Christians Who Go Overboard - Pastor Bruce Mejia

Amen.

Okay.

We're in Ecclesiastes chapter 7.

Ecclesiastes 7 · chapter mention

Look down at your Bibles verse 16 that says,

Be not righteous over much.

Neither make thyself over wise.

Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

And the time of my sermon this evening is Christians who go overboard.

Christians who go overboard.

Here in Ecclesiastes chapter 7, the preacher says,

Ecclesiastes 7 · chapter mention

Be not righteous over much.

Don't make yourself over wise.

And the result of this, of course, is that you would destroy thyself.

Now what is this referring to?

It's referring to the fact that, obviously, this is discouraging people from living a righteous

life or augmenting righteousness in one's personal life, growing in holiness, becoming a better

Christian over a long period of time.

When the Bible says, Be not righteous over much, it's essentially saying, Don't bite

off more than you can chew.

Don't go overboard.

Don't try to overcompensate.

Don't try to overdo it because, eventually, if you do end up going overboard, if you kind

of overcompensate, you're going to end up being a hypocrite.

You're going to do more than what's expected.

And people are going to sniff out that you're being a fake and a phony.

And I think of this particular part right here in the Bible that says not to make ourselves

over wise.

Now, obviously, we cannot accumulate wisdom in a short period of time.

So how is it that someone can make themselves over wise in a short period of time?

Well, how about they just talk about things that they don't really understand?

How about they try to make themselves seem smarter and more knowledgeable than what they

really are?

So a person who's making themselves over wise is often the individual who's constantly

talking about wisdom and knowledge and what happens is, you know, in a multitude

of words, they're wanteth not sinned.

The more you talk, the more likely it is that you're going to say something wrong.

The more you talk, the more likely it is that people are going to realize this

person has no idea what they're talking about.

They're making themselves over wise.

They're making themselves over righteous.

They seem to be going overboard, overcompensating, doing a little too much, being a little extra

when it comes to being righteous and being wise.

And look, folks, at the end of the day, the Christian life is a marathon.

Okay, it's not a sprint.

We're not racing one another.

What are we doing?

We're simply trying to finish the course that God has set before us.

And you know what?

If you are a new Christian, meaning you've gotten saved within the last six months to

a year, even within the last five years, it's important for you to recognize that the goal

is not to be as righteous as much as possible in a short period of time.

You know, give yourself some grace, give yourself enough time, pace yourself in the Christian

life, grow as much as you can, but don't bite off more than you can chew because

if you do, number one, you might get discouraged because you're going to realize you can't

accomplish that much, or number two, in your endeavor to look righteous and your endeavor

to sound wise, you're going to do something that's going to cause others to realize that

you're a complete idiot, okay?

You don't know what you're talking about and you're not as righteous as you portray

yourself to be.

Now let me also say this is that, you know, when you go over, when Christians go overboard

to the untrained eye, it can be viewed as zealous behavior.

You know, when someone goes overboard, they're going over the top, they're doing

a lot to the untrained eye, and I was like, wow, this person is just really devoted.

This person is extremely passionate.

They're very zealous, but at the end of the day, the underlying motive is that they're

overcompensating for their lack in a particular area.

And I will say that babes in Christ are often the ones guilty of this, and I would

say even for myself, when I first got saved, I went over the top, I went overboard,

and I think that's just like a common thing for those who are newly saved, they're

excited about the things of God, they're zealously affected in a good way, but because

they have a zeal without knowledge, they can often delve into nonsensical things, nonsensical

behavior, and they have to grow out of that.

And so, you know, obviously we want to be gracious with novices, we want to be

gracious with babes in Christ, but let me say this, if you're a babe in Christ,

the goal should be to grow out of that.

The goal should be that you grow in grace and in the knowledge that you become

a mature person, a humble person, and you recognize, you know what, I'm doing a

little too much, I'm seeming to overcompensate here, I'm going overboard, and so I need

to pace myself and grow, mature in my faith.

Don't be hasty in your judgments, be hasty in your growth, just pace yourself, okay?

You know, on a practical level that we can talk about this is, you know, when it

comes to Bible reading, sometimes people are like, man, I love the Bible so much,

I'm just going to try to read it like four times this year.

And then they don't even get through it once.

You're going overboard, you're biting off more than you can chew, just pace yourself.

How about reading through the Bible once every year for the next five years?

What's wrong with that, right?

Like, oh man, you know, I'm going to memorize so much scripture, why don't

you just start with a small portion of scripture, get it down packed as best

as you can, you have a lifetime to grow in your faith, you have a lifetime

to accumulate knowledge, to memorize scripture, to read the Word of God.

You're like, man, I want to accumulate so many salvation.

Well, you want to make sure that, you know, as a soul winner, you don't

become sloppy in your gospel presentation either.

And this is something that I've seen, for example, in the old IFB, where soul

winning becomes somewhat of a competition to a degree that they actually become

very sloppy in their presentation to the point where a phrase was coined

for them known as one, two, three, pray after me, right?

These churches that literally are just not thorough in their gospel presentation,

they are super sloppy, but they're just trying to get people to just pray

just so they can count them.

Look, folks, we care about numbers, I care about numbers, I care a lot

about numbers because a number is a soul, amen?

But not at the exclusion of being thorough, okay?

Make sure that you're thorough in your gospel presentation.

Make sure that in your zeal, you're not just cutting corners just to make it

look like in front of everyone else that you're some sort of great soul

winner, some great Christian, okay?

Pace yourself in the Christian life.

Don't be a Christian who goes overboard.

Go to Judges chapter 21, Judges chapter 21, if you would.

Judges 21 · chapter mention Judges 21 · chapter mention

Let me read again from Ecclesiastes 7, verse 16 again.

Ecclesiastes 7:16

It says, be not righteous over much.

Neither make thyself over wise.

Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

If it goes on to say, be not over much wicked.

Neither be thou foolish.

Why shouldest thou die before that time?

Now, don't misunderstand what the Bible is saying here.

When it says in verse 17, be not over much wicked,

God's not saying, hey, you could be a little wicked.

A little fortification never hurt anybody.

A little drunkenness here and there,

a little railing's not bad.

When it says be not wicked over much,

God is basically being gracious with us recognizing

that we're not perfect.

And so obviously we're not perfect.

We're gonna make mistakes.

But just because we're imperfect doesn't mean

we should just go all in into imperfection, right?

Just give in to our lust, our desires.

Oh yeah, I just do that because I'm just a sinner.

I'm just imperfect.

That's just what I do.

That's just how I talk.

That's just how I behave.

I just, you know, I'm just, I just smoke weed.

That's just what I do, you know?

I just drink alcohol.

No, be not over much wicked either though.

The Bible's telling us here is to be, to have moderation,

okay, to have a balanced life.

And obviously on the spectrum of righteousness and wickedness,

we should lean more towards righteousness

every single day, right?

We're never gonna reach the very end of righteousness

until the redemption of our bodies.

But it should be the removing in that direction though.

It should be that we lean more towards

being a righteous person than being a wicked person, okay?

The title of the sermon is Christians who go overboard.

Number one, let me start off by saying

is that Christians go overboard

to compensate for past failures.

Often Christians will go overboard.

They will overdo it.

They just kind of go all out

only because of the fact that they failed in the past

so they feel like they have to put in as much effort

in order to portray to others

that they're a super righteous individual, okay?

Now you're in Judges chapter 21.

Judges 21 · chapter mention

Before we read here,

let me just give you a synopsis

of this particular story, okay?

Keep in mind that the Book of Judges

is during a really dark time in the nation of Israel, okay?

You know, this is during a time,

the system of the judges,

where every man is doing that

which is right in their own eyes.

They don't have a magistrate.

They don't have a king to put them to shame.

They don't, you know,

the system of kings is not instituted as of yet.

You have judges that are essentially delivering

the children of Israel when they fall

under oppression of a foreign army

because of their disobedience to God, okay?

But in general, you don't really have people ruling over them,

kind of telling them what to do.

Other than the judges themselves

when they get away from God,

they get involved in sin,

the judge comes and judges them,

delivers them somewhat as a general

and then the cycle continues, okay?

So during this particular time,

we could say that they're under a theocracy still.

If you remember during the wilderness,

the children of Israel are under a theocracy,

God is their king.

Well, they're still in that transitional period

during the book of judges.

And it's good and it's bad because, you know,

it's good because God is their king.

It's bad because they don't listen.

So now they're just doing that

which is right in their own eyes.

They're not obeying the laws of the Lord.

They're not instituting punishments for wrongdoing.

They're not carrying out the laws of God.

And so what do you have taken place

in the nation of Israel?

Idolatry.

You have a lot of idolatry taking place.

And when you look at

what happens when you allow idolatry into a nation,

just unfettered idolatry without any correction whatsoever,

it eventually leads to reprobation.

You read that progression in Romans chapter one.

You find that people become idolaters

and then God gives them over to a reprobate mind.

So what happens is the result of idolatry

is that they become darkened.

Their hearts become darkened.

They begin to reject God.

And ultimately, sodomy is introduced into the picture.

So by the time we get to Judges chapter 19,

Judges 19 · chapter mention

what do you have?

You have the story of those of Gibeah,

those of Benjamin who are sodomites,

their sons of Belial.

And it's a horrific story, right?

Judges 19 is basically what you have taken place

in Genesis 19,

where you have these sons of Belial,

these sodomites, these homosexuals,

who are seeking to rape a man

who's visiting their town.

And instead of raping a man, they take his concubine,

they abuse her all the night,

and they essentially kill her, okay?

Well, you know, the guy, because he loves her so much,

you know, he's like, he sees her in the morning,

he's like, up, get up, let's get going or something.

Obviously, he doesn't care for his concubine.

But he realizes that she's dead

and he ends up desecrating her body,

severing it to pieces and sending it

to the 12th tribes of Israel.

Really, really weird story, okay?

You know, he sends it off and then the 12th tribes

are looking at this and like, you know,

this is crazy, right?

And obviously, you know,

you would think that once you get that letter,

you're just like, well, first of all, okay,

I know this is communicating

that they're sodomites in the land,

but can we just acknowledge the fact

that I just got a leg in the mail, right?

I just got a hand in the mail here.

You say, why aren't they making a big deal

about that because every man is doing that,

which is right in their own eyes.

The moral compass of the nation

has been removed, so to speak.

There's no magistrate to put them to shame, okay?

So this major crime has taken place in Israel,

of sodomy, of just murder,

and you know, they have a major problem

because now they have one of the 12th tribes

who's involved in these abominations and in these murders.

Now in Genesis 19, got to care for it himself, right?

He sent down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah

and completely destroyed those cities, right?

And why is that?

Well, because in Genesis 19,

the nation of Israel had not been established as a nation

with the functioning government

that can enact these laws of the death penalty

upon those who commit capital crimes.

So God's the one who's kind of taking care

of business right there, right?

But by the time we get to Judges 19,

you know, God has already given the laws.

He has deputized his people to carry out the death penalty,

to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Well, if we have the story of Judges 19,

a repeat of Genesis 19, what does that tell us?

It tells us that they weren't taking care of business.

They failed.

They failed, right?

So they failed to discipline the nation.

They failed to discipline the tribe.

They failed, and look folks,

it's not like these sons of Belial just came out of nowhere.

And I don't believe for a second

that nobody in the nation of Israel,

nobody knew that these people were sodomites,

they're reprobates, they're sons of Belial

because idolatry is all over the land, understand?

What's happening here is they're turning a blind eye

to this.

It's not until it gets to this particular point

where someone is brutally raped or murdered

then they actually want to do something about it, okay?

So they band together the 12 tribes

against the tribe of Benjamin and more specifically

against Gibeah to essentially put the sodomites to death.

Well, the sodomites shellacked them unfortunately, okay?

They destroyed them like three times,

or two times and then on third time

to actually succeed against them

and they actually end up destroying

the sons of Belial, the sodomites, okay?

And you know, we're like, well, praise God,

you know, that's great.

You know, they were able to execute justice.

These people were destroyed for their crimes

and now we could just move on as a nation.

But look what Judges chapter 21 talks about here.

Judges 21 · chapter mention

In verse one, it says,

now the men of Israel had sworn in mispossain,

there shall not any of us give his daughter

into Benjamin to wife.

And the people came to the house of God

and abode there till even before God

and lifted up their voices and wept sore

and said, oh Lord God of Israel,

why has this come to pass in Israel?

That there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel.

Well, first of all, why are you asking God?

You're the reason why.

First of all, you refuse to enact God's laws

upon the land and then you wonder

why you're suffering the consequences

of this debauchery and abomination in the land.

Why are you allowing, what do you mean?

You're the one, you're the reason

this is happening in the first place.

Your failure allowed this.

You're the reason why there's sodomites in the land.

You're the reason why this woman

was abused all the day long.

You're the reason why this body was chopped up

and sent into the 12 tribes.

It's because of your failure.

We're going to go on to say in verse four,

it came to pass on the morrow

that the people rose up early and built there

and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

And the children of Israel said,

who is there among all the tribes of Israel

that came not up with the congregation of the Lord?

For they had made a great oath concerning him

that came not up to the Lord to miss,

but saying, he shall show me and put to death.

So what does he say?

Like, all right, let's find out who didn't come up

and fight with us against those of Gibi

or we're gonna kill those guys.

What is that?

You're overdoing it.

So because you didn't take care of business years ago,

now you're going overboard

and now you're seeking to put people to death

that had no business in this situation with Gibi.

What is it?

It's because of their failure.

They feel like they have to overcompensate

because they messed up in the years past.

So now it's just like complete innocent people

have to be put to death.

It's wrong.

They're going overboard, okay?

Look what it goes on to say in verse six,

and the children of Israel repented them

for Benjamin their brother

and said, there is one tribe cut off

from Israel this day.

How should we do for wives for them to remain?

Seeing we have sworn by the Lord

that we will not give them of our daughters to wives.

And they said, what one is there

of the tribes of Israel

that came not to miss put to the Lord?

And behold, there came none to the camp

from Jabish Gilead to the assembly.

For the people were numbered and behold,

there were none of the inhabitants

of Jabish Gilead there.

And the congregation sent thither

12,000 men of the valiantist

and commanded them saying,

go and smite the inhabitants of Jabish Gilead

with the edge of the sword.

Notice this, with the women and the children.

What did Jabish Gilead have to do with this?

They didn't get involved in this.

Okay, yeah, they're wimps.

They didn't want to go fight.

They didn't get involved

when you're fighting against Givia.

That doesn't give you the right

to just completely go overboard

and killed the women and the children

just because the males didn't get involved in the war.

What is that called?

That's called going overboard.

You know what, sometimes Christians can do the same

because they're guilty of sins of the past,

things they did in the past.

They often have this complex about themselves

that they have to go way overboard later on

and have this unrealistic standard for everyone else

just because they failed in the past, okay?

And look, folks, let me just say this,

that obviously it's good to have preferences,

it's good to have standards,

but never impose preferences and standards

upon other people and communicate it

as though this is what God requires of you, okay?

And look, if you lived,

if you got saved later on in life,

you got saved as an adult

and you came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ

as a 20-year-old, 25, 30-year-old or whatever may be,

you probably made some mistakes in the past.

You might have some baggage with you, for sure.

And you might even set some guidelines,

standards and convictions for your personal life

because you have more temptations

that are available to you

because of how long you've been in the world, right?

There's nothing wrong with that,

but what's wrong is that when you start condemning others

for not following that standard, okay?

That's important to know.

Don't be an over-righteous person, a self-righteous person.

What's a self-righteous person?

It's a person who thinks that they're better

than someone else, okay?

And look, it's good to go overboard for yourself.

It's good.

I think it's great to go overboard for yourself.

I think it's wrong to go overboard though

in order to make other people feel guilty

that they're not at the same standard that you're at,

that they're not at the same level that you're at, okay?

You know, we have an example here

of the innocent of Jabish Gilead

suffering the consequences of the people

who are killing them, they're the ones who failed.

You know, if you would have just enacted

the laws of God years prior to this,

none of this would have happened.

But this is an example of someone,

or of a nation that just completely goes overboard.

Look, verse 11,

and this is the thing that you shall do,

you shall utterly destroy every male,

every woman that hath lain by man,

and they found among the inhabitants of Jabish Gilead

400 young virgins that had not known man

by lying with any male,

and they brought them onto the camp of Shiloh,

which is in the land of Cate, oh, how convenient.

You're just gonna kill them all, but save the virgins though.

That's the right thing to do, you know?

And the whole congregation sent some

to speak to the children of Benjamin

that were in the rock remnant

and to call peaceably unto them,

and Benjamin came out again at that time

and they gave them wives which they had saved alive

of the women of Jabish Gilead,

and yet so they suffice them not,

and the people repented for Benjamin

because the Lord had made a breach

and the tribes of Israel, no, you made a breach.

Israel, you're the one who failed in the past.

And look, folks, I'm not here

to hang your past over your head.

We've all made mistakes in the past.

We've all had failures of the past,

and our failures should motivate us to do better, right?

We should live in the past.

We've been forgiven of that.

It's under the blood.

We've confessed it before the Lord.

We've corrected our ways.

If that's you, that's great.

But hold on a second.

Don't go on and be a Pharisee, a self-righteous individual

asserting that someone else has to hold

to that same standard just because

you made that mistake in the past, okay?

Because here's the thing, folks,

your temptation may not be someone else's temptation.

That's just the bottom line, you know?

Whatever doors you open in the past,

you know, someone else, I'm not saying

that it's right for someone to do the same thing.

I'm just saying, they may not be tempted with that.

They may not be tempted with the sins

that you're tempted with, okay?

Kids who grew up in church are probably not gonna

have the same temptations of those of us

who got saved later on in life.

You know, their temptation is to steal cookies

from the cookies, I don't know, you know?

And so we need to recognize

that people overcompensate over past failures.

And this is dangerous because, you know,

I think of like being in an old IFB church

and obviously like in the old IFB,

they would have this practice, you know,

sometimes on Sunday morning, mostly Sunday night,

where it's, or during conferences, for example,

where like a pastor would preach, you know,

just some sermon on getting right with God

or surrendering your life to the Lord.

And, you know, they would have people

come down to the altar after the service.

How many of you know what I'm talking about?

Okay, how many of you have seen that?

And what they do is like, you know,

at the end of the service is like, you know,

oh, if you have made a decision,

if God's talking to you, you know,

come down to this old fashioned altar

and make that decision.

So like, you know, the people would come

and they would kneel, like if this were to happen here,

like, you know, Adrian would kneel like right here,

you know, Kelly would be right here.

And then they'd just be like, you know,

repenting of their sin and surrendering their life

or whatever.

And obviously, you know, it's not a biblical practice.

I did it, I know, it's crazy.

Before I became new IFB, it was just a practice

of the old IFB, you know, I,

there's many times that I got right with God

during those instances, those events or whatever.

But let me just say this though, you know,

there's people who go down to the altar

and they just go overboard.

Why?

Because of past failures.

You say, what do you mean?

Well, sometimes, you know, you have a pastor

just preach hard on sin.

And I remember this, you know, just preaching hard on sin.

They're preaching hard against pornography, right?

They're preaching hard against fornication.

Kyla, don't get up anymore.

Sit down and don't move again.

This is my daughter, so don't worry about it.

Mom's not here, so I gotta watch over the kids.

You know, preach hard against fornication.

You know, preach hard against pornography.

And then, you know, you'll have these guys

and praise God that they're getting that right.

Because you shouldn't be watching pornography.

Shouldn't be a gooner, okay?

It's embarrassing, you know?

If you're a gooner, you ought to be embarrassed.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, okay?

Because you're a Christian and, you know,

you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within you.

You're a grown man participating in those acts.

You know, you ought to know how to possess

your vessel and sanctification and honor, amen?

But that's a sermon for another day.

But, you know, they would preach against that

and then they would come.

And because, you know, they failed horribly in that area.

Right?

They failed horribly in that area.

They would come to the altar and be like,

I'm gonna surrender to go to the mission field.

I'm gonna be a pastor.

And in your mind, you're like,

oh, isn't that, that's good, right?

No, it's not because they're not going to the mission field.

Revisit that same person a year later.

You'll realize that they didn't really mean that.

You say, what are they doing?

They're going overboard.

They feel so guilty over their sin

that they feel like, oh man,

I just have to like do the most crazy spiritual thing ever

and go start a church or something.

First of all, it's not gonna happen.

You know, you're not fooling God.

And yeah, you may be given a testimony.

Oh, so-and-so surrendered to be a pastor.

You know, yeah, I'm surrendered.

But it's because they, you know,

they had some sin, some failure in their life

and they feel like the pendulum has to swing

extremely to the opposite direction

in order to compensate for that failure.

You know, that's going overboard.

You don't have to be a pastor.

You don't have to be a missionary.

Just repent of your sin.

That's good enough.

Just clean up your life.

Good enough.

You know, and obviously we don't have an altar here,

but you know, when we pray or you pray

and you're getting right with God, just get it right.

Don't say, Lord, I'm just, I'm gonna be a pastor now.

I know what my calling is.

I'm gonna be a pastor.

I'm gonna be a man.

I'm gonna be a missionary.

How about you just take care of that sin first?

How about we just like clean that up first,

get right with God in that area first,

be conformed to the image of Christ first.

Don't go overboard.

Don't try to overcompensate.

Don't try to be over-righteous much

just because you've failed in the past, okay?

And look, folks, I'm not rubbing anybody's failures

in your face.

If you were a drunkard, if you were a vapor,

or I don't know what they call them now,

you know, someone who vapes, someone who smokes,

if you're a Coke addict or something

and you're like, oh man,

now I'm just gonna go all in.

Well, go all in to the Christian life

over an extended period of time.

Pace yourself, right?

Well, no, no, no, I'm gonna like read 10 chapters a day.

I'm just gonna go all in.

Yeah, but you might end up just burning out

and it might not even work.

So it's better to just pace yourself, you know,

if you're trying to be in this thing for the long haul.

Okay?

People overcompensate over past failures.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 20 and verse 25,

you don't have to turn there.

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter five.

It is a snare to the man who devoured that

which is holy and after vows to make inquiry.

Ecclesiastes five two says,

Be not rash with thy mouth

and let not thine heart be hasty

to utter anything before God,

for God is in heaven and thou upon the earth.

Therefore, let thy words be few, the Bible says.

You know, if God is moving you

to get right about a particular sin,

just get right about that particular sin and that's it.

Don't make a vow that you're gonna do

some crazy spiritual exploit,

that you're gonna win 20 people to the Lord this week

in order to compensate for that particular sin

that you've committed.

Just get that right.

And just do what's required of you in moderation.

Because look folks,

the volume of work that you do for the Lord

is not gonna make God like love you more or something like that.

It's just like I gotta earn the love of God.

I gotta earn the favor of the Lord.

Well, first of all,

the Bible says that we're accepted in the beloved.

So that's already taken care of, okay?

Like, you know, my kids,

my kids don't have to worry about me loving them more

or loving them less because of what they do.

I'm always gonna love them, my children.

Even if they disappoint me

or whether they do something extraordinary,

you know, my love will always be there.

You know what, the Lord as a saved person,

you know, the Lord will always love you.

You will always be accepted

in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

And so don't try to be like,

well, I just gotta make sure that I do all types of works.

I'll be all kinds of commands

and win all kinds of souls and read, you know,

tons of chapters in order to gain the favor of God.

You've already gained it through Christ.

But if you wanna start somewhere, start here.

Just get right.

Get that sin right.

And look folks, I can't emphasize enough

how important it is just to be transparent with God.

Like Lord, you know, I wanna smoke weed.

I don't wanna smoke weed.

I'm just giving that example.

I have no desire to smoke weed.

Okay, gotta make that clear.

Don't clip that.

Not trying to clip for him there.

But it would be funny if someone clipped that though.

You know, let's say weed is your temptation, right?

Which I don't even know if weed is even a thing

for people, maybe it still is.

I'm just using it as an illustration.

Like it's not sacrilegious to just tell the Lord,

like I'm tempted by marijuana, I wanna smoke weed

and I'm extremely tempted and I wanna do it

and I know that it's wrong and I need you

to help me to overcome that sin, okay?

And you don't have to tag at the end of that PS,

I'll be a missionary if you help me too.

Doesn't work that way.

Just Lord, just help me overcome it.

Cause I'm a pothead.

I'm a weedhead.

I like to get high, but I know that it's wrong

cause I'm a child of God and I need you to help me

control that appetite and get right in that area.

Just be sincere and transparent with the Lord.

You know, I'm not saying be irreverent,

but just be transparent, okay?

The point being here is that sometimes people go overboard

just because they failed in the past.

And again, you know, I got saved when I was 21 years,

when I was 21 years old, okay?

And you know, good and bad, it doesn't really matter,

but me raising six kids, Lord willing,

later on, seven, eight, nine or whatever,

as they grow up, I'm gonna have certain standards

for my kids when it comes to dating or whatever may be

because I remember me, you know what I mean?

I remember, like I got the street smarts right here.

So I remember, I'm gonna be like, okay,

I'm gonna set certain standards for my kids

knowing full well what's out there, okay?

There's nothing wrong with that.

What would be wrong is if I start imposing that upon you

or looking down on others

because they don't have those same standards.

Do I think it's wise to enact those principles

and those standards?

Of course, but do I think you're just a Godless person

if you don't?

Absolutely not, and it would be wrong

for you to think the same thing, okay?

Don't go overboard just because you failed in the past.

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter five.

Let's look at another example here.

In verse one, it says,

it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you

and such fornication as it's not so much

as name among the Gentiles

did once you have his father's wife.

Man, talk about drama.

This is gross.

There's fornication at the church at Corinth.

It's a guy basically committing fornication

with his stepmom, okay?

And the reason it's called fornication

and not adulterous because the implication here

is that dad, the father has passed away.

So she's been loosed from the law of her husband

which is why it's referring to it as fornication.

But it's weird, okay?

First of all, it's wrong because that's his stepmom.

Second of all, it's wrong because it's just fornication

and fornication is a sin that according to the Bible

merits excommunication from a church.

And here's the weird thing is that it's commonly reported.

What does it mean that it's commonly reported?

It means this section knows about it,

this section knows about it

and that section knows about it as well.

It's not a secret.

Everyone just kind of knows that's what they're doing, okay?

And it says in verse two,

and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned

the heed that have done this deed

might be taken away from among you, okay?

Now it could be that the stepmom is not part of the church.

It's just the guy who's a part of the church

but it's just commonly reported that this has taken place.

But according to this verse,

the church is so arrogant and prideful about it,

they're not like sad and they're like,

I can't believe this is taking place in church.

I can't believe we're just allowing this

and not disciplining this person.

They're prideful, puffed up means that they're prideful.

They're like, that's the kind of church we are though.

We actually love people here.

We actually care for people here.

We're not like that first works

and all these other new FB churches

that are just so hateful.

We actually love, what would Jesus do?

These types of people that are just puffed up,

they're arrogant, they're prideful, they're hyper spiritual

and they don't really,

revisit the sermon from this morning.

They don't have genuine love, okay?

And the apostle Paul is saying like,

this person needs to be taken away from among you.

He's not saying like, kill him.

He's saying he needs to be removed, okay?

And you know in verse three he says,

for I barely as absent in the body,

in body but present in spirit have judged already.

You know what this means?

There's certain situations we don't need to be present for

to know the conclusion of the matter.

Because the apostle Paul is just like,

I don't even need to be there.

I've already judged.

The guy just needs to be thrown out.

The guy needs to be removed.

And you know, of course he talks about

the destruction of the flesh.

Skip down to verse 11 if you would.

Of course he goes through the list of various sins

that can get you thrown out of churches.

But now I've written onto you not to keep company.

If any man that is called a brother

be a fornicator or a covetous

or an idolator or a railer

or a drunkard or extortioner

was such and one, know not to eat.

For what have I to do to judge them that are without?

Do not ye judge them that are within

but them that are without God judges.

Therefore, put away from among yourselves

that wicked person.

Now go to 2 Corinthians chapter seven.

So what do we have here?

The apostle Paul is saying like,

you guys are so arrogant and prideful

you're not removing this person.

You're thinking like you're doing God a service.

You're thinking you're just so spiritual.

You're thinking you're so righteous

by keeping this person here.

God's not pleased with this.

You're allowing 11 into the church

and a little 11, 11 at the whole lump.

You're destroying the church

by allowing this unrepentant sinner

to remain in the house of God.

And he's coming down on them hard.

And based upon this passage in the previous chapter,

in chapter four, it sounds like the church of corn

they're just filled with arrogant and prideful people.

Because he talks about he's like,

you're puffed up and you're acting like

if I come here, you're not gonna do anything about it.

Cause they're just kind of like,

yeah, come down here.

See, what are you gonna do?

That's like prideful, arrogant

cause the apostle Paul was the one responsible

for starting that church.

He's the leader, okay?

So you have this problem with this guy, right?

Apostle Paul brings down the hammer.

He rips them up.

He's preaching against them.

He is verbally chastising them, so to speak.

Well, by the time we get to second Corinthians,

it sounds like the guy's been removed.

So they came to their senses.

They're like, you know what, this is wrong.

It is kind of weird, actually,

not that I think about it.

It's wrong cause it's a fornication.

This is not right.

We need to throw this guy out.

And they end up excommunicating the guy out of the church.

So they throw him out,

but the tone of second Corinthians

seems to indicate that he got right.

Meaning that he repented of that sin, okay?

He broke up with his stepmom or whatever, you know?

Ah, you know, it's just like weird.

But he got right, okay?

He got right.

The problem is, the Corinthian church,

they weren't bringing him back into the fold.

So it seems as though he not only repented of that sin,

but wanted to be reinstated into his local

New Testament church, which is the Corinthian church.

And they would not allow him to come in.

Why?

Because they're overdoing it.

They're going overboard in their judgment

because of their past failure of not throwing the guy out.

Okay, look at 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10.

2 Corinthians 7:10

For Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation,

not to be repented of,

but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

For behold, this else same thing,

that ye sorrowed after a godly sort,

what carefulness it wrought in you,

ye will clearing of yourselves,

ye will indignation,

ye would fear,

ye will vehement desire,

ye will zeal,

ye will revenge.

And all these things you have approved yourselves

to be clear in this matter.

So the Apostle Paul was praising him.

He's like, man, you guys repented hardcore about this.

Like you got it right,

it made you zealous,

you cleared yourself,

you threw the guy out,

you did the right thing,

and now you are clear in this matter.

You're no longer guilty of housing

and unrepentant fornication in the church.

Good job.

Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, verse 12,

I did it not for his cause that had done this wrong,

nor for his cause that suffered wrong,

but that our care for you in the sight of God

might appear unto you.

Go back to chapter two of 2 Corinthians,

chapter two.

So he's like, you know,

you get brownie points.

Great job.

But they're going overboard

because they're not welcoming him.

They're not welcoming him back into the fold,

even though he's repentant.

So what should have they have done?

They should have forgiven him

and welcomed him and reinstated him back into the fold.

And in fact, look at what it says in verse five

of 2 Corinthians two,

but if any have caused grief,

he hath not grieved me,

but in part that I may not overcharge you all.

Sufficient to such a man is this punishment,

which was inflicted of many.

So it seems to indicate that like a lot of people

are just getting on this guy.

He's a fornicator, he's unwilling to repent.

And I don't think they're like afflicting him.

I think they're just afflicting him,

like they're separating him from their company.

They are condemning what he's doing.

They're doing what they're supposed to do, right?

They're shaming that sin, which is good.

He says in verse seven,

so that contrary wise,

ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him,

lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up over,

with over, excuse me,

swallowed up with over much sorrow.

Wherefore I beseech you

that you would confirm your love toward him,

for to this end also did I write

that I might know the proof of you,

whether you be obedient in all things.

So it's like you're obedient in that first part,

I wanna see if you're obedient in the second part.

You should forgive this guy, okay?

Verse 10, to whom ye forgive anything,

I forgive also.

For if I forgive anything,

to whom I forgave it,

for your six forgave I in the person of Christ.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us,

for we're not ignorant of his devices.

Meaning that Satan, he's very cunning,

so he's gonna try to get you

to keep the fornicator in church,

unrepentant.

But once you've thrown him out,

he's gonna try to keep him from coming back in,

even though he repented.

He's always seeking to do the complete opposite

and try to manipulate the church

to do the complete opposite, okay?

The church at Corinth is going overboard,

they're overcompensating for their past failure.

Now let me just say this,

we've thrown the people out of our church

because of unrepentant sin.

If you don't like that,

then there's other churches you can visit

where they just keep everybody, okay?

And you can allow the leaven to come into the church

and just destroy the church,

that's not this church.

I will say this though,

and obviously there's people who've come back,

they've repented,

they've come back to the fold

and we live happily ever after, right?

However, I will say that there are instances

where a person has created such an offense

in the church,

they get excommunicated,

and then they want to get right

and I'll forgive them.

I'll say, yeah, you're forgiven,

but I do not want you to come back to this church

because I feel like people have burned their bridges so bad

they've completely destroyed relationships

that they should not be coming to this church.

Now I'm not saying they can't go to any church

because they can go to any church they want

except for this one.

Now that doesn't happen very often

but I do believe pastors have the right

to make that decision.

I believe that there are instances

where people have just destroyed the relationships

in the church to such a degree

it would be unwise to allow them to come back to our church.

We say, well, how do you fit that with 2nd Corinthians 7?

Here's how I fit it.

Go to the church of Galatia.

Go to the church of Ephesus.

Go to the Colossian church.

Go start over at a different church

because let me remind you,

when someone gets excommunicated from a church,

they're not allowed to go to any church.

I mean, that's how it should be, okay?

And we've had people who have been excommunicated

from our church, they've been thrown out from our church

and then they want to get reinstated

but hold on a second, while in excommunication

they were going to different churches.

You know what that tells me?

They're completely undermining the authority of this church.

So they were fine going to other

fundamental Baptist churches and just being there

and being part of that fold

and then once they get tired of that preaching,

once they get tired of the sermon,

they're like, okay, now I can repent

because I want the good preaching now or whatever.

No, you can't come back

because you don't even respect the authority here.

You didn't respect the excommunication.

You didn't respect the discipline.

So no, you can't come back.

Go back to the other church.

Point being here is that people

will sometimes overcompensate.

Now, let me just say this is that,

if you failed in the past,

you know, prior BC, prior to Christ

or even as a Christian,

there's nothing wrong with kind of overdoing it

to a certain degree.

God wants you to become zealous for the things of God

just as you were zealous for the things of the world.

I speak after the manner of man

because of the infirmity of your flesh, the Bible says,

for as ye have yielded your members,

servants to uncleanness and to uncleanness,

even so now, you yourself serve to righteousness

and to holiness.

Basically saying like, hey,

just as you were all in for the world,

now that you're a Christian,

now that you're in church,

be all in for the things of God for sure.

Go all in.

You should be excited about the things of God,

like you're excited about the things of the world,

in other words.

Go to Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

So Christians go overboard because of past failures.

And what you need to do is just get that right,

confess it before the Lord

and not hold some unreasonable standard for other people.

If you want to keep that standard for yourself,

so be it.

But don't necessarily impose it upon others, okay?

Point number two is that Christians go overboard

when covering their current sin.

Now in the previous point,

it was past failures,

which is why people overcompensate,

they kind of go overboard.

But there are also instances where people go overboard

because they're trying to deter attention

from the fact that they're currently committing

some sort of sin.

And this happens as well.

They're just super righteous,

super holy, very condemning.

They're just hyper spiritual,

but it's only because they're committing

some crevice sins in the current moment.

And that is a major thing.

It's like they just become these major Pharisees,

just holier than nows.

Why is it because they really

just love holiness and righteousness?

No, it's probably because they're committing

a sin themselves in this particular time

and they're trying to deter attention

from that sin that they're committing.

Now let me give you an example here.

Genesis 38 is one of the most random stories

in the Bible, okay?

Now we're not gonna read the entire story.

You could read it as a bedtime story for yourself

if you'd like, just because I don't have that much time.

I'll give you a synopsis, okay?

You know, you basically have Ur and Onan, all right?

If you read the Bible, you know, all right?

You know, these guys were wicked before the Lord,

they were smitten before the Lord,

and of course, one of them spilled their seed

on the ground because they didn't want to raise up,

you know, children unto his brother, okay?

It's really weird, right?

Well, look at verse 11.

It says, then said Judah to Tamar, his daughter-in-law,

remain a widow at thy father's house

till she loved my son be grown,

for he said, let's pray adventure, he die also,

as his brethren did, and Tamar went

and dwelled in her father's house.

So he's basically saying like, hey, you know,

I know my sons were wicked and they died,

but you know, just stay a widow,

and once my other son grows up, he's of age,

he can marry you, raise up seed unto his brother,

and so forth.

And so she obeys, Tamar obeys.

Verse 12 says, and in the process of time,

the daughter of Shua Judah's wife died,

and Judah was comforted and went up

unto his sheep shears in Timnath,

he and his friends, Hyra, the Adulamite.

And it was told, Tamar saying, behold, thy father-in-law,

goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

And she put her widow's garment off from her

and covered her with the veil,

and wrapped herself and sat in an open place,

which is by the way of Timnath, to Timnath,

for she saw that Sheila was grown

and she was not given unto him to wife.

Now this is weird, okay?

So basically he's just like, hey, I've waited,

Sheila's grown now, and Judah is like refusing,

he's not giving me to be his wife, why is this?

Like why is he like procrastinating?

Why is he following through on his promise?

So she conspires to do this really weird thing, okay?

You know, basically what the garments that she's putting on

is basically the garment of a prostitute.

She acted like a whore, okay?

This is how they dress.

Verse 15 says, when Judah saw her,

he thought her to be a harlot,

because she had covered her face.

It's crazy how culture has shifted now, huh?

Like being a harlot of those that covered the face,

now being a harlot of those that you don't cover anything.

It says in verse 16, and he turned unto her, by the way,

and said, go to I pray thee, let me come in unto thee,

for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.

And she said, what wilt thou give me

that thou mayest come in unto me?

And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock.

And she said, wilt thou give me a pledge

till thou send it?

He said, what pledge shall I give thee?

She said, thy signet, and thy bracelets,

and thy staff that is in thine hand.

And he gave it her, and came in unto her,

and she conceived by him.

So basically, he hires her as a prostitute.

So he basically commits fornication

with his daughter-in-law, an extremely wicked sin.

Obviously, she's wicked for even conspiring to do this,

but he's also wicked for just going around with prostitutes.

Look at verse 19, and she arose, went away,

laid by her veil from her,

and put on the garments of a widowhood.

And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend,

the Adulamite, to receive his pledge

from the woman's hand, and he found her not.

So it was just like, hey, I need you to find this prostitute

that I offer, you know, she gave me her services,

take this cattle and give it to her

because that's her payment or whatever.

But he's like, well, I don't see her.

Okay, she's not there.

Verse 20 says, and Judah sent the kid

by the hand of the friend, or verse 21, excuse me,

then he asked the man of that place saying,

where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside?

And they said, there was no harlot in this place.

Kind of an embarrassing question there.

They're like, there is no harlot here.

Why are you looking for a harlot?

And he's just like, oh, just kidding.

I'm just seeing, I'm just checking on you guys.

It was a test, it was a test.

And he returned to Judah and said, I cannot find her.

And also the man of the place said

that there was no harlot in this place.

And Judah said, let her take it to her

lest we be shamed.

Behold, I sent this kid and now has now found her.

And it came to pass about three months after

that it was told Judah saying,

Tamar, thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot.

And also behold, she is with child by hordom.

And Judah said, bring her forth and let her be burnt.

So he's just like, hey, I just want to let you know

your daughter-in-law is pregnant.

And she's not married, so she's obviously playing the whore.

She's, you know, you know, being a whore,

she got pregnant and he's just like, burn her.

What is he doing?

He's going overboard.

He's overcompensating.

Bro, you're the dad.

Put in on Mori Povic, you know what I mean?

And he would be 100% guilty.

You are, Judah, you are the father.

Ah, you know, the camera's like following him and everything.

When she was brought forth,

she sent her father-in-law saying, you know,

okay, so, you know, we don't agree with Tamar.

Tamar is wicked for doing this,

but she got him really good though.

Because what does she say?

She says, you know, okay, I'll take the kid,

but you know, give me a down payment.

What do you want?

Your rings and your staff, okay?

So she disappears, but she keeps those possessions.

So he's like, bring her forth and she comes forth

and she's confident and she's not worried about it at all,

right?

And verse 25 says, when she was brought forth,

she sent her father-in-law saying,

by the man whose these are, am I with child?

And she said, discern I pray thee,

whose are these, the signet, bracelets, and staff?

Now imagine how flush Judah was at that point

when he saw it, he's like, oh crap, you know.

Judah acknowledged him and said,

she has been more righteous than I.

Yeah, you think?

You know, anybody at this point

is more righteous than you, bro.

You're like hiding the sin, you're fornicating,

and then you're trying to burn your daughter-in-law

for playing the whore because she's caught,

but you were also a whore.

You're a whore monger according to the Bible, okay?

Because then I gave her not to Sheila, my son,

and he knew her again no more.

Yeah, good for you, Judah, you know.

What do we see here?

We see that sometimes people go overboard

because they have some sin in their life, okay?

And this is what we see in Matthew chapter seven, right?

Matthew chapter seven,

people who are trying to take the moe out of their brother's eye

all the while having a beam in their own eye.

That's what's called hypocritical judging.

When you're just like, oh, you need to get this right,

you need to correct this area,

while they got a redwood tree sticking out of their own eye.

And look, the Bible doesn't condemn judging.

The Bible says to judge righteous judgment.

And what is righteous judgment?

Judging others for sins that you yourself

are not committing.

It's not that hard too, by the way.

Just don't do the stuff that people are doing,

and you can judge that sin according to the Bible.

But if you're judging someone for a particular sin

while you yourself are committing that sin,

or you're just living a godless life,

you're obviously overcompensating

you're a wicked person according to the Bible.

It's not right for you to do.

Now, what's another example of this?

Well, probably one of the most famous examples is David.

David, murdering Uriah,

committing adultery with Bathsheba.

Nathan comes to David,

and he tells him this little illustration,

gives him this little Israeli proverb, right?

This little Judean proverb here

of a man with his Ulam,

and then the guy takes the Ulam, and they eat it,

the guy who's rich takes it,

and then the guy's where they say,

it grew up with them as a daughter,

and then David's just like, that guy needs to be killed.

He needs to be put to death.

And he's just like, well, first of all,

people aren't put to death for stealing animals.

That's not part of the Mosaic law.

He's to restore that back unto him, right?

But the death penalty is not instituted.

Oh, and by the way, thou art the man.

You know, obviously the illustration was given to him

in order to demonstrate the fact that

King David was the one who took the Ulam,

which is Bathsheba.

But what did we see with David?

He's just overcompensating

because he's guilty of a particular sin, okay?

Now look, don't think that because people

are judging sins in our church or something,

oh, they must have some sinned, you know?

That's not necessarily the case.

I'm just saying that is the case sometimes

where you have people, and you know,

and I remember just a couple of years ago,

guys coming to me like, what do you think about parents

having TVs in their houses?

I mean, I just feel like it wouldn't be right

to have TVs in the house, but then these same guys

were like guilty of greater sins.

What are they doing?

They're overcompensating.

They are overdoing it, going overboard,

and just trying to turn attention away from the fact

that they're committing a grievous sin

according to the Bible, okay?

Go to 2 Samuel.

Actually, go to John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Here's my two last points.

I'm gonna review this over on my third one,

and this is that Christians go overboard

because they have an inferiority complex.

Sometimes people just go overboard

just because they feel like they need to portray themselves

to be something that they're not,

and I feel like, you know, this was very common

back in the day, you know, when I was growing up

with my friends, they used to talk about

like the short man syndrome, right?

Where if you had like a really small guy,

you know, and he was tiny, he was short,

and I'm not against short people.

Hey, I'm not short, I mean, I'm not tall.

I'm very short, you know, I'm average height,

but most, you know, I'm not six foot one

or whatever, six foot two, you know,

and when I grew up with my friends,

I was the shortest one out of all my friends.

You know, they were all taller than me,

but I remember when there would be these guys

who were just really skinny or just really short,

they would overcompensate by purchasing very large things.

You know, you have this really small guy

who just buy this massive truck or something, right?

Or just, you know, just everything that they had

was just very large, and it's just like, you know,

it sounds like you're overcompensating there.

And here's the thing, folks, is that

we need to make sure that as Christians,

you know, we don't develop this inferiority complex.

We're accepted in the beloved,

we're fearfully and wonderfully made,

and if it feel like you're lacking

in a certain area in your Christian life,

just allow God to make up the difference, right?

Allow God to make up the difference.

You're like, I'm not good looking.

We know, but hey.

It's okay, though.

It's okay, you know.

If you are an ugly person,

if you are, you know,

if you have certain deficiencies in your life,

you're not gifted,

if you feel like you don't have the talents, that's okay.

Then why don't you go ahead and cry out to God

and have him use you and to make up the difference,

because you know what?

Your deficiencies make you a candidate

for giving more glory to God, okay?

That's how it needs to be viewed.

Now I'm like, oh man,

I just need to make up for this in other ways

and just be super rich or something

just to make up because I just, you know,

I'm chocked or something,

or I'm just so ugly,

or I just lack in these areas.

You know, we're Christians, we're believers,

we believe in the word of God,

we're not into vanity,

we're not into things that are temporal of this world.

We need to recognize that the greatest thing

that we possess is God in us, the hope of glory.

Christ in us, the hope of glory, right?

And look at the apostle Paul.

According to the Bible,

it seems as though the apostle Paul

was just kind of like a regular guy.

He wasn't necessarily, you know,

the most visibly impressive person,

yet he did more than all the apostles,

yet not I, but the grace of God that was with him, right?

And so Christians can often go overboard

because they have an inferiority complex,

but what they need to do is do this.

I must decrease that he may increase, right?

Glorify God and recognize that, you know,

it's good to have certain deficiencies

because it humbles you, right?

So that you're not proud and arrogant

and you would rely upon the Lord that much more.

Lastly, is that Christians can go overboard

just because they're wicked.

Sometimes there's just people who are just evil

and wicked, I'll just be honest with you.

And when I say Christians,

I'm using that term very loosely in this point

because this often applies to people

who are false prophets, it applies to unsafe people.

They will often go overboard in order to deter attention

away from the fact that they're actually evil, wicked people.

Look at John chapter 12 and verse one.

John 12 · chapter mention

Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany

where Lazarus was, which had been dead,

whom he had raised from the dead.

There they made him a supper and Martha served,

but Lazarus was one of them

that sat at the table with him.

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikennard,

very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus

and wiped his feet with her hair

and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.

Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,

Simon's son, which should betray him

in case you guys didn't know who that was.

Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pens

and given to the poor?

It's like, wow, I didn't think about that.

Such a spiritual thing to say, right?

He's just like, hey, what are we doing?

This could have been given,

we could have built a well with this.

We could have done something for the poor

in this regard and just wasted here.

Oh man, so spiritual, right?

You're just so spiritual,

why wasn't this sold to feed the poor

and clothe the poor instead of putting all this money in

to doing all this and wasting it away?

We could have done something significant with this

for the poor.

Verse six, this he said, not that he cared for the poor.

Bro, did not care for the poor.

He does not care for the poor.

But because he was a thief and had the bag

and Barrow was put there in.

So it's not like he just was so genuine, sincere.

You know, he's just so genuine, sincere.

Why are you guys wasting this?

I look at the poor person out there

and I just wanna,

we could have bought so many meals

and so many fishes and loaves.

Bro, you're a thief.

You're just saying that because you wanna keep the money.

It's like, you know,

when we threw out the transformer,

the tranny from our church,

a lot of people were like,

why didn't you invite him in?

Why didn't you like welcome him?

Why didn't you teach him?

And this is what I said,

why don't you give me the address to your church

and I'll send them over there.

I even made a video.

I even said, hey,

if you're condemning me for what I did,

I got a great idea.

Send me your address

and I'll make a video promoting your church

to send all the transformers right over there

because you're so loving.

Not a single bite.

That's interesting.

So many people condemning me for this.

So many, oh, I just don't understand

why you would do something like,

we need to show them the love of God.

Yeah, show me how it's done then.

Show me.

Send me the address.

That's not the point.

No, that is the point.

And that's literally like,

well, that's like, you're missing the point.

Oh, I'm not missing the point.

If you're a better Christian than me,

if you're just more loving than me,

if you're just more gracious than me,

then why should I bring them to my church?

I could just send them right over to you.

And in fact, I have such a large following.

I could just make a video,

get hundreds of thousands of views

to promote all the trannies to go there.

Not a single one.

No one, no one DM me.

No one put an address in the comment section.

You know why?

Because they're disgusted with trannies too.

That's why.

They're like, dang.

I don't know.

I don't want that.

You know why they were saying that?

Because they themselves are probably trannies.

They are spiritual trannies.

They're just wicked people who are trying to do too much.

They're going overboard

because they want people to think

that they're just so loving, so spiritual, so godly.

No, you are a hypocrite.

At least I'm real about it though.

At least I'm real about what I say.

When I tell you, they're not welcome here.

Guess what?

And they will never be welcome here.

At least I'm being genuine about it.

I'm not saying, well, I love them,

but they're just not welcome.

No, I don't love them.

Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.

I'm not like, well, I love them.

We just can't really have them here.

No, they can't be here at all.

I got no love for them.

At least I'm being genuine with you though.

Not like these other guys are like,

oh, we should show them the love of God,

but then they don't show them the love of God.

At least, if you're gonna walk the walk,

if you're gonna talk the talk, walk the walk.

I'm talking the talk and I'm walking the walk.

But what is this?

It's showing you people go overboard

because they're actually wicked.

They speak the spiritual talk only because of the fact

that they're actually evil, wicked people.

They are like Judas Iscariot.

They're the thief.

They hold the bag.

They don't care for the poor.

Oh, instead of these churches

just spending all this money

and why don't you actually do something with it?

Oh, send me your paycheck

and I'll utilize that to go buy a well.

Guarantee you no one will do anything about that.

It's only people who are these

hyper-spiritual individuals who are super evil, super wicked.

They wanna condemn the righteous,

but at the end of the day,

they themselves are evil individuals.

While they promise them liberty, the Bible says,

they themselves are the servants of corruption.

Second Peter chapter two verse 19.

What's the point here?

The point is this, folks, moderation.

Moderation.

Be a righteous person,

but you don't gotta go overboard.

Just incrementally become a righteous individual.

You don't have to tell me you're righteous.

You don't gotta act righteous around me.

Just be yourself.

And if yourself is a little righteous and a little carnal,

I'd rather take that

than the person who's acting righteous

but they're all carnal.

They're just a fake, they're just a phony.

They're just playing the part.

Just be real with me.

You don't have to act like you're super righteous.

Hey, if you grew up in a Christian home,

you don't gotta be a fake around me

if you are a little carnal.

Just be genuine.

Go in the right direction.

Be a sanctified person.

Go in the,

make sure that you are conforming to the image of Christ,

but don't be a fake and a phony.

Be genuine.

Don't go overboard.

Have a balance.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for your word.

And I pray that, Lord, you'd bless us as your people.

Help us to be sincere.

That is basically the theme of today's sermons

is sincerity.

Being genuine, help us, Lord,

as your people to be pure in that area, Lord.

To have genuine love, not dissimulated love

and help us not to go overboard on some things, Lord.

It's good to be righteous.

And on the scale of righteousness,

may we lean more towards being righteous than wicked.

Of course, that's the goal.

But I pray that you'd help us to just avoid being a hypocrite.

Avoid just being a fake and a phony, Lord,

just because we want to impress others.

Help us to be real, Lord.

And I pray that you would conform us to the image of Christ.

Lord, help us to forget those things which are behind.

If we've had failures in the past,

it's good that maybe we integrate standards

into our personal lives

so that we don't give in to past sins,

but we not impose it upon others

and think that we're better than someone else

just because they don't have that same standard.

And I pray that, Lord,

if there's someone here who has unrepentant sin

that haven't gotten right with God,

may you help them to get right

and work in their hearts, Lord, to repent of that sin

so they can be vessels unto honor

and meet for the master's use.

And I pray you bless us as we go on our way.

We love you.

We thank you.

Pray these things in Jesus' name amen.