The Jezebel Seduction — Shane Idleman

We have been in a survey about the seven churches that are in the book of Revelation. Jesus actually writes a letter through John to the churches in Asia Minor, up above, way above Israel, speaking even to the churches today.

The Historical Jezebel and Her Seduction Into Idolatry

And the title of this message is the Jezebel Seduction. We're finally getting to Jezebel. And if you haven't noticed, not too many people are naming their kids or daughters Jezebel. There's a reason for that, and we're gonna talk about that.

I need to kind of throw this out there because I do get emails probably, I don't know, once a month on this issue. Is the Jezebel spirit manipulation? Is the Jezebel spirit control? Is the Jezebel spirit lust and perversion?

And there's lots of sermons. The Jezebel spirit is coming after me. The Jezebel spirit is Leviathan. The Jezebel, what's the Bible say? Let's just look at that because we can get in all different directions on this issue.

And actually, the Bible's very clear. Who was Jezebel? Who was Jezebel? She was a queen that was married to King Ahab, and she brought in worship of false gods into Israel and seduced them, the Jezebel seduction, seduced them, enticed them to leave God, Yahweh, and to begin to serve these other gods through the worship of Bel, B-A-A-L.

And she would, the idols of Bel, many of these things are always tied to sexual immorality or food, some type of food. And why? Because those are the strongest desires. So the enemy goes after that seduction to draw the people away from God.

And I was reminded of Psalm 107, 35. But they mingled, talking about the children of Israel, but they mingled with the Gentiles, and they learned their works. They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

And they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. And this is why we can see it paralleling the abortion industry today. Because what they would do is there would be, well, I won't get into what they did, actually, a lot of these things.

But when they worshiped Bel, it was sexual immorality, and then they would offer that child to Bel or Molech, and the drums are beating, and it's this huge party, and they would, to drown out the screams of the children.

See, they want to hide the evidence often, don't they? When we sin, let's hide the evidence. And so we can see the same thing, the same type of worship in our culture today, isn't it true? That the perversion, and then getting rid of the result of that perversion, that being the child.

So it hasn't changed a lot. This is when Elisha called down fire on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18. He said, now summons all Israel to join me on Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Bel, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.

So it was 850 to one. I've often thought that'd be a good sermon title someday. 850 prophets of Bel and Asherah against Elisha. So they built this huge altar. They poured water on this altar, and their God would never answer, ever.

So they would get louder, they would cut themselves, and Elisha would say, is your God sleeping? Maybe he's on vacation. Mocking them, and mocking them, why? Because there's no power, no God can answer, other than the true God.

And so after they were done, I believe that's when he puts the water on it, more water on it, more water on it, kind of steps back, and he said, let the God who answers by fire, let him be God. And fire came from heaven and consumed the entire altar.

It consumed everything. The Bible says it licked up the water. It consumed it all. And that didn't make Jezebel very happy, because then they killed all her prophets. And she said, as soon as the sun comes down, or doesn't come down, tomorrow Elisha will be dead.

And he ran, he fled. So at the height of victory, there's often challenges too. You go through a wonderful experience, and then he was depressed and suicidal. That's where he hid in the cave, and he heard from the still, small voice of God, that God wasn't in the fire, he was in an earthquake.

He wasn't in the rushing wind, he was in the still, small voice that spoke to Elisha. So that's who Jezebel was. The seduction is sexual immorality. And then verse 19 of chapter two. Jesus says, I know your works, your love, your service, your faith, and your patience.

Christ’s Rebuke of the Church at Thyatira

So he's talking to the church. Isn't this interesting? I know your works. So they were doing things. I know your love, I know your service, I know your faith, and I know your patience. As for your works, the last are more than the first.

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. Because you allow, you allow that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

Now I won't cover too much. You can go back and listen to last week's message, but we talk about meat sacrificed to idols. It's basically participating in this idolatrous practice. And people said, I don't care, I wanna compromise.

That was last week's message about compromise. This one is somehow the Jezebel spirit is in this church. But a few things we can learn here. Because you allow that woman, you allow Jezebel. What is allow?

It's to give permission or to lack restraint. So when a church allows, they say, you know what? We allow that. It's just easier not to say something, right? And that's why a lot of churches, it's a struggle for us sometimes too, I'm sure, is just allow it.

It's much easier not to say anything. Just let it go. Let's just, does it really matter? I mean, come on, there's bigger fish to fry. Or the next thing is they lack restraint. They don't restrain something that they should be restraining.

So this church is allowing this woman, and nobody knows. I mean, the commentaries are all over the place. Of course, well, I think it's this, I think it's this. Does it represent a real woman? Does it represent the Babylonian system?

Which some say it ties in later to the great whore, the Babylon, the city that is falling destruction and God's judging. But what we can take from this is this. What are we allowing in the church? And I even thought, what are we allowing to seduce us in our homes?

Because what are we allowing, really? Have you thought, I mean, whatever we allow, we don't hold restraints on. And I've talked about it before, but it bears repeating, is when you can just click on a screen and your kids or your wife or your spouse can watch Fifty Shades of Grey, or all these movies, all these filth, and we just, well, it's no big deal.

You know, what are we allowing into our home to come in and have an open door into our homes and our hearts? So whatever it was, was it a woman? Was it, maybe, I kind of view it as a woman who was heavily involved in the church.

She was maybe a little bold, a little had, you know, she had some clout, and like, you know, just let her do what she's doing. It's not really hurting too many people. So they allowed her to do this. Taught, taught, she taught them, which means that there was participation in ungodly activities.

And then another interesting thing here, she calls herself a prophetess. She calls herself, be careful of false teachers or people leading, because they like to give themselves titles. What about if I had my new business card?

Here's my new business card. Apostle, prophet, and pastor. It's a self-appointing, because God doesn't appoint them, they have to appoint themselves. See, you don't have to appoint yourself. Here's who I am, I'm this.

People will see who you are. God will reveal your character, and God will elevate you. You don't have to self-promote. Actually, you should not promote. The more you humble yourself, the more God will bring you up.

So watch out for the self-promoter. She was a prophetess, and they use that term more in the New Testament, and some churches do now. But it was a man was a prophet, a woman was a prophetess. They would speak boldly into the lives of people that something that God would bring to their mind.

For example, Agapis, I believe it was his name. He was a prophet. God spoke to him, and he went to Paul and said, you are going to be bound with this belt. He took his belt off. You're going to be bound when you go into Jerusalem.

So that prophet gave them a word of encouragement or rebuke for them to be prepared. And then there was women who operated in this role as well. But she calls herself my spokesperson, God says. She's self-proclaiming herself.

Others aren't recognizing her. She's recognizing herself. And it ties right in with 2 Peter 2 .18 from the English Standard Version. For speaking loud boasts of folly. This is about false teachers. They entice.

They entice people by sensual passions of the flesh. Those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

False Teachers, Sensual Passions, and the Strength of Seduction

So we see that seduction is this. It's pulling at something. Remember this about seduction. The strength of it is only as strong as what you give it. In other words, when seduction occurs, it's only drawing out of you what's already inside.

So in this area of sexual seduction, the stronger the seduction, the more you're probably fueling that desire. So that's the stronghold. A spirit-filled believer in God's word, in worship, removing the filth of the world, being focused on God, that seduction, that draw is not going to be as strong as the person who doesn't really care they're living what the Bible would term carnality.

And that carnal lifestyle is helping that seduction. But that's what they do, false teachers. That's why you have to be careful what people, even what we listen to sometimes. What are they telling you?

Is it God honoring? Is it drawing you to the cross? Is it drawing you to holiness? Because here's a little, just snippet of truth. They run from holiness. Jezebel, the Jezebel spirit, false teachers, false proclaimers, they hate holiness.

They don't want to have anything to do with holiness. They'll entice you to do other things. I mean, have you came across those in the church or you wonder, are they even Christians? It's all about the world and the things of the world.

So apparently this person was in a position of leadership, teaching, and then we see verse 21. And I gave her time to repent. Isn't this so true of God? I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent.

The reason the Bible talks about this issue so much is because the drive for sex and food are the highest that people have. The highest, the hardest to find. So that's where he's gonna go after. That's why it's tied in.

It's not a secret why idol worship, sacrificing things, the meat to idols and sexual immorality are tied together. They went together. That's more for a fasting sermon, but I'll just tell you right now that those appetites, as appetites increase for meat and things and food, it fuels other appetites.

If a person is a glutton in certain areas, they're often not gonna have control of their sensuality and their sexual appetites. They run together. You'll never see a person who's just given over to wine and strong drink and meat and then nope, I have no problem in this area.

They're interwoven. They go together. That's why fasting is so important. Fasting completely eradicates the flesh. It starves the flesh and the sensual desires and all those are just minimized because you're starving the very monster that is trying to kill you.

So I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality. God gave her time, he gives us time. That's one thing I love about God. He gives, he, listen, he gives you his time. He's patient, he's long-suffering, then not any should perish.

But that's why we also say don't confuse God's patience with his approval. Many people go their whole life confusing God's patience with his approval. God's patient and merciful, loving, so I'll just continue in the thing that's destroying me.

I'll continue in the sin because he's patient and loving. Yes, but there comes a time when you light a piece of dynamite that that eventually, that flame is gonna get to the TNT and there's, so you can imagine God's patient, he's loving, but there comes a time when he'll call people, listen, you'll get convicted.

Shane, I don't know, preach on it. Your friends will say something, you'll read a blog, you'll know it's not, God, he's calling you to repentance. He's calling you to repentance. He's calling you to repentance.

That's what he was saying here. I gave her time, so somehow, this person, or if it's a whole thought here, a whole school of thought in the church, they gave, God gave them time to repent. But she did not repent.

Judgment on Jezebel and the Warning to Come Out of Babylon

Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into the great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. And this is why later in Revelation, God says, come out of her, my people.

Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and receive of her plagues. Come out of her, my people. See, and the tempting thing with most pastors, myself included, is to avoid these kind of hard things.

Right, gosh, this is getting a little negative now. Man, Shane, you had us 20 minutes ago, but now this is just, but that's the word of God. It pierces like a double-edged sword. And usually you can't do cancer surgery until you open the body, you open the heart, and the heart, of course, you can't do that, the person will die.

But you open the body and you go and you remove that thing that's destroying them, and it hurts, that precision, the opening up, and it's removing that cancer. And we're also reminded that Satan is not in a hurry.

He lets us build and build and build so the greater the fall, he'll wait, he'll watch. He'll let a person build and build and build and watch for that opportune time and that he's been working on that seduction, that Jezebel, and comes in and will take a person down.

He's not in a hurry. Because we think that, well, it's been months, I slid right by him. It's been years, I'm good. But he's waiting, he's actually waiting for that type of attitude. And then verse 22.

Verse 22, I will cast her into a sick bed. Isn't that interesting? So the very same thing that she was encouraging people to sin in, God used that to judge her. God uses the very same, often, look at Egypt and the idolatry, look at different things.

God uses the idol that we love so much, that same idol, to judge us. Not as a believer, basically, I should clarify that. Unbelievers often are judged by the same idol that they were worshiping. Larry Tomczak, in a recent article about Charles Manson's last words, I don't know if they know what those are yet, maybe it was a setup for what's coming, but he talked about Michael Jackson's last words.

He said, more milk, more milk. And you're probably going, what are you talking about? Well, I'm glad you asked. He was actually asking for Propanthol. Have you heard of that? It's a very strong drug that will put you to sleep or cardiac arrest, obviously, if misused.

That's why his doctor, I think, is in jail for it. And it's white in substance. So as he's dying, he's crying for this very thing that is killing him. More milk, more milk, more Propanthol, more, more.

His idol promised pleasure, but brought death and destruction. He was pleading for the same thing that was destroying him. See, you can sing Tennessee whiskey and whiskey lullabies with Brad Paisley, but, but that idol of alcoholism will eventually destroy in the end.

In April of 1994, heroin whispered this to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Come, take my hand, let me lead you to hell. As he pulled the trigger. See, folks, I don't know about you, but this is serious business.

We're so worried, oh, it's Christmas season, oh, this is happening, oh, the stock market. You better understand there is spiritual warfare that has the ramifications are a million times more severe than our physical life and what's happening here.

Because we can buy and buy and buy and we bury ourselves with things and eventually the things will bury us. See, the idol we love and we cherish and we follow and we give our hearts to and our lives to as unbelievers, that same idol will be used to judge you.

And often, though, in the Christian community, if we don't repent, that same idol will judge you. Also read there, Joan Crawford, remember her, the actress, many years ago? In a prideful rant, she rebuked her housekeeper who began praying for her as she was dying.

She cursed and she said, don't you dare ask God to help me. Why? Because the idol of Hollywood puts her up there, this idol, this star, that idol eventually judged her. That's what Jezebel comes in. So but God used this back on her.

He put her into a sickbed and then verse 23, I will kill her children with death. Boy, Jesus, can you settle down a little bit? What happened to the turn of the other cheek, Jesus? I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and the hearts and I will give each one of you according to your works.

I will kill her children. Cross-reference that with 2 John 1, where John writes to the lady, to the elect lady and her children. In this sense, not talking about necessarily physical offspring, but those who participate will be judged.

So the elect lady and her children was talking about the Christian community. 2 John was writing to the elect lady and the followers in that church, that whole big church there of believers. But then in this sense, the children of Jezebel are those who participate in her debauchery, those who go along with it.

Jesus said wisdom is justified by her children. In other words, if I make a wise financial decision, my children, what is produced from that result will show if the wisdom was good or not. So in the Bible sense, the children is the fruit of that, the outcome of that, the followers of that.

So when Jesus said, I will kill her children with death, those who follow, here's why. When they bring sexual immorality, sexual destruction into the church, we had time, we could talk about why this is so important.

It's a sin against the own body. It perverts and distorts worship. It will kill your relationship with God. It is one of the most severe sins out there in regard to the consequences. So when this happens and the church does nothing, the church remains silent, the church doesn't wanna say anything.

We just wanna allow that woman, Jezebel, who comes in and seduces people that there is a price to pay. So those who basically, it's the same thing today. We could fast forward it now. Those who give in to the Jezebel spirit in our nation.

People are like, oh, look at all this stuff coming out in the news. All these high profile people and all the sexual things. Yeah, guess what? That's been there a long time. They're just barely, I bet, they're just barely pulling the sheet up.

I mean, if they could remove the sheet of the entire bed of the United States, there would be so much filth and perversion, you could not handle it. America's the number one producer of pornography in the entire world.

This is just a, it's a cleansing that has to take place. But be careful, take heed lest you fall. All of us, that seduction, that seed, that seed, that sexual sin seed is in all of us. All of us. The question is, does it grow?

Or do you starve it to death? So those who participate will be judged, Jesus said. And often thought, how often do the sins of one affect the other? As in Jezebel's case. Or whatever, if it was actual women, we don't know.

We know it wasn't in the Old Testament. Is this metaphor, is this allegory, is this the actual person of the church? The bottom line is, we don't wanna find out. That the effects of one person, think about that in your home.

Grandparents or parents, your choices, your, if there's idolatry in this area, there's things happening, it will affect your children at a very deep level. Because the person who starts to fall in this area, guess what they start to do?

They start to lower their standards by what they allow into their home. They don't hold the standard of holiness unless they're hypocritical and wanna take a hardline stance, but often they begin to lower their stances.

Holding Fast to Faith Until Christ Returns

And things they would have never allowed 10 years ago now amuses them. Because Jezebel has come in to begin to work in their hearts. Verse 24, now to you I say and to the rest and Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden, but hold fast what you have till I come.

So it's almost like he's saying, pardon me, this side of the church, but this is the Jezebel side of the church, right? Just, better change my whites on this side, could you? This is, right? Okay, come on, well, this side, this middle, this middle is a Jezebel, this, he's giving a rebuke, he's laying it out, right?

He's rebuking them, you're going to die, you're going to perish, your idolatry is going to come, there's gonna be a day of reckoning. And then he says, but all of you, but all of you who have not, who have not upheld this doctrine, you've not known the depths of Satan in this area, I will put on you no other burden, here's what I want from you.

This is amazing, Jesus says, here's what I want from you, and this applies to many of you in this room this morning, hold fast to what you have until I return. Hold fast, hold fast, hold it, please, hold on to the faith.

And this is a hard thing in Christianity because we understand, I'm not holding on to God as much as he's holding on to me, right? It's like when my daughter was two years old, I lift her up, she goes, I'm holding daddy.

I'm like, no, who's holding who? Right, but there's a holding, because if she's pushing me away, there's no love, it's get away from me, no, it's this mutual, I'll hold you, but then she holds me back.

It's this thing we see throughout Scripture that God holds us, it's God who makes us stand firm in Christ in 1 Corinthians. It's God, but then all these Scriptures, hold tight, don't let go, persevere, persevere.

So that's, I think for many of you today, no matter what your health issue is, no matter what your financial situation is, God says hold fast, hold tight, hold on to the thing, the grip that will never let you go.

Isn't that true? God says, I'll never let you go. I'll never let you go. And this cracks me up about the book of Revelation. Let me just vent a little frustration here. Everybody wants to argue, post-tribulation, mid-tribulation, pre-millennial, all-millennial, Augustine view, the reformer's view.

Are you post-trib, mid-trib, no-trib? Are we in the millennium? Are things really getting better? Or is there a millennial to come? Is there really gonna be a temple in the millennium where we'll bring back animal sacrifices, more of as a memorial to Christ?

And is it a really 1 ,000-year reign? The devil's really gonna be on a chain for 1 ,000 years, then the devil's let loose, and then after 1 ,000 years, he comes, and then Christ conquers him. And we love to argue all these things, but the bottom line is, are you ready?

Are you holding on? And people, they lecture me on, you need to teach through Revelation. You need to be prophetic, and you need to tell people signs of the times, and you need to line up with Matthew.

You know, earthquakes and famines and great things and one world government, 666, and like, well, okay. But the priority list right now is holding on because I don't know about you, but I have the tendency to shake and wanna break away, to hold on to Christ, to get back into the important things.

Now, those are all important, but that's not gonna save you. And just in a nutshell, I don't know if people are curious. People that believe that we're gonna be taken out before the tribulation is pre-tribulation.

They think we're gonna stay through half of the tribulation, 3 1⁄2 years. That's called mid-tribulation. And then they believe we're gonna actually go through the post-tribulation and we'll be taken out after God's wrath.

That's post-tribulation, also post-wrath, not pre-wrath. But there is a group that believes we're gonna be taken out pre-wrath, before God's wrath. But the post-wrath, if we're going to go through God's wrath, he's going to preserve us.

Some groups say none of that happened. It was already fulfilled in AD 70 when Titus conquered Jerusalem. We are actually living in the millennial age now. Things are getting better. And then some in that camp will say, no, things actually aren't getting better.

They're getting worse. Yeah, that was clear, thanks. So, and people lose sleep over this. Now granted, we do see things forming where you could see the formation of a one-world government. You could see the formation of everything coming together under a one-world leader.

You see the formation of camp buying and selling without a certain mark. And number of the beast, 666, and on your forehead, on your hand, is a literal marking or is it symbolizing your thoughts, your things?

There's a lot going on throughout the world. There's a lot of interesting things and it's an interesting topic. But here's the main question is, are you ready? Because I know people, they'll sit and debate this and aren't ready.

They're not holding fast, they're wavering. So Jesus says, just hold fast, hold tight. Tighten your grip until I come. We could also argue about the date Revelation was written, if you'd like. Prior to AD 60 or after AD 95, David sent me a good quote on, was it Ignatius?

Or Arrhenius, or the church fathers on when they would date it and different things. And so it's very interesting. But at the end of the day, you say, Lord, am I ready? I'm not holding, because many people are no longer holding tight.

Their grip is failing. Their love is faltering. They're quenching and grieving the Spirit. They're confused, they're chaotic. Why is suicide an epidemic? Why are, do you know they're having, the government is, they don't even know how to handle this.

Opiate abuse is skyrocketing. Overdoses are now taking more Americans than anything else because of prescription. And where's the answers? Well, if everybody's so, they love to debate theology, but they're not holding on to the one who has the answer.

See, you can be straight as a gun barrel theologically, but be empty. You can worship this and forget about the Son, Christ who saved us. And please don't understand, ask my wife. She drives her crazy how many books I have next to the bed.

Oh, they probably stand up this high. That's not even my library, because I love theology. But that theology has to point me to Christ in a deeper relationship with God. So the more I read systematic theology, or the more I, read quantum physics.

Wow. Well, now we think there's 150 billion galaxies. Oh, really? And how big's a galaxy? Well, it's just, how far light travels at 160 ,000 miles per second? Light travels 186 ,000 miles per second. Think about that.

Takes eight minutes, 20 seconds for the sun's light to hit here, 96 million miles away. And all this just happened. There's no God, it's evolution, right? Come on. But think about that. That God, 150 billion galaxies, billions of light years away.

I mean, it sounds like something from Star Wars. But if you can, I get a headache. I don't know about you, but how far light travels in a year is a bunch of, is a lot of miles, right? And, but these are millions of miles away?

Or billions, and they can't even count the stars? And that God, that God, see, stop it. When I just put that book down, I go, oh, that God, that God has got my problem. That God is going to see us through.

That God is going to redeem and restore and rebuild our nation and our church and our families. Although we're going to hell in a handbasket, I'm hanging on on the way. I'm bringing people out of that.

And so can you, that's what he says. Hold tight, hold fast, tighten your grip. Look up the Orange Language in the Greek New Testament. It is, it's a tightening of the grip. It's like something is falling, you're loosing, and you tighten that grip.

You get everything around it, and you hold on. He says, do that. And he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron.

Christ the Lion, the Coming Judge, and the King of Kings

They shall be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel. So much for the mild-meek Jesus. Right, because, oh, look at that little lamb. The lamb of the world. Oh, cute little lamb. Right, we have Jesus, this little lamb is flowing here.

You know, and just, oh, this nice guy. Okay, the lamb is the lion, though, remember, right? Remember I said that, I remember a few months ago, but it's so true. They were, 2 ,000 years ago, they're waiting for a lion, they get a lamb.

Now, we're wanting the lamb, but we're gonna get a lion. And it says here, he will come, and he will break them with a rod of iron. He will dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. And ahead in Revelation, that's why it says, a sword goes out of his mouth with the armies of heaven.

It may be us riding white horses. Literal, I don't know, I don't care. See, people wanna argue that. Is that a literal white horse? I don't know! A white horse, well, here's what I do know. The horse, when you're on a horse in battle, that was a position of authority.

White is clean, cleanliness. White horse, position of authority, coming with the armies of heaven. Out of his mouth goes a sword. He will strike the nations. He'll rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

He'll tread the winepress and the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and right here, on the right thigh, it'll be written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Because that's a position of power and authority.

That's who we're waiting for. That's who's coming. That's why we're tightening our grip. That would be a great spot to close, but I do have an interesting correlation here. Many of you know C .S. Lewis, right?

He wrote Chronicles of Narnia. I usually don't tie in movie things too often, but this was very important this week. It's at that part where they're finding out that Aslan is the great lion, and Lucy, the girl, goes, Aslan is a lion?

The great Aslan is a lion? She said, I'm gonna be rather nervous about meeting a lion. Is he safe? And the man said, is he safe? No, he's not safe. He's a lion. That's what we think. No, he's not safe.

He's God Almighty. He's a sinner savior. He created the universe. He spoke it into existence. Armies he conquers with the breadth of his nostrils. He comes back riding on a horse, bringing judgment to the nations.

That's not safe. So he said, no, it's not. He's not safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you. If you don't know him, he's not safe, but if you do know him, it's the safest thing you can run into.

He's good. He's the king. See, at the end of the day, we have to fall back on this, because if you're not holding him tight right now, there will be a week. There might be a day when he's the only thing you have to hold on to.

See, part of coming to church is to prepare us for what's out there, and he's coming again, and that is so true. I love what A .W. Tozer said. He said, I love Christ because he's my savior, but I fear him because he's my judge.

Intellectual Knowledge Versus Repentant Faith

See, people don't like that judge part, and it's often the people who aren't ready to meet their judge. They don't wanna go meet their judge, but it's a healthy balance. You better have the correct balance about Christ.

The lamb is the lion. The man, when he said, woman, where are your accusers? I don't condemn you either. He's also gonna say, depart from me. I don't know you. My heart breaks for some people in the church when they stand before God someday, and they say, but Jesus, I heard about you in church.

I went to Iwana. My youth pastor talked about you. My parents had a Bible. I knew all about you, and he says to them, depart from me. I don't know you. I don't know about you, but I've gotta preach my heart out and reach those people.

There might be some in this room. I mean, nothing, nothing in all of eternity would be worse than that thinking. I know about Jesus. That's right, he died on a cross. That's right, I remember those stories.

And they says, but I don't know you. You have intellectual knowledge. See, even the demons believe and tremble. You can't have intellectual knowledge. You have to repent and believe and let Christ change your heart.

The Gospel Must Remain More Than a Familiar Story

That's one thing I love about the church in America, but the other thing that gives me the most concern is we've talked so much about Jesus that he's become a passing fairy tale instead of an ever-present Savior.

It's almost like we go to church. Yeah, I'm gonna hear about Jesus in the cross. Of course, I mean, it's church. But you bring this message to the heart of India, to a person who's never heard the word Jesus, and you tell them about the forgiveness of the sin, you tell them that the prayer is that this one God, not nine million gods will answer, you tell them about there's no caste system, which everybody's above you and you're at the lowest caste.