Our Response to This Morally Corrupt World

Okay, so it is time for the sermon. Took a little longer, but that's okay, too. I'm just going to comment on the Brexit vote. Britain voted to leave the EU, and it will be... I think some of them are having, you know, second thoughts already, and they're calling for maybe another referendum, so you can change your mind. David Cameron having to resign. British Pound was trading lower, I guess, and dropped to a historical low. Stock market went down several hundreds of points. And I'm sure that Beyond Today, the BT Daily, and the Beyond Today programs, our literature, will have quite a bit of information on that. So today, I want to follow up, though, from last week's sermon, and discuss more about not only not just the assault on morality, but our response, and certainly our response is that we must be willing to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. And God's people are certainly not shielded from what's going on, and God's people are certainly affected from time to time, from sometimes even the worst of some of the situations. So I'm going to use the old trick, the old method from the Spokesman's Club manual, problem, solution, problem, solution, solution, problem. I'm going to use that approach, and I don't want to start out with all kind of problems, because you'll get very discouraged if that's all you hear. So I'll be going back and forth from solution to problem, problem to solution. Let me start, first of all, with 1 Peter 3 and verse 15.

1 Peter 3 and verse 15. 2 Peter 3 and verse 16. But sanctify or set apart, make holy, hallow the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

So it says, the new King James, always be ready to give a defense. And the old King James says, give an answer, be ready to give an answer to those who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and in fear. Having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed, for it is better if it is the will of God who suffer for doing good than for doing evil. So there are opportunities that do come our way to be able to give that answer, to be able to give a good defense for the hope that lies within us. Now there are times sometimes to say nothing. I was talking to a church member a couple of days ago, and they had an interesting point. You can put one of those billboards on you. In any way, it has a front board in the back way, and a repent end is near. And very likely nobody has ever really taken that very seriously, become sadly more of a joke. And a sad joke at that. So there has to be obviously some wisdom as to when to answer and when not to answer. Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. And God was pleading through the ministry. Does God ever wish to plead through you as you face the society around you? As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Now, what we should be able to keep in mind is, as we find over here in John 8 and verse 32, where Christ said, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This world is woefully lacking in the truth. I mean, like woefully lacking in the truth. And are we willing to stand up and be counted if the occasion arises? If the occasion rises? If someone is asking you for the hope that lies within you? Now, many times, as I said earlier, you know, God's people are not shielded from the evils.

They're in this world. Members, grandparents deal with children, maybe grandchildren, that are struggling with various addictions, and they ask for prayer, yes. And we all have people in our family, most of us do, that are struggling and need our prayer. And that is a good thing for us to do, to respond to their needs, to respond to their requests with prayer. 2 Peter 3. We have to continue to have compassion for those who are struggling. 2 Peter 3, verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So, people who have fallen on hard times spiritually, God is willing to reach out to them. He is not willing that they perish, but that all should come to repentance. And there are places in Isaiah which say, and some day the earth, the whole earth, will see the salvation of the Lord. We do have a role in this sad and suffering world. Matthew 5. And let's look at verse 14. A very important role, something very, very serious. Matthew 5, verse 14, You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill, cannot be hidden. Now, there might be some of us that would maybe want to crawl into a cave and hide and wait until Christ returns. But Jesus says, No, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all those all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So the first thing that they are to see in us is our good works. Our good works, first of all, our example, first of all. Now, as far as the light shining, who is the source of the light? Well, it's pretty obvious. Let's go to John 9. John 9 and verse 5. John 9 and verse 5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world. He was the light, He is the light, and He wants His light to shine. He wants our light to shine forth. Looking at Philippians chapter 2 and verse 15. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 15. That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Now, how much of a better description, or more realistic description, of the world than right here, crooked and perverse, but in spite of that, God wants us and commands us to shine as lights in the world. Going back to Matthew 5 and looking at verse 13. You are the salt of the earth. Have you ever met somebody in the church and known maybe him or her for a long time? You say, you know, that person is just a salt of the earth. It really is quite a compliment that goes to God, of course, but we want to be the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. So, salt has many uses, but certainly in those days, and even today, it's a preservative. You know, and it preserves meat, for example. And you can preserve food, you know, with the use of salt. And that's what we are. That's what God is using us for regarding this world. That we're supposed to be the salt of the earth and helping the preserving of the people of this world. Now, how do we do that? Let's go to Matthew 24 and verse 22. Matthew 24 and verse 22.

Now, the word elect means chosen ones. God has chosen everyone in this room for a very special purpose. And this purpose, because of the elect's sake, those days would be shortened. And if those days weren't shortened, no flesh would make it through the Great Tribulation. No flesh would make it through the time that is yet to come. Now, the world, they don't know this, but they're counting on us to implore God to rescue the world from itself.

They don't know it, but they are counting on us to implore God to rescue them from this terrible, terrible situation. I love how the Beyond Today programs always end. They always say, Mr. McNeely said, And join us in praying, thy kingdom come. The sooner God's kingdom gets here, the sooner we're all going to be saved alive. Some of us in the resurrection, some will live through at the physical level into the kingdom of God.

So we are under the Father and under Jesus Christ, part. We are part of the solution, part of the preservation, part of the salt of the earth. Let's take a look at the problem, as per stated, in Romans 1, verse 18. Very famous passage in Scripture. Romans 1, verse 18, The power in Godhead so that they are without excuse.

Do we realize that our young people are really being battered and, you know, just battered with evolution, being hammered and battered with evolution, our young people in the church? Because although they, the great elite, knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. Now, I did a little poking around on Google regarding the subject of free will. And I have several headlines here. I even have a paragraph I'm going to try to read to you.

But scientific evidence that you probably don't have free will. Now, this is only one attack on this matter of free will, only one attack that the devil is actually doing. He's coming at the society with this attack, and then he's doing the opposite attack on the other side, but it's all working out to his favor.

He's contradicting himself, and yet it's working to his favor. I'm going to show that to you. This is from the Daily Explainer. Well, what a name! Daily Explainer, George Dvorsky wrote this. Scientific evidence you probably don't have free will. Humans have debated the issue of free will for millennia, but over the past several years, while the philosophers continue to argue about the metaphysical underpinnings of human choice and increasing number of neuroscientists, brain scientists, that is, have started to tackle the issue head-on quite literally. And some of them believe that their experiments reveal that our subjective experience of freedom may be nothing more than an illusion.

Here's why you probably don't have free will, says this eminent writer. Indeed, historically speaking, philosophers have had plenty to say on the matter. The ruminations have given rise to such considerations as cosmological determinism, which is the notion that everything proceeds over the course of time in a predictable way, making free will impossible. Then there's other variations. There's determinism, then there's indeterminism. And I don't want to get into all this, but you kind of get the drift, I think.

So that was one of the headlines. Here's another one. You're from USA Today, January 2012. Why you don't really have free will. Another one from Scientific American is free will and illusion. Okay. Rational Wiki. They have something to say on that. The Atlantic put out in a recent article, there's no such thing as free will.

Free will. Wikipedia has an article on that. The illusion of choice, free will, and determinism. And then another one. What arguments are there for or against the existence of free will? And then, again, free will could all be an illusion, scientists suggest, after study shows, dot, dot, dot. You know, and that's from The Independent. So the idea that we don't have free will, much more popular than I thought. And this idea is now seeping into every corner of society.

It's in the media in a very big way. It's TV, radio, social media, probably Twitter, and certainly Facebook. A church member sent me this Facebook thing here. And this is so sad. And I'm not laughing at this person, but you talk about someone who is really confused. And remember, God says that he wants all men to be saved. And so he's going to reach out to this individual in his good time. But meanwhile, this person says, I think that being in the LGBT community is not against God, because we are made in his image, and this is not a choice.

See, we don't have a choice. We don't have free will. We're just made that way. And we are not nice. And when he says we are not nice, he means people that pick on them. We are not nice, but we just want to be loved. And so these people, speaking of themselves, these people just want to be loved and accepted in their truth. Now, this is why I read John 8, 32, because Christ says, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

And in John 17, 17, let's go back to that. It's not a matter of their truth. It is, you know, accept them in their truth. That's not the point, brethren. In John 17, in verse 17, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.

And we must again be ready to always give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Maybe this person, and then this person goes on and quotes 1 Corinthians 13, 6-8, Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth, it always protects, preserves, hopes, and so on. Love never fails. But this person does not consider the first commandment, which is you love God, as I talked about last Saturday. You love God with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength. Now, as brash and blustery as this person is, I think maybe he's crying out for help. I think maybe he's crying out for an answer. Now, I don't know. I'm just suggesting that.

So you have this one thing here. You don't have free will, anything goes, and no one can judge me. The scientists say you don't have free will. It's not my choice. You got that. I'll do anything I want to, and that's okay.

Then, you have the opposite choice. I read this to you some time ago, and this was the one that people were all upset about what was being taught at Sunday school, because the teacher was teaching some truth at Sunday school. Someone said this, someone said this, it's your choice of what you believe. It's your choice. So, one person says, we don't have a choice. I can believe whatever I want to believe. Another person says, oh no, it's your choice, and you can believe what anybody, you know, it's not anybody else's, it's your choice. You don't have to believe the same as anybody. So, you got two opposites here. I don't have a choice, I'll do whatever I want, and you do have a choice. Do whatever you want. It takes you to the same conclusion, the same wrong conclusion, do whatever feels right to you. You know, the book of Judges ends with that one verse, well, it's actually twice in there, Judges. There was no king in the land, there was no central government. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. It's the last verse in the book of Judges. The book of Judges is a very depressing book to read, because that was their conclusion. That's what they were doing. So, do you see the horrible errors in all of this? First of all, I don't have a choice, I can do whatever I want to do. The other one says, I do have a choice, so I'll do whatever I want to do. Now, how can we combat the assault that is on our minds? And how can we help others too? Because maybe people who seem so confident and so assure themselves, maybe, actually, maybe not even knowing it, would like to get some help. So, we have solution number one here, and that is our Christian foundation.

So, we can go to the next slide. Here's the slide here. Our Christian foundation is based upon repentance, faith in God, and Jesus Christ. That's really important. Obedience, and then surrendering to the will of God. Jesus said, Father, if you'd be willing, you'd be willing to let this cup pass from me. Luke 22, 42, Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. So, this is our Christian foundation, and it's repentance. It's not easy. It's faith in God and Jesus Christ. It's obedience and surrender to God's will. So, the next slide on our Christian foundation is prayer, Bible study, and fasting. That is more than once a year. I think I can indicate to you, perhaps in a sermon on fasting, that it is. We are to fast more than once a year. Now, maybe I have a third slide. Do I or not? No third slide. Well, that's it. Well, okay. Because my technical staff this morning lined them up side by side. I may go back to them. Because we need this to get to the other slide. In other words, in order for us to really repent and have faith in God and Jesus Christ, to be obedient, to be willing to surrender to God's will, we have to keep up our prayer life, our Bible study life, and our fasting. But we can't just do that and not this. We can't do that and not this because the Pharisees would pray in Bible study and fast, but they wouldn't surrender to God's will. They wouldn't be obedient to God. They wouldn't repent. So maybe you could toggle forth back and forth. I have the best we can do here. Oops. Okay. There it is to number one. That's one. That's two. You've got to have both. We have to have both in the Christian... There is a way to do that. Make a new slide. And then, yeah, maybe you can fool around with a little bit of that. Make a... let's see... where does it say here? Anyway, new slide somewhere. And they'll get to work. Our staff will get to work on it. But if they don't, fine. If they do, fine. So the point is, our Christian foundation is made up of repentance, obedience, faith, faith in God, faith in Christ, and submission to God. Okay. Hopefully you can maybe see that. Those two slides, back and forth, back and forth. You can't have one without the other. You've got to have the repentance, the faith in God, obedience, surrender to God's will. But you can't do that without the prayer and the Bible study and the fasting as well. These two go together. You cannot have one without the other. And that is our number one solution, our Christian foundation. So we can leave that up if you want to. That's fine. That's all I have for the slideshow today. But let's go now to solution number two. This is solution number one, our Christian foundation. Solution number two is to recall the basic scriptures of the Bible.

Recall the scriptures of our Christian faith and be ready to call upon them if need be. So, brethren, what are your scriptures? What is your mini Bible? What is the short version of a very big book? What is your short version? What are your favorite ten scriptures? You should have another favorite ten or fifteen scriptures. And maybe mine are not the same as yours. But you really need to have them.

And we need to have them so much in faith, you know, in our minds, that they just bleed out of us in that sense. They come from us, and that is the way we become the light of the world. And that is the way we become the salt of the earth. Now, I'll give you a few of mine. Just for example. Genesis 1.1 is one of my foundational scriptures. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

That speaks against evolution. That to me is a key scripture. Frankly, if there wasn't that verse, there wouldn't be any Bible. If there's no God, in the beginning God, there's no God, then there's no Bible. So that's very important. And then John 1.1 is a kind of an addition to that. John 1.1 says that, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So you have God, and then you have the Word, who we know is Jesus Christ. Those are some basic scriptures. John 3.16, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Another key scripture, where I talked about Last Sabbath, the First Commandment. We shall love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, our soul, the law of our mind, and all of our strength. That's the First Commandment. Mark 12.30. Mark 12.31, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And as I brought out Last Sabbath, the world, the society, starts with the Second Commandment. Well, it's kind of like, and by the way, I talked about the El Capitan, that was a mistake. It's actually half dome in Yosemite. A California native corrected me, thankfully, for that. That half dome is cut in half. And so if you start, it's a beautiful rock, but it's half of its missing.

And so if you start with the Second Commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, but you don't love God enough to let God define what love is, then you won't be making the mistakes that we see on Facebook, for example. 1 John 5, verses 2 and 3. 1 John 5, verses 2 and 3. By this we know that we love the children of God. How do we love people? I mean, how do we love people?

How do we love people who are struggling, maybe with an addiction? How do we love them? And maybe they're really struggling with something bad. Well, how do we love them when we love God and keep the commandments, or keep His commandments? For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. The only way we can love our neighbor is to love God first. Well, there's other scriptures, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, my protector, I shall have no lack.

Another big scripture is the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Mount, that is the outline of true Christianity. If you want to see Christianity summarized in three chapters, that's the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6 contains the outline prayer, which is just one of the most important of the verses and of the scriptures in the Bible. It is prophetic. It speaks of, thy kingdom come. Christ returned, we pray that His kingdom come soon. There are many religious people out there who don't think there's much time left. I talked to a lot of people talking to an undertaker, and of course, he knows I'm a minister, and he said, I just don't think, looking at the signs of the times, he said, I don't think there's much time left.

Now, as a minister, once people find out that I'm a minister, and if I meet a stranger, well, what do you do for a living? I'm a minister! They seem to, in many cases, kind of drop their guard, and they start talking religion. They want to know more, they want to learn more, they want to bounce their idea off of my head. And maybe it happens to you, too. Maybe when people find out that you are a Christian, they want to find out more about you and what you believe.

That's probably very likely. So anyway, we have our own basic list of scriptures, and these scriptures form our personal frame of reference. And therefore, out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth speaks. So we talk, you know, the Bible.

Maybe you've been called up for jury duty. And very few people, I don't know of anybody in the church, or how many years have I been a minister, but I've actually been forced to be on the jury, because when you tell them that, you know, God says, judge not lest you be not judged, and that you believe in forgiveness and repentance, and you explain that to the judge and the lawyer. Now, the defense attorney would love to have, he'd love you, because you'll hang the jury. But the price of your attorney, get rid of that person. She or he will waste the county's tax dollars. So there's very little danger. I mean, if you really believe what Matthew 7, 1 says, judge not lest you be judged, especially they will tell you that you're going to be called upon to judge doubtful matters. You won't have all the facts. Juries get manipulated all the time. We know that. You have to make maybe a life or death judgment on something you don't have all the facts on. So anyway, that's...if you ever called for jury duty, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I can give you some information, papers, and so on, and go from there. Jeremiah chapter 5, though, back to the problem. Jeremiah 5, back to the problem, verse 30. Verse 30 and 31.

After all, Isaiah 30 and verse 8. Isaiah 30 and verse 8. Now go and write it before them on a tablet and note it on a scroll that it may be for a time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear. They will not hear the law of the Lord. And who say the seers do not see, the prophets do not prophesy to us the right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy these seats, get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. That's the problem that's going on. Isaiah 56, and this is so true today, Isaiah 56 and verse 12. This is the news headlines of the day. Isaiah 56, 12. Come, one says, I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as today and much more abundant. Where's, let's party, let's go out on Friday night, get drunk, have a wonderful time, and next weekend we'll do the same thing all over again, and won't that just be wonderful, they think?

The nation is falling apart. We don't even see it. Well, we see it, of course, because God has given us a special knowledge, and with that knowledge comes responsibility. Jeremiah 2.32, I'll just read this to you.

Jeremiah 2.32, can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride, her attire? Can a bride going to the wedding forget her wedding dress? How many brides do you know that show up at the wedding party in their volleyball outfit? You know, they're volleyball players, and so they bring their, you know, they show up in their wedding with their volleyball attire.

Oops! I guess I wasn't dressed right. So can a bride forget her attire? Yet, Jeremiah 2.32, my people have forgotten me, days without number. Jeremiah 3.21, a voice was heard upon the high places, weeping in supplications of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.

This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures. This is Jeremiah 13.25, says the Lord, because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood. Jeremiah 18.15, because my people have forgotten me, and they have burned incense to vanity, asks about what it is, worshipping vanity, they have caused them to stumble in their ways from ancient paths, to walk in a path in a way not cast up.

Jeremiah was Jeremiah 18.15. Isaiah 63, as I mentioned, last Sabbath, God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. Jeremiah 63, verse 7, Isaiah 63.7, I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them, according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.

For He said, in God hoping the best, hoping the best, verse 8, Surely they are my people, children who will not lie. So He became their Savior, and their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them. Now, do you think God gets all haughty and, you know, and I can't think of any, just haughty and hard-hearted about people who struggle, with any kind of maybe dependency or any kind of difficulty? Do you think He just looks down on them and is haughty? God says in their affliction, He was afflicted. And of course He's that way.

He is our loving Father. And just like a father or a grandfather, mother, grandmother, they see their children in any kind of affliction. It hurts them. It hurts them. And so God is saying, hey, they got a problem. They're afflicted. He was afflicted. And His love and His pity, not just His love, but His pity, He redeemed them. He bore them and carried them all the days of old, but they rebelled and reaped His Holy Spirit. And so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.

But that is surely not the end of the story. Let's go to Hosea. Hosea gets very, very graphic in that God says that actually Christ was married to Old Testament Israel. But because of her sins, He had to divorce her. And that's the story here in Hosea. And looking at verse 2, bring charges against your mother, Hosea 2.2, bring charges, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. And then in verse 13, it says this, For I will punish her for the days of the bales, or the false gods, to which she burned incense.

She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry when after her lovers, but she forgot me. Then she forgot me, says the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her. I will rescue her. I will go after her. I will bring her into the wilderness to speak comfort to her. And I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Acore as the door of hope. She, his estranged wife, is going to come back, and she will sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the days when she came out of the land of Egypt.

And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call me my husband. You will no longer call me my master, or actually the Hebrew is Ishi and Baal. You will no longer call me Ishi, you will no longer call me Baal. For I will take from her the mouth of the name of the Baels, which are the false pagan gods, and they shall be remembered by their name no more. So, here's another quote I used it last week. I'll use it again.

Just let people know that it's okay to be who you are. Or someone else said, this is not a choice. And that's not a biblical statement. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 30. I don't have a choice. I can't choose. I don't have a choice. That's not biblical. Deuteronomy 30, verse 15, See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Therefore, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God will bless you in the land where you go to possess.

But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you will surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go and possess. I call heaven, verse 19, in earth, witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. So this idea of we can't choose is not my choice.

I don't have free will. That's all not biblical. God says choose. He says, I'll tell you what, I'll even give you the right answer. Choose life. Choose life. So we cannot get into the idea or let the world beat us down to the point where we say, well, these people, they just can't help themselves.

They're just victims of whatever they're victims of. David said repeatedly that he would choose God's way. It's like all of us. Me, you must choose God's way. So again, just to review solution number two, make your own basic scriptures of the Bible, your own, of your personal Christian faith, and then be ready to call upon them if need be. When someone says, I can't choose, I'll just do what I want to, there's a scripture for you right there.

Oh yeah, choose life. Choose life. Now solution number three, solution number one, our Christian foundation, number two, scriptures that you memorize, you have it close to you. Solution number three, don't always side with the underdog. Now the underdog is the one that's being picked on for their lifestyle, and the underdog finds too many people to side with them, and hardly anybody seems to side with the Bible. Proverbs 18, 17 says, He that is first in his own cause, seemeth just, but his neighbor comes and searcheth him.

So they might be able to say, well, because of this and because of that, I just can't help myself, but we should say, look, wait a minute, have you considered this? Have you considered such and such? And then go from there. There is hope, brethren, there is much hope. Let's go to Isaiah 51, Isaiah 51 and verses 1-8. Isaiah 51 verses 1-8. There is hope, and there is much hope.

Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn, and the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. I call him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. The land of Zion, the holy land is really very deserty, and yet God says he is going to turn that into the garden of Eden.

Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. For lack of time, I won't read the next four verses, but it really is. Well, let me see if I can find a... Let's just go to verse 8. For the mouth will eat them up like a garment, the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

Chapter 52, verse 10. Chapter 52, verse 10. The Lord is made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. So let's not forget that. Let's not give up on the afflicted, the oppressed, those who are struggling. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Let's go now to verse 12. You shall not go out with haste, nor by flight. 52, 12. For the Lord God will go before you. He leads us. He shows us the way, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. He protects us from the sneak attack of Satan that sneaks up behind us when we're not looking. He protects us in the front and in the back as well.

Isaiah 53, verse 12. Therefore, speaking of Messiah, speaking of Jesus Christ, therefore I will divide him apportion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sins of many.

So I'm just about running out of time. So let me just throw a few words out there for the friendly Facebook program. And Facebook, as you know, has all kinds of stuff going on it, but it has a lot of good stuff too.

And I appreciate the fact that brethren will post links to sermons, or maybe a link to an article they read, or BT Daily. And that's a good thing. That is a good thing. And maybe there are people out there who will really listen to your positive Facebook posts. And by the way, I'm not a Facebook person. It's just not for me. I don't have time. But my wife's on Facebook. She loves Facebook. She keeps up with the grandkids, the kids, her friends, the church. She's always sending me stuff from Facebook. Sends me pickle cartoons, pickles all that. And don't tell her this, but I haven't opened up all of them. She's been sending me all this stuff. Some of them are not open yet. Anyway, I'll get to them eventually. Maybe you want to go up to Alaska. I have free time and go get them. Do that, maybe. But what about Christmas time? Everybody, all your vows, you've got 200 people in the church, not in the church. You get all excited about Christmas. So let's do some math. We've got 10,000, let's just take a number, Christians that are on Facebook. And each one of them has 200 friends. Is that... sort of? And what if, okay, you got 10,000 times 200, that's 2 million. What if those 2 million put links about the truth about Christmas on there?

You know, the truth about Christmas, wouldn't that be a witness? Wouldn't that be something wonderful? To use Facebook in a positive way. And some of you are doing that, but it'd be nice if... maybe all of you are doing it. It'd be nice if 10,000 would do that. What if 100 or more people plugged the public appearance campaigns on that?

So, brethren, again, whatever we do, God says, 1 Corinthians 10, 31, whatever you do, whether you eat, drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Do all to the glory of God. And some of these people, don't you think, that have that, maybe that brash, that bluster, maybe a few of them are calling out for help?

Have you thought that might be the case? And maybe we could help them, being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. It says, to those who ask you, so I'm not asking you to stick your neck out there and get yourself in all kind of trouble, but to those who ask to be ready to give an answer, and who knows? Maybe your comments will get somebody thinking and save them from the Great Tribulation.