(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) goes to receive, to listen, and to understand the Word of Jesus today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're here in Romans chapter 16, and we're going to finish up Romans chapter 16 here today. And so we finished most of it last week. We'll finish it up here today, though. And so the name of the sermon is A Warning Against False Brethren. A Warning Against False Brethren. And that's the context here in Romans 16. And so point number one is teaching against doctrines. Notice what it says in verse 17. Romans 16 verse 17. Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned. And so Paul warns people. He says, you know what? You need to be very careful about false doctrines. Things that are against the things that have been taught to you. Things that are against the things you know. It's like you need to mark those people. And it says when they teach things contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned or have been taught to you. Okay? And so look, in the context of a church, if somebody were to come to our church and start teaching things against what the church teaches, that's a major, major red flag. Right? This is what Paul is warning about. Right? And this is something you're going to see in churches. Sometimes people will come in and teach things and say, well, the church is actually kind of wrong about this. Right? I remember we had somebody who came in Sacramento and he lasted two services. Okay? And the first service he just kind of came with his family and he said, I want to come soul winning next week. And so he came soul winning and the guy was was was different. Right? The guy said he's like, you know, his wife didn't come so he brought like seven kids. He's like, is it alright if I leave them in the car while I'm, you know, out soul winning? I was like, well, I don't know what the legal laws are of leaving, you know, young kids in a car in California. So I don't know. Right? And he was my soul winning partner and he said to me like five minutes into soul winning, he's like, you know, a lot of people, a lot of churches think that, you know, soul winning, door-to-door is taught in the Bible. The Bible actually never teaches door-to-door soul winning. He said this to me while we're out soul winning. And I'm just like, it was funny because I had just read that morning where it says, you know, I've taught you publicly and from house to house. Right? It's like, well, it doesn't say door-to-door, but it does say house to house. Okay? And then all of a sudden he's trying to convince me because it took me a second to find the verse. I was like, I just read it this morning. I said, hold on. He's like, see? You think it's in there, but it's not. And then I showed him the verse. Oh, I guess I was wrong. And it's like we went back to the church and this guy's trying to teach us the King James Bible has all these errors. It turns out this guy had a YouTube channel teaching there is no hell. He didn't believe in hell. And it's like, I don't know what he was doing there. But look, this is actually a situation that can happen. And the Bible teaches people that would teach contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. And what that means is you need to know what you believe. You need to know what you believe and why you believe it. You need to read the Bible for yourself and know what you believe. See, if somebody asks you, why do you believe this doctrine? The correct answer is not because I heard Brother Stuckey preach it. That's the wrong answer. Because I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. The correct answer is Romans chapter whatever teaches this. This is what the Bible says. Why? Because your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God is what Paul says. Meaning you know what the Bible says and you read it for yourself. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4. And look, this is not really something I really remember us having major problems with. I do know we had someone at our church who was going soul-winding teaching something against what the church did back when we were at, I think we're still in Bayview, right? A couple years ago, you know, before we got here and everything like that. But it's like, you know, this is something that will happen at churches. And you say, well, I don't think it would ever happen. Look, when Moses was around, there was Korah and Dathan and Abiram. And they were people that were respected and loved and revered inside the church. People looked up to them. They thought they were spiritual leaders. And you know what, when you read that story, Korah already had people on his side. Once he decides to war with Moses, he's got a hundred people supporting him, right? This is something that will take place in churches, which is why you need to know why you believe something. It's not just that I preached it, but you read the Bible for yourself. Now that does not mean that you're going to agree with every single thing that I say, because people have different opinions and that's fine. But the key is that, you know what, you're not fighting against the doctrine of the church. And the key is that you know why you believe something, okay? There's a reason why our church uses a lot of verses in our sermons. Because a lot of churches you're probably used to, you're like, man, there's like one verse in a story, right? Or two verses in a story, right? You say, Brother Sucky, you read through like a hundred verses in a sermon. You say, why? Because I want you to know what the Bible says. I want you to see, well, this is why I believe something. It's not just my opinion, and I'm not going to give you any reason why I believe that. I'm going to give you this verse and this verse and this verse. This is why I believe it. And my hope is that you're going to remember these things and remember what the Bible says, okay? Ephesians 4 verse 11. And it says, and He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith. One of the key things about a local church is that you're united, okay, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now what's interesting is this. Some people have this attitude of unity, and they take it way too far and outside of what the Bible says. Because Jesus said, I didn't come to bring peace, but division, right? I've come to set a man at variance against his father, and he goes through that whole list of things. We're not trying to just have world peace, world peace, world peace. Look, I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. That's reality, okay? But I want you to realize when He talks about unity, He's not saying, well, just forget about doctrine, because doctrine doesn't matter. Because we're all just trying to be united. Is that the context? They're united because they have the same doctrine. Because notice verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And the Bible is saying, to be united as a local church, you need the same doctrine, which means I need to teach doctrine. So you know what the church believes, and it's up to you. Do I agree with that doctrine or not? And if you don't, that's fine, right? You can either stay at the church and just accept the doctrine that you might disagree with, or find a church you line up with more. But see, here's the thing. If you go to a church like Joel Osteen's church in the U.S., one of the biggest churches in the world, and you go around and start asking people Bible questions, you're going to get 20 different answers on every question. It's like, what do you believe about salvation? 20 different answers. Do you think baptism is required for salvation? 20 different answers. Do you believe in speaking in tongues? 20 different answers. I mean, Joel Osteen's dad was a big tongue-talker. I mean, Joel Osteen's not very public about it, but he's a tongue-talking Pentecostal, even though he doesn't call his church Pentecostal because he doesn't want to be known as a tongue-talker. But he does. And in this church, there's some people that support it, and there's some people that don't support it. Now I'd imagine everyone at this church says, no, there's no tongue-talking, right? And look, there might be people that are new to church, and it doesn't mean that they believe everything, but here's the thing. When the things are being preached, they're going to either decide, I want to link up with that church or not. And that's fine. But the doctrine needs to be taught. So it's not unity by basically not talking about doctrine. It's unity around the same doctrine. Because think of this logically. All of us have unsaved Catholic family members, right? Is that not true? Probably every one of us in this room, I have no family that's Catholic, but I married into my wife who has a Catholic family that's not saved, right? Every one of us has a Catholic family that's not saved. How united can you be with unsaved Catholics at her family? Can you just talk to them about any topic and agree? No, you're going to disagree. They're going to criticize why you go soul-winning. They're going to criticize this kind of preaching. They're going to criticize the stance. You can't have unity because you have different doctrines. The only way to be united is if you just talk about the weather. And look, you can only talk about the weather for so long. It gets boring, okay? We're united as a church because we have the same doctrine. We agree on the core doctrines. We don't separate the doctrine. No, we make it very clear what our doctrine is. And look, you know what? When you're very clear about your doctrine, your church is never going to be a megachurch. This church is not a small church anymore. Like, when we started, there were some Sundays where I was like, man, you know, you're praying for people to come and one family misses. It's like, oh man, you got like 24 people at church or whatever or 30 people at church. We have plenty of people each Sunday, sometimes more, sometimes less. Last week we had more people, but we still have plenty of people here today. But we will never be a megachurch. You say, why? Because I'm just too clear with what we believe. Because I say vice pangit and some people get offended. It doesn't change the fact that he's still vice pangit. He, she, whatever you want to say, right? Turn your Bible to Jude 1. Jude 1. Jude chapter 1. Jude chapter 1. And so look, you need to know what you believe about the Bible, right? Every January we do the January New Testament Bible reading challenge. And we had half or maybe, you know, a little bit more than half our church who read through the entire New Testament in January. Praise the Lord for that, right? But February through December you should still be reading your Bible. I understand our lives are busy, but you should have woke up this morning and spent some time reading the Word of God. And then the Bible talks about you hear things preached and you search the scriptures whether those things are so, which means you don't just take for granted that everything I say is a fact. And look, when they're saying search the scriptures to make sure those things are so, they're talking about a church is with good pastors that know the Word of God. And the Bible is still saying make sure you know what they're saying is right. Make sure you understand it. And it could be I say something and either I misspeak or I say something and you know what, I'm not right about it. And you need to go home and make sure you agree with it. Make sure you believe it. Now here's the thing, if you go home and you see something in the Bible and you say, man, I don't know if Brother Stuckey's right about that, I disagree, that's okay. But here's the thing, you don't go and just tell everybody at church about it because that just causes problems. Now with your own individual family that's a little bit of a different story. Meaning if you're a husband and you hear something I preach about raising kids, for example, you know what, I talk about kids in sermons, I give advice on spanking, I don't expect everybody to agree with every single thing I say. Right? It's not two plus three equals five, people can have different opinions. And that's fine as a husband and wife saying, hey, we've got to decide about our own family. I don't lord over God's heritage. I give you advice from the pulpit and you make the decisions in life. If that first sermon you said, I disagree Brother Stuckey, I think the secret to happiness is drugs and sin, then go for it. Right? You don't have to follow my advice. It's up to you. Right? But, you know, you don't want to cause problems because we need to have unity in the local church. Okay? And so in Jude 1 verse 3, beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. By the way, it says common meaning it's available to all. It's the same for everybody. It's not different for the Muslim. They have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Well, you say Brother Stuckey, you know, that's salvation for, you know, and it's funny because in the U.S. they'll say, well, this is the Western world, but go to the Eastern world and it's not Jesus. Well, we're in the Eastern world. It's still Jesus here, right? People believe in Jesus in the Philippines. But in terms of like China and those countries, it's like, no, Taoism is not your secret to get to heaven. Confucianism is not your secret to get to heaven. Islam is not your secret. It's Jesus Christ because it's the common salvation. Meaning, Muhammad didn't die for us. Buddha didn't die for us. Only Jesus Christ died for us. So it's the common salvation. It also means it's available to anybody. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, not just for a small group of people, okay? Then it says, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Why? For there are certain men crept in unawares, who before or before the Lord ordained this condemnation. Ungodly men turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness in denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1, or the book of Jude, is about false prophets. And the Bible talks about these people creeping in, okay? Now, when you think of creeping, think of a bug, okay? That's the analogy the Bible's trying to give us. Look, if you have an ant or an e-piece or a spider that creeps into your house, are you aware of it? Probably not, right? I mean, we see bugs in our house, but if you see seven bugs, that means you have seven thousand somewhere, right? It's just like, yesterday my wife brought home some food, and then all of a sudden it's just like, you know, where did all these ants come from? It's just like, food's there, and then they come out from every crawling place. They just creep in, and it's like, what in the world, right? This is what happens. See, what the Bible's saying is this, that when there's people that want to teach doctrines against the church or to take down the church, they oftentimes creep in. Meaning that, not saying that we don't notice that they're here. We're not a mega church. Saying, though, that they'll basically, you know, be a church, and you would never guess that they're not the same, right? They seem like a normal person, they seem like a nice person, and then they're trying to tell people hell is not real, right? Now that person was pretty obvious pretty early. I mean, that was the second church service, okay? But the Bible warns about people that would be at a church for years, and then start teaching people at the church, well, you know, the Bible doesn't really teach the Trinity. It teaches oneness. It doesn't teach that Jesus is eternally the Son of God. But see, the way they do it is they're not just really blunt and obvious about that. It's very subtle, because they don't want to make it obvious. And then what they're doing is slowly fighting against the church. This happens at church. You say, Brother Stuckey, how do we avoid this? Do we want to just have something at the front where we ask them one million questions? No, we accept people to visit our church, absolutely. But what it means is everybody at church should know what they believe and why they believe it. Now we're not a church that has a church membership and says you must believe this to be a member, but we have a Bible and we encourage you to read it so you know what you believe. Everybody in this church should be reading the Bible. And look, if you could say that I have not read my Bible in the past week, you know what, you need to make some changes in your life. You need to know why you believe things. You shouldn't just go to a church because it's entertaining and it's fun. You need to know what you believe. And I'll tell you what, if you just spend 30 minutes reading the Bible a day, you get through the Bible twice a year. And I'll tell you what, when you start reading the Bible, you're going to start seeing why we believe things and what the Bible teaches, and you're going to know what you believe and why. This is like a puzzle that only makes sense when you put all the pieces together. Meaning you've got to read this entire Bible, read the Word of God. Now turn back to Romans 16. Romans 16. Romans 16. Now look, it's funny because at the end of this this book, I mean it's such a great book, the book of Romans. It's one of the best books in the Bible. I think everyone would agree on that. And in Romans 16, Paul is mainly just trying to thank all these people that have been an encouragement. I'm sure he doesn't want to talk about this, but it's needful. He's like, I still got to warn you because there could be bad people, right? So he's encouraging, naming all these people, so-and-so's a blessing, so-and-so's a blessing, they bestowed much labor. Then there's a small section where he's warning against potential false brethren. And this is why we're preaching a sermon on it, because it's in Romans 16. Right? Point number one is they teach against doctrines of the church. Point number two, these are people that the Bible tells us we should avoid. Mark and avoid. Okay? Verse 17, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. Now it's interesting because it says here about marking and avoiding them, but it says the people teaching the false doctrine are the ones causing the divisions. So you think of the church of Galatia, and that was a church where Paul never questions, you know, I mean Paul starts questioning their salvation because they're changing their doctrines, right? But what's interesting is the people that are causing the division are not the people of the church that are right on salvation and the people, you know, teaching the right things. It's the people bringing the false doctrine are the ones causing division. You say, why? Because this is what the Word of God says. This is the truth. So look, if somebody comes to our church and they start teaching, you can lose your salvation. And then they start teaching people at church, and I've got to deal with it and say, hey, you know what, you're not welcome to teach, you know, that you can lose your salvation here because that's not what we believe. People might look at me and say, well, you know, you're causing division, you're being so mean, Brother Stuckey. No, they're causing division because they're the ones bringing the false doctrine. The false doctrine is saying you can lose your salvation. The false doctrine is saying you've got to be baptized to go to heaven. The false doctrine is saying you've got to give your life to God to be saved rather than just believe. And look, if somebody teaches opposite of that and I deal with that, I'm not the one causing strife and problems. I'm trying to protect the unity around the doctrine we believe and we stand for. This is always what happens at churches, right? I mean, I know churches in the U.S. where they had situations where there's people that were coming in and caused false doctrine, and then the pastor dealt with it, and then it's like, well, the pastor's so mean. It's like, no, he's trying to keep the unity at the church, right? I mean, I've known people that were at independent Baptist churches for a while, and then they join like the Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church. It's like, look, you know, then go to the Orthodox Church. It's like you're not going to fit in here if you believe the doctrine of the Orthodox or the Catholic or some false doctrine like that. So point number one was they teach against the doctrine. Point two, the Bible says these are people to mark and avoid. So if somebody caused a major problem and we had to deal with it, I would have to make mention of that if it was a major doctrinal thing where they were here at the church for eight months teaching a false doctrine, like a majorly false doctrine, and those are people that you as members should avoid. And what that means is if somebody got kicked out of church and they're not welcome at our church, those are people to avoid, the Bible says. You say, why? Because they cause divisions. They cause problems in our church. They destroy the unity of the church for one reason or another, and the Bible says these are people to mark and avoid. Notice what it says in verse 19. For your obedience has come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. Now I do believe when it says simple concerning evil, this is a phrase we often quote, but it still ties together with the false prophets. Meaning this, if somebody's at our church and they're teaching some major, major heresy and they're a false prophet and they get removed from church, don't just go to their YouTube channel after they've been removed and just listen to everything they have to say. You don't need to hear all the evil, false things being said. Look, if somebody got removed for being a oneness Pentecostal and teaching people how to speak in tongues and stuff like that, look, don't go to their YouTube channel to watch it. I mean, if you want entertainment, there's a million things on YouTube to watch other than that, right? The Bible says be simple concerning evil. Go to 1st Corinthians 5. 1st Corinthians 5. 1st Corinthians chapter 5. 1st Corinthians chapter 5. 1st Corinthians 5 is an example of church discipline the Bible talks about. And you know what? I'm thankful at this church this is not something we've had to deal with a whole lot. I mean, it's been over a year since anybody's ever been kicked out of this church, and it's only happened on a small number of occasions, but every time we kick somebody out, they were destroying the unity of our church. And that's a fact. Every single time somebody was kicked out, they were destroying the unity, and removing them gave us unity. It put us on the same page. I feel so bad they got kicked out of church. Well, I feel bad that they destroyed the unity of this church. You should be thankful that the cancer is removed, because we're a united church now. We don't have any problems. I don't know of major fights. It used to be I'd go home from church and get text messages all the time like, my goodness. It's like, quit getting in fights. And you know what? I don't have to deal with that now. And I'm not saying it will never happen. I'm not saying there's not something that I'm not aware of. I'm just saying we had major problems with unity. We dealt with the problem. Do we have problems with unity now? The proof's in the pudding, man. I don't know if Brother Stuckey's making the right choice. Well, the proof's in the pudding. I obviously did make the right choice, right? And every time I've had to kick somebody out of church, it helped their unity. Right? And look, I'm very long-suffering with people. If you remember when we were meeting at the hotel, you know, the pastor, the 20-year-old pastor that's not married, you know, Jeremy. And I was very long-suffering with Jeremy. I was trying to give him a chance and everything like that. And what really made me mad is when he was stealing money from people at church. He was guilting them into giving him money, and he did that at our missions trip. And that was the thing that was kind of the final straw. But you know, I knew that he was not really like-minded on his stuff. I mean, he came soloing with us, and you know what? It's just like, you know, he starts talking to someone. One minute later, the heads bowed. It's like, what in the world? It's just like, what are you doing out there? Right? I mean, and then he disagreed with us on doctrines, and he was pretending to be like us, but he wasn't like us at all. You know, he's falling asleep during the services for an hour, and then just like, you know, hanging out in the bathroom for an hour during church. It's like, what are you doing? Right? I mean, everybody at church wanted me to kick him out like immediately. I'm like, well, you know, we'll give him a chance and everything like that. But it was destroying the unity of our church. Right? I mean, I was very long-suffering, but sometimes it gets to a point where it's just too much, and it has to be dealt with. That's reality. It's not a fun thing to do, but it is a necessary thing. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. Purge out there for the old leaven that he may be a new lump, as he are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so the local church, the truth is very important. Verse 9. I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within. And Paul's saying, you know what, God judges people that are outside the church, but you're supposed to judge the people within the church. And that's referring to the local leadership is supposed to deal with that, and unfortunately in Corinth it wasn't being done. Now when you read Paul, he was basically in charge of the church of Corinth because he says, other people might doubt my apostleship, but I am doubtless an apostle unto you. But they weren't doing what they were supposed to do, and the church was becoming a free-for-all at the church of Corinth. Then it says in verse 13, but them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Meaning, kick that person out of the church. Now here's the thing, none of us are perfect. We sin every single day, but the Bible is referring to sins that are very grievous, right? Being a fornicator. Fornication is a major sin. Now I understand we have a church full of plenty of people. I'm sure in the past people have made this mistake, but if you're part of a local church, you need to be unified on doctrine, and you need the church to stay pure. And if we allow that sort of sin, it's going to be teaching the kids that it's okay. It mentions being a drunkard. Now let me say this, drinking a beer once a month does not make you a drunkard. It means you're committing a sin, but that's not being a drunk. A drunk is something where it's very obvious and everyone would call you a drunk. And look, I don't condone drinking. I preach a whole sermon against any amount of drinking. I'm just saying, I wouldn't kick somebody out of church if they drank one beer once a month. That wouldn't get you kicked out of church. But if you're stumbling into church because you're drunk, then you know what? That has to be dealt with. Now I will say a long time ago I learned my lesson, though, about you can't always, you know, jump to judgments. And this is something, a lesson we always learn from time to time. Because actually, there was actually a time I was part of a church, and it was a small church, and somebody stumbled into church like that. Turned out they had just had a stroke, and they actually needed to rush to the hospital. And we didn't even notice after the service because the pastor thought, we all thought they were drunk. And it turned out that they had a stroke, and they actually needed real help. So we got to be careful rushing to judgments, okay? So somebody's stumbling in here, it's like, first let's make sure they're okay, okay? That's the lesson I learned. But it's like that would teach people that it's okay if we allow that to take place, okay? It's not acceptable. It says an idolater. Now look, if we get a Catholic saved here today, I do not expect them to necessarily destroy all of their idols from day one. But if they're trying to convince people to join them at the Feast of the Black Nazarene, then we got a problem. It's one thing if you got your little Buddha statue or a little Mary statue or whatever at your house and nobody knows it, but when you're trying to get people to go to the Feast of the Black Nazarene, we got a problem because we're not a Catholic Church, okay? But here's the thing, it also said in verse 11, if any man that is called a brother, and the same would be if any woman is called a sister. And the way I take that is this, if somebody first starts coming to church, they're very new, and you know you don't necessarily know everything about them, but as they're coming regularly you start knowing them as brother so-and-so. Brother Stuckey, Brother Marlin, Brother Jay, right? You start calling them brother so-and-so, right? Or sister so-and-so. That's at the point where they're an established member, meaning if somebody's here on their first, meaning if you get somebody saved here today and they're guilty of one of these sins, they're welcome to come to our church next week and visit our church because they're not brother so-and-so yet. Even if they're saved, I'm saying they're not known as brother so-and-so, if any man that is called a brother, meaning at church you call them brother so-and-so because you've gotten to know them. So I'm going to be long-suffering with people. Sometimes I hear situations and people say, hey, is this something you're going to deal with? It's like this person's at church once every three months, nobody knows their name. It's like it would cause more problems making it a big scene. It's like it's not an issue, you know? Hopefully they'll come more regularly and maybe that sin will leave them, right? Now I remember there's somebody in turn of Romans 16, Romans 16, there's somebody in Sacramento that on my last day he told me this, my last day before, you know, my family moved here, my last day at the church, and he just told me one to thank me because he started coming to the church just like about a year and a half before, you know, we moved here to the Philippines and, you know, he still was guilty of, you know, drinking a little bit. That was still a sin of his but it was not known in the church and he was kind of new at church so this was not something people were aware of. See, if nobody's aware of it then it's not really a major thing. If I end up becoming aware of a situation and people are not aware, I'll try to deal with it quietly because there's no point of making it a big thing. But people didn't even know. They would have had no reason to know this but he just told me he thanked me because I preached a sermon against alcohol and he said after that sermon he's like I've never drank since then because I was preaching against drinking alcohol during the sermon. But see that's a situation where if somebody's new at church you don't expect them to be perfect from day one. I mean if somebody first starts coming to church you're like you're still listening to rock music. They just started coming to church. Of course. It's like, you know what, I was listening to rock music for a couple years after I got saved. It's like, you know, I was watching the wrong movies for years. I mean it takes people time and, you know what, it's like sometimes we make the mistake of expecting people to be just like us from day one. It happens. You need to give people a chance to grow. So point number one, the warning is against people teaching false doctrine meaning you need to know what you believe and why you believe it. Point number two, if somebody ends up getting removed from church or you're aware of somebody at church who's teaching something false these are people that you should avoid. Now look, if you know of a major situation this is something that you should tell me quietly and nobody else at church. It doesn't need to become a big situation at church. You can tell me quietly about it. Now realize something. If you just came to me after the service and told me, hey, you know what, secretly, you know, Brother Marlin's a drunk, right? Well, first off, I don't know if that's true. I very seriously doubt that's true. My first reaction would be like, is it April 1st? Is it April Fool's Day, right? But just because you give an accusation to me it would be foolish for me to just automatically assume it's true. I mean, where's the proof of that, right? You could come to me with an accusation and here's the reality. If you cannot prove that accusation then it's something I got to just keep in the back of my mind and you know what, maybe if a few other people come to me with the same thing then things start tying together. But if one person tells me about a problem and look, this has happened at our church. People have messaged me and told me about something and look, oftentimes if I don't think it's too big of a thing I try to let those situations resolve themselves because it's not worth making a big deal. Then when you find out it is a big deal then you got to deal with it, okay? But just because you give me an accusation doesn't mean I'm automatically going to kick somebody out of church. But realize this, if you and several other people say the same thing to me, well then you start having two plus witnesses, right? At the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established. So look, if there's something major it doesn't mean I'm going to deal with it immediately because I need to prove it and verify it and things such as that, but you should still let me know about it so I am aware of that, okay? Point number three, these people are serving themselves, not you. What do I mean by that? If somebody's trying to teach you a false doctrine they don't care about you, they care about themselves. Romans 16 verse 18, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly. The Bible says these people, they're not serving God, they're serving their own belly. They're serving themselves, right? That's what the Bible teaches about these people. Go to Philippians chapter 3, Philippians 3, Philippians 3. Now let me just also say this, that Paul and other writers in the Bible give a lot of warnings about people like this and, you know, the reality is he's talking to people that are at good churches, right? He's talking to people that have good churches. Unfortunately around the world not everybody's in that situation. You say, I mean, people have asked me this question before, you know, like, if your pastor is not saved but it's the best church in your town, should you go to that church? And I was like, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, if the pastor is not saved and preaching a false gospel, should you be a member of that church? That's a good question. I mean, the Bible does teach forsake not the assembling of ourselves together but, you know, the idea is that people are like-minded. I mean, if the only religious thing in your area was, you know, a Hindu temple, am I going to tell you to go there? No. So it's just like, you know, that's obviously just a terrible situation but here's the thing, we're not in that situation because we have a good church here. We have a church that's very clear on doctrine, that's very clear about salvation, so you're not in that situation. Now maybe a few years ago, maybe you were. Maybe you say, Brother Stuckey, before I just I went to church because I felt obligated but honestly it's like, you know, many of the members weren't even saved, you know, and the church preached a false gospel. I know stories within our church where people said, you know, that they tried to get members of the church saved because they weren't saved. It's like, that is a tough situation to be in. I don't think you're wrong for doing that but it's obviously not an ideal situation but I'm saying if you're part of a good church, right, then this is where this applies and we're part of a good church. It's not a perfect church but it's a good church. We teach our doctrines, you know what you believe about salvation, you know what our doctrines are, we're doing work for God, we're going soul winning, we're trying to get churches started, we're trying to get you to read the Bible, so this applies to our church, okay, and it says in Philippians 3 verse 18, for just a few people walk. Is that what it says in verse 18, right, kuntilang, just a few people? For many walk, a lot of people, for many walk of whom I have told you, pomenson, menson, long, you know, often, for many walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. There are people that are enemies of the cross of Christ and here's the thing, if you were to look at Muslim leaders or Hindu leaders, of course they're enemies of the cross of Christ. The Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses that are out there, they're enemies of the cross of Christ but sometimes the enemies of the cross of Christ actually don't seem to be the enemies of the cross of Christ. They seem nice. They seem like a good person. In reality, they're not. That's what the Bible's teaching because what Paul's warning, he's not trying to warn them about, be careful about the Muslim that's going to creep into your church. It's like, I'm pretty sure we'd be able to spot them by the way they're dressed pretty easily, right? Beware of the Buddhist monk that enters your church. I'm pretty sure we're going to be able to see that giant orange garb around them. That's not hard to see, right? Beware of the Catholic priest who creeps into your church. I'm pretty sure we're going to notice the color turned around backwards. But there's people that seem to be just like us but they're actually creeping in a church and they're actually enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. Notice the link whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. You say, Brother Stuckey, why does it say whose God is their belly? Well, I think the reason why is he's giving an analogy we can all understand. Think about going on a diet. Because every single one of us that is not under the age of 15 has probably gone on a diet at least for a short time or some period of time before, right? Every one of us has gone on a diet to some degree. I love diets, personally. I know a lot of people are anti-diet. I love diets. I love that diet we did in October. It helped me trim down before the anniversaries and the Christmas. It was great for me, right? But when it comes to diets, it's just like, you know, you've got a choice. Am I going to just, you know, do what I want to do, meaning abstain from the desserts and the ice cream and the sweets, or am I going to feed my belly, right? When you're going on a diet, you have to deny what your flesh wants because your flesh doesn't want to go on that diet. Your flesh wants the ice cream. Your flesh wants the junk food, right? And you've got to deny your flesh and what your belly wants. But you know what? What's really very easy to do is just, you know, you're trying to do the diet, and then all of a sudden it's like, I know I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't eat a cookie. And then all of a sudden it's like, and you ate like 20 Oreos in like five minutes. And what the Bible is saying is these false prophets, they can't help themselves. They just, you know, cannot help themselves from teaching false doctrine. It's like, man, they just got to do it. And the Bible says they're enemies of the cross of Christ. They're feeding themselves. This is something they enjoy. It's what their flesh enjoys to do, the Bible says. Go to Jude 1. Jude 1. Jude 1. Jude 1. Now you say, Brother Stuckey, if these people came into church, I would be ready immediately. I mean, I would know. I mean, I think if this person came in, it would be very, very obvious. It would be like a Buddhist monk walking in here. It would be so obvious to me. Well, I mean, there's 12 apostles that were directly, I mean, there's more, but there's 12 specific, right? The 12 apostles of Jesus, right? And you know what? Nobody thought it was Judas Iscariot, right? And Jesus pretty much said it's Judas Iscariot, and they're like, I wonder what he meant by that. I mean, it's just like, you know, they really just don't come across that but, you know, what that teaches us is that we would probably be in the same sense of denial if that situation happened. Like, if you had five people that came to you and said, I saw that person speaking in tongues, you'd be like, no. I wonder what they meant by that, right? Because they're gonna do a good job fitting in. We all think that we're better at being able to tell, but, you know, the Bible says you're not actually going to be able to tell. Judas Iscariot was the last person they suspected. I mean, he was literally the last one they suspected. Now, when you're actually reading through the Gospels, you can see the subtle stuff he's doing, but, you know, here's the thing. When you already know the end result, it's very easy to see the clues. Like, you know, I don't advocate watching movies, but, of course, I used to watch movies, and you know what? When there's a twist ending, if you actually go back to that movie, there's clues along the way, subtle little clues, and you're like, oh, I should have known, right? But, you know what? We just don't usually pay attention to those clues. Or you might see something that's a red flag, but it's people who want to give people the benefit of the doubt, and the Bible says, charity believeth all things. That's not necessarily a bad trait to want to give people the benefit of the doubt, because if you're filled full of charity, you will. I don't want to think people are bad people, right? I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, okay? Jude 1 verse 16, these are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lusts. See how they're serving themselves in Jude 1, walking after their own lusts, and then in verse 18, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts, okay? Now, go to Romans 16. Romans 16. Romans 16. Now, I want you to realize, you know, as I've said, no two people agree 100% about every single topic. I mean, even amongst husband and wives, you know, there's going to be different opinions on various things, okay? Every single one of us has different opinions. I mean, the Bible has a lot of verses that can be taken different ways. Some stuff is very clear in the Bible. Some stuff, people could have different opinions, and that's okay. I will say this, though, you know, we are still underneath Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California, and I know of a few things that I have a different opinion than Pastor Jimenez. I don't preach those things. You say, why? Because I consider him the authority of this church, and I'm running this church on behalf of him. And so, you know, obviously when people guest preach on the midweek service, obviously we have a rotating schedule. I mean, to the best of your ability, you should try to stay within the doctrines of our church. Now, that doesn't mean that there can't be a verse that comes up where maybe you say something and I'm thinking, oh, I actually don't agree with that. Of course, they're going to be something where you have a different opinion, but you should try to stay within the doctrine of the church. There's plenty to teach in the Bible, right? 66 books, you know, over a thousand pages in most Bibles. I mean, plenty of great information, okay? So point number one, they teach against doctrines. Point two, the Bible says avoid these people. Point three, the Bible says they're serving themselves. And point four, how do they do this? Like, how can they creep in a church? What is their technique? Bola. Bola is their technique. Flattery is their technique. They basically butter you up to take advantage of you. That's the secret. Now, I know we all think, man, I would never fall for that, but in reality everybody falls for Bola, right? Romans 16 verse 18, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the Bobo, of the simple. My bad. I misread. But they deceive the hearts of the simple. The simple-minded person will be without knowledge. People say, man, Brother Stuckey, I learned that. I've never heard that before. But you need to be very careful with not going over the top, okay? Because I'll be honest, if people go over the top with compliments to me, I'm just thinking, thank you, red flag or red check mark. I'm thinking, all right, that's strike one, right? That's a big red flag. It's funny because I preached against flattery in Sacramento one time, and you know, there's a lot of homeless people near the building in Sacramento, and as I said, most of these people are drug addicts. So we have people that come in from time to time, and this guy came in, and he was a homeless person, and he was kind of half in and half out, like in his mind and everything. And I preached against flattery, and after the service he told me, that is the greatest sermon I have ever heard in my life. And we're all just kind of laughing about it because that's like the exact opposite of what I said during the sermon. It's like, did you get anything from the sermon, right? But the Bible's speaking about flattery, and the Bible says, using good words and fair speeches, they butter you up, they flatter you. Okay, go back to Jude. Jude 1. Jude. Jude chapter 1. Now sometimes flattery can be very obvious. Sometimes it can be very subtle. I personally feel like I'm ready for very obvious flattery, but you know what? Honestly, with subtle flattery, I've had my wife tell me sometimes, oh, that seemed like flattery to me. It just went over my head. Didn't even notice it, right? Most of us are probably going to be ready for very obvious flattery, but then there could be the person at church that's just always giving you just a little bit, and then you start to trust that person, and then they're getting you on their side because they're trying to take advantage of you or use you for their benefit for whatever reason. Jude 1 verse 16. These are murmurs, complainers, walking after their own lust, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words. What does that mean? It means they give you flattery to swell you full of pride, right? It's like, man, you are the greatest soul winner I've ever met in my life. Yeah, I mean, I really am. You are the most spiritual person. Yeah, you know, I was thinking the same thing, right? Because inside of our own hearts, you know, honestly, all of us have a little bit of pride that we struggle with, and what they do is they take advantage of that pride, and if you're a very prideful person, they're really going to take advantage of you, and then they complement you, and they swell you full of pride. And once again, I'm not saying it's wrong to give compliments. I believe it's good to give people compliment. you you you you you you the cubicle right beside me kind of in the workspace this woman was like the head everybody would go to her for the information and she would gossip to people and she was always like everyone's best friend and then you know five minutes later I'd hear gossiping about that person that she was just gossiping to about somebody else and it's like she was addicted to the cheese meats right and I don't think she was a reprobate I don't think she was a bet she wasn't saying but I don't think she was a bad person but she just loved the cheese meats and it's just like she was just gossiping and she was just gathering information you got to be very careful about that if they're willing to gossip to you they're willing to gossip about you that's the way it works problems 26 verse 24 he that hateth dissembles with his lips and layeth up to see within him look if somebody hates somewhat buddy they're not going to tell you I hate so-and-so they're going to tell you I love so-and-so and then they're going to try to get you to hate them right they're not going to be honest to you they're going to deceive you they're going to lie to you ok verse 25 when he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart and the Bible says when this person speaks fair swelling words don't believe him because he's a liar he's a fraud he's a phony don't automatically believe what people tell you it's not necessarily true it might be true it might not that's reality but people make accusations about a lot of different people it doesn't mean that it's true you don't know whether it's true or not ok verse 26 it says whose hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation who so dig at the pitch shall follow in and he that rolleth the stone it will return upon him a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin the Bible is warning about people that will flatter ok go to roman 16 roman 16 roman chapter 16 and once again this is not mean that this person is necessarily a bad person but I'm just telling you if they flatter to you they're probably going to flatter about you you need to be very careful and look you know what when it comes to gossip gossip is wrong anyway I mean it's one thing if you say hey brother so-and-so man you know he he did really great at this but if you're trying to criticize people that's wrong now I know our flesh enjoys that but it's wrong so look you know what you shouldn't be involved in any gossip anyway of criticizing other members like did you hear that so-and-so did this did you see that so-and-so did this I mean I just saw on Facebook that so-and-so made this post and it's just like you know what there's no reason for that there's no purpose for that right point number five the last point is they deceive the simple they deceive the simple roman 16 verse 18 for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple the reality is if people are trying to come in to teach false doctrine or cause problems for whatever reason they're going to try to do it with people that they think they can deceive it's not very likely let me just help you out with something it's not very likely if somebody tries to come in and teach some major false doctrine that they're going to come to me they're probably going to come to you you say why I'm the one preaching the sermons they're probably not going to come to people that they think are leaders of the church because they just don't think that they're going to I mean honestly if somebody tries to come in you should be offended if somebody tries to teach you false doctrine I mean it's like when that guy came out sowing with me and he's trying to teach me so when he's not biblical I was offended I was like you came to me it's like what in the world right but it's just like you know what they're probably going to come and so here's the thing you say what's the secret to not being a simple person reading the Bible that's the secret I mean isn't the opposite of being simple is having knowledge or wisdom well how do you get wisdom by serving God right and we're not talking about wisdom in terms of like I can prove to you that four and a half billion years ago the earth blah blah blah you know whatever lie science is going to tell you we're talking about the wisdom found in God's Word and any saved person has the ability to have it just being saved alone does not mean that you're gonna have wisdom you need to read the Bible memorize the Bible go soul winning serve God and you will have wisdom and you know what you're gonna be ready for those situations that's reality but if you don't prepare yourself you're gonna be like the house that is founded upon the sand and you're just gonna crumble let's close up here in the chapter Romans 16 verse 21 to Mothius my work fellow and Lucius and Jason and Sospitur my kinsmen salute you I churches who wrote this epistle salute you in the Lord Gaius mine host and of the whole church salute with you Erastus the Chamberlain of the city salute with you and Cortis a brother the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen now to him that is a power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets so in verse 25 it talks about being established which is basically like having your feet settled you know what you believe you're established in the faith and kind of the secret is well to be saved the gospel the preaching of Jesus Christ you hear the word of God being preached and you know you know the scriptures of the prophets meaning you know the Bible you know the word of God that's going to make you establish in the faiths you're not tossed to and fro and cared about with every wind of doctrine according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever Amen so that's the end of the book of Romans we've been here for like 25 30 weeks or whatever like that we'll get started on first John here in a little bit and kind of the application of the sermon is as a thriving and growing church especially if you consider this your church you want to be you know planted in this church you need to know what you believe you need to be ready for situations like this because here's the thing we we cannot stop these people from creeping into church just like you cannot stop an ant from getting inside your house I don't care if you found every crack in your house and you've done everything possible bugs are still getting in that house right but what you can do is be prepared for the bugs you can have the bug spray ready right you can be prepared for the bugs because they're gonna come in you need to make sure you know what you believe in why you believe let's close in order prayer dear Heavenly Father thank you for allowed us be here in your house today and if we're getting to see this message and I ask you to help protect our church from situations like this and I ask you to allow us not to encounter these problems unless our church is ready for it and our members are ready but help everybody at our church be ready for when these sorts of situations do occur we pray this in Jesus name amen