What Excuse Will You Use to Keep You Out of the Kingdom?

Good morning, everyone. There are three college professors from Texas who went to a conference in Brownsville. They're very conservative. They've never done very much. They were there on a Saturday, and they finally got together, began to talk. But you know, I've never been across the border.

I've never really done very much in my life. I've never seen the night life. So they decided they would cross the border and go down there that Saturday night. They went to this night spot, and they started drinking, and they didn't remember much what happened. In the course of being there, somebody had gotten killed at this night spot. So they woke up, found themselves in jail. They'd already had a quick gringo kangaroo court, and they were before the judge, and the judge had said, you've been sentenced to death.

We've got the execution chair sitting right here. What do you have to say for yourself? So the first one said, I am a professor from Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the world, and I believe in God as my deliverer, and He will deliver me from this hour of trial. The next one said, I am a professor of law from the University of Texas, I believe injustice and justice will prevail, and I will be exonerated. Then he turned to the other one. He said, I am a professor of electrical engineering at Texas A&M University and if you boys don't connect them two wires, there ain't going to be any execution here today.

We have to have at least one eggy joke. What excuse will you use to keep you out of the kingdom? The subtitle is, He who plays with fire will be burned. So what excuse will you use to keep you out of the kingdom? Here we are on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. We've heard over and over that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the wonderful world tomorrow, a world that we all desire to be in, at least I hope we all desire to be in it.

I know that I do. And one of the main reasons I desire to be in that kingdom has to do with my mother, my daddy, other relatives, friends, church members who have gone on before that I yearn to see my mother and my daddy and none of the family members of myself or my wife except for two or three children are in the church.

So I yearn to be in the kingdom of God. Now, all of this can sound quite religious, especially to a young person. As a young person, I didn't like religious-sounding things. I spent all of my spare time when I was not working or in school practicing the sports that were in season. There are only three sports, football, basketball, and baseball, and that's it. I grew up in a religious family and community. There were deacons and even a Baptist preacher in the family. My Uncle Bill was a Baptist preacher, and he had three boys about my age. I spent a lot of time with them, and oftentimes I'd spend the night with them.

Before we went to bed every night, Uncle Bill would call the family together and pray for about 30 minutes. I thought it would never end. I always tried to get a place where I could see out the window and hope the moon was shining, and that the old family dog Bingo would be playing.

He liked to play in the moonlight out there. It seemed to help pass the time. I just felt uncomfortable with religious things. And even though my parents were staunch Baptists and we never missed church services, we never had family prayer, and we didn't do a lot of religious things in the home. One time my dad was called on to give the closing prayer at church, and he turned to my mother and said, you do it.

And she did. Finally started asking the blessing after Mother kept urging him. I guess my brother and I were about 10 or 12 when he started asking the blessing, and it was a rote mumble that you would hardly understand. Their teaching was principally through example, and they taught us a lot. My brother and I. But from my earliest memories, I had a relationship with God. There were many nights that I would pray myself to sleep, especially beginning around the age of 12 or 13.

My wife, I'm sorry, my mother came home and told us that she had cancer. And you just thought, well, that's the death sentence. And about that time, the Korean War broke out, and he had all this talk about atom bombs and nuclear warfare and all of that. And many nights, I would pray myself to sleep as a young person. But when all is said and done, you know, true Christianity is not a religion. It is a way of life based on a relationship with God.

So I asked you this morning, what is the first article of faith? Where does it all begin? What Scripture would you turn to? Is there a Scripture that tells you what the first article of faith is? Let's go to Hebrews 11, verse 6. The first article of faith is clearly given here in Hebrews 11, in verse 6. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for He that comes to God must believe that He is.

So the beginning step in having a relationship with God, obviously, is to believe that God exists. And one of the greatest booklets that we have written in the course of the history of the church of God is, does God exist? And, of course, we have presented logical proofs, we call it, for the existence of God.

But the skeptic always has one more question. You can say cause demands first cause, and the skeptic will say, well, who caused the first cause? I mean, the questions never end. He that comes to God must believe that He is, that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. A great battle is being waged today, especially in the Western world, over the question, does God exist? And we have what's called the new atheists, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins. We have the so-called entertainment world, people like Bill Maher, Joy Behar, and others who join in and say, make fun of people who really believe that God exists and that our creation is the result of a Creator.

And they talk about science and they talk about reason. You know, the reason I believe that God exists is simple. Nothing else makes sense. Here we have all of the galaxies and we have the stars and the planets. We have the earth tilted on its axis 23-something degrees, it's spinning on its axis, and it's revolving around the sun, and the moon is revolving around the earth. And if any of this were off, we would burn up or we would go sailing off into space, as we call it.

And yet they talk about things just came to be some way through some kind of evolutionary process. You know, if you were to take a load of bricks and if there was a way to throw the load of bricks up into the air, how many times do you think you'd have to throw them up in the air before it came down as a house?

Well, the probability of that happening is much greater than to have all of the galaxies and the stars make up the galaxies and the planets and the way the earth is. The probability of that coming down as a brick house is much, much greater than what we see in the creation. And then you consider the creation of humankind and the intricacy in the marvel of human life. But see, even with all of that aside, they, in their so-called scientific world, they began with matter already existing. And they really never get to the question of origin. Where did it come from? Well, you look there at Hebrews 11.3 and it tells you, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And the things that do appear give us powerful testimony, as Paul talks about in Romans 1, as to the proofs of God's existence, through the creation, just through that sheer fact alone. When you look at our world and our universe and human beings, you should understand that God exists. And whether you will be in the kingdom of God will depend upon your relationship with God in Christ and each member of the body of Christ. So today this sermon is for the youngest and the oldest among us. You're never too old or too young to develop a relationship with God in Christ and you're never too old or young to develop a closer relationship with God in Christ. You know, it's tragic that Christianity to a large degree has been made into Churchianity. And sadly, even in the Church of God, Churchianity has at times taken precedence over Christianity. Oftentimes one of the first questions we ask when inquiring about a person is, he or she in the Church. I do that. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. But Church attendance does not mean necessarily that we have a relationship with God as we ought to have, as we'll see in the parable of the ten virgins later. Now, you might get your defenses up right away and say, well, you have to be in the true church to have a relationship with God. But are we guilty at times of putting the cart before the horse? The Greek word for church, ekklesia, means called out once. And if you look, I'm reading Strong's definition now. A gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the Council for the purpose of deliberating. So we just say ekklesia means called out once.

We quote often John 644. John 644 says, Jesus Christ being the speaker here, no one can come to Me unless the Father draws him. So God is the one who calls us. And if you look at this, He invites us to have a relationship with Him. But you can always resist that call.

One of the first papers that the Council of Elders produced after the United Church of God was formed was titled, Are Your Children Being Called? And you can access this article on the Web. The paper makes it clear that our children are being called if they allow themselves to be called. And I believe that the main reasons that the Church of God retains such a low percentage of their youth hinges on two factors. Of course, there are many factors, but I'm these are what I believe are two of the main factors.

Parents and the Church do not emphasize accountability as they should. And perhaps we don't emphasize accountability personally in our own lives as we should. You know, I've had several wake-up calls in my personal life in recent years, and I begin to see things in some ways a lot more clearly than I have in the past. Let's go to Ecclesiastes 11, verse 8. Ecclesiastes 11, verse 8. You're never too old and you're never too young to develop a relationship with God, with Christ, each member of the body of Christ. You're never too young to develop a relationship with God and Christ. He should have actually from conception to the grave education, with emphasis on developing a relationship with God and Christ. In Ecclesiastes 11, verse 8.

But if a man lived many years and rejoiced in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many, all that comes is vanity.

Now, vanity basically means temporary, short-lasting. Satan is the God of this world, and the only thing he has to offer is the here and now. It's short-lasting. It's vanity. It lasts but a short time. So he writes, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. You know, it is a wonderful time of life, and life will never be the same again after these days. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the side of your eyes. It's not wrong to have fun. It's not wrong to have friends. It's not wrong to have relationships.

But sooner or later, birds of a feather flock together, and sooner or later they embrace basically the same values. So you have to choose your friends wisely, but know you that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. It won't be the judgment of your parents. It won't be the judgment of ministers or civil authorities. God is the ultimate judge. He is the one we'll all ultimately have to give answer to. Therefore, remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh for childhood and youth, or vanity. So, first eighteen years of your life or so, and actually as far as childhood, it's much less than that. It just lasts a short time. Almost like the snap of the fingers actually in the course of eternity is less than that, and it's gone.

But yet eternity is forever and ever. We don't live through eternity because eternity never ends. We live in eternity, and it continues forever. Now look in verse 1, Chapter 12, Remember now, your Creator, in the days of your youth, while the evil days come nigh, or the years draw nigh, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them. Because, as He goes on to describe there in the next several verses in Chapter 12, that as you get older and when you get old, many of the things that formerly were so easy to do no longer are, almost everything changes from your sense of taste and smell and the ability to get around and do all kinds of things. It just changes. But even that is short by in comparison to eternity. So look at verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter for God, fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man. That's what makes man complete. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. So you have to teach accountability, and we'll have much more about that as we go on, accountability for young people and for all of us. And secondly, many of our youth make up their minds that they're not going to allow themselves to be called. The spirit of the times, the Germans call it the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, and the evil that abounds causes them to harden their hearts. And they approach God as if they can come to Him any time they get good and ready. Well, we're going to see here today that is not the case. And a lot of you perhaps think that is the case. The parable of the ten virgins, as we'll see, indicates otherwise with that. Many of them tend to look at the church from the perspective that it's my parents' religion. They've chosen this way, but I'm not going to follow in their footsteps. In the back of their minds, they're saying, I can't wait to leave home and get away from this religion. You know, as I said as a child, religious things turn me off. I had difficulty with people making long prayers in public. I had difficulty with the altar calls at the Baptist church, though there was a time when I finally walked up there to get the relatives off my back. But I remember the night after I walked up there, I was 15 years old. They started nagging me when I was 10. And after that night, it was a Sunday night, and I went home. We lived on a high hill, and at that time, now it's grown up with pine trees, as the whole South has, because all the fields that we used to grow the corn and cotton in is now grown up. People started working in town. Anyhow, that night after my parents went to bed, I went out in the front yard and I looked up into the starry skies. It just felt like you'd almost pluck a star and bring it down. And I looked up there, and then I threw myself on the ground, facedown and started praying to God and said, you know, I went up there tonight, but I just didn't, quote, get the feeling, because I'd seen so many people walk the aisle. They get up there, they break down, they're crying and all of that, and it's like I thought, well, I've got to have the feeling. Well, I didn't have the feeling, but I told God that whatever He wanted to do with me, that's what I wanted to do. Of course, I was playing varsity football at that time, and so we come out of the huddle, and as we get up to the line, I'd say a little prayer before each play. It might sound foolish to you, but at that time, it was like everything hinged on that, and you really wanted to please God.

You know, it is so much easier for young people to say they are leaving the church, leaving God, leaving what they've been taught if they have not been taught that a relationship with God is perhaps the most important thing that they can develop in their lives. And many of our youth come to church each and every Sabbath with their minds made up that it is not for them. They're biding their time until they are able to graduate from high school and go their way. And some parents will say that all I can do is make sure that they come to church and teach Him the best I can, but it is up to God to call them. Now, remember our paper. We have a paper that says our children are being called now if you want to talk about what is the official teaching of the church, you could read that paper.

But perhaps we should say something like this. As God gives me strength, I will earnestly strive to teach them to have a relationship with God and His Word. I will strive to bring them to church, teach them God's truth, but it is up to them! It is up to them! Whether or not they are called. If you're hearing the Word of God and you want a relationship with Him, you can have a relationship with Him. God convicts through His Spirit and His Word. Notice John 16, verse 7. John 16, verse 7. Jesus Christ here, as you notice, these scriptures are read on Passover from John 13 through 17. In John 16 and verse 7, Christ is talking about sending the Holy Spirit. In John 16, verse 7, Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the parakletos, the comforter, will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Parakletos is masculine, and the Greek, therefore, him is correct. It doesn't make it a person. And when He has come, He will, and the Greek word for reprove is elencho, E-L-E-N-C-H-O. Elencho, it means to convict, to lay awake on a person's mind. When He has come, He will convict you of the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now we go to Romans 10, and God has raised up the church through Christ, and one of the great missions of the church is to preach and teach this world and disciple all nations, make disciples of all nations.

And the word is preached, and it goes out. He who hath an ear, let him hear. But you can always resist the call. You can always resist the word of God. You can even resist and quench the Spirit of God. We are commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5 not to quench the Spirit.

But if God is knocking on your door, as you heard in the sermonette, on the door of your heart and tugging at your heartstrings, and He is trying to convict you through His Spirit His word, I would say He who hath an ear, let him hear. Open the door and let him come in, and he will feast with you. In Romans 10, 14, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So God, through Christ, has given us the voice, raised up the church, and the word of God is preached and it is taught, and we try to reach as many people as we can in that way through the preaching and teaching of the word of God. So once again today I say, if you hear His voice, hard not your heart. And don't let the messenger or anything else stand in the way of your response to God and His word. And when you try to make excuses as to why you don't respond, don't think that you are resisting me or any other minister or your parents or any teacher or anyone else. Bottom line is you are resisting God. You know, we sing that song, God speaks to us, by His great hand we are led. Do we really believe that?

No, we are but instruments that attempt to speak with conviction, with truth and power, the word of God. Notice back in 1 Samuel chapter 8, 1 Samuel chapter 8, you know, what excuse will you use to keep you out of the kingdom of God?

Some people think you already had some, I just usually don't drink it. You know, some people use the church and the church organization. Well, if the church were in such a way and look what's going on in the church. You know, if this is God's church, I don't want any part of it. And look at the leadership. Many of them are corrupt, some would say.

See, this happened right here with Samuel and it happened right with his sons. So remember I said the title, what excuse would you use to keep you out of the kingdom of God? That wonderful kingdom of God, the wonderful world tomorrow that we've heard so much about during this feast. In 1 Samuel 8, verse 1, came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now a bit of nepotism there. He probably should have never done that. I don't think he did due diligence as they talk about in examining some of the people that are appointed to office. And by the way, if you haven't heard, early this morning the announcement was made that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has received the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when the world is in the greatest turmoil, perhaps it has ever been and this nation as well so hopelessly divided in so many different ways. What peace has been wrought, that I do not know. But anyhow, verse 2, now the name of his firstborn was Joel and the second son Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba.

His sons walked not in his ways but turned aside after money, took bribes, perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel under Rama and sent unto him, Behold, you are old. Your sons walked not in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Eternal. The Eternal said unto Samuel, Harken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Bottom line is always, when you come to the matter of whether or not you are going to be faithful, it has to do bottom line with whether or not you're going to be faithful to God or faithful to your own desires. You know, parents oftentimes emphasize church more than they emphasize a relationship with God. As I stated earlier, you can always harden your heart and refuse to respond. When a person doesn't have a relationship with God and the Word of God, it's much easier to dismiss what a parent, a minister, or a teacher says. The Word of God is the Word of God. I don't care who speaks it or what language it is written in. Now, when I first started reading and studying and listening to the broadcast somewhere around 1961 or two, and my parents, especially my mother, when she heard that Herbert Armstrong was involved, she thought, well, you're just following a man. It's not like you, son. That's not the way you are. And by the time I was 19 or 20, I was teaching adult Sunday school and I'd read the Bible from a child and I've already talked about praying from a child. And there were many questions that I had as I studied the Bible that they were not able to answer in the Baptist Church. And when I began to study the literature that came from the Pasadena, I proved it through the Bible.

Now there was a spokesman named Herbert Armstrong. There was his son. There were many others. But when all was said and done, the commitment was to God and to Christ and the Word of God. And when all is said and done with each one of us, I hope that's where we stand. God is still God no matter what anyone says or does. And we all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ and not man. I won't be the final judge. Your parents won't be the final judge. Your husband or your wife won't be the final judge. No one can stand before the judgment seat of God for you or I. And what excuse will you use when your loving Creator Father calls you into account? And surely that day will come. So you must develop a relationship with God before you can be in the church. And no one else can develop a relationship with God for you. Now at this point, we need to understand how the human mind works to some degree. Now this will be somewhat of an oversimplification.

Among other things, I taught an ambassador. I taught the first really academic psychology class ever taught there. And so we need to understand a little bit about the mind, but we're going to see from the Scripture that everything I say can be documented from the Bible. Remember, I stated earlier that sometimes young people and other people oftentimes begin to develop negative thoughts about the church and this way of life.

Now church, remember, is called out once. The church is a spiritual organism. It consists of those who have God's Spirit. By one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body. So they might begin to say to themselves, I don't want this. I want to be free and live my life like everyone else. They dwell on these thoughts until it becomes like obsessive thinking. I just can't wait. And you look into the faces of some of our young people and you immediately discern that they are not happy campers. So let's understand a few things about the mind. We will see this knowledge about the mind can be substantiated from the Bible. Let's go to Proverbs 23 and verse 7. Now this is not a Joel Osteen kind of declaration. It's not the name-it-and-claim-it religion that so many are preaching.

Many Sunday mornings there in the Houston area, Joel Osteen is on different channels, and I can watch Joel for two or three minutes. But then I've heard every sermon he gives. Every sermon is. There are great obstacles in life. Here's the example of this person who had the faith, the perseverance. He believed God. He took God as a word, stayed with it, and now he's great. And to a certain degree, you know, as we shall see, the way you think is the way you become. In Proverbs 23 and verse 6, eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty meets, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. And we'll find out as we think in our hearts, so is he. And we will find out as we eat and drink, says he to the you, but his heart is not with you. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Now if you go back to Proverbs 4 and verse 23, an admonition here that is so true that we really need to take heed. Now, heart in the Old Testament, the Hebrew words spell L-E-I-B, labe, something like that. Keep your heart the center of emotion, the seed of thought, with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Now a little bit more about the mind. If you draw a circle of light, you draw a circle, and then put a diameter, a line, through that circle. Everybody got that done? Draw a circle, then draw a line through that circle. Above the line, put conscious mind. Conscious mind is the level of awareness. The conscious stream of awareness is recorded on your gray matter. Below the line, write subconscious mind. Subconscious mind is below the level of awareness. It is what I would call your storehouse of memories. Now you could draw a little arrow up from the subconscious mind, across that line, into the conscious mind. At any time, that which is in the subconscious mind is the level of awareness.

Subconscious mind can be emitted into the conscious mind. Anything that you have experienced at the conscious level of awareness, a brain surgeon neurologist back several decades ago in Toronto, Canada, Penfield, his name, began to do various surgeries and experimentations and during his surgeries in which with electrodes he would stimulate various areas of the brain and the person would relive various childhood experiences with the same senses of color and taste and smell and all of that as he experienced many years ago when he actually had the experience. So the conscious stream of awareness has been proven to be in your mind. Now as we get older, we talk about more difficult to retrieve certain things that are stored in the storehouse of memories at the subconscious level. But, you know, some of you might wake up one morning and you're singing some old song you heard back in the Protestant church. It happens all the time. I have songs running through my head nearly every day. A few years ago the Astros were playing the Mets and right now they have the division series going on who's going to go to the league championship series. The Astros playing the Mets. The Astros had a young pitcher who came in relief. He set the Mets down, a wonderful job. His parents called him and said, well, what were you thinking out there as you were pitching today before all those people under such pressure? He said, well, I wasn't really thinking much of anything. He says, you know, there was a song running through my head, but I don't remember ever hearing this song. And his mother said, well, what were some of the words? And he gave the words. She said, well, your daddy used to sing that to you when you were sitting on his knee, when you were just a boy. You know, thoughts are the precursors of action, and your thoughts are at the comfort and conscious level, and they are stored. Do you hear what I said? Your thoughts are at the conscious level, and they are stored in the storehouse of memories. You've heard the saying, so a thought reap an action. So an action reap a habit. So a habit and reap character. In other words, to some degree, now that you become your thoughts. But the good news is that through the Spirit of God and through conversion, we can overcome our past. We can overcome that storehouse of memories. But it will be far better not to have to overcome all the negativity that is stored there and store the right thing to begin with. Within the mind, as we have noted, there you have the conscious and the subconscious, but there's something else called the conscience, C-O-N-S-C-I-E-N-C-E, your conscience, not conscious, but conscience. Your conscience is the knowing within yourself, the knowing within yourself, your sense of right and wrong. And humans are born not knowing, good or evil. That's why God told Adam and Eve to look to Him for the knowledge of good and evil. Don't go out there and make the decision for yourself. And you know the story well. You've heard it hundreds of times in the church of God how Satan came along, deceived Eve, and she looked to herself and to Satan for the knowledge of good and evil. The human conscience is developed as new babes interact with the persons and things in his or her environment.

And slowly he or she begins to develop a sense of right and wrong. The conscience begins to be formed in the person. Now, much of the learning at this early stage of life is rather robot and mechanical, but as a child begins to develop a sense of awareness of self, he or she develops what we call the mind of his or her own. And sometimes it comes a lot earlier than we would like. Now in Romans 8, verse 20, Romans 8, verse 20, we notice that with regard to the way that God created us, He created us, as we call it, neutral, not knowing good or evil, and that you have to be trained and educated for your conscience to be in harmony with the word of God. In Romans 8, 20, the creation was made subject to vanity. In other words, human nature, as we call it, desires the things of self, made subject to vanity, the here and now, not willingly, but by reason of Him who had subjected the same in hope. And at some point we all tune into self-desires and Satan's way, and what we call human nature takes over.

Now we go back to our thoughts. Our thoughts are in the conscious stream of awareness.

These thoughts are stored in the subconscious mind, and remember, thoughts are precursors of action. It's pretty simple when you get down to it. Once again, the sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap character. It's not exactly as mechanical as that, but we know that thoughts are the precursor of actions.

So as a young person or anyone else begins to think negatively about God, the church, religion, parents, friends, many of these thoughts are repressed. They don't act on them right then. They're buried down there in the storehouse of memories, but they're there, and they might reason, well, I can't do anything about this now, but the time is coming when I will be able to do something about it. You know, so many of our youth, when they graduate from high school, they want to go somewhere else to go to college. They don't want to stay in a hometown. They want to get away. So remember, all these negative thoughts are stored in the subconscious, can be emitted into the conscious mind. Then sadly, this bank of negative thoughts can take over, and a person finds himself blurting out something without any seemingly conscious thought. And we talk about, well, I spoke before I thought. My conscience didn't really examine it before I spoke.

So U.S. House of Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina blurts out during President Obama's speech, you lied! Now, if you ask him, I bet he will tell you that he didn't consciously think about this. The thought was stored, and out it came. And in fact, technically, what the President was not true. But if Mr. Wilson had it to do over again, he probably would not have confronted it in the way he did at that time. Sooner or later, the repressed thoughts of your being will weigh heavily, so heavily that you'll tend to compromise your very being without realizing what you're doing. See, it needs to always be examined by the content, by the content, the mind of the knowing within yourself. Now, this should give us pause to stop and think. Cause to pause and think. The conscious mind checks with your conscience the knowledge of right and wrong and makes a judgment.

But if your subconscious mind weighs so heavily on you that you're so negative, you may board out something that you really regret saying. Or it will weigh so heavily on you, you may wind up doing things that you would not like to do. And if you had it to do over again, you wouldn't do it. One author writes, we're in the midst of a collective psychosis that has become so normalized that very few people are even talking about it, which is itself an expression of our collective madness. More than ever, current-day humanity is certainly acting as if it's a species possessed. Eminent theologian David Ray Griffin writes, it does seem that we're possessed by some demonic power that is leading us trance-like into self-destruction. In a collective psychosis, now, the difference between neurosis and psychosis, a neurotic person will behave erratically but is not totally lost touch with reality.

But a psychotic person has lost touch with reality and doesn't face the real world.

In a collective psychosis, the many are manipulated by the few who are attracted to holding power over others. In a psychic epidemic, the masses, led and inspired by the few, who are perversely possessed by and addicted to the need for power, collectively collude with, support and mutually reinforce each other's irrational beliefs, i.e., God doesn't exist as one of the most irrational beliefs there is. It takes far more faith to believe that all that we see in the creation and human beings themselves is a human being.

Are here because of what? Chance? Evolution? Well, it's really nonsensical.

Irrational beliefs, narcissistic needs, self-love, as you read about in 2 Timothy 3, love of self and fears, creating a culture crazy beyond belief. We have now in this nation, a culture crazy beyond belief. Almost every day you will shake your head and you will say, I would have never believed that would happen in this country. This culture, or lack thereof, is simultaneously the cause and effect of their madness as they collectively incarnate a living, self-fulfilling prophecy. Go to Genesis 6. We see such a culture here, in Genesis 6, where mass psychosis had taken over a people before God destroyed the world that was then. In Genesis 6, in verse 1, came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them. But the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives, all of which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his day shall be a hundred and twenty. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, they bare children of them. The same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every, every is not in italics, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. You talk about mass psychosis and evil taking over, and it repented the eternal. Now, repented here doesn't mean that you have to repent of sins. It means that he was sorrowful, that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. It was so bad that he said, I will destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, fowls in the air, for it repents me. I'm just sorry and grieved that I've made them in the first place. But, and perhaps one of the biggest buts in all history, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and because of God's love, care for his creation and for, and for humanity, and remember he created us in the first place because he wanted to share who he is and what he is with us. He saved, spared eight people.

Now we go to James chapter 1. In James chapter 1, we begin to see how sin develops. It is very much like we talked about earlier, so a thought, reap in action, reap in action, so a habit, reap a habit, so character. In James chapter 1, verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man. Now, he does allow Satan to tempt us, and of course we can be tempted ourselves because we are subject to vanity, and we tune into our carnal nature and into Satan's wavelength. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and he begins to think, well, maybe, well, I'd like to do that, or I'd like to do the other. And the thoughts come in. Then, when the last half conceived, when it comes to the point that these thoughts, you think it over, you mull it over, and, okay, I'm going to do it, sometimes it's much quicker than that. It brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Now, the contrast, every good gift, every perfect gift, is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no veribleness, neither shadow of turning, of his own will, begeta, he asks, with a word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures or creation. See, if you have an invitation, it is from God. And I assume by you sitting here today, you have an invitation, that you are not cut off. Now, if you violate your conscience enough times, your heart, your mind, will become seared, and you will lose your conviction about the truth of God. Go, please, to I Timothy 3. Now we get into this part of accountability on the heavy side, I suppose you might say. I Timothy chapter 3. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's I Timothy chapter 4. I Timothy chapter 4. I Timothy chapter 4. Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. This mass psychotic caught up with what everybody else is caught up with, the imagination of their hearts continually on evil, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their contents, that knowing within, their contents seared with a hot iron. So they become amoral, not really knowing good from evil. And then He talks about some of those doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry, commanded to abstain from meats, which God had created to be received with thanksgiving of them who believe and know the truth. Now we go to an even more frightful verse in one sense, if you are not willing to respond to God. Let's go to Proverbs 29 verse 1. You know what I said earlier that some think, well, you know, I'll just sort of tread water here. I'll tread water and maybe one day, maybe one day, a more convenient day, I might do something. I might do something else. This goes hand in glove with the seared conscience, Proverbs 29.1. He that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy.

What a sad state to be in. So if any of us think that all of our negative thinking and scheming in our minds will have no effect on our lives, think again. You can only play with fire so long before you're burned, and tragically the burns may be so deep that your mind and your contents is seared forever. That's why we're admonished to keep our heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. And moreover, that is why the Apostle Paul exhorts us. Let's go to Philippians 4 and verse 6. Philippians 4, verse 6.

One of the things that we're told with regard to the feast, which we haven't focused on much this feast in our messages, is thanksgiving, that we come before God with thanksgiving and rejoice. In Philippians 4, verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. And let your moderation be at hand. Be careful or anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. See, that's what we need to fill our minds and our hearts with so that our storehouse of memories will be rich in those things that lead to comfort, exhortation, and edification. Now, we can teach several classes on what I briefly summarized here this morning, but hopefully we can grasp the gravity of what I just explained. As we say often, we're not just playing church. We're not just playing church. And with the knowledge we have so far, and there's more, I'm not quitting right now. This might sound anticlimactic. I never finish a sermon, but I will quit by 1230. Now, with that, we should be able more clearly to understand the urgency and importance of making our calling and election sure. To make your calling and election sure, you must have a relation, a personal relationship with God. It's quite sobering to consider the fact that so many people who have been baptized have left the church. A study that was done in 1987 in Pasadena showed that even before Mr. Armstrong died, 50 percent of the people who had been baptized had left the church. Not to mention all the young people who were never baptized. Somehow, people tend to confuse the term church and religion with their commitment to God and the truth. And we have to ask ourselves again, do we emphasize being in the church more than we do having a relationship with God? And I know they go hand in glove. But a child from the very earliest years needs this relationship with God. And I could ask, do we really believe our baptismal formula? Before we baptize a person, we say something like this, I'm going to baptize you not into any denomination or organization of man, but into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So we need to teach our youth to have an unwavering, unshakable faith in God. Remember, the first article of faith is, he who would come to God must first of all believe that he is, that God exists. And you can begin to teach a child about God from the time he or she is conceived, and you can read to children while they're in the womb, and they've shown that playing classical music and reading to children in the womb and learning does take place in the womb, can have a positive effect.

So from the time we are conceived until the time that we die, we need to have this from cradle to grave kind of instruction and education. Do we really understand what that means?

We need to make God the focus of our lives and the focus of our children's lives. It's as simple as in Matthew 6.33, which we've heard about. Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And one of the great things we need to teach our children over and over until we thoroughly master it is the nature of God and the nature of man. God is spirit. God is true. God is love. And we could go on. God is righteousness with the many characteristics and qualities of God. God is eternal. God is our loving Father. But human beings, on the other hand, are temporary. And we're morally aware of the illiterate apart from God. And Satan, of course, knows this, and he immediately appeals to vanity, temporary, what the flesh wants now. See, of all the things that youth are attuned to, it is the idea of fairness. You know, I must get my equal portion of whatever it is on the table. No favoritisms. They're also highly attuned to double standards.

If I shouldn't do it, if you tell me not to do it, well, why do you do it? Mr. DeMoehr talked about that. Since church and religion implies doing the right thing, delaying gratification, denying the flesh, going the right way, well, they look for double standards in their parents, ministers, and church leaders. And they tend to equate what they do with God in some ways.

But sadly, this is thrown in for parenthetically, for good measure. The sad fact is that what youth accuse parents, teachers, and ministers of doing, and that is living a double standard, they're guilty of themselves. They are one way with their parents, quite a different way with their peers. That is why so many parents are shocked out of their gourd when they hear what their child has done. We hear that over and over. Oh, he was such a good boy. Or he was such a good girl. And she was. The minister of the church leaders often equated with the church as a whole. The carnal mind reasons that if that is the way people are in the church, I don't want to have anything to do with the church. The church is not God.

Neither is anyone in the church. Of course, the fact that people view us that way puts a greater responsibility on all of us to do the right things at the right example. But oftentimes, excuses that youth and many others use when it comes to leaving the church and religion is just to cop out, they're looking for an excuse, they're looking for the old loose brick, as we say, and they'll say, well, I'm not giving up on God. I'm just leaving organized religion. Well, do you want disorganized religion? You know, there might be a time to do this. We face this in 95. I don't know. My first commitment is to God, to Christ, to the Word of God, to the truth. My parents, and especially my mother, eventually came to see that I wasn't following a man when I made the decision to leave my family and friends and career and all that and go to Ambassador College. It wasn't based on that at all. It's because you believe you were convicted of the truth, of what the Bible clearly says. So we have to teach our children there's a vast difference between what people do and some people who are in the church and God. You know, God convicts a person through His Word and His Spirit, as we've already pointed out. And if a person refuses to listen and take heed, the conviction is not going to take place. Many youth and some even into middle age play the game a more convenient day, not realizing what they're doing to their minds. Remember what I read from Proverbs 29.1? Being often reproved and hardens his neck and suddenly destroyed in that without remedy. The conscience might be seared, as I read from 1 Timothy 4, verse 2. And some like to sort of hang around the fringes and stay somewhat attuned to current events and prophecy. It's the old game, if things get bad enough, I will call on God. Do you think you're going to be a good person? I think you think that God is remotely attuned to that kind of reasoning. The sobering account of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, let's turn there, please, Matthew 25, should stand as living testimony to how ludicrous it is to try to put God off or go through the motions. When you really look at this parable for what it really is, it is most sobering. Up front, let's say this. The frightful thing about the parable of the ten virgins is that they were all going through the same form. They all took their lamps out to meet the bridegroom. But their substance was vastly different. They were all going through the same form, different. Matthew 25, 1, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them wise, five were foolish. The foolish took their lamps the same form, but they didn't take the same substance. They took no oil with them. The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. They're all going through the same motion, the same form. You would assume here that they're all attending church. They all take their lamps. But some have oil symbolically the Holy Spirit and some don't. While the bridegroom tarried, they all, all slumbered and slipped. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes, and they'll fill you out to meet Him. So this tells you this is not just any old day. When I make up my mind, you know, I can dilly-dally and tarry, and if I get good and ready, okay.

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said, and the wise give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answer said, Not so lest there be not enough for you and us, but go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.

And they went to buy. See, the only way to buy is in the arena of life. And while they went to buy, as they were out in the arena of life, it was a little too late to respond to the call and to face the fiery trials as they should have. The bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of Man comes. And in Matthew 24, the Lord said, remember what we talked about with regard to the mass psychosis in Genesis 6. Here we are with prophecies for the end of the age. Matthew 24. Christ begins to enumerate wars, rumors of war, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, verse 8. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my namesake. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, this mass psychosis, like the culture gone wild. The spirit of the times, the love of many, shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now, in verse 32, Matthew 24, 32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree.

When the branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know the summer is nigh. So likewise shall you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knows no man, know not the angel of heaven, but my Father only, but as the days of Noah were. We read from Genesis 6, verse 6, 7, the thoughts and intents of the heart of men were continually on evil. As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Subconscious mind is our storehouse of memories. It can become our master if it is not a master.

We are not purged. And that's why the Bible warns us over and over again to guard our minds because out of it flow the great issues of life.

The Apostle Paul, if you would turn to 2 Corinthians 10, some great news here with regard to all of this, see through the power of God and His Spirit, as it talks about in Hebrews chapter 9, the great difference between the sacrifices that were offered on the day of atonement and other times under the Old Covenant, could not purge the conscience of evil works.

But through the Word of God and the Spirit of God, that storehouse of memories, that old man, that old way can be put to death. It can be ruled over. It can be purged. It can be cast out. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. But the weapons of our warfare, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

See, pulling down strongholds, those things that grip the mind, those old thoughts and feelings, and all the vain things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, Paul says through these spiritual weapons we can cast it down and cast out vain imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And now in Romans chapter 8. So what excuse will you use to not be in the kingdom of God? Here in the last part of Romans 8, Paul lists a number of possible separators. And he concludes that none of these can separate us from the love of God, but he leaves out one thing. So let's notice. At one time or another, all men will let you down and fall short of your expectations. We tend to think too much of men. All of us are very human, and Paul even after many years in the church says, I know in me that isn't my flesh, dwells no good thing. All beings at one time or another, human beings will let you down. But God never fails. Romans 8, 31. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also be against us? He who shall go freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that has risen again. Who is even at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? See, what excuse can you come up with? Paul lists a whole bevy of things. He starts it with, if God be for us, who can be against us? Child tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. See, anything we get above death is a gift. And when we come to that knowledge and that understanding, it makes all the difference. Knowing all these things were more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. I added that, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He only leaves out one thing, and that's you. Only one thing, and that's you.

So what excuse would you use to keep you out of the Kingdom of God when all is said and done if you're not there? And we're not able to greet you at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It will rest on your shoulders. If God be for you, who can be against you?