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Music You You You You You You You You Good morning everybody and welcome Steadfast Baptist Church It's great to see everybody here. We go ahead and find our seats. We will get started and For this morning's first song we have somewhat of a new song for our church song number 58 He the pearly gates will open some of you may be familiar with this song if you are singing out very loud So we can all sing it together Song number 58 he the pearly gates will open song number 58 Let's all sing it together on the first song 58 Love is mine so great and wondrous Wondrous deep and mighty you're supply Coming from the heart of Jesus just the same The pearly gates will open He purchased my And Oh Oh Purchased my Oh Oh Oh Oh I shall Great singing everybody now, let's go ahead and open up the service with a word of prayer Lord we love you, and we just thank you again for this church. Thank you again for everybody in it Thank you for letting us gather here and sing unto you Lord We just ask you to fill this church with your spirit and bless the services today, and it's in Jesus name. We pray amen All right for our next song. Let's go to our handout If you do not have a handout raise your hand we'll get one to you a new name and glory a New name and glory And for the last part we're gonna hold out heaven and you'll know when you get there right towards the end of the song we're gonna hold out heaven a New name and glory if you don't have a handout raise your hand. We'll get one to you a New name and glory does that know it well sing it out Oh This was really given Oh We're singing out on the second Only feeling Ah Oh Oh Good morning, thank you for coming to steadfast Baptist Church. I need to grab a bulletin from you as well We're On Jonah chapter 2 Verse number 9 for our Bible memory passage and then on the inside we have our service and soul winning times Also our church stats we for our soul winning information We've added a new group chat that you can Send that information into if you're not added to it And you'd like to just ask me or one of our soul winning captains Also, if you just want to you can still report it to them and they can put it in there But that's just to help us keep track of that and to make it easier If you have any questions, you can ask us about that on the right. We have a list of expecting ladies Several here for this upcoming month of December. Make sure you're praying for them Also our prayer list if you'd like to be added to our prayer list You can send out an email to us and we can add you into our bulletin for any prayer requests that you have On the back. We have a note of several upcoming events November 9th, this is kind of a newer event. I don't think I've announced it previously yet, but some of our soul winning captains wanted to host a Little soul winning seminar and it's gonna be here at the church And so it's just gonna be an opportunity If you're a little bit newer to soul winning or a refresher, you just want to help out you can come and participate There's gonna be some coffee and donuts in the morning and then for a few hours They're just gonna go through some different instruction tips Just some advice for soul winning maybe give some people opportunity to practice a little bit And so if you are a little bit newer to soul winning or if you just want some more information This is a great opportunity for you. And then of course, they'll do so winning immediately following this in for that Saturday time and so if you want to ask any questions or something you can ask me or evangelists for and We'll help you with that information, but that's just something to put on your radar if you'd like to participate November 16th is our Miami sewing marathon. We should have a sign-up sheet for you out here Just if you are planning on going the sign-up sheet has the details on it So if you want to know where we're meeting what time we're meeting and everything like that. It has that information We are having an afternoon soul winning time on that Friday the 15th as well And then also the 16th is our big push is the big day and we'll have a morning and an afternoon Of soul winning and so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity I think there's some people out there that are gonna meet up with us And so it'll be great to meet with some of the brethren out in that area And then I know that some of the people from our church are traveling out there with us But great opportunity to go soul winning in South Florida and I hear it's like beautiful this time of year So I'm excited. I've never even been there, but I'm excited to just go out and see what it's like I think that there's a lot of Spanish soul-winning opportunities there just because it's a pretty heavily Spanish speaking area And so I'm really looking forward to being there also We have a couple other Events November 24th is the ordination service for brother Dylan Oz I'm I'm curious and this is helps me who is In hold your hand up for a minute so I can count who's going to that Just so I have an idea Okay, all right, thank you very much that really really helps because it's hard to know if it's like 20 30 40 good Looks like about 60 65 people are planning on coming So that just helps us because we're planning on just making sure we are accommodating everybody and I think we're having food and stuff like That too. So I just wanted to make sure we had some kind of an idea also our Ladies Christmas party is there on the list for December 6th. So that's a lot of fun I know a lot of ladies like to have that I think We don't have the details for that yet But just so you can put it on the date on the calendar when we get a little bit closer We'll have the details for that event Put in the bulletin the December 9th. We're gonna have our church-wide Christmas caroling this year I was thinking maybe we might have a few ladies help us But we might make like some cookies or something and have them deck like And a handout that we can give out to the doors when we go out caroling and we might just hand them Some of our church material too. So that'll be fun December 25th, we're gonna have our Christmas cookie bake-off after the service and then In years past we've had kind of like a New Year's Eve party But I think this year we're not gonna have the New Year's Eve party We're just basically gonna have kind of that same celebration on the first so this year because that's a Wednesday So we'll just have a men's preaching night and pizza fellowship that first which is that Wednesday so that we don't We're not necessarily doing something Tuesday and Wednesday. It'll just be that Wednesday. So New Year's Eve. You can hang out with your lonesome Alright, so that's that's pretty much that's probably that's our that's our plan for this year And of course we would love for you to join us January 1st And we'll kind of have like a special men's preaching night and pizza fellowship on the first so that's pretty much all I have as far as Announcements events things that we got going there is a handout that was in our bulletins as well And this is our newsletter from evangelist urbanic and I'm not gonna necessarily read all of it verbatim for you You can read it if you'd like but I do ask him to give us about a once a month Update and a newsletter that we can put in our bulletin so you can be aware of the works that he's doing in The just opening lines. He says for the month of October They were able to get 311 people saved and so they're definitely doing a great work out there they're able to go into schools and talk to a lot of students and He has a small group of people that he's been training and working with building up some more soul winners He's been partnering with Pastor Matthew Stuckey and their church out there and he's also been trying to Identify and locate if there's a need or an area to have another church plant potentially And so we're just kind of still just allowing Evangelist urbanic to just get a lot of people saved Trying to help and be a blessing to Pastor Stuckey's church where he can I know he's preached for him a few times and just Tries to be part of that church and then also they're they're planning an event soon their own soul-winning missions trip that we've kind of set up in another area that we're gonna go and just see what the Receptivity is like see what the demands like and see what's going on for a potential church plant, but we don't know We're just we're right now. We're just trying to identify. What's the best? Strategy and we're just giving him the opportunity to just do a lot of soul-winning right now And of course he's going out pretty much every day soul-winning and doing a lot of those things And so we really appreciate him and you know You're supporting our church is what supports him because our church supports him a hundred percent So we basically fund and pay for everything and so, you know Your contributions to this church are directly going to help Evangelist urbanic and doing this great work in this great mission And so, you know, we're doing our church is doing a lot of stuff even when you're not thinking about it You know, and so I think it's a great it's a great church to be a part of and you know Some churches support 150 missionaries For $25 a month and they get about four people saved and then we support one guy in with all 100% and then he's getting hundreds of people saved and so, you know, I I personally like our method I'm not against other people and I'm not against them supporting missionaries I'm just saying like I think our method is better and that's why of course we do it and so continue to pray for evangelist urbanic and the work that he's doing out there in the Philippines and I know that also brother James who's Come to our church and visited he goes out there a lot too and go soloing with them and he has a good report Of the works that's going out there. I've talked with Pastor Stuckey He has a good report of what evangelist urbanic has been doing as well. And so Your money is being tried trying to be used in a successful way and getting a lot of people saved So praise the Lord for him and his ministry and continue to pray for him That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements We'll go ahead and seeing our third song of the morning. It's a psalm in our special handout psalm 148 psalm 148 All right, that was psalm chapter 148 in your handouts Psalm 148 in your handout or in your King James Bible Right singing out roll out on the first Crazy Oh Oh Dragons and Me Oh Oh Great singing everybody now is the offering plates are being passed around Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter number five. That's the book of Galatians chapter number five You Galatians 5 the Bible reads stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not Entangled again with the yoke of bondage behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing for I testify again to every man that is Circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law Christ has become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law Ye are fallen from grace for we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor Uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love he did run Well, who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you a little leaven Leaven at the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be and I brethren if I yet preach circumcision Why do I yet suffer persecution then is the offense of the cross ceased? I would they were even cut off which trouble you for brethren you have been called unto Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another for all the law is fulfilled in one word Even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are Contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that you would But if he be led of the spirit ye are not under the law Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revelings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness Temperance against such there is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory Provoking one another envying one another let's bow our heads forward a prayer Father God we thank you for this day for our church I pray that you fill pastor Shelly with your spirit give him the fullness and power of the spirit now to preach Your word with clarity of mind and with boldness and I also pray Lord God that You would help us to pay attention and apply this sermon to our lives so we can glorify you better every single day We love you in Jesus name. I pray amen. Amen Here in Galatians chapter 5 we have a list here in verse number 19 that goes down to verse 21 and inscribes the works of the flesh and I want to preach a sermon this morning and my title is horrible sins Christians commit horrible sins Christians commit and I think that sometimes people take this particular passage and They try to suggest this idea that if you're a Christian you'll never commit any of the sins that are mentioned in this list and You're gonna be completely different and it's usually coming from a works-based salvation a repent of your sin style Preaching that suggests that once you get saved you get all the way saved And you're not gonna commit those old sins and you're not gonna do anything bad You're gonna be different and here's the thing obviously when you get saved you should be different Obviously when you get saved you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you when you get saved behold all things are become new The Bible says that you're born again. The Bible says that you now have the spirit the Bible says that you live in the spirit, but here's the problem you still have the flesh and Because you have the flesh you still have what the Bible says in verse 19 now the works of the flesh are manifest You still have the works of the flesh as a possibility of you and you can still commit horrible sins even being saved now what I want to do is I want to do something special with the sermon because We have all these lists of sins But I want to show you every single one of these sins being committed by a Christian in the Bible Because I don't want you to get confused and think like oh, well Christians wouldn't do this No No Actually, we see saved people in the Bible committing every single sin on this list in this particular chapter And that's why it's a warning unto us That we want to make sure that we're not walking in the flesh because when you're in the flesh you can commit horrible sins and Christians even saved people can do some really ungodly Unimaginable things it's called the Bible just read the Bible and you realize saved people are just doing Unimaginable horrible sins all the time in the scripture, and I think that's to help us Realize like salvation is not by being good because if it was no one's going to heaven Okay, salvation is a complete free gift by faith and we also need to be warned a couple things number one we can fall into these sins and Number two that other saved people can fall into these sins and so we have to be very careful But look at the first part of this list that says in verse 19 now the works of the flesh are manifest Which are these adultery the the first thing mentioned is adultery, which is a very grievous sin It's actually punished with the death penalty in the Old Testament law and even in modern day There was many times where adultery is punished very severely in In America and in the world today, it's not punished. It's not even a crime anymore It used to be a severe crime now I want to go through this list and then we're gonna go through it in the Bible But it says adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulations wrath strikes additions heresies envings murders drunkenness revelings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they would do such things. So not inherit the kingdom of God now again Somebody will take that last phrase and be like, oh see if you commit any of these sins. You won't go to heaven Well, that's gonna be a small list of people going to heaven then Pretty much no one. Okay, it's it's obviously he's just saying sinners aren't going to heaven and Here's the thing when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Behold all things have become new your new man. Your inward man has never committed any of these sins Only your old man the flesh and here's the thing your flesh does not inherit the kingdom of heaven The Bible makes it very clear flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of heaven. So it's not like oh Well, if your flesh and blood doesn't do these things is going to heaven No, your flesh and blood is not going to heaven period and he's just reminding them of hey Look, this is what your flesh is like and in a sense flesh is enmity If you think about it, God says that he will not always strive with man His spirit cannot always strive of man for he is flesh He's saying there's like a problem our flesh is a problem and we have to crucify the flesh We have to deny the flesh. We have to get a new body And so that is a major sin issue, but we have to understand that we're still trapped We're all still trapped in that old man We're still trapped into that deceitful flesh and our flesh can commit horrible horrible sin That's why it's important for us to discipline ourselves Chastise ourselves in sense and make sure that we're keeping under a body I mean the Bible literally prescribes a physical discipline of ourselves It's called fasting and if you've ever fasted you will realize pain Okay, you will realize it is an affliction that you're doing unto yourself Okay, and that is a self prescribed affliction in the Bible Why would the Bible tell you to do that because it's we're exercising control over our own flesh Sometimes we have to realize that our flesh is an unruly evil. It's wicked and it will do Unimaginable evil if you don't control it. Yeah, why drag yourself to church? Why read your Bible? Why do these things because the works of the flesh are obvious they're manifest and they're what this whole list Do you want this to be described as who you are? Do you want to be this adulterous fornicating unclean lascivious idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulation brass? Rifle sedition heresy envying murder drunken reveler. I mean, is that what you want to be like? Well, just don't try to control your flesh and that is what you will be like now go to if you would a second same with chapter 11 Here's the thing Not only if you don't control it in many cases, even when you're a godly Christian, you can still fall into these traps That's why I think God uses some of the greatest people to ever live To exemplify some of the worst of this so that we realize no one is off the table The Bible describes King David as the man after God's own heart David is arguably one of the most godly God-fearing Christians loves the Lord. I mean, he's the author of Psalms I mean a guy that's written all kinds of incredible music. He's the sweet psalmist of Israel. That's his title He killed Goliath. He's been on the run from Saul. He loved Saul to a fault I mean this guy is a great guy, but you know what even he Can succumb to a grievous sin like adultery now, I'm not going to give you the context all these stories We're just gonna read just small portions, but at least for this one I want to help set it up a little bit because when does David commit adultery and The answer is simple when he stops fighting As soon as he stops fighting That's when he commits adultery and I think that the message that God's trying to communicate to us is this when you stop fighting your flesh That's when you become vulnerable when you stop fighting because there's a constant war between your flesh and your spirit when you stop fighting you can let your flesh win and Your flesh is gonna drag you down a dark road now second Samuel chapter 11 look what the Bible says in verse number three and David sin inquired after the woman and one said is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliim Notice this the wife of Uriah the Hittite. So David has no excuse About not knowing that this woman is married. He was told explicitly. Hey, who's this woman? It's the wife of Uriah. So he knows this is someone else's wife. What does he do in? Verse 4 and David sent messengers and took her So he you can't even argue like she lied to him or he was confused. He didn't know that this woman was married He is it's like immediately once he knew that she was married He still did this grievous sin and and the reason why is the Bible says she was very beautiful to look on The Bible says that Bathsheba was very beautiful to look on so it was a very normal natural temptation He knows it's wrong. He knows his adultery, but you know what he stopped fighting. He stopped going out to war He stopped battling and so he ends up lying with this woman who's not his wife and he commits adultery It says he took her and she came into him and he lay with her for she was purified from her uncleanness and she Returned into her house. So according to the Bible David greatest man still commits one of the most grievous sins adultery. Does that mean that David wasn't saved? No, of course David is saved It means he'd allowed himself to succumb to the flesh and he committed a horrible sin because he was in the flesh And you know another subtitle of my sermon could just be Christians in the flesh When Christians are in the flesh Adultery is literally on the table and we have to guard ourselves We'd be careful and we have to constantly fight the flesh to not allow ourselves To go down a dark road because if David could do this look virtually anybody It is go if you go to Revelation chapter 2 good Revelation chapter 2 Sometimes, you know and maybe it's just good that God Constantly gives us fights and battles because maybe you're just not getting into sin because you're constantly fighting So sometimes, you know, you might think like this battle is not not fun. You know, it's not fun committing adultery and Dealing with those issues and then of course, we even know that David gets into worse sin as a result of that adultery But I'm just focusing he committed adultery. It's not limited to David in the New Testament Church We have an example of this as well revelation chapter 2 look at verse 20 Notwithstanding of a few things against thee because thou suffers that woman Jezebel which called herself a prophetess to teach and as soon as my Servants to commit fornication anything sacrificed and idols and I gave her space to repent of her fornication He should have been not behold I'll cast her into a bed and them that a commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds Notice there is a New Testament Church that's being identified by the Lord Jesus Christ and he's saying there is a woman in your church That's committing adultery with other people so you have adultery mentioned by David you have adultery in this church and We should never think. Oh, well, I go soul-winning. I'm in a fundamental Baptist Church. That would never happen No it can happen to tons of people and it does happen and it's just a reality and we have to guard ourselves and be careful of the flesh because even Christians can commit the horrible sin of Adultery go go to Judges chapter 16 go to judges chapter 16 Horrible sin Grievous sin And you know, it doesn't mean that people are doomed But according to the Old Testament law, they would have been dealt with from a capital punishment perspective You see Hosea has to marry an adulterous woman and stay with her and she doesn't even get it right At least some people, you know get it right and and move on with their life But it's still an extreme grievous sin and we have to as Christians realize It's not like well if I was unsaved I might do that, but if I'm saved I won't no no You still have the same your flesh is the exact same Now when you weren't saved your flesh wasn't really restrained much. It wasn't really restricted at all Whereas when you're saved you have the capability of restricting your flesh But that doesn't mean you will and that's why it is important to go to church Read your Bible pray and do these things because you're exercising yourself and self-control. You're exercising yourself in temperance You're exercising yourself and saying hey, I need to deny the flesh I need to figure out how to subdue the flesh and I'll just be honest with you if you struggle with sin Which okay. Sorry, that's all of us. All right if you're if you're really struggling in an area that you haven't had a lot of victory in or Maybe there's something that you're really nervous about that's in your life Sometimes it's helpful just to like maybe fast or do some other physical discipline to your body Just to start learning how to control your flesh in any way and then it kind of helps translate into other areas of your life And I'm not saying like I'm not saying like hey if you're gonna struggle with adultery fasting cures it I'm not saying that because it's not what I'm saying But I am saying that like just learning how to exercise a little bit of self-control Helps you and notice like Hoff and I and Phineas who are Eli's sons. The Bible says that they were extremely fat Okay, and so what does that tell me? They didn't really exercise much self-discipline on themselves And then the Bible says they would lay with the women assembled at the door And I think that in some ways when you can't exercise any self-control on yourself. It's in all areas It's not just like limited to one and again some people can be thin as a rail and still have no control over their body They were just blessed with genetics where they're skinny Okay, but I'm just saying like in general when you can't exercise self-control in any area. It's kind of every area So that's why it's important exercise if you can't force yourself to read your Bible in the morning That's probably a self-control issue If you're not praying if you can't drag yourself to church if you don't wake up on time If you don't show up early to work if you're not controlling your flesh in any ways If you just blow off your mouth every time like you might be dangerous Territory to where when another temptation that serious comes along you don't deny the flesh there either So that's why we have to constantly exercise ourself in self-control a person that did not do this with Samson Samson is not someone that's constantly exercising self-control and he just pretty much just as a sucker For every woman. I mean the Bible's just talking about Samson and this is what's crazy to me judges chapter 16 Look at verse 1 then Samson Then went Samson to Gaza and saw there in harlot and went under it's just like this guy just just has the opportunity to sin And it's just like automatic. I Mean it just seems like Samson doesn't really have much control. He saw a woman previously He's like hey, I want her to be a wife and then he just basically gets her to wife Not the woman he should marry not the type of relationship He should have as soon as he gets mad at the Philistines. He always just kills them immediately Like I mean, I mean this guy is just like ready to just act, you know on a situation and it just it's just funny You're just reading the verse and it's just randomly just like hey saw harlot BAM fornication Then pretty soon verse 4 and it came to pass that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was alive Here's another whorish woman BAM just immediately fall sucker for her as well So Samson is just a constant fornicator. And of course what happens it destroys him His fornication destroys him and you think Samson's a great guy Samson loves the Lord Samson's a great warrior Samson judges the children of Israel look what it says in verse 20 in chapter 15 and he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years and many ways a judge is A meaning a deliverer. He's a deliverer of the children of Israel. He's rescuing them from the Philistines He's a great man of God you could argue in a spiritual context It's like he's a great soul winner almost but he has a problem in this area and whenever opportunity comes He just immediately falls victim of this Saying what just because you're spiritual just because you're saved even because you do great works for God doesn't mean you can't just immediately Fall Victim of this particular sin of fornication why because it's a strong strong temptation These two are in your for a reason if we were to just look at the men in the Bible Let's just be honest almost every guy in the Bible has a problem in this area Every almost every single guy. I mean, it doesn't matter who we're looking at. I mean, it's just like Abraham He's got multiple wives. We just look at most of the guys in the Bible multiple wives Fornication Adultery with tons of women. I mean every king is just like having tons of wives tons of women I mean that is a huge problem consistently in the Bible And so we should never think like oh, I would never do that. I would never be like that No, every single person needs to guard themselves and protect themselves from this sin go over to Genesis 34 Genesis 34 and I want to look at verse number one and it's not just men women have the same problem in this particular area and frankly speaking if you look at statistically statistically, it's like I think it's like 98 or 99 percent of men in America commit fornication before getting married and then for women it's like 95 96 percent So it's just like the statistics are off the chart and it didn't used to be like this It didn't used to be that high America right now is Exploding and here's the sad part is usually that 2% and 5% are Mormons I'm not even lying. I'm not trying to be deceived I think it's Amish and it's like Mormons that are mostly comprising that it's not even fundamental Baptist Which I wish I could say like hey that percentage is us But Unfortunately, I grew up in a lot of churches. I've been around Southern Baptist I've been around independent Baptist old IV and the statistics really aren't even that much better in those places as well Okay. Now God forbid it would be the same with us I hope that we could be different but I'm just telling you it's bad and that's not an excuse That's not like oh everybody else is doing it. So I'm gonna do it too. No, don't follow a multitude to do evil But We have to realize that just because your kids are saved doesn't mean that this is somehow not a temptation magically Or they're not gonna fall victim of this and we see the children of Israel just immediately out in the wilderness 23,000 people are slain for fornication We see consistently in the Bible people committing this type of sins We have to guard ourselves and be very careful because Christians can commit these sins The we are still just as tempted as anybody else in these areas and we have to be careful Genesis chapter 34 look at verse 1 and I know the daughter of Leah which she bear in a Jacob went out to see the daughters of the land and when she came the son of Hamor thy Vite Prince of the country saw her he took her and lay with her and father again Just immediate just immediately you've raised your daughter and I don't know how old she is Let's just say 16 17 18 19 20. She's probably between 16 and 20. Maybe she could be older probably not younger at all But at minimum the parents have spent 16 years Maybe 20 years protecting their daughter keeping care of her watching over making sure she's safe and then just Immediately the first time she's alone. It's over just the first time uncleanness and again, what does the Bible say adultery fornication uncleanness? What does the Bible say in verse number two? He lay with her and notice this defiled her So now there's some uncleanness you kept this thing pure for 16 17 18 19 20 years And then in just one moment now, it's defiled and you know, that's frustrating. That's gotta be frustrating as a parent But yeah, but let's be honest. Oh, well, they're saved. They know the Bible. They love God. They wouldn't do that You're lying to yourself because they still have the flesh. They still have the flesh and look I've known people When I grew up with in high school and stuff, I knew people they went on a their first date and they're pregnant their first date They didn't even know this person. They've known this person for hours pregnant And you know grew up in a Christian home grew up Family friends. I mean, I'm just telling you what there is real danger out there and the flesh is real dangerous Okay, and you could be doing good for a long time and then just one Slip up and it's over and I'm not saying that her life's ruined or anything like that. But this guy ends up dying She doesn't marry him now. She's permanently defiled now the next guy isn't gonna be the next guy that was with Dinah or whoever was interested in her was probably gonna be less interested because of what had happened and People just don't understand how many times Someone commits fornication and they don't get married. I mean that is very often I mean, I'm not going to this story in the Bible but am non as soon as he's with Tamar hates her immediately after Okay, and that happens all the time as soon as they get what they want. They are out of there They didn't want to marry you whatsoever young people Do not do not think that people that commit fornication with you love you because that is not necessarily true Now it does say that he loved her but you know and and and I think that he probably did really like this this Young lady, but you know what? He wasn't a good guy and his brothers killed him. And so, you know, just watch out for brothers Okay, I don't know. All right, they get really mad about this stuff Go over to Genesis 31 since we're right here and I'm gonna skip one in their list as far as order and come back to it just because we're right here and I don't Want to travel over the Bible but Genesis 31 look at verse number 19 Jacob marries two women Leah and Rachel and Rachel I believe is saved Loves the Lord to some degree of course But she has a problem and her problem is with idolatry and whenever they're leaving Notice what it said that she did in verse number 19 and they went to shear a sheep and Rachel had stolen the images That were fathers Rachel is literally into idolatry for some reason and it's super weird. It's just like random Rachel's into idolatry now, you know, I don't think we ever talked about this I've never even heard a sermon on this and this is just my personal opinion So if you don't agree, you can think whatever but it's a little bit weird that Rachel just randomly dies Pretty young out of nowhere, but you know what? She's messing around with idolatry and Leah's not Okay, and so it could be that God punished Rachel You know with an early death because she was messing around with idolatry and didn't have her heart right with God And you know what? That was a bad move. It's you don't mess around with idols You don't mess around a false religion or with other things and think that God doesn't notice or doesn't care or may not punish you As a result of that, okay Now there's other reasons why she may have died and there's other pictures and stuff, but I'm just saying like We have to note Rachel was mixed up in idolatry Even though I believe she was a saved person and and and loved the Lord to some degree Another person that this is Solomon go to 1st Kings chapter 11 go to 1st Kings chapter number 11 and I mean, there's no doubt. There's no question that Solomon saved or that he loved God Solomon especially at one point in his life loved God more than a pretty money anybody and he was very humble But just because you love God at one point in your life doesn't mean your heart can't be turned away from God Just like you could love your spouse and you could allow your heart to be turned away from your spouse later in life That's why we want to be careful with what we set before our eyes we want to be careful what affections we allow our heart to grow fond of because you can end up liking anything and and I'll say this and then I'll probably upset some people but I Am sure that if I started trying Indian food over and over I could end up liking it But I don't want my heart to be driven away from the things of God Okay, and so I'm just I'm just staying away just so that I don't get driven to some uncleanness or whatever. No Obviously, there's nothing wrong with Indian food. I just use as a joke Okay But but in all seriousness though There could be things that I'm sure that if I tried or started or went down a path I can start to love them I can start to really like them and so you have to be careful That you just don't allow yourself to start going down a path and liking things that you shouldn't like First Kings chapter 11 look at verse number 7 Then did Solomon build in high place for Chemosh The abomination of Moab in the hill that is before Jerusalem and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon Solomon is building a False god altar and according to the text when you read in other places These are places where children are literally sacrificed unto false gods I mean, can you imagine if you found a Christian today that was building a Planned Parenthood and Was funding a Planned Parenthood you would kind of think like this guy doesn't even seem saved Or not. I mean that a Hindu temple where they would do a animals or child sacrifice on to a false God you would think like there's no way this guy is saved but the Bible is saying that is what Solomon did Meaning that saved people can get mixed up in some serious Serious sin and even false religion to some degree now I don't know how far to take that. I do think that we have to be careful because obviously if someone just completely Apostasizes and becomes a Hindu or a Buddhist or whatever like I'm gonna believe that that person's not safe I'm just telling you right now But I also am saying this that I guess Christians could still show up at one of these bad churches or bad places and Just kind of get involved with some bad religion to some degree because it's clearly exemplified by Solomon Participating this now. I don't think that Solomon I'm just trying to give the benefit out. I don't think Solomon wanted to do this probably probably wasn't even his idea It's probably his wives who ended up turning his heart away from the things of God Maybe they nagged him to death about it. I don't know Okay, maybe that they just begged him and just tried to really harass him and so he's like fine Let's just you can have your stupid little gala or whatever. I don't know exactly how Desirous he was of this particular sin, but we have to be honest that he was involved with idolatry and he was facilitating this idolatry and Specifically it even says in verse number eight and likewise did he for all his notice this strange wives Which burnt incense and sacrifice under their gods and the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord of God Of Israel which had appeared unto him twice God's like spicy Did you read that? He's like, hey you turned away from me and I appeared unto you twice He's like, how dare you turn away from me when I God have appeared unto you not only once twice I showed up to you and you know, I can see this I can see how Christians We didn't ever gonna have the same experience Solomon did but I've seen this we're Christians It's like that a bit a part of our church and God has performed literal Miracles to deliver our church and to bless our church I've seen people have literal miracles in their life God blessing their family giving them children them growing Spiritually them winning people to Christ God showing himself Miraculously and Revealing himself and the people in their lives and then they turn away from God or turn away from the things of the Lord Look God's gonna be angry with you God doesn't just take the children of Israel through the wilderness Over and over and over again to allow them to turn back in their hearts towards Egypt and then he's pleased with them No God is gonna be upset with you when he does miracle after miracle when he's revealing himself under you when he's blessing you when he's Dragging you through the wilderness and then you just say like I'm done with the next challenge I'm done with the next Drama the next issue or I'm gonna complain or I'm gonna back bite or I'm gonna murmur or I'm gonna worship this false God, no, he gets angry with those people and he punishes those people And you know what? God is mad at Solomon Who's appeared to him twice and he's allowed his heart to turn away from these of God and what happens is that flesh? It's that old man that flesh that constant wants to turn back to Egypt that wants to quit that doesn't want to fight That wants to give up that wants to be lazy that wants to have it easy and Even though you're literally a slave in Egypt. They want that for some reason It's like no get on the battlefield and fight and be free I'd rather be fighting and free than a slave and make it easy and it's not easy The way of transgressors is hard. Anyways, it's not like it was fun and easy. You were complaining back there, too You're just a complainer Some people just complain folks. Okay, they just they hate their life when they're not saved They hate their life when they are saved and they hate everything in between and look God's getting angry outside He's already mad at people like that, okay But we're safe in the house of God, right? Look at chapter 11 verse 3 now. We're here It also says this and he had 700 wives princesses and 300 concubines and his wife's turned away his heart You know, I know this about men of God they don't ever seem to have a problem getting wives they have too many Okay. All right. I mean look at this 700 I mean that's insane. I Was thinking about the word that's brought up in Galatians 5 lasciviousness. I mean man, how can you not use that word for Solomon? I mean not only 700 wife 300 concubines on top of that. It's like bro. How many women do you need? I mean you don't think that somebody was thinking like another one Like couldn't you think like at 300 you were like bro, that's too many and then it's like just wait, you know 400 500 600 and this guy is hurting himself folks Okay, no, no normal guy would want to have that many anniversaries. Okay. I mean that is just insane and Obviously it turned his heart away It says in verse 4 for it came to pass when Solomon was old That his wives turned away his heart after other gods. So He wasn't probably gonna ever go down this path He allowed other people that he decided to love and get close to him turn his heart away And this is what happens to most people a lot of people that love God They're not gonna ever turn away from God, but then they form relationships with people That those people turn their hearts away from God and I've even seen it. Unfortunately with marriage I've seen young single people that love the Lord three to thrive Doing great things soul-winning and then they get married and then just gone Slowly fade slowly turned away and now they're kind of doing nothing for the Lord and it's just sad to see That's why it's important the relationships and the people that you have in your life because they will affect you Go if you would to first Samuel 28 and probably, you know, I mean the Bible paints this picture of like women affecting the men greatly But I almost feel like the opposite is just as much as true or more true that the husband dramatically effects the wife and I would say like from an anecdotal personal opinion that I've seen this dramatically because I've seen so many families where you have multiple girls and They're all in the same environment same parents, you know a healthy environment, but then they're all radically different But they're all exactly like their husband Where it's basically like hey, this one's a Presbyterian this one's a Presbyterian. This one's a Catholic. This one's a Catholic This one's atheist. This one's atheist and I'm like thinking like that's not normal for them Just all just randomly be exactly like their husband because of no influence No It's probably because the husband is basically influencing his wife and and that's a great impact. So, you know you young ladies You should really think about the guy that you're gonna marry like what is he like because I'm probably gonna be like him I mean the moon reflects the Sun The Sun doesn't reflect the moon. Okay, and in many cases, you know wives are gonna reflect their husband And so it's like I don't really want to be like him. Don't don't buy a fixer-upper is all I'm trying to say, okay He probably wants something that's already doing good and be like, okay, I like where he's going. I like his direction I would like to be more like him not like man. He's got a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed don't think you're gonna fix him and I hope you do. I'm not saying like if someone's in that situation You couldn't help your husband to come a better person. I hope you do my wife's still working on me. Okay, I'm just kidding I'm just saying that at the end of the day, you know, you need to be careful What kind of guy that you marry what kind of guy you're with because he will directly affect you and you know you men You know you be careful What kind of lady you have? See if she's willing to follow your lead because you don't want to be drug in a different direction either with her first Samuel 28 I want to look at verse number six and And really honestly this whole sermon could just basically be dedicated to Saul because Saul just like almost commits every horrible sin you could think of and we're gonna use them a lot but Saul is for sure a saved Christian who loved the Lord was little in his own sight very humble But he really allowed the flesh to take over his life and he commits so many of the sins in this in this list that we've been looking at and One of them for sure is witchcraft Okay. Now first team with chapter 28 the Bible tells us that God is is basically turned away from Saul he's not even communicating with him the same anymore and In verse number six it says and when Saul inquired of the Lord The Lord answered him up neither by dreams nor by Urim nor by prophets Then said Saul unto a servant seek me a woman that has a familiar spirit That I may go to her and inquire of her and his servant said to him be old There's a woman that had a familiar spirit indoor. This is a crazy story. I Mean you have a godly king who loves the Lord and he's now going to a witch To someone has a familiar spirit to ask her counsel and ask her questions. I mean, can you imagine if Someone in this church was like, you know what? I've been reading my Bible and I'm getting much out of it I'm gonna go to some Fortune-teller, I'm gonna go to some witch and ask them what I should do Ask them with marriage advice ask them life advice ask them career by you would be thinking like this person's not saved You'd probably think like there's something wrong with you That like you're not getting anything out of this and you're gonna go talk to a witch Like we would all freak out about that person, but the Bible saying it literally happened. Why because even Christians Even saved people get so confused sometimes about life and they decide to go to fortune-tellers They go and look at things online that they shouldn't Ouija boards all kinds of voodoo and black magic and warlord and they're like, well, I want one of those good Witches or one of those good warlocks, you know, like Harry Potter, you know, Harry Potter will help me He'll really help me navigate and look how many Christians have gotten You know caught up in this Harry Potter nonsense Twilight werewolves Dracula vampires and all this kind of nonsense You know what? It's real that Christians will sometimes get involved with the familiar spirits With the dark arts with all this up and and of course they always try to disguise it and act like it's good I was even looking this up recently about voodoo and and they're like, oh voodoo always gets a bad rap Because of movies and it's like a lot of our voodoo dolls are good, you know, and it's positive and I'm just thinking like it's still satanic There's no such thing as a good voodoo doll. It's wicked. It's evil okay, and of course what he's doing is evil and wicked and God finally is so done with them that he kills him as a result of going to the switch look at verse 9 and The woman said it and behold thou knowest what Saul hath done How you have cut off those that have familiar spirits and the Wizards out of the land Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die This is what's so funny about it. Not only is Saul going to a witch He previously was putting witches to death and getting them out of the land. So he's a giant hypocrite Let me explain something to you Christians can be giant hypocrites They can preach one thing and then totally contradict themselves and do exactly what they said not to do five minutes later And I mean Saul wants nothing new with witches Understands it's evil says it's wrong But then he totally does it because he's a giant giant hypocrite and let me tell you something There are saved pastors and saved preachers that are giant hypocrites There Are saved Christians that will just say one thing and then let's do the exact opposite and you have to be really careful because Christians Can do every almost everything in the book almost not everything go to first Samuel chapter 18 go to 1st Samuel 18 We'll say we'll talk about that in a second. But first Samuel chapter 18 We see number one that Christians commit adultery fornication uncleanness So we have David committing adultery, we have Samson committing fornication, Dinah uncleanness, Solomon lasciviousness Rachel and Solomon idolatry, Saul witchcraft, Saul also is Is hating his brother. He has hatred 1st Samuel chapter 18 look at verse 28 The Bible says in Saul Saul and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael Saul's daughter loved him and Saul was yet the more afraid of David and Saul became David's enemy Continually, this is even crazier. Think about the Bible says Because God loved David right because Saul saw and knew that the Lord is with David and because his daughter loved him Your daughter loves a guy and God loves a guy and you hate him Isn't that weird? Like wouldn't you think like as a father you're like all I want for my daughter is Someone who loves my daughter. She loves him and he loves the Lord. It's like he hates that He's getting mad at him and he's becoming his enemy continually He wants to kill David and you say why it's called envy. Look at chapter 18 and look at verse 7 chapter 18 look at verse 7 the Bible says and the women Answered one another as they played and said Saul hath slain his thousands and David is 10,000 Oh Because you because women are praising David now Saul has to hate him David doesn't even care There's no place in the Bible that we can even find really where David even gives a rip about his reputation Or what people are saying about him or any of this kind of stuff I mean, there's a little place in the future when he's like dancing. He's arguing with my cow about these things He's saying like even his handmaids give me more respect than you But he really doesn't seem to give a rip what people think because he even said like well if you think my dancing is bad It's gonna be more vile, you know, then thus like it's gonna be worse than this anyways Okay, but at the end of the day David doesn't really care about the numbers, but you know cares about the numbers Saul does Saul's the one who cares about the numbers now, I'm sure if you ask David he probably able to tell you He'd probably be like yeah, I've slayed a lot of people. Here's 200 foreskin It's like yeah, I'm sure he knows the numbers and he could defend himself, but he's not going around bragging He's not the one singing sprays It's other people and Saul can't stand it Saul Hates that David has bigger numbers than him and he's a numbers guy And so that's what drives him to hate and kill David it all started with numbers It all started with this guy's more popular it all started with this guy has a bigger church or has more followers Or has more whatever and then that's why he just hates this guy and is on a path to destroy him And in fact Saul never really accomplishes almost anything the rest of his life His only mission is to kill David and you have to say what a weird mission What a weird idea like you're the king of Israel your gods anointed Why in the world are you're dedicating just to hurting other godly people like it just makes no sense whatsoever But you know what? He's in the flesh and when Christians are in the flesh they can do anything witchcraft hatred envy What does it say in the next few verses here? It says in verse number eight and Saul was very Roth meaning He's very angry and the saying just pleased him and he said they have ascribed to them David 10,000 and to me they have ascribed with thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom? And saw I David from that day and forward and it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said I will smite David even to the wall with it and David avoided out of his presence Twice so we see here that he's trying to kill David. He hates David. He's attacking David only Because other people are praising David David has done nothing wrong It's just that a lot of people like David and a lot of people are supporting David and he's just like ah Can you stay I can't stand all these supporters of David. I can't stand all these people praising David I can't stand all these people liking David. So he's like, oh, they're just gonna give him my kingdom David isn't it gonna take it? David is so humble and so lowly. He would never hurt Saul or go against all it's just evil surmisings of Saul and he just has to hate on David because of the numbers because of the envy because of the fame and He just can't stand it. He has to be the top guy. He needs the most attention He's what you'd call as an attention whore and look there's plenty of people that are an attention whore and Basically, they live their life and every decision is just what will give me the most attention And it doesn't matter what they say or do It's just they're seeking for only attention and they're mad when anybody else is outshining them or getting more attention So they have to knock other people down to try and get the attention off of them and get more attention on themselves and they have to even attack people just because They want attention and we have to be careful with those people because they're in the flesh Go to 1st Kings chapter 12 one of the major sins of the flesh is that you're just striving for attention and You're just only caring about you and your persona Saul envies David he hates David. He's got witchcraft Here's another thing that the Bible mentioned in Galatians chapter 5 is the sin of variance now some of these sins are Easier we attributed to unsaved people, but I even think saved people can fall into them One of them and I believe is Ray of Boem and in 1st Kings chapter 12 Look at verse 6 the Bible says this and King Ray of Boem consulted with the old men That stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived and said how do you advise that I may answer this people and They spake on him saying if thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day and will serve them and answer them and speak Good words to them then they will be thy servants forever, but he forsook the counsel of the old men Which they had given him and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him and which stood before him and he said unto them what counsel give ye that we may answer this people who has spoken to me saying make the yoke which thy father did Put upon us lighter and the young men that were grown up with him spake unto them saying Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee saying thy father made our yoke heavy But but make thou it lighter unto us thus shalt they'll say unto them my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins and Now whereas my father did laid you with a heavy yoke I will add to your yoke my father chastise you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions Now here's the thing The old men are saying hey, why don't you just be like your dad? Why don't you just love the people serve the people they'll serve you back, and then the young guys are like no no no You got to go hard man. You got to go you got to be different You can't just be like that you got to get in there. They use whips you use scorpions man, and it's like sometimes you get this idea of like you have to be different than people so you can be better and Especially even sons it used to be historically that your last name was almost Directly tied to the occupation of the father and that sons would follow in their father's footsteps and a lot of times You know for many people they felt like they couldn't step out of the shadow of their father. I mean your dad's Solomon Okay, gonna be pretty hard to step out of that shadow of wisdom that Solomon had but here's the thing you don't need to step Out of a shadow to be different when your dad was right you don't need to ship step out of the shadow When whoever you're following is doing good, but there's a thing in the flesh that says no I have to be different No, I have to be I have to be special I have to be unique and so that's where this sin of variance comes in where people feel like this have to be different It's like I have to be different than my sending pastor or something to prove how better I am or something or I have to Be smarter than my pastor. I have to be better than my dad I'd be better than my boss or I'd be better than this. It's like no if they're doing good. Just follow Paul follow Paul's you both don't have you don't have to be different and People are constantly trying to provoke you to be different when you don't have to and it's like look if they're doing this then It's right. I don't have to be different. I don't have to be better. I don't have to be special Just be yourself and look there's nothing wrong with following other people's example I mean, what if every single guy in the military said we all need to be different No, they're supposed to walk in lockstep They're all supposed to hold the gun the same the bed should be Folded the same their their boots need to be tied the same like what if everybody in the millions is like no I'm gonna tie my boots different No, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold my gun different. No, I'm gonna step in a different formation like no just lockstep What's a strong military? It's when they're the same and it's like oh all you soldiers seem to be like each other good Right. I mean like wouldn't that be weird? Imagine you were on a football team And you had to follow a great quarterback But you're the quarterback and now you have to follow you have to follow Tom Brady You have to follow Brett Favre you have to follow trying to think of good ones. Who's another Dan Marino? Okay, Steve Young, right? you're you're the next guy and They're like man you throw the ball like them. It's like well, don't try to throw it different What like wouldn't that be weird? It's like oh man, you're just like this great quarterback. It's like well then don't change It's like hey, oh you're just being like Solomon Good Wouldn't you want to be like so I mean the man you just sound like Solomon you act like Solomon blah blah It's like good. I know there's a lot of people that knew my dad growing up and whenever they see me They're like, wow, you look exactly like your dad I mean they say I'm like a spitting image of my father and I really do I really look a lot like him But what if I said like no, I don't want to look like my dad. I'm just gonna shave my head I'm just gonna dye my head pink or something like that, right? No, I'm gonna I get a tattoo on my face because I just want to be different It's like that is the flesh that is like if I look like my dad praise God I'm not gonna alter my physical appearance to look like somebody else just because I happen to look like my dad Right. I mean that's just weird But you know what people sometimes they want to force you to be something that you're not Just to try and provoke you like oh, you're just like your dad good Praise I hope I'm like my dad in a lot of it. My dad's super smart my dad You know, he has a lot of good attributes. My dad's 80 and still playing golf every day I hope I can be like him when I get older Okay, he has a lot of great attributes and you know, I don't have to just be different to be different Okay, if he has good things going I'm gonna be like him go to accept no rate go to action over rate Don't be afraid of being like other good people. And in fact, if that's the worst accusation you get you're doing something, right? Oh Man you throw a football like Tom Brady cool Okay, good You know, it's like oh you preach like Jack Hiles great. I mean, can you Matt? I mean, I'm glad that I don't preach like Joel Osteen Now look if you were like you sound like Joel Osteen TD Jakes Kenneth Copeland. I'm like, I need to change Okay, I need I need something different but if they're like, hey you're preaching like these other great people just like praise God You know, ah, you sound like Moses. Okay good, you know, whatever Like would that really be an accusation, you know, that's weird but in our flesh sometimes we have to feel like no I'm better than them But you know what? We don't have to be better than people we can just be ourselves just accept these things It's a it's a work of the flesh. It's not a work of the Spirit, you know There's nothing wrong with following other great people and being like them Here's the second thing and this is what's funny the works of the flesh They sometimes do the exact opposite not only does sometimes people try to be different on purpose They try to copy on purpose to it's called emulation and mutate emulations like imitating So you're not actually like this in real life or you're actually not truly this person but you're putting on a show or you're trying to be something that you're actually not and It's kind of hard to find a good example this so give me a little leeway in this one I think this one gives a little bit of a glimmer and an emulation and in Acts chapter 8 look at verse 18 The Bible says this and when Simon saw that through laying on the Apostles hands The Holy Ghost was given he offered the money saying give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands He may receive excuse me. He may receive the Holy Ghost But Peter said in him thy money perish with thee because thou has thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money That's neither lot part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee for I perceive that thou Art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Then answered Simon said pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which he has spoken come upon me now At least Simon gets it right, but at first he's trying he wants to be an apostle So he's trying to imitate them and he's even willing to spend money to imitate them He thinks that somehow money is what makes you a good preacher, but here's the thing money doesn't make you a man of God You know the things of God are through the Spirit of God they're not done through carnal means You could have all the money in the world and that doesn't make you a good pastor That doesn't make you a good preacher. You know a good pastor and a preacher. It's a spiritual thing Not a carnal thing, and you know what thy money perish with thee You know if people want money over, you know doing the right thing or loving people or serving their congregation You know what nuts of those people because they have the wrong attitude in the wrong spirit And there are some people that they want to basically become something that they're not not for sincerity He didn't want to be an apostle because he wanted to help people He didn't want to become an apostle because he wanted to actually bless people with this gift that he could have through the laying on the Hands through the Holy Spirit. He didn't want to be in the ministry to serve people. He wanted attention He wanted to be somebody that's who Simon was he was a guy. I want attention. I want to be a big shot I want people to know who I am and I'll use money or whatever to get that you know what you can't Buy the Spirit of God you can't buy the ministry It's not about money. It's not about goods It's about the blessing of God, and you know what you can't buy something like that And you know we should never try to be something that we're not if God is not putting you in a position Be happy where you're at and if you're not a specific person be happy where you're at You know you don't have to be something that you're not if you're not six foot five don't try to be six foot five I mean there are people out there getting surgery I'm not joking there are people out there getting surgery right now where they break their legs on purpose and they try to stretch them and they try to stretch them to make people taller and Look, I was really short growing up, and I'm still pretty like average at best height But I am not gonna break my legs to be two inches taller okay and walk around like this You know like they're all like this And it's like dude being a little bit shorter and be able to walk is probably better. Okay guys You know it's just it's just weird how people want to be that but it's like this weird emulation We live in a society where everybody wants to emulate something else. There's so much plastic surgery There's there's so much superficial makeup and cosmetics and outfits and all this where people are constantly trying to emulate something that they're not and try to be I mean Michael Jackson died his skin white folks That it like that's weird that is super if you're black love being black There's nothing wrong with being black, and you know what if you're white. There's nothing wrong with being white I've pissed everyone off no If you're Asian be Asian you know like whoever you are be if you're a man be a man Right I mean we live in a society in the culture that wants to be something that they're not and it's bizarre It's bizarre be yourself Hey, if you're mild-mannered be mild-mannered If you are someone that's bombastic be bombastic But be yourself whatever you are always be the best version of yourself But don't try to be something that you're not don't try to pay money Well, I got to get this surgery or I got to do this thing like you know what you are fearfully and wonderfully made God loves you be yourself Be who you are You know in some ways you have to first just accept what God did for you and accept who you are and appreciate what God Gave you so that you can then be successfully used you kind of have to just say like hey I am what I am what does the possible say I am whatever you know about the possible that you have to really love is They said that while his letters were weighty. They said he was contemptible in the flesh You know what that means that means if the Apostle Paul were standing here preaching None of us would be like man that guy's awesome looking that guy is strong that guy's you know somebody I want to be like physically He was contemptible in the flesh is what the Apostle Paul said about himself But yet one of the greatest ly used men of God So sometimes we have to just say you know what even if I am contemptible in the flesh I can still be greatly used by God because it's not about the flesh. It's about the spirit anyways Quit trying to modify the flesh because modifying the flesh doesn't help you in your life, okay, and it's really a carnal Vanity that will never really work out anyways. I mean when you get old your tattoos. Don't look good. Okay. I'm just telling you Go if you had to Jonah chapter 4 and I'm probably gonna have to hurry up for sake of time But we're seeing all these sins are seeing adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred envy we've seen the variant stimulation here's another one is wrath and Jonah really exhibits this particular characteristic Jonah it gets really angry and It's kind of funny because it's like almost Jonah is mad about soul winning or something he's like mad about people being saved and It's like there could be even people that are just mad about soul winning. This is weird, but it happens man I'll tell you they get mad about people getting saved they get mad about you know and this is what I think is a modern example Imagine us getting like a Palestinian saved how the old IV feels about that Like they almost have this idea like just nuke them all and it's like no No, we want there to be peace so we could go get all those people saved Yeah, you must hate Israel. It's like no. No, I Mean, you know and some people in this room getting a juice save my hair lift them. I don't know I'm just saying like hey, we should love everybody some people don't like Hispanic people or the Mexico They would want nuts to them. It's like there's a lot of hatred out there if you understand Asian cultures They hate each other, you know China doesn't like Japan vice versa and all kinds of North Korea doesn't like South Korea You know what? We should just want people to get saved and Jonah has a personal beef With the people in Nineveh. He doesn't like them. He looked down upon them. He thinks they're worse They have a more degenerate culture. They're thugs and probably a lot of that's true. I Mean how many people in this world won't go with us into the ghetto? And give you'll say there are people that are kind of influenced by Nazis and white supremacists and they hate black people And it's like well you're missing out on a big Demographic of people to get saved because there's some of the greatest people to get saved some of the easiest people you say I love Black people we're in a predominantly black area if you understand where our church is like 50% black in this area And you know what? I'm thinking like this is great. So winning. That's my outlook on it and Some people they get really mad about this stuff But you know what? You just have a badass you like Jonah and it's like you get people saved But then look at verse 4 or verse 1 verse chapter 4, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry It's like you get people say and then this guy's so he's like got wrath He like man, why didn't you nuke Nineveh? This this is terrible Even verse 9 and God said to Jonah doest thou well to be angry for the gourd And he said I do well to be angry even unto death This guy's talking to God And he's just like I'm so mad just kill me now. I Mean so silly this guy gets really angry. So, you know what this tells me Christians can get so mad They have this blinding hatred that they can just have just a terrible attitude even towards people being saved rescued Salvation all this kind of stuff. It's crazy man. I Want to just forsake a time go back to Galatians chapter 5 I'm just gonna give you a quick rundown because we don't have time but Strife is another one mentioned Paul has to literally withstand Peter to the face over the fact that he was dissembling against some of the Gentile believers and he was afraid of James and that people so just causing unnecessary strife They even carried away Barnabas and they're just simulation is what the Bible says So there's a strife between Paul and Peter. Look if Peter can get mixed up in the flesh We can all get mixed up in the flesh. We also have Sedition which is kind of an interesting sin and it's hard It was hard for me to think of somebody that was saved but I think an example of sedition which sedition is like treason Sedition is treason and like insurrection against the government or authority And you're like that's a pretty extreme thing but think about Joab is confederate with Adonijah to overthrow the kingdom with Solomon and Joab is end up getting punished for that. So even job gets mixed up in sedition Against Solomon and against David at one point in his life Heresies, well, that's just the book of Galatians. I mean there who have bewitched you, you know, I mean They're all mixed up in all kinds of heresies Murder, I mean we could just go out on the list Saul obviously he murdered priests of God like Saul is a confusing character if we just had a rap scene as well. Okay, there's a guy he hates great men of God He hates his son tries to kill his son tries to kill men of God kills 85 priests of God and Then he inquires of a witch and then kills himself saved or unsaved Now I'm not saying this is what you do when you go sowing him, okay, don't be like hey I know a guy this is what he's like. He's a mass serial killer of Christians he's going witch hanging out with witches and kills himself saved or unsaved. They're like You know, but I mean just think about that He is saved. He is in heaven. That should just tell you how horrible your flesh is and How capable of going down a dark road all of us are? Not only that Moses killed the guy. There's a lot of murder. David was complicit in the death of Uriah I mean we could go down the list. There's a lot Drunkenness. Well, you got Noah and Lot Both of them and then they get taken advantage of when they get drunk Not a revelings now revelings is a really hard one because it's only mentioned one time in the Bible but somebody I thought of was Demas have forsaken me having loved this present world and I'm just thinking like oh if you love this present world Revelings in general is just you know parties hanging out having fun enjoying the world Seems like probably a fit and I'm like of all the things on the list We can pretty much just put it in the bank Christians can do revelings right Christians Obviously if they're getting drunk and doing all these kind of things they can do the revelings So what what do we have to learn from this? Well Let's learn. Let's kind of read the next part of this in Galatians chapter 5 We're gonna kind of try to finish on these thoughts, but it says in verse 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such There is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh With the affections and lusts if we live in the spirit, let's also walk in the spirit Let us not be desirous of vain glory Provoking one another in being one another notice again He had that huge list of sins, but then did you notice that he's saying in the in a recap? Kind of it's almost like these are a gateway drug to sin is Being desirous of vainglory and Envying one another it's almost like when someone gets this envy bug It can drive them down just a horrible path of just all kinds of destructive sense And it's like Saul gets this envy bug and then he's trying to kill David. He's trying to kill Jonathan He then kills a bunch of priests of God then he inquires of the witch and he's just unrelenting Almost implacable in a sense and just destroys himself and you know what this could happen to any of us Where we start getting this envy we start desiring to be getting more attention and boy the attention whores are destructive forces in this world I Want to go to one more place go to Romans chapter 7 go to Romans chapter 7 and you know The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 10 that there's no temptation taking you but such as common to man I'm not saying that every sin in the Bible that Christians can commit because the Bible does give us some some Sins and examples of things that are not gonna happen The Bible says that you're not gonna blaspheme the Holy Ghost as a saved person the Bible makes it clear you're not gonna take the mark of the beast as a saved Christian and then there's a few just unnatural sins that we don't see Christians committing and We don't see an example of them getting right and we don't see an example the Bible teaching that they're normal things like sodomy Child, you know stuff and you know some of these more extreme egregious things serial killers We don't really see that exactly happening of saved people so like I think that obviously there's some unnatural sins that even Christians aren't going to get into but putting those aside We still had what adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants Emulations wrath strikes additions heresies envings murders drunkenness revelings. You know what that tells me salvation is a free gift I Mean when you read the Bible it has to be a free gift or no one's there Especially Abraham Isaac and Jacob they screwed up a lot David and Solomon, I mean some of the greatest guys in the we leave up there by ourselves Here's another thing that I learned you can't lose your salvation either cuz boy did some of them try I mean isn't Solomon trying about as hard as that he can Isn't Saul trying about as hard as he can and they didn't lose their salvation Here's another thing I learned is that your old man is bad Now look at what it says in Romans 7 verse 18 For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing The Bible says that in your flesh dwelleth no Good thing we have to be careful with our flesh because we could all go down dark paths Here's another point that I want to make is that saved people can also be dangerous Just because someone's saved does not mean that you need necessarily have fellowship or be around that person Some say people can be extremely dangerous Saul was an extremely dangerous person and David had to stay away from it and when you notice people that have the Envy bug That have the hatred that have the variance that have the emulation that are not controlling their flesh that are causing Unnecessary strife that are just doing all these things you need to say like this person's a dangerous person I probably need to separate myself and stay away from this person because you think like oh, they're saved. How bad could they be? Well they could kill you I Mean is that bad they could inquire of a witch They could get really drunk. They could commit adultery. They could I mean like did we read the list? I mean did we see what saved people are doing? Oh, but it's David. Well. He killed Uriah. Oh He saw well he killed 80 priests of God and their families oh Well, they're safe. Okay, but they got drunk and they committed all kinds of grievous sin. I mean oh, it's Samson Yeah, we just laying with harlots indiscriminately You know even you young single guys be careful with the other single guys you hang out with Because you may not do this, but they're like hey, I saw harlot Stay away, and look a lot of guys get drug into sins with their friends when I was in college I had bad friends, and they were constantly trying to get me to do horrible things Be careful some people they get they don't want to get divorced they want you and everybody else to get divorced with them They want everybody get drunk with them. They want everybody commit adultery with them They want you to go down a dark path and commit all kinds of grievous sins with them be careful What company you keep oh, but they're saved doesn't matter Don't don't think that oh well this person's saved, so they're not capable of really bad stuff no, save Christians can commit horrible horrible sins, and we need to be careful and So the last point and I kind of already said this because we need to stay away from Christians in the flesh when you recognize Christians in the flesh We also need to distance ourselves So I mean why do you think the Bible literally even says in first Corinthians chapter number five? That when people are doing certain things that we're supposed to put them outside of the church because it says what a little 1111 at the whole lump and just because they're saved doesn't mean they can't commit horrible sins of course they can And so we just have to be honest. We really believe salvation is free then we have to understand the flip side There's some people that took that free salvation, and they're gonna do some horrible things, and I'm not saying we should do it I'm not justifying it. I'm not encouraging it I'm totally against it, but we should be wise enough to realize there are saved people that are doing horrible things Stay away from them when you recognize those patterns and be very careful What company you keep and also take heed to yourself? Lest you also be tempted all right. Let's close in prayer Thank You Heavenly Father so much for giving us these warnings Thank you for giving us the spirit so we have an ability to walk in the spirit and subdue the flesh I pray that we would take our flesh seriously I Pray that you would help us to remember these examples as things that could happen to anybody and I pray that you would help us to not get involved with people that are on destructive paths That are just too much in the flesh I pray that you would help us to try to be around other people that are walking in the spirit And I pray that you would help to use our church in a mighty way and in Jesus name we pray amen All right in closing let's go to song number 270 Song number 270 just as I am Song number 270 And that thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, am waiting not to rid my soul of one dark plot To Thee, whose blood and plans each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come, just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt Let me live, live and live without the Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, more wretched and blind, signed with toothless feeling of the mind May all I need in Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, walk, and cleanse, relieve Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come