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

Amen. Well, I'm starting a new series here, and it's threats to Christianity, threats to Christianity. I was going to try to do it one sermon, then I just realized I was on Patreon. I was like, I can't do this to you guys anymore. I'm just trying to dial back the long sermons and make them a little shorter, and then I don't have to pack so much stuff into it. So there's four threats that I'm going to preach about for the next several sermons that I preach, at least the next four. So in part one today is threats from within, threats from within. So look down at your Bible at Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 where the Bible reads, But the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now as Christians, really I believe our biggest threat to us is our own selves, and we all have a problem with the flesh. You know, nobody's perfect. Obviously God wants it. He says be holy, for I am holy. We are supposed to strive against sin, and we are supposed to control the old man by walking in the Spirit, but it is a difficult task. So at the end, I'm just going to kind of give you a couple tips to just help you in this area. And obviously I preached about this before, but I just think it's really important that we understand that we're under constant threats as Christians, constant threats. And so one of the biggest threats is the threat from within us, and not only just within us, but also possibly in our own churches there could be threats from within. So the first one I want to talk about though is the threat of our own flesh, and I just read Galatians chapter 5 verse 17. And just to explain this verse, it says, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. See, once you get saved, you have a new the new man, and you have Christ in you, the hope of glory. You have the Holy Spirit of God, and we have a better, an easier time to battle with the flesh, but it doesn't mean that we don't still fight against the flesh. And in reality, that fight against the flesh is going to be every single day of our lives. And what I've found is the easiest time to not sin is when you're with God's people. So I think it's important that we have three church services a week so that we can get Spirit-filled. We can be around other people that are Spirit-filled. We can get the message, the truth of God's Word put before us. We can sing unto the Lord and praise His holy name. We can pray to our Lord the things that we need. And when we're doing church activities, you know, we do a lot of church activities. It's not because I just like to dream up new things that I have to do all the time, but I want to do church activities so we can be around people that are Godly people and Spirit-filled people. So, I mean, there's a lot of things you can do outside of these walls, but I like to provide, you know, events and things that would help you in your Christian life, or at least you're doing something fun. It might not be the most spiritual thing in the world, but at least the people that are doing it are spiritual. And that's what the hope is anyway. But our flesh is going to lust against our spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, we're going to have to fight against our own flesh, our own selves, in order to be successful in our Christian lives, to defeat the threat within. And the Bible says that these are contrary, the one to the other. They're not alike, so that you cannot do the things that you would. So the things that we want to do, sometimes we don't do because we get in the flesh. And so this morning I want to help us to try to maybe get some of these fleshly appetites under control. Look at Romans chapter 7 verse 14. Romans chapter 7 verse 14. Now you say, well, you know, once you're saved you should just never want to sin again, or you should never sin again. And those things are true, but it's just not a reality. Why did Paul say that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit is trying to fight the flesh? And it really depends on which one you feed the most. If you're always feasting on the flesh, you're always making provision for the flesh, you're always in the flesh, then you're not going to be walking in the spirit. But if you're walking in the spirit, the more you're walking in the spirit, the better off you're going to have, the better way to fight against the flesh and the lust that we have. Because really, our flesh lusts after the things that it should want to lust after. But that's just the way, that's just the reality. And until Christ comes, we are going to be in the flesh. And, you know, when people say, well, I just, you know, when I became a Christian, I just never wanted to smoke again, never wanted to chew again, never wanted to go with girls that do again, never wanted to, you know, cuss or anything like that. And it's like, maybe you did get a victory over something immediately in the flesh, but smoking cigarettes is hard to quit. I really just defy anybody to say that they just quit the first day that they got saved. I just don't believe that. But, you know, people, preachers especially, like to get up in grandstand and how much more spiritual they are than you. But we're men just like anybody else. We do have our own struggles just like anybody else. So I don't like it when preachers get up and act like they're sinless because it makes you feel like you're not saved. That's what I think that the purpose of them doing that is, is they want to make it like, you're not saved, come up the old-fashioned altar one more time so I can count another salvation. You know, some people in their church have been saved like 20 times. And it's just like, you know, we don't believe you can lose your salvation. So why do you keep calling, why do you keep preaching a salvation sermon at every single Sunday morning service? You're like, well that's what Charles Haddon Spurgeon said we should do. He's a Calvinist. He's not, he wasn't even saved folks. And Baptists just love to worship Charles Spurgeon for some dumb reason. But he wasn't saved. He was a Calvinist. He was, had the biggest church in England. And I'm sorry to say that usually when you have the biggest church you're usually a false prophet. All right. Now that's not always the case. I know that. But we don't need to keep getting saved over and over again. And we don't need people that are getting up and preaching, acting like they don't have any problems. Because it's just, it's, you know, and it's the same thing with preachers that get up and act like they never have a marriage problem. They never have an argument. They never have a tiff. And, you know, maybe you're the the diamond in the rough, the one out of a million that doesn't ever have a tiff with your wife. And what I mean by tiff is I mean a fight, an argument. Like, and I'm not even going to call for a show of hands. I know that people, and I know, you know, everybody has arguments with their spouse. But, you know, obviously we shouldn't be, you know, but pastors will get up and they'll just act like they have the perfect marriage. That they never have any issues in their marriage and they just want to put it out that their marriage is perfect. And it's just, most of the times it's a lie. I've told this story before but I'm going to tell it again because I just think it's funny. A pastor that I used to go to his church when he was at Hyles Anderson, he said, this professor got up and said, I never fight with my wife. I've never been in a fight with my wife one time, the whole time we've been married. And then, like, that pastor was like, wow man, I mean we fight all the time. We've been married, you know, for just a little bit of time. And we just, we've been having a lot of troubles. Maybe I'm just bad or maybe, you know, whatever. Maybe I'm not, you know, people can think that they're not saved over stuff like that. But I don't think he said that. But later on, maybe a couple weeks later, he was in the parking lot and he saw that same professor, you know, at the Bible college having an argument with his wife. And so he's just like, kind of like, yeah, he doesn't, he never has arguments with his wife. You know, and then he waited. He, of course, he's not going to walk up and go, I thought you said, you know, you don't do it at the moment. But he waited till later. He's like, I thought you said you don't ever have, you know, arguments with your wife. And he's like, oh, that was an argument. That was just a tiff. So that, you know, I mean, but he was clearly arguing with his wife. And so that's what I mean. Like, people get sanctimonious, you know, pastors can get sanctimonious and act like they don't do anything wrong. But, you know, it's a disservice to your people to just act like you're on a higher echelon than everybody else. Because, you know, God is not a respecter of persons. And just because I'm the pastor of the church doesn't mean that God's not going to hold me accountable for the sins that I commit, too. But, you know, it's just the way it is. Look at Romans 714. It says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. This is the Apostle Paul once again. And, like, he really hammers these topics throughout the Bible. You know, Galatians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, all these different books. He hammers this concept a lot. And what's he say? We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. So here's the Apostle Paul saying, I'm carnal. But, you know, there shouldn't be anything, there should be no carnal Christians. That's what people will say. Some of these preachers that are like, repent of your sins for salvation and stuff like that. You know, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. And then Paul here is saying, I'm carnal. So, who are you going to believe, folks? The Apostle Paul or some preacher that just wants to make you feel like you're the bad sinner and he's not. And that if you have sin in your life that you're not saved or something. That's ridiculous. Look at verse 15. It says, For that which I do allow not, for what I do, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. So what is he saying? He's saying, you know, basically, the sins that he commits, he hates doing it, but he hates what he does, but he does what he hates, basically. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then, it is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. So someone who's born again cannot sin. And what I mean by that is that the new man cannot sin. The new man that you are in Christ Jesus cannot sin. You've been made alive in Christ. But our flesh still is on us. Our flesh does not change. That's the truth and the reality of it. We're not going to be sinless until Christ comes back and gives us that body that cannot sin, cannot be hurt, cannot have bad breath, or BO, or anything else. It's just incorruptible. For this flesh must put on, you know, immortality. You know, this corruption must put on, or this incorruption must put on, no, no, this corruption must put on incorruption. So we can't go to heaven with corruptible flesh as far as inheriting the blessings of God forevermore. So why does he have to change us if we can change right now? Anybody have a good answer to that question? Because anybody that says that you can repent of all your sins and you're not going to sin anymore, like these people like Ray Comfort and these false prophets that say you must repent, you must stop sinning in order to be saved, they're false prophets, folks. That is just impossible. It says, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. He has the will to not want to sin, but, he says, but how to perform that which is good I find not. When you're in the heat of a deep temptation of sin, sometimes you just feel like there's no exit. But, you know, the Bible does say that we, God will not allow us to be tempted above that which we're able to be. He's going to make it a way for us to escape that. But sometimes it doesn't feel like that. But that's just our own flesh fighting against the Spirit. We give in. People give in. And you're like, well, that's willful sin. Is it? Or is it your flesh taking control because you're just not being spiritual? But the Apostle Paul struggles with the same things that we struggle with. Why is that? You know why? Because he's human. Because he's a sinner. And it says, Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. So a lot of times we're trying to do good. We're trying to do great. But that sin still dwells within us. And when I would do good, evil is present. Like there's always that little, you know, in the cartoons that used to have like the little angel that would appear on someone's shoulder and then the devil would say, you know, don't do that. It's not right. And then the little devil with the pitchfork is like, do it, do it, you know. And, you know, that's kind of what the flesh and the spirit are like, though, is that your spirit wants to do what's right, but your flesh always wants to do sin. So it says in verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the, see what it says there? Inward man. That is the same thing as the new man. So it says, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So, I mean, this is just literally Paul explaining the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, the same struggle that he had. And would anybody argue that Paul is the greatest missionary that's ever walked the face of the earth? I don't think anybody would deny that. Of course, besides the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm saying. But look what he says at the end of the chapter here. Verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? See, it's the body that's dead. The spirit is alive. And it says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So when I say you cannot sin once you have the new man because that new man can't sin. That's explained in 1 John. It's explained here. I just didn't want to have to go to every single verse in the Bible about it, but you all know this stuff. But it's good to be reminded because it's important. Turn back to Galatians chapter number two. Turn back to Galatians chapter number two. So Paul is saying, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And of course the answer to that is the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And so that's the answer to the question, well how can a Christian say he's a Christian if he still sins? Because there's a law in our members that is of the flesh. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, folks. So look at Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. It says in Galatians 2 20 it says, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So when we're crucified with Christ we're saying, hey I want to crucify the flesh. And even though we're crucified, you know, it's like the picture of baptism is that we died unto our, you know, we've died unto self and we're risen a new creature in Christ Jesus. It's the picture of baptism. And obviously again we struggle. The new man is going to struggle with the old man every single day. And I like the analogy of, you know, you have two dogs. They're exactly the same. They look exactly the same. And they weigh exactly the same. But when you have dogs and you feed them equally they're going to grow equally. Say they're just like twins or whatever. They're going to be equal in every way except the one that you feed the most is probably going to get bigger. Right? So it's the same thing with the flesh and the spirit. If you feed the flesh then the flesh is going to have control of you. But if you feed the spirit more then you're going to have the spirit being fed more and then, you know, God is going to help. Here's the other X factor though is that God helps us overcome sin. If you really want to overcome sin, if you really want to fight against those besetting sins that easily beset us, right, you know, the things that are more common in our character to commit. And, you know, it's kind of funny because, you know, people say, well there's no such thing as generational curses. But I would say that like we do have things that we're more, have a more proclivity to commit because of our former, you know, our ancestors. Like why do Native Americans have such a huge problem with alcohol? Why? They can't handle it and then, you know, it just destroys family after family, generation after generation. But it's just not natives. It's anybody. Like my grandpa one time he said, you know, the only thing I ever inherited from my dad was alcoholism. And I was just like, you know, wow, you know, that's that's a strong statement. Because if your grandfather or your parents were like major alcoholics then if you partake in that you're probably going to be easily, more easily become an alcoholic than somebody else. That maybe that, you know, like the Recubites, they didn't drink. You know, they were commanded to not drink and they just continued to not do those things and they were that way forever. And God looked at them as a generation, you know, as a family and a generation of a wicked and evil generation that God had to destroy completely, pretty much, except for the remnant. And those were people that walked, you know, before God in truth when it came to not being drunkards and alcoholics. So, I mean, so we do have, you know, I was thinking about this, like we have in our family we have like a way that we hold our hands sometimes, like especially the women in our family. So I see my grandkids doing the same posture with their fingers as like my mom or my grandma or my great-grandma's like, that's hereditary. You know, the little, this is kind of what they do and they, you know, they do this kind of, I don't know, I'd probably do it too. But anyway, it's prevalent in our family to have this special way that they hold their hands and things that they do with their hands. So why couldn't it be the same thing with the sins that were committed before? You know, so I think that we do struggle based upon past things that our family was with and I'm not saying, so I would say that is probably the generational curse if you want to call it that. But, you know, we can break those curses. With God's help we can break those curses and that's why it's a good thing, you know, when your family becomes a Christian, if you're a first-generational Christian, you want to pass that lineage on to your next generation. And like the days of the judges, you know, everybody, they kind of rebelled against Moses but under Joshua got under control and then after Joshua a generation grew up that knew not the Lord. And then what they started doing, worshipping other gods, worshipping Baal, and then a Savior had to come and help them get past all the stuff that they were doing. So we're going to struggle with the old man every single day of our life and you're like, well that's just, that sucks, that's just not fun. Yeah, but that's just the way it is. So if we have that knowledge in our mind, then they can help us to win that battle. And the Bible says that every day we have new mercies. Every day new mercies. So what does that mean? Well, you know, you wake up, it's a new day, you know, it's a day you can do better. Maybe you did bad yesterday but you can do better the next day. The Bible says a just man falls seven times and rises up again. So do just men fall? Yes they do. That's what it's saying. If you fall and you rise up, just rise up and get better and try to go back into the battle again. So don't just give up and like, I just can't stop, or I just can't give up this sin. That's just not true. That's just your flesh telling you what to do. And it truly is our hardest battle. I really think that, you know, people want to blame the devil and his minions for everything that happens in this world, but in reality a lot of our own problems come from ourself. It comes from our sinful nature. And so it's a battle that we're going to fight every day. It's the old man versus the new man. And, you know, a lot of times we struggle getting along with people that are too similar to us. Have you ever heard that saying opposites attract? But I've noticed in families that if one kid is more like a certain parent that they struggle against each other. Like moms whose daughters are exactly like them, they kind of have this thing where they fight more with that one person that's more like them. I mean, maybe I'm just the only one that's ever noticed this, but I'm sure everybody's, you know, probably seen this happen. But it's the same way with dads and sons or anybody that's just, even if it's your friend, maybe you're just really a lot alike with your friend, but that might be the friend that you fight with the most. And so think about this. You have the old man, which is the former person that you used to be outside of Christ, and then you have the new man, the one that's saved, the one that's spiritual. And so like you're constantly doing battle with who? Your self. Your old self. The old person. The one that used to be wicked and evil and not saved. You're fighting with that same person. It's kind of like you have a twin that's the evil twin, right? But isn't that true though? The old man that it's talking about is the old you. And so we see this type of stuff play out with similar people in our lives, but how much more when it's actually you. And sometimes you hate you. Sometimes you look at you and you're like, why am I like this? But that's the former you. But that former you likes to come up and take control of the situation. So it's not like you can ever completely put that old man down until, like I said, until Christ comes, but we should try to kill that person every single day of our lives. You're like, so what I'm telling you is kill yourself. Kill your old self. I'm not saying kill yourself now, like physically. I'm saying kill that old man. Kill yourself. Because I'm probably going to get, you know, trouble for saying that, but it's true. We have to crucify the old man every single day. Why did Jesus say, take up the cross daily and follow after me? Because it's a daily grind. It's a daily thing. It's something we have to daily fight with and it's we're fighting with ourselves. How strange is that that we have to fight against ourselves, but it's just the reality of the situation. Paul's like, oh wretched man that I am. Why did he say that? Because he's wretched. Because he knows it. I mean, what are the things that Paul did? Track down Christians and got them to renounce their faith. Complicit in the murder of Stephen. Holding their coats for him, like the doorman or something. And he's complicit and then he just starts doing it himself. Tracking people down. Hurting people. Breaking up families. You know, testifying against them so they'd be put to death. That's the old Paul. And the old Paul is a wicked old man. I'm not saying old as an elder. I'm just saying old as in his former self. And so if Paul, you know, God said I must show him how much things he must suffer for my name's sake. You know, Paul did suffer despite the fact that he was used very greatly of God. You know, and when we're weak, we're strong. When we're weak physically, we're strong spiritually. I notice that the times that I'm really frail and tired and weak and maybe I'm just too tired are the times that I preach my best sermons. I'm just like, why is that? Because when you're weak, then you're strong. But if you're strong physically and you're just ready to go, you're full rested, you just had a cup of coffee, you're ready to go. And then like, those are those are some of my biggest dud sermons. So and I'm not saying that like I'm a great preacher or anything. I'm just saying that I just noticed the less prep I do, the more spirit I, you know, when I'm filled with the Spirit are the times when I'm less prepped with my flesh. So because studying is a weariness of the flesh. And so we're supposed to as preachers not just completely rely on our flesh when we're preaching. We got to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so that's part of the preaching. So you go off track. You're like, well, why did I go off track on that? Well, maybe someone needed to hear that rabbit hole that I just went down. I don't know why I do it. I just do. But that when I go off my man-made fleshly notes, you know, then I feel like I do, you know, some of my best preaching. But obviously, the notes are there to guide me. And I think that's important to have notes unless you have a photographic memory or you're some kind of a savant, right? But I'm just saying that, you know, we need to kill the old man. Kill that old man. And we need to, you know, whatever you need to do to kill him, just kill him for that day because he's going to come back the next day. He might come back the next hour because we don't know what's going to happen our day, what we're going to see, what we're going to hear, who we're going to run into, what situation is going to hit us because we're constantly tested, we're constantly tried, we're constantly persecuted as Christians in one way or another. And how do you deal with those situations? Do you deal with it with the flesh? Or do you deal with it with the Spirit? You're supposed to deal with it with the Spirit. Because believe me, if it was up to my, if I could just fight in the flesh, I think I'd have an easier time. You know, anybody that just came against me, I'll just drop them. Just smash them in the mouth. Seriously, that's the old man. That's what I would do when I was, you know, before I was a Christian. I would just smash people in the face. As soon as they got close to me, you're catching one to the chin. It's over. But now the way we have to fight is the fight in the Spirit. In the Old Testament they fought in the flesh, didn't they? But in the New Testament we're supposed to fight in the Spirit. So as a pastor, as a Christian, I need to control myself and not just get into these fleshly battles with people that I can't overcome. Because God's going to allow us to overcome. He's going to allow us to do that which is right. We're walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh. So we need to learn to kill ourselves as far as the Spirit, you know, the Spirit killing the flesh every single day. Turn to Romans chapter 13 verse 12. Romans chapter 13 verse 12. Now here's some keys that can help you to not just live in the flesh or walk in the flesh all the time. And I think these are practical things. So look at verse number 12 in Romans chapter 13. The Bible says, the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. So what's the first thing? Well, we need to put on the armor of light. We're supposed to have the full armor of God upon us and that's going help us defend against the things of the flesh and even the things of evil spirits that actually are real. And I'll preach a sermon about that too, but you know today I'm just talking about the things from within. The things from within. So it says, let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not, what does it say there, provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. So when you feed animals, what's it called? It's called provender, right? When you feed an animal or just us, we need provender. We need something to sustain our lives and so you eat food every day to sustain you. But what is this talking about? Well, it says cast off the works of darkness. How do you do that? You put on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know you walk and you put on the armor of light, you put on the Jesus Christ and make not provision provision for the flesh. So if you're tempted to live in a fleshly life, well get those things out of your life and then you won't have a provision. So like because like if you're on a diet and you're trying to eat low-cal or something like that and then you just put like the worst junk food and sweets in front of you every single day to try to just not tempt yourself, you know, I'm going to be strong and I'm just going to look at this and I'm not going to do it. It's just like carrying a pack of cigarettes on you and just saying, well I'm not going to smoke. But like if your pack of cigarettes, like in the old days they used to roll them up in their shirts or whatever. But I knew somebody that said, you know, I just carry this these cigarettes around with me, you know, to just know that I have power over them or something. It's like if you're if you're really addicted to cigarettes that's a dumb thing to do. It really is, you know, maybe some people can do that. But if I was around cigarettes all the time, you know, I would probably be very tempted to smoke, you know, and just any so anything that we have that's like we're weak to, don't try to be like, well I'm just tough, I'm just going to keep doing it anyway. Hey, if you have a problem with the things that you're looking at on your phone, get rid of your phone or get something some kind of safeguards on your phone because it used to be able on the laptop or on the computer, but everybody's phone is like a supercomputer and you can pull up anything you want at any time. So maybe put some provisions in what you can see on your phone and you won't look at those things. Obviously where there's a will there's a way, you can get around these types of things, but the real key is to not put provision for yourself to do these things. It's just like, you know, when you're hanging out with a bad crowd. When I was younger I hung out with a bad crowd and when I got saved I just left, I completely left the town I lived in so that I could get away from the people that were influencing me. It's like, so you're blaming your friends? No, but I just know that if I do hang out with them, if I give myself an occasion to hang out with them, that I'm going to be more tempted than I would be if I wasn't around them. So get people out of your life that tempt you to sin. Say it's a drug thing or something, you're like, well I'm tempted to do drugs, but get that drug dealer out of your life, get those druggies out of your life and you're not going to be so tempted to commit those sins. Or your old drinking buddies or whatever and your kids are like, we don't have those. Well, your old cookie stealing buddies. You know, it's important to hang around the right people and sometimes we can even, sometimes people in church can be bad combinations too. Like you get together and you're like, let's do evil. And so if you know that someone that you're hanging around even in church can be that way, then maybe you should just, you know, I'm not saying be mean to them or not like them or not love them. Say maybe that's not the right person for you to be hanging around with. And that just goes in anything in life. I mean, you are who you hang around. You will become like them. And so if that person is a bad example, then their bad example is going to rub off on you. You're not going to rub off on them. They're going to corrupt you. That's just how it works. When you hang out with the, you know, who went to public school in here. So if you went to public school, you know that there's certain crowds that you, people would say don't hang around with them. They're like this. But then if you were like, well I want to hang out with them, then you become the bad crowd. And everybody looks at you like that person's bad. And why? It's guilt by association. And maybe that's not fair, but if that's all you're hanging around with is the worst types of people, then eventually they're going to corrupt you and you're going to become corrupted. And so that's giving yourself provision for the flesh. So what is provision of the flesh? Anything that's going to easily access you to committing sin. Obviously we need to have some willpower, but maybe not try to have that willpower immediately after you're trying to kick one of your sins. Because we should repent of our sins. We should be sanctified. We should be holy. We should be set apart. The Bible says to come out from among them and be separate sayeth the Lord and touch not the unclean thing. You know people just like get on to us like you're Pharisees because you're saying don't do this and don't do that. The do's and the don'ts. Well in case you didn't notice, the Bible has a lot of do's and don'ts in them. You know why? It's a guide for our life so that we'll live a righteous and holy life. He doesn't just say be holy for I am holy because he doesn't mean it. He knows we're going to have struggles with it, but he's here to help folks. God is here to help us. The new man is here. The new spiritual man is there to help, but you're going to have to just knife that guy every day. You're going to have to shoot him every day. Chop him up with an axe. Whatever you got to do, get rid of that old man and then obviously the battles are going to come and you're going to be tested on your spiritual life and you're going to lose sometimes. The apostle Paul lost, didn't he? He said the things that I would do I do not, but I do that thing which I hate. Maybe we should just start hating sin because I think that's one of the problems is that we dabble in the fact that oh that's not that bad, but when you think something's not that bad, then you're going to start doing that thing which you don't think is that bad, but it doesn't matter what you think is that bad. It matters what God thinks is bad, what God thinks is sin. You're like, well, it's just not very clear in the Bible. Pretty much everything's pretty clear in the Bible. When it's a sin, the Bible says it's a sin, so don't just sit there and act like you're in judgment of God's laws. Everybody that has reading comprehension can tell when it says thou shalt not steal what that means. I mean, come on. So, let's move on to, well, let's see. So, whatever you're struggling with, don't allow yourself access to those things and remove yourself out of those situations with those people and so on and so forth and that is how you're going to get a great victory just that way because the more you hang around the wrong crowd, the more you allow yourself, provender, to commit sin, you're going to keep doing it. You're going to keep failing over and over again. It's like beating your head against the wall. If you want to overcome something, then we're supposed to walk in the spirit, right? So, and then here's the other thing about, you know, that it could be, you know, the fight from within can be within our own church and, unfortunately, sometimes bad people come to church. You're like, what does that mean? Well, it means what it says. Look at Matthew chapter 13, verse 24, Matthew chapter 13, verse 24. There can be bad elements that creep into church and cause problems and those people can cause problems even after they leave. It just happens, but it's funny that, like, the more you tell people about stuff like this, the more that it seems like some people just don't believe it. It's like, no, not them. Not that family. It's like, yeah, that family. Look at Matthew chapter 13, verse 24. The Bible says, Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them. So, basically, this parable is explained to us that the enemy, who would be Satan, is going to, there's a place where a bunch of people are saved. They're the wheat. They're the good seed that grew up. But in the middle of the night or some other time, and the enemy has sowed in tares, which are like basically like weeds. And weeds have no real value to them, do they? Their job is to choke the stuff that's already there. That's how they survive. And, you know, we see this in gardening. You know, who likes weeds in their yard? What do weeds do? They kill the other plants that you have. Why? If you love flowers, you have to hate weeds, right? So, and weeds are just not good. That's why people pluck them up and get them out. But sometimes you can have too many weeds that have grown around, and then like you could kill the plant trying to get those weeds out. So, you gotta be very careful. So, and this principle is basically that you don't, and this is how I feel about it, like I don't know, if I don't know someone is bad, if I don't know that there's some kind of infiltrator, I'm not gonna say anything. But then, you know, sometimes you'll see the red flags that come up and, you know, like a multitude of red flags is, you know, a red flag is just a warning of impending danger, right? So, like when you see like a red, so that's what the meaning of red flag is. So, you see these things, but like just because you see someone has a red flag doesn't mean that person's bad. Because some people are just broken when they come to church. They need, they have problems. They need to be taught. And so, kind of when I see something that might be a potential problem, I just think, well, you know, God is the one that fixes people. So, hopefully this problem gets fixed with them and then they start being normal or whatever. But sometimes it's just like it never stops. And then eventually you kind of realize what you got on your hands and then you can't even act until you have what I call the goods on somebody. That basically you have to have evidence before you can accuse somebody of being bad, of being an infiltrator, of being a false prophet, or just being a bad person. But that's why it says, don't pull the weeds up because you could root the wheat with them. Look at verse 30, it says, let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into my barn. So, of course, in the end, I'm sure there's gonna be people that are infiltrators that we didn't even think were infiltrators. And then God's gonna, God knows who they are though. God knows who the people are in church that are infiltrators. And sometimes they just, God allows them to be revealed. And sometimes it's a little more difficult. So, what I'm saying though is that that battle from within can be the, you know, can be from within your own church. And so this is supposed to be a refuge. This is supposed to be our safe space as, you know, people like to call things safe spaces. This should be a safe space. But even within a church, you can have a bad element that is causing distractions or disruptions or trying to drag people out. Because that's kind of what it is, right? You know, if you, so it says, didst thou not sow good seed in the field? Verse 27, from whence then hath it tares? How did that happen? Well, an enemy has done it. And it says, the servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we should go gather them up? Look, we don't gather them before the time, is basically what the Bible is telling us. And sometimes there's a purpose for that. But look, don't let the tares take you out. Because sometimes the tares reveal themselves and then the pastor has to take care of business and then people get upset about it. Like, that was kind of mean. But it's just like, just ask yourself this question. If the pastor is the shepherd of the church and the shepherd is supposed to watch over the sheep, when he sees a wolf attacking, should he just let the wolf eat the sheep and take him out? No, I'm going to battle for every single sheep that I have in my congregation. And I'm going to try to protect them to the best of my ability. And if you're mad about that, it's like maybe you're just a wolf lover then. Like, why would you love somebody that's a wolf? Why would you love someone that you know is bad? They've shown themselves as a wolf. They've shown themselves to not be one of us and then you're like feeling bad for them. It's like the ultimate dog lover or something. Oh, the dogs are better than humans. It's not true, folks. Dogs are not better than humans. And I would kill a billion dogs to save one single human being. You're like, that's just, wow, I can't believe you're saying that. They're not your real children, people. They're not your real, you know, you might call yourself a fur mom or whatever, what do they call them? They're not, yeah, they're my fur babies. It's like, come on, man. That's just weird. What about your real babies? Have some real babies. You know, we had a problem with people not wanting to have babies anymore, but God said be fruitful and multiply. He didn't say be fruitful and be the crazy cat lady. And if you're the crazy cat lady, then, you know, whatever, but be crazy about God, too, at least. So, but look at Acts chapter 20, verse 28. And it's just like, I even just heard about somebody last week that was like, stop going to our church in a different, it was not this church, but a different church. And it's like, they didn't like how these certain people got kicked out and how it was handled. So it's like, well, let's see you do it. Let's see you do a better job at it. But when it's, when you have the goods and you can kick that person out because they need to go, then they need to go. And maybe sometimes people get kicked out and they're not, they're not wolves. They're not bad. They just, you know, screwed up and got into sin. That's also a possibility. Not everybody that gets kicked out is a wolf. And I've never said that they are, but there are people that are. And when, you know, someone that's been watching them and discerning the things that are doing for a long time says that they are, then you should probably kind of go with de facto what the pastor is saying about that. Because, you know, you get to come and enjoy church and hang out with your friends, but I'm having to constantly deal with other fires that you know not of. I'm having to deal with people doing weird things that you don't know about. And why don't you just know this, that I'm not going to just kick somebody out for no reason and just say, well, I just don't like the look at your face. You're out of here. I'm not going to do that. But, you know, most churches won't even kick anybody out. Not even the worst of the worst. And then what are you doing? You're just allowing 11 to just stay in your church and corrupt your church and everything. The pastor's job is, you know, it's difficult. I'm not a confrontational person necessarily in that way naturally. This is just something I have to do because as the under shepherd I'm going to be called to account for how I watch the sheep. And if I just allow a bunch of sin and I allow a bunch of wolves to come into our church and never do anything because I just want the tithe money, which is what shepherds get accused of all the time, then, you know, I got to do my job. I got to throw people out that are causing problems. Look at Acts chapter 20. Here again we got the Apostle Paul. So we already had Jesus, you know, basically give this parable and say, hey, there's going to be weeds with you. There's going to be tares among the good wheat. But look what Paul said in Acts chapter 28. Verse 28 says, take heed therefore unto yourselves to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. So my job as a pastor, as an overseer, is to feed the flock of God and to feed the church of God and and then it says for this for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. So Paul's no longer over this church is what it seems like to me. He's ordained elders in these places and he's like when I'm gone then basically the wolves are going to come out and it says also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. What are they trying to do? These grievous wolves are going to come in. They're not going to spare the flock. They want to drag you out of here and make you think our church is a cult or the pastor's a cult leader or you're and you're a cult survivor. You know I'd like to know what the people that left our church that call themselves cult survivors would actually you know what did you survive exactly? What what exactly did you survive from? I just that's the question I really want answered. If we're a cult then what did I do to hurt you? Show me on this doll where Pastor Thompson made you a cult member. It's retarded. It's idiotic. But really what it is is these people just can't leave and shut their mouths like they say they're going to. They always have to talk smack afterwards. They always have to dig up dirt. They always have to try to just grab one church member and try to drag them out. That's exactly what they always do and it's like I just know it's going to happen but yet if I don't have the goods to say this person's bad this person's a wolf then I just kind of have to sit there just shut my mouth about it. But then when you see the same person just doing it multiple times of different people in our church then I have to stop the wolf. I have to stop them. I have to take my staff and beat that wolf to death. That's just the reality of it. Isn't that what Paul's saying? The grievous wolves are going to come in not sparing the flock and they're going to try to draw disciples away after themselves. Like we've had multiple people that quit our church that made a Bible way to heaven video on their own with their own ministry name or something. It's just like please make this Bible way to heaven before I quit or whatever. It's just like and then they're what now they're the pastor of their own flock or something. That's just bizarre folks. It really is and when you see the standards drop as soon as they leave our church that's a red flag too. It's like they're wearing the ladies are wearing skirts and dresses now all of a sudden they're wearing booty shorts in front of everybody on Instagram. And y'all are still friends with them. That's what's sad. It's like you see them going after this weird way. You know they're messaging DMing trannies online asking them how you know how they detransitioned or whatever. That's weird too isn't it? Like when's the last time you guys DM'd a tranny? Was it yesterday? I hope not. Or promoting worldly music. Showing your nakedness. Promoting books that have perversion in them right on your Instagram channel for everybody to see but you're doing okay. You're doing much better after you left the cult. That's bizarre folks. And then secretly and subtly going behind our backs saying all kinds of crazy stuff. It's just look this happens. It's played out so many times in our church and yet people still just don't get it. It's like let's look at what Paul says. Let's look at verse number 29 again. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. They don't love you. They say they love you but that's flattery. They'll flatter oh you're the best person. You're my best friend at this church. There was someone that left our church and they literally messaged every single woman in our church and said you're my best friend. And like when they're saying that you're the best person you're my best friend to everybody then none of them none of you are their best friend. And that's it's a fact. It's happened. You know and it sucks having to sit there and just watch this stuff happen and not being able to say anything but like I'm bound by the rules of a pastor to not you know do not to just call someone a wolf without knowing for sure that they are. So look what it says in verse 30. Also of your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things drawing away disciples after them. This is what they do. Just this is what Paul's saying and look what he says here. You're like you bring this stuff up too much Pastor Thompson. Well look what it says in verse 31. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone day and night with tears. Did the Apostle Paul talk about it too much? I cease not to you know the space of three years so for three years straight he's like day and night day and night false prophets people are going to creep in and then like you know this church he's at no longer exists because you know what people don't take heed to what is being said and they just want to be just give everybody the benefit of the doubt. Look you can't just give everybody the benefit of the doubt. You have to look at the evidence and if the evidence is pointing you to this person is just not what they claim to be or not living you know it's one thing if you just you leave our church and you're living a pious life and maybe you're even more fundamental than you were before you came here that's one thing but when every standard you had dropped and you're just hopping from church to church because no church is good enough for you then maybe you're the problem maybe you're the problem that's kind of how I view it but it can be fellow church members you know what we've had envious pastors kind of come into our our group and then now those churches are closing down or they you know just believe weird stuff like manly perry nobody roasts in hell nobody goes nobody burns in hell like yeah he corrected afterwards but how do you make that mistake how do you make that mistake in a sermon just say nobody goes nobody burns in hell like all right what are you a jehovah's witness or you know we find out that one of the pastors just murdered his father premeditatedly murdered his father wesley tomlinson remember him infiltrators there's infiltrators that are pastors that try to attach themselves to us and there's infiltrator church members will try to you know infiltrate us but look at galatians 5 16 all right i'm done yelling and screaming but before i do i got one more thing to say actually it's not 12 o'clock yet quit whining all right uh so i've been watching a lot of fighting on facebook and i just watch i'm not like really trying to get into it because i just think it's unprofitable in vain but it's a bad look for us also when everybody when people that believe the same things and and and do the same things are fighting and calling each other names on on on facebook it's just that's disgusting it's just not a good look right so i hope that our church has some you know some restraint in these areas look i've i've been there before i've gotten into and sometimes i do still say stuff but not to other church people necessarily but to like you know false prophets or atheists that are trying to get me killed and stuff like that but other than that i just kind of stay out of that kind of stuff but like definitely we shouldn't be doing that to our own brothers and sisters in christ it's just wrong and really this is so back to glacians 5 and i'm going to end the sermon here it says this i say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh what is the key to not having us be destroyed from the inside well you got to get that old man under control you got to stop allowing them to surface to the top and control your life so the main threat within to us is our own self but then of course we can still have people that are a threat within within our own our own church within our own body that would rise up and cause threats from within but we have to be able to recognize the red flags recognize and you know and really evidence has to be presented in order for someone to be kicked out of church i'm not going to just take the the one even if i believe that person even if i think it's true i'm not going to take what one person says about another person and throw them out the bible says you must have two or three witnesses and so sometimes it does make it difficult when it's just like i know this person's a bozo i know this person's actively doing things against our church but i have to have evidence before i can say something about it so that's just the way it is but they don't have to do that do they they can just undermine and corrupt and you know subtly plant seeds in people's mind maybe they're not even just openly saying things but it's a subtlety you know who else dealt subtle subtly with people could it be satan yeah satan dealt subtly with eve he was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field so when i see people acting subtly and whispering and backbiting and just there's this undercurrent behind the scenes of people just trying to corrupt our church members so i'm going to call it out and i'm going to mark that person just the way it is because here's the thing people like to just say i'm going to leave quietly i'm going to leave peaceably and here's what i always say because anybody that knows me knows that i say this i'm going to leave quietly i say well that's fine but if i find out that you're not doing that that i'm going to come after you and you're like well that's just not very christian like oh but it's christian like to go and try to corrupt our church members and and try to pull them out of church a great church this is a great church it's not a cult you know when's the last time i offered you kool-aid after the service never but yet you know and cults try to keep people in not kick them out so and you're like well that's not always true i mean literally jim jones poisoned everybody to death not over 900 people because he didn't want them to leave huh yeah yeah yeah they had machine guns and they're just like making them take this you know it was flavor aid okay it wasn't really kool-aid but still i mean what do they ultimately want to do these cult these cult leaders they're they're not saved they're not preaching the right gospel i mean jim jones was a communist literally a communist he didn't even believe in jesus at all but yet people will say oh you're jim jones it's like i'm saved buddy so i believe on the lord jesus christ for my salvation and i trust him only and i know that i have eternal life because that's what the bible says you're like well you're still you can still be a cult leader and believe the right gospel where show me an example just show me you're like you no no no we're a baptist bible believing baptist church that's what we are so let's pray lord we thank you so much for the scriptures lord and i pray that lord we would be able to get a handle on some of the things that maybe we're struggling with as as god's people with sin lord help us to walk in the spirit help us to feed that spiritual man and kill that old man daily lord that we'd walk before you in righteousness and and true holiness lord i pray that you just bless this church help us to continue to do great works and to continue to get people saved and start new churches and lord i just pray for that lord we'd be discerning and and not just you know suspecting everybody's a wolf or suspecting everybody's bad but or that we would just not necessarily trust when people when we see these red flags we just kind of just kind of check them away as a red flag or maybe just have the you know those people in our church would come and and talk to the pastor the one that can actually do something about it lord and i just pray that you'd help us to discern the the something's not right lord you want us to be discerning i pray you'd help us as a church to discern in this way and we thank you for all your blessings in jesus name we pray amen