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All right, chapter 5, verse number 1, the Bible reads, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. Now, in these first two verses, a little bit separate from what's going to follow beginning verse number 3, basically, he's talking about how to treat people with respect, right? He says, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren. He's saying, treat them. In the bottom part there, treat them like they're your brethren. Don't treat them like they're your redheaded stepchild. But he says in verse number 2, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. Now, the first, let's go by this point by point. Revuke not an elder. Is it right to go to the pastor of a church and just start ripping his face? If he's a man of God, I'm not talking about some false prophet who's got a bunch of concubines and he's preaching some other gospel or something. But I'm talking about an elder that's a true elder. And if you would, let's go to Titus just to make sure we know what an elder is. I love the verse in the Bible that says, prove all things. And I try to make that a motto in my preaching. It's good for any preacher to always prove everything through the Bible instead of just assuming that everyone agrees or knows what you're talking about. So go to Titus 1 and we'll prove this here. It says in verse 5, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set an order of the things that are wanting and ordain what? Elders in every city as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, if any what? If any man be blameless, he can be an elder. It says, if any be blameless, these are the qualifications, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. And then look at verse seven, for every what? Bishop must be blameless. So can we see here that elder and bishop are synonymous? Because he said, ordain elders, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, because the bishop needs to be blameless. So the bishop, the elder, the pastor, these terms are all synonymous. They all talk about the same person, the same office. Go back to the one in 1 Timothy 5. Look at 1 Timothy 3.1 actually, it says, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Now, as Bible-believing Christians, we believe in two officers in the local church. We don't believe in this multiplicity and multitude of officers. There are two officers that the Bible ordains. Number one is the bishop, pastor, or elder, whatever you want to call them. And number two are the deacons. And the deacons we talked about, I believe, last week, as being more like an assistant pastor, basically somebody who's on the payroll because there's too much work for the pastor to do, that there's someone else there that's basically a full-time Christian servant, and not just an employee. You know, a church can have employees that are neither bishop nor deacon. And they can hire somebody to sweep the carpet or vacuum the floor or wash the walls or whatever the case may be. Or, you know, to work on the computers or whatever the case. But the office here of being a bishop or a deacon has to be fulfilled by certain people that have certain qualifications. You know, they need to be married. They need to be married only once. They need to have children. Their children need to be behaved and so forth. And so these things are laid out. But in chapter five here, he says, rebuke not an elder, but rather, he's saying, entreat him as a father. Don't go ripping the face of the pastor, being disrespectful to the pastor. You know, and look, I've been in churches where I had a problem with the pastor. There was something wrong that was going on or whatever. But you know what? I didn't go in there and rebuke the pastor because the Bible says not to, period. It's not my job as the layman to rebuke the pastor, okay? Now, if there's a problem, you can entreat him. It doesn't say never to say anything to him, but you can entreat him as a father, not rebuke him, okay? Now, I've had problems in the past with the pastor. You know, I went to him and humbly entreated him. I did not rebuke him. You remember, even Michael the archangel with contending with the devil, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee, okay? And so we need to learn to be respectful to people in church. We need to be respectful to everyone in church, the elder, the younger, the young men. We need to be respectful to older women. We need to be respectful to young women. And this is a biblical concept of respect. The Bible says that you're to rise before the hoary head. I mean, if someone comes in who is gray headed, you're supposed to stand up for them. You know, that's not just etiquette or old-fashioned. You know, in the Bible, it's a command that when elderly people lock in, you're supposed to stand up and show them respect. That's what the Bible teaches. It's not just, oh, that's just your culture. It's a biblical concept to treat people with respect. You treat people that are older with a certain amount of respect because they're older. You treat the pastor with respect because he's the pastor. You treat your parents with respect because they're your parents. You treat the boss at work with respect because he's the boss at work. You need to learn to honor and respect those that are higher on the totem pole than you in any area of life, whether it be the family, whether it be your home, whether it be your job, whatever the case may be. Now, the Bible is filled with people calling people sir. I mean, the Bible is a book filled with people being respectful, but we live in a time where people are not respectful. We live in a time where young people are cocky, arrogant, mouthy. I mean, I've been in the store, and you have too, and see kids mouth off to their parents, be disrespectful, call them names. And it kind of reminds me of a week ago, I stood up and said, my name's Pastor Anderson, not Steve. But yet people have chosen to continue calling me Steve because they're either arrogant, prideful, childish, juvenile, or they just have no respect for being an elder. Well, maybe they're probably never gonna be a bishop or elder themselves until they grow up and learn to be a follower because you can't be a leader until you learn how to follow them. And so if you're gonna be a pastor of a church, you get sent out of the local church, and you get sent out of the local church where you call the man of God, pastor. Everybody understand that? Am I making myself clear? Because I'm sick and tired of standing up here and rattling my cage about the same thing because people don't get it. Now look, it's an extreme minority, but you know what? Some people are too dumb to get things the first time and they need to be told a second time. And you say, I don't like that. Then get out of here. Go to Calgary Chapel. Go put on a stake in Hawaiian church and go to Rick Warren's church. If you wanna call the pastor Steve and be my little buddy. I'm not your little buddy. You understand me? I'm the pastor of this church. And if you wanna go to a church, and it's funny, if you went to another church, you'd probably call him pastor and brother, or at least brother Anderson. That's fine, brother Anderson. But I clearly say that I don't want people to come to this church and come in here and hear somebody say, oh Steve. And then they think that this church is a liberal church. This isn't a liberal church. This is a fundamental Baptist church. Does anybody have any questions about whether this is a fundamental Baptist church? Anybody curious what type of church this is? Okay, good. Now this is a Baptist church. We don't just disrespect women. We don't disrespect the pastor. We don't mouth off to and rebuke the pastor. You wanna rebuke me? I'll rebuke you right now from the pulpit. You wanna come up to me and mouth off to me? Come up to me and mouth off to me after the service, and I'll mouth off to you. Because you're not to rebuke an elder, and this is Bible preaching, baby. So grow up and take it into command. Now let's move on to the next verse, verse three. Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable for right. See, why do you get so mad? I get mad because I'm sick of being nice to people and having them turn around and bite me in the back. That's what I'm sick of. I'm sick of it. It seems like the nicer you are to people, then they think they can just walk all over me. And you know what? I'm the pastor of the church just because I'm a nice guy. If you want me to be mean, if you want me to be a jerk, then I'll be a jerk. You see, aren't you afraid to preach like this that people are gonna leave? Good, get the hell out of here. If you don't wanna come to church and be under a man of God that's gonna preach you the word of God and not come here and tell me how to run things. I'll tell you how things are run in this church. Can I get an amen from somebody who believes in that? Help us. Right. Now honor widows that are widows indeed, but if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God. You see, this is the passage that our government needs to read. This is the passage that should be read in the halls of Congress. If I had a chance to stand up in the Senate or the Congress tonight, this is the chapter I would read to them. If I were gonna filibuster, I would just keep reading 1 Timothy 5 over and over again because of the fact that the government today wants to just give money to any old person. Isn't that true? Now I'm sorry if this is stepping on your toes. This is gonna be a mean sermon tonight, so just buckle your seatbelt. You know, the government just wants to give everybody money because they're old. Oh, they're old, give them our money. Steal money from the young and give it to the old. I don't believe in that. And the Bible gives it clearly here how widows are really to be taken care of. It's through the local church. And God explains the primary difference why it works better through the local church than it does through the government. This is why. Because he says here, honor widows that are widows. What's that last word? Indeed, he's saying that they're a real widow. And he explains what that means. He says, but if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God. Okay, so the Bible's clear here that it's the children's job to care for their parents when they get old, right? Children and nephews should take care of their parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, today, you know, I'm taking care of everybody's grandparents, right? And so are you. Every time you get your paycheck, 15.3% of your paycheck is taken out and it goes toward taking care of everybody's parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles. But here's the thing. And you say, no, they're only taking 7.75% out. Wrong. Wrong. And here's what's funny. This is what they say. Well, no, the employer sends the other 7.75. And you send. Well, last thing. Who in here has ever written that check for the 7.75 that's your part to the government? I mean, you wrote a check for that 7.75. They took it out of your check, didn't they? And guess what? They took the other 7.75 out of your check, too. One of them, they showed you out of your paycheck. One of them, they didn't show you, but it's really the same. You see what I'm saying? I mean, or 7.65, I'm sorry. They showed you one part and then the other part they took without telling you. Just so you wouldn't really know, you're giving 15% to grandma, you know, somebody else's grandma. That way, your grandma, I mean, my grandma gets probably like six or 700 bucks or something a month. Some small, 800 bucks. But you know how many grandchildren she has? Okay, my grandma down in Tucson has got like 20 grandkids, okay. We could all chip in 30 bucks a month and match that. We could easily, if they weren't taking 15% of my check, boy, I could easily chip in 100 bucks. I'd come out with way more money and she'd have 2,000 a month and say 6,000. We could chip in and take care of grandma. But instead, the government somehow loses a little of the money in the translation. I don't know how they do it, but they lose it. And so the bottom line is, in a system that's biblical, parents take care of their children, and then when the parents get old, their children take care of it. But here's the problem with that. In order for this to work, you have to have children. And you might want to have more than one, because that's your retirement plan. If you have two children, chances are something could happen or they might grow up and be disrespectful or whatever. But hey, you want to have as many, my retirement portfolio looks great, but it's getting better all the time. Because I'm just going to have another one and another one and another one. I'm diversifying my portfolio, some boys, some girls. You know, so I have a bubble in my 18-1 basket. But that's what the Bible teaches here, that you grow up and you requite, requite means to pay back your parents. They pay for you when you're a child, and when they're old, you take care of them. That's a biblical concept. You say, are you going to take care of your parents when they're old? My parents, they have plenty of money and everything, but you know what, if they get to a point where they need help, yes I will. Yes I will take care of my parents. Because I owe that to them. Because I need to requite them. That is piety. That is godliness. That's what the Bible says. If you look down at your Bible, he calls it, he says right here, let them learn first, this is verse four, to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable for God. Then he explains what a true widow is, okay? This is a true widow. Now if a widow has children or nephews, she's taken care of. But she said, okay, let's say there's a widow who does not have children or nephews to take care of her. It's just her, she's on her own, they've left her high and dry, okay? Or they're not willing to take care of her because they're not Christians or whatever. He explains the criteria for getting taken care of by the church. Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth and these things give in charge that they may be blameless. Let's skip down and get to verse eight in a minute. Let's go down to verse nine. Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old. That's even better than social security. He kicks in at 60. So threescore years old, what is it, 62, 65 with the other one? And what's that? 67 and a half now. Well it depends where you're at because my dad said he'd get in a couple of years. Sorry dad, look at that. It says in verse number nine. Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old. Having been the wife of one man. Can you imagine this on the social security questionnaire? How many husbands have you had? You know, denied. Having been the wife of one man. Well reported of for good works. Now does that mean that if your mom or your aunt or your grandma is not, no you should still take care of them. This is just the criteria for them to be taken care of by church. They should take care of their children no matter what kind of lifestyle they've led because that is the viable way to be cared for when you're old but if the church is going to take care of them it says that they have to be under threescore years old. Or I'm sorry, they have to be over threescore years old which is 60. Having been the wife of one man. Well reported of for good works. If she had brought up children. If she had lodged strangers. If she had washed the saints feet. If she had relieved the afflicted. If she had diligently followed every good work. So it's to be godly Christian ladies who serve God. They've had children, nephews, maybe they're gone or they're not around or whatever the case may be. That's the type of person that the church should care for. And it says down in verse number, let's jump down just to get the gist here. If you jump down to verse 16 it says, if any man or woman that believeth have widows. So if a saved Christian, as a parent or grand-grand as a widow, it says let them relieve them. And let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows in need. So he's saying don't let it be a drain upon the church financially taking care of someone who ought to be taken care of by their Christian grandson or granddaughter or child or daughter who is just maybe too stingy or what have you to take care of them. Let's go ahead and jump back to where we skipped. It says in verse eight, verse seven says, and these things give in charge but they may be blameless. Those that are elderly should be blameless. He says in verse eight, but if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and his worst sin an infidel. So God commands us as men to provide for our own house to take care of our own family and also to take care of our elderly ancestors, okay? But he got that. And then in verse nine he explains about the widows again. But in verse 11 he says this, but the younger widows refuse. Younger than what? 60, right? Says, but the younger widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanted against Christ, they will marry having damnation because they have cast off their first faith and with all they learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house and not only idle, but toddlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Now a lot of people misunderstand this past. I've had a lot of people ask me about this because they misunderstood the grammar here. They thought that the damnation was because they got married. Now hold on a second. In verse 14 he says, I will therefore that the younger women marry. So they're supposed to, basically if you're a widow under 60 years old, the Bible says you should get married. You know, you should remarry and have children and so forth if you're a widow that's under 60 years old. Okay, the damnation and the word damnation is not always talking about going to hell in the Bible. The word damnation is synonymous with condemnation. For example, it says in Romans 14 five about eating things and not eating things, he said, he that doubt it is damned if you eat. But it's not saying that you're going to hell, it just means condemned. Condemned and damned. Damned is basically just, you know, oh, this is profanity, you know. If I were on TV right now, I would just be like, beep, beep, beep, beep. But you know, when it says damned, it means condemned. Damned is just a much stronger word for condemned. That's what it means. But notice what it says if we read it carefully. They're supposed to get married. But it says, but the younger widows refuse for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ. Wax means to grow or to become. When they begin to be wanton, when they start getting wicked that's what wanton means. Basically, he's afraid of the danger of a woman who's married being widowed and then basically getting a free paycheck from church, not doing anything, being an idol in a busy body, not having any work to do or anything. Basically, she begins to become wicked. She starts wandering around from house to house and tattling and becoming a gossip and watching soap operas all day and all that kind of stuff. And so he says that that's the problem. And it says in verse 12, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith. You see what I'm saying? They're not condemned for getting remarried. That's what they should have done in the first place. They're condemned for casting off their first faith, for going out and living like the world, for living a wicked life and not trusting God and so forth. And he says, I will therefore. And look what the problem is in verse 13. Idol, what's idol? Nothing to do. What about when your car is idling? Are you going anywhere? No. Idol just means it's just sitting there, it's running, you're not going. Idol means you're doing nothing and it's bad for women to be doing nothing. It's bad for men to be doing nothing. Men need to stay busy because it's interesting. You remember how we dealt with verse 10 of the 215, if you were a week back now, but saying she shall be saved and childbearing if they continue with faith, tyranny and all this with sobriety? Look at chapter three, verse one, okay. It's the true saying if a man is out of the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. Right after he talks about the women doing what they're supposed to do at home, then he jumps over and talks about men working, okay. Because men are supposed to work in order to stay out of trouble. And women are supposed to take care of the house and so forth, have children, guide the house, he's talking about just housekeeping, you know, just taking care of the house, cooking, cleaning, all the business of the house. And you say, what about people that are newly married? Well, I remember when I was newly married, my wife asked me this question, or right before we got married, she asked me this question, what am I gonna do all day? You know, because I said, I don't want you to work, you know, I'm gonna work, and so, you know, and thank God my wife has never had a job since we've been married. And she's like, what am I gonna do all day without working? Before we were married, she had worked in a bookstore and she worked for a movie company, like making Hollywood movies. That's not a very good business to be in. But she like, she was dubbing the movies into German, you know. Were you into the voices? No, she wasn't. Anyway, she was dubbing movies into German and she worked for this company that did that. Well, she's like, what am I gonna do all day? And I told her, I said, well, you know, there's cooking, cleaning, and you know, just the bills, pay the bills, go to the bank, do all that kind of stuff. And you know what my wife got to do a lot of in those early days? Reading the Bible. She got to read a lot of the Bible. She got to do a lot of hobbies. And really, there's a lot of nice things you can do with your time, things you can study, things you can do around the house, and then, you know, she'd get together with her friends, she'd go with my sister, and you know, it's really a good opportunity, but see, pretty soon thereafter, after only three months, she got pregnant. Well, then she wasn't asking, what do I do all day? Because what she did all day was lay on the couch. And so she was really tired, and you know, ladies that have been pregnant, you're eating a lot, it's all about making food, and laying on the couch, and the moron, and everything. And then, of course, once the baby came, then it was all about the baby, and she's never wondered since. Well, she probably, you know, those first three months, she didn't think she was having anything to do, she would probably long sometimes for a little sliver of that three months, you know, to just relax, and read, and you know, that would be fun. So ladies, enjoy it if you're at home, you know, and you're not, you don't have children. Just enjoy it, because it won't last that long. So just enjoy it, you know. But it's not good for anybody to be idle, you know. I told my wife this recently. I said, hey, I said if I won the lottery, not that I played the lottery, but you know, in case somebody bought me a ticket, or something, that has happened before. I turned 18, people bought me a lot of tickets, and everything on, I've been given a lot of tickets. You know, somebody gave it to me, I just scratched it off, or whatever, but I'm not gonna go buy one, you know. But listen, if I were to just somehow win the lottery, or you know, win a lawsuit, for example, then you know, that's a little more realistic. And have millions of dollars. I told my wife, I said, I would work, I would still work six days a week. Seriously. Because I was born to work. Wasn't it born to just sit around and do nothing? I was born to work. And I like working. I'm what's called a workaholic, some people accuse me of being. You know, but I think that that's just a term that the world comes up with sometimes, just because they're lazy, you know what I mean? So if somebody actually works, it's like, oh, you're a workaholic. And I guess it could go a little too far. But the point is, I don't really see a lot of it going too far. When I look around, usually I see most people who need a little dose of workaholic. You know, just learn to enjoy work. Don't just live for the weekend. Live for Monday through Saturday. You know, live for work. Live to go to work, honestly. I mean, your life's pretty miserable if you only enjoy Saturday and Sunday, you know, work Monday through Friday. And every day, it's just, huh? You know, how you doing today? Oh, it's Monday. Yeah, whatever. How you doing? It's Friday. I love Monday. You know, I love Tuesday. I love every day, because I like to work. And I work every day. So I like every day, because I like to work. And so that's how to be happy in life, okay? Let's pray. No, no, no. That's your best life now. Work! And so get to work. You know, don't sit around, don't do nothing. You'll be happier when you're at work. Because you'll feel like a man should feel, you know? Because you're doing what you're born to do. And you know, ladies, stay busy. You know, if it's with your children, great. But if you don't have children, you're not married. Or if you are married, you know, just stay busy. Just find stuff to do. Don't just idle your time away, waste time. Find something productive to do. And there are plenty of things to do that are productive. You can win souls, you can read the Bible, you can learn a foreign language, you can do whatever. And all kinds of hobbies and crafts and sewing and cooking and you know, whatever else can your mom put. Not those video games, none on that list. And TV or whatever. But let's get past that. This is the chapter that needs to bring through the Congress and they could vote on an amendment that this would be the criteria for me having to support people that I'm not related to, you know? And so that was back when people had children, by the way. Before they started pumping their wives so full of birth control pills, they started to grow a beard from all the male hormones. But anyway, let's look at verse number 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan. So therefore, Satan is there to try to tempt you when you're idle. Do you see that? Some are already turned aside, not just at their own bus, but actually after Satan, because Satan is looking for idle, my mom used to say this, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. And Satan is looking for people who are sitting around with nothing to do, sitting around with a computer, sitting around in a park, you know, stay busy. Stay busy, that's all I can tell you. That's what kept me from getting into trouble when I was young and immature and could have done some stupid things. It's a good thing I was working two jobs and traveling around and going to Germany and all, because if I hadn't been doing that kind of stuff, the more I was idle seemed like the more I got into trouble. And so stay busy and keep your children busy, keep your teenagers busy. Work them, you know, keep them doing something so that they're not just enticed with everything of this world. We already talked about verse 16, let's get to verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, but don't ever call them by their last name, because they're just Stevie poo. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture say, if thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Against an elder, receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. Then that sin rebuked before all, that others also may fear. Now, we'll talk about verse 17 and 18 in a moment, let's talk about verses 19 and 20. Just not even one week ago, somebody came up to me and there were other people around and started to basically criticize another pastor to me, not just telling me facts, like this guy preaches another gospel. You know, that's, I mean, that's a fact, that's fine. You know, he preaches publicly and he's denying the blood of Christ. Well, then you ought to be called out in the name name. Okay, that's not what we're talking about. But an accusation here, he's talking about an accusation such as he's committed adultery, or he's stealing, or he is looking at porno, or he has, whatever the case may be, you know, just whatever the accusation, he's a thief, he's a drunk, he's drinking, you know, just these kind of accusations that come at people that they're committing some wicked sin. Well, just not even a week ago, somebody came, somebody said to me in front of other people, you know, oh yeah, this pastor, so and so, he's a pastor that I've known personally. I've gone out to eat with them and known him. And they said, oh yeah, that guy did this, this, this, this, and this, you know, they started listing off some pretty strong accusations. I mean, accusations of adultery, accusations of, that were totally not substantiated. I mean, it was just, well, I heard, I heard that he had this affair. And, well, one time he said this to me. Now look, I believe that silence is agreement in a case like that. I mean, if somebody comes to you and starts accusing a pastor to you, okay, he said, receive not an accusation. So I didn't want to stand there and just receive this accusation. And so, you know, this guy told me, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I basically said to him and those around me that were there, there were about three or four of us standing there, four of us together, say it again. I said, well, I said, the Bible says against an elder, receive not an accusation before two of you are innocent. So I'm telling you right now, I'm not believing anything you're saying. I'm not saying you're lying. I'm not saying you're not telling the truth. But I said, I'm not going to walk away and just believe what you just told me. You know, I said, you know, I always take it with a grain of salt, and I'm not going to hold it against them until there's some kind of evidence of substantiation, because if I would have, and the guy was very upset, took me aside at another point and chewed me out, because I had, and I was very graceful and polite about the way that I said it. And I even said, like, I'm not saying you're lying, you know, you better welcome to tell them the truth. But I said, I'm not going to receive it, and I'm not going to believe it. I just said, you know, because to receive is to believe. You know, and I just, and I made it public to those around me, and everybody around me agreed with me, like, yeah, that's true. We shouldn't just blindly believe what some guy's telling us about the matter. And you know, this guy got mad, started chewing me out later on, and I said, look, I bet you that there isn't a day that goes by when somebody doesn't lie about me. I mean, there's not a day that goes by when somebody's not lying about Pastor Steven L. Anderson, and I sure hope that if somebody tells you some wicked thing about me that has no evidence, no fact, no substantia, you won't just blindly believe it. And I hope that because I've done unto others, as I would have them do unto me, I hope that that'll come back around to me, and God will look at that and say, see, Pastor Anderson did not receive this lie about another preacher, or if it was the truth, and I look, I'm not saying it wasn't true. Perhaps it was true as the day is long, but what if it wasn't true, and I just believe it? Think about that. People should be innocent until proven guilty. This comes from an Old Testament principle. In the Old Testament, this exact principle is found. Deuteronomy, I believe it's Deuteronomy 19. I'm going off the top of my head. I didn't plan on turning back there, but I would like to turn there if I can find it, just because I'd like to show you something else interesting about this. I want to say it's 19. Thank God my memory is served. Deuteronomy 19, 16. Look at this, it's Deuteronomy 19, 16. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priest, and the judges which shall be in those days, and the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And behold, if the witness be a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother, then shall he do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother, so shall thou put the evil away from money. Here's the key verse, verse 20. And those which remain shall hear, and what? Fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil money. So, not even to do with the pastor. So this is something that should not only be prepared. He's saying, especially if it's the pastor, and remember you're supposed to show the elders double honor, not rebuke them. So he basically says, especially if it's a pastor, but you know what, this rings true for everybody. Now forget about it being a pastor. Deuteronomy 19 says that if somebody is accusing someone, it should be in the mouth of two or three witnesses, right? So, Brother Dave's not a pastor. He's not an elder, he's not a deacon. But what if somebody came to me and said, Brother Dave's an adulterer? I should tell him, hey, shut up. You're not gonna tell me that about Brother Dave unless there's some evidence. Now everybody in the church is coming to me saying, or two or three people are saying, I pick Brother Dave because he's a righteous guy, and that would never be said about him. But you can see my point, it's for anybody. You shouldn't just believe what you hear about them. Now, just because there are two or three witnesses, does that mean that the report is true? Nope. No way. Two witnesses convicted Naboth in 1 Kings 2 instead. Two witnesses convicted Stephen. Two witnesses convicted Jesus Christ, false witnesses. So you don't wanna believe. The two or three witnesses is to receive the accusation, then you make diligent inquisition, it said in Deuteronomy 19. Get the facts, investigate, have a trial, and so forth, once there's been more than one witness. Now, he said this, he said if the person accuses them of a crime worthy of whatever punishment, that's how you punish the false witness. So if I say, Brother Dave, let's say we're living in Old Testament Israel, okay? And I lie and say that Brother Dave's committing adultery. What was the punishment for adultery in the Old Testament? Death penalty. So that means that I'm gonna be stoned for trying to get him stoned, because that's really attempted murder. I mean, if I lie and say, well, this guy committed murder, I'm trying to kill him. I mean, that's attempted murder. And so that, I basically am gonna be stoned. And then he said in chapter 19, and I shall not pity him. Don't feel bad about putting somebody to death or lying in court and trying, or bringing an accusation against somebody. He said, you know, now, if the person just accused him of stealing, what was the penalty for stealing in the Old Testament? Paying back either fourfold or fivefold, depending on the circumstance. So that's what that person would have to pay. Everybody understand? So now with that in mind, now look at verse 25. Watch out, it makes more sense when you have Deuteronomy 19 as a context. It says in verse 19, against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, them. Now who's the them? Who's the them? Two or three witnesses. Because first, number one, them is plural. The elder is singular. Number two, if we go to Deuteronomy 19, the reason that you punish the false witness is that others may fear and fear and not do so wickedly. Remember that from Deuteronomy 19? So he's saying here, if a witness sinned by bringing a false accusation, and it turns out it's not true, they should be publicly reviewed, right? So like, let's say that guy who gave me that accusation, and I'm not railing on him, because of the fact that I don't know whether the accusation was true or false. I'm not pretending to know. Perhaps it was as true as the day is long, perhaps it was a lie. But if it turned out not to be true, he should be publicly called out for lying about it. Does that make sense? If somebody just lies in slander of someone else, they should be publicly reviewed for it, to set the record straight. But we live in the day of sweep everything under the rug. Right. You know what I mean? But sometimes things need to be called out. And this is one of those things that needs to be publicly called out. Amen. Everything doesn't need to be publicly called out. But this is one of those things that needs to be publicly called out. When somebody is spreading evil rumors about someone, you know, and it turns out it doesn't. You know, and it turns out it's a lie. They need to be publicly called out to protect the other's reputation. Okay. So, against an elder, receive not accusation. Look at verse 17. Let the elders that will well be counted worthy of double honor, especially if they labor in the word of doctrine, for... What is the part of speech that the word for is there in verse number 18? Does anybody know? Conjunction. Conjunction, exactly. We're tying in here. The word for is synonymous with another conjunction? Because. Okay. Because the Scriptures say, for the Scriptures saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Keep your finger here. We gotta hurry up for sake of time. But go to 1 Corinthians 9. Keep your finger here. And we'll see another place where this is quoted in the New Testament. This is the environmentalist passage of the Bible. You've heard of the faith chapter, you know, the charity chapter, the fruit of the spirit chapter. This is the environment chapter, if you would. Actually, this is more the animal rights chapter. But it says in verse number... I'd like to read the whole chapter, because it's really one discussion here, but for sake of time, we're gonna jump into this at verse 6, okay? It says, For I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working... Forbear working means to not work... Like, basically, to not work his tent-making job and just basically preach full-time. He says, Who goeth of warfare any time at his own charges? Who planted the vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man, or sayeth not the law of the same also. For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle... Remember, we just saw this in perspective. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Here's the animal rights passage. Does God take care of her oxen? Do you really think God cares about a cow? No, he doesn't. And watch this. You say, Well, it was kind of... I've heard a lot of people say, Well, it was kind of about the cow and... No, hold on. Or sayeth he it all together for our saints. Meaning, he doesn't give a rip about that cow. Okay? Peedeth. He says, Or sayeth he it all together for our saints. For our saints, no doubt this is written, that he that plows should plow in hope, and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partaker of this power over you, are not we rather? Watch this next phrase. Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the altar, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar, even so that the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel? So basically he's saying, Look, God is ordained that a preacher basically be paid as the pastor. Okay? Or be paid as the apostle or whatever back then. But he said, I didn't use that power because he said, I didn't want to hinder the gospel of Christ. Here's a guy who's traveling around, Paul is. He's showing up in a new town, starting churches, preaching to people, and then he would pretty much spend a few years there just getting it going. And then basically ordain an elder in that city, ordain a bishop, and then he'd move on to the next place. You know how he was always on the circuit. He was always on the loop. But he wasn't just moving every week. He would stay there and get a church plan and then so forth. It's clear if you read the book back that it spans many decades, him traveling and going to different places. And so is it wrong for a pastor not to get paid? No. He said, look, if a pastor wants to forbear getting a salary and just work a job, he said, then that's fine. You know, that the gospel be not hindered. I mean, look, I couldn't have just started this church by working a job, right? And for the last four and a half years, I've worked a full-time job. And I paid my own way. In 2000 and... Let's see here. What are we in, 2000 and... In 2008, in the early part of the year, I began to take a part-time salary, and I started to basically scale back my work a few days a week. Does anybody remember when I started doing that for a while? I talked about that. You know, I just... Just for like a very... It was very short-lived because it just wasn't working out because my job was just demanding too much of me because I basically was just trying to work like half the week for my job and half the week full-time, sole-winning, all that kind of stuff. Well, it didn't work out. But I did get paid a certain amount of salary during that time. But do you know that in 2009, I gave my 10% tithe, and I paid back just an above and beyond offerings every dime that I had ever received, you know, as a salary the year before. I paid it all back. So I've not used that power. I've not taken a salary. I've pastored this church for four and a half years. I've worked a job. I've done the tent-maker thing. And you know what? It's the right thing to do, in many cases, that the gospel be not hindered. You know, you've got to keep it going. But obviously, if a pastor can be full-time, so much the better. And beyond that, eventually, to have deacons that are full-time, you know, so that you can have guys. But see, these guys are supposed to be giving, the people that are on the salary of the church stuff, you know, they should be preaching the Word. You know, they should be giving themselves to the Word of God and prayer. They should be the ministry of the Word. You know, door-to-door preaching, winning souls preaching behind the pulpit, okay, the work of the ministry. That's what the deacons are for, eventually. You know, but that's a church that's running, you know, huge numbers like it was in the book of Acts. Now, with that in mind, of that reference of the Muslim Yahsh, go back to 1 Timothy 5. 1 Timothy 5 says this. It says, For the Scriptures sayeth, I'm sorry, verse 17, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor, and labor is a word that means hard work, in the word and doctrine. So you say, look, if the elder's working hard, you know, he's working in doctrine and preaching the Word, and solely, he says, For the Scriptures sayeth, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Okay, so basically it's saying here that a pastor can be paid to be a pastor, right? Just like it says in verse number 3, look at 1 Timothy 5, 3, Honor widows that are widows indeed. And what's that honor talking about? Taken care of. See what I'm saying? And the bottom line is, the word honor comes from a word that means weight. Because giving someone honor is basically giving them gravity, you know, they have a little bit of weight. You know, have you ever taken a test and certain questions were weighted more heavily than others, right? Well, what certain people say is sometimes weighted more. If I'm a child living at home and my dad says something versus some other guy says something, which one do you think holds a little more weight? You know, because there's more honor there. Honor thy father and mother. That's one of the Ten Commandments, right? And then also money was weighed with weight. That's why sometimes you'll bring a check to the bank and they'll either honor it or not honor it. Does anybody understand that? So that's what that means. But anyway, it says in verse number, let's see, where was I? 1 Timothy 5, 21, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. So what's that say? We should treat everyone equally. We shouldn't prefer one above another, as in maybe somebody who has more money than someone else or someone who's better looking than someone else or so forth. He says in verse 22, Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure. Now, I'm not 100, and I'll be honest with you, I don't know all, be all up here. I know this chapter well. I've got the whole books of 1, 2 Timothy, Titus memorized, but this verse can be interpreted in one of two ways. The lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure. Now, the two ways that this could be referred to, the laying on of hands, could either be, and I'll tell you what I think it means, and then I'll tell you what the other meaning that some people say it means, but I'm not 100% sure that I'm right on this, okay? When he says lay hands suddenly on no man, I think he's talking about the laying on of hands as far as ordaining them to be an elder or a deacon, because that's really the context. He's been talking a lot in the last three chapters about bishops, deacons, elders, and so forth. That's what I think he means because he says, neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure, as in you don't want to be a partaker by laying your hands upon someone and then it turns out they were a real idiot, you know, and then you were part of it, okay? But here's another meaning. Who knows what else laying on your hands can be as viable? Grabbing somebody, like beating them up, okay? Because if you remember, Nehemiah got mad when they were breaking all of God's laws and everything. He said, if you come back, I'll lay hands on you, and he wasn't going to ordain them into the ministry. He was going to extend them the right-handed fellowship. So he wasn't praying over them and anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. He was going to tear them apart, okay? So some people have said that this could mean, like, and this is also in the context of the book because he does talk about not being a brawler, not being a striker, not being quick to anger, easily provoked. So you don't want to have a guy who's just, you know, suddenly just laying his hands on somebody, you know, without it being appropriate to lay your hands on somebody. But I personally think he's more talking about the ordination, but I'm not dogmatic on that because I think both... The verse is almost kind of isolated there, so I think both could apply. That's my personal opinion. But I'm just giving you both sides. You can study it out and see what you think about that. But it says in verse 23, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and not often in permetes. Now, people will use this to say, yeah, you know, drinking alcohol is good for you. Now, I knew a guy who was a former alcoholic, and also he was addicted to prescription drugs, and also he smoked pot, and also, you know, and on and on and on. But anyway, the bottom line is this. He went to the doctor, and this is after he'd gotten saved, baptized, and really changed things around his life, was really doing well. He went to the doctor, and the doctor said, oh, you know, drink a glass of wine every time of the week, for your heart. And his wife was angry, you know, because here's a guy who's struggled with this, and the doctor is telling him to drink alcohol. So his wife asked the doctor the next time, said, wait a minute. How about grape juice? He said, oh, it's this exact same thing. Because let me tell you something. The health benefits of wine are not coming from the alcohol. They're coming from the grapes. Because alcohol is a poison. I mean, if you go to the bars, hey, what's your poison? Alcohol is literally a poison. You're taking it in a small quantity, and so it's not going to kill you. It's just going to kill brain cells. That's why people who are drunk or, you know, because they're killing brain cells. That's why they act stupid, and it gives them all kinds of feelings and everything. But it's poisoning their bloodstream, okay? And it's just a mild poison. But if you drink enough of it, it could kill you. I mean, if you drink enough alcohol in one go, you will die. That's why it's called intoxication, blood toxicity. Okay, and so this is not good for your stomach. There was a guy that I heard about who had to have part of his stomach removed because of the damage from alcohol. You know, because alcohol damages your stomach, damages your liver, and so he's not telling him to drink alcohol. Notice he doesn't say drink no longer grape juice, but start drinking wine. He's saying drink no longer water only, but also to use a little wine, basically add some juice instead of just drinking nothing but water, which is good advice. Juice is good for you a little bit. Sometimes I like to just mix a little bit of juice in my water. Usually when I, you know, it's kind of like my pre-teeth watered down. Whenever I drink juice, honestly, I always water it down. Does anybody else water down your juice? I drink half water, half juice. It makes it go further. Save money. And to me, if you get used to it that way, then it seems too strong when it's by itself. I know that sounds like a little sissy thing to do, but wait till you're paying the bills, okay, you know, for eight mouths, okay? So you'll start watering it down too, you know? You'll start having a little juice with your water instead of a little water in your juice, okay? But look at Isaiah 65. I'm just going to show you that the word wine in the Bible many times is referring to a non-alcohol. Sometimes it's referring to alcohol, but sometimes it's referring to juice. And so I want to show you that. Again, remember prove all things? So I want to show you that in Isaiah 65, verse 8, the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, okay? Now the cluster is talking about the cluster of grapes. So wine is within the grape while it's in the cluster. Now that cannot be an alcoholic beverage because alcohol is not formed in a grape on a vine, okay? It's after it's taken out, squeezed out, juiced, fermented, and so forth. He says, And one sayeth, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's sake, that I may not destroy them all. So that's just one example. There are many examples in the Bible. It's funny, if you look up every mention of the word wine, some of them are really positive, and some of them are really negative. Woe to him that giveth his neighbor to drink, and then Jesus saying, Here, take, drink it all, and handing them wine. But it was juice, because you'll notice that you don't see the word juice throughout the Bible. One time in the book of Song of Solomon with a slightly different meaning, you see the word juice, but not in the sense that we think of juice. Back then, they just called it wine. There was just a little bit of a language difference born years ago. And I think the devil is behind these language differences too. I think the devil loves to twist our language today and make things that are in the Bible mean something different. I mean, think about that. He wants to twist things in the Bible and make them mean something different. And we could go on and on about that. That's a whole sermon that I preach called Changing the Meaning of Words. Well, we could go into that, but we're not going to. But let's read the last two verses quickly. Verse 25, 24 and 25. Some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they follow after. Likewise also, the good works of some are manifested beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. He's saying, look, don't judge after the outward appearance. Some sins are very open and exposed. Others are done in secret. But he says, hey, eventually, be sure that your sin will find you out. He said, they that are otherwise cannot be hid. Sins that are not opened beforehand, sins that people can't see. God can see is what he's saying, and God knows what you're doing. And if you're sinning in secret, he says, be sure your sin will find you out. Back in the book of Numbers. Let's quickly pray and be done. And we'll get into our German class. Father, we thank you so much for your word here, God, and for the book of 1 Timothy. A great instruction manual to the preacher. It was written from a preacher to a young preacher, and it's a great instruction in 1 Timothy. And God, it's also just an instruction to young men in general and young ladies to learn these truths. Very doctrinal, very dense book with Bible doctrine. God, I just thank you for teaching us your word and help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.