Well, Kevin persevered there. It's all because he smashed his little guitar finger there. Which one was it? Oh, yeah, he smashed it with a hammer, so different guitar. And apparently his guitar brains are in that finger because it threw him all off. But someday I'll probably come up here And I'll forget what the sermon was, so you'll just have to cut me some slack there if that ever happens. The scripture reading is another psalm. It's Psalm 27. It's a great psalm. They're all great, but this one is very much given to us for encouragement, and it goes along with the theme that we're returning to again this morning, that is that Christ's power, God's power is perfected in weakness, in our weakness. He works through, he works his power through weak things that the creature, us, we may not boast. And so here you see that same theme here as well. Psalm 27, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil doers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. And there is the word of the Lord and we are to receive it then as such. We need to do a lot more waiting for the Lord and less running ahead of Him, right? And that's what we learn when we are learning this truth, that it is the It is in our weakness that our strength is, that God's power is affected. As we come then to the ministry of God's Word, we need to prepare ourselves to hear God's Word because there are Well, our enemy is cunning, and the world, the flesh, and the devil all are at work to keep us from hearing the word of the Lord. John Calvin commented on this in his commentary on Job. He said, many people attend preaching and hear what is said, without understanding a word of it, and are unable to say anything about it when they asked what it was about. Have you ever had that happen to you? Somebody asked, what was the sermon about? I mean, I can preach a sermon in a week later, and somebody has to, hey, what was the sermon about last week? And I have to think about this here, right? He says, now why not? Why is this? that we don't hear. Well, people like this, he says, were wool gathering. And what he means by that, as we say, some are thinking about one thing, others about another. They weren't being silent before the Lord. All such daydreaming and thoughts that enter our mind are just that many interruptions that prevent us from hearing and listening to God as we should. As a result, those who engage in this idle thinking can't understand what was said. So they're unable to detect any teaching which ought to be commonly agreed upon among us. That's why Eliphaz, talking to Job, says that the voice of the Lord came to him in silence. The Lord had disposed him to listen. And so when we come to hear God's word, we must not let our minds wander where they will, but we must be more focused to give God a full hearing and not give way to our fleshly affections and self-interest or be otherwise distracted. In short, let us be silent and at peace so that we can truly hear and understand everything God wishes to say to us. You remember the parable of the soils and how some of the seed was immediately plucked away by the birds, right? They came in. And when Jesus explained the parable, he said the birds are emblematic of Satan. that as soon as the gospel is preached, Satan will do everything he can to pluck it away so that people can't understand it. And so we come then, we must come being silent, praying that the Lord would prepare our minds to be good soil that we might receive then The Word of the Lord. Well, the title I gave this section in this series, this sermon in this series, Greatness of the Revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. A messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Now, you know, Satan didn't intend this for Paul's good, but this is another example of how the Lord uses Satan's efforts for our good. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ's persecutions and calamities, you see. Prayer is the language of faith. Prayer is faith talking, talking to the Lord. Now we've been considering this truth, God's power being perfected in weakness, and one way we can see if the message is getting through to us is, have we been praying more? Have we been praying more? This truth will drive us to prayer. Have we been praying more for the salvation of our unsaved loved ones or neighbors? because I'm weak. I can't save them. I can't convince them of anything. All I can do is, if given an opportunity, plant the seed of the gospel, but God must give it the increase. So have I been praying more for that? Have I been praying more for this church that the Lord will use us and glorify himself through us? You know, we're going through a season of weakness here. Yeah, it's like, the Lord, you know, I'm gonna teach you guys, and you're gonna learn about weakness. We're gonna learn about this, I'm gonna teach you, and you're gonna find out that when you're weak, then I will work through you. If you think back in our history, I know I can do this myself, you know, we think, we want to tell ourselves, well I know God's power works through weakness, I know that, but if we think back through our lives, Man, how many times have we acted like it's us, it's our power and so forth that has to make it happen. So are we recognizing how weak we are and how completely reliant we are upon the Lord for everything? For everything. I'm reliant on the Lord for my heartbeat, right? Case found that out recently. My heartbeat, my existence, the air that I breathe, the food that I eat, the water that I drink, it all comes from the Lord. I can't produce that, you see? We can plant a garden, but you can't make that seed germinate, right? Most of all, though, are we seeing our need to stop boasting in any way about our salvation in Christ? Consider, really think about now, these verses from Ephesians. Ephesians 2, starting at verse 1. We've read these probably a bajillion times, but have we ever really gotten hold of them? You were dead. in your trespasses and sins." Bold face, dead there, right? You were dead in your trespasses and sins, and so was I. In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's now at work in the sons of disobedience. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So if you are a Christian today, if you are born again, it is only because what? God was rich in his mercy toward you. It's because God raised you up from the dead. God raised you up from the dead. If you're still in your sin, how the Lord saves us. Lazarus, come forth. And he who was dead came forth. That's it. That's what has to happen to anyone who's dead in their sins. You were dead in trespasses and sins and so was I. And we walked in them, Paul says. We walked in them. We were dead men walking. Our sins were our daily path. When I got up in the morning, even though it became so habitual, I probably didn't verbalize this essentially, but basically this is what I did. I got up in the morning, let's see, well which way shall I go today? I know. I'll go the way I always go. I'm gonna walk according to the course of this world. I will follow Satan. I'm going to follow the path of the passions of my flesh. And I'm going to carry out the desires of my sin-loving mind. Today, like yesterday, like always, I will be a child of wrath. an object of God's condemnation. That's what we did. That's who we were. That's what Paul's telling us. Every morning, every day, every evening, we walk the devil's path because we chose to do it and because we had to do it. That's where every sinner is. That is the condition that they are in apart from Christ. And as such, we were, if you're a Christian now, You were, I was, you were just like the rest of mankind. That's the condition of man, dead in his sins. You look around the world today, and you don't have to look very far, and you see all of this evil increasing, all this insanity bubbling over, wickedness and evil. But Paul says, look at, don't think too highly of yourself here. You are just like the rest of this mass of mankind. Don't go walking through life You know, here he might be talking to a sinner, but also to the Christian, you know. Don't go through life thinking, well, at least I'm not as bad as that guy. But we were. Sin takes its different forms. If you're not in Christ this morning, then the reality is you've made the very same choice which you've made every morning of every day of your life. You made that choice when you got up this morning. You chose to follow the course of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And some people will put a skin of religion over all of this, like the Pharisees did, but if you're not born again, you're still dead in your sins like the rest of mankind. So, the question becomes then, what is the sinner going to do about it? If you're not a Christian, what are you going to do about it? You're a dead man walking. You're a corpse walking. You have movement and you're walking along these paths, but they're paths of death and you are dead before God. What can you do about it? What did I do about it? I was dead in my sins. What did I do about it? Did I just get up one day and say, you know what? Today is going to be different. I'm going down a different path. I'm tired of this path I've been going on. I'm going to go a different way. I'm just going to tell Satan, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm not going to do this anymore. And I'm taking a different path. And so I chose to follow. Is that what I did? Of course not. Of course that's not what I did. Did I do that and then tell God, look what I've done God, what a good boy I am. You know, see, I've earned it, I've merited your, and I can't, huh, what? Peter Piper, right? He's just like them. Well, God, See what a good boy I am, look what a good boy am I, right? And so their Christianity consists of, we call it Peter Piper theology, okay? Peter Piper theology here, and look at us, look how righteous we are. And they treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other, tax collector, despised in his culture tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God I thank you that I'm I'm not like other men. Paul just told us in Ephesians 2, you are just like the rest. But now this guy is like, oh, thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the Pharisee, the other. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So this tax collector, because of God's mercy, opening his mind enough that he knows, he knew that not only was he weak, He was dead, he knew it. And as a result, he knew there's absolutely nothing he could do to be justified before God. And he knew if he was gonna be saved, God had to do the saving. And that's exactly what happened. Whereas the Pharisees' theology is, well, God, you have to save me because I've been so good. You have to save me. So what has happened then to everyone who's ever been saved? Everyone who's ever really truly been born again, what happened to them? It's this, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If you read the first chapter of Ephesians, which we've been going through on Wednesday mornings in the midweek study, Paul emphasizes this over and over again. This is how the Lord saves. He elected his people in eternity past according to his good pleasure. God, how come you chose this guy not because it was his good pleasure to do so and therefore it was righteous and good? God did not peer into the future and see who, oh, well there's a good boy, there's a good girl, I'm gonna elect to save them. No, he chose his people and he rejected the rest because it pleased him to do so for the praise of his glorious grace and for the praise of his glorious justice. You can read all about it in Romans 9, 10, and 11. In other words, In the fullness of time, at the exact moment in your life, in my life, God saves his elect. And how does he do so? Lazarus, come forth. It's what he does. He raises us from the dead. He makes us alive together with Christ and seats us in the heavenly places. So why are you a Christian if you are? Because God raised you from the dead. Someday he's gonna raise your physical body as well. But you were raised from the dead. There's no room for boasting in this. I mean, just think about it. The thing is bizarre, but it's a perfect illustration. Lazarus, dead in the tomb, stinking, what, three days, whatever. He's in the tomb. Jesus, in front of everybody, cries out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. The dead man, he who was dead, came forth. And when he came forth, as soon as they unwrapped those wrappings from him, he began to say, look everybody, look what I did. Now as stupid and bizarre as that would be, That is exactly the theology of many, many, many professing Christians today. Look what I did. Look what I've done. Oh sure, I needed a little help. Needed some help from Jesus to do whatever his part was and so on. But, you know, and I needed some help getting unwrapped from those kind of things. But I, you know, I was laying there and I was dead. And I just thought to myself, I'm going to get up. I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to make myself live. But that's exactly the kind of doctrine that so many people are embracing. And guess what? As soon as you do that, even a little bit, as soon as you add yourself into the saving work of God in Christ, God steps back because his power is perfected in weakness. And as long as a person, I'm going to boast about my part in this, then uh-uh, uh-uh, you just neutralized the power of God, you see. As long as anyone is patting themselves on the back, and boasting of what a great person they are, enjoying the approval of men and being popular, you will remain a dead corpse in your soul and end in hell. Why? Because God's power is perfected in weakness. He is glorified by raising the dead. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can raise a dead man. And he's not going to raise people who deny that they need to be raised or that they just need a little help, just a little help in order to do this. When I am weak, then I'm strong, because that's when God will work. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. You're weak. You see, this goes on, as we'll see, that passage in 2 Corinthians, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Paul was already a Christian, right? But he's still operating in this principle. I am weak. I acknowledge that I'm weak. God had to remind me that I'm weak. And when I acknowledge that, God will then begin to work. But he has to, but this is a hard lesson to learn because our flesh doesn't like it. Our flesh doesn't like it. There would be, I have no doubt, in fact, I can say this because of experience, okay? I've preached the gospel these years in four different churches. And I can tell you what happens when you preach the gospel in its fullness, and tell people you're dead in your sin, there's nothing, you can't contribute a bit toward your salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. He saves His elect. And I can tell you, the teeth will begin to gnash, and the fangs will come out. Well, we're not all that bad. You know, I've gotten nasty notes. You know how we used to do this in this church, but in some other churches as well? These little encouragement cards? Encouragement cards. Yeah, right. It's just like online. Who's most likely to put a comment in? People are mad about the critical of some product or something. Well, that's how it was there. How dare you question my Christianity, you see? And that's sort of a thing. That's what happens. People hate that doctrine. If what Paul is saying here and in Ephesians 1, 2, 3, if that message were to be faithfully preached in the churches across this land today, I mean the crowds, either the preachers would be stoned or the people would go, okay? And you say, well, are you sure? And not many were following him anymore after he said these things. John chapter 6, you can read about it. That was Jesus' experience then, you see, as well. But why would you want to take credit? Well, that's just sinful boasting, right? Well, that's because I want to boast. The glorious thing and the truth that enables us to truly worship God is to acknowledge salvation is of the Lord. I was dead in my trespasses and sins, but God being rich in mercy and loving me with this love of his is tremendous. Why he would love me, there's no reason he should love me, except according to his good pleasure. He raised me up from the dead. He did so. If you're a Christian, you've won the lottery. You know, you dream, we dream about, man, if I just won those mega millions or whatever. That's nothing. You already won. You already won. Every spiritual blessing and riches in heavenly places have been poured out then, you see, upon us. People will claim to be Christians and yet they will spend their entire lives exalting themselves. That is a road to hell. It is a road then, you see, to hell. For being, Paul spoke of his countrymen, for being ignorant of the righteousness of God, which is in Christ Jesus alone, and seeking to establish their own, they didn't submit to God's righteousness. See, that's what Arminian theology does. It's a refusal to submit to God's righteousness, which is all and only in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you see. No, I've got to establish my own righteousness. This is what happened to the churches of Galatia. They didn't reject Christ out and out. They still believed in Christ. They believed he was the son of God. They believed in his sacrifice on the cross. They believed about faith in him. But they just had to add their own merit in the process of this salvation. And Paul comes along and says, you know, you've cut yourself off from grace. Anyone that's preaching, that's another gospel. That's not, well, do this, do that, and there, now you're a Christian. No. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You think about that prayer. That leaves the whole thing in God's hands. Those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous, the self-righteous, but sinners, people that confess, they're sinners. God's saving power is applied only to the weak, those who humbly acknowledge, I'm dead in my trespasses and sins. His sanctifying power is also operative in our weakness. Paul tells us this. when I'm weak. I'm a Christian, but I need to be acknowledging that I'm weak because that's when God's power will truly work through me. Here it is in Isaiah, Isaiah 40. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord isn't, but they who wait for the Lord. shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." Why? Because that phrase which we see over and over again, particularly in the Old Testament, wait upon the Lord. Stop acting like it's all up to you. It's all you're doing. Wait in faith upon the Lord. Look to Him. It's the same thing as Proverbs 3. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. Now what that saying is, wait for the Lord. Just hold on a minute. You got this plan, you got this plan over here, hold it. Wait for the Lord. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. Do you acknowledge Him in that decision? Do you realize you're dependent upon Him for everything? Just hold on. Let's slow down here a little bit, and let's see where the Lord, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. He'll show you. But if you don't wait for Him, If you're just going to run ahead, you see, well then you're acting like you're strong, when in fact we are weak. Now, of course, we have to read in this connection David and Goliath. So here we go, 1 Samuel 17. We kind of come into it midway here. David said to the men who stood by him, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, this Goliath, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way, so shall it be done to the man who kills him. David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, Goliath. Your servant will go and fight with the Philistine. Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. You're but a youth. He's been a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." Now, you know, we often skip over the lions and the bears part. You don't go up and grab a bear or a lion and then take your knife or whatever he had and kill it. In other words, David must have already experienced the Lord's intervention in his life, empowering him and enabling him to do that. I mean, there's no other way that that can happen. A man doesn't wrestle down a bear unless it's just Daniel Boone or somebody in American folklore, but that doesn't happen here. But David did it. More than once, he'd already seen the Lord's empowering through his weakness, you see. David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. And then, of course, Saul tries to outfit him with all this heavy armor and so forth, and David rejects it. That would have been kind of comical to watch, I think, stumbling around. But then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. The Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance." What a joke, you are nothing. I'll stomp you like you're a bug. And the Philistines said to David, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistines said to David, come to me and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. You see that he knew the battles, the Lord's. and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I'll give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And now get this, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear. The battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword, Goliath's sword, drew it out of his sheath and killed him, cut off his head with it. When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. There was, you know, there's certain times in biblical history where you would like to have been there. And that has to be, I mean, this is like out of some fictional movie, right? And, uh, but this, this really happened that David shepherd boy, David, with a slingshot kills this, this giant, you see. In our flesh then, which is to say in our unbelief, we have a bent toward believing that the Lord, if the Lord is going to work and save, it's going to be through the sword and the spear. This of course is the widespread error of nations. They think that the way that military, certainly in an evil world, but in the end, the battle is the Lord's. World War II had as its outcome, the outcome that it did, because the Lord intervened. That's the ultimate reason. But probably the majority of people, of Americans and even the British, didn't give praise and glory to God and acknowledge that he's the one. He is the one that has granted us then this victory. But we tend to think that it's through our instruments and methods and energies and schemes. But that's not how the Lord works. That's what this is telling us here. He always works his power in a way that leaves no room for anybody to boast. A shepherd boy in a slingshot, what? How much boasting was available to David? There wasn't any way. Down through the history of the church, most of professing Christendom has not believed this. They insist that in order for them to accomplish great things for the Lord, which means great things for themselves, big things are required. Big things, big things of power, big congregation, big buildings, big programs, big reputation, big leaders. All this is going to equal big results. But this is a lie. The Bible makes this very plain, especially the book of Revelation. Do you know what, humanly speaking, especially in the realms of religion, do you know what big things and big results inevitably lead to? Here it is. Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. And by the signs that it's allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak, and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. The biggest manifestation of a, quote, church, that any time in history is coming, it's yet coming, and it is Antichrist and his kingdom. It will be a very religious kingdom with this image, and everybody's supposed to bow down and worship it. If you study the history of the visible church, what you see happening whenever so-called Christianity gets big and popular, What do you see? You see Rome. That's what you see. A false gospel. A false priesthood. A false Jesus. And you see it oppressing the real church. Always. That's what man's power produces. Here's a Wikipedia article that, do you think that this describes anything like the Apostle Paul, even though it's named after him? Listen, St. Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, and it is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the city of London, and is a grade one listed building. Its dedication to Paul, the apostle, dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 64. The present structure, dating from the late 1600s, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren's lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding program in the city after the Great Fire of London. The earlier Gothic Cathedral, old St. Paul's Cathedral, largely destroyed in the Great Fire, was a central focus for medieval and early modern London, including Paul's Walk, some kind of walkway, and St. Paul's Churchyard, being at the site of St. Paul's Cross, The Cathedral is one of the most famous and recognizable sites of London. Its dome, surrounded by the spires of Wren City Churches, has dominated the skyline for over 300 years. At 365 feet high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1963. The dome is still one of the highest in the world. St. Paul's is the second largest church building in area in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral. You wonder what J.C. Ryle would have to say about this. He was the Bishop of Liverpool. Services held at St. Paul's have included the funerals of Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria, an inauguration service for the Metropolitan Hospital, Sunday fun, peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the launch of the Festival of Britain, and the Thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilees, and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth II. St. Paul's Cathedral is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as of images of the dome surrounded by the smoke and fire of the Blitz in World War II. The cathedral is a working church with hourly prayer and daily services. And guess what? You can go in as a tourist for only 23 pounds. You'll just pay for adults then, cheaper if booked online. But no charges are made to worshippers attending advertised services. Now that's just the building. All right, people go in and look at this. Surely this is of Christ. Look at how impressive, wow, that this is. Reminds you of the disciples showing the temple to Jesus. It's all coming down. It's all coming down, right? Now, guess who the Bishop of London is right now? Sarah Mullally. supports the Church of England's current teaching on marriage, that is, between one man and one woman for life. As you'll see, however, she flip-flops from side to side. In September 2016, she became one of ten bishops to make up the church's bishops reflection group on sexuality. We need to have a reflection group, right? You know from the beginning where this thing's gonna go. In relation to same-sex relationships, she stated in 2017 that, quote, it's time for us to reflect on our tradition and scripture. reinterpret scripture, in other words, and together say how we can offer a response that is about it being inclusive love. When asked about LGBT people in the church, she further said that what we have to remember is this about people, and the church seeks to demonstrate love to all because it reflects the God of love who loves everybody. See, in other words, this is a serpent speaking out of both sides of her mouth. Oh, I support one man, one woman, marriage for life. But on the other hand, in 2022, Mullally supported the observance of LGBT plus history month and the launch of an advisory group aimed at advising the diocese on, quote, pastoral care and the inclusion of LGBT people in the life of our church communities. Molly Lee has described her views on abortion as favoring abortion rights, although she would lean against abortion faced with her own decision. You see it here? It's like she's got two masks, one and the other. She said that, I would suspect that I would describe my approach to this issue as pro-choice, rather than pro-life, although if it were a continuum, I would be somewhere along it, moving towards pro-life when it relates to my choice, and then enabling choice when it relates to others. This is like, she's just like these people that testify before Congress, right? In 1987 she married this guy, Eamon. The couple have a daughter and a son. Following her appointment as Bishop of London, Mullaly moved into the old deanery at St. Paul's. Mullaly has stated that she had alterations made to the property, including the construction of an oratory in a former laundry room in which she prays the rosary and other Marian devotions and presides at weekly Eucharistic adoration. So whatever goes, you see, whatever goes. Now that is what man's greatness produces. even in so-called Christianity. That's a giant synagogue of Satan. And it is headed up by this gal, this bishop, who is a servant of the devil and has just as much of a fork done as him. And it's all done in the name of the Apostle Paul. You know what? If the Apostle Paul showed up today and went into St. Paul's Cathedral and started preaching the gospel, they'd kill him. They'd kill him. They'd tell him, if he went in and preached on Romans 1, they'd start screaming that he's a racist and hateful and so forth. It has nothing to do with the Apostle Paul or with God's word. Here's the Apostle Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness, God told him. So Paul would say, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. Paul showing up at St. Paul's Cathedral or many, many other so-called churches like them, he would be just as enraged as he was at Athens when he went there and saw the city full then of idols. Worse yet, If Jesus Christ himself came to St. Paul's Cathedral, then all we're going to do is build a Tower of Babel. That's all that's going to happen. Now, I appended, I won't take the time to read all of these, I appended some words here, but I really encourage you to read them. They're taken from John Calvin's sermon. Galatians 4, verses 26 to 31, where he mentions that Ishmael, who was the firstborn in that sense of Abraham, Ishmael, how he mocked and persecuted the son of promise, who is Isaac. And Calvin goes on to show us how, as it was then, so it is now. The sermon title of that he gives is how to discern those who are of the true church. And what he's saying here is the way that you discern, a chief way that you discern the wheat from the tare in the church is Ishmael, the counterfeit son of Abraham, will always mock and hate Isaac, the true child of Abraham. And I hope that as you read that, you'll be encouraged and to realize I have no doubt at all that that's what's happened here. And that's what the experience has been of John Bunyan and all of other God's faithful people. Ishmael hates Isaac. And he continues to, and you can tell, we're told that, you know what, now as Christians, you gotta be patient with, you know, some Christians are just more difficult than others and so, but what happens is, no matter what, What these professing Ishmaelites do, right, no matter what they do, it's just blown off and kind of disregarded. Got to be patient because, you know, there's difficult people and so forth. But we miss the fact that God's people have been taught by the Spirit of God to love one another. And when that's not happening, the warning light should come on. And those are the very things that Calvin expounds upon here in these words. And you can look up the whole sermon online. And he goes on to show how, you know, The Ishmaelites today, they'll be just really impressed with St. Paul's Cathedral. And they'll look at us, Calvin says, because he experienced the same thing in his day. They'll look at us and say, you're nothing. Look how little, look how weak you are. You're nothing. Look at us. Look at our cathedrals. Look at our mega buildings and all mega congregations and so forth. You are nothing. And he warns us, as God warns us, don't be deceived. Don't be a fool. Calvin uses stronger words, right? Don't be like these idiots. These simple-minded people who judge the power of God by displays of the power of man. Father, we thank you for these truths. Thank you for these encouragements from your word. And we thank you, Father, that you are teaching us about our weakness. so that we will acknowledge that we are weak. And we do so, Father. We know that you are teaching us to trust in you and not in ourselves. We pray, Father, that we would learn those lessons, we'd learn them well, and then by your power, you would do great and glorious things for your praise and your praise alone. We pray this all in Christ's name, amen.