 All right, keep your place in Jeremiah chapter one. We're going to be kind of doing a little bit of a study on Jeremiah this morning. So here in Jeremiah chapter one, if you know the story of Jeremiah, God is kind of preparing Jeremiah for his life as a prophet, so to speak. You know, there is something about Jeremiah that I like where Jeremiah kind of was just, he was just kicking against the pricks his whole life. And he just, he never had a time where he was delivering good news. He was just a very unappreciated prophet to say the least. I know they were all like that, but Jeremiah especially, and God is preparing him for this. Now this morning, I want to talk to you about biblical preaching. I want to talk to you about biblical preaching and, you know, what is a lot of people would call, if you remember, you know, where he came from a satellite of Verity Baptist Church. On the front of the invitations, it said, this is not shallow preaching. You know, instead you will have biblical preaching. A lot of people use the term hard preaching. You know, a lot of people use the term hard preaching, but really hard preaching is just biblical preaching, is that's what it is. But there's just a lot of, the problem is the Bible just has a lot of hard things in it. Well, you know, that's, you know, so this morning, I want to kind of use Jeremiah and I want to talk to you a little bit about, you know, what is Bible preaching? You know, what is Bible preaching? First of all, let's look at what that is. Why do people call that hard preaching? You know, why is hard preaching Bible preaching? I want to look at why it's necessary. You know, why is Bible preaching necessary? And most importantly, this morning, I want to show you how to benefit the most from it. I want to give you, you know, kind of a methodology and some things to watch for in your life on how to, what's the point of coming here? I mean, what's the point of coming here if, you know, you're listening to this, this non-shallow preaching, you're listening to preaching from the Bible and like you just get nothing from it. So that's what I want to look at. What is it? What is hard preaching? Everybody talks about hard preaching. You know, that guy preaches hard and, you know, that, that was a hard sermon and all this and, but why is it necessary and how do you use it? How do you use it as a tool in your life? Look at Jeremiah chapter one and verse number eight. Twice actually in this chapter, God gives the same advice to Jeremiah. You look at Jeremiah chapter one and verse number eight, he gives the advice the first time. He says, but the Lord in verse number seven or verse number seven, go back, he says, the Lord said unto me, say not, I'm a child, for thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thou, thou shalt speak. Jeremiah is like, I want to know what to say. Like, how could I even be, imagine Jeremiah and the life that he had, he didn't even want to do it in the first place. And God is like, God tells him, he's like, don't worry, I'll give you the words. He's like, I will give you the words to say. Jeremiah is like, I don't know what to say. I don't want to do this. God's like, I will tell you what to say. And then God tells him right after that, what does he say? He says, be not afraid of their faces. God is telling him, I'm going to tell you what to say and guess what, they're not going to like it. They're not going to like it. He even tells them again, what do we know? We need to pay attention to things that are repeated in the Bible. He even tells them again and verse number 17, look what it says, therefore gird up thy loins and arise and speak unto them what? Speak unto them some of the things that I tell you. Decide what you want to tell them, decide what you want to tell them, you know, put it easy to them. He says, speak unto them all that I command thee. Because it wasn't, I mean, that was the whole point of a prophet. The whole point of the prophet was God told, he was a messenger. The whole point of the prophet, look, God didn't just get all the people of Israel together and speak to them from heaven. He used the prophets. God spoke to, I mean, when the Bible is saying, and the Lord said, he's speaking through the prophet in those cases, you know, unless he's speaking to the prophet. But he's telling them, I'm going to tell you what to say, and you tell him everything that I tell you. And then he says, he gives them a warning in verse number 17. He doesn't just say, hey, be not afraid of their faces. He says, he says, you better not be afraid of their faces. You better tell them all that I say. And if you're afraid of their faces, I'm going to make you look stupid in front of them. I'm going to make you fall in front of them. I'm going to confound you, is what he says. He gives them a warning. He's not like encouraging Jeremiah. In the beginning, he kind of is encouraging him, hey, don't be afraid of their faces. You know, but he's saying, look, at the end, he's like, you better tell them everything I say. And if you're afraid of their faces, I'm going to confound you before them. You will fall before me. So the first thing, God, I mean, but go back to verse number eight. God here, there's more than just, you know, the people aren't going to like it. Because guess what? As a pastor, and this is one thing that you don't really realize until you're a pastor, because even when I wasn't a pastor and I would preach a 10-minute sermon at men's preaching night, or I would preach a sermon as a guest preacher at Varity or whatever, you know, I never really, I wasn't really preaching at the people. I mean, I'm not really the pastor of the church. I'm not going to get up there and like preach to the people like I'm the pastor of the church. You know, like I'm also, and I think because I'm behind the pulpit, I'm a pastor of humanity or something. But look, as the pastor of the church, you're going to preach all what God says in the Bible if you're doing what you're supposed to do, and guess what? You can tell when people don't like it. You can tell. That's why God was saying, be not afraid of their faces, because like they're going to be looking at you and they're not going to like it. But then, but look what God says. What God means, that's pretty much the story of Jeremiah's entire life right there. I mean, it wasn't just the people. I mean, Jeremiah wasn't just preaching to the people. He's preaching to the kings. I mean, Jeremiah in the end, I just read through the end of Jeremiah last week and Jeremiah at the end, I mean, Zedekai is like, hey, just tell me everything, it's fine. Tell me, and he tells him the truth, he's in prison. Look, it's nobody wanted to hear anything that Jeremiah had. But the point I'm trying to make is this, this is the pastor's job. So you say, what is hard preaching and why does the pastor do it? That's, I'm going to give you two reasons right here. First of all, you know, you can see it on their faces. Preaching the whole word of God, that is hard preaching. All hard preaching is just preaching. Look, the Bible's a hard book. The Bible's a hard book. The Bible tells you more than just how to get saved. I mean, if the Bible was a gospel track, I mean, it would just be, you know, a couple pages long. The Bible tells us everything we need to know, and it is my job to tell you everything. And I'm not to be afraid of your faces either. I mean, turn to Galatians chapter 4. I mean, God is telling them, hey, Jeremiah, they're going to be mad at you. Look at Galatians chapter 4 and verse 16. Look what Paul says. Look what Paul says. And this is what, you know, this is what I really love about Jeremiah chapter 1, 8. But look at Galatians chapter 4 and verse number 16. Paul says, am I there for your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. You know what Paul's saying here? He's like, I'm preaching everything that the Bible says. I'm preaching everything that Jesus wants me to say. He's like, am I just your enemy because of that? Because I'm telling you the truth of God's word. But that is why in Jeremiah chapter 1, 8, God gives Jeremiah some assurance. He says, you know what, don't be afraid of their faces. He's like, people are going to be mad at you for preaching this, but guess what? I am with thee, he says. God is backing up Jeremiah here. He's backing him up, he's saying, look, when everybody, when nobody wants to hear what you have to say, you have to go and you have to say all of it. You don't back off of it, you say all of it. He's like, don't forget at that time. He's like, I am with you. I will never leave you is what God is saying to Jeremiah. So look, I mean, I am fully aware that everything that is preached at this church, you know, it may upset people. I am fully aware of that. It's not a surprise to me. I am fully aware that people will be mad at me. They will be mad at my wife and this is not a surprise to me. It's everywhere in the Bible. If you go and you decide you want to be a pastor and that shocks you, you're not going to last long. You're not going to last long. But look, here's the thing. Here's the thing that you need to understand. And this is what I want to get across. One of the reasons you have to understand why a pastor does it. Let's talk about why a pastor preaches the whole word of God. Because that is hard preaching. That is hard preaching. I love hanging out with you guys. I love fellowshipping with you guys late. I love going fishing with you all. My wife loves hanging out with, look, there is no other people on the planet that I would rather spend my time with than you all. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. But what you have to understand is I am not your friend. That's mean. I am not your friend. I am your pastor. And you have to not forget that. We can do all these things that friends do. And you say, oh, you don't want to do those things. You just do it. No, I love doing those things. Like spending time with the church family is the one thing that I prefer to do. Whether that's doing church activities or whatever. But you can't forget that I'm your pastor. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. And I will never stop being your pastor as long as you want me to be your pastor. And that means, look, what's the difference? Why do I say I'm not your friend? Well, pastor said he's not my friend today. That means that I will tell you things that sometimes you don't want to hear. That's the difference between me and your friend. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Look at number 11. Did you know that God gave you a pastor? God provides you a pastor. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And then down in verse number 15, it says that we are together to each other, but especially the pastor is to speak the truth and love to you, to speak the truth and love to you. And this is my first point. This is why the pastor preaches. This is the first reason why I preach the whole Bible to you right here. It's because I love you. It's because I actually, I care about you. I care about your families. I care about your children. I mean, if you haven't gotten that from me in the last two and a half years, this is the wrong church for you. If you do not believe that I care deeply about every single family in this church, what else do I have to do? But I'm here to speak the truth to you. That is the whole point. Turn to Proverbs chapter 13. Look, you know what? Be a lot easier for me. It'd be a lot easier for me personally to not do this. It'd be a lot easier for me to not speak the truth. It would be just as easy. In the same way it would be for a parent who doesn't want to discipline their child because it's just easier to just let them do what they want. It seems easier at the time anyway. It would be easier for me to just not ever preach anything that I think the people don't want to hear. Look at Proverbs 13, 24. He that spareth his rod hated his son, but he that loveth him chastenedeth him. Be times. Look, God chastens you because he loves you. God chases you because he loves you. A pastor that doesn't preach the whole Bible to you, he does not love you. A pastor that preaches what the people want to hear, he does not love the people. You say, well, he may think he loves them, not according to what love is in the Bible. He does not love the people. On the flip side, he does it because he loves the people. He does it at his own expense, just like Jeremiah did it at his own expense his entire life, because of the love for the people. Look, folks, I care about you. I care what happens to these kids. I know what's at stake in this world. I'm not old. Maybe I'm old, according to some people, but I'm old enough to see the dangers if we don't do it the Bible way. And I actually care. If I just wanted to go around and just get people to like me, this church would fall apart. And it should fall apart. That is not the point. But slowly, but surely the families would fall apart. Look, that is why the Bible is here for us. And that is why God gave you pastors and teachers to preach the Bible at you. Here's the second reason. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Here's the second reason. And this is really why the pastor is not your quote unquote friend right here. It's because he literally has a calling from God to preach the Bible to you. Paul literally said this to Timothy. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 in verse number 1. Timothy is going to be a pastor. He's telling them. Like the first thing. He's telling him, he's preparing him for this. Look at verse number 1. He says, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom? What does he say? Charge me what? He says, preach the word. Be instant. In season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. He's like, whatever is needed, reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine. You know what he says? He says, be instant doing that. That means don't delay. That means when it's needed, you do it. And he says, out of season, it doesn't matter. Oh, but that's not a popular thing to preach. That's another thing. Like how many things do we preach here that just aren't popular today? But it's the command of God to the pastor. Now, look, the counter-cultural stuff, everybody likes that stuff. The out of season stuff that's out of season outside the church, everybody loves that stuff. We preach about the government. We preach about the homosexuals and just the perversion everywhere in this country and how it's all being accepted everywhere. People love that, they eat it up. But when it becomes counter-cultural to what you're doing, people don't like it. Look, it's gonna be out of season for you too. I mean, what if it's against your current culture that you're living right now? That's out of season for you. I mean, everyone's gonna be hit by a sermon. I mean, here's the thing, Paul's training a pastor here. You know, Paul is training a pastor. Notice, and notice how he doesn't say, look back at verse number one. Notice how he doesn't say, Timothy, you do it this way because this is how I do it. No, he says, I charge thee before God. He said, this is what God wants done. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that is serious. He's like, you do it my way. God is saying, you do it my way, or you correct it. This is why the pastor can't be your friend. See, the difference between your friend and the pastor is your friend doesn't have this charge. Your friend doesn't have this obligation from God. You know, your friend is, I mean, God's pretty serious about this, both with Jeremiah and with Timothy. They don't have this obligation. I have seen situations in the last two and a half years where a friend was giving advice to someone stepping in front of the pastor. And look, here's the thing, if people don't come to me, I'll say this again and again. People don't come to me and ask, I'm not gonna tell you. I'm not really gonna come into your home and get up all in your business. Like, that's just, that's not who I am. That's not what I wanna do. And I've seen situations in this church where someone steps in front of the pastor and starts giving advice that will literally ruin someone's life. I've seen it several times, actually. But guess what? That friend doesn't have the same obligation as the pastor. So he's like, yeah, you know, okay, you know, you just wanna be, you just wanna, everything to be good, everything to be happy. You know, whatever, they don't have that obligation. That's why it's so bad. You know, use your pastor. They're on a different level of responsibility and it's a big deal. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Turn to Acts chapter 20. You know, I'm not just here to tickle your ears. Acts chapter 20. Go to Acts chapter 20, let me turn there myself. Acts chapter 20, look at verse 26. Acts chapter 20, look at verse number 26. I mean, look at how serious Paul, you know, he's leaving the church at Ephesus here. And this is what he says. He says, wherefore I take you record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not, why, why? He's like, I'm not, he's like, he's like, my responsibility has been fulfilled. He's saying, whatever you do, when I'm leaving and whatever you do, he's like, my responsibility, I'm pure from that. I'm pure from the consequences that come from that. And he says like the blood that will come, I mean, just the hurt that will come from that. Why? For I've not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God. That's why. He's like, I came and I preached the whole, I preached the whole Bible to you. I told you everything that God wants to know. He's like, therefore, he's like, I have fulfilled my obligation. If you don't do it, that's on you. So if I sit here and I preach the Bible to you and I tell you what the Bible says about X, Y and Z, whatever and until I'm blue in the face, I have done my job. And then you go out and you don't want any counsel or any help or anything like that. You want to go out and do whatever you want. That's what Paul is saying. He's like, I'm clear because I told you everything. Now, if you didn't tell him something, if he just like, I don't really want to go there. You know, I don't really want to go there with them because I don't want people to be upset at me. Then the blood is on him. Isn't that what that implies? Look, the pastor has an obligation to God to administer the church of God properly. Look at 1 Timothy chapter five. 1 Timothy chapter five, verse number 20. Well, I could read you verses on this all day long. 1 Timothy chapter five, look at verse number 20. 1 Timothy chapter five, verse number 20. I mean, the Bible says, he says here to Timothy, he says, tell them that sin rebuked before all. That others may fear. You know what's great about that verse right there? First of all, let me just tell you something personally here. First of all, we have all been hit by sermons. Let me give you some perspective. When we moved to California, we started going to Verity. We started going to Verity. I said to my wife after like a week, two weeks, three weeks, I was like, man, this is some rough stuff. Like I even think I might have said at one point, this guy's pretty hard on his people. Pastor Jimenez, who I was talking about, but you know what you figure out? Because guess what? It nails you. The preaching hits you. It's supposed to. But let me tell you something about myself. If you were sitting there, you were sitting there in the chairs and you're just like, oh man, this is about me. Look, I don't write sermons for one person ever. It's a personal policy of mine. I don't ever write sermons for one person. So if you're getting hit by every single sermon, that's not my fault. I'm just preaching the Bible. If you're sitting there and you're convicted by every single sermon, or even one sermon, look, I didn't write the sermon for you. I mean, who do you think you are? That I'm just gonna spend all my time writing a single sermon about you? I have had single situations where one person was causing, sometimes they didn't even know it, was making some kind of, doing something in the church that was not appropriate or something I didn't like, I just pull that person aside. And I've done this many, many, many times. And I just pull that person aside nicely and tell them, look, this is something that we don't do here because of this and that. And I just nicely explain it. Look, here's the thing. If it's being preached on, it's a problem in the church. What spreads in the Bible? I forget. Sin! Things spread quickly in the church. If it's being preached on, it's something that is an issue for not just one person in the church. It quickly spreads. But you know what you realize? You know what you realize? You know it didn't take me too long to realize that the reason those sermons were so hard and they were so hard hitting is because the pastor actually cared about the people. Because pastor Jimenez, he cares about the people in his church. Look, you can't be a, you should never be a pastor or want to be a pastor if you don't have a heart for people. Honestly, I know we go out soul winning and honestly, I know we're gonna get rewards in heaven for that and I know that's very biblical. I go soul winning for one reason. I go soul winning because I was saved later in life. I don't feel like I deserve to be saved. I felt like I slid into home. I was so thankful that I was saved and I just want to give other people that opportunity. That's why I go soul winning. I know we're gonna get rewards. I know it's to be profitable. I know it's good for my children. I know it's good for your children. I know it's good for the church. I know God will bless the church on earth if we keep doing this. But that's the main reason I do it is because I actually care if other people go to hell because hell's real. We forget about that. I actually care. I mean, if I care about those people out there, that's why a pastor does it. He does it because he cares for the people and he does it because he has an obligation from God to do it. I take that very seriously. That obligation from God. Look, I mean, I'm relatively, I went and I hung out with some pastors that just like I'm relatively new to this and I don't want to mess it up. And I don't want to take any kind of like creative freedom. I'm just gonna do what the Bible says because look, I'm afraid of God. I'm afraid of God. So look, that's why you hear sermons like this. That's why you hear the hard preaching and everybody loves the hard preaching and this preaching against the world. But when it comes home to roost, then they don't like it so much. It hits home and they're just like, ah, I don't like that. And guess what, that's a natural feeling. We'll talk about that next. So now you know why it happens. How should you take it? Turn to Leviticus chapter 23. How should you respond? How should you respond? You'll hear some people that are just like, I just love having my face torn off. I just love these hard sermons. Look, don't get immune to it. Don't love it so much that it becomes entertainment for you. That's the other side of it. But here's the thing. How should you respond? Look at Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23 talks about the day of atonement. The once a year sacrifices where people go and they sacrifice for the sins of the nation. Look at verse number 26. Leviticus chapter 23 and verse number 26. Now there's clear salvation implications here and we see this as a symbol of salvation. But I'm gonna show you some other things here. Look at Leviticus chapter 23. Look at verse 26. This is super important. If you don't get this right, what we're about to talk to, it can ruin your life. Look at Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 26. It was no different for these people. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, also on the 10th day of the seven month, there shall be a day of atonement. And it shall be a holy convocation unto you and ye shall, what? Underline this, afflict your souls. And offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord and you shall do no work in that same day for it is a day of atonement. To make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul, what do we know about things that are repeated in the Bible? They're important, don't miss them. For whatsoever soul, it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day. He shall be cut off from amongst his people. Super important that you understand that right there. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work that same day, the same soul, why destroy from among his people? Ye shall do no manner of work. It should be a statute forever throughout your generations and all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest again. And ye shall what? Ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month at even from even unto even. Ye shall celebrate your Sabbath. It sounds like this idea of afflicting your souls is pretty important here. It's kind of like the one or the zero about whether or not this thing's a success for you. You know what afflict your soul means? You know what it means? It means to bring yourself low or to humble yourself. You know what's the one or zero on whether or not somebody will accept the gospel when you go out souling at two o'clock today? It's whether or not they can afflict their soul. It's whether or not, because I mean, isn't that why it's so hard for the rich man to get saved? The rich man is proud. What are you gonna tell me? Hey, you got some guy coming up here with a Bible? Look at this house. Look at that car. This is why the nice neighborhoods, because they don't afflict their souls. They're not humble people. That is a requirement to accept, to believe on the word Jesus Christ, to humble yourself. Even if it makes logical sense with salvation. Think about it. In order to believe that going to heaven, being saved has nothing to do with me. Isn't that what pride is? I'm really good at this. I'm really good at, I'm good at this life. Isn't that what it is? Isn't that what pride, the definition of it is? No, in order to be saved, you have to believe that it had nothing to do with you. Not a little bit. Like you have to be this awesome to get saved. No, zero. That's why salvation is all or nothing. That's why you have to afflict your soul. You have to humble yourself to be saved. Look, that's a clear picture of salvation right there. But here's the thing. These are also the people that aren't gonna make it in church. These are also, I mean, the pastor gets up and he reproves. He rebukes. He exhorts with all long suffering and doctrine. Meaning like, he gives you all the doctrine. And if you, if you, look, unless you reach sinless perfection, let me know when you hit it. The Bible is gonna convict you. These, I mean, if I'm preaching Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and like, nobody in the church is convicted, I mean, what in the world? I'm a horrible preacher. I'm a bad pastor. The Bible is designed to convict us. The gospel would be two pages long. If it was just about, you know, it's, this is all conviction right here. This is what this is for. Everybody should feel that. But look, here's the thing. If you don't afflict your souls, the same thing is gonna happen to you as in Leviticus 23. You're gonna be cut off from the people. And I'm not saying like, you're gonna get thrown out of church. That's not what I'm talking about. You're gonna cut yourself off from the people. That's what's gonna happen. If you don't, if you can't take the Bible and you can't understand that the reason that God gave you a pastor is to preach the whole Bible, not parts of it that he thinks you like because he loves you, because he cares about you, because he wants to see your families and the next generation succeed. And it's his command from God. If you can't take that and afflict your soul and take it with humility, you will end up being cut off from the people. It's exactly what the Bible says. And that's, I mean, I don't even know how many times I have to see it. How many times do you have to see it? Turn to Acts chapter seven. Look, it's, you're gonna voluntarily cut yourself off. This is the wickedness of Satan. This, look, this is exactly what has happened for anyone that is not with us anymore. Right here, in some form or another, they did not afflict their souls and they were cut off from the people. Look at Acts chapter seven. I mean, sometimes it takes longer and shorter for certain people, but the bottom line is, if you stiffen your neck, as these people did, against the preaching of God's word, it will end badly. Look at Acts chapter seven, look at verse 51. Stephen preaches this great sermon. Stephen just, you know, just gives it to the Jews right there. I mean, he just lays it all out there. Look at the verse number 51. Look at what he says. Look what he says. If you don't afflict your souls, this is the opposite of it right here. And Stephen just calls it right out. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You do always what? Resist the Holy Ghost. Look, these people weren't saved. He's saying, you know, you're having the gospel preached to you. You know, Jesus was here. He's like, you just resisted the whole thing because they just stiffened up against it. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? He even goes back in history. He's like, you killed all the people. You persecuted all the people that God used to preach all his word to you. You persecuted them. And they have slain them, which showed before the coming of the just one, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers. I mean, talk about, you know, he's softened that up. I mean, that's a truth in love right there. He said, look here, they killed the preacher for it. They killed him. So the point is, the point is, turn to Acts chapter 17. Turn to Acts chapter 17. Well, actually don't turn there, but here's the point. Here's the point. Here's your choices. Receive preaching with an afflicted soul. And hey, you know what? Just like Acts chapter 17, be the Bereans. Go and search those scriptures daily. If it be so. You're like, I don't like that sermon. Go look it up in the Bible. Go see if it's in there. But if it's in there, afflict your soul. Receive it. I mean, how did they know? How did they know Jeremiah was speaking God's word? Think, have you ever thought about that? Because like the things that he said were true, first of all, were they doing the wicked sins that he said? Yes, they were true. And then did those things happen that he said? Yes, they did. That's how you know. So you go and you be a Berean in this church. This church will always search it out. Find out what it says. And then afflict your soul and receive it. And then that's how you win in this Christian life, folks. That's how you take, that's how you handle hard preaching in your life. That's how hard preaching works for you. That's how the Bible fixes you by afflicting your soul. The other thing you can do is become stiff-necked. You know, you can become stiff-necked quickly, or you can become stiff-necked. You know, you can slowly become disgruntled. Look, it's very obvious to the pastor when that happens, by the way. And look, but who does the Bible say in Acts chapter seven that you're stiff-necked against? If you go and you search the scriptures, and yep, the scripture said that, and then you're stiff-necked against it, who are you stiff-necked against? The Holy Spirit, not me. You know what? You're grieving the Holy Spirit within you. Is what's happening. And then you know what people will do? You know, this is the number one reason. Let me give you a history lesson. This is the number one reason right here. That people become stiff-necked against the preaching that people have left this church. And you know, most of them left voluntarily. But what they'll do is they'll become stiff-necked against the preaching. They'll resist. They'll become stiff-necked against the Holy Spirit. Then they'll find some stupid thing to disagree with the pastor on. And you know, I'm leaving because of, you know, whatever. Look for, you know, but it's because they started resisting the preaching. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. This is the person that feels like they're being preached non-constantly. Right here. You feel like, I don't know why. He's preaching against me every single Sunday. No, I am not. I am not. I can't tell you how many times people come up to me after a sermon and they're just like, they start asking me questions and start saying, oh, thank you for that and all this. Well, first of all, that person has afflicted their soul, number one. And most times I had no idea that that was something that was going on. Because I'm not crawling all, I don't wanna do that. But I mean, that is the Holy Spirit convicting you. Listen to it. That's why God gave it to you. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. You're like, but it's not fun. Like sometimes I listen to sermons and it's not fun. I know. You know, I used to be a people. I still am a people. Look, I used, I mean, you read the Bible. Are you reading the Bible? So you read the Bible, it convicts you. I mean, you don't have to be in church to be convicted. You read the Bible and it convicts you. I get convicted every single time. I read the Bible. You're like, what's wrong with you? Cause that's what it's for. But you gotta afflict your soul and receive it. Receive it. You're not gonna make it if you don't receive it. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse number 11. It's okay. You sit here and you listen to a hard sermon. You're like, that was not fun. It's okay. That is normal. Look at verse number 11. Now, no chastening for the present seem to be joyous. But grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Parents, you spank your children because you love your children. You chasing your children because you love them. And I bet you right now, I bet you every kid in this church, are you listening? I bet you, you know that your parents chasing you and spank you because they love you. nod your head if you know that. We get some heads nodding. But that's why they do it. They do it because they love you. Guess what? When you're getting a spanking, are you like, oh, dad loves me. Are you like, this is great. You're like, this is great. Ah! This is great that my dad loves me so much. No, it stinks at the time. At the time it stings. It hurts at the moment. But guess what? Guess what? Afterward, it yields righteousness. I mean, that's the whole point. That's the whole point. It's never gonna be fun at first. If you're like, ah, I don't like spanking, something's wrong with me. No, you're normal. You're completely normal. Look at verse 14. Look at verse 14. But here's what can happen. Here's what can happen if you go the other way. If you get punished by your parents and you become angry at them, you become angry at them because of it. Here's what can happen. Look at the Bible says in verse 14, it says follow peace with all men and holiness. You know what that means? When it says follow peace with all men, and then it says and follow, it means follow holiness too. You know what that means? It basically means follow the Bible. I mean, the Bible is the holiness that we are supposed to follow, without which no man seeeth the Lord. Then look at verse 15. Looking diligently. So it's saying, if you diligently follow the Bible, lest any man fail of the grace of God, look, you can fail at this. You can fail at this life. This is no guarantee. Like this is a problem. This is a problem. People are like, I have my kids in church, everything's good. No! No, you have to bring your kids to church. Step one, then it's very, very hard. It's a very, very difficult path to diligently follow that holiness and to receive that preaching, to read the book, read the Bible, and receive that and then actually do those things. Look, that takes diligence. That takes consistency over time is what that takes. That takes a lot of hard work. It's not easy. It's not easy, but look what happens. Otherwise, otherwise lest. It says, it says lest, but if you don't do that, if you get that spanking or you receive the word of God, you hear that hard sermon and you're just like, ah, this guy's writing sermons about me every single week, man. And you do that, what happens? A root of bitterness springs up inside you. And thereby, this is a good one. A root of bitterness springs up inside you and will hurt you. Nope, a root of bitterness springs up inside you and many people will be defiled. Many will be defiled, it says. Thereby many be defiled. Afflict your soul and no bitterness will arise. Go back to verse five. Go back to verse five. How wicked would it be to be bitter at the word of God? There's gonna be consequences for that. Look at verse five. And have you forgotten and you have forgotten the exhortation with speakage unto you as unto children, my son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Despise it not, faint not. That means don't stop pursuing that holiness. Don't stop, don't despise it and don't let it stop you from pursuing what the preaching, what the Bible, what your Bible reading is saying. Because it's good, it's saying right here, it says, it means someone cares for you. I mean, I've said this many times, but when people stop giving you advice, they've pretty much given up on you. Look, the Bible's not giving up on you. You have to give up on it. You have to stop pursuing it. Look, the chastisement of God has no limits, folks. But if you don't afflict your souls, it will end up with you being cut off from the people. Look, Paul, go to 1 Corinthians chapter three. Paul ran into this all the time in his life. Paul ran into this all the time. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter three. Look at verse number two. 1 Corinthians chapter three and verse number two. So what do we know so far? We know that hard preaching, as the term is thrown around, is simply a preacher that gets up and just doesn't filter the Bible to you. He just tells you everything. And look, I mean, you're reading the New Testament this month. Is there not a lot of things in there where you're just like, man, nobody really preaches this stuff anymore? Have you not seen those things as you read through it? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter three. So we know that hard preaching is the whole Bible. The pastor does it because he actually cares. He loves you and he's commanded by God to give you all of the words of the Bible. And for you to receive it, for it to work for you in your life, you have to humble yourself. Basically is what Leviticus chapter 23 is talking about. Just like somebody needs to be humbled to be saved, you have to be humbled to continue benefiting, to continue growing from the words of the Bible. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter three and verse number two. Look what Paul says here. He says, I've fed you with milk and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able. So look, he tried, he's talking about doctrines here. He's like, he tried the meat. He tried the heavy doctrines and he was just like breaking the people. So he like went back to milk. And he's like, what he's saying is I fed you milk and then I went to meat and he's like, you couldn't handle it. He's like, you're just breaking the people. And then he's like, so I went back to milk. He's like, you're still, he's rebuking them here. This is a rebuke right here. He is saying, you're still not able to handle it. He's like, you're still not able to handle the whole, you know, all the doctrines of God. So I have to go back to, he's like, I had to go back to milk and I still have to give you milk. He's like, why are you not able to handle it? This is important. This right here is important. Why we all need to grow together as a church. Look, it's important because it's a challenge. I get it. It's a challenge for a church to grow together, but there is always going to be those hard sermons there. There's always going to be those Bible sermons there because look, it's my duty from God. And you know what, why does, you know, this is why a pastor, a pastor can't be greedy for filthy lucars' sake. Because this is why they do it. This is why they do it. This is why you see pastors, they're just trying to like get as many people in as possible. Get as many people as possible. This guy's in this kind of sin and 1 Corinthians 511 says, you know, if we're in a case, they'll, ah, you know, we'll just cover that one up and, you know, because they want, they just want more people, more people, more people. I could care less about money. I care less. You can't be this type of pastor that cares and is going to preach the whole word of God and be in it for the money. It's not going to work. Because that's why they do it though, because they're just trying to keep the people happy in the church. So there will always be, go back to Hebrews chapter 10. There will always be hard preaching here. And guess, you know, there's going to be hard preaching on the world, but there's going to be hard preaching to the church as well. It's the purpose of this institution that God put here. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse number 23, or look right here. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to what? To good works. So look, the Bible, the Bible is going to provoke you to good works if you afflict your soul. If you take your Bible reading, if you take the preaching in humility, it is going to provoke you unto good works. And by that we are to, you know, comfort one another and we are to help each other and build each other up. Look, this is talking about verse 23 or verse 24, it's talking about growth. That's it's talking about Christian growth, where you hear the Bible with the right soul, with the right heart and you just grow from there. And then you hear another hard sermon and you're just like, bam, you get another one in the face and you're just like, yeah, I, you know, ouch, that hurt, but then you're just like, I got to change some things and I got to move forward in my life. And this is Christian growth right here. I mean, that's, that is verse 24, Christian growing. And then verse 25, of course, don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. You know, but yes, we're supposed to be together. We're supposed to read the Bible. We're supposed to hear the word of God preached. This is Jeremiah was supposed to say all the words of the Lord and that's supposed to make us do works. That's supposed to make us grow. Yeah, we're here to worship. I get it, we're here to hear the word of God too. 2nd Peter 3 18 says, but grow in grace. You're supposed to end in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. See that as you get more knowledge from the Bible, you're going to grow in grace. That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to grow in grace. But here's the thing, you're not supposed to hang out in grace. It doesn't say chill in grace. It says grow in grace. This is why I don't know how many times you've said you've heard pastors preach this or say this, but there's really no like cruise control in the Christian life. You're either growing or you're falling backwards. Well, that's tough, right? You're like, I just like to peg it on. I just like to peg the cruise right here. I feel like I'm pretty separated right now. I feel like, you know, things are, but I mean, here's the thing. Your kids are growing up, aren't they? You're still going out there. You're still living in this world. Are you not? This is why people are going forward or backwards. I don't see any cruise control. I see forward growth and backwards falling is what I see because that's exactly what happens, but that's what we're supposed to do. There's no hanging out in the Christian life. Go to Jeremiah chapter 12 because hanging out in the Christian life is going to lead you slowly to a bad place. I mean, and here's the thing, talk is cheap. It doesn't say, it doesn't say in Hebrews chapter 10, it doesn't say, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good talk. It says love and good works and work is work. Works are work. These things, look, I get it. I get it. These things that we talk about in the Bible, especially in the environments that we're in today, it's not easy. It is not easy to do. I get it. Having problems, help me help you. Look at Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah chapter 12, look at verse number one. We can go all over Jeremiah, but we'll just end here. Look at Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah, like he's having a hard time right here. He's not having a good time. Look what he says in verse number one, righteous art thou, oh Lord, when I plead with thee. Notice he says, notice he says here, he's like, he starts out saying, Lord, whenever I come begging for you, you are truthful, you are righteous, you are perfect. Look, he's about to plead for something here, is what he's saying. Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. He's like, he kind of gives God, he's doing, you know what he's doing here, he's doing the good news, bad news, good news, Oreo cookie here. You ever heard about that? But that's what Jeremiah's doing here. He's like, God, he's like, you're perfect, you're righteous. He's like, but I think that you need to reconsider some things, is what he's saying here. Okay, look what he says. He says, wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? He's like, wherefore are they all happy that deal very treacherously? Here's Jeremiah, he's walking around, he's just being persecuted by everybody. There's nobody that wants to hear anything that he has to say. He's like, God, he's like, why are you allowing these people to just be in, I mean, they're in wine and food and clothing, they have no problems. I mean, isn't that what we see? Isn't that what we see? We go out and the more comfortable, the more prosperous the wicked are, the less they are gonna receive what the Bible says. And we could be like, we could go out and have a bad day soul winning. We could go out and we could have like, this doesn't really happen in Fresno. But we could go out and we could just have people just slam. I mean, we had one like a week and a half ago where people just like were kind of rude to us. And it was like, I was taken aback by it. But here's the thing, I could have just said, God, why do you let these people in these nice houses and these, why do you let them prosper like this? You know, God, maybe you need to rethink this. You know, these people are all so happy and they just despise your word. Jeremiah's just appealing to the Lord. And look what the Lord says. Look, the Lord doesn't say, Lord doesn't say, yeah, you know, you're right and I'm gonna make things easier for you and all this. Look what he says in verse number five. He says, if thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if be in a land of peace where in thou trustest they wearied thee, then how will thou do in the swelling of the Jordan? You know what he's saying here? God is motivating Jeremiah to a degree here. You know, he's saying, look, and then he goes on to say in the verses after this, he's like, by the way, your own family's gonna turn on you now. He says to him in the following verses, but he says to him, if you can't handle what we have, what you have done so far, he's like, you're not gonna be able to come close to handling what's coming next. You can't run with the footmen. It's like there's horses coming next. And he goes to tell them that, you know what? Your family's gonna turn against you now. God is telling, well, he's talking to the preacher, but let me apply it to you. Let me apply it to you. If you, if you can't take the Bible, if you can't have the Bible preached at you, and take that and have that afflict your soul and take that and have that help you grow in grace, you will never be able to handle the world. That's the application for you. If you can't take what the Bible says, you have no chance. And guess what, neither do your kids. Afflict your souls. Take, look, take what the Bible says and grow. And grow in grace because guess what? The horses are coming. The horses are coming. That's what God is telling Jeremiah here. He's saying, suck it up and grow because it's gonna get worse. And if you sit here with little kids and you don't think that things, and I mean, I don't know how many times I have to say this, you don't think that it's gonna get harder. You don't think it's gonna get worse. You don't think that what they're trying to do out there to these kids, you know what? I love these kids and damn the world for what they're trying to do to the next generation. And if you think that I'm gonna stand by and tickle your ears, you got the wrong guy. You gotta take this preaching and you gotta grow with it. Because it's coming from a place of love. Guarantee. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.