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

Alright, we started off in Galatians 5, and I want you to keep a bookmarker there, because we are going to go back to Galatians chapter 5, and if you would turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter number 1. So I've been preaching a series, more about Jesus series, basically just kind of focusing in on Jesus Christ and who He is, and I'm really happy that, you know, about doing that, but sometimes, especially as a preacher, you know, there's a lot of things you've got to figure out. We plan on preaching, preaching three sermons a week, you know, what am I going to preach on, and circling back, always circling back to basics, circling back to foundational doctrines is good. Obviously, we don't want to get so far off in the doctrine that we don't, you know, we kind of miss the main thing and the main point, so the most important thing. So I'm actually going to be preaching two sermons regarding, you know, Jesus Christ specifically today. There's one that follows a little bit more closely to the pattern I've been doing this evening, but this morning, I'm telling you my sermon is Christ-like preaching. So we're going to look at, we started in Galatians 5, which doesn't have any of Jesus's, you know, direct preaching, but there's a point, and we're going to get to that in a minute. We are going to look, we're going to spend, other than Galatians 5, we're going to be looking at all of Jesus's preaching and some of the things he did. Now, Christ-like preaching is going to encompass more than what I cover this morning, okay? There's more to it. I'm just going to say that right off the bat. There's just a few points that I want to hit on, so it's not this all-encompassing, well, everything, you know, this is everything that is Christ-like preaching. There are points that I'm not going to be making to be able to preach in a Christ-like fashion, you know, that would be what I would call also biblical preaching, right? It's good old-fashioned biblical preaching, and the reason why I'm calling it Christ-like preaching is because many of the things that modern Christianity today would denounce or have a problem with, they would say, you know, you need to be more Christ-like, right? We're going to look at some of those things and we're going to see, well, what is Christ-like preaching? Are the things that people have a problem with when they come to a fundamental Baptist church and when they hear the preaching, is it Christ-like or not? And is there idea or perception of who Jesus Christ was and how he preached and the things he said? Do they have the right understanding? Do they know who Jesus is and do they know much about him other than just showing up to church, being spoon-fed, whatever it is that the preacher is going to tell you, and then nothing else, you're not reading the Bible on your own, you're not hearing many portions of Scripture because so many people are just, you know, choose their favorite topics to preach on and that's it, or they're preaching out of their heart and they're not giving you any actual Bible. We're going to dig in and look at the Scripture and see, are the things that many people get offended at, are the things that many people get troubled with, are they Christ-like or not? What you're going to find throughout the Scripture when it comes to biblical preaching, you're going to find bold preaching. Boldness is characterized by all preachers of God. Boldness meaning they're willing to say the things, to preach the truth, say the things that need to be said, preach the things that need to be preached, preach the Word of God regardless of the consequences. That's what shows you that someone is preaching with boldness. It's easy to be bold when there's just no consequences at all, right? It's not a very bold statement to say, is it, the weather, no, not just is it. The weather today is beautiful. Oh, Pastor Berzins, you have so much boldness to stand up there and say the weather today is, I mean, you didn't even say, is the weather today beautiful? You said the weather today is beautiful, that's bold. No one has a problem with that. You don't need to have this great boldness to make a statement or make a claim like that. The boldness comes from the statement, the authoritative statements that are going to cause division and cause problems with some people. That's why you need the boldness to even say things because you're going to receive opposition from what's being said, from what's being spoken. So you're going to find bold and authoritative statements throughout the scripture of men of God who are preaching the word of God. There's no beating around the bush in the Bible. I'm not talking about the burning bush, I'm talking about, you know, not actually saying what you mean. When you see the preachers in scripture, you're going to find them saying what they mean and meaning what they say. You're going to find plain and easy to understand teaching, just made simple, spelled out for you. And it's going to be authoritative. We're in Mark chapter 1, look at verse number 21, the Bible says, and they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue and taught that he there is Jesus. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. So Christ-like preaching is going to be preaching where you hear a man of God, you hear someone preaching with authority. Now how is it that you can preach with authority? The only way you can preach with authority is when you're preaching the word of God. Now these are characteristics. There's obviously people who will try to fake these things or try to preach with authority even though they don't have the truth on their side, but my point is we're looking at all of the things. Just because someone seems to preach with authority doesn't mean that they're necessarily right. You have to judge on the content of what's being taught, but when we look at what Christ did, I mean he went into the synagogue. So he went into the Jews' church, their synagogue, and taught, and when he taught, he taught as one that had authority and not as the scribes. And here's some of the problems, and the reason why I bring this up is because people will confuse preaching with authority as someone who's arrogant and proud and puffed up, right? It's one thing to preach with authority. It's not necessarily exactly the same as someone who is full of themselves. If I understand the truth in the Bible, I can preach boldly from the word of God that that's true. For example, you know, when the Bible teaches that, you know, if a person puts away their wife and marries another, he's committing adultery against his wife. The Bible teaches that, and I can preach that authoritatively, and I don't have to stand here and say, well, you know, some people think this and some people think that, and if we look at the Greek word here for put away, you know, there is some connotation here of, you know, we don't, that's not how Christ taught and preached. It's a thus saith the Lord type of preaching. It's a leave no room for doubt type of preaching. It's authoritative preaching, and again, the authority comes from God, so when you're preaching what the word of God says, it should be authoritative, but you know what, a lot of people don't like that kind of preaching because it spells it out a little bit too close, and it steps on some toes, and it makes it just hit home a little bit too closely. So they want to say, oh, well, that's not very Christlike. Oh, you're supposed to be humble and meek. Yeah, you can be humble and meek. Does anyone think that Jesus wasn't humble and meek? Because he also taught with authority. How about Moses? Moses was supposed to be, you know, one of the meekest men on the earth, but when Moses confronted Pharaoh, didn't he have authority? He said, let my people go. When he commanded the plagues that God instructed him to do, wasn't he preaching with authority? You better believe he was. Was it because he was so full of himself? No. Because he's preaching the truth. You preach the truth, you can preach the truth with authority, and the reason why Jesus was able to do it is because he understood. See, when they're looking at the scribes and the Pharisees, most of these people weren't even saved anyways. They don't even have the understanding, let alone, you know, to be able to preach the truth authoritatively, Jesus comes along, obviously Jesus has all wisdom and knowledge, he's able to preach the word of God like no one else. But Christlike preaching will have authority. Turn to chapter 3, Mark chapter 3, because one of the other things you'll find about the life of Jesus Christ and his preaching and teaching is that it's going to be controversial. And here's the other thing, when we cover controversial subjects, controversial issues, when we preach against the Sodomites, the homos, right, oh, you shouldn't bring that stuff up because you're going to turn people away from Christ, you're going to turn people up, you're going to make people leave, people aren't going to want to hear that, you should just try to, you know, preach to everybody and not offend anybody, that is not Christlike. That's not what Christ did. The preaching of Jesus Christ was offensive to many people. It caused division among many people, yea, even among his own disciples, as we'll see in a little bit. And he didn't just, oh, we need, we need to, I need to not say things, I need to hold back, I need to censor some of the word of God just so I don't offend people. That was not Christlike. Christ just said he was authoritative and this is what my father says and this is what I'm saying and that's the way it is. Look at verse number 1 of Mark chapter 3, the Bible says, and he entered again into the synagogue and there was a man there which had a withered hand and they watched him whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, stand forth. So there's a confrontation here in church, we'll just call it church, okay, it's in the synagogue, we'll call it church, among people who don't like Jesus, they want to accuse Jesus, they want to find some fault with him and Jesus Christ himself. Now, unfortunately many people today would just be like, oh, well, we want to reach those people because they're lost. Now, look, I'm not saying we don't want to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, so don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But people have this mindset of just, well, at all costs, in order to reach people, we just have to back down or not offend and look, that is completely false and completely wrong. I preach sermons on the death penalty, right, on the biblical model of capital punishment and capital crimes and people get to the point where they say, well, yeah, but if we put people to death, then they may not have another chance to get saved or whatever, like we should not want to put people to death so that they could have every opportunity they possibly can to get saved, you must not care enough about that soul, no, I care more about the word of God. God's the one who instituted the death penalty. Do you think God doesn't care about souls? And people get these backwards ideas and they want to make it sound like they're so spiritual and they're so holy and they're so Christ-like. You've got a problem when you're more Christ-like than Jesus Christ himself. You've made up your own Christ in your mind. So these people show up and there's a man who has a withered, his hand is paralyzed or whatever, it's withered to the point where he's not able to function and use his hand properly, he needs healing. And they just want to see what Jesus is going to do. They don't care about the guy with the withered hand, obviously. What they care about is trying to accuse Jesus Christ. Does Jesus just ignore this and just try to brush it and just smooth things over and just try to sit down and have a chat with these guys that want to accuse him and say, well, you know, if you understand, you know, he doesn't sit down and have this conversation trying to teach them and instruct them on the Sabbath. That's not the style that he uses to preach the truth about the Sabbath. Instead, what does he do? He brings up the guy with the withered hand and says, stand right here. Let's make a spectacle out of this. Hey, come up right here and stand right here. And he says unto them, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil? To save life or to kill? He brings it right to the point. Oh, you're going to sit here and try to entrap me and you're going to bring up these lies about the Sabbath day and accuse me of something that's false? Well, let's settle this right now. Hey, you come on up here, stand in front of everybody. Is it lawful to do good or not? And of course, they held their peace. They don't want to commit to actually saying anything. They like making accusations with questions. And watch out for people like that. Oh, I didn't say I don't believe that, right? But they just want to hammer you and ask you all the questions and try to make you detail exactly what you believe just so that they can try to throw you under the bus and damage you with their words and try to find some problem with something that you said. Because they don't want to stick to anything. But look at what it says in verse number 5, and take note of this as well. And when he had looked round about on them with anger. So not only is this controversial preaching, there's a controversy, right? This is controversial preaching. There's some people that believe one thing and there's other people and Jesus is teaching something different. Not only is it controversial, but Jesus gets angry in the synagogue while he's teaching. It's Christ-like preaching. This is what Jesus did. Now, it's not all the time. It's not like every single time Jesus gets up to speak he's just angry. But there are certain topics and there are certain things that ought to bring out some emotion and this is a serious issue and it's a controversial one and Jesus gets angry that these people are willing to accuse him of doing something evil when he's there to heal people. Yeah, you know what? That ought to anger people. And when you see someone preaching on sin, yeah, it may be controversial, but don't get upset and say, oh, why are you so angry, I hear anger. It's funny, I get all these comments on YouTube and I hardly ever respond to anybody because I don't really care, like it doesn't matter to me, but it's entertaining to read. I do read most of the comments on YouTube just because I get a little bit of entertainment. And there's one video that for whatever reason, and thank God for Brother Steven Adams because he's been putting up all these little clips and stuff instead of just a full-length sermon because a lot of people don't want to sit there and listen to an hour worth of preaching no matter what the title says. It's just too long for them. People have too short of an attention span. So he makes all these little clips and there's one he made about John MacArthur. John MacArthur is a false prophet, okay? Amen. I preach a sermon about that. I think it's a good sermon. It was a packable Bible. But he made this one clip and it was a short clip and of course, John MacArthur was a big name to a lot of people. And not everything even gets out there, but for whatever reason, this one's got like tons of views. It's got like a lot of views on our channel, for our channel. I don't know what a lot is in general, but for our channel, it's a lot of views. And all these people are commenting and people are saying, oh, I think I hear anger in your voice and stuff like that. It's like, yeah, yeah. And guess what? It's not a sin either. But these are the type of people that I'm talking about, right? They may sound very spiritual and you better believe they're claiming to be Christian. But they're the ones that are going to say, hey, that's not very Christ-like. Your preaching isn't very Christ-like. So I guess Jesus wasn't very Christ-like when he looked round about on them with anger. Not only was he angry, it's as being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. It saddens them too. Why? Because Jesus cares. And when you're preaching, you ought to care about what you're preaching. And for men who want to preach one day or you come in and feel it, care about what you preach. And I know the guys here do. But I'm just saying, in general, that's something you ought to be – because why are you preaching then if you don't really care about what you're saying? At that point, it's like, well, are you just preaching for money or for – is there some other motivation? I'll tell you what. I don't invest all of the time into the church and into the preaching and stuff. For any other reason, then, it matters to me. And I believe it to be true. And I believe that this is what God would have me to do. That's why I do it. It's definitely not for the money – it's not. If it were – I mean, if I was just motivated by money, I would just work more at my job and excel even more, and I've got plenty of growth opportunity in that career. Way more opportunity than I do preaching what the Bible says. But biblical preaching is going to be one that is – yeah, it's going to be controversial. Because a lot of people believe a lot of wrong things. That's why it's controversial. But also, spirited – he has anger, and he's grieved at the hardness of their hearts. He says to the man, stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. So he does it right in front of everybody. Okay, we're going to settle this right now. And he heals the guy on the Sabbath day, right in the middle of everybody, publicly, so everybody can see it. You want to know what I believe about this? Here you go. No question about what Jesus believed or taught. Go back to Galatians chapter 5. This brings me to my next point, and there's multiple examples of this, but we're only going to go over a couple. Or maybe a few. And this has to do with the bold statements that are made that are meant to be hard. This is a hard preaching. The bold statements that are made to shock people, to get people to really think. And again, though, for clarity's sake as well, just to come right out and say something that's like, wow, I've never heard anyone say that before. In Galatians chapter 5, we have an example of this. Verse number 2, the Bible says, Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now that's a bold statement to make. Now he's going to go on a little bit further and clarify this, right? But understand, and we're going to see many more examples of this, but this is an important point. I'm going to spend a little bit of time on this. When statements are made that are very broad, it doesn't mean that the preacher doesn't understand that there may be some other ways of looking at something or some other little exception or something like that. The point, though, of these statements is to drive home this truth. At first glance, you could say, well, I mean, I'm circumcised, does that mean Christ doesn't profit me anything? No. Now, is that the statement he made? Yes. But is that really what he meant? No. No. And again, we see that in the context is why the context is so important. And every bold statement we're going to look at has to be taken in context because you will understand the full meaning, but the whole point, don't miss it, the whole point of making a statement like that is because, man, that's going to resonate. Wow, wait, hold on a second. If you be circumcised, Christ profits me nothing? I mean, not even a little bit? That's a bold statement to make, and that's something that's going to sink in. And you know what? That's Christ-like preaching, too. And there's examples of this, okay, examples, modern-day examples would be a statement like, you know what? Every stinking homo, every sodomite is a predator. That's a bold statement to make. It's a pretty broad statement to make. But similarly like this, the point is the drive home, the predatory nature behind the reprobate mind, behind the people who are just given over to their lusts that are willing to do anything. It doesn't mean you say, well, here's this person that never actually harmed somebody else or whatever, right? The point is, when someone gets to that point, first of all, the way that people even get to that point is because of the influence by other people who are children of the devil, trying to recruit other children of the devil, trying to bring forth other proselytes of the devil, and it's by people who reject the Word of God. And when their mind and their conscience has been seared, they will be able and capable of doing anything. So whether or not they've actually acted on something, if your conscience is seared with a hot iron, you need the warning that, hey, they're predators. You need that truth. And you know what? Through the context, you should be able to figure out the details. But in Christlike preaching, you're going to have bold statements made that, yeah, it's easy to rip it out of context and try to make someone sound crazy. If you just rip the apostle Paul here out of context, oh, well, he said if you're circumcised in Christ, keep reading. Look at verse number three. Paul says, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. And he starts to expand a little bit more about on that bold statement, but still saying, hey, look, if you're circumcised, then you need to keep all the law, because you got circumcised in keeping the law, now you've got to keep all of it. Verse four, Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. And now it's even more clear and understand what is he talking about. He's talking about people who are trusting in the law, people who think they're justified in the sight of God through the law. But the hot button issue going on at the church of Galatia was circumcision. That was the key problem. That's what people were introducing there. He preached salvation by grace through faith. He preached them the right gospel when that church even was started when he was evangelizing and people were getting saved through his ministry and the help of others. And that church gets established, other people crept in and started bringing in this damnable heresy saying, oh, well, you've got to be circumcised too. So the apostle Paul doesn't have this attitude of going, well, let's all just sit down together and we'll have a discussion about circumcision, and I'll hear out your points. He doesn't need to. I mean, in the book of Galatians earlier, he talks about people who are these so-called pillars of the faith, and he's talking about the apostles. He's talking about people who, you know, they are pillars, but the whole point is saying, you know what, it doesn't matter to me who they are. It matters what the word of God says, and the truth is the truth. And that's why he even brings up this confrontation he had with Peter, because Peter was one of the pillars. He was very foundational. He was very fundamental. He was there with Jesus Christ. He was a top apostle, if you will. He was one of the top three, a very great man of God. But you know what? When Peter was wrong, he was wrong. And he's wrong when he's not obeying and following the word of God. And the apostle Paul is going to call that out, because we don't need to just be, you know, so more concerned about how people feel or about causing strife or division than just preaching the word of God in truth. And he confronted him about it. You know what? The apostle Paul loved Peter. If he didn't love him, he just let him continue causing all the more damage through his actions. He needed to be rebuked. Flip over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. No, the apostle Paul, and he starts off the letter to the Galatians, saying, if any man preached any other gospel unto you than that which you've received, let him be accursed. He said, the we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed. He said, I don't care who the person is that's preaching a different gospel, let him be accursed. Even just that, how about that for a bold statement, let him be accursed? Oh, you shouldn't curse anybody. That's not very Christ-like. Have you read the Psalms? It would appear there's a lot of people in the Bible who aren't very Christ-like that are actually men of God and prophets. I mean, through some people's way of thinking. But let's go to John chapter 6. We're going to see more of Jesus' preaching. That was the only example in Galatians 5 of someone who's not Jesus that we're even going to look at this morning. John chapter 6, verse number 53. We've gone over this recently through our series, but it's in this light and in this context, I want to look at it again. John 6, 53, the Bible reads, then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Talk about a bold statement, right, a controversial statement, something that's intended to get through to people. Jesus is trying to preach this truth, and he's using the most maybe shocking way to do so. And as we read through this, we're going to see what he's really teaching here. And again, there's a lot of people out there called the Catholic Church that take this completely the wrong way than what Jesus intended the truth. They take this as a literal eating of flesh and drinking of blood. Now, again, I know he said that, but let's get the context. Let's understand what is he really trying to drive home? What is he really trying to teach? It's the same thing with that circumcision. He wasn't trying to say, well, anyone who physically had their flesh removed from them, that's a male, just you can't be saved. That's not what he was teaching. It's not what he was saying. You could take the statement to make it mean that, but that's not really what he was saying. He was making a bold statement, though, to make sure it resonates with people and gets your attention and wakes you up. Okay, Jesus is doing the exact same thing here. There's a purpose in his preaching for saying, hey, if you don't eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Now, he meant what he's saying here, but what he's doing is he's giving the symbolism of his flesh and his blood as being, you know, that needs to be received of you. You need to take that. You need to accept that. And it's not a literal just chewing with your mouth physically. And he explains this, too. Let's just keep reading. Verse number 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him, as the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. These things set he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. By the way, he's in the synagogue again here, too. So there's a lot of examples I'm bringing up. He's teaching in the synagogue. So this is the preaching of Jesus Christ in a place of worship, not just talking to his disciples, not just having a conversation, but, I mean, in public preaching. Many, therefore, of his disciples, look at this, verse 60, when they had heard this said, this is in a hard saying, who can hear it, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it. You know, murmuring is like complaining. Murmuring is just this, what's he saying? You know, it's not a positive thing. When people are murmuring, it's not like, well, they just didn't understand it. They're murmuring about it. He said to them, doth this offend you? Oh, are you offended? And, again, I brought this up in the past. Look at his reaction. He doesn't just say, oh, well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Let me try to find another way of saying this so that you're not offended, snowflake. Sorry, cupcake. I'll try to make things a little bit easier to swallow for you. He doesn't do that at all. He ends up, and we're not going to go all this far, he ends up turning to his disciples and saying, well, are you going to leave, too? Because a lot of people left. He's preaching. They're murmuring, man, what is he, you know, they just can't handle his preaching is what it boils down to. And he's like, okay, so you guys are going to go, too? Showing that Jesus isn't changing just because people aren't responding the way that you may want them to respond. Hey, Jesus' job was to go and to seek and to save that which was lost, but you know what, he's not going to stray from the right way of doing things ever, and we shouldn't either. Verse 62, what and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before. And verse 63 ties it together. It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. So he's talking about his flesh, he's referring to his body being broken and dying for them and making that atonement and, you know, all of that. We get that. But he boils it down in context saying, you know what, it's the spirit that quickeneth. Quickeneth means it's bringing life. It's not my literal flesh for you to chew and ingest that's going to bring you that life. The spirit's going to bring you life. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Tying it back closer, we went over this, went over Jesus, the Word, right, the Word of God or the Bread of God. So I'm not going to go into all that again. Verse 64, but there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Christ liked preaching. Hey, he taught the truth. He preached it. Now, we say, well, he could have said it in a different way. Yeah, he could have. He could have and he didn't. And he didn't. Remember that when people, when you go to church, you say, oh, well, the pastor could have said something in a different way. He didn't have to say it like that. Well, you know what? Jesus didn't have to say things this way either. And you know what? If he said it a little bit differently, maybe some of the people wouldn't have left him. Maybe. Maybe. But this was something that was important enough that needed to be taught and Jesus taught it boldly and powerfully as the way it needed to be taught. I'm not going to second guess Jesus and say, oh, well, if you would have said that a little bit different, Jesus, maybe some of your disciples wouldn't have left. Yeah, well, maybe they needed to leave. Maybe he was bringing up a turning point and just saying, hey, look, you're either going to accept this or not. And if you're not going to accept this, then get out of here. And come back when you're ready to accept the truth. That's Christ-like preaching. Flip over to Matthew. Matthew chapter 19. We're going to see another example of another bold statement made by Jesus Christ. And one, again, if taken out of context might not sound right. Well, that doesn't sound right. You know, that's kind of weird. You've got to get the full context and understand the meaning. But nonetheless, the bold statements are being used. Matthew 19, verse number 23 is where we're going to start reading. Matthew 19, 23, the Bible says, then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Rich man's hardly going to make it. You see a rich man? Yeah, they're good luck, basically. And then he says in verse 24, and again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Wow, that's a bold statement to me about people who are rich. And again, this is one of those areas where modern Christianity, well, if you understand that the needle's eye is referring to this doorway into Jerusalem that was next to the gates, but it's just a small door. So in order for the camel to go through, it would have to get on its knees, showing its humility. No, it's talking about a needle. We know what a needle is, and a needle has this little eye at the top that you put thread through, right? So what Jesus is saying here has nothing to do with some door at the gates of Jerusalem. He doesn't mention Jerusalem here. He's talking about a rich man getting saved, a rich man going to heaven, and a camel being pushed through the eye of a needle. The impossibility of it, because let's face it, that's impossible. Well, it's really, really, really, really, really hard. So hard that I don't think anyone would try to spend the time doing such a thing. And that was the point that he's trying to get across of the difficulty. And look, anyone who goes out soul-winning understands this difficulty of trying to get someone saved that has a lot of money, because you have to be humble to receive a gift. You have to be humble to admit you've done wrong before a perfect God. You have to be humble to recognize, hey, I don't deserve eternal life. And unfortunately, a lot of people who have riches aren't very humble, because they may have worked very hard and got a lot of things, and they say, well, I am in the position I'm at because I worked so hard, and they think that that's exactly what it takes to get to heaven, too. I have to work very hard in order to make it to heaven. That's the mindset. And because of that, that's why you're not seeing the rich people getting saved. Now, does it never happen? No, and look, verse 25, it says, when his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? Well, if the rich people came to be saved, who can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So he's saying it's 100%, excuse me, impossible for a rich man to get saved? No. No, because all things are possible with God. And was he saying that if you're rich, you're not saved? No. I mean, there's many men of God that God has blessed with a lot of riches. I mean, Job is just one example of that. Job was saved, and God blessed him with lots of goods and riches. Now, I think one of the things that's more common that we find is that people who have riches that are saved probably got those riches after they were saved. Not always, but I mean, if you look at the examples, that's probably the case. Or they had someone in their family that was already saved that was giving them the gospel. I mean, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? If Abraham was able to gain a lot of wealth and pass on some of that wealth through inheritance to his children, you know, but they're still saved good men of God that are bringing the gospel to their children. So anyhow, I don't want to get too far into that. That's a whole other discussion. The point here was that bold statement made about it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle if a rich man entered the kingdom of God. Because that's a bold statement. Turn to Matthew 22. You're in chapter 19. Let's go over to chapter 22. We're going to start reading verse number 28. We're going to shift gears Christ-like preaching. We're going to look a little bit at how Jesus actually deals personally with people, like interpersonal relations with people, and how he speaks to them. Because again, this is another area where the snowflakes of this world get so offended by everything. And they're going to say, oh, you're not very Christ-like by saying those things. Let's look at what happened, what Jesus actually said. And what was he doing to me? What did he say to people? Now, I'm not saying not to have tact and that you always just have to be this super abrasive person. That's not what I'm saying. And that's not what I believe either. And I don't believe that Jesus was a super abrasive person that nobody could ever talk to, and no one could approach, and no one could ask a question to. But when we look at the life of Jesus, he didn't withhold what he was thinking from people. And he didn't withhold and not say things and not even call people names when he felt it was warranted. We're going to see that. Now, who he's saying it to does matter. We need to get a good, full understanding of who he's talking to and why, but the point is, you can't just say, oh, well, you just said something bad about someone, and that's not very Christ-like. Matthew 22, verse 28, the Bible says, therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall... So this is the Sadducees that came to Jesus, and they're trying to stump him with this question about the resurrection. Oh, well, all these brothers had the same woman to wife. Well, who in the resurrection and whose wife is she going to be, huh, Jesus? Look how Jesus answers them. Verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. Jesus has no problem just telling people, you're an error, you're wrong. You know what? You're wrong. And it's funny that, like, I bet this type of a response hasn't been preached on in who knows how long, but unfortunately, in the generation we're in now, we have to bring this up and make a point to say it's okay to tell people that they're wrong. I'm serious. Like, in generations past, I don't think there's a generation that they come to my mind where I can think of, like, oh, they would have a problem with someone saying you're wrong. But nowadays, in the cancel culture that we live in, it's like you can't tell anyone. If you have someone saying that there's more than two genders, you can't tell them that they're wrong. That's the mindset and the philosophy out there that's trying to be pushed on people these days, and unfortunately, a lot of young people are just buying right into it. It's nonsense. They're wrong. You do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. In the beginning, God created them male and female. You do err, not knowing the Scriptures. And then he goes on to explain, verse 30, you know, from the resurrection and at a marrying or given in marriage, whereas the angels of God in heaven, as such in the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Now, notice he also says, like, well, haven't you read? And you see that phrase over and over and over and over and over again when Jesus is rebuking these people who have these false doctrines. Hey, haven't you read? Well, that's kind of condescending, isn't it? Hey, haven't you read? Of course I read. I'm a Sadducee. You must have missed that part. Even in John's dealing, excuse me, in John's, Jesus is dealing with Nicodemus in John, chapter 3. Turn, if you would, to Luke 13. But when Jesus is speaking Nicodemus, verse 9 of the Bible says, Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? When Jesus just explains being born again, being born of the Spirit, right? Not, you know, one time you're born of the flesh, the second time you're born of the Spirit, all this stuff. And then Nicodemus answered and says, well, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things? That answer in itself, okay, the way that he's dealing with this person, he's shaming him because he's claiming to be this master. You don't even know the most basic things? You don't even know this? Okay, and this is correct. Now, is this the way he always dealt with everybody? No, no. So, again, we're looking at specific examples. Look at all of it to get the big picture. I'm focusing in on the areas, though, that people want to hone in on on fundamental Baptist preaching and say, oh, that's not very Christ-like. And we're going to see examples of Jesus exhibiting similar, if not the same, exact behavior. And the whole point is because if you're spending your time in this book and you're meditating on this, then hopefully that's going to reflect in your preaching as well. It ought to, especially if you're doing it for the right reasons. We all ought to try to be modeling ourselves to be more conformed to the image of Christ. That ought to be a high priority in everybody's life, and it better sure be the point for the preacher, whoever is leading a church. Otherwise, you're going to run into a lot of problems. Luke 13, verse number 31, the Bible says, The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today, and tomorrow, and the third day, I shall be perfected. This is how he's responding to Herod. Does it sound like he has this respect and reverence in his voice for Herod when he calls him a fox? Maybe there are some worse things he could have called him. He's being a gentleman, but it doesn't refrain him from using a name calling. He's a fox. Herod's a wicked guy. And Jesus isn't going to let him stop the work that he has to do. He says, Hey, look, I'm casting out devils. I do cures today and tomorrow. I still have work to do. You can go tell that fox that I'm so busy doing my work. I'm not getting out of here. I'm not leaving town. This is what he's saying. This is the message he's getting across. Oh, you have to listen to everything that the authorities say and do everything they do. And, you know, if you don't do that, you're not being very Christlike. Jesus Christ, there's a time and a place for everything with him. Yes, when it came to the taxes, he just said, You know what? Just give them their stinking money. We've got more important things to do. But when it came to him preaching the truth, he said, You know what? No, I'm not leaving. I still have stuff to do. Now, he was wise in, you know, making sure that he wasn't going to get arrested because he still did have work to do. He did maneuver and go to different areas. In some cases, so he wouldn't forcibly be made king and in other places, so he wouldn't just be arrested before his time. So, sure, he had to alter his path. But you know what, though? He wasn't backing down from doing what he needed to do. And in this situation, he said, You know what? I have this job to do, and I can't stop until it's finished. So, there you go. Turn through to Matthew, chapter 5. I'm going to read for you from John 8. This is our memory passage. We're memorizing the entire chapter of John, chapter 8, verse number 43. The Bible says, Why do you not understand my speech, even because ye cannot hear my word? Ye are of your father the devil. This is Jesus Christ speaking. You're of your father the devil. That's not a very nice thing to say. You're saying you're a devil's spawn? That's what he's saying. And he's not holding back from saying it either. You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father, ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. He's calling out false prophets of the day, and saying, You're of your father the devil. Which is something that pastors and preachers ought to be doing today as well. Calling out children of the devil, who are preaching damnable heresy, and false gospels, and deceiving people, and there's nothing wrong with saying, You know what? You know why they're saying these things, and why they don't understand the truth, and they don't understand the Bible? Because they're not even saved. Oh, you're reprobating people! I'm preaching Christ-like. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. And the Bible teaches in multiple places that the children hear the word of God. They hear the voice of the shepherd, and they're not going to follow another. And the doctrines that were received, they're going to continue in those. Otherwise you weren't even saved to begin with. Matthew 5, look at verse number 38, and that could be a whole sermon in and of itself. Matthew 5, 38, You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. So, multiple things going on in this passage, I went more in depth on this, I don't have the time to do it this morning, on Matthew 5, because many of the same people are going to say, Oh, you're not very Christ-like in your preaching, are going to turn to a passage like this, where they're saying, you know, you're supposed to do good to your enemy, and look, this is true. Okay, so I'm not even trying to say that this isn't true, and you don't follow this, or that there's some contradiction, because there's not a contradiction. The people who have the problem are the people who are applying this so broadly, that it causes a problem for them, after everything else that we've already seen, and what we're even going to see in this very same chapter. Okay, but let's keep reading, he says here, You know, resist not evil, whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, Verse 40, And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. He hath heard that hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, which is not what the scripture says, by the way, when it says you have heard, that's not the Bible saying hate your enemy, because the Bible doesn't teach that. Verse 44, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Now, before I even go any further, this verse, verse 44, Verse 44 and 45 is saying, you know what, you need to do this so that you can be the children of your Father which is in heaven. You want to understand what point he's trying to make with these words and with this statement. First of all, if you can find a time where Jesus ends up cursing somebody, because people will take this verse and say you just can't curse anyone ever. Then you're going to be saying that Jesus wasn't the child of the Father. If there's anything, and see people love to use these things out of context, and I've seen it plenty of times because so many people get turned off and offended at cursing the God haters of the world. The reprobates, it just doesn't sit well with people, and they get offended at that type of preaching, so they want to turn to this and say, well, you're supposed to love your enemies, bless them, they curse you, do good to them, they hate you and pray for them, which is spitefully use you and persecute you. This is Jesus speaking this, but don't forget it's also Jesus who curses and damns Judas Iscariot in Psalm 69 as well as in other places. Jesus Christ himself, you know, the words of Jesus that has that. Now, he loves his enemies with the Roman soldiers that he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But then there's other people that he's damning to hell. So does that mean that he's not a child of his Father which is in heaven? For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust? And we're kind of building up to that main point. When we're talking about people in general and, you know, unsaved versus saved and whatever, yeah, you're supposed to not hate your enemies, right, and do good to those that persecute you. You get persecuted many places, and it's not just, the persecution doesn't only come from reprobates. It's not the only place where people are going to persecute Christianity. It's not like anyone who persecutes you is all there to reprobate. No. Far, far from it, actually. Far from it. You get a lot of persecution from people who are not just these people giving over to reprobate mine. They're just unbelievers. And that's what this is talking about, but if you go up to Matthew 5.22, The Bible says, But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. Now, flip over to Matthew 23. Again, speaking of instances where people like to take verses out of context, People like to take Matthew 5.22 and just say, well, anytime you ever say someone's a fool, then that's a sin, and that's worthy of hellfire. But that's not what it says, anytime you ever call anyone a fool. If that's what it meant, then that means Jesus is worthy of hellfire. And other people in Scripture, too, that, you know, obviously every other person is worthy of hellfire for their own sins, but Jesus, we know, is not a sinner. So, to understand, now, it's a bold statement. Hey, whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire, but let's get the deeper understanding. He's making that point. He's trying to drive home a point. Just like in Matthew, in the other passages that we read about loving your enemy. Those are bold statements, but take everything in the whole. Matthew 23, and when it comes to addressing people and the name calling and stuff, it doesn't get any harder than Matthew 23 from Jesus. Matthew 23 is a scathing job on the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He just lays into them. And we're not going to read all of Matthew 23, definitely, for the sake of time, but we're going to start reading in verse number 13. The Bible says, But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. And you see that, that hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, over and over again, you're hypocrites. For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering into goings. And you're not saved, and the people that you're impacting, they're not saved either. Verse 14, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Now he's calling out their fake prayers, their phony prayers. You're pretentious. You just say these long prayers to sound good. And he's calling this out in front of everybody. He's not going and talking to them. Oh, if you have a problem with your brother, you should go and talk to him privately if he's done you wrong. Look, that doesn't apply here. And again, so many people just have everything that's mixed up and backwards and many times because they don't even understand scripture because they're not saved themselves. Verse 15, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye can pass sea and land and make one proselyte. And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. He's calling them children of hell, child of the devil. Verse 16, Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say whosoever shall swear by the temple is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. He's calling them blind. You're ignorant. You're blind. You can't even see. Look at verse 17, ye fools and blind. Whoa, I mean, hey, these people are claiming to be, you know, they worship the Lord, everything else. These, yeah, they're a little bit different on doctrine, but I mean, hey, they're your brother, so what do you do in saying thou fool? Well, because in Matthew 5, it didn't just say you can't call anybody a fool. And these people clearly are not Jesus' brother. Now, in the flesh, maybe, but that's not what he was talking about there either, obviously. He's talking about, and you know, obviously not direct brother, but they were his kindred, right? His own people were saying these things to him, but he still calls them fools. He fools and blind, for whether it's greater the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold. And whosoever shall swear by the altar is nothing, but whosoever swereth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Verse 19, again, ye fools and blind, for whether it's greater the gift or the altar that's sanctified the gift. He's calling them fools and blind, fools and blind. Verse 27, jump down to verse 27, the Bible says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are withinful of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Man, Jesus is preaching this about these Pharisees. They say, you know what you're like? You're like those tombs, you're like those coffins that, man, they're so beautiful, and they have all this engraving, and they look so nice, but inside here is full of dead men's bones. You rot, you stink. That is the farthest thing from a compliment that you could get, right? Yeah, you look great on the outside, and you're wicked and rotten and evil on the inside. And he's calling them out. That's what Christ did. That's what Jesus Christ did. Don't tell me that's not Christ. Oh, you shouldn't say that. Oh, there's nicer ways. Don't you care about them getting saved? I mean, if you just say that to them, you're going to turn them off. They're not going to want to listen to anything you have to say if you say that to them. Well, these people, he says in verse 28, Even so, ye also hourly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Jump down to verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? He's calling them snakes. You wicked snake. How can you escape hell? You can't. Why? Look at verse number 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together? So what's Jesus saying? I wanted to gather you all together. I wanted to come unto you. I wanted to save you. I wanted to do all this stuff. But he says, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. But you didn't want it. But you rejected it. Jesus wasn't the evil one, but you know what? He's going to call it out now for these snakes and children of the devil. Hey, there was a point when Jesus wanted them to be saved, too. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish forever. God wanted everyone to be saved, but when people just reject it and they flat out understand it and say no, what else can you do? Turn to John 12. It's the last place we're going to look. John 12. We're going a little bit over time. John 12, last place. We're going to look at verse number 37. We're going to start reading there. Now we don't see, again, to reiterate, Matthew 23, he's talking specifically to scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, right? These false preachers, false prophets. We don't see Jesus using this language in his everyday conversation when he's going around and healing people and doing good and ministering to people. He's not talking like this to everybody. Just want to make sure we're clear on that. Because unfortunately, too, some people who really enjoy the hard preaching will end up taking things too far also. And you hear the hard preaching against wicked people and against wicked reprobate and then you just want to apply that to every part of your life. And you get online and you start just railing on a bunch of people like, no, hold on a second. You're getting mixed up here. You hear this and it's applicable in certain areas for sure because we see Jesus doing these things, but he didn't just come out and say these things to everybody or anyone who just disagreed with him. What do you say about the guy, you know, when the disciples said, hey, you know, we saw this guy casting out devils and he followed not us. He said, great, you know, just let him be. He that does miracles in my father's name can lightly speak evil of us. He's doing the work of God, just let him alone. He may not be following exactly the way that he's supposed to, but he was a brother and that was great. And he wasn't just calling him out and Jesus isn't just calling everybody out for everything. He shows a lot of mercy and a lot of grace and a lot of forgiveness. But when he's dealing with these wicked people, these false prophets, then he calls it out and he doesn't hold back. And that is Christ-like preaching that we see from the scripture. John chapter 12, look at verse number 37, the Bible says, But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Isaiah as the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom at the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, this is important, they could not believe. They could not believe. People saw all these miracles that Jesus Christ did. I mean, if you saw Jesus Christ walking around and healing people and doing all the things he did, you'd be like, well, how could you not believe on him? These people didn't believe on him and they couldn't believe on him. Why could they not believe? Because as Isaiah said again, so he's quoting Isaiah again, verse number 40, Because God made it impossible for them to believe. And this is, I mean, that's a whole doctrinal thing in and of itself, but when you study that out, you're going to find that these people all had a chance. They weren't just selected to be damned forever through no, none of their own will. But it was just, no, that's not the way it is. They had a chance to be saved like anybody else, but they rejected it. And when they rejected God, then they got rejected by God. Verse 41 says, These things said to Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. So there's people here that did believe, but they wouldn't say anything publicly. Because they cared more about what people thought. But look at how Jesus Christ then, in the next verse, look at what he does. It says, 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. It says there, Jesus cried. It doesn't mean he wept. It means he cried out. And that's the last point here. We see that Jesus, you know, in his preaching, he brought up controversial things, absolutely. He made a lot of really bold statements. He didn't backtrack, he didn't soften the message, he didn't, you know, when people got offended, he didn't backtrack and try to do everything he could to smooth things over. He stuck with the word of God. He preached what needed to be taught. He cried out when he needed to cry out, meaning lifting up his voice and shouting and saying, Hey, you know, he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And on and on, and you can just, you know, read through the rest of his preaching. We need to be able to identify Christ-like preaching and not misidentify the right preaching as being non-Christ-like. You want to be a Christ-like preacher? Get the whole picture. Like I said at the very beginning, this was not intended to go over every single aspect of biblical preaching. There was a few things I just wanted to make sure that I covered because they're commonly said that's not Christ-like. And hopefully I demonstrated through the word of God that a lot of things that people condemn today, they would actually be condemning Jesus Christ if he were here doing the same exact things because they don't understand. And it's not because, you know, the style of preaching and the things that you see, it's not because we're unloving. Otherwise, Jesus is unloving. I mean, it may be because we're not perfectly following Jesus, so I'm not going to say that everything that I do and say and every word that I use is right. Again, that's not the point of this because I'm sure that I fail in areas. But the purpose of the style of preaching, to call things out, is to be like Christ at every step. Teach, show the forgiveness, love, mercy, everything that Jesus did there and all the ministering, yes, but also the hard preaching. It needs to be there and it needs to be done right and it needs to be done in truth and sincerity. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for the Bible. We thank you for giving us such a great example, so many great examples in Scripture, dear Lord, but that you came down in the form of a man and showed us the right way, showed us the way of truth that loved us and died for us, dear Lord. I pray that you would please help us to model our entire lives after your word and help us to make the proper application so that we can do all things that would be pleasing in your eyes. We know that Jesus Christ was pleasing in every single thing that he did. Lord, help us to be able to model that and, Lord, lead us and guide us. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.