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

Jeremiah chapter 26, the Bible reads in verse number 1, 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the Lord's house. 3. All the words that I command thee to speak unto them diminish not a word. And that's such a great statement there. Don't even leave one single word out of what I'm telling you to preach. Now the reason that that's significant is in just a few verses, they're going to be trying to have him executed. They're going to be trying to put him to death for what he preached. And that's why God tells him, don't even diminish a single word of it, because there could be a temptation there when you're preaching a message that's going to make people so mad that you're actually going to be in trouble with the law, and you might even be put to death. There's going to be a temptation to trim the message, maybe just a little bit, maybe just cut out some of the most offensive parts, and God says, don't diminish a word. And I promise you that God's message to the preachers of America today in 2016, it hasn't changed. It's diminish not a word. In fact, that's a great title for a sermon. Diminish not a word. Don't leave anything out. And there are so many preachers today that they preach a lot of good things, but the problem with them is not what they do preach, it's what they don't preach. It's what they're leaving out that's the problem. And people have their pet Bible teacher that tells them everything that they want to hear. What's wrong with him? Everything he preaches is right. OK, but what about everything he refuses to cover? What about everything he refuses to preach? And there are so many independent fundamental Baptists today, they're almost like a fundamentalist Joel Osteen, where they're King James and they're fundamental, but they only preach that which people want to hear, and they're diminishing whole sections of the Bible that are unpopular. There are parts of the Bible that if you preach them, you're going to make people upset. You're going to receive persecution. And many preachers are leaving things out, and God says, don't leave and diminish a single word. So that's the primary application here, where he's talking to a preacher and giving him the Word of God and saying, preach all of it. Don't diminish even a single word. But also, this scripture shows us how, of course, when it comes to the written Bible, he doesn't want us to diminish a single word from the written word either. And that's what's wrong with the NIV, and that's what's wrong with the ESV, and that's what's wrong with the New... Well, you say, well, the New King James is just a little different. Hey, don't diminish a word. And there's a lot more than one word missing from that New King James. There's something missing from every page of that New King James version. Don't even diminish a word. God doesn't say, well, just get the gist across. Just get the general idea. He says, no, no, word for word. Let's look at verse three. The Bible says, If so be that they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. Now, if you study the Bible for a long time, you probably know that the word repent is synonymous in the Bible with the word turn. In fact, repent and turn are often used interchangeably with one another in Scripture. And so what God's basically saying here is that if you turn, I'll turn. If you repent, I'll repent. What does he mean? Look at verse three again. If so be that they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. So God's saying, you're doing evil. I'm going to do evil unto you unless you turn from the evil in your hand. Then I'll turn from the evil that I'd said that I was going to do unto you. It's pretty simple. And this is an equation that we see over and over again in the Book of Jeremiah, where he warns the people and tells them, look, if you do what's right, I'm going to bless you. If you disobey me, if you disregard me, I'm going to bring these curses upon you. I'm going to do evil unto you. Now, let me make it clear that the word evil is not synonymous with the word sin. God doesn't do anything sinful or bad. So when the Bible talks about God doing evil, it's not saying that he's going to do something wicked or or or he's going to do iniquity or something like that. What it actually means is harm. Evil has to do with harming someone. So when God says I'm going to do evil unto you, he's saying I'm going to harm you, right? And their evil ways, if you study the rest of the Book of Jeremiah, had to do with harming people. They shed a lot of innocent blood. That's evil. That's harmful. They also had abused poor people and mistreated them and charged them interest through predatory lending as we saw in other chapters. So God says if you repent of your evil way, then I'll repent of the evil that I said that I would do unto you. And he says this repeatedly in Jeremiah 26. Go over to Jonah chapter 3. Keep your finger here. This is one of the most famous instances of this because all throughout the Bible, we see this concept of God repenting. Now, the word repent again means turn. And this word is often misunderstood today because people attach some additional baggage to this word that doesn't belong there. You see, every time they see the word repent, they add this additional baggage of repent of sin. And in fact, in many dictionaries, when you look up the word repent, it'll say to turn from sin. So they're adding that prepositional phrase, from sin, even though it has nothing to do with the word repent itself. You see, if the dictionary were accurate, it would say to turn away from, and then it could put in parentheses, for example, to turn away from sin. But they just build it right into the definition sometimes that, oh, repent that's turned from sin. And the problem with building that in is that the person who repents more than anyone else in the Bible is God, and God has no sin. So we know that when God repents, he's not repenting of sin. He's repenting of the evil and the curses that he was going to bring upon them. In other places, God repents of other things. And often in the Bible, people are repenting even from something good. They were going to do the right thing, and then they repented and did the wrong thing. Judas, you know, repented when he had sold Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, right? There's all kinds of examples in the Bible of people repenting of various things. So when we look at the word repent, we have to understand what's being repented of by the context. Now, in this context, it's pretty clear what's being repented of. They're evil works, they're evil deeds, right? But in some places, when the Bible says repent, the people were worshiping a false God. They were worshiping idols instead of worshiping the true God. So when he tells them to repent, he tells them to repent of a false God and turn to the living God. Or in other places, people don't believe in Jesus, and then he tells them to repent. What's he telling them? You need to start believing in Jesus. So what the repentance is referring to depends upon the context. It'd be sort of like if I said, well, obey. Well, you know, what does that mean to obey? What action are you going to do if I tell you obey? It depends on what the command was. Does everybody understand? If we don't know what the command was, we don't know how to obey. If we don't know what we're repenting from, then, you know, how can we define repentance in that verse? So the reason I make such a big deal out of this is that people are messing with the gospel by saying that in order to be saved, you have to repent of your sins to be saved. OK, they're making that a condition of salvation. Repent of your sins. And then they'll find a verse to support it. And the verse just says repent, not of your sins. It just says repent and believe the gospel. And then they say, see right there, repent and believe the gospel. Well, repent means turn from sin. Well, here's the problem with that. Turning from your sins is works. That would be a work salvation. If God said you have to turn from your sin and believe, then he's basically saying do works and believe. Now, a lot of people will say, no, no, no, that's not works because they have this view of works that works is only doing good deeds. But in reality, when we obey the commandments of God, not to steal, not to kill, not to commit adultery, those negative commandments, when we follow those rules, the Bible calls that the works of the law. The works of the law. When we obey those laws of God. Look at Jonah chapter 3 and I'll prove it to you straight from the Bible. Look at verse 9. Who can tell, this is very similar to what God said in Jeremiah 26, who can tell if God will turn and repent? Again, notice those two words put together. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? So in this verse, God is repenting of his anger. Look at the next verse. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. So when God saw their works specifically, what did he see? Did he see them helping little ladies across the street? Did he see them donating turkeys to the Salvation Army around Thanksgiving time? Did he see them going out and doing soul winning? No. It says God saw their works and then he tells us what those works were, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not. So according to this verse, turning from your evil way is defined as your works. So if somebody tells you, in order to be saved, you have to turn from your evil way and trust Christ as Savior, here's what they're saying, do works and trust Christ as your Savior. They're teaching a faith plus works salvation. And the Bible says that salvation is by grace through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And often those who believe in this false repent of your sins salvation, they'll do a lot of boasting about turning from sin and how they gave up this sin, and they never had a desire to commit this sin ever again, and they've never craved a cigarette ever again, and they never craved a drink of booze ever again, and they repented of all their sins, you know, and they like to self glorify instead of giving glory to Christ by teaching the salvation, by believing on Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection, faith in Christ, not turning over a new leaf. Or they'll say, well, repenting of your sins, the evidence of salvation, they'll say, OK, well, I guess everybody in a 12 step program saved. Because people go to 12 step programs all the time and they quit drinking, they quit drugs. Does that mean that they're saved? Is that evidence that they're saved? Is that the mighty power of God? No, it's not. It's turning over a new leaf, and salvation is not turning over a new leaf. Salvation is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's faith in Jesus Christ, not turning over a new leaf. And this repent of your sins salvation is very prevalent amongst independent Baptists, sad to say, because it creeps in under the radar. It's not as blatant of a work salvation as some people teach, so it kind of slips in and it creeps in. And even people who are saved sometimes can get a little influenced by this and a little bit messed up on this through people like Ray Comfort and others who bring in this damnable heresy. We need to make sure we have it real clear in our minds what salvation is. It's faith in Jesus Christ. And you know what's funny is that I've heard people scoff at this teaching that I'm giving you right now from the Bible, and they'll say, turning from your sins is works, really? But let me ask you this. Have you ever tried turning from sin in your life? Is it hard? That's because it's work. Think about it. I mean, it's work to stop sinning. I mean, if you have a sin that's a habit in your life, that's going to take some work on your part not to do it. So it's very silly to scoff at that. Let's go back to Jeremiah 26. I just want to point that out because the wording in Jeremiah 26 is really similar to the wording in Jonah 3, and it's a message that we find throughout the Bible. If you turn from your sin, God is going to turn away from the judgment that he was going to bring physically in this life. And this is where people are mixed up. They're mixing salvation with judgment that comes in this life. See, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to heaven and hell, it's based on one thing. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So when it comes to our soul, when it comes to being saved, going to heaven or going to hell, it's not based on our deeds. It's based on faith only. But here's the thing, when it comes to whether or not God blesses us or curses us in our life, that's based on our works. See, we're not saying works don't matter. We're saying works don't matter for your salvation. But when it comes to your walk with God, they do matter. It's sort of like this. My wife's works are not what keep her married to me. My wife and I are married till death do us part because of a promise that was made, because of a vow that was made. Even if she doesn't do the work that she's supposed to do, cooking, cleaning, caring for the household and the family. Okay, or even if I don't do the work that I'm supposed to do, paying the bills, well, guess what? We're still married. It's not based on works. It's based on a promise. Now, sometimes human beings break that promise. Unfortunately, God will never break his promise. And God, before the world began, promised us eternal life. But here's the thing. Her works determine how good our relationship is going to be. Me taking my butt out and going to work and bringing home a paycheck is going to determine how good our relationship is. Listen, guys, if you don't go to work and bring home the bacon, you're not going to have a good marriage. And wives, if you sit on your backside all day watching soap operas and goofing around online, and your husband comes home and says, what's for dinner? And you tell him hungry man's in the freezer, you know, three minutes on power six or whatever. You're not going to have a good marriage. Got to do the work. And by the way, there's a lot more to marriage than that. Obviously, I'm simplifying. You know, there's other work of just working at the relationship. And, you know, I already just preached about that. I don't know, a week ago or something. It was pretty recently. I did a sermon about that. But the point is that relationships take work to have a good relationship. And when children disobey their parents, they don't stop being their children. Why? Because they are children because they're born into the family, just like we're born again through faith in Christ. But if my children don't do the work that I give them, then they're going to be in a world of hurt. And if we don't do the work that God has given us, we're going to be in a world of hurt. Because the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. But he's not going to throw you out of the family. He's just going to give you a weapon if you don't do the work. So when the Bible says here, hey, if you turn from your evil way, he doesn't say, hey, turn from your evil way and then you'll go to heaven. No, you go to heaven just by calling upon the name of the Lord. But he says, turn from your evil way and I'll turn from the world of hurt that I was going to bring on you. I'm going to turn from the fierceness of my anger. I mean, look, how is my wife or my children? How are they going to stop my anger by turning from their evil ways? And obviously they don't have evil ways, but I'm saying if they did, that's what they'd have to do to turn my anger. But they're still going to be my family. I'm still going to love them no matter what. I'm never going to leave them nor forsake them. And God's never going to leave us nor forsake us. So that's the message here in this chapter. Go to verse four of Chapter 26. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, if you will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants, the prophets whom I sent unto you, both rising up early and sending them. But you've not hearkened. Then will I make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. And Shiloh is a place that God had previously blessed. That was a place that the tabernacle had been previously set up and God had brought judgment and punishment upon them. He's saying, I'm going to do the same thing to you if you don't get right with God. Verse seven, So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. I want you to pay close attention to this. Who heard him preaching these things? The priests and the prophets are listed first. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah. Look at verse eight. Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. Now I want you to see and you're going to see why I point that out in a few moments. But the instigators of the people are the priests and the prophets. So the priests and the prophets, the spiritual leaders, the phony preachers, the phony pastors, the false teachers, they get the people all riled up. Oh, man, this Jeremiah is preaching this horrible message and gets everybody mad. And then all the people rally with them and they say thou shalt surely die. They're saying you're going to be put to death. So this is not the freedom of speech, is it? Now, thank God in our country that we were fortunate enough to be born into, we have enshrined in the First Amendment the freedom of speech. Now, it's not the First Amendment that gives us freedom of speech. It's God that gives us freedom of speech. In fact, even when our country was founded, the founding document, the Declaration of Independence clearly states that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. It doesn't say we're endowed by government. We're endowed by the Constitution. No, no, no. The rights come from the creator. The Bill of Rights is just explaining for people that are too dumb to understand what those rights are, you know, let's get specific. Since you guys don't read the Bible to know what your natural God given rights are, let's just name a few. And then one of the most important amendments that is often not referred to is the Ninth Amendment, because the Ninth Amendment says just because certain rights are enumerated here, it doesn't mean that we don't have other rights that are not listed here. Because a lot of the founding fathers were afraid that if they made a list of rights, people would say, well, these are the only rights, just what's in the Bill of Rights. The Ninth Amendment says, no, no, there are other rights too that we just didn't mention that are reserved by the people. Where do they come from? How do we know what those other rights are that the Ninth Amendment is referring to? I mean, what are these politicians in the Congress and the Senate who don't believe in the Lord and they don't believe in the Bible? Where do they get those rights of the Ninth Amendment? Well, they come from the Word of God. The Bible teaches what kind of a society we should have and what kind of freedoms we should have in a God-fearing society and in a biblical form of government. And so we have enshrined in the United States the freedom of speech and the freedom to exercise our religion. And thank God that our government recognizes that and at least gives lip service to that. And, you know, we have more freedom of speech than a lot of countries in this world. We can say things here that in another country we would get thrown in prison because they have taken away this freedom. And what we see here in Jeremiah 26 is the first hate speech law. Right. Oh, you said something mean. You said something hateful toward Jerusalem. That's hate speech. You shall surely die. And listen to me. There are plenty of people that believe that I should surely die for a lot of the stuff that I've said. Thank God in America we still have freedom. But there are plenty of people who would love to tear me limb from limb and they believe that they would be justified in doing so. Not because of anybody that I've ever harmed or hurt. Let me let me ask you this. Who have I ever physically harmed? Anyone? When have I ever beat the living whatever out of somebody? Never. So who have I harmed? But it's what you said. Hate speech. Right. You know, when I was a kid it was sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. But nowadays, oh, what you said was so harmful. Good night. Get over it. And then that when I was a kid, bullying was when they took your lunch away from you and kicked you in the groin. Now bullying is like, oh, he called me names. He said something bad about me online is, you know, we need to just realize that words can't hurt us. Quit being so sensitive. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. And you know what? I don't have a problem with some atheist saying, I don't believe in God. God's not real or whatever he wants to say that fine, let him say that. But you know what? I'm going to teach what the Bible says, and I have every right to say everything in this book, both by our American law and because God gave me the right to say it wherever I want in this world. So in Jeremiah 26, they say thou shall surely die at the end of verse eight. Look at verse nine. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying these mean and terrible things? Look at verse 10. When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house, under the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people. So who are the instigators again? The priests and the prophets. Who are they talking to? The princes and all the people. They're saying this man's worthy to die for he hath prophesied against this city. As you've heard with yours, he's preaching against the Jews. That's what they're saying. They still get mad about this today, don't they? I mean, they think I'm worthy to die because I preached against the Jews because marching design you preached against the chosen ones. He preached against this city, Jerusalem. He shall surely die. That's what they're saying. And Jeremiah says, well, God sent me to preach against this city. God told me to preach against the Jews. Now, notice it was the priests and the prophets that instigate the people, and the people follow their evil instigation. Then spake Jeremiah, verse 12, unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, meaning Jerusalem. All the words that you've heard. Therefore, now, amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me as seemeth good and mead unto you, but know ye for certain that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon the inhabitants thereof. For of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. Notice, if he's put to death, innocent blood is brought upon not only the people who actually put him to death, but upon the people of the land. You know, I mean, God's going to take out his anger on the whole nation if they put God's prophets to death. You know, that brings a curse upon a nation. The Bible says that righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. And so putting a guy like Jeremiah to death is going to bring innocent blood upon them and upon the whole nation, upon the people of the land. And so he gives them that warning. Verse 16, then said the princes and all the people, so who's talking now? The princes and the people, who are they talking to? The priests and the prophets, right? These are the bad guys. Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets, because this man is not worthy to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. So here's what we see. A whole bunch of phony preachers teaching lies and all the people follow them. One guy stands up and starts preaching the truth. Jeremiah preaches the word of God, preaches the truth, and what does he do? He turns the people around, but he didn't turn the priests and the prophets around, and you can never turn those guys around, because those guys are reprobate, that's why. See, these phony preachers, you can't even reason with these people. They're workers of the devil, but the people in the pew, you can straighten them out. And that's what Jeremiah does. Jeremiah straightened the people out, and then the people are rising up against the false priests and the false prophets, telling them, hey, you guys are wrong, because Jeremiah taught us the truth. Jeremiah is not worthy to die. He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Now look at verse 17. Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people saying... So this is just certain of the elders, a few older guys that come out with this. And spake to all the assembly of the people saying, Micah the Merastite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. So this is going quite a ways into the past, a totally different generation of people. So this is something that they weren't physically necessarily there for, the people that are hearing this, but it's something that is part of the history of their nation. So they go back into the past with this example. Micah the Merastite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps. Saying that the hill of Zion is just going to be flattened and plowed like a field. And that Jerusalem will become heaps. Heaps means just piles, piles of rubble. And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the Lord and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls. So they're bringing out this example of Micah and saying, Look guys, remember how Micah preached the same thing that Jeremiah is preaching about Jerusalem getting wiped out? Was he put to death? No, they got right with God, they listened to him. Now this shows that God never changes. Whether we're in Jonah, or Jeremiah, or Micah, the message is the same. In every generation the message is the same, it's just how we respond to it. Keep your finger in Jeremiah, let's go to the book of Micah and look at that preaching briefly here. Flip over to Micah, Micah is toward the very end of the Old Testament. Jonah, Micah, it's right after Jonah in fact. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk is the order. So look at Micah, chapter number 3, and let's look at this preaching. Verse number 8 of Micah chapter 3, But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Here's the thing, preaching that doesn't preach on sin lacks power. He said I'm full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment. But here's the thing, you preach judgment today and what do you hear all day long? Don't judge. Judge not, judge not, judge not, judge not. They just keep repeating that as their mantra. And it just doesn't make any sense my friend, because by their attitude of just, oh well no one can judge, we can't judge, how dare you judge, Jesus said not to judge. I mean, next time I go to court, that's what I'm going to tell the judge. I'm going to be like, I'm offended by your name. I mean, you're a judge, judge not. I mean, think about how dumb that is. Or what about this, how about this, I go out and do some reckless driving and get pulled over by the police and just tell them, hey, don't judge. Hey, he that is without sin among you, let him write me a ticket. You know what I mean? Or why don't my children tell me next time I'm going to give them a spanking and they say, well, wait a minute, are you without sin, dad? Well, then you can't judge me. Only God can judge me, dad. You think that's going to work when my toddler tells me that? Only God can judge me. But I got a news flash for you. The Bible doesn't say don't judge. The Bible says, judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why, beholdest thou the mote that is out of thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye? Behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Oh, but that's too many big words. That's too complicated. Judge not, judge not, judge not. Sorry to confuse you with the whole passage. When it tells you to make sure that you're not a hypocrite, that you first get the beam out of your own eye, and then he doesn't say, and then leave the mote in your brother's eye. He says, no, no, then you'll see clearly to remove the mote out of your brother's eye. So we are to judge our brother, but we're to first make sure that we're not being a hypocrite, make sure that we have our house in order, and that we aren't living in a glass house throwing stones. That's what the Bible actually teaches. Jesus said, judge not after the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. The Bible says that we're going to judge angels. How much more things that pertain to this life. If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge that are least esteemed in the church, I speak this to your saying. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, no not one, that shall be able to judge between his brethren? What about when Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5, when he heard the common report about the young man that was taken in fornication, and he said, well I've already judged, as though I were present concerning him that had sowed down the seed. I've already judged. Oh how dare you Paul, you're so judgmental. Judge not. It's ridiculous. It's a nonsensical, I mean, you know what it means to judge? It means to make a decision. It means to have an opinion. So basically, if we're just supposed to not judge, then we're just supposed to go through life with no opinion about anything. You know, you're murdering? Who am I to judge? I mean, they asked Pope Francis, what about the homos? Well, who am I to judge? Who am I to judge? Oh, I can't judge. Well, it's just murder, adultery, rape, pillaging, burning down the city. Well, who am I to judge? I mean, think about how ridiculous this is. It's nonsense. But this is the mantra of people who want to live in sin. This is their mantra. Judge not, judge not, judge not, judge not. Now listen, I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. None of us is perfect, right? But then people will try to say, oh, because you're not perfect, you can't judge anything. Because you're not perfect, you can't preach the Word of God. Well, then no one can preach and no one can judge. We need to close this service and go home and never have an opinion again. It doesn't make any sense, folks. It's a perversion of what's being taught in scripture. And you know, a perfect example of this, and I'm just going to call it out by name because it's a common report and because he's rubbing our nose in it, this Kent Hovind garbage. And let me tell you, look, and I defended Kent Hovind when his wife is divorcing him. But you know what, I'm going to call him out right now and you say, well, it's none of your business. Well, you know what, he goes on YouTube and puts out a video telling everybody, if you don't agree with me committing adultery, then you're a hypocrite and a Pharisee. Well, you know what, I'm a Pharisee then. I'm a Pharisee. Yet, you know what, actually, Kent Hovind, in Matthew 19, it was the Pharisees that justified divorce and remarriage. Read the Bible, folks. Matthew chapter 19, the Pharisees came to Jesus and said, you can divorce your wife for any reason you want. That's what the Pharisees believe. That's what rabbinical Judaism teaches. That's what they taught. No, it was Jesus who rebuked the Pharisees and said, no, when you get married, it's till death. And what God is showing together, let not man put asunder. Look, if Kent Hovind wants to marry a divorced woman, you know, whatever, that's his business. But for him to get up and tell everybody, oh, I prayed about it, I fasted, and I sought godly counsel, and I told God, I'm willing to do whatever you want, God, and this is what God led me to do, to marry a divorced woman, that's a lie out of the pit of hell. God would never lead you to disobey the Bible. And look, if he would have just said, well, you know what? I'm going to marry a divorced woman because I'm weak. I've been in prison for years and, you know, I'm throwing up my hands on my marriage. I give up. You know what? Whatever. I wouldn't even make a big deal out of it because, you know what, that's his business. He's the one who's going to deal with the consequences for that. I'm not that, but you know what, when he's just going to publicly announce, and he even said, I want this to be an example to other divorced people. That's what he said. Who heard him say it? Yeah, see, am I making this up? He flat out said, I want other people who are divorced to see this example. Oh, you mean where you're already scheming on a divorced woman before your wife has even divorced you? We're defending you in April and you've been scheming on this other woman since February? And you know what? People try to say, oh, Ken Hovind, there's nothing he could do about his wife leaving. How do you know? And even if that's true, okay, is he marrying a single? Is he marrying a widow? No, he's marrying a divorced woman. Go to Luke 16. And look, if you're divorced and you're remarried, I'm not attacking you. I'm not mad at you. Look, I have lots of good friends that are divorced and remarried. My parents are divorced and remarried. People make mistakes. But you know what? If you're going to go around and start telling everybody that God told you to do that and that God wants other people to do that, you're destroying people's marriages. You're destroying their lives. Hey, I don't want anybody in my church to listen to that liar Ken Hovind saying, oh, you know, it's great to divorce and get married to somebody else. You're a liar, Ken Hovind. And here we defended you. We helped you. We stood up for you. And then you call us Pharisees for pointing out what Jesus taught. I don't want the marriages in this church to be destroyed. I want every single person in this church to stay married to the person that they're married to right now. I want every single person, and I don't want anybody watching that Ken Hovind video and saying, well, hmm, my wife treats me like crap. Maybe there's a way out for me, and I can go trade up for something different. Well, my husband treats me like crap. Maybe I can go trade up. No, it's till death. And you know what? I know how this game works. When people want to marry somebody else, you know what they do? They push the other person away until they provoke them to divorce you. So that they can blame, oh yeah, they divorced me, they divorced me. I've seen it. Don't you tell me it's not out there. When people want to trade up their spouse, they start treating them like dirt, and they keep provoking them until finally they divorce them. And then they're like, oh, he divorced me. Oh, there's nothing I can do. Oh, she divorced me. There's nothing I can do. Hey, look, there's no excuse for it. And you know, it's kind of funny when the ink isn't even dry on the divorce papers, and you're already getting married, and not only that, you're committing a double sin by marrying a divorced woman. Not only are you divorced, she's divorced. And you say, oh, I'm going to leave the church because I'm divorced and remarried. Then get out. Get out if you're going to justify that sin to me. Now look, if you've been divorced and remarried, and you're willing to admit that it was wrong, great. Or if you think I'm wrong about this and you're willing to keep your mouth shut about it, great. But you know what? I don't want anybody to get up and teach publicly that divorce and remarriage is fine because it destroys people's lives. Because it's that kind of teaching that gives people a way out. And you know what? We need to have a do or die attitude toward marriage. And you know what? It's amazing. Isn't it amazing the doctrine that Jesus taught, that it's a one time, you get married, it's till death do us part, and there's no way out except the grave? Isn't it amazing how people find a way to make it work? They find a way to make it work. But when people have this other option... See, let me put it to you this way. Well, let's look at the scripture first. Luke, chapter 16, verse 18. Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another, commiteth adultery. Now, is there something that anybody doesn't understand about that? Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another, commiteth adultery. You say, oh, well, he didn't put away his wife, she put him away. Okay, how about this one? And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, commiteth adultery. Commiteth adultery. If you marry a woman that's put away from her husband, divorced from her husband, you're committing adultery. And if you put away your wife, you're causing her to commit adultery. And if a wife puts away her husband and marries somebody else, I believe it says it that way. What, in Mark chapter 12 off the top of my head, somebody help me out. Is it Mark 12? Some of you guys in the preaching class, we've been going through where to find things in different chapters. I want to say Mark 12, is that right? Is it Mark 10? No, 12 in there somewhere. Yeah, how about this one? 10, 11. And he saith unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, commiteth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she commiteth adultery. Okay, so he says it all different ways in Matthew, Mark, Luke. But in Luke, it said if you marry her that is put away, you're committing adultery. Oh, but I prayed about it. I fast about it. He said, I sought Godly counsel. I talked to 15 pastors and 14 of them told me adultery is fine. 14 of them told me that it's okay to marry a divorced woman. And it's okay for me to just, now that my wife has divorced me, just marry somebody else. 14 compromising phonies. Give us their names and I'll call them out from the pulpit tube. Because they're destroying people's lives. And look, I've been in these Baptist churches that teach this doctrine of all these loopholes where you can, oh, well you can, it's like pick an excuse and you can pretty much get divorced and remarried for any reason. And you know what? It's like a wife swap every year. Look, I can think of a particular independent Baptist church I went to. I was there for five years and I can think of like 11 people who swapped wives while I was there. Think of 11 people who got divorced. Do you see that going on in our church? Where families are constantly divorcing and all these different things? No, because I'll bet you that if somebody was in our church, a married couple, look at all the married couples around our church, look around. I guarantee if there was a married couple in this church and they wanted to get a divorce, they'd probably quit the church before they got a divorce because they'd be so ashamed to show their face here in the process of divorcing their spouse. Because it's so preached against, it's shameful. Well, you know what? It used to be shameful in this whole nation before Christians started to just accept it. Oh, congratulations! Isn't it wonderful? It's not wonderful at all. And this thing of, oh, and our first kiss is going to be on our wedding day. Oh, you saint. I'm so glad you're waiting. You're doing adultery right. You're doing it right. You say, well, I thought you're Ken Hovind's friend. I'm a friend of God. I'm not a friend of the world. And I'm not going to be friends with somebody who gets up and teaches this. Because I love the sanctity of marriage too much. And this is crystal clear in the Bible. And people are coming at me with like, well, if the unbelieving depart, all this junk mistwisting 1 Corinthians 7. Okay, is his wife an unbeliever? Hello, is Ken Hovind's wife not saved? She's saved. What is it? But they're just like, just throw it at the wall and see what sticks because we're going to do what we want. And then this woman that he's marrying, I looked on her Facebook wall three months ago. She's talking about people hundreds of thousands of years ago living in some valley. What in the world? You're a creation scientist and you're marrying this woman that's posting a Facebook, oh, a hundred thousand years ago. It's like, whoa, you didn't watch the seminars. Somebody didn't see the seminar. You say, mind your own business. Yeah, I would if he kept it his own business. But when he brings it to a public forum and says, hey, let me teach everybody who's divorced, let me encourage you all to sin. Let me encourage you to disregard the commandments of God. And then they'll say, oh, well, we're all guilty. Okay, well then why don't we just all swap wives then? And then nobody can judge because we've all lusted once. So let's all just swap wives. What kind of stupidity is that? Who believes in this junk? The Bible says you stay married. You stay married until you die. And if the wife departs from her husband, she's to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says you marry a divorced woman, you're committing adultery. The Bible says you divorce your spouse and marry someone else, you're committing adultery. The Bible says you divorce your spouse and they marry someone else, that you cause them to commit adultery. You cause them to commit adultery by divorcing them. So, oh, well his wife divorced him, well then she's causing him to commit adultery. And then he's committing double adultery by marrying a divorced woman. And you know what, he hasn't done it yet, so maybe his true friend is the one who's telling him the truth, so he can repent and get it right. I am never going to compromise on this issue. It's crystal clear in the Bible. But I'll tell you one reason why people compromise on this, because half the people in America are divorced. So therefore they don't want to step on any toes. Sorry if I'm stepping on your toes tonight, but you know what, I'm not preaching against the people who've already made the mistake. I'm preaching to the people that are still married. And you know what, if you're divorced and remarried, you need this sermon too so that you don't move on to the third wife. You need to stay married to who you're married to right now so that you don't become Elizabeth Taylor, so that you don't become Jerry Lee Lewis. What do you have, eight wives? I mean, so that you don't go down that road, my friend. And by the way, your spouse is probably, you say, oh man, I'd have such a great marriage if I could just switch spouses. No, you're the problem. And you're going to bring that problem with you. You're going to bring that problem with you. You're the one, look, you picked that person. Something's wrong with you. You're probably going to pick another, you're probably going to make another bad choice. So the point is, look, and you know what, at the end of the day, you can huff and puff and get mad at Pastor Anderson, but Jesus said it in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 16. Four times it's laid out, crystal clear, and I'm not just going to sit here and just let somebody just publicly, somebody who we've stood for when he was a victim, and then he just stands up and just says, not only am I going to commit sin, which, you know, if people commit sin, right, we're supposed to forgive them if they commit sin, right? Forgive them. Okay, but here's the thing, though. There's a difference between forgiving somebody and that person saying, no, no, no, I'm not committing sin. I'm doing God's will, and let me teach other people to do it. I mean, he tried to compare, first he said, first he said what he's doing is not a sin. Then he compared it to the woman taken in adultery. It's like, well, is it a sin or not? And he said, oh, it's like the woman taking adultery, except I don't remember the part where the woman taken in adultery made a big speech about how she prayed, fasted, and sought godly counsel and committed adultery. Do you really think that Jesus would have treated her nicely if she would have got up and said that? No, he treated her that way. She was repentant, okay? He told her go and sin no more, and she didn't argue with him, what are you talking about, Jesus? How can I sin no more when I didn't even sin the first time? Is that what she said? No, when he said go sin no more, I'm sure she probably said, yes, sir. When did the woman taken in adultery put a video on YouTube saying I want to be an example to other women all over the world so they can be like me? And he builds this straw man up, look at all the people who had all these wives and God still used them. Okay, look, nobody's saying that God can't still use you after you've been divorced. Nobody's saying that you can't continue to serve God after divorce, but what we are saying is that you can't get up and say divorce and remarriage is fine and it's God's will and we're obeying the Lord. And to lie through his teeth and say, oh, I went to God, just God, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? And God led him to marry a divorced woman who thinks that the earth is 100,000 whatever. Or she thought that a specific group of people had lived there for 100,000 years. Who saw that? And look, I have to speak out about this because people ask me, everybody's coming to me and asking me. But most people knew not to ask me because they already know where I stand since I've been preaching the exact same thing for years, for decades. Literally I've believed this and I've taught it publicly as the pastor for 11 years and I will go to the grave teaching it. And 14 out of 15 Baptist pastors agree that it's fine to get divorced and remarried, but not me, not me. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 26. Oh, no, no, we're in Micah, right? Yeah, we're not done in Micah. I've got to wrap this thing up. It's so funny, somebody comes out and publicly announces something and says, and then just, oh, mind your own business. Right? And gets up and spiritually expounds how righteous it is that he's marrying a divorcee and then he's just like, oh, how dare you pipe up? It's none of your business. Well, you know what? When you're publicly making an announcement, you're opening yourself up to public scrutiny, especially when you call anyone who actually believes what Jesus said a Pharisee and a hypocrite. What blew me away is just how many thousands of people are just like supporting what he's teaching. Well, because they have itching ears to hear that, you know, and look again, if you've made the mistake in the past, there's nothing you can do. Love the one you're with. Amen. But the bottom line is, though, you can't go around teaching people that it's right. And look, look, I've sinned. I've lied before. What if I go around teaching that lying is fine? Right? Or what if any sin that we've, if we've stolen something, it doesn't mean that God can never use us. It doesn't mean people shouldn't forgive us if we've stolen. Of course, people should forgive us if we've stolen. But should we go around teaching, I prayed and fasted and God led me to steal? No. Micah, I got to wrap this up. Micah chapter three, verse eight. Verse eight, but truly I'm full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Verse eight, and of judgment and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house is the high places of the forest. Go back to Jeremiah 26. Basically what he's saying is that these pastors are teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. They're getting paid, and they teach wrong things, because then they get more money, because people want to donate, and they can get a bigger crowd, because they teach that which is wrong, and it said because of those bad preachers, judgment's coming, just like in Jeremiah 26. The last point that's made in this chapter, there's just one more point. Besides Micah, there's another example given. Micah was the guy he preached, and Hezekiah hearkened, and everything was great. But here's the bad example. There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, verse 20. Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjethjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went into Egypt. And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely Elnathan the son of Akbar, and certain men with him into Egypt, and they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. Nevertheless, the hand of Ahicham the son of Shaphan, that's one of those elders that was righteous, was with Jeremiah that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. Now, what's interesting, if you look at verse 1 of this chapter, look at verse 1 of chapter 26. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah. So, this preaching is happening toward the beginning of his reign, right? Toward the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. So, this guy Urijah, which king persecuted him? Jehoiakim. So, this story is something that just happened. So, the story about Micah was going back to a previous generation where Hezekiah repented. The second example they gave is a very recent example, where they're saying, look, Jehoiakim, the current king, the guy who's king right now, when Urijah preached, according to all the words that Jeremiah preached, he preached all the same stuff. Well, Jehoiakim sought to kill him. And when he sought to kill him, Urijah was afraid. And he fled down into Egypt, they sent after him in Egypt, they hunted him down to Egypt, and brought him back and killed him. But nevertheless, Jeremiah was not killed. Now, there's a couple things we can learn from this. Number one is that usually God protects His servants. Usually God protects His preachers, but sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes He allows them to be killed. You know, we have cases, of course, like Stephen. Remember in Acts chapter 7, Stephen is killed. In this case, Urijah, a righteous man of God, was killed. Now, I don't want to necessarily pass judgment on Urijah here, because I don't really know the whole story, because God gives us very few details. But I think there may be something to the fact, that in this chapter, these two guys are preaching the same thing. Jeremiah is preaching the same thing, Urijah is preaching the exact same thing. They want to kill Jeremiah, and what does Jeremiah say? Hey, do whatever you want. And I'm not going to stop preaching right here against you. Urijah gets scared and runs away, he ends up being killed. So if you think about it, the more bold we are, I think God is more likely to protect us, than when we get scared and flee, we might be less likely to be protected. And I don't want you to misunderstand me, because I don't think Stephen lacked boldness. He was bold, he took it to him, and yet God, in His wisdom, allowed that to happen. So I don't necessarily think that that's why Urijah died, but I do think it's interesting that the guy with the most boldness in this chapter survives, and the guy who got scared ended up being killed. But I will say this, even though Urijah feared and ran away, I still think that Urijah is a great man of God, and he's still going to be greatly rewarded for sacrificing his life for preaching the Word of God. There's no question about that. Nobody's perfect. We're not supposed to fear man. I will say this, that the Bible does teach that in the New Testament, if we are persecuted in one city, we are to flee to another city. In the New Testament, he says if they persecute you in this city, flee to another. There's nothing wrong with fleeing, but we shouldn't fear. We should flee to another city so that we can live to fight another day, but we should not fear what man shall do unto us. We should just be pragmatic and go to the next city, go to the next town. But I think that there might have been a difference at this time, because this is the Old Testament, and these guys were specifically taught that they needed to be preaching in Judah, because God had a specific plan for them, and so that's why Urijah, and again, I'm just throwing this out there, he may have been out of the will of God by fleeing down into Egypt, instead of just standing his ground. Because if you remember, in the book of Amos, they try to get Amos to go to a different country, and he says, no, God told me to prophesy right here. And Jeremiah was given a real clear instruction. Go behind enemy lines, go right in front of the house of God, and that's where you're going to preach. So if Jeremiah would have gotten scared and fled away, he would have been out of the will of God. Maybe Urijah had the same instruction. Whereas in the New Testament, we're not told to preach in a specific place. We're told to just go into all nations, teach all nations, give everything a shot, and if they persecute us, or if they're unreceptive, we shake off the dust, we go somewhere else. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for bold men of God like Jeremiah, and Lord, we thank you for Urijah, Lord, even though he had fear, he's human, we're all human. We all have fear at times, Lord, but help us to be like these men, uncompromising, and to stand for the truth, Lord, and I pray that our brother Kent Hovind would repent of this wickedness that he is teaching, where he's just boldly proclaiming this marriage, and remarriage, and divorce, and all this junk, Lord, and we pray that preachers would stand up and teach this doctrine, Lord. Why? Because we love people, and we love children, and we love husbands and wives, and we don't want to see marriages ripped apart, Lord. So I pray that the sanctity of marriage would be upheld, Lord, and I pray that even if the whole world is divorcing their spouse and trading up for something that they think is better, Lord, I pray that every member of Faithful Word Baptist Church would tonight, if they haven't done so already, Lord, would tonight settle it in their heart that they will never divorce their spouse for any reason, Lord. I pray that every single person in this room would make that commitment, Lord, to their spouse that they should have made on the day that they got married, but Lord, if they haven't made it already, I pray that they would make it tonight, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.