Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO200014S
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00:26 Hello, friends, and welcome to 3ABN Worship Hour
00:30 where we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. 00:33 That's right. 00:34 The Bible says that God is indeed worthy 00:37 to be praised and worship. 00:38 And that's exactly what we're going to do here today. 00:41 And I just wanna thank you for joining us 00:43 and taking time out of your day. 00:45 We wanna encourage you to grab your friends, 00:47 your family, your children, your aunts, uncles, enemies, 00:50 anybody that you have gathered them to gather, 00:52 get your Bibles, get your notepads, 00:54 we're gonna dive deep into the Word of God today, 00:57 and we're going to worship Him as we said earlier in truth. 01:00 We're gonna pull out the truth of God's Word. 01:02 And we're gonna learn something powerful today. 01:04 A little strange title, 01:05 but I think you'll get it in just a few moments. 01:07 The title of today's message is "Blurred Lines and Dim Minds," 01:13 but until then, 01:15 we've got our good friend Tim Parton with us. 01:17 He's here at the piano, 01:18 and he's going to lead us out in a time of prayer and song. 01:23 Thank you, Ryan. 01:26 We have a wonderful group of people 01:30 here in pastoral department, 01:33 who head up the prayer warrior email, 01:37 and I have a couple of prayer requests 01:39 that I think many of you can relate to. 01:43 And we just wanna take some time to pray about those. 01:46 This one prayer request comes in. 01:50 It says, "Lately, I started to share some views 01:52 and information 01:54 on my social media page about the current situations. 01:58 And after sharing information continuously 02:01 I have become very fearful of the future. 02:04 I am now feeling very anxious. 02:07 They say, "I would like prayer for peace and deliverance 02:12 from fear, anxiety and worry. 02:16 Would love to be able to rest at night." 02:19 I think of Ecclesiastes 1:18, 02:23 it says, "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, 02:27 the more knowledge, the more grief." 02:30 Sometimes we think that living in a day of information 02:33 and easy access on the internet 02:37 would be just a great thing, 02:40 but unfortunately, the more we know, 02:46 the more we can be overwhelmed. 02:51 So, Lord, I'm asking that You would help us to be wise 02:57 in how we handle the information that we know, 03:00 that we would not focus all of our attention 03:04 or our time on sharing 03:06 on those social media pages 03:12 that we would not dwell on the news that 03:16 we would dwell on Your Word. 03:18 In fact, Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your mind on things above, 03:23 not on earthly things." 03:26 So, Lord, we thank You that we have an alternative. 03:30 You are our alternative. 03:33 And I pray that You would become the main focus. 03:40 Another viewer sent in this prayer request, 03:45 it says, "I have been having terrible, 03:48 severe anxiety, and panic attacks, 03:51 which have made me sick. 03:54 And I can't sleep at night. 03:56 I'm a mom and a wife. 03:59 And I'm always afraid." 04:02 Maybe you find yourself in that same situation. 04:08 I love Isaiah 26:3 that says, 04:11 "You will keep him in perfect peace, 04:13 whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You." 04:17 Speaking of God. 04:19 Father, I thank You that 04:20 I can have perfect peace when my mind 04:26 stays on You. 04:28 And I trust You, God, to be my peace. 04:34 So, Lord, I pray for those who are watching right now. 04:38 They're having anxiety 04:44 and lacking peace. 04:46 Lord, I pray in Jesus' name 04:48 that You would give them the wisdom 04:51 and the heart to trust in You, to look to You for peace. 05:01 O soul are you weary 05:06 And troubled? 05:11 No light in the darkness you see? 05:20 There's light 05:22 For a look at the Savior 05:28 And life more abundant and free 05:38 Turn your eyes 05:42 upon Jesus 05:46 Look full in His wonderful face 05:55 And the things of earth 05:59 Will grow strangely dim 06:05 In the light 06:09 of His glory and grace 06:20 His word shall not fail you 06:23 He promised Believe Him 06:29 and all will be well 06:35 Then go to a world 06:38 that is dying 06:43 His perfect salvation to tell 06:52 Just turn your eyes 06:57 upon Jesus 07:01 Look full in His wonderful face 07:10 And the things of earth 07:14 Will grow strangely dim 07:20 In the light 07:23 of His glory and grace 07:39 Let us pray. 07:42 Our Father in heaven, 07:45 Lord, You're so wonderful. 07:48 You're so mighty. 07:51 You are truly our God. 07:54 Lord, we wanna pause today 07:56 and give You worship and praise, 07:59 and the glory and honor that You deserve. 08:04 We thank You for singing. 08:07 We thank You for prayers and praying. 08:11 We praise, You God, and thank You that 08:13 the lines of communication 08:14 are open for us to talk to You, and to communicate with You. 08:20 And so, Lord, as we continue on 08:21 with our Worship Hour, I pray, Father, 08:26 that You will fill me with the Holy Spirit 08:28 right now in Jesus' name. 08:30 That every word, every passage, every text, 08:33 everything that is communicated, 08:35 is according to Your will, and heard by Your people 08:38 this morning, including myself. 08:42 Save us O God today. 08:45 Draw us closer to You we ask in Jesus' name. 08:49 Amen. Amen. 08:52 Thank you, Tim. 08:56 As I mentioned before, 09:00 today's message is entitled 09:02 "Blurred Lines and Dim Minds." 09:07 I would like to begin this message 09:10 with a couple of quotes 09:12 from a couple of different sources. 09:17 And I want you to pray for me, 09:19 pray for that clock 09:20 because I have lots of information 09:21 to share in such a short time, 09:23 but I know the Lord will see us through it. 09:25 I wanna start this message by reading 09:27 from the fifth volume of the Testimonies 09:29 to the Church, page 214. 09:33 And it says, "Not one of us 09:36 will ever receive the seal of God 09:39 while our characters have one spot 09:42 or stain upon them. 09:44 It is left with us to remedy the defects of our characters, 09:48 to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement. 09:53 Then the latter rain will fall upon us 09:56 as the early rain fell upon the disciples 09:59 on the Day of Pentecost." 10:02 Now much like the quote that we just read, 10:04 I wanna read another one right in behind that 10:07 when dealing with the same subject. 10:09 This comes from Maranatha, page 240. 10:12 And notice what it says, "Now is the time to prepare. 10:18 The seal of God will never be placed 10:20 upon the forehead of an impure man or woman. 10:24 It will never be placed upon the forehead of the ambitious, 10:27 world-loving man or woman. 10:30 It will never be placed upon the forehead of men or women 10:33 of false tongues or deceitful hearts. 10:37 All who receive the seal must be 10:40 without spot before God, 10:43 candidates for heaven." 10:47 I chose to start 10:49 this particular message with those quotes 10:51 because I believe it provides a clear foundation 10:53 of some of the content 10:55 that we're gonna share this morning. 10:57 I love how that last part ends 10:58 that we just read that 11:00 we must be without spot before God, 11:02 candidates for heaven. 11:05 Isn't that what this lifetime is all about, right? 11:08 We're here to prepare to meet God in heaven. 11:12 He is coming back soon. We know this to be true. 11:15 The Bible tells us thousands of times 11:18 that we can look forward to the soon return of Jesus, 11:21 but today, my friends, 11:22 I would like to communicate such a message that 11:25 I believe is again another awakening message. 11:28 It's not a message of worry, it's not a message of doubt, 11:31 it's not a negative message to cause anxiety or fear, 11:35 but a message to spark within us 11:37 a heartburn for Christ, 11:40 a good heartburn for Christ, much like the men on the road 11:43 to Emmaus as their hearts burned within them 11:46 after they just had that encounter with Jesus. 11:48 I hope that this message sparks within us heartburn, 11:51 so that we come to know Christ more and more, 11:54 we draw closer to Him, 11:55 and we prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. 11:59 You see, we're living in a time of urgency. 12:03 We are living in a time of preparation. 12:06 And it should not surprise us that 12:08 we are also living in a time of judgment. 12:11 We need to approach the times that we're living in, 12:14 in these last days, with a no nonsense mentality. 12:19 The devil is like a roaring lion, 12:20 the Bible says, 12:22 and he is seeking whom he may devour. 12:23 Each and every hour of every day, 12:25 he is working hard to make sure that 12:27 you do not make it into the kingdom of God, 12:29 but at the same time, we have the Spirit of God 12:32 that is warring for our hearts and souls as well. 12:35 God is still pleading for you. 12:37 He is still pleading his case for you. 12:39 The Spirit of God is still working on you. 12:42 Time is not up, 12:43 but time is diminishing quickly, 12:44 my friends. 12:47 In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 12:51 we sense this sense of urgency in Paul's writings. 12:56 In fact, I wanna just go there right now. 12:57 This again is 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, 13:02 notice what the Bible says. 13:04 "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, 13:06 you have no need that I should write to you. 13:10 For you yourselves know perfectly that 13:12 the day of the Lord 13:13 so comes as a thief in the night. 13:17 For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' 13:21 then sudden destruction comes upon them, 13:23 as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. 13:25 And they shall not escape." 13:30 When we read this particular passage, 13:32 we see two groups of people mentioned. 13:35 There is the, you, notice here, 13:37 brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, 13:40 but then there's a second group 13:41 that he refers to as they, he says, 13:44 "For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' 13:47 We're talking about two separate groups, 13:49 God's remnant, His people, His elect, 13:52 and the people of the world. 13:54 And we are reminded here in this particular passage, 13:57 as Paul says that we should not worry 13:59 as we're connected to Christ. 14:01 We know that His coming is like a thief in the night, 14:05 but yet the people of the world, 14:07 their hearts that are in the world, 14:09 they say peace and safety 14:11 with an indifferent complacent attitude that says, 14:14 "Oh, well, if it happens, it happens. 14:16 If it doesn't, it doesn't." 14:17 But yet they're saying peace and safety, but then Paul says, 14:20 "Then sudden destruction comes upon them 14:22 as labor pains upon a pregnant woman." 14:24 And here's what's interesting. 14:25 If you read the original Greek here, 14:28 he uses the Greek word ou mé for the word not here 14:31 where it says, and they shall not escape 14:34 the Greek word ou mé. 14:35 And if you understand what that means, 14:37 and you know that Paul is using a double negative 14:39 here in the Greek to emphasize a sense of urgency 14:42 and the importance of this message. 14:44 He says, and they shall in the Greek, no, not escape. 14:48 In other words, 14:49 he's not scratching the surface, 14:51 he's not sugar-coating or watering down the message. 14:54 He's saying, "Look, if you do not prepare 14:56 and you are not ready for the soon coming of Jesus, 14:58 if you are not awake, 15:00 if you are sleeping and slumbering, 15:03 but you are not watching the signs of the times, 15:05 and this sudden destruction may come up on you, 15:07 as the labor pains upon a pregnant woman, 15:09 and you shall no, not escape." 15:13 But it's interesting that we live in a day and age 15:17 where people are now starting to murmur and say, "Yeah. 15:21 Have they been saying that for a long time? 15:25 My great, great, great grandma and grandpa thought 15:28 Jesus would come back in their day and He didn't. 15:32 My great, great grandparents thought that Jesus 15:33 would return in their day and He didn't. 15:36 And, of course, my great grandparents 15:38 and also my grandparents and it goes on down the line, 15:41 even my parents before I was born, 15:43 or at least in their lifetime, believed that Jesus 15:46 would come back in their day and they would scream 15:48 from the mountaintops. 15:49 Jesus is coming. 15:50 Jesus is coming very soon, but He has not come back." 15:54 The Bible says that there are scoffers 15:56 in the last day that will say. 16:00 Where are the signs of His coming? 16:03 You see there is a proper term for this type of mentality. 16:08 It's called a normalcy bias mentality, 16:13 and those who have a normalcy bias mentality, 16:17 let me describe this to you for a moment. 16:19 This often results in situations 16:21 where people fail to adequately prepare 16:25 for a disaster or a certain event. 16:28 The assumption that is made 16:29 in the case of the normalcy bias 16:31 is that since a disaster never has occurred 16:34 or this particular warning event 16:36 has never occurred before, 16:37 then it will never actually occur. 16:41 It also results in the inability of people 16:44 to cope with a disaster 16:45 or an event once it actually does occur. 16:49 People with a normalcy bias mindset 16:53 have difficulties reacting 16:55 to something they have not experienced before. 16:59 People also tend to interpret warnings 17:01 in the most optimistic and careless way possible, 17:05 seizing on any ambiguities 17:07 to infer a less serious situation, 17:11 normalcy bias. 17:15 Those people that are saying, 17:16 "Oh, you know, they've been saying 17:17 this gonna happen for years. 17:19 They've been saying that Jesus is coming, 17:20 but is He really coming?" 17:21 And you know what, there are even many Christians 17:24 that I have personally met that have said, 17:26 "What does it matter? 17:28 Who cares if Jesus comes today, tomorrow, six years from now, 17:33 18 years from now, or 100 years from now, who really cares?" 17:36 If you're ready, then you're ready. 17:38 If you're not, then you're not. 17:40 Again, a normalcy bias mentality, 17:43 who really cares? 17:46 You see, this type of mentality 17:47 is expressed many times throughout the Scripture 17:50 that we read. 17:52 Many instances in Scripture, 17:53 we see a great example of this normalcy bias 17:57 that I'm speaking of. 17:58 I would like to show you one passage now 18:01 or take you to one passage in Scripture 18:02 that I believe is most relevant for our time. 18:05 It's dealing with the signs of the times, 18:07 it's dealing with the last days 18:08 prior to the Second Coming of Jesus. 18:10 And I'm gonna take you now to Luke 17:26-30. 18:15 Of course, this is Luke's version 18:17 of the great Olivet Discourse 18:18 where Jesus is giving the signs of the times 18:21 and He's helping the disciples to understand 18:23 exactly what is gonna happen prior to His Second Coming. 18:27 So I'm gonna start in Luke 17:26. 18:30 And we're gonna read on to verse 30. 18:32 This is a passage that you've heard many times, 18:34 but nonetheless, sometimes it helps that 18:35 we take a second, a third, 18:37 a fourth, or even more looks than that so that we understand 18:40 what it is God is saying to us. 18:42 Luke 17:26-30, the Bible says, 18:46 "And as it was in the days of Noah, 18:49 so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. 18:52 They ate, they drank, they married wives, 18:55 they were given in marriage, until the day that 18:58 Noah entered the ark, and the flood came 19:00 and destroyed them all. 19:02 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot. 19:06 They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, 19:09 they planted, they built, 19:12 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, 19:15 it rained fire and brimstone 19:16 from heaven and destroyed them all. 19:20 Even so," Jesus says, "will it be in the day 19:24 when the Son of Man is revealed." 19:29 Normalcy bias, it's describing a people 19:33 that much like the days of Noah, 19:36 who approached the coming flood, 19:38 the coming warning that there would be 19:40 a worldwide destruction of flood that was coming. 19:44 Much like those people in Noah's day, 19:45 Jesus says that the last days prior 19:48 to His Second Coming will be exactly the same way. 19:51 They will have the exact same mentality 19:54 with a very indifferent and complacent attitude. 19:59 The people of Noah's day 20:00 did not heed the warning messages. 20:03 Again, we're talking about a normalcy bias mindset, 20:07 but in other words 20:08 because it's never rained before Noah, 20:10 what is this rain? 20:11 Rain, you speak of rain, 20:13 God's gonna allow it to rain and destroy the world. 20:15 Surely not. It's never rained here before. 20:19 And so that's why we have many, many people, even today, 20:23 they doubt, they scoff, 20:25 they hear that Jesus is coming soon 20:28 and you start to see a degradation 20:30 of their spiritual mind. 20:33 You start to see the doubt take control of their thoughts, 20:36 their decisions, their ideas, 20:38 where they become almost desensitized 20:40 to the world over time. 20:42 And when the warning message 20:44 is given each and every time to be prepared, 20:47 arise, trim your lamps, go out to meet the bridegroom 20:51 because He is coming. 20:52 They are not prepared. 20:54 They don't have enough oil in their vessels. 20:56 And, of course, 20:57 sudden destruction comes upon them 20:58 as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, 21:00 and they shall no, not escape. 21:07 How can we make sure that we don't adopt 21:12 such a horrible normalcy bias mentality in these last days? 21:18 How can we make sure that we are grounded 21:21 and rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 21:23 that we stand firm like many of God's servants 21:26 in the days of Scripture, that we can stand confident 21:29 at the appearing of Jesus and know that we are ready. 21:32 I would like to take a look 21:34 and examine that passage that we just read. 21:36 If you have your Bibles, 21:38 and you know, it's there in Luke 17. 21:39 I'm just gonna reference a couple of things, 21:41 but I want you to notice that 21:43 when it speaks of the days of Noah, 21:45 it says that they ate and they drink. 21:48 You see, there's some clues here. 21:50 And often we approach 21:51 this passage where it talks about 21:53 the days of Noah, the days of Lot, 21:54 where they ate, they drank, you know, 21:56 they were married and given in marriage, 21:57 and we look at that passage and we go, 21:59 "Oh, it's describing how life just went on as normal." 22:02 And then Jesus suddenly appeared. 22:04 And while I believe that we can pull from that, 22:07 that particular sentiment, or that particular conclusion, 22:10 I wanna suggest to you this morning 22:12 and submit to you that 22:13 there are some clear clues in here 22:15 that if we studied deeper and allowed God's Word 22:17 to interpret itself, there is a much deeper meaning 22:20 that Christ is trying to communicate to us. 22:22 And the question we're asking is, 22:24 how can I make sure that I'm not like these people 22:26 from the days of Noah 22:27 or these people in the last days 22:29 that will not be prepared for the soon return of Jesus? 22:31 We're gonna be asking that question right now. 22:32 We're gonna be answering it. 22:34 So notice here, the days of Noah, 22:35 they ate and they drank. 22:37 They also did this in the days of Lot. 22:38 They also married wives and were given in marriage. 22:41 I wanna just take a moment to talk about that. 22:43 They ate and they drank, 22:45 that concept of eating and drinking. 22:48 Now again, a lot of people will read that and think, 22:50 "Well, Ryan, you know, is it a sin to eat and drink?" 22:53 Is it a sin to, you know, participate in taking the food, 22:57 the daily food that we need? 22:58 Obviously, that is not 22:59 what Christ is talking about here. 23:01 Obviously, we do need food for nutrition. 23:03 And we do need to drink water and healthful liquids 23:06 to make sure that 23:08 we are nourished and taken care of, 23:10 but there's something about the eating and the drinking 23:12 in the days of Noah, 23:14 and in the days of Lot that Jesus is talking about 23:16 in a negative context here. 23:18 And now I wanna take us to Luke Chapter 5 23:20 in reference to eating and drinking. 23:22 I wanna look at Luke Chapter 5 because I believe that 23:24 there's an answer here given to us 23:26 as to why Jesus is talking about 23:28 this in a negative context. 23:30 We're going to Luke Chapter 5 23:31 and we're gonna read verses 33 to 35. 23:34 Notice what the Bible says here. 23:36 Jesus is having an encounter with the Pharisees. 23:39 And notice what they're saying to Him. 23:40 It says, "Then they said to Him, 23:42 'Why do the disciples 23:44 of John fast often and make prayers, 23:48 and likewise those of the Pharisees, 23:51 but Yours," there it is, "eat and drink?' 23:56 And He said to them," this is Christ speaking now, 23:59 He says, "'Can you make 24:00 the friends of the bridegroom fast 24:02 while the bridegroom is with them? 24:04 But the day," notice, "But the days will come 24:08 when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, 24:10 then they will fast in those days.'" 24:13 Then they will fast in those days, my friend. 24:15 So notice the scenario here. 24:17 When Christ is speaking of the days of Noah, 24:20 the end of time prior to the Second Coming of Jesus, 24:22 and He's saying that they're eating, 24:24 and they're drinking, and they're marrying, 24:25 and they're given in marriage. 24:26 When we're speaking of the eating and drinking, 24:28 we have a clear understanding and connection in Scripture 24:30 that tells us that 24:31 when we are eating and drinking in this particular context, 24:34 it's talking about a spiritual application, 24:36 a greater spiritual application that goes to 24:40 or is connected to the concept of fasting 24:42 and preparing and praying in the last days. 24:45 During the days of Noah, 24:46 these people were eating and drinking in the sense that 24:48 they were not fasting and praying. 24:51 And I love what Jesus said here. 24:52 He said, "Look, I'm with them now. 24:54 I'm with them now and therefore they don't have to fast, 24:56 but there's gonna come a time when I no longer with them. 24:58 And in those days 25:00 they will need to fast and pray." 25:02 My friends, God had been teaching me, Ryan. 25:04 And I just wanna say right out throughout this entire message, 25:06 I'm gonna be stepping on my toes, 25:08 I'm gonna be stepping on your toes, 25:09 or should I say the Word of God 25:11 is gonna be stepping on all of our toes, 25:13 but that's okay 25:14 because the truth shall make us free. 25:16 Amen. 25:17 God has been convicting me lately. 25:18 Ryan, you need to do more fasting, 25:20 you need to surrender that portion of your life to Him. 25:23 And I have been praying, I have been fasting, 25:25 I've been practicing intermittent fasting. 25:26 And you know what? 25:28 There are more types of fasting than just food and drink. 25:30 Yes, we need to practice more temperate lives 25:33 when it comes to what we eat, 25:34 and what we drink, but there's also a spiritual, 25:37 a deeper spiritual message here, my friends, 25:39 that there's many types of fasting 25:41 that we can do in our lives. 25:42 And in these particular last days, 25:44 we must learn to fast from the cares of this world 25:48 in order to prepare for Jesus' soon return. 25:50 There may be someone at home 25:52 that is dealing with, I don't know, 25:54 spending too much time 25:55 on their computer or on media or, 25:57 you know, having too much fun, 25:59 or doing all these different types of things. 26:00 I'm not saying it's wrong to have fun, but my friends, 26:02 certainly, the message that we're seeing here 26:04 is Jesus saying life was going on as normal that 26:06 they were just eating and drinking carelessly. 26:09 There was no sense of self-examination, 26:12 there was no sense of afflicting the soul like you 26:14 would see on the Day of Atonement. 26:16 Aren't we living in an anti-typical Day of Atonement? 26:18 Aren't we living in a time of judgment in 26:20 which we should be afflicting our souls, 26:22 examining ourselves and saying, Lord, 26:24 purge the sin from my body, purge the sin from my life. 26:27 That's what he's saying here. 26:29 He's saying they're eating, they're drinking. 26:31 They're not fasting. They're not praying. 26:32 They're not seeking me earnestly that 26:34 they might surrender all their life to me, 26:38 but then notice the second part, 26:40 very interestingly, they married wives, 26:43 and they were given in marriage. 26:46 Is it a sin to marry? Well, obviously not, right? 26:49 God established marriage in the Garden of Eden. 26:52 So God isn't talking negatively in the sense that 26:54 no one should marry in the last days, 26:56 but I do believe that 26:58 there is maybe deeper message here. 26:59 And obviously, we see that it's in connection 27:01 with the days of Noah. 27:03 So I wanna take you back 27:04 and I wanna show you that actually, 27:06 the root cause that brought about this great gigantic flood 27:11 that would take out the majority 27:12 of the world in the days of Noah 27:14 was actually connected to this marrying 27:17 and given in marriage. 27:18 I want you to go with me to Genesis Chapter 6. 27:20 Genesis Chapter 6 and we're gonna read 27:22 the first couple of verses there. 27:24 Notice what the Bible says, and we're talking about 27:26 this marrying and given in marriage. 27:28 There's a deep spiritual message 27:29 here, my friends, and we need to comprehend this. 27:31 It says here in Genesis 6:1-2, it says, "Now it came to pass, 27:36 when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, 27:38 and daughters were born to them, 27:41 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, 27:46 that they were beautiful, and they took wives 27:49 for them of all whom they chose." 27:53 Now I just wanna write off front. 27:55 I don't really have a lot of time to unpack this, 27:57 but I wanna say very clearly, and very boldly 27:59 and straightforward. 28:00 There's some teaching out there that 28:01 refers to the sons of God as some type of Nephilim like, 28:05 you know, where they basically the fallen angels, 28:08 they came from heaven, they fell from heaven, 28:10 they somehow procreated with women here on the earth, 28:13 and they created these giants that would come 28:15 about in Scripture and throughout all the lands. 28:18 My friends, there's absolutely no scriptural basis for that. 28:20 And I wanna make that very, very clear. 28:22 The question is, who are the sons of God? 28:25 Because we have a contrasting group of people here, 28:27 we have the sons of God, and the daughters of men. 28:30 So who are the sons of God? 28:31 I think we have a very clear answer 28:33 in multiple parts of Scripture. 28:35 Obviously, the sons of God can be, 28:37 they can be angels, but they're good angels, right? 28:40 They're good angels. 28:42 And we know this because notice 28:43 what it says in Romans 8:14, here's a very good clear clue 28:47 as to who the sons of God are in Scripture. 28:50 Romans 8:14, the Bible says, "For as many are led 28:54 by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." 28:59 So if you, my friends, 29:01 today are led by the Spirit of God, 29:03 you are sons of God. 29:05 So the contrasting view of that 29:08 would be anyone who is not led 29:11 by the Spirit of God are not sons of God. 29:14 In fact, they would probably fall into this category, 29:17 this contrasting, different category 29:19 that we see here, the daughters of men. 29:22 Now we don't have to go very far as to know 29:24 what these two groups are 29:25 because we see very clearly this is Genesis Chapter 6. 29:28 If you go back to Genesis Chapter 4, 29:31 you see a very clear genealogy, two different seeds. 29:36 Obviously, when Cain killed Abel, 29:39 he killed the righteous seed. 29:40 So you would think, but obviously, God had plans. 29:43 He brought about Seth. 29:44 And so the holy lineage of the Lord 29:46 in which the lineage in which Christ 29:48 would come through 29:49 would be that of the lineage of the line 29:50 or the bloodline of Seth, but then there's another 29:53 seed group, there's another line or lineage 29:56 and we see that that is the lineage of Cain. 29:59 Now I wanna spend a lot of time on this, 30:01 but I wanna unpack this, I'm showing you 30:02 something spiritually here that is powerful 30:05 when you take this in. 30:07 When Jesus says over on the Olivet Discourse 30:09 in Matthew 24, Luke 17, Mark 13, 30:12 and forward, when He's talking about 30:13 how in the days of Noah, they ate, they drink, 30:16 they married wives, 30:17 and were given in marriage. 30:18 He's very, very much communicating something 30:21 powerfully, spiritually to us, that we need to comprehend. 30:24 In this case, it's interesting to know that 30:27 while the sons of God are those led by 30:29 the Spirit of God, the daughters of men 30:32 are those of the world. 30:34 It's interesting to note daughters of men, right? 30:37 Daughters of men, 30:38 when you follow that woman's seed back 30:42 you trace it to the lineage of Cain. 30:44 And it's interesting 30:46 in the latter verses of Genesis Chapter 4, 30:48 specifically verses 16 through 22. 30:50 There are three daughters mentioned 30:53 or three women mentioned that came from the seed of Cain 30:58 that are mentioned in that chapter. 31:00 And if you know anything about names in the Bible, 31:02 then you know that they hold meaning. 31:03 They mean something. 31:05 It's in many times often revealed character, 31:07 the character of the person. 31:10 For instance, these three women their name there in Genesis 4, 31:14 the names are Adah, Zillah, and Naamah. 31:18 And when you look at the meanings of their names, 31:21 Adah means get this, 31:23 decked with jewels and ornaments. 31:28 Zillah means tingle or quiver to musical instruments 31:33 or sensual dancing. 31:36 And Naamah means to be lovely, 31:38 delightful or beautiful in appearance. 31:41 Now you put all this together, the sons of God are going out 31:46 and marrying the daughters of men. 31:47 This is what brought about 31:49 the judgment of the flood, my friends. 31:50 God's Church is going outside of the elect. 31:56 They have stepped outside of the spiritual will of God. 31:59 And they've now turn to the world to mix 32:02 and mingle their seed with those of the unrighteous. 32:06 And when we look and see 32:08 the type of women that God's men begin to marry, 32:10 and begin to mix and mingle with, 32:12 we see that it's women that were decked with jewels 32:14 and ornaments, tingle and quivering 32:17 to musical instruments, sensual dancing, 32:20 and of course, delightful and beautiful 32:23 in physical appearance. 32:25 This is what drove them. 32:26 And, of course, this drove God to make 32:28 a very difficult decision and destroying 32:30 all of the righteous 32:31 because He saw how much out of control 32:33 it was getting, my friends. 32:37 So when it says that they were eating and drinking, 32:40 God is seeing the spiritual state of these people. 32:43 Their minds were blurred. 32:46 They were murky. 32:47 They couldn't see spiritually, 32:49 they'd become spiritually blind to their own condition. 32:53 They were eating and drinking. They weren't fasting. 32:56 They weren't praying 32:57 when this judgment came upon them. 32:58 They were marrying and mixing and mingling with the world. 33:02 They weren't staying within God's people. 33:04 They weren't staying within the Holy will of God. 33:08 That's what this message is. 33:10 And what's even more interesting 33:11 is when you go study about Lot. 33:12 What about Lot? 33:14 We have a scripture that it says, 33:15 "Remember Lot's wife?" 33:17 Well, I'm gonna ask the question this morning, 33:18 remember Lot. 33:19 What about Lot? 33:21 Notice what the Bible tells us here in Genesis Chapter 19. 33:23 Now you know the story 33:25 of Lot very clearly and what we... 33:26 Let me just kind of set this up, 33:28 you basically have 33:29 what is called a Christophany here, 33:30 prior to this particular text that we're about to read. 33:33 Christophany is basically when Jesus Christ appears 33:36 in the flesh before or after his virgin birth 33:39 or after His earthly ministry. 33:41 And so there's clear evidence in Scripture that God Himself 33:44 and we believe in faith that it's Jesus Christ in the flesh, 33:46 that He comes and shows up many times 33:48 in physical human form in the Old Testament. 33:51 One of those would be during the time of Abraham and Lot, 33:55 and we read there in Scripture to set this up very clearly 33:58 that God actually appears in the flesh, 34:02 Christ Jesus appears in the flesh 34:04 to Abraham with two angels. 34:06 And so, at the very end of this conversation 34:09 or this occurrence that 34:11 He has with Abraham, Jesus sends on two angels 34:14 to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 34:16 You know the story very clearly. 34:18 And He warns Abraham that 34:20 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 34:21 will meet their fate that they're going to be destroyed. 34:24 And, of course, you can imagine 34:26 the conversation that Abraham had there 34:28 with Jesus as he's pleading and saying, 34:30 "Well, you find, if you find 50 righteous men, 34:32 you save the city, will you find 40 or 35 or 30, 34:35 and 20, and 25, all the way down to 10. 34:37 If you find 10 righteous people, 34:39 you save the city." 34:40 And in all of the mercy of God, 34:42 Jesus says, "Sure, 34:43 I'll save it if I find 10 righteous people." 34:45 But of course, He wasn't able to. 34:47 But what I wanna pick up 34:48 is right here in Genesis 19:9-17. 34:51 Notice what the Bible tells us, Genesis 19:9-17, 34:56 a rather lengthy passage, 34:57 but I wanna show you something here. 34:59 Just like we have three angels' messages 35:01 or three angels' warnings given to us in the last days, 35:04 did you know that God sent Lot 35:06 and his family three warnings by angels? 35:09 Notice this. 35:11 It says, "Then the men said to Lot." 35:12 This is where they finally showed up. 35:15 They've had the encounter with these evil men of Sodom. 35:17 And these two men who are angels are now 35:19 speaking to Lot and his family and they're warning Lot, 35:21 and notice what they say in verse 10. 35:23 "Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? 35:27 Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, 35:30 and whomever you have in the city, 35:31 take them out of this place!" 35:34 I wanna pause there, 35:36 we're gonna come right back to it, 35:37 but I wanna pause there, emphasize this. 35:39 My friends, do we have a message warning 35:41 from an angel that says come out of her, 35:44 get out of this place? 35:46 Yes. 35:47 Revelation 18, "Come out of her, My people." 35:49 God had people in that city 35:51 and He was warning them so He's warning Lot. 35:53 Notice what He goes on to say in verse 13. 35:55 "For we will destroy this place, 35:58 because the outcry against them 36:00 has grown great before the face of the Lord, 36:02 and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.'" 36:04 Now notice this in verse 14, "So Lot went out 36:07 and spoke to his sons-in-law, 36:09 who had married his daughters, and said, 'Get up, 36:13 get out of this place, for the Lord will 36:15 destroy this city!'" 36:17 But notice how they respond here. 36:18 "But to his sons-in-law 36:20 he seemed to be joking." 36:25 He seemed to be joking. 36:29 Notice verse 15. Make note of that. 36:31 "When the morning dawned," notice, 36:33 he was supposed to get out immediately, 36:34 but now the morning is dawned. 36:36 He'd been waiting all night, he's been lingering. 36:37 It says, "The angels urged Lot to hurry, saying," 36:40 here's the second message, "'Arise, take your wife 36:43 and your two daughters who are here, 36:45 lest you be consumed 36:47 in the punishment of the city.'" 36:48 And notice this, "And while he lingered," 36:50 notice, Lot had spent so much time in the city 36:53 of Babylon or excuse me, 36:54 in this case, Sodom and Gomorrah, 36:56 we might call it spiritual Babylon 36:57 that is lingering. 36:59 You don't wanna leave. 37:00 So notice what the Scripture continues to say, 37:02 we're coming to a great point here. 37:04 "So while he lingered, 37:05 the men who took hold of his hand, 37:07 his wife's hand, 37:09 and the hand of the two daughters," 37:10 so they had actually physically removed them, 37:12 "the Lord being merciful to him," 37:14 it says, "and they brought him out 37:16 and set him outside the city." 37:18 Outside the city emphasize that. 37:21 And then here comes the third message. 37:23 "So it came to pass, 37:24 when they had brought them outside, 37:25 that they said, 'Escape for your life! 37:29 Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. 37:32 Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.'" 37:36 I love that, my friends, He said, "Get out of the city." 37:40 Have we heard that before? 37:41 Get out of the cities, 37:43 go to the mountains, go to the wilderness, 37:45 get out of here and don't look back. 37:47 My friends, the message 37:48 that we need to understand today 37:50 is that we have people 37:51 in God's Church in God's remnant movement 37:54 that are still, 37:55 they're physically in the church, 37:57 they're physical members of the church, 37:59 their names are on the book, 38:01 but their hearts are still in Sodom and Gomorrah. 38:03 They're lingering in Sodom and Gomorrah, 38:05 their hearts are still in Babylon. 38:07 And God is saying, "Get out, get out while you can." 38:11 Escape to the mountains, 38:12 as he says here, get out of the cities. 38:15 So we see how the sin of the world 38:18 began to erode at the spiritual mind 38:21 of Lot and his family. 38:22 And this is happening today, my friends, and yes, 38:25 don't think for one moment 38:26 that it's not happening in the church, 38:28 where Jesus said there is wheat, 38:29 there's also tares. 38:31 There are people in our church 38:32 all around Christianity today that 38:35 have at some point claimed the name of Jesus. 38:37 They have prayed out and cried out to Jesus, 38:40 but have not been completely spiritually 38:42 transformed by the gospel. 38:44 Their minds are being eroded away 38:45 in the city of Babylon, 38:47 their hearts are still in Babylon. 38:49 Their negligence 38:50 these people Lot and his family. 38:52 Their negligence led to the spiritual lines 38:54 of demarcation being blurred 38:57 and their minds becoming foggy with the sin of the world. 39:01 They became desensitized to sin. 39:07 Normalcy bias. 39:11 He heard that the city was going to be destroyed, 39:16 but he still lingered. 39:19 He heard that the city was going to be wiped out, 39:24 but he still lingered. 39:28 The same dim-minded state is prophesied for our time. 39:34 Now we do know that Lot was saved, 39:38 but did you know his family wasn't? 39:41 The Bible says that only Lot was saved. 39:43 Now you know that his daughters came out, 39:47 obviously his wife turned around 39:49 and she turned into a pillar of salt 39:51 and his daughters made it out of the city, 39:53 but notice this, notice just like his son-in-laws 39:56 that were destroyed in the city. 39:59 Lot had become so desensitized to sin, 40:01 my friends, while living in the world. 40:05 He had broke away from the truth. 40:07 He had been living in a sinful atmosphere. 40:09 He'd become so desensitized to sin, 40:11 that even his own witness 40:13 to his own family became tarnished. 40:16 And in the end, even though his daughters made it 40:18 out of the city, we know that they were 40:21 so too far past gone in the world, 40:23 this they started committing sins 40:25 and things that would bring them 40:26 to their demise. 40:28 You see this as I said before, this same dim-minded state, 40:32 this cloudiness, this blurry line state, 40:36 the lines are blurred, the truth is blurred. 40:40 The same thing is prophesied for our time. 40:43 Notice 2 Timothy 3:1-5. 40:47 The Bible says, "But know this, 40:49 that in the last days perilous times will come. 40:52 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, 40:55 boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 40:59 unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, 41:03 without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, 41:06 headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure 41:09 rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness 41:14 but denying its power." 41:18 And what hurts my heart more than anything, my friends, 41:21 among all that list there, 41:23 all of those things are horrible, 41:24 all of those things are bad. 41:25 And we don't wanna make one more worse than the other, 41:28 but the one that always catches my eyes, 41:31 disobedient to parents. 41:32 We are living in a strange time. 41:34 The parenting of today 41:35 is not like the parenting of yesterday. 41:40 My parents were not abusive, but I tell you, 41:42 I lived in a very... 41:43 I grew up in a very conservative 41:44 strict home. 41:46 They did not abuse us or beat us, 41:47 but they certainly didn't mind giving us a spanking 41:50 when we needed one or a whipping, 41:51 or I'm from the south. 41:53 So it's a whooping where I'm from, 41:54 we got whoopings, right? 41:55 But nonetheless, you know, 41:57 I'm not saying that all kids need whoopings 41:58 or spankings or whippings. 41:59 I'm not saying that that's not necessarily 42:01 the perfect type of parenting style, 42:03 but nonetheless, we know that there's a state of the youth, 42:07 the state of the minds of the youth of today 42:10 have changed to the point that it's prophesied that 42:12 they will become disobedient to parents. 42:14 And my friends of children and youth will become 42:16 disobedient to parents. 42:17 How much more disobedient will they be to God? 42:21 What type of generations are we raising here? 42:24 What can be said about 42:26 the spiritual state of our youth in these days? 42:30 Why does it seem more and more young people 42:33 are desensitized to the ways of the world 42:36 and have no interest in spiritual things. 42:39 And I just wanna say for the record, 42:40 I'm not shoving all youth 42:42 or all young people under the bus here. 42:43 I recognize that God 42:45 still has a young people that He's leading. 42:47 I recognize that 42:48 there are still wonderful young people 42:50 who are led by the Spirit of God 42:51 in these last days. 42:53 So I'm not throwing everyone under the bus, but nonetheless, 42:54 it's prophesied that not only do 42:56 we have to worry about the spiritual state 42:58 of what was before us, and what is now, 43:00 but we've got to worry about the future, my friends. 43:02 And when I say worry, understand them, 43:04 I use that loosely, 43:05 we must be aware that's probably a better word, 43:07 we must be aware of the future 43:09 and the state of future generations. 43:11 Notice Judges 2:7-10. 43:15 And I'm going to emphasize verse 10 43:17 here just for the sake of time, 43:18 I may not read all of this, but this is talking about 43:20 after the days of Joshua. 43:22 Joshua has died. 43:24 And there have been several generations 43:25 that have come after him, 43:27 but notice verse 10 of Judges 2:7-10. 43:31 This is Judges 2:7-10, but I wanna go to verse 10. 43:35 So right there on the screen is 7 and 8. 43:37 Let's go on down to verse 10 there, it says, 43:40 "When all that generation 43:42 had been gathered to their fathers, 43:45 another generation arose after them 43:49 who did not know the Lord 43:51 nor the work which He had done for Israel." 43:55 And I asked the question, why? 43:57 Because doesn't the Bible teach us 43:59 in Proverbs 22:6, 44:01 "That if you train up a child in the way he should go, 44:04 and when he is old, 44:05 he will not depart from it," right? 44:08 Why are these generations growing to the point 44:11 to where they don't know the Lord, 44:13 and they don't know the work of God? 44:16 It's because the generations before although may be 44:19 a spiritual type of people, they were not grounded 44:23 and led completely by the Holy Spirit 44:25 because in their day, 44:26 the lines of spiritual demarcation 44:28 have become blurred. 44:31 And now in the minds of the youth, 44:32 who are now coming generations 44:34 after the lines of truth, the lines of the truth 44:37 and the lines of the spiritual demarcation, 44:39 they're blurred now, it's kind of, you know, 44:41 how do we know what is really the truth? 44:44 Truth is what you want it to be. 44:46 Truth is what you perceive it to be. 44:51 Notice 2 Corinthians 13:5, I wanna go on there. 44:55 2 Corinthians 13:5, 44:58 Laodicea needs an examination, right? 45:01 We're living in Laodicea. 45:03 Notice what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, it says, 45:06 "Examine yourselves 45:08 as to whether you are in the faith. 45:11 Test yourselves. 45:13 Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? 45:17 Unless indeed you are disqualified." 45:22 You see, sometimes we need 45:23 a little bit of self-examination. 45:26 Sometimes we need to afflict the soul 45:28 like on the Day of Atonement. 45:29 We need to ask God to reveal to us 45:32 our personal condition, that He can change us. 45:36 He can renovate 45:37 and do an overhaul of our spiritual mind, 45:39 so that we might stand confident 45:40 at the appearing of Jesus 45:42 and know that we are indeed in Christ. 45:45 I remember years ago, 45:46 I listened to an old sermon by CD Brooks. 45:48 He's one of my favorite speakers. 45:50 CD Brooks, and I used to listen his sermons, 45:52 a powerful speaker, 45:54 and there's a sermon that he once preached entitled, 45:56 "I Want My Church Back." 45:58 And he says it many times, "I want my church back." 46:00 And he preaches from 2 Timothy 4:2-4, 46:04 not just this sermon, 46:06 but many sermons that he preached, 46:07 and I wanna preach it today because it goes right along 46:09 with our theme, 2 Timothy 4:2-4. 46:12 This is from the King James Version. 46:14 Notice what the Bible says. 46:15 It says, "Preach the word, 46:17 be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, 46:21 exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 46:23 For the time will come when they will not endure 46:25 sound doctrine, 46:26 but after their own lusts shall they heap 46:28 to themselves teachers, having itching ears, 46:32 and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, 46:34 and shall be turned unto fables." 46:39 My friends, we're talking about a people 46:41 who believe they are saved when they're really not. 46:45 We're talking about a people who believe they know God 46:48 when they really don't. 46:49 We're talking about a people 46:51 who believe they know the truth all the while 46:53 they are rejecting the truth. 46:55 You see, the very essence of deception is that 46:58 you are unaware that you are deceived. 47:00 And that's the state of Laodicea. 47:02 They think they're rich 47:04 and abundant and everything in need of nothing, 47:06 but yet they're miserable, poor, blind, 47:08 and naked, and wretched, right? 47:11 Are the spiritual lines 47:13 of demarcation blurred in your life? 47:16 Has the truth become something 47:18 that maybe it once was not, right? 47:22 Is it different? Do you perceive it differently? 47:26 Do we seem to be 47:27 in a spiritually inebriated state? 47:30 Drunk on the mentality eroding wine of Babylon? 47:36 Are we drunk on Babylon's wine, my friends? 47:39 You see, Satan wants your mind. 47:41 He wants to take control of your life. 47:43 He wants to blur the truth from your life. 47:45 He wants you to not be able to see clearly spiritually. 47:49 He doesn't want your spiritual eyesight 47:51 to be anointed, where you can see clearly 47:54 the spiritual things of God's will. 47:57 Notice Manuscript 1, 1890. Powerful statement. 48:00 Powerful statement. Notice what it says. 48:02 Either the devil, excuse me. 48:04 "Either the evil angels or the angels of God 48:07 are controlling the minds of men. 48:09 Our minds are given to the control of God 48:11 or to the control of the powers of darkness, 48:13 and it will be well for us to inquire 48:16 where we are standing today, 48:18 whether under the bloodstained banner 48:20 of Prince Emmanuel 48:21 or under the black banner of the powers of darkness." 48:24 And with that one, 48:26 I got to also add Letter 8 coming from 1891. 48:31 This is a letter here. 48:32 Powerful words, notice the quote, it says, 48:34 "When the mind is not under 48:36 the distinct influence of the Spirit of God, 48:38 Satan can mold it as he chooses... 48:41 This leads to controversy with those 48:43 who are trying to walk in the way of the Lord. 48:45 They, that is those who oppose truth 48:48 will call light darkness and darkness light, 48:51 and good evil, and evil good." 48:55 Now you might be asking here, 48:57 we're coming close to the end of this, 48:58 but I wanna just line something out very clearly, 49:00 my friends. 49:01 You might be asking, Ryan, 49:02 how in the world does it seem that 49:05 we come to this spiritual state? 49:08 How does it seem 49:09 that the lines have become blurred 49:11 and the minds of God's people so dim? 49:14 Why does it seem like the spiritual nature, 49:18 the spiritual mind of God's people is 49:21 fast changing or being fastly altered? 49:23 And I would say that 49:25 while that's not happening in everyone, 49:26 and I wanna be very clear, I recognize that God 49:28 still has a people, 49:29 He still has a remnant that is on fire for Him, 49:32 but nonetheless, we know that 49:34 the devil is also attacking God's people on the last days, 49:37 and I'm here to call warning to it. 49:39 I'm here to bring some light to it, 49:41 but I would also tell you there's great news, 49:44 there's great news, 49:45 you do not have to remain in that state. 49:46 And we're gonna talk about that in just a few moments, 49:48 but I wanna list you three clear reasons. 49:50 Now I'm not limiting 49:52 this particular situation to just three reasons. 49:55 I recognize that this is a very complex subject, 49:57 but I believe there are three main reasons 49:59 while people begin to drift or wander off into 50:03 this very dim-minded state where the lines 50:06 of spiritual demarcation are blurred 50:08 or the truth seems to be unclear. 50:11 Number one, we live in the age of opinions 50:15 and personal philosophy. 50:18 We are living in a time 50:20 where everyone's got an opinion. 50:23 And everyone has their own personal ideologies 50:26 and philosophies. 50:27 Now I wanna say for the record, 50:29 I praise God that I live in a country 50:31 that allows freedom of speech. 50:33 I believe in that right. 50:34 And I praise God that, you know, 50:36 we can listen to other people's opinions. 50:37 People have a right to their own opinions. 50:39 I'm not trashing that, I understand that, 50:41 but I also wanna be very clear, 50:43 you can have an opinion my friends, 50:45 you can have your personal theories, 50:46 your personal ideologies, 50:48 your personal perspective on things. 50:50 You can even have your own personal philosophical 50:52 approach to many of the truth of God's Word, 50:55 but if it is not in harmony 50:56 with thus plain saith the Lord, 50:59 then it is not in harmony with God's philosophy. 51:02 It's not in harmony with God's way of thinking. 51:05 It's not in harmony 51:06 with obviously the truth of God's Word. 51:08 So we have to make sure that is clear. 51:10 Notice Philippians 2:5, powerful, 51:14 "Let this mind be in you 51:16 which was also in Christ Jesus." 51:19 Well, yes, we have every right in the world 51:21 to think for ourselves. 51:22 Make sure that we're thinking in harmony 51:25 with the way Jesus thinks. 51:27 Make sure we're thinking in harmony with the way 51:28 the Word of God actually teaches the truth to us 51:32 rather than how we might perceive it. 51:34 I meet, brothers and sisters all the time, they say to me, 51:36 "Well, Ryan, that's your way of seeing things, 51:38 and I've got my way of seeing things. 51:40 You know, that's your personal perspective. 51:42 And I've got my perspective, you know, 51:44 that's your interpretation of things, 51:46 but I've got my interpretation of things." 51:48 No, my friends. 51:49 At the end of the day, 51:50 I'm not saying that Ryan day perceives 51:52 everything perfect or everything right 51:53 because I know the Lord is still working on me, 51:55 but at the end of the day, 51:56 my friends, we are all held accountable. 51:58 There are two different types of interpretation in reality, 52:01 that's right and wrong, a right way to interpret things 52:05 and a wrong way to interpret things. 52:06 Make sure you fall under the right way, 52:08 led by the Spirit of God to understand 52:11 what the Bible teaches. 52:12 I'm going to skip the next verse 52:13 for the sake of time. 52:15 I wanna go to my second point. 52:17 Number two, it's kind of all connected 52:19 even though we have 52:21 our own opinions and philosophies. 52:23 The second one is, 52:24 we have drifted away from the Word of God. 52:28 That's why the Bible tells us in Psalms 119:11, 52:32 "Your word I have hidden in my heart, 52:33 that I might not sin against You." 52:37 My friends, are you in the Word of God? 52:39 Are you allowing the Word of God 52:40 to lead your life? 52:42 Are you allowing the Word of God 52:43 to be the only rule of faith in your life? 52:45 We need to get back to the Word 52:47 because when we drift away from God's Word, 52:50 we are also drifting into blurry areas. 52:53 We're drifting into a dim-minded state. 52:57 We wanna make sure we're of the mind of Christ. 52:59 My third point 53:00 and this is a big one we could spend... 53:02 In fact, I might even do 53:04 an entire sermon on this one in the future, 53:05 but this is a big one. 53:07 Don't miss it. 53:08 Number three, why are we drifting? 53:11 Why does it seem like more people are drifting 53:13 into this blurry state, this murky mindedness? 53:16 Here it is. 53:18 "The everlasting Gospel of Jesus 53:19 is under attack due to the disregard of truth 53:24 and the lack of surrender 53:25 in the lives of Christians everywhere." 53:27 The devil is attacking the plain truth of God's Word, 53:31 my friends. 53:32 It seems like the church is flooded, my friends, 53:36 with men and women 53:37 who don't even believe in victory over sin anymore. 53:40 This false... 53:43 For lack of better words, 53:45 evangelical gospel has flooded the minds 53:49 of people throughout the Christian church. 53:51 And we have reached a point that we believe more 53:54 or at least it seems that 53:55 we have reached a point where many believes more 53:57 in the power of the devil to cause them to sin 54:00 than the power of God to help them overcome sin. 54:04 My friends, the everlasting gospel 54:07 is all about victory over sin. 54:09 Why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? 54:11 Not that you just might have forgiveness. 54:15 Praise God that we've got forgiveness, right? 54:17 Praise God that I can go on my knees 54:20 and I can pray and say, Lord, I'm a sinner. 54:24 I don't deserve righteousness. 54:25 I don't deserve everlasting life, 54:27 but, Lord, I'm a sinner and confess those sins 54:30 and repent of those sins. 54:31 Praise God that I can ask God to forgive me of those sins, 54:34 but my friends, 54:35 Jesus did not die on the cross just for forgiveness. 54:39 He died on the cross that 54:41 we might all have complete victory over sin. 54:46 Jude 1:24. What does it say? 54:49 "Now to Him who is able to keep you 54:52 from falling or stumbling, 54:54 and to present you faultness before the presence 54:57 of His glory and exceeding joy." 55:00 Let's continue on, Philippians 4:13. 55:01 Notice this. 55:03 Have we stopped believing, my friends? 55:04 "That we can do all things 55:06 through Christ who strengthens me." 55:08 Notice we can have victory over sin. 55:10 And how does that victory over sin come? 55:12 Not by my work, not by your work, 55:14 not by my efforts, not by your efforts, 55:17 but by Christ. 55:18 Notice, it is Christ that strengthens me. 55:21 Have we stopped believing in what Jesus told the woman 55:24 who was caught in adultery 55:26 when He told her in John 8:11, "Go and sin no more." 55:31 That's powerful. We can have victory over sin. 55:35 In closing here I've got to read this. 55:36 This is powerful. 55:38 I'm gonna skip down to The Upward Look, page 303. 55:41 The Upward Look, page 303. 55:44 Notice what this says, powerful. 55:46 It says, "Christ took humanity 55:49 and bore the hatred of the world 55:52 that He might show men and women 55:54 that they could live without sin." 55:57 That is powerful, my friends, but we got people deceived 56:00 into believing that Jesus 56:02 doesn't mind if they just keep on sinning 56:04 and sinning and sinning and sinning and sinning 56:07 all the way up until He comes. 56:09 My friends, I don't think we'll ever reach a point 56:12 where we say to ourselves, I'm perfect. 56:15 I don't think we'll ever reach a point in our lives. 56:17 We're so arrogant to say, 56:18 I'm without sin because the Bible says 56:20 if you say that then you're a liar, right? 56:22 We're all sinners, but nonetheless, 56:25 I believe that it as we started with this sermon. 56:28 The gospel is the gospel, 56:30 that devil is attacking the gospel. 56:32 And we see that God's people, some of God's people, 56:35 with our members upon the church books, 56:38 but they're just going through the emotions 56:40 as if God's Church is a club. 56:42 I wanna make an appeal in closing today. 56:46 Give your hearts to the Lord. 56:47 Let the true Gospel of Jesus Christ transform your life. 56:52 Put your hand in the hand of Jesus, 56:53 let His mind, Christ mind be in you. 56:58 So that when He comes back we can stand confident 57:02 at His appearing. 57:03 And know with certainty that we have ran the race, 57:08 that we have kept the faith, 57:09 and that we have always, always trusted in 57:13 what Christ can do through us 57:15 rather than what we can do through us. 57:17 My friends, that's the message. 57:19 That's the gospel. 57:20 I don't have any more time, but take that. 57:22 Take it to your family. Take it to your friends. 57:25 Get back in the Word of God. 57:26 Give your hearts to Jesus today. 57:28 Praise the Lord. Thank you for joining us. 57:30 We're gonna have a closing prayer. 57:32 Father in heaven, thank You so much 57:34 for allowing us today, to hear Your truth 57:38 and to be transformed by the truth. 57:40 Take us away here safely today, 57:42 Lord, and bring us back again 57:44 safely in the truth molded in the truth, 57:47 grounded in the truth that we may know Jesus Christ 57:50 and be with Him for all eternity, 57:51 we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. |
Revised 2020-07-09