And in Psalm 7, let's read verse 11, the Bible says,
"God judgeth the righteous,
"and God is angry with the wicked every day."
We have to understand that our God, the God that we serve,
is not just anything goes God.
He's not a God that just turns away the eye,
that doesn't care about sin.
The Bible says that he judges the righteous,
that would be the saved.
God looks down and judges the righteous,
and is angry with the wicked every day.
So God judges sin both from the saved and from the unsaved.
You can stay there.
I'll read for you Isaiah chapter five, verse 25.
The Bible says, "Therefore is the anger of the Lord
kindled against his people,
and he hath stretched forth his hand against them."
So God judges the saved, God judges the unsaved.
This is a very important concept
that we must understand as Christians.
So tonight, I wanna preach a sermon
called God's Judgment of Sin, God's Judgment of Sin.
And I'm gonna have three points tonight.
I'm gonna show you the three different ways
that God judges sin or that God punishes sin.
Three ways that God punishes sin.
Go to Colossians chapter number one.
Number one, natural punishment of sin.
There's one way that God judges sin,
and that is just from the natural cause
and effect relationship between breaking God's commandments
and the consequences that you reap by doing that.
See, we live in a natural world,
but this natural world that we live in was created by God.
And so all of the natural processes
that we observe in our world,
though it's natural, they were created by someone,
God Almighty.
Look at Colossians 1 verse 6.
The Bible says, "For by Him," that's Jesus,
"were all things created that are in heaven
and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him."
And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist.
So the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the Creator.
You know, the Muslims wouldn't like that one,
but the Bible teaches that Jesus is not only the Son of God,
but that He is God in the flesh,
and that Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things,
the universe, the things that we observe with our eyes,
and also things that are invisible.
And so in our universe,
there exists natural scientific laws.
And these laws are just as real
as the things that you can see with your eyes.
And these laws were created by Jesus Christ.
So there is a natural cause and effect relationship
that exists in this universe.
And when people sin
and they reap some natural consequence from that,
that is the punishment of God in a sense
because God's the one that created that natural process
to begin with.
Look at Galatians, go to Galatians chapter number six.
I'll keep showing you this principle
and then we'll look at some examples of this.
And what do I mean by natural punishment of sin?
What I mean is that God, not in all cases,
does God have to stretch forth His hand
against someone to destroy them?
Not in all cases, does God have to actively intervene
to punish someone for their sins?
It's just that God has created this world.
God's created the natural processes of this world.
And if you try to go against the laws of nature,
you're gonna receive a punishment.
And even though it's not God
directly punishing you actively,
it still is the punishment of God
because God created this world.
Look at Galatians 6 verse 7.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that soweth to the spirit
shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
So notice, there is just a simple cause
and effect relationship that nobody can escape.
You will reap what you sow.
If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption, right?
If someone goes out and just smokes cigarettes for 40 years,
God does not have to necessarily actively curse you,
actively put forth his hand to judge you.
It's just like you're destroying yourself.
You're smoking cigarettes,
your lungs are gonna get destroyed.
That's not God's active judgment,
but you're still violating just the laws of nature
and you're getting hurt as a result of it
and that is the punishment of God.
Let me give you some examples.
How about gluttony?
Go to Proverbs chapter 23, Proverbs chapter number 23.
If you are a glutton,
you are someone that does not control your eating habits
and just whatever the flesh wants,
you're just gorging yourself on candy and ice cream
and soda and sugar and all this food all the time.
You know, God does not have to actively supernaturally
put his hand against you
for you to reap bad consequences in your life.
There is just a natural consequence
that you're gonna receive that is the punishment of God.
Look what it says in Proverbs 23 verse 20.
It says, "Be not among winebippers,
among riotous eaters of flesh,
for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty
and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags."
So what is one of the natural consequences
of being a glutton, the Bible says, poverty.
You know, if you are just gorging your flesh at all times
and you just wake up in the morning,
you drive to the convenience store,
and you just pack up on the donuts and the candy
and the soda, and you just fill up your bag
with all these snacks throughout the day,
and then lunch comes around, you wanna go eat out
and eat this gigantic meal,
and you just do this all the time, every day,
breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks,
that's gonna cost a lot of money.
And the Bible literally says that the drunkard
and the glutton is going to come to poverty.
Did God stretch forth his hand
and force that person to be poor?
Or is it just the natural consequence
of the sin that they're committing?
And on top of just money problems,
if you just gorge your flesh,
if you don't take care of your body,
you know what's gonna happen?
You're gonna get fat, you're gonna get out of shape,
you're gonna get unhealthy,
you're gonna have heart problems,
you're gonna have all sorts of health issues,
and it's not necessarily God putting forth his hand
to curse you, but you're just reaping what you've sown.
And this is the natural punishment of sin.
And this happens to the saved and to the unsaved.
Doesn't matter who you are,
if you just start being a glutton,
you're gonna reap the consequences of that.
Go to Proverbs 19, a few pages back.
What about lying?
Look at what Proverbs 19 verse five says,
"A false witness shall not be unpunished,
"and he that speaketh lies shall not escape."
See, when we tell lies, there is a natural consequence
that we will face where God doesn't have
to necessarily curse you.
It's just that if you tell lies and people find out,
you know what's gonna happen?
People are gonna stop trusting you.
People no longer wanna be your friend or trust you
if they find out that you've been lying about them.
You're not gonna go unpunished, the Bible says.
The Bible says you're not gonna get away with it.
There's going to be natural consequences
that come from lying.
He that speaketh lies shall not escape.
How about just getting caught telling lies?
What do you end up having to do?
Oftentimes telling more lies to cover up previous lies.
You get deeper and deeper into this web of lies.
You end up getting exposed.
You end up facing shame, right?
These are natural consequences of sin.
Go back to Proverbs 23.
How about this?
How about drinking alcohol?
You know, drinking alcohol is drinking poison.
And if you go out and drink poison,
God does not have to actively curse your life.
You're gonna curse your own life.
You're gonna reap the natural consequences
of drinking alcohol.
Look what it says in verse nine.
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions?
Who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine?
They that go to seek mixed wine.
Notice these consequences that the Bible's saying.
Who's gonna have all these terrible things?
It's those that tarry long at the wine.
It's those who drink alcohol.
These aren't things that God necessarily
has to curse you with.
This is just the natural ramifications of drinking alcohol.
And if you've ever been around someone who's drunk,
you know what surrounds them?
Whoa.
What does that mean?
Just like extreme negative situation.
Cursing, bad situations.
You know, we all know about that situation
that happened a few months ago over by Lake Overholzer
where the two young men were drunk driving.
They went into the lake and one of them drowned and died.
It's like who hath, whoa, those who drink alcohol.
Now was that God's active punishment?
Maybe, but it doesn't necessarily have to be
because you know what the natural ramifications
of being drunk is, is that you do stupid things.
That you lose control.
That you can't, you know, you don't function properly
when you're drinking alcohol.
And you know what?
You could literally die like that man did.
You could literally just drive off the road
and drown in an icy lake.
That is, who hath, whoa, those who drink alcohol.
That's who has, whoa, who has sorrow.
Man, I guarantee you the family members
of people who die every day in America
from drunk driving accidents, you know,
or just drinking themselves to death, bring sorrow.
It brings pain, who have contentions.
Boy, don't drunk people just love to fight for no reason.
Don't they like to just, you know,
it's called liquid courage.
All of a sudden, they're so macho, they're so tough,
they wanna go mouth off to the guy at the bar or whatever,
getting themselves into all sorts of fights.
That's a natural consequence of drinking alcohol.
Who have babbling.
God didn't make them dumb, right?
God is not confounding their tongue.
The poison that they're drinking is hurting them.
The poison that they're drinking is causing them
to babble like an idiot.
Who hath wounds without cause.
People who drink alcohol, right?
Getting drunk, all of a sudden you're getting
all these fights, you're getting all these problems,
and they wake up and they have all these wounds
that they don't even know where it came from.
Because they were so inebriated, they were so drunk
that they were blacked out and they didn't even know
what was happening to them.
Who hath redness of eyes.
Again, this is just natural.
Cause and effect.
Natural relationship with sin.
They that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine.
That's why the Bible says look not thou upon the wine
when it is red.
When it giveth his color in the cup.
When it moveth itself aright.
You know, a lot of false teachers just love to preach
that we could drink alcohol, that it's no big deal,
that it's not a sin.
We're just not allowed to get drunk.
Okay, then explain to me why the Bible says
not to even look at the wine when it's red.
When it gives its color in the cup.
When it moves itself aright.
That process of fermentation that causes the drink
to move in the cup.
That's an indication that, hey, this is alcoholic.
This is something the Bible says
you shouldn't even be looking at.
'Cause people would be like,
oh, you know, Jesus turned water into wine.
Yeah, wine is an old English word for juice, my friend.
There is the pure wine that comes from the grape.
That's not alcohol.
And people are so just deluded in their mind
to think that Jesus Christ actually made alcoholic wine.
That is so blasphemous and stupid.
It's not even funny.
To think like, oh, here's a wedding
where everybody has already well drunk
and they're out of wine.
And here comes Jesus just bringing them a bunch more.
That's insanity.
No, Jesus did not create alcoholic wine.
Jesus turned water into pure, fresh grape juice
is what he did.
And there's a type of wine
that the Bible says don't even look at.
Why?
Because we need to stay as far away from alcohol as possible
because of the fact that we're gonna reap
all these terrible consequences in our lives
if we drink alcohol.
Notice what it says in verse 32,
"At the last, it biteth like a serpent
"and stingeth like an adder.
"Thine eyes shall behold strange women
"and thine heart shall utter perverse things."
Notice God is not forcing people to start beholding women
that aren't their wives.
God is not forcing you to start uttering perverse things.
This is just the punishment of sin
that you've inflicted on yourself by drinking poison,
by drinking alcohol.
It says, "Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down
in the midst of the sea,
or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
They've stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick.
They have beaten me and I felt it not.
When shall I awake, I will seek it yet again."
You know, it's like if you've ever been in a boat
for a long period of time,
and you're out on the water for a long period of time,
and you get back on land,
you kind of feel like you're still moving.
You know, if I'm on a boat for a while,
that night when I go to bed,
it feels like I'm still moving.
It's such a weird feeling.
It's not comfortable.
It's why people get seasick, you know?
But the Bible's saying like,
this is what's gonna happen to you when you drink alcohol.
You weren't even on a boat, bro.
You weren't even on the ocean, but here you are.
You're acting like you are.
You're getting sick.
You're throwing up like you are.
You're dizzy.
You're stumbling around,
and that wasn't God putting his hand against you.
That was your own stupidity.
That was your doing.
That was the natural consequences of sin,
and God created this world.
God created the laws of nature.
God created your body to react certain ways
to certain substances.
And if you try to go against that,
you are gonna reap a natural consequence of sin,
a natural punishment from sin.
This is very clear.
Go to Romans 1, Romans chapter number 1.
How about this?
How about sodomy?
I mean, just being a sodomite is a punishment
in and of itself.
Just the act that they do together destroys their bodies.
And yes, of course, God has cursed those people.
Of course, God has given those people over to reprobate mind.
But even just the act that those freaks do with each other
destroys themselves.
And God just allows them to destroy themselves.
Look at verse 24.
It says, "Wherefore, God also gave them up
to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who
changed the truth of God into a lie
and worshiped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Amen."
For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections.
For even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature.
And likewise, also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burn in their lust
one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error,
which was meat, that recompense, that reward of their sin,
which was fitting to them.
And we're not going to read this entire chapter for sake
of time.
This sermon is about this issue.
But of course, when you read this chapter,
you know that there are some people who they hold
the truth and unrighteousness.
They know God, but they don't want
to retain God in their knowledge.
And they reject God over and over and over again.
And there are some people in this world,
the Bible calls them reprobates, who have rejected God so many
times that God, in turn, has rejected them
and has given them over to a reprobate mind
and allows them to do things that are not convenient,
meaning that it does not come natural.
We all have natural sins as human beings
that we struggle with.
Every human being is going to struggle with covetousness.
Every human being-- I mean, you don't have to teach a kid how
to steal.
You don't have to teach a kid how to lie.
You don't have to teach a young man
to look after a woman in lust or anything like that.
These are just natural sins that we struggle with.
But zero people naturally struggle
with mass murdering children.
You know that?
No one thinks that unless you're a reprobate.
Anyone who goes and shoots up a school of kids,
that is a reprobate.
That is someone that's been given over to a reprobate mind.
And look, no one is born lusting after the same gender.
It is not a natural temptation that is common to man.
It is something that happens when God gives you up,
when God gives you over to a reprobate mind.
And like it says in verse 28,
and even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
Notice, to do those things which are not convenient.
The things that sodomites do is a punishment from God,
and the physical act that they're doing
is hurting themselves, it's just cause and effect.
It's an unnatural act, and when you do that,
when you go against the laws of nature,
you're gonna reap a recompense, the Bible says.
You're receiving in yourself that recompense of your heir,
which was me, which it could be referring to the fact
that God's given them over to a reparate mind.
That, of course, is a recompense that God gave to them.
And also, they're just reaping all these diseases
and issues with their body from being this abominable,
disgusting beast that they are.
And so, that is just a cause and effect relationship
with that act.
Go to Hosea chapter number four, Hosea chapter number four.
And again, some of these can kind of interlap
where God can put his hand towards you
if you're doing one of these things.
And on top of that, you're also reaping
the natural consequences of sin.
You know, of course we know God punishes his children.
And if you drink alcohol,
you're gonna reap all those same physical consequences
as anyone else, but on top of it,
God can also put forth his hand against you.
And that's kind of what I'm thinking with this next one
with adultery and fornication.
You know, adultery and fornication,
there's a very natural and physical consequence
that you can receive by committing these acts,
whether you're saved or not.
I'll show you that, look at Hosea chapter four, verse 13.
"They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains
"and burn incense upon the hills
"under oaks and poplars and elms
"because the shadow thereof is good.
"Therefore, notice your daughters shall commit whoredom
"and your spouses shall commit adultery."
Wow, what a great prophecy that is, right?
So your daughter's gonna be whores,
your wife's gonna commit adultery.
But the next phrase has always perplexed me
because if you look up this phrase in your Bible,
like, "I will punish, I will punish,"
like, the Bible says that so many times.
God says, "I will punish."
But notice verse 14.
"I will not punish your daughters
"when they commit whoredom,
"nor your spouses when they commit adultery."
Now that seems, on the surface,
as kind of a weird statement.
He's saying, like, "Your daughters are gonna be whores,
"your wives are gonna commit adultery.
"I will not punish them when they do this."
And on the surface, you're just kind of like,
"What is going on?
"That seems weird that God wouldn't care,
"or God wouldn't judge this."
But notice what it says,
"Four themselves are separated with whores,
"and they sacrifice with harlots.
"Therefore, the people that doth not understand shall fall."
Then you could get to a point where you're so wicked,
people committing all this fornication and adultery,
God doesn't even have to actively put forth his hand
to judge you because the acts that you're doing
are hurting yourself, are destroying yourself.
And the Bible talks about how if you commit fornication,
you sin against your own body.
So yes, God can go over and above
and really extracurse your life
when you commit adultery or fornication,
but just the natural cause and effect relationship
of committing these sins,
you're already destroying yourself.
So it's like he's saying, "I won't punish."
He's saying, "I don't have to do anything.
I don't have to put forth my hand in this situation
'cause you're already separated with whores.
You're already with harlots.
And the people that doth not understand shall fall."
You know, that is a scary thought.
That's just like there's some things in this world
that God has just programmed to where if you do them,
you are going to reap a consequence.
And it doesn't even matter if you're saved or not.
You do it, you're gonna be affected by it.
And people that go out and commit whoredom,
commit fornication, you know what is gonna happen?
They get diseases.
They get STDs.
They have bastard children.
They piss off the boyfriend or they piss off the husband
and get killed by the husband.
Like there's all these physical things
that could be a result of committing those sins
that don't necessarily have to involve
God actively punishing you.
There is just a natural punishment of sin today
that we need to avoid.
Number two, punishment from God-ordained authority.
You see, there's a way that God could punish us.
It's just the natural cause and effect of this world.
Here's another way that God could punish us
is through God-ordained human authority.
Go to Romans chapter 13 and I'll show you that, Romans 13.
And here's what I want you to understand is that
if you're reaping the consequences of sin,
God is punishing you.
And if human authority that was ordained by God
is punishing you, God is punishing you.
Go to Romans 13.
Look at verse one, the Bible says,
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,
"for there is no power but of God."
The powers that be are ordained of God.
This is not saying that every single person
in every position of leadership in the world
was hand-picked by God, hand-ordained by God.
What this is saying is that God has ordained real authority.
God has ordained human authority.
God has ordained the home,
where the father is the head of the household,
where the husband is the head of the household.
God has ordained masters at work
to have authority over their servants.
God has ordained pastors to be in charge of churches.
God has ordained human government to be in charge
and over the people of a nation.
These are real powers that God has ordained.
Then it says in verse two,
"Whosoever therefore resisteth a power,
resisteth the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
So notice when you resist God ordained authority,
what you're resisting is God,
because God's the one that ordained that authority.
And when authority is in its lane,
doing what it's been given permission to do,
and you resist that, you are resisting God.
And you're gonna receive to yourself damnation.
That's not talking about going to hell,
it's just talking about condemnation, condemnation.
Look what it says in verse three.
"For rulers," so that's human government,
"are not a terror to good works, but to the evil."
So that means that rulers are a terror to evil works,
and they should be.
People should be afraid of authority who are wicked.
Now, if you're righteous,
you should not necessarily need to fear the authorities
because you're doing that which is right.
And if authority is doing what it's supposed to do,
it would never punish people doing right.
But people doing wrong, they should be afraid of power.
It says, "Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good,
and thou shalt have praise of the same."
Verse four is very important.
"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.
Wherefore you must need to be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake."
We know that the Bible teaches for us not to avenge ourselves.
But then you ask the question, "Well, how will justice ever be done if we're not to
avenge ourselves?"
Well, God has ordained a human structure that is going to carry out the judgment of God.
It's not just man's judgment, no, they're carrying out God's judgment.
That's why the Bible says that He is the minister of God for you, for good, but if you're doing
that which is evil, be afraid, for He beareth not the sword in vain, for He is the minister
of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon Him that doeth evil.
So here's what this means.
If we have laws in our country, and thank God we do, we honestly need to improve these
laws even more, but you know, in our country we have the death penalty, in the state of
Oklahoma we have the death penalty.
Now it's not for nearly enough offenses as it should be used for, but you can get the
death penalty in the state of Oklahoma.
You know, if you go and murder a cop, if you go on some sort of shooting spree, if you
commit certain sins, our state government will condemn you and will kill you.
And do you know what that is?
That is God punishing you.
If someone is executed, if you're executed by the government, that is God punishing you.
Not just man.
Why?
Because God ordained this power.
God ordained this authority.
You know, if someone goes out and points a gun at a police officer and gets killed by
the police officer, that was God punishing you.
Because he is the minister of God and he doesn't bear the sword in vain.
You know what the sword is used for?
The sword is used for killing people.
And you know, we're not to avenge ourselves.
We're not to go out and say, "Okay, you violated Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10.
You're an adulterer."
No.
That's not how it works.
We're not to avenge ourselves.
But a righteous government has been given power by God.
And you know what?
Our government should use that power.
Our government should say, "Hey, God has ordained us as the power.
We are not bearing the sword in vain, and we need to execute judgment."
Why?
Because that's what God wants us to do.
And if a government is not doing that, well, you know what?
Woe unto that government.
But it's still not our job to step in and be vigilantes and step in that judgment.
Unless you're in a position of authority, then don't exercise that authority.
God has ordained those powers.
And so, yeah, you know, we're not against government.
We're against wicked governments.
We're not against police officers.
We're against police officers breaking laws, doing things that they shouldn't be doing.
But you know, to be anti-police is insanity.
To be anti-government, it's insanity.
To be anti-death penalty is insanity.
Because there would just be no judgment on this earth.
There'd be no condemnation.
We need the death penalty in our country.
We need to use it more in our state.
And when someone is executed under the laws of Oklahoma, that is God judging them.
There is the natural consequences of sin, and then there's judgment by God-ordained
authority.
And when God-ordained authority condemns you, that is God condemning you.
That is God punishing you.
Go to Job 31, Job 31, Job chapter 31 verse 9.
This is what Job said in verse 9, "If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if
I have laid weight at my neighbor's door," he's saying, "If I committed adultery," verse
10, "then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her, for this
is an heinous crime, yea," notice, "it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges."
See, Job had the right attitude about this, that if someone commits adultery, this is
not just a sin, it is a crime.
There are things that are just sins, right?
And then there are things that are sins and crimes.
And he's like, "If I went and laid wait at my neighbor's door and, you know, slept with
my neighbor's wife, this is a heinous crime that should be judged by the judges."
And you know what?
I agree with him, 100%.
I wish today that adultery was punished criminally in our country, and at one point, it was.
And you know, a lot of marriages would be saved and a lot of, you know, people would
not go down this road if they knew that they were going to be put to death before they
went and did that.
A lot of people are just, you know, committing adultery, no big deal, they're not thinking
anything's going to happen of it because of the fact that we live in a society that has
tolerated it, that we live in a country where preachers haven't talked about it, where it's
just common for, "Oh, mom and dad got divorced."
Why?
Oftentimes, because of adultery.
But, you know, if we lived in a country where you got put to death for committing adultery,
we would have a lot less of it.
And you know what?
It ruins families.
It's something that we should judge.
Go to Exodus chapter 22, Exodus 22.
I want to keep showing you a couple more examples of how judgment by government is judgment
by God.
Exodus 2 verse 1, "If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall
restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep."
So someone goes and steals some of your livestock and then you have a trial and the judges say,
"Here's what you've got to do.
You've got to restore five oxen for that ox.
You should just look at that as God chastising you.
You should just look at that as God telling you to do that because He is."
What we're reading right here is the Bible.
What we're reading here is God telling us how to run a government at the time.
He's saying, "This is what you should do." Verse 2, "If a thief be found breaking up
and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him."
So someone's breaking into your house late at night, you don't see who it is, and you
shoot and kill this person, you are not guilty of murder, the Bible is saying.
There's not going to be any blood shed for him.
Then it says in verse 3, "If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him,
or he should make full restitution if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."
So the biblical principle here is saying, well, if the sun is up, you will be able to
see the perpetrator and you'll be able to decide if this person is just stealing, just
trying to get your stuff or if he's trying to hurt your family.
Now I've heard some people say that like, you could literally never defend your home
or never defend your property if it's done during the daytime because of this verse.
But again, you have to understand the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter
of the law.
What is the spirit of this law?
It's that you're defending your life that you would use lethal force on someone else,
right?
Because at night you don't know the person's intentions and so you should just assume like,
oh, they're trying to hurt me.
They're trying to do something bad and you could kill them and you would not be in any
legal trouble.
But it's saying like in the daytime you'd be able to see and discern, oh, this person's
just stealing and it would not be right to just kill someone for stealing something out
of your yard for taking your car or something like that, that would not be right.
But here's the thing, if someone's breaking into your house in the daytime and they're
just kicking open your door, doing something violent, please blow that person away.
Don't think that this verse is like prohibiting you from defending yourself, defending your
body.
No, the whole principle is that you would only use lethal force to defend your life.
And thankfully the laws in our state and country have this right to use lethal force.
You have to be in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm.
Amen.
I agree with that 100%.
I don't think it's right to just, you know, someone stealing your boat and just to blow
that person away.
That's too far.
And in some states you can do that, right?
But that is not right.
Really if your life is in danger, if someone else's life is in danger, if they're in danger
of great bodily harm and that's an imminent threat, yes, then you could use lethal force
and there's nothing wrong with that.
In fact, I am for Christians carrying firearms, learning how to use them well, being ready
to defend their families.
Thank God we live in America and have the second amendment.
That is a great blessing from God and we should use that.
You know, it's a deterrent for crime when someone knows like, you know, watch out in
Oklahoma because if you go into someone's house at night in Oklahoma, you're probably
going to die.
And you know, if someone broke into my house in the middle of the night, I would kill them
so fast.
It's not even funny.
And guess what?
That would not be murder.
I would be defending my family.
There's nothing in the world wrong with that.
So this is God's judgment here.
Notice go to Deuteronomy chapter number 22, Deuteronomy chapter 22.
So again, this is criminal law here.
The judges would judge, they would find out what was this person using lethal force in
defense of their life or were they going beyond that?
If they went beyond that, you know what would happen?
Then the judges would judge that person and there would be bloodshed for that person.
You know what, that would be God's judgment through human authority.
Deuteronomy 22 verse 25, "But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field and the man
force her and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die."
You know what the Bible teaches is that if a man goes out and rapes a woman, that man
should be put to death, and amen and amen to that.
I wish that we had that as a law in our country.
That if a man grabbed hold of a woman and forced her in that way, that we would take
that person, give them a trial, convict them, and then execute them.
That's what we should do.
But we live in such a weird, jacked up country where half the country, you know, if a man
rapes a woman and there's a pregnancy by that, half the country wants to kill the baby and
not even worry about the rapist.
There's like, "Well, what if a woman's raped?
Can she kill her baby?"
No!
That's murder, but you know what we should do is we should kill the rapist and that's actually God's judgment
and if we lived in a country where that was God's judgment or where that was man's judgment as well and
Someone committed rape and the government put that person to death. You know what that is God judging that person
He's starting to see the picture here when you're judged by rightful human authority
You are judged by God when you are punished by righteous human authority. You are punished by God says in verse 26
But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing. Hey, don't let any of these atheists tell you
Oh, you know, the Bible says that if a woman gets raped she should be put to death actually. No, it doesn't
You're a liar
It says that if that happens to a woman the man should only be put to death and unto the damsel
You should do nothing. Why because she's a victim. She is an innocent victim
You know, it's sad today
How many women will sadly lie about this because it's a spit in the face to women who are real victims of this horrific crime
You know and it makes light of such an evil heinous disgusting act
When people who are just whores and regret being whores want to accuse men of being rapists
Look real rapists should be killed but you just being a whore and regretting it and calling a man a rapist is a joke
It's insane. No, we should actually focus on the real sin and the real victims and
That's actually the loving thing to do for those people
But notice what it says says there is no there's in the damsel
No sin worthy of death for as when a man riseth against his neighbor and slay of him even so is this matter?
I mean the Bible likens rape to murder the Bible says like a woman getting raped
It's as if someone just got up and killed an innocent person. Why because it's a heinous
Horrific capital crime and it should be treated as such in our nation says verse in 27 for he found her in the field and
The betrothed damsel cried and there was none to save her. So she cried out
This was obviously not consensual. She was asking for help. She cried out help me save me
This man's trying to hurt me when a woman does that it's showing that hey
This is not consensual and if she doesn't cry out if she's not saying, you know that it's not consensual
She's not making it clear that she's in danger. Well, then obviously she was not raped. That's just reality
Go to first Corinthians 5. I know we've been going to this chapter a lot lately, but apparently we just need to you know
There's real human authority that God has ordained
God has ordained government and when government is in its rightful lane and it is punishing sin that is God punishing you
same thing with church authority God has given the authority real authority to the church and when the church
Exercises discipline when the church gives out a punishment that is God punishing you first Corinthians 11 verse first Corinthians 5 verse 11
But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or
Covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortion or with such and one?
No, not to eat for what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within?
But them that are without God judge it therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person
So God's actively judging people without the church. How is God judging people within the church through the human authority that he's instituted
He's already given the church real authority and he's told the church these people are not allowed in and so when we as a church execute
Church discipline that is God punishing someone that is God
Chastising someone and so people should look at church discipline as a serious thing. It should be something to be feared
It's not something to be taken lightly and you know what?
It also takes it also takes a whole church to observe church discipline for it to actually be effective
because it's God's punishment on someone and here's the thing like in church if someone was kicked out of church and
The people that they were friends with before they were kicked out of church are still friends with them after they're being kicked out of church
Then do you realize that nothing has changed for them? They still have all the same friendships. They still have all the same relationships
They haven't really lost anything because you're not helping in that when it comes to church discipline
It has to be a whole church endeavor that we put away from among ourselves that wicked person that we wouldn't even eat with that person
That is the execution the judgment the punishment of God on an individual that's doing one of these things
And so again, you know if someone's kicked out of church, I'm not gonna police anyone's life
But if someone's actually kicked out of church for committing one of these sins, you know
I would implore you not to continue to have a relationship with that person because you're helping that person
Escape the judgment of God that they need and this is just what the Bible teaches go to Matthew chapter 18 Matthew
18 but you know if someone is under the judgment and the punishment of their local New Testament church
They are under the punishment of God. They are under the judgment of God, you know
That's why I've even had people email me telling me
Hey, I've been kicked out of this old ifb church and I've literally contacted that church to figure out why?
Because if someone just you know gets kicked out of an old ifb church because they listen to pastor Anderson
I'm not gonna honor that because that's a bunch of garbage
But if I tell I call that pastor and he's like, oh, yeah, you know, he was committing fornication
Then I'm gonna honor that church discipline
Even if it's a different church because God has given that church authority and if that authority has condemned this person
Then that person is under the condemnation of God and I'm gonna honor that Matthew 18 verse 18
The Bible says barely I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth
Shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven
You know when the church marks someone God backs that up when the church authority makes a decision and says
You know what?
This person is wicked this person needs to be kicked out of church
Jesus Christ backs that decision up and you know if someone repents and asks for forgiveness and comes back into the fold and
There's forgiveness extended. You know what Jesus loses that as well and Jesus gives that person grace as well, you know
But God has actually instituted human authority to carry out his judgment. Jesus is not here physically today to lead the church
So you know he's done. He's given a pastor with real authority that he backs up and God's people need to back it up
As well good Ephesians 6 Ephesians chapter number 6. Here's another one
How about your boss at work your boss at work has a real authority given to him by God
Ephesians 6 verse 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ
So you know in our modern vernacular we wouldn't necessarily say servant and master we'd probably say like employee and employer or worker and boss
And guess what boss has real power boss has real authority and we are supposed to obey our bosses at work
And you know if your boss is chewing you out if your boss is punishing you you should look at that as God punishing you
You should look at that as God chastising you you know I remember seeing a post on Facebook like a year or two ago
Where this person said that he walked into his boss's office and ripped up his performance review and threw it on the ground
And he was like please pray that God blesses me with another job
It's like God's not gonna bless you with another job because you were extremely disrespectful and flippant to the authority that was there
You do not have a right to be disrespectful to authority, even if you don't like them, even if you disagree with them
The Bible literally says that we should be subject to our masters even to the foward
Not just to the good and gentle, not just to oh man my boss is so great, so wonderful, I really just love my boss
We're like best friends
No, even to the ones that are foward, even to the ones that are harsh, even to the ones that scream at you
Even the ones that cuss you out, you don't have a right to be disrespectful to your boss
Period! You don't have that right
And when a Christian does so, you know who you're being disrespectful to? God Almighty God
When you disobey your boss at work, you know who you're disobeying? Jesus Christ
And we live in a day and age where employees are so entitled and so spoiled little brats
Where they think they can mouth off to their boss and it's disgusting
It's crazy
And this culture has rubbed off even on bosses
Where I feel like bosses at work are like walking on eggshells and afraid to tell their employees what to do
Afraid to correct them to the point where like I've even to some of my employers
But in the past has been like you could tell me to do anything
Like just tell me because you know when you have certain jobs some people are real sticklers about their job description
It's like well if it's not in my job description I'm not gonna do it
And I'm just like look I know this isn't my job description I will do whatever you want me to do
Because you're the boss and I just want my boss to feel like he can just tell me what to do
And I'm not gonna cry about it
I'm not gonna report him to HR over it
I'm just gonna do what the boss says
And even if the boss was mad at me and yelled at me I'm still gonna do what the boss says
And even if I disagree with him and even if he's objectively wrong
I'm just gonna let him be wrong but I'm still gonna obey what he says to do
I'm not gonna sit here and ridicule him or make him look stupid
This is what employees love to do
They love to find an instance where their boss was wrong and they love to publicly humiliate them in front of the team
That is wicked
You should be trying to save face for your boss
And you should try to be gentle if you ever have to correct anything that was said by your boss like be extremely respectful to your boss
Why because God has said that you're to be in subjection to him and when you're disrespectful to him you're disrespectful to God
Here's another one. How about children and parents? Look at verse number one of Ephesians 6
Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right
Look children if your parents are chastising you if your parents are spanking you that is God punishing you
That is God chastising you because God has given real authority to parents
And God has told children to obey your mother and your father
And when you disobey mom and dad you know who you're ultimately disobeying is God is Jesus Christ
And so when you disobey earthly authority that God has ordained and they punish you that is God punishing you
That is God chastising you. Flip the page back to Ephesians chapter number five
You know everything makes sense so far until we get to this part
Then this Christians lose their mind to this one. Okay husbands and wives look at Ephesians 5 verse 22
wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as
Unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife
Even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior of the body
I mean the Bible describes the amount of power that a husband has over his wife to the same amount of power as
Jesus Christ has over the church of God. I mean Jesus is the ultimate head of our church
He has all power, he has all authority and the Bible says that wives are to submit unto their own husbands as unto the Lord
Like you would submit to Christ is how a wife should submit to her husband and it says in verse 24
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything
If a wife is disobedient to her husband, she is being disobedient to God
And let me say this, if a husband has to chastise his wife, has to correct her, has to get on her case about something
You should look at that as God chastising you
You should look at that as God punishing you
He's like, "Oh, this is crazy"
Funny how it wasn't crazy when it was the government
Funny how it wasn't crazy when it was your boss
Funny how it wasn't crazy when it was your parents
But it's just crazy for a husband to have authority over his wife
No, you're crazy
No, you're brainwashed
No, you're not believing what the Bible says
Obey your husbands as unto the Lord
And wives, if your husband corrects you, you should look at that as God correcting you
Now, of course, you have the idiots where they love to preach the 1% and ignore the 99%
I love all these pastors recently that their whole ministry is just focused on the exception to the rule
It's like, well, what if your husband commands you to go commit murder?
What if your husband commands you to become a stripper?
What if your husband commands you to do this?
It's like, this isn't happening in 99.999% of marriages
So why would I sit up here and constantly preach the exception of when it's okay for children to disobey their parents?
When it's okay to disobey your boss?
When it's okay to disobey your husband?
No, why don't we just focus on the rule?
Wives obey your husbands.
And you know what?
Most of the time, the husband is right.
Husband is right.
That's the rule.
Exception?
Sure, there is exceptions to that.
But you know what?
If your husband is correcting you, if your husband is chastising you, if he is getting on your case over something,
you should look at that as God getting on your case.
And if your default is to always think that your husband is wrong,
if your default is to always think that your boss is wrong,
or that your pastor is wrong, or that your parents are wrong, you're wrong!
If you in your mind are seriously convinced of that, you are so prideful,
you are so just full of yourself to think that you're just better and smarter and greater than all the authorities in your life.
It's a bad way to live your life. It's not going to bring any peace in your life.
Being in constant conflict with your authorities is just going to lead to a sad and stressed out and miserable life.
You will be happier when you submit to your boss at work, even when you don't agree with him, because that's what submission is.
Submission is not doing something that you both agreed on. That is not submission. That's like, hey, we both agree.
Submission, by definition, means you don't agree. You don't agree, you obey anyways, you're going to have peace.
You're going to be a lot better off in life, you're going to have better relationships with all the authorities in your life.
When your default is just, you're right, yes sir, you're in charge, I'll do what you say, that should be your default.
And yes, I am not an idiot. I realize that the one in the million out there, there are exceptions to the rule,
but I am not going to sit up here and preach the exception, I'm going to preach the rule.
And if you're the exception, you know that you are, but chances are you're not.
I doubt that anyone in here has been told by their husband to commit a crime.
No ladies in here were told by their husbands to become strippers, to make money.
Hey honey, start an OnlyFans.
Said no husband ever!
Like what are you talking about?
There's not husbands out there telling their wives to do this stuff.
And look, obviously if they are, that would be a different story,
but I'm not preaching the exception, I'm preaching the rule.
Good Acts chapter number five.
So, we're talking about how God judges sin, how God punishes sin.
Number one, cause and effect, the natural punishment of sin.
God created a natural world with natural consequences.
When you violate those laws, you're going to pay the price.
Number two, punishment by human authority that was ordained by God.
God institutes an authority, that authority executes a judgment,
that judgment is backed up by God.
And you're being punished by God when you're being punished by your human authorities.
Number three, let's talk about God's active supernatural punishment.
These are the three ways that God punishes sin.
Natural, human authority, and God's active supernatural punishment.
Now this is the scariest one by far.
And I could preach a hundred sermons of all the times that God did this in the Bible,
but let's look at a few examples.
How about examples where God strikes people dead, Acts chapter five, verse one.
"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it,
and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
But Peter said, 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost,
and to keep back part of the price of the land?'"
You know, this husband and wife had sold a possession, sold a piece of land,
and they acted as if they were donating 100% of the proceeds to the apostles, to the Church of God.
They were making a show of their giving, trying to say that they were giving 100%,
but the Bible says they kept back part of the price.
So it would be like someone saying, "Oh, I donated my full paycheck to church. Aren't I so great?
Aren't I so spiritual?" But in reality, they're lying. They didn't actually do that.
And so look at what Peter says in verse 4. He says, "Whilst it remained, was it not thine own?
And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?"
He's saying, "Look, no one forced you to give this gift.
It was not under any commandment by God, any law or regulation where God said,
'Thou shalt give this much money.' This was yours. This was your decision."
And so it's like, why are you lying about this?
It says, "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."
You know, these people are lying to the Holy Spirit. They're lying to God.
Verse 5 in Ananias, "Hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost.
And great fear came on all them that heard these things."
This is the supernatural, active punishment of God.
And look, God is real, my friend. God is judging. God is watching.
And you know what? God can get you a lot of ways.
You could suffer the natural consequences of your sin.
Your human authority can get onto you and punish you for your sin.
And if that doesn't get you, you know what he could do?
He could supernaturally, actively stretch forth his hand in your life and judge you any way he sees fit.
And you know what? God did not just do that in the Old Testament, God did that in the New Testament, and God is doing that today.
And I know someone who was smitten with a skin disease, a one in a trillion skin disease.
His name is Ryan Becker, who's under the judgment of God, under the punishment of God,
for being a wicked Judas, for stealing God's money, for attacking a church of God that was a soul winning church,
doing great works for God, for lying against the man of God, and you know what? God has actively judged that man.
God was judging then, God is judging now. We serve a terrifying God, and we should be scared of God, even after you're saved.
Fearing God does not stop when you get saved. Look, some save with fear, the Bible says.
And you know what? A lot of people get saved for fear of hell. Praise God for that, because hell is scary.
You should be scared of hell. If you are not saved, you should be terrified,
because at any moment, you could close your eyes on this earth and wake up burning in hell where you will be for all of eternity.
That should be scary. But you know what? It doesn't just stop there,
because we serve a God that could supernaturally, actively punish people on this earth.
And you know what? I believe that Ananias and Sapphira were saved.
Saved people are not exempt from the punishment of God, from the chastisement of God.
Look what it says in verse number 6, "And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him."
And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
And Peter answered unto her, "Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?" And she said, "Yea, for so much."
You know, so she conspired with her husband to sin.
Verse 9, "Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?
Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out."
"Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost.
And the young man came in, and found her dead; and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband."
It's like, why is this story given to us in the Word of God?
I'll tell you exactly why, is that we should be afraid to tell lies.
People act like, oh lying, it's just little white lies, oh lies aren't that big of a deal.
We look at it sometimes in our culture as lying not being that big of a deal.
But you know what, God has killed people for telling lies.
And you know what, especially you would never want to lie about spiritual things.
You know, liars that God really hates, how about false prophets.
What do they do? They teach lies for gain.
They're greedy, they're covetous, and they preach false doctrine for the love of money.
You know, God hates those people, those people should be scared.
False prophets should be scared. You know what, anyone that lies to God,
anyone that lies about spiritual things should be very scared.
You know, it makes me think about this, like, when I was at St. Fast Baptist Church,
this was like in 2021, it was very shortly after moving there,
I was a part of Pastor Shelley's preaching class.
And he asked for a raise of hands of who wants to be a pastor someday.
And honestly, I knew that I had the desire to potentially do that yet,
but I wasn't anywhere close, and so I didn't even raise my hand at that time,
but he had this pastor's test that he had all the people who raised their hand take,
and I didn't even raise my hand, but he just made me take it anyway, so I had to take it anyways.
But in that pastor's test, there's questions.
There's questions about how many times you read the Bible through cover to cover.
There was a question of have you ever committed physical adultery.
There's like all these questions about Bible knowledge, you know,
and I was thinking what a fool it would be for someone to lie on this test.
What an idiot it would be.
You know, he asked if there's anything you disagree with on his doctrine.
You know, what kind of an idiot would it be that would lie on a test like that?
Because hello, God's watching idiot.
God knows who you are.
You can't lie to God and get away with it.
And it's like you'd be so dumb if someone was just trying to get ordained and trying to become a pastor.
Even though they knew that they weren't qualified.
Even though that they knew that they disagreed with Pastor Shelley on a ton of stuff.
And they just omitted the truth and lied on that test.
Hello idiot, your future is in God's hand.
And God gets to decide if he's going to bless your ministry or not.
And why would you want to become a pastor just to fail?
Why would you want to go into the ministry without God's blessing on your life?
You know, this was my attitude, is that if I wasn't ready, then I don't want it.
If I'm not ready, I don't want it.
Because it's a lot of responsibility, it's a lot of accountability that's going to be put on you.
And why would we ever want to put someone in the pastorate who isn't truly legit and isn't truly ready?
That would be crazy.
But there's people out there that will lie, that will snake around their pastor to get hands laid on them.
But you know what? It's a fool's errand because God's not going to bless those people.
Because it's a foolish errand to lie to the Holy Ghost.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 11, 1 Corinthians 11.
Why are you turning there?
Acts 12, 21 says, "And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto them.
And the people gave a shout, saying, 'It is the voice of a God and not of a man.'
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory.
And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.
There's another example in the New Testament where God just strikes someone dead.
Where God sees a man lifted up with pride and he's being adulated and worshiped by all these people saying,
'Oh, it's like the voice of a God.' And he just soaks that in. He doesn't correct that. He doesn't downplay that.
It's like, 'Oh, you want to take worship like God? Let's just have you get eaten alive by worms and just give up the ghost right there.'
We serve a fearful God, folks. People should be afraid to mess with God, saved or unsaved.
You should be scared of God.
Notice this, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27.
'Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.'
It's referring to communion, the Lord's Supper.
'But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.'
Notice this, 'For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.'
You know what that means? Many are dead. Many are buried in the ground for taking of the Lord's Supper unworthily.
Which again, I would look at that as either someone being unsaved or someone being involved in some 1 Corinthians 5 type sins where they shouldn't even be a part of the congregation, yet they're partaking of the Lord's Supper.
You're partaking unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body. And you know what? God punishes.
God chastises and God can straight up just kill, often times. And you know what that is?
That's the active supernatural hand of God moving into a situation and judging people.
That is something we see even in the New Testament. But let's go back to the Old Testament real quick.
Go to Leviticus 26. I don't know where people are getting this idea where we shouldn't fear God
or that we shouldn't try to use the fear of God to get people to follow his commandments or to not do certain things.
Like I'm just seeing the fear of God even the New Testament here. Let's look also at the Old Testament.
Leviticus 26 verse 13. It says I am the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt
that you should not be their bondman and I've broken the bands of your yoke and made you go upright.
Now who is he talking to? He's talking to God's people because he's saying like hey I brought you out of the land of Egypt.
He's obviously talking to God's people here. Verse 14 notice, but if you will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments
and if you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgments so that you will not do all my commandments
but that you break my covenant, notice I also will do this unto you.
I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart
and ye shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it.
Notice what God was saying, I'm going to do this.
This isn't the natural consequence of sin.
This isn't human authority correcting you, punishing you.
God's saying, look, if you despise my statutes, if you refuse to keep my commandments,
if you're not going to fear me, you know what, I'm going to do these things to you.
I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to punish you. I'm going to chastise you.
You're going to have sorrow of heart because of what God is doing,
God's active supernatural judgment.
Notice, in I, verse 17, and I will set my face against you,
and ye shall be slain before your enemies.
They that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
And if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me,
then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children,
and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number,
and your highways shall be desolate.
And if you will not be reformed by me by these things,
but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you,
and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths,
while she lieth desolate without them.
And they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity,
even because they despised my judgments,
and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
That is some intense Bible that we just read.
That is some terrifying verses that we just read.
And you know what the Bible says?
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter number 10, "Of how much sore punishment
shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God?"
The New Testament, you should be more scared of God than even in the Old Testament.
And what do we see in the Old Testament?
If you despise me, if you want to turn away your ear from hearing the law,
you want to despise God's commandments, I'm going to come after you.
I'm going to send wild beasts after you.
I'm going to cause your enemies to kill you in war and your children.
It's like, how are we not to fear God?
Fear the Lord. Fear God.
Our God is a consuming fire.
Yes, you should be scared of God.
And you know what? This is just logical.
And this kind of helps people to understand salvation too.
Because when we go to Hebrews 12 in the New Testament,
and we show them, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
People get this weird idea that they think,
well, because we believe salvation is by faith alone,
we also must believe that you can just break all of God's commandments with impunity.
You can just live however you want, and there's no consequence whatsoever.
But guess what? That's not what we believe.
We believe that if you get saved, if you put all your trust in Jesus Christ,
you can live however you want if you want to get beaten by God severely.
If you want to get punished by God,
if you want God coming after you, His hand moving against you,
hurting your life, hurting the things that you love,
well, then go ahead and just live however you want.
Go ahead. God will whip you. God will chastise you.
And then people, they're like, oh, that makes sense.
Oh, okay. We're saved by faith.
But if I just go out and rob a bank,
I'm going to get killed by the police.
You know, if I just go out and commit adultery,
I'm going to get a disease.
Oh, if I go out and do some wicked sin,
God could just kill me.
That actually makes sense.
You know, and don't do these super weird illustrations
out soul winning that just aren't logical
and are just extremes.
Be like, you know, if I believe in Jesus
and I go and shoot up a thousand kids
and rape a village
and drop atomic bombs on 20 countries,
am I still saved?
People are going to be like, what the hell?
You know, it's like, what is wrong with you?
Don't use those bizarre examples
because first of all, a lot of those things
are just repubate activities.
But if you go out and just live a super wicked life
as a Christian,
no, you're not going to lose your salvation,
but yes, your life will be a wreck.
You'll be constantly getting beaten by God.
You'll constantly be chastised by God.
And you know what?
I don't want to live that way.
I don't want to see your life that way.
This is why I preach the fear of God.
This is why I preach about God's punishment
so that you will fear Him and depart from evil.
Because you know what I want?
I want you to be saved and to live a good life.
I want you to be saved and be blessed in the next life,
but also in this one here.
I want you to be like we talked about this morning.
I want you to draw an eye to God
and actually have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I want you to actually be His friend.
But you know what?
A saved man who's a drunkard, who doesn't provide for his family,
who's an adulterer, who's a thief, who's doing drugs,
that's not the friend of God.
Sure they might be saved, but you know what?
They're going to live a miserable existence
and God might even kill them and take them home.
And what's so funny is recently I heard from a pastor saying like,
"Well, if it's true that God's going to punish your children
and possibly even kill you,
well then you better include that in your gospel presentation."
And I'm just like, "I already do. I already do."
Every time I preach the gospel, I explain to people
the punishment and chastisement of God
and I very often even say these words,
"God can even kill you."
Because I believe that.
Because it's what the Bible says.
I'm not preaching my opinion.
I'm showing you Bible verses where God
is dropping people dead, even in the New Testament.
You should fear God.
And like, what's better? Fearing God a little too much?
And just, you know, repenting a little too much sin?
And being a little too righteous?
Or just not fearing God
and constantly getting beaten by him?
And constantly doing all these wicked sins
and reaping the consequences of God cursing your life?
Which one's better?
Like, I'd rather be on this side of just like,
"Okay, maybe I fear God a little too much.
Maybe I'm preaching a little too hard.
Maybe I want you to fear God a little too much.
That's better than this crap.
Ugh, you better preach that in your gospel presentation."
I do, because I want people to fear God.
And you know what? When I do that, people go,
"Oh, these aren't psychopaths
that think you can just shoot up a school and be saved
and have no problem whatsoever.
But if you live wickedly afterwards,
God's gonna tan your hide, and God could even kill you."
Go to Numbers chapter 12, Numbers chapter number 12.
So we talked about just dropping people dead,
dropping all these curses on people.
How about God just smiting you with a disease?
This happens. This can happen.
How about Miriam? Look at Numbers chapter number 12, verse 1.
"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses
because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married,
for he had married an Ethiopian woman."
Well, there's kind of two views on this.
Some people think that Moses was totally fine in what he did.
There's no problem whatsoever.
That, you know, you can marry whoever you want.
There's another view that says that, well,
Moses was actually in the wrong here.
I tend to think, and I'm willing to be corrected on this
if someone could show me in the Bible,
but I tend to think that Moses was actually in the wrong here
because the Bible says that you're not supposed to intermarry
with different nations in the Old Testament.
And it had nothing to do with race or anything like that.
It's just that in the Old Testament,
the people of God was a physical nation.
Just like in the New Testament, you shouldn't go marry a Catholic.
You shouldn't go marry a Hindu.
Now look, there's nothing wrong with marrying a different skin color
or a different nation in the New Testament,
but there is something wrong with marrying someone that's not saved.
Okay, in the Old Testament, we had a physical nation,
and I don't think that God's people should have been marrying with the heathen, okay?
So I even think that there's a possibility that Moses was wrong here,
but I actually think that my view on this makes this passage a little more interesting
because let's just say that Miriam and Aaron had some validity to their problem.
They still shouldn't have been speaking against Moses.
They still shouldn't have been talking crap about the man of God, even if he's wrong.
And notice God judged them for that. It says in verse 2,
"And they said, 'Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?
Hath he not spoken also by us?' And the Lord heard it."
So notice they're like, "Oh, I guess Moses isn't perfect.
Oh, I guess, you know, Moses as a leader made a mistake here.
Well, has God only spoken by him? Aren't we great?
Aren't we wonderful, too?" And God hears this.
And notice what it says in verse 3, "Now the man Moses was very meek
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth."
That's a great attribute, by the way, to be meek, to be humble.
And that's oftentimes the people that God uses that exalts to leadership
are people that are meek and humble. Verse 4,
"And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam,
"Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation."
And they three came out. That has to be scary right there.
I mean, think back when you were a kid and your dad's like, "Hey, come here!"
You're just like, "Oh!" Your heart's beating. You're like, "What's going to happen?"
God's just like, "You three, out." God's saying that.
Like, that's got to be a terrifying scene right here.
Verse 5, "And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud,
"and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam,
"and they both came forth. And he said, 'Hear now my words.
"If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision,
"and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
"With him will I speak mouth to mouth." See, he's the friend of God.
"Even apparently, and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold.
"Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
He's saying like, "Look, Moses is special here. Moses is a serious man of God.
"Moses is definitely a friend of God. Moses has close access to God.
"And these people should have been afraid to speak against him."
And this is not to say that Moses was perfect. In fact, I think this is an example of where he was not perfect.
Where he made a mistake. But you know what? A man of God not being perfect does not give you an excuse to start talking crap about him.
Railing against him. Causing division against him. No, who do you think you are? That's wrong.
And God hears that and God's angry at that. That's what it says in verse number 9.
"And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed."
See, if Moses was wrong, then God will take care of that. God will correct him. God will chastise him.
Just like how God chastises all of his children. But it wasn't Aaron and Miriam's place to do that.
That's why this idea of like, "Oh, you know, how do you overthrow a pastor who's gone bad?"
That's a stupid question. That's a stupid question. You shouldn't be overthrowing pastors.
Go to a different church if you don't like your pastor.
Or it's like, even this, you know, people just decide in their heart. They've just decided that a pastor's unqualified.
And they'll just stop calling that pastor, "pastor." And it's like, that's not for you to decide.
Someone's a pastor, you just call them pastor so and so. And there's pastors that I don't like.
That I think, personally, are disqualified. But you know what? That's not my position to say so.
I still call them pastor so and so. I still refer to them as pastor so and so.
And if God wants to remove them, God will do so. And we've seen that happen before.
Didn't we see that with Donnie Romero, the former pastor of Steadfast Baptist Church?
When he was wicked, when he got into sin, did anyone have to overthrow him?
Or did God just expose him before the whole congregation?
So you know what? That's not your job to go correct Moses. It's not your job to go overthrow a pastor.
It's not your job to declare a pastor unfit. I'm not even going to refer to him as a pastor anymore.
That's pride. Just be humble, fear God, know He hears things, and don't just speak presumptuously like that.
God doesn't like it. That's why it says in verse number 10, "And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle,
and behold, Miriam was leprous, white as snow, and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous."
I mean, God just struck her with a disease for being presumptuous, for talking crap.
Has the Lord only spoken by Moses? Aren't we great too? Aren't we wonderful too?
No, you're not apparently, because God just smote you with leprosy for being a punk.
Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 26. 2 Chronicles chapter number 26.
And again, I think that Miriam was saved. I think Miriam was one of God's people.
Yet God's judging her harshly. God's punishing her harshly.
Here's another man who I believe was saved. That's King Uzzah.
The Bible says at one point that King Uzzah did that which was right in the side of the Lord.
I believe that this is likely a king that was saved.
Notice verse number 16. The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 26,16,
"But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction."
That's often when people get prideful is when things are going well for them,
and they're strong, and the finances are going great, and everything's going well.
"For he transgressed against the Lord and went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense."
This was not the place of the king to do.
It was not the king's place to go in and offer incense in the temple of God.
That was the priest's job.
We saw King Saul and 1 Samuel made this exact same mistake, and he was punished for it.
Uzzah's getting presumptuous. He goes into the temple. He starts doing the sacrifice.
He starts doing the incense. In verse 17, "And Azariah the priest went in after him,
and with him four-score priests of the Lord that were valiant men.
And they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him,
It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, and to the priests,
the son of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary.
For thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord."
Then Uzziah was wroth and had a censer in his hand to burn incense.
And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead
before the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar.
He was struck with leprosy for being presumptuous,
for doing something that was not his right or his authority to do.
God strikes this man with leprosy, and you know what the Bible says?
That he remained a leper until the day of his death.
And again, why are these stories in the Bible?
It's for us to look at these things and fear the Lord and realize that, yes,
we can reap consequences just from our sin, from just cause and effect.
Yes, earthly authorities can judge us, punish us, chastise us,
and that's God's judgment in a sense, but also God could put forth his hand against you,
and that is the worst type of punishment you could receive.
Because when God is angry, I mean, he's smiting people with diseases.
That is just crazy. I mean, that is supernatural, folks.
You're just healthy, you're good, you've got no problems, you piss God off,
and he could just strike you with a disease. That's terrifying.
And, you know, people would be like, "Well, I don't like that."
Well, God's mean. Well, guess what? It doesn't matter what you think because it's reality.
And, you know what? God is not going to sit in judgment of you.
Like, you're not going to sit there judging God. It's actually going to be the other way around.
God's going to judge you. And God doesn't have to answer to you.
You have to answer to God. But we live in this insane society where it's like
kids want to give their parents a progress support of how they've been doing parenting.
And, you know, even at work this happens where it's like, "What feedback do you have for your manager?
How are they doing it at their job?" Dude, that's not how it works.
Management judges the employees, okay? Boss, employee, God, human.
You don't sit here in judgment of God, okay?
"Well, I don't like that God's mean. I think that God's mean, or I think that God's too harsh."
It doesn't matter what you think. What matters is who God is.
And you know what's funny? I happen to love who God is.
I happen to agree with all of his judgments.
I happen to love the fact that he's gracious, merciful, long-suffering, kind.
He gives us so much more than we deserve.
He punishes us so much less than our iniquities deserve.
Thank you God for that. I love God.
But you know what? I also love his judgment.
I also love when he curses the wicked.
I also love when he sees a reprobate, a God-hating reprobate like Ryan Becker
and curses him with a skin-eating disease.
I love God for all of his judgments.
Who am I to sit here in judgment of God and say,
"Well, you're a little too mean here. Why did you strike Miriam with leprosy?
Why did you go after King Uzzah?"
God's always right, my friend. I'm not going to sit here in judgment of God.
He's going to sit here in judgment of me.
And I should fear God. And you should fear God.
Go to 2 Kings 17, 2 Kings chapter number 17.
You know, another way that God could just supernaturally judge is by creating warfare.
And you see sometimes in the Bible, there's warfare where God will cause confusion to take place,
and the enemy will kill themselves, or an army will come out of nowhere and rescue God's people.
Like, God is definitely actively working in these situations oftentimes.
2 Kings 17, verse 16, the Bible says, "And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God,
and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven,
and served Baal." So they're being super wicked.
"And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire,
and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord,
provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel,
and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God,
but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made."
Notice verse 20, "And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,
and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of the spoilers,
until He had cast them out of His sight."
So notice God delivering His people into the hand of their enemies
to do what they want unto them, to spoil them.
That should make us fear.
That should make us fear thinking of even the history of our country.
We've been blessed with so much peace it's not even funny.
America is a unique country in its history.
In the fact of how peaceful our mainland has been
since the inception of our country,
this is not the norm of the world.
You study the history of the world,
it's like constant warfare all the time,
and it's kind of an anomaly that in America,
on our homeland, we really haven't fought a big war here
since the Civil War, right?
Civil War is the last time on this land that there's a big war.
But you know, just because that was true in the past
does not mean that that will always be true in the future.
And you know, we don't know when Jesus Christ is coming.
Some people think he's coming in this lifetime.
Look, Christ can come back a thousand years from now.
Christ can come back two thousand years from now.
We don't know.
And we shouldn't sit here and be all prideful and be like,
"Well, we're Americans.
No one could ever touch us.
No one could ever get past these shores.
We got guns."
If we piss off God, if we're wicked as a nation,
if we turn ourselves over to idolatry,
if we start just promoting all these sins and promoting sodomy
and allowing all this wickedness in our land,
we could provoke God to turn his hand against us as a nation
and judge us supernaturally.
And you know, we could get invaded by our enemies.
We could be given over to the hand of our enemies.
And America is not invincible.
We as a nation should fear God and not just think,
"Well, we've been in peace in my father's days
and in my grandfather's days.
Therefore, it'll never happen to me."
You don't know that.
And you know, when I look at this world
and some of the warfare that's happened the last couple of years
in Ukraine and in Russia and how horrific and terrible warfare is,
you know, I've seen videos of the Ukrainian government,
how they're just going around town
and they're just kidnapping men off the streets
and just constricting them into the army
because it's such a bloodbath over there.
It's such just a meat grinder of destruction and death over there.
I don't want that here.
I don't want that in our country.
God forbid that would happen here.
And so what we should do is just beg God for mercy
and repent and fear God
and keep him high and holy in our minds
and not think we're so great that could never happen to us.
Yes, it could. Could happen to us.
There was a time in this country where hundreds of thousands of men
died on this land fighting each other in the Civil War.
There was a time in this country, on this land,
where thousands and thousands of people died fighting the British.
And look, we should not glorify warfare.
We should not think war is cool.
No, war is horrific and terrible and is oftentimes the judgment of God.
And you know, anytime a nation is involved in war,
it should examine itself and wonder if it's being cursed by God.
You know, I wonder if maybe Ukraine is being cursed by God
for being so liberal and promoting sodomy and filth all over Kiev.
I mean, Western Ukraine is so wicked, it's not even funny.
And you know whose fault that is?
A big part of it is the United States' fault
for promoting a bunch of filth over in that country back in 2014 in the Maidan coup,
you know, overthrowing that government and putting some pro-Western,
pro-faggotry, you know, government over there.
It's wicked as hell. We have a large responsibility in that.
But, you know, Ukraine should look at itself and wonder if it's being judged by God.
And Russia should do the same. And if we're ever in war, we should do the same.
And not just think like, "We're always right. We're America. We're always great."
No, you know what? America's done a lot of wicked things.
And we're doing a lot of wicked things right now.
And, you know, thank God there are some positive things that I'm seeing.
And praise the Lord for that. But we need to keep preaching hard.
We need to keep fearing God. We need to keep cleaning things up in our country
because there's a lot of problems still going on.
You know, I went to the library yesterday and you know what I saw?
I saw a disgusting tranny with two little kids.
That should not be tolerated in our country.
Why are we allowing a tranny to have children in our country?
What a sick and disgusting abomination that is.
What a reproach that is to our nation.
Righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
What a reproach to the state of Oklahoma that it's even legal here
for a disgusting tranny to have children.
That is disgusting, folks.
And look, overall, I love Oklahoma and I love our country,
but that's not going to stop me from preaching hard against the sins that go on here.
I'm not going to be a respecter of persons or of nations or of states or of cities or anything.
You know who I stand with 100% is Jesus Christ and the Word of God.
Go to 2 Kings chapter 17, 2 Kings chapter 17.
Look at verse number 18, I want to read that again where it says,
"Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight.
There was none left but the tribe of Judah only."
Notice these people were so destroyed that the only tribe that was left was Judah.
Sometimes God can judge a nation by pretty much just wiping it off the face of the earth
or just dwindling it down to almost nothing.
When that happens to a country, you should just assume that you're under the judgment of God,
that you're under the punishment of God.
What's so stupid is countries will do this and they won't turn from their sin.
They won't consider if they're doing things wickedly.
They'll just like, "We just need to keep fighting no matter what."
It's like, maybe you need to change.
Maybe you need to realize that you're being cursed by God.
And you know, sometime during end times, Babylon is going to be completely destroyed by God.
Sodom and Gomorrah was a country, a city state if you will, that was completely destroyed by God.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 1 while I read.
1 Thessalonians 1.10 says, "And to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."
You know, thank God that we are saved and spared from the wrath of God, from the punishment of hell.
But that does not mean that no matter what you do, that you would not be spared from the punishment of God,
from the chastisement of God.
And you know, some people make a difference between chastisement and punishment.
If you think that's different, I'm not against you, no big deal whatsoever.
But you know, like in 2 Corinthians, after someone was kicked out of church in 1 Corinthians,
the Apostle Paul said, "Sufficient to such a one was this punishment which was inflicted of many."
So I think it's accurate to say that God punishes His children, chastises His children.
I don't think there's any difference between those things.
But look, just because God spared you from hell does not mean that you're going to be spared
from the punishment of God for your sin in this life.
You should fear the Lord. You should, with every decision you make,
think about the ramifications that could happen.
Whether that's from a carnal cause and effect reaction.
Hey, if I smoke these drugs, I could overdose and die.
God doesn't have to actively curse you. If you do these things, you could die.
Or, hey, if I go out rob a bank, I wonder what the Oklahoma City Police Department
is going to think about that. You know?
If I go out and start shooting people, I wonder what the cops are going to think about that.
Yeah, they'll probably kill you. And you know what that is?
It's a punishment of God, because he ordained that authority.
And then, what went to you when the hand of God is against you?
When the hand of God is working supernaturally to curse your life, that is terrible.
Look at verse number 13 of 1 Peter 1.
The Bible says, "Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
By the way, you know why we need grace?
Because we're deserving of punishment.
Because we're deserving of hell, even.
Verse 14, "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts
in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation, because it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."
What is the application for this sermon this evening?
Is that every day of your life, from the day you got saved, from today if you will, up
until the day that you die, you know what you should be doing?
You should be passing the sojourning of your time in this world in fear of God every day.
Do not ever lose the fear of God in your heart.
Do not ever think, "Well, I've been saved for 10 years, for 20 years, so I don't need
to fear God anymore."
No, you need to still fear God every single day.
Because just because you're saved, just because you've been saved for a while, doesn't mean
that if you start living wickedly, that God's just going to spare you from His judgment.
No, it doesn't matter how long you've been saved, you go out and start doing fentanyl,
you're going to receive some punishment.
You're going to receive some serious punishment from that, and it's just cause and effect.
You could even die from it.
What is that?
Just nature.
God created this world.
God created your body to react to certain things.
You start drinking alcohol, I don't care if you've been saved for 60 years, you can black
out and get drunk and do all these terrible things.
It doesn't matter if you've been saved for 50 or 60 years.
If you go rob a bank today, the police are going to get you.
It doesn't matter how long you've been saved.
And look, it doesn't matter how long you've been saved.
If you decide to just not give a rip about God's commandments and not give a rip about
what he tells you to do, what he tells you to avoid, and you just start living however
you want, just according to your own lust, according to your own flesh, it doesn't matter
how long you've been saved, God is going to punish you.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Every son, the Bible says.
If you're without chastisement, you're probably not even saved.
You should fear God until the day you die.
Let us as a church fear the Lord.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you, God, that you are a balanced God, that you're both a gracious, loving, and merciful
God, but that you're also a wrathful God, that you're also a terrible God, that you're
also a fearful God.
Let us both be in awe of your love, and also let us fear your wrath.
In Jesus' name we pray.