that, but you know, the apostle Paul, he didn't listen to sound advice when the Holy Ghost was telling him, don't go to Jerusalem, you're just going to get arrested. As soon as you go there, you're going to get arrested. But he wouldn't listen. And then he goes there. And what happens? Just immediately arrested. What's the point? Go to the Gentiles, Paul. You know, they're more receptive. It's safer. Just do it. Anyway, I got a little off on a tangent there. But the point is that his brother in here are making fun of him. And in fact, they don't love him because they want him to get killed. They're sending him on a suicide mission. Hey, why don't you come with us, you know, down to the Judea? Why don't you depart and go to Judea, buddy, since you want to be so part, you know, why don't you go to Iran and go preach the gospel? They're trying to get him killed. So what did Jesus say to him? Verse 6, then said Jesus unto them, my time has not yet come. Your time's always ready. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee, but when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast. Watch this, not openly, but as it were, in secret. And Jesus is constantly preaching publicly, he's not hiding his beliefs or his teaching, but just on the travel leg, he does it not openly, but in secret. Then when he gets there, he preaches publicly, no, but he's just using his brain, he's being smart about the way that he does it. But he's rejected of his brethren, so he is rejected by his own people, he's rejected by his family, his brothers, and so forth. Not only that, but number three, go to Luke chapter four, he was rejected in his hometown. His hometown rejected him. Now one of the things that we can get from this is that we should expect that if we're following Jesus Christ, we're going to face some rejection in our lives as well. We're going to have some humiliating experiences as well. You should expect to be rejected by your people. You should expect to have people that are in your extended family or, God forbid, maybe even in your immediate family like Jesus had, reject you. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin. So if you're in a situation where your brother or your sister or your parents or your nephews or children, if they reject you, if they mock and ridicule your Christian life, then you can realize that we have a high priest that can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities because he's been there. He went through the exact same thing. He understands. And we should expect that if we're following Christ, people are going to treat us the way that they treated Christ. We're not better than him. And so don't be shocked if there are people in your family that reject you. Don't be shocked if people in your hometown or your neighborhood reject you. You're not going to be the most popular person if you take a stand for the Word of God in 2017 or in any period in history. Look at Luke 4.16, and he came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read And as a preacher, I can understand the feeling of going to preach in your hometown. I remember the first time I went and preached in Sacramento. It was a special event for me. And I went on to Facebook, and I was trying to find all my old classmates and school friends, and I'm sending them invitations. Hey, come hear me preach, you know, all my friends, all my buddies that I've grown up with. Hey, I want you to come hear me preach. And I sent out so many invitations. I'm emailing people. I'm getting in touch. Because I was happy that I was going back to preach in my hometown. None of them showed up. Not even one. None of them showed up. But a lot of my relatives and family showed up. And you know, I'm very thankful to God that all my brothers and sisters are independent fundamental Baptists, and my parents are both independent fundamental Baptists. They're all saved. And so my immediate family is all saved and all serving God. That's a big blessing. But you know, for most people, that's not the case. And I'm thankful for that. I even have a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins that are saved. I'm very thankful for that. But I was a little disappointed that my friends didn't show up, but it wasn't a big deal. But Jesus was rejected in his hometown. I mean, I remember I was listening to Garrett preach when he was up in Vancouver. I caught the recording of it. And he said, wow, this is really emotional for me to be preaching, because I used to live here. And when you go and preach in your old stomping ground, it's a special opportunity. And so here's Jesus. He's preaching in his hometown, Nazareth, where he'd been brought up. And as his custom was, in the past, this is what he had done. When he used to live there, he would actually get up and read the Scriptures in the synagogue. And it says in verse 17, there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet, Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. So he preached a great sermon. The Bible doesn't record his sermon. The Bible just gives us the opening Scripture and the opening statement. But as he preached a powerful sermon, people marveled at the power of the sermon, at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. But they did not accept the message. They said at the end of verse 22, is not this Joseph's son? Well, the answer is no, it's not. And he said unto them, he will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. This goes to show that if Jesus was treated a certain way, if we follow in his footsteps, we're going to be treated the same way. He's not accepted in his own country because no prophet is accepted in his own country. No real prophet, he's saying. No prophet is accepted in his own country. Another Scripture says, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house. Everywhere else he's honored except in his own country and in his own house. But I tell you of a truth, verse 25, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Zidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Alyssias the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all day in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him under the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way. So he narrowly escapes being thrown off a cliff in his hometown. Today we have Baptist pastors not being thrust out of the city, but being handed the keys to the city. And they've got the police chief, and the fire chief, and the mayor, and the governor, and the congressman parading across their platform and praising them. Why? Because they've softened the message, that's why. Jesus didn't hold back. Jesus didn't say, Well, I'm in my hometown. I want to just have kind of a tour de force. I'm just going to hit a home run. I'm not going to preach anything controversial. He preached the most controversial thing that he could think of, because that's the last thing that these people wanted to hear was about the Gentiles getting the gospel, and the Gentiles being saved, because these people were like a Jewish supremacist in their attitude. They thought that they were just the only people on the earth that God loved or cared about. And so he preaches not what they wanted to hear, he preached what they needed to hear. They obviously had a problem in this area, because when he preached it, it touched a nerve. When he preached it, it really got a rise out of them. And so he preaches this, and they throw him out of the city and almost throw him off a cliff. But today we have preachers who think that they can be accepted of the world. Look, you can be accepted of the world if you trim the message, if you preach smooth things. If you prophesy deceit, you'll be accepted of the world. If you follow Christ, you're going to be treated the way that Christ was treated. Go to Matthew chapter 8. Number one, he was rejected by his own people. Number two, he was rejected by his own relatives. Number three, he was rejected in his hometown. Number four, he was even rejected in a foreign country. In Matthew chapter 8, Jesus visits a foreign country. He's in an area that's populated by the Gentiles. And one of the evidences of this is the fact that this story in Matthew chapter 8 involves a herd of swine. A herd of 2,000 swine. Well, the Jews, they don't keep swine. But he has left their area, and he's in an area of Decapolis. And it's an area where the Gentiles live, so of course they have swine that they're taking care of. Pigs, that is. And this is that famous story where there's a man, a wild man, two wild men, demon-possessed, coming out of the tombs, acting wild, acting crazy. These guys cut themselves. They're naked. They're acting like monsters. And Jesus faces these men, and they fall on their knees before him and praise him as the Son of God. The devils knew Jesus and his power. So they're begging him to basically not torment them before the time. Don't send us to hell right now. Let us go into that herd of swine. So Jesus casts out the devils into the herd of swine. Well, the whole herd of swine ends up violently running off a steep place into the sea and perishing in the waters. Look at verse 33. Let's pick up the story. And they that kept them, meaning the swine herds, and they that kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And I remember the first time I read this, when I read the first part of verse 34. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. I assume that they're going to marvel at his power and his ability. Because they knew these wild men. They knew these crazy guys and these demonic, cutting themselves, you know, beasts of men. And to see these guys just sitting and clothed in their right mind, that they would be amazed. They'd glorify and praise God. The whole city came out to meet Jesus. I mean, it sounds like they're going to do a parade for him. But it says, when they saw him, they besought him that he'd depart out of their coast. They all came out to meet him so they could say, hey, we want you out of here. We want you gone. Why? Because they cared more about 2,000 pigs than they cared about two human beings. Well, let me tell you something. A human being is worth more than any amount of animals. We have dominion over the animals. We should not put animal life above people. And that's what these people did. They didn't like the fact that Jesus just kind of nonchalantly will send 2,000 pigs off a cliff and not even care. Why? Because he wanted to save these men. Go, if you would, to chapter Mark, chapter number. Actually, go to Luke chapter 9, Luke 9. So he was rejected even in a foreign country. He visits a foreign country. Takes a little mission strip over to the Gergesenes. And they don't like him there either. They want him out. We want you out of our coasts. He was deported. He's kicked out. He's thrown out. While you're turning to Luke 9, I'll read for you from Mark 8.31. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders. Jesus said he must be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. Luke 9.22 saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day. He's humiliated. He's rejected of men. I mean, none of the chief priests or the elders or the scribes. Basically the pastors, the Christian leaders or the religious leaders or the people that you would expect to embrace Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They all rejected him. And there were some of them who believed on him in their heart, the Bible tells us, but they would not confess him openly because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. So here's the thing. If you're going to do what's right and you're going to be a preacher, for example, and you're going to preach what's right. Don't be don't expect to be accepted of all your fellow Baptist preachers or fellow Christian churches in your area. You know, the people that were the religious people that supposedly are following the word of God, they suppose they had the same Bible Jesus had. Right. I mean, supposedly they're following Moses and Isaiah and the prophets. But yet none of them would actually publicly go on record and stand with him. He had to be rejected of the elders, rejected of the chief priests and rejected of the scribes. But not only that, he was rejected by his generation. Go to Luke chapter 17. This is an interesting point. Luke chapter 17. Jesus was rejected of his generation. The Bible says in Luke 17, verse 24, For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. Be rejected of this generation. Go to Matthew 23. Let's compare this with Matthew 23. Jesus was rejected by his own people. He was rejected by his own relatives. He was rejected in his own hometown. He was rejected and kicked out of a foreign country. He was rejected by the elders, which would be the equivalent today of pastors or men of God or leadership, Christian leaders basically. Of course, back then it wasn't Christian leaders. It was leaders of those who were serving the Lord or supposedly believing the Old Testament. But he had to be rejected of the chief priests, rejected by the scribes, rejected by his own generation. What does that mean, rejected by this generation? It means by the people who were living at that time. His contemporaries rejected him. Look, if you would, at Matthew 23, and I think this will shed a little light on what it meant that Jesus was rejected of his generation. It says in verse 29 of Matthew 23, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous. And say, if we'd been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation of hell? So Jesus here is talking about the hypocrisy of people lifting up the great preachers of the past, but not accepting the great preachers of the present. So what he's saying is that they are garnishing the sepulchers of men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah. And saying, oh, well, if we would have been alive back then, we would not have rejected them. We would not have participated in shedding their blood. But then the prophets of their generation, John the Baptist, for example, who by the way, they did not get baptized by him. They rejected him. Because when Jesus asked them whether the baptism of John was from heaven or of men, they couldn't answer him because they had rejected John the Baptist. They had not received his baptism. And then they didn't want to say that because they would have gotten in trouble with the people because the people recognized John as a prophet. So these guys, they claim, oh, we would have accepted Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. But then you have a guy who comes along preaching exactly like Elijah, exactly like Isaiah, exactly like Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus himself, Peter, James, John, and the rest of them. Here are some men of God preaching the truth of God's word in their generation, and they don't want to listen. But then they want to lift up preachers from the past and elevate them. Now, they said, well, if we had been in the days of our fathers, you know, we wouldn't have rejected those guys. But we're rejecting all the same kind of guys in our generation. You know, what's interesting, and here's the thing, I don't like to elevate preachers of the past for a couple of reasons. Number one, most of the preachers that we hear about from the past, it's because they were really famous in their day and well-liked and well-loved and well-published. And usually that's a false prophet because the real prophets are hated and despised and rejected of men. So therefore, I'm sure there were a lot of great preachers back in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s that we know nothing about, amazing preachers. But because they were despised, rejected, and hated of men, they didn't get all their books published and they didn't get all their works enshrined for future generations. Number two, sometimes it's hard to figure out what these guys actually believed because we can't really talk to them or go hear them preach. So we don't really know what they'd be like in today's world because we just have selective evidence, bits and pieces. Number three, the preaching of the past deals with the issues of the past. We need preaching of the present to deal with the issues of the present. We're dealing with issues in 2017 that people in the 1700s and 1800s never would have dreamed or thought of. That's why we need a modern day preacher to take the Word of God and expound it and apply it to the day in which we live. So I'm not really into idolizing and elevating preachers of the past. I think it makes more sense to elevate, and obviously we should idolize no one. We should only worship Jesus Christ. But I think it makes more sense to just go all the way back to the Bible and look at those preachers and say, okay, these are our examples from the past. Because if you're going to go to the past and you're not going to be relevant to today, you might as well go all the way back to the Bible because then at least we know these guys were legit. Other guys, we can't really test them. I really liked what Garrett said in his sermon. I was able to listen to most of it, but I was having internet problems. His sermon from Wednesday night. One thing I liked about what he said was that the best way to figure out whether a preacher is a good preacher is not necessarily to ask him what he believes or to look at the statement of faith on his website, but rather talk to the church members. That's where you find it. Why? Because the tree is known by his fruit. That's why. Look at the fruit of that preacher. The fruit of that preacher. The people that he's won to Christ. The people that he's reached. The people that he's teaching. He's reproducing himself and the people who follow. Check them what they believe. My dad kind of taught me a similar principle when I was a kid because he told me, he said, when you go to a church, even if they say they're King James, he said walk up and down the aisle and just look at the Bibles that are on the chairs. Because he said some of these churches that the pastors preach in King James, but you'll see an NIV, New American Standard, New King James. Everybody's got a different version. That shows he's not teaching his people. He's trying to have it both ways. He's trying to play both sides. He's stringing people along. He's not getting up and making the truth clear. You go to churches where the pastor's doctrine is great, but all the church members believe all different things and nobody knows what they believe. That's a bad sign about that preacher. Talk to the people who heard the preacher. Here's the thing. We can't really test the prophets of the past, preachers from the 1700s, 1800s, 1900s. We can't necessarily test them because their followers are dead and gone. We can't go to the church members and ask them what they believe and do a fruit inspection on their church members because they're all gone. So therefore we doubt whether they're a good preacher. And especially when people are being elevated that they're not even Baptist. It's like, where are these people coming from? Are these baby sprinklers? Are these sprinklers? Are they Methodist sprinklers? Are they Presbyterians? Who are we listening to? Lutherans? They're sprinkling babies. Is that a preacher that we need to trust? No. So I don't really get into elevating and exalting the preacher. I think we should have role models in the present. I think we should have preachers and teachers and evangelists and people that we can look to in the present. And also even just soul-winning role models in the church and people that we can look to in the present. And then I think we can go to the Bible for great heroes of the faith. And that's probably all the role models that we need. But with that being said, let me just point this out to you today. That if Martin Luther, and I'm not saying anything about him or elevating him, I'm just saying this. If Martin Luther went and preached down at the Lutheran church, they'd throw him off a cliff. I mean, anybody, if you ever read anything that Martin Luther wrote, I mean, you want to talk about Caustic. I mean, I read some of his books and it was so Caustic, it was too hard of a preaching for me. I was like, this is over the top. This guy's crazy. I mean, he's ripping face. I mean, and he's getting crude. I mean, just profanity, crude. I mean, he's ripping and foaming. I'm thinking to myself, like, this is not like the Lutheran church now. I mean, the Lutheran church now is really soft, watered down. And I'm thinking to myself, Luther would never be accepted there. And I guarantee you that if John Calvin went and preached at the Presbyterian church, they'd all flip out and have a heart attack. I'm serious. I'm even saying even the heroes of those denominations, you know, those aren't my heroes. You know, the heroes of the Lutherans and the Presbyterians, they wouldn't even be. But they'll sure praise them and lift them up and name their church after a Lutheran church. Don't believe anything he believed. Don't listen to the kind of preaching that he did. It's just hypocrisy, isn't it? But then Baptists will do the same thing. They'll exalt Baptist preachers of the past who were men, who were hated of the world and attacked and persecuted and went to jail. But then they want to preach smooth things and claim to be following in the footsteps of these hair-legged Baptist preachers of the past. And they want to act like they're following in those footsteps. That's what the Pharisees are doing. They're claiming, oh, we're in the tradition of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. But then on modern day Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel come along, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, they can't handle it. They can't handle that preaching. Jesus was rejected of his generation. You know, obviously after Jesus is dead, now all of a sudden his brethren believe in him. Now all of a sudden droves of people believed on Christ, even amongst the Jews, after he died and was buried and rose again. But he was rejected of his generation, meaning while he was on this earth, he's despised and rejected of men. Even in John 6, where he had a great crowd, you say, well Jesus preached to great crowds. Yeah, he had a great crowd to preach to in John chapter 6. But they were there for the wrong reason. And that's why in John chapter 6 verse 66, it says that many of them went back and followed him no more, and then he's left with the 12. And he says to the 12, will you also go away? And they said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life. But even when he had a great crowd, you know why he had a great crowd? Because he was offering free food. That's why. Because he even said to them, he said, verily I say unto you, in John chapter 6, I don't have it in my notes, I'm just freestyling it right now. But in John chapter 6, he said, you didn't come here because you saw the miracles. You came because you ate of the loaves and were filled. That was a great meal. That was free. It was all you could eat, by the way. When Jesus fed the 5,000, it was all you could eat. Because they all ate until they were filled. And then they gathered up all the fragments that were left. At 12 baskets full of left to 12 giant doggy bags, after everyone ate as much as they wanted and were filled. Jesus was rejected of his generation. Even though Jesus is the most famous man who's ever lived, even though Jesus had more books written about him than any other person who's ever lived, he was rejected of his generation. That all happened after the fact that the most people got saved. I mean, the church in the early days, after Jesus rose from the dead, only had 120 members in it when they met together. The 120 diehards, the faithful, but then it multiplied into thousands after his untimely death, after his burial, after his resurrection. So Jesus was rejected of his generation. So therefore, we should not expect to be any different. We should expect to go through some embarrassing moments or humiliations or rejections or mockery or ridicule or being hated or despised and rejected of men to go through our own sorrows. We should be expecting rejection from our people, from our relatives, in our hometown, in a foreign country, amongst the elders, chief priests, scribes. That'd be like the theologians, the Bible colleges, the big name preachers, the media. And we should expect to be rejected by our generation. Don't let that bother you. It's funny, I was out soul winning because I'd already planned on preaching this sermon. This sermon was already foreordained a week ago. And I was out soul winning yesterday in Trinidad and my soul winning partner, he's new at soul winning, and he said to me, you know, how do you deal with rejection? And it was kind of interesting because that's what I was going to preach today and then he just happened to ask that question. He said, how do you deal with it when you're out soul winning and people reject you? How do you deal with that? Well, go to John chapter 12. I'm going to show you how Jesus dealt with rejection because Jesus dealt with a lot of it, didn't he? He truly was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Look at John chapter 12. Let's see how Jesus dealt with rejection. It says in John chapter 12 verse 44, Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the last day, for I have not spoken of myself. But the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Now when the Bible says in verse 49, I have not spoken of myself, that does not mean I did not speak about myself. Of myself, the of there is referring to the source. It is just like when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit would not speak of himself, but he will take of mine and show it unto you. Meaning he is not going to come up with something different than what he received from Jesus Christ. And the Bible says here that Jesus said that he did not speak of himself. Of course he spoke about himself, but he is saying he is not speaking things that he came up with on his own. It says the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And that is what he spoke, that is what he preached. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Well here is the thing, when we go out soul winning, it is the same way. We are not going out and speaking of ourselves. We do not just go out and make up our own teachings and make up our own doctrines and our own ideas about how to get to heaven. No, when we go out soul winning, we are speaking just what God told us to speak. We are speaking God's word, just what Christ commanded us. And so if they reject us when we are speaking his word, who are they really rejecting? They are rejecting the Lord. They are not rejecting us. When you go to somebody's door and you knock on the door, big smile, hi, and it is just like you, blankety blank, slam the door before you even have a chance to say anything. How can you take that personally? You are not that ugly. It is not that they just saw you and just thought, who is this? What is this? No, what they saw was this in your hand. Or what they saw was this in your hand. What they saw is this guy. They remember seeing him on the news or something. But look, even if they see me, they are not really rejecting me because I am just preaching the Bible. They are rejecting him. So Jesus said, he that rejecteth me, verse 48, and receiveth not my words, he has one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. He said at the end of verse 47, I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Why? Because the world is condemned already. So what does that mean? That means if I go out and I knock on somebody's door, and let's say I even get the whole plan of salvation to them, and they reject it, and they say no to that, it is not my job to punish them or condemn them, because they are already condemned. And I need to realize in my heart that it is not me that they are rejecting, it is Christ that they are rejecting. And it is not my job to judge them or punish them or condemn them, but that God is going to bring that judgment. When the Bible says don't judge them, it is not saying don't determine whether they are saved or not. Obviously we should make a judgment. When it says judge them, it is referring to carrying out the judgment as in carrying out the penalty. You know, I am not here, Jesus is saying I am not here to punish the world for all its iniquities. I am here to save the world, Jesus said. They are going to get their penalty on the last day. They are going to be judged. The word of God is going to be opened and judge them on the last day. And this word is going to condemn them at that time. But I have seen people sometimes out-soul winning. They get angry or emotional when they get rejected out-soul winning. You have got to learn to just shake the dust off your feet and move on. Just shake it off. Just don't take it personal, don't get offended. Look, people who go soul winning with me, and obviously we have all lost our temper at times. Yes, I have done it. But most of the time, if you go soul winning with me, and those who have been soul winning with me can testify, that most of the time when somebody yells at me or slams the door, I usually laugh. As we are walking away, I am just like, man, what was wrong with that guy? You know? It is like, man, that guy was a piece of work. I usually just laugh about it and move on. In fact, I can honestly say that if I walk up to a door and the door is just slammed immediately in my face, the first thought in my mind is, oh, great, at least that guy didn't waste any of my time. You know, because now I can get to the next door. You know, I would rather that if somebody just really hates the Gospel that much and has zero interest in the Gospel, I would rather that they just send me on my way. Because why would I want to waste like a few minutes of just chit-chat with somebody who has zero interest in being saved? Well, I would just as soon move on because I know down the street there is somebody who wants to hear the Gospel. I want to get to that guy. So, you know, change your attitude if you get too emotional about getting rejected. Look, when somebody slams the door, just say, hey, that much faster I can get to the next door. This is efficient. This is great. Somebody yells at, I mean, look, my kids have the right attitude. I take different of my kids' soul winning with me every week and I cycle them through. They love it when people yell at us. They think it's the coolest thing ever. They come home and brag about it. Oh, man, this guy was screaming and cussing at us and he slammed the door and he chased us down the street. You know, I mean, that's like, to them that's the ultimate soul winning experience. Am I telling the truth, kids? They like it. You say, well, what's wrong with them? What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you? Why don't you like it? Jesus said, rejoice and leap for joy. Great is your reward in heaven if they persecute you and hate you and cast out your name. And obviously we shouldn't go around being a jerk to provoke it. We should be. But look, you know and I know that even if you're nice, which I, look, I'm a strong believer in smiling and being nice. People who go soul winning with me, they're always surprised. Like, wow, you're nice to people. I'm like, what do you think I'm doing? They're like, well, behind the pulpit. I'm like, well, that's preaching. That's different. When I go out there, I'm really friendly and nice and smiling and everything like that. But you're still going to get yelled and cussed and slammed occasionally. But the kids love it. I mean, they look forward to it. It's a highlight for them. I'm not kidding. They all like it. You know, we need to be more like them. We need to be converted and become as little children. Don't be such a baby. Don't be so thin skinned. If they reject you, they're not rejecting. They rejected Jesus. And you know what you should say? Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That's Jesus' attitude toward being rejected. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I'm not out to judge people and condemn people. I'm here trying to get people saved. You know, I'm just doing what I can and that's it. The Bible says, I'll close on this, Acts chapter 4. Turn to Acts 4, last place, Acts chapter 4. The Bible said in Luke 20, 17, and he beheld them and said, what is this then that is written? The stone which the builders rejected, talking about himself, the same has become the head of the corner. The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. Look at Acts 4, 11. This is the stone which was said and not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ was humiliated, he was rejected, but God gave him a name that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The Bible says, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. So we need to understand the sufferings of Christ and the rejection of Christ, his humiliation, so that when we go through our lives, we're prepared to endure the same type of rejection and that we can be Christ-like in our attitude when the rejection comes. And when people attack you and criticize you and hate you, you've got to rejoice about it. And look, I think sometimes when people hear that, they think it's just hyperbole, or that it's just a figure of speech, or that Jesus is being dramatic. I take it literally. When he says, rejoice when they hate you, I think we really should rejoice. I mean, look, the disciples took it literally. They took a physical beating, and it says they went away rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake. I mean, they took it literally. I'm going to take it literally. And when people lie about you and attack you and hate you, but you know what a lot of people's reaction is, sadly, is that, oh, I better not go soul-winding anymore, or, oh, I better not go to Faithful Word Baptist Church anymore because my family was getting on me. My family has, you know, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands of who had family give them a hassle or trouble when they found out that they went to Faithful Word Baptist Church. I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but if I did, I'm sure hands would go up all over the place. I'm sure hands would go up all over the building of people who had been attacked or criticized, of you go to Faithful Word, you know, Pastor Anderson's this and he's that and whatever. You know what? Don't be a baby, though. If they hated Christ, just understand that they're going to hate you at the job and at school. And look, not everybody, but some people are. And look, as many as received him, some of them gave you power to become the sons of God. But there are a lot of people who rejected him. We need to be prepared for that rejection. We need to handle it in a Christ-like way, not blow our top, lose our temper, not get down and depressed and definitely not quit. We should rejoice because we're like Christ at that point. He was a man of sorrows. He was despised and rejected of men. Thank you, Lord, for this great example that you've given us of just the rejection and suffering that you faced while you were on this earth, Lord. And I just pray that you would help us to follow in your steps and to live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world and that, Lord, we would have a good attitude when we get rejected and that we would just shake it off and go to the next person because there are plenty of fish in the sea, Lord. Help us to just keep a good attitude, stay joyful even in all our tribulations. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.