Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Judgment According to Truth Pt.1

Let's turn to the book of Romans this morning. We're going to be spending a little bit of time looking at what the Word of God has to say about what the condition of man is and what the condition of our society is going to be in the last days. Then we'll see what's being propagated among pseudo-Christian philosophers. We'll look at the 21st Century church's perception of the kingdom of God and contrast that with what the Scriptures say the kingdom of God really is. We know that the kingdom of God is not meat or drink; but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Yet there is a kingdom that is being built on meat and drink. It's a kingdom that's being built on the temporal, on momentary gratification, and on glitz and glamour. And truly--probably to as great a degree as it's ever been known in history--in Christian churches, we worship the creature more than the Creator. That's really what the true, basic sin of man is: the worship of self, the choosing of self. The tragic thing is that as Christians, when we choose self-will, we always support it with Scripture. The knowledge of Scripture that causes us to puff up, to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, to think that we are above others, to think that we are greater than we really are in our ability to stand ("Yes, that can affect others, but I'm free from that; I'm mature") finds itself in the same root of pride and self-will that brought down our father, Adam. It absolutely destroys all of the spiritual fiber of the body of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ, in the age in which we're living. Yet, all of the same words are being used. If you go and sit in on some of the seminars, the doctrines are being held to. We're hearers of the Word, but not doers, deceiving ourselves. We say, "Amen!" to the doctrine, but "Don't judge!" when the Word is applied to our doing; "Liberty!" when the Word is applied to our doing; "Legalism! Antinomian!" when anybody would speak and say, "Thus saith the Lord."

We want to study a little bit and find out that the Word is good and pure. The law is good; it's not death. The law is life, and it is alive in every one of us who's walking in the spirit. The man that's alive in the spirit takes no merit in the law but pleasure in the fulfilling of it. We're going to contrast Christendom in the 21st Century with what the Apostle Paul had to say about man in the book of Romans. I want to take just a moment to tell you what Paul said, and then I'm going to show you what some individuals like Robert Schuller or Rick Warren have to say. I understand many of you are reading The Purpose Driven Life. In a book such as this that seems to have so many Scriptures, you need to find out what he's quoting. He's quoting his own interpretation of the Bible and not even a translation. There are almost no biblical quotes, just interpretations of paraphrases. Let's find out what the Word of God has to say, and let God be true and every man a liar.

So let's take a moment and look at the first and second chapters of Romans; because if we're going to be safe in this last day, then we're going to have to understand who man is and where we are in our walk. Tragically, though, most of us would like to think that we are living in Romans chapter 8, how many of you realize that, in reality, you're vacillating through 6, 7 and 8? We claim chapter 8 because Jesus pronounced it upon us. Legally we are righteous, but literally we are progressively being sanctified and in hope of glorification. Sanctification is the process taking place in all our lives with the determinant counsel declaring our glorification if we stand. "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, ...and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:8). So, here we are--a people that are loving, seeking, and hoping for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're seeking things that are above, where Jesus is seated at Father's right hand. We're laying up treasures in heaven, where thieves cannot break in and moths and rust cannot corrupt. At the same time, every one of us is being seduced (by the powers of the kingdom of this world and the god of this world) back into the temporal, the profane and death. That's where we live on a daily basis, every one of us.

So, set before you and myself this morning is a choice: life or death. And on a daily basis, you choose one. The admonition was, "Choose life." It's your choice. God's done His part. Our parents have done their part. Our teachers have done their part. Choose life, but realize that within you abides death and the capacity to relinquish the free, eternal gift of the life of God that's been entrusted to you. In every one of us lies (either dormant, subdued, or being empowered) sin in our members. It's ready to take over and destroy you, for to be spiritually minded is life, but to be carnally minded is death. They that walk in the spirit will not be under the influence of the flesh. They that walk in the spirit will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

The thing that I want to talk about most for you and me in this fellowship is that so many of us (not knowingly) compare ourselves by ourselves. We compare ourselves by other Christians. We compare ourselves by the world. We compare ourselves by other generations of believers. We have only the right to compare ourselves with Jesus. He's our example; He's the One that we're being conformed to. So, the question we need to ask is not, "Am I doing better than everybody else?" but "Am I becoming more like Jesus or less like Jesus in my own personal pursuit?" It doesn't matter if you're 50 percent further down the road than I am. If you're going backward, you're dying. You may have 49 more grading points than I do, but you're dying and I'm pursuing, and I'm still alive. You can look down your nose at me, and see my immaturity, and see that I need to improve, and that I need to come to a greater Bible knowledge, and I need to maybe be a little more involved; but the fact is: I'm alive and you're dying. Where are you at this moment in the preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus? We find ourselves in that condition (having known Him and now finding ourselves in a position of dying and atrophying in our spiritual lives) because of what the utterance said this morning. We begin to trust in having partaken and not in the momentary daily bread. We trust in water that's in broken cisterns instead of the living water that's springing up out of our innermost beings as we're being refreshed momentarily in our hunger, pursuit, and an appetite as the hart pants for the brook. We've found other ways to refresh ourselves and to make ourselves content. And because no man is content without the presence of God, we've caused ourselves to become drunken, drugged with all of the momentary entertainment, pleasures and sins of this world. They are pleasurable for a season. They will intoxicate you for a season. They will sedate you for a season, but reality is going to come.

So, let's take a look and make sure that what we're hearing is the Spirit of God, that it is the Word of the Lord for us in this day. Then when others come to us with the Word of God, we'll receive it for what it is: the love of God and the proper use of the Word of God--to bring reproof, rebuke, doctrine, and instruction into righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto every good work. Do you despise the Word when people bring it to you for instruction? You love it when it comes to empowering yourself to justify a course you're on. You love the Word when it brings peace to your mind. You love the Word when it's something you can take merit in, as you're able to quote more than those that are around you. The Word is great when we're able to take its principles of truth and apply them for temporal gain. But what about the Word in the mouth of a brother or sister who loves us that smites us for our good? Do you judge the Word, or do you allow it to judge you? That's the question that Paul asks here in Romans, chapters 1 and 2. So, that gives you an idea of where we're going. Let's take some time to examine our own hearts and ask, "How do I respond to the truth? Do I know the truth? Which gospel is alive in me today? Is it the Americanized, 21^st-Century version that worships the creature, that's absolutely diluted with psychology and existential application? Or is it the pure, unadulterated, unwavering, straight, and narrow truth that sets us free?"

I want to get you to the text and to the title, and then we're going to go back and look a little bit into the context of this passage. Romans, chapter 2, verse 1, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest..." A lot of people would just love to stop right there, man! We are living in a day when the hallmark word of all relationships is "tolerance." We're to "tolerate all sin, but not tolerate those that take a stand for righteousness." The only thing that will not be tolerated in our day is a bold stand for truth. Let me tell you what Paul is saying by the Spirit here. "You are inexcusable, oh man, who judges assuming that your perspective is truth, assuming that you are higher than the truth." "For how dare you judge another guilty, and you do the same thing?" is what Paul goes on to say. "It's wrong when they do it, but it's acceptable for you to do it. You are inexcusable." In fact, the Scripture goes on to say that this type of relationship to the truth and to the Word will receive greater damnation. So, Paul speaking here says, "...for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." He's not talking about righteous judgment or bringing the truth. He's talking about putting yourself above the law, thinking that you are the exception. You're quick to judge others' actions (as we've shared many times), but you judge yourself by your intentions. Paul goes on in this and says, "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile."

Paul takes this little bit of time and talks about the fact that there's going to be a judgment according to the truth, a judgment that comes according to the truth. So, here we are as a people, and we have to ask, "What is truth?" We know the answer to that: Thy Word is truth. But we have to be careful, because we can take the Word and twist it, and that's one of the accusations by the world against us Christians. Therefore (as we've shared in the past), there's a proper way to interpret the Word of God. Now tragically, most of us interpret the Word of God based upon our own desires. We can make the Word say whatever we want it to say based upon what we want to do at this moment. We call that "proof-texting." We'll find a passage to substantiate the course that we're on. It doesn't matter what the context of that passage might be. We just pull out a proof text, some verse that might relate to this situation and would seem to imply that the course that I'm on is correct. But we know that if we're ever going to understand the Word of God properly, it must be perceived as a unit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. The Bible never contradicts itself. If you have a proof text, and somebody else brings up a proof text that contradicts your proof text, then what do you have to do? We have to put both proof texts back into context so that we can employ proper biblical exegesis (that word just means "to draw out truth"). The first question you ask when you're studying the Bible is, "Who is the speaker talking to?" "Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears!" Paul is talking to the Romans. He's talking to a pagan culture. He's talking to a subculture within the pagan culture, the church of Jesus Christ. He's addressing particular problems in their day and in their age. Now, sin doesn't change. The circumstances of man do not change based upon culture. Application may change, but the principles don't change. So, when we begin to understand that, we ask, "Who was he writing to? Why would he be saying this to them at this moment?"

The mistake we make many times is saying, "Well, our culture is different; therefore, our circumstances are different." No. Every one of those pagan Romans are the descendants of Adam. So, we always have to go back to the primary common denominator: man is a sinner. Man is depraved. Man is self-seeking. Man is stubborn. Man is prideful. Man is a rebel against God. The unregenerate man cannot and will not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Now, what am I saying? When you have to sit down and argue with somebody who professes to be a Christian, and you present to him clear biblical principles, and he says, "I don't understand; I can't see that," you are dealing with an unregenerate person. Many who profess to be believers need to be recognized, not by their profession of the lordship of Jesus, but by their submission to the truth of His Word. For God and His Word are one. Jesus cannot be Lord and you not respond to His Word. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments, and they will not be grievous unto you. Don't call Me Lord and not do the things that I've told you to do." It's just another way of saying what's been said so many times for years and years: people want to have Jesus as Savior and not have Him as Lord. You can't.

I'm getting ready to go and do a funeral next weekend. I almost never do these kind of things, and you all are aware of that. I got a call yesterday, and I was asked to come and do the funeral for Chip Miller. Chip Miller was the founder of "Corvettes at Carlisle" and all of the Carlisle events. He was "Mr. Corvette," a multi-millionaire. When his family called and asked, my first inclination was to say, "No." They said, "Chip had so many friends," and they were saying that there would be a thousand to fifteen hundred people there. And I'm thinking, "What an opportunity to share the gospel! In our day, among all of these worshippers of plastic idols [Corvettes are made out of fiberglass], I have this opportunity!" I'm thankful that all of the eulogies are going to be delivered by somebody else. I'm just going to share the Word (praise God!), and step back, and hope we can get out alive! What a sad day we're living in, when in the eyes of many of them, they would think they were Christians!

What makes a Christian? Now, that seems to be a very basic question to ask among a group like ourselves who pride ourselves as Bereans. But what are we living? What do we do when the pressure's on? How do we make the decisions of our lives when the pressure's on? And when I talk about the pressures, I mean when truth and your desire are two separate things. Which is predominately subordinated in your daily life? That's what we're going to look at in Romans 6 as we go on.

But let me go back and hit a couple of other passages. Just before I do, let me read a couple of things to you out of this magazine [Dave Hunt's newsletter, The Berean Call, February 2004] that I think are pertinent to the day we're living in. You may not watch "The Hour of Power" (what a joke that is!), Robert Schuller's television broadcast, but 20 million other people do every week. You may not be a follower of Rick Warren, but 100,000 pastors (not lay people) are, as they try to emulate the mingled seed of psycho-babble and biblical excerpts to bring man into a better perspective of himself and to enable him to deal with life and advance in self-image. What about eternity? What about the conformity to the image of Christ? Let me just read a couple of excerpts to show you the two different brands of Christianity. And the fact of the matter is, we're way outnumbered, folks! There are a whole lot of "Christians" with degrees, and power, and prestige, and position, and recognition of the world who believe this rather than what you believe. So, you've got to understand where you are in relationship. Let me just read a couple of excerpts. "...Robert Schuller (whose Hour of Power reaches 20 million viewers weekly) declares [this is on the Larry King Show], "We have to find God in our own way." Any heathen could have made that statement! How does that relate to Jesus saying, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"? Does that kind of narrow things down? Krishna's out. Buddha's out. Mohammed's out. Larry King's out. Robert Schuller's out. When you make those kinds of statements, you're not showing "love and toleration" in this day. "Who are you to judge?" "I'm not judging. That's where we make the mistake. I'm not judging; I'm saying what Jesus said. Who are you to judge the Word of God? I'm not judging the Word; I'm quoting the Word. I'm not judging you. I'm quoting the Word. You're judging the Word by saying I'm judging you." Do you see how it works?

Now, watch as he goes on. There are a couple of interesting things that are said. "Rewriting the Bible, Schuller turns God's solemn warning, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me,' into Believe in the God Who Believes in You (Thomas Nelson Publishers)." Well, that could be Mom; because, frankly, for most of us, that's about where it is. In Philippians, Paul's talking about having no confidence in the flesh. And yet, God has confidence and believes in man? It's the basic sin problem of, "I will ascend above the Most High God." There are some sad things that are stated here. The Bible says that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (Thank God for that!) Schuller takes another approach to that. He says, "'...attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition' is an 'unchristian strategy' which is 'destructive [and] counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise...' (Christianity Today, 10/5/84)!" Here's what's most tragic of all. He said that "'Christ was not drawing a profound moral compass in the Sermon on the Mount; he was just giving us a set of "be (happy) attitudes"...' (No Place for Truth, p. 175)." (Don't worry; be happy!) His statement is [listen], "'In the Crystal Cathedral, therefore, let the word sin be banished.'" I'm not here just to hammer on Robert Schuller. But the point that I'm making is this. He's the self-proclaimed church-growth guru of America. He's the one that Warren and all these other guys have tried to emulate.

This is what the prophet declared when he said, "The people will say unto them, Prophesy unto us smooth sayings." "Tell us what we want to hear. Tell us how good we are. We don't need to hear about sin. Don't you understand that man is so beat down, and he just needs to be told how good he is, and our self-esteem needs to be built?" Self-esteem? Paul says, "In me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing." He says that the natural mind is enmity with God and to be carnally minded is death. We're told in 1 Corinthians that to the natural mind, the truth is foolishness. Man stands and calls God and His Word foolish, and we're to build his esteem? "But man is living under such a guilt!" It's because he's guilty!

Go to John for just a second. (Keep your finger here in Romans.) We have to find out what's going on here. Has anybody ever heard of John 3:16? The whole world knows about John 3:16. If you go to football games, you know about John 3:16! Kick a field goal, and there's John 3:16 up in the bleachers! How come nobody has John 3:17? "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." And then look at John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not [say it with me] is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (emphasis added). We need to emphasize verses 17 and 18 more than 16. Verse 16 has been so abused, misused, and perverted in the self-esteem approach--sin having been banished, not only from the Crystal Cathedral, but from most churches.

Now every man sees himself as a victim. We live in a victimized society. "It's not me; I'm a victim. It's somebody else's problem. The devil made me do it!" Well, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Now, you and I will sit here and doctrinally say, "I don't believe that." You cannot live in this day that we're living in and not be vexed by that thought process. I didn't say you were overcome, but I said that on a daily basis you are having to war against that. You are being vexed. What are you doing to protect yourself from those fiery darts of vexation of the self-esteem gospel, of the victimized mentality of life? The moment you see yourself as a victim, you mark God as the offender. I am not a victim. I am a beneficiary of the throne of God, the household of faith, and sonship! Many of us see ourselves as poor victims that can't go play in the world, can't live like the world, and can't talk like the world. We can't drive what the world drives. We can't live where the world lives. We're so victimized.

The whole issue is this, tragically (chapter 1, verse 21), "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful..." This is the passage that I want to emphasize in these next couple of sessions. Those of us who know God, are we going to glorify Him as God through our obedience? Are we going to glorify Him as God by wanting to become more godly? Or do we want to see how we can stay in relationship with Him, and become more worldly, and still be tolerated? Let me ask you the question. How thankful are you for what you have right now and for what God has done in your life? Or are you a victim because you don't have what other people have? "How come I'm only making this much a month? How come I'm always sick? How come I am not as popular as that person?" How thankful are you (having known God and knowing what you deserve) for what God has given you?

Oh, beloved, what we need to do is search our hearts and not say, "What is it I don't have?" but "Look at what God's given me! I was lost, and now I'm found. I was bound by fear, and now I know the love of God that casts out fear. I'm accepted in the beloved. I was destined for a devil's hell, and now I'm destined for the throne of God. So what if I have a little bit of suffering, and pain, and rejection in this world? This life is as a vapor; it's passing away, praise God! But we're coming into a place where ten thousand years will be just like a moment!" Do you believe that? "Amen!" Are you living like that? Do you really believe that at any moment that trumpet of God is going to sound? How bummed out would you be right now if you knew that trumpet was going to sound in 15 seconds? And where is that Blessed Hope that creates in us a peace, and a joy, and a desire to pursue the eternal, the unseen and not the seen? I wonder how vexed we really are. I wonder how much this world has really gotten into our thinking, into our consciousness.

We could get off on a lot of specifics, and I think we are. We're going to talk a little bit about judgment and disputable matters again. It's been a long time since we've talked about those. And tragically, I think a lot of people have taken some of the teaching on disputable matters and have changed liberty into lasciviousness and are using liberty as an occasion to the flesh. And it's not always in an action. It can be in thought processes. It can be in the way we relate to people. It can be in the way that we just excuse ourselves from involvement in ministry. It doesn't have to be just what you're running around doing, playing, wearing, and watching. It's an attitude of heart. But the bottom line comes down to what Paul is saying is the natural tendency. We're going to spend some time looking at what the carnal mind is, and we're going to contrast the carnal mind with secularism. Everything that is secular is not necessarily evil. There are secular things that can be amoral, and we want to take a look at those. But the carnal mind (which is the motive and the spirit behind what we do) is enmity with God. In other words, two people can do the same things, and one be guilty and the other one not. Two people can be in the same geographical location, and one be guilty and one not. Two people can be wearing the same clothes, and one be guilty and one not. What's the heart motive in each one of us? Why are we doing what we're doing? "Well, because I have liberty." Okay; that's fine. But why are you doing what you're doing? Because everything we do, we're to do for the glory of God. Even the temporal, secular things that we're involved in must be for the glory of God. The event or the item may be secular, but we are holy. We are spiritual. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. We're in the world; we're not of it, but we're in it. Those are all of the things that contribute to the ability to judge our own hearts according to Romans 1 and 2 and to make proper judgment.

The emphasis of this teaching is not to prepare you to judge others. We're going to spend time so that you can judge yourself; because Jesus said that until you've judged yourself and pulled the beam out of your eye, you're in no shape to judge anybody else anyway.

Paul starts this whole thing off in Romans 1, verse 16, and he says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel." I read some of these statements by Robert Schuller and some of these other people, and the fact of the matter is, they're ashamed of the gospel. They're afraid that this gospel will offend somebody. They are protecting man from the harshness of God and the starkness of truth. "Poor little man! I will protect him from this ogre, this monstrous God who scars his self-image. You can't just go tell people they're sinners. They'll reject Jesus." They've already rejected Him! "You can't tell people they need to repent. They need to be renewed." The renewing takes place after the repentance! It's all backwards, beloved, and we're living in a day when the power of the gospel--what is the gospel? You can read it in 1 Corinthians 15. It's on the back of our trailer. "Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and raised again the third day according to the Scriptures." This is the key. A lot of people will let Jesus die. "Ooh, Jesus died for our sins!" That's not what it's all about. It's not just the sacrificial atonement. He was raised victoriously according to the Scriptures, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and you are still in your sin. But if He's raised, one thing beyond all others has been established. I don't care whatever religion it is, if you can go out and face any other religion and get them to say, "Jesus Christ is raised from the dead," guess what that makes Him? He's now Lord. The rest of them are all dead. If Jesus Christ is raised, then He is Who He said He was: God. And what He said is true, "There are no other Gods, and I am the way, the truth, and the life." The issue's settled. It's all over that. Now what is it in your life and my life that indicates Jesus Christ is raised from the dead? Our obedience to Him and the love we have for one another.

Now, in the context, that love we have for one another isn't just, "[Pat, pat, and hug] Here, let me bake you a cake; let me wipe your nose." It's the absolute obsession with and the commitment to doing whatever it takes to get you to heaven. "I will die to myself. I'll die to my ease and my comfort zone. I am going to do whatever it takes to get you to heaven. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm taking you to heaven even if you're kicking and screaming! The only way you can stop me from me dragging you into heaven is for you to just get away, but I'm not going to turn loose. God said He'd never leave us nor forsake us, and no man can pluck us out of His hand. How committed are you to getting those people around you to heaven? Are you as committed to finding out who you really are as with experimenting with life and being able to enjoy the pleasures and your liberties? Where are you living? The true manifestation of love is preferring others better than ourselves. You're not preoccupied with yourself. "How can I get them to heaven? What can I do to reach the lost? What can I do to bring sanctification to those that are around me?" Do you know what the first thing is? It's for me to be more like Jesus. The first thing I can do is to become the best believer that I can, to start on me. But in our culture, it's all about individual rights and liberties. We're a vexed people. So, we constantly try to bring exposure to this.

Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). The true gospel (as we saw in John 3:17 and 18) reveals the state of man. Man is condemned already. The fact that you reject Jesus doesn't make you condemned. You're condemned already. You were born into sin. Humanity is condemned, guilty. "Rejecting Jesus will send you to hell." No; being born will send you to hell! Being born again will get you out, and it's as simple as that. That's why Paul speaks of the gospel and says that it comes from faith to faith, that the just may live by faith. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (verse 18). That's why we're under greater condemnation--those of us who know the truth and don't do it, those of us who use our liberties as occasions, those of us who offend our brothers with meat. And we'll deal with all of those different aspects, as we've shared with you before. The fact that you're offended by everything doesn't mean the whole world has to conform to your ideologies. So, we're going to talk about personal conscience and what it truly means to offend somebody. We're offended cross-culturally; we're offended across the socio-economic lines, and all of these different things. People are offended by cultural, racial, and socio-economic differences. And really, the socio-economic are probably the clearest lines in our society--the haves, and the have-nots, and the prejudices that work both ways.

I like what Paul says here by the Spirit. He says that God's wrath is going to come upon those who hold the truth in unrighteousness, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them." Then he talks about the invisible things, etc., and he says, "...so that they [and this is what we have to work off of, beloved; verse 20, look at it. I don't care if it's the man in the deepest jungles of Brazil, if there's still some Aborigine hiding under a rock that the crocodile guy hasn't found. Man in toto] are without excuse." The condition of mankind is this: man is guilty, and man is without excuse. And yet, the message of today is: man is really not guilty, and he's a victim. "He didn't do anything. It's not fair. God's not just. Why should a guy be a sinner just because he's born? They don't have the privileges of Americans." We make excuse, after excuse, after excuse, and God says, "Man is without excuse." So, you're going to have to believe whoever you want to believe. Man is guilty. Man is without excuse.

Now, here's the deal. God says that He has revealed Himself to every man, and every man has come to a knowledge--not a saving knowledge, but every man has come to a knowledge of God. And because they recognized Him not as God, because they were not thankful, not receptive to this free gift, to God's method of redemption and reconciliation, they became vain, the Scripture says, in their own imaginations and their foolish hearts became even darker. And in their darkness (verse 22), they professed themselves to be wise, and then there's only one thing left. Look at verse 23. "And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man..."

That's what these guys like Schuller and the others are doing. They're worshipping the creature more than the Creator. We are deifying man and vilifying God. We are deifying man and vilifying anybody who's intolerant and who wants to bring judgment, responsibility, and discipline to a man's life. "Men should be able to find God in any way we want, in our own way. We can find God through totems, and chanting, and Christian Science. We can say about Jesus just pretty much whatever we want." I think that it was in this little booklet. Let me check here real quick. Yes, here it is. "Jesus asked the question in Matthew 16, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?' Mary Baker Eddy says, 'You must first recognize that Jesus Christ is not God.' Yasser Arafat says, 'Jesus was the first Palestinian who carried a sword.' Benny Hinn says, 'Don't tell me you have Jesus. You are Jesus. You are everything He is and ever shall be.' Mahatma Ghandi said, 'I cannot say that Jesus is uniquely divine, but he was as much divine as Krishna, and Ramah, and Mohammed.' Mik-hail Gorbachev said, 'Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.' Robert Schuller said, 'Jesus was on an ego trip. He said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me.' Whoa! What an ego trip that is!' Fred Price said, 'I'm just like Jesus. That's why I drive a Rolls Royce.' Louis Farrakhan said, 'You don't have to look anywhere for your Jesus. I represent Him. Who is Jesus? Who is Elijah? Jesus and Elijah are one in the same. I am that Elijah who was to come and now is.'" And I won't even bother with what Creflo Dollar had to say. Who do you say He is? It's not our words. What do you do when His lordship gets in the way of your self-will? That's who He is to you.

Father, we thank You this morning for the Word of God. As we take this time to study and to look at the condition of man and how we are being inundated with "man the victim, man in need of self-fulfillment, and man deserving ease and comfort," the real question we have to ask ourselves is: having come to the knowledge of You, are we thankful? Are we thankful for who You have made us, where You have placed us, and the knowledge of Yourself? Or are we in danger of changing the glory of the incorruptible God into what we imagine You to be, what we demand You to be, or what we will accept You to be, based upon our own desires? For You've said that every man that knows You and refuses to retain You in their knowledge, every man that chooses His wisdom above Your Word, every man that chooses his lust over Your righteousness and habitually does so will receive a reprobate mind and be filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness and covetousness. It will take us over if we give place to it. It will become our nature again if we embrace it. If we exalt it and seek it, it will become our treasure, and it will become our death. We ask, Father, that we would flee from foolish, childish lusts into a pursuit of Your holiness and Your righteousness. We don't ask You to change our lifestyle. We ask You to change our appetites and make us hungry for You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays for us, we'll take a moment and survey our lives in this hour of danger. We live, beloved, in Sodom. We live in Sodom. We live in Rome. We live in Athens. We live in Bethsaida. It'll be more tolerable for Sodom than for those that have seen His power and glory and choose to reject Him. Having tasted Him, does something else now satisfy you? Are you no longer thankful? You say, "It couldn't happen to me; it won't happen to me." None of us are immune. As we sing this, just ask Him to show you your heart. Don't worry about anybody else. Let's sing it together. "Show me Your face, Lord..."

That's all we need, beloved, just a glimpse of Him.

Oh Lord, that You would draw us to Yourself--a visitation by Your Spirit through Your Word, that intuitive voice within our hearts. Draw us to Yourself. Save us from ourselves. Help us to approach Your Word for direction and wisdom, and not confirmation and justification, but to be lovers of the truth and haters of self-confidence and vainglory. Help us to be agents of Your worship, and Your praise, and Your exaltation. Let us boast in the Lord and glory in Your works. Let Your creation worship You and praise You. Let us flee the foolish, youthful lusts of the flesh, that You might be gloried, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "Walk in the spirit, and you'll not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

Back to Top | Audio   |   Purchase Audio   |   Bible Teachings   |   Print