this time we'll open with a word of praise with me heavenly father we thank you for this day and
for the opportunity to gather together in your name sing out praises and to just learn from your
word lord i pray that you would open our ears and soften our hearts to the message that you've laid
on pastor's heart and that you just fill him with your spirit i also pray that you would incline
your ear to us as we sing out praises unto you and that this service would be done everything
decently and in order these things we pray in jesus name amen for our next hymn number 149
in your hymnals 149 rusting jesus 149 149 there on the first
raise your hand i should be glad is our bible memory passage of the second timothy one thank
god whom i serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing i have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day and like i mentioned our goal is to memorize the entire
book of second timothy so starting in chapter one now is the chance to just get on that train and
stay on it and so definitely encourage you to do that on the inside our service times are listed
there sunday morning at 10 30 sunday evening at 4 30 p.m and our wednesday bible study through
romans at 7 p.m and then our soul winning times are listed below with the respective leaders of
those soul winning times and below that we have our year to date soul winning statistics we're
at 109 for the year here some upcoming events march 7th we're going to be having a soul winning
marathon in pulsa oklahoma and we'll meet on location there at 12 o'clock noon so do pay
attention to the announcements and signal group as we get a little closer once we pick a location
but we'll be meeting there at noon and we'll go soul winning from noon to four and then we'll have
uh lunch afterwards or dinner i guess early dinner then the next day march 8th is going to be a men's
preaching night for the evening service there is a sign-up sheet in the back like to participate
with that um about yeah 15 minute sermons will be the length for that and then i'll make sure to get
some food catered for that evening service as well so do join us for that then march 28th we're
excited to try something new i made a video last week announcing our listeners pick soul winning
marathon and the goal of this marathon is to let the listeners of our church online or just fans of
new ifb preaching online choose what city we're going to come to for a soul winning marathon
and so i made this video inviting people to respond by email telling me what city they live in and how
many soul winners that they have in their group and the point of this is to find people who you
know are zealous about soul winning but they don't have a new ifb church already to get plugged into
and just to get fired up about soul winning and so we've had tons of responses already some very
small groups some groups of like 20 30 people and so we haven't made the decision of where we're
going to go yet but the cut off for our listeners is to respond by march 14th at noon march 14th
at noon we'll make our decision of what city we're going to and we're sending brother cameron to lead
all that so brother cameron is going to lead the soul winning there the food the fellowship all the
events that are going and also if there's enough interest we'd really like to organize a preaching
service in this city as well and so we're going to get like a hotel conference room and brother
cameron is going to preach two sermons for the groups that are out there just to be a blessing
to people that listen want to hear the hard preaching want to get involved with soul winning
and so we're really excited to be doing that and it's kind of also just helping us get our feet wet
with doing events in other cities that could lead to missions trips from our church someday as well
which obviously we would love to do so be praying for that and of course you're welcome to join that
if you hear hey it's in this city and you want to buy a flight and go out there and support please
do that'd be that'd be awesome. Then April 1st that's a Wednesday we're going to be having the
Lord's Supper service in preparation for Easter. May 20th through the 24th is the anti-Israel
conference at Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill, Texas. June 17th through the 20th me and
Pastor Shelley will be preaching in Frankfurt, Germany for a soul-winning conference there
trying to get as many Europeans to learn about soul-winning as possible and so that's going to
be an awesome event there. We have on the right side if you're a first-time visitor there's an
online visitor card we'd love for you to fill out and we also have our online giving platform if
anyone is interested in that as well as our prayer list which of course if you have any requests do
email the church and we'd be happy to pray for you. Please let's go ahead and go to our third song
at this time. Our third song this morning number 126 anywhere with Jesus 26 anywhere with Jesus
starting there right on the verse this morning would as the offering plates are being passed
turn to proverbs 17 proverbs chapter number 17 17 better is a dry morsel quietness therewith
than in house full of sacrifices with strife a wise servant shall rule over a son that
causeth shame and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren the finding pot is for
silver and the furnace for gold but the lord trieth the hearts a wicked doer giveth heed
to false lips and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue whosoever mocketh the poor reproacheth
his maker and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished children's children are the
crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers excellent speech becomeeth not a
fool much less do lying lips a prince a gift is as is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that
hath it whithersoever it turneth it prospers he that covereth the transgressions seeketh love
but he that repeateth a matter separates very friends a reproof entereth more into a wise man
than in hundred stripes into a fool an evil man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruel messenger
shall be sent against him let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his
folly who so rewardeth evil for good evil shall not depart from his house the beginning of strife
is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention before be meddled with he that
justified the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the lord
wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom seeing hath he hath no heart to it
a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity a man void of understanding
strike at hands and become a surety in the presence of his friend he loveth transgression
that loveth strife and he that exalted his gait seeketh destruction he that hath a froward heart
findeth no good and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief he that begetteth a fool
doeth it to to his sorrow and he that and the father of a fool hath no joy a merry heart doeth
good like a medicine but a broken spirit dryeth the bones a wicked man taketh a gift out of his
out of the bosom to pervert the ways of the judgment wisdom is before him that hath understanding
but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth a foolish son is a grief to his father
and bitterness to her that bear him also to punish the just is not good nor to strike
princes for equity he that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of understanding is is of
an excellent spirit even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth
his lips is esteemed a man of understanding let's pray gracious lord thankful to have our church
amen we're in proverbs chapter it says he that justifieth the wicked and he that
condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the lord this is an interesting verse because
one of the things that we can learn about god and just how he thinks about things is that god not
only cares about our actions he also cares about our emotions he also wants to make sure that we
feel about things the same way that god feels about things and if he looks at a person that
justifies the wicked right someone who would stick up for someone that's evil make excuses for them
feel positively towards them the bible says that that person is an abomination god's disgusted by
that behavior he dislikes it and on the other side he that condemneth the just says and he that
condemneth the just even they both are an abomination to the lord so whether you're
justifying sticking up for liking someone that god dislikes or whether you're condemning someone
who god does like god looks at you both as an abomination god is disgusted by both of those
attitudes and some people have this idea this attitude where they say well just to be safe
i'm just going to love everyone just to be safe i'm just going to stick up for everyone and feel
positively towards every type of person that exists but here's the thing that's actually a
dangerous mentality because if you end up being this person right here where you're justifying
the wicked then god could actually look at you and be angry at you now i know this is a mentality
that our world does not believe in our world parrots hey love everyone feel positively towards
everyone stick up for everyone but that is not what the bible teaches that is not what god teaches
go if you would to proverbs chapter number 28 it is actually a sin to have the wrong types of
emotions towards things we live in a society that's just hey your emotions are valid no matter what
wrong there is such a thing as wrong emotions there is such a thing as feeling the wrong type
of way about a situation look right here in verse number four of proverbs 28 they that forsake the
law praise the wicked right so if you are praising wicked people you have now forsaken the bible you
have forsaken god's word notice but such as keep the law contend with them so people who love god's
word keep god's word they're not neutral towards the wicked they're not well i'll just be quiet
about it i won't say anything i won't deal with them no people who love god's word actively
contend against the wicked this is why the world hates christians folks is because we are not supposed
to just keep our mouths shut and just get along, you know, go along to get along. No, if we actually
love God's word, we're going to contend with the wicked in this world. We're not going to just have
this positive feeling towards everyone. Go to Isaiah chapter five, Isaiah chapter five. But what
you'll notice is that wicked people, evil people will stick up for other wicked people, will justify
other wicked people, will fellowship and hang out and have positive emotions towards other wicked
people. Why? Because birds of a feather flock together. Look at Isaiah chapter five, verse 20.
Notice what it says, "Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light
and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Notice God is saying, "Hey,
woe unto you if you call something that is good evil or if you call something that is evil good."
He wants us to have the right emotions towards things. He does not want us to have sympathy with
stuff that is evil, people that are wicked. And so the title of my sermon this morning is this,
Sinful Sympathy. Sinful Sympathy. There is such a thing as having sympathy that is actually a sin,
having a bleeding heart, positive emotions towards something that God does not want you to have
positive emotions towards. Go if you would to, I believe his first chronic, our first king,
chapter number 20. I've got two points this morning. Number one, God is angry when you
sympathize with the wicked. God does not want you to sit here having a positive, sympathetic,
bleeding heart attitude towards people that he condemns. We need to stand with God's judgment,
right? Because if God has a certain feeling towards someone and you're just like, "No,
God, you're too mean. I'm more loving than you. I'm not going to have the same feeling you do
because I know best." I mean, you're just saying that God doesn't know what he's doing. God doesn't
have the right thoughts. You just have made yourself God. It's ridiculous. And a great story
to show this is with King Ahab showing mercy towards Ben Hadad. Now, just give you some
context of the story because it's a really long chapter. If you remember at the beginning of
this chapter, Ben Hadad, he comes to war against Samaria. And he comes to Ahab and he says, "Hey,
your wife, your children, and all that you have is mine." Now, could you imagine someone just
comes up to you and just says, "Hey, give me your wife, give me your kids, give everything to me
that you have." And what's crazy about this story is that Ahab concedes. He's like, "Okay,
you can just have my wife." It's like, "Wow, what a loyal husband there." Someone comes up to you,
just like, "Hey, have my wife, have my kids, have all my stuff." He just caves immediately.
Well then, because he caved to the wicked, Ben Hadad saw that this was an easy target and he
said, "Hey, never mind. Not only am I going to take your wife, your kids, and all that you have,
but I'm going to go into your house and whatever my servants see that's pleasurable to them,
they're going to take all that stuff too." Finally Ahab's just like, "All right, you know,
I got to do something. We got to fight against this guy. We got to stop." Just allowing him to
do that. And go to 1 Kings 20, look at verse number 29. It says, "And they pitched one over
against the other seven days. And so it was that in the seventh day the battle was joined
and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians and hundred thousand footmen in one day." So God's
giving them the victory here. Verse 30, "But the rest fled to Aphek into the city and there a wall
fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left." So God's definitely working for
them in this situation. "And Ben-Hadad fled and came into the city into an inner chamber." Now,
the prophet of God already told Ahab, "Hey, I'm going to deliver this army into your hand. I'm
going to give you the victory." And God's clearly giving them the victory. Walls are falling down,
killing people. The nation of Israel has these people surrounded. Ben-Hadad has fled. He's
hiding in a hole here, and he's got to get his enemy here. But notice what happens in verse 31.
"And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel
are merciful kings. Let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins and ropes upon our heads,
and go out to the king of Israel. Peradventure, he will save thy life." So they girded sackcloth
on their loins and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said,
"Thy servant Ben-Hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live." Notice the response from Ahab, and he said,
"Is he yet alive? He is my brother." Right? So Ahab is going soft here. He's showing sympathy
towards the enemies of God here, who, if you read the whole chapter, the prophet of God said, "Hey,
I'm going to deliver these people into your hand." God wanted to give the victory to Ahab,
but as soon as this person comes out and says, "Hey, you know, please show me mercy," Ahab's like,
"Oh, that's my brother." It's like, wait a second, wasn't this guy just trying to take your wife?
Wasn't this guy just trying to take your kids? Wasn't he just trying to steal all your stuff?
He was about to do this great evil to you, but notice Ahab, he just wants to have this soft,
bleeding heart, and he doesn't want to destroy a person who's worthy of being destroyed.
You know, this guy right here should have been destroyed. That would have been God's will. And
the chapter proves that because notice what it says. Let's keep reading in verse 33. "Now the
men did diligently observe whether anything would come from him and did hastily catch it. And they
said, 'Thy brother, Ben-Hadad.' Then he said, 'Go ye, bring him.' Then Ben-Hadad came forth to him,
and he caused him to come up into the chariot." So notice now Ahab, he's just buddying up and
cozying up with the enemy of Israel here, with the enemy of God's people, the same guy that would
have, given the chance, completely destroyed his nation, completely destroyed his household,
his wife, his kids. Now he's like, "Hey, come hang out with me. You can come in the chariot."
And you know, as crazy it is, we see sometimes Christians doing this, where Christians will
cozy up, buddy up, sympathize, have a bleeding heart, cry about enemies of Christianity,
enemies of churches, people who are trying to take down pastors, people who are trying
to take down good churches. And you have these stupid Ahabs out there today that want to cry
and hang out with rebellious people, with evil people, instead of standing where the Bible stands,
or standing with the man of God, standing with a good church. They want to bring them into the
chariot. And this is a wicked attitude. You know, this idea of just, "Oh, I'm just sympathetic
towards everyone. I'm just going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt." You know,
you can find yourself in trouble with God. Let's keep reading. Verse 34, "And Ben Haydad said unto
him, 'The cities which my father took from my father, I will restore, and thou shalt make
streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.' Then said Ahab, 'I will send thee away
with this covenant.' So he made a covenant with him and sent him away." So they make this little
pact, right? Hey, as long as you give me these cities back, as long as I get some sort of
benefit for myself for this relationship, we'll then forget God's judgment of wanting you destroyed.
Forget what you were about to do to God's people. Let's just overlook that. Verse 35,
"And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbor, 'In the word of the Lord,
smite me, I pray thee.' And the man refused to smite him." So now we got this man of God where
he's going to give a message to Ahab and he wants to use kind of this, I don't know, acting
representation to use like this physical example of what he's going to preach to him. So he says,
"Hey, punch me, smite me, punch me in the face." Would you imagine, you know, a pastor walks up to
you and says, "Hey, I need you to punch me in the face right now." You might feel a certain way
about that, but it's like, watch the reaction though. This guy refused to do that and it says
in verse 36, "Then said he unto him, 'Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold,
as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee.' And as soon as he was departed from him,
a lion found him and slew him." So this guy didn't listen and a lion literally just ate him for not
punching the man of God when he was told to. It's a crazy story, but look at verse 37, "Then he found
another man and said, 'Smite me, I pray thee.' This man must have seen the lion because he says,
'And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.'" So he saw the lion destroy the
other guy and he's like, "Okay, all right, here we go." Lays him out with a good one. Verse 38,
"So the prophet departed and waited for the king, by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon
his face. And as the king," that's Ahab, "passed by, he cried unto the king and said, 'Thy servant
went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and
said, 'Keep this man, if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou
shall pay a talent of silver.' And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the
king of Israel said unto him, 'So shall thy judgment be, thyself hast decided it.'" So this
prophet, he makes up this story, this example, saying, "Hey, someone was given to my trust. I was
told to watch this guy. I was told not to let this guy go. Don't let him escape, right? He's
got to face judgment, so you got to keep him. But I was busy, and here and there, I kind of lost
this prisoner of war." And the king's like, "Okay, well, you should be put to death for this wicked
action you've done of letting this person go." Verse 41, "And he hasted and took the ashes away
from his face, and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. And he said unto
him, 'Thus saith the Lord,'" this is the key, "'because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man
whom I appointed to utter destruction. Therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people
for his people.' And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased and came to Samaria."
Don't miss what this prophet of God is saying here. He's saying, "Hey, just like you judged
me with this fake scenario when I let someone go who was supposed to be captured and face justice,
this is what you have done with Ben Haydad." Because he's saying, "Hey, I," he's speaking on
the behalf of God, he's saying, "I appointed Ben Haydad for utter destruction." It was God's will
for Ben Haydad to be killed. That was God's will for Ben Haydad, was for that wicked person to be
killed. That would have been what was right. But yet, what did Ahab do? He takes him into his
chariot. He buddies up with him. He shows him mercy. He says, "Let's make a deal." And some people
would look at that story and say, "Wow, how nice of Ahab. Look, he's so sympathetic. Look, he's so
caring." But that's not how God looked at the situation. God looked at it and said, "Hey,
I wanted to judge that man. Do you think you're better than me? You think you're more righteous
than me? You think you got better judgment than me?" No, when God wants to destroy someone,
we should back up God's judgment. When God is condemning someone, we should condemn someone.
When the Bible condemns someone, we should condemn them. We should not sit here and have this sinful
sympathy where God's word says one thing about a person, but we're better than God. We're more
merciful. We're more righteous. By having this sinful sympathy, you actually bring God's wrath
upon yourself. That's why this needs to be preached is because you are in danger of God's judgment
coming upon you when you sympathize with the wicked. And it's so interesting to me how over the last
couple years, I've seen people sympathize with wicked individuals. There's been wicked people
rising up against their parents, cursing their parents, trying to overthrow churches that are
friends of ours, railers, slanderers against men of God. And I've seen foolish, wicked people team
up with these people, team up with the enemies of God. And you know, we've seen God judge them.
We've seen churches come down. We've seen pastors come down. Why? Because they were sinful sympathizers.
Because they were standing with the wicked. And just like my sermon last week, self-sabotage
ways people destroy themselves. Hey, Ahab destroyed himself here because if he would have just killed
Ben Hadad, like God told him to, he would have gone on his happy little merry way. But instead,
this prophet had to deliver him a message saying, hey, you know what? Your life is going to go for
his because you were sympathizing with the wicked. Do not be deceived because there are wicked people
out there. There are preachers that want to deceive you where they're just so positive about
everything. There's just so just bubbling with love and kind words and nice words, but you don't
be deceived by someone who seems nice, who seems kind, but is standing on the wrong sides of the
issues in God's work. Like I don't care how nice and kind and how soft your voice is and how sweet
you are when you are standing with children rebelling against their parents. You're evil.
I don't care how nice you are. I don't care how nice your building is. I don't care how cool you
think you are. You're evil. It's like when you're standing with people that have slandered men of
God that have called us out, said evil, wicked things about us. Look, I don't care how nice
you think you are. You're not. You're a sinful sympathizer is what you are. Go to Exodus,
chapter number 21. You know, what are some examples today of people just having sinful
sympathy, right? Not wanting to have the right attitude towards God's judgment, turning a blind
eye to things that God has condemned. I mean, how about the Epstein files? I mean, it seems to me
like the entire Department of Justice is just turning a blind eye, not wanting to have the
attitude that God has towards these things. Because you know what? The Bible teaches the death penalty
for many of these crimes that are being exposed in the Epstein files. But we have a lot of people
today that just want to turn a blind eye. Oh, let's just give the benefit of the doubt. Let's
just be sympathetic towards everyone. Oh, everyone deserves a second chance. You know, when God,
in his word, gives a commandment that says, hey, this person is worthy of death for this reason,
and you don't execute that judgment, well, then God's mad at you. And you know, it's like we're
bringing the wrath of God in America today. When things like child pornography, child sex
trafficking, you know, eating people literally, when these type of things are being exposed and
our government just does nothing about it, right? Or we have some person who has literally federal
charges of child pornography and then they go to Israel and they just hide over in Israel and
Israel doesn't deport them back to the U.S. to face charges. It's like you're just bringing God's
wrath on these nations. Look at Exodus chapter number 21. Exodus chapter number 21 verse 16,
the Bible says, "And he that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand,
he shall surely be put to death." If you buy a person, if you buy a human being, or you steal
a human being and you sell that human being to rich people at Epstein's Island, you should be
put to death. And so you know what our government should be doing? They should be releasing all
these Epstein files and the Department of Justice should be working 24/7 to make sure that anyone
involved in child sex trafficking publicly hangs on the streets. Like we need to bring back public
executions of pedophiles, you know, but just hiding our eyes from the evil in our land, acting
like this stuff doesn't happen. Okay, you're just sinfully sympathetic. You're bringing God's wrath
on our nation. Go to Deuteronomy 13. You know, if you stick up for someone who is worthy of death
in any context, you're wrong and you're bringing God's wrath upon yourself. Deuteronomy chapter 13,
look at verse six. Look how serious God is about this. "If thy brother, the son of thy mother,
or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thy known soul,
entice thee secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods which thou hast not known,
thou nor thy fathers, namely the gods of the people which are round about you,
nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the
earth, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye pity him,
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him,
thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.'
I mean this is a high level of loyalty that God is commanding his people to have to worship him
and to serve him, where he's saying hey if it was your wife, if it was your parents, your brother,
your best friend, if they try to entice you secretly saying hey let's forget about God,
let's forget about Jesus Christ, let's forget about Christianity, let's go over here and
serve other gods, the Bible says hey your eye is not to pity him. You know what that means? You're
not to feel sympathetic, you're not to feel sorry, you're not to sit here and cry and whine about it,
you're not even supposed to conceal it, act like you didn't see it, just keep your mouth shut about
it, it says neither shalt thou spare, don't even hold back, he says but thou shalt surely kill him,
thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards all the hands of all the
people. So you know God takes worship of him very seriously and in his nation in the old testament
if someone was trying to proselytize people with a false religion, trying to take people away from
the service of the Lord God, that was met with a death penalty offense in their society and he's
just saying hey don't pity. So this principle that I'm teaching you this morning would it have been
sinful to feel bad for someone going around saying hey let's forget Jehovah, let's leave the God of
the Bible. Would it have been a sin to feel sympathy towards that person? Yes it would have.
So you absolutely can sin by having positive emotions towards someone that God has condemned.
Deuteronomy 19, notice this Deuteronomy chapter number 19 verse 11 says but if any man hate his
neighbor and lie and wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he die
and fleeeth into one of these cities then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him
thence and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die notice this
thine eye shall not pity him but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel
that it may go well with thee hey if you want to be blessed you say if you want things to go well
with you when there's a person in your society that is guilty of first degree murder they hated
that person they intended to murder that person if you want things to go well in your city you
can't pity that person you have to deliver him up to the government to be put to death what's the
implication here well if you don't if you pity the murderer if you hide the murder if you sit
here and say oh no we don't want the death penalty for murderers we don't need the death
penalty in society well then things aren't going to go well for you then god is not going to bless
you because you know what god wants his laws executed in our land and you know what when judgment
is not executed speedily like ecclesiastes chapter 8 says says therefore the hearts of men are fully
set in them to do evil and when we live in a society where even child traffickers can't be
put to death first degree murderers can't be put to death rapists can't be put to death it's like
well then we just live in a society where anything goes and you're just going to see the exaltation
of wickedness and more and more evil is going to thrive and you know it's going to lead to the
destruction of our land and you know where it starts it starts with a bunch of retards that
sympathize towards evil wicked people that sit here and say oh you know we don't need the blood
shed we don't want to you know make the whole world blind like Gandhi said right oh an eye
for an eye makes the whole world blind you know that's blasphemous statement because the bible
teaches an eye for an eye the bible teaches hand for hand foot for foot burning for burning you
know what don't sit here and blaspheme God's word quoting Gandhi you know Gandhi is burning in the
lowest hell right now because he rejected Jesus Christ and so you go and follow that idiot to
hell with him but I'm going to stick with what the bible says and we should put murderers to
death in our country today by the way you know it's murder in our country how about abortion
you know abortion is first degree murder and you know what I would push a button today if I could
push a button today that would put people who get abortions to death I would push that button right
now and every doctor that commits abortion because it's disgusting wicked and evil and you know if
you sympathize towards that act you're wicked as hell and you could just hit the road as far as I
care go if you would to first john chapter number five first john chapter number five you know you
could be sinning by having pity towards the wrong things you could be sinning by having positive
emotions towards the right types of things first john chapter number five look at verse 16 notice
Notice what the Bible says here, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto
death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death."
There is a sin unto death.
I do not say that he shall pray for it.
Notice what the Bible is saying here.
The Bible is saying, "Hey, there are sins that are not worthy of death, and if your
brother commits that sin, you should pray for that person.
You should want that person to be restored, for God to have mercy on that person, for
God to bless that person.
But if someone is guilty of a sin worthy of death, the Bible says do not pray for that
person.
Do not pray for sodomites.
Do not pray for child traffickers.
Do not pray for people guilty of first degree murder.
If anything, just pray that justice is done.
But you would be sinning for praying for those people.
Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 19, 2 Chronicles chapter 19.
One thing that Jesus taught and the Old Testament taught that is a crime worthy of death is
cursing one's parents, wishing evil upon one's parents.
The Bible said, hey, Jesus said, let him die the death.
And you know, if someone was guilty of that, you should not pray for that person.
You should not sit here and sympathize for someone that would literally curse their mother
and father.
Here's another story that shows this principle.
You had King Jehoshaphat of Judah, and he was allied with Ahab, who we've already talked
about.
And he was showing sympathy towards Ahab, even though Ahab was guilty of what?
Idolatry.
He's definitely putting up the high places.
He's guilty of idolatry.
Look at 2 Chronicles 19 verse 1, "And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house
in peace to Jerusalem.
And Jehu, the son of Hineni, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat,
'Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?
Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.'"
So notice, if you help people that hate God, if you love people that hate God, that's
not just a neutral act where God's like, "Okay, you just have a different opinion than me."
No, if you love people that hate God, God is angry at you.
God's wrath is upon you.
You know that there are people in this world that hate God.
Look, not everyone hates God, even people that are not saved.
Most people that are not saved, they don't hate God.
They just haven't gotten the gospel yet, right?
Or they just haven't fully understood the gospel yet.
Or they're just living a life where they're just not really thinking about religious things.
They're just living their day-to-day life.
And yeah, they're sinners, but they're not sitting here with just this burning loathing
towards God.
Or they're sitting here just hating Jesus and hating God.
But here's the thing.
There are people in this world that do hate God.
Romans chapter number one talks about men with men, men burning in their lust towards
other men, women leaving the natural use of the woman, burning in lust towards other women.
The Bible says that they are haters of God and we live in a country today that wants
to exalt and prop up sodomites and you know their slogan is what?
Love is love.
But yet the Bible literally says that they hate God.
Go to Psalm, actually go to Exodus chapter number 20, Exodus chapter number 20.
But I want to stick with Ahab here because Ahab is the one that's being discussed when
he said, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love those that hate the Lord."
What was Ahab's big sin?
Idolatry, setting up the high places.
What does the Bible actually say about people who commit idolatry, people who worship idols?
Look at Exodus 20.
This is the Ten Commandments.
Verse 4 it says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything
that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under
the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous
God."
Notice this, "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of them that hate me."
So here's the thing, we've discussed in weeks past about the different ways the Bible uses
the word hate.
How sometimes it could mean a visceral emotional loathing towards something, other times it
could be to esteem something higher than something else.
So Jesus says, "Hey, you can't serve God and mammon.
You're either going to hold to the one or hate the other."
And I kind of use this illustration that it's not saying when you get paid at your job you
have to rip up your paycheck and just like, "Oh, I hate money," or whatever.
No, it's just that you should always choose God over things.
Choose God over money.
Well, what is idolatry?
Well, it is a deliberate act of choosing to worship this stone, this piece of wood to
bow down before this piece of wood rather than serving God.
It is an act of hatred towards God.
All idolatry is hatred towards God.
Now they may not, maybe not every single person who commits idolatry has this visceral hatred
towards the Lord, but whether they realize it or not, their act of idolatry is hateful
towards God.
That's why he says, hey, in the context of idolatry, God says, I'm going to visit the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me.
So he just defines right here, hey, idolaters hate God.
And so what would be a form of sinful sympathy today?
Well, how about the Republican Party?
The Republican Party is just full of ecumenicists.
The Republican Party says, hey, we don't care what type of religion you are.
You could be a Jew.
You could be a Hindu, Vivek Ramaswamy.
You could be a Zionist Christian.
You could be a regular Christian.
You could be a Roman Catholic who worships statues, but we're all just going to get along
because of politics.
We're all just going to put our religious differences aside so that we can have the
right tax reform or have the right criminal justice reform.
But you know what?
I don't want to have fellowship with people that hate God.
And you know what Catholics are?
They're a bunch of statue-worshipping pagans.
They go into their church.
They light the little incense.
They bow down before a statue of Mary.
They pray to Mary.
They call her the Mediatrix.
They ask her for forgiveness.
They are idolaters.
Catholics hate God, in a sense.
The religion of Catholicism is hateful towards God.
So should I just partner up with people that hate God for some sort of political purpose?
No, because you know what that would do?
That would bring the wrath of God on myself.
And so you know, we actually believe in separation.
We actually believe, hey, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, right?
We want to be separate.
Be separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you.
So you know, I'm not interested in teaming up with Catholics, with people who believe
in a false gospel, with people who worship stones, with Jews that reject the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I'm interested in being loyal to the Bible, to God's judgment in every scenario, regardless
of who this offends.
Go if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 16.
You know there's a lot of ways to apply this, where God gets angry at people for being a
bleeding heart, for being too sympathetic during the wrong times.
And obviously we're weird to be tender hearted, the Bible says.
But there's a line, when God feels a certain way about something, you better feel the exact
same way.
Sure, I'm fine with people having a default of being tender hearted, amen.
But it's like when you read the Bible and he's like, all right, I hate these people.
It's like, well, you better hate them too.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 1.
Notice what it says, and the Lord said unto Samuel.
Now who is Samuel?
Samuel's the prophet.
Samuel's a great man of God, right?
Samuel's a good guy, but notice, and the Lord said unto Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn
for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
Fill thine horn with oil and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons.
Notice how God feels about it.
Look, God like Saul originally, God chose Saul originally, Saul was a good king at first,
but you know what happened?
Saul got super prideful, Saul got super envious, and Saul started taking upon himself to do
the role of a priest that he was not authorized to do.
God tells Saul, hey, I want you to wipe out the Amalekites, I want you to kill the ass,
the sheep, all of their livestock, kill it all, and then he didn't do that.
He spared for himself.
He just took it upon himself to say, hey God, I know better than you, I'm gonna do it my
own way.
And you know what?
He eventually lost his kingdom.
And Samuel felt a certain way about that.
Samuel had sympathy towards that.
Samuel felt bad about that, but notice that was not the right attitude to have.
That was the wrong attitude to have.
And God was actually annoyed and upset and pissed off at Samuel, who's a good guy, for
mourning for Saul.
He's saying, how long are you gonna mourn for Saul?
Do you not understand that I'm the one that rejected him?
Do you not understand that I'm the one that took his kingship away from him?
And when you sympathize with the wicked who God has judged, what you're saying is, God,
I don't like your judgment.
God, I don't like the way that you've judged the situation.
I don't like the way that you think about that.
And you know what?
I'm smarter.
I'm better.
I'm more righteous than God.
You know what?
That attitude pisses him off.
He says, how long will you mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him?
You know, it's so funny to me how hypocritical people are and how they want to just look
so righteous.
They're such a bleeding heart.
They're so sympathetic.
And they're so sad when Saul steps down.
They're so sad when Saul loses his kingship, but you know, you never heard the tears when
Saul was throwing javelins at David.
Isn't that funny?
It's so funny to me.
People are so sad when Saul steps down, but they said nothing in support of David when
David was having javelins thrown at his head from Saul.
It's so funny to me how people want to cry over Saul, but they didn't care when Saul
was slandering David.
They didn't care when Saul was lying.
When Saul was involved in moral sin, you didn't see the tears for that.
You just see the tears for him stepping down.
You know what?
It's wicked.
And you sit here and you have sympathy for Saul.
When God kicks Saul out, you are wicked.
You're not better than people because you sit here and have such a bleeding heart and
you feel so good about yourself for being sympathetic.
No, no, no.
How long will you mourn for Saul seeing that God has removed him?
And it's like we see this all the time.
Churches will have pastors have to step down because they were stealing money for the church
or they were involved in prostitution or they were just involved in these wicked sins.
And you know what?
The right attitude is not sit here and mourn and cry for that person, you know, mourn and
cry for the sin.
Why don't you mourn and cry that you've been following a bad person?
Why don't you mourn and cry that you have been a partaker of evil deeds by going along
with lies, by going along with slander, by keeping silence when David was having javelins
thrown at him?
You know, why don't you mourn for your own wickedness?
That's what people should be doing today.
But instead they're just so sad that Saul has stepped down.
You know what?
How long will thou mourn for Saul seeing I've rejected him from reigning over his
throne?
Now here's the thing.
It would be one thing if you're mourning like, man, I wish that Saul had just gotten
things right.
I wish Saul would have not attacked David.
I wish that Saul would have not taken upon himself to do things that were not right
for him to do.
Man, I wish he would have just taken the rebuke.
I wish he would have taken the correction.
Yeah, let's feel sorry for that thing.
But it's like, but we're not sorry though, when someone needs to get taken out that God
takes them out.
I'm going to stand with God's judgment and not be a respecter of persons because that's
what people are today.
A bunch of respecters of persons.
Go if you would to Psalm 106, Psalm 106.
It's like you know I've seen this with other churches where like a pastor or staff member
will get busted for like taking advantage of minors, having inappropriate relations
with girls in their office or stuff like horrible stuff has happened in churches before.
And you know it always makes me so mad when this stuff happens and the church gets up,
the staff gets up and they're like crying for the perpetrator.
Where they're like oh this person you know just fell from grace, it could just happen
to anyone.
Like where's the tears for the women that were abused?
Where's the tears for the people that were hurt?
Where's the tears for the actual victims of this stuff?
But people just want to have the tears for Saul today.
You know it's pathetic.
Look at Psalm 106, Psalm 106 verse 32, notice they angered him also at the waters of strife
so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes, because they provoked his spirit so that he
spake unadvisably with his lips.
Notice this, they did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them.
So God is angry at the children of Israel because there was nations that he wanted them
to destroy that they did not.
So people that have this idea, oh, it's always good to be sympathetic, it's always good to
be merciful in every situation.
No, he's condemning them for being too merciful here.
Verse 35, "But were mingled among the heathen and learned their works, and they served their
idols which were a snare unto them, yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
They were defiled with their own works, and went to whoring with their own inventions.
Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, notice, insomuch that
He abhorred His own inheritance."
I mean that's intense right there.
Notice how angry God is with His people here.
Why?
The fact that He said, "Hey, wipe these people out, destroy these nations, and they didn't
do it."
Right?
Sinful sympathy.
Now why is it God wanted them to do this?
Go to Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 7, what are we seeing here?
We're seeing that hey, there are times where God gets angry when you spare, when you hold
back, when you have pity.
I mean think about this, in a different example, doesn't the Bible say, "Let not thy soul
spare for his crying, thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from
hell."
Right?
It's a sinful type of sympathy.
What about when the kid needs a spanking and you withhold that spanking from him because
you want to be mindful of those tears?
That would be like a sinful sympathy, right?
Look at Deuteronomy 7 verse 1, "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land,
whither thou goest to possess it and hast cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites
and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Parisites and the Hivites
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, and when the Lord thy
God shall deliver them before thee, notice thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy
them, thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, this is God's commandments,
he's saying do not show mercy to these wicked people, neither shalt thou make marriages
with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou
take unto thy son, why?
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so will
the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly.
God's saying, hey, I want you to wipe out these heathen nations, don't show any mercy,
utterly destroy them, because here's the thing, if you don't destroy these nations, if you
just act like these nations are just as valid as ours, their culture, their religion is
just as valid as ours, the problem with that is that your kids are going to marry them
some day, and you know what's going to happen is your children's hearts are going to be
turned away from the Lord, and then my wrath is going to be kindled against you.
That would be a way to apply this today.
You know, preachers need to get up and make it very, very clear that false religion is
false religion, and not get up and act like, oh, you know, Muslims, they're pretty nice,
you know, they respect Jesus, you know, at least Muslims respect Jesus, right?
It's like, no, no, no, they believe in a different Jesus.
They reject that he's the Messiah.
They reject that he's God.
It is a false religion.
And if you are a Muslim, if you die without believing in Christ, changing to Christianity,
you will go to hell.
Hey, Jews today.
A lot of people want to make excuses for Jews and say, well, you know, we worship the same
God.
No, if you don't have the son, you don't have the father.
The Bible says, oh, no, the Jews, they're just we're a Judeo-Christian nation.
What are you talking about?
That's the synagogue of Satan, the Bible says.
That's like saying, hey, we're a satanic Christian nation.
And you know, unfortunately, that's kind of true because we do have a lot of people that
venerate the satanic religion of Judaism today.
But you know, we should be as a Christian nation.
No hyphen needed.
Go, if you will, to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter number eight.
I just want to show you like verse after verse on this, that this is not a principle I'm
just making up, that sometimes it's wrong to sympathize, that sometimes it's wrong to
show mercy.
No, no, no.
There's tons of Bible on this.
Look at Ezekiel chapter eight verse six.
He said furthermore unto me, son of man, seest thou what they do, even the great abominations
that the house of Israel committed here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary, but
turn the yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations.
So God is taking Ezekiel in a vision to show him the wickedness of the rulers and the
abominations that are happening.
Verse seven, and he brought me to the door of the court and when I looked, behold a hole
in the wall.
Then said he unto me, son of man, dig now in the wall.
And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
And he said unto me, go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
So I went in and saw and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts
and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about.
It's like he's looking into the Epstein files or something.
And he's seeing all the weird wall art at Epstein's house.
Verse 11, "And there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel.
And in the midst of them stood Jezaniah the son of Shafan, with every man his censer in his hand.
And a thick cloud of incense went up.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark?
Every man in the chambers of his imagery, for they say the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth.
He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north.
Notice this. And behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
You know, it's interesting how these women here.
So you've got these ancients, these elders of Israel, the rulers, the leaders,
and they're involved in this weird religious ritual.
There's incense going up.
They're in this dark, creepy room, creeping things.
There's idols everywhere.
So you got like Satan worship going on behind this wall.
And then, you know, we also have is like women just crying,
women just bawling their eyes out here for Tammuz.
And you know, what's interesting about this is that these women are not sitting
here crying for their wickedness, crying for the abominations that are going on,
crying that the elders are worshipping Satan.
They're crying for their false god.
don't we see a lot of that today we see a lot today of people that they have
sympathy they have tears they have emotion they have sadness but it's for
the wrong thing right hey they're just so sad that they got exposed they're sad
they're crying that they got called out they said they're sad they're crying
that things are crumbling around them instead of being sad and crying for
being a gossip being a loudmouth being a tail bearer being a railer being a
fornicator being a drunkard being an idolater you know that's what people
should be crying over today instead of sitting here crying for false gods
crying about Islam crying about Judaism you know why don't we cry for the
wickedness in our land and if you're guilty of sin if I'm guilty of sin why
don't we sit here and feel emotional and bad that we've sinned not that we're
getting caught not that we're getting called out not sitting here being like
these women just weeping for tamu's good revelation - I said number one God is
angry when you sympathize with the wicked number two we need to refuse
sinful sympathy that's the application of this truth today is that hey we know
that God doesn't like it when we sympathize with the wicked we need to
refuse simple or sorry sinful sympathy yes have a tender heart yes have a soft
heart but don't have a bleeding heart what does it mean to be a bleeding heart
is when you're overly sympathetic with people you shouldn't be sympathetic with
when you're crying about something you shouldn't be crying about that's being
a bleeding heart draw the line where God does look at Revelation 2 verse 1 the
Bible says unto the angel of the church of Ephesus right these things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of
the seven golden candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience
notice what Jesus says and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and
has tried them which say they are Apostles and are not and has found them
liars notice Jesus is commending this church and he's saying hey here are some
things that you are doing good he's like I really like that you can't bear
those that are evil that you can't put up with those that are evil Jesus
commends them for that says that's good this is like the exact opposite of the
Corinthian Church where Paul is writing to them and he says hey it's reported
commonly that there's fornication among you such fornication that's not even
named among the Gentiles that one would have his father's wife he's saying
there's this open known situation of fornication in your church that's a
horrific form of it and he's like hey you haven't mourned you're sitting here
boasting that was the attitude of the Corinthian Church they're sitting there
boasting oh we're so loving we receive people sleeping with their father's
wife into our church we're so loving that we allow railers in our church we're
so loving that we allow drunkards and all the things that the Bible says not
to condone of they're boasting that they are condoning of it whereas the opposite
is here in Revelation he says hey I like that you cannot bear those that are evil
you know that needs to be the reputation of our church as well we want God to
look down from heaven and say hey obviously we're not perfect obviously we
need to work on things obviously I'm sure there's things that God would
instruct us to do better but I want him to at least say hey I know that you
don't put up with those that are evil you don't bear those that are evil we're
not gonna be sinfully sympathetic at anchor Baptist Church go if you would to
Isaiah 58 Isaiah chapter 58 why you're turning there second John 1 2 says
whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God
he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son
if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine receive him not into your
house neither bid him God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker
of his evil deeds right so if someone's going around and they're preaching a
false gospel they're preaching damnable heresy maybe there's some people that go
door-to-door that do this maybe they're Mormons the Mormons go around and they
teach a false gospel they teach another testament of Jesus Christ they teach a
different Jesus than the Bible they teach one that was created that Jesus is
a created being that he's the brother of Satan and Mormons teach of course works
salvation that you've got to go to the temple you've got to get married and
sealed in the temple you got to wear their special undergarments you got to
follow all their rules to get to heaven and the Bible says hey don't even
receive that person into your house don't even bid him God's speed don't
even say God bless you no because if you do that the Bible says you are a
partaker of their evil deeds and I take that very seriously if Mormons have ever
come to my house I don't sit there and have a conversation with them I kick
them out I tell them go to hell you're preaching a false gospel and sometimes
people want to act like they're so loving oh we just need to preach that
person the gospel no that's not what the Bible says the Bible says hey don't
even receive that person the Apostle Paul said if any man preaches any other
gospel then that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed can
Mormons be saved sure they can Mormons that go on their mission way less likely
I believe most Mormons that go on their mission are reprobates or false prophets
Isaiah 58 look at verse number one the Bible says cry aloud spare not lift up
thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression in the house
of Jacob their sins hey we should not be sinfully sympathetic when it comes to
hard preaching you know as a pastor preachers can often have this temptation
to spare the preaching to hold back or to not preach things that need to be
preached because they don't want to offend people they don't want to worry
about the political game of who's gonna be offended who's not what does the
Bible say hey cry aloud and spare not and you know we need pastors today that
are just gonna get up and preach whatever it is that God is late on their
heart from the Bible and not sit here and think oh what is this person gonna
think what is this is this person gonna get mad no no just cry aloud and spare
not it would be sinfully sympathetic if I sat here and said well there's a
sermon that God's people need but I'm gonna hold it back because I don't want
to offend them because I don't want to hurt their feelings you know that would
be a sin cry aloud spare not you know what don't sit here and despise
prophesying either don't be a bleeding heart when someone does get called out
when you do get your toes stepped on what someone you know gets their toes
stepped on we should only be thinking is it right does it match up with what the
Bible says not thinking oh is that about me so what if it was about you if it was
about you sounds like you needed it then sounds like the sermon was for you why
do you want to come to church and just hear sermons that have nothing to do
with you whatsoever you know it should be about you every sermon is about you
go to Acts chapter number 20 now I love how the Apostle Paul he actually had
this mentality he did this very well and you know what this is hard this is a
hard thing to do to love people the way that the Bible says by delivering
whatever they need even when you know that could hurt sometimes and it's so
funny we're often accused of oh you're trying to preach against this person or
was that sermon about me but I'll just be honest like in times past I have been
guilty of man I have the sermon idea but this person's gonna think it's about
them I have been guilty of doing that in the past and recently I've just decided
I'm just done doing that I don't want to do that I don't want to be guilty of
being sinfully sympathetic and it's just like if I'm reading something in my
Bible and the Holy Spirit is speaking to me about it I'm just gonna preach that
sermon regardless I am NOT gonna hold back why because look at Acts chapter
20 verse 20 look at what the Apostle Paul said he said and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you but have showed you and have taught you
publicly and from house to house I love how the Apostle Paul could stand up
with a clear conscience and say hey I have kept back nothing that was
profitable to you the Apostle Paul was not trying to be a politician he was not
trying to make sure that he was liked by everyone he was not trying to make sure
that he could hold on to every single church member and every single person
would stay his friend and every single person would love him and like him he
just said here's all I'm concerned about is making sure that everything that's
profitable to you is being preached that I'm keeping back nothing from you
that's the right attitude to have go to 1st Corinthians 5 1st Corinthians
chapter number 5 so hey false religion don't be a bleeding heart hard
preaching don't be a bleeding heart church discipline don't be a bleeding
heart when it comes to church discipline now I kind of read some of
this just from memory but let's read it together 1st Corinthians 5 verse 1 it is
reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such
fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have
his father's wife I mean this is a gross situation we just read these as words on
the page but just imagine you're going to church and there's a person in church
where it's just open it's known everyone knows that this person at church is
sleeping with his father's wife that's gross I mean that should shock and
horrify everyone and he's like writing like what is wrong with you people verse
two and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that have done
this deed might be taken away from among you he's like you guys are prideful
about how loving and accepting you are but you should be crying and mourning
that you haven't dealt with this situation that you have not kicked out
this person from your assembly he says for I verily as absent in body but
present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him
but have so done this deed he's saying this is not a hard situation to judge
this is not real nuanced we have to really you know consult the experts here
he's like I'm not even there I've already judged what should happen in
this situation in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered
together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such
in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus now look that is a harsh punishment getting
kicked out of church is a big deal because what that person is experiencing
is God just allowing that person delivering that person over to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh why so that their life would be destroyed so
they could come to themselves right like the prodigal son where his life just
gets destroyed he hits rock bottom and finally he comes to himself and he's
like man I was such an idiot why was I rebelling against my father why was I
not appreciative of the life that he gave me why did I waste his goods why
did I waste my inheritance why have I been living you know with the harlots
and doing all this wicked stuff he's like I'd rather just be a servant in my
father's house he returns to his father with humility and of course his father
receives him gladly the family receives him gladly you know church discipline
the point of it is to inflict punishment on that person for them to
experience the destruction of their life so that they would get right with God
so that they could be profitable in the future so that they could have a good
life in the future but you know it is not loving to just sit here and coddle
people that are guilty of the sins that the Bible lists in first Corinthians
5 and just act like it's not a big deal you know you're harming that person and
you're harming the church you know someone's guilty of fornication you are
gonna be confronted on that you're gonna be given an opportunity to repent and if
it doesn't you are going to be kicked out of church and you know what when
someone gets kicked out of church you need to not be sinfully sympathetic in a
bleeding heart and still be that person's bestie when they get kicked out
of church because the whole point is that the church cuts fellowship with
this person so that they would be motivated to do right but it's like when
they go to a church and they're already super backslidden and worldly and it's
evident by the fact that they're drunkard and a railer and a fornicator
or whatever is on that list and then the pastor breaks fellowship with them they
don't care because they didn't like the pastor anyways you know that's why
they're living a super worldly wicked life they don't like the hard preaching
they don't like the pastor but what they often like is their friends at church
and when friends at church just continue acting like it's the same you know what
then you're being simply sympathetic in that situation you are actually guilty
you are being a bleeding heart and look I don't just I'm not just preaching this
having not done this like I have done this where I've had friends kicked out
of church for railing and you know what I did I deleted them from Facebook I
unfriended them on social media I stopped texting them and they freaked out and got
upset and I just said hey I want the best for you get right with God and
everything will be back to normal and you know of course the Bible teaches that
when someone is repentant you should receive them in the spirit of meekness considering yourself, right?
So obviously we want people to be restored. We want people to get right with God
We want them to go forward and having a blessed life
But you know the only way to do that is by showing some tough love by actually saying you know what?
I'm not gonna be a bleeding heart not gonna be sinfully sympathetic
God's judgment is that they would be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. You know what?
I'm gonna stand with God. I'm gonna stand with the Church of God
I'm gonna stand with the man of God not stand with the railer with the fornicator
Go to Matthew 18 few more verses here Matthew chapter number 18
Matthew 18 really spells it out how we're supposed to act when someone is like this
Matthew 18 verse 15 says moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between me and him alone
If he shall hear thee thou's gain thy brother. So someone offends you someone's done, you know something wrong to you
Tell that person. Hey tell that person what they've done
And then if they hear you you've gained your brother
But if you will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses
Every word may be established. But again, I always say this is for you know, serious offenses
This isn't for like oh, you know, she wore the same dress as me on the same day and I didn't want to match
So let's do Matthew 18, you know, this is for a big deal
Right verse 17 notice and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church
But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican just saying hey
Done with you. We're not fellow shipping with you. We're not having anything to do with you
You're under the judgment of the church. You've been marked by the man of God. You've been marked by the church
Hey, we're breaking fellowship. Go to Ezekiel chapter 9 Ezekiel chapter number 9
Of course
There's other places that talk about this Romans 16 people that caused a vision to teach doctrine contrary to that which we've heard
We're supposed to mark and avoid those
Second Thessalonians 3 if someone's walking disorderly not working at all
We're supposed to note that man and have no company with him. You know, this is a very biblical principle
I'm teaching the last place we'll go to look at Ezekiel chapter 9
Notice this right here and the Lord said unto him go through the midst of the city
through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the
Abominations that be done in the midst thereof so Ezekiel's in a vision and God's saying hey
I want you to go through the city
and I want you to put a mark on the forehead of all the people that are bothered by the wickedness that are upset and
Angry and emotional about the wickedness. I mean notice they're sighing. They're crying. They've got sympathy, don't they?
They've got emotional feelings don't they but notice that these people emotions are the right emotions
These people's sympathy is the right type of sympathy because they're crying and sighing for all the
Abominations that be done in the midst thereof. What does that mean?
It means when they hear about the Epstein files, you know, they're angry they're angry and they're heartbroken about the people that have been abused
Hey when people are being slandered are being railed against they're angry about that when they see Saul
Throwing javelins at David. They're not saw sad that Saul lost his kingdom. They're annoyed at the javelins that are being thrown
They're sighing and crying about the actual wickedness that's being done not necessarily the consequences for the person doing it
They're sighing and crying about these things notice in verse 5 and see the others
He said in mine hearing go ye after him through the city and smite let not your eyes spare there
It is again neither have ye pity
Slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women
But come not near any man upon whom is the mark and begin at my sanctuary
Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house look this mentality this principle that I've showed you this morning
The world does not think this way the world wants to brainwash us into tolerate everything
Love everything accept everything and I've shown you that if you adopt that mentality you are inviting God's judgment on your life
Because if you love those that hate God if you help the ungodly God's wrath is upon you
If God has appointed someone for destruction and you harbor that person you buddy with that person
You cheer on people worthy of death you pray for people worthy of death you team up with them
God's wrath is upon you when God has executed his judgment on someone and he says hey this person is evil
He's getting his kingship taken away from him, and you're gonna sit here and cry God's angry at you
Hey when false religion is going on in the land, and it's just being exalted
It's being promoted and a bunch of women are weeping for tamoos that makes God angry when the church
Exercises church discipline, and you cry and sigh over the fact that this person got in trouble
God's mad at you when hard preaching goes forth and you're offended and you feel bad for people that are getting called out rather than the sin
That's been committed rather than standing with God's word. God's mad at you
What's the whole point of the sermon is I don't want God's judgment to be against you
I want to make sure that things do go well for you
So you know you have to do you have to reject sinful sympathy you have to have your mind renewed
You have to read this book every single day and say okay God
I want to know how you think about this situation
I want to know how you think I should be judging this situation
Not just walking according to your own opinions your own ideas your own bleeding heart because you know what your bleeding heart can get you in
Trouble we need to reject sinful sympathy. Let's pray Lord. Thank you so much for your word
I pray that you help us all to renew our minds to think about things the way that you do
To help us of course to be tender-hearted people to be merciful to be loving
But not in areas where you've told us not to help us to draw the line where you have in your word in Jesus
Let me pray. Amen. This time we'll go to our last hymn for the morning if you'll grab your himnals
Turn to number 37. There'll be no dark valley
Him number thirty seven three seven. There'll be no dark valley
37 we'll sing there starting on the first
There'll be no dark valley
When Jesus comes there'll be no dark valley
When Jesus comes to gather his love once more
Together his love once more
There'll be no dark valley
When Jesus comes
Man with that you are dismissed