June 2026
Sermon Transcript
Speaker 1 — Jonathon
(13:24)
First of all, I would like to thank Pastor Stucky and Brother Christian for the opportunity to to be able to preach God's Word this morning. I really appreciate it and I think it is a great blessing for the church to be able to do this men’s preaching service. I will start off with a quick prayer.
Dear Lord, I pray that you fill me with your spirit. I pray that you give me boldness to preach your word. And I pray that you open up our hearts to hear what you have to teach us from your word and help us to apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Open up if you would to John chapter 6 verse 60. We will read verse 60, 61, and then jump to 66–68.
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?" Verse 66: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
The title of my sermon this morning is A Hard Pill to Swallow.
From this passage we see that there were many teachings Jesus had that were hard to take in. They were not easy things to hear. But as was said last week — if it is written in the word of God and it offends you or you feel a little bit uncomfortable, you just say I am wrong and the word of God is right.
I want Soulwinning Baptist Church to be filled with spiritual men and women of God that can hear the word of God and take it in. Even if it is something that feels offensive, they will not do what a lot of these disciples did and walk away. I want Soulwinning Baptist Church to be filled with people like the twelve disciples who stuck around — people that will say the same thing Peter said: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
This morning I would like to look into a few things about the role of a female and the role of a male in a relationship, and their roles as partners one to each other, and see what the Bible teaches us.
Point 1: The Role of Women
Open your Bible to Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 to 24.
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."
We see here that this is a commandment from God for wives to be in submission and subjection to their husbands. And in the Bible whenever God gave a commandment, if there was a prerequisite or condition attached to it, it was very clear — like in the Old Testament to the Israelites: if you follow me, if you follow my commands, I will bless you. But in this passage there is just a direct command — wives, submit yourselves unto your husband. And it even tells us how — as unto the Lord. In everything means in everything. Not just in the things that make us feel good, not just when we feel like it is good to listen to our husbands. It says in everything.
This word submission means respect — a deep reverence, a fear, but not a fear like you are scared of your husband, but a fear of deep reverence and respect for him. The Bible teaches that women should be submissive and reverent to their husbands in everything.
One example I thought of was this: imagine you are at home and you find out that someone very important is coming to visit your home today. What would you do? How would you prepare? Now imagine it was Jesus Christ that was coming into your home. How would you get ready? What would you be wearing? What would you be preparing? I am pretty sure you are going to want your house to be perfect. You are going to want everything in order and you are going to do your best in everything.
The Bible tells us women should be in subjection to their husbands as unto the Lord. The way we receive Jesus Christ into our house is the way we should receive our husbands. If you are at home waiting for your husband, your husband goes to work every single day, and the fact that he can make it home alive and safe is a gift from God. Life is a gift from God. We too often take for granted the fact that we are alive, the fact that we can stand up today. We need to realise every single day that when my husband walks into that house, I need to be grateful and thankful.
Go to 1 Peter 3:5–6.
"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement."
Even Sarah called Abraham lord. Think about the reverence a wife should have towards her husband. Here is the example right here. Sarah obeyed Abraham and she called him lord. She did not tell him to go get his own food out of the freezer. She called him lord because she respected him and she served him the way God wants wives to serve their husbands.
Go to Titus 2:4–5. This verse is about telling older women what they should be teaching younger women.
"That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
There is a lot in these verses but I want to point out a couple of things. First, it says to love their husbands — and notice it says love their husbands before love their children. Today unfortunately so many women, once they have children, the children become priority number one and the husband becomes an afterthought. Women are taught here — older women teaching younger women — you need to love your husband first. Your husband needs to be priority number one and then your children. Do things in the order God has ordained, because that is where the blessing is. The blessing is not in pushing your husband and your relationship to the side because you have to take care of your children. I get it — being a mother is more than full-time work and it is an amazing blessing. But we got to do things according to God's word and stay subject to the way God tells us to organise and prioritise our life.
The second point from verse 5 is this: be obedient to their husbands. Not if he loves you, not if he deserves it, not if you feel like it — but be obedient to your husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. That is a big thing. You are either obedient to your husband or you are blaspheming the word of God. It should be taken with great seriousness.
Now I want to say this: if you are here this morning, there is one thing I can guarantee — you are here because you have a husband who chose your spiritual growth and your family's spiritual growth over anything else. Over whatever people might say, over whatever people might think, over any slander. The easiest thing for any husband, going back even to before we moved from Fugali when we were back at Philadelphia, would have been to just shut up and sit down and continue going to that church and say, I do not want any drama, I do not want my name dragged through the mud. And that is exactly what people from that church told me — why can't you just believe what you believe and still come to our church? They do not care what you think. They do not care about your spiritual state. They just care that you are present every week, singing in the choir and playing the flat. That is their number one priority — not your spiritual growth.
I am so thankful to God that we have a church that actually prioritises spiritual growth.
So if your husband wants you to come to this church, I know it is not easy for many of you — but it is not about what is easy. It is about doing what is right. And doing what is right is seeking the best church that will bring us the word of God pure as it is, undiluted, unfiltered.
I was talking to someone about when we were moving to this church, and they said to me: are you even thinking? What are people going to say? You just moved from Philadelphia to Fugali and now you are moving again. What are people going to think? You know what? Who cares what people think. All I care about is what God thinks.
Matthew 10:25: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" They called Jesus the devil. And Jesus is saying, how much more are they going to call his followers the devil? If they called him the devil, can you really expect anything better?
Verse 26: "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." Verse 28: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Fear God and not man. Who cares what people say? It does not matter what people say. It matters what God says.
Whether you like it or not, if you are married, you are in the same boat as your husband for life. So you might as well row in the same direction. Even if you are treading unknown waters, even if you are not sure of many things — you might as well fight together instead of fighting each other. Go hand in hand and push forward.
Proverbs 14:1: "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." This verse tells us that you as a woman can build up your house, and you as a woman with your hands can pluck it down and destroy it.
I remember back in the day there was a time when I did not believe in myself. I was very down and out. And I praise God every single day that I have a virtuous wife who believed in me when I did not even believe in myself. And let me tell you, it did miracles for my life and growth in every aspect. Even though we were treading unknown waters and were not sure of the future, she just stood up for me, encouraged me, pushed me, and helped me. That is a woman that will build her house. I pray that all the women here build their house.
Genesis 2:18: "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." The woman is the helper of the man. That is why God created woman — to help the man do what he needs to do. Every one of these men here this morning needs a woman who will help, submit, obey, build her house, and have faith in her man and the decisions he makes.
Proverbs 12:4: "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." Be a crown to your husband. It is not something that is going to come from your flesh. Your flesh is going to tell you to destroy your husband. But the Bible says a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. I looked up the rottenness in the bones — bone rotting disease typically refers to avascular necrosis, also known as osteonecrosis, which is the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply. Without blood the bone tissue breaks down and can eventually collapse. You as a wife, as a woman, can either build your house up or you can be the reason for your man's collapse. I pray to God that he helps every one of the women here to do the right thing and look into God's word to learn how a woman should be — not from the society around us.
Ruth 3:11: "And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." All the people of the city knew that Ruth was a virtuous woman. I would like to ask today — do the people in this room know you as a virtuous woman? That should be the goal. We should strive as women to be a virtuous woman and to be known as a virtuous woman. Be a Ruth. Be known in the city as a virtuous woman.
Point 2: The Role of Men
Go back to Ephesians 5:25–28.
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies: he that loveth his wife loveth himself."
Just like the verse about wives, in this verse God commands men to love their wives — and it is a command without a condition. No promise attached. Just: you need to love your wife. What did Christ do for the church? What did Christ do for his bride? A popular answer is: Christ died for his church. But let us be honest — most of us are probably never going to come into a situation where we have to literally die for our wife. So let us look at what else we can take from this to understand how we can fulfil our role as men in loving our wives.
I think the answer is in verse 26 and verse 28 — that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, and so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. How do you love your own body as a man? You take care of it. You feed it. You make sure you get enough sleep. You make sure you are feeling good. You take care of your body.
In Luke 24:27, at the walk to Emmaus, it says: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." What did Christ do for his bride? He gave her his time. He gave her his time. He taught her. He guided her. He counselled her. He comforted her. He exhorted her. He reproved her. He rebuked her. All before he gave his life for her.
Jesus spent his ministry on earth, and his number one priority was his bride. The thing he spent the most time with was his disciples — the people he was going to raise up. He was sanctifying them and cleansing them with the washing of the water by the word. He was getting the word of God in them. That is how he was loving his bride. And that is how we should be loving our wives.
Jesus made sure his bride was ready to face the world with all its attacks, critics, slander, and hate. So let me ask you men — have you been working on your wife, loving her, preparing her like Jesus prepared his disciples? Have you been prioritising spending time with your wife, giving her your time?
Jesus's number one priority was not his job, not his career, not investments, not his friends, not his hobbies. There is nothing wrong with having a hobby, but there is everything wrong with making time for a hobby while your wife and children are at home suffering spiritual weakness and lack of the word of God. There is everything wrong with hanging out with your mates when your wife is at home and she is clueless about the gospel, clueless about the important things in life.
And I want to make a side note — there is everything wrong with a grown man playing video games. You might say, where does it say that in the Bible? Ephesians 5:15–16: "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Wake up and redeem the time. We live in evil days. And if you are wasting time on your phone and on stupid things while your family is suffering spiritual weakness and spiritual poverty, you need to change things around. God is asking you to love your wife. And the way he is asking you to love your wife is to give her your time and spend time in the word of God with her.
The reason things might not be going the way you hoped is because you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing.
Titus 2:6–8: "Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." The Bible is telling us to show a pattern of good works that is visible in our everyday life. And you know where that pattern of good works needs to be visible first? In your family. Your wife and your kids are the people that see you the most. If they are not testifying a pattern of good works, what is the point? If you have lost your testimony in front of your wife and your children, you have lost your ministry.
The main problem is not that you married the wrong woman. It is that you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing — taking your family and your wife into the word of God and giving her your time, loving your wife the way Jesus tells you to. A real leader knows his Bible. You need to be ready to give your wife and kids an answer to anything they ask.
1 Corinthians 14:35: "And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home." Why is the Bible telling women to ask their husbands at home? What kind of husband and leader are you if your wife comes to ask you a question and you say — I do not know, let us ask the pastor, let me just ask my friends? No. The Bible tells women to go ask their husbands at home. That brings a huge responsibility on us as men. We need to know the word of God back to front. That needs to be priority number one. Not career, not investments, not all these other things.
Proverbs 25:19: "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is as a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint." An unfaithful man who is not fulfilling his responsibilities in the home — the Bible says he can be like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. I had a broken tooth once. It kills. And even after the pain subsides, you have no confidence to bite on it. You are scared to use that tooth. As a husband, if you are not being faithful to your wife and your children in loving them the way you should, you can be that broken tooth and that foot out of joint. And what does that mean? She will have no confidence in you. She will be scared of your leading. Why should she follow you if you have no clue how to lead your own family?
But on the contrary, if you are doing the right thing — if you are spending time in the word of God and you know the word of God back to front — I believe all the other pieces just fall into place a lot easier. The reason you are wrestling and struggling to get anything to happen in your relationship is because instead of being a faithful man and loving your wife the way you should, you have left those things undone.
Conclusion
Going back to Ephesians 5:33: "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."
Husbands, love your wife as you love yourself. You give yourself time, you make sure you dress nicely, you make sure you are fed. All of that requires time. Love your wife the way you love your body — give her your time. Prioritise things. Make sure you have spent time with your wife and your family in the word of God, growing together, before you jump into all these other worldly things that can take up so much of our time.
And for women — the wife see that she reverence her husband. Just give your husband the reverence and respect as unto the Lord. Maybe it is hard. Maybe it is hard for you. I understand that if your husband is not what he should be, it is obviously going to be a lot harder to submit. But it does not change the command. The command stays there.
If you both fulfil your role, it is just going to make life a lot easier. You are going to have a blessed relationship instead of a place where you do not want to go home, where you fill up your schedule with so many things just to avoid being there. That is not how God designed it. That is not how he wanted it. Remember what Christ did with his disciples — he spent time with them. He guided them in everything.
I just want this church to be filled with godly families. And godly families are made up of godly individuals — people who understand what the Bible says, understand their role, and just apply it to their life.
Dear Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that you teach us how men should love their wives, and thank you that you teach how women should respect and submit to their husbands. Lord I pray that you help us put aside our fleshly nature and seek to walk in the spirit every single day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Speaker 2 — Brydon
(49:03)
All right, let us open up to 1 Peter chapter 1. Before I begin, I just want to thank Pastor Stucky for the opportunity to be able to preach in front of you all, even if it is a shorter sermon. So it is good to have all these opportunities to preach.
This morning I am going to be preaching on why we use the King James Bible. This church — Soulwinning Baptist Church — we call ourselves King James Bible only, which means the only English translation we use in this church is the King James Bible. We do not use all these modern Bible versions that have come out recently that make all kinds of changes, claiming they are just making the Bible more readable — but really they are not.
1 Peter 1:23: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." The word of God has to be incorruptible. The definition of corruption is to alter from the original or correct form or version. So any alteration from what the Bible says from the original text is a corruption. Any Bible that has corruptions in it is not the word of God by definition.
What can a corruption look like? A corruption can be a contradiction within the Bible. When Jesus was arguing with the Pharisees he said the scripture cannot be broken. So what he is saying is that one verse here and another verse there are not contradicting each other — we need to understand them in harmony. But if there is any contradiction within the Bible, it is broken. It is corrupted. And in Psalm 12 it says: "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Something that is pure is without corruption. The process of purification is removing the corruption — removing the dirt and the dross from the silver.
This morning we are going to be looking at some verses in the modern versions that are corruptions. I am not going to look at verses with doctrinal implications — because a lot of those people will argue about, saying oh it is not really saying that. A lot of modern versions attack the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and other things. But I am not going to look at those this morning. I am going to look at verses that introduce a corruption that is either factually incorrect or introduces a contradiction into the Bible — something that cannot be argued away, something that can just be proven to be factually wrong or a clear contradiction.
If you have a glass of water and there is just a little drop of poison in there, are you going to drink that water or are you going to drink pure 100% clean water? That is what the King James Bible is. It has been faithfully translated from the original Greek and Hebrew. It is the perfect word of God. That is why in this church we only use the King James Bible.
Turn to Matthew chapter 1.
I am really going to focus on the ESV this morning because within conservative Christian circles it seems to be the most used version. So I am really going to focus on the ESV, but we will also look at what other versions say.
Matthew 1:8 — the King James reads: "And Asa begat Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias." So the genealogy of Jesus mentions Asa. In the Old Testament in 1 Kings it says: Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his stead. So we have Asa in the line of Jesus.
Now here is what the ESV says in Matthew 1:8 — it says Asaph, not Asa. Who is Asaph in the Bible? He wrote a lot of psalms. Throughout the Psalms you see: a psalm of Asaph. So they have changed Asa to Asaph. In the Old Testament the ESV itself says Asa is the son there — but now in the genealogy they have Asaph. We have a contradiction and a factual error introduced into the ESV.
Matthew 1:10 — the King James reads: "And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias." So we have Amon in the line of Jesus. From the Old Testament it says: and Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, and Amon his son reigned in his stead. But the ESV says and Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos. Who? Amos versus Amon. Amos is a minor prophet in the Old Testament. Here we have Amon and now his name is Amos. It is a factual error. We can look at the genealogy of the Old Testament and clearly see this is a factual error in the ESV — not in the Bible, but in the ESV, which is a corruption being introduced.
The ESV footnote says Amos is probably an alternate spelling. Really? An alternate spelling? An alternate spelling is like Steven — S-T-E-V-E-N and S-T-E-P-H-E-N. They sound the same but it is an alternate spelling. Amon and Amos are two completely different people. And others say well when Matthew was doing the genealogy he was looking at a manuscript that had an error in it. Really? You think that in the inspired word of God Matthew is looking at an incorrect manuscript and that comes into the Bible as just a wrong name? It is a corruption. And even the NIV is smart enough to realise this is wrong and does what the King James does. But the ESV has decided to go with what the false texts say — because this comes from the critical text, from Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus. It is a Greek corruption and a textual variant.
Luke 3:33 — still in Matthew 1, look at verse 4: "And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon." Both the King James and modern versions get Matthew 1:4 right. But if you turn to Luke 3:33 — the other genealogy in the New Testament — the King James reads: "Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda." And again in the Old Testament in Chronicles it says: Ram begat Amminadab and Amminadab begat Nahshon. The genealogy in the New Testament is perfectly aligned with the Old Testament and perfectly consistent with Matthew chapter 1.
But here is what the ESV says in Luke 3:33: the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah. We have Admin and Arni. Who are these people? I cannot see them anywhere in the Old Testament. And in the footnote there is nothing — they do not even mention it. It is like they are just trying to hide it. There is this guy Admin who just appears in this verse. It is a corruption. It is not correct. You can cross-reference the Bible and there is no Admin in the genealogy. He is not there. He is not the son of Ram, he is not the son of Amminadab. I honestly have no idea where he comes from.
Matthew 5:22 — the King James reads: "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." There are some causes where it could be appropriate to be angry with your brother. But in the ESV, the phrase without a cause is just gone. It is not there. So now the Bible is saying if you are just angry with your brother — with or without cause — you are in danger of judgment.
But look at Mark 3:5: "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." Jesus was angry with his disciples because of their hard hearts. He had a cause to be angry. We see elsewhere in the Bible that Jesus gets angry many times — he goes into the temple and cleanses it out, he is angry with his disciples when they refuse to let children come to him. But he always had a cause. The ESV's removal of without a cause introduces a contradiction into the Bible where now you have Jesus getting angry, but there is no clause to protect him from his own command.
Mark 1:2— the King James reads: "As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." We are quoting the Old Testament — it is written in the prophets — and we are quoting about John the Baptist. But here is what the ESV says: as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before your face. That quote is not from Isaiah. That quote is from Malachi. So the ESV is saying it is written in Isaiah and then quotes Malachi. It is a clear factual error in the Bible — or rather in the ESV, not in the Bible.
I have even seen this passage come up in a discussion between Pastor Anderson and James White. James White's argument for this was that it is a conflict reading — because in the Old Testament they used to package books together, so Isaiah was packaged with Malachi. He is saying when it quotes Isaiah, they all knew Malachi was just tacked on. But when he was asked to give an example of this happening anywhere else, he could not produce one. There is no evidence of this phenomenon occurring anywhere in history where Malachi is just attached onto Isaiah. It is obviously false.
Luke 4:44— the King James reads: "And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee." This is consistent with the whole context — Jesus at Capernaum, which is in Galilee, preaching throughout all the synagogues in that area, and then in Luke 5:1 he is at the lake of Gennesaret, which is just another name for the Sea of Galilee. And parallel passages confirm this: Matthew 4:23 — "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." Mark says the same: he preached in the synagogues throughout all Galilee. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are all consistent — he is preaching around Galilee.
But here is what the ESV says in Luke 4:44: and he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Judea is all the way down south. He has not been to Judea yet. And yet the ESV has him preaching in the synagogues of Judea, and then in the very next verse he is back at the lake of Gennesaret. It makes no sense. And even in Matthew and Mark the ESV does not have him going to Judea at that point in his ministry. It is a factual error and a contradiction between the different gospel accounts. The NIV and the NASB do the same thing.
John 7:8— the King James reads: "Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come." But the ESV says: you go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast. What is missing? The word yet. He says I am not going yet. Because a couple of verses later: "But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast." He is just saying, hey, I am not going up yet — you guys go ahead and I will go later. But in the ESV, yet is just gone. He is just saying I am not going. And then a couple of verses later he goes. That is a contradiction — wicked.
Now all those changes so far have been textual variants — changes in the underlying Greek that these modern versions are translating from. This last one I want to look at is a translational difference. The Hebrew is the same, but it is being translated differently.
Proverbs 25:23 — the King James reads: "The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue." If someone comes to you with a backbiting tongue, coming to you and talking bad about a brother in the church, give them an angry face. Show you are not impressed with what they are saying. That is going to drive them away. Same if someone comes to you with a dirty joke in the workplace — do not smile, give them an angry look, show that you are not impressed. That is going to drive it away.
But here is what the modern versions say: the north wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue angry looks. Now you can see that the second part is backwards — it is saying the backbiting tongue brings angry looks, rather than telling you to give the angry look to drive it away. But I want to focus on the first part: the King James says the north wind driveth away rain. The ESV says a north wind brings rain. Which one is it? They are completely opposite.
Let us see what the Bible says about rain in Israel. In the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel, after the prophets of Baal are killed, Elijah tells Ahab there is going to be rain. He tells his servant to go up and look toward the sea. The servant goes up the mountain seven times until he sees clouds appearing over the sea. The sea is to the west of Israel. So the clouds are coming from the west — a west wind bringing rain. And Jesus himself said in Luke 12:54: "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is." Jesus is saying when you see clouds coming from the west, that brings the rain.
A quick search confirms this. Westerly and southwesterly winds are responsible for approximately 90% of Israel's annual rainfall. They bring cool, moist air and widespread steady rain from the Mediterranean Sea. And about northerly winds — generally cool, dry winds that blow down from Mount Hermon and usually clear out precipitation. So the north wind drives away rain — which is exactly what the King James says and exactly what is verified by the world around us.
And I found this remarkable — the New English Translation in its own footnotes actually admits: “one difficulty here is that it is the west wind that brings rain to Israel”. They are admitting in their own footnotes that this verse is very challenging because actually the west wind brings the rain, not the north wind. And yet they still translate it as bringing rain. If your Bible has factual errors about how this world works, it is corrupt. It is wrong. Throw it out and get yourself a Bible that accurately reflects the world around you.
The NIV adds the word “unexpected” — the north wind brings forth unexpected rain. They added that word because obviously the west wind brings the rain, but a north wind might occasionally bring some unexpected rain. But that word is not in the original text. It is added in because even they know something is wrong.
Conclusion
We do not use the King James Bible because we are somehow nostalgic about the language — although it is fantastic poetry and beautiful language. We are not some hipster church trying to go back to something old and trendy. We use the King James Bible because it is incorruptible. It is pure. It is consistent with its own text and with the world around us because it was written by God. God is not making errors, mistakes, and contradictions. We have a Bible we can rely on, that we can trust, that we can expect to never change, and to be the same today and forever.
Father God, we thank you for this pure word that you have given us, that you have preserved for us, that we still have today — a Bible that we can trust and that we can read and expect to be right because it is your word. Lord, help us to cherish this precious thing that we have. Help us to consume it, to make it part of our lives, and to dwell and meditate on it daily. We thank you, Lord, for this preaching service. We pray that you bless the next preacher as he comes up. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 3 - Christian
(1:12:11)
You can turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12.
Father God, I just pray that you please fill me with your spirit this afternoon, and I just pray Lord God that you would bless the hearers as well. We thank you, all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
First of all I would like to thank Pastor Stucky for this opportunity to preach. The title of my sermon is Chastisement Is Loving.
Hebrews 12:5: "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
Point 1: Do Not Despise God's Correction
People can get bitter by God's correction. It says here you have forgotten that exhortation — you have forgotten that God is going to chasten you if he loves you. God does not hate us. People are going to say that to chastise is actually a hateful thing to do. But being chastised is actually proof of love — for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
Proverbs 13:24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." So do not despise God when he chastens you, and do not despise your parents when they chasten you, because it is actually loving that they are chastening you. Children might not like it, might despise it — but even God says do not despise the chastening of the Lord.
What does betimes mean? It means early — doing it at the appropriate time. My little son is very young, but I do correct him and he has received chastisement already. Why? Because sometimes he goes toward things that are dangerous and I want him to know — do not touch that, it is going to hurt you. To chastise betimes means when he does something wrong, I chasten him right then. I am not going to chasten him a couple of hours later and remind him of it. I want him to know right away that that was going to bring a lot of pain to him. He is 10 months old and there are things he just does not touch anymore because I have told him off about it. He kind of looks up to see if we are watching, but he does not want to touch it. That is why it says he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Go to Deuteronomy 8:5. Betimes means early, without delay. Do not delay the chastisement for your children. There are people that say you have to wait until you are calm before you chasten them. But you should just do it because the Bible tells you to do it.
Deuteronomy 8:5: "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him." We are meant to consider: as a father chasteneth his son, that is how God is going to chasten us. And if parents are not chastening their children, how can we consider this? I believe Pastor Stucky is a really good role model for me here. Even before his children are the age of one, he is already starting to chastise them — obviously an appropriate chastisement for the appropriate age. He was a good role model for me and I considered in my heart: as a father chasteneth his son, so God is going to chasten me as well. And we saw in Proverbs that sparing the rod is actually not loving — he that spareth his rod hateth his son.
Leviticus 19:17: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." It is actually not hateful to correct. It is actually not hateful to chastise your children — it is loving. The Bible says it is actually hateful if you do not rebuke your brother, if you suffer sin upon your brother. I can be guilty of this — I can see a brother doing something wrong and instead of telling him I just let it go. The Bible says that is actually hateful. Same way if you spare the rod, it is hateful. Same way if you do not tell the truth to those in your life that you could be helping — it is actually a hateful thing to do.
Do some children despise their parents? Yes, of course it can happen. But let me tell you, if you do not apply what the Bible says about chastisement you are guaranteed to fail. If you do chasten your children, there is a good chance you are going to see the results of that if you do it by faith.
Point 2: Do Not Despise the Man of God
Acts 20:29: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."
Paul is about to depart and the church is going to be susceptible to a lot of dangers. I am really grateful for our pastor, Pastor Stucky, who is not going to just allow wolves into the church. He actually cares for the flock. In the Philippines, he was my pastor and my wife's pastor, and it was a real blessing. He was really protective. When reprobates came into the church he would get them out. I saw that protection because there are a lot of grievous wolves — people that are going to try to creep in, false religions, false doctrines, heresies that are going to try to creep in. And we have a pastor that is going to deal with that. He was not afraid of persecution. The hard preaching was there. He was not afraid to rebuke. He did not suffer sin upon his brethren. He did not hate us — he actually loved us. And he was consistent about soul-winning.
A pastor is also referred to as an overseer in the Bible. He oversees what is happening. He is making decisions and overseeing what happens. And if wolves attack the church, he is going to know about those attacks.
Verse 32: "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." He commended us to God and to the word of God. And what is the purpose of the church? It is to be built up. It is great when you have a great church that sends you out soul-winning. It is great when you have a great church that preaches the Bible, because it is able to build you up and to give you that eternal inheritance — those rewards you are going to have in heaven. That is why it is important to be in the right church. And sometimes, as was mentioned, you have to go through the slander and go through those things to find the best church in your area — and you will see the results of that.
Verse 33: "I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel." This is something I think about when it comes to Pastor Stucky and how he started this church. When he told me he was going to be visiting I offered to help him with the tickets and other things, and he said no, I am going to cover that. He actually even messaged me and said he was happy to buy things for the church and help cover those costs. It just showed that he is not coveting anything that we have. He just cares about starting a church and cares for believers to have a church.
Verse 34: "Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." We have a pastor who is willing to start churches. He has started multiple churches already. And for those who do not know, he was taken advantage of for years by his sending pastor and that church. He suffered silently and God brought him the victory eventually. And what is done in secret shall one day come to light.
There are hirelings out there — people who are just there for the money and do not care about the sheep. John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." A hireling just cares about the money. He does not care for people's souls and he does not care for their wellbeing. He does not care about the wolves that are going to be entering in.
Praise God, we have a pastor that actually cares about us. There are so many pastors out there that just hide things, do not preach the hard truths, preach things that people want to hear so people come to their church and give them a good paycheck — and they are content with that. They are hirelings. They do not care. And we have this great example of Jesus who is the good shepherd. A good pastor is an overseer, a shepherd, who cares for the flock. "Feed the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer." If a pastor or preacher preaches on your sin, this is something that should show you that he loves you. When someone preaches hard things to you, it is actually loving. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke him." It is actually hateful when a preacher gets up and refuses to preach anything that is going to offend people because he just wants popularity or a good paycheck.
Galatians 4:16: "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" When someone preaches something that touches upon your sin, do not start treating that person differently. It is easy to enjoy the preaching when it is somebody else's sin — that is right, amen, preach it. But when it is your sin it hurts. That is actually God trying to speak to you. That is God saying he loves you.
Amos 5:10: "They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly." Those people are not going to be well seen. If people speak well of you, so did they to the false prophets. But when they speak evil of you, that is what they did to the prophets of God. So when you hear that a pastor has horrible people saying horrible things about him online and you think that must mean he is bad — no. When people speak well of everyone about you, that is when you should be worried. I do not know anyone who gets more persecuted than the pastors in our movement. Not even close. And that gives me comfort — they are willing to suffer that persecution.
Luke 10:16: "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." When you hear the word of God preached from this pulpit, you are not just hearing that preacher. You are actually hearing Jesus Christ. You are hearing the word of God. Jesus is the Word — "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." And if you reject that preacher when he quotes the Bible, you have just rejected Jesus Christ.
We are Soulwinning Baptist Church. Remember this when you go out soul-winning. When someone slams the door on you, it is not you they have a problem with. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. When someone says I do not want to hear this, I do not agree with you — it is not you they are rejecting. It is Jesus Christ. And ultimately they are despising God the Father, because "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." They are despising the God that sent Jesus Christ. That is why it says: "He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." They are ultimately despising God the Father who sent Jesus Christ.
Point 3: The Purpose of Chastisement
Hebrews 12:9–10: "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." God chastens us for our profit. It is for our good. When you chastise your children, it is for their good. You are trying to protect them.
Verse 11: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." There are actually results that can come from chastisement. If you do not chasten your children you are guaranteed to fail. But if you do it, there is a good chance they are going to stand a chance. My parents chastened me growing up and I am genuinely grateful. I got married as a virgin. I have never drunk alcohol in my life. Things that protected me from this world. I am so grateful that my parents chastened me.
What is the purpose of chastisement? It is to get us right.
1 Kings 8:35: "When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them." God could not be blessing you because you are not right with God. And this is something that ought to get us right. When God stops blessing us and starts bringing chastisement into our life, it is for us to make it right — to get sin out of our life.
A saved believer should repent of their sin after salvation. If you want to be blessed, if you want the rain to come, if you want God to bless your household — get the sin out of your life.
Jeremiah 5:25: "Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you." God saw their works — remember in Jonah God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them when they repented. The same way God can see your repentance, God can see your changed life, and then God can actually repent of the evil that he said he would do unto you. The purpose of chastisement is that we would get right with God.
This is actually something that comes up well in soul-winning. Sometimes people get confused — if I have eternal security, if nothing is going to happen to me, then I could just go live however I want. And when you explain chastisement to them it makes sense. Nobody wants to live a miserable life on this earth. Nobody wants to suffer for 70 or 80 years. People want to be blessed. And they realise — okay, I have got to get right with God because God is making my life miserable. And the Bible says if you are without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then you are a bastard and not a son. You are not even a child of God if you are just getting away with sin.
1 Corinthians 11:31: "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." I do not want a miserable life for the next 50 or 60 years if God gives me that. I want God to bless me. And it says here that if we judge ourselves — if we actually look in the Bible, look at the perfect law of liberty, and make the changes in our life — if we judge ourselves, we are not going to be judged. Because when we are judged we actually get chastened of God. We are not going to go to hell — we have got eternal life. But God can really mess up our life on this earth if we do not hearken to his word.
The Bible says God chastens and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Jesus himself when he went into the temple made a scourge of small cords and drove them out. God says he is going to scourge every son. I planned with my wife to put up in our house a little scourge alongside that verse, so our children can start learning to fear God — understanding that what mummy and daddy can do to you is nothing compared to what God can do to you.
Proverbs 16:6: "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." It is not just about respecting God in a casual way. A lot of people say well you should not really be afraid of God, you should just respect him because he created you. But it is actually self-inflicted when you bring God's chastisement upon you.
Hebrews 10:30–31: "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Why would you be afraid if it is just a gentle lack of blessing? That is not what the Bible teaches. Acts 5 shows us what God actually did in the early church.
Acts 5:1–5: "But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things." And the men arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him. And then about three hours later his wife came in not knowing what had happened, and Peter told her that the feet of them who buried her husband were at the door and would carry her out. And she fell down straightway and yielded up the ghost. And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things.
Is it just going to make people start respecting God in a casual way? No. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God killed these people. This is not a small matter. This is a great warning — if anyone is unjust with money in church, if anyone is stealing anything like that, this passage ought to put the fear of God in you. The same God that created hell, which was created for the devil and his angels, is the same God we ought to fear. He is able to kill. That is why we are not meant to fear man — we are meant to fear him that is also able to kill the body. All man can do is really kill your body.
1 Samuel 2:6: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." This is the person we ought to fear. He is the one that has given us life and he is the one that could take our life. What did Daniel say to Belshazzar? In Daniel 5:23: "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified." Our lives are in the hands of God. He can just take it away whenever he sees fit. And that is what we should be fearing.
So take the Christian life seriously. Do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Do not despise the man of God. And what is the purpose of chastisement? So that we can actually get better. Take God's commandments seriously because to whom much is given shall much be required. This church is going to give you a lot, and there is going to be a lot required of you.
Father God, thank you so much for this men's preaching service. I just thank you for the brethren and I just pray for the brethren that were able to preach, that you would bless them. And also Lord God, those that are sick today, that you would help them recover. I pray that you bless our fellowship and soul-winning later on. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.