603-2 A DATE WITH DESTINY-EASTER

Photo by B Smith from Patio

603-2 A DATE WITH DESTINY-EASTER

APRIL 19, 1987 

HENRY F. KULP

I want you to see that Jesus Christ had a date with destiny. And to understand what I mean, let us look at I Corinthians 15: 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1/ What happened to Jesus Christ was not happenstance. It didn’t just happen. All that happened to Him was planned from eternity past, and you and I can depend upon the truth of Jesus Christ at His death, burial and resurrection.

2/ Our message starts, of course, with the cross of Calvary.

3/ In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have the first resurrection in history. No one was ever resurrected before our Lord Jesus Christ, and no one else has been resurrected since. He is the only One Who has been resurrected from the dead. All the others who died and were brought back to life, had been resuscitated, and you must make a distinction between resuscitation and resurrection.

4/ It is one thing to come back from the dead and then to subsequently again die, but it is something else to come back from the dead in a resurrection body that will never die. Jesus Christ is the only person Who has been resurrected in the history of the human race. All other occasions where someone was brought back from the dead, they died again, but Jesus Christ came back from the dead, in the body that was not subject to death. It was a body incorruptible.

5/ John 11: 43, 44 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

There were two sisters, Mary and Martha, and they had a brother by the name of Lazarus, and he had died, and if you will look at verse 39, Jesus Christ said, “Take away the stone,” and Martha, the sister of him that was dead said unto Him, Lord by this time, he stinketh, for he has been dead four days. 

Now in verse 43, He said Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a cloth, and Jesus said unto them, Loose him and let him go.He had been dead, and he was living, but he had to die again. He did not come forth from the grave in a resurrection body, in an immortal body.

6/ We could go to the others Jesus Christ raised from the dead, and they too, only had resuscitation, not resurrection.

7/ The people at Corinth, believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but they did not believe that anyone else would be resurrected and have a resurrected body, an immortal body. This was because of Plato. This doctrine did not start with Plato, but he was the great propagator of this doctrine. He said that the body was completely evil, and the Helenists culture took this up and carried it forth, and it was very prevalent at the church at Corinth. They said the body was completely corrupt, and these Greeks were not afraid to die, which was evil, the body, cross the River Styx, and go into Polaroma—they wanted to be rid of their body and to spend eternity without a body. Of course, this shows how foolish their culture was. Remember, the Greeks were the most educated people of their day, but how wrong they were—the body is not evil in itself. The body, according to the Bible is only a tent, a tabernacle, or a temple, a dwelling place. Of course, in the body is the old nature which is evil, but the body is not evil.

8/ These Corinthians had been taught by Paul, and after he left, Apollos came in—the silver-tongued orator, but he evidently had only about three messages at that time, and one of them was on the Rapture, and he talked about the glories of the Rapture, and the wonderful resurrection body the believer is going to get at that time. And these Corinthians who had been influenced by Plato and the Hellenistic culture absolutely blew up said, Don’t you know, we don’t get a resurrection body, only Jesus Christ. Don’t you know the body is evil?

9/ With all this in mind, let us look at verse 1 and Paul gives three aspects of the Gospel. THE GREEKS TAUGHT THAT THE BODY WAS A PRISON FOR THE SOUL, AND WHEN THE GREEK DIED, AND HE LEFT HIS BODY, HIS SOUL WAS OUT OF PRISON. 

Proof of this is found in Acts 17: 31, 32 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

When Paul was in Athens and preached resurrection they mocked him, they blew up, they would hear not this truth.

10/ Verse 1 Paul said, I declare, and in the Greek that means TO MAKE KNOWN, TO COMMUNICATE. So he made known, he communicated unto them the Gospel. Unto you, is in DATIVE OF ADVANTAGE. It was to their advantage that he made known unto them the Gospel. The Gospel is good news. Notice, it is not bad news, it is good news. When you tell someone the Gospel, you should be enthusiastic, you should be happy. You don’t tell someone good news, then look like you had a persimmon just before you started talking.

11/ Then he said, which I have preached unto you, which ye have also received, and in which ye stand. The word, “Stand” is in PERFECT TENSE. You stand is in perfect tense, which means you stand in the past with the result you stand there forever. They accepted the Gospel. They believed it, so they had to believe in Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

12/ Now he says of this Gospel, by which, or through which also you are saved. So this Gospel saved them, but then he has the word, if. IT IS A FIRST-CLASSS CONDITION, AND THAT MEANS IF, AND IT’S TRUE. If you have kept that in your memory what I have preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. Then he says, unless, UNLESS IS A DEBATER’S FIRST-CLASS CONDITION. He said, let us assume something—not something that is true, but something that is false so we can refute it.

13/ Verse 3 Christ died for our sins. Let’s understand that phrase, We may get sort of elementary, but let’s do that. To die is a verb, and the subject of the sentence is Christ, so Christ died for our sins, that He might remove our sins. We are not saved by being sorry for our sins, or by giving up our sins, or by living a better life, but by the death of Jesus Christ. Christ does the work.

14/ What does it mean? Christ died for our sins? It means Christ was made sin for us, and then died and paid the price of sin.

15/ Notice, the second essential ingredient of the good news, He was buried, and then the third, He rose again. The first two verbs, died and was buried, are in the Greek Aorist tense, which tells us it is a once-for-all occurrence, that is, Christ died at a certain point of time, He was buried at a specific point of time. These are past historical events. Then the Greek verb for rose-again, however, is in the perfect tense. This tells us that the event happened in the past, and the results go on forever. The effect continues on into the present and the future. That is, Christ died, period, Christ was buried, period, Christ rose and is still living, and He will continue to live.

16/ We titled this message, “A Date with Destiny.” All of this, Christ dying, being buried and resurrected are all in the Scriptures. All of this was decided by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in eternity past, and when the time came, the exact time, all took place, and Jesus Christ died, He was buried and He resurrected from he grave.

17/ Please notice, what it says, here. He rose again the third day. That shows us how foolish to say that He died on Friday or to call Friday Good Friday. You see, people do not understand the good news.

18/ Luke 24: 25 - 27 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Here Jesus Christ was on the road to Emmaus. In the Scripture we have two disciples who loved Jesus. They had believed He was the Messiah, and they were perhaps in that throng that watched Him die. Now they were in deep perplexity, and they were wondering whether their hope was in vain. Had they been deceived? They were walking along the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus and I am told this is not a very long distance, and they were speaking of those things which had happened so recently. When suddenly a stranger drew near and interrupted their conversation.

Verse 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? Then they told him about the Lord Jesus Christ, and how they had hoped He would be the One Who would redeem Israel.

Verse 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

Then we come to Verse 25. Then He said unto them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into His glory? 

He was telling them that prophets of the Old Testament had testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ, and then, of course, the glory of his resurrection. Yes, He had a date with destiny.

19/ Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

And it tells us how the Lord bruised Him and put Him to grief. In other words, He died and was made sin for us. Then notice the words, He shall prolong His days. The Messiah is not only seen in His death, but shown to be alive after His death.

20/ Isaiah 9: 6, 7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

The Old Testament demands the resurrection the Messiah. These Scriptures cannot be fulfilled, cannot become a reality unless Jesus Christ is now living physically in a resurrection body, for He will rule and reign as the King of Kings and Lord of lords. He will sit upon the throne of His Father David, He will rule this world and set a government for God the Father.

21/ But yet, as I look at Christ and His destiny, I realize that because I believe in His death, burial and resurrection as payment for my sins, I too, have a destiny that is beyond description

I Corinthians 15: 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

And as we have borne the image of the earthly, that is Adam, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly, Yes, we too, will have a resurrection body. We will not experience resuscitation, but resurrection, and we will be like the Lord Jesus Christ. We will have a resurrection body that is celestial.

Verse 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

We will have a body that will be at home in the Heavens.

22/ I Corinthians 15: 51 - 55 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Here He show us a mystery, and this brings forth our destination, our destiny. We shall not all sleep, but we are guaranteed all to be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trip. Then notice, at the end of verse 52 we shall all be changed.

Then the 53rd verse For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

We will be immortal in the future. O, what a destiny, to have an immortal body, a never-dying body, and to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

23/ To understand our destiny, we have to see something else about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28: 1, 2 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

In resurrection, Jesus Christ did not have the stone rolled away at the time of His resurrection to let Him step out of the tomb. He went through the stone while it was still in place, but later, an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. This was later after His resurrection. The stone was not rolled away to let Christ out, but to let humanity in to see the evidence of His resurrection. We know that He went through closed doors in His resurrection body.

24/ Just think what it will be like of us to have a resurrection body just like the Lord Jesus Christ. We will share in the destiny of the Lord Jesus Christ.

AMEN

603-2 A Date with Destiny - Easter / April 19, 1987

EASTER AND YOU

                                                              Photo by B Smith from the patio

81 - Special - Easter and You

April 6, 1980

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

In religion’s plan, Easter is a great day. It is probably the most outstanding day. Christmas is a great time, but I am sure more people go to church on Easter than at Christmas, but, yet I am sure that few people understand the impact of the resurrection. I am sure many people do not take time to think what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means. Let me ask you a question. What does the resurrection mean to you at this Easter season? How does it affect your every-day- life.

 

1/ What do we mean by resurrection from the dead? 

 

John 20: 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

 

We mean that one comes forth in a physical resurrected body. You would be amazed how many people talk about resurrection but do not mean a resurrected physical body. I heard a preacher one time speaking to the Blair County Ministerium, the only time I went to it, when he said, we know that resurrection is the continuance of personality, and of course, that is not true.

 

2/ When I talk about resurrection, I am reminded of the question, that Paul himself asked King Agrippa, Acts 26: 8 Here is the question. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? 

 

John 11: 39, 40 and 43, 44 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

 

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

3/ We must see a very important point in resurrection. The difference between resuscitation and resurrection. Resuscitation means to revive, to restore, and all through the Bible we have those who experience resuscitation. But nowhere do we have resurrection.  The only one who has been raised from the dead is Jesus Christ. For Paul tells us in Timothy, in Him alone is immortality. In other words, a body that is a resurrected body that can never die.  

 

Matthew 27: 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

 

4/ I Corinthians 15: 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

 

The Corinthians said, there is no resurrection of the dead, but now they didn’t deny the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. They just denied the resurrection of the dead other than Jesus Christ, and they did this because of their pagan past. They believed what Plato said, that the body is evil and wicked, and the best thing that can happen to you is to get rid of the body. They were convinced that the soul of man was immortal, but they believed at death the body would decompose into ashes and never again be made alive.

 

5/ So Paul in the 12^th verse quotes them—how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? You see, they didn’t know enough doctrine, and it is important that you know doctrine.

 

6/  The word, if in the 12^th verse is a first-class condition and it means, Christ is preached and it is true that He rose from the dead, and it refers back to verse 11 whether I or they preach Jesus Christ and the resurrection, because this refers to those who saw Jesus Christ in His resurrected condition, and so they believed what had been taught, but they said His followers, those who believe in Him will never be resurrected from the dead.

 

7/ Verse 13 The word, if is again a first-class condition, but it is a special first-class condition. It is an assumption. It is a debater’s technique, and it could read, “Let us assume that Christ is not risen from the dead.” As you know, the Greeks were great debaters and they loved to debate, and in a debate at certain times, you assume the position of your opposition to be true, to prove that it is really, not true. He says, if you don’t believe that the dead are raised in resurrection bodies, then Christ cannot be raised from the dead. Even though they believed that Christ was raised from the dead. You see, you can’t have one without the other. The resurrection of Christ guarantees the resurrection of those who believe in Him, those who trust in Him and are members of the church the Body of Christ.

 

8/ PAUL IN HIS DEBATER’S TECHNIQUE IS USING HUMAN LOGIC, AND HE SHOWS THE CONSEQUENCES. IF CHRIST DID NOT RAISE, THEN WHAT WOULD BE THE ANSWER?

 

9/ Verse 14 And if Christ be not risen, the word, if again is a first-class condition a debater’s technique, then is our preaching in vain. He is literally saying, let us assume that Christ is not risen from the dead, then is our preaching valueless. Useless.

 

10/ Acts 4: 33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

 

They were completely convinced that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead in a physical body.

 

11/ If Christ was not raised from the dead, there is one question we must answer. What happened to the body of Christ if He did not rise from the dead? Since the tomb was empty, only one of two things could have happened. Either His body had been stolen from the tomb, or He had been raised from the dead. Only one of the two groups could have stolen His body. His enemies, or His friends. His enemies would not have taken His body—His friend could not have taken Hid body from the tomb. The very last thing his enemies wanted to have happen was to have His friends steal His body. To guard against this, they very carefully sealed and guarded the sepulcher. Thus, since His enemies would not take His body away, and since His friends could not take His body away, there is only one possibility left that Christ rose from the dead as He said He would.

 

12/ It is said that Thomas Jefferson developed His own bible, but He was concerned merely with the moral teachings of Jesus Christ. His Bible was the same as our Bible, but with all references to the Supernatural eliminated. The closing words are: Matthew 27: 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed.

 

What a tragic end. If our Lord is still in the grave, the rest of the Bible is only a myth.

 

13/ It is not enough to speak about a crucified Saviour, for the Bible tells us of a resurrected Christ. 

 

Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

 

Here we are told He was delivered for our offenses. That means, He was crucified, made sin, and raised again for our justification. Here are the two central truths of Scripture. Christ died for us, but also rose from the dead. To die would not be enough. The efficacy of His death was proved by His resurrection.

 

14/ If Christ did not raise from the dead, we have no message to preach.

 

Romans 10: 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very heart of the Gospel of Salvation. If Christ did not rise physically from the dead—there is no good news. It is all bad news.

 

15/ But not only is our preaching vain if Christ is not risen, but our faith is also vain. If Christ did not rise from the dead, going to church is a waste of time. Giving your money to the church or to the work of the Lord is throwing it to the wind, and of course, if this is true, prayer is absolutely, useless, and valueless. There would be nothing to do but to live and die like an animal.

 

16/ Psalms 27: 13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

 

Here the Psalmist cries out, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. But this faith is valueless if Christ did not rise from the grave. Faith means absolutely nothing.

 

17/ Verse 14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

 

Now we come to another conclusion. If Christ is still dead, we are found false witnesses of God. Why, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ. That means the missionary, the preacher, the Bible teacher, they are all liars—they are living witnesses. Even Christ Himself was a liar if He did not rise.

 

Matthew 17: 22, 23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry. For He said He would raise again from the dead on the third day. 

 

That means He is an imposter.

 

18/ Yet He said, we should not bear false witness.

 

Matthew 19: 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

 

19/ Notice, we testified for God that He raised up Christ. You need to see that both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit said to have resurrected Christ from the dead. First of all…God the Father.

 

Psalms 16: 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

 

Acts 2: 31, 32 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

 

I Thessalonians 1: 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

 

Colossians 2: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

 

So, from these Scriptures it is certainly clear that God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead and, of course, this speaks of His humanity.

 

20/ Then God the Holy Spirit is said to have raised Christ from the dead.

 

Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

 

I Peter 3: 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

 

So, both the Father and the Holy Spirit are involved in the resurrection of the humanity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

21/ Verse 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

 

Now we go back again to the debater’s technique. And if Christ be not raised. The word, if again is a first-class debater’s technique, and every time you see this, this word, if can be translated LET US ASSUME, and then He says, ye are yet in your sins. This proves very clearly that just the death of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to get rid of your sin. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away sin. But that death would have been valueless if He did not come bodily, physically from the grave.

 

22/ Verse 18 They also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

There is absolutely no hope for them. Compare that with I Thessalonians 4: 13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

He would not have us to be ignorant, concerning them that are asleep.

 

23/ Verse 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable.

 

This shows us the folly of the social gospel. Our hope is not in this life. If you look at the believer in this present day and age, you will find that his hope is heavenly, not earthly. God does not intend to change things upon earth during the age of grace. It is going to take the second coming of Christ to change this society.

 

24/ But we are not miserable, for we do have a hope that is sure. Let me show you the ultimate of the Christian life. 

 

I Corinthians 15: 35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

 

This is an important verse. But some man will say, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Notice, it is taken for granted they will have a physical body, because Christ came forth from the tomb in a physical body.

 

25/ Verse 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

 

Then notice the words, but God giveth a body as it hath pleased Him. 

 

How has it pleased God to give us a physical body? A body just like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Philippians 3: 20, 21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 

Because Christ was raised from the dead, we shall be raised from the dead, and like as Christ has a resurrection body, we will have a resurrection body just like His.

 

We are going to have no earthly body, but a heavenly body.

 

I Corinthians 15: 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 

So, our entire hope is heavenly.

 

(An extra thought—Water never symbolizes death or burial, but exactly the opposite. It symbolizes life.)

 

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

 

Rev 21: 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

 

Rev 22: 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

81 – Special – EASTER AND YOU / Pastor Henry F. Kulp / April 6, 1980

WHAT’S WRONG WITH AMERICA?

181 - WHAT’S WRONG WITH AMERICA?

November 14, 1976

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

I Timothy 4: 1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

II Timothy 3: 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

First of all, I praise God that by His grace, I have been born and raised and lived in our wonderful nation. There is no nation on the face of the earth in existence today, or in all of history that compares with our beloved nation. But I think all thinking people recognize that something has happened to our nation. Life is not the same. Many call this the signs of the times, but we have no signs for the church the Body of Christ. People have been preaching these signs for years and years. I can remember being all stirred up by them when I was a boy.

1/  But there are two phrases in these two verses I want you to see—Latter times—Last Days. The Latter Times, I believe took place during and following the Reformation, and now we are in the Last Days, just prior to the Rapture of the Church.

2/  OUR SOCIETY IS INFLICTED BY IDEAS THAT ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE.

3/  Our Bible tells us we ought to be aware of what is taking place in our world.

4/  Our world, I believe, is being ruled by men who are in their graves.

Hebrews 11: 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Here we read, Able is dead, but he being dead yet speaketh. And tonight we have men who are dead and gone from this earthly scene but their ideas are still influencing this world.

5/  Proverbs 23: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Even the church has had its mind influenced by these terrible men.

Colossians 2: 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Again, we are warned not to be influenced by mind-benders. Most of us have never really recognized what has happened to us, the church and our educational system.

6/  I want every believer to know that the world has lied to you. Most of the ideas, the information passed on to you is not true.

7/  Charles Darwin. What an influence he has on the world right now. Even though he is dead, yet he speaks. He was an English biologist, born in 1809 - died in 1882. That is quite a while ago. Yet, our educationalists have all been swayed by this man. He wrote a book called, The Origin of The Species. You may have studied it in school, He said, all the life we have in this world originated from very simple cells, and that life has gone from the simple to the complex cells, and this he calls evolution. In the beginning life was very primitive, but now it is very profound. He called this natural selection, or the survival of the fittest. At the turn of the century it captured almost every educational institution and then moved through our churches.

8/  Is evolution true? Of course not. Did life originate from a single sperm cell?

9/  Genesis 1: 27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

God created man in His own image. He didn’t start out simple and evolve. He started out brilliant, as a matter of fact, Adam was a genius. He was able to name all the animals of the garden. 

Isaiah 45: 12  I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

Then look at the history of man.

Romans 1: 21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Man in the beginning knew God, and then degenerated. Their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1: 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

God gave them up to uncleanness.

Romans 1: 26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

God gave them up to vile affections, then to a reprobate mind. Man has gone down, not evolved.

10/  The evolutionist is bad enough, but we have those in the church who have been influenced by evolution and they have come to the idea of theistic evolution, and they have attempted to reconcile the first few chapters of Genesis with evolution, and these are the folks I worry about.

11/  They say, one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and they make the days in Genesis a thousand years long. And so evolution took place in this six thousand year period. They tell us that God put a soul and spirit in the body of an animal and this animal became a man. But the Bible speaks of those days as (24) twenty-four hour days. The evening and the morning were the first day. If God created man on the sixth day and when the seventh day came, which is the Sabbath, he would have been a thousand years old, and if He created Eve on the eighth day, he would have been 2,000 years old when he marched down the aisle, and even for that day it is ridiculous. I have far more respect for the straight-on evolutionist, than for these so-called Bible believing folks.

12/  There is no evidence that man has been on this earth for more than 10,000 years. No bone, no artifice has ever been found, that would show man to be 50,000 or two million years old. Those who write this and teach it are lying and they know it. There has never been a cave man. Man was created with supreme intelligence.

13/  These evolutionists have come up with historic optimism. They believe the world is getting better. One day we will find the answer to cancer, other diseases, war, and pollution, but God says things will get worse.

14/  KARL MARX

In 1848 he wrote a pamphlet called, The Communist Manifesto, and it became so popular that he wrote a book in 1865. There are two main things that he taught in this book that have influenced man.

1/  He said, I have discovered the problem of the world. What would you say is the problem? Poverty, unemployment, ignorance, disease? No, it is sin. He said the problem is that the world is divided into two groups, those who own the means of production, and then the working class. He said there is a war going on between the two groups, he calls it a class struggle, the exploitation of the working class.

2/  The second thing he said, that the workers of the world must unite for revolution.

3/  He said, workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but our chains. We have a world to win. He has divided mankind, and taught the hatred of capitalism and free enterprise.

15/  Communism teaches that the individual counts for nothing, but society is all in all. It is the very opposite from the Bible. God died for the individual, not for society.

16/  Look about you today, what do you see? Everybody following the same pattern in dress, music, no individual thought today.

17/  JULIUS WELLHAUSEN - A German rationalist

He is the father of higher criticism. He said the Bible is not the Word of God, but just a human book. He was the father of liberalism. He said parts of the Bible could be inspired, but certainly not all of it. The reason why the main denominations are in ruin is because of this man’s rationalism. Many preachers and so-called Bible Scholars have followed in his path, until the Bible is no longer taught in church after church. He was probably the most evil man in all history.

I Corinthians 2: 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

AMEN

Ref: 11/14/1976 / 181 - WHAT’S WRONG WITH AMERICA? 09/06/2022