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

Amen. The title of this sermon is the Sermon on the Plane. This is a continuation of Wednesday night's sermon because I was preaching through Luke chapter 6 on Wednesday night and I only got through pretty much the first half of the chapter so I'm going to pick up where I left off. Pretty much I'm going to back up just a little bit and cover this whole sermon here that Jesus preaches which I'm calling the Sermon on the Plane because it says in verse 17, and He came down with them and stood in the plane and the company of His disciples and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyre and Zidane which came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And then if you jump down to verse 20, it says He lifted up His eyes on His disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Now this is very similar to what we know as the Sermon on the Mount which was preached about the same time and covers a lot of the same subjects but it's a little bit different because one of them took place on the mountain and one of them took place on the plane. And obviously Jesus is repeating things in His preaching. The Bible repeats things a lot. We as preachers are constantly preaching a lot of the same truths over and over again because we need to hear things again and again. Now this sermon has some really powerful truths. It contains a lot of really famous verses and it has some concepts in it that carry through the whole sermon. For example, the concept, Therefore all things whatsoever you would that man should do unto you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law of the prophets. That's known as the golden rule, doing unto other people the way that you would have them do unto you. That's from the Bible. That's from the Lord Jesus Christ, although He doesn't often get credit for that. It's just sometimes just known as the golden rule instead of a teaching of Jesus Christ. And then also it says at the end of verse 38, it says, For with the same measure that ye meet, with all it shall be measured to you again. So not only should we do unto others as we would have them to do unto us, but what He's saying is the things that we do are going to come back to us. So whatever we do, if we give, it's going to be given unto us. If we judge, we're going to be judged. If we condemn, we're going to be condemned. If we show mercy, we're going to have mercy shown to us. What goes around comes around is what's also being taught in this passage. Those are two different things. So let's start at the beginning here. It says in verse 20, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, men shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets, but woe unto you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. When all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. You see, there's nothing new under the sun. The way the world is right now is very similar to the way the world was 2,000 years ago or 4,000 years ago. We need to understand that there's no new thing under the sun. And therefore, this idea that, well, we have to understand the Bible in its context of the culture or the time or the day that they were living in. Look, people are people. Human nature is human nature. There have always been false prophets. There have always been righteous prophets. The good prophets have always been persecuted and spoken evil of. And the false prophets have always been lifted up and praised. It's that simple. Now, this is a great way to identify a false prophet. If the world loves a preacher, woe unto him. If the mayor and the governor and the president love the preacher, woe unto him. If the worldly, unsaved people of the city and the town and the state love that preacher and exalt him and lift him up, woe unto him. If the media lifts up and praises and exalts him, woe unto him. He is a false prophet. That's what they did for the false prophets before him, and that's what they will continue to do with false prophets. Any preacher that's loved of the world is not of God, period. And, well, what about, no. Well, I think this guy is the exception, no. There's no exception to that, period, unless you find a preacher that's better than Jesus. Because Jesus said the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his heart. He said, if they hated me, they'll hate you. They called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them his household? So if you're going to tell me, well, I know of a preacher and the mayor and the police chief and the governor loves him and praises him and the media likes him and he's been given the keys to the city and he's an upstanding member of the community. You know what you're telling me is that he's either better than Jesus or he's not following Jesus. Jesus was not loved of the mayor. He was not exalted by the governor. He was not handed awards from the world. The religious leaders didn't join hands with him in fellowship. He was not exalted of the world. He was hated. He was crucified. He was arrested. They tried many times to kill him. Look at the apostles. It doesn't matter which apostle, which prophet. It doesn't matter whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament. It's consistent that real men of God are not loved of this world. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you, Jesus said. And so that's just a sure sign of a false prophet 100% of the time. There is no exception to that rule. And what's funny is that we tend to understand that for the day that we live in in 2017. So when we see the Joel Osteen's and the Rick Warren's and the Billy Graham's and we see them lifted up and exalted in the media and by the world how great they are and the president invites them to the prayer breakfast, we tend to realize these guys are compromisers. These guys are false prophets. But what's interesting is when we go into the past though, all of a sudden the most popular preachers who were the most popular preachers of their generation are all of a sudden just these great men of God. They're just this hall of fame of the faith. Billy Sunday and, you know, D.L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon. Do you realize that Charles Spurgeon pastored the largest church in England at that time. Billy Sunday was just loved of the media, touring America. People denominations are coming to hear him. You know why? Because he was a false prophet. That's why. Because every popular famous preacher has always been a false prophet and always will be a false prophet. In the Bible, the preachers were arrested. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were persecuted. Now, did great multitudes come to hear them? Yes. Amen. There's no question about that. So don't get this idea that we're saying, hey, if you're a good preacher, you have a small church or you have a small following. No, no. John the Baptist had a huge following, but it was out in the wilderness. Jesus had a huge following. The apostles had multitudes save both the men and women, but do you see them being lifted up by the religious leaders? Do you see them being lifted up by politicians? Do you see them being praised and accepted of the world? Do you see the majority following them? No, that's not what you see because that's what they did under the false prophets and that's what Christ just taught here. He said, woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. He said, you're blessed when you're hated and reproached and put out of the group. You're not in the club. You're not in the ministerial association. You're not invited to the prayer breakfast. Look at verse 27. He says, but I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. Now the reason why this is so important is because he just finished telling us what? People are going to hate you. So this is a perfect follow up for saying, hey, the world's going to hate you. The world hated you or hated me before it hated you. So then he follows that up by saying, love your enemies and do good to them which hate you. So just because the world hates us doesn't mean that we hate the whole world because a lot of the people who hate us, they're not even necessarily bad or horrible people. A lot of them are just brainwashed. A lot of them are just deceived. A lot of them are just mixed up. Think about the apostle Paul. I mean the apostle Paul hated Christians and persecuted Christians. It wasn't because he was a rotten individual. It wasn't because he was a reprobate or just evil person. He actually thought that he was doing God's service. He was actually in ignorance and that's why he said, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Now there are some people who are knowingly evil, knowingly wicked, but a lot of people out there that do a lot of bad things, maybe they even hate good preaching and maybe they even despise church. It's not that they're just horrible people. It's just that they're deceived, they're misled, they're misguided. Some of those people may eventually come to Christ if we show them the love of Christ. That's why it's important that we don't just return hatred for hatred and evil for evil and persecution for persecution. When people do wrong to us, we need to have the attitude like Christ had, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. The attitude that Stephen had when he was being stoned of the Jews and he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. That's an attitude of righteous men of God of not just knee jerk returning evil for evil, persecution for persecution, but rather to love your enemies and do good to them which hate you. To bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you. Look at verse 29, and unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other on him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. He goes on and on here and the message that's coming across is we don't always have to settle the score with people. And this is our tendency a lot of times in the flesh that when somebody wrongs us, when somebody burns us, if somebody attacks us, lies about us, hurts us in some way, we want to fire back. We want to retaliate. That Christ is saying that we should not retaliate, we should overcome evil with good. Keep your finger here, go to Romans 12 and we'll find the same teaching at the end of Romans chapter number 12. Book of Romans chapter number 12. It says in verse 18, actually let's back up to verse 17, it says recompense to no man evil for evil, evil meaning harm. That's what it means in the Bible when it says evil, when someone harms you don't harm them back. He says recompense to no man evil for evil, provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Now it's not always going to be possible, but he says as much as it is possible, try to get along with people. He said try to live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord, therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. So think about in your neighborhood. You live in a neighborhood that's probably filled with unsaved people. It's probably not just saved people up one side of the street and down the other or in your apartment where you live or wherever you live. You're probably surrounded by the heathen, right? So what do you do in that neighborhood? I'll tell you what I try to do as much as is possible. I try to live peaceably with all men in that neighborhood. I don't want to start fights with my neighbors. I don't want to start conflicts with my neighbors. And if they do something that I don't like, I don't want to just retaliate and just come back at them and escalate some battle. If I can just diffuse the situation, I would. Your neighbors sometimes are going to do stupid things. Maybe they're being too loud. They're blasting their music. Or maybe they throw trash that blows into your yard or something. Or whatever the case. They flood your yard. You know, who knows what they could do? What's an annoying thing that neighbors do? What have your neighbors done to you? Get it off your chest. The dogs? What do you do? Just annoying barking dogs. They almost ate your cat. I mean, you know, yeah, throwing cigarette butts. Look, if I had a nickel for every Bud Light can that I found in my front yard, I'd be a rich man. And it's annoying. You know, especially when you don't drink, you don't want to have a Bud Light can in the front of your yard. It just looks trashy. It looks ghetto. And you know what? I see things about my neighbors that I don't approve of. And guess what? I don't care. I don't worry about it. I don't stand in judgment of them. I don't try to fix everything about them. It's not my job. It's not my place. And you know what? If they throw trash in my yard, I don't have to go throw trash in their yard or take that same trash and throw it in their yard. Yeah, it's in your yard where it belongs to. Or to go to them and knock on the door and start a fight about it. You know, you've got to just let things go. If they throw trash in your yard, pick it up and put it in the bin. And it's, yeah, it's a terrible thing to do to litter like that. But at the same time, what's more important? Keeping peace with your neighbors than to just pick fights about dumb little things. Don't sweat the small stuff. You know, look, and if they're making too much noise. If there's a way that I can shut out the noise, I'll just shut out the noise and let them have their party. It's none of my business. You know, unless it just comes to a point where it's really infringing on me and I have to deal with it or whatever. You know, I'd rather just find ways to peaceably live with my neighbors and get along. Same thing goes at work, okay? You go to work. Are you working with a bunch of godly Christians? Some of you might be, but the vast majority are probably working with a lot of heathen. I promise you that the vast majority of those people that you're working with are not reprobates. They're not sick, evil, twisted people. They're probably just your typical, worldly, unsaved, heathen people. They're not going to act like a Christian. Don't expect them to. Don't worry about it. Don't just constantly judge them, pontificate to them. Don't just pick a fight with them about every little thing. Look, if they do wrong, let it go. Let it go. They get you in trouble, they lie about you to the boss, do good unto them. And you know what? You'll see that a lot of those people that are mistreating you at work, just buying them a soda or giving them a candy bar will fix everything. I'm not kidding. I mean, you could literally just buy someone a cold drink and give it to them. And so few people do things like that in many jobs, it could be life-changing for that person. And it sounds stupid. But when you just go to the gas station and say, hey, I got one for you too, that goes a long way toward living peaceably and getting along with people. And even do it for that person at work that treats you the worst. And you'll get the greatest reward in heaven. The guy who is always trying to make you look bad because he wants to get that promotion or whatever, he's trying to throw you under the bus to make himself look good. That's the guy you buy the soda for. That's the guy you buy lunch for. That's the guy you give the candy bar to. And you overcome evil with good and you show him, you know what, I don't hate you. You've done me wrong. I forgive you. I love you anyway. It's okay. That's a good teaching from this chapter. Same thing for your neighbors. You know, your neighbor does you wrong, do something nice for your neighbor and diffuse the situation. Don't just become like the Hatfields and the McCoys where it just keeps escalating. And you know what? Strife is like that. I don't have the verse committed to memory, but in Proverbs there's a verse like that that says it's like when a dam bursts, therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with strife. Does somebody know that verse? Who can quote that verse for me? I know my wife can quote it. You know the verse I'm talking about? Quote it loud. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water, therefore leave off. We make a great team. We got it. Between the two of us, we got it. Therefore leave off contention. So basically what he's saying is, you know, it's like a little bit of water trickling in the beginning, but eventually when that dam bursts and you're living next door to your mortal enemy, you know, that's a terrible thing. That's one of the reasons why I'm content and happy with where I live, even though my house is pretty small and, you know, we have a lot of people in our family. You know what? I like my neighbors. You know, I have great next door neighbors and that's worth a lot. And if you move into a new place, it's like, you don't know, you're rolling the dice on who your neighbors are going to be. And if you have neighbors that you can just live peaceably with, that's a blessing. We have some other neighbors on the street that I don't particularly care for, but my next door neighbors are great. And you know, the ones that I don't care for, I just ignore them. I just leave them alone. I don't start any trouble with them. I don't rebuke them. I mind my own business. And if I have anything to say to them, you know what it's going to be? It's going to be something nice. It's going to be to share the gospel with them. It's not going to be to rebuke them and straighten them out because they're just heathen people being heathen. What else can they be? So we need to try to live peaceably with all men. We need to love our enemies. If our neighbor does us wrong, do good unto him or at least do nothing and let the Lord take care of it. Same thing on the job. There are a lot of people who go to a good Bible believing church like ours and they get overzealous on correcting all the people around them, especially at a heathen workplace. They start blowing off their mouth on their job. They get into trouble at work and then they call it being persecuted when really it's just that they were getting into other people's business at work. They're blowing off their mouth. They're rebuking everybody. And look, I'm all for preaching to your coworkers the gospel, you know, or teaching them Bible stories or helping them learn things. And if they ask you about this sin or that sin, obviously tell them the truth about it. Educate them in the word of God. But you don't just go in there and just start just condemning their clothing, condemning their music, condemning everything about it. It's not your place. You are a servant. Now, if you own the company, then condemn whoever you want and do whatever you want. But you don't own the company. You need to go in there, sit down, shut up and do your job. And you need to be careful that you're a good testimony for Christ and that you love your enemies. You do good to those that hate you. Because he says, look, in verse number 32, if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do this. Look, the guy who bought you a soda and then you turn around and buy him a soda, that's not really a big deal. God's not up in heaven impressed by that, ready to shower you in rewards. But when he sees you being kind to people who've done you dirty, that's when he will bless you. And if it's necessary, he'll punish them. Or better yet, hopefully they won't need to be punished. Hopefully God can be merciful to them and they can actually get right with the Lord and get right with you and your enemies can become your friends. There are people who hate you today that will love you tomorrow if you overcome evil with good and not get carried away and just always having to set the record straight and I've got to defend myself all the time. Now look, I do believe in defending your life. You know, if somebody comes in the house with a gun, I'm not just going to say, all right, you know, here I am, and just rip open my shirt to give them a clear shot at my heart or something. I'm not going to just roll over and die. But you know what, when somebody smites you on your cheek, that's not a self-defense issue. Somebody slaps you in the face, you take it. You take it. You don't just unload on that person. Now if somebody actually assaults you, trying to kill you or hurt you or really injure you, but if somebody just slaps you in the face or pushes you, all they're trying to do is taunt you, humiliate you, and get a rise out of you and you know what, as Christians we're supposed to just take it. Just take it. Just let them be a fool. Let them act that way and be the bigger person. If they smite you on the one cheek, turn to them the other also. They take away your cloak, let them have your coat also. You know, they steal your lunch or something. You know, you don't always have to make a big deal out of everything. You got to use wisdom in how to get along peaceably and you have to know when you need to stand up for yourself and when you need to just overcome evil with good and be the bigger person and overcome evil with good, be kind, be loving. That's what the scripture is teaching. It's a powerful scripture. It says in verse number, I skipped a few, so if you would go back to verse 30, it says, Give to every man that asketh of thee and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as ye would that man should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful, unto the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your father also is merciful. Now I want to stop here and talk about this idea of lending, hoping for nothing again, and about being kind to the unthankful. So that means you do something for someone and they don't appreciate it. Or you give something to someone and they don't give it back. And he brings that up in about three different ways there. So what is this talking about? Well, sometimes people have a tendency to do things for people with a motive in their heart of getting something in return, and that's really why they're doing it. They're not really just doing it out of love or kindness or because it's the right thing to do, but rather they're doing it in order to get something back. And it becomes like a quid pro quo, like I do this for you, you do this for me, and then when they don't do their part, then all of a sudden we're mad and we're upset. Now this is especially true in marriage. Husbands will do something kind for their wife, expecting something in return. Or wives will do something for their husband, expecting something in return. And sometimes one person in the relationship might be doing a lot or giving a lot or putting forth a lot of effort, and they're not really getting back as much as what they're putting into it. Right? Maybe one person's making a great effort in the relationship, trying really hard to be a great husband. The wife's not really trying that hard. Or vice versa. The wife is really striving to be a great wife, and her husband just isn't really trying that hard. Well, see, the problem can be when you get this attitude of, well, I'm trying hard, I'm doing this, I'm giving you this, I'm being good in this area or that area, and, you know, what am I getting in return? You know, that shows that you have the wrong attitude about giving. You'll be a lot happier of a person when you learn as a husband to give unto your wife, to love your wife, to do things for your wife, expecting nothing in return. It just, it is what it is. I'm doing this for you, and I'm expecting nothing in return. And the same thing goes for the wife. To be loving your husband, do something good for him, give him something, treat him well, and expect nothing in return. That's the right attitude. You'll be a lot happier in your marriage. And here's the thing. If you can't give to your wife or give to your husband or do something for your wife or do something for your husband without needing something in return, maybe you're just doing too much. Maybe you just need to do less than because, you know what, whatever you do and whatever you give should be from the heart. And that goes with your friends, your family, your wife, your husband. You know, give what you're willing to give with no strings attached. Don't give more and say, well, I need something back though. No, no, no. You need to give expecting nothing. You need to be willing to, look, if you give someone a gift and then they don't say thank you and then you're all mad, you know what, your heart's not right with God and you should have never even given them that gift in the first place. I would rather, I mean, one time somebody sent me a gift, I had no idea who they were, never heard of this person. It was a small gift. And they got so mad that they didn't get a thank you card from me or any kind of a thank you or acknowledgement from me that literally by the end of it they were saying, bleep you. Like I didn't say anything to them. They just didn't hear from me. They sent me email after email, didn't get a response because my email inbox is flooded or backed up. Finally, I look at the last email and it's bleep you, buddy. And I'm thinking to myself, keep your stupid gift card. Keep your stupid gift. You know what, that's a wicked attitude that says, well, I'm going to give this to you and I'm going to hang it over your head. And that's what husbands do all the time. They give some of their wife and hang it over their head. Wives give some of their husband, hang it over his head. People give something to a relative or friend or family and hang it over their head wanting all this gratitude or wanting recompense or wanting thanks. Look, just don't even give a gift then. Just keep it to yourself. Every gift should be from the heart and it should be without strings attached. And we should give hoping to receive nothing again. And the Lord's kind unto the unthankful. And so should we be. Now look, if somebody does something for you, say thank you. But if they don't say thank you or they don't send you the thank you card, you know what, if that makes you angry, you are wicked at that point because you are just giving out of a heart of contention and not out of a real heart of love. You know, when we give something, we should be ready to kiss it goodbye and we should give it because we love that person and be ready to just move on with our lives and forget about it. We never hear about it again. It's a gift. And look, it's funny, we use the gift illustration all the time out solely. Hey, if I give you the gift, it's yours, you can do whatever you want with it, it's yours to keep, you know, you don't have to pay for it, you don't have to do anything for it, it's just a free gift. Well, you know what, that's how all gifts should be. And so if you want to give me a gift so that I can give you accolades and praise you and do things for you in return, then don't give me a gift. I don't even want a gift from you then. I only want a gift from someone who wants to give me a gift and it's just because they love me and that's it. And that's the kind of gifts that I want to give. So we need to be careful that we don't fall into this worldly sinful attitude where, yeah, we'll give to people hoping to receive as much again and they better be thankful. And look, I'm not condoning unthankfulness. We should be thankful but what I'm saying is as the giver, that's not your problem to worry about whether they were thankful enough. You know what I mean? That's the receiver's problem to worry about how thankful they are or how they express that thanksgiving. But let's keep going in the chapter here. It says, He's kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. Judge not and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. So again, what goes around comes around. Whenever you treat people, that's how you're going to be treated. If you're a very unforgiving vindictive person, then you should just expect that God in heaven, when you make a mistake, is going to come down on you like a ton of bricks. And we all make mistakes. But if you're a person who's constantly forgiving people, letting things go, moving on, that's exactly how God's going to treat you. The Bible says if you forgive others that trespass against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. And if you forgive not men that trespass, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. So when people do wrong to us, we need to forgive, and then we'll be forgiven. But if we're just always ready to come down on everyone, expect God to come down hard on you. I want God to be merciful with me. I want God, when I make a mistake, to say, well, He's doing pretty good in general. His heart's in the right place. I want Him to look down like He did on certain of the kings of Judah, where they committed some sins and did some things wrong. But He said, but nevertheless, His heart was right before the Lord. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. You know, that's how I want God to look down on me and say, well, He did this wrong. He did that wrong. He committed that sin. He was bad in this area. But you know what? His heart was right with the Lord as God. He did good in the sight of the Lord in general. That's how I want God to act toward me. Okay, well, then I better act that way toward other people and not be ready to just come down on them over every little thing and then even when they get right about it, keep bringing it up and throwing it in their face instead of forgiving and forgetting. If we want to be treated that way, especially by our Heavenly Father, that's how we need to treat other people. Then He says in verse 38, give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that ye meet with all, it shall be measured to you again. This principle is as true as the day is long. This verse give and it shall be given unto you. It's so true. Now usually when you hear this preach, it's preached from a perspective of give to the Lord or give to the church or give in the offering. And obviously, yeah, if you give to the Lord, you give to church, you give to the offering, obviously God's going to bless you for that and that principle applies. But I believe that this principle applies to all areas of life. Being generous not just with the Lord but also just being generous with your fellow man. Just if you give to people, if you're generous with people, if you're not stingy, I believe that that comes back around to you. And I think if you're a generous giving person, other people will give to you. And it's not necessarily the same people. It's not that you're giving to people and they're giving back to you and you're just going back and forth. No, other unrelated people will just give you money and give you things because God is rewarding your generosity. God looks down from heaven and He sees you being generous. He sees you helping people. He sees you give especially when you don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. He'll return that stuff to you. He'll cause men to give into your bosom. And everybody that you talk to who's been a Christian for a long time and who follows these type of principles, they've all got stories of how this happened where they're on an airplane and the guy next to them gives them 50 bucks or I mean people will just walk up to them and just give them cash and just give them money and people will help them out or pay for their food. You know, you'll get up to the counter and they say, hey, the guy in front of you paid for you and you don't really understand why. Constantly these type of things happen. If you're a generous person, God will meet your needs. God will just, don't be a tightwad. Don't be a cheapskate. You know, when you go out to eat, give a good tip, you know, be nice to people and help people out and be generous and give to those that need help and don't be cheap because if you're cheap, then you know, you're not going to get these blessings. But God says, if you give, it shall be given to you. This is the way our church operates as well. Our church gives everything away for free. I don't know of any other church like it now. I'm sure that it's out there. I'm sure there are other churches out there that give away everything for free, but I don't. I've never heard of a church giving things away to the magnitude that we give things away of just CDs, DVDs, flash drives and just every church activity is free, the church picnic, all the food is free, the barbecue is free, the camping trip is free, the activities are free. You know, we give everything away, but you know what else I've noticed about our church is that we don't have any debt and we've never had any debt and we've never not been able to pay our bills. We can always pay our bills, always have enough money and we have been blessed by God financially, no debt, no fundraisers, we've never had a fundraiser, we've never had a building fund or a missions fund or raising money for this, thermometer here, thermometer there, spin the wheel to see how much you're going to give or a full paycheck Sunday. We've never, we've never done that. It's pretty common actually, that's a pretty popular one. I've never got up here and preached how you got to give 11% because 10 is not enough and you know, you got to give more and I've heard it all, believe me, I've heard those sermons about how if you're not giving 11% you're not right with God, but whoa. But the point is that I honestly believe that for the last 11 and a half years we've been blessed financially simply because we give and therefore it's given unto us. You know, people give unto us because we give unto them, you know, and if you give, it shall be given unto you, but also, you know, forget the church, it's in your personal life. If you're a giving person, if you're a generous person, people will give to you. And he says, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again. So if you're really tight with other people and you give very little, then people will give you very little. But if you give a lot, people will give you a lot. It's very true, I believe, I've seen it through experience in my life and in the lives of other people and in our church. Plus, it says it in the Bible, so that should be enough. Verse 39, and he spake a parable unto them, can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciples not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceives not the beam that is in thine own eye? For how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. So a beam is obviously, if we were to go into a building, we saw great beams, right? A beam is a gigantic piece of wood, right? The idea of having a beam in your eye is ridiculous, because obviously what you get in your eye is like a splinter, just the tiniest little piece of wood. So Christ is exaggerating here, saying it's like you have this beam in your eye, just this ridiculous, like a pole. A beam is a wooden pole, okay? So you just have this giant wooden pole in your eye, which would obviously be impossible. But Christ often exaggerated, like when he said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, or something like that. So he's using hyperbole or exaggeration here, and saying, you know, you have this beam in your eye, and you want to go remove a literal splinter from your brother's eye. Like wait a minute, you've got some wood in your eye, buddy, and you just, you know, so it's kind of a ridiculous image here. But he's saying that, spiritually speaking, that's what a lot of people are doing. I mean, people who just have huge problems, they're majorly not right with God, they're not even close to obeying the Bible, and then they want to pick apart the real servants of God, because they didn't cross every T or dot every I. I think one of the biggest examples of this is in the area of soul winning. People who don't go soul winning at all, they love to pick apart the methods of those who do. You know, they're not even doing it, but they can tell you exactly how to do it. And it's obviously just super hypocritical, where they've got this giant beam in their eye, and they're trying to fine tune your soul winning approach, or pick you apart because of how you worded something, when they're not even doing it. Or how about this, they don't go to church at all, but they can tell you everything that's wrong with your church. They don't even attend church. But they know everything that's wrong with our church, and every other church that's out there, because it's 501C3, or whatever they pick apart about it, they don't even go to church. Beam in your eye, and they're trying to worry about some paperwork, some paper pushing, tax status, whatever, meaningless classification that even the IRS doesn't even understand, let alone normal people. And they've got this beam in their eye of forsaking the assembly. And so this is a perfect example, and we could go on and on with all the examples of people that are just majorly not right with God. They're committing adultery, but they're telling you how to dress, or how to be married, and they're in adultery or something. Somebody who's living in fornication, but they're going to pick you apart because you said the wrong word or something. You know what I mean? It's just dumb things where they have just major sin, huge problems in their own life, and then they're picking apart you for something tiny. That's what he's saying here. Now, what he's not saying is, hey, it's wrong to ever say anything bad about anyone, or it's wrong to ever condemn sin. Look, we know that all the preachers in the Bible, they all preach hard against sin. And when you preach hard against sin, people pull this out. Don't judge. Don't judge. Judge not. But he does say that if you first remove the beam out of your own eye, then you will be able to see clearly to remove the mote out of your brother's eye. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to have a splinter in my eye, and if someone can help me get it out, I appreciate it. If someone could say to me, brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, I would gladly submit to that procedure if they don't have a beam in their eye. If someone who's clear seeing can come to me and get that out, that could save me hours of having to stick my eye under the faucet and try to turn my eyelid inside out to try to get it out on my own. Who's ever had something stuck in your eye for over two hours before? At least, yeah, I've been there. I used to have to drill over my head a lot, and sometimes you'd get a little wood shaving. The worst is when you get a little metal shaving in your eye. That's the worst. If somebody can help you, you welcome the help. You'd love for them to get it out of your eye. There's nothing wrong with a godly Christian taking aside another godly Christian and saying, hey, let me help you out with something. You're going down a wrong path here. Can I give you some advice? Can I show you some scripture here? That's fine. It's like, ah, you're judging me. But the problem is when just these super hypocrites want to pick you apart. And frankly, I don't want to hear anything that they have to say. If I'm a King James Bible soul winning preacher, I don't want to hear anything that some Calvinist fool has to say, or some NIV preacher, or some rock and roll church preacher. Look, they're blind. And you know what? If the blind leads the blind, they're both going to fall in the ditch. I don't want some blind leader of the blind to come tell me what I'm doing wrong as a preacher. And so comments from those kind of people just go in one ear and out the other. Listen to some false prophet, some phony, some Calvinist. And look, if they're Calvinist, they're not one of us, friend. I don't even believe that they're even saved. There I said it. I doubt the salvation of every single Calvinist that there is. I doubt their salvation. I'm not saying that they're all for sure unsafe, because some of them are just a little mixed up into it. I believe the ones that are deep into it are definitely not saved. Because their mind has been darkened from even understanding the scripture. Why can they read the Bible and not see the truth? Because they're blind. That's why. Because they don't have the Holy Ghost living inside them. That's why. But I will say this. I doubt the salvation. Anybody who's a Calvinist, I just immediately doubt their salvation. Right away, I'm thinking this person's very likely to not be saved. And you know what? You say, well, I'm offended by that. Okay, fine. Be offended by that. That's what I believe. Because it's so anti-scriptural that it just tells me, well, how can that person have the Holy Spirit inside them? Wouldn't he be guiding them into all truth? And I can understand people being a little off, a little mixed up. But we're talking about something as major as the gospel. Someone attacks the gospel. Okay, the gospel is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the whole world and that he was buried and that he rose again and that that gift is freely available to all. That's the good news. The good news is that whosoever will may come. The good news is that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. The good news is that Jesus Christ died for everybody and that everybody has the opportunity to be saved and we can go to someone with confidence saying Christ died for you and you can be saved. All you have to do is believe on Christ. There's a free gift. It's wrapped. It's paid for. It's ready. All you got to do is open it. All you got to do is just believe on Christ to receive it. The Calvinist doesn't believe any of that. It's an attack on the gospel. The Calvinist believes that, well, you know, God created certain people just to be damned. And here's the bad news. That's most people. Vast majority of people, God just created them to damn them and it's not through any fault of their own. It's just his will. No, the Bible says that he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The Bible said he will have all men to be saved and to come unto the nodes of the truth. And you know what? These bunch of Calvinists, they make me sick. I hate their doctrine. I hate their preaching. It's wicked. It perverts scripture. It perverts the Bible. They are my enemies until the day that I die. They're the enemies of all righteousness. They're the enemies of the gospel. And I don't care if they call themselves Baptist or a reformed Baptist. I don't care what they call themselves. They will never have any fellowship with this preacher right here. I want nothing to do with them until Jesus comes. Nothing to do with them. They're not accepted here. We don't accept them in our church. You say, well, I'm a Calvinist. Then get out and don't come back. We don't need that poison, that leaven, that false doctrine in our church. We hate that stuff around here. I've hated Calvinism my entire life. I hated it when I was nine years old. I talked to an old friend from fourth grade and she said, hey, I remember when we were in fourth grade, you were just rebuking Calvinism in fourth grade. And I hate it even more now than I hated it then. It's Calvinism. It makes me want to just go off on Calvinism for a lot longer. It makes me want to just go off on it because it's such a lie out of the pit of hell. The Bible says that Jesus Christ died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He's the savior of all men, especially of those who believe, meaning that he's also the savior of those who don't believe. The Bible says that Christ died for everybody. That's the part of Calvinism that's the easiest to destroy, the easiest to disprove is this thing of he only died for certain people. And then this idea that says, well, you know, we don't choose. He's the one who chose. Really? What does he say? Choose you this day whom you'll serve. Oh, just kidding. I already chose for you. What kind of nonsense is that? What kind of a fool gets up in the morning and doesn't believe that they have free will? I know I have free will. I know I did exactly what I wanted today. And tomorrow I'm going to do whatever I want. And God's not going to force me to do one thing or the other. It's nonsense. He said, you will not come to me that you might have life. You don't want to come to me. God is not willing that any should perish. He said, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Oh, just kidding. It's just for certain people. And they say, oh, you know, well, we still believe in soul winning. Oh, really? It's funny how you do so little of it. Funny how all the red hot soul winning churches across America that we look at, they all reject Calvinism. You know, I don't see these bunch of Calvinists going up and down the street, knocking doors and winning souls to Christ and having 100 saved and 200 saved and 300 saved and 40. You don't see that coming from the Calvinists. You know what? Whenever you rebuke the Calvinists and say, well, you guys don't sow any because you think it's all predetermined, you think it's all foreordained, you think that God already decided who's going to go to heaven and decided who's going to go to hell and that's why you don't do any works. They'll point you to some missionary from the 1700s. Well, some of the greatest missionaries of all time have been Calvinists. It's funny how you have to go back two or 300 years to show us your soul winning Calvinists. I can take you back two or three hours and show you the soul winning fundamentalists who hate Calvinism. Now they're not into soul winning. They're into doing debates. They're into debates. Why? Because reprobates are filled with debate. That's why. That's what it says in Romans chapter one. They love to do their debates where they argue with people. And you know what I want to know about all these debates? Here's what I want to know about these debates where they debate Islam and where they debate the atheists and where they debate the Hindus. I want to know how many people walked up at the end of that debate and said, you know what? I received Christ as Savior as a result of being at this debate today. That's what I'd like to know. And then they say, well, look at Paul. You know, he reasoned with them in the synagogue that was a debate. That's funny because at the end of it, he had a whole bunch of people coming up to him receiving Christ and being saved and following him. Why don't we see that in any of these debates from these pseudo intellectuals with their Islam debates and their Hindu debate? We don't see 20 people coming up afterward and getting saved, 40 people coming up and being saved, one third of the audience getting saved, 10 people getting saved, five people getting saved, three people getting saved. You know what we see? Everybody who was on the one side is still on that side and everybody who was on the Christian side is still a Christian and everybody who was a Muslim is still a Muslim. But you know what? Instead of all the debating and grandstanding and pontificating and mental gymnastics and mental showboating, you know what we could do instead is just with a tear in the eye and the Bible in the hand and the Holy Spirit in our breast, we could actually just go out and knock doors until we find that Muslim all by themselves, not in a big crowd all riled up with their buddies in an us versus them debate setting. We could just sit down with that guy and love him and preach to him and explain the gospel to him and win him to Christ and I've done it and you've done it frequently, frequently because it works. But what does it matter anyway because it's all just foreordained. You know, 10 people didn't get saved at that debate because they were just chosen for hell. They were just created. I mean, you know what? My mom, thank God for my parents. They taught me some great stuff. But my mom, you know what she told me when I was a little kid when I was this little nine-year-old Calvinist hating fourth grader? My mom said this. She said, you know what Calvinism is like and this is how my mom taught me as a kid. She said, you know what Calvinism is like? It's like if God just went down to the hospital where all the babies are all lined up and just said, kill this one, kill this one, kill this one, kill this one, save this one alive, kill this one, kill this one, kill this one, kill this one, save this one, kill this one, except you know what? The God of Calvinism is even sicker than that because he doesn't just kill them. He sends them to hell for all eternity and gives them no choice, no chance for salvation. They don't even have a savior. They don't even have someone who they even could call upon. Why? Because Jesus didn't even die for them according to the Calvinists. It's a rotten, wicked, satanic doctrine. Let it be accursed and let every preacher of it be damned. All right, back to Luke chapter 6. He spake a parable unto them, verse 39, can the blind lead the blind? Shall the note both fall into the ditch? The disciples not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Jump down to verse number 43, for a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. And by the way, that's why these rotten, corrupt preachers of Calvinism and other lying false gospels, they never get anybody saved because they're a corrupt tree. They can't bring forth good fruit. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, not the fruit of the false prophet. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. And isn't it amazing while we're on the subject of Calvinism again, isn't it amazing how these Calvinists who suppose, oh, you know, all the glory goes to God for our salvation, isn't it amazing how they then turn around and say you have to have works to be saved? But you know, it's God's the one who made you do those works, so he still gets the glory. Nonsense. Show me the Calvinist who says you can be saved without doing any works, because you know what they say? Well, if you're saved, you'll do all the works, and if you didn't do the works, that means you weren't really saved. So then what you end up having is no assurance of salvation, because unless you persevere unto the end, unless you endure unto the end, you don't really know for sure that you're one of the elect. You know, so what happens is somebody will start backsliding and getting out of church and going back to it, and this is what the Calvinist preacher will tell them. You know, I'm getting concerned that you're not even one of the elect. So it's just this weird mind game where they claim like, oh, yeah, you know, you're just saved and it's all by grace, but, you know, but you've got to do the works, though. Well, if it's of works, then it's no more of grace. And yet Calvinism calls their doctrine the doctrines of grace. They don't call it Calvinism. They call it the doctrines of grace, the sovereign grace of God. And you know what? Their doctrine of grace is a doctrine of works, because the P in Tulip stands for perseverance of the saints, and it's works. It's works. It's a works salvation. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed the righteous without works, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Without works, him that worketh not. But that's not what Calvinism teaches. They teach you have to have the works, too, you know. And then they say, well, you don't even really have to believe, even. You don't even have to believe, because this unconditional election, God did it all for you. He picked you without you even believing. But if he picked you, you'll believe, and if he picked you, you'll do the works. So what are they doing? They're putting faith and works in the same category. Don't miss this point. I don't care what time it is. I don't care what chapter we're in. Don't miss this point. If they sit there and say, oh, well, you know, you're saved unconditionally, but if you're one of the elect, you'll have faith, but then they turn around and say, you're saved unconditionally, and if you are one of the elect, you'll have works, what are they doing? They're putting works and faith in the exact same category. They're both things that you have if you're saved, and if you don't have them, you're not saved. So what are they doing? Salvation by faith and works, or, well, no, no, what they actually believe is salvation by nothing, but faith and works are there. It's all junk. We're saved by faith and not by works. That's the true story, friend. Faith and works are not in the same category. Faith is the prerequisite for salvation. Faith is necessary for salvation. You cannot get to heaven without putting your faith in Christ, but guess what? You can go to heaven doing no works at all, none, zilch, nada. Just ask the thief on the cross. Right. He said, a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither does the corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, for every tree is known by his own fruit, for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. The Bible says that what comes out of our mouth is a reflection of what is in our heart. So if we have a lot of scripture in our heart, a lot of scripture is going to come out of our mouth. If we have a lot of good things in our heart, a lot of good things are going to come out of our mouth. If we have a lot of bad things in our heart, a lot of worldliness, a lot of junk, just a lot of bad philosophy, that stuff is eventually going to come out of our mouth. So what does that mean? We need to be careful what goes into our heart. We need to be careful what goes into our eyes and ears because eventually we cannot help but speak those things which we've both seen and heard. It's eventually going to come out of our mouth. And then our folly will be manifest unto all men. The Bible says in verse 46, and why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. Now what he's doing there is he's talking about the name Lord because he's constantly referred to as the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Lord, right? And a lot of people because they use the term Lord so much and because Lord is a name that's associated with God, they sometimes forget the meaning of what the word Lord actually means. What does the word itself Lord actually mean? It means the boss. So what he's reminding us of here is that when you call Jesus the Lord, you know what you're actually calling him? The boss. You're calling him the boss. When the Bible says over what, 7,900 and sometimes in the Old Testament that God is the Lord, you know what he's saying? I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm in charge. I'm the boss, right? That's what Lord means. It means master, right? So when the Bible says here, you know, why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? He's saying, look, if you're going to call me Lord, treat me like I'm the boss. That means what I say goes. That's what he's saying here. Now again, he's not saying that you have to do the things he says to be saved. He didn't say, hey, if you call upon the Lord and don't do the works, you're not saved. No, no, no. But he's just saying, look, why do you call me Lord, Lord, repeatedly, but then you don't do what I say. That doesn't make any sense. You should do what I say. You should obey me if I'm the Lord, if that's what my name even means. And he says, why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he's like. He's like a man which built a house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake for it was founded upon a rock, but he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great. You see, here's the thing. If you believe on Jesus Christ, but you don't do what he says, you're eventually going to be a shipwreck. You're eventually going to be a casualty. You're not going to hell. You're still safe, but your house is going to come crashing down. You would not be the first saved born again child of God whose family fell apart, whose marriage fell apart, whose children went to the devil, whose life came crashing down because they did not do the sayings of Jesus Christ. So the Bible is saying here that if we hear God's word and do God's word, we're going to have a sure foundation and we can build a life that withstands the test of time where 10 years from now we're still serving God, 20 years from now we're still in church, 30 years from now we still love the Lord and we're still doing great things for him. Whereas if we don't build our life on the sayings of Christ, what's going to happen is that we'll do fine when the weather is good until the persecution comes, until the tribulation comes, until the storms of life begin to beat on us. But as soon as that persecution comes, we'll come crashing down unless we're strongly established on the rock, unless we're built firmly on the rock. So he says these sayings of mine, he that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, he that heareth my sayings and doeth them. That means the stuff that we just heard in this chapter, we need to do that stuff. We need to make sure not to just listen to it and think it's a beautiful chapter. It sounds good to turn the other cheek. It sounds good to love our enemies. It sounds good to lend and give and it shall be given unto us. Oh, that's nice, but we need to actually live by these things and if we actually live by these principles, we will be firmly rooted on a strong foundation. If we don't listen to the false teachers, if we don't let the blind prophets lead us off into a ditch, if we do not hypocritically judge others or let people with a beam in their eye stick their finger in our eye, if we actually follow these teachings of Christ, we can be blessed in the long term and we can have a life that can withstand any storm because we're founded on the rock. I'll just close with this thought. There's nothing that anyone outside of us could ever do to destroy us. I mean, if God before us who could be against us? You know, if Christ is in us, if the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If Pastor Steven Anderson is ever destroyed, it will only be by Pastor Steven Anderson. That's the only person who really has the power to destroy me. Why? Because anyone else can attack me. They can fight me. They can beat me up. They can kill me. They can do anything to me. But I'm still more than a conqueror. And the same goes for you. No one can destroy you. They can arrest you. They can fight you. They can lie about you. They can falsely accuse you. They can slander you. They can beat you or even kill you. And you are a conqueror, right? But you can destroy yourself by not following the teachings of Christ. And then the storm comes and everything comes crashing down because you didn't build your life on the rock. But if you build your life on that rock, it doesn't matter what the storm does. It doesn't matter what earthquake comes. We are on a firm foundation. We're not going anywhere. And so just always remember, no one can destroy you. You can only destroy yourself. As long as you continue to do right and stay on the right track, you will never be destroyed. You will never be defeated. You will be a conqueror every single time. It's only when you begin to disobey Christ and allow sin into your life and disregard the Bible, that's when destruction is coming. You can only do that in our church. You know, I hope that our church is still here 10 years from now thriving. I can't see the future. I don't know if it's going to be here 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now doing the same works. But if it's destroyed, it'll be destroyed from within. It could never be destroyed. The sodomites can never stop us. The government could never stop us. The enemy, the atheists, they can never stop us. We can only stop ourselves because as long as we do right, as long as we're in the will of God, as long as God's blessing us, we're going to conquer every foe. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and this great sermon, the sermon on the plane, Lord, and this great teaching that you give us, Lord. And these are some hard things to put into practice, Lord, but I pray that you would help all of us to put these things into practice in our lives, Lord, and to live our lives in a way that would be pleasing and honoring and glorifying to you, Lord. Help us to hear your sayings and hear your word and to live by those things, Lord, not to just listen to them as someone would listen to a beautiful song and just enjoy the melody of it, but Lord, help us to actually obey you and not just pray and sing and talk about you being the Lord, but actually treat you as you are.