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Amen. So starting John chapter 7 this evening, hopefully tonight I can give you kind of the context of what's going on at least in this chapter. We're going to look at the overview of John chapter 7 tonight. We're not going to get through every verse of it, but I just kind of want to show you the overview of John chapter 7, what's happening, and hopefully show you some of the complexities of the Bible this evening, some of the reasons that hopefully after tonight's sermon you'll see that, you know, there's no possible way that somebody that is unsaved could properly translate the Bible, and that's why we're King James only, and that's why we only use the King James Bible. I try to show those things as they come along, but look down at John chapter 7, and we get kind of the setting for what's going on in the very first verse where the Bible says, and after these things Jesus walked in Galilee, so of course this is the area north of Jerusalem. This isn't down in what would be called Judah. After these things he walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. So at this point in Jesus' ministry, at this early point in his ministry, he's already being hunted for death at this point. Now the Jews' feast of the tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. Now brethren here means his literal brothers, like his brothers in his family. Turn to Mark chapter 6, it says there is no man that doeth anything in secret, verse 4, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world, for neither did his brethren believe in him. So turn to Mark chapter number 6, and just look there at verse number 3, I just want to show real quickly, this isn't the point of the sermon, but just how silly it is that this teaching that Jesus didn't have any brothers and sisters and Mary remained the Virgin Mary forever and all this stuff, it's just not in the Bible at all. Look at verse number 3 of Mark chapter 6. So first of all, John chapter 7, you know, talks about Jesus' brethren, talking about his brothers. Look at verse 3, it says, Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, and Judah, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. So right there, we know that Jesus had at least six siblings, four brothers, and at least two sisters, plural, so, you know, it's a ridiculous statement that Jesus was an only child, all right, and he remained an only child. So look at verse number 6 back in John chapter 7, just to point that out. So his brothers basically are saying, they don't believe that he's the Christ at this point. They don't believe on him. And they're saying, why don't you go to, you know, Judea and show everyone how great you are and show everyone your, you know, your miracles. And Jesus said unto them, My time has not yet come. What he means by that, he says, but your time is always ready. He's talking about they should be believing on him now. But what he's saying is, is that my time has not yet come. They want to kill me, and it's not time for me to die yet. All right, look at verse 7. And then he says, The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Now this will change what Jesus says to his disciples, if you just go quickly to John chapter 15. So he's saying, the world cannot hate you. He's talking to his brothers. He's saying the world's not going to hate you because why? Because you are of the world, he's saying. They're unbelievers. They don't believe in him. But look at John chapter 15, verse number 18. Jesus actually gives different advice to his disciples, people that do believe in him. And look what he says in verse 18. It says, if the world hate you, in John 15, 18, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Now go back to John chapter 7. So all that to say this, there's a lot of hatred coming at Jesus right now. And people are literally after him to take his life. So he says, go ye up into this feast. I will not go up yet unto this feast. Again, he says, my time is not yet full come. It's not time for me to die yet. People didn't understand what he was saying. Of course, we look back on this and we know the whole story. So we know what he was talking about, but look down to verse number 9. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up to the feast. So he does eventually go. And when it says go up, remember the Bible is usually talking about elevation here. He's talking about going up, you know, he's actually going south to Judea, all right? Not openly, but as it were in secret. So he goes in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, where is he? So they're after him to kill him. Look at verse 12. And there was much murmuring among the people. This is really kind of where we're going to start the context tonight in verse number 12 here. It says, there was much murmuring on the people concerning him, for some said he is a good man, others said nay, but he deceiveth the people. So here we start to see that two things I want to point out. Two things. First of all, this crowd, these people in Judea, they are all over the map concerning Jesus. Some people trust on him. Some people believe he's the Christ. We'll find that out later. And some people think he is a good man. So some people think he is the Christ and some people think he's just a deceiver, just like the Jews. Now turn to Matthew chapter 19 and I really want to focus on that point where it says he is a good man. So some people say he is a good man. Now those people that said he is a good man had it pretty much exactly right. Look at Matthew chapter 19 and look at verse number 16. Matthew chapter 19, I want to explore this idea of this word good being used to describe Jesus Christ. Look at verse 16 of Matthew 19. Verse 16 of Matthew 19, the Bible says, And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now that's a very interesting statement right there because he goes up to Jesus and he calls Jesus good master and then he says what can I do that's good is what he's saying. Good master, I want to do good is what this young man is saying to Jesus. And then in verse 17, And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? This is what Jesus says back to this young man. There is none good but one. That is God, but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. So what Jesus is saying here is a lot of people will say see Jesus, you know a lot of unsaved people will read this and they will say see Jesus never claimed to be God which is ridiculous and I've gone to all the places that Jesus claimed to be God. The reason they killed Jesus was because he said he was God. But what Jesus is actually doing in verse 17 is he is saying I am God. He's saying I am God and I am good. There's only one good that is God. He didn't say I'm not good and then he explains that the way to go to heaven is to be good which is what? To keep the commandments which no one can do. No one has done. So there's really like again there's two ways to heaven. Be perfect or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to be good in order to get to heaven without Jesus Christ. But the problem is there's only one that's good and that is God. That's Jesus. Good master again was correct and Jesus was saying that to this young man. He's saying I am God equals good. He is good. Now go back to John chapter 7. So Jesus is good. Look at verse number 13 of John chapter 7. John chapter 13 and verse number 7 and I just kind of want to go through a few verses here before we get to verse 27 where we're going to stop and I want to show you just kind of the back and forth of the people here but I want to point out you know that there's a main theme here on what these people are doing to Jesus. Look at verse 13 says how be it no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. How be it meaning you know however. Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught and the Jews marvel saying how knoweth this man letters having never learned they're saying how does he know the Bible because no one's ever he I didn't see him in college. I didn't see him in the university system. How is he smart. I mean people I mean don't even get me started. Well you don't have a degree what how could you know anything anyway. That's exactly what they're doing though. All right. Jesus said my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me oh by the way I am the word of God but whatever. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself skip down to verse number 19. Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keepeth the law. Why go ye about to kill me. Now he accuses them of trying to murder him. Now look at verse number 20. Verse number 20 and verse number 25 are really kind of funny verses to put together but the people answered and said thou hast a devil who goeth about to kill thee. They're like you're paranoid who's trying to kill you and then part of them in verse number 25 then some said some of them in Jerusalem is not this he whom they seek to kill. So like I mean that's kind of funny just those two verses right there like some people are like you're nuts buddy nobody's trying to hurt you and then half the crowd is like yeah this is the guy that they're trying to kill right here. Verse 26 but lo he speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ. So there are people in this crowd that do believe on Jesus as the Christ how be it we know this man whence he is but when Christ cometh no man know knoweth whence he is. So let me give you some King James Bible lessons here this is how hard the King James Bible is to understand. How be it means however and whence means they're talking about where he came from it's like whence is and it's actually you know when you look at the wording of it whence he is is much easier to say whence he is then where did this guy come from? I mean you just think of the words that are saved there it's actually smarter wording. So anyway I just gave you how to read the King James Bible there was a you can't understand the King James Bible but we're going to stop right there and I just want you to kind of I wanted to give you a context of what's happening here. So what's happening? You have Jesus that goes down into Judea he's in the temple he's teaching and there are people that hate him and remember why do they hate him? Why do they hate him at this point? What is the big crimes that Jesus has done at this point? What did he do? He healed somebody on the Sabbath day? What is he doing? He's doing miracles. He's feeding people. He's walking on water. He's just doing good things out there. So the point is they hate him they're trying to literally kill him because he is good. And that's the context of John chapter 7. I mean all he's been doing is just helping people. As a matter of fact go back to verse go back to verse 15 of John 6 I think it's verse 15. He didn't want to rule over anyone. He wasn't some politician that was trying to take control of the temple and trying to kick out you know the Roman leaders and be a king. As a matter of fact in John chapter 6 and verse 15 they literally tried to they were going to make him a king and he snuck away from them so they wouldn't make him a king. He doesn't want this earthly power. He's there for a specific reason which by the way he's subtly telling them my time has not come. My time has not yet come. Look his time to do what? The whole purpose of him coming to earth is to die for the sins of mankind. But look at verse 15 of John 6. Would Jesus therefore perceive that they would come and take him by force to what? To kill him? No. To make him a king. He departed again into the mountain himself alone. He didn't want power. He didn't want anything that the Jews had. He didn't want anything other than to just tell people the truth. They hated him because he was and was is the key word here. He was good. That's why they hated him. And the application for us and the one that we're going to look at this evening is that we need to understand even as Jesus told the disciples in John 15 that they will hate you for the same reasons they hated me. I want to explain to you the difference between our goodness and Jesus' goodness. But you have to understand that the world, people in the world hate good. There will be people that hate good. So this idea that oh, you know, everybody's great and everyone is, you know, is, it doesn't matter what people think. Everyone has value. No, there's people that hate good. And this is what's happening in John chapter 7. They hated Jesus because he was good. Just look at some examples of this today. Turn to Psalm 127 in your Bibles and look at verse number 3. Psalm 127, look at verse number 3. I mean, you don't have to look too hard to find out that the world hates good things. But there are people in the world that hate good things. Not everybody in the world hates good things. That's going to be a point as well. But look at Psalm 127-3. I mean, what's an example of this? Children. There's people that just hate the idea of children today. Look at verse number 3. It says, lo, children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So the Bible is very clearly saying children are a good thing. Children equals good thing. Children are a blessing. But you just look at this. I mean, so the answer, I mean, a lot of people ask, like, how many children should you have? Well, as many as God gives you. That's the answer. Because children are a blessing from God. Children are a blessing. You should have. But what does the world teach? Look, the world today is against you financially if you want to have children. You know, the world today is, you know, I mean, is just pushing things like, I mean, it all really comes from fornication and the fornication culture, but the world's pushing things like birth control and, you know, really pushing abortion as just normalizing these types of things. Like, birth control is abortion in many cases. And people use abortion, literal murder of children, as birth control. I mean, talk about somebody that is hating good, a culture that is just for abortion and where abortion is normalized and people are just desensitized to the murder of children – what are they doing? They're hating good. They're hating good. The world today hates the idea of a family. The world today hates the idea of marriage and a husband and a wife raising children. I mean, marriage is being – I mean, the Bible says in Proverbs 18 that he that findeth a wife findeth a good thing. Marriage is good. Marriage is a good thing. But what is happening in our world today? In our world today, it's pushing a culture that hates marriage. It hates a good thing. What is it doing? It's perverting marriage. It's perverting marriage to say a guy and a guy is marriage. That's not marriage any more than a zebra is an elephant, if you call a zebra an elephant. It's just, you know, you just can call things whatever you want today, I guess. The idea is being perverted. Why? Because they hate that good thing. They hate it. It's being destroyed today. It's being discouraged today by things like, you know, just open divorce, no-fault divorce. Hey, whatever laws we can possibly pass to make it easier for people to get divorced, let's do that. That is a culture that hates marriage. It's a culture that hates a man and a wife coming together and raising a family as God planned it to be. Look, I mean, unless you are a Bible-believing Christian, there's not a lot of reasons to get married today. I mean, unless you are a man that has, you know, biblical morality ingrained in you, why would a man get married? But the Bible says it's a good thing. But our culture today is trying to destroy that thing. And just on that note, I mean, just the Bible. Just the Bible being a good thing. I mean, Jesus is good and Jesus is the Bible. Jesus is the Word become flesh. I mean, you tell somebody that you believe the Bible today and it's like, you believe the Bible literally? Yeah, that's what fundamental means. That's why we're fundamental Baptists. It means we believe the Bible. You say, you know, we're from Holdfast Baptist Church. All that means, being Baptists, is that we believe the Bible. Nothing more, nothing less. That's it. But the Bible, I mean, there's people out there that just, they hate the good of the Word of God. They hate the Bible. They hate the God that has represented him. The purpose of the Bible is for God to represent himself to us. Who is God? What is his personality? What's he like? It's all right here. This I mean, God is much more than this, I am sure. But this is what he wants us to know about him. This is what he thinks, you know, we can handle or what he has for us. I mean, this is the people that hate the Bible. They're like, oh the God of the Bible is a genocidal maniac or whatever people make up. They hate the Bible. They hate the goodness of it and they hate the fact that look, it literally is, the Bible is good because it is Jesus. So the whole point of just this introduction, this is just introduction, you're like, what? The whole point of this is that people will always hate good. And that's what we learn from John chapter 7. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3 and I want to just kind of apply this idea for you this evening on, you know, Jesus is good, people hate good. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and I just want to preach through five verses for the rest of the sermon, but look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 10 and look what the Bible says. Now this is why you need to have a King James Bible and words matter. Even tiny little words that have only two letters matter. Look at verse number 10. It says, for he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. So this is talking about in verse number 10, it's talking about a person. It's talking about a Christian. You can apply verse number 10 to your life. You should see good days, refrain your tongue from evil and let your lips speak no guile, no bad things, no evil. Look at verse number 11. It says, let him eschew evil, let him put away evil and what? And be good? Does it say be good? No, it says do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. See, we are not good. We are not good. There's none good but God. We are not good. But you know what? We can do good though. We can do good. We can do good. Even though we can never achieve being good like Jesus did. This is why, you know, it's kind of, look, I say it too. I'm not down on you for saying this. Have you ever said, like, oh, he's a good man, that's a good man, or he's a, you know, I get it. I say that but, I mean, literally that's not true of anybody. Say, oh, he's a good man. Every time somebody says that to you, don't be this guy. Every time someone says that to you, you're like, no, he's not. Only Jesus is. No, I'm just kidding. But the point is, literally, if you read the words of the Bible, we are not good. We can't be good but we can do good. Look at verse number 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do what? Do evil. Verse 13. And who is he that will harm you? Now, who is verse 13 about? Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which what? Look at that. Does good? No, it says, who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? What is verse number 13 about? Followers of who? It's about followers of God. It's talking about followers of Jesus. So the Bible is saying, you know, there may be people that harm you but, you know, if you follow God. Who is he that will harm you? There are people that will harm you that if you follow God, God is central to verse number 13. Now open your NIV real quick. In the NIV, it says this. It says, who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? You say, what's the big deal? And it completely removed God from the verse. Who is he to harm you? Look at your King James Bible. Who is he to harm you if you are eager? Where does it say eagerness in verse number 13 in your King James Bible? They're just making stuff up at this point. In verse number 13, who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? It completely removes God from verse number 13. These are not small things. In verse number 13 of 1 Peter chapter 3, it is talking about being a follower of Jesus, a follower of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is good. I mean, it's a very powerful verse when you read it in your King James Bible and in your NIV, it's like, oh, I just want to go do good things. It's like, what? It completely removes God. It makes the Bible a joke. It takes, you can see, I think that's just such a great verse and how there's no power in the NIV. There's no power in there. I mean, you remove God, where's your power? There isn't any. There isn't any at all. These are not small things. Is good equals Jesus. Do good equals us. So we ought not remove God from the Bible. Now, here's the point this evening. Look at verse number 14. Look at verse number 14. You see how, but you see, once you read your Bible a bunch of times, you'll just read Bible verses and you'll be like, I bet the NIV or other Bible versions got that wrong. And then you'll just be able to go to those, I don't know, it's like the Holy Spirit or something. You'll just read certain verses like this and you'll be like, I bet that's wrong in the new versions. And then you'll just go and get your NIV collection out of your closet. No, I'm just kidding. But you just look it up on the internet because that's the only NIV in my house is the internet NIV. And you're like, sure enough, it's wrong. Sure enough, they've missed it. Look, you've got to be saved to understand these intricate details in the Bible. Okay, now look at verse number 14. Let's get to the point of the sermon. You're like, that wasn't the point. That was just the primer. Here's the point this evening. Look at verse 14. But if ye suffer, because up in verse 13, it says that who is he that will harm you? There are people that will harm you for doing good, for doing good things. But if you suffer for righteousness' sake. So verse number 14 matches verse number 13, saying if you're doing good and you suffer for that, you're suffering for righteousness' sake. It says if that is the case, happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror, neither be ye troubled. But notice how it says if ye suffer for righteousness' sake. It doesn't say if ye suffer. It says if ye suffer for doing good, which means when we are suffering, we need to make sure that we are suffering because we're doing good. Are you following me? There's many reasons that we could be suffering that are outside of doing good and doing good things. I mean, one of the guys, I think it was Brother Trevor, said in one of the previous sermons that he preached, if you could kick the person in the pants that was responsible for all your troubles, you wouldn't sit for a week. It'd probably be more like a year. But there's a lot of reasons that we suffer outside of doing good. This is like the Christian death loop, the Christian race condition that I want to talk to you about this evening. Imagine being in a spot in your life where you are suffering. You are going through hard times. You think it's because you're doing good, but it's really God's chastisement or something like that upon your life. Let me ask you a question. What are the odds you will ever get out of that loop? If you think you are suffering because of doing good when you're really suffering because you're doing something wrong, you're suffering because it's a direct result of something that you're doing that you're not supposed to be doing. This is a place where the Christian does not need to be, where there are bad things happening to you and you're literally encouraged to keep doing what you're doing wrong because you think you're suffering for doing good. We don't want to be there. So what are you talking about? Let me just give you a few examples. I can go on and on and on about this. But the first one, here's a simple example, slothfulness. Slothfulness is a good example. Turn to Proverbs chapter 19. Turn to Proverbs chapter number 19. Slothfulness. Slothfulness is a way, look at verse number 15 of Proverbs chapter 19. Slothfulness casteth, I'll let you turn there, but slothfulness can, slothfulness, it will cause you to suffer. And if you're suffering because you're slothful and you think, well, I'm doing good and so you just keep doing what you're doing, you're just going to continue suffering. You will never, you have no chance of getting out of that suffering. Look at verse 15. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall what? Suffer. Hunger. So look, laziness, slothfulness is a very simple example. Like if you're a lazy person, you don't work hard, you're going to suffer. And if you think, well, I'm suffering because, you know, I'm being persecuted for my faith and you're suffering because you're slothful, what hope is there for you at that point? Here's another one. Turn to Proverbs 16. Proverbs chapter 16. Like I said, I could go on all night about these, but we'll just hit some big ones here, right? Look at Proverbs chapter 16 and look at verse number 18. Here's one that will cause you to suffer and you don't want to mistake bad things happening to you because you think you're doing good when you're suffering because of what? Because of, how about this one, pride. Pride will cause you to suffer. Verse 15, verse 18, sorry, pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fall. And then falling equals suffering. So don't be a prideful person and think that you're suffering because you do good. You know, one of the problems with us, let me just lump myself into this as well so I don't offend you so much this evening. You know, just because we're right doesn't mean we can just go be these arrogant people everywhere we go. You know, it was said once by one of the pastors, Pastor Jimenez, I think it was probably Pastor Jimenez, but sometimes you can be, you know, too right. You know, you could be this person that literally, you could be this person that is just so prideful you literally just get fired from every job. Seen it. Seen it. Why? And you're just like, oh, it's persecution, I'm being persecuted because I'm a Christian. No, you're prideful and you're arrogant. And that can cause you a lot of suffering. Look, it's guaranteed to if you look at Proverbs chapter 16, verse number 18, pride goeth before destruction and a fall. It's guaranteed. I mean, you have, look, just because what you're saying is true, and I get it, you have the right to speak truth anywhere, anytime. You have that right, America. But people also have the right to dislike you. You have to remember that. I mean, just a general rule for life as far as our pride goes and something to kind of step down on our pride, and look, we all struggle with this one, but a general rule for life is if you don't want people to think you're arrogant, don't ever give unsolicited advice to people. And that, by the way, that is biblical. That is biblical because the Bible says in Matthew chapter 7, hopefully we all just read this, that, you know, he that seeketh will find. People aren't seeking, they're not going to find. People must be seeking. People need to be wanting the answer and wanting it from you, and I'm going to prove that to you from the Bible as well. Go back to 1 Peter chapter 3. You say, but I'm listening to somebody talk at work, and, you know, this guy's talking about his problems, and I know the answer. But if he didn't ask you, don't give it to him. You need to follow that rule in your life because it's not going to matter. If he's not seeking the answer, it's not going to matter if you give it to him. He has to be first seeking the answer. It's not just for salvation. It's just in general. You say, well, why don't people seek? Well, because they're prideful. It's a heart problem. It's a heart problem with those people, right? It doesn't just apply, Matthew 7, seeking and finding doesn't just apply to salvation. Look, even people, here's something that I do often, even when I'm outside of church especially. Look, I'm the pastor, and I very rarely will give unsolicited, the only time I will give unsolicited advice in the church is when there's like a problem that needs to be addressed. And look, you see why, I mean, you say you're the pastor and you can't just go up to people and just tell them what's wrong with him and just tell them what the answer is. No, because people, I mean, they would hate that. They would hate that. When people are talking to you about problems, here's something that I often do. If somebody is just talking to me personally about a problem in a secular situation or whatever, a lot of times, I'll even say like, are you just venting or do you want my opinion on this? I'll say that to people. And you'll be shocked how many times people will just say to you, I'm just venting, meaning they just want to like, again, it's what I said a couple weeks ago that people just want an ear sometimes. And they'll be annoyed if you just start giving them unsolicited advice. This is even one of George Washington's rules of etiquette. I think that one is medical advice. Never give unsolicited medical advice. Don't go and visit a sick relative or a sick person in the hospital and just start telling them like what you would do medically for them, right? I think about like COVID. Everybody was doing this. Like I wanted to pull out George Washington's rules when everybody was coming up to me in every aspect of my life except church, by the way, and saying, hey, if you don't take this shot, you don't love your family. You know, I mean, hello, can you handle your own medical self, please? But never give unsolicited advice. That is a great way to check your pride because a lot of times we think we know the answers and we don't. You know, that's another thing. But look down to 1 Peter chapter 3 in verse number 15, 1 Peter chapter 3 in verse number 15. Look what the Bible says, sanctify the Lord in your hearts and look at these two words. I'm just going to read it to you as I would delete these words and then we'll see why these words are in the verse. Be sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always give an answer to every man, a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. But look what it says. It always, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that what? That asketh you. Every man that is seeking. And you know, how do I know if people are seeking? Because they will ask you. This is how to get people saved that you work with right here. This is on our prayer list. This is how you do it. How do you do it? You show yourself as a humble person. You show yourself as a Christian example to these people. And I'm telling you, sooner or later, some of them, they will ask you. They will ask you. They will ask you the hope, they will ask you the reason of the hope that is within you. They will ask you why you are different. They will ask you why your children are different, why your marriage is different. They'll ask you those things. That's why in the workplace, you should be, you should be, I don't want to say proud, but you should be excited. You should rejoice in the fact that you stand out. That your language stands out, that your behavior stands out. You should rejoice in that because those are the things that people are going to see and they're going to point out, they're going to log those differences. They're going to, oh, he never, he doesn't, he doesn't speak like everybody else here. He doesn't act like everybody else here. He doesn't go to those places that everybody else goes. And those are the things that are going to spark things in them. And they may be cynical at first. They may be cynical at first, but some of them will eventually ask you the reason of the hope that's in you. And then at that point, you can tell them because you're ready to always give an answer. All right? And look, even out-souling we ask. Even out-souling we ask, I mean, souling is, door-to-door souling is the most confrontational that we actually call it, confrontational souling. But even then, we ask, would you like to know? Here's the second one. So one of them is pride. Here's another one. Like I said, I go on all night. I don't have a lot of time, but here's another one. Just being not nice to people. Just being a jerk. You could suffer simply because you're a jerk to people. I mean, look, it's tough to, I don't care if people are saved or not, it's tough to not like a kind person. I mean, it is tough to not like somebody that is always willing to help, somebody that has a great attitude. It is really hard to not like somebody like that. So this is the key, by the way, of, you know, getting people to ask you. Be nice. Be kind to people. There are going to be people, look, there are going to be people in your life that are extremely likable, and they may not be saved. But they are going to be extremely likable people, and it's because they're kind and they're caring, and they're the third one, too. Here's another one. Be real. Be real. People could not like you because you're fake. Because you're just, you're trying to be somebody that you aren't. If you're trying to be fake and you're trying to be somebody that you aren't, there are many, many people who will recognize that in the first seven seconds of the conversation with you, and they will, you will be immediately disliked. And you will suffer. You will suffer. And then you could just be like this person that's a fake jerk to people, and be like, I'm suffering because I'm a Christian. You know, a Christian could be a fake jerk. Like, I'm suffering because I'm a Christian. Like, no, you're suffering because you're a fake jerk who's arrogant. It's possible. You're not going to lose your salvation if you're an arrogant fake jerk. Just be real with people. And then look, it could just be chastisement. I could go on for hours and hours and hours. God's chastisement could cause you to suffer. You could be in some sin in your life, and you know you're in the sin, by the way. You're the only one that knows. I mean, nobody at church is going to come up to you, and you're like, oh, these horrible things are happening to me. We're not going to be a bunch of Job's friends and be like, well, maybe you should get the sin out of your life, brother. It's up to you to identify that sin and get it out of your life, and not just be like, oh, I'm just, all these bad things are happening to me because I'm a Christian. No, it's because you're just, you're willfully sinning. I mean, chastisement is a real thing, and you have to check that yourself. Nobody's going to check that for you. Christians can be these people. We have all kinds of issues with the way that we treat people, and we just chalk it all up to persecution, and that is not good for you as a Christian. So here's a, I wrote down a litmus test for you. Like, how do I know if this is part of my problems, part of my suffering, if you're going through this? First of all, I'm going to give you two points, two litmus tests to just look at the trouble that you're having, if you're having trouble, and I don't know if anybody's having trouble, but you eventually will have some sort of trouble with people in your life. Here's first check. Are the people that hate you, are they all reprobates? Do you turn them all into reprobates? That's kind of a double check for you right there. I mean, are the people, I mean, you know who are reprobates. Are all the people that hate you just God hating, reprobates? I mean, do a check on yourself there. And then the second one is this. Is this a repeating pattern? Are you stuck in this loop? Are you stuck in this loop in your life? Just look back two years. Just look back. Everybody can remember back two years in their life. Just self-reflect a little bit. Are you having a repeating trouble with people in your life? Look, it takes some humility to look back. And say, you know what? I could have acted different in that situation. I do this all the time, by the way. I always look back at situations and be like, you know, yeah, you know what? I could have handled that differently. Maybe I got in the flesh and I said some things. This is a good one for your marriage too. Maybe I got in the flesh and I said some things, not quite in the way I should have said them, or maybe I shouldn't have said that stuff at all or whatever. I mean, don't dwell there, but use it as self-reflection going forward. I mean, don't dwell in the past, but use it. Look, if you can't self-reflect, you're never going to get out of the death loop. You're never going to get out of this loop where you think you're doing good, but you're suffering because you're messing up somewhere. You're treating people wrong somewhere. Jesus, John chapter 7, was hated because he was good. He was good. We can be hated for doing good. It's very possible and pretty much guaranteed at some point, but do a check on the people that are, look, don't even freak out at the word hate. Hate just means dislike. Everyone's like, hey, oh. So many people that dislike you. If there's people that dislike me, are all these people bad, wicked people that hate the Lord? Do a check on those things. But look, we can be hated for doing good. So a lot can be said by checking the people that dislike you. That's a pretty powerful thing. And look, if there are people that dislike you that are a bunch of wicked, God-hating reprobates, hey, praise God, that's where we rejoice. But we just want to make sure that we suffer for the right reasons. We suffer because of doing good. And this is the point that I want to get across. And look, then when we drill it all down and we figure out, okay, yeah, this was me, this was my pride, and this is, I shouldn't have said that to that guy. And, you know, this, I could have done without, you know, doing that or whatever and treating these people this way. And, you know, then once you get all that stuff out of the way, then you know that every time you're suffering, you know that you can just rejoice in it. Because you know that it's for the right thing, suffering for doing good. And Jesus said, you will suffer for doing good because I am good and they hated me. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.