The Challenge of Our Times

I've just titled—you have to pick a title, maybe you don't have to pick a title—the challenge of our times. This article is rather lengthy. I'll make a few comments as we go along, and then from there go into the sermon as well. The title is, If You Want to Destroy Your Church, Follow Liberals Advice by David French. This past weekend noted progressive—note the word progressive—Christian writer Rachel Held Evans published a widely shared and widely read piece in the Washington Post, decrying the Evangelical Church's shallow attempts to appeal to millennials by trying to make church cool. On the way up to Cincinnati, Wanda said, look over there, there's the church and on the billboard, the church of come as you are. You don't have to dress up, you don't have to do anything, you can appear before God any old way, worship any old way, just come as you are. Ms. Evans critiques hashtag campaigns, young adult groups with names like prime and vertical, and concert-style worship services. She mocks talk of market share and branding, and in so doing sounds every bit as traditionalist as those who despise the praise choruses of the typical Evangelical mega-church and long for the simple old-time religion of their grandparents. Many of these churches today have what is called the praise worship service, usually first of all, and people come and they sing and all of that is sort of pop gospel kind of music that a lot of churches have embraced. Then after that, they have what they call traditional services in which they sing a few songs and a 30-minute sermon and they go home happy. Related to this, American Jacobians. Jacobianism is a word, a term, is used in a variety of senses. Jacobian is sometimes used in Britain as a pejorative for radical left-wing revolutionary politics, especially when it exhibits dogmatism and violent repression. The American Jacobians, that is the sexual revolutionaries, this includes the LGBT lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. The sexual revolutionaries are preparing the battle space for a de-Christianized America. But that's not really her point. Evans believes the church should reform its style, but rather in substance by becoming, in essence, traditionally progressive, not traditionally religious. In other words, keep the ancient styles, but change the ancient beliefs. In other words, she advocates keeping the form, but embracing the progressive beliefs. More about that. In a previous article for CNN, Evans set forth the litany of millennial demands. Okay, here's what the quote millennials want, those who are 20, so-called 20 to 30 years of age, somewhere along in there.

We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against. We want to ask questions that don't have predetermined answers. We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation. That might sort of sound good, but you have to listen to all of it. We want to be challenged to live lives of holiness, not only when it comes to sex, but also when it comes to living simply, caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing reconciliation, engaging in creation care, and in other words, the environment, the gay movement, and becoming peacemakers. Now, those are lofty goals on one hand, but the way to get there is not through biblical Christianity, it's through the progressive agenda. You have to listen to all of it. This isn't a theological statement, the article continues. It's a progressive writer's wishlist. Evan's fervent belief is that the key to unlocking millennial spiritual energy is found in the old ways, not its actual beliefs, but in the form. Mind you, but the trappings of the faith. To Evan's, the answer is combining high church traditions with no church theology. In other words, you go through all the forms that you usually do. You go to the church, you go to the stained glass windows church, steeple on top, and all the the cross on the front. No telling how many churches I've passed on the way to Cincinnati with that. The ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being cool, and we find that refreshingly authentic. Related, religious liberty and the left's endgame, the faith will win millennials. In other words, is standard liberalism except in a museum setting. In other words, if you think this is going to work, it's the millennial hipster equivalent of listening to your albums on vinyl because it just sounds more real. And so Evans finds herself in the Episcopal Church, where ancient tradition and liberal trends converge. Now listen to this. My search has led me to the Episcopal Church, where every week I find myself at age 33, kneeling next to a gray-haired lady to my left and a gay couple to my right as I confess my sins and recite the Lord's Prayer. It's about the inclusiveness you see. This is the inclusivity so many millennials long for in their churches. Everybody come, regardless of what you believe or what you look like or what your theology is, let's just all get along. That eventually drew this inclusiveness is what eventually drew me to the Episcopal Church, whose big red doors are open to all conservatives, liberals, rich, poor, gay, straight, and even perpetual doubters like me. There's just one problem with this analysis. It turns out that the millennials are not in fact longing for the Episcopal experience. See, that was her progressive checklist or wish list. Not many people of any age are longing for that. What Evans neglects to mention is that the American religious community has been engaging in a decades-long experiment in exactly the kind of spirituality she proposes and the main line churches. Those churches that combine the ancient forms of faith with progressive beliefs are committing slow-motion suicide. Why the Bill of Rights would never pass today, the Federalist Andrew Crisswall noted that liberalization, especially on matters of sexual morality, was the best way to shrink your church.

The numbers he conveys are startling. Few churches have been more aggressively inclusive than the Episcopal Church, yet between 2002 and 2012, it lost 18.4 percent of its members. And its church attendance declined 24.4 percent of those who actually attend.

More religious liberty, Gordon College, keeps its faith in its accreditation. Why does the left continue to lie about us with their ideological agenda? American Jacobians, sexual revolutionaries, prepare the battleship for a de-Christianized America.

Other inclusive churches have seen similar results or worse in their declines. President Obama's denomination, the United Church of Christ, lost 20.4 percent of its members in the seven years after it voted to recognize same-sex marriage. That's the fifth their membership. The United Church of Christ is on pace to disappear entirely within 30 years. But it is healthy compared to the Presbyterian Church, which further liberalized its stance on sexuality in 06 and redefined marriage in 2014. Between 06 and 2013, the Church lost 22.4 percent of its members and is now on pace to disappear entirely by 2037. The decades-long reality of American spiritual life is the loss of spiritual consensus and the growth of two intellectually and theologically competitive cultural tribes, religious conservatives and secularists. As Griswold notes, culturally conservative churches such as the Assemblies of God and the Mormon Church have enjoyed strong growth. The Southern Baptist Convention is now in the midst of a slight decline, but only after decades of spectacular growth allowed it to eclipse every other Protestant denomination, including every liberal mainline denomination combined. Yes, there are liberals who long for the Church to change, but that's because they long for it to disappear. Yes, the nuns, that's what they're calling the non-affiliated today, religious preference, you know that you fill out oftentimes, and 46 million are now putting none.

The nuns are on the rise with 46 million Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated according to the Pew Research Center. But according to Pew, these individuals are not looking for a religion that would be right for them, for the moment they're not really longing for anything from church. What does all this mean for the American church? In the short, to medium term, it means more cultural and conflict. It means more cultural conflict and more cultural division, with only one certain path to extinction, theological liberalization, and cultural conformity. Yes, there are liberals who long for the Church to change, but that's because they long for it to disappear. David French is an attorney and a staff writer for National Review. I think that is a good summary of where churches are headed in religion in America, and one of the things that I shall fight for, for as long as breath is within me, that that does not happen to the Church of God, that we do cling to the trunk of the tree, and that we do not embrace these liberal terms and the liberal terminology, and trying to appease people, and trying to think, well, that's not where people are today. That's not the way they think today. So it's sort of in that backdrop and in that view that I want to say what I have to say here in the sermon today. One of the greatest tragedies of our time is that people have made God over in their own image, or they have left God out altogether. No, they haven't necessarily set up an icon, though it's interesting to note on your cell phone and your computer, they're all kind of icons that represent something. They haven't necessarily set up icons or made graven images, but they're doing something that is more insidious, deceptive, and dangerous.

They have concluded in their own minds what God would approve and disapprove. Let me say that again. They have concluded in their own minds what God would approve or disapprove. They make such statements as, I know that God would not do such and such. For example, God loves everyone, so we should embrace and love everyone regardless of their lifestyle. So, Mrs. Evans, on the one hand, she has this older gray-haired lady, on the other hand, she has a gay couple, and she's perfectly at home with both. Yes, God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day. The famous John 3 16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I believe that this verse is among the most misunderstood and twisted verses of all times. To believe in Jesus means that one must believe and practice all he taught. Let's look at John 15 and see if the Scripture verifies anything about what I just said. In John 15, what did Jesus say about making God over in your own image and developing your own commandments, developing your own manifesto of Christianity or what you might term Christianity? In John 15 verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. How do you bear fruit? As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue you in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. Well, we know the 1 John 5.3, for this is the love of God that we should keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. See, that is the Bible definition of love in the Christian sense. 1 John 5.3 Even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, these things have I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment that you love one another. Great a love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life, for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever. I command you, not what you have made up in your own mind as to what God would do and not do.

If all behaviors and lifestyles were acceptable to God, then it would be a farcical tragedy for him to have sent his only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world. Why is he dying for? Everything is okay. You can do anything that you want to do.

Those who make God over in their own image might say something like this, well, God knows my heart. I'm a good person. I just want to try to get along with everyone and do what is right. You know, I have my own code of conduct. I have made up in my mind what is right and what is wrong. And furthermore, I don't believe God expects us to follow a set of rules and regulations that are out of step with the times. Man, I want to be cool. I want cool religion. I want to be thought of as cool by my peers. You know, why would God say, if that is the case, that He would write His laws into our hearts and minds as we enter into the terms of the New Covenant? Look at Hebrews 8, verse 10. Hebrews 8, verse 10. And if you have entered into the terms of the New Covenant, then you have entered into what He says here about what He's going to do through His Spirit. This is essentially stated in Hebrews 8 and 10. In Hebrews 8, verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with them with the house of Israel. In those days, says the Lord. And the church is the Israel of God, Galatians 6, 16. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth, 1 Timothy 3, 15. I will put my laws into their minds. Whose laws? My laws. Not your laws. My laws. Whose laws do you want in your mind and your heart? Do you want your laws? Or do you want God's laws? I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. So why would God inspire that to be written if he didn't have his laws in his way? Or some might say, or Jesus says, rather, Jesus says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of my mouth? No. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's Matthew 4, 4, which probably most people in here can quote. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It's not words that you make up or I make up. When Jesus Christ was confronted by the devil in Matthew 4 and the Great Test after he had fastened 40 days and 40 nights, how, what was the main weapon that he used against the devil? The word of God. As he says, for it is written, for it is written, for it is written, and those three major temptations. Now, the people who make God over in their own image, sort of like the sermonette that we heard today by Neil Crane, that we have binge, maybe we could call them bingeful, binge Christians or Christ as Christians. Oh, when the crisis occurs, we want to turn to God. We want your prayers. But what about every day? They want God's help when they're in trouble, but they don't believe they need to obey him and have a deep, abiding relationship with him. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's the words of Jesus. No, my words. It's the words of Christ. It's the words of Christ.

So many have, in essence, written their own Bible. They make such statements that have been made to me. Well, you know, I'm comfortable with where I am now. You know, I've made my decisions, and I'm comfortable with that. They fall into the almost always, the almost always, slight qualification with the word almost, with the almost always trap of self-deception.

Self-deception is the most difficult of all deceptions to break free of. That is not to say that Satan is not the author of self-deception, because Satan, following his own desires and own opinions of himself, became deceived. Notice Ezekiel. God surely didn't, Ezekiel 28, God surely didn't tempt the devil. Satan was given charge over many of the angels, and we know from Revelation 12 that his tail drew a third of them in rebellion. We know from Isaiah 14 that he tried to take over the throne of God. How did it begin? There's some kind of process that I would call self-deception. In Ezekiel 28, 15, you were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till lawlessness and iniquity was found in you.

By the multitude of your merchandise, they have filled the midst of you with violence and you have sinned. So it's sort of a play back into between the king of Tyre and Satan, because the king of Tyre is a type of Satan. Therefore, I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, covering carob. See, in the mercy seat, in the tabernacle that they built in the wilderness, and later the temple, these two carob pointed in, covering the mercy seat, representing the throne of God. So at one time, Satan the devil was right there at God's throne as a covering carob.

Therefore, I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God. I will destroy you, covering carob, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. I'm just so gorgeous, you know. I'm handsome, I'm pretty, I've got it all.

I guess I should just really be puffed up about that. You know, you think about people, and I think about people as I watch them come and go in various public places. You know, we really don't have control over how the skin is stretched over our bony skeleton. You know, we're largely a product of the genes and chromosomes that come together from our mother and father, and here we are. You didn't determine your shape, color of your skin, none of those kinds of things. You were born that way. Some were born ectomorphic, mesomorphic, for those of you who have studied a little physiology, that that's just your body type. And of course, it's not much you can do in some cases with the genes you inherit. So some people are considered ugly by the standards of the way man judges the way people are. Some are considered handsome or beautiful, largely by the way their physical characteristics that they're born with.

What God looks on the heart and beauty is of the inner person, as it says in 1 Peter 3. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You've corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. Become so consumed with the own looks and about them, and of all the characteristics of today's society, like Paul brings out in his letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, that they are lovers of themselves, narcissistic. I will cast you to the ground. I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic in or merchandising. Therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of you it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all those that behold. When the greatest arbiter in your life is limited to you, see Satan's greatest arbiter, that is the one that decides what is right and what is wrong, when it's limited to you or to me, then we are trapped within ourselves. Satan is trapped within himself. He's imprisoned himself. He's been given over to a reprobate mind. And basically, humanity, as you read about in Romans chapter 1, because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, they were given over to a reprobate mind, that they should do the things that are inconvenient, men burning in their lust toward men. This is out of the Bible, women with women, and so on. And all the abominable deeds that you read about and hear about in today's world.

This is why God instructed Adam and Eve to look to him for the knowledge of good and evil. God said, look to me, don't choose for yourself. The words of God are true in all cultures for all times. A spiritual principle that was true when God first created the angelic realm to when God first created humans to the present day, a spiritual principle is true. And it does not change. So what is happening in the world today is not new. Humankind and the nation of ancient Israel experience the result of self-determination. And basically the way that the peoples of the world have gone since the Garden of Eden is a way of self-determination. And the whole world continues to be a victim of what you might call the three S's. Deception, Satan, self, and society. If you listen to the devil, if you listen just to yourself, if you listen just to the world, you're going to be deceived. You will be deceived. After Israel came into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, the leadership was passed on to the 12 tribes on somewhat of a rotating basis. First of all, it was given to Judah. I'm not taking time to go all the way through chapter one or the first part of chapter two of Judges. And they were to purge the land. They, the tribes, were to purge the land of those who were the heathen who did not believe. Well, you say, well, that's unfair. And a lot of people say, oh, the God of the Bible, what would He do to go out and kill all these people?

You know, God always has our best interests at heart, and every person who's ever lived will have their opportunity. But if God had not preserved a seed through the ages through whom the Messiah would come to pay for the sins of the world, there would be no hope for humanity. God always knows what He is doing.

And so the tribes of Israel were to be somewhat self-governing in that the elders were to be the leaders. But the overall principle was, what God wants eternally from all of His people is they would look to Him as their king and as their ruler. See, when Moses was about to die, Moses himself said, you know, you really need to select someone, ordain someone, to take my place.

And Joshua was ordained selected to take Moses' place. Now, after they came into the Promised Land and were somewhat settled, Joshua died, and no one person was selected to take Joshua's place. Each tribe, somewhat of in a rotating order with the elders of those tribes, they were to lead the people. But they pretty much failed miserably. Let's look at Judges 2, a few summary verses here. And Judges 2. See, since in this era of the Church, as we call it, the Church as we've known it in the 20th and now into the 21st century, of course, there are prominent names that stand out. And basically, we trace our roots back, most of us, to the days of Herbert Armstrong. Now Mr. Armstrong has been dead for 27 years. Well, 14 and 15, I guess, is 29.

1986, 14 years, and now 15, that's 29, isn't it? 29 years. A generation. See, those people that are... And usually you don't develop much of a memory about anyone until you are at least five or six years old. And even then, it's probably not that meaningful. So for sure, most of the people 35 years of age and under, they only know that there was this man named Herbert Armstrong.

And so we have been in since that time, of course, we had a pastor general come on the scene, and you know what happened. And now we are about to transition into that next generation, because most of us, even those who can trace their roots back into the 60s, are going to pass off the scene in the next few years. So we look at Judges chapter 2, beginning in verse 7.

Judges chapter 2 and verse 7, And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Eternal that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of the inheritance of Timnath Harris and the Mount of Ephraim on the north side of the hill. Gosh! And they also, all that generation, were gathered under their fathers. And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord. So now you might understand why the great concern about the generation that is coming on, because we have now the influence of that generation is beginning to be felt in the Church of God. Not only in the churches of the world. We see what the millennials, as I read from this article, so-called what the millennials want. Of course, it's lofty and idealistic. And I just wish that everybody could get along together and love everybody and we could have peace.

But there are certain conditions, and human nature has not changed from the Garden of Eden to the present time. God says the way of peace they know not. There is one avenue, one path to peace. There's one avenue, there's one path to eternal life, as we shall note. But continuing here, that generation was gathered to the fathers another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, followed other gods, the gods of the people that were round about, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Asheroth. Baal the male part, and Asheroth the female. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he delivered them into the hands of the spoilers and spoiled them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so they could not any longer stand before their enemies. And, wheresoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed. You see, there are always conditions. God said, if you will obey me and keep my commandments, then I will bless you, and it shall be well with you. Nevertheless, though, the mercy of God and the fact that he had made certain promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, he was going to keep his word through all generations. And even the prophecy of Adam and Eve that a Messiah would come on the scene and bruise the head of Satan. Nevertheless, in spite of what they did, the Lord raised up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet, they would not hearken under their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, bowed themselves unto them, turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord. But they did not so. You know, we want form, but not substance. We want the appearance, but we don't want that theology. We don't want the commandments. We don't want all those rules and regulations. We want to be free. The greatest freedom there is is the perfect law of liberty. And that is God's law.

And when the Lord raised up judges, verse 18, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For it repented the Lord, that means He changed His mind because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned, corrupted themselves more than their fathers, each generation getting a little worse, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them. They cease not from their own doings nor from their stubborn ways. Now, the summation of that, you look at Judges 17, and much of the book of Judges is about this up and down, that they would go into captivity. God would raise up a judge and He would deliver them. And you see the summation of this in Judges 17, and then another place, in fact, is more than four or five places. But we'll read a couple here, Judges 17 and verse 6. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. I can decide for myself, you know, God is a God of love. We need to be tolerant. We need to love everybody, and so we do. But there is no place in the Bible in which God says that you shall embrace the works of iniquity. You know, we've read where iniquity landed Satan the devil. Look also here in Judges 21 and verse 5. Judges 21 verse 5. And what? Chapter 21 and verse 24, not 5. Judges 21 and 24.

And the children of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his own tribe and to his family. And they went out from there every man to his inheritance. They went out and settled the land, each tribe given the inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And so that is basically where the world has come today. Now you contrast that with what God says.

Look at Proverbs chapter 3. For those who would make God over in their own image, for those who would say, well the God that I serve, I know him, he is so loving and so good and so kind and so merciful, now he wouldn't expect me to do this, that, or the other. He just wants me to be a good person. And so he does, but the Bible defines sin and tells us to turn from sin. And also, as I said, it would be farcical. I mean, to sin the Son of God, to die, for, well, there is no sin.

Yes, there is. Of course, you get the point. In Proverbs 3 verse 1, My son, forget not my law, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and long life, and peace shall they add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them about your neck, write them upon the table of your heart.

So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Now, the amazing thing about God's way in His commandments, His way of life, is it doesn't just work in the religious sense. Some might say, with God, it works everywhere. Now, of course, there has now risen this great persecution, like Isaiah talks about in Isaiah 58 and 59, that those who would stand for that which is right makes themselves a prey.

And they jump on them like a wild animal on fresh meat. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the eternal and depart from evil.

So how do people talk about God and what God would say? I mean, to know God is revealed. It's not something that you come to through what might be termed rational thought or human reasoning. It is revealed knowledge. And so we are either left to choose our own human reasoning or reveal knowledge. The world is at the most critical, crucial juncture in human history. It is different now than any other time in history because of electronic media.

The whole world is the recruiting ground of evildoers. Note the inspired words of Scripture. Look at 2 Timothy. I've referred to 2 Timothy 3 already. Look at the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy. Timothy was a young person probably somewhere around 20 years of age or so that he had been converted as a result of Paul's preaching. Of course, Timothy had two women in his life.

Timothy's father was a Greek and not converted, but his mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois, were staunch Christians and had helped Paul in many ways. Timothy became converted. Paul called him his son and the Lord. And in 2 Timothy chapter 3, one of the great prophecies, great from the point of view, and it's very descriptive and true of the present evil age. But you notice in the first four verses Paul describes all kinds of aberrant behaviors.

Verse 2 that I've referred to, men shall be lovers of their own selves, disobedient to parents without natural affection, and goes on and on. Verse 5, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into homes and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with different lust. One of the articles that we have in the news this week that within a few years, over 50 percent of all babies will be born out of wedlock. 50 percent. Ever learning, verse 7, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now you look down. Is this going to continue?

Verse 10, but you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, agape, charity, love, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came into me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

The antidote, the remedy for what is going on in this world, begins in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14. So Paul describes all of those aberrant behaviors and that evil men will wax worse and worse. They'll be ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then he says, verse 14, but continue you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them, and that from a child you have known the holy scriptures. That was the Old Testament. In this case, they didn't have, quote, the New Testament, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Then the charge in chapter 4, preach the word, verse 2.

Verse 3, the time will come, they will not endure sound doctrine. Verse 4, they will turn away their ears and heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They'll turn their ears from the truth, shall be turned unto fables. But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of your ministry. So the antidote, not anecdote, the antidote, the remedy for what is going on in this world, is given right here, the Word of God. The persecution that is coming upon true Christians will come from within and without. That's one thing you need to understand. It's not to say that you're supposed to view your neighbor with suspicion, but eventually it will come from within and without. And why? Look at Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6. In Matthew chapter 24 and verse 6, the backdrop here, the Olivet prophecy is called, that Christ was asked by the disciples, tell us what shall be the sign of your coming in the end of this age, and the answer that Christ gave Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 and one verse or two into 26. We'll look here at verse 6. You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled, and surely we have that today, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And we see that in the Middle East. We see here Arab against Arab and branches of Islam, against branches of Islam, and conservative Islam, and radical Islam, and all the various sects, S-E-C-T-S of it. And there shall be famine and pestilence and earthquakes in different places. Last I heard the earthquake total deaths in Nepal, 7,500. Some say it'll go over 20,000. I mean the place is reduced to rubble. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for by name's sake. You'll have to ask the question, why will you be hated? And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another? And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. So why do they betray you? One reason is to save their own skin, as they say. And the other reason is they will literally come to hate what you stand for. In John chapter 3, once again, the verse is after the famous John 3.16. The Gospel of John chapter 3 and verse 17. Through Christians will be tried and tested because they will not be willing to compromise with God's precious truth. They'll be persecuted and tried because they expose Satan the devil. They expose his system, the system that deceives the hearts and minds of people who have forsaken the truth. In John 3.17, For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already. See, the wages of sin is death, and the death penalty is on our head because we have sinned, because he not believed in the name of the Son of the only begotten God. And this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be made manifest and or reproved. But he that does truth comes to the light that the deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. After these things came Jesus into disciples in the land of Judea, and there he waited with them and baptized. See, people hate the truth, and of course you'll be labeled as self-righteous. You'll be tried and tested.

When a person begins to make God over in his own image, they have taken the first step towards self-deception and self-destruction. God himself will send strong delusion that they should believe the lie. You look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I mean, this is very sobering, that God himself will send the delusion. See, God is long-surfering. He is merciful, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But there comes a certain point of time in which God says, I've had enough. I've had enough. You can only stretch that rubber band so far, this vital link, this spiritual link, analogous to a rubber band, and then when that snaps, you're gone. There is no way back. And a lot of people tread on dangerous ground. Why would anyone choose to tread on dangerous ground? In 2 Thessalonians 2.10, "...and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this cause God, in this case God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie that they all might be judged, damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Oh yeah, they made God over in their own image. It is so sad to see someone who was once grounded in the truth, anchored in the trunk of the tree, break themselves away by making God over in their own image. They get tired of all those old rules and regulations God would not expect out of Christians. He just loves everybody.

The Bible is about life. The Bible contains the words of life. Jesus states, the words I speak, they are spirit and they are life. There's only one path to eternal life. That statement will be one of the main statements that is being challenged and will be challenged. There is only one path to eternal life. See, that path, that statement is being challenged now. The Buddhists claim they have the path. The Hindus claim they have the path. The Islamic world claims that they have the path. The Mormons claim that they have the path. The Catholics claim that they have the path. All the world's major religions are looking for some great deliverer to come on the scene because they recognize where the world is. There is only one path to eternal life. That statement will be one of the final tests. There are so many called so-called paths of enlightenment that falsely claim to lead to life. All of them, except one, is the product of Satan's influence in the human mind. God's plan of salvation is inclusive. Listen to what I'm saying. God's plan of salvation is inclusive, not willing that it should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the way to eternal life is exclusive. There is only one way. It excludes all others. Look at Acts 4 and verse 14.

Brethren, I don't know how lightly we have been treading or how lightly we have been taking the Word of God and what we say we are committed to, but now is the time to awaken out of slumber. As Paul writes of Romans 13, I think it is, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. In Acts 4, verse 1, And as they spoke unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, they being Peter, James, John, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them, they brought them before the counsel, they had a big trial. Peter then stood up, verse 8, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means be he is made whole, be it known unto all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nothing of the builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. See, salvation is exclusive the way. The plan of salvation, the desire of salvation, is inclusive. Everybody not willing that any should perish. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Brethren, we're going to be challenged in every front to turn from the faith once delivered. So where are we going to stand? And how will we be able to stand? Look at Revelation 12. Don't let this slip by. In Revelation 12, verse 9, The great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him, and I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven now comes salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night. Satan continually trying to break prophecy, trying to subvert and deceive. And how did they overcome him? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. If they sinned, they go before God in Christ, confess their sins, repent, and continue to walk in a reconciled position with God and Christ and each member of the body of Christ. And by the word of their testimony, the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death. We'll look in Luke in just a moment about the word of their testimony. See, the dragon is mad. He goes out to try to destroy them, and some are given a place of safety where they are protected from Satan the devil. The earth helps the woman, verse 16. The earth opens her mouth and swallows up the flood, symbolic of an army, which the devil cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was mad with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which do what? Keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. That word testimony in Greek is maturia. It means witness, record, testimony. Now finally, look at Luke 21.

Luke 21 is Luke's account of the Olivet prophecy. We've read some from Matthew 24 and Matthew's account of the Olivet prophecy. In Luke 21, the first several verses basically repeat what we read from Matthew. And we pick it up in Luke 21. But before all these, in other words, before, some people say, well, the word before, this word before that is translated here, can mean before something happens. It can also mean on top of this or more important than that. And I think in my personal belief is this means, above all or more importantly, because this is how it will affect each person individually. I would translate it, but above all of these, above all of these things, rumors, wars, earthquakes, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom. How is it going to directly affect you the most? But above all these, they shall lay their hands on you, persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, into prisons. And some of the laws, the Supreme Court decision that is going to be rendered in June, who knows? Being brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. See, how did they overcome in Revelation 12, verses 11 and 12? And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.

At the very end of this age, I would suspect that almost every minute it will look like you're going to be put to death, and you'll have opportunity after opportunity to give witness record testimony.

Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I will give you a mouth in wisdom which all your adversaries should not be able to gain, say, nor resist. You shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren. I said persecution will come within and without. Parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends, and some of you, they cause to be put to death, sort of like the Nazis identifying the Jews in World War II.

And you shall be hated of all men from a namesake, but there shall not an hair of your head perish. Now, just said, some of you will be put to death. Of course, in the ultimate sense, those who die in the faith will not perish. Some will go to a place of safety. Some will not. There will be a lot of martyrs. In your patience, possess you your souls. So, brethren, we're going to continue to cling to the trunk of the tree and proclaim the whole council of God. That is, as long as I'm able to stand up and speak, that's what I'm going to do. And I hope that you will be committed to that as well. We are in the battle of the ages. We are in a crucial time in human history. And I hope that we do not forget that, and we understand. I mean, the leaves on the trees of doctrine might be shaken. The limbs might bend, but we must not break. We must cling to the trunk of the tree and love the truth.