Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
I've mentioned you before that I was a Christian School teacher
for seven years. It was not a job that I was
looking for in any stretch whatsoever.
I was told about a week before I the first school year that I was
at Westgate, the principal called me to his office.
He said, hey, I just want you to know you'll be teaching a Bible
for 8th graders. And I think he gave me one other
class as well by particular member, the 8th grade class,
because there were 36 eighth graders in that class and I had
no teaching degree. I had no teaching classes.
I had nothing like that whatsoever.
It already had a pretty busy plate as it was being there as
an intern at the church for the two years that I thought we were
going to be there. That turned into being seven
years. And so I was excited in some
ways to be able to teach Bible, all those eager young people.
After all, it's a Christian School and they all love Jesus
and they all want to do right. And I've been into the same
Christian School before. So I knew that wasn't the case
because I was one of those students a few years before.
But I'll tell you, it ate my lunch in so many different ways.
It was, it was difficult. Those students, they could smell
fear. They knew that I didn't know
what I was doing. And it got bad really, really
quick. But I'll tell you one of the
things that really took up so much time as a teacher.
And I added more classes as years went on to just teach
Bible. I end up teaching English as
well, 7th grade math. Which I still feel like some of
the parents should have gotten their tuition money back, a
refund off of me teaching their kids math all things considered.
But one of the things that took up more time, way more time than
I thought it would, would be grading papers.
Correcting papers, if you will. Every week in Bible we had a
memory verse. And so we had to be able to
correct the memory verse, what 36 students?
And I had to correct 36 verses and all that.
So I did what many other teachers did is I had the
students correct their own papers.
You say, well, wouldn't they cheat?
Well, you had to find ways to make sure that you watch over
what they're doing to make sure that they're doing right.
But after the quiz was done, you'd say pass the paper to your
left or pass the paper to your right or pass the paper, the
person behind you. And then they would correct the
paper. And this is what we would tell
people to do is what I tell students to do.
But, you know, I came to find out through some Bible study,
oddly enough. But the idea of what I was doing
was not actually correcting the papers.
I was really reproving the papers.
Say, pastor, what are you talking about?
Well, the idea of correcting the paper would mean that if I had
the paper in front of me, let's say I was the one that was
correcting it, that I wasn't just putting an X next to it,
but I was also crossing out what they've done wrong and put the
right answer in its place. I don't have the time to be able
to do that. I just told them what was wrong
and they had to figure out what was right on their own.
You know, a lot of times when it comes to the issue of the word
of God, we often think about being told we're doing wrong,
right? I mean, that feels like, what,
half of what it is being independent Baptist, right?
The pastor gets up in the pulp and tells you all the things
you're doing wrong, right? And there is an element to that.
However, there's more to the Christian life than just being
reproved, than being just told you're wrong.
In fact, I have found that there's a decent amount of
people, particularly they're used to being in an independent
Baptist Church, that have no problem being told that they're
sinners. Because guess what?
Most of us understand we're sinners, but it really comes
down to the issue of people not really wanting to make the
correction that's needed, not understanding the difference
between reproof and correction. A lot of people don't mind being
told they're wrong as long as they don't have to do what it
takes to get it right. And you know, it's one thing to
be told you're wrong and to agree, but it's not something
completely different to be able to say, you know what, I need to
get right with the Lord. I need to do right.
I need to be corrected. And Bible preaching, Bible
teaching, Bible study isn't just about reproof.
Here's where you're wrong. But it's also correction, being
told how to get right and be right in the things of God.
All right, we're in Second Timothy chapter #3 and we're
going to go ahead and read beginning in verse #13 it says,
but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. That was true 2000 years ago.
How true is it today? How true is it today?
How bad things are in the world, and how evil men and seducers
are waxing. They are growing worse and
worse. But continue thou, despite what
Paul just said. Continue thou in the things
which thou has learned, and which thou has been assured of
knowing of whom thou has learned them, and it from a child.
Thou has known the Holy Scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. I realized didn't have you all
stand up tonight, but that's okay.
We still give reference to the Word of God tonight nonetheless.
But I really want us to look at those 4 words that are found in
verse #16 particularly the one correction, but doctrine,
reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness.
Those 4 terms, if you will. But particularly I want us to
look at the issue of needing to grow in correction.
So why don't we go ahead and pray?
We'll ask the Lord to bless the message this evening.
Heavenly Father, do thank you for this night, and I thank you
for your word. I do pray to just help us as we
look at this issue tonight, to be people who are willing to be
corrected. Lord, we need to know what's
right. We need to know what's wrong.
We need to know how to get right.
We need to stay right. Lord, these are parts of the
Christian life. When it comes to this issue of
correction, I think sometimes we've got it all backwards.
So we've got it wrong as being told what's wrong is not
correction. There's so much more and I pray
to help us to learn that this evening and be willing to
receive it within our own lives. Thank you again for your word.
And we ask this all in Jesus name, Amen.
As we saw verse #13 the Bible tells us that the world is
getting worse and it's getting worser and worser today.
There's no doubt about that. And So what is the remedy for
that? What are we supposed to do in
the face of an ever wicked world?
Well it says in verse #14 you need to continue despite
everything telling you to stop, despite everything telling you
to not go to church, despite everything telling you to not
read your Bible, to fight everything that says don't stand
for the Lord. It says this.
But remember, we saw this morning that conjunction BUT
meaning that there was something going this way.
But now we're going this direction.
The world is getting evil. But guess what?
You continue. Continue in what?
Well, it says to continue in the things which thou has learned
and which thou has been assured of knowing of whom thou has
learned them. Well, who was the one that had
taught them the things that were good and the things that were
right? Well, that was none other than
Paul. Paul had taught Timothy the
things that were good and right. That Paul had been a mentor.
Paul had been a father in the faith, if you will.
Now he had a mother and a grandmother.
Lois and Eunice. You find them at the beginning
of the book who had taught him up in the Scriptures.
In fact, they're really referenced here when it says
from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures.
Paul was just building upon the biblical foundation of which
Timothy's mother and grandmother had already built, but
nonetheless he had taught them good doctrine.
He says this in the face of the world where everything is going
haywire. Listen, continue in the things
you've been taught. And if that's true, then it's
true today as everything seems like it's spinning office access
out in the world today. There's more of a need for us to
continue in the things that are good and right.
There's more of a need for us to go to church than there was
before. There's more of a need for us to
live holy lives. There's more of a need for us to
reach our family members, our loved ones for Christ.
It's more important than it was last year and it's more
important than it was the year before and it's going to be more
important every year until Jesus Christ comes back.
Don't let up. Continue in the things that
you've been taught and it's it says from a child thou has known
as I just mentioned, the Holy Scriptures which are able to
make the wise unto salvation. Listen.
Where would we be it comes to salvation without the
Scriptures. Brother Monday mentioned this
this morning as he was reading for the worship and then
praying. How do we learn of salvation
without the Scriptures that we understand?
It's the Scriptures that make us wise to salvation.
How shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans chapter #10 that we need to give the scriptures to the
people who around us. Why do we have tracks?
Well, what's on the tracks? Is it just a personal message
from the pastor? It was just a hey, howdy, I'm
Pastor Rivera. Why don't you come over to the
church and we'll, you know, gather around and sing kumbaya.
Well, our tracks don't say that. You know what?
Our tracks have a lot of scripture because we want people
to be confronted with the fact that they're sinners and that
they need a savior and that Jesus Christ is the only way to
salvation. And the Word of God is given in
printed form to be able to hand out to different places.
Why do we have a Facebook page? Why do we have videos that we
put out? Why do we do those things?
It's so we can sell, promote, and be the biggest church in
Easton or the biggest church in Massachusetts.
No, it's because we want as many people as possible and as many
avenues as possible to hear the word of God.
That's why it's podcast form and it's on YouTube and it's on
Facebook and it's on Instagram. If I could ever figure out Tick
Tock, we would do Tick Tock too. Why?
Because I want to be like a, you know, a 16 year old girl on
TikTok. No, well, because that's where
people are. And because they need to hear
the gospel there too. They need to hear truth.
Because wherever we can find people in a place where it's
ethical for us to be at and good for us to be at, well, we need
to be giving them the Word of God.
And so it says it's able to make the wise and the salvation
through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
And then we get to verses #16 and 17, which are some primary
verses that teach us about the authority of Scripture.
Remember, we believe that the Word of God is our authority in
faith and practice. It is the authority.
I don't even often say it's the final authority because it makes
it sound like there are other authorities.
No, it is the authority of our life.
It is our authority of faith and practice, the Word of God.
I was talking to that a couple today and I was able to talk
about some of the differences between being a Baptist and
being a Catholic. And I said one of the wonderful
differences about being a Baptist is that we look at the
Word of God. We believe the Word of God from
covered to cover. You don't have to wonder who
says what else that could be in line with the Bible.
The priest said this, or the father said this, or the Pope
said this or the Church father said this or the encyclicals
that came from these different types of organizations and the
Catholic Church said this. No, no, we know that it's just
the Scriptures and the scriptures alone.
We don't seek any other doctrine.
We seek no other way. That when I speak, I am not
speaking Scripture myself. You say, pastor, why would you
say something that there are groups that think that people
will just have revelations in and of themselves that are on
par with the Scripture. Listen, don't just walk away
from those people, run away from those people.
Listen, it's the Word of God and the Word of God alone that will
have the authority in your life. And it says all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God being this.
Paul was writing it, but he wasn't really writing it.
Paul was the penman. We would say Paul was the one
who was holding the pen. Paul was the one who was
writing, but at the same time he was writing what the Holy Spirit
wanted him to write. So when we read what he says in
Second Timothy chapter #3 or whether we're in Zephaniah
chapter #1 Zechariah, whatever it may be, some of those books
where it kind of gets a little bit difficult, here's what we
know. It's still God's Word.
It all belongs to Him. All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable.
We could just stop right there. All Scripture is profitable.
You get to those places, the Bible, where it seems a little
dry. Say, where is that pastor?
Come on, don't try that with me. There's a reason we tell new
believers not to just start in Genesis and go right through,
because they get to Genesis and Exodus and they're doing all
right until about Exodus chapter #20 they get to, you know, the
10 commandments and all of a sudden there's instructions for
the Tabernacle. And all of a sudden, you know,
you get to Leviticus. And now what do you have?
You have all the different offerings and numbers, numbers,
census after census, and this is how many they had 12 wagons and
these different groups and all these different things.
No, I'm not knocking. I'm just saying for a new
believer, they're looking at that going, I don't know what
this is. And sometimes we've known the
Lord for a while still. It can be a little bit
intimidating for us to look at. But I will tell you this all is
profitable. And you know, what I love is
that the older we get in the Lord, the longer we know Him,
the more layers of the word that get uncovered.
And you go to some of those places and maybe you read a
genealogy and all of a sudden you've been reading the Bible
through for 5/10/15 years, who knows how long.
And also, there's a word, a name in that genealogy that pops out
because you read about it a year ago somewhere else and you start
to make connections. Man, that's exciting.
What I'm saying is all of it is profitable.
There's not one part that is not profitable.
Now, again, if there's a new believer, I tell them, start in
the book of John, I'll tell them that to read a proverb a day.
Those are the kind of things that we often counsel a new
believer to do. So they kind of get a soft
landing, if you will, going into the Word of God.
But the same time it's all profitable and it's profitable
in those four different ways. We just read them a few moments
ago for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for
instruction in righteousness, those four different ways.
And it says if you have these four different ways, skipping
ahead of verse 17 that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly
furnished into all good works, meaning this perfect complete
that if you have these four elements from the Word of God
cooperating in your life. What does that mean You will be
complete. You'll be thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. Listen, you'll have everything
you need. Nothing will be missing.
As we talked about in Sunday school this morning, those
missing pieces in a puzzle that how frustrating that could be.
You got to the end. There's three or four or five
missing pieces. Listen, all the pieces of
instruction you need in your life are here in the word of
God, that everything is here in precept or in principle that God
can lead you and guide you and help you and do all, all of the
things that are mentioned here through the word of God.
What are those four things? Doctrine.
That's what's right. You know what amazes me?
There's churches today, they don't want to talk about
doctrine anymore. Had a lady come up to me years
ago, she goes, yeah, this church has has too much doctrine.
And I said, well, the word doctrine just means teachings.
And so you can't, you don't have much teachings and you don't
have much of A church. And there are a lot of churches.
I would encourage you if you're looking at different churches,
go on their church websites and look at their doctrines before
we visit church, look at the church doctrine.
Some of you that are here tonight, before you ever came to
Liberty Baptist Church, you checked out our statement of
faith online. You want to know what our
doctrine was? I appreciate that sometimes
people have questions about our doctrine.
I'm glad to be able to answer that.
But doctrine is important. It teaches us what's right.
And a lot of churches today, you look at their statement of
faith, it says this, love Jesus, love the Bible, love other
people and that's it. It's so small you can fit it on
a post it note. Why do they do that?
Well, they're trying to appeal to the broadest amount of people
by saying as little as possible because the more they say,
they're afraid they will be maybe divisive enough that a
large amount of people won't come to their church.
Can I tell you that may work in the short term, but it doesn't
work in the long term because you have Christians who end up
attending those types of churches that are a mile wide
and an inch deep. There's no depth there.
Why? Because without doctrine, you
can't have depth. Doctrine brings depth, being
able to understand the word of God.
Now listen, I wish I could give you a Bible college course every
single time I come up to the pulpit here at Liberty Baptist
Church. You probably don't wish that,
but I wish that I could. It doesn't always work like that
because preaching isn't just about teaching.
Teaching and preaching are synonymous in some ways, but
there's differences. Teaching appeals to the mind.
Preaching appeals more to the heart.
It's trying to get us right, trying to get us to where we
need to be. I'm appealing to you to be able
to learn more for yourself. I'm not saying we don't teach
doctrine here. Obviously we do to a great
extent. We just talked about this
morning for 45 minutes why the virgin birth is important and
went through the scriptures. Obviously doctrine is very
important here, but I want to say this, you need to be a self
feeder when it comes to doctrine as well.
To be able to read the word of God for yourself and understand
what is right or there's things that are confusing to you to be
able to learn that. I just talked with a couple.
I just talked with a, a couple people, I should say even just
last week and they said this, we always took our doctrine for
granted because the pastor told us this is what we're going to
do. And they said we got to a place
where we had to get with ourselves in a Bible and pray
and say, do we believe this because the pastor says it or do
we believe it because of what the Bible says?
I applaud that kind of thinking. That's Berean kind of thinking.
The book Acts talks about the Bereans fact checking.
Paul, I don't have a lot of regard for fact checkers now a
day because it seems like they're the fact checkers need
to be fact checked, all things considered.
But I do know this that the Bereans were fact checkers.
Paul, an apostle was preaching and they said, you know, we got
to check the Bible, make sure what he says is true, check the
scriptures. You know, the Bible wasn't
complete at that time, but you understand what I'm saying that
their, their scriptures needed to be compared to what Paul
says. And I love that doctrine.
You get into it and reproof. So doctrine's what's right,
reproof's what's wrong. See, that's the correcting,
quote UN quote of the papers I was talking about a few minutes
ago. It's just a red X Don't do this.
You know what, there's a lot of preaching that says don't do
this. Why?
Because there's a lot of things we do that we're not supposed to
do that should be very non controversial as a statement
here tonight, isn't it? There's a lot of things our
flesh wants to do that we ought not to be doing.
And a pastor has to stand up behind a pulpit and say, listen,
you may have a problem with this, I may have a problem with
this, but here's what you do. Don't do it.
That's what it comes down to, reproof.
And churches need to do it. And again, there's a lot of
churches out there, mega churches and some that aren't
mega churches that won't talk about what sin is, that won't
reprove because someone may stop giving or someone may stop
coming or someone may stop being influential in a leadership
position. So it's just better not to say
anything and just talk about, you know, the champion inside of
you. Some of you make the connection
there in just a second. Joel Osteen OK, but anyway, what
I'm saying is this, that there's no talk about sin, There's no
reproof. But listen, you got to be told
you're doing wrong to be able to make the corrections that need
to be made. Doctrine, reproof, correction.
So doctrine is what's right. Reproof is what's wrong.
Correction is this, how do you get right?
You know, there's a lot of people who will tell you what's
wrong, but then they won't tell you how to get it right.
Well, that's only halfway getting to you where you need to
be right. It's one thing to be told, hey,
you know what? Your finances are a mess.
I'm I'm a financial advisor. I want you to know your finances
are a mess. They're pretty bad.
You probably get audited in the next year.
You have a business, it's probably going to probably go
belly up. And don't forget to give me your
fee on the way out. Like, well, you're the financial
advisor. You're supposed to fix this for
me. You're supposed to help me
correct it. Like, well, listen, I don't want
to get into all that. I'm just going to tell you how
bad it is. You'd say you're a pretty bad
financial advisor. Well, when it comes to the issue
of the word of God, it doesn't just tell us we're wrong.
Listen, you're a Sinner. You're bad.
You do wrong things. It doesn't just say that.
It tells us how to get right with God.
Thank the Lord that it tells us that when we are doing wrong, it
tells us how to get right with the Lord again.
And this is the issue that I think oftentimes get missed.
The idea of correction and then instruction in righteousness
just briefly is not just how to get right, but it's how to stay
right. OK, now you got to get back on
the path. Now how do I stay on the path to
make sure that I don't go wandering away again?
But this issue of correction that we need to grow in the way
that we are correction corrected.
Listen, it is fundamentally missed because oftentimes we
don't. Mind is much being told we're
wrong, we just don't want to get it right or if we don't know
what to do to get it right. Ironically, the word correction
is only found once in the New Testament.
It's right here, but it's found several times the Old Testament,
including Proverbs. Proverbs 1311 My son, despise
not the chastening of the Lord, neither be wary of his
correction. Proverbs 1510.
Correction is grievous unto him that forsake it the way, and he
that hateth reproof shall die. Do you see?
Correction and reproof are connected.
They go together. You really can't have correction
without being reproved. How can you correct something
without even knowing it's wrong in the 1st place?
Jeremiah 5 Three, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth.
Thou has stricken them, but they have not grieved.
Thou has consumed them, but they have refused to receive
correction. They have made their faces
harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
So I want us to look for the next few moments, this issue of
correction. And there's two things I want us
to realize about it tonight. And the first is this correction
can only be accomplished through the word #1 correction can only
be accomplished through the Word of God.
And this stands to reason because if we are to get right,
there must be a standard to which we will be corrected.
There has to be that element that is there to be able to tell
us what is right and what is wrong, which we need a right
standard. For instance, if I was the Bible
teacher, we're correcting a memory verse.
Well, what do I do? I had to stand in front of the
class in my Bible and read the verse to be able to have the
students go through and make the reproof on the pages that they
needed to. If I was correcting a test on my
own, what would I do? Well, I would have to have the
answer key there and I would have to follow the answer key.
I couldn't just say, hey, it's time to correct those Bible
verses, but do whatever feels good, you say, well, who would
say something like that? That's what the world says.
Well, it says, hey man, do whatever feels good.
Follow your heart. Hey, you feel like doing it, Go
do it because you know there's only one person that you got to
please and that's you. That's what the world will tell
you. That's that's the world's song,
isn't it? To us to be able to just make
sure, listen, if if nobody else is happy, make sure that you're
happy. If nobody else gets theirs, make
sure you get yours. This is the way the world goes.
But for us, we realize that when it comes to the issue of
correction, you can't know how to get right unless you are in
the word of God for yourself. This is why all all of these are
linked together, doctrine, reproof, correction,
instruction, and righteousness. You take any one of those out
and you have an incomplete way to be able to get right with
God. You take out doctrine.
Well, you take out the standard. You take out reproof.
You don't even know you're wrong.
You take out correction, well, you're going to be wrong, but
you're not going to get right. You take out instruction of
righteousness. You're not going to figure out
how to stay righteous as you keep walking in the way.
Every single one of them are important, but correction can
only be accomplished through the Word of God.
There has to be a standard. You know, it's ironic to me that
in Washington, it's like, what is truth?
You understand what I'm saying? It's like every few days it
seems like everyone else is talking about something else.
And we've seen this just this week, as we see almost every
week, we have one group that says one thing and one group
that says the exact opposite. And never the two shall meet.
And it feels like that's what life in Washington is like.
And you have one set of rules when one group is in power.
You have another set of rules when another group is in power.
You know, what's the standard, what's real, what's not real.
But interestingly enough, in the midst of Washington, there was a
building called the National Institute of Standards and
Technology. The National Institute of
Standards and Technology In that building are prototypes for
things like a pound a kilogram, measuring rods for feet, yards,
metric measurements like meters. They have a meter standard, for
instance A reinforced bar of platinum alloy with exactly 10%
Iridium, where they want to know the exact measurement of a
meter. They cool the bar down to 0°C at
sea level of 45° latitude. Then they know they will have
the exact tip to tip measurement of a meter.
In fact, this bar is known as Prototype 27 because the
original was kept in a suburb of Paris at their International
Bureau of Weights and Measures. They're serious about one thing,
there has to be a standard. You know, this isn't unusual to
us because in the book of Proverbs, it talks about having
a just weight and adjust measure.
Well, why was that? Well, because in those days,
listen, if you were going to the market to be able to buy
something, you couldn't just go to the scale like you could at
the grocery store and make sure you had a pound of dates.
What would you have to do? You would have to go to the
merchant of the market and he would have his own weights there
and he would use them on a scale.
But an unscrupulous merchant would have his own set of
weights that was just a little bit off, that skewed it so that
he could make a little bit extra off of every transaction.
And so that's why the Bible talks about having to just
weight and adjust, measure. It means this.
You better make sure if you're a merchant, the standard is right.
And this is what this institute in Washington, DC does.
It makes sure that the standards of a meter, the standards of a
foot, a standard of a pound, the standard of an ounce, that it's
right under the most exacting conditions.
Could I tell you that our standard above all other
standards, our standard is the only one that matters and that
is the word of God that's in front with you.
Psalm 119, verse 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.
Verse 27, make me to understand the way of thy precepts.
So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Psalm 19 that we were just reading this morning.
All of them talk about the supremacy of the word of God.
That it is the one that will give you the correction that you
need. You say a pastor, I know that
I'm some things are wrong in my life.
I know some things are not the way that they ought to be.
The word of God is not just there to tell you when you're
wrong. The word of God is not just
there to tell you've messed up, to tell you that you're off the
path. Certainly it does tell us that
there's conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit within our
life when we read the word of God.
No, no, no, he doesn't make us guilty.
Satan just wants to make us guilty.
But we understand that the true Bible conviction coming from the
Holy Spirit makes us want to get right before the Lord.
That is godly sorrow that worketh repentance.
The Bible says. But what do we do that we don't
just get in the Bible for those things, We get in it to make
sure we get right the right way because Satan will just be glad
to tell you, hey, you're wrong. But why don't I help you correct
yourself by jumping into something else that's wrong.
Any good at that? Say, hey, you know, I know you
have some problem with alcohol, but you know what you ought to
do? Hey, get a packages in and just
put that in your mind. You say, what is that with
nicotine? You say, well, that that'll help
you out. Satan's great at telling you,
hey, you're wrong. But let me just get you from the
frying pain in the fire. Any good at that?
Oh, yeah. So how do we know we're
correcting ourselves the way we need to be in the word of God.
And listen, I can't give you enough three times a week.
I can't if you're here in Sunday school, which I pray that you
will be. I can't give you enough four
times a week to be able to help you to be able to be where you
need to be, that you need to be in the Word of God daily
yourself. Listen, it is what Christ is
all. So we need to be in his Word to
understand what He wants from us in our life.
When you read this book, you can know it has a track record of
worthiness. They can help you directly or at
least with principles for any situation in life.
Again, it may not speak directly to every situation of life
because there's a lot of situations of life today.
Listen, a 2000 year old word of God does not directly address, I
don't find one cigarette in the word of God.
No, I'm not trying to be cute. I'm saying I don't.
I don't, I don't find the Internet in the word of God.
I don't find your 80 inch plasma screen TV in the word of God.
By the way, if you have 80 inches by invite me over
sometime for a game that sounds like fun because because I don't
have that. You don't find that.
But listen, you have principles or what to do and what not to
do. And how do you know that?
Unless you are in the Word of God yourself, don't just listen
to what the world says. Don't just listen to what the
authorities so-called said. Don't just listen to what the
teachers say or all those people you know.
Take it all and compare it to the Word of God.
Correction can only be accomplished through the Word or
else you just jump from one problem to the next.
He'll tell you you're wrong and give you something else that's
wrong too. No, correction only happens
through the Word. The word is timeless.
It's true, it's trustworthy, and it's the method of correction
which is the catalyst for growth.
So we see number one, correction can only be accomplished.
The word #2 correction can only be accomplished through
willingness. Through willingness.
Here's the issue that sometimes is hard.
As a pastor, there are people that I know they're doing wrong.
They know they're doing wrong. It could be everybody knows
they're doing wrong. They understand that they're
doing wrong. They just can't bring themselves
to the place of getting it right.
You know what's difficult as a pastor, I can't make them do it.
I wish as a pastor I could just grab someone by the shoulders
and say, what's the matter with you?
You need to be over here. Just do this and stay away from
this. And I'm not saying I can't be
emphatic as a pastor and telling people what they need to do,
especially if I know they're self-destructive in the way
they're living. I have done that and I will do
that. But listen, I could physically
take someone and pick them up and take them out of a situation
and bring them to a safe situation.
You know what we could find? They could go right back to the
exact same situation. I've worked with people who
who've gotten themselves into alcohol and drugs and, and I've
literally helped them out of those situations, have been able
to give them places that are safe and places that are helpful
to only watch them days or weeks or months later.
Go right back to the exact same thing.
And they know it's wrong, but they're not willing to be able
to get through correction and say, well, pastor alcohol, you
know, it's just a disease. Well, it's the only disease you
can buy at Walmart. It's not a disease, it's a
choice. I'm not trying to be unkind.
I'm not saying, listen, there
were some people that grew up in a in a, in a home where was
around so much that they were just, it's almost that they were
predisposed in a way to be able to be around it because it was
always around and they were. But at the same time, there are
choices that have to be made. Are you willing to be able to
say correction, it's good. And I'm not saying if someone's
in that situation physically, listen, they're trying to get
out of that situation. Listen, your body's going to be
hurting. I'm not, I'm, I'm my eyes are
wide open about this. If you're trying to withhold
alcohol from yourself, listen, it's going to going to hurt your
body. If you try to withhold drugs
from yourself and you've been in that scene, it's going to hurt
your body. There's going to be some pain
that comes with it. I'm not trying to say that's not
the case. It's going to be difficult to be
in the place where you need to be corrected.
Correction is real. Correction is real and it only
can happen through willingness. Listen, you can come here week
after week and know you needed Jesus Christ.
I know there are things that you need to get taken care of in
your life, but if you don't do what you need to do or you don't
get saved, Listen, just knowing you need to get saved is not
enough. Just know while I'm a Sinner,
well, what are you going to do? I need to get saved.
Well, are you going to get saved?
No, no, I'm a Sinner. Well, that's not going to solve
anything. No correction can only be
accomplished through willingness that I'm going to humble myself
in what God has me to do. Turn to Matthew chapter 21.
Matthew chapter 21. Go verse #28 it says this, but
what think ye? I'll wait till you get there.
I'm sorry, Matthew 2128 but what think He, A certain man had two
sons. And he came to the 1st.
And said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.
And he answered, said, I will not.
But afterward he repented and went.
And he came to the second, and said likewise.
And he answered, and said, I go, Sir, and went not.
Whither of the twain did the will of his Father?
They said unto him, The 1st Jesus saith unto him, Verily I
say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the
Kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the
way of righteousness, and he believed him not, but the
publicans and the harlots believed him.
And ye, when he had seen it, repented not afterwards, that ye
might believe him. When it comes the issue of
correction, it's all about the heart.
Can I tell you as a pastor, you know, there was a time when it
has a pastor that people wouldn't curse around you,
people wouldn't do certain activities around you, people
wouldn't drink around you, whatever it is, because you're a
pastor. I'm not saying that I deserve
that. It's just kind of the way our
culture was. That time has passed and that
ship is sailed. It's not quite like that at all.
Not even the point where people say, oh, I'm sorry about that.
They're just full on work. We're going to go wherever you
are. But can I tell you what I, as a
pastor, appreciate? And I don't know, I've expressed
this before. In some ways I think it bears
out in this text. I've had church members, church
members who have called me. And I wouldn't say maybe church
members who were elder in the faith, I'll put it that way.
But maybe church members who are younger in the faith who call me
on the phone ripping mad about something, cuss not necessarily
at me, but curse and get off the phone and maybe a day or two
later they call me day pastor. And you know, I shouldn't have,
I shouldn't have done that. That was that wasn't good.
Then I've also had church members who have come in.
They carry the big family Bible, kind of like that Bible Dave
gave me a few weeks ago. So it's like it's about you say,
how big is it? It's about gay big.
You know, you got to carry it in.
You got to you usually have to have a Dolly to bring it in.
You know, you just bring it in a hand truck.
They come in, they're always dressed right.
Never a word is wrong that comes out of their mouth when they're
in church. I mean, they are impeccably
dressed. They're going to say everything
that's perfect. But you know, you start to see
after a while there's some cracks in the facade and you
realize that there's a lot of good looks for godliness, but
not a lot of real depth there. Can I tell you which of the two
I'd rather pastor? The first one.
Why? Because that's someone who is
saying, you know what? I'm not where I need to be yet,
but the Lord's still working on me and I'm humble enough to
apologize to someone when I've done wrong.
Man, I love that. I would take a church full of
the first group and I would tell you, I would steer clear of one
of those in the second group. You know why?
Because he, he has everything he needs already.
He don't need me like you don't need any of you.
But I'll tell you, he is also not happy with himself because
that one that I see, I'll tell you that he has all of that.
It's not just a he there. She's as well, but but he has,
he's seemingly everything. This guy, this guy's amazing.
He's like the best Christian ever lived.
But you know what he, he gets home and he's usually miserable.
He gets home and he's usually not happy with himself.
You know why? Because he really doesn't have a
good relationship with the Lord. He just feels like he needs to
show himself in a way, kind of like, well, Jesus just said,
Hey, Pharisee, it had everything good on the outside, but the
heart wasn't right. Yeah, I'd rather work with
people and say, you know, I don't got all the answers yet.
I don't even know all the questions yet.
But when reproof and correction come my way, I'm willing to
listen. I just encourage you this in
2026 when it comes to the word of God, as we preach through the
Word of God. I know you've been here, many of
you, for for some period of time.
There's something that I'm going to say this year that's going to
take you off. You say, well, how would you
know that? Well, because I've speak for 150
bout sermons a year, not even counting Sunday school.
I'm going to say something that's probably going to make
you mad. Could I tell you before you get
too RIP roar and upset at me? Could you maybe go to the word
of God first and see if what I've said is so now listen, hey,
my attitude is wrong. Then I need to get my attitude
right because again, I don't want to be a jerk in the pulpit
and how I handle certain issues that just because I'm right
doesn't give me the license to talk about things however I want
to talk about it. But I will say this, on the
other hand, that means you also have to be open that maybe what
you're hearing could be reproof and correction from the Lord.
And it's better to leave church and say, you know what, I got
you on that for a while. I can't point that past, right?
What are you talking about? He thinks he's, he's got a
little Kingdom up there, that pulpit.
He just hides behind that pulpit.
Who does he think he is? I just, he's Jesus.
He got a little, that little colt in the trailer over there
and at 800 Washington St. It's like we're not a cult, all
right? Well, we're not a trailer, all
right? That's it.
No, we're not a cult. We're not a cult either, all
right? That's a joke.
That is a joke if they are the worst cult leader in history,
all right? We are not a cult.
We don't have kool-aid. It's just coffee.
And Dave made it this morning. There's a promise, Dave.
All right, wasn't me. So yes, here's what I know.
Listen, good preaching the Word of God is about doctrine,
reproof, correction, and structure of righteousness.
The place where people typically choke is correction because they
don't even mind. Oftentimes they can even say,
yeah, I'm wrong, but they won't do what it takes to get it
right. You know why we have an altar.
Give you time to acknowledge I need correction.
You know what you ought to do on Monday?
Maybe write out three things from the message that convicted
you on Sunday. This is something I need to do
to correct the problem that I, the Holy Spirit, identified in
my life on Sunday, go back and listen to a message again.
Go back and listen to it over again.
You can be like Jim Jerome. He says he listens to me before
he goes to sleep. But it's the best.
Better than warm milk, isn't it, Jim?
All right, Just my soothing voice.
And so I've been putting people to sleep for 12 years here at
Liberty Baptist Church. That's that's the way it is.
But listen, listen to it again and maybe I've had to listen to
messages a second time. You say, you know what, there
was a lot there for me. I'm going to go back and listen
to it again because there's some things I got to I got to get
right. You say, well, that sounds like
that. That's a lot of work.
Well, it sounds like the Christian life.
You get out of it what you put in it.
And I'm not saying we're works based salvation or anything like
that. Of course not.
But I am saying that that the Bible does say to count the
cost. The Bible does say to pick up
your cross and to follow him the.
Jesus does not promise us a life of comfort and ease, but He does
promise us great blessings, and He does promise us rewards for
diligently seeking Him. So listen, don't sleep on the
issue of correction. All we know that we're wrong,
but listen, you got to get it right and you got to get it
right the right way. All of us have places we need to
get better at. Every single one of us allow the
Holy Spirit to do the work that only He can do so that we can be
corrected and then further that instruction and righteousness so
we can go on and be the Christians that God has called
us to be. 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.