Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Judges chapter 17, if you would please. Judges chapter 17. I'm amazed that just completing the conference last week, as we get into the book of Judges, we find ourselves at two chapters that really illustrate apostasy. And so I want to speak this morning on the subject of the danger of apostasy. I'm always fascinated by what God does, how that there seems to be at certain times in the history of our church and the life of our church where there's a certain biblical emphasis that is given many times at just the right time. And we have been hearing about separation and living in this apostate hour. Here we come to Judges chapters 17 and 18 that talk about the personal as well as the country, the nation of Israel and their apostasy. So we're going to deal with the personal apostasy first. I'd like to read these 13 verses of Scripture. For our reading this morning, Judges chapter 17, and of course we will be using our Bibles and going to other places too. It says in chapter 17 verse 1, And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. Now this is not the prophet Micah. There are two Micahs mentioned in the Bible. Here was this false priest, this false prophet, and then there was the good man Micah. It says, And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursed, and spake of also in mine ears, Behold, the silver is with me. I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I have wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore, I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod and a teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." I believe that this chapter, as we were given the overall emphasis for the book of Judges in this historical time, we find that the key verse for the entire book is found in verse 6, where it says, But every man did that which was right in his own eyes." We're in trouble when we begin to think we know better than God or that we want to go our own way and do our own thing. Proverbs 14, verse 12, as well as chapter 16, verse 25, they have the same words, word for word the same in these two verses. And this is what the verses say, "...there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death. Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 6, the scripture says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. I like that. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. When we use the word apostasy, and I'm afraid that there are several words that we use in Christianity that we think we know the meaning of, but we're not really quite sure. And we just sort of breeze through it thinking we have the definition down. And we use the word apostasy and apostate, and I don't know that we really know what it means. When we use the word apostasy, we speak of the teachings that lead away from the truth. We talk about someone believing a certain thing and then drifting or deviating from that established teaching. When we call someone an apostate, we are referring to someone who willfully turns away from established truth and follows false teachings. In other words, they knew the truth, but they willfully went another way. And of course, we make reference today as living in what we call an apostate hour. We see many, many people who name the name of Christ, who now they used to believe some of the truths of the Word of God, but now they have deviated. They're going another way. They are committing apostasy. They, because of the day in which we live, we live in this apostate hour, they are apostates. They're going after false doctrine. In 2 Timothy, I want to turn there for just a moment and read a couple portions of Scripture in reference to this. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, and in the interest of time, I'm just going to dive right in. If you're taking notes, you can write it down, or you can try to catch up with me as I'm reading. In 2 Timothy 4, verse 1, the Bible says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. The word quick means alive. And so shall judge the quick, the alive, and those that are dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Well, that verse of scripture is actually referring to a pastor that even though he may preach the word, there's going to come a point in time in those that hear the word, not all, but some will turn from that truth. They will go and become apostate. They will then say, you know, I don't like that teaching. I'm going to go find someone that will tell me what I want to hear, what I think I need. And so they'll heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears. And so that's the very time where the preacher is encouraging the other preacher that no matter what happens, as far as the hearers are concerned, you keep preaching the Word. You keep preaching the Bible. Amen? Take your Bibles and go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And when you get to 1 Thessalonians and these five chapters, of course, we have the doctrinal aspect at the beginning. And 1 and 2 Thessalonians to the church of Thessalonica. We find that these are two prophetic books. You get to chapter 5 and there are some 20 different commands in these verses of Scripture. And I want to begin reading right here at verse 1. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Harold Camping, once again, has gone on record saying that Jesus Christ is coming at a certain time. My friend, you know, the thing that disturbs me about that is probably in my mind I think, well, that's one day we know that Jesus probably isn't going to come. Because if everybody's going to be looking for Him on that particular day, Jesus is saying, I'm not coming. I'm going to come when you don't think I'm coming. Because that's what the Bible says. And he says here in verse 3, For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Notice, he's writing to a church. He's writing to believers. Okay? Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not the children of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober." That means to be serious. Okay? It says, "...for they that sleep, sleep in the night." They that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in Helmut the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Amen. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify, that means build up one another, even as also ye do. In other words, he's saying keep doing what you're doing. He says, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, Be patient toward all men. Now notice here in verse 14, that's not written from a preacher to a preacher. It's written from a preacher, an apostle, to a church. So this ought to be the ministry or life experience in the local church of every single one of us in chapter 5 and verse 14. Now we exhort, we comfort, we encourage you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support that we can be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that verse of scripture tells me right there, as well as the entire passage, is that Jesus Christ is concerned about the total man. He's not just interested in saving your soul to go to heaven. It says here that you could be preserved blameless in your body, soul, and in your mind, I mean spirit, I mean the whole totality of man God's interested in. It's great to know that God is interested in every facet and aspect of our lives. He sees our frame. He remembers we're but dust. The very hairs of our head are numbered. I mean, He knows all about us. Amen? Isn't that good to know that we have a God like that? He goes on to say, faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. And he goes on there. And so we're living in a day, though, where, hey, people are deviating from the truth, and sometimes we say they're dropping like flies. And we need to be alert as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that we don't fall into that same trap. Amen? In Judges chapter 17, we see the signs and the effects of personal apostasy, a personal drifting away from established truth. We have three main characters mentioned in chapter 17, and I want to go through these and look at their lives, and I want to pull out some lessons that I trust might help us. First of all, I want to look at the mother of Micah. Now, it's interesting to me that dad is not mentioned here. We don't have any historical context to know whether Micah's father had died, whether this is a split home or what, but we do know that Micah and his mother and Micah's children live there in the house, okay? And so we see here that we have three, essentially, three generations. We have mom, we have son, and we have grandson. here in this passage of Scripture. If you look at verse 5 of Judges 17, it says, And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and a teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priests. So here we have three generations. And because mother did not do right, her disobedience to God was perpetuated to her son and her grandson. It's very, very important for us individually. I'm not speaking so that we can cast disparaging comments and point a finger at those generations before us, but we need to be very, very careful on the place we have in our particular home, in our house, because we exert a lot of influence to those succeeding generations. And so here we find a mother that was not going to serve God properly, and because of her carnality and her disobedience to God, her son follows in the steps. And then not only that, the son is rearing his son to follow in his steps. And thereby, that disobedience goes from generation to generation to generation. And you notice here in these 13 verses of Scripture that I found was so interesting, is it's filled with references to the Lord. If you look at the word Lord, you'll see capital L-O-R-D. That is the English word for Jehovah, the great I Am mentioned in Exodus chapter 3. And so here we find that, oh, Micah's mother mentions the Lord. And we find Micah talking about the Lord. We have the Levite talking about the Lord, and yet the Lord is not in this. And it's an amazing thing when people are disobedient and they begin to follow after heresy, and they begin to follow their own ways, doing that which is right in their own eyes, they get very spiritual. They want to put God in the equation, and yet God's nowhere to be found. And so as we look at these 13 verses of Scripture, let's not think for one moment that God is putting His stamp of approval on this. Just because it says here in verse 13, then said Micah. Notice, Micah is saying this. He's saying, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. Very spiritual in his outlook and what he's portraying to everyone else. But his lips were with the Lord, but his heart was far from Him. Amen? And so, see, this woman here, this mother, She had a good talk, but a sorry follow-through. Amen? Let's look at 2 Timothy 3, if you would. 2 Timothy 3. Go there. I'll try to get there in shorter order myself. 2 Timothy 3 says, This know also, that in the last days, verse 1, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heavy, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. You and I have to be extremely careful about those that we hang around, even though they may speak religious language, even though they may talk Bible talk. Amen. We find these three characters in Judges chapter 17 talking religiously. Trying, they say, to give the Lord glory. But my friend, I mean, they did anything but live for God. Notice what it says here in verse 6 of 2 Timothy chapter 3. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." And he goes ahead and gives an illustration of that point. So we see here that this mother in Judges chapter 17 had a lot of religious lingo, but yet she was following, doing her own thing, and rearing her children and grandchildren in the same way. We see also that she was a permissive mother. In other words, she did not rebuke. I mean, it's interesting that she let her son steal. From her. Live in idolatry. And did nothing to restrain him. I think we have to be very, very careful as parents because we may be more guilty than what we think regarding our child's carnality. We need to face it rather than looking for a place to blame. And here we find because of mama's carnality, son was carnal and grandson was carnal. And everything they were doing had that carnality about it. Example here was, I thought about Eli in 1 Samuel chapter 3 and verse 13. And here's the judgment that God had put on Eli as the priest and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were sons of Belial. And God killed them. But he says these words, For I have told him. Now that's God speaking to Samuel. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. We can't do a whole lot about what we don't know. You know, sometimes we just don't know. You know, we sit sometimes around the table and start hearing the children talk about things that they did. You know, how they beat up on each other and throw each other, you know, in a closet and, you know, pull pranks on one another. And Brenda and I didn't know some of that stuff. Well, my mind goes in a lot of different directions there. Wow. We didn't know a lot about that. There's not a whole lot we could do about that. But hey, how about the stuff we did know and That's what God was judging Eli about He says Judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not It was his responsibility, Eli's responsibility, not just as a priest, but as a father, to say, look son, you're not doing that here. You're not going to get by with that here. No way are you going to commit immorality. No way are you going to steal from the people. No way are you going to do these vile, contemptible things you're going to do right in this house, or you can hit the road. Well, we don't like that kind of strong. We don't mind strong language like that here. We don't mind it when somebody else's child. But how about our own? And God brought judgment to Eli's house because he knew what they were doing was wrong. And he said, well, we'll just let God take care of it. Or, hey, you know, it's not good that you're doing that. But he just gave lip service rather than fulfilling his God ordained responsibility as father and high priest. Genesis chapter 18 verse 9 we have the complete opposite scenario here God is speaking about Abraham and he says these words for I know him that he will command his children and his household after me. Now remember there's that one point where Lot was taken captive And he got 318 of his servants born in his house. And they went after and they defeated the enemy. They got Lot and his household goods and family and brought them back. That's the household. In other words, what God is saying here, He says, I know Abraham, that he is not only going to fulfill his responsibility as dad, but even in his day-to-day business interests, he's going to see to it that those that he's responsible to and for do right. That they serve God. Notice, is that not what he says? For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. Could it be that some of us are missing out on some of the blessings of Almighty God because we are permissive and passive in fulfilling our God-ordained responsibilities? Instead of just going with the flow, we ought to make sure the flow is in the right direction. So we have the mother of Micah in Judges chapter 17. Let's look now at Micah himself, at Micah himself. One thing I noticed when I read this passage of scripture is, is that he was a thief. All this religious lingo and talk and yet he was a thief. And if you look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, you have what we refer to as the Ten Commandments. You notice in this passage of Scripture, "...thou shalt have no other gods before me." And he did. Then he says, "...thou shalt not make a graven image." And he did. And you notice because of his low view of God, that he didn't really care about honoring Mom and Dad. He didn't care about, "...thou shalt not steal." You see, when you don't have a proper view and fear of the Lord, then you're not going to live right either. And because he had a low view of Jehovah God and thought he would do, Micah thought he would do what he felt like was best instead of obeying implicitly what God said, hey, you see that he didn't really care about anybody else but himself too. So here he's a thief. Now I also notice that He was his own spiritual authority. No one was going to tell him how to worship. No one was going to tell him how, where, when, and whatever. He says, hey, look, I will decide for myself. But see, God has already declared how he's to be worshiped. He told them, hey, this is the way you ought to approach me. And seeing that rebellion, it's just like way back after the garden when Adam and Eve sinned, and then we have the account there of Cain and Abel. God told them to bring the blood sacrifice. Abel did. Cain said, hey, I've worked hard. I'm going to bring you the fruit of the ground, the work of my hands, the sweat of my brow. Hey, this is stuff I have just really worked on, and I'm bringing that to you. Isn't that good enough? And God said, no, it's not. And rather than write Cain off, he said, Cain, you need to go back and you need to do what I said you needed to do to come to me with an acceptable sacrifice. Then I'll receive you. And so Cain, all he would have had to have done is gone and gotten that lamb and brought the blood sacrifice. But he says, no, I'm not going to do it. You're not going to tell me what to do. If this isn't good enough for you, then I will go my own way, do my own thing. We may not be so brash, But when we do not follow the clear teachings of the Word of God, then we are just that brash in our hearts. And God recognizes that and He sees that. And when we harbor that kind of an attitude and spirit, we set ourselves up towards a downward path of apostasy. Just a little thing. I'll just worship another God. I'll set up a graven image. I won't just be obedient to my mom in the house. I'll just do my own thing. And little by little by little, he even begins a whole new worship system in his own house. How devastating. Not just for Micah, but for his mama, and for the Levite, and for his sons, and all the other household servants that he had. Micah was his own spiritual authority. I too have noticed that he gave a lot of spiritual talk, but he wasn't right with God either. Folks, we need to have discernment. I've had people live in immoral relationships tell me that they've never been more right with God than they were right then. That their devotional life was so precious as they would read the Word of God. They told me that. I've heard it more than once. My friend, on the authority of the Word of God, I could look at them and say, you're not telling me the truth. And here is Micah in Judges chapter 17 saying, oh, the Lord is with us and we're going to do this and worship the Lord. Oh, the Lord provided the silver. And folks, this silver was something else. You know, these 1100 shekels represented about 400 ounces of silver. And 400 ounces at somewhere around the $30 an ounce price right now, I think it closed around $31 something this week, you know, that comes to about $12,000. And in this day and time, that was a huge sum of money. Notice as you look at chapter 17, In verse 10 it says, and Micah said unto the Levite him dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year. So you take, you know, the 1100 shekels that this man had in his possession minus the 200 shekels that they made the graven image out of and the teraphim out of and you still have 900 shekels, and if this Levite thought he was getting a pretty good deal by just getting 10 a year, this is a whole lot of money. A whole lot of money. You see, you begin to see what was really driving Micah and driving the Levite as well. Amen? And so, hey, we see this spiritual talk here. Notice, let's go to Matthew chapter 7. You may know where I'm headed with this, but we need to be people of discernment. We need to put our thinking caps on, and we need to think biblically, and we need to just siphon everything through the gridwork of Scripture when we hear certain teachings, all teaching. Paul was not intimidated one bit to have people search the Scripture daily whether those things are so. But what we do is we'll go Google on the internet and we'll read what somebody else has to say about the scripture. We'll say, okay, say we don't agree with the premillennial position, so we think, oh, you know, I want to study amillennialism or postmillennialism. And so what you do is instead of studying the scriptures on it, instead of really knowing what even premillennialism is all about, you'll go and read hour after hour, person after person, CDs, DVDs on postmillennialism and allow them to influence your thinking and lead you astray. and leads you into apostasy. That's lack of discernment. That's immaturity or it's apostatizing. Willfully going in another direction. Turn the boat around. In Matthew 7, verse 21, it says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many. I trust no one in this room, but the Bible here says many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works. You talk about spiritual sounding and looking people. These are the people. And yet what does God say? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I thought immediately as I was looking at the life of Micah, I thought immediately of this passage of Scripture. Boy, he looked spiritual. He had all the outward trappings. He had the lingo down. He was fooling everybody else, but he wasn't fooling God. Folks, you can fool everyone else, but you can't fool God. I can fool you, but I can't fool God. We better make sure that we stand in the faith. Amen? Go to 1 Corinthians 1, if you would, please. 1 Corinthians 1. right after Romans 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10 says now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when he uses that that phrase by the name of he's talking about the authority of okay he says now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that y'all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Go now over to chapter 3. Chapter 3, verse 1. The Bible says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, forwares there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions. Are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal?" Some of us need to quit acting so spiritual and admit our carnality and get right with God. That's what the scriptures say in here. He's writing to the church. He's saying, you have to be together, one mind, one heart, one spirit. And yet with envy and strife and fussing and fighting and all this kind of stuff, you're carnal. And if you want the blessings of God on your life, hey, get rid of the carnality. Get right with God. That's what he's saying. Quickly this morning, let's look at the Levite as we go back to our text passage in Judges chapter 17. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. Now, you have to understand, a Levite had no real inheritance. They were given as those that would care for the tabernacle. They were the bearers of the tabernacle. They were to actually be servants to the priests. And so here's this Levite. He had no business out wandering around. He had no business out looking for a place. He's just saying, I'm going to go over here and I'm going to find my own place. I'm going to do my own thing. I don't want anybody telling me what to do. I don't want to be accountable or responsible to anybody. I want to do my own thing. And that's one of our problems. We want to do our own thing. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Verse 6. Because there was no king there. There was no authority that would hold their feet to the fire and say, hey, you're going to do this. And so everybody says, hey, I'm going to do what I want. the very epitome of selfishness. And here we find this Levite that he was not satisfied. Look at verse 8. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. Look at verse 9, the last phrase. And I go to sojourn where I may find a place. Folks, there's no better place than the will of God for your life. I'm reading a book right now. It's called The Bitter Cup. And the whole premise of it is, what do you do? How do you handle it when you find that the will of God for your life is a bitter cup? When some tragic event happens in your life, or some heartbreak comes in your life, that's really beyond your control, there's nothing you can do about it. And yet you live in that knowledge and in that circumstance. That's drinking, as Jesus referred to in the Garden of Gethsemane, as the bitter cup. And at the same time, wherever you find yourself in the will of God, that's the best place to be. Instead of looking at the demise of what you perceive to be your ideal of what life is, as you look to Him and realize that this is the will of God for you, Then you find that peace and that contentment and the knowledge of the holy that really brings satisfaction to your life, even though you may need to drink from the bitter cup. Wow, what a truth. We equate the will of God as always being something that, hey, everything's going to fly my way. No heartache, no problems, no trials. The will of God. He's going to look after all those details. But what happens when the will of God is the thorn in the flesh? What happens? I rather glory in mine infirmities, Paul says, that the power of Christ may rest on me. The inference there is if he had not had the thorn in the flesh that would keep him in a spirit of humility, and on his knees praying, then he would have God's power. And without God's power, you have no effectiveness. And that is the truth for all of us. Amen? Wow, what a truth. What a truth. So we find here, though, in Judges 17, that the Levite was not satisfied with the place that God had for him. Now, I also see this, that he was a hireling. You notice he went and did what he did for money's sake. God deliver us from hirelings. And sad to say, in the ministry there are a lot of hirelings. They do it simply for the money. They do it simply for the prestige. And when trouble comes, they leave. And story after story after story could be told about those that began to have hardships in their churches and went out the door. Why? Well, maybe there's a better place that's easier. And that's why the turnover of many pastors is so great. The turnover is that two to three years, churches get new pastors. Every two to three years. That's the average in North America. Why? Well, when they start having trouble, when they preach through all their messages, they go to the next church. Stay there until trouble comes again. They go to the next church. Go to the next church. And on and on it goes. This Levite was a hireling. He says, man, you know, hey, I'm going to make some money. I don't know where I... I'm just looking for a spot. I don't want to do what my job is, what I'm responsible to do before God. But, you know, I need to live. And so he goes looking for, hey, I'll give you ten shekels of silver by the year, a suit of apparel, and I'll feed you, I'll clothe you. And so he says, hey, this is all right. This is all right. I'm going to live a life of ease. And that's many times how we think. We think, I want the easy way in life. I'm tired of having to contend for the faith. I'm tired of having to stand. I'm tired of having to, hey, that's not right. And always having to give a word of correction. I'm tired of that. You see, this man was content with a life of no conflict. I want to read Ephesians 6. We're almost done. Ephesians 6. We need to think biblically as believers and realize with these last days, The onslaught of the evil one is that much more intense. He is picking up his attack. He's not drawn back. He is seeking to lead more people astray now than he did 100 years ago. He's doing a good job of it. But in Ephesians chapter 6, I want to begin reading here in verse 10. He says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord in the power of his might. Now, if we weren't in a conflict, why would we need power? Why would we need strength? Why would we need the strength of the Lord if life was going to be just a bowl of cherries? No conflict. He says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, the tricks of the devil. Some of you are being tricked by the devil. Please hear the message. He says this in verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness in high places. So our struggle is not personality struggles. They're spiritual struggles. Wherefore taken to you the whole armor, God knows that whole armor, whole armor, all the armor. Don't leave off a piece. It's vital for your success in your spiritual life, he says. Wherefore, taking to you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Not some, but all of them. You know what that gives you an indication? The devil's constantly firing, constantly firing, constantly firing, constantly firing. You get through with one battle and you have another one. I was talking to a preacher yesterday and he said, man, he said, does this ever stop? He says, you know, you get through with one situation and you've got another one. And I said, welcome to the ministry. And it's not just the ministry, it's life. You get through with one struggle and the devil's there. And sometimes he's got two or three arrows coming at one time. Praise God, we've got a good shield. That shield of faith. And he says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's our offensive weapon, the Word of God. That's why we emphasize getting in the Bible. That's why we emphasize hearing the preaching of the Word of God. We don't just say, come to church so that we can say, look how many we had in church. No, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10, 17, he says, verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Jude verse 3. You may know this one by heart. I'm going to read it. About the time sometimes I think I've got it memorized, I can maybe do a good job, and then other times it just sort of... You ever have that happen to you? Jude verse 3 says, Beloved, when I gave all diligence, this is a half-brother of the Lord Jesus. Same mama, different daddies. Amen? Jesus had God the Father. OK, but when I gave all diligence to write in view of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints. You get into a wrestling match and the other person is called the contender. The contender. We are to earnestly contend for the faith. That denotes effort. That denotes a battle. That denotes a warfare, a struggle, if you please. And what we want is a life of ease. Well, Church of Jesus Christ, that won't happen in this life. Not if we're going to be pleasing to God. It says, Endure hardness, 2 Timothy 2. Endure hardness as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you're looking for a life of ease and peace and contentment and no problems, think again. Think biblically. Don't be like a Micah. Don't just simply relegate your life to, hey, just talking spiritual talk, going through spiritual motions, and yet you have idols of the heart, even though your speech is all right. God's so displeased. Take your Bibles lastly to Revelation chapter 3, last book of the New Testament. We have the seven churches, starts with Ephesus and ends with Laodicea. And of course, Jesus Christ is the writer of these letters, writing to the pastors. And he comes to chapter 3 and verse 14 and he says these words, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen. Someone has said that the definition for Laodicea means people's rights. Interesting, isn't it? People's rights. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. In other words, you who are so afraid of being a fanatic for the Lord Jesus Christ, this is for you. He says, I want you to be all out for me. I want you to be hot. I want you to be dedicated. What would happen if those of us in the walls of this building were to leave here red hot for God? It would change our school system. It would change our business community. It would change our community. It would revolutionize it if we would be hot for God. But we don't want to stand out like that. We want to blend in. We want to be like everyone else. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes. He says these words, he says, so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot. In other words, he says, I wish you wouldn't even say that you belong to me if you're going to live lukewarmly. If you're not going to be red hot for me, don't even pretend. Please don't tell anybody else you're a Christian. Please don't witness for me. Don't tell people that you're saved and on your way to heaven if you're not going to live like it. I wish you were cold or hot, but because you're lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." This is Jesus talking. He says, you guys make me sick. God says, you make me sick. I wonder what God in heaven is saying today to the pin of the Valley Baptist Church. Is He saying, wow, you're red hot for me, or is He saying, you folks make me sick? Do we make God sick? But praise God, when he gets this letter going, he has some advice for us. Look at this. He says, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. People come through here and say, oh, this is a great church. And boy, this is a special ministry. And praise God, I give all the glory for the good that's going on and what God has done these 23 years. But my friend, let's not kid ourselves. We've not arrived. Because they'll say, I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Hey, our bills are paid. People are coming. Things are happening. Oh, great. We don't need anything. I'm all right. Folks, we're not all right. And knoweth that thou art, let me read it in verse 17, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. That's our true condition. But He doesn't leave us there in the slew of despair, and despond, and discouragement. Amen? Here's what he says, I counsel thee. What I like about that, he's not going to force you to be hot. He's not going to force you to be lukewarm. He's not going to force you to be cold. He says, I've got some counsel. Now, my friend, if God were to come down here in human form, sit in this chair and says, hey, Mike, I've got some advice for you. I'd be an idiot not to take it. Amen? We'd be stupid not to put our ears on, so to speak. Amen? Look what he says. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. There's a verse in the Scriptures that says, buy the truth and sell it not. In other words, He says, whatever you have to do to get right, get right, no matter what it costs you. Now that is easy preaching. It's another way or another hard thing. There's another thing to live it. That's what I'm trying to say. Amen. But he's saying whatever you have to do, If you have to sell everything you have to get right with God, sell everything you have and get right with God. It's better to cut a hand off and enter into eternal life halt and maimed rather than have two hands, two feet, two eyes and go to hell fire. You say, but pastor, that's talking about, that's talking about Christian. Okay. At the same time, we're talking about being right with God and experiencing the blessedness of eternal life with full reward in his presence. I think anything and everything that you need to do to get right with God, you need to get right with God. And you know what I'm talking about. I don't know what I'm talking about, but God knows what He's telling you right now, and you know what He's telling you. That's a brilliant statement, isn't it? But He knows. And so what's He telling this church and these people? That, hey, they were living, doing what they wanted to do. He says, look, I counsel thee to buy of me gold, try it in the fire, that thou may'st be rich. In other words, get your priorities right. that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." Somebody said, boy, this is a hard message. Now, I'm never going back to that church again. Man, he just gets up there and rants and raises and spits and sputters and stomps his feet and everything like that. And the Lord says, look, it could be a hard message because you need hard preaching. And He says, I love you enough to tell you the truth. That's what God says here. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And the rebuke is a verbal reprimand. Don't do that. Don't live like that. And the chastening is when He allows circumstances, people and things to come into our life to straighten us out. I will chasten you. I will get after you and nobody else. They may just look at your circumstance and say, oh, those poor people. And yet, you know, man, I am getting spanked by God royally. But it's so that God can say, see, I told you, no, he said, so you can get right. He says, I love you. He says, be zealous, therefore, and repent. And that's where we are today. You say, I know I'm living a carnal life. I'm not right with God. I'm lukewarm. And so I need to get right with him. I know what I need to do. And so now I agree with God that that is sin. That's what's keeping me from serving God. And I'm going to repent of that. I'm getting right with God. Repent. And notice when you repent, he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is not a soul-winning verse. This is written to church. Written to people who are out of fellowship. He says, you want to have fellowship with God? Your devotions are dry. Church is boring. Youth is a drag. The Christian life is, eh, no difference than anybody else. I'm sick and tired of it. As soon as I can, I'm out of here. Behold, he says, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. You talk about fellowship. It comes on the heels of repentance. It's not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord. standing in the need of prayer. And that's what we have to boil things down. We have to quit blaming everyone else. And we have to say, it's me! God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I'm getting right with You. To Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne. And here's how he concludes the whole thing. Every single letter he concluded the same way. And I conclude this message and begin the invitation with this verse right here. He that hath an ear. I'm talking about your physical ears. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, capital S, Holy Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Let's personalize it. God has spoken through the preached Word today. The Holy Spirit of God, if you're saved, has confirmed some things in your mind and heart. Have your spiritual ears been on? Have you heard the message that God has for you today? He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church, this church, you in particular.