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The title of the sermon this evening is the believer the bastard and those in between The believer the bastard and those in between look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 It says for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth if he endure Chastening God dealing with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father? Chasteneth not so we know that one of the most Distinguishing factors between someone who is saved and someone who is not is the fact that God will chasten his children Scourges he will punish his children if they are involved in sin You know God is not necessarily looking to punish the world to make them better people, right? He's not looking to scourge or discipline the unsaved in order to make the more fun better functioning members of society To make them better employees or better fathers husbands sons and daughters No, in fact, you know he is trying to be merciful to them The Bible says that the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and he wants Unsafe people to see the goodness and forbearance of God and that that should lead them unto repentance, right? Whereas with the believers God will chasten us he will chastise us He will discipline us and punish us but there's an end in in mind. Okay when that those things happen So I want to talk about these three categories and more specifically. How is it that God deals with each group now? Let's define each group as I mentioned them. The first and foremost is the believer we can say the begotten Okay, what is that? Well begotten is the past participle of begets someone who is brought forth, right? Someone who is produced or generated from someone else now Obviously we see this term used throughout the Bible in regards to the physical people being born But this is also used in the Bible to define someone who who gets saved right now turn with me if you would to First Corinthians chapter number four. We're gonna come back to Hebrews chapter 12 in just a bit So these are safe people safe people or these are just people that we get saved, right and The Bible tells us that when someone gets saved that they are born again This is the terminology that the Bible uses and in fact John chapter 3 verse 3 says Jesus answered and said unto him Barely, verily I say unto thee except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born Jesus answered verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the Spirit He cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit Marvel not that I say unto thee ye must be born again So the concept that's being taught here is that when someone trusts Christ as their personal Savior the Holy Spirit of God Comes to dwell within that person and actually quickens that person's dead spirit The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that you have to quicken who were dead in Trespasses and sin wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world According to the prince of power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience So what is the Bible teaching us there? It's telling us that before salvation we were known as what the children of disobedience The children of wrath we were condemned with the rest of the world on our way to hell until someone gave us the gospel We got saved and the Bible says that our spirit was Regenerated the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 1 and whom he also trusted After that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and who also after that he believed You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. It goes on to say in Titus It says not by works of righteousness, which we have done but according to his mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost You see when the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. He renews us. He makes us new. He regenerates us He creates a different type of spiritual gene within us that makes us children of God But as many as received them to them gave you power to become the sons of God even unto him that believe on his name This is what the Bible is telling us here now look at 1st Corinthians 4 verse 15 It says here for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet. Have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus? I have begotten you through the gospel. What is he saying? You're not bastards. You don't have many fathers It's not like you're trying to figure out who is the one who begat you who is the one who bore you? No, in fact, you know that I'm the one who led you to Christ. He says for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. It says in James 1 18 You don't have to turn there go with me if you would to 1st Peter chapter number 1 1st Peter chapter 1 It says in James 1 18 of his own will Beget he us with the word of truth now with an illustration Now with just you know, man's wisdom No He says he used the word of truth in order to be get to beget someone right Says of his own will begat he us with the word of truth That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures So what are the two elements that we see that is necessary for someone to get saved? Well, number one We need a sole winner, right? This is what Paul was stating in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel and a lot of people that they kind of flinch at that and they have a knee-jerk Reaction when they hear that it's like well, how can you say you save people? Well, the Bible tells us Paul said himself that I might be by all means save some He's actually the one pulling them out of the fire God uses us as human instruments to go to lost people give them the gospel and see them saved However, you know the person the individual is nothing without the Word of God So the individual needs to use the Bible they need to use Scripture They need to use what the gospel says and use the actual Word of God in order to get people Saved look what it says in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 23 It says being born again Not a corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever and look folks This is why it's important that when we go sowing we use the Bible Nothing wrong with illustrations nothing wrong with you know, having points and using concepts and whatnot But at the end of the day, they need to be used in tandem with Scripture with the Word of God You know I've known people that they feel like their words of man's wisdom is so high that they can just use that use their own Concepts it's garbage. You know, we need to make sure that we use the Word of God memorize the scriptures Memorize the Romans Road, which is a good place to start a man. Well, yeah, I don't really like using the Romans Road You know, I like to start in Genesis and the Revelation No, you're not gonna be an efficient effective soul winner if that's that's the kind of soul you're doing Why not stick to that which is tried and true that which has always worked and you know for independent fundamental Baptist There's a reason why this group is the group that has seen the most people saved out of most Christians Okay, you know, this is the group that I would say is the ones that are most on fire for God Obviously, there's the exception to the rule There's other groups of Christians and churches that have done evangelism and soul winning But by and large I would say in the United States the independent fundamental Baptists have always been the ones who are zealous for soul winning zealous for preaching the gospel and It's no coincidence that they have what's called the Romans Road I mean most Invitations you see from independent fundamental Baptist at least have some form of the Romans Road on their track that they use to get people Saved it's great. Okay, so we're born again by another believer We're born again with the Word of God and the Bible even says in Galatians 4 19 my little children of whom I travail Travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. What is the Apostle Paul saying here? He's stating basically showing that everything brings forth after its own kind, right? Because he's the one who's travailing in birth until those in Galatia who he thinks probably are not saved Some of them are not saved because they're going back to works. They're believing they're putting themselves under the law He's saying he's travailing in birth until Christ be formed in Them go with me if you would to 1st John chapter 3 1st John chapter 3 The Bible says in Philemon chapter, excuse me Philemon verse 10 I beseech thee from my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds which in time past was unto the Unprofitable but now profitable to thee and to me it says in 1st Peter 1 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead look at 1st John 3 1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not so we see here that God When we once we get saved we become children of God who sons of God Now obviously there's portions of Scripture that maybe could be a little cryptic you think of Romans chapter 8 or 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 where it's where it tells us then, you know You shall be sons and daughters and I will be a father unto you so on and so forth But this is referring to our our our inward man. Okay, this is referring to the new man That when we walk in the spirit, we're behaving as children of God But through and through we are children of God if we're saved. Amen Now, let's get back to the topic at hand. So how does God deal with us? Okay, how does he deal with us go back to Hebrews chapter number 12? It's great to be saved a man. It's great to be saved to have eternal life. We have our sins forgiven We are born again, but you know with that comes a very strict father Okay. God is a very strict Heavenly Father and The reality is is that the Bible tells us that because he loves us. He's gonna chase in us What does it mean to chase it? It means he's gonna whoop us He's gonna discipline us look at verse 6. It says for whom the Lord loveth He chasin it and scourge it every son whom he receiveth Those are strong words, you know, and I don't you know, obviously this is not referring to you You know, just his hand comes down from heaven just smacks you up across some people need that. Okay This is not what that's referring to. It's referring to the fact that he's able to hit where it hurts He's able to chastise us in such a way that he would allow circumstances to take place in our lives He would allow you know trials and tribulation to come upon us in such a way that we know That it's the hand of God that is against us You know and anyone who's been saved for any length of time if you've been chastised of God, you know that it was God You know for a fact this is God Chastising me this is God disciplining me I know that it's the hand of God that is against me and when you're in the moment No, chastisement, you know is joyous at that moment, right? But you know when it does it confirms the fact that we're children of God You know if God is if you're involved in sin or you're going down a route That's not pleasing unto the Lord and you're not being chastised of God. The Bible says you're a bastard Why does he call you a bastard because of the fact that you think you're saved you think God is your father? But you know if you're living in disobedience You're living in sin You're doing things that are not pleasing unto God and he's not and he chastises you that confirms man God is my Heavenly Father. Okay says in verse 7 if ye endure chasing God deals with you as with sons for what son is he whom the Father? chasteneth not So chastisement is confirmation that we're saved You know, the Bible tells us that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, right? You know, sometimes people get this attitude of you know, oh, you know, I doubt my salvation It's maybe because they're out of church or they're involved in sin, but you know at the end of the day You know the Spirit bears witness We know that we're saved and you don't even have to know a whole lot of doctrine To know that you're saved if you're actually saved because the Spirit actually bears witness I've talked to I had a friend who got saved the day after I got saved he's been backslidden for years for years and I talked to him a couple years back and You know, I was kind of concerned so I kind of went over salvation with him and I asked him like, you know Are you 100% sure if he died today you go to heaven he goes he said Bruce. I know I'm saved I know I got saved. I trust the Christ as my Savior. I know I can't lose my salvation I know that I'm a safe person. I'm just like I'm at a church and you know, I feel bad about it But you know, I'm just living in sin right now so that was you know, obviously it's a sad statement, but it's good to know that he saved right and The fact is is that someone who is saved, you know, the spear will bear witness, but you know, there's also gonna be grievance There's gonna be grief in your heart if you're involved in sin You said oh, well, that's like a workspace up. No, it's not because the inward man feels grief And in fact, this is why the Bible tell tells us, you know Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed into the day of redemption And if the Holy Spirit dwells within us, he's sealed unto the day of redemption You're gonna experience grief when you are involved in sin You know, we know we're saved because the Spirit of God bears witness. We delight in the law of God after the inward man This is another confirmation that we're saved right the fact that when we hear preaching or read the Bible it Resonates with our spirit and we delight in that. Okay. I'm not saying that some stuff is not gonna come off a little crazy to you You know, you're gonna hear some preaching like wow, that's super radical But you know most people who don't know like deep doctrine, let's let's take for example the reprobate doctrine You get a person who's who's newly saved and they hear about the reprobate doctrine They might have a knee-jerk reaction to it, but you don't have someone who's saved will often say something like this They'll say that's crazy. But you know, if that's what the Bible says then it must be true So they always go back to the fact that well The authority is in the Word of God and the Bible says and it must be true. It's kind of crazy to me I need to learn I need to study a little more is what they'll say, but if that's what the Bible says then it's true I mean how many times have we talked to people even outsold right? Well say well if that's what the Bible says then it must be true. Okay, so they understand these things now Those are some of the the confirmations that were saved But the main one that we're talking about is being punished by God when we do wrong look at verse 12 of Hebrews chapter 12 So why does God chastise his children? Well, the most obvious element is this matter of sin It says in verse 12 wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Looking diligently lest any man fail the grace of God lest any root of bitterness Springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled go back to Hebrews chapter number 10 Hebrews chapter number 10 just a couple pages back in verse 26, you know this morning I mentioned that this is one of the reasons one of the motives for staying right with God Right is that we know that our actions have ramifications They have consequences and knowing that God can chastise us will keep us in the right paths You know, it'll help us to stay in the straight and narrow even when we don't feel like it Look, I said look what it says in verse 26 for if we sin willfully After that, we have received the knowledge of the truth there remain that no more sacrifices for sins But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation Which shall devour the adversaries what is this referred to who's the adversaries talking about Christians? Because when Christians disobey God when you are not in fellowship with God and you decide to disobey God you Basically decide to be an enmity with God You become an adversary and it says in verse 28. He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses He's given this example to say look people in the Old Testament They just died would you know before two or three witnesses and sometimes without mercy of? How much sore punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy? Who hath trodden under the foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified and unholy thing And hath done despite unto the spirit of grace for we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense ate the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God What is it saying? Look if you willfully sin as a Christian, then you have God against you And if you have God against you, he's gonna punish you and if he punishes you just know this It's a fearful thing to fall into his hands Because God is willing to take go through, you know, some crazy lengths to get your attention You know He's willing to go through some crazy lengths in order to get you right with him to get you back in church And if you still refuse to get right with God, sometimes it can even cost you your life Well, he's like well I'm saved, you know, if I cost me my life I go to heaven Yeah, but what if you just die in shame? What if you just die in a shameful manner I knew of a person who you know He was saved but he got backslidden. He went back to his gang life He went back to his homies Doing the things that he used to do and you know what he died in the most dishonorable way He was just shot up completely Just a really horrific death even to the point that couldn't even you know, they couldn't have an open casket for him All we say this in heaven. Yeah, but you know what now but but he died shamefully You know, I want to make sure that I want to finish my life honorably, man But the way we can determine that is making sure that we understand it, you know, we keep sin out of our lives We're constantly cleaning up our lives. We're learning new things and we're applying the principles that we're learning. Okay, go to John chapter 15 So sometimes it's sin That's why it's important folks that you know on a regular basis. You're confessing your sins before the Lord, right? You're getting right with God you are examining yourselves. You're examining your heart making sure there's not something in your heart That's displeasing unto the Lord and be a good repenter. All right, don't ever think don't ever think you've you've come to a point Where you've arrived you've apprehended, you know, I got everything down pack. I don't have to work on anything Not necessarily all of us operate like a car Okay, and a car always has something you have to work on right soon as you fix one thing Another thing has to be fixed, you know that that the smog check is coming up And once you take care of that smog check, then you have to replace the tires after the tires You gotta change the oil. You gotta do all these things. It's constantly had needs work and in like manner we as Christians We constantly need to work on ourselves and look the person who says well I don't have anything to work on you're probably in the worst condition than you really think you are And let's just start with the first thing pride, right? Ignorance and trying to think that well, you've already arrived you have nothing to work on That's not the type of attitude we need to have and here's the thing Sometimes when people get into that mindset and they have that attitude God takes out the carpet from under them to show them how you know They're not all that in the bag of chips and then they recognize their flaws and it causes that and it humbles them Right, it humbles them and helps them to realize Lord. I do need you I need you to continue to help me work with me. Help me to learn the way of righteousness. Teach me your ways. Okay? But another reason God chastises us is not just because of sin. Sometimes he does it just to make us greater Or more effective a more of effective Christian, you know And you know, sometimes you get to a level as a Christian where you you are successful You know, you're learning things from the Bible. You're seeing people saved You're succeeding in your marriage or with your child rearing and you kind of hit a lid, right? You know and then you get you if you're not careful You can get that attitude where you don't have any more growing to do. So what does God do he prunes you? Okay, he begins to work on you in order for you to produce more fruit Look at John 15 tells us in verse 1. I am the true vine and my father is the husband men Every branch in me that beareth not fruit. He taketh away So in other words, you know, if you become a good-for-nothing type of a Christian where the salt hath lost its savour You become good for nothing. He says, you know what he does. He just takes it away in other words, he just gets rid of you and you go you go to heaven and Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it then it may bring forth more fruit So you think of purging, you know, God grabs those spiritual scissors and begins to prune you take away the undesirables Take away the impurities from you just trying to make you a more effective Christian Now what helps us to be more effective? What helps us to increase our faith and become more humble trials? When we go through trials and tribulation we go through the furnace of affliction We realize we need God more, you know what that helps us do it helps us pray more Right when you got everything down pat, you know, pray as often as you should It's not until a big need comes up in your life where your bank account can't afford it You and your family can't do it. And then you realize oh man, I need the Lord. No, you've always needed the Lord It's just that God had to bring this situation into your life to help you to understand You've always needed him, but for sure you need him now because now you're at your ends wit Or wits end, excuse me So we see here that God begins to prune people it says in verse 3 now You're clean to the word which I've spoken unto you Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except that abide in the vine No more can you accept ye abide in me? I am the vine year of the branches he that abided to me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me Ye can do nothing now who's an example of this in the Bible Joe? Joe was an upright man one that is chewed evil. He feared God. He wasn't involved in sin He wasn't disobedient to God and yet God allows Satan to just completely destroy his life take away his resources Yeah, even the lives of his children You know, but what what happened to job? He became a better man because of it. He came forth as gold now We think of that we're like man. That's kind of scary Like I don't know if I want to be fruitful still there If it's gonna cost me something in the long run, but you know at that time we gotta have Job's attitude though He slayed me yet. Will I trust him? You know, God has our best interest in mind We God knows what we can handle God knows the type of trials that we need to make us better Christians and to make us better children for him You know, we need to trust him. So be fruitful grow in the Lord Read your Bible win people to Christ and when you hit that lid and you go through that trial Let that be confirmation that God is still working on you He's trying to be help you to be more effective He wants you to reach more people for Christ, but you know what and this is one of the reasons why he does this Okay Let's say you've seen a lot of people saved. You're good soul winner. You're discipling Well, you're doing just a stand-up job as a Christian You know if God can allows you to continue that course you can become prideful Right like man, I got this thing down. I'm not one of the best owners here, you know people need to come to me and Learn from me. I got like one of the best presentations. I got some of the best illustrations So what does God do he allows trials in your life to take you down a notch? Because he wants you to see more people saved But if you see more people saved you could potentially become more prideful Right. So what he does is that he allows trials into your life to take you down a notch You're humbled and now you can reach more people for Christ. You see more people saved and the glory goes to God You see it's all about giving glory to God not to yourself, right? So he prunes us and this is what he does go back to Hebrews chapter 12, I should have kept it there Sorry, but go back to Hebrews chapter 12 You know job went through the fire he went through trials and we saw that you know God restored into him his resources He got more children, you know, and you know, he restored his his position his notoriety But he went through the trial of his life You know, let me say this every single one of you are gonna go through a difficult trial like that one day or another And it's gonna be a trial that's gonna hurt It's gonna hit you where it hurts and you're gonna have to make a decision, you know Am I gonna ride this thing out? Am I gonna endure chastening? You know so that God can prove me and make me a better Christian or am I gonna get out of church? You know, oh, you know, I just I'm going through a lot right now I'm going through so much now. Look I'm not talking about like when your kids are sick Okay, if your kids are sick stay out of church, okay, you said why cuz then you get my kids sick, okay You know, I'm not talking about that, you know, obviously that's a trial definitely and anybody who's ever had children or little babies and infants With fevers that's like a major trial Sometimes because you're just like man I wish I could just take your fever and put it on me and just impute your fever unto me You know because you see them suffering sometimes and it's difficult But what I'm saying is this is that you know You are gonna go through trials in your life and don't take this thing lightly You want to make sure you prepare for it? You want to make sure that you're prayed up? You've read the Bible you're right with the Lord and look when the trial comes into your life You got to ask yourself. Do I have sin in my life? You know, am I living in disobedience examine your heart, right? And if you after the examination you say well, I am right with God. I'm going to church I'm doing the best that I can then guess what then you know what God is just pruning you because you're just a fruitful Christian so take the pruning process and Understand that you shall come forth as gold look at Hebrews 12 verse 9 furthermore We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we much shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure But he referring to God for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness No, now no chastening for the present seeming to be joyous, but grievous Nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised Thereby, you know when you go through a trial, it's not joyous when you go through God's chastening It's just not joyous at all. But the mature Christian recognizes this is gonna work for me in the long run I know I'm gonna be a better person because of it. Okay. I just got to keep doing what I'm doing Understand that the Lord loves me and he's proving it by chastising me. What if God just lets you run your course? What if God just lets you make all kinds of bad decisions and be involved in sin and nothing ever happened to you would destroy your life God places these governors of trials in your life to stop you from messing, you know, screwing up your life. Okay So what does chastening look like, you know difficult circumstances as I mentioned sometimes it's grief Sometimes it's a decrease in peace You know sometimes, you know, you're making decisions and you're trying to psych yourself up and say no, this is fine I know I know this is good. This is this is what I'm supposed to do and but you don't have peace about it You know, you're like there's something within you're just like man. Is this right? You know, is this and often that's God's chastening When you don't have peace tranquility because look peace is one of the is the fruit of the Spirit okay, and Thou shalt keep him in perfect. Peace Whose mind is stayed on thee, right? For he trusted in thee However, when there's an absence of peace That's often a way that God chastises you in order to keep you from making a stupid decision. All right You say well, what if I have a big decision that I have to make in my life And I just don't have peace about it Well, the Bible tell tells us, you know be careful for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passeth on understanding Shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the short answer is this pray You need to pray pray pray until God gives you peace about something and look if he doesn't give you peace about something Maybe it's because he doesn't want you to do it or he doesn't want you to do it yet, right? You know, I think of like the whole situation last week with Denver, Colorado You know, we can say oh man that was a failure I can't believe that didn't go through I'm glad it didn't go through I'm happy it didn't go through, you know, look what good would it be for us to say? Oh, yeah, we started a church great, but then we got some stinking Judas Iscariot out there Running the church into the ground destroying people's lives. I don't want that, you know, and I remember being there on Friday and you know, maybe it was it was just I had a little bit too much ambition and I'm thinking myself Well, you know, we're gonna start this church and we're gonna do it and it's gonna happen and then I'm there on Friday I'm just like I have a bad feeling about this. I just do not have peace about this church And I'm meeting with the group and some of them are great. Some of them are not And I'm like, I mean, how do you ever got that feeling in your gut And I'm not talking about after you eat I'm talking about that gut feeling where it's just like I don't know about this. I don't have peace about this whole situation And you know, I'll be honest with you. Like I was trying to force myself to have peace about it Like ah, you're just nervous. You're just you're just nervous about the whole thing. Just let's just do this and you know You know start a church here. Is there great people but then I just felt like my gut was telling me no This is bad And all these red flags were popping up left and right You know when I was talking to that guy there I went so when he went to him I'm thinking to myself this person seems like a really bad person He said why well cuz he was flattering me like no other, you know, his his words were smoother than butter softer softer than butter smoother than oil And I remember thinking myself man. This is not you know I don't have peace about this and I remember even like up until going to Denver I would I was I was always praying like Lord Please help this to happen help us to plant this church and see people saved and we're gonna do great things and keep this door Open by Friday night. I was saying Lord close this door Because I got bad feeling about this and you know what I don't want to make a stupid decision It's humbling that I got to come back to my church and say that it didn't work out But you know what? Maybe the reason you're not giving me peace about this is because it's not right So that Sunday that Saturday morning You know, I was praying I just I asked the Lord I said look if this is not something that you want have someone just speak up and just say something, please And sure enough on our way to that building, you know, the person said Pastor I need to tell you something, you know, and I'm like tell me everything Everything just just lay it all out now and you know what after that meeting I had peace It was just like I feel like I can breathe again, you know And it was one of those things where I don't know maybe the Lord was chastising me But maybe it was just through the matter of not having peace You know, I mean he wasn't I wasn't confident about the whole thing and that's often how God deals with us Okay, so all of this confirms that we are the children of God So when you go through a trial try to see it that way Okay, try to see it as you know This is just a season and God's just confirming that I am his child But none of that maybe he's confirming that I'm being fruitful and I just you know, he's trying to make me more fruitful So this is why he's chastising me now go with me turn with you to John chapter number eight So that's the believer the begotten right? The second group is the bastard Now this word has been defiled, you know by the world standards, or I'm sorry not by the world actually by other Christians Okay, obviously there's people out there that kind of use this in tandem with profanity. I'm not referring to that I'm talking about Christians who are like ashamed to even read it in the Bible. Yeah, it's just like oh bastard. Oh Sorry, that's what the Bible says. I don't apologize. The words of the Lord are pure words. Amen This is a biblical word and it needs to be used. Yeah, but it sounds so strong Yes, right because the Bible is strong folks It's a strong book that has strong language and it's the Word of God. It's quick and powerful Sharper than a two-edged sword. This is why he wants us to use words like bastard and piss and damn and hell Because it gets your attention So what is a bastard well bastard is basically an illegitimate child, right? to try it's a child that is a byproduct of fornication Possibly adultery. It's a child that does not have a father that is present. Okay Now how do we approach this from a spiritual perspective what is a bastard well the Bible told us in Hebrew chapter 12 That if we are without chastisement We are bastards that are not sons So what does that tell us what tells us that the person? Thinks that God is their father right Which means they think they're saved But if they are without chastisement, guess what they're not saved. They're actually bastards They're not begotten of the Lord. They've never been born again. It's a person who is Deceived and thinks that they're saved, but they're not really saved. Okay. Hello We have examples of this throughout the Bible now, I'm gonna go over two categories of bastards One being the bastard who wants to be saved They just don't know how to be saved or they think that they're saved because they were deceived The other one is just a false prophet reprobate bastard. Okay, and We see examples of this in the Bible and in fact in Matthew chapter 3, you know John the Baptist told the Pharisees think not to say within yourselves. We have who? Abraham to our father for God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, you know The Pharisees were a prime example of a group of people who are just a bunch of bastards They all thought that God was their father And in fact, they kept saying that Abraham was their father stating that they were saved But John the Baptist Jesus and every man who's right with God who knows the Bible tells them Hey, God's not your father because you are rejecting Jesus Christ Look at John 8 says Okay And look any Zionist has to like either not read John 8 or just skip over John 8 or read John 8 and not explain John 8 Because it's pretty plain Look at verse 38 I speak that which I've seen with my father and ye do that which ye have seen of your father They answered and sent him Abraham is our father Jesus said unto them if you were Abraham's children you would do the work of Abraham But now you seek to kill me a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God This did not Abraham ye do the deeds of your father Then said they to him we be born of foreign. We're not we be not born of fornication We have one father even God Jesus sentence him if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of myself, but he sent me why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word What does he tell me you guys are bastards you guys aren't from God? God is not your father. You think God is your father, but you're a bunch of bastards is what you are Look at verse 44 ye are of your father the devil Well, you know, he's just speaking generally past for me, you know, he's speaking to Jews folks And more specifically to the Pharisees These men who were religious leaders the ones who were claiming that God was their father. He's telling them. Nope Satan is your father Ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your father what you do He was a murderer from the beginning and both not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a Lie speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it what he's saying you're a begotten of Satan That's one of the most offensive things you could ever tell a human being ever I mean hashtag savage right there When God is just when Jesus is just like no you're every father of the devil. You're a bastard You know God is not your father. So this is a prime example of this Okay, now as I mentioned there could actually be two types of people who we would consider to be what the Bible would say Is our bastards a person who is deceived. Okay, you know someone who thinks that they're saved, you know They they were deceived by their pastor or by by Lane Comfort or these other False teachers, you know, they can listen to them So I think I'm saying you know repent of all my sins and it's not because they're just prideful and arrogant and false prophets Reprobates, they're just deceived and what do they need? They need someone to come to them and say hey, that's wrong This is actually how you can get saved and what happens they're adopted, right? They become adopted of the Lord now Let's look at an example of this look at John chapter 12 Now by and large keep in mind by and large the Pharisees were most of them were pretty much reprobate Okay Wicked false prophets and teachers and This is the main adversary of the New Testament But that's not to say that some of them didn't get saved because some of them did and in fact look at John 12 Verse 41 says these things said as I is when he saw his glory and spake of them Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him Lest they should be put out of the synagogues These are people who got saved but they were ashamed and look there's people like that today Where people get saved but maybe they keep going to the Catholic Church with their wife or their husband Because of the fact that you know, that's what they're supposed to do and they're ashamed Unfortunately, they're ashamed sometimes of the Word of God or they're ashamed to witness tell people they're Christians. It's not right But it does happen. Okay, go to Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 So The first category of bastards that we see in the Bible are those who think that they're saved, but they're really not And look we need to distinguish between the two don't just label everyone reprobate Don't just label everyone a false prophet because they're gonna go to some church You know You can't have that attitudes or some some people because the reality is there's some people out there That are sincerely thinking that they're doing right, but they're sincerely wrong Okay, look at Acts 2 36 this is therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly That God hath made the same Jesus whom he have crucified both Lord and Christ Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren What shall we do? Then Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off Even as many as the Lord our God our God shall call and with many other words that he testify and exhort saying save yourselves From this untoward generation then they that gladly received this word were baptized in the same day They were added unto them about three thousand souls So we see three thousand people getting saved here. Amen and these are people who were deceived. They were part of Judaism They're put they had the Pharisees religion that was based off of the Talmud, but they thought that they were doing right I mean, how about the Apostle Paul? The Apostle Paul was getting letters going to Damascus trying to arrest Christians holding the coats of them that were stoning Stephen I mean he was like at the brink right there He was zealous right? He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. This guy knew the Word of God, but he just wasn't saved So what did he need? He needed someone to come to him and give him the gospel get him safe Train him and then he became a great soul winner for the Lord So, how does God deal with this group? Well the same way that God dealt with Paul the same way that God dealt with some of these other people He sends a person with the right doctrine to correct them. Okay now This is important, right? You know This is why when we go soul winning and you knock on the doors of some of these people that are from like Calvary Chapel and maybe they're not saved, you know You're not gonna door of some Christian some person goes through a Christian denomination that teach a workspace salvation Don't just write them off Don't just try to get into some argument with them Oh, I want to show them that I'm an independent fundamental Baptist and they're a bunch of heretics bastards You know, no you want to you want to approach every single door With the notion that well, this person is just to see we need to get them on track We need to show them the right way to heaven the right way of salvation And look folks don't approach doors proudly approach it with with humility and meekness Fear and trembling actually, right? Fear and trembling means with humility. In other words we go to that door because we don't want to offend that person We want we want you said why does it say with fear and trembling? Why with fear and trembling? Why with meekness because their souls are in the balance you know and You know a brother offended it's harder to be one. You know, then it's like a First go a Brother offended is harder to be one then that a strong city and his contentions are the bars of a castle. Thank you, sir You know in other words if you offend someone sometimes it's harder to they kind of close on you and they no longer become Receptive towards what you're saying. That's why it's important that when we talk to people we're as humble or meek. We're even fearful sometimes You know don't like oh you don't want to hear it Whatever then see you sucka You know No, you know you want to make sure especially if you're it in this area This is our city folks This is our stomping grounds Okay, you know what that means is that we're gonna be hitting these doors over and over and over and over again You know eventually this map is gonna have gonna be purple or something because there's so many colors that are being mixed in there. Okay? But why because people are constantly moving out and moving in Every year people move out every year people move in we run into new people all the time But you know what sometimes there's gonna be people who just stay there and you're gonna talk to them again And you want to make sure that the person is someone who came to their door prior to you Hadn't made a good impression on them. You know there weren't jerks. They weren't just pompous proud people They approached them with meekness and fear okay, and you know if they believe false doctrine You Know don't look when you when you're out there And you're preaching the gospel, and you say you're 100% sure that if you die today you go to heaven Like yeah, of course you know I I repent of my sins, and you know I've been baptized I mean they give you just a whole smorgasbord of false doctrine Don't go like whoa man. That's a lot of false doctrine all right. Well look you know Let me just tell you the right way okay, cuz you're you're wrong obviously we know they're wrong You don't have to tell them that they're wrong You don't have to try to express to them how right you are you want to with discretion Tell them that they're wrong, right say well and Here's here's one of the best ways And you can you can take what I'm saying and just throw it out the window and stick with your proud way of doing things Okay, you know this is what I do. I basically tell them like well You know there was a time when I believe the same exact thing you know and I believe I believe that you have to do works to go to heaven to repent and I try to as best as I can tell them this I say But wouldn't you agree that it's it's really hard to keep all the commandments right? I mean no one's perfect You know I sin so I try to make them I try to show them that we're like in the same boat when it comes to being sinners Right and then I'll tell I was like it's actually a lot easier There's only one thing you have to do can I share that one thing with you? You know cuz I really want them to be saved I really want the time with them so I can take the time needed to give them the gospel and see them safe But that requires meekness it requires for you and look. I'm guilty of being a jerk at the door Okay in the in 14 years of soul winning I've there's been a couple times that I've gotten into a people at the door all right And I think all of us can say we've had a moment in time You know not including the reprobates. That's that's okay to do every once in a while. You know. I'm just talking about people in general But what we want to do is that when we talk to them say hey, you know don't don't say you know hey My pastor just preached about you. You're actually a bastard Spiritually speaking, but don't worry though Well, you can become an adopted son of God. It's great. You know, but you are a bastard right now I just want to let you know you know don't use that lingo with them, okay? Spiritually speaking yes, that's what that's what they would be but we want to make sure that we teach them You know and by the way there are some former bastards in here Right maybe you're deceived and another religion you thought you were saved You were not really saved someone gave you the truth They won you to the Lord and now you're a child of God. God is your Heavenly Father So we want to make sure that we win those people to Christ now the second category Are those who are just straight-up false teachers, right? These wicked false prophet bastards who blaspheme the name of Christ yet say that they're Christians You know they'll say oh, you know these these these Jewish rabbis right who they try to Judaize Christianity you see them on TBN you see them all these shows and they try to Judaize Christianity by saying well rabbi Jesus You know rabbi, Yeshua It's like what are you talking about? Get out of here with that crap. I don't hear that You know he actually had the yarmulke and the prayer shawl, and they always you know rabbi Paul Talking about the Apostle Paul. You know these people are bastards These people are wicked false prophet bastards who think that God is their Heavenly Father But in reality they know that they're false prophets and really they know that their father is actually the devil Now go to Matthew chapter 7 if you would Matthew chapter 7 by the way this is why the Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 23 2 a Bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord Even to his 10th generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord obviously there was a physical Application to that under the Old Testament law, but spiritually speaking. This is true This is why we don't allow false prophets in our church We don't want someone who propagates and foments false teachings they say you got to repent of your sins You know we cut that as soon as someone comes in with that and they try to teach that in our church. They're out of here Unless they're sincere, and they're like what that's what I thought it was It's like well. You know the Bible says something different Can I show you and we get to win them then that's a different story? But people who try to come in here with some Jewish version of the Bible how many remember that That guy came and he had this Jewish version of the Bible And he was just all about the Jews and stuff like that He literally what I mean we got into it And when I was just like you need to get out of here, and he looked like he was gonna punch me in the mouth Remember you guys remember that I'm like this guy has looked like he's about to take a swing at me as he's walking out But this is why it's good to have a church full of men in the church because he's probably thinking well if I hit him I got ten other guys who are probably gonna hit me so You know people like that People like that. You know they don't they have no place here in the congregation of the Lord People who promote and foam and false doctrine have no place look at Matthew 7 verse 21 says not everyone that say to me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven But he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day Lord Lord Have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them? I never knew you depart for me ye that work iniquity. This is the bastard This is the Pentecostal preacher Mr.. Holla shalabah himself that says well we cast out devils we speak in tongues We prophesy we tell the foretell the future and they're gonna bring that list of Iniquity before the Lord he's gonna be like I don't even know who you are you're not my son. I ain't no daddy You are not the father And they're gonna be like what? Go to 2nd Corinthians 13 2nd Corinthians 13 because remember a bastard is a person Who thinks someone is their father, but it's actually not the case. This is actually the biblical definition of that Look at verse 3 Of 2nd Corinthians 13 says since he seek a proof of Christ speaking in me Which to you word is not weak, but is mighty in you for though he was crucified through weakness yet He liveth by the power of God For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you verse 5 examine yourselves Whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know you not your own selves How that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates, but I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobate, so He's talking to the Corinthian Church here. And look this is the end of the second letter So what did you say? There's a lot of content that's been given since he wrote his first letter to them So at this point if they still don't think that he is sent by God that he's an apostle That he won them what he's telling them is this you're probably reprobate Because you're sitting under Biblical preaching I mean from the Apostle Paul himself Right where God is inspiring him to say these words to teach doctrine and yet they still don't think he's from God At this point, he's like you guys are probably reprobates By the way, this verse is one of the best verses to use to teach the reprobate doctrine You know some Christians say well, you know Christians can be called reprobate too and reprobate doesn't mean you're far from the hope of salvation You are you're you're beyond the hope of salvation well here it says that Christ is in you accept your reprobate So that means basically what it's telling us here is if a person's a reprobate They cannot have Christ in them and no Christian would say that Christ is not in you if you're saved Here it's that it's stating that these people are to examine themselves if Christ is in them You know, they're not a reprobate but if they are a reprobate Christ is not in them You know the Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians 12 verse 3 Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God call of Jesus a curse and that no man can Say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost So go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. We're almost done Now look that's why it's important that we discern Between the good prophets and the bad prophets between the good teachers and the bad teachers, right? We need to make sure that we have spiritual discernment to know who is of the Lord and who is not Now look, it's not hard to know that anybody with a Jewish title. It's not of the Lord folks I'm serious about this because you know, this is this teaching has permeated Baptist churches in such a nasty way I mean they're having Jews come into their church all the time Teaching their blasphemous teachings against Christ or haters of the Lord and yet they want to see him as a wall Do you know they're not the children of God, but they are the people of God No, they're not they're actually foreigners they're bastards and foreigners is what they are Okay, they're not part of the they're not the fellow citizens of the household of faith according to the Bible. They're immigrants right Pilled the wall Here's the funny thing you have all these Republicans who are just like, you know They're all against the physical immigrants and they're against any kind of Mexican or any other people coming to the United States and all these things but they're all for the Jews Who are actually the spiritual immigrants who don't have no place in the house of God no place in Christianity, right? But yet they want to give them full citizenship Without even believing on Christ You know, it's the equivalent to going to Echo Park or wherever that place is to get your green card or whatever You know, you're driving a fake driver's license, whatever Anyway, so how does God deal with this group of people the bastards look at verse 10 and with all the civil deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion That they should believe a lie. Whoa God's like I'm gonna send a lie to these bastards Because I want them to believe a lie In other words, he wants he's basically trying to get them to go to the lowest hell and The way they go to the lowest hell is by believing in the most damnable things they he wants them to believe a lie He doesn't want them to be saved Verse verse 12 that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in Unrighteousness, this is an aspect of God and not many people want to talk about You know the aspect of God that says I don't want that person to be saved This person who's a bastard who blasphemes the name of Christ or you know that blasphemes the Holy Ghost This person who's a reprobate I want them to continue to believe a lie In fact, I'm gonna send them strong delusion to make them think that they are saved I mean, do you ever think you're gonna win Ray Comfort to Christ? You ever think Ray covers gonna believe that it's by faith alone No, cuz God is sending them strong delusion that he should believe a lie He's gonna make his forehead as an adamant stone and make him believe that he's right That's the worst possible thing for a person to have right when they think they're just right I have peace God's even given that person peace Right the he that he's right, but he's doing it because he wants him to be damned That's why because once he dies and he splits hell wide open he gets a rude awakening Like oh man, you know heaven sure feels like hell Right He wants them to be damned. He's not interested in winning these bastards to the Lord You shouldn't use that language. This is the language that God uses folks This is what he refers to them as and look he's looking from heaven saying these people are lying I am NOT their father In fact, they hate me. I Am NOT their father. I did not beget them. They're not born of the spirit They weren't born of the word of truth. And in fact, they hate the word of truth They've held the word of truth and unrighteousness They perverted the ways of the Lord. Okay Go to Ephesians. I Should go to Matthew chapter 5 if you would Matthew chapter 5 So you have the believer the bastard and those in between now who are those in between these are people who are just unsafe You know, these are just people who they don't necessarily even believe in false doctrine They just don't even don't even know any doctrine, you know, they don't have a religious background Or you know These are the people who are really humble when you talk to them at the door and you ask them when you're gonna percent sure If you die today you go to them. They're like, I don't know Probably not, you know, I'm not a really good person. I don't go to church. I don't do this and that, you know Very humble. They're willing to admit. Yeah, I need salvation, right and These are the people That God wants us to reach how does God deal with them? Look at Matthew 5 verse 44 says but I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that Hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your father Which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and Sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, you know God sends rain on the just as well as the unjust because he wants him to be saved He wants them to be able to observe and recognize his goodness Then in light of that they would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ You know and I think every single one of us can point to a time before salvation Where something good happened in our life and we accredited that to God You see that must have been God, you know, well it was God It was God who was trying to get your attention, you know The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 2 verse 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things and think it's now this Oh man that judges them which do such things and do us the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of God or Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance so, you know, how does God treat these people? Well, the Bible just told us right there. He sends rain for them He gives them a merry heart. He tries to be good to them because he wants them to recognize that God is good You know He doesn't want the unsaved to just view him as just as judges is gonna send them to hell once they die He wants them to recognize. Hey, God loves you for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, right? I'm giving you rain, you know, this is why unsaved people sometimes prosper They work a job They have skills every good gift and every perfect gift coming from above from the father of lights Bible says so even that's even for the unsaved he gives them these gifts in hopes that they would Turn to him and hopes that you know They would respond to the light that he's giving to them and a soul winner would come win him to Christ and they would be Receptive towards that these are the people who are in between and this is the most important group as far as we're concerned Right, we're the begotten. We're the believers, but we want to reach those who are in between Those who are just they don't have a church. They're not religious, but they but they want to be saved. Amen That's pretty much it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word and We're thankful that we get to be a part of that first group the begotten the believers May we never lose sight of that. May we never take it for granted and Lord give us the sermon to discern between the two categories of bastards. Maybe those who think that they're saved. They're religious people They're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. They need someone to show them the right ways of the Lord how to how to be saved and Lord but also help us to be leery and discerning of the wicked false prophets who the Bible says are bastards Who claim you as their father, but they're actually wicked people who are damning others to hell They're trying to make proselytes, but they make them twofold more a child of hell than themselves I pray God that you'd help us to be leery of them and help us to continue to have a greater heart for those in between and in Jesus name we pray. Amen