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Mark 10, verse 13, they brought young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. And the title of my sermon tonight is, Hindrances to Getting Saved. Hindrances to Getting Saved. You have to ask yourself the question, Why do so many people not get saved? You preach them the gospel, they don't receive it. Why not? Well, there are certain hindrances in people's lives that would make it difficult for them to get saved, or that would impede them from getting saved. And in this chapter, we see this illustration of a little child saying that in order for us to be saved, we have to be converted and become as little children to enter into the kingdom of God, to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Similar statements are made in Matthew, Mark, and Luke to that effect. And the reason why is that as I go through these hindrances tonight, little children usually are not hung up with these hindrances. The first hindrance that I have listed here is pride. Well, a little child is usually not filled with pride. They realize that they're relying on someone else for everything that they need, for meals, to get a diaper changed, or to be taken to the bathroom, or just to put a roof over their head and buy clothing for them, and just to provide all their needs. And so a little child isn't hung up with pride. Another thing we're going to get to is having a very sinful life can be a hindrance. Well, little children haven't really had time to get deep into sin, right, when they're just a small child. Science falsely so-called. You know, they haven't been totally brainwashed yet on the Big Bang and evolution and all the nonsense sci-fi religion that the world puts forth as fact. False religion. Usually they're not that deep into a false religion. The family or culture or nationality. You know, a little child has a more simple life, a more simple mentality, and that's why it's easier to win a child unto the Lord than an adult because an adult can have a lot of these hindrances in their life. Let's go through these one by one. Hindrances to getting saved. I think the biggest hindrance to someone getting saved, the biggest reason why you could preach the Gospel to someone and they save it is pride. That's number one. Look at Mark chapter 10 verse 23. We'll see one example of this. You're right there in Mark 10. Look at verse 23. And Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. So the Bible is saying here that it's very difficult for a rich man to be saved. It's hard for those that trust in riches to be saved. Now some of the modern versions, including the NIV, will pervert this passage and they'll take out the part about it being hard for a rich man and they'll just say in verse 24, It's just hard to get into the kingdom of God. Well the truth of the matter is it's not hard at all to be saved. It's actually very easy to be saved. It's so easy that a little child could do it. But there are hindrances that are stopping people from taking that easy step of just putting all their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I mean the Bible makes salvation so simple. It's like going through a door. It's like taking a drink of water. It's like eating a piece of bread. It's like calling out to the Lord to be saved. It's so simple. It's so easy. But there are these stumbling blocks that people have that hinder them. One of the biggest hindrances is pride. Why does pride hinder someone from being saved? And what does this have to do with the rich man? Well the rich man is usually going to be filled with pride. Let me think of an example. Donald Trump for example. People who are rich, they're very proud. They're very full of themselves. They're very arrogant. They think very highly of themselves. And so for a proud person like that who trusts in their riches and they trust in themselves and the work that they've done and they're very proud of their accomplishments, it's going to be hard for a person like that to enter the kingdom of heaven. Here's why. Think about what is the plan of salvation. First of all we have to admit that we're a sinner. And realize that our deeds and our righteousness is not going to get us into heaven. Why? Because there's none righteous, no, not one. Because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. It's going to take a humble person to admit that they are a sinner and that they don't deserve to go to heaven because the proud person thinks that they deserve to go to heaven. I mean how many times do we knock on somebody's door and say, What do you think it takes to get into heaven? And they say, Well, I'm a good person. I live a good life. That's pride. No mention of Jesus, no mention of Christ, no mention of the gospel, no mention of the blood, no mention of the death, burial, and resurrection. It's just I keep the commandments. I'm a good person. I live a godly life. And that's pride, trusting in themselves. The humble person has to admit, I don't deserve to go to heaven. I need Jesus as my savior. I need to put all my faith and trust in him. And he gets all the glory for salvation. I don't get any of the glory. I don't get any of the credit because I gave up this, and I did this, and I achieved this. No, no. None of the glory goes to us because Jesus paid it all. All to him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. There's nothing for us to glory of in biblical salvation. So it takes a humble person to admit that and receive that free gift. The proud person wants to pay for it. They want to earn it. They want to work for it. They want to do it themselves. They want to do it their own way. I can't even count how many times I've had people tell me, hey, I'm going to get to heaven my own way. I want to do it myself. I want to get there on my terms. I've had people come right out and say that to me, and they'll be damned because the Bible's clear. You go God's way or you don't go at all. You have to humble yourself before the creator of the universe, before the savior of the world, and be saved. Pride is a big stumbling block. Number two, sin is a hindrance to people getting saved. Go to John chapter 3. Now this is where people sometimes get confused and false doctrine enters in, where people teach that you have to turn from your sins to be saved. That's not the case. The Bible says in Jonah chapter 3 verse 10, God saw their works, 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. When God saw their works, what did he see? He saw that they turned from their evil way. That tells me that turning from your evil way is works. That makes sense because if you've ever tried to turn away from any of the evil ways in your own life, you know it takes work to clean up your life. It takes work to get the sin out of your life. It takes effort to do that. We're not saved by our own works. We're not saved by cleaning up our life or turning over a new leap. We're saved just as we are, sinful as we are, by just believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. Even in this chapter that we're turning to in John chapter 3, repeatedly in verse 15, 16, 18, and 36, it just nails down that it's whether you believe on Christ that saves you, and nothing else. But people will try to add this to the Gospel. They'll try to add an element of cleaning up your life, repenting of your sins, turning away from sin, being willing to turn from your sins, being willing to follow Christ, whatever deeds or works and however they want to package that. Now, watch what the Bible says here carefully in John chapter 3, verse number 19. It says, And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Now, what verses 19 through 21 are clearly teaching is that a person who does evil is less likely to get saved than a person who does truth. The person who does evil, they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And it says they don't want their deeds to be reproved. What does it mean to reprove someone? It means to tell them that they're wrong. They don't want to be told that they're wrong. They don't want to be told that fornication is wrong. They don't want to be told that drinking is wrong. They don't want to be told that adultery is wrong or that divorcing their wife and marrying someone else is wrong. They don't want to be reproved. They want to continue living a sinful life. They want to dwell in darkness, so therefore they don't end up coming to the light. That light is Jesus. That light is the light that brings salvation to every man that will call upon Christ. And so here the Bible is clear that the person who lives a wicked and sinful life and does evil is going to oftentimes be less likely to get saved. That can be a hindrance to them getting saved because of the fact that they don't want that stuff to be reproved. They don't want to even believe that it's wrong. Now, here's where people twist this is where they say, well, you have to be willing to give that stuff up, and that's why these people can't be saved. That's why it's hard for them to be saved. The hindrance is that they're not willing to give all that sin up. Now, here's the thing, and listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. There are people who don't get saved because they're not willing to give up their sins, but that's only because they think they have to give up their sins in order to get saved. But that's not reality. See, in reality, they don't have to give up any sins to be saved. They just have to believe in Jesus Christ. They just have to admit that they're a sinner, confess that sin, and just believe on Christ and put their faith and trust in Him for forgiveness, for that free gift. But because the average person out there doesn't know that, would you agree with that, soul winners? That the average person out there thinks that in order to get saved, they do have to give up their sins. That's what they think. So then they just don't go anywhere near church. They don't go anywhere near the Bible. They don't go anywhere near the gospel. Somebody comes to their door and says, Hey, can I take a few moments to show you how to get to heaven? And they're thinking, I'm not interested because I want to keep living my sinful life. Now, we weren't going to tell them, give up your sinful life to be saved, but that's what they think. So it can be a hindrance for a couple reasons. Number one, their sin can be a hindrance because they think they have to give it up, and they're not willing to do so. Or number two, it can be a hindrance because they don't even want to believe the Word of God is true because they want to, in their own pride and self-righteousness, not admit that the things that they do are wrong. But this in no way teaches, and if you would go over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, this in no way teaches that you have to be willing to give up your sins in order to be saved. That's a false doctrine. And if you have to give up your sins or be willing to give up sins to be saved, well then none of us is saved. Then no person on this planet is saved because everybody is a sinner. You can't just give up certain sins and hang on to other sins and say, okay, well I've repented of my sins. No you haven't. You've repented of some of it, but nobody's repented of all of it. Where do you draw the line? I'll tell you where to draw the line at just faith alone in Christ for salvation. Salvation is not a gray area. You have to have that faith of a little child that just puts all of your trust in Christ, just as a little child would fully trust in their mom and dad, it's the same way. You have to be like a little child to be saved. Number one, you can't have pride. Pride is going to hinder you. Number two, your sins could hinder you if you're living a wicked life because it could cause you to basically stay away from the things of God, stay away from the gospel because you don't want the light shined on your sin, or because you think that you would have to give those things up in order to get saved and so on. Look at 2 Thessalonians. We can see this point driven in a little bit further. This is very similar to the teaching that's over in John 3. The Bible says in verse number 10, with all deceivableness, 2 Thessalonians 2, 10, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So many people who have pleasure in unrighteousness end up not believing the truth and consequently not being saved. Also, people who live a very wicked and sinful life could push God so far and make God so angry that he would send them a strong delusion that they would believe a lie, sort of like Romans 1 where their foolish heart was darkened and he gave them over to a reprobate mind, for example. So these are reasons why people could be hindered from the gospel through living a wicked life. Why? Because people who love unrighteousness and do evil are often not desiring to come to the light. Now, notice the opposite of what he said in John chapter 3. He said, But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. And you know what? That word truth, it's found in this passage too because it says in verse number... let me find my place here. At the end of verse 10 it says, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and then the parish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. So this is just like John 3. There's the guy who doeth truth and then there's the guy who doesn't love the truth. He didn't receive the love of the truth. Have you noticed that there are people in this world who love truth and then there are other people who don't really seem to care what the truth is. They want to hear the comfortable lie rather than the uncomfortable truth. In fact, there's a whole movement that's been going on for the last 10, 15 years called the Truth Movement. It's a big thing, you know, 9-11 truthers or the truth this, this truth. And that truth movement, I've noticed, is filled with a lot of Christians. And what else I've noticed is that I've talked to a lot of people who told me when I asked them how they got saved, they said, I got saved through the Truth Movement. You know, I started investigating the Truth Movement. I started investigating 9-11 or I started investigating just other movements to uncover the truth about things and kind of cut through the media lies, cut through the brainwashing and just figure out the truth. Just figure out the true nature of the world that we live in. And it led them to the Word of God. It led them to Jesus Christ because Jesus said, I am the truth. I'm the truth. You want to know the Truth Movement? It's getting saved. It's believing in Jesus. If you're a real truther, that's where you'll end up. You know, after you've looked into the JFK assassination and 9-11 and everything, you better end up at the feet of Jesus Christ. That's the final stop on the Truth Movement right there. And this is the truth right here. But I've noticed that a lot of truthers find that. Why? Because the type of person who's interested in the Truth Movement is a lover of truth. And a lover of truth is going to love Jesus because Jesus is the truth. So people that are unrighteous, wicked and evil, they're often hard to get saved because they don't love the truth. They love unrighteousness. Now, sometimes a very sinful person is easy to get saved as long as they don't have pride and as long as they don't hate the truth. You know, because there are some people who are unrighteous and sinful, but they're willing to admit that. You know what I mean? Some people, they live a sinful life and they know it. And they'll just tell you, hey, I'm an adulterer. You know, I'm a bad person. I'm a drunk. I've done bad. You know, and they're more humble about it. That person will often readily receive Christ as Savior. That's why Jesus Christ was able to win a lot of prostitutes and drunkards to the Lord. They were people who were willing to admit their wickedness. But the people like the Pharisees who are filled with pride, they don't do truth. They love unrighteousness. They love the pleasures of sin and so forth. And so they were difficult to get saved. And in many cases, Jesus was unable to get them saved, even as he pleaded with them to be saved. So these are possible hindrances to getting saved. Just ask yourself, why does one person get saved and another doesn't? Well, these are some of the reasons why they don't. Number one, they've got pride. That's number one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven right there. But anyway, number one, it's pride. Number two, it could be that they have a lot of wickedness in their heart and wickedness in their life that makes it hard for them to get saved. Go to 2 Peter 3. And of course, that in no way implies a repent of your sins type salvation. It's just a fact. People who are sincere... Let me put it this way. People who are sincere are more likely to get saved than the insincere. Think about that. You know, you run into a lot of nice people. They're not saved, but they're sincere. You know, if you can take that person and kindly and gently show them the truth of salvation from the Word of God, there's a pretty good chance they're going to receive it if they're a sincere person. They're going to want to come to the light. They're going to want to be saved. They're going to love Jesus once they're introduced to the Jesus of the Bible. This is still sort of on the sin point, but it's going to introduce the third hindrance to getting saved. Look down at verse 3 in 2 Peter 3. The Bible reads, Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, look at the next phrase, walking after their own lusts. So the problem with these people is that they're walking in a very sinful way because whatever they desire, whatever they lust after, they're just gratifying that lust. They're not basing their lifestyle on what's right or wrong. They're just walking after their own lusts. Verse 4, and this is what those people say, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. So the Bible is saying here that there are people who are willingly ignorant of God's creation, willingly ignorant of the flood. Why? Because they walk after their own lusts, so they put their head in the sand and pretend that there's no God because they don't want to face God. So this kind of ties in with point number 2, but it leads me to my third point. Hindrances to people getting saved could be science, falsely so called. The Bible says if you flip over to 1 Timothy chapter 6, just a few pages to the left, you might already know this scripture, but if you want to look at it you can flip over to the left, where it says in verse 20 of 1 Timothy chapter 6, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, Amen. So there are people who profess faith in science, falsely so called, and this causes them to err from the truth, the faith in Christ. Now when it comes to this subject, I will say this. When it comes to science, falsely so called, what are we talking about? The big bang, evolution. And look, if you even have any doubt today, friend, that's here tonight in this service, go grab a DVD off that shelf on your way out the door. There's a DVD back there called Professing Themselves to be Wise. Everything back there is free. We never sell anything in church, Amen. It's not a house of merchandise. But back there on the shelf, I want you to grab, if you have any inkling of doubt today, maybe somebody brought you here tonight or whatever the case, grab that DVD off the back there, Professing Themselves to be Wise, and watch that and figure out what these people actually believe. See, your average person doesn't even know what the big bang is. Your average person doesn't even know what the creation of life, according to ASU Science Department, even is. And if they knew what it really was, they wouldn't believe in it because it's so crazy and ridiculous and nonsensical. But they just say, well, of course the big bang has been proven. But see, that's the devil's lie right there. He just wants you to think it's just a case closed. Oh, yeah, big bang, case closed. Evolution, case closed. I mean, the fossils, it's everywhere. You watch that DVD and tell me it's a case closed. And you'll hear it out of their own mouths, the ridiculous nonsense. They believe in all this interdimensional blah, blah. You know, it's science fiction. It's kids who watch too many Star Wars movies and too much Buck Rogers and too much Battlestar Galactica and too much Star Trek and too much, you know, science fiction. And they thought it was real. Now, I will say this. Some people are willingly ignorant. They don't really truly in their heart believe that there's no God. But they tell themselves that there's no God and are willingly ignorant because they want to walk after their own lust. And then there are some people who actually believe that there's no God. They're actually that stupid. And the reason I use that wording, I'm not just throwing that word out there. What does the Bible say? The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God. Now, I believe that there are a lot of people out there who say that they don't believe in God, but deep down they really do. Because it's just part of human nature to know that there's a God. You'd have to be a complete fool to actually in your heart say that there's no God. It doesn't say the fool said with his mouth there's no God. The fool said in his heart there's no God. Because you'd have to be so foolish to actually in your heart believe there's no God. Everything came from nothing. But there are dumb people in this world who actually do believe that. Because they've been so brainwashed. Because they're putting their faith and trust in these scientists. I have my faith and trust in the Bible. I have my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I have my faith and trust in this word right here. They have faith and trust also. Atheism is a religion. Because it requires great faith to believe that the entire universe was crammed into a little dot, you know, smaller than a single proton. That's pretty weird. That takes a lot of faith. That defies all the laws of science that have actually been tested and proven. But there are people who just put their faith and trust. And when you ask people to actually articulate this, when I run into people who say, Oh, I believe in science, the Big Bang, it's all improved. I always say, well explain the Big Bang to me. They have no clue. Or they'll start explaining it to you wrong and I'm like, stop. Let me explain the Big Bang. And then I explain it. First I have to explain to them what they believe and then tell them why it's wrong. It's sort of like when you're talking to pre-Tribbers. You have to kind of explain to them what they believe. And then explain to them why it's wrong. Because they don't even know. So the point is, these people out there that trust in science, they're truly trusting in science. They think, well, my professor's so smart with that long gray ponytail, how could he be wrong? You know? I mean, sure, he smoked a lot of pot in the 60s, but come on. I mean, he's got a PhD. And they're trusting him. They're not doing the research for themselves. They're not delving into the science and the physics and actually coming to their own conclusions. They're just blindly believing, oh, yeah, it's a case closed. If you don't believe in it, you're an idiot. Of course everything came from nothing. Duh. Okay. There are people who pretend to believe in it or tell themselves that it's true because they want to walk after their own lust. And then there are people that are actually duped and really do believe in it because they just have their faith and trust in that system. That can be a hindrance to somebody getting saved. And here's why it can be a hindrance. Because if I come to somebody with the gospel of Jesus Christ and they go into it with an attitude that says, well, we already know that the Bible's false because we already know the Big Bang. We already know it's evolution. Right? And then there are even those who are agnostic who say, well, I believe in a higher power. You know, I believe there's probably a God or possibly a God, but it can't be the God of the Bible because, you know, the Bible says the Earth's only 6,300 years old. And we know that it's bazillions of years old. Right? You know, and this is kind of where my wife was at when I met my wife. She was not my wife at the time, of course, but when I met who would become my wife, she was what you'd know as agnostic. You know, she thought there's probably a God, but she doesn't really know and she didn't really have any strong religious beliefs or anything. But when I talked to her about the gospel, this was a stumbling block for her because she'd been taught in school lies that, oh, the Bible teaches that the Earth's flat and the Bible teaches that it's a disc and that it's on the back of a turtle or whatever. And so, you know, they just kind of told her lies that the Bible is not scientifically accurate. And if you think about it and the Bible is not scientifically accurate, you're going to think, well, then God must not have written it because why would God write a book that's filled with scientific inaccuracy? Right? So this was a little bit of a stumbling block with her and so I just showed her some scriptures in the Bible. I showed her, no, the Bible is actually scientifically correct. And I showed her, you know, several scriptures from the Bible and once I showed her that, then that hindrance was removed because once she saw the wisdom of the Bible, once she saw the true science of the Bible that was ahead of its time written thousands of years ago, all accurate. You know, I showed her things like where the Bible talks about in Leviticus chapter 15, if a sick person sits on a bed, you have to wash the bed, you have to wash your hands with running water and all about the germs and the sanitation. You know, science didn't catch up with that until about 200 years ago. Even 300 years ago, doctors are washing their hands in standing water, just spreading germs instead of running water. The Bible says running water. It talks about the spread of germs and being unclean and being sick and covering your mouth when you're sick and washing your hands and washing the sheep. If she touches the bed, the bed's not clean. Wash the bed. All of this stuff that's way ahead of its time, that would have saved a lot of people, a lot of disease throughout the years if they would have hearkened unto it, I showed her where it talked about the circle of the earth and that God hangs the earth on nothing. And I showed her all the scientifically accurate things in the Bible and then that hindrance was removed, that stumbling block was removed. And then she wasn't so hung up on that. But that can be a hindrance for some people. They've just been so brainwashed with science that they can't accept it. A fourth hindrance to people getting saved is false religion. Go to 2 Corinthians 4. Some people are so steeped in a false religion that when you preach them the Gospel, they don't get saved because they're so steeped in a lie, whether that lie is Catholicism, whether that lie is Islam, whether that lie is Hinduism, whether that lie is Buddhism, whatever the case may be, when people are really steeped in a lie, or maybe it's a perversion of the Gospel of Christ, such as a works-based model, working your way to heaven, works-based salvation, or baptism-based, or whatever. Well, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3, But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So the Bible talks about the fact that the God of this world, or the devil, would blind the minds of those that believe not. The Bible says the devil himself is transformed into an angel of light, and that his ministers are transformed into the ministers of light. There are a lot of so-called ministers and pastors and priests and preachers that are literally the emissaries of Satan. They are his ministers. I mean, look at the TV preachers. They're his ministers. And they've blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel could shine in and bring salvation. False religion is a major hindrance to people being saved. Often you can go through the simple plan of salvation with someone, go through the Romans road, but at the end of the day, they're not ready to accept it. Why? Because they're still hanging on to that false religion. They're still, well, I still have to pray to Mary to get into heaven. Or I still have to go confess my sins to a man in a dress who calls himself papa, but dressed like mama. I still have to, you know, I still believe in the Koran. I still believe in whatever. False religion. Number five, go to Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. What are the hindrances to people being saved? What are the stumbling blocks? What makes some people just not receive the Gospel? Why is it? Well, the biggest reason is because they're too proud. Too proud. Pride will send more people to hell than anything else. Number two, it could be that they're just a very sinful person. And so because of that, it causes them to just kind of shy away from the light like a cockroach. When the lights turn on, they run away. They don't want to go anywhere near church. They don't want to go anywhere near a preacher or the Gospel. Number three, it could be science falsely so-called has brainwashed them. Number four, it could be a false religion that has indoctrinated them in false doctrine that they're struggling with. Number five, it could be their family. There are some people who their family is really serious about a certain religion. And if they switch, they'll be thrown out of the family. We just talked to a guy. It was last night or the night before that we had dinner with a friend of ours. And he said, I got saved when I was 18 years old and I was from a staunch Catholic family. And when I got saved, I was thrown out of the house. I was thrown out of the house for leaving the Roman Catholic Church, believing on Christ, getting baptized. That caused them to be thrown out. I've talked to Hindus, Muslims, Catholics, all manner of people who are thrown out of the home or rejected by their family or ostracized for switching religion. Here's another false religion that will do that, the Amish. And let me tell you something, the Amish are a false religion. Don't just think, oh, it's cute, it's quaint. They're dressed, you know, in a historic old time clothing. How nice. It's a false religion. It's a very bad doctrine. Did you know that the Amish literally tell their people, don't read the Bible? They discourage people from reading. They say, if you read the Bible too much, it's going to mess you up. Let us interpret it for you. Let us tell you what it says. And they believe in a false hyper-Calvinist type of salvation. And by the way, I don't believe in any kind of Calvinism, let alone hyper-Calvinism. I don't even believe in hypo-Calvinism. I don't even believe in micro-Calvinism. I don't believe in any of it. It's all garbage, right? Every point of the tulip is false. But that's another sermon that shall be preached at another time. But the Amish, if you leave that religion, they'll ostracize you. They'll pretend that you're dead. You don't even exist under them anymore. They'll cast you out. Another religion that will do this is the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church, and they'll try to deny this, but I've known many Mormons that could tell you that this is the truth and the testimonies abound. If one spouse leaves the Mormon Church and the other one wants to stay in, divorce is the result. Did you hear me? Divorce. So basically, if you want to get out of the Mormon Church and you're married and you're both Mormon, you either have to both get out or you're running the risk of your spouse divorcing you. Why? Because their belief is that they're married for all eternity. They put a great emphasis on these wedding vows and how they last even beyond death, where the Bible teaches it's till death do us part. Amen? We're not married eternally. The Bible says in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but as the angels which are in heaven. We're not going to be married to our spouse in heaven. It's on this earth until death, and Jesus was clear on that. But the Mormons don't believe that. They have this doctrine that the husband has to call his wife out of the grave on resurrection day or just leave her there. All right? So in order for a woman in the Mormon Church to become a goddess and be the mother goddess of her own planet someday, she's got to have a Mormon husband to get her there. You know, in a Mormon husband, he's got to have a goddess wife to populate his new planet with all the spirit babies. And listen, don't you for a second think that that's not true. There's a cartoon, and let me tell you something. Don't laugh because it's a cartoon. Go on YouTube and type in banned Mormon cartoon. B-A-N-N-E-D. Banned, like it's not allowed. Banned Mormon cartoon. And let me tell you something. I have fact checked. I don't just believe everything. I have fact checked everything in that cartoon with their actual literature purchased from the Deseret Mormon bookstore. Okay? And I fact checked every quote and everything. And I can tell you right now that every single thing in that cartoon is true. That is what Mormons believe. And it can all be proven and documented from their own scriptures and their own books and their own documents. You know, and Mormons will look at that cartoon and say, oh, this isn't true. But it's funny how they can never tell you exactly what's not true about it. You know, they just, oh, you're lying. People tell this to me all the time. Oh, you're such a liar, Pastor. Okay, what did I lie about? Well, maybe you didn't lie, but you were mean about it. It's like, what? You called me a liar. I always say that. What was the lie? And sometimes when I say that to people, they actually come to their senses because they try to figure out what the lie is and they can't figure it out. But you must be lying because you said bad things about people I like or a church I like. But hold on a second. What are the facts? I have fact checked that cartoon. It's from an old documentary from the 80s called The God Makers. I don't know who's ever seen that old 80s documentary about the Mormon church called The God Makers. Hey, I fact checked it. And sometimes I fact check things and they're not true. And then I won't include them in my sermon. Okay, but that panned out. That was the truth. They do believe in other gods and other planets and becoming their own god. That is the truth. And so either they both have to leave the Mormon church or they both have to stay in or if one of them leaves and the other wants to stay in, they end up getting divorced. It tears apart the family, tears apart that union. The Mormon church does not teach that divorce is wrong. They don't teach that divorce is a sin. Here's another religion that doesn't teach divorce is a sin. In Islam, there's no sin in getting divorced for any reason. All you have to do is give your wife three warnings. I'm going to divorce you. I'm going to divorce you. I'm going to divorce you. And then there's like a three month cool down period. It's like buying a handgun in California or something. There's like a three month cool down period. And then, okay, you can get a divorce now. Well, man, there's so much to say about the wickedness of Islam. It literally says in the Quran and I went through this in my sermon against Islam. It says in the Quran, I read it right out of the Quran where it says, well, it's three monthly cycles for your wife. That's how they measure the three months. Don't use a calendar. It's three cycles. But then it said if your wife's too young to have cycles, then use the calendar. Is that wicked or what? A bunch of pedophiles. If your wife's too young to have a cycle, you're a pedophile. The Bible says you're not supposed to marry a woman unless her flowers be upon her. She must be adult. She must be fully developed in that sense. And so the Quran has that wickedness of, oh, just divorce. Oh, just divorce. But you know what? People, when they think about, hey, if I get saved, if I reject Islam, if I reject Mormonism, you know, I could be thrown out of the house if I'm a child or my spouse could divorce me. You know, that could be a hindrance where people, because of the pressure from their family, will just stay with a false religion just because they want to be accepted of their family. They don't want to give up their family relationship. But you know what? I'm not going to hell for anybody and certainly not for any family member or any person on this earth. You know, and I thank God I didn't have to make that choice because I grew up in a Christian home. But friend, if you're not saved, what are you going to profit if you gain the whole world and have the greatest family life ever and burn in hell for all eternity? It's not worth it. Look at Joshua chapter 24 where this subject is somewhat addressed here. Joshua chapter number 24. The Bible reads in verse 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Serve you the Lord. And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And I'm going to lead into my next point with that, which is that someone's culture or nationality could be a hindrance to them getting saved. Because he gives two alternatives here. He says, look, I'm going to worship the Lord. I'm going to serve the Lord. And he explains in this passage that God demands that you only worship him. You can't have him and other gods. It has to be him alone. You have to believe on Christ with all your heart. So he gives two alternatives. He said, look, are you going to stick with the religion of your fathers? That's the family pressure, the family influence. Or the Amorites in whose land you dwell. Are you going to let your nation or culture or nationality determine what god you worship? I'm going to transcend both of those. I'm going to worship the Lord. I don't care what my fathers did. I don't care what my nation around me is doing. I'm going to believe the word of God. I'm going to believe the Bible. I'm going to receive Christ as savior. There are many people today whose identity is wrapped up in a nationality. You know, if you think about certain nations where it's just an Islamic nation. You know, a nation like, for example, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Where their whole national identity is just, we're Muslims. It's who we are. Or another one that would be big for this is Hinduism. Because, I mean, India is Hinduism. Right? To them it's inseparable. And so they're so locked into that culture or national identity. That it makes it hard for them to reject that in order to receive Christ as savior. Many people have a very deep Catholic culture. Or if they're a Hispanic, you know, and everybody's Catholic or whatever. You know what? These are some things that could hinder people from getting saved. Okay, so what's the application of the story? We all realize tonight that when we go out soul winning. When we go out and preach the gospel. There are going to be people who get saved and people who don't. And it's not necessarily that we're doing a great job of preaching the gospel. Or maybe we did a poor job of preaching the gospel. You know, you could do a great job of preaching the gospel. You could give the best gospel presentation of all time. And be filled with the spirit. And be filled with the spirit doesn't mean people are going to get saved. Because it's their choice. Or you could give a messed up salvation plan. Where, I mean, as long as you're preaching the true gospel, of course. But you could get it all out of order. And, you know, last of all, you're a sinner. You know? Last of all, all of sin. You know, you got it all out of order. And you're coming at them all. You're dropping your Bible. You're stammering and stuttering. You could get somebody saved still. But it's these hindrances that are stopping people from getting saved. Right? So let's say I give somebody the gospel and they don't get saved. You know, it's very likely that one of these things is the problem. Now, if I'm out door to door, I might just smile and give that person a blessing. And just go on my way and chalk it up as I sowed the seed. Or I watered the seed. Right? But, you know, when this is someone that is close to us. When it's someone that we work with. When it's someone that we love. We want to go back for a second attempt, possibly. And we want to try harder to get that person saved. And we want to talk to them again. You know, how do we get past these hindrances? How do we get past these roadblocks? Well, one of the things that we can do is we can pray. Now, when I pray for people to get saved, I don't just pray, Oh God, please let this person get saved. Because that's not really a prayer that God can even answer. Because it's not up to God. If I sit there and say, Oh God, please let someone so get saved. Oh God, please let someone so get saved. You know, that's a little bit misguided because God can't make them get saved. Because God has already ordained in his word that it's up to them. He's not going to force anyone to get saved. So, and plus we don't want to have just a vain repetition either, right? Where we just keep chanting, Oh God, let this person get saved. Oh God, let's pray. So if I wanted to spend a little more time in prayer. Let's say I want to spend five minutes in prayer. Or ten minutes in prayer. Or even an hour in prayer for one person to get saved. I'm not going to chant because chanting is unbiblical and ineffective. But that rather I could pray to God that some of these hindrances could be removed from their life. Right? I could pray to God. Okay, how about pride? Let's say somebody has a lot of money and we really want them to be saved. We could pray that they lose everything. You know, that's horrible. Why would you pray that? Because it'd be so much better to lose everything and go to heaven. Right? And you know, my grandpa, before he was saved, was a wealthy man. And he was very successful. It was in the economy of Southern California in the 50's. That kind of artificially inflated post World War II Southern California boom. And he was making money hand over fist. Well, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. And my grandma prayed that he would lose everything if it would allow him to be saved. And he did end up losing all of his money. And he did end up getting saved. And he never really had a lot of money again after that. Once he got saved, he would try to make it financially and he never really made it financially after that. He just lived an average life after that. He never had as much money as he did before he was saved. You know, God answered that prayer and took away that which hindered him. Sometimes we need to pray that God would take people down a notch. That God would help them to see their need for Christ and take away some of the pride out of their heart. Bring humility into their life. And sometimes God can bring bad things into their life that could cause them to be more humble or just other circumstances. So we could pray for God to remove the pride. Okay, what do we do for the person that sin is their hang up? They're living a wicked life. Well, here's what we need to do. We need to get the message of the grace of God across. We need to make sure that people hear a clear plan of salvation that says, hey, this isn't about you giving up your sin. You know, we'll deal with that later once you're already saved. Yeah, then let's deal with your Christian growth. Let's deal with sanctification. Let's get you in church and preach hard against sin and clean you up and help you live right. But you know what? They need to understand that, hey, at least just get to first base. At least just get saved. You don't have to give up your sins. And we need to show them the verses on grace. What does grace mean? That which you do not deserve. Show them that salvation is a free gift. Show them that all they have to do is believe on Christ like a little child and they could be saved. How do we get past the science falsely so called? Well, I believe in using the word of God to get past this hurdle. Because we could pull out all kinds of charts and fossils and show math and science and things like that. But you know what? You'll just end up getting an argument because then they'll pull out their chart and their science and their math. And it just becomes a back and forth. You know, like I said in the example with my wife, I showed her scripture. I showed her here's where the Bible was right and man was wrong. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So I think it could be good when you run into these people that are really into science. And they just really believe in science. That you could actually show them, hey, the Bible says the circle of the earth. The Bible says, you know, all this stuff about sanitation that's true and everything like that. And they'll go, oh wow, the Bible is actually scientifically accurate. And then they might actually listen to the gospel. But remember, the power is in God's word. Not just in law. You know, I heard some guy say, oh, I'm going to prove that God exists without using the Bible. I'm not interested. I don't even think that's possible. This is the evidence. This is the proof. This is everything. This is the foundation. So yeah, I'm not against debunking science, falsely so called, using the word of God. That's going to be more effective, I believe. And I'm not saying that it's wrong to use other, you know, charts or fossils or pictures or science. I'm just telling you, I believe the word of God is going to have more power than any of that. You know, cutting, cutting and dividing, right? The soul and spirit and joints of marriage, quick and powerful, the word of God, right? So that's one thing. How do we cut through the false religion? Well, again, we just got to show them the word of God. Show them the truth of God's word. Show them what's right. What about family and culture and nationality? Well, you know, what we need to explain to people first and foremost is that, number one, you know, it's not worth going to hell for any of that. You know, show them the fear of the Lord will cause men to depart from evil. Let's show them that hell is real. Let's show them the stakes are high between heaven and hell. But when it comes to their culture and nationality, sometimes what we need to explain to people, too, is that you don't have to ditch your entire culture in order to receive Christ as Savior. You know, I told Hindus when I'm giving them the gospel, you know, you can still eat curry. You can still eat tikka masala. You can still wear those cool dresses and, you know, you can still put bangles on your wrist. You don't have to stop being Indian, but you do have to stop being a Hindu in order to be saved. You do have to stop being a Hindu. You know, God doesn't expect people of other nationalities to just totally adopt the American way of life or any other way of life, for that matter, in order to become a Christian, do they? They can still retain their culture to the extent that it's not sinful. Remember the apostle Paul said, when I went to the Greeks, when I went to the Romans, when I went to the Jews, when I went to the Barbary, he said, I became as a barbarian unto the Greek. I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. But he said, I was not without law before Christ, though. So we don't want to take that to an extreme of condoning sin. But there are lots of elements of these cultures that are not sinful. There are things about the Indian way of life that are sinful and other things that are not sinful. There are things about the culture that are good. A lot of these false religions, they have some good family values or they have some good food or some cool clothes or whatever. Hey, fine, keep it. But don't put your nationality or your ethnicity or your culture above biblical truth, above God, above the Lord. The Lord trumps all of that. And, you know, we need to be careful, too, that we don't put America above God's word in any area of our lives or our American culture or our American way of thinking above what the Bible says, because we could be guilty of that same thing sometimes, getting all wrapped up in our nationality or our culture or our heritage or our whatever. We need to understand. So these are some hindrances. These are six hindrances I gave you to people getting saved. This could be a prayer list for someone who's not saved, praying that God would take each of these things out of their life or praying that God would open their eyes to each of these things. I've also prayed for people that were not saved, that every verse that I gave them in the gospel, I always prayed that it would keep coming back to them, that they would not be able to forget it. I prayed that when they wake up in the morning, the first thing on their mind will be that Bible verse, that it will just keep coming back, keep coming back, that they'll keep thinking about it, keep hearing it. And listen, if you're not going to give somebody the gospel, don't just keep praying for them to be saved. You need to go give them the gospel, then pray for them to get saved. Or pray for them to get saved and then go give them the gospel, but don't just pray, Oh God, save so-and-so, Oh God, save so-and-so, and then you don't even give them the gospel. You need to be a part of that answer to prayer. You need to go give them the gospel. And then you can pray, Oh God, help them to meditate upon what I've said. Help it to keep coming back to them. Help them to keep thinking about it. And you know, I've heard testimonies of others, and I've experienced this in my own life, where I've prayed that for somebody, and then I went and talked to that person a week later, and they remembered everything I told them, and they remembered the verse. They quoted a verse back to me, you know, because God kept bringing it back to them, bringing it back, bringing it back. So this could be a prayer list for getting people saved, and this could also be something that you could use. If there's somebody that you really want to get saved, you could look for these hindrances. Try to figure out, where's the hang-up? Where's the stumbling block? What's the roadblock here? And then you could choose appropriate scriptures to try to help them get over that, get past that, and be saved. Why? Because we love people, and we want them to be saved. And there are hindrances out there to people being saved. The devil has got all of his minions, and the world, and all these different things that are making it hard for people to get saved, even though it would just be so easy if they would just become like a little child and just receive the gospel. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, that we're saved, and that we have overcome the world, and overcome all the programming, and all the lies, Lord, and that we have received Jesus Christ our Savior. Lord, I thank you that I received you as my Savior when I was only six years old. So it was very easy for me to receive, Lord, and I pray that all of us, Lord, would go out and really try our hardest, and really care, and have a tear in the eye, and a Bible in the hand, and the Holy Spirit in us, and really go out and try to get people saved, Lord. Not to just go out and preach at people, just to preach at them, but Lord, help us to sincerely care, and desire, and do our best to try to pull people out of the fire, and try to get people saved, Lord. And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.