Many Rebellious People Series

INTRO.- ILL.- After it was disclosed that President George H. Walker Bush banned broccoli aboard Air Force One, the nation was embroiled in "broccoli discussion." Remember when?

As broccoli growers dispatched 10 tons of the vegetable free to Washington, the President reiterated his distaste with gusto: "I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli. Now look, this is the last statement I’m going to have on broccoli. There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that’s coming in."

That’s rebellion against broccoli and broccoli is good for a person. Broccoli is from God. It’s healthy. It’s heaven-sent. It can save your health.

Gracious sakes alive! President Bush, what’s wrong with you? Obviously, there are worse rebellions taking place in America. It doesn’t make any difference whether you like broccoli or not, whether you eat it or not, but it makes a whole lot of difference whether you believe in the gospel of Christ or not!

There is a great rebellion going on in our world and in America. And it seems like especially in America. There is a rebellion against all authority. Rebellion against parents. Rebellion against the law. And worst of all, rebellion against God, Christ and the Bible!

ILL.- The editor of a small weekly newspaper in a town in the West was hard pressed one week for copy to fill his columns. So he had his compositor set up the Ten Commandments, and ran them without making any editorial comment. Three days after the paper was published he received a letter saying: “Please cancel my subscription. You’re getting too personal.”

We live in a society of rebellion against God, His commandments, His Word. And even though the whole world rebels against God, we must not!

James 4:4-10 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

This passage says it all. Instead of being rebellious toward God, we must humble ourselves before Him. We must surrender to His will in order to be given grace.

PROP.- Paul describes these rebellious people of his day.

1- Rebellious people are deceptive talkers

2- Rebellious people are false teachers

3- Rebellious people are lazy gluttons

4- Rebellious people are corrupt opponents

I. REBELLIOUS PEOPLE ARE DECEPTIVE TALKERS

10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.

Mere talkers and deceivers. Sounds like deceptive talkers, to me. And they are many. In our text, however, Paul is taking about Jewish converts.

ILL.- Astronaut Michael Collins, speaking at a banquet, quoted the estimate that the average man speaks 25,000 words a day and the average woman 30,000. Then he added: “Unfortunately, when I come home each day I’ve spoken my 25,000—and my wife hasn’t started her 30,000.”

Talking isn’t so bad. It’s what being said that counts. And people who deceive others about God with their speaking are in serious trouble.

James 3:1 “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

When I was a student in Bible College we were warned about not being too quick to preach or become preachers. I’ve always thought that I needed to be as careful as possible in preaching the scripture. I want to be as accurate as possible. I don’t want to say something that the scripture doesn’t say. I don’t want to “add to” or “take away” from the scriptures.

Consequently, there are some passages of scriptures that I don’t preach because I don’t think I have a good understanding of them. And I don’t want to appear like I know when I don’t know! And I don’t want to lie in my preaching or teaching. GOD FORBID THAN ANY GOSPEL PREACHER WOULD DO THAT!