I just want to start off by thanking Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach.
Also just want to make mention that he will be back on Wednesday.
So if you're a visitor, maybe you're here for the first time, please come back next
week.
Come back Wednesday to hear our pastor preach.
But nonetheless, I am thankful to be here this morning.
And I want to focus on verse number 20.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 20.
And they watched him and sent forth spies which should fame themselves just men.
That they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power
and authority of the governor.
Notice in this verse, because of the hatred that the Pharisees had, the
scribes, the hatred that they have for Jesus Christ, they sent forth these spies.
They sent forth these deceivers and the Bible says that they
fame themselves just men.
What does that mean?
It means that they appeared as if they were righteous.
They appeared as if they were on the same team as Jesus.
It says they fame themselves just men.
What was the purpose?
So that way they could have something to accuse them of, to their authority,
right, to the governor, to Pontius Pilate, people that could execute
some type of judgment, some type of corrupt government, instituting some
type of judgment upon Jesus.
And the title of my sermon this morning is Posers and Pretenders.
Posers and Pretenders.
Now, typically the word poser, it's a slang term if you're not familiar with it.
And it's used primarily, I kind of found it funny, it's kind of used
primarily within like the skater community, right?
A lot of skateboarders, they will call somebody a poser if they walk
around with a skateboard, but they don't actually know how to skate, right?
Or they wear some type of garments, whatever, T-shirts, some rock band,
or whatever, but they're just a poser, they're just a pretender.
They don't actually believe the things that they're, or care about, or they're
not involved in the things that they're promoting, right?
So I found a definition of, what does poser mean?
It's an English slang term to describe individuals who adopt behaviors, styles,
or attitudes to appear part of a group without genuinely embodying its values or skills.
Now, I can think of a lot of posers when I was growing up in high school.
There's definitely, I was like thinking back like how can I think of some applications,
some people that I could really identify.
And when I was in high school, there was this chick that moved from the big city,
Stillwater, to our po-dunk little town.
And she was just a complete goth, satan-worshiping freak.
And that's how she dressed, right?
But it's funny is like that there was a group of boys in my class that were kind of nerdy,
they didn't really fit into any group, and they just like attached themselves to this chick.
And they started being a poser, like wearing these metal band shirts and acting like they're
just really edgy and cool and punk rocker.
And it was clear to all of us, these guys are just a bunch of posers.
They don't actually believe a lot of this.
Now, her, on the other hand, she was 100% satanic.
I have no doubt about that.
She worshiped the devil, I believe that.
Or there was this one guy, and he was my friend, I will say that, but
you'd have people who try to act like they're a gangster, right?
Try to act like they're just this real tough gangster.
I'm like, dude, you're white.
Bro, come on.
Your parents are happily married.
You grew up in the country, you're not a gangster.
But yet that's what he wanted everybody to think, and he listened to that music,
he dressed that away, and he was a complete poser.
And listen, there's nothing more irritating than people who are fake, pretenders, posers.
The ultimate posers?
How about transvestites?
A bunch of disgusting freaks, worthy of death.
What do they do?
They try to pose as the opposite gender, right?
They're not fooling anybody.
We all see right through it.
It's disgusting.
Go kill yourself.
Man, do us all a favor.
Just to kind of piggyback on the Massa Conference, right?
That spirit is still upon me.
It's disgusting to see transvestites posing, right?
Nobody wants to see that.
It's disgusting.
And you know what's interesting is, as you serve God,
man, the Bible just starts to come to life, does it not?
You know, we just read this passage where you have people who are spying on Jesus
so that way they could put them to death.
They hated him.
But what did they do?
They feigned themselves as just men.
They feigned themselves as somebody who's righteous, somebody who's on his side.
And you know, this is what I've kind of realized as I've, you know, gone through the Christian life
to the point that I'm at now, you know, that when you actually start serving God
and you really get dedicated and, you know, you really start living how the Bible asks you
and, you know, not even just ask you, commands you to live, then, man,
the Bible just really starts to just come to life.
It starts to just pop right off the page where, you know, and hold your place here in Luke 20.
Go to John 15 real fast for me.
Go to John 15.
You know, I remember being in my early 20s and just being really zealous and wanting to serve God,
but just, you know, not doing, you know, all the things I should have been doing,
right?
Just not being ignorant in a lot of stuff.
I wasn't a soul winner.
I wanted to be.
I wanted to try and I would go out.
We just failed miserably.
You know, this guy that I was friends with that went to the church that we went to.
And I just remember like reading the Bible at that time in my life
and just some gnarly stories in the Bible and just thinking like,
man, this is crazy.
You know, this is cool, but this stuff doesn't actually happen anymore.
You know, and I look back on that moment in my life where I'm,
where I can just picture myself just having this puzzled,
this puzzled look on my face, reading the Bible and just not understanding
so many aspects of the Bible.
And looking back on it, it's because I wasn't actually living the Bible.
I wasn't actually dedicated.
I wasn't actually serving God the way God wants us to serve Him.
And when you start serving God, when you stop being of this world
and you start following Him, listen, the Bible is going to be
just jumping off the page of you have so much application in your life.
Notice what the Bible says in John 15 and verse 18.
It says,
Remember the word that I said unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they have kept my saying, they will also keep yours.
So what the Bible is saying is when you stop being of this world
and you start serving Jesus Christ, you start going soul-winning.
You start coming to church.
You start reading your Bible.
You start cleaning up your life.
You start dressing like a woman or you start dressing like a man
and you start acting and behaving yourself
as if your conversation is in heaven.
Well, listen, then you're going to actually face some real persecution in this life.
You're going to be in a similar situation that Jesus was in
where people are backstabbing Him, doing Him dirty,
going against Him, persecuting Him.
And the Bible says if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
You are not above your Lord.
If they have persecuted our Lord, they're going to persecute us, the servant.
And this is something really important to understand
is that we shouldn't look at somebody who's getting backstabbed,
who's being persecuted, going through severe persecution.
Be like, oh man, he brought that upon himself.
Or if he would have...
And of course, I think of somebody right now
who's just going through a lot of persecution, Pastor Stephen Anderson.
He's being attacked left and right.
His family's being attacked left and right.
And you might have this thought,
oh well, man, it seems weird that all these weirdos,
all these backstabbers, these posers, these pretenders,
just seem to just flock to His church, right?
And the reality is that the reason that's happening
is because He is serving the Lord greatly.
It's because He is sacrificing a lot to serve God.
That's why He's got the big target on His back.
It's not anything that He has done.
He's just not of the world, right?
And when you're not of the world,
you're going to face the same type of persecutions
that the Lord Jesus Christ faced, the same things He went through.
Go back to Luke chapter number 20.
Luke chapter number 20.
There's lots of different posers and pretenders in this world.
Social media kind of gives everybody a platform to be a poser.
You have a lot of fake people on social media,
and the things that they post on social media
is not their real life.
And so it would be silly to judge your life
and compare it to somebody else's based on their social media page.
Because you could look at it and be like,
man, it seems like they're living the greatest life.
They seem so cool.
They have issues.
They have problems.
And in a way, social media kind of gives people an opportunity
or this platform to be a poser.
How about the Calvinists, the pseudo-intellectuals?
Right?
A bunch of posers.
People, they don't even know what they're saying half the time.
You know, they can use these great swelling words.
They can use these big words that make them seem
like they're intellectuals.
But the reality is they're complete idiots.
Why?
Because they don't believe in salvation by grace through faith.
They think it's God that chooses who goes to heaven or not.
How about, you know, this might step on some people's
you know, toes, but what about just your appearance, right?
A lot of people are striving to give this persona about themselves.
That's fake.
That's not real.
I mean, I think of like people who have a lot of money, famous people.
What do they love to do?
Plastic surgery, right?
What are they doing?
They're trying to be a poser.
They're trying to be a pretender.
They're this 80-year-old Dolly Parton
that has had so much plastic surgery.
Her face looks like it's like stapled back, you know.
She's a poser, right?
And you see this a lot with, and you know, unfortunately,
I think a lot of women, they see these people
and then they, you know, they think that this is the way
that I should act or that this is what beauty actually looks like.
The reality is, hey, listen, if you're all just embrace it,
you know, when I started to realize my hair was falling out,
you know what I didn't do?
I didn't just like grow it out longer
and try to comb it over, right?
Something that irritates me so bad is when old guys
who have no hair start trying to do the comb over,
like nobody, you're not fooling anybody, dude.
Just embrace it, embrace age, right?
There's a lot of great things that come with that.
Listen, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
That's why I tell my wife all the time.
She's beautiful the way God made her.
And she doesn't need to put on all this makeup
or get Botox or plastic surgery for me to be attracted to her.
I'm attracted to her the way that God made her, you know.
And I believe that the longer, you know, our marriage,
you know, as Lord willing, we'll be able to have a long marriage.
I'd be able to live a long life.
And I believe that the older I get,
I'm only going to be that much more in love with my wife
and that much more attracted to her.
And, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Don't be this person that's pretending to be somebody
that you're not, right?
Don't pretend to have a bunch of knowledge
in an area that you don't have knowledge in.
It's okay to say I don't know.
You know, people ask me questions from time to time.
I don't know the answer.
It's just like, sorry, I don't know.
You know, that's a good question.
Let me do some research.
Let me try to find that out.
It's okay.
You know, if you're on the job, and you see this a lot
within like the workplace, you go for an interview
and you want to impress the person
you're trying to get the job with, right?
Well, there's that proclivity of that,
maybe that temptation to just like, you know,
they ask you, hey, do you know X, Y, and Z?
Oh yeah, of course I know that.
Man, I've been in a situation where I've,
you know, been in an interview room
where you're interviewing somebody else
and you ask them these questions.
Oh yeah, I know this.
Debits and credits, I got it.
Balance sheet, financials, I got it.
And then you put them in the seat
and you realize real fast,
these people have no idea what they're talking about.
They've never done this before.
They've lied.
It's okay to say you don't know.
Listen, if you don't know,
just have a willing attitude to learn, right?
To, you know, get to know more about that topic.
Don't be a pretender.
Don't be a poser.
You know, and obviously the sermon
is going to be directed towards spiritual things.
So yes, all those things are important,
but even more so,
it's important not to be a spiritual poser,
a spiritual pretender, these holier than thou's.
You know, something that really aggravates me.
And I guess I just took it for granted.
I didn't realize it or how bad it was
growing up in an IFB church.
But man, in most church circles that you,
if you've ever been to just a random Baptist church
or just any church in general,
most people when they're going to church,
they start speaking Christianese, right?
Or this King James ease where it's like,
you know, praise the Lord about everything.
And just over the top, you know,
speaking in King James language,
they're using these and thou's.
It's like, dude, you know,
you're not fooling anybody, right?
And it's honestly embarrassing.
And so I'm just encouraging you,
hey, don't be that person.
You know, growing up in an IFB church,
there's a lot of people
who are a bunch of posers and pretenders, right?
They're trying to feign themselves as just men,
feign themselves as somebody who's really righteous,
these holier than thou's,
but the reality is that inward,
they're just a bunch of ravening wolves.
They're wicked people or they have a bad heart.
You know, we don't want to be these types of Christians.
We want to be real Christians, right?
Just be real with people, be honest, be transparent.
So I have three points this morning
that I believe the Bible kind of highlights
posers and pretenders, you know,
that we're going to see,
that we're going to come in contact with.
And I think it's really important on this.
Of course, we're looking at this first example here
in Luke chapter number 20.
But notice what the Bible says in the next verse,
verse number 21.
The Bible says,
And they asked him, saying,
Master, we know that thou sayest
and teachest rightly,
neither acceptest thou the person of any,
but teachest the way of God truly.
And my first point is people who pretend to be righteous.
People who pretend to be righteous,
they feign themselves as just men.
But notice what they said to Jesus.
Notice what they said.
We know that thou sayest and teachest rightly,
neither acceptest thou the person of any,
but teachest the way of God truly.
Now is what they said wrong?
No.
The Bible says that they call the master.
We're not to call anybody master,
but Jesus Christ.
So they weren't wrong for calling Jesus master.
They weren't wrong for making this statement
that what he teaches is right and true.
But the problem is they didn't actually believe it.
The problem is it's a fake righteousness.
They're pretending to be righteous.
They're pretending to believe the things
that they're saying.
They don't actually believe it.
And this is what the Bible calls flattery, right?
They're flattering Jesus Christ.
Now Jesus has the ability to read people's hearts
and he identifies this right away.
First of all, we don't have that ability
to read people's hearts.
We may not always know.
Somebody might be saying something that's right,
but it could be flattery.
I think this is why it's really important
that we are aware of these things
so that way when a backstabber
or somebody who's a pretender or poser gets exposed,
we're not offended by those things.
That we kind of realize like these people
are going to exist.
There's some things we can pick up on,
but if we're in this position,
we may not necessarily identify these people
that have feigned themselves as just men
as being posers or pretenders.
And I'm gonna kind of get to the attitude
we should have at the end of the sermon,
but obviously we want to give people the benefit
and for the doubt, right?
We want to see the good in everybody,
but in the back of our mind,
we should just know like there's a potential
for people to be flattering us
and we don't want to fall into that snare
and to that trap.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29.5,
a man that flattereth his neighbor
spreadeth a net for his feet, right?
So what is it that they're doing?
They're flattering Jesus
so that way they can ensnare him in his words.
They're trying to get him to say
something negative about the Roman government,
about Caesar, right?
They're trying to get him to say,
hey, you don't have to pay your taxes, right?
And of course, Jesus perceiving this,
he gives them the correct answer,
which is hey, pay your taxes, you know?
Render unto Caesar with Caesars
and render unto God what's God's.
Go to Matthew chapter number 23.
Matthew chapter number 23.
The Bible says in verse number 14,
this is a really famous chapter
about Jesus just going hardcore
and rebuking all the scribes and Pharisees,
the hypocrites of his day,
just calling them out for all their hypocrisy,
their fakery.
He's calling them out for being posers and pretenders.
Notice what he says in verse 14.
It says,
what one to you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you devour widow's houses
and for a pretense, make long prayer,
therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
Now that word pretense there just means
that they're basically, they're pretending, right?
They're using deceit that they're trying to make a show,
right?
That they're righteous.
They're doing it for pretense.
And you'll see this a lot within Christianity as well
is where people,
they'll try to make themselves appear
righteous by just doing these over the top works,
right?
Doing things where they're trying to get the attention
of everybody.
Hey, look at me.
Look at all the great things that I've done.
You know, the Bible also brings up somebody
who blows a trumpet when they give alms, right?
They're giving of charity.
They're helping somebody,
but they want everybody to know
that they're doing it, right?
They're making a big show about that.
And this is an identifiable marker
of somebody who's a poser,
somebody who's a pretender.
They're making long prayer.
They're trying to make themselves appear
as if they're very righteous,
as if they're just.
And it brings up other examples in this chapter.
Skip down just a couple of verses to verse number 27.
Verse number 27 says,
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for you are like unto whiteed sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones,
and of all uncleanness,
even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men,
but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Something that's just a common characteristic
of a poser and a pretender
is they're usually somebody who has bad motives.
There's somebody who internally
is a wicked person, very wicked.
And you know, some of the most obvious examples
in our world today
that would fit the Matthew 23 Pharisees
and scribes would be Catholics and Protestants, right?
What do they do?
Love to go around in long robes.
They love to pontificate about how righteous they are.
They'll wear their backwards collar, right?
They want everybody to know that they're super righteous,
but yet these people are some of the most wicked
individuals on the face of the planet.
When you look up statistically,
people who have been abused in church,
it's overwhelmingly by a Catholic priest, right?
By somebody in a position of authority,
a position of power,
somebody who is doing all these outward shows
of how they're so beautiful on the outside.
They're these whiteed sepulchres.
And I like the example that Jesus brings up here
because the example is that, you know,
the grave is beautiful.
It looks pretty. It's beautiful.
But on the inside is just dead men's bones, right?
It's a dead man.
And that's a perfect example of the Catholic priest, right?
The Orthodox priest.
These Protestant bishops that worship idols
and, you know, are preaching, you know,
a false gospel that are believing
all kinds of heresy when it comes to salvation.
You know, these people,
they're just inwardly dead men's bones, right?
And many of them are twice dead.
And we see that example being brought out in their works.
The things that they do kind of helps us to understand
that these are twice dead people.
These are people who have no hope of salvation.
And of course, that's what Jesus Christ said.
You know, he said that,
how can you escape the damnation of hell?
Right?
Because there's no salvation for these people.
They're wicked individuals and they're posers and pretenders.
Our world is filled with a bunch of religious posers.
You know, that's why it's so important
that you're picking a good church, right?
A church where the pastor is sincere
and honestly he's handling the Word of God sincerely, right?
He's not twisting scripture to his own liking.
He's not just getting up and telling you what you want to hear.
He's telling you what you need to hear.
You know, regardless of what, you know,
what feelings might get hurt in the process.
You know, that's the type of church you should desire to go to.
It's one where the pastor's just gonna get up
and tell you exactly what the Bible says, right?
And not leave anything, any stone unturned.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three.
2 Timothy chapter number three.
And this is really just a point
we could just park it on the whole sermon
and just hit so many verses
because there's so much information in the Bible
about pretending to be religious,
pretending to be righteous,
pretending to be somebody that you're not through your works.
2 Timothy chapter number three.
Look at verse number one.
So this is talking about, you know,
what's gonna happen in the end times
or as we get closer to the day of the Lord.
The Bible says,
this know also that in the last days
perilous time shall come.
And it gives us a list of things that we can look for,
things that are gonna be prevalent,
that are gonna be prominent in this time.
Let's skip down to verse number five.
It says, having a form of godliness
but denying the power thereof from such, turn away.
So the Bible says in the end times
or as we get closer to the day of the Lord
that there are gonna be more people
who are gonna masquerade as being righteous
on the outside.
They're gonna appear as being righteous on the outside
but they don't actually know God.
They're not actually saved.
Why? Because they deny the power of God.
They're not actually putting their faith and trust in God.
They don't believe the things that they're saying.
They don't believe the word of God.
It's like, how can you be a Christian
and not believe the word of God?
That makes no sense.
It's like, why are you a Muslim?
Because you believe the Quran, right?
Why are you a Hindu?
Because you believe in whatever weird book that they have.
Nobody ever knows what book they have.
Some book out there, I'm sure.
Why do you follow the religion?
It's because of the teachings, right?
It's like, how can you be a Christian
and not believe the Bible?
I mean, talk about being a poser.
You're like the skater with the skateboard
walking around, right?
That's never skated in his life.
I mean, how many Christians are like that?
They're walking around with the Bible
that they don't even read.
They don't even know what it says.
And then they get offended
when the preacher gets up
and just clearly preaches
what the Bible is saying.
Hey, fags should be put to death.
That's what the Bible says.
Leviticus, 2013.
You know, these wicked false prophets,
these pedophiles,
hey, put a millstone around their neck
and cast them into the sea.
Put a bullet in their head.
These people need to die.
They're only a harm to our society.
People like this faggot,
weird-loving freak Gordon out here, right?
What a freak.
Is he not getting the memo?
Like everyone that he's partnered with
is either in prison.
They're just too apathetic
to even come protesting in the longer.
I mean, they're not steadfast.
That's for sure.
I mean, what a reprobate freak.
You know, these people deserve the death penalty.
And you say, you know,
how can he say that?
Well, that's what the Bible says.
And we just believe the Bible around here.
We're not a bunch of posers.
We're not a bunch of pretenders.
And I'm sick and tired of all these
apathetic Christians that don't
actually believe the Bible.
Go to Titus chapter number one.
Just flip over a couple pages.
Titus chapter number one.
This is talking about false prophets.
And we're going to learn a little bit
about false prophets to help you this morning.
Notice what the Bible says in 16.
It says,
So again, we see that the false prophet
is a pretender, their poser.
They profess that they know God, right?
How many people do you see these Catholic priests,
these Baptist pastors?
You see all kinds of people getting up
and professing that they know God.
But how do we know, you know,
the person that's the true prophet
versus the false prophet?
Well, it says in works they deny him.
So you say, well, and I've heard
different interpretations of that.
Like, you know, them trusting in their works
to go to heaven.
That's how they're basically manifesting.
But I believe the Bible just tells us clearly
what the work is that makes them manifest
that they're reprobating.
Notice the very next two words.
It says being abominable.
You know, what is it that the works
that they're doing that deny the Lord Jesus Christ,
that deny their faith in him for salvation?
It's being abominable.
You know, I don't have to worry or wonder.
It's like, is Kenny Baldwin safe?
No, he's a faggot.
Hey, put him to death.
Yeah, right.
Like, what are we even talking about here?
Why are we even, you know, having this conflict
in our mind whether or not the guy saved or not?
Oh, come on.
You know, he's, he's professed himself.
He's shown himself not to be a true prophet.
It's not like, oh, oh, well, he said some good things.
I don't care.
So what?
You know, I knew this pastor once
where I went to this church.
And, you know, this is one of the reasons
I stopped going to the church.
And I like the guy.
I want to like the guy.
I believe he saved.
But, you know, his dad basically got caught
as being a pedophile.
And he was a pastor, a Baptist pastor.
Got caught as being a pedophile in California.
He got locked up.
He's in prison.
And, you know, that information kind of came to me.
And I approached this pastor about it,
just asking him, like, where is he at on this?
Because I know, you know, he seems like a good guy.
Went soloing with him.
You know, he preaches a good gospel.
And he's just like, yeah, I think my dad saved.
And he's getting people saved in church.
And when he gets out, I'm going to welcome him back
into my church.
And I'm just like, see ya.
I'm out of here.
This is not the type of place I want to be where,
you know, the pastor's just attracting all kinds
of filth and disgusting debauchery.
Just these abominable people.
What in the world, man?
How can you be a Baptist preacher
and believe the Bible and preach hard on sin
and then look at somebody who has committed
such an abominable act as pedophilia
and then be like, oh, I think they can still be saved?
What does the Bible say?
It says that the reprobate,
they're disobedient unto every good work reprobate.
It doesn't matter even if his dad is in prison
and he's even giving lip service to the right gospel.
I don't give a rip.
The dude is a reprobate.
There's no coming back from that.
He's worthy of death.
They should just do us all a favor,
save us some tax dollar money
and put the bullet in the guy's head.
Just put him to death.
You know, we need to stop just pretending
and having this weird mentality about salvation,
about false prophets.
It's like, okay, so what?
So what?
If somebody says the right thing about salvation,
if they come out later as a literal faggot,
they're worthy of death.
They can't be saved.
It's ridiculous.
Go to Numbers chapter number 24.
Numbers chapter 24.
The second point I have for you this morning
is pretending to speak for God.
Pretending to speak for God.
Numbers chapter 24.
Here we have kind of this unique character in the Bible.
I think on the surface,
if you haven't really studied this particular character,
you could maybe get confused as to the role
that this guy's playing.
I think it's, you know,
if you're new to Christianity,
you know, maybe you've only read through your Bible
or maybe you haven't read all the way through your Bible,
or maybe only once or twice.
I can understand somebody getting kind of confused
on this character, but, you know,
the Bible clearly teaches that this guy Balaam,
the son of Bezor, is a false prophet.
And, you know, if you just read Numbers
on, you know, by itself on face value,
you can see the guy's kind of up to no good,
but you can't really just put your finger on it, right?
It doesn't, it's not just like 100% revealed.
It's later on in the New Testament.
And honestly, he gets, he does get destroyed by God later on,
but in the Old Testament,
but in the New Testament,
the Bible is just super clear on this guy.
But I want to point out this particular part where,
you know, Balaam, he kept telling Balaak
that he can't go beyond the word of the Lord, right?
He can't go and curse the children of Israel.
But it's not like he is because, man, I'm just,
you know, I'm just righteous inside,
and I just don't want to curse good people.
That's not the reason why he didn't want to do it.
The reason he didn't want to do it
is because it wouldn't have mattered if he did it, right?
God wasn't going to curse these people.
He knew that he couldn't go beyond the word of the Lord
to curse the children of Israel.
It wasn't going to be effective.
It wasn't going to be any good outcome of that.
It didn't matter.
And yet, even still knowing that,
he's still kind of like skirted around the issue
and still tried to do it multiple times,
just in a way that, you know,
maybe he wasn't as apparent or whatever.
But what's interesting here is,
kind of towards the end of this passage about him,
he preaches the truth.
He preaches something that's right.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 16.
It says,
He hath said which heard the words of God,
this is Balaam speaking,
and knew the knowledge of the Most High,
which saw the vision of the Almighty
falling into a trance,
but having his eyes open.
I shall see him, but not now.
I shall behold him, but not nigh.
There shall come a star out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,
and shall smite the corners of Moab,
and destroy all the children of Seth.
And it goes on,
it's kind of listing out all these different prophecies.
But notice he's prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ here.
You know, it is what he's saying.
Is it wrong?
No, what he's saying is actually true.
This is a true prophecy,
but yet Balaam is a false prophet.
And this is something I think people struggle with,
as they see somebody get up and say something that's right,
and then, you know, they have,
you know, they fall into,
you know, some type of terrible sin,
and then they're confused.
They're like, you know, why is this God?
I mean, if he did something,
if he said something right,
how could he be a false prophet?
Like they just struggle with
reconciling these things in your mind.
But the reality is that they're opposers and pretenders, folks.
I mean, there are a lot of people that get up
and can say and give lip service to the right gospel.
They can get up and, you know,
it's obvious the Muslims are unsafe.
It's obvious the Gateway Church is unsafe, right?
It's obvious, you know, that Hindus
or, you know, some of these other religions
or Catholics, they're not saved.
Like we can obviously see these are false prophets.
But you know, there's also people
who put on sheep's clothing, right?
They come in as a sheep.
They wouldn't need to put on sheep's clothing
if it was just obvious that they are a wolf, right?
They put on sheep's clothing and they appear righteous.
They appear as if they're one of us,
but inwardly, they're ravening wolves, right?
Inwardly, they're very wicked.
In fact, these are probably more wicked
than the outward ones, right?
Those are the people that are more dangerous,
the ones that creep in and, you know,
want to destroy good men of God.
And Balaam, he kind of fits this model
because he's saying something that's right.
He's preaching something that's true,
but he obviously is a false prophet.
Now, he finishes this prophecy
if you skip down to verse 25.
Notice what the Bible says.
And Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place
and Balaam also went his way.
Chapter 25, it says,
And Israel bowed and shed them,
and the people began to commit hordom
with the daughters of Moab.
And so directly after this, what ends up happening,
the children of Israel,
they go and they commit fornication with the Moabites
and God slays thousands of them.
And on the surface, you just read these,
you might be kind of confused about this story,
but we're going to kind of clear some of this up.
Go to second Peter chapter number two,
second Peter chapter number two.
The Bible says in Revelation,
when Jesus is writing to the seven churches,
he's bringing up an example of somebody
that's causing sin to happen in the church.
And he says that the sin that they're causing to happen
is the same sin that Balaam basically used
or the same deception that Balaam used
to teach Balaak to cast a stumbling block
before the children of Israel
to eat things sacrificed unto idols
and to commit fornication.
So the Bible just clearly spells it out for us
that what Balaam did is instead of,
he couldn't curse the children of Israel,
that wasn't going to have any effect,
it wasn't going to have any power
because God wasn't going to curse them.
He didn't have any power in that one.
So what did he do?
He used deception to basically entice
the children of Israel to sin, right?
And so that's what the Bible just tells us
and this is the reason why Balaam is a false prophet.
He's not somebody to be trusted,
even though he might have said some things
that were true, some things that were right.
Notice there in verse number 14,
having eyes full of adultery
and that cannot cease from sin,
beguiling unstable souls and heart
they have exercised with covetous practices,
cursed children.
When the Bible says cursed children,
we're talking about false prophets here.
You know what that means?
That they're cursed.
They have no hope of salvation.
Just like Paul said,
if any man preached another gospel,
let them be accursed, right?
These people have no hope of salvation.
It says in verse 15,
which have forsaken the right way,
notice this, and are gone astray
following the way of Balaam,
the son of Bosar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
So Balaam, the son of Bosar,
he is a false prophet.
Why?
Because he didn't actually believe
the things that he was saying.
He didn't actually believe
in the prophecy of Jesus Christ.
He didn't believe any of the things
that he was saying that were true.
He's just exercising himself
in a way to where he can get gain, right?
And notice how it's interesting
how the Bible words this.
It says that these false prophets,
their heart, they have exercised
with covetous practices.
So this is something that they've
thought a lot about, right?
They're sitting around thinking,
you know, I know I don't believe these things.
I know I don't actually,
you know, have any conviction
about these things,
but I'm trying to get some gain
out of this, right?
How can I get some gain,
some personal gain?
So what will they do?
They'll exercise their heart
in covetous practices.
Means in which
that they can get some type of
benefit out of their preaching, right?
Whatever it is that they're saying,
whatever they are trying to
convince somebody of,
they're just trying to get gain.
And, you know, our mind
probably goes towards
the prosperity preachers,
the Kenneth Copeland,
Joel Olstein,
Jesse Duplantis,
like all these guys,
these are guys with hearts
that have exercised,
they've exercised the heart
to covetous practices, right?
They're teaching things
so that way they can get gain
from their congregants.
They can make merchandise
of their members.
And I want to kind of highlight
this idea that
false prophets,
they will pretend to speak
true things or
they will say things that are true.
They will agree with things,
they will go along with certain doctrines
just to get
some gain out of it, right?
And again,
our mind goes with
the prosperity preacher.
They twist the Bible
to basically fit their model
so they can get rich
off of their congregants.
But, you know,
there's other ways
to even think about this, right?
I mean, how many people
have attached themselves
to our movement,
to our, you know,
to our church
and our friends of our churches
or of our church
where they say,
oh, well, I'm pre-trib,
or I'm sorry,
I'm no longer pre-trib,
I'm post-trib,
pre-rat, right?
Or I'm anti-Zionist,
or they'll say,
hey, I believe Jesus
went to hell, right?
And they'll preach that
for a period of time, right?
But the reality is
they're only trying
to get some type of gain
out of that, right?
They're just trying
to manipulate,
they're trying to deceive,
they're trying to
get people to come
over to their side
so then later on
they can have
gain from that person,
they can make merchandise
of them,
they can get,
you know,
in their mind,
they can be the prominent one,
they can get all the fame,
all the glory,
and this is why
people do these things
is for covetous practices,
right?
That covetous heart,
the, the,
they love the wages
of unrighteousness.
And their motivation
is to get gain.
Go to Jude,
the book of Jude,
verse 16.
The book of Jude,
verse number 16.
The Bible says
verse 16,
these are murmurs,
complainers,
walking after their own lusts
and their mouth speaketh
great swelling words,
having men's persons
in admiration
because of advantage.
Now notice the,
the Bible is kind of
bringing out this point
that the false prophet,
the person who
pretends to speak
the word of God,
truly,
what do they do?
They try to,
they,
they give admiration
to people
because they really
just have an
ulterior motive.
They want to get some type of
an advantage
of that person.
I mean,
they're using
great swelling words,
words of flattery,
words of vanity.
Why?
So they can take advantage of people.
They're not sincere.
They don't actually
believe the things
that they're saying.
Right?
They're trying to
get some type of
clout
or they,
some type of recognition.
You know,
and I think
the probably
a really
prominent application
you could come up with
on this
is somebody who
tells the
the richest person at the church
all the things that
they want to hear.
You know,
they won't preach on their sin.
They won't,
you know,
they'll do everything
that they can
to make them feel comfortable.
Why?
Because they know that
they're the person
that's supplying
a lot of their salary.
Right?
A lot of their,
their means to,
you know,
to,
for the church to
thrive and to,
to,
you know,
to get gain from them.
Right?
And that's wrong.
That's wicked.
A pastor or a preacher
should not be somebody
who is giving respect to persons.
Right?
They shouldn't just be
flattering somebody
so they can get
something out of it.
They should be preaching
with sincerity and truth.
Right?
Preaching things that are right
and not just saying
a bunch of things
to make people feel good
that,
that to make people
be your friend
or to be on your side.
They could preach things
that are wrong
so that way
they could be
lifted up in people's eyes.
That they could be
the prominent preacher.
You know,
Tommy Mamertry,
you know,
wanting to be
the leader of the X new IB,
the no IB.
Right?
So,
you know,
he's kind of put himself
in this position
where he says a lot of things
he doesn't actually believe.
You know,
he gets up
and preaches a sermon
and basically states
that men should be spanking
their wives
like in McClintock.
Catherine O'Hare.
You know,
how she got
woofed by John Wayne.
And listen,
that's a funny movie.
I don't know if you've
ever seen it.
It's a good movie.
I like that movie.
That's one of my favorite parts.
And he,
but what did he do?
He gets up and fatically is saying,
you should be spanking your wives.
He didn't actually believe that though.
What do you say?
He's like,
oh, well,
I'm just riling up the base.
What a phony.
What a poser.
What a pretend.
You know,
I don't get up here
and say a bunch of things
that I don't actually believe.
You know,
the things that I'm trying to preach
and get up
and expound from the word of God
and use examples,
they're things that I actually believe.
The things I actually care about
that I'm zealous about
that I think are important.
I'm not just getting up here
to rile up the base.
Get a bunch of amens.
You know,
and honestly,
the old IB is notorious for this.
They just go around.
They just say a bunch of crap.
Just say a bunch of stupid nonsense
just to rile everybody up
just so they can get the guy
on the front pew
to stand up with this Bible.
Hey, praise God.
Because it makes them feel good,
I guess.
I don't know.
It's like,
what a joke.
What a loser.
What a poser.
You know,
my favorite example of this
is Jeff Owens.
Man,
this guy,
this old IB preacher,
I don't really know.
I never knew him.
I never heard of him before.
You know,
he was exposed.
But I mean,
he preached this really fiery
sermon about the sodomites.
You know,
and I can,
you know,
I can get on board with some of
these statements that he said,
you know,
just a preface.
You know,
I would agree with these statements
if our government
was a righteous government
and they instituted
Leviticus 2013.
I'd be right on board
with the things he's saying,
like,
hey, sign me up,
I'll volunteer
to go and do some of these things.
But,
you know,
obviously we shouldn't take
the law into our own hands.
So I do want to preface that,
that we should not go out.
Our goal is not to just go and
murder a bunch of fags,
right?
But listen,
if some psychopath murders
a bunch of fags,
I'm not going to be upset about that.
I'm not going to cry over that.
It's not going to,
I'm going to sleep like a baby.
It's not going to bother me a bit.
But you know,
Jeff Owens,
he gets up in his sermon
and I'll give him a little bit of
credit because he starts
each one of these
statements off by saying,
we need.
I would agree.
This is something that
our country needs.
Okay.
So he says,
we need to stop burning flags
and start burning fags.
Hey,
praise God,
let's do it.
Hey,
bring back Leviticus 2013.
Jordan McCormick,
I'm waiting.
I mean,
if I could vote for Jayden,
I'd be doing it right now.
We need
hunt a homo week.
I'm thinking like,
how about hunt a homo month?
Let's just do it like,
you know,
Jay who did the profits of Bale,
just get them all one spot,
just make them think
like, oh yeah,
we're going to celebrate you
and just burn the house down
on top of them.
Let's do it.
We need to take them all out
and shoot them with a scatter
shotgun.
Hey,
Pastor Oz,
he already kind of coined
that phrase, right?
Just line them up against the
wall and put a bullet in their
head.
Listen,
I like these
phrases,
you know.
And again,
I don't think we should go out
and do these things.
You know,
I don't think that
this is something we should
take the law in our own hands,
but listen,
you better believe
I'm going to be rejoicing
in the Lord
if Leviticus 2013 ever comes
back.
You know,
if our government actually
cares about being a Christian
nation and instituting
biblical laws,
I'm going to be rejoicing
all the way.
You know,
I'm going to be all for it.
And you know,
if I was Jeff Owens,
I wouldn't even be upset
that I made these statements.
You know,
and even if,
you know,
oh well,
he didn't,
you know,
make some,
some preface,
or he, you know,
he didn't state,
hey, you shouldn't actually,
listen,
I'm still okay with him
making these statements,
quite honestly.
But
here's the thing.
He didn't actually
believe this stuff.
He's just getting up there
to rile up the base.
Because later on,
when he was confronted,
when he was called out
for saying these things,
this is what he said,
nearly 15 years ago,
I preached a sermon
that promoted
physically hurting gay people.
He just doesn't call them
facts any longer.
He calls them gay.
What a queer bait.
He goes on,
he says,
I didn't even hold
to the belief
of hurting people
when I wrongly made
these comments.
So,
I mean,
there you go folks.
He's getting out there
and preaching
something he doesn't
even believe.
He had no real convictions.
He's just trying to get
some attention
from his peers.
Right,
get some amends.
You know,
and we shouldn't be
that type of a person.
You know,
there's plenty of people
you could look at,
Joe Olstein
did the same thing
on Larry King.
All right.
The Jew asked him,
is Jesus the only way to heaven?
He's like,
uh, uh, uh, uh.
You know,
why?
Because he's a false prophet,
Billy Graham,
same way,
same thing.
So,
you know,
there are going to be
plenty of people
that are posers
and pretenders
preaching
or,
you know,
pretending to speak
the word of God.
The third point I have
for you is pretending
to be a friend.
Pretending to be a friend.
Go to Matthew chapter
number 26.
Matthew chapter
number 26.
You know,
and this one
probably hurts the most.
Matthew chapter
number 26.
Matthew chapter
number 26.
Notice what the
Bible says
in verse 47.
Verse 47,
it says,
and while he yet
spake,
lo,
Judas,
one of the 12 came
and with him
a great multitude
with swords
and staves
from the chief priests
and elders of the people.
Now, he that betrayed him
gave them a sign
saying,
Whomsoever I shall kiss,
that same as he
hold him fast
and forthwith
he came to Jesus
and said,
Hail master
and kissed him
and Jesus said unto him,
Friend,
wherefore art thou come?
Then come they
and laid hands
on Jesus
and took him.
And you know,
you have the betrayal
of the kiss here
by Judas Iscariot
and you know,
what does this symbolize?
It symbolizes a closeness.
You know, obviously Judas,
he wasn't in the inner three.
He wasn't like
the best friend of Jesus,
but he was a friend.
Notice Jesus called him a friend.
Jesus called him a friend.
And that idea of the kiss
obviously we're not
talking about something
faggity or weird.
We're just talking about a
greeting, right?
And in the Bible
and the Bible times
in their culture,
you know,
it would have been like a handshake,
right?
It was something that
they, you know,
spent time together.
They, you know,
communed together.
He considered him a friend
and Judas
just stabs him right in the back.
He's the one
that brings
all the people to Jesus
to bind him
and take him
before the rulers.
And you know,
the reality is that
they're going to be people
that pretend to be your friend.
You know,
and this does hurt.
This is something that
it's not fun to go through.
You have somebody
just backstab you,
somebody you considered
close
or somebody
that you invested in,
somebody who you cared about,
and then they just turn right around
and just stab you in the back.
You know,
and I'm bringing this up again
because I want us
not to be offended
when things like this happen.
Yeah.
I mean,
unfortunately,
they're bad people
in this world.
They're pretenders,
they're posers
and we will see
or experience
getting stabbed
in the back by people.
Go to Psalm 41.
You know,
maybe some of you
have already experienced
that in this church.
You know,
we've had
you know,
different transitions
where,
you know,
you have people coming
and going,
people leaving,
people being disgruntled.
You know,
people stabbing
pastor in the back,
you know,
not being truthful,
going over to his house
and taking pictures
of his house.
What a psycho.
What a freak.
And I just don't understand that.
That's just something
that just like
does not make any sense to me.
But you know,
it's just in the heart
of wicked people.
You know,
wicked people
are devising.
They're feigning themselves
just men
to get close to people,
just like Judas did.
Notice in Psalm 41
and verse nine.
It says,
Ye mine own familiar friend
in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread,
hath lifted up his heel against me.
You know,
it really sucks
to put your confidence
and trust in somebody
that you consider a friend
and then they just
stab you in the back.
You invite them over to dinner,
you spend time with them,
you invest in them,
you pray for them,
you do all these things for them
and then they just
stab you in the back.
Man, that hurts.
That's a terrible feeling.
You know,
and it can make people jade.
I understand why people get jaded
when it comes to friends.
You know,
and we should not be people
that are just quick
to turn on our friends.
You know,
we should be people
who are loyal to our friends.
You know,
we look at the people
that you consider a friend.
Hey,
even if they do something
that you don't like,
hey,
don't go around spreading that
garbage to other people.
You know,
if it's such a bad offense,
just go directly to them.
Just talk to them about it.
They're your friend.
I mean,
that's the person you should talk to,
especially if they've offended you.
If they're your friend,
they're going to understand.
They're probably going to feel bad about it.
They're probably going to be able
to reconcile that with you.
How wicked is it for you
to just go and just trash
that person to somebody else,
right,
behind their back?
You know,
and unfortunately,
you see this a lot.
You know,
people are fickle.
You know,
people are not very faithful.
People are not very loyal.
And it's a really bad quality.
It's a bad characteristic.
And something that none of us
should want to,
you know,
to be that.
We don't want to be that person.
Right.
And honestly,
you do that,
you backstab people enough.
Listen,
it's going to come back around to you.
You're going to get what's coming to you.
Go to 2 Samuel chapter 20.
2 Samuel chapter number 20.
Look at another example of this.
Here's another poser,
Pretender Joe Wab.
Joe Wab is a really famous poser
in the Bible.
And again,
he's one of those characters
in the Bible
that he's a complex character.
You know,
he does some good things.
He does some things that are right.
Ultimately,
I don't think the guy is a good guy.
I think he's got a bad heart.
He only cares about himself.
And he's not a very good friend.
Now,
notice what the Bible says
in 2 Samuel chapter 20.
2 Samuel chapter 20 verse 9.
It says,
And Joe Wab said to Amasa,
now,
Amasa's basically
been given the opportunity to be the,
basically the general of David's army.
Okay.
And David had a mercy on him.
He had grace
because he kind of got caught up with Absalom.
And he basically
makes him the chief of his army.
And if you kind of study who Amasa is,
he's basically the cousin of Joe Wab.
It's Joe Wab's cousin.
Like their family.
Right.
It's not just that they're friends,
they're family.
He's basically the daughter of Zaria's sister.
Right.
And if you know anything
about the Old Testament
in the life of David,
it's like there were three brothers
that were kind of just this burden to him.
They're great fighters,
warriors,
but they're kind of a burden.
And he always kept saying,
he's sons of Zaria.
Right.
You're constantly this burden unto me.
And he's talking about Joe Wab,
Abashai and Azahil.
And so for one,
I think Joe Wab probably gets a little disgruntled
because Amasa is made the chief
of the armies of David.
And that's probably the position that Joe Wab wanted.
Joe Wab liked to be in that position.
He liked to have the preeminence.
And that's kind of just myself reading into
a lot of the texts there.
It seems to be that's maybe the reason.
Also, just maybe it's envy too.
You know, he sees his cousin
getting some love from his uncle David.
And, you know, he wants to be in that position.
But notice what he says.
He says, and Joe Wab said to Amasa,
art thou and health my brother.
So even a family member,
like he's coming to him.
And he's feigning himself to actually care about him.
Right? He doesn't actually care about Amasa.
He cares nothing about him.
And we're going to see this here in a minute.
But he's calling him brother.
He's asking about his health.
He's seeming to be somebody who is genuine or sincere.
And it goes on.
It says, and Joe Wab took Amasa by the beard
with the right hand to kiss him.
Notice again, the Judas Ascariot kiss.
This betrayal where he pulls him in close.
It's kind of a picture of somebody who is caring for them.
He, you know, is trying to act like he's sincere
about his love for his family member.
So he pulls him in close to greet him, to embrace him.
Verse 11, verse 10, it says,
But Amasa took no heed to the sword
that was in Joe Wab's hand.
So he smote him therewith in the fifth rib
and shout out his bowels to the ground
and struck him not again and he died.
So Joe Wab and Abishai, his brother,
pursued after Sheba the son of Ikrai.
See, Joe Wab wanted to be the guy
who brought Sheba the son of Ikrai to justice, right?
He wanted to be the guy that went out
and did the work that Amasa was supposed to do.
And again, maybe I am reading a little bit into it,
but to me it seems like Joe Wab
was pretty envious of Amasa.
He wanted his position.
He didn't like it.
So what did he do?
He stabs him in the back.
And this is a brutal killing
because the Bible says that a lot of the men saw what happened, right?
Masses literally on the side of,
he's in the middle of the road,
just like bloods just coming out of his mouth
and they have to like drag him off the road.
So it was a very public thing that he did.
He just stabbed him in the back,
just no conscience whatsoever, you know?
And that's why I don't think Joe Wab
was probably a pretty good guy.
I don't think he saved.
And it seems like he's somebody who had a double heart.
He's somebody who, you know,
people who like to flatter and have a double heart,
those are people you want to really be careful
because usually inside they're full of iniquity.
They're full of, you know,
just a very corrupt sinful nature,
just really hating people.
And, you know, these are dangerous people to be around.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 26.
Proverbs chapter number 26,
the Bible says,
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
You know, and sometimes this is going to be hard to see
because, you know, I believe that we should all
give people the benefit of the doubt.
You know, and we should want to have close friends.
You know, I was thinking about this,
it's like we shouldn't let Judas cost you the Jonathan.
Right?
Jonathan was a great friend to David, right?
He was like his, they were of the, you know,
they just loved each other greatly, right?
They were great friends.
I can't, I kind of forget how the Bible words it,
but the Bible indicates like,
hey, they were just super close, great friends.
But, you know, he also had people who backstabbed him.
You know, you have Hithafel,
Absalom, his own son, Joab.
I mean, you have many people who backstabbed David.
But, you know, we should allow the Judas
to cost us the Jonathan in our life.
You know, I will be honest,
this is something that I probably struggle with
is I just don't, you know,
I struggle with allowing people to get really close to me.
You know?
And I don't think that's a good thing.
Like we should have good friends.
We should have people that we're close with.
But the reality is, and I don't want you to be offended,
but when you do that, guess what?
There are going to be some wicked people
that will flatter you,
and they'll have a double heart
and they will stab you in the back.
You know, and the more you serve God,
the higher those chances become.
And that's just the reality.
If you make a choice,
if you draw a line in the sand and say,
hey, I'm not crossing this line,
I'm not going into sin,
I'm not going to live like the rest of this world,
I'm going to be conformed into the image of Christ,
guess what?
Your chances of being backstabbed,
of being persecuted,
of experiencing a Judas Iscariot kissing you,
if you will, backstabbing you,
it only goes up.
Right?
But we should not allow that to discourage us
from making close friends,
or being close with people.
We don't want to get that attitude.
And we just have to have the solace of realizing
that God is going to take care of these people.
Hey, God is going to take care of the backstabber.
He's going to be on our side
if we're just doing what's right.
If we're sincere,
we're doing things with honesty and truth,
and we're doing things in the light,
hey, God is going to be on our side.
Notice what the Bible says in verse number 24.
It says,
He that hath dissembleth with his lips,
so dissembleth just means to deceive.
Right?
So the person that hates you
is going to deceive you with their mouth,
with their words.
They're going to say,
aren't thou in health, my brother?
Right?
They're going to try to draw close to you,
but they're not actually sincere.
These are wicked people.
It says in verse 25,
when he speaketh fair,
believe him not,
for there are seven abominations in his heart.
You see, the Bible is painting this picture
of people who flatter,
people who have a double heart.
They're very wicked people.
These are dangerous people.
You know?
And if you catch somebody
with a double heart or flattering you,
hey, you should remove yourself far from that person
because you need to understand
that that person is somebody
who has an evil heart.
There's somebody that can do a lot of damage.
Notice in verse 26,
it says,
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
So they'll smile.
They'll act like they like you.
They'll come up to you.
They'll come and eat at your table
and tell you all kinds of good things.
But then they're just waiting
for that moment to stab you in the back.
Whose hatred is covered by deceit.
His wickedness shall be showed
before the whole congregation.
And that's the soulless,
is even though they might have a double heart,
and they might be able to do some damage,
guess what?
We're all going to eventually figure it out.
We're all going to,
they're going to expose themselves.
We're all going to know exactly who that person is.
You know, I think of this idiot Daniel Hernandez,
isn't that his name?
What a piece of trash.
What a joke.
You know, try to get as close to Pastor Anderson
as you possibly can
and then just stab him right in the back.
What a wicked person.
That guy, I mean, what I've heard,
you know, I listened to the sermons in Massa.
That guy sounds like a faggot.
You know, he sounds like
he's got seven abominations in his heart.
What a wicked person
to deceive people to symbolize with your lips.
Listen, man, these are people
that are very wicked people.
These are people that are very dangerous.
But notice what the Bible says in verse 27.
Whoso dig at the pitch,
shall fall therein.
And he that rolled the stone,
it will return upon him.
Listen, if you're somebody who has a double heart
and just a fake person,
a poser, a pretender,
and you're backs that many people in the back,
guess what?
Your antics are going to come back around to you.
It's going to come right back around.
You dig that pit,
you're going to fall in that pit.
You're going to be exposed.
You know, maybe he'll pull somebody over
and, you know,
because apparently the guy's a cop, right?
Well, maybe you'll pull the wrong person over.
You know, that'll have a gun
and be willing to use it.
Some gangster.
That's not a poser, a pretender.
Hey, I wouldn't be,
I wouldn't shed a tear.
Lying reprobate.
You know, we need to have the right type of mentality
when it comes to these people, you know?
You know, our eyes should not pity.
And we shouldn't look at people
that are like this
and have a soft spot in our heart,
Tommy McMurtry.
I mean, what kind of a freak and weirdo
is going to have a soft spot
in their heart for a pedophile?
For a betrayer, for a backstabber.
Give me a break.
You know, these people,
they're going to get what's coming to them.
Notice in verse 28, it says,
a lying tongue hated those that are afflicted by it
and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
You know, these people,
they're just out for destruction.
They want to cause violence.
They want to separate families.
They want to do just the most harm possible.
The wicked, you know?
And we should have the right mentality,
realizing, hey, you know what?
These things are going to happen.
These things are going to be evident in my life.
The more I want to serve God,
the more righteous I want to try to be,
the more Christ-like I want to try to be,
that these things are going to happen.
We should see these things.
And when we see them,
I don't want you to get offended.
I don't want you to be discouraged
or to think like, oh, well, now I can't go to church anymore.
Why would I serve God when there's people like this at church?
And you hear this a lot from the world.
A lot of people won't go to church
because they've been hurt in church.
They've had somebody do something evil to them
or backstab them.
All manner of things.
And it could be a legitimate reason to be disgruntled
or to be upset,
but it's not a legitimate reason to forsake God.
You know, we should serve God
and realize that this life is going to be filled
with a lot of wicked people
that we're going to have to deal with.
And we shouldn't allow that to not...
You know, to put ourselves in a position
where we don't let people get close to us.
Go to Matthew 10 in there.
Go to Matthew chapter number 10.
Matthew chapter number 10.
Verse number 16.
The Bible says,
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.
So think about this.
Jesus, he's sending...
And of course we're talking about soul winning here
in the context.
He's sending them out two by two.
But he says that he's sending them out
as sheep in the midst of wolves.
He's letting them know,
hey, there's going to be evil people.
You're going to be serving alongside of around.
You're going to come in contact with.
Notice what he tells them.
He says, Be therefore wise as serpents
and harmless as doves.
We should be wise in realizing,
hey, these are the things that are going to happen.
People are going to be wicked.
You know, they're going to be posers and pretenders.
But at the same time,
we should also be harmless as doves.
Right?
We should think the best about people
and tell us just obvious that they're,
you know, somebody who's wicked.
That they're a backside.
We should try to get people to benefit from the doubt.
We should try to love people.
We should allow people to get close to us,
to be friends with them.
And just realize that, you know what?
If you get backstabbed,
you know, it just means that you're in the same company
as Christ.
And, you know, that's something to at least kind of
look back on and be like, all right,
well, at least I know I'm doing the right thing.
You know, at least I'm in good company
and realizing that even Christ was betrayed.
Even Christ was backstabbed.
And so I think it's okay if you allow yourself
to be a little bit vulnerable.
Allow yourself to think good about people,
not be jaded, to be friends with people
and just understand that if it happens,
hey, at least you're in good company.
And so, again, posers and pretenders abound
in the Christian life.
We're going to see it happen time and time again,
but let us not be moved by those things.
That's the end of word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
God, thank you for your word
and just the comfort that it brings
and understanding that, you know,
your son suffered many of these things
and, yeah, even worse things
than most likely any of us will ever go through.
God, I pray that you would help us
to be wise as serpents on this topic,
realize that there's posers and pretenders, Lord,
but that we would also be harmless as doves, Lord,
that we wouldn't stop trying to be Christ-like,
that we wouldn't stop trying to be charitable
and loving and good brothers and sisters
to our fellow brethren here in the church
that we would allow ourselves to still make good friends
and to spend our life together serving
alongside other good people to give you honor and glory.
We pray these things in your son's name. Amen.