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

Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is, Anything is Not Possible. Anything is not possible. Look at Job chapter 14 and verse number 4. It says, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one? Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou has appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. And again, the title of the sermon is, Anything is Not Possible. And here Job is explaining that even man, with all his capabilities and talents and exploits, is incapable of surpassing the number of months and even days that he can live here on this earth. The Bible actually tells us that his days and his months are numbered. And there's a certain amount of years that he's not going to be able to surpass. He cannot outlive. The reality is that man has a limit to his life. The Bible tells us that it is appointed for man once to die. But after this, the judgment, you know, man, it doesn't matter how advanced technology is going to get. It doesn't matter how much he's able to manipulate and use technology to extend his life just a couple more years. He's not going to be able to live forever using technology. Why? Because man has limitations. He has boundaries. He has a limit. And not everything is possible. Technology can accelerate and do some pretty amazing things, but at the end of the day, it cannot give humans eternal life. And even man, with all his achievements and accomplishments, you know, he has boundaries that he cannot surpass. Now why is this important today? Well because of the fact that today, you know, there's an attitude that anything is possible. You know, anything is possible, that anything can be accomplished, anything can be done, and often this attitude will have a tendency to surpass the realm of just reason, okay? Well, a man can become a girl if he wants, you know, or a girl can become a man. We can do anything. Why? Because anything is possible. Well this is a flat out lie. Not everything is possible. You know, people often adopt an attitude that as long as we all come together and we're unified around a common cause, around a social injustice, a noble agenda, anything can be done, anything is possible, just put your mind to it. You know, you can fly if you wanted to, right? If you just put your mind to it, false, because not everything is possible, okay? You know, if we just unify together, we band together, we can stamp out hunger, false. You know, the Bible said, Jesus said, for ye have the poor always with you, okay? But me, ye have not always. Jesus said specifically, there's always going to be someone who is needy, there's always going to be someone who is hungry in this world. It's not going to happen. Hey, we can stop domestic violence and we can stop people from hurting others, false, okay? This isn't some Hollywood movie where people can predict the future when people are going to be violent towards others. What is that movie called? Minority Report? They're like, oh, we can just like, we can predict when someone's going to commit a murder or something like that. That's false. Not everything is possible. The Bible tells us that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. The Bible tells us that the end of days, the end times will be like unto the days of Noah. And the days of Noah were what? Days of violence, when the earth was filled with violence and God had to destroy the world because of that. You know, we can stop pollution and disease, men can become women and women can become men because anything is possible. No, not everything is possible. Hey, we can save America. We just get the right president in. We just get the right laws passed. We just get all the things that we need. We can save America, false. Not everything is possible, okay? The reality is, is that, you know, there are a lot of things that are possible. There are a lot of things that we can do, but man has his limitations. And so, you know, unifying around a common cause does not breach the boundaries of mankind, folks. You know, certain things that are impossible for man to achieve due to the fact that, you know, they're just not allowed to surpass that. But how about this? You know, even when it comes to Christianity, a lot of people think, hey, well, anything is possible, you know. And here's the thing, the Bible tells us with God all things are possible, but often Christians adopt that very concept and they attach that to Satan. Now what do I mean by that? Well, they think Satan has like unlimited power. You know, they just think, well, you know, Satan has unlimited power. This world's going to get so bad, they're going to shut us down, they're going to create all these laws and vaccinations and all these things that the government's going to take over. Not everything is possible. Remember that. Oh, they're going to stop us from preaching the gospel? Not everything is possible, folks. They're going to stop us from preaching God's word and they're going to come in here? Not everything is possible, okay? You know, people, well, that's a possibility. We're in 2021 and Biden is the president and, you know, we got so many crazy things going on, what if they come and they stop us, they hinder us from traveling and because you got to take the vaccine and all these things, hey, calm down. Not everything is possible. I think so. Well, you know, you're misapplying that scripture because with God all things are possible, but not with Satan. God has Satan on a short leash. Did you know that Satan has to ask God for permission for things? He has to come before the throne of God to accuse the brethren and ask for permission to mess with Christians, to try to hinder them, to try to stop them. But you know what? God's not going to allow Satan to stop us from doing something that he's commanded us to do. So if he's commanding us, go preach the gospel, go win souls to Christ, preach the gospel to every creature, preach the word of God, and then he tells Satan, hey, stop them. You know, create laws and everything to stop them. Doesn't make any sense, folks. That is not possible. Now, is it possible that maybe we can't preach the word of God to the extent that we're doing today? Yeah, that's possible. Is it possible that they can shut down our YouTube channels and hinder the word of God from going a little further than what it is today? Yeah, that is possible. But to say, well, they're going to shut us down, not going to happen because the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, the Bible says. Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Not all things are possible. And so go with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11. We're entering into some dark times, right? We're in some dark times, you know, in our world, in the United States, with the government, the president, and all these laws that are happening, and the acceptance of filth and sodomy and all this disgusting nonsense that's being promoted out there on the internet. Yeah, it's getting pretty bad, but just know this is that not all things are possible. You know, oh, I just heard someone say that they're going to do this to us and that eventually it'll be illegal to preach against the sodomites. No, according to who, though? Because the Bible tells us where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And you know what, the last time I checked, I got the Spirit of God dwelling within me because I'm saved. The last time I checked, you got the Spirit of God dwelling upon you because we're sealed until the day of redemption, and so if the Holy Spirit is sealed within us, guess what? We have the liberty to do exactly what God wants us to do, no matter what happens. And Satan's not going to stop us. And individuals are not going to stop us because God has commanded us to do so, and if he's commanded us to do so, he's going to make a way for us to do it. Not all things are possible. Here in Genesis chapter 11, look what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 11, verse number 4. Let me show you something that a group of people tried to do that was just impossible. It says in verse number 4, and they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Let me just say this, that's impossible. It would be impossible for these men to create a tower so big that it reaches eternity. The vast is where God lives, heaven. It's not going to happen. And in fact, it didn't happen. He says in verse number 5, and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded, and the Lord said, behold, the people is one and they have all one language, and this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. You say, well, what about that? He says that he's not going to restrain them. Well, here's the thing. He's not stating that, you know what, if we just continue to let them do that, they're going to reach the moon or something. They're going to go beyond the atmosphere, and they're going to be able to reach space. We've got to stop them because there's no air up there. We don't want them to think that they have that ability. What he's saying is this, that they're going to continue to try to fulfill their imagination. Nothing shall be restrained. Their imagination shall not be restrained from them. So the reason God scattered them is not necessarily because the tower was like a threat to God. It's not like, oh man, they're coming to my house? They're threatening to come all the way up here? No, the reason he scattered them was because of the fact that they were unifying. This is not something that God wanted. He wanted all nations to be separate. He wanted to be scattered. He wanted different languages. Of course, we understand that this is a picture of end times Babylon and the Babylon even that we see in the Bible. Now, go to Matthew chapter 19. Not all things are possible, and you know what, people can come up with some pretty wild ideas and have some pretty crazy aspirations and be very ambitious and come up with some crazy imaginations, but at the end of the day, we have to realize that not all things are possible. We should strive to accomplish great things. We should strive to accomplish great exploits. We should strive to do our best and strive for excellence, but within biblical reason, within the confines of God's word and God's laws. No, no, no, I believe I can fly, R. Kelly. I believe I can fly, and one day it's going to happen if I just put my mind to it. No, it's not going to happen, because not all things are possible. Matthew 19, now people may hear this and say, well, doesn't the Bible say that with God all things are possible? The answer is yes, all things are possible on God's terms. You can't take that idea too far. You can't look at the scripture and just apply it to everything in life. That means God can sin if he really wanted to. That means God can build a rock so big that he can't even move it. See, there's stupid things that people come up with. Obviously, when he says with God all things are possible, he's talking about the fact that all things are possible within reason, biblical reason. And this is not to discount the fact that God has done some pretty supernatural things in the Bible. But none of those things that he did were sinful. None of those things that he did were a manifestation of any type of iniquity. He manifested supernatural miracles and occurrences in order to project or show or teach some sort of biblical truth and to increase God's people's faith. And so, yeah, all things are possible within the realm of the biblical scope there. Now let me just show you a couple things here. First and foremost, as I mentioned, everything is not possible, such as saving yourself, not possible. Saving yourself from hell is not possible. It's not going to happen. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 19 verse 24. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet? First of all, he just broke a commandment right there. Just lied. Because no one has kept all the God's commandments from their youth up perfectly without flaw. He says, Well, what else do I need to do? I got check. That's in the bag. What else do I need to do? Verse 21, Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Now why is it that Jesus chose to specifically say, Do this? Well, because of the fact that he knew that this young man was trusting in his riches. You know, obviously, Jesus Christ is God. He was able to perceive his heart. He's able to see the inner recesses of his heart and his mind, and knew that he wasn't trusting in the true God of the Bible. He was trusting in his riches. And he says, Look, all right, then, if you want to be perfect, if you want to be complete, if you think like you've kept all of God's commandments, well, how about this? Why don't you just sell everything that you have and give unto the poor? Verse 22, But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 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. Now let me just chase a rabbit real quick in regards to this verse, because, you know, in times past, independent fundamental Baptists, for some reason, they feel like they need a reason to weigh the scriptures when it says something what they consider to be outlandish. A camel can go through the eye of a needle, and, you know, I remember they would teach this. They would say, Well, this isn't really like a needle. They just call the entrance of the city an eye of a needle. And you know, after a certain time, the doors are closed, and it's just impossible for anybody to come through that door. That's what he's basically saying right now, but that's stupid. First of all, where are you getting your information from, like some Jewish encyclopedia? No, when he says it's impossible, just like a camel to go through the eye of a needle, that is impossible. Okay? You know, a camel to go through some doors, you know, when the doors have already closed and the doors shut, that's not impossible, folks. You pay off the door guy and you say, Hey, just let me in real quick. I won't do it again, or whatever, you know? But you know, the eye of a needle, that is impossible. You would look at something like that and say, If I told you, Hey, take that animal and shove him right through that eye of a needle, you'd be like, Well, that's impossible. That's ridiculous. That's stupid. What do you mean? It's not going to fit in there. What are you talking about? Is this a joke? But you know what he's comparing that to? You trying to save yourself. So just as stupid and ridiculous it would be to try to get a camel to go through the eye of a needle in like manner, it's just as stupid and ridiculous to think that you can save yourself. It's just as foolish and nonsensical and outlandish for you to think that you can shove yourself into the kingdom of God. Right? It's not possible. And he says in verse number 26, But Jesus, or verse 25, But when his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? Now obviously we also can apply this scripture to literally rich people, right? Because at the end of the day, rich people have a tendency to trust in their riches instead of the living God, instead of in Jesus Christ for salvation. They have all types of possessions and money and they're living very wealthily. And it's like, I don't need God. They can have that attitude. But you know what? There are poor people in this world who don't have riches, who don't have possessions, and it's hard for them to get into the kingdom of God as well. Why? Because they're trusting in their works. They're trusting in their religion. They're trusting in their ability to keep God's commandments. And it's just as foolish, just like, they're just like the camel trying to go through the eye of a needle as well. He says in verse 26, But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible. It's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Now what is he saying? He's not saying, I can get that camel through the eye of a needle. I can do it. No, what he's saying is, I can save you on God's terms, you understand? And so, you know, we have to realize and this world needs to realize that saving yourself is impossible. Well, you know, I think I can keep all of God's commandments. Well, you're a little late, first and foremost. If you're sitting in this room right now, you're far too late to do that, okay? Because from the moment that you realize that you were sinning against God, at that point, it's too late. When you realize you have wronged God, you have broken his commandments, you've already broken the commandments. You see, the realization of the fact that you're a sinner is when you've actually realized, oh man, I broke God's commandments a long time ago then. Because that's what the law does, it slays you. And the Bible says, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. The law is never meant to save anyone, it is meant to show us that we need a savior. You know, trying to shove a camel through the eye of a needle, God's not giving us that task in order to be saved. He's showing us, oh, this is impossible, I need to go in a different way. Yeah, in that different way is through Jesus Christ. Which is the what? Door, okay? In Mark chapter 10, verse 23, it says, and Jesus looked round about and said to his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter, or trust in their riches enter into the kingdom of God. Psalm 49, verse 6 says, they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of riches. You know, there are people in this world that place their faith in the almighty dollar. They think they can buy themselves into anything, including eternal life. It's not going to happen. This is impossible, folks. You know, and if you're sitting in this room today thinking, well, I think I'm a good person though. Well, I got news for you, there's none that do with good, no, not one. Well, I do some good though. Okay, well, there's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin is not, according to the word of God. You're not going to be able to save yourself, it's impossible for you to shove yourself through the eye of a needle, it's not going to happen. But with God, it can happen. With God, you can go to heaven. With God, you can have eternal life. But here is the stipulation, you have to trust in Jesus Christ. You have to believe on Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, that's the only way. Proverbs 11, verse 4 says, richest prophet not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death, the Bible says. So that is possible. It is possible to go into heaven, it is possible to have eternal life on God's terms, which is that we have to trust in Jesus Christ. Now here's another thing is that, you know, it's possible for you to save others. That's possible. Right? Because we as Christians, we who have the Spirit of God dwelling within us, we have the mandate and the responsibility to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 22, to the weak became I as weak, that I may gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Go to Hebrew chapter number 6, if you would, Hebrew chapter number 6. Everything is not possible. Everything is not possible. There's certain things that you just cannot do. Earning salvation is one of them. Okay? You can never earn salvation. You can never earn eternal life. You can never be good enough to go to heaven. The Bible says that your righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. It's impossible for you to do good enough works to get into heaven because the Bible says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith in that, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Everything is not possible. Hey, how about this? Losing your salvation is not possible. Not possible. Well, I think that, you know, maybe if you commit suicide, no. Not possible. It's funny, I was in Boise, Idaho on Friday, I was preaching for Pastor Joe Jones and she was at the Faith Baptist Church, shout out to Pastor Jones, awesome church over there. And he picked me up from the airport and I was like, so this is Boise, huh? They're saying like, I was hearing that that's like the new Texas and all that, all kinds of Liberty over there. And he told me, he said, he's like, yep, right down this street is where Sam Gipp lives. I was like, bro, let's go. He's like, he lives right. He lives down that street, his church is there, his Bible college is there, Mr. Jesus is not the Messiah is right there. That's him right there. And I was like, what? And he's like, yeah, I mean, he's had people from his church come to our church and try to infiltrate and sit in the services and they're just as weird as he is. And he said that he was, either himself or one of his church members were out sowing and they ran into some of his people from that church. And they were just checking up on their salvation, just asking what they have to do to be saved and can you lose your salvation for any reason? And the guy responded by saying this, well, I can't lose my salvation. He's all, but I can't speak for everyone else though. It's like, what in the world are you talking about? He's like, yeah, because if you start messing with the Jews, that could cost you your salvation. That might cost you your salvation, which is a major Sam Gipp teaching. He teaches like, if you deny that the Jews are God's chosen people, that for sure will just make you impossible, folks. That is impossible. And look, you think that teaching is only like, isolated in Boise, Idaho with those guys? No, our evangelist, Ulysses Hernandez used to go to a church, it was called the Will of God Baptist Church. It was a Spanish church and him and his wife, she wasn't his wife at the time. They were attending that church and we started this church and so they came to visit our church on the first day and they're very supportive and everything. And they got in a lot of trouble for visiting our church. Some of you visitors today, you guys might get in trouble. They got in a lot of trouble for visiting our church and the pastor had a meeting with them, a sit down meeting with them and was giving them all the reasons why our church is bad and heretical and all these things. And he specifically told them, in Espanol, he's like, if you believe that the Jews are not God's chosen people, you've probably lost your salvation. And then they walked out of that meeting and Vanessa, which is Ulysses' wife, was like, did he just say what I think he just said? He's believed us this whole time? What in the world? No, you fool. What in the world are you talking about? You can lose your salvation because you believe that the Jews, if you believe that the Jews are not God's chosen people, you can somehow lose your salvation. That's impossible. It's impossible to lose your salvation for any reason. Any reason at all. It's impossible to lose it. Now look at Hebrews chapter 6 and verse number, let me see here, let me turn there myself because I think I got the wrong one here. We are in Hebrews chapter 6 though. Hebrews chapter number 6 and verse number 17, it says, for men barely swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Now look, when God makes an oath, he always keeps it. It's immutable. It's not going to change. No matter what happens, what is said, no matter what people do, he's not going to change when he gives this oath. He says in verse 18, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie. So what is Sam Gipp and all his church members doing when they say you can lose your salvation if you don't believe that the Jews are God's chosen people? They're calling God a liar. God made an oath. His counsel is given by his, this immutability right here. And you know what they're saying? Well, that's a lie. That's a lie. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us. He says in verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. He's saying our salvation is like that anchor, that when it's let down, it's sure and steadfast, the boat isn't going anywhere. Once the anchor has been dropped, because God has promised, because he's not a man that he should lie, as soon as the anchor is dropped, the boat isn't going anywhere. It's not going to sink. It's not going to drift. It's not going to go anywhere. Now, it might drift a couple feet here and there to the west, to the east, to the south, to the north, just as Christians in like manner have a tendency to drift a little bit. Maybe they go a little south because they stopped reading their Bible. Maybe they go a little south because of the fact that maybe they stopped coming to church or stopped serving the Lord. But here at the end of the day, you know, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. It's impossible to lose your salvation. We have an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ gave us eternal life. You know, this life isn't Jesus Christ. He says, I give him some eternal life and they shall sometimes perish, maybe perish, possibility he could perish. No, they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Folks, it's impossible to lose your salvation for any reason. And for some reason, you know, people get stuck on this whole suicide thing. What if you commit suicide and, you know, what if you take your own life? Only God can take your life. And, you know, they come up with all these statements that can, you know, people think, well, you know, maybe that's the, that's the exception to the rule. When it comes, there's a lot of exceptions to the rule in the Bible, but when it comes to salvation, there is no exception. Once you have it, you have it. And so it's impossible, not everything is possible, losing your salvation is not possible at all. And look folks, the Bible tells us that the moment we get saved, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption. And if you're to study what that phrase means, the day of redemption, it's referring to the second coming of Christ. So he's saying that you have salvation and in fact the Holy Spirit is sealed within you until you die and you go to heaven or when Christ comes back. That's the sealing. So to say he's sealed until the day of redemption, but yeah, you can lose your salvation. You can go to hell, it's possible. You're just twisting scripture, obviously you're ignorant of it. And so losing your salvation is not possible, can never happen. How about this? You know, getting everyone saved is not possible either. Getting everyone saved is not possible. Now we would love to save the world, if it were possible, we would love to just get everyone saved and everyone would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But the reality is it's not going to happen. Now this is not a sermon on gloom and doom where it's just like, well, we should just give up. We're living in the land of seeing church error, just got to do what we can brother and just hang on to the second coming of Christ. False. Folks, the Bible tells us, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. And you are what our hand has found to do is to plow and preach the gospel and see as many people saved as possible, because that is possible. But the reality is not everyone we give the gospel to will be saved. There's going to be people who are just close to the gospel or they won't get saved at that moment, they'll get saved later on in life or whatever it may be. Or how about this, just people just are reprobate and they'll never get saved. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter six, you're in Hebrews chapter six, go to verse number one, it says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go into perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this is what we do if God permit, for it is impossible for those that were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again into repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. The Bible's telling us this, there are certain people that are given the gospel so many times, they understand the truth, they're enlightened. They're so close that they can taste it. They're so close that they become a partaker of the Holy Ghost, in other words, they sense that power. They are enlightened, they are witnesses of the power of the gospel and they just completely turn away from it and they say no. The Bible says it's impossible for them to be saved. And this is referring to reprobates. A reprobate is someone who has been rejected of God because of the fact that they've rejected God so much that God says, well, okay, you're done, you can no longer be saved then. And people think, man, that's rude, man, how could God do that, that God loves everyone. He's not just like picking people like, all right, you're saved, not you, you, I'll think about it, you're gone. He's not like picking people apart. This is not Calvinism, folks. God is a gentleman. He's not going to force himself upon anybody, you understand? And if a person says, I hate you, I don't want you, I don't want to think about you, I don't want salvation, I don't want Jesus, God says, okay, that's fine, all right, then what I'll do is I'll make you a reprobate to make it easier for you to hate me, make it easier for you to reject the truth, and it'll just kind of seal the deal for you. So this is not just like, oh, God, I want to be saved, and God's like, no, reprobates. He just like rejects them and that's it. He's like, why, I wanted to be saved. No, this individual is like, if God were to ask them, would you like to be a reprobate, they would say, yes, please, because I hate you. This is referring to people who already hate God. They're down the path of hating God, hating the truth, hating the gospel, hating his son, hating the Bible, hating it, and God just says, all right, I'll just put the cherry on top. You already got the cake, you got the filling, you already made it, here's the cherry on top. Just make you a reprobate, and you can just feel like that for the rest of your life, and in fact, you'll be like that for the rest of eternity. And to prove that, look what it says in verse seven. And look, folks, like, well, I still think we've got to give him the gospel. All right, you can do that. I mean, you could do that if you want, but you're casting your pearls before swine, and it's not going to do anything. Let me prove it to you. Look what it says in verse number four. What is the Bible telling us? You know, when God allows it to rain upon this earth, the plants that really are able to benefit from that and to produce fruit are those that are still alive. Those that are capable of producing herbs, people who have dressed these plants in order to produce whatever vegetation or fruit is available, those are able to do that because God is pouring water upon a living thing that is able to produce that fruit. Verse eight, but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. So he's saying, look, if God rains upon the earth to that which is alive, it's going to produce herbs. But you know what? When it rains upon thorns and briars, it will not produce any fruit. It'll produce more thorns, more briars, but it's not going to do anything. Well, we just got to give him more water. We just got to pray for this reprobate. We got to pray for this sodomite. We got to pray for this person. We got to give him the gospel and rain. It's never going to produce an herb, never. It's never, because natural law teaches that, right? You can pour rain, but if it's already dead, it's not going to produce anything but thorns and briars. It's rejected. It's nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. It's impossible is basically what he's saying. You're not going to produce herbs from a thorn and a briar because it's impossible. Just in like manner of certain people, they just cannot be saved. It's impossible for them to ever get saved. This is a hard truth for a lot of people. Why is that? Well, because especially the millennial generation, I'm a millennial. We went to public school where they taught that sodomy was okay and all these things are okay and embrace it. People today, they have family members who are sodomites, cousins and sisters and relatives that are sodomites, so they have a hard time accepting this truth. But the reality is it's still the truth. It just hits a little harder. This is not your John 3.16 truth, okay? It goes a little further than that, it's a little deeper than that, and you know what it is? It's reality. And it's teaching us that not all things are possible because there's a thing, if the gospel could save everyone, if we can save everyone, we would have done it already, right? But we live in a real world. We live in a real world where people literally hate God, they reject the gospel, or they reject the gospel but they're not reprobated, but they die and they end up going to hell. That's reality sometimes, folks. It's impossible to get the people in hell saved, Catholics, Mormons, getting baptized for the dead. It's impossible. Well, you know, they're in purgatory right now, we just got to pray these amount of prayers and get them out of there, and it's not going to happen. That's impossible. And you know what? The impossibility of it helps us to recognize the urgency of getting people saved who are still alive. It helps us to realize the importance of giving the gospel to someone while they're still open to it, okay? But it is impossible for those who are once enlightened. And look, we don't want to waste our time with those people anyways. If you want to create a ministry and do that, that's your business, but I'm not putting my stamp of approval on it for First Works Baptist Church. It's not going to happen. Go to Luke chapter 17, Luke chapter 17. Not all things are possible. Not all things are possible. I posted something on Facebook a couple weeks ago, and this guy commented and basically said like, you guys are heretics, and oh, you guys are a cult, and blah, blah, blah. And I said, what makes us a cult? And it wasn't like the gospel, it wasn't the Bible, he says, well, do you believe homosexuals can be saved? And my response to that, I was just like, why do you even care about that? Why do you care? Who gives a crap about that? There's plenty of people in this world that are not part of that segment of the population that you can reach. Over 90% of the population. And that's what you want to whine about? It's nonsense, folks. In fact, it's sus. Isn't that what they say today? That's sus. When someone comes at me with that stuff, it's like, hmm. I just kind of narrow-eyedly look at them and think to myself, that's sus right there. Why are you hung up on that? And I'm just waiting for them to say, well, God saved me from that. You know what's out there? Let's move on. Not everything is possible. How about this? You know, avoiding offenses is not possible. If you're avoiding offenses, not possible. You can live a godly Christian life and seek to live at peace with everyone in this world or even your brethren. Someone's going to offend you. And let me say this, you will offend someone. Don't go through life thinking, no one at First Works Baptist Church will ever offend me. We love each other. We do love each other. But the reality is, offenses will come. In fact, look what the Bible says, Luke 17 verse 1, then said he unto the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come, but woe unto him through whom they come. Verse 2, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea. Who's speaking here? Oh yeah, that's Jesus. Then that he should offend one of these little ones. Review the previous point, okay? So he obviously, this is referring to the offense even towards a child, but this actually applies even to us in church. So how do you know? Look at verse 3, take heed unto yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And if you trespass against thee seven times in a day, this dude's bad. I mean, when someone's just offending you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shall forgive him. Why? Because it's gonna happen. Now I read this and I'm like, man, come on. But you know what? I'm in good company. Why? Because look at verse 5, and the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. So he's like, you gotta help me with this one. And it's probably Peter who says something like this, you know, Peter's just like, I rather just like, can we just excommunicate him? Can we just throw them out? Can we just do something? Can we just like, you know, whatever? He's like, increase our faith. And it does take faith. But here's the thing that will help us to understand this. Well, before, I don't want to get ahead of myself yet. Let me just say this is that within a church setting, especially within a church setting, offenses will always come. Someone in church is gonna offend you, they're gonna say something that you find offensive. Someone's gonna, you know, call you fat or, you know, ugly or something, you know, jokingly. Or they might do something they don't even know is offensive towards you, and you're gonna get offended. Don't be surprised. And don't think, well, this is not the church for me. I need to go, then go to some cotton candy church down the street where no one's gonna offend you because the pastor just wants your money. He's like, go to no offense Baptist church where every sermon is just nice and motivational and loving, and he's just like, just make sure you throw the tithe into the plate. But hey, everything's all good, no one's gonna offend you. I don't want that kind of church. I want a church where someone's gonna tell me like it is, and you know what, I want a church where, yeah, the people are a little real, but at least I know they love me. Because that's how a family really is, isn't it? Don't brothers and sisters, don't they fight sometimes? I grew up fighting with my brother and my sister and getting into arguments and physical altercations with them and being tossed and all that stuff. I remember getting into fights with my brother growing up, I mean full-blown fights, and an hour later we're like, cool again. It's like hanging out again, because that's what brothers do. Well like man, that's how it should be in church, minus the physical altercations, okay? And so don't have this attitude where it's just like, well I was offended so I just need to leave church. It's not the right attitude to have. The right attitude to have is like, well it's impossible to avoid offenses. You say, well how should I deal with the dead? Forgive that person. Yeah, but they did it again, well do it like, if they do it like seven times today, forgive them seven times, okay? And ask the Lord to increase your faith. Go to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. Not everything is possible. It's not going to be possible for you to find a church where everything is perfect. And if you do find a perfect church, you're going to ruin it the moment you step in. Did I offend you? Told you it was impossible. Look at Ephesians four verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from me with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. It's just too hard. Oh, let's just finish the verse. Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. If ever you find it hard to forgive your brother for something that they did against you that you found offensive, just think about all the times that God forgave you for all the nonsense that you do. For all your offenses towards God, because we sin every single day. And in fact, he actually has pardoned all of our iniquities. He saved us knowing what transgressions we were going to do in the future. That's how perfect his forgiveness is towards us. That he saved us and pardoned us even of things that we didn't know that we were going to do in 10 years. He forgave us. He forgave us of all of that. And in fact, he cast it into the deepest part of the ocean, separated our transgressions as far as east is from west. He forgave us. But even on a day-to-day basis, he forgives us. Why? Because he loves us. And so whenever you find it hard to forgive a brother because they offended you or a sister because she didn't like the dress you wear, I don't know what girls fight about, she did this or said this, think about all the times that you offended God. Think about all the times that you transgressed the laws of the Lord, the things of God, and God forgave you for Christ's sake. And that should humble you and never cause you to think, yeah, but that's different though. That's God. Nonsense for you to have an attitude like that. Think upon them and say, you know what, God forgave me for so much, the least I can do is forgive my brother for his offenses towards me. And look, folks, I take it a step further. It's good to forgive someone and to confirm your love towards them too, because you're going to be in this church, you might as well try to get along. And I'm not saying you have to be a BBF with everyone here, towards your offender or whatever, but you can get along. It's possible to get along, it's possible to have peace one another, it's possible to have the right mindset towards that individual, even though they offended you. So forgive me, okay? I say that to say this, forgive me, and look, I'm going to offend you. I'm sure there's people here that I've offended, you know, get over it. Forgive me as God forgave you. And there's people here who have offended me. You've been offensive towards me, you're an offense towards me, against me, but who cares? When I get offended, it's just like, well, maybe they didn't mean it that way, maybe they meant it a different way, and even if they did mean it that way, you know what, Lord, I know that I have offended you many times. And you know what, there's probably times when you've offended the Lord and never asked for forgiveness because you're just ignorant of that offense, right? How about that? And He still forgave us. He still was gracious to us, He was merciful to us. So why don't you become merciful towards others? And not keep bringing up that offense with other people. I forgive them, but, right, well, I forgive them, but I'm just saying, well, you know, that's not really like forgiving, you keep bringing it up. Forgiveness is just like I forgive, and look, obviously we just can't forget things. Turn to offenses you just will never forget, you know what I mean? So what do you do when you can't forget a specific offense? It just lingers. Well, offenses are kind of like a wound. It's kind of like a wound, okay? And what happens is sometimes there's a wound, and someone bumps into your wound and just kind of reminds you of that time, and it kind of like reopens that wound. That's just how life is sometimes. Sometimes, you know, you have a wound that you received years ago, and it's just like you're not thinking about it, you're not thinking about it, you're just living your life, and then someone says something, does something, and it's like they spiritually bump into your wound, and it opens up, and it's just like all the floods of emotions come out, all the reminders and all the memories and all the pains that come attached to that, and then you're just like mad again. So what do I do? Just bind it back up again. Because that's exactly how it's going to be for the rest of our lives. We have imperfect bodies, we have imperfect mindsets, and you know, sometimes there's nothing you can do about the offense, it's impossible for you to get rid of those 100%. So what you can do is number one, bind it up again. Number two, don't get mad at the person who accidentally bumped into you. You know, if it's your dog and you just kick your dog, that's what he gets, you know? That's what he gets for being your dog. But if it's a human being, and you just lash out at that human being, it's like hey, it's not that person's fault. You know, well do I need like a therapy, yeah, you need therapy, it's called the Bible. It's called being strong in the Lord and the power of his might, it's called Lord help increase my faith to help me to forgive others, you know, it's called Lord help me to learn from this situation, and a lot of times those wounds don't heal because you never really dealt with them properly. You know, a lot of wounds that you have physically, Dr. Reed, you can correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of wounds or injuries that you have, you know, they're there and they linger around because you never really took care of them properly when you first had them. You never really allowed it to heal properly, you understand? And so it kind of still clicks, it still hurts, you still have certain pains, you understand? Well in like manner, you know, when you get offended, some of those things never really heal because you never really took care of them, you kind of just suppressed it. You kind of just like, oh, I'm just not going to think about it. Whereas what you should do is just deal with it. Say, Lord, I'm offended at Paul, mad at Paul, Paul said I was fat, and he made a really good joke about it, and everyone laughed at me, and I'm just like, you know, I'm still mad about that, Lord, and you deal with it. You go to Paul and say, Paul, I'm mad because you said I'm fat, and the reality is, I am. And I don't want you pointing that out. And Paul's going to be like, dude, I'm sorry that you're fat, and I'm just kidding. I'm sorry that I said that to you, you know what I mean? And here's the thing, when you gain your brother, when you do things like that, often the offender and the offendee become actually a lot closer. Because then you realize that the person who offended you actually does love you a lot, and wants to reconcile and go the second mile. That's how you deal with it. But if you just suppress it, you're just like, I'm just going to ignore it, then you're going to have this bruise. And one day, someone who's innocent, whom you love, your wife, your children, they're going to bump into that wound, and it's going to bring back the floods of memories and offenses and hurts and pains, and you're going to lash out at someone who doesn't deserve it. Just know this, everything is not possible, and you know what, offenses will come. Here's the last thing. Go to Hebrew chapter 11. I spent a lot of time on that, but I think it was good. Hey wives, just know this, your husbands, they're going to offend you. They're going to say something very offensive towards you. Sometimes they don't have a filter, they, meaning myself included. We don't have a filter, and you're going to offend your spouse. It's going to happen. Okay? And look, sometimes the wives can offend the husband. So the Bible, is that a personal testimony, brother Morrie? Just kidding. He's like, amen. That's what the Bible says, you know, to be not bitter against your wife. And the implication there is that they can do something that will cause you to be bitter against them. It's possible. Don't think that once you get married, everything's perfect and everything's going to be hunky dory. There's going to be bumps in the road. Offenses will come. We need to deal with them properly. And lastly, just know this, pleasing God without faith is not possible. It's not possible. Well, I just think if I just do everything I'm supposed to do and just go soul winning and go to church and just be as strict as possible, no, there has to be an element of faith involved in your life where you're taking risks. You are stepping out in faith. You are lacking things and therefore you pray for them. You give people the benefit of the doubt. You're out there stepping out in faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 5 says, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hey, have some faith in your life. Don't try to have all your ducks in order and everything just has to be exactly where it needs to be. No, sometimes it has to be an element of the unknown in your life because when there's an element of I just don't know what's going to happen, at that point you get to exercise your faith. You say, I don't know, but I know who holds tomorrow. I know that God can do this. I'm going to step out in faith and be a blessing to this individual. I'm going to step out in faith and trust God in this financial endeavor. I'm going to trust God in this area, obviously within biblical reason. Use wisdom. But what I'm saying is this, is that we need faith. And that's important because especially for people who already have a lot of character, they just have everything in order. They got their Bible reading down, they got their soul winning down, and then it's just like there's no element of faith involved. We need to make sure we have faith and we're exercising our faith continuously. Faith is like a muscle that needs to be exercised if it's going to be strong. So what's the sermon for this evening or this morning, I already went beyond my time here, is this, not everything is possible. With God all things are possible, on God's terms, within the realm of the Bible and scripture. Yeah, with God all things are possible, but the reality is, we have to be realistic. I like people who are optimistic. I'm a pessimistic person, so I like that too, but the good thing is this, is when you're just realistic. Because when you're realistic, if it's good, then you can be optimistic. When you're realistic, if the situation's bad, then you can be pessimistic and it's still correct. It's best to just be a realist and say, what's really going to happen? What does the Bible really say about this? Are all things possible? With God, yes, on his terms, but the reality is, everything else, not everything is possible. Amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and we're thankful, Lord, for our salvation that we can never lose it. We're thankful that you said that it is impossible. It's impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a needle. It's impossible for us to go to heaven on our own terms, by our own works, by our own merits. It's impossible. It's never going to happen, but we're thankful that with you, all things are possible. Eternal life is possible through Jesus Christ. Getting people saved is possible through Jesus, and Lord, I pray to God you help us to recognize these impossibilities in scripture so that we can live a more realistic Christian life in recognition that offenses will come, and people will offend us, and it's going to happen, but it's no reason to quit the Christian life or have a bad attitude towards an individual in our church because of it, Lord. Even though it's impossible that offenses, they will come, it is possible to reconcile. It is possible to have a right attitude towards them. It is possible to even love that person and become closer to them if dealt with accordingly, Lord. And I pray that, Lord, you be with us throughout this Sunday, soul winning the preaching tonight and the fellowship to follow. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.