also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof not by constraint,
but willingly, not for filthy lucre,
but of a ready mind.
Now there is being lords over God's heritage,
but being in samples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear,
you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject one to another
and be clothed with humility,
for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant,
'cause your adversary the devil is a roaring lion,
walking about seeking whom he may devour,
whom resist steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
But the God of all grace who hath called us
unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered awhile,
make you perfect, established, strengthened, settle you.
To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.
By Sylvain as a faithful brethren to you,
as I suppose I have written briefly,
exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God
wherein ye stand.
The church that is at Babylon elected together with you,
saluteeth you, and so doth Marcus my son.
Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity.
Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus, amen.
And let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you for your word,
and we just ask that you would bless our pastor now
with your Holy Spirit as he preaches,
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Okay, we're in 1st Peter chapter 5 this morning.
Look down at your Bibles in verse number 1.
It says, "The elders which are among you I exhort,
who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly,
not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind."
And the subject of my sermon this morning is filthy lucre.
I'm going to preach on the subject of filthy lucre
and what the Bible says regarding
this particular subject here.
Now hold your place there in 1 Peter chapter 5.
We're going to come back to that in just a bit.
Go to Exodus 22, Exodus chapter 22.
What is filthy lucre?
It's not necessarily a term that we are accustomed using today.
But filthy lucre simply refers to the monetary wealth that
is obtained unrighteously, money or profit that
is obtained in an unrighteous manner,
profit that is made through unrighteous means.
Lucre, you think of the term lucrative,
it's simply referring to that which is monetary wealth.
And you think of something that is lucrative,
it's often referring to something that is producing
a lot of him as an usurer.
Neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge,
thou shall deliver it unto him, by that the sun goeth down.
For that is his covering only, it
is his raiment for his skin.
Wherein shall he sleep, and it shall come to pass,
when he crieth unto me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.
So usury in the Bible is essentially
referring to lending to someone regarding monetary needs
or whatever it may be, but with excessive and unreasonable
interests.
And the Bible seems to mention it in the context of exploiting
the poor for gain.
Now keep in mind that lending is not a sin.
Lending is a biblical practice that we
see here.
And in fact, the Bible specifically
says to lend money to anybody who is poor by thee.
And it even talks about taking someone's raiment, which
is referring to their clothing, as a pledge.
Just taking and say, OK, this is what you're going to pay me.
I'm going to keep this until you do so,
until you decide to pay me back.
But it even says here that if you
take something that belongs to someone as a pledge,
and it's part of their necessity,
you need to return it to them if they need it by sundown,
if they need it as a covering, if they needed to protect
themselves from the elements.
And so obviously, the implication here
is that you should lend to someone.
But you know, you've got to keep in mind,
you've got to be merciful to this individual as well,
and not be wicked about it, not be unrighteous regarding
your lending.
Make sure that you're doing this in a charitable manner,
because you're extending your help to them, right?
But lending with excessive and unreasonable interest
was a sin when it came to the context of dealing with this
within the nation of Israel.
Lending was encouraged as a form of mercy and social welfare
in Israel.
Loans were typically relief loans.
And of course, as I mentioned, the purpose of loans
were for essentially survival, recovery from hardships,
famine relief, et cetera.
Go to Leviticus 25, if you would, Leviticus chapter 25.
So of course, this means that if a person was--
they fell into poverty because of the fact
that they became injured, some evil came upon them.
And they asked an Israelite for a loan.
They were encouraged to impart that loan.
They were encouraged to give to their brother,
to give to their fellow citizen, but not with interest.
OK, why?
Because that would compound poverty within Israel.
Look at Leviticus 25 in verse 35.
It says, "And if thy brother be wax and poor--"
Leviticus 25 verse 35 says, "If thy brother be wax and poor
and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shall relieve him."
Meaning that you should give to him.
You should loan to him.
You should provide for his needs.
"Yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner,
that he may live with thee."
So this is saying, hey, if someone
is a citizen of Israel, even if they're a stranger--
now, who's a stranger referring to?
It's referring to someone who may be like an Egyptian,
for example, that came with the children of Israel out of Egypt.
They weren't necessarily born of Israel.
They're not necessarily a part of the 12 tribes.
But they're now officially a citizen of Israel
through circumcision, through the keeping of the covenant.
And so if this person is fallen in wax and poor,
they're fallen in some sort of financial decay,
they're in a financial bind, you should lend to this person
and not charge interest, not charge, not be a usurer to them.
Because at the end of the day, they're
still part of the citizenship of Israel.
You should be kind unto your neighbor
and help them in that way.
Verse 36 says, "Take thou no usury of him or increase,
but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.
Thou shall not give him thy money upon usury,
nor lend him thy vittles for increase."
Vittles is referring to food.
And so practicing usury, meaning charging me on usury,
yet every one of them doth curse me.
So what is the implication here?
The implication is that it's very well known
that people who practice usury are cursed, right?
That's what it's basically saying.
And so we see here that it carries
this negative connotation of practicing usury
with the intent to exploit the poor, render people
into poverty, destroy the economy, and so forth.
Let me read you another verse, Ezekiel 22 and verse number 11.
It says, "And one hath committed abomination
with his neighbor's wife, and another hath
lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another in thee
hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood.
Thou hast taken usury and increase,
and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion,
and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand
at thy dishonest gain, which thou hast made,
and at thy blood, which thou hast been in the midst of thee."
Go to Psalm 15, if you would, Psalm 15.
And then we're going to go to Deuteronomy 23, Psalm 15.
So we see here that the vast majority of mentions
of usury in the Bible are often in a very negative connotation.
It's often associated with unrighteous gain,
dishonest gain, taking advantage of the innocent,
taking advantage of the poor, increasing their own goods
at the expense of someone else's poverty.
And again, not all usury in the Bible is bad,
but the vast majority of it is.
And I want to make it very clear that when we talk about usury,
we're not just talking about lending,
because lending is a biblical concept.
Usury is referring to the interest
that people charge when they lend to someone.
If I lend you $5, well, I'm going
to charge you an extra $5 for lending you that $5.
That's what interest is.
And the Bible strictly condemns that
within the nation of Israel.
But even in the New Testament, we're to go 20 miles, right?
We're to go the extra mile.
And the Bible specifically tells us
that if we lend to someone, we should just give it to them,
asking nothing in return, OK?
And we'll get into that in just a bit.
Look at Psalm 15 and verse number 1.
It says, "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"
What is this referring to?
It's referring to the fact-- he's
giving this poetic language here to describe the man who
will be blessed of God, right?
You think of the tabernacle and the holy hill.
This is referring to an individual who
dwells in the presence of God.
And because of that is blessed of the Lord.
God's hand is on that individual.
So the psalmist is asking someone
of this rhetorical question, like,
who is going to be the person who
dwells in the presence of God, who has God's hand on him,
God's blessing on him?
Verse two says, "He that walketh up rightly,
and worketh righteousness, and speaketh
the truth in his heart."
So obviously, he's referring to just an honest person, right?
Be honest.
Be a person of truth.
And here's a good way for you to just be outwardly honest
with others.
Be honest in here, right?
Do not be a person of inward deception, a cunning individual,
conjuring up how to lie, how to be dishonest.
Just be an honest individual, right?
Be honest with the Lord, be honest with others.
Don't try to put up a front in front of other individuals.
Just be honest, OK?
The person who speaks truth in his heart
is going to be the individual who speaks truth with others.
Sometimes a little too excessively, right?
But I'll be honest with you.
I prefer the person who's just blunt with me, honest with me,
than the person who's just flattering,
the person who's just this excessive and constant praise
that shallow, that's insincere, because that individual is
obviously not speaking the truth in their hearts.
They're being subtle, they're being cunning.
God blesses the individual who's just honest,
even sometimes honest to a fault.
They offend people, or maybe it's just like, well,
at least we know how you really feel, right?
I prefer that individual, though.
Just tell me the truth, even if it hurts,
even if it hurts my feelings, even if it hurts
everyone's feelings, at least we know what you actually believe
and who you actually are.
He says in verse three, "He that backbiteeth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor."
So the person who's blessed of God
is not just an honest individual,
but he's righteous with his neighbors.
He's not seeking to lay a trap for his neighbors.
He's not competing with his neighbors.
He's not trying to keep up with the Joneses.
He's not coveting his neighbor's wife, his neighbor's ass,
his neighbor's oxen.
He's dwelling righteously with the people
who are living around him, right?
He says in verse four,
"In whose eyes a vile person is condemned."
So according to God,
the person who's blessed with the Lord is not just honest.
It's not just righteous with other people.
It's a person who just hates evil people.
Vile people in his eyes are wicked, right?
He's just like, I can't stand oppression, you know,
evil, iniquity, the workers of iniquity.
They're condemned in my eyes, right?
They're not constantly justifying the wicked, okay?
You know, tomorrow,
a lot of people are gonna be justifying the wicked.
Say why? 'Cause tomorrow's MLK day.
You know, and people are just gonna be like,
whoa, he did so much.
Yeah, yeah, we know he did a lot.
Yeah, we know.
The recordings are there.
They're gonna be released next year in January 31st, okay?
He's a wicked individual, though.
You say, why are you saying that?
Because I wanna dwell on the holy hill.
He says, "In whose eyes a vile person is condemned,
but he honoreth them that fear the Lord."
So, all right, the person who's blessed of God
is the individual who is honest, is good with his neighbor.
You know, in his eyes, a vile person is condemned,
but he also honors those who fear God,
regardless if it's popular or not, right?
It says here, "He that swearth to his own hurt
and changeth not."
So what is this referring to?
This is just another way of saying
that he's a person of integrity, okay?
If he promises something,
even if he comes out losing in the long run,
he's gonna keep his promise because of the fact
that he is a person who keeps his vows,
he keeps his oaths, right?
Even if it hurts him, he doesn't change on it.
He swears to his own hurt.
Verse five says, "He that put not out his money to usury,
nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved."
So if you wanna be blessed of God,
if you want God's hand to be on you,
whatever business you're involved in,
make sure you're not doing it unrighteously.
Whatever profit you're making,
make sure that it's honest profit.
It's not unjust gain.
It's not dishonest increase.
You're not charging interest for lending to someone.
Be blessed of God.
And you know what?
If you lend to someone and you never get it back,
at least you know that you'll get it back
from the Lord someday, right?
That's how it should work.
Point that I'm making here is that God obviously condemns
usury with the intent to exploit someone
who just doesn't have the money, right?
With the intent to exploit the poor,
oppress them just to increase your financial goods.
That's a wicked thing to do.
This is why these corner stores that lend money
are extremely wicked.
Payday, whatever those are called.
And notice that they're never really in the nice areas,
right?
They always put them in the ghetto areas
because they want to exploit people who may not
have the financial savviness to actually avoid
places like that, OK?
And so those places are wicked.
And to a certain degree, yes, credit cards are--
the people who are over credit cards
are also wicked because they want to charge interest on you.
They want you to go into debt.
Now let me explain something.
I don't believe it's wicked to use a credit card.
The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible does say that we should pay off our debts.
You should deliver yourself like a bird
from the hand of the fowler.
You should pay off your debts.
If you swore, you swore to your own herd.
Make sure you keep your promise and be a person of integrity.
Even if it takes you a lifetime to pay off the debt, just do it.
And so the Bible talks about that.
But the Bible doesn't talk about necessarily being sinful or evil
and being in debt because people fall into debt all the time
for a variety of reasons, even in the Bible.
It's obviously not right for you not to pay off your debts, though.
You should try to pay off your debts as much as you possibly can.
And so the Bible talks about that.
The point that I'm making is the sinfulness
is on the individual who's exploiting the individual who
is going into debt because they want to make money off of them.
Deuteronomy 23, Deuteronomy 23.
And so usury, again, is often given in the context
or has the connotation of being evil and being
wicked when someone is practicing it with the intent
to make money off of the poor, to exploit the poor,
exploit someone who is vulnerable
in a vulnerable situation.
That is obviously evil to do.
The nation of Israel was supposed to practice
lending to their brother to help them get back on their feet,
to provide for their needs.
And even if you got nothing in return,
then the nation won.
Because lending to a brother, helping
them to get back on their feet, is going to help the economy
just in general.
However, usury was permissible with other nations,
according to the Bible.
This was seen as international commerce.
Look at Deuteronomy 23, verse 19.
It says here again, "Thou shalt not
lend upon usury to thy brother."
Usury of money, usury of vittles, usury
of anything that is lent upon usury unto a stranger
thou mayest lend upon usury.
Now, this stranger is referring to someone
who is in a different nation.
It's not referring to the strangers who are dwelling
within the nation of Israel, because of the fact
we just saw an example of that, right?
And he said not to lend upon usury
to those people who are in Israel.
So this would lead us to believe that verse 20,
the stranger in verse 20, is actually
referring to a foreign nation, OK?
He says unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury,
but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury,
that the Lord thy God may bless thee,
and all that thou settest thine hand to do in the land
whither thou goest to possess it.
Now, that's pretty much the only time
this is explicitly talked about when referring
to usury with other nations, OK?
So we don't have, necessarily, a whole lot of information
to go by, just basic Bible and Christian principles
that we can apply to it.
So why did God permit usury with other nations?
I know this is really exciting for you guys learning about this,
but you've got to learn the Bible,
and this is in the Word of God, and it's
important for you to learn this.
Why did God permit usury amongst other nations?
Well, because of the fact that other nations did not
receive debt forgiveness in the Jubilee, first and foremost.
And again, the usury that Israel practiced with other nations
was not usury, was not excessive interest
that would seek to destroy another nation's economy,
understand?
This was a nation that would be willing to purchase
some of the resources that Israel had
that they did not possess.
And they viewed it as an investment, okay?
They would purchase it, it was with interest.
And of course they didn't have to, but they did,
in order to have some resources, certain minerals,
grain, whatever it may have been.
And you gotta keep in mind that these nations
did not have the covenant.
Now what's the significance of not having the covenant?
Well, within the nation of Israel,
God had laws that every seven years,
debt would be forgiven.
What a, man, that would be awesome here, right?
Every seven years, financial debt
would just be completely forgiven.
Now one of the reasons that God did that,
aside from the fact that that would just be great
for the economy, it would actually cause
those who are lending to others,
not be excessive in their land.
Or if someone said, "Hey, I'll pay this back to you."
You know what I mean?
It would cause them to avoid any form of usury.
'Cause they're like, if I charge some sort of
crazy amount of interest on this person,
they're never gonna pay it back
because it's gonna exceed seven years of payment.
And at seven years, I have to forgive them anyways.
And so all the debt would be forgiven, you understand?
So they didn't have that in their covenant.
They didn't have that in other nations.
That was something that was only unique
and subject to the nation of Israel,
being forgiven of their debt seven years.
But then every 50 years, you have the year of Jubilee.
And the year of Jubilee was not only a financial forgiveness,
but it's just like, they get their land back.
Like everything was restored
back to that particular family unit, which is awesome.
And this was God's system of just creating a robust
and safe economy for the nation of Israel, right?
So foreigners didn't have that.
So therefore interest could be charged into them.
But here's the thing, folks, is that interest
and usury practice with other nations was not a--
how should I say?
It wasn't necessarily permission to exploit them, right?
It was not without the moral laws of God, OK?
And so they didn't receive forgiveness in the Jubilee.
They didn't inherit land in those particular nations.
And as I mentioned, they didn't participate in Israel's
redistribution cycles that took place every 50 years.
And so charging interest was not a form of exploitation
with other nations.
And it wasn't covenant abuse as it would be
within the nation of Israel.
This passage in Deuteronomy 23 permits interest,
but it doesn't authorize extortion.
It didn't authorize fraud.
It doesn't authorize enslavement through debt.
And it doesn't authorize crushing interest rates.
30%, 80% interest rates, or whatever it may be.
Obviously, that's off the table, because God
expected them for them to be moral in their dealings
with others.
Now, how do we know that? Well, because Exodus 22 specifically says,
thou shalt not vex a stranger nor oppress him. Right.
And we often apply that to the strangers who are within Israel,
but it applies all across the board, even with strangers who are outside of
Israel. Meaning that the nation of Israel could not have a disposition of
oppression towards anybody. Okay. Why? For you are strangers in the land of Egypt.
It's about what the Bible says. Be honest. Don't be a thief. Don't be oppressive.
Don't be dishonest. Don't lie. You know, they're the light of the world, right?
They had the covenant, the word of God.
And so here's a good reason why God discouraged this is because God wanted
other nations to be attracted to Israel, right?
Can't be attracted if it's just like, nah, I owe that country like a bunch of money.
They destroyed our economy. They, they're, they're screwing us up. Now,
obviously that's kind of happening today, but I'm talking,
we're talking about old Testament. Okay. Two is different. Israel's here.
We're referring to, okay. Covenant mercy. Listen to this.
Covenant mercy governed Israel internationally. I'm sorry. Internally.
So, you know, no exploitation,
no oppressiveness going on in order to govern internally and keep everyone
honest and free of debt and a robust economy.
Moral law governed Israel universally.
So even though the rest of the world did not have the covenant, well,
the nation of Israel was still subject under God's moral law,
which would impede them or should restrict them from being wicked and
unrighteous with other nations. Does that make sense to everyone? Okay.
So that's why interest towards foreigners was permitted.
It was regulated by righteousness. It was never exploitative by design.
And it's vastly different from what Jews did throughout history. Okay.
Cause here's the thing is that Jews will often point to, you know,
Deuteronomy 23, not like the points of Bible period,
but only in their little self interest, you know,
they'll often point to this and say, well, this is why we never,
we lend to our, to other Jews, but it's okay to exploit the Goyim,
right? We can lend upon usury to the Goyim.
We can charge an exorbitant amount of interest to the Goyim, but no,
no, no, you can't. That's unrighteous, even according to the Mosaic law.
Furthermore, to use Deuteronomy 23 as a reason why they would do stuff like
that is completely nonsensical because of the fact that lending to their
brothers took place within the nation of Israel, usury with restrictions not
excessive was practiced outside of other nations. What Jews did throughout
history is go into nations and exploit them, right? Go into nations, practice
usury, crash their economy, destroy nations with their predatory lending
practices. That's not what Deuteronomy 23 is referring to. You understand what I'm
saying? And again, you know, Jews have done this throughout history. You know,
one of one of the most famous examples would be what he what they did with
Spain. Okay. And you know, there were we often say, well, the Jews are cursed
because of their rejection of Jesus Christ. And from a spiritual perspective,
that is 100% correct. Right? We know that's 100% correct. But from a
practical, practical perspective, it was because of their predatory lending
practices. You understand? Because people weren't just throwing them out because
of the rejection of Jesus Christ. That was the spiritual underlying reason why
God allowed them to be expelled. But as we saw with Jeremiah, they were just a
curse into the nations because of their predatory lending practices. And, you
know, when they were practicing usury in Spain and destroying their economy,
that's why they were expelled in 1942. Right? And, you know, ironically, after
they were expelled, like pretty much the same year, you know, Spain experienced
their golden era. Just everything got better. And the Bible says, "Take away
the dross from the silver, and it shall come forth a vessel for the finer." Take
away the righteous from before the king, and you know, I forgot the rest of the
verse, but you can look it up. It's about Jews. No, I'm just kidding. Take away the
righteous from before the king, and there shall, you know, his kingdom shall be
established in righteousness. Here I got it, okay? You know, it's basically saying
you'll have a righteous moral nation when you remove the dross. And when Jews
were removed, then they experienced all kinds of prosperity, and not because
they were Catholic either. It's just that when evil people are removed from any
nation, regardless of what religion they are, you know what I mean? Then a nation will
improve drastically. And so Jews were removed from Spain in 1492,
and of course that's when they began to experience their golden era. The point
that I'm making here is that this is one of the reasons why they've been removed
from 109 countries plus or whatever. It's because of the predatory lending
practices. And you know, the United States of America needs to be 110,
obviously. But it's never going to happen. You know, the
kingdom of God will be 110, though. Now, how should we apply Deuteronomy 23 and
the principles of lending here with us in the New Testament? How should we view
Deuteronomy 23? Well, I believe Deuteronomy 23 should be applied in a
national context when dealing with your own citizens and nations dealing with
other foreign nations. I think that's how it should be applied. Charging
interests in America should be illegal. I think that's an illegal practice,
especially for unrighteous gain. It should only be done on a national scale
when dealing with other nations but again a company with moral law, okay? And
so it should obviously never be done on an individual basis and especially
amongst Christians, okay? Now go to Luke chapter 6 if you would, Luke chapter
number 6, Luke chapter number 6 and you know there's Jews aren't the only ones
that do this. Obviously they're the major culprits but even even within
Hispanic cultures they do stuff like this where they'll lend money to others
and they'll make money off of them and you know I'm sure every culture has some
form of this but it's an evil practice, okay? It causes people to go into
poverty it just it's destructive. Look at Luke 6 verse 33 it says and if you do
good to them which do good to you what thank have ye for sinners also do
even the same and if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thank
have ye for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much gain but love ye your
enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be
great and ye shall be the children of the highest for ye is kind unto the
unthankful and to the evil the Bible says so according to the Bible you know
obviously we should have a spirit of charity with others right especially
when it comes to the household of faith the Bible says do good unto all men but
especially those of the household of faith and we should be willing to extend
a financial hand to someone who has fallen into financial decay you know
they're going through a rough time we should be able to reach out to help them
and not seek to take advantage of their situation okay but let me just give you
some advice here some counsel if this were to happen within the
context of Christians with Christians and I think this is the best way to go
about it if someone ever approaches you and says like you know hey can I I'm
struggling here can I get $100 you know what I mean I'll pay you back here's the
best way to deal with that okay if you have a hundred dollars to spare by the
way there's nothing wrong with saying no if you don't have it okay you're not a
wicked person if you're just like I don't got it sorry I could give you ten
dollars you know I mean we could split it split a Chipotle or something you
know but let's say let's say you do have it and it's not gonna break the bank
you know the Bible you know tells us and encourages us to be a blessing to
them right you know if a brother or sister be be naked in destitute of daily
food and whenever you're saying to them be warmed and filled notwithstanding you
give them not those things which are needful for the body what does it profit
right so we want to be profitable Christians we want to profit others in
their time of need it's okay to lend $100 but let me just advise you once you
do that just kiss it goodbye even if they say like hey I'll pay this back give
them a big back door out and the big back door out to say if you want to
that's fine but if you choose not to if you can't that's okay with me as well
you never have to bring it up okay because here's the thing folks is that
especially when it comes to people in church you don't want to come to church
on Sunday and the person you lend money to is like avoiding you or something
like that or they're avoiding coming to church because they owe you money you
know and by the way if someone owes you money you have absolutely no right to
extort that person and threaten that person either in fact extortion is
punishable by you know church discipline in our church okay and if
you're if you're hurting for that hundred dollars so bad I'll give you
the hundred dollars so just so you can be reconciled to your to your brothers
and sisters in Christ because here's the thing at the end of the day is it's
better to be defrauded but you gain your brother right so someone owes you money
you don't want them to have some sort of you know antagonistic disposition
towards you because they feel like they owe you money it's better to just
forget and say you know what it's my gift to you just keep it because I want
to have a good relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ I don't
want to think evil of them I don't want it to be awkward around them you
understand what I'm saying so on the flip side though if you're the person
asking for money if you vowed to pay that person back you better pay that
person back just from a righteous perspective you know make sure you keep
your vow to your own hurt you understand and if they tell you like hey you don't
have to pay it back then here's what you do okay thank you I appreciate it and
then find a way to pay them back anyways because at least you know you'll add
more value to your reputation if you do something like that and quite frankly
more people in the future will be willing to help you if you're an
individual who pays back their debts understand and so you know just on a
practical level that's how it should be dealt with because the relationships
that we have with one another is far more important okay now look I do I do
believe that you know you shouldn't just be lending to people who are just
absolute lazy they don't want to work they they're just drunkards you know
that's wrong to do as well you know we need to consider the cause of the poor
and that's not just in the context of people in church I think that should be
applied to your family as well you shouldn't be enabler and enabler to you
know people in your family who don't want to work they're drunkards they're
drug addicts they are just constantly spending their money on frivolous
things you know they're asking you for money but then they're posting on their
stores they're going on vacation or something like that you know I mean I
there's something wrong with that you understand you know I think you should consider the
cause of the poor as the Bible tells us to do and there's nothing wrong with
just saying no to a family member and saying no I can't I can't do that you
know this is not the best investment of my money I you know I don't trust you
you're gonna use I think you're gonna buy weed I saw you with the 40 the other
day it's just not happening you know what I mean and so that's important to note
as well don't be an enabler to the people in your family your friends your
neighbors you're only adding to their destruction and so that's important to
note as well so you know lend to people lend to God's people be a blessing you're
sowing seeds for the future and at the end of the day if you don't get it if
you never get it back the Bible says that you're essentially lending unto the
Lord and God always pays you back okay and he does pay you back with interest
too by the way okay and so you can never out give God just recognize when you
give to others you will receive it in return but be a good steward of the
resources that God has given to you don't just don't just throw money away
and let me just say this you know when you're out there soul winning and you're
going out to eat with your team you know those of you who are out there and of
course I don't know anybody I'm just throwing this out there as an example
you know don't try to take advantage of generous people either okay you know you
have that one guy or that one family is extremely generous with people always
buying them meals always picking up the bill or whatever may be you know you
pick up the bill every once in a while okay and don't have an attitude of
expectation you got me Maury right you got me right you understand you know
you're in line and you're just like yeah I'll also take a number what you'll take
what wait your turn you know don't that's that's an evil attitude as well a
spirit of expectation you understand and look you know let's just get personal
here okay you know and it's great that people go out zoning and you know what
people in our church are very generous they're very kind with others and quite
frankly if you go out zoning with your team and you're just down in the dumps
you're not able to you know you don't have money or whatever it may be I
promise you there's someone on your team someone in our church that will buy you
a really nice meal for sure that's a fact without even flinching you know
just get what you want bro you know you want the 20 piece get the 20 piece or
whatever okay but we're sharing you know I don't know but it but here's the
thing don't be a person who tries to take advantage of that either and if
this is like a constant thing like a weekly thing you just need to get a job
okay or if you already have a job then you need to manage your money better or
if you know you are managing your money great you just don't have money to eat
out all the time then eat out once a month and pack a sandwich like the next
couple weeks or whatever and and also don't be that person that goes with them
and just like no I'm good I'm just just hungry you know are you fasting yeah
yeah I'm fasting yeah I just lost my reward but whatever you know don't be
that person you know the people are not gonna want to be a blessing to you
they're not gonna want to provide for you you know they're gonna avoid you at
all costs if you're that individual be a person who scarcely needs to be helped
okay and when you are a person who scarcely needs to be helped you end up
being the person that people help the most you've accumulated a lot of
credibility and so when you most need it it's like oh yeah I'll help you out
because you're not you're this person never asked me for anything right and so
that's important to know that wasn't in my notes but you know it's it's an
important point go with if you would to Deuteronomy 23 go back to Deuteronomy 23
if you wouldn't point that I'm making here is that usury is considered filthy
lucre because it's people trying to make unjust gain ex you know by exploiting
poverty exploiting those who have less exploiting someone who is in a vulnerable
state in the situation in their life etc okay let me give you another example
filthy lucre and that is kidnapping is a form of filthy lucre that's the real
thing right the sexual trafficking of people that's called kidnapping and
people do that for money Bible tells us in Exodus 21 verse 16 and he that
stealeth the man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand he shall surely
be put to death according to the Bible according to the Bible you know human
sex traffickers all should be put to death they all deserve the death penalty
they should be stoned with stones or use a firing squad on them because God views
it as a very wicked act because of the fact that the vast majority of
kidnapping is done for sexual reasons perversions okay and so you know you
know Joseph's brother should have been put to death okay because they sold him
into slavery right and so stealing a man kidnapping is considered filthy lucre
obviously we know that but it's important to know also whoredom
prostitution this is another form of filthy lucre Leviticus 19 verse 29 says
do not prostitute thy daughter to cause her to be a whore lest the land fall to
whoredom in the land become full of wickedness yeah but you know is that
really a thing yeah it's just called only fans now though that's basically
prostitution okay and that is a form of filthy lucre it's not an honorable
position to have an only fans just to make money wicked it's evil you are
feeding into the monster of pornography of human sex trafficking of you know
just the iniquity that is available on the Internet that is filthy lucre it's
wicked to do look at Deuteronomy 23 and verse 17 it says there shall there shall
be no whore of the daughters of Israel nor sodomy of the sons of Israel thou
shall not bring the higher of a whore or the price of a dog now let me before I
continue here let's just do some Bible interpretation here okay verse 17 needs
to be interpreted through verse 18 vice versa meaning the whore of the daughters
of Israel is synonymous with what we see in verse 18 the higher of a whore and
then it says the sodomy and then the second verse says the price of a dog so
what is this telling us telling us that according to the biblical standard
sodomy homosexuals are dogs so the Bible says right this is not an accident this
is done on purpose and why would God you know describe a homosexual or
sodomy as a dog because they're just as filthy according to biblical standards
now if you're offended at that's because you haven't read the Bible you should be
far more offended at the perversion the abominations the sodomites in this land
than the language of the Bible so it's actually biblical to call sodomites
dogs according to the Bible and look if you've ever had a dog you know dogs are
filthy they'll eat their own vomit they're eat they'll eat their own
excrement sometimes they will you know just not to be vulgar here but they'll
do weird stuff right you know what I'm saying so God is accurate when he says
that that's exactly how homos are okay and look don't be offended to hear this
kind of preaching in the house of God this is God's house okay don't be
offended to hear sodomite don't be offended to hear whore don't be offended
to hear faggot don't be offended to hear queer the reason you're offended by
that is because of the fact you've been brainwashed by this limp wristed
Christianity that doesn't preach against sodomy that's why okay and let me just
say this pedophilia and homosexuality same thing look folks there's there's
secularists out there that understand that but people just Christians can't
seem to understand that for whatever reason because they've just been
brainwashed by weak preaching pedophilia homosexuality are one in the same and in
fact according to the Bible so is bestiality that's a fact not part of the
sermon because we're talking about filthy lucre but you know we've got to
mention the filthy homos too though okay let me just say this too you know this
is why I don't allow homosexuals in our church it's not permitted and you know
what if you don't agree cool just don't bring them though that's my policy here
pedophiles and homosexuals are not allowed in our church you say why I'll
tell you why because we've got kids in our church you know what I mean and we're
not trying to turn this thing into a Roman Catholic Church where kids get
molested we're not trying to turn this into a non-denom church that were
molestations and rapes take place and all this nonsense because you have these
homosexuals masquerading as Christians infiltrating churches in order to take
advantage of the innocent oh another pastor felt no he didn't pastors don't
fall into pedophilia you understand what I'm saying they don't fall into
pedophilia you know what you know what they do these are homosexuals
infiltrating churches masquerading themselves as pastors and taking
advantage of innocent people that's the way it works and if you don't agree with
that then you know just say you only read a devotional for for your Bible
reading or something look folks you know we're going through the book of Genesis
on Thursdays it'll do you well to come on the 19th week and you're like what's
the 19th what is that see that's what I'm talking about if you don't know
that's that's what I'm talking about okay and so and if you miss the 19th
week which I think brother Joseph told me the 19th week falls in June I think
so it's like like God ordained that's my sermon you know that's that's not my
sermon that's my point in this regard you know and you know I'll preach a
sermon on sodomites another day but I need to mention here because it's
mentioned here the reason they're called sodomites by the way is because the
where they originate from is from Genesis 19 from Sodom and Gomorrah and
Sodom is not only a biblical term it is a legal term as well the act of sodomy
and guess what from a legal perspective bestiality is included in the act of
sodomy from a legal term perspective how about that you know anyways point that
I'm making here is that God calls them dogs according to the Bible you know I
know this offends you because you got a homosexual for a cousin or an uncle or
something like that but you know you need a side with the Bible you need a
side with the Word of God and you need to recognize that this is what the Bible
says this is the authority you know you got a problem with that you need to take
it up with God God I don't agree you calling them dogs okay what do you think
he's gonna care? The Bible says in the New Testament beware of dogs and it's not
talking about like poodles when you're out sewing either it ain't talking
about pit bulls beware of those things too it's not talking about Rottweilers
it's talking about people my friends anyways back to the sermon here so verse
18 specifically says don't bring the hire of a whore the price of a dog into
the house of the Lord thy God for any vow for even both of these are an
abomination unto the Lord now we often you know like I just did use these
verses to talk about the whore and the dog right the sodomy to explain how
they're one in the same blah blah blah and obviously the whore is not the
sodomy these are two different people I'm referring to the sodomy and the dog
but what is the actual you know teaching of verse 18 what what's the crux of
this this is basically saying you should not use whatever money you got from
unrighteous dealings and you shouldn't bring them into the house of God you
know there is no tidying off of your lottery ticket right you can't bring the
hire of a whore is just like well what if I got I got a million dollars to
OnlyFans and I tied off of that don't bring the hire of a whore into the
house of God God doesn't want that or the price of a dog the price of a
sodomy God doesn't want that he doesn't want unrighteous money funneling through
the house of God if you got your money through unrighteous means God says I
don't want it because you got it through wicked means he wants honest money
right he wants you to operate honestly and at the end of the day God doesn't
need your money he what he wants is your integrity he wants your honesty right
and so he is concerned not what's just the money you get but how you got it if
you got it by theft if you got it by interest if you got it by usury if you
got it by selling drugs if you got it by stealing you got it through unjust
balances if you got it through just any dishonest means God's not interested in
it you know what I mean like but what if you know we played the lottery I get
like two million dollars we could buy a building I don't want your building I
don't want your building money God doesn't want it either he says it right
here don't bring the hire of a whore or the price of a dog into the house of the
Lord thy God for any vow the Bible says okay all right go to 1st Peter chapter
5 1st Peter chapter 5 talk about filthy lucre monetary wealth that is made in an
unrighteous manner usury being one of them within the context of a nation
practicing usury in order to increase your own wealth at the expense of
someone else's poverty exploiting them oppressing them in order to make money
is a very wicked thing to do kidnapping is a form of filthy lucre prostitution
and whoredom is a form of filthy lucre and and by the way yeah you know some of
you guys I there better not be anybody here you know paying some subscription
to some OnlyFans by the way I don't know I mean I criticize people out there but
you know what it could be amongst God's people too I don't know that could be a
temptation but you're you're a simp if that's you you're an embarrassment as a
Christian if that's you okay all right what's the last one that I want to talk
about this is the main one that I want to focus on here and that is the wages
of unrighteousness okay pastors that use the pastorate to make filthy lucre now
one of the reasons I even thought about this is because there's a comedian out
there his name is drusky okay and those of you chuckling know exactly what I'm
talking about he made this skit and this guy he's not a Christian but he made
this skit mocking pastors okay and you know a lot of Christians are just up in
arms they're just like this is blasphemous and I can't believe this guy
did this but what they don't realize is that he's actually just kind of pointing
out the hypocrisy in these prosperity gospel types these mega church types and
the the blasphemous things that they do because he's dressing like that you know
he's got the he's in the wires or whatever he's flying in and the crazy
thing is is that you know the video the skit that he made exaggerates but no
actually it doesn't exaggerate it's exactly what these mega church pastors
do and it's the obviously the ones who are mad at this are the ones who are
guilty of it or the ones who attend churches like this like Mike Todd is
that his name Michael Todd the black preacher who made that blasphemous
service on Easter just extremely wicked he pastors transvestite church what is
that called transform transformer church what is it transformation church and
same thing this is an example of loving the wages of unrighteousness okay and
you know what you know obviously Drusky's not he's he's gonna split
whole wide open if he doesn't get saved but you know bro pointed out the obvious
and I don't know why anybody would be mad at that because it's it's literally
a thing down to the way he dresses I mean there's a part of the skit where
he's like this woman can't get pregnant but I'm an impregnate her with the word
of God and they're like that's wicked but that's what they say I've been so
offended at the unsafe saying this when there's supposed to save people saying
that you should be far more offended at these so-called men of God who are
saying stuff like this behind the pulpit but all of a sudden some unsafe
person repeats what they say oh that's wicked no what's wicked is your pastor
saying blasphemous wicked they're Balaam's of this world who love the
wages of unrighteousness now the Bible is very clear about this you know pastors
need to steer clear of being greedy of filthy lucre look at first Peter chapter
5 again in verse number 2 he gives some of the qualifications or the
responsibility should I say of a pastor number one is they need to feed the
flock of God what does that mean it means that they need to preach the word
of God you know I'm talking to you about usury what am I doing I'm feeding you
the Word of God. I'm teaching you what the Bible says, right? And this is important.
Beating the flock of God is very important. Why? Because too many churches
today in America are just biblically illiterate. They don't know how to
navigate through the Bible. I can quote from 2nd Maccabees and you would think
it's the Word of God, not you guys, but just churches in general, because they
don't know the Bible. In fact, Gandhi's quoted constantly within churches and
people think that it's scripture. You know, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." The Bible
says, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." The Bible doesn't say that. Gandhi, who's
currently burning in hell, and if that offends you, then you're probably not saved because
Gandhi was a wicked pedophile who's burning in hell. He's the one who coined that phrase.
But you know, Christians are always like, "Oh no, Jesus didn't say that. Jesus couldn't
stand Gandhi. Jesus saying Gandhi to hell." And keep in mind, Gandhi's the same one who
said, "Oh, I would have been a Christian were it not for Christians." The reason you're
not a Christian is because you're not saved. The reason you're not saved is because you're
a pedophile. You take showers with girls and, you know, that's what you did when you're
alive. You did wicked stuff when you're a reprobate. You're a false prophet. Be the
flock of God. We need to teach the Word of God in churches. We need to tell people to
bring their Bibles, open up the Word of God, search the scriptures daily, prove all things,
hold fast that which is good, study to show thyself, approve them to God, a workman that
needed not to be ashamed, rightly divide in the Word of Truth, give attendance to reading,
to exhortation, to doctrine. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, meaning that the pastor is in charge of overseeing the affairs of the church, right?
Not by constraint, but willingly, meaning that, you know, this is not some situation where he's
just like forced into this. Like he should be want, he should be willing to take on the pastor it.
He says not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, meaning the motive should never be,
I want to take on the pastor, see how much money I can make off of that. That's a wicked person.
Okay. Now look folks, you know, cause you know, people hear this and they're just like,
Oh, what's wrong with a pastor earning a paycheck? Nothing's wrong with that. Actually,
the Bible is actually explicit about that. You know, a pastor should be allowed to make an
honest living, right? Like an honest living. Like he should be able to provide for his household
and even have a little bit on top to like enjoy life a little bit, but excessive amounts where
you have like a private jet, you need one of those, you know, a yacht for missions. Sure. That's
necessary. It reads you from first Corinthians chapter or go to first Corinthians chapter nine
real quick. And then we're going to get into second Peter chapter two, you know, stay away
from prosperity gospel preachers. And quite frankly, you should stay away from mega church
preachers to these non-denom types that are only interested in accumulating wealth. And you know,
a lot of times people don't really know how to identify these types of pastors because they've
only been exposed to those types of pastors. You understand what I'm saying? And I've seen that,
you know, a lot of times Christians think that certain pastors are good, but it's only because
they've only been exposed to that form of pastor. And here's a very crass way of explaining this.
Okay. Is that, you know, bums don't really know how bad they smell when they're around other bums,
right? Isn't that true? It's not until they leave, you know, they get, you know, they take a shower
or whatever. Some YouTuber comes and transforms them, gives them a fade or something, you know,
all of this transformation. Then they realize if they were to go back to that, it'd be like, whoa,
these guys stink. It's like, dude, you smell the same way. You gotta, you have to kind of come out
of that to see how bad it really was. Right. Well, in like manner, you know, a lot of these non to
non preachers, a lot of them are false prophets and people think, no, they, they tell some good
stuff. No, they teach what safe people teach. They are copying what other safe people say
in order to masquerade as a man of God. Okay. But here's a good litmus test for you to figure out
if this pastor is a false prophet or not. Number one, pay attention here. What is their gospel?
Well, they, you know, they, they believe in Jesus Christ. No, no, no, no, no. Of course,
all churches are going to say that, but it's called the church. We're talking about what is
the specifics of their gospel presentation. What do they believe a person has to do to be saved?
That's important because folks, the gospel is that you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to
be saved plus nothing, minus nothing. That's a fact. Okay. You have to place your faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ exclusively to be saved and believe that you can never lose that salvation.
That is the gospel. And the Bible talks about another gospel. What's another gospel? Any other
gospel that's not this gospel. Okay. Look, Acts 16, 30 to 31. Perfect example right there. People
could say, oh man, you know, you know what, all you have to do is believe. Yeah. That's all you
have to do is believe. That's what the Bible says. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in the night house. Walks away. Hey, why don't you say anything
about doing works? Why'd you leave that out? Why'd you leave repenting of your sin out? Why'd you
leave? Oh, because it's not the gospel. That's why. And let me just say this. Obviously, when we say
believe, it explicitly means you have to trust in Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection
for salvation, right? At the exclusion of everything else. Okay. And let me also say this,
just because people say they believe in God doesn't really mean that they're saved. I believe in God.
Yeah, everyone does. You know, and this is important to know because you have this cartoonist
that died this week, right? You guys know about that? He's a cartoonist. And then he supposedly
got saved because he said this. He goes, well, I accepted Jesus as my savior. And most of us would
say, oh yeah, then he's probably saved. But then he said, but I'm not a believer though. He's like,
he said, I don't, I'm not a believer. You know, I'm not, I don't really believe in God, but I
trusted Jesus as they're not saved. What does that, you know, how can you get saved and not believe
in God? He that cometh to God must believe that he is right. That's what the Bible says. Yeah,
but I thought you have to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Of course, you know, in the,
what you imply there is that you believe in God. You're not adding him to your plethora of other
beliefs on how to get to heaven. Believing in Jesus Christ means you believe he's God. He's the son
of God. It implies that you believe in the Bible. Like if someone says, you know, I've trusted Jesus
Christ with my savior, but I don't believe in the Bible. Oh, you're not saved. Why? Because the Bible
is the word of God. Look folks, obviously there's people out there that accept Jesus Christ and
they're like, I'm confused about certain things about the Bible. That's different. People get
confused about the Bible. They don't know how to answer certain things about the Bible. Certain
things in the Bible confuse them. They've read certain things that makes them make some question.
But in general, they're like, I do believe in the Bible. I just don't understand all the Bible.
Some stuff confuses me, makes me doubt certain things or whatever it may be. But I believe this
is the word of God. But if someone says they don't believe this is the word of God, they're not saved.
We need to start getting strict about this matter of salvation. Okay. Now we're strict as a church,
but I'm saying churches in general need to start getting strict. Why? Why Pastor Mejia? I'll tell
you why. Because there's so many Christians out there that don't know if they're saved or not.
How do you go to church for 10, 20 years and still not know if you're saved? I'll tell you how,
because you might have a pastor who loves the wages of unrighteousness behind the pulpit
teaching a false gospel. And look, Christians, this happens all the time with Christians. So
called they're just doubting their salvation. Why? Cause they don't know if they've done enough
works. They don't know if they repented enough of enough sin. They don't know if they're really
keeping the commandments or how about this? Just lingo from behind the pulpit that confuses the
audience. Like give your life to Christ today. And they interpret that as like, Oh, maybe that
means I got to get saved. Folks, the gospel is not you giving your life to Christ. Hello. It's that
Christ gave his life for you. Why are you flipping it? Give your, I gave my life to God today. What
does that mean? Exactly. And is there any verse in the Bible that says you have to give your life to
him to be saved? No, literally the overarching theme of salvation is the fact that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. Salvation is based upon what God gave, not what
you can give. Oh man, if you priest that, you're just going to cause people not to serve God. That's
funny. I've been serving God since I got saved. What are you talking about? What am I doing now?
You know, it's a straw man argument for people to bring up. Oh, that's going to cause people to just,
you know, you're causing people to sin. That's funny. That's not in our church. You're going
to cause people not to serve God. That's funny. People have been serving God for years in our
church and they believe once saved, always saved. The point that I'm making here, and here's a good
test to figure out if the pastor is righteous or not. What is their belief on salvation?
Okay? What is their belief on salvation? And let me say this, let me just add this, okay?
Whatever he tells you, if he gives you the right answer, it needs to be his only answer
to every person who asks him about that. You understand what I'm saying? Because sometimes
they'll give you the right answer, but then they'll give you a different answer. They'll give you a
different answer and they'll give you a different answer because they don't want to lose you as a
tither. That's why. They're kind of like politicians. They just speak out of both sides of their mouth.
That's wicked. Salvation is the same all across the board. And if you have a pastor who says
something different about salvation, depending on the upon the person who he's talking to,
you got yourself a false prophet. Let's skip first Corinthians nine. Go to second Peter two.
You could read first Corinthians nine on your own. It's just talking about how a pastor
does deserve his salary. If he's working, if he's preaching the word of God, if he's soul winning,
you know, he earned it. But this is not what these pastors are doing though. These mega
church non-denom churches are not following what first Corinthians chapter nine is talking about
at all. Okay. You know, they're driving around in their whatever cars, the newest car or their
fancy vehicles. Give me a fancy vehicle that's out there. Bentley. That was fast. You know,
they're driving around and they're Bentley. They got a chauffeur. You know what I mean?
I can't, you know, maybe brother, at least this could be my chauffeur, but I can't really have
anybody chauffeur me around because I get car sick if someone other than me drives. You know
what I mean? Even when we go to Mexico, like brother, we take brother Connor's car and then
I drive just because like I can't handle anybody else driving. It's just, I get car sick, but you
know, they got their airplanes, they got their yachts, they got this, that and the other. I mean,
there's literally videos out there of these preachers taking up offerings and condemning
people for not bringing in a certain amount or something like that. What is that? I'll tell you
what it is. They love the wages of unrighteousness. That's what it is. Look at second Peter chapter
two verse 14. It says having eyes full of adultery they cannot cease from sin like Martin Luther King
beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children
which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of
Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Now I don't have time in this sermon to develop the
story of Balaam but basically Balaam in the book of numbers was a false prophet that Balak wanted
to hire to curse the children of Israel okay and obviously they had this superstitious view
where they think that Balaam can literally curse the nation of Israel and impede them from prospering
succeeding in their journeys okay. Balak was obviously afraid of Israel they knew the rep he
knew the reputation of Israel and he wanted to avoid coming in contact with Israel because God
was with Israel and so Balak wanted to hire Balaam who's a soothsayer okay basically a diviner
to curse the nation of Israel but when you read the story you see that God ended up controlling
Balaam and he actually ended up you know prophesying good things about uh about Israel
he couldn't curse them because God had not cursed them and you know people often point that as they
see you know he Israel was right yeah they were righteous at that time for sure but what people
neglect is that they stop reading at chapter 24 okay because chapter 24 Balaam gives the prophecy
about Israel and it's a good prophecy and they think okay the story's over chapter 25 Israel gets
destroyed because they commit whoredom they start worshiping false gods and then later on in the
Bible specifically in Revelation we find out that Balaam knew he couldn't personally curse Israel
so what he did is he told Balak you need to convince them to commit idolatry and to commit
fornication and by that God can then curse them so they can he was able to convince Balak to place
the stumbling block before the children of Israel thereby causing the curse of God to come upon them
in Numbers 25 okay so it's just like oh no they're just blessed by God and we could see it in Numbers
24 what about Numbers 25? Read Numbers 25 he kills a bunch of them just wipes them out hangs
their heads there's a plague in there I mean there's like a plague that's when Phineas comes
with the javelin I mean destruction God will never break his promise with Israel he's done it what
do you mean he's done it before he even said you'll know my breach of promise what do you do with
that he literally said that you'll know my breach of promise now the funny thing is is that you know
Balaam you know wanted filthy lucre by cursing Israel right but now you have people making filthy
lucre by blessing Israel it's like it's switched now you know and this is the thing and you know
you have churches who are accumulating wealth by siding with the physical nation of Israel
okay you know Jack Hibbs is one of them you have Greg Laurie who literally came out and said
that he's hopelessly a Gentile which he is since obviously he hasn't placed his faith in Jesus
Christ he's like I'm white trash I'm just I'm just hopeless like like he said he did his 23 and me
because he was hoping he would find some Jewish blood in him he was just like man I hope there's
some Jewish blood in me and and you know and then he found out that he did just like no Jewish blood
the funny thing is is like in our church people do 23 and me and they're just hoping there's no
Jewish blood if there is they just kind of keep quiet about it just like yeah it was like really
small percentage of something I don't really know what it is you know and other churches are like
please let me be Jewish but he literally says this he says it's like he's hopelessly a Gentile and
then he says I'm white trash and it's just like what I thought people were hopelessly Gentiles
because they're not saved isn't that what it is aren't you hopelessly a Gentile because you don't
have Christ in you the hope of glory but this is showing us that you know folks we're not the only
ones that believe in replacement theology they believe in it too the difference is they've
replaced Jesus with Israel that's exactly what it is you know someone told me like they're like
they're mad at me at that post and asked them you know have you accepted Christ rejecting Jews as
your personal savior because that's what it is have you accepted the nation of Israel as your
personal savior but you know what follow the paper trail follow the yellow brick road that's a fact
when you find churches that are just excessive and you know what i don't even think fundamental
baptist churches are this bad there may be some that are pretty bad but in general they just kind
of believe this from a theological perspective they may have the star rempham back there or
something like that but they're going to preach the bible they may say the Jews are God's chosen
people but they're not militant about it right these other guys these non-denom churches who
are doing this there's some financial gain going on in there to say such radical blasphemous
retarded stuff what is it they're greedy of filthy lucre they love the wages of unrighteousness
that's what it is because and look people criticize me for saying this stuff about them
but their own church members are saying it i have church members from those churches contacting me
and say you know what i really like them but you're right he does do this a lot and there's
stuff that's not online that he has said and we're just like whoa you know because you know i'm sure
there's sincere god-fearing people that go to these churches because again these are the only
churches they've ever known they don't know about fundamental pathos churches they're about to find
out though about fundamental pathos they only know about these non-denom purple you know i was going
to say purple hair purple light smoke and mirrors type churches with the guy coming in on a you know
like a wwe style entrance or whatever bautista they're just coming in like you know it's just
like a huge that's all they know and then in their mind they're like why is he talking so much about
israel why is everything about you think they get on me for talking a lot about jews they're like
why don't you get on them for talking a lot about jews how about that you know and i don't
accept anybody's comment when they say oh you're just so obsessed about this when someone tells me
that i'm just like oh you must be like a strong supporter of israel then you know what i mean
because it's funny you're not in the comment section of these pro israelite pro israel churches
telling them that povert jews go to titus chapter one titus chapter one balem the son of bozor is
an example of a false prophet who did what he did not because he loved the lord not because he
wanted to preach the word of god it's because he wanted money he wanted balem to reward him
he wanted to get paid and so his motive for wanting to curse the nation of israel was that
and in fact look in the story you know god comes to him and he says if these men come to thee
and say rise and come with us don't go with them he's like all right and it says the next morning
so like the morning came and he just went why because he loves the wages of unrighteousness
the stipulation that god placed on baleam was like if they come again and say rise then go
this is showing us that baleam was not interested in obeying the word of god
because they didn't come back and say rise come with us that he just got up in the morning and
just went because that's what he wanted okay look at titus chapter 1 verse 5 he says for this cause
left i of thee and creed that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain
elders in every city as i had appointed thee if any be blameless the husband of one wife having
faithful children not accused of right or unruly for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of
god not self-willed not soon angry not given to wine no striker not given to filthy lucre skip
down to verse 10 if you would he says for there are many that's why okay he says one of themselves
even a prophet of their own said the cretians are always liars evil beasts low bellies this
witness is true wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith let me read to you
go to second timothy chapter 4 we're done micah chapter 3 verse 11 says the heads thereof
judge for reward and the priests thereof teach for hire and the prophets thereof divine for money
yet will they lean upon the lord and say is not the lord among us none evil can come upon us
what does it say these false prophets like balam modern-day balams are very presumptuous
meaning they have no fear of god they're willing to just say the most outlandish heretical blasphemous
things and they're like none evil can come upon us because you know you think to yourself like
how can someone teach that and just in the name of god and do this every sunday well the reason
you're asking that's because you have the fear of god you think to yourself like if i ever did that
god will strike me dead and yeah he probably would we have the fear of god this is showing us that
they don't fear god at all look at second tippity chapter four and verse number two preach the word
be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all along suffering and doctrine for
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers having itching ears and this shall turn away the ears from the truth and
shall be turned into fables you know the bible's telling us here it's saying that if you don't
have a pastor who's constantly giving you the truth your lust of what you really want to listen
to will eventually take over that's what it's saying so what our carnal side wants to hear
will eventually dominate so you need some leather lung preaching biblical preaching to feed the
inner man to create an appetite for righteous preaching because if not if you sit under bad
preaching all the time covetous preaching greedy preaching preaching that comes from a man who
loves the wages of unrighteousness you'll eventually succumb to that as well why because
it says here the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itch in ears let me just explain something to you
you know we need to develop an appetite for hard preaching offensive preaching that's a fact okay
why because at the end of the day if you do not listen to that type of preaching what you're
going to end up doing is going after preachers who just preach lies to you and you'll love to
have it so you know our preachers people like the non-denom churches because they develop an
appetite for that they develop an appetite for shallow preaching for ted talks for just
shallow sermons shallow doctrine just good god good devil good hell type preaching that is the
natural byproduct of staying in a church like that for years on end we need a diet of hard preaching
that actually expounds the word of god teaches the scriptures and calls out sin and calls out the
names like oh you shouldn't call out greg lorry you know why first of all the apostle paul called
out a bunch of people alexander the coppersmith dimming much evil the lord render him according
to his deeds hymenes and philetus right just constantly calling people out calling john
mark out calling peter out you should call out names amen what's the sermon today you know the
sermon is this we need to avoid falling into the trap of desiring filthy lucre by being honest in
our dealings okay but also we need to avoid spiritual leaders who are greedy of filthy
lucre as well and you need to be able to identify what they look like and not make excuses for
people who are greedy of filthy lucre but just because you like the one sermon that he preached
you just like the one thing that he said or whatever somehow he just good all across the
board now what's a salvation message you know and so and and look folks you know he said well you
talk about israel all the time yeah i don't get paid for it though like i think someone's giving
me seven g's or whatever to talk about you know i'm probably going to go in the red for that one
let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for the explicit teachings of the
bible help us as your people to be kind and gracious and compassionate towards those who
are in need especially amongst god's people and we have the attitude that if someone has fallen
into poverty into hard times lord that we would lend unto them not expecting anything in return
and may we do it not for not to expect anything in return but rather out of boughs of compassion
because we want our see we want to see our brothers and sisters in christ provided for healthy and
wise and living a good life lord we want them to be clothed we want them to be fed and if we can
participate in aiding in that area lord give us an opportunity to do so and also lord help us to
avoid uh lending to those who are simply walking disorderly people who don't want to work people
who don't want to labor people who are involved in vice these people need help but the help that
they need is not more money to finance their addictions or their laziness i pray lord that
you'd help us to discern between the two help us also to stay away from preachers who are greedy
of filthy lucre bless us as we go on our way Lord we love you we thank you pray
these things in Jesus name