Discover

How To Get And To Remain Undeceived!

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. David Asscherick

Home

Series Code: DP

Program Code: DP000012


00:15 Our presentation this morning has kind of an interesting
00:17 title, doesn't it.
00:18 Discover How to Get and To Remain Undeceived,
00:23 and that's going to be the topic of our presentation
00:26 this morning, so let's begin with a word of prayer,
00:28 and then we'll get right in to How to Get and Remain
00:32 Undeceived.
00:34 Father we pause here just a moment on this
00:39 special Sabbath morning, and our hearts are thrilled
00:43 Father, as we consider that this is the first of what
00:47 we will prove to be many comings together for this new
00:52 church plant.
00:54 Father we are thrilled about those that have come
00:57 and those that are looking, and those that are
00:59 investigating, and those that are wondering about Bible truth.
01:03 Today Father we are dealing with a very important topic
01:08 how to stay and get un-deceived.
01:13 Father deception abounds in these last days,
01:17 that's no mystery to you, but Father we pray that today
01:21 you will give us practical, tangible, implement able steps
01:27 so that we will know, this is how I can be sure
01:31 that I am not being deceived.
01:33 This is how I can be sure that I can know,
01:37 that I am standing on your word, and your will,
01:41 and your plan.
01:43 Father be with us now as we open your word,
01:46 so we're asking again that you will open our hearts,
01:49 in Jesus name, let everyone say "Amen!"
01:53 Well I hope everyone has a study guide, it's yellow today.
01:57 Take that study guide out, if you need a study guide
02:00 you could raise your hand, we can get our ushers
02:01 to get you one.
02:02 There's a couple that need study guides,
02:04 quite a few actually, so maybe our ushers
02:06 would like to run out, thank you Michael,
02:07 that was very gracious of you.
02:08 Notice there the first three words of our study guide
02:10 what do they say, Deception is dangerous.
02:16 Deception is dangerous, you've heard that saying
02:20 ignorance is bliss, but this is not the case.
02:24 This is not bliss at all, especially when it comes
02:26 to eternal truths, and eternal realities.
02:28 If we think we are going the right way,
02:30 but in fact we're going the wrong way,
02:32 at the end of the day we're going to discover
02:34 that deception is in fact very dangerous.
02:38 Notice it goes on to say, unfortunately deception
02:41 can be difficult to "what" detect, of course
02:45 it must be difficult to detect,
02:46 if it wasn't difficult to detect it wouldn't be deception at all.
02:49 We're going to talk a little bit more about that
02:50 in a moment.
02:51 Deception apes truth and remains as close as possible
02:56 to truth.
02:57 It is close enough to be convincing,
02:59 but oft enough to be wrong.
03:01 This is what makes deception so very "what," dangerous.
03:07 This lesson deals with the essence of deception,
03:10 but more than the essence of deception,
03:11 it deals with the great cure for deception.
03:14 These are both topics that we have already addressed somewhat,
03:17 and we're going to go into more detail in this lesson.
03:19 Let's begin by defining the essence of deception.
03:25 What is deception?
03:27 Here it is, the definition of deceit,
03:29 you can write that in there on your study guide
03:30 of course you are not going to be able to get all
03:32 of it probably, but the basic thrust of it.
03:35 The first dictionary definition is this:
03:47 So it's any declaration, any statement,
03:49 anything that is done to mislead another
03:52 and cause them to beloved as true, what is really false.
03:56 2. second definition of deception or deceit:
04:08 So the idea of deception, is that we begin to think
04:12 what is true, what is actually in reality false.
04:17 We described the essence of deception,
04:21 is that you are unaware that you are being deceived,
04:23 remember that, because deceived people
04:25 do not think of themselves as deceived.
04:28 You might be sitting there thinking to yourself,
04:30 well I'm just glad that I'm not deceived.
04:31 The only problem is that is exactly how "what"
04:34 deceived people think.
04:36 Nobody believes that they are being deceived,
04:39 because if you know you are being deceived,
04:41 by the definition, you are not being "what" deceived,
04:44 and so the idea is that you think you are going
04:46 down the right path, but in reality you are going down the
04:49 "what?" The wrong path.
04:51 That's exactly right.
04:52 Ok, there are three categories of deception:
04:55 The first is intentional deception, that is to say
04:59 that there are people who are out there intentionally
05:02 deceiving others.
05:04 They know that they are being deceptive,
05:05 they are purposefully, intentionally, volitionally
05:08 seeking to lead others astray.
05:11 Of course this would be the kind of deception that Satan
05:14 himself employs.
05:15 He is purposefully seeking to lead others astray
05:18 and into the wrong path.
05:20 But there is a second kind of deception
05:22 and that is unintentional deception.
05:24 This is when someone thinks that they are giving you
05:27 the goods, but when in reality, they are not.
05:29 They may not even know that what they believe
05:31 is wrong, not at all, in fact I sometimes think of this
05:34 when I see those faithful Mormon Missionaries
05:37 riding around on their bikes, dutifully, industriously,
05:40 going out and trying to find Bible studies.
05:42 Most of those people imagine believe that they are telling
05:46 what they think is true.
05:48 I don't believe that those young boys, most of them
05:49 probably very few of them believe that they are going out
05:52 to lead somebody astray.
05:53 No! no! no! no! So they would be
05:54 unintentionally leading others astray, if what they say
05:58 is not traceable to what the Bible teaches.
06:01 Can you say "Amen" to that?
06:02 Of course we're not here picking on the
06:03 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons.
06:06 I myself am a Latter Day Saint, are you comfortable with that?
06:10 I meet my friends the Jehovah's Witnesses
06:12 and I say oh, you are a Jehovah's Witness,
06:14 don't worry I'm a witness for Jehovah too.
06:15 Ha! ha! ha! ha! I witness for Jehovah,
06:18 and I meet them, you know what they say, I'm a Mormon.
06:20 I say great, you know we are going to get along wonderful
06:21 because you are a Latter Day Saint,
06:22 and I'm a Latter Day Saint.
06:24 I too believe that God is calling people to be saints
06:27 in the last days.
06:28 I meet a Baptist, and I say oh, you are a Baptist,
06:30 I too am a Baptist, because I believe in baptism by immersion.
06:33 I meet a Methodist, I say oh you are Methodist,
06:34 I too am a Methodist, because I love John and Charles Wesley,
06:37 and I believe that we should be living holy lives.
06:39 We should be looking to build bridges where we can.
06:42 Can you say "Amen?"
06:43 So the vast majority of people do not believe
06:46 that they are intentionally leading someone to believe
06:49 what is false, ok, that's unintentional deception,
06:52 and in some ways that's even worse, and more dangerous.
06:55 But there is a third kind, and that is "what?"
06:57 Self-deception, we'll talk more about that
07:00 in just a moment.
07:01 So you have intentional deception,
07:02 unintentional deception, and self-deception.
07:05 We're on page two of your study guide.
07:07 Now open your Bibles, to Matthew 24.
07:11 Matthew 24, we spent some time here last night
07:14 and I want you to notice something very interesting.
07:17 Matthew in the 24th chapter first book of the New Testament.
07:19 They have given you all the verses here,
07:23 it says at the top of the study guide according to Jesus,
07:25 deception will be rampant in the last days.
07:30 That's exactly right, the last days.
07:32 That is the days just before, His guess what, "Return. "
07:39 Consider for example the following text,
07:41 and we're there in Matthew 24, and notice with me beginning
07:43 in verse one: "Then Jesus went out and departed
07:46 from the temple: and His disciples came to shew Him
07:48 the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said,
07:50 "Do you not see all of these things?"
07:51 "Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here
07:54 upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
07:56 3.Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives,
07:58 the disciples came to Him privately, saying,
08:00 Tell us, when will these things be?
08:02 And what will be the sign of Your coming,
08:03 and of the end of the age?
08:04 Notice the very first words out of Jesus' mouth,
08:07 as the disciples were inquiring about the end of the world.
08:09 4. First thing Jesus says: Take heed that no one
08:16 "what?" deceives you.
08:17 That's the very first thing He said,
08:20 Be careful that no one deceives you.
08:23 Now think about that for just moment,
08:25 they're saying tell us about the end of the world.
08:27 What's the end of the world going to be like?
08:28 What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age,
08:30 and Jesus says: "Be careful that no one deceives you. "
08:32 To me, that communicates to me that Jesus believed
08:36 that there was a very real chance, a very real possibility,
08:41 of deception in the last days, yes or no?
08:45 So just imagine, you go up to a house, there's a fence there
08:47 and there's a sign on that fence that says "Beware of Dog. "
08:52 Whenever I see that sign, I'm under the general impression,
08:55 that there is a dog on the other side of that fence
09:00 that is probably not a Chihuahua.
09:02 Are you with me?
09:04 Right, because even if a Chihuahua was ferocious,
09:06 even if a Chihuahua was mean, it would come up and do it's
09:09 little yipity yap thing and you just drop kick it
09:11 into the next yard right?
09:13 So my understanding is, that when it says
09:16 "Beware of Dog," it means there is a Doberman Pinscher
09:18 over there, or there is a Rotweiller over there,
09:20 or there is a Pit Bull over there, something is over
09:22 on the other side of that fence that you should be aware of.
09:25 In other words, that sign indicates a real danger,
09:28 It indicates a real "what" everyone?
09:30 A real danger!
09:31 So when Jesus says take heed, or beware, or be careful,
09:35 that no one deceives you, Jesus wasn't just saying
09:37 something for the sake of saying it, He was saying listen
09:40 this is a very real concern, the first words out of my mouth,
09:43 and answer to your question are don't be deceived,
09:46 be careful.
09:47 He goes on notice verse five:
09:49 Matthew 24:5, For many will come in My name,
09:53 saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive a few ignorant,
09:59 naive, knuckleheads, who aren't paying attention.
10:02 Is that what the Bible says? It says For many will come
10:07 in My name saying, 'I am the Christ'
10:09 and will deceive "what," many.
10:11 So Jesus the first two verses, the first two things He says
10:15 right out of the gate when they ask about the last days,
10:17 as He says: Take heed that no man deceives you
10:19 because many will be deceived.
10:21 Jump down to verse 11:
10:23 Jesus speaking, He says: Then many false prophets
10:26 will rise up and deceive "what?"
10:29 There it is again, will deceive many!
10:31 Jump down to verse 24:
10:32 For false Christ's and false prophets show great signs
10:36 and wonders to "what" deceive, if possible, even 'who"
10:41 even the elect.
10:42 Now here's something very interesting,
10:43 I have a little Bible program that allows me to type in
10:45 any word into the little search engine there, and it will search
10:49 how many times does the word deceived, or deception
10:51 occur in the Old Testament, the New Testament,
10:53 just the gospel of Matthew, just the gospel of Luke,
10:55 whatever, it's a fantastic program, and its interesting
10:58 to note that Jesus here uses the word deceived in Matthew 24,
11:02 more than He does in any other place in the entire
11:05 New Testament.
11:06 In other words Jesus knew that Matthew 24, where
11:09 he's addressing issues about the last days,
11:11 that this idea of deception, was a very real
11:14 and critical issue.
11:16 Are we all together on that everyone?
11:18 Very powerful! The first thing that He says,
11:21 Is take heed that no man deceives you,
11:22 and for three subsequent times, for a total of four,
11:25 He says deception, deception, deception, deception,
11:28 watch out!
11:29 That communicates to me, I think that Jesus was an
11:32 excellent communicator.
11:33 That tell me that deception is a very real danger
11:37 for people who are living in the last days.
11:39 Is that what it communicates to you, yes or no?
11:40 Ok, so far so good, so let's continue on here.
11:43 According to Jesus, deception, many will be deceived by these
11:47 false prophets, not all false prophets work miracles
11:50 of course, but apparently those that do are more dangerous
11:53 and convincing.
11:54 In fact I have to tell you something that is so ridiculous
11:56 but I just have to bring it to your attention.
11:58 Several night ago when we presented our message entitled
12:01 "Discover, How Near Is the End," and we said that there are false
12:05 Christ's and false prophets, and we put up Jim Jones,
12:07 and Marshall Applewhite, and some of the others,
12:09 We put up that man Dr. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda,
12:12 how many of you remember that?
12:13 Ok, this guy who is in Miami there claims to be who?
12:15 Who does he claim to be?
12:17 He claims to be the Christ, did anyone go to the website?
12:19 You can go to his website and actually watch the interviews
12:21 with him there on Anderson Cooper 360 Live on CNN,
12:25 you can watch him on NBC's Today show, you can watch him on
12:28 Fox News Live, I mean the guy literally claims to be Jesus,
12:32 and he has conservatively two million followers,
12:34 and some would say, he says more that ten million
12:37 followers.
12:38 Now here is the amazing thing, they are interviewing him
12:40 and Anderson Cooper puts the question to him, and says:
12:44 What would you say to somebody who says
12:45 you are a false prophet?
12:47 What would you say to someone who says you are a
12:49 false Messiah, that you're a cult leader,
12:51 do you know what he said?
12:52 He said, Jesus said that false Christ's and false prophets
12:55 would work miracles, and I don't work miracles,
12:57 therefore I'm not the false.
12:58 I thought to myself, well at least he went to the
13:03 first day of class on logic, but Jesus didn't say
13:07 that if you don't work miracles it doesn't mean
13:09 that you are the true Christ.
13:10 What He is saying is that many times people will utilize
13:13 miracles in order to deceive people.
13:15 Are you with me everyone?
13:16 I mean I just thought to myself, Lord have mercy.
13:18 I'm not picking on the guy and I'm not picking on his followers
13:21 but the reality is, it goes to show how gullible, how naive,
13:24 and more important than that, how scripturally illiterate
13:28 many people are today, are you with me?
13:29 I mean can you just imagine people sitting there, I mean
13:31 they show his congregation nice looking people,
13:33 good looking people, the man that basically finances
13:36 and bankrolls his ministry is a huge multi,
13:39 multi-millionaire web guy, and they show them all sitting
13:41 there, and can you just imagine him sitting there and he says
13:43 let me prove to you that I'm not a false prophet.
13:44 Let me prove to you that I'm not a false messiah.
13:47 I can't work a miracle, and they all go Ahhh!
13:51 It's really him, I mean it's absolute insanity.
13:57 Are we all together on that one everyone?
13:58 Now it doesn't mean that every false Christ,
14:01 and every false Prophet will be miracle workers
14:03 but clearly someone who worked a supernatural act
14:06 would be more convincing and more potentially dangerous
14:09 than those who didn't, are we all together?
14:11 Unless they are so smart as this guy as to say well
14:13 that's my proof that I'm really not the false thing
14:15 is that I can't do it.
14:16 Absolutely amazing, so notice there on your study guide
14:19 False prophets do not announce that they are "what?"
14:21 False prophets!
14:23 False prophets don't just show up and say
14:25 hey listen by the way, I've got to tell you something
14:28 my name is: false prophet, you can get a hold of me
14:31 at 1-666-Anti-Christ, that's 1-666-A-N-T-I-Christ,
14:37 your local neighborhood false prophet.
14:40 Now if that's what false prophets look like,
14:42 and if they have business cards that read false prophets,
14:44 we wouldn't have to present presentations like this,
14:47 because, how to avoid deception, how to get undeceived
14:50 and how to remain undeceived would just be to avoid the guy
14:52 walking around with the placard around his neck that says,
14:54 I'm the anti-Christ and I'm a deceiver.
14:56 Right, but the essence of deception and what makes
14:58 this deception so dangerous is that it gets as close
15:01 to truth as possible without being truth.
15:05 Think of it this way, if I offered you a glass
15:07 of poison, and I said hey drink this, you know
15:09 you're famished, you're hot it's a whew, I'm so thirsty,
15:13 and I say oh have a nice cold glass of arsenic
15:16 oh, I'll tell you, it feels good going down,
15:18 I mean the kick is a little much,
15:19 but you'll love the taste of it.
15:20 You would say what are you kidding me, but,
15:22 if I took a nice cold glass of water and I made it look
15:26 all good with the droplets coming down on the outside,
15:29 and then I put just a single drop of arsenic in it,
15:31 stirred it up so that you didn't know,
15:32 you said oh I'm thirsty, I'm famished,
15:35 I need something to drink, and I said have a nice cold
15:37 glass of water, is that more dangerous or less dangerous
15:41 than the full undiluted arsenic?
15:44 Far more dangerous, because people could actually be tempted
15:47 to drink that, thinking that it's the good thing,
15:50 when in reality they end up dead, just the same way.
15:53 False prophets don't come looking like that,
15:56 Jesus said that they would actually claim to be the Christ,
16:00 and many of them incidentally are going to be a lot
16:02 smarter than this Dr. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda,
16:04 many people are going to be smarter than that.
16:06 Now notice this, it goes on to say here,
16:10 in fact they themselves might not even know
16:13 that they are false prophets,
16:14 they would be self-deceived.
16:17 They would be "what" everyone?
16:19 Jesus describes these prophets as wolves in sheep's clothing,
16:27 wolves in sheep's clothing.
16:30 Paul even went so far as to say that Satan himself
16:34 transforms himself into an angel of Light!
16:38 2 Corinthians 11:14, and no wonder, Paul says
16:42 for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
16:48 So the Devil doesn't show up in the red leotards with the
16:51 pokey tail and the pitch fork saying, I'm the devil,
16:53 come and follow me.
16:54 Beloved do you know who invented that caricature of Satan?
16:59 He did, because people look at that and think you've got
17:02 to be kidding me, there's no way, impossible,
17:04 if the Devil showed up, if he is going to try to deceive
17:07 religious people, he's not going to look against religion,
17:10 he's not going to look anti- religious, he's going to look
17:13 what do you think?
17:14 He's going to look religious.
17:16 That's exactly right, he's going to become religious
17:20 in order to deceive religious people,
17:22 that just stands to reason.
17:23 Jesus said to you, "Be Careful" because the wolves don't come
17:26 in wolves clothing.
17:28 The wolves don't come looking like wolves,
17:30 if they did, you would just spy them out immediately,
17:31 they come looking like "what?" Sheep! That's exactly right!
17:35 Now we're right in the middle there of the second page,
17:37 it says what Revelation says
17:39 about deception in the last days.
17:42 The book of Revelation foretells that deception will reach
17:46 epidemic proportions in the last days,
17:50 that's what you would write in there on the blanks.
17:52 The book of Revelation foretells that deception will reach
17:55 epidemic proportions in the last days,
17:58 and let's go look at that together
17:59 in the book of Revelation, we've got all those texts there
18:01 let's go look up each one of them.
18:03 Revelation 12:9, this is a verse we've read before,
18:13 but let's look at it again, Revelation 12:9.
18:15 The Bible says Revelation 12:9: "The great dragon was cast out,
18:21 that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan,
18:23 who deceives the whole world," who deceives "what?"
18:27 The whole world.
18:29 He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out
18:31 with him, so according to that verse,
18:32 how many would be deceived?
18:34 The whole world, or at least it appeared that way to John
18:37 that basically everybody was wandering after the sophistries
18:40 of Satan.
18:41 Notice Revelation 13:14, the next one there on your list,
18:45 it says, And he deceives those, and he "what?"
18:49 he deceives those who dwell on the earth, by those signs
18:58 Revelation 13:14, by those signs which he was granted to do
19:01 in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell
19:03 in the earth, to make an image to the beast who was wounded
19:06 by the sword and lived, and you might be looking at that verse
19:08 thinking what does that mean,
19:09 we're going to spend time on this.
19:10 By the way those of you who are astute Bible students
19:12 have already noticed that there are in fact two beasts
19:15 in Revelation chapter 13, we've only identified
19:17 the first beast.
19:18 Who's the second beast that comes up out of the earth
19:20 that has two horns like a lamb, we are going to spend time
19:22 on that.
19:23 The point here is this, when he goes to deceive,
19:27 he uses signs and wonders and miracles.
19:31 I had a young man just the other day say,
19:33 you know there's this strange fire in Jerusalem,
19:36 I don't know if you've heard about this, it's called
19:37 the holy fire, and it just happens once every year.
19:40 They will light a candle and there will be a fire there
19:44 and you can light that candle from that fire,
19:49 it only lasts for like thirty minutes or thirty three minutes,
19:51 or something like this.
19:52 I went to the web site and checked this out
19:54 and they show people holding these candles,
19:56 and they can put their hands right in the fire.
19:59 They can hold the fire right to their faces
20:01 and it doesn't burn, they can hold their clothes
20:03 and it doesn't burn anything, but as soon as the thirty three
20:06 minutes is over, it begins to burn.
20:07 He said what do you think of that?
20:09 I said well, I don't know what I think of it.
20:11 I said let me ask you a question,
20:13 when Moses..., do I believe that that could be true?
20:16 Of course I believe that could be true, I mean to say that it
20:19 couldn't be true, would be to set yourself up for even
20:22 greater deception, I don't know if it is or isn't,
20:24 it may be a hoax, but what is the point.
20:25 If it's not a hoax, that is not proof that it is from God.
20:30 Moses went there into Pharaoh's court and God had told him
20:33 what to do, he said hey when Pharaoh says who sent you,
20:36 he said take your staff and do "what?"
20:39 Throw it down and it would become a snake,
20:42 ok so Pharaoh goes in there and says "Hey" let my people go,
20:45 well why should I let these people go, who is this God,
20:47 I don't know who this God is.
20:49 So he said "ah" I'll show you, whoom, he throws his staff down
20:51 and it becomes a snake.
20:53 What did the magicians of Pharaoh do?
20:55 They did the same thing, they threw down their staffs,
20:58 and says nanny, nanny, boo boo, we have snakes to.
21:00 Beloved that tells me, that the Devil can work miracles.
21:06 In fact right there in Revelation, this one is not
21:08 on your page there, but look at Revelation 16.
21:12 This is during the sixth plague, the sixth plague,
21:16 Revelation 16,notice with me verse 12.
21:19 You might want to write this one down
21:22 because it's not there in your notes.
21:23 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river
21:25 Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way
21:28 of the kings from the east might be prepared.
21:29 We might spend some time on this.
21:31 Verse 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out
21:36 of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast,
21:39 and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
21:41 There's the false trinity right there by the way,
21:42 the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.
21:45 Notice verse 14. For they are spirits of demons,
21:49 performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth
21:54 and the whole world, to do "what," to gather them
21:56 to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
21:58 15. Behold, I am coming as a thief.
22:00 Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments,
22:02 lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
22:03 16. And they gathered them together to the place called
22:07 in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.
22:08 You might be wondering, whew, when is that,
22:10 when is that Armageddon battle, and who are these three
22:13 unclean frogs that come out, ect., ect., that's not the point
22:17 we will spend some time on that if the Lord allows us time.
22:19 Here's what I want you to see, is that they use miracles
22:23 to gather people.
22:24 Do you see that, yes or no?
22:26 That agrees perfectly with Revelation 13,
22:29 that miracles, signs, and wonders would be used.
22:33 Does God still work miracles today, yes or no?
22:35 Listen God worked and actual bonfire, non-negotiable,
22:40 inarguable, unequivocable, miracle in my life.
22:44 I had been a Christian for four months,
22:48 many of my non-Christian friends said he's been
22:51 brainwashed, and I used to say to them,
22:53 when they would say that, my brain could use
22:55 a good washing, "Amen. "
22:56 They said oh, he's been brainwashed, and oh David,
22:59 he's lost his mind, and bla, bla, bla,
23:01 and many of my friends,
23:02 because I came from a very interesting community,
23:04 I came from the punk rock community.
23:05 My hair was purple, blue, red hair, orange, long hair,
23:08 no hair, dreadlock hair, tattoos all over me,
23:10 that was my community, and when I became a religious person
23:13 and I had committed the highest form of treason.
23:15 You could have been anything in the community I was in,
23:17 you could have been a transvestite,
23:19 you could have been a child molester,
23:20 you could have been anything, but to become
23:22 a Christian was to become the worst of all in my Community.
23:24 So I became a Christian, and all my friends
23:26 totally disowned me.
23:27 I went from having lots of friends, or at least
23:29 what I thought were friends, to having basically no friends
23:31 over night, and something happened,
23:34 I was out rock climbing with one of the few friends
23:35 that would still spend a little time with me,
23:37 his name was Luke, and I was up rock climbing,
23:39 and I was doing actually a maneuver called the heel hook,
23:41 which I don't recommend unless you know rock climbing,
23:43 I was trying to pull over top of this rock,
23:45 and you hook your heel up just like that,
23:47 and you use your heel to help pull over.
23:49 You might be thinking is he really doing that on the pulpit,
23:51 yeah, I'm really doing it.
23:52 So I was trying to pull myself up over,
23:54 and what happened is that it had rained the day before,
23:56 and there was a little water down in the pocket,
23:57 and so when I reached up to grab that little hand hold,
23:59 guess what happened?
24:00 I slipped, so as I slipped I'm coming off the rock
24:03 like this, I was about 20 feet in the air, no ropes,
24:05 ok, I was doing what's called bouldering,
24:07 and I come down like this and there's a great big triangular
24:10 pyramid shaped rock right below me.
24:12 Bad choice, normally it would have been a very easy thing
24:15 for me to do, but I forgotten about the rain,
24:17 and there was water in that pocket, so I come shooting off
24:19 this thing like a rubber band, I'm looking at that rock,
24:22 and I try to step over the rock, but I catch my toe,
24:25 right near the tip of my toe, on the tip of that rock,
24:27 when I fall down, I fall down just like that.
24:29 Guess what happened to my leg?
24:30 Broken, for the third time, I broke my right ankle
24:34 three times because before that I was trying my lot
24:36 as a professional skate boarder.
24:37 I've done many things, here's the point, my leg broke
24:40 and I knew it, I knew it immediately.
24:41 Here's what happened, my two buddies Luke and Travis,
24:45 they put one arm around this side and one arm
24:47 around this side, they take me into town,
24:49 and I called up the person I was working for,
24:51 I was actually working in a vegetarian restaurant,
24:53 because I was taking time off of medical school
24:55 trying to decide what God wanted me to do with my life.
24:56 So I called her and said "hey listen," I'm not going
24:58 to be able to come to work tomorrow, why not?
25:00 I said I broke my leg again, and I broke my ankle,
25:06 said well I've got this doctor over here,
25:08 and we'll provide him some free meals,
25:10 because I didn't have medical insurance, we'll provide him
25:11 some free meals, go up there, and get it x-rayed,
25:12 and get it taken care of, so I went up there
25:14 to Dr. Gary's office.
25:15 I go into Dr. Gary's office, sure enough he x-rays me,
25:17 and he says third time you broke it,
25:19 it's a hairline fracture, I can see it,
25:21 my ankle was all swollen up, big purple and black & blue,
25:25 and now I was on crutches.
25:26 I went down to Rushmore Medical Supply there,
25:28 it's in Rapid City, South Dakota,
25:29 got myself some crutches, the lady said,
25:31 that ankle looks terrible, I said yeah, it looks really bad
25:33 I went hobbling out of there, I went home
25:34 I said to Mom, look what happened to my ankle
25:35 Oh no, third time, here's the point.
25:37 I knelt down that night and I said God, I'm sorry,
25:41 I said Lord I'm sorry, I should not have been climbing
25:44 under those circumstances, I should have known better.
25:46 Please forgive me, I was frankly chiefly concerned
25:50 that the restaurant that I was working at was not
25:51 going to have enough help, because there were only
25:52 four of us that helped her, and I knew she was basically
25:54 going to be in trouble, because I couldn't chop carrots,
25:56 and do all of the things that I needed to do
25:57 while I was on these crutches.
25:58 So I said God please forgive me for the mistake I made,
26:01 if it could be possible by Your grace, heal my ankle.
26:06 I just asked, I said if that is possible,
26:08 if there is some way in Your plan,
26:10 that you could forgive me for this thing,
26:12 I see that I done wrong, and so I went to bed that night,
26:14 and the next morning I just had this voice,
26:16 this sense that said hop out of bed.
26:19 Hop out of bed on a broken ankle, right,
26:22 and I had one of these air casts on where your toes
26:25 still stick out the front, so I just hopped out of bed
26:28 and I began to flex up on my toes,
26:30 and I felt there was no pain,
26:32 I began to jump around and then I started to jump
26:34 around on my broken foot, and I praise the Lord
26:36 and I grab my crutches and I ran upstairs and
26:38 I said Mom, you're not going to believe this,
26:39 my Mom's a certified nurse and I say Mom look at this,
26:42 my ankle is..., she said ahh!
26:43 It's just adrenalin, get back on your crutches
26:45 and I said no Mom the Lord healed me.
26:47 So then I went back, I actually literally grabbed my crutches,
26:50 I was on my way to work, and I stopped by the
26:52 very Rushmore Medical Supply Store, the day before
26:55 I had gotten my crutches at, and just to the glory of God
26:58 because I had gotten them just the day before at 5 o'clock
26:59 and that was early in the morning about 9 o'clock,
27:01 just to the glory of God, the same lady was working.
27:05 I walk in and she said what are you doing in here
27:07 I said God healed my ankle.
27:08 I said I just became a Christian four months ago,
27:10 and look at this, I started hopping around
27:14 and she goes Ahhh! she said you got a twin,
27:16 it's not really you, and I said no, and I pulled down my sock,
27:21 and pulled up my pants to show her and it was still very
27:23 black & blue but no swelling,
27:24 I'm hopping around, whew, like a kangaroo,
27:27 she couldn't believe it.
27:28 So I go to the place where I'm working at,
27:31 there's a vegetarian restaurant called Veggies,
27:33 and the woman who owned it Mary, she's the one
27:35 that I called the day before and said that I can't make it.
27:36 She was a woman of such incredible prayer,
27:39 she would say Lord Jesus, we need a new refrigerator,
27:42 and we would open our eyes and there would be a new
27:44 refrigerator there, not exactly, God answers her prayers,
27:47 I feel like she has some sort of special access VIP pass.
27:52 Sometimes I go to these airports and the people who travel a lot
27:55 get to go in the Red Carpet Room, I feel like she has that
27:57 sometimes with the Lord, she's praying and Boom!
28:00 the Lord will answer her prayer right in front of our eyes.
28:01 So I'm on fire, God has healed my ankle, a four month Christian
28:05 I'm on fire and I come walking in, and she's there
28:07 cutting the carrots, and doing her thing,
28:10 and I'm Mary, Mary, God healed my ankle,
28:12 and I'll never forget, she was totally unfazed.
28:14 She's like yeah, I thought He might do that,
28:16 now get to chopping the radishes.
28:19 Literally she was totally unfazed, she expected it,
28:27 to her that was like everyday life, of course He healed
28:30 your ankle, I need you in here, now get to work boy.
28:32 I couldn't believe it!
28:35 Beloved does God still work miracles?
28:37 Yes, sure He works miracles, and by the way,
28:40 healing a broken ankle is nothing compared to healing
28:43 a broken heart.
28:44 Every one of us suffers from a broken heart,
28:48 every one of us has a terrible cancer,
28:51 worse that Ebola, worse that AIDS, worse than the Bird Flu,
28:54 worse than any of those diseases you can imagine,
28:56 it's called the cancer of sin.
28:57 The most amazing miracle that God can work,
29:00 is to save someone and to get them to hate their sin
29:04 and to love the Lord Jesus Christ, can you say "Amen?"
29:06 "Amen!"
29:07 But that doesn't mean that every miracle is from God,
29:10 and that's the point.
29:12 Listen! The Devil is no dummy he knows,
29:19 he knows that most people spend way to much time watching
29:22 the game, to much time watching the television,
29:24 to much time watching the computer, to much time
29:26 doing anything, and everything but reading the Bible,
29:29 so that he knows if he presents a miracle, and he put a little
29:33 Christian brush on it, most of the Christian people
29:37 who are spending very little time, not to mention
29:39 the non-Christian people of course there going to be
29:40 duped immediately.
29:41 But the Christian people are spending very little time
29:42 in their Bibles, oh miracle, ahh, this is from God.
29:47 Look there is twenty thousand people here
29:49 who also think it's from God.
29:50 No! no! no! just because a miracle is worked,
29:53 doesn't mean it's from God, are we clear?
29:57 Look at Revelation 19:20:
30:01 Revelation 19:20, It says: Then the beast was
30:06 captured and with him the false prophet who worked "what?"
30:10 signs, do you see that?
30:12 Worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those
30:17 who received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped
30:19 his image, they were cast alive into the lake of fire
30:21 burning with fire and brimstone.
30:22 Notice, deception is actually going to play a role in people
30:26 receiving the mark of the beast.
30:27 There's all kinds of crazy ideas out there
30:30 about what the mark of the beast is.
30:31 I'm going to show you directly from the Bible.
30:34 From the "what" everyone?
30:35 From the Bible exactly what the mark of the beast is.
30:38 You don't have to be afraid of some computer in Belgium
30:40 or that you got a social security number,
30:42 Listen don't worry about your license plate
30:44 if it happens to have 666 on it, I'll show you
30:46 from the Bible, what the mark of the beast is.
30:49 Does that sound like a good idea, yes or no?
30:50 Here's the point, many people are going to be led
30:53 to receive the mark of the beast because
30:54 they'll be deceived by miracles, so far so good?
30:59 Revelation 20:10, you can read it on your own.
31:02 Notice what it says: The dragon uses deception,
31:06 it is the hallmark of his plans and strategies,
31:09 he used it on the heavenly angels, he used it on
31:11 Eve in Eden, and today, no surprise,
31:14 he continues to employ deception.
31:17 His deceptive power will only increase as we near the end
31:24 of time.
31:26 Paul shared Jesus' concern and warning against
31:29 widespread deception just before Jesus returns.
31:33 Open your Bible to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
31:36 Paul shared Jesus' concern, look at what we're hearing.
31:38 Jesus says don't be deceived, don't be deceived,
31:40 don't be deceived, don't be deceived.
31:41 Revelation says there's going to be deception,
31:43 deception, deception, miracles, deceit.
31:46 Paul says the very same thing,
31:47 2 Thessalonians 2: we spent some time in here last night,
31:51 looking at he who restrains until he's taken out of the way
31:56 ect., that's the passage we're going to,
31:58 2 Thessalonians 2, and I'm just going to read it through, ok.
32:02 I've given you several blanks that you can fill in there,
32:04 see if you can fill in the blanks as we go.
32:06 2 Thessalonians 2:1: Now brethren concerning the coming
32:10 our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
32:12 to Him, we ask you, 2. not to be soon shaken in mind
32:15 or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter,
32:18 as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
32:20 Even if you get a letter signed Paul, even if a spirit
32:23 appears to you, even if an angel appears to you,
32:25 it says don't be deceived, because something has to happen
32:28 first, don't believe that the day of Christ has come
32:30 because something else has to happen first.
32:31 3. Let no one deceive you just like Jesus, Paul says
32:36 in the last days be careful of deception.
32:39 by any means; for that Day, the coming of Jesus,
32:42 will not come until a "what comes first?
32:45 "a falling away, and the word falling away,
32:47 what does it mean in the Greek?
32:48 A divorce, that's right.
32:50 When a falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed
32:53 the son of perdition, talking of the anti-Christ.
32:55 4. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called
32:57 God or that is worshiped, remember worship at the end
33:03 is the issue, so that he sits as God in the temple of God,
33:08 showing himself that he is God.
33:11 Now think about it, if he is showing himself that he is God,
33:13 clearly he is a religious figure.
33:15 Am I the only person in the world that that makes sense to?
33:19 Could an antagonistic religious figure go in to the temple
33:23 of God, and say I'm God and deceive anyone?
33:25 Paul was smarter than that, Jesus was smarter than that.
33:28 Come on they're not going to say, when this guy comes on
33:31 the scene that clearly hates Jesus, is antagonistic to Jesus
33:33 defies Jesus, and stands against Jesus, and overtly opposes
33:37 Jesus, don't be deceived.
33:38 Don't be deceived?
33:40 I wouldn't even give the guy one second.
33:42 The problem here is that this guy goes into the temple
33:44 of God, pretending that he is God, oh and by the way,
33:47 he's working miracles,
33:49 so he even looks like he is God's representative on earth.
33:52 Paul says don't be deceived.
33:55 5. Do you not remember that when I was still with you
33:57 I told you these things?
33:59 6. And now you know what is restraining,
34:01 that he may be revealed in his own time.
34:03 We talked about that last night.
34:04 7. For the mystery of lawlessness,
34:07 by the way I just want to say something very quickly,
34:08 some people say why did Satan sin?
34:10 I don't understand that, why did Satan sin in the
34:12 first place, I'm confused, how does a perfect being
34:14 in a perfect environment, with a perfect God,
34:16 and a perfect creator sin?
34:18 Notice it calls it the mystery of lawlessness.
34:21 Quick question for you, is a mystery something you do know,
34:24 or don't know?
34:25 You don't know. Beloved you cannot explain
34:28 the origin of sin.
34:29 If sin could be explained it could be excused.
34:33 If you could give a reason for sin,
34:36 then you could give a justification for sin,
34:38 it's the mystery of lawlessness.
34:40 Don't ask me how he did it or why he did it, I'll ask God
34:43 when I get to heaven, I don't even know if God knows.
34:45 It is a total mystery, how does it happen? We don't know.
34:51 The mystery of lawlessness.
34:52 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed,
34:56 that's the antichrist whom the Lord will destroy
34:58 with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness
35:00 of His coming.
35:01 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working
35:04 of who? Satan, notice verse 9:
35:07 9. With all power and signs and what else?
35:12 Lying wonders, so he's clearly using miracles
35:16 and supernatural things.
35:17 10. and with all unrighteous deception among those who
35:22 perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth,
35:27 that they might be saved.
35:29 Beloved according to that passage, if all you knew
35:32 was that passage, what is the cure for deception?
35:36 Truth!, and not just a truth, but what does it say?
35:40 The love of the truth, ok,
35:43 now you can fill in those blanks there.
35:44 Paul was concerned about: 1. The day of the Lord's return.
35:47 2. The deception of the man of sin and Satan himself.
35:51 So number one the day of the Lord's return,
35:54 number 2 the deception of the man of sin and Satan himself.
35:56 3. The rejection of truth and the embracing of lies.
36:02 Lying wonders.
36:04 4. The deceitful nature of both sin and Satan.
36:09 Jesus was concerned about deception,
36:12 Paul was concerned about deception, we should be
36:15 concerned about deception.
36:17 Oh please Christian person, oh please believe her,
36:20 don't sit there and say whoo wee!, I'm glad he's
36:23 not talking about me, because I'm undeceived,
36:25 because as we said again, that is exactly how deceived
36:29 people think.
36:30 Is that clear everyone?
36:32 Let's continue on everyone.
36:35 Jesus, Paul and John in the book of Revelation
36:37 make it clear:
36:44 But it gets even worse, notice that my own heart betrays me.
36:47 That's the next study guide headline there,
36:49 according to Jeremiah 17:9, what is the most deceitful
36:53 of all things? Here it is:
37:02 You think, oh I wonder who that is talking about?
37:03 That must be talking about Sudan Hussein,
37:05 that must be talking about Osama Bin Laden,
37:07 do you know who's heart that is talking about?
37:09 Yours! The heart is deceitful above all things,
37:13 and desperately wicked, so much so who can know it.
37:15 Notice this:
37:21 Self-deception, I'm going to give you four verses
37:24 very quickly write them down.
37:26 Here is the first one, Perhaps the most dangerous kind
37:29 of deception is self-deception.
37:30 1. James 1:22, that's the first one:
37:44 According to that verse can you deceive yourself?
37:46 Second verse, verse 26:
37:50 How many people here think that you are religious?
37:52 Raise your hand, I think I'm a religious person, why not.
37:57 I love the Lord Jesus Christ, I would consider myself to be
37:59 a religious person, but notice what he says:
38:12 James wasn't against religion, but he was against
38:14 useless religion.
38:15 According to these two verses here, is it possible
38:18 to deceive yourself?
38:19 Absolutely! Notice this one:
38:21 Galatians 6:3:
38:32 1 Corinthians 3:18: Let no one deceive himself,
38:37 why does he say that, let no one deceive himself?
38:39 Because that's Satan's job.
38:40 He's basically saying don't do the Devil's job for him.
38:51 We could go look at all these texts in context
38:53 and see what they are actually teaching,
38:54 but the broader point is this.
38:56 Self-deception is a very potent reality.
39:01 You can deceive yourself, if you want to see the most
39:06 powerful chapter in the entire Bible on self deception,
39:09 does anyone know what chapter that will be?
39:10 The most powerful chapter how people literally,
39:14 trick themselves into believing what is a lie.
39:18 Romans 1, go read it today in the afternoon,
39:21 you will not find a more powerful chapter than
39:24 Romans 1, that describes how people can literally
39:27 deceive themselves.
39:29 Absolutely amazing!
39:31 Notice this on the study guide,
39:33 it says this is very important, an often overlooked point.
39:36 The heart is steeped in "what?" Sin and selfishness!
39:42 and thus it longs to accept that which accommodates and
39:45 caters to it's unregenerate nature.
39:47 In other words, the heart is looking to be deceived.
39:49 The unconverted heart loves to hear
39:53 that which flatters it, it is almost as though our heart
39:56 wants to be deceived and lied to, this is especially true
40:00 if the lie that we are told frees our heart and mind
40:03 to indulge in unrighteous pleasure and sin.
40:06 Isn't that true?
40:08 That's why, you know the preachers that say...
40:10 some people say oh, that was a fire and brimstone sermon.
40:12 Beloved, listen to me, a fire and brimstone sermon
40:14 is not what you think of traditionally,
40:15 is a fire and brimstone sermon.
40:16 A fire and brimstone sermon is a sermon
40:18 that sounds like this, don't worry, its ok,
40:20 everything is fine, don't worry about changing,
40:23 don't worry about getting victory over sins,
40:25 don't worry about all those things.
40:26 Is it true that God accepts you just the way you are?
40:29 Of course, He receives you as you are,
40:32 but He wants to change you and transform you
40:34 and give you victory, and make you the person that you
40:37 can be in Christ, Amen!
40:39 So the true fire and brimstone sermon is the preacher that
40:41 stands up and says don't worry about it, everything is
40:43 going to be fine, because that sermon is going to
40:45 get someone in fire and brimstone.
40:46 The heart longs to believe that which says oh really!
40:53 Oh really! Now that I have accepted Jesus as my Saviour
40:56 and because I'm fully free and forgiven,
40:58 I can go and do whatever I want.
40:59 Because Jesus is my Saviour I can go live like the Devil?
41:02 Ha ha! Lord have mercy!
41:06 The cure for deception, here it is.
41:08 The cure for deceptions that abound in this age
41:12 the Bible, you've got it, the Bible is the elixir
41:16 for deception, the cure for deception.
41:18 It alone can free us from the deceptions,
41:22 the deceptions power and influence.
41:25 Think for example of Eve in the Garden of Eden,
41:28 how different would things have been, if Eve like Jesus
41:33 in the wilderness had stood on a plain thus saith the Lord.
41:39 Think about it let's go to that experience there,
41:43 Eve stumbles upon the tree and there's the serpent
41:47 he was crafty, he was clever, he said hey,
41:49 I got a question for you.
41:50 Has God really said..., God is keeping something
41:54 from you isn't He?
41:55 Has God really said you should not eat of every tree
41:57 in the garden?
41:58 She wanted that fruit, didn't she want it?
42:02 Now she is thinking now really, interesting,
42:05 well, God has said that we can't eat of it
42:07 neither can we touch it.
42:08 He says hey listen! It's good for you, in fact if you eat it
42:11 you'll become as God's knowing good and evil.
42:13 Now her heart wants it, she wants it,
42:16 and she's been deceived, and she's easily deceived because
42:20 the devil has tricked her into wanting something
42:22 that God knows is not for her best good.
42:24 Can you say Amen?
42:26 That's the danger, see our hearts are naturally going to
42:29 gravitate towards things that sound pleasing
42:31 to the ears, but beloved we need to not test things
42:34 by how nice they sound, but how do they sound
42:37 in comparison to the Word of God.
42:39 Amen! That's the point.
42:41 The only cure for deception is God's word.
42:46 Let's continue on here.
42:47 Eve should have trusted the word of God
42:48 it could have immediately dispelled the darkness
42:50 of Satan's power.
42:51 In John 1:1-3, Jesus is referred to as the Lo-gos
42:55 that is the word, you know that verse, John 1:1,
42:58 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God
43:02 and the Word was God.
43:04 Now consider the following text, that equate truth
43:07 with God's Word.
43:08 Jesus is the Word! Who's the Word everyone?
43:10 Jesus! Now Jesus was speaking
43:12 on one occasion and He said, I am the Way
43:16 the Truth and the Light, so Jesus was the Word
43:20 and He was the Truth, Amen!
43:23 John 17:17, take a look at that, I could just quote it for you
43:26 but I want you to see it in your own Bible,
43:28 John 17:17.
43:29 Notice this, powerful!
43:32 John 17:17, Jesus speaking, Sanctify them by Your truth.
43:38 Sanctify them by your "what?"
43:40 Truth! Your word is truth. There's two other verses there
43:47 you can look up on your own.
43:48 Your Word is truth!
43:51 Write this verse down quickly, I Timothy 3:15,
43:56 just write that down, scribble that down somewhere.
43:58 1 Timothy 3:15 Here the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, he
44:02 calls the church the pillar and ground of truth,
44:05 The pillar and ground of "what?"
44:08 Truth, now we said this the other day,
44:10 but it bears repeating.
44:11 Beloved we don't find a church that suits us and then hope
44:14 they preach the truth.
44:15 What we do is, we find the truth,
44:18 and then we go find a church that's preaching
44:19 what's true, can you say Amen?
44:20 People choose churches for some of the foolish,
44:23 mostly insane, ridiculous reasons, well I like the
44:26 Choir, and I like the organ, and my grandmother went here,
44:29 and I like the doughnuts after church, and what in the...
44:32 What do you think you are talking about?
44:33 You're not talking about Elks Club,
44:35 you're not talking about the Rotary,
44:37 you're talking about eternal truth.
44:39 It's more than the doughnuts, Amen!
44:42 It's more than the Children's Program,
44:44 I would rather worship under an Oak tree,
44:46 according to God's Word, than in the most beautifully
44:49 ornate Cathedral with the best music,
44:51 and all of the accoutrement's if I was following error.
44:56 Yes or no?
44:58 By the way Jesus Himself had to change churches didn't He?
45:02 He began His ministry, He said take these things out
45:04 of here, you've made My Father's house,
45:05 a den of thieves, but at the end of His three and a half
45:07 years of ministry, He said your house is left to you desolate.
45:10 Jesus didn't want to leave that church
45:12 but when they rejected truth, He had no choice,
45:15 because He was the Truth, Amen!
45:19 Last page.
45:21 Hebrews 4:12:
45:42 There it is, the heart was deceitful above all things,
45:45 and desperately wicked, so what can guide our heart
45:48 that is prone to deception, that is prone to lying wonders,
45:51 that is prone to errors, we need something that can
45:53 reign our heart in and keep it on the straight and narrow,
45:56 and the only thing that can do that, is the Word of God.
45:59 Amen!
46:00 Notice it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
46:02 Have you every just been reading the Bible,
46:04 and just sitting down for a nice morning devotion
46:07 and all of a sudden Boom! God drops a bomb,
46:09 and I think Wow! how did He do that?
46:11 I feel like this whole verse was written and
46:13 preserved down through two thousand years of
46:15 human history, just to speak to me on this morning.
46:16 Anyone ever have that experience?
46:19 Beloved God speaks through His word,
46:22 but if you are not spending time in His word,
46:24 if you are spending more time in front of the television
46:25 or at the sports arena, or wherever, you're setting
46:27 yourself up for deception.
46:31 We're on the last page there, the Bible says in Revelation 19
46:37 Jesus returns and a sharp sword goes out of His mouth.
46:41 What's that sharp sword it, doesn't mean He literally
46:42 has a sword, it's the Word of God coming from His mouth.
46:45 We're at the top of the paragraph there.
46:48 Here's a couple of words for you to love and to learn,
46:51 Elucidation, or obfuscation, hmm you say, what does that mean.
46:57 Elucidation means to make light or clear,
47:01 obfuscation means the exact opposite,
47:03 that is to darken or obscure.
47:05 The Bible especially prophecy is sent to enlighten
47:08 that which is what?
47:10 Dark! We've already seen in 2 Peter 1 where it said
47:12 that the word of God is like a light that shines in a
47:16 dark place, Isaiah 60 is the same.
47:18 The one thousand two hundred and sixty years
47:20 extending from 538 A.D. to 1798, that we have already
47:23 spoken of, are commonly referred to the "what" ages?
47:26 The Dark Ages, the reason they were dark among others,
47:30 is that the word of God, God's lamp and God's light
47:33 was nearly extinguished by the Roman Church-State.
47:36 I've quoted there for you Psalm 119:105,
47:39 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
47:43 A recent Barna Report said that 90% of American homes
47:47 have at least one Bible.
47:48 90% of American homes have at least one Bible,
47:52 that is to say that it is sitting there in it's
47:54 token fashion, right next to the porcelain Blue Jay.
47:59 One day C.S. Spurgeon was preaching to his church there
48:05 in London, and he said many of you have enough
48:08 dust on your Bibles, that you could write the word
48:10 condemnation in it.
48:11 Interesting isn't it, something to think about.
48:15 There was a time when being a Christian meant something,
48:17 there was a time when being a Christian meant more than
48:20 having a little fish on the back of your Honda Accord.
48:22 There was a time when if you stood for Christ,
48:25 that was the last thing you would ever do.
48:27 You can read that book right there: Foxe's Book of Martyrs'
48:33 if you don't believe what I'm telling you,
48:34 that's one of the most powerful books you will
48:36 ever read, stories of men and women standing for truth
48:41 under the most severe persecution, I mean grotesque
48:45 things, things that are so ugly and repulsive
48:48 that I wouldn't even mention them in a church
48:49 service like this, I mean grotesque things that were done
48:52 to people for why?
48:53 Standing for God and standing for His truth.
48:55 Terrible!
48:58 William Tyndale... in October of 1536, was killed
49:04 he was martyred under the King of England's decree
49:06 by the Roman Church-State, it was the Roman Church-State
49:09 who said kill that man.
49:10 Do you know what William Tyndale's crime was,
49:12 he translated the Bible into English,
49:15 that was his crime.
49:17 His last words were oh God open the eyes of the king
49:22 of England, and they strangled him
49:23 to death and burned his body.
49:25 Beloved that book you have in your hand right there,
49:27 that's a blood bought book.
49:29 Thousands of men and women down through the ages
49:34 shed their blood so that you could have that Bible.
49:37 Today we have every kind of Bible you could imagine,
49:39 today we have the Women's Devotional Bible,
49:40 and the Men's Devotional Bible, and the African American
49:42 Devotional Bible, and the Gay and Lesbian Study Bible,
49:44 I mean every kind of study Bible, we've got every Bible
49:47 for every person, but so few people are reading their Bibles.
49:50 Are you hearing me? Very few people actually sitting
49:55 down to read... Beloved William Tyndale,
49:57 and hundred of others, thousands of others,
50:00 those pages in that Book are stained with blood.
50:03 Those people said we've got to let people have
50:07 the truth, why, because the Bible had been locked up
50:09 in a language that common people didn't understand
50:12 and it was chained to Monastery walls, it was chained
50:14 to temple walls, in the Latin language
50:16 which the common person couldn't understand,
50:18 and people like Tyndale and others, Huss and Jerome's
50:21 no! no! no! we've got to get this out into the
50:24 common circulation.
50:25 People need to see that the Roman Church State is leading
50:28 people astray, if they can just get the word for themselves
50:31 they'll have the cure for the deceptions of the anti-Christ.
50:34 Powerful!
50:37 There was a time when being a Christian really did
50:40 mean something:
50:44 You were caught with that book in your hands
50:46 you could be stoned or burned or far worse.
50:50 This here is a picture of a Waldensian museum
50:53 in the northern valleys of Italy, this was a group
50:55 of people the Waldensians in the Piedmont Valleys there
50:58 that were sitting down at copy tables and they would
51:02 write sections of scripture and go into town
51:06 as merchants and sell goods and other articles
51:10 and things, and give them little pieces of scripture
51:12 they were trying to get the word out
51:15 in those dark, dark ages
51:18 Sure enough in the providence of God, in 1455 a man
51:22 by the name of Gutenberg printed the Bible
51:24 it was the first book ever printed.
51:26 It was just like God's timing is impeccable,
51:29 just as the printing press... because prior to that Bibles
51:32 were very expensive, because you had to pay somebody
51:34 to hand write it out, I mean it was extremely expensive
51:37 only the most elite and the wealthiest could own a Bible
51:39 but here a man named Gutenberg invents this thing
51:41 called the printing press, the first book that was
51:43 ever printed on a printing press was The New Testament,
51:45 second book was the Old Testament.
51:46 The Bible begins to go like wild fire at the same time
51:50 that it's getting translated into the common languages
51:53 English and German and other languages.
51:55 That was not just a coincidence God knew
51:59 just as the translations were coming
52:00 there needed to be a quick rapid way
52:02 to get those things out there, and it's no coincidence
52:04 that it was invented right on time,
52:06 and that the first book ever published on a printing press
52:08 was the Bible.
52:09 How powerful beloved.
52:17 He was the monk who had discovered the great truths
52:22 of scripture and he began to reject the pomposity
52:24 of the papacy, he began to reject all the accoutrements
52:27 and paraphernalia of this huge religious establishment
52:30 and he saw four words, The just shall live by faith,
52:34 he saw those four words, it changed everything.
52:37 Those four words changed the world beloved.
52:39 He was standing there before the council of Worms,
52:42 Martin Luther would later say in his diary,
52:43 he thought he was walking into that room
52:45 it will be the last thing he ever did
52:47 and this is what he said, you've heard this
52:48 probably before:
52:49 Unless I shall be convinced because they said retract
52:51 take it all back, it's all lies, take it back and
52:54 bow to the authority of the pope, and bow to the authority
52:56 of the church, he said listen:
53:13 And he walked out.
53:15 God miraculously preserved Martin Luther,
53:18 he didn't die a martyrs death, he died in his old age.
53:20 God preserved him, beloved we need that kind of
53:23 boldness, that kind of courage today, Amen!
53:25 Four essential questions of life:
53:39 The Bible has the answer to those questions.
53:42 The Bible has the answer to those questions.
53:45 Paul said...,
53:47 Notice it right there in your study guide, 2 Timothy 3:13:
54:02 Deception would reach epidemic proportions, colossal monumental
54:09 proportions, just before the end of time,
54:10 so then how do we do it?
54:12 It's very simple and everything hinges on the word.
54:14 You want to get undeceived, you want to remain undeceived,
54:18 it's actually very simple.
54:19 You got to read the Word.
54:21 Amen!
54:23 You got to read it, it's good to come to these seminars,
54:25 I'm thrilled you are coming to these presentations
54:27 listen, Praise the Lord Jesus, if you were presenting
54:29 and you were preaching what I'm preaching,
54:30 I would be sitting where you are sitting, I promise.
54:32 It's not about the man, it's about the message, Amen!
54:35 It's good to come to things like this, but you have to
54:38 spend some of your own time reading the Bible.
54:40 2. You've got to study the Bible.
54:42 You say whoa, I thought you just said that.
54:44 There's a big difference between reading and studying,
54:47 isn't that true, I learned that in Anatomy.
54:49 You can read the Anatomy textbook, but you get a
54:51 D or a C on the test, you want to get an A on the test,
54:54 what do you got to do?
54:55 You got to study it.
54:57 Ok, there's a big difference between reading and studying,
54:59 and what we're doing in these presentations is I don't just
55:01 stand up and start reading.
55:03 We're studying, it's one thing to study in a group,
55:06 Praise the Lord Jesus for that, but you also need to
55:08 learn how to study on your own.
55:09 Some people don't know how to study the Bible,
55:11 but you keep coming and we will give you the tools
55:12 to teach you how to do it for yourself.
55:14 Amen!
55:15 3. Believe the Word.
55:17 Believe it, it's true, it's absolutely true.
55:21 I wish I had time to go into why I believe the Bible is the
55:24 inspired Word of God, and give you many evidences,
55:27 many reasons.
55:28 4. Obey it, Amen! Don't be hard hearted,
55:32 don't be stiff necked, don't be stubborn.
55:33 If you see something that's in the Bible, and it plainly
55:36 is in the Bible, even if it's different than what you used to
55:38 believe, even if it's new from what you used to believe,
55:41 if it's in the Words, if it's in black and white,
55:44 or red and white, believe it and obey it.
55:46 Amen!
55:49 He says, oh I can't make a break, I can't make a break
55:51 from what I always believed.
55:52 I had a young man say to me just the other day,
55:53 how could I ever, how could I ever become a member
55:56 of your church.
55:57 I didn't ask him to become a member of my church,
55:58 I never even mentioned anything about my church,
56:00 he said how can I become a member of your church,
56:01 and leave this church that I was born and raised up in,
56:04 my whole culture surrounds this church.
56:05 I said, hey listen, you are, we'll just call him for the sake
56:08 of purposes, we'll call him a Macedonian,
56:10 ok I'll say hey listen, you are a Macedonian,
56:13 but before you were a Macedonian, you were a
56:14 child of God, and there is a stronger call on your life,
56:19 than the Macedonian call.
56:20 There's a stronger call on your life than your parents call
56:24 and your cultural call.
56:25 God knew you and made you, and formed you
56:28 before you were any of those things, and so your first
56:30 responsibility is to God.
56:32 Before you were black, before you were white,
56:34 before you were Jamaican, before you were Macedonian,
56:35 before you were whatever, you were God's.
56:38 Ok, so if God says hey, I want you to do A, He'll give you
56:42 the strength to do it.
56:43 Sometimes it can be hard to change, Amen!
56:45 I mean listen we're creatures of habit, we hate change.
56:47 But if we're changing for the Lord Jesus Christ,
56:50 He can give us the strength, and I'm going to go a step
56:52 further, He can make it enjoyable, even when our
56:55 friends are abandoning us, and our family says listen
56:57 when I dropped out of medical school, and it's not that I
56:59 dropped out in the sense, but when I dropped out of
57:01 medicine, my Dad went insane.
57:03 I was studying at the University of Wyoming, which was his
57:05 Alma Matter, I mean my Dad thought I had lost my mind.
57:07 All of my friends said no way, he's been brainwashed,
57:10 we're done with him, I literally felt like I was alone,
57:13 I had nothing,
57:14 and a young friend of mine came to my house,
57:17 and I asked him if he wanted to study the Bible,
57:19 and he said yeah I'd be interested in studying the Bible
57:21 and that Sunday we studied the Bible for eight hours.
57:24 The next Sunday we studied the Bible for eight hours,
57:28 two weeks later he was Baptized.
57:30 His name is Nathan Renner, he's the young man that
57:32 introduces me every night.
57:33 Can you say Amen?
57:34 One of my best friends in the world,
57:37 one of my best friends in the world is now my senior pastor.
57:40 Can you say "Amen?"
57:42 Say listen, I would have never had the experience
57:45 that I'm having today, I mean listen, no one in this room
57:47 has a better life than me.
57:48 No one in this room loves life more than I do,
57:50 you could love it as much as I do, but not more than I do
57:52 because I'm in love with the Lord Jesus Christ,
57:55 and what He's done in my life, Amen!
57:56 But what if I would have been afraid,
57:58 Oh, oh, I can't do it, I'll just go back
58:00 to what is comfortable, I just can't do it,
58:03 I'll go back to what I've always done, what's normal
58:05 no! no! no! no!, beloved, if God is calling you to do
58:08 something new, it's because He's calling you to
58:10 something great.
58:11 Amen!
58:13 So believe it, obey it, share it.


Home

Revised 2014-12-17