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reads, beginning in verse number 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead it is appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. And the Bible here is prophesying of a day when people will not want to be reproved, they don't want to be rebuked, they don't want to be told anything negative, they will have itching ears and they will heap to themselves teachers that will tell them fables, things that aren't true, they'll tell them what they want to hear. Now go back if you would to 1 Kings chapter 22 and I want to show you an Old Testament story that illustrates this very well, 1 Kings chapter 22 and in this story we see that King Jehoshaphat who is the king of Judah is going to team up with the king of Israel and at this time the king of Israel was a very wicked and ungodly man, the nation of Israel was an ungodly nation and Jehoshaphat is constantly being rebuked by the prophets of the Lord for having anything to do with Israel and for teaming up with the king of Israel and doing these type of things. But in verse 1 of 1 Kings 22 that's the situation where Jehoshaphat finds himself, it says in verse 1, they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel, verse 2, and it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel and the king of Israel said unto his servants, know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours and we be still and take it not out of the land of the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshaphat, wilt thou go with me to battle Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. So the king of Judah here is disobeying the Lord by teaming up with the king of Israel to go on this military campaign, later he's rebuked by Jehu the son of Hanani who says to him, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord thy God. So this teaming up with the king of Israel brings wrath upon Jehoshaphat because Jehoshaphat, even though he's a godly man ruling over a godly nation in Judah, is yoking up with the wrong people here and helping the king of Israel, which is a bad person. But let's read the story here. It says in verse 5, Jehoshaphat, remember he's the one who's a godly man, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord today. He's trying to be a good influence on the king of Israel. And it says that the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. So the king of Israel produces 400 prophets of the Lord who all have this really positive message telling him he's going to succeed and he's going to prosper and everything's going to be great. But Jehoshaphat could tell that there was something wrong with this preaching. And that's why even though 400 prophets are there, Jehoshaphat says in verse 7, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? You know, can we have 401, isn't there one more that maybe we could listen to? And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord. But I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. That's because you're a bad person. You know, but he's just saying, you know, this guy doesn't say anything good to me, he says evil things to me. Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. Verse 9, Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sat each on his throne, having put on their robes at a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah the son of Canana made him horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou hast consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand. And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. And of course, if we read the rest of the chapter, he gives a negative message. He tells him, No, you're going to be destroyed. You're going to be killed. He doesn't say it in so many words, but that's the gist of the message that he gives. So here we see 400 men that are willing to preach a positive message, even when there's really nothing positive to report from the Lord. Wicked nation, wicked king, but 400 men are willing to preach a positive message just because that's what people wanted to hear. That's what the king wanted to hear. And they try to do the same thing with Micaiah. The officer that brings him says to him, Look, 400 men have preached a nice message. Why can't you just preach the same way? Just preach something good today. We know what you're like. Don't be that way. And he just says, You know what? I'm just going to preach the truth. I'm just going to preach what God tells me to preach. But we're living in a day where many people want to hear a positive only message. You know, we were out soul winning yesterday in Prescott Valley, and I knock on this lady's door and I was really friendly to her, invited her to church, and asked her if she knew for sure that she's going to go to heaven when she died. She said, Oh, yes, I know for sure she went to a Presbyterian church. And I said, Well, how do you know that you're going to go to heaven? And she said, Well, just because I'm a good person, you know, I just do good things. I live a good life. I'm a good person. And I said, Well, you know, do you have a second? I just like to show you what the Bible says how to be saved, because it's a little bit different than that. And she said, Oh, you know, I don't have time. I said, Okay, well, I'll just leave you with one verse then, because whenever people don't have time to hear the gospel, I always leave them with one verse, because at least then I'm planting a seed giving them something to think about. And 99% of people will at least listen to one verse, and then you can leave them and you've at least accomplished something by giving them that one thought. So the verse that I decided to leave with her was Romans 3 10. Because she's sitting there telling me I'm a good person, I live a good life. So I just said, Well, let me just leave this one thought with you. You know, Romans 3 10 says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one, right after that says there's none that do with good, no, not one. And I said, Jesus said, there's none good but one. And that's God. So according to the Bible, none of us really. And she said, Well, speak for yourself, but I live a really good life. I am a good person. And I said, Well, I said, you know, that's not what the Bible is. That's not what Jesus said. You know, according to the Bible, we deserve hell. But if we just believe on Jesus Christ, we and she yelled at me and said this. She said, Oh, well, thanks a lot. That's a really uplifting message you gave me. That was a really uplifting verse from the Bible and slammed the door. But you know what? It is uplifting to Jesus. Yeah, it doesn't lift you up. It lifts Jesus up because the verse I quoted said that Jesus said, Why call us thou me good? There's none good but one and that's God. You're not good. God's good. Jesus is good. You need to be saved. But people don't want to hear that message because it's not uplifting. Because they don't want to lift up God. They don't want to lift up Jesus. They don't want to lift up the gospel. Lift me up. I want to be lifted. No, the Bible says, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. If you lift yourself up, if you exalt yourself, you'll be abased. You'll be humbled. God will bring low those who are proud. And that's just pride when you stand there and say, I'm going to heaven because I'm such a good person. And I was very friendly. You know, my soul winning partner can testify that I was very friendly. I was smiling the whole time. I was trying to be gentle and nice. I was just showing her a couple verses about how there's none righteous, we're all sinners. And she just angrily shouted at me and shut the door because it wasn't uplifting. And that's what people are looking for today. It doesn't matter whether it's true. Just tell me something uplifting. Doesn't matter what the Bible says. It doesn't matter what it does for the Lord Jesus Christ. Just tell me something positive. Go to Isaiah chapter 30, Isaiah chapter number 30. People are looking for a positive message. The proof is Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen preaches to a crowd of tens of thousands of people. And not only does he preach to a crowd of tens of thousands of people, I know I go out soul winning all the time. And people say, oh, you know, I watch Joel Osteen. You know, you say, hey, do you go to church anywhere? No, but I watch Joel Osteen. He's popular. He's everywhere. Now, amongst our crowd, he's a laughing stock. But honestly, there are a lot of people out there who take him seriously. And you know why he's so popular? Because he'll always lift you up. He's always positive. He'll always tell you something nice. He'll always prophesy good concerning you. But look what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not. And to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Go to chapter 56 of Isaiah. Chapter 56 of Isaiah, beginning verse number 10, it says, his watchmen are blind. Now can you imagine a blind watchman? What's a watchman? Basically, a watchman is like a security guard, or somebody who is stationed to guard a city, guard a wall, guard a tower, guard a military installation, whatever. And so it says his watchmen are blind. Now remember, God told Ezekiel that he had set him a watchman to warn people of the judgment to come, to warn people of their sins and the consequences of their sins, and to warn the house of Judah and the house of Israel. So it says here, his watchmen, meaning God's watchmen, are blind. It says they are all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Basically the picture here is of a security guard sleeping on the job, a blind man as a security guard, or a dog as a watchdog that is unable to bark. You know some dogs have had a surgery done or something where they can no longer bark? Imagine that as a watchdog. Now in my opinion, the best thing that a dog is good for is just to bark, to make noise. And by the way, look up every time a dog is mentioned in the Bible. There's a lot of negative mentions of dogs. And you know why I'm a little negative about dogs right now? Because I was out soul winning all day yesterday, and dogs were barking at us and chasing us everywhere we went. And you know you're trying to give people the gospel, dogs are barking, you know. So they work as a security guard. And by the way, here's my pet peeve, when people can't control their dog, you knock on a door out soul winning, they come to the door and they're like, they're like wrestling their dog. They're like, can I help you? Can I help you? And you're like, yeah, you know, I just want advice. I can't really talk right now, you know, I'm trying to handle this. Who's ever been to a door like that where you're out soul winning? Why do you have a dog that you're not capable of holding down? What if this dog turns on you someday? Get your dog under control. But anyway, you know, that has nothing to do with discernment, but to me that's what a dog is good for. Why do I have a dog? Because I needed a watchdog. People were trying to break into my house a few times. I tried getting an alarm, tried getting cameras, put up menacing signs, and the only thing that worked was to get a dog, because the dog barks and people leave. So that's what a dog is good for. He's saying this is like a dumb dog that can't bark. You know, the enemy comes and it's just like, you know, there's no noise. There's no effect. And God is saying this about preachers. He's talking about an ignorant preacher in verse 10. He's talking about a blind preacher, a dumb preacher, not dumb meaning foolish, but dumb meaning he doesn't have the voice to bark and warn at the enemy approaching, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber, yea there are greedy dogs which can never have enough. By the way, the love of money is the root of all evil. Greedy dogs. That's why they're not barking. That's not why they're preaching, right? Yea there are greedy dogs which can never have enough and they are shepherds that cannot understand. And listen to this really positive message. Tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant. I mean, you know what? Today's a great day, isn't it, beloved? Isn't today a wonderful day? It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the... Hello, neighbor. Thank you for coming to Faith Board Baptist Church. Isn't it a beautiful day today? And you know what? Tomorrow is going to be even better than today. And it doesn't even matter what you do. It doesn't even matter what our country is doing. It doesn't even matter how you live your life. You're a drunk. You're living in fornication. You're committing adultery. You know what? Isn't God good, though? Why focus on all that negative stuff? Isn't he good? Isn't it just good to be in church, you know? But see, that's what the picture is that's being painted here of a preacher who's supposed to be warning people. He's supposed to be telling people of the dangers, and he's supposed to be telling people of the coming judgment of God. And instead, he's just telling them, hey, you know what, today's great, and tomorrow's going to be even better. Pass the wine. You know, pass the alcohol. And let's just eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we die, all right? But look what the Bible says in James 4. Because by the way, Jesus was a man of sorrows. And listen to this from Ecclesiastes 7 verse 3. Sorrow is better than laughter. For by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. Now the Bible has a lot of good positive things to say about laughter and joy, but it also has some good things to say about sorrow. And there's a time for sorrow, and there's a time to be negative. Now I can't stand people that are negative all the time, but you know what, I can't stand people that are positive all the time either, and they can never get negative when it's time to get negative. You see, we need both. I'm not up here preaching this morning saying, hey, we need negative preaching all the time. It's all hell, fire, and damnation. What I'm trying to say is that we need to preach the whole counsel of God, and that we need to preach the positive and the negative, and not just be a positive only preacher, because you're turning the truth of God into a lie when you just only talk about the positive. Then it's no longer really true, because there's a balance of truth in the Bible. You can't preach heaven without preaching hell. You know, you can't preach joy without preaching sorrow. You've got to preach both. You say, well, you know, you're preaching too much Old Testament. Okay, well, let's go to the New Testament then. James chapter 4 verse 8 says this, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The Bible is teaching here that there's a time when we do need to have sorrow, when we ought to be mourning. You say, well, no, I just want to be happy all the time. I just want to be positive all the time. But that's not reality. That's not life. That should not be our goal, to just be happy all the time, happy every day, joyful, non-sorrow. No, because there's a time when we need to mourn, when we need to weep, when we need to be sorry for something. And the Bible teaches that both are necessary. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4 where we started, 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. The Bible says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. Now notice those three words there in verse 2. He says, reprove, rebuke, exhort. And to reprove means to tell somebody that they're wrong. That's what a reprove is. It's when you correct someone and tell them that they're wrong. You say, well what's the difference between rebuke and reprove? Because he says, reprove, rebuke. Rebuke is the same thing except it's more stern. It's a little bit harsher. It's a little bit more forceful than a reprove. A rebuke is taking it to the next level of, of reprove. And then it says exhort, which is to try to get someone to do something that they're not doing. Exhort and then it says with all long suffering, so we should be patient with people and loving and understand that different people are at different levels of growth. We should have long suffering and not expect everybody to be perfect and not expect everybody to just overnight become a perfect Christian. He says do it with long suffering and do it with doctrine. You know, teach people. Don't just get up and yell, ah, you need to do what I say. You know, teach it from the Bible so that they can be reproved from the Bible and understand why they need to make changes in their life based upon the word of God. So he's saying reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. And what he's saying there is that the temptation is going to be there to stop doing it when it becomes unpopular. You need to do it because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts, their own lusts are their own desires. They want to hear what they want to hear, okay. He says after their own lusts are they heaped to themselves, teachers having itching ears. Now what does the word heap mean in the Bible? Whenever you see the word heap in the Bible, it means a huge quantity, a huge amount. It's a giant pile of something is a heap. Now I never really hear people say this in America but people from Australia, they'll say, oh yeah, heaps of, you know, they'll talk about instead of saying a lot of something, they'll say, oh yeah, heaps of time, you know, whatever. I don't know why they say that but they say the word heaps all the time. But we don't really say that but that's what it means. To heap up something is to make a huge pile of something. So what this tells me is that someday there are going to be a lot of preachers that are going to tell people what they want to hear. I mean they're not just going to have a cup, they're not just going to have, you know, Joel Osteen and Rick Warren. No, they're going to heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. I mean they're just going to have heaps upon heaps and piles and piles. And look, you see that story that we looked at where there were 400 prophets that would tell people? I promise you, you can find 400 positive only preachers in Phoenix alone, easily, easily. Forget America, forget Arizona, just in Phoenix you can find 400 positive only preachers. Now the thing that's so deceptive about positive only preachers is that a lot of what they're saying is right but it's only half the story. So you'll go to one of these positive churches and listen to what they're saying. I mean, you know, I've never sat through a Joel Osteen message but I have a sneaking suspicion that if you sat down and watched a Joel Osteen message, I'll bet you a lot of what he says is true, a lot of positive good things. I'm sure he has lies mixed in but I'm sure that there are some of his messages that are probably all true because there are some positive things in the Bible. There are a lot of nice things and good things and the Gospel is good news and so there are a lot of positives but the thing that's so deceptive about positive only preaching is that they're telling you the truth but it's not the whole truth and it's deceptive because it gives you a false impression of who God is and it doesn't warn you about what you need to be warned about. Look, the problem with most preachers, just remember this, the problem with most preachers is not what they say, it's what they don't say. That's the problem. It's not that the dog is barking too much, it's that the dog isn't barking enough. It's that the dog is not warning of the enemy, okay. So the problem is that preachers today want to be popular, they're greedy and so they'll give a positive only message. But look, you say well I'm not a pastor, go if you would to Jeremiah chapter 6 but here's the thing about it though, we need to be careful, forget preaching or being a pastor, we need to be careful just as Christians that we don't get into this mentality of, you know, hear no evil, see no evil, just don't tell me anything negative, I only want to hear that which is positive because that's the way a lot of people are today. Now again, outsoleting, yesterday I ran into many people like that. Not only just that lady who said well you're not uplifting me when you tell me that I'm a sinner, you're not uplifting me when you tell me that Jesus is the only one that is without sin and that is good in the eyes of God. And not only that, I was talking to this other guy and any time I said anything negative, this guy just shut off, whoa, whoa. You know, and I remember when I was a teenager going to these liberal NIV preaching, you know, churches that were the rock and roll type, new evangelical type churches, I remember that literally no criticism of any other religion was ever allowed. If you just said some remark, something negative about Mormonism, something negative about Catholicism, something negative about any other religion, they would just, oh, you know, you need to stop judging and you're being too negative, how do you, and it's funny because you try to tell people sometimes, you try to tell them like did you know that the Mormons, you know, believe that there's a multitude of gods and that there are people living on other planets and that if they're a really good Mormon they can be their own god of their own planets and they're literally just like, well, I don't know anything about that. I don't know anything about that. And you're like, well, yeah, but I'm telling you about it. No, no, I don't care about that. You know, I just have a personal relationship with Jesus, man, and that's all I need to worry about. I don't need to know what the Mormons are doing. I don't need to know about the cat. Don't tell me that, buh, buh, and they don't want to hear it. And literally, you know, I was talking to this guy yesterday and he was this, you know, just no negative. It's all just my personal relationship. And I was trying to tell him that he wasn't saved because he's telling me that the reason that he's saved, this is why he was saved, because he quit doing heroin and crystal meth and he turned from all that. And he said that's what you have to do to be saved. You just have to turn from all your sins, repent of all your sins, and have a personal relationship with Jesus. And he said, man, that personal relationship with Jesus is something you've got to work on every day. You work on it every day. But it's not works. But you work on it every day. But it's not works. Because I said, well, that's work salvation. He's like, no, no, no, it's not works. You just, you just, you work on it, but it's not works, you know. And then it's like, oh, well, you just have to turn from all these sins and everything. So I was trying to show him in the Bible that we're all sinners, we all sin every day, and, you know, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in us. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. And here's what's funny. I told this guy, because he didn't want to hear anything negative, nothing negative about any other religion, about anything. And I told this guy, I said, you know, it's funny because I said, you think that you're going to go to heaven because you quit being addicted to heroin, but, you know, I never even started taking heroin. So is that my, do I get a free ticket into heaven? Because I, you know, like, so if you go out and become a heroin addict and then turn from that, that'll get you into heaven, right? What about all the people who never started taking heroin? You know, and I'm sick of people going around and bragging about their testimony about, oh, I lived such a wicked life and oh, I was on drugs and I was a gangster and I shot people, but you know, oh, I've been delivered of all, oh, will you come speak at my church and give that testimony about how you turn from all your sins? You know, you know what I'm more impressed by? The guy who never shot people, the guy who never took drugs, the guy who never even started on heroin. And you know what? Have you ever passed where you used to be a drug addict and you used to do all those things? You know what? Praise God for that, but don't go around bragging about it because you know what that is? That's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about Jesus, not about you. It's not about you. Oh, let me just tell you about, oh, and then, well, God gets all the glory, but let me tell you how I turn from all my sins and no, no, no. Let's talk about the cross. Let's talk about Jesus dying on the cross and how he was buried and three days later rose again. Let's talk about how the only reason you're going to heaven is because of Jesus and what he did. And the way that you get saved is by believing in Jesus, not by cleaning up your life, not by turning over a new leaf, not by turning from a life of sin. And by the way, there are people who get off of heroin all the time and it has nothing to do with Jesus. It's called a 12 step program. It's called Alcoholics Anonymous. It's called Narcotics Anonymous. And you know what? Some people just get sick of that lifestyle and they turn from it. That's not going to get them into heaven, my friend. It's not turning from, well, first you got to go out and do a bunch of really bad sin. That way you can turn from it and you have a really good testimony. No, you know what I, you know what my testimony is? I believed in Jesus and I'm saved. Oh, well, that's not that exciting. I think it's very exciting. But the thing is, people, he wanted to take credit for his salvation saying, it's something I work on every day. It's a personal relationship. And whenever people hit me with this personal relationship thing, by the way, relationship is a word that's never found in the Bible, by the way. Whenever people hit me with this, I always say to them this, I say, well, you know what? I have a relationship with my wife, right? And does that take work to have a good relationship with your wife? Absolutely. Does it take work to have a good relationship with your husband? Effort? Of course. Okay, what happens if I stop putting forth the effort and start having a really bad relationship with my wife? Am I still married? What if my wife and I just ignored each other for days? Would we still be married? Absolutely. But there's not, there's not joy there, there's not fellowship there. Well, it's the same thing with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved. Now if you want to have a good relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that's going to take a lot of work. That's going to be a daily thing. But whether you do or you don't, you're still saved because you believed on Jesus. Because it's a status that doesn't change. You're begotten again. You're born again. You're a child of God. And just as if my children disobeyed me, are we going to have a good relationship? No. They're going to be disciplined. But are they still going to be my children? Am I still going to love them? Of course. It'd be like if my children said, you know, well, in order to stay in this household, I have to have a personal relationship with my dad. You know, how do I get into this family? How do I become an Anderson child? You know, and live in your home. Well, you know, all you have to do is have a personal relationship with my dad. And it's something that I work on every day. And if I didn't have this personal relationship with my dad, I'd no longer be his son anymore. Think about that. Think about how ridiculous that is. No. Guess how you get into the family. You're born into it. And guess how you're born into it. By faith, not works. It's by believing in Jesus. You're born into the family. And then a relationship is optional. Now, if you don't have the relationship, your life's going to be miserable because God's going to punish you and God's going to judge you. And if you do have the relationship, then things are going to go well for you because, you know, God's going to bless you. Not saying you're not going to go through trials and tribulations. The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all, the Lord delivers him and there's joy unspeakable and full of glory. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have joy, our joy is full. Okay, so that's a difference there between being married and having a relationship with my wife. Difference between being a child and having a relationship with your parents. Difference between being saved and having a relationship with the Lord. Being saved is faith. And if you have a relationship with the Lord, work every day. Work at it. Hard work. But this guy, he didn't want to hear anything negative. And it's funny how people just, you know, close their eyes to, you know, oh, you're right, you know, the Mormons, they love Jesus. We talked to another guy. He told us, oh, the Jews, out so early yesterday. He said, you know, I used to practice Judaism and he said, you know what, the Jews love the Lord and, you know, they're looking for a Messiah, he said. They're looking for the Messiah. They love the Lord. They're looking for the Messiah and they believe the Old Testament. And I showed him, you know, where it says, where Jesus said, if they believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he spake of me. But if you believe not his writings, how can you believe my words? So I said, well, according to the Bible here, the Bible says that if you don't believe in Jesus, you don't believe in Moses. Because Jesus said, if you believed Moses, you would have believed me. He said, well, I still think they believe in Moses. But here's what Jesus said. You know, Jesus said, if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed in me, but if you believe, for he spake of me, but if you believe not his writings, how should you believe my words? Well, no, you know, I still think that they believe in Moses. And he said, you know, all this doctrine and attacking other religions, we just need to just focus on Jesus. You know, but that's what's popular today and that sounds good and that rolls off everybody's tongue. Oh, just talk about Jesus. Just talk about the Gospel. You know what? They're looking for the Jews that they're not saved and they're looking for the antichrist. They're looking for the devil. You mean they're looking for a messiah. What? Because you know why they're looking for a messiah? Because they didn't like the one that God gave them. God gave them the real one and they don't like it, so we're looking for something. Well, I'm looking for God. Here, you want to look in here? No. I'll look somewhere else. I'll look in the Kabbalah. You know, I'll look in the Talmud. But it just amazes me how people just, hey, don't criticize any denomination. Don't tell me the Mormons are worshiping other gods. Don't tell me that people are bowing down and kissing the Pope's big toe as a greeting. Don't tell me that the Mormons believe in people on other planets. Don't tell me that the Jews have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and spit on the ground three times every time they mention His name. Don't tell me anything negative. I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me that that long-haired hippie on Duck Dynasty is not really saved because he believes in baptism to be saved, because he's Church of Christ, and he believes you can lose your salvation, and he believes that salvation is by works. Don't tell me that. I just want to put him all over Facebook and talk about what a great Christian he is, and it's just so wonderful that somebody's on TV standing up for Jesus, right? But it's the wrong Jesus, my friend, because the Church of Christ is a false religion that tells you that you have to work your way to heaven, speak in tongues to be saved, be baptized to be saved. Why doesn't anybody want to just hear the truth anymore? It doesn't matter whether it's positive or negative, in season, out of season, good, evil. Hey, if it's the truth, it's the truth. And you know what? If I'm wrong, I want to be told that I'm wrong. And if I'm right, I want to be told that I'm right. But I don't want to go to somebody who's just going to tell me I'm right even when I'm wrong. You can't trust people like that. Just the yes man. Just tell you everything you want to hear, but just make the check out to faithful word. And I'll tell you whatever you want to hear. I mean is that what people are looking for in a church today? I'll make you feel good, I'll make you tingle. I mean is that what people are looking for? Music that'll make you tingle, preaching that'll make you tingle. It's not going to tingle, it's going to burn when you come here. But I'm just telling you the truth today. This is Bible preaching. And look, I'm not all negative all the time, but sometimes we need a negative sermon. Yes we need to talk about the good news that Jesus paid it all. Yes we need to talk about the good news that salvation's a free gift. But we also need to talk about the bad news that the devil's going around telling everybody that you work your way to heaven. And that it's impossible to know for sure that you can go to heaven. What about the bad news that anybody who does not believe on Jesus Christ is condemned already? That's bad news today. Needs to be warned. Somebody needs to talk about it. Jeremiah chapter 6, look at verse 13. It says, for from the least of them, even under the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even under the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. See talking about peace is a great thing, but he's saying they say peace when there is no peace. Now it's interesting here it says that they've healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. Now the word slightly there means deceptively. That's what that word means, slightly. Have you ever heard of people when they do magic tricks and they call it slight of hand tricks? So it's a different definition of slight than you're used to because you might think of slightly as kind of. Like well they kind of healed it. No that's not what it's saying. They've healed it slightly, meaning deceptively, not in reality. It would be like if somebody came to the doctor and they said oh man you know I just have this horrible pain in my head and I don't know what's wrong with me. And it turned out they had brain cancer or something like that. And the doctor just says you know oh just if you just keep taking ibuprofen until your headache goes away. Take two if that doesn't work take two more. You know or let me give you a stronger painkiller. Instead of actually figuring out first hey is there something wrong with the head here. That would be healing them slightly. Hey doctor fix my headache and then you die of brain cancer because he didn't actually address the real problem of what was going on. And that's what the Bible is saying about these prophets that these preachers are healing the hurt of people slightly just by telling them it's okay. So basically people have real problems in their life. And then a pastor just tells them you know what it's okay everything's fine and he makes them feel good as they keep marching down the wrong path as they keep making a worse mess of their life as they keep treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and as they keep on making the same mistakes and destroying their life and just telling them hey just peace. Peace bro. You know just peace. Look just let's just talk about Jesus. Let's just talk about the good news man. Just get free bro. Just free yourself from all this negativity. But you know what though negativity is necessary. And whenever I run into these people who just say oh we need to just positive positive positive I always tell them you know what you should do because I like this positivity thing. Remove the negative cable from your battery in your car. Because it's just it's bringing you down. You know what I mean? Just like you don't need that you don't need that negativity in your life. Just remove it. Just get rid of it. Just heck up. How about this two positives. Just hook up two positive battery leads. You know but guess what you're going nowhere because nothing works with positive. You've got to have the positive and the negative. Now look is negative only going to work. And there look there are people out there that are negative only. There are preachers out there that are negative only like oh man you know there's no they don't give any hope in their message. They don't even tell you anything good to do or how to face it's like you're doomed we're all doomed. There's no hope. You know obviously we need a message of hope that Jesus saves that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. We need a message that tells us you know what we can get people saved. Our church can grow. We can succeed. We can win people the Lord. You can have a good marriage. You can raise children that are going to live for God. It's possible to succeed and prosper and do right. But you know what we need the warning too. We need the negative too. We must have both. We must have the balance of both. And either way you're going nowhere. If you're all positive or all negative you must have both. I think a great passage that illustrates this is Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Go ahead and turn over there. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I'll keep reading for you from Jeremiah 6 where we were he said they have healed also the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down sayeth the Lord thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein so in that passage the lying preacher the lying false prophet just said peace peace when there is no peace right what did the righteous preacher say he said stand in the way and ask for the old paths wherein is the good way walk therein and ye shall find rest unto your souls but then they said well you know we don't want to we don't want to do that and then they go to the guy who just says peace peace when there is no peace. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1 says this to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven so you see it's not always time to be positive or be rejoicing or whatever there's a time for both positivity and negativity it says there's a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted a time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep watch this a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance does it say it's always dance time it's always rejoice time it's always happy time that's not what it says. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to get a time to lose a time to keep a time to cast away a time to rend and a time to sew a time to keep silence and a time to speak watch this a time of love and a time of hate time of war and a time of peace so to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven getting an overly simplistic view that says always positive always the good news always joy always happy and by the way this is also an unrealistic expectation to have of your life you need to understand that you are going to go through times of sadness and sorrow and grief and that's okay but a lot of people they think that if there's a time of sorrow and sadness they need to immediately get drugs oh you're depressed take an antidepressant now I knew a lady whose child her only child died now when your only child dies do you think you're going to be mourning think you're going to be weeping right and this lady was given antidepressants by her doctor weeks later a couple weeks two weeks later oh you need to get on these antidepressants now wait a minute she doesn't have chronic depression here her child just died she's going through a normal grieving mourning process she doesn't need drugs because that's actually a healthy normal process when someone you love dies you mourn for them now the bible does teach that we don't mourn like those who have no hope we know that we have hope in Jesus Christ and so I don't believe that we should just you know go down with sorrow to the grave as Jacob said that isn't right to just mourn endlessly and to just I'm just going to be sorry for the rest of my life no what you do is you go through a normal mourning period I mean some people in the bible that died they mourned for them forty days and forty days they they put on sackcloth and mourned and were sad you know obviously when someone dies or when something horrible happens the normal response is to be sad to mourn but you move on from that you know God heals you and you move on and then there comes a time of joy in your life a time of rejoicing in your life and you're happy once again and you rejoice in the Lord and you're thankful for the things that you have but it's wrong to sit there and have an expectation of never having any sorrow never having any mourning and if you're sad if you're sorry take these antidepressants and by the way one of the side effects is depression and one of the side effects is suicide literally look up any antidepressant in the package insert and in the possible side effects depression suicidal tendencies violence are listed as possible side effects of the antidepressants go figure but we think today oh I need a drug to make me happy all the time but honestly you just need to go through sad times the bible said through the sorrow the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better so God's saying that things that we go through that make us sad they actually make us a better person now who wants to be a better person I want to be a better person right well then that means I'm going to have to go through some times of sadness in my life you know David said it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might keep thy word you know God uses affliction and sadness in our life to make us a better person sometimes you need to go to church and not hear what you want to hear but hear what you need to hear and if you're one that's living in sin and you come to church and the pastor preaches on your sin you need to hear that you need a swift kick in the pants about you don't always need a pat on the back when you come to church sometimes you need a pat on the back sometimes I give you a pat on the back you're like when was that no I've done it many times I've done it many times but let me say this though you sometimes need to come and get a swift kick in the pants you know verbally because of the fact that you're not right with God there are times when I'm not right with God and I need a swift kick in the pants because we're all human and we all make mistakes and none of us is perfect and we're all growing and so we need to come to a church that's not just going to build us up all the time okay and I like to use this illustration what if you were into sports and your coach never said anything negative to you never I mean have you ever been on a sports team you stupid you know that's how the coach usually talks to you on sports you know I haven't been on a sports team in many years and I barely even did any teams I've never been big on team sports but I run around my neighbor I do a lot of running and there's a soccer team that practices at the park right behind my house and I jog laps around that park and this soccer coach first of all he's out of shape you look at him and you know he's got a big gut he's out of shape and he's smoking a cigarette okay and I mean he's coaching soccer which is the most physically demanding sport that there is as far as just endurance I mean it's very demanding of a sport who's ever played a lot of soccer before it's hard I mean it's tiring he's sitting there gut smoking a cigarette and he's yelling at these kids and he's what's wrong with you you know they're running laps at the beginning of practice he's yelling why are you going so slow what's wrong with you you know I remember when I used to go to the Muay Thai gym in Chandler which is kickboxing and I would go there and that man the trainer there was mean and he would sit he would just sometimes he would just stand you know you're you're doing just he tons of push-ups also and you're like you know trying to crank out one more and he'll just literally just stand in front of you just be like wow you know you you are weak you need to get a lot I'm not kidding he'll just stand there and just shake his head like what I mean people are literally like and he's like he's like why do you even come here if you're not gonna try I'm thinking like what in the world they're trying their hardest are you kidding you know but but if you did well he'd praise you you know and tell you oh yeah you're doing great you're getting a lot stronger you're doing good but I mean this guy was negative you know he'd tell you but honestly maybe that guy was a little too negative okay and maybe that guy at the park you know maybe him too I don't know but what I'm saying is a little bit of a hypocrite right you know come on run faster but the thing is though if you went to the other extreme and had an all-positive coach it'd be a terrible coach terrible I mean think about it every any teacher in your life whether it's your piano teacher what if she just never tells you anything negative you're never gonna learn how to play the piano because she has to tell you no you're doing that wrong you need to change that or oh I'm sorry piano teacher I haven't played piano in the last seven days since our last lesson oh that's okay don't worry about that you're never gonna learn how to play she has to tell you no you must pray you know I'm not gonna teach you piano unless you do the work unless you practice unless you get something done and and the same thing what if I just went to a boxing gym and I'm just you know I'm throwing punches like a five-year-old you know the hammer fist is the only thing they know and what if they just said man that looks good you are looking good I love the I love your intensity you know no they have to tell you no that's wrong you know you need to you need to throw a straight punch you know and tell you hey keep your elbows in no chicken wing you know you don't want to go and fight like this you know no chicken wing keep your elbows in you know keep your chin down you know and tell you all the coaching and what does the coaching sound like you're wrong you're wrong you're wrong you're wrong your chin's wrong your elbows are wrong your hands are wrong your feet are wrong and you're like thank you can I pay you to tell me that again next week of course you want to be told that you're wrong why because you don't want to be wrong because you want to do it right and the only way to do it right is to have someone tell you that you're doing it wrong and tell you what to change now think about how bad a coach would be if he was all negative you just went there he said that's awful looks horrible you look stupid it's garbage how do I do it right what I don't know but it's not what you're doing right now what you're doing right now is not working okay what do I do well you know just just keep trying and I'll tell you when it looks good it looks horrible no because you need the positive also saying hey here's how you do it oh yeah yep that was a good one hey you did it right that time good job on that one yep keep doing it like that oh don't do it like that so that's what preaching is it's it's coaching you I'm a life coach up here I never thought I'd call myself that but you know it's the it's the truth you need both don't you you need the positive and you need the negative don't get sucked into all this positive only stuff and I'll just leave you with one last verse the Bible says in Matthew 4 you don't have to turn there but he answered and said is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God every word you say well what percentage of the Bible is negative and what percentage is positive I've never done that exact study but there's a lot more negative than there is positive that's just a fact so I don't like that well you don't like the Bible well the New Testament though well you know Revelation kind of a negative book and if we go to any of the epistles Paul's saying you fools you know he's like you know I mean the epistles are some harsh language sometimes to people but look there are a lot of wonderful positive things also beautiful things peaceful joyful things but what I'm trying to say is that we need all of it don't make the mistake of saying well I only want just the one side and not the other let's get the whole smorgasbord of what God has to offer let's get the whole balanced meal let's get the balanced nutrition of God's word every word and and you know what these these guys that are going to preach only the positive turn them off because they're they're actually leading you astray when they do that even well but what he said was right what he said was biblical you're being led astray because of the omission of half the story and then you know when you leave out half the story the whole thing becomes deceptive let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord and we thank you so much for for the positive and the negative Lord you know we need it both both of it is so important to us spiritually Lord help us never to try to just you know focus only on the positive and just happy happy happy joy Lord help us to actually just focus on reality and just loving you and and and actually embracing every part of your word Lord and realizing that there's a time to love and a time to hate and there's a time to to mourn and a time to rejoice Lord and in Jesus name we pray amen all right let's sing one more song before we go