[Music] if you look closely at the Bible you'll see that there's a division and here's what I mean there's obviously good and evil sin and Purity Heaven and Hell Angels and Demons but on a deeper level you learn that there is sound biblical Doctrine which is the authentic Gospel of Jesus Christ and on the opposite scale there are also doctrines of demons there are doctrines out there that mislead people by tickling their ears instead of convicting their hearts furthermore the Bible makes it clear that in the last days there is an increase in all manner
of evil however on the opposite scale of things there is an increase in good and here's what I mean 2 Timothy 3:1 says but Mark this there will be terrible times in the last days and if you read acts 2:1 17 the Bible tells us that and it shall come to pass in the last days says God that I will pour out of my spirit on All Flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see Visions your old men shall dream dreams so you see from these two verses we're told told
in the last days terrible times will come but God has said he will pour out his Spirit on All Flesh this tells me that although you will see an increase in evil and demonic activity you'll also see an increase in the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit although the world will see an increase in deception and lies you'll also see the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of many to reveal Jesus Christ and even though there will be great apostasy in the last days God has said that he will pour out his spirit and I
believe that you will see more and more people come to Christ although agents of evil will be in operation God's angels will also be working for a moment if you cast your mind back to the days of Noah we know that the world was full of sin and wicked winess but God chose Noah to build the ark in preparation the Judgment that would come on Earth second Peter 2:5 says and did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah one of eight people a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood on the world of the
ungodly Noah is mentioned here as a preacher of righteousness and so imag imagine that in the years that led up to the flood Noah was preaching to people I can see Noah calling to all people to repent and turn to God I can imagine that some people laughed at Noah they mocked him scoffed at him they saw him building the ark and probably thought he was a Madman warning after warning I can imagine a multitude of people rejecting the preaching of Noah but in the end it started to rain and the great flood became a
reality now in life you tend to come across two types of people those who make your life easier and those who make your life harder those who have money and those who don't but the truth is there's only one grouping that matters that is those who do not know Jesus and those who do in the last days you're either one who loves yourself or the Lord the group of people who love themselves can be found in 1 Timothy 3: 1:5 it says by understanding this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty
for people will be lovers of self lovers of money proud arrogant abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful Unholy heartless unappeasable slanderous without self-control brutal not loving good treacherous Reckless swollen with conceit lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having the appearance of godliness but denying its power avoid such people the first thing we see about those in the first group is that they are lovers of self a love of self and pride are closely associated do you remember that when Lucifer was in heaven he said this in Isaiah 14:12 to14 how you are fallen
from Heaven oh Lucifer son of the morning how you are cut to the ground you who weakened the Nations for you have said in your heart I will Ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God God I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north I will Ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high so you see Lucifer only thought about himself he wanted to be praised he wanted to be worshiped he wanted everything to be about
him how many of us take biblical warnings seriously now the Apostle Paul is a fascinating character in The Bible before he was Paul the Apostle he was known as Saul from Tarsus he was originally a Pharisee and a persecutor of early Christians Saul was a zealous Pharisee who was determined to stamp out what he saw as a dangerous heresy that was spreading in the Jewish Community this Saul would go door too and beat Christians and it's believed that he also killed them in the book of Acts the first person to die for following Jesus was
a man named Steven Steven gave a speech about Jesus and called everyone to repent and trust in Jesus at the end of the speech Steven is stoned to death it says of Saul in Acts 8:1 and Saul approved of his execution at the least Saul approved and was happy with the execution at the most he set up the execution saw killed followers of Jesus but despite all of this Saul had a dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus where he saw a vision of Jesus and after this experience the one persecutor of Christians became
a Christian himself now let me ask you was Paul so bad that God couldn't use him of course not Paul was transformed when he encountered Christ and when Paul did encounter Christ he wrote many books in the New Testament and there's one passage of scripture where he gives us six cautionary warnings regarding how we live our lives these six warnings are don't participate in the darkness of wild parties don't be involved in drunkenness have nothing to do with sexual promiscuity do not live immorally do not be found quarreling and the last point is not not
to be jealous now these six points can be found in Romans 13:13 where the Bible says because we belong to the day we must live decent lives for all to see don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living or in quarreling and jealousy when Paul says don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness the imagery here is powerful imagine a person stumbling around in the dark unable to see clearly in the same way engaging in wild parties and drunkenness clouds our judgment and leads us
into spiritual Darkness just as a lighthouse warns ships of dangerous rocks the Bible cautions us about the Perils of indulging in activities that dull our spiritual senses the next couple of points are to do with guarding against sexual promiscuity and immoral living continuing in Romans 13: 13B Paul urges us not to participate in sexual promiscuity and immoral living the combination of sexual promiscuity and immoral living are like a thick fog that obscures our vision of God's plan for our lives such behaviors breed an ungodly attitude ungodly habits and eventually it becomes a lifestyle this is
why it's incredibly important to be rooted in God's word much like a compass points True North the Bible provides a moral compass that when followed guides us away from the fog of immorality in Romans 13:14 Paul provides us with a solution as he writes rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh clothing ourselves with Christ is like putting on a suit of armor it protects us from the arrows of Temptation and shields us from the Allure of worldly desires just as a soldier
prepares for battle by putting on Armor we prepare for the spiritual battles of Life by clothing ourselves with the character and teachings of Christ as we navigate the challenges of our time let us Heed These Warnings guarding against the pitfalls that lead to spiritual Darkness now I would like for us to further explore warnings from Paul the Apostle and one of his most serious warnings to Christians is related to unbelief Hebrews 3:12 says see to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God this
is a serious warning because Paul is telling us that we need to see to it that none of us have a wicked and unbelieving heart a heart which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord a heart that turns away from the Living God and let me show you just why unbelief is so crippling to a Christian in Matthew 13 when Jesus was coming to his hometown he began teaching the people in the synagogue and verse 58 says now he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief think about that Jesus didn't
do any Miracles because of unbelief Jesus didn't perform any Mighty works because of unbelief and so my friends you see why Paul warns us against having an unbelieving heart when when you have a heart filled with unbelief you deny God's power you deny God's glory you deny the Lord of all that he is so be warned people of God see to it that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God now for this next warning I have to give you a little bit of context before I go on
any further the children of Israel were LED out of captivity and slavery they saw incredible miracles from God they saw the Red Sea was party the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light they were fed by Mana from heaven but despite seeing God's strong hand the children of Israel rebelled Mur murmured and complained against God and so Paul in the New Testament warns us in Hebrews 3: 15- 17 as has just been said today if you
hear his voice do not Harden your hearts as you did in the Rebellion who were they who heard and rebelled were they not all those Moses LED out of Egypt and with whom was he angry for 40 years was it not with those who sinned whose bodies perished in the wilderness the warning here is that we should not Harden our hearts don't be cold and insensitive to the voice of God in the midst of all the chaos and confusion of this world the voice of God is still calling out to us the spirit of the
Lord is knocking on our hearts a hardened heart means that someone is blind it means insensitivity towards God's Beauty And Glory it means chasing after our own desires instead of the things of God but thankfully in his mercy God has offered to change our hearts God can change our hearts the third warning I believe we should be aware of can be found in Hebrews 2 verse1 therefore we must must give the more Earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away now I believe that the Amplified translation explains this verse further as
it says for this reason that is because of God's final Revelation in his son Jesus and because of Jesus's superiority to the angels we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard so that we do not in a way drift away from truth in essence what the Bible is telling us here is that we should be careful not to drift away from the truth that is Jesus Christ we should be careful not to slip away from the truth of the gospel because in this world you will encounter people who
give you their own watered down version of the Gospel people who will preach a gospel that will require no repentance no commitment no denying of self but instead a gospel that tickles the ears it sounds good makes you feel good but has no power to transform you or challenge you this is what we should be careful about let's not drift away from the truth of the Gospel the real Gospel of Jesus Christ will Challenge and convict you it will lead to a change in your sinful habits and cause you to repent and we should do
just that Saints we should repent and turn away from sin the Bible says in Matthew 7: 15-1 17 Beware of the false prophets teachers who come to you dressed as sheep appearing gentle and innocent but inwardly a ravenous wolves by their fruit you will recognize them that is by their contrived Doctrine and self focus do people pick grapes from Thorn bushes or figs from thistles even so every healthy tree Bears good fruit but the unhealthy tree Bears Bad fruit as Believers we need to know know the word of God for ourselves we need to have
a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because there are many people out in the world who stand and appear to be people of God when in fact if you listen closely if you pray for discernment you will find them to be wolves and sheep's clothing and this is why it's crucial for us to take time to educate ourselves we have to take time to get to know the word of God for ourselves now Saints the true Gospel of Jesus Christ it calls us to repentance but what's happening is that some who call themselves preachers are really
sugarcoating the gospel and the gospel that they preach it tells you that you're forgiven but it does not call you to repent it calls you loved and it talks about God's mercy and all that is true but it does not correct you it doesn't tell you to carry your cross it doesn't tell you to crucify your flesh and this is the very reason that we have to be careful we cannot just listen to anyone and everyone we cannot just open up our spirits to receive any Doctrine that's out there you see the real Gospel of
Jesus Christ it will challenge you the real Gospel of Jesus Christ oh it will convict you it will lead you to a change in your sinful habits and it will cause you to desire to repent you see the gospel does not teach you that you are forgiven but you can keep living the way that you were that would be cheap Grace real Grace real Grace teaches us to turn away from sin it teaches us that we must sacrifice it reminds us to be humble it instructs us to love others as we love ourselves the real
gospel it teaches us that life often gets hard after we begin following Jesus but despite the many afflictions of the righteous the Lord delivers out of them all you see one of the reasons that people often preach the sugarcoated gospel is because they're worried that the real gospel will offend people they're worried that if they tell people that they need to repent they'll lose their congregation or maybe get bad publicity so instead they settle for feel-good messages only they settle for a gospel that tickles the ears but listen Saints we ought to seek out the
real Servants of God the real teachers of the word of God because it's the true gospel that changes the heart of the hearer it's the true gospel that can Pierce any hardened heart and it calls people to obedience and to repentance if there is one thing that I've learned from various life experiences it's the fact that not every friend really is a friend a smiling face doesn't always mean pure intentions Open Arms don't always mean that you're welcome and you only have to look in the Bible to find that not everyone can be trusted Judas
ate with Jesus he sat on under the teachings of Jesus he was there when the Miracles happened he was part of the Inner Circle but he betrayed our Lord Joseph was betrayed by his brothers he grew up with them at one stage they played together ate together they were blood but they betrayed him David said this about someone close to him in Psalm 55:12 to 14 it is not an enemy who taunts me I could bear that it is not my my foes who so arrogantly insult me I could have hidden from them instead it
is you my equal my companion and close friend what good Fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God we are called to love our neighbor and rightly so we should love our neighbor I also believe that you should love with wisdom and what I mean by that is that there are those who you can and should love at a close proximity and then there are those who you should love from a distance because getting too close to them can lead to your distraction in fact I have found that broken people
love to break other people bitter people have a tendency of attempting to make other people bitter the Bible in Hebrews 12:15 says see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no Bitter Root grows up to cause trouble and defile many one translation says watch out that no bitterness takes root among you for as it Springs up it causes deep trouble hurting many in their spiritual lives the Bible here is clearly telling us that when bitterness takes root in a person that root of bitterness grows and bears fruit now
perhaps you have been hurt by someone close to you maybe it was deliberate maybe there was malicious intent behind that person's actions and you've never received an apology do not I repeat do not let that hurt take root in your heart and become bitterness perhaps something unfortunate has happened to you maybe an action was taken against you that was unfair I urge you not to let that hurt take root in your heart and become bitterness whatever it is that may have happened to you or against you be quick to let go be quick to forgive
be quick to move on don't give an opportunity for bitterness to grow in your heart don't give an opportunity for the devil to work in your life the reason that bitterness is destructive is because it doesn't just affect the person who was bitter but it affects everyone they come into contact with a bitter person hurts people because they feel as though the world deserves to be hurt because of what they went through but on the opposite scale when you see someone who has the genuine love of God in their heart you see someone who welcomes
anyone regardless of what they have done what they look like or who they are the love of God causes you to lead others to Christ the love of God in your heart leads you to have a burden for unbelievers so let me tell you this as Born Again Believers we are to love others because Jesus Christ first loved us even while we were still Sinners we are to forgive because we are forgiven the Amplified translation for Ephesians 4: 31-33 says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor Perpetual animosity resentment Strife fault finding and
slander be put away from you along with every kind of malice all spitefulness verbal abuse malevolence be kind and helpful to one another tenderhearted compassionate understanding forgiving one another readily and freely just as God in Christ also forgave you I find it interesting that In this passage of scripture of all the things we are told to put away with bitterness is the first thing to be listed I believe this to be the case because it is a complex and multi-layered emotion it's hard to be bitter and not be angry it's hard to be bitter and
not have any resentment it's hard to be bitter and not not be spiteful or obsessed with finding fault in anything and everything this is why the Bible tells us to put this emotion away from us do away with bitterness people of God Jesus Christ has loved us even as we are he has forgiven us despite the many many times we have fallen into sin Jesus Christ has and still does show us kindness and mercy and compassion and in his word he is given us the Commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself and let
me tell you it's in your best interest to forgive and move on to forgive and let go because Matthew 6:15 says but if you do not forgive others their sins your father will not forgive your sins bitterness and unforgiveness are inseparable emotions you can't be bitter about something you've forgiven and let go of so I encourage each and every one of you listening right now learn to forgive quickly and strive to imitate Jesus Christ let's be people who are full of the love of God in our hearts let's do away with arguments and divisions and
let's be kind and helpful to one another let's encourage each other in the faith let's be tenderhearted compassionate understanding and willing to advance the kingdom of God over our own self-interests there's a popular saying regarding success show me your friends and I'll show you your future and one quote I like reads friends should be like books few but hand selected now the Bible also weighs in on this topic of friendship Psalm 1 veres 1-2 says blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of Sinners nor
sits in the seat of scoffers but his Delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night we all get to choose who we led into our lives we can surround ourselves with like-minded people with people who will build us up and encourage us to dwell richly in Christ or we can linger in the company of people who will lead us astray people who will take us far away from God's perfect will for our lives the choice we make when it comes to the company we keep it can
have serious consequences not just in the short term but in light of Eternity second Corinthians 6:14 says do not be unequally yolked with unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what Fellowship has light with Darkness this passage is often applied to the context of dating or marriage but it applies in a general sense to friendships as well we as Believers should be more careful about who we l into our Inner Circle that doesn't mean we can't have friendships with unbelievers but we shouldn't allow ourselves to be yolked to be tied to be bound
by them we can't allow them to hold us back from following the Lord because while we might share certain Hobbies or interests or life situations at the end of the day if we do not share the most important part of us our faith our trust in Jesus Christ then that's a relationship that we don't need to maintain 1 Corinthians 15:33 do not be deceived Bad Company ruins good morals no matter how good of a Christian you think you are no one is 100% safe from the influence of evil if we're not careful we can allow
ungodly people to hinder our own walk with Christ as humans we are social creatures we tend to imitate each other's behavior and attitudes the more time we spend with certain people the more like them we become that's why the Bible warns us regarding the company we keep Proverbs 13:20 says whoever walks with the wise becomes wise but the companion of fools will suffer harm today there might not be anyone in your life that you would identify as a fool but can you identify anyone who constantly attracts trouble and often brings you into it you know
the devil can plant people in our Lives who may seem genuine at first but are actually harmful to our relationship with God these people might end up discouraging us betraying us or even destroying us however when we surround ourselves with fellow Bible believing Bible practicing Christ loving people then our interactions become seasoned with Grace and tenderness we become better equipped to face the struggles of life when we know that we have a support system that stands with us that prays with us that intercedes for us and that believes with us Psalm 1 verse 1 and
2 say blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of Sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his Delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night you are blessed when you don't sit and entertain scoffers don't sit with them or break bread with them of course do your Christian Duty which is to love all people and share the gospel of Christ but do not sit or get into a state of being relaxed when you are
around a scoffer they will pull you down the dangerous thing about a scoffer is that their sole aim is to make you doubt they plant seeds of doubt that's their mission it's simply to spread doubt they want you to question everything about the Lord they want you to question in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which says then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord they want you to question Revelation 3:10 because you
have kept my word about patient endurance I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth they want you to question the word of God but we should resist such a person protect your faith protect yourself by not exposing yourself to people who purposely come to trip you up instead focus on living a life that is pure and pleasing to Jesus focus on doing all you can to put this flesh under subjection in fact the Bible tells us how to prepare for
the coming of the Lord in 2 Peter 3: 14 to 15 therefore beloved since you are waiting for these be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience of Our Lord as salvation just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given himm we as children of God should be found spotless and blameless in peace that is inwardly calm with a sense of spiritual well-being and confidence having lived a life of obedience to him we're all comforted by the thought of God
being eternally loving which he is we get that lovely warm feeling inside when we read of God being our Mighty protector our shield and defense he certainly is all of the above we love the fact that God is forever merciful he is kind and gracious however allow me to say this sternly God is not to be mocked often times we can deliberately sin we can deliberately disobey all because we think that the nature of God His Kind nature we think that his nature will Overlook our wrongs however this is not the case God hates sin
the Bible in Psalm 5:4 says for you are not a God who Delights in wickedness evil may not dwell with you he is a God who doesn't Delight in sin he takes no pleasure from it that's why the wages of sin are death the Lord is too righteous and holy for sin to even be in his presence he's he's too pure for that and so what happens when God gets angry what happens when people sin day after day and mock him what happens when people forget that the Bible says in Exodus 34:14 for you shall
worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God what strikes me about the children of Israel is that they were set free they were LED cared for and blessed by the Lord but yet still found a reason to complain their hearts were ungrateful and they sinned with their unthankful attitudes as they murmured and complained now the Bible reads in numbers 11: 1 and 2 and the people complained in the hearing of the Lord Lord about their misfortunes and when the Lord heard it his anger was kindled and the fire
of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp then the people cried out to Moses and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died down the decision to overlook the goodness of God led to an outpouring of his wrath so you see God is loving but he is not to be mocked he is patient but he is not weak so we should not provoke him to anger you can't deceive him or think that you can pull a fast one on him he is omnipresent he is omniscent and all knowing
you see there is a lie that the devil tells us which I believe to be the biggest and the most dangerous lie that many people fall for and the LIE he tells you is you've got time you have got time and here's how the LIE is dressed up you've got time to repent so keep sinning you can get right with God later you've got time to keep living however you want you don't have to worry about God and on turning your life around just yet do it tomorrow you've got time this is a lie that
is so easy to believe because it's comfortable it lures us into a false sense of security to think that we can have our cake and eat it too it's a lie that many fall for because it doesn't require any action on our part it doesn't require us to change it doesn't require us to crucify the flesh but it does allow us to keep living life on our own terms without ever pausing to evaluate where we're headed it's a lie that tells us that we're free to chase money to chase power in relationships or anything we
think will fulfill us but the reality is that at any given moment we are 1 second away from heaven or hell we need to always be mindful that what we do today what we do while we're here still alive and breathing will affect the Unseen World for us Matthew 6:33 puts it this way but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you we're being told to choose Jesus Christ in a world that is rejecting him we're being called to live a righteous life in a hostile
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