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

Now, this morning, I'm going to continue the theme that I've been preaching the last few Sunday mornings. Three weeks ago, I preached on the humiliation of Jesus Christ. And the theme verse was Acts chapter 8, verse 33, where the Bible said, in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken from the earth. Speaking of Jesus Christ and his humiliation. So in that sermon, I preached about his poverty. Last week, I preached about his rejection. This week, I'm going to preach about his accusation. You see, throughout Jesus' life, he was constantly being falsely accused. And we're going to look at about 15 of those false accusations in this morning's sermon. Over and over again, people were falsely accusing Christ. And therefore, we should expect that if we follow Jesus Christ, we're going to be falsely accused as well. The Bible says, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Now, you stay there in John chapter 18, but the first accusation that I'm going to bring out this morning is that number one, he was falsely accused of making himself a king. In fact, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, the Bible says in Matthew 27, 37, and set up over his head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. So when they would crucify someone, apparently they would put an accusation above their head so that everybody who walked by would understand why they were being crucified, understand what their crime was, and so that they would see and fear and that it would be deterrent to other criminals. So Jesus Christ's main accusation that was put above his head when he was crucified, it says in Mark chapter 15, verse 26, and the superscription of his accusation was written over the King of the Jews. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. That was the accusation. Look down at John chapter 18, verse 28, then led they, Jesus, from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. And it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Now a malefactor is a criminal, and that word's used three other times in the Bible. It's used toward the two thieves that are crucified on either side of Jesus. Three times they're referred to as malefactor. The dictionary definition of malefactor is a person who violates the law, a criminal, a person who does harm or evil, especially toward another. So they're accusing Jesus, number two, of being a malefactor. We jump down to John chapter 18, verse 31. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Jesus then answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end I was born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth, everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. Now jump down if you would to chapter 19, verse number 4. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. Look at verse 12. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. So we see here that the accusation falsely that's made of Christ is that he's making himself a king, or that he has made himself a king. Now here's the true story. Jesus was born a king. He was born, and that's the reason why he came into this world. He is the King of Kings, and he is the Lord of Lords. But the reason this is a false accusation is that, number one, he did not make himself a king. And number two, he was not a king in the sense of an earthly king, because he clearly said, My kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I would not be delivered unto the Jews. He said, But my kingdom is not from here. My kingdom's not of this world. They were trying to make a false accusation that Jesus was trying to overthrow the government, that he was going to overthrow Pilate and overthrow King Herod and overthrow Caesar himself and set himself up as a king and throw off the earthly rulers there, and that was a false accusation. Now, because this false accusation was made, they proceeded to mock Jesus by dressing him up as a king. This is why they even put the crown of thorns on his head in the first place. Not just the pain from shoving thorns into his brow, but rather the humiliation of being mocked and ridiculed with a fake crown. They bowed down to him and mocked him as a king. Go over to Luke chapter 23. I'll show you that in Luke. Go to Luke chapter 23. So far we've seen three false accusations made against Jesus. Number one, he was accused of making himself king. Number two, he was called a malefactor or a criminal. Number three, he was accused of making himself the son of God, because the Bible had said in John 19.7, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God. Now, truly he was the son of God, but he didn't make himself the son of God. He was declared to be the son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Christ had the witness of God the Father himself at his baptism when the voice came from heaven at his baptism, This is my beloved son in whom I've well pleased. So that's the third false accusation. Look at Luke chapter 23 verse 10. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him, and Herod with his men of war sent him at naught, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. That's why in John 19 we see him arrayed in a purple robe with a crown of thorns upon his head. They actually shoved that crown of thorns into his brow, then they actually hit him on the head with a stick. They took a reed in their hand and smote him on the head to drive those thorns deeper into his flesh. They also bowed down to him and mocked him and pretended like they were worshiping him and so forth. It's humiliating for him to be accused of making himself a king, of making himself the son of God, of being a malefactor. Not only that, but he was accused of many other things that are not mentioned in the Bible. Stay in Luke 23, but in Mark 15, 3 the Bible says the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. He doesn't go into detail, but the Bible there says at that time that they just accused him of a whole lot of different things. That's the fourth. But number five, look down at verse number two of Luke 23. Number five, Jesus was accused of perverting the nation. I mean, that's a pretty strong accusation. It says in verse number two, and they began to accuse him saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ the king. Look at verse 14. He said unto them, you've brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people, and behold, I've examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him. Now let me stop and say this. A lot of times false accusations are vague. They're very vague. So a lot of the false accusations against Christ are just, well, what did he do wrong? Why have you brought this man to me? What is he guilty of? I find no fault in him, and then it's just, well, if he wasn't a malefactor, we wouldn't have brought him. Of course he's a criminal. Why do you think we brought him down here? Okay, what's the charge? What's he being accused of? And then just this other vague, well, we found him perverting the nation. We found him perverting the people, just kind of throwing that out there, using a really strong term, really strong language to try to make it sound really bad. Perverting the nation. But then when they get specific about what he's actually being accused of, it's, well, look down at verse two there, well, he was forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. So well, he's telling people not to pay their taxes. That's why he deserves the death penalty, they're saying. That's why he should be crucified. I mean, isn't that ridiculous? But apparently they know how to get on the good side of government. You know, when they're talking to him about religion, Pilate might kind of glaze over, but then they say to him, well, he's telling people not to pay taxes. What'd you say? What? We got to deal with this guy. And in fact, Pilate keeps on trying to let him go until he gets to the part where they say, well, if you let him go, you're not Caesar's friend. You're not Caesar's friend. He's telling people not to pay their taxes to Caesar. He's forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar. He's making himself a king and that puts him up against Caesar. And so Pilate chooses Caesar over the Lord Jesus Christ. But is it really true that Jesus was forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar? Go back to Luke chapter 20. Let's see if that false accusation is the truth. You're already in chapter 23, just go back a few pages to chapter 20. Let's see what Jesus actually taught about paying tribute to Caesar. Luke 20 verse 22, is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar or no? Now that shows right there that it was the leaders of the Jews, they were the ones who didn't want to pay the taxes. You'll never see Jesus going around and being a tax protester or forbidding people to pay tribute to Caesar. But it was actually the Jews, the scribes, and the high priests themselves that did not want to pay tribute to Caesar. And that's why they're coming to Jesus with that, hey, is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or no? Because that's what's in their heart. That's what they desire. So they're projecting that upon him. Verse 23, but he perceived their craftiness and said unto them, why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. And they could not take hold of his words before the people, and they marveled at his answer and held their peace. So he actually won that argument. He actually shut them down. They're afraid to ask him any more questions. They all hold their peace, but then they bring that out later. Oh, well, here's why he should be put to death, because he's forbidding people to pay tribute to Caesar. Isn't that unbelievable? That was the sixth false accusation. Number seven, go to Matthew chapter 26. Number seven, he was accused of planning to destroy the temple. The temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was accused of planning to destroy that temple. You turn to Matthew 26, I'll read for you from Mark 14, verse 55. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none, for many bear false witness against him, but their witnesses were for many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. So at Jesus Christ's trial, all these false witnesses are brought forth, and they're all lying but they can't get their lies straight. So none of their false witnesses are agreeing with each other. They're contradicting one another, so they're not holding up in court. And there arose certain and bear false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands. And within three days, I will build another made without hands. But neither so did their witness agree together. Now look down at Matthew 26, verse number 59. Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. So in Mark, it talks about witnesses saying, not just that I'm able, but that I will destroy the temple and in three days raise it up. So there's contradictions in what they heard him say. Everybody's telling a different story, but they need two witnesses to agree. Nobody's agreeing. So the closest thing they can find is, you know, one guy said, well, I heard him say he's able to do it. I heard him say he's going to do it. Okay, close enough. And they're going to convict him on that. Now what did Jesus actually say? Well, in John chapter two, they asked Jesus for a sign and he said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. He didn't say, I'm going to destroy this temple. He said, you destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. They said, forty and six years was this temple and building and wilt thou in three days rear it up? But he spake of the temple of his body. He wasn't talking about destroying a physical building. He was saying that if you destroy this temple, his body, the temple of the Holy Ghost, if you destroy this temple in three days, I will raise it up. And by the way, that's a great scripture on the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong when they say that it was just a spiritual resurrection or his spirit left his body. No, no, no. He said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple of his body. That means in three days his body was raised from the dead. Not just a spiritual resurrection but a bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why we emphasize the death, burial, and resurrection. What was buried? A spirit? No, the body was buried. It says the death, burial, and resurrection. Go if you would to John chapter eight. This accusation of Jesus destroying the temple is brought out again in the book of Acts when Stephen is on trial. They say to Stephen, we've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. Now what's interesting is that Jesus Christ did eventually destroy that place and he did destroy their literal temple. Now that's not what he meant when he said that. He was talking about the temple of his body but in 70 A.D. he sent the Romans in to wipe out Jerusalem. They did destroy that place and not one stone of the temple was left upon another. Even unto this day, a lot of people have a false belief that that wailing wall represents part of the temple. That is false because Jesus said that not one stone would be left upon another. It was raised completely to the ground and that wailing wall over there is a wall of a Roman fortress that has nothing to do with the temple in Jerusalem. No one who actually has looked into it believes that it's part of the temple but that's just a popular belief that's out there where people get confused and they think that wall is so special. They're bowing down to a Roman fortress wall. It doesn't even make any sense to just, you know, with their pagan weird head bobbing ritual that, you know, look, they've rejected the Messiah. They've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and they're crying at a wall that means nothing. They need to get on their faces and ask Jesus to save them instead of crying about that wall and all of our politicians, they go over there and they put their hand on there in order to receive money, right? They go over there and they worship a false religion and they put a funny hat on and put their hand on that wall simply to receive money. They ought to stand on their Christian principles and say, hey, I'm sorry, I'm a Christian. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't worship with those who crucified the Lord. I can't worship with those who deny the Messiah. That's antichrist. I'm not going to pray with you or worship you or pray to your God or put on hat. And look, the Jews have a different God than we do as Christians. Yes they do. Here's the proof. Whosoever denyeth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. How can they have the same God when they don't acknowledge the Son? They don't have the Father. They have a different God. And if you say they have the same God, you're just denying clear scripture that says that if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. And if you're going to say, well, I still think it's the same God. Well, you know what? You're denying scripture. The Bible says they don't have the same God. No man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus. You can't get to the Father without Jesus. You can't pray to the Father without Jesus. They're not praying to the Father. They don't have the Father as God. They have another God, a different God. Whoa, it's the God of the Old Testament. No it isn't. It's the God of the Talmud. Their Bible is not the Old Testament. Their Bible is the Talmud. Try to talk to a Jew out of the Old Testament. They'll glaze over like, what are you doing? What are you showing me? I'm saying, have you ever actually tried to show a Jewish person verses from the Old Testament to try to give them the gospel and show them things in the Old Testament? They're like, what are you, what is this? They don't even know how to navigate the thing. They don't even know what it is. They're like, what is this? I'm serious. I tried to give a guy the gospel one time that was Jewish and here's what he told me. He said, he said, well, stop for a second. Stop right there. He said, first of all, and obviously different Jews you talk to are going to have different beliefs, but the majority of them believe like this guy, believe me. He said, well, stop right there. He said, you know, we don't even, we don't even claim to believe anything except the first five books as God's word. He said, the only part that we would even think of as God's word would be the first five books. He said, the rest of this that you're showing me out of Isaiah and Psalms, he said, we don't consider that the word of God. You know, those are prophets and those are historical books and those are songs and things, but those are not the only part that we would even consider. And he said, even the first five books we take very loosely, he said. And you could say, well, but you weren't talking to the real Jew, you know, you're talking. Here's the thing. Look at the statistics. What percentage of Jews are reformed Jews and what percentage are Orthodox? And the Orthodox is a very small minority. The reformed Jews are the majority by far, but then when you go and talk to the Orthodox Jews, you'll find out that they don't actually believe the Bible either, which is why they don't do any animal sacrifices, which is why they don't, you know, and I'm not going to re-preach the movie Marching to Zion, you know, you can check that out yourself. It's on the back shelf back there. Grab a DVD on your way out if you don't understand what I'm saying, because that's a whole nother sermon. But the Jews, they got what was coming to them because their temple was destroyed. Their city was destroyed. You know, Jesus is basically, I guess attitude is if you're going to accuse me of that, I might as well do it. You know, he destroyed it. Just kidding. Because obviously he planned that all along. But go to John chapter eight, verse 45. It says, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. And this is just after he finished in John chapter eight, verse 44, telling the Jews, you're of your father, the devil, because they tried to say, well, Abraham's our father. He said, no, you're of your father, the devil. Verse 45, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father and ye do dishonor me. So here are two false accusations back to back. He's accused of being a Samaritan and he's accused of being a devil. Now why is being a Samaritan such a derogatory thing? Because the Jews were basically racist. And they still are today, by the way. They think that they're better than everybody else. So the worst thing they could call you is, well, you're a Samaritan. Meaning that you're part Jew, part Gentile. You're a mixed race. You're a mixture between those two nationalities. That's derogatory to them because they think that the Jews are some kind of a master race and that the rest of us are all supposed to serve them. Instead of understanding that God made all kindreds of the earth of one blood and that especially in the New Testament, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither Jew nor Gentile. There is neither bond nor free. We're all one in Christ Jesus. And God has made all kindreds of the earth of one blood. And we, in the New Testament, are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And we are the chosen people. We're a chosen generation and a royal priesthood through the blood of Christ. Not through our ethnicity. Not because we're black or white or Jewish or anything else. It's only if we're in Christ. That's all that matters. And it's so funny today how there are people today who want to say, oh, white people are the real Jews. Have you heard that one? The Anglo-Saxons are the sons of Isaac and Saxon Isaac. See it kind of sounds similar. That's a teaching that's out there that the white people are the real Israel. And then there's a huge segment out there that say, no, the blacks are the real Israel. The black Hebrew Israelite movement. I get comments on my YouTube channel every single day from like 20 black Hebrew Israelites. Why don't you tell the truth that the blacks are the real Israel? That the blacks are the real Jews? And then the Jews over in Palestine, you know, they're like, no, we're the real Jews. Even though our name is Kapowski, Zielinski, Brzezinski, you know, even though we look and sound Polish, we're Jews. Look, you have all kinds of people in this world trying to claim to be descended from this person and descended from that person and we're the real Jews. Hey, the Bible says it doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Gentile. It doesn't matter whether you're red, yellow, black or white. What matters is do you believe in Christ? That's all that matters. And so whether you're white or black or brown, you need to quit trying to claim that you're better than somebody else because of your ethnicity. And look, people all over the world have this attitude. It's not just white people that look down on other races. It's not. Because you could go to Asia and one Asian's looking down on another Asian. You know, the Japanese are looking down on the Chinese and the Chinese are looking down on the... And we're like, you're all Asians. What's the difference? You know, I just offended a lot of Asians right now. I mean, you go to India and it's like one shade of brown is looking down on the other shade. You're darker than me. It's like, what in the world? And then you got black people who think that they're better than everybody else because they're the Hebrew Israelites or whatever. And you've got Hispanics that have their La Raza, pride in being Hispanic. Look, the bottom line is that him that glories should only glory in the Lord. And anybody who's lifting themselves up in pride because they're white or black or Hispanic or Asian or Native American, none of it is of God. We need to glory only in Jesus Christ. And you know who our brothers and sisters are? Our fellow believers in Christ. And I'd rather any day of the week hang around with believers in Jesus Christ that are black, red, yellow, brown than to hang around with a bunch of white atheists or white pagans or white derelicts or whatever. You know, we ought to get our allegiance with God's people and not get so focused on these carnal distinctions of being so proud of our nation or proud of our country or look, the only thing I'm going to take pride in or glory in is Jesus. And all people are guilty of that in this world. Don't just try to pin that on white people. Everybody does that. Everybody in this whole world who's carnal. I'm not saying everybody does it, I'm saying all types of people do it if they're carnal. And spiritual people of all colors see past that and understand that we're all one in Christ Jesus. As long as we're saved, that's what matters. But he was accused of being a Samaritan, you know, well, you're a Samaritan. So what, who cares? And then they said, you have a devil also. They're basically accusing Jesus of being demon possessed. Now go to Mark chapter three, Mark chapter number three, verse 22. This is where Jesus is number nine, accused of being demon possessed. And number 10, he's accused of casting out devils by the prince of the devils himself. So while you're turning to Mark three, here's a quick review. Jesus was accused of making himself a king. Jesus was accused of being a malefactor or criminal. Jesus was accused of making himself the son of God. He was accused of many other things that the Bible doesn't even have time to mention at his trial. He was accused of perverting the nation. He was accused of forbidding to give tribute unto Caesar. He was accused of planning to destroy the temple. He was accused of being a Samaritan, and he was accused of being demon possessed. Look at the Bible there in verse 22. And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. And he called them unto him and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand but hath an end. Jump down if you would to verse number 28 says, Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of man, and blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation, because they said he hath an unclean spirit. So they're accusing him of being demon possessed. Hey, you have an unclean spirit. You have a devil. You're a Samaritan and have a devil. You're casting out devils by the prince of the devils. And this was defined as the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Now, many people have heard of this as the unpardonable sin or the unforgivable sin, right? Blaspheming the Holy Ghost is the unpardonable sin, because he said, If you do it, you'll never have forgiveness. All other types of sins will be forgiven. Other blasphemies will be forgiven. But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven. Now here's where people get confused on this doctrine. Okay, number one, they wonder, what is it? What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Ghost? Well, the Bible defines it right there in verse 30, because it says, Because they said... Why did he accuse them of blaspheming the Holy Ghost? Because they said he hath an unclean spirit. So if we take a strict interpretation of the Bible, the definition of blaspheming the Holy Ghost here was claiming that Jesus Christ was demon possessed, claiming that Jesus had an unclean spirit, or that he had a devil, and that he was not filled with the Holy Spirit, but that rather he had an unclean spirit. That was called the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And then number two, where people get confused, is they'll say, Well, you can lose your salvation if you commit that unpardonable sin. Now, that's not what the Bible's teaching here, because if we actually read the story, these aren't saved Christians who did this. These are not people who believe in Jesus Christ. The people who blasphemed the Holy Ghost in Scripture were all of them, unsaved people, who never believed on Jesus in the first place. So if we actually take what the Scripture says here, we have the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees saying that Jesus has an unclean spirit, and as a result, Jesus tells them, You will never be forgiven. You will never be forgiven of that sin, either in this world or in the world to come, because you have blasphemed the Holy Ghost, you're done. So what the Bible's actually teaching is that if an unsaved person blasphemes the Holy Ghost, they lose their opportunity to ever get saved in the future. That's what the Bible actually is telling us, because there's no reference here to a saved Christian blaspheming the Holy Ghost and losing their salvation. Why? Because no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus Christ a curse. No saved person who has the Holy Spirit residing in them is going to say that Jesus has an unclean spirit or that Jesus is filled with the devil. No one who's saved would ever say that. So that's just making up a straw man of, Oh, well, what if, you know, just this weird hypothetical. That's not what the Bible's teaching. What the Bible's teaching, and because people have gotten mixed up on this, they lose sight of this key teaching here, this important teaching, that it is possible for a saved person to lose their opportunity, I'm sorry, it's possible for an unsaved person to lose their opportunity to ever be saved. Don't miss that. It's possible for an unsaved person to go too far with the Lord and lose their opportunity to get saved in the future. And this is what's known as a reprobate, where they're rejected the Lord. The person who blasphemes the Holy Ghost, at that point, they become a reprobate. Jesus said, you'll never be forgiven. So are these people going to get saved a week later, a month later, a year later? He said, no, no, no, you'll never be. You're done. And by the way, there's also a scripture that warns about something similar in Revelation 22, where it says, if you take out God's word or add to God's word, he said, your place will be removed. Your part will be blotted out of the Book of Life, meaning that the place where your name would have been is gone. There's no way for you to be restored at that point. And again, who would tamper with God's word and remove and add? Obviously an unsaved person, a non-believer. And if they do that, they've sealed their faith, they're doomed. Also taking the mark of the beast is another example of something that an unsaved person could do to lose their opportunity to ever be saved in the future. Once they take the mark of the beast in Revelation, they're doomed. They're done. They're saved. But then people, they come up with these hypotheticals that are not biblical, like, well, what if a saved person takes the mark of the beast? But here's the thing, the Bible doesn't teach that. I don't believe it'll be possible for a saved person to take the mark of the beast. The whole purpose of the mark of the beast is the devil is trying to make war with the saints and destroy them. His goal is to kill all of God's people, to kill all of the saved Christians. The whole purpose of implementing the mark of the beast is so that he can single out the Christians for persecution, single out those who are saved. And so in order to get the mark of the beast, the Bible says you have to worship the beast. You worship him to receive a mark in your right hand or in your forward. Every time that mark is mentioned and the people who received it, it's always mentioning those who worshiped him in order to receive the mark of the beast. And I believe that it's very possible that because of the way the technology is going, even in 2017, and obviously this isn't happening right now, it's happening in the future. The way the technology is going, I believe that when people go down to worship the beast and receive the mark, that they will be able to know whether you're telling the truth or not so that it'll be impossible for someone to pretend to worship the Antichrist. Why? Because today there's all kinds of technology that's already there of brain scan technology that's way beyond a polygraph lie detector that can just read your thoughts. And obviously it's getting more and more advanced as we see the end approaching. So it's very possible that there could be a technology in place that would prevent anyone who's saved from just going down there and saying, hey, I'm just a weak Christian. I'm just a lame Christian and I just want to go buy some food. I'm just going to deny Christ and just go where, and then they'll get down there and they go to get the mark of the beast and some kind of a buzzer goes off. Some kind of an alert goes off, some kind of an alarm goes off, whoop, whoop, whoop. We need to take you into this secondary for some additional screening and you get renditioned off to wherever. That's another sermon that shall be preached in another time. So Jesus was accused of being demon possessed. He's accused of casting out devils by the prince of the devils. Not only that, he was accused of not being a real prophet. You turn to Matthew chapter 11, if you would, Matthew chapter 11, but Jesus was accused of not being a real prophet. You see, at one point Jesus is invited over to a certain Pharisee's house and he's having a meal at the Pharisee's house and while he's having that meal, a very sinful woman comes to the house and she's weeping at Jesus' feet and she's washing his feet with her tears and so forth and worshiping at Jesus' feet. And here's what they say, well, if this man were really a prophet, he would have known what type of woman this is. He wouldn't want her worshiping him. And then of course he explains obviously that those who have had a very sinful past and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as savior because they're forgiven much, they love much, and that's why she loved Jesus so much is because her sins were forgiven and so forth. But he was accused of being a fake prophet, being a false prophet, not being a real prophet. But not only that, number 12, he was accused of being a glutton and a winebibber. Look down at your Bible there in Matthew chapter 11 verse 18, for John came neither eating nor drinking and they say, he hath a devil. So John the Baptist was also accused of being demon possessed. The son of man came eating and drinking, the son of man is Jesus, and they say, behold a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her children. So there's the 13th accusation right there. He was accused of being a friend of publicans and sinners. Go to Matthew chapter 9. In Luke chapter 7, the Bible records that he was accused of eating with publicans and sinners, being a friend of publicans and sinners. Look at Matthew chapter number 9. The Bible says in verse 10, and it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, and he's at the home of his disciple Matthew when this happened, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they the behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So Jesus accused of being a friend of publicans and sinners or eating with publicans and sinners, hanging out with publicans and sinners. Now this is a false accusation because what we see actually happening here is that Jesus wins a guy to the Lord named Matthew, who is a publican. So when Matthew gets saved, Jesus and the rest of his disciples, they all go to Matthew's house for a meal. And when they go to Matthew's house for that meal, a lot of Matthew's old friends show up. You know, Matthew just got saved, a lot of his old friends that are publicans and sinners, they show up at the house because they want to meet Jesus. They want to get to know Jesus and his disciples. They want to hear some of the preaching. They've probably seen a great change in Matthew's life and they want to understand, hey, where is this coming from? Why is Matthew now giving up everything, forsaking everything and following Jesus? And the Pharisees, they look at that, and instead of getting excited that people are getting saved, getting excited that Matthew has turned his life around and that these other people are interested in the things of God, they condemn it and say, oh man, look, this guy's a friend of publicans and sinners. He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners. And of course, Jesus said, well, I'm here to reach these people. I'm here to preach to these people. I'm trying to get these people saved. I'm trying to get these people not only to get saved, but also to change their ways because he's preaching not only the gospel, but he's also preaching righteous living and clean living and teaching them how to live their lives in the right way. Now that was a false accusation that he's just their buddy and that he's just a drunk, a wine bibber, getting drunk with wicked people. But you know what's funny is that there's a modern day false accusation against Jesus that's associated with this. Nowadays, people are saying the same thing about Jesus, but it's Christians who say it and they say it as if it's a good thing. Here's what they say. Well, Jesus, he was hanging around in bars and houses of prostitution. Who's ever heard that one? Hey, yeah, Jesus was hanging around with the bars and hanging around with prostitutes. No, he wasn't. That is a lie. First of all, this is the only scripture that they're basing that on. Is that what you see in the scripture? Because what I see is Jesus and his disciples having a godly meal and a godly fellowship and unsaved people are invited in so that they can reach them. He's trying to call them to repentance. It's not Jesus. Show me where Jesus went down to the bar and hung out at the bar and was best buddies, bosom buddies with a bunch of drunks and publicans and sinners. No, no, no. He was calling those people to repentance. He's preaching to them. He's trying to reach them, but you'll never find that. And show me where he's just buddy-buddy with prostitutes. No, no, he's buddy-buddy with former prostitutes who've joined the church that are now living for God. And of course, he was always willing to share the gospel with a prostitute. And listen, if I'm out soul winning and I meet a lady who's a prostitute, which has happened many times, I'm glad to spend time giving her the gospel. And I'm not going to just attack her and condemn her and just tell her she's disgusting or something like that, although it is disgusting. But I'm not there to condemn. She's condemned already. I'm there to seek and to save that which was lost like Jesus to bring her the gospel of Jesus Christ so she can put her faith in Jesus and be saved. And then after she's saved, yeah, I'm going to try to get her to come to church and get some Christian growth and get the sin out of her life and so on and so forth. But just because I would give the gospel to prostitutes, and I have given the gospel to many prostitutes out soul winning, does that mean that I'm going to go down to a strip club or go down to a bar or go down to a house of prostitution for soul winning? No, that's ridiculous. That's madness. That's crazy. And does that mean that if I give the gospel to that prostitute, and let's say she doesn't get saved, I say, well, hey, let's go out to eat then. Hey, let's go hang out. You want to come over later and play with my kids? I mean, that's stupid. That's foolish. That's ridiculous. There's a difference between taking the gospel to the lost and being a friend of the world and being a friend of publicans and sinners. Yeah, I'm a friend of publicans and sinners in the sense that I love them and want them to be saved, but I'm not their friend in the sense of, hey, let's go out and party together. Let's hang out together. Here, watch my kids. Here, spend time with my wife and hang out, and you guys can have a little craft circle with my wife and a bunch of strip tease dancers and prostitutes. I mean, that's madness, but this is the day we're living in, a crazy world that we live in where men call good evil and evil good. I mean, that huge website, infowars.com, which I'd been a guest on the Infowars TV show before, and I'd been a guest on Alex Jones' radio program and stuff. They came out against me a couple of years ago because I preached a hard sermon against the homosexuals, as every Baptist preacher should be doing in 2017, preaching hard sermons against that, and they came out against me and had a whole show against me where they said this. They said, Jesus would have been hanging out at the gay bar. That's what they said. Because it was about the Orlando shooting, they said Jesus would have been hanging out at that gay bar, and the co-host is like, yeah, yeah, he would have, yeah. And these people call themselves Christians, and that's the kind of false accusation that they'd make against our Lord. They're getting all that from Matthew chapter 9. Is it there? No way. So Jesus was falsely accused in his lifetime. He's still being falsely accused, even to this day. I got to hurry up and get done here. He was accused of eating with publicans and sinners. He was also accused of violating God's law of the Sabbath. The true story was that the reason that Jesus worked on the Sabbath, because the Bible does teach that he did work on this. He did say that he worked on the Sabbath. The reason why is because Jesus Christ understood what the Sabbath represented, and Jesus Christ was the Lord of the Sabbath. Here's the teaching, and I don't have a whole lot of time. I've done this in other sermons in more detail, but let me explain it to you this way. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he was dead for three days and three nights. And all three of the days that he was dead were Sabbaths. Because it was first the Passover, then it was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then the third day he was dead was actually the seventh day of the week Sabbath, just the typical Sabbath. So the Passover was called a Sabbath, because the holidays were also called Sabbaths, plural. So what the Sabbath represented was rest, right? God created the earth in six days, and then he rested on the seventh day. That rest pictures the fact that we don't have to do any works to be saved. We have to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus did all the work. We rest in his finished work on the cross. That's actually the purpose of the Sabbath. That's how Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, was that his death, burial, and resurrection took place over the course of three Sabbaths, meaning no one was to be doing any work while Jesus is paying for our salvation. No one was to be working, symbolizing the fact that we don't do works to be saved. Jesus did all the work. We just receive salvation as a free gift by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that's why Jesus was able to work on the Sabbath. He's the one who can work on the Sabbath, because he's the Lord of the Sabbath, and he's the one that does the work while we rest. We rest. He does the work. And that's why the Bible said in Hebrews, it said... Let me turn there, because I'm drawing a blank here of what it said. But I know it's there, and I know it's in chapter 4. And usually I can quote this, no problem. In chapter number 4, it says in verse number 7, again, he limited the certain day, saying in David, today, after so long a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, and not your hearts, as in the provocation. For if Jesus had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. And here's the key in verse 10. For he that has entered into his rest, into Jesus's rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. See, the person who has entered into Jesus's rest has ceased from his own works. He's not trying to work his own way into heaven. He's not trusting in his own deeds or his own works, because salvation is not of works. Let's say he mentioned both. But that he's resting in Christ. He's putting his faith only in the finished work of Christ. Just like all the animal sacrifices represented Jesus dying for us, the Sabbath represented Jesus working for us, and us resting in his finished work on the cross. Anyway, that's a whole sermon in and of itself. But that's why it says in John, chapter 5, when they accused him for healing a man on the Sabbath day, here's what he said in response. My father worketh hitherto, and I work. So he's saying, yeah, I'm working. And when he said that to them, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Right? So he not only broke the Sabbath, but he made himself equal with God, and they wanted to kill him for that. Which leads to the fifth, I'm sorry, the 15th false accusation, this is the final false accusation, the 15th. He was accused of making himself equal with God. Go to Philippians chapter 2, last place we'll turn. Philippians chapter 2. So the Jews sought to kill him because he'd not only broken the Sabbath, but he also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. So the last thing he was accused of was making himself equal with God. Look at verse 5 of Philippians chapter 2. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, watch this, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. See, the Bible says that Jesus did not think it robbery to be equal with God. Now what does robbery mean? It means you're doing what? You're stealing something, right? So Jesus did not think it was robbery for him to be equal with God. What does that mean? It means that by being equal with God, he's not taking anything away from God. Why? Jesus and the Father and the Holy Ghost have shared that glory since before the foundation of the world, the Bible says in John 17. So in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus and the Father and the Holy Ghost, they shared that glory all the way at the beginning in Genesis 1-1 and before and all three of them are one, the Bible says, these three are one. That's why Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He was equal with God. He was God. But in spite of the fact that he was equal with God, he was God in the flesh, he made himself, verse number 7, of no reputation and took upon in the form of a serpent, sorry, not a serpent. Although the serpent held up on the pole, did represent Christ, but that's another sermon, he made himself in the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So here's the moral of the sermon. Jesus was accused in every way imaginable. I mean, you name the false accusation, he was accused of it, hanging with prostitutes, hanging with publicans, hanging with sinners, being a drunk, being a glutton, being demon-possessed, using black magic powers of Satan to cast out devils. He's accused of political subversion and making himself a king. He's accused of not paying his taxes. He's accused of demanding that other people not pay taxes. He's accused of wanting to destroy property and demolish buildings. I mean, he was accused of being a son of fornication. That's not even on my list. Number 16. He was accused of being born as a product of fornication or even worse, a product of adultery. He was accused of all these things from being a criminal to having no character to being a drunk, just all these, even his nationality was called into question. You're a Samaritan. You're not purely whatever the race. I mean, he was truly tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin. We truly have a high priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Everything that you go through in your life, everything I go through in my life, Jesus went through it more. And even though Jesus was God in the flesh, he was falsely accused more than anybody over and over again. And the moral of the story is that we too, as Christ's followers, we will be falsely accused. It will happen. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Let me ask you this. How did Jesus respond to being falsely accused? Did Jesus, every time he was falsely accused, feel like he just had to set the record straight every time and just go on a huge campaign to just fight against every accusation? Look, that could be a full-time job after a while, especially if you're a preacher. I mean, a lot of times you see Jesus just holding his peace. A lot of times you just see Jesus just kind of smarting off and saying, well, you said that I'm a king. Or so. Who told you that I was a king? Did you come up with that on your own, or did someone else tell you that? You know, he's just kind of, he, why? Because it didn't get to him. Why? Because he took upon himself the form of a servant. He made himself of no reputation. And he wasn't that worried about what people thought of him. He humbled himself. And he did, the Bible says he did despise the shame. So it's not that Jesus enjoyed being falsely accused any more than you and I enjoy being falsely accused. He despised the shame, but he endured that shame. He endured that humiliation because he loved us and because he wanted to save us. So we as Christians, if we're going to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, we should be willing to subject ourselves to false accusations if it's for the good of the kingdom of God. Meaning that we shouldn't just say, well, I don't want to serve Christ. I don't want to be a prominent figure. I don't want to be a pastor. I don't want to be a pastor's wife, or I don't want to get too involved in the ministry because I don't want the persecution, or I don't want the false accusation. Well, you know, Jesus Christ endured that stuff. So we should be willing to be humbled and humiliated and falsely accused as well so that we can be a partaker in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. He left us an example that we should follow in his steps. I mean, there are so many preachers today that are preaching great sermons, but there's what they say. Well, I would never put my sermons online because I don't want the persecution, or, you know, I would never want these sermons to be put on a CD or distributed or anything like that because I don't want the persecution. But you know what? Jesus said to preach the truth from the housetops. And we shouldn't be so worried about, oh, man, I've got to make sure I don't get persecuted. Why? Don't you want to live like Jesus Christ? Now, obviously, there are certain false accusations that need to be dealt with. There are times when you do need to set the record straight. But every dumb accusation that's hurled at you, you've got to let that stuff just roll off you sometimes and not worry too much about it. The Bible says that if we are falsely accused, we should rejoice and be exceeding glad because great is our reward in heaven. And you know, I catch myself sometimes wanting to respond to every dumb false accusation. And I catch myself, you know, I'll see something in my email or on YouTube or somebody will write to me, do you see what they're saying about you over here? You see what they're saying over here? And it's tempting to want to go there and just, you know, I got to sit. But here's the thing, I have better things to do with my life. Like if it's a serious accusation, if there's actually something to it, then yeah, you know, sometimes you do need to set the record straight. But just every railing accusation, every dumb thing that's being hurled at you, you know, like a lot of these accusations that are being made about Jesus, look how dumb they are. He's a Samaritan. I mean, do I really have to respond to that if somebody says he's not really fully white or he's not, he's part Jewish or he's not Jewish enough or he's an Esau or he's a Gentile or, you know, I mean, come on, it's stupid, right? Who cares? Just ignore dumb stuff or he's possessed. Pastor Anderson's possessed. I mean, one time somebody accused me of being, this is before I was a pastor, one time someone accused me of being demon possessed because I, I'll just be honest, I'm going to confess my faults. I played too many video games as a kid, okay, I confess. I played a lot of video games and if you play a lot of video games, it's not good for you, okay? And if you're my age and you play a lot of video games, you need serious help. No, and no woman, no little girl says when I grow up, I want to be married to a man who plays video games for hours. When I became a man, I put away childish things, amen? But when I was a kid, I played a lot of video games and so I developed a little bit of a nervous, like, tick from playing too many video games and I went to my job at Round Table Pizza and there was this Pentecostal girl there, she's like, you're demon possessed because you're, you have this tick or this twitch, I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, so I was like, man, I need to get rid of that nervous twitch because, you know, I don't want people thinking that about me. But the bottom line is, you know, there's dumb accusations like that, just roll with that, just let that roll off you, don't worry about that. People are going to lie about you at work, at school, at church. You know, serious, if serious allegations are made that actually have meat on the bone, then those need to be confronted and if people are making false accusations that are serious, they need to be publicly rebuked and condemned if people are making serious false accusations. You know, it's just little stuff, just dumb stuff, off the wall stuff, you know, just let it go and don't be so worried about what people think about you all the time. You're just obsessed with just your reputation and what people, hey, Jesus made himself with no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross and then God also highly exalted him. So the Bible is telling us that if we humble ourselves, we will be exalted in due time. So we should be a partaker of Christ's sufferings and we should expect to be falsely accused and when we're falsely accused, don't let it get you down, don't let it discourage you and don't let it hide, don't let it make you hide your Christianity under a bushel because, you know, well, I don't, I'm tired of being attacked. I'm tired of being falsely accused. Well, tough. I'm glad Jesus didn't do that halfway through his ministry. Oh, I'm tired of being attacked. I'm sick of all the struggle. I just want to have peace and relax somewhere. He could have done that, but no, he kept on until he'd finished the work that God gave him to do. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for this teaching on the life of Jesus and all the false accusations that were made against him, Lord. Thank you so much for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and that he endured all the criticism and endured all of the attacks and false accusations and was obedient all the way until the end unto death, Lord. Thank you for his death, burial, and resurrection as our only means of salvation, Lord. And we pray that you would help every single one of us to follow in his footsteps and be ready to endure criticisms and persecutions the way that he did. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.