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Bro. Dave Huber II
I was helping with the food in there and trying to
go as fast as I could so as not to lose track of time.
Pretty much unsuccessful.
Yeah, we were having fun.
Time was flying.
Okay, so it's been a minute since I've done Sunday school, but
I've been really enjoying Ben's Sunday school lessons.
And I think what you're going to see, you know, some of what Ben was
talking about in Sunday school is the reaction of man when God says,
you hadn't loved me, right?
Wherewith have we not loved you, that kind of stuff.
And what we're going to see here is
an even more egregious type
rebellion that David's going to talk about.
And so we will be in Psalm chapter 14, we've been going through the
Psalms.
And what's interesting about this Psalm, lots of stuff that's interesting about it, but
one of the things that I find particularly interesting is that most of the Psalms that
we've gone through have been almost like a little journey or a
transformation process that we see David going from a low point to a high point, right?
And this particular Psalm, it doesn't really get to a high point.
There's hope in this Psalm, but it remains low.
And what's interesting about it is that when you think about the Psalms and the songs and things that
we sing at church, we often think about the fact that, you know, we often think about like
joyous songs, right?
Like every hymn we sing pretty much is a joyous hymn.
It's something that's exciting.
It's something that's like, I'll fly away, oh glory, right?
That kind of stuff.
Like it's going to be fun, right?
It's the happy side of our walk with Jesus.
This is kind of a darker side.
And it's really interesting that it's that because it is still a Psalm, right?
And it doesn't have that transformation as much.
It's more of like a crying out to the Lord about a problem.
And it just kind of stay in there a little bit.
There's hope in it because obviously there's crying out to the Lord.
So there's always hope when you do that.
But if you'll just turn there to Psalm chapter 14 with me, we're going to kind of, in a way, knock out
two Psalms at once today.
And the reason why I say that, well, here, I'll just show you, okay?
So I'm going to read through this real quickly.
To the chief musician, a Psalm of David.
Let me just finish up a thought here.
This is a song that is to be sung publicly.
It's for the chief musician.
And yet it's kind of a sad song.
It's more like talking to the Lord about the problems.
And yet it's to be sung in a public manner.
So that's kind of interesting because that's not typically what we do when we sing songs in church, for instance, right?
But watch how we're going to knock out two Psalms at once.
So Psalm chapter 14, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.
They are corrupt.
They have done abominable works.
There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek
God.
They are all gone aside.
They are altogether become filthy.
No, not one.
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord?
There were they in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous.
He have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion.
When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be
glad.
See what I mean?
There's a little bit of an element of hope there, right?
But it's talking a bunch about the problem.
So that's Psalm chapter 14.
Now turn to Psalm chapter 53 for me real quick.
Give you a moment just to get there.
Now, let's read Psalm chapter 53.
If my computer will pull it up here.
I'm going to have to start bringing a good old -fashioned printed Bible with me in case the Internet goes slow.
And it is truly being very slow.
So if somebody's already there.
Psalm 53.
The whole...
Yeah, read the whole thing real fast.
The fool upset in his heart.
There is no God.
Corrupt are they and have done abominable iniquity.
God looketh down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and did seek God.
Every one of them has gone back.
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge to eat up my people as they eat bread?
They have not called upon God.
There were they in great fear where no fear was.
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee.
Thou hast put them to shame because God hath despised them.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion.
When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.
It's almost word for word, copy -paste to Psalm chapter 14.
So that's how I say we're going to kind of, in a way, knock out two Psalms at once.
But also not really, because, Lord willing, we actually get to Psalm chapter 53 in this
chapter -by -chapter study.
We're going to go through it again, and we're going to start pointing out some of the differences.
There are very few.
The overarching idea is the same, but I think we can get a lot more out of it when we come back and do
chapter 53.
But it's like a preview.
We're getting a prequel to the Psalm chapter 53.
What's interesting is that's twice that we see essentially the same message in the Psalms.
But then in Romans, I had the reference.
I can't remember it.
In Romans, Paul actually referenced this as well.
So it's in the Bible three times.
Pretty cool.
So let's go through Psalm chapter 14 today and see what we can glean from it.
And then we get to Psalm chapter 53 in the future.
We'll try to come back and see some of our notes from today.
Okay, so to the chief musician of Psalm of David, the fool had said in his heart, there is no God.
First, like I said, this is for public discord, right?
Like people are going to they're going to sing this in a church or in
God's people as a congregation will sing this.
Interesting that they start singing what the fool says.
I think it's important for us to remind ourselves what is foolish and what is wise.
And that's what this song starts off with is the fool.
The fool.
The word for fool means is nabal, which means a senseless, stupid, wicked, vile person.
Some would consider him stubborn, prideful.
To say such a thing like, you know, there is no God.
This is a stubborn, prideful person.
I prefer cowardice because man is created nearly perfect with
everything he needs.
He lacks only one thing and desires it to the point of disobeying his loving
creator and breaking that bond to pursue the vanity that is in his heart.
He's ever seeking.
He's never satisfied.
His search continues for that which he lacks, but can never fulfill.
Sin is now his life's mission.
Now, then you have the blessed God who comes down teaching his death shall bring peace to the despairing creature.
Chuck Missler points out it's really interesting in Genesis.
If you if you go through the names of the people, starting with Adam, going through the line of Seth
all the way down to Noah, their names actually mean that practically that exact sentence.
So there's the gospel message right there in the names of the people is really cool.
With a perfect trifecta of loving sacrifice, this creator gives all that he
has to save his prodigal son to save his children.
Right.
But the creature refuses help.
He rails against it to accept salvation.
He'd have to forsake his pursuit of sin.
This is a nonstarter.
I'm not giving up what I'm pursuing.
I broke fellowship with you in the first so that I could go after that.
It's pretty bad.
So he rejects the good news.
But there's a problem.
Problem is the wages of sin is death.
And that's a pretty high price when you agree.
So how can such a vile creature avoid this debt?
He will attempt to eliminate the creator, the creditor.
I'm in this debt.
I have to eliminate the creditor.
If there is no God, there's no creditor and man is no debtor.
So rather than face the potential for consequences of his sin, man will pretend that
there is no judge.
And that's what he says.
There is none that do with good.
Notice how it switches to they.
The fool has said in his heart.
And then it switches today, which sometimes will refer to a singular person as
they once in a while.
But then we see here that it's talking about more than one person.
So this really egregious lie that there is no God.
When it's propagated,
vile corruptions spread throughout the fellow man.
So if I say there is no God and someone else believes me, what does that mean for them?
I can do anything I want.
So they are corrupt.
So this this lie that God doesn't exist.
When propagated, actually propagates a motivation to do more sin in other people.
On another note, you don't have to propagate the lie directly.
Sometimes it can be said without actually saying it.
So Satan propagates the lie that there are many guys.
Oh, Winston, it is a terrible lie.
We hate this lie.
It's terrible.
So Satan propagates the lie that there are many gods.
That sounds like it's opposite of there is no God.
But it's not really opposite.
Because if this were true, there would be many supreme beings.
And if there is more than one, there really isn't one at all.
Can't have more than one supreme being.
Because if there are two, neither one of them are supreme.
It's like I've referenced this movie quote before.
But in The Incredibles, the bad guy is Syndrome.
And his goal is to make everyone super.
Because if everyone is, then nobody is.
The whole point is that we're going to make the idea of someone super not so
special.
And that's what Satan seeks to do with the lie that there are many gods.
Well, if there are many gods, then what's so great about the one true God?
The whole point of it is to say that there is no God.
So when we say, if we say with our lips that we should accept
multiple gods, then what we're really saying in our heart, like the fool, is that there is no God at all.
And there are many foolish people in this world who continually work with their hands the
manifestation of the lie that's in their heart.
They start to sin more and more because there's no judge.
There's no creditor.
So I have no debt.
I'm free and clear to do whatever I so desire.
I want you to pretend for a moment that you have a T -shirt.
You might not have to pretend.
Who in here has a T -shirt?
Everybody have a T -shirt?
Okay.
But it's a T -shirt that when you saw it at the store, looked pretty great.
When you got home and put it on, made you look like you
were 80 pounds overweight.
All of a sudden, how do you feel about that T -shirt now?
You hate it, right?
Like, I don't want this T -shirt.
I don't like this T -shirt.
But what would you do with it then?
If you got it home and you're like, this is terrible.
You get rid of it, right?
You wouldn't want it anymore.
But what if there was an expectation for you to keep it?
Might you keep it and just not do anything with it?
Maybe, right?
Pay it no attention because it's just worthless to you.
You're not going to keep that shirt, right?
Imagine something happened to the shirt.
Got a rip in it.
Something spoiled it.
It's stained or it's soiled, right?
Now what are you going to do with it?
Get rid of it, right?
Even if there was an expectation now, no one in their right mind would expect you to keep the shirt.
Am I right?
So now it's like, get rid of it, right?
I want you to imagine for a second.
People, how many of them do it good?
None, right?
Nobody makes the cut.
Everybody falls short.
Romans 3 .23, for all have sinned and all in short of the glory of God.
So not only does God look at the entire race of humans to find them all looking the same,
there is none that actively do good.
If any man knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin, right?
So there's like this idea of passive sin.
They do abominable works.
That's like an active sinning.
Then you have this passive sinning where they won't do good.
They actively do bad and they won't do good.
Can you do anything without thinking about it?
Is there anything that you can kind of do without?
It's just kind of natural to you?
That's how we are with sin.
Man is that way in his natural state until he's regenerated by God.
It is so easy for him to do sin.
It's passive.
Doesn't even have to try.
Just automatically does it.
But not only does he not have to try to sin, he still does try to sin.
It is an active sin and a passive sin.
So God looks at this entire race of humans or t -shirts, if you will.
None of them do good.
They're terrible from the start.
Even if there were an expectation for God to keep them, that expectation is certainly
from a logical standpoint out the window because they are corrupt.
The word corrupt literally means ruined, spoiled, decaying.
When does the human body decay?
Once it's dead, right?
So which would you say is worse?
Death?
Which is worse, death or decaying?
Decaying is a step beyond death.
Think about that.
Like death is the start of decaying.
So when it says that they are corrupt, they are already at the point of decaying.
What do you do with food that is decaying?
Throw it out.
I mean, how much do you try to save of that food that is decaying?
None of it.
You should see Katie.
If there is even the thought that maybe it could be bad, she might not even check.
She'll just say, like, this has been in here long enough.
It's got to be bad.
I'm the type who will be like, well, let me smell it and see if it's any good.
Like is it still good?
Like she's not going to take any chances.
She threw away a package of crackers or something.
It had never been opened, but it had been in there a long time.
I'm like, yeah, but it's still sealed.
There's a chance.
She's like, uh -uh.
It's been too long.
Trash.
Like when something is beyond dead, when something,
if there's even a hint that it could be dead, we will all just naturally assume, of course you get rid of it.
It's useless.
It's nothing.
It's beyond useless.
It's actually going to cause harm if we keep it.
So let's get rid of it.
And let's get rid of it fast.
That is the state of man prior to be regenerated by God.
It says they are corrupt.
And there is none that do with good.
And it's so bad that when we kind of just put it in that context and we
think about it, if we relate it to food or a terrible T -shirt, right?
Logically, we all go, yeah, that should be thrown out.
And we couldn't really fault God for it, could we?
Because it's just useless.
It's harmful.
Let's get rid of it.
And yet, because we are the T -shirt, because we are the spoiled food, we are the
decaying, the ruined, the unregenerate before God, right?
We are like a worker in a sanitation factory or something, somebody who's around terrible smells.
And because they are around them so much, they kind of get where they can't smell them anymore.
So to us, we don't realize just how bad it is.
It takes some time, and it takes God kind of opening our eyes to see just how bad we
really were before him.
And so that is the state of man.
Imagine that T -shirt or that spoiled food which you despise,
causes you to gag.
It is loathsome to you.
Imagine having the capability to go, I'm going to
not throw it away.
I'm going to fix some of it.
I'm going to take that one and that one and that one and this one and that one.
And even though it's despicable and loathsome and disgusting,
and anyone in their right mind would just throw it out and do nothing with it, I'm going to love it.
I'm going to fix it.
I'm going to bring it back.
I'm going to heal it.
I'm going to make it work.
I'm going to cause it to be profitable,
to be something that people admire.
Whoa.
That takes something that none of us have.
You think about it.
None of us.
Only God could go, let's do that.
And then we despise him for that, don't we?
You should have chosen all of it.
You should have saved all of it.
Really?
No.
No, no, no.
I have a story I was going to share, and I kind of skipped over it.
I'll make it fast.
I have a friend, had a friend back in high school that we didn't hang
out a whole lot.
He was from a different town.
He came because he knew our youth pastor.
Our youth pastor had come from their town.
He came to our town and was doing youth ministry work, and he'd come and visit every once in a while.
His name was Aaron, and he was blind, almost completely blind.
He could kind of see stuff right here, and that was it.
But he and I went to the Hastings.
Y 'all remember that store, Hastings?
Where you could go and get movies and CDs and stuff like that.
Man, I miss that store.
It was one of the coolest stores ever.
And we picked up a whole bunch of worship CDs.
And the car I was driving at the time didn't have a CD player, but I had one of those cassette things that you could put the CD
Walkman, you could put the CD in there and then put the cassette into the cassette player and then play it through the stereo.
Man, we got in that car, and we were jamming to some Wow Worship.
Remember those?
Jamming to some Wow Worship.
He opens up one of his CDs, and he's holding it up like this because he can kind of read if he got it this close.
It's a lot like Brother Otis, right?
If he had to get it real close.
So we're driving along, and he's got his window down, and he takes the trash and he threw it out the window.
I couldn't believe it.
He did it again.
I slammed on the brakes.
I was like, dude, what are you doing?
He said, what do you mean?
What am I doing?
I'm reading my CD.
I'm like, you threw trash out the window.
He said, yeah, David's trash.
I'm like, I know.
You're messing with Texas, son.
He's like, oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know.
I'm like, get out of the car and go pick it up.
I made the blind guy get out of the car and look for his trash.
I got out and helped him.
I did.
But, man, I couldn't believe it.
It was just appalling to me how little he cared about just throwing it out.
And there are people like that.
Have you ever seen people who just might drop something and see that they
dropped it, Right?
Trash or something on the ground.
They just keep on going.
Or they make a mess.
They knock something over in the store, brakes or something like that.
They just kind of keep moving, right?
I've been working on this with Sam because, like, a couple of days ago, we were at a
Chinese buffet and he dropped a piece of catfish or something on the ground.
We tried to act like it didn't happen.
I'm like, Sam, if I'm going to make a blind guy get out of the car and get his trash, I'm going to make my kid
pick up his catfish off the floor.
I'm like, come on, pick it up.
And I explained to him, you know it's bad to just leave it there, right?
I know it's a little embarrassing, but pick it up.
That's just how natural it is for us to just do what's not right.
From childhood, right?
So we are utterly worthless.
We are utterly useless.
We can't even try to do good because it's so natural for us to do bad.
And that's just how bad we are.
And yet God goes, I'm going to give you worth.
I'm going to make you, I'm going to fix it.
I'm going to make you actually care about stuff for once, about doing good.
You're going to be terrible at it, but you're going to try, you know.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see.
This is verse two.
To see if there were any that did understand and seek God.
This is interesting language, if you ask me, because it seems to show the Lord looking for
someone who understands and seeks God.
It seems it's the way it's written.
It's as if God's searching, right?
But doesn't he already know?
He's all knowing, right?
The reason why it's worded this way is because it shows us just how intimately he knows.
He's, he's, Spurgeon puts it that he's sitting from his vaunted place in heaven and yet
inspecting very intimately this man.
So he has a great viewpoint, like he can see it all, but he can also zoom in and see every little
thing.
And so the way it's written is to show us that there is nothing that has gotten past
It hasn't, you haven't pulled the wool over his eyes.
It hasn't like slipped by him.
Sometimes we feel that way because we may not experience immediate consequences of sin.
I know I've done that, right?
Like you even, thank you God for not punishing me.
Like when you finally get right with God, thank you for not punishing me.
Well, there may still be some kind of punishment down the road.
You just don't know it yet, right?
It's, it's interesting that man doesn't
seek God.
The reason why that's interesting to me is that we've proven biologically that man has a need to
believe in something bigger than himself.
They've proven that with biology.
In fact, the atheists are having a real problem with it in that there's something in our biology
that causes us to need something bigger than us.
And yet we deny it.
We deny it left and right.
And they're not really sure how to deal with that other than, well, man must just need to
self -actualize.
Man just must need to become more of a God himself.
You know, that's how you fulfill the need.
You've got to attain a higher level of enlightenment.
So God looking out and surveying every little bit of creation,
looking at the hearts of man, do any of them seek him?
Do any of them understand?
And here's what he finds in verse three.
See how it says it again.
Like just in case you wondered if God said there was none that do with good.
He just kind of blanket state stated it.
It wasn't a blanket statement.
It wasn't speaking in hyperbole.
He doesn't do that.
He says, no, there's not a single person that does good.
Not one.
Zilch.
Not a zero.
And in case you wondered, was that just kind of like a guess?
Because we'll do that sometimes.
We'll speak in absolutes as if we know, right?
God doesn't have to do that.
But in case you wondered if he was, he then is inspecting everything from the perfect vantage point.
He sees it all and he's like, no.
Not a single person does good.
They have gone aside, which means they've departed from the way.
The way of what?
The way of God.
They are together become filthy.
Which shows a unity.
Man is unified in his sin and in his
depravity.
And in his moral corruption.
And he is passively simple.
And actively simple.
He's absolutely utterly broken.
Verse four.
Have all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge.
Who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord.
Here we see a new level of corruption.
Man is persecuting other men.
He's taking his own filthy desires and his own
passivity to righteousness.
He's like, I'm not going to do good.
I'm going to actively do bad.
But then I'm going to take it and take advantage of others with it.
The persecution of others, specifically of those who God has regenerated.
Who eat up my people.
His people.
So, when you're in this unregenerated state.
You don't know the Lord.
Not only are you passively evil, you're actively evil.
But you take it a step further.
And you seek out those who have been regenerated to take advantage of them.
We can see that very clearly.
In the world today.
There is a minority group that has been the minority group since the beginning of time.
And they are actively oppressed.
Have been since the beginning of time.
As God's people.
Try to push that in race relations.
We are a new race.
We are a minority group.
Into the outside world.
We look like something that they despise.
Which I'll get to more here in a minute.
It says that.
They eat up my people.
As they eat bread.
What does that mean, do you think?
Something you do every day.
As often.
As you eat bread.
Kind of like when Jesus said, as often as you do this, remember me, right?
Except it's as often as you do this.
Persecute me, right?
Like that's really what this is like.
They're going to go in as often as they can persecute the Lord.
And they call not upon the Lord.
Why does it put that in there?
What do you guys think?
Yeah, no one's going to call upon the Lord.
Especially when they're propagating the lie that he doesn't exist.
I don't call on him.
If I'm going to say he doesn't exist, I certainly can't call on him.
Because calling on him, also then, means I've got to
give up that lie.
Right?
And the whole point is, I broke fellowship with God through sin.
Man did this.
He broke fellowship with God to pursue sin.
And man as a race is so terrified of being
wrong.
That he has to pursue it to its utter end.
I'm not going to be wrong.
If I pursue it harder, it's going to fulfill.
It's going to be worth it.
And there is none that seeketh God.
There is none that is righteous.
We're not seeking him.
We're seeking that.
That thing that we think is going to fulfill.
That we chase our whole lives if we don't know the Lord.
And even after we know the Lord, we can fall to temptation once in a while.
And go.
Fell victim to the lie of sin again.
That it's going to fulfill.
That it's going to make me feel better.
It's going to make me.
It's going to do something for me.
That's the lie of sin.
Yeah.
Makes me think of Adam.
He didn't seek the Lord.
He hid from the Lord.
Adam hid from the Lord.
In a sense, that's kind of what we're doing.
Yes.
Why?
Specifically persecute God's people.
Why go after them?
Don't like seeing you do opposite of what I'm doing.
Don't like to see you succeed.
So there could be an element of envy.
If they are in contact with successful Christians.
But their idea of success would be a little bit different than our idea of success.
Perhaps.
Remember, all men, unless they are regenerated by God, are evil, vile, and
ruined with their singular pursuit of sin.
They deny God exists in hoping in hopes of denying their debt.
But what if they're wrong?
The inkling of a feeling that nagging possibility.
The chance that God does exist.
The God is real.
The God is watching from his vaulted perspective, holding them accountable to their actions.
What a terrible and frightening thought.
See, it's no wonder there is such hatred for God's people.
Jesus said, if you have seen me, then you have seen the father.
Paul said, it is no longer I, but Christ who lives within me.
So God is in the generation of his people, the generation of the righteous.
Their very existence reeks to the unregenerate.
It reeks to them.
They can't stand it because.
God's people.
Put on this new man that is made in the likeness of God.
And they talk about God and they claim to serve and know God personally.
As if he really is there.
And I'm trying to get to the point where I don't think he is.
That's absolutely dreadful.
If you want there to be no God so that you can continue in your pursuit of sin.
And there's someone standing there acting different in the world.
Looking like this guy named Christ who claimed to be
And saying that God lives in him.
Well, we got a problem.
Because if that's real, I've got a debt.
I've got to send debt.
That's why they hate it.
Spurgeon points out that Haman was joyful and glad of heart until he saw Mordecai at the gate.
That's what's happening.
Things are great.
My life is awesome.
I get to do whatever I want.
I can go where I want, be who I want, act out what I want.
There are no consequences.
Mordecai.
Remember, Mordecai was not having a great time.
He was worried.
He was in a pretty bad state.
He's got high -level people who hate him and are
oppressing him.
That's not enough for Haman.
Just the fact that Mordecai still exists.
The fact that he's there.
That's a problem.
He's standing over there.
And it just ruined my day.
Because Mordecai is a remembrance of the Lord who's in charge.
Verse 6.
He has shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is
his refuge.
And so the scorner mocks the righteous for the very thing
that causes the scorner to fear.
You.
You believe in God.
Where is your God?
Who's going to deliver you?
Or as David wrote in Psalm chapter 3, there is no help for him in God.
Remember that?
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
Kings of the earth set themselves, and rulers take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let
us break their bands asunder.
All of that.
And I think that's Psalm chapter 2.
All of that was to get rid of the idea that God
is there.
We got to get rid of this because this is the thing that makes us uncomfortable.
I can't pursue sin.
As they call it.
I can't pursue this comfortably when there's someone telling me I'm going to go to hell.
I can't pursue it comfortably when there's someone telling me that what I'm trying to do is actually ultimately going to kill me.
I want to hear that.
I want to know that.
Why are you so hateful?
Why are you being such a bigot?
Why are you discriminating against me?
Why can't you just love me?
Doesn't your Bible say you're supposed to love?
They don't understand, do they?
They don't understand what love is.
So that's what they do.
They shame the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge.
That is the reason they shame him.
I'm going to end pretty fast today.
We're almost done.
Last verse.
Verse 7.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion.
When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall
be glad.
There's the hope in this chapter.
For the regenerated people of God.
For God's people.
That's the part where if we will hold on to verse 7 here and just
recognize that all the promises of the Lord are true.
And that he does do what he says he's going to do.
And he says he's going to come back.
If we hold on to that, we will endure the scorning of the wicked.
We'll endure the oppression.
And the suppression of the truth.
And we see here that.
The prayer of the righteous in response to this wicked oppression.
The return of our Lord Jesus to vanquish his foes.
Like the king rescuing Esther.
And her uncle Mordecai.
Guys we have.
We're living in an interesting time when.
The spirit of the antichrist is rising.
Does that mean that.
Antichrist is here and that he's already on this earth and he's walking this earth and he's going to go and
sacrifice a swine on the altar.
We're going to see it with our own two eyes here on earth during our lifetime.
We don't know.
The spirit of antichrist.
Has risen its ugly head.
Multiple times throughout history.
And right now we're seeing it in a big way here in America.
Right now the spirit of antichrist is overtaking.
And beginning to outwardly oppress God's people.
In a nation that was founded as a Christian nation.
In a nation that was founded on godly principles.
In a nation that was founded because.
God established it.
In God's own backyard so to speak.
You think maybe he's going to.
Get the fire ant poison out and clean up the backyard.
He's certainly going to do that.
That's what we hold on to.
That's the hope we have.
We know that God can.
He can look.
At us.
In our unregenerated state looking.
Just disgusting.
Useless.
Of no value.
Right and he can say.
I can love them.
No one else would.
No one else will.
So if I don't.
There's no hope.
So I do.
I will love them.
I will save them.
I will fix this.
And so.
Knowing that he's done that for us.
Shouldn't we have some patience.
With the ones he's going to throw out.
Knowing that there are some.
Who will never enjoy that.
We should move with fear.
For their sake.
Knowing like we can't really tell the difference between.
God's people and not God's people.
Until after they're on virgin.
After they are regenerated.
So after they're regenerated.
We can know them by their works.
We can know them by their loved one for another.
But until that.
They don't look like that.
But it doesn't mean they're not God's people.
They could be God's people.
And we've got to go after them and say, hey, let's take some ground for the Lord.
Let's see how many people we can tell about.
This good news.
Some of them will despise it.
Some of them will rail against it.
And in fact, some of God's people might start off that way.
Like Saul.
It's hard for him to kick against the pricks.
So we just keep sharing.
We keep showing ourselves to be the light.
We keep trying to look like God.
And.
We.
Meekly instruct those who oppose themselves that God per adventure may give unto them repentance.
And we let God take care of the rest.
Because it's going to get worse before it gets better.
And since it's going to get worse before it gets better.
We've got to just count it all joy for now.
Count it all joy.
Read through Psalm chapter 14.
Recognize that we used to look like that.
This terrible thing.
And then hold on to the hope.
That if they don't change, God's going to come and kick some booty.
And save us.
But let's hope and pray that they do change.
So they can go back with us.
That's all I have for today.
Anybody want to add anything?
Yes, sir.
Why do I as a Calvinist think we should witness?
Because I still believe.
Well, first, I don't call really call myself Calvinist, but everything Calvin believed, I believe.
So the world would call me a Calvinist, I guess.
But I believe we should witness because I don't know which is which.
And I am held accountable for the choices I make.
And if I don't share God's word, if I don't share the good news, I'm held accountable for that.
God's very clear on that.
And sure, he knows who they are.
I don't.
So what does that mean?
He'll direct me to the ones he wants me to share that with.
For two reasons.
One, so that he can give unto them repentance and bring them to heaven.
Or two, so that he can condemn them by his word.
So both of those happen when I share God's word.
One, I find God's people and get to bring them back with me.
And there's going to be treasures in heaven and joyous occasion for that.
And two, I got to fight the battle and help vanquish the foe if they are
not one of God's people.
So there's two reasons to witness.
It's not just to get people saved.
It's also like when Noah built the
ark.
It was to the saving of his family and the condemning of the world, right?
When that door shut, it did two things.
It saved God's people and it condemned the others.
So I think witnessing has two purposes.
He does.
He commands me to do.
He commands me to go and share his word.
It's interesting how God does that because you think of it like this.
Nobody, nobody in here had the capability to do anything for God
until he regenerated us.
So he's the, he's the colonel that started it all.
But once he started it, then like Jesus said, I do the work of my father.
Then he's like, now you're going to do the work of the father too.
So like we get to be a part of that family business as you call it.
I love that.
We get to go in and do what God tells us to do, which we previously had no
capability of doing.
So there's joy in that too.
Anything else?
Well, let's pray.
Heavenly father, we thank you for the good news.
We thank you that when we were at our most unlovable state,
we were beyond death, but decaying.
That you saw fit to fix it, to redeem what everyone
else would consider unredeemable.
No one else could have done that.
No one else had it within them to do that.
Not only did you have it within you to do it, then you did it.
Even though we looked loathsome to you in that state, we
wouldn't have tried.
Father, forgive us for
any of us who may have ever been mad at you for not saving everyone.
We like to put that responsibility on man.
We like to say, well, we didn't choose you, so it's our fault.
And there's an element of that that's true.
And that we're held responsible.
But father, unless you give us the light, unless you open our eyes, there's
no way that we can do it anyway.
So when you do that, the fact that you do it with one or two or three people is amazing.
To do it with millions is unfathomable.
And we thank you for saving the remnant.
We can't wait to see who all you've saved when we get to heaven.
But father, help us to be patient with the world.
Not tolerant, but patient.
Help us to point out good and evil and to
be salt which brings flavor and light which chases out the darkness.
Help us to be better at that and help us to realize that it's a big responsibility that we have.
But we thank you that you are coming back.
We can look forward to it.
And that when the world oppresses us, we are blessed for that.
We love you.
It's in Jesus name we ask these things.
Amen.