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Yes, it truly is a testimony that God can use anybody, so I'm happy to be a living proof of that. I appreciate the offer and invitation to come and preach here. We were already planning on coming here to visit family, so we were going to plan on just coming to visit, and Pastor McMurtry invited me to preach, so I'm honored to be here this morning in front of you all, and see, I'm trying to get some Southern thing going here in front of you all, picking up a little bit here and there. It's only been two years, so I've got a lot of Chicago training to undo. So I appreciate you being here with me, and hopefully this sermon will be a blessing for you this morning. Let's start out with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this opportunity today. I pray that you would please just help all of us here to have ears to hear and hearts to understand the things that you can teach us. Lord, I pray that you would just strengthen me and fill me with your spirit, dear Lord. Help me to preach this morning, and God, thank you for everyone that's here today. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now in Jeremiah, chapter number 38, where the chapter was read a little while ago, a great chapter. I love the book of Jeremiah, and Jeremiah was an awesome preacher, and Jeremiah is a great example of someone who lived during a time when it was real hard to be a man of God and stand up for the Word of God because everyone just seemed to be against him. And he preached it anyways. We see in chapter 38, just a real quick summary before I dig into what I really want to focus on in this story and in this chapter, we see that he gets, basically, his words, it says in verse number 1, that Shepataiah, son of Matan, Gedaliah, son of Pashor, and Juchal, the son of Shelemiah, and Pashor, son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people. So this comes into the ears of some of the higher-ups, right? Those people who were in charge, some of the authority figures, they get wind of what Jeremiah is saying. And what is Jeremiah saying? Well, verse 2 says, thus saith the Lord, right? Jeremiah is just saying, hey, this is what God said. Of course, he gets in trouble for this. It says, thus saith the Lord, he that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he that goeth forth of the Chaldeans shall live, for he shall have his life for a prey and shall live. So this was an unpopular message because they were being invaded by Babylon, by the Chaldeans, and the national pride was saying, God bless America, no one's going to defeat us, we can do everything, we've got the best military, whatever, and the prophets were saying, the Lord's on our side, no one can hurt us, but what God was really saying is, no, you're being judged, no, you're being taken captive, no, you've done too much, and now it's time to reap what you've sown. And Jeremiah was delivering that message, and it wasn't popular, a lot of people didn't like to hear that message because it didn't sound very good, it wasn't uplifting, right? But it was the truth. And he was preaching the word of God to him, so they arrest him, they cast him into this dungeon, right, and he's spending his time in a dungeon, and Ebed-Melech treats for him under the king and gets him out, right? So we see all this great stuff happening in this chapter, but what I want to focus on is Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the king of Israel at that time, and the king of Judah, rather, he was one of the descendants of Josiah, which was an awesome king, who was actually able to stay off the judgment of the Lord for a while because his heart was turned unto the Lord, but Zedekiah was not a great king, he was not a righteous king. And what I want to focus on here, though, is that Zedekiah was one of the reasons why Jeremiah was cast into the dungeon and cast into prison, and he's kind of following along with, he's your typical politician, he's the one that just sees which way the wind's blowing, and he's just going to do whatever the people want, and this becomes obvious as we read this a little bit more, that he cares more about what people think of him, what man thinks of him, than he does about what God actually says and what's actually right. He cares more about that and he actually makes really bad choices because of that, because of his fear. But let's jump down to verse number 14, and we're going to reread some of this scripture here. The Bible says that then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord, and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me. Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, if I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? And if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me? Basically, Zedekiah calls Jeremiah and he's saying, hey, I need to ask you something, I need to get some counsel from you, and Jeremiah's going like, you already threw me into prison. Like aren't you just going to put, if you really want to hear what I have to say, because if I tell you, aren't you just going to execute me? I mean, like what's the point? Why are you even bringing me in here? And he's saying, and even if I do tell you, it's not like you're going to listen to me anyways. You're not going to take my counsel. So Zedekiah swears on him, basically saying, no, look, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to know what the word of the Lord is, what does God have for me to know? Verse 16, so Zedekiah the king swears secretly unto Jeremiah saying, as the Lord liveth that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. Then said Jeremiah and Zedekiah, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live and thine house. So he didn't change the message at all. He's been preaching the same exact thing, and as you go through the book of Jeremiah, you see how God continues to give more warnings of doom as they make their different choices. God continues to kind of reveal more and say, hey look, there's judgment coming, but just give up, go into captivity, this is from the Lord, you can't fight against it, and you see even later as they continue to make bad choices and disobey God's word, God keeps telling them what to do and they keep rejecting the word of the Lord. But what's interesting here is that Zedekiah, he's receiving this now, and one of the things that was being warned about was the city was going to be burned, that they're going to come in, they're going to take you captive, they're going to burn the city down, but here God's saying, you know what, if you go with them and go captive, you're going to go captive, but your life will be spared, and they won't burn the city down, they'll actually remain. So this is kind of a unique opportunity for Zedekiah as a king because there's, you know, the future of Judah, of Israel, here at this time is in his hands. He has this opportunity to humble himself and receive the word of the Lord and actually take the counsel that he's asking for, that he has talked to Jeremiah about it, to hear, well what does God have to say, and look at his response in verse 19. So he hears this, okay well that's what God said, 19, and Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. That's his concern. He's saying, well if I do that, what about the rest of the Jews that have already been taken captive, now they're going to be talking about me, they're going to mock me, they're going to deliver me up, you know, and he has no faith at all that God's word will come true. He doesn't have any promise, he says look, if you let yourself go captive, your life will be delivered, you will be safe, God's going to make sure of that, but you have to submit, you have to go along with this, and he doesn't believe it, he doesn't buy it. So verse number 20, so Jeremiah responds to him, Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee the voice of the Lord which I speak unto thee, so it shall be well unto thee and thy soul shall live. So he reaffirms and tries to encourage him and say, no look, just do this, you will live, you'll get through this, don't worry about them, this is what God said. And then he warns them in verse 21, but if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord has showed me. And behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say thy friends have set thee on and have prevailed against thee, thy feet are sunk in the mire and they are turned away back. So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children of the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon and thou shalt cause this, thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. And of course we know what happens is that he doesn't take the counsel of the word of the Lord and they get taken over and they burn the city with fire and everything that God said would happen actually happens. Now flip over real quick to chapter 39, just the next chapter, we're going to start reading verse number four, we're going to see then what happens to Zedekiah as a result of his disobedience to the word of the Lord. Verse number four, the Bible says, and it came to pass that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them and all the men of war, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls, and he went out the way of the plain. So when the armies finally show up and he sees, man, there's no way we're going to, you know, we're getting out of this. He tries to just run away and flee and just maybe I can escape, right? But they catch him, verse five says, but the Chaldeans army pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Ribla in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Ribla before his eyes. Also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon, and the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and break down the walls of Jerusalem. So he ends up getting punished very severely here now if he would have just listened to the word of the Lord, because he didn't. Now he has this happen to him where, I mean, imagine having to go through something like that where he has his own children brought before him and killed right right in front of his eyes. He's witnessing the death, the murder of his own children. And that's the last thing he sees, because then his eyes are plucked out of his head. He doesn't ever get to see anything more after that. And the title of my sermon this morning is Sin Blinded Eyes. Sin Blinded Eyes. And what we see here is one example, in turn if you would to Judges chapter 16, what we see here is one example of a man who, he went out and asked for the word of the Lord. He sought out God's counsel. He wanted to know what God had to say about things. He's not ignorant. And I think this fits in perfectly with the Bible study this morning on Hebrews chapter 10, talking about willful sinning, right, and that, you know, there's a severe punishment when you willfully just sin against the Lord. And we see that acted out here as an example of Zedekiah. He knew what God said. There was no doubt. There's no misunderstanding. There's no misinterpreting it. Thus saith the Lord, you need to submit. You need to surrender. This is what you need to do. And he chose not to do that. And as a result, suffered severe consequences. And I don't know whether or not Zedekiah was saved. I have no idea, right? But it doesn't matter because this same principle will apply to saved and unsaved alike. If you're going to hear the word of the Lord and you're just going to reject what God has to say, and this is extremely important for everyone in here, you're saved today, you know what? Just because you're saved from hell doesn't mean you're saved from God's punishment and chastising and disciplining in this lifetime. And if you're going to just thumb your nose at God and you're just going to, you know, give lip service to the Lord or just say, oh yeah, I wonder what God is saying. You show up to church and you hear, you know, pastor preaching on some sins and, and, and, you know, you hear what God has to say. You see what God says about the subject and then you just go off and say, you know what, I'm just going to do what I want anyways, because of whatever stupid reason you come up with. Right? Zedekiah's stupid reason was he didn't, he didn't, he was scared about what people are going to think of him or mock him or whatever. Oh, I'm worried about people mocking me, you know, and, and kids listen up. Because there's pressure as you get older, especially if you become a teenager, to try to conform and be cool and fit in with other peers and other friends and, oh, they're going to mock me if I'm just too goody goody and they're going to mock me if I'm, you know, not going along with all, with a bunch of wickedness. Okay. And if you hear what God has to say and you'd say, you know what, no, I'm willfully just going to go this other direction. Watch out, my friends, seriously, watch out. Because we have an example here that we're turning to in Judges 16, you can say, oh, well Zedekiah, he was just some wicked, unsaved king. You know what? In Judges chapter 16, we have another example of a man whose eyes were plucked out and he was saved. His name is Samson and he was used mightily of the Lord. He did a lot of great things in the service of the Lord, but you know what, he had some problems of his own and he decided to get into some of his own wickedness and he suffered and paid as a result of that as well. You're in Judges chapter 16, look at verse number 18, the Bible says, and when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines saying come up this once, for he had showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and brought money in their hand and she made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to afflict him and his strength went from him and she said the Philistines be upon thee Samson and he awoke out of his sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake myself and he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house, albeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved. In chapter 15, at the end of chapter 15, the Bible tells us kind of the summary, you know what the judge is, you get the summary of and he judged Israel for 20 years or 40 years or whatever. We kind of get that summary in chapter 15 but the story doesn't end there because when he dies he doesn't end up dying as a judge of Israel anymore because of what happens to him here and where it starts off that the last verse in chapter 15 gives that summary of his judging of Israel. But then look at verse number 1 in chapter 16 and we see how things end up the way they are. Verse number 1 says, then went Samson to Gaza and saw there in harlot and went in unto her. This was Samson's sin. Samson had eyes for harlot, for whores, for heathen women that he's not supposed to go in unto and he had eyes that would wander and eyes that would focus on the things that he is clearly instructed not to do, not to participate in and as a result, then his eyes end up getting plucked out of his own head. And Samson's a saved man, you know, go ahead and try to convince me otherwise. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson more than any other person recorded in scripture when that phrase saying the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he strengthened him and he had all these great fights and battles and victories and but it doesn't matter how greatly God has used you, when you choose to just willfully go into sin, God will punish you. And we need to always remember that and here's the thing, is that when you willfully go into sin, you know, sin has this effect of blinding you. Now physically, obviously, I went to two examples here where they're literally having their eyes poked out but when you decide to choose to ignore God's Word, what you're doing is you're blinding yourself. You're not allowing yourself to see the light of God's Word, the light of the truth and you're choosing to go into darkness and you're going to blind yourself and when you blind yourself, there's a lot of things you're not going to see anymore. And when people start backsliding and going away into sin, things that they never would have even had to think about, things that you'd be able to observe and see and identify as, oh man, this is wrong, I'm not going to do that, when you're living righteously, once you start getting into that sin, you're getting into willful sin, there's all kinds of things that you're going to get off into that you don't even realize is there because you're walking in darkness. Turn if you would to 1 John chapter number 2, because when you're walking in the light, when you're walking in the truth, when you're walking according to the word of the Lord, you can see the snares, you can see the traps, you can see the danger because God's Word gives us the instruction, it gives us the tools and tells us flat out, hey, watch out for this, read the book of Proverbs, watch out for the strange woman, watch out for these people and those types of people and the people that want to entice you to do evil and try to entice you with whatever, with money, with riches, watch out for that, God's Word when you're walking in the light, it's going to help you identify all the snares and traps that this world's going to throw at you, but when you're walking in darkness, you're walking blindly and you're not going to be able to see and unfortunately for some people, when you get into really bad sin, you know, that's all you're going to have your memory of is some really horrible thing that you did and you wish, man, I wish I never would have done that. Zedekiah probably wishes he would have listened to Jeremiah and then for the rest of his short life thereafter, the last thing burned in his brain was the death of his own children. In John 11, you're in 1 John chapter 2, John 11 verse 9, the Bible reads, Jesus answered, are not twelve hours in the day, if any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world, but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no light in him. We need to be focused on walking in the light and not into darkness and not letting ourselves get blinded by sin. 1 John chapter 2, look at verse number 9, the Bible reads, he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him, but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. And again, I do believe that it's possible for a person to be saved, yes they have Jesus inside, they have the Holy Ghost indwelling them, but when you start going down this path and choosing to walk in your flesh, you will be blinded. It is possible to hate your brother in your heart and be saved, but you know what, when you do that, you're walking in blindness. It's possible to not walk in truth and not walk in, you know, you can say that you have fellowship with the Father, but if you're walking in darkness, you don't. When you're walking in the flesh, when you're willfully sinning, you know what, you're not in very good fellowship there with the Father. And it says here, he that hateth his brother, so obviously they have a brother, I think it's only about a brother in Christ, you hate your brother, you're in darkness. And walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. Well, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Verse 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you start loving worldly things, the things of this world, how about the music of this world, all the movies of this world, everything that the world has to offer, you start loving that stuff, you know what, the love of the Father is not in you. And watch it, when the love of the Father is not in you, when you don't love God, when you're not trying to obey his commandments, and you can't, and you start loving the world, that's going to get you off into all manner of darkness. Beware of that, you know, don't, I try to think of what it's like, because I never grew up with this type of preaching. I never grew up with someone standing up in front of a pulpit and yelling and screaming and trying to give all these warnings and stuff, but you know what, I wish I had, I would have, I would hope that if I, when I was younger, I would be able to recognize and listen and say, you know, here's somebody who's, why is he even doing, why is he even up saying these things, right? I mean, obviously I'm not doing it for the money. This isn't to win a popularity contest, you know what, and the reason why, you know why your pastor gets up every week and preaches in front of you guys and tries to teach you from words, because he loves you, he cares about you, and that's the same reason why I'm here, the same reason why I pick on these things to preach on, and you know what, Jeremiah loved his people, he loved them enough to tell them the truth, and you know, don't have this know-it-all attitude, and especially, you know, the young people, it's, I know the know-it-all attitude. I think everyone here knows the attitude because we've all been there. Just take a step back for a minute and try to understand that people who are older than you have been through what you're, no matter how unique you think your situation is, we've all been through different things, okay, we've all been through the same temptations. There is no temptation giving you other, you know, it's common to man. We all have gone through the same thing. Try to take some bit of wisdom from people who've already been there, and especially people who have dedicated so much time to studying the Word of God, to seeing what does God say about these things, because God's going to see you through, God's going to offer you the opportunity to have a very joyful life, a very joyful life. Had Zedekiah taken heed to the Word of the Lord, even though he might be going into captivity, he would have way more joy in his life because he wouldn't have watched his children be murdered in front of his eyes and had his eyes plucked out. That's a huge warning that he had, and that opportunity, and kids, you know, when we go on and on about and preach on sin, I don't care what sins are cool out in the world today. I don't care what other people think, oh man, you look like a dork, you look like a nerd or whatever. I don't care! And hopefully you don't care either. I mean, if I cared about that, I wouldn't be standing up here and preaching about it. And honestly, if you care about what people think about you, then you're probably not going to give the gospel to anyone either, because you've got to be able to overcome that fear and love someone enough to, and you know what, it takes some courage, it takes some boldness, you need to pray to God and have him help you with that. It's not always easy, and it's not the easy path. But take the instruction and take the warnings and don't just let yourself be blinded and just go off and not receive the warnings and instructions here. We're just talking about in 1 John chapter 2 in the context, that's why I went so far back to see this concept of lightness and darkness and walking in darkness, and then going into verse 15, verses 12, 13, 14, talking about people who are saved, the young man, the older man, the children, all receiving the word of the Lord. And then the warning comes in verse 15, love not the world. Stay in the light. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Jump down to verse number 26 there, the Bible reads, These things have I written unto you, concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and his truth, and his no lie. And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. When you go off and just walk in darkness, and don't abide in that light, you're ashamed. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5, it's the last place we're going to look to this morning. Too often people think that they can have their secret sins. They can go off and willfully sin, and they know, hey I know this is wrong, but I'm just going to keep doing it anyways. And you kind of think that you can just keep things a secret, but you know what, be sure your sin will find you out. And those things that you do, that you just want to cling to, you want to do, they're always going to come to light. And you know what comes along with that? The shame. You can save yourself from the shame by just staying away from the wickedness and just taking heed to the instruction of the Lord. But often times what happens, and we've seen it happen with King David, he thought he could have his sin, he thought he could have his secret relationship, and just give in to the lust of his flesh, when he desired a woman that he couldn't have had, because she was married and he decided to commit adultery. Well what happened to him is then, he tried to do something in secret, but you know what, God made his shame openly known in front of everyone, and of course his own son then defiled his concubines and his wives just for the whole world to see. And that was the judgment of God. Don't think that you can get, you may be able to hide from people for a while, you may be able to cover the eyes of your parents, or your friends, or whatever, or other people in church, but God sees everything. And he's the one that's going to right all the wrongs anyways, and he's the one that if you're saved, he loves you, and as a loving father, he's going to try to chastise you and discipline you, and get you back on the right path, but you know what comes along with that? There's going to be a lot of shame. Because when he comes and chastises, it's going to be known. You can't cover those things up. Ephesians chapter 5, let's look at verse number 1 here. The Bible reads, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints, as a child of God, as someone who believes in Jesus Christ, and as 1 Corinthians 6 says, great passage again this morning, you know, hey, we're washed, we're sanctified. You may have been, you may have done these sins, you may have been part of this wickedness, but when you're saved, you're born again, you're washed in the blood of Christ, hey, this doesn't become someone who's sanctified to go off and then go back and get involved in these wicked sins. Don't let the fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, that ought not to even be once named among you as become a saint. That's not how you ought to live. We believe in having standards, we believe in having high standards, and again, if that makes you look like some old fuddy-duddy and you're old-fashioned, I can't believe, you know, that you, you know, you're such a square, I'm not, I'm getting too old, I need to learn some of the new, the new language, whatever, whatever you call people who, you know, are real straight-laced these days. I don't know what the terms are, I haven't heard, people don't say them loud enough for me to hear, I guess, but, you know, who cares, because what you need to care about more than what other people say or think about is what God thinks about you, and accept this admonition. Don't let these things even be named among you as become, and then look at verse number four, neither filthiness nor foolish talking. You may not be doing the fornication or, you know, this uncleanness, but you don't even need to be talking about this stuff and just all this foolish talking that goes around, you know, the filthiness and the foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks. Stay away from it all. Have no business with them, no part of that, and you become, you know, if you get exposed to that and people having those type of conversations, you don't withdraw yourself from that. Try to keep yourself right with God instead of right with the cool kids. And you know what, this isn't just for kids, this isn't just for teachers. How about people at work, how about people on the job, adults, it doesn't matter, these cliques exist everywhere, everywhere. Verse five, for this you know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. You know that no whoremonger, look, they have no place in the kingdom of God, and again obviously we know even if you've done those things, you're washed through the blood of Christ, people who haven't had their sins forgiven, that is how God sees them, that's who they are. They're a whoremonger, they're an unclean person, and you know what we ought not to be doing is glorifying these whoremongers and these unclean persons and idolizing them and quoting them and saying how cool they are because they're not cool at all. Why would we glory in their shame? As a child of God, as someone who has been forgiven. Verse seven, be not ye therefore partakers with them, which have nothing to do with them. Verse eight, for ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. Don't walk in darkness, don't blind yourself because you love the world so much and you love the sin so much, walk as a child of light. Verse nine, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them. The unfruitful works of darkness can come from saved people because if they're walking in darkness, if they've blinded their own eyes with their sin, don't have fellowship with that, reprove them. Which is better than just withdrawing yourself, how about you reprove them and say you know what, that's wicked and that's wrong and I'm not going to have anything to do with that. You need to get right with God. Verse 12, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved, all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. The light's going to shine and it's going to be made known. You think those secret sins, the light's coming and it's going to reprove, for what's over doth make manifest is life. Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. The days that we live in are evil days and increasingly evil, increasingly wicked. It's not getting any easier, it's only getting harder as far as the climate, the culture that we live in with morality. With people adhering to the Bible and the word of God, increasingly people are rejecting the word of the Lord and this culture is just going down the tubes spiritually. You need to keep yourself protected, you need to keep yourself walking in the light and don't get distracted by whatever the cares of this world is. It's going to blind you and you know what, if you decide to just go willfully blinded, you're headed for destruction. You're headed for some serious punishment. We have the examples of Zedekiah and Samson. Those aren't light things, those aren't light judgments, those aren't light punishments. God's going to come down on you and he's going to come down on you hard because he loves you. If you have parents that love you and discipline you the way the Bible says with the rod, kids, know it's because your parents love you and know this too that what they're doing is showing you because whether your parents do that or not, God's going to do that. If you're saved, if you're born again, you're a child of God, that's the way that God disciplines his children and he's not going to spare because he does love his children. Your parents, human parents, can be imperfect. We don't always do things exactly the way that we ought to do them. We try our best but you know what, God is perfect. He's given us enough warning and admonition and we've seen lots of examples in scripture of people who have suffered tremendously for them willfully getting involved. How about Ananias and Sapphira? They sold, you think, well what was the big deal, what did they do? They kept back part of their sale of their property and they said they were giving all the lawyers, well that doesn't sound that bad. God killed them for it. They dropped dead, they gave up the ghost. Don't mess with the God of the Bible, I'll tell you what, serious, serious stuff. But you know what, God is good and he's merciful and long suffering, we thank God for that, for all of his mercies. He knows we're not perfect, it's not an excuse to sin, but when you go off willfully and just choose to walk in that darkness, you better watch out because that rod is coming. Let's take heed to the warning in scripture and you know what, when you do, the Old Testament you see a lot of blessings and cursings. Hey, you follow my words, you follow my law, you'll be obedient, you'll be blessed. And there's blessings and blessings and blessings and joy and peace and you walk in the Spirit, you're going to reap of the fruit of the Spirit, okay, but then when you walk in the flesh, you're going to get the cursings, you're going to get the fruit of the flesh. Very simple teaching, right, I'm glad, I'm so glad that God doesn't make things complicated for us. If anything, we make things complicated, but you know what, it's not complicated, it's not hard, I'm saying, it may be hard to work out your flesh, but conceptually it's easy. Just oh, this is what God said, okay, and that's what we should be doing. Try not to get drawn away either in your own flesh or because of what other people think or say or do to cause you to make bad choices. Stick to the Word of the Lord. He will never lead you astray and I'm not anybody special, but I've been around for a little while and I've read this book many, many times and it hasn't changed. Still saying the same thing and God said that He uses the foolishness of preaching to confound the wise. So you don't have to take my word for it, take God's word for it, as far as a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for giving us such clear instructions. Lord, I pray that you would please help us all to be able to walk in our spirit and get victory over our flesh, dear Lord, and I pray that you would just work with us, work through us, dear Lord, help us to reach more souls, help us to make more disciples, God, and Lord, give us the strength that we need. We thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit that lives and resides within us, that comforter that we have, Lord. Help us to feel that comfort when we go through our times of trials and temptations and when we're exposed to maybe some people who are going to try to draw us away into sin, Lord, help us to be mindful of Zedekiah, help us to be mindful of Samson, and these people who decide to go off into their own sin and they suffered severely for it, Lord, help us to be wise in that regard, it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.