I'm you Welcome back to Bible Time. We're in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 4. Let's just go ahead and start in verse 3 so we have a little bit of context. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Verse 4, our text for the day. Who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And then he says, Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you would open your scriptures to our minds today. Exalt your word. Exalt your Son, Father. We love you today. Lord, I pray for anointing from on high power, Lord, to preach your word. I pray that you would use me, Lord, as the instrument, Father, to get this word out to the people that you're sending it to. You said that your word will not return unto you void, but it will accomplish that for which it is sent. And I pray, Lord, that you would use me as your instrument, Father, to get that word out to where it goes, Father. and use these platforms that we're putting it out on, Lord, like Sermon Audio and others. Lord, I pray that you would just use these things and get the word out, Lord, to the people, and Lord, that they would be changed by the word. Your word has power to change people. And we pray that you would use it, Father, in Jesus' name, and for Christ's sake, amen. We're grateful to be here today, glad to be back in Bible time again, glad to be in the book of 2 Thessalonians, glad to be in chapter 2 and verse 4. This verse basically breaks down into two parts. The first part is a descriptive phrase dealing with this son of perdition, dealing with this man of sin. It says, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped And then the second part is a phrase that gives us the actions of this man of sin that will exemplify this opposition and exaltation that he's going to commit against God. So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Now remember as we study this that there are two parts to this discussion, two main parts. There is the spirit of Antichrist that is already in the world. We looked at that in a previous Bible time, I believe last time. Maybe even the time before as well that we read about how that spirit of Antichrist is already in the world, the Bible says. And that spirit is busy opposing God and exalting itself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. So that is actively happening at this moment, at this day. And the other part of that is that there is a man of sin who is going to come who will oppose God and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. That will be a literal person, just like Jesus Christ came literally and bodily, physically to earth. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. John chapter 1. And then later in John chapter 1, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, even as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So this word became flesh, and someday this man of sin, this spirit of Antichrist, will mimic the incarnation of Christ by a fleshly man of sin who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. It will be the satanic counterfeit of the incarnation. It will not be the incarnation. It will not be anywhere near the level Holy awesome power that the incarnation was and you need to remember that the the devil is an imitator he is he cannot do what God does he can only imitate what God does and he does cheap parlor tricks in comparison to God now God will allow the devil to do some pretty amazing things but the devil in the end cannot do what God does. He's only an imitator. So His imitator, the man of sin, will not be the same as the incarnate God who was born of the Virgin Mary. Instead, He will have some kind of counterfeit, fake-o, halfway incarnation thing going on. It will not be what Jesus Christ was by any stretch of the imagination. So you have the spirit of Antichrist that's already in the earth opposing and exalting, and you have the man of sin, the Antichrist himself, who will come into the world or may be alive today. We don't know. At least I don't know. There's people out there that think they know. Most of those people I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for. Any of their opinions, you say, what's a plug nickel? You shoot a nickel. You throw it up in the air and the guy that shoots it wins the contest. You got to hit it in the air. Yes, with bullets. Yes, with guns. And then when it falls down with a hole in it, that's a plug nickel. It's not worth anything. And I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for anybody that thinks that they can prove who the Antichrist is today. I don't have any respect for their theory whenever they get that dogmatic about their theory. I generally would advise you to stay away from people that are that sure that they know all the details of exactly what's going on. But you can know exactly what God's Word says and you can understand exactly what God's Word is telling you that God wants you to know today. And that's what we want to get into. We want to see what does the Bible say. That's why we call this Bible time. We want to see what does the Bible say about what the Bible says so that we can understand what the Bible says. So the spirit of Antichrist at work, the literal Antichrist coming, and then we have this spirit of Antichrist, as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, that's working. The spirit of Antichrist is currently trying to sit in the temple of God every day, trying to show himself that he is God. You say, what's the temple of God? The Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? He says, you are bought with a price. You are not your own. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. So on an individual level, the spirit of Antichrist is at work in the individual life of the believer trying to get on that temple. He's at work in the life of the unbeliever trying to get into that empty, broken, desecrated temple of the unbeliever that is empty and void of the Shekinah glory of God, which is the state of being dead in trespasses and sins. That's a lot. I'm throwing a lot at you. Go back. Go through the Bible times that we've already done. We've covered a lot of this stuff, so I'm assuming you've got it. We've got to keep moving today. So here. The spirit of Antichrist is at work trying to set himself up in the temples of the individual person, the body of the individual, which is a temple of Almighty God. But further than that, the spirit of Antichrist is at work trying to set himself up in the temple or the body of Christ, which is the church of the living God. The spirit of Antichrist is heavy at work today already trying to sit in the temple, excuse me, in the fellowship, in the gathering of the God-called born-again assembly of baptized believers across the world. The Spirit of Antichrist is actively engaged in trying to enter into that assembly and sit in the temple as God. He wants to take over the worship of God and he wants to be worshipped as God. And we're going to be looking at these two aspects today as we study this verse. We're going to be looking at the work of the Spirit of Antichrist currently happening and we're going to be looking at the work of the physical Antichrist that is going to come and going to happen. And these two work directly together because the Spirit is actually greater than the body. In our minds, the spirit must be smaller. The spirit's less important. We cannot see the spirit. We cannot really feel the spirit, so to speak. We can't really know much about the spirit. And so in our minds, you look at a man and you see his body and you think down inside that body there's a little place you might hold your hands together about the size of an apple and say down inside that man and you're thinking about the heart something the size and shape of the human heart say somewhere down in there is a soul and we kind of hold our hands together like that and say there's a soul down inside that man so the body is greater the soul is lesser And we say somewhere deep inside all of that is this spirit, like it's some atomic nucleus of an atom or something deep down inside the man that you'd have to have an electron microscope to even begin to probe the depths of. And it's actually not that way at all. It's exactly opposite. The spirit of the man is the greatest part of the man. And the soul of the man is greater than the body, but lesser than the spirit. And the body is the least of the man. The body is actually like the seed, that grain that falls into the ground and dies in Corinthians. The body is like the little seed. The soul of the man is the force, the power that moves within that man. And the spirit of the man is the full expression, of what that man should be and is in the sight of God. Does that make sense today? So the little seed is your body. Now that's mind bending. Right now your mind should be having trouble shifting gears and getting up the hill. That's normal. That's good. That's because the natural man cannot receive the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he discern them, for they are spiritually discerned. I'm trying not to chase too many rabbits here today, not doing such a good job of it. But that whole plant, that whole great mighty tree there, you think of we have a huge walnut tree where I live. It's absolutely massive. Well, it started as a walnut about the size of a golf ball and the actual walnut inside that thing, there's the fleshy part of the walnut and then the little seed on the inside that's about as big as a big marble. And from that big marble-sized seed, we have a hundred foot high, a hundred foot wide tree that's huge, absolutely humongous, that takes up a huge amount of space. And that's what God sees when he looks at a man. He sees the body as that small, part, the soul, and then the spirit as the greatest expression of who that man is. That's why sins in the spirit are even more serious than sins in the body. Those sins in the body are serious, and sins in the body will be dealt with by God. So we have this spirit of Antichrist that's already in the world, and we have that man of sin that's coming. And I want you to understand this. You say, why are we running all these rabbits? Because I want you to understand that the Antichrist is not as bad as the spirit of Antichrist. If it wasn't for the spirit of Antichrist, the Antichrist would be a nobody, a nothing, and he would never make it anywhere. copy Listen get this down Everybody's all boogity boogity looking for the Antichrist and they're all looking for the man with the big hair and the big mouth on the talking head on the TV or something like that and they're trying to pinpoint and say who is the man that's gonna be the Antichrist, but I want you to know today that the Spirit of Antichrist is more dangerous than the man the Antichrist because without the spirit of Antichrist The man would never make it to the status of Antichrist He could not be or do anything that would give him the perverted glory of being called the Antichrist if it was not for the spirit of Antichrist is absolutely critical that you understand that the spirit of Antichrist is the power behind the Antichrist and it is the real problem. It is the real danger. And guess what? That spirit of antichrist can get in you and affect you. It can get in your church and affect your church. It can get in your nation and affect your nation. And it is at work in the world today. And you need to recognize the influence, the direction, the work of the spirit of Antichrist so that you do not fall to the deception of the Antichrist. It will not be the Antichrist's suit that makes him win the hearts of the whole world. It will not be his haircut that makes him win the hearts of the whole world. the Antichrist will win the hearts of the whole world through the deceptive spirit of Antichrist. So let's look at this opposition. It says here, who opposeth and exalteth himself. So this opposing, what is he opposing and who is he opposing? It says that he opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped. So here the Antichrist and the spirit of Antichrist is going to try to bring himself into the focal point and into the place of worship. Now it's interesting to note that God gave the Holy Spirit of God, and this is a rabbit, not in my notes, help me Lord, but we need to jump this one just a little bit. In John 17, I believe it is, actually it's right before that, John 15, 16, when Jesus is giving us the doctrine of the Holy Ghost, I believe in John 14 as well, he tells us that the Spirit of God will not speak of himself, that he will bring to the remembrance things that ye have learned of me, and that the Spirit of God will exalt the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God does not exalt himself. This is one of the most important things you need to realize about the Holy Spirit of God. Anytime you get around a that wants to be the focal point, that wants to be the worship point, that wants to be who is being exalted, you have got around the wrong spirit. Do you hear me today? The Spirit of God wants to bring Jesus Christ into clear, sharp focus in the eyes and hearts of the church and in the eyes and hearts of the lost. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, is the Spirit of the Father. These three are one. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. are one and the Spirit of God does not operate in a way that brings all of the glory and honor to himself as the Spirit, but rather brings the glory and honor to the Father by exalting the Son. We've got all kinds of Bible for that but the spirit of Antichrist the spirit of Antichrist wants to be exalted as that spirit and will use other means such as the man that will be called Antichrist in order to bring that worship to himself that spirit is desiring of being worshipped because that spirit is a not God that spirit is found in Isaiah 14 and we're gonna get there in just a little bit because we need to see that we need to see that we need to see how why that spirit wants to be worshipped but we've got to stay on track or I'm gonna jump most of my notes and then I'm gonna not know what to do being all kinds of a pickle so Matthew chapter 12 Let's go back there, Matthew chapter 12, verse 22. Here we have an amazing situation. A man is brought to Christ. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? The son of David, that's the Messiah. They're looking for the king that will sit upon the throne. By the way, the Antichrist will be able to claim to be a son of David, whether by truth or deception. It says in verse 24, but when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Remember our message, Lord of the flies, or not Lord of the flies, but dead flies was the message that we preached. We talked about Beelzebub in that message. It says in verse 25, and Jesus knew their thoughts, And said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, capital S, Then the kingdom of God is come unto you, or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house? He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Read that verse again. He that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Read that verse again. He that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Here is Jesus Christ making a declaration of what it means to oppose the Almighty God. If you do not gather with Christ, you scatter and you oppose Christ. How do you gather to Christ? You exalt Christ, you exonerate Christ, you lift up the name of Christ, you point people to Christ. If you are doing anything else besides from pointing people to the one and true Jesus Christ, you are scattering abroad. This opposition of God is an opposition that is manifested in a pushing away from, in an obscuring, a hiding, a veiling of Jesus Christ. Anytime you're dealing with a doctrine that takes away from the honor and glory of Christ, you are dealing with a doctrine of Antichrist. Anytime you are dealing with a position that a church takes, anytime that you're dealing with polity that a church exercises, anytime that you're dealing with any aspect church life or politics or anything else in this world that veils and hides and obscures and takes away from sight our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You're dealing with a work of opposition to Jesus Christ and therefore a work that is loved and put forward and helped to go forward by that spirit of Antichrist. Now Jesus Christ here Tells them that they're not gathering with him. They're scattering him. And what is the sin that he directly attacks here? We can read it in the context verse 31 and I thank you father for giving me this message I thank you Lord as the unworthy as I am your unworthy servant I thank you Lord for allowing me the privilege to preach your word help me father to exalt Christ today for I cannot do it on my own Holy Spirit of God exalt your son Jesus Christ. We pray in his holy name. Amen Oh, that holy name of Jesus Christ. That holy, wonderful name of Jesus Christ. Now, verse 31. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. This is Jesus speaking. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. This is Matthew 12, and we're reading verse 31, about to start verse 32. And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is Known by his fruit here Jesus is not talking about the fruit of visiting the sick and the infirm and the elderly and those in the hospitals Jesus is not talking about here some kind of external fruit that would be giving to some kind of charitable organization or helping people in some kind of way Jesus here is speaking the fruit is talking of the fruit of of exaltation, the fruit of gathering, the fruit of who are you worshiping, the fruit of lifting up Christ, or the fruit of lifting up any other. Because if you do not gather with Christ, you scatter. If you are not With him you're against him. So here is that he's directly answering the Pharisees Accusation of verse 24 when they said this fellow doth not cast out devils But by Beelzebub the prince of the devils and Jesus is telling the Pharisees you are opposing you are blaspheming you are scattering you are against me and And how does he say that they're against them? By the fruit of their mouths. Oh, generation of vipers in verse 34. How can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Again, he's not talking about the manifestation of the life as in, oh, he does good things. Oh, they helped neighbor Susie, the old widow fix her roof. What wonderful people. But what comes out of their mouths? Who say ye that I am?" said Jesus Christ to his disciples. Listen to me today. If you're going to get caught up on the good works and good deeds that people do and never stop to look at what comes out of their mouths, you're going to get sucked into satanic cults that are the spirit of the Antichrist. Because Jesus here is saying that what comes out of the mouth is what is in the heart. He says in verse 34 again, O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that man shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Verse 37, mark it down in your Bible for by thy words. thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Now, did you know that the works that you do, if you do good works and they are not done in the name of Jesus Christ as He puts Himself forward as the very incarnate Son of God, the Word made flesh, God in the flesh, if you come and do your good works in any other name, Your good works mean absolutely nothing. And if you do good works and you use the name of Jesus Christ, but if you, but you underneath that are undermining and blaspheming who Jesus Christ is in every other area or any other area of your life, then your use of his name even is a smirch on his character and it will be held against you. Verse 38, then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying, master, we would see a sign from thee. This is important. So first they started blaspheming Christ because they saw his good work. But then they said he did it by the power of Beelzebub. Jesus confronted them that by their words they would be condemned and that it was out of the evil treasure of their heart that their mouth spoke. So what do they do in answer to this? They confront Christ immediately with the desire for a sign. Jesus answers, but he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Now listen to me today. God wants to plow somebody's field up with the word of God today. these wicked Pharisees blaspheming Christ, rejected what He was doing, and then they tried to tempt Him to produce some kind of metaphysical sign, some kind of miracle, some kind of amazing mystical event that would convince people that they should listen to Him. And Jesus had just got done telling them that it was the Word that would justify them. By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And here the Pharisees turn away, reject, resist, oppose Jesus Christ, the living word. And what do they do it by? By seeking a sign. They want miracles. They want wonders. They do not want the word. Some of you probably know where we're going with this because it's obvious. if you know the word of God. Here Jesus says the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. Because they repented. Here it is. They repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. They repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, the wisdom of Solomon. It was spoken to her in words. Go back and read the story. She came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. So Jesus is saying they wanted the word. They got the word. They repented because of the word. you are rejecting the word all you want is a sign he says you're going to be condemned by these and listen to what he says is next this is amazing when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none then he saith i will return into my house from whence i came out and when he is coming find it the empty swept and garnished Then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so, shall it be also unto this wicked generation." So here the man gets loses the devil, gets rid of the devil. He's living, he's empty, but he's swept and garnished. He's cleaned up and he's garnished means he's been all fixed up. He's got all the religion, all the trappings of religion. He's got his baptism. He's got his church membership. He's got his bishop. He's got his priest. He's got his Pope. He's got his elder. He's got all his rules that he keeps, but he's empty inside. The spirit's gone out of him, but he's empty inside. And he's, why is he empty? He's not received the word. The word is the only thing that can fill the void of the spirit. Oh, he's seen some miracles. He's seen some wonders. He's seen some amazing things. He's had some spiritual, what he calls spiritual, emotional euphoria and feelings that lifted him up on some kind of high. And he's had all this stuff. So he's cleaned up his life. He's emptied out his life, but he's not got the word. He's not full of the word. And instead he's got himself garnished up with all the trappings of religion. He's swept out the filth. He's swept out the sin out of his life. And he's gotten some religious discipline. And God says here, the latter state is worse than the first. The devil moves in with seven worse. Now, Jesus, I want you to note, Jesus does not say here that this man is living in worse sin after the devil's move in. Did you notice that? Jesus does not say here that this man falls into deep immorality. He does not say here that this man falls into extreme drunkenness and drinks his life away and dies in a few years of cirrhosis of the liver. Jesus does not say that. Jesus does not say this man starts shooting up heroin. Now that could happen, but Jesus leaves it open because this man is empty, swept, and garnished, and guess what? Those devils like it that way. They like it that way. Now they've got a man who has some discipline. Now they've got a man who has a baptismal certificate. Now they've got a man who has church membership. Now they've got a man that goes to confessional. Now they've got a man that can say the catechism, and the thing's been swept out, the man's disciplined, he's got religious rules, they can manipulate him, they can do whatever they want with him, and so seven of them move in, and the latter state of that man is worse than the first, but he might be wearing the priestly garb. He might be wearing all the vestments of the priesthood. He might even be giving somebody the mass. But he's seven times worse than he was whenever he was an alcoholic in the gutter. You say, that can't be. You're misinterpreting. No, I'm not. I'm just reading you the Bible. Didn't Jesus say the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you? And who did he say that to? The Pharisees, the same crowd, the religious crowd, the religious crowd that were too good to even touch that woman caught in the act of adultery, this religious crowd that was too good to eat with a sinner, this religious crowd that was all swept That's what he's telling them. He's telling them, you guys got religion. You guys got discipline. You guys got all these things, but you don't got the word. You don't have the word of God. You're empty. You're without form. You're void. You're not born again, Nicodemus. You must be born again. No, you've got nothing but religion. And Jesus says, you better watch out. You better watch out. Look in the direct context. This is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost here. They're gonna get so proud so arrogant They oppose Christ the spirit of Antichrist says whoa We've got a good one here and here comes seven devils worse than the first my god in heaven This is what has happened to the churches in America This is where we're at. He opposeth the word. He exalted himself above the word. Jesus Christ said, even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. This great sin, the great sin of the man of sin, the extreme destruction that's going to give this man the label son of perdition. Results? You hang with me. Pay attention. Ears up. It results, it stems from, it comes out of his attitude toward God's word. That day shall not come except there come a falling away first. Go back and listen to that message if you need to. But we proved with the Bible that the falling away is a falling away of faith in God's written, preserved word. Let's go to Isaiah 14. Let's see why this devil wants to be worshiped. Why? Why are they so hungry for worship, these devils? And why the devil himself, whenever he tempted Christ, he said, all these will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me. Why is he so hungry for worship? Verse 12 of Isaiah 14, how art thou fallen from heaven? I hope you have an authorized version Bible here. You need it or you're not, you're gonna miss this completely. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations. This cross references to Ezekiel 28. You can check that out later. You can go to Ezekiel 28, 12 later, check it out. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, they'll squint, they'll look, they'll squint looking. So the word of God says, they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners, We'll stop right there for today. Here in Isaiah 12, we have the fall of Satan from heaven, his name given to him by God before his fall. You have Gabriel, right? There's angels we know the names of in the Bible, Gabriel. There's Michael, the archangel, but here it gives us Satan's pre-fall name, Lucifer, the only place in the word of God that renders this name. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? And it says, son of the morning. Now, in the ESV Bible, they call this Daystar. The NIV treats this Morningstar. How art thou fallen from heaven? Oh, and then they say Morningstar in the NIV or Daystar in the ESV. What? Now, all this say basically the same thing, right? I mean, they're all stars. No, they don't say the same thing. One says, Son of the Morning. One says, Son of the Morning, right here, and that's the accurate, truthful, word-for-word, inspired, preserved, Holy Ghost-translated Word of God. So it says here, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning. ESV takes out the name Lucifer, puts in Daystar. NIV takes out the name Lucifer, puts in Morningstar. These are names, Morningstar, name of Christ in the Book of Revelation. I didn't get that reference, I meant to, didn't get it written down. The, excuse me, here, Daystar from the ESV, I want to focus on that one real quick. That's an amazing one. Go to 2 Peter. Oh, and some of you are already shutting this thing off because you can't take it. You can't take any legitimate look at what your fake Bible actually says. It bothers you so bad. And you can take a sodomite in your pulpit, but you can't look at what your Bible actually says. 2 Peter. Let's see here. 2 Peter. Chapter 1 if I can ever get my pages to turn over there. I'm still using the old analog Bible Some of you don't even know what analog is Not digital it's actually a piece of paper here. Okay, so second Peter chapter 1 and verse 19. Here we have the day star in the New Testament. We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whoa! That ought to give you some doodaddies up and down the back of your neck if you know the Bible. We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Lord, help me be reverent and keep moving. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Now, That day star would obviously be sunshine. It is obviously what it's talking about. The day star arise in your hearts, the day dawn. Lucifer in Isaiah 14 is called son of the morning, which implies that he was created in the morning. If you go back to Genesis chapter 1, we find in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Even my very little boy, Knows Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 in the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth the Bible says in the earth was doubt form of void and darkness was upon the face of the deep in the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light this is the somewhere at this point during these days of creation is the point when God created Lucifer and the angels. And if you think that they came before that, I don't know how to help you. The Bible doesn't support that. But here he's the son of the morning in Isaiah. It was probably right there sometime during the first day, but right there in the morning, in the dawn of creation, Lucifer and the angels were created by God. They were created beings. So in the authorized version King James Bible, we find Lucifer, an angel created by God in the original creation, who did not exist before creation, who had no power or life before creation, and he's created by God. He's the son of the morning. Then we find in the word of God that he exalts himself above God. He opposes God and exalts himself above God, wants to be God, gets cast down and will be cast down to hell. So the ESV renders this, how art thou fallen, and I'm not going to quote it right because I haven't studied it out, but basically takes out Lucifer and puts in Daystar instead. And here in 2 Peter, we have a more sure word of prophecy. Wherein to ye do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. So the day star arising, the sun that's rising in its strength here in 2 Peter is the knowledge of Almighty God. The Bible says if our gospel be hid, it is hid. In the minds of them that are lost, he says, they're blinded by the God of this world. They cannot see the light. Jesus said, walk in the light. John said, walk in the light. Jesus said, walk while you have the light, for the day, for the night cometh, when no man can work. He says, work in the light. Over and over again, Jesus is the light of the world. This is a picture of Jesus Christ, the bright and Morning Star. Psalms 19 also deals with the son rising in his strength as a bridegroom to run a race. This is all prophetic typology of Jesus Christ. So what we have in the ESV is taking the place of Jesus Christ that Lucifer wanted and tried to take and failed to take. He wanted to be worshipped as God. He failed in his attempt to overthrow God. And Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. The ESV rewrites history, revisionist history, just like we've got going on all over America. rewrites history and takes out the name Lucifer and instead gives Lucifer the name of Jesus Christ making Lucifer equal with Christ. You got two ways you can interpret Isaiah 14 out of the ESV. Either Lucifer is Christ and Christ fell from heaven and he's Lucifer, or Christ fell from heaven and it just leaves Lucifer out of the picture and he might still be there. Both of those are extreme blasphemies. And what were we just talking about? The great sin of the man of sin is his attitude towards the Word of God. opposes the Word of God. He blasphemes against the Word of God. He exalts himself above the Word of God. Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees, that out of the heart proceed these wicked thoughts. And he says, the good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. The ESV brings forth evil things. It brings forth blasphemy. It is a blaspheming Bible. You say you're picking on one verse. That's because we don't have time to go over all of them. But there are hundreds of places where the ESV Bible blasphemes Christ and directly attacks the doctrines. It attacks the position. It attacks the purity. It attacks everything that is to be exalted in Christ. So does the NIV. So do almost all of these new Bibles today, in Isaiah 14 alone. Some of them don't mess that one up quite so bad, but all of them mess with it. There's only one Bible that actually accurately renders the Word of God into English. It's the Authorized Version Bible. The King James Authorized Version Bible. The rest of these Bibles oppose the Word of God. They say things in direct contradiction to the Word of God. I feel like I'm wading through a marsh right now, but here, let's wade through it. We're going to wade through it. We're going to get to the other side. All these Bibles oppose Christ, and they exalt themselves above Christ. If 2 plus 2 equals 4, and 1 minus 3 equals negative 2, and on and on and on you can go. If law is law, and logic is logic, and science is science, which it is. I believe in real science. Real science is powerful. I'm not talking about this evolution garbage that's been disproved for thousands of years. Science and law and logic and reason are from God. And if you have any logic at all left in any part of your mind and your soul, you can see that a Bible that directly opposes the doctrines of Jesus Christ is a Bible that is put forward by another spirit. And what we've looked at today, do you know what spirit is behind these Bibles? What spirit? The spirit of Antichrist. So you could put on the front of the ESV, approved by the Antichrist. You could put on the front of the NIV, approved to be read in the churches by the Antichrist. You could put in the front of the New King James and the Holman Standard Bible and the NLT and all these other whatchamahusets out there. You could put on them all, approved to be read in the churches by the Antichrist. It could say in the foreword, this Bible has been carefully edited to obscure Jesus Christ, to make his doctrines seem more difficult and hard to understand. These Bibles have been carefully edited to bring forward the weaknesses of Christ while diminishing His deity. These Bibles have been carefully curated to remove the purity of Christ from the text so that the reader is left with questions and contradictions and can no longer have faith in the Word of God. These are of the spirit of Antichrist. Amen! If nobody else in the world amens it, amen! Amen! Amen! Those Bibles are of the doctrine and the spirit of Antichrist. That's what they really are. Satan never wanted to be a drunk. Satan never wanted to be shooting up with heroin. Satan wanted to sit in the throne of God and be worshiped as God. Satan wanted beautiful music. Satan wanted worship and praise. Satan wanted the congregation in the sides of the North. Satan, listen, Satan's not out there to live in a dark hole in a red suit with a pointed tail poking people with a pitchfork while they scream curse words at him. That is a false image of Satan. Satan wants to be God. He wants to be God. He wants to be worshipped as God. Which is why I can say with absolute dogmatism These Bibles in English, in America, all except the authorized version Bible are satanic perversions and doctrines of devils. Of course, he leaves a little bit of good stuff in there. That way you'll read it. And if it said Antichrist, Bible of Satan on the front of it, most people that wanted to pretend like they loved God would stay away from it because it would mess with their self-image and self-worship. Now, moving on, it says here in 2 Peter, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. This is dealing with the inspiration, the preservation, and even supporting the translation of the scripture because it says here, Where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that the prophecy of the scripture, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. You don't have the right to render it your own way. There are no two Bibles that can be right. God said it. He said there is no private interpretation. No private interpretation. And he says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The opposing and fighting against God is evident in Isaiah 14 and the renderings of Isaiah 14 by these Antichrist Bibles. But beyond that, the exaltation of the Antichrist and the decrease of Christ's glory in these Bibles is also evident And how do they do it? He says, we have a more sure word of prophecy that transcends signs and wonders. What is the context here in 2 Peter? The mount of transfiguration. Study it out. He said, we saw this amazing thing happen. Jesus was transfigured. We saw Moses and Elijah who were dead. He said, none of that matters. We've got a Bible. We have a more sure word of prophecy right here. Where unto ye do well that ye take heed. And listen to me today, folks. The only way that you're going to survive the great delusion and everything that's falling on this earth is if you stick to this good old Authorized Version Bible. For those of you that are English-speaking, you're not English-speaking, find out if your language has a pure translation. Not all do. If it doesn't, learn English and get an Authorized Version Bible. We'll just leave it at that. Now, the exaltation is of the Antichrist. He exalts signs, he exalts wonders, and the signs and wonders are lifted up. The Word of God is put in subjection to those signs and wonders. Let's just be real painfully plain. If you go to a church or a tent or anything else and the preacher is running around doing signs and wonders and the Word of God is being defied, what spirit are you around? Spirit of Antichrist. Listen, this ain't rocket science. It's really, really, really simple. Who's being exalted? Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. This guy's the great power of God. Does he obey God? Does he keep his commandments? Does he instruct people to do so? Because if not, he ain't the great power of God. It's another spirit. It's really, really simple. the man of sin, the son of perdition, puts the word of God under his feet. And I want you to know today that not only will the literal Antichrist put the word of God beneath his feet, but the spirit of Antichrist does it every day. And if you follow that spirit, you will end in perdition. Let's look at Daniel real quick. Let's run there. Let's look at this literal Antichrist. Then we'll run back to Revelation and finish up Lord willing. Running out of time. I'm sure this could have been preached much better. Except for that part, which God has worked through me. Daniel chapter nine. Here is the 70 weeks In verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Read the context study to show they self-approved. It says, and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. So 70 weeks until the most holy is anointed. The most holy would be anointed. What's that talking about? Jesus Christ, the almighty God, the most holy. sitting on the literal throne of David anointed to be king over Israel. Jesus Christ was not anointed to be king yet. Hasn't been yet. The 70 weeks are not over. Cannot be over. Know therefore and understand, verse 25, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. We got to move fast. I'm going to give you facts. I'm not going to be able to take the time to dig into them. We'll study those out later whenever we hit those passages of scripture. The weeks here, you can look at other places in Daniel. A week is seven years in prophecy in the book of Daniel. When he says 70 weeks, he means 70 sets of seven years. which would be what, 390? Did I get that right? In any case, we have 7,490. Thank you. Duh. I'm preaching, not doing math. Okay. So you have 70 weeks, seven sets of seven years. And he says, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. When was that? Read the book of Ezra. Read the book of Nehemiah. You have the going forth to restore and build Jerusalem. God says 70 weeks until Messiah, the Prince. There will be 70 weeks until the anointing. And then he tells us, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. The streets shall be built again in the wall, even in troubleous times. So seven weeks, that would be seven times seven years, 49 years. And threescore and two weeks would be 62 sets of seven years, whatever that adds up to. I didn't write it all down. It says, so there's one week left. It says seven weeks and three score in two weeks. 62 plus seven is 69. There's one week left. It says after three score in two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. Now there's a guy that did all the math. He went back through all the dates and from the date of the proclamation to go out and to build Jerusalem, to the day that Jesus Christ had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem was 7 sets of 7 years and 62 sets of 7 years to the day. Just like God said it would be. That should blow your mind. This happened 500 years almost before Christ entered Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. And when it happened, this prophecy went out that from the time of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, it says, and three score and two weeks, 69 weeks. Messiah showed up triumphal entry into Jerusalem just like God said and then it says here after look After three score in two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince shall come and shall destroy the city and the Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined So after three score in two weeks Messiah is cut off pay attention. I know there's a lot it was fast and Messiah is cut off after 69 weeks, and it happened. It says, the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. That happened in 70 AD, Titus came, destroyed the city and the sanctuary. The end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. What war? There is still a war going on against Israel today. The war has not ended. Israel has been chased, has been hounded, has been attacked. The spirit of Antichrist has been at war in the world for 2,000 years. The war is still going on. 69 weeks is still waiting for the 70th week. Look at verse 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation of that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." So here you have the Antichrist will come in and make a covenant for one week. The last week of Israel's judgment for their old sins has not come yet. Israel is right now being judged for cutting off Messiah the Prince. And they have been for 2,000 years. There will be a day soon when a literal human being indwelt with the power of Satan, like none other than Judas Iscariot ever was, will rise up and make a covenant with many for a week. Seven years and in the midst of the week three and a half years this and it all ties together read it out in the midst of the week He will set up the abomination to make desolate and that is what we find here We're not even going to Daniel 10 11 and 12 read those get them We got to move on but this is the event that Paul is dealing with in second Thessalonians Whenever he says here who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God Sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God So the Antichrist will go up into the temple in Jerusalem to be worshipped as God He will go into the holy place Remember the sanctuary was destroyed at the end of the 69th week So there will have to be a new temple built that's gonna happen and it won't take long in our day and age They'll have that temple up when they build it probably in less than if a literal week That thing will go up so fast it will blow the world's minds. They'll get the news they're starting to build and it'll be over before the world can even react to it. The temple will be built. And when it's built, during that seven-year covenant, this man of sin will set up that himself in the temple to be worshipped as God. I want to go to Revelation chapter one. As we wrap this thing out today, I belabored some points in there, probably more than I should have. But Lord, help me, Father, and I pray that you would use this anyway. God's Word is good. and it's worth the wait and it's worth the extra time. So Revelation chapter one, we've got to get this, we've got to get this. We're just going to blitz through some verses here in Revelation 1 and 2 and then land on a few verses in Revelation 3 and wrap her up today. So Revelation 1 and verse 5, and here John is getting a revelation, it says, In verse 4, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, get this, who is the what? the faithful witness. What's the great sin that brings the son of perdition to his extreme destruction? It is his opposition and exaltation against the Word of God. He opposes the Word of God. He exalts himself above the Word of God, and it manifests itself in every area of his life. You say, no, it says he exalts himself above God. We covered it. Back it up and listen again. It says, Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. I just had to throw that in there just for fun. Now, That last part. Here Jesus Christ is called the faithful witness. Look at verse 9. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom of patience, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God. and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, which by the way, the testimony is right here, the New Testament. So why was John in prison? He was in prison for the Word of God. Why was he persecuted? Because the spirit of Antichrist was opposing the Word of God and exalting itself above the Word of God. And John was in prison because of his faithfulness to the Word of God, the faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ. And here he's in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Then we go to verse 11. And here's the voices of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what thou seest, write in a book. Isn't that amazing? Write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia. God says, write it in a book and send it to the churches. There's so much doctrine here. We don't have time to dive into. We're just touching it and moving. Write it in a book and send it to the churches. God has preserved His word. You say, where did He preserve it? Well, not in Harvard, not in Cambridge, not in Westminster Abbey. God has preserved His words in the hands and the hearts of His holy people. His righteous remnant who have always, since Christ ascended, suffered and bled and died for the great sin of loving God's word. You see, there's no greater sin to the Antichrist than loving and obeying and exalting the Word of God. No greater sin to the Antichrist. And there's no greater sin to God than opposing the Word of God and exalting yourself above the Word of God. No greater sin. You say, what about sodomy? Sodomy cannot touch blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Go read your Bible. Read what Jesus said. You start messing with God's word. Breathe by the Holy Ghost. You are messing with sin that you don't even understand the depths of. You're messing with the spirit of Antichrist. I'm telling you, that's what's killing our churches. That's what's killing this nation. Our nation has started messing with the word of God. That's what's killing your family. That's what's killing your friends. That's what's destroying everything around you is that our nation, our people, our churches have laid their hands on the holy word of God. And God said, if you add to it, I'll add to you the plagues that are written in this book. And if you take away from it, I'll take your name out of the book of life. and we've messed with God's word, and God's word is true, and we're seeing the results and the destruction that comes from it. There's no greater sin that can be committed. The gay pride parades are not as wicked as the church services in this nation where they pick up an ESV blaspheming God and preach fake gospel through the fake Bible. Yes, both are sin, but the greater sin is the blaspheming of the word of God. You said all sin is equal. All sin is equally damning in the fact that one sin will send you to hell, but God does not make sin equal on any other level, neither in final consequences nor natural consequences in this life. Revelation chapter 1 and 19, God says again, write the things which thou hast seen. There's that book coming back up. Revelation 3 and verse 8, Philadelphia is commended because thou hast kept my word. Philadelphia, there are multiple layers of application to this verse, not interpretation. One interpretation, multiple layers of application, how it applies, that one interpretation has many applications. how it affects different people at different times, but the interpretation is one and true. And here this Philadelphian church, this applies not only to the church at Philadelphia physically when John on the Isle of Patmos wrote this, and it applies not only to the individual believer who's reading it today, and it applies not only to the church, the individual local body of believers born again by the Spirit of God and baptized in the water as a testimony of their salvation, baptized with the Holy Ghost and power as God designed it to be. But the Word of this also applies to a period of time within that church age that began in about 1860, the great missionary movement that took off during that time. And perhaps it began all the way back at 17, would it be 1712 in Hernhut, Germany? I'm not sure. Maybe that's whenever it began, when the open door began, because the missionary movement can actually trace its roots all the way back to the Moravian church and the great Moravian awakening in 1712. didn't count Zinzendorf's area down there. You can look it up, read about it. The Great Awakening in America and England was a result of the Great Awakening in 1712, directly related to it. But we won't get off into all that today. It's readily available history that can be dug into. But the Philadelphian church, it says, has kept my word. The Bible was translated into English in 1611. The best things have been columniated, the translators say, in the letter to the readers at the beginning of the Authorized Version Bible. They took all of the resources that they had available, all of the manuscript evidence that they had available, including the Textus Receptus, but not limited to the Textus Receptus. They took all of the manuscript evidence that they could possibly acquire. And then they even went further and they read people's writings that had written about the Bible and what they said the Bible said. And they compared all of these things together and found the common thread throughout it all. the overwhelming body of evidence that said that what God said was what God says. And they took all of that evidence together and they translated it carefully under, obviously, under direction and oversight of the Holy Spirit of God into the Authorized Version Bible. Holy Spirit translation started in Acts chapter 2. It was prophesied by the prophet Joel. If you don't believe that, then I don't know how to help you. Lord, help me to stay humble and reverent in Jesus' name. So the Philadelphian church age kept the word of God. They denied not his name. Verse 10 of Revelation 3, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. In the late 1900s, A few people were beginning to accept the new version that had come out, the RV, but it really hadn't gained any acceptability. It began to gain use in seminaries and stuff through the 1920s and 30s, and missionaries started referencing some of those works. You'll find that even in some of the great missionary works, that they would use some of these other versions and things like that. I chalk that up to just plain ignorance. They missed it. Thankfully, you don't have to hit everything 100% for God to use you. But they did not see what was coming. They did not see the satanic deception that was coming down the pike. By the 1930s and 40s, these Bibles had started to gain some wider use in seminaries, but they were still not used openly in the churches. The Great War came. World War II defiled the world. American soldiers went over to France and picked up all the wickedness of France, all the philosophies of France. And why did they pick them up? Because they were in bed with the women of France. They came home with nakedness, they came home with naked pictures. You have the old the whole reality of the good old church going deacon that goes to church every Sunday and he's got dirty magazines full of wicked pictures in his tool shed out back and he goes out there to look at them every now and then but he does the church thing on Sunday and the sin thing on Monday. And he does that every day. And that was what birthed the rebellion that came out in the 60s. The 1950s were a golden era, but sin was coming in and infiltrating the nation. And with it, many of these new versions were gaining more acceptability. And in the 1960s, Full-blown rebellion burst forth on this nation. Prayer was taken out of the schools. The Bible was taken out of the schools. Evolution had been brought in in the 50s by Eisenhower, who felt that we had to have better science, so they paid the schools extra money to teach evolution, and the birth of modern apostasy was completed and really came to fruition there in the 60s and the 70s, the drug and sex and rock and roll revolution that took over. In the 80s, the Christians responded by bringing the sin of the world into the church. They had thrown the doors open to these fake Antichrist Bibles and with the fake Bibles came fake worship because the devil wants to be worshipped. So you have men like Michael Card, a Catholic priest. By the way, the Catholics do not love Christ. they oppose and exalt Christ with every one of, or exalt themselves, they oppose Christ and exalt themselves over Christ with every one of their doctrines. It is one of the most vile doctrines of Antichrist there is. The Pope is one of the most potent living examples of a picture of Antichrist there has ever been, and he's always been that way, ever since there's been a Pope, roughly 300 AD, whenever Constantine sat as the first practical Pope. And after that, there were many others that came up. Now, a lot of you guys don't believe any of that. I'm sorry, it's just the truth. So, here we got Michael Card, a Catholic priest, playing on his guitar, singing his scripture songs. Everybody went after him, and Keith Green, and Amy Grant, and all these guys, and they came in, and that other dude out there, there's... There's so many of them and all this music started coming in using these elements of sensuality in their worship and because the people had forsaken the word of God, they embraced this satanic worship and it swept through our churches. Immorality swept through our churches, covetousness swept through our churches, all this sin swept through our churches so that today you can't tell the church from the world. If you went back to the 1940s and you took the average congregation in any so-called healthy church in America and sat them next to a bar full of sinners, the bar full of sinners would stare in horror at the sins of the so-called Christians and they would feel very much self-righteous in their drinking and their carousing looking across at the Christians. The sinners of 1940 behaved themselves in a more Christ-like and godly way than the average American Christian who's supposedly on fire with God and supposedly full of the Holy Ghost today. We have this because we departed from the word of God and we entered into this Laodicean age at some point. God simultaneously allowed the iron curtain to fall and the bamboo curtain to fall to get this to cut off American missionaries from spreading their defiling filth around the world. Amen. You want to know why it's hard for missionaries to get into countries around the world today? Because God closed the door that he had opened for the Philadelphian church. And why did he do that? Because the American church had shifted gears and gone into full-time Antichrist worship and God closed the doors and is closing the doors to the American church because it is spreading filth instead of faith. all around this world. And God will continue shutting those doors. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen. What does that mean? Let it be so. The name of Jesus. Let it be so. Jesus is named the word. Jesus is named the Amen. Jesus is named, look at your text, the faithful and true witness Jesus is named here the beginning of the creation of God, not as a name. Notice is a lowercase B. This is a verb phrase that Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. He is the instigator of the creation of God. We know the Bible says that by his word, the heavens were formed. All things were made by Jesus Christ and without him was not anything made that was made. So he is the amen. He is the faithful and true witness, which is describing what he does. He is the beginning of the creation of God, describing again what he does. And here, Jesus says to the church at Laodicea, I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou work colder hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth 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. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, 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. By the way, gold is related to the Word of God. And it says here, the white raiment, that's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And He says, anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. And that's the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God. God says to the church at Laodicea, He says, you're rich, but not with the word of God. You're rich with temporal things. You're rich with sensual things. You're rich with things that pass away. He says, you need to get some good old gold of the word of God. He says, you need to get some righteousness. He says, you need to get some clothing on. You need to not only get the word of God, you need to obey the word of God. Blessed are they that hear my word and keep it. He says you need to get the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And he tells them you need to get your eyes anointed with eyes have that thou mayest see. You need to get filled with the Holy Spirit of God and get that unction from the Holy One that teacheth you all things. The anointing that you have from God that teacheth you so that you need not that any man teach you. A mark of the last days church. They will heap to themselves teachers having. It says in another place, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And that is where we're at today. The reason that we can heap to ourselves teachers and never learn is because we do not have the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God. in our day and in our church. We need the good old gold of the Bible. We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and we need the anointing of the Holy Ghost of God. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sub with him and he with me." Notice this is the only letter to the churches where Jesus Christ is on the outside of the church knocking to try to get in. This is not a salvation verse. This is not talking about an individual person. Although there is an application, this is a letter to the church at Laodicea and Jesus is saying I'm not even in your building I'm out here knocking on the door and they say what was that I can't hear it turn the music up a little louder because Jesus is in his place and they start dancing and waving their hands and shouting I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. And he's outside the church. He's knocking on the outside of the church. He's got a real Bible. He's got real righteousness. And he has the real Holy Ghost to give you. But as long as you stay in your Laodicean cesspool, you'll never get him. He says here, to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith. unto the churches. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray that you would take this message and use it, that you would pour out your Spirit on all those that hear it, whether for conviction, dealing with us in our sins, or whether, Lord God, for power to go forward and to do what you've laid on their hearts to do, if they be your servants. I worship you today. I worship you, Lord, in the beauty of your own holiness, in the righteousness of Christ, and through the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Empty hands I bring before you with no righteousness of my own. Blind eyes, Lord. an empty wallet, void of any riches or righteousness that can get me any kind of access to you. But I come before you, Lord, with the gold of your word in my hand, asking you, Lord God, to clothe me with the righteousness of Christ your Son, and to anoint me with eye salve of your Holy Spirit. that I might see wondrous things from your word. And I ask that for those that hear this message, Father, that that would be their heart's cry and that they would pray that today. Lord, that they would turn from the false and the phony and they would turn to the true and living God and his true word, the true and faithful witness. Amen. I love you you