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Matthew 23 verse 25 it says Jesus speaking woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess the title of the sermon tonight is full of extortion full of extortion so it's sins that will get you kicked out of church part 6 sins that will get you kicked out of church part 6 today we're going to be looking at extortion the sin of extortion I'll just read to you quickly 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 and 10 and 11 Paul writing to the Corinthian Church he said I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with who fornicators yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners that's one mention of the word extortioners all with idolaters for then must he needs go out of the world verse 11 says but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother so not don't keep company with someone that's a believer a brother in the Lord be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard we've gone through all those sins that would get you kicked out of church or an extortioner that's the last one on this list with such and one no not to eat okay so an extortionate someone that women to kick them out of the church and we're not to eat with them we're not to fellowship with that person okay now when I mentioned to Cameron today like he asked me what am I preaching I said since I don't get you kicked out of church part 6 he goes man how many are there how many sins are gonna get you kicked out of church this is the last one in this list okay this is the last one in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 but in 2nd Corinthians I believe there are another three that will get you kicked out of church okay so at some point I'll cover that but it's I'm probably gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna give it a break for a while and then we're gonna cover that later on because otherwise you're all gonna think man we're all deserving of getting kicked out of church okay but as we see through this list these are some major sins that you get kicked out of church primarily because it'll influence the church okay it's like leaven that will leaven the church it will cause others to commit the same kind of sins it'll cause the church to be divided and of course the church should not be united and not to be of that one mind that we saw in this Corinthian Church okay now when it comes to the topic of extortion there's only I think there's eight mentions yeah there's eight mentions only eight mentions in the Bible it's kind of like when I preached on railing you know there wasn't many there wasn't much mention of the Bible I think that's about eight or nine mentions as well so what we're going to do is go through all eight mentions we've already gone through three of them okay the passage that Matthew read for us in Matthew 23 we're going to go into that a little bit more detail we saw that mentioned twice here in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and then in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 is another mention so that's four mentions already in the Bible 1st Corinthians chapter 6 if you don't remember that was when we were instructed not to take our brethren before the government before the law or sue our brethren over trivial matters if you remember that when we cover that in first Corinthians chapter 6 and because if we take him to the to the law if we take him to the government over trivial matters we're making people that are unrighteous who are full of sin to judge that matter when it should be judged within the church we're not talking about criminal activities okay God has given us the government he's given us the law as an institution for the nation to to to punish evildoers okay to punish criminal acts but when it comes to just trivial matters that we in the church we're not to take that before the law okay and that's where it gets mentioned because if we bring these things before the law if you bring this before the unjust if we bring these things before the unrighteous it says it gives that list of who these people are and it says no thieves nor covetous that those in first Corinthians 6 verse 10 no thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God so you don't want to take your your matters that you have you know your your fights and problems that you have within the church you don't want to take that to the unjust you you don't want to take it to people that are extortioners okay and if you think oh man no Kevin you know out the authority they're righteous they're just trying to do their best no God says they're full of these sins they're drunkards they're extortioners they're gonna try to take advantage of you in every situation but still even though the government is full of these people that is an institution that God has put into place to deal with evildoers okay so we can't just ignore the government altogether whatsoever okay so I just want to make sure that's understood because extortion is not just a sin but it is a crime and we'll cover that later on now if you don't know what extortion means or an extortion I just looked this up on the dictionary it just means to obtain that can be money information or an act from a person by violence by intimidation by abuse of authority or to obtain by force by torture by threat or the like so if I want to get something out of you it can be money or anything else and I threaten you I do it by force and you then do it because you know you're afraid for your life or whatever that's extortion okay that's extortion it's more than theft okay it's more than theft it's you willingly giving something up but by force because of fear of your life or fear of something else okay that's extortion being forced to do something against your will okay now we commonly know this as blackmail okay we probably that's a term we're probably more familiar with okay blackmail okay making someone doing thinking that you know there's a threat for them and they go ahead and do it to please somebody else if you've ever been someone that's been extorted or you've ever been blackmailed okay you know that it's not a pleasant place to be you know that it's extremely wicked and you know you've been forced to do something against your will okay now I sometimes I want children you know what children have a way to blackmail one another especially if you have a family full of siblings full of brothers and sisters you know why because sometimes one of the children will do something wrong and they don't want mom and dad to know about it okay so what does the older sibling do or another sibling do he goes ah if you don't you know do this for me then I'm gonna tell mom and dad what you did you know that other time you know that's kind of funny we kind of laugh at that kind of stuff but that is extortion lights okay kids can learn this at a really young age and parents we ought to discourage that kind of behavior and kids if your brothers and sisters have done something that mom and dad you know you're threatening them that mom and dad will know about it then you should tell mom and dad anyway okay I mean if they ought to if they need to know about it they ought to know about it and not use that against your siblings okay you need to make sure those things are out in the open because mom and dad need to know about it it's not not a secret that you should keep because otherwise you might be tempted to use extortion you might be tempted to blackmail your siblings to do something against your will and that is a sin that'll get you kicked out of church so you want to make sure that's out of your system because kids learn this really quickly okay and then when you apply to adulthood boy you know you can cause a lot of problems okay now let me let me explain something about extortion that you may not understand and I I didn't really fully understand this because some people associate this with bribery okay the sin of bribery now bribery is a sin and let me give you an example of this you know you know in churches that have missionaries you know sometimes missionary have have like prayer letters every month and then in one of the churches that I was in they had a prayer letter from a from missionary in Papua New Guinea a missionary in Papua New Guinea and you know in some of these third world countries in some of the especially the East Asian nation East Asian nations the government is corrupt okay I mean power is out of control even in some South American and Central American countries you know there is an abuse of power there's an abuse of authority and there's a lot of extortion that takes place but I used to confuse bribery with extortion so in one of the prayer letters for this Papua New Guinea missionary he had mentioned that he was traveling through through you know through the jungle or whatever it is and then they were pulled over by a bunch of armed men a bunch of militia you know at gun points at gunpoint and they said to them look we're gonna allow you to pass through that you know to travel through you know without harm as long as you pay us a certain amount of money okay and so the missionary said you know what we had no choice we get we paid the money and then we'll let you know we're allowed to continue on I remember getting mad at the missionary I'm thinking hold on did you just bribe this guy did you just pay your way I mean shouldn't you have stood up you know and say look the Lord's gonna defend me I'm not going to partake of something that's that's wrong and evil until I understood extortion no they weren't paying a bribe they were being extorted they were being black blackmailed they were fearful of their lives you know guns pointed at them if they don't pay they wouldn't be allowed to pass through okay that is extortion it's not blackmail also growing up I really told you some some of you guys that I went to a church it was called Cabramatta Baptist Church when I was when I was growing up in the 80s and the 90s and Cabramatta at the time especially in the 80s was known for the gang the gang the gang violence the drug trade and gang gang violence during that time in the 80s and one of the things there's a lot of Vietnamese refugees okay come in that that's settled in Cabramatta and the surrounding suburbs and these gang these gangs would go to business owners and ask them for payment they would say hey you know pay me X amount of money and I'll make sure your store and you know it's safe we'll make sure that you're taken care of here in Cabramatta okay now these these owners these business owners would pay they would pay and you to think well that's kind of sounds nice paying someone to look after him what they meant by looking after is if you don't pay I'm gonna make your life hell if you don't pay I'm going to destroy your business if you don't pay we're gonna hurt you and hurt your family that's extortion okay that's extortion so it's it's putting making someone do something against their will by force and this is a sin that will get you kicked out of church okay this is a sin that'll get you kicked out of church now please turn to Psalm 109 Psalm 109 if you got your Bibles Psalm 109 now some 109 is a psalm which is they call this an imprecatory prayer this is an imprecatory Psalm meaning that this is one of the Psalms that it there in the book of Psalms that is a cursing you know this is King David cursing his enemies King David cursing the wicked right and there are so many Christians today that try to do away with these Psalms I said well you know that was for a time period back in the past well that was just for the Kings that's not for us today you know please don't be fooled by this there's nothing wrong with praying for the destruction of your enemies okay and I'll go into that a little bit more detail but please turn to Psalm 109 and let's look at verse number one Psalm 109 verse number one does your Bible say to the chief musician a psalm of David it's a psalm of David and he was David a man after God's own heart okay so you know David's not this wicked man praying for praying for a curse no he's a man after God's own heart okay so we can't just throw these Psalms out of the Bible okay he was a godly man yes he made mistakes but he was a godly man look at verse number one hold not thy peace Oh God of my praise so here he's praying to God verse number two for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of this deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue they come past me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause okay so we can see clearly that David is praying to God about his enemies about these wicked people that are that are against him okay now look at verse number eight just just out of interest it's not so much about this sermon but look at verse number eight let his days be few and let's another take his office does anybody know what verse number eight is about if you know put your hand up yep Judas Iscariot yeah Psalm 8 is a prophecy of Judas Iscariot okay so because he was an apostle you can read about that in the book of Acts I think it's action to wait to mention because Judas was an apostle and he committed suicide and they knew that this time was about about Judas so they said look we have to select another apostle to take up his office okay and they point to this song so this is actually a sum about Judas Iscariot about the wicked man that betrayed Jesus Christ okay but again you know King David is applying this to his own enemies okay that that we're persecuting him now look at verse 11 look at verse 11 this is what he prays for against the wicked he says let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the strangers spoil his labor so extortion is a curse okay and what he's saying is I want an extortioner to come and take of the wicked the wicked the enemy the wicked person that is persecuting me God can you send an extortioner to take advantage of them to make their life a misery to make their life a hell you know and then to take away all the spoil of his labor I mean this is a curse that David wanted on his enemies the point I want to bring to your attention is that an extortioner will take care will take advantage of both good and evil people okay they're not a respecter of persons in that way right they will put they will do their crime against both good and against wicked people okay and again look there's nothing wrong with praying that God will bring vengeance and judgment upon your enemies okay now you might say to me hold on Kevin shouldn't we be doing good it doesn't Jesus teach that we should do good to our enemies absolutely we should do good to our enemies look at verse number five look at verse number five what does David say and they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love so what how did David treat his enemies with good with love right but how have they rewarded his goodness and his love with evil and with hatred okay so it's it's what's the right thing to do with our enemies to do good unto them right to bless them but it's also right for us because the vengeance is the Lord's it's right for us to ask the Lord to take you know control of this situation to bring a curse upon these people that are making your life hell okay so we need to understand these things it's not your job it's not your job to do evil to your to your enemies it's your job to do good but then you should pray that God will take vengeance you know and God is righteous God is God has a righteous judgment God will make sure he takes care of business the way he sees fit so there's nothing wrong with praying for these things we don't have to throw these verses out of the Bible okay now please turn to Ezekiel again we're just going through all the Bible verses that teach on extortion and just we're just trying to grab what we can learn okay extortion Ezekiel chapter 22 Ezekiel chapter 22 Ezekiel 22 verse 12 Ezekiel 22 verse 12 extortion will cause you to forget the Lord okay extortion will cause you to forget the Lord Ezekiel 22 verse 12 the Bible reads in thee and by the way this is the context of this is Jerusalem this is a time when Israel Jerusalem was so wicked so wicked in the sight of the Lord if you read this chapter you're gonna see a list of sins that the that the Jews were doing against the Lord I mean it's just a list of wicked sins okay and look at this in verse 12 in thee have they taken gifts to be to shed blood thou has taken usury and increase and thou has greedily gained off thy neighbors how how have they gained from their neighbors greedily by extortion and has forgiven and sorry and has forgotten me saith the Lord God you know you read that read it in your own time extortion is amongst the list of some wicked sins okay and it is a wicked sin it is a wicked sin that will get you kicked out of church but the point I want to draw out of this verse here is that he says and has forgotten me saith the Lord God you know if you're committing extortion you've forgotten the Lord God you say why because you're you're taking greedily from your neighbor you're taking things that do not belong to you by force okay and who's supposed to provide all your needs it's God right you're supposed to rely on the Lord you're supposed to trust in the Lord that he will provide your needs and you'll provide more than you need to provide your wants I promise you that you know if we keep his commands we've said his kingdom first he'll take care of our needs but if you're doing that with your own strength you're doing it by force you're doing it against your neighbors then you've now forgotten the Lord because you're trying to provide for yourself and greedily you're taking more than what is correct you know that should be upon you okay so this is this is a major sin it'll cause you to forget the Lord and of course first Timothy 6 10 says for the love of money is the root of all evil the love of money is the root of all that is what extortioner wants right they want either money they want possessions or they want to force you to do an act against your will okay so I mean this this is definitely a wicked sin please turn to Matthew 23 Matthew 23 the chapter that we read from Matthew 23 verse 25 Matthew 23 verse 25 now extortioners even though they're wicked guess what they have an appearance of good okay they're gonna look good on the outside okay Matthew 23 verse 25 what does Jesus say to the Pharisees okay who are the Pharisees they were the religious leaders they knew the law of God they so-called preached the Word of God okay now some of them were good because some of them believed you know Nicodemus he was a Pharisee Paul he was a Pharisee we read in the book of Acts that number of Pharisees believed on Jesus Christ you know some of them were genuine right but as a general rule these Pharisees were wicked okay look at verse 25 Jesus says to them why won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of what full of extortion and excess so what were they doing to the people they were extorting from the people they were blackmailing people they were getting what they wanted out of them right and again these Pharisees they they work they were clean on the outside they looks like wonderful people right these are the people you need to be careful of the religious leaders that are so primp and proper all right you said have you start being you know being aware of these people because within they may very well be full of full of extortion full of excess you know why religious leaders are like this or many of them because a lot of people trust a religious leader a lot of people trust their pastor a lot of people trust their priest and whatever else monks and whatever else they think because they think man this person's a good religious man trying to the best but you know this it's it's this field that attracts the extortioners because they know they can take advantage of people right even in this church I've had a few people come to me you know with private matters there are things in they want some advice on you know and look I don't I don't need to know all your dirty laundry honestly I don't need to know all your sins okay I can give you advice without having to hear all your dirty laundry okay I don't want to know it because I don't want to ever get to a point where I might use that against you now I don't intend to write I don't intend to but you can see that these people did that right so you know what about think of the Catholic Church how people come and confess their sins to a priest you know the most private sins you know the most wicked sins they come to the priests and confess those things who's got the power of you now the priests yeah yeah they'll say they forgive you but hey they can use that against you now they've got some information they've got some dirt on you that they can use against you and I promise you the Catholic Church are doing that all the time okay they are the modern-day Pharisees they look clean on the outside full of dead man its bones we'll see this soon look at verse 26 verse 26 they'll blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also so look if you're an extortioner if you've done it if you've blackmailed people in the past what are you meant to do clean the inside clean the inside then the outside verse 27 well unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye are like unto whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead man's bones and of all uncleanness even so ye are outwardly even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity okay now what is one of the qualifications of being a pastor a bishop or a deacon you know be not not being greedy or filthy Luca why do you think that's important why do you think that's important not to be greedy of money okay not to not to have the love of money as a bishop you know why because again you know as a religious leader you people are going to trust you they're going to come with this with their sins or whatever they've done in the past and if you're greedy for money you're going to take advantage of that person you're going to say hey pay me X amount of dollars and I'll make sure this information never gets out there okay pay me X amount of dollars and I won't report you to the police for pedophilia or some crime or something like that okay they care more about money they care more about extorting people and taking advantage of people than doing what's right okay so please you know beware you know you may never you may not always be in this church you might find yourself in another church be careful because extortioners love to become the religious leader okay and I'm not saying I'm one of them right I've never one of them okay but look you know if you ever come to me with your sins guess what I'm probably gonna tell you look I don't need to know about it just you know give me a bit of information and you know the situation and I can direct you from the Bible I don't need to know your whole list laundry of your sins and yeah just just be aware of people that want to hear all your dirty laundry okay because most likely they're going to take advantage of you now look turn to Luke 18 Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 Luke 18 verse 11 Luke 18 verse 11 Luke chapter 18 verse 11 this is the the parable I'm not actually I don't think it's a parable I think it's a real story of a Pharisee and a publican a publican was a tax collector okay that went into the temple and prayed to God remember that story that Jesus gave of the two and the reason I bring this up now is because we are talking about Pharisees and look what how the Pharisee prays okay so they're trying to come and and and make themselves righteous before God make themselves right before God in verse 11 this is how the Pharisee prays it says the Pharisees stood and prayed thus within with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other men are I'm not like the other men extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican so what's the Pharisee saying Jesus you know said in the his other lesson that these Pharisees are full of extortion right and also Pharisees saying as he prays I'm glad that I'm not extortion are like this publican or like other people okay now what I take out of that what I take out of that is that the extortioner does not see themselves as wicked right they're full of extortion but they see the extortion of other people they don't see that within themselves they blind themselves of these things okay they're not aware of their own wickedness okay and they see others as wicked okay now you know what's another what's another field that extortion is like to get get into as far as I like a job sales a lot of sales now I'm not saying sales is a bad job to get into okay if you love sales if you love selling a product a it's fine okay it's fine okay every business needs to sell something to make a living right but extortion is love to be sales people they love to find ways to take advantage and force people to buy a product that they don't even want okay marketing and sales they love to extort people okay now what a sales book that I've seen Calum are you in sales used to be okay maybe you've heard this book there's certain books that make their rounds over a few years and then all like all the sales people are yeah this is the new thing we need to learn but one book that I saw it was titled sell or be sold sell or be sold meaning you better sell something to people now this is this isn't just sales this can be your life you know you want to sell something to people so you can get an advantage of them otherwise you'll be sold otherwise they'll sell to you and you'll be taken advantage of that's the mindset of an extortioner I have to take advantage of someone I have to extort from them before they do it to me right it like that's how they see it I've got to hurt someone I've got to do something to them before they do it to me because I'm just protecting myself and they have this mindset that everyone else is wicked except for them okay but they're trying to do the same thing that they're thinking the other person trying to do to them okay that's the mindset of an extortioner this Pharisee full of extortion sees others as the extortioner okay I've got to take advantage before they take advantage of me so again just be careful of that maybe maybe you've been tricked into buying things that you never wanted by force or by manipulation that's extortion okay now please turn to Daniel chapter 3 Daniel chapter 3 okay now I mentioned that story of the missionary in Papua New Guinea and he was extorted for money okay for threat of his life now let me say this to you I've given this some thought if I had a fret for my life someone threatened me for my life or the life of my family let's say you know an example I hope this never happens but let's say someone gets kidnapped one of my kids and then there's like you know they demand a ransom money you know you know what for the life of my family I'm prepared to hand over whatever money they want I'm prepared to hand whatever possessions they want I now recognize that's not bribery that's extortion I'm not committing the sin they're the ones that are sinning against me okay there are some things that you know what I'll hand over for my life and for my family's life okay because it's just material possessions it's just money whatever but there's one area that I would not compromise on okay what I'm going to be talking about right now is the extortion of worship the extortion of worship that there's a time where you know what it's worth dying for the time that it's worth giving up your family's life for okay Daniel chapter 3 verse 1 Daniel chapter 3 verse 1 if you guys know this story Nebuchadnezzar this is Babylon the Jews are now taken captive by by Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three square cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon so the king sets up his golden image of himself verse number two then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent together together the princes the governors and the captains the judges the treasurers the counselors the sheriff's and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up then the princes the governors and captains the judges the treasurers the counselors the sheriff's and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up then Aherod cried aloud to you it is commanded all people nations and languages that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet flute harp sack but sultry dulcimer and all kinds of music you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king have set up so when you hear this music being played you're meant to come and worship bow down and worship this image okay look at verse number six and who so faileth sorry who so falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace so if you don't bow down and worship this image you're gonna be put to death by fire in a fiery furnace okay is that extortion absolutely it's it's not extortion for money or for material possession but it's extortion of worship okay they're trying to cause people forcing people to worship a false God to worship an image and who are we ought to worship only the God of the Bible right only the God of the Bible this is something worth dying for this is worth where you're gonna stand up and say you know what no I'm not going to worship a false God I serve a jealous God he saved me from my sins and you know what if you put me to death guess where I'm gonna be in heaven praising God forever okay praise God will be with him forever drop down to verse 14 drop down to verse 14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said on sorry I didn't I'll give you a bit more context so Shadrach Meshach and Abednego three godly Jews they stood up against this and they did not worship the idol okay they stood up against this and verse number 14 they get brought before the king they get brought before the king Nebuchadnezzar and he says to this he says this to them Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them is it true I'll Shadrach Meshach and Abednego do not you serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have set up now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet flute harp sack bat sutry and dulcimer and all kinds of music you fall down and worship the image which I have made well if you do that well it's good but if you worship not you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands okay so he says look last chance you serve you worship this idol or you're gonna get thrown into the fiery furnace I love how they respond to this verse 16 Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said unto the king oh Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter so he says look we're not we're going to add we're not going to sugarcoat our response to you King Nebuchadnezzar we're not careful we're not gonna be careful with our words if this offends you it offends you King Nebuchadnezzar we're not gonna be careful we're not gonna sugarcoat what we have to say verse 17 we're gonna be blunt and honest verse 17 if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand o King and that's the attitude we ought to have that's the belief we ought to have if you're threatened for your life to worship a false God you ought to have the attitude hey you know what God can deliver me out of your hand you know I'm gonna keep worshiping the Lord God but look at verse 18 but if not be it known unto the your king that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou has set up so even if God doesn't deliver us we're still not gonna worship your image you know we're gonna die you know we rather die than worship your image where we're willing to give up our lives okay look at verse 19 then when Nebuchadnezzar full of fury and the form of his visage was changed was changed against Shadrach Meshach and Abednego therefore he spoke and commanded they should heat the first one seven times more than it was want to be heated and he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace then these men were bound in the coats their their hosen and their hats and their other garments and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace so that's the end of them right they cast into the fire if you guys know the story you know that's not the end of them verse 21 then these men were bound sorry then these men were bound in the coats I already read that verse 22 therefore because the King's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hearts the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego so the men that took them into the fire they got burnt up by the flame that's how hot it was okay that's how hot it was the men that threw them into the fire were burnt up you know they probably worship the image so they get double whammy they worship a false god and then and they're burnt up in the fire and then verse 23 and these three men Shadrach Meshach and Abednego fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire they answered and said unto the king true king he answered and said lo I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God the Son of God was with them who's the Son of God Jesus Christ right Jesus Christ was with them in the fire he didn't stop them from being put in the fire but he protected them in the fire okay now this is a real look God may came come through and save your life okay otherwise you know what if it's if it need be you die for the cause of Christ you stand up for his name you know you might have to give up your life but you know what if you give up your life and you know what the Bible promises you the crown of life okay God promises you the crown of life if you die for his name now the crown of life I'm telling you now will be worth 100 fold your own personal life okay so but anyway in this case we see that Jesus Christ himself stepped in and saved Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and by the way he was the Son of God before the New Testament he was the Son of God before he was born okay I'm starting to hear this this nonsense is heresy where he became the Son of God in Bethlehem's manger that's not true Jesus Christ has always been the Son of God okay Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever okay he's always been the Son of God we seem the Son of God in the Old Testament even before he came and was born in Bethlehem's manger we won't go into that right now verse 26 verse 26 then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke and said Shadrach Meshach and Abednego ye servants of the Most High God come forth and come hither then Shadrach Meshach and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire so their lives were saved okay they decided to worship God and not worship the idol that is the right time not to give in to extortion okay that is the right time to make sure hey I've got to be willing to give up my life and I've got you know I'll ask you guys today are you willing to give up your life for Christ I mean just honestly you don't have to answer that just just within yourself okay again I'm not willing to give up my life over money or possessions or my house I don't care you know God can give that back to me if I lose it but you know what I will never deny my Savior okay he's done so much for me and that's the way we ought to be like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego these ought to be our heroes of the faith and and willing to give up our lives for his name's sake okay now this is a sin that will get you kicked out of church extortion please turn to Luke 19 Luke 19 Luke 19 let me say this to you as a recommendation right if you've committed extortion in the past if you're an extortioner you've done this in the past and you've not dealt with it then let me encourage you to deal with it as soon as possible okay you might say what happened 10 years ago I happen 20 years ago it's all done away with now you know I've got away with it you know what deal with it in me deal with it now okay now when it comes to this church you know I've said to you guys I don't care about your sins in the past I don't care about the things that you know how people were offended in the past or whatever this church when this started was a clean slate for everybody okay clean slate for everybody okay but extortion is the kind of sin that will rear up his ugly its ugly head sometime again in the future okay if you don't deal with it you might come up again in the future okay now you may have committed extortion in the past I'm not going to hold that against you but it might come up again in the future okay because you've offended somebody you've done the wrong to someone they might then come and chase after you and want to deal with it okay and if it's if you done in the past and it comes up now in the present then I might have to deal with it as church discipline okay so I encourage you to deal with it ASAP okay now look at Luke 19 verse 1 Luke 19 verse 1 Luke 19 verse 1 and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus which was a chief among the publicans and he was rich so he was a tax collector he was a chief he was like the like the the main tax collector of the area okay and he was rich verse 3 and he sought to see Jesus who he was and could not for the press because he was little of stature so he couldn't know so many people that wanted to see Jesus he couldn't see Jesus because he was short he's like me he's shorter than most other people verse 4 and he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way and when Jesus came to the place he looked up and saw him and said unto him Zacchaeus make haste and come down for today I must abide at thy house and he made haste and came down and received him joyfully so Zacchaeus joyfully received Jesus Christ into his house and I believe this is the picture of his salvation I believe this is a picture now that he has received not just Jesus Christ into his house but into his heart you know he's placed his faith and trust on Jesus Christ alone because what does you know John chapter 1 verse 12 say but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name so receiving Christ is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ I believe this is the moment that Zacchaeus was saved okay so he received Jesus Christ into his house but look at verse number 7 and when they saw it so when others saw that Jesus went into the house of Zacchaeus they all murmured saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner okay that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was sent so they were saying how can Jesus go into the house of a sinner okay now let me tell you when we go knock doors and we preach the gospel we're preaching to the sinner okay because Jesus Christ will come to sup with that person he will come if they believe in Christ and receive Christ he will save that sinner okay now these people murmured and you know what we know what I've seen when we go and preach the gospel and they people believe on Jesus Christ and we rejoice in their salvation you know there are other Christians that mock that they laugh at that they think it's impossible for someone to be saved at the door after a 15-20 minute presentation the gospel they mock it they laugh and they think well hold on this person's still a sinner they've got to clean up their lives before they prove themselves of anything that's a lot of churches are like that right oh they're still a sinner they must not be saved you know what no Jesus Christ came for the sinner okay we will preach the gospel we preach that it's just by receiving Christ through faith they don't have to do anything more because Christ will forgive them of their sins okay but hey when they spend time with Christ and Zacchaeus in this story he receives Christ into his house and he spends time with him okay if they spend time with Christ they spend time in the word they come to church and they learn guess what they will clean up their life okay eventually the Word of God will have a power have the you know have a powerful impact on them and they will change their life okay but have a look at this in verse number eight so after Christ has come to be a guest in his house verse number eight and Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and I have and if I have taken anything from any man by what by false accusation I restore him fourfold so Zacchaeus knew full well he had extorted from other people he had made false accusations against people to take more money than what was rightfully to take by tax you see that he falsely accused them you know and he had he had the law on his side you know if they don't pay up their tax they're gonna be arrested or whatever you know their lives are going to be destroyed Zacchaeus was an extortion was an extortioner okay he had done this to his own people but he finally recognizes this once he's received Christ once he's heard Christ preach he says you know what I've got to make this right you know and that's what I'm saying to you if you've extort if you've done it made extortion to other people you need to make that right okay and how did he make it right he restored fourfold okay anyone that he that he took from by force or by false accusation he said I'm gonna restore that times four four times as much as I took and that teaching comes from Exodus 22 verse 1 I'll just read that to you quickly Exodus 22 verse 1 says if a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep now I don't know why it's five oxen for an ox I assume because an ox was often used for work in the field so if you didn't have the ox to work your food maybe you know you haven't prospered in the same way so there was a greater you know retribution given than a sheep because a sheep doesn't really work the field it just eats the grass so maybe that's why but yeah you know Zacchaeus knew this teaching the Old Testament and this is you know what I've taken falsely from I'm gonna restore that fourfold okay now let me say this to you if anyone you know black males someone else in this church let's say you take a thousand dollars from them and if you want to make things right you've got to pay back four thousand dollars okay otherwise I mean you're gonna kick out of the church until that stuff gets settled okay this is a serious sin okay now if you're still in are you still there exact in the story of Zacchaeus I'll just read verse number 9 and 10 and Jesus said unto him this day is salvation come to this house for so much as he also is a son of Abraham for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost okay so he's come to seek and to save that which was lost you know you know Jesus Christ very compassionate even toward some wicked sinners okay now please turn to Isaiah the book of Isaiah chapter 16 Isaiah 16 you know extortion is not just a sin it is a criminal offense okay it is a criminal offense not only in the Bible but it's a criminal offense in our nation okay Isaiah 16 verse 4 I don't want to go through all the the context of this right now but let's look at verse number 4 Isaiah 16 verse 4 let mine outcasts dwell with thee Moab be there a convert cover cut sir be there a covert to them from the face of the spoiler for the extortioner is at an end the spoiler ceaseth the oppressors are consumed out of the land so there's not going to come a time when the extortion that was taking place here in Israel was going to come to an end when was it going to come to an end look at verse number 5 and in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David judging and seeking judgments and hasten righteousness so this is the last mention that I wanted to bring up to you about extortion we've gone through all the eight mentions okay so here we see that it was a crime in the nation of Israel and it was the crime was going to stop when if you get the context of this it's when King Hezekiah would rule and reign in Judah because King Hezekiah was a godly King he uplifted the laws of God in the nation and he says that's when it's going to end when there's righteous government when there's a righteous King King on the throne of David okay and I just say you can apply this to the millennial kingdom as well if you want of Jesus Christ okay because when Christ comes he's going to rule with a rod of iron isn't he okay he's going to make sure these kind of crimes are dealt with immediately and so I just the only thing that I wanted to take out of that guys is that extortion is a criminal offense not just in the Bible but in our nation okay so if someone in this church is an extortion are and I hear about it and I have to kick you out of the church about it guess what I also I'm gonna do I'm gonna report that information to the authorities okay because it's not just theft I mean theft should be reported to the authorities anyway but this is done by force okay this is a criminal offense in the Bible a criminal offense in our nation I'm not gonna hide that sin in the church okay so please you know we might say well you know there's not much mention of extortion hates a serious sin and that's why I encourage you if you've done this in the past you've blackmailed you've taken advantage of someone go and restore it be like Zacchaeus go back and restore fourfold make sure that it's dealt with so it doesn't rise its ugly held its head in the future and then then we have to deal with that in the church okay