A Special Message For America, Part 3

[0:00] Please turn to the book of Ephesians, and this morning we'll be in chapter 5 of Ephesians, the first 14 verses.

[0:18] Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

[0:43] But immortality and any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

[0:57] And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

[1:08] 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.

[1:27] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

[1:38] Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

[1:51] Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

[2:02] Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.

[2:18] For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. For it is light. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light.

[2:33] For everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

[2:50] In our earlier two parts of this three-part message, we identified some, only some, of the ills of our nation.

[3:13] Each of which constitutes a moral drain on the descending moral capital of the USA. I call it capital in that it represents a moral or spiritual account of our nation.

[3:30] Morally, we are a nation with a certain amount of morality on deposit in our account. Items of national virtue and goodness add to that account.

[3:46] And items of national vice and evil constitute a withdrawal from that account that decreases our net moral assets.

[3:57] We are and have been depleting our moral assets in ever-increasing moral withdrawals. The result is where we already are today.

[4:11] We are a morally bankrupt nation drowning in immoral red ink. Nothing can affect our recovery but massive infusions of moral and spiritual deposits.

[4:28] Our government administrations, that's plural, administrations, that's Democrat and Republican, have been making frequent withdrawals from our moral capital until we are now morally bankrupt with precious little being deposited to offset the withdrawals.

[4:52] We have identified the moral withdrawals as abortion on demand, rampant racism, homosexuality, lesbianism, same-sex marriage, heterosexual promiscuity, marital infidelity, divorce, drugs, alcohol, and the crime and violence they activate, broken homes, absent fathers, gang violence, disrespect for law and law enforcement, radical environmentalism, federal encroachment into states' rights and public education, political correctness, admitted and avowed Marxist-Communist professors infiltrating and influencing young students with boastful atheism and godless philosophy, rampant dishonesty, deception, and deliberate misleading of this present administration in matters of public policy and agenda items, bureaucratic dishonesty and corruption as proven to be found in the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies, deliberate lying, I say deliberate lying, on the part of the Obama administration to promote and sell the so-called Affordable Care Act to a gullible and trusting public, an administration's disgraceful and corrupt treatment of our nation's veterans through the Veterans Administration.

[6:26] All this exacerbated by a self-serving Congress who can't even balance the nation's budget because they are so corrupt and irresponsible in their spending and incompetence, the American people's confidence and trust level hovers around 15% or less, according to the latest polls.

[6:52] And all of the above are fueled by and a predictable result of atheistic evolution as opposed to biblical creation.

[7:03] If evolution is true, why not homosexuality? Why not lesbianism? Why not same-sex marriage? Why not abortion on demand?

[7:14] Why not infanticide? You cannot give one logical reason opposing those if we are here as a biological accident.

[7:24] Each item of the foregoing list, incomplete list, I might add, constitutes a withdrawal from the moral bank of our nation, producing a continually descending balance, which by now is most certainly a negative balance.

[7:49] Morally, we are in the hole. Yet, strange as it may seem, we are confident we can say that none of these, nor all of these, are the real problem.

[8:07] They are all merely symptoms of the real problem. Predictable symptoms. The real problem is moral and spiritual.

[8:18] It is not economic. It is not social. It is not political or educational policies that are killing the United States of America.

[8:30] It is the turning of our back on the truth we have surrendered for moral relativism. When any people do not have and revere a moral base upon which to plant their policies, they become what anyone wants to make them.

[8:51] It all depends on who you put in power and what their values are. This is where we are right now. Truth and honesty have never been in such short supply since our nation's founding nearly two and a half centuries ago.

[9:08] If these values are not recaptured now, with massive infusions of spiritual and moral principles deposited to our depleted national treasury of morality, we may soon expect the total collapse of this nation, which many of us were convinced could never happen here.

[9:31] Whether it's an individual illness or the illness of a nation, an accurate diagnosis of the problem is critical.

[9:43] No condition can be cured or even successfully treated if an accurate diagnosis is not realized. How anyone can imagine the diagnosis of our situation to be anything less than moral and spiritual completely escapes us.

[10:02] Yet, our leaders will continue to trot out the old repeatedly failed solutions of elect so-and-so and he will fix it, or replace the Democrat in the White House with a Republican and then we'll get the nation healed, or what we need is another government program that is better funded.

[10:29] After all, we are assured that the corruption, ineptitude, and sloppiness in the IRS handing out billions of dollars mistakenly is simply because they are not well enough funded, so they cannot hire more bureaucrats to do what they do so well.

[10:53] It is only the corruption in Congress itself that prevents it from totally abolishing the IRS. They can't imagine not having the IRS to maintain their flexibility in manipulating the nation's treasury as they have done for the past 100 years since they created the IRS.

[11:20] If government programs or the right party running them or the right person in the Oval Office is the solution, we would have been out of the woods decades ago, or perhaps never would have gotten into the woods in the first place.

[11:36] A political solution is no solution at all. Will we ever learn that? Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all this is that America is capable of so much more.

[11:57] America's history has proved what the American people can accomplish with their moral and spiritual feet on the ground.

[12:16] The last we saw of these folks was in the greatest generation. They were here and fueled America with a sense of truth, decency, honesty, and self-reliance in the 1930s and 40s.

[12:36] But there are a few of them remaining now. And if any of them do speak out, they are summarily dismissed as out of step and wanting to take us back to the past, God forbid that we return to the past of truth, decency, honesty, and self-reliance.

[12:58] Surely it hasn't come to that. Oh, yes, but it has. The only way out of this mess is America on her knees.

[13:11] It's either that or America flat on her back. Take your choice, America. That's your options. So, as Christians and Americans, what are we to do?

[13:28] We need to provide that remedy that we insist is the only way out. If the problems are spiritual, and can there be any doubt that they are?

[13:43] Problems are spiritual and moral. And guess what the solution is? As the saying goes, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know.

[13:55] If the problems are spiritual and moral, the solution has to be spiritual and moral. It won't be found in any political party, or in any candidate, or in any platform.

[14:10] It begins with a proclamation of the truth, and the gospel is at the forefront. But, do these want spiritual and moral solutions?

[14:24] No. No. No. They don't. They will oppose them. Someone approached me last week after the message and said, but Marv, the problem is, they won't listen.

[14:43] They don't want to hear the Christian solutions. I agree. So, what do we do? Well, if they don't want to hear, we just fold our tents quietly, and slink off into the darkness.

[15:01] No, we don't. No, we don't. We simply need to face up front, the realization, that we have the responsibility, for delivering a message, that our audience, if we're fortunate enough to gain one, doesn't want, and will reject summarily.

[15:27] So then, does that let us off the hook? No, it doesn't. Because, we aren't given permission to back off, simply because they reject the message. And how many times have I told you, over the last 45 years, that most people, when they hear the gospel for the first time, reject it.

[15:46] It usually takes repeated hearings, for the word of God, to penetrate and get through, because the spiritual blindness, and darkness, is so all-consuming. So, we ought not to expect them, to welcome our message.

[16:00] And you know, of course, as well as I do, that this is what makes it difficult, to give out. Because, who likes facing rejection? No one I know of. And yet, it is this very rejection, that we are called upon, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, to go forth, and face.

[16:23] They will ridicule, us, and our solutions. They will lampoon them, in their cartoons. They will make fun of them, on late night, and TV talk shows, and insist that, they are unconstitutional, and violate, the separation, of church and state.

[16:41] We are not to proclaim, the gospel, and its truth, because they want to hear it. But, because it's the right thing, to do. And, it's the only message, God has given us.

[16:53] And, if those who don't want it, ever do come, to the truth of it, they will be so grateful, we insisted, on proclaiming it, despite, their opposition, to it.

[17:07] I don't know, how many people, I've talked to, over the years, who confessed, that they opposed, the gospel, fought it, didn't believe it, rejected it, ridiculed it, and all the rest. But, the hound of heaven, never let up.

[17:20] And, eventually, they came to faith, in Christ. And, to a person, they testify, how they will be, eternally grateful, that someone, with whom they worked, didn't give up on them, kept communicating, the gospel, kept absorbing, the abuse, and the ridicule, because, they cared, enough, to confront.

[17:46] And, they cared, enough, to tell me, the truth. After, I made it clear, to them, get out of here, with that stuff, I don't want to hear it. Who wants to be, a holy Joe?

[17:58] The church is full of hypocrites, and on, and on, and on. But, we hang in there, with the truth, because, we are obligated, to do so, because, it's the only, thing, that works.

[18:10] It isn't, something, that works. It's the only, thing, that works. America, has, a heart condition, a spiritual, moral, heart condition, and nothing, can satisfy, but, this gospel, of which we speak.

[18:33] John 7, and verse 7, this is from, a Jewish translation, of the New Testament. You say, well, what's a Jew, doing, translating, the New Testament? Well, this Jew, is a completed Jew.

[18:48] This is a Jew, who one day, came to the reality, that after all, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, really is, the same one, as Jesus of Nazareth.

[19:02] And he embraced him, as his personal Savior. And David Stern, became a completed Jew. And he has since, authored, Jewish version, of the whole Bible, and of the New Testament.

[19:15] And in John 7, and verse 7, listen carefully, please. Jesus told his own brothers, who had not yet, believed in him.

[19:26] These would have been, half brothers. No doubt, Joseph's children, probably by a previous marriage. But the text, makes it very clear, that even though, these were half brothers, of our Lord Jesus, reared in the same household, as he, they had not yet, come to faith in him, as their, I mean, their brother?

[19:50] And in particular, their little brother, being the Messiah? Give me a break. But of course, after the resurrection, that all changed. And James, the half brother of our Lord, is the very one, who presided over the council of Jerusalem, in Acts chapter 15.

[20:07] So, early on in his ministry, when Jesus was talking to his own brothers, half brothers in the flesh, he said to them, the world can't hate you.

[20:20] And the reason, Jesus said to them, the world can't hate you, is because, they were of the world. They were in the world, sold out to the world, fought like the world, lived like the world, functioned like the world, had the world's philosophy, so the world loves its own.

[20:39] And Jesus told his half brother, the world doesn't hate you. You fellas, the world doesn't have a problem with you. You fit right in. You're part of what they are.

[20:51] But, it does hate me. It does hate me, because I keep telling it, how wicked its ways are.

[21:08] And reproof, and rebuke, is never welcomed. It's usually denied, and fought, and justified, but never welcomed.

[21:20] I've yet to hear anyone say, oh, I'm so glad you pointed out to me my sin. Have you? 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 4, an oft-quoted passage, because it is one sorely needed for our day.

[21:38] If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, that's Satan, he is the God of this world, the God of this age, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[22:06] I want you to turn to the passage that was read earlier, if you would, please, in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, a very important statement that is very frequently overlooked, but it is one that Christians ought to memorize, because it gives us, at least in part, our marching orders.

[22:27] And in verse 11, the apostle Paul, and remember, he is speaking to a group of former pagans. These are unbelievers earlier, when he came to Ephesus and proclaimed the gospel, a number of these people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and were gloriously saved, and Paul is now writing back to them, and in the first couple of chapters, he reminds them of who and what they were before they embraced the gospel of Christ.

[23:02] And he is informing them, as he does other churches to whom he writes, now that you are in Christ, you are marching to a different drummer. You have a different standard, a different value system.

[23:13] Everything is changed, because you are in Christ. And what he is beckoning them to do, of course, is to live out what they are. And in Ephesians chapter 5, and verse 8, well, verse 7 is pretty good.

[23:33] So let's start with verse 5. 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.

[23:49] Let no one deceive you with empty words. Hey, they will try. Did you get that? Let no one deceive you with empty words.

[24:01] They're going to try to do that. They're going to try to convince you how unreasonable you are and how impractical you are. Don't fall for it. You've been warned.

[24:12] Here's your warning. Let no one deceive you with empty words. But because of these things, the wrath, that is not good. That is not good.

[24:24] Wrath is painful. Wrath is ire. Wrath is judgment. The wrath of God. Hey, the wrath of man is bad enough.

[24:41] Think of the wrath of God. Comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them.

[24:53] For you, you to whom I'm writing, he says, you Ephesians, you were formerly darkness. That's where you were coming from. That's what you were all about, spiritually.

[25:04] You were sold into this. You didn't know anything else. This was your whole world. You were formerly moral, spiritual darkness. Didn't have a clue. But now, you are light in the Lord.

[25:22] Walk in accordance with your new station. Be what you are. Not what you were. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

[25:39] Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Because there isn't anything else that matters. There isn't anything else that matters. To whatever extent you have to displease man, that's okay.

[25:52] As long as in the final analysis you're pleasing to the Lord. Because after all, he's the one whose opinion really matters. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

[26:05] And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. But instead, even expose them.

[26:18] Well, that can be hazardous to your health. How do you go about doing that? You know what most Christians do with that? In exposing them?

[26:29] We talk about how nasty and how terrible the world is to each other. That's where it starts and that's where it ends. But we don't confront those who are the problem.

[26:43] We commiserate with those who have already come out of the darkness into that light with a isn't it terrible what this world is coming to? I tell you if things get any worse blah blah blah and all we do is preach to the choir and the choir gives us a positive retort.

[27:02] They won't ridicule us they'll agree with us. But those who really need the message aren't getting it. And we justify it by saying well they wouldn't listen anyway.

[27:15] They don't want it anyway. in many cases that is completely true. But it is not our decision to assume who will and who won't.

[27:28] I remember reading an account years ago about a man who worked with a Jewish fellow just happened to be Jewish and he thought about sharing the gospel with him and then he thought better of it.

[27:39] Well I he wouldn't be interested. he's Jewish. It's almost tantamount to saying a Jew doesn't have a soul or a spirit.

[27:51] There's no way he could be interested. Everybody knows that Jews don't believe in Jesus. He wouldn't be interested. Why should I share the gospel with him? And this went on for a long long time because after all I might offend him.

[28:07] God forbid that I should offend him. Let him go to hell. But I don't want to offend him. And one day through a strange set of circumstances the man actually ended up communicating the gospel to a supposedly disinterested Jewish man.

[28:27] And he listened thoughtfully and intently and he asked him if he had anything in writing that he might take it home with him and look at it.

[28:38] And his response was well no really actually I don't I'm not prepared but I'll tell you what I'll see I think I've got some things at home if you would be interested I would I would yeah bring them in I'd like to see them and he brought them in and they were simple gospel tracks and they communicated the necessity for embracing Jesus Christ and his substitutionary work on the cross and after repeated and after repeated conversations with this man he came to the conclusion that this thing called the gospel of Christ was true after all and he embraced him as his savior and do you know what he ended up saying to his friend why didn't you tell me about this a long time ago and the response was well I wanted to but I just didn't think you'd be interested so what I'm telling you dear friends is this we do not have the right to make decisions for people and decide who would or who would not be interested our obligation is to just give forth the gospel and allow the spirit of God to do with it as he will and we are not responsible nor charged with the responsibility of converting anyone but we are solemnly charged with the responsibility of telling them and leave the converting to the spirit of God

[30:11] Christians are today under relentless attack expected to continue and increase why because we evangelical Christians represent a formidable barrier to the world's unbridled lust and perversion and we are seen as opponents that must be destroyed we impinge upon their so-called liberties the world sees the Christian community as an obstacle an impediment to their goals of complete abandonment to any and all moral standards this is where moral relativity always seeks to go the objective is whatever whatever no barriers no restrictions no nothing do as you please when you please with whom you please whatever you please and nobody has the right to sit in judgment on you that's their definition of liberty that's what they're striving for you're in the way you need to be marginalized you need to be effectively destroyed the liberal wing of

[31:43] Christendom presents no problem they even affirm and applaud sexual immorality by ordaining them to their pulpits they are looked upon as the compassionate ones who believe anyone should marry anyone they choose same sex different sex or whatever but it's those judgmental evangelical Christians who are the bigoted restrictive unloving and hateful of all who aren't like them they deserve to be neutralized and destroyed and we have clever public relations machines that can do it and they are right now winning or didn't you know that while we're in Ephesians I want you to come back to the book of

[32:47] Acts Acts chapter 28 last chapter the apostle Paul is speaking to the local Jewish constituency in the city of Rome he has invited them to join him in his hired villa he is a prisoner he is under house arrest he is chained to a Roman guard 24 7 and when they had appointed a day there is a group of local Jewish people living there in Rome who come to Paul's rented quarters for what turns out to be a day long Bible conference and we are told in Acts chapter 28 at the end of the day that

[33:48] Paul is solemnly explaining to them in verse 23 and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets from morning until evening and may I suggest they probably didn't have cushion pews or air conditioning and it was from morning until evening and some were being persuaded some were open some were accessible persuaded by the things spoken but others would not believe and you find out in just about every crowd and when they did not agree with one another they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word and I want you to hear what it was this is his final shot this is his final warning as they are ready to walk out the door many of them shaking their heads in unbelief

[34:53] I just don't buy this stuff Jesus being crucified for the sins I just can't believe it I don't believe it can't believe that God would have a son and send him to this earth to do for man what man could not no no no I just don't God becomes man are you kidding me that's crazy that can't happen God wouldn't do that and they were arguing with each other as they walked out the door and Paul says wait I have just one final thing I want to say to you all right Paul what is it the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers he's talking about your forefathers he's talking about you whose ancestors were alive from whom you came about 700 years ago and here's what Isaiah said to your great great great great great great however many great it was he said go to this people and say you will keep on hearing but will not understand and you will keep on seeing but will not perceive for the heart of this people has become dull and as

[36:14] I told you in time past this heart is not speaking of the blood pump in the middle of the chest it is the thinking reasoning apparatus from which logic stems it more properly corresponds to the mind not the blood pump of the heart the heart of this people has become dull thick fat fathead that's what he's saying people are a bunch of spiritual fatheads and with their ears they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn again and I should heal them and all this is saying is another way of expressing the truth we are all our own worst enemy and so were these

[37:18] Paul could not escape the reality that he was a debtor and he wrote to the Romans in chapter 1 and verse 14 and he said I am a debtor in other words I have an obligation to discharge there is a payment that I am responsible to make and this debt is to the Greeks and the barbarians to the wise and the unwise that is to the educated and the uneducated to the up and outers and the down and outers I owe my fellow human being whatever their station in life is I owe them a debt and what I owe them is the responsibility of giving them the truth and then Paul made this statement remarkable statement woe that's w o e woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel of

[38:35] Christ from whom would that woe be coming but becoming from the one who originated that gospel and I have no idea what that woe would consist of but the apostle very vividly placed himself under that and said I have an obligation to dispense and it is not up to me to decide whether or not I should dispense it that decision has already been made and it wasn't mine after all when I communicate the gospel I'm nothing more than one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread and I owe it to my fellow man who is dying from spiritual starvation to give him this gospel never mind he may reject it he may reject me he may want nothing to do with it never mind that's between him and the Lord because you see the seed has to be sown it's not going to grow if it hasn't been sown so keep that in mind

[39:41] Christians are called upon to discharge a debt that we owe to all who do not want us to pay that debt even though it is in their very own best interest for time and eternity the moral and spiritual blindness that causes them to hold their position and repudiate those who speak against it are merely confirming that they are who and what the Bible says they are and they are being only that which they are capable of being so as Christians the last thing we should expect is for non Christians to behave in a Christianly manner don't look for that from them don't expect them to live up to our standards and our morals we get them from the Bible and we say these are gods and they are for the benefit and blessing of mankind God doesn't want to rain on your parade and spoil your fun and keep you from enjoying life he wants to make sure you do and that's why these parameters are provided and that's why we are obligated to share them with others we cannot and do not expect those of the world to be and do anything other than what they are being and doing and apart from the forgiveness of our sin through

[41:06] Jesus Christ we evangelical believers are no better than they we are not somehow superior beings we are not better than thou the only thing that separates us from them is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that's it that's it so those who might tell you and sometimes Christians give this impression you need to trust Jesus as your savior because if you do then you will become as wonderful as I am well who wouldn't be that malarkey that's sometimes the impression people oh so you're saying I'm not good enough the way I am you're saying I'm not as good as you are that's the way they interpret this stuff and that's what we need to at least try to straighten out that's the whole basis for Christianity clarified in the 20 different volumes that are back there to simply try and counteract the misconceptions that the world has as to what

[42:10] Christianity is all about because they don't have a clue and the reason they don't is because they're spiritually blind I would venture to say if you went out in the public and took a poll you'd probably get nine out of ten people agreeing with this connecting with God going to heaven knowing that your sins are forgiven is part and parcel of people who have lived good enough lives here on this earth and if you live now you don't the wonderful thing is you don't have to live a perfect life because God kind of grades on the curve so you can have some sin in your life but not too much and not too bigger ones and if you live good enough and consistently enough and long enough and if you pray once in a while and if you give a little money to charity etc then

[43:15] God will reward your good life with heaven you will have earned it and that will be your reward that sounds so logical it sounds so reasonable and it is so deadly and so untrue and yet this is where people are coming why would anybody think that because listen this is the way life in general is you do good things there are good consequences that come from that the payoff is good you do bad things there are bad consequences therefore you want to heaven be good of course they can't begin to tell you how good good is and that was the basis of Andy Stanley's little book that we've distributed by the thousands called since nobody is perfect how good is good enough the goodness that God recognizes is a righteousness that is not based upon quantity it's based upon quality it isn't a question of how much righteousness you have it's a question of what kind of righteousness do you have do you have your righteousness and what you can manufacture or do you have the righteousness of

[44:45] Jesus Christ imputed to your account without you deserving any of it because that's the only righteousness that God will accept that righteousness comports with the righteousness and holiness of God and if you are in Christ you're in if you're not in Christ you're not how then can we do anything other than insist on the absolute exclusivity of Jesus Christ for your salvation Muhammad did not die for your sins neither did Buddha neither did anyone else only Jesus Christ him we proclaim him we insist men must come to in order to be acceptable to God this is a glorious message and yet it is a message difficult to communicate because the moment you do you come up against that stone wall that spiritual blindness provides for the unbeliever and it's very difficult for that to break down and this is why sometimes it takes repeated hearings this is why

[46:03] Paul said I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it it is the power of God through faith unto salvation to everyone who believes nothing else is that power so do we love people enough to tell them the truth even when they throw it back at you ridicule you call you judgmental and a whole host of other things how much do we really care if we care so little that we just dummy up then we become part of the problem rather than part of the solution I would love to take this message to Washington D.C.

[47:05] but there wouldn't be anybody there to hear I could probably arrange for an appointment and go into the House of Representatives and get some time alone some quality time with my favorite congressman Jim Jordan and preach it to him and he would be kind enough to sit there and take it and I'm sure that he would assent to it but he would also be but one voice out of 435 and then you add another 100 to that in our illustrious senate and you've got 535 and throw in two from the oval office the president and the vice president and that's what 537 and toss in for good measure the supreme court 546 these are the shakers and movers in our capital and they are from a human standpoint largely the reason for what happens in this country by way of legislation and laws good or bad and that's where we are so what would you like to ask or what do you have to add to this anyone we have a roving microphone okay right there in the back please i've been thinking about this while you were talking and wouldn't you agree that along with our obligation to inform others of the gospel of

[48:49] Jesus Christ and the truth there we also have an obligation to ourselves to become informed so that we can elect more evangelical Christian conservative people like we have there now but we just don't have enough that that thank you that is one of my great burdens and you know this is the whole basis for all the handouts that you get this is why we do this I read this stuff to myself and I say man grace people need to know this they need this information and you know something I am firmly convinced I know the Lord is in charge I know God is sovereign that does not remove us from our responsibilities at all God is sovereign and we are responsible but I read some really heartbreaking statistics from the last election it was I can't even remember who Romney

[49:50] Mitt Romney was running against Barack Obama and we are told that there were huge numbers and I guess the only way we know this is that people report on it they take polls and things and I'm not sure how accurate it is but we are told that there are huge huge numbers of evangelical Christians and professing Christians who didn't even bother to go vote because they didn't want to vote for a Mormon and you need to realize that when you don't vote for one party you give a vote to the other party is that too hard to understand when you don't cast a vote for one candidate in particular you give a vote to another candidate duh you get that it's amazing how that goes over the head and I have heard so many instances of Christians who don't bother to vote because they say things like well they're going to do what they want to do anyway doesn't make any difference whether

[50:55] I vote or not and you get enough people who feel like that you will put a different man in the Oval Office and he will put different people on the Supreme Court can you connect those dots is it that tough if I don't stop I'm going to get heated somebody else have a question up here in front Scott you need some roller blades they would really look cute with your shorts if you mentioned this early on I was daydreaming but you didn't say one word about all the people that are sitting in churches this morning that don't hear any kind of a message like that I thank God that I got connected with this church and the way you preach and there are many good churches but they just don't tell it like this

[52:06] I suppose you're right I don't know I don't visit other churches I visit the people that go to those churches all I can say is I don't know what else to say I know what I say here on Sunday and frankly this is why I guess I haven't stayed retired because I got this fire burning in my bones and like Jeremiah said I was weary with forbearing and could not keep it in give it out and the only thing I regret God bless you I love you everyone you're so receptive but I do get tired of just preaching to the choir you know and I know that's what I do a lot of and thank you for being the kind and gracious audience that you are and tolerating this octogenarian in his rants and diatribes somebody else with a if you have questions or comments we do want to attend to them in the back brother marv aren't you really supposed to preach to us so that we will be educated enough to go out and spread the message this is true this is true thank you for that comment this is precisely what

[53:31] Paul is addressing the Ephesians about when he says that he gave gifts pastors and teachers for the maturing and developing of the saints unto the ministry so who's supposed to do the ministry you are my job is to equip you so that you can do the ministry and your job is to take that with which you are equipped and spread it abroad so pastors and teachers are supposed to be primarily saint equipers but too many people who sit in the pews say well let the professionals handle it after all I might mess it up I'm not qualified I'm not gifted I can't talk to anybody I can't explain I can't explain their questions I can't answer them they have hard questions and so on and this is why we've got an apologetic class because we're trying to equip people but you'd be surprised how many good

[54:33] Christian people are so lazy they don't want to be equipped they just want to stay comfortable we're called to get out there and mix it up with the world anyone else before we dismiss Marvis unfortunately what I think tends to happen after a service like this and I think it's been a great one is that we go out and go to lunch and we say yeah he is he is exactly right that's what we need to do and come Monday morning we forget all about it I'm wondering if there's something some way as a group as a church is there something that some way that we can get together and come up with a strategy to at least help people be able to go out on

[55:34] Monday and spread this I know you've preached this for years other preachers have too but I've just seen it over and over and over we are all lazy people we all don't want to go out of our way or we're afraid what our co-worker will say or yeah or or or and when it comes to laziness preachers are not immune and sometimes we can be leaders of the pack it's so easy to sit back and say you know what somebody ought to why doesn't someone makes makes makes makes me feel like makes me feel like walking to Washington you think I'm kidding I'm not roving mic did I see another hand up here

[56:39] I guess the answer comes to my heart it's the word is vigilant remaining vigilant as much as we're vigilant in mowing our lawns as much we're vigilant in going to the movies as much as we're vigilant doing so many things that vigilance also means standing against the world every day because if you don't do it every day it's overwhelming us all and that vigilance helps us stand because you don't do it for a moment it's just like your lawn the weeds show up and they take over your lawn and before you know it just like where our country is today we all need to remain vigilant every single day and it's always an ongoing you just can't go well I'll do this today and not the next couple days you have to do it every day all because of Jesus thank you thank you well put I don't know which of our founding fathers it was but I'm sure it was the sentiments of all of them and that is the price for liberty is eternal vigilance you drop your guard the enemy will come in like a storm and all it takes is for one generation to drop the ball and it's lost and you've got to start rebuilding from ground up that's where we are now ground up because my generation

[58:01] I'm not old enough to belong to the greatest generation I'm sandwiched in between the greatest generation and the baby boomers but I sincerely feel that it was my generation my slice of the 20th century that fumbled the ball and I cannot help but wonder I've had this in my mind's eye for a long long time I even did some research on Arlington National Cemetery and I learned that there are 400,000 Americans buried there from many different wars 400,000 400,000 and I cannot help but believe that each of them put themselves at risk and some of them gave their life for their homeland for this country did they know or even suspect what that for which they gave their life would look like in 2015 makes you wonder whether they would still have been willing to pay that price if we could bring them back now and they could see what is happening in our cities the rampant drugs gang warfare killing our babies to the tune of 50 million plus same-sex marriage couples shacking up without any thought of marriage or commitment that goes with it would they still feel the same way and what they gave did I did I give my life in Iwo

[60:05] Jima give my life in France in Czechoslovakia for this really makes you wonder it really makes you wonder we have not maintained the stuff very well if there's one more comment or question we'll take it before we dismiss is there anyone in the back when I read the book the 5,000 year leap by that Leon Scossian or what his name was his main point with the founders what they said was we go by the laws of nature and of nature's God and then also another one I just read on the internet Martin Luther King when he was jailed said an unjust law is no law at all that's right that's right amen good note good note to end on thank you

[61:06] Roger would you stand please father we know that the information that you have provided in your word and the panacea that is there in the gospel is not only adequate in reality it's all we have and it is adequate there is nothing else that can confront sinful humanity apart from the graciousness and forgiveness that is lodged in that wonderful gospel that Christ died for our sins we know the world tends to repudiate the message doesn't want to hear it but we who love it and have embraced it know from experience it's the only thing that can possibly do the job so in season and out of season as Paul wrote to

[62:11] Timothy we are to preach the word and we thank you for the word that is there to be preached now what we really need is a backbone from the Holy Spirit to open our mouths and exclaim that glorious gospel without apology to everyone with whom we have a hearing and leave the results with you we bless you for providing it for us give us your grace to disseminate it we pray in Christ's name Amen