 Amen. So keep your place there in James chapter 2. We're starting a sermon series on Sunday mornings that I don't normally do, but I thought it was important to talk about some things for the next few weeks on what makes us different. You know, I was thinking about that over the last week or two, and it's interesting because I got into a conversation a couple of days ago, literally two days ago, I had a really long conversation with somebody, a man who was from Iraq. He was originally from Iraq, and he moved to the United States, and this man and I had a conversation for about 40 minutes, and it was just a fascinating conversation. Let me just say this before I even get started with the sermon. You know, if there's been a false narrative, you know, placed to us in the media, it's a false narrative about Muslim people, in my opinion. Now, I understand that, you know, I'm not talking about the religion. Obviously, all false religions need the gospel. That's what they need. But every personal experience that I have had where I've run into somebody from the Middle East or somebody that was Muslim has been very pleasant. They're very nice people. I was talking to this man from Iraq, and we talked about all sorts of different things, and I actually said to him, because he told me he came over to the United States in 2008, and that was a tough time over in Iraq, and I basically said to him, I was like, man, I'm sorry we destroyed your country. I basically said to this guy, and he said, you didn't do it. He said it wasn't you. He just said, and it was interesting, because he was very pragmatic about the situation that he was in and his family and things like that, and he just said, look, it's just about money and power. That's all it is. And I said, yeah, I mean, that's a good perspective to have. The conversation, I'll talk to you guys about it after church. It was just, I love getting different people's perspectives on things. You know, people that have lived in different parts of the world in different situations, seen different things. I feel like that's a good way for us to grow as people, just getting people's perspective on things. But he made a comment. You know, he was obviously Muslim. He knew at this point in the conversation that I was a Christian pastor. That's kind of how I put it to him. And he basically said, he said, you know, he said, I don't understand why people that are religious, you know, these are religious books don't teach us to do these things. And I said, well, you know, from the Christian perspective, I came at it and I said, look, one thing you have to understand is that not every, and it's a deep conversation that I was not, I did not have time to get into with him. But I basically tried to explain to him that just because a church has a cross on it doesn't mean they follow the Bible. And that's what I tried to get across to him in those few minutes that I had with him. I said, there's a lot of churches out there. I said, they claim to be Christian that have crosses on the building that you may look at and say, that's a Christian church, but they are not doing what the Bible says. And I said, any Bible believing Christian was against what happened to your country. You know, or they were lied to and they were, they were believing a lie that, you know, that they were told basically. And, you know, he, I think he kind of got that, but we didn't have, you know, hours and hours and hours to talk to, but very nice man and got in a, you know, just a great conversation. I worked with a guy from Afghanistan for a couple years and I actually got a chance to give this guy the gospel, but again, very, very nice and sincere person. And so all of my experiences that I've met personally with Muslim people from the Middle East have been very good. They're very kind of people. Of course, they need the gospel and we should give them the gospel whenever we have the chance to do so. All right, but that, that being said, what's the point of telling you that story? The point of telling you that story is the sermon series coming up in the next couple of few weeks is going to be talking about why we are different. Why, why are we, what is different about us? Why do you come to church here? What is different about this church than the dozens and dozens and dozens of other churches in this area? What's the difference? And the difference really is the same as I told this man from Iraq. The difference is doctrine. The difference is doctrine, not just the gospel. Not just the gospel. That eliminates, look, the gospel and the correct gospel would eliminate 90% of churches in the area that say that they are Christian. But even that 10% that has the gospel correct, the doctrine is the key. It is things that they are not saying. It is things that they are teaching that is wrong. So it's not only omitting things, but it is literally teaching false doctrine. False doctrine. Look, a church could have the right gospel. And this is a perfect example of what we are going to talk about today. They could have the right gospel and teach much false doctrine. And that is why this is important. That's why this place, Fresno, needed a church like this. Because these things don't exist at every or any other churches in this area. So one of the first, what we are going to talk about this morning is in James chapter 2. Now James chapter 2 is one of the most misused chapters in the entire Bible. It is the most misused chapter. People pull one single verse in several cases in James chapter 2 and teach false doctrine. We are just going to talk about one of those today. So if you are in James chapter 2, what we are going to talk about today is some false doctrine that is taught out of James chapter 2. Remember your Bible reading rules. If you read a verse from the Bible in a common, look, a common tactic used by false teachers that teach false doctrine is they will pick one verse and just run with just one verse. Most of the time, the vast majority of the time, maybe all of the time, that can be solved just by reading a few verses above and a few verses below and you can get the context of that one verse. You can disprove them by the same page in the Bible. Many times. But James chapter 2 is, so our number one Bible reading rule, remember, is if you are reading a verse in the Bible or someone is showing you a verse in the Bible that contradicts other places in the Bible where there is clear scriptural doctrine, you are misinterpreting or they are misinterpreting that verse incorrectly. What we are going to talk about this morning is this false doctrine that is taught in liberal Christianity today that all sin is equal. That is what we are going to look at this morning. There is only one verse in the Bible that is used to teach this false doctrine. It is in James chapter 2 in verse number 10. This is a huge false doctrine that is basically creating these anything goes Christian churches and there is much false, there is much falsehood and danger that comes from it that we will talk about later but this idea that all sin is equal, all sin is equal in the eyes of God is false. It is not in the Bible but it is James chapter 2 in verse number 10 that is used to teach this. Look at James chapter 2 in verse number 10. So what we will do this morning is we will look at James 2 10 and then we will read James 2 9 through 13 and we will see what it actually is saying. James 2 10 says for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point. This is a person, first of all this person here in James 2 10 does not exist. This person does not exist. The Bible here is using an extreme example of somebody that thinks this is like the rich young ruler. Somebody that thinks they are perfect and they never sin. The Bible here is saying whosoever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point meaning this person only sins once in their life. Look what it says. He is guilty of all. See all sin is equal. That is what people will teach. First of all it does not even say that all sin is equal. That is not what that says. That is not what that says. Now let's go back to James chapter 2 in verse number 9. Let's get some context and see what it actually says and then we will go and just look at biblical evidence on whether or not all sin is equal or not because look we can't read a verse and interpret a verse if it contradicts clear scripture. Look at James chapter 2 in verse number 9. What's going on here? James chapter 2 in verse number 9. First of all some context on James chapter 2. The whole chapter is about how we how our actions affect our Christian lives, especially our brothers and sisters. How our works, what do our works mean? As a Christian do your works matter? The answer is yes. Your works do matter. As a saved believer what you do matters. It matters for you, it matters for your family, it matters for your brothers and sisters in Christ. It doesn't matter for your salvation but it matters for your life. The Bible in James chapter 2 is trying to teach Christians to be profitable to one another, to matter for one another. A friend of mine that says hey I need some help moving and I'm like hey I hope that works out for you. Good luck with that. That is not somebody that's profitable to me. Now if I'm like hey I need some help moving and everyone's like hey I'll be there on Saturday or whatever that's profitable right there. All right? It's talking about being profitable not just speaking, not just saying things which is important in the Christian life. Look at James chapter 2 in verse number 9. Looking at this idea of all sin is equal. The Bible says but if you have respect to persons you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. The Bible here is saying like what are they doing here? They're treating people better or worse according to how much money they have. That's what they're doing. People are coming into this church and the people that have a lot of money they're like hey you know they're they're treated you know well you sit in their best seats and you do all this and the people that don't have the money they're just like yeah you know you're lucky we let you come here. So he's just saying you're sinning. You are committing sin and then he says in verse 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet offend in one point he's guilty of all. So they're obviously prideful too. They were prideful and he's saying look by what you're doing is actually sin. Verse 11. For he that sayeth do not commit adultery said also do not kill. Now if the law now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the law. Notice how he didn't say in verse number 11. So he's basically saying like hey if you don't do this sin over here if you're super judgmental against people that commit adultery because you don't commit adultery and then you go over here and you kill he's like you're as guilty of the law as this person here. That doesn't mean you committed adultery though. It doesn't mean you committed that sin. Then he says in verse 12. So speak ye and so do that you shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. So two things here. He's saying in the sense verse number one he's saying in the sense that you know we all deserve damnation even if we commit one sin is what he's saying. You're guilty of the law. If you sinned it doesn't matter which sin. You're guilty of the law. And the second thing is he's also reminding us to have mercy on our brothers and sisters in Christ. To just remember that hey we're all sinners. All right we're all sinners. So you know you should have mercy towards your brothers and sisters. That's just a good you know philosophy to have and the Bible clearly teaches that if you're this person that is just completely unmerciful to others then where you're having problems God is going to be unmerciful with you is what that is saying. That is not saying that all sin is equal in the eyes of God. So look it's easy to disprove from the Bible and that's what we're going to do in the next few minutes but it doesn't even make sense to people. It doesn't make sense to your conscience that all sin is equal in the eyes of a God as if and look people have been we're going to go through this sermon series and I hope that you realize how crazy some of these things seem. People have been convinced to believe crazy things today like like stealing a paperclip from work which is wrong that's theft is as bad as going and killing 20 people but that's what people believe today. It's culty it's weird it's weird like it's wicked is what it is all right. I mean all sin is not equal. Well you say well pastor prove it to me go to John chapter 19 John chapter 19 first of all the Bible clearly teaches that there is I mean Jesus himself says that there are some sins that are worse than other sins. Jesus himself teaches this. So the first point is this there's greater sin in the Bible which means there's lesser sin in the Bible. Go to John chapter 19 verse number 11 this is Jesus himself speaking in John chapter 19 and he's talking to Pontius Pilate here and look Pontius Pilate was clearly not doing the right thing Pontius Pilate was clearly in the wrong he was influenced by the Jewish leaders and he was clearly not doing the right thing by convicting and executing an innocent person just in that sense all right look at John chapter 19 verse number 11 verse number 11 Jesus answered you know Pontius Pilate is basically saying to Jesus he's like how come you're not speaking to me why aren't you saying anything and answering yourself because don't you know that I'm the one that I'm the one that controls your fate basically is what Pontius Pilate is saying to Jesus and this is how Jesus answers him he says thou could us have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above he says therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the what the greater sin he doesn't say here he doesn't say here that so first of all that James 2 10 we must be interpreting that wrong if we believe that you know all sin is equal that contradicts what Jesus clearly said to Pontius Pilate right here Jesus said to Pontius Pilate like he didn't say you're not guilty he said to Pontius Pilate yeah you're sinning but the the Jewish leaders the Pharisees the the chief priests all these people he's like they're committing a greater sin that means a worse sin a more serious sin so obviously according to Jesus not all sin is equal and the bible doesn't contradict itself folks so right away we know James 2 10 we could just stop right there and go and pray we're interpreting James these people are interpreting James chapter 2 and verse number 10 wrong all false doctrine has an agenda by the way all false doctrine and every single one of these doctrines that we're going to talk about in this sermon series has an agenda and that agenda is ultimately the agenda of satan but it is an agenda to destroy the church and that's what i'm going to show you this morning go to Ezekiel chapter 8 Ezekiel chapter 8 look at verse number 13 this just this idea that all sin is equal it just contradicts clear verses in the bible Jesus said there's a greater sin Ezekiel chapter 8 look at verse number 13 Ezekiel chapter 8 verse number 13 the bible says he said also unto me turned thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do again in verse 15 it says greater abominations meaning there's things that god hates abominate look abominations are something that god hates so you pay attention to that word in the bible abomination mean god hates it in verse 15 he's saying in verse 13 in verse 15 he's saying god hates some of those abominations worse than others he's saying there's greater abominations look folks there's greater sin it's very clear in the bible turn to matthew chapter 23 here's the second point there's great there's different levels of punishment in the bible this is from this is from genesis to revelation this different levels of punishment we could study the bible for eight hours on different levels of punishment this is super clear in the bible and look again it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense to even a normal person's conscience that all sins would have the same level of punishment no society in the history of mankind has ever operated that way i mean it's ridiculous to think i mean you would have to execute everyone or punish no one we're heading in the second direction in this country look at matthew chapter 23 look at verse number 13 matthew chapter 23 verse number 13 but well unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for he shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in he says well unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites he's saying your false prophets you're teaching the wrong thing he's like you're not going to go to heaven and you're stopping other people from going to heaven is what he's saying you're like oh jesus was look you see the explanation explanation points here jesus is screaming at these people he's saying well unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites he's saying he's yelling at him for devouring widows houses and for pretense make long prayer therefore you shall receive the what the greater damnation look anybody that sins and is not saved is going to hell but there's going to be a greater punishment for different sins in hell they're going to receive a greater damnation same place same hell ending up in the lake of fire but it's going to be worse for some people and look this kind of eases your conscience too because to believe that somebody like you know Stalin or somebody that murdered you know tens of millions of people is going to just get the same punishment as somebody that just you know lived a normal life but just did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that doesn't really fit either but the bible here is saying is that everyone's punishment will be just everyone's punishment will be just and people some people will have a greater damnation false prophets reprobates all these people are going to have greater damnations right look at mark chapter 12 mark chapter 12 and verse actually you go to first john chapter five and i will just read for you mark chapter 12 and he said unto them and this doctrine beware the scribes you're going to first john five which love to go in long clothing and love salutations in the market places and the chief seats and the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at feasts which devour again devour widows houses and for pretense make long prayers these shall receive greater damnation again talking about the false prophets of his time they're going to be punished worse than other people look at first john chapter five verse number 16 the bible says this i mean the bible says that different sins literally have different punishments first john chapter five verse 16 if any man sees brother a sin sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto death i do not say that he shall pray for it all unrighteousness is sin that means that basically matches john 2 10 right there that's what john 2 or james chapter 2 and verse number 10 is saying is that all unrighteousness is sin that's what james was saying he's like hey self-righteous people all unrighteousness is sin is what he's saying to that church but he says all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death meaning some sins aren't punished with death like in the civil law in the bible look at exodus chapter 22 look even stealing in the bible even stealing had different levels of punishment i mean the bible is incredibly detailed in the civil law it's what certain crimes are punished with in god's civil law it's not like everyone is executed no matter what they do or just everyone is let off the hook no matter what they do even stealing in the bible is extremely detailed on the situation at hand look at exodus chapter 22 and verse number one is just an example of this exodus 22 and verse number one the bible says if a man steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it he should restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep he's saying here like if you steal something then you have to he's giving detailed examples of how much you have to pay back it doesn't matter what you did with it you killed it and ate it yourself or you sold it is like you need to give five five cows for a cow and four sheep for a sheep and just that makes just a lot of sense right there that makes a lot of sense because taking somebody that steals your car and just locking them up in prison for five years doesn't get your car back but if somebody had to go and they had to pay you four times your car look you're like oh man they wouldn't be able to afford that then they'd have to go and they'd have to work off that that time they'd have to work for that look you're going to have a lot less car theft in in those cases and it gives restitution to the person that lost property look the bible just makes so much sense in everything that it does now look at verse number two it says if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die there shall no blood be shed for him that's the first case all right now we're going to break it down into a second case here it's saying basically if a thief comes and is breaking into your house is and and you know you kill him you know you smite him in a way whatever that means you you you attack him in a way he's in your house that he dies there'll be no blood shed but look at verse number three and this reflects laws that we have today by the way in verse number three it says if the sun be risen upon him there shall be blood shed for him for he should make full restitution if he have nothing then he shall be sold for his theft you're like oh a soul for his death no that's just that's just servitude's a real thing it's a real thing you know that's what one of the modern you know some of the modern bibles they just replace slavery servitude with slavery no servitude every single person that's in debt has their labor they can pay that debt back if they have two arms and two legs and they go out and they can work and that's what we've just forgotten today that you still have your labor if you have nothing that guy on the corner that's 30 years old has got two arms and two legs begging for money he's got his labor his pockets are full and he wants your money he's got his labor but he wants yours this is the problem this is the bible in verse number three it's saying if the sun be upon him meaning it's daylight you see it you see what's going on he's maybe breaking into your car and you see that he's not there to harm you or you can kind of you understand the situation that he's just a thief it's saying you should not kill him is what that's saying now a lot of people like i preached a couple weeks ago or last week that you know california everyone's down on california but california is actually pretty good about this one california has both the castle doctrine and a stand your down stand your ground rules or laws let me just read for you and i'll tell you how it matches the bible it says any person this is california law and code 198.5 or whatever it is it says any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or home residents shall be presumed to have held reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury what that means is verse number two in exodus chapter 22 it's saying but the nice thing about not every state has a law like that because what it's saying is if somebody breaks into your house it doesn't say day or night but it says it is presumed that you feared for your life so anybody breaks into your house in california you know you have the right to use deadly force in that case unless they can prove that you didn't have fear for your life so they have to they have to prove that you didn't fear for your life so they give that the presumption or the the reasonable doubt is given to the homeowner or that the owner of this you know that's the castle doctrine right there you know california also has you know a statement that says you know you have no you know you have no obligation to retreat in situations like that meaning somebody breaks into my house no i can defend myself at that point i don't have to run away there are laws i mean you laugh but there are some laws that say you know look if you can if there's a door anywhere and you could have gotten out of there you need to get out of there literally turning people into cowards that can't stand up for themselves can't defend their families basically is what that does all right but the point is exodus chapter 22 and verse number two and verse number three is breaking down specific punishments for a specific crime all right turn to james chapter three and verse number one so it is very clear throughout the bible the book of leviticus the book of deuteronomy the book of exodus talks about different crimes look there's a lot of crimes that are punishable by death those are crimes like adultery like murder like sodomy all these different things are punishable by death in the bible and it is very clear but other things are not the bible gets so detailed it even talks about manslaughter and somebody that's killed by his neighbor's ox and it goes into great detail on like okay uh you have an animal that kills somebody else you're not to be putting to death for that however we're only to put the animal to death however if you don't put the animal to death and it kills somebody else now you're now you're toast i mean the bible goes into situations talking about manslaughter where if you know somebody uh two men are fighting and a woman is is is hit and she's hurt when she's pregnant and loses the baby it goes into all these details of all these different situations as far as manslaughter is concerned you know um premeditated murder all these different things the bible details out and they're all different punishments according to the sin and the circumstance all right so this idea that just oh yeah you stole you stole a paperclip from your office or you took a pencil from school you're build the gallows we're going to hang you it's just it's it's ridiculous but that's what's being taught today that's what's being taught today we can go more and more into the bible on this but i mean it's clear from the bible that not all sin is equal there are greater sins it's clear from the bible that there are different punishments for different sins even to the point where there is greater damnation for certain people all right for people that are greater sinners and commit those greater abominations they're going to receive a greater damnation turn to matthew chapter seven so you say you know pastor what's the problem what's the problem you know why don't you just worry about yourself you know what's the problem why why is this a big deal if a church gets up and just preaches hey you know all sin is equal doesn't that just make people just you know ultra merciful and just you know just heirs on the side of mercy well several things come from this and the first one that comes from this is this idea that we should never judge don't ever judge don't ever judge are you are you perfect brother have you ever sinned one time don't ever judge that school shooter that went in and and shot up the school because you stole a pencil one time don't judge i'm being extreme but this is what people literally do all right look at matthew chapter seven so the first in it first false dangerous teaching that comes from this is this idea that we should never judge which is so stupid even on a common sense level that you should have who would ever who would let's raise our children to have no judgment let's hope that we have people that come into this church that have no judgment you know what that means it's like they're just like constantly just making wrong decisions and they have literally no thinking they have no ability to to string two thoughts together that's what it means to have no judgment when i decide you know that you know i'm i'm heading down the road i'm heading down the road and i see somebody swerve into my lane and i decide to slow down i just i passed judgment on that situation i passed judgment this is dangerous he's putting me in danger i'm going to slow down i'm going to move to the shoulder and stop i've got my family here i am passing judgment somebody that has no judgment just like nobody would want anyone around them that had literally no judgment maybe you've met people that have poor judgment you've never met anyone that has no judgment i mean you look at there's people in your life where you're just going to meet like that just i had a friend one time that was like this he just had very poor judgment like you just kind of like always when he should have went right he always went left you know and it like he didn't even really mean anything behind it just like he was always making the wrong decision i mean i wanted to i remember i took him hunting one time and i was like you know what he's never really been in a situation where he's had a good time hunting and i'll take him out and i know a spot and you know he'll you know he'll you know have a good time hunting i know this is a good spot so i took him out duck hunting and you know there is i put him in the best spot of the whole place and like i watched all morning just ducks fly over his spot all morning long for hours and i'm like why is there no shooting going on over there and i walk over to him and we're you know in water up to our chest and i walk over to him and he's sleeping on a muskrat mount he's asleep and i'm like okay this was a fluke and i'm like what were you doing you like do you know what happened over your head they were everywhere and i took him out the second time maybe a month later and same thing i put him in a good spot same thing just geese and ducks and just craziness over his head no shooting at all and i'm just like what's going on i walk over there and he's got his shotgun apart and it's in pieces he's got he's in water up to his his waist he's got pieces of his gun everywhere and he's like i took my shotgun apart and all the springs flew out and everything's in the water and i don't know i just said go sit i said go sit in the truck i was just like go sit in the truck no judgment no judgment but look you've never met or bad judgment you've never met anyone with no judgment that would be a dangerous person to be around look at matthew chapter seven in verse number one the bible says judge not that ye be not judged see never judge first of all that's not what that says it says judge not that ye be not judged let's try our a little let's try our let's exercise our judgment and read a couple more verses here the bible says for with what judgment you judge ye shall be judged exactly as james two ten is saying he's saying what mercy you give you will receive this is what this is teaching and what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again exactly what james chapter two and the first part of james chapter two that we read nine through thirteen is teaching and why behold us now moat that is in my brother's eye and really here we get to the brass tax of it right here but now consider us not the beam that is in nine oh nine you know what he's really saying here he's like hey don't be a hypocrite don't be a hypocrite before you can help out your brother you know you go up to somebody and they got a sliver in their eye and you say hey buddy you got a sliver in your eye and you got a red rod tie in your eye you're like oh you got a sliver in your eye you got a railroad tie in your eye and your buddy's going to be like ah yeah this is like somebody who's a drunk and going up and telling somebody like hey you know you should quit drinking it's like it's not going to work you're a hypocrite it's saying don't judge in things where you can't judge john seven twenty four says this judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment the bible is teaching that we should have righteous judgment so how would how would matthew seven one where it says judge not and we just stop reading it those two words how would that make sense if the bible says judge righteous judgment in john chapter seven the bible would clearly contradict itself so we have to understand that people are interpreting these things wrong they're taking one verse and many times they're taking two words don't judge they're even changing the words they can't even say judge not they can't even say you know what it's it's actually saying turn to back to james chapter two look at what they were doing in james chapter two look at verse number four actually let's read verse number one in james chapter two the bible is not saying don't ever judge or don't have judgment that's a ridiculous thought but that is what is taught from that is what is brought in after this all sin is equal don't ever judge anybody because all sins the same my brethren have not faith have not the faith of our lord jesus christ the lord of glory with respect of persons again he's chewing him out for respecting the rich people and not respecting the people that didn't have money for if they're coming to your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel and they're come also in a poor man in vile raiment and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou there in a good place and say to the poor stand thou there or sit under my footstool given the great spots to the rich people the bad spots to the poor people he says are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts you know what he's saying he said that's bad judgment you are passing unbiblical judgment is what he's saying he's not saying have no judgment he's saying you should be righteous in your judgment you should not be evil in your judgment it's very clear go to 1 Corinthians chapter five look folks just as an example go to 1 Corinthians chapter five 1 Corinthians chapter five judgment is super important in your life and it's also important for the leadership of the church judgment is super important the bible says that there are things that should not be allowed in the church again disproving that all sin is equal there are certain sins that are not supposed to be allowed in the church that's specific meaning that some sins will be allowed in the church some people could be in in the church struggling with certain sins and they can still be in the church but these six sins are not allowed in the church look verse 11 says but now i've written unto you to not keep company meaning they can't be here if any man that is called a brother meaning they're saved be a fornicator meaning they're having a physical relationship with a a woman or a man outside of marriage or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat how could we tell how could i tell if the person was one of these things if i had no judgment judgment is super important especially for leaders the better judgment a leader has the more righteous judgment that you have leading your family the better off your family will be as a matter of fact turn to first king's chapter three first king's chapter three judgment is so important in leadership it's literally the one thing that sulliman asked for when god said what do you want you can have anything he literally asked for that one thing and god was super pleased with that ask proving that god wants leaders and us in general to have judgment righteous judgment look at verse number nine sulliman says give therefore god says what do you want you can have anything he says give therefore thy servant and understanding heart why to judge thy people that i and what and then he defines judgment this is such a great verse because not only does it say i want to have a discerning heart i want to have a heart that's correct that can figure out good from bad but then he literally defines in detail what judgment is what is judgment judgment it's bad today in liberal churches they say oh you're judgmental you bet i am i'm judgmental i'm judgmental but i need to be righteous righteously judgmental what does that mean it means so i can discern that means tell the difference between good and bad find me a church leader that can't tell the difference between good and bad and i will give you a mess of a liberal church that's probably not even a church even though they may have assigned church on the building for who is able to judge this is so great of people look a leader i don't care if it's a pastor of a church or a leader of a family they need to see a situation look if you're a leader of a family if you're a dad if you're a father you're a husband you need to be able you're going to be doing this multiple times a day if you're doing it correctly you need to be analyzing situations many times your wife is going to come to you with a situation you're going to come home from work and your wife's going to be like here's the situation analyze that what you need to do is you need to analyze that situation and then you need to discern between good and bad what does that mean it means you need to judge and that is righteous leadership right there you need to have the ability to judge if you don't have the ability to judge you will lead nothing as a matter of fact you will lead people astray you will lead your family into a pit i will lead this church into a pit jesus will take away the candlestick from this church it will be a complete disaster if i do not have judgment and you do not have judgment you have to analyze and judge situations the bible tells us how to do that righteously so look folks it's an evil person that tells you that all sin is equal and you should never judge you say why why preach this turn to luke chapter 17 there's two main reasons there's two main reasons first of all this is a common hang-up for people in believing the gospel may not be like the most common but this happens all the time out soul winning it just happened to me a week ago where people are hung up they are hung up on believing the god of the bible they look they believe the bible they just don't know the details of the bible they don't know the doctrines of the bible and they're they're they're reluctant to believe the gospel they're reluctant to trust in jesus christ when they believe you know i just had a guy just a few days ago tell me you're telling me you know i tell him it's just about trusting on jesus that's it it's when you put your trust in jesus christ when you stop trusting in being good you stop trusting in buddha or mohammed or whatever else you're trusting in and you trust only on jesus that he died was buried and rose again for you in that moment you are saved you say are you telling me that that anybody could just do that that some some school shooter could go in and just shoot up 27 kids and then trust on jesus and then they would go to heaven no the bible does not teach that and this is look i don't go out and preach the reprobate doctrine as my regular soul winning as my regular soul winning presentation but in cases like this it needs to be taught it needs to be taught because it must be explained it must be explained that look folks people have had horrible things happen to them in their lives people have had people that they love be hurt in horrible ways and they look they don't want to believe in a god that would let these things go by as no big deal but we don't have that god and that's why this doctrine needs to be preached and it needs to be preached correctly look at luke chapter 17 if you turn there luke chapter 17 verse number two this is jesus this is jesus who people have feminized today and people have made wheat today and made this person that never talks anything loud or raises his voice has long hair walks around in a dress this is who jesus is though this is the jesus of the bible here look at verse number two of luke chapter 17 he's talking about somebody that would hurt a child jesus said it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck a millstone is like this big round rock like hang this big round rock that those wheels that you turn to sharpen knives and he cast into the sea then that he should offend one of these little ones he's saying he's saying it would be better if he was just drowned he doesn't say that you should drown him he's like he'd be better because when i get him it's going to be worse than that in roman chapter 12 god says vengeance is mine and we just studied this back on the on the number seven god's vengeance will be complete god's vengeance will be whole there is nothing that we could do on this earth that would match come even close to what god will do to somebody like this and what that's what that's a promise that's a promise this needs to be taught turn to roman chapter one this is why the reprobate doctrine is so important people will go to old ifp churches they'll they'll leave a good church and they'll go to an old ifp church and they'll be like well they're they're pre-trib and they'll talk about end time stuff and i'm just like i'm like okay you know but what about the reprobate doctrine they teach that like no i mean that's a deal breaker right there you say why because a church that doesn't have doesn't teach the reprobate doctrine which used to be common 20 or 30 years ago by the way a church that doesn't teach that will have extremely dangerous people amongst them it's a deal breaker you know why are we all concerned about end times theology the reprobate doctrine is literally was protecting the church and look we didn't make this up it's just it's what the bible says and god puts it in there to protect his people that's why roman chapter one and look i'm not going to preach this whole thing but look at roman chapter one verse number 24 roman chapter one is talking about when it's talking about people that are given over by god given up by god given over to a reprobate mind it uses this word over and over again it uses this form of the word it's talking about natural and unnatural it's talking about natural and unnatural just keep pointing this out over and over again look at verse number 24 roman chapter one look wall serious look wall serious while there are many serious sins adultery is a serious sin it is not an unnatural sin it's a different thing so we must understand that look at roman chapter one verse 24 the bible says wherefore god also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves you're talking about people that have turned on god changed god turned the truth of god into a lie god gave them up who changed the truth of god into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever amen for this cause for this reason god gave them up unto what unto vile affections for even their women did change the what the natural use into that which is against what against nature and likewise also the men leaving the what the natural use of the woman burned in their own lust towards one another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat and even as they did not like to retain god in their knowledge god gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient that means not natural so we see this natural unnatural convenient which means not natural they can't be saved god gave them up he gave them over and the thing that you need to understand is they were given over to a reprobate mind meaning a different kind of mind meaning this has not happened to everybody this specific thing so this idea this is why they were unnatural because they were given over to this rejected reprobate mind but see without this everyone is capable of everything everyone's capable what you are you perfect brother some serial killer child molester what have you never have you never have you never sin brother no no no everyone doesn't struggle with unnatural things you know everyone doesn't struggle with homosexuality that's why it that's why it says vile affections it wouldn't say that it would just say different affections it says vile affections because the natural person that hasn't been given over to the unnatural and it's true and everyone would admit this if they weren't afraid is that just all this sodomites and and the lgbt and all this stuff going on today with the trans all this stuff and and it's all unnatural and to most normal people it's like it's vile they look at it as vile i mean the bible is true folks we got to listen we got to listen and we got to we got to we got to teach every bit of it or the church is in danger so here's the thing folks not everyone is capable of everything you know well you and i we're going to struggle with this flesh our whole lives you know i don't struggle with being a serial killer that's not something that i struggle with or a natural person is going to struggle with not everyone struggles with vile affections not everyone struggles with that the natural person that has not been given over to that reprimand they don't they don't struggle with that so this all sin is equal doctrine is used to justify evil is what you need to understand and why it is so important to preach it and to preach it regularly it's it's used to allow wicked dangerous people to remain in a church i have been in a church where i have heard i have heard i knew people that were in that church that when they were growing up in an old i fb church literally someone that harmed in that way the pastor's children was allowed to stay in the church because of this doctrine this false doctrine of all sin is equal because they just they repented and they asked for forgiveness but not everyone has that problem it's an unnatural thing folks and look that will never happen here that will never happen here because i we will never have those type of people here because i draw those lines and guess what i've already had to and you know what at the end of the day it's easy to draw those lines as long as you're listening to the bible it's like unnatural things unnatural people will never be allowed here for this doctrinal reason they can't be saved it's a false liberal ideology and look it's a church killer it's a church killer and it's very harmful to just individuals especially the weakest people in the church which is the children and the women in the church but look this is satan's goal to destroy the church so every single one of these doctrines that we talk about in this sermon series you are going to see you are going to see how it works to progress satan's goal of destroying a biblical church but all we have to do all we have to do is just follow the bible and look it may be uncomfortable and it may be not what people want to hear today and it may mean that you know we don't have thousands of people in this church because we're not just all hey anything goes and come on in and whatever there's no rules we're just going to follow the bible and god promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against us in matthew chapter 16 it sounds like a pretty good deal to me and it doesn't matter what is taught and how weird it gets and what target does or whatever i mean like first of all there's been no reason to go to target for like 30 years i mean seriously is there a single tool in the whole store it's ridiculous there's nothing for a man there now there's nothing for any normal natural person there you know no one no one go to target but the point is we just follow the bible the gates of hell will not prevail against us jesus promises us that let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer