Hebrews 3:7-19 (Lest We Fall Away- Jeff Kliewer)

To bring us out of the dark places. We know that we're surrounded by evil things. Lord, we know that you are our hope. Our hope in life and death. We know that you stand forever. I pray, Lord, that you will guide us in our hearts throughout this week to remember that you are ever true, the one true God.

All of our hope can rest in you because you are God and God alone.

Is our hope in life and death. Christ alone, Christ alone. What is our hope for death. That our souls hold our days. Within his hands. What comes apart from his commandment. The love of God.

Thank you this morning for the opportunity to come into this place, to gather around your word, that your voice, what you say by your Holy Spirit would be the center of our attention. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to praise the name of Jesus, that Jesus would be lifted up in this place.

We pray that you would make us to be worshipers in spirit and in truth. Help our hearts to cling to you. Lord, if there's any here that have a distracted heart, a drifting heart, we pray that you would draw their attention more closely to you and to your word.

We pray that you would speak now through your word in Jesus' name, amen. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three says, "'Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day," now this refers to the day of the Lord, the last seven-year period of tribulation and difficulty on this earth, right before the second coming of Christ, he says, "'That day will not come "'unless the rebellion comes first.'".

Rebellion, the word in the Greek is apostasia, from which we get the term apostasy. We are told that there will be an apostasy before the tribulation and the Antichrist and then the second coming of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, I think that we are living during the period of the great apostasy. I say that because when I look to Europe, here is a continent that once burned with Reformation fire. Now, 1 of the continent is evangelical.

Can you believe that, 1 Let's jump there for a period of time here for my introduction to the country of France. France was touched by the Reformation fire. Now, we know that France became essentially a Catholic country, even despite the Reformation, whereas England and Scotland and all of the Germanic peoples, even the Netherlands, these all turned to the evangelical religion.

France remained kind of like Italy and Spain in Roman Catholicism. However, there was a time when the evangelical faith was taking off in France. Does anybody know the name of the Reformed in France? The Huguenots, the Huguenots.

If you anglicize Huguenot, it is the Huguenots, okay? These were Reformed evangelical believers in the 1500s, the 16th century. There was a famous affair back in 1534 called the Affair of the Placards.

The evangelicals were so excited about the Reformation that they began to put up placards all around town. In fact, they got so zealous that one of them snuck into the king's palace and posted a tract right on the door of his bedroom.

So when he woke up in the morning, he saw that. Well, of course, this Roman Catholic king did not take kindly to that move. And that very next day, right outside of Notre Dame, they began to kill Christians.

So the persecution really began after the Affair of the Placards in 1534. There were faithful Christian evangelical pastors who were burned at the stake right outside of Notre Dame. But this didn't stop the evangelical faith, did it?

It continued to grow. And by the year 1560, some estimates say that there were 15 of all of France that gathered in Huguenot churches. And that's not to mention that the ones who remained in the Catholic church, many of them were being influenced by the Protestant religion.

So they were drifting more towards the Bible and away from papal tradition. So there was really good things happening in the 1560s. In fact, in 1570, one Admiral Caligny was becoming very close with the king.

And the Catholics were nervous that the king of France was gonna become evangelical. They got even more nervous when Henry IV, well, before he's Henry IV, he's just Henry, good old plain old Henry Navarre, he marries one of the princesses of France.

And they are evangelical Christians. So in response to this, maybe you've heard of Catherine de' Medici, the Medici family, she ordered the killing of Caligny. And not only did a person assassinate Caligny that day, but a great outburst of wrath against the church broke out that day.

Many of you know it's referred to as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Just in a demonic, satanic hatred for the evangelical religion, 30 ,000 Huguenots were massacred. 25 ,000 of them right there in the city of Paris.

So it was a demonic hatred for the gospel. Well, this caused many Huguenots to flee. So many of them went down to Rio de Janeiro, good place to go, and that's why the Reformed faith is still strong in Brazil to this day because of the Huguenots that went there, but also to the Americas.

Even before the Puritans came to America, there were Huguenots who settled in Jacksonville. Some of them went to South Africa and many went to other parts of Europe. So the church was scattered that day.

But much like Acts chapter eight, with the stoning of Stephen, wherever they went, they preached the gospel. And so they started fires wherever they went, gospel fires. This scattering reduced their numbers, but the church still continued to grow.

Persecution did not stop the evangelical faith in France. What happened then? Well, it's really a sad episode. Henry, good old Henry, he now had the opportunity to take the throne. All he had to do was capture Paris, and because of his marrying into the royal family, he had a direct path to become king.

And in fact, he does become king. You wanna know how he did it? Rolling into Paris, he said these words, Paris is worth at least a mass. In other words, he converted to Catholicism. He apostatized from the evangelical faith.

Now we recognize, those of us who understand propitiation, which is the finished work of Christ, a once and for all sacrifice on the cross, by which he satisfied the wrath of God, forever assuaging that wrath, and sat down once and for all at the right hand of the Father, never to have to interpose his precious blood again.

We know, as evangelicals, that the finished work of Christ is never to be repeated. But in the Catholic mass, of course, the priests feign themselves to offer propitiation on the altar, rendering the body, soul, blood, and divinity of Christ present on the altar, and making propitiation for the people's sins.

Of course, that's a blasphemy. But this king was willing to take Paris by conversion. He thought, well, if I become a Catholic, Paris will fall easily, and of course it did. His dreadful statement, Paris is worth at least a mass, is really the words of an apostate.

It's a sad episode, but the Huguenot faith began to die that day, and it diminished till today. There are less than 2 evangelicals in the country. We have a missionary there. Now, before I read his note to us this month, I wanted to share that I have known many Christians who have gone to Paris, and several of them came back, although they went as missionaries, they came back deconverted.

They gave in to the postmodernism and the deconstructionism of that culture, and they went as Christian missionaries, came home apostates. Close people to us. It's sad to see. And others remained faithful and kept on, but none of them were able to plant a church there until this missionary who we support, Michael and Corinne de Genna, this month they gave us an update.

Now, by the way, I know Michael a little bit because one time he came to visit here, and the night before, or the Friday night before, we went deep sea fishing. We were out all night, and I think Michael's son might have caught one fish, and nobody else on the entire boat.

I will never do all night fishing again. It is horrible. I mean, the waves are higher than the boat, so it's kind of terrifying, and you just sit there all night long and pull nothing in. Maybe some of you are better fishermen than me.

Anyway, I know Michael de Genna from talking to him all night. He wrote this, pray for the French church planners to have courage as we exercise faith in a land that is hostile to the gospel, where fellow believers represent 1 .5 of the population.

Like much of Europe, up to 75 of the French population declare themselves as atheist or without religion.

Can you imagine?

75 in France claim themselves atheist or no religion, but currently we have around 60 to 70 people gathering with us for worship. We're renting a small theater. Isn't it good to know that in Paris this morning, even as we gather here in beautiful Mount Laurel, New Jersey,.

There in Paris,.

Nothing in comparison beauty-wise to Mount Laurel, right? No, it's a beautiful city, but there's still a remnant, still an evangelical church there. This particular one and many others that gather in the name of Christ.

This morning, I want to talk to us and share from the word about this idea of apostasy. Apostasia, falling away. I have been in ministry for 20 years and sadly I've seen it more times than I ever could have imagined.

People that I never would have guessed, missionaries to Paris, never would have guessed that they could turn away from the faith. In the same way as I look at all of you, I don't believe any of you could fall away.

It just doesn't look that way to me from the outside. But this morning, we're going to look at what the scripture says regarding your heart. Guard your heart because all of us actually are prone and if we fall, it doesn't mean that we lost our salvation.

It means we never had it. We left off last week with that concept from Hebrews 3 .6. It says, we are his house if we hold firm the confidence we had at first. In other words, you are born again if you demonstrate the evidence of continuing in the faith.

You're holding on to the faith. You still have the confidence you had that day when you raised your hand at a Billy Graham crusade or Greg Laurie crusade to bring this up to date. If you're continuing in the faith, that's the evidence that you're raising of your hand or you're praying the sinner's prayer or writing your name in a Bible that that actually meant something, that you were born again.

It's the continuing that gives evidence. So picking up on that thought, we go into Hebrews 3 .7 and following. If you don't have a Bible, you can get one from the back table or just find it on your device.

We're in the ESV. If you want to use the same, you can use whatever version you like as long as it's not a King, what is it? Jehovah's Witness, the NLT. Sorry, that's for you. Yeah, yes. Yeah, New World Translation.

As long as it's not an NWT, you can use NASB, King James. We're using the ESV. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. On the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God.

But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

This then is the second warning of the book of Hebrews. The first chapter of Hebrews is about Jesus greater than angels. And as you get into the second chapter, we're told we must pay much more careful attention lest we drift away.

That's the first warning. Now in Hebrews 3, 7 and following, we have the second warning. Do not harden your hearts, lest you fall away, lest you fall away. In Hebrews 3, 7, the first part, make quick note and then we'll go on of this expression as the Holy Spirit says.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, when the author of Hebrews goes to quote Psalm 95, he does not attribute the text to David, although David wrote it. The author of Hebrews here, the human author is not the ultimate author of what we are reading.

This morning as we read words printed on a page, these are living words breathed out to us by the Holy Spirit. It said, we can't say this enough. We're evangelical, so this is what defines us, that we believe these are God's words.

Second Peter 121, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so here again in Hebrews 3, 7, we have an affirmation that all scripture is theanusta, it's God breathed.

This is the Holy Spirit breathing words to us. It's not just some author giving us recommendations. I'm not a preacher of somebody's ideas. I'm a preacher of God's word. Preaching his word to his people.

I tremble at that, but what a privilege it is. And as listeners, we need to pay careful attention when God speaks. So what does he say? This is a quote here in Hebrews 3, 7 to 11. It's a quote from Psalm 95, 7 to 11.

The numbers just happened to match there. What is Psalm 95? Psalm 95 is a call to worship. Maybe you'll remember some of the words of the Psalm. Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. We just had Thanksgiving. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. Psalm 95 is a call to worship, and it ends with this passage that we see here today.

It's a warning that if you hear his voice today, you need to pay attention.

Today, today, today.

That's the emphasis on that word today as the author of Hebrews will unpack for us. But do you know that every Jew had this Psalm memorized?

How would I know that?

Because Psalm 95 was the call to worship to the synagogue. When it was time to come meet in the synagogue, someone would stand in front of it with as loud a voice as they could muster, and they would read Psalm 95.

They would proclaim Psalm 95. Come, come worship with this warning today. Hear his voice. Because Jewish people understood that their forefathers were brought out of slavery, and yet they fell in the wilderness.

They died.

That generation did not make it into the promised land. And so there's a warning to us. We need to hear his word today. You cannot live on revelation that you received 20 years ago unless you're meditating on that today.

If you prayed that sinner's prayer long ago, and you had that fire in your heart to go share the gospel, but you don't have it today, what good is that today? We need to continue hearing the word of God today if you hear his voice.

That's the exhortation. That's why he's quoting from Psalm 95. You and I need the word of God today. So then let's follow the author into verse 12. From 12 to 19, you have what's called expository preaching.

This is why we at Cornerstone, we take passages of scripture and we exposit. We make propositions. We posit out of what's in the text. It comes, ex means out from in the Greek. Also, we get the word exegesis that way, which means to draw out from the text.

This is what the author does from verses 12 to 19. He's applying Psalm 95 to the audience. He says, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Fall away.

There's that word apostasia. Evidently, what happened to the Israelites coming out of Egypt, but falling dead in the wilderness is a warning, not just to an ancient tribe, an ancient people, but to you and I, to us.

And the author presses this point beyond our mental comprehension, right down deep into the heart. In fact, this thought will culminate in chapter four, verse 12, saying that the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing bone and marrow, the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The word cuts us deep to the heart. So in verse 12, the issue, what's the main word that you should circle there? If you're taking notes, the word is heart. Brothers and sisters, we need to guard our hearts.

Carefully, it says in Proverbs 4 .23, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. I mentioned friends who have turned away from the faith. At 20 years ago, we were in ministry together, and now their faith is deconstructed, which is the point of all these higher criticism movements, critical studies, critical race theory, all of these things are deconstructive in nature.

They're meant to tear down and divide. That's a side note. The point is many people are deconstructed in their faith. And as I look at you, as I mentioned earlier this morning, I don't see any apostates.

I don't look at you and think, here's one that will turn away. That's not how I see any of you, I really don't. But I've been in ministry too long to think that it's impossible. And here's the way the path often goes.

Someone was in an evangelical church, maybe grew up in it, heard the word preached, and life is going great, and they're fine to identify with Christ. Maybe they still go to church every Sunday, but then tragedy strikes.

Maybe it's not the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, but tragedy strikes their own life. Maybe it's a diagnosis, or a child dies, or some horrible circumstance, divorce. And the next thing you know, there's a hardening of heart that begins to take place.

And the facts of the head versus the desires and the feelings of the heart. The word heart in the Bible refers to the deepest place of who you are. It's the seat of your emotions. And very often, emotion can override what we know to be true.

And the heart is deceitful above all else. Who can know it? The heart begins to run after other things. Maybe just to protect itself from the pain. Maybe it's easier not to be a Christian. Maybe it's hard to be around people in the church, because for some reason that stirs up the memory of a funeral.

Maybe there's some heart issue that causes a person to leave. Brothers and sisters, guard your heart. For from your heart spring the wellspring of life. Life itself flows from your heart. Take notice if you're snapping at people.

Do you find yourself getting snippy? Just a short fuse. Like, why am I just snapping at people for no good reason? I'll tell you why. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Your mouth is a signal that something is going wrong on the inside.

Guard your heart. And when you begin to sense your heart is not warm anymore, maybe you're becoming jaded and bitter or jealous. There's something going wrong in your heart. You need to get alone with God and beg for mercy.

And go to a Christian friend and ask for prayer. And go to the word and say, Lord, something's not right in my heart. Because the warning of verse 12 is take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart.

Leading you to fall away. See, this is a preaching to Christians. Hebrews is written to the gathered assembly. Hebrew believers who are tempted to go back to Judaism because that's safer and easier in the Roman Empire.

Persecution is breaking out. Peter, crucified upside down. Paul, head chopped off. Maybe we just go be Jews again and not do this Christian thing. There are temptations to make an easier way. And you need to guard your heart because it's not stable in and of itself.

It's only God that can hold it. Take your heart to him. That means not just your mind. This word heart speaks to a deeper place. Don't just go through the motions of coming here on Sunday morning. Make sure your heart is in it.

What kind of worshiper does our father seek? The one who worships in spirit and in truth. Not one who just goes to this mountain or that mountain, but the one who comes with the heart that's open to God.

That's the first big exhortation. Take care of your own heart. It's pointing to each one of us. And if you think you're so steady, be careful that you do not fall. But that's not the only exhortation.

This next one is just as important, verse 13. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is the entire church's responsibility to hold on to one another.

You guard your own heart, but you are also responsible to hold on to other people. Exhorting one another, encouraging one another. All of us are prone to wander, and there are some who are young in the faith, just learning the faith, who may very easily drift, especially in a culture that's pulling them.

It's like a tidal wave pushing them to the left. You have to be that rope to them. Tie it around their waist, tie it to your waist, and hold on to them, and do not let them go. What does that look like?

It looks like maybe a phone call. Maybe you see someone who's struggling, and you call them and just share a Bible verse with them. Be encouraging, build them up. Pray with them on the phone. Ask them, how can I pray for you?

I still remember there are people in my life, as I grew up in the church, certain people that just built me up. They were encouragers. Would you be that for a kid who's in the Sunday school class this morning?

Would you be that person that just says, hey, how you doing? Give them a fist pump. In the age of COVID, you can't shake their hand, you just gotta fist pump. Would you be the one that notices them, and encourages them?

They need that more than you and I can imagine. Adults need it too, don't we? One of the reasons we still have to gather, I think, is because the Bible says, greet one another with a holy kiss. We need to do that.

But culturally, we don't need to necessarily plant a big sloppy one on somebody's cheek. We can apply that text with a fist pump, with a hug around the shoulders. You don't have to do that right now. The point is, greet one another with a holy kiss means be in each other's presence, notice each other, encourage one another.

One of the things I love about our church is that if I'm the last one to leave at one o 'clock, there's still people talking. It's hard for me to be the last one to leave because people hang out and encourage one another after the service is over.

This is necessary. This verse is so important in our day and age. Who will stand in the midst of an apostasy? It's the one who's not trying to stand alone. And you are holding on to other people. You might not even know what a lifeline you are to them.

So apply this verse profusely. Now 14, again, this is the same point we made last week, and it's almost the same language. Look at the language of verse 14. So therefore it's the same idea in this whole concept here, in this whole passage.

For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. I wanna preach that again, but I'll just let you go back and watch that sermon from last week. The idea is you already are born again.

You are a new creation if you're demonstrating the continued fruit of holding on to Christ. Your perseverance indicates that your salvation was real. This is the P in tulip, perseverance of the saints.

Some of you know that I believe in the doctrines of grace, which are spelled out in tulip, and the last one is P, perseverance of the saints. Google that if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's really the preservation of the saints because it's God who's keeping us, but our responsibility is to hold on to him.

Hold on to that original confidence. So now verses 15 through 19 are really a set of questions, but it begins here by a quote from Psalm 95. As it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Well, we weren't there for the rebellion, but the application now is being made to us. Psalm 95 applies to us, and the big operative word here is today. As I preach right now, you need to hear his word today.

This word needs to affect you. As I tell you that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead to bring us to God, there will be some who hear this on YouTube or maybe in this room who doubt that, and they say, you know, I'll think about that someday.

Maybe it's true. Gotta give it some consideration. This word here says today. If you hear his voice, God speaking, God the Holy Spirit says that these things are so. If you hear that today, do not harden your heart, respond.

There is a sense of urgency in that word today, isn't there?

Today.

D .L. Moody was that great evangelist who preached in Chicago. One time he had a giant rally, gospel, big tent revival. He's preaching Christ, crucified, risen, forgiveness of sin, eternal life, repent, believe.

He's issuing this gospel for an hour. You think I preach for a long time. D .L. Moody, he's going on and on, but he closes his sermon this way. He says, you all go home and you think about what I said.

You consider it and you come back here tomorrow and make a decision for Christ. Next day of the rally. That night, the great Chicago fire ripped through the city, and many of those who were in attendance burned to death.

I don't think that the next day of the event ever happened, but D .L. Moody was changed. He said, from that day on, he never again said, go home and consider, come back tomorrow and make a decision for Christ.

From then on, D .L. Moody said, today, if you hear his voice, you and I do not know that we're given another day. If you're breathing right now, as you hear about the Lord Jesus Christ, today is the day to repent of your sin, believe in him, trust him for forgiveness of sin.

Ask him to come in and save you. Lord, save me. Pray that to him right now. If you're listening on YouTube, pause this sermon, go accept Christ, come back, and then hit play. Don't wait for the end. Today is the urgency, and now the questions are posed to us.

Verse 16, for who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt by Moses? In other words, the author here is questioning our faithfulness, questioning our responsibility to what we've already been given.

To whom much is given, much is expected. From him, much is expected. The Israelites saw the miracles. They saw the lamb's blood that marked the doorposts and their children were spared. They saw the parting of the Red Sea and they walked through on dry land.

And yet for having seen all of that, they still turned away. They still grumbled and complained. They were responsible for what they saw, and so they fell. Brothers and sisters, you're responsible for what you've heard.

You have heard it preached that Jesus is the only way. He is the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except by him. And if you choose to try to take a different way, your own righteousness, another religion, anything other than what the Holy Spirit says, you are responsible for what you've heard.

The next question in verse 17, with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness? With whom was he provoked for 40 years? This questions their ways.

This was not a slip-up. This was the habit and pattern of their lives. This Israelite generation didn't question God once and complain once. 10 times they tested him and tried to go back to Egypt. Many times they tried to stone Moses.

Again and again, it was the pattern of their life. We get into patterns. We get into ways about us. In fact, psychologists will probably tell you that a majority of our decisions are not conscious. They're subconscious, right?

We just brush our teeth because that's our habit of doing. We don't have to think it through like, will I brush my teeth today? Well, if you do, you probably just haven't developed the way. By the way, I am so good at self-discipline that I have quit drinking soda 12 times in the last two years.

I just have this way about me where I start drinking soda and then once I do it once, it's part of my ways. So I have to quit again. Right now I've quit, so isn't that great? Listen, we create ways about us.

We create patterns of thought, ways. This is what is being questioned. For 40 years, it was the habit of their life. Create habits and ways about you that conform to godliness. And finally, verses 18 to 19, and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient?

He questions our obedience. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. We are called to hear the word of God and obey the word of God. We're not saved by our obedience. We're saved by grace through faith.

And the fruit of that is that we obey. We won't do that perfectly. We'll stumble, but obedience needs to be the theme of our life and our concern. If you'll focus on one thing, obeying the word of God, your life will be blessed.

Does that mean that everything will go well for you and you won't suffer? No, it means that you'll walk in righteousness. He'll walk with you. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

We just need to obey.

That's one way to stay on the straight and narrow, just do as he says. So in closing, the point today is that Psalm 95, this call to worship, what the synagogue leader would cry out, it's a call to us to guard your heart, to hear his voice every day, but also to hold on to one another.

I close with the story of a German named Olaf Latzel. Olaf, isn't that a great name?

Olaf.

Olaf Latzel is a pastor in Germany, and Germany is a lot like France, very hostile to the gospel. This week, he was convicted and sentenced to four months in prison for a sermon he preached. The sermon was recorded and put on YouTube.

Maybe you shouldn't do that. Well, I do, so. But what did he say? At a seminar called Biblical Driving School for Marriage, he was teaching about male and female relationship in marriage. Latzel said that homosexuality is one of the degenerative forms of society.

But he also went on to say that adultery, consumption of pornography, flirting with the secretary, are, quote, just as worthy of death as lived homosexuality. So he wasn't attacking any particular people in their particular sins.

He was pointing to the guy in his own pew, saying, if you're looking at pornography,.

That's worthy of death.

If you're committing adultery, deserves death. If you're flirting with your secretary, deserves death. So turn to Christ in the gospel, be forgiven, and stop, start obeying the Lord. This is how he spoke.

Yet in those words, he mentioned that there were criminals at the Christopher Street Festival. Christopher Street Festival evidently is kind of like one of these gay pride things that go on here in America.

That happens in Germany as well. And he made some comments about that. The judge, whose name is Judge Best, said her opinion was from the background of the current climate of opinion. And she appealed to society, saying we should all work to ensure that we are treating one another respectfully.

And so for preaching this, he is sent to prison. For four years, or he has to pay 8 ,000 euros, which means he would preach the same thing and they'd charge him again until he'd end up in jail anyway.

So off to jail with Olaf. It's a disturbing story, but here's the worst part about it. His own church, the Evangelical Church in Germany. Evangelical, these are the guys that claim to believe the book, right?

They came out against Lotze and said intolerance is against the gospel. Pejorative and discriminatory attitudes must have no place in the church. They already disliked him because back in 2008, he said that the pulpit was strictly forbidden to the ordination of women.

You see, this is the culture in Germany. And this is the culture in America. The book, the Holy Spirit says, the issue is Hebrews 3 .7, as we read today, as the Holy Spirit says. In 1 Timothy chapter two, Paul says, "'I forbid a woman to teach "'or exercise authority in the church.'".

Paul then grounds that argument in creation order. He goes back, man was created first, woman was derived from man's rib. This is Paul's teaching, but it is not only Paul's teaching. The Holy Spirit spoke through Paul when he wrote those words.

This is not the opinion of man, this is God's word. So in Germany, for preaching the word of God, Pastor Olaf goes to prison. I submit to you that that is not the danger we need to fear here. I fully believe that the Equality Act, if implemented, could put me in prison for the way I preach.

And I have no fear of that whatsoever. I quipped at the first service, doesn't that sound like bravado? When I'm here and there's nobody threatening to do that,.