I'll turn with me to the Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. I'll be honest, I've struggled with a verse or so, and I thought for several months now, maybe close to a year, When I go outside of the scriptures, I find a lot of orthodoxy supports the prevailing view. But whenever I stay within the bounds of scripture, which I think we ought to do, I find that I can't find any support in scripture for this orthodox view. But a couple weeks ago, maybe a month ago, I can't remember how long it's been now, it's recently, A friend of mine on Facebook just came out and said what I think several people that I may believe. I don't know how many out there believes it. I know a couple that do. And I've obviously swayed to believe it now myself. Otherwise, I wouldn't be up here talking about it. But I've kind of put this off for a little while because I've continued to keep looking over it and looking over it. to see whether or not these things be true. And more than anything, to have peace in my heart and mind, at least, that this is what God has at least given me, you know, and everything before I brought it forth to the congregation here. So I pray that what I speak might be the truth, and I pray that it might not be misleading or deceiving or Uh, anything like that, but I just pray the Lord give me understanding. But anyhow, this Facebook friend finally just came right out and said this on Facebook, but I am a couple other people that I know have thought and believe. Um, and whenever I saw that, I thought, wow, I said, I've been wanting to say that for a little while, but I'm just be honest, not having the guts to say it. And, uh, So he said it, I gave him a good amen on it that I agreed with him and some good dialogue came out of that. A lot of the scriptures that was within this dialogue were the scriptures that the Lord had directed me to as well. So, me and Larry was talking just a little bit before the song service began and particularly coming to biblical truth, spiritual life has to be given to know and understand biblical truth. Often people think that spiritual truth and spiritual understanding, spiritual wisdom and knowledge can be obtained just by getting into the Bible and studying it. And by memorizing scripture or listening to sermons or gathering mass knowledge of all these things. Some people think going to a seminary and have other fallible men teaching you a fallible man and saying, this is the Lord, and if you listen to what I say and follow my orthodoxy, then you'll be in orthodoxy. You know, that's basically what the concept is. I've always asked, you know, you went to seminary to learn from that man. Well, who did he learn from? Well, he learned from another man. Well, where'd he learn from? He learned from another man. Well, where'd he learn from? Well, he learned from this man. We're all following some man's system of teaching, right? Well, the Bible says that the knowledge of God comes through revelation only. It comes through the Spirit of God teaching us. That's where we learn. In fact, me standing here preaching to you week after week isn't actually teaching you anything. Now, it's giving you some sort of a knowledge. As a matter of fact, I think I read something that Larry wrote this week, maybe last week, something like that. People can gain some knowledge, but it doesn't give spiritual understanding. We can have a lot of knowledge about some things, but that doesn't give us spiritual understanding. The way that it spiritually is applied, or perceived, or it doesn't bring us to worship God because of that knowledge, because dead orthodoxy is dead, it's lifeless. The letter killeth. It's the spirit that gives it life. And so, whenever we come to spiritual knowledge and the understanding and the Bible, particularly, the things that's written in the Bible, these things are spiritually revealed. And so, I can't just get my Bible and get away on an island somewhere and say, devote my time to learning this thing, memorizing this thing, and I'm going to become wiser and smarter and more learned in the scriptures. Unless God gives that to me, I don't know it. So my question is, for people to be able to understand or to see or to perceive spiritual things, they must be given that sight. They must be given that, right? And we believe that that's what the Bible teaches. I think we'd all be uh... in agreement that nobody is given spiritual side unless god by his power gives it we can't gain spiritual side on our own matter of fact let's look at a few verses here and i'm actually going to do this in a backwards order uh... i'm going to reveal what i'm talking about at the very end and the reason i'm doing that is because i don't want and this may be fleshly of me trying to order the service here but uh... i don't want everybody spending the whole time thinking about how they disagree with what I'm saying. But listen to what the scripture says, and then let's look at something else and ask the question. Okay? In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15, God's Word tells us this. Paul writing to the Ephesian church, by the way, those who have been blessed by the Lord Jesus, those who are the elect of God, those who have been given all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, who are the faithful in Christ Jesus, this is who he's writing to. He says, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you, notice the word give, that God might give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Christ Jesus. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Brethren, let's just stop right there. There has to be a giving of revelation, a giving of wisdom, a giving of knowledge, and that there has to be eyes enlightened. That tells me that just the opposite is true of who we are, by default, by nature. By nature, we do not have wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of God, and that our eyes are not open, and they have to be open. Okay? They have to be open. the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that or so that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power. So here again we see not only a sight of spiritual things having to be given to us, but the working of His mighty power is what causes us to believe. That coincides with the Bible says that they are made willing in the day of His power and that all those who were ordained to eternal life believe God by His power has to give us life so that we can believe, so that we can understand, so that we can see. So God is the one who is initiating something on somebody who does not have, right? We are void. We were just talking about this. You know, Calvinist and Reformed people, they go on and on about the five points of Calvinism. We believe here in sovereign grace. We believe all the, what is considered the five points of the doctrines of grace, okay? But in those five points of the doctrines of grace, most general times you run into people and they don't believe in irresistible grace and they don't believe in limited atonement. And we say, well, they don't believe this, or they don't believe that. Well, me and Larry was having conversations a minute ago, and I was sharing with him, I said, I think the main issue is not necessarily that they don't believe in irresistible grace or limited atonement, it's they don't believe in total inability. Because if you understand total inability as the Bible teaches, our total inability as we're seeing right here, then you would realize that unconditional election Irresistible grace is something that has to be done if anybody is to be saved. And that if that's the case, and not everybody is saved, then that only shows that the atonement was limited. Because Christ, by his atonement, is what procured everything that irresistible grace and unconditional election was all about. Because of unconditional election, only the elect are the ones who are saved. Only the elect, the ones Christ died for, are the ones who are irresistibly drawn to Him by them being given life. Okay? So, the battleground is the inability of man. And this is what Paul is saying here. He is saying that these eyes have to be opened up by God. And he says, what is the seed according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave Him, Christ Jesus, to behead over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." So I think when we read through here, it's without doubt that God, in His power, in the person of Jesus Christ, controls all things as it pertains to spiritual understanding and knowledge of salvation and what God has done and who God is. God has to give that sight. We don't have it naturally and we can't earn it, we can't work for it, we can't, you know, avail ourselves to the information and receive it. It has to be given, the sight has to be given by God. Turn with me if you would to Acts chapter 26. And I do pray you follow along with these, because I want to drill down on some particular phrasing and words that the Lord uses here. And I pray whenever this comes to the end, and I bring up what it is that the Lord has brought me to see and understand over the last year, I pray that you see that it's not me saying it, but that it is the Lord, if truly so it is the Lord. Look with you would at Acts chapter 26. I'm going to be reading in verse 18. Now again, this is Paul whenever he's before King Agrippa and he's given his account of himself before King Agrippa. And he's saying what Jesus had told Paul whenever Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus. Look at verse 15. I'll start reading there. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus. Now this is Jesus speaking, okay? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. to open the eyes. Now this is what Jesus has come to do. Okay? He's given him a few things that Jesus has come to do. And he came to Paul, and he came to Paul to give him a purpose to minister, and he's given him a purpose among the Gentiles to deliver them from the Gentiles. But this is what Jesus is also here to do. To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So here you see that God is the one who has the power to give sight and to turn from darkness to light. So again, it's God who is controlling who sees and who doesn't see. God is the one who gives that power, or is the one who gives that sight. Now, turn with me back to the Old Testament, to Proverbs. Proverbs 20. Look at verse 12. The Bible says here, the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. Now, I believe that that's not just talking about physically, but spiritually. Okay? The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. Now, if we're talking about physical things, the Lord's surely given us ears and eyes, but he could have easily said, the bending elbow and the waving hand, the Lord has made both of these if he just wanted to talk about body parts, right? But what does he say here? He says, hearing ear and the seeing eye, this is a reference used throughout scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, that refers to wisdom and knowledge of God being revealed. the seeing eye, the hearing ear, these things, and then the dumb, the deaf, being able to speak the truth. All those things have to be given to us, okay? So the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord, have made even both of them. Turn back, if you would, to Psalms 119. Psalm 119, and I want to look at verse 18. It's written here, it says, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. So here the psalmist is saying, unless God opens my eyes, I'm not going to understand what's in this book. I need to have that sight given to me. God needs to reveal it to me. And brethren, I'm talking about even us who are born again. If we be God's children and we've been born from above and given spiritual life, even as we go, the Lord has to grow us in grace and knowledge of Him so that revelation is being given to us. Now, I'm not talking about new revelation outside of God's Word. It's got to be within God's Word. I'm not talking about these crazies that's on TV and the radio that are out there saying I saw God. I saw Jesus. Last night I was sitting at the dinner table. Jesus came and had dinner with me. I saw this vision or God told me or God spoke to me. Now I'm talking about what's in this word. And here the psalmist says that my eyes has to be opened by you, God. So I think we're pretty clear. And listen, brethren, I know there's probably hundreds more verses that's just like this. that we could go to, but for the sake of time, I want to move on, because now I want to ask the question, if we see that it is God who gives sight, and only He can give us sight to know truth, and to know Christ, and to know His Word, to know His salvation, does God blind eyes? Does God hide truth from people? Does God keep people from knowing the truth. Now, I want to sidestep just a second. We've all been raised and fundamentally ingrained in our mind that God loves everybody and that Jesus died for everybody. But as we have all seen over the years and through the scriptures, that that's not what the Bible teaches. That God does distinguish between the elect and the non-elect. And the elect he loves, the non-elect he has not set his love upon. Only the elect are the ones who Jesus died for. That would be the limited atonement we talked about a while ago. So, those who are the elect, God gives them sight to see. Everybody else he does not give that sight. Now, some may take issue with that, and they say, well, God is good. God is loving. God is righteous. God is holy. God wants all men to be saved. Why would he hide truth from them? Why would he not? I don't believe that that's true, preacher. That's not true. Well, see, what's happening, brethren, is you are responding from your emotions. You're responding from your religious nature. You're not responding in truth. It doesn't matter what I feel about how God is. I want God to save all my children because I love my children. And I want God to save that. But that's not in my hands and that's not in my ability to do, nor is it in their will to accept it or do it. It's only as God has ordained whether or not they are or not saved. And so my feelings don't change God's purpose and God's decree. And His love can be set on whoever He wants to set it on. And that does not change His righteousness or His holiness or His goodness. God didn't say, I will be fair. God says, I will be righteous. I will be right. I will do what is right. And whatever God does is right. And we don't have any way to say you're wrong. Who's going to be God's judge on that? All right. So the question is, does God do that? Does the Bible teach God hides things and keeps truth. Turn with me to Isaiah 6 if you would. I think y'all know kind of where we're going here. Very famous passage of scripture where Isaiah saw the glory of Christ Jesus sitting on the throne. But look if you would at verse 9. Christ speaking to, hang on, in chapter 9, Isaiah 6 and verse 9. Here's God speaking to Isaiah. He says, And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed." So here God is telling the prophet Isaiah to go to these people and to preach to these people and in doing so God is going to, through the preaching of that message, which they will not receive because their hearts have an inability to receive spiritual things, their eyes will be blind, their ears will be shut, their heart will be couched or hard or fat. They will not be able to believe and be converted and be healed. It will be a showing that when truth is presented, the natural man will not receive it. Because God is not going to intervene. God's not going to intervene and give them seeing eyes that we just read. The seeing eyes and the hearing ears, the Lord has made both of them. If He doesn't intervene and give that to them, they will reject the truth. Always rejecting the truth. They are always hardening their hearts. They are always stiff-necked. They are always in rebellion against God. They are always at enmity to the God of the Scriptures. So if God doesn't intervene, and so whenever we go and preach sometimes, the purpose of preaching, I know you used to hear preachers say all the time, you know, that God's Word won't return void. You know, whenever you preach to somebody and nobody responded to the altar call, the preacher would always say, well, God's Word will never return void. At some point, that boy will receive the Lord, that boy will come around and everything. Listen, God's Word won't return void, brethren, but there's a couple of things that it'll accomplish. It'll either accomplish comfort to God's people, or it's going to come and it's going to harden the heart even further to those who reject the truth of who God is and His salvation. The preaching of the gospel is as much for condemning the reprobate as it is for giving comfort and enjoyment to the child of grace. And so, Isaiah here is to be sent, so God is sending the prophet to go so that God might do this. Turn back to the New Testament, if you would, to John chapter 12. We'll see this a little more here, because that passage in Isaiah is quoted, I think, like three or four times in the New Testament. John 12. Look with me, if you would, at verse 40. Or excuse me, at verse 36. It says, while ye have life, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. Thus, or that, the saying of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, what we just read, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because, that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." You guys need to sit down and be calm and quit moving around. Okay? You're being very distracting. Verse 41, These things said Isaiah when he saw the glory and spake of Him. So here again we see reiterated in the Gospel that God has blinded their eyes. That's why these people, when Jesus, the greatest preacher of all time, who knew all truth and had all understanding, rightly understanding, of all things, whenever He came and preached, these people didn't believe. So that tells me that the sheer preaching of the truth does not do anything to the sinner. It is only by the internal work of God alone that opens the eyes and opens the ears to see. Okay? Look with me if you would at Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Look at verse 10. And the disciples came and said unto Jesus, or unto him, Jesus, why speak thou unto them in parables? Now, again, I grew up understanding and hearing other people say, especially preachers, the reason that Jesus spoke in parables is it made it easier for them to understand. He was breaking it down into ABCs and one, two, threes, okay? He was taking a everyday understanding to make it plain so that they could understand it. Right? And so the disciples came and said, well, Jesus, how come you keep speaking to people in parables? And this is Jesus. Remember who is God? God in the flesh said this, because it is given unto you. It is given unto you. If something is given, that means that unless it has been given, you're without. Right? You're without. You have to be given something because you don't have something. It has been given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But look what it says here. But to them it is not given. See the reason I'm speaking in parables is because through these parables you're going to understand the spiritual nature of what I'm saying. All they're going to be able to perceive is the letter of the law. They're going to understand the letter of it, but not the spirit of it. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them, here's it quoted again, is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. And how did that hearing and seeing come? The Lord made both of them, right? It came by the Lord. The Lord did this. They were not given that. Now, how are they blinded? Are they blinded at the moment that this happens? Well, I would say that the blinding and the hardness and all these things, that came in the original makeup of natural land. Adam was created natural, not spiritual. He was created without the ability to understand spiritual things, without the ability to keep the law of God. And so I would say that the blinded eyes, the deaf ears, the inability to receive and believe in the heart and all like these, these are the natural things that we have being children of Adam. And it's upon all of us. That's our natural state. That's why I say nobody is wanting to come to God and God is saying, no, you can't because you're not my elect. No, nobody is coming to God. Nobody is able to come to God. That's why grace is so majestic. It's so wonderful. It's so amazing. It's because nobody has the ability to come to God or is desiring to come to God. Yet God in His love and grace comes to some and gives them the ability to come to Him. That's what Jesus is talking about. The reason He speaks in parables is because He's given some to see and He is not giving some to others to see. While you're also there in Matthew, look at chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, verse Matthew chapter 11, verse 25. It says, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Here the Lord Jesus Himself is glorifying God in the fact that God in His sovereignty can give some to see and has hidden some from others. Now, brethren, I don't know how to dissect that any other way than what it's clearly saying here. Look at verse 6. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. I can't say that that's bad, that God hides it from some, because Jesus said it is good in God's sight that truth be hidden from some. The wrestling isn't with me or a theological system. The wrestling is with the Word of God and what God has said about Himself, about His Word, about Christ, about salvation. The wrestling is with you not believing God's Word. And it may be because God has not given you to see that. If God hasn't given you to see that, you won't see that and you will rebel against that. But here we plainly see that God has hidden the truths of some things from the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. And what he was speaking here is that he has hidden these things from the religious world, but has revealed them unto his children. Look with me, if you would, at Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, verse 7. Verse 1 says, I say then, hath God cast away his people, his people Israel? God forbid, for I am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people, the Israelites, but he codifies that, quantifies that. He makes it known which people he's talking about. Not all that are of Israel are Israel, right? There's a spiritual Israel. There's a physical Israel. Among physical Israel, there are spiritual Israelites. And God is saying here, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not, what the scriptures say of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." Now, think about what God is saying here and what He said to Isaiah back in the Old Testament when He first read it. I have reserved for myself. That means God, out of all the people who were rejecting God and were religious idolaters, God has kept, given belief and kept in belief a certain group of people for Himself, right? So the fact that God has a remnant of people means that God had actively chosen to give them understanding, to give them preservation, and there they are. And has not done that for the rest of them. See, the rest of the bell worshipers, he did not. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to what? Their will? According to their choosing? according to their parents' upbringing? According to their seminary studies? No. How are they the remnant? According to the election of grace. God chose them and didn't choose others. And if by grace, now listen, and if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no work. There's a clear distinction between works and grace. They're not ever mixed. They're not ever mingled. God never looks at works. He only gives grace. It's never based upon works. Whether it is to get saved, or whether it is to stay saved, or whether it is to be acceptable for the Lord, to stay in fellowship with God, it's never based upon your works. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, the rest were what? Blinded. See, God give this knowledge and understanding and desire for God to the elect, but has blinded their eyes. So God is the one who has blinded them, right? God is the one who has kept them from seeing. Now look if you would with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Second Corinthians chapter 3, look at verse 14. I'll back up a little bit just so we can kind of get the context here. This is Paul talking about how the glory of the law has faded away, the ministration of the law. Verse 13, And not as Moses which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. So see, Paul in teaching these Corinthians has said, hey listen, these Israelites, we Israelites, We were under the law of Moses, and there was a veil that was there. We didn't see Christ. And God never did remove that veil. As a matter of fact, even to this day, Christ's veil is not removed. It isn't moved away. So Christ is being hidden still. But for those in Christ, that has been, he said, the veil is done away in Christ. whenever you are in Christ Jesus, that veil is taken away. So there is an understanding of Christ and the centrality of Christ, particularly in what the gospel in the Old Testament is teaching. See, remember, they didn't see Christ in the Old Testament. All those things that was given to Moses and the priesthood and the sacrificial system and all those things that they were told to keep, all those of ceremonies and all those feasts and festivals that they had to keep. All those things were to point them to Christ and to show them Jesus Christ. But yet it was veiled to them. They didn't see it. And even after Jesus came, they continued to have this veil. These Pharisees, these religious Israelites who were of the flesh, they continued to have this veil on them. They didn't see Jesus. And the religious people of these days, Armenians, they continue to see a Jesus that's not of the scripture. It's another Jesus that they fabricated in their mind and they preach in their seminaries and they preach in their megachurches and all this stuff. It's not the Jesus of Scripture. And so still there is a veil over their eyes. But to those who are in Christ Jesus, He removes that veil. It is God who has blinded and it is God who reveals. Now the question might come up though, So you're telling me that God would cause somebody to be deceived if they're thinking they're believing the truth? Because you're saying that these churches that are out here that are professing to be Christians, who has rejected the world, who has rejected, you know, all the cults, the world religions, you know, we're not Muslims, we're not, you know, all these other world religions, we're not even Catholic. You know, there are some that will even stand and say Catholics aren't Christian. you know that are among the Armenians. You're telling me that they are deceived and God has deceived them with the truth? Does God deceive people? That's another question. Matter of fact, that may even be a more harder question than does God blind the eyes? Does God deceive people? Well, if that's the scriptures. Looking in Ezekiel, if you will. Ezekiel chapter 14. Look with me if you would. In verse 6. This is God speaking to Ezekiel. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent, and turn yourself from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separated himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself, and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and he shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that and I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him." That tells me that all these false preachers that are out there preaching false things, false doctrines, another Jesus, God has ordained that to be. God has caused a blindness to them that they be deceived in who this Jesus is that they are preaching and those who are being deceived are also by God's hand because they're not given sight. They're not given understanding. Can't think of it right off the top of my head Somebody might be able to holler it out here. I'm sure it'd be typed in the text, probably by Gabriel Gonzalez. He always jumps in there with some text, but the deceived and the deceiver are both his. Look if you would at one Kings. 1 Kings chapter 22. We're going to start reading in verse 20. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Raimath-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. Verse 22. A lot of times people will stop right there and say, alright, see there? It's the Spirit that came forth by His own will. That Spirit came forth before God and said, I'm going to go persuade King Ahab. But look at verse 22. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him and prevail also, go forth and do so. Now look at verse 23. Now therefore behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. I didn't say the Lord did evil. concerning him. It said the Lord spoke evil concerning him. The Lord is the one who sent the lying spirit. The lying spirit didn't just come up out of nowhere and say, it's the same as with Job. Satan didn't come up to God on his own accord and say, hey, won't you let me go down there and take everything away from Job and prove to you that he won't worship you if you take all your blessings away. No. God called him forth. Just as God called this lying spirit forth. And God sent, and God sent, God sent the lying spirit. Brethren, we can't wrestle with the scriptures. They're the truth. I can't say God doesn't do that whenever it explicitly says that God did it. It's hard to reason that away even when it's so explicit. Look at 2 Thessalonians if you would. Hopefully you all haven't checked out on me yet. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look with me if you would at verse 11. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Now, brethren, I know the context that this is in, and you can put this context wherever you want, whether it be present or whether it be in the future. You put it wherever you want, but the fact remains, the fact that this passage that says, for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, must put the category within our mind that God has the right, the power, and the righteousness to send a strong delusion to believe a lie and not do anything against His holiness or justice. God shall send them a strong delusion to believe a lie. Brethren, I think we are seeing that God, whether it is positively in the giving of understanding, the giving of spiritual life, the giving of spiritual truth, the understanding of the gospel, the receiving of the gospel, that God is the one that has to give that. But also God is in control and He is the one who decides who does not get that. And He is the one who has blinded the eyes. that has stopped the ears, that has kept the person from receiving within their heart. It is God who has done that. Whether He does that, I know the arguments against all the people that's against absolute predestination. I know the arguments that are, well, God does that passively. He just lets them go and they do that themselves. God created them in that way that they cannot receive it. God created them without hearing ears. He created them without seeing eyes. He created them without a fleshly heart that could receive those things. He created them without the Spirit of God in them to give them understanding. So God created them. He is the first cause of all causes. Therefore God has made man in such a way that he cannot come to God, and if he chooses to bring some to God, he must be the one in his power to give them the ability to come. And if he does so, but doesn't do it to everybody, that's his choice. He can have mercy on whom he will have mercy. He will have compassion on whom he will have compassion. He will damn one and he will save another. And that's His choice. So I'm pretty for sure God controls all things that pertain to these things. Look if you would with me at Isaiah chapter 37. Isaiah chapter 37. Well brother, I got mixed up in the verse I was going to look at here. It's a 46, Isaiah 46. Scriptures say, to whom will ye liken me? Verse five, I'm sorry. And make me equal, and compare me that we may be like. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh a god. They fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon their shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place. and he standeth from his place, shall he not remove? Yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble? Remember this, and show yourselves, man, bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. Brethren, whenever we speak of God having the right, the power to give to some and not to give to others, to reveal and to blind, to save and to damn, all we can say is He is God and there is no other. He has no equals. Look if you would with me at Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Look at verse 9. speaking to his disciples said this after this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven we know that god is the god of heaven he is the god of earth his will is being done and the armies of the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth, right? That's because he's God. We can't tell him otherwise. And here Jesus is saying that his kingdom has come and that thy will be done, not only in heaven. God isn't just working out his will in heaven, but God is doing all his will in earth. He is ruling over earth. While you're in Matthew, look at Matthew 28. Jesus said, pray Father, but whenever we pray Father, we are praying to Christ. Christ is our Father. He is the everlasting Father. But Matthew 28, look at verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them. Now who is the them that He's talking about here? Well, if you look back in context, it's the church. It's the church that Jesus had gathered from the back, those who have been baptized of John, and then after that were being baptized by all the apostles that Jesus had called. They were all gathered up into the mount after Jesus had resurrected from the grave, okay? After he came back to life, he told them all. He told the women, he told the disciples, and he told the apostles. Go up into the mountain that I told you and I'm going to meet you there. And so the 11 disciples and the women and the rest of the congregation was all there on the mountain with them. And this is what Jesus said to that gathered assembly. He said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Okay, so now we see that the God that we've been talking about that gives the eyes to see, that gives the ears to hear, or that hides truth, hides understanding, hides all these things, the one who does that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that's been given power to do all these. As a matter of fact, Jesus was the one who was sitting on the throne when Isaiah came and saw him and heard what he heard. Go make this people's heart fat, okay? That was Jesus. But here we see explicitly Jesus is saying, I'm the one that has been given power in heaven and earth. I'm the one who is at God's right hand, meaning that I'm the one who has been given the authority to carry out all the decree and purpose of God. That's me. That's Christ. Why? Because all the fullness of God is Christ. It's in him. He is the image, the outward visible showing of that invisible God. And He is the one who has got all power to carry out all the things that God has declared the end from the beginning. And that includes who is revealed and who it's not been revealed to. Right? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4. And then we'll end with the last verse, which is the verse in question. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Look at verse 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath, now pay close attention, there is none else. There's none else. So there's only one God, right? Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. That doesn't mean that there are gods, he just Don't set up anything else as a God before me because there is no other God but me. I am the only God. I am the true God. And we find that that God is found in the face of Jesus Christ. He has been given power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as have been given to Him. And He has been given power over all flesh to deny life to all that have not been given to Him. Christ has that power and Him alone in heaven and upon this earth. Now, in John chapter 12, like I said, I'm just about to the end here. John chapter 12 and in verse 31 we read, Actually, not 31, let's back up. Verse 23, this is before Jesus goes to the cross. Jesus answered, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall on the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, bring it forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, Let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered. Others said an angel spake to him. And Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So here we see that Christ is being glorified here. He is being shown to be the glory and the power of God. And specifically here he says, at that time, the prince of this world is being cast out. So what's the perplexity, Mike? What's your question that God's been dealing with you on? Well, the perplexity is this, brethren. If all that that we have just read is true, which I believe it to be because the scriptures declare it, if all that is true, then how are we to understand 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 3 and 4? But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath 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." Now, brethren, for years I've heard it preached and I've preached it myself. As a matter of fact, I've preached it from this pulpit. I've preached it from this pulpit within this last year. that the god of this world is satan but seeing the evidence of scripture that it is god who blinds and god who reveals and that there is only one god and that the god is god of heaven and in earth not just in heaven and that god is revealed in christ jesus who has been given power to give light or to not give light i have to say that in context this is speaking of Christ himself. Therefore, verse one, 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. But we've preached outwardly, but if in preaching outwardly, Our gospel be hid, and is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds. For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The God of this world has blinded the minds lest they see the light of the glorious gospel, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. The context here, brethren, is God giving light. Now, I know in our Bibles that the word God there is in lowercase letters. Whenever the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew and all that stuff, there is no capital letters, there is no uppercase letters, or there is no uppercase letters or no punctuation. But I was curious I went back and I looked at other English translations, not new translations, but I went back and looked at other English translations that preceded the King James Version that were based upon the same manuscripts that the King James Bible was based out of. And every one of them has God in capital letters there. Matter of fact, there was one translation that actually worded it in such a way that in whom this world hath been blinded by God." In capital letters. Now, I'm not saying that we should believe it because I find other translations saying that. I'm saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with this just because that isn't a big G or a little g because there was no big G little g issue whenever it was originally written. And the translators of the King James aren't wrong for putting the word God there. But what I'm saying is the context of this scripture is God is the one who shines the light and gives blindness. And I can't find anywhere else in scripture that would corroborate that Satan is the god of this world. Now he was called the prince who was cast out. But if he's cast out, how is he the god of this world? But how could he be the God of this world when he's not God? He is an angel. He is a created being. He is lower than God, and he does not have power. Matter of fact, anything that Satan does, he only does because God has commanded him to do it and given him the ability to do what he does. Everything that Satan does, he does because God has given him the ability, the enabling, and the command to do so. Matter of fact, the Bible says good and evil The Lord God, nothing happens good or evil unless the Lord has commanded it. So if Satan does blind eyes, he does it because God has commanded him to go do it. Satan may be the agent that goes to cause somebody to be disturbed or cause to be deceived or whatever, but it's God who sent him. It's God who enabled him to do so. It is God who put the words into his mouth to do whatever it is that he wants to deceive you by. The lies that are in his mouth only come because God has given him the ability. He's not saying something or speaking out something that isn't there. Something that God has commanded or decreed. Now, brethren, don't believe this because I said it. search the scriptures to see whether or not these things be true i know that most of us have looked at it the other way that that's talking about satan there but in light of all that we've seen today i would at least ask that you give consideration to the fact that it is speaking of god because god is the one who controls all things and he is the one that gives light he is the one that hides light he is the one that gives uh the seeing eye and the hearing ear. And I don't think we should ever give more credence to Satan than he deserves. And he surely is a powerful being that the Lord has created. And more than you or I could ever tussle with. But I can tell you, he can't do anything that God has not given him to do. whenever God sent him to Job and he destroyed all of Job's family and killed them all, whenever he took all of Job's possessions and Job was left with nothing, whenever he was struck with all the boils from head to toe and literally had nothing else, Satan did that, but he did that at God's discretion. He did that at God's command. and so that is explicitly seen that satan is god's lackey he only does what god has decreed for him to do nothing more and nothing less as with any of us we don't do nothing more nothing less than god has decreed from the foundation of the world there are no free atoms there are no free molecules there are no free uh... man cannot go outside the constraints of God's created order, no matter how much of a scientist they are. They tried to build a tower to heaven, and God came down and not only destroyed the tower, but confused all of their language. But anyhow, God is the one who does these things. All right, any questions or comments? Anything you'd like to add, corrections or reviews? maybe there's some other stuff in the scripture that i'm not aware of that i didn't see uh that might uh might uh contradict what i just said if it's so i don't want to be a contradiction of the scripture all right there isn't anything continue to remember brother daniel and brethren and terry uh both of them still uh still in the healing process after their respective surgeries and for my uncle Mike. Keep them in your prayers as well. All right, let's pray. Father, once again, we come to you and we humbly bow before the word of God. Lord, we know that there is no truth within us. The truth only lies within you as Christ reveals it to us. And by that spirit, Lord, we ask that you just teach us, grow us in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, I do pray that today that these words that I've said, I pray that they have been in accordance to the truth. And if not, Lord, I pray that you would convert my heart of that thing and move me into the truth, that you would correct me by your word. Father, we only want to say the things which are true about our Lord. And so, Father, we just ask now that you would continue to reveal Christ to us, to continue to break the bonds of tradition and religion of man, the ways of old that are not in the right path. As the scriptures say, that we might stand forth in the old landmarks, but not the landmarks that have been made in the wisdom of man, but that you would set by your spirit in truth. Lord, help us to grow in that grace and in that knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the time that we've had together. We thank you for your love and your grace, your mercy. We thank you for salvation that's in Christ Jesus. I pray, Lord, that if you're in here, that your children, that you have yet to give the understanding and bring forth in life to believe and to receive your word. Lord, I pray that you might give them that life today, that you might draw them by your spirit, and that they might come confessing you. And Lord, we just thank you so much for all that you do for us, the way you take care of us and provide for us. And Lord, we thank you that you do not change, and that you are dependable, that you do not lie. And Lord, that you have done all that you have said that you would do, not only for your people, but in the lives of the world and the reprobate that will not escape the judgment of God for their sin against you and your holiness. And Lord, we are grateful to all of us who, even though we are just like them, you have given us grace, grace that we do not deserve, that we did not earn, but only because of your sheer mercy and compassion. And so Lord, we thank you for that, and it's in Christ's name that we pray.