Flip over, if you would, to 2 Peter, Chapter 3. Last week we were talking about that fact that there are certain scriptures that are commonly twisted by those who are atheists and people that don't even claim to believe the Bible. But wicked people will often want to use the Bible against us as Christians, and take scriptures and through them in our face, and twist them. The problem with it is that many that are even Christians will sometimes get lead away with the error of the wicked.
Let's look at that scripture one more time just as a quick review before I get into some commonly twisted scriptures tonight. Look at 2 Peter, Chapter 3, beginning at Verse 16. The Bible reads, "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
We see here in Verse 16 that there are scriptures that the unlearned and unstable wrest. The word "wrest" means to twist, so there are scriptures that are being twisted unto these people's own destruction, the Bible says, but in Verse 17 it warns us of being led away with the error of the wicked and falling from our own steadfastness. These wicked people, these people that are headed for destruction, these unlearned fools that don't know anything about what the Bible actually says, will twist scripture. Christians are being warned not to be led away and carried away with that.
We talked about how a lot of these scriptures that atheists will throw in your face, and that the unbelieving world will throw in your face; now you're starting to hear Christians teach a lot of these same doctrines that they picked up from the world. We're going to go through a few more commonly twisted scriptures. Last week, for example, we covered the scripture on, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at you," which is what you'll hear from people who don't even believe the Bible, don't even believe in Jesus, all day long, but they're going to explain that passage to you.
We ought to go to church and hear a Bible-believing preacher explain it, or go home and read it, and study it, and let the Holy Spirit explain it, but not let these wicked, ungodly people twist scripture and be led away in their error. Now go to Matthew, Chapter 7. This is probably one of the most commonly twisted scriptures in the whole Bible. This is something that unbelievers and atheists and agnostics are going to throw in your face all day long. When you try to be like Noah, a preacher of righteousness, when you try to just preach on sin, and cry aloud, and spare not, and show the people their sins, people will often be ready to just jump in and say, "Hey, wait a minute. Judge not. Judge not."
You'll often hear people say this: "Jesus said that we should never judge." If there's one thing that is my pet peeve, it's when people say, "Jesus said," and then they say something that he didn't say. It drives me nuts because of the fact that God's word is so sacred and so holy and set apart that it's so blasphemous when people add to his word. The Bible says, "The words of the Lord are pure words," and it says, "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
We should be very careful with this. Even these signs where they'll have a sign up and it says something, and then it says "God," like God said that. It'll say like, "If you must curse, use your own name. God," or some stupidity like that. God didn't say that, and I don't care if you're making a joke or what you think you're doing; you should never put words in God's mouth, or words in Jesus' mouth. Whenever anybody says, "Well, God said, or Jesus said," the question should always be, "Chapter and verse?" "What's the chapter and verse where Jesus said that?" because if you don't have a chapter and verse, then Jesus didn't say it.
Don't just come at us with all this, "Jesus said don't ever judge." No, let's see what Jesus actually said. For many people, this verse in Matthew 7 just ends after two words. I guess this to them is like, "Jesus wept," just one of those really short verses in the Bible, just "Judge not." But it says, if we read, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
If we actually read the whole passage of five verses, we can see clearly what this scripture is talking about. It is a rebuke of hypocrites. That's why in Verse 5 it says, "Thou hypocrite." This is talking about a person who judges others for something that they themself are guilty of.
Flip over to Romans, Chapter 2, Romans, Chapter 2, to the right in your Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Romans, Chapter 2. He says in Verse 1, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself." Again, a lot of people just stop there and say, "Hey, if you're judging another you're condemning yourself," but look at the next verse, or the next words: "For thou that judgest doest the same things." So who is this rebuking? Some who judges someone for doing something that they themself are guilty of. That would be a hypocrite. "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" and on and on.
Flip back, if you would, to Matthew 7. We see that both Romans 2 and Matthew 7 are telling us not to judge someone for something that we ourselves are guilty of. Often the thing that we're guilty of can be even worse than the thing that we're judging, and that's just utter hypocrisy. The Bible says here in Verse 5, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then" don't ever judge anyone. Is that what the Bible says here?
Male: No.
Congregation: [crosstalk 00:06:56].
Pastor: He says, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." See, they never made it to Verse 5, where God's actually telling you to judge. After you get the beam out of your own eye then you see clearly, and you "cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
A beam is a huge piece of lumber that's used when you're building a building, and a mote is just a little tiny speck of sawdust, or a little piece of wood that you get in your eyes. I know I've had a piece of wood in my eyes many times back when I worked in construction. You'd be drilling holes in the wall above your head and a little piece of splinter would get in your eye, and it's very irritating. What's even worse is when you get a little metal shaving in your eye. That's even worse.
When you have a little splinter in your eye it can torture you sometimes even for hours. I've had it in there for one, two hours, and sat there and tried everything. You're turning it inside out and running water in it and everything. A lot of times people are going, "Let me help you. Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, my brother." That's what people always said to me on the job site, and I'm like, "Thou hypocrite!" but people will want to help you. These people are not malicious people when they say, "Let me pull out the mote out of thy eye." They want to help.
Sometimes what they do is not helping, and they're hurting you, and stabbing their finger into your eye, and you're like, "Just leave me alone. I got this. I'll do it myself," but honestly, if you stop and really think about it, someone removing the mote out of your eye is really doing you a favor because having that mote in your eye is debilitating. It causes you not to be able to do your job properly. It puts you through a lot of pain and suffering. You'd be so much better off to have the mote removed from your eye.
When we judge someone, and remove the mote from their eye, and correct someone, and reprove someone, and tell them that they're wrong, and try to help them get it fixed in a loving manner, speaking the truth in love, we're not out to just burn people and hurt people. At least we shouldn't be. We should be out to help people. Godly people will realize that we're trying to help them when we come to them and want to remove the mote from their eye, but the reason that this scripture is constantly twisted is because people will say, "Don't ever judge. They just oversimplify this to just, "Judge not. Don't every judge. None of us ever has the right to judge anyone or anything." That is a wicked doctrine because the Bible says that judgment must begin at the house of the Lord.
We need judgment today, and when we throw out judgment sin just abounds. Iniquity abounds. Imagine ... Go to 1 Corinthians 5. We're going to see this in action. 1 Corinthians 5 will show us how judgment must begin at the house of God, and how judging is crucial, because you might say, "Just to be safe, I'm just never going to judge." That's just not going to work. We all have to judge in our lives. There are wrong types of judgment and right types of judgment, and that's what we need to learn from scripture.
While you're turning there, let me point out that after the famous passage in Matthew 7:1-5, after he says, "Then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye," he follows it up with this verse: "Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." So the Bible, in the context of judging, because remember, nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental, there's a reason why this verse follows up Verses 1-5. He's saying that if we try to judge people that are dogs or swine, and we basically try to cast our pearls before swine, he says often that they'll "turn again and rend you," and turn on you, and just get angry at you. There's no purpose in doing so.
Listen to this verse: Proverbs 9:8 "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee." That's "casting your pearls before swine." That's "giving that which is holy unto the dogs." Your advice is a valuable thing. Your teaching and judgment can be a valuable thing, but unto the dogs and the swine it's just going to make them hate you and turn again and rend you. He says, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee." Listen to this: "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." The Bible says when you correct someone who's wise, when you tell someone who's wise that they've done wrong and try to help them get it back on track, they're going to love you and appreciate you, whereas wicked people are just going to turn, and rend you, and hate you.
Keep that in mind when somebody comes to you and reproves you, or rebukes you, or judges you. Keep in mind that a wise man will hear a reproof and will take knowledge of it. Sometimes people are going to come and reprove you, and rebuke you, and they're wrong. That's fine, but you need to always be ready to listen to what people have to say and ask yourself, "Am I wrong?" and if you're wrong you're wrong. If they're wrong, well, then they're wrong, but either way we shouldn't just have this knee-jerk reaction of just, "Oh, don't judge me! How dare you reprove me, rebuke me!"
You'll call people on the carpet for serious sin: fornication, drunkenness. They'll, "You're judging me. Don't you judge me. 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone,'" but look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5. Of course in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5 we have a situation where fornication is taking place in the church and it needs to be dealt with. It needs to be judged. Look what it says in Verse 3: "For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed." Is the Apostle Paul shy about judging this guy for fornicating?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: No. He said, "I've already judged this guy that's committing fornication." If you jump down to Verse 12 it says, "For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?" meaning outside the church, "do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." Here's a command of God to judge those within the church that are guilty of being a fornicator, a railer, an extortioner, a drunkard, covetous, or an idolater. He's saying, "You need to judge these people and put away from among yourselves these wicked people." He says, "What have I to do to judge them also without? Do not ye judge them that are within?"
He's just incredulous: "Are you serious? You don't judge those that are within?" Why? Because it should be obvious to us from the majority of teaching of scripture that it's our job to judge those that are within the church and that judgment must began at the house of God. Now, if we back up in 1 Corinthians 5:1, it says, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you." Isn't that a horrible reputation to have as a church? "and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." Watch this: "And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed."
He's saying, "Look, you're present in body. You're there. You're seeing this physically in your church taking place and you're not judging. I'm all the way hundreds of miles away. I've already judged. I'm not even there and I've already judged this," but he says, "You're puffed up. That's why you haven't taken action." What does it mean to be puffed up? Prideful and arrogant, and some of the most prideful, arrogant, pontificating, holier-than-thou people in this world are these people that just, "Oh, we just should never judge anyone. You, down at Faithful Word Baptist Church are just so carnal the way that you just judge everyone, but we over here are on a higher spiritual plane and we just accept everyone. We will not judge anyone."
It's those that refuse to judge that are puffed up, that are filled with their own ego of just how loving and tolerant they are, but in reality we should not be puffed up to the point where we think that we can just handle allowing sin to run rampant in our church. No, we can't handle it. It's going to leaven the whole lump. We need to come down to earth, and land that plane, and deal with sin in the church, and judge. The Bible says we must judge.
Right after the Verses 12 and 13, where he says, "Do not ye judge them that are within? Put away from among yourselves that wicked person," look at Chapter 6:1, because the same thought is continued in Verse 1 of Chapter 6, so it doesn't end at the end of Chapter 5. It keeps going into Chapter 6 and says, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?" Isn't that interpretation of Matthew 7 starting to look silly, that just says, "Never judge?"
Male: Yeah.
Pastor: ... when he's just saying here, "Don't you judge people in the church?! Don't you know we're going to judge angels?! How much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" No, no, no, because we all just don't judge here. Anybody? Can anybody judge? "Nope, not me. Judge not. Judge not. Judge not." People just repeat that over and over, and they hear it from the world. They hear it from the unsaved. They hear it from ...
Look, it wasn't some Bible-believing fundamental Baptist preacher who started this teaching of just don't ever judge for any reason. No, it was wicked, ungodly, sinful people out there who got tired of getting preached against, so they just latched onto this verse, and they just quote it. It's just like every drunk in the city knows the story about Jesus turning the water into wine. They know that Bible story real well, and every single adulteress and every single fornicator knows the story about, you know, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." Funny they don't really reference 1 Corinthians 5 much. They don't reference Chapter 6 much.
We need to take the whole council of God and we need to get this interpreted with other scripture. God's people are good at doing that. The world butchers it. Then we're so busy listening to them we lose sight of what these pastors are really teaching. This passage in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 6 about judgment in the church is a very important and critical passage. This is talking about people who defraud one another, because the Bible says in Verse 6, "But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren."
What type of crimes are we talking about in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 6? We're talking about people being defrauded, being ripped off. In Chapter 5 we saw sins like extortion, fornication, drunkenness, and in Chapter 6 we see that some people are being wronged or defrauded. What they want to do in order to seek restitution is they take their brother or sister to law and basically sue their brother and sister in Christ. Do you understand that?
It would be like if I had some financial dealing with someone in the church and they owed me X amount of money, and then I were to basically say, "I'll see you in court, buddy." I would sue them in small claims court, and take them to court, and seek restitution for that which has been defrauded me. God says that this is an utter fault. It's sin and it's ungodly to do that.
Let me just point out first of all that this is not talking about someone who commits murder, or someone who's a rapist, or someone who's a molester or something like that. Anybody who commits those type of sins that are worthy of death will be turned over to the authorities, of course, because they're the ones that are a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. They "bear not the sword in vain" in Romans 13.
What kind of punishment is the sword used for? I've never seen anybody get a beating with a sword. I've never seen anyone get any kind of punishment with a sword other than having their head chopped off, or being stabbed and slain with the sword. When the Bible says that the government in Romans 13 is a minister to execute, "a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." It's talking about the government putting people to death for crimes. It's talking about them carrying out capital punishment.
Let me say this: If someone is ever caught in our church committing murder or being a molester, that type of pervert, then they will most certainly be turned over to the author-, because we don't have the ability to put people to death. Obviously, we have to abide by the laws of our land, and we're not going to sit there and be a vigilante and take things into our own hands. We would turn people like that over to the authorities. We dead sure wouldn't sweep it under the rug like some of these churches do. We would expose it, and get it out, and turn it over to the FBI, or the police, or whoever.
Let me say this: Anything short of that, any kind of stealing that takes place, or any type of damage to somebody's car, or any type of paperwork, or contract, and different disputes should not be taken to civil justice, and should not be taken in a lawsuit, but should be judged in the house of God. We as a church have the right to judge those who commit these type of sins and fraud. The Bible says ... I want you to pay real close attention to this important chapter because you don't hear a lot about this chapter, and it's a key chapter, because it says in Verse 4, "If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church."
Why would he say that? Why would he say, "Hey, if you want to have somebody pass judgment in the church, find the least esteemed person and put them in charge?" He says in the next breath, "I speak this to your shame." He's basically saying that to make fun of them and to mock them. Why is he saying that? Because he's saying, "You'd be better off having the least esteemed person in the church judge you than having the world judge you." He's saying, "You're going to get more justice with just the lowliest church member judging you than one of these wicked people out in the world judging you."
That should tell you something about the secular justice system, and I don't think it's better now in the United States than it was back in Corinth. You don't get a lot of justice in this world through the legal system. You're a lot better off seeking justice and redress in the local church. Now, you say, "I'm not getting any justice there," but look what he says in Verse 7: "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" He said, "You'd be better off just letting yourself get ripped off than to go to law with your brother in Christ," and yet people will sue their brother and sister in Christ at the law, even though the Bible is very clear in this passage that that is the wrong thing to do.
We should not ... If I ever caught someone stealing here, we would, as a church, mete out the biblical punishment for stealing, which is that that person would pay back what they stole fourfold. That is the biblical punishment, not locking them in a cage. I don't care how much somebody stole; I would not turn them over to the police to be locked in a cage and to have their life destroyed by them being put in prison.
The Bible says, "Let him that stole steal no more." It says, "Let him work with his hands the thing which is good, that he may ..." We need to give people a chance to repent, and do what's right, and live an honest life, but our justice system locks people in prison, which can often destroy their marriage, which will often cause them to lose their job, which causes them to be around a bunch of ungodly people that could be be a bad influence upon them. Not only that, worse than that, then that person is going to carry around that felony record with them for the rest of their life.
They're not going to be allowed to own a weapon anymore because they have a felony on their record. Then every time they go to get a job they've got this felony, and then you wonder why people can't live an honest life. Because they made a mistake when they were younger, now they got to carry around this felony with them. That's not biblical. The Bible teaches that once a person has been punished you're supposed to forgive that person, and they move on, and they can live their life.
The whole idea of criminal records is stupid. It doesn't make any sense. You commit a crime. You get punished. You should get a new start. You should get a fresh start. You say, "That's to protect us from pedophiles." Yeah, but they should all be dead. Then you wouldn't have to have a criminal record for them. "We need to do background checks to see who's on the you-know-what offender registry." No, we need to check the registry down at the local cemetery and make sure that they're buried there where they belong, okay?
This whole idea of background checks and everything like that is a faulty idea, and it's not biblical. The Bible is real clear that people should be given another chance and forgiven. People who are pedophiles should be taken out and shot and executed. Then you wouldn't have that issue, but when it comes to thieves, sorry, thieves should not be shot. If somebody tries to steal from you, you should not shoot them. I know a lot of people here carry guns, and it's great that people here carry guns because they're exercising their Second Amendment rights, and I strongly believe in that.
I know that the gun owners at our church, which is like the whole church, are responsible gun owners, but you know what though? We need to be responsible if we're going to have guns and realize that you don't pull a gun on somebody for stealing. You pull a gun on somebody if somebody's life is at stake, or life is in jeopardy, and so forth. That's when you pull a gun on somebody. Now, if somebody breaks in in the middle of the night you pull a gun on them. If somebody breaks into my house tonight I'm going to shoot them before anything. I might give a quick warning: chk, chk. That's the warning.
Here's the thing: If somebody breaks in tonight ... But, see, here's the thing: If somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night, you're in danger. Your family is in danger, and that's self-defense at that point, but the Bible even clearly says if you catch someone stealing in the daytime you're not permitted to kill that person because of the fact that death is not the penalty for committing the crime of stealing. Being locked in a cage is found nowhere in scripture as a punishment for any of these things, and it destroys people's lives.
We need to judge people in the church and mete out a biblical punishment, and let people live it down and not turn them over unto the ungodly justice system. When we look at this ungodly justice system, God tells us what these people are like. Remember, he says in Verse 1 ... I just want to quickly go over this passage and then get into some other thing. It says in Verse 1, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another," meaning you have a beef with somebody, "go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?"
Let me just point out to you that the word "unjust" is synonymous in the Bible with "unrighteous." Those two words are completely, 100% synonymous and used interchangeably, "just" and "righteous." For example, in 2 Peter 2 it talks about God delivering "just Lot." Then the next breath it says, "that righteous man," because "just" means "righteous." "Unrighteous" and "unjust" are used synonymously. Notice he says in Verse 1 they're going to law before the unjust and not before the saints. He also calls the unjust the "unbelievers" at the end of Verse 6.
Look what it says in Verse 9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" These are the same people that we've been talking about in Verses 1-8 because Verses 1-8 are talking about how you should not go to law before the unjust. You should go to law before the saints, before the church. He says, "Know ye not, don't you know that the unrighteous or unjust," same people, "shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
What's he saying here? When you go down to the unjust to get justice in a courthouse from a worldly judge the Bible says you are going to people who are "fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners." That's who you're going to to be judged by. That's what unsaved people are like, according to the Bible, so if you go down there ... You say, "Well, but the judges they live a really godly, righteous life." Not if they're not saved.
Unsaved people are in the flesh. They do not have the Spirit of God, and they live a sinful life, and their life will be characterized by one or more of the things on this list. This is telling us that these type of people are not qualified to judge. He says, "Such were some of you." He's saying even if you've done this stuff he says you're sanctified. Now that you're saved you're qualified to judge, so according to the Bible the unsaved are not qualified to judge. They're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. They're not going to judge angels. They're not going to rule and reign with Christ on this earth, but he's saying you will as the just, as the saved. You are going to be ruling and reigning. You will judge angels, and the Spirit of God that is within you qualifies you to be a judge.
When we at the local church have a problem that needs to be dealt with, we as God's people are qualified to judge because we're saved. These worldly judges out there are not going to give righteous judgment because of the fact that this is the type of people that they are. The Bible is pretty clear here. All that to say this: We that are saved are qualified to judge, and there is a time and a place for us to pass judgment. The church is definitely a place where judgment needs to take place, and this idea of, "Don't ever judge," is just a false doctrine that's being twisted from Matthew 7 because they didn't read the whole passage of Verses 1-5.
We could go to a lot of places, but Jesus said in John 7:24 "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment," so there God is telling us, "Judge righteous judgment." Judgment must begin: "Don't you judge them that are within the church?" so we should actually judge. What's another scripture that atheists will come constantly twist and the ungodly will constantly throw in our face? Deuteronomy 22. Go back to Deuteronomy 22.
I'm just going through verses that are constantly used by the unsaved to rebuke us as Christians. They want to shut us up and put us in our place, so when we start preaching against sin what do they inevitably say? "The Bible says that we're supposed to love everybody." We showed that that's not what the Bible said last week. Then, "The Bible says he that's without sin among you, let him first cast stone." Of course, we explained what that actually means from the Bible and showed all that.
Then they would say, "The Bible says judge not." We proved that it says a little more than that. It actually tells us to judge over and over again. What's another commonly twisted scripture of the heathen that the ungodly will constantly throw in your face? It's so bizarre that we would ever listen to some unsaved, ungodly, wicked person tell us what Jesus would do, but they constantly do it, don't they?
Male: Yep.
Pastor: "That's not very Christ-like of you." They don't even believe in Christ, but they're going to tell you what it means to be Christ-like. We are confronted with it constantly. Here's another example that I want to cover of a scripture that's just constantly thrown in our faces by the atheists. This is a verse where they'll say, "The Bible teaches you to ..." Oh, you believe the Bible, huh? Oh, you're going to tell me what the Bible says? Oh, the Bible condemns me, does it? Oh, you're going to judge me based on the Bible? "Did you know that the Bible tells you that you're forced to marry the man who rapes you?" Have you heard that one?
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: Who's had an atheist or an ungodly person bring that up? Look at all the hands all over the building. It's so common that they'll twist scripture and teachings. Let's see if that's what the scripture actually teaches. This is another commonly twisted scripture tonight. Look at Deuteronomy 22:28. The Bible says this: "If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found, then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days." This is the verse that they're referring to.
They've got this scripture all wrong. They don't understand it. Keep your finger there and flip back to Exodus 22. First of all, let me explain to you the relationship between the book of Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy. The word "Deuteronomy" literally means "second law." That's what the word "Deuteronomy" means. It's a Greek name, and it basically, if you were speaking modern Greek to somebody, if you wanted to talk about the second thing, it's pronounced today [Greek 00:34:27], but it's "deutero," means "the second." "Onomy" means "law" because think about astronomy, and what does it have to do with? The laws of nature, the laws of science, when we think of things that end in "-onomy," because it comes from the word "nomos," which means "law."
We have "Deuteronomy," which means "the second law." Why is Deuteronomy called "Deuteronomy?" Why is it called "the second law?" Because a lot of it is a recap of stuff that's already been covered in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. He goes over all the sa- ... That's why you'll find the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, but then you'll also find them in Deuteronomy 5. So many things are repeated. God constantly does this in the Bible, and it's wonderful because it helps you cross-reference things, just like the four gospels. You can get cross-references and get more light on each story by looking at it from four different angles, or comparing the books of the Kings with the books of the Chronicles, and you get different insight.
It's the same thing with Exodus and Deuteronomy: a lot of repetition between the two because Deuteronomy is a recap of the things that have gone on in the previous three books. Here in Exodus 22 we're going back to the source here of what this law is talking about in Verse 16. It says, "And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed." Let me ask you something: Does the word "entice" sound like she's being forced?
Male: No.
Pastor: Or what the modern day culture would call "rape?" No. The Bible calls it "being forced?" Is that what you get from the word "entice?" No, because the word "entice" is like the word "seduce," and it means that basically she is convinced to willingly do something. That's what "entice" means, and you can easily look up the word "entice" in a dictionary, or hear the word "entice" used in any context. You're going to see that when you entice someone to do something they're choosing to do it because they've been enticed.
The Bible says here, "If a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." This is the exact same law as we see in Deuteronomy 22. Hopefully you have your finger in both places, but in Deuteronomy 22:28 it said, "If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found," halfway down the next verse it says, "she shall be his wife."
Then when we look at it in Exodus 22:16, "If a man entice a maid," check, "that is not betrothed," check: same thing as in Deuteronomy, "he lie with her," check, "he shall surely endow her to be his wife," check: same teaching, same doctrine. Then it says in the next verse, "If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." What is this saying? A man entices a maid that is a virgin and lies with her. Because he has taken her virginity, he is now obligated by this law in Exodus 22 that he has to marry the girl. Since he has gone to bed with her he has to now marry her.
Why? Because back in those days a lot of men did not want to be married to one that was not a virgin. Now her odds of finding a good husband have gone way down. Now the guy has to be willing to marry her now so that she can at least, since she's already been deflowered, that she could at least now have a husband that would take care of her, and pay for her, and provide for her.
If the girl's father says, "No way. This guy is a loser. I don't want my daughter married to this loser," then basically at that point he pays a fine as an alternate punishment. What is his punishment for lying with a maid that is not betrothed and so forth? It's that he has to either marry the girl, or if she doesn't want to marry him, or if her dad doesn't want her to marry him, then he can just pay a fine as an alternate punishment. Pretty simple isn't it?
When we go to Deuteronomy 22 we're seeing a restatement of the same thing: "If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found, then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away," that means divorce her, "all his days."
What confuses people in this passage is that they will focus in on that word "lay hold on her," and they'll say, "The Bible says, 'If he lay hold on her.' That's forcing her." Let me just explain something to you: It's impossible to lie with a maid without laying hold on her. If you lie with your wife you're going to lay hold on her. That's just part of the process, folks. That's ridiculous to give that teaching. When you read this and compare it with the word "entice" in Exodus 22, it's crystal clear. Not only that, but it says, "And they be found," which is another phrase that implies here that they're both guilty. They're both doing something that they're not supposed to be doing.
"He lays hold on her, lies with her, and they be found," then the punishment is x, y, and z. That's what the Bible is teaching here. You say, "Where did this crazy idea come from that the atheists are all spouting off about?" It actually comes from the NIV, the New International Version. Go ahead and look this up, Brother [Garrett 00:40:11], in Deuteronomy, Chapter 22. That's the old NIV. That's the 1984 NIV. They have the new 2011 edition of the NIV now, and I don't think I have one of the new ones yet in my stack of false Bibles here, but I do have this really cool recovery version, which comes in something like a VHS case.
There was probably a time when this was really cool: "Hey, we got a ..." you know. Just think: Somebody is sitting in some boardroom somewhere: "How can we get people to reconnect with the Bible? Because everybody is just into their videos. I have an idea. If we put the Bible in a VHS case people, they'll put it with their movies, and then maybe they'll thing they're pulling out a movie or something, and it's just like, 'Oh, that's the Bible! I'm going to read it.' The Recovery Version comes complete with a little VHS sleeve to go in." What will they think of next?
Anyway, this message has been brought to you by the Recovery Version. Yeah, they need to put it in a DVD case. You open the DVD case and then just boom: pages inside, and it's the Bible. What do we got there in the NIV? Nice and loud, Brother [Garrett 00:41:27].
Garrett: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her ..."
Pastor: Yeah, you know, sometimes you just happen to meet people. Sometimes you just happen to meet somebody and rape them. That's what the NIV just said. Listen to it. Read it again.
Garrett: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her ..."
Pastor: It happens all the time.
Garrett: "... and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver."
Pastor: Yeah, on and on, so this is where this stupidity comes from. It's from this NIV that changes it from just "lay hold on her," "entice her," that teaching, to just, "Oh, well, you know, he just happens to be da, da, da, da, da, whoops I raped somebody." This is the kind of stupidity and garb- ... The NIV has so many dumb things in it like that, where you read it and you're like, "Huh? Who translated this?"
Sometimes I feel like the NIV is just, they put the Greek and Hebrew into Google Translate and just whatever spat out that's what they went with. That's literally how it seems sometimes. It's such a poor translation, but that's what the atheists are doing. That's why whenever somebody says, "Why does the Bible say this?" the first thing you should always do is say, "Okay, well, let's look that up," because a lot of times you'll look it up and it's not even there in the King James. It says something completely different. Or you can look it up and get the context, get what it actually says.
That's a verse that's thrown around to discredit the Bible. The Bible actually talks about rapists being put to death. That's what it actually teaches, but if you look at the story, for example, with Dinah, who basically ... One of the sons of Hamor lies with her, and defiles her, and so forth. They were wrong to have slain him because it was consensual. It was one of those "entice her" type of situations, and that's a whole nother teaching in and of itself, but that goes to show you right there why you need to have a King James Bible. The NIV is making serious changes here that twist doctrine.
The NIV is basically saying, "Yeah, if you rape the girl you have to marry her now," instead of what the Bible was teaching, something that was consensual. It's sin. It's fornication. It's wicked. It should be punished by either a fine or they should have to marry the girl, the shotgun wedding, as it were, but it's not what these atheists are making it out to be.
All that to say this tonight: We looked at some examples last week. We looked at some examples this week. Don't listen to what the world tells you about the Bible. You can't trust what they tell you. Don't go on the History Channel to learn the Bible. Don't listen to a bunch of weirdos and atheists. Don't listen to unsaved Jews either, non-believing Jews. Don't let Jews explain the Bible. Let Christians teach you the Bible. Let the Holy Spirit teach you the Bible. Get it from a Bible-believing preacher. Better yet, get is straight from the Holy Spirit in your own Bible reading. Get it from both, but don't get it from unsaved people. Don't let them brainwash you about, "The Bible says ..."
I literally ... Somebody sent me over today a little news clip where this show that attacked me, it was called The Young Turks. Who's ever heard of that program? Yeah, there's this program called The Young Turks, and they did a little piece attacking me. This young Turkish guy says, "The Bible says that anyone who eat shellfish shall be put to death." That's not what the Bible ... The Bible never said that. First of all, we know that the dietary restrictions are no longer enforced in the New Testament, but newsflash: It wasn't punished by death back then. Eating shellfish was not punishable by death. Isn't that the type of stuff you here though?
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: "Oh, yeah, marry the man who rapes. Oh, yeah, you know, shellfish: [Die! 00:45:16]" but that's what they say because they're evil. They're wicked. They want to deceive you and lie to you, so stop listening to these people. How are we going to avoid it? Let's just close with this because I'm going to preach on something totally different next week. I just wanted to cover a few of these and just kind of give you the idea so that you can study on your own.
Let's just go back to 2 Peter 3 and just close one more time with this thought: It says, "As also in all his epistles," Verse 16, "speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." What's the answer? What's the solution? "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of, and in the knowledge our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
How are you going to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men? How are you going to have "sound speech that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you?" How are you going to be able to defeat these lies and false doctrine? By growing in knowledge. We need to know the Bible. We need to know our stuff and know scripture so that we're not led away with the error of the wicked when people come at us with, "Jesus said ..." "Yeah, I guess he did say that. Yeah, I guess he did say, 'Judge not,'" instead of actually learning what the Bible actually says and saying, "Wait a minute. I know what the Bible teaches. I know what's going on," and not being led away with the error of the wicked.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and for all the things that we could learn from it. Thank you for the perfection of your word, Lord. Thank you that we have the wonderful English translation, the King James Bible, which is true to the original, Lord. It's true to the Hebrew and Greek, Lord. Every word is without error, and we thank you that we can rely upon it, Lord. God please just help no one who's in this room to fall for one of these fake new versions that twist things and just destroys the perfection of your word, Lord.
Please just help us to be sure that we're getting our doctrine from the right source, which would be the local church, and also from our own personal Bible reading, and not from the world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, let's sing one ... Wow, we broke the record again? What do we got?
Speaker 5: 108 [up from 00:47:49] 102.
Pastor: Wow, 108 on a Sunday night. Excellent. You know what that means: ice cream after the service.
