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So long as we'll be able to sing unto you, I ask now that you would just bless the preaching. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. All right, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter number 7 and look down at your Bibles at verse number 10. It says, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold the self, same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what of a human desire, yea what zeal, yea what of revenge. In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Wherefore though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. And the topic I want to preach on this evening is reasons why people overcompensate. Reasons why people tend to overcompensate. Now what does it mean to compensate? Well to compensate means to reduce or counter by exerting an opposite force of effect. To overcompensate is to take excessive measures in attempting to correct an error, weakness, and or problem. And so that simply means when someone is overcompensating, in other words they're just overdoing it. They're excessively trying to do the opposite of what they currently are doing in order to correct the wrong, an error, etc. Now turn with me if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. Hold your place there in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, we're going to go back to that in just a bit. The title is reasons why people overcompensate. Now often when we think of someone overcompensating, we can often think and associate that with being wicked and bad, and that is often the case, but not always. Because of the fact that sometimes we need to overcompensate, we need to kind of overdo certain things. Why? Because the Bible tells us that every man should prove his own work, and if we are weak in a specific area, if we're lacking attributes or character in a certain area, we should do our best to put in the effort necessary to change that area. You know, if you are struggling with a specific habit or a specific sin, you should do your best to overcompensate and change that behavior, change that habit, change that way of thinking or believing in order to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. Now I'm going to give you three reasons why people today overcompensate. Why is it that some people go over the top with their behavior, their attitudes, and or their actions? So here are the three points that I'm going to give tonight. Number one, people overcompensate because of past failures. Number two, people overcompensate because they have an inferiority complex. And number three, some people just overcompensate because they're just plain wicked, okay? They're just wicked people, and we're going to get into that in just a bit. So those are the three reasons why people overcompensate, and those are the points for this evening. So let's go ahead and pray. We'll be dismissed. No, I'm just kidding. We're going to expound on those three points tonight, all right? So number one, as I mentioned, why do people overcompensate? Number one, because of past failures, all right? Now the story we just read, or excuse me, the passage we just read in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 is referring to the incident that took place at the Church of Corinth where a man was involved in fornication. Now this church was such a compromising church that this fornication was commonly reported within this congregation, and what that means is that everyone knew about it. The pastor knew about it, the leaders knew about it, the members knew about it, and they just kind of let it go unfettered, unchecked. No church discipline was implemented, and no one did anything about it. And so look what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It says in verse number 1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. Now this is referring to a man who's committing fornication with his stepmother, okay? Not referring to his mother, it's talking about his stepmother. And the reason it's called fornication in this passage of scripture is because of the fact that the father has passed away, all right? Now if the father was alive, it would not be considered fornication, it would be considered adultery. That's the difference between the two. Adultery is the act committed within marriage when two people are married. Someone leaves the boundaries of that marriage and commits a sexual act with another person, whereas fornication is the sin of two people who are not married committing that act. And the reason we know those are two separate sins is because there's two different penalties dealt with according to those two. The adultery is punishable by death according to the Bible, fornication is not. So here we see that he's having these relations with his father's wife. This is wicked, okay? He's having these relations, it's in the church, and the Bible says that it is commonly reported. People know about it, they're just not doing anything about it. Look what it says in verse two, and ye are puffed up. What is he saying? You're prideful and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. He's saying, look, you're proud, you're not mourning, you're not grieved over this sin. This person who's doing this deed should be taken away from you, they should be excommunicated from the church. It says in verse number three, for verily, as absent in the body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one and to say to him for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, your glorying is not good. Knowing not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. What is Paul saying? Look, it doesn't take four years in seminary to figure out what it is that you should do in this situation. He's like, I'm not even present, and I've already judged what should be done, and what should be done? That man should be excommunicated from the congregation, they should be given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, because if not, if you permit fornication to continue in the church, it's going to permeate, and ultimately, the pastor will compromise in other areas because of the fact that he's tolerating this specific sin, okay? Now he's saying they're proud and they're puffed up because they're not doing anything about it. Now, what does this lead us to believe? It leads us to believe that they're thinking to themselves, well, you know, we're not judgmental like the apostle Paul, you know, we're trying to help this person along, help this person do the right thing, but he's saying, no, you're just puffed up, you're just being prideful because you think you know better than God. And in fact, if you go back to chapter 4, look at verse 18, he says, Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye? Shall I come to you with the rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? He said, look, some of you are so proud and arrogant about this whole situation, you think I'm not going to come and execute church discipline on you. Should I come to you with the rod, or should I come to you in the spirit of meekness? And so he continues that thought in chapter 5, look down at verse 7 of chapter 5, he says, Look, purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and in truth, and so on and so forth. Look down, look, you need to make sure that you remove this sin from the church. Don't just let it go unfettered. If people are involved in this specific sin, you need to make sure that you deal with it immediately. Skip down to verse 11, he says, But now I have written unto you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, he is expounding on who this church discipline should apply to, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, was such a one known not to eat. So he's saying, look, when church discipline is carried out on a person who's involved in these specific sins, not only are they not allowed to be in the congregation of God's people, you should even have a meal with them. That's the separation that should be executed upon a person who is involved in these sins and they're not repentant. Because we're talking about a person who's not repentant, right? Someone who's involved in fornication, they're like, I want to keep fornicating with my girlfriend. I want to keep fornicating with my boyfriend. We're not willing to split up and separate. It's like, okay, you can keep doing that if you want, but you just can't do it here. You can't be a member of this church. You need to get out, you're not welcomed here until you get that right, you repent, and then you can be reinstated into the local congregation. They're a brother. So if a person is covetous, if a person is an idolater, or a railer, drunkard, extortioner, the Bible says not only are they not welcome in the congregation, you should even have a meal with them. Why? Because at that point, you are basically supporting them in their sin, okay? You're advocating for them, you're tolerating it. It says, verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now today you have churches that don't do any church discipline. People can get involved in smoking marijuana, and drinking alcohol, you have couples who come to church and they're fornicating, they're involved in adultery, they're doing all kinds of wicked things, and the church does not execute church discipline at all. And they say, well, you know, we need to be gracious, and merciful, and long suffering. It's not right to put people out of the church. We need to make sure that we're loving, but hold on a second, are we just gonna completely negate the fact that verse 13 says, put away from among yourselves that wicked person? Now this is not talking about like a hit, you know, just pop them and put away from among yourselves that wicked person. You know, put away from among yourselves that wicked person is referring to the fact that you need to put them out of the congregation, okay? So we see here a pretty extreme case. Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter 7, he's coming down on them hard with this first letter to the Corinthians. So you guys are puffed up, you're not mourning, you're not putting away the leaven, you know, you're a bunch of compromising Christians. You're not instituting church discipline, and therefore the church is gonna be just a cesspool of sin if you don't deal with this speedily. Now fast forward to the second letter, we see now that they have executed church discipline. This guy was thrown out of the church. But here's the problem, now they have booted him out of the church, he is repenting of his sin, he's getting right with God, but they're still not willing to let him into the church. What are they doing? They're going overboard. They are overcompensating for their failure to obey the commandment to, you know, institute church discipline in the first place. So now it's to the point where now the Apostle Paul has to flip the script and say, okay, look, now you guys gotta confirm your love toward him. Because now it's like it's overbearing, he's swallowed up with much grief, he's repented but you're not forgiving him, you're not reinstating him into the church, he already got right with God, it's time to reinstate him into the church, confirm your love towards him and forgive him in Christ's stead, right? But they're not doing that. And so he's actually commending them, first and foremost, for the fact that they did it. He says in verse 11, for behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves. So when they realized they were in the wrong, what did they do? Now they became careful. Now they begin to clear themselves. Get this guy out of here, throw him out, don't even let him come near us, yea, what indignation, now they're mad. Can't believe this guy who's in church, he's fornicating, he's doing all these things and we just let him come in here, indignation is just anger, right? Yea what fear, like, oh man, we gotta be careful because if not, God's gonna judge us. Yea what the human desire, yea what zeal, bless God we're not gonna let any fornicator no more come into our congregation, I don't care if they repent. Yea what zeal, yea what revenge, all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. It's like, okay guys, I get it. You guys got it right. We see the extent that you went through, you're overcompensating, but now you're kind of basically overdoing it. Okay? He says, Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause, that I'd done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. So now he's like, you know the first epistle was for his sake, because I wanted him to get right with God, this second epistle's for you guys. Because here's the thing, we're not ignorant of Satan's devices, Satan is seeking to get a foothold on you by causing you not to forgive this individual, allow him back into the congregation, and what happens if they continue in this attitude? They get this holier than thou complex, right? Where they think they're better than everyone else, and man they did church discipline, and they won't even allow a fornicator into the church, even if he gets right with God, well that is an ungodly, excessive extent that they're going to. They're overcompensating, they're overdoing it, right? Because of what? Because of their failure to do church discipline in the first place. Now go to Judges 21, if you would, Judges 21. So 1 Corinthians is a great example of that, you know, they just swung completely opposite on the other side of the pendulum, they were not kicking them out, and now they are. And look folks, we never want to be either or. We don't want to be the church that doesn't do any church discipline, but we also don't want to be the kind of church that does church discipline and we can't even forgive someone when they do wrong. Or we reinstate them but we just remind them of their sin, we rub it in their face, we just, we're still better than you, and remember when you did this, that's wrong. You know, that is overcompensating for the failures that you yourself have done. Now Judges 21, we're not going to go over the entire story, but if you remember, there's 12 tribes during this time, every man is doing that which is right in their own eyes. And you find out that the tribe of Benjamin is housing a group of Sodomites, sons of Belial. These people end up raping and murdering a woman, okay? The 11 tribes, they band together, they rise up against this 12th tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, to basically destroy them, okay? Now here's the thing, let's read this, it says in verse number 1, Now the men of Israel had sworn to Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. The people came to the house of God and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices and wept sore, and said, O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? So what did they do? They just completely wiped out all these Sodomites, which praise God for that, amen. They completely take them out, they just destroy them. Verse 4 says, And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose up early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up to the congregation unto the Lord? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death. So they say, Look, whoever didn't come up to fight with us, we're just going to kill them too. What are they doing? They're overcompensating. You see, you say, Well, what's the failure? The failure was to take care of the Benjamites before all this thing came to pass. The failure was that they were permitting idolatry in the land, which what happens when you allow idolatry into the land? Ultimately, that leads to reprobation. We see that in Romans chapter number one. When you permit idolatry in the land, people are worshiping idols and getting involved in paganism. Ultimately, that introduces reprobation because they're worshiping the creature more than the creator, you understand? And if you study the history of Israel during this interval of time, you see that idolatry was rampant. Well, guess what, Israel, what you should have done is taken care of the problem in the first place. Therefore, you don't have to overcompensate later on. You just execute the laws of the Lord. You destroy people who are involved in idolatry. You take out the Sodomites out of the land, and then you're not running into this mess that you have here. He says in verse six, And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? So there's a remnant of Benjamin that is left. They're not Sodomites, okay? They're not these wicked people. But what do they do? They're overcompensating for their failure, and now they made an oath. Well, we're not gonna let any of our people marry into them, you know? You're overdoing it. He says in verse eight, And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not to Mizpah to the Lord? And behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. For the people were numbered, and behold, there was none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. Man, overdoing it. Why? Well, you should have done that before. You should have taken care of the problem before. Now you got this major failure on your hands, and what's their reaction? Well, now we gotta overdo it. Now we have to overcompensate. Now we even gotta destroy Jabesh Gilead with the women and children. Children are innocent. It had nothing to do with this. Verse eleven, And this is the thing that ye shall do, ye shall utterly destroy every male and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins that had not known no man by line with any male. And they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock of Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. Benjamin came again at that time, and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead, and yet so they sufficed them not. And the people repented them for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. No, the Lord didn't make the breach. You guys did. You guys are the ones who disobeyed God. You guys are the ones who didn't take care of their idolatry. Therefore there's this big mess in Israel because of that. But what do you have them doing? Overcompensating, overdoing it, because of their past failures. Now let me say this, is that overcompensating for your past failures, it could be good, and it could be bad. Okay? Let me explain why it could be good. As I mentioned in 2 Corinthians 7, it caused the church at Corinth to be more zealous, to clear themselves, to be careful, to have vehement desire, to have indignation. These are qualities that a church should always have. We should hate sin, we should not want it in our church, we should not have this compromising attitude towards fornication, adultery, divorce, drunkenness, idolatry, railing, extortion. We should hate these things. So why is it good when someone goes over the top sometimes? Well, I will say this, sometimes when people get saved later on in life, maybe they lived a really bad life before, they committed a lot of sin. They have a tendency to go over the top once they get saved. Now that could be good, because sometimes that's what needs to be done. They lived a bad life, so they're kind of making up for lost time, and so they're just kind of like, I know what sin can do to you, it's ruined my life, it wrecked my family's life, it wrecked my life, therefore I hate it. And they become very passionate and zealous, hateful towards sin, and that's okay. The Bible tells us, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh, for as ye have yielded your members' servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members' servants to righteousness unto holiness. So we say, look, just as you were for the world, you were just yielding yourself unto uncleanness, unto uncleanness, just going all into the world, well, you should kind of transfer that attitude and go all in for God. Just as much as you love sin, you should, in like manner, hate sin and love righteousness. Just as passionate and zealous you were for the things of this world, well, you should transfer that zeal and be zealous and passionate about the things of God. So that's not bad. I've known people who got right with God, or they get saved, and they get into church, and they become zealous Christians for the Lord, and they kind of go over the top, but you know, I prefer someone who goes over the top than someone who just lacks in their Christian life. You know, they come to church, but they still smoke weed every once in a while, make excuses for that, or they drink a little bit here and there, they just don't tell anybody, or they're still struggling with fornicating or whatever it may be, and they're just kind of like, well, you know, this is who I used to be and all this stuff. No, better to just go over the top in that area and just say, you know what, I'm just going to separate from my friends, I'm breaking up with my unsaved girlfriend, I'm breaking up with my unsaved boyfriend, I'm not going to hang out on Friday nights at the bar anymore, even though I'm just going to drink a Coke, I'm thinking I'm just going to drink a Coke with my friends, I'm just not going to do that at all. I'm going to show up to soul winning, I'm going to go to every service, I'm going to do whatever it takes to separate myself from the world. Have the human desire, zeal, nothing wrong with that, it's good, okay? Overcompensate for your failures, why not? Seek the things that God hates and seek to hate it with passion. But here's the thing, sometimes that attitude could also be bad, okay? Why? Well, because people sometimes will overcompensate as a Christian and they'll look down on others who don't have that same standard as they do. Or if people don't have that same hatred and zeal as they do, they look down on those people and that's wrong, it's wrong. You know, hey, if that's your attitude towards that, you know, sin, you know, where you just have this passionate thing against that, then good for you, but you know what, you don't have to try to impose that same attitude on others. Or look down on others if they don't hate sin as much as you do. Hey, if you run into someone and you hate marijuana, you hate alcohol, you hate drugs, and you're just like, this is wicked, we should preach against this and never allow, hey, amen. But you know what, if you run into a Christian who doesn't have that same indignation, level of indignation towards those drugs or whatever, don't get down on that person, that person probably has never done it ever in their life and therefore they know it's wicked but they're not gonna have that same hatred because they didn't experience the same consequences. But you know what, thank God, amen. If that person has never done any drugs in their life, that's a good thing. If they didn't defile themselves with marijuana and cocaine and mushrooms and LSD and alcohol, you know what, that person obviously understands that doing that is wrong because they've never done it before. But you can't expect that person to have the same level of indignation as you do, you understand? And it's not right for people to expect people to be as zealous as they are for the hatred towards sin as much as you do. That's when it becomes wrong. You know, when people try to overcompensate in that area to the point where they look down on others for not hating that sin as much as you do, that's wrong, folks. People sometimes just see right through that. You know, when someone's overcompensating and they're just kind of being the self-righteous holier than thou, not only do people see it, people hate that. I don't like being around people like that. It irritates me, it's just a holier than thou complex, and I'm just like, this person's trying to overcompensate because they probably lived a wicked life, you know? Well, don't you hate fornication? Of course I do because the Bible tells me that I should hate it. Don't you hate adultery? Absolutely. You know what? But I've noticed that people who were involved in those sins often hate it more than I do, and that's okay as long as you don't look down on me for not hating it as much as you do. You know, I want to hate all sin equally, amen? I want to hate the abominable, I want to hate...but I don't want to hate it to the point where, you know, someone comes into the church and they're involved in that, I can't even allow them in church, you know, if they're involved in that specific sin. And look, let me just make it very clear. Someone who's involved in drunkenness, fornication, or any of these other sins, they're welcome in our church. They're welcome in our church. Let me repeat that again. You say, how can you sin and then we just read 1 Corinthians 5? Yeah, but if that person doesn't know 1 Corinthians 5, how do you expect them to be held to that standard if they don't even know that? You know, they're welcome to come to our church until they hear me preach about it or until someone talks to them about it. At that point, they understand, oh, this is wicked. This is wrong. I need to get this right. At which point, then we deal with it. But you know what? If you know someone who's a drunkard or they smoke weed or they're involved in fornication or, you know, whatever it may be, don't have this attitude, well, I'm not going to let them come to my church, you know. That's a wicked sin. You can't let fornicators and drunkards into our church. Yeah, but you know that. They don't. It's not fair to that person who doesn't know it. You know, God's not going to hold them accountable as far as them coming here if they don't understand that. They need that to be preached to them. They need someone to explain it to them. There's a point where you didn't know about it until someone explained it to you, okay? Look at Romans chapter 2, if you would, Romans chapter number 2. Actually let's skip that for a second. Go to, let's see here, go to Philippians chapter 2, if you would, Philippians chapter 2. So why do people overcompensate? Well, they overcompensate because of their past failures, okay? You know, they've done something wrong in the past. They were guilty of some specific sins and, you know, they have this behemoth desire against it. They have a spirit of revenge and amen to that. You know, it's good when people want to live a holy life, they want to clean up their life and they're zealous for the things of God. That's a-okay. Where it crosses the line is when you expect everyone else to be just like you in that area, okay? Not right, you know, allow people to grow and don't have this overcompensating attitude where you expect everyone to be just like you, okay? Why do people overcompensate? Well, because of past failures. But number two, people overcompensate because they have an inferiority complex, okay? Now what does it mean to have an inferiority complex? Well, inferiority complex is when a person feels inadequate and they feel they're not able to measure up to a standard, you know? They are uncertain about themselves, they often lack self-esteem. And people often overcompensate for that feeling, you know, they're like, well, I'm not, I don't feel very manly. And so they have to overdo it in that area to make themselves seem or, you know, portray themselves as being manly. This is the best example that I can come up with because I've seen this in the past. You have these small men, okay? And look, if you're small, if you're, you know, hey, just be a spiritual giant, amen? I'm not tall, okay? I'm not six foot, whatever, you know, I'm average height, I'm a small guy. I consider myself to be a small guy, physically. You know, I remember growing up, all my friends were taller than me and it sucked, okay? You know, to have everyone who's like six foot, you know, be taller than you or whatever. But I remember I had this particular friend who, though he was tall, he was very thin. You know, he was just very skinny, I never really had that problem, okay? You know, I didn't have a problem with being skinny, but this guy was very thin. And you know, he wasn't really strong, he was very thin, and so he had this inferiority complex where everything that he had had to be big. You know, he had to have a big truck, you know, and big this and big that. And it's just like, you have an inferiority complex, like you have to overcompensate for your lack of weight or height or whatever it may be, you know? That's like the best way I can explain it. And if there's someone here who has a big truck or something like that, I'm not talking about you, and you can tell me afterwards, and I'll say, hey, yeah, you should've told me, I would've used you as an example. I'm just kidding. But you understand what I'm saying. You know, sometimes they feel they don't measure up to a specific standard, and so they have to overcompensate because they feel insecure about themselves, right? You know, you have guys sometimes who are just effeminate, okay? And when they're effeminate, they feel like they have to overcompensate and just be super manly and super strong and just, you know, have these wild stories about rebuking people out on the streets and getting involved in all these fights and all these things. And it's just that you look at them and it's like, I think that was a lie. You have an inferiority complex, okay? You're obviously feeling inadequate. You feel like you have a low self-esteem about yourself. You know, that's probably why you're trying to overcompensate in those areas. Now let me say this, is that when people overcompensate because they have an inferiority complex, it could be good, and it could be bad, okay? Let me explain why it can be good. It can be good because this can be an expression of humility that leads to dependence upon the Lord, right? You know, if you feel inadequate, if you feel like, man, I'm not strong, I'm just not good looking, I'm not tall, dark and handsome, I just struggle in these areas, well, you know, one of two things you can do, either just go under the juniper tree and just whine and complain about it, or you can overcompensate, right? One of three things. Or three, you could just depend on the Lord and say, you know what, I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, you know? And whatever area I lack in, I know God will make up the difference on that. You know, if I don't have a charismatic personality, you know, okay, then I need to be filled with the Spirit in order for me to boldly talk to others so I can do a great work for Him. You know, if I lack in my strength, then you know what, I want to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. If I lack in stature, if I'm not tall, then I have an opportunity to be spiritually tall in the eyes of the Lord. You know, if I don't matter much to a lot of people, well, I'm gonna do my best to matter to God, you know, to get God to notice me, to get God's recognition, God's blessing, God's praise. And that could be a good thing, okay? You know, it's an expression of humility to say, well, you know, I'm not much, but you know what, I can be something in the hand of God, you know, God can still use me. John chapter 15, you're in Philippians chapter 2, John 15, verse 4 says, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye accept ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me, ye can do nothing. You see, the opposite attitude is this, well, I got it all down packed. I got the personality, I got the knowledge, I got the good looks, I got the smarts, I got the intelligence, I have the business savviness, I have everything that I need. And at that point, guess what? At that point, people like that don't feel like they need God. They don't pray for things, they don't feel like they need God to bless them with anything else because they feel like they got it all down packed. To them, they're all that and a bag of chips. And that's wrong because the Bible specifically tells us, without me, ye can do nothing. So we need to be dependent on God, not just to win souls, but how about this? Just to be a functioning member of society. To be a good husband, a good wife, a good daughter, a good son, a good employee, a good church member. Don't think to yourself, well, I'm just God's gift to this church. You know, I'm God's gift to this church. This church is so lucky to have someone like me. Pastor Mehir, you're lucky I'm not going to Faithful Word. I didn't decide to go to Verity. I didn't decide to go to any other church. I'm here. So you're lucky to have someone like me. Well, you know, maybe you should go to one of those churches, okay? And we'll see if we can do nothing without you. Okay? No, the attitude we should have is, you know what? I have my strengths, but I also have my weaknesses. You see, all of us have strengths, some more than others. All of us have talents, some more than others. All of us are gifted in certain areas, some more than others, and the attitude in which we should have when we approach church is this, I'm strong in this area. This person might be weak in this area. I can help them in this area. And you know what? They're strong, and I'm weak in another area, and they can help me. We all complete each other. That's the attitude we should have. The gifts and talents that God has given to us, the abilities that He has bestowed upon us are to be used to be a blessing to other people so that we complete each other here in our church, right? But you shouldn't have this attitude of, well, I'm just nothing, you know, I can't do anything right. Now, let me give you some examples of people who had this attitude, but they still depended on the Lord. Moses, right? Now, he needed a little more prodding, a little more chastisement, but you know what, ultimately, even though he felt like he couldn't speak, which was obviously a lie, he felt that he was an inadequate leader, you know, he did something great for God. He delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. How about Gideon, who felt he was inadequate, yet him and his 300 men, by the power of God, were able to deliver the children of Israel out of the hand of the oppressors. How about David? David was a young man. No one was willing to fight up against Goliath, and he knew his limitations. They gave him the armor, Saul gave him the armor, he was saved to go, he put them off from among himself and said, I cannot go with these, for I have not yet proved them. He took his sling with the stones, and he defeated Goliath. You know what, he understood his inadequacies, but he also understood his own strengths. And that's the kind of attitude that we should have is recognize your weaknesses, but also recognize you have strengths. Look folks, if you're saved, you have strengths. If you're saved, God has enabled you in some special way to serve him. He's enabled you with abilities and talents and gifts that you can use. You should never have this attitude, well I don't have anything. What are you talking about, you have the Holy Ghost. That's a perfect start right there. And so look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 1, if there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So we should never have this low self-esteem that puts us down to the point where it just debilitates us from doing anything. The type of low self-esteem we should have is the type that puts other person's needs above our own. Where you esteem others better than yourself. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, this is a good example here of the type of attitude we should have. So why do people overcompensate? Well they overcompensate because of past failures, but they also overcompensate because they have inferiority conflicts. They feel like they're inadequate. And that's fine if you're dependent on the Lord. Now look at one of the guys in the Bible that really accomplished great things for God is the Apostle Paul. I mean much of the New Testament is either about him or written by him. I mean this guy did a great work. And look what it says in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 15. And last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. What does he mean by that? He's saying, look, I came in late. I wasn't there with Jesus. I wasn't there by the Sea of Galilee. I wasn't there fishing. I was born out of due time. Look what he says in verse 9. We can see his inadequacy here, his inferiority that he feels. He says, for I am the least of the apostles. Then am not me to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. So what is it? He's being humble. He's like, man, I'm the least of all these guys. I don't even deserve to be called an apostle. I persecuted the church of God. He's basically saying like, man, I did some pretty bad stuff in the past. I'm not even worthy of this position. Now what is he going to say? So I'm not even going to labor. I'm not going to try anything. I'm just going to sit back and let Peter, James, and John and the rest of these guys just do the work. No. What does he say in verse 10? But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether I or they, so we preach and so ye believe. He said, look, I'm inadequate. I was born out of due time. I don't deserve to be called an apostle. I'm the least of all the apostles. I persecuted the church of God. But you know what? By the grace of God, I am what I am. And it's by God's favor and God's grace that I was able to do more than they were. That's the proper attitude to have. That's when an inferiority complex is okay. When you understand, you know what? I have some setbacks, but it's okay. I have God's favor, God's power, God's grace, and because of that I'm able to do abundantly above all that I can ask or think. I can do more and labor more than they all because of the grace of God which was bestowed upon me. It's not in vain. You know, those who have an inferiority complex and they just stay stagnant, the grace of God is in vain in their lives. Because it doesn't matter if you're a one talented or one gifted Christian. If you have God's grace, you can still do great things for God. He says in 1 Timothy, you don't have to turn there, 1 Timothy 1 verse 12, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful, put me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Again, we see that great balance that he had. He understood he was a blasphemer, he was injurious, he was a persecutor, but you know what he said? Jesus Christ enabled me for the ministry. And look, I say this to those of you out there who have this inferiority complex and, well, I didn't grow up in church and I didn't have the training. Yeah, but you know what? You have the Bible now. You have a church now. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you now. Why don't you allow God to enable you to do something? I appreciate when someone is given a task and they just take it by the horns and they just go as far as they can possibly go with that command, with that mandate. They just say, I'm just going to try it. Just going to try it. You know what? I'm inadequate. I'm not much, but you know what? I know that the grace of God is with me. I have God's favor and if I put in hard work, I can get the job done, okay? But, this can also be bad. When someone has an inferiority complex, they can often overcompensate, and by the way, the person who does this in a good way, overcompensates by putting in extra work, which is good. Maybe they're not musically talented, so they have to work three times as hard to get a song done. Amen? Hey, these guys right here, you know, John and Glenn, they stepped up to the plate, you know, and you know, Glenn, I don't know, maybe you weren't playing for concerts before, right? Were you involved in concerts and stuff, but you know what? I told him, I said, I need a harp player for a church and he bought a harp and he's getting himself some lessons and you know what he does? He's playing the harp. Now, he says, well, pastor, I know I'm Asian, but you know, this is the only Asian you run into that doesn't know how to do these things and I'm just not capable. He's just like, this is what Glenn said, I said, I need you to get a harp and I need you to learn how to play. Okay. Yes. And then he's just getting lessons and he's practicing and just getting it done. He understands that he's inadequate. He understands that he doesn't have a background of musical talent, you know, he's not playing for concerts, but he's not making any excuses either. In his mind, he's like, well, I have God, I have, you know, the ability, God's going to enable me, I'm willing to do it and guess what, he gets it done. That's better than the person, that's better than the person who knows how to play, who's extremely talented, but refuses to play. God respects the person who at least says, well, you know what, I don't have any musical background, but I can give it a shot. Now, I'm not saying that everyone who thinks they can give it a shot should give it a shot, okay? Because let's just be honest, not everyone is musically talented, all right? I'll be the first to say I'm not musically talented, I'm not going to learn an instrument because I'm not going to be able to do it, you know, I'm just not capable, you know, I'm just not able to do these things, but it's true though, okay? I learned piano when I was in high school, but those days are over and gone with and quite honest with you, I think I need to invest my time in other things, okay? And I think there's enough talented people here that can take those bulls by the horns and run with that, okay? But let me say this is the person who just says, well, I'm just going to try, I'm just going to do it. It's great. Well, how about Eric, you know? Eric is a great example because Eric is talented, is gifted, the guy is a musical genius and you know what? If he's listening to this, don't get prideful, Eric, I'm going to sweep the carpet from under you and tell you, and you're going to make some huge mistake to find the next service and God's going to humble you, but you know what? He's talented, he's gifted, but you know what? He uses that for the Lord and says, whatever I can do, we'll get it done. We'll write a song, okay, we'll write a song. And I'm constantly trying to push these musicians to the limit, you know? And that's the attitude that we should have, okay? Now, this could be bad because people who have an inferiority complex will often display a false humility in order to fish for compliments, right? Like, oh, yeah, I'm not that good, and it's like, no, you do great, no, no, no, I just, you know, I can't really, I suck, I just really suck, it's like, no, you did a really good job, I really like, no, no, no, no, no, no. What they're doing is they just want you to compliment them more, you know? And this is what my old pastor taught me, okay? He said, you need to learn how to receive compliments, okay? And if someone tells you, you did a great job, he used to say, well, just say, you know, praise God, thank you, because you're saying thank you, but you're also saying praise God because God's the one who enabled you to do it. Don't think too much of yourself, but don't like bury yourself so low that you're just like, okay, now this person's just fishing for compliments. You know, just say thank you, praise God, you know? I'm glad I could be of help, I'm just happy to be involved, you know? That's a proper attitude to have. That's when it could be bad is when they have this false humility. It says in Colossians 2 verse 18, let no man beguile you of your reward in the voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding on those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 12, if you would, 2 Samuel chapter 12. So the person who overcompensates because they have inferiority complex can often become overly humble. You know, they kind of exaggerate and they just put themselves down because they just want people to pick them up. The proper attitude to have is just like, well, you know, I'm going to keep working hard, I'm going to keep making myself better, you know, trying to lift my lid of talent and of giftedness that God has given to me, you know, but I don't want to have such an inferiority complex where I just feel I can't do anything, that I'm just debilitated, handicapped from ever serving the Lord, okay? So why do people overcompensate? Well, number one, because of their past failures, right? Number two, because they have an inferiority complex. Number three, sometimes people overcompensate because they're just plain wicked, okay? Now let me say this, is that both saved and unsaved people can fall into this category, all right? And let me give you an example of that. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse number one. Let me give you a bit of a background story of what's taking place here. David conspired to kill Uriah because of the fact that he committed adultery with Bathsheba who is Uriah's wife. And this happened over a period of a year. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and he tried to get Uriah to come into his wife while they're at war in order to cover up for his sin. He would not because he was a righteous man. And so the next best thing on David's agenda to deal with Uriah was to put him in the hottest part of the battle so that he can be slain and then no one would be the wiser. He would marry Bathsheba and then no one would know the difference that she's pregnant by David himself, okay? But of course, the Bible tells us that the thing which David did was not right in the eyes of the Lord. You know, the Lord was very displeased with this behavior of David. And so he's covering up for this sin and he thinks he just got away with it, you know what I mean? We know that God saw this and God's going to send his prophet to confront David. Look what it says in verse number 1, it says, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. I like how he just starts off by telling a story. He's just like, I got a story for you. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. So what does he say? He's mad because this man who had many flocks took of the man who only had one ewe lamb and basically served that lamb instead of sparing one of his own. And we see that David grows anger. He's angry here. He says, And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man and said unto Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. He was like, man, David, are you a part of PETA now or something or what? Are you for like animal rights now or what? What do you mean someone should die because that stupid little lamb was killed? I mean, if anything, restitution should be made, right? But to put someone to death because he killed that stupid little lamb, it's an animal. They ate it. The crime there was that that person stole the lamb and what should be done is that restitution should be done, right? Because he took that lamb. But no, David is overcompensating. He shall surely die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold. So aside from the restoration, he shall die because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anoint thee king over Israel and I deliver thee out of the hand of Saul, so on and so forth. So what do we see here? We see David is guilty of a worse sin than this. Stealing a little lamb and serving him, eating him, it's bad because it's theft. We're not talking about animal rights here, okay? It's theft and therefore he should be restored but according to David, because he committed such a wicked sin of killing a man, okay? The story is that they killed the lamb, David killed a man and committed adultery, yet he said well this guy should die. What is he doing? He's overcompensating for the sin that he himself has committed. And basically Nathan says, well actually I'm talking about you. You're the one who's responsible for this and in fact you killed Uriah, you took his wife and therefore judgment is upon thee. We see later on that David gets right with God because of it. But the principle here is this, sometimes unsaved people can be guilty of overcompensating because of their wicked sin. They're involved in something wicked and therefore they overcompensate because of it. You think of Donny Romero for example. He was involved in a lot of bad stuff, gambling and prostitution and all these things and you know what? You look at the track record of his sermons, all he talked about was whores, whores and prostitutes and just saying all these wicked things and you know what? You know why? It's because that was in his heart. He was trying to overcompensate for the sin that he himself was guilty for. And so what I'm saying is that Christians can become guilty of this. They can often overcompensate because of a sin that they are guilty of. But here's the thing, more often than not, it's unsaved wicked reprobates that do this in order for them to cover up who they really are. So David did this to cover up his sin, that which he has done. Unsaved wicked reprobates do this to cover up who they really are. Go to John chapter 12, we're almost done. John chapter 12, these are psychopaths. We've had this in our church and we will continue to have it in our church unfortunately because the gospel light attracts some weird bugs and dogs. And you know the Bible tells us this, you say, man, why so many wicked people come through here? Well, first of all, it's not like a weekly thing. Second of all, Jesus said this would happen, that there would be wolves in sheep's clothing. So the wolf who is in sheep's clothing has to overcompensate and behave as though they're a sheep, as though they're a lamb, in order to deceive the rest of the sheep, right? Now let's look at an example of this. Look at John chapter 12, verse number one, it says, then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper in Martha's Serb, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. Then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my bearing, hath she kept this. So what is Judas doing? He's overcompensating. So really what he wants is like, man, this is a lot of money, I could have just taken this. It's what made me a very rich man. So what is he doing instead? We should have taken this and given this to the poor. He's overcompensating. He's like, what are you talking about? This is why Jesus says, the poor ye have always with you, but me, ye have not always. Who in their right mind would be against anybody giving a gift to Jesus? Think about that. They're anointing the son of God, God in the flesh, and you have this devil come up and say, hey, maybe we shouldn't do that, maybe we should give it to the poor. No, this is God. We're going to have an opportunity to give to the poor for the rest of our lives. There will always be poor people in this world. There's only once in the history of mankind where Jesus was going to come, where the word is made flesh, and dwelt among us, and just did ministry for three and a half years. In other words, he's like, don't miss out on this. Why are we going to miss out on this opportunity to be a blessing, to bless Jesus Christ, the son of God? But did he really care for the poor? No, he's overcompensating because he wants the money. He's a thief. Wicked reprobates are the same exact way. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof, the Bible says. These people will often try to display this aura of spirituality, this aura of godliness, because they don't want you to know who they really are. That's why we've got to be careful with people who just have this overly spiritual talk. I'd rather just talk to people who are just real. People who are just real, they use regular Christianese, and they just are regular people. I like talking to people who sometimes even slip up every once in a while and cuss. Not that I appreciate that, but at least I know they're being real. They're just, oh, sorry about that, Pastor. They're just like, I got to watch out on that. Rather than a person who's like, hey, brother, bless God, praise the Lord, amen, Jesus, and God is so good, and praise God. You're just like, whoa, dude, you're kicking it on. Like hey, man, your wolfness is showing. I remember one time, there was a guy, and you know what, I don't know if he's a reprobate. He might be. I don't know, I just know he was overcompensating quite a bit. But I remember after church, I would dread running into this guy, because any time he would come up to me, it's because he wanted a favor, and what he wanted me to do is give people rides home, which I had no problem with. What I had a problem with is the way he would ask me. He would come up to me and act like he cared about me in order to ask me for this favor. And he would do this, he would have this thing, and he would go, he would see me from across the way, and I'm like, oh, man, he saw me. And then he would go, brother! And I was just like, hey, what's up, man? He's just like, how's it going, man? How you doing? And I'm just like, you want me to give someone a ride? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But every service you do that. And I'm like, he doesn't care what I've gone through. The guy doesn't care about my day. Now thinking back, I should have been like, well, my family died or something, and see what he did. Oh, good. Anyways, can you see if he even paid attention to what I was saying, you know? But he would do this overcompensating care for me in order to get something from me. And look, you know, as I grew in the Lord, obviously, I didn't really understand his doctrine of the false prophets and reprobates and wicked people like this, as I do now. But hindsight is 20-20. I'm looking back, I'm like, man, I think I knew a lot of these people. Just simply based on the fact that these people would always overcompensate in their behavior, in their speech toward me, and I'm just like, now I know. You know, I've told the story before, but there was a guy in this church, and he would just like, anytime he would talk, he just closed his eyes. He's like, oh, yeah, I was reading the Bible the other day. And I remember when I would talk to this guy, I'm like, why is he closing his eyes so much? And I remember my mom visited the church one time, and she told me, she was just like, I hate talking to that guy. He always closes his eyes when he talks to me. She's like, next time he does that, when he closes his eyes, I'm just gonna walk away. And he's gonna open his eyes, and I'm not even gonna be there anymore, you know? But they have this form of godliness, and they have to just overdo it with the Christianese, they have to overdo it with the behavior, they have to, you know, there's this guy who would walk down the hallways, this Bible college student, okay, who would walk down the hallways prior to class reading the Bible out loud. You know, and he'd just like read the Bible out loud, and preach out loud, and just kind of like, and we would walk by, and I'm just like, why is he doing that? You know, that's like annoying. And then, you know, we had a big auditorium, and so it was really massive, and people were allowed to go in there and pray, and you'd pray out loud. You would go in there in the morning, my office was upstairs, and he would literally pray out loud, and oh, God, and oh, the Holy Spirit, and it was like, well, he has his reward. It was just like, people want, he wants people to think that he's godly, well, job done, right? But you know what, I guarantee you, that guy doesn't have an ounce of God's power in his life, because the person who does is the one who goes into his closet in secret, and prays to the Father. You know, those who go to their closet, and by the way, I'm not saying being overly emotional is bad. It's just when you're overly emotional in public before others, you know, because you're trying to display this form of godliness, whereas God, the Bible says to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's okay to be emotional in front of God as long as it's just you and God, to weep, to wail, to hurt, you know, to just pour out thine heart like water, the Bible says, right? There's nothing wrong with that if it's just with you and God. You know, but these people who want to do this in public, they're overcompensating because they're just wicked people. They want you to think that there's something that they're not, okay? And it's evil. So why do people overcompensate? Well, they overcompensate because of past failures. They often overcompensate because they have an inferiority complex, but sometimes they just overcompensate because they're just plain wicked people, you know? And you know, we need to be aware of this. So when people come to our church, you know, if you guys remember, last year we threw a Hophni and Phinehas, the two fag brothers from, you know, who came here, they would do weird stuff. I remember one time during the service, one of the brothers got up and he was just like, I'm like, are you okay? He's like, oh, man, I just love God, you know, I'm like, what the heck? You look like you're having like a hernia or something. But is it any surprise that they were just wicked people, that they're wicked reprobates? Hophni and Phinehas, just children of Satan? You know, they had to do that in order to try to cover up who they really were. Obviously, it didn't work out. And thank God, the Bible tells us that their folly shall be made manifest because there's only so long a wolf can have sheep's clothing, ultimately, it's gonna be tattered clothing and they're gonna expose themselves for who they really are. And so, hey, if you have past failures, overcompensate and put in the effort to get the human to desire to get zeal, right? But don't look down on anybody else who doesn't have that same passion and zeal as you do. If you have an inferiority complex, okay, you know, be humble and depend on the Lord, but don't have this false humility where you're looking to fish for compliments. And you know, if you're overcompensating because you're just plain wicked, well, just get out. Just get out of our church because we don't want you here. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, thank you for the examples of men in the Bible. We know that no one's perfect and sometimes we struggle with these things here. But Lord, I pray, God, that you'd be with us, Lord, and we're thankful for the gifts that we do have, for the talents that you've given to us. And may we never get so prideful because we have talents, but may we be grateful because you've given them to us and recognize that we are also filled with weaknesses. And may we thank you for those who have the strengths that we don't have because that way we can compliment each other in our church. I pray, God, that you'd help us. And Lord, if we've had past failures, may we work twice as hard to stay away from those things but never have the attitude that we're holier than anybody else, to have this holier than thou attitude where we look down on others. Help us to be zealous, help us to be holy, to be patient with others who may not have that same stance and tolerate that. And I pray that you help us to continue to be vigilant towards those who are overcompensated because they're just plain wicked people. May you continue to expose them and make their falling...