End Time Readiness:

I always say that it's amazing to me how much the world has changed in the last time since we've been here. As I look at the things around us and see where the world is, the world has changed a lot in those three years as well since we've been gone. We go through things in our life, and I firmly believe God leads us through everything that we do. We all have things to learn. Some things we don't even know we need to learn, but we do need to learn. Some of them are pleasant. Some of them are not so pleasant. But they absolutely have to be learned, and they bold us into who He wants us to be. And that's one thing we always remember. Whatever God wants, wherever it is, if we really believe that He is directing us and directing all of our lives in His Church, let Him do what He wants to do, and He will make it all work the way He wants. But we keep our eyes on Him and faith in Him with complete belief that Jesus Christ is returning and that He will rescue this world from everything it is. But our job is to stay loyal to Him. Let me talk about the world a little bit, too, because that's been on my mind. Three years ago, when we left here, the United States had just elected a new president. He hadn't been inaugurated into office yet. And the world was full of hope. There was talk about, these wars will end in one day when He took office. Inflation would disappear. All the bad things in the country would disappear. And it didn't turn out exactly the way that He thought it would. And I think maybe He's realized the world changed during those years that He wasn't in office, just like the world changes for us. And there aren't the same personalities. There aren't the same things that go on. And the powers and the people that He knew then four years ago were not the same people. It moves on, and there's different things that go on in the world. And so, you know, we have a Ukraine and Russian war that just seems to escalate rather than get any better at all.

We have an Israel and a Hamas war that has evolved into an Israel and Iran war. And I understand sometime this week Syria was got involved in it, as well as all these other little groups that are over there. That doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. It just seems to escalate. And it kind of reminds you of Psalm 122 and verse 6, where David in that psalm says, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And we know when we read that verse is because, you know, it may not be in the rest of the time until Jesus Christ returns that there is peace in Jerusalem. It may be that this war and the conflicts that surround it will be there until the time of His return. So when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we're praying for the return of Jesus Christ because He will bring peace to the earth. You know, there's a verse in Romans. It's also in the Old Testament says, The way of peace they have not known. And they haven't. And sometimes we can even look at ourselves and think, you know, the peace that God wants us to have is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And that peace comes from His Spirit and being led by His Spirit. And sometimes we have to pause and ask ourselves, do we know what that peace is? Do we know that way to peace? We do. We do. But do we really live by it and apply it in our lives? This week, I mean, just I think it was just yesterday, the day before I read an article that, you know, the red heifers have been a subject for the last several months, I guess, and speculation over, are there any red heifers that qualify yet? And will Israel sacrifice one? And just this week it came out that was confirmed that they did go through a complete animal, a complete rehearsal of the red heifer sacrifice back on July 1st. Killed the animal, burned the ashes, did it or burned the heifer, everything, everything along those ways, along following those biblical principles. Was it the real red heifer? Or was it a practice animal? No one really knows. They don't think it was the real red heifer. But interesting that that has even moved along in that way as well. So we know that Israel, kind of where their mindset is, and the article is indicating that even the Israeli government is moving along more that line and more favorable toward a temple being rebuilt over there. So we watch all these things that are going on in the world around us. And we have to remember, you know, time moves on, and time is moving on toward the return of Jesus Christ, and time is short for all of us. You know, I've heard some people say over the course of several years, you know, Jesus Christ may not return for 50 years, and he may not. He may return quicker than that. No, but for all of us in the room, our time is short. I may die tomorrow. I may die before the sermon is over. My time is short, because there's a limited amount of time. So no matter where we are and all that conversation that goes on with when and whenever, kind of strikes you with the 2 Peter 3, where it talks about people talk about delaying his coming. For you and me, our time is short. And we have to be ready. We have to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ, just like Paul and the apostles were. They died without seeing the return of Jesus Christ, but their time was when their time was up, and they had better be ready at the time, just as we had better be ready at the time.

So I want to talk about that a little bit today as I come to you, because it's on my mind, and as I look at how time passes and how we do things and what we go through, we remember that God is in charge and He's working with us. So I want to turn it over to Matthew 24 to begin with.

Kind of remind us of the age we live in and what time will be like between now and the return of Jesus Christ, because the things that we see today will just grow worse and worse. You know, God tells us that in 2 Timothy 3.13. What we see around us today, we will see more of those as I sometimes say the prophetic leaves or buds on the prophetic tree blooming, and we need to be aware of that. And when Jesus Christ was asked by His disciples, what will be the sign of Your coming and of the untimes? And Jesus Christ started with one very simple little statement that you would all remember without even turning here to Matthew 24.

And verse 4, when they was asked that, it says, Jesus answered and said to them, Keep on your guard, pay attention to what is going on, and make sure that you are doing what God wants you to do.

Deception will occur more and more as time goes on to the point that Jesus goes on and says later on in the chapter here that the deception will be so great that even the very elect could be deceived.

And when we read things like that, it really should put our intent up. If Christ says even the very elect could be deceived, we'd better be on our guard and not allowing ourselves to fall asleep, get lulled to sleep. I think that their time is going to go on forever, and we have all the time in the world. You just heard the sermonette on time management and how do we use our time and what we do what we do with it. Later on in the chapter, Jesus Christ says down in verse 44, be ready. Be ready for that time. Be ready because you don't know the time when your time is up. If we go to Revelation 12, we know the father of deception is Satan.

And we know that he has more than one tool in his toolbox. He's got many ways he can deceive. It's not just one. It's many, many, many, and he will use anything to take us away from the truth, to put us to sleep, to further our distance from God in any way he can.

And we, you and I, all need to be on guard for that. In chapter 12 of Revelation, verse 9, it says, The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives, deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

And it talks, you know, we read through the Bible and the New Testament, about all these deceptive things that Satan does. And we remember that even Adam and Eve, or Eve specifically, they're in the Garden of Eden, knowing that it was God who created them, having walked with God, talked with God, heard him. Somehow, somehow Satan was so clever and so cunning that he even got Eve to turn against God and to disbelieve God and choose him. It's kind of mind-boggling when you stop and think about that, that that could happen.

And if that could happen to Eve, who was in the Garden of Eden, who knew it was just her and Adam, who knew it was God, how much more do we need to be on guard and understand what the truth of God is and what the deceptive powers and abilities of Satan is?

There's only one way to overcome that. The whole world is deceived by Satan, and we know that it isn't God's purpose to call everyone now. You and I, we have been extraordinarily blessed to be called by God. We have been extraordinarily blessed for God to give us the gift of repentance, so that we could see the error of our old ways and choose to live his way. We've been extraordinarily blessed to receive God's Holy Spirit upon repentance and baptism and laying on have hands that gives us the power and strength to overcome this world and not become part of the death march that it's on, but part of the life and hope that Jesus Christ brings to us.

Verse 11 gives us some clues on how do we overcome this world? How do we overcome Satan? Because we can't do it without God. It's not us at all who does it. It's absolutely God and Jesus Christ who gives us the power to do that. Without him, we are absolutely hopeless. Verse 11 gives us three things that we need to look at. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they didn't love their lives to the death.

Three things, he says there. That's how they overcame him. I just want to spend a few minutes talking about those three things. By the blood of the Lamb, by the blood of the Lamb, we all know that without Jesus Christ, absolutely hopeless. There was no hope. There was no future. Without him, we can do nothing. And we literally owe everything to him, as the Bible says.

All honor, all glory goes to him. He came to earth. He lived a perfect life. He was willing to give his life so that we had the opportunity for forgiveness of sins and eternal life by the blood of the Lamb. He did it. Without him, no matter how much effort we put into it, we would be hopeless and it would not work.

But he did it, but we have to try. We have to keep up the work. We have to keep our commitment to him. We have to keep our faith in him. We have to draw closer and closer to him. When we say we believe in him and we trust in him and we have faith in him, it means it really does change us to the core and we are no longer the people that are of the world and longer we are in the church led by God's Spirit, the more apart from the world we are, the more in tune with every word of God we are.

And that's what the growth is and what God is looking for us to do. We have to try. We cannot let our guards down. We can't just think, you know, once we were baptized and once we've repented, that we're there. That's the world's message. That you don't have to do anything else when you're baptized and there could be a danger in hearing that and beginning to think, yeah, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ wants us there. Does he want us there? Absolutely. Does God want us there?

Absolutely he wants us there. But he has to see that our hearts are there and that we want the same thing he wants and we are truly becoming like him. If we go to Hebrews 9, just one verse on this point. In Hebrews 9, in verse 14, I'll pick it up in verse 13 of Hebrews 9, because all of a sudden in the last year or so, verse 13 has come alive in the 2020s as well as it was in Old Testament times.

In verse 13 it says, For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, and that, you know, now we talk about red heifers today and what's going on in Israel and what will happen there. If the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, which you hear the Jews over in Israel talking about, they need that to happen to purify the people and their priesthood.

It goes on to say in verse 14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, how much more then will he cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And that's what our lives are about.

Purification. Cleansing our minds. Becoming like him. 1 John 3.3. He who has this hope purifies himself. It's God who purifies, but we have to make the effort. We have to be committed to that. That's where we are and ask God, help me see where the impurities are, help me see where the defects are, and then commit to the cleansing.

So by the blood of the Lamb, he says, we overcome Satan. He says by the word of their testimony as well in Revelation 12.10. You know the apostles, the disciples, the men, women that we read about in Hebrews 11, and all the others that we don't read about in the Bible, they lived their words. They lived the Bible. They lived it. You know, they knew the Bible. They could, you know, better than probably any of us in the room, any of them, quote chapter and verse. If there were chapter and verse back in those days, they could quote the Bible and knew exactly where to find these things. But you have to live it. It has to become part of your actual being and heart. That's what God says. They lived the words of their testimony. They lived the truth. And that's a lifelong process. To live the truth and pattern yourself after the words of the Bible. They didn't compromise. Jesus Christ never compromised. They never watered down. They never came up with a different interpretation to kind of make life a little easier or say, you know, well, this doesn't apply and this doesn't apply because Jesus Christ Himself said, you live by every word of God, every word of God. And that's, there's a lot of words. There's a lot of instructions and the way of life that are in here in the book is something that we live by. And this is the standard. This is our conduct. This is the way that Jesus Christ taught. This is the truth. This is the way to life. And so it becomes our textbook, our instruction book, but not just for memorization, like the Old Testament and the Pharisees and the people back then did, but to actually live it, to look at the words and to apply them into our lives in every example and consciously, consciously do that. You know, if I don't know if you're following the Romans Bible study in Romans 1 16, we read a couple of weeks ago where Paul said he wasn't ashamed of the gospel. He wasn't ashamed of the gospel. And that word, ashamed, I've looked at for years and thought, why would we be ashamed of the gospel? I don't think any of us would say, oh, I'm ashamed of what the Bible says. I'm ashamed to keep the Sabbath day. I'm ashamed to do this or that or whatever. But we could be. We could be if we allow things to slip a little bit, if we aren't true to the Word of God, if we find ourselves compromising and making allowances that we don't find in the Bible, but find ourselves slipping a little bit back more to him thinking, ah, God's okay with that. Well, he's not. He wants us to do the things that he wants us to do completely, completely, earnestly, diligently. All those adverbs that you've heard me talk about, you know, for the last few years, that every time you read an adverb, he means take it seriously what I'm saying. Let's turn to Mark 8. Mark 8. Mark 8 and verse 38. In Christ, though, his own words, he talks about this ashamed, right? It's like he says, For whatever whoever is ashamed, I'm in Mark 8.38, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, And certainly we know that we live in an adulterous and sinful generation today, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, the Son of Man, also, will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Not one of us would want God to be ashamed of us. But as we review our actions, when we look at what we're doing, when we redeem the time as we even heard in the sermonette, would God be ashamed of how we do those things? Are we really focused on what it is he wants us to do in every area of life, at work, at school, in our leisure time? In everything that we do, is that forefront in our mind? How do we do it the way God says? Would he be pleased? Would he be pleased with what we are doing with our time and how we're applying the Word of God? And then the third thing he says there is, they didn't love their lives until death.

I mean, they stood up and they were willing to die for the truth.

I dare say every single one of us would say we would die for the truth.

But will we really know until that time comes and our head is on the guillotine? Or the executioner is there?

We build that love for the truth and we build that loving the truth and being willing to die for the truth the course of our lives. And that means changing our lives totally.

Let me just spend a few minutes back in Luke, Luke 14.

Luke 14.

When Jesus calls us.

He wants us to become his disciples.

And no matter how long we've been in the church or no matter what title we might carry and no matter how we serve or where we serve, we are all disciples for as long as we are live. We are continually learning and becoming like him. In verse 26, he tells us the life he's called us to and what it takes as we go through our lives so that if ever comes to the point where he says, You know, your life, your life may be what I require so that I know in your heart you truly believe and love the truth.

Verse 26, Luke 14. If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father and mother, and that means love less, means put God first.

You would do what God says before.

You know, honor him. Absolutely honor your mother and father. But if it comes to choice between doing what they say and it conflicts with God, you do what God says. If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and I might add friends too because sometimes friends can influence us and kind of lead us astray or we want to follow them and we don't pay attention to what God says. Wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also. And his own life also. He cannot. He cannot be my disciple.

That's a pretty strong statement. A lot in that word or in that verse. He goes on and says the same thing basically in verse 27 and in verse 33 of the same chapter. He says so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Doesn't mean give it all away today. Doesn't mean but it does mean be continually coming out of the world. It does mean be continually increasing your trust and faith in him. It does mean continually reviewing how we behave, how we conduct, what we do, is it in line with God and focused on the direction that he's taking us into. So with that background, two things I want to talk about today that as we look at the world ahead of us and where we're going and what I need to develop and what I can spend the time on and maybe what you can spend the time on as well. Among the many things the Bible tells us that we need to be as we move forward in this life and closer to the return of Jesus Christ. There's two I want to talk about today. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians.

And these are end time things that we need to be aware of because in these verses and as we look at Christ's admonition, be ready. And remembering that in Matthew 25, he talks about all these things that we should be doing and that all 10 virgins fall asleep, but some of them are thoroughly asleep. There's a few things that we can be cognizant of and pay attention to and seek God, are we doing?

Are we being the words that we find familiar? So in 2nd Thessalonians, I'm sure, I'm sorry, 2nd Thessalonians 2 and verse 9. Speaking of the end time as you look at Paul's introduction here, it says, Kind of an amazing thing. We haven't even seen what all this means yet, but you know, according to Jesus Christ, it will be so powerful what comes on and so convincing that even the very elect could be deceived if, if they're not paying attention.

If they haven't been using the time now to prepare themselves for these times and understand what the Bible says, as he goes on to say, Might be saved. Two words in there. Receive. God will give it. Through his Holy Spirit, he will give us that love of the truth. He'll give us that gift. But not if we don't, if it's not that important, if we stop somewhere along the way, and if we think just knowledge of the word is enough. Knowledge is important. We do need to know what the Bible says, but we have to love it.

And that's the Greek word agape. The Greek word agape. Agape, the truth. That doesn't mean it's just all, you know, nice and friendly and easy and all about love and what the world wants to say. It means there are choices to be made. It means we look at ourselves, honestly, we look at the word, the truth, and realize, oh, whoa, those go against our nature.

Just like God says, but I have to become that way. I have to put my effort into that. And so when these thoughts come into my mind or these things come into my focus, I say no, even though all of me wants to say yes. No, I don't do that anymore. That's not the life I was called to. That's not the things that I can do. That's not the way to react. That's not the way to...that's just not the way to be. And God, who is training every single one of us in all the various ways that he does, we make those choices.

And as we make those choices and use his Holy Spirit to strengthen us and deny self, as Christ says, we become stronger and stronger in that and we see. And that truth becomes more part of us. Agape. Agape the truth. And verse 11 is just an interesting verse.

That for the last year or so, I've looked at that verse. And you can see how serious God is about us loving, that is, agape-ing the truth. Because he will have in his kingdom, his family, people who really love the truth. Just don't play with it. Just don't, just don't, you know, check off boxes. Just don't say, I know it.

But people who really, it becomes them. Because he says in verse 11, and for this reason, because they didn't receive it. They were just, they were just Christians in name only. Even true Christians in name only. For this reason, God will send them, God will send them strong, there's an adverb, an adjective, strong delusion. What really do you believe?

What really, how important is this? What have you developed over time that you would stand for the truth and be willing to give your life for it because you understand God's plan, what he has in mind for us and love that and trust in him so completely that you're willing to give everything up.

And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe. You know, the New King James says, the lie, as I look at that word, most of the other translations, including the concordances say a lie.

Because there's more than one lie out there. You know, we look at the world around us today, there are lies everywhere, right? You can believe anything you want about anything going on in the world, about any person in the world. You can hear anything about the world. And, you know, as I turned on X, when we got back, I thought, wow, you have no idea. Everything sounds so logically, but everything is against each other. Everything is a lie. And I read an article by someone in the world who said, today you can't know the truth. Because everything you hear, everything you read seems to be a lie. And there is complete confusion. And that's exactly what Satan wants. We have to be aware, where is the truth?

Now, Isaiah 54 says, truth perishes. Truth perishes in the street. It's in the world around us today. And it could be that even in our lives, right? In the church. Sometimes it isn't a lie as in, you know, a blatant lie that we would all say, absolutely wrong. But there can be a twist here or a twist there, or you see something that's not quite right.

And what does that mean? We live by the Word of God. You know, Paul, as he was talking to the elders of Ephesus, he warned him in Acts 20 that even from among you, even from among you, some will come in and they will, the New King James says, teach perverse things, but it really is misleading things. Is the correct translation there? It's misleading things. You don't have to do that. You don't have to do that. That doesn't apply here. Well, the Bible says that it does apply. Christ said every, every word of God. Paul talked about that. And we have John and others who talk about these people who left the church because they developed little ideas about what they wanted, what they wanted to believe and their own beliefs, rather than going back to the Bible and proving by the Bible.

And so all of us should, when we hear things, we should go back to the Bible. Is that what the Bible says? Or is that someone's interpretation? Is that what the Bible says? Is that how that should have been done? And live by the Bible. I won't take the time. I won't take the time to turn to 2 Peter 2, but there he talks about these things that could happen. As well, we have to be aware of it.

And as you look at the, and as you look through the Old Testament, you do find things where, you know, God gives us clues as to what those, some of those things, you know, could be. Paul talks about the misleading things. Peter in 2 Peter 3 talks about, you know, those will say, oh, we've been talking about the coming of Christ forever. He delays his coming.

And that has a way, if you believe that, to kind of water down the sense of urgency we all need to have. It does have a way of making us relax in a way that we shouldn't, because we should all be aware that for us, the time can be whenever God says.

Could be decades away, could be months away, could be years away, when all the things begin to fall apart, but we have to be ready, because we don't know when the end of our personal time is. Always be ready. In Isaiah 30, he decries, you know, the people who say, just give us smooth things. Just talk to us about smooth things. Don't give us hard things. We don't want to hear that.

We have to be mindful of what it is that God has called us to, because he does keep us apprised of what it is we are to be doing, what he wants us to do, and what the dangers of our own human nature is, because we just want to relax. We just want to just assume everything is okay. Even Paul, who gave his life, his body, his, you know, to the service of Jesus Christ, made the comment that, you know, what I want to do, or what the Spirit wants me to do, I want to do the opposite. What is it? This body still wars against me. My mind still wars against me, even though I know what the truth is. What do I do with it, and I don't want to do that?

Well, there's a lot that we can learn on that, but I would say, you know, let's love the truth. Let's learn to love the truth and ask God, what does that mean, love the truth? Do I love the truth? Is it becoming my heart? Is it becoming who I am? Is that what I live by and that I would be willing to give up everything to defend you or to stand in the gap for you and your truth?

Down in verse 15, here as we are in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15, you know, Paul says, Stand fast, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by epistle. Go to the Bible. Go to the Bible. Always check. Monitor self and monitor what you hear against the Bible. Is it the truth and live by that truth? You know, I know here, in talking to Mr. Kennebec, you're working, going through some doctrine, and that is important to know. That is the truth of the Bible. We need to know exactly what the Bible says so that we can stand with it and understand it fully and commit to it and examine ourselves by it. Is this what we do? Is this how I think? Is this what I'm doing? Am I following what God says? So there's a lot that we can learn, but you know, we have to examine ourselves, examine our hearts, examine our motives, and come to the point where we agape God's truth. I think one of the, I mean, I'm in so many key verses in the Bible, Psalm 139 verse 23, when David says, you know, examine me. Look into my heart. What are my motives? Show me the motives that I have. I want my motives to be in line with you. Because there are things lurking in us still that we have to kind of look at and review and ask God. I want to be like Jesus Christ, and I know that it only comes from Him and doing the things that He wants us to do, and earnestly and sincerely. Look at my motives, God. Show me what the intent of my heart is. What is it? What is it you have called me to? So love of the truth is one thing that, you know, as we look at the end times, we'll all be tried. We'll all be tried by that love of the truth. God says He will to see what's really in our hearts. Second thing, second thing, let's go to Luke 12.

Luke 12, Christ also, says the same thing in Matthew 26. In Matthew 26, He's talking to the Pharisees. In Luke 12, He's talking to the Jews, the multitudes that have come to hear Him. Now we know that the Jews of that time, in the Pharisees, they knew the Bible. They could recite anything. If they heard a few words, they could tell you that is in Psalm, whatever, or the Proverbs, or whatever. They knew exactly what the Bible was. But without God's Holy Spirit, they couldn't do something key because they couldn't even discern that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

Despite everything He did in all the prophecies that they knew and all that He had fulfilled, they could not even recognize Him that He's the Messiah. That's a dangerous thing, that they couldn't do that. It takes the Holy Spirit to do that. And yet they put the Messiah to death. Here in Luke 12 and verse 56, I think it is. Verse 54. Again, He says the same thing to the Pharisees. Here He's talking to the multitudes in verse 54.

He says, Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say a shower is coming, and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say there will be hot weather, and there is. Hypocrites, He says. Now, hypocrisy is one of those things that Jesus Christ said. That's the leaven of the Pharisees. Flee from it. Put that out away from you.

Hypocrites, He says. You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you don't discern the time? How is it that you're living here in the time of the Messiah and you don't get it? That you've ignored it? That everything is happening around you? That you have seen the spoken of in all the scriptures you know, but you don't see it happening. That's a scary thought, isn't it? That they knew all that stuff, His own people, and they didn't see it happening.

Could that happen to us? Could that happen to us? So discernment, and specifically spiritual discernment, is a key thing, and it's a gift from God. It's not something that the Pharisees had. It's not something that you and I have naturally. It comes from the Spirit of God. Again, I won't turn to Romans 1, but last week when we were going through the Bible, we talked about all these works of the flesh.

When people depart from God and they don't leave Him in their minds anymore. All these things, the works of the flesh that are all listed there in Romans 1 as well as in Galatians 5, 19. One of them is undiscerning. They were undiscerning. They didn't get it. They didn't get it. And we know the world doesn't get it. They don't have the Holy Spirit. God hasn't called them yet. They don't see where the end of all this is.

They don't believe what you and I believe. They don't know the plan of God. Undiscerning. We don't want to be undiscerning people. We want to see the signs of the times. We want to see what's going on and be aware of it just as God said. So discernment is an important thing in the Old as well as New Testament.

So let's go back and look at this, I guess, gift of discernment. It actually is a gift. We're going to see that in 1 Corinthians 12. But let's go back to Genesis 27. And we find, I think, the first time we find the English word discern in the Bible, I might be wrong on that.

I meant to go back and check it. We find that it's an interesting situation that Isaac finds himself in. You remember the story of Isaac, and he has the twin boys, Jacob and Esau. And he comes to the point where Jacob wants to have the blessing. And so he disguises himself as Jacob. He's got the hairy hands. He has all this going on with him. And he comes to Isaac, his father, who can't see in an attempt to get the blessing and steal it, if you will, from Jacob, from Esau.

Verse 23, verse 22, to get the context here. And Jacob went near to Isaac, his father, and he felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Something's not right here. Something's not right here. And he didn't recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother's Esau hands, so he blessed him. And he said, Are you really my son Esau? And he said, I am. And he simply believed it.

And so this happened, and all this is of God's will. I'm not trying to say that they fooled God or anything like that. These all things happen for a reason. But when we look at these things, when we look at these Scriptures, and in verse 23, we see that he didn't discern. He didn't discern who Jacob was. And actually there is the word discern in the Old King James, I guess, that I don't see now in the New King James. But anyway, he didn't discern that it was Jacob.

Yet there were the clues. There were the clues that he wasn't. The hands are hairy, but the voice is Jacob's. Something's off. Maybe I need to explore this a little more. He did ask the question. Jacob lied to him. But we see something that if it doesn't seem right, just do a little more investigation. Seek the truth. Seek the truth. Interesting that that's the first time that's in the Bible.

If we look later on in 1 Kings, we see that God is very pleased when we ask for discernment. In 1 Kings 3, this is when Solomon, David, has died. Solomon is going to become king of Israel. In verse 7, Solomon says, Tell me what you want, Solomon. Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you. In verse 7, Solomon says, Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king, instead of my father David, but I'm a little child.

I don't know how to come out or come in. And maybe we feel that way a lot of times. I don't even know what to do in this situation. I have no idea. And so we go to God and say, I don't know. How do you want this handled?

How would you handle this? And we take the time to do it just like Solomon did. That please God. He says, In your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore, give, give. God, will you give this to me? Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? Give me the ability to discern. Verse 10 tells us, God was really pleased with that request.

Give me the ability to discern what is going on, to see what is going on, that I may follow your ways and do the things the way that you want them done. Because that's what we are here for. Solomon asked. We can ask.

God, give me discernment so I can see what is happening. So I can see what your will is. So I can see things the way you see it. So I am becoming ready and not ignoring whatever signs I may be ignoring, but always looking to you for what it is that you want me to do. Change. Understand. Apply into my lives. Our lives. Isaiah 5. We see that, and we see this so evident in the world around us today, that there is no discernment even between what's right and wrong, good and bad, evil and good.

Whoa! Verse 20, Isaiah 5, 20. Whoa! To those who call evil good and good evil. We have that in the world all around us. Half of the world will say, this is a really good thing. The other half, no, that's a really bad thing. And so you have this separation of people that can't be brought together except by God. They see things, and it's too deep in them to heal except without the return of Jesus Christ.

What do those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness?

We know where the light is, and we know what darkness is. Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter?

There is no discernment. There is no discernment. The lines have become blurred.

And so people follow whatever the Spirit in them follows. If we go to Isaiah 7, just a couple of chapters forward, we see a prophecy of Jesus Christ being born in the context of Ahaz here, who is just completely rejecting God or any input from Him.

And in verse 14 of Isaiah 7, it says, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign, Israel. And Ahaz, of all these things that Ahaz didn't want to hear, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. In verse 15, it says, He will learn the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, and he will be trained to choose the right and to refuse the evil, using the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, teaching, This is the good, choose it. This is the evil, stay away from it. In Ezekiel, it tells us, As the millennial temple is being built, they will be taught the difference between the profane and the clean things. They will be taught the difference between the holy and unholy, that they may discern and they may be learned. And we must learn what is good, what is evil, what is of God and what is not of God, what is the absolute truth of God, and what is maybe not so the complete truth of God, that we choose the complete. We learn and we are trained by what we do, and as we come to church, as we hear sermons, as we talk with one another and converse with one another, as we compare it to the Bible and use that as our guide, we learn what's right and what's good versus what's evil and bad. We learn what's light and what's darkness, and you learn to choose the one and refuse the other. In Hebrews 5 and verse 14, He gives us this principle of being trained and exercising the spirit that God gives us, exercising those things by the choices that we make. Solid food, it says in verse 14. Solid food, not just the milk of the word, not the fundamental things, because, as it says in Hebrews 6, we grow beyond the fundamentals. That doesn't mean we forget them. We review them, and it's good to review them and remind ourselves what it is we've been called to, what do we believe, what are the fundamental things, but we grow beyond that to the solid food. Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, spiritually mature. That is those who, by reason of use, exercise, make the choice, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, and to choose the good and reject the evil. It's all there in the Bible. We have to do that. We have to be living. That's part of our job description as Christians in training, is to, by reason of use, learn the truth, love the truth, apply the truth, work with each other to help each other live by that truth that God has called us to. And that discernment, going forward in a time of deception where God says even the very elect, if they're not skilled, if they haven't exercised the use of God's Spirit, and the love of the truth could be deceived if we're not careful, something that we need to be aware of and be preparing for now. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 10, we see this discernment, this spiritual discernment, is a gift of God. In chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, you see God talking about these gifts, these spiritual gifts that he gives to people. And not everyone has all the spiritual gifts, but we can ask him for those gifts as we need those things. It's up to him who he does, but the whole body, as it tells us in chapter 12, fit together. All these gifts will be a part of God's body. Maybe not every single person has every single gift, but there will be that. And certainly, this gift of discernment we can ask for in verse 9 here. If you hear he's listening all these things. Oh, okay, verse 7 is the beginning of a sentence. Let's just start there so we get the whole context. But the manifestation, verse 7, of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all.

The whole body. The whole body, as God works with us individually and collectively, he gives those gifts so that we are all marching in the same direction. And we need God. We need the Holy Spirit. We need Jesus Christ. We need faith. We need each other, too. That's why he puts us in a body. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits.

A gift. What are those spirits that are out there? How do we determine good from evil, right from wrong? What are we looking at? God will give us that if we seek it and if we exercise the tools that he gives us, always looking to him, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of trunks, and so on. It's a gift. It's a gift from God. It's okay to ask for it. God, I need more discernment. I need to see what's going on. So I can discern the time. So I can discern what's going on. So I can discern what is good in your eyes from what I personally want and make sure that I'm choosing that.

Discerning the spirits. The Apostle Paul, not the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John, talked about the spirits. You know, some 30 years after, 30 or 40 years after Paul wrote the message to the Corinthians, he talked about testing the spirits on whether or not, whether or not they are of God. In 1 John 4, 1 John 4 verse 1, he says, Beloved, that was to the people he was writing to then, that's God writing to us today, everyone in this room and everyone who ever hears this, Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

And then in verses 2 through 5, he talks about everyone who confesses that Jesus Christ was born and is of the flesh and is Christ is God. I believe everyone in here knows that. And we believe that. But that word believe, as you may remember me saying in years past when I was here, is that Greek word pistoio? That means when you believe, it cuts you to the core. When you really believe, you are no longer the same person. That's what when Christ says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, I'm a new creation or you're a new creation. Not the old has passed away and all things have become new. When you truly believe and not just say the words, I believe Christ, it changes who you are and you desire to follow Christ the way he is. You don't want to be the way you were before. You don't want the ways of the world, any part of the works of the flesh, but desire to go forward. So let's wrap down to verse 6 then.

He says, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. And John, through all his life, preached the word of God. He was true to it. If you read through 2 John, you'll see he commends the lady he's writing to. The things that you have been taught from the beginning, you've adhered to. And he was thankful for the people who believed the word of God and didn't allow 30 years to weaken them spiritually in any way that they stuck to what they were taught.

They taught, they knew the doctrines of God, they lived by the doctrines of God, and they grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. So he says, you know, so as he's talking, he says, He who knows God hears us. And John would say, What we're saying, go back to the Bible and measure it against the Bible. Make sure that what you're listening to and following is of the Bible. He who knows God hears us, he who is not of God doesn't hear us. Don't want to hear what they have to say. Now, if we live in a world, you know, that's so divided now that one party would like to cancel another one.

I don't want to hear what they have to say. Isn't the way I want to hear it, right? That's kind of what John is saying here. He who is not of God doesn't hear us. We all hear the same message. The Spirit binds us together. The Spirit of truth leads us into truth. By this we know the Spirit of truth. And the Spirit of error. And he goes on in verse 7.

That gets back to the love of the truth, right? Loving the truth, knowing the truth, loving the truth, living the truth, having it become part of you. And in verse 7 he gives another part of that. Beloved, let us love agape. Let us agape one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves or agape's is born of God and knows God.

And he who doesn't doesn't know God. We know what agape is. We've talked about it here within the last year. We've talked about it. Agape is the fruit of the Spirit. We understand agape because we have the Spirit. The world doesn't get agape. The world doesn't get many of those things. We could have turned to 1 Corinthians 2 where even the spiritual discernment the world can't get because it comes from the Spirit that God has put in us.

We just have to use it. Let me think one final scripture here. Hebrews 4. As we talk about loving the truth, knowing the truth, exercising the truth, not being deceived, letting God get us ready for the times ahead as we see times ever changing, how do we do that?

Again, we go back to the Word of God. Hebrews 4 and verse 12 is a very powerful verse for everything that we do and everything we've talked about.

Hebrews 4, 12, For the Word of God is living. It's alive today. It's not an ancient text. It's as much for us as it was for anyone who has ever lived, for the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit. If you read it, if you look at it, and if you honestly examine yourselves and say, Whoa, you know what? I see what God says I should be, but that's not me. That word will cut right through my heart and say, I need, I need to change.

That needs to be weeded out. Piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Bible. Always go to the Bible. Always go to the Bible and measure what you hear, measure what you see, and follow God. Jesus Christ, when He began calling disciples and when He called you and me, He said two simple words, right?

To Peter and Andrew and all those who called, He said, Follow me. Follow me. He said, Follow God. Follow the Bible. And what you hear, measure it against the Bible and see that it is the way of truth. And we will exercise that time, and we will become, if we are committed to that, to be ready for the time of the return of Christ.