Sermon

Seven Lies The Devil Wants You To Believe - Kevin Presley

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. In a heated conversation with the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus

  2. defended his credentials as the begotten Son of God and he

  3. pointedly accused them by saying that if Abraham were their

  4. father, as they claimed, then they would have allowed

  5. Abraham's, example, or they would have followed.

  6. I should say, Abraham's example, and believed the word of God,

  7. and if they were thus the children of God, they would have

  8. been braced, the Son of God who came and demonstration of God's

  9. power, but they refused to Except even the most obvious of

  10. evidences, they rejected the truth of their own scriptures.

  11. And Jesus points out that since their religion was based upon

  12. falsehood, and upon a lie that their father was not the god of

  13. truth. But rather the God and Father of

  14. every lie, and all liars, Satan himself.

  15. He's a rather scathing words. When Jesus says, you are of your

  16. father, the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning and

  17. Abode, not in the truth. Because there is no truth in him

  18. for. He is a liar, and he is the

  19. father of it, and it's also difficult to look someone in the

  20. eye and say, I believe you're wrong about that.

  21. Or I believe, maybe you're a little bit off base, or your

  22. misguided, Jesus looked at these Hypocrites and he said, you're

  23. of the devil and the devil is a liar and I know that you're the

  24. children of the devil because you're following and you're

  25. believing a lie, a tough pill to swallow, but the truth

  26. nonetheless us. And the fact of the matter is

  27. whether or not we really have the backbone of the confidence

  28. to stand and declare it. So the fact is, when you reject

  29. or anybody rejects the truth, there is nothing else to

  30. believe, but a lie, if I don't believe what is right.

  31. Then obviously, I believe what is wrong.

  32. Because everybody believes something.

  33. And there are only two choices where that is concerned when you

  34. for whatever reason reject the truth of God you have given the

  35. devil, an open invitation to deceive you through sin.

  36. Paul said that this is what happened in second Thessalonians

  37. 2 and verse 10. When he spoke of some by saying

  38. they received not the love of the truth that they might be

  39. saved. And for this cause God shall

  40. send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie that

  41. they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had

  42. pleasure in unrighteousness because they did not desire to

  43. know and obey the truth. God allowed them to believe a

  44. lie and see the end and damning whence of their sin.

  45. You don't really boils down to one thing tonight.

  46. And that is that every person stands at a Crossroads and that

  47. we only have two choices in life.

  48. We can either open our heart and our mind to what God says about

  49. any and every matter, or we can choose to believe the lies of

  50. the wicked one. Now it's no surprise that most

  51. people have chosen to reject the truth tonight concerning any

  52. number of subjects, morality salvation, the church, the

  53. necessity of Christian Living and on and on we might go and as

  54. the result Geordie of people about us.

  55. Believe the many lies that Satan has pawned off on a world that

  56. seems eager to be deceived. Let me explain how this works.

  57. God says, through Moses in the beginning, I created the heavens

  58. and the Earth. That's a simple.

  59. Declarative statement that God in the beginning of time,

  60. created all that. Is he created the heavens and

  61. the Earth? And tonight I have a had the

  62. faith to accept that statement or I am an Infidel.

  63. I either believe what the Bible says there or I reject the truth

  64. of the ER well, the world finds that hard to accept and so some

  65. Infidel scientists can come along with a Preposterous

  66. theories such as that, man. Originated from A non-sex

  67. Primitive, Life Cell, that spontaneously evolved and over

  68. the course of millions and millions of years that sell

  69. finally developed. And it evolved to the point that

  70. it became a creature with legs, and with arms, and sprouted

  71. hair, and started climbing, trees and eating bananas.

  72. And that's your great, uncle Harry.

  73. And People believe that and teachers can stand up in a

  74. classroom and they can teach that and people will believe

  75. that they accept that simply because they have said, no, and

  76. their mind in the Bible truth that in the beginning, God

  77. created the heavens and the earth.

  78. Now, God had a simple principle when he created all living

  79. things and he made them of two genders.

  80. He made male and he made female and one need only.

  81. Look at the course of nature to understand that this is God's

  82. system and God's plan for the propagation of the human race.

  83. And for that kind of companion. A ship, but the world says it is

  84. not that way, they reject that. And so some sociologists can

  85. come along and tell us that marriage can be between two men

  86. or two women or that two men or two women can constitute a

  87. functional and loving home. Just as much as any traditional

  88. home with a traditional mother and father, and we've reached

  89. the point today that the world upholds homosexuality, and

  90. obviously, unnatural lifestyle as a glorified lifestyle,

  91. instead of being, what the Bible calls it, and that is an

  92. Abomination, against God. Jesus said I am the way, the

  93. truth and the life and no man cometh unto the father.

  94. But by Me, Jesus also said, if you continue in my word then are

  95. ye my disciples indeed. But the world says that that's

  96. too dogmatic, that's too narrow. They reject that kind of bigoted

  97. Theology. And so you end up with so many

  98. denominations and various religions and factions and sects

  99. in the world that people today don't even know whether there is

  100. such a thing as absolute truth or Truth Versus error.

  101. It's all just a feeling it's all just An experienced it all, it's

  102. all, just what you choose to believe, or what road, you

  103. choose to go down in life and there really is no standard that

  104. dictates the difference between right and wrong.

  105. And so, again, I say that if you reject the premise of God's

  106. word, if you reject the truth, all there is to believe is a

  107. lie. And if you refuse to listen to

  108. God, the only one left to listen to is the devil.

  109. And the Bible says, he is the father of Lies, I believe.

  110. Tonight, if there are at least seven lies that see, Attempts to

  111. whisper into any eager and listening ear.

  112. And he has certainly deceived our world with his moral and

  113. religious Fabrications. And I think we can take the

  114. deceptions of the devil and we can really boil them down,

  115. categorize them and 27, basic falsehoods that he has passed

  116. off on the world tonight and I want to discuss them with you

  117. for a few minutes. I want to begin by saying that

  118. Satan number one, wants you to believe that there are many ways

  119. to get to God. If there is a God, there are

  120. many ways Ways to approach him to, please him to serve him and

  121. to finally inherit eternity with him, despite the fact that Jesus

  122. in John 14 and 6, very dogmatically said, I am the way,

  123. the truth and the life. And no man cometh unto the

  124. father. But by Me, Jesus said, in words,

  125. that could not be any plainer in John, chapter 10 and verse 9, I

    John 10 chapter mention

  126. am the door. And by me.

  127. If any man shall enter in, he shall be saved.

  128. Jesus claimed in Matthew 28 and verse 8, In all authority in

  129. heaven and on Earth has been given unto me and Paul in

  130. Colossians 3 and verse 17 said whatsoever ye do in word or

  131. indeed. It must all be done in the name

  132. of or by the authority of the Lord.

  133. Jesus. Now it's convenient when one

  134. finds God's way too restrictive or too narrow or unpleasing to

  135. think that some other way will do just as well.

  136. And as a result of that kind of rationale man is fooled around

  137. over the course of hundreds of years.

  138. And he has built for himself, a maze of denominations and

  139. religious factions and told the world.

  140. That one of them is just as good as another.

  141. Until today, we have reached the point that you can't hard to

  142. distinguish any of the religions in the world.

  143. In fact, this was really driven home in my mind here, just a few

  144. years ago. Immediately after the horrible

  145. tragedies of 911, you may remember that there were a

  146. number of reactions amongst our nation really around the world

  147. after that horrible day, and one of them for a very brief amount

  148. of time it seemed There was going to be a little bit of a

  149. religious Awakening at a religious revival.

  150. A Revival of spiritual thinking on the part of people, I know,

  151. one thing that It produced was a rallying cry for Unity for

  152. ecumenical Unity for religions to come together and to find

  153. Common Ground. Instead of focusing upon their

  154. differences and being alienated. And they explained that the

  155. reason that we were living in the climate that we are in the

  156. world is because people are religions really can't get

  157. along. Long.

  158. And so religion is the culprit of the problem?

  159. Well, it our local paper down home.

  160. One day, I was shocked when a newspaper article came out.

  161. That said, one of the largest and mainstream denominations in

  162. town was going to host a forum or a seminar that coming weekend

  163. and again this is not some far left organization.

  164. This is not some Fringe or radical group.

  165. This is a large mainstream respected denomination, not only

  166. in that Community but throughout the country.

  167. And this group was going to hold a forum inviting preachers of

  168. various religions to come together.

  169. And not only were they going to invite the quote-unquote, pastor

  170. of another denomination in town but they were as well going to

  171. invite one of the local Jewish rabbis and a Muslim.

  172. Clear it to this meeting and these men were all going to be

  173. given an opportunity to get up and explain their beliefs and

  174. talk about their beliefs and they would take questions and so

  175. forth. And this preacher with this

  176. denomination was quoted as saying that it is Is time that

  177. we begin focusing on the areas, in which we agree, instead of

  178. focusing upon the areas in which we disagree because he said, we

  179. really have more in common than we have that.

  180. What divides us. Now I'm going to tell you that's

  181. where we are today. We live in a pluralistic

  182. society. We live in a society today where

  183. no one can claim that they have the truth to the exclusion of

  184. other people and I'm going to dogmatically and unashamedly.

  185. Say tonight that I have nothing religiously In common, I have no

  186. basis. No grounds for any type of

  187. fellowship or Unity. Not even the beginning point of

  188. such with anybody who believes that.

  189. Jesus Christ is anything, but what he claims to be.

  190. And that is the only begotten, Son of God, God in the form of

  191. man who came down and vicariously died for the sins of

  192. man. And he is the only way to get to

  193. heaven. And I unashamedly say tonight

  194. that I don't believe they'll be a person man woman, boy, or girl

  195. at the age of accountability, that will walk through the Gates

  196. of Heaven, who has not placed They're obedient faith in Jesus

  197. Christ. There is no other way to get to

  198. heaven. Man's goodness, will not get you

  199. there who you are, will not get you there.

  200. The fact that you live in a certain country will not get you

  201. there. The fact that your parents are

  202. religious will not get you there.

  203. Jesus said I am the way I am the truth and I am the life and I

  204. know that that's too narrow and that's too dogmatic for people

  205. in this world today, but I believe that Jesus is the only

  206. way to heaven and will always be the only way to get to heaven.

  207. But you know, we shouldn't really be Prize at, that's the

  208. mentality of millions of people in this country and around the

  209. world, they calls after all preachers have hammered home for

  210. Generations. Now into people's minds here, it

  211. doesn't matter what you believe, it's all about a good feeling.

  212. It's all about that. You just try to get along with

  213. other people, it's all about the warm fuzzy feeling.

  214. You have about other people because really people are

  215. sincere and they're willing tension and what we believe in

  216. what we practice, why that's just mechanics, and that's

  217. irrelevant and that's unimportant.

  218. Why not take the next step and say that?

  219. People that reject Jesus Christ. As the Son of God, they just

  220. have a different understanding than we do.

  221. They just come from a different background than we do and we

  222. need to tolerate and we need to co-exist and we need to extend

  223. the right hand of Fellowship to all of these religious people

  224. around the world. Don't believe it for a minute

  225. because tonight it is a lie of the devil that there are many

  226. ways to get to God. Get into heaven is not like

  227. looking at a road map of the United States and choosing the

  228. most scenic route to get. Our, but Jesus said straight and

  229. narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there.

  230. Be that find it, Matthew 7 and 14.

  231. The Bible declares there is one body and Paul said that Christ

  232. is the savior of that body Ephesians 5 and 23.

  233. And it boils down to this tonight, you're either in that

  234. body or you're not, you're either in the church that Jesus

  235. Built, or you're not and your salvation depends tonight upon

  236. whether or not you are in it. One is not as good as another

  237. one, believe it. Is not as valid, is another one

  238. church, is not as right as another Satan and they want you

  239. to believe that, but Jesus says, every plant that my heavenly

  240. father hath not planted shall be rooted up, Matthew 15 and verse

  241. 13. Number two, though Satan wants

  242. you to believe that the word of God is not absolutely true.

  243. Now, it's alright to believe that the Bible has good points.

  244. It's alright to believe that the Bible has an overall.

  245. Hood moral message and in encouraging moral by which to

  246. guide your life, but it's going a little far to say that the

  247. word of God is just that that it is the word of God.

  248. Inspired of God and Authority in all matters of faith and

  249. practice. And you know that's been the

  250. tactic of Satan since the beginning.

  251. We know the story. When God created the original

  252. pair and place them in the Paradisio Garden.

  253. And it wasn't very long after God had given them one law to

  254. keep one prohibition. God said there's a tree in the

  255. midst of the garden that you are not to partake of you and eat of

  256. every tree of the garden. But God said the tree of the

  257. knowledge of Good and Evil. God said, Thou shalt not eat of

  258. it and God said, if you do eat of it, you will die.

  259. There was nothing convoluted. There was nothing hard to

  260. understand about that. If you could see through a

  261. ladder, you can see what God was saying.

  262. There is one tree. Do not eat it.

  263. Leave it alone or you will die. That is sin.

  264. It is transgression. You know, my law that was God's

  265. unction unto Adam and the some to Eve Satan's live it into the

  266. garden. And he approached Eve with a

  267. half insinuating, a remark. He said hath.

  268. God said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden.

  269. Satan was not seeking information.

  270. Satan knew just as well as he did.

  271. What God had said. He knew that that tree was

  272. off-limits and forbidden so far as they were concerned and so he

  273. wasn't sincerely trying to find out what God had said We Know

  274. Better. Than that.

  275. But rather Satan was trying to plant the seed of doubt in the

  276. mind of eat, he was trying to get Eve devaney.

  277. Well, what did God really say? What did God really mean by what

  278. he said? Anyway, maybe it's not just

  279. exactly. Like I thought it was maybe I've

  280. overlooked something here, maybe I read too much into what God

  281. was saying, you know, sometimes it's easier to allow a seed of

  282. Doubt get planted in our mind. And if it stays there, it grows

  283. and it grows into something big over time.

  284. Maybe you have started out for church, some Sunday morning got

  285. in the car with your wife and got just a few blocks down the

  286. street, she begins to mumble and think to herself, you know, I'm

  287. not sure. I turn the oven off and she had

  288. started lunch a little early. She said, I'm not sure, I turn

  289. that up and off and then she thinks well, maybe I did, she

  290. gets a few more blocks down the street.

  291. She says, no, you know, I think I left that oven on well, maybe

  292. not. And then you get a little

  293. closer. She says, I know, I didn't, I

  294. just can't ride. No, I didn't turn that oven on

  295. and by the time you pull it, by the time you pull into the

  296. parking, lot of the It's building.

  297. She is convinced that the house has burned to a heap of Ash and

  298. you've got to turn around and race back to the house, all to

  299. find out that she did turn the oven off, but she allowed that

  300. thought to cross her mind. And because that seed of Doubt

  301. was placed there that seed of Doubt grew until she had

  302. convinced herself that that was the case.

  303. Well that's really what happens to Eve here.

  304. I think Satan says hath. God said that you shall not eat

  305. of every tree in the garden. Did God really say that and she

  306. starts thinking? Well what did God say?

  307. And Then she overreacts a little bit.

  308. She says, yes God said. We should not eat of this tree.

  309. Neither should we touch it? Lest we die?

  310. Well there unless something wasn't recorded in the scripture

  311. that God said the Bible doesn't say anything about God.

  312. Saying not to touch it. God said not to eat of it.

  313. She's overreacting. She's questioning.

  314. The wheels are turning in her mind.

  315. What did God really say? She's not exactly sure of

  316. herself and Satan sees the opening.

  317. He sees the vulnerability and he seizes upon And he denies what

  318. God said. He said not only will you not

  319. die. Your eyes will be opened and

  320. you'll be able to see like gods and he painted the tree as being

  321. perfectly harmless. Now, you know, are is usually

  322. mixed with truth. It was true that the tree was

  323. not physically. Fatal, it was true that the

  324. fruit on that tree was just as edible as the tree next to it.

  325. It was not poisonous but it was and it was true.

  326. The eating its fruit would do what Satan said it Would do it

  327. would bring about the knowledge of Good and Evil.

  328. It was wrong, though, to even suggest that eating the fruit

  329. would not really do what God said it would do.

  330. And that is bring about their separation from God.

  331. And cause death claiming to believe the Bible is not in and

  332. of itself, believing the Bible and believing some things that

  333. are contained in. The Bible is not parallel to

  334. accepting the word of God by faith or letting the word of

  335. Christ dwell richly within you. Now, few people among those who

  336. profess Religion deny, the entirety of the Bible, most

  337. people accept some teaching or Psalm statement son, premise of

  338. the word of God, millions of people.

  339. And I do mean millions of people who go to church every Sunday

  340. who profess religion, they deny or they ignore some portion of

  341. the scripture and they justify that in a number of ways that we

  342. may talk about later on in this meeting, they deny the

  343. inspiration of the Bible. They say that the Bible was just

  344. generally revealed by God, but not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

  345. And so therefore, it's not word by word and line, by line,

  346. literally, the word of God. They deny the relevancy of the

  347. authority. The sufficiency the, the

  348. application in modern times of the word of God and Satan

  349. convinces people to believe that he'll the Bible just merely

  350. becomes somewhat of a good book, but a book that is wracked with

  351. error, a book that is insufficient a book that is

  352. unable to guide, man, and help man, to steer through the

  353. complicated course of life in our modern day.

  354. Satan is convince people that doctor A matter of personal

  355. preference or belief. But Jesus said, Thy word is

  356. truth. John 17 and 17.

  357. Satan says, there is no such thing as a moral absolute.

  358. That truth is relative. David said, however, the word of

  359. the Lord is Right, Psalm 33. And for Satan says, God really

  360. didn't mean what he said. You can't take God.

  361. Literally Paul says, let God be true.

  362. But every man, a liar Romans 3 and verse 4, David said in Psalm

  363. 119 in 160 Thy word is true from the Canning.

  364. And every one of the righteous judgments endureth forever.

  365. Satan wants you to believe tonight.

  366. The word of God is not true. I asked you if the word of God

  367. is not true. What is number three?

  368. Satan wants you to believe. God will make an exception in my

  369. case and what a deception this really is.

  370. God will make an exception in my case.

  371. How many people subconsciously believe that?

  372. How many people have been lulled into a sense of complacency and

  373. false security thinking? Yes, there's a God and God is

  374. going to judge sin. One of these days but God looks

  375. at me a little differently than he does other people.

  376. I've got a little bit of a different kind of relationship

  377. with God. Then people out yonder.

  378. Who don't profess religion? Surely God takes into account

  379. who I am and the background. I come from, you know,

  380. contemporary Society has made a mockery of the rule of law and

  381. Justice. Our system today is really

  382. broken in many respects and I know that that's the case,

  383. because you can basically get out on a busy street corner at

  384. High Noon and commit first-degree murder.

  385. And if you've got enough money and you can hire an influential

  386. enough Attorney At a smart enough, Attorney.

  387. He can usually work that around. If you get, just the right jury

  388. that you can get off the hook. If you don't get completely

  389. acquitted, then you can at least get a reduced sentence.

  390. You can get off on some lesser charge, that's just the way our

  391. system works. There are loopholes in the law

  392. today and people know how to seize on those loopholes and

  393. they know how to get people in trouble out of trouble.

  394. Rather, regardless of the trouble, they really should be

  395. in. And because we live in a society

  396. that does have loopholes and safeguards and we really live in

  397. a society Doesn't accept responsibility for its actions

  398. anymore. We've really been lulled ourself

  399. into believing in religion, that that's that.

  400. It's that way with God. There are loopholes in the law

  401. of God. God looks at us differently.

  402. It's really not going to happen to me.

  403. I'm not going to have to stand before God and account for my

  404. life. God looks at me differently.

  405. Wrong God makes no exceptions for anyone in Romans 2 and verse

  406. 2 Paul said but we are sure that the Judgment of God is according

  407. According to truth against them which commit such things.

  408. Now, the context is the Jews were relying on the Blood of

  409. Abraham. And they were reasoning amongst

  410. themselves. Well, you know, we're Abraham's

  411. children and since we are the Seed of Abraham, we have a

  412. special connection with God and we have a special relationship

  413. with God. And we're not like these filthy

  414. Gentiles out here who don't know God and don't have a covenant

  415. with God. When in truth, Paul is saying

  416. they were guilty of the same sins of the Gentiles were and

  417. they stood just as condemned in the eyes of God.

  418. But they denied that because of who they were, Paul says, wrong,

  419. the Judgment of God is according to truth against all of those

  420. who commit sin regardless of who they are his conclusion in,

  421. Romans chapter 3, and verse 23 is for all have said, he reasons

    Romans 3 chapter mention

  422. in Romans, chapter 1 that the Gentiles were estranged from

    Romans 1 chapter mention

  423. God. In Chapter 2, he talks about the

  424. Jews, his conclusion in chapter 3.

  425. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and his

  426. premises Romans 1 and verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the

  427. gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and To Salvation

  428. unto all them that believeth to the Jew first and also under the

  429. Greek, that doesn't mean that the Jews were preferred by God.

  430. In this particular case, it simply means that God took the

  431. gospel to them first and then he offered it unto the Gentiles but

  432. it was offered unto all because it was the answer for every man

  433. said, man, could not rely on the blood coursing through his

  434. veins. He could not rely upon who his

  435. forefather or his forefathers. Were he could not rely upon what

  436. religion. He had embraced up into that

  437. point, Man, stood on equal, footing in the eyes of God and

  438. would and will be judged by the life that they lived.

  439. God judges sin tonight, regardless of who commits it,

  440. you may have sat on a Pew of a church building.

  441. All of your life, every Sunday. God will judge your sin.

  442. Just like he judges, the man who's never darken the door.

  443. God judges in God, judge, Sodom and Gomorrah because of its

  444. embracing perverted Lifestyles and he buried them with

  445. Brimstone. There's not a doubt in my mind

  446. that this nation is rotting and Decay.

  447. Modern man is ripe for Destruction, and God is letting

  448. that happen because of our outright rejection of decency

  449. and morality. And because we have embraced as

  450. a society. As a modern age, those very same

  451. things in Noah's day, God opened the windows of heaven and The

  452. Fountains of the deep. And he drowned, the Human race

  453. because the thought of man's heart was only evil continually

  454. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. Don't think for one minute that

    Genesis 6 chapter mention

  455. God is not aware of the filth and the vulgarity and the

  456. profanity that have absolutely saturated.

  457. Our society today and turned it into a moral Cesspool when God

  458. looks upon a society that sanctions, the slaughter of a

  459. helpless and innocent child. Every 21 seconds in an abortion

  460. clinic, don't think for one minute that he does not very

  461. well. And vividly, remember, the

  462. atrocities that the people of Israel committed While

  463. worshiping Baal Baal of the valley of hinnom by burning

  464. their babies as a sacrifice, to the Pagan.

  465. God, Molech and sent them into the harsh captivity of Babylon.

  466. Heater says, in First Peter, wanted 17 the father who without

  467. respect of persons judgeth according to Every Man's work,

  468. God may not deal with Nations on the same level that he did with

  469. Israel and with nations in that old age.

  470. But I can tell you God, judges sin today, just like he always

  471. had and there is coming a judgement day.

  472. Day. When every man and every woman

  473. is going to stand before God and they're going to have their

  474. lives open before God like a book and they're going to answer

  475. for their deeds and you will be there and I will be there.

  476. And God will not judge based upon who you are.

  477. He will judge upon what you were and the life you lived you will

  478. not escape the Judgment of your sins because your father, your

  479. mother, your grandfather, your grandmother, your husband, your

  480. wife or your children, lived a righteous life, you will right

  481. into the heaven into heaven on the coattails of no one.

  482. You will only Only be saved. If you have obtained, the

  483. Forgiveness of your sins on God's terms and there are no

  484. exceptions to that rule. Not one.

  485. Number 4. Satan wants you to believe.

  486. I cannot be happy if I live a Christian Life.

  487. And the world really has a strange definition of Happiness

  488. to me. I really don't get it.

  489. I have to admit to you maybe someone could explain it but I

  490. have yet to see anyone that's given me a satisfactory

  491. explanation of how the things that the world thinks makes them

  492. happy will make them happy. The world says that to be happy,

  493. you have to get drunk every Friday night.

  494. Be married at least three three times and that to be happy.

  495. You have to play golf or go fishing on Sunday to be happy.

  496. You have to have a college degree and make it a hundred

  497. thousand dollars a year that to be happy.

  498. You have to have everything you ever wanted.

  499. To be happy, you have to live on the right side of town to be

  500. happy, you have to drive the right kind of car.

  501. And you have to achieve just the right socioeconomic status,

  502. right after all, God and the church and family and so on and

  503. so little peace of mind. What's that all about?

  504. You only go around one time. Time, grab the horrible, the

  505. tail make the most of it, it's all about you and you deserve to

  506. be happy. And then he says, look at those,

  507. pitiful people over there. Look at those people who have to

  508. go to church, look at those people over there, that live

  509. their life bound up by an outdated set of Victorian

  510. morals, and rules and regulations of that Bible.

  511. Look at those people over there, that can't go out and do all the

  512. things that we do and kick up our heels in the sand and have a

  513. fun time and drink and curse and Gamble and do everything else.

  514. Look at that, you know some people.

  515. How do you have happiness? As I said, he's strange to me.

  516. Getting high on drugs until you have fried your brain, like an

  517. egg. Does not sound like happiness to

  518. me. But millions of people have been

  519. duped into believing that it is because they'll do anything to

  520. get their hands on the stuff. Getting into a drunken stupor

  521. and making a fool out of yourself and waking up the next

  522. morning, feeling like someone has your head but no Vice.

  523. I don't get where that's happiness, I don't get, well,

  524. that's a good time. I understand how people fall

  525. into the Trap of Temptation and I understand how people get

  526. addicted to the stuff. I understand that good and well,

  527. but I have never understood how people think that's fun.

  528. But people do because tomorrow night by the millions, young and

  529. old will go out and they'll hit the bars, and they'll have their

  530. keg parties and they'll have their drug parties, and that's

  531. fun to them. That's what it's all about.

  532. To them. They spend their life, they live

  533. up there week to get the Friday, so they can do all of that.

  534. Catching some disease or raising a child on welfare because of my

  535. irresponsibility and my lust in my selfish, desire for pleasure.

  536. That doesn't sound like happiness to me.

  537. And doesn't sound like a well-rounded life and doesn't

  538. sound like a successful life because it's not Let me tell you

  539. what happened. This is happiness, is going to

  540. church on the Lord's Day. David said, in Psalm 122 and one

  541. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of

  542. the Lord. And if you feel like going to

  543. church is a labor, if you feel like going to the church, going

  544. to church is a drudgery you need to get converted.

  545. Because the fact of the matter is the person that loves the

  546. Lord Has No Greater Joy in his life than to come together with

  547. the people of God, and seem to God and read his word, and study

  548. his word and pray together with those of like Precious faith.

  549. That is a joy in the Life of any Christian.

  550. Happiness is keeping the Commandments of God, Proverbs 29

  551. and verse 18. He that keepeth the law.

  552. Happy is he, happiness is trusting in God, their life's

  553. uneven and uncertain circumstances.

  554. As David said, in Psalm 146 and five happy.

  555. Is he that hath. The god of Jacob for his help,

  556. whose hope is in the Lord, his God, which made Heaven and Earth

  557. the sea and all that they're in is and keepeth Truth forever.

  558. In other words, happiness, it's facing whatever life throws your

  559. way knowing that you've got a god like that on your side.

  560. Happiness is living a life for others, Proverbs 14, and 21.

  561. He that hath Mercy on the poor happy, is he, the world is all

  562. about me. The world is All About Me Myself

  563. and I what makes me happy what I can get what I can achieve.

  564. But the life of the Christian is self abasing in devoted to

  565. others. You say, where's the happiness

  566. in that? Do you know psychologists have

  567. proven that people who live at altruistic life?

  568. People who live a life, a selfless Life, Giving of

  569. themselves getting of their time getting of their money under

  570. those who are in need are happier and more contented and

  571. at peace with himself people. It's true.

  572. And that's what the Christian life is all about.

  573. Happiness for the believer. Here's the ultimate definition,

  574. happiness for the believer. Is drawing our last breath on

  575. this Earth. And one minute later having God

  576. opened the curtain of immortality into paradise and

  577. ultimately eventually spending an eternity in a city that is

  578. filled with holy happy, singing, laughing people.

  579. In Robes of pure white happiness, is going to a land

  580. where tears never fall because God wipes them away.

  581. Happiness is going to a place where there is no pain, no?

  582. See, Sickness no disease, no dying, no disappointments.

  583. Our heartaches where you have neighbors, like Abraham and

  584. Isaac, and Jacob, and Peter, and James and John doar.

  585. You can stumble around in life and throw your life away and

  586. live for yourself and live for sin.

  587. And have your supposed good time for a little while.

  588. And then you could be cast into a lake of fire and an abyss of

  589. darkness, where the souls of the unrighteous weep unceasingly,

  590. and grind their teeth together in pain and endless frustration.

  591. You can go to a lake of Eternal fire where you will never be

  592. consumed. Just endlessly suffer.

  593. You can go to a place where you'll have neighbors, like,

  594. Hitler and Haman, and Charles Manson, you can go to a place

  595. where you, perhaps, we'll never see your children, or your

  596. mother or your father. Again, that's called hell, and I

  597. don't call that happy. But Satan would have you to

  598. believe. You can't be happy if you live a

  599. Christian Life number 5. Satan would have you to believe.

  600. My son is my business and I'm not hurting anyone but me.

  601. My son is my responsibility and what is it to you?

  602. If I live a life of sin? Well, and Deuteronomy 5 and

  603. verse 9. Moses said, Thou shalt not bow

  604. down thyself on the graven images nor serve them for I, the

  605. Lord thy God, am a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the

  606. father's upon the children, unto the third, and fourth generation

  607. of them. That hate me.

  608. Now, I think if there's a modern application to that passage, if

  609. there's a moral principle there within that, passage that

  610. extends, right on down to you and me, it is that sin has

  611. consequences that Outlast. Us sin has consequences that far

  612. across the generational divide, and some people do them their

  613. families to failure and destruction and despair and

  614. unhappiness, and a life of drudgery and slavery to sin,

  615. because of the choices they make. that's how influential you

  616. are, and you may not realize that But you hold the destiny of

  617. lives in your hand. Here in the last few years, I've

  618. experienced the joy that most of you sitting out here tonight.

  619. Have experienced some of you many years ago.

  620. And that's to bring a brand new life into this world.

  621. And both times. I don't think I've ever since

  622. two more overwhelming, feeling of responsibility than to hold a

  623. child newborn in my arms and looked down and say they are my

  624. responsibility and the life. I live the words, I say the

  625. choices. I make the priorities that I

  626. have is in large part and perhaps solely going to

  627. determine whether they spend eternity because they will live

  628. forever. Just like I will whether they

  629. spend eternity in heaven or hell.

  630. My friend is my business, it's nobody's business, but mine the

  631. center says, the devil would have them to believe how foolish

  632. that is in. We remember the sin of Aiken of

  633. taking The Spoils of Jericho and how in so doing, he harmed his

  634. nation and his family. According to Joshua, the seventh

  635. chapter Israel lost in their battle against AI because of his

  636. Aikens soon. His family died in retribution

  637. for Aikens sin. I repeat your sin will destroy

  638. the people, you claim. Claim to love.

  639. When a man breaks the long goes to prison, his family goes to

  640. prison with him in a manner of speaking, when the young person

  641. throws his life away and alcohol and drugs and promiscuity, and

  642. sinful living, he takes his parents into a period of Torment

  643. with in their life. And they don't realize the pain

  644. that their mother or their father experiences.

  645. During those long and sleepless nights wondering where they're

  646. at, who they're with, what they're doing.

  647. I've seen young men and young ladies who follow their

  648. unbelieving, father or mother straight down the road to hell,

  649. because they look up to them and they want to be what they are

  650. King, David's sins destroyed his son Absalom, when he was a boy,

  651. Absalom, watched his father, seduce, another man's wife, he

  652. watched his father lie, he washed his father manipulate and

  653. conspire, he finally saw his father become a murderer as he

  654. killed Uriah. And so, absolutely, no surprise

  655. grew up to be just as disloyal as his father, taught him to be,

  656. he killed. David's other.

  657. On his brother amnon. He later tried to steal the

  658. kingdom. He did what his daddy did he

  659. cheated? He lied.

  660. He manipulated and finally tried to kill his own father because

  661. David taught him how to do it. And David, the chickens came

  662. home to roost for David. The sword never departed from

  663. his house. He said my sin is ever before me

  664. and never in his life was that any more true than after that

  665. tragic battle in the woods Absalom was killed and they bore

  666. the news back to David and he locked himself in his chamber

  667. and he cried and he well do Absalom Absalom.

  668. What I have died for thee, o Absalom, his sons destroyed his

  669. family, several years ago. Was a father who came home.

  670. To his three children. And had to tell them that he had

  671. gotten a note that day or found a note that day from their

  672. mother saying that she was leaving and never coming back.

  673. She disappeared. The two older children were able

  674. over the course of time to somewhat adjust.

  675. But the little ten-year-old boy simply could not.

  676. One night, his father came home from work and the little boy

  677. asked him said, father can we please go out tonight and look

  678. for Mom? And let's go get her and let's

  679. bring her home the father tenderly explain son we've been

  680. through this before. And believe me, if I knew where

  681. your mother was, we would go find her but I don't know where

  682. she's at. The boy began to cry and he

  683. said, Daddy, please, let's just go find Mother and bring her

  684. home. I want things to be like they

  685. used to be the father growing impatient and frustrated said,

  686. son. I'm telling you, I don't know

  687. where she is now, let's just drop it.

  688. I don't hear no about it. The sun began to sob and he

  689. said, Daddy, please. Let's just go find Mom and bring

  690. her home and I want her to cook supper.

  691. Like she always did And the father shouted, I don't know

  692. where your mother is. I just hush about it.

  693. Let's go to McDonald's and get something to eat.

  694. And the boy said, I don't want to go to McDonald's.

  695. I want my mother. But they went to McDonald's.

  696. And they ate. And that little ten-year-old boy

  697. sunk into a deep depression in his life that never broke. and

  698. some years later, 12 years, in fact, still living under the

  699. auspices of that. Sorry mother, he went into a

  700. McDonald's down the road here in Los Angeles and he shot 22

  701. people because of the rage that was inside of him.

  702. Don't tell me, it's my life. It's not your life.

  703. It's the life of your wife. It's the life of your husband.

  704. It's the life of your children. It's the life of your mother.

  705. It's the life of your father, and their life counts just as

  706. much as yours does. Number six, Satan wants you to

  707. believe. There is no judgement day, and

  708. it doesn't matter whether you believe there is or not.

  709. There is it, did it matters? Not if you choose to believe

  710. that, there is no Harold. You can still go there.

  711. The Earth is round whether you choose to believe it or not, and

  712. sin is real, and hell is real and sin will Send you there,

  713. whether you believe it or not, Peter said, in second, Peter 3,

  714. verses 3 through 11, the last days there would be scoffers

  715. walking after their own lusts, and they would say, where is the

  716. promise of his coming? Because since the father's fell

  717. asleep, all things continue as they always were from the

  718. beginning of the creation. In other words, if there really

  719. was going to be a second coming, if the Lord really was going to

  720. return he'd have been here by now, will you mean all this

  721. business about a judgement day? And Peter says, you know, this

  722. that life continues upon this Earth the wild continues As it

  723. is second by second and minute by minute an hour by hour

  724. because of one thing, and that is the patience of God.

  725. But one day like the Sands, in an hourglass, they're going to

  726. run completely out. His patients is going to be over

  727. and Peter says That like a thief in the night.

  728. Suddenly. Christ is going to return.

  729. This Earth is going to be destroyed and the world is going

  730. to be summoned together before the Throne of Jesus Christ in

  731. judgment. As certain as the fact, you're

  732. sitting where you are the day of judgment, is an appointed day

  733. acts 17 and 30. Every one of us will be there

  734. and we will give an account of ourselves to God.

  735. Romans, 14 and 12, every knee shall bow in that day and every

  736. tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, Romans 14 and verse 11,

  737. one day, I'm going to stand Before the Throne of Christ, and

  738. I'm going to be made to account for every thought I had and

  739. every word I said, Ed and everything I've done in life, it

  740. is not been washed away by the blood of Christ. and you two

  741. will answer for The Gap that lies between where you are and

  742. where you should have been You're not going to die and then

  743. a demise and be no more. You're going to live forever

  744. forever forever and forever and forever somewhere either in the

  745. presence of God or in the abyss of hell and that choice is yours

  746. but don't believe for one second.

  747. There is no judgement day. And lastly tonight Satan wants

  748. you to believe. I have plenty of time and

  749. perhaps this is Satan's, most deceptive tactic.

  750. I have plenty of time that allows you to have all of the

  751. Good Intentions in the world. You don't have to antagonize the

  752. church. You don't.

  753. After deny, the truth of God's word, you don't have to go

  754. around and argue against the Bible and tell people there is

  755. no God and the Bible isn't true. You don't have to do any of

  756. that. In fact, really, being lost is

  757. the easiest proposition in the world because it takes no effort

  758. being lost requires one thing. And that is waiting one

  759. heartbeat too long to meet God on his terms.

  760. Now, life is fragile. If you could blow your life

  761. right down to hours. We think of life in terms of

  762. years, you can just boil your life right down the hours and

  763. minutes and seconds. And at some point out there in

  764. the future, That clock is going to move the last time where

  765. you're concerned. and you may know that minute is approaching,

  766. and you may not But that day is coming.

  767. And Solomon tells us in Proverbs 27 of one boast not thyself of

  768. tomorrow. For thou knowest, not what a day

  769. may bring forth. You may not be alive at the next

  770. rising of the sun. You do not know that tonight and

  771. I don't say that to frighten you tonight.

  772. I don't say that just simply to repeat preacher rhetoric

  773. tonight. I say that tonight because it is

  774. true. You do not know about tomorrow,

  775. you don't know about an hour from now.

  776. Your line of work may have brought you into contact with

  777. Carnage and death. Mine has from time to time as a

  778. preacher of the Gospel. I have stood at the bedside of

  779. dying Saints, some of them there after a long-term illness, some

  780. of them there after a sudden heart attack.

  781. For four years, I worked in broadcast journalism, until here

  782. just recently. And in a fairly smaller Market.

  783. Where it's kind of all hands on deck.

  784. And one of my jobs in the evening after most of the

  785. reporters and photographers had gone, home was when we would

  786. hear those codes, come over the scanner.

  787. That there had been a horrible accident or shooting or

  788. stabbing. I had to get a camera and go out

  789. there and cover. And I suppose over for years, I

  790. did a lot of that. And in the course of that time,

  791. I saw a lot of carnage. I wasn't really kept back from

  792. it. I was able to be right up there

  793. where all of it was and I suppose in one respect, you get

  794. a little bit jaded to it. You get a little bit callous to

  795. it once you seen it enough, but I can tell you that of all of

  796. the Fatal wrecks scenes that I have been to and all of the

  797. corpses I've seen laying on the pavement. all of the bodies that

  798. I've seen brought out of a house on a stretcher, I have never one

  799. single time seen that, that I did not stop and think about how

  800. fragile life is and was not reminded that that person One

  801. hour ago was just as alive as I am and one hour ago had no idea,

  802. they would be dead. And there may be a funeral home

  803. in this town with an empty Gurney tonight and your body

  804. could be the next to lie upon it.

  805. And you just don't know at this moment, but Satan deceives

  806. people into believing you have time.

  807. It's fine to obey the gospel. You need to be worried about

  808. that, but not now you have typed enjoy life.

  809. Do what you want to do, you can get around to that when you're

  810. older. And thus he whispers into the

  811. ear of many willing hearts and causes them to stumble right

  812. into the pits of Eternal destruction.

  813. The poet said, the clock of life is wound but wants and no man.

  814. Hath the power to tell just when those hands will stop it.

  815. Late or early our live and love and toil with will be place.

  816. No faith in tomorrow for the earned, the hands may be still

  817. We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

  818. Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

  819. would like any additional information or you would like to

  820. receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.

  821. Please email us at info at True Church of Christ

  822. Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays

  823. at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

  824. Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

  825. honored guest.