Our scripture reading for this last Sunday of 2022 is going to be Romans chapter number three. I'm going to read the entire chapter of 31 verses, although my focus of attention is going to be verses 12 to 18. Hear now the word of the Lord. What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much, every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness come in the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come. whose damnation is just. What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. they are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the flesh, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them, that believe, for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. God bless. When you hear his word read, you may be seated. Because I am not omniscient, not being God, because omniscience, meaning the ability of the living, true, and only Lord God of the Bible to know all things it is possible to know, without needing Siri to help him, or needing to wait to know how things are going to turn out and then react to them. No, God alone is omniscient. As God declares through Paul in Acts 15 verse 18, known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. The omniscience of God, the fact that He knows all that can be known without having to think about it, is one of His non-transferable, non-shareable attributes or characteristics revealed and declared in His Holy Word, the Holy Bible, that makes the living, true, true and only Lord God of the Scriptures, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the only true God there has been, is, or ever will be, even from everlasting to everlasting. Thou alone art the all-omniscient God. All our definitions of the word God that deny God's omniscience are idolatrous and false. But because I am not omniscient, I cannot say with absolute infallible certainty that of all the messages preached today on this day, at least in the Western nations of the world, traditionally associated with the glorious birth of the sinless Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, notice I said the traditional day. For the actual day it took place in space-time history, the Lord God has been pleased to not record in His inerrant and infallible written word. making how you use this day, or any day, a day of true Christian liberty and rest, if you are resting in Christ alone for acceptance with God. For there are no holy days of obligation under the New Covenant, despite what that man of sin in Rome teaches, and sadly is taught in more than one Reformed confession today. Is today a day where you can confess to having been delivered from religious tradition to the truth of the saving gospel of Christ? Where you can personally confess and can personally rejoice in the truth of being able to understand believe and confess the purpose of the birth of that sinless child in Bethlehem, so that all those truly reborn of the Holy Spirit of God may enjoy everlasting peace and rest with Him when Jesus Christ returns. to usher in his final and everlasting judgment and his new heavens and new earth where righteousness will dwell forever. And being ready for this most certain of days is a gift of the sovereign mercy and grace of God that all true believers in God are more thankful for than anything you may rightly and should be thankful for receiving today. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Amen? But because I am not omniscient, I cannot say with infallible certainty that of all the messages preached today, that few, dare I be as bold to say, no one else will be preaching on the verses that I will be preaching on today. The words that Paul was infallibly inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, to write concerning the sobering true condition of mankind that all true believers in Christ have been delivered from. Due to God's amazing free and sovereign gifts of true saving faith and repentance in his beloved and only begotten Son. Verses 12 to 18 of Romans 3. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, am I saying that it is wrong for any man, using the word man in its narrow sense to mean any man of the male sex or gender, One of the only two sexes or genders there are according to the Bible, regardless of the perverse and wicked legislation passed in Washington. Am I saying that it is wrong for any male man, not female man, to preach from any of the traditional texts associated with this day, associated with the birth of Christ? Absolutely not. I have done so in the past more than once. And the last thing I am or want to be is a judge of another preacher who in faith can preach from any of the traditional texts read and preached at this time of year. May the Lord be pleased to use whatever text a believing gospel preacher uses today to hold forth the truth that salvation is of the Lord. as seen by the reason that the babe born in Bethlehem was given the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. But sadly, for how many people for whom tradition is more important than truth, how many would be offended? How many would be annoyed? at the fact that I am preaching on the verses that I've reached in Romans 3, having ended at verse 11 last Sunday. For it would not surprise me that some of you might have wondered, is he going to break from moving progressively through Romans? Because Sunday falls on December the 25th. Something you now know I'm not going to do. But this is not to say that I did not give it some thought. But as I thought about the verses we've reached in Romans 3, I had no problem in seeing that the truth of these verses, as sobering as they are, revealing the true condition of men and sin, the true condition of all mankind outside of true saving faith in Christ, they're verses that can fill you with wonder. and thanksgiving, believer, for the greatest gift of all, namely the gift and ability to see, understand, and confess the reason that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the fullness of time millennia ago. For the Lord saving you from your sins, believer, speaking to those who have truly been brought from death to new life, In Christ, through the sovereign regenerating grace and mercy of God, for by saving you from your many sins, believer, when the child sung about so often at this time of year said, it is finished. Approximately 30 years ago on his cross of penal substitution for his people, from every tribe and people and language and tongue throughout time. For because of that sinless child's finished work for a sinful people on His cross, what has God, what is Almighty God? What has the all-sovereign God, what has the omniscient God been doing for the last 2,000 years and counting? Exactly what Paul writes in Colossians 1, verses 12 and 13. Something true believers in Christ never tire of giving God thanks for. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Who is this child? Who is this child that was laid upon the breasts of his mother, his mother who rejoiced in the God of her salvation, the God who was willing to be incarnated in the person of the Son in the womb of Mary to save Mary from her sins and all those given to him in the covenant of redemption? The unique death of that holy thing born in Bethlehem roughly 30 years later was the death of the one who enabled God to be both just and the justifier of those who have true saving faith in Christ. And because of Christ's finished work, God the Father has been, for the past 2,000 years and counting, through the sovereign regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit, he's been translating, he's been translating, he's been able to move those Christ died for from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. to translate you, believer, to transfer you, believer, from the power of darkness, from the kingdom of this lost, wicked, dark, and dying world under the control of the devil into the kingdom of his only begotten and beloved Son. And Paul wonderfully illustrates or testifies to this truth in the verses I have reached in Romans 3. May the Holy Spirit of God be pleased to own the truth of what He inspired Paul to write in these sobering verses to show you this truth as I seek to show this to you today for believer. Are you thankful? Are you thankful for the verbal, plenary inspiration of his written word, the Holy Bible, so that as you enjoy this day, however you may enjoy it, you are able to thank God for what alone he could have done for you, as testified to in how Paul describes those still lost in the darkness of their own depravity and sin. Now, why do I say this? Because of the verses I have reached. Well, before I show you what I'm referring to, and maybe you've already seen it and rejoice in it, but before I show you what I'm referring to, I trust you understand what the phrase, verbal, plenary, inspiration of the Holy Bible means. Verbal, the words. Plenary, all the words. Inspiration. All the words found in God's holy word were infallibly and inerrantly inspired by God, the Holy Spirit. O believer, never be ashamed of believing this glorious truth. For rightly used and understand, as I will seek to show in a moment, how it will bless your believing heart. O believer, never be ashamed of believing this glorious truth about the Word of God, the Holy Bible, even as you are rightly concerned about, and should be rightly concerned about, of all the preachers who ignorantly or willingly seek to undermine your trust in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Holy Bible by what they say, even from the pulpit. And I would not call it preaching, because what is preaching? Preaching is holding forth the truth of the Word of God, the Holy Bible. It is a man seeking to declare things that God would be in agreement with. As Paul would write to his brother in the Lord Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.15, Study to show thyself a proof to God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But how many speaking, not preaching to others? Since the rise of heretical textual criticism in the 1800s will actually spend precious time before others laboring to explain away portions of the Word of God. The numbers who have done this and continue to do this is sadly too large for me to mention. And it includes the names of men who should know better. May God grant them repentance. But this error is not limited to those speaking, not preaching before elect and reprobate sinners. It has been a defining mark of the many, too many, almost Bibles used in the English-speaking churches today by the dangerous and misleading footnotes that are found in them. Friends, you are my witnesses, and I can even call God as my witness as well, that I have publicly and privately stated to you that if I didn't have the Holy Bible to open up before you, I would have nothing to say to you. Without the light of the Holy Bible, I would simply be one blind man walking in the darkness of my own ignorance. And in saying this, I mean no disrespect to anyone physically blind. But how many blind men are leading other blind men to hell with them because what they are saying to them does not have the support of the Holy Bible that is the lamp to the feet and light to the path of every true child of God. It guides where you are today and what you plan to do today. Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever, whatever you do today, do all to the glory of God according to His written Word. So it boggles my mind. It boggles my mind how men speaking, not preaching before others, will labor to try and get those they are speaking to to think and believe that portions of God's wonderfully providentially preserved written Word of God, the Holy Bible, are not part of His wonderfully providentially preserved written Word of God, the Holy Bible. They'll actually do that, friends. Such men do not need to be debated, they need to be rebuked and called to repentance. For laboring, for laboring to make believers sad and doubt-filled. Where God has not made them sad and doubt-filled. Friends, if a sparrow does not fall to the ground apart from the will of thy Heavenly Father, and it doesn't, If the very hairs of thy head are all numbered, and they are. If God could tell you the number of his stars in his heavens, of which he would not include his unique son. But if God could tell you the number of his stars and the name he has given everyone, and he could without needing to do a Google search. Why is it so hard to believe? that the Lord has done what he has said he would do and did with his wonderful written word, not only up to December the 25th, 2022, but forever. Psalm 12, verses six and seven, thy word, the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. For friends, once you start questioning and instilling doubt about one portion of God's wonderfully providentially preserved written word, what right or logical reason do you have not to doubt all of it? Oh, the promises of God that are yea and amen in Christ become doubtful and questionable rather than certain. and glorious to rest your believing soul on, believer. But by now, after these introductory numerous remarks, you are probably saying, what does all I have said have to do with the verses I have reached in Romans 3? Well, I will ask you something. I will ask you something if you are a true confessing believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who desire to gather together today to sing the praises of your saving God on this day traditionally associated with the birth of Christ. What word or words plural Should you be thankful to the Lord God for inspiring Paul to write in these few verses, even as Paul infallibly describes the condition of those without true saving faith in Christ, who will enjoy the many things able to be enjoyed today. I will read the verses again, but ask yourself, What words should you be thankful for? Paul using in this sobering description of those outside of true saving faith in Christ. A true sobering condition you once were in, believer, prior to the Lord saving you. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of Aspen is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Believer! Do you thank the Lord God for these precise third person, personal pronouns? Paul is describing the condition of mankind outside of true saving faith in Christ. He is describing your condition before you were given new life in Christ and translated into the kingdom of God's only begotten and beloved Son. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. Their throat is an open sepulcher. Their tongues, they have used deceit. The poison of absinthe is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Their ways are ways of destruction. They have not known the way of peace. They have no fear of God before their eyes. O believer, never be ashamed of declaring the true condition of the non-believer lost in sin unless they are translated into the kingdom of God's dear son, the kingdom that you were translated into by his almighty, sovereign, regenerating grace and mercy. Face mankind's true condition and sin so that you can marvel at your being translated out of this true kingdom of darkness and depravity. Believer, God translated you out of this true rebel kingdom, believer, into the everlasting kingdom of his beloved and only begotten Son. Face mankind's true condition in sin, even on Sunday, December the 25th, 2022, and you will understand why the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the whole counsel of God is what God owns and blesses to the glory of his name and the everlasting blessing of those translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. The kingdom that those around you, believer, show that they are still residing in. Show that they are still residing in. They're still blind residents in by the things Paul describes that they are continuing to do, even as you once did, believer. Even as you once did, believer, but no more. Truth Paul testifies later in Romans 6 verse 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. Because what is the condition? What is the condition of every non-believer? if I dare put it this way, regardless of his or her flavor. Paul describes, if I dare put it this way, 11 flavors of man still lost in sin. And I will only briefly mention them. First, there's 11 of them. First, he has gone out of the way. He has gone out of the way. Why is the wide road that leads to destruction so wide, friends? Because every one of those ways is a denial of the truth that there is only one way to heaven and acceptance with God. The penal substitutionary death of the child born in Bethlehem. But as I said last Sunday, there are deacons in churches who do not know what the cross has to do with the birth of Christ. How many claiming to be preachers of God's word show that they do not believe or know what the purpose of Jesus being born sinless into this world in the fullness of time means? If you ask them to explain penal substitutionary atonement, they couldn't do it. Oh, friends, is there anything more dangerous to the souls of men and women than preachers so-called who do not preach the biblical reason for being, for Jesus being born into this sin-cursed and dying world? How many are out of the way because the false preachers and teachers they are listening to mock and reject the truth that they are out of the way, as seen by what they say and teach from the pulpits? Believer, are you thankful to the Lord that he has translated you onto the right way to glory? That he's transferred you onto the right way of glory and acceptance with God, his only begotten Son, accepted in the beloved? Is the biblical Jesus, is the biblical Christ your only way to heaven and glory on this day called Christmas? Second, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? They are together become unprofitable. Simply put, friends, what should every thought you think, every word you speak, every deed you engage in be done to or for? To the glory of God alone. Something no non-believer is capable of doing or wants to do. He doesn't think to the glory of God. He doesn't speak to the glory of God. He doesn't act to the glory of God. The non-believer is totally unprofitable to God, as seen by his not using his mind, not using his mouth, not using the movement of his body to the glory of God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God when they don't think, speak, and act to God's glory and His glory alone, something the Lord Jesus Christ willingly did for you, believer, to save you from your non-God-glorifying thoughts. How many non-God-glorifying thoughts have you had since we last met here? He died to save you from your non-God-glorifying words and non-God-glorifying deeds, believer, even though that meant His going all the way to His cross to save you from your unprofitableness to God. Oh, believer, if you can think a thought about God that you know is true about Him because His Word and Spirit has revealed it to your believing heart, oh, how you have a reason to praise and thank the Lord today. Oh, believer, if you can say something that you know is true about God because His Word and Spirit has revealed it to your believing heart, oh, how you have a reason to praise and thank the Lord today. even if all you got was a lump of coal for a gift today from somebody else. Oh, believer, if you can do the things you do today to the glory of God and the good of your redeemed life and the lives of others, whether believer or non-believer, oh, how you have reason to praise and thank the Lord today. As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Third, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Oh, if you ever wanted evidence of the true condition of lost men outside of true saving repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, just listen to what non-believers say about other non-believers at their funerals. Believer, I want to ask you something. If you have a funeral, Who do you want lifted up? Christ or yourself? Christ or yourself? The truth of why Jesus came into this world or what you have done? Yes, be thankful for the life of the one who has died, especially if they were a true confessing believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the last thing such a true confessing believer in Christ wants is a false picture to be painted of them at their funeral. For if they were not a sinner that only Jesus could save, what would you not be doing? Attending their funeral. Oh, how many want the self-centered, self-righteous, pseudo-good works of the non-believer in the coffin, or even the works done by a true believer in Christ to the glory of God focused on, rather than the truth of why they had to die, and why Christ had to die, because they don't want to face the truth of why they have to die. How many show that they do not understand the purpose of the birth of Christ by saying that having someone die on Christmas Day is the worst day to have it happen? Not if they were a true confessing believer in Christ, friends. For what does it mean for a believer to be absent from the body he or she indwelt that is now in that coffin? For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Amen? Fourth, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? Their throat is an open sepulcher. What is an open sepulcher? It's the place where a dead person is buried. It's the place where a dead person is buried. How does the non-believer have such a throat? By speaking things that do not have the support of or contradict the Holy Bible. Oh, how many graveyard throats exist in the world today, even in pulpits. Saying things that are not true about God. Saying things that are not true about man. Saying things that are not true about the Lord Jesus Christ. Saying things that are not true about God's earth and God's universe. Friends, it would be safer and wiser for how many speakers and teachers with graveyard throats to never open their mouths again. What a blessing it would be if they got a case of permanent laryngitis. I can't speak because what I would say does not have the support of God's Word. Oh, how many who have died. How many who have died. have died having listened to, having believed those who told them that all they had to do is die to go to heaven. Is all they had to do is follow the five pillars of Islam or the seven sacraments of Romanism or this or that. Not facing the folly of listening to such a sepulcher throat. and they will have to face the folly of having listened to that sepulcher throat forever. Oh, how many who have died telling others that believing the saving gospel of God is not mankind's only hope of safely appearing before the living, true, and only Lord God of the scriptures, and are now facing the folly of having such graveyard throats. and will be confronted by all those who foolishly listen to them forever. Believer, are you thankful for a throat that can hold forth the truth of the eternal life that is found in and can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ? The one who is the resurrection and the life, being ready and willing to give a reason for the hope that you have of meeting God safely because of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for acceptance with God. Fifth, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? With their tongues they have used deceit. Oh, how many non-believers deceive themselves and others by saying that they're not afraid of dying. Have you ever heard that from the non-believer? They're not afraid of dying. But they've shown it over the last two years and counting by the level of fear displayed over this thing called COVID, even to the point of wearing masks when they are by themselves in their own cars and when they are out jogging. And what are we doing if we wear a mask knowing that we are not sick or contagious? We are lying to others. How many of you is the acrostic? What WWJD? What would Jesus do? The last thing that truth would have done is wear a lying face diaper that is displaying a pathological fear of dying and not hope in the one who holds our life in his sovereign hands. What is true of those looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for acceptance with God? Psalm 91 verses 5 and 6. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. How many will show that they don't have the hope found in a believing understanding of the purpose of the incarnation of Christ today as they are reluctant to meet with healthy family and friends because they're not wearing masks? How many are reluctant to shake the hands of healthy family and friends because the wicked powers that be have made them paranoid of human conduct, excuse me, contact, even as they have no problem having maskless, perverted transvestites expose themselves as they speak before children in public libraries. Sixth, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? The poison of asps is under their lips. What is an asp? It is a snake that has poisonous venom, something the asp doesn't advertise he has. Oh, how many non-believers would not want what they have said about other non-believers revealed to them today? What if a gift a non-believer received today was a recording of what even their own husbands or wives said about them in their absence to others? Oh, believer, do you know the blessing of confessing the one who never spoke anything? He was not ashamed of having the authorities investigate. Do you know the conviction of sin of the Lord rebuking you for saying something about another person, even another believer, but you would be ashamed of having it repeated in their presence? Oh, what will glory be like, believer, when you will never have to battle against an An unkind and unloving thought, an unkind and unloving word, or an unkind and unloving action again? All because of the willingness of your Lord and Savior to be born into this world to save His people from our sins of thought, sins of lip, and sins of action. Seventh, what is the condition of every non-believer, regardless of their flavor, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness? Oh, how many, before this day is over, even on Christmas day, even on Christmas day, before this day is over, will have taken the name that is above every name in vain? Because that is their regular practice. Friends, there are lost sinners who I fear could not speak if they couldn't misuse the name of Jesus. They wouldn't know what to say. Oh, how many will go to bed tonight? How many children will go to bed tonight, bitter at their parents? because their coveted toy wasn't under the tree. Oh, how many will go to bed tonight bitter towards God because God took their idolized family member? Am I saying it's wrong to grieve the loss of a loved one at Christmas, not if that grief reminds you of the hope that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ that He will bring with Him those who died, believing on Him alone for acceptance with God when He returns? That's not wrong. Am I saying that it's wrong to grieve the loss of a loved one at Christmas? Yes, if it promotes and fuels bitterness in your heart towards God or envy towards others who are able to enjoy this day and this time of the year to the glory of God and the good of others. Eighth, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? Their feet are swift to shed blood. How many non-believers and sadly too many who profess to be believers in Christ unashamedly support the offensive military-industrial-congressional complex of this country as seen in their willing to invest in offensive companies like Raytheon, whose bread and butter is manufacturing and designing things whose sole purpose is the swift shedding of blood of others in other countries, including those in the womb and including our brothers and sisters in Christ. Because a cruise missile doesn't care who is on the receiving end of that payload. It doesn't discriminate between Christian and non-Christian. It doesn't discriminate about whether that child's walking on the street or still in the womb of its mother. And every so-called pro-life Christian in America who supports the military industrial complex is a hypocrite. If they're opposed to the killing of life in America and the world, and they don't give any thought about the number of innocent children who have been destroyed, because of what companies and industries like Raytheon produce. God have mercy on us. God have mercy on Christians who profit off of their stock portfolios that are covered in blood. Because, as I said, a cruise missile doesn't care who is on the receiving end of its payload. Oh, how many in churches today would prefer to hear a message on the glorious truth of Isaiah 9, verse 6? For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, even as they deny the truth of who Jesus is, the Prince of Peace, by their Swift blood producing stock portfolio. Oh, if true revival was to come to the churches before the return of Christ, it would be seen in professing believers forsaking their profiting off of industries whose primary purpose is the quick shedding of blood. Ninth, what is the condition of every non-believer regardless of their flavor? Destruction and misery are in their ways. Friends, how can anyone say that the Bible does not speak to man? Today is beyond me. Destruction and misery is in their ways. How many have willingly got along with the shutting down of drilling? of criminal sanctions against the country that has done nothing to harm this country, of mandating the killing of how many millions of chickens, of the implementation of a green agenda that will do more to impoverish and harm people than the consumption of a farting cow. all on the basis of the lie of excessive man-made CO2 in the atmosphere, even as they fly around in their private jets spewing out more non-toxic CO2 in one flight than your car does in a year. Friends, pure, undiluted, 100% Hypocrisy is a sobering thing to behold, but it is seen in every private jet using Greenie. Oh, believer, do you know the blessing of being able to say, Lord, I can use whatever I am using. Lord, I can use this to thy glory and the good of my own life and the good of my fellow man, whether believer or non-believer. And enjoying ham or a roast or a Guinea hen or Brussels sprouts on Christmas is one of those ways. Oh, Jesus was foolishly and falsely accused of being a winebibber and a glutton. And sadly, it is possible to be both today, nor any day, if you do not keep the truth of 1 Corinthians 10 31 before your fork, your fingers and your mouth. But believer, you can do something today that no non-believer can do. You can enjoy the things you enjoy to the glory of God. You can enjoy the things you do to the glory of God, and you can give thanks to Him. Colossians 3, verse 17, and whatsoever you do in word or deed, dwell in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Tenth, what is the condition of every non-believer, regardless of their flavor and the way of peace they have not known? Friends, how many talk of wanting peace with themselves? Of wanting peace with others? wanting peace in the world. But if you were to tell them that the only way this is possible is through the biblical and saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, they would look at you like you'd lost your mind. Oh, may more who confess to be Christian be seen as insane by this non-peace loving world. For the last way true world peace will be achieved is through the gospel denying world religions of man or the United Nations or the World Economic Forum. For what do every one of these man-made institutions deny? They deny that peace with God, peace within, and peace with others is possible only through the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. For who is to have the preeminence in all things? The Lord Jesus Christ. How many peace conferences and peace treaties have unbelieving men had and signed since the Prince of Peace ascended back to sit at the right hand of his Father in glory? How peaceful is the world today on December the 25th, 2022? Not very. Why? Because this world of unbelieving men continues to reject and ridicule that the saving gospel of God is the only message able to bring true peace into the life of anyone who truly believes it. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Then you know that peace that passeth all understanding, even as you wonder what lies ahead for this gospel of peace rejecting world. Eleventh and finally, What is the condition of every non-believer regardless of flavor? There is no fear of God before their eyes. Friends, all I would have to do to prove this final description that Paul gives of the non-believer is to go back over the descriptions he has infallibly given in the previous verses. Would all the things being thought, would all the things being said, with all the things being done even today by non-believers be being thought, be being said, and be being done? If there was true saving belief in the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in America today, I will leave that to your own determination. But how many will show their total lack of their fear of God, because the last one they want to think about and thank God for, even today, is the Lord Jesus Christ. How many show that there is no fear of God before their eyes today because they have no desire or ability to thank God for His unspeakable gift of His beloved and only begotten Son today or any day? How many show that there is no fear of God before their eyes because they cannot honestly praise and thank God for the fact that the three theys and the six theirs of these few verses no longer includes them. Do they no longer include you today? Let us pray. Lord, in the midst of seeing man's true condition in sin, how we thank you for giving us eyes to see it and to flee in true repentance and faith to the only one who can save us from ourselves. your beloved son, in whose name we pray, amen.