Fiery Arrows, Sinners, and Satan

Would you all get them this year's bestseller? Please turn with me quickly to the Word of God, 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 reading from verse 1. And we've been dealing with this series from Ephesians chapter 6 on the fiery arrows or fiery darts of the wicked one, of the devil, of the evil one. How he chooses arrows and those arrows are stratagems, they're devices, they're wilds. It's what the Bible calls wilds.

In other words, intelligent, well-thought-out plans that he's used regularly that are very successful, that he's very used to using. And those arrows, he is efficient with them, he is familiar with them, he doesn't try and invent new things, he doesn't have to. When the old weapons work well, why try to find new ones? And so here this morning is part 8 in this series and I've called this Fiery Arrows, Sinners and Satan, reading from 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1. Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Let me just break in for a second to say something, I'm gonna keep reading. But you know what he's saying there? He's saying, I hold forth the Word of God, I openly preach the Word of God, I commend the written scriptures to you, that you can test my life, that you can study my life. In other words, my life, you can see how I live.

See, a message isn't enough when you stand up here in this pulpit. Your life has everything to do with the message. If you contradict the message, it's a sham.

Your life is important, your life and the message are important. And it's not good enough to have just a good life, but your message is wrong. Both are absolutely vital, and that's what Paul is saying here.

We're not using deception, we're not using craftiness. When we stand and hold the Word of God, he said we commend ourselves, we hold forth the Word of God, you can judge our life, you can judge our message, you can test it, and he says, "...ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not.

Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Let's pray together here this morning.

Father, we love you. We just bow our heads. We bow our hearts.

Lord God, we are here. Lord God, at your footstool realizing you're the creator of heaven and earth. Oh God, that you knew us even before there was a world.

That you're a God who is omniscient. You're almighty. Oh God, you know all things.

You're everywhere. You're omnipresent. Lord God, you're here present right in the midst of us.

You have all power. Lord God, you know our hearts. You know our past.

You know our future. Lord God, we stand in awe of you because we love you. You have won our hearts.

We're not following religion or tradition or churchianity, but we've found and encountered the Christ of Calvary, the one who died and rose again on the third day and lives triumphant. Lord God, we've encountered him and found him, not to be a lie or deception or a myth. Oh God, but we've found the power of this to change lives, to set people free, to restore the heart, to mend the mind.

And Lord God, you do satisfy the heart. And we love you, Lord Jesus, with all of our heart here this morning. We pray by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that fiery darts might be extinguished.

In Jesus' name, amen. My message again, fiery arrows, sinners, and Satan. Paul says here, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are lost.

Verse 4, in whom, and this is my text this morning, in whom the God of this world, speaking about those who are lost, those who do not believe, those for whatever reason, whether it's through not believing it, saying it's ridiculous, I don't believe there's truth in it, or on the other end, believing that it's true, but not able to find the reality of it. He's speaking about these and he says, in them, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. So we see him behind all unbelief, an utter rejection of the God, the Creator of heaven.

There is something behind that. It's not innocent. It's not indifferent.

It's not just everyone's got their own ideas. There is something behind unbelief and a rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the devil is not a influence or a power. He is a person.

God is a person. The devil is a person. We live in an hour where men want to make you believe that evil is just a thing, a power, an influence, someone going wrong.

I'm gonna tell you it's more than that. The Bible is clear. Not only is there a real personal God behind all creation, there is a real personal devil behind the stage of time, and he is very influential.

But I want you to see here this morning that one of the great works of Satan is towards not the saint, not the Christian, but towards a sinner, the unbeliever, those who are lost, those in darkness, those who do not know Christ. And it gives you the cause that they do not believe. It says, "...and whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not." And it says then, "...the reason why he blinds their minds, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine onto them." So why does this real devil who's called the God of this world, why does he blind the minds? Because in case of lest the gospel shines onto him.

He is in fear. See the devil's in fear of very little, but he is in fear. He is concerned about the real light of the gospel shining to those that do not believe.

He doesn't want that. He is utterly, utterly, radically opposed to it. Notice what Paul calls him here.

He says that he is the God of this world. God small g. He's not the God. And notice he's not God.

God is God of all things. He is the God of this world. In other words, he's God only in the context of this world.

That means that the devil presents himself in a form that he is worshipped. Why does Paul call him the God of this world? Because he is worshipped by this world. He is followed by it, revered by it, noted by it.

Listen, he is listened by that world. And he disguises himself so people don't think they are worshipping the God of this world. If you ask someone out there, are you worshipping the devil, the God of this world? Of course not.

I don't believe in him. I don't believe in all that stuff. And yet listen, how is he listened to? How do you listen to the God of this world? Media, education, society, culture, all of this around us, there is an overwhelming voice.

Whoever gets the power of that voice, that influence can affect an entire generation. That's why in one short generation, if you told me halfway through my life, you're gonna have in the schools them running about saying, a little boy can be a little girl. A little Jimmy who's five years old, if you don't like girls, that means you love boys.

I want to tell you, I was scared of girls at five years old and seven years old and nine years old. I didn't want to sit beside them. I thought they were another creature from another world.

And if you had asked me at five years old or seven years old, do you like girls? Of course not. I don't like girls. They're a strange creature.

If you had told me 20 years ago or 30 years ago that our education system, that our governments, that the law of the land would begin to push, and this was only one ideology, I would have said never. I know it's gonna get bad. I know the Bible says it's gonna get bad, but I couldn't have even imagined that thought.

Here we're told that the devil is the God of this world. He is listened to. He is worshipped.

You see, what do you sacrifice to? Give your money to, give your time to, listen to, begin to follow. You're actually a worshipper. You're sacrificing to something.

There's some men who are atheists. They're actually worshippers, but they don't realize it. They're very devoted, very committed, very consistent.

He's the God of this world. The Greek word world there is aeon. It means an age, a period of time, or the age we live in.

It's a specific period of time or a generation. We could use the word contemporary. We could call it the contemporary culture around us because it can shift, it can change.

Culture does change, and it's radically changed. And you know what? It hasn't even begun. You're gonna see a radical change in the next five years or ten years, the like of which you can't even imagine.

If it's not stopped, what's coming down the line is nothing compared to what's changed our society in the past ten years. So he's the God of this world. That means this world, the contemporary society, the things that flood through politics and society and education and even the church.

Listen, this is what it means. It's thoughts, it's opinions, it's attitudes, it's ways, it's speculations, it's impulses, and it's desires. And so the devil is the God of this world.

Invisible, hidden behind the scenes, and yet he is the God of this world. What sweeps across a generation, there is someone behind it. The Bible is clear.

There's a personal devil. He's out to destroy souls, to damn souls, to darken minds. And you know what? He will use media and internet and YouTube.

He'll use politicians or pop stars. He'll use them. Don't tell me we're dealing with something natural.

We are not dealing with natural things in this generation. So what does the devil do? In this verse it says the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not. The word blinded means to close the eyes, to cover with darkness.

It means to darken the mind, blunt the mental discernment, or obscure your understanding. Some years ago we were on a holiday down in the south of Spain, just had five days, and we desperately needed a shutdown. And I went, just on the coastline, it's Gibraltar.

Never been there. Always wanted to go there. The British Army are stationed there.

It's part of the United Kingdom. And it's a massive rock. You've got all the monkeys there.

I want to go and see it. So we jumped on the car and everything was flat. The roads were flat.

And we started following the coastline. And I looked on the map. And I looked on the internet.

And I saw where it was. And I go, you can't miss it. I'm in the rock of Gibraltar.

It is massive. You cannot miss it. I didn't have to use GPS.

Just stay in this road. And we're going to come down to it. So I'm driving, and driving, and driving.

And I'm going, where's this great rock of Gibraltar? And so when I got way down the road, I went, hold on. This is wrong. We're in the wrong place.

I had to turn around. And I started driving back up. The sun's shining down on us.

And yet I can't see this great rock of Gibraltar. You know what had happened? This mist, sea mist had come down and uncovered the entire rock of Gibraltar. Not my road.

Not the land. Only the rock. It was engulfed in this mist.

To such a degree, I could drive right past it. And I never seen it. Never seen it once.

Do you know that when someone's eyes are blinded, something can be there. Something can be real. Something can be true.

And they'll go, I don't see it. Of course you don't. You see, the God of this world have blinded the minds.

How does he do it? Ideologies, teachings, opinions, thoughts, comments, education. So now you think a little girl could be a boy. And that there's multiple sexes.

You can just change it, switch it on. What a mess they're making of people. The God of this world blinds.

Notice what he blinds. The minds. Doesn't say the heart.

It says the minds. What is the mind? It's a place of intellect. Of thinking.

Of reasoning. Of understanding. It's a faculty where you interact with opinions and ideas and information.

And so look at it. Your mind. This thing here.

Not your heart. Your mind. That place of thought.

That place of drawing in information. It says the God of this world has blinded. He has darkened the mind.

He has closed the eyes. Why would he do that? Why is it the devil attacks the mind? And notice who it is. Of those who do not believe.

Of those who are lost. Those who don't know Jesus Christ. He blinds.

He has blinded. This isn't something he's trying to do or gonna do. The Bible says he has blinded.

See he's the God of this world. A whole generation he can blind them. He's got the power by thoughts and opinions to blind them.

The rock of Gibraltar can be there. You can't even see it. I could be saying it's there.

I don't believe you. And yet it's as solid as a rock. It is a solid rock.

And yet a mist. You know what that mist is like? It's like deception and lies and opinions. It can darken the eyes.

Darken the mind. That you cannot believe. That you will not believe.

Let me give you four points here. The fiery, number one, fiery arrow of ignorance. Number two, the fiery arrow of hindrance.

Number three, the fiery arrow of false conversion. Number four, the fiery arrow of falling away. Number one, the fiery arrow of ignorance.

Ignorance of what? Ignorance of the gospel. See ignorance has to do with the mind. The fiery arrow of ignorance.

I believe the devil fires fiery darts, fiery arrows. And those arrows are devices, methods, ways of thinking, ideology. And he can fire them at an individual.

And they can get so hit by that it can destroy them. That they cannot believe and they will not believe. Ignorance is a fiery dart of the evil one.

Ignorance isn't bliss. It's definitely not. And there's a few things in this.

First of all, there's those who have never heard. You can be ignorant because you have never heard. Look at verse 3. What it says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.

They didn't know it. So look at the first kind of ignorance that you get. The gospel is hid from you because you never received it.

You never heard it. You don't know about it. You could be there in darkness not knowing anything about Christ.

And yet it is spread across our world. Do you know some 1,300 years ago, maybe 1,400 years ago, the emperor of China commissioned that this Bible here at my hands would be translated into the language of the people, every province, and that it would be proclaimed in every single province. I can give you the history of the world, how the gospel swept the most unlikely places in our world.

It's gone nation after nation after nation. This isn't a Western gospel. This is not a Western religion.

I want to tell you, all Asia got impacted by the power of the gospel, even Japan. But these things have been forgotten in our day. We think it's a white gospel or a Western gospel.

Far from it, my friend. I want to tell you, the gospel has gone out into all of the world. But hear what the apostle says, if our gospel, he calls the gospel our gospel because it's what he preaches, it's what he believes, it's what's changed his entire life.

If our gospel be hid, he uses the word hid twice here. It means to obscure, cover it over, to neglect it, to leave it dormant, leaving our gospel dormant, leaving it obscured, leaving it hidden. Do you know what it's talking about? A stratagem of hell, so that those who know the gospel, experience the gospel, never share it with those who have never heard the gospel.

In other words, to know but not to tell, to know and not to go, to have the gospel and not to give it to others. This is a great stratagem of the devil, so that you don't advance beyond your four walls. If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost and you need to hear that.

If you don't tell people about Jesus, if you don't reason with them, if you don't give good arguments, if you don't give them evidence, the gospel is hid. What is the gospel? It's the good news that Jesus died on the cross, that he was God's Son, that this is God's way to forgive sin, to change lives. And yet that gospel, that's the power of God, that changes drug addicts, that changes people who are suicidal, that changes people who are atheistic and hopeless and go, there's nothing after death.

The power of the gospel actually changes them and makes them new creatures, new people. And so the fiery arrow of ignorance, when the devil uses ignorance, he doesn't want sinners to hear, and this is a danger with the church. We better let this community know.

You better tell people of the power of Christ. How can you have the gospel but keep it hidden? You cannot. You must not.

You mustn't allow that. But it's more than people who have not heard. It's also people who do not understand.

The fiery arrow of ignorance. The devil doesn't want a sinner to understand. To understand the gospel, understand his need, understand the truth, understand the opportunity, understand the provision, understand that there's every answer in the Bible.

They may say, sure the Bible's filled with mistakes, show me one. Oh sure, sure there's too many questions the Bible doesn't answer. Tell me what they are.

Because I tell you, I've got a lot of answers out of this book. This book is saturated with answers. It's actually got the most accurate history of our world.

If I start going into this, I can give you fact after fact. But listen to me. One of the strategies of the devil is the understanding the mind.

He wants to keep you in ignorance. So not only hiding the gospel that you don't hear it, you don't receive it, there's no one in around you who actually tells you that this is true, or you can't see it in their changed life. Another way is that you hear it, you get presented with it, you come into contact with it, but you don't understand it.

Jesus talked about this in Matthew 13 verse 3 when he gave a parable about the four kinds of ground. Sowing seed, the gospel's the same, Christ is the same, the preacher is the same, but the ground is differently. You get four different responses.

Same gospel, same message, same facts. One person is radically changed, one person goes, I don't understand it. Well, do you need more information? I don't understand it.

Listen to what Jesus said. Behold a sower, that's him, or a preacher. A sower went forth to sow good seed, and when he had sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured them up.

So this is a wayside hearer at the side of a pathway. He says then in verse 19, when anyone, and this is him explaining it, when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, the gospel, when they hear the gospel, they understand it not. They're hearing it.

The gospel's being presented to them, it's held out to them, and they go, I don't understand it. Intellectually, I do not understand it. It doesn't make sense to me.

I don't get it. And so the Bible here, Jesus is showing us that this particular kind of person does not understand the gospel. There is an ignorance.

The word understandeth means to put it all together, to put things in the right place. They just do not get it. They hear the message, they hear the words, they understand what you're saying, but they do not comprehend it.

It does not impact them. It carries no weight. It sounds like a story.

They do not see the meaning behind it. They do not apply it to themselves. They hear stories, but it is no life-changing power for them.

They're actually ignorant. They're actually un-understanding. They do not understand it.

It doesn't change their life. It doesn't bring forth any fruit within their lives. Truth cannot penetrate this hard ground.

They are hard ground hearers. The seed falls on the wayside, and their heart is of such a condition. It's their heart, their mind, their understanding is of such a condition that the seed of God's word that does miracles, that changes other lives, it just sits there, and there's no understanding.

The seed does not germinate. It does not sprout any roots. It has no influence into the ground.

They do not mix truth with faith because they have no faith. They cannot believe. They do not believe.

They just are indifferent. It's a casual thing. Jesus also said over in Luke 8, 5 about this kind of person.

As he sowed the seed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down. Notice this hard way where the seed just falls on top of the ground, on top of the hard ground of the person who says, I don't understand. People came walking on this pathway.

In other words, this pathway had constant traffic. People were always walking on it, always speaking. In other words, this kind of person, the good seed that could change their life does come to them, is presented, but other people spreading other ideas are always walking over that same ground, other opinions, doctrines.

The effect is they harden their heart to the truth. It's one amongst many things that they hear daily, and it's of no difference. Now they trample on the seed, but listen to what Jesus says about the devil in this context.

The fowls came and devoured up the seed. So you drop the seed, then the birds come down. You never see them do it.

The birds come down to start picking up those seeds. I love my birds. I always have seeds.

Get seeds out during the winter for your birds. I love to see the birds. So where the seeds are, the birds naturally come in.

But listen to what he's saying here about these birds. What do the fowls of the air that come in to eat up the seed, what do they represent? Jesus said they represent the wicked one that catches away that which was sown in the heart in case they understand. Or in Mark he says when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

It's a good word. It's a true word. It's a real word.

But as soon as it drops on the ground of their heart, it's a hard heart with lots of noise and activity. People can be hearing a true message, but they're hearing so much, so much that they can't even discern what is real. The Bible is clear.

The devil comes. The devil wants to blind the minds of those that believe lest they should believe in this glorious light. See the devil doesn't want that.

So he immediately steals the seed. The devil is after the gospel. He wants to blind the minds.

He wants to steal the truth of it. You know why? He knows the power of the gospel. The gospel is dangerous to the kingdom of Satan.

Says again in Luke, lest they should believe and be saved. Jesus is saying this. The devil comes and snatches away the seed lest they believe in the gospel.

Lest they should know this. Lest they are saved and born again. See the devil's proactive.

He's not just passive. The devil is proactive against every unbeliever, every sinner, everyone who has not decided for Christ. Everyone who is ignorant.

Remember there's a fiery dart of ignorance. The devil uses ignorance. It's one of his master plans.

Ignorance. Don't let them understand. Don't let them know what they're dealing with.

Don't let them be awakened. Also there's those, they do not believe. They will not believe.

They actually reject the gospel. They're not passive. It's not that they don't understand.

When they hear the gospel, they reject it. They have strong convictions, strong reasons why they say, I don't believe it. I reject it.

I don't believe it's true. I deny it. See rejection of the gospel does not come through intelligence.

Some people think the more intelligence they are, the more they do away with God and Bible and the afterlife and heaven and hell. They go, I'm educated on facts and information and I don't have any time. I've outgrown because I have intelligence.

Actually I've outgrown those things. I don't believe in God. I believe in the big bang or evolution or something else.

Actually that sort of intelligence is ignorance. It doesn't seem like it. That person's convinced their intelligence.

Actually they are ignorant. In our New Testament in the book of Acts, we read about John and Peter standing up and preaching and the religious people listening to them. They listened to their brogue, their Galilean brogue.

You know what they said? Who are these ignorant fishermen and how are they preaching like this? The word ignorant used there is a Greek word for ignoramus. These ignorant men, uneducated men, untaught men. Who are these fishermen? They're ignorant.

No degrees, no science degree, no philosophy, no schooling. How do they speak with such power and authority? You see those men sounded ignorant, looked ignorant, maybe acted ignorant sometimes, but they're the ones with the intelligence. They didn't have intelligence of this world, academia or education, but they were not ignorant.

Those that rejected them and called them ignorant, they're the real ignorant ones. See the devil blinds the minds, makes men ignorant. You can think you're intelligence and you're not.

Let me give you an example of that in our world, evolution. In 1859, Charles Darwin published his book, his famous book on the origin of species and the search for the missing link began. As soon as he published and wrote that book, they had to find the evidence for it.

That was 1859 that he released that book. He was going to have to wait for 12 years. What he said, he says, we're releasing the book.

Now we look for the evidence of the missing link. We've got to find the missing link. By the time he died, they still hadn't found the missing link.

And you know what he said? If you don't find the evidence, the actual proof of a missing link, all my theory falls apart from beginning to end. It cannot exist. It cannot function unless you find real physical evidence of this.

And yet he waited 12 years without any evidence. In 1871, Darwin published The Descent of Man, where he laid out his theories. Listen to this closely.

I'm talking about the mind being blinded against believing in God. And so he released this second book and in it he stated clearly his full mature theories. He says, but this time he stated clearly that humans descended from apes.

The first introductions of these ideas in the school textbooks began in 1888 and in 1890. And in British society and our society and out into America and out into Europe, these ideologies, there's no proof. Listen to me.

There's no fossil evidence, no physical scientific evidence, no historic evidence. And yet it's already being put into the media. Do you realize an entire generation, this started to get put in textbooks.

There's no physical fossils or evidence. And they say everything collapses without evidence. I'm telling you, science so-called is not always scientific.

See, I'm someone, I need facts, I need proof, I need evidence. I'm a Christian man. I'm a Bible man.

Prove to me the power of this gospel. Show me that it's true. Reason with me.

I've got an intellect that's alive and alert. But do you know what? All of this came into the education system. No proof.

But the search for the missing link was on. The richest men in our world poured millions and billions into it from America. The greatest intellect, scientists.

There was one English scientist. He actually said, we've got to find it. There's no, this is what he said at this stage.

He said, there's no proof, but we've got to find the proof. Imagine putting that ideology out before you have the evidence. I thought you get the evidence, then you put out the theory.

They'd done it in reverse. They said, we've got to find the evidence. So first of all, they come up with Neanderthal.

I love Neanderthal very much. They found something in 1856. In 1864, it was a professor, an Irish professor here in Ireland who come out and said, I believe it's a missing link.

All it was was a few booms. Everyone else is saying it's a human. It's like us, a bit different, but basically the same as us.

Now they have 500 specimens and over 150 years, they found these specimens at 124 sites. I watched it carefully up to 2000. They said, this is an ape man.

He can't speak. He can't walk. He has a big jutting out jaw.

Have you seen the pictures? There's a book I've got on my shelf and it shows an expert on this. He went to the four major museums of Europe and in all four, he was an expert on dentistry and all of the bone structure and all four of them, they had fixed the jaw, not in the right place. A dentist knows where the jaw goes and in all four, they'd put that chin forward.

Why would you do that? I've got the proof for what I'm saying and they changed that. Why would you begin doing things like that in museums all the way across up until 2000 with Neanderthal? They said he's an ape man. He couldn't speak.

He is outside of humanity. Then from 2000, BBC, they started to drop nine. I noticed this every year.

I kept track of this. They slowly drip fed us. They said, we actually think they stood up right.

We actually think they actually could do things with their hands. Now they're saying they're exactly like us. They spoke like us, buried like us, thought like us.

They had intellect. They intermarried with us. Their DNA is actually in our DNA as well.

Since for 150 years, they're trying to fool people. If it only stopped there, that would be fine. But then remember Java man, there was one man found a chin bone, a right molar, a skull cap, a thigh bone, most of which was just human, old human, 500 years old.

But in 1924, he actually brought it forth. I don't have the date down. The date's just gone from me.

But when he started on it, it was 33 years. It was before 1900. 33 years, he never done a full report on it.

He traveled the nations of Europe, never let anyone else look at it. Finally, the Belgium government had to say, we want evidence. We want you to write a report.

We want other scientists to be able to look at it. He used to keep it under his bed. It was called Java man.

Actually, this was finally exposed in 1924, 33 years after the initial finding of promotion. But it's in the school books. This was actually put in there to educate children.

Then there's the Piltdown man. I like this one best of all. It was revealed in 1912.

Great men, scientific men began to dig up bones. And they said, we found the missing link. 45 years later, three young scientists exposed it as an utter fraud.

It was part human skull and part of an orangutan placed there. I could keep going with these. Nebraska man, 1922.

One single tooth is found. And they said, we found the missing link. It was a pig tooth.

Or what about Lucy, a Rhodesian man, or Dino? I could keep going with these. We've done an entire series on this. Every one of these, I've gone into in detail and shown it for what it is.

What am I saying? The fiery arrow of ignorance. Do you realize that in not just a generation, two generations, three generations, from schools all the way through to higher education. And this is being promoted.

They're not told of the lies. We were in the British Museum not long ago. And I said, Anna, come with me.

I want to have a look. Because the last time I was here, Piltdown man, there's a corridor and it's away from everything else. And it's in a shady corridor, no lights.

And in the wall, you've got a little thing hidden away there about Piltdown man, the hoax. I went there and I tried to find it. It's not there.

I asked the lady. I asked all the guys. I said, where is that? Don't know what you're talking about.

It's actually been removed. The Natural History Museum has been revamped. I want to tell you, this saturated our society and they built it on toast, on bits of bone, on false fabrication.

There was a great weight of money involved with this. Now today, every 20 years, you get a new missing link comes up because everyone forgets. So let me tell you something.

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of those pairs, known as the sex chromosomes, because they determine your gender, whether you're male or female. It's within you.

It's in your DNA. It consists of two X chromosomes in females and one X chromosome and one Y chromosome in males. So you can tell a male from a female if you get their bone or tissue or anything.

On the 1st of January, 1987, the first research paper was released stating that we all descend from one woman in recent, recent history. Every person, the Chinese and the Russian and the Americans and the British and the South American and the Asians and the Japanese, 87 they said, and everyone laughed at them. In science, you need to be careful, I'd rather stick with the Bible personally.

During the 1990s, this was criticized and argued over. Science said, no, it's impossible. From the early 2000s, this has been overwhelmingly being confirmed, proved, and nobody can argue.

Every single human on the face of the planet descends from one woman in recent history. Not ancient history, recent history. We all come from one woman.

Guess what else? Thank God for DNA. They said, guess what? We all descend from one man as well. Isn't that amazing? But they said, no, be careful, don't read into this.

This man and this one woman, it's not like you think. They probably lived in different generations. And then different continents and never met.

And if you can believe that can happen and we're all sitting here, you're very ignorant. And you've been hit bad by this arrow of ignorance from Satan's devices. The Bible says in Ephesians 4, 17 and 18, this I say, therefore that ye henceforth walk, not as Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind.

Notice it's the mind. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Blindness is a terrible thing.

You can be presented with truth. The power of the gospel can come to you. The message of Jesus loving you.

But ignorance can harden the mind, blind the eyes, shut the ears, harden the heart that you cannot believe, but you'll actually believe a myth. You'll believe in the Big Bang. You'll believe in ancient aliens.

You'll believe in anything but God. If evolution has fallen apart and it is badly, it is another disaster. It's not scientific.

It's filled with holes from beginning to end. I'm surprised it lasted through a whole century. I really am.

But listen to me. If you don't believe the truth, you're given over to believe a lie. So that's the first one.

Second one, the fiery arrow of hindrance. If the devil can't make you ignorant of the gospel, he'll hinder you from believing the gospel. This deals with a different kind of person.

This isn't someone who's closed, who doesn't believe. This is another kind of person. I believe we've got them sitting here at times in this church.

A fiery arrow from Satan can be fired at you to blind your mind towards the gospel. How is that done? This is a different kind of person. They want to believe.

They do believe intellectually. They try to believe. They try to find.

They sit in meetings. They want to be in the church of God. They listen to Christians.

They don't argue. They don't dispute. Their problem is an ignorance.

Their problem is a hindrance. They are hindered from believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. How are they hindered? Sin.

What kinds of sin? Lust. Do you know lust can keep you from the Lord Jesus Christ? What is lust? It's not always sexual lust. It's burning passions that are untethered, uncontrolled.

You just go with every whim. You can't control yourself. You're not tethered.

You have no power over yourself. Do you realize that? That that is sin. Lust is sin.

Untethered lust can destroy you. It'll keep you from the gospel. Lust burning passions will keep you from the life of the gospel.

Also pride. A man can be proud. It's the first sin ever committed.

Satan in heaven, he got pride. He says, I'll be like the most high. Can you imagine the presence of God saying that? Some people think if you get the right environment and have the right things and a nice church, sure we'll all be nice folk.

I'm telling you, you can sit under Paul the Apostles ministry every week and you could rise up as a grand heretic against the truth of God. Environment doesn't change you. God changes the heart.

It's the power of the gospel. It's not environment that keeps you. My brother Ian used to argue, he had a newborn baby.

He says, I don't believe we're born sinners. I don't believe we've all fallen. He says, listen to me.

He's raising the gospel like me. He says, I believe you just watch Mark. I'm going to create the right environment around him and I'm going to speak to him right and I'm going to raise him with his mind and I'm going to help him and he'll grow up.

It's just the environment. Three years later, sits with us. Shocked.

He said, do you know what? Our mom and dad were right. We're born sinners. Well done Ian.

He didn't need to teach his child to lie or steal or get angry or unforgiving. All of it's there within the nature. You see sin can keep you from the gospel.

Pride can keep you. Pride exalts you. You're scared to lose face.

I don't want to be in shame. I don't want to be embarrassed. I don't want to change my mind.

Pride could send you to hell and destroy you. It's a deadly thing. Stealing could.

Start stealing. Start lying. Gets so big it blinds the eyes and the mind to a real God.

Addiction. Some of yous have come out of heroin addiction, strong addictions to alcohol, even to sex, to power, to money, to diverse things and yet you got free of it by the power of the gospel. But addictions can keep people from God.

They say, I do believe in my mind. I believe. I look at you bunch and I say I believe.

I do understand what is being said but you know what? I'm being hindered. What's hindering you? Can't give up the addiction. Come to Christ.

I love to. I believe it. I want to but I can't leave the addiction.

I can't leave sex. I can't leave money. Your power can destroy people.

They so love power. So want power. So want self-respect.

So want influence. It'll destroy their soul in a real hell. The real gospel is presented to them but sin is hindering them.

This happened to Saint Patrick before he came to Ireland. In the west coast of Britain, slavers, traitors come, kidnapped him, carried him away. In his own letter, do you know what he says he was like at 15 years old? He said, I grew up in the church.

My parents were Christian. My granddad was a preacher. My father's a deacon in the church.

He said our elders in the church, the preachers, used to rebuke us for our sins. Said we didn't care. This is Patrick.

We didn't believe them. We used to laugh and mock and scorn. Said we loved sin.

We loved our sin. And you know what? There he is. As soon as he was caught by those three, he was just short of 16 years old and carried into Ireland and suddenly the shock of that woke him up.

Here you are. It's not that he didn't believe. He had no time for it.

He loved sin. He loved life. He laughed at the rebukes of elders.

But you know what? That one crisis brought him to his senses, made him a changed man. And when he was much older, he returned to Ireland as a preacher. And in 30 years, Ireland was changed.

30 years through a man set on fire of God. Listen, I believe this is the greatest thing and I want you to hear this right now. The fiery arrow of hindrance that stops you coming to Christ.

You know what I think it looks like? You're waiting. Let me say it again. You're waiting.

I'm waiting. They believe in God. They might even desire God.

They want it to happen to them. But they're waiting. They're looking.

They're listening. But they're waiting. This is called procrastination.

It's neglect to do what you ought to do, what you're told to do, what you're commanded in the Bible to do. The Bible says this is the way to salvation. This is how you receive salvation.

This is how you're born again. This is how you get cleansed of your sin. The Bible's clear time and time and time again.

And yet the fiery arrow of hindrance will leave you. You've been hit by something. If you're sitting in this church saying, I'm just waiting on God.

I've done everything. I'm waiting on God. You've been hit by an arrow.

The devil has blinded your minds. You're sitting there waiting. You'll wait until you're a hundred years old.

You'll wait until you die and go to hell. It's not going to just happen. The Bible says seek and you'll find.

Knock and the door will be open. Ask and you'll receive. You see there is a command here.

You want this salvation. Here it is for you. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

The Bible speaks about procrastination. It calls it laziness. You may not be a lazy person.

You may be a hardworking person, a diligent person, efficient person, and the things of life. You may be all of those things and more. You may be one of the most scrupulous people.

You remember to leave the bins out and bin night. You could do a hundred thousand things. You're on top of everything, but it comes to salvation.

You go, I'm waiting. It's going to happen to me. One of these days, one year goes past, two years go past, three years go past, and you're still.

You can't know more. You can't hear more. You're in the right environment.

What's hindering you? It's a fiery arrow of hindrance. If the devil can't get you with sin, he'll get you with waiting. I want this.

I desire this. Here I am here. Sloth means you don't move in action.

Oh, I believe in the sovereignty of God. So do I. I'm probably more than you, but I believe in the responsibility of man. Any teaching that says it's all God's sovereign work and I don't need to do anything.

You'll die and go to hell. Save me if you can. Send a light.

Send an angel. Had a friend once. He prayed that a feather would fall out of the sky as a sign to him.

You may wait an awful long time. You may get deceived by that sort of thing. Do you remember in Acts 24, Felix, Paul is put in prison and stands before Felix.

Felix actually brings his wife to see Paul in imprisonment. And it says, as they stood, Felix stood before him, said he heard him concerning faith in Christ. And as he reasoned with him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment Felix trembled.

Here's this great official, this great man, this intelligent man. And he's listening Paul. And he's understanding what's being said.

And he's even trembling. You know what he's saying? If this is true, I'm in trouble. If this be true, I'm going to be in real serious trouble.

He was a great man. And here he is with his wife listening. He is trembling in front of Paul.

Then he answered and says, go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season. That's procrastination. Oh, when I've got some space, I'll call.

Here's a man trembling going, if this is true, I'm in serious trouble. But here, I'll call you back another time when I've got space. And he hoped, he says, well, maybe you give me some money and I can release him because he's not guilty.

This is a good man, a nice man. I want to release him, but he's got to pay me money. Paul never did.

Paul just kept preaching the gospel. Paul was more interested in his soul than his own freedom. And he kept telling him of his need for Jesus Christ.

Or what about King Agrippa in Acts 26? He's standing before Paul while Paul was in imprisonment. This is what he said to Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Paul said, I not only want to almost persuade you, I want to persuade you.

I wish you were like me, knowing Christ. But more than that, more than that, without the chains, don't want you having these chains. See, some people get to the gateway of heaven.

They stand at the door. They get very close. They hear, they tremble.

They're almost persuaded, almost convinced. Paul was in this prison cell for two years and kept this great man on tender hooks, speaking to him, reasoning. See, the gospel is an intelligent gospel.

See, why do I not believe evolution? Because it's a lie. It's a deception. It's filled with holes.

Why do I believe the gospel? It answers every question of history, society, ailment. I've seen miracles in this place. People set free that the doctors say, you can't get free.

You got free by the power of God. It is so, so real. You see, the gospel commands you to respond, to do something.

Seek earnestly for salvation. Press into the kingdom of God at the Jordan River in Joshua 3. The Jordan River stopped only when the priest stepped into it. They're told to cross, but until they put their feet there, nothing happens.

The widow's oil flowed only as she began to pour out. She hadn't poured, nothing would happen. The miracle happens as you act, you respond, and you obey.

The 10 lepers were cleansed. How? Standing there? No, as they went. As they went, they were healed.

The man's arm was healed only as he obeyed. Christ said, stretch forth your arm. Oh, I can't do that.

I'm just going to stand here. Let God do the miracle. Jesus said, stretch your arm out.

If you don't stretch it out, it ain't getting healed. But do you know what the word Jesus said? Stretch it out and the miracle will take place. If you don't believe in it, you won't do anything.

You're always wanting God to stake heaven. Oh, if God does enough, if God does something for me, then I'll believe. What do you want him to do? Created the world, ripped into the very cosmos, his own fingerprints on all things.

You can't explain the cosmos, the planets. They're searching for little green men out there saying, we're going to find them one day. It's a miracle that this is the only planet you can live on in the entire universe.

And they're searching and searching and searching. They won't find anything. I promise you.

Isn't that interesting? They're all saying that these UFOs come out of the ocean. I wonder why that is. Not coming out from outer space, comes out of the ocean.

They are saying that, I'm not saying that. Just in case you get worried about me. Third of all, the fiery arrow of false conversion.

Let me be brief and just close in here with these final two points. There's a fiery arrow of false conversion. We read about this in Matthew 7, Jesus talking about the broad way and the narrow way.

Some people think the narrow way is the way of the gospel. The broad way is the world. No, it's not.

Both have an entrance. There are two kinds of Christianity, two kinds of conversion. Both have a gateway.

You've got to enter into both. One is narrow. To get in there, it's going to mean agony.

To get in, to go through with real salvation. There is repentance. There is a crisis.

There is a meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ. To get in that narrow gate, it is narrow. You're not bringing your trash in.

You're not bringing your drugs in. You're not bringing your sexual immorality. You're not bringing your idols.

You say, I'm not letting go of this, but I want Jesus. Choose you this day who you'll serve. Either Jesus or all your stuff.

Can't have both. You can't have both. Can't go to heaven with all your trash.

No chance at all. You know that narrow gate? Few go in. Oh, lots hear the gospel.

Lots hear. Many call few chosen. See that broad way? Many enter in.

What is the broad way that leads to destruction? Talking about a false gospel, a false Christianity. It's not the real. It's broad.

Anyone can walk in there. You can carry all of your trash in there. Do you know the Bible speaks about false conversions? And you know what? There's a lot of false teachings around this.

You better believe. You better be careful what you believe and how you believe. There's false teachings on repentance.

Now across the church say, you don't need to repent. You just believe. You don't repent.

That's a disaster. No holiness. Doesn't matter if you live right.

Can be a Christian, not live right. Well, throw your Bible out. Repentance is only a change of mind, not a change of heart.

Then throw your Bible out. I'd rather stick with Bible Christianity. You see, the devil will deceive you of false Christianity.

I can say a little sinner's prayer. Sinner's prayers have sent many to hell. I know people who are saved through sinner's prayer.

But you can say a little prayer. Ease your conscience. Go, I'm fine.

I'm okay. And nothing changes in your life. Where's the fruit? Where's the experience? Where's the reality? Where's the desire for God? Where's the longing for holiness? What does my Bible say in Hebrews? Without holiness, no man will see the Lord.

You won't see God. You won't be there. I actually believe that the devil creates a false gospel.

Another gospel, another spirit, another Christ. It was there 2,000 years ago. Guess who's behind it? The devil.

He wants to confuse it not only by the world against the church, atheism against the belief in God, but he wants to be in the church. Look, both of these are the gospel. This broad way you can have Christ in your sins, Christ in the world, Christ in your own life, Christ in your own decisions.

We should have preached the gospel right at the beginning. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins.

Turn away from your wicked ways. There's not a change when you get saved. There's something wrong.

See, my point is false conversions. You can think that you had a conversion, but your heart is not changed. I want to tell you that's utterly impossible.

Let me close point four, the fiery arrow of falling away. Judas was such a one. The devil, he can't keep you ignorant and keep you away from this gospel.

If he can't hinder you, get into the real gospel through sins and passivity. If he can't make you a false convert to just believe something that isn't even biblical, then the fourth fiery arrow is falling away from the real. Judas was such a one.

I'll tell you what, he didn't have a shield of faith. He had all the signs, all the marks of a real convert. I believe it started with a false expectation.

He turned up when there's 10,000 following Jesus Christ. Remember in John chapter two, it said many believed on Christ because of the miracles and they committed themselves to him or believed in him, but Christ didn't commit himself to them. Same word, believe, commit.

So they're committing themselves. They're saying their little sinner's prayer. They're saying we believe in Jesus.

He doesn't commit himself to them. They're seeing miracles. Why is that? Because he said he knew their hearts.

See, Christ doesn't make a commitment without a heart, a certain kind of heart. But earlier in John chapter two, it talked about his disciples. It says when they heard him preaching and teaching, they believed the word.

And they're there way after this. But you know what? With Judas, it started with a false expectation, thousands, thousands. Then the crowd starts getting smaller.

Then enemies arise, then opposition. He's not so keen on this now. He starts stealing out of the money bag.

Oh, I can be a Christian but steal. Hypocrisy comes in. That little lady that broke a jar at Christ's feet and began to cry over his feet and wash them.

Remember what he said? This could have been sold for a great amount of money. And the 11 other disciples take his side. Go, that's logical.

We need to think about the poor. He's of the devil. He's a liar.

He's a hypocrite. He's a deceiver. He's in the real church.

You need to watch this man very carefully. Look at him. His judgment of this little woman.

He judges her harshly. Doesn't judge himself. Not at all.

Very harsh with others. Not harsh with yourself. You better beware.

You're willing to damn others, blacken others. But you don't do that with your own self. You're worse.

You're far worse. What does this lead to? Betrayal. You kiss the cheek of Jesus, then you betray him.

You sell him for 30 bits of silver. You sell Jesus. You would sell him out.

You're a rogue. You've been in the church. You've enjoyed the blessing.

You've walked in these things. You know, in Galatians 5, it talks about falling from grace. See, I believe in eternal salvation.

I believe in security in Christ. I believe there's a power in this. And I was just talking to my brother the other night.

We're messaging, and we're saying it's not easy to get away from Christ. It's not easy. There's a power in this, and there's an influence in this.

But I want to tell you, there's a thing in the Bible called falling away. I'm secure in Christ. I'm grounded in Christ.

I'm not fearing falling away. But in Galatians 5 and 4, it says, Christ has become of none effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.

Paul, writing to all the churches of Galatia, he says, you have moved away to another gospel. You've changed the gospel. These were his converts, his churches, his people.

Miracles were done. They acted in faith. They ran well.

They lived well. Leaders are raised up. And yet here he is writing them after a short few years.

And he says, you have fallen from grace. You're not walking in grace anymore. You're walking under law.

You've changed the gospel. You still believe in Jesus, still read your Bible, still go to church, still pray. But you're living in law.

You're saved under law. You've added to the gospel. You've destroyed grace.

Grace has become of none effect. One last one. 2 Peter 2.20. Peter the apostle says, if after they have escaped the pollution of the world, they did escape.

I've seen drug addicts and alcoholics escape. We've seen once in this church, a man walked in. For 30 years, he's trying to get free of alcohol, being through different rehabs, tried everything, couldn't get free.

And he walked in. And in one meeting, while the worship was going on there, the words of one of these old hymns. And as he sang, he fell on his knees, cried out, and he got totally free instantly.

Free of the alcohol. He could never get free of it. He was stunned.

He was in awe. He was in shock. This went on for weeks, went on for months.

He was utterly dumbfounded. It was the words of a hymn that got him right with God. And that man, he is free in the house of God.

Just like what Peter says, having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What got him free? The knowledge, the mind, the understanding. But Peter says this.

They are again entangled therein and overcome. And the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness.

They didn't know the way of righteousness. They didn't know truth. Then after they had known that to turn from the holy commandment delivered onto them.

But it has happened onto them according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own vomit again. And the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mar. Saints, I believe in the power of salvation, the power of a changed life, the miracle of Christ living in the heart.

There's nothing fragile or weak about it. And yet you and I, I this morning, I'm a very weak man. I could hardly get in here in the door.

But by the grace of God, the power of God is here because it's a mighty Christ, a mighty gospel. Saints, we are weak. A real genuine believer has no confidence in themselves.

They can't keep themselves. And yet the gospel of this hour, thinking that you're saved by your own righteousness. I just try to do good.

I try to be the best I can. It'll end you up in hell. We need a real gospel.

We need a walk in the power of Jesus Christ. You're kept by the power of God through faith. You're saved by grace, not works.

You're changed. Your name's written in the Lamb's book of life. Saints, I'm telling you as I close, there's fiery arrows fired by the devil to darken the mind, blind the mind, hinder you.

He'll use evolution to destroy you that you won't be able to believe the gospel. He'll hinder you and make you a procrastinator. So you're always there at the door, but never entering in.

He'll make you believe a false gospel where you're as good as damned. And like what Jesus said, you're twice the child of the devil. Try to get someone saved who has a false conversion.

You need Christ. No, no, I'm saved. Once saved, always saved.

I can be on these streets. I've met them drinking, womanizing, cursing, blaspheming. I'm saved.

You can't tell me differently. I'm fine. I'm utterly secure.

They're living like the devil. We don't believe in that kind of Christianity. See, we believe Christ saves and he keeps you and there's power.

Will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we thank you that there's a shield of faith believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the light of this glorious gospel shines. And Lord God, we thank you that faith in Christ extinguishes every fiery dart and arrow of the wicked one. Lord God, we thank you that faith in Christ destroys this ignorance that would keep us back.

It destroys atheism. It destroys false teachings. It destroys false ideologies.

The real gospel, when we put faith in Christ, Lord God, all passivity, all paralysm, Lord God, is destroyed. And oh God, we get arms and legs. We have the ability to run and to lay hold and to see and to hear and to breathe new air.

Father, I thank you for the miracle of the new birth, that you save men and women, that you don't desire that any perish and go to hell, but you desire that all repent and come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh God, we thank you. This gospel is true and steadfast and reliable.

It's unchanged in these 2000 years. It doesn't need added to or taken away from or held up or excused. Oh God, there is power in this dynamic gospel.

And Father, I pray that you have a deal with every single individual in this meeting, those online, those who will listen afterwards. We pray for them. Lord God, that you save men and women, that you bring them to a real experience of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus, we ask it for your glory and honour and praise.