Well, it is a glorious day. As a sister encouraged me this morning, she said, “Every day that the Lord is on the throne is a glorious day.” And obviously, He is on the throne every day.
So we come to Him this morning.
Lord, we do come to You. Lord, I am having a hard time grasping, being able to get my arms around what You have put on my heart. But, Lord Jesus, we look to You for the anointing and the grace to share things of Your heart, Lord—things out of Your Word.
Lord, as always, we recognize that we cannot hear unless You really open our hearts and open our ears. We are depending on Your anointing today for all of us, Lord, that there might be increase from what is shared and fellowshipped about today. Lord, we ask Your blessing upon this time, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our brother Bob opened with the Lord’s prayer before He went to the cross. He offered up this most—I do not know how to put it—heartfelt prayer of our Lord Jesus for His disciples, for His own, and for all of us who would come to know Him. That is in John 17.
I wanted to share something from that Scripture, beginning with the fourteenth verse: John 17:14.
I have given them Thy word;
and the world hated them, because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world,
but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth.
As Thou didst send Me into the world,
even so sent I them into the world.
This was our Lord’s burden before He went to the cross for His own. It had much to do with being able to live in a world that actually hated them, that would be against them. He wanted them to be prepared.
Now, young people from the young people’s class, this is why I wanted you to be here this morning: because I love you, and I care for you. I sense what lies ahead for this younger generation, and it concerns me very much that you would be prepared, just as the Lord wanted us all to be prepared for the days that lie ahead.
I am particularly concerned for those who will be returning to school, to college, and maybe for the first time entering the workforce, because I already know that the world is against you. You need to know that.
So, as I share today—and it may take two times to share—I want to give you a sense of the days in which we live, which will get darker and darker. I do not want you to be frightened or discouraged, but I want you to realize how much you need to cast yourself upon the Lord and to live in His love.
I want you to be able to discern the darkness. There are many lies going out today. Much is being said that is presented to us as truth in our classrooms, and it is really a lie. It is something even opposed to God and His nature.
You are going to need to be able to discern what is being taught and how it is being taught to you. In other words, we need to be able to discern the darkness—the lies, that which is not true.
But God has made a provision for us, and for you. I want to talk a little about His provision, so that you can have a discerning mind and heart.
I want to warn you a little bit about the dangers of living a loose life, of living a life apart from the Lord. The Word of God calls this a carnal life. You are a Christian, but you are living a worldly life—not living for the Lord, but for yourself. The dangers of carnality can lead to apostasy, a deep darkness.
I also want to share a little about contending for the faith that will keep you stable during these days of darkness. Next time, most likely, I want to share a little about the coming persecution. It has already begun, and we see it occurring, but it will increase more and more.
How are you going to live if you are being persecuted? How does the Lord want us to live under those circumstances? What does it mean to suffer for the Lord’s name’s sake? I want you to be prepared for that.
Then I want to share a few words on why the righteous suffer, just to help us all. Finally, a very short thought on taking up the cross. That is quite a bit, and may the Lord give us grace this morning to share and to hear.
Well, there is an impending storm coming. Actually, it is already upon us, and the days are getting darker and darker.
You need to know, when I was your age—actually, a little younger than you—the skies were fairly blue. There were a few clouds of darkness out there, but I lived during days that some of the older ones will remember.
We had the Sunday blue laws. In other words, nobody could work on Sunday. Do you believe that? It was against the law to work on Sunday because there was respect for God.
Now, I cannot say that all hearts were for the Lord. That is certainly not true. But there was a recognition that there was a God. There was a recognition that there was a special day for the Lord.
There was actually a law. You could not open businesses; you could not buy gas on Sundays; you could not go to the grocery store. But it was a recognition that there was a God, that there was an authority over us that we needed to recognize.
I remember we used to be able to pray in school. But the clouds began to thicken and darken, and then prayer was taken out of the school system. We were not allowed to pray for the sake of the separation of church and state.
I want to say that the whole thought of the separation of church and state was to keep the government from controlling your religion and controlling your religious beliefs. But anyway, it got darker.
Then I remember abortion, which was very, very rare and illegal, becoming legalized. It seemed as though the clouds got darker and darker through the years.
They are going to get even darker. I am not trying to preach doom and gloom, just that we need to be aware of the days in which we live. This is a sign of the Lord’s soon return.
He said there would be a great increase in darkness in men’s minds and in the lawlessness that would begin to prevail—not only on this earth, but we have seen it in this nation, particularly in the last ten years.
He also said something interesting. He said that before His return, it would become like the days of Noah. That is very interesting because we know from our Sunday school class about Noah building the ark, and how the Lord had to flood the earth in judgment because it had become so evil.
The Lord’s judgment came. He is saying that, once again, before He returns, it will return to days like Noah.
Let me read from Genesis 6:5-6 so you will know how God viewed the days of Noah.
And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth,
and it grieved Him at His heart.
He adds that word: continually. It was continuous evil thoughts. In other words, the Lord was greatly grieved that He had even made man.
Brothers and sisters, in the days of Noah, men’s minds and hearts had become darkened. It was because they had chosen to forget God, who had created them, and to put Him out of their thoughts and hearts.
When they put God out of their thoughts and hearts, something replaced those thoughts: evil doings and evil things. Sinful things filled their hearts. Unfortunately, I think this is very, very true of what we are seeing in our day.
Now, I mentioned that their hearts and minds became darkened. What do I mean when I say they had darkened minds? Listen to John 8:12.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,
I am the light of the world:
he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
Where does real light come from? It comes from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who keeps our minds from becoming darkened. Brothers and sisters, how important this is.
He says, “I do not want you to walk in darkness. I want you delivered from that way of living.” You need the light of life that only comes from Jesus Christ.
When we put God out of our thoughts, when we put Him out of our life, darkness comes into our minds and hearts.
This darkness has been increasing. From Romans 1, I want to read what I have labeled as humanity’s downward spiral into deep darkness.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who hinder the truth in unrighteousness;
because that which is known of God is manifest in them.For though they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks;
but became vain in their reasonings,
and their senseless heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts
unto uncleanness,
that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;
for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions:
for their women changed the natural use
into that which is against nature;
and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another,
men with men working unseemliness,
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge,
God gave them up unto a reprobate mind,
to do those things which are not fitting.
A debased mind means a mind that thinks on a lower level. Because they did not see fit to acknowledge God, they could not even accept natural desires. Their desires became unnatural.
But it goes on, because this includes us all in a way:
They were filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness;
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity;
whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful:
who, knowing the ordinance of God,
that they that practise such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them.
This was written by Paul in the days of the Roman Empire. Brothers and sisters, it was a corrupt nation, a godless nation. Because it was godless, darkened minds brought in corruption and moral decay, and Rome crumbled.
That is my concern for the nation in which we live. Darkened minds are trying to lead us—the blind leading the blind.
Our nation was once known, when I was growing up, as a Christian nation, because indeed most people did believe in God. Most people did believe in Christ. They may not have been followers, but they did believe in the Son of God.
We even established a system of law based on biblical principles from the Word of God. Our whole judicial system was based upon biblical principles found in the Word of God.
But our nation has been rejecting God. They have excluded Him from our schools, from our government, and from our daily lives. They do not want us to think about God. In other words, darkened minds, brothers and sisters.
The problem now is that when the truth does not agree with their darkened thinking, they call it a lie. They are telling us it is a lie.
In rejecting God, moral restraint is lost. There is no more moral restraint. What God calls evil and unrighteousness, they call good and acceptable. Instead of order and restraint, there is lawlessness and chaos, which we have really witnessed in the last few years.
A couple of examples of where we are headed: the LGBT lifestyle. We are being told that this is a good and acceptable lifestyle, that even God would approve of it. He will not. It is not acceptable.
When we do not agree, they call us homophobic and bigoted. Yet look: if you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, homosexuality was very prevalent in Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, the word sodomy comes from the word Sodom.
Brothers and sisters, God considers it evil, and He judged it. He rained brimstone and fire upon Sodom and destroyed it. In other words, it was God’s judgment on that lifestyle. If you reread the Scriptures I just read in Romans, you will see that it is unacceptable in God’s eyes.
Now, I want to be very clear, because this is where many of us as Christians have made a mistake, I think. It does not mean that we should persecute or hate those who live with this lifestyle. They need deliverance. They need prayer to be delivered from such a lifestyle.
We cannot be self-righteous, as though we are better than they are. We are all sinners. We all were unrighteous. The Word of God in Romans says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” So we cannot forget our own place.
We cannot be self-righteous, particularly if you are talking or sharing with one of those individuals. We are sinners, but praise the Lord, Christ sought us, and He forgave us of our sins. We have been delivered from them.
The Word of God says that you have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and put into the kingdom of light. That is your privilege as a Christian, if you have accepted Christ.
The kingdom of darkness that I have been talking about is no longer your kingdom, though you are here in it. The Lord says that you are not of it. You are of the kingdom of righteousness, and you need to know that.
Having said that, it does not mean that you can accept or agree that a sinful lifestyle is acceptable and good. You need to know that because you are going to be challenged quite a bit with that very thing.
This principle is true of many things that we may love or that give us pleasure and delight. There may be people or things that we love dearly, but when those things and those relationships are unacceptable in the Lord’s eyes, they have to be unacceptable in our own hearts.
We have to be willing to give them up and go a different way. Otherwise, it will be detrimental in your life, and you will be drawn back into darkness. By God’s grace, we must learn to abstain even from things that we may dearly love if they are not God’s will.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-26:
If any man would come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
For what shall a man be profited,
if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
Billy Graham spoke on that one time: “What does it profit a man to gain the world, but lose his own soul?” It touched me deeply. I do not know how that touches you, but our soul is a precious thing. It can be lost, brothers and sisters.
Now, because you have accepted Christ, your soul will never be eternally lost. But you can keep your soul in a darkened state if you are unwilling to follow the Lord, take up your cross, and follow Him.
What does the cross mean to you personally? It means that when your will crosses the will of God, you have got to do the will of God. That is taking up your cross, and you follow Him.
Another thing very prevalent today that concerns me greatly is the equity movement. Everybody needs to be not only equal, but the same.
In other words, we must all look upon each other as being the same. You cannot recognize differences in people. There are no longer men and women; we are just people. This is for the sake of unity, they say.
But young people particularly, this is an affront to the Lord. It is an offense to God’s sovereign design of man and woman in creating humanity.
Men and women were made different on purpose. God did that on purpose. For the man that God is after to be complete, there needed to be both man and woman, joined together as husband and wife to become one and to represent Him on this earth.
For there to be fullness, it takes both the man and the woman. They are different. We know we are different physically. We are similar—we all have bones, nerves, and organs—but our bodies are different, are they not?
Only women have a womb. Only women are able to have babies and carry babies. Recently, I heard this brilliant woman try to tell me that men can get pregnant. I was a bit shocked, but I understand: darkened minds.
She may be brilliant. I do not know. She may have an extremely high IQ. But it is coming out of a darkened mind that does not have the light of God.
The point is, God has made us different. It is wonderful, and it is for a purpose. Our differences as men and women should not divide us; they should bring us together to be the unit that God intended us to be.
The Lord made Adam out of dust and breathed into him the breath of life. But Eve was made differently. She was taken out of the side of Adam, and He formed her into a woman, the helpmeet of Adam. In other words, they were not quite complete.
Let me read Genesis 1:27, and I hope you will see the difference.
And God created man in His own image,
in the image of God created He him;
male and female created He them.
That first “him” is singular. Then it goes right on to say, “male and female created He them.” That is plural. When He had created man, brothers and sisters, He had both male and female in view as one together. That was His marvelous design.
Another interesting fact is that God Himself brought Eve to Adam. He wanted them to be together. When Adam saw Eve, he said:
This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.
So we see that this is God’s design. The world is trying to preach unity to us. They are saying, “For the sake of unity, so that there will be no discrimination, no arguments between male and female, no differences, you all have to be the same. Therefore, I am no longer going to call you a woman or a man. I am just going to call you a person.”
Brothers and sisters, that is defying God. It is rebellious in God’s eyes.
What they are saying is that your gender is no longer determined by how God made you and confirmed in your biological makeup; it is determined by what you think you are in your mind. Brothers and sisters, our minds can really get screwy. That is a gentle way of saying it.
I have to say, brothers and sisters, this is an affront to God. But now they are insisting that it be taught in our school systems. I know Hanover County has been dealing with this—not only in the school system, but even in grade schools. They are talking about approving gender-changing therapy for grade-school children. Tragic, darkened minds.
The emphasis of darkened minds in our school system is no longer on teaching the basics, as we were taught—English, math, science, history—but on indoctrinating our children into a different way of life, a different ideology, one that is actually opposed to God.
It is man’s creation. Unfortunately, theories such as critical race theory and woke ideology, even though they may have some bits of truth in them, are designed to create division. They justify hate and lawlessness, and they have ended up in chaos.
What will be the end of all this? Now look into the book of Revelation.
We know there is going to be worldwide chaos—not just in a few places, but worldwide chaos. We may have tasted a bit of this with the COVID variant, but I think it was only a taste of what is to come.
There will arise a one-world government to control everything. Even today, there is a proposal—I am not sure it has been passed—that the United States will agree to do whatever the World Health Organization feels is best when it comes to pandemics.
In other words, they would control how such matters would be dealt with—not us in the United States, not us as parents and individuals, but them. I say that to say that we are moving toward that one-world government.
But the interesting thing, if you read the book of Revelation, is that it will be led by a leader the Bible calls Antichrist. That means against Christ. His whole purpose is to be against anything of God and Christ.
The whole world will be under his leadership, and he will be supported by the false prophet in the Bible. The false prophet will be another man who is able to do miracles—amazing miracles—in support of the Antichrist, to prove that they are the ones who are god and who need to rule and be in charge. They will both be under the control of Satan.
These are just a few examples of what happens when men reject God, when society rejects God. Hearts and minds become darkened, and the Bible says, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
They think they are so intelligent. They have got it all up here. They think they are very wise and are trying to direct our lives because, obviously, we are not able to. But it says they become fools.
Having said all that, what I think is extremely important—particularly for you young people, and for us too—is this: How do we discern the darkness? How do we discern the lies? How do we discern things presented to us as truth and yet recognize that something is wrong here?
There may be elements of truth in what they are saying, but it just does not seem right.
Paul, in Colossians 2:8, warned the Christians in his day:
Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you
through his philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ.
He warned them even in his day. He said that you have to be careful about these philosophers and all these theories that are coming out. They are trying to ensnare you.
There are spiritual forces behind this darkness. It is not just the men or women propagating these things. There is a spiritual force behind it, a force of darkness. We need to seriously regard the warnings of these last days.
Second Peter 3:17-18 warns Christians:
Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand,
beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked,
ye fall from your own steadfastness.
But grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
How are you not going to be led astray? Peter gives us the answer: grow in grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and Savior.
As you go back to school—particularly public school and college—how are you going to know whether what is being taught to you is right or wrong? I am not talking about the basics. I am talking about these theories they are trying to bring upon us.
How are you going to know what God approves and disapproves? How are you going to know what is offensive to God? I think even us older ones need to learn this lesson.
Fortunately, and thank the Lord, the Bible gives us the answer. I emphasize: in the Bible, you can find the answer.
First John 2:26-28 says:
These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you astray.
And as for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any one teach you;
but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things,
and is true, and is no lie,
and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
And now, my little children, abide in Him.
What this is saying is, “I am writing to you concerning those who are trying to indoctrinate you with a teaching or philosophy that is contrary to God.” That is a warning.
This Scripture from 1 John tells us three things that are absolutely necessary in this day of darkness—three things to help us discern the darkness and keep from being ensnared by these lies:
The anointing within helps and warns us. That anointing is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in you will help you. He will warn you.
The anointing within teaches you the truth. It is truth; it is not a lie. You need that anointing within so that, when you read the Word of God, you can discern the truth. The truth will set you free and keep you from falling into the trap.
Thirdly, we absolutely must abide in Christ. Absolutely. There is no choice.
Thank the Lord, when we accepted Jesus Christ, the life of Christ came into us. You have heard the term, “Jesus comes and lives in your heart.” He lives inside of you. But also, the Holy Spirit has come, residing in your spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the One who tells you about the life that you have. He empowers you to live by the life of Christ within you. He helps you nurture that life of Christ within you. That is the Holy Spirit’s work.
John 14:15-17 says:
If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments.
And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may be with you for ever,
even the Spirit of truth:
whom the world cannot receive;
for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:
ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you.
Young people, I want you to come to the realization—because I know you have been taught this, but you need to know it here—that Christ lives in you. That life is in you. The Holy Spirit is there, and the Holy Spirit will speak to you. We need to listen.
That should be a great comfort to us, brothers and sisters: we do not have to rely on our own thinking and mind to figure all this out, to know what is right and wrong. We have the Holy Spirit to let us know. But we need to stay in contact with the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit who enables you to communicate with God Himself. Did you realize that? You can talk to God. When you are in your classroom, when you are away at college, you can talk to God through the Holy Spirit.
You have that life of Christ in you that wants to communicate, and the Holy Spirit enables you to do that.
When you encounter darkness, something sinful, or a teaching that is not in line with Christ, then that life of Christ in you will become disturbed. You will become disturbed inside. That life is disturbed, and the Holy Spirit will begin to speak to you in that still, small voice.
He says, “Something is wrong here.” You may not understand what is wrong, but there is something wrong here. You need to back off. Something is not quite right.
The anointing also helps you when you encounter teaching that is truth. The Holy Spirit will anoint that, particularly in the Word of God. As you read His Word, it is the Holy Spirit who enlightens you, enables you to understand it, and enables you to take that teaching and make it real in your life.
That is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is both negative and positive. It warns us, but it also encourages us and strengthens us. If we listen to the anointing within, it will definitely strengthen your life.
If you do not listen, your mind can drift back into darkness. I want to encourage you in being and listening to the anointing, because it renews your mind. It makes your mind sensitive to God’s thoughts and God’s heart. But if you do not listen to Him, then darkness begins to return.
Also, when the Holy Spirit is pleased, you have a joy within that you do not have anywhere else, even in times of difficulty. You can sense that joy because of the Holy Spirit.
As you obey the anointing, your spiritual ear becomes more and more sensitive.
I could not help but think of that great prophet Elijah. He had gone up on the mountain and built an altar in front of the prophets of Baal. He told them, “Pour water on it.” They poured buckets of water on it. He said, “That is not enough. Wet it down again. Really douse it.”
Then he said, “Now I want you to pray to your god, and I am going to pray to mine, and we are going to see who responds.” The prophets of Baal wailed, cut themselves, and danced around for hours and hours, but nothing ever happened.
Elijah stood up, went to God, and God sent fire down. It consumed everything on the altar and lapped up all the water. Then the prophets of Baal were killed. It was a great victory brought into Elijah’s life.
But you remember the story of how Jezebel, who was queen at the time, sent a message to Elijah: “You are going to die.” That scared Elijah. That has always amazed me. Such a strong man in the Lord, but he was scared, and he went and hid in a cave.
He was really discouraged—really down and out. I think he thought that once that happened, everybody would just fall in line and turn back to God. But they did not, and it greatly discouraged our brother. He was in deep, deep sorrow and trouble.
All of a sudden, a great wind came up. The Bible says it was a great wind, like a hurricane, but the Lord was not in that hurricane. Then there was a great earthquake that shook the earth beneath Elijah’s feet, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then there was a great fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
But then it says a still, small voice spoke to Elijah.
What was the wind about? What was the earthquake about? What was the fire about? Well, the Lord was not speaking to Elijah through those things, but He was trying to wake Elijah up out of the state he was in. He was trying to awaken Elijah, and He did. Then Elijah heard the still, small voice of the Lord.
The point is, brothers and sisters, it is a still, small voice. He does not shout at you. The Holy Spirit is not going to force you. You have to respond to the anointing within.
The anointing also teaches us the Word of God. It enlivens the Word of God. It makes it real to you.
The second thing we need is the Word of God. We need to know the Word of God. We need to know what is in it. We do need to study it. We need to see what the Lord has to say to us in the Word of God. We need to learn who God is, who Christ is, and all about Their lives.
It is the anointing that does that. It teaches us. Second Corinthians 3:6 says that the letter by itself kills. In other words, it just condemns you because you see what you are not. But the Spirit gives life. It brings the words to life. You get life from the words of the Bible.
When you read your Bible, you need to ask the Lord, “Lord, give me light. Give me understanding that comes from the Holy Spirit.”
Sometimes the anointing warns you, but you are not clear on what He is saying. You do not quite understand what the warning is about. That is why you need the Word of God. You get understanding from the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to teach you, warn you, and instruct you.
We get light, understanding, and wisdom from His Word. I want to read some Scripture verses from Psalm 119. You might want to read that psalm sometime. It is a marvelous psalm. Most think it was written by David, and I would agree.
Psalm 119:169:
Let my cry come near before Thee, O Lord:
give me understanding according to Thy word.
Psalm 119:130:
The opening of Thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple.
That is me. I do not understand a lot, but the Holy Spirit can make me understand.
Psalm 119:18:
Open Thou mine eyes,
that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.
Psalm 119:98-101 is extremely important. You need to understand the significance of what it says.
Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies;
for they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers;
for Thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
because I have kept Thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way,
that I might observe Thy word.
You are going to be confronted by people in this world who do not particularly care for you because you are a Christian. But if you know the Word, it can make you wise when you face your enemy.
Obeying His Word also keeps us from being overcome by evil. Listen to Psalm 119:9-11:
Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.
With my whole heart have I sought Thee:
Oh let me not wander from Thy commandments.
Thy word have I laid up in my heart,
that I might not sin against Thee.
Psalm 119:133 says:
Establish my footsteps in Thy word;
and let no iniquity have dominion over me.
Oh, the Word can be so powerful in our life.
Third, His Word gives us direction for our daily lives. Psalm 119:105:
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and light unto my path.
It shines upon your next step, and you know where to step and where not to step. It is a light unto your path, and it shows you the direction in which you need to go.
Psalm 119:172 says:
My tongue shall sing of Thy word;
for all Thy commandments are righteousness.
Fourth, we need to develop a love for His Word. Psalm 119:148 says:
Mine eyes anticipate the night-watches,
that I might meditate on Thy word.
In other words, he is saying, “I cannot go to bed at night. I have to get in His Word. I have to hear something from the Lord.” He is meditating on His Word.
Meditating does not mean that you just read it. It means you think about it. You let the Lord show you something that will help you.
Psalm 119:140 says:
Thy promise is well tried;
therefore Thy servant loveth it.
He had fallen in love with the Word of the Lord. It meant so much to him in his life.
Then we must abide in Him, and I will end with this. First, we need to respond to the anointing within. Second, we need the anointing to teach us the Word. Third, we need to abide in Christ.
What does that mean? It means you stay. You are at home in the Lord. You are at home when you are with the Lord. You feel at home with the Lord. That is an important thing.
Maybe to some, the Lord is like a distant person that you occasionally run into or think about. For instance, we come on Sunday morning and have the table, and we think about Him. But brothers and sisters, He is saying, “No, no, no, no. Abiding in Him means you are with Him all the time.”
You will not be a fruitful Christian, a Christian who grows, if you do not abide in Him. John 15:4-5 says:
Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine;
so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in Me, and I in him,
the same beareth much fruit:
for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
I do not know if you realize that: “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.” I hope that sinks in.
If you are going to be the person God intends you to be, the Christian God has raised you up to be—if you are not going to be ensnared in the pleasures and sins of the world, but want to live for Him—you must abide with Him.
That means you have got to make Him your friend. You have got to make Him your personal companion. When you encounter darkness, the life of Christ in you will be disturbed, as I said, but the anointing of the Holy Spirit will speak to you.
Brothers and sisters, you need to develop that spiritual ear. This is done by abiding in Christ, listening to Him, and obeying Him. The more you do, the more you hear.
I could not help thinking of an example that you young people may be familiar with: your parents yelling at you. It is kind of like Elijah with the fire, the storm, and the earthquake. It is what it is like when our parents yell at us. They are trying to get our attention because we are not paying attention.
But then the voice comes. Finally, they have gotten your attention, and you begin to listen.
We do not need to wait for the Lord to shout at us. If we abide in Him, our spiritual ear will hear.
If you are to abide, you must have an ongoing, positive relationship with Christ—a personal relationship: loving Him, talking to Him, letting Him be your companion throughout the day, seeking Him, listening to Him, obeying Him, and living your life every day in a way that pleases Him. That is the way we abide.
As we do this, our ability to hear—our spiritual ear—will develop and become more and more attentive to the Holy Spirit. As we obey, we will mature into spiritual adulthood. That is the way we grow.
Our mind, which once was ruled in darkness, will receive light in the light of life.
I think I am going to end there for today.
Next time, I want to talk about when we begin to live a life that is unholy and not pleasing to God—going our own way—how we become carnal, how that can lead to apostasy, and how we need to be delivered from such things.
I also want to talk about the persecution that lies ahead of us and how we are to live under persecution. How are we to respond? We need to know that we will suffer for the Lord’s name’s sake. What does that mean? What should our attitude be under suffering of that kind?
I want to share a little encouragement about what you need to do. You need to arm your mind. You need to make a purpose in your heart. You need to be strong and courageous. Finally, I want to mention why the righteous suffer while the unrighteous seem to prosper.
I know that is a lot. I do not want to leave you with a heavy heart, because you have the Lord.
Do you know why these things are going to occur in your life? Why you are challenged with darkness and dark teachings? You are challenged with all this because the Lord is training you to be His soldier—a soldier of the Lord, to stand fast in the conflict, to make it through hard times and persecutions, and to stand fast in the Lord.
That is the positive purpose in all of this.
Lord, we just come to You today. I thank You for our young people. Lord, we love them. We are concerned about them. Lord, we put them in Your hands to protect them and shield them.
But, Lord, we also want You to train them—to train them to be good soldiers in Jesus Christ, to be able to stand strong in the day of evil, to be able to resist the lies and the wiles of the enemy.
Lord Jesus, may they be a testimony to Your name on this earth, a light in this darkened world, and the salt that preserves even in this wicked world.
Lord Jesus, we look to You. It is only by Your grace and mercy. But, Lord, we believe in You. We believe You can do this, for You are faithful. In Jesus’ name, amen.