In this sermon, Paul Washer deals with the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation.

The Gospel of Christ is a scandalous message that is missing in many pulpits in Nigeria today. Pastors have watered down the message of the offensive Cross and replaced it with man's inherent goodness, self-realization, works-based salvation, prosperity, and worldly success, thus leaving their members dead in their sins and without any hope of a Savior.

We have no right to water-down the Gospel’s offense or civilize its radical demands in order to make it more appealing to a fallen world or carnal church members. Our churches are filled with strategies to make them more seeker-friendly, by repackaging the Gospel, removing the stumbling block, and taking the edge off the blade so it might be more acceptable to carnal men.

The Gospel is not only scandalous, it’s unbelievable. I want you to know that. It is an unbelievable message. As we have argued, Paul’s flesh had every reason to be ashamed of the Gospel he preached, yet there is still another reason for fleshly shame; the Gospel is an absolutely unbelievable message, a ludicrous word to the wise of the world.

He was born under questionable circumstances to a poor family in one of the most despised regions of the Roman Empire, and yet the Gospel claimed that He was the eternal Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of a virgin. He was a carpenter by trade, an itinerant religious teacher with no official training, and yet the Gospel claims that He surpassed the combined wisdom of the Greek philosophers and the Roman sages of antiquity. He was poor and had no place to lay His head and yet the Gospel claims that for three years He fed thousands by word, healed every manner of illness among men, and even raised the dead!

He was crucified outside of Jerusalem as a blasphemer and an enemy of the state, and yet the Gospel claims that His death was the pivotal event in all of human history and the only means of salvation from sin and reconciliation to God. He was placed in a burial tomb yet the Gospel claims that on the third day He arose from the dead and presented Himself to many of His followers, and forty days later ascended up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high.

Thus the Gospel claims that a poor Jewish carpenter, who was rejected as a lunatic and a blasphemer by His own people, and crucified by the state, is now the Saviour of the world, the LORD of lords and the King of kings, and at His name every knee shall bow including Caesar’s. Do you have any idea how impossible it is for anyone in Paul’s time to believe this message? It is impossible!

To seek to remove the scandal from the message is to make void the Cross of Christ and its saving power. Through the foolishness of the Gospel, God has ordained to destroy the wisdom of the wise, frustrate the intelligence of the greatest minds, and humble the pride of all men.

1 Corinth 1:18-24.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Mwl2JU2Sk

Pastors who are neglecting the spiritual health and feeding of the true flock of God, to serve the unconverted church members what they want to hear, will pay on Judgement Day.

2 Peter 2:1-2, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7CGCXFp5Bs

You remember John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress? Christian, at one point in that story, goes to the house of the Interpreter. You may recall, the Interpreter takes him to a man who had a dream about judgment day. And as that man described judgment day, he said, “I dreamt.” And he said he dreamt that he heard this great sound of a trumpet, and there he saw a Man sitting upon a cloud attended with the thousands of heaven in flaming fire. He said also the heavens were in flaming fire. He said, “I sought to hide but I could not, for the Man that sat upon the cloud still kept His eye upon me. My sins also came into my mind and my conscience did accuse me on every side.” You know what is happening to a world full of people? They are not just innocent people. They are guilty sinners, who when opportunity was laid before them to surrender to His mercy, raised their fist and said, “I don’t want You.” Remember those citizens who would not have Him to rule over them? He said, “Slay them. Slay them all.” Oh they will want mercy then.

You have to recognize the Lamb of God, once His wrath is let loose against you and there is no hope, and that door is shut, that Lamb will become altogether a terror to you. Notice this: Luke 17:31, “On that day,” Let’s stop right there. What day are we talking about? Go back to verse 30, “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Make no mistake about what day we are talking about here in verse 31. “On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.” It may do us well to remember that when Christ is revealed, it will be just as it was in the days of Lot. Just as it was. You know, some people want to come along and say, “Well, people on their housetop not coming down to take their stuff away, is this really speaking about the Second Coming here? Because it’s not like men will even have a chance or an opportunity to do that on that day, will they?” Just make sure you see verse 30. “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

“On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house…” Let me tell you what Jesus is doing here. He is bringing the Second Coming home to how you live now. You’ll see this, but it’s evidenced by what is happening in the hearts of men when He comes. He immediately says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Now you have to remember, He is comparing His coming to what it was like in the day of Lot. He came in the day that Lot went out. Who did Lot go out with? With his wife and his two daughters. But his wife did not make it to the place of safety. Why not? She looked back. She was turned to a pillar of salt. Remember Lot’s wife. You say, “What does this have to do with the Second Coming? What does it have to do with it?” Brethren, there is going to be wailing, there is going to be tremendous fear, but at that very moment when He comes, something is going to happen in the hearts of men concerning their treasures, concerning what they are attached to.

Brethren, the loss, the loss. Do you recognize what that day is? It’s a loss; and the men and the women that are wailing are going to lose their lives. What is a life? A life is all you do. You see, they are going to exist forever. How come they are not rejoicing, “Oh, I am going to exist forever”? Because the life they had is going to be taken away from them. Oh! If you’re living your life where to depart and be with Christ is far better, it’s no loss. But when your heart is set on all the things here, the goods in the house, think, think. Moments before He comes, what’s it going to be like? I mean, if He came an hour from now, in the moments that led up to it, do you ever just drive down the road and look at all the people around you, and think about what they are thinking about? That’s what people are going to be thinking about, right in the moments before Christ comes.

“I bought a new 50-inch LED Television. My favorite show is going to come on, I am going to be able to watch it in High Definition on Thursday night.” Or they are driving along and they are thinking about, “I need to go to the gym, I am starting to get some flab here.” Or they are thinking about, “I really like that new song,” and it’s going through their heads and they are running the music through. Or they are thinking about what they are going to do next Friday. Or they are thinking about, “Is there enough food in the refrigerator?” Or, “My son graduates next year from high school, I really want him to become a doctor.”

You know, when Christ comes, it’s all over. It’s done. “But wait, Lord, I am in my 20s. I expected to live through my 20s and 30s and 40s, and I expected to get a wife and get a home, and live my job, this is too soon!” It’s just gone. Everything is gone. You see, we like to say, “Well, that’s my son; that’s my daughter. I hope to see them grow up and have grand kids.” They are not your children. They belong to Him and He can take them away when He wants. And the wicked, to them that have not, even what they seem to have is going to be stripped. Everything. What He is dealing with here is our hearts.

Brethren, if you’re walking through life and you’re attached, and you’re dug in, and you love the things here, and the cares of this world consume you, that’s bad. There is this hesitation. Can you imagine the moment He comes? Undoubtedly, this thing is going to sequentially play out. There is going to be a moment when He first appears. How it’s all been structured and how it all falls out, I don’t know. But obviously, it’s happening in a sequence of time. Things are happening. And the first impulse in some people’s hearts, “Protect, protect this. Go hide. Keep this life. This can’t be happening! This just messes up everything that I had my heart set on. Everything! My goods!” Can you imagine? The man on his housetop, and there he is. And the things that are going through your mind is, “Oh no! What’s happening? I got family Erlins downstairs. I got pictures, pictures when my grandchildren were babies.”

Listen, if you don’t think people will think like that, all you have to do is watch a person that is in the midst of losing their house to a fire. And suddenly where is their mind going? People lose their lives going back into fires to get stuff. You don’t think it will be the same way? It’s the same people with the same kind of hearts! And you know what? When your heart is set on, “Oh Lord, Lord come. I want you more than anything else.” I’ll tell you brethren, to see some, hopefully even many in this room, to have Him come; and there is not a moment’s hesitation, there is not a looking back like Lot’s wife, “Oh no.” You see, you look back and it’s like, “Oooh, there is something back there that I don’t want to let go of.”

Brethren, I can see many in this place. You’re running across the field, you’re not looking back. You’re reaching out, “Lord.” Scripture says we are going to be caught up, that’s the rapture. It says it’s coming and it’s not secret. We are going to be caught up, probably instantaneously. But if it wasn’t instantaneous, I can see some of us just running, we are running to Him, we are leaving it all behind. This is our hearts desire. This is what we’ve been hoping for. But oh brethren, you can see in verse 33, where your heart is, now, is going to be every bit evident of where your heart is going to be the moment He comes. “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” Our Lord can just so naturally move from His coming, right into the condition of our own hearts. Will we at the heart level be ready for His coming?

Brethren, this is not any dry, dusty doctrine for the bookshelf. The Second Coming of Christ is real. It has to do with us. Some few will be ready and the masses will not be. Are you ready? Well, are you seeking to preserve your life and your stuff now? Are you daily dying now? You know what that means? I daily am surrendering to what He wants for me, not what I want for me. My life is submitted to Him. I am His. To live is Christ. And if to die is gain, the coming of Christ is the same gain. And that’s how the Christian sees it. It is gain. Do you think of His coming and long for His coming? Folks, remember Lot’s wife. If your heart is like hers, it will not go well with you in that day. You see what Jesus is doing? He gave us the story of Lot, and He said My coming is going to be just like that. And by the way, lest you forget one of the aspects of that story, you better remember Lot’s wife because that figures into how Lot and what happened to him is going to be like My coming.

Notice this very quickly, those taken. Luke 17:34, “I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” Verse 36, “Two men will be in the field. One will be taken, the other will be left.” You be honest. This portion of Scripture says nothing about a secret rapture. Nothing. You can see what this is talking about if you’re honest with the text. Nothing about a secret rapture. This has all been about the day in which the Son of Man is revealed. Can I tell you something? The same terminology is used over in Matthew 24. Do you know how Jesus goes forth from those words in Matthew 24? He goes forth telling us a parable about the wise and the foolish virgins. Five enter in and the door is shut; and five are left out. You want to know what being taken and being left is all about? That’s what He says. That’s what He tells us. We are going to look more at that in the weeks ahead.

You know what else He tells? He goes right on to tell another parable about servants. Two different kinds. You got the servants that were faithful, He says enter into the joy of the Lord. The one who is not faithful, He says throw them into outer darkness. You go right into the next. The Shepherd as He divides His sheep from the goats. The sheep, everlasting life. The goats, everlasting punishment. You want to know what it means to be taken? Remember what He is talking about? Noah is taken; put in the ark, the place of safety. Lot is taken from Sodom and Gomorrah to a place of safety. The wise virgins are taken behind the door into the banquet, a place of safety. Those good servants, away to the place of joy and safety. The sheep, taken to safety and eternal life.

This is no secret rapture folks. This is the day the Son of Man appears. And if you get left behind, there is no more chance. There is no 7-year tribulation to figure it out. It’s over, and you are undone. Luke 17:37, “They said to Him, ‘Where, Lord?'” You ask where all this is going to take place? He says “I’ll tell you where it’s going to take place. The things I am describing, I’ll tell you where they are all going to take place. They are going to take place everywhere there is a corpse.” That’s where it’s going to happen. What are these birds, these vultures? They tear the dead to shreds. You know where it’s going to happen? It’s going to happen wherever you have the dead who know nothing about the life of God in the soul of man. You can look at these vultures as the vultures of God’s judgment. I think that very clearly squares with that interpretation. “Where, you ask, are these going to happen?” Just ask yourself where the corpse of the dead humanity, devoid of the life of God. It’s the whole world. It’s the whole lost world. They are not taken. They are left. They are left to be eaten by God’s vultures of judgment.

Brethren, spectacular will be the vengeance, and it says the children of God are going to marvel. They are going to marvel at all of this unfolding. But it is going to be terrible. An awful day when God smites His enemies. Fearful. Glorious. Certain. It’s coming. We are 7 days closer than a week ago when we met and talked about these things. We are closer to that last day. It is coming, brethren, it is coming.

Father, I pray that these folks would be most ready for that day, living in anticipation, without being carried away by the cares of this world, that they would not be found to be Lot’s wife. You would have us to carry out and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Lord, I pray that you would work a real fear and trembling in the hearts of Your people. You are a fearful, fearful God; but glorious and good; saving. Oh, we thank You that You have not just consigned us to wrath, but You have sent us a Savior, a way of deliverance. Thank You, thank You, thank You. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Notice what He says in verse 23, “They will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!'” He says, “Do not go out and follow them.” Why not, what if it is Christ? He says it won’t be. It won’t be Me. Verse 24, “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day.” Now I just want you to stop at those last two words. What does “His day” mean? What is the day of the Son of Man? And again, I would take you back to verse 30. We know what our Lord has in mind: “So will it be on the day”. That is His day. The day when the Son of Man is apokalupto (revealed). That which is veiled is no longer veiled. His day is the day when the Son of Man comes again. He is revealed.

What does this imply? It implies that He is not revealed right now, and that goes hand in hand with what He is expecting. You guys are going to get in difficult times; there is going to be persecution. You guys are going to find yourselves in prison. You guys are going to find this world is not a nice place. Wars and rumors of wars, and affliction. Those who put you to death are going to think that they are doing God a favor. That is what you have to look forward to. It is going to be difficult. Remember He said this to them? He said, “I am telling you these things so that you don’t fall away.”

That’s why He is telling them these things because He is saying, “Look, there is going to come some days, He told them concerning fasting, they don’t fast now, the bridegroom is with them. The day is coming, the bridegroom is going to be taken away, they are going to fast. Those are hard days. There is sorrow, there is longing, there is difficulty. You are going to long for those days. Brethren, if we are living the Christian life right, we ought to be longing for Christ’s coming; longing to see Him; longing to escape. This is what His day [implies]. He is not revealed now, He is out of sight now but He is coming again.

Remember the two angels? When Jesus Christ ascended, His disciples were standing there, they’re watching Him go, He disappears into the clouds, two angels appear right there. They say in Acts chapter 1 verse 9, “As they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.'” You know why it is foolish; it is absolute foolishness to believe when anybody tells you that Jesus Christ has already come? Why is it so foolish? Because when He does come, there is not going to be any doubt in anybody’s mind that it is happening. That is why it’s foolish.

Listen, if there is any kind of event that takes place in this world that you actually have to sit there and contemplate “hmmn, I wonder if He has come,” you can be certain He hasn’t. That is what He is saying here. He says when He comes, it’s not going to be a matter that anybody has to sit down and do calculations or try to figure out. Nobody is going to have to say, “He’s over there!” It is going to be such an event that is going to take place, it is going to be so radical, it is going to be so bright. If you have to analyze whether He’s come or not, He hasn’t. Lightning, brethren, fills the whole sky. It’s like lightning flashing from one end to the other. Everyone knows it, everyone sees it. And so it’s going to be when the Son of Man is revealed. I want you to see this. There is nothing secret about this. It is like lightning that flashes, not secret.

You see, there is this very prevalent idea today that Jesus Christ is coming twice. Or, that His one coming can be broken up into two: the secret coming where He raptures the church, and 7 years later, this open coming where He defeats the Antichrist. Brethren, I’ll just tell you this, and you have to be honest. From this, there’s nothing about a secret coming. This coming right here is open, it’s apparent. Nothing about a two-part coming. There is one coming, very visible; precisely what John tells us. Listen to this: Revelation chapter 1 verse 7, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds.” This is just what the angels told the disciples, there in Acts chapter 1. “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” You see how public it is? This thing is public, it is spectacular, and it is terrifying. Every eye will see Him. There will be no doubt. You don’t have to wonder, “Oh I wonder if it’s happening.” Every eye will see Him. It’s like the lightning. It’s greater than the lightning. You can imagine lightning flashing.

You know what? It’s the kind of thing that is instantaneous. You think about a bolt of lightning striking at midnight; black sky. A bolt of lightning could strike way over here on this horizon, and you would see it flash at night, probably in the day too. You can see the flash. Lightning is brilliant. It’s instantaneous. And the thing about it, well there are other things that happen instantaneously, maybe an earthquake happens instantaneously; a volcano erupts. But He is speaking about something every single one of us in this room are familiar with. We have all experienced lightning at night. Lightning, at all, we’ve experienced it. It registers with us. If we are all in here at night and a bolt of lightning strikes out there, you know what happened. Every eye is going to see it. You will know when it is happening.

Notice this, just listen to me. John says, “Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.” You know, as a young believer, I wondered at that verse. You get saved and you think, “I want to see the Lord. I have an expectation of seeing the Lord.” And then you read right here, “All the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him.” Do you know what most men [think]? Oh I am sure. You talk to people on the streets, you come with us when we evangelize, you get a real clear picture about what people think. Almost every single person we speak with expects to be received by Jesus Christ. But the picture that our Bible portrays is a world full of wailing. I want you to imagine this. I want you to think about this. At the moment Jesus is revealed, think about what happens. That instantaneous moment. Every eye sees Him. Do you recognize what happens? How many ever billions of people are alive at that moment in time, something is happening to every one of them at the same instant. You know what is happening? You know what is happening. You know exactly.

We are talking people just like us. They have thoughts, they have hearts. A moment before, they were just living their lives. They had hopes, they had ambitions, they were going somewhere. Driving down the road; walking across the kitchen. Responsibilities, lives, hopes. Can you see it? Multitudes upon multitudes, at the very same instant, they are hit with “I am not ready. It is all over. This is not good.” I mean, it is happening to a world full of people spontaneously at the same moment. “I am undone.” Brethren, why would John describe a whole world of wailing? Because, by and large, that is representative. It is only this little flock, just little flock, (the ones who, right now, are counted as fools and fanatics, who loved Christ more than life itself,) who will be the exception. This silly, little, stupid bunch of nobody’s always reading their Bibles and talking about getting saved, who are going to marvel at His coming. Their shame will be turned to joy and gladness.

He says this, Luke 17:25, “But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” You see, Jesus needs to say this. Why? Because just like we saw, the Pharisees, “You’re going to set up your kingdom now?” His disciples over in Luke 19, “Lord, is it at this time?” Remember even there when He is getting taken up in Acts chapter 1, “Okay Lord, is it this time? We thought it was when we were headed to Jerusalem but it didn’t happen then. Is it now?” You see, it is the same question over and over. Jesus is trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together for these guys. You notice: “First I must suffer.” They could not yet conceive of the cross. They fully expected Jesus to just come set up His earthly kingdom. But Jesus as He is speaking about His coming in glory, He is careful to mention first His humiliation, His suffering, His sorrow, which must precede His exaltation. Why? So that they don’t fall away. For the sake of their faith. Wasn’t it that way? Two on the road to Emmaus, “We thought it was going to be him. All disappointment now.” What He is doing is He is telling them; He is seeking to teach them so that His disciples wouldn’t be weakened by false expectations and misunderstandings. “Guys, I’ve got to suffer first.”

Now notice this. Two examples. Our Lord is going to give us two Old Testament judgments. Real historical judgments that He is going to liken His Second Coming to. You have to remember this. Whatever glory there may be; how much we ever may marvel, (and there may be a time for worship among us believers,) you have to recognize it is a time of judgment. And when He wants to go back into the Old Testament and pull up two stories that resemble His coming, both are stories of judgment. This should shake us because of what stories they are. They are the two most devastating Old Testament examples of judgment found in our Bibles.

Let’s read Luke 17:26, “Just as it was…” Brethren, I hope you catch those words. He’s not saying, “Well, when I come, it’s going to just basically be a celebration. Yes, there will be a little bit of judgment going on, and a few wicked people cast away.” No. He says, “Just the way it was in the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Just as it was, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came – and notice this – and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot— they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.” Same words: destroyed them all. Verse 30, “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” It is going to be a day for wailing. When those judgment rains began to fall, you can imagine as those waters rose, the people wailed. I don’t know if anybody was even given a chance to wail in Sodom and Gomorrah. Not in this world. They are wailing now. They were wailing moments afterwards in the place they were.

Two things. Two things I would have us notice about these two stories. True stories. Historical accounts that Jesus likens His own revealing to. One is: I mentioned that God destroys them all. Do you feel the weight of this? I mean, think about it. Of all the stories that He could have brought, He brings one, the first one, eight souls were spared. All the rest died. The second story, four souls escaped Sodom and Gomorrah. All the rest were burned alive. He says in verse 30, “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Just as it was in Noah’s day and in Lot’s day, so will it be. Our Lord said, “Few there be that find it.” Did He not? Our Lord also said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith in the earth?” Oh it is going to be a terrible day. Terrible day. That was the first thing, God destroys them all.

Notice the second thing about these two stories: The unexpectedness. That ought to jump out at you. Just look! Look what He wants us to see. It’s not like you even go back into the Old Testament and find that these things were ever spoken about. These are things Jesus knows were true that He wants you to know were true. These are not things you go back to the Old Testament in the book of Genesis and read about. These are things that Jesus knew were taking place that are so much a parallel to when He comes. Just normal life. Just doing what you always do: eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building, life as usual. It happens when you don’t think it will happen. Notice both in the example of Noah and the example of Lot, they are just going along. And then what He says. He says they are just going along; eating, drinking, marrying, given in marriage, until the day. There’s always a day. There’s the day Noah went into the ark. Or how about with Lot? What’s happening? Eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, but on the day when Lot went out of Sodom. In verse 30, “So will it be on the day…”

Just going along. Most men get caught unaware. Just engaged in other things. They are not expecting this. I mean, look, think about how life is. We just had a wedding yesterday. You folks have plans. Buying and selling. You know, put it right where you live. “Yeah, I’ve got to go to the store.” Or, “this is theology, that’s kind of where I live.” This Book has to do with where we live. You’re going to go to the store. Some of you ladies probably would have thought today, “I’ve got to go to Walmart. I’ve got to go to HEB. I’ve got to go to Costco. I’ve got to go to Sam’s.” Buying and selling. That’s what they are doing, just buying and selling. Marrying and given in marriage; we had a marriage yesterday. David was talking about marriage. Marriage sanctifying or not being married can be sanctifying. Some of you are married, you’re thinking about your marriage. Some of you are not married, you want to be married. This is life. This is just the normal things.

Planting. Well, we don’t do much planting, we go get our food somewhere. Building. It’s just the stuff of life. People thinking of making trip to the store. Business ventures; plans for a new house. Just life as usual, and it’s going to be exactly like this on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Suddenly like a flash of lightning, there it is! And the King in all His glory, Scripture says, He is coming with His angels in flaming fire, and He is going to carry out vengeance on His enemies. And when you figure that by and large, the vast majority of this world is going to be at enmity against Him, even people, Jesus said many religious people are going to say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, we were there. We were in the church and we were doing many mighty works and prophesying and casting out demons. We were the religious folks. We were the ones saying Lord, Lord. We were there. We were singing the songs.” “I never knew you.” And they are going to know. They are going to know the moment that they see Him. They are not ready. He is going to bring vengeance against those who obeyed not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ll tell you what, men’s hearts are going to fail. That’s where the wail comes from. Imagine it. Imagine whatever it is, 10 billion, 15 billion people, or whatever it is, alive on the earth at that time. The vast majority, their hearts will fail in the same moment. It’s all over. It’s all over. My friend, men may count you a fool for following Christ now. Not in that day, they will not. In our day, men’s lips are quick. They are quick to call us whatever they want to call us – “radicals, fanatics.” They want to mock, they want to say their things, they want to ridicule, they want to slander. In that day, no tongue will wag against God’s people. The richest, the most powerful people in this world, will trade everything to be one of the followers of the Lamb. Everything! But it’s too late. The door is shut. Their time of opportunity is gone. Oh, what fools! They were offered a Savior, not like the demons who had no chance. They were offered a Savior, and they said, “Nope.” Oh brethren, we go to people’s doors, you know it, “This Book, it was just written by men. It’s a mirage. It’s a myth. The Bible is just a bunch of stories.” It will not be that. It will be all too real.

Transcript

Luke chapter 17 verse 20. We are in the midst of an ongoing study concerning eschatology — the study of end times. The end of what? End times; the end in relationship to what? Eternity is going to go on forever. Eternity has no end. Why do we talk about the end when there really is no end? Well, there is an end of something. Even though we are all going to exist forever; there are those things that are eternal; there are those things that are everlasting. There are also those things that come to an end. When we speak about end times, we are speaking about something that has closure.

The Bible speaks about the end, the end of the ages, the end of the age. Scripture speaks about the last days and even the last day – singular. There is an end of time. There is an end of this world. Peter tells us very plainly. 2 Peter 3:7, “The heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire.” That’s what we are talking about. We are talking about this world; these heavens and this earth, as we know them now, they are destined for fire. This is all going to come to an end. This is going to be destroyed. The world we see now, has an end. That’s what we are talking about. End times – we’re talking about as we move towards that closure of this age, this world. That’s what we have in mind.

Today and Lord willing in the weeks ahead, we’re going to examine, just like we find right here in Luke chapter 17, we’re going to examine various places in Scripture. In the beginning, not Daniel, not Revelation, not Ezekiel. Again, what I’ve wanted us to do all along, we are going to look at some of the plain teaching. I want to stick to the Gospels for a number of weeks. I want us to see what Jesus said over and over and over again, before we launch off into the craziness of Revelation. I want you to see what comes from Scripture.

Brethren, what we need to strive to do is this: Look at Scripture and exegete it. We need to have the Word speak to us. You know what the problem is? You have too many people that fly off to Daniel and to Revelation. They have been indoctrinated by a system, led to believe certain things, and now they can’t read any of their Bible without reading those things into it. That is not a proper way to approach the Scriptures with you already having assumptions about what it means before you ever get there.

The proper way to approach Scripture is to go to Scripture, let it speak to you, and say, “Does my system fit with that?” And if it doesn’t, what do you do with the system? You throw the Bible out the backdoor and say, “I’m holding to that system nevertheless”? Brethren, that is the easy way to end up going down a path you don’t want to go down. That is a dangerous path. Let’s let Scripture speak to us. And today, it’s going to be out of Luke 17. Now, just for starters here, I want to hit you with this, time and again in the weeks ahead, because I just want you to get a basic framework in your head about what we are talking about.

Premillennial dispensationalism holds to an eschatology, a view of end times, we’re talking about ‘Left Behind’. Most of the fundamentalist churches in this country, John Hagee touts this stuff, John MacArthur. We’re talking about guys, believers, fellowship right up here on the north side of our own city. This is the eschatology they hold to. Let me tell you the timeline; just a basic timeline. Here we are now. Next major event in God’s timeline is what? The rapture. That’s what they are looking for next. Followed by seven years of tribulation, at which time the notorious Antichrist is going to take power. At the end of that seven years of tribulation, Jesus Christ is going to come. The battle of Armageddon; the defeat of the Antichrist; Satan bound. Now a thousand, literal thousand years is ushered in, at the end of which time is a rebellion: Gog and Magog. Devil is defeated, thrown in the lake of fire, the wicked are judged. Now we enter into the eternal realm.

That is a basic timeline. Look, anytime you try to summarize a system, somebody is going to say, “Yeah, but I know so and so who believe such and such.” Yeah I know. This is the basic timeline associated with dispensational premillennialism. I know there is a historic premillennialism, but this dispensationalism is what I really want to go after. Over against what? What I believe the Scriptures teach is: We are in this age. The eternal age is coming. The only thing that separates us is the coming of Christ. All the dead are raised, all are judged, and the eternal kingdom is ushered in. That’s what I believe Scripture says.

What I want you to all do is as we examine Christ’s teaching on these matters, today and in the weeks ahead, I want you to be honest. Honest, not with what your system has taught you, but I want you to be honest with what you read. I am not saying it’s all easy. There are some things I don’t know if I am ever going to figure out in this lifetime. I am striving to. Those places that are really difficult are not the places we want to start. We want to start in the places that are not that difficult.

So, my question is this: Does Luke 17 verse 20 and following indicate a timeline like the dispensationalists hold to or like the one I just described? This age, the age to come, separated by Christ’s coming, the resurrection of the dead, a general judgment, and the ushering in of the new heaven and the new earth. New heavens – plural, and new earth.

Well, let’s read. Luke 17 verse 20, “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” KJV, NKJV says within. Now, there’s no difference in the Greek behind different translations here. It can be translated either way. The kingdom of God is in the midst of you or is within you. Both readings are correct.

“He said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot — they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all — so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away. Likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken, the other left.” Verse 36 found is some manuscripts, not in others, reads this way, “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken, the other will be left.” That is definitely found in Matthew’s Gospel. There’s no debate about it being found there. “They said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'”

Now I just want you to notice verse 30: “So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” That word ‘revealed.’ Sometimes we speak about the Apocalypse. That word ‘revealed.’ That’s it. Apokalupto. That’s where we get the Apocalypse from. The Son of Man is revealed. There’s no question about the meaning of that word. It has to do with making something visible; uncovering. It carries the idea to lay open what has been veiled or covered up. There’s something that is hidden right now; it is going to be revealed. Christ, the Son of Man is going to be revealed. That is what is being spoken about here.

Brethren, we live between two comings of Christ. He came the first time incarnate; robed Himself with humanity. He came into this world to live under the Law. He came into this world to give His life a ransom for many. And He has been taken up. And He is seated at the right hand of the Father. But He is coming again. He is going to be revealed. The faith of the New Testament Church is dominated by this expectation. He came once, He has been taken up – passed through the heavens, ascended, seated at the right hand of majesty where He reigns now. And He will reign until all of His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. And He will come. He will come. That is our expectation.

But now here is the thing. Before we dive into the Second Coming, I want you to see something. Notice verse 20, “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come.” Now notice this: you have Pharisees. The Pharisees were by and large not friends of our Lord Jesus Christ. By and large, they did not believe He was the Messiah. But they have a question. Why would they ask Jesus about the coming of the kingdom when they don’t even believe He’s the Messiah? Why take your theological questions to somebody you believe is an imposter? Well, precisely for that reason. Because you do believe He’s an imposter. By your question, you’re trying to expose Him. That’s what they were constantly doing with their questions.

But notice: “When is the kingdom of God coming?” He answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!'” — concerning the kingdom. Nobody is going to be able to say, “Look, there it is, being established right over there.” That’s what He says. Nobody is going to say that. Why? Because it is not going to be established that way. “For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you (or is within you).” Jesus came and said, “Repent.” He claimed that the kingdom of God had come. From the days of John the Baptist until now, you know what? The kingdom of heaven is taken by violence. You press into it. Unless you become as little children, you don’t enter. Unless you are born again, you don’t enter. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

Brethren, let me tell you: The kingdom is not in food and drink. The kingdom is spiritual. The kingdom has to do with righteousness. You see, when we speak about the kingdom, we are speaking about the realm where a king rules. He rules in men’s hearts. When you submit to Christ, that is where somebody is entering the kingdom. That is what the kingdom is all about. Brethren, most of these Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but you know what? He claimed to be. He said He is. You know what they had an idea about the kingdom? “It’s going to be here, it’s going to be observable, it’s going to be recognizable.” They put Messiah together with a physical, earthly kingdom. And so they said, “You are claiming to be the Messiah, where is your kingdom?” They didn’t believe He was. And this was only confirming to them He wasn’t. Because they expected when Messiah came, He’s going to set up a kingdom. His own disciples believed that. But you know what? We are right to connect Messiah and kingdom, only not in the way they imagined. They thought the coming Messiah meant a physical kingdom on this earth.

In effect, they are saying, “You say you are the Messiah, where is your kingdom?” And you know what? We can tell, by the way our Lord answers their question, that the Pharisees did in fact expect an earthly kingdom. I mean, see how He corrects their thinking: “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed.” You see, obviously these guys are saying, “Where is it?” Well, for Jesus to answer this way and say, “Not in ways that are observed. You’re never going to say ‘Look here it is’ or ‘There.'” Well, you answer this way only if when this is precisely what the Pharisees expected, but when what they expected is a wrong expectation. He is correcting them, “Guys, it’s not like you think. It’s not observable.”

Let me ask you a question, if we are just going to be honest with Scripture. Just honest. Does it sound to you like Jesus is saying, “The kingdom of God is coming in a way that is observable, only after the rapture and after the 7-year tribulation”? Let us be honest. Our Lord interacted with Pilate, you remember that? Pilate, “Are you the King of Israel?” “You say that I am.” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Oh brethren, the kingdom is going to be most observable, but not in this world. His kingdom is not of this world. Nobody here is going to be able to say “It’s over there, It’s over there, it’s observable.”

I said to a dispensational friend of mine. I said, “Brother, Jesus Christ said His kingdom is not of this world.” He said, “Not yet.” You know what the dispensational guys want to tell you? “We are the ones who literally interpret Scripture.” My dispensational friends, would you please literally interpret this: Not observable. Not of this world. I just want us to be honest with Scripture. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Can I tell you this: Our Lord Jesus Christ NEVER, NEVER gave even a single indication that His kingdom would ever be physically set up in this world. Ever. You cannot find it. You have to read it into His words if you are going to come to that conclusion. He never said so. Jesus Christ reigns in men’s hearts.

Brethren, just very quickly before I leave this subject, turn over a page or two in your Bibles to Luke 19. I want you to see something. This was an ongoing issue about His kingdom. Now notice this: Verse 11 of Luke 19, “As they heard these things, He proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, and because – notice this – they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” That’s what everybody, that’s what the Pharisees expected. They expected the Messiah to come in, set up an earthly kingdom, sit Himself back on David’s throne, and take care of all their enemies. That is what they expected. “Is it here now Lord, are you going to set it up now?” You see they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

Does our Lord say that it is going to appear immediately or anywhere in this world? Notice how He answers. “He said therefore,” Notice in verse 11, He proceeded to tell a parable. Now let’s look at the parable, verse 12: “He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country.'” Let me just tell you right off, you can look at this more in depth later, the nobleman is Christ. The far country is Him going to heaven. This is a parable. There is a nobleman that represents Christ. He goes into a far country, which means He goes away. He ascended up to His Father. Notice this: It is while He is far away that He receives the kingdom. Brethren make no mistake about that. The kingdom is being received by Christ now. His enemies are being put down now. Every time a sinner falls in repentance before Christ, there is an enemy subdued. And every time one of the wicked dies, there is an enemy subdued. His enemies are being put down now. He went. When He is far away, He is getting for Himself a kingdom. Make sure you see that. That’s all the more I want to do with that right now. If you doubt what I am saying that that has to do with Christ, or that has to do with Him ascending and going away for now, you can look further at that later. I don’t want to spend a lot of time.

But notice this: “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and then return.” You see, when He comes and returns, it is not to set up a kingdom here. He has already got the kingdom. It is at that point He ushers in eternity. It is at that point the new Jerusalem comes down. The place of His reign is a new heavens and a new earth. But notice that. Because I am going to make a case later on that this thousand-year kingdom of Revelation is now. You see, He is getting the kingdom for Himself now. The kingdom has come now. Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand (Now). It is not a physical kingdom in this world, nor will it ever be a kingdom that is going to be established in this world. This world is going to be destroyed, and then that kingdom is going to be brought here that He has earned and established.

Anyway, back to Luke 17. The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. I think you all have to admit that just based on those texts, to come up with a thousand-year kingdom in this world before the end of this world, is not found there. You have to put it there. You have to come up with it from somewhere else and bring it here. It’s not here. What Jesus says is, it’s not observable. Okay, let’s keep going. Verse 22, “And He said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.'” What Jesus is anticipating is that His disciples are going to yearn for His presence. Don’t any of you ever find yourself longing for that? He recognized that such days were coming. Such days of sin, rampant wickedness, hardship, affliction, persecution. What do they want? They want His help, they want His presence.

Days are going to come when you want to see one of the days of the Son of Man. That means you want Him there. You want Him with you. He has gone. You want one of the days when He was here with you; or to jump forward to one of the days when He is going to be back with you. You want a deliverer. You want the help. In such times of difficulty, you know what’s going to happen? You’re going to have deceivers jump up and cater to people who are looking for help or for deliverance. In such times, Jesus predicts that men are going to rise pretending to be the messiah. And so, Jesus takes this occasion to caution His disciples against being led astray.

Preacher - Tim Conway

There is this very prevalent idea today that Jesus Christ is coming twice, or, that His one coming can be broken up into two: the secret coming where He raptures the church; and 7 years later, this open coming where He defeats the Antichrist. From the Scriptures examined in this sermon, there's nothing about a secret coming. This coming right here is open, it's apparent. Nothing about a two-part coming. There is one coming, very visible; precisely what John tells us.

This sermon follows our Lord's teaching on His Second Coming from Luke 17. Our Lord is very clear that His coming is going to be public, spectacular and terrifying. Just as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPLpNkxmhnA

PDF & MP3: https://illbehonest.com/the-second-coming-of-jesus-christ-part-5

Series: https://illbehonest.com/series/eschatology-a-study-of-the-end-times

Now look at this. It says also that He created thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities. This becomes so clear in the book of Psalms 2. The nations rage like wild animals against God. We can see that every day in our world. It seems that every law that is passed in my country is against the law of God. That men work with all their might to fight against the only One who is true. That everyone does what is right in their own eyes. But the Bible says that God in Heaven laughs. Not simply does He laugh, but He mocks, because God says He has set His King on His holy hill, and no one can change that. And then He advises the greatest men on the planet to kiss the Son; to be reconciled to the Son; to worship the Son. This is what Jesus demands of the world. This is what God demands of the world.

You say, “What right does He have?”

It’s His world. Abraham Kuyper said this a long time ago: “When Jesus Christ returns, He will stretch forth His hand upon the world. And He will say, ‘Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! It was made by Me, and it was made for Me.'” And seated upon His throne, God Himself will see to it that every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. He goes on and he says, “All things have been created through Him and for Him.” This is a powerful summary of what the Apostle Paul has been saying. Everything is about Christ. Absolutely everything.

Now let’s look for a moment, “It was created through Him.” We’ve already talked about this, but let’s talk about it again. Do you realize your absolute dependence upon Christ? Do you realize that the man who calls himself an atheist, and who clenches his fist and shakes it at God, and curses His name with great blasphemy, he can only do so by the power of the very God he curses? And if that God were to take away his life, he would not exist for one tick of the clock. All things were created through Him, and all things were created for Him.

Now again, look for a moment at the mind of God. Let’s say that God is seated in one chair, and you are seated beside Him in another. And all of creation were standing around you, listening. And a great angel walks up to both of you and asks this question to God: “Dear God, what is the reason behind absolutely everything you do?” And God says this: “My Son Jesus Christ. Everything I have ever done, I have done for Him. Everything I will ever do, I will do for Him. For Me, He is absolutely everything. And apart from Him, there is nothing. And if anyone, angelic or human, wants anything to do with Me, they must feel the same way about My Son.” As you hear this answer, you begin to tremble. And then the question is given you: “What is the reason behind everything you’ve ever done?” And you say, “Me. I am the reason.”

Now let me give you something of philosophy here. A rational creature will always have a reason for the thing that they are doing. They will always have an end or a purpose for what they are doing. And it is assumed that a reasonal creature will always choose the greatest end or the greatest purpose for what they’re doing. So what is God’s highest purpose for everything He’s done? What is God’s great good? His Son—whose glory is incomprehensible and whose worth is infinite. And then you, your reason, the thing you’ve lived for, has been you. A speck of dust floating down on a map of the world. Or even worse, you’ve degraded yourself. You don’t even live for you anymore. You live for work. You live for money. You live for your own beauty. You live for the reputation and opinion of others. And then what is most pitiful, you lived to gather things. You gave more time to thinking about the shoes you buy, and the car you drive, and the way your hair is prepared, than you do the Son of God. Tell me that’s not insanity. It is the greatest of all contradictions.

Now it says here that all things were created through Him and for Him. I wish that the Lord, at this moment, would expand my heart. I wish He would increase my intellect. I don’t want to leave this phrase “for Him”. I want to prove to you that if you do not live for Him, you are absolutely, completely insane. 1 John says that this world is passing away. Another way to interpret the Greek there is that it’s being pushed out. Like a huge tractor pushing everything of this world over a cliff. And only the man who does the will of God will remain forever. Are you that man? Do you have the mind of God? Do you see reality the way He sees it? Christ is most precious to Him. Is He most precious to you?

Now we go on. It says in verse 17, “He is before all things.” The primary idea here is His eternity. His eternity. He is not only the Son of God, He is God the Son. Before the mountains were formed, He was there. Before the valleys were cut through the ground, He was there. It was all done by His hand. He is from everlasting to everlasting. When the mountains were born, He had been from everlasting. And when the mountains have eroded to nothing, He will still be toward everlasting. He did not begin with the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary, but He has always been. And know this: He has always been God’s delight. I hear people say sometimes to their children, when their children ask, “Mommy, daddy, why did God make me?” And parents will often say, “Well, He made you because He was lonely.” Know this, that is blasphemy. God has never been lonely. He has always existed in perfect delight. He has never had a need, but He has existed in perfect communion in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father was the delight of the Son; and the Son, the delight of the Father. They did not create the world because of some need, but they created the world out of their superabundance.

Although the meaning is eternity here in this phrase, it also refers to priority. Priority. And the question is this: Does your priority conform to God’s priority? The priority for God the Father is His Son and His Son’s glory. Is that your priority? The Bible commands us to be very specific in the way that we live. For it says, whether we eat or drink or we do anything else, we are to do it for the glory of God. If someone understands this truth, it will create great conviction in them. Why? If you honestly evaluate your life, you know two things about yourself. And they are this: You have not loved God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength; and you have not glorified God in all things and to a perfect degree.

Now do you see why you need a Savior? You see, many people will say, “Yes, I know I have broken some of the Ten Commandments.” Even in that, you show that you do not understand. You and I have broken all of the Ten Commandments. But there is something far worse; something that is far greater, against God, that we have done: We have not loved Him, and we have not glorified Him. For although we knew God, we did not glorify Him as God, nor give thanks. But we turned from the glory of God, and became lovers of self more than lovers of God, and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” In a sense, it is a very positive thing when societies and cultures begin to fall apart. Because when they begin to fall apart, it destroys the delusion. People think that they can create societies that will be utopian without God. If you know anything about history, you will understand that the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century was what that was all about. In the late eighteenth century, and then in the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century, those were going to be the centuries when man truly became man. And by his own strength, he was going to create a society where there would be nothing but goodness. And he claimed to be able to do this without God. But everything has fallen apart. As I’ve gone through Holland, I have seen some very beautiful places. When I look in a book of tourism for Holland, I see extremely beautiful places. But that’s not Holland. Take me to the streets where women prostitute themselves; where children are full of drugs and alcohol; where families are falling apart—husbands and wives, in anger, ready almost to kill one another. Immorality rampant in the streets.

Only in Christ do all things hold together. There is no utopia apart from Jesus Christ. And not Jesus Christ as a helper of men, (that will not create a utopia) but Jesus Christ as the King of men. Jesus Christ as the Object of the worship of men. Men living in absolute dependence upon Jesus Christ. And men recognizing this one great divine truth: That Jesus Christ is everything! Is your world falling apart? Good. This may be the very thing that turns you to Christ. Do you look around at your world and see it falling apart? Good. This may be the very thing that turns you to Christ. It is better to wake up now while salvation is still offered, and to be healed by the Son of God, than to sleep until that great and final day when you will be awakened, but it will be too late.

Trust in Christ. Throw yourself upon Christ. You say, “I have religion! I am a religious man. I am a churchman.” Sir, none of that will help you. None of that will give you life. None of that will take away your sins. None of that will fill you with joy unspeakable. It is only Christ. Christ. The Person of Christ. Not the idea. Not the concept. Not merely the doctrine. But the Person of Jesus Christ, crucified for the sins of sinners; raised from the dead by the power of God; ascended to the right hand of Majesty upon high; reigning for ever and ever, and able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him. This is the Jesus of whom I testify. He doeth all things well.

Let’s pray. Father, I come before You in the name of Your Son. The Centerpiece of glory. The highest Mountain among mountains. The One before whom all the universe, everything visible and invisible, bows. O God, at this moment, it’s almost as if I can hear a mighty chorus of angels without number, and saints glorified without number, worshiping the name of Jesus. O God, set our minds, make them correct, pull us in, that we would join that mighty chorus, not only with our words but with our lives. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. At His name, every knee shall bow and tongue confess. Father, we praise you and we worship you and we adore you, for the One whom You adore—Your Son. All praise, honor, glory, riches, and blessing be His. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2008. Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society. All rights reserved. www.heartcrymissionary.com

Preacher: Paul Washer

Sermon Title: A Sermon on Christ for Atheists


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMDz6NRGyQE

Transcript

It is a great privilege for me to be here this evening with you. And in a way, it is a great blessing that you cannot see me, some of you. And it is for this reason: You do not need to see a man, nor do you need to see the movements of a man. You need to see Christ. And we need the power and the movement of the Holy Spirit. When we cannot see much of a man, that does not limit us. But without a vision of Jesus Christ, we are ruined. I’m not here tonight to talk about men, or to talk about church, or religion. For all those things have their failures and flaws. Every one of you can stand up and make accusations against these things. Men are weak and sinful. Religion is sometimes weak and failing. But Christ: there is no one like Christ. He’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He’s the Son of God. He is infinite perfection. He is strong. He is mighty. He has never failed, and He has fulfilled every promise He has ever made. You have no argument against Him. For there is no one like Him. He and He alone is the Savior of the world and the Christ of God.

This evening you need Christ. You need a vision of Christ. If you’re here this evening and you consider yourself to be atheist, I know this: One small glimpse of Christ, and your atheism will be destroyed by His power. And if you are a believer here tonight, and you are struggling with sin, and you lack zeal and motivation, one glimpse of Jesus Christ will give you all that you need to live the Christian life. So it’s all about Christ. What do you think of Him? For that is the very basis of God’s judgment of men. While it is true that one day you will stand before God and be judged with regard to your sin, you must understand that the greatest question on that day will be this: What think ye of Jesus Christ? What have you done with Christ?

Now let’s open up our Bibles to the book of Colossians 1:16-22. “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” Let’s pray.

Father, I come before You this evening with a great and a heavy burden. Lord, I know that I am taking upon myself a task that I cannot complete. It would be easier for me to count the stars in the heavens or to number these grains of sand on the seashore. But to describe the greatness and the glory and the power of Your Son goes beyond all human invention. No words can express Him. No intellect can grasp Him, whether they be human or angelic. That You have exalted the name of Your Son above all things, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. And it will be for Your good pleasure and Your glory.

Father, we are filled with religion. We are filled with knowledge, and we are filled with apathy and the lack of the fear of the Lord. But Father, one glimpse of Christ, one glimpse of His power and His glory, one glimpse of Your love and His face, will make our sleeping go away and fill us with joy unspeakable. Lord, we need Christ. We don’t need a man. We don’t need a preacher. We need Him. Lord I pray, let me stutter, let me speak as a mule, let me fall from this platform; but O God, that men might catch a glimpse of Jesus Christ. His power. His glory. That they might be humbled by that, and saved by that heavenly vision. O God, rend the heavens and come down. Speak to men. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now look in verse 16. “For by Him all things were created.” It doesn’t matter who you are tonight. You may claim to be atheist and agnostic. You may be a hater of all religion and even a hater of God. The very mention of Christ may set your blood to boiling. You may consider yourself an enemy of the cross. But know this: Jesus Christ created you. And in that, He has a claim upon you. He is your Maker; and by virtue of that, He is also your Possessor, your Owner. And not only does He take ownership, but He is also Lord. You say, “I do not see that. Where is His throne?” Know this, that God has appointed a day in which He will judge every man, through this One who was crucified by wicked men—Jesus Christ. His throne is coming. His judgment is near. And on that day when He judges, everyone will recognize His right to judge because He is judging the very thing He has made.

Do you also realize the absolute arrogance of seeking to live independently from Him? The Bible says He made you. And not only that, but He sustains you. It is the great truth of Christianity that God created the world. But He did not leave it to itself. He sustains the world. In the same way know this: God created you and He sustains you. The next breath you take comes from Christ. Your heart beats in the next few minutes only because of Jesus Christ. Can you see how insane it is to seek to live independently from Him? Imagine a man laying in a hospital. And he’s unconscious, and he is connected to a life support system – several tubes that keep him alive. And every once in a while, the man wakes up, and like a wild animal, he grabs at the tubes and he tries to pull them out of his arm. He tries to destroy the life support system. He must be laid down in the bed once more and tied down because in his fit of insane rage he is going to kill himself. That is the perfect description of man without Christ. Like a wild animal, like an insane man, you seek to live separately from the very One who is the source of life.

But the Bible says, “By Him all things were created.” But not only that, this prepositional phrase “by Him” can also be interpreted “in Him”. That all things were created in Christ. Now what does that mean? Reality is found in Christ alone. Everything outside of the person of Jesus Christ is false. It is wrong. It is without meaning. It has no reason. It is absurd and insane. So is the life lived outside of Christ. It has no meaning. It lives in an unreal world, a delusion. Look around at your world. Look what you see. Everything is a vain delusion. From business to advertising to the media, it is all a delusion. It will all pass away. Yesterday I was born, today I stand here, tomorrow I die. And the same can be said of you. And to chase after any thing except that which is eternal is absolutely insane. To give yourself for those things that will pass away is an absurdity. To live for anyone other than Christ is to set yourself outside of the will and good pleasure of God.

There’s something that you must understand about God the Father. His Son is everything to Him. Every thing the Father has ever done, He has done it for His Son. He created the world in His Son. He reveals Himself to the world through His Son. He redeems the world through His Son. And He judges the world through His Son. And He has done it all for the glory of His Son. God has a correct view of things. For you to consider unimportant what God considers most important, is absolutely insane. I said something the other night, and I will repeat it now. I can tell you who your God is by just asking you one question: What do you think about most? What fills your thoughts the most? Do you see how insane we are? We look in the mirror at our own image more than we look to Christ. We worry about things in this world more than we concern ourselves with Christ. And yet, I can assure you, Christ is foremost in every thought of God. And Christ is foremost in the thoughts of every being that finds its dwelling place in Heaven.

This is proved in the next phrase. It says, “For by Him all things were created, both in Heaven and on earth.” The world is important to God. Men are important to God. But be careful that your heart not be lifted up in arrogance because the world of men is not the only thing that God possesses. It is not even the greatest of His possessions. For all of Heaven belongs to God. And we know from Scripture that there are countless splendid created beings who exist in Heaven for only one purpose: the worship of God. Dr. Tozer, many years ago, said something very important, and we will do well to listen. “If all men on the earth were to suddenly become blind, it would not diminish the glory of the sun, or the moon, or the stars.” In the same way, if all men were to be atheist, it would not diminish the glory of God. If He lost the entire world, if every man turned away, if there was no redemptive plan in the heart of God, He would still be worshiped throughout eternity by an infinite number of created beings more splendid than ourselves.

“By Christ all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible.” In these two words we find one of our greatest problems. We trust our eyes, we trust our senses, more than we trust the Word of God. You live based on what you can see. You live based on what you can feel. And, most importantly, you live based upon what other men tell you. And you do not realize that the invisible world is more a reality than the one you can see. This is not the reality. The reality is that which is set before us in the Word of God. It is what Christ has said, because one day, all of this will pass away like a vapor, like a piece of cloth that will be rolled up and taken away. Like dry wood, it will be burned up. And on that day, you will know what is truly real, and the Word of God will be vindicated. And some of you will rejoice in that. But others of you will realize that you’ve lived for a wrong thing, and you have lost all things.

New Samsung 8GB DDR4 2400 MHz - 16,000 each.

Increase the memory of your laptop.

$250 UBA Africard needed

Rate: 1600.

WhatsApp 0812-711-5160.

I want to buy $250 UBA Africard funds. If you have for sale, please WhatsApp me on 081-2711-5160

Please I need 250 dollars Africard Funds.

$250 UBA Africard Funds Needed.

WhatsApp 0812 - 711 - 5160

Used Micron 4GB DDR3 1600MHz - 3,000 each - SOLD

New Samsung 8GB DDR4 2400 MHz - 17,000 each.

Kingston 480GB SATA SSD - 28,000 each - SOLD

Open box Samsung 8GB DDR4 2400 MHz RAM - 15,000 Naira only. 45 pieces available

All Crucial laptop RAMs sold.

Samsung and Micron DDR4 and DDR3 RAMs still available.

Lexar SSD and Kingston SSD still available.

See above for prices.

----

Sexual immorality also is humiliating to other members of Christ’s body and a cause for great mourning among them. 2 Corinthians 12:21, “I am afraid – this is Paul – I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality which they have practiced.” Now here is the Apostle Paul. He uses the phrase “I am afraid”. He uses the phrase “humiliate me”. He uses the phrase “mourning”. Why? Because it’s such a disgrace to the people of God. You say, “No one knows what I’m doing.” FOOL! Are you that foolish? No one knows what you’re doing? The church is not just a spectacle to men, it is a spectacle to angels.

They’re supposed to see the grace of God and rejoice. And the fallen are to see the grace and power of God, and be humiliated. But when you practice immorality, when anyone practices immorality, the saints, the angels, mourn; and demons gloat. Demons gloat. Stop it! Sexual immorality and sensuality are works of the flesh. It’s obvious. Let’s read it, Galatians 5:19, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” To be a deed of the flesh, it says more than what we sometimes realize.

You see, one of the reasons why it is so important to know who you now are in Christ, not just positionally, but through the doctrine of regeneration; one of the reasons it’s so important to understand what it means to be a new creature is that when some lie, like sexual immorality, is brought to you, when some temptation is set before you, if you believe that you are still some wretched fallen creature, you just shrug your shoulders and say, “Well, what else can I do?” But when you realize that you are a new creature in Christ, you look at that and say, “It’s a lie! That will not please me! That will not bring me joy! Once it reaches my lips, passes down my throat and reaches my gut, it will poison me at best. It will make me sick, nauseous, tear me to pieces. I am not that! You and I have nothing in common anymore. Away from me!”

I hear all these stupid preachers saying, “Sin is fun.” There’s nothing fun about it. Nothing fun about it. Just one drop on the lips of a saint, there’s nothing fun about it. It’s not even fun for a season. Don’t buy into that lie. I’m so sick and tired of hearing that. Sin is fun for a season? Not for a saint! Not for a saint. Pour vomit down your throat, is that fun for a season? Because that’s what sin is like to a believer. They hate it. You say, “Brother Paul, I’ve never seen you preach like this in the church.” There’s no sin like this! It needs to be dealt with this way. And again, men, stop being so just, just moping. Take this thing in the power of Christ, deal with it. Know that your soul depends on it. The life of your wife, the joy of your wife, depends on it. Your children depend on this. There’s some things you can get wrong. You will do damage, but not that much damage. You get this wrong, [you’ll do much damage]. It’s a deed of the flesh, but you’re not fleshly, you’re Christian. You’ve been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Walk in that. Recognize the lie. Recognize the lie.

Again, sexual immorality should not even be mentioned in the church, much less practiced. It should not even be mentioned. It’s horrible that I have to, in one way, in one sense, almost defile you tonight by teaching on these things. It should not even be mentioned in the church. Ephesians 5:3, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” You know there are some words that they just shouldn’t try to transliterate. They just shouldn’t try to. You look at Devil, and Satan, and you think of a little guy in a red suit with pitchfork and horns, instead of seeing a slanderer and an accuser and an adversary. You think about saint, and you think about some bygone monastery man from Catholicism. The word means “holy one”. You are a holy one. What business does someone like you have swimming in filth like this? You’re holy. You’re holy. You’re holy.

There’s something I want to say here. Ephesians 5:3, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints.” I think it’s very important that immorality and greed are brought together here. We so often do not remember what the Scriptures say that “greedy people will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. I want to just give you some notes here that I have written down. First of all, talking about impurity and greed, impurity is a physical lust; greed is a material lust. They have much in common. Both have to do with self-love. They do. Both sexual immorality and greed have to deal with self-love. And they both have to deal with lovelessness toward others. “I love me more than anyone else; therefore, I participate in sexual immorality, and I care little of what it means to God, and I care little about what it means to my brothers and sisters in Christ or those who are even close to me in the family. I care little.”

You say, “Oh, I’m weak.” Just stop it! Stop it! Stop saying that! “Oh, I’m just weak.” That’s no excuse! And I will not let you make it an excuse. You’re not weak, you’re selfish. You’re just putting yourself over the purposes of God and over the purposes of the ones that you’re supposed to love. Both have to do with selfishness. You say, “In what way, brother Paul?” Selfishly taking physical pleasure without giving any in return. That’s what sexual immorality is. Whether it’s looking at pornography – I take pleasure from this person, I give no pleasure in return. Sexual immorality where there is obviously no commitment – I take pleasure without committing anything to you. I take. I take. I do not give. And the whole purpose of intimacy between spouses is to attempt to outgive each other. Sexual immorality is just the opposite of that.

But look at it, it’s just like greed. Taking material wealth without distributing it. Using it for self. Using it to promote. Using it to grow something of your own, and not thinking, “God gave me this to trust Him; to help others.” You see, it’s just the same. That’s why they go together. It’s just the same. Believers are to consider themselves to be dead to all forms of immorality. Colossians 3:5, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” There we go again: immorality, greed, idolatry. Dead. Dead. So many people quote that text, Paul saying that, “I’m crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me.” What does that mean? He is saying that, “When I look at the world, to me it’s just like a dead, rotten corpse. And when the world looks at me, it sees the same. It doesn’t want me, and I don’t want it.”

I saw this film one time, years ago, when I was a little boy. I don’t know, it’s one of those Twilight Zone or something films, in which this man was born, and you just saw him as an older man, and he was horribly deformed with these things coming out of his hair, and everything else. And he walked. Everywhere he went he scared people. And he was ashamed and everything else. And then they take this man, and they put him in a rocket, and they’re going to send him somewhere. You don’t know where they’re going to send him. Well, all of a sudden, he arrives at this space station, and the capsule opens up and he gets out; and he’s all ashamed. And then all of a sudden, he sees people all around him that are just like him. And then he hears two ladies that kinda have the same look he has, whisper to one another, “Mehn, he’s cute.” And then he sees this other guy, who is a normal man, who is walking all ashamed, being put in the rocket to ship back to earth. Do you see what’s going on? That’s the way it ought to be, in a sense, between us and the world.

When we look at the world, it’s a rotten, seething, mass filthy flesh. We don’t want it. And when it looks at us: “Fools. Fools. Following a Ghost. Men not worthy to be alive.” There should be no interaction of compliment between us. Just consider yourself dead to it. Dead. Sexual immorality is contrary to all sound teaching, even to the gospel itself. 1 Timothy 1:9, “Realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” What is the gospel about? Purity. Love. What is immorality about? Filth. Selfishness. Self-love.

We’re about to finish. Another point. Sexual immorality makes one appear to be a citizen of Sodom and Gomorrah, rather than a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. Jude 7, “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they, in the same way as these, indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” When a believer participates in any form of sexual immorality, even though hidden away, but not hidden from the sight of the spiritual realm, you can imagine the cackles and the laughter of the demonic, “Well, one of God’s children looks like one of us. Looks like he’s from our town, our lineage, our father.” We don’t want that. We shouldn’t want that for the honor and glory of God.

Finally, Christ will judge sexual immorality in the church. Revelation 2:12-16, “To the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. Therefore repent, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.'” We see this in the judgment of the church in Asia Minor, again in Revelation 2:18-23, “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.'” When I hear about God moving among churches in America, when I hear about “the presence of God is surely in this place”, I know in many cases it’s nothing but fiction. A lie of the worst sort. Because if God was among His church, was with these places as He was, as they claim, in the book of Acts, the early part, then men would be dying everywhere. They’d be dying everywhere.

Now, after hearing me preach for weeks, you may think that some sort of terror came upon me in the night. That’s not the case. To talk about this, there’s only one way to talk about it: Fiercely. And there’s only one way to deal with it: Fiercely. And you need to take it to heart. Young men, old men, young ladies, elderly ladies; all need to take it to heart. Be very careful. It takes all sorts of forms. And know this: what was called pornography even 30 years ago is not called pornography today. Be very careful. Those areas that appear to be gray. “It’s a great movie, it just had one act of immorality in it.” What are you saying? And for you youngsters, I’ve got a word for you, you need to understand. And I’m not seeing anything. If I did, I would say it, but I haven’t seen it among you. But I have seen it in your generation, and it terrifies me.

I see young men and women who go to seminary, go to Bible college, or who just seem to love the Lord, read all kinds of books, the good ones. They read MacArthur and Sproul and Piper, and all sorts of men like that, talk about the Puritans, and then can switch right at that moment and talk about some film that, in my generation, a lost person wouldn’t go watch. Be very careful. Because I can tell you this: You want to truly know the power of God? I’m not talking about little stories. I’m not talking about just acting. You truly want to know the power of God? Then you have to make some serious decisions in your life.

“Legalism!” It has nothing to do with legalism. I don’t even think about law when I walk on this earth. Do you know what I think about? There is a Person who dwells within me. And He’s not referred to as a bull, or a rhino, or an elephant, although he is stronger, infinitely stronger than all of them. The Person who dwells in me is called the Holy Spirit, and He is referred to as a dove. Easily offended. Easily quenched. Be careful. This is not about keeping rules. This is about not offending the Person who dwells within you and within the church. So as individuals and as a community, we must be pure. And don’t walk out here pointing fingers unless they’re pointing straight at you. Don’t do it. You’ve got enough to deal with, and so do I. Drink this down deeply. Think about it. Very solemn. Not a very good sermon tonight, but absolutely necessary in this wicked, dark age in which we live.

Let’s pray. Father, I come before You in the name of Your Son. And I pray, dear God, O God, how fearful; make us fearful of that which should be feared. Cause us to see, Lord, the need to be a pure people, a loving people. Help us see, Lord, that purity is one of the greatest expressions of love. Let us be a clean people, Lord; holy because Thou art holy. Lord, I don’t ask for this congregation anything above being pure. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright 2014, Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society. All rights reserved.
https://www.heartcrymissionary.com

Secondly, it is not recommended that this person who practices these things should counsel anyone regarding even the simplest matters of the Christian faith. Now I know, again, that sounds hard, but look at what we’re dealing with here. Would I tell a new believer to go out and counsel other believers? Absolutely not. Would I tell someone struggling with this particular sin, whatever aspect of it it is, “Yes, go out freely. Counsel people. Give your wisdom”? No! No! You should not give your wisdom. You should heal yourself, physician. You should take counsel, not give it. You should grow. You should take this thing and wrestle it until it is conquered, and conquered for a while, for a while.

Now, another point, those who habitually practice sexual immorality of any type will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what you need to understand. We don’t say these things anymore, do we? But the Bible most certainly does, and I’m going to read you several texts. Now again, we’re not talking about a genuine believer struggling against this sin, learning to overcome, and eventually overcoming. But we’re talking about someone who never makes headway, who never makes progress in this area, who is always enslaved to this for the rest of their life, and who finally give themselves up to it. This is what the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminates, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the Kingdom of God.” They are called these things because they habitually practice them. They habitually practice them.

Galatians 5:21, “I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things – immorality and sensuality – will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Immorality and sensuality. I think it’s something that I need to stop and point out here. One of the evidences that there are so many unconverted people in the church is that there’s so much sensuality in the church. God is not against beauty. He’s not against refinement. He’s not against a person demonstrating, in their manner, their style, in their clothing, in their speech, even grace in the way they walk, God is not against such things. But sensuality? God hates it. He hates it. And there has been such a confusion between that which is beautiful (and I’m not just talking about women, I’m talking about men), and that which is sensual. We are to be, as limited as some of us are, we are to be a beautiful people, but never a sensual people. As an itinerant preacher, it’s horrible that a man must be prayed up to go into some churches. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.

Also, Ephesians 5:5-6, “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man (who is an idolater), has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” Look how many times Paul is warning us that it is a sure word and we should not be deceived. “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man (who is an idolater), has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” And then again, “Let no one deceive you with empty words.” You see, sanctification is a synergistic work. It is something that is done by God; it is something that we respond to. And yet, we have many great promises that He who began a good work in us will finish it. It doesn’t mean that we’ll all cross the finish line perfect. As a matter of fact, none of us will until we reach that glorified state in Heaven. Yet the Bible does teach that all the days of a man’s life, God will work in that man if he’s truly a believer. He’ll bring him to sanctification, bring him to greater and greater Christlikeness.

Colossians 3:6, “For it is because of these things – immorality, etc. – that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.” These types of sins, sexual sins, are characteristic of the sons of disobedience, and God is justified when He comes against them in His wrath. Revelation 21:7-8, “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My people. But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Believers, many of them before they became believers, were in bondage to sexual immorality. But when they were converted, that bondage was broken. And, of course, that freedom had to work itself out. Sometimes, people were freed immediately and never had another problem. Other times, people are freed by the power of God, they’re given a new nature; and yet, for sometime they will struggle against the ingrained habits of their flesh. But they will overcome!

I am coming to believe, more and more as I get older, that I am not so much on this earth to do great deeds of ministry. But I am on this earth to overcome the deficiencies in my character. I am here to overcome that which is lacking with regard to conformity to Jesus Christ. And I do believe that overcoming those things is absolutely essential. We’re all so outward, outward, outward, aren’t we? Got to do this and got to do that. Got to help these people. Got to fix them. Got to do all sorts of things. And constantly in my own heart, I’m hearing, “Physician, heal yourself.” That we are to look at the sins that beset us in our own life, and we are to attack them as Phinehas attacked. To drive stakes straight through their heart.

I’m convinced, you be a holy man, you won’t have to worry about anything else. God will use you. Even if you’re dumb as a rock, He’ll use you if you are a holy man, and woman. Revelation 22:14-15, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gate into the city.” Now here we see entrance is through the blood of the Lamb. Yet in verse 15, “Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the immoral persons, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.” Again and again, it seems like it’s the same thing. They were never born again. They were never granted a new nature. They were never washed by the blood of the Lamb. They continued in their filthy practices. But that is NOT what a believer does. He does not continue in these things.

Another point, sexual immorality violates the purpose for which God made the body. Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 6:13, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes, food is for the stomach. The stomach was made for food. It was not made for racket ball, or ice skating, or even thinking. It wasn’t made for running a marathon. The stomach was made for food. “But God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality.” It was never created for that purpose at all. For what purpose then? “But for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body.” To be involved in sexual immorality is to refuse the most glorious purpose for which your body was made, and to give yourself, give your body, to the most vile thing imaginable. You see, here we see something so different from Greek thought and from gnostic ideas; that the body was inherently evil, therefore it did not matter what you did with the body. My dear friend, that’s not true. God made the body, and He made the body for Him. And to use it for some other purpose, especially sexual immorality, is to defile the thing that God has given you.

Also, sexual immorality is a horrible profanation of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of Christ. It is to profane God’s temple. 1 Corinthians 6:15, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be.” 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” Let me illustrate this for you. Do you know that a priest not properly prepared, entering into the Holy of Holies, that was a death sentence? You do know that, don’t you? The most terrifying thing was once a year to go into the Holy of Holies. And everything had to be done exactly as the LORD desired. I mean, I’m not talking about you could get away with something in there. Everything had to be perfect!

Now I want you to think for a moment about sexual immorality, the temple (your body), and the Holy Spirit. And this is the illustration that I want to leave in your mind. Imagine a Levitical priest practising sexual immorality with a pagan prostitute in the Holy of Holies. Can you imagine? No you can’t. What would happen? I mean, that’s unthinkable! It was unthinkable when at times idols were put in the Holy of Holies. Or to defile it, pig’s blood was offered, or whatever. But think about this. This is what a man is doing. This is what a believer is doing. What a flagrant, arrogant, shameless way of dealing with the presence of Christ that dwells within us. Do you see how horrifying this is? And don’t think it is just when the act is committed. Remember what sexual immorality is. It embarks all these things. Everything we’ve mentioned.

Sexual immorality is a denial of Christ’s redemptive claim upon the body. 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.” “No. No. I don’t care at this moment if I’ve been bought with a price! I just don’t care. I want to do what I want to do!” You say, “Brother Paul, you’re saying this in such an ugly manner.” It’s an ugly thing. What do you want me to do, recite poetry to you? I pray that the Spirit of God would impress this upon all our hearts of how devastating, how horrifying, how vile, how twisted all of this is. Sexual immorality is in a category all to its own. 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.”

Now I want to be honest with you. The full understanding of what Paul is saying, I think, escapes us all. Because you read some of the finest, most consistent commentary writers, and you will see that they are all giving their ideas and inferences, but no one is really that sure. What is Paul saying? But I believe Calvin says something that really hits the heart of the matter. “Paul now shows how much we ought to abhor fornication. Setting before us the enormity of its wickedness and baseness, now he shows its greatness by comparison, that this sin alone, of all sins, puts a brand of disgrace upon the body. Is it not enough to know that whatever makes it so, doesn’t really matter? But this one thing we know for certain, that sexual immorality is in a category all to itself, with regard to vileness and harm.”

Another thing about sexual immorality. God’s displeasure against sexual immorality is revealed in that He killed 23,000 Israelites in one day for their immorality. 1 Corinthians 10:8, “Nor let us act immorally as some did, and 23,000 fell in a one day.” And what stopped the plague? Phinehas. One man with a lance. He takes it on, and he drives a stake right through its heart. Men and women, listen to me. I guess there was a time when these things should normally be just addressed to men, but it seems that women have become just as shameless as men. There’s only one way to deal with sexual immorality. And that is, drive a stake straight through it. Have no mercy upon it. Sometimes I believe, as a matter of fact I know, we look at Israel going into the land of Canaan, and they were told, “Have no mercy whatsoever on these pagan tribes that would lead you astray to another god. Have no mercy at all. Show no tenderness.” Now that was written for us.

Not that we are to harm anyone in anyway, never. Because he’s not talking about the people out there, they’re not the problem. He’s talking about the pagans in your own heart. That when you see ANYTHING, any pagan walking across trespassing your heart, any pagan thought, any pagan idea, to have no mercy. KILL IT! Grind it to powder! Drive a stake straight through its heart. Don’t tolerate it. Be severe with yourself. Deal with it. So many times, these types of things are taught, and everyone just gets together and hugs one another and sings “kumbaya.” That is not what needs to be done here. You need to know, this is terrible! And you need to fight it with everything you’ve got, because the door to opportunity will be slammed shut until you do.

Well, open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 4. It seems like every time I preach, either you’re getting farther away from me or I’m getting farther away from you. I don’t know which it is. Let’s look at chapter 4 verse 3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.”

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank You for Your Word; for its great encouragements and its great warnings. And I pray, dear God, that You would settle upon us, that You would make us solemn, serious, before this text. That You would put within us a fear of sin, a love for You, a desire for true piety, to be like Christ. And Lord, take the texts that are going to be read tonight and illumine the hearts of Your people, their minds, that they may see, Lord, the beauty of purity and the grotesque nature of sin. Lord, that we might walk, as Paul says here, in a way that is pleasing unto You. Lord, help us with Your Spirit. Empower and guide, illuminate our minds to understand. Do a work among us, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the last few sermons, we have been talking about 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, and we haven’t advanced very much. We’ve talked about several things in verse 1, about Paul exhorting and beseeching us to live in a manner that is pleasing to God. And that is our great task, and that is the goal of sanctification. In the end, it’s that you and I please God in everything that we think and everything that we say, everything we do. That everything be brought in submission to His will. We also learned that we are to excel, that we’re never to see our place in Christianity as if we have arrived, but that we are to continue to excel and excel, to want to do more, to want to be better, to strive to be more like Christ. And we explained that that should never create in your heart the idea that you do not measure up. Why? Because you’re not striving to enter God’s love. You are striving in the midst of God’s love, in the context of a love that you already possess because of the perfect person and work of Jesus Christ.

Now verse 3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” We explained also here that your sanctification is not the totality of the will of God. There are many other things, many other aspects of the will of God, but sanctification is extremely important; and I would say, in one sense, a lack of sanctification shuts the door in your life to the rest of God’s will. Whereas, taking sanctification seriously opens the door to so many other opportunities and blessings that are ours in Christ. And now we see in verse 3, “That is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.”

Now I had intended to go from 3 to 8, and to deal with these texts in its entirety. But I think that it’s best that we stop here for a little while, and we talk about something of which none of us want to speak. And that is the idea of sexual immorality, and of the need for purity, for the greatest purity in our lives. Now I want to say a few things here. First of all, in this text, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, we see this: We see sanctification being set before us as something that is absolutely necessary in our life. And then we see two expressions of sanctification. One is, abstaining from sexual immorality. Or, to say it in a positive light, purity. Sexual purity. And the other is love. These two things are two of the greatest manifestations that you truly are growing in Christ. And to not have these things is one of the greatest demonstrations that you are like a new convert at best. That you have not attained to the place you ought to attain if there’s a lack of love or sexual impurity in your life.

Now some people would look at this and say, “Sexual impurity. Love. Why these two things?” Well, not just because these two things are great expressions, but there’s a very real sense in which these two things go together. Love, true love for God, true love for others, will lead to sexual purity. And sexual impurity is one of the greatest demonstrations of lovelessness, of self-love, of self-idolatry; and of lovelessness to God, and lovelessness to those around us. Now I know those are hard words, but they’re true. And I can’t back up from them.

Now, in this sermon what I’m going to do, instead of just breaking down this text, I’m going to take several texts throughout the Bible, because my desire, what I have prayed for, is that a holy fear would settle upon your life. And that you would see how horrifying this sin is. But before I do that, let me say this: I don’t want to give you one second of comfort. And so in order to take away all comfort from you, I’m going to say this: Sometimes I hear men, especially, use this excuse, “Well, all men struggle with sexual immorality.” I want to take that away from you. That’s not true. All men should FEAR sexual immorality. All men should constantly be aware of the dangers. But I want you to know, not every man struggles with this. You need to understand that and not use it as a comfort for your own sin. Now again, that’s very hard, but it’s very true.

We all may struggle, we all struggle in certain areas. But don’t think that because you struggle in a certain area, everyone else does. Because that’s simply not true. And you don’t want to give your flesh comfort in this. There is power over sexual immorality. There is power, regardless of how dangerous this sin is. And if you don’t think it’s dangerous, then I would suggest you talk to three people: The pastor, the policeman, and the lawyer. Because they will tell you that a great many crimes and dangers and horrible things that occur in this world flows out of this. It does. This is not some harmless sin. This is not just a viewpoint that we ought to live in absolute moral freedom. This KILLS. It destroys, more than any of us could ever know. And it doesn’t just wreck the present generation. It wrecks generation after generation after generation.

So now, having said that, I want to give us just a small background on the terms that we often use. For example, sexual immorality. From where does that word come? What does it actually mean? It comes from the Greek word “porneia”. Now I’m going to use a definition given by Louw and Nida, Greek scholars, and they say this: The word, porneia, means to engage in sexual immorality of any kind. Sexual immorality of any kind. So I want you to see, performing some unbiblical act with another person is no different than all the other expressions. That they are all wrapped up in wickedness. And you need to see that so that you don’t slide, because in sexual immorality what you need to understand is it starts off sometimes very, very small. Just a glance. But then it slides into the very pit of Hell. It does.

Oftentimes I hear, “This man has fallen.” Honestly, I’ve never seen a man fall. I’ve just seen men slide by compromises, small compromises, that no one sees. So when we talk about sexual immorality, we are talking about porneia. We are talking about to engage in ANY kind of sexual immorality. Often though, in the New Testament and in the Greek world, it is with the implication of prostitution. But it embarks the following things: Fornication, prostitution, pornography, homosexuality, and any other thought, or act, or concept, or belief, that would contradict the Word of God with regard to the physical.

Now let’s look at the word “fornication”. What does fornication mean? Well, its English definition has to do with (because sometimes porneia is translated fornication,) any sort of sexual activity outside the sacred bonds of marriage. Okay. Now the word, fornication, actually comes from the Latin “fornix”. And you say, “Well, what does that mean?” Well, actually it means “vaulted ceiling”. You say, “Well, how do the two things go together?” It eventually came to mean “brothel”. Like the vaulted or chambered ceiling of a brothel.

Now what is “pornography”? Pornography comes from the Greek word “pornographos” – from porné, which means prostitute; and graphos, which means writing. And literally it refers to “writing about prostitutes” or “writing about exploits with prostitutes”. In our age, our visual age, it doesn’t refer so much now (even though it does) to writings, as it does photography, video, and other kinds of media. But before we go on, let me say something. A great majority of novels that people read, even so called people in the church read, would properly be qualified as pornography. So just because there’s no pictures doesn’t mean you’re not in sin. Very important.

Now, what I want to do now is I want to go through several texts of the Bible and just make brief comments, because most of these texts stand on their own. And my hope is that the Holy Spirit will do what no man can do; and that is, set upon your heart, fear. Great fear for these things. First of all, Acts 15:19-20. It’s talking about the Jerusalem Council. And what’s going on there? The Gentiles have been converted. Many of the Judaizers were going out, trying to turn them into Jews, put them back under the Law, demanding circumcision. But then the apostles and the leaders and the elders meet together in Jerusalem, and they make some decisions. Now what is the decision? They condemn sexual immorality, alongside of two other things — idolatry and the consuming of blood.

Now I want you to think about that for just a moment before we read the text because sometimes it’s helpful to get a visual picture. These three things are set beside one another, so that you can say in some manner, at least to some degree, they are equal. Would you bow down before an idol of Baal? Well, you’re committing an equal thing when you’re involved in any form of sexual immorality. Would you consume blood as a Pagan? Well, you’re on par with these types of things when you are involved with sexual immorality. It says, Acts 15:19-20, “Therefore it is my judgment that we not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.”

I’ve always marveled at how light the Jerusalem Council seems to be. I mean, when you think about our day and age, and you think about we have the full counsel of God in the New Testament, and all the commands and all the prohibitions that are within the Scriptures, the letter going out to the Gentiles is what? Abstain from idolatry, consuming blood, and sexual immorality. And basically, if you do these things, you’ll be all right. Because, in a sense, from these things, at least from idolatry and sexual immorality, flow most other sins.

Now, look what he says in Acts 15:28, “For it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials.” The idea here is something essential or something necessary. Now when we think about essentials, what are we thinking about? The most basic. Is that not true? The most basic requirements, the fundamental requirements. We could even say, Christianity 101. The beginning steps to develop a Christian morality. The baby steps. So if you’re going to talk to a baby, you’re going to say this, “Look, I’m going to give you, right now, the essentials. This is essentially what you must do. That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves free from such things,” and here we see the apostles believed that was possible, didn’t they? It is possible. It’s more than possible. It’s probable. It’s commanded. It’s required. It says, “If you keep yourselves free from these things, you will do well.” And if you do not abstain from these things, if you do not gain freedom from these things, you will not do well. You simply will not.

Now I want to make just a point here that I think is very, very important. Abstinence from sexual immorality is one of the most essential and basic aspects or requirements of the Christian life. Keeping yourself pure from sexual immorality is one of the most basic and essential things. If you have not mastered this, you have not even achieved, you have not even accomplished, you have not even arrived to the first rung of what it means to be a mature Christian. Now that sounds hard, but I want to lay that before you because I am so sick and tired of hearing men across the nation whine about the power of this when I know God has given us power over it. And thinking it’s almost an acceptable thing that you can have this and still do Christianity? No! If you are doing this, you’ve not even made it to the first rung of Christianity. You’re not even walking baby steps in Christianity. And I don’t care how many books you’ve read, I don’t care how much theology you know, and I don’t care how much wisdom you think that you possess. You’ve touched nothing of maturity. This is extremely important to understand this.

Another point about it is this: Sexual immorality, its increased presence in society, is indication that it has been turned over to a depraved mind. Romans 1:24, “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” One of the things that we see from the book of Romans chapter 1 is we don’t see men falling. We do not see societies falling. We see them sliding. Sliding. And if you notice that when it talks about a society given over to a depraved heart, the great emphasis there is not even war, necessarily. It’s not even robbing. It’s not even murdering. But what is the great indication? Sexual immorality. Sexual perversion.

Another thing that we see that is so very important is, it is a spiral. It is a spiral, and mixed company will not allow me to teach on this spiral. But I can assure you that some of the most twisted and perverted things that have entered into the mind of man began with something much simpler. Something not as heinous. But as a man gives himself to one thing, then he gives himself to another thing, then he gives himself to another thing, and another thing, and another thing, until his conscience is gone! This is true. This is why especially young men should guard their eyes, guard their eyes, guard their eyes, because it won’t stay there! Once you’ve fed on a tiny thing, you’ll want more, and then you’ll want more. And then a thing that was very dark will no longer be dark enough. And then you have to go another dark thing, until finally you are consumed with darkness! You must understand that.

It’s like when I worked with drug addicts in Peru, and even here in the United States when I was younger as a Christian, they would always say, “Your entire life as a drug addict is chasing that first high.” That first high is so good and you spend the rest of your life chasing it again because no matter how much more you increase, it’s not enough. And you just keep chasing and chasing and going deeper, until you are lost.

Now, another point that I want to make, and this is very important that we understand it: Believers are not to associate with any person who professes Christ but habitually practices sexual immorality of any type. Now that sounds very, very hard. But listen to 1 Corinthians 5:11, “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” Now this is a reference to church discipline. And it is not teaching that any person who is struggling with sexual immorality, that they must be disciplined. That’s not what it is saying. It is referring to someone who, in this struggle, has given themselves over to the struggle. They are not repentant, they don’t care, and they just keep going on with it, even to the point of flaunting it. That that person should be brought into discipline.

And yet, if a person in the body who is not disciplined because they truly show signs and fruit of conversion, but are struggling in a certain area, this area of sexual immorality, then here’s a few things that I think we need to look at. First of all, as we’ve seen in the book of Acts, no matter what else they know, they’re immature. No matter what else they think they know, they’ve not even reached the first rung of a Christian ethic being applied to their life. They should never be given a ministry in the church while they are struggling with this matter. They should never be set over any aspect of ministry within the church while they are struggling with this, for the same reason that a man should not be made an elder, who does not qualify according to Titus 1 or 1 Timothy 3.

Transcript attached.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k16pgt7i-qI

Paul Washer - Abstain from sexual immorality.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

Available.

Still available

Available

available

Available

Price Slash

Kingston 4GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (3 pieces ) - 7,500 6,000 each.
Samsung 4GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (9 pieces) - 7,500 6,000 each

Hello. I have the following SSD Drives and Laptop RAMs for sale:

SSDs
1. Brand New Lexar 512GB Sata III SSD Drive 2.5 inches (2 pieces) - 25,000 each. - 1 left

2. Brand New Kingston 480GB SATA III SSD Drive 2.5 inches (4 pieces) - 28,000 each.

3. Brand New Samsung 500GB 970 Evo Plus NVME M.2 SSD Drive (2 Pieces) - 35,000 each. sold

RAM
1. Brand New Samsung 4GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (9 pieces) - 7,500 each.

2. Brand New Crucial 8GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (8 pieces) - 16,000 each. sold

3. Brand New Micron 8GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (9 pieces) - 15,000 each.

4. Brand New Kingston 4GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (3 piece ) - 7,500 each.

5. Brand New Samsung 8GB DDR4 3200 MHz Laptop RAM (2 pieces) - 15,000 each.

6. Fairly used and tested working Micron DDR3 4GB PC3L 12800 Laptop RAM (6 pieces) - 5,000 each.

7. Fairly used and tested working Micron DDR4 8GB 2400Mhz Laptop RAM (3 pieces) - 12k each.

8. Fairly used and tested working Samsung 8GB 3200Mhz Laptop RAM (1 piece) - 12k.

Delivery available nationwide.

Location: Yaba, Lagos.

If interested in any of the items, call or WhatsApp: 08127115160.

Still available

Available