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Music Whose mouths must be stopped Who subvert whole houses Teaching things which they are not For filthy lucre's sake One of themselves even a prophet of their own said the cretons are always liars evil beasts slow bellies This witness is true Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. And the title of this sermon this morning is Rebuke Them Sharply, Rebuke Them Sharply. Now, look at Titus chapter two. In Titus chapter one, in this passage of scripture that we just read, we see that there are many unruly and vain talkers, deceivers, and in context of what we're reading there, he's talking about the Jews. Because it says, especially they of the what? Circumcision, any time you see that phrase there, the circumcision, it's in direct reference to those who adhere to the religion of Judaism, which would be known as the Jews. And the Bible tells us that they were corrupting houses. So these guys, whoever they were, these false teachers, these false prophets, these Jewish proselytizers, were going to this place in Crete and were trying to proselytize, and the Bible says that they were subverting whole houses. Well, another word for subvert is that they were corrupting them. They were going there, teaching false doctrine, doing things that which they ought not to, and the Bible tells us that the motive behind it was not to see them saved. The motive behind them teaching and subverting these houses was not because they loved the Lord. Why was it? Because for filthy lucre's sake, the Bible says. Well, what is filthy lucre? It's for money. You see, the Bible's not against us making money to pay the bills, amen? The Bible's against a person who claims to be a man of God, who claims to be sent from God to simply work and do the work of the Lord for money's sake, and to do it in a deceitful, ungodly way by teaching a false gospel, false doctrine. That's wicked, and the Bible says that they were doing it for filthy lucre's sake. So there wasn't a righteous motive behind them teaching their doctrine. No, it was for filthy lucre's sake, the Bible says, and they were also bearing false witness. So I mean, this is a long list of bad things that they were doing, right? They're lying, they're bearing false witness, they're slandering the people of Crete there, and they're speaking things which they ought not. So Paul is instructing his preacher boy Titus, who's going there to ordain people in every city, and he instructs them, he says, look, these guys are subverting whole houses, they're doing things which they ought not to do, they're slandering, they're deceiving, they're vain talking, they're corrupting houses, so this is the solution, just leave them alone. Is that what it says? So here's the solution, just make sure you make friends with them, hey, you can disagree, you can agree to disagree, you know, just pray for them. Is that what it says? But you know what a lot of, that's what we hear today. No, no, this is what you do, you just give them a call and say, hey brother, I know we don't agree on everything, but I still love you, you know, I know you're teaching a false gospel, and we don't agree on everything, but hey, we're for ya, we don't want any trouble. Hey, we're all Christians, right? Oh no, if he's talking to the circumstances, hey, we all believe in the same God, right? Yahweh, or whatever they wanna call him. That's not what Paul said. He says this, wherefore, rebuke them sharply. And he's not talking about rebuking the Christians. Because remember, they're bearing false witness of the Christians. They're slandering the Christians, saying that they're evil beasts, slow bellies. And he says wherefore, he says this witness is true. He's not talking about the witness that the Pharisees were giving of the Christians, he says the witness that they're saying these things was true. The witness that they were slandering was true. The witness that they were subverting whole houses, and deceiving people, and doing things for filthy lucre's sake, that's true. And he says because it's true, rebuke them sharply. Now to rebuke simply means to sternly reprimand someone, or reprove them, okay? It's to tell someone that they're wrong in a very intense manner. Now, rebuking them sharply means to reprimand them intensely and with precision. So it's not just like a general, hey, you're wrong, okay? It's telling them, hey, you're wrong, and this is why you're wrong, okay? You're wrong, and this is the sin that you're committing that's wrong. And it's not generalizing the sin, it's being specific. And let me say this, if it's not specific, it's not dynamic. And we gotta make sure that when we talk about sin, we preach against sin, we need to be specific on what sin we're referring to. It's not, hey, all sin is bad. Well, we know that already. We need to talk about what specific sins are you talking about? Rebuke sharply, whatever we're referring to. And the end result of being rebuked is that you'll be sound in the faith. And by the way, this is not just for unsaved people, this is especially for saved people. You see, the reason the preacher gets up here and he begins to reprove and rebuke and tell you that you're wrong and start preaching on your sin is that you would repent of that sin and that you would get right with God. That you would clean up your life, that you would be sound in the faith. So what's the opposite of that? Well, if all we give you is cotton candy type preaching, where you're never wrong, you're never in sin, nothing's ever wrong with you, guess what? You're not gonna be sound in the faith. Why is that? Because the way we are sound in the faith is by someone telling us, hey, this needs to be fixed a little bit in your life. This sin needs to be, you need to get the sin out of your life. Hey, you're wrong on this doctrine. And what does the person who is wise do? Well, the Bible tells us, rebuke a wise man and he will get lovely. Why? Because he's like, man, thanks for telling me that I was wrong. Now I get to fix it and be complete. Now I get to fix it and be mature and exercise myself rather unto godliness. That's what rebuking does. Now, we live in a day and age where no one wants to be corrected. I mean, this just snowflake cotton candy generation that just bucks at just even, don't raise your voice. You can't even yell. You can't say anything negative because people will look at you and say, oh, you're not in the spirit. Hey, you're in the flesh. You're not in the spirit. No, in fact, all the Old Testament prophets who raised their voice and slapped their leg and stomped their feet and did all those things, the Bible says that they were spirit-filled men. God considers that man to be a spirit-filled man. And preaching that it has no rebuke and no reprovement is not spirit-filled. Okay? And look, we all need a sermon on encouragement, amen? But if you want a sermon on encouragement, just go on YouTube and look up my sermon from like two weeks ago. I did something like that. I'm pretty sure I did something like that. But today is something different. We need to make sure that we not only adhere to this doctrine of being rebuked, but we embrace it. Because it's gonna help us. We live in a day and age that no one wants to be corrected, no one wants to be rebuked, and nobody wants anybody to rebuke anybody else. So it's gotten even to the extent where it's like, they get offended if you rebuke someone else. It's not even if you rebuke them. It's if you rebuke someone else, they're like, hey, that offends me. You know, you shouldn't talk to people like that. That's not like, would Jesus do that? Yeah, he would. And if you just read the Bible, you would see that that's exactly what he does. Now, go to Matthew chapter, or I'm sorry, I had you turn to Titus. Go to Matthew chapter 10, hold your place in Titus. You know, the Bible tells us, preach the word, be in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So what do we see that are the elements of preaching? Well, the elements is this. You have to have reprove, and you have to have rebuke, and you have to have exhortation with longsuffering and doctrine. So you have two negatives with a positive, okay? If you're lacking any of those, it's not real preaching. Course you have to exhort, course you have to encourage, course you have to tell people, hey, keep going forward, don't give up, don't quit. Why, because that's well-balanced preaching right there. Here's the thing, Christians get discouraged, Christians get hurt, and we need preaching like that. And I'm thankful for the times that I was heartbroken in my Christian life, I was going through a tough time, and I heard a sermon that helped me to realize, hey, a just man falls seven times and rises up again. We need that type of preaching, but it needs to be balanced with what? Rebuking and reproving as well, with all longsuffering and doctrine, okay? Look at Matthew 10 says in verse 24, because this is the verse that I think about when people tell me, hey, you're not being like Jesus. Look what it says in verse 24, the disciples not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and who's our master? Jesus. And the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Beelzebub means devil. So he's saying this, if they call me, Jesus is saying this, if they're calling me a devil, how much more shall they call you, who are followers of me? So they say, hey, you're not being like Jesus, maybe they're right because we're not being like their Jesus. And their Jesus is different than our Jesus. Our Jesus has short hair, doesn't wear a dress, and is King James only, amen. Their Jesus is this person who doesn't offend anybody. Whereas he said, look, people have called me the devil. I mean, wouldn't you say that's a very offensive thing to say to someone? What if I wanted to say you're a devil? That's offensive. How much more to call the son of God? The eternal son of God, Beelzebub, you're a devil. Now, shall we expect anything else? If we follow Christ, because we're called what? Christians. That they would call us the same thing. Oh, we're supposed to love everyone, and people are supposed to love us. Go to John 15. You see, many people are turning their ears from the truth. I'm gonna read to you from 2 Timothy 4, verse one. It says, I charge thee therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing at his kingdom, preach the Lord beest in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Why? For the time will come that they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. So the Bible tells us that the remedy, the solution, for you not to be turned away unto fables, for you not to be a lukewarm, just a terrible Christian, is that we preach the word instant in season out of season. What is that? When it's popular and when it's not. We reprove or rebuke, we exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, and that will help people not to be turned away from the truth. You see, people who don't wanna hear the truth are the ones who are saying, you're not like Jesus. The people who are telling you, hey, that's not how Jesus behaves, are the same ones who are heaping to themselves teachers having itching ears. What does it mean to heap something? It means to build up, just like pile it up. You know, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, and all these fuzzy, duddy, lovey type preachers who have nothing negative to say about anything. But you know what's the result of that? Is that you'll be turned away from the truth. Because the truth hurts. Amen. The truth hurts. Now, where do I have you turn? John 15. See here. I'm gonna read to you from some other scriptures before we get there. Let me read to you from Titus chapter two. You say, why are you preaching on this? Well, I'm preaching on this because what inspired this sermon was we went to a channel yesterday, and it was a success, amen. We had over 140 people saved, I trust Christ as their savior, over 290 soul winners. I mean, it was great. We literally had to have two locations for all the soul winners, because there's so many. And you know, my group and I, we went to these apartment complexes, and before that, it was just like, you know, yeah, they arrested Deborah and Miss McKenzie, but nothing like that's gonna happen to them. You know, they're not gonna call the police on us. You know? So we go to this apartment complex, and I'm with Glen. Where's Glen at? Is he here? Yeah, there he is. We're out with Glen, and then we're knocking on doors, just going about our business, preaching the gospel, and this boy, you know, he's about 12 years old, he comes up on a bike, and I say, hey, how you doing? And I give him a Christmas CD, and I say, are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? He says, no. And I say, can I show you from the Bible? He's like, yeah. And he's just really innocent, wants to hear the gospel, and I'm giving him the gospel, and around comes this vehicle and says, hey, you need to get out of here. You can't be here. No soliciting. And I say, oh, I'm not selling anything. Everything that I'm giving is actually for free. Well, you can't be here anyways. This is private property. And I said, well, yeah, I can be here. That's it. And she says, no, you can't. I said, yes, I can, because I'm preaching the gospel. And I said, if you have a problem, then you can go talk to your supervisor or whatever. Fine, she takes off. So I keep preaching the gospel to this kid, and he's just listening intently, very open, and then the manager comes, which, lo and behold, is some dyke, reprobate, and she's just yelling at me. She's like, no soliciting. And I'm like, I'm not selling anything. Well, you can't be here. Don't you know the law? I said, yes, I can be here. I'm preaching the gospel. I said, and I'm not leaving. Well, I'm gonna call the cops. Go call the cops then. Do what you gotta do, I said. We're not leaving. Oh, it's fine. And then she just storms off. So I go up to Ulysses and Vanessa, and I say, hey, they're calling the police, just to let you know. Be on alert, and if they come get us, you just keep going. Let them come bring us out. Let them, as Paul said, let them come fetch us out, okay? So we go, and I tell Glen, I say, Glen, if the police come, you whip out your phone. You start recording, all right? He's all right, so we're knocking on doors, and it's funny, we get robbed over here, and it takes police forever to get here. Jacob gets his vehicle stolen. It takes them forever to get to the scene, but all of a sudden, some soul-winning Baptists are just preaching the gospel, and it takes them like five minutes to get there. They get there, and they have their predator camera, and just, and we're up there, and he's like, good morning, I'm like, hey, how's it going? And they're like, yeah, no soliciting. I'm like, we're not selling it. Well, you can't be here. I said, okay, we're leaving. I said, but I'll see you at the next one. Man, because we had other maps, and we're going to other places. I'll say, we'll see you at the next one. So they're escorting us out, and he goes, and by the way, if you come back, we'll arrest you. I said, well, I live in LA, so, you know? We're gonna be back, someone's gonna be back here. So, I live in LA, so obviously, I'm not gonna be coming back anytime soon. But literally, they had two officers, right? It was two officers escorting us out. Then there was like two or three other officers protecting the stinking reprobate that called the cops on us, and she's just staring us down as we're walking by, and I look at her, I said, you're wicked. And she said, she looked at me like, what? And I said, yeah, you heard me, you're wicked. She goes, I'm wicked? I said, yeah, you're wicked. I said, because you kept me from preaching the gospel to that 12-year-old boy who wanted to get saved. You're wicked. And the police comes out, sir, can you please just leave? I'm leaving. But I just wanna let you know, she's wicked. I walk away, I was like, shame on you. And then, you know, we're getting our, our vehicle was parked somewhere else. She said, officer, he's not leaving. The exit's over there. I'm like, I'm getting my vehicle. You idiot. Who do you think? So, you know, I'm thinking about that, and then, you know, I posted that on Instagram, and I got like a lot of messages from people, and they're just like, that's not very Christ-like. You're not like Jesus. And I'm like, you're not like Jesus. Spread love, not hate. That's what I was doing! I came from California with a group of 30 people to go spread love, amen? And we were gonna spread love for like five hours. Right? I mean, the only time I spread hate is when that stinking banshee wanted to kick me out. Right? He said, well, you should've been a little more discreet. You know, I couldn't be more indiscreet. Yeah. You know, and I probably should've rebuked it even more sharply than what I did. Amen. Because people like that who try to keep other, and by the way, when I was witnessing to the kids, she said, she was like, where do you live? And the kid was like, I live in an apartment. She's like, go home, now. And she told, and she's like, he's a minor! Shame on, I'm like, minor? What does that have to do with anything? What does that have to do with the price and tea in China? Is the gospel only for like adults? You know, she tried to make it, if he was my son, I was like, I don't care if he's your son or not. You know? You stopped me from preaching the gospel to that 12-year-old boy who could've gotten saved. And you think you're doing right by that? Is this a communist compound? Where you just dictate who comes in and who comes out? These people wanna hear it. And so, that's kinda where this whole inspiration for the sermon came because, you know, at the end of the day, there's Christians out there who think that we did wrong for that. You know? No, you're wrong. And it's time for some Christian Baptist to get up and say, hey, you're wrong, we're right. Haven't you read Romans 13? Well, you know what? I haven't read Romans 13 in the NIV and in the ESV. I've only read it in the King James Version of the Bible. And the Bible says in the King James, it talks about the higher powers. Now, who are the higher powers? Well, the highest power, I don't know if you knew this, is the most high, which is God. So look, if this higher power is in accordance with what I believe, we're good. But once this higher power begins to violate what I believe, I'm bucking him and I'm going higher. And the highest power of the land is not the Constitution. It's right here. This is the highest power. Now, do you have your papers to show you can do this? Yeah, it's called Matthew 28. It's called Mars 16. You know, we have an entire book, I can give you a copy if you want, where God has ordained me as a preacher of the gospel to go and get people saved. And we ought to obey God rather than man. You ought to be respectful. Well, no, they need to respect me. They need to respect the Bible. They need to respect soul winning and stop trying to meddle with things. Look, the second location we went to, they actually started doing their job. You know, someone was actually, I don't know, someone was going on across the street and all the police went there and we're like, well, that was of God. You know, hey, look, they're actually doing their job. They're actually fighting crime instead of fighting soul winners, people who are actually trying to preach the gospel and get people saved. That is a wicked deed to do, is try to hinder someone from getting eternal life. No, they're not trying to stop you from preaching the gospel. They're just kicking you out of private property. They're kicking us out for preaching the gospel. We're not selling drugs. We're not selling anything. We're not doing anything of any ill repute. What are we doing? We're preaching the gospel. We'll go to Romans chapter 13. Let's look at that. It's not in my notes, but let's go look at it. Because I believe Romans 13. It's in the Bible. And this is Fox News Baptist's favorite chapter to use in the Bible, okay? Along with Romans 11, okay? Look at verse one of chapter 13 says, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, amen. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. So it's talking about, it's telling us, hey, we need to submit ourselves unto the higher powers, these authorities that God has set in place, even in our land, okay? Verse two, whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. Ah, there you go. See, you're resisting the power, Brother Mejia. You're resisting the power of God. Look what this goes on to say. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. In other words, you're gonna be punished. For rulers, now who are the rulers? These are the higher powers. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. So according to the Bible, the higher powers, the rulers are there, not for us. They're there for those who do evil. And anybody who says that so many is evil, is evil. You can't look at anything that we were doing yesterday and say, oh, they're in the wrong. No, preaching the gospel is never in the wrong. If the Creator, the Almighty God said it's good and for us to do it, it's good. And it says, for the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same. So you know what the Bible's telling us here? If you do good, actually the police should actually come to you and say, hey, you're doing a great job. Because that's their job. Their job is not only to execute filthy perverts and those who are committing crimes worthy of death, they're also there to praise those who are doing good. So if you're preaching the gospel, it's like, hey, you guys are actually serving our community. That's actually serving the community right there. Serving in the gospel. They're supposed to be praising us, but what are they doing? They're rebuking us, reproaching us, making us out to be. And then you have these sissified, lame Christians out there, these stoneless, they have no backbone, stoneless Christians who probably never preached the gospel once in their life, backing these people up and saying, yeah, yeah, you should have just obeyed them. What's wrong with you guys? What's wrong with you? Why aren't you preaching the gospel? Why aren't you getting out there and actually fulfilling the great commission? Why aren't you backing us up? Amen. Now go to Titus chapter two. I'll finish reading Romans chapter 13, verse four. It says, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So the Bible says that he doesn't have the sword in vain. He bears it to execute people. It means to kill them when they commit a crime worthy of death. But it's never for the good, okay? Look at Titus two, verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify him to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. What is the greatest work? Well, the greatest work is the first work, which is sowing. And the Bible says we need to be zealous of that work. That's why in our church we don't have multitudes of ministries. The main ministry that we have at our church is what? The ministry of reconciliation where everyone could partake of, everyone could be a part of, everyone could go preach the gospel, and the Bible says we ought to be zealous of that, right? It goes on to say there, verse 15. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. So when people try to despise us for going out there and preach the gospel, we rebuke with all authority and say, hey, we're supposed to be zealous of good works. Well, you know, but you just could have handled that differently. Yeah, you're right, I could have been meaner. And shame on me for not being a little more rough with them. That's the only thing I could have done. Go to First Timothy, chapter five. You see, this concept of rebuking is biblical. You know, those who say you shouldn't do that and it's all love, spread love and no hate have not read the Bible cover to cover. Don't come to me and tell me what the Bible says if you haven't even read it once. Don't come to me and try to teach me the doctrine of rebuking or teach me what Jesus said if you haven't even read the Bible once. Look at First Timothy 5, 20 says, them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. So what does rebuking do? It causes people to be afraid. So they don't do the same stupid thing to that person that who sinned. You know how I rebuke that stupid reprobate dyke? So others may fear. So those police officers could look at it and say, man, these guys are crazy. Who are these people? You know, we're the ones who are turning the world upside down is what we're doing. And look, if we're not getting up and fighting for this right to preach the gospel, we're gonna just hand it over to them and we're not gonna have the freedom to do it. So these wannabe Christians, these wannabe zealous people who wanna do everything by the book, not by this book, but by the book of the world, you know what, they need to make sure and they need to realize, hey, we're actually helping you guys out. Because we're actually fighting for our rights. You may not agree the way we do it, but guess what, it's getting done. And we no longer need this Christianity that's just so submissive that you just give away your biblical rights to do that which God's called you to do. It says there, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring before one another, doing nothing by partiality. What does that mean? We're supposed to do this no matter what, no matter who the person is. You see, God is not a respecter of people and neither should we. Oh, but they're police officers. Look, I respect a police officer, but when a police officer begins to disrespect the word of God, you know, they try to come, and look, they try to plan the ignorance, not all of them, but some of them try to plan the ignorance of people. That's why all three of them come up and say, stop soliciting, you know what they're hoping we would do? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, let me just grab my stuff here. God bless you, here's your Christmas CD, you know? You want me to mail it to you? No. And then that's why when we say we're not selling anything, oh man, they actually know what soliciting means. Well then, you just can't be here. It's private property, you can't be here, yes we can. Oh then, I'm gonna call the cops. Well then, go call the cops. You see, unfortunately, the old IFB has raised a generation of sissies. Bunch of sissified, stoneless Christians who just want to be this political Baptist. Please everyone, be happy with everyone, good God, good devil, good sin. Nothing bad could ever happen, no. We need to get back to biblical Christianity, amen? The Bible tells, go to Acts chapter five. Acts chapter five, I'm gonna read to you from Ecclesiastes seven, verse five. It says, it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. So don't tell me that God is not for rebuking. We're looking at a lot of scriptures here where God says, rebuke, rebuke, rebuke, rebuke. Look at Acts chapter five, verse 27 says, and when they have brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them, saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. Ye have filled Chandler with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the apostles answered and said, we're sorry. We're so sorry, we're being bad testimonies. All right, don't you hear that a lot? You're being a bad testimony. No, he said, we ought to obey God rather than man. Mic drop. Right. He said, we're gonna obey God rather than man. Even if they beat them, right? Ms. Deborah, even if they beat them, throw them down, arrest them, we're still gonna obey. They came back. It's their fault that we went to Chandler. Your fault. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, verse five, open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. So the Bible's telling us here that an open rebuke, a sharp open rebuke, has more value than secret love. In other words, when someone comes to you and gives you a kiss, but their kiss is deceitful, they have another agenda. They're just trying to get along with you because they have an underlying agenda. That's wicked. We ought to have open rebuke. And when you think about the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, who do you think about? Judas. He came to the Lord. Rabbi. Kiss them and just turn them into the authorities. You know, at least you know, even if we're rough around the edges, that we're at least gonna tell you the truth. At least we love you enough to tell you what the Bible actually says, not quote some liberal pastor who's not quoting the Bible. Or Gandhi, right? God isn't pleased with that, though. You're not loving. Love, not hate. Spread love. God can't bless that. Well, let's see, Proverbs chapter 24. People who parrot these stupid phrases are either in a liberal church or they're reading a book by a liberal pastor or they're just dumb. You know, don't tell me that you're quoting the Bible. You're acting like you're some sort of Christian when nowhere in the Bible is any of these concepts found. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 24, verse 24. He that saith unto the wicked thou art righteous, him shall the people curse. The nation shall abhor him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. A good blessing shall come upon them. Why, because God is pleased when you exercise righteousness in the land. You know what happened yesterday when I rebuked that dyke? God was pleased with that. God was pleased when he looked upon Faithful Word Baptist Church, going out there and preaching the gospel and standing for truth. God is pleased with that. Not the God of the liberals, not the God of these so-called Christians that claim that Jesus wouldn't do something like that. No, I'm talking about the God of the Bible is pleased with that. The Bible says in Proverbs 28, verse four, they that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law, contend with them. So look, this is how you know if you're keeping the law of God. Are you fighting? Content means to fight. So this is how you know if you're actually keeping the law of God, if you're staying righteous, you're staying in the word of God, if you're contending with the wicked. But no, everyone, no, you shouldn't fight. We need to make sure that we're good testimonies. I am making sure that I'm a good testimony before God. I need to make sure that my testimony before God is that I'm contending with the wicked because that shows and that's a meter to show that I'm keeping the law. When I forsake the law, then I begin to praise the faggots. Then I begin to praise the dykes. Then I begin to submit to them and do all these things that they want me to do and just give up my rights. That's not what we're supposed to do. Contend means to fight. Look, I understand this is Sunday morning. I understand that this is maybe a little rough for certain people, but you know what? We're reading every verse from the Bible. We're looking at the word of God this morning. So if you disagree with me, you're basically disagreeing with the Bible because I'm not quoting anything else about the Bible. Amen. Well, you're being a bad testimony though. Well, let's look at Luke chapter nine. A good testimony is someone who actually adheres to the Bible, does what God tells them to do in spite of what people say about them. Luke 9 26, this is Jesus speaking. It says here in verse 26, for whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory in his fathers and of the holy angels. Ouch. He'll be, I'm sorry, I'm gonna just grab my stuff here. Sorry about that, officer. You're ashamed. You're ashamed of the word of God. You know what the Bible says? If you're ashamed of me and of my words, then I'm gonna be ashamed of you. And it's talking to save people. Does this not mean you'll lose your salvation? Does this not mean, because you can never lose your salvation, the Bible's clear about that. Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Bible says, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. We can't lose our salvation, but that doesn't mean that God won't be ashamed of us. Because the stipulation for that shame is that we are ashamed of the word of God. Well, yeah, you know, the Bible says that, but, you know, this is 2018. You're ashamed. You're a shameful Christian is what you are. And the day that Christ comes and he rewards everyone, he's gonna be ashamed of you. Remember when you went to Chandler? Remember when you went sowing and you didn't wanna, you just buckled under the pressure? You're ashamed. He's like, I'm ashamed of you. Why? The stipulation there is that we are not ashamed of the word of God, that we proudly proclaim, this is the Bible, I don't wanna fight anybody, I'm not trying to get in a dispute with anybody, but I'm not gonna forfeit the word of God just because I'm scared of you, just because you're trying to instill fear in me because of your authority. You know why? Because the highest authority, which is God, can kill us. That's the highest power. And if you fear the authorities of this land more than God, you need to recognize that God can take your life just like that. God can destroy your life just like that. That's a power beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension. That's beyond what any police officer could ever do to you. Okay, now, let me skip some things here. Go to John 15. John 15. We should not strive to be hated just to be hated for whatever sake. You know, like, just provoke people just to hate us because we wanna be hated. That should never be the goal, you know? Obviously, when we go out there and we go preach the gospel, we want people to be receptive. We wanna be as kind as possible. And don't mistake rebuking here with every door that you go knock on. If someone just rejects you, you're just like, well, burn in hell. Turn or burn, you banshee. I don't do that. It's funny, I told this story. I was telling someone at the Panera Bread, after the second session of the sowing, and I was telling this story to someone because they were asking me about it, and there's a guy standing there. He's like, Brother Mejia, now I know you're exactly outside the Pope or the way you're inside when you're at the Pope. So he thinks I'm like, I'm just rebuking people all the time. Hold on a second. I was like, I don't go around rebuking people like on my daily task list, you know what I mean? Like rebuking my wife, my children, my members, and just, I'm just always mad. I'm like, I'm not like that all the time, okay? I was like, that was a reprobate that needed to be rebuked sharply. And that trip was good. We got people saved, I got to rebuke a dyke. I count that a blessing. But that's not how I live my life, obviously. I don't go around rebuking people, just, you know, sharply. You know, and we need to make sure the way we're a good testimony of our church is that when we go out and preach the gospel, we're very kind to people at the doors that we're at. Kind, nice, you smile, you greet them. And if they, even if they reject you and they slam the door in your face, just count it all joy and walk away. Don't get into an argument with them. Don't yell at them. Don't be a jerk to them, you know? Because here's the thing, we're gonna come back to that door because we're already on our second round in the neighborhoods of our city here, you know? And Lord willing, next year when we go to that house that rebuked us and shut the door on us, you know, hopefully during that time, something bad has happened to them that has caused their heart to be open and they want the Lord, they want to know how to be saved. And they remember that there's a soul winner who came last year who was very kind and nice and we go and we give them the gospel and they get saved. So we ought not to live our lives in such a way that we're just rebuking the whole world. You know, don't be so arrogant and prideful to think that this applies to just everyone, right? But look at John 15, verse 18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Hate's such a strong word, yeah, it is. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will also keep yours. So he's telling us there, hey, don't let it surprise you if someone hates you. You know, people will have this mentality we shouldn't be hated but that's kind of showing us that, yeah, we're Christians. Because the Bible tells us, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's gonna happen. They hated Jesus. And people want Jesus even to change sometimes, right? They're like, well, Jesus, you know, the world loves Jesus and Jesus this and Jesus that and he's so kind and nice and meek and lowly and they wanna highlight all the positives of the Lord but they don't read John 15 where he said the world hated me. No, the world didn't hate Jesus. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. They crucified him. They murdered him. Let me just give you a reality check here. They brutally murdered Jesus for no good reason. They murdered him because he claimed to be the son of God, which he is. And that was the evil deed that he did that caused them to be crucified. You know, I wonder if the Christians of today were living back then, if they're, Jesus, you should've just been like a little more discreet about it. You know, you're not being Christ-like, Jesus. You're not acting like Jesus. No. The Bible says in Matthew chapter five, verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous and sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for mine sake. So you say, oh, you're not being a good testimony. We can tell that because of what they say about you guys, but they're saying it falsely. And the Bible says we ought to rejoice about that. Now, go to Acts chapter 13. Let's see if Paul fit that template of what people say that you should, how you should behave, okay? Because remember, I'm talking about rebuking reprobates. I'm talking about rebuking people who are trying to basically take away our rights of preaching the gospel. I'm talking about rebuking those and standing for truth against those who are trying to strip us of our rights of preaching the gospel. That's what I'm talking about. Look what the Bible says in Acts 13, verse six. And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus. That's not a good description of a person. He's a sorcerer. He's a false prophet. He's a Jew. And his name is Bar-Jesus, okay? Which was the deputy of the country, Sergius Pallas, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. But Eilimus, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. So what do we see here is that this man, excuse me, Sergius wanted to hear the word of God. He called for Paul and Barnabas to come preach the word of God. But this Bar-Jesus guy, which stood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith, he didn't want him to hear the word of God so he could be saved. That is wicked. Verse nine, then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, excuse me, subtlety. I always mess up on the web and then someone else tells me, hey, how do you say this word? O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil. Oh man, you're not being like Jesus, Paul. Why are you just gonna call him the child of the devil like that? Thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Look, what I said yesterday was not half as bad as that right there. He's like, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, you're perverting the ways of the Lord. He's like rebuking him sharply. We could honestly say that Paul practiced what he preached. Why, because he's telling Titus to do the same. Look what it goes on to say, verse 11. And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately it fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Look, Paul was just like, I don't make you blind. And the guy's like, he can't see. I mean, I wish I could have done that yesterday, but I'm not an apostle though. You know, we can honestly say Paul was not being like Jesus. At least like their Jesus. You know, that wasn't very nice, Paul. You know, what if he never regains his sight, Paul? How is he gonna get home, Paul? Go to Deuteronomy 28. So this phrase that I'm about to say, I've said it throughout the sermon, is a phrase that irritates me a lot. And when something like this happens, I'll say, well, Jesus wouldn't do that. You know the band, What Would Jesus Do? Jesus wouldn't do something like that. And that just shows the ignorance of people when it comes to the Bible. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, right? And we understand that Jesus is the eternal son of God. He is from everlasting. He was in the Old Testament. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 28, verse 15. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken into the voice of the Lord thy God to observe, to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city. Cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shalt I basket in thy store. Cursed shalt be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of the land and the increase of thy kin and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and curses shalt be when thou goest out. I mean, you're just, cursing's all around. This is bad. He said, you're gonna be cursed when you're coming in, you're gonna be cursed when you go out. Your land's gonna be cursed, your children are gonna be cursed, cursing's cursing's cursing's. Verse 20, the Lord shall send upon thee cursing. I think we got that, right? Vexation and rebuke in all that thou setest thine hand unto for to do until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. Ouch. He's like, I'm gonna curse you until you're just destroyed. Put that in your modern day Jesus pipe and smoke it. But that's Old Testament. That's a different dispensation. All right, let's go to Matthew 23. Because obviously we understand that Jesus is meek and lowly and hard, he is. He's kind and he's gracious, he is, you know. But he's also righteous, he's also holy. He also has wrath. That's right. Not Jesus, then you need to read the book of Revelation. Where he's gonna destroy the enemies of God. Where he specifically says, the men who chose for me not to reign over them, bring them before me and slay them. That's Jesus. Look at Matthew 23. This is one of my favorite sermons from Jesus. He's talking to the religious leaders. You know those higher powers? You know those authorities of the land? Verse 13, bewoe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now you say, oh, you're exaggerating, why are you yelling? Because there's an exclamation mark. Yeah, right. Exclamation marks means you're saying something pretty forceful. Hypocrites, yeah, but that was the only time he said it. Well, let's keep reading. For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. That reminds me of that manager. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye devour widows' houses, and for pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye can pass sea and land to make one prose to light, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. This is Jesus, by the way. Read it, it's Jesus saying this. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor, ye fools. Hey, hey, hey, don't call anybody fool. You should never call anybody fool. The Bible says not to call your brother a fool without a cause. Verse 17 says, ye fools. So did Jesus contradict himself? Ye fools and blind, for whether it's greater, the gold or the temple, the sanctifyeth the gold. Why don't we hear these verses preached on? Why is it that when you talk about Jesus and how Jesus is, you don't refer to this passage? It's not, we're not done yet. Verse 18, and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whosoever swereth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind, for whether it's greater, the gift or the altar, the sanctifyeth the gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swereth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, swereth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, swear by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. I think they're getting it at this point. They're understanding they're probably hypocrites. But he's not done yet. For ye paith, tithe, and mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides would strain at an ant and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye may clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisees, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye are like unto widened sepulchres. Man, I'm gonna explain what that is in just a bit. Which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. What is a widened sepulcher? It's a coffin. He's like, you know what you remind me of? You remind me of a coffin. Cause it's beautiful on the outside, but it has a corpse on the inside. Talk about a disrespectful phrase. And don't misunderstand this. He was disrespecting them. He had zero respect. To call someone a widened sepulcher. That's the Jesus of the New Testament. You know, the one you say is meek and lonely, and I agree with that, is the same one who said, you're a hypocrite. You're full of dead men's bones. You're a fool. So we're just following Jesus' example. Let's keep reading, verse 28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which kill the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? That's a pretty hearty sermon right there. He called them snakes. He called them vipers. He's like, you're not even gonna escape the flames of hell. I'm sorry. He said, you're not gonna escape the damnation of hell. Oh, you shouldn't cuss. Go to Isaiah chapter two. Yeah, but that's the only example you have. Well, that was a lot of verses. So if that doesn't do it for you, nothing will. Okay. Now the reason we're going to Isaiah chapter two is because Isaiah chapter two is a prophecy of what's gonna take place in the millennial reign. Now, lest you think otherwise, the millennial reign is not this, you know, a communistic utopia of hippies. Where everyone is just like playing with daisies and, you know, flower power and all these things. That's not what it is. Because the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ will rule with a rod of iron. What does that mean? It means he's gonna be very strict. That means no sodomites allowed. You know, and don't you dare try to defend them. Isaiah chapter two. So these Christians who are like, oh, you guys preach against the sodomites all the time, it's like, man, you better like that. Because that's what you're gonna be doing for a thousand years. You're gonna see a lot of executions in the millennial reign of a lot of wicked people. We're just getting a head start, preaching against it. Isaiah two verse three, excuse me, verses one and three are a prophecy. Look what the Bible says, the word that Isaiah said, the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, amen. He's gonna teach us the Bible, amen. He will walk, excuse me, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. That's gonna be a great day. I mean, the greatest preacher that has ever existed will be expounding the word of God unto us, Jesus Christ. Verse four, and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. So this isn't a prophecy of saying, you know, everything's just gonna be fine and daisy. Yeah, it is gonna be for the righteous, but Jesus says there, he's gonna rebuke a lot of people. Why, because there's gonna be unsafe people in the millennial reign, and when there's unsafe people, there's sin, and when there's sin, you have the man in charge rebuking them for that, okay? So this isn't just Old Testament teaching. This isn't just in the gospels. This is even in the millennial reign. We're gonna experience this for a thousand years. What are you saying, Brother Mejia? I'm trying to give you a reality check that this is part of the Christian life. This is part of the character of God, and these are the instruction that God gives to us to rebuke them sharply. We never want in our church to have this type of attitude to rebuke everyone, but we also don't wanna have the attitude in our church that rebuking is just wrong all the time, where you just get offended at the drop of a hat when someone gets rebuked, or when we stand up for truth, don't have that attitude, and if that's the kind of attitude you wanna have, then you need to take that attitude somewhere else, because you probably are not gonna like the sermons here very much. You're probably not gonna like, because we're trying to raise up an army for the Lord. We're trying to raise up biblical Christians who are not biblically illiterate, but understand, hey, this is a biblical concept, and most people who try to argue against this never quote one Bible verse. Never. They're just like, spread love, not hate. Love, not hate. Garbage. I wanna know what the Bible says, and I'm all for love, amen? Look, if we weren't for love, we wouldn't have taken 30 people to Chandler, Arizona, waking up at four o'clock in the morning in Indio, getting like two, three hours of sleep to go see someone saved. That's love, amen? Willing to take time out of our schedules to go out there because we wanna see someone in Chandler saved. Why? Because we love them. We hate the workers of iniquity, though. Those who try to keep people from getting saved. So what's the sermon today? Well, the sermon is simply this. When it comes to those who are trying to fight and try to strip us of our rights, we rebuke them sharply, okay? Now look, let me give you some basic instructions real quick before we leave. When you go out sowing, and this really doesn't happen in Omani because the police never come. If you get stabbed or something, you're just gonna have to hold your blood in for at least an hour or so, okay? I'm exaggerating, but if it ever comes to the point where a manager says, hey, you need to leave, you need to go, this is what you're doing. This is what they instructed us to do even in Chandler. You tell them, I'm not leaving. And if they keep following you around, you say, you need to stop harassing me or I'm gonna call the police on you for harassing me. And if they say, well, I'm gonna call the police, then say, call the police. And if they call the police and the police come, you don't argue with them. You don't try to get in a debate with them. You say, I'll leave, but we're gonna come back. Not to be argumentative, but because it's fact. Well, what if something happens to you? Well, look, the worst thing that can happen to you is that you die. Let me rephrase that, the best thing that could ever happen to you is that you die. Why? Because then you go to heaven, then you're gonna worry about all of this, amen? But it's not gonna happen. You just say, look, I'm leaving, but we will be back because my God is, I have papers that says I can do this. I have a document that says I can do this. In fact, let me give you a copy of that document and just hand them a Bible, read it through. Matthew 28 is the article where you can find that commandment to go preach the gospel and then just walk away. And look, we're not trying to be argumentative. We're not trying to be jerks, but at the same time, we're trying to exercise our right to preach the word of God because God gave us that right. Amen? Spry our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for those who are bold in the Lord to stand for right. And this may be a new concept for a lot of people, but the reality is if we don't educate ourselves, not in the laws of the land, but in the laws of God, we can easily forfeit our right to even just go sowing and preach the gospel. I pray, God, that you'd help us not to be ignorant, to be knowledgeable, to be bold, fill us with your power and your spirit and help us, Lord, to stand for right no matter what the cost. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.