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Hey man, so we're here in Matthew chapter 10. So Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 is sending out the disciples and He's giving them some advice on, some pragmatic advice actually, on what it's going to be like for them out there. You know, He talks at the beginning of Matthew chapter 10 about how, you know, the government, He said governors in verse number 18, and then He gets into details about people, even in their own families, are going to be against them. And then in verse number 34, or verse number 34 and verse number 35, where I'm going to focus you this evening, Jesus Himself says this, this is Jesus' words here, Jesus is speaking, if you have a red letter Bible, these are red words, and the Bible says, think not that I'm come to send peace on earth, I came not to send peace but a sword. And then again, He talks about the variance in people's own households, fathers and mothers, you know, using those strongest bonds that we have on this earth to demonstrate the division that is going to be caused by these people following and becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. So we're looking at liberal Christian fallacies in this sermon series on Sunday mornings, looking at things that Christianity, liberal Christianity, and I use Christianity pretty, pretty loosely there, is teaching today that are not biblical at all. Last week, we looked at this teaching that all sin is equal, you know, this ridiculous teaching that the Bible does not teach that, you know, stealing a paperclip is as bad as killing somebody that's not in your conscience, that's not in the Bible. And I showed you how wicked that is. So this morning, I'm going to preach against this idea of unity, this idea of unity, and this idea of unity, you know, in in in the Christian world that we should all come together as Christians, and we all need to just find common ground. This is not in the Bible at all. And you see from the words directly from Jesus's mouth, that this is exactly against what He is talking about. So we see it, we hear all this today, and it sounds good to us that we all need to just come together, you know, we need to collaborate and kind of, we need to, we need to meet in the middle on these things, you know, you'll hear these types of phrases used all over the place, you know, maybe even in the workplace, you go in the workplace, and, and you collaborate with a project team or whatever that is, you know, this is a, this is an idea that that's okay to do when you're when you're building a bridge or building a project or building a machine of some kind, you can work with a group of people, and you can all come up with different ideas to get to that end goal. But the point is, even those work environments and those secular situations, you know, you're still trying to build something that is very specific, you're still trying to build a bridge that is a certain length, it's a certain width, and it can hold a certain amount of weight. And if one idea, you know, means that our bridge will be half as long as it's supposed to be, and it will go only halfway across the valley, that's obviously not an idea that's good. But the point is, this is, this is work collaboration. This is secular projects and machines and designs. This is not talking, you know, this is politics today. This is politics today. Whereas, you know, politicians will get together. And this is why there's really no difference between Republicans and Democrats right here, because they all get up and they say certain things. And this debt limit thing just drives me nuts. It's been going on for 30 years, ever since I've been old enough to understand politics. You know, you say the Republicans are over here saying we need to cut this stuff, you know, and the Democrats are over here saying, no, we can't cut entitlement spending, and the Republicans are, we can't cut defense spending, and we need to invade everyone in the world, and we need all this money. And eventually they just give each other all the money and they all make a deal, and it's all the same thing. That's what convergence, collaboration and unity does for politics. All right? So that has nothing to do, we are to have nothing to do with that when it comes to the Christian life. And that's what I want to show you this morning. The Christian life is not to, the biblical Christian life is not to have anything to do with unity, with other ideas, and ecumenicalism. You think about all the different Christian denominations out there. You think about just all the Christian denominations out there. You have the biggest one, you know, you have the Catholic Church, right? You've got the Catholic Church, then out of the Catholic Church you've got the Orthodox Churches, you've got Eastern Orthodox Churches. Out of the Catholic Church came the Protestant movement in the 16th century. You know, the Protestants being the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, all came out of this great reformation, it was called. But the point is, today when you look at what most people think, especially people looking from the outside in at Christianity, people that are not Christians, the Muslim guy I talked to a couple weeks ago, they look at Christians as all just one thing, as all just one thing together. But I'm going to show you this morning that they're not just one thing. They're not just one thing and we want to have nothing to do with this ecumenical idea that all Christians should, all Christian churches should be one and come together on things. Even though, look, even though we may look at certain Christian denominations and we may look at those denominations and people in those denominations and many times we may see, oh, well, you know, we hold the same political views on certain social issues and all these types of things. It still has nothing to do with that we should become unified with these things. We are not a denomination. We are not a denomination. We are not a Baptist denomination. There are Baptist denominations. We are not. We are an independent Baptist church. So the question is this morning that I want to put to you this morning is should Christians be unified? You know, should Christians be unified? And the problem is really the definition of the word Christian right there because what people consider Christian is not what Jesus Christ would consider Christian. All right, so all that to say this. We are a church. We are not a denomination and we are not going to be unified with other denominations. We may be, you know, friends with other churches that hold the same doctrines and beliefs as us but we are not and never will be a denomination. Look folks, unification was the original problem. Unification is what started everything. In the early third century there was something in 313 and then 335 AD there was something where this Roman emperor named Constantine wanted to make Christianity the, he wanted to merge the Roman government with Christianity. So he invites all these bishops to this council so they can basically create their own religion. They can create their version of Christianity. Look unification is the reason that it was doomed to disaster. So what they did was they brought together this group of people that showed up and they came out with a creed. They came out with common, you know, they came out with a writing, a creed, all these articles and all these beliefs and ended up being the Nicene Creed that people know about it today. But look, it was the first ecumenical council. It was the first council trying to bring everyone together and unify everyone. And it was not just unifying Christian sex, it was unifying the Roman paganism with Christianity. And then you get the Roman Catholic Church. Turn to Acts chapter five. Turn to Acts chapter five. First of all, you know, it was doomed to disaster because it was a political move in the first place. You know, Constantine was just trying to, you know, the Roman Empire at that point had been persecuting Christians for over 200 years and Constantine was just trying to what? He was trying to bring peace. He was trying to bring political, you know, popularity to himself amongst this sect of believers, this new religion that he could not get rid of. The Roman Empire, the more they persecuted the Christians, the more they spread because that's how true Christianity works. The more persecution that is put, the more pressure that is put, the stronger it becomes. So look, look at Acts chapter five verse 29. The Bible says, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Jesus in verse number 18 of Matthew chapter 10 already warned the disciples, the governors are going to be against you. The politicians are coming against you. Everybody, including your own family is going to be against you. And Peter and the apostles knew that we are to obey God rather than men. That is why the true Christians from Jesus's time all the way until today it was the same thing at the founding in the United States. The true Christians, the true Bible believing Christians never want to have anything to do with politics. They never want to have anything to do with merging with the government. It was offered to the Baptists at the foundation of the United States in the late 1700s. It was offered to the Baptists, but before the First Amendment, they were going to sponsor five Protestant denominations. That was the original idea is that five denominations would be sponsored by the government and you could choose which Protestant denomination you wanted your tax money to go to. And the Baptists by James Madison were given an opportunity to be one of these five. They were given an opportunity for once in history to have a seat at the table. And the Baptists said we want to have nothing to do with this. We want to have nothing to do with being joined by the government in any way. We don't want to be part of all these different Protestant denominations. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. So look, this council of Nicaea, this council of Nicaea that brought all these Christian bishops together. Look, folks, none of the same people showed up. None of the same pastors showed up to that meeting because the goal was to create a state church, which Bible-believing Christians have never wanted anything to do with. Because guess what? The Bible, that's directly against, and this is another conversation in itself, another sermon in itself, but that's directly against the gospel, which says that by our free will, God has given us free will to believe or not to believe. This is the ultimate reason why Christians never want to be sponsored by a state, by a government. Because it is free will that makes someone saved or not saved. So the question is, who should we be unified with? Should we be unified with anybody? Who should we be unified with? You go to Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to read for you Acts chapter 1 and verse number 14. In Acts chapter 1 and verse number 14, the Bible says, these all continued. This is talking about the disciples right when they're getting ready to go out and Jesus has just been taken to heaven and it's talking about the 12 disciples. It says, these all continued with one accord, in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. Philippians chapter 2, it says it this way, it says, fulfill ye my joy and be ye like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. That sounds like unification to me right there, but the point I'm trying to get you to understand is Philippians chapter 2 in the book of Acts, we are talking about a local group of believers. We are talking about a local group of believers. That's what a church is in the Bible and the biggest heresy that the first heresy that came out of the council of Nicaea in the third century was this idea of a universal church. This idea that, hey we're going to bring all these denominations in and we're all part of the church. That is not what the Bible says at all. When the Bible is talking about the church, it's talking about local churches. It's talking about church as. It's talking about, you know when he's writing to the Philippians, he's talking about the church at Philippi. When he's writing the epistle to the Ephesians, he's talking about the church at Ephesus. He's talking about a local group of believers. A local group of believers. I think I told you to go to Hebrews 10, I led you astray. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. So how is it possible? How is it possible to be unified as a group of believers if we don't have a creed? If we don't come up with some creed that we should all write together. First of all, we have a creed already. We already have what our focus should be on. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, look at verse number 16. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse number 16. We're talking about who we as individual Christians, individual believers, people that have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ that are saved. Who should we be unified with? Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Does that say all creeds that people come up with? No, it says all scripture, meaning the word of God. Meaning the Bible itself. This is why we're King James only. Because this is the pure, unadulterated word of God. Now go to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. See the thing about scripture that's different from some creed that men would come up with, look, 80% of the Nicene creed I might agree with. But then they just throw in heresies here and there. But even the part that I agree with, it lacks one thing. It lacks one thing. Look at Hebrews chapter 4 and verse number 12. So the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 that all scripture is what we are to use for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction. Look at Hebrews 4, 12. Here's why we only use scripture. Because the word of God is quick and powerful. That doesn't say words that I type up. That doesn't say I can go and write up a commentary on Hebrews chapter 4. That's why we go out and we give the gospel to people. We don't go out and explain the gospel in our own words. We actually show the Bible to people because it's the word of God that is powerful, not our words. The word of God literally has power. It has spiritual power and it has physical power. You say what kind of physical power? I don't know. God used his word to create everything. To create the entire universe. And God said. And God said. His words made everything that you see around you. His words made man, made the universe, made the solar system, the planets, everything. All of creation was spoken into existence. How? Because God's word has power. Our words don't have power. I can go write all the creeds I want. I can go write all the creeds I want and I go make up Pastor Jared's Creed on the Trinity. And maybe it's right. Maybe it's correct. But unless I use God's word it has no power. That's why we go out soul winning and we give the gospel to somebody. We show them God's words. Because it is God's words that have power. Now you say what unity? You say aren't we in unity with other churches? I mean yes we're all in unity here because we all believe the same doctrines. We all believe the Bible. We all believe the same scriptures. But that's our measuring stick on who we're in unity with. Who I'm friends with. Yes I am friends with Pastor Humanities and Verdi Baptist Church and I hope I'm always friends with him. Why? Because not only do I like everyone up there very much and they're all my brothers and sisters in Christ and they're all saved but the main thing is that we all use the same creed which is the Bible. We don't need a creed. We're all looking at the same word of God. And that's how we come to the same conclusions. I always thought it was interesting after I became, you know, I got saved and started going to a Bible believing Baptist Church. I always thought it was interesting when I started to get to, you know, start preaching. Even if we're going to have men's preaching night coming up here in a couple weeks, you know, you're not going to see me pulling you to the side and being like hey here's what you're going to preach. Here's what you need to be preaching on. And I want you to preach it this way and this way and this way. No. The only rule is that you preach what's in the Bible. That's it. And there's not going to be any problems. Because people that are saved and read the Bible, they will preach the same doctrines. Because that is their reference point. So that's our unity right there. I mean the Bible says go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The problem, you say, how could they come up with a creed that was so messed up? A creed that came up with this idea of a universal church and a creed that came up with this idea of the sacraments and all these different things. How could they? Because the Bible says that the natural man, meaning the unsaved man, literally can't understand the Bible. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We're looking at this idea of unity. Who should be unified? We should only be unified with people that hold the same doctrines as us. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse number 14. Look what the Bible says. It says the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Boy, isn't that true today. I mean you look at these people, you look at clown world today and you look at all these people doing all the crazy perverted stuff that they're doing and they look at the Bible as foolishness. They look at the Bible as like oh man that's bad. They banned the Bible from Utah schools I guess. I just heard this last week. But guess what? Guess which one they banned? They didn't ban the NIV. They didn't ban the ESV. They specifically banned the King James Bible. Why? Because it's got power that's why. It's got power to change. It's got power to save. Satan's like you know what I've got to get this Bible out of the school. But only one, only the King James Bible. Because that's the only one that has any power at all. You've got to notice those proofs folks. You've got to notice that stuff. You've got to notice this stuff when it happens. Look at Romans chapter 10. So the Bible says that the natural man, the natural man, the unsaved man can't understand the Bible. I can't tell you how personally true this has been for me. I can't tell you how many times before I was saved I tried to read the Bible. I've read Genesis chapter 1 500 times. Or the first couple paragraphs. I've read you know the beginning part of the New Testament many times. Because you just after a while it's confusing. You can't understand it. Because the natural man can't understand. This is a spiritual book. And you have to have the Holy Spirit in you in order to understand it. So it's not surprising that a council of unsaved people along with a Roman emperor that's got political motivations come up with this massive nightmare of a heretical mess called the Roman Catholic Church. It's not surprising at all. So you see if they can't understand, if the natural man, if the unsaved person can't understand the Bible, how would someone get saved? Look at Romans chapter 10 in verse number 13. Romans chapter 10 in verse number 13 through 15 is a really cool set of verses. It kind of walks, it kind of walks salvation backwards. Alright so it really starts you know the process for somebody starts in verse 15 goes to verse 14 and then salvation is at verse 13. It's kind of a neat way of putting it but let's just read it. It says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So you're saved when you call upon the name of the Lord. And then it says in verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed. Alright so first you must you must believe and then call upon the name of the Lord. Basically tell God you believe. Alright and then look what it says. And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? That is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So here's how it works folks. Step one is someone is sent in verse 15. Someone is sent and in verse 15 also that word that that person is sent and that person goes and they preach. They preach what? God's word. They preach the word of God. And then in verse 14 you see the step where someone when they're when the preaching is happening when the gospel is being explained and read from God's word that person hears. They hear God's word and then at that point that person believes. This is the this is the connection between how someone that can't understand the Bible could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course after they believe verse 13 they call upon the name of the Lord. Alright so that's how that works. That's why we are called to go out soul winning. We are called to go out and preach the gospel because look that's how people are going to get saved. And we see that every single week here. All right. But look let's go back to this idea of the universal church. The idea that these church the church should just get together. The Bible teaches turn to First Corinthians chapter 14. I'll read for you the heretical statement from the Nicene Creed. OK. That came out of this Council of Nicaea. It says we you know it always it says we believe in these these statements in the Nicene Creed. And then it says we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. So first of all there's two heresies right there. But they're basically you know that's where the idea of the universal church came from is this creed right here. We believe in one holy and apostolic church. What they did there was they're claiming a monopoly on Christianity. I mean it's it's easy to see why why somebody that wants power would do this. You say no no no unless you're part of our club you know you're not a Christian. But look at what the Bible says. Let's just go back to what our unifying document says. Look at First Corinthians 14 verse 33. The Bible says for God is I mean I could read you verses on churches all day long talking about individual local gatherings of believers. For God is not the author of confusion verse 33 but of peace as in all churches of the saints. Why didn't he just say as in the church as in God's church. In Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3 why did he call out individual local churches. Why did he say the seven churches in Asia. Why didn't he just say this is my message to the church because he's talking about local individual groups of believers. So the universal church doctrine is completely false. It is it is this idea of convergence is this idea that we all need to unify under one banner and it just leads to massive heresy as we see. I mean look at every single denomination today folks. Every single denomination today might even even forget the universal church. Every denomination is corrupt. Name me a denomination that's not corrupt today. This is what Satan wants because if he can get groups of churches together to band together under a denomination he has to corrupt one person. He has to corrupt one president one CEO one board of directors one whatever and he gets them all. This is the problem. This is why the Bible only teaches individual churches period. Now let's talk about lines that we should draw. Let's talk about you know just points of unity that we should draw as Bible believing Christians. The first one is this. The first one is this. Turn to Galatians chapter 1. You will find people argue with you about this all the time. I have people argue with me that have been close to me in my life. People argue with me at the door about this. The first line that we will draw that will upset people that will bring division with people. The first line that we draw and look it's a line being drawn by Bible believing Christians since the time of Christ. And that first line is the gospel itself. The gospel itself. This is the first line of division. Look at Galatians chapter 1. You say people say what's the big deal. People say what's the big deal. They believe in Jesus. You believe in Jesus. Calm down. Independent fundamental Baptist. King James only. Calm down. They use a different version of the Bible. It's all the same Jesus. Just calm down buddy. But no we must have division here. You say why? Because it's a big deal according to the Bible. That's why. Look it's not my opinion. Let's just look at what the Bible says. Look at Galatians chapter 1 verse number 6. Paul is talking to a church that he was at and then he left and as soon as he left they started going astray. People came in teaching false things. This shows you when did false doctrine start in the church. Right away. Right away there's wolves coming in. Right away there's false teachers coming in. Right away these lines must be drawn and they must not be dotted lines. They must be bold lines. Look at this language. He says I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto what? Unto another gospel. Which is not another. He's saying you're not even holding the line on the gospel is what he's saying. He's like you're being called to another gospel but he's saying like it's not a gospel though. If you change the gospel it's not the gospel. What are you saying? But there be some that trouble you. So look false teachers came in and they started doing what? They would pervert the gospel of Christ. So people came in and they started perverting the gospel of Christ. What does that mean? They started changing the truth of the gospel. They came in and they started teaching different things. They started and I guarantee you it was some form of works based salvation. That's what the Bible says. It was some form of oh yeah you know it was Jesus that died for you but you also have to do this. And that was the very first perversion of the gospel from the Roman Catholic Church as well was with the addition of baptism of infants into salvation. You must be baptized in order for your children to be saved. That is a false perversion of the gospel. And you say what's the big deal? What's the big deal if they just bolt that on? Well let's keep reading. Look at verse number eight. It says but though we. This is how serious he is. He says though we or an angel from heaven. That's interesting because how many false prophets out there have claimed that they heard their new revelation book of Mormon or their new revelation you know Mohammed or whatever it is from an angel. From somebody that some spiritual being that told them this great truth that they led people into false religion. They led people into false beliefs. It says though we are an angel from heaven. Preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. You need to pay attention when things are repeated in the Bible. Let me explain some to you. Accursed means damned. Paul is saying is if anybody comes and if anybody walks into this building and starts teaching amongst the church people that in order to go to heaven you need to be baptized. Look is baptism good? You bet it's good. You should get baptized after you're saved. But baptism has nothing to do with you going to heaven. But what if we just bolt that on? What if somebody comes in and says yeah but to be saved you need to believe on Jesus trust on Jesus and you need to be baptized. It says that person let them go to hell. Let that person be damned is what Paul is saying. This is a strong language right here. Look at verse number 9. Just to make sure you didn't hear it I'm going to say it again Paul says. As we said before so I say again if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that we have received let him be accursed. Let him go to hell for eternity. That's what Paul is saying. If anybody comes in it sounds like a big deal to me. It sounds like somebody we shouldn't unify with. It sounds like oh the church of Christ you look at the guys at the church of Christ they preach these great moral things you know Duck Dynasty guy gets up and he gives this great speech about family and all these things they believe you have to be baptized to be saved. It's false doctrine. The Bible says let them be accursed. It's so divisive but that's what the Bible says. That's why we're divisive and that's why Jesus himself said I came to divide. I came to bring a sword. Look at Romans chapter 11. See here's the problem. So we see that if anybody changes the gospel we can just close this topic right here. I mean that was pretty strong language in Galatians chapter 1. You say but why can't it be you know we're a little bit of works too. Look at Romans chapter 11. Look at verse number 6. Romans chapter 11 and verse number 6. I mean the Bible says it in so many different ways. The Bible is trying to just get across to you in so many different ways that you can't change the gospel. And he says in Galatians chapter 1 if you change the gospel it's not the gospel is what he says. In verse number 6 of Romans 11 he says and if by grace because the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith. So he's saying if you're saved by grace. Grace meaning something you don't deserve. If you're saved this morning you didn't deserve it. It was a gift that was given to you. If you're saved this morning you didn't do anything to get that. The Bible says that it was given to you for free. And if by grace then it is no more of works. That's a match. That's the gospel right there. It is of grace and it's not of works. But then look at verse number or the second part of the verse. Otherwise grace is no more grace. Because he's saying otherwise you earned it yourself. But if it be of works now he gives the opposite side of that coin just to make sure we don't understand. I mean the Bible literally says it in every possible way. It says but Pastor Jared can it be a little bit of works and trust in Jesus but if it be of works then it is no more grace. Meaning if I think I got to go and I got to do one good thing in my life to go to heaven I get no grace. Romans chapter 4 says I get what? I get debt. That's what I get. If I go to heaven I say God I believe in Jesus and I also did these two things in my life. I lived a bad life but I did these two things. Let me in. No grace. That's what the Bible is saying here. It's just saying if it's of works it's not of grace. But we know it's of grace. So that means it's not of works. And that in Ephesians chapter 2 literally says not of works. Otherwise work is no more work. Can't we mix a little? Can't we come together on this? It's all the same Jesus. You guys have to take such a hard line on this. You know when I was a Lutheran and I wasn't saved I never thought the Baptists were going to hell. I always thought Baptists were going to heaven. But you know what it was the Baptist that knew that I wasn't saved. Because he was the one that drew that hard biblical line on the gospel. The Bible says it in so many different ways. But it says I mean ultimately if you change the gospel even a little bit you're accursed. Meaning you're damned. And there's no grace. You're not saved if you change the gospel. So look it's us causing division here. You see it's us holding the line of the gospel that causes division. Now a lot of people will say and it's funny because if you read historical books a common and I think it's on purpose. It has to be on purpose because there's so much documentation to prove otherwise. If you read historical definitions of a Baptist they'll say the Baptists came about in the 15th century, 16th century. But look this is why the martyrs are so important. You say why did God allow Christians to be killed in so many different ways and all these horrible accounts of Christians being killed. Why was it? It's so we can know the lines that were drawn. That's why. So Baptists were the denomination. It's not a Protestant denomination and it was not formed in the 16th century. I'll prove it to you right here. Here's a decree. Here's a decree that came from a Roman emperor in the 4th century after the creation of the Roman Catholic Church. Here's a decree. You tell me if there wasn't Baptists around why would you need to make a decree like this? Why would you need to make a law that says this? This is a political law folks. This is a Roman law. Look at what the Bible or not the Bible. Look at what this Roman law says. It says an edict issued by the emperors Theodosius and Honorius which reads this way. If any minister of the Christian church is found guilty of having rebaptized anyone, he together with the person thus rebaptized provided the latter is proved to be of such an age to understand the crime shall be put to death. In the 4th century, this was in the early 4th century that this decree was made. Why, if there wasn't people going around, why did they rebaptize people? Why were they called Anabaptists? You know what that means? Even the name Anabaptist proves that this came out of the false doctrine, the false perverted gospel of the Roman Catholic Church. Because what they were doing is they were rebaptizing people. That's the name they were given, but really they weren't rebaptizing people. They were taking people that were baptized as infants, which is not baptism. They were taking people that are now adults or old enough to understand. They were preaching the gospel to them. Those people would get saved and then they were biblically baptizing people. And that's why the Roman Catholic Church and all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church labeled them Anabaptists, rebaptizers. And they literally tried to kill them all that were doing this. But what does that do? That just makes Christians stronger. It just makes Christians push harder. Turn to Matthew 7. The point is this, folks. We're not going to unify the first line of division that we draw and that's been drawn from the beginning of Christianity itself is the line of the gospel up to the point of death. Christians, I mean, they wouldn't allow it. They wouldn't allow anything to be bolted onto the gospel because it's a perversion of the gospel. They knew what the Bible said. Turn to Matthew 7. I mean, not only does the Bible give us this clear scripture saying if it's of works, it's no more grace, saying if anyone changes the gospel, they're accursed. Not only do we get that, Jesus gives us a literal example of this in Matthew 7. These are all red words if you have a red letter Bible. This is Jesus speaking. Look what Jesus says. Jesus literally says here, he says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is saying that when people, you know, these people here, they call Jesus Lord. They believe Jesus was God. They believe Jesus was the son of God. They believe Jesus came and died. They believe he rose again from the dead. That's what these people believe. It says not everyone that does that, though, is going to go to heaven. Look at verse number 22. It says many people, many will say to me in that day when they're standing in front of Jesus, it says, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name cast out devils? In thy name done many wonderful, what? Many wonderful works. What's the problem with these people? These people are going to stand in front of Jesus and they believe Jesus is God. They believe Jesus died on the cross. They believe Jesus rose from the dead and they're going to proclaim their works to Jesus. How's that going to go? Let's keep reading. Then I will profess unto them, I love this part right here. Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. These people are going to go to hell. You say, why? Because they're bad people? We might look at these people and say they lived a wonderful Christian life. But these people stood up and they professed their works. And Jesus says, I never knew you. They knew him. But folks, it doesn't matter if we know him. It matters if he knows us. And he knows us by us trusting on him and him sealing us with the Holy Spirit, us being saved. Notice how it says, I never knew you. It doesn't say like, oh, I used to know you and then I forgot you and then I know you again. No. Once Jesus knows you, he knows you. But these people, he never knew them. They were never saved is what the Bible is saying. They claimed the name of Jesus, Billy Graham. They claimed the name of Jesus. All these preachers out there that are just spewing Jesus all over the place and saying, repent of your sins to be saved. They're out there and they're saying Jesus and saying, repent of your sins. Jesus died for you. Turn from your sins and you'll be saved. He never knew those people. Jesus doesn't know them. They're going to go to hell. And the sad thing is those false teachers are going to bring a lot of people to hell with them if they believe that bolt-on works. You say, yeah, but Jesus. But these people call Jesus Lord and they're going to hell because Jesus never knew them. This is why we will hold the line of the Gospel and why Christians, real Christians, have held the line of the Gospel up to and including a horrible death since the beginning of Christianity, since Jesus' time. Every single one of the disciples did this, except for John. He got banished. But every single one of the 12 disciples died a horrible death because they would not recant the Gospel. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. Actually, you turn to Luke chapter 12. I'll just read for you Matthew chapter 10. Look, folks, we're not holding the line just on the Gospel. The Gospel, yes, we're holding the line on that, but we're not holding the line just on the Gospel. We're holding the line on all matters of faith and practice, on everything in the Bible we are holding the line on. And look, Jesus himself was against unity. He was against it. I mean, that's what a lot of these martyrs mirror detailed stories. I mean, it gets incredibly detailed of some of these people that were put on trial, some of the things that were done to these people. And, I mean, a main theme, though, is they're trying to get them to recant. They're trying to get them to, hey, hey, say that you don't believe this. Say that it's not true. Say the Gospel isn't true. Say that you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll kill you quickly, or we'll just put you in prison for the rest of your life. No, they would not draw those lines. You know what they're trying to do to those people? They're trying to say, hey, let's just unify with us. Just come with us. Just join us. Just say you believe the Nicene Creed. They're like, no. They're like, no, do your worst. And they did do their worst. One pastor I was just reviewing again this morning, one pastor is being drawn by his people, and his people are like, they're trying to give him, they're going to burn him. They're going to burn him, and his people are trying to give him alcohol to drink so he won't feel the pain. And his people are trying to give him shoes to put on his feet so he won't feel the burning of his feet. And he's like, no, I'm fasting today. He didn't want the alcohol. He's like, no, I don't want the shoes. And as he's burning in the fire, he's telling his people, he's like, no, this is temporary, this pain. He's like, I'm about to be in eternity with Jesus Christ. He's like, there's nothing they can do to us is the ultimate message. So, no, we're not going to unify. We're not going to unify. We're not going to draw, we're not going to make any bold lines, dotted lines. And we're not, on what? On anything that is doctrine in the Bible. Turn to Luke chapter 12. Look at verse number 51. Jesus says, suppose ye that I'm come to bring peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division. Jesus came to divide. From henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son. In Matthew chapter 10, it's talking about the father turning in the son. It's talking about family members turning in other family members. The son against the father, the mother against the daughter, the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. The point is this, folks, we have to hold the line on every doctrine in the Bible. Convergence, this idea of unity, this idea of, look, it's Satan's game. It's Satan's goal. Think about Revelation chapter 13. Think about the one world religion. Ultimately, that's where unification leads to, is one, I mean, and look, it will lead to that one day, when the Antichrist comes on the scene and he brings the whole world under one world religion. That's why he's got to go, who's he hunting down? When you have to take the mark of the beast and you have to worship the image of this one world religion, who's he hunting down? He's hunting down the people that wouldn't unify. He's hunting down the believers. He's hunting down the saints. And that's what brings about that great tribulation. He's going to have one world government just converging all governments under one umbrella, under him. Look, folks, the point I'm trying to get you to understand is this come together, we need to unify, it is literally satanic. It is satanic. Romans chapter 12 in verse 18, the Bible says, you know, if it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceable with all men. Yeah, if it be possible. If it be possible. It doesn't say compromise your doctrines. Compromise the Bible. I mean, people will take that verse and they will do the same stupid philosophy that they do with Matthew 7 where they say, oh, don't judge. Don't have no judgment. It's the same thing. You recognize the patterns here? It's because it's all from Satan. That's why you recognize the patterns. So, folks, look, we aren't moving off the doctrine of the Bible, off every single doctrine. We're going to stick to the doctrines of the Bible. You know what we're going to do? We're going to continue raising kids that grow up in the Lord with all these doctrines of the Bible. Those kids are going to grow up in the Lord. Those kids are going to get saved. Those kids are not going to be confused about all the garbage that's going on in this world. You know, our kids, our boys are going to go, they're going to grow up and they're going to meet a nice young lady one day. They're going to enter into an appropriate biblical relationship with some young lady one day and then they're going to, you know, they're free from fornication. I don't care what the world says. We're holding that doctrine. Free from fornication. They're going to get married. They're going to have a happy, fulfilling marriage where they serve the Lord together. And guess what? They're going to have children and they're going to hold to the lines of the Bible and they're going to raise those children in the Lord. Those children are going to get saved. Those children are going to grow up and maybe that young lady is going to meet a boy one day and they're going to have an appropriate, biblically, biblical relationship, courtship, free from fornication. I don't care what's happening in the world because we're not dashing any lines. We're going to hold bold lines on every single doctrine. They're going to get married. They're going to have children. You see the cycle here? This is the cycle when you hold the doctrines of the Bible. When you don't unify with all of this garbage. Just rinse and repeat. The problem is though, the minute you compromise, the minute you start dashing lines, you'll be like, you know what? Everybody else is kind of like living together before they're married and it seems normal now. You know, I mean, is it really a problem? The minute you form unity with the world on any one of these biblical doctrines, that's when that cycle breaks. That's when you will break that biblical cycle. The minute you refuse to separate, as the Bible says that you should, the minute that you refuse to come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord, the minute you refuse in those areas, you break that cycle. Are you in Hebrew chapter 10? The minute you refuse to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, the minute you refuse to do that, you will break that cycle. I'm not sure myself why people aren't more careful, actually. You see so many Christians that fall because they find some area of the Bible, they're like, I'm going to dash that line. I'm going to erase this line. And then they fall. Look, they don't become unsaved, but they fall and that generational cycle will be lost for them. These promises that God gives us in the Bible, if we don't compromise, are broken. God's all about covenants in the Bible. If you do these things, it will work, he says. He promises no matter how bad this garbage, this perversion, all this stuff gets out there, you can still raise biblical children. You can still raise children that have a biblical worldview that are not confused, that grow up to love and serve the Lord on their own. That leave your home and say, you know what, I'm serving the Lord with my life and my wife and my husband. When you look out there, they call us a peculiar people. The Bible says we'll be a peculiar people. What in the world? What in the world? Our kids aren't going to be confused about what a man is, what a woman is, what gender they are. Our kids aren't going to have those problems. Who cares what people think? We keep the lines drawn, bold, bold sharpie on every single line. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. I mean, on the other hand, if you raise your children this way, not only are they not going to be confused, but they're going to grow up and they're going to feel like you and I do, like the entire world has gone insane. Like the entire world outside, but guess what? It's all worth it. And guess what? This is where the church comes in. This is where the churches come in. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25. It says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Nobody goes to church anymore. There's not many good churches to go to. But a biblical church, it says don't forsake that biblical church. It says but exhorting one another. That means encouraging one another. You come to church and you're encouraged because you know what, I'm not the only one that believes this stuff. I'm not the only one drawing these lines. These are the people that I can unify with, these people here. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching, the worse it gets, the more important having a biblical church is. That's what it's saying. And look, I just think about, I was thinking about this last night. I was visiting with Pastor Jimenez and I was just thinking about Verity Baptist Church and I was thinking about this church. Of course, I was sent out by Pastor Jimenez and Verity Baptist Church. Everybody here knows that. But I was just thinking about the overwhelming influence on my life and on my family's life that that church and this church have had on me and on my family. Overwhelming. 90 degree turns. Just completely changed my life, the direction of my life, the direction of my children, the direction of my wife, completely changed from that ministry and now this ministry. But you know what? Here's the thing you need to understand. I was always all in. From the moment I stepped into that church and into this church, I have always been both feet in. You say, well you're the pastor. Duh. But here's the thing. I wasn't the pastor at Verity Baptist Church. I was all in there. And that place has changed, that place and this place has changed the direction of my family in ways that I can't even verbally explain to you all. All of that is what you have in front of you. All of that. But you must draw these lines. You must refuse to unify. The devil is going to try to unify you in the smallest areas of your life. The devil is going to try to get you on Monday and Tuesday and try to get you to unify with things that are against the Bible and you must draw these biblical lines. And if you do, this book will change your life. This book will change the direction of your life. You will live a Christian life that you never thought possible, I promise you. But you cannot unify. You only unify with the people that hold to these doctrines and hold to the doctrines of this book. The only unity is here folks. It's right here. This is the only unity. It's in God's word and we stand firm on God's word and we're never going to give an inch here. But you know what we're trying to do? We're trying to bring people here. We're trying to bring people here. That's how we're trying to unify the community. We're trying to bring them here. That's what we're trying to do because you know what? I believe, I believe from the top of my head to the tip of my toes that people care about their kids today. You know, I care about other people's kids that we see every week out there. We're knocking on their doors. I care about these children that we see out every single week. And I don't want them thrown into these meat grinders that the devil has waiting for them out there. And I believe that people know that there's something terribly wrong with all this satanic influence happening today. I believe people know it. But the only unity is to bring them to the Bible. The only solution is to bring them here is the only solution for them. Because why? Because it's true. And because it has power. Those reasons right there. This has the power to save. This book has the power to save. This has the power to deliver and the only union is to be in the Bible with other believers. And that's why we're against this unity and convergence that liberal Christianity has been pushing since the beginning of Christianity. And it's still pushing today that we all need to come together. No. We're unified with people that are here. And that's it. We'll always be an independent church and we'll always be based on God's word. And we're not given an inch. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.