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Man, great to be here. Great to see everybody once again, meet some new people. Of course, we're on the road trip, so we're about halfway through. We got the worst drive behind us, which was from Oklahoma to here, 22 hours. So I'm doing a series on this trip where I'm preaching through the pastoral epistles. So I've already gone through all of the book of first Timothy, second Timothy chapter one. So now I'm on second Timothy chapter two tonight. I'm going to be in second Timothy chapter number three. And the thing about the pastoral epistles is that they have so many just quotes in them, like just verses that are just so quotable. I mean, they're just packed with famous verses. Like if someone were kind of underlining awesome versus first and second Timothy would have a lot underlined of just those great little punchy quotes. I mean, even in this chapter, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ or study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, lots of quotes like that all throughout these books. They're, they're just packed with great stuff. But what I've been trying to do in this series is try to kind of see the bigger picture of the chapter because we've all heard the quotes. We've all heard them in many sermons. We've applied them to our lives, but actually getting a bigger view of how the whole chapter is functioning. That's what I've been trying to do on the strip. And as I was looking at this particular chapter, the thing that really jumped out at me is how he starts out talking about being a good soldier of Jesus Christ and saying, you know, no man that warth entangle with himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him with chosen him to be a soldier. And then at the very end of the same chapter, he says in verse number 24, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. So it's kind of interesting that he starts out talking about warring and being a soldier and fighting, and then he ends up talking about being gentle and meek and don't argue with people, don't waste time striving with people and so forth. And so, you know, what's going on here? What I love about this is it kind of shows the fact that the Bible gives a balanced message and a lot of people, they want to talk about contradictions in the Bible. Usually it's just because the Bible is giving a balanced view and we as human beings, sometimes we want to go to one extreme or the other, and the Bible gives us balance and then people are like, oh, it's a contradiction. No, it's called balance. You know, it's called rightly dividing the word of truth as it says in this chapter, because there's a time of war and there's a time of peace. There are people whom are worth fighting and other people that we don't want to fight with them. You know, we want to meekly, gently instruct them and try to help them. And as I was studying this chapter and thinking about this idea, Ephesians chapter six came to mind. If you would keep your finger in second Timothy two, go back to Ephesians chapter six. And this is that famous passage in Ephesians chapter six about putting on the whole armor of God. And the Bible says in verse number 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And what did second Timothy two say? Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It says in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestled not against flesh and blood, but here's who we do wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now stop and think about this is Joe unsaved person out there. Is he really spiritual wickedness in high places? You know, when we just some unsaved guy at work, unsaved kid at school, unsaved person whose door you knock, that's not spiritual wickedness in high places. That's not the rulers of the darkness of this world. Even these people out in the parking lot are not the rulers of the darkness of this world. They're not, they're not ruling anything, right? They're nobody. They're just a bunch of bozos that have nothing better to do than to dress up in a bat costume, call themselves the, what are they, the reprobat or whatever, and be out there, you know, flipping us off on the way into church this morning. You know, it's just like, it's so boring, like really the middle finger. I've never would've thought of that one. We didn't see that at every other church we went to on, you know, that had protesters. It's just such a boring NPC move. You know, these people are not the rulers of the dark, they're not principalities. They're not high places. You know, they're just, they're just people out there. Uh, I'm sure that many or all of them are reprobates or whatever, but you know, the Bible says here, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world, right? The spiritual wickedness in a high places. That's what we're really fighting against. That's why it doesn't really make sense for me to go out in the parking lot and get in some kind of a big argument with them. You know, I'm sure if I wanted to, I could just go out there and start some argument with them. They'd probably hang there because they're already gone by the way, because apparently they don't last long here. They just kind of show up 20 minutes and they're out. The, the protesters in Dallas are a lot more dedicated. They were there for like four hours and they were leaping and cutting themselves like the prophets of Baal. But here's the thing, you know, if I went out there and engage with them, they'd probably stay with me for two hours. You know, they'd have their little smartphone out and I could argue with them and debate with them for two hours. But you know what? That is not what God has called us to do. God says, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men. It said that we should avoid contentions, right? Avoid foolish questions and, and these strivings to no purpose. Go back if you would to 2 Timothy chapter two. In 2 Timothy chapter two, it says in verse 16, shun profane and vain babblings. Now on one, you know, part of me would want to just kind of troll the protesters a little bit. And I'm not saying it's wrong to do that as long as you see it for what it is, recreation. Okay. But it's not the work of God because the Bible says, shun profane and vain babblings. They will increase under more ungodliness. The Bible says in verse 14 of these things, put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Look at verse 23, foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do engender strifes and the sword of the Lord must not strive, right? What is strife? Argument, avoid arguments. There's no point. It's a waste of time. It's not what God has called us to do to be out there wrestling with flesh and blood, getting in a physical fight, or even just arguing with a bunch of nobodies and peons and just arguing with just Joe unsaved. It doesn't make any sense, my friend, because here's the thing. It's really the rulers of the darkness of this world that we're fighting against. It's the spiritual wickedness in high places, and the way that we fight against that is by speaking the truth, preaching the truth, educating people on what the Bible actually says, okay? We are to teach the word of God. In meekness, it says in verse 25, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance under the acknowledging of the truth. You see, unsaved people are not our enemies, okay? Now, there's a very small percentage of the population that are just these evil God-hating reprobates. Obviously, they are our enemies, okay? But in general, unsaved people are not the enemy, okay? They are just misled by the rulers of the darkness of this world. They're misled by that spiritual wickedness in high places. We shouldn't be mad at them or hate them or want to fight them. We should feel bad for them and want to help them and pull them out of the delusion that they've been sucked into because they're deceived, right? The Bible says, the servant of the Lord must not strive, verse 24, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance. Notice it says, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. They're not really opposing us. Even if we knock on their door and they're not interested, they blow us off. Maybe they're a little rude to us, or even if someone is, is, uh, you know, just negative toward what we're doing, they're really shooting themselves in the foot. You know, they, they're opposing themselves. They're their own worst enemy. They're not really hurting us. I mean, if I knock on somebody's door and they slam the door on my face, they're not really hurting me. They're really hurting themselves because they're the one that's missing out on the good news that I'm bringing them. And if I go to a door and that person gets saved, that's really good for them. But it doesn't really do anything for me necessarily. Right? I mean, it's actually me blessing them, me helping them. If I go home and I got someone saved, or if I go home and I didn't get someone saved, either way, I'm saved. Either way, I'm going to heaven. Either way, God's going to bless me for being out there and doing the work that God called me to do. Really, it's their soul that's either going to heaven or hell. It's on them. And if they say no, they're opposing themselves. If they reject the truth, they're the ones who suffer. It's not, it's not really on me. It's not even on God. I mean, God's up in heaven saying, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still and behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. You know, at the end of the day, these people that are negative toward Christianity, the atheist and agnostics of this world, they are opposing themselves. I mean, think about that word, oppose yourself. What kind of an idiot opposes themself? You know, we're supposed to oppose enemies, adversaries opposing yourself. You're confused. That's like you kick the ball into your own goal or something on the soccer field. That's what it means to oppose yourself and that's what unsaved people are doing. We should feel bad for them. We should have compassion on them. We should want to shine the glorious light of the gospel upon them to help them and get them saved for their benefit, not for our benefit. I mean, at the end of the day, God's still God and we're still safe. It's really their soul that's hanging in the balance. They're the one that has everything to gain and everything to lose, but what's interesting is I kind of talked about the dichotomy in the chapter where it starts out with this really militant language at the beginning and then talks about being really gentle and meek at the end, but even if we go back to the very beginning of the chapter, look at verse number one of chapter two. It says, thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What does grace mean? Is grace all about, you know, justice and bringing down punishment to the full extent of the law? No. Grace is about being gentle. It's about giving people slack, right? When I think of the word grace, I think of the word slack, sort of like where, you know, Hey, I'm going to cut you some slack. You know, you owe me this money, but I'm going to cut you a little slack. I'm going to give you grace, right? Or, Hey, you've committed this crime, but we're going to give you some grace. We're going to cut you some slack. Okay. And so the Bible says, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. You see, it's possible to be strong, to be a warrior, to be a mighty man, woman for God, and yet to have grace yet to be strong in grace, to have meekness and gentleness and so forth. And I think of Moses in the Bible. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man upon the face of the earth. And yet he's a warrior. He's a great man of God. I mean, I necessarily think of Moses as a warrior, but if you remember, he had done some fighting in his life. If you remember, you know, he was not a soft boy or something, you know, because remember he actually fought off the shepherds when he went and first met his future wife and her sisters, the daughters of Jethro, and they're at the well, he ends up fighting off some guys that were giving them trouble. He of course killed the Egyptian with his bare hands. I mean, you know, obviously Moses is not a soft guy. He also, you know, led a few military campaigns with the children of Israel. And so Moses is not a weakling. He's not a soft man in that sense, but the Bible says he's the meekest man on the face of the earth. What does that mean? It means that he was very humble. He's a humble, kind man, and it's possible to have both, isn't it? According to the Bible. And so we need to understand that, yes, we are in a fight. Yes, there are spiritual wickednesses and high places and evil rulers and principalities, and we're fighting these people with the truth, with the sword of the spirit. We've got the whole armor of God. We're out there to war a good warfare. Yes, we're warriors, but you know what? We need to also remember that there's a time and a place for meekness, gentleness, kindness. And you know, when I go out soul winning, I'm not at the door like I would be behind the pulpit when I'm preaching hard in my own church on my own turf, trying to rally God's people and really rebuke sin or something like that. You know, if I'm out door to door, I'm in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And if I'm out soul winning and somebody wants to fight with me, somebody wants to argue with me, strive, have contention with me, I walk away. I'm not interested, you know, because it's a big waste of time and it's not what God has called us to do. I don't engage in debate. I don't argue with people. I knock on somebody's door and they want to argue. I'm just like, all right, have a good day. See you later. And they're just like, wait, I'm not done with you. You know, come back. You know, yeah, you better walk away, you know? And I'm just like, bye, because I have better things to do than to argue with them. And I don't want to win an argument with them because winning an argument does not necessarily mean the person gets saved. I'm out there to get people saved. Just winning. Of course I'm going to win. I mean, come on, I'm going to win the argument. But what good does that do if they don't get saved? You think I'm, you think I can win an argument with these turkeys that were out in the parking lot? I'm going to win the argument. I got facts all day long. Is it going to change that? If I go out there and just bring facts and I'm out there just bringing receipts, let me ask you this. Are they going to just be like, oh, well, you know, we'll be back next week, but we'll, we'll, we'll be back to join the church. Is that what they're going to say when I prove them wrong? No, they're not. Nothing can change them. Okay. They don't want to listen. Other people that we run into out on door to door though, you know, they are likely to change their minds, right? Because we do have a lot of success going out and knocking people's doors and getting people saved. And you know, when we get there, they're not saved. And when we finished with them, they are saved because they changed their mind. You know, they, they will many times repent of their wrong beliefs and actually trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And so we want to be out there not to fight with people, not to argue with people, not to waste time arguing with reprobates and not even to spend time arguing with unsafe people who just want to argue, you know, rather gently, try to instruct them, try to teach them, try to show them, be nice, be friendly. And many times they will get saved. And that's what God has called us to do. And to be patient, you know, uh, to show up and not just expect them to know everything and understand everything. But, you know, take the time, explain things, be gentle, be kind and so forth. You know, that's what I'm interested in doing out. Not necessarily winning an argument, but the other reason I don't want to argue with them is because they're not my enemy. You know, uh, the devil is their enemy. Just like the devil is my enemy. We're kind of on the same team in that sense, because the devil hates us all and wants to destroy us all and they just don't know it. They're just confused. They're kicking the ball into their own goal, but really we both have the same goal in the end. They just don't know it yet. Okay. And if you think about this in verse 26, he says that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. So what is the devil's will, right? The devil's will is that they be destroyed. The devil's will is that they die and that they go to hell when they die. That's what the devil wants. God wants the opposite. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, right? God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But what is the devil's will? That they be his captive, that they be in his snare, that they do not acknowledge the truth. You see that at the end of verse 25. Now, if we go all the way back to Genesis chapter three, keep your finger here, go back to the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis chapter three, and we sort of get introduced to Satan in Genesis chapter three and after Satan has deceived Eve and gotten her to eat of the forbidden fruit and also to get her husband eating of the forbidden fruit, then God curses the serpent. And he says in verse 14, and the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. So he's being turned into just a miserable loser of a creature. Okay, that's what's going on there. But then it says in verse 15, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, right? So there's going to be hostility, enmity, negative feelings between the devil, the serpent and the woman, right? And then it says this, it says, uh, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now the seed of the serpent is going to be an enmity with the seed of the woman. It, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And then of course the serpent will bruise the son of the woman's heel. So that's kind of like a riddle, right? It's this kind of cryptic riddle here. And of course, as we get into the new Testament, this is fully explained. And we understand now with the whole Bible at our disposal that the seed of the woman is Jesus Christ, right? He's born of a woman, the Bible says. So Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman. But, but here's what we have to understand is that whenever we're reading Old Testament prophecies, there's typically almost always a double meaning, if not a triple meaning, but there's almost always kind of a double meaning. Okay. So the woman's seed, right? In general, the woman's seed is really just all humans. If you think about it, because all humans are the seed of the woman, but then there's that specific seed of the woman. That's just talking about one person, that seed, singular Jesus, sort of like God talks about Abraham seed. You know, there's kind of the surface meaning of just talking about Abraham's kids, you know, Abraham's going to have Isaac and Jacob and the Israelites and whatever, but then in the new Testament, Paul says, well, he's not seeds. It's seed. It's Jesus. You know, that's kind of the real meaning, right? Is that Jesus is the seed. Well, here it's kind of the same thing. There is a hostility between the serpent and the woman herself, not just with Jesus, because yes, Jesus is the seed of the woman, but he says, I will put enmity between, oh, I lost my place, but I believe he says in Genesis three 15, that he would put enmity between the serpent and the woman, the, and the woman. We're not talking about a seed at first. It's just, I'll put enmity between the and the woman. So basically there's just automatically enmity between Satan and Eve and between thy seed and her seed. So if we were to take a generalized view of this, it's like there are the children of the devil, the devil's seed, right? And that's reprobates or reprobats in this case, but you've got the seed of the serpent. They are the enemies of all humans because the seed of the woman is just humans. Am I right? I mean, just, you know, human beings, seed of the woman, they're born of woman. And then Jesus is ultimately what this is pointing to the ultimate seed of the one, the son of man, right? When we say the son of man, we're talking about Jesus, right? But then, you know, you can call Ezekiel the son of man too, right? Throughout the book of Ezekiel, it calls Ezekiel the son of man. So son of man in general just means human, the son of man. We're talking about Jesus. Okay. You know, seed of the woman is just all of us because Eve is the mother of all living people. And then there's the seed of the woman, which is Jesus. And so the point that I'm trying to make here, why I'm making a big deal about this is that the devil is the enemy of every single human being. The devil hates humans. It's not like the devil has a tear in his eye when he sees these protesters out there and just thinks like, you know, oh man, that's my boy. Love the back costume. You know, he does not delight in them or love them. The devil does, you think of the most evil people in this world. The devil does not love them. The devil is the enemy of all humans. And by joining the devil's side, those people are opposing themselves. They're literally teaming up with someone who hates them and wants to destroy them and wants to see them tortured and burn in hell. And that's whose team they're on. And they, you know, I even been driving in today, they, I saw that on the sidewalk chalk, there was a Satan symbol, right? So they're literally cheerleading Satan out there, drawing a Satan symbol in chalk out there. They're literally cheerleading someone who is actually going to do way more to hurt them than any of us ever. Well, I mean, what have we ever done to hurt those people out there? All we did was just say things. You know, I have never beaten up a faggot to this day. I just never have, you know, it's on my bucket list. No, I'm just saying, no, but I'm just saying like, I never have, you know, I've never beaten side of, I've never gone out just with a baseball bat. Let's go gay bashing. It just never happened. It didn't happen. Okay. We are looking for recreation ideas on this trip. No, but the point is, obviously I would never do that. I'm joking. I would never do that because here's the thing. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We're not supposed to be physically violent. You know, I'm not a striker. Uh, obviously I have never physically hurt this, these people. I'm never going to, you know, I'm literally going to go to the grave, never having harmed any of these people. Okay. Because I'm not a violent person. I'm not advocating for violence. Of course, neither is your pastor or any, any of us, because we all understand that our battle is a spiritual battle and we're not fighting it's flesh and blood. What's funny is that, you know, they're so angry at us or scared of us, just speaking words, but the person that they have chosen to align with Satan, cause they are of Satan, make no mistake about it. They're literally drawing a Satan symbol. Okay. That's the one who's really going to physically hurt them and he would love to physically hurt them and would love to destroy them and is ultimately going to lead them to hell and they will end up burning in hell because they're following Satan. Why? Well, I mean, what did the Bible say in second Timothy two, if you want to go back there, that's where we'll be most of the sermon, but it says that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. They are in the devil's trap. The devil has trapped them. The devil is working to get as many people to hell as he possibly can. So whether those people know it or not, the devil is actually kind of their enemy too. They just don't realize it. And all unsaved people, unfortunately, are under his power to some extent, and they are in his snare, taken captive by him to some degree. And it's our job to go out and meekly instruct the people for whom it is not too late, the unsaved people, just Joe unsaved, average unsaved person. We knock the doors and we run into that Catholic or that, you know, charismatic or that Mormon or whatever, atheist, agnostic, or even, you know, Mormon or Buddhist or Hindu or whatever they are, you know, we run into them. We're, we're trying to, we're trying to help them. We're trying to get them out of the trap. It's, it's, it's sort of like sometimes when you go as a lifeguard to save someone out of the water and they're drowning, they start trying to drown you. Who knows what I'm talking about? And it's like, Hey, I'm here to help you. And you know, sometimes, sometimes, uh, you know, a movie or something might show someone like sock someone in the face just so that they can save them. You know, cause they're like fighting too much. It's like, shut up, let's go. You know, the point is that obviously that person who's drowning, you're the best thing that happened to them showing up, but they, they're just confused. They're lashing out, they're thrashing, they're hitting you. They're not helping. Well, guess what? That's what sometimes is happening with unsaved people too. So we don't want to just label everyone who's mad at us or everyone who opposes us or everyone who fights us anyway, just, just automatically just label them a reprobate, you know, because it's not necessarily the case. Because if you look at a guy like the apostle Paul, he was hostile toward Christianity, but he wasn't a reprobate. He said, I did it ignorantly in unbelief. I was confused, you know, I was wrong. And the Bible even says in John chapter 16 that the time would come when people who would even kill Christians would think that they were doing God a service. And so not all of these people are necessarily reprobates. We don't know that for sure, unless they show those telltale signs of being reprobate a lot. Romans one. And so the point is that they are in the snare of the devil. We're against the devil's our adversary, the devil's their adversary. They don't know it. We're on their team. We're trying to help them. That's why I want to be gentle, patient, and try to do our best to just instruct them and get them to understand the gospel. So if we go back to the beginning here, he said, the other for my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ. Jesus verse two, the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit that a faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. So you see, now that we look at it, the beginning of this chapter is not so different from the end, is it? Because what's the end about teaching people? What's the beginning about teaching? What's the end about meekness, patience? What's the beginning about being strong in grace, in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Verse three. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier. Okay. Again, a very militant language here about the Christian life because we are in a spiritual battle and Timothy was told to fight the good fight, but then it says this, and if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. So the Bible says we're to be a good soldier, endure hardness, endure afflictions, go through the hardships of being a Christian, go through whatever pain or suffering life brings us and keep on serving God. Be tough. Don't be a weakling. Don't just quit at the smallest little opposition, you know, cause somebody said something to you in the parking lot or something, you know, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But then he brings up the fact that if a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. Now we kind of switched over to a sports illustration. Okay. Because when we talk about striving for masteries and striving lawfully, obviously that's kind of a sports illustration there. Now here's the thing about that is that these don't necessarily have to be all that different because in the ancient world as now a big sport is fighting, right? You can go all the way back to, uh, some of the most ancient European literature, which is the Iliad and the Odyssey. And in book 23 of the Iliad by Homer, you have a lot of wrestling competitions being described, boxing competitions being described. There's nothing new under the sun, right? So that, you know, fighting has always been a sport. And even in the new Testament, the apostle Paul makes reference to being a boxer and fighting and talking about, you know, cause he likes to use these kinds of sports illustrations because it's a great illustration about the Christian life. You know, like an athlete trains and they prepare and you know, they say, oh, I'm not going to eat that cause I'm an athlete, you know, I can't eat that. And it's the same thing as the, as a Christian, you know, we're training spiritually, we're preparing spiritually, we're, we're abstaining from certain things that will slow us down spiritually, just like an athlete with maybe skip some foods that might slow him down as an athlete, right? So there's just a lot of great parallels. So the apostle Paul likes to use this, but also when we talk about, uh, striving for mastery, yes, it's definitely a sporting illustration and really, you know, every pastor I've ever heard preach this verse acknowledge that verse five year is talking about sports. It is talking about an athletic competition, but that doesn't preclude it from also be about fighting because striving for masteries could also be a wrestling match, right? It could also be a boxing match because that is a sport that was popular back then and it's still popular now. And if you think about it, you know, fighting lawfully, striving lawfully, the Bible is saying that yes, we're in a battle. Yes, we're fighting against spiritual weakness in high places, but when you fight competitively, there are rules. You don't just go in there and just, just, you know, kick them in the groin and start biting and eye gouging and all that, right? Even if it's a no holds barred fight, even if it's, you know, MMA cage fight or whatever, aren't there still always going to be rules? You know, you can't just go in there and you just pull out like a knife or something. You know, there's always going to be rules in any situation. You got to strive lawfully, right? And so I think how we can tie this in with what we're seeing in the rest of the chapter is that yes, we are fighting a spiritual battle, but you know what? We don't want to get so caught up in the spiritual battle to where we just start just lashing out and we just start delivering low blows and we just start just, uh, maybe even it's sort of like these and, and, and look, I've never been into professional wrestling. I just never have. Okay. But I'm still just aware of it growing up in America. I know who Hulk Hogan is or something, you know, I, I've kind of been aware of it even though it was never my thing. I've never really, but you know, well, I'll tell you what, I did see a really good professional wrestling though at the youth conference down at Verity. That was awesome. Who did they see that or no dude? That was so I was there for that live and it was incredible. It was, it was, it brought a tear to my eye. But anyway, it was, it was, it was, I was really impressed by how pro that was. Okay, these guys are good, but check this out. You know, one of the things that'll happen to pro wrestling is like, they'll start fighting the ref. Who knows what I'm talking about? Like the ref tries to pull apart and then they'll just like punch the ref or something, you know? So that, you know, that's what we're talking about. We don't want to be in the Christian life. All of a sudden we're just punching the referee. We're punching fan, you know, basically, you know, we're, it goes outside the ring and we're fighting and then somebody is cheering the other guy. We just punch him because he's cheering our opponent, sock him in the face, right? No, we're supposed to be in the ring, actually fighting against who we're supposed to be fighting against. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? And so what this chapter is telling us is, look, yes, it's a fight. Yes, it's a war. Yes, it's a battle. Yes. Be a good soldier. Yes, war, good warfare. But you know what? Fight the right enemy. Don't fight the wrong enemy and don't just lash out wildly and just be so violent or negative. It always cracks me up sometimes when, when I'll hear people, uh, say things that just that are just so hateful or negative or violent toward just unsafe people. And I'm just like, no, like, you know, if you feel that way about like the Pope or Charles Manson or like, you know, just, just these, these complete faggot pedophile weirdos, like, okay, that makes sense. But just like why, why the hostility toward unsafe people? You know, we're supposed to love the lost, right? And we want to make sure that we rightly divide the word of truth. And there's a lot of scripture about loving the lost, loving the unsafe, right? That, yeah, there's a talk about the horrible reprobates and everything like that, but we want to make sure that we strive lawfully. And then if we go back to the soldier illustration, right? The soldier is supposed to be fighting against combatants, not just killing civilians. And if you remember, John, the Baptist told the soldiers in Luke chapter three, he said for the soldiers to be content with their wages, but then he said, do violence to no man. Now he's not telling them not to fight because if he's telling them be content with your wages, he's not saying, Hey, take a salary and then don't do the job. That wouldn't be right. He's telling them be content with your wages. So he's, he's not saying it's wrong for you to be a soldier or you have to stop being a soldier. He's just saying, be content with your wages and do violence to no man. So apparently it's possible to be a soldier without doing violence to any man. Why? Because of violence has to do with violating. It's not violence if they're actually on a battlefield fighting against the legitimate enemy in, in, in actual combat. But you know, what if they finish the battle and then they just kill some civilians, you know, raping and pillaging. That's violence. Does everybody see the difference? It'd be like people say, Oh, I don't watch boxing. It's too violent. Well, boxing isn't violent because it's just two consenting adults doing a sporting competition. Violence is if you just walked up and just socked somebody in the face out and out in the city or something that's violent, right? If you just start hurting people. And so soldiers throughout history have been known to do violence and to murder and rape and pillage and do all these horrible things. Okay. Outside of what they're supposed to be doing, which is to be fighting against the actual enemy, right? So we, as Christians, we have an actual enemy. You know what that actual enemy is? Spiritual wickedness in high places, the rulers of the darkness of this world, right? See, here's the thing. I don't hate Catholics. I hate the Pope. Oh, may he rot in hell. Okay. That's different. Why? That's spiritual wickedness in high places. That's the rulers of the darkness of this world. That is a super evil, reprobate, God hating, evil person. But what about just your average Catholic? No, I mean the average Catholic is the perfect kind of person for us to want to instruct and meekly, gently show them the truth of the gospel. And so we don't want to become just totally pacifist, letting the devil walk all over us. And we don't call out false prophets. We don't call out the wickedness because we just want to be so gentle and meet different, but at the same time, we don't want to get so militant that we're punching the wrath. We're punching, you know, macho man's fans because we're whole kogan or whatever. I don't even know if those two guys are in the same era or anything, but I'm guessing, but I'm just saying like, we don't want to just be lashing out and just angry and hateful and just, you know, we need to keep it in its proper bounds and understand what it means to be a soldier of Jesus Christ. That means being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It means striving lawfully. It means understanding who is the real enemy and who are fellow victims of that same enemy that we need to help, whether they know it or not, and maybe they're kicking and punching us, but we're actually the lifeguard trying to get them to the shore. So we need to understand that. You see the apostle Paul, he says that we should war a good warfare. He says that we should fight the good fight elsewhere in his epistles to Timothy, but then if you go just a little bit later, he says in verse number 16, he says, but shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase on the morn godliness. Their word will eat as though the canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. Look, I mean, he's not averse to calling out some names here of false prophets big time heretics that were teaching that the resurrection had passed already, right? And they're overthrowing the faith of God's people. They're corrupting Christianity. They're teaching lies. You know, that's the right kind of fighting is getting up behind the pulpit, calling out false doctrine, calling out the teachers of false doctrine, calling out the architects of false doctrine, the ones who are actually the masterminds of false doctrine, but it doesn't mean that the people who are deceived by Hymenaeus and Philetus are our enemy. They're not our enemy. We're trying to get the Hymenaesites and the Philetusites to figure out that those guys are heretics. You know, we want the Mormons to realize they're in a cult. We want them to get saved. We want them to, uh, change what they believe and they're not the enemy. You know, the, their president's the enemy. What do they, isn't that what they have a president? Do you guys have a lot of Mormons here? It's big time, right? That's what I thought because other, there are parts of the country where Mormonism barely exists. Like I went soul winning in Chicago for two years and I only ran into one Mormon the whole time because they were like visiting somebody and they were from like, you know, Utah or Idaho or Arizona or whatever. But you know, out here it's a big thing because I know obviously Salt Lake City is the big one, but because Idaho and Arizona are kind of close to Utah, we run into it a lot because I know that my ancestors, some of my ancestors were Mormons, you know, unfortunately, but they lived in, um, Idaho falls. So I had a lot of family that came from Idaho falls. And so, you know, I, I figured that Boise is still in that zone of Mormon. So you probably run into them when you're out soul winning. And unfortunately they're almost impossible to get saved. And what's funny is they, they leave Mormonism every day, but they just go to atheism. They go to being an agnostic, you know, it's rare to see one actually get converted and actually, uh, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's easy to get frustrated with them and be angry with them. But you know, the, it's really on them. I mean, they're the ones that are going to split Hill wide, you know, as they, as they sit there and lie to your face with their little fake plastered on smile. Oh, we believe just like you guys. We're just like you, you know, but you know what, it makes me mad in my flesh. I'm just like, but at the end of the day, they're hurting themselves. If they would just tell you the truth at the door and just be like, yeah, man, I'm going to be my own God of my own planet. It's going to be awesome. You know, then at least we could have a conversation, but they just lie to you, don't they? But they're opposing themselves, you know, the president of the Mormon church, the quorum of 12, those guys are evil reprobates that are going to burn in hell. They're the enemy. Joe Mormon needs to be saved. Joe Catholic needs to be saved. I keep saying, Joe, I apologize that your pastor's name is Joe Jones. I just always say Joe. So Joe six pack, it's not your pastor. All right. But anyway, you shouldn't call him Joe. Anyway, he's pastor Jones to you, right? So anyway, uh, their, uh, their word lead is that the canker of whom is hymenasia, by the way, look at that word canker, you know, you change one letter in that, the K to a C, it's cancer. That's, this is actually where we get our modern word. Cancer is from the same root here. Okay. And so he's saying like, you know, this false doctrine is like a canker. It's like a cancer that spreads and corrupts and kills and destroys. So yeah, we want to fight against that false doctrine. Don't we? We want to call out the heretics and not just sit back and let the heretics teach all their garbage. No, no, no. It's our job to get up week after week. And the apostle Paul said, many walk of whom I've told you often, and now tell you even weeping that they're the enemies of the cross of Christ. He said, I've told you often of the enemies of the cross of Christ. So yeah, calling out the heretics, naming the names. Why? Because we don't want their doctrine to be like a cancer, destroying good people, good churches. Yes, but the people who are at the bottom in these religions are not the enemy. It's the people that are spreading the religion that are the enemy. The people are the architects of the religion that are the enemy. And I think part of this is why it's so difficult to win Mormons to Christ. Why it's almost impossible is because virtually all of them go on this two year false prophet quest. And you know, and you know what? That probably just makes God so mad to look down and see them teaching lies and heresy and garbage and damning souls for two years that that's probably why God is probably just done with most of them, you know, because obviously at the end of the day, being saved as a personal decision, I'm not a Calvinist by any stretch of the imagination. I believe that God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But some people can get to a point obviously where it's too late for them. And some people, God won't give them repentance, the acknowledging of the truth, because what does the Bible say in verse number, uh, 25 in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God per adventure will give them repentance, the acknowledging of the truth per adventure, you know, per adventure means kind of an old word means perhaps, or maybe. So if God will maybe give them repentance to the acknowledging the truth, you know what else that means? Maybe he won't. Maybe some people don't even have a chance to get saved anymore. Now everybody has a chance to get saved in their lifetime, but some people get to a point where they don't have a chance to be saved anymore. Now, when you preach that the old IFB kind of freaks out, but then it's like, well, let's go down to the morgue and I'll show you a bunch of people who don't have a chance to be saved anymore. And all the old IFB would agree with that. What about people who take the mark of the beast? Too late for them. What about people who blaspheme the Holy Ghost? Too late for them, right? So it's really just that they are having trouble applying that doctrine, but it's true that some people, they're doomed. And you know what? I don't think that going out and spreading a false gospel for two years really helps the way that God feels about you as a person when you participate in that garbage for two years straight. And so that's probably a big part of why the Mormons are so difficult or almost impossible to get saved. But the Bible says here in verse number 17, their word will eat as if the canker false teachers, that is, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth of urge, saying that the resurrection's passed already and overthrow the faith of some. Look at verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone in the name of the name of Christ depart from iniquity. You know what? Even as false teaching abounds out there, even as you've got false prophets and heretics and liars and people opposing God's word, opposing themselves, at the end of the day, in spite of all of that stuff, the foundation of God standeth sure. The Lord knows them that are his. And this goes back to what I was saying, that if I go out and preach the gospel and people don't get saved, it's no skin off my back because still I'm on solid ground. I'm still going to heaven. It's really, I just feel bad for them because I wanted them to get saved. You know, when I go out soul winning, one of my biggest motivators to go out and preach the gospel to the lost is love of the lost, you know, because if let's say I were a Calvinist and just thought, well, you know, whoever's going to get saved is going to get saved and they're either the elect or they aren't and God's going to find a way to draw them in. You know, I wouldn't really be that big on soul winning to be honest because I would just, well, and this is what the Calvinists will say, well, we still do it because God said to do it. Okay. But like if it was just like, okay, let's do it because God said to do it, you kind of phone it in a little bit and maybe you do it just a little bit or you wouldn't really do it that often or you wouldn't be that serious because you're just kind of, you know, well, yeah, I'm supposed to do this or whatever, but it's all decided where, but to me, like the thing that motivates me to do like a little extra soul winning or be a little more zealous or try a little harder, show up more often, put in more time. You know, the thing that motivates me is like people are going to hell and if they would actually hear the truth, they might get saved and there are people out there that just don't know better and if I can talk to them and preach to them at the door, they might get saved. Like that's a big motivator for me is the fact that they would get saved and so I'm not, so I'm not just out there like, Hey, I want to go soul winning so I can earn more rewards. Obviously that's, that's a fine motivation. I'm not against that motivation. Why didn't go out and earn rewards or just wanting to please God? Those are all good reasons to go soul winning or, or I don't want God to chastise me, so I'm going to go do what God has told me to do. Those are all great reasons to go soul winning, but I'm just saying for me personally, the big one is like, let's get somebody saved. Like I actually want to get someone saved for their sake because it bothers me to think about people going to hell and, and, and somebody could pull them out of the fire. Let's go out and do it. You know, that's a big thing for me. And so the foundation of God stand is sure whether they get saved or not. I'm going to heaven whether they get saved or not. The church is going strong whether they get saved or not. We're out there for them, not out there for ourselves. And so that's why it doesn't make any sense to be rude to them, hostile toward them, negative toward them. You know, the enmity should be between them and the serpent. The enmity shouldn't be between them and us. You know, we are their friends. And that's why when I go out soul winning, I'm always having friendly conversations with people, even people that are unsaved, even people that are part of a false religion. I'm having friendly conversations. Just, it's just friendly conversation after friendly conversation. And as soon as the conversation gets mean and gets ugly and gets negative, I'm out. I just big smile. All right, man, see you later. Big smile. I'm out of there. Why? Because the servant of the Lord must not strive. You must be gentle. You know, you'll have people tell me all the time, Hey, you should do debates. I think you'd be good at doing debates. Why don't you do debates, Pastor Anderson? You know, I've been pastoring now for 17 years. I don't do debates. Who, remember that debate I did? No, you don't. Cause I never did. It never happened. I don't do debates. Now, unfortunately I've gotten sucked into some arguments over the years at the door and I've gotten in like just yelling matches at the door before like, but I always regretted it afterward. I always just felt like, well, that was stupid. You know, sometimes you'll just be in this really unreceptive area where just no one's talking to you. Then you'll get a hostile person who's willing to argue and you're just like, I need human contact, you know? And so you'll just like argue with them just cause like, at least you feel like you had a conversation, but honestly, you know, I'm not into debate. I'm not into striving. I'm not into contentions. I'm not into arguing. You know, I'm into teaching the gospel to the lost, instructing those that oppose themselves. And so when I knock on that door, you know, I'm doing the teaching. I'm not there to learn about, you know, the book of Mormon. If they want to tell me about the book of Mormon, I'm just like, bye, I'm out. I'm there to teach them the gospel. If they, if they, if they're interested, if they want to listen, I'm glad to teach them the gospel. If they want to argue with me or start preaching their religion to me, then I'm out, I'm done. I'm ready to move on. Hopefully I planted a seed, shake the dust off my feet and move on. And so there are some people in this world that we need to, as the Bible says in verse 21, purge ourselves of, you know, there are some people in this world that are going to fight us, but they're really opposing themselves. There are some false teachers in this world that need to be called out. The Christian life is a battle, okay? It's never going to be easy street if you're actually serving God. The church that's actually serving God is going to go through hard times, trials, tribulations, you know, and obviously this is a small church here in Boise, Idaho. But you know what? Uh, when I was pastoring faith for Baptist church for many years, it was a small church, you know, the first year of faith word, you know, we average like 10 on Sunday morning and I mean, you know, it was probably more like 9.7 or something. You know, I mean, it was like, we're just struggling to have anybody show up. The second year we average around 20, the third year we average around 30, the fourth. So, I mean, I was like six years in before I was running like 60 talking Sunday morning attendance. Okay. Because it's just, it's hard. There are challenges. You go through setbacks and you know, I remember when I first started the church in 2006, you know, uh, at first the church was just not growing. There's just a handful of people showing up and then all of a sudden, like the fourth Sunday, just like 22 people showed up and I was just like, my patience has paid off. Like, like it was slow to start, but you know what? I just had to hang in there. God was just testing me for those three weeks. But then I realized like, yeah, God tests you for a little longer than three weeks because it was like, Oh, 20 some people showed up and then we're like running 20 some people for like several weeks and then it was just like everybody was gone. It was down to two women and my family. It was like me, my wife, three kids and two women between these two women. There were four divorces represented. Okay. And it was like no men, no families. It was just me, my wife and kids, and then just we had reached two women, but they were great women. They were both like very dedicated, serious. They're into soul winning. You know, they were, they were wonderful people, but that's how, but it was like we went from running in the twenties briefly to just, we got two people showing up. Now that's a little discouraging, you know what I mean? And then like, and then, you know, uh, a few months later, pastor, uh, David Burzins showed up and you know, then I actually had a man to go. So what he went, that was great, but the church is still running. Just basically my family of five plus those three people were running eight, you know, and there's just like eight people in the church and stuff. So, so what I'm saying is, you know, there, there are struggles, there are setbacks. It's challenging. The Christian life is going to be challenging. It's, it's always going to be, you know, here's what the Bible says. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord delivers them. And so you go through stuff, right? And, and, and it's going to be a battle. It's going to be a fight. It's going to be a challenge. They're going to be low points, discouragements, uh, all throughout life. But here's what I'm trying to get across in the sermon. What I believe that, uh, Paul's trying to get across is that, you know, in the midst of all the fighting, don't get so calloused because of all the negativity and the fighting and the hostility, don't get so calloused that you just start lashing out at everybody and just start becoming an angry person or a bitter person or just fighting the wrong people and just everybody's your enemy and everybody's a reprobate. You know what I mean? You, you want to strive lawfully and never forget the kindness, the gentleness, the grace, the love, the meekness that we are supposed to have as Christians. You know, he says in verse 22, flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but avoid the, you know, the foolish and unlearned questions. You know, there are good people out there. There are sincere people out there. There are people out there that will get saved. If you give them the gospel, there are people out there who maybe don't like me or don't like you, or maybe they don't like your pastor, but it doesn't mean that they're evil. It doesn't mean that they're reprobates. We should be gentle. We should try to get along with people. We should be kind and you know, we should go through our lives being happy and not being angry, bitter, malicious, but you know, those people out there, I keep wanting them to be out there, but they left too soon, but let's pretend that they're still there. Okay. Those people out there right now, you know, here's the thing. They think that I'm an angry person, don't they? They think I'm a hateful person. They call me a hate preacher. They think that I'm just this bitter, angry, hateful. Like I just get up every day and I just get on my knees and just start praying and precatory prayers before breakfast. You know, I've already damned every sodomite and politician, you know, before I even have a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. You know what I mean? That's what they literally think, but really like they seem pretty mad and they seem pretty hateful and they seem pretty angry. People actually know me and my personal life know that I'm a happy person and that I spend very little time dwelling on negative things. I'm very optimistic, very positive. I mean, why? Because the fruit of the spirit is joy, right? So don't let the devil take away your joy. Be happy. Don't get hateful toward everybody. You know, yeah, okay, hate the rulers of the darkness of this world, but don't get hateful toward everybody. Don't get angry toward everybody. Don't get bitter toward everybody. Don't start fighting and lashing out at everybody. Be kind, be gentle, be loving because let's face it, the unsaved people out there, their enemy is the devil just as much as the devil is our adversary. They just don't know it yet. So let's get out there and try to reach as many people as we can and pull them out of that snare of the devil because it's possible that we'll get them saved. Let's buy this and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, about, uh, yes, being militant and fighting good fight and being a warrior, but Lord also thank you for the reminders to be gentle and kind and gracious and to understand that these people are in a trap of the devil and they just don't know it. Lord, please just give us wisdom to rightly divide the word of truth and also to know in our lives who is the real enemy. And who is just someone who maybe doesn't like us or maybe they're just, uh, you know, temporarily mad at us or fighting us. Lord, help us to be gentle and kind and try to win people over. And in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. All right, everyone, if you would please turn to song number one hundred and thirty four, my anchor holds song number one, three, four on the first. Oh, the angry surges roll on my tempest driven soul. I am peaceful for I know. While we go, the winds may blow, I've an anchor safe and sure that can evermore endure and it holds my anchor. Hold your wildest and no gale on my barks, so small and frail by his grace, I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor. Hold on the second mighty tides about me sweep, perils lurk within the deep angry clouds or shade the sky and the tempest rises high. Still, I stand the tempest shock for my anchor grips the rock and it holds my anchor. Hold your wildest and no gale on my barks, so small and frail by his grace, I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor holds on the third, I can feel the anchor fast as I meet each sudden blast and the cable though unseen, there's the heavy strain between through the storm I safely ride till the turning of the tide and it holds my anchor holds your wildest and no gale on my barks, so small and frail by his grace, I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor holds on the last, troubles almost whelm the soul, griefs like bellows o'er me roll, tempters seek to lure astray, storms obscure the light of day, but in Christ I can be bold, I've an anchor that shall hold and it holds my anchor holds all your wildest and no gale on my barks, so small and frail I shall not fail for my anchor holds my anchor holds. All right, let's dismiss ourselves in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this time we had to hear your word be preached. Ask that you please bless the fellowship and food after the service and the evening service to come. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen.