The Foolishness of Preaching

The title today, The Foolishness of Preaching. Does preaching make a difference? Will preaching help you overcome the world in Satan's matrix? How many of you can honestly say that you have changed anything because of the sermons you have heard over the years in the Church of God? Yet, the apostle Paul writes, and let's turn there to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, The Foolishness of Preaching. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 17, But Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, Not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of non-effect. It is not an intellectual trip. It is not an informational trip. It is a conversion trip. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, or being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputing of this world? Have not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, do not God, it please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So once again, the question, does preaching make a difference? Will preaching help you to overcome the world in Satan's matrix? It is most intriguing to try to determine why we respond the way we do to the world around about us. As we grow older, the human psyche craves routine, stability within certain bounds. And when we were young, we were filled with the desire to explore and discover what lies just around the corner, and what comes next. We love changing scenes and the excitement of seeing how things work. Even now, many church members approach sermons strictly from an intellectual, informational point of view. What do I mean by that? That is, they listen to learn some new interesting things that might stimulate the intellect, stare their curiosity, and affect their emotions in a positive way. Give them a lift, as it were. This approach is a knowledge trip instead of a conversion trip. We want to be on a conversion trip, and hopefully the foolishness of preaching helps us to achieve that. The peoples of the Western world have become pawns on Satan's chessboard. He moves the peoples of the world around as if they were the helpless pawns on a chessboard. They have been conditioned to have their senses satiated every few seconds, some new scene. What does this do? It destroys the ability to focus and analyze what is happening to them. Before they can grasp what is before them, the scene changes to another scene. The temptation is to surrender their minds for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those three things basically summarize all of Satan's deceptive devices of what he appeals to. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We have some who listen for the purpose of trying to determine if what they're hearing agrees with their view of church doctrine and the way the world works. Yet we sing the song, God Speaks to Us. If God is really speaking to us, would we dare to ignore it and not take action? Sadly, when we look around the annals and look through the annals of human history, we find very few people who heeded the preachers of their day. They looked at preaching as foolishness. For the most part, the faithful stewards of God's word that are cataloged in Hebrews 11, they all met an untimely death because of their faithfulness to the Word of God. Why is it that people do not respond to the people that God sends them through the ages? Why is it? Jesus asked this very question. So let's note what Jesus says in Matthew 24 and verse 34.

You kill and crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city. Of course, the early day the apostles suffered such a fate. You read about in the first few chapters of Acts. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, and the blood of Zacharias, son of Arceus, whom you slew between the temple and the altar, barely, barely, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not behold your house that is left unto you desolate. And through the ages that is basically the way people have responded. But today it has become even more the fact. As we grew older, as we mentioned, we become more like the attitude described in Ecclesiastes 12, 1 through 7. So let's go to Ecclesiastes 12, 1 through 7. We're going to explore some of the reasons why the foolishness of preaching doesn't make much difference to some people. Of course, Solomon summarizes things which we will close with later on in Ecclesiastes 12. The last chapter there, I believe, I'm about to get there in Ecclesiastes 12. My hands are so dry. I had a trick that I would wet a little napkin and lay here instead of having to do it otherwise. In Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 1, Of course, God wants us to live life to the foolish regardless of our age and regardless of our situation. I know that at times suffering pain day after day, week in, week out, month in, and by the end some for years and years.

And it seems as if there's no end to it. But there is. While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain, in the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened. And the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. And when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the street. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, then I, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it the breath of life.

And we talk about the spirit and man. So as we grow older, we become more like the attitude that is described in these verse 7 verses of Ecclesiastes 12. But God doesn't intend that we approach it that way. And some people are old way before their time, as it were. And a lot of people say, well, age is just the number. But even before we reach the state of Ecclesiastes 12, we began to settle into a rather rigid and fixed approach to the way we live our lives. Here's a quote from Jim Kerwin. He's the author of an article titled, choosing between darkness and light. I may send that article to you. If I think of it, I'll send it out, either tonight or tomorrow. An article that is worth reading for sure and taking to heart with regard to what is going on in our world. And he writes, quote, Our time on the planet is largely divided between living our lives to the fullest, or consist of falling back into the mere existence of non-existence. We talk about this being Satan's world, but what do we do to live our lives to the fullest?

What do we do to live our lives to the fullest? If we really understand that this is Satan's world, it seems that we would not be content to live in Satan's matrix. There was a movie a few years ago. We saw it past time when we were looking for a house in Houston in 2008. And really didn't understand the thing, but basically what it's about is that everybody is caught in this matrix, and they are wanting to get out. So from the dictionary, what is the matrix? Here's the dictionary definition. The arrangement of connected things, an arrangement of parts that shows how they are inter-connected. A substance containing something, a substance in which something is embedded or enclosed. A situation in which something develops a situation or set in circumstances that allows or encourages the origin, development, or growth of something.

He further writes, as Kerwin does, most of us no longer notice the composition of the world around us, that is, the matrix, what we are trapped in and by, as we go about our lives because most Americans seem to prefer to live within their own self-centered pleasures and distractions, rather than to remain aware of what is taking place in the various parts of the world beyond themselves. You know, and I'm a news watcher, I'm a weather watcher, and I've sort of given up on the news to some degree. You can go to all the major news networks, and they're talking about generally one of three things, the crisis at the border, whether or not Como is going to resign or be impeached as governor of New York, and what about the pandemic and the viruses and the vaccines and that kind of thing, and who and what administration had it better, and what has been done to overturn everything, and so on. You basically get no international news from the major networks or the major newspapers, and to a large degree that which is given is biased by those who are reporting it. So most people live within a social, economic, political, and religious matrix and don't question it. They are content with their self-centered existence and looking for the weekend to come before the next work week. The matrix is one of the most profound social commentaries on the condition of humanity today. The average person lives in the matrix with no idea of unplugging is an option. It is an option. You can rise above it. They generally buy into everything the marketers and media tells them. Beauty magazines plays off the insecurities of women by subliminally communicating there's something wrong with them. You are either to this or to that. You're never just right. But if you buy our product, you will be just right. Otherwise, why would the headline lose weight to make you happy, even be in a magazine?

Happiness is not just dependent upon physical appearance, as we know. But it's a perfect way to make you question your own beliefs and force you into adopting the insecurity of the masses. The majority of people, essentially, are victims of social programming, completely unaware of the fact that they have been and continue to be brainwashed into bondage. Sex exploitation. Several years back, I gave a sermon on this. It was back probably in the 70s, where I had this book titled, Sex Exploitation. How that the whole society, especially the Western world, is being exploited by the advertising of sex. The cash cow of the advertising world. It is the innuendo in so many of the sitcoms and the movies, and to some degree in the movies, graphically displayed.

And we see more and more evidence of the blind, hurting instinct in our society. And brethren, we need to be warned of these things. Our children need to be warned of these things. We need to be aware so that as much as we can, and we can unplug from the Matrix.

We can come out of Babylon. In fact, we are commanded in Revelation 18.4, Come out of her, you my people. Note what the Apostle Peter writes concerning how people become merchandised and are conditioned to covet. It's almost exactly what I just described. Some people, if you've had a course in general psychology, you know about conditioning. And the classic example is Pavlov's dog, in which Pavlov paired the ringing of a bell with feeding his dog.

And the dog behaved in such a way, when I opened the door to feed the dogs in the evening, they immediately come to me, their tails are wagging, they want to lick my hands, jump up on me, and I can go to the door after several pairings of this, I can go to the door, and they behave in the same way as if they were being fed. Because they are conditioned to expect food when that door opens. When they hear that squeak at the first door, and the next door open, they begin to behave that way. When I was running cattle out at Holly Lake, I would feed the cattle either from the tractor or from a pickup truck.

And so I would call at the same time, so, so! And so you pair those things, and then you drive in the pasture with a pickup truck, and they all come running. Or you drive in with a tractor. Or you do your cattle call, and this is especially helpful when they get out, you do the cattle call, and they come through the broken fences back to you.

So let's notice what Peter says. Peter was way ahead of his time. So, perhaps you've seen goldfish in an aquarium, that when you feed them, they're swimming all over the place. So after several feedings, you can, and usually you turn on the light when you're feeding them, so you can go to the aquarium and turn on the light with no food, and they behave as if they're being fed.

So you pair youth, beauty, sex together with a product, time after time after time, and you condition people to buy or to think that that's what they need. In 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, and verse 1, 2 Peter 2, 3 And shall follow their pernicious ways, ways of trying to make merchandise of the people pernicious, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through covetousness shall they with fain words make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their judgment slumbers not.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, and cast them down to Tartarou, a condition of restraint, and delivered them unto change of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and goes on describing Noah, Sodom, and Gomorrah, and so on, do you think that you shall escape? That's the message. But now, continuing with this, we pick it up again in 10, and bring it up, really this brings it up to the day.

Of course, Peter wrote this somewhere in the, what, maybe 50s, 60s AD. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh, and the lust of uncleanness, despise government, presumptuous of thyself will, they are not afraid to speak evil of. Now that word, dignities, there, guess what the Greek word is translated as dignities?

It is doxia, D-O-X-A. It is the same Greek word that is translated glory or glories. Speak evil of those things that are glorious. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing into accusation against them before the Lord. Remember when Moses, contending for the, Gabriel, contending with Satan for the, for the body of Moses, just said the Lord rebuke you that's in Jude. But those as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots are they and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery or some translations say having the eyes of an adulterous.

And of course you can go by the newsstands and you look at the magazines and see the look on the faces. They cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls. A heart they have exercised. And this word here exercise has to do with training in the gymnasium, where they would exercise some with very little clothes on. They have exercise with covetous or trained with covetous practices, having children of curse. So you train with covetous practices. This society has been trained to covet with covetous practicing. Madison Avenue is a synonym for the advertising world. Madison Avenue has refined both classical and operant conditioning to a fine art. And it pays to advertise apparently because now half of the programming of most programs is advertising.

Which are forsaken the right way and have gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked in his lawlessness, the dumb donkey speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. And it goes on describing those people. But our key verse there is 14. Having the eyes of an adulteress that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they've trained or exercised with covetous practices, having children of curse.

Of course, we're ever reminded of what it says in Ezekiel 9 to sign cry for the abominations that are going on in our nation. You see, some people will ask the question, they hear a sermon like this, they say, well, what do you want me to do about it? Well, to be aware of it, to teach your children, and to be on guard yourself so that you do not fall prey to the tactics, to sign cry for what is going on. And of course, in Ezekiel 9, it talks about sparing those who sigh and cry. We need to learn what Solomon wrote in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, that there's really no new thing under the sun. So let's go back to Ecclesiastes, in this case, chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1.

Ecclesiastes 1, verse 1, The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, vanity of vanities. Now, the word vanity that is used here means temporary, not lasting very long, not of any great substance or worth. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, vanity of vanity is all his vanity. It's temporary. It is of this world. What profit hath a man of all his labor, which he takes under the sun? One generation passes away, another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, the sun goes down and hastens to his place where he arose. Do you think the sun will come up tomorrow morning? I will assure you that it will. It will come up as usual. The wind goes toward the south and turns about unto the earth. It whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to the circuits. The jet stream and low pressures, high pressures. The rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full unto the place where whence the rivers come, there they return again.

All things are full of labor, man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. So here we see that there's really no new thing under the earth, and we could continue reading the rest of the chapter. But now we want to go to chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes. And I'm going to summarize the first 16 verses very quickly with this. In the first 16 verses of Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon catalogs all of his great achievements. All of his great achievements, and there were many. Very few people can boast the achievements of Solomon. But then he summarizes those achievements in verse 17. Therefore, I hated life because the works that I wrought under the sun is grievous unto me. For all is vanity. They're temporary. They do not last. And what is this in everyday language? You can't take it with you. You can't take it with you. The only thing your intake with you is that which God has created within you, His holy righteous character, your being, in the spiritual sense. For all is vanity and vexation of spirit. And in the next several verses, he bemoans the fact that no matter what you build and achieve in this life, it perishes when they lay you in the grave.

And so many people labor trying to get more and more and more, and Solomon went down that road, and he found it to be vexation. He found it to be fruitless.

And then he says that we should be content with what God has blessed us with.

So he comes back to the central thesis of the book in chapter 3, that man should fear God and enjoy life. So let's look at 3 verse 9. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 9. What prophet hath he that works in that wherein he labors? I have seen travail which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He has made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end. Know that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. And that's what life is all about, is to try to do the best you can in this life.

Slottoman views life from just about every aspect that one can imagine and comes to the same conclusion over and over again. You'll see that term and all is vanity. I discovered that that too is vanity.

So that is regardless of who you are, it only lasts a short time. In plain language he states, no matter what you bill, the fame you achieve and the riches you acquire, you can't take it with you. So what is important in life? So let's look now at Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 8. Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 8.

There is no man that has power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit. By the Spirit here, we're talking about the breath of life, you can't control the breath of life.

Neither hath he power in the day of death, and there is no discharge in that war. Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. All this have I seen and applied my heart unto every work that is wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.

And so I saw the wicked, buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city, where they had so done. This is also vanity, lasts a short time, passes away, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil. And so man can go even a lifetime and think he's getting away with whatever he's doing. But there does come the day of reckoning. The day of judgment is certain for every person. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess.

Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged.

And sometimes it is. Yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him. But it shall not be well with a wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he fears not before God.

See, we have physical life. A great gift, a gift of physical life. And we have the promise of eternal life. It is only through the right fear of God, taking heed to what the preacher says, understanding what this world is about. So as we sit here today, we could ask ourselves, what one thing am I going to change in my life as a result of my total experience on this world? This wonderful Sabbath day. What a beautiful day. 63 degrees, probably 65 now. The sun is shining brightly, hardly a cloud in the sky. All is well with the world. And we are hopefully experiencing the peace of God, not just peace with God. Almost everyone talks about the end of the age and how onomous clouds are looming on the horizon. And no doubt, ominous clouds are looming on the horizon. The clouds are black, and they are heavy in every dimension of human endeavor. And you might say, well, He's speaking as if I could do something about it. And once again I say, what power do I have or you have to change the matrix? Really, we're not going to change it. It is going to grind away until the very end. And a new matrix is going to come. But we can be aware. We can watch. We can come out of it. We cannot be part...we can refuse to be partakers thereof. The so-called right-wing Christian fundamentalists have determined that the warfare that is being waged on the sons of men is political. So they're determined to wave the flag and say, in God we trust, which we should. And they think if you get the right people in office and the right this and the right that, that all of our problems will be solved. But they won't. There's only one way, and that's take heed to what the preacher says. By the foolishness of preaching, it pleases God to save some.

On the other hand, the so-called liberal progressives contend that man can create a one-world utopia through the benevolent actions of humans. Secular humanism. A godless society. The great fallacy is that this ideological thinking does not do one wit to change human nature, to get at the heart of man, which is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. That's what Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 17.9. One cannot force humans into compliance. However, they can be led into the pits of hopelessness and despair. That will destroy them. This nation and our peoples are being destroyed.

And it seems that they're not even aware of it. Satan is the author of such thinking. That is, that you can create a perfect utopia through the benevolent actions of human beings. Whether one thinks in grandiose terms or in other terms of destruction, it is only through the convicting power of the Word of God and the Spirit of God that can reach the heart and mind of a person and motivate a person to become a new creation. Now, we can read what Jim Kerwin wrote, which describes, to a large degree, how people approach life. We can talk about the matrix. We can talk about all kinds of things that are going on. But only God, through the convicting power of his Word and Spirit, can reach the heart and mind of a person and motivate a person to become a new creation. Even those who profess to know God are prone to listen to the Word of God, but refuse to make changes needed. Difficult changes. The refusal is not overt in most cases. Even under a resolve to change, we oftentimes, and I find myself doing this, revert to. There are always of responding and living. And you pray to God, help me, Father, help me, Father, to change in heart and mind, and not to react, but to respond according to your Word. Notice Ezekiel 33, which somewhat deals with what I've just talked about here.

With regard to responding to the foolishness of preaching, Ezekiel 33, Ezekiel 33, and verse 30. Ezekiel 33, and verse 30.

Ezekiel 33, and Ezekiel 33, and Ezekiel 33, and Ezekiel 32.

And so we have to recognize what that is and to come out of it, not be swayed by Madison Avenue or any other strategy or ploy of Satan the Devil. He is deceitful. He is seductive. And at the same time, the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. And so we have to have on the armor of God to resist it. And lo, you art unto them as a very lovely song, one that has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, where they hear your words, but they do them not. See, that must not be said of us. And when this comes to pass, and lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet has been among them. And Jesus said, I was sent unto you prophets and wise men, and you killed them, some of them you crucified, and you were not here. There are a few notable examples of a few people who are willing to take a stand for their convictions in the world today. And as soon as they do, they're jumped on like white-on rice, as they say. In the past, they were criticized and ostracized. Today, they are often viciously attacked, in some cases suffering physical injury. You will be like us, or you will die, yet at the same time claiming, preserving our democracy and our way of life. Well, did Isaiah prophesy what he wrote. We'll read it. Once again, Isaiah 59, verse 1 through 4, Isaiah 59, verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. God can save. Sometimes I pray, Father in heaven, and I may get in trouble for this, and it may be the wrong. You know, what is being accomplished by letting this present evil age continue. But then you know what it says in Romans, where God does the things the way he does them so that he can have mercy on all. Oh, the wisdom and the knowledge of God has passed all understanding. The Lord's hand is not shortened, that he cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear. But your iniquities, your lawlessness, have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Of course, we are in our Bible studies studying the book of Jeremiah, and Jeremiah is giving a message to the people of Judah of that day. Regardless of what you do, Judah, you've gone too far. You've gone too far, and you're going to pay the price. None of us want to go too far. Sometimes I wonder about what is that line? What is that line that you cross? And after you cross that line, you've gone too far, and there's no way back. For your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness, non-calls for justice, nor any pleas for truth. They trust in vanity, speak lies, they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Verse 13, in transgressions and lying against the eternal, departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Yea, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey, and the eternal saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. One of the things that it says in the Olivet Prophecy in Matthew 24 is that you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Now we may not be alive when that day comes, in which you are brought before kings and rulers, and it will turn unto you for a testimony, and it says in Luke, think not what you're going to say, because God will give you the worst to say at that time. We may not face that, but some will, someday.

Noah preached to the people of his day for 120 years. 120 years.

And apparently no one but Noah really believed. Now Noah's wife and three sons, and their wives, eight people, Noah's wife and his three sons and their wives were probably spared by their association with Noah, not because they really believed. I don't know that. That's, they may be, it turned out that the sons weren't that committed in some ways. In the past, and in the days of Lot, God sent angels to warn Lot of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. So we know what happened to Noah's world. The flood came, they beat on the doors, and they said, let us in. It was too late. God sent two angels to warn Lot to get out of Sodom and Gomorrah, because he was going to destroy it. You remember how Abraham had bargained for his nephew, that the nephew be spared. Let's go to Genesis 19.

So in this post-flood world, you see how quickly humankind turned back to what brought on some of the things that brought on the flood in the pre-flood world. The thoughts and intents of the heart of man was continually upon evil. In Genesis 19, verse 12, And the men said unto Lot, Have you here any besides son in law, and your sons and your daughters, and whatsoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. I mean, what? You talk about a warning. Two angels come.

And Lot went out and spoke unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Get you up out of this place, so the Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. So the sons-in-law stayed in Sodom and Gomorrah.

And when the morning arose, and the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters, which are here lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, while he lingered, he being locked, after all of that warning, two angels, what happened? And while he lingered the angels, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him out of the city. So by the nap of the neck, you pick old Lot up and say, Hey, I'm going to destroy the place.

And it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad. They said, Escape for your life, look not behind you, neither stay you in all the plain. Escape to the mountain lest you be consumed.

And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord. And I won't read the rest of it. We know that Lot's wife looked back, and Lot and his two daughters went up into the mountains, and the daughters seduced Lot, and as a result were born the Moabites and the Ammonites, who were descended from Lot and his two daughters. Christ states in Alabed prophecy that the condition of humankind would be as in the days of Noah. So let's look at that. Matthew 24, 32. Matthew 24 and verse 32. Matthew 24 verse 32.

Now hear a parable of the fig tree when the branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nice. So likewise, you know when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day an hour knows no man, no, but the angels in heaven, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only. But as in the days of Noah, as in the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, for as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving and marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, and they had been warned for 120 years. The foolishness of preaching didn't help them very much.

One of the greatest differences between what happened in the days of old and what lies ahead is that now Satan's matrix envelops the whole world. It is not localized, and I'm not saying the flood was localized. It is not localized, but it is now globalized. With more and more emphasis being placed on globalization, free market, no rules, corporate capitalism has turned the world into a maze of merchandisers of Satan's matrix, as described in Revelation 18. So let's go to Revelation 18, where we are commanded to come out of this matrix, this Babylon.

In Revelation chapter 18 and verse 1.

And these things I saw another angel came down from heaven having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily in a strong voice, saying Babylon, the great has fallen, has fallen, has become the habitation of devils and the holes of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Note Sodom and Gomorrah, when it was destroyed, two angels came and mourned lot. Here an angel came down. Verse 3, For all nations have drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The merchants of the earth are wax rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye might receive not of her plagues, for her sins of reach unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

You know, in the days of ancient Israel, they were sacrificing their children to Moloch, running them through the fire to be burned up. I cannot imagine a more horrible death. And today we are sacrificing the population's millions of people, unborn fetuses.

What is it? Is it to the God of pleasure? Is it to the God of lust? Certainly it is to the God of this present evil age, Satan.

Recently, the G7 nations held their big meeting, Davos, Switzerland. The leaders of the nations embraced what they called the reset of the world's economic system.

But there was no proposal with regard to solving the great problems that the masses of humanity are facing. Disease, natural catastrophes, earthquakes, floods, drought, insect plagues, crime, poverty, hopelessness, homelessness, despair, depression, and a host of mental disorders. And the list goes, and on the list goes, and on the list goes, and on the list grows. On the list goes, and on the list grows. A rigid global system is coming and will be inextricably linked to the religious system that will be enforced by the penalty of death.

And in the face of all this economic turmoil, the tensions between the nations continues to escalate. Most notable, the United States and China, and many other nations in the Middle East. Everyone is playing blind man's bluff. They're bluffing and puffing and huffing, like the story of Little Red Riding, blow your house down. And like the big bad wolf, and they know if they blow up anyone's house, the world will go up in flames. Sort of analogous to being out on the schoolyard where the couple of kids say, I double-dog dare you to take this off my shoulder. And finally, some kid takes the dare, and the war is on. As you have heard so often, the battle is spiritual. It will not be won at the polls. It will not be won in the think tanks. It will not be won by the efforts of the UN or any other political entity. It will not be won on the battlefield. It can only be won through the power of Almighty God and Jesus Christ. A new world order, a new matrix, is being established. The matrix will be overturned by God, Christ, and the saints. At the battle of the great day of God Almighty, Christ is coming with the saints, and he's going to destroy Satan's matrix and usher in a new matrix wherein righteousness dwells. Let's get a glimpse of this in Isaiah 11.

We're so familiar with the emblem of the wolf and the lamb, or the lion and the lamb.

Isaiah 11, And there shall come forth a rod of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the root and offspring of Jesse. He is the branch, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the eternal. And they shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove the equity for the meek and of the earth, and he shall smite the earth, and he shall smite with a rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, and he shall slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall be lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed their young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the whole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for there shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea. And in that day, and in that day, that day is a prophetic utterance, which generally means a merger into something new.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an end sign of the people, assign a signal. And to it shall the Gentiles seek the nations, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathos, from Kush, from Elam, Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And so God is going to set a sign for all the nations, and all the nations will come up to Jerusalem, and the word of the Lord shall go forth out of Jerusalem and his law from Zion. Sometimes I reverse that. It may be the law from Jerusalem and the word from Zion.

And we know that Zion is a type of the church.

Indeed, Solomon was a wise man.

God is standing at the door post of your heart today. In Revelation 3, 20-21, it says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man will open, I will come in unto him and sup with him.

So God is standing at the door post of your heart today.

If he is, and I believe he is, all of us, harden not your heart, heed the words that cry out. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart. Listen to the words of the preacher.

Indeed, Solomon was a wise man when he was inspired to write the following words.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.