Transcription
Just see how Paul wrote to Timothy about this very thing. And he said, "Now, the Spirit expressly says, Now, folks, this is Paul writing in the Spirit. And he is saying, The Spirit is express expressly telling me to tell you that in the latter times some will depart from the faith. Why? Because they have given heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron."
But there is a comma there. And then he goes on to tell us what they are preaching. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods. What's What's so awful about that? How can marriage and food be a doctrine of the devil? How can that come from a spirit? How can one be deceived? He is saying that when one's conscience becomes hardened because they don't obey when they hear, they don't do what they've been told to do, they don't listen to the Holy Spirit, their conscience gets a little harder and harder every time. Your conscience is a very very sensitive thing. But the more you poke it, the more you disobey, the tougher it becomes. And so he says, "In the last days, there will be people who will fall away from the faith. And they've fallen away from the faith preaching about food and marriage."
WELL, WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT FOOD AND MARRIAGE? BECAUSE THE PREACHING IS NOT ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Anything you start teaching and preaching that moves away FROM THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS is a doctrine of devils. And it's going on all the time. You will Well, I hear it from people who visit and from people who come from other churches and from people who moved in here from other places. We just can't hear gospel preaching anymore. They have too many conferences on too many things. We want to hear about Jesus. People of the Lord want to hear about the Lord. Can I get somebody to say amen? WE HAVE FAR TOO MUCH PREACHING and teaching and jabbering and prat- prattling about stuff that will not save you from your sins. Folks, this ain't about marriage and this is not about a diet. This is about the cross of Jesus Christ giving you power in these last days to stay focused on the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, when one's conscience gets seared or toughened as with a hot iron, another strange thing takes place. And it it disturbed me the first time I ever read it and I Here I go again searching for a scripture when I should have already had it. In Ephesians chapter 4 beginning with verse 17, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord, talking to believers, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Do you hear that, church? We ought not to be living the life they're living. Walking their walk. We should not be using their jargon. We should not even be interested in the same things they're interested in. Our lives should be different. If you are a child of God, act like it. If you're a child of God, lady, dress like it. Sir, conduct yourself as a Christian man of integrity. Don't walk as the rest of the Gentiles in the futility of their mind, meaninglessness. Having their understanding darkened. They don't get it. Being alienated from the life of God. Everything in them is dead because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Who? Hear the words. Being past feeling. Well, now the conscience has become so hard that you can't feel it anymore. The sensitivity of your heart, that sweet, gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit that used to brush up against your conscience and you were moved by it is no longer regarded. Your heart has become too hard for the voice of the Holy Spirit. And you're past feeling. How did it happen? Having given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. That is a chock-full passage of scripture. You see, when you find out that you're past feeling, it's because you gave yourself to uncleanness. We give ourselves to the Lord. We give ourselves to uncleanness. We give ourselves to some commitment in life. You give yourself to marriage. You give yourself to work. It's what you offer. And he says, "When you give yourself over to lewdness, YOU WORK ALL uncleanness with greediness." In other words, you can't get enough of sin. Whatever you try might satisfy you now, but you got to have more a little later. This doesn't do the trick anymore.
Now, as a pastor, that just frightens me to think that people can come to church and hear the pure gospel and never make a move towards God time after time. When I preached last Sunday, this altar should have been full. But people said, "I'll deal with it later or I'll deal with it at home." When that message was preached last week, there were people who gripped the pews and looked around and looked at their watches and left. Now, folks, I'm not going to play anymore. I don't know that I've ever played, but I'm That's just my way of saying I'm about to ask you to tighten your seat belt. I've got some things to say to this church this morning. You cannot play with God.
I want to take a little turn here and I talk about past feeling. I think our country is in this place. Past feeling. I think we went over the edge. When I see the appointments and appointees that this administration who is in a particular political party who done more to unravel the moral fiber of this country than any administration or any party in the history of this country. And I see that people are now gloating in perversion. And I've said it a thousand times, they don't just want acceptance, they want us to affirm them. They want us to say we were wrong and you were right. I'll never say it as long as I live and neither will you. Did I make myself pretty clear on that? In case I didn't, now I I talked to myself a lot before I got up here, but all that left me. This party that's in power now with this administration has done more to corrupt and tear down this society and the family and the church than any previous administration/party that I remember, and I'm in my eighth decade on planet Earth. The education system has become filthy. Filthy. School boards are sitting around approving books and material for little children that's filthy, nasty. School board members are going to stand before God. Well, I couldn't help it. I I went with the group. Then you don't You You cannot call yourself a Christian and go with the group and go with the tide and walk with the world. I just read the scripture, do not walk as other Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind having their understanding darkened living in ignorance. If God's put you somewhere to be light, you ought to burn brightly and stand up for what is right. I want to tell you something. Unborn children and little children are in more danger today under this administration in this country than they have ever been in the history of this country. You know why? Because leadership in this country took their eyes off God and decided we can do this. We can make a better society. We don't have to be uh we don't have to have so-called holy religious laws imposed on us. We are mankind. We can do what we want to do. And let me tell you something, brothers and sisters. When God sees this country flip him off, judgment is coming soon. Judgment is on the way. And judgment is going to begin at the house of God. There's going to be a shaking and a cleansing. You're not going to be able to play church anymore. The fire of conviction is going to be so great it's either it's going to burn it out of you or burn you up, one. That's why I'm praying tomorrow night for holiness. For us to live in repentance.
See, I mentioned the nation, but this is true for individuals. I read something the other day. I know I've seen it before, but you know how sometimes the Holy Ghost will just enlighten you to something. After Cain killed Abel, God still had a conversation with him. This is how good God is. And he said, "If you'll just do what's right, you'll be accepted." He was still pleading with a wicked murderer. "If you'll do what's right, you'll be accepted, but if you don't, sin is crouching at the door. If you don't take care of this, sin will destroy you." And here's what the Bible said, "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord." He said, "I hear what you're saying, but I don't want it." And he left. He left the presence of the Lord to go out and do his own thing.
Did you know the night that Jesus broke bread with his apostles, Judas was there? Did you know Judas was there when dead people were raised and blind people were healed? Judas was there the whole time. And the whole time Judas' heart was never changed. He went to church all the time with Jesus, but his heart was never changed. And on that fateful night, when Jesus sat with his 12 and he said, "One of you will betray me tonight." All of the apostles said, "Lord, is it I? Is it I?" And Jesus said, "I'm losing my voice. Just stay with me." And Jesus said, "Whoever dips his hand or lays his hand on the table when I dip the sop, he is the betrayer." And when Jesus dipped the bread, he handed it to Judas. And Judas took it. Already having decided he was going to betray the Lord. Already deciding that he was going to be the rogue and the rebel. His mind was made up. He was a sinner, but he took communion anyway. And here are those words. And he left the presence of the Lord.
There's another disturbing passage in Revelation chapter 22. And after all of this revelation of Jesus, the angel said to John, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book." Now, you know he told Daniel, "Seal it up." Until the latter time. Now it's unsealed. He said, "Don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand." Then he said, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still." You know what Jesus is saying in this book? There's an element that's never going to get saved. There's an element of people, a kind of people, a class of people who are filthy and they're going to remain filthy even when they go to hell and burn. There are unjust people and they will always be unjust. There's an unjust class of people. And they will always be filthy and unjust, but there is a people of God. And he said, "Those that are righteous, keep on living righteously. And those that are holy, stay in the holiness of God."
And then Jesus comes back with another poke in the eye. He said in Matthew 6, "Do not give that which is holy to the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they turn again and rend you." You ready for this? I'm preaching this in 2023. When the message most every place is, "Oh, come on, Jesus loves everybody. Oh, come on, everybody needs to be happy." "Oh, come on, transvestites and transgender and gay and perverted and liars and swindlers and politicians, everybody. You can say you're a Catholic, you can say you're this and that and the other. But if you're not following Jesus, if you don't love him with all of your heart, and if you're not obeying his commandments, you don't know anything about salvation." And so Jesus said, "There are those people. Don't waste your time with them." When people hear the gospel over and over, which has happened in this country for the last 100 years, and they still won't listen. When people come to church EVERY SUNDAY, I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW HOW somebody can come to this church and still live in adultery. How can you come here and still be a thief on YOUR JOB? HOW CAN YOU COME here and still regularly view pornography? How can you come here and be unfaithful to your spouse? You could go to a lot of churches and be comfortable. But you come here AND HERE'S THE FIRE of the spirit, the sword of the spirit, and you just keep on listening. And Jesus said, "That's a condition. You start with a seared conscience, and you go past feeling, and you walk out from the presence of the Lord, and you find yourself in an unchangeable category. And I'm told not to give that which is holy TO THE DOGS. REVELATION SAYS the dogs are outside. They're outside the walls. They're outside the kingdom. They are THOSE WORTHLESS PEOPLE. DON'T THROW BEAUTIFUL PEARLS OF TRUTH IN FRONT OF PIGS, CUZ THEY'LL LOOK AT THEM AND THEN TURN around and tear you up. So, I'm preaching as hard as I can, and yet as compassionately as I can this morning, because I think Jesus could come at any moment. I wish I could get an amen from somebody else. Or are some of you mad about something I said a few minutes ago? Oh, that's what it is. You're upset about that. OH, OKAY, I SEE NOW. I knew something kind of died there for a moment. Well, that's between you and God, cuz I told the truth. I told the whole truth, and I told nothing but the truth.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 13 and 14, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh." Okay, so last Sunday I left this pulpit UH COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. I WAS SHOT. I WAS wrung out. I could hardly get to the car. Sandra had to drive me home, and then she had to prop me up so we could eat. And and the conversation went like this. She said, "The You It was a hard message. But people need to hear hear hard messages." She said, "People are not living right. They're not convicted because they are making provision for the flesh. The Bible teaches me to run from it. Run from it madly. The Bible teaches me to do what Joseph did when Potiphar's wife tried to get him to sleep with her. He ran for his life even though she grabbed his garb. Folks, you've got to be afraid of sin. You've got to be sickened by sin. YOU CAN'T MAKE PROVISION. YOU CAN'T PLAN TO SIN. YOU'VE GOT TO GET STUFF OUT OF YOUR LIFE THAT'S GIVING YOU A PROBLEM. YOU CAN'T JUST RUN A FEW feet away from it. YOU DON'T JUST RUN A FEW FEET AWAY from a mad frothing bulldog. You run as far as you can. YOU DON'T RUN A FEW FEET AWAY FROM A HAND GRENADE. You run as fast as you can. And it's even more dangerous when I'm talking about sin and the flesh heaven, HELL, AND ETERNITY. YOU CAN'T PLAY AROUND WITH THE FLESH. IT WILL DESTROY YOU. CALL ME OLD FASHIONED now if you want to. I know you said Lorraine's getting older and he's going back to his roots and he's preaching like the old timers used to preach. We need a MODERN MESSAGE. YOU WON'T GET ONE FROM ME. HERE'S THE deal and I'm getting wound up. I don't want to. Here is the deal. Everything that comes out of that television set is not from God. There is a spirit because the prince of the power of the air is a spirit and a power and he controls all communications on this earth. And when you sit there and look and surf and I've done it. You don't get spiritual. Your flesh gets excited. It begins to entice. And at some point you got to get sick of the contest. You're always feeling a little carnal. Peop- People, we got to do something about this. The internet, as much good as it's brought, as much information as it gives, it is equally filthy and damnable. Never has so much trash and filth, vulgarity and lying been available to so many people ANYWHERE AT ALL TIMES. YOU CAN NOT protect your children from it. And here we are, entertainment. Anything this world offers is worldly entertainment. I'm preaching this way because I've got my mind on leaving. I think the Lord could come back at any moment, but I don't feel comfortable with a bunch of carnal junk in my head, in my heart, being pulled away from Christ. I want the fire of the Holy Spirit. I want the closeness. I want to stay in the presence OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. AND I'VE DECIDED, whatever it takes to cut it out AND TO KILL IT, IT'S WORTH IT IF I CAN JUST HEAR HIM SAY, "I KNOW YOU MEAN BUSINESS NOW BECAUSE YOU'D RATHER HAVE ME THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD."
Give me just two or three more minutes if you would, please. Jehoshaphat was a pretty good king. The Bible says he did all that was right, but not with a perfect heart. And then it says because he allowed the high places to remain in Israel. Uh-oh. He did everything else right. But he said, "You know, our people are so used to these high places. They were going up to these hilltops to worship the sun god and the moon god and the sex god and every other kind of god. And they've been doing it so long and Jehoshaphat said, 'You know, I'll get all this other stuff in order and I'll deal with that later cuz that's really too drastic right now. I can't I can't require too much of them right now. I can't cut it all out right now. I'll cut off their arms inch by inch.'" And that's what we do. We'll go to church. We'll pay our tithes. We'll go on missions trips. Hello. We'll be involved in everything here, but we will allow a high place to stay in our lives that is more dangerous than all of the other stuff combined. One little high place. We give ourselves permission for one sin. I hear people all the time say, "I've got one vice in my life." What? That one vice will destroy your soul. Well, I do good in everything else, but this just I I give myself permission to do this one thing. I heard preachers say at a conference one time and they were being really honest. I pour myself into the people. I pour myself into prayer and study, which I doubt. But occasionally, I'll look at some stuff on Netflix or other places. That's my only vice. And what he said was, "The flesh is still in control of my life." What he said was, "I may do all the other things right, but I still let a high place remain in my heart." Can I have 2 more minutes, church? I'll do my best to make this concise.
When Israel came across the Red Sea, God delivered them, you know. Did you know the Amalekites attacked them? They were tired, they were hungry, they were beaten up, abused, slaves out of Egypt. God brought them out. And the Amalekites, a nomadic people in the wilderness, came against them. And God said, "I'll never forget this. I'm not going to pay them back now, but justice is coming one of these days. I haven't forgotten it. You see, generations died out, but God did not forget what the Amalekites did. So, when Saul becomes the king of Israel, God said, "This is the first thing I want you to do. Get an army and go kill every one of the Amalekites." You know the story, don't you? Kill them all. I got to say it. Babies, women, children, sheep, goats, oxen. Why do you want them all dead? Because they were all perverted. Their seed was perverted. There was something so wrong with these people that God said, "I don't want to see them on my earth anymore." And so, he's told Saul to go wipe them out. What did Saul do? He wiped out most of them, but he saved Agag, the king, and the best of the sheep and the oxen. And when Samuel came to see Saul, SAUL SAID, "HEY, I'VE DONE EVERYTHING THE LORD WANTED ME TO DO." And Samuel said, "Oh, really? I hear some sheep bleating. I hear some cows lowing. What what what's that?" He said, "Oh, well, we saved those for the Lord." And Samuel said, "Give me a sword." And he took a sword and in front of everybody, he hacked A gag to pieces. Cut him all to pieces. Didn't just stab him, he cut him to pieces. And said, "Saul, when you were little in your own eyes, God used you. God called you. And now you've disobeyed him and he has taken the kingdom from you." And you know the rest of the story. And by the time we get to the end of that, Saul is in another war. Is everybody listening to me right now? Saul is in another war and he gets killed. And David hears that possibly Saul is dead. And he sees a little fellow coming towards him from the wilderness and he says, "Where are you coming from?" He said, "I just came from a battle and I saw that King Saul was dead." He said, "DEAD? HE'S DEAD? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" HE SAID, "CUZ I killed him." David said, "Who are you?" He said, "I am an Amalekite." What's the point? If you don't kill it, it'll end up killing you. If you don't kill this thing with alcohol, it's going to kill you. If you don't kill this thing with pornography, it's going to kill you. If you don't get a hold of yourself and leave that woman alone and go back to your HOME AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN, IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU. WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING IN DISOBEDIENCE WILL bite you and kill you. And it even gets worse than that. Hundreds of years later, we find the Israelites being threatened to be moved off the face of the earth by a wicked guy named Haman. Remember that? But God put Esther in THE PALACE. WHO KNOWS? GOD MAY HAVE PUT YOU HERE FOR SUCH A TIME as this. And Haman was going to wipe out the Jews in the land. Who was Haman? He was an Agagite. He was a descendant of King Agag. An Amalekite. You see? If you don't get rid of it when God tells you to get rid of it, it multiplies and takes control. And down through the years and down through the generations, people have to suffer for your lack or willingness to deal with it. Who is on the LORD'S SIDE?
WE'RE NOT fit to be called his if we don't regularly lay before him and say, "Search me, oh God. Try me. Know my thoughts and my ways." Better hear this, preacher. God still hates divorce. But pastor, I I I just said what the Bible said. If you're trying to work one out now, if you're thinking about one cuz you just you're just not happy, you better hear what God hates. God hates a haughty look and a proud spirit. And God hates anybody that sows discord among the brethren. God hates anybody that tears families up. So, be careful you're not waving your hands and singing the favorite chorus when Agag is controlling you. When you're really down inside an Amalekite. When the flesh really is in charge. Now, what do you want me to do, church? I've preached hard. What do you want me to do now? Should I open the altar? Would anybody like to walk down here and join me? Cuz even though I prayed it and I preached it, I still want to ask God take the looking glass, not looking glass, the magnifying glass of your word and let me see. Let me see. Jesus died so that I could have victory over the flesh. I'll let the Holy Spirit conduct traffic right now. Here's the question, brothers and sisters. When when when will you get victory? When will it be over? When will you stop playing games? When will you become vicious enough to say, "Enough is enough. I'm done with this. It's out of my life. I'm I'm through with it." I wasn't born yesterday. And I know how flesh is and I have know how men are and I know how women are and I know in these days when listen to me, demons have been loosed. Disembodied evil spirits are trying to get into our thinking. You better go to work on that marriage instead of trying to get rid of it. You better go to work instead of trying to be happy. You better work at being obedient. Can I get an amen? I'm going to quit asking for amens. One of these days when I stand before him brother everything that I gave up will seem like a grain of sand. I want Jesus. Anybody else want Jesus? But now, there can't be an event here. Oh, wow, woo, something's going to happen. No, you got to walk out of here and say I got to walk this thing out. As I'm walking out the door, I got to walk in the spirit every day of my life. So, this is just your way of saying I heard what you said, preacher man. So, I'm going to sing it. I can't sing. I can't hardly preach anymore with my throat, but I'm going to do this. You're all I need. All right. I'm going to let you go. But you got to hear me say it again. There's only one way to walk in victory. You read this and you pray. You pray and read and read and pray and pray and read. That's my life, folks, so I can feed you. So, I can feed you, but I'm doing it not just feed you. I'm doing it to become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. May the joy of the Lord be your strength. May you realize what a great gift it is to be crying right now, to be under conviction right now. It means the Holy Spirit is still working in your life.