Revelation Chapter 2 "The Church of Compromise. "

Let's get to it. Let's read it right from the get

go, verse 12 and to the Angel of the church in Pergamos.

Angel can be either be messenger.

Many believe it's to the pastor, to the leader of the church and

Pergamos right, Jesus telling John what to write these things

says he Jesus in every letter introduces himself with a

certain title. It gives the the flavour of what

he's about to say these things says he who has the sharp 2

edged sword. So he's going to be speaking

about the word of God and the necessity of it.

I know your works. Again, God knows the churches.

He knows what we do. He knows exactly what's going on

here today. He knows our hearts, the hearts

of all of us, and He knows what's happening here.

He is in the midst. Remember, of the lampstands of

every church where you dwell. And notice this where Satan's

throne is. So Satan is not omnipresent.

He can only be in one place at one time.

And so here we're reading that Satan had set up his

headquarters literally in Pergamos in modern day Turkey,

and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in

the days when Antipas will get to him.

He's how how would you be that you mentioned it that you get

your name in the Bible as being one who who died for Christ.

That's amazing. Can't wait to meet Antipas.

He has his name because he stood up for the Lord.

He died for his fight for Antipas, my faithful martyr, who

was killed among you where Satan dwells.

He repeats it. So Antipas was a churchgoer, so

many believe he was a pastor in Pokemos then he says, But I have

a few things against you because you have there those some in the

church, some were faithful, but some in the church who hold the

doctrine. The teaching of Balaam, who

taught Balak. Balak was the king of the

Moabites to put a stumbling block before the children of

Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols.

And here's what really was the outcome to commit sexual and

morality. Thus you also have those who

hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

We covered those basically they thought the same as the doctrine

of Balaam, which things I hate. We looked at that back at

Ephesus. Here's what the cure is.

You know Christians are to repent.

You know, we only, we don't repent once.

Repentance isn't just for someone who to get saved.

Repentance is something that believers do too.

Read 1 John 19 and 10. Repent or else Jesus says, I'll

come to you quickly and we'll fight against them.

And here's the mention again with the sword of my mouth.

What is it? It's the word of God in

Revelation 19. When Jesus returns the second

coming out of his mouth will go the sharp 2 edged sword.

He will speak and God's judgement will fall, he who has

an ear. So here's the part as I read

this, the Book of Revelation says you are being blessed by

God. He who hears and reads this

shall receive the blessing and also he who obeys it.

So as I read this, God is blessing you.

That's amazing. The Spirit says to the churches,

to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manner

to eat, I will give him a whitestone and on the stone a

new name written, which no one knows except him who receives

it. So the Church of Ephesus, first

church, it left its first love of Christ.

Remember it was going to church, it was doing all the stuff.

You and I, we can go to church, we can grab our Bible, head off,

grab the kids, head there, go about serving Sunday school,

serve the coffee, be part of the worship team and our hearts not

in it. You've left God, you're going to

church, but you haven't got God with you.

That was the church at Ephesus. You haven't lost it, you left

it. The Church of Smyrna we looked

at Wednesday night, my favourite church, it's suffered.

It's suffered because of its great love for God.

Jesus said there are people you're going to die.

People have died in the Church of Smyrna.

More of you are going to die. He never got them out.

And he said don't worry, I'll, I won't make sure.

I'll make sure he won't die. Never said that they were going

to die for their faith, But the Church of Smyrna was strong and

powerful. It's the only church that has no

harsh things said to it, no admonition from God.

It's interesting. Church of Smyrna, shortest

letter. It suffered greatly because of

its great love for Christ. And now today, the Church of

Pergamos. Sometimes I'll say Pergamon

Pergamos, basically that's the same name.

Now this church was a whole different matter, which we'll

see. It played church and it acted

before when Satan launched his vow, persecution against the

Church of Jesus Christ, which we studied particularly in the

dispersion of the early church from Jerusalem.

They didn't leave. So God allowed persecution on

the church at Jerusalem because they ought to go to where Judea,

Samaria, and the outermost parts of the world.

And they stayed. They huddled in one thing

persecution came off they went when Satan was allowed by God to

do that instead of the church crumpling saying well, I'll just

persecute them that'll that'll just Chuck it in.

No, like the Church of Smyrna, the love of Christ by these who

suffered persecution grew even stronger.

In one of our visits to Israel, our group went to a location,

the location where Pilot had Jesus stand next to him after

Jesus had been crucified. We were there at this location

and at this location it was a tragic reminder because Jesus

was so brutalised by the whip that he just was red.

Raw bones, sinews could be seen blood everywhere from him

because such was the, the thrashing and the pulling of

the, the, the iron and, and the bits of glass and stone that

were in the, in the, or the whipping that just literally

tore shreds off him as he stood. We're at that location where

this occurred. As we we gathered at that spot,

we came across a group of Chinese believers visiting

Israel from the persecuted church in China.

And we joined with them in worship.

They sang a song, they sang it in Chinese.

We we couldn't know what they were singing of their love for

Christ, but their love for Christ and our love for Christ.

Join us together at this this this sacred site I call.

But as they sang, and they sang with absolute gusto from every

individual, every one of them, not one of them sang without

tears streaming down their eyes, singing loud, loud, loud.

And after they had finished their singing, through an

interpreter, I asked what were the words of the song that they

were singing? And he said to me, We've sung

about our cruel treatment, our beatings and sufferings we've

received constantly in China because we just love Jesus

Christ. But the chorus of the song we

sang over and over is filled with these words.

And Jesus held our hand all through this time, and he never

let go. He never let go.

When persecution hit the early church, the Christians, as I

said, were scattered to all parts of the world, and with

them they took the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and

the gospel spread across the world like wildfire.

The devil knew his plan of attack by a full frontal

persecution on the church was failing because the church was

growing more and more as it did in China.

The underground church just blossomed powerfully, grew, and

it grew in power. And so the devil decided he'd go

to Plan B. He decided to join the church.

Jesus captured this action with a parable back in Matthew 13.

Jesus says. Here's another story Jesus told

the Kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted a good seed

in the field. But that night, as the worker

slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat.

They slipped away. When the crop began to grow and

produce grain, the weeds also grew.

The farmers workers went to him and said, Sir, the field where

you planted that good seed, it's full of weeds.

Where do they come from? An enemy has done this, the

farmer exclaimed. Or shall we pull out the weeds?

They asked. No, he replied.

You'll uproot the wheat if you do because they look the same.

Let both grow together until the harvest.

Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them

into bundles and burn them, and to put the wheat into the barn.

The Church of Pergamos covers the period.

So too the churches that have become compromised.

What happened is the church began to fold in its doctrine,

the word compromise in the dictionary, it means this.

It means a settlement of dispute by concession on each side.

It's something midway between different things.

In other words, you, you change your stance, you put oneself or

another person in a dishonourable position.

Pergamus represents the church that existed from 313 AD.

Denzel, where are you? You're around.

There were a whole heap of slides.

You can pop them up at any time. Pergamos represented the church

that existed from 313 AD to 600 AD.

It was when Christianity became the Church of Rome, a time in

which Constantine, the emperor of Rome, marched all his armies

into the ocean. Everyone's getting baptised,

marching, they went, they will March there.

You're all baptised. And the church became the legal

religion of the land. It was when Christianity

suffered the most. But during also the period

leading up to that, the church, that church, the compromise

Church, 6,000,000 Christians died during that period for

their fight. As I said, it was the time of

Constantine and he amalgamated priests from false Pagan

religions into being part of the church.

In other words, if everyone, OK, no, no Pagan rules and none of

that stuff, we're all going to be Christian.

But what we can do is you guys or priests, you've been priests

in this, you come over and, and, and you're all part of the, the,

the, the Christian religion now. So when they moved over, they

brought with them and a lot of stuff that you see in churches,

in the high churches, the, the garb and the hats and the carry

on is brought over from that period.

During that time such things as the baptising for the dead, the

Mother of God, worship came into being, praying to Saints came

into being, praying to statues came into being and A and a

hierarchy. The priesthood got this

hierarchy was established, all these different ranks and

levels. The end of this period of

history is known as the Dark Ages.

Jesus said of the church like that of Pergamos that there are

many attending there that appeared to be like Christians

but they are in fact false teachers, false believers and

our warning this morning is for us not to be one of them.

Jesus self titled to this church verse 12 and to the Angel of the

church and Pergamos write these things says he who has the sharp

2 edged sword. Now we know that refers to what

the Bible, God's word, the word of God always cuts two ways.

I know people come to this church and then they leave and I

know many come and go because we teach the Bible.

They go, oh man, you're a bit harsh.

You're a bit strong. No, just reading the Bible.

And So what happens is the word of God cuts two ways.

When I sit every time under the word of God, whenever I read the

word of God, I see things that are great, God's grace, God's

mercy, God's, God's kindness to me.

But also I read, Keith, you're sinful in this theory.

You're lacking this, you're selfish, you're this, you're

that. You're not, you're not doing

that or you're not being a good father, you're not being a good

husband. And I get convicted by it

because the Bible cuts two ways. One side of the word is what

people don't want to hear, which makes them uncomfortable.

You know, the church has gone into this compromise way where

where every time we preach, church gathers.

It's always got to be a positive message.

Look at the children in the world that have grown up under

Always be positive with them. Ask the police, ask school

teachers what it's like having children where their parents

have always been positive with them.

Which is why Calvary chapels do not teach what we call topical

messages as a practise, for such preaching allows pastors and

teachers to talk on things about the Bible they think are

important. But teaching the Bible book by

book, Genesis through the Revelation, chapter by chapter

and verse by verse, forces us to hear what God thinks is

important. And that's the most important

thing. No sidestepping hard issues.

We deal with divorce. We deal with marriage.

We deal with sin. We deal with pornography.

We deal with sexual immorality. We deal with adultery, we deal

with rebellion, we deal with occult, witchcraft, drugs,

drunkenness. Paul calls this teaching the

full counsel of God. Now the curse of compromise is

this. The Church of Pergamos was on a

collision course. Who with Jesus Christ?

Some of its members were suffering from living lives of

compromise in their walk with God.

There are times in our lives when we suffer as Christians,

Peter says. If you suffer as a Christian for

your faith, praise the Lord God, you can, then you can identify

with Christ. It's a blessing, it's a

privilege. But if you're suffering because

you're a Christian idiot, then you deserve a good boot in the

behind. Did he say yes because so many

people in church. Well, you know, you know, and I

was doing this and I was and I I was reading my Bible.

Well, were you reading your Bible when you should have been

doing your job? Yeah, but I was no, do your job.

Well, I was doing and and and and you've acted like a fool.

We need to be wise and what other Christians do.

What was happening at Pergamos is that people were fitting into

the world. So you're one thing here on a

Sunday and then when you go to church or when you go to school,

you go to university, when you go to your mother's group or to

your golf group or to surf, hang out with other surfers, you just

fit in. You speak the way they speak.

You think the way they speak. You don't, you know, no one

knows you're a Christian. They're the Secret Service.

You just want to fit in, and the problem with fitting in is that

Christians don't fit in to a fallen world Compromise.

Living for a Christian is dangerous and can end up being

lethal. There were some there at

Pergamos who were out on a mission to appease everyone by

tolerating certain things within it.

You heard the word tolerance, haven't you man?

Aren't we to be a tolerant society today?

Aren't we to tolerate it? Isn't it interesting how we're

to tolerate everything else? The schools that will tolerate

this sculpture but no school and no systems tolerate what?

Jesus Christ, the AFL, they have a thing for everything, but they

don't have anything for Christianity.

The tolerance is always a way and to weaken and to compromise

the word of God. Tolerance dominates today's

media discussions. And we, the church, the world is

forcing us, trying to force, well, you need to be more

tolerant. I mean, come on, get up with the

ages. Yeah, sure.

And the church was having problems with the correct

doctrine of Jesus Christ. And as a result this had led to

many in the church being involved in lewd behaviour,

specifically sexual immorality. Sexual immorality in the Church

of Jesus Christ today is tragic. And So what was happening in

Pergamos, the people would go and worship at the the temple of

diocese or or Bacchus or the one of the the Apollos.

Or, or they'd say Caesar is Lord, which is what got Antipus

killed because Antipus, he wouldn't sprinkle the, the

insects and say Caesar Lord because he said I only have one

Lord Jesus, my will, you'll die. Just just say Caesar is Lord

just going to do that compromise.

Come on and you can go, go about your business.

He said, I can't do that. So they killed him.

And So what happened? They would go to the temple,

then they'd come to church. You know, Al Capone went to

church every Sunday. You know, he was the biggest

giver of the church that he attended.

Al Capone, you see, do we go and worship at Pagan temples or

what? I don't go to a police or well,

hang on a minute. What are you doing between

Sunday to the next Sunday? What are you worshipping in your

life between that period of time?

What are you giving yourself to, giving your your passions to,

even giving your finances to, giving your children to?

And then you come on a Sunday. We come on a Sunday and our

lifestyle begins to be just like the world can't pick them, like

the seeds sown in that field. Jesus says as they grow, they

look exactly like the wheat. Can't tell the difference.

You see, false teaching can destroy a church and can destroy

a person. So Jesus addresses this church

wielding the sword of the Spirit.

The sword of the Spirit, Hebrews 412 for the word of God is

living. In other words, you read it and

you go, man, I, I never saw that before.

And then you read and you know, I never saw that.

I just because it's living, it's speaking to you, However, it's

changed. And when you, when you're

changing, you go back, you're maybe you, you, you change the

way that you're living as a man, as a, as a husband or as a, as a

wife or a mother. And you're, you're slipping,

you're compromising. And as you read the Word, God's

Word, then all of a sudden it digs where God is living.

And it's powerful. It's sharper than any 2 edged

sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and the

spirit and of joints and marrow. And as a discerner of the

thoughts, it knows what you're thinking and intense of the

heart. It knows what's in your heart,

Hebrews 413 goes on to say, and there is no creature hidden from

his sight, the Lord, but all things are naked and open to the

eyes of him to whom we must give account.

So Pergamos was a tough place to be as a Christian.

Jesus said, I know where you live, and I know Satan's Thrones

there. Imagine living in the Yeah,

yeah. Who lives up there?

Oh, Satan, he's just down the road.

His kids go to state schools. My kids go to.

Can you imagine? It was a tough place to be a

Christian. There were temples of false gods

everywhere. Dionysies, the God of wine,

Asclepius, God of medicine. It's the sign that we use we see

today on medicine. So, you know, with the snake

going around, what they would do with that temple.

And you'd go there and you would lie on the floor.

And if the snake crawled over you, it was a sign of, oh,

you're going to be blessed. Your healing was going to come.

Indiana Jones wouldn't have liked going to that.

They had a major problem, and it all started with wrong belief.

Your problems all start with what you think.

What you believe will always determine how you behave.

What you believe will always determine how you behave.

False doctrine was rampant in this church.

The word doctrine is mentioned 37 times in the New Testament in

the book of Acts when the church began.

Acts 242 says of the church. And they continued steadfastly

in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of

bread and in prayers. Paul wrote to Timothy when he

was in Ephesus one Timothy 413 Till I come Timothy, give

attention to reading. This is why we read the book of

Psalms this morning to exhortation to doctrine.

Paul then wrote to Titus, another young pastor.

He says, But As for you speak the things which are proper for

sound doctrine. There are many today so resolved

to make paramount. The issue is love.

Love is the paramount that they forget the sacredness of

revealed truth. In other words, let's drown out

doctrinal differences. Oh, it doesn't matter what you

believe. Have you come across people like

that? No, it doesn't matter what you

we just as long as we all you know, Allah, Buddha, as long as

we all just love. Jesus says well then why did I

bother that? Because Jesus said I am the way

I am, the truth and the life. Only.

The truth is through Jesus on the cross.

Only salvation is through Jesus on the cross.

Only eternal life is through Jesus on the cross.

No one, Jesus is, no one comes to the Father.

When you die, the only way you get to heaven, Jesus said, is by

me. That's why you're going to have

the truth. There are others so dogged in

their zeal, however, for God's Word that they become harsh,

bitter, and unloving. They're right.

They're dead right, man. They carry Bibles around.

They just use it and they smack you with all the time.

Well, shall not you're wearing, I see you're wearing pants.

You shouldn't be wearing pants. Christians shouldn't be dancing.

And Bible says you can't dance. I don't know Christians.

Some Christians can dance, some can't dance.

I know. And I use the Bible and I bash

you, bash you with it. The Bible teaches us to hold

truth and love, to love others in truth, and to grow not only

in love, but in discernment. Don't be an idiot.

Jesus says I know your works verse 13 and where you dwell

with Satan's Thrones. God is not ignorant of us living

in a non Christian world. Pergamos was a tough place to be

a Christian and to live there. It was full on Pagan town to

which Satan dwelt there. Jesus knows your workplace.

You might work in a workplace that is really just like man.

It is so wrong. You might go to a school where

the kids are just raging and gown berserker.

You might be the only Christian in your family.

Jesus says to you, I know, I know we are.

I know what you're putting up with.

I know about it. He expects you to stay faithful

in that situation. He says hold fast to my name.

Begin of Antipas didn't deny my faith, even in the days which

Antipast was my faithful martyr who was killed among you.

The Church of Pergamos had welcomed the doctrine of Balaam

and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

The word welcome means allowed. Tolerator.

What do you, what should we tolerate in this church?

Oh, it doesn't really matter. You know, we could have this

person speak, you know, You know, I'm always getting emails

from people who want to come speak here.

Always want. First of all, they want money.

Always get those emails. Can we?

Well, this church, you know, we'd like to you to be involved

in pass the key. You're on my mind.

I don't even know you. Would you consider both of these

false doctrines? The Balaam and the Nicolaitans

taught the same thing. They taught this.

You can live in sin as much as you please and still be a

Christian. God will understand.

Isn't that what the Australian vernacular is?

I'm a Christian, I know God, God knows me, I worship God in my

way. Isn't that the Christian

religion? But Romans chapter 6, Paul says,

Romans 6 · chapter mention

what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that

grace may abound? Certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

After all, if God loves sinners, then why worry about sin?

Just he'll forgive us. God gives grace to sinners, then

why not sin more and receive more grace?

Some people think that their job is to sin.

Well, I know. Yeah, I'm sin.

But you know, I'll be back in church.

God, I mean, I'm me and the Lord, well, like this.

And I'll just repent. He'll forgive me.

God will do his job. I'll do my job.

Paul establishes an important principle when we are born again

in Romans 6, when we have believed on Jesus for our

salvation, our relationship with sin is permanently What's that

word permanently changed? You've become a new creature in

Christ. All things are passed away.

All things have become new to Corinthians 517, that we should

now no longer live in sin. It simply isn't fitting to live

any longer in something you've died to.

But like people today, people can say, Keith, God knows my

heart. Exactly.

That's the problem. God does know your heart.

Jeremiah 17/9. The heart is deceitful above all

things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

Your heart, my heart is sinful, God knows it.

This is the compromise, Christian.

Such people think well, a little bit of sin won't hurt.

We should call a white lie. Remember a white lie.

Some of you old enough or a fib. Kids wouldn't know what a fib

is. White lie being flirtatious.

I was just being flirtatious. We heard the women dealt with as

a subject brutally. Friday night pornography.

Well, yeah, but just a bit here, a bit there.

Fudging your work timesheet. Yeah, I know.

Well, I'll just round out the hours.

What's the harm? The harm is we cannot handle a

little bit of sin. It always leads to more.

No one suddenly falls away from the faith.

Samson. You know the story could have

should have but didn't Samson the greatest judge just and he

did everything he had just this and he met a lady who's TomTom

Jones's girlfriend Delilah started going out with Delilah.

She's Welsh. Samson is.

He was fell under Tom Jones's girlfriend's Delilah's.

Where'd you get the strength from?

Where'd you get the strength from?

You know, you hold steel. And in the end, the devil

couldn't defeat Samson on the battlefield.

So what did the devil do? I think I can get him in the

bedroom. How many evangelists do we

continue to see fall? Where do they fall?

Same place that Samson fell. It's the same teaching of

Balaam. Go to church, do your thing, but

it's just a little thing. What is the doctrine of Balaam?

Verse 14? We find his story in the book of

Numbers 22 to 24, where the king of Moab, his name is Balaac.

He hated the Jews and he wanted them completely annihilated.

Sounds a lot like Iran, doesn't it?

Bilek hired Balaam, who's this weird prophet to get God to

curse his own children. And he offered him great, great

riches. Balance it.

No probs. I'll money.

Whoa, I'll do that. He's a profit for hire.

He accepts the job, tries to put a curse each time he God speaks.

You can't curse my people. And he has to bless them.

Anyway. Finally he loads his donkey and

he heads out to carry out the task.

And as he's growing along and he's faithful old donkey and his

donkey slams on the brakes crushes his masters leg up

against the wall causing Balin to hey what are you doing?

Stop beating him. Beats him three times He does

this and then finally the donkey shouts out.

He said hey what are you beating me for?

Funny thing is Balin starts talking back to the donkey and

the donkey says hey and read it. Haven't I been your faithful

donkey man? I've never let you down before,

I've never done this. And Balaam's eyes, it says we're

opened to see standing before him in the way of the poor

donkey, a mighty Angel with the sword drawn.

That's what the donkey saw. Balaam learnt that God was with

his people, Israel, and he was their king.

Balaam was unable to curse Israel, but he knew how to

defile them. And so he told King Balak, just

get the most beautiful Noah white women, get them to just

sort it down to the Israeli men, all good.

And what? And it happened.

They went down there. Israeli men follow, fell for

them. And then it says that Israel for

the first time began to worship Baal.

It's mentioned all because of sexual immorality.

The sin of pergamos, like the sin of Balaam, was the

toleration of evil. Sexual immorality was the

outcome. It's when you say you're

Christian, but you live like everybody else.

You're not any different. You want to go to heaven, but

you live like hell in the meantime.

That's called compromise. It's the process of gradually

waking, weakening your spiritual life until you wake up one day

and find yourself doing things you once conceited and hated.

Thought conceited and hated the prodigal.

What happened to him? He found himself living in a pig

pen. Think about that.

Is there a way out? Yes.

Verse 16. Repent, or else I'll come to you

quickly and we'll fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the

churches. To him who overcomes, I'll give

some of the hidden manner to eat, and I'll give him a

whitestone and the stone, a new name written with no one knows

except him, and receives it. Jesus has commanded those in

Pergamos who had held their faith.

He's done that even under the threat of the death.

But he reveals the problem. Jesus said you better change

your heart and change your wives.

Repent, because your tolerance of false doctrine and the

associated living will eventually destroy you unless

you repent. That's how house files.

But Keith, even committed Christians slip up now and then,

don't they? No one's perfect, surely?

It's not a question of being perfect, because no one is.

Nonetheless, you can live as a dedicated follower of Christ,

and with God's help you can honour the Lord with your life.

The choice. Or you can follow the path of

compromise, living outwardly as a Christian but indulging in sin

whenever you feel like it, telling yourself it'll be OK,

I'll go to church, God will forgive me.

That's a Pharisee looking all white on the outside and then

inside you're full of dead men's bones.

My role as a pastor in these last days of Calvary Chapel,

Secret Harbour, is to be a watchman.

Ezekiel 33, seven says so. You son of man, I've made you a

watchman for the House of Israel.

Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for

me. Ancient cities had a watchman

stationed on the walls. Their responsibility was to

sound a warning if an enemy was approaching.

Paul was a watchman, he said to the Ephesian elders, I testify

to you this day in Acts 20. I am innocent of the blood of

all men. Why?

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel

of God. Yes, God will forgive you, but

that doesn't remove the consequences of your sinful

actions or words. Ask King David what happened.

The death of his young son. Remember that the baby, then the

rebellion of Absalom, then Absalom's death, then the House

of David just fell in a crumble. All because one night when he

should have been where his men were in battle, because we are

in a battle. We're soldiers of the Lord.

He was home doing what he shouldn't have been doing when

he should have been out in fellowship.

And there he saw, because the devil said, I can get David in

the bedroom too. And he did.

David became an adulterer and a murderer.

One night, you see, you can be a person who gets into the car

inebriated, You can get arrested for driving over the limit.

You can repent, you can ask God to forgive you and He will, but

you'll still pay a fine or spend time in the lock up for breaking

the law. Just because you confess a sin

and receive God's cleansing does not mean that we will skip the

repercussions of our actions. People forget that.

Galatians 6-7, don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of

God. You'll always harvest what you

plan. You'll sow what you reap.

So yes, God will forgive you. But that does not mean you'll

dodge all the consequences. You will still face the natural

consequences of your sin. If you're not a godly father, if

you're not a godly husband, your family will suffer.

Yes, God can forgive you. Oh God, I failed in this area.

But the consequences will fall upon your children and upon your

marriage and upon your wife. Men, listen up.

It's you. God comes to you.

You're responsible. You're the head of the home.

You're the spiritual head. I got blame on your wife about

all the kids are rebellious. Well, why are you disciplining

them? Are you are you doing your job

or? Yeah.

Well, can't see your mother. You know Australia.

Listen, I grew up going to a church.

There were no men were. It was such a sad thing.

And our nation has fallen because we don't have enough

godly men. Being godly at home, not just

rolling up the church while I can't.

I'm too busy. I don't read the Bible.

I don't have time. You have time for every other

hobby that you have. You have time for every other

passion that you like. But God holds you responsible

and me responsible for my marriage, for my family.

God's not going to come after my wife.

God's not going to come after my kids.

And how will I stand on that day?

Am I compromising my family? Am I one thing here and another

thing away? Because as your kids see you,

they too will follow your path of compromise.

It just happens. So as we wrap this up, we're

going to because of time manner and the stone manner is the

reward is Jesus says I am the bread of life.

You can have Jesus. He says I'll give you me and the

stone. He says I will make you not

guilty. I will say that you're mine, I

own you. The choice is yours.

As we wrap this up, I want to ask you 4 things.

Are we remaining faithful and courageous in times of

persecution because it's not going to get any easier?

Are we tolerating some sin or some unbiblical practise in our

lives? What are you doing?

Could Jesus come to you and you not be embarrassed?

What is the Lord speaking to us today in this message?

He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying,

because my job is to warn you. And I see families falling, I

see husbands bumbling, and I see the women having to carry the

load that men aren't carrying. And it's wrong.

It's not right. The church should be full of

powerful godly men. The women shouldn't have to

carry the the the task as did Deborah and JL when the man said

I'm not going into battle unless you go so God had to raise a

woman. We're living in the times where

the devil he's out to get every one of us.

His time is short and he don't play.

He'll kill mine, butcher destroy, He'll lie, he'll cheat.

But we have Jesus Christ, and he'll never leave us nor forsake

us.