======================================================================== MAN by Will Graham ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the need for God-ordained ministers who preach the true gospel, highlighting the dangers of man-made ministry represented by actors, hypocrites, tax collectors, and prostitutes in the church. It calls for a return to tears, brokenness, and zeal for the glory of God, urging believers to stand against the perversion and apostasy in contemporary Christianity. The message concludes with a call to seek God's guidance and to pray for the rise of faithful ministers who will preach the unadulterated word of God. Duration: 58:09 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the need for God-ordained ministers who preach the true gospel, highlighting the dangers of man-made ministry represented by actors, hypocrites, tax collectors, and prostitutes in the church. It calls for a return to tears, brokenness, and zeal for the glory of God, urging believers to stand against the perversion and apostasy in contemporary Christianity. The message concludes with a call to seek God's guidance and to pray for the rise of faithful ministers who will preach the unadulterated word of God. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, praise God, it is good to be in the house of the Lord. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Better is one day in his courts than thousands elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. In the presence of the Lord, there is peace that surpasses all understanding. There is eternal joy because we, the people of God, are gathered to worship and exalt the name of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is all in all. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It's good to be back in Irish soil after plenty of years there abroad in Spain. I just flew in yesterday. There, the pastor, Gareth, there from Limerick Church, collected me, booked me into the hotel. And it's just great to be back and to see what God is doing here in this country. Thank you very much, Greg, for this invitation. It's a pleasure, always a pleasure to preach the word of God. I've been out there now for three years in Andalusia, in the south of Spain there in Córdoba. I live in a little town half an hour from Córdoba called La Calota. So I'm working there with a lot of various evangelical churches and denominations there in the south of Spain. I teach a few subjects in the Bible School of Study there as well. And part time throughout the week there, I'm working as an English teacher. So it's good to be back in Ireland. Good to see the good to see the rain and the great clouds again at the minute. We've got sun and it's as warm as anything. And my street, you can go out in your T-shirt at this time in the morning. Ireland, I couldn't believe when I got back here yesterday. So praise God. We're not here to talk about Will Graham. We're here to talk about Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. This message, for those of you who are taking notes, is called man made ministry. Man made ministry. In times of revival for the church, the people of God rejoice in the majesty of their great God and savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes all in all. God sends men to the pulpit who exalt the excellencies of our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Puritan writer Richard Sides once said, If a man has the Holy Spirit, his whole way of life will be upward and heavenly. His mind is in the things of above and he does not grovel here below. That's as true for the preacher as it is for the everyday believer. When true biblical revival comes, the people of God are blessed with a God ordained ministry. God focused, God obeying and God glorifying. But the antithesis of God ordained ministry is something by the name of man made ministry. The man of God, Keith Daniel, told us back in 2007 that the single greatest tragedy that this modern world faces today is compromise in Christianity. And I stand before you on the eve of 2010. And I would say to you that the single greatest curse that can come to any land that has ever known the gospel is something by the name of man made ministry. Man made ministry. It is a deadly plague and is everywhere to be found in our 21st century churches. This message that I'm going to preach to you this morning has been birthed out of much tears, much pain, much affliction of my own soul and anger. If you've come here for a little tickle your ears, feel good, ego soothing, man centered, prosperity message, there's the door, you can leave right now. In an hour's time we've got a break so you can come back then. I haven't flew over here this weekend to talk to goats. I'm not interested in preaching to turds. I'm here to talk to men and women that love God, that are genuinely concerned about the glory of God again in the land of the living in the 21st century. In this sermon, I'm going to obey the rule of medical science. That is, before you apply ointment and healing to a wound, you first must expose that wound for what it is. The wound must be revealed in all its ugliness before you can apply the healing touch. So I would invite you this morning to open your Bibles there in the book of Jude. The book of Jude, it's the penultimate book of our Bible, the New Testament, just before the book of Revelation. The book of Jude, and we're going to read together the first four verses. God is a promoter of hard realism, and we're going to see what the apostle Jude has to teach us in this morning. Jude, it only has one chapter. We're going to read the first four verses. Have you got it there? I mean, I mean, Jude one, verse one says Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God, the father, a preserved in Jesus Christ and called mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I give all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the scenes. For there are certain men prepped in on a worse who were before of old ordained to this condemnation on godly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And the duration of this message, I'm going to be making reference to the whole of the book of Jude. You can read this book in 10 minutes. It's got twenty five verses. You can read it after this sermon. I'll be making reference to the whole book. The whole theme of the book of Jude is summed up in one word, and that word is apostasy, apostasy. You can sense the potent stench of decadence from its first verse to its last verse. It's the only book of the New Testament that is exclusively dedicated to warning the saints of God about the great moral and spiritual depravity that was going to face the church of Jesus Christ before his second coming. This man of God named Jude, who we believe to be the physical brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, the brother of James, who was also the brother of Jesus. He was going to write to the saints about the joys of the common salvation. But he was urged by the Holy Spirit to warn the saints about certain men prepped in on the words who turned the grace of God into a license for sin. Man made ministers who preached the man made message, whose words were perverted and who lived the sham of a life and denied the only Lord God and Savior. I want to show you from this inspired book of Jude, which is still as powerful, relevant as it was when it was first written that a man made minister is one of three things. In first place, a man made minister. Number one is an actor or a hypocrite. He is an actor or a hypocrite. Every single child of God is a minister of the Lord. A man made minister is an actor or a hypocrite. Number two, the man made minister is a tax collector. He is a tax collector. And number three, the man made minister is a prostitute. He is a prostitute. After our analysis of man made ministry from the scriptures, I'm going to propose to you from the book of Jude how we are to react before such a phenomenon. It was Jonathan Edwards who told us that the Bible wasn't just written for the contemporary generation of the apostles. It was written for all ages, for all churches going to us in the 21st century. So let us join you to God in prayer. Let us seek him so that he will give us life and revelation concerning his word to this day. So I would invite you to put yourselves in your feet and we're going to pray and we're going to seek God that he would speak to us in this morning through the preaching of the word of God. Glory to God. Glory to your name, O God, who is holy like you, who is pure like you, God, who is mighty like you, God, who is wondrous and mighty deeds like you, God. We pray, almighty God, that you would come, O God. Spirit of God, rend the heavens. Come down, O God. Let the mountains melt like wax at your presence, O God. Angels by before you. Demons flee from your presence. Oh, that you would speak, O God. Take this useless, pitiful messenger out of the midst and speak Holy Spirit. Edify your church, O God, through the exhortation of the word of God. We ask you, Lord, that you would confirm the preaching of your word with signs, with wonders, with diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit. Come, O God, confirm your word and glorify your son in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. And the people of God said, Amen. Glory to God. You may take your seats. The man made minister is an actor or a hypocrite. The man made minister is a tax collector. The man made minister is a prostitute. And first place, let's talk about an actor or a hypocrite. Acting in its purest and most pristine form is the art of deception. The person that acts to save you, a person on the platform who acts is pretending to be someone or something that they are not. They are a deceiver at the root of the word acting. There is deception. The wolf comes into the church dressed with sheep's clothing and an attempt to deceive. And someone came knocking on the door of your church, said, I'm a false prophet. Let me preach to your people who would be so foolish enough as to grant this request. But Jesus talks to us about ravenous wolves dressed as sheep who would come in to destroy. Paul said to the Ephesians when he was given the farewell to them in Acts chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves come in among you to destroy and even off your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them. Man made ministers who preach the man made gospel. You see, the persecution from outside never hurt the church half as much as that potent poison that raised up within the thing. Read the book of Exodus chapter 111. The Egyptians persecuted the Hebrews. What happened? The people of God grew, multiplied and were blessed. The people of God were attacked in Acts chapter eight, persecuted by the hand of the enemy. What happened? Acts chapter eight, verse four. Those that were persecuted went everywhere, preaching the gospel outside persecution, never heard the church blood of the martyrs, the seed of the church. But the thing that the Lord was always pointing out is that deception, that poison that rises up from within the church itself to deceive, to kill and to destroy. The wolf is a hypocrite. He pretends to be a sheep. He is an actor. If there was anything that Jesus condemned more than anything else in his ministry, it was a faith religion, a spurious spirituality. If you read right there in the sermon of the Mount Matthew five through to seven, you'll see that Jesus in the heart of that sermon in Matthew six talks about the importance of prayer, of giving alms, of fasting before God. But Jesus also talks about a certain brand of people who only prayed out loud to be heard of man. He only gave their alms to be seen of those around them. He only fasted to be thought of as the most holy and most anointed. Jesus said there were hypocrites. They've already got the reward. They didn't do it in secret before God. Jesus is no time for hypocrisy. Jesus is no time for people who want to play about with Christianity. He wants 100 percent. He wants our whole life on the altar. He wants us to walk the crucified life, whatever it costs, whatever the price. It is all on the altar of Jesus and for him. The hypocrite always does things to be seen and to be noticed. And if he's not the center of attention, he'll let everybody know about it. He'll huff and he'll puff. He just wants to be the center. He wants his voice to be heard, his opinion to be known. The whole thrust of his life is self-centered. His whole ministry is to get him fame, riches, success and the applause of many. He acts holy when he has to. But his little mask of righteousness is nothing more than a cheap gloss over a life of lightness and foolishness. Clowns wear masks and you're not supposed to take a clown seriously. Job 13 says the hypocrite's hope will perish. He would do anything to get into the pulpit. And when he gets there, his pulpit performance turns into his God. He knows where to raise his hands and where to lay them down. He knows what words to lay stress upon to get an amen, a glory to God or a standing ovation from the people. He knows every trick in the book and moves the masses with ease. The told an evangelist friend of mine in Mexico, if you want to look real holy and get all the pastors in the town to invite you to preach, all you've got to do in the platform, call people down to the altar, get them to put their hands in the air. You go down, push them in the forehead, the fall on the ground. All the pastors say this man's anointed. This man has the option. Let's invite him to preach. They call that anointing. They call that option. I call that deception. I call that a sham and all in the name of an almighty God. If God wants a man to fall on the floor with an overwhelming sense of his presence, let God be God. Let him do it. I'll let man be man. Deception, hypocrisy, actors, warriors calling for fire filled scenes that love the gospel of Jesus Christ. The actor pretends to be something he's not, preaches a spirituality, knows nothing about he's bankrupt and as a direct consequence of pretending to be something he's not. He lives out of touch with reality. His is another world. He's the center. God's a little puppeteer. He's got manipulated on the string. God just serves his purpose. He doesn't care. Hell may be closing in about his generation, but he's happy to clap his hands with his little religious games while the rest of the world goes to hell about him. His ministry is for him and not for God. He can't discern the state of things because he's not awake. He's been seduced into a role that leaves him oblivious to all else around him. The word of God, the true word of God is a mighty burden that crushes the shoulders of the man or the woman of God. Malachi one verse one says the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. The word in Hebrew, the word of the Lord can be translated as burden. That word that comes from God is a mighty burden that lays strong upon the shoulders of the man or the woman of God. This is the burden that Nahum knew. This is the burden that Zechariah knew. This is the burden that Habakkuk knew. That any prophet that ever uttered thus saith the Lord, they knew all about it. That word is a crushing weight that lays upon the man or woman of God. They have to cast it off. It's like a deadly python around your neck. It must be cast off. The word must be preached. It cannot be held back. It will eat you up. It will consume you. It will let you sleep at night. Jeremiah said to God, everywhere I go, I preach and they put me in prison. I'm treated like a dirty dog. I'm not going to preach in your name anymore. I won't make mention of you anymore, Lord. But in that dark, God-forsaken prison cell, something burned up inside that man as a fire. It burned in his bones. I can't hold the word back. I must preach the gospel. How can I resist the word of the Lord? Amos went to the northern kingdom and preached, thus saith the Lord. And the priests and the religious elite said, off you go back south. Don't waste your time preaching to us. You're no prophet. Amos said, I'm not a prophet. I'm not the son of a prophet. Only thing I know, I was seeking God. The word of the Lord came unto me. He said, preach to the north. I've got to preach to the north. I've got to bring the word. I've got to preach the word of the Lord, whatever it costs, whatever the price. The word of the Lord is a burden strong upon the shoulders of the man or the woman of God. The minister of God preaches. The God ordained minister gives the word of God. The spirit works with conviction. And then what happens? The man made minister gets up into the pulpit, says to the praise band, come on, let's strike up a happy tune. After all, we don't want anyone going home getting upset now, do we? God forbid we might offend somebody. Great problem in the 21st century church is instead of preaching Christ's exultant doctrine that feeds the sheep of the Lord, we're wasting our time trying to entertain terrors. The word of God is a burden. The word of God is a burden. This word cannot be held back. The true spirit led slave of Jesus Christ sees the mess that needs undoing and it causes him pain. The actor doesn't feel the pain. His flashy designer sunglasses don't let him see the wound that needs treating. He says, peace, peace. But there is no peace. The Lord said of the false prophets of Jeremiah's day in chapter eight, verse 11, he said, they hear the hurt of the daughter of my people. Slightly you tune in the religious broadcaster nowadays. All they're going to tell you, revival, revival, revival, the greatest revival ever we've experienced in the Western world. Revival, revival, revival. They say all is well when all is well. They say we are in revival and with the same number as teenage pregnant girls in our churches as outside of our churches. And they say we're in revival. They say revival, the crime rates higher than ever. They say revival. The prisons are filled overflowing so that we're having to build new ones. We're saying revival. Who knows what percentage of so-called believers are addicted to pornography? But revival, revival, revival, peace, peace. But there is no peace. Number one, if this is true revival, I don't want anything to do with it. I wouldn't touch it with a 40 foot barge pole. Number two, if it's true revival, it will change the church. It will change society. Families will start to function again. Men and women will start to dress right, walk right, act right, talk right. The fear of God would fall again upon our cities like those 120,000 in Nineveh that fell in sackcloth and ashes, crying out for mercy, for a holy God. Revival changes the church. Revival changes the streets. Revival, revival. We need biblical, biblical revival, not the mess of revival that's being preached today. True biblical revival will harmonize with the teaching of the scripture. And if it doesn't harmonize with the scripture, forget all about it. I've seen so-called servants of God telling all congregations their little sad stories of the mission field, how they're suffering so much, all the persecution they have to face, all the con money out of people. When they get to the mission field, I've watched them. They sit there eating ice cream, drinking coffee, chatting on MSN Messenger, flirting about with any young thing with a skirt. If I hadn't seen these things with my own two eyes, I wouldn't have believed them. Hypocrites, actors, our generation is crying aloud for far-felled saints. Where are the holy, spiritful men and women that will preach this gospel just as it is written? Where are they? Where are the soldiers of the cross of Christ? The man we administer is an actor or a hypocrite. Jude says certain men crept in on the words. They dress themselves up as sheep. In second place, the man we administer is a tax collector. He is a tax collector. An actor pretends to be something he's not and lives out of touch with reality. The tax collector is just after you for one thing. That's what you've got there in your back pocket. He's after you for your money. Jude tells us there in verse 11, he says, they have run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. This term here in the Greek to run greedily after implies that absolutely nothing or no one would stop this man we administer in his quest for materialism or for temporal gain. It's exactly the same term that's used in Acts 118 when the word of God tells us that Judas hung himself and his boils literally gushed out. It's exactly the same term that implies that nothing could hold them back. Nothing could hold Judas's boils back. Nothing could hold the man we administer from his materialistic request. Nothing would come between them and their desired destination. Second, Peter two, three, through covetousness, shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. Their only interest is to feed themselves. They'll take advantage of the sheep that get to their required destination. And their whole message is one that gets the popular support of the people. Happiness, healing, health, wealth, getting your pulpit, preach a trouble free life, seven steps to success, promotion. Let's listen. Watch the thousands flow into your church. You don't have to be born again to preach those principles. That's always been the world's way from day one. No effort, no faithfulness, no commitment, no love to God. We've got so perverted in our day that 80 percent of our even juggled churches believe that if you just confess something positively enough, God is somehow under the obligation to perform the thing. That's paganism. That's Buddhism. That's New Age. That's not the gospel. Oh. Well, I am going to confess something positively and I am going to see this come to pass, all this prosperity nonsense, all these prosperity pimps occupying our pulpits, all this positive confession dirt, it's going to be rooted out. It's going to be shown for what it is. Such preachers don't seek God. They seek goods. God will be glorified. Christ will be lifted up again and all the land and all the earth and every knee will buy to give him glory. Every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. Glory to God. Glory to God. Tax collectors and biblical times took more than what was due to them. Bible talks in detail about two tax collectors. Number one was a man named Matthew. He was the author of the first gospel that we'll have there in the New Testament. This man had an encounter with Jesus. Christ called him to follow him. Matthew got up, left all behind. What's that mean? Matthew knows he's part of another kingdom. No, he's away from the kingdom of darkness. He's no longer a tax collector. No more cheating, no more telling lies to people, no more manipulating poor people. You see, in those days, the historical context is that that land of Israel or Palestine was under Roman occupation. And so Rome put a price upon the head of every person. The families had to pay their taxes to the tax collector. And then the tax collector gave those taxes to an authority he had, who then sent them to Rome. What did the tax collectors do when they came to ask for money? He added on a few extra euros for themselves, for their own back pocket. They conned their own flesh and blood, all in an attempt to get themselves rich. Matthew got up, followed Christ. First thing he does, puts on a wonderful feast for Jesus Christ. How can this be? A man that had deceived his own flesh and blood. A man that had manipulated people in an attempt to get himself rich. Generosity, that selfishness had been struck there in his heart. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, no more telling lies to people, no more cheating, no more manipulating. You start to walk right. You live the gospel. It's not just enough to get on a platform and preach the thing. You must live the gospel. And if your life doesn't line up with the gospel, let me save you a lot of time and effort. Don't waste your time preaching it. Don't waste your time preaching the message that you don't live. Matthew had that selfishness struck there in his heart, and the man who would have been one of his superiors was a man called Zacchaeus. Bible says he was a chief publican right there in Luke chapter 19. You ask someone, well, what characterized Zacchaeus? Everybody's going to tell you, well, he was a small man. But before the Bible even tells us he was a small man, tells us something else about him. Surprise, surprise. Says he was a rich man. Zacchaeus was a rich man. Jesus came to him. Salvation came to that son of Abraham. And here Zacchaeus says, Lord, I'm going to give half of my goods to the poor. And if I've taken anything by false accusation from anybody, I will restore unto him fourfold. Repentance in his heart was proved by the fruit he produced. True repentance will result in true biblical fruit. Someone tells me they're a Christian and lives like a devil. Let me tell you something. Either they're telling me a lie or Jesus is telling me a lie. Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. If they're not following me and they're telling me they're sheep of the Lord, either he's lying or Jesus is lying. And I don't know about you, but I know who I believe, Jesus, every time. The believer will produce fruit of the Holy Spirit. There are two kingdoms, the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of heaven. Where do your affections lie? What is the goal of your life? What is the reason for your getting up in the morning? Do you just want to be known someday as some great preacher? Are you putting all your energy and strength into getting yourself rich or famous or successful? Or do you just want to live for the glory of the kings and the Lord of lords? When you lay your head in the pillow at night, where do your thoughts go? What do you think about? Do you think about the glory of the cross, the person of Jesus Christ? Or do you think about schemes, how to make yourself rich and popular and how to aument your self-esteem? The man of God, the woman of God lives for another kingdom. Christ talks so much about money. If you study every passage in the New Testament explicitly where he mentions money, he doesn't talk about money so that we can all be rich, have big houses with white fences and lovely horses. If you study each passage where he talks about money, he's always warning the people, be careful. It's the greatest idol that contradicts the worship of the true God. Be careful. Be careful where your affections lie. When is the last time you heard a sermon on this verse? Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You tell parents in schools nowadays that their kids aren't behaving right. Couldn't care less. Tell that same parent, well, then, if your kid's not behaving right, it's not worth you spending your money, sending them here. Well, that gets the parents attention. Only goes to show they couldn't care less if the little kid ends up a child of the devil. The only thing they're worried about is their pocket. That's where their heart is, their money. Sad as it is to say, the reason 95 percent of the people woke up in this nation this morning was to go out and get themselves a little bit richer. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having money. I work as a teacher by profession. But what I am saying is if you're prepared to get up to work at five o'clock in the morning to get yourself money and in your day off, you're not prepared to get up at five o'clock to say, God, there's something wrong with the motives of your heart. God must be first. God must be our end and not our means. I love my brother because he's a worthy end in himself. I don't you love him as a means to get to my end. If he just serves his purpose, I cast him aside and then I go on with my quest. That's not love. That's using a person on the scene with God. If you truly use God, he is not a means to get to your material, prosperous and God is an end in himself. Jesus Christ, beginning and end, Alpha and Omega, first and last, author and finisher of our faith. He that was, he that is, he that evermore shall be. I arrived at the northern province of Chihuahua. I was preaching there in the nation of Mexico for two and a half months this summer, flat out the whole two and a half months. I arrived at a national youth conference, 7000 young people there. Offering time comes, you invite a pastor to get up, to make a little appeal, to get people to give money. Here's what he says. Here's what he said. I'm going to quote you with his very lips. He said, they'll set the Lord. So you're saved and I will baptize you in the Holy Ghost. So you're saved and I will hear you of every sickness. Such a preacher has an account to give to God on the day of judgment, and I can still hear the words of the prophet Peter resigned and dying and throughout the ages, your money perish with you for you thought you can buy the gift, the gift of God with money. Christ is not a means. Christ is not some path you use to get to your desired destination. Christ is all and all beginning and end. He is Lord. He is God. He is everything. And if you don't have Christ, you don't have anything. Christ is all in all. The servant of Christ is generous because he has an eternal perspective. He lives for another kingdom. But the tax collector is the here and the now. This is a humanistic, utilitarian religion, preaches for 10 shekels and a shirt. He opens doors for himself. He doesn't preach because he's burning with a thought set the Lord. He's preaching because he's burning for the generous offering that's coming after the sermon. How I won, verse four says, is it time for you to dwell in your sealed houses? Well, my house lays waste, but set the Lord God, consider your ways, get back to God. Stop fooling about with the nonsense of this world and put your priority on Christ and Christ crucified. Such a preacher would sell a soul to get a sermon and television projected online. He'd go anywhere, do anything, shake anybody's hand, all to get himself known, his name and likes, much respect in the preaching industry, anything for riches, anything for fame, anything to be known. The prince of Puritan theologians, John Owen said, through a faithless, corrupt ministry, the truth has been debased, corrupted and perverted. The man of God, Savonarola, in the late 15th century, Florence preached against all the superstition and idolatry that there was in Roman Catholicism, that burnt the man alive for preaching the gospel. And they said in his day, don't go near a priest. Don't go near the preacher. Why not? They're the scum of the earth. The unbelievers said that Savonarola himself preached from the pulpit. If you want to make your son a child of the devil, make him a preacher, make him a priest. How many friendships and families have been forsaken in the fight for fortune and fame? How many people have been trampled upon all in an attempt for self prosperity, for self gain? So, big man, you've got your ministry, you've got your name in lights. Everyone mentions your name. And what? Does your soul let you rest in peace at night after all the people you used, all the people you abused? Does your conscience let you sleep in peace at night? What good is it to gain the whole world if you lose your soul? Will your Internet ministry save you on judgment day? Instead, spending time in prayer and the word of God, 21st century church is wasting their time with plans and programs all in an attempt to get somewhere, not recognizing that to get anywhere without God is to get absolutely nowhere. 2 Peter 2, 15 says they have forsaken the right way, gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Besor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. The wages of unrighteousness will turn you astray, will make you forsake that pure faith of the gospel. We're not here looking for wages of unrighteousness. We're here looking for wages of righteousness, the grace, the peace, the glory of the soon coming king, the Lord Jesus Christ. What money could buy his presence to be with him for all eternity as an inheritance that no earthly gain is comparable to? Is he your all in all? Is he the reason you live? Then rejoice, then be glad, for he is coming soon. He will draw near. He will lift you up. He will guide you through thick and thin. Through him, to him are all things. Amen. The man, the minister is an actor or a hypocrite. The man, the minister is a tax collector. And the man, the minister is a prostitute. Yeah, you heard me right, the set of prostitute. He speaks perverted words and lives a perverted life. Verse eight, Jude says, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh and despise dominion. Prostitutes earn their cash in bed, distressing themselves and everyone else they infect. I'd just like to point out here that any type of sexual conduct outside of marriage is completely forbidden by the Bible. There came out an article in Evangelical Press 2008 in the summer, a publication in the evangelical world, a little youth leader said, I teach the kids that are under me to make sure before they get married, they're sexually compatible and then they can get married. Let me tell you something here. Let me clear something up. The only thing that sex before or sex outside of marriage is compatible with is the lake of fire and brimstone. There's nothing holy about sex before marriage to see if you're compatible. A man of God keeps himself for a woman of God and a woman of God keeps herself for a man of God. And that's the end of the story. Prostitutes live in bed, so they're always half asleep. God said of the false prophets in Jeremiah's day, in Jeremiah 23, 25. I have heard what the prophet said. The prophecy lies in my name saying, I have dreamed. I have dreamed. Have you formed part of a movement where your dreams, visions and so- called new revelations are exalted to the authority of the word of God or supersede in the authority of the word of God? You can write a quote over your movement. The glory has departed. A man came up to me in the summer and said, William, I dreamt about you last night and I believe God would have me pleased to tell you the dream. And I said, thanks. Thank you, sir. But just the question, does your dream line up with the teaching of the scripture? He said, no, I said, well, then keep your little dream for yourself. Doesn't line up with the scripture, can go to hell. No time for that nonsense. It's the word of God and that's all it's about. The prostitute is sedated and drugged, half asleep, being with a thousand partners and is plagued with disease. Prostitutes come out at night because they hate the light. Forgive me for the voice. It's worth losing your voice for the glory of God. The one thing the carnal heart can stand is the street preaching of the word of God. I know there's some of you sitting here now and you want to stone me. You want to kill me. That's no problem. I'm used to it. Go ahead. One thing always gets me attention is that woman, Herodias, Herodias, his wife. Herodias, his daughter, dance, Herodias, his daughter, dance before the king, belly dancing before a group of drunken men. And she pleased everybody. Herodias says to her, I'll give you up to half the kingdom. What do you want? Well, Herodias, his daughter runs their mom. My mom, what will ask for that woman and that festival of music, that orgy of sex, all that entertainment, all the high emotionalism of all it should say. And the only thing in that woman's heart was the death of a little itinerant preacher out there in the wilderness who told her she wasn't right with God. She thought she was religious. She thought she was wonderful in society. Some religious woman she was. She lets her daughter dance half naked in front of a group of drunken men. Some wonderful religious woman she was, if you preach the Lord, be prepared for the consequences. We long for holiness and days when dignity is not even respected. I've seen women in our church dress leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, like a piece of meat on display. The only thing I've ever seen getting remotely excited about a piece of meat on display is a dog. And if you're dressing up to please the hounds of hell, then why are you wasting your time playing church? Why flirt about with Christianity? Enjoy your sin while at last Christ is coming soon. Jesus didn't say to the prostitute, up you get. You've two hours before midday. Sleep about with a few clients. Get yourself more money. Up you get now. Sin no more. You don't go back to that nonsense. I know no one's cast a stone. They're all hypocrites like everyone else. But go and sin no more. Holiness. There's nothing complicated about the thing. It's the most practical thing imaginable. Not about climbing on top of a pool, running around in a circle, crying out for God to send rain so that you know he hears you. Not about going out the little desert, drinking orange juice, eating carrots for 30 years, have a little mystical visions every 10 minutes. True holiness is walking in the fruit of the Holy Ghost, reflecting the love, the truth, the holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing complicated about the thing. A holy man will act right, will talk right, will walk right, will go to the right places and the same with the woman of God. We're talking about prostitutes. There's an ex-Episcopalian priest, and he's preaching in public, on Internet and through his books. He tells, he's going to tell you that the apostle Paul was a repressed homosexual. Says, when you read Paul in the book of Romans, first Corinthians, Galatians with his anti-homosexual stance, this man's going to tell you, well, that's Paul giving vent to his repressed homosexuality. When we live in an age that promotes prostitute doctrine like that, when preachers like that are sharing in evangelical churches, when homosexual theology is a gruelling movement, we have to ask ourselves, how far are we from the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? The prostitute preaches for money. Protest has been taken out of Protestants. We don't fight for anything. The prostitute lies down and takes whatever is given to her. And if ever there's been a picture of our situation in our contemporary age, that is it. Protest has gone. Whatever it is, we'll take it. We will simulate it to make our gospel pleasing to the world. Prostitutes put prizes on their heads. I know of men personally who aren't going to preach in your revival convention if you don't pay them one thousand five hundred euros. And it for the money and it for what they can get out of it. Merchandise. The gospel isn't to be used for us to get money. The gospel is to use us to give glory to God. The prostitute puts a price on her head. When I was in Mexico, I was around that nation from north to south and east to west in the two and a half months. The first Tuesday I arrived, what it did in the Mondays, I travel from one city to the next to start preaching on a Tuesday and I preach the whole way through to the Sunday night. And in the Monday we travel to the next city. And I arrived at the city of Juarez. It's up there in the north of Mexico. It's the second most dangerous city on the face of the planet. The first day I arrived there to kill thirty nine people on the next day in the newspaper, there was an article there that said not done for 30 pesos, not done for 30 pesos. They kill for 30 pesos, 30 pesos or two American dollars. That's what a life's worth right there. The churches were so pleased to see me, they said, well, I can't believe God has sent a little white skinned red haired boy to come preach the gospel. And I said, well, why not? They said, no one comes to preach to us anymore. Well, why not? Number one, it's dangerous. The preachers of the gospel are persecuted here. Number two, there's no money. The city's run by drug lords. The police are sold out to the drug lords that run the city. So there's no popularity. There's no money. There's absolutely nothing. So no one comes to preach to us anymore. We just want to preach where we're going to get big offerings and applause from people. We don't want to go to the little heaven corners of the earth. I arrived on that Tuesday night. I'm going to walk into the church in the city of Juarez. Everywhere I went, I had to go with another person with me. They couldn't leave me alone. I went into the church and all of a sudden all the lights in the church went out and the pastor gets up in the pulpit and says to the people, OK, we're going to have a meeting on the street. Here's me, white skinned, ginger haired boy, second most dangerous city in the face of the planet. Preacher just says I'm going to be preaching right here on the face of the second most dangerous city in the planet. I'm telling you, I'm not Superman. I lost five stone in half a second. I'm not one for hearing voices, but I heard a voice in that moment said to me, don't you dare preach tonight. If you open your mouth, you know the first person passes by here is going to shoot you dead. A fear entered in me that almost paralyzed me and I thought for a moment and I answered and I said, thank you very much for your advice, Satan. But if I live, I will live for the glory of God. And if I die, I will die for the glory of God. What could be more glorious than to spread your blood, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? I said, I'll lift my voice ten times louder than I've ever raised before. That this city may know there is hope, there is life, there is salvation, there is a savior. Christ reigns. The prostitute lives in the realm of the flesh. Sensual, according to Jude, verse nine. Believers that love every type of sin have brought every type of gimmick and publicity stunt and our church, look what we've got around us, churches designed like discos. We've got pub type music, Christian magazines that have front covers, virgin on the pornographic. Even the ungodly are laughing at us. If you use that same rubbish to bring people into the church, you've got to use the same garbage to keep them there. You can forget all I've preached to you this morning. But remember this. There is one way into the church of the living God. It's called the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross kills the odor, kills the stench of this world. It's Christ and him crucified. That is our glory. That is our song. That is our reason for being here. Where did we learn to switch spirituality off? I've seen people at the altar with tears in their eyes. I believe God's touched them five minutes after the meeting. They're out jumping on top of cars, painting themselves pink, shouting out loud that everyone will hear them. Whatever happened to the days of Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Edwards, when the Holy Spirit would work with such conviction that the spirit of the Lord would fall and the sinners would hold on to the pillars of the church, said, don't preach any longer. We're going into hell. What must we do to be saved? Whatever happened to the days when the saints fell three, four hours, prostrate, prostrate in their faces before Almighty God and a sense of his presence? I've arrived at a conclusion that much of what we're witnessing in contemporary Christianity is not Holy Spirit. It's an unholy spirit. It's Babylon for the most part, a godless system that is no time for the Lord of the Scriptures. This message I'm giving you today, you couldn't preach this in 80 percent of our evangelical churches. The prostitute operates in the realm of the flesh. The flesh is the realm of the emotions that man made minister, always up and down, moody. You're afraid of talking to them, afraid of saying anything because anything you say will be misinterpreted as an assault upon his character. Such a person knows nothing about having the rights of four lives given up to Jesus Christ. We need God ordained ministers. How can we expect revival with this type of ministry? And why do you want ministry? Why do you want revival? You want revival for money, for fame, for your name to be in lights, for you to be projected on a great screen, to go all broadcast on the Internet. You want revival that maybe someday you'll write your autobiography of how powerfully God used you, or better yet, that someone a generation on will write about how powerfully God used you. Well, then I'm sorry to tell you this, you're under the same law of the jungle as everybody else is. And this perverse and decadent generation, we don't seek revival for benefits for ourselves. It's Jesus Christ. It's a people saturated with God. There comes a time when we have to get fed up with all of these vicious religious animals occupying our pulpits in this age. But who is going to speak out? Who's going to lay their life on the line for the gospel? Who's going to put their throat on the line for the message of Jesus Christ? Who's going to be a John the Baptist who's going to open the scriptures, put their finger in the thing and just say, though, say the Lord and not make any apologies and not hold anything back. The man, the minister is an actor, a hypocrite, a tax collector and a prostitute. We are surrounded by such ministries. And if you don't know anyone like that, well, number one, count yourself blessed. Or number two, open your eyes. It's time to wake it up to reality. And the face of this phenomenon, how must we react to finish? Number one, we must weep again. We must get back to tears. We must get back to brokenness. We must intercede like Daniel, Nehemiah, Moses, Paul and all the saints of old. We must weep. Number two, perhaps a little more controversial. But biblical, we must get angry. We must get angry. Anger, contrary to common opinion, is not sin. Anger for the wrong motive. Anger directed at the wrong person. That's sin. But sin for the glory of the living God is the healthiest sign of spiritual life that there ever was. Moses got angry and God used him to lead the Israelites into Egypt. Phinehas got angry for God. And God established an eternal covenant of peace and grace with that man. Jesus got angry and cast all those money changers out of the temple. Believers nowadays, Ah, but Paul said, don't get angry. I can't tell you where Paul said that, because that's the wonderful biblical knowledge we have nowadays. Paul said in Ephesians 4, 26. Here's what Paul said. Be ye angry and sin not. He doesn't say don't get angry. If you get angry for the wrong motive, that's sin. But if you're zealous for the glory of the living God, that is a wonderful dispensation. That is a glorious grace. Jehu said in 2 Kings 10, 16. Come with me and see my zeal for the glory of God. And he expelled the worship of Baal out of the land. The glory of God. We need anger. We need men in the pulpit that burn with zeal and passion for the glory of God. The reason we don't believe in anger anymore, because we've taken the doctrine of the wrath of God out of our theological textbooks, we don't believe God's angry anymore. We don't believe he gets angry at sin. Jude speaks of apostasy. But just before he finishes his epistle, he gives advice to true servants of the Lord when surrounded by actors and hypocrites, tax collectors and prostitutes. He says in verse 20 and 21, would you beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Our only hope of spiritual survival in this day and age is a holy faith, not a two faced hypocritical faith, a holy faith that says no to sin at every corner and high by abiding in the Holy Ghost, a holy people walk in the Holy Ghost. So man of God, woman of God, preach a good gospel, live a good gospel. Babylon is coming down. If everybody else around you wants to be a man made minister, let them be so. But make sure you are a God ordained minister. Make sure you live for the glory of God. So by means of conclusion, I repeat my initial proposal that the single greatest curse that can come to any land that has ever known the gospel is something by the name of man made ministry. Man made ministry is keeping multitudes from the reality of God. The hypocrite is going to get his reward. In fact, he's already got it. The tax collector is going to wake up to find his reward in the lake of fire and brimstone and the prostitute smoke will rise up forevermore. Man made ministry is reprobate, depraved and rejected of a holy God. Anything contrary to his glory will see its end. All men are as grass of the field, and all their glory is like the floor of the grass. The grass withers, the floor fades, but the word of the Lord abides forevermore. William Perkins wrote, Nothing is worse or more despicable than evil and immoral ministers. No man's predicament will be more miserable than the careless ministers. But he also said no one is worthy of more love and reverence than a holy minister. Church, in the midst of this nonsense, we're witnessing. I understand this hasn't been an easy message to preach. I've had the fight to be able to preach what I've said to you today. But I am going to tell you something in the midst of this darkness and the great confusion we are living in, there is a great hope that God in this day of man made ministry is going to raise up again. God ordained ministers filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit that preach the gospel just the way it is. Christ will guide you through thick and thin no matter what you have to go through. He gave us a promise in Ezekiel chapter thirty four, twenty three. I will set up one shepherd over them. He will feed them. Either my servant David, he will feed them and he will be their shepherd. In the midst of apostasy, in the midst of decadence, Christ will guide you through thick and thin. So be holy, be faithful and above all, love God. It's the hour for God ordained saints to arise and bring this man made dirt to its knees. The chief shepherd is soon to return and will grant the crown of glory to all of those that love his coming. Our reward is Jesus Christ. He is the prize. He is our pleasure. He is all and all. And the word of Jude finishes saying in verse twenty four, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God and saviour, be glory, be majesty, be dominion and power both now and forever and forever and forever. Amen. Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God. Why don't you stand? I will pray to finish this message. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Don't be ashamed. You can pray it loud. Don't hold yourself back. It's time to seek God. It's time to seek him for the pouring of the Holy Ghost. Come on, God. We bless you, Lord. You are almighty. You are holy. You are perfect. Your word will not return on the void. Let your work do a mighty work in us in these days. Raise up God. God ordained ministers. I ask you in this very place, raise up preachers, raise up evangelists, raise up pastors, raise up prophets to the nations that will preach. Thus saith the Lord. Lord, bring this man made filth to its knees. Let the Holy Ghost burn. Let him please our heart that we will preach like Jeremiah, that we will preach like Malachi, like Jude. Come on, God. Glorify your son. Glorify your name. We ask it in the name of our great God and Savior. That name that is above every name, the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the people of God said a glorious, victorious, resounding. Amen. Glory to God. Glory to God. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/yTUoqEZndTs.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/will-graham/man/ ========================================================================