Staying the Plague

You know, I was thinking this past week, what is the most deadly contagious disease or plague from the standpoint of percentage of world population, you know, that we have had in the history of mankind? Well, one of the most deadly diseases which the world has ever experienced is, of course, I think all of you, by saying that, you would know instantly, it was the Black Death or the Bubonic Plague. Because 75 million people in Europe and Asia died as a result of the Bubonic Plague. Twenty to thirty million people died in Europe. And so the Black Death is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of Europe's population. Again, think about that in terms of its impact on society at the time. And think about that in terms of lost lives of people that, you know, may have been the kind of people that would be like a Mozart or someone like that in this time. And, of course, not having those people and having to go forward, man is, of course, where he is today. But, you know, the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death, as it became, was passed on by tiny fleas who were feeding off of rodents. And, of course, they did not know that in the Middle Ages, in the middle of the 14th century. And most did not receive the kind of treatment that they needed. They did not know it was caused by a tiny bacterium called Larcinia Pestis. And it gets into humans through the bloodstream and it swells up their lymph nodes.

And, of course, that is sort of the river of the body, the lymph system. And it swells those up and they become very infected. In Greek, the Greek word bubo, by the way, kind of sounds funny in fact, but it means swollen gland. The bacteria travels through the lymphatic system. It affects the host nodes. And, again, it kills two out of three people if they do not receive any treatment. You know, so I could mention a number of other diseases that have had a major impact upon the world in terms of the loss of life.

But, actually, there is a much more devastating disease that has taken place in the world. That plague began over 6,000 years ago and it is 99.999% effective in the sense of being the host of it to death.

And, you know, maybe we should say rather than 100% because, you know, we can look at scriptures and in fact show that that is the case. And it's very subtle. And most, all who have it, frankly, do not know they're infected. Do not know that they are going to die.

And so, brethren, it is important for us to know what that plague is, what that disease is. What is that plague, brethren? How do we stay this plague? How do we stop it? How can it be stopped dead in its tracks? And what's the result of this awful plague that man has had for the last 6,000 years? Let's go over to the book of Ezekiel. I think when we look at problems in the church, we have to look into the Bible to understand the days that we're living in.

But in Ezekiel 28 and down here in verse 12, it says, Son of man, it says, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

And you were in Eden. And of course, there were only two that were in Eden, or three that were in Eden. And of course, we know that was none other than Satan, the devil, and Adam and Eve.

And so here God says to this king of Tyre that you were in Eden. And of course, he's talking about this metaphorically because of course, Satan was working through at that time the king of Tyre. And it says, every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, the topaz, the diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper. And he names these different elements that were a part of what Satan had. And of course, before he rebelled. And it says, the workmanship of your timbrels and your pipes was prepared for you on the day that you were created.

Lucifer, of course, was that being who was a beautiful creation of God. He was a beautiful carob whose wings outstretched over the very throne of God at one time. It says in verse 14, it says, you were the anointed carob who covers. And so his wings stretched out over the throne of God. And it says, I established you and you were on the holy mountain of God. And you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.

And you were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created. And so he was this magnificent being. And it says, till iniquity was found in you. Now, what was that iniquity? It talks about here, about the abundance of your trading. You became filled with violence within. And you sinned.

It says, therefore I cast you out as profane, out of the mountain of God. And I destroyed you, O covering carob, from the midst of the fiery stones. And of course, Christ himself said, he saw Satan fall as lightning from the sky. And he says, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. And you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. And it says, I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings, that they may gaze at you. And of course, if you have a King James version, it actually says that he had vanity.

He had pride. And that was what caused him to rebel against Almighty God. And so, the cause, brethren, of this disease is vanity. You know, he thought he was beautiful. He thought he was perfect in every way. And in fact, he came to believe he was better than God. And so, that caused him to rebel against God. Let's go over to Isaiah 14. You know, we haven't talked about some of these things for a while, and maybe we forget how powerful Satan is, and what his attitude is, and how he does work on us to be like he is. You know, he's called the father of lies.

And of course, he wants us to participate with that lifestyle that he has. But here in Isaiah 14, down in verse 12, notice this, it says, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? And it says, Son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. The stars of heaven are the angels of God. If we go over to Revelation 1.20, we find that that is what a star is.

It's an angel. And I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation, on the farther sides of the north. And I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High, he said. And yet you shall be brought down to shield, to the lowest depths of the pit.

And you know, it actually talks about here in the next verse how people are going to gaze on you. And we believe during the time of the millennium that there may very well be a pit, an abyss where Satan is going to be held and people will be able to go and look into that pit and there Satan will be. And they will wonder how such a being could weaken the nations, could impact the nations in the way he did.

Revelation 12. Revelation 12. Over here, of course, John is inspired to write these words down of both an ancient and a future battle that is going to take place. But in Revelation chapter 12 and down in verse 7, it says, And war broke out in heaven. This is when Lucifer thought he could take God's throne. And Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought. And it says, They did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. And it says, So that the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And of course, by his tail were told that he drew a third of all the angels. And so out of his vanity that he had, out of his pride about what God, in fact, had given him, he was able to deceive one-third of all the angels. And they were cast down to the earth along with him. I was thinking about that this morning as I woke up. We live on a planet where there are a third of all the angels of God that turned into demons. We live on that planet. Well, that is. Is it any wonder we have the world that we see out there right now? It's because this is the work of the devil, this world. And in the end, we know that Jesus Christ is going to come back and he's going to set up his government and he's going to rid this earth of the problems that it has. And he's going to, in fact, eventually cast Satan in outer darkness, according to what the Bible tells us. And we know this Lucifer, who was this beautiful and this splendid being that God had created, he turned ugly, very ugly and distorted. And God changed his name to Satan, which means adversary. And this war caused devastation, by the way, on the earth. And we, of course, demise that it occurred throughout the universe, this great battle that took place. You know, we look at, of course, the devastation on the moon and we look at even things that have happened and we see craters even on earth.

Wherever you look, we see devastation in this solar system that we've been able to be able to send out, you know, our satellites and our, when we send missions to fly by, to take pictures and that sort of thing. And so when we come along in Genesis chapter 1, we're looking at not a creation, but a recreation. Because God had created earth before to be inhabited, the Bible says. And He made it, of course, Satan made it into a world that was vain and empty, as it says in the Hebrew, to you and both of you. And this earth, you know, was, of course, nothing but a wounded orb in space that probably was surrounded such thick soup so that, in fact, sunshine cannot even get to the surface of the earth.

And all things were devastated. And then God, of course, recreated as we see. Now, we know that this prophecy in Revelation 12 in verse 7 through 9, that it has to do with the future time as well, because there's going to come a time where Satan is going to be cast down in the future. He's going to attempt again. He's going to attempt again to try to take over, but He's going to again be defeated. And, you know, once He is cast down, He's going to pursue the church and begin to persecute the church. And since the time, in fact, that He rebelled against God and His vanity caused Him from that very time forward, brethren, to go on a smear campaign against God. And so, since that time, brethren, He's been spirit-spearing the name of God. And, of course, Jesus Christ also, in Genesis 3, I'm not going to turn there, but Satan remembers, subtly approaches Adam and Eve, and he tells them that, you know, if, in fact, they make their own choice to take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that, you know, despite what God tells you, you're going to become as God's. And, of course, what he meant is you're going to be able to do what you want.

You can choose right from wrong yourselves, and you don't have to submit to what God tells you. And so, that's what he meant. And notice, though, in the account in Genesis chapter 3, that Satan worked through the woman to get to Adam. So, we see how Satan works, brethren.

He will try to come at us in any way he can. He knew, by the way, he could not get at Adam.

He knew he could not. Let me talk about that, why that was the case. Because he knew Adam understood what God had said. He understood what God had said. And he could not have gotten through to him because he would have answered Satan in his particular statement there.

But how he could get to Adam was through his wife when he advocated his responsibility to lead his wife. And, remember, in fact, Adam answered God about, where are you? Remember, God came looking for them. And what happened is he blamed his wife for the choices that he made.

And so, brethren, we've got to be very careful about how Satan can come to you. And I remember, in fact, before what happened in 1995 that Satan used children to get at their parents.

Parents were holding fast, but children caved in and accepted the false teachings of our former associations. And as a result of it, they turned away from the true doctrine that they had received. And so, we have to be very careful again in terms of how Satan will come at us. And, of course, what happened to them was a result, again, of Satan's own pride and his own vanity when he rebelled against God. And look how far it came. It came through the angels. And in Genesis 3, we see it coming into mankind. And so, Adam decided he was going to go along with his wife. And as a result of what he did, you know, all mankind has been in the same boat ever since. And, by the way, it does say in the New Testament that Adam was not deceived. But it does say that Eve was. She was the one that was deceived.

So, we need to be very careful, brethren, about allowing ourselves to develop this pride and this vanity. What does pride and vanity do, brethren, to us? What does it do to us? Well, it causes us to focus ourselves away from God so that we do not look to God.

We focus away from God. Now, let's look at Christ's instructions, brethren, to one of the mail route churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. You know, the church is said over there to be represented by all of the seven churches. You know, we, of course, know every church era had different personalities in terms of how they conducted themselves and some things God was pleased with, the different eras of the church that are mentioned over there, but sometimes He was not. Philadelphia, by the way, He was most pleased with, and we read a very positive word from Jesus Christ to Philadelphia. But let's go over to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. Let's notice something over here. It says, And to the angel of the church of Laodicea and right, these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginner of the creation of God. You know, so God begins here, Christ begins here, saying that He's a faithful and a true witness. In other words, God means what He says, and He says what He means. The problem with the Laodicean mind is somehow they think God doesn't mean what He says. You know, you read in the Bible, something is in the Bible, you know, some will have the idea, well, God doesn't understand my circumstance, so I don't have to do what God says that I should do. Well, God says to Laodicea in a church, He says, these things come from the faithful and true witness.

And it says, I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. And so, in this case, they are not up to what they're supposed to be. You know, they are neither cold nor are they hot. In other words, they're neither committed or uncommitted. You know, they're in between. They're sitting on the fence. I was always told you don't want to be caught sitting on a picket fence. It's not a very comfortable place to be. Well, God doesn't think it's a very comfortable place to be either. You know, how many of us, brethren, like lukewarm water? How many? I mean, I don't personally don't like that. I remember that when I used to haul hay, we would have a faucet there. We'd have to have that faucet run a long time in the hot summer before I would drink it. You know, the worst thing you want when you're sweating and when you're hot, and if you've been ever to the point where you're about ready to collapse, is to drink some lukewarm water. It has an effect, in fact, of wanting you want to vomit. And it says, so then, because you were lukewarm and neither cold or hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. And so, there's coming a time, brethren, when that's going to happen. And I think we need to be very aware that if we're not pleasing to God, if we're not doing those things that are pleasing to Him, then we will be vomited, you know, out of the mouth of God.

I think we need to be aware that, you know, some people have been in the church, unfortunately, on a smear campaign of the council and of the leadership of the church for a long, long time.

And, you know, some people think that the council is capricious, that we just snap to do things like that. Frankly, sometimes, I think we've waited too long. Because when a pastor is able to dupe his entire congregation, don't you think we've waited too long to act? I think we need to be aware, brethren, that in some cases we've done that, and we may end up paying the price of that.

But, you know, you have to ask yourself, do you think God would be pleased with people that are doing smear campaigns against anybody? Quite frankly, if I knew somebody was doing a smear campaign toward any one of you here, you know, I'd be very upset that it would make me sick if someone was trying to undermine any one of you in the church. And it says, going on, because you say, I'm rich. I don't have any problems, in other words. I'm rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. And it says, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You know, if we can't see our problems, what our problems are, you know, you can't sit across from somebody who was your brother and come to an agreement with that person and you walk out and you whisper things to other people in order to get people to complain against them and to undermine them. I think people are not seeing Christianity in the right and proper way. You know, the Bible tells us, judge not, what does it say, lest you be judged. You know, you want to put somebody else under a microscope, you know, and you better be prepared to have yourself put under a microscope in terms of your sins and your problems. And it says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eyesave that you may see. Brother and I will have to tell you, I have seen the letters of some people who have written against the counsel and against our president and, you know, even people that I have had respect for, a great deal of respect for, and it's all of a sudden I see, where is the Christianity? Where is the Christianity? It's like, you know, their clothes came off before my eyes. I said, well, I didn't know you were that way.

I wasn't aware of that, that you were that way. And so, brethren, think about these things. We go on down through here and notice that God is calling upon us to overcome all the way through, in fact, these two chapters regarding the seven churches. And, of course, every one of the churches, the things that are said to those churches applied to us in this time as well, as we've understood in the church. There are seven eras of the church and also all the characteristics we need to examine in our own personal lives to make sure we don't have those problems. But we get down here, we see that they're, in fact, sent into the time of the trial or tribulation here, as verse 18 shows. But it says, as many as I love I rebuke and chasten therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me in my throne as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. You know, I think we need to be aware of what Jesus Christ did when he was taken before Pilate and Herod. What did he say? In some cases he said absolutely nothing. He was like a lamb to the slaughter. And yet some people, it seems, are willing to share some of the executive sessions that are in the Council of Elders with other people to use as ways to smear, again, people within the church. So Christ is standing at the door, brethren, knocking. But you know, you think about it. If somebody is really sick as a result of maybe a disease, you know, if somebody is really sick, what happens when somebody becomes very, very sick? You know what? They become very delusional. I don't know if you've ever had somebody hit you on the head before and it jarred your brain. You know, one time I was swimming in a, maybe this explains why I'm the way I am, but I had somebody jump on my neck. I was not very old. I was about, as I remember, nine or ten, something like that. And it stunned my whole body. And I was standing in the water, by the way, it was that shallow. And people tried to talk to me, but I couldn't hear them.

It's like my whole brain was stunned. But, you know, when you have a sickness, sometimes you can say things in delirium as well. But people get delusional. They can imagine things. And, you know, getting to them, it might be very difficult. But, you know, Christ is trying to get to all of us, brethren. He's knocking on that door. Are we going to let him come in?

Are we going to let him lead us in our lives? You know, we need to really think about this, brethren. It's like in our former association. Once someone was bitten with a bug of false doctrines, you know, they couldn't listen anymore. They wouldn't listen anymore. You could sit and talk to them until you were blue in the face. And then they were not going to get it. It's like telling people, look, you shouldn't be judging people. You should not be smearing people.

You know, some are delusional in that sense. And somehow that bug is bitten them, and they just can't let go of that. They can't let go of it. They can't put it in God's hands. Well, what was the result, brethren, in our former association? Because many of the people began to be against the truth, well, they began to yak at each other. And pretty soon, that particular bug or that particular virus consumed 80% of our former association. And I might actually be too low on that. And so that's what a viral thing can do. That's what sometimes vanity can do. It can produce that. It spreads from one person to another. You know, as I've said to you, brethren, and I've tried to as a shepherd to lead you in understanding these things that are happening in the Church now. I don't think you're going to argue with me that our previous test in the Church, from our former association back in 1995, the test was doctrine. Were you going to hold fast with the truth? The test is different now. The test today, brethren, is a matter of government.

That is what it's all about. And whether you will let Christ rule the Church, and whether you will let, you know, Christ deal through the Church and solve its own problems. We have a process, and that process, I believe, was inspired of Jesus Christ when we gathered in 1995.

Let's let that process work, brethren. We're being tested again on government.

Will we allow Christ to rule His Church? You know, we haven't talked much about government in the Church. Personally, I think that that has been a mistake that we've made.

And so I can recognize mistakes that we've made in the Church. But you know why we haven't talked about government? It's because government means control of some sort.

And people don't want anybody telling them what they should do. They really don't.

They don't want anybody to tell them that. I hope you're not that way, because what is being told you is what is from God's Word. What is being instructed is from God's Word, brethren. You know, when we were baptized, you know, what did we do, brethren? You know what we did? We surrendered to Jesus Christ. You know, I'm reminded of that in talking to those who are going to be baptized in the last several months, you know, about how that you have to surrender to Jesus Christ and submit to Jesus Christ, and not your own way, not your own will. You can't be self-will. And, brethren, what is that? What is that if we're submitting to Jesus Christ? It's His government. Let's go over to Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7. I want you to think about these things, brethren. Again, we haven't talked about these things in a long, long time, but we need to realize that in the church there is government. Here it says in Isaiah 9, verse 6 through 7, it says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and a government will be upon his shoulder, it says. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Government. That's why Christ was born. Government. Let's go to Romans 13, Romans 13, in verses 1 and 2. Romans 13 and verses 1 and 2.

Here it says, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. Let there be no authority, it says, For there is no authority except from God. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and it says, And those who resist will bring judgment upon themselves.

And so what does those verses do? It shows us that we shouldn't be rebelling against our government. We should not get in picket lines and begin to say, Well, down with the government.

That's not our job, as God's people. Let me ask you, rather, in light of those two verses that we just read, and I could read some more, but I'm not going to do it. If Christ doesn't rule through His church, brethren, tell me where He rules. Where does He rule? He doesn't rule through His church. And if He does not rule in His church, why do we have scriptures like this in the Bible in the first place? Why does it make known to us that His government is going to be upon the earth?

And we're going to be a part of that government. We're going to be kings and priests in that government in the future. And if we're told and commanded to submit to the governments of the world, then why not in the church? You know, what Mr. Armstrong used to say time and time again, he says, God will not allow anyone in His kingdom who can't be ruled. Who can't be ruled.

Let's go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. It's been a while since we've read these verses over here, but in Hebrews 13 and verse 7, and it says in verse 7, Remember those who rule over you, remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. And then in verse 8 it says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So Christ does not change. And it talks about people having rule, and of course not like a king or magistrate, but someone that has the job of being an overseer, someone who has the job of guiding the spiritual of the church. The church doesn't certainly have any rulership over your personal life, doesn't have any rulership over your money, doesn't have any rulership over those things. We know that that is between you and God. But when it comes to teaching and instructing and guiding, the church does have that responsibility to manage the church of God.

It's no secret that the Corinthians did not accept Paul's right to leadership as an apostle of Jesus Christ. They were bucking against Paul. Some like Apollos, some like Peter, some like maybe somebody else, but they would not listen to Paul. You know, sometimes Paul, in fact, you know, when there was a controversy, no one stood with him. He was the only one. Even people that should have stood with with the apostle Paul did not stand with him. And he had to battle things, you know, in the church and certainly there in Corinth. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, or chapter 1, I should say.

But in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, you know, the Corinthians were told by Paul that he was going to come and he was going to visit with them and as things turned out he was not able to come, as he thought he was able to do. You know, a lot of the people got upset over that in Corinth.

You know, here he said he was going to come and Paul didn't end up coming.

And I don't know what happened. Maybe there were those that were there that they began to say, you know, you can't really trust Paul. He said he was going to come. He didn't come. You know, you can't really rely on Paul as though Paul had a choice wherever he went, you know, sometimes.

You know, most of the time you and I could decide where we're going to be and go there.

But you know, if something happens to your life, you may have a change of plans.

And if Paul couldn't pick up a telephone and say, hey, folks down there in Corinth, I, you know, I'm not going to be there. I can't make it. He wasn't able to do that. But let's notice here in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 down to verse 24. In verse 24, it says, not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand. And you know, it may have been that some within the Corinthian church may have been so upset that it bothered their spiritual life. No, brethren, I would hope, frankly, if I told you I was going to come and I didn't make it to your place, I would hope you'd be worried what happened to him.

You know, you wouldn't be saying, well, look, he said he was going to come.

I don't know about this church, you know, what kind of people these are. You know, Paul says, not that we have dominion over your faith. That word dominion, by the way, means to rule, by the way. And it means to exercise lordship. Faith is conviction. Faith is conviction.

Paul could just have easily been saying that, look, you know, if something happens, I can't, my yes, it used to be a yes, and it turns out to be a no, and I can't make it, you know, it shouldn't impact your conviction about the truth. You should still believe. You should still have faith, in other words. I'm just trying to put it in a way that maybe we can understand it a little better. No, so Paul says, I can't change your convictions. And, of course, they need to understand also, even though Paul said that, and you can read a few verses up, that Paul was pointing out who had taught them. On up here, it mentions about it. My eye does not fall on it. I hope it doesn't. But in verse 19, it says, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, it says, by me, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him, in Christ, yes.

I hope we understand, brethren, that with Christ, everything's a yes.

He says he's going to do something for you. It's a yes. There's no no in it, in other words. It's a yes if he says it. If God makes a promise, it's a yes. And that's always the way it's going to be.

But for men, men, human beings, men and women, it might be a yes and it could be a no.

Or it might be a maybe with us, because we, in fact, are limited by our physical resources, aren't we? I know this is a hard thing to really understand what Paul is saying here.

But God, yes, all the time. Man, yes and no. That's our nature.

Hopefully, though, we hope that when we say something, we're going to carry through and do it.

I think that Paul was such a person. If at all possible, he would have done it. But sometimes, he had a change in plans. You know, Paul said he didn't have any dominion over their faith.

You know, like we've often said, the old ad is you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can't make him drink. You know, pride, brethren, and vanity will not allow someone to accept clear instruction and to apply it. Pride and vanity.

You know, it's like it says in Romans 8-7. What does it say over there in Romans 8-7?

Without looking over there. What does it say? The carnal mind is enmity against God.

It is not subject to the law of God, and neither, indeed, can be. So, if we're going to let our carnal minds reign, and the Corinthians had a problem with that because Paul called them carnal. And I believe it was 1 Corinthians 3. He said, Are you not carnal? So, pride and vanity will not allow someone to accept clear instruction and apply it. Let's go over to 1 Peter 5.

1 Peter 5. Here, Peter is addressing elders, and I'm sure by extension us today, and probably the people of that time as well. But in 1 Peter 5 and verse 1, notice it says, The elders who are among you I exhort. And it says, I who am a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. And so Paul, or Peter here, I should say, was an elder, and there were other elders. He said to them, verse 2, Shepherds the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

And it says, And when the chief shepherd, that's of course Jesus Christ appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. And it says, Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, he says. Be clothed with humility. Of course, here we're talking about elders, and we see the application in the church as well, but he says we've got to be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud. You know, those are going to let their pride and their vanity, in other words, get in the way, but gives grace to those that are the humble. The humble.

It's very interesting, by the way, in that phrase, to be clothed with humility. This is from Barnes Notes of the Bible. It says, and I quote, The word here rendered be clothed, which in the Greek is echo boomai, and it says, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from combos, which is merely a strip, a string, or a loop to fashion a garment. And so it's quite different than to be the Greek word for to be clothed. And it says, and then the word, it refers, particularly, I've missed a couple of things in here, but it says the word echo boomai, refers particularly to a long white apron or outer garment that was commonly worn by slaves.

There is, therefore, special force in the use of this word here. And it says, as denoting and humble mind. It says, they were to be willing to take any place to perform any office, however humble, in order to serve and benefit others. They were not to assume a style of dignity of state and authority as if they would lord it over others, or as if they were better than others, but they were to be willing to occupy any station, however humble, by which they might honor God. And it says, it is known that not a few of the early Christians actually sold themselves as slaves in order that they might preach the gospel to those who were in bondage. And it says the sense here is they were to put on humility as a servant bound fast to him the apron that was significant of his stature or his station. In other words, this particular thing that Peter is saying here, to be clothed with humility, is to take on the garments of a slave. Have a mentality of being willing to do even the very lowest thing. I remember when I went to Ambassador College, the attitude of people at that time was just that. The attitudes of people were that basically I would do anything that I can do to help the church. I remember one man that was in charge of the latrine, and he used to joke how he cleaned those toilets up, cleaned as a whistle, and if he flushed them all together, it'd be a royal flush. And that man became a minister in the church. But we ought to have that attitude. The younger should listen to the elder, people that have more experience from what we see here, and that should be what it should be in the church. But pride and vanity, brethren, will not permit us to submit to each other. It will not permit us to do that.

I have to be honest that probably at Ambassador College, too, we had men that would not work under other men. So there was that attitude, too, that was there. They had such pride and vanity, they felt that they deserved to be above another man. I remember one such occasion. Let's go over to 1st Samuel chapter 15. One such occasion where a minister was ordained. This is a long, long time ago, brethren. I hate to reveal to you the carnality of some ministers, but I'm sure you've seen it before. But there was a man that was ordained an elder, and there happened to be in the same church area another man who was training to be an elder. But when the man who was ordained was ordained, you know, he complained to the pastor that the fellow that was the other assistant was not calling him Mr. And so he took the man who was training before the pastor and told the pastor with that man present with him what this man had not been doing. And so the pastor said, okay, we'll take care of that. And he ordained the other man. But you see what I'm talking about, brethren, pride and vanity. Pride and vanity. I have no idea what happened to either of those men. But, brethren, you know, we can't allow pride and vanity to get in our way. We need to have an attitude of submission to one another. In 1 Samuel chapter 15 and verse 22, it's so Samuel said, has the Lord as much great light and burnt offridge and sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the eternal. So God wants us to obey him. That's his desire for us. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fan of Iran's for rebellion. Rebellion. Now, by the way, Saul didn't think he had rebelled against God.

He didn't see that as a problem because he did something different than what Saul had been told.

It says, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Do we know what witchcraft is?

No. What do witches do? You know, they do the witches brew, they make potions, and you know, a woman wants somebody to love her or vice versa. They make a potion, a love potion, to somehow change someone to sort of force them to do what they don't do naturally.

And so rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness. Now, you've never been stubborn, I know. None of you here. You know how people can be sort of digging in and put that lower lip out, and it's just determined not to cave in. No, I'm going to stick with what I think.

Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. It is as though someone kneeled before an idol.

And he said to Saul, because you've rejected the word of God, he also has been rejected you from being king. So stubbornness and rebellion are horrible.

Now, when we're talking about stubbornness, by the way, who is the idol that is being worshiped?

Our own vanity, our own pride. That's the worst kind of idolatry that a person can have.

They're worshiping themselves above what God says and what God instructs.

And so, you know, if we rebel against God, again, I told you, I said before, God does not build anything on rebellion. We might as well be a witch. You know, if we're going to be stubborn, we might as well go again bow down before an idol, because our vanity, our pride is the thing that we value the most. The problem with rebellion, brethren, is it can be a seed in us that can grow to affect other people. The current problem that we have within the church right now started probably with one or two people. Think about that. One or two people. And it grew from that.

I don't know who they were, by the way, but woe to them, you know, because the Bible talks about offenses coming, but woe to that person through whom the offense comes. It can impact so many people. And, you know, we need to, again, be aware. I'm not going to go to Hebrews 12 and verses 14 through 16, but it talks about over there about how, you know, bitterness can defile us, and as a result of that, many can be defiled. And it tells us also over there, brethren, to seek to be at peace with all men. You know, we need to be at peace with people. You see, if we lose, brethren, that direction, we begin to forget these things that God is telling us in His Word. If we get defiled, brethren, we could lose our eternal life. It's that dangerous. It's that bad. You know, we get bitter. We begin to, you know, smear other people as the way that some have done, you know, their eternal life could be in jeopardy. Of course, I know they're right. They think they're right.

No. And maybe their reputation has been good before, but one thing can smear it. You know, fly in the ointment. Can it affect us? And people think about us differently and, in fact, God's thinking about us differently, which is far worse. It can cause us a lash out of anger and resort to unchristian behavior. Let's go to Titus in chapter one. Titus in chapter one.

You know, I know sometimes we don't like to hear things where we might say something that could be a problem that someone we know and we love, maybe even a minister that we know and we love, is wrong. You know, if we let friendship get in the way of seeing the truth, that's like, in fact, our pride and vanity, too, of not being able to accept the realities.

In Titus 1 and verse 7, it says, for a bishop must be blameless, it says, as a steward of God, not self-willed. You know, I can't be up here as a loose cannon, brethren. If I thought I had to do things that, frankly, others have done, I think I would just simply say, I'm going to step down because I just am not going to engage in any of this kind of thing, and I would step aside.

And I would tell the church, look, don't forget me. You know, I just, if I had a conscious problem about something, and by the way, I've had conscious problems in the United Church of God sometimes. But, you know, where I've had conscious problems and I've gone to home office, they have always heard me. Always. And I'm thankful for that, that they did, because there was one thing that occurred that I felt, you know, that needed to be resolved. And it was resolved. And it says, not quick temper or given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faith for word as he's been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. And so this is what an elder is supposed to do. For there are many insubordinate.

Here Paul is saying there are many that are insubordinate. It says, both aisle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, whose subvert whole houses, teaching things they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. But we have to be careful, brethren. We have to stand in the gap. You know, look at the book of, I believe it's Jeremiah or Ezekiel, where it talks about that God sought a man who would stand in the gap. There have been times when there have been men through history have had to stand in the gap. When God's people were going the wrong way, and brethren, when some were doing and saying the wrong things, and you just have to stand up and you have to say what is right.

So an elder can't be self-willed, but he has to be submissive to Christ. He has to protect the flock over which he has the responsibility of being a shepherd. Whole houses can be subverted or overturned in the church if he is not. Then the problem, of course, was the Jews.

Now it might be something else. But it's the same, again, requirement that is put upon the elders of the church, that we have a responsibility. Sometimes Satan launches a subversion campaign within the church, and again, you have to stand in the gap and keep it out.

To keep it out. It doesn't mean we're not listening to what people are saying, by the way.

But we have to stay the plague, stay a plague that could affect the church.

Because your salvation is important to you, and brethren, it is important to me. It really is.

And if this wasn't the place to be, I wouldn't be here. I just wouldn't be.

You know, one reason they don't want, by the way, when sometimes people are, again, undermining, subversive in their actions. One reason they don't want to be considered rebellious is they know what God's word says about it. How do you get away with that? You know, how do you get away with rebelling in the church of God? But God speaks a lot about attitudes, rebellious attitudes. Rebellion is never the solution, but you know what it is? It's a recognition, brethren, that we need to look to Jesus Christ. For recognition, we need to do that.

We get an attitude or rebellion that we need to be looking to Jesus Christ. We ought to step aside.

We need to pray, brethren, and not go about speaking against the leaders of the church, or anybody in the church, for that matter. We shouldn't be in that prospect. You know, many times Israel, in the wilderness, rebelled against Moses.

I'm not going to go through each of these times that are mentioned in the Bible, but, you know, what is very interesting, it was always the many against Moses. In fact, way more than the majority of the people of Israel were against Moses and Aaron, by the way. Let me give you four in the Old Testament. Number one, Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses, saying God spoke through them. You know, that, of course, was in Numbers 12, and there it was two against one.

Miriam, apparently, was the ringleader of that, and Aaron here, he just went along with his sister in that particular case. She was older than Aaron and Moses as well. And Miriam was struck with leprosy. Remember the account? Moses prayed that God would heal the leprosy, and it was healed.

But she had to be put out by the camp of Israel also during that time as a punishment. Number two, 12 men of Israel were sent to spy out the land, and ten returned with a bad report, and two with a good report. The majority were against the good report. It was only the two, Joshua and Caleb, that had had the good report about the land. That's Numbers 13, by the way.

Number three, afterward, all the congregation against Moses and Aaron. And so that was probably nearly everyone except Joshua and Caleb and Aaron and Moses. There might have been others, of course, but they're not listed there. What happened to the people then? When everybody rose up in rebellion against Moses, they thought it was just against Moses and Aaron, but it was against God. And they were sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until every one of those people that wanted to gather congregation and go back to Egypt, they ended up dying all of them in the wilderness as they wandered for 40 years. Number four, Korah and others stirred Israel up against Moses. Again, it was the many against the one, the two that hung on. And it says there, and we read this one in Numbers 16, that what happened is that God singled out Korah, Nathan and Byron's family, and they were brought down into the earth as the earth opened up and swallowed them. And all those that were with him and stood with them were destroyed. So those are just four. There are others throughout the book of Numbers if you want to go through there and do a whole long list of it. But, you know, what probably happened when these people rebelled from Korah, Nathan, and Byron, all of them, is that we have a right to do this. And they had all the good reasons why they needed to challenge Moses and Aaron, but, you know what, they were wrong.

God does not like rebellion. He doesn't like complaining. He doesn't like, you know, people carting all the time. And so rebellion, brethren, is always wrong because it allows into us a wrong spirit. In fact, there's one passage that is in the examples I gave you that talks about where there was a wrong spirit in the people. And so it creates a wrong spirit, and then one person spreads the spirit to another and causes division in the church.

And in that case, it was the church in the wilderness.

I'm not going to turn to this, but in Proverbs 6 and verse 16 through 19, it says, These six things does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations.

You know, people are just always faking up. You know, something that is wicked, maybe in this case could refer to people that are imagining what those in leadership are doing, which is amazing, you know. And it says, feet that be swift and running to mischief, and verse 19, and that this is one we need to really be aware of. Because you know what?

God focuses in on this person, not the problem that the other had, but this person, it says, a false witness that spreads or speaks lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren.

So God hates that person. And so, I don't know about you, but I don't want to ever be there in that spot for any reason, for any reason. Let's go to Romans 16. Romans 16.

Again, the people that don't want to be considered rebellious, rather, don't want to be called rebellious because they know what the Bible says. In Romans 16 and verse 17, or, yeah, 16 and verse 17. Of course, if we take rebellion out of the equation entirely, brethren, from people, then what can anybody say against what anybody does?

In Romans 16, down here to verse 17, it says, Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause the visions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.

And it says, For those who are such, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech, it says, deceive the hearts of the simple.

Sometimes, in fact, it is amazing what people do. I remember down in Phoenix, Arizona, I had men, there were a couple of them that were involved, that were taking the widows of the church out, whining and dining them, and trying to talk them into keeping the passover on a different day that the church teaches. And those men were my friends, by the way.

Friends, I guess you put that in quotes, whether they're friends. And I told brethren, I said, Anyone brings you another doctrine, don't have anything to do with them. And the brethren just, eventually, not eventually, but instantly, separated from these people. Because they knew who they were. I didn't mention anybody's name about it. And, of course, wouldn't do that.

You know, so we need to, again, keep these things in line, brethren, as we're going through these trials that we're experiencing in the church.

You know what some people are saying now, in answer to, don't call us rebellious, some have said they are following Christ in the rebellion against the church.

It's amazing what people say. You know, it's like some people are saying that they have these groups, they're not really churches. You know, you ask them, well, do you have, you know, prayers? You know, do we have singing? Yes. You have sermon? Yes. Well, what is it? What is it?

But some are saying, no, these aren't churches, they're just refuges.

They're havens. I said, so you're really not going to church on the Sabbath?

Because, you know, my Bible tells me to keep the convocation.

So if you're not a church, then you're not keeping the convocation, so you're breaking the Sabbath.

So, again, people need to think about what they're saying.

You know, personally, I see little wisdom in a man who says he's following the head of the church, if at the same time he is doing all he can to cut off the legs of the church.

Because, you know, if you cut off the legs of the church, what's going to happen?

It's going to be like a tree falling, isn't it? And so we need to realize, brethren, sometimes some of the things that people say don't make any sense. You know, our teenagers, all of them, of course, went through puberty. And, you know, when those hormones began circulating in the body, it makes you think differently, doesn't it? And I think anybody who's ever had a teenager knows that when they began to think a little different, that, you know, it's not like when they were like, you know, six years old or eight years old. Now, of course, they've got a mind of their own, and they let you know that. But, you know, when a teenager rebels, what does it do? It opens up the door of all kinds of evil and destructive behaviors. And so, brethren, we can't allow our minds to be open to rebellion. You know, the examples of the Old Testament church and the wilderness were written so that we could learn from them, as we read, I think, last week in 1 Corinthians 10, 11.

Unfortunately, we have a problem in the church that has gone viral among us, because some have not learned the lessons according to the Bible, and that is that we should not be rebellious as God's people. And they are being by their actions. You know, during one of the many times when Israel gathered against Moses, they complained they were without water. You remember the account, how they were much better off than Egypt. You know, that must have grated on God's ears to to hear that, and certainly Moses as well. And they said, oh, we know we were in Egypt, we had the figs, and we had the grain, we had the pomegranates, and we had just plenty of water.

And one thing is we just hate this manna. Manna, manna, manna is coming out of our ears.

Maybe somebody said back then, you know what happened when they faced Moses and Aaron?

It says they went into the tabernacle and fell on their faces. You know, those men were on their faces quite a lot, by the way, in the tabernacle. And God showed His glory before them. And you remember that God told Moses and Aaron to gather the people that speak to the rock, and it would yield water for Israel. And one of the few times Moses disobeyed, He said, here now, you rebels.

So Moses thought, look, they are a bunch of rebellious people. He said, here now, you rebels. Must we bring water for you out of the rock? And He struck the rock twice, and God backed him up and gave the water for Israel. But you know what? God was sorely displeased for this one infraction that Moses and Aaron were guilty of, that He held them accountable for their rebellion against God. And neither of them could enter the Promised Land for this one overt act, maybe more than just the act itself. You know, we know that perhaps things like that don't happen just in a split second. But you know, what it says in Numbers 20 and verse 24, that they rebelled against My word. They rebelled against My word. So God did not let them go into the Promised Land. And so people can say, well, you know, God wasn't, you know, cruel to, as some people would have interpreted, to Moses and Aaron. He seemed to be cruel to the children of Israel. Of course, that was not so. God was very tolerant of Israel.

And frankly, you know, He would rather not have had to do it. But there were times when He had to do it in dealing with Israel. And He did it with Moses and Aaron. And He punished them. Well, let's go over to Numbers 21 now. But Numbers, Chapter 21, Israel continued to journey, as we know, in the wilderness. But in Chapter 21, here, down in verse 4, you remember the account. We covered it a little bit in the Bible study. But in Chapter 24, verse 4, it says, Then they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Eden.

And the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. Nothing wrong with becoming discouraged at all. But it's what you do when you become discouraged that is important to monitor. And in verse 5, it says, And the people spoke against Moses, and against God, and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food, no water, and our soul loaves this worthless bread. Like I said to you, it was something very nourishing for them. It sustained them for 40 years in the wilderness. But it wasn't worthless bread. They could do many things with it. But it says, So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people that they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. It says, Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the eternal, and against you, prayed to the eternal, that He take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. And so we know the account of how that when they were told to make this fiery serpent and set it up on a pole.

And if the people looked at it and they had been bitten, they were allowed to live. In other words, it saved them by looking at this bronze serpent that Moses had put up there on a pole.

Now, God, of course, we know sent a plague among them here of the fiery serpent. And we know it was symbolic of something physical, certainly, that they could see before them. But, you know, the simple instructions to them was to look, you know, at the bronze serpent. You see, as I said, they didn't see God behind Moses. This is what caused them to rebel. But, you know, God said, Okay, I'm going to give you something simple. Just look at the serpent. Do what I tell you to do.

And when they did it, of course, they were healed. And, you know, the important point here, though, is God was trying to teach them to look to him. Do what I say. Do what I command you to do.

You know, see me behind Moses as I give my instructions to him. And don't rebel. Stop rebelling. And, you know, we know that people, as a result of their swelling pride, got screwed up time and time again. It was because they didn't see God behind Moses.

You know, all it takes, brother, is a few people to incite a full-scale rebellion in a large crowd.

And as I mentioned last week, Exodus 23, verses 1 through 2 says, you shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with a wicked to be an unrighteous witness. And it says, you shall not follow a crowd to do evil.

You shall not follow a crowd. And, of course, that's what, in fact, happened in ancient Israel time and time again. You know, the church, brethren, of God is no different today than in the church in the wilderness. The church was built by Christ, and Christ is the head of the church. And like in Moses' time, there are those not willing to be submissive to Christ's authority in the church. And they're inciting others to rebel. And quite a number are bitten. It's like a plague. You know, it's like it's passed on from one person to another. And the interesting thing is that some people seem to have a glee in passing around these rumors. You know, they just really are over thrilled. Some have a glee about the breakup of the church or split in the church.

They want it to happen. It's almost like they're egging it on, picking fights to make it happen.

Well, brethren, I hope that you realize that this is a plague. That's spreading. I hope that you can be aware of it and stop it. The only way, brethren, that you can stop it in the church.

And, brethren, I think all of us should want to see this plague stopped.

You know, we need to look to Jesus Christ. We said that time and time again. If people in ancient Israel looked at the serpent, the bronze serpent on the pole, they were saved. They were saved.

Let's go over to John 3. John 3.

Over here, we are told about Jesus Christ, our Lord.

In John chapter 3 and verse 14, it says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life or everlasting life.

In other words, brethren, do we believe? Ask yourself, do we believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the church? Do we believe that? If you believe that, brethren, look to Jesus Christ and you will receive salvation. You will be saved.

We don't just look to Christ once we're baptized, but we look to Christ all of our physical lives.

We're told not to be wise in our own eyes. We're told not to trust in ourselves, but to trust in the eternal. And it says, He will direct our paths. He won't make mistakes like we will if we try to solve the problems ourselves. The bubonic plague was devastating to the world in the mid-1300s when a third to two-thirds of the population of Europe died, and the cause of it was a tiny flea which spread a deadly disease. The only way that this plague in the church, brethren, can be stopped is if we begin to look to Christ, see Him behind the church, let Him solve our problems. If someone or something is wrong, He will correct it like He corrected Moses in the wilderness. He took care of those things in His own way. All of us are told not to judge or condemn or that we would be judged. Brother, let's get our vanity and our pride out of the way. Let's humble ourselves before our God and look to Christ. He's the only one who can save us from this plague.

And we are going to get through this problem that we have, brethren, in the church if we look to the loving leadership of Jesus Christ. The question is, brethren, will you, will you, look to Jesus Christ?