You guys are on page 7? In the middle of 7. Okay, where it says a second problem? Okay, that's where we're at. And that's what we're going to be talking about. Let's read that first paragraph. The second problem faced by the Philippian church was the threat of false teachings. Now, it appeared that the false teachings had not yet deeply influenced the church in Philippi, since Paul did not confront it directly. But he didn't prepare the Philippians to reject any false teachings that might reach that city. Consider Paul's words about the circumcision in Philippians chapter three, verse one, two, three, and we'll read that. Okay, Philippians, I'm gonna read out of mine. Philippians three, one, two, and three. Okay, see the first word that says finally? Okay, finally. You know, he's not talking about, it's over and done, I'm out of here, you know, that's not what he's saying here. This word here literally means, okay, as for the rest, okay, that's what the word finally means, as for the rest of what he's going to be talking about. You know, I found something kind of interesting, you know, I didn't know what... Like he's saying, last but not least? Last but not least. I've got some more to say here, but I'm not finished yet. So it's not that type of word, finally. You know, I wrote this down. I want to see what you think about it. Our rejoicing is in the Lord. That's what it says, right? Rejoice in the Lord. He says, not in our circumstances, or in our situation. Okay? So we rejoice in the Lord, not so much in our trials and our tribulations and our circumstances. We rejoice in the Lord that he will help us with those trials and tribulations, but that's not the main focus. Our focus is to set our eyes and fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Okay? So I don't know what you want to do with that, but I thought that was kind of interesting. And when I read that I thought about the word abiding. And of course you go to John the 15th chapter and it talks all about that. But you know this word rejoicing? In the Old Testament there's a word that they use that's similar to the New Testament time of saying rejoicing. Anybody have a guess on that? What did they used to do in the Old Testament? Starts with an H. Hallelujah. That's what the Old Testament uses the word hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Okay. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same thing again is no problem to me. And it is a safeguard for you. It is a safeguard. How many times have our brethren repeated so many things over and over and over? That's a good thing to do, is repeat, repeat. Finally, it gets embedded. Remember when they started coming up with the infomercials? They were showing them quite often, all the time, over and over. They don't get you the first time. Maybe the second time. Maybe the third time. Maybe the fourth time. Finally, boom, got you. So repeat, repeat. So they know how they work. Remember the subliminal message they used to do in the theater, the drive-ins? You know, all of a sudden you have craving for popcorn. All of a sudden everybody's rushing to go get a soda and pop and a hot dog. And they don't even know it. They don't even see it. It's a subliminal message. When I first heard about that years ago, I said, what? I thought it was just, I'm always eating. I thought I don't need no subliminal message to tell them they don't get popcorn. But that's kind of what it is, you know, put something in front of you, okay? Okay, a safeguard. It says, beware. I wrote something on that word, to beware. Where is it at? Well, it's probably somewhere else, but I'm going to go back and read some of the other stuff here. But there was something about be aware, and I looked it up in the, you get a Greek definition of that. Okay, here it is. Be aware means to hold. Okay, to hold on the mind towards. To be aware, to hold to the mind. To be aware, be aware, okay, towards where you're going. That's the kind of definition I got on the Greek program I have there. Okay, back to this. Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Okay, no confidence in the flesh. Now, I want to read some more of that, because it kind of explains a lot. When it talks about putting no confidence in the flesh, what is he thinking Paul is trying to drive here? Okay, there was a key word there that should tell us what he means in the flesh. Well, the circumcision, I mean... Okay, so circumcision... But it's works, kind of, or something that was done to you, or a ceremony, because the true thing is of the heart, the spirit. Because the law was all works. All works. That's what it was. Okay? And so the word circumcision kind of sets it off there when it says that you've got to put confidence in the flesh. And Paul gives a little bit more detail on that in verses 4 on down. Let's read that. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else had the might to put confidence in the flesh, I far more." He's going to tell you, you're talking about looking at Paul's credentials. These bunch of guys here, they were, you know, it just seemed like these Judaizers, even the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they speak the loudest and do the less. Okay, you can't take them serious, just like your Democrats today. Just like your stupid Democrats, you know, they talk a big talk, but you know what? They don't got nothing. They don't have anything at all to offer or to give. To them it's all about getting and taking. That it is with them. Okay. These people, they were trying to get these people to get circumcised. Okay. And we're going to read somewhere. Well, they were doing it personally for themselves. for personal gain, for personal fame, whatever their thinking reason was, to try to get them to coincide with the law of Moses. Okay? And I wrote down here somewhere, this is on this one we just read in Philippians, it says, according to the Jews' thinking, they have become a Jew first, then a Christian, maybe. According to Acts 15, verse 1, says that, read that. Acts 15 and verse 1. Appreciate that, Acts 15 and verse 1. Verses, and so men came down. Right, yeah, there you go. And began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved. See? You cannot be saved. You can't be a Christian unless you fulfill the circumcision. But what did the Bible say about keeping the law? You can only keep one or two? or pick out whatever you want. All of it. Well, that's what the Seventh-Day Adventists don't get. You can't pick and choose just what you want. The Sabbath, that's all you got? You're supposed to keep it all. Means if you break one, then you break them all. Yeah, you break them all. Exactly. Okay? So, they're a bunch of ponies, okay? I don't know, you call them Democrats, you call them Judaizers, you call them whatever you want, okay? Let's read on. Verse 4. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else had the mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcised on the eighth day. Did they ever... Remember when Jesus was having an argument about the Sabbath? That, you know, Pharisee was always there, because he would do things on the Sabbath. Okay, well there was a time that circumcision was required on the eighth day. Do you think it ever fell on a Saturday? Sure it did. Absolutely, yeah. But these are what you call your Jewish, I want to hear, warning against the influence of legalistic, legalism, according to the Jewish law. Legalism. That's something that you don't want to do too much in your own personal Christian life. Even in churches, you know, we got a lot of legalistic foolishness in our churches. Well, the Bible says this is what it's got to be. Well, God was sure not being legalistic when David partook of that consecrated bread. God broke his own law. But is God concerned about those things? Or is He concerned about people? He's concerned about people. And even to all the Pharisees, if your lamb or your goat got stuck in a hole, wouldn't you go and get them, even on the Sabbath? Of course you would. They're just a bunch of hypocrites, you know. They're just a bunch of loud-talking fools that don't know what they're talking about. Simple as that, you know. They're like those Democrats. I can't get these guys out of my mind. Why am I running my blood pressure always so high? Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, okay, to the law, a Pharisee, Now I think somewhere they say a Pharisee a Pharisee. He says, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is according to law found blameless. Gee, I'm gonna cricket. That describes Paul. That's the kind of man he was. So he had a very prestigious background. And I wrote down here, Paul's impressive credentials. None of these people could stand up against him. He had it all. Plus, he had Roma citizenship. He had all the tools he was going to need in order to fight this battle. He'd come, you know, join in to do a fight. And all that, his Roma citizenship came in handy many times. When you're telling people, you know what, you think you're going to run me off secretly? No. You tell them big boys up there sitting on those high chairs, you know, come down and escort us out. Because he's a Roman citizen. That carried a lot of weight back then. Okay. And we talked a little bit about Philippi. These are all Roman colonies. Okay. So whatever they did there, it was as important as though they lived in Italy or in Rome. Okay. They had all the same rights as a Roman citizen. Okay. Would you call for that, like representatives of America? I get the same idea there. Okay, let me get back here. Now, it appears that the false teaching had not yet deeply influenced the church in Philippi. Since Paul did not confront it directly, but he did prepare the Philippians to reject any false teaching that might reach the city. Consider Paul's words, and we read that in Philippians Three and one, two, three. Okay. Like I said last week, you know, Satan is relentless. They will stop at nothing. Okay. They'll use everything. They'll pull all the stops. Okay. It's a war, brother. It is a war. And who is the battlefield? We are. We are. We are the battlefield, you know. One time, a long time ago, you know, Jim was, when I was learning things, you know, And I came to that conclusion, so where is the battleground? I said, yeah. I said, why did you get us involved? Why didn't the Lord just go with Satan and Satan, you battle with the Lord and leave us out? I remember, Jim, you might have laughed, because I was honestly ignorant of all this. I think sometimes you just used to laugh because of the things I used to think about, you know. That's why I thought, well, it don't seem right, you know. If I see a fight going on, I don't like to get too much in the middle of it, you know? So why don't the Lord and Satan battle it out on their own, you know? But that doesn't work that way, brother. Obviously! Okay, it is no trouble for me to write you the same thing. Paul was concerned that false teachers who advocated abuse of circumcision Well, that's been going on since the beginning of the Lord's Church. And that word circumcision simply means the cutting away. But circumcision, I wanted to get some other scriptures on the whole idea, the whole concept of circumcision. We know what it was in the Old Testament. It was a literal cutting off a part of you. It's a separation. It's a distinguishing mark. I don't know if you can use the same term that Jim used, earmark. So that was a distinguishing mark for the nation of Israel among the men. So who is our circumcision today? And when did that happen? I was going to look that up and they didn't. Isn't Jesus our circumcision? Yes. He is our circumcision. So a lot of the things in the Old Testament were done in the physical sense. But in the New Testament, he still uses the word Sabbath. He says, the Lord is our Sabbath, okay? And he uses the term circumcision. So all the same terms that were used in the Old Testament, but now it's put into a spiritual way of putting it now. Circumcision, go ahead. Somewhere in the Old Testament, they're talking about, you have hearts of stone, and I will give you hearts of flesh, and I'll circumcise you. That is, I think, when He indwells us, we become sensitive. He takes the stone out, so our hearts are to be circumcised in our most being, not just an outside. part of us, but the inmost inner part of us is to be dedicated to Him and set apart for Him. So the New Testament uses all these Old Testament terms, but they're all symbolically speaking. Sometimes they're used in the sense of a metaphor. But they still use the same terms. Because they understood circumcision. They knew what it was for. Purpose and reason to distinguish you from others. So when we come to know the Lord not only as our Savior, but come to the waters of baptism. There was a cutting off there. Okay, we're dead to the world and alive unto Christ. There's a cutting away. There is indeed He, Jesus, became our circumcision. Okay, but now we're talking spiritually, symbolically speaking. So you can see a lot of the terms in the Old Testament, you see them used in the Old Testament where they were literal, and you see the anti-type in the New Testament. Because you have to always have an anti-type in order for it to be a type. Okay, you can't make everything a type. You gotta have an anti-type, okay? And so anyhow, so circumcision, Christ has become our circumcision. But these boys here, they were not thinking that way. They were thinking physically still. Then you got to physically be circumcised, snip, snip, snip, snip, you know. But that was the difference. They were still thinking physical circumcision, which is not a vehicle of grace, not the circumcision. The waters of baptism, is that a vehicle of salvation or grace? Not a sign of obedience. It's just a sign of obedience, but it has nothing to do with the salvation of your soul. Because that already took place. Remember the word ace? Because of, you know? And that's where that comes in. So, when we come to the world of the baptism, there's a whole lot of things to learn about baptism, which we've been studying in regard to the labor. Okay? The labor. There's so much in that labor that, man, I got so many notes on that thing and all the things it actually represents. I'm bringing up five points of what that lava represents. Right now, we're going to be talking about the water in the labor. We have all those mirrors that are made out of brass. Those brass, in order for them to be polished, they went into a lot of beatings. They were tested. They were fired on. That has a lot of significance also. Did the Lord go through quite a bit? Yes. Yes, He did. The water, primarily, was considered a cleansing. So what is our cleansing today? Where did we go to get cleansed? To Jesus. To the Word of God. Okay, and I keep bringing up Ephesians 5. What it says about the wife, to sanctify her through the word. So I got the book of James, I got the book of Peter, and I got the book of Hebrews. They talked about that water in reference to the word of God, okay? Okay, and when we talk about the word of God, it's like a two-edged sword, okay? But the mirrors is what reflects when you, they see themselves in this pure, pure water. They see themselves. Well, in Corinthians, I don't know if I can find that. I think it's in 1 Corinthians, the 13th chapter. Now that I'm thinking about that. 1 Corinthians. Yeah, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 12. Let's look at verse 10. Let's look at verse 8. Don't look at me, Seth. I've seen that. First Corinthians, the 13th chapter, starting in verse 8. Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away. We know what the kind of gifts these were. These were all spiritual gifts, okay? Supernatural gifts, and those are the reason why they're no longer here. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect, referring to the Word of God, comes, the partial will be done away, which is the gifts. They're no longer needed, because now we have the complete Word of God, so those don't need them anymore. He said, verse 11, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with foolish things. And that's, again, still referring to the gifts. Now here in verse 12, look at this. For now we see in a mirror dimly. We see in a mirror dimly. Because the Bible was in process of being put together. So they were basically learning from what? The Old Testament. Okay, that was the rule of the book. Until finally the complete Word of God was completed. Now we have the full-blown understanding of who God is and who we are and what our purpose is. Just a lot of things. For now we see in a mere dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. You want to know who you are? Read the Word of God. It will tell you what we are, who we are. It tells you who God is. when he said, and I will be known as I have been known through the Word of God. So the Word of God is not only a cleansing, but it teaches you. Okay, what do we learn about our whole anatomy? Okay, the Bible talks a lot about human nature. The seventh chapter is a really good one to go. The seventh chapter, verses 14 and through, that tells you exactly what that body is all about. It's a body to be contended with. It's a body you don't take lightly. That's why Paul says, I've got to beat my body daily. Because this old rascal is going to be a problem to me until the day I lay it six feet underground. In the meantime, it's there fighting me all the way. So Paul had to really keep himself straight. But we learn through the word of God. We learn more and more. Because as I read many times, I'll see things. And I see myself as a man. Either I'm doing great, I say, well, I'm on top of that one. And sometimes I say, man, I haven't been doing that. OK? Because we all have different characteristics about ourselves. And God deals with us individually according to our character. OK? So yeah, so the Bible is a water that reflects. And it tells us who we are. We see who we are. And sometimes it's not a pretty sight when you find a description. Because when you read, The Law of Moses, it describes how a wretched man is. And it tells you that Paul says, if it wasn't for the law, I would not have known that I was coveting. If it wasn't for the law, they told me these things. So the law pointed to us, by the time you go through the law and you read how wretched we really are, how depraved we really are. And it seemed like you would think at the end of the game, at the end of all that, there's no hope. There is no hope. But the law we know for a fact is a pointer. It's a schoolmaster. It was a teacher to teach us how wretched we are and to show us and point us to Christ. But you have to study the Word of God to do that. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So people that don't study, already ever, they bring their, when they get to church, they get their Bibles out of the trunk, okay, and go in there, and then when they go back home, they put it back in the trunk, and it's there for the rest of the week. And that's a fact, I've seen that. And you hope I couldn't believe, man. See them dusting off their Bibles, you know? You can know they're not reading them. And these are the ones that you can tell, They live trouble life because they're not reading the instructions of God's Word. To teach them how to run the best way you can, a smooth home. Have a good love and relationship between husband and wife. Training your child in the way he should go. All these things. Takes a lot of study to learn these things. So I made it my goal when I first got saved, man, I needed to know how to be a father. I had no idea, you know. I had to learn how to be a husband. Okay, I'm still working on that. I would ask my wife if she would grade me, but I'd probably be in trouble, man. I told people, the only A I ever got in my whole school years was a P.E. because I would box this senior that I knew was going to tear me up. I said, why do you want to put me in there with this four-year veteran? I'm just a freshman." I said, I see what you did with these other guys. You gave them a good match. I'll tell you what, just go in and you got an A. And I always make fun of that. I brought that up last Bible study. He says, yeah, the only A I ever got. It didn't quite get me into Harvard, but... Okay, let me see where am I at here. Now right here, You know, I was going to have you read, Sharon, did you read your Amplify? Yeah, I did. Read those verses we just read in the Amplify, Philippians 3, 1, 2, and 3. Read that in the Amplify. For the rest, my brethren, delight yourselves in the Lord and continue to rejoice that you are in Him. To keep writing to you over and over of the same things is not irksome to me, and it is a precaution for your safety. Look out for those dogs, the Judaizers. Look out for those mischief workers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we Christians are the true circumcision who worship God in spirit and by the spirit of God and exalt and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ and put no confidence or dependence on what we are in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. OK. Yeah, I thought it kind of explains it a little more on the Amplified. OK, I want to read you something here. I'm trying to find that verse. Where is it at? I think it's Philippians 3. Come on, don't fail me here. Let me look at something here. Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. I want to read that. There's something that's kind of interesting. There's a word called blepo. B-L-E-P-O, blepo. And that word blepo means to see. Okay, which we're going to read here in a little bit. That means to weigh carefully, examine, to look at, see with your mind's eyes. Does your mind have eyes? Yes, they do. OK. What's that eyes called? BLEPO? BLEPO. It's a Greek word with the word see in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8. I say, see to it, and like I said, weigh it out, carefully examine it, look at it, okay? He says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him, all the fullness of deity dwell in bodily form. Man, what do these Jehovah's Witnesses do with this? Ignore it. Yeah. That's putting it as simple as it is. Yeah, that's exactly right. Okay. Do not take, do not be taken captive by worldly philosophy or just religious ideology. You know, and the only way we can avoid that is with 2 Peter 3.16. All Scripture is inspired by God, okay? For reproof, for correction and righteousness, and it goes on and on. Okay? You said blood pool. What word is that then? It's a Greek word that applies to the word sea on verse 8. Okay. Okay? Of Colossians. That's what the word means there. Okay? Paul is concerned that those who have been transferred from Satan's domain to Christ's kingdom, not becoming enslaved again. Again to what? The law. The law. Okay. The law. Enslaved again. He voiced a similar concern in Galatians 5 and 1. Somebody read Galatians 5 and 1. Galatians 5 and 1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, men, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Okay, don't let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. You know, I like what Peter says. I'm going to read that. I didn't think about that. I'm going to read that. That's also in Matthew 15. See if I can find it. I'm going to read this real quick in Philippians, I mean Acts 15 and verse 6. The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter, okay, this matter about the circumcision. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Brethren, you know that in this early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testifies to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. And He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the necks of the disciples a yoke, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. It was virtually impossible to fulfill the law, not in the flesh. But God expected obedience to the law. But the law could not save your soul for the life of it. It just couldn't do it. Like he said right here, disciples of the yoke, which neither our fathers, okay, he's going way back to the Old Testament, our fathers, nor we have been able to bear. But we believe that we are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus in the same way as they also are. So here we are, you got these Judeas still trying to, well, trying to get them back under the law. You know, what happens is it's hard to break them. They're just like people that have been what you would call dying of old Catholics. I mean, they went to the whole nine yards. Confirmation, Holy Communion. They did it all. That's what you call your devout Catholic. And a lot of them come out. Our pastor was one of them. And he said, you know, Ray, it's hard to break tradition that you've been accustomed since the day you were born. Because that's all we ever knew. That's all we ever knew. And so to make the transition was a very difficult thing for me as a Catholic, a practicing Catholic. I was just not a Catholic by name, I was a practicing Catholic. And my mother sought to it that we do every Tuesday, every week, prayer. Two, three hour prayers, okay? So that was pretty normal for them, for them to make a transition. And the same thing with these Judeas, they just couldn't get that law system out of them. Now, I'm sure there's other reasons why they were doing it, you know? But whatever reason they had, either they're not getting it, or they just can't let go and they think they're being disrespectful to the laws and rules. I can understand that to a point, you know. But once you learn it, like Paul did, when he finally learned it, he understood the full, full-blown understanding what the law was really all about. And he realized that he fought against something they thought he was defending. And when he realized it, he said, man, So Paul had a lot to say about the law, you know, and Romans is full of it, you know. Okay, New Regulations 5 and 1. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Okay, but are we still slaves? To Christ. In Christ. Are you free slaves? Yes. Yes, kind of. You volunteered to become a slave, did you know that? You volunteered. You gave up your right to live in the world, to do whatever you want. You gave it up. It's a good choice. Remember, we read about that, and I think it was in Leviticus, you know, about a man that surrendered his freedom because he wanted to stay with his master, because his master treated him good. Plus, he had family. Okay. But I think the whole, what stood out more was not just the family, but his master was good to him, okay? And he had no reason to leave. And he was free there. He didn't have to worry about out there. Remember when the slavery was over? I've seen some movies on it, you know. There's a little bit of Hollywood, but when they were set free, they didn't know where to go. And I think a while back, I don't know if I ever gave you a paper on the actual story about a slave girl that was put on the slave block. And this guy bought her, okay, and she spit in his face. He said, you owe me. You are my master, whether I like it or not. And he just wiped his face off when she spit upon him. And he gave her her papers of freedom. She looked at him. I mean, I can go? You can go anywhere you want. You're free. I bought you for you. I bought your freedom for you. I didn't buy you to be a slave to me." What do you think Danglow did? She stayed with him. She thought that was the most compassionate thing that anybody had ever showed her. I almost choked up when I read that. I said, wow. So she was devoted to that man from that point on. fortunate to be. And I'm sure he treated her very well. Treated her like a woman, like a lady, with respect and with freedom, with dignity. And she became loyal to him. And our Lord has done far more for us. Why would we not want to be loyal to Him? Why are people so quick to run? Go back into the world. I was thinking about Solita this past week. I haven't thought about her in a while. I get angry. I feel for her. If she understands it or not, she's back into slavery. She's back into the bondage of this world. I was visualizing in my mind things that I wanted to text her. I'm trying to remember what I was going to say. I was giving up. A text in my mind, it says, Talitha, why'd you give up on the Lord? I know for a fact you would never, ever give up on your grandchildren. You would never give up on your mother, okay? You would never give up on your sons. But the Lord, you gave up on Him. Gave up on Him. That was in my mind texting, you know? And I may still read it, send it to her. You know, sometimes you just think it's over, but only God knows when that's over, you know. I don't know. You see, he called the Colossians to constant watchfulness. Okay? Because danger is near. We always got to be on our toes. You always got to be watchful. Wherever we go, whatever we say, you know, people we come in contact with, you know, how much affiliation we have with these or that, you know. Always keeping your ground, because, you know, we can mingle with the world, but we don't have to become like the world. But we can mingle because that's one form of witnessing, that's part of our evangelistic responsibility, you know. You work at the library, okay, you meet people coming and going, you know, a lot of opportunities there. Vincent's involved in photography, you know, meets a lot of people. I'm famous because of him, you know. The reason why I say that, because I told Carrie the same thing, I said, you're famous because of your mom and dad, because everybody knows them. Everybody knows them. So when did they go bow down to you? He called the Colossians to constant watchfulness, because a danger is near. As the present tense, present tense and being acted upon is what that means. Imperative, it means a command. a demand that something needs to be done. That's what the word present tense and imperative form. The word blepo says see to it. Blepo means see to it. Okay. He said the church constantly faced the danger of false teachers. Jesus said in Matthew 7 15, beware, because that's what I was talking about, to hold upon the mind towards Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. When I see that, it's just a form of deception, pretense, pretending to be something they're not. And that's how they get in. But in my opinion, if we are well-versed in the Word of God, we can detect anything that's phony or counterfeit. We can see it. You can tell when a person is serious or not serious, or he's just funnying you or mocking you in a different way, you know. You can see it, okay? But some people get bought into it, you know. I've had people try to swoo me by complimenting me about this and complimenting that. I said, I said, man, I don't know where you're going with this, my friend. Obviously, you want something, you know. And so I just back off. He said, to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves. Okay. Well, some of these wolves get into our churches and they're called Judaizers. Okay. They're called Judaizers and that's what we're talking about. These people, they want to come in here and take you captive. Okay. Put you under slavery, a yoke of slavery again. For what? Is that a badge on him? Something that they can be proud of? diverting them away? And these are the people that are teaching these false teachings that comply with Galatians chapter 1, verses 6-7. Who has bewitched you that you have accepted a different gospel? Who has disturbed you? But he uses the word so quickly. So quickly. I mean, Paul spent time with these brethren. And I can tell you one thing, if you spend a month with Brother Paul, he's got a lot to teach. Brother Jim can teach us enough in one Sunday service that it'll last us for a couple, two, three months trying to figure it out. Okay? So he can put a lot in it. So I can imagine Paul was the same way. And Paul was not out to look for any fame or glory. He says, I do not come to you with superiority of speech. I come to you simply with the power of the gospel. And I remember Jim brought that out one time when he says, I don't come to you with superiority of speech. I don't come with trickery. I don't got a magic act. He goes, I remember Jim says, see, nothing up my sleeve. Nothing in my coat. Pull the hat off. Nothing there, OK? That's what it literally means, what it means in the Greek. I don't come with the superiority of speech. I don't come with no fancy dancing. I don't do song and dance. I don't do what you call bells and whistles. I come strictly with the power of the gospel. The power of the gospel. That's all I come. It will speak for itself. It will speak for itself. Like I just read in Matthew 7 and 15. In Matthew 16 and 6, he warns, watch out and be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I was looking at this word leaven. Leaven, when you put a little leaven into a lump, what it does, it changes the nature of that bread. If you don't put it in there, how does your bread come out? Planin or tortilla, you know? So, leaven changes the nature of something, whatever it is going to be. Okay, so just the idea of what leaven does is what you're referring to, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They're going to put a little leaven, they're going to change the whole dynamics of things. They're going to deviate from the true gospel. Okay, it changes the structure and it gets really big, boom, boom, boom, you know, and you read the parables, it talks about the leaven and all this and that. Levin also, bottom line, means total unbelief. Unbelief. Remember the parable when he said that he had a field out there or something, and a woman came and put Levin in it? Okay. Levin takes a while to start, okay. That's talking about falseness. false teaching getting into our churches and starts fermenting, boom, boom, little bit at a time. I remember when I was talking to this one fellow down in Jezreel, you know what I'm talking about, that big old heavy guy? Oh yeah, Johnny Cashman. His name? David? Anyhow, I was here talking to Brother Penham. I said, what this church needs, we need to really get a big full-blown band with drums and steel guitars. I said, you know, and this will really get this church going and rocking and rolling. Okay, you really will draw the crowd this and that. And I was listening to all this. Well, these are the kind of people that bring all this crazy foolishness, you know, because eventually that's kind of stopped. They refer to in the book of Revelation, you have left your first love, your first purpose and reason why I called you out in the first place. you're deviating, you're going off track. Okay? And I, later on, he took on, I was talking to Brother Payne, I said, man, I remember that boy talking. He says, yeah. I says, I don't remember if I asked Brother Payne, well, what do you think about that? He says, well, I just told him, I said, well, the church, we come to church for one thing only, and that's to worship God and to study his word. I said, brother, keep it there. Keep it right there. Don't let these people you know, start doing their song and dance, okay? And then when I found out, the man's not even saved. He's not even a member of that church. And yet he goes out there and plays with the church members' orchestra. The worship team, I think. The worship team. Yeah. When I found that out, I told Carrie, what is going on here, sis? The man's not even saved. He's not even a member of this church. He ain't got no business up there. Right here? Who is allowed to come in this area? Only the priest. Who is allowed to go in here? The high priest. No? This is very critical and very important. And not everybody has a right to come in within these grounds here. Okay? In fact, the guy that brings his lamb, he ain't going to go so far, and they do the rest of the work, okay? He throws it over the fence. Huh? He throws it over the fence. You can't come in. Okay, I'll throw it over the fence. That's my lamb. You heard of the flings, right? At a Jewish wedding, have you ever heard of that? The fling? A Jewish wedding lasts, what, seven days? Yeah. And it's at night. They have a procession going with lights. They go to this area where it's all lit up, and it's all fenced around. It's all fenced up. Okay? And what they would eat, when they're eating, they throw over for the dogs. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Remember? Yeah. Okay. Sure. I knew you had that. I heard that from Jim, you know. That's what they call the flanks for the dogs outside. Okay? Everything out here is worldly. Okay? Within these walls, it's all about being in Christ and salvation and baptism. Okay? I don't know how it got off onto that one there. We're going to stop there.