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

All right, we are here in Genesis chapter 21, and we're not going to finish the whole chapter today. We're going to look at basically the first third of this chapter. In the first third of this chapter, there's this comparison between Isaac and Ishmael. Now Ishmael was born several chapters ago, so we're not going to cover all those chapters again to talk about it, but Isaac's the one who's born here. We're looking at him, and basically, Isaac represents a saved person. And of course, I do believe he was a saved person. Ishmael, whether or not he was saved, he represents an unsaved person in many ways and in this story. And I want to look at this comparison. We're actually going to jump out of Genesis for a while until we get later on in the sermon. Go to Galatians chapter four, Galatians chapter four. Of course, Galatians is one of the best books on salvation in the entire Bible, and it brings up this comparison of Isaac and Ishmael. And notice what it says in Genesis, not in Genesis, Galatians four verse 21, tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do ye not hear the law? What that's saying there in verse 21 is for those of you that are trying to work your way to heaven, I mean, do you not even understand what the law states? Why would you want to work your way to heaven? This is one of those verses that's kind of humorous to me. It's like those of you that are unsaved and trusting in your works, do you not understand what you're saying? Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid. Now the bondmaid was Hagar, the concubine wife of Abraham, the other by a free woman, which is obviously by Sarah. So Isaac coming from Sarah and then Ishmael coming from Hagar. But he who was of the bondwoman, which would be referring to Ishmael, was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was by promise. I mean, throughout Genesis, God is telling Abraham, no, you're going to have a child with Sarah. Right. And of course, they don't believe it for a while. But that's what God says over and over again. And Isaac was the child of promise, right? Obviously Abraham marrying Hagar and having a child was wrong. And obviously Sarah was involved in that, suggesting that he do that and everything. But you know, basically Ishmael is born after the flesh, according to this. Isaac is the child of promise. And there's a great link here in symbolism with salvation. Let us talk point number one about being born after the flesh or born of the flesh. Now every single one of us is born after the flesh. Right. We have a fleshly birth. I mean, John, you don't have to turn there, but John 3 gives a comparison between the physical birth and the spiritual birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. All of us were born after the flesh. Right. We were born, you know, our moms gave birth to us. All of us were born after the flesh. And you don't start as a saved person. Right. But when you believe on Jesus, you get saved. Okay. But before that, you're born after the flesh, you're an unsaved person. So what does it mean to be born after the flesh, be an unsaved person? Well, Galatians 4 verse 24, which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which gender to bondage, which is agar. So basically saying Ishmael, the unsaved person, Hagar gender to bondage. For this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answer to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. Now turn to Romans eight. We'll go back to Galatians four later on Romans chapter eight, Romans chapter eight. See, the Bible speaks about and I'll talk about it later on the sermon. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But when a person gets saved, they enter into the liberty found in Jesus Christ. We have liberty. I mean, we have free will to do anything that we want to do, and it won't affect whether or not we're going to heaven at all. Right. We enter into that liberty and unsaved people, whether they realize it or not, are in bondage. Right. They have no hope of getting out of their condition on their own. It's impossible, and they have no idea, but they're born after the flesh, trusting in their works. They're in bondage. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, Romans eight kind of shows us that both with saved and unsaved, they still have the flesh. Notice what it says in verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So basically, when you get saved, you're in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So see, in verse 15, it's saying before you were saved, you had that spirit of bondage. Right. The unsaved person which generateth to bondage is in bondage with their children. The unsaved person, the Bible states, is in bondage. Verse 16, the spirit of self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with them, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Notice verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Now let's break down this verse to understand really what's being said in Romans 8. Earnest is basically, you know, being excited about something. Earnest expectation, something you're expecting of the creature, referring to basically getting the glorified body. You're expecting it, it's something you're waiting for, waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. So we're talking about just physically speaking, and it's waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. It's waiting to see the difference between a saved and an unsaved person. Because when you got saved, nothing changed about your flesh. Right. I mean, when you got saved, you didn't become better looking, right? Your hair color didn't change, you didn't become taller, you didn't get in better shape, right? And what we need to realize in this passage, what the Bible is saying is this. Just because you're saved does not mean there's gonna be this change that takes place. Because you have a lot of churches that say, if you're really saved, there's gonna be evidence, it's gonna be manifest. Now look, if somebody starts reading the Bible and going to church, then we're going to see changes in their life. But if we get somebody saved and they never start going to church, they never start reading the Bible, why would you think there'd be any change? Right? I wouldn't expect any change. And the Bible says here, waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. Look, there's no magical thing that takes place when somebody gets saved where physically they're just different. Their flesh doesn't change. No change whatsoever. One day though, we will get the glorified body. And of course, we're waiting for that day. But at this time, there's no manifestation of it. You see, when you got saved, it's not like you could just look in the mirror and say, well, there's my proof I'm saved. I can see it. Because you can't see it. There's nothing visible about it. Now, of course, on the inside, you know you're saved because you understand salvation. When you get saved, you know what you believe, right? I know whom I ever believe it, right, as we sing. But there's no physical manifestation or proof of your salvation. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, when I got saved, I started reading my Bible. That's not proof of salvation. I mean, you can read the Bible as an unsaved person. And you can get saved and not read the Bible, which is what most Christians are doing. They get saved. They don't read the Bible. They don't go soul winning. There's no visible evidence, but that doesn't mean that they're not saved, right? Waited for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who had subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. So what it's saying in this passage is that the creature that, you know, your flesh, that the old man, it is basically still in bondage, right? There's no change to the old man. And it's waiting for the glorious liberty of the children of God. And it says the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. All of us have our sinful flesh. And some of the things attached to our flesh is that as we get older, our flesh, our body starts to age. It starts to deteriorate. We start to have problems, right? And the Bible says the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, the they referring to unsaved people or basically everybody, but ourselves also. What Paul's saying is it's not just some people, but us that are saved, we deal with this too. And you know, the reason why that's important is because a lot of preachers will preach things that, hey, if you get saved, you're just going to magically change and walk the walk. And it's just automatic to start living for God. What the Bible says here is it's not just them or the world, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. See, you have to realize that although a person gets saved in a moment, in some ways salvation is sort of like two parts. And what I mean by that is you're saved spiritually, but not physically. And there's a couple verses in the Bible that do use that word salvation in that way. And it confuses people because it's not referring to, it's referring to the salvation of the body as a future thing, because yes, we don't have the glorified body. There's no change. And people get confused in that verse and they think, well, that means you got to endure to the end. It's like they don't understand that spiritually you get saved in a moment, but there's no change with your body at all, but we're waiting for the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? Now the word hope in our Bible is not really used in the same way that we would use it today. Like, for example, if you say, I'm hoping something's going to take place, like I applied for a job and I hope I'm going to get the job, meaning you don't know, right? But hope in the Bible is different because hope is not a possibility. It's a sure thing. However, it's something that is not a visible thing. What I mean is it's something you know for sure, but there's no physical manifestation or evidence. And that's what this whole context and chapter's getting at in this section. And it says that we are saved by hope. When you got saved, you believed on Jesus Christ and you knew you were saved. It was a done deal. There's no doubt. I mean, if you're saved here tonight, there's no doubt in your mind where you're going to spend eternity, but prove it to me and you can't do it. You say, why? We're saved by hope. I know I'm going to heaven. I know 100%. Where's my proof? I have no proof for you. There's no proof I can give you. I mean, I know what I believe. You don't know what I believe. I mean, of course we assume people are saved, you know, they say they believe, but what I'm saying is I have no physical proof of my salvation. I mean, a lot of churches, it's like, well, you know what? We know they're saved because they're coming to church every week. We know they're saved because they got baptized. We know they're saved because they started making changes in their life. That's not what the Bible teaches. See, what the Bible teaches is that when a person gets saved, there can be zero change. You say, why? Because your flesh doesn't change when you get saved. It is possible you'll start making changes, but that's something that comes once you start actively reading the Bible and going to church, and that process is very slow. It's not automatic. We're saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. So if this was something that was seen, you couldn't say it was hope because it's something that's known 100%. Hope is something that is for sure, but there is no physical manifestation or proof of that. Now turn in your Bible to John 8. John 8. And since we're saved by hope, realize that when it comes to being saved, works have nothing to do with being a proof of salvation because we're saved by hope. That's what the Bible teaches. And so if somebody says, well, you know what? I believe salvation is by faith, but you're going to automatically walk the walk and do good things after you get saved. It's like you're bordering on a work salvation. You're being very confusing with what you're saying here because there's no guarantee that there's going to be evidence and you're going to start living a good life after you get saved. You say, why? Because we're saved by hope, right? Because all of us were born of the flesh as an unsaved person, right? And eventually at one point in our life, we changed what we believed and we were adopted into God's family, but our flesh did not change. John 8, John chapter 8, verse 30. John 8, verse 30. As he spake these words, many believed on him. They said, then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him. If he continue my word, then are you my disciples indeed? And he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Now this is a bit of a confusing passage, so I want to help you understand these verses because you need to realize Jesus is speaking to more than just a couple of people. There's a lot of people here. Some are saved, some are children of the devil, which we're going to see later on in the chapter. And so when you're reading this, it's hard to tell because we don't have a video to see who he's talking to. And in verse number 30, it's very clear many people got saved. Many believed on him, right? And then what he tells those that believe on him is basically what we do after somebody gets saved. It's like, well, now you need to start coming to church. Now you need to start reading the Bible. Not to be saved, but that's what you need to do, right? If you want to serve God. That's how you become a disciple. But then it says in verse 33, they answered him, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Now realize that in verse 33, the ones that are answering him are not saved. You can tell by what they're saying, okay? Because they say, we've never been in bondage to any man. But see, when a person gets saved, they realize, man, I was deceived and in bondage my whole life. I mean, when you get saved, you have that feeling of relief that comes over you and you realize the freedom that you found, you had no idea that you were in prison, symbolically speaking. You had no idea you were in bondage, right? And in verse 33, these are the people that are basically mocking him. And so they're saved and unsaved in this midst. And there's a lot of reprobates because this is a passage later on, he says, year of your father, the devil, and the conversation keeps going. So you see this sometimes in the Bible where Jesus is trying to teach, save people, and then all of a sudden these idiots start arguing with him. It doesn't mean that we should just start arguing with people out soul winning that are just trying to argue with us. It's just Jesus is speaking and there's people that are interrupting the conversation. He's not intentionally going for a fight. He's trying to teach and he has to rebuke the people that are basically the false prophets and everything. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? See, they don't get the fact that they're in bondage. You say, why? Because they're still in the flesh. They're unsaved people. They don't get it. See, a person who gets saved realizes the freedom that they now have that they did not have before. An unsaved person has no idea because there's never been a change. There's never been that time they got born again, they changed their belief. And so they always just assumed if I live a good life, I'm going to get to heaven. Verse 34, Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. Now go back to Galatians chapter four, Galatians four, Galatians four. Now here's the thing, for us that are saved, we understand we've entered into liberty, but we also still realize our flesh is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. Our flesh is still in bondage. Our flesh still does wrong, right? I mean, it's said in verse 34 about whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. And as saved people, that makes sense to us because sometimes there's sins that we do and things that are wrong and we know it's wrong. But when you do wrong, you become the servant to it. And you're basically underneath that bondage. And yes, as God's children, we're able to break free from bondage and get rid of sin and make changes, but we realize our flesh is never going to be perfect. But the unsaved there from John eight, they didn't get it. You say, why? Well, they're not saved. Galatians four, verse eight, Galatians four, verse eight. It says in Galatians four, verse eight, how be it then when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them, which by nature are no gods. Now in verse eight, when it says, when he knew not God, he's basically saying, you know, before they were saved, okay? Now when it comes to knowing God, of course getting saved is step number one and you get to know God to a decent level, but we're still in the process of knowing God. And this is the way the Bible uses terminology. When he says, when he knew not God, he's saying when you were not saved, okay? Then he says in verse nine, but now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God. And he switches the wording there because he's saying, because it's not really that you knew God, but once God knows you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them, right? Luke 16, it names Lazarus. It doesn't name the rich man because he knows those that are saved. And what it said was, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements where unto ye desire again to be in bondage. You observe days and months and times and years. I'm afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. And what Paul the Apostle is saying here in verse 11 is, I'm worried if you're even saved, right? Because of the fact it's like, do you believe works are part of salvation? You're doing all these customs that were symbolic of Christ that are done away. You should be aware of that. You're putting yourself in bondage again. It's just like, I'm afraid of you. Like I'm worried, are you? Are you even saved? You know, what's interesting, I heard a Calvinist preacher one time, I don't remember which one it was, it was one of the famous ones. But they were saying how, you know, if you look at a church that is like very carnal and very sinful, it's probably because, you know, the church is not saved and preaching a false gospel. And I just thought, well, that's kind of interesting because in the church of Corinth, they had a lot of sin and Paul never questioned their salvation. In the church of Galatia, it's not a matter of sin, it's a matter of their beliefs. And he does question their salvation. It sounds like Paul looked at salvation being based on believing, not based on your actions. There's no indication Paul questioned the salvation of those in the church of Corinth. He just said they were baby Christians. Of course, the Calvinist would say, well, there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. So yeah, you don't even get 1 Corinthians 3. But it's like, no, Paul was writing to, you know, a saved church of Corinth and he didn't question their salvation, even though they had sin. In Galatians, the church of Galatia, he does question the salvation of a lot of them because it's just kind of like, you know, it sounds like you believe something different. I mean, do you think you have to, you know, observe these customs and Sabbath day and not eat certain foods and all this stuff that we've already explained to you? It's just like, do you not understand about how that was symbolic of Christ? It's done away, you're saved, there's liberty, right? And what the Bible is saying is, you know, why are you going to put yourself in bondage again? Okay, now go to Galatians 4, look at verse number 26. Galatians 4, verse 26. So point number one, we looked at the unsaved or the born after the flesh. Let us look at the child of promise. Galatians 4, verse 26. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of a soul. For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. The Bible says the desolate, which is representing Hagar, hath many more children than she which hath an husband, referring to Sarah. You say, what's the Bible trying to say? Well, aren't there a lot more unsaved people than saved? The desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband, and basically saying most people in this world are unsaved. Is that not true? Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The desolate hath many more children. And I'm not just necessarily saying specifically number, just think of religions. I mean, one of the children for them is Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Orthodox. I mean, all of these religions, these false religions, and yet there's only one truth. The desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. And so the indication is that us, if we are saved, we are children of the promise. We inherit the promise given to Abraham, right? And it was a promise by faith, okay? Galatians 5 verse 1, Galatians 5 verse 1, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. When you get saved, you enter into the liberty found in Christ. You go from bondage to being free. Now of course, our flesh will still sin. We're still waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, but spiritually speaking, we are free. Verse 13, for, brethren, you have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another. And what Paul's saying is, you know, you've been called unto liberty. You can do whatever you want. Right? I mean, you can literally go out and get drunk and do drugs and do whatever you want. It would not affect your spot in heaven because you have liberty in Christ, but use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh. Right? I mean, obviously, you should get the sin out of your life. And of course, we go soul winning and we preach about salvation. Then in the pulpit, we preach, use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh. You've got liberty. You're saved forever, but don't use that and say, well, I'm just going to go out and do lots of sin because you know what? I'll go to heaven anyway. Right? That'd be a foolish attitude, but by love serve one another. Go to second Corinthians chapter three, second Corinthians three. It's always humorous to me. You talk to people that are unsaved and then you explain eternal security and when they're not believing it, they'll think or say things like, well, you guys are going out teaching once saved, always saved. I mean, aren't you worried that people are going to start murdering people and getting drunk if you're teaching that stuff? I've literally had people tell me, if I believe what you believe, I'd be out doing drugs and fornicating all the time. It's like, what's wrong with you, right? It's just like the only thing stopping you from living a wicked life is you don't believe in eternal... It's just like, no, I mean, people that are saved, actually, it oftentimes is the exact opposite. Being a saved person, you're very thankful for what you have and you're actually trying to do right for God because of the fact you're thankful for that liberty. You're thankful for that eternal life. When I got saved, I understood eternal security and you know what? I started living for God like I hadn't before, started reading the Bible, started to get sin slowly out of my life and everything like that. Being saved has made me a better person because I was thankful for what God did and slowly in the process, you get more right with God, you learn things, you make changes. Look, people that are saved are more likely to be living a godly and separated life than the unsaved. These people that say that you can lose your salvation, I just don't get it because they don't live godly lives. And then they're saying it's your works that are going to get you saved and yet they don't do very many good works, right? You can have somebody who's smoking a cigarette and he's got a beer in his hand, well, I don't care what you say, you got to live a good life to go to heaven. It's like you're drinking a beer, right? It's like not that we bring that up during soul winning because it doesn't matter, but it's just like people that are living bad lives are not living godly lives and then they say, well, I think you got to live a good life. It's like, do you read the Bible? I mean, it's just like, what are you talking about? You do drugs, you drink and everything, you're fornicating left and right, but it's just like you're a good person though? Because everybody is good. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes. Everybody thinks they're good. That's just the way it is. No matter how good or bad you are, you always set the bar below you so you can crawl over it. Genesis 21 verse one. Genesis 21 verse one. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived to bear Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah beared him Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as God had commanded him. And Abraham wasn't 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. Now, of course, realize that they lived longer lives at this time. They didn't live super long lives anymore, but Abraham does live a long life. If I remember correctly, 175, I think. So he is an old person. 100 is still old, but it's not what we would look at as being 100. And then it says in verse six, And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that will hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should have given children suck? For I have borne him a son in his old age, and the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. So this is the child of promise that God had promised, and they doubted it. They did not believe that God was going to come through. And of course, it happens at the set time that God had spoken. The set time God said this is going to take place, it took place. You know, it kind of shows us sometimes God might have plans for our lives, and we might have the same plan and the same desire, but it does not mean it's going to happen in our timing. It might take longer than we want. Right? I mean, they start doubting God because they wanted it in this certain time frame, and yet it takes place further down the road. And then, of course, you know, God comes through because God promised it. This time, more than a decade has gone by since Ishmael was born. I think there's a 13 year gap between the children. And so a lot of time has gone by, but you know, God had promised this was going to take place. It just didn't happen in the time that they expected it to take place. And of course, it's hard to be like too critical of Abraham and Sarah because she was past the point, logically, scientifically, medically, that you're going to be able to have a child. So obviously that takes great faith to believe that, right? Point number one, we looked at the unsaved born after the flesh. Point two, we looked at the child of promise. Point three, the last point we have is this, the persecution from the unsaved. And what the Bible teaches is that the unsaved in the world will persecute those that are saved. Genesis 21, verse nine, And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman. And all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. For an Isaac shall thy seed be called, and also the son of the bondwoman will make a nation because he is thy seed. So we see here, Ishmael mocks Isaac. Okay, now Isaac's just a young little baby, but Ishmael mocks Isaac. Now I don't know whether Ishmael is a saved person or not. I'm not saying he's a bad guy. This is his half brother. Obviously, you know, the moms are not going to be getting along, you know, Hagar and Sarah, so you can understand that. But he does represent the unsaved person. And what this is used for in the New Testament is to show how the unsaved will criticize and be mad at the saved. Go to Galatians four, and I'll show this to you. Galatians chapter four, Galatians four, and what it says in Galatians four, verse 29, it says, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now, right? And so we see that Ishmael mocks Isaac. And what that's a picture of is how the unsaved will mock those that are saved. He persecuted him, even so it is now. And look, the unsaved people will persecute the saved people. The unsaved world does not like the things that we stand for. They disagree with us. They get mad at us. They don't get mad at other unsaved people. They get mad at us that are saved for the things that we believe and for the things that we stand for. Look, every false religion in this world will persecute the true religion, every single false religion. In America, they always focus on Islam because the US is always going to war with Muslim countries. It's not just the Islamic nations that would attack Bible Christianity. It's every false religion. I mean, look at Hinduism, Buddhism, you name it, Judaism, but even amongst Christianity, Catholicism used to persecute the truth all the time. They used to murder people for getting baptized, right? The Orthodox religion and Orthodox dominated countries, same thing. They persecute those that are saved and they have no freedom to serve God, those that are saved. You say, why? Because as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Go to John chapter 15, John 15, John 15. I mean, these false religions, every false religion is just nonsense when you look at it. It's crazy to me because I've come across a lot of false religions the last few years preparing and studying for sermons and I see various traditions and it just blows my mind sometimes. The one I saw the other day, I told my wife about the other day and this one was just like shocking to me where the Tibetan Buddhists, because I was looking at alcohol in religious ceremonies with various religions, which is very common. Alcohol and drugs are a big part and in Tibetan Buddhism, they will put alcohol in human skulls and drink it. It's like, what? It's like, how do you even come up with something? I mean, is that not creepy? I mean, who, I don't even want to hold a human skull, like what in the world? And then you're drinking alcohol out of it and it's some sort of spirit. It's something demonic is what it is. All that hate and they love death is what that is. But it's just like you look at these other religions and then of course if you stand up and say how it's stupid, it's false, it's wicked, then people will persecute us. Allow them to have their traditions. It's like, you got to be kidding me. Drinking alcohol out of a human skull? I mean, it's like, are they cannibals? I mean, it's weird, but apparently it's normal to them. Apparently we're the ones that are crazy. Because as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Even so it is now. All of these false religions, they would hate the things that we stand for. One of the large things is simply salvation. Because when you say Jesus is the only way to heaven, it's a very offensive thing to people that disagree with you. Because obviously you're saying they're not going to be saved, right? They're going to go to hell. So it's obviously very offensive to them. Of course, when we preach the gospel, we say it in a loving way, as kind as possible. We don't try to rip their religion and mock them or whatever, because we're trying to get them to change what they believe. Of course, there's that balance because we need to make sure they are changing what they believe. And of course, that's difficult. I mean, you got to play it by ear depending on the situation. But the bottom line is false religions are all just crazy. And when you say that, and you show all the things that are wrong with them, people would say, well, how dare you say that? People have different customs in other parts of the world. Allow them to do the things that they want to do. John 15, let me show you this idea that the unsaved, the world will persecute us. John 15, verse 17, these things I command you that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. And see, the world doesn't like us because we preach against the things of the world. And so they get mad at us. I remember a long time ago, I came across this idea when I had a couple of coworkers and one of them was a Mormon and one was a Jehovah's Witness. And you know, it reminded me of how like the Sadducees and the Pharisees teamed up against Jesus, even though they were kind of enemies. But since they had a common enemy, they became friends. And I remember like both of them were like teaming together to say why I was wrong about the Bible. And it's like, you're a Mormon and you're a Jehovah's Witness. And now you're just like best buds. It's like, but the bottom line is they do have the same religion, because they're both trusting in their works. It's just a matter of which works that you state. What we believe is actually what is very different. What they believe is not that different from one another. I mean, a few little things, but it's basically the same thing. Work your way to heaven, right? And so they teamed up and it's just like, well, you know what, the world will team up against those that are truly saved. Sadducees and the Pharisees, let's just shake hands and be best buds to just go after Jesus. Verse 20, remember that the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my sin, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. Now why is that they do this though? Verse 22, if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. Now a cloak for their sin is referring to basically a covering. And what he's saying is before they had all of the sin and all these problems, but nobody's preaching against it. Nobody was exposing it. Nobody was preaching the truth. And the reality is that when we preach the truth and the things we stand for, people get mad because we're removing the cloak for their sin. We're removing the justification. We say, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not. And then they get mad because we're removing that cloak covering them. Before that they have excuses for everything they do that was wrong. You can't tell me that's wrong. I just have it. But then you quote the Bible and they have no cloak for their sin. And that is why the world hates us, because they want to be in darkness. It's also the reason why most saved people will not like our church. Now look, we've seen a nice growth in our church recently, right? Our tendencies have been very good for a while now. It's been great. But we're never going to be a megachurch. You say why? I'm too mean. I'm too truthful. Why do you think it is that politicians are not honest about what they believe or what they're going to do because they want to just kind of hide the things they're going to do because they're going to lose votes if they're too truthful. They know what's going on. It's like, well, you know, I just got to, you know, kind of keep the covering of what I'm actually going to do because they realize they're going to lose votes. What's the same thing that preachers do too, though? They just don't say what the Bible says because of the fact they don't want people to get mad at them. They don't want people to leave their church. And the reality is a lot of people would like other Baptist churches more than ours simply because I preach against sin. They'd rather be at a church where they don't learn. And the salvation is very questionable at best. As long as the pastor just, you know, pats him on the back and says, well done. Right. And doesn't criticize them. Turn your Bible to Acts 7, Acts 7, Acts 7, Acts 7. The Bible says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. I mean, just think about this logically. Let's say that you, you know, read the Bible every day. Okay. And I don't know everybody in this room. Hopefully everybody does or is at least striving to, but let's say you read the Bible every day. Are you going to be offended if I preach a sermon, why you should read the Bible every single day? If I write a sermon and preach it called why you should read the Bible every single day, if you read the Bible every single day, is that going to offend you? Well, no, because you're not guilty. If you don't read the Bible, well, that's when you might be offended. And see, what takes place is at a church like ours, what it really does is it takes the cream of the crop of those that actually want to serve God. Right. Like our church is going to attract people to church that stick around that do want to serve God. We're not going to attract as many as other Baptist churches, but we will have the cream of the crop at our church. And, you know, I'm not trying to say this in an arrogant way. I'm just saying most churches are not preaching the truth. And the reason why you like this church is because of the preaching and the doctrine and that we go soul winning. That's what you like about it. And it obviously, you know, people that are at this church, you say, well, it was lacking, you know, at the church we were at before. That's why you're here. But this is the reason why most people are not here. Because you do want to live for God. Right. You're here on a Tuesday. I mean, it's the middle of the week. We're all tired. We're exhausted. And we have other things. But you're here because you do want to live for God. But most safe people don't want to live for God. And it is what it is. I mean, I would rather have a church full of 50 people that did love God than 300 people where we had two soul winners. Nobody's reading the Bible. Nobody wants to serve God. I'd rather just have a church that slowly grows, but it just basically takes the cream of the crop. And look, our church is going to grow. We've seen growth in our church. If you look at from when we started, we're basically about twice the attendance of when we started. I mean, it's a slow growth, but obviously we started as a small church. We've slowly grown, and I'm sure we're going to slowly grow and God's going to add to it in the future and everything. But let us be reminded of the fact that it's okay if we're still a church of like 35 people in two years, as long as we love God. I don't know how big our church is going to get. I mean, our churches have gotten bigger. This past weekend, we set a record for best attendance combined between our churches because we've seen steady growth in Manila, steady growth here, but it's a slow process. We've basically doubled in Manila since we started. We basically would have services with around 30 people, low 30s, high 20s, around 30 for the first several months of the church. We've been running in the 60s recently, so we've seen twice as many, but it wasn't just like this. It's been like a slow, steady growth, and sometimes there's setbacks. Sometimes you can have that growth and then you lose people or whatever, and you got to keep climbing. But the reason why we're not going to be the biggest church in Pampanga is because of the way I preach. It's because I just preach the truth, and it's hard for us to understand this because we do want to know the truth. I don't understand not wanting to know the truth. I was worldly as could be when I got saved and started going to church, but I wanted to know the truth. Sometimes it hurt. Pastors preach against all the music I listen to and everything, but I wanted to know the truth. Most people don't want to know the truth. They want to be lied to. They want to have a cloak for their sin, and so then once we basically remove that cloak, they get mad at us. You guys are so hateful. You guys aren't very nice. Why can't you be nicer like everybody else? It kind of reminds me like prophets in the Old Testament. Why can't you just speak like all the other prophets? Because I'm a man of God. That's why, right? That's the prophets in the Old Testament. It's like, why can't you be like all the other prophets? Every other prophet said things are going to be great, and that's the way it's always been. It's always been this way. Sometimes people have this idea that in the past, there was all these great fundamental Bible-leaving churches doing great things for God. It's never been that way. It's always been the few that want to serve God. It's just the way it works. Now actually turn to 2 Timothy 3. For sake of time, we'll skip Acts 7. Acts 7 is the famous story where Stephen gets stoned to death, and obviously he gets stoned to death because they get mad at him for what he's saying, right? Of course, there's many passages. The first sermon Jesus really preaches, they try to throw him off a cliff. I mean, he ends up getting crucified. I mean, obviously you could look throughout the Bible, John the Baptist was beheaded. You look at all these characters, but the idea is that, why are they getting so mad at them? Because there's a lot of religions around the world. Why is it, though, this sort of preaching offends people? Because we remove the cloak for their sin. That's why. People do not like being told no, and look, kids at a young age, of course, they struggle with that. You tell kids no, they don't want to listen. They struggle with it. It's something that, you know what, our kids, they're working through, we're teaching them like, no, when we say no, we mean no, right? But the reality is, grown adults in their 30s, and then they hear something where they're told, hey, this is sin, this is wrong, and then they just get mad. It's like, man, didn't you learn the word no as a kid? Second Timothy 3, verse 10, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. Second Timothy 3, verse 11, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will love godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And look, Paul states that if you're going to live godly, you're going to have persecution. Another thing he states is, it's going to happen at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, and look, no matter where you're serving God, it's going to happen, whether it's the Philippines, whether it's America, whether it's Pampanga, whether it's Manila, no matter the location, persecution will come if you're doing right. Oftentimes it comes from the family, oftentimes it's coworkers, right? Sometimes just the world, sometimes other Baptist churches, but if you're serving God, you're going to get some persecution. Look, we've had battles at our churches before, we've had some persecution. I can say that I've preached sermons and I've had some persecution. I don't consider it major, like Paul the Apostle, but I preached against a very famous Baptist here in the Philippines, probably the most famous one, and then he threatened to sue me at a funeral. Someone was actually at the funeral and he told me, and I saw the video of it, and then he's at a funeral, he's supposed to conduct the funeral, and he's preaching against me at a funeral. I mean, how my ya-bung can you be? It's like you're conducting a funeral and you're talking about yourself. It blew my mind, and I realized very early on it works a little bit differently here because it's just like, yeah, you can get in trouble if you preach against some of these false prophets, but it's just like, okay, yeah, you know what, there's the persecution. We've had persecution, we've had problems before, and you know what, it's going to come. All of us individually as well, you're going to have some persecution. Many of you have told me stories about how your friends and family kind of disown you because of the things you believe. They get mad at you for what you believe, and unfortunately, that's a common statement that save people around the world state once they start living for God. Same thing I heard in Sacramento, it's no different here in the Philippines. It's not like it doesn't work this way, no, it works that way everywhere. Other people that are your family member and friends and people you know, they'll reject you because of what you believe, because of what you stand for. Don't take that as a sign that you're doing something wrong, though, because actually that is to be expected, the Bible says. Turn to Galatians 4, and we'll close up Galatians 4. Actually, go to Galatians 5, and then we'll go to Galatians 4. Galatians 5, verse 11, and what Paul says in Galatians 5, verse 11, And I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Now Paul got many of these people in the church of Galatia saved, and he's saying, look, you're trying to add circumcision back into law and stating that you need to do it. And he said, look, I've never preached circumcision was something that was required. And if I do preach circumcision, if I was preaching that, why am I being persecuted? He's saying, you know what, these people, these Judaizers are bringing in this false doctrine and it's just like, I'm the one who's getting persecuted. So it's just like, I'm the one who got you saved. I never preached this stuff. I never preached circumcision. And what it shows you though in verse 11 is this, that you know what, when you preach salvation as a free gift, it offends people. But preaching works, salvation does not offend people. The Bible says the offense of the cross, and you say, why is the cross offensive to some people? Because of the fact, when you tell people that Jesus is the only way, they no longer have control of their eternity. What I mean by that is everybody thinks they're good enough to go to heaven. And before we come along and preach the gospel, they basically say, well, this is how good you need to be. This is how good I am, so I'm going to heaven. How often do you run into people that honestly think they're going to hell? That is a very rare thing. Very rare thing. Because everybody thinks they're a good person. Everybody thinks, you know, no matter how bad they are, well, I've never done this. Right? I mean, even someone who's a murderer would say, well, I mean, I'm not a serial killer. I only killed one person. Right? Or sometimes we talk to people that are just normal unsafe person who's like, well, I think I'm going to go to heaven. I've never committed murder. It's like, wow, that's a great accomplishment. You never killed anyone. Most people have never killed anyone. People naturally assume, and I did too, that most people go to heaven. Isn't that what we all assume before we're saved? Of course you assume that. Because of course you'd assume most people are going to heaven. And yet the Bible says, no, narrow is the way which leads them to life. So when we preach the gospel to people, some people take it very joyously. They're very excited to hear the gospel because they're happy to know. But those that reject our message can oftentimes get mad because they understand you're saying that they're on their way to hell, and they're not good enough to go to heaven. Why still believe I'm good enough? It says all liars. I don't lie that often. All. Right? They just don't want to admit it though. There's an offense to the cross, the Bible says. Galatians 4 verse 30, Galatians 4 verse 30, nevertheless, what saith the scripture, cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Look, all of these false religions, all of the false Christian religions, they're not going to be joint heirs with Christ. We know that. Those that are trusting in their works to get, and they really have no hope, they can't free themselves. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic and help us to...