So we are in 2 Timothy 3. I'm going to begin in verse 1, go down to verse 9. This sub-series is called Know What to Stand Against. This is the sixth lesson, 19th lesson overall in the whole series, but the sixth lesson within this sub-series. So we're in 2 Timothy chapter 3, I'll begin in verse number 1. This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent fears, despisers of those that are good. traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. For of this sort," now when we get to verse six, he's really now kind of explaining how it happens. It's not really behavior per se. We may look at, kind of slant it that way some to understand it, but he's really saying this is how they work. For this sort are they which creep in the houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with diverse lusts. ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Well, verse seven is actually describing the people in verse six. So it's not a behavior that in this list that we're talking about, it's talking about this is what allows them to get away, these people with these behaviors. And then it says in verse eight, now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, if you recall, we are understanding, the best we understand is these are two of the magicians, or maybe there's only two magicians, but these are, The magicians stood before Pharaoh that when Moses did what he did and they copied it, but Moses is what he did, overdid theirs. Like when Moses cast down his rod, it became a snake. They cast down their rods, they became a snake, but Moses the snake ate their snake. And they were able to copy it a couple times, and it got to the point where they could not, because the Lord put an end to it. So do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further. In other words, there is a limit that the Lord is going to allow, and once that limit is reached, then that is it. For their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. So beginning in verse two, in this series that we're looking, this sub-series, describes behaviors that identify these last days. The last days began at the ascension of Christ, they go all the way to the return of Christ. The last prophetic days, that's how we look at this. So when it says last days, that's a term referring to a prophetical time period. That's what the last days are. So it's describing behavior that is happening in these last days. entire church age all the way back to you could say to the days of Pentecost coming all the way to the day of Pentecost all the way to today this is the last days. So these behaviors are what make these last days perilous times. Now if you recall we talked We talked about that. The word perilous is only other time it's found the way it's used there. It's talking about the demoniac or the maniac of Gadara. It is someone who's crazy, but not just crazy like there's mental illness, but crazy in that the demonic oppression that's causing the craziness. And that's how God describes the world we live in. It's crazy because of demonic oppression. The God of this world, the spirit of Antichrist, is at work. You say, why is this world crazy? Because of the devil. That's his plan. So these behaviors are what make these perilous times, make these days, last days, perilous times, are what makes the world a crazy place. Now as believers, we are to stand against or oppose these. That's why we say, know what to stand against. We're opposing these behaviors. And the degree which we oppose it is the degree that we hold back what is happening. And to the degree we don't is to the degree now it becomes overwhelming. If you look from the last 2,000 years, from the ascension of Christ to where we're at today, you'll see that there's an ebb and flow. There was what we call sometimes the Great Awakening. And there was several times that happened, at least three times, and that's when, basically, when believers decided to live like believers. And, you know, we use that term Christian, but really, believers are not Christians. Believers are believers. Some believers are Christians, not all believers. Christian is someone who lives like Jesus. Not all believers live like Jesus. You say, well, I'm saved. That doesn't make you a Christian. If your lifestyle does not line up with Jesus Christ, you are not a Christian. You're a born-again believer. I'm not saying you're not saved. I'm not saying you're not on your way to heaven. But you're not a Christian. The Bible says that they were called Christians first at Antioch. When these people saw these believers, they said, you're living like Jesus. You're a Christian. And that's what that idea is. So as we stand against and oppose these behaviors to that degree, we determine how prevalent or how non-prevalent these behaviors are. Now the issues we stand against, normally that's how it looks. It's like we're against something, some social issue, some social ill. The issues we stand against are really the outcome of people who live these behaviors. So what we're opposing by issue really is the result of the behavior. So it's not just the issue we're opposing, we're opposing behavior and the issue is the result of those behaviors. So our stand against a particular issue is actually a stand against a particular behavior. Now, just to refresh your memory, we're going to quickly, and I do mean quickly, we're going to review what these behaviors are, the things we're standing against. And there's 12 of them so far we talked about. We talked about standing against self-love, seeing the world through the lens of what I want or how I feel. It's all about me. We stand against this behavior of covetousness, and that's living for the acquisition of power, the acquisition of possessions, the greediness, the envy, the jealousy, the fighting, and the backstabbing, all that because of covetousness. We stand against imposters, those who pretend to be something just for their own gain. Probably no one probably pictures that as much as politicians. It is amazing how really just how deceptive these politicians are. The only thing that probably supersedes the deception of the politicians is the stupidity of the people who keep voting for them. Moving on. We stand against blaspheming. That's the idea of not giving God the glory he deserves when we try to take the glory to ourself. or we use his name in an empty way or a vain way. We talked about the behavior of disrespected parents, the failure to acknowledge the debt one owes to his parents. The Lord expects that. We talked about this behavior that we're standing against, a lack of grace towards others, and that becomes a sense of entitlement. Therefore, there's a lack of thankfulness. We don't show grace because we think we deserve things. We don't realize that how really how much people are being gracious or kind towards us. We talked about this behavior of destruction of the family, a breakdown of natural affection or natural attraction within what should be the makeup of a family, where there's all this division. It's not supposed to be that way. We talked about this behavior of bitterness and vengefulness. a heart that harbors, hurts, and seeks to have its revenge. We talked about standing against this devaluing of others, accusing someone that their life has no value or no worth to God. Now, there are people who, because of their behavior, they may need to go to jail, they may need to go to prison, they may need to go to electric chair. But all that is is the result of their decisions. We should never look at people and say, well, you're worthless, you have no value. Jesus died for them. It doesn't matter, and there's behaviors that I don't, there are personal behaviors which I don't agree with and don't like, and some is just outright sinful, but the fact is they still have value and worth to the Lord, and we got to be thoughtful of that. The behavior of no self-restraint, living without any concern for how my actions affect others. I'm just going to live the way I want to live, not concerning how all of the ripple effects that can happen in the way I live my life. This behavior of harsh spirit towards others, purposely inflicting pain on others without any concern for them. And then finally, number 12, this behavior about those who stand against God. And I say this generally, I'm on the side of those who want to do right. Now, I think this is important and I keep reminding you of this because of the times that we live, the political issues are very much prevalent through social media. I mean, you just pick your phone up, you can get all the news of the day. It's on our TV, it's on our computers, it's on our phone, it's in social media. It's 24-7. And if we're not careful, all we become is an extension of all of the conflict that's in this world. We start picking sides. My decision about how I live my life, what I stand for, and what I stand against is not based on a party platform of some political party in this country. Now, I'll say this, one party aligns more with the way I look at life than the other, but I'm not a Republican through and through. I'm a Christian through and through. I'm a born-again believer through and through. Now, I don't agree with everything that Republicans do. I agree more so on that side than the other side. But just because Trump says it, it's not like, oh, yeah, I'm for it. You know, I'll tell you, you want me to tell you who really loves Donald Trump? Donald Trump. And that really comes, it just really gets irritating. Sometimes you just want to say, will you just shut up? I get tired of hearing them. But if I had a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, well, I think if Joe Biden had a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, he'd probably vote for Donald Trump because he probably doesn't know who he voted for anyways. Moving on. So these behaviors taken as a whole can be described as living for self These things we're standing against, living for self versus living for God. We're talking about we ought to live for God, not for self. Now, even though there are, I think, particular verses in the Bible that teach us that we ought to live for God, not for self, but I think, really, when you look at the Bible, the general teaching of the Bible is we live for God, not for self. I mean, well, how do you know that? Well, start in Genesis, go to Revelation, it's all through the Bible. We live for God, not for self. And really how perilous these times are depends on the degree that people, whether they live for self or God. The more we live for self, the more perilous the times are. The more we live for God, the less perilous times are. So if we're going to finish strong, this is all just kind of getting us ready for the first point here. If we're going to finish strong, then we have to resist and stand against the push of this world to live selfishly and to live apart from God. Because if we live selfishly and apart from God, we will not finish strong. So let's delve back into it. Let's look at three more of these behaviors. And now we are down in verse number four. So it says, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. We won't cover the whole verse, we'll cover three of the traits that we see here in verse number four. So here's another behavior that we're trying to stand against. Okay, this is a behavior that makes these last days perilous. Number one, we are to stand against the selling out of the truth. Now in a future lesson we'll talk about standing for absolute truth or something like that. But we need to stand against the selling out of the truth. Now we get that from the word where it says traitors. Now we think of traitors, sometimes we look at these words and we think of them in a very narrow definition where they have a much broader definition. And really, to understand the broader definition is to look, where else in the Bible is this taught about? And then you'll see kind of the more broad definition that the Lord's trying to get across. So understand the behavior that God is focusing on in this word, traitors. I want you to notice the other places, the only other places that this word, particular word, is used. When I say the particular word, I'm talking about the Greek word that this is based on. Greek is a very specific language. English is very unspecific, and so you could have the word traitor come from different Greek words, but a specific Greek word that we get the word traitor, I'm not changing it, I agree exactly that's the right word, I'm not changing the word, but I'm trying to understand the word, like I would use a dictionary. So to understand the behavior God is focused on, I want you to notice with me the only other places this word is used. So go with me to Luke 16. Because if we do that, then it kind of gives us an idea of what the Lord means. When He says traitors, what does He mean by that? So Luke 16. Luke 6. Did I say 16? I'm sorry. Luke 6, verse 16. Maybe this is the guy you thought about, and if you did, you were right. Judas, the brother of James, that's the other Judas, and then Judas Iscariot, which also was the what? Traitor. That's the exact same word. So when he says traitors, he has two things in mind. One is Judas Iscariot. He has a second thing in mind, and that is the book of Acts chapter 7. in verse 52. Now, I don't know about you, I don't know how your brain functions, but when I do this and I start seeing things kind of line up, it's like, boo, boo, boo, fireworks going off. I'm like, oh, okay, I'm beginning to see what the Lord's trying to get across. So maybe something like that'll be for you tonight. Acts 7, look down with me at verse 52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? Now this is Philip speaking to the Jews, and you know what the outcome of that is. Which of the prophets, not Philip, sorry, Stephen, this is Stephen, and you know what the outcome of that is. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom ye have now, now watch this, of whom ye, he's talking to Jewish leaders, ye have been now the betrayers and murderer. That word betrayer is the word traitor. Now what's interesting is this, the Lord his word combines the action of Judas, calls him a traitor, and then the actions of the Jewish leaders, calling them betrayers, traitor-betrayer, and he puts them together and basically says both of you are guilty of the same thing, you have betrayed the Lord. Judas did it very personally, but the Jewish leaders did it as well because they had the same goal in the betraying or the being a traitor. Now, let me give you something to write before I give you a couple more verses to look at. Being a traitor, in this definition we're looking at, being a traitor isn't just, now watch this, isn't just a betrayal. It's not the only, when you look at this behavior, he's not looking just at the betrayal itself. Notice this, it's not just a betrayal, but it includes the desire to profit from that betrayal. It's because you're willing to sell out, backstab, for your own profit. This is what the Lord is focusing on. Judas's betrayal was designed for his profit. How do I know that? Well, go with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. I'll be with you in a minute. I'm going to put my bookmark in the right place. Matthew chapter 26. Now, this is, I know, not new information, but as we start taking maybe old information and putting it together in one spot, maybe something will make sense here. Matthew 26, look with me in verse 14. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests and said unto him, Now watch, what will you give me? and I'll deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver, and from that time, once the amount was decided, from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. There's a prophet for Judas. Now, what about the Jewish leaders? Well, go with me to John, hold your place in Matthew, coming right back, almost right back there, but go with me to John chapter 11. What about the Jewish leaders who were also a part of this betrayal? John chapter 11, verse 45. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him, but some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees, council and said what do we for this man do with many miracles if we let him thus alone all men will believe on him now notice what they said and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation now here is what the Jewish leaders put out Jesus is going to gather an army, and he's going to rebel against the Romans, and the Romans are going to come in and wipe us all out because of this rebel. That's what they're implying. Now, is there anything in the Gospel accounts that says anything that Jesus did remotely like that? No. Did he ever speak negative about certain groups of people? Yep, and who were they? The Jewish leaders, not the Romans. He may have said some things on the side about them, but mostly he said, if they come and compel you to carry their pack a mile, carry it two miles. Brinner to Caesar, to things that are Caesar, and to God, to things that are God. Really, on the Roman side, he was, I'm not saying he supported the Romans, I don't wanna make something that wasn't true there, but as far as the Romans would look at it, they would say, we have no problem with this guy. In fact, there's a Roman guy who kind of said that, didn't he? So let's go back to Matthew 27. So really, what was the Jewish leaders gain from getting rid of Jesus? Notice, here's what the Jewish leaders did. They'll take away our place in our nation. They were concerned that the followers of Jesus would so rally around Jesus that they would no longer have that power, that control, and thus that wealth from it. Matthew chapter number 27. So, as you know the account, they arrest Jesus, they have their little kangaroo court there, and since they can't crucify him themselves, they drag him to Pilate, And here's what they say to tell Pilate, and if you look at all the accounts and put it together, you see the whole story. Here's what they tell Pilate. This man is trying to overthrow the Roman control. And when Pilate wouldn't go along with him, he said, well, if you're a friend with this man, you're not a friend of Caesar, because you're a foment in rebellion. The whole lie was, you've got to kill Jesus, because Jesus is trying to get rid of the Romans. But that was never the case. And you know who didn't believe him? Pilate. He saw right through their lies. That brings us to Matthew 27, verse 11. And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Are thou the king of the Jews? Are you the one who's going to rise up and be the king of the Jews? That is a direct attack against Roman control. That's what he's implying. Are you trying to ferment rebellion? Are thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, Thou sayest? Knowest thou? That's what you're saying. That's what people are saying about me. Obviously, that wasn't what he was doing. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto them, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never award, insomuch as the governor marveled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner whom they would. And they had, if I can read now, and they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. So the arguments are made, Pilate's already seen through the lies of the Jewish leaders, and he's trying to figure out a way not to do what they want him to do. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ? Now look at verse 18. For he knew that for Envy, They had delivered him. This wasn't about rebellion. This is about their own envy. So Judas betrayed him. for profit. The Jewish leader's betrayal was designed for profit. So when the Bible says that we're standing against this idea about being traitors, what he's saying is the idea that you're willing to betray what's right and for your own profit. That behavior you stand against. That idea of I'm going to compromise for what I get out of it, that's what we stand against. We don't sell out the truth. Now, if I were to ask you what is a famous trader in American history, probably this crowd would get it. I'm kind of concerned about some crowds because the way public schools teach history, they may not have even heard of this man. They may have heard of George Washington. But there's a man, you know who he is. Who is the famous American trader? Benedict Arnold. Thank you. If you ask them, who's Benedict Arnold, they'd say, well, the guy, didn't he make Eggs Benedict or something? No. No, that's a totally different thing. You know, he had a price. His price to betray America in today's money. Now, obviously, the U.S. dollar wasn't back then. So it's in pounds, and then pounds has to be changed to today's money. But the best I can make to transition to today's money, his price for betrayal was $3.5 million. He had a price. He was a traitor, but he was also, he had a price for his betrayal. And this is what the Lord says we stand against. Therefore, we are to stand against any compromise of the truth, regardless of what it may profit us. Now, let me give you this statement and consider it carefully. If you have a price for which you are willing to compromise, the devil will offer it to you. He'll figure out your price, and he'll offer it to you. If you've got a price, he'll offer it to you. Go with me to Proverbs. We're not done with Benedict Arnold yet. We'll come back to him in a moment, because in the preparing of this lesson, I kind of like history. I've always kind of had a little liking to it, but I learned something that I did not know about history, about Ben and Donald, that I'm going to share with you that was kind of eye-opening. It's kind of, huh, what do you know? Proverbs 23, look at verse 23. Here's a good verse for us to understand. Buy the truth and sell it not. Let me tell you, here's what I say. Do whatever it takes to get the truth of God's Word, and don't do anything to compromise it. You buy it, but you don't sell it. You buy and hold. It's not buy and wait until the price is right. It's not like, this is not like the stock exchange. You know, buy and hold until the price goes high enough. No, you buy and hold it, and you hold it for eternity. Buy the truth and sell it not. So here's the interesting thing about Benedict Arnold that I learned. Three years before Arnold's betrayal, now, My understanding was the betrayal was in 1780. So now we're talking 1777, which puts it pretty early on in the Revolutionary War period. There's a man named Colonel John Brown. Now, if you don't know anything about Benedict Arnold before the betrayal, he was, he had some other character flaws, moral issues going on. But there's a man named Colonel John Brown. And I was going to tell you, I don't know much about him except he had a little Indian, but I'm not sure if you'd get the reference of that joke. Colonel John Brown was a very moral man. I don't know if he was saved or not, but he's a, did you get it? Anyone get it? No one got it? John Brown had a little Indian. John Brown, never mind. Okay. You want me to sing it for you? No, that's John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith. His name is Colonel John Brown. Back to our story here. Colonel John Brown was a moral man, high character. In fact, he wrote a book about what I'm about to tell you that you can find online. It must be in the Library of Congress or something. Because I saw the actual book, the page, and read it for myself. Because I wanted to make sure this is actually true. Because it sounds like it can't be, but it is. Three years before Benedict Arnold betrayed America, Colonel John Brown had big issues with General Benedict Arnold. Because General Benedict Arnold was a man of low morals and low character. And so there's conflict between them. So here's what John Brown wrote. And this is a statement he made three years prior to Benedict Arnold's betrayal. Money is this man's god. And to get enough of it, he would sacrifice his country. He said that three years before Benedict Arnold betrayed the country. an astute observation. All right. Number two. Let's go back now to our verse in 2 Timothy. We've had our sing-along and all of our specials. Now back to the Bible. So we stand against the selling out of the truth. Now we come back to that verse, which is verse number four of 2 Timothy 3. Hedy. That's the next behavior. Hedy. Well, that brings us to this point, and we'll try to explain it again. We are to stand against a rash or reckless dealing with others. Now, there's only one other place that this word, specific word is used, and that's found in the Book of Acts, Acts 19. So if you wanna go to that. Acts 19. And we'll go down to verse number 24. Now this is happening in Ephesus. This is the uproar that happens with the silversmith, if you're familiar with that scripture there. Brings us to Acts 19, verse 24. So we jump right into this riot that's going to happen. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain into the craftsman, whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, you see and hear that not Not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. So that not only this our craft is in danger, to be said it not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificent should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. And when they heard of these sayings, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! And the whole city was filled with confusion. And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions, and traveled, they rushed with one accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered into the people, the disciples suffered him not, allowed him not. And certainly the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not avenge himself in a theater, because they feared he'd be killed there. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not whether they were come together. Some people just, it's like a riot. Everyone just shows up, because hey, there's a bunch of things going on, and they just all join in. They don't even know what they're rioting over. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned him with the hen, and would have made his defense unto the people. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter, seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, now watch this, and do nothing rashly. That's the only other place where that word is used. Do nothing heady, do nothing rashly. Notice the riots happening. Everyone's just going berserk and going crazy. They're just acting out of whatever anger or whatever's going on. So this is the behavior we stand against, this reckless, rash dealing with people. So the meaning here is to act before thinking or act in a thoughtless manner. It would be the proverbial, you know how like you see a firing squad and they go, ready, aim, fire. This would be ready, fire, aim. This is what he's talking about. We start shooting before we know what we're shooting at. We just go off before we actually know what we're supposed to be doing. It's an act before thinking, to act in a thoughtless manner. This is a behavior that we're resisting. Now, if you want to make it contemporary to today, if you go back to the BLM and all that that was happening a few years ago, a lot of that is described right here. Most of those people they interviewed, and they said, well, why are you out here? They didn't know why they're out here, except for, you know, there's enough of us. We can bust enough windows, and we can get all we want for free. It was just riot. It was just pillaging. And so we're standing against this type of behavior. Now, if we make it more personal, to act without proper consideration results in actions that are needlessly rash and risky. If you do something rashly and it hurts, you can't say, oops. No, it's on you. If you didn't give it proper consideration, that is on you. You can't say, well, I didn't know. Well, why didn't you know? Because you didn't take time to think about it and find out what was really happening. Those who act that way do so because they are focused on themselves and not what is best for others or what is in line with biblical principle. You're doing it out of anger, maybe, or maybe just impatient. I'm just, I don't know, I'm just gonna do this. I'm just tired of putting up with it. We have a lot of ways we excuse this behavior, but it's a wrong behavior. The Lord expects us to put thought before action. And we'll give you some multiple verses to support this. This would include acting based on limited information or only how something affects you. And let me tell you, we're very, a lot of conflicts we have in our human relationships is right there. That statement right here explains why we have unnecessary conflicts. So I told someone this the other day, and I'll tell you this, you may not, I don't know, it may bore you, may anger you, I don't know. But when something's going on, here's what I know. I know that there's at least, typically speaking, six sources of information I have to consider, okay? And I'm thinking about, let's say there's a conflict between person A and person B, okay? That is, okay, what person A tells me, separately, what person B tells me separately. Nope, that's one source of information, what they each tell me separately. The second thing I know is what they tell me when they're together. And what I find is what they tell me what they're together is usually not exactly what they told me when they're independent of each other. There's usually a change in the story somehow. The third thing I know is what I've observed by my own ability, what I've observed in person A and person B separately, and what I've observed when they're together. Then I know this, here's my fifth source of information. I know what people tell me that person A or person B has told them separately. Person A told me this, person B told me that. And it always comes back. So if you tell people things, don't tell anyone. It will always get out. There's only one way you might be able to keep something secret. Keep your mouth shut and only think it. But sometimes that doesn't even work because God has a way to reveal even our thoughts. Okay? And then the sixth source of information is what people tell me that together those people have told them. Typically speaking, all six sources of those information are needed for me to really understand what's happening in that. So that's a lot to think about. It is. But we don't do that. Typically, here's what happens. Person A tells me something and then I act. And all this other stuff I ignore. As if it doesn't, well, I know what person A told me. And what does that mean? That means you ignored person B, and person AB, and person CD, and ENF, and you ignored a lot of other things. You say, Pastor White, really, is this just another one of your thinking, or is this really what the Bible teaches? Well, let's find out. Proverbs 26. And if you say that I have who-who-who thinking, that does offend me, so. Just so you know, I'm offended. Proverbs 26. Look at verse 17. Okay, this doesn't directly refer to what I'm thinking, but it leads up to what we're talking about. He that passes by and meteth with strife Belonging not to him is like one that takes a dog by the ears. Now, it doesn't belong to you until you know what to do. When you take possession of it without knowing what you're doing, it's like going up, find some stray dog, grab him by the ear and wonder what happens. Why did he bite me? Because you got involved in something before you even knew what was going on. Let's continue. Proverbs 20. I believe all these are descending So we'll keep going to our left if I did this right. Proverbs 20 verse 3. It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. Proverbs 18 verse 13. He that answers the matter before he hearth it And I think that means in the entirety. You've got to hear all that you need to hear about it. It is folly and shame unto him. Proverbs 14 verse 17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly. That's usually what happens. We get angry and then we just, we act. before we actually know what we should be doing. And a man of wicked devices is hated. Same chapter 14, go down to verse 29. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. So if you want to understand something, you can't just go flying off the handle. But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. One more place, Proverbs 12. Look at verse 16. A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. Basically, when you just shoot off that type of wrath, you're a fool and it's going to be known that you're a fool. But when you're prudent, it covers shame. In other words, instead of having to be shamed for what you did, it's covered. It's done away. You're not having to deal with that. So we are to stand against rash or reckless dealing with others. Now, the world's very guilty of that. Typically, I know what we say, you're innocent until proven guilty. That's a good statement. That's not how most people live. Most people have already decided whether you're guilty or not, and then they want to hear the evidence. It doesn't matter because, you know, they're lining up the fire squad already. Number three, let's move on to the last thing we'll look at tonight. So we talked about being traitors. having a price on compromise, basically. Being heady, that's this behavior of just acting without really trying to figure out what's going on. And if you look at the news, I mean, this is so typical of the news, I mean, of the media, and even of all that goes around. I mean, they just jump to conclusions. And then, high-minded. That's the third word we see here in verse four, high-minded. That brings us to our third. We are to stand against the attitude of self-importance. you're not all that. Two other times this word is used. It helps us to understand it. So that's just one book away. First Timothy. First Timothy chapter 3, verse 6. Not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he falleth into the condemnation of the devil. That idea of being lifted up with pride, that's high-minded. Chapter six still of 1 Timothy, verse four, says this, he is proud, but notice the result of being proud. Knowing nothing, but donning about questions and strife for words whereof come with envy, strife, railings, evilsimizings. Kind of being high-minded, typically what makes you heady? So what is pictured here, and this is an interesting word picture, the word high-minded has a picture to it. The picture of this word is someone who's engulfed by the fog of pride. It has the idea of being fogged in or a mist so you can't see properly. In other words, your pride is blinding you to what you actually need to see. You're blinded by your pride, you're blinded by your own faults, you're high-minded. You have this attitude of self-importance and it blinds you. So let me just give you three things kind of quickly to think about this because we're getting kind of late here. There is no person so vulnerable to the snares of the devil as that person who is blinded by his own pride. When you're blinded by your pride, Satan's kind of got you where he wants you. He convinced you you're something you're not. Why is this such a vulnerable thing? I want you to notice these next two statements. The more conceited you are, the more apt you are to be manipulated by others who play on your pride. When you think you're all that, and people tell you you're all that, you start being manipulated by those people. Let me give you the second statement before I say that. No, you're just getting mad too soon. The more conceited you are, the less willing you are to listen to those who try to correct you. No one can tell you anything because you already know it all. If someone comes to you and tries to convince you you're all that, why would you believe them? Only one reason you'd believe them, because you think you're all that. If anyone comes to you with any type of praise, maybe they're being sincere, maybe not. Not everyone's as sincere. The best thing to do, and you know what I'm going to tell you, the best thing to do is just simply say, praise the Lord. Because you're not all that, and I'm not all that, and never think you're all that. When you start reading the sports section to find out really what kind of great player you are, you're going to start thinking, man, I'm it. And then you're gonna read the support section and find out how many people don't think you're that, and then you're gonna get all upset. And you're gonna say, oh, how come? Because you really weren't all that to start with. If the Lord wants to bring blessing your way, or to bring honor your way, or to use you in a way that's kind of elevated, let the Lord do it. But that's the Lord's doing. That's not because of you, that's because of Him. Don't get puffed up, don't be high-minded. That's what we fight against. And every time that comes in, it destroys. It destroys a church, it destroys you, it destroys... If you ask me, what happened to the IFB movement from the 50s and 60s? We thought we were all that. And to tell you the truth, I think, you know, I think maybe... I'll just say what I think. I think the Lord got tired of sharing His glory with all these big-name preachers. because everyone had a conference and tell you how he did what he did. And I think God in heaven said, really? You did that, huh? Okay, go ahead and do it then, guys. And here we are. We fall on our face because we're really not all that. God was moving at a particular time in our nation, accomplishing certain things. We only recognize it in what we were doing and not he was doing. And that pride has come back and haunted us, because we're not all that. You know, God doesn't need independent fundamental Baptists to bring revival. He only needs one thing. It starts with G, ends in D, and there's one letter in the middle. It's an O. He needs himself. He's used Methodists before. I don't agree with the Methodist doctrine. I don't believe you can lose your salvation. But in the 1800s, it was the Methodists who were bringing revival, not the Baptists. Just because God is using us doesn't mean that we're perfect. It just means we have a gracious God who's willing to use us. Now watch, He is all that. Not us, He is. Let's get to conclusion. So as we consider these behaviors, we can see how this world becomes a perilous place in these last days. As these behaviors we're talking about become more common, the more perilous the world becomes. As they become less common, the less perilous the world becomes. Additionally, believers who succumb to these behaviors will fail to finish strong in their Christian life. That's why we're standing against it, not just for the benefit of our nation, we're doing it for the benefit of ourselves. The failure to stand against these things brings a complacency and apathy into our Christian life, which is leading us then to failure. We're not going to finish strong. So these behaviors are the very things that derail us from our commitment to serve the Lord. That's why we're standing against them. We gotta identify what they are. This is what brings about perilous times. It does it to our nation, does it to the world, does it to the nation, does it to society, does it to a church, it does it to the individual. So we stand against it if we're gonna finish strong. All right, let's pray and we'll get ready to be dismissed.