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

And the title of my sermon this morning is Having the Last Word. Having the Last Word. You know, sometimes people feel like they have to have the last word, right? They argue with everything, and if someone argues with them, they can't walk away. They can't let it go. They just gotta keep arguing. They've got to have the last word. But I'm here to tell you this morning that many times it's a lot smarter and a lot more biblical to just walk away, and we don't always have to have the last word. We don't always have to right every wrong and argue and defend every point. Sometimes we don't need the last word. Now, this is a great story in the life of Jeremiah, where he's confronted with this false prophet in a very public way. You know, Jeremiah has been preaching one thing, and then this false prophet shows up and contradicts what Jeremiah's been preaching, contradicts the word of God publicly. There are a lot of other people around, a lot of other people are listening. And you see Jeremiah not just engaging in debate with this guy, but rather just rebuking the guy and then walking away. And it doesn't really matter whether or not Jeremiah gets the last word. Look what the Bible says in verse number 1. It came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azar the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord. So he's talking to me, he says. So this guy's confronting Jeremiah, calling out Jeremiah, confronting Jeremiah, arguing with Jeremiah, in the presence of the priests and of all the peoples. They got this big audience, right? As this guy confronts Jeremiah. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, verse 2, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. Now this guy's lying. God did not say that. That's the exact opposite of what God has been saying. God has been clearly saying they're going to be in captivity for a long time and specifically it's going to be 70 years long. He tells them, you better get comfortable in Babylon because you're going to live and die there because you're going to be there for the next 70 years. This guy shows up with this lying message, trying to tell everybody it's going to be great. In two years, everything will be back to normal. It's going to be fine. And he's just making this up. He says in verse 4, I'll bring again to this place, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon, saith the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Now notice how Jeremiah responds to this publicly being challenged, being called out by this false prophet. Verse 5, then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah, in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord. Notice the constant emphasis on the fact that they have an audience here. Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen. The Lord do so. The Lord perform thy words which thou has prophesied to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house and all that is carried away captive from Babylon into this place. He basically says, hey, sounds great. I sure hope so. Sounds good. Wouldn't that be great? Right? Verse 7, nevertheless, hear thou this word that I speak in thine ears and in the ears of all the people. The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms of war and of evil and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesied of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord had truly sent him. He's saying, you know, yeah, when somebody comes preaching all this sweetness and light and how everything's going to be great, he basically says, I'll believe that when I see it because typically real men of God are preaching against nations. They're preaching about all the bad things and hellfire and damnation that are coming. So this kind of Joel Osteen style preaching, sounds great, but I'll believe it when I see it is what he basically says. And he says, I'm not just saying that to you. I'm saying that to everybody who's listening. He's basically saying, I hope that you guys in the audience are smart enough to know who's telling the truth here based on other things we could see in the word of God, based on earlier prophets, based on guys like Isaiah and Micah and other prophets that have come earlier, guys like Elijah and Elisha. You know what? Think about this, folks. This sounds a little too good to be true, doesn't it? And so it sounds great. I hope it's true, but I'll believe it when I see it because this guy's a false prophet. So now it's time for Hananiah to fire back, right? Because this guy, Hananiah, confronts Jeremiah with this lying prophecy, contradicts everything he's been preaching in his ministry. Jeremiah responds with a pretty good answer. So now it's time for Hananiah to fire back. It says in verse number 10, then Hananiah, the prophet, took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck and break it. Now, it's kind of interesting that Jeremiah has a yoke on his neck, okay? But if you read earlier, this yoke was like a prop or a visual aid for Jeremiah's preaching. And he's talking about the yoke as being the bondage under the king Nebuchadnezzar. And a lot of preachers in the Bible would use props. And you know, I've occasionally used props in my sermons. You know, you'll bring something as an illustration. And some of the most memorable sermons that I heard growing up involved props like this, visual aid. So he's got this visual aid where he's got this yoke on his neck. If you know what a yoke is, it's basically something that you would use to connect two animals together. For example, oxen, if they're pulling a cart, you'd have this yoke to connect them so that they stay together. So it's a rigid wooden piece that holds them side by side so that one doesn't get ahead of the other so that they go straight, right? That's a yoke. Obviously, as a human being, this is not something that you would typically use on your own shoulders, you know. But this is a dramatic illustration where he's got this yoke on him. I mean, Hananiah just walks right up to him and just breaks his prop, right? Hananiah just walks right up to him and it says he took the yoke from off Jeremiah's neck, he rips his illustration right out of his hands, right off his neck, and just breaks his yoke and says, you know, and basically turns it into an illustration for his false teaching where he says, Thus saith the Lord, even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah punched him in the face. Is that what it says? You know, the prophet Jeremiah challenged him to a debate. You know, in fact, you know, if people were watching this today, you know what they'd say? They'd say, well, Hananiah won the debate. You know, Jeremiah had nothing to say. No, actually, Jeremiah had something to say and he already said it. And Jeremiah doesn't have to have the last word. Jeremiah's right. Jeremiah's telling the truth. What Jeremiah's preaching lines up with the Word of God. What this other guy's saying is a lie that does not match the right preaching of the past and the right teachings of the Bible. And so Jeremiah doesn't have to sit here and argue with this guy and go back and forth and debate with him because Jeremiah's not filled with pride. Jeremiah's okay with walking away and letting people think what they want to think. If people want to be like, oh, burn, man, Hananiah, he broke his, oh, it was the greatest thing ever when he just snapped that yoke over his knee and he really put Jeremiah in his place. We're pretty sick of his negative preaching anyway. I mean, you can imagine that's the type of things that people would say and how people would feel. But you know what, Jeremiah has already spoken the truth. He's not interested in getting in an argument with them or debating with them because they're wicked, they're wrong, they're not going to listen, and so he just walks away. He just goes his way. Now it says in the next verse, Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. Notice God actually has to prompt him to go say something else to Hananiah because he's done. He's done with Hananiah. So let me ask you this, is Jeremiah the kind of guy who just can't avoid an argument, he argues with everything, he loves debate, he's just got to have the last word. No way he's the exact opposite. He's fine to just walk away when he's said his piece. When he's got something new to say, he'll say it. But isn't it amazing how, you know, Jeremiah preaches what he preaches, and then Jeremiah responds to what Hananiah said, but isn't it interesting that Jeremiah just doesn't have the guts to do a debate with Hananiah. He just doesn't have the guts to debate him. And let me tell you something. I have literally thousands, not hundreds, thousands of times had people come to me in like a junior high type spirit, like, what's the matter, are you chicken, you know, wanting me to debate all these nobodies and no names and bozos, what's the matter, are you chicken? I mean, look, ever since I rebuked that illiterate Muslim bozo on my YouTube channel, I can't even count how many illiterate Muslims have come on my YouTube channel with their misspelled, grammatically bankrupt comments like, why you no debate him, why you will not debate him. Why are you making fun of Muslims? Let me tell you something, Islam was founded by an illiterate false prophet, and they brag about the fact that he couldn't read or write. So this isn't just making fun of disadvantaged people or something, no, no, these people are willfully ignorant, they have chosen a religion that is based on stupidity and ignorance. It's based on being stupid, it's based on being ignorant. You don't believe me? Okay, well go back and listen to Brother Raymond's sermon, where he actually went through the statistics, the 10 most illiterate countries in the world, and guess what they were? Muslim countries, because they brag about the fact that Mohammed couldn't read or write. But yet, you know, uh, you won't debate him. No I won't, because I'm not interested in arguing and contending and having the last word and I'm going to show this guy. You know, the Bible says not to cast your pearls before swine, and the Bible says, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest they be found to be like unto him. You know, I'm not, these people, I'm not even going to dignify some illiterate Muslim by giving him a platform, putting him on a stage, and somehow acting like his viewpoint's valid because it's not. And this is one of the problems that I have with debates, is that they treat both sides as a valid viewpoint and we're trying to figure out which one's right. I already know that what I got's correct. I already know that the Bible's right. I already know that Islam is garbage. I already know that, that teaching that everything came from nothing and that we evolved from monkeys is garbage. I don't need to, to dignify the other side of that argument by debating it, and if that makes me a chicken or a coward or whatever, well guess what? I finished junior high a long time ago, and so that tactic doesn't work on me, to sit there and say like, oh you're just chicken, you don't have the guts. Folks, that's pride. If someone says that to you, and then you feel like, well now I got to prove that I'm not a chicken, you know what, that's a sin of pride right there. Because if you're a humble person and someone calls you chicken or insults you, look, if you know that you're in the right, you just say okay, fine, I'm a chicken, amen. Like Jeremiah, amen. So what? It's not worth arguing with these people because of the fact that our pride is vain. It doesn't matter. And so we don't always have to show how tough we are. And folks, this can lead people into a lot of bad sins. Because guess what, oh you won't try drugs, is it because you're chicken? Oh you won't drink a beer with us, are you chicken? Oh you don't want to go shoplifting with us, are you chicken? Oh you don't want to vandalize property over here, are you chicken? Folks, have you ever in your life, just raise your hand, if you've ever in your life had someone try to get you to sin and accused you of being chicken because you wouldn't do that sinful activity, whether it was alcohol, drugs, stealing, breaking in somewhere, folks, that happens every single day. And so you need to decide, you know what, I have nothing to prove, I don't have anything to prove. God knows my heart, God knows the truth, I don't have to debate everyone who just insults me and calls me chicken because anybody who actually knew the word of God, who actually cared about truth, who heard this exchange between Jeremiah and Hananiah, you know, if they're open to the truth, they're going to believe what Jeremiah's saying based on what the word of God says, based on what Jeremiah's been preaching. And so arguing, debating isn't the answer. And Jeremiah didn't feel the need, God had to even tell him to even go back and say something else to Hananiah. And what does he tell him to say? It says in verse 13, go and tell Hananiah saying, thus saith the Lord, thou has broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I've put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, and I've given him the beasts of the field also. So notice, God is telling him what to say, what to respond. The reason that Jeremiah's responding is not because of his pride, not because he wants to have the last word or save face, but rather because he has something new to say. God has given him something new to say. There's a new piece of information that he wants to deliver. You know, another thing I notice about Jeremiah here is that he is slow to speak and slow to wrath. You know, the Bible says, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. You know, Jeremiah had a pretty cool head when somebody breaks his stuff and publicly rebukes him, and he knows he's right, and he just walks away. I mean, he's got a pretty cool head. I mean, this guy does not have a short temper. This guy's not filled with pride. This is a godly man. And we would do well to think about this story and realize that when we're angry, when someone has just broken our stuff or upset us in some way, sometimes that's the time to just take a step back and just take a deep breath and maybe just leave the room or just walk away and just cool down. And you know what? If it makes sense to respond after that, then respond if there's something to say. But respond because it's the right thing to do. Respond because God wants you to respond because you have the Word of God, you have something to say, not out of just anger or pride or, you know, firing back or anything like that. And so we see Jeremiah here practicing this. It says in verse 15, Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth this year, thou shalt die because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord. Verse 17, So Hananiah the prophet died the same year and the seventh month. So who got the last word? Right? Who got the last word? When Hananiah is dead less than a year later. And the lesson we can learn from this is that we don't always have to get the last word because in the end, God will go to bat for us in the end. There's a scoreboard that's up in heaven. It always reads the right score. And so we don't have to worry about what people think about us on this earth. We don't have to worry about just always defending ourselves and righting every wrong and debating everyone and arguing and getting the last word because in the end, the righteous always have the last word even if it's just by keeping their mouth completely shut and walking away. In the end, the righteous have the last word as it were. And so don't worry about getting the last word. It's not necessary. Now go if you would to the book of Titus in the New Testament. Titus toward the end of the New Testament. Titus chapter number three. Titus chapter number three. And to get the context of the book of Titus, understand that this is the apostle Paul who is a preacher training another preacher. And in fact, Titus is one of what's called the pastoral epistles because instead of writing to the church in general, Paul is actually writing specifically to a pastor. You know, he writes to the pastor Timothy. He writes to the pastor Titus. And so this is a great message even for pastors. It says in Titus chapter three verse nine, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions. What are contentions? Contentions are arguments. In our modern vernacular, we would call this arguing. He's saying avoid contentions and strivings about the law for their unprofitable and vain. They're unprofitable and they're a waste of time. Now I don't know about you, but I'm a busy guy. I'm sure you're busy too. All of us are busy in modern America. Pretty much every single one of us has a pretty busy life. And you know what? I don't have time to waste on things that are unprofitable and vain. I want to spend my time on things that matter, things that are profitable, things that are going to earn heavenly rewards, things that are going to help people and be a blessing and not waste my time on things that are unprofitable and vain. And the Bible is telling us that these contentions and strivings are unprofitable and vain. Why? Because when you argue with people, they kind of just tend to shut down. They tend to shut down. It's funny, just a few weeks ago, I was talking to a group of guys and the first few hours of this conversation, and these guys were of another denomination and they had different beliefs, and the first few hours of this conversation were really productive because they weren't an argument. I was showing them things and teaching them things from the Word of God and we were talking and we were agreeing on things and we had common ground and so it was a profitable discussion. But then after a while, the subject switched to something where my view was just diametrically opposed from theirs. And I noticed how the conversation just completely changed and just became totally unproductive. It just became me throwing a verse at them, they're just ignoring it, they throw a verse at me, I'm ignoring it thinking, yeah, I've heard that before, you're wrong, you're not using that right out of context, you know what I mean? And it just, it became this thing where literally I would say nothing was accomplished in that portion of the conversation. Now we disagreed in the first part of the conversation as well, but they were open. It wasn't an issue where they were married to a certain viewpoint. So we were able to talk, we were able to make progress, we were able to hash things out. But as soon as it became what felt like a debate or an argument or contention, it was just like I could just immediately tell this conversation is just a complete waste of time, like we're not getting anywhere. Because I could just feel the difference that when you hit people with something that they're just like really married to a certain viewpoint and they're not open, it's like you just run into a wall and you can't really proceed further. And I'm telling you, and that was just recently, but I've had hundreds of experiences like that. You say, come on Pastor Anderson, hundreds. Well, yeah, because I've been going out soul winning now for 20 something years and when you're out soul winning, you have conversations that are productive and then you have conversations that are arguments. And I'm telling you, when you get in an argument with people, they shut down. They just, they get more interested in just defending their point of view and proving you wrong than actually absorbing information. And you'll see the same thing even if you watch like a formal debate. You know, let's think of an example of a really good formal debate. How about Trump versus Biden? Oh man, what a debate. That was the worst debate ever. Okay. It's so funny. We were just out soul winning this week and this lady just wanted to argue with me so bad. Who is my soul winning partner? Joshua Wilson. Yeah, there he is. Okay. Am I telling the truth? Was I like Jeremiah and just walked away and smiled? But does she want to keep arguing? She followed us down the street twice and I'm just like, all right, see you later. Right. I mean this woman wanted to argue. She wanted to contend. She wanted to strive with us. You know, I gave her a couple thoughts and then she wasn't open. So I'm just like, all right, see you later. Have a good day. Bye. Wait a minute. Wait, wait. I mean it was at the door. Then she followed us down the street. Then she followed us down the second, the street a second time. And I'm just like, okay, bye, whatever. And you know what? We went on to have better conversations because of the fact that that conversation was going nowhere. Now I could sit there and argue with her, but this is what was, this is why it reminded me of the Trump Biden debate because this woman, anything I would say, she's just like, that's not true. I would just start to say, I'd start to be like, Nope, that's not true. That's a lie. That's wrong. And that's kind of like that Biden Trump debate. It's like everything Biden says is like lie, lie, lie. And then everything Trump says like, you're lying. That's not true. You're lying. You're lying. Like neither of them are even like substantiating their claims. They're both just like, you're lying. You're lying. You lied. I mean, how many times did they accuse each other of lying and it was just like, you're no, you're lying. No, you're lying. You're lying. You lied. No, you lied. Well guess what? You can get in a conversation like that in real life too. I just this week. I mean, this woman's just like, that's not true. She didn't like, I didn't even finish my sentence. You don't even know what I'm saying. You haven't even heard me yet. That's not true. That isn't true. That's a lie. That's not true. Before I've even gotten the words all the way out of my mouth, I don't think her computer worked that fast. You know, I don't think she was just that advanced that she could just predictably tell, I know what you're going to say and it's already wrong, you know, but I'm telling you, this is why debates are unprofitable and vain because when you get an argument, when you're in that argument mode, people shut down. Now maybe later when they slow down and think about it or watch or something, a video of it or something, maybe they'll actually process it, but in the moment when their blood pressure's up that, you know, they're not listening. And so if you want to waste your time, go ahead. I have better things to do than to argue with people in the street or to argue with people at the door or to argue with bozos on YouTube. It's unprofitable and it's vain. Now a better way, but here's the thing, sometimes people are wrong and you want to correct them and teach them and fix them, but here's the thing that you do. You do it avoiding an argument though. Like sometimes there are tactics you can use conversationally where you can kind of maybe find one thing you agree with about what they said, right? And say like, you know, my brother taught me this thing called feel, felt, found. He taught me, it was something that they taught him at work in some corporate seminar and this is, this is a feel, felt, found. He said, you know, I know how you feel. I felt the same way, but here's what I found. And so, you know, and it's kind of silly to think about that, but honestly, if you actually approach people with a way of like, well, you know, here's the one thing that you're right about, but here, can I just show you this other aspect and keep it from descending into an argument or a debate, then you're going to get way further with people. And when something does become an argument or a debate, sometimes the smartest thing to do is just walk away before you lose your temper, before you blow up, before, and look, I've lost my temper and blown up at people when I shouldn't have. Okay, there, I said it. I've done it. Okay. Because people just, they push your button and they get under your skin, but you know, I try to avoid that though. And sometimes you just have to walk away because you know, I'm going to let you just like, and you just, you feel it rising in you. You start seeing red and you're just, you just got to walk away, right? Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Is there a time for anger? Yes. To not be quick to anger and just irrationally just get angry without having time to think and process and so forth. And so this is good advice for everyone, not just pastors, to be slow to anger and not have the last word all the time and not feel like you just have to argue with everything. Let me tell you that some people are just argumentative. That is not a virtue being an argumentative person where you just argue with everybody, every little minutia, you just have to correct like somebody gives a fact that's just a little bit wrong. You got to jump in and be pedantic and just fix everything. That's a bad attribute. Okay. So he says the strivings and the contention, strivings about the law, they're unprofitable in vain. Look at verse 10, a man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition, reject. There's no third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh admonition. The first and second admonition, you're done, reject. You know, and I've used that when I'm out soul winning. If I'm out soul winning, I show someone the word of God, they reject it. I show them a second thing from the word of God, they reject it. All right, see you later. Have a good day. And you know, I'll smile and wave and tell them to have a good day because you know what? That person's not my enemy. Okay. What does the Bible say in the next verse? Knowing that he that is such, the heretic that you, you give them the first and second admonition and they reject it, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself. Don't take it personally. That person is subverted. That person is condemned. That person is their own worst enemy. You're not their enemy. I mean, think about it. All the unsaved people out in the world, are they my enemies? They are their own enemies. I am their friend. Because I'm, look, if I knock on some Roman Catholic's door, I'm their best friend because I'm trying to get them saved. I'm trying to get them out of a false religion. They've been subverted. What about Muslims? Hey, I'm trying to get them out of that wickedness, that wicked child bride marrying garbage. Okay. I'm trying to get them out of that perverted religion. Okay. I'm not their enemy. You know what their enemy is, is their imam is their enemy. The people that are promoting Islam to them are their enemy. The libtards that are promoting Islam are their enemy because those people are just paving their path straight to hell. So I'm not their enemy. And you know what? That means they're not my enemy. And so I'm not going to go out and talk to people in this world with an us against them mentality because they are subverted. They're condemned of themselves. It's nothing personal. Especially when I knock on a door and before I've even opened my mouth, it's like, blackity black. You know, they can't be mad at me because I haven't even given them time to get mad at me. They haven't even gotten to know me enough to get mad at me for, you know, get mad at me because of me. No, they're mad at me because they're actually just mad at religion or they're mad at Christ or they're mad at the word of God or whatever, you know, because I walked up and they're already mad. I'm not the issue. And so when you go out soul-ending and people get mad at you, don't take it personally. When they argue with you and, you know, you don't have to, you don't, you're like, yeah, but I got to get the last word otherwise they're going to think that they're right. So what? So what if they think that they're right? You know what? I can spend an hour making sure this guy doesn't walk away thinking he's right or I can actually go down the street to someone who's actually interested, someone who actually wants to learn, somebody who is actually ripe unto harvest and ready to get saved. So you know, if we had, if we had just an infinite amount of time, then yeah, we could just argue and waste time with every heretic. But in reality, we have a limited amount of time, limited amount of energy, and there's somebody else down the street that's more worth talking to, okay? Look if you would at Titus chapter two, just go back one chapter to Titus chapter two verse eight. Not just about preachers, not just about doctrine, not just about, uh, soul winning, but what about just the rest of our lives? What about in our home? What about on the job? Do we need to argue constantly at home, argue on the job and always get the last word? And how many times have you seen this? The teenager storming away from mom and dad that just kind of has to say something under their breath, just kind of get the last word in there and just kind of say that one last thing. Just shut up. Just let it go. You know, your parents rebuke you, your parents correct you and you don't think it's fair. Sometimes it's smarter to just take it, say, okay, no problem. I'll fix it. So, well, you don't understand, you know, I'm actually right. And you know, and then you create more problems for yourself. Look what the Bible says in Titus chapter two verse eight, sound speech that cannot be condemned. Let's just stop right there. You know, when you're right, you're right. It doesn't matter how many people prove you wrong. It doesn't matter how many debates you lose or how many arguments you lose. When you're right, you're right. Let me tell you something. When it comes to salvation, I'm right. When it comes to Islam, I'm right. When it comes to creation, I'm right. Now here's the thing. I can engage in all kinds of arguments and discussions and debates and whether I win or lose, quote unquote, those arguments doesn't change the fact that I'm right. And here's the thing. I don't feel like I have to have my viewpoints validated by someone else because you know what? I'm the Holy Spirit and the word of God and me and you know what? I'm not really interested in having my viewpoints validated by someone else before I can be comfortable with them. Like, like, well, you know, it's creation, but I just need to make sure that I can win a debate on creation or say, well, no, it's just, it's just in the beginning, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. I mean that, that verse is like a rock, okay? That verse is like a rock of incredible hardness. In fact, let's say it's like a diamond, right? The hardest substance. So we've got this diamond, this great big fat diamond in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The atheist comes along and just beats it with an ax, right? Somebody else comes along and just smashes it with a hammer and they're just slamming it, wham, wham, wham, wham. But at the end of the day, all they're going to do is just destroy their tools. They're just going to destroy their tools because of the fact that God's word will always be standing. You know, God's word, if it falls on anyone, we'll just grind them to powder. The Bible says, and anyone who falls on that, that it doesn't matter whether the word of God falls on you, it'll crush you. And if you fall on it, you get crushed. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says about this cornerstone, Jesus, this cornerstone, the word of God. And you know, it's interesting if you study science, you know, minerals, they all have a certain hardness. There's a hardness scale from one through 10 with the diamond being the 10. And what's interesting is that if you take something with a lower hardness and try to scratch at that thing with the higher level of hardness, you can't scratch it. But in fact, you'll just destroy your tool. You know, certain minerals can scratch glass, others can't. You could take a mineral that is softer than glass and you can try to scratch at that glass and what you'll end up doing is scratching, the glass will scratch you. You can't scratch the glass. So you know, it would just, you know, you'd think like, wow, what? But that's the way we're, well, let me tell you something, the word of God has a hardness of 11, okay? It's not a 10, it's an 11. Nothing can scratch it. Nothing can damage it. Nothing can stand against it. It's sharper than any two-edged sword and it's also harder. And so it cannot be, so sound speech, here's the thing about sound speech, it can't be condemned. Oh, I heard somebody condemn. It can't be condemned. Maybe there could be an appearance of it being condemned. But sound speech cannot be condemned. That's why you don't have to win every argument. That's why you don't have to get the last word because right is right no matter what and you'll never be ashamed standing on what's right, standing on the word of God. Sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things. What's this next phrase? Not answering again. What's he saying there? Don't talk back. And that's not talking about religion. That's talking about on the job. That's talking about servants being obedient to your masters according to the flesh. This is talking about your carnal job, your secular job. You're at work and the boss tells you to do something. You don't have to mutter something under your breath. Well, you know, actually it's like this, right? You just do what you're told. You're obedient, not answering again. He says don't be in the habit of talking back. You don't need to get the last word. Yeah, but my boss said something wrong. So what? People say wrong things every day a million times a day all over the globe. Someone somewhere right now as I speak is saying something that's wrong right now. Right now. In fact, right now I guarantee you I wonder how many wrong things are said per second on this planet. I mean it's Sunday morning so I'm sure a lot of wrong things are being said in a lot of false churches and false religions. I mean seriously, what if we heard like a click for every time someone said something incorrect, factually wrong, inaccurate, all over the globe and just be like, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr muscles that are going to, you know, I'm just saying, just physiologically, because you're getting ready to get physical. I'm not saying you're actually going to get physical, but I'm saying that's what your bodies do. That's what your body's designed to do, because your body has like an emergency response. And so when you feel these emotions, you kind of have this emergency response that involves like putting your brain on low energy mode. And that's why it's not worth it. Let's go to First Samuel, chapter number 10. First Samuel, chapter number 10. I've got to hurry up. I'm running out of time. There's so many, there's so many things we could look at in the Bible. Quick review. We saw Jeremiah. He was a pro at this, okay? We saw Titus being taught this by the Apostle Paul. How about in Romans chapter 1, when it's listing off all these horrible sins in Romans chapter 1, and then it just throws in debate? It says maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. Think about this, deceit and malignity on this side, envy and murder on this side, debate. Stop and think about this. Is this something you want to be filled with? Filled with debate? Well, you want to be full of envy, full of murder, full of malignity, full of deceit, full of debate, but a lot of people, they pride themselves on just arguing with everything and being full of debate. Now, I'll admit, let me admit something to you. When I was a small child, I was an argumentative person, and I irritated my parents and irritated other people too because I was known as being an argumentative child. And they said, oh, you should be a lawyer when you grow up because you just argue everything and you just, you're always arguing and you have to prove everybody wrong and everything. But here's the thing about that. When I became a man, I put away childish things, okay? That was a bad, you know what? I thought I was also a picky eater when I was a kid too. But now I learned to broaden my palette, okay? So here's what I'm saying. We all have bad attributes in our lives that we need to work on. And so look, if you're an argumentative person, I'm not here to throw you in the trash. I'm here to tell you, fix it. Work on that. Think about this and say, you know what? Let me be more like Jeremiah where I can just walk away. Where somebody can chew me out and I just walk away. You know, I can just be peaceful. And you know, it's pretty impressive when you see somebody just getting yelled at and told off and chewed out and when you can just see that person just stay completely calm and cool, wouldn't your respect of that person go up like, wow, this guy's cool. This guy keeps his cool. I mean, wouldn't you say that's a virtue to be able to stay calm and collected even in the face of somebody ripping you a new one, okay? But how about Jesus Christ himself? Let me read for you a few verses about Jesus. You're in 1 Samuel. We'll get there in a moment. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Mark 14, 61. But he held his peace and answered nothing. Mark 15, 3. And the chief priests accused him of many things but he answered nothing. Mark 15, 5. But Jesus yet answered nothing so that Pilate marveled. Pilate was impressed by the fact that Jesus just sat back and answered nothing. Luke 23, 9. Then he questioned him in many words but he answered him nothing. So I just read for you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 verses and they're more like that where Jesus didn't always have to say anything. I mean, think about John chapter 8, the famous story of the woman taken in adultery. They come up and want to argue with him and provoke him and he pretends like he doesn't even hear them. He's doodling on the ground, ignoring them, and then they keep pressing him and then finally he says one sentence and then he goes back to writing and then they all walk away. That was Jesus' debate. Was he quick to wrath? Who do you think you are? You know, look, and there were times when Jesus got angry but you know what Jesus did not do? He was not quick to anger flying off the handle. Because what was Jesus' most angry moment in the Bible is when he went in the temple and flipped over the tables and the best part of that story is how he dumped out the money. I love that little detail. Flipping over the table is one thing. I love how he's dumping out the money on the ground. That was his most angry moment but how do we know that he didn't do it in a rage? How do we know he didn't just fly off the handle? Because the Bible records the fact that he sat outside the temple making a whip of cords. He actually fashioned a whip just thinking about what he's going to do. It wasn't just like he pulled out a whip that he carries everywhere he goes or something. He didn't just have a whip all the time like some kind of a lion tamer or something. You know, he literally sits outside thinking about what he's doing and he premeditated. I mean how long does it take to make a whip? I mean it's going to take a little time, right? He's sitting out there braiding the leather and making a whip out of cords and then he goes in and blows his top but it was a controlled demolition. It was a planned explosion. How about King Saul? Look at 1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 26, and Saul also went home to Gibeah and there went with him a band of men whose heart God had touched. But the children of Balael said, and Balael is the devil, Baal, Balael Beelzebub, but the children of Balael said, how shall this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no presents, but he held his peace. Now why did Saul stay cool? Why did he keep his mouth shut? Why did he not feel like he needed the last word? Why did he not argue? I'll tell you why. Because the Bible says at this time in his life he was little in his own sight. Later he becomes prideful and he's fighting with everybody, even fighting with his own friends, fighting with his own son, fighting with his best soldiers, fighting with his own men, killing his own priests, I mean he becomes at strife with everyone in the end. But at this time in the beginning the Bible says that he was little in his own sight and we see him as a humble, godly man. Now he changes unfortunately later in life, but at this stage he's a humble, godly man and that's why, you know what, he just holds his peace. He doesn't feel like he has to prove anything or argue with people or fight with anybody. He just walks away. Second Kings, I gotta hurry up so I gotta pick which one we're gonna do here. Go to Matthew 5, I think that's probably the most important thing. We'll go to Matthew 5, let me just blow through some of what I had in my notes here. You know, 2 Kings, people show up and they're calling out the leaders of Jerusalem and rebuking the Lord, but the people held their peace and answered him not a word for the king's commandment was saying, answer him not. You know, they were told, hey, just don't argue with these people, just don't say anything. 2 Timothy 2, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, notice they don't oppose you, they oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. He's saying, don't strive, but meekly and gently teach people the truth. They're not the enemy, they are their own enemy. Matthew chapter 5 verse 25, how about this, agree with thine adversary quickly. Agree with thine adversary quickly. This is often the best way to diffuse an argument, to just agree with them. Where do they go after that? I mean, think about it. I mean, what does Jeremiah say to Hananiah, amen, sounds great, but I'll believe it when I see it, because guess what, nothing like that's ever happened in the Bible before. That made Hananiah so mad that Hananiah starts breaking stuff. I mean, think about it, was Hananiah cool? I mean, he's ripping a yoke off of Jeremiah and breaking it, that seems like something that he's just doing in the moment because he's mad, he's breaking stuff. Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison. Now obviously, I'm not saying that we should agree with lies and that we should agree with false doctrine or, hey, we just want to get along with everybody so disagree with lies and agree with false doctrine, but you know, if something is subjective, if something's a matter of opinion and somebody wants to argue about it, just let them have that point, just let them have it. Or sometimes, here's what I'll do, if somebody wants to just argue with me about something and I know for sure I'm right and I know they're wrong and the Bible says I'm right and the Bible says they're wrong, sometimes I'll just say like, okay, well, you know what, let's just pretend you're right then, let's just give you that point. And then, but let's talk about this other thing. You know, and just I'm not agreeing with them, but I'm at least superficially agreeing with them just to diffuse the situation because a soft answer turns away wrath. Bible says agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison. So you know, there are times when sometimes, you know, when you get pulled over by the cops, you know you're right. But sometimes arguing with them can just cause you to get a greater penalty. Like sometimes it's smarter to just kind of go with it and then, you know, hope that they don't show up in court or whatever, you know, or write a letter about it. You know, some tickets I've gotten out of just by writing a letter and explaining why I was right. But arguing with the guy right then and there sometimes can just make him mad and then you can just really throw the book at you because you're just making him mad, you know. So it just depends on what your goals are, you know. Maybe your goal is to do a civil disobedience or something. I get that, you know. But the point is, a lot of times our goal is just to get out of there and not have to pay the money. And usually by being nice and humble, you can get out of stuff. You can kind of talk your way out of situations just by staying cool. Look at verse 38. You've heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Sound like Jesus is the guy who just argues about everything, fights every battle. Is that what it sounds like based on these teachings that we're reading in Matthew chapter 5? You know, sometimes you know you're right, but does that mean that you have to sue everybody? You know, some people are very litigious, aren't they, and they want to just sue everybody they're just sue happy, just ready to sue everybody, anybody does them wrong, I'll sue you. But you know sometimes it's not even worth going to court, sometimes, right? I mean think about it, like sometimes it's more hassle, you really, all the money just goes to the lawyers. All the money goes to the lawyers, the lawyers make a bunch of money. I've gone to court before and I've won and got nothing. You know, somebody rear-ended me and slammed into me and I was on the job, it was a company thing, so the company went to bat for me and the company's attorney, you know, said hey we're going to pursue this and get you paid, get us paid, get you paid, whatever, from the insurance company. And a court ruled and said, you know what? You owe Steven Anderson $11,000. And that was 17 years ago and I've received zero. Even though the judge said $11,000 for Steven Anderson. Because it was just somebody who didn't have any money anyway, they don't have any money, they're never going to pay, you know, but it's oh I'll sue you, you know. Sometimes somebody wants to sue you and I'll sue you for X, Y, and Z, you know, sometimes you just give them what they want and just get them off your back because life's too short. Like my life's too short to spend my life fighting legal battles. You know, sometimes I get a bill in the mail that, you know, it's not legit or whatever and here's the thing, yeah, sometimes you got to fight those things, but sometimes it's just not even worth it and you just pay it and you just move on with your life because life's too short. Now I know that this is probably not going to go down in history as one of my most popular sermons, but that's okay because I'm here to tell you the truth, not to tell you what you want to hear. And I know a lot of people probably bristle at a sermon like this because they have that personality where they want to right every wrong in the world and fight every battle and die on every hill. But let me tell you something, you got to choose your battles, don't die on every hill, some things are not worth arguing about and look, I don't know about you, I want to go through life as a joyful, peaceful, loving person, but constant argumentation, constant fighting is going to lead you to become a bitter, angry, resentful person, even if you're on the right side, even if you're on the Lord's side, if you just always have to argue and fight every single battle and you don't have balance in your life, then you know what, you could become just a bitter, angry, mean person. And I just don't want to wake up every morning angry. I don't just wake up every morning and be like, alright, let's destroy some Muslims today, you know. Let's go out and just kick some Mormon butt, you know. That's not how I wake up in the morning. You know, I wake up in the morning praising God, thanking God, right, thinking about things I can do to be productive. Now look, there's a time to crack skulls and I know how to crack skulls with the best of them. I don't think anybody would question my skull-crushing credentials. I'm not some big softy Joel Osteen kind of guy. Does anybody really think that that's what I am? I'm not. So if even Pastor Anderson is telling you to cool it, you should probably cool it, you know. And here's the thing, some small-minded people would look at a sermon that I'm preaching like this and be like, well, from Pastor Anderson, coming from Pastor Anderson, Pastor Anderson is a warrior. You know, Pastor Anderson rips face, Pastor Anderson has shredded people in the past. But here's the thing, there's a time to shred and a time not to shred. And what I'm preaching today is to balance out the other teachings because guess what, the Bible has other teachings telling us contend for the faith, fight the good fight, stand. But is that all the Bible says? No, the Bible teaches both. Why? Because there's a time for both and we need to be balanced as Christians. So messages like this need to be preached, they're important. And let me tell you something, if you're a person in your home, in your family that argues with everyone, you're making everyone's life around you miserable, fact. I don't care whether you're mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa. If you argue all the time in your house and if you're constantly contradicting everyone and arguing all the time, you're a pain in the neck and you're making the people around you miserable. And if you go to your job and have to correct everything and argue with everything and fight every battle, you're a pain in the neck on the job. And if that's how you are in this church, then we don't have anybody like that in this church thankfully. But and if you're going out soul winning with that kind of a mentality, us against them mentality ready to face off in glorious combat with the Jehovah's Witnesses, let me tell you something, you're wasting your time. I mean, look, folks, militant seven day avenues, militant Jehovah's Witnesses. You know what? Move on. Give them a first definition, give them a second definition, but spend 60 seconds. Spend 90 seconds. Don't spend 90 minutes. I've done it. I've spent 90 minutes and guess what? I always regret it later. You ever just go soul winning and just regret the last 40 minutes at a door just like, why did I let them suck me into that conversation? Why did I get sucked into that argument? Frequently, I've walked away regretting. But you know what? I've never regretted presenting the gospel to someone who was receptive. Whether they got saved or not, I never had any regrets. I always felt like that was the best possible use of my time. That was a great use of time. That was a great opportunity. That was a blessing. I've often regretted arguing with people and wasting my time, often. And so if this is you, if I'm talking to you this morning, do a little introspection and ask yourself, is he talking to me? Are you talking to me? You know, is he talking to me? Because look, if I'm talking to you, work on it. Work on it, right? Just work on it. Just say, just say, you know what? Next time I want to just lash back at somebody, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and then I'm going to do it a second time. I'm going to do it a third time in practice. And you know, we grew up, those of us children of the 80s, we grew up in the sitcom generation where everybody's got a one-liner response all the time, right? Every single thing that somebody says, everybody's got a one-liner, a little quip and then the live studio audience, no, that's not a live studio audience, that's a laugh track, right? Then the little laugh track comes in, right? Everybody's got their little quip, their little smart aleck remark, but let me tell you something, that's not the Word of God, that's a sitcom. The Word of God is telling you, hey, sometimes it's better to just keep your mouth shut and walk away. Let's probably just have a word of prayer. Father, I pray that this sermon will be helpful in people's homes. I pray that it would be helpful in people's jobs. I pray it would be helpful out on Soul Winning, Lord. And I pray that it would be helpful to myself and others as we preach and as we teach the Word of God that we don't get sucked in to arguments, Lord. Help us to balance out the idea of fighting for the faith and contending for the faith with this example of godly men like Saul and Jeremiah and the Apostle Paul and Titus and of course Jesus himself. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.