Grow In Correction | January 11, 2026 PM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

I've mentioned you before that I was a Christian School teacher

for seven years. It was not a job that I was

looking for in any stretch whatsoever.

I was told about a week before I the first school year that I was

at Westgate, the principal called me to his office.

He said, hey, I just want you to know you'll be teaching a Bible

for 8th graders. And I think he gave me one other

class as well by particular member, the 8th grade class,

because there were 36 eighth graders in that class and I had

no teaching degree. I had no teaching classes.

I had nothing like that whatsoever.

It already had a pretty busy plate as it was being there as

an intern at the church for the two years that I thought we were

going to be there. That turned into being seven

years. And so I was excited in some

ways to be able to teach Bible, all those eager young people.

After all, it's a Christian School and they all love Jesus

and they all want to do right. And I've been into the same

Christian School before. So I knew that wasn't the case

because I was one of those students a few years before.

But I'll tell you, it ate my lunch in so many different ways.

It was, it was difficult. Those students, they could smell

fear. They knew that I didn't know

what I was doing. And it got bad really, really

quick. But I'll tell you one of the

things that really took up so much time as a teacher.

And I added more classes as years went on to just teach

Bible. I end up teaching English as

well, 7th grade math. Which I still feel like some of

the parents should have gotten their tuition money back, a

refund off of me teaching their kids math all things considered.

But one of the things that took up more time, way more time than

I thought it would, would be grading papers.

Correcting papers, if you will. Every week in Bible we had a

memory verse. And so we had to be able to

correct the memory verse, what 36 students?

And I had to correct 36 verses and all that.

So I did what many other teachers did is I had the

students correct their own papers.

You say, well, wouldn't they cheat?

Well, you had to find ways to make sure that you watch over

what they're doing to make sure that they're doing right.

But after the quiz was done, you'd say pass the paper to your

left or pass the paper to your right or pass the paper, the

person behind you. And then they would correct the

paper. And this is what we would tell

people to do is what I tell students to do.

But, you know, I came to find out through some Bible study,

oddly enough. But the idea of what I was doing

was not actually correcting the papers.

I was really reproving the papers.

Say, pastor, what are you talking about?

Well, the idea of correcting the paper would mean that if I had

the paper in front of me, let's say I was the one that was

correcting it, that I wasn't just putting an X next to it,

but I was also crossing out what they've done wrong and put the

right answer in its place. I don't have the time to be able

to do that. I just told them what was wrong

and they had to figure out what was right on their own.

You know, a lot of times when it comes to the issue of the word

of God, we often think about being told we're doing wrong,

right? I mean, that feels like, what,

half of what it is being independent Baptist, right?

The pastor gets up in the pulp and tells you all the things

you're doing wrong, right? And there is an element to that.

However, there's more to the Christian life than just being

reproved, than being just told you're wrong.

In fact, I have found that there's a decent amount of

people, particularly they're used to being in an independent

Baptist Church, that have no problem being told that they're

sinners. Because guess what?

Most of us understand we're sinners, but it really comes

down to the issue of people not really wanting to make the

correction that's needed, not understanding the difference

between reproof and correction. A lot of people don't mind being

told they're wrong as long as they don't have to do what it

takes to get it right. And you know, it's one thing to

be told you're wrong and to agree, but it's not something

completely different to be able to say, you know what, I need to

get right with the Lord. I need to do right.

I need to be corrected. And Bible preaching, Bible

teaching, Bible study isn't just about reproof.

Here's where you're wrong. But it's also correction, being

told how to get right and be right in the things of God.

All right, we're in Second Timothy chapter #3 and we're

going to go ahead and read beginning in verse #13 it says,

but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving

and being deceived. That was true 2000 years ago.

How true is it today? How true is it today?

How bad things are in the world, and how evil men and seducers

are waxing. They are growing worse and

worse. But continue thou, despite what

Paul just said. Continue thou in the things

which thou has learned, and which thou has been assured of

knowing of whom thou has learned them, and it from a child.

Thou has known the Holy Scriptures which are able to

make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ

Jesus. All scripture is given by

inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished

unto all good works. I realized didn't have you all

stand up tonight, but that's okay.

We still give reference to the Word of God tonight nonetheless.

But I really want us to look at those 4 words that are found in

verse #16 particularly the one correction, but doctrine,

reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness.

Those 4 terms, if you will. But particularly I want us to

look at the issue of needing to grow in correction.

So why don't we go ahead and pray?

We'll ask the Lord to bless the message this evening.

Heavenly Father, do thank you for this night, and I thank you

for your word. I do pray to just help us as we

look at this issue tonight, to be people who are willing to be

corrected. Lord, we need to know what's

right. We need to know what's wrong.

We need to know how to get right.

We need to stay right. Lord, these are parts of the

Christian life. When it comes to this issue of

correction, I think sometimes we've got it all backwards.

So we've got it wrong as being told what's wrong is not

correction. There's so much more and I pray

to help us to learn that this evening and be willing to

receive it within our own lives. Thank you again for your word.

And we ask this all in Jesus name, Amen.

As we saw verse #13 the Bible tells us that the world is

getting worse and it's getting worser and worser today.

There's no doubt about that. And So what is the remedy for

that? What are we supposed to do in

the face of an ever wicked world?

Well it says in verse #14 you need to continue despite

everything telling you to stop, despite everything telling you

to not go to church, despite everything telling you to not

read your Bible, to fight everything that says don't stand

for the Lord. It says this.

But remember, we saw this morning that conjunction BUT

meaning that there was something going this way.

But now we're going this direction.

The world is getting evil. But guess what?

You continue. Continue in what?

Well, it says to continue in the things which thou has learned

and which thou has been assured of knowing of whom thou has

learned them. Well, who was the one that had

taught them the things that were good and the things that were

right? Well, that was none other than

Paul. Paul had taught Timothy the

things that were good and right. That Paul had been a mentor.

Paul had been a father in the faith, if you will.

Now he had a mother and a grandmother.

Lois and Eunice. You find them at the beginning

of the book who had taught him up in the Scriptures.

In fact, they're really referenced here when it says

from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures.

Paul was just building upon the biblical foundation of which

Timothy's mother and grandmother had already built, but

nonetheless he had taught them good doctrine.

He says this in the face of the world where everything is going

haywire. Listen, continue in the things

you've been taught. And if that's true, then it's

true today as everything seems like it's spinning office access

out in the world today. There's more of a need for us to

continue in the things that are good and right.

There's more of a need for us to go to church than there was

before. There's more of a need for us to

live holy lives. There's more of a need for us to

reach our family members, our loved ones for Christ.

It's more important than it was last year and it's more

important than it was the year before and it's going to be more

important every year until Jesus Christ comes back.

Don't let up. Continue in the things that

you've been taught and it's it says from a child thou has known

as I just mentioned, the Holy Scriptures which are able to

make the wise unto salvation. Listen.

Where would we be it comes to salvation without the

Scriptures. Brother Monday mentioned this

this morning as he was reading for the worship and then

praying. How do we learn of salvation

without the Scriptures that we understand?

It's the Scriptures that make us wise to salvation.

How shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans chapter #10 that we need to give the scriptures to the

people who around us. Why do we have tracks?

Well, what's on the tracks? Is it just a personal message

from the pastor? It was just a hey, howdy, I'm

Pastor Rivera. Why don't you come over to the

church and we'll, you know, gather around and sing kumbaya.

Well, our tracks don't say that. You know what?

Our tracks have a lot of scripture because we want people

to be confronted with the fact that they're sinners and that

they need a savior and that Jesus Christ is the only way to

salvation. And the Word of God is given in

printed form to be able to hand out to different places.

Why do we have a Facebook page? Why do we have videos that we

put out? Why do we do those things?

It's so we can sell, promote, and be the biggest church in

Easton or the biggest church in Massachusetts.

No, it's because we want as many people as possible and as many

avenues as possible to hear the word of God.

That's why it's podcast form and it's on YouTube and it's on

Facebook and it's on Instagram. If I could ever figure out Tick

Tock, we would do Tick Tock too. Why?

Because I want to be like a, you know, a 16 year old girl on

TikTok. No, well, because that's where

people are. And because they need to hear

the gospel there too. They need to hear truth.

Because wherever we can find people in a place where it's

ethical for us to be at and good for us to be at, well, we need

to be giving them the Word of God.

And so it says it's able to make the wise and the salvation

through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

And then we get to verses #16 and 17, which are some primary

verses that teach us about the authority of Scripture.

Remember, we believe that the Word of God is our authority in

faith and practice. It is the authority.

I don't even often say it's the final authority because it makes

it sound like there are other authorities.

No, it is the authority of our life.

It is our authority of faith and practice, the Word of God.

I was talking to that a couple today and I was able to talk

about some of the differences between being a Baptist and

being a Catholic. And I said one of the wonderful

differences about being a Baptist is that we look at the

Word of God. We believe the Word of God from

covered to cover. You don't have to wonder who

says what else that could be in line with the Bible.

The priest said this, or the father said this, or the Pope

said this or the Church father said this or the encyclicals

that came from these different types of organizations and the

Catholic Church said this. No, no, we know that it's just

the Scriptures and the scriptures alone.

We don't seek any other doctrine.

We seek no other way. That when I speak, I am not

speaking Scripture myself. You say, pastor, why would you

say something that there are groups that think that people

will just have revelations in and of themselves that are on

par with the Scripture. Listen, don't just walk away

from those people, run away from those people.

Listen, it's the Word of God and the Word of God alone that will

have the authority in your life. And it says all Scripture is

given by inspiration of God being this.

Paul was writing it, but he wasn't really writing it.

Paul was the penman. We would say Paul was the one

who was holding the pen. Paul was the one who was

writing, but at the same time he was writing what the Holy Spirit

wanted him to write. So when we read what he says in

Second Timothy chapter #3 or whether we're in Zephaniah

chapter #1 Zechariah, whatever it may be, some of those books

where it kind of gets a little bit difficult, here's what we

know. It's still God's Word.

It all belongs to Him. All Scripture is given by

inspiration of God and is profitable.

We could just stop right there. All Scripture is profitable.

You get to those places, the Bible, where it seems a little

dry. Say, where is that pastor?

Come on, don't try that with me. There's a reason we tell new

believers not to just start in Genesis and go right through,

because they get to Genesis and Exodus and they're doing all

right until about Exodus chapter #20 they get to, you know, the

10 commandments and all of a sudden there's instructions for

the Tabernacle. And all of a sudden, you know,

you get to Leviticus. And now what do you have?

You have all the different offerings and numbers, numbers,

census after census, and this is how many they had 12 wagons and

these different groups and all these different things.

No, I'm not knocking. I'm just saying for a new

believer, they're looking at that going, I don't know what

this is. And sometimes we've known the

Lord for a while still. It can be a little bit

intimidating for us to look at. But I will tell you this all is

profitable. And you know, what I love is

that the older we get in the Lord, the longer we know Him,

the more layers of the word that get uncovered.

And you go to some of those places and maybe you read a

genealogy and all of a sudden you've been reading the Bible

through for 5/10/15 years, who knows how long.

And also, there's a word, a name in that genealogy that pops out

because you read about it a year ago somewhere else and you start

to make connections. Man, that's exciting.

What I'm saying is all of it is profitable.

There's not one part that is not profitable.

Now, again, if there's a new believer, I tell them, start in

the book of John, I'll tell them that to read a proverb a day.

Those are the kind of things that we often counsel a new

believer to do. So they kind of get a soft

landing, if you will, going into the Word of God.

But the same time it's all profitable and it's profitable

in those four different ways. We just read them a few moments

ago for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for

instruction in righteousness, those four different ways.

And it says if you have these four different ways, skipping

ahead of verse 17 that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly

furnished into all good works, meaning this perfect complete

that if you have these four elements from the Word of God

cooperating in your life. What does that mean You will be

complete. You'll be thoroughly furnished

unto all good works. Listen, you'll have everything

you need. Nothing will be missing.

As we talked about in Sunday school this morning, those

missing pieces in a puzzle that how frustrating that could be.

You got to the end. There's three or four or five

missing pieces. Listen, all the pieces of

instruction you need in your life are here in the word of

God, that everything is here in precept or in principle that God

can lead you and guide you and help you and do all, all of the

things that are mentioned here through the word of God.

What are those four things? Doctrine.

That's what's right. You know what amazes me?

There's churches today, they don't want to talk about

doctrine anymore. Had a lady come up to me years

ago, she goes, yeah, this church has has too much doctrine.

And I said, well, the word doctrine just means teachings.

And so you can't, you don't have much teachings and you don't

have much of A church. And there are a lot of churches.

I would encourage you if you're looking at different churches,

go on their church websites and look at their doctrines before

we visit church, look at the church doctrine.

Some of you that are here tonight, before you ever came to

Liberty Baptist Church, you checked out our statement of

faith online. You want to know what our

doctrine was? I appreciate that sometimes

people have questions about our doctrine.

I'm glad to be able to answer that.

But doctrine is important. It teaches us what's right.

And a lot of churches today, you look at their statement of

faith, it says this, love Jesus, love the Bible, love other

people and that's it. It's so small you can fit it on

a post it note. Why do they do that?

Well, they're trying to appeal to the broadest amount of people

by saying as little as possible because the more they say,

they're afraid they will be maybe divisive enough that a

large amount of people won't come to their church.

Can I tell you that may work in the short term, but it doesn't

work in the long term because you have Christians who end up

attending those types of churches that are a mile wide

and an inch deep. There's no depth there.

Why? Because without doctrine, you

can't have depth. Doctrine brings depth, being

able to understand the word of God.

Now listen, I wish I could give you a Bible college course every

single time I come up to the pulpit here at Liberty Baptist

Church. You probably don't wish that,

but I wish that I could. It doesn't always work like that

because preaching isn't just about teaching.

Teaching and preaching are synonymous in some ways, but

there's differences. Teaching appeals to the mind.

Preaching appeals more to the heart.

It's trying to get us right, trying to get us to where we

need to be. I'm appealing to you to be able

to learn more for yourself. I'm not saying we don't teach

doctrine here. Obviously we do to a great

extent. We just talked about this

morning for 45 minutes why the virgin birth is important and

went through the scriptures. Obviously doctrine is very

important here, but I want to say this, you need to be a self

feeder when it comes to doctrine as well.

To be able to read the word of God for yourself and understand

what is right or there's things that are confusing to you to be

able to learn that. I just talked with a couple.

I just talked with a, a couple people, I should say even just

last week and they said this, we always took our doctrine for

granted because the pastor told us this is what we're going to

do. And they said we got to a place

where we had to get with ourselves in a Bible and pray

and say, do we believe this because the pastor says it or do

we believe it because of what the Bible says?

I applaud that kind of thinking. That's Berean kind of thinking.

The book Acts talks about the Bereans fact checking.

Paul, I don't have a lot of regard for fact checkers now a

day because it seems like they're the fact checkers need

to be fact checked, all things considered.

But I do know this that the Bereans were fact checkers.

Paul, an apostle was preaching and they said, you know, we got

to check the Bible, make sure what he says is true, check the

scriptures. You know, the Bible wasn't

complete at that time, but you understand what I'm saying that

their, their scriptures needed to be compared to what Paul

says. And I love that doctrine.

You get into it and reproof. So doctrine's what's right,

reproof's what's wrong. See, that's the correcting,

quote UN quote of the papers I was talking about a few minutes

ago. It's just a red X Don't do this.

You know what, there's a lot of preaching that says don't do

this. Why?

Because there's a lot of things we do that we're not supposed to

do that should be very non controversial as a statement

here tonight, isn't it? There's a lot of things our

flesh wants to do that we ought not to be doing.

And a pastor has to stand up behind a pulpit and say, listen,

you may have a problem with this, I may have a problem with

this, but here's what you do. Don't do it.

That's what it comes down to, reproof.

And churches need to do it. And again, there's a lot of

churches out there, mega churches and some that aren't

mega churches that won't talk about what sin is, that won't

reprove because someone may stop giving or someone may stop

coming or someone may stop being influential in a leadership

position. So it's just better not to say

anything and just talk about, you know, the champion inside of

you. Some of you make the connection

there in just a second. Joel Osteen OK, but anyway, what

I'm saying is this, that there's no talk about sin, There's no

reproof. But listen, you got to be told

you're doing wrong to be able to make the corrections that need

to be made. Doctrine, reproof, correction.

So doctrine is what's right. Reproof is what's wrong.

Correction is this, how do you get right?

You know, there's a lot of people who will tell you what's

wrong, but then they won't tell you how to get it right.

Well, that's only halfway getting to you where you need to

be right. It's one thing to be told, hey,

you know what? Your finances are a mess.

I'm I'm a financial advisor. I want you to know your finances

are a mess. They're pretty bad.

You probably get audited in the next year.

You have a business, it's probably going to probably go

belly up. And don't forget to give me your

fee on the way out. Like, well, you're the financial

advisor. You're supposed to fix this for

me. You're supposed to help me

correct it. Like, well, listen, I don't want

to get into all that. I'm just going to tell you how

bad it is. You'd say you're a pretty bad

financial advisor. Well, when it comes to the issue

of the word of God, it doesn't just tell us we're wrong.

Listen, you're a Sinner. You're bad.

You do wrong things. It doesn't just say that.

It tells us how to get right with God.

Thank the Lord that it tells us that when we are doing wrong, it

tells us how to get right with the Lord again.

And this is the issue that I think oftentimes get missed.

The idea of correction and then instruction in righteousness

just briefly is not just how to get right, but it's how to stay

right. OK, now you got to get back on

the path. Now how do I stay on the path to

make sure that I don't go wandering away again?

But this issue of correction that we need to grow in the way

that we are correction corrected.

Listen, it is fundamentally missed because oftentimes we

don't. Mind is much being told we're

wrong, we just don't want to get it right or if we don't know

what to do to get it right. Ironically, the word correction

is only found once in the New Testament.

It's right here, but it's found several times the Old Testament,

including Proverbs. Proverbs 1311 My son, despise

not the chastening of the Lord, neither be wary of his

correction. Proverbs 1510.

Correction is grievous unto him that forsake it the way, and he

that hateth reproof shall die. Do you see?

Correction and reproof are connected.

They go together. You really can't have correction

without being reproved. How can you correct something

without even knowing it's wrong in the 1st place?

Jeremiah 5 Three, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth.

Thou has stricken them, but they have not grieved.

Thou has consumed them, but they have refused to receive

correction. They have made their faces

harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

So I want us to look for the next few moments, this issue of

correction. And there's two things I want us

to realize about it tonight. And the first is this correction

can only be accomplished through the word #1 correction can only

be accomplished through the Word of God.

And this stands to reason because if we are to get right,

there must be a standard to which we will be corrected.

There has to be that element that is there to be able to tell

us what is right and what is wrong, which we need a right

standard. For instance, if I was the Bible

teacher, we're correcting a memory verse.

Well, what do I do? I had to stand in front of the

class in my Bible and read the verse to be able to have the

students go through and make the reproof on the pages that they

needed to. If I was correcting a test on my

own, what would I do? Well, I would have to have the

answer key there and I would have to follow the answer key.

I couldn't just say, hey, it's time to correct those Bible

verses, but do whatever feels good, you say, well, who would

say something like that? That's what the world says.

Well, it says, hey man, do whatever feels good.

Follow your heart. Hey, you feel like doing it, Go

do it because you know there's only one person that you got to

please and that's you. That's what the world will tell

you. That's that's the world's song,

isn't it? To us to be able to just make

sure, listen, if if nobody else is happy, make sure that you're

happy. If nobody else gets theirs, make

sure you get yours. This is the way the world goes.

But for us, we realize that when it comes to the issue of

correction, you can't know how to get right unless you are in

the word of God for yourself. This is why all all of these are

linked together, doctrine, reproof, correction,

instruction, and righteousness. You take any one of those out

and you have an incomplete way to be able to get right with

God. You take out doctrine.

Well, you take out the standard. You take out reproof.

You don't even know you're wrong.

You take out correction, well, you're going to be wrong, but

you're not going to get right. You take out instruction of

righteousness. You're not going to figure out

how to stay righteous as you keep walking in the way.

Every single one of them are important, but correction can

only be accomplished through the Word of God.

There has to be a standard. You know, it's ironic to me that

in Washington, it's like, what is truth?

You understand what I'm saying? It's like every few days it

seems like everyone else is talking about something else.

And we've seen this just this week, as we see almost every

week, we have one group that says one thing and one group

that says the exact opposite. And never the two shall meet.

And it feels like that's what life in Washington is like.

And you have one set of rules when one group is in power.

You have another set of rules when another group is in power.

You know, what's the standard, what's real, what's not real.

But interestingly enough, in the midst of Washington, there was a

building called the National Institute of Standards and

Technology. The National Institute of

Standards and Technology In that building are prototypes for

things like a pound a kilogram, measuring rods for feet, yards,

metric measurements like meters. They have a meter standard, for

instance A reinforced bar of platinum alloy with exactly 10%

Iridium, where they want to know the exact measurement of a

meter. They cool the bar down to 0°C at

sea level of 45° latitude. Then they know they will have

the exact tip to tip measurement of a meter.

In fact, this bar is known as Prototype 27 because the

original was kept in a suburb of Paris at their International

Bureau of Weights and Measures. They're serious about one thing,

there has to be a standard. You know, this isn't unusual to

us because in the book of Proverbs, it talks about having

a just weight and adjust measure.

Well, why was that? Well, because in those days,

listen, if you were going to the market to be able to buy

something, you couldn't just go to the scale like you could at

the grocery store and make sure you had a pound of dates.

What would you have to do? You would have to go to the

merchant of the market and he would have his own weights there

and he would use them on a scale.

But an unscrupulous merchant would have his own set of

weights that was just a little bit off, that skewed it so that

he could make a little bit extra off of every transaction.

And so that's why the Bible talks about having to just

weight and adjust, measure. It means this.

You better make sure if you're a merchant, the standard is right.

And this is what this institute in Washington, DC does.

It makes sure that the standards of a meter, the standards of a

foot, a standard of a pound, the standard of an ounce, that it's

right under the most exacting conditions.

Could I tell you that our standard above all other

standards, our standard is the only one that matters and that

is the word of God that's in front with you.

Psalm 119, verse 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his

Psalms 119:9

way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.

Verse 27, make me to understand the way of thy precepts.

So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

Psalm 19 that we were just reading this morning.

All of them talk about the supremacy of the word of God.

That it is the one that will give you the correction that you

need. You say a pastor, I know that

I'm some things are wrong in my life.

I know some things are not the way that they ought to be.

The word of God is not just there to tell you when you're

wrong. The word of God is not just

there to tell you've messed up, to tell you that you're off the

path. Certainly it does tell us that

there's conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit within our

life when we read the word of God.

No, no, no, he doesn't make us guilty.

Satan just wants to make us guilty.

But we understand that the true Bible conviction coming from the

Holy Spirit makes us want to get right before the Lord.

That is godly sorrow that worketh repentance.

The Bible says. But what do we do that we don't

just get in the Bible for those things, We get in it to make

sure we get right the right way because Satan will just be glad

to tell you, hey, you're wrong. But why don't I help you correct

yourself by jumping into something else that's wrong.

Any good at that? Say, hey, you know, I know you

have some problem with alcohol, but you know what you ought to

do? Hey, get a packages in and just

put that in your mind. You say, what is that with

nicotine? You say, well, that that'll help

you out. Satan's great at telling you,

hey, you're wrong. But let me just get you from the

frying pain in the fire. Any good at that?

Oh, yeah. So how do we know we're

correcting ourselves the way we need to be in the word of God.

And listen, I can't give you enough three times a week.

I can't if you're here in Sunday school, which I pray that you

will be. I can't give you enough four

times a week to be able to help you to be able to be where you

need to be, that you need to be in the Word of God daily

yourself. Listen, it is what Christ is

all. So we need to be in his Word to

understand what He wants from us in our life.

When you read this book, you can know it has a track record of

worthiness. They can help you directly or at

least with principles for any situation in life.

Again, it may not speak directly to every situation of life

because there's a lot of situations of life today.

Listen, a 2000 year old word of God does not directly address, I

don't find one cigarette in the word of God.

No, I'm not trying to be cute. I'm saying I don't.

I don't, I don't find the Internet in the word of God.

I don't find your 80 inch plasma screen TV in the word of God.

By the way, if you have 80 inches by invite me over

sometime for a game that sounds like fun because because I don't

have that. You don't find that.

But listen, you have principles or what to do and what not to

do. And how do you know that?

Unless you are in the Word of God yourself, don't just listen

to what the world says. Don't just listen to what the

authorities so-called said. Don't just listen to what the

teachers say or all those people you know.

Take it all and compare it to the Word of God.

Correction can only be accomplished through the Word or

else you just jump from one problem to the next.

He'll tell you you're wrong and give you something else that's

wrong too. No, correction only happens

through the Word. The word is timeless.

It's true, it's trustworthy, and it's the method of correction

which is the catalyst for growth.

So we see number one, correction can only be accomplished.

The word #2 correction can only be accomplished through

willingness. Through willingness.

Here's the issue that sometimes is hard.

As a pastor, there are people that I know they're doing wrong.

They know they're doing wrong. It could be everybody knows

they're doing wrong. They understand that they're

doing wrong. They just can't bring themselves

to the place of getting it right.

You know what's difficult as a pastor, I can't make them do it.

I wish as a pastor I could just grab someone by the shoulders

and say, what's the matter with you?

You need to be over here. Just do this and stay away from

this. And I'm not saying I can't be

emphatic as a pastor and telling people what they need to do,

especially if I know they're self-destructive in the way

they're living. I have done that and I will do

that. But listen, I could physically

take someone and pick them up and take them out of a situation

and bring them to a safe situation.

You know what we could find? They could go right back to the

exact same situation. I've worked with people who

who've gotten themselves into alcohol and drugs and, and I've

literally helped them out of those situations, have been able

to give them places that are safe and places that are helpful

to only watch them days or weeks or months later.

Go right back to the exact same thing.

And they know it's wrong, but they're not willing to be able

to get through correction and say, well, pastor alcohol, you

know, it's just a disease. Well, it's the only disease you

can buy at Walmart. It's not a disease, it's a

choice. I'm not trying to be unkind.

I'm not trying to be unkind. I'm not saying, listen, there

were some people that grew up in a in a, in a home where was

around so much that they were just, it's almost that they were

predisposed in a way to be able to be around it because it was

always around and they were. But at the same time, there are

choices that have to be made. Are you willing to be able to

say correction, it's good. And I'm not saying if someone's

in that situation physically, listen, they're trying to get

out of that situation. Listen, your body's going to be

hurting. I'm not, I'm, I'm my eyes are

wide open about this. If you're trying to withhold

alcohol from yourself, listen, it's going to going to hurt your

body. If you try to withhold drugs

from yourself and you've been in that scene, it's going to hurt

your body. There's going to be some pain

that comes with it. I'm not trying to say that's not

the case. It's going to be difficult to be

in the place where you need to be corrected.

Correction is real. Correction is real and it only

can happen through willingness. Listen, you can come here week

after week and know you needed Jesus Christ.

I know there are things that you need to get taken care of in

your life, but if you don't do what you need to do or you don't

get saved, Listen, just knowing you need to get saved is not

enough. Just know while I'm a Sinner,

well, what are you going to do? I need to get saved.

Well, are you going to get saved?

No, no, I'm a Sinner. Well, that's not going to solve

anything. No correction can only be

accomplished through willingness that I'm going to humble myself

in what God has me to do. Turn to Matthew chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 21. Go verse #28 it says this, but

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

what think ye? I'll wait till you get there.

I'm sorry, Matthew 2128 but what think He, A certain man had two

sons. And he came to the 1st.

And said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.

And he answered, said, I will not.

But afterward he repented and went.

And he came to the second, and said likewise.

And he answered, and said, I go, Sir, and went not.

Whither of the twain did the will of his Father?

They said unto him, The 1st Jesus saith unto him, Verily I

say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the

Kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the

way of righteousness, and he believed him not, but the

publicans and the harlots believed him.

And ye, when he had seen it, repented not afterwards, that ye

might believe him. When it comes the issue of

correction, it's all about the heart.

Can I tell you as a pastor, you know, there was a time when it

has a pastor that people wouldn't curse around you,

people wouldn't do certain activities around you, people

wouldn't drink around you, whatever it is, because you're a

pastor. I'm not saying that I deserve

that. It's just kind of the way our

culture was. That time has passed and that

ship is sailed. It's not quite like that at all.

Not even the point where people say, oh, I'm sorry about that.

They're just full on work. We're going to go wherever you

are. But can I tell you what I, as a

pastor, appreciate? And I don't know, I've expressed

this before. In some ways I think it bears

out in this text. I've had church members, church

members who have called me. And I wouldn't say maybe church

members who were elder in the faith, I'll put it that way.

But maybe church members who are younger in the faith who call me

on the phone ripping mad about something, cuss not necessarily

at me, but curse and get off the phone and maybe a day or two

later they call me day pastor. And you know, I shouldn't have,

I shouldn't have done that. That was that wasn't good.

Then I've also had church members who have come in.

They carry the big family Bible, kind of like that Bible Dave

gave me a few weeks ago. So it's like it's about you say,

how big is it? It's about gay big.

You know, you got to carry it in.

You got to you usually have to have a Dolly to bring it in.

You know, you just bring it in a hand truck.

They come in, they're always dressed right.

Never a word is wrong that comes out of their mouth when they're

in church. I mean, they are impeccably

dressed. They're going to say everything

that's perfect. But you know, you start to see

after a while there's some cracks in the facade and you

realize that there's a lot of good looks for godliness, but

not a lot of real depth there. Can I tell you which of the two

I'd rather pastor? The first one.

Why? Because that's someone who is

saying, you know what? I'm not where I need to be yet,

but the Lord's still working on me and I'm humble enough to

apologize to someone when I've done wrong.

Man, I love that. I would take a church full of

the first group and I would tell you, I would steer clear of one

of those in the second group. You know why?

Because he, he has everything he needs already.

He don't need me like you don't need any of you.

But I'll tell you, he is also not happy with himself because

that one that I see, I'll tell you that he has all of that.

It's not just a he there. She's as well, but but he has,

he's seemingly everything. This guy, this guy's amazing.

He's like the best Christian ever lived.

But you know what he, he gets home and he's usually miserable.

He gets home and he's usually not happy with himself.

You know why? Because he really doesn't have a

good relationship with the Lord. He just feels like he needs to

show himself in a way, kind of like, well, Jesus just said,

Hey, Pharisee, it had everything good on the outside, but the

heart wasn't right. Yeah, I'd rather work with

people and say, you know, I don't got all the answers yet.

I don't even know all the questions yet.

But when reproof and correction come my way, I'm willing to

listen. I just encourage you this in

2026 when it comes to the word of God, as we preach through the

Word of God. I know you've been here, many of

you, for for some period of time.

There's something that I'm going to say this year that's going to

take you off. You say, well, how would you

know that? Well, because I've speak for 150

bout sermons a year, not even counting Sunday school.

I'm going to say something that's probably going to make

you mad. Could I tell you before you get

too RIP roar and upset at me? Could you maybe go to the word

of God first and see if what I've said is so now listen, hey,

my attitude is wrong. Then I need to get my attitude

right because again, I don't want to be a jerk in the pulpit

and how I handle certain issues that just because I'm right

doesn't give me the license to talk about things however I want

to talk about it. But I will say this, on the

other hand, that means you also have to be open that maybe what

you're hearing could be reproof and correction from the Lord.

And it's better to leave church and say, you know what, I got

you on that for a while. I can't point that past, right?

What are you talking about? He thinks he's, he's got a

little Kingdom up there, that pulpit.

He just hides behind that pulpit.

Who does he think he is? I just, he's Jesus.

He got a little, that little colt in the trailer over there

and at 800 Washington St. It's like we're not a cult, all

right? Well, we're not a trailer, all

right? That's it.

No, we're not a cult. We're not a cult either, all

right? That's a joke.

That is a joke if they are the worst cult leader in history,

all right? We are not a cult.

We don't have kool-aid. It's just coffee.

And Dave made it this morning. There's a promise, Dave.

All right, wasn't me. So yes, here's what I know.

Listen, good preaching the Word of God is about doctrine,

reproof, correction, and structure of righteousness.

The place where people typically choke is correction because they

don't even mind. Oftentimes they can even say,

yeah, I'm wrong, but they won't do what it takes to get it

right. You know why we have an altar.

Give you time to acknowledge I need correction.

You know what you ought to do on Monday?

Maybe write out three things from the message that convicted

you on Sunday. This is something I need to do

to correct the problem that I, the Holy Spirit, identified in

my life on Sunday, go back and listen to a message again.

Go back and listen to it over again.

You can be like Jim Jerome. He says he listens to me before

he goes to sleep. But it's the best.

Better than warm milk, isn't it, Jim?

All right, Just my soothing voice.

And so I've been putting people to sleep for 12 years here at

Liberty Baptist Church. That's that's the way it is.

But listen, listen to it again and maybe I've had to listen to

messages a second time. You say, you know what, there

was a lot there for me. I'm going to go back and listen

to it again because there's some things I got to I got to get

right. You say, well, that sounds like

that. That's a lot of work.

Well, it sounds like the Christian life.

You get out of it what you put in it.

And I'm not saying we're works based salvation or anything like

that. Of course not.

But I am saying that that the Bible does say to count the

cost. The Bible does say to pick up

your cross and to follow him the.

Jesus does not promise us a life of comfort and ease, but He does

promise us great blessings, and He does promise us rewards for

diligently seeking Him. So listen, don't sleep on the

issue of correction. All we know that we're wrong,

but listen, you got to get it right and you got to get it

right the right way. All of us have places we need to

get better at. Every single one of us allow the

Holy Spirit to do the work that only He can do so that we can be

corrected and then further that instruction and righteousness so

we can go on and be the Christians that God has called

us to be. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.