We are in John chapter 4 and I want to read verse 23, the Bible says, "But the hour cometh,
and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
So we get this teaching from the Lord Jesus Christ that it's not just good enough to just
say the truth and to say the right things, you actually have to believe it, you actually
have to worship God from your spirit, and you have to worship God in truth.
There's two aspects to this, both are very important, and I want to preach this morning
about a historical subject that's been very important to Baptists throughout history.
It's something that Baptists and Americans have believed for hundreds and hundreds of
years, and that is freedom of religion.
And that is the title of my sermon this morning, freedom of religion.
You know, this is going to be a little bit more of a historically heavy sermon than we
normally go through as a church.
Usually it's just tons of Bible, and we'll still hit lots of Bible.
But I also want to just provide a lot of history in the sermon, because this is something that's
definitely not being taught very well in public education.
And even just, I think you're going to learn a lot of things this morning that you may
not have known from history.
But I also want to explain, like, what I mean by freedom of religion and how there's certain
people today that have abused this term, and how today the idea of freedom of religion,
separation of church and state, things like this, when people use these terms, it's not
necessarily the way that our founders intended them to be used.
So number one this morning, this is my first point, we don't want a state-sanctioned church.
This is an important belief.
We don't want a government-sanctioned church.
What's an example of that?
Like the Church of England, right?
This is a bad institution.
We don't want the government instituting an official church of a nation.
There needs to be a separation between institutions of things like the family, the church, the
government.
These things need to be separated, and we do not want a state-sanctioned church.
We do not want the United States of America to pass a law saying, "We are starting the
Baptist Church of the United States of America."
That would not be a good idea.
It would not end up being a good system.
It would not be a good church, okay?
Now there's a couple big problems with the idea of having a state-sanctioned church.
One of those being that you cannot force someone to be of a certain religion.
You cannot truly force someone to believe something.
Now you have religions like Islam that try to do this, but really they just threaten
people with death.
They threaten people with dismemberment.
And pretty much you'll say or do anything at that threat, right?
But does that mean that every single person that Islam converts actually believes in their
religion?
Not necessarily, okay?
Look at this verse again in verse 23, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such
to worship Him."
God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Worshiping God is not some sort of special formula, some sort of mathematical equation
where you just say the right things, you have the right truths, you have to worship God in
spirit and in truth.
And if we just pass the law today saying, "Okay, everyone has to be Baptist," is that
going to force anyone to actually believe in Jesus Christ?
No, it's not.
You're going to have a bunch of people maybe claiming that who don't actually believe it.
That is not something that's possible.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 11, Hebrews chapter number 11 and look at verse 6 when you get
there, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6.
Notice what it says, Hebrews 11 verse 6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him."
See God is wanting to be found of people who seek him and of course we should be people
as soul winners that go to people who weren't necessarily seeking God and bring them the
truth and hopefully their heart will be convinced by the Bible and will want to search for God
and will want to call upon the name of the Lord, but I can't just say like you shall
be a Christian.
I can't just pass a law saying like you will believe in Jesus Christ because that's not
how salvation works.
You have to actually have faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible says without that faith, it's
impossible to please him.
So think about this.
Would God be pleased with a bunch of people walking around just saying that they're Christians,
but they don't actually have faith in their heart?
No, he would not.
It's kind of like how we often ask people out soul winning, you know, hey, if I called
upon the name of the Lord, but I didn't believe in him, would he save me?
The answer is no, right, or hey, if I called upon the name of the Lord, and I thought I
had to do good works to get to heaven, and that I could lose my salvation, would he save
me?
The answer is no.
In order to please God, you have to have a real faith that comes from the heart, and
you cannot force someone to believe in Jesus Christ.
That's why it's silly to have like a Church of England, a Church of the United States,
because you're going to have a bunch of people walking around, oh yeah, you know, we're all
Christians here, it's the Church of England, but that doesn't mean that you're saved.
It doesn't mean that you're actually pleasing the Lord.
Go to Romans chapter 14, Romans chapter 14, Romans 14 verse 11 says, "For it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess
to God, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Notice that every single person has to give an account of themself.
I am not responsible for what someone else believes.
I am not responsible for you when you stand in front of God.
I'm responsible for faithfully preaching the Bible.
We're all responsible for faithfully going out soul-winning and warning people and trying
to get people saved, but at the end of the day, each individual is responsible for themselves
in front of God.
And so we can't just pass a law saying, "Okay, we're going to make sure all Americans are
pleasing in the eyes of God, so we're going to start the official church of the United
States of America, and that'll make everything better."
Wrong.
Every individual will have to present themselves before God.
Look at verse number five of the same chapter.
Notice how it says, "One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every
day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day,
to the Lord he doth not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not
to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks."
Notice also how God allows for freedom of conscience, freedom of conscience.
Why?
Because God wants us to believe things because we sincerely believe them.
God wants us to be fully persuaded of our beliefs because we got it from the Bible,
because we know it's a truth from God's Word, not because the government tells us we have
to believe something.
No, He wants us to have that freedom of conscience, and that's a beautiful thing because it actually
brings glory to God when a person has complete freedom, complete free will, both from God
and from the government, and then people still choose to believe in Christ and still choose
to follow the Word of God.
That is giving maximum glory to God.
Go to Isaiah chapter 29, Isaiah chapter 29, we're just getting some foundational doctrine
here.
Isaiah chapter number 29, notice verse 13, this should sound familiar if you've read
the New Testament a lot.
Verse 13 says, "Wherefore the Lord said, 'For as much as this people draw near me with their
mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and
their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.'"
Would God be pleased with a nation of people who give lip service to God?
They just say they're Christian, but their hearts are far from God.
And notice what it says here, that their fear of God is taught by the precept of men.
not an effective way for people to fear God is man just saying for you to do that for
government just making some edict saying you're going to be a Christian you're going to honor
God.
The real way that you honor God again is when it comes from the heart is when you truly
as an individual fear God when you as an individual love God go to Matthew chapter 27 or Matthew
chapter seven Matthew chapter seven Matthew chapter seven now here's another problem with
having a state-run church it's this that true Christians are always in the minority true
Christians are always the minority of people if you had a state-run church even if it was
good at the beginning it would quickly devolve into false doctrine into bad teaching I mean
you even look at the churches in the New Testament just you know seventy something years after
Christ you know going into heresy teaching false doctrine you got the book of Galatians
where Paul's saying like I'm afraid of you guys I don't even know if you guys are saved
and that was very shortly after Christ you know if we just had some sort of government
run church it would quickly devolve look at this principle Matthew chapter 7 verse 13
it says enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at notice the majority is wrong
about religion the majority of this world believes in a false religion or a false gospel
and even the majority of self-proclaiming Christians are wrong on tons of doctrines
I mean here we are in Matthew chapter 7 and one of the most famous verses in the whole
Bible is verse 1 judge not that you be not judged I mean if we just went with the majority
interpretation of that verse would we come to the right doctrine or wrong doctrine the
wrong doctrine a hundred percent right so we don't want just some government sanctioned
church why because it's the majority that goes into the wide gate it's the majority
that goes into destruction and what ends up happening whenever you have a state-run religion
is that true Christians end up getting persecuted true Christians end up being hated hence why
the United States of America was even founded to begin with because Christians were being
persecuted by the Catholic Church in England the Church of England because remember back
in history church and government were combined you know the Pope and the king were lockstep
a lot of times and the decisions that they made and so real Christians like William Tyndale
for example were persecuted for simply translating the Bible into English and eventually was
burned alive at the stake you know that is always what happens when you have a state-run
religion it's kind of like for the same reason that we believe in the independent church
model we don't want to be a part of a denomination why because when you have a denomination
if the denomination is corrupt all of its branches are corrupt as well when you have
a leader giving out orders and if he's preaching false doctrine if he's believing lies and
he's the one that sets the rules well now all of those branches also get corrupted so
we don't want to have some state-sanctioned religion some state-sanctioned church because
that's very easy to corrupt and it will be corrupted it's always what happens rather
what we should believe in is a free market of ideas why because we believe the truth
and the truth is powerful you know i'm not afraid for the bible and for our doctrine
to stand up against any religion in this world because it's the truth i'm not afraid of islam
i'm not afraid of the catholic church i mean you really want to take you really want to
stack up the bible the king james bible against the quran really it is a terrible stupid book
and it's a book written by an illiterate pedophile and people to this day who believe in islam
are stupid people because it's a stupid religion we want to you know compare the king james
bible to mormonism you know the bible it teaches that you shouldn't believe in another gospel
there's no other gospels coming and if you hear another gospel that person's supposed
to be accursed in galatians chapter one and here we have mormonism coming where joseph
smith said jesus came to the united states of america and gave him another testament
of jesus christ and you know you gotta wear your magic underwear and you gotta have your
multiple wives in the planet colob someday and you could become a god someday you really
think that i have any problem stacking up against that religion no because what we believe
is the truth and you want to know why soul winning works because we have the truth i
mean you want to know why soul winning works someone literally believes a lie their whole
life they've been catholic their whole life these people are confused why because they're
believing lies and lies are confusing we show up with the clear crystal clear gospel of
jesus christ and we could change someone's religion in 15 minutes and we do that every
single day i'm not afraid of having a free market of ideas i don't think that we need
to you know constrict everything so much to where only we can exist because quite frankly
we could thrive just fine in a free market of ideas and i don't want to just force people
to come to anchor baptist church and not like it here and not believe the things that we
believe i want people to be here because they like being here because they agree with the
doctrine and not that they have some jail time hanging over their head if they don't
go to a certain church that the government prescribes them to go to now the united states
of america is a special nation in the sense that the united states has a strict ban on
having a state sanctioned church and having a state sanctioned religion and of course
this makes sense because the people who came here and founded this country were escaping
places that had state sanctioned religion so i'm going to read to you i wish i had a
whiteboard i don't have it i want to read to you the first amendment of the constitution
because there's a lot of confusion about what this amendment is teaching and what the laws
in our country is a lot of people think this oh the first amendment is what gives us our
freedom of religion wrong the first amendment does not give any freedoms regarding religion
the first amendment is a restrictive amendment but specifically it's restricting one group
of people congress that is why the first word of the of the first amendment is this congress
okay let me read it for you congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion this is what's known as the establishment clause and it's saying the federal congress
is not allowed to make a law saying all right we are instituting the church of the united
states of america or the first baptist church of the united states of america that is prohibited
in the first amendment notice this did not say you have the right to go to church you
have the right to worship god we already have that right because our founders believed in
something called natural rights or god-given rights and i believe that is a biblical concept
why because if god says thou shalt not kill that means i have a right to not be killed
right i mean if god is saying you don't have the right to do this it means the other person
has a right to not be killed if he says thou shalt not steal i have a right to not be stolen
from so the idea of natural rights or god-given rights is a true concept and if god tells us
to worship him if god expects us to love him and obey his commandments then that is a right
that we have from birth that is not something that government grants us and so our founders
recognized hey we already have the right to worship god so what we're going to do is we're
going to constrict and restrict congress's ability to manipulate anything in that area
so again it says congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof notice it's not saying you have the free exercise
of religion that was already known that was already taken for granted yeah of course people
have the right to worship god freely and so what we're going to do is we're going to restrict
congress's ability so people all the time you know they say oh yeah the first amendment
gives us our rights the first amendment has nothing to do with you and it has nothing
to do with me the first amendment at least the religious part of it has to do with restricting
congress now that is a very very important point because here's the thing our country
was founded with the idea of federalism now federalism it's kind of a deceitful name because
it makes you think of the federal government but federalism at the beginning was basically
a separation between federal authority and state authority and our government believed
and wanted states to have a lot more authority than the federal government and so the constitution
is purposely pretty general and pretty vague and when it comes to the states things got
a lot more specific and had a lot more nuance in these state constitutions now i'm going
to read to you from a lot of excerpts from multiple state constitutions that were written
around the time of the founding of our country around the time of the ratification of the
constitution of the united states and you know lord willing we're going to be making
a documentary soon about american history so i'm not going to do too i'm not going
to give too much away for our documentary but i definitely want to get into some really
important things here so this is the massachusetts state constitution written in 1780 so around
the time of the federal constitution so keep this in mind before i read this this is the
narrative today the narrative today is that our country was not founded as christian the
narrative today is that the founding fathers gave us the first amendment because they didn't
want religion in government they didn't want christianity in government i've heard this
from college students at the university of texas that america was always a secular nation
and that the first amendment was given to us to keep us a secular nation away from religion
now keep that those claims in mind when i read this from for you here massachusetts
state constitution 1780 chapter 6 article 1 any person chosen governor lieutenant governor
counselor senator or representative and accepting the trust shall before he proceed to execute
the duties of his place or office make and subscribe the following declaration i i'll
just say my name i dylan aus do declare that i believe the christian religion and have
a firm persuasion of its truth oh america's never a christian nation you are ignorant
you are uneducated by friend the first amendment was literally to restrict congress from messing
with the christian religion it was not to tell us hey we're going to be a mix of hindu
and islam and atheist and christian and all these different religions no we realize that
we have the right to worship god we were a christian nation we realize that government
being a church is a bad idea we want to separate these things government and church so he said
hey congress you are not allowed to make any rules regarding religion okay but the states
what they did is they said okay we're not allowed to have a state-run religion we're
not going to have the church of massachusetts the church of oklahoma right but here's what
we do want we do want christians in authority we do want christians running the nation we
do want christians having influence in our society so what they said is hey yeah we're
not going to have a state-run church we're not going to prohibit anyone's right to exercise
their religion freely but here's what we're going to do if you're going to be a governor
a lieutenant governor a senator a representative you better put your hand up and say that i
believe in the christian religion and that i am fully persuaded of its truth that is
a great thing that is why america was so great where do you ever see anything like this in
history in any other nation you don't our country was great because we exalted christianity
now look we didn't restrict religion because it's just a bad idea to give government that
power when jesus has that power he'll do it right i don't trust our governor to have anything
to do with religion i don't trust our president to have anything to do with religion right
we want those things separate but you better believe that we were a christian nation in
culture and that we exalted the bible and that we wanted christians in authority here's
another one the delaware state constitution written in 1776 article 22 says every person
who shall be chosen a member of either house or appointed to any office or place of trust
before taking his seat or entering upon the execution of his office shall take the following
oath or affirmation if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath to wit i dylan aus will
bear true allegiance to the delaware state submit to its constitution and laws and do
no act wittingly whereby the freedom thereof may be prejudiced and also make and subscribe
the following declaration to wit i dylan aus do profess faith in god the father and
in jesus christ his only son and in the holy ghost one god blessed forevermore and i do
acknowledge the holy scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration
oh so secular i mean that's as secular as you get right what a joke this is why you
need to home school your children by the way this is why you actually need to learn and
read stuff by the way because you're going to go to school and you're going to be taught
the first amendment is to restrict religion the first amendment is to keep religion out
of america no idiot it was to restrict congress only and meanwhile in the states they were
saying hey we want a christian government not in the sense of a christian state sanctioned
church that's bad but we do want christians in authority we do want christians making
decisions and influencing our nation and isn't it funny throughout history how we have such
a long history in this country of christians running the show and isn't it funny how we
just became the greatest and most prosperous nation that's ever existed under the face
of the earth that's not a coincidence and now what do we see guys like Vivek Ramaswamy
some hindu who was running for president that a bunch of christians were getting all excited
about a bunch of republicans were getting all excited about you know our founding fathers
would have been rolling over in their graves these men that wrote this would have been
rolling over in their graves of the conversation of even entertaining the thought of electing
a hindu to office you couldn't have been an atheist and been in office at these times you
couldn't have been a catholic you couldn't have been a muslim sure those people could
live and exist and not be killed that's different than getting them into office that's different
than exalting them in any position of leadership here's the delaware constitution 1776 article
29 there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this state in preference
to another so notice they said look we're gonna have christians in office but we're
not going to establish an official endorsement of any sect and we don't want the government
doing that right i want people to be persuaded of the truth of baptists and our beliefs over
pentecostals methodists presbyterians because it's from the bible right we want people to
have freedom of conscience we want to preach the truth and we want people to freely be
like persuaded of that truth and choose to follow god we don't want the state saying
like hey you have to be a baptist you have to be an independent fundamental baptist no
we want them to say like hey we're not getting involved in that we are going to be christian
if you want to be in office you at least better believe the bible you at least better be firmly
persuaded of its truth but we're not going to establish any specific sect of christianity
notice how it's a sect of christianity though because they wouldn't have even entertained
the thought of other religions i mean that's unthinkable for them they also said this and
no clergyman or preacher of the gospel of any denomination shall be capable of holding
any civil office of this state or of being a member of either of the branches of the
legislature while they continue in the exercise of the pastoral function now at first glance
you might be thinking well that kind of sounds anti-christian why are they prohibiting pastors
from being in office because that's what this is saying this is saying like if you're a
pastor you're a clergyman you're not allowed to serve in government why though it's not
because they didn't respect Christianity it's that they respected Christianity so much that
they viewed the office of a pastor as infinitely more important of a legislator of a judge
of a governor because they said look this is way too important the work that you're
doing is extremely essential for our society let's have other Christians be in office right
I mean the lowliest Christian in this church would be a great legislator compared to some
unsafe person in the Oklahoma state representatives or some Catholic or some Jew or some Muslim
no we want Christians in authority but they said hey what about pastors no they're not
allowed because they're actually doing a very important work that they don't need to sacrifice
just to run an earthly kingdom they're taking care of the kingdom of God the New York state
constitution in 1777 says and whereas the ministers of the gospel are by their profession
dedicated to the service of God and the care of souls and ought not to be diverted from
the great duties of their function therefore no minister of the gospel or priest of any
denomination whatsoever shall at any time hereafter under any pretense or description
whatever be eligible to or capable of holding any civil or military or place within this
state so new york they spelled it out clearly they not only said hey pastors can't serve
in this function they told you why they're dedicated to the service of god they're dedicated
to taking care of souls so these people are not going to be serving in the military these
people are not going to be serving in government because what they're doing is so important
that was new york state i mean today new york is known as just being one of the most liberal
hellholes in our country one of the most godless places in our country not at their founding
they weren't at their founding they had such a high respect for a man of god that they
said you're not even allowed to serve in government because what you're doing is way important
more important than what we're doing in government praise god for that the pennsylvania state
constitution 1776 section 10 says and each member before he takes his seat shall make
and subscribe the following declaration i do believe in one god the creator and governor
of the universe the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked and i do acknowledge
the scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration and no further
or other religious tests shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate
in this state notice they were specific about the god that you had to believe in it's not
just like oh one nation under god whoever that is it's like no you have to say that
the old and new testaments are divinely inspired by god because here's the thing you know you
could look at the old testament and jews and muslims could be like yeah you know we
believe part of that too our god's the same god as yours even though that's a lie that's
what people teach today but the legislature of pennsylvania said no you have to believe
in god the creator of the universe the rewarder of the good the punisher of the wicked and
you have to believe that that god is the god of the old and new testaments translation that's
jesus christ you had to believe in jesus christ to serve in the legislature isn't that amazing
i just think that is so cool and then it says and no further or other religious tests shall
ever hereafter be required so notice they're not going to sit there and be like all right
what's your pre-trib post-trib doctrine are you a baptist are you in another denomination
they're not going to get into that because that's not the government's job but they did
want to make sure that christians were in office and i just find it so funny how these
state constitutions they're written at the same time as the federal constitution within
the space plus or minus of 20 years and we want to be fed the lie today that our society
was totally secular the government was set up to be totally secular the founding fathers
wanted to restrict religion in government meanwhile all the states are over here talking
about jesus christ the new testament the old testament the trinity yeah it's a lie friends
it's a lie you've been fed a lie today that teaches that america was a secular nation
no it was not it was a nation that honored jesus christ here's the north carolina constitution
1776 says that no person who shall deny the being of god or the truth of the protestant
religion or the divine authority either of the old or new testaments or who shall hold
religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of this state shall be
capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within
this state so north carolina if you are an atheist you're not allowed you're not allowed
to be elected why because you can't deny the being of god if you are a catholic you are
not allowed why because it says you have to be persuaded of the truth of the protestant
religion right also you have to believe in the old and new testaments jews they would
lose their position here they would be out and it just says if you hold any religious
principle incompatible with the freedom and safety of this state right so they wouldn't
be allowing cults either mormons jehovah's witnesses seventh-day adventists these cults
would not have been allowed to serve in the legislature they would have to be under the
big umbrella of protestant which a lot of people mean different things by protestant
some people when they say the word protestant they just mean non-catholic right so sometimes
we want to squabble over those things and we can at times it depends what someone means
by that you know there are protestants that believe some weird false doctrines but a lot
of times when people just say protestant they just mean like non-catholic christians real
christians and so in order to be in the north carolina legislature you have to be a real
christian you can't be a catholic so here's the principle we don't want a state sanctioned
church but we do want christians in authority right and sometimes we get this like black
pill mentality that i hear that you know christians should never participate in society whatsoever
we shouldn't have any christian police officers we shouldn't have any christian judges no
christian should ever run for office no christian should ever be in a profession you know where
there are a bunch of jews or something like that it's like look we want christian influence
in america i would like it if when i got pulled over i was pulled over by a man that
believed in jesus christ you know what i mean i would like it if i was standing before a
judge that i was standing before a person that believed that this was the law that actually
looked at this and said this is what's right this is how we're going to judge i would like
it if i'm sending a representative to the state capitol to make laws that are going
to affect my life that are going to affect the punishment of sin that he would actually
believe what the bible says because when that happened you didn't have things like gay marriage
being legalized in america because christians said what the hell are you talking about they
should be put to death this is a crime against god and now we live in a society that is just
devolving into moral decay and wickedness and just the exaltation of the most disgusting
things imaginable because christians have moved out of that sphere christians have been pushed
out of that sphere and now it's a bunch of worldly unsafe people atheists jews catholics
right on the supreme court bench and you think they're judging righteously no they're not
and the reason our country was so great is because we actually had great people running things we had
great churches we had great governments from people running things correctly go to if you would
ephesians chapter number six ephesians chapter six so i submit to you that freedom of religion
is a good thing it is a good thing i know people have some different views on this and that's fine
but freedom of religion in the context that we're talking about today is a good thing that we should
want look at ephesians six verse 12 says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against
principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual
wickedness in high places you know in the new testament the battle is a spiritual one right
and sometimes we read stories in the old testament great stories stories i love of kings going in
and slaying the prophets of bail and tearing down their houses and burning the idols and praise
god for those things i love those things but i don't believe that god has called us to do that
in the new testament i don't think that we should go today and go to the catholic church and burn
the thing to the ground please don't do that you'll be arrested for arson okay or attempted murder
or something like that that is not what god has called us to do today god has called us to engage
and fight in a spiritual battle you better believe it's still a fight it's still a battle but we're
not over here just killing the enemies of god we're not over here killing people that don't
believe in jesus christ no we exist in a society that has freedom and we win people over by
convincing them of the truth and yes it is a fight we're not going to sit here and exalt false
religions and that's not what america ever did america never said hey okay we're not going to
have the government interfere with church we're not going to have government establish a false
religion so that means that islam is great and hinduism is great and judaism is great catholicism
great no they actually said no those people can't have any influence in government they could survive
they could live we're not going to kill them or persecute them but you're dead sure that they're
not going to be serving in government so for us today it's like i don't think we should be going
and fighting physically against muslims and catholics and jews but what we can do is stand
up here and say that their false religion is taking people to hell i can't stand up here and say that
if you're a muslim you're an idiot because you follow a pedophile an illiterate pedophile
absolutely and we're going to fight against islam and we're not going to respect any false religion
and no we don't have any tolerance for false doctrine on on things like salvation that will
send people to hell but that does not mean that we start going and fighting and killing people
do you really think that we should have a system where the police are called and just rounding up
people who have different doctrinal beliefs how long would that go well for us no that would
devolve into chaos pretty quickly and pretty quickly real christians would be the ones getting
persecuted that's not a good idea and here's the thing just because we have freedom of religion
and we're not going to persecute people of different religions physically speaking right
that does not mean that we should invite them into our country here's the thing the bible talks about
not oppressing the stranger praise the lord if someone's in our country we should treat them
good we should preach them the gospel we should love them but why would we just willingly say like
oh world of all your false religions let's just bring in as many muslims as we can into our country
let's bring as many catholics as we can into our country you didn't get that from the bible
that's a weird idea not oppressing the stranger is not the same thing as inviting all the strangers
into your country look if you're if the strangers are there treat them well preach them the gospel
don't persecute them don't hate them don't hate someone because they have a different skin color
but you know what having a common culture is important and this idea of multiculturalism
that what makes america great is because we're a melting pot that's not what makes america great
what made america great is that regardless of your skin color and regardless of what nation you came
from we loved the bible we loved christianity we exalted the bible above any any of our carnal
differences and here's the thing you could have a nation full of black people brown people yellow
purple pink people and if they all love god things are going to go great you're going to have unity
but when you just import the third world that they're not christians they don't love god they're
not you know persuaded of the truth of being a baptist or protestant or anything like that
we're just piling hordes of muslims hordes of just eastern pagan religions hordes of catholics
that's damaging to our country that is damaging we don't want this multicultural nation no a nation
needs to have one language it needs to have a group of people that believe the bible that are
unified around the constitution and striving for the good of the country not just importing a bunch
of people that don't care about our country that aren't making it better that are making it worse
by bringing in their false religion that's not something that we should want and we dead sure
shouldn't be affording them special privileges too bringing them in just giving them free money
giving them free places to stay giving them free college you know that's not a good idea go to
first timothy chapter one first timothy chapter one first timothy 118 says this charge i commit
unto thee son timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest
war a good warfare yes we're still in a fight in the new testament yes we're still fighting a war
but what is our weapon it's the scriptures it's the word of god that's what we use to fight against
the false religions and the false doctrine of this world we're not here to go arrest people of a
different faith we're here to preach the gospel we're here to persuade people and preach the
truth go to john 18 john 18 so look as it stands right now in 2025 in america i don't think that
the government should pass some explicit law saying you know banning certain types of religions or
anything like that i don't think that's a good idea i don't think it's a good idea to establish
a state sanctioned church i do think it's a good idea to say that if you want to have influence in
our country you have to be a christian at least that was a great idea john 1836 says this jesus
answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants
fight that i should not be delivered to the jews but now is my kingdom not from hence so notice
what are we striving for in this battle in this spiritual war that we're in we're fighting and
striving about the kingdom of god and jesus said if we were striving and fighting over a physical
nation you know what we'd be doing my servants would be fighting my servants would be taking out
the sword and trying to kill these jews and romans that are trying to kill me right now
but guess what that's not the fight and so i don't think that we need to take out the sword
physically or use the sword you know the power of our government to go and slay other religions or
anything like that because at the end of the day this kingdom is not our kingdom this world is not
our home we're striving for the kingdom of god now while we live in a country we do want a government
and we want that government to be christian but we don't want the government forcing hey you got to
be a baptist you have to go to the first baptist church of the united states of america that is a
bad idea so number one we don't want a state sanctioned church number two we do want a
separation between church and state we do want a separation between church and state now some of
you freaking out right now because you live your whole life only hearing liberals explain to you
what this means because liberals and the leftists of our country have perverted this phrase into
teaching that there can be no religion in government there could be no christian influence in government
you can't have the bible in schools you can't pray in schools you can't put the 10 commandments
you know in the in the courthouse or anything like that because the separation of church and state
that is not what that phrase means and it's dead sure not what it was intended to mean
when it was used now here's where this phrase kind of comes from at first there's a man named
roger williams who founded the first baptist church ever in america this was in 1638 so this is
long before the establishment of our federal constitution and the united states of america
this is back when it was just british colonies 1638 this is from wikipedia it says roger williams was a
staunch advocate of the separation of church and state he was convinced that civil government had
no basis for meddling in matters of religious belief he declared that the state should concern
itself only with matters of civil order not religious belief and he rejected any attempt
by civil authorities to enforce the first table of the 10 commandments those commandments that
deal with an individual's relationship with and belief in god so he's saying like the government
shouldn't be involved in defining for you what an idol is defining for you what it means to take the
lord's name in vain that's not the church's or that's not the government's authority to do that
williams believed that the state must confine itself to the commandments dealing with the
relationships between people murder theft adultery lying honoring your parents he's saying these are
actual criminal laws that the government should be enforcing civilly and criminally but things that
have to do with your relationship with god that's not the government's role he wrote of a hedge or
wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world thomas
jefferson later used the metaphor in his 1801 letter to danbury baptists so here's the funny
thing people say oh you know the separation of church and state isn't that in the constitution
and declaration no it's found nowhere in the declaration or in the constitution the phrase
separation of church and state is exist in no legal document it was used by this guy roger
williams and thomas jefferson used it again in some of his private letters to the danbury baptists
this phrase is not in our government folks but everyone today has been taught this lie and they
repeat the same thing separation of church and state separation church and state oh you can't
have any religion in government because we all know the separation of church and state right
yeah except that it doesn't say that anywhere it doesn't exist you're making that up out of thin
air here's what this is saying what roger williams meant by it what thomas jefferson meant by it what
our founders meant by this idea of separation in church and state is that we don't want the
government interfering with having anything to do with or restricting the church this was not saying
that the church can't have influence on the government we already saw the laws in the states
and how they wanted christians in government right what it was saying is that the government is not
going to make a law saying here's your rules for church discipline here's the doctrines that you
have to preach here's what's legal and not legal for you to preach the separation between church
and state is that the state actually respected the institution of the church now this exists a little
bit still today because when our church or the church i was a member of previously steadfast
baptist church when we went through some lawsuits i remember conversations between the attorney and
the judge where the attorneys would give the judge some piece of information and i heard the judge
say with my own ears this is an ecclesiastical matter this has nothing to do with us they're
saying like this is a church authority issue this is a church doctrine issue that the church needs
to deal with why is the government even talking about this why is the government even getting
involved in this that's what he meant by hey that's an ecclesiastical matter we have nothing to do
with that see there's still people today that actually understand what this means that guy was
one of them even though you know he didn't make the best rulings in other cases but he at least
understood that okay so when people say oh separation of church and state that means we
can't have religion in government they're ignorant they have no idea what they're talking about
that is not true let me show you some more proof for this massachusetts state constitution 1780
says provided notwithstanding that the several towns parishes precincts and other bodies politic
or religious societies shall at all times have the exclusive right in electing their public teachers
and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance what is this saying it's saying look
us as the government we are never going to appoint church officers to a church we're never
going to say like this person's going to be your pastor this person's going to be your deacon we're
not going to get involved with how you elect these people we're not going to get involved in how you
contract these people and you're like well that's silly why do they have to say that because in
england and in other places that's how things worked the government and the church were intertwined
very closely and being a religious figure also meant you were a government figure but even in
the old testament you have a very clear distinction between the priests and the kings
and even in king scall excuse me even king saul got in trouble when he was doing the sacrifices
that the priest was supposed to do right because he did not have that authority he was the government
head as the king he was not the religious head that was samuel's position to do the sacrifice
so this is a biblical idea new hamster 1783 says provided notwithstanding that the several towns
parishes bodies corporate or religious societies shall at all times have the exclusive right
of electing their own public teachers and of contracting with them for their support and
maintenance so this wasn't just one state multiple states sat down and said hey it's important for us
to let the church institution know that we have no right to be interfering with this whatsoever
okay go to matthew chapter 22 matthew chapter 22 and look if you're not into history it won't
it won't be as boring of an issue tonight okay i like history and i think this is a very important
concept that we've lost and it's caused a lot of issues in our country matthew chapter 22 verse
17 says tell us therefore what thinkest thou is it lawful to give tribute unto caesar or not
so you know the jews they wanted to tempt jesus catch him in his words and they ask him this
question hey jesus is it lawful to pay taxes to caesar or not but jesus perceived their wickedness
Said why tempt me you hypocrites show me the tribute money and they brought unto him a penny and he sayeth unto them
Whose is this image and superscription they say unto him Caesar's then sayeth he unto them render therefore unto Caesar
The things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God notice Jesus
recognized and endorsed the idea of a separation between the institution of the government and the institution of church
That's what the separation of church and state actually means
One institution is its own authority its own power and another institution is its own authority and its own power and Jesus is saying hey
Look at the superscription look at the image this belongs to Caesar render that thing unto Caesar
So it's not like Jesus doesn't want us to participate in civil life
It's not like he doesn't want us to pay taxes
He does and we're supposed to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar and on the other side
We're supposed to render to God the things that are God notice. These are two separate entities now
there's been some governments that have not had this same structure throughout history one of them still stands to this day and that's
Germany and in Germany in
1919 the nation of Germany instituted a church tax
Where if you work if you make money you have to pay a church tax
I want to say it's nine percent and here. Oh, it's just so wonderful you get to choose. Does it go to the Catholic Church?
Does it go to the Jewish synagogue?
Does it go to the Orthodox Church or does it go to like the Protestant Church of Germany or something like that?
That's the religious freedom that they have in Germany
That's the see that's what happens when there's no separation of church and state the church is gonna start the state's gonna sit here and say
Okay, you're gonna have to pay a church tax and we're gonna tell you where that money is gonna go
We're just gonna take it straight out of your wallet
You know if we have that America something tells me anchor Baptist Church would not make it on the list of churches that people can give
To I like that we have separation of church and state where we can come to church and we can attend whatever church
We want we could give our tithes to any church that we want and not have the government be like alright
Yours is going to Joel Osteen. Yours is going to Billy Graham's ministries. All right. Yours is going to the Catholic Church
Oh yours going to the Mormons. Wouldn't you love if those are your options?
Well, that's what would happen if there was actually no separation of church and state
So don't get afraid by how the leftists have corrupted this term separation of church and state is beautiful. We want that
That's kind of why America was founded folks
But what they've done is they've corrupted it into saying no Christianity in government. No Christian laws
You can't make laws based off the Bible. You can't have the Bible in schools. You can't have the Ten Commandments anywhere
No, that's not what was meaning by this phrase go to Romans chapter 13 Romans chapter 13
Now we want these to be separate because the church has a very specific role and function. What is that?
It's the fulfillment of the Great Commission. It's the pillar and ground of the truth, right?
This is an institution interested in getting people saved getting people baptized
Causing them to grow in the Lord causing them to become soul winners themselves
Now that is not the role of the government nor should it be the government has a different role at Romans 13 1
Let every soul be subject under the higher powers for there is no power
But of God the powers that be are ordained of God
This is a foundational concept right here that when God creates authority that God is the head of all authority
What do I mean by that when God institutes the institution of the family?
Excuse me, who is the human authority in that relationship the husband?
But he still has to submit to the higher powers because there's no power
But of God if there's a legitimate power on this earth
It's because it was created by God and as a husband I have to submit to God now
There's also another institution created called the local New Testament Church
Who's the human authority in that the pastor is but the pastor has to submit himself to the higher powers?
Because there's no power
But of God pastor has to submit himself to the word of God to the words of Jesus Christ and ultimately to Jesus Christ himself
Government government is an institution founded by God. Government's not a bad thing. We need government
We just need government fulfilling its proper role and in that government. Yes, it's a legitimate power. Yes
It has true real power, but who instituted that power God and who does the government ultimately answer to God?
So you cannot separate you could separate church and state but you can't separate God in state
There's a difference between those two things
Institution of the church institution of the government both though have God as its head
So you still want government on its own, but you still want it to be in obedience to God. Let's keep reading
Whosoever therefore resisted the power
Resisted the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation
So if you resist proper authority if you resist authority instituted by God who you're actually resisting is God himself
And when you do that, you're gonna receive damnation not talking about going to hell, but just being condemned. You're wrong
You're in the wrong when you resist rightful authority for rulers
Why why is it wrong because for rulers are not a terror to good works?
But to the evil will thou not then be afraid of the power do that
Which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same now, isn't that how our country was founded?
Our country was founded to where the government was there to punish the wicked to you know
Bring restitution and bring justice for wrongdoing. It was not there to persecute Christians
It's not there to persecute people doing right
It was actually supposed to be a terror to evil verse 4 for he is the minister of God to thee for good
but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a
Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil
See when you have a righteous government following the things that God said
you would never have any reason to be afraid of the government because if you're doing that which is good a
Righteous government is actually going to be praising that and rewarding that and lifting up people like that
Rather than condemning that the people who should be afraid of the government are those that do evil those that sin, right?
And what I've noticed in my life, you know
Going to public school and all the idiots and troublemakers and criminals are the ones that are scared of cops and hate cops
Why because they're doing wrong and that's why and it's funny how I've just had
Scores and scores of interactions with police officers probably hundreds
Honestly, I've never been afraid one single time because I'm not doing anything wrong
Not to say that there can't be someone out there persecutes you wrongly, right?
Not to say that if our government gets super wicked that we could be doing what's right and the government comes after us, right?
We've seen situations like that in Germany. That's happening big time right now. But in general when a government is
Obedient to God under God's authority. You would never have anything to fear by being a righteous person
Now, of course human beings are sinful governments don't last like that for very long verse 5
Wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake for for this cause pay you tribute
Also for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing
So notice we want government to be attending continually upon their work
Just like how we want pastors Lord willing to be full-time paid
We want government to be fully given to their tasks. We want police officers, you know
I've heard this idea that you know, we shouldn't have cops. That's a bad idea. We want to have cops
We want to have law enforcement
We want them attending upon this continually and it's kind of like a social contract that we have in life like hey
You know, I'm gonna be working on IT stuff. You're gonna be working on plumbing
You're gonna be working on law. You're over here gonna be a pastor, right?
And you guys are gonna be patrolling the streets and keeping you know crime at bay and punishing wicked doers
Like we kind of have that social contract in our society where we want them continually attending upon that while we do other things in society
That's a good idea now. So I've given you some Bible
Let's see if our nation viewed government in the same way that the Bible teaches government should be run
This is the preamble to the United States Constitution. It says this we the people of the United States in order to perform in order to form
a more perfect union
establish justice
ensure domestic tranquility
provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America
So in the preamble our founders said here's what we're trying to do with government
Here's what we view the government's role as being notice number one. It says establish justice
What is that that's civil and criminal law? We need justice in society
We need a way where if someone has stolen your ass that the judges can make you pay restitution and make things right, right?
We need justice in society
Establishing domestic tranquility that also could be viewed under civil and criminal law because if evil-doers are never punished
You're gonna live in a terrible society. You're gonna live in a chaotic society
You want to establish justice and domestic tranquility notice it also says promote the general welfare
Promote the general welfare that kind of makes me think of Romans 13 3 how it says do that
Which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same promoting the general welfare
You know, the government should just be praising things that are good
The government should be endorsing things that are good and it should be promoting the general welfare things like water systems
Highway systems. These are good things that the government takes care of that
I believe is promoting the general welfare and then it talks about securing the blessing of liberty
Remember again our founders believe in the idea of natural rights or rights given from God
Those are our liberties that God gave us and they said okay, the government's role is not to give you liberty
It's not to tell you you could worship God. You can carry a gun
You could be secure in your persons and effects. You could be secure from having troops quartered in your home
You have a right to a speedy trial, you know, you can't be you know incriminating against yourself all these rights that we have
They're not granting you those rights
They're saying look you already have these things from God
Our job is to ensure that those liberties are secured to make sure that laws are applied equally amongst people
That's the role of government. That's a good thing. That is
Separation of church and state. That's a good thing folks. We want more of that. That's not a bad word or something like that
So number one, we don't want a state-sanctioned church number two
We do want a separation of church and state number three in the millennial reign. There will be a state-sanctioned religion
Okay, go to Isaiah chapter 2 now
Here's where things kind of change because I think the mistake people make is they'll read some Old Testament verses
That seem like well, this doesn't sound like religious liberty to me, right?
But here's the thing it's different back when the battle was both spiritual and physical now
We're in the New Testament where our battle is not physical
We fight a spiritual battle the New Testament over and over brings up this idea of freedom of conscience of God wanting us to choose
To worship him choose to love him. I don't think that we're gonna be you know
Restricting other religions in the New Testament
I don't think that's a good idea
But where there is some truth to looking back at those Old Testament passages is that things are gonna change in the millennial reign
Of Christ look at verse number two of Isaiah 2 and it shall come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above all hills and
All nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
To the God to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways
we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth notice the law and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem and he that's Jesus shall judge among the nations
He's in charge of everything here from a carnal perspective and a spiritual perspective
human government and
Spiritual government it says and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn anymore
You want to know why nation is not lifting up nation against other nations is because Jesus Christ
destroyed everyone because Jesus Christ fought and destroyed everyone at the battle of Armageddon and so now when he takes charge as
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What does that mean means? He's the king of other human authorities
He's the Lord of other bosses. He is the supreme and final authority
So in in the New Testament as far as in the millennial reign of Christ. Yeah, there's not gonna be freedom of religion
Yeah, there's not gonna be oh, it's totally fine
If you just have a mosque or you totally fine if you have like some sort of Hindu shrine
No, Jesus is gonna be rebuking people
He's gonna be destroying people the law of God is gonna come forth from his throne
And yeah, things will be different then but guess what?
It'll be great and perfect because Jesus Christ is the one running things. Jesus Christ is gonna judge righteously all the time
He's not gonna make any mistakes
And so that's gonna be the best leader ever to follow and that's gonna be the best government
That's ever existed in the face of the planet
It'll make America look like a little pipsqueak because it's just gonna be a wonderful wonderful time go to psalm chapter 2 psalm chapter 2
For 2 verse 6 yet. Have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion?
I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me thou art my son this day
Have I be gotten thee ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
For thy possession thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
Vessel sounds like that's a little more than a spiritual battle there. That sounds like Jesus Christ is coming to rule and reign
Physically with a rod of iron he gets the heathen as his inheritance. He's ruling over them all the world
He gets that as an inheritance. He's ruling over everything and notice
What's the result of that truth verse 10 says be wise now therefore?
Oh ye Kings be instructed ye judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling
Kiss the son lest you be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
But a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him
You know when you know that someday Jesus Christ is gonna rule and reign on this earth physically the right
Decision to make is well, I might as well just serve him now then, you know
If you know that all the Kings are someday gonna have to submit to him that he's gonna be breaking people the rod of iron
You better just fear him now
You better just bow the knee now because he's coming and he's gonna rule over you whether you like it or not
Whether nations want to acknowledge Christ or blaspheme his name whether you got nations like Israel based on hatred of Jesus Christ
Muslims who put their stupid dome of the rock on Mount Moriah where Jesus was once tempted by the devil where they have that stupid
Inscription saying oh speak only the truth of Jesus. It's not fitting for God to have a son
You know what all those people are gonna be bowing to Jesus Christ someday every Muslim every Jew every false Christian
Everyone in the world will be under his authority someday. So, you know what you better do you better kiss the Sun now
You better fear him now you better rejoice with trembling now because he's ruling over you whether you like it or not
And you know what?
I think that God is gonna be more pleased with someone who right now when we don't have to choose to serve God
Choose to worship him choose to love Jesus Christ in his words rather than when fear and and hell on earth is coming on this earth
And people are like, okay, we'll bow the knee now. No what we need to do it right now
We need to serve him right now with all of our hearts. That's what gives him glory
We're gonna go to two more places Exodus 20 Matthew 13 get your place in Exodus 20 exodus 22
I'm sorry and Matthew 13 exodus 22 verse 20 notice this verse it says he that sacrificed it unto any God
Save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed now. Amen to this verse
I love this verse this verse is true. It's a great verse. However, notice that now we're not in a physical battle
We're in the New Testament, but here's the where the truth of this verse comes in
This was true for the old Old Testament nation of Israel and it will be true again when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning
He's not gonna allow false religion to thrive on this earth because guess what the time for people to choose has already passed
Right. This world has gone on in history for thousands of years people been preaching the gospel the tribulation period had happened
God's wrath had happened the battle of Armageddon had happened now
You know, he already came in meekness and peace and sweetness and light now. He's coming to rule and reign now
If you decide to worship any false God after you literally see Jesus Christ ruling. Yeah, you're gonna be destroyed
That's the case. That's a good law in the Old Testament now go to Matthew 13
We're gonna read quite a bit of this chapter just because you know
This isn't a topic that we talk about very much and that you know
We're probably not gonna come back to American history anytime soon
So I just want to get this philosophy into your head because I think some people have some different ideas on this
But read Matthew 13 verse 24 says this 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 so tears among the wheat and went his way
But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tears also
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him sir
It's now not so good seed in thy field from whence then hath it tears
He said unto them an enemy hath done this the servants said unto him what thou then that we go and gather them up
But he said nay lest while you gather up the tears you root up
Also the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest
I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them
But gather the wheat into my barn
This is the parable known as the parable of the wheat and of the tears and in this parable
You know, he goes out into the field and he sees that there's not just wheat in the field. There's also tears
He's saying hey an enemy's done this and his servant says, okay. Well, you know logical conclusion
Why don't I just go out in the field and just start taking out the tears?
I mean shouldn't we just have only wheat in our field, right?
We want to get rid of these tears is this no don't do that
Let it stay there because we don't want to rip up the wheat with the tears wait until the time of harvest
Now he goes on to describe what this parable means in verse 36
Let's keep reading says then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the into the house and his disciples came unto him saying
Declare unto us the parable of the tears of the field. So now he's gonna explain the parable
He answered and said unto them he that soweth the good seed is the son of man
The field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom
But the tears are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sowed them as the devil the harvest is the end of the world
And the Reapers are the angels as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire
So shall it be in the end of this world the son of man shall send forth his angels
And they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity
And he shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father who hath ears to hear let him hear
The reason I bring up this parable is because I want you to now think about some of the questions
That we've asked throughout this sermon should the government just start rounding up Muslims
should the government just go out into the field of the world and should we just start rounding up Muslims and Mormons and Jews and
Catholics and just start, you know punishing them not allowing them to exist in society
I think that Jesus would say let the tares grow with the wheat and at the end of the world
Jesus is gonna take those people and he's gonna bind them in bundles to burn them
He's gonna punish them with everlasting fire. It's not our job to start being the tear police
It's not our job to start being the tear gatherers and to burn the tears. That's God's job
What we want to do
We want to do the best that we can to be like David at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite
Where we go to the threshing floor what happens at the threshing floor separates the wheat from the chaff, right?
And what we want to do is we want to preach preach clear scripture clear Bible so that everyone can know
Hey, there's a clear difference between real Christianity and Catholicism. Which one are you gonna choose?
Hey, there's a big difference between being a Baptist and being a Pentecostal big difference
Which one are you gonna choose the one that believes salvation is by faith alone that you can't lose your salvation
Or the ones that run around church barking like a dog teaching
You can lose your salvation if you don't repent of all your sins, right?
There's a big difference between those things but at the end of the day we should not be like hey
Let's pass a law to ban Pentecostalism
No, let Jesus and his angels gather them up at the end and bind them in bundles to burn them
What our job is to do is to preach the truth
our job is to make it clear whose whose side God is really on and what side the truth is and
Make that known to people and allow people to be persuaded last place
We'll turn to the second Corinthians chapter 5 second Corinthians chapter number 5
We talked a lot about what the government should do. But what is it that we should do?
What is it that we should walk away from this sermon doing second Corinthians 5 verse number 11 says this
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord notice we persuade men
But we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your
Consciences our job is to persuade people of the truth. It's not to force them
It's not to make them convert at the end of a gun or at the end of a law
Our job is to persuade people of the truth
And what we should do is use the fact that we have religious freedom in this country to its fullest possible extent in
Persuading people of that truth, you know
We need to be thankful to God because here's the thing we could sit here and point out all the terrible things about America
And we do that and we do we preach against the sins of our country
You better believe we do and is there a chance that if the end times happen soon that we're in times Babylon
You better believe that but here's the truth. Here's just the objective fact of reality
Is that we are living in the best place on earth. We are living in the best country on earth
We are living under the best laws on earth at this time and instead of complaining about that and you know
Just talking about all the bad
I'm just gonna be thankful to God that I was born in the time
I was born in and live in the place that I do because I do have
Freedom to preach the Bible. I have freedom to preach the whole council of God
We have freedom here to gather in a church
Unmolested no laws telling us what we can and cannot preach
That is a special blessing that a lot of people in history did not have and we take it for granted
We it's normal to us because we all grew up in it
But I'll tell you what it wasn't normal to the people who came across the ocean to found this country because it was the opposite
They're being persecuted. They are being burned alive. They were being arrested for doing things like reading the Bible to their children
I mean, could you imagine living in a place where you could be arrested for reading the Bible to your children and how many of us?
Don't even read the Bible at all. I hope it can't be said of people in this room. That's the case
I hope that you're teaching your kids the Bible
I hope that you're going to church and being thankful for the fact that you could gather together
I hope that you believe all the words of God and are not afraid to share it and are not afraid to preach it
Because not only is that our duty anyways, but on top of that, we also have the right to do that
I mean, there's people in Germany who don't have the right to do that. They're doing it
Anyways, and they're getting persecuted for it. Those guys are the real epic Christians people in Canada
I know of people in Canada who have lost their children in custody battles because they go to a new IFB church
And do you at least teach your children the Bible? Do you at least bring your kids to church?
you know we ought to not to take the things that we have for granted you ought to actually get some smarts and learn some history and
Realize that our country was founded special because we believed the word of God because we exalted Christianity
And it's not something about you know American exceptionalism in the sense that oh, we're all white here
We're all European here that has nothing to do it do with it, but you better believe America is objectively
exceptional because of the Bible because of the word of God because of the founding of our country and when people say otherwise
It's just because they're ignorant because they're like oh, yeah the first amendment
I mean that gets that gets Christianity out of out of government, right? No, it restricts Congress
Oh, I mean our country's separation of church and state so we must not like Christianity in America, right?
No, we actually respected Christianity so much realized they were two separate institutions
Well didn't America like ban pastors for being in government
Yeah, cuz being a pastor is more important than being a governor and being a representative and being the president of the United States
You know, let's be thankful for the things that we have
Let's be thankful for our Liberty and let's actually use our Liberty shame on pastors in America
that have Liberty to preach the whole counsel of God and are too scared to when it's free when there's no
Persecution coming after them when there's no one ready to arrest them for preaching against the sodomites or against the Jews or against the Catholics
No, let's use our Liberty for the glory of God now because guess what someday everyone's gonna be bowing to Jesus Christ
I want to be the person that bowed to him way before I had to I want to willingly bow to him now
I want to bow to him metaphorically by doing his will by preaching the Word of God. Let's pray Lord
Thank you for this day. Thank you