"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." The title of my sermon this morning is "Be Sober, Be Vigilant". Be sober, be vigilant.
Now, if you would flip over to 1 Timothy 3, what does it mean to be vigilant? When we think of a vigil, this is when people stay up all night. If people keep vigil, for example, when they're protesting a cause or maybe for a funeral service or a catastrophe that happens, they stay up at night. When other people would be sleeping, they're awake. That is a vigil.
Being vigilant means that you are awake, and you're aware of the danger. This is like a watchman, a security guard that would all night long be looking for that invader, that person who's there to attack. That's why the bible says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
Also, when the bible uses the term, "Be sober, be vigilant," there's another coupling that you'll see throughout the New Testament where he'll put together the words, "Watch and be sober." Watching, again, means to be awake. " Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." Vigilance is when we are awake and acutely aware of the danger that impels us.
Look at 1 Timothy 3. This is part of the qualifications for being a pastor or a bishop. The bible reads in verse two, "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach." Notice how soon vigilant comes up in this list. Even before his ability to teach is even mentioned.
Vigilance is critical because of the fact that the enemy would love to attack the church. The pastor's job is to stand guard and to be awake and aware of what happens, not just asleep and just letting all kinds of sin, and false doctrine, and lies come in, and ruin the church. The pastor has to be that spiritual watchdog to make sure that that doesn't happen.
Now, go back to Proverbs 1 because I believe that the opposite of being vigilant this morning is to be naïve, being naïve. Naïveté is when you think that bad things just aren't going to happen, and you think everyone's intentions are good. There are so many people who unfortunately see the world through these rose-colored glasses where they don't realize that there are so many really bad people out there that are just laying in wait for them.
The bible says in Psalm 11, you don't have to turn there, "In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart." The bible talks about wicked people laying in wait. The arrow is in the bow, and they're just ready to nail you. They're just looking for that opportunity to destroy you.
Now, we shouldn't live in fear or paranoia because the bible tells us, "How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? In the Lord put I my trust." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." God commands us to be sober and to be vigilant, and to realize that the danger is out there, and not to be caught sleeping, and then it will overtake us, and we will be unaware.
Now, look at Proverbs 1. I just want to show you, and I want to show those this morning who would be naïve that there are just evil people in this world. The bible talks a lot about it. Look at verse number 10, "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, 'Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent ...'" watch this, "... 'without cause.'" No reason behind it.
Now, a little later, they talk about, "Oh, we're going to steal stuff," and this and that. Then there's also just the lurking privily for the innocent just without cause, just for grinds, just going out and doing evil things for no reason.
Somebody smashed in the window. Obviously, this is a minor thing in comparison to a lot of the bad things that happen in this world. Somebody smashed in one of the windows on our van this week. It was just totally without cause. I don't even think that it was someone who hated us. I literally think that it was just someone just randomly bashing in our window because this is just what some people do for kicks. They just break stuff, destroy things. It's out there folks.
The naïve are thinking, "Who would do that?" Even worse than that, "How about laying wait for blood, lurking privily for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood."
They're just chomping at the bit just to hurt somebody, just to make somebody bleed and suffer. Look, these people exist. What does the bible say? "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof."
Go to Proverbs 4, just a few pages to the right in your bible. Proverbs 4. The bible reads in verse 14, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." Watch this. "For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall." This is what they live for. This is all they do. They can't even go to bed at night until they've destroyed someone's life, until they've hurt somebody.
There are naïve people out there who just don't think that this type of person even exist. "Oh, everybody is basically good." They just are very naïve about these things. No. The bible teaches they're very evil people who as it says in verse 17 there, "For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence." This is what they enjoy. This is what they do.
Now, go to Jude, the second to last book in the bible, right before the book of Revelation. Turn to Jude, and the bible warns us in a few places that these type of people will even creep into the church itself. Look at this in Jude beginning in verse number four. It says, "For there are certain men crept in unawares." These are people that we're not aware of. We think they're good people. We think they're nice people, but they're the type of people that we read about in Proverbs, unfortunately.
The bible says, " For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."
What's he saying? A lot of the people who went with the children of Israel out of Egypt did not believe in the Lord, but they still came with them. They were still among them. He says that they shout even be among us in the church. In 2015, we will have these kind of people who creep in unawares, and they are unbelievers. They're not saved. They don't believe the word of God.
You say, "Well, why would anyone go to church if they don't believe the bible?" See, you're thinking like a normal person thinks. See, the problem is that because we're nice people, we can't understand the way these people think because we think, "Why would I? I would never do that. Even I weren't even a Christian, I wouldn't even do that." You don't understand these people. Don't try to understand them. Just believe the bible when it tells you that they exist. If the bible tells you that these kind of people are out there, that lurk privily for the innocent, they don't go to bed until they've made somebody fall, just believe it. It's real.
What does it say here in Jude? "They believe not." That reminds me of Judas Iscariot. Even at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he looked at the 12 disciples and said, "There would be some of you that believe not." It says that from the beginning, he knew who it was that believe not, and who would betray him. He said, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
See, a lot of people will foolishly try to say that Judas lost his salvation. "Oh, a perfect example of somebody losing their salvation," except that the bible makes it clear that he did not believe. He was never saved in the first place. Even in the beginning, he said, even when he chose him, he said, "One of you is a devil." He knew that there is one that believe not.
It's impossible to lose your salvation because we have eternal life. It's everlasting life. We shall not perish. There are people who've never been saved, they don't believe in Christ who creep in unawares. Judas was one, and he was with them for three and a half years. He was so convincing that at the last supper when Jesus said, "One of you shall betray me," you don't see anybody going, "It's Judas." Every single person was saying, "Lord, is it I?"
They suspected themselves more than they suspected Judas. Even when Judas or I'm sorry, even when the apostle John, who leaned on Jesus breast at the last supper, even when he said, "Lord, who is it?" He whispered, "Dude, who is it?" Jesus said, "It's the one that I hand the sop to after I've dipped it." He dips the sop, hands it to Judas, and says, "That thou doest, do quickly." Judas gets up and walks out of the room.
At that point, Peter and John should have known for sure because they just talked about it, asked Jesus. Here's what they said, none of them even realized, they said, "It can't be him." When Judas is handed the sop, walks out of the room, they thought he was going to buy more food. They thought he was making a grocery run. "Hey, we didn't prepare enough food here. You go buy some more."
This shows you how convincing people can be. That are these people that creep in unawares. We need to not be naïve; we need to be vigilant. Especially, a naïve person should never be a pastor because then all kinds of people will just walk all over him, and bring in all kinds of horrible doctrine. He's like, "Oh, really? What's happening? because he's asleep. He needs to be awake, and vigilant, and sober.
What does the bible say here? He destroyed them that believe not that were among them. Look at verse six, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities."
Now, likewise means in the same manner, in the same way, likewise. What's he saying? These people would be so bad, they will be as bad as the people that you read about in Genesis 18, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said, "There are those type of people. They're even that perverted. They're even that sick as Sodomites," he says.
He says, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah going after strange flesh, giving themselves over to fornication." Verse eight, "Likewise ..." in the same way as Sodom and Gomorrah, he's saying, "... these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee.' But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity," watch this, "when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." That means they were at the church picnic. This is what it's saying. I'm not saying that we have one of these people amongst us right now, but if we don't have one today, we'll have one tomorrow. If we don't have one today, then we had one yesterday.
"These people shall be among you," the bible says. "Woe unto them!" He says here, "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."
We can really read into this and spend the whole sermon on this. The sermon is about being sober, and being vigilant. Just to point out a couple of things, when you look at these attributes, they all have meaning, each of these attributes. It's not just poetry. It is beautiful poetry, but it also has profound meaning.
When he talks about the fact that they're without fruit, these people are not winning people to Christ. They might go out and go through the motions. Judas went out two-by-two and went through the motions. I promise you, Judas did not win anyone unto Jesus Christ because everything brings forth after its own kind. Only a saved person can bring forth another convert unto true salvation. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit and neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. These people are without fruit.
They are twice dead. What does it mean to be twice dead? This is someone who is reprobate. They're not just dead in the sense that their spirit is dead like every unsaved person's spirit is dead. This is one of those people like it said to the Pharisees that it's been made twofold more the child of hell. This is the person who is twice dead. They are actually reprobate. That's a whole another sermon of itself.
"Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds." Notice it says that they're carried abut of winds. Then it likens them unto waves, and then it also says that they're wandering stars. Three different metaphors here that have to do with them being tossed about, blown about, and also wandering. These people will sometimes go from church to church is what I see there. You know what I mean? Wandering, they're here, they're there, they're everywhere.
I'm not saying everybody who wanders is ... Somebody says, "I am a truck driver." The bottom line is that these wandering stars ... Toss to and fro can also have to do with their doctrine. The doctrine will change from place to place, from time to time. It says of the adulteress, her ways are movable. You can't really figure out how to protect yourself against her because her ways are movable.
What is the bible saying here with these people? It talks about a double-minded man being unstable in all his ways. It talks about him being driven like a wave and tossed. The bible says in Ephesians 4 that we be not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. These people, because their whole goal is just to come in and devour and destroy, they'll basically change their doctrine like a chameleon depending on where they are because the goal is just to fit in. The goal is to creep in amongst the flock to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. They'll change the doctrine to suit whoever they're trying to attack.
That's why you'll have people come in here that have been from another fundamental Baptist church, and people have come in here and just all of a sudden, they're just on-board with everything like, "Oh, man! This is great." Then they'll go to the next church, and it will be like they're on the New King James or the NIV over there. You're like, "Whoa!" because when they were with us, they were all hardcore King James only. It's like the doctrine changes everywhere they go.
Listen, we have had many people through the years, our church has been around for almost 10 years, who have come in and turned out to be wicked people, turned out to be violent people, turned out to be a Sodomite, pedophiles, turned out to want to commit adultery, mean who wanted to commit adultery, women who wanted to commit adultery. There have been people who've come in here and brought in heresy and false doctrine, tried to split this church this way and that way. It's out there, folks. It's always shocking the first time you see it. For those of us who've been saved for a long time, we've seen it a lot. It's not that surprising when it happens. Plus, the bible has warned us over and over again.
Look at verse 18, "How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." These same people are described in Acts 20 as being grievous wolves that will try to draw away disciples after themselves, and try to basically gain their own following that tries to split the church and cause disunity within the church, and so on and so forth.
Look at 2 Peter 2. Now, 2 Peter 2 is a parallel passage with Jude, 2 Peter 2. I'm talking about the church right, but in a moment, I'm going to step outside of the realm of the church, and just talk about how we need to be vigilant in all areas of our lives. First, I just want to lay a foundation that we shouldn't have this attitude that the church is a safe place where we just let our guard down. We're vigilant everywhere else. We're vigilant at work. We're vigilant at school. Then when we come to church, it's like, "Oh, we're among friends," except for Judas and he's always there.
Now, look what the bible says in 2 Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there might be ..." Is that what it says? No, it says, "Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily," that means secretly, "shall bring in damnable heresies." They don't come in and just start trumpeting it. They start taking people aside, and teaching them strange doctrines quietly.
When the pastor is coming, they change the subject real quick, "Hey, how about those reads?" or whatever. Basically, they say, "They bring it in privily damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways." These people do succeed. They do come in, and they do take people with them, and they do corrupt people. "By reason of whom, the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetous shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
The bible is using really harsh language about these people because they are the type of horrible people that we read about in Proverbs. It says in verse 12, "But these, as natural brute beasts." Maybe to us, brute beast doesn't really sting that much as an insult because we were never called that on the playground or anything, but if they got brute means stupid, and beast means animals. He's saying these people are a stupid animal. It's like they're not even human, he's saying. They're beasts.
He says, "These as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls."
Who are the targets here? The new believers, the unstable souls, the people who are immature in their faith. They're babes in Christ. Not bad people but they're just unstable because they're ... or people who've been saved a long time and they're just still unstable because they're still a babe in Christ. They're just foolish or who else would be an unstable soul? Children. Obviously, children have not yet grown up and become stable, and confirmed, and rock solid in what they believe. They're beguiling unstable souls, "An heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children."
Go to 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3. What are we talking about this morning? Being sober, being vigilant. The first step in being sober and being vigilant is knowing that your adversary, the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. It's knowing that the devil himself is transformed into an angel of light, and that it's no marvel that his ministers are transformed into ministers of light.
Just knowing that these people are going to be amongst you, feasting with you, feeding themselves without fear, that is a huge step in being vigilant. Just waking up to the fact that there's even a danger, that there's even an enemy out there. Not being naïve about church, not being naïve about our fellowmen.
The bible says in 2 Timothy 3:5, "Having a form of godliness." These people put on some show or façade or some outward godliness that we can see. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away," because they denied the Lord that bought them. They denied Jesus in their hearts. That's the power anyway.
He says this, "For of this sort," that means this kind of people, "For of this sort are they which creep into houses." The word creep has been used multiple times about these people, creeping in privily, sneaking. He says, "Of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Again, emphasizing the fact that they are reprobate. They're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It says in verse eight, "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." There it is again. The bible is clear. Evil, reprobate, creepy people coming in privily, sneaking in. Their goal? Just to destroy. What's the purpose? Why? I don't get it. Of course, you don't get it because you're not one of them. You would have to be one to understand the mindset. You just have to by faith believe that there are people out there who are evil.
It's amazing how you talk to people, and they think that every false preacher, every false prophet, they think that their intentions are good, and they're just mixed up. Is that what the bible teaches? No. The bible says that the false prophets among you, they're creeping in, they deny the Lord that bought them. These people know what they're doing, they enjoy. It's a sport unto them. They come in only to kill and to destroy, and to hurt people, and to molest, and to corrupt, and to commit adultery, et cetera, et cetera. They are reprobate. They're evil people.
I don't think for one second that the pope, for example, is just a guy who just makes up on doctrine. The guy is an evil reprobate false prophet, and all his people that he surrounds himself with, these cardinals, and archbishops, and all these people. Now, look. I'm sure that the vast majority of Catholics are not these type of people. They're nice people that are just deceived. They're just fooled into it. The people who are running it, the guy who's running the service, the guy who's up there preaching, I'd say the exemption proves the rule, but 99% of them are just bad people. It's that simple.
We need to get off this naïve view of the world of just, "Oh, anybody who's a false prophet is just somebody who's just a little mixed up, hasn't learned yet." There are people out there like Paul where they're really into religion but they're just sincerely wrong. Paul was sincere. Paul did it ignorantly, but there are many people that are doing it knowingly according to the bible. The Core, Dathan, and Abiron of this world.
Now, flip over to Titus, just a few pages to the right in your bible. A lot of warnings in the bible. We're not even scratching the surface of all the warnings that God tells us to be vigilant, and especially in the church, especially about doctrine. Look what the bible says in Titus 1:14, "Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure." This is a mind-blowing statement. Listen to this, "But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure."
Can you imagine a person whose mind is so corrupt where nothing is pure to them? Everything is rotten unto them. " Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable." That means they're doing things that are abomination. "Being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Reprobate.
Now, if you would flip over ... Let's change gears a little bit, but flip over if you would to Genesis 34. Let's get a bible story from Genesis 34. Now, I want to change gears here. Yeah, there are really bad people out there. There are wicked people that are in the church. The reason I bring that up about church is that sometimes people just let their guard down at church to where they just think that everybody at church must be a godly person. The most important thing I want to say to you is do not leave your kids with other people outside your family, basically just a sleepover here, and a sleepover there, and people babysitting your kids.
A lot of times, people will literally let their kids be babysat by complete strangers as long as they're from church. I had somebody come to me when I was in the pew at an independent, fundamental Baptist church. They wanted my wife and I to go on a couple's retreat. They told us, "Leave your kids with so and so the family." I'm like, "I don't even know who that is. I've never ever seen them. I've never ..." "Oh, but they're from church." To these people, that was just case closed. I'm supposed to leave my kids overnight with people that I've never even met, never even see.
Now, I don't even leave my kids overnight or even unattended even for a few hours. I don't even leave my kids unattended with people even that I know very well for years, I don't. Why? Because the bible said that in the last days, perilous times would come. We're living in those times. The statistics are mind-boggling. The vast majority of these people who do the molestation, they do it to people that they know. The vast majority, it's a friend of the family, it's an aunt or an uncle or some cousin or it's somebody from church or someone that has their trust where they get their guard down. That's the majority of when this stuff takes place.
The best way to make sure it doesn't happen is to be vigilant, and to make sure that you don't let your kids out of your sight. You make sure that your kids are not left unattended with strangers or with people that you don't trust with your life.
I'll have my own mother watch my children, but I'm not going to sit there just because I know my mom, and she raised me, and I have no doubts about her. Even people that I know really well, I wouldn't just leave my kids with them. It only takes one time for you to have a bad judgment. Leave your kid with the wrong person, and then that kid gets scarred for life when they get exposed to something filthy.
Now, listen to me. We are living in strange times in the United States of America. I just saw statistic this week, listen to this, that by the time kids are 16 years old now, by the time they turned 16, 90% of them have already watched pornography. I'm not saying that they picked up a copy of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. That's bad enough. I'm saying, they've watched pornography. They've watched video. This is a statistic coming from the world. They're even admitting, "Hey, nine out of 10 now."
Now, my question is where are they getting this stuff? Where are they getting ...? Guess where they're getting it. A couple of places. Number one, they're getting it from school. Why? Because when you drop your kids off at public school, basically, they're unattended for hours and hours there. "Oh, no. The school is watching them." First of all, number one, the school doesn't have your morals. The school is not being run by golly Christians, number one. Number two is that no, they're not watching. They cannot effectively watch all the kids all day.
I went to Christian school, and I went to public school, and I'll tell you this. There were hours a day that we were totally left to our own devices. Today, left to our own devices would be quite literal. Now, it's literally devices, left to their own devices. When I was a kid, this technology didn't exist. I thank God that it didn't exist back then not because I don't think there's a lot of good that comes from the technology because there is. I just think to myself, "Wow! If I would have been a kid and I think about the way my friends were, and I think about the way I was, and I think about the atmosphere in the Christian school and in the public school," and I'm just thinking to myself that the wickedness would have been exponential if we would have access to these devices as kids.
I remember being a 12-year-old boy, and being at a school, a Christian school, Baptist school, but there were so many reprobate kids. It's possible for someone to become a reprobate even before they're 18 years old, believe me. I've seen it firsthand. I remember sitting in a class, in a bible class waiting for the teacher to come. We were waiting for 15 or 20 minutes. The bible class at this Christian class met in the library of the school. It's a little room that was a library.
We would all sit there and basically, while the teacher is being waited for, the activity because it was a boys' bible class. It was separated out. The girls were one class, the boys were another class. It's just a whole bunch of guys in this library waiting for bible class to start. The activity consisted of these older kids that are 16, 17 because it was seventh through twelfth grade. I was in seventh. Just taking down the national geographics from the wall, and they had it all memorized. Ms. March 1983 page whatever, just basically all the Black girls that are topless and all the Black girls that are in Africa that are just wearing nothing or whatever.
It was the closest thing that they could find to pornography. It was the national pornographic magazine. Take them down. Then they'll memorize. They could tell you, "Oh, yeah. Hey, grab 1985 September page whatever." Pull it down, pass it around. I don't like to preach about stuff like this because I don't want to corrupt young minds. That's why I'm going to keep this real G-rated just for the sake of young years. I just have to express to you what it was like back then in a Christian school.
Just guys sitting around in the locker room, guys sitting around in the Christian school bible class, and just sitting, and just going through a list of every single girl in the high school, and in the junior high just discussing whether or not they would like to lie with that person to put it lightly. Just one-by-one, "Oh, no. Yeah, oh, yeah." Just going through each one every single one. Just going through a list of every female student.
Now, how would you feel if that's your daughter that these guys are ...? How would you like your son to be a part of that gathering? This is the junk that was going on in a Christian school. Public school, the same stuff is going on. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, but it's all run because it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. When you get a bunch of kids together, it becomes the least common denominator. Period, because kids don't usually have the fortitude at age 12.
I know I didn't stand up at age 12 and say, "You guys are all going to hell," and start preaching or something. I didn't get up and say, "You filthy reprobate, no more Sodomite jokes," because when you're 12 and they're 17 and beating up on you and everything, you just keep your mouth shut, and you're just waiting for the teacher to show up so you can crack open the bible, study the bible for a little bit.
I'm telling you, and look, I'm not trying to paint it either that I was just without sin because you know what? When you're a kid, you're stupid. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. You know what? I did all kinds of stupid things also. I got caught up in some of the sinful things, of course, because I was a human being. I was a sinner. The thing about it is though that kids should not be just left to hang around with reprobates all day.
Listen, there are reprobates in the Christian school. Every Christian school I went to had reprobates in it. In fact, there are a lot of reprobates in the Christian school because they become reprobate by hearing the word of God so many time and they've rejected it. If they've rejected it, they're reprobate because they hear it everyday for years.
I know a lot of you don't understand what I'm saying right now, but it's just because you didn't grow up in Christian school. Who grew up in Christian school? Who could verify that there were some reprobates in the school? See, every hand is staying up? That one reprobate will infest a lot of people and bring in a lot of sin, and teach a lot of people. In the Christian schools I went to, there was drugs, there was pornography, there was all kinds of stuff being passed around.
The bottom line is we as parents now is what I want to change gears to. We talked about the church, let's talk about the home. We as parents need to be vigilant. Do you want your child to be watching pornography before they're even 13 years old? The statistics are showing that most of the kids are seeing it when they're 11, 12, 13. At that age, their mind is being warped. They'd never even had a normal relationship with their wife. They're not even close to being married. Their first exposure is just this weird filth that they're seeing. It's as easy as literally as just one kid pulling out the smartphone.
Kids today are being given unfettered access to the internet. Look, the internet has everything on it. It has good on it, and it has bad on it. It depends on where you go. This is what it would be like. It would be like just dropping your kid off in just a downtown area, and just saying, "Go to any of these businesses. Go to strip club, adult bookstore, bars, saloons. Just go to any of these businesses."
Wouldn't that be ridiculous? Wouldn't that be bizarre thing to do? Today, parents are giving their children unfettered access to the internet. Here's the thing. Even a child with good intentions will fall down the rabbit hole sometimes because this is what will happen. "Oh, I can download this video game for free." Usually, when you're downloading video games for free, you could sometimes be brought to some less than wholesome sites, shady type sites and everything. Next thing you know, I remember when I was a kid surfing the internet before when it was the early stages of the internet, and you'd click on something. All of a sudden, just 20 windows would open. You're like, "Whoa!" You just had to unplug the thing. Who's ever had that happened? Tell the truth.
It's not even like, "Well, my little Johnny, why would he go looking for triple X videos or whatever?" Here's the thing though. He might not even be setting out for that. He might just be setting out, "I don't know what the new video game is. I don't want to say Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario Brothers." There's a new Mario? That doesn't surprise me. It's probably on theaters. They keep remaking movies and stuff.
The point that I'm making is they're just looking to download the newest Mario or whatever, and then all of a sudden, all this stuff starts popping up. Guess what? Curiosity can kick in. Just, "Ooh! What is this?" Nobody's around, curiosity kicks in. Even a good kid can be deceived because children are young. They're unstable. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. It might not even be intentional. Do not give your kids unfettered access to the internet. Do not give them a smartphone that just has ... You say, "Well, you can't tell me what to do." Okay, fine. Give them a smartphone. Give them a smartphone. Put a computer with internet in their room by their bedside, and just send them to school with other kids with smartphones, and just let them have unfettered access to everything on the internet.
Who thinks that that's a smart way to keep your kids protected, not in trouble? It's ridiculous. Think about when you were that age. Were you ready to handle that responsibility of just having the whole internet at your fingertips. The internet at your fingertips is the world at your fingertips. It's everything. You can find anything on the internet, good or bad. It's a great tool for information and learning. At the same time, it's a great tool for corruption and wickedness.
Giving your children unfettered access to the internet, leaving your children with people that are not trustworthy, leaving your children with people just because they're from church, sending your children off to school for hours and hours and hours to be around the worst type of influences. Be vigilant. If you're doing these things, you're not vigilant. You're asleep. If you don't think that these type of people in Proverbs that they're also teenagers like that, you're naïve. You're not being vigilant. There are teenagers that fit this bill.
Look at this story in Genesis 34. Here's a young girl who's just left unattended. Look how the story ends up. Young daughter just sent out unattended. Genesis 34:1, "And Dinah the daughter of Leah," this is Jacob's daughter, it says, "which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land." Is this girl going out saying, "Hey, I'm going to go be a whore. I'm going to go hook up with some dude." Is that what it says? What's her intention? It's a normal, nice intention of she just wants to go out and hang around with some of the girls. She just wants to go see the daughters of the land. "Hey, we're just going shopping at the mall," or whatever. Her intentions are good here. There's no evil or malice that we see here in verse one.
It says in verse two, "When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her." Now, this is the type of thing that happens when you have a young girl just going out on her own, doing her own thing unattended, unsupervised. She's not even a bad girl, I don't think. It's just some guy sees her, sets his side on her. Let's face it. This is not an insult unto women, whatsoever. It's just a fact that women are the weaker vessel, the bible says. Women are the weaker vessel. They're physically weaker.
I'm not really worried about my sons being out, and basically, some woman just laying hold on them and lying with them. You know what? With the daughters though, it's even more critical that we make sure that they're supervised, that they're attended to. Not just send them out to see the daughters of the land, and just to go out and do whatever unsupervised.
Now, in our culture today, what I'm saying sounds crazy. Honestly, I think it's crazy to just let your teenage daughter go out and do whatever because why don't you just kiss her virginity goodbye if you're just going to send her, "Oh, but she's a good girl." Yeah, I know she is, but you know what though? She's going to be corrupted out there. I've seen girls where I looked at these teenage girls and thought to myself, friends, people from church, people that you knew were you thought to yourself, "There's a girl who's got her head screwed on straight. There's a girl who loves the Lord. There's a girl who we don't have to worry about." You know what? They ended up going out and committing fornication, getting out of church, getting drunk, everything else.
I honestly think that they were good kids. It's just the world's influence is very strong, and some people are too weak to withstand it. The younger you are, the weaker you are to withstand the temptations and the pressures, especially a young lady, a man who's going to force himself on her or be very aggressive and entice her, and seduce her, and so forth. They're not really aware of these things as well as someone who's older and more able to defend themselves.
Today, we have a culture ... Look, I have my own rules for my house and you have rules for your house. I'm not going to get up here and tell you, "Hey, you have to follow all my rules. You have to do things the way that I do them." I am telling you that the bible commands us to be vigilant, and that you should take this story under advisement, and think about it. Let me tell you the way that I'm going to rule my house. I have the right to rule my house however I want. You have the right too.
If you walk out of this sermon and say, "Well, no. I'm going to disregard everything you said. I'm going to send my daughter to public school. She's going to have unfettered access to the internet on her smartphone. She's going to go out and work over, and hang with these people." Hey, that's your problem because it's not my daughter. It's not my little Dinah that's going to be defiled.
I want you to listen to what I believe is a wise decision as a parent. I'm going to tell you this right now. My daughters, number one, will never be dropped off at a school, number one. My children will be home-schooled, number one. Number two, my girls will not be sent off to college. Not happening. It's amazing they'll home-school their kid, home-school, home-school, home-school, and they'd send their daughter off to college. It's like, "Whoa! What are you doing?"
In fact, I saw this interview where this lady was explaining why she should let her child have unfettered access to the internet and even go out and be promiscuous as a junior higher. She said, "Well, I saw too many of these girls in college who just really go wild because they were repressed their whole life. Then they get to college, and they just go wild. I don't want that to ..." Yeah, let them go wild when they're 12. Real smart. Great idea.
What's so stupid about that is that yeah, you keep them all repressed, repressed, then the girl turns 18, "You're free now. Go to Devil State University. Go to Satan U in Tempe." It's right here in Tempe, Devil State University right here, ASU. The thing is it's like, "I'm not going to send my daughter to college. She's not going to go wild in college because she's not going to college." You want her to be an uneducated fool.
I'll match my children's education up to what the public fool system is putting out any day of the week. I'll match my wife's intelligence up to any female college graduate you want to put in front of me. I'll match my wife's intelligence because college and school doesn't equal intelligence. It equals beer pong. It equals sorority party. It equals drunkenness, promiscuity, whoredom.
You can actually get smart by reading these wonderful things called books, especially these books right here, the bible. You can also read other books and get all the education. You don't need some burned out hippie to explain it to you in front of a chalkboard in order to get these. You can actually just buy the book for that course, and just do it on your own.
Let me tell you something. When my daughters turned 16, they're not getting a job. Period. You do what you want. Do what you want. My daughter isn't getting a job at McDonalds or Taco Bell or Burger King or any of the ... I'm not going to send my 16-year-old daughter out to work. Not happening. I'm not going to do it. Why? Because where do all the Shechems of this world? Where do all of these people lay hold on their victims? They get corrupted through school, and they get corrupted through the workplace.
You say, "Oh, you're just trying to shelter them." Yeah, I also shelter them when it's raining outside. I also bring them in the house. "Oh, you're just sheltery." They're girls. They're girls. I'm not trying to see how tough I can make them. They're girls. "Oh, you shelter them." They're girls.
Now, listen. When my sons are 16, they will get a job immediately upon turning 16. You'd say, "Oh, that's a double standard." Of course, it's a double standard. Newsflash, men and women are different. It's like people are just crazy now. "How dare you say that men and women have a difference? We're all the same." It's nonsense, people. He made the male and female. It's a shame for a man to have long hair, but a woman's hair is her glory. A man should not put on a woman's garment. A woman should not wear that ... There's a difference.
There's a double standard. Why? Because my sons need to grow up to be independent, men that are going to lead, and provide, and work, and go out, and face the world, et cetera, et cetera. They need to go out and get a job when they're 16 and start working, start learning that responsibility and everything like that. Why? Because they are able to protect themselves as a 16-year-old boy than a 16-year-old girl is both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. A 16-year-old boy is better suited at protecting himself.
It's necessary for him to go out and work. Why is it necessary for my daughter to get fast food experience at age 16? Who do you think is going to teach her how to cook better, McDonalds or my wife? You've tasted the bean dip, people. It's no secret that my wife is an amazing cook. Taste my wife's bean dip, taste my wife's chili, taste her cornbread, then go to Wendy's and see who's got the best. There's never been a finger found in ... That was a hoax. The finger in the Wendy's chili was a hoax, for the record.
Anyway, I used to like that Wendy's chili back when I was eating fast food, and that ruined it for me though, that finger thing. Now, I don't eat fast food except In and Out is the exception. All God's people said, "Amen." Anyway, the point is though, hey, it's got John 3:16 on the bottom of the cup. It's sanctified by the word of God. Amen. Sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
Here's the thing. The bottom line is though, there's no reason for my daughter to go out at age 16 because I know what it's like working at a restaurant when you're 16. I worked at a restaurant when I was 16. Now, as a man at age 16, I was safe from the creepy managers who wanted to touch all the girls and stuff. I wasn't a target because I was a dude. I saw them. The supervisor, the managers, every young teenage girl giving them a hug every shifts, squeezing them, rubbing them. The girls, after the guy is gone, they're just like, "Ugh!" but it's the boss.
Who've seen that at a workplace? "Oh, look. Pastor Anderson is crazy, right?" Then why did 50 other hands just go up that they saw the same thing? The bottom line is there were all kinds of the horrible influences. Nothing against Round Table Pizza but there were some bad influences when I was there.
As soon as the restaurant would close and we're cleaning up, the worst possible music was turned on, White Zombie or whatever, Rob Zombie. Who knows what I'm talking about? It was the Devil Man was the name of the ... "Devil man, devil man." I was like, "Whoa, man!" It was just all worst. It was Marilyn Manson, White Zombie, just all the most weirdest, satanic. Horrible things were going on, things that I would never even mention from the pulpit that went on while I worked there.
Now, there's no reason for, "Yeah, but how are they going to get extra money?" Look, I'll just say, instead of going and working three hours at McDonalds to get your 20 bucks, here's 20 bucks. I would rather just go work extra myself. Right, men? Men, can we go out and make an extra 20 bucks or what and just say, "Here. Here's 20 bucks. You don't have to go and work." It's not like they're making some huge amount of money. It's not like they're paying part of their brand or something or paying the car payment.
Look, it's not worth it. Listen, I believe it's God's will that they go. This is good for the sons also, but it's especially important for the daughters to go directly from dad to their husband. That's why dad used to walk them down the aisle. It didn't use to be that you had to call him to come in from a far country to walk you down the aisle. It's like you're living with him.
Honestly, in a perfect world, that's how things would be. I understand that people are in other situations. I'm not trying to condemn you this morning. If you've made mistakes in the past or if you're in a situation because there are so many situations because of divorce and because of bad circumstances brought about through sin. We live in a sinful world. Let me tell you this though.
There are a lot of people in this room who need to hear this preaching because otherwise, they're just going to do what everybody is doing, and says, "Well, everybody sends their kid to school. Everybody sends their daughter off to college when she turns 18. Everybody sends her daughter out to go get a job when she's 16. Everybody lets their daughter go out and see the daughters or the land every Friday night, and go out and party and do all this stuff, as long as she's home by the curfew, midnight."
No, not everybody does that. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to tell you something. My daughters are going to be supervised. They're going to be watched until I hand them off to their future husband. Let me tell you this. This is my goal, and I believe this is biblical. I don't have time to turn to Deuteronomy 22 and explain this. My goal is to be able to hand off my daughter unto her future husband with the guarantee that she's a virgin because it won't have been humanly possible for her not be a virgin. She was never unattended that long. That's the truth.
Back then, they were going to the dad and complaining if the girl wasn't a virgin in Deuteronomy 22. It shouldn't be that it's just like we ... I'm not listening. I'm not going to get on my knees every night and just, "Oh, God. Please help my daughters not lose their virginity as they're out partying, as they're out seeing the daughters of the land, as they're out working at the fast food place." No, no, I'm not going to. It's just not going to happen.
Now, you do what you want to do. Remember, I prefaced this with saying, "These are my rules." I'm not saying that you have to have my same rules. I'm just showing you how I'm going to apply the wisdom that I see in the bible. Here's how I'm applying it. My daughters are going to be supervised and taken care. Why? Because I treasure them and they're important to me, and I want to make sure that they're kept safe.
Yes, there is a double standard for the sons. As the sons get older, they need to spread their wings more because they're going to be a leader someday. I don't want my daughter to become an independent woman. I want her to depend on me, and then to depend on her husband. Then what if her husband dies? Then she's going to come back and live with me again. I'll take care of her again.
It's all in the bible, folks. Somebody can't handle this preaching over here. He's weeping. Look, your parents aren't going to be enforcing these rules for a long time, all right? Just start crying about it when you're a toddler. He's like, "No! I'm never going to have any freedom." There's a double standard for the boys. You're all right. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
The bottom line is though, we need to be vigilant. Something's wrong when 25% of girls by the time they graduate from high school are saying that they're admitting that they've been molested because a lot of them are afraid to admit it. Not because they've done anything wrong, but because it's embarrassing. They're embarrassed even to admit even though there's no shame in it.
The bible says it's not your fault if that happened to you. It's not your fault at all. It's like when somebody killed somebody, it's not the person who get murdered's fault. Still people, have a tendency to not want to talk about stuff like because it's embarrassing to them. It's probably more than. If 25% are saying it happened, there's probably a lot of times it happened that go unreported or where people just block it out because it's such a painful memory. Sometimes they forget that it even happened just because the human mind has a tendency to block out things that are horrific. It's a defense mechanism that we have built in.
When nine out of 10 are watching pornography videos by the time they're 16, when one out of four girls are being molested, and not to mention all the boys that are being molested by these filthy Sodomites, something's wrong. We can't just say, "Well, I'm just doing what everybody else is doing. Everybody else is doing it. It's working for them." No, it's not working. It's not working.
We need to be different. You can't do the same thing and expect to get a different result. We've got to do something different. Yes, we need to teach them the word of God. Yes, we need to preach to them. Yes, we need to read the bible everyday at home as a family. Yes, we need to pray for them that God will protect them and keep them safe. We also need to be vigilant and not just turn them over to the walls.
Look, when they're five years old, they're not ready to get on that bus and just be sent off to wherever with whoever. Just Google it, janitor, school janitor molests. See all the news story. Bus driver molested. School teacher molested. Elementary teacher ... Look. It's all out. You know that it's out there by the tens of thousands the stories.
I don't want to be that statistic. I don't want my children to be a part of that statistic. We need to stop and consider. Look, there are times when I let my children do something on the internet. You know what? A child should not be given unfettered access to the internet. There needs to be some parental controls. What you have to understand too is that sometimes the kids are smarter about the technology than you because they grow up with it, and they know all, they've got all the back doors built in, and all that. You got to be careful to just not let them use it alone anyway. Don't just leave them alone with it.
This is one of the benefits of living in a small house with 10 people. You know what I mean? It's hard to keep secrets in a small house with 10 people. Thank God when one of them is doing something on the computer, there's a whole bunch of little faces right there, watchful eye. Look, listen, use the buddy system because listen, even if you put two bad kids together, two bad kids together will sometimes look at less bad stuff because they're embarrassed in front of the other. It's when people are alone and curiosity gets the better that they go down that rabbit hole.
I'm just trying to give you some wisdom this morning to let you know number one, there's really bad people out there. Period. Number two, sometimes they're even in church. In fact, they will be in church eventually, the bible guarantees it. Number three, we need to protect ourselves and our children from these kinds of people. We need to be very careful. We live in the most perilous times ever. I'm not down on technology. I don't want to go live bout in the middle of nowhere as the [Amaj 00:58:53] do. I'm telling you something though. You got to get this stuff under some control. Not just sit there and just let your kids have unfettered access to it.
Would you just hand your kid a loaded gun? I don't think guns are bad, but I'm not going to hand my kid a loaded gun and say, "Here, play with this, but be safe with it. Don't do anything stupid with it." Have you ever seen kids with guns when they haven't been trained? They do all ... "Hey, dad!" Everybody's docking. Everybody's hitting the ground. "Hey, what do I do?"
The internet is just as dangerous as a loaded weapon. You don't just put it in the hand of a child. Don't put them around other kids that just have the ... It only takes 10 kids together, one of them weeps out the smart, "Hey, check this out." Plays the pornography video. They can be easily queued up on any of these smartphone because any website can be pulled up on a smartphone, right?
The parents a lot of times don't even understand the smartphones. They might have all the internet controls dialed in on their home computer password protect or computers password protect the internet browsers and everything else. They're just like, "Here's the phone." They don't understand that the phone can do everything that the computer can do and more.
Let's be sober and vigilant today as a church and as parents, as mothers and fathers. Let's keep our children safe and shelter them from this junk that's out there. Yeah, they're going to be exposed to it eventually when they're old enough to handle it. They don't need to be exposed to this stuff when they're a little, tiny kid. Obviously, yeah, my son is going to go off to work when he's 16 and here, Rob Zombie blasted while he's working. Honestly though, I don't really want my five-year-old walking around the house singing Devil Man or whatever. I'm just saying because they're not smart.
You put a five-year-old, they're just going to soak it up. My teenage boy at that point will be just like, "Yeah, this is junk." He's going to recognize it for what it is.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the gift that you've given us of our children, Lord. The bible says children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb as his reward. Lord, please help us to be very vigilant. Help us to understand that there are molesters out there. There are predators, evil, wicked, pedophiles, violent people, just horrible people out there, Lord. There are adulteresses and adulterers who want us to do such. They are married adults.
Lord, help us to always be on our guard, always be vigilant, Lord. Help us not to be a victim of the devil who's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Help us not to be one of those may devour types where he just sees us and sees a sucker, and he's ready to get us, Lord. Please just protect us and give us wisdom also. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
All right. We broke the record. How many people do we have? 185. What was our old record? 180 was the old record. We have 185 people here this morning. Every time that we break our attendance record, we have ice cream after the service. Stick around for ice cream.
