-
Well, let's pray.
-
Father,
-
please help us.
-
I pray in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
-
Amen.
-
You know, in days of old,
-
some folks came to Thessalonica
-
and they said those guys
-
that turned the world upside down,
-
they've come here.
-
And I'm thinking,
-
okay, I go to Long Island.
-
What are we doing there?
-
What's happening?
-
And you know, we can get
-
so swallowed up by sight
-
and routine and tradition and expectation.
-
What I mean by this is
-
we go to our jobs,
-
or you stay at home with your children
-
and you raise them,
-
and we have to make the prayer meeting
-
on Wednesday or Friday
-
or whenever that is.
-
We're trying to make it to the service.
-
Perhaps we're trying to
not be in our cell phone
-
before we get in our
Bibles in the morning.
-
And you can go a year
-
and then three and ten and fifteen,
-
and you can look up one day and wonder,
-
wait, life has gone by pretty fast.
-
I'm going to be 55.
-
We all think we're 25, right?
-
I'm going to be 55.
-
Life just... it's gone.
-
And what are we doing?
-
When you really think about
-
what is the objective?
-
What is the goal?
-
(incomplete thought)
-
I recognize we have to focus on families.
-
I recognize that we have churches
-
and we have a lot of
one-another's in Scripture
-
and we have to dwell together.
-
But where are we going?
-
When I think about Long Island
-
and I thought about flying from Texas
-
and coming here,
-
what are we doing?
-
We're having conferences.
-
There's lots of conferences!
-
People go to conferences.
-
And when they go to one conference,
-
they begin to plan
-
to go to the next conference.
-
But is that what it's all about?
-
Is this a book that's
all about conferences?
-
Is this book really just about:
-
if we use the right homeschool curriculum?
-
And I recognize we have
to look into those things.
-
I recognize making it on time
-
to the service on Sunday,
-
there's aspects of that
-
that are very important.
-
But where are we headed?
-
I don't know, what churches
are represented here?
-
Where are you all from?
-
We've got a lot of different
churches represented here.
-
But think about it.
Think about the church.
-
Brethren, sometimes we need to stop
-
and just recognize something.
-
You all know about the spiritual armor
-
that's described to us in Ephesians 6.
-
You know you go through there
-
and you have the different armor.
-
And then you come to the end
-
and we are to be praying.
-
And then the Apostle says:
-
to this end, keep alert.
-
And you know when he started that?
-
When you go back up
a number of verses there,
-
he is saying you need to do
-
everything possible to stand.
-
And he says we are wrestling
-
against these angelic forces,
-
cosmic powers.
-
And you know sometimes we need
-
to simply step back and recognize
-
this isn't just piling the family in a van
-
and trying to make it on time.
-
Something is happening.
-
Do you all realize?
-
I know, this year,
-
not only do I turn 55,
-
this year I also spiritually
turn 30 years old.
-
Do you remember the stock you came from?
-
Sometimes we get saved for so long
-
and we forget how lost we were,
-
how lost our families were,
-
how lost our friends were,
-
the guys we went to high school with,
-
we went to college with,
-
that we work with.
-
You can get to where
-
it's almost like we do this church thing.
-
And yes, we have to refine our doctrines
-
and we're going to hear the preaching
-
and we're going to do
the systematic theology
-
and we're going to try to
get all these things right.
-
But do you ever step back and you look
-
at what's happening in Scripture?
-
Yes, there's an importance
about how you raise your children
-
and making it to the
prayer meeting on time.
-
Yes, there's realities here
-
about getting our doctrine right.
-
Obviously those are essential things,
-
but those are not ends in themselves.
-
What you have is an Apostle of God
-
telling us under the
inspiration of the Spirit of God:
-
we have to do everything to stand.
-
Because I'll tell you,
-
whether it's cell phones
-
or whatever other distractions come,
-
we get distracted, we get swept away,
-
and we have all sorts of cares,
-
and we have the things of this world,
-
and they come in and they strangle us
-
and they distract us.
-
And you talk about the eye -
-
the eye - where is it?
-
The multiplicities of this world
-
that we get caught up with.
-
If you remember, brethren,
-
what's happening there in Revelation 12,
-
you have this picture.
-
And we know there is war in Heaven.
-
And you see that there is this dragon,
-
this red dragon, and we know who it is
-
because he's spelled out in detail there.
-
And he swept a third of the angels.
-
Some people have these
crazy ideas about demons,
-
but we know what they are.
-
They are fallen angels.
-
And a third of them!
-
Satan was cast down to this earth
-
along with his angels.
-
That's what it says.
-
It says "a third of the stars"
-
further up in that passage.
-
And you know what it says?
-
It says that there is this woman.
-
Now, it's heavily symbol-laden.
-
This woman, she's robed in the sun.
-
The moon under her feet.
-
She wears a crown with 12 stars in it.
-
This woman gives birth to Christ.
-
This woman has other offspring
-
and they're spelled out for us, brethren.
-
It's us. This woman is a picture
-
of the people of God through the ages.
-
Those offspring are
specifically said to be
-
those who keep the commandments of God
-
and who hold to the
testimony of Jesus Christ.
-
They're us.
-
And do you know what's
so significant about that?
-
It's that those are the ones
-
that he has made war against.
-
And it says he pursues that woman.
-
But you know what?
-
We've got God on our side
-
and God is always helping the woman.
-
He gives her wings to fly off
-
into the wilderness and be nourished.
-
That time, times, and half a time,
-
or 1260 days or 42 months,
-
very symbol-laden,
-
but that's got to do with now.
-
That is where we find ourselves now.
-
That is this dispensation.
-
We have an enemy
-
who has made war against us
-
and we can fall asleep to that reality.
-
That Apostle comes along in Ephesians
-
and he says you need to stay alert.
-
You need to stay awake.
-
And I think about coming here
-
to this part of the country,
-
and I recognize this,
-
we can't live on the dust
-
of the First Great Awakening,
-
the Second Great Awakening.
-
We can't live on the past.
-
And if you go back and you look
-
at those times in history,
-
do you know what was happening?
-
What was happening?
-
Did everybody just sharpen and hone
-
their theology within their four walls?
-
Is that what happened back then?
-
What was happening in
those two great awakenings?
-
I'll tell you what was happening.
-
People were learning good doctrine,
-
but they were going out those doors,
-
and they were taking them to these
people up and down the streets.
-
And sometimes we can forget.
-
That guy - I just saw lights
go by that window right there.
-
Those people out there,
-
they are going to perish
-
and they are going to die in their sins,
-
and a lot of times it's because
we're good hyper-Calvinists,
-
and we've got this idea
that God is going to save His elect
-
and it doesn't matter what we do.
-
But I'll tell you, you go
to the pages of Scripture,
-
what you find is there were people
who took the Great Commission seriously
-
and they turned the world upside down.
-
And Paul says they will not call
-
on a Christ that they don't believe in.
-
And they will not believe
on Him unless what?
-
You know what it says.
What does it say?
-
Unless what?
-
Unless they hear, and
they're not going to hear
-
unless somebody takes that message.
-
And if somebody's going
to take that message,
-
somebody needs to be sent.
-
And listen, we have to recognize.
-
I come back to this reality all the time.
-
I want to emphasize this
-
to my own thoughts
-
and to the church there at home.
-
Listen, we just have to
wake up to the reality.
-
You full well know this.
-
The politicians are not proclaiming Christ
-
and your school systems
are not proclaiming Christ.
-
It doesn't happen.
-
There is no other
institution that is out there
-
whether it's created by God
-
specifically in the pages
of Scripture or not.
-
There's no other institution out there
-
that's had it entrusted to them
-
to take the Gospel out to this world
-
and to seek to turn the world upside down.
-
It hasn't.
-
As I thought about coming here,
-
I'll tell you one of the things
-
that I really want to encourage you
-
is you've got to look beyond
-
making it to the prayer meeting,
making it to the Bible study,
-
making it to Sunday service,
-
and then kind of having
your family in order.
-
Because the Scriptures go beyond that.
-
Brethren, I just want us
to think about something.
-
I want us to think about Judgment Day.
-
Judgment Day is coming.
-
Let's look at it.
-
I know you know these passages.
-
Matthew 25.
-
Matthew 25.
-
Now here's the interesting thing,
-
we get three perspectives
-
on the Second Coming of Christ.
-
And I know you know these.
-
And you know the first one:
-
Parable of the Ten Virgins.
-
"The Kingdom of Heaven will be like
-
ten virgins who took their lamps
-
and went to meet the bridegroom.
-
Five of them were foolish.
-
Five were wise.
-
For when the foolish took their lamps,
-
they took no oil with them,
-
but the wise took flasks
of oil with their lamps.
-
As the bridegroom was delayed,
-
they all became drowsy and slept.
-
But at midnight, there was a cry.
-
'Here is the bridegroom!
-
Come out to meet him!'
-
Then all those virgins rose up,
-
trimmed their lamps, and
the foolish said to the wise,
-
'Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.'
-
But the wise answered, saying,
-
'Since there will not be
enough for us and for you,
-
go rather to the dealers
and buy for yourselves.'
-
While they were going to
buy, the bridegroom came.
-
Those who were ready went in with him
-
to the marriage feast,
-
and the door what shut."
-
Now I don't know what all
your eschatologies look like,
-
but I'll tell you this,
it should resemble this.
-
That when Christ comes,
-
if you're not ready, the door is shut.
-
And it's over. That's it.
-
Now here's the thing,
-
no matter how you interpret
-
all these virgins sleeping,
-
(incomplete thought)
-
I think the idea there is that
-
he came after a long time.
-
He came in an hour that wasn't expected.
-
I think that's what
you want to do with it.
-
Not that those who are
genuine fall asleep.
-
Because when you look
-
at the third picture
-
of the coming judgment
that begins in v. 31,
-
these people are anything but asleep.
-
Right?
-
Let's look over there.
-
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory
-
and all the angels with Him,
-
then He will sit on His glorious throne.
-
Before Him will be
gathered all the nations."
-
Now this isn't science fiction.
-
You and I are going to be in this group.
-
We can't run. We can't escape from this.
-
Every one of us are moving in a line
-
towards this very moment.
-
No matter how you run,
-
no matter how you diverge
-
to the right or left,
-
you're going to be here.
-
And He's going to separate people
-
one from another as a shepherd
-
separates the sheep from the goats.
-
"He will place the sheep on His right,
-
but the goats on His left.
-
Then the King will say
to those on His right,
-
'Come, you who are blessed by My Father,
-
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you
-
from the foundation of the world.'"
-
I hope we can all recognize
-
we want to be in this group.
-
We don't want to be in the other.
-
The other is to be undone forever.
-
"For I was hungry,
-
and you gave Me food."
-
See, these are the five
wise virgins right here.
-
It's all the same.
-
Those on His right, those that are wise,
-
those in the parable of the talents
-
who traded well,
-
didn't dig in the ground and hide
-
what the Lord gave them.
-
See, here's the question:
-
There are people who hide
-
what has been given to them
-
even though they darken
the doors of church buildings.
-
See, we need to ask ourselves this:
-
"I was hungry, and you fed Me."
-
And you know how He goes on here.
-
I was thirsty. You gave Me to drink.
-
I was a stranger. You welcomed Me.
-
I was naked. You clothed Me.
-
I was sick. You visited Me.
-
I was in prison. You came to Me.
-
The righteous are going to answer Him,
-
saying Lord, when did we see You
-
hungry, feed You; thirsty, give You drink?
-
When did we see You
a stranger, welcome You;
-
naked, clothe You?
-
When did we see You
sick or in prison, visit You?
-
The King will answer them,
"Truly I say to you,
-
as you did it to one of the
least of these My brothers,
-
you did it to Me."
-
And you have to believe
-
that just as well included here
-
is those who are His little ones
-
that are yet to be brought in
-
when we go out and find
them where they are -
-
the straying sheep.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Here's the observation I would make.
-
I'm going to follow it with a question.
-
The observation is He didn't say:
-
Congratulations, you were a Calvinist.
-
I'm really glad. I'm happy for you.
-
You found a reformed church there
-
somewhere in New England, Long Island,
-
New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut.
-
He doesn't say
-
that you homeschooled Me right.
-
He doesn't say those things.
-
Look what's happening.
-
This is Judgment Day.
-
Do you recognize that Judgment Day
-
is a day when we are judged by our works?
-
And you know there are people
-
who want to hide behind
-
the imputed righteousness of Christ.
-
Well, that's a good hiding place,
-
but if you hide there
-
and you neglect these verses
-
and say they don't matter,
-
that righteousness of Christ
-
covers my nakedness
-
irregardless of what my life looks like,
-
you are not reading your Bibles right.
-
The reality is where that imputed
righteousness of Christ exists,
-
you know it. You know it.
-
It's got to be.
-
Those who are clothed
-
with the righteousness of Christ;
-
those who are counted righteous
-
because of the obedience of One,
-
they're also the people that don't
-
continue in sin.
-
How can we who have died to it
-
still live in it?
-
This is the argument of Romans 5 & 6.
-
But you can see right here
-
what characterizes this group.
-
They're not just a people
-
who longer walk in sin.
-
The sin has been replaced
-
by what did Christ give Himself up for?
-
A people of His own possession,
zealous of good works.
-
He specifically says
-
by much good words,
-
you prove to be My disciples.
-
That's how you prove it.
-
And you have to look at the character,
-
the nature of the things
-
that He's looking for on Judgment Day.
-
And a lot of the things are not
-
what we put a high priority on.
-
We want to make it to the Bible study
-
and do our systematic
theology to make sure
-
we understand election properly.
-
You understand what I'm saying.
-
I'm not knocking that.
-
There are many things that obviously
-
we want right in our lives
-
that are not in this list.
-
But when the Lord Himself says,
-
on Judgment Day,
-
here are some of the chief things
-
I am going to call you out on.
-
We should sit up and take notice.
-
Now here's the question:
-
Does this characterize your life?
-
That's the reality.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
This is what needs to
characterize our church.
-
And I'll tell you this
is the very material,
-
this is the stuff that turns
the world upside down -
-
when you have a people
-
who, yes, they want to know this book
-
inside and out.
-
But they are moved by it,
-
and they are moved by the love
-
that Christ has for them,
-
and they go looking for the hungry.
-
And you can spiritualize these things
-
because Jesus says man
does not live by bread alone.
-
You want to know the
best food to give a man
-
so that he might live?
-
It is to take the Word of God
-
to the people who sit in the darkness.
-
And it is for you to do it.
-
As I said before,
there is no other institution
-
designed to do this.
-
It is to us that the
Commission has been given.
-
It is to us.
-
These are Christians.
-
All those on the right
-
are the people of Christ.
-
And He's saying I was in prison.
-
You know what?
-
If you're going to take
these things seriously,
-
you ought to be able to get
to the end of your life and say:
-
Lord, I didn't do this perfectly,
-
but I've been in the prisons,
-
and I've been in the places
-
where there's strangers,
-
and I've been where the people are sick,
-
whether that be physical or spiritual,
-
I've gone to where the sick people are,
-
and I've gone to where
the hungry people are,
-
and I've gone to where
the thirsty people are,
-
and I've gone to where
the naked people are -
-
those that didn't have a covering
-
for their spiritual nakedness -
-
and I went there,
-
and I didn't do it perfectly,
-
and I know there were times I was cold;
-
there were times I was lazy.
-
I know that, Lord.
-
But you ought to be
able to look at your life
-
and say something about this
-
resonates and reflects.
-
We are at war.
-
And I'll tell you, Satan does not
-
get all too troubled over Calvinism,
-
or the fact that you have
John Owen on your shelf.
-
You know what it is that he resists.
-
He wants to damn you.
-
He wants to destroy you.
-
He wants to pursue you.
-
He wants to fight you.
-
He wants you to resist you.
-
And this is just amazing, this is amazing!
-
God could wipe him out in a second.
-
God could just cut him off.
-
It could be all over today!
-
But it's not.
-
And you know why it's not?
-
For one simple reason:
-
God has determined to win this victory
-
through us, through weak -
-
I mean, we get sick...
-
I was thinking about your grandfather.
-
My eyes are getting worse by the day.
-
My hearing, my eyes.
-
My memory!
-
How long can you preach
if you can't remember anything?
-
We are weak.
-
And we're all getting older.
-
And it's us that He has determined -
-
have you ever read there?
-
Ephesians 6?
-
We stand here by His might.
-
His might.
-
The power of God.
-
The energy of God as it works
-
in and through us.
-
You know what happens?
-
We go forth in our weakness
-
and His strength just shines
through our weakness.
-
That's what Scripture teaches.
-
Listen, if the Apostle Paul came in here,
-
you know, the Apostle Paul
-
probably would not be invited
-
to a lot of the conferences
-
that people are invited to today. Why?
-
There wasn't a whole lot of esteem
put on his preaching.
-
He was seen to be a weak man.
-
You know how he talked to the Corinthians!
-
He probably would not
have made the circuit.
-
And yet, this is the guy who is turning
-
the world upside down
in all of his weakness.
-
And it's for us to follow in that path.
-
This is our day.
-
Paul's gone.
-
What's going to keep
the people from perishing?
-
Don't be hyper-Calvinistic.
-
Don't fall for that lie.
-
People come to believe
-
in the Christ you believe in
-
if they hear about Him.
-
If somebody goes to them and says
-
let me tell you about repentance
-
and remission of sin.
-
Let me tell you about this Christ.
-
You see, our Lord said
-
people don't need a physician
-
unless they're sick.
-
We need to show people they're in trouble.
-
You know as well as I do -
-
maybe you don't -
-
but if you go up and down these streets,
-
and you go talk to these people,
-
99 out of 100 are going to tell you
-
they're good enough.
-
They're good people.
-
They're okay.
-
They are deceived and in very short years
-
they're going to be lost forever.
-
And Paul is saying
-
somebody's got to go tell them.
-
Paul could look at his own kinsmen
-
and say I could be accursed
-
and cut off from Christ for them.
-
But you know what happens?
-
We get desensitized.
-
We just float through this world.
-
Well, we've got to make it to
the church service on time.
-
You know what?
-
Better to come twenty minutes late...
-
(incomplete thought).
-
You know there was a season at our church.
-
We start each year with
a week of prayer and fasting.
-
And there was one year
-
a number of us really
felt burdened to pray
-
that God would give us evangelists.
-
That's in the Bible.
-
You don't have to be afraid of that.
-
Jesus gives gifts to men.
-
And however you want to categorize that,
-
I recognize this,
-
there are some people
that God has really gifted
-
to go after souls and be soul winners.
-
When we prayed for that,
-
within a few short months,
-
we had a handful of these young zealots.
-
And I remember one of them, he'd pull in -
-
yes, he'd pull in twenty minutes late.
-
He had this tiny little car
and you didn't hardly know
-
he could fit that many people in there.
-
The doors would open and it was like
-
people just kept falling out.
-
And he was late because he'd go around
-
and rouse these guys out of bed
-
that he went to high school with
-
and get them to come.
-
Yeah, be twenty minutes late
-
if that's the reason.
-
Brethren, we are called to be
-
the lights in this world.
-
And we're not called
to shine just in here.
-
We've got to impact.
-
Listen, who are the people
-
who have turned the world upside down?
-
I'll tell you somebody
who really interests
-
some of us elders at our church
-
is the circuit riders.
-
Anybody every study
some of the circuit riders?
-
You know what was pretty
amazing about those guys?
-
Largely, which two denominations
did they come from?
-
Methodist and?
-
Baptist.
-
Typically.
-
Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
-
they were very slow.
-
They had to set up their schools first.
-
They had to thoroughly
train their men first,
-
while the Baptists and the Methodists,
-
they were cutting the edge out there.
-
Do you ever read about those guys?
-
A lot of them decided not to get married.
-
They lived on very little money.
-
A lot of them got sick out there.
-
They'd ride around in the winter
and they died young.
-
But if you read about the fruit
-
that came from those guys...
-
you see, it's always the radicals.
It's always the nuts.
-
It's always the people
-
who are thinking outside the box.
-
Oh, it's easy to think:
-
Well, we have to go to Bible study.
-
We have to go to the prayer meeting.
-
We have to make it to Sunday service.
-
And then do it all
over again the next week.
-
Brethren, is that why we meet together?
-
So we can just do it again next week?
-
It's to equip the brethren
-
for the work of the ministry.
-
It's to equip us to pour our lives out.
-
Have you ever read?
-
"True and undefiled religion..."
-
In the sight of God,
-
what does such religion look like?
-
Can anybody think?
-
(unintelligible)
-
Yeah, there's definitely
realities about purity,
-
living an undefiled life.
-
But think: widows and orphans.
-
I want you to see something.
-
These realities of Judgment Day -
-
true and undefiled religion.
-
This shows up in the
Old Testament just as well.
-
It was expected of God's
people then just as well.
-
Look at Isaiah 58.
-
Undoubtedly some of you
are familiar with this.
-
But Isaiah 58.
-
And listen, when you go feed the hungry,
-
and you give drink to the thirsty,
-
and you clothe the naked,
-
and you visit the needy,
-
and you keep an eye out,
-
for the widow and the orphan,
-
and when you're giving
yourself to these things,
-
you saw in Matthew 25,
-
it gives promise for Judgment Day.
-
But I want you to hear
-
some of the other promises
-
that are attached with this.
-
Isaiah 58.
-
And of course,
-
we have a picture here.
-
We'll just go through
the majority of the chapter.
-
"Cry aloud, do not hold back,
-
lift up your voice like a trumpet."
-
Now you ought to catch that.
-
This is something that
God wants trumpeted.
-
Not said in a quiet
little corner somewhere.
-
Isaiah, trumpet this truth!
-
Okay, what truth?
-
"Declare to My people their transgression,
-
to the house of Jacob their sins.
-
Yet, they seek Me daily..."
-
Okay, you see what you have here.
-
You have a religious people.
-
You have the people of God.
-
You have the people
-
who are seeking Him in a sense,
-
and yet there's a sin in their life
-
that God wants trumpeted.
-
I have a feeling that this
-
works really well for our day and age,
-
especially among reformed folks.
-
"They seek Me daily,
delight to know My ways,
-
and if they were a nation
-
that did righteousness
-
and did not forsake the
judgment of their God,
-
they ask of Me righteous judgments;
-
they delight to draw near to God."
-
You see that.
-
"...As if they were a nation
-
that did righteousness."
-
They have this appearance
-
like all is well,
-
like that they're not forsaking
-
the judgment of their God.
-
"They delight to draw near to God."
-
"Why have we fasted, and You see it not?"
-
You see what's happening.
-
They're doing their religious activities,
-
and yet, they have a sense
-
that God is not really drawing near;
-
that God is not really blessing;
-
that God is really not owning
what they're doing.
-
"Why have we humbled ourselves
-
and You take no knowledge of it?
-
Behold, in the day of your fast,
-
you seek your own pleasure..."
-
This is the issue.
-
Can I tell you something?
-
If you're going to go to a prison,
-
and you're going to visit the imprisoned,
-
it takes sacrifice.
-
If you're going to pour
yourself out for strangers,
-
if you're going to go
-
to where the hungry are...
-
but is it anything other than we're told?
-
Jesus said, "Follow Me."
-
And He called us each to deny ourselves.
-
Now listen, you have to remember
-
that this is the same Savior that came
-
and turned water into wine.
-
He says speaking of this money thing -
-
and if you go to Luke's account,
-
"Store up money bags for yourself..."
-
"This day you'll be with Me in paradise."
-
Look, we have Paradise ahead of us,
-
but we've been called for a season
-
to walk as our Lord walked,
-
to pour ourselves out,
-
to give ourselves and deny ourselves.
-
These people are seeking
their own pleasure,
-
and I'll tell you as Americans,
-
the pleasures abound.
-
And that's one of the things
-
about the social media,
the cell phone thing.
-
It's this pleasure.
-
They say it's like a drug.
-
(incomplete thought.)
-
"You oppress all your workers.
-
Behold, you fast only
to quarrel and to fight,
-
to hit with a wicked fist.
-
Fasting like yours this day
-
will not make your voice
to be heard on high."
-
Not when it's selfish
-
and people seeking their own pleasure.
-
"Is such the fast that I choose,
-
a day for a person to humble himself?
-
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
-
and spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
-
Will you call this a fast,
-
a day acceptable to the Lord?"
-
When you go through
these religious motions,
-
but you're missing the weightier matters.
-
"Is not this the fast I choose,
-
to loose the bonds of wickedness..."
-
This enemy that we have,
-
have you ever read that
this is a present evil age?
-
The world lies in the power
-
of the evil one.
-
You've read,
-
"following the prince
of the power of the air."
-
That's what the world does.
-
They are in chains of wickedness
-
all around us.
-
You tell me, right here in Long Island,
-
what do you think the percentage
-
of real, genuine, true Christians is?
-
It's not high.
-
Those people,
-
they are in shackles.
-
And it's not as though
we're strangers to this.
-
We came from that stock.
-
We remember our former ways.
-
Do you remember
-
when the chains fell off
-
and you were free?
-
Do you know how that happened?
-
You were exposed to the Gospel.
-
In your darkness and in your slavery,
-
somehow through some means
-
God brought the Gospel
-
into your eyeballs or into your ears.
-
And you were set free.
-
People are in bondage.
-
But this is the fast that He calls us to.
-
To undo those straps, that yoke,
-
let the oppressed go free
-
to break every yoke.
-
"Is it not to share your
bread with the hungry?"
-
We have the living Bread.
-
Is it not to share it with the hungry?
-
Are you going to know the remedy
-
that can save a person
from eternal destruction
-
and you're just going to
go and homeschool your family.
-
And get that right? You should do that.
-
You need to educate your children.
-
You need to protect your children.
-
You need to lead your
children to the Lord.
-
But while your neighbor next door,
-
are you just going to drive
-
and you're going to
drive past all the houses
-
to get to the church building? Why?
-
To hear the sermon. Why?
-
So that your theology can simply be
-
a little bit honed
and a little bit better?
-
And then what? So you can win a debate
-
somewhere on Facebook or something?
-
You go away and you
drive home, and next week,
-
you do it all over again?
-
And the next thing you look up
-
and it's 30 years later
-
and that's what you've
done your whole life
-
and nobody is reached.
-
The world isn't turned upside down.
-
There's not that in your life
-
that smells of those circuit riders
-
who broke forth and said
-
yes, there is a place to deny ourselves,
-
deny our wallets.
-
Are your churches
sending forth missionaries?
-
Are you reaching the neighborhoods?
-
Do we have people in our churches
-
that are thinking outside the box?
-
How can we reach people?
How can we go?
-
How can we get there?
-
The truth is we need to stay alert.
-
That's what Paul says
-
as he's speaking to those Ephesians,
-
and he says listen, you need to pray.
-
You need to be on your knees.
-
And in that way, you need to stay alert.
-
It's much like it was in the
Garden of Gethsemane that day.
-
You remember how it was.
-
Jesus was saying,
-
"Could you not watch and pray with Me?"
-
And there they are sleeping.
-
They're sleeping.
-
He's over there. He's wrestling.
-
He's under this temptation.
-
Satan has tempted Him all along
not to go to the cross.
-
"You bow down to me,
-
I'll give it all to you without
going to the cross."
-
And these kingdoms - great
kingdoms - are moving.
-
The devil is moving.
-
He's put it into Judas'
heart to betray Him.
-
And an angel comes down
and ministers to Him.
-
These things are happening.
-
Christ is sweating as it were
-
great drops of blood,
-
right on the eve of doing
-
the very pinnacle work of redemption.
-
If He doesn't succeed, these guys perish.
-
And they're sleeping.
-
And you know what?
-
That's what happens to us a lot of times.
-
We're sleeping.
-
And you can sleep in the church.
-
And you can sleep under good theology
-
and you can sleep under good preaching.
-
And we just sleep.
-
And the world just rushes past us.
-
"Is it not to share your
bread with the hungry
-
and bring the homeless
poor into your house;
-
when you see the naked, to cover him..."
-
See, this is a Christianity
that has eyes,
-
that's looking for need.
-
The Lord walks through this world.
-
He had a way of finding
-
the prostitutes, the tax collectors,
-
the lepers, the demon-possessed.
-
Have you ever noticed?
-
He had a knack for finding them.
-
Well, yeah, He showed up at meals
-
at a Pharisee's house,
-
but He also showed up at meals
-
at tax collector's houses.
-
But one of the things that
I want you to see is this:
-
V. 8 "Then shall your light break forth
-
like the dawn,
-
your healing shall spring up speedily.
-
Your righteousness shall go before you."
-
Now, we could probably take
-
a long time in sermons
-
to just talk about what that is,
-
but I would ask you this:
-
Does something resonate with that
-
that sounds good and desirable?
-
I'll tell you, God is never stingy
-
about His promises.
-
Have you ever noticed that?
-
"I'll never leave you nor forsake you."
-
Wait a second.
-
You gave that promise to Joshua.
-
You see, He's not stingy
about those things.
-
He gives a promise of good back there.
-
Those promises are yes
and amen in the Lord.
-
Take these in their fullness.
-
"Your light shall break
forth like the dawn."
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You remember what is
said of John the Baptist.
-
He was a burning and shining light.
-
Anybody want to be part of a church
-
that resembles that?
-
I do.
-
Well, here's the promise.
-
"Your healing shall spring up speedily."
-
Do you get people in your
church that need healing?
-
We do.
-
I need healing.
-
Lots of times.
-
"Your righteousness shall go before you."
-
That's almost like a reputation.
-
It precedes you.
-
"The glory of the Lord
shall be your rear guard."
-
Wow... the glory of the Lord.
-
I want that!
-
"Then you shall call
-
and the Lord will answer,
-
you shall cry and
He will say, 'Here I am.'"
-
Do you want prayer meetings like that?
-
Where you get down
-
and you begin to plead with the Lord
-
to give you something?
-
And the Lord says, "Here I am."
-
It's like you are a people
-
who have shown mercy.
-
You've poured yourself out for the needy.
-
You've sought to release the chained.
-
And then you go to your
knees and you pray.
-
He says, I'm going to say, "Here I am."
-
You say, wait, we know
the doctrine of omnipresence.
-
He's everywhere.
-
You have to know what this means.
-
This means I'm here to answer your prayer.
-
I'm here to give you what you're asking.
-
I'm here to help you.
-
This goes right along with the way Jesus,
-
as He was getting ready to leave
-
in John 14, 15, 16,
-
He taught us to pray.
-
I'll tell you if we're giving ourselves
-
to these kind of things,
-
we go to the Lord in prayer,
-
this is a promise.
-
You're going to get answers.
-
I don't know how it is with with you
-
or what your expectations are.
-
Mine are that when we come together
-
and pray in our prayer meetings,
-
that God is going to answer
-
the things that we ask for.
-
That's my expectation.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You know when somebody joins our church,
-
I usually ask them to do one thing:
-
Please, make every effort
-
to come to the prayer meeting.
-
I don't feel like I
have to convince people
-
to come to the 11:00 a.m. service.
-
Just please come to the prayer meeting.
-
But I know this, if you've got churches
-
that are seeking to reach
-
those in the darkness,
-
and you're taking that light
-
and you're shining it there,
-
and you're seeking to clothe
-
those that are naked,
-
and you seek out the hungry
-
and the strangers and
the imprisoned and the sick,
-
if you're going after them
-
and you're looking for the widow
-
and you're looking for the orphan,
-
if this is what
characterizes your Christianity,
-
it's got to be the
individuals in the churches.
-
The church - what's that?
-
That's pretty ambiguous.
-
It's made up of people.
-
God's people.
-
God's called out ones.
-
We each have to be reflecting this.
-
You will call, the Lord will answer.
-
It says, "If you take away
-
the yoke from your midst,
-
pointing a finger, speaking wickedness,
-
if you pour yourself out for the hungry,
-
satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
-
then shall your light
rise in the darkness."
-
The land might be dark -
-
and the Northeast is dark,
-
but you'll be like a lighthouse
-
on a dark shore
-
sending that beam out.
-
That's the promise.
-
"Your gloom will be as noonday."
-
I mean, the darkest will be like 12 noon.
-
"The Lord will guide you continually,
-
satisfy your desire in scorched places..."
-
It means when everything around
-
is scorched and dry and barren,
-
you'll be like the Jews of old.
-
The manna will fall.
-
The rock will give forth water.
-
You'll have supernatural abundance.
-
He'll make your bones strong.
-
"You shall be like a watered garden,
-
like a spring of water
-
whose waters do not fail.
-
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt.
-
You shall raise up the foundations
-
of many generations.
-
You shall be called the
repairer of the breach
-
and the restorer of streets to dwell in."
-
I like that.
-
A repairer of the breach.
-
It means when a wall's breached,
-
it's broken.
-
It's got a hole in it.
-
It's fallen down in places.
-
And God says He'll use you
-
to be a restorer of the breaches.
-
Jim Elliot, long ago -
-
if you read Elliot,
-
he didn't just look and
find fault with others.
-
You really get a feeling he was often
-
looking in the mirror.
-
He didn't want to be ordinary.
-
We're so utterly ordinary.
-
"So commonplace while we profess to know
-
a power the 20th century
does not reckon with,
-
but we are harmless and
therefore unharmed.
-
We're spiritual pacifists,
-
non-militants, conscientious objectors
-
in this battle to the death
-
with principalities and
powers in high places.
-
Meekness must be had
-
for contact with men,
-
but brash outspoken boldness is required
-
to take part in the
comradeship of the cross.
-
We're side-liners
-
coaching and criticizing
-
the real wrestlers
-
while content to sit by
-
and leave the enemies of God unchallenged.
-
The world cannot hate us.
-
We're too much like its own.
-
Oh, that God would make us dangerous!"
-
Do you know what it is that Satan fears?
-
He fears God.
-
But if you think about those promises,
-
those are promises that God shows up.
-
You're going to call? Here I am.
-
He fears that.
-
He fears people who can pray
-
and God shows up.
-
He fears people who
take the Gospel out there
-
and people get saved.
-
He fears that, because
you know what that is?
-
That is the strongman
-
having his goods ripped out of his hands.
-
And he does not give up his goods
-
without fury.
-
You know, one of the things it says there
-
repeatedly in Revelation 12 is
-
he is furious with the woman.
-
He is furious!
-
And he knows his time is short.
-
And he's been cast down to the earth.
-
That's where we are.
-
We are where he is.
-
He operates here.
-
I often think about just
a couple years back.
-
Ruby and I,
-
we had lunch with a brother
-
who regularly goes into Iran.
-
Several years back, he spoke
-
at our Fellowship Conference.
-
He said - you think with me here -
-
that's dark.
-
That's dark. That's dangerous.
-
That takes denial.
-
He goes in.
-
He covertly goes in
-
under cover of going into the country
-
for academic pursuits,
-
which he actually does have a degree in.
-
And he can go in there
-
and he ministers to the
underground church.
-
Ruby and I had him
across the table from us.
-
He said that he visited a pastor.
-
And he said for some reason
-
he already had an unusual fear.
-
He was hearing stories
this pastor told him
-
about the woeful condition
-
of the underground church -
-
how different Christians had disappeared
-
and not been heard of again.
-
Some they knew had been martyred.
-
Others were turning their back on Christ.
-
Others were fleeing the country
-
and going to the West.
-
Very discouraging situation at that time.
-
And he said that as he was wrapping up
-
his meeting with this pastor,
-
the pastor said,
"I'd like to pray for you."
-
And as the pastor was praying for him,
-
he specifically mentions something
-
about protecting the man
I'm telling you about
-
who was talking to me and my wife.
-
The pastor was praying for him.
-
He asked God to protect him.
-
He said that didn't comfort him.
-
That smote him with fear.
-
Like why is he praying that?
-
Why was that necessary to pray that?
-
When he walked out of the pastor's house -
-
he said it was well known.
-
The Iranian government
comes in black cars.
-
They'll pull up by a Christian,
-
they'll throw them in that car,
-
and oftentimes the people
are never heard from again.
-
And he said he came out
of that pastor's house
-
and he was smitten with fear.
-
And he was walking down the street.
-
He said he kept looking over his shoulder.
-
(Incomplete thought)
-
He was just gripped
-
in an unnatural way with this fear.
-
He said in a moment,
-
suddenly his eyes were open.
-
Do you remember how it was
-
with Elisha and Elisha's servant?
-
Their eyes were opened.
-
And they could see
into the spiritual realm
-
that those that are for us
-
are greater than those against us.
-
His eyes were open just for a moment.
-
He said he saw angels hovering
-
about two feet off the ground
-
all around him.
-
He said none of them were looking at him.
-
He said they totally encircled him
-
going outward, a crowd of them,
-
all the way around.
-
He said every one of them
was looking away from him
-
as though they were
looking to the horizons.
-
He said they were up
on top of the buildings.
-
He said there was like
an overpass somewhere -
-
they were up there.
-
He said he saw it just for a moment
-
and then it was gone.
-
But he was able to describe it.
-
And he said it was like
they were all watching.
-
They were watching.
-
And they were looking away from him.
-
They were surrounding him,
-
but they were watching.
-
Their eyes were on the horizons.
-
And you think about this,
-
we have an Apostle inspired of God
-
who comes along and says:
-
Christians, you better stay alert.
-
We have an enemy.
-
This enemy is not indiscriminate.
-
He doesn't march through Long Island
-
just destroying everything in his path.
-
Scripture says that he
has one specific people
-
in his target:
-
it is those who keep
the commandments of God
-
and hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
-
His enemy is very singular.
-
His fury is very focused.
-
And it is intent and his time is short.
-
And he, if he can't damn you -
-
and I'll tell you he wants to.
-
Look, you know if you go
-
and look at the history,
-
especially with the Germans.
-
You look at the stories
-
about the Germans and the British,
-
and the Americans and the Germans,
-
there are many times
-
when mercy was shown.
-
And yes, you can even find stories
-
where we showed mercy to the Japanese
-
and they showed mercy to us.
-
But we have an enemy
-
that knows no mercy.
-
He's spares none.
-
He wants to damn you.
-
He wants to take your children to hell.
-
He wants to destroy you to the uttermost.
-
And he looks for every
possibility to do that.
-
And if he can't damn you,
-
the second best thing he can do
-
is just lull you to sleep.
-
He does not fear your Calvinism.
-
He fears the living God.
-
He fears when God arises.
-
And you know the kind
of people God works through?
-
The kind of people
-
that are ever so weak,
-
but hear these promises,
-
hear Christ saying:
-
Go and make disciples;
-
Lo, I am with you till the end of the age;
-
I'm with you; you go.
-
But Lord, we're weak.
-
Oh, I feel it.
-
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
-
Help, O God, this weak endeavor.
-
I feel it.
-
But they were just as
weak back then as we are.
-
Have you ever looked at Peter
-
and Thomas and James and John?
-
They're made of the same stuff.
-
But they came down out of that upper room
-
in the power of the Spirit of God.
-
And they went forth, yes,
-
a lot of them lost their lives,
-
but they turned the world upside down.
-
In all their weakness,
-
they turned the world upside down.
-
We need people in our churches
-
that are thinking crazy thoughts.
-
Like how can we get into the prisons?
-
How can we start an orphanage?
-
You say, oh, the
government won't allow it.
-
The government's against us.
-
You have God with you.
-
Go do the impossible.
-
We serve the God of the impossible.
-
We pray to the God
-
who has expressly set
Himself forth in Scripture
-
as able to do exceedingly, abundantly,
-
beyond what we ask or think.
-
I would say this:
-
Go forth in the power of God.
-
Seek to be a people
-
who in that day,
-
the Lord says:
-
I sat in the darkness on Long Island
-
and you brought the light to me.
-
Lord, when did we do that?
-
Be that people.
-
I sat there in prison
-
and you came to Me.
-
I was a stranger -
-
I was a stranger to God and to His people,
-
and you came and you found Me.
-
You want to be that people.
-
Because those are the people
-
on the right hand side.
-
You want to be those people.
-
Let your great doctrine lead you
-
to take it out and share it
-
and spread it.
-
Don't keep it to yourselves.
-
You see, if you keep it to yourself,
-
you're like the parable there
-
that we didn't give
a whole lot of time to
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in Matthew 25.
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You're like the guy who buries
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what he's been given in the ground.
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And when the Lord comes,
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it's not enough that you had the talent.
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You have to go trade with it.
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Go trade with what
God's given you, brethren.
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Go trade.
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We have an enemy.
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This battle, it's real.
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Hell is real.
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Eternal torment is real.
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Men are being damned righteously
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because of their sins.
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But there's a Savior
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and you know who He is
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and they don't.
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They don't know what they've done.
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You know what they've done.
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They've raised their fist
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against the Almighty
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and it's an infinite crime.
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And they're not good.
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They're not good.
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And they don't know it
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because they're in the dark
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and they're ignorant.
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But you know.
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Father, I pray,
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please help us.
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We do pray in Christ's name.
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Amen.