 Hi, this is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California. We've been studying the book of Proverbs in our mid-week service, and last night we looked at Proverbs chapter 27. I spent some time looking at verse 5, which reads, Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. I was sharing that honest and loving criticism is of greater value to a person than the kind of love that does not motivate a person to bring a word of correction to someone in error when it is necessary. Because the church has been conformed to the thinking of the world, it has become normal for professing believers to ignore sin rather than to lovingly and caringly approach the person in sin with a word of correction and encouragement. The sad fact seems to be that many Christians, though professing to believe that God's word is to be obeyed in matters of walking worthy of the grace of God, have instead chosen to simply tolerate sin by ignoring it in themselves and closing their eyes to habitual sin in others. We have friends who use coarse language, drink to excess, gossip, have outbursts of anger, are contentious, greedy, and jealous. And we ignore these obvious sins because we don't want to judge them. We excuse this lack of love by claiming that Jesus taught us not to judge in order that we might not be judged. The odd thing about quoting that scripture is that just a few verses later, Jesus went on to say, do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine. One wonders how we know who is a dog and who is likened to a pig if we don't exercise judgment. It would seem that Jesus was teaching believers not to habitually condemn others in a self-righteous manner and that self-examination is to be practiced before approaching someone to offer a correction. As for judging, Jesus taught us in John chapter 7 verse 24, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Paul would seem to agree with this when he said in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, If any man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. James said in James chapter 5 verse 20, that he who turns a sinner from the air of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. There is a place for making proper judgments and the motivation behind such judgments will always be the standard that is established in scripture as well as a life that is living in accordance to that standard. Many have unmarried friends who continue having casual sex and though they know scripture calls us fornication and makes it clear that fornicators don't inherit the kingdom of God, they simply ignore it, thinking that somehow God is going to send their friend a text message and tell them to stop. Believers are living with someone while claiming to be a believer in a holy God yet continuing to live in an unholy way and their friends know about it but simply tolerate it because they don't want to risk losing them as friends. Perhaps they should remember Proverbs 27 verse 6 which reads, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Again, I love that does not encourage a person to godliness is morally useless and a friend will bring correction because they love you and will encourage you to godliness even if it may at first wound you. We need to remember that surgeries always bring wounds but they can also produce healing and health. In an environment that says everybody is good, every participant should get a trophy, self-esteem is the highest virtue. It seems to me that we now have an 11th commandment, you shall tolerate everything because you are not to love them enough to tell them the truth. I mentioned to our church how recently a well-known singer published a letter in which she openly forgave her former pastor for refusing to baptize her. She presented it in a way that was kind towards women, shared her side of what happened in a way that easily could touch the heart of any reader. After publishing it, many Christians wrote sympathetic responses to what she wrote and felt the need to condemn the unfeeling pastor and to apologize for Christians in general. The sad thing is that the reason the pastor did not baptize her was because she is a lesbian and has no desire to repent from her sin. Apparently the church thinks that out of kindness the pastor should have violated scripture and baptized her anyway without confronting her sin and offering forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The fact that he told her assembled family why he could not baptize her could very well have been to save himself from the gossip that would have ensued if he would have privately told her after all. The first one to plead his cause seems right and in giving one side of the situation the person giving their version of events always presents a fact in a manner that puts them in the best light. There is always another side to the story. We are living in the last days and the apostle Paul made it clear that in these last days perilous times had come because people would be lovers of themselves. He made it clear that people would no longer put up with healthy teaching but instead would collect teachers who would tell them what they desired to hear. Though I am no fan of angry preaching I cannot help but wonder how the church today would respond to John the Baptist or if they could ever put up with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards is the evangelist who preached the famous sermon entitled Sinners in the Hands of a Angry God, a sermon in which he warned his listeners that they would stand before God in judgment for their actions and that the punishment was worse than they could ever imagine. I rather doubt that today's church could understand why he would preach such a sermon because after all everybody eventually goes to heaven, don't they? I know that this Facebook live message is disturbing to many but still I can't help but wonder why people don't understand that God is holy and he intends his people to live holy lives. The Christian life is to be a life that is unlike the rest of the world and the way that takes place is to live lives that have been cleansed by God's word, a word that has been hidden in our hearts and lived out every day. If you have a friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth you might want to thank God daily for such a friend because I guarantee you they know that you could easily reject them for being lovingly honest with you. May the Lord strengthen us to love him and to love one another every day. This is Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley, California.