Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
lord more and more to this church send your glory lord more and more god to this city and to the people around us god that we're trying to witness to and reach for you lord your glory has to touch them lord your glory and your presence and your power lord we pray for that today we ask you to send your glory i ask you to send your glory right now lord even into people's hearts in this room lord people lord that's struggling with things it's had a rough week that's got a rough situation that's dealing with with issues in their heart and their lives at work lord just just in every area at home finances lord we pray in the name of jesus father that you would send your glory the presence of your holy spirit and that you would refresh and lord that you would strengthen and that you would encourage and that lord you would lift us up god so that we could be in faith lord no matter what we're facing that we are in faith that we are walking in faith with you that we are now drawing near to you no matter what trial or tribulation or persecution or attack or any such thing that we're facing lord i pray in jesus name for your glory and your presence to go and to refresh your people this morning and father we need you we thank you lord i have sensed you here lord this morning in my prayer time this morning in the word this lord on the way here i've sensed you doing something and i just pray lord god that you will do it in everyone's heart and even those that are not here lord i know satan's been trying to get in to people's hearts and and cause problems and cause issues even with between church members and lord i just pray that your glory come in and show how petty some of this stuff is because lord we hunger and thirst for your glory for your word for your way not our own way father we we pray this in jesus name amen and amen can somebody say thank you jesus hallelujah amen it's always good to worship the lord amen [Music] i want you to take your bibles out this morning and i want you to turn first to the book of galatians this is something that's very strong on my heart and it and it really has been for a long time but it gets proven out more and more as the years go by [Music] and i want to talk to you this morning about the offense of the cross the offense of the cross and before i say that i just want to say this that you know one of the signs that jesus said would be in the end matter of fact as you're turning to galatians go ahead and just turn to galatians by way of matthew 24.
and uh i know god has a word for us this morning but in matthew 24 it says this and one of the signs of the end and this is a problem we have right now in the church world and and the world itself is offended with jesus it's offended with the word of god it's offended with christians but christians are offended at at preachers and with each other and this just i'll tell you the thing one of the biggest things is offense and it's amazing the bible says when we're walking truly walking in the love of god which we probably need to define that in a minute but if we're truly walking in the love of god we are not easily offended that's one of the things it says in first corinthians 13 but yet offense seems to abound right now and it's interesting that jesus said that offense would abound in the end matthew 24 i want you to go down um verse eight we'll just look at that he says all these speaking of wars rumors of wars and the things the signs at the end he said all these things are the beginning of sorrows then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets will rise and shall deceive many and because iniquity or sin shall abound the love of many will grow cold but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved and i just wanted you to see that jesus said one of the signs of the end was that many would be offended many would be offended and then would betray one another and hate one another now this jesus was speaking to his disciples he really wasn't speaking this to the world and i just want to say to you that offense and this is really my message this morning is really not on personal offense but offense is probably the biggest problem apart from moral sin and failure in the church world offense i would dare say that most marriages end more than more than for adultery they end because of offense they be the end because of some unforgiveness or some bitterness and and that's left there until it grows into a root of bitterness and then it says many are defiled and offense is it's easy to get offended and i want to show you though something is that this morning is that jesus one of the names for jesus is the rock of offense trust me that if you're going to follow jesus or you're going to study about jesus are you going to hear about jesus or you're going to get in the word of god or you're going to go to church you are going to be offended at some point or another by what either jesus has to say or what the pastor has to say or what somebody in the church has to
say you're going to be offended offenses jesus said will come he said blessed are they though who are not offended he said in me see really a lot of times what our real offense is with it deep down in our hearts is we're offended with god because he didn't do something we wanted him to do the way we wanted him to do it and when we wanted him to do it but jesus said if you can get through a fence then you can get to him and that's why the world out there is finds it hard sometime to get to jesus because they're offended by what he has to say and they're offended about you know you can tell him jesus loves them that won't offend them you tell them jesus talked about hell and unquenchable fire and then they're offended automatically right offense let's look let's go to galatians chapter five well this is one of the rare occasions that i do have notes this morning galatians chapter five galatians chapter 5 and we're going to start reading oh we'll just start reading in verse 1. he says here to the galatians stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage behold i paul say unto you that if you be circumcised christ shall profit you nothing for i testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law christ has become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law you are fallen from grace and again this was the battle that they were having and the battle was was that the jewish believers were saying that if you weren't circumcised you weren't really saved and circumcision of course i hate i'm not going to get into the details but really what circumcision was in the old covenant was a cutting away of a piece of flesh but when we come to jesus we are supposed to crucify the flesh with the affections and lust that means we nail the whole being that we are to the cross okay we crucify the flesh we don't just cut off a piece of it and paul was talking about circumcision here they were making this big deal and he goes you guys don't get it you're wanting to be religious and i'm trying to tell you that if you want to be religious and just cut off pieces of things but not crucify the whole thing then you are falling from grace you are getting entangled again with bondage i want to tell you the biggest thing in the church world is once folks start getting tangled back up in religion they start getting tangled back up in little things that really don't matter that much and bypass the big things and this is the problem this is what paul was really addressing is is that circumcision is not the issue here and he goes on to talk about let's keep going he says christ has become verse 4 christ
has become no effect unto you whosoever you are justified by the law meaning you're justified by your own standards you are falling from grace for we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith for in christ jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which works by love you did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calls you a little leaven leavens the whole lump now i want you to skip down i want you to look at verse 11 he says and i brethren if i yet preach circumcision why do i yet suffer persecution then is the offense of the cross ceased so putting it in in simple terms here paul was saying if i just preached that some little religious ceremony such as circumcision would make you righteous if i preached that then everybody would love me the jews wouldn't be offended the greeks already understand where we stand as jewish people on this you know as long as i i talk about just a little bit and this is what i'm beginning to notice on facebook and some of these people coming at me people want a little bit of christianity they want the parts that they like they want the little parts that are easy okay they want the stuff that's not difficult that's why so many people will not come to a church like this because they're going to find one that just deals with the little stuff just cut off a little bit you know to them it's a big sacrifice and you're a big religious christian if you just happen to sacrifice a little bit of your time on sunday and go to church and we don't understand that once a truly once a christian a person comes to christ it's a crucifixion of the whole life it's a laying down of your whole life for god and boy aren't we you know you're getting religious when you only want to give jesus part and not all boy we got a lot of christians like that they're out on that campus as we found out this week but paul says if i preach just cutting off a little bit of the flesh then why am i suffering persecution no he said i preached the cross oh boy what is the cross about let me just define this so we're clear the cross is everything because the cross of jesus christ represents how god feels about sin and it reveals the price that it took to deal with sin so the cross is all about sin jesus becoming sin for us that the son of god the spotless lamb of god had to be spit on beaten and nailed to a cross to deal with this horrible horrible thing called sin now i'm going to get to this toward the end of the message but really the biggest problem in the church and the
world is that we don't look at sin the way god looks at sin we think some things are no big deal right lying like lying it's no big deal right to god god says in revelation 21 7 8 liars will go to hell and burn in the flames forever liars we want to say how could god do that the reason we say that is because we don't look at lying the way god looks at lying god is holy he is righteous he is just and he will not condone sin and that's the way he is and he paid a terrible price to deal with our sins and to give us the ability to repent and deal with them and that's why in the end it is going to be more severe for people who blow it under grace than those who end up blowing it under the law we think grace is the easy way no it's not under the law you could be stoned for adultery under grace you could be damned for looking on a woman and lusting after her in your heart you see there's a difference there jesus didn't do away with the law he actually took it deeper to the heart and see until we look at sin and hate sin like god hates sin we will never really be right with god this is the this is the biggest problem that i see in the church world and in the world itself is that they they just don't see and understand that god hates it and god went through a great ordeal to deal with it and give human beings a chance to be forgiven and cleansed and have have hope of eternal life with him forever the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through christ jesus but we want to bypass the cross is where god dealt with sin the cross is also where god dealt with eternity the cross is not just about heaven but it's about hell when jesus died on that cross he didn't go to heaven first he went the bible says down into hell the cross is about hell there is no preaching of the cross without the preaching of hell or the other talking about hell or the reality that there is a hell that there is a judgment and an eternal judgment came to deal with that the cross is about what jesus came to deal with and he did not die on that cross and suffer those hours hanging on that cross so that we could continue to live in sin and ignore his commands and do whatever we want and be offended whenever we want
okay see the difference i'm going to tell you the difference what'll make the biggest difference in your life is how you look at that cross and that man what god had to do to give me even a chance and the people who take that cross lightly are the ones who are going to be damned forever it's just that simple you want god to be offended take lightly what he put his son through on that cross that's what the church world does god understands it's grace it's mercy i can do what i want i can go where i want i can say what i want i can be offended when i want no you can't not if you're bought with that blood the bible says if you are bought with that blood you are bought with a price you are not your own anymore true christianity is a forsaking of all self and giving jesus your life a hundred percent not halfway i didn't write the words that the lukewarm christian will be spit out of his body jesus said that to me that's the most terrifying scripture in the bible to people who were christians be hot or be cold but if you're lukewarm i'll spit you out of my mouth you start talking like that people get what offended exactly you know it's interesting i had some conversations with some people go ahead and put up the offense i want you to see the definition of this word the word offense the greek word scandalon scandal is where we get our word scandal from they say it's probably a derivative of another word root word but it means a trap stick a bent sapling a snare a cause of displeasure or sin occasion to fall or stumbling offense thing that offends stumbling block offense bible says has the offense of the cross ceased telling people jesus loves them does not offend them that is not the cross that's only half the cross the cross is jesus came to deal with your sin and to make you deal with your sin and to make you decide whether you're going to repent and turn from it and give him your life and have eternal life or you're going to keep continuing it the cross is a decision point that's what it's about so he says there has the has the offense of the cross ceased new let's go over to first corinthians they're going to be people who never ever believe the gospel who never listen because they continually trip over
the truth first corinthians let's look what he says here about the preaching of the cross well this is so important the preaching of the cross first corinthians chapter one this is one of the first verses that uh verse 18 is one of the first verses matter of fact i think it's the first verse that i memorized after i came back to the lord when i was 19 years old and i really didn't try to memorize it for some reason god just put it in my heart but i want to read at verse 17 he says for christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of christ should be made of none effect see it isn't about many words or being eloquent it's about the cross and paul said i didn't come doing that i'm not going to make the cross of christ none effect do you know that there are preachers in churches now who won't even say the word sin and yet that is what the cross is about that's what the cross is here that jesus made to deal with won't even say the word sin christ should be made the cross of christ made none effect he look what he says verse 18 for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of god for it is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world has not god made foolish the wisdom of this world for if after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe for the jews require a sign and the greeks seek after wisdom but we preach christ crucified unto the jews a stumbling block and unto the greeks foolishness but unto them which are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god and then he goes on to say because the foolishness of god is wiser than men and the weakness of god is stronger than men what is god saying you f no boy i tell you i can just see these people out the the groups out there on the campuses foolishness just just foolishness stumbling blocks let's go let's go you know we could stay on that the preaching of the cross though now look the offense of the cross is not ceased you stand for jesus you preach the truth i don't care if it's to one person at your workplace or one you know one person on the street or a whole bunch of people you truly preach
the real thing you're going to produce offense and you're going to get some responses you know something i thought about um i hope you don't mind me saying this karen but some of your issues right now i thought about that that person is causing you so much trouble do they know you're a christian there you go that's all you need to know it may just be eating him up you're gonna see i'm gonna get into that i just thought about you though after i got into this word um where did i say turn to then it's first peter chapter two somebody say the word is good all right we'll find out in a few minutes if if you really believe that it amazes me when the lord kind of directs me on a path like this and the stuff i start seeing it everywhere i want you to see where jesus is called the rock of offense the stone of stumbling now look what he says let's let's read from uh first peter two verse one he says wherefore laying aside all malice and guile which is deceit and hypocrisy and endings and all evil speaking meaning let's deal with sin and then he says as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be that you have tasted that the lord is gracious to whom coming unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men talking about jesus being rejected by the jewish leaders he said disallowed indeed of men but chosen of god and precious you also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold i lay in zion or the church a chief cornerstone elect precious and to him that believes on him and let me say the word believe here the word believe doesn't just mean you believe in your head that jesus is who he says he is the word believe here in the greek means to rely on to trust in to cling to to be loyal to to to to truly be constant in that profession it's not just a mental ascent or james would be a contradiction when james said faith without works is dead being alone there is no such thing as a simple mental ascent that you believe something exists and that's it your actions in your life will follow what you believe what you truly believe right you can say you believe it but your life will prove what you believe so he says unto those who believe on him he
said him that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore and oh boy this is the word here unto you therefore which believe he is precious boy believing what jesus has done is precious he says but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto they were also appointed boy we ought to get that right there jesus is the rock of events to those who will persist in being disobedient in the word put up the definition i want you to see the word for those it says for those who are disobedient who stumble at the word this is what's interesting here the definition for this stumble here is this word that uh i guess it would be proscopto or something like that but look what it says those who stumble at the word those who strike at it who surge against it those who stub on it or trip over it literally those who beat on it and dash at it hit at it those who resist the word of god they strike at it they fight against it they trip over it it's amazing how many people like the the lesbian professor that was trying to confront me out there on thursday it's just amazing how that she said well i've read i've talked about the bible she goes well i've read other books that told me not to believe the bible you know what i thought about that afterwards i thought what authority do they stand upon do they have thousands of years of history a whole nation that backs them up do they have thousands of years of history and archaeology and prophetic fulfillments and all these things no they don't some idiot wrote them and she's chosen to believe them because she stumbles over the word she fights against the word she hates the word because the word says that her lesbian activity is not accepted by god so she found some other book that now she puts above a book that has the authority of thousands of years amazing in it those who stumble at the word being disobedient jesus is the rock of offense and you know why he's the rock of offense and the stumbling stone because very frankly being the lord of all it's his way or the highway right and the rebellious nature in the human flesh and the human soul and the human mind wants to always do it their way right hate being told what to do hate the fact that there's somebody they're going to
be held accountable to want to do whatever they want whenever they want however they want right the whole homosexual issue and all it comes down to want to do what i want to do anytime all the time that's what it comes down to jesus is the rock of offense i wanted you to see that is that is that in your bibles that he is called the rock of offense right now i want to show you something let's go back to john 3 and this is what i want to talk about everybody wants to be liked right everybody wants to be liked and accepted and and all of that stuff [Music] but what did jesus say about that john chapter 3 the precious john 3 16. except we don't keep reading we're going to look at two passages in john john 3 and in john 7. i want you to see what jesus said because i want to talk about some of the responses you've got to lose the mentality that the world is somehow going to like you you've got to lose the mentality that the unsaved and the wicked or the backslider or the lukewarm christians gonna like you if you're trying to go on with god and if you're gonna stand and preach and say what the truth of something is why do we get so bound up in thinking that everything's gonna go smooth and everybody's going to like us that is not what jesus taught that is not the scripture if everybody likes us and there's an interesting verse in luke 6 when jesus said woe unto you when all men speak well of you for so did they the false prophets which were before you whoa whoa unto you right jesus doesn't say that woe too many times you ought to pay attention when he says whoa all right john 3 though well let's let's read start reading from our precious verse 16. he says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him trust in rely on cling to him stay steadfast in that relationship should not perish but have everlasting life for god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil you ought to put that down there men love darkness rather than light
and if we're honest with ourselves even those of us who have been born again regenerated have the holy spirit in us we still have a flesh that wants to do evil the world out there who has not been born again and say they know nothing but to please their flesh and they love it they love darkness i i get amazed sometimes over the years where i've heard christians complain about sinners being sinners like they're supposed to act right you know i've heard christians they've come to church and complained to me about how some sinners acting and they should act right and i'm like why a duck's gonna be a duck a fish is going to be a fish a sinner is going to be a sinner a wicked man is going to be wicked get him saved and then he might change oh boy no guarantees then either oh y'all are looking at me like a dog at a new dish come on now grin something nod your head all right i want to keep reading verse 19 though and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil look at verse 20. we don't hear this preach too much for everyone that doeth evil hates the light neither comes to the light lest his deeds should be reproved okay let's just stop right there he that doeth that's the word greek word praso and it's also a present tense verb so it's got double meaning it being the greek word praso the definition of the greek word praso means to practice habitually then it being a present tense greek verb means ongoing continuous action taking place right now so in case there was any confusion about what he meant and he said those who are practicing what evil hate the light well i preached that on at the campus thursday if you practice evil you can say you love jesus you say you're a christian all you want to but you hate him that's preaching the cross preaching john 3 16 in context isn't it right when you say that immediately you get offense because you begin to expose people's lifestyles you don't get any persecution attack or anything really now you can get some from people who have demonic spirits in them and they pick up the spirit on you and they'll just attack you for no reason i'm not saying that but when you start speaking the gospel you're not going to get persecuted about what you say and believe until you expose until you expose that if you practice a lifestyle of this or that evil or wickedness
then whoo the people who love their evil but want to say they're in the light oh boy they come out of the woodwork i have one little precious little little girl that looked like she must have been a freshman wanted to kill me when i told her she said so you mean if i get drunk every weekend that i'm not a christian i'm lost i said yes ma'am you are lost you practice evil she turned around in a huff her and her three friends and marched off angry why exposed her wickedness no drunkard will inherit the kingdom of god that's the truth all right go to john 7. what's beautiful about what what i thank god that he did in many years ago i've really never cared about whether i offended you or not i love people and i want people to be saved and and there are times that i can show great patience and and with people but you know what ultimately i'm not called as a christian and i'm not called as a minister to please everybody sit around and flatter you and make you feel good about yourself all the time that is not my job they're not going to do it there are plenty of them out there that will but i'm not and i thank god you know i found as the years went on that because i was that way i was not impressed with i don't care if they were famous or rich or whatever because it didn't impress me at all i'll just tell them still telling the truth that i noticed god being with me i mean it's kind of this thing of god goes huh well i got somebody who doesn't care about what then doesn't care if everybody likes them or not i got somebody that'll speak for me and i have god sent me i've prophesied over governors and judges and god's open doors for me to speak to people and i just it's just amazed me because i was willing to say whatever needed to be said that how old was i 20 20 21 god sent me to first baptist church in opelika to give them a word of prophecy during sunday night service on tv and i did it my brother and i went it's amazing my brother and i went in he had part of the word i had the other part of the word god showed us how to go in my brother went in can you believe this on a sunday night service the church was packed it was live television and the pastor of the time at the time handed my brother the microphone
they weren't happy with the word they got either about lukewarmness but you know what after that we left there power of god i had people i'd meet people that went to first baptist church and let's say that was god you know it was amazing and then of course there were people that if they if it hadn't been against the law they would have killed us but it it's just amazing don't care god says say something you say something um let's keep going here john chapter seven we might even get done early john seven now let's look at verse one i wanna we're gonna start talking about the offense a little bit but about the response here that jesus got and he's gonna tell you why i love this after these things verse one it says jesus walked in galilee for he would not walk in jewry because the jews sought to kill him my god did the jews seek to kill jesus because he was the first hippie because he came a long time about all we need is love and always lead to heaven and all of you are the children of god and you're all wonderful and fine and dandy i wonder why they wanted to kill it exactly and he's going to tell us that let's keep reading he says now the jews feast of the tabernacles was at hand his brother and therefore sent to him depart from here and go into judea that your disciples also may see your works that you do for there is no man that doeth anything in secret and he himself seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for neither did his brethren believe in him boy jesus had trouble at home had trouble with his family had people trying to kill him right i'm just saying he was perfect jesus was love manifested in the flesh jesus was sinless amazing isn't it his own friends at one another point said that he was crazy verse six though then jesus said to them my time has not yet come but your time is already now look at verse seven the world cannot hate you but it but me it hates because i testify of it that the works thereof are evil jesus said the world hates me now he was talking to his his brothers there two of which were james and jude who later became apostles who wrote the book of james and wrote the book of jude but at this point he said the world can't hate you why because you're on its side you don't believe in me you don't believe who i am and you're actually being a bit sarcastic
the world doesn't hate you yet because you are with them but the moment you get on my side and james was the one the brother of jesus was the one who became the leader of the church in jerusalem whom herod killed with the sword because he stood for the things of jesus so they changed jude changed and gave their lives for what they believed in but jesus said the world hates me because i testify of it that the works are evil so the moment you stand against homosexuality or the moment you stand against abortion or the moment you stand against anything that's evil that god considers to be evil here comes the hatred here comes the persecution now let's put up the responses that paul got here i just want you to see that when paul preached the gospel here's the responses that he got and you can take these down if you want to acts 13 45 when he preached to the crowd and i believe this was in pergamos i think i can't remember now but when he preached there it says the crowd began contradicting and blaspheming attacking everything he said what's contradicting would paul say something they'd say the opposite right blaspheming speaking irreverently about god and anything acts 13 50 paul and barnabas are thrown out of the city that hadn't happened to us yet acts 14 verse 5 the crowd began to stone them acts uh 14 verse 9 it says paul was stoned again and left for dead and if the disciples hadn't come out and prayed over him he might have died literally he was he was healed and some think paul was raised from the dead there um acts 16 23 both paul and barnabas were beaten with many stripes let's go to the next one beaten with many stripes um this acts 18 paul's hearers opposed themselves in blasphemy acts 19 paul preached against their idolatry violation of the first and second of the ten commandments and his hearers were full of wrath acts 20 verse 23 paul was told that the afflictions awaited him wherever he preached the gospel and that was from the holy ghost that told him that acts 22 21-22 the apostles preaching caused his hearers to call for his death let's go on is that is that the last of them let me see here oh yeah there's some more i thought there was more let's keep going acts 23 run as soon as paul began to speak he was smacked in the mouth acts 23 10 after he spoke there was a great dissension 23 10 the crowd was so angry paul was nearly pulled in pieces and had to be delivered by a roman soldiers from this crowd that wanted to kill him
after that the crowd conspired to murder him acts 24 5 he called he was called a pestilent fellow a mover of sedition and a ringleader of a sect yeah that he was just a cult leader i think i've been accused of most of those things too at some point or another right why stand for righteousness the wrath of the world and sometimes even of the church will be on you and people don't understand you know it's amazing some of the responses even of so-called christians when i stood up on the campuses we can preach basic the basic gospel there were christians out there having trouble with that because frankly they want everybody to like them and they want the sinners to know that we love and care for them and they somehow want to preach the gospel without it being offensive impossible impossible to preach the cross impossible to expose their evil deeds without hatred impossible right is the church world any different new new new new year even in this church after almost a year now we're 10 months plus it's amazing that when i rebuke or correct some of the responses that i have seen and that i've got some have been humble and said you know what you're right i'm going to change this and some get attitudes in their heart or some move on simple correction or simple rebuke i want you to turn to um proverbs chapter 24. proverbs 24. i'm gonna show you a few verses here are y'all with me good amen i heard somebody then all right proverbs 24 let's read this this verse meant a lot to me way back in the in the day when i was learning a lot of things about just studying the word and this and and what god was calling me to do and this kind of jumped out one day and it's uh 24 and we'll go over to verse 23. he says these things also belong to the wise it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment he that saith unto the wicked you are righteous him shall the people curse and nation
shall abhor him but to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon him i want you to put up the word the definition of the word rebuke here the definition of the word rebuke in this verse here's what it means to be right i love that to be right and to correct or that is to correct to argue if need be to justify or convict to chasten which would mean discipline to convince somebody that they're wrong correction the word days man there means a mediator or someone who stands between to dispute if need be to judge a situation to reason together to re rebuke or reprove so he says here very clearly and what's interesting about this verse when he says those who say to the wicked you are righteous oh my god do you know that we have people that are christian homosexuals yes i had a guy stand up on the campus in the little homosexual group and goes seventy percent of homosexuals say that they're christians oh really and they've got churches and pastors that tell them that they are righteous while they live in the sin of homosexuality the bible says nations shall abhor them do you know what that means when it says the nations will abhor them turn to isaiah 66 how will the nations abhor these people anybody know how i brought this verse to you some months ago it caused a little controversy but it's in the bible speaking of then isaiah 66 verse 22 which is also this is also quoted and referred to in revelation 22 not all of this but the fact of the new heavens and the new earth but verse 22 so at the end when god is ready to create a new heavens and new earth he says verse 22 for as the new heavens and the new earth which i will make shall remain before me saith the lord so shall your seed and your name remain and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the lord he's talking about in the millennial reign when jesus has his throne seated in jerusalem he says and they shall go forth and shall look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me for their worms shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh what jesus is saying there is that there is going to be even in the millennial reign
there is going to be a way for the nations who still are alive and who come to worship jesus in jerusalem there is going to be a way for them to view down into hell and to see the men and the women that cursed god that lived in sin that rejected his way and his laws and they're going to be able to look down there and see that and it says they will be an abhorring to all flesh the nations will see but what did god say who's going to be there let me tell you the preachers and the christians and the people who tell the wicked that they are righteous is where they're going to find themselves hated looked upon with disgust by the nations of the world but it says but to those who are willing to rebuke and to correct and to argue if need be and to chasten and to discipline he says a good blessing will come upon them and all this comes down to is a willingness to speak the truth no matter what it is the offense of the cross has not ceased fools make a mock at sin but among the righteous there is favor are you ready to offend some people [Music] look we all let me just say this in all of us we want to be liked and loved and looked up to and admired and praised and we all have those needs right and god will do it you know you obey him god will do it in your life he can speak to you and there'll be people god will bring around you that can encourage you and bless you and and do those things but for the most part if that's what you've got to have and you're not willing to do what you need to do or preach what you need to preach or be what you need to be if you're letting that get in your way that need it needs to be crucified and i and two i shared this this morning because you need to understand that your pastor has even now started to stir the pot in the city and the day may come in the days ahead as the world and the laws and these things change they may come that they want to come put me in jail for preaching against homosexuals do you know that that in china that the average um that every pastor in china averaged spending 11 years in prison yes over since the communist takeover of china um we just don't understand
are you willing i mean some of us are not willing to to preach the truth to somebody because we're afraid they won't be our friend and those pastors knew if they got up and preached they might spend 10 or 11 years in prison and not an american prison are we willing to do what's necessary the days are coming anyway as we enter the the end times in the last days you're going to be forced to make a decision which side you're on better get all that settled now all right praise god let's pray thank you jesus lord i thank you for your people lord i thank you for this church lord i don't care if we've had to uh offend some and run some off that's part of the part of being a church lord i care about them i pray that their lives are blessed and touched and that lord they'll find you and walk in the truth the lord you've called us lord to not only to not only show love but you've called us to preach the truth that is offensive you've called us to correct sometimes and rebuke sometimes and to expose things and lord that's offensive and painful lord i thank you that you show that your word humility is always the way and that you expose things like you did in our own hearts before we came to jesus you exposed to us that we were wicked that we were evil that we were sinners that we deserve judgment and to be saved we had to bow our knee and admit i am a sinner i am lost i need a savior humility is always the answer and i pray lord that you will anoint what we do with power lord and that people will be saved but i am under no illusion that people will other people will hate us will attack us we'll persecute we'll blaspheme we'll contradict we'll argue and fight they'll be all those responses because lord the world hates you because you expose their wickedness lord i pray in jesus name that you give us all boldness to speak the truth in love lord i speak what i speak on the campus or anywhere else on the street or even in church because i want anything that might get in someone's way of truly walking with you and knowing you to be removed i want them to make it to heaven so lord i know in the end the truth is spoken in love
raise up a church and raise up a group of people who can be humble who can be corrected who can be rebuked who can be taught the hard things and say i want it all the easy stuff the good stuff and the difficult stuff father i pray this in jesus name amen amen you know there's one verse that comes to my mind from romans 11. he said behold the goodness and the severity of god he said goodness towards you if you continue in his goodness otherwise you will be cut off and i think about that behold the goodness and the severity of god he is not one side or the other he is both he will take the sacrifice of his son the cross very seriously how we treat it what we do with it and if we're willing to stand for it amen