Preserving Ourselves In God's Paths - Part 2

We must be a living demonstration to the world around us that this world is passing away and only he who does the will of God will remain forever. People who know you closely, who observe you, must be able to see that you have certain goals and ambitions for which there is no explanation unless there is a risen Christ and unless the Bible is true. But if they see that your life, okay, you're a little more hardworking, you're upright, you don't tell lies and you don't cheat, you're kind and helpful, that doesn't really prove anything because you can be all that and still live for the world. There are a lot of people in non-Christian religions who are very kind and helpful and they don't cheat, they don't tell lies, they're very hardworking, but their values are in this world. One of my great heroes, as I've often said, is Noah. And Noah, once he realized that the world is doomed, God said to him, he said it to him just like he said it to us. 1 John 2, 17 says, the world is passing away. The Lord told Noah, the world is passing away. And I'll tell you, Noah had 120 years, we've got much less than that. But he didn't know how long and we also don't know how long. But once he realized and believed with all of his heart what God said is right, the world is passing away. I think initially only he believed because it says God was so disappointed with man in those days that he felt sorry that he had created man. I want to show you that verse because, you know, it's one of those sad verses in Genesis 6 and it's a verse that we need to ask ourselves, is God ever sorry when he looks at my life? Is he sorry when he looks at your life? Genesis 6 verse 5, when the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was very great on the earth and every intent, every thought was evil, evil, evil. Morning till night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place. It broke his heart. It broke his heart. Have you ever broken God's heart? Has God ever been sorry that he ever brought you into this world? Has God ever been sorry that he saved you? Is God sorry that he planted a church here 32 years ago? Is there anything in our life, our witness that breaks his heart? I don't want to break his heart after all that he's done for me. I don't want to break his heart and the thing is God is so gentle, so good that he won't come and shout at us, hey you broke my heart. You know like when children break the heart of their parents and very most children don't even realize it and I think it's like that in our relationship with God and I want to be very sensitive because I live in the midst of a Christendom which according to my conviction, according to my opinion, most of Christendom is breaking God's heart by the things they preach today, the things they do, the way they live and if it says your God was sorry that he made man, I think he's sorry with a lot of people that he created today who are claimed to be believers who don't seem to see the tremendous price that Jesus paid to purchase them. The tremendous agony he actually experienced hell on the cross for three hours so that we might never experience hell for eternity. I just need to think of that one thing, Lord you experienced hell for three hours on the cross and I might never experience hell for eternity. That's enough to keep me going for the rest of my life, just that one thought. But you know the devil won't make you think of that. You think the devil is making all of Christendom today and all the preachers who preach today are they making the believers think of that? No, it's another Jesus being preached today. Come to Jesus and you'll be wealthy and you'll be healthy and all that. Whereas Jesus when he was on earth he said come to me and die. How many of you want to die while you're still alive? Do all your ambitions, your desires, plans, lusts, selfishness, pride, everything. Come, follow, be my disciple. We don't hear that message today. Now I want to say that God raised up this church 32 years ago to preach that message. You can't preach it just with one man or two people or three people or four people. It's got to be preached by a church and we need to ask ourselves whether we're preaching that message today of discipleship, of wholeheartedly following the Lord, of changing our value system so that it's not the value system of the world anymore because the world is directly opposed to God. I don't know how many of you believe that. The ruler of this world today is Satan. All authority in heaven and earth is given to the Lord Jesus so Satan can only operate under his control. It's like a lion on a chain but the lion can move. There's a certain amount of radius in which the lion can move but there's a chain held by Jesus and one day he'll pull up that chain and finish with the devil but that day has not yet come. For many reasons he has allowed the devil to remain on a chain and not destroy him and I think part of the reason is to make you and me strong. When we encounter the devil we become strong. I remember the days when as a believer I was afraid of the devil. I was afraid of what he could do to me. Things have changed so much today. The devil is afraid of me. I believe that with all my heart. I believe wherever I go the devil is afraid of me, afraid of what I will do, what I will say to disturb his kingdom, to destroy his kingdom. What a work the devil has done, what the work the Lord has done to turn the tables on the devil like that. You know some people are even afraid to say that but they say oh the devil will attack me tomorrow. They're so scared they're supposed to be born again. Theoretically they believe that satan was defeated on the cross but not actually. Has the Lord done that work in you so that the devil is scared of you? That wherever you go he's scared of what you might do to disturb his kingdom. The bible says in 1 John chapter 4, as Jesus is so are we in this world. How was he on earth? The devil was scared of him. You know demons, demon-possessed people who sat quietly in a synagogue for years listening to the pharisees. As soon as Jesus got up and spoke for two minutes they got all worked up. That's why in the synagogues he was casting out demons. Wherever he was he was casting out demons. That's where he went. The demons were disturbed. They say oh he's coming, he's coming. You know the demons should say that about you and me. He's coming here now, watch out. But you've got to have a clean life to be like that. You don't have to be perfect, no one is perfect. Paul and Peter who cast out demons and had authority over satan, they were not perfect. But they kept their conscience absolutely clean. That means as soon as they fell they got up. Do you have that habit? Paul never said I'm perfect. He said but I keep my conscience absolutely clear before God and men at all times. We can be perfect in our conscience which means as soon as you are aware that you've slipped up in thought or word you will immediately apologize to God, apologize to the human beings concerned and your conscience is clean again, cleansed by the blood of Christ. That's how we must live every day.