Hello and welcome to our broadcast of Call It Plain and Simple. This is number five in our series on understanding of the times in which we live. Stay tuned for our broadcast. Well, this is the fifth in our series of broadcasts looking at the times in which we live, and it can be very confusing. However, God's plan has always been a very simple plan. For the nation of Israel in the Old Testament times, we see that God's plan was to have the tribes of Israel to present His ministry around the world. For our age, God's plan is churches. The word churches is found 37 times in the New Testament. Seven times, God wrote in his final book in the New Testament, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He didn't say, now I want you to know what the Spirit saith unto newspapers, magazines, and television programs and whatnot outside of a local church. He said, listen carefully, He that hath an ear, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. That's pretty simple. Now let's take an example of a subject of how God would have things handled in this age in which we're living. For instance, let's use as an example the subject of separation. It is the pastor's responsibility to preach and teach what the Bible says about separation. It then becomes the father's responsibility to lead the family to do what is correct in that situation. For example, Let's say a family moves in across the street from a church member's home. They have some children that are the same age as the children of the Christian family. Should they be allowed to play with the children across the street? Well, would it not be a good idea for the father to gather his family together and discuss that situation? And after a time of prayer together, the father would make a decision about the children across the street. This is what the Bible means when it says and the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also." The Bible says, and ye fathers, bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. See how simple it is? The pastor preaches the truth. Fathers and mothers, and especially the fathers, go home and they apply this truth in their families. Well, we've changed that plan for one that says, Dad, you just sit at home and watch television, and we fundamental leaders will make all these decisions for you. That's just not very smart. The last verse in the Old Testament says, And he that is God's prophet shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest they come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4 and 6. Well, as we go through the situations that we're looking at in the world today, we need to understand that God has a perfect will and God has a permissive will. Now, Israel rejected God's perfect will for their own. They said, all right, we will go along with that, and God permitted it. However, they paid dearly for their rebellion. We also have rejected God's perfect will, however, God never forsakes his people. Much good was done when the kings in Israel first ruled, and much good has been done when our fundamental leaders, God has started first in what we called our fundamental movement. At the beginning, things look good. For example, in 1 Samuel 12, when we read, And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto you, in all that ye have said unto me, and have made a king over you. Now, behold, the king walketh before you." Well, God continued to bless Israel. In 1 Samuel 12, verse 20, we read, And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not, ye have done all this wickedness. Now, that's important to understand. God did not put his stamp of approval on that king thing. In fact, he called it wickedness. Yet he said, Turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And again he says, And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit or deliver, for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people. So God continued to bless Israel, but twice in that verse, through Samuel, God warned them, turn not aside. Turn not aside. You've got your king, now be careful, because when you get your kings and they all start associating with each other, what those kings are going to do is start acting like the other kings. Take David, for instance. David, he was a man after God's own heart. When he became king, things began to change. God said, you don't have those harems. Oh, yeah, yeah, I do now because David collected a harem. So he began to turn aside. Well, at the beginning, we read that God continued to bless Israel before they turned aside. And we read also that Samuel stood with them. It was in this context that we read of Samuel saying, moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sit against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good in the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things he has done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both you and your king." And so we see God's mercy was greater than Israel's rebellion. In verse 13 we read, Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired, and behold the Lord has set a king over you. If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. And so, we're not suggesting that God has not blessed parachurch ministries in the past. God blessed the kings as they followed his word. And God blessed parachurch ministries at the beginning as they feared the Lord, served him, obeyed his voice, and did not rebel against the commandment of the Lord. And so here's a couple of examples. Years ago, we had a great man by the name of Gypsy Smith. He was an evangelist. He was obviously part of a parachurch organization. He was not sent out by a church. He was an evangelist. It was a parachurch situation. Gypsy Smith, however, did not preach false doctrine or fellowship with those who did. He stayed true to the Word of God. Now, in our age, we have another evangelist who is working outside of a local church, obviously a para-church organization. His name is Jack Van Impey. Now, Gypsy Smith did not preach false doctrine or fellowship with those who did. Jack Van Impey does both. Like David, Gypsy Smith was a companion of all them that feared the Lord and kept his precepts. Psalm 119, 63. The word precepts here means the things authorized by God. Gypsy Smith preached the things that were authorized by God and was a companion of those who kept God's precepts. Jack Van Impey is a companion of apostates and preaches things contrary to the word of God. And so what we're saying here is that God blessed Gypsy Smith and had God's support as he continued to follow the Lord, did not preach false doctrine, and did not fellowship with those who did. And so the Bible does say in 2 Thessalonians 3, 14, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he might be ashamed. But it also goes on to say, yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.1, this note also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. We're there. We're living in those perilous times. We're obviously living in the last days. Now 2 Timothy 3.1 refers to the condition of the last days and these perilous times as being in the local church. He's not talking about these perilous times in the world. He's talking about the fact that the world has infiltrated into the churches. It's always been perilous in the world. Check with Noah and everyone right on through. It's always been hard to do things. The dictionary meaning of perilous is to be exposed to imminent risk of disaster or ruin. Yeah, that's where we are right now, within our churches. The Greek word is used in only one other place describing the danger of those who are around the maniac of Gadara in Matthew chapter 8. The reason for the risk of disaster or ruin in our local churches is because of the fact that many of our leaders of our so-called fundamental movement have decided they will not endure sound doctrine. We find that Jesus taught that while men slept, tares had been planted among the wheat. Some of our Christian leaders of today are spiritually sound asleep, and some of them are half asleep, and I include fundamental leaders in that. Some of them are sound asleep, some of them are half asleep. Those that are half asleep see things from a dozy condition, and obviously have a very limited discernment of anything that's going on around them. They are like people who wake up in the morning half awake, half asleep, can't figure out what day it is. As a result, they have no ability to discern between the unclean and the clean, as we were told to do in Ezekiel chapter 44. So we need to return and discern, the Bible says in Malachi 3.18. It refers to God's people coming back to doing things God's way. It says, then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. There never has been a greater need for this than what we face today. The Bible says, while men slept, the tares have been planted. It's high time to wake up. We are living in a time when Ezekiel 22 says our priests have violated my law. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean. The spiritual leaders in Ezekiel's day were not rebuked for immoral practices, they were rebuked for refusing to teach the difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean. Spiritual discernment is not mental discernment. It does not begin in our mind, it begins in our spirit. We have seen that this whole mess that we're into, we got into because of human reasoning. No, spiritual discernment is not mental discernment. The Bible speaks of being spiritually discerned, not mentally discerned. The Bible says the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit, Romans 8 and 16. This is the way and the only way that God gives us direction concerning what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it, and more important, what he wants us to be. Discernment is much more than a mental skill. It is an absolute direction from God concerning what is acceptable unto the Lord. Spiritual discernment is a God-given ability to evaluate all things as God evaluates them. A Christian without spiritual discernment will compromise. Call yourself an evangelical or call yourself a fundamentalist, call yourself whatever you want to call yourself. A Christian without spiritual discernment will compromise because it is impossible for that Christian to understand the difference between the holy and the profane. They are unable to discern between the unclean and the clean. Jesus rebuked those who were not able to discern spiritual things. He said, How is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? He said, Why don't you judge? I am so sick of hearing people say, Oh, it's wrong to judge. You have no right to judge. Well, we're going to, in our next broadcast, we're going to look at this thing about judging. Jesus said it. Jesus said it. You know who he is, right? He's God. Jesus said, How is it that ye do not discern this time, yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? Why, he said, don't you do that? Well, because we just don't want to pay the price, I think, is the reason we don't do it. Well, we're out of time again. Be sure and tune in again tomorrow. We're going to talk about this thing about, is it right to judge? We're going to look at it scripturally. Be sure and tune in. We'll try to make it plain and simple. so