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

May you behold wondrous things out of your law, God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 1 Timothy chapter number four. Look down in your Bibles at verse number one. It says, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. And the title of the sermon this morning is The Truth About a Plant-Based Diet. The truth about a plant-based diet. Now this is actually originally a sermonette that I preached at a men's smokeout barbecue. I gotta add barbecue to that because smokeout sounds kind of weird. We're eating, and so it was a small little sermonette, but I wanted to expand upon it a little more and preach a fuller sermon on it. And so that's what I'm gonna do this morning. So I'm preaching on the truth about a plant-based diet. Now let me start off by saying, let me give you some introductory statements before we get into the crux of the sermon here. First and foremost, let me say this, is that a plant-based diet, what are we talking about, or what do people mean when they say a plant-based diet? It's basically a diet void of all animal products, right? And what the Bible teaches us, first and foremost is this, is that a plant-based diet is actually an inferior diet according to the Bible, okay? It's actually inferior to an animal-based diet. And the proof of that is this, it's not only inferior from a scientific and health perspective, but even from a biblical perspective according to the Bible, it's very much inferior. The Bible says in Romans chapter 14 that one believeth that he may eat all things, right? Another who is weak eateth herbs. Now folks, it looks to me that the Bible has a bias towards eating meat, right? It's basically saying if you eat herbs, a vegetarian diet, a vegan diet, a plant-based diet, according to the Bible, you are weak. That's what the Bible says. And a lot of people, they get offended when they hear something like that. Well, I know a person who is very healthy. Well, you know, if someone's out there who has a plant-based diet, and they're eating a plant-based diet and they're healthy, they're probably the exception to the rule. Because by and large, the vast majority of people who have a plant-based diet are not only weak physically, they're actually weak mentally and spiritually, okay? You say, well, what's the proof of that? Well, folks, studies have shown that people who have a plant-based diet suffer from mental health, depression, anxiety, all types of mental, psychological issues that they have, even self-harm. Why is that? Well, because of the fact that they're not receiving the proper nutrients, proteins, and fats, which is what your brain's made out of, okay? So if your brain is made primarily of fats, and you have a plant-based diet, and you could only get rich fats from animal-based products, you're gonna have some issues in your brain, okay? And that's actually what we see. So it not only tells us that, or we not only see that an animal, or excuse me, a plant-based product diet is an inferior diet from a scientific perspective. You're very much unhealthy if you are a vegan or a vegetarian, but if you're a Christian, okay, and you believe the Bible, the Bible tells us that it's inferior as well. It says you're weak if you eat those things. Now, not only that, but a plant-based diet is an unrealistic diet as well. It's unrealistic. Why, because the common argument to those who have, or for those who have a vegetarian or vegan diet is this. Well, you don't have to eat animal-based products in order to live a healthy lifestyle. You don't need that. You can get all the nutrients and vitamins and everything that you would typically get in an animal-based diet, you can get in a plant-based diet. But here's the thing what they don't tell you is that you have to eat an excessive and inordinate amount in order to get those nutrients and or fats. And even then, some of those vitamins that you could supposedly get from a plant-based product, you can't get without coupling it with animal-based products because they have fat. They're fat-soluble, right? So they're not even accessing the proper vitamins in those plants if they're not coupling it with animal-based products because animal-based products have a lot of fat. And so it's not, it's just unrealistic. And to eat an excessive amount, and they say this, you just have to have a wide variety of plants. Well, that debunks your whole argument that people in times past or ancestors had a plant-based diet. Why, because people thousands of years ago didn't have import exports to import purple carrots and all these other things that you can get. People would eat from the land that they live in. Couple miles, sometimes they would even eat the plants that were available across the country. So this is a diet that is only realistic here in the United States where you have import export, but even then it's not. To eat that excessive amount and inordinate amount of plants in order to sustain that life is not realistic at all. So we see that it's actually inferior due to the fact that the Bible specifically says that you're weak, not only physically, not only mentally, but also spiritually. We see that it's unrealistic. And lastly, it's ungodly. And I believe this 100% that the Bible teaches that having a plant-based diet is an ungodly diet to have. Now why is that? Well, think about this. The vast majority of vegans or vegetarians who advocate for that lifestyle, if you ever approach them with the Bible, they will often use unbiblical arguments, using the Bible, okay, to try to back up their claims and back up their lifestyle. They'll say this, well, in the Garden of Eden, they were vegetarians, okay? In the Garden of Eden, they were vegetarians. Oh, okay, and we say, well, yeah, but after that, they were sanctioned to eat meat. Yeah, but because of sin, though. So because of sin, that's why we're eating meat, but it wasn't like that in the Garden of Eden. Oh, yeah, that's right, because of sin. So I guess all of us should also be naked. Because prior to the fall, you not only have a vegetarian diet, because everyone's perfect, but guess what, Adam and Eve were both naked, right? But it's interesting how people just wanna pick and choose and cherry pick their concepts that basically back up their claims and say, well, prior to the fall, it was a vegetarian diet, and therefore, we should eat a vegetarian, plant-based diet because of the fact that that's how it was before the fall. Yeah, but no one's perfect today, okay? We have a completely different system, especially in our bodies, that cannot sustain a healthy life having only a plant-based diet. But how about this? God was the first one to kill an animal in the Bible. And the vast majority of those who advocate for a plant-based diet are also advocating for animals to live because they hold them at the same pedestal as a human being. A lot of them do, okay? They think it's cruel to kill animals for meat products. It's cruel to kill the cow or whatever. They think it's a sinful thing. But to say that it's sinful is sinful in and of itself because God is the first person to actually kill an animal. He killed an animal for the benefit of Adam and Eve. So even if you wanna say, well, you know, killing animals is bad, well, how about this? God preferred the human being over the animal because he didn't kill Adam and Eve to improve the life of the animal. He killed the animal to improve the life of the human being. He killed it, made coats of skins. The Bible doesn't even say if they used it for meat to eat. He killed it to make coats of skins to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, folks. Now let me tell you another reason why this ideology is actually very much wicked and it's ungodly. Because the spiritual application to that is this, is the fact that something had to die in order to give life to a human being, right? Something had to die, not a plant, by the way, okay? An animal had to die, a living thing had to die in order to provide life for a person, two people, right? Well, that is spiritually symbolically representing the fact that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. He had to die in order to give everlasting life, provide everlasting life for all mankind. So to say, well, you know, it's ungodly that he did that. No, it's actually a righteous thing. God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so that was a representation of what Jesus Christ would do one day. But think about the nonsensical logic about this. Well, because they were like that in the Garden of Eden, that's how we need to be today. Folks, what they're saying is that in order to become perfect once again and to have a perfect society, this utopian Edenic society, you have to have a plant-based diet. So they literally think that by eating vegetables and fruits we're gonna go back to the Garden of Eden conditions. Really? It's ridiculous, okay? But we see that God was the first one to kill an animal for the benefit of mankind. But not only that, he encourages and sanctioned mankind to kill animals throughout the Old Testament. And these are things that are not discussed amongst the Christian vegan communities. They don't wanna talk about the fact that in the Old Testament, animals were sacrificed in large quantities and numbers for hundreds of years. Morning and night, weekly, monthly, yearly, animals were sacrificed over and over and over again. And let me say this, it's still sinful. Then why is God saying that he loved the savor of that sacrifice? When they would often provide those animal sacrifices, the odor of that barbecue was well pleasing in his sight, the Bible says. Bible says that he would smell the savor of those animal sacrifices and it would be well pleasing unto him. And in fact, it was actually sinful in those days if you didn't do an animal sacrifice. And the proof of that, I don't wanna get ahead of myself, is that you have Abel who brought up an animal sacrifice, you have his brother Cain who brought a plant-based sacrifice, and God had not respected unto Cain, the Bible says. Why, because he brought the wrong sacrifice. It was actually sinful what he did, okay? So the point there is that we're to worship God according to how God wants us to worship him. Can't bring a plant-based sacrifice because we think it's right. We need to bring the kind of sacrifice that God is pleased with, you understand? God didn't send a tree to die for us, folks. He didn't send a vineyard to die for us. He didn't send some sort of plant to die for us. He sent Jesus Christ who's a human being who is a representation of fulfillment of all of those animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. The Bible says in Genesis chapter three, verse 20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also unto his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them, the Bible tells us. Now, the Bible also says in Genesis chapter one, and God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree into which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed. To you it shall be meat. So yeah, initially, that's what it was all about. God allowed Adam and Eve and he told them, you need to eat all the fruits, the veggies in the Garden of Eden. That shall be to you for meat. But later on in Genesis chapter nine and verse number three, it tells us every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you. Okay, the dog, it's moving, it's living, it's a thing, shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things. So we obviously see a transition in the history of mankind where God originally sanctioned vegetables and fruits to be the diet of man, but once man fell, God then sanctioned for man to eat animals and animal-based product, and I'm gonna explain to you why in just a bit. Go to Romans chapter 14, if you would, Romans chapter 14. We're gonna come back to 1 Timothy chapter four in just a bit. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians nine, verse nine, for it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle in the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, doth God take care for oxen? And the answer is no, okay? You see, God doesn't care for animals the way the vegan and vegetarian community cares for animals. They care for animals because they believe, well, they're sentient beings, you know, they're just as important as humans, they're just as important as man, but that's not necessarily what the Bible teaches. It's not what the Bible teaches at all. The only reason God cares for the animals is because of the fact that they improve mankind's life. You understand? And so we see that there. Now, let me also start off by saying this, is that we shouldn't hate vegetarians or vegans, okay? Because you can go to an opposite extreme where we think that they're just all vegetarians and vegans are reprobate, they're just wicked people, they're just evil people, and that's not true because we have people in our church who are saved, not vegans, but they were former vegetarians and or vegans. They were formerly involved in that plant-based diet until they came to the knowledge of the truth, amen? And so we shouldn't hate them and think that they're just, put them all in one pot and say, well, they're just all wicked, you know, because they don't eat animal-based products. Look what the Bible says in Romans 14, verse number one, it says, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. So the Bible's telling us here that they're actually weak in the faith. Verse three, let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. So the Bible's telling us, don't despise them. Why should we not despise them? Because God says, because they're weak. And ye that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. That's what the Bible tells us. So God considers those Christians who actually only eat herbs as being inferior Christians, inferior, spiritually speaking, not inferior to us, but inferior, spiritually speaking, because of the fact that they obviously haven't read the Bible, okay? Verse four says, who art thou that judges another man's servant to his own master? He standeth or followeth, yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regardeth. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. So he's saying, look, within Christianity, you're gonna have people who are vegans or vegetarians. Are they right for doing that? No, they're wrong. Because we don't have obscure scriptures in the Bible talking about this matter. There's very clear scriptures that we see where God condemns a plant-based diet and he upholds an animal-based diet. And so he's saying here, you're gonna have people like this that need to be taught, that need to be made strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, not be weak in the faith, that need to understand what the Bible actually says about this concept here, okay? Now, what are the origins of a plant-based diet? When we think of vegetarianism or veganism and the people responsible for propagating it, we often think about different religions throughout history, right? You have Hinduism and Buddhism. You have Islam that forbids the eating of pork, okay? You have Catholicism that has meatless Friday. They don't eat red meat on Friday, right? That's a form of veganism and or vegetarianism. Even if it's seasonal, they're commanding you to abstain from meats on Friday, right? Part of the most guilty group of Christianity, so-called, is the seven-day Adventists who advocate for vegetarianism, okay? Through the visions of Ellen G. White, who had all these visions about a pre-Trip rapture, and this is why Kellogg's cornflakes exist, okay? It was supposed to be a healthy alternative to eating meat for breakfast. They said, don't eat meat, eat Kellogg's cornflakes. Now, I'm just gonna let you know right now, I like honey bunches of oats, okay? Sometimes I'm weak, right? I'm a little weak in the faith sometimes and I eat honey bunches of oats, okay? But hey, if you offered me, if my wife said, hey, honey bunches of oats or steak and eggs, obviously I had to go with the steak and eggs, okay? I eat cereal at night. She said, vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose our diet, she said. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural. That's what Ellen G. White said, unnatural. We are to return to God's original purpose in the creation of man. Oh, so you're saying we need to return to God's original plan without Jesus. Because the only way to return to that original plan is through Jesus. Because one day the world will return to the conditions of the Garden of Eden, but it's not gonna be until the new heaven and the new earth, which is way out in the future, even after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, where all sin, Satan, death are completely removed from the picture, but death, Satan, and wickedness has not been removed. We still have that today, okay? Now, but even prior to these, or even those spoken of in 1 Timothy 4, we see a plant-based lifestyle being promoted contrary to God's command. Go with me, if you would, to Genesis chapter number 4. Genesis chapter number 4, let's talk about Cain, okay? Who's your first vegetarian? He's the first vegan, he's the first advocate of a plant-based diet. Jude 1 says this in verse 11, Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward in Paris and the gainsaying of Corrie. 1 John 3, 12 says, Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Now let me ask you this, what work did Cain do? He brought an ungodly sacrifice unto the Lord. An ungodly offering unto the Lord, should I say. This is the work that God considers to be evil. Why, because it's serving God your way, not God's, right? Hebrews 11, 4 says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, which was an animal, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead, yet speaketh, the Bible says. And of course we see that phrase later on used with Jesus Christ, where it says that his blood speaks better things than that of Abel. So obviously the symbolic representation of Abel is the fact that he's Jesus Christ bringing a better offering, you understand? Instead of Adam and Eve making themselves aprons made of plants, not really necessarily covering much, God came and brought the coats of skin to cover up their nakedness completely. And that's exactly what it is. You see, the offering that Cain brought is a representation of a workspace salvation. Look at Genesis 4, verse one, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. She again bare his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So Abel, what is he doing? He's taking care of sheep, obviously he's using it for clothing, he's using it for meat products, this is his livelihood. Whereas Cain is a tiller of the ground, his thing is vegetation, okay? It says in verse number three, And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord, and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. What does it mean when it says he had respect? It means I recognize this. As a legitimate offering unto the Lord. But unto Cain, verse five, and unto his offering, he had not respect. Now, when people say we should respect our religions, is that true according to this verse? No. Right? We should respect all religions, well that's funny because God didn't have respect unto Cain's religion. Yeah. He says he had not respect unto him, and Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Well what Cain should have done is this, okay God, what are you happy with? What kind of doctrine do you want me to teach? What's the right way to worship? But instead, he was wroth, he was angry, his countenance fell, and this is very much representative of people today when they're told, hey, this is what the Bible says about vegetarianism, this is what the Bible says about veganism, and what do they do? They're wroth. They're angry. Angry at us? No, they're angry at God. It says in verse six, and the Lord sent unto Cain, why art thou wroth? Why you mad? You mad, bro? Why art thou wroth, and why is thou countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? He's like, if it was good what you were doing, don't you think I would have accepted you? No, God accepts everyone. Not Cain. If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord sent unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Go back to 1 Timothy chapter number four. So we see the first advocate of a plant-based diet was Cain, who brought a wicked offering unto the Lord that God did not sanction, and it's not that Cain was ignorant of these things. Folks, he obviously knew that this was a wrong way to do things. He obviously knew that this was a wrong type of a worship because he's the son of Adam and Eve, who are very much familiar with the sacrifices that God was pleased with, okay? That's why Abel was doing the proper sacrifices. So we see that he's actually one of the first advocates of a plant-based diet. Secondly is the Pharisees. The Pharisees were actually advocates of a plant-based diet. Or should I say a meatless diet, okay? Because there were times in the Old Testament, obviously, where God specifically said, hey, you can't eat certain shellfish, can't eat pork, right? And it wasn't because it was unhealthy. A lot of people wanna say that. They'll say, well, we should still abstain from eating pork and shellfish because it's unhealthy, and that's why God told them because it was unclean. But what they don't realize is that when it says that it's unclean, it's not referring to its health benefits It's referring to what it represented, okay? And the symbolic representation of those quote-unquote unclean meats such as shellfish or pork was a representation of the fact that it's referring to other nations, okay? And God told his people to separate themselves from other nations, to not marry into other nations, not because of their race, not because of anything of that matter, but because of their beliefs. And he understood, hey, if they become unequally yoked together with an unbeliever who has a different God, that person is gonna drive you away from serving the true God, okay? It's an unclean religion, it's an unclean society because of their belief system, you understand? But that was only for a season, it was only a window of time where that commandment was given. And then when Jesus Christ came and became the culmination of all of those symbolic representations, God said, it's time to eat meat, it's time to eat the shellfish and the pork, you can eat those things because Jesus Christ has already fulfilled the symbolic representation of what we see in the Old Testament. Oh, but that wasn't good enough for the Pharisees though. You know, because the Pharisees rejected Jesus Christ. He came into his own, his own received him not, so they were still trying to impose those meats, drinks, and divers, washings, and carnal ordinances upon the people, even though the time of reformation had already taken place. So look what it says in 1 Timothy 4, verse one, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Now the question is this, who is he talking about? Now we can make that application to Seventh-day Adventists, Islam, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, but the original guys that God is actually talking about is actually the Pharisees. It says speaking lies in hypocrisy. Dead giveaway right there, right? Why, because the Pharisees were guilty of commanding people to do something and then doing something completely the opposite. It says in Matthew 23, verse one, then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. It says, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. What is that called, hypocrisy? Oh, you should abstain from eating pork, and I guarantee you those Pharisees were dipping into some pork every now and again behind the scenes. Why, because it says they're speaking lies in hypocrisy. These self-righteous, fake believers, okay, who the Bible says are actually devils, they're teaching doctrines of devils, they're speaking lies in hypocrisy, look what it says, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Now what does that mean when it says their conscience is seared with a hot iron, where your conscience is that aspect of your being that is able to differentiate between right and wrong, okay? And when a person rejects God, when they reject Jesus Christ they become a hater of God, God actually sears that person's conscience, they become what the Bible calls a reprobate concerning the faith, they're given over to a reprobate mind, they're not able to differentiate between the two, and they're false prophets and they're basically twice dead, okay? That's who it's referring to. Now what are the doctrines that they're teaching? Verse three, they forbid to marry. First of all, that's just wicked, okay? Now in the Bible, in the Old Testament, even today, God forbids Christians to marry certain people, does he not? Right? He forbids Christians to marry unbelievers. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, what concord hath Christ with Belial, you know, and so on and so forth, he forbids Christians, not just in the Old Testament but even today, to marry into a people group who has a different God, they're not saved, okay? They're taking it to another extreme. What extreme are they taking it to? They're just saying Jews shouldn't marry anybody outside of being a Jew, it doesn't matter what you believe. But if you're a Jew, you can get married to a Jew, but if you're a goyim, can't marry outside of that. And if you don't believe him, that's in the Talmud. They forbid, Jews forbid other Jews to marry into other nations, because why, because they're unclean. Even if it's a, even if it's a saved person, they believe the Bible, they have God as their God, the true God of the Bible, they still forbid it because of a racial thing, not a religious reason, okay? Not because of their beliefs. So they're forbidding to marry, even though they're committing adultery, even though they're doing all this wicked stuff that we see in the New Testament throughout the Gospels, they're hypocrites, right? And then it says, verse three, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. Now, what does it mean when it says that they were commanding to abstain from meats? Well, they're commanding to abstain from the meats that God sanctioned and said it's okay to eat, okay? We're talking about the shellfish, the shrimp, the pork, animals that in times past were considered to be unclean, God said, you can eat those now. They said, no, you cannot eat those. So even though God said, you can do it, I've approved, it has my stamp of approval on it, you have the Pharisees saying, no, it's still unclean, you're not allowed to eat those things. I'm commanding you to abstain from meats, okay? Now let me ask you this, is eating physical meat the real issue here? It's not. God is using a physical example of an underlying spiritual issue, okay? And the reason we know eating physical meat is not the real issue here is because of the fact that Romans chapter 14, verse seven says this, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serve with Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eateth with offense, okay? Now why is it wicked? Look what it goes on to say in verse three, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving to them which believe and know the truth. So number one, let me give you a couple points here, okay? Why we should eat physical meat? Well, because of the fact that it spiritually represents something else that's very much important, okay? Number one is because of what creatures represent. Because it says there in verse four, for every creature of God is good. So he's saying, hey, the rabbit is good. You go to Southeast Asia, the dog is good. I'm serious. They eat dog over there. I have family over there, they eat dog. They barbecue it, they eat it. I mean, it's kind of gross, actually, not to think about it, but I mean, if I was there and that's all that was there, I'd be like, 1 Timothy 4, you know? This is what we're doing here, okay? But every creature of God is good. And it says, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. So when it says every creature, obviously he's referring to any type of animal, okay? But here's the thing, is that he's more specifically referring to the animals that in times past were not allowed to be eaten, okay? Now think about this, you know, when we think of creature, we think of animals, but when the Bible refers to creatures in the New Testament, it's also referring to people. Because the Great Commission says this, preach the gospel to every creature. Now what is a creature? A creature is a creation of God, okay? So when the Bible says preach the gospel to every creature, he's referring to the fact you need to go to all nations, right, go therefore and teach all nations. So its synonymously represents other nations that are not of Israel, understand? Creatures, all nations, et cetera. Go to Romans chapter eight, hold your place there in 1 Timothy chapter four. Go to Romans chapter number eight. So remember this, he says every creature of God is good. This doesn't mean that every human being in this world is good, right, because of the fact that we know that there's none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not, no one is good in and of themselves to go to heaven, they're not righteous before God. Their righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord, we understand that. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When he says every creature of God is good, in other words, he's basically telling them, go preach to everyone. Everyone's good for the picking, okay? Romans eight verse 19 says this, for the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which had the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. So we see first and foremost that creatures are good. Other people, other nations are good. We don't ever want to be the kind of church that says, well, I only want to reach Mexicans, right? Every creature of God is good. Mexican creatures are good, but white creatures are good too. Asian creatures are good, they're all good. According to God, they should not be refused. So we see there that he says, which number two, every creature of God is good. It says in verse four, for every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. Look what it says, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Go to Acts chapter 10. It is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Now we think about this, this is one of the reasons why we pray over our food, right? We get that piece of meat, that pork, and what do we do before destroying it? We pray over it, okay? We bless the meal, right? And I've even known people who say, we should pray for it, that God removes, if there's some sort of sickness or poisoning or something like that. And I even know other people that eat unhealthy food, hoping to remove, God, please remove all the stuff that will make me fat and unhealthy, and remove all the sugars, doesn't work that way, okay? But it says it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Now this is an interesting statement here, that he says it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer, and it's in tandem with the fact that he says that it should not be refused, okay? When he says that it's sanctified by the word of God, there's two meanings here. Meaning number one is this, when he says it's sanctified, in other words, it's set apart, it means that when we look at the dog, we're in Southeast Asia, and we're like, should we eat this? Well, let's look at what the Bible says. Oh, every creature of God is good, I can eat this. Oh, it was an unclean animal in times past. Oh, this is actually sanctified by the word of God, okay? It's sanctified by the word of God in prayer. We see the monkey? I'm just saying, it's sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Hey, we see the bat? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just saying, I mean, that's right there. We don't have to worry about those things here, though, okay, there's plenty of meats, drinks, and diverse washings that you can partake of. But it's basically saying that these animals are sanctioned by God to be eaten, okay? Now, what's something that is not sanctioned by God to eat that comes from animals? Blood. God says you can't just slit the animal's throat and drink the blood, that's actually unclean, it's ungodly, because blood is the life of the body, right? It's another representation of the blood of Jesus Christ. You don't just drink the blood of an animal. That wasn't sanctioned in the Old Testament, it's not sanctioned in the New Testament, it's never right to do. So if someone says, hey, here's a glass of blood, this is what we do in our culture, you say, no, not partaking in that. Can't do that. Now, if you wanna give me that animal, you know, that you killed it from, if you wanna give me that kangaroo, I'll take the kangaroo, but I'm not gonna drink the blood of that animal because it's actually not sanctioned by God, it's not sanctified by the word of God. I cannot do that, you understand? So that's the primary meaning of this one, it says for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. But when you think of something that's sanctified, it means it's set apart, right? And the secondary meaning of this is the fact that he's referring to people, because remember, creatures is not only an animal, creatures are also referring to people. So when it says sanctified by the word of God, yeah, it's referring to the camel, but it's also referring to other nations as well. Look what it says in Acts chapter 10, of course, this story here with the Apostle Peter, Peter was a little bit of a racist in the beginning, just like James was, right? Only wanted to reach Jews, even though God told them, go into all nations, they were disobeying, they were only trying to reach Jews, they wanted a Jew Baptist church, right, in Jerusalem, that's all they wanted to reach. James took it to an extreme though, obviously, that he's reaching Jews, he's reaching those of Israel, and he's giving separate commands to Gentiles than what Jews have. You know, Gentiles would get saved, because obviously he's not gonna deny that anybody can get saved from the gospel. He would just say this, well, if they're a Gentile, just give them these three commandments, and make sure they abstain from fornication, idols, and things strangle, you know, and then they're good to go. False, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek in the Bible. The commands of God are applicable for everyone, they're for everyone, regardless of your Jew, Gentile, Greek, so on and so forth. So Peter has this attitude, and he's only reaching Jews, and God basically has to come to him in a vision and explain to him why he should be reaching other people. Look what it says in verse number nine, on the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. So prior to this, you have a man by the name of Cornelius, he's not a Jew, he's a Goyim, okay, according to their definition, and he receives a vision, and he says, hey, there's a guy that you need to go talk to, that basically is gonna get him saved, which is referring to Peter. But before he gets to Peter, God needs to give Peter the vision in order to motivate him to give the gospel to Cornelius. Verse 10, and he became very hungry and would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and he saw heaven open, I wish this were possible today, this is, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet, knitted the four corners and led down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. Pork, more pork, you know, dove, okay? I mean, all kinds of good food. Verse 13, and there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. So he, you know, he has this spread, literally. She, with all kinds of animals, he's like, you're hungry, I'm gonna feed you right now. Kill all these animals and eat your fill, basically. Now look, folks, if God comes to you and says this, everything goes out the window. Like, well, Lord, you say it, thou sayest it, you know, if this is what you want. But Peter said, you know, because obviously he knows more than God, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time what God hath cleansed, that call naught thou common. Now you would think that Peter would get the point. Like, oh, I'm really sorry about that. I spoke very foolishly, where's that pork at? I've always wanted to try it. No, it says in verse 16, this was done thrice. And the vessel was received up again into heaven. By the way, this shows you the long-suffering patience of God with Peter. Peter was a godly man, he loved the Lord, but the guy was kind of slow sometimes. Remember in John, at the end, God had to say, love is thou me more than these. He had to tell him like three times before he actually got the point. Well, he's doing the same thing here. He had to bring the sheep down three times, you know, in order to prove, make the point of what he's trying to say here. What is he saying? Well, Peter responded by saying, nothing common or unclean has entered into my mouth. Now, was meat the issue here? No. What was the issue? Cornelius is coming. Don't consider him common or unclean, because what God hath cleansed, thou cometh, not thou common. Now, God didn't cleanse Cornelius, as in like he sanctified him, saved him, he's washed from his sins. He's basically telling them that he is cleansed in the sense of now you should go preach the gospel to him. Even though he's a Roman, he's a centurion, he's not of Israel, you need to go rise, kill, and eat. Cornelius, spiritually speaking. Go eat of those other nations. Go reach the other nations. Because the representation is this, eating is synonymous with going out and reaching other nations. Think about this, when the Bible often represents the rapture, represents Jesus Christ as an eagle coming down to take a prey. Okay? And so this was done thrice, and he's saying, hey, these people are common, they're unclean, hasn't entered into my mouth. Well think about this, in Mark chapter 12 verse 47, the Bible tells us that the common people heard him gladly. The Gentiles heard Jesus gladly. The Samaritan woman in John chapter four heard him gladly. People who were not of the nation of Israel would come to Jesus and they heard him gladly. And what God is trying to get across here in First Timothy chapter four is this. It's sanctified by the word of God in prayer. God has already sanctioned you to go reach another nation. This is why I'm not necessarily for having these churches that are only geared toward one race. Right? And you have people out there that are like, now obviously if you're in Mexico, I mean, you're probably not gonna reach Japanese people or anything like that. Obviously if you're in a part of the world that only has one specific race or something, that's what you're gonna reach. But in America, I mean, look around you. We have everything here, okay? But even in America, there's people who only wanna reach their race, because that's what they're comfortable with. They only wanna reach white people, they only wanna reach black people, they only wanna reach Mexicans, they only wanna reach Hispanics, they only wanna reach Armenians. Right? Right, Brother Huyck? Just admit it. The Armenian Orthodox Church, right? They're just like all about Armenians. Russians, the Russian Orthodox, well they only wanna reach Russians. That's wrong, folks. Because the gospel's for everyone. And you know, the old IFB was somewhat guilty of this. Okay, well they were a little racist, just a tad bit racist, well they only wanted to reach a specific people group, and they didn't wanna go into the poor areas too much, because it's the white people who had all the money, and they used to quote this, hey, this is why we do this, because you can reach down, but you can't reach up. That's what they used to say. That's an ungodly way of thinking. We need to recognize that God wants everyone, regardless if you think they're uncommon, or common or unclean, to be reached. It's sanctified by the word of God. And it's crazy that people would think this way today, but you know what? The disciples whom Jesus spoke to, who he gave the great commission to, Matthew 28, when he said go unto all nations, Mark 16, priest of the gospel to every creature, Acts 1-8, where he said, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world, they still didn't get it. They're like, got it. I mean, have you ever instructed someone, and they said, I got it, and then they still don't do it or something? Right, it's like, you just did not do what I told you to do. But yet you agreed. How does that work? How many times has that ever happened to you? You tell someone something, and they're like, all right, I got it. And then it's just like, you find them 10 minutes later, and they're just not doing it. Kids are notorious for it, right? And it's like, oh yeah, I forgot something, yeah? Well, this is what the disciples were doing. They're not reaching other nations. And partly, you know, there's different reasons why they weren't doing it. You know, they're afraid of what their Jew buddies were gonna say. They didn't wanna be persecuted by the Pharisees. They wanted to keep reaching into this people group, even though, by and large, they were rejecting the gospel. But luckily, Paul came, and Paul had an open palate. He was like, I'll eat anything. You know, send me to Rome, send me to Thessalonica. Send me to the seven churches which are in Asia. Send me anywhere. Anywhere he went, he reached different people. And in fact, the gospel spreads so much the more because of Paul, because he wasn't afraid of eating the camel. He wasn't afraid of eating the pork. He would eat any type of animal because he knew that's what God sanctioned him to do. And in fact, you know, he considered himself to be somewhat the minister of the Gentiles. He's a Gentile chef, right? He's like, I'm not just gonna go to the Mexican restaurant. I'm gonna go to the Greek restaurant. I'm gonna go to the Armenian restaurant. I'm gonna go to, what else we got? Thai restaurant. What? Chinese restaurant. I'm gonna go get some, you know, some orange chicken. I'm gonna go get some mango sticky rice at the Thai root food restaurant. You know, I'm gonna go get Potsy Yew. I'll eat the tacos too. And he's just like, I'll just eat anything. Some people, they only stick to one thing. You know what I mean? They only wanna stick to Raisin Cane's or something. You know, you need to expand that palate a little bit, okay? Go get some Mediterranean food. So that's what we see here. He's calling them common and unclean and God's saying, no, it's sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Go eat them, okay? Go back to First Timothy chapter four. First Timothy chapter four. So why should we eat meat? Well, because of what it represents. Because creatures represent people. And because every creature of God is good. And look, this could be applied to this. How about this? You know, you don't wanna give the gospel to someone because they're tatted from head to toe or something. There's people out there like that. They're like, oh, I don't wanna give the gospel to this person. This guy looks like a gang banger. Well, he probably is. He's probably more receptive than anybody else because he's near death all the time. There's drive-bys happen all the time. People wanna kill him and stuff. Go give him the gospel. Yeah, but the guy, he's pierced from head to toe. His face looked like it fell into a tackle box. Go give him the gospel because, you know, and tell him that Jesus Christ was pierced for him. Right? What I'm saying is this. Hey, don't look at just people out there who maybe are not a fundamental Baptist. They're not just like you, you know, and say, well, I'm not gonna reach them because of the fact that they just look too motley, okay? Sometimes you forget how motley you were before you got saved, okay? And even thereafter, in some cases. Reach them all. Hey, reach the effeminate guy. Right? Some guys out there, especially today, with your e-boys and your TikTok and your Instagram, you have a lot of effeminate guys out there who are very soft. They're very feminine. Not sodomites. By the way, don't reach the sodomite. You say, I thought you said every creature. Yeah, but certain creatures have like rabies and stuff and you can't eat that, right? You know, they have coronavirus, the bat and all that, you know, obviously, I'm talking about like people who are, can be reached. People who are not refused, okay? You know, the effeminate guy, he still can be saved. He needs to be taught to act like a man, show biblical manhood. We need to teach him about salvation. We need to teach him about his biblical role and he needs to get right with God and grow up spiritually. Reach him! Yeah, but he's a little soft, you know? I just don't like, you know, he's just a little effeminate. He's a little soft. He's a little melaka, as they say in Greek. You know, he's just a little, just, I don't know. Well, you need to just reach him because he's not common or unclean in the eyes of God. He's sanctioned for you to reach him, okay? And lastly, why should we eat meat? Because a healthy spiritual diet requires it, folks. Now look, you need to eat certain shellfish and meats that were not sanctioned in the Old Testament to get specific, there's certain nutrients that you can only get from those animals that you can't get from other animals. And in order, if you think about it from a spiritual perspective, it wasn't until the New Testament where really all believers became complete. Because now the New Testament was a complete fulfillment of the shadows of the Old Testament. So, you know, the people, the saints in the Old Testament, they were still incomplete. They were saved, but they were incomplete in their knowledge. They saw through a glass darkly, right? They saw through a glass darkly. They didn't have a canonized Bible. You know, they didn't have the word of God being expounded into them and those shadows being expounded into them. And so they were still lacking, right? And it's the same thing when you eat meat. You know, certain meats you gotta dip into in order to get certain nutrients and just different nutrients that you need that you can only get from other, like for example, shellfish, okay? Well, that's the same thing from a spiritual perspective. Look at verse six. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, run to thou hast attained. Think about this. In order for you to have a healthy spiritual diet, you need both Old and New Testament being preached to you. So some person who comes to me and says, well, I'm all about the Torah. To me, it's just like, that's lacking. If that's all, if all you're preaching is the five books, the first five books of the Bible, you're lacking and you know nothing. You're an obscurity still. You're in the shadow still. You don't know what you're talking about still, why? Because it's insufficient. Okay? And in like manner, when you think of, you know, a well-balanced diet, you know, you need your meats, you need your fats, you need, what else, some butter, what else, salt, right? You need all these things in order to create a healthy diet when in like manner, when it comes to the word of God, you need both Old and New Testament. The Bible says in Matthew 13, 52, then said he unto them, therefore every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. So a good preacher of God's word uses both Old and New Testament, right? That's why, you know, we preach from, we preach through the books in the New Testament, but we also preach through Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. We preach through Hosea in the Old Testament. Why? Because we need both. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness. You can't just be one-sided. And you know what? Some of the most unhealthy churches out there are those who only preach for the book of John. Are those who only talk about Psalm 23. Right? They only talk about the real easy scriptures. They never get into the book of Revelation. They never talk about Leviticus, where there's all kinds of meat in Leviticus. A little hard to chew sometimes for them. A little hard to swallow for them sometimes, but there's meat in there that they need, right? And what happens? They become spiritually unhealthy in those churches. Because they're only used, they have this one-sided diet where they only have one doctrine being given to them, and it's very shallow. It's little thin slices of meat that they give them that's not even enough. You need everything. You need both Old and New Testament. Go to John chapter four, if you would. John chapter four. Hey, you know, you need strong meat, right? So you need the basic truths to help you in your Christian life, to know your biblical roles, to learn how to work hard and not be lazy. You need to learn how to be encouraged in the Lord, to have passion, to have zeal. You need to learn how to read your Bible from cover to cover, how to pray. All these basic things that are important. Child-rearing, marriage counsel, all those things. But you also need the meat of the word as well, right? Things that are not necessarily the most exciting to hear, but it's meat and you need it. You understand? But from what we see in 1 Timothy chapter four, he's saying, look, you're gonna be nourished up in the words of doctrine and of faith. You're gonna be a healthy Christian. And in context, what is this talking about? He's saying, if you are an avid soul winner of reaching everyone, you're gonna be a healthy Christian. It's gonna be a healthy church. Look what it says in John four, verse 30. Then they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meantime, excuse me, in the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, master, eat. But he said unto him, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Now what just finished happening here? He just got finished talking to the Samaritan woman. Right? He won the Samaritan woman to the Lord. The Samaritan woman goes back to her town, reaches a bunch of guys, you know, her five husbands, ex-husbands, right, that's what it says. They all come out and they get saved as well. And so he's saying, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples unto another, hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto him, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. He says, look, I have meat that you don't even know about because you're not even willing to preach the gospel to these Gentiles here, the Samaritans. You're so concerned about me speaking to the Samaritan at the well, you're not concerned enough about our soul. I have meat that you know not of. Because you know, you guys only want to reach Jews. Only Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He's saying, I'm going to reach out to other people regardless of what race they are, regardless if they're Samaritans, if they're Romans, if they're Greeks, I'm going to reach into every single one of them. I have meat to eat that you know not of. So in order to have a healthy spiritual diet, what do you have to do? You have to have a mentality that says, I want to reach everyone. Okay? I want to reach the black person, the white person, the yellow person, the red person. If they have a soul, I want to reach them. And look, in order for a church to be spiritually healthy, they need to go soul-wanting. If they're not soul-wanting, they're going to die spiritually. The candlestick shall be removed from them. They will deteriorate as a church, they will now grow spiritually, and they will become cold-hearted towards this world. Okay? Why? Because if you're not winning souls to Christ, then you're not really developing your love for people. Because soul-wanting helps you to develop a love for people. Soul-wanting gets you out there on the front lines, face to face, with an unregenerate person who's on their way to hell. You give them the gospel, they get saved, and it helps you to realize, man, I'm doing something of significance here. I'm pulling people out of the fire. Okay? Just like when you throw that meat onto that grill, you pull them out of the fire and you eat it, amen? But some people, they're not doing that. They didn't even put meat on the grill. They're too busy eating vegetables. Too busy eating a plant-based diet. Too busy doing things their own way, rather than God's way. Okay? And so what's the sermon today? The sermon is simply, this is just a reminder to us all that, you know, obviously I want you to be nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, and not have this mentality that we as Christians are better than anybody else in this world. Because that's what the disciples thought sometimes. The mentality should be, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, right? And I want to reach as many people as possible because of the fact that I want to have a spiritually healthy diet. I want to be able to reach people because it's right to do. I don't want to have this mentality where all those people are common, they're unclean, that guy's a little effeminate, that person's too tattooed up, they got tattoos on their eyes and in their mouth and in their tongue and on their lip, and they have piercings everywhere. Oh, she's dressed a little promiscuous, she's got a miniskirt, she's got this, you know, I can't reach those. What do you mean? Don't call them common or unclean. Yeah, but look the way she's dressed, though. She looks like a prostitute or something. Well, prostitutes could get saved, too. Don't listen to Adam Bannon. She's probably not a prostitute, she's just going about, you know, with the ideologies of this world. Don't look at people like that and say, well, they're just common or unclean, I'm just, you know, thumb your nose at them, you're just, oh, you're so refined, right? No, you should look at them as potential people who can get saved, change their life, and do something great for God. Love them, amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and thank you for men of God who have given us a healthy diet. Help us to stay away from the plant-based diet, physically and spiritually, and help us to adhere to a animal-based diet, which is your word. And even milk is an animal-based product. And we need the milk of the word, but even after that, we need the meat of the word as well. And I pray also that we would never have this attitude that people out there are just common and unclean. Obviously, there's certain animals out there that are, and we're not to cast our pearls before swine, but there's plenty of others who are just, they just need the gospel, they need to get saved. They need to be taught. And I pray that, Lord, you'd continue to soften our.