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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
Second. Peter chapter #2 is where we are
in the Word of God this morning. And I've said this before and
this is not novel for me to say this, but I will say it again
this morning anyway. And that's that Any fool can
break something. Any fool can break something.
It takes someone with some skill to be able to build.
I remember when we were moving from our apartment right up the
road from here. We lived a couple doors down
from Bay State Ford here on 138 or whatever it's called now.
But that's where we lived several years ago.
We had an upright piano that had been given to us and we had
known that it was not going to go with us to our new apartment.
It was on the 2nd floor. It was just not.
It was not in the shape or we were not in a place where we
were able to bring it to where we're going to go.
And so we thought we would bless someone by giving away for free.
Do you know how hard it is to give away a free piano?
It is almost impossible. Nobody wanted this upright
piano. And so we got to the place where
we said, well, we don't know what to do.
Nobody wants it. Nobody's going to pick it up.
I'm going to have to take this thing apart and just, you know,
get rid of it. And so I never really thought
about how hard it would be to take apart a piano.
And so, you know, I started with the legs and that was easy.
And then the keyboard, you know, kind of did a few of these on
the keyboard and kind of thong, thong, thong until finally it
started coming apart and the lid came apart.
But then I was left with the box, you know, everything that
was left really the heart of the piano.
And you know, I had a cordless drill and it was trying to be
able to take it apart. And there was nothing about that
that wanted to get taken apart. And I don't know about you and
guys and well, maybe ladies too, but you, you're trying to
destroy some, you're trying to break something down.
And at first it's not going the way you want it to go.
And you get more and more desperate as you go.
And I could just imagine somebody seeing me on the side
of 138 with a piano and just wailing it at this thing.
Boom, boom, trying to take it apart, run it through.
I finally got it down to where I got to the, the, the hammers and
the, and the, the strings that were there because really a
piano is a stringed instrument. There's the keys, hit hammers
that make it work. And that didn't work out well.
So finally I had nothing to do but take it to the the dumpster
in our new apartment, which means I had to break the whole
thing and take the whole thing as it was and then slide it down
into the dumpster, which was something to watch.
And I just heard this thing. It's like I was murdering it.
It went just like that. I was looking around to make
sure to home from the leasing office was watching as I was
taking this piano and throwing it in the dumpster as I went.
But you know, we get desperate. You're trying to break something
and it just, and if someone had watched me on the side of the
road or someone had watched me that dumpster, I look like a
maniac because I was just trying to take it apart.
The, the pulling, the pounding, the prying.
It was just, I was just trying to break this thing apart and
the more it wouldn't break, the crazier I got.
You know, in today's text where we are this morning in the word
of God, yes, there is a connection, believe it or not,
to what I just said. You know, there's a group of
people that the Bible calls brutes that they act like brute
beasts, some unsaved false teachers that act in a way that
is so unseemly and so wild that, listen, all they can do is break
things down. That's all they can do.
That which is in their heart and what's in their spirit spirit is
to break things. And so we're going to look at
how destructive they are here in our text.
But I also want to see why it's applicable to us where we are,
because I'm not looking at necessarily false teachers here
this morning. I'm not looking at anybody that
I would call a brute beast. But we, we do need to be careful
that the spirit of the brute does not reside within us.
That even if we are not the person that is being spoken of
here in Second Peter chapter #2 that that same spirit should not
in any way reside within the heart of a child of God.
Would you stand, please, for the reading of God's Word?
Second Peter chapter #2 We're going to begin in verse #9 and I
know that we read verse 9 last week, but I think it's important
that we read it again to help us understand why we're having this
conversation here in verse 10 and onward, it says, But the
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
Aren't you glad for that? And to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment to be punished.
So now we're talking about the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after
the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, despise government.
Presumptuous are they self willed.
They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, Whereas
angels, which are greater in power, and might bring not
railing accusation against them before the Lord.
But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and
destroyed, speak evil, if the things that they understand not
shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall
receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that
count it pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are, and
blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving, while
they feast with you and the guys full of adultery.
And they cannot cease from sin, beguiling, unstable souls and
heart. They have exercise with covetous
practices. Cursed children which have
forsaken the right way are gone astray.
And I'm going to end right there in the middle of the verse
because you could summarize how they live by this.
They have forsaken the right way and are gone astray.
You'll be seated this morning. And certainly you look at that
and you say, what on earth does this have to do with me, Pastor?
These are the kind of people I don't want to be around.
These are the kind of people I don't want to listen to.
These are the kind of people I don't want to be influenced by.
What does this have to do with me?
And we'll look at that by God's grace here over the next few
moments. Heavenly Father, do pray to you.
Just be with us as we're in the Word today.
Help us not to exhibit the characteristic of these brute
beasts, Lord, these people, these unsaved, these ungodly
people who do such wickedness. Lord, I look at people today,
many of whom have a testimony of being your children, having been
saved by the blood of Christ. Lord, may none of the
characteristics that we see here in this text be found in US.
Lord, we may not be those brute beasts, but we don't even want
to have the Spirit of the brute beast within us would help us to
draw close to you, and not to be destroyers, but to be builders.
And we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
The Bible makes it clear that Satan is a destroyer while God
is a giver of life. John 1010 says the thief cometh
not but to steal and to kill and to destroy.
But Jesus said I am come that they might have life.
I mean, ask Job what, what did God do?
God was willing to place a hedge of protection around him, wasn't
he? While Satan was very willing to
grab some hedge Clippers, wasn't he?
Because he want to get as close to Job as he possibly could.
And by the way, he only could through the permission of God
the Father. But nonetheless, we see the
characteristic of God is to protect and to build.
The characteristic of Satan is to destroy.
You know, I don't know that I've even thought about this until
this week. Maybe you have before, but I've
never thought about it before. But even the very fact that
Jesus during his life here on earth after his incarnation,
that he was a Carpenter, what does a Carpenter do?
A Carpenter is a builder. The very fact that while he was
here during his formative years, what was he doing?
He was building because that's what Jesus Christ does.
He is a builder. He said in John chapter 14, in
my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a
place for you. And listen, I'm not suggesting
this morning that Jesus is in heaven with a hammer and nails
and drywall and that he's making, you know, mansions for
us up there in the sense of the way we would build things here
today. What I am saying is this, that
when you see the characteristics of God, you see that he is one
who is a builder. And when you see the
characteristics of Satan, you see one who is a destroyer, a
thief, one who not to have life but to have death.
Christ builds lives and Satan wants to destroy them.
But our text here that we just read here in the last few
moments gives us some characteristics of a particular
group of unbelievers. Again, I believe as we continue
on reading, and if we were to continue past the middle of
verse #15 we'd find that it's talking about some false
teachers, some of those same false teachers that we looked at
in our study in the book of Jude a few months ago.
So there's these brute beasts, these ungodly people.
They're so ungodly. They are reserved for judgment
because of not just the fact they're unsaved, but also
because they are actively acting like animals.
In fact, they are called children here near the end
because like a child that just lashes out but has no conscience
understanding of the destruction that it's actually causing, they
are acting like these beasts. They're acting like these
children. But I see this just as like we
find in the characteristics of Christ and the characteristics
of Satan, a brute only breaks things apart.
They can't build anything up. The brute, as we see here in
these verses, only breaks things down.
They never can build things up. And Peter vividly describes
several ways that they use their bodies to destroy things that
are both good and right. Now we're not going to dwell on
any of these single ones for very long, but we're going to
try to look at them all together as a group after we identify
them singularly. Because I want us to identify
how these brutes use their bodies, their senses to be able
to break things down, and then how that affects us in our
Christian life here today. So first of all, I see this from
our text in verse #10 that a brute uses his feet to destroy.
We see in verse #10 the very beginning of verse 10 that a
brute uses his feet to destroy. It says in verse 10, but chiefly
then that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness.
It says walking in the flesh, lust of uncleanness.
As Christians, we're told not to walk in the flesh, but we're
rather told to walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 516 this I say then walk in the spirit, that ye
fulfill not the lust of the flesh, but the brute walks
totally and completely after their own flesh.
Now when I talk about the flesh, I'm not talking about this
physical flesh, you know, that we have here.
That's not what I'm speaking about, and that's not what Peter
is speaking about, but rather the ungodly desires that are
within our heart, the things that we know we should have no
part of. If you want to know the flesh,
it's the selfish part of you. If you want to know the flesh,
it's the part of you that likes to cuss or that wants to cuss.
It's the part of you that likes to lie to get its own way, or if
it's at least not outright lie, but at least to maybe just shade
the truth a little bit in your own direction.
That's the flesh. The flesh acts and pride the
flesh. The flesh thinks of itself.
The flesh always wants more. The flesh is never satisfied.
No, no, not talking about this skin that hangs upon our bodies,
but rather the flesh is that part of us that desires things
that we know we ought not to be desiring, particularly if we're
a child of God. And if you're not unsure about
my interpretation of this here, it's very clear because it says
walking after the flesh in what? The lust of uncleanness.
So it seems very clear that this is not talking about our
physical flesh, but rather it's talking about the flesh of which
is part of our spirit and it's the part of us that wants no
part of God and no part of his word.
You know, we typically think of lust.
We think of it in the issue of sexual desire or inordinate or
or rather ungodly sexual appetite.
And while certainly that can be true, it's really when we talk
about lust, it's any unspiritual appetite.
It's anything that we ought not to have, anything that we ought
not to partake of that our soul greatly desires.
And the Bible says the brute will use their feet to find
trouble wherever they can find it.
The brute will use their feet. The brute will move their bodies
to wherever the action is. It was always amazing to me when
we were a youth director. When I was a youth director, my
wife and I, we work with children back in Florida and we
would take kids to camp and it was amazing.
The ones that were did not want to do right.
They always found the other ones from the other churches that
didn't want to do right in like 5 minutes.
It was incredible. I didn't know if they had a
convention beforehand and they just met up again when they got
there, but they always found each other.
Why? They were all run in the same
direction and they were all trying to where was the
direction away from us because they didn't want to be anywhere
where we were, because they knew they were going to be in
trouble. But our feet, if we're not
careful. And these brutes, they use their
feet to run after the things of the flesh.
Isaiah 59 verse 7 says this. Their feet run to evil and they
make haste to shed innocent blood.
And certainly we know those who are absorbed in the life of
wickedness live this type of life.
Their feet are running towards destroying others.
These are the people that run towards sin with excitement, and
they'll run over whoever they need to to get there.
They will run to all the wrong things for all the wrong
reasons, in all the wrong ways. Why?
Because they are brute beasts and they run and they use their
feet to be able to absorb the things of life that they know
they should not be a part of. But that's not the only
characteristic that we see of the brute beast here.
It's not just that they use their feet to destroy, but also
that they use their mouth to destroy.
Not just to be able to walk in those ways, but they also have a
talk that is certainly not one that's pleasing to God.
Pick it up in the middle of verse #10 It says they despise
government. Presumptuous.
Are they self willed? They are not afraid to speak
evil of dignities, whereas angels, which are greater in
power and might bring not railing accusation against them
before the Lord, but these as natural brute beasts made to be
taken and destroyed, speak evil the things they understand not,
and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.
The Bible says that the brute will speak evil of leadership
without even giving any second thought.
They are always smarter than everyone else in the room.
They're always smarter than the boss.
They're always smarter than their leader.
They're always smarter than the teacher, they're smarter than
everyone else said. If only people would sit down
and listen to them, they would finally learn something.
This is the way the beast is with their mouth.
This is the way the brute is with their mouth.
In fact, an interesting parallel is made here when it talks about
despising government and speaking evil dignities.
And it basically says this, the angels, they're careful and how
they deal with the demons. And of course, we understand
that angels are certainly on the right side of history, if you
will, and they are on the side of the Lord.
But it says even they are careful in how they approach
demons. They said, and these brute
beasts they have, they don't, they don't think about anything.
All they're thinking about is how great they are.
And all they're thinking about is using their mouth in a way
that is not pleasing to God. I love the the definition in
verse #12 it says this. They speak evil things.
They understand not you know, it's one thing to be ignorant in
life. Let's be honest, we're all
ignorant about something. Ignorance is not.
It's almost like it's a slam if you say that you're ignorant or
someone else is. Being ignorant means you just
don't know something. I mean that's there's a lot of
things that I am ignorant about and you would be the same.
It's just the way life is. We don't have total knowledge
about everything. It's one thing to be ignorant,
but it's another thing to be ignorant and think you're
knowledgeable. That's where it gets dangerous,
doesn't it? Oh, I know a lot about
electricity. Let me put this fork in the in
the receptacle. Well, yeah, you might not want
to do that. That, you know, that may not be
a good idea. I remember several years ago
when I don't know if it was the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 5 or a
long way from there. Aren't we?
I think we're on 16 right now. But one of the earlier iPhones,
they came out with a new display, a vivid, sharp display.
And it was RETINA, the RETINA display.
And I remember reading this and I thought it was the Retina
display. And so I remember telling
people, you know, this, this Retina display is incredible.
I mean, look at how sharp it is, that Retina display.
Finally, someone said to me, do you mean retina?
I said, no, it's retina. I said, that's how you spell
retina. And I said, well, I mean retina,
Retina, you know, tomato, tomato, you know, what is it?
No, I was going around spreading the gospel of the retina out to
people. Like you got to see this retina
display. It's awful.
I was so ignorant, but I was so cocky and confident that I knew
what I was talking about, that probably other people were
saying maybe it is retina. I don't know.
He's he seems, he seems really sure about this.
But this is what the brute does, is they talk in such a way that
they know everything, but they know nothing.
They know everything about everything but they've used
their mouth to destroy people. They will pull down whatever
they can with their mouth. If you're not sure about this,
you can go to James chapter 3 and you'll find that in James
chapter 3 are we find that our tongue is like a tiny spark that
can ignite an entire forest. It's like a small rudder that
steers a massive ship. It's like a wild beast that no
man contain. The tongue is the smallest or
one of the smallest parts of our body, but it causes us the most
problems. Never heard it said before that
our tongue could be a divine healer, more devilish murderer.
And boy, certainly you can remember things, perhaps that
people said to you 2030, fifty years ago, that still cut you,
but yet you can also remember someone who spoke words of
kindness and grace and love and helped you.
The brute can't do that. The brute has to cut with his
mouth. That's all that he can do.
See, the brute uses his feet to destroy, use his mouth to
destroy. He also uses his eyes to destroy
it. It says that he uses his eyes
having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.
Verse #14 eyes full of adultery, that they cannot cease from sin.
The 7th commandment clearly states thou shalt not commit
adultery. And these brute beasts use their
eyes in such a way that leads to sexual immorality.
These brute beasts have no barriers to that which is good
and right and godly, particularly when it comes to
the issues of sex. And that reminds us why it's
important this morning. And I don't want to go too far
off in a tangent, but at the same time, I do think, think it
bears reminding and repeating this morning why it's important
that God's churches stand for biblical sexuality.
You know, sometimes I think that we, we believe because of the
way churches have presented, that the issue of sex in and of
itself is dirty or shameful or disgraceful.
May I remind you that God was the one who created it, that God
was the one who defined it, and because God is the creator, and
because God is the definer, God is the one who sets the
boundaries and parameters for what it is.
Human sexuality is God has defined it as one man and one
woman having relations within the confines of marriage.
That's not a controversial statement, but somehow in 2025
it has become a controversial statement.
The word adulterate. We see the word adultery, and
sometimes we miss the mark of exactly what's being spoken of.
And of course we understand the breaking of a marriage vow.
But if something is adulterated, it means that it's been
corrupted. That's why you say, well, you
know, just give me the unadulterated truth.
That means give me the uncorrupted truth.
Give me the very essence of the truth.
So basically adultery is the corruption of the vows of
marriage and these brute beasts have no concept of that which
God has put in place when it comes to the issue of marriage.
And because of it, it causes a complete and total breakdown.
Now again, I don't want to get on a hobby horse or a soapbox
this morning. I have neither a horse nor do I
have a soapbox here that I can mount.
But I will say this, we are in the end of what is often called
Pride Month. But I will tell you this, when
it comes to the issues of Pride and when it comes to the issue
of taking that which God has said is viable and good and
right and corrupting, that we find this, that it doesn't lead
to good things. In fact, the Bible says this,
that says pride isn't exactly something we should be aiming
for, that it's humility in the child of God.
Now, do we need to love those who are the LGBTQ movement?
Absolutely we should. You know why we should?
Because God loves them. Because the Bible says that God
loves all. That's why he died on the cross.
But at the same time, I will tell you this, that there have
been and will continue to be repercussions in our society as
long as the trans movement and as long as homosexuality and
those types of things are being taught and preached and given in
society as if they are all on equal footing and they are not.
The Bible has said one man, one woman in the confines of
marriage. That is good and right and holy.
Anything outside of that is sin. Again, that's not popular
preaching today. That doesn't win me any awards.
But I will say that that's what the Bible teaches.
And these brute beasts want to break down all of the barriers.
They have adulteress eyes. And by the way, where the eyes
look, the body tends to follow. Eve is a great example of that.
What did she do in Genesis chapter #3 verse 6?
She looked at the tree and saw that it was good for food.
And once she cast her eyes on it and looked at it a while, guess
what? She was eating it not long after
that. That's why Psalm 101 verse 3
says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
I hate the Wick of the. I hate the work of them that
turn aside. It shall not cleave to me.
So don't put those things in front of your eyes.
Look, what you put in front of your eyes will end up being
where you're going. Why do we tell you to be so
careful about the entertainment that you watch?
Why? Because those things that you
watch could end up influencing you and your life.
Be careful what you watch. Be careful what your eyes look
at. Be careful that our eyes are not
roaming eyes, but rather that we have the type of eyes like Job
says that made a covenant with my eyes that won't even look
upon a mate. And ironically, and all of this
Lamentations 3 verse 51 says this mine, I affected my heart.
And that's important because we see the brute doesn't just use
his feet to destroy his mouth to destroy, his eyes destroy, but
he uses his very heart to destroy.
He uses his very heart, the very essence of who he is to destroy.
And this is probably the worst of all.
And it gets to the very root of the problem.
It says in verse #14 it says the middle of verse 14 and heart,
they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed
children. Now, this is not saying that
they were cursing at children, that that would certainly be
very bad. But I don't believe that's what
this is saying here. I do believe it means that they
are acting like petulant children that cannot be
controlled. They, they, they don't listen.
They, they don't listen to nobody.
Just like many of us have talked to our small children at some
point and we told them, you you shouldn't do this, it's not good
for you. And they say, but I want to do
it. And you say, but you shouldn't
do this, but I want to do it. And they go over and over and
they don't believe you. I remember when Bethany was very
young and I was teaching at Westgate and every morning I
would come through with a cup of coffee past her homeroom or past
her, the lunchroom where she was at.
And I would be going to my classroom to get my classroom
ready to go. And for it seemed like for weeks
she would ask me, could I have a sip of your coffee?
Could I have a sip of your coffee?
She was like 6 years old. Can I have a sip of your coffee?
And I was drinking black coffee, you know what I'm saying?
And so there wasn't even cream and sugar in there to kind of
cut the taste a little bit. And can I have a sip of your?
I said no. And finally, one day I had
enough. And I said, you know what?
Help yourself. He said, pastor, that's probably
not what you're supposed to do. Listen, don't judge me, all
right? But anyway, this is about you a
man, all right? Not me.
But no, but I said, go ahead, take a sip.
And you know what? She's a blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And she spit it out like I've
tried to tell you. And now she lives like with an
IV of coffee. So maybe I was the one that got
her hooked. I don't know.
But I remember that first taste. She's like, I don't want it.
I tried to tell, but there's no listening.
There's no convincing that these these brute beat.
There's no convincing them. That's why Romans chapter 1, it
talks about that God gives them over to reprobate mind to commit
some of those things that we're talking about.
Because literally he says, listen, I don't want you to do
this. I'm begging you not to do this,
but if you're going to do this, then you have a free will, then
you're going to do it. They've been corrupted in their
heart. Their compromise heart means
that they have become rotten to the core, as it says in Romans
chapter 1, verses 21 and 22. And verse #22 is perhaps the
saddest part of that. It says this professing
themselves to be wise. They became fools.
Like they think that they are so much smarter than everyone else,
but they're really fools. I've said it before and I say it
again, that that the heart of every matter is an issue of the
heart. At the heart of every matter is
an issue of the heart. And this is certainly true for
the brute. You know, what's their motive?
What's their motive at all this? You know, oftentimes when
there's a crime, they ask what's the motive, What's the motive
for the brute? And I think it's very clear for
what we see here. The motive of the brute is
singular and it's simple mass destruction.
Mass destruction. They want to destroy as much as
they can. You know why?
Because there's something in a very deep down part of us, we're
breaking stuff. Feels pretty good, doesn't it?
You know, I know that because there's a there's places now you
can go and pay money, pay real money and go take a sledgehammer
and go break old TV's and bookshelves and pictures of your
ex-girlfriend and all these different things and they pay
you. It used to be back in the day
that those are people that worked at a junkyard and you
know, but now you have to pay them to be able to go in and
work and sledge and people will scream and people will break
stuff and they come out where they say, oh, that felt good.
I feel so much better now. I don't get that.
And if you want breaks, we'll pretty Outback in the church.
We got some stuff that probably needs breaking.
Well, you can do it for free all right, as long as you haul it
away when you're done. Because that's really what we
need to do. We need to haul some of that
stuff away. But you can break stuff for
free. But there's something.
And the brute gets pleasure out of breaking others down.
That's where they get their pleasure.
I'm going to break others down and I'm going to make everyone
else feel bad because what they do, because they break everyone
else down and push themselves up in the process.
And all I see here is prideful, arrogant, brutish people that
all they can do is break others down.
Now there's no doubt from our text that a brute is someone who
gives themselves totally to destruction.
That was the end of the message. You say, pastor, that was one of
the strangest and most unhelpful, most unencouraging
messages I've ever heard at Liberty Baptist Church.
And thank the Lord, it's not the end.
Now, you may still feel that way in a few minutes, but I can't
control that. But if that was where we just
stopped, we'd say, well, yeah, these people are bad.
We, we don't want any part of them.
We don't we don't want to be part of them.
We don't want it if they have ministries.
We don't want to be part of their ministries.
We don't want to be part of their teaching.
We don't want to be influenced by them in any way.
No, pastor, these are people. They're reserved for judgement.
The Bible says I don't want to be any part of that whatsoever.
And I think we would all agree with that this morning.
But I would also say, and this, that we have to think about this
and consider this in our own lives, that the spirit of the
brute is lodged within our flesh.
And if we're not careful, that some of those characteristics
can come out from our feet, from our mouth, from our eyes, even
from our heart. What does the Bible say?
That we need to die daily. That we have to crucify our
flesh daily. No, no, I'm not talking that we
will become like the brute in totality.
These people are unsaved. And if you are saved, you know
Jesus Christ your Savior. But I will say this, we don't
want to mimic them in any part of our being.
Why? Because where Satan is a
destroyer, God is a builder. So what are we to do as children
of God? We're not to be destroyers.
We are to be builders, 516 says they have they that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with the with the affections and
lust. We are to crucify our flesh.
But there's parts of our flesh that keep popping up.
It's those parts of the flesh that keep popping up.
You know what they do? They just want to break stuff.
That's what they do. Which one of us hasn't used our
feet, our eyes, our mouth, or our heart to tear someone else
down? Who hasn't?
At some time or season, we used words to tear down our spouse to
win an argument, but in the process, we didn't really win in
our marriage, did we? We actually lost.
Which one of us didn't perhaps, maybe tear down our own children
to make them obey, but we lost some of their hearts in the
process? Tear someone down at church.
They they got you one too many times.
I'm just tired of it. It's enough, but perhaps maybe
you don't even realize where they're coming from and some
issues and difficulties they've been having within their own
life. And you and trying to correct
someone in a church have used the exact opposite of what God
has called us to do to try to bear one another's burdens, to
tear down our Co workers because they just don't get it.
I know nobody probably has a Co worker in here like that, but
you know, I have a feeling we've all experienced the fact there's
someone that they just don't get there so oblivious.
And there's a time you just you tear them down.
You know what, they deserved it, but they'll never be able to
hear the gospel from you again because of the way you handled
it. Tear down an enemy to gain
revenge. Somebody's hurt us and we're
going to hurt them back. But in the process of that, we
end up losing ourselves, who we are, because of the fact that we
are so badly wanting to have a vendetta that we become
unrecognizable ourselves and in some way maybe end up becoming a
mirror image of the person of which we're trying to inflict
the difficulty in in the first place.
I'm not calling you a brute this morning.
I wouldn't dare do that. But wouldn't we all say that
there can be times in our life that the characteristic of the
destroyer, the one who tears down, the characteristic of the
brute, can be found even within our own lives?
God says these things ought not to be.
Now, listen, I'm not talking about trying to correct someone
or trying to help them biblically in love.
You know, sometimes if you want to build some somebody up, you
have to tear something down. You know, if you're going to
build on a previous foundation, you might have to tear down what
was on the foundation previously.
So you can build up, right? But that's not what I'm talking
about. This is an issue of the heart.
You know the difference when you come to a brother in Christ and
say, you know, there's something I see that I just want to help
you with. I'm not, I'm not, I'm nobody,
I'm not saying I'm somebody, but I've been this way before and I
just want to give you some encouragement.
The big difference between that and saying, what's the matter
with you? Why do you even come to this
church? Say nobody talks like that.
Thankfully no one's talked like that yet.
But there's a big difference, isn't there?
Ones with the intent to tear down the others.
They tend to build up. God's called us to be builders.
You know, the entire World Trade Center complex took well over 10
years to be able to assemble not just the twin towers, but the
other buildings that were there, but ten years to be able to put
all of that together. But many of you, like me,
watched on September 11th, 2001, in about an hour, the entire
complex was gone. Why?
Because of a few who caused terror, who inflicted that
terror upon not the buildings, but the people, those buildings
and the people of this country. And they tore down and they
destroyed. You know, I don't ever want
within my spirit to have anything that could be labeled a
spiritual terrorist is causing terror for the sake of terror.
Oh, it feels good. It feels good.
You know, when someone messes with you, it feels good to mess
with them. Peyton said once that she said
we were talking about something and she said this.
She said, you mess with us, we mess with you.
And I said, excuse me. She said, yeah, you mess with
us, we mess with you. I said, did you learn that from
mom again? All right, but but no, that's
that's a joke, all right? It's a joke.
It's the red hair. But it's not really an issue.
OK, just you know, you mess with us, we mess with you like, but
that's, that's what our flesh wants.
Your flesh wants it and my flesh wants it.
Well, I'm a pretty, you know, mild mannered person.
Come on, of course you are. And maybe maybe I am too.
But somewhere deep inside, if someone hurts you, you want it
and you want it bad. I know because I feel it.
But you know what we need? You know what you need when you
get off the tracks a little bit? You need someone to come
alongside you and say, hey, I love you.
I'm going to tell you something because I love you and I hope
you still love me when this conversation's done.
I've had a few people along the way, but one of those, Pastor
Richard Rossiter, which I think you 2 are pretty well acquainted
with, who in my life came to me a few times and said, hey,
what's the matter with you? Why?
Why are you doing this? And he didn't do it for the
intent to tear down. He did it with the intent to
build up. We all need people who are
builders in our life. So you need to be a builder
Several years ago when it's amazing.
I could say several years ago when I had my surgery back in
2021, it was on a Thursday and a lot of those days were a blur.
All I remember was on the Sunday, it was the first day
that Diane didn't come because she was at church.
And I told her, please don't come to the to the hospital that
day. But it was also a day where I
thought, Hey, I'm feeling pretty good.
I don't need pain meds. What I didn't know was I was
feeling really good because I had pain meds.
And so it's, hey, let's taper this off.
And they said, well, you know, listen, we could taper it off
and we started back up. But there's going to be, you
know, listen, if you get off of it, it's going to take several
hours for you to start feeling good again.
I was like, I'm good, I'm great. And a few hours later I was
pushing that red button. Like how many times did I push
this red button? Like Sir, that you can't do that
anymore? Like can't something else get
out of here? I mean, I was just, I was a
mess. And by Monday when Diane came, I
was just physically, spiritually, emotionally,
mentally, if there's any other ways I was a mess, I was I was
gone. But I remember telling her, I
said, I need someone to pray with me.
I'm not talking about Diane and I praying together.
I just, I need to talk to somebody.
And I remember calling two men in this church and I was so
helped by two men who were builders and at that moment, at
that time in their life, builders who I was able to talk
to. And they prayed with me and I
was so helped. Let me ask you, would anyone
call you to be a builder in their life or someone saying I
got some problems, but I don't want them to know because if
they see weakness in me, they will attack it Again, I'm not
talking about being soft on sin. I'm not talking about saying,
you know, avoiding the problems of others.
Oh, everything's great, everything's wonderful.
That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this.
Does Jesus Christ act that way? No.
He told the woman at the well what her sin was in no uncertain
terms, but he was still a builder.
What should we be like this? No, these characteristics, the
hands, the feet, the mouth, the eyes, the heart, they shouldn't
be found in us, in any part of us.
What are we to do? We are to be builders.
A brute gives themselves totally to destruction, but a
Christian's life should be dedicated to building.
Jude chapter one, verse 20 says this.
But beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, would anyone ask you to
be a builder in their life? And as we add to our faith this
week, let's use our senses. Let's use our bodies not to tear
down, but to build up for the cause of.
Christ, thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.