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All right, good evening, everyone. If you would, find a seat and take your song books and turn to song number 315. We're going to get started with song number 315, Take My Life and Let It Be. If we would all stand, we'll sing 315. Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my hands and let them move, at the impulse of Thy love, at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing, always only for my King, take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne. It shall be Thy royal throne. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this night to come to church and hear your word preached. I pray that you would bless the preaching of your word and help us all to hearken unto the message and apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated and turn to song number 261. Song number 261, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Man, I grabbed my water. Struggling. Song number 261. Oh, soul, are you weary in trouble? No light in the darkness you see. There's life for a look at the Savior. In life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting. He passed and we follow Him there. Over saw sin, no more ave dominion. For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying. His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. Amen. So welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. And, uh, let me find, yep, that's the most recent bulletin there. Um, just want to appreciate all the prayers and thoughts and everything. As far as getting over sickness and everything, definitely feeling better. Uh, and, but, uh, brother Dave's not, so, uh, so we're switching places. Uh, but, uh, as far as, uh, I think a lot of his, uh, at least a couple of his girls, uh, were sick and then he was feeling sick, so it just seems like there's always going to be a family that's not feeling well. So, um, but just be in prayer, uh, with the sicknesses going around, uh, that, uh, uh, we can all stay healthy during this time. Um, and as far as, uh, service times, everything should be normal this coming Sunday, uh, the soul winning time and everything should be normal. Um, and then the regional times there on the soul winning, uh, you just get on the church group there as far as the meetup times and all that, um, men's prayer meeting this Friday, so, um, that'll be at 7 PM, so you can be in your places there for that men, and then, uh, the women's prayer meeting will be the next Saturday. Um, and then we have so many marathons on here. Nice. I like how you have that split up there. Um, the soul winning marathons that you can see on here. Um, how did the, uh, or I'm sorry, the, was there one, there was, was the Western one, did that already take place? Not yet. Okay. For some reason I was thinking you were doing that this past Saturday, but again, I was delirious and, uh, you know, fevered all that stuff. So, um, so, uh, brother wage early, are you leading that one up in Western? You and brother Jim. Okay. So, um, that'll be coming up, uh, on May 6th here. And then, uh, on June 10th, uh, Brad Charles is leading up the one in Philadelphia and then June 24th, uh, we'll be leading up a sewing marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana. And so, um, uh, what we're probably going to do for that as far as, um, if anybody's wanting to go on that, um, and this is the way, you know, I, I want to do it anyway, is that drive up on, on Friday and stay the night in the hotel there and then we'll meet up to go someone in, uh, you know, early Saturday. So, um, so if you're wanting to go, um, we'll plan on trying to get a hotel to where we can get some rooms and all that stuff. Um, so probably need to figure out who's all going, uh, our families going, is it, you know, just, just guys, you know, and see how we can figure that out. So, but we'll take care of the lodging there when it comes to that. If you want to go out there, uh, for that sewing marathon, I'm going to make a video. One of these days, I need to make that here soon, um, on that. And, uh, we're going to try to see how many people are going to be going out to that that's in the area. Um, but, uh, either way, it should be a good time. Um, and, uh, definitely be in prayer for that. Um, chapter memory for the month, uh, we're still in April, so we're in Psalm 11. Um, and then memory verse for the week is John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments and then, uh, be in prayer for those on the pregnancy list there, uh, Miss Tiara, Amanda and Jennifer. And so, uh, be in prayer for these ladies, for the babies and everything there. That's about all I have for announcements that I can think of. Just be in prayer for those that aren't feeling well. Um, yeah, but it's not just us. Everybody I talked to, even in like, even on the west coast, it seems like everybody's dealing with this sickness going around. Um, I'm, I'm going to say it's the government, you know, I'm putting on my tinfoil hat. It's, it's that, uh, it's that, that train, uh, derailment and we're feeling the effects of it and, uh, you know, prove me wrong, you know? No, but, uh, in all seriousness, uh, whatever it is and whoever's doing it or if it's just by chance, uh, just be in prayer that everything, uh, that, uh, that our church specifically and the families in our church, uh, stay healthy. Uh, so who's reading tonight? Uh, brother Wade. So, uh, brother, uh, Nick will sing one more song and then brother Wade is going to be reading Luke chapter 11 for us tonight. Turn to song number 288. Song number 288 will sing. I am resolved. Song number 288. Jesus, greatest, highest. I will come to thee. I am resolved to go to the savior, leaving my sin and strife. He is the true one. He is the just one. He hath the words of life. I will hasten to him. Hey, sin, so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest. I will come to thee. I am resolved to follow the savior, faithful and true each day. He'd what he say it do what he will it. He is the living way. I will hasten to him. Hey, sin, so glad and free. Jesus, greatest, highest. I will come to thee. And then if you would turn to Luke chapter 11 in your King James Bibles, Luke chapter 11. Brother Wade will read that for us. Luke Chapter 11. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when you pray, say, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come by will be done as in heaven. So in earth give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend that shall go unto him? Midnight shall say unto him, friend, lend me three lows for a friend of mine. His journey is come to me and I have nothing to say before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed. And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and he shall find knock and there should be open unto you. For everyone that ask at the receiver and he that seeketh to find it and to him that knocketh, it shall be open. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asked a fish, will he, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If he, if he then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? And he was casting out a devil and it was dumb and it came to pass when the devil was gone out and the dumb spake and the people wondered and some of them said he casted that devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils and others tempting him, sought of him for a sign from heaven. But he knowing their thoughts said it to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house divided against a house fallen. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub and if I, by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, shall they be your judges? But if I, with the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man armed keep at his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come on him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor where and he trusted and divide the spoils. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathered not with me scatter it. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walked through dry places seeking rest and finding none. He sayeth, I will return unto my house once I came out and when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then go with he and take it to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last date of a man is worse than the first. And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said it to him, blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou has sucked. But he said, yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. And when the people were gathered to gather thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. They seek a sign and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was assigned unto the Nenevites, so shall also the son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the most parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall raise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Genesis here. No man when he had lighted a candle, put it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on the candlestick. They which come in and may see the light, the light of the body is not. Therefore the eye is single by whole body is full of light, but when the eye is evil, the whole, the body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in these be not darkness or at the whole body therefore be full of light having no part of dark. The whole shall be full of light as when the bright shining of a candle doth give the light. And as he spake, a certain Pharisee beside him to dine with him and he went in and sat down to meet. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, now do you Pharisees may clean the outside of the cup of the platter, but the inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did he not, did not he that made that which is, is without make that, which is then also, but rather give alms of such things as you have. And behold, all things are clean unto you and woe unto you Pharisees for ye tithe mints and rue and all manner of herbs and past judgment over judgment and the love of God. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you Pharisees for you love that of most seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you are graves, which appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. And then answered one of them while yours sent to them, master that's saying they'll repurchase us also. And he said, woe unto you also you lawyers for you laid men with burdens grievous to be born and you yourselves touch not the burdens with the one of your fingers. Woe unto you for ye build the sublookers of your prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them and ye build their sublookers. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send the prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel into the blood of Zacharias, which perish between the altar and the temple. Rarely I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge. He entered not in yourselves, them that were entering in ye hindered. And he sent him to, and he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees begin to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying weight for him and seeking to catch some something out of his mouth that might accuse him. Let us pray. Dear Lord, uh, please let us hear your word tonight and let's get something from the message. And Jesus and I pray. Amen. By the way, do you mind grabbing some double AA batteries? Cause this is dying on me. I just need two of them. It's blinking on me. I'm guessing that means it's going to die. Okay. I'm going to say it's brother Dave's fault. Okay. All right. Can you hear me? Okay. All right. So you're there in Luke chapter 11 and we are continuing our study through the book of Luke here. And, uh, when we get into the first portion here, uh, basically his disciples are going to ask him to teach them to pray. And now look at verse one there. It says, and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he sees one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Now we, we know at least one of the 12 was a disciple of John the Baptist. So Andrew, uh, Peter's brother, uh, actually in John chapter one states that he was one of the two disciples that started following Jesus that were John's disciples. And so, uh, he knows from firsthand knowledge that, you know, John the Baptist taught this, but this also tells us that, right, tells us that John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. So it wasn't, you know, just Jesus that, that, that taught this actually, I think prophets in general would teach people how to pray and teach them the Bible and teach them how to, you know, do what the Bible says when it comes to this. Um, but notice that Jesus is praying and notice how they ask him how to pray because they, they notice that he is praying, right? So, uh, it's good to ask somebody that does pray how to pray. And obviously he's the Lord, so, uh, Jesus is the best person to ask when it comes to prayer. Um, but in verse two here we see the Lord's prayer and I did a whole series on this, um, uh, you know, Matthew chapter six on this. So I don't want to belabor each point of the prayer here, but basically it's a model prayer. It's not something that we're supposed to be repeating over and over and over again like a chant, but the elements in which we're supposed to pray for, I believe are things that we should be constantly on a daily basis praying for. And it says in verse two, and he said unto them, when you pray, say our father, which is, which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. So we're supposed to basically pray that God, the father's name is hallowed, it's honored, it's praised. Uh, Jesus, when he prayed in, in John chapter 17, uh, talks about there, he prays that the father's name would be glorified. And so that's something that we should be praying that that happens, right? Uh, that it says thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth. So we want to pray that obviously we, you know, praying for his kingdom to come, that as well as done in this earth, um, give us day by day or our daily bread. So obviously our physical bread, you know, our physical needs as far as our food and all that, but also, uh, thinking about that we don't live by air or we don't live by bread alone, but by every word of God. So, uh, the bread of the word of God. In verse four there, and it says, forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now the interesting thing about this is, and then Matthew six, it says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And, uh, what it shows you here is how, when we're talking about forgive us our debts, we're not just saying, Hey, forgive, Hey, I have a debt on a, on a vehicle. Please forgive that loan, right? Forgive that debt. When we're talking about debts here, we're talking about, we're talking about transgressions. We're talking about a debt, meaning like you either transgressed against someone else or you transgressed against God and you have accrued a debt. And what is, what is the debt for our sin? Debt, right? The wages of sin is debt. And so, uh, basically obviously as believers, uh, spiritually speaking, you know, our sins are as far as the East is from the West, our debts are forgiven. But physically speaking, while we're still here, you know, we can, uh, we have fleshly sins and that's, that flesh can have a wage and obviously our flesh dies. So ultimately there is a wage for the sins of the flesh, but also that, uh, we pray that God doesn't deliver us into evil, that, uh, he doesn't lead us into temptation. And so, uh, again, you know, you could preach a whole sermon on each one of these points, but Jesus teaches them basically a model prayer. Or if you were to think about it like kind of like a bullet point, uh, prayer, and then you can elaborate on all those points, right? Cause you may at one point be really focusing in on like God forgiving you of maybe some sin that you're dealing with. Right. But then other times you may just be kind of generally, you know, you may be focusing in on like maybe, uh, you know, uh, the fact that you have a temptation or, or maybe you'll be dealing with, Hey Lord, you know, help me with my daily bread or finances or something like that. Right. And you're just kind of focused on something. We should still be praying for the other stuff as well. We should constantly be confessing our sins. We should constantly be praying that God doesn't lead us in temptation, even if we're not dealing with it right now. Okay. So, um, but this chapter, it doesn't just stop there, you know, in verse four and be like, all right, we're done with prayer. Verse five is, the reason verse five is because the question came up with teaching us how to pray. So what we should pray for is what he brings up first, right? Here's what we should pray for. Right. But then how we should pray, right? How we should pray is he gives a story, right? He gives an example or story of how we should pray. And in verse five it says, and he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are in, are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed. Now this verse at verse seven there just really hits hard, you know, because I have a King size bed and for some reason I'm still falling off that bed because all my children had to come in there at night. So when it says like I cannot, you know, like the door is now shut and all my children are in bed with me. That verse doesn't feel any more true than it does right now in my life. So when Holly, you know, isn't going to say amen, but I can feel it. But the idea there is that you know what, when you read this verse, when you're, when you're single or you don't have kids, you're kind of like, oh, that's interesting. Why are they sleeping in bed with them? You know, like why don't they have their own like area or whatever? And then you have kids and you're like, yeah, that's, uh, that's the true statement from a father right there. But, um, but anyway, all that to say is that he's given an example here. He's basically saying if you have a friend and it's like midnight, you're going to their door asking for like gloves of bread or something like that because you have some buddy coming into town you didn't prepare for, that, you know what, he's not going to give you that because he's your friend. He's going to give it to you. So you stop bothering him. Right? So that's kind of the crux of the story, right? It's kind of like take your bread and go away. Right? So the idea because of his importunity, well, what's importunity mean? Well, you can get it by context, but the idea is that his persistence, right? That's what it means. That's what importunity means is basically persistence in the prayer. Okay. So what should we pray for? Well, the Lord's prayer, you know, his, his example prayer, if you will, there's a lot of different things we should be praying for. Right. And I don't believe that's all inclusive, but that's kind of like the main bullet points, right? That we should be on a daily basis praying for, but you know, we should be praying with persistence. Go to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. That was going to be another story in Luke, which I don't want to, I don't want to, uh, go to that one right now because we're not in that passage yet, but of the unjust judge, you know, it's kind of the same principle there with prayer. Um, but the idea is, uh, persistence, you know, so we're not chanting it. Okay. It's not like we're just like our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And then you just keep going on and on and you say it like six times, right? The idea though is that every day you keep praying for that one item that the idea is persistence. And he's basically given an example. He's like, if this guy over here, he's not even doing it because he's his friend. It's just because he's just persistent. He's so persistent. He's just like, go take it, you know, whatever you need. Okay. And notice that it says he'll give him as many as he needed. It's not like, it's not even a question of like, I'm just going to give him a loaf of bread. It's like, whatever you need, just get out of my hair. Right now. Obviously I don't believe the Lord's looking at it that way when we're asking like, like he gives us something to be like, all right, get out of my face. Like I gave you what you wanted. Right. Because obviously the next thing that he's going to mention is that, you know, as us as people, if we give good things and we'll do things like that, how much more shall our heavenly father do for us? Right. So, uh, God's on a different level. Okay. When it comes to giving good things to us and taking care of us. Okay. But in Ephesians chapter six, we have the whole armor of God that's mentioned. And, uh, look there, uh, in verse, um, well look at verse 17 there. It says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Notice in verse 16, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. This whole verse right here is dealing with prayer. Now, specifically what he's praying, what, what, what it's saying to pray for is that, and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, which I am an ambassador and bonds that there and I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And so we're supposed to be praying with perseverance. Okay. Perseverance and supplication for all saints is that if you notice in the epistles, Paul says this a lot, is that night and day you were in my prayers. I, I cease not, you know, day and night to pray for you. And even Samuel says that as far as I will not sin against the Lord to cease from praying for you. Right. And so, uh, the idea is that praying without ceasing is persistent prayer, you know, having like kind of this importunity about your prayer, right, where you're just so persistent about it that sometimes that's what it takes. That's what it takes to get, get the answer. Because here's the thing, the more, if you keep asking for it over and over and over again, it's got to really show that you want it right. And show that, Hey, I really want this to happen. And if he, if he only asked for it a couple of times and you give up, it's kinda like, did you really need that? Did you really, was it really that important for you to get it if you just gave up after like asking for it maybe once or twice. So when it comes to prayer, I believe one, there should be things that we're constantly praying for anyway on a daily basis. But if there's something that you're really wanting God to deal with or to answer a prayer, you need to be persistent. You need to have kind of like that, that person that's coming to the door at midnight and asking for a loaf of bread, that kind of importunity. Okay. So one, what are we praying for? You know, the Bible, Jesus teaches there, but he also teaches them that, Hey, you need to be persistent in your prayer. Okay. But then go down to verse nine because then he goes on to state the comparison, he compares our heavenly father to just normal fathers, right? And so this comparison is used a lot in the Bible when it comes to that. I mean, you think about, think about the chastening of a father and Hebrews chapter 12 and how that's compared to the chastening of our heavenly father. And obviously our heavenly father's better at it, right? And so when it comes to giving good gifts or answering prayer, our heavenly father is better. And so if you think about if, if earthly fathers will give good things to their children, how much more shall God, our father give to us? Right? And so in verse nine it says, and I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth, and him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he, for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now, this is something that's brought up in Matthew chapter, chapter seven, and it doesn't bring up the scorpion and the egg. It, it, it talks about the stone and the bread and it talks about the fish and the serpent. But this is just giving you another illustration, right? You're not going to give a scorpion instead of an egg. And so it's kind of this, it's obvious, no, you're not going to do that, right? Like your child asks you for something. One, you may not give it to him, but you're not just going to be like, oh, you wanted a fish? Here's a viper. You know, you want it, you want it, you want a bread? Eat this stone over here. So he's basically given an example here. You're like, well, if, if you being evil, right? If, if we being sinners, right, and we're, we're, you know, in our flesh dwells, no good thing. If we're, if we can give good things to our children, then how much more shall you Heavenly Father? So when you think about, there's kind of like three separate passages here, or not separate, but three separate thoughts, if you will. One, what should we pray for? Two, how should we pray? Meaning, uh, being persistent, but then also the idea of like, Hey, your Heavenly Father, your Heavenly Father loves you and wants to give you good things. Because when you're asking God for something, it's also a good thing to know that, Hey, he's someone that loves you and wants to give you good things. Okay? So you're not just praying to somebody that just like doesn't want to give you good gifts or isn't good at giving good gifts. Actually, in James one, it says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, right? And it says, and coming down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, not a shadow of turning. So if God gives you something, he's not taking it back, right? A gift is something that's given to you and it's not, uh, it's not given back. There's no shadow of turning. He gives it to you. It's yours, right? But it's also the best. Okay? So if God gives you something, it's going to be the best gift. Okay? Now, obviously you can see how this would apply to salvation, right? The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And if you dare I say, ask for it, right? Then you know what? He'll give it to you. And you know what? There's no, there's no variableness, not a shadow of turning when you give it to him, when, when you get it. But you know what? Uh, also it says if you ask, you shall receive, but know this, that in James four, it also talks about this, that in James four, uh, one, for example, it says from whence come wars and findings among you, come they not hence even of your own, even of your lust at war and your members, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war yet you have not because you asked not, right? So that kind of same principle there, you know, if you ask and you shall receive, you have not because you asked not, but in verse three, you ask and receive not because you ask amiss. Okay? So someone would say, well, I asked for it. I didn't receive it. The Bible's a lie. No, you asked amiss. Okay? You asked wrongly, right? You remember when the, the thief on the cross said this man had done nothing amiss, right? Basically he's done nothing wrong. But if you ask the consummate upon your lust, guess what? That's not the right way to ask. That's not a, that's not a good prayer. Okay? And so we need to ask according to his will. So when it comes to prayer, there's a lot of different elements there, but this chapter does show us, Hey, what should we pray for? That we should be persistent in that, but also that God wants to give us what we pray for and that he, he's obviously the best when it comes to giving good gifts to children. He's better than our own physical fathers are. Okay? And so he gives that comparison. Now go to Luke chapter 11 again in verse 14. So verse 14, it says this, it says, And he was casting out a devil and it was dumb. And it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake and the people wondered. Okay? So when it's talking about dumb in the Bible, it's talking about they can't speak. Right? And so basically, this devil was causing this person not to be able to talk. Okay. And when the devil goes out, then he can speak and everybody's wondering at it. And verse 15, but some of them said he casted out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. Now I don't have this in my notes, but this is what Jesus states as blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Okay? So these, some that are saying this, the Bible says that they, they blaspheme the Holy Ghost because they said he has an unclean spirit. Okay? And what were they saying? They were saying that he was casting out devils with Beelzebub, not the spirit of God. He wasn't doing it with the spirit of God, but Beelzebub. So when it says that he casted them out with Beelzebub, they're calling the Holy Spirit Beelzebub. Okay. So we're dealing with a serious, serious sin here to call the Holy Ghost a devil or Satan. Okay. Now, Beelzebub, where's, where's that come from? Well, go to, go to first second, go to second Kings chapter one, second Kings chapter one. Let me give you an example here or a very similar word here. Second Kings one and verse three, second Kings one verse three. It says, but the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite arise, go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria and say unto them, is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of Beelzebub, the God of Ekron? Now, Beelzebub, do you see a word in there that looks familiar? Beel, right? And you'll see that throughout the Old Testament, Beel, they're worshipers of Beel, they're false gods, right? So what Beelzebub, they're basically equating that with Satan in the New Testament. Okay. But you'll see Beelzebub, that makes sense a lot because in the, in the Old Testament, Beel, right? Worshippers of Beel and Elijah specifically, right? Because Elijah just got done slaying like hundreds of these priests of the worshipers of Beel, right? So that's a very prevalent name at the time, but specifically Beelzebub, or Beelzebub is the God of Ekron. Now Beelzebub, okay, you see that first word in there, Beel? Well, Beel is, is the God, or they had multiple gods. Okay. So when we were talking about this, when it says the God of Ekron, a lot of these places had multiple gods anyway, but Beel was the Babylonian God. So like, you know, and it mentions this in Jeremiah, Beel and all this other stuff as far as their false god. So basically you can see kind of where this, this word stems. Okay. It didn't just, I don't, I don't believe it just came out of the blue, but at the same time it's basically like a false god that they recognize as being Satan. Okay. So those that are, those that are throwing this out at Jesus saying he's casting out devils through Beelzebub, I don't believe that they think Beelzebub is an actual God, but they recognize that that's obviously a false god. That's the devil. You know what I mean? And they're using that as terminology. Okay. So that's where we're getting at, but it's not just any devil. It's the chief of the devils. Okay. So that's where we get that they're talking about Satan. So go to our verse 16 of Luke chapter 11. So Luke chapter 11 verse 16. And it says, and others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven, but he knowing their thoughts said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house divided against a house fallen. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. So Jesus is obviously equating this and saying, Hey, you're saying it's Beelzebub. You're saying I'm casting out devils through Satan. Right? So we're talking about the devil here that they're saying, uh, he is casting out devils. Right. But it says, but he's basically given an example. He said, he says, okay, that doesn't make any sense though. Right. It doesn't make any sense that Satan would be casting out Satan. You know what I mean? It's kind of like this idea of he's destroying himself then. Right. Which makes sense. But it says, uh, in, in verse, uh, in verse 19 and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your sons cast them out, therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come on, come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor, wherein he trusted and divided his spoils. He that is not with me is against me and he that gathers not with me scatterth. So he gives an example of the idea that that doesn't make sense. If, if, if I, if, if Satan's casting out, you know, devils, then he's basically breaking up his own kingdom. Right. But then he gives another example as far as like, well, if you're going to go into a strong man's house, you've got to have, you have to have someone stronger than him, which shows you that we're talking about the finger of God. We're talking about the Holy Ghost here. We're talking about the spirit of God coming in. And this is why, by the way, someone that's saved cannot be possessed with a devil. Okay. Because greater is he that is in you than he is in the world. You know that spirit of antichrist that's already in the world? Greater is he that is in you than he is in the world. And this idea, this, this, this weird false doctrine that's out there that says, well, you know, say people can be possessed with devils. It's funny because the false prophet is always the one that's saying that because they're the ones that are actually possessed with devils. They're trying to justify the fact that why they're barking like a dog and foaming at the mouth. You're like, oh, you're being a little hyperbolic with it. They said it. There's literally, I forget what that Alazar, whatever his name is, that false prophet that's on YouTube. He literally says that he was barking like a dog and foaming at the mouth. And then he realized that all I need to cast this thing out myself, you know, and that he has to constantly be casting out devils from himself. And that proves obviously that say people can be possessed with devils, right? Can't prove that he's a false prophet by any stretch of imagination, right? Especially when he says that you can definitely lose your salvation and that you got to do good works to go to heaven. And it's not just by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Can't be that right. Can't be because he's a reprobate. Okay. But you know, this passage I believe proves that, listen, if the Holy Ghost is welling inside of you, how could you be possessed with a devil? You would have to say that that devil coming in there stronger than the Holy Ghost, because in order for that person to come in, they had to bind the strong man of the house. Well, guess who the strong man is. If you're a safe person, God. So good luck with that devil. You know, like you're not going to be possessing a safe person, but go to, uh, go to a verse 24 because he goes on to say, he kind of gives an example of someone that's possessed. Now, I believe devils can lead people. They're not always necessarily possessing somebody. It's not like once possessed always possessed necessarily with an unsafe person. Okay. Even the antichrist, it says that basically devil, a devil came out of his mouth like a frog, right? So, I mean, obviously they can kind of come and go as they please, you know, when it comes to that, especially with reprobates. Okay. But unsafe people, I believe they can be possessed with devils and the devils can leave. They can come back, you know, it's kind of like this revolving door, if you will. Okay. And that's kind of the example a little bit here, but this is more of an extreme example. Okay. Because, uh, I think we were talking about at one, one time, uh, you know, the, the image and, uh, you know, the abomination desolation and basically how will they be, will they be able to, how will they know that you're a Christian? Right. Because obviously a Christian can't take the mark of the beast. I don't care what some false prophet tells you. It's impossible for a Christian to take the mark of the beast. Okay. But the question is, okay, well, if they can't take the mark of the beast, then you know, how are they going to know? Right. How are they going to know to basically reject them? Right. Well, the image has given power to kill whoever doesn't worship the beast, first of all. But here's the thing. I believe the devils can know whether you have the, whether you're saved or not for the simple fact that you're, you're not empty. Okay. And for example, notice what it says here in Luke chapter 11 verse 24, it says, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth finding none. He said, I will return unto my house whence I came out. Okay. So this unclean spirit coming out of a man and notice how it's referring to the person, like a house, right? It's like a dwelling place, but then it says, and when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Now, another passage, a parallel passage to this, it says empty, swept and garnished. Right. So he basically comes back and it's kind of like the way he left it. Right. It just, it's clean. It's, it's, you know, it's empty, right? The Holy ghost isn't limited. This person isn't safe. Okay. This person doesn't have the Holy ghost inside of him. And verse 26, then go with thee and take it to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So instead of just one unclean spirit, now he's got seven others, right? Now he's got eight and they're even worse than the first one. And so the idea here obviously is, you know, you don't want this to happen to you, get saved because then no one's going to be able to bind the strong man of your house. Cause you got, you're, you're in the temple of the Holy ghost now, right? That God dwells in you. God's living in you at that point, right? Christ in you, the hope of glory. But this sounds very familiar to a passage. Go to second Peter chapter two, second Peter chapter two. And you say, well, you know, second Peter, you're gonna be like here you can talk about reprobates. You can talk about false prophets now. Well, what do they just say about Jesus that he was casting out devils with Beelzebub chief of the devils? And what was that called? What was that called? And Matthew, when, when this is brought up, it's called the blasphemy of the Holy ghost. And when it says that they blast, if they blast him in the Holy ghost, they have never forgiveness. Not in this world, not in the, not in the world to come. Okay. So, uh, I want you to think about when it talks about this person and see how that correlates to, uh, what we see here. And a second Peter chapter two and verse 20 for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, they are entangled, are, are again entangled, they're in and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy commandment delivered unto them. So what are we talking about here? We're talking about people that knew the knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. They knew they, they, basically they've escaped the pollution to the world to where they, they, they know how to be saved. They know what the truth is. But guess what? They, they turn from that Holy commandment delivered unto them meaning they didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't put their faith in him. And it says the last end of that, it says the, the latter end of that, uh, ladder end is worse than the beginning. Sound familiar to this person that an unclean spirit leaves them. It's kind of like, you know, it's like, Oh, okay, this person leaves. It's kind of, you escaped, right? But if you don't, if they didn't believe on Christ and get saved, the ladder end is gonna be worse than the beginning because then it says in verse 22 of second Peter two, but it has happened unto them. According to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again in the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. And so if you think about this, I mean, think about, let's say, uh, you know, the disciples or Jesus, you know, they're preaching the gospel and they're casting out devils and all this stuff, right? And this devil leaves this person, but that person doesn't believe the gospel that's being preached. They know the truth. They've escaped the pollution to this world. They, they, they've, they're right at the cusp. Here's salvation. They reject it though. And the last state of that man is worse than the first, meaning that, uh, you know, when it comes to those that, that are rejected by God, they go down a spiral worse than any unbeliever that's out there. Okay. Like a typical unbeliever doesn't go down that path. Okay. So, uh, but that's another term for another day dealing with, uh, you know, false prophets and all that. But in context, it makes a lot of sense. You're dealing with people that are saying that Jesus is, uh, basically casting out devils with the devil himself. Uh, they're blaspheming the Holy Ghost. And then he gives this example about an unclean spirit leaving a man and then seven others coming back with them. Okay. So go to Luke chapter 11 verse 27 here, Luke chapter 11 verse 27. It says, and it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou has sucked. Now, on the surface, that's just kind of a random thing to say, isn't it? Right. I mean, think about that. If someone just came up and just, you know, it'd be like if someone was, if I was talking or whatever, and then someone just said, Hey, you know, blessed be your mother, that bear thee, you know, it's kind of like, okay, I mean, great, you know, but why are you bringing that up? This whole idea of venerating Mary. Let's see what Jesus has to say about this, right? Because we're talking about Mary, right? We're talking about the mother of Jesus and notice what Jesus says here, but he said, yay rather. So he's, he's not, he's not discounting. He's not saying that she's not blessed, right? He said, yay rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. So he kind of, he's kind of like, yeah, I mean, yeah, she's blessed, but rather blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it. Okay. Meaning those people are more blessed, right? And that's what you should be focused on. Not venerating, you know, the mother of Jesus. Okay. And it's just like, when you, when you think about the Catholics and how they venerate Mary, Mary's not brought up that much. Okay. Just so you know, when you think about like in the entirety of the, I mean, think about where's Mary mentioned in the epistles, right? I mean, she's alluded to in Revelation, right? But where is she mentioned, you know, where is she mentioned in, in Acts, you know, and I'm not saying like there isn't a place where it says Mary or, you know, it's like mentioning, but here's the thing, you know, when, when Mary's mentioned in the book of John, he says, woman, what hast thou to do with me? Right? When, when she's, when she, when he's at the cross, he says, woman, behold thy son. Here, they're like saying, hey, you know, blessed is the woman, you know, blessed is the womb, you know, and the paths that gave thee suck, and he says, yea, rather blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it. So that idea of, I don't know why I had a timer on, but, this idea of venerating Mary, it just does not fit in the Bible at all. So, but it's, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't look at Mary as being a blessed woman, right? It's not like Jesus was discounting that, like saying she was not blessed or she shouldn't be blessed or anything like that. But at the same time, it needs to be in its proper place. And, but when you think about what Jesus says, though, aside from what this woman says about his mother, is the fact that blessed are those that hear the word of God and do it, right? Hear the word of God and keep it. And this goes into James chapter one, this passage in Luke chapter 11, it's just like James, James, James, James, like the stuff that's stated here, James kind of brings up a lot of this stuff that Jesus is talking about here, because it talks about not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. And you know what, if you look in that perfect law of liberty and continue therein, you know, and you're a doer of the work and not a forgetful hearer, you're going to be blessed in that deed. And so, that's what you should focus on as far as, as a Christian, you want to be blessed, then hear the word of God, but don't just be a forgetful hearer, do the work. Okay? And if you think about it, that's what the Beatitudes are talking about, right? You know, the, the, the, you know, blessed are the poor in spirit, you know, and blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God and all these things about being blessed. It's about hearing the word of God and doing it. Okay? So it's very kind of basic when it comes to what we should be doing. But sometimes it's harder to do. Okay? Not hard to understand, but sometimes it's hard to implement. Okay? Go to Luke chapter 11 and verse 29. But in Luke chapter 11 and verse, and verse 15 and 16 there, if you remember it said, but in verse 15, it says, but some of them said he casted out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devil. Right? And he addresses that, right? But then it says, and others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven. Okay? Well, this is, Jesus is now addressing that. Okay. And this is kind of a lesson on how to approach, let's say someone is like, if multiple things are brought to you as far as like how to address them, instead of trying to address them all at once, or trying to address them, like I'm addressing this dressing, this dressing, this dressing, you know, like you're going back and forth with it. It's more like I'm going to hit that first one. Let me get that answered. And then I'm going to hit the next one. And it's kind of what you see here is that he addresses that first thing where they're saying he's, he's casting out devils through Beelzebub. And then he, you know, destroys that argument. But then he comes back to verse 16 where it says others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven because notice in verse 29 he hadn't forgotten about that, about them like wanting to seek this sign because notice what it says in verse 29 and when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. They seek a sign and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. So notice how he's like, he kept that in the back of his mind and, and, and didn't forget about it. But he addressed that first one, that first thing that they were kind of hitting on, you know, pin that down, destroyed that argument and just, and then it's like, they didn't, it's not, it doesn't say they kept asking him to show him a sign, but I believe, you know, if you think about it, it's like they're wanting this sign. I'm going to address it now. Cause you kind of think about how he says it. He says, you said you wanted a sign. He didn't say that. He just says an evil, right? An evil generation. They seek a sign, right? Which then they're probably like, oh yeah, we just said we wanted a sign from heaven, right? But notice that Jonah, the prophet is the sign to be given. Now in Matthew chapter 12, we know that, that Jonah being swallowed by the whale and the death, burial and resurrection is definitely a sign. If that's not brought up particularly right here. But I think when you say, when it says the sign of the prophet Jonah, we're talking about the whole book, right? Everything about, I mean, Jonah chapter one through four, right? I mean, that is the sign, you know, it's kind of like, here's your homework, go study the book of Jonah. Okay. Cause that's a sign to you. But specifically what I believe is being brought up here is that it's more about the fact that outsiders listen and will basically stand up in judgment against those that were literally of the household of where the Lord came through. Okay. When, when you think about Israel, like they were given the oracles of God, you know, they were that, that, that holy nation that God was, you know, using, right? They're like in the seat of like the blessings of God and the word of God and the law and everything. Right. But then he brings up Nineveh and this queen of the south, right? And they're all, they're all outsiders. Right? So think about this. Jonah went to another country and preached and they repented in their own country, right? They didn't come to Israel. They weren't Israel. They're actually the enemy of Israel. They were Assyrians, right? But it says, for as Jonas was assigned into the Ninevites, so shall also the son of man be to this generation. And in verse 32 it says, then the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here. So when you're talking about the sign of Jonah, the big thing here is that we're dealing with outsiders. We're dealing with Gentiles here that believe the preaching of Jonah. But then he brings up the queen of the south, right? The queen of Sheba. And it says in verse 31, it says, the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon behold a greater than Solomon is here. So notice that she literally traveled a far distance to get there and to hear the truth and to see the wisdom of Solomon, right? So think about it. These are, these are both outsiders, right? One, a prophet goes to them. The other one came to Israel and he's basically saying both this queen of the south and these Ninevites are going to stand up in judgment against them because Jesus came to his own, but his own received him not. And I believe that's kind of the overarching kind of picture that, that Jesus is trying to teach here as far as, you know, why he's bringing up the queen of the south, right? That'd be the question. Like why is she who he's bringing up, right? Is it just to bring up Solomon or, you know, when it comes to Jonah, you know, well one, I think that there's a lot of pictures obviously in the prophecies and everything else when it comes to the story of Jonah. But, uh, but also just the fact that it's Nineveh, I mean, Jonah didn't like the Ninevites. And guess what? Israel at this time was very, very much like nationalistic or, you know, whatever. Meaning like, they were just about the Jews. They didn't want to deal with anybody else and they basically thought they were better than everybody else, right? Which is pretty much the way that the Jews of today are, right? You know, but, uh, but the idea here is that the, Jesus is constantly bringing this up, especially in Luke and the fact that, Hey, well, you know, in Elijah's day, he wasn't sent to any other widow, but this one widow over here in Zarepta, that's not of Israel, right? And then, you know what? There was a lot of lepers in Elisha's day, but he wasn't sent to any of those except, you know, except for Naaman, the Syrian, right? Do you notice the theme that Jesus keeps bringing up to these people is the fact that, Hey, you know what? These, these guys were healed, you know, God had compassion on them, but you know what? They actually believed it. And, you know, obviously we know from going on, you know, after Jesus' resurrection and everything is that the Gentiles were more, uh, willing to hear the gospel than the Jews and the Israelites, right? Doesn't mean that obviously there were Israelites that got saved, but by and large they rejected it. Okay. But you know what? The Gentiles are going to stand up in judgment against them because they are, they, they had the truth more than anybody else, right? They should have been the ones believing it before anybody else. Okay. It's like the idea, it's like here in America, you know, woe unto you if you don't believe the gospel and you don't get saved here in America because it's just how much of it's, you're surrounded by it. But if you're in China, you could, you could understand the fact that you can understand why there's a lot of people that don't believe it there because it's just not all around them. So it'd be kind of the same thing is that if, you know, people from China, if you went over to China and people got saved and everything, it's like, woe unto America of those that don't believe, right? It's kind of that same principle. Okay. So, uh, go to, uh, Luke chapter 11 again, Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 11 and verse 33. And by the way, it says that a greater than Solomon is here and a greater than Jonas here. So Jesus is obviously the Lord, he's wiser and he's a great, he's a great, the greatest prophet. He's the wisest, uh, you know, obviously man ever walk on the face of the earth because he's the Lord. Okay. Okay. Verse 33 here. It says, no man when he hath lighted a candle, put it in a secret place neither under a bushel, but on the candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. So you can, this is definitely dealing with the idea of let your lights shine before men. You're the light of the world. Verse 34 says, the light of the body is the eye. Therefore when thine eye is, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. But when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light and having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light as when the bright shining of a candle that give thee light. Now when it's talking about this, it's talking about not putting your light under a bushel. For example, in Ephesians chapter five, it says ye, now are you light in the Lord walk ye as children of light. Okay. So if you're saved inwardly, you're children of light, children of God, right? You are, you are completely regenerated, right? But there's something covering that up, isn't there? Right? It's the flesh. Okay. So the idea here is that how do you let that inward man be manifest? Okay. And what is stating here is that in order for that to be manifest out there, it starts with what you're looking at. Okay. So when we're talking about the idea of walking as children of light, if you want to walk as children of light, well, you already are children of light, but you want to walk that way, right? You want to manifest that. You want to show that. Okay. Well, this all starts with what you're looking at. Okay. Mine eye affecteth my heart. That's what Jeremiah says in Lamentations and that can be good or bad, right? Meaning that it can make something you see can make you sad, can make you happy. Something you can see is either it could be good, righteous, or it could be evil and wicked. Okay. Now when it says that if, when your eye is single, okay, notice how it couples that with thine eye is evil. Okay. Now single can mean basically like simple or if you think about something like that's singular, right? It's kind of like just one thing. And let me give you a verse, you know, it says, in Roman chapter 16 verse 19 it says, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple, concerning evil. And the idea here is that when your eye is obviously on, basically you're simple concerning evil. Okay. And meaning this is that you should not be exploring all the evils in the world, right? This whole idea of like, well, you know, I need to know all the evils so I can preach against it. No, you don't. I mean the Bible says it's a shame to even speak of those things which you've done to them in secret. Okay. So you don't need to know all the evils of the world to be able to preach against it. Okay. And trust me, there's enough stuff that's going to be forced into your face as it is to preach against that you don't need to know all of these crazy invented stuff that's out there. Okay. And by the way, you get this stuff in your mind, you're not getting rid of it. Okay. It's just like, so, we need to be simple concerning evil. I'm not going to just fill my mind with all this garbage just so I can have something. Well, first of all, I wouldn't be able to preach on it because I shouldn't be speaking of it. Right. So that kind of goes out the window. But when it comes to this, when I think about your eye being single is the idea that it's not going on these, all these different directions, right? You kind of have like a focus, like what's, what's your focus? Like where are you going? Like, what are you doing? Right. You have, and this gets into being idle. Obviously if you're idle a lot of times, then you kind of just veer off doing other things, right? But listen, if you have a job that you're working, boom, you got singularity, right? You're just kind of going that direction. You're doing what you should be doing. You know, you're going to church, you know, boom, you got that direction. You're going, you're reading your Bible. Boom. You got that direction that you're going and what, what you look at will affect your heart and what you're thinking about and what's in your heart is going to affect what you're lusting after. Where your treasure is there where your heart be also. Okay. So what you're looking at as far as your treasure is going to affect your heart and then that's going to cause you to start lusting after something and lust when it had conceived, bring it forth sin and sin when it is finished, bring it forth death. Everything starts, you know, it kind of all starts with what you're looking at. So you may look at this in a surface and be like, what are we talking about here with the eye? Well, the light of the body is the eye. Meaning this is that one, the only reason you can see anything is because of light. Okay. So think about this, right? Everything's reflected. Not to be like a science lesson here, nor am I an expert on the anatomy of the eye. Okay. But the idea is that the reason you can see colors or anything is because light is reflecting off of surfaces and that light is coming back to your eye and it's it's basically bringing all that information into your, into your, uh, into your mind. Right. So you can think about it. What are you looking at? Right. And so light just associated with even seeing anything is there as it is. But so basically the light of your body, meaning like how you even know what's around you, what are you looking at? All that stuff. Okay. So we want to, basically we want our light to shine that's inside of us, but it all starts with what we're looking at. Okay. Because it's easy to say, okay. And I know it's easy to say, Hey, listen, walk as children of light. It's easy to say to hear the word and keep it. Right. You want to walk in the spirit, keep his commandments. Okay. But how do you start that? Right. Like how do you, you know what I mean? Like obviously it's simple. Yes. I need to not do these things. Right. I need to not commit fornication. I need to not steal. I need to not, you know, uh, you know, lie. I need to, you know, whatever the case, whatever the sin, what level you're at with whatever sin you're dealing with there. It's obvious. Right. The Bible says, don't do it. Don't do it. But listen, if you don't want to commit fornication, don't look at things that will cause you to commit fornication. The Bible will say things like, don't touch a woman. Is it inherently wrong to look at a, I mean, to touch, it's not inherently wrong to look at a woman. Right. But if you're looking at a woman and you're lusting after that woman, even if that woman isn't even, you know, naked or whatever, then that can still affect your heart and cause you to lust, all those different things. Right. And so I believe it's very important to what we look at, what we're staring at. Okay. And listen, everything is not like only look at the Bible. Right. Just driving down the road, you better stare at that Bible. Right. So now you're going to wreck. Okay. But at the same time, like you have to be guarded. You have to have a kind of like a singular type of mind. Okay. I know ladies, this will be hard. Okay. This is where men, no, I'm just kidding. Like we all struggle with this. All joking aside, men and women struggle with this, but you know, but obviously if your mind is all over the place, it just, it kind of just opens up the door to where you can think about things that you shouldn't. Okay. Now, okay. So we're almost almost done here. So I go to Luke 11, verse 37 and Jesus is going to basically start ripping on the Pharisees and the lawyers. So in a Luke chapter 11 and verse 37, it says, and as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to come to dine with him. And he went in and sat down to meet. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. It was just like baffled. It's like, you didn't wash your hands. What are you doing? Okay. So it says verse 39, it says, the Lord said unto him, now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Now he's going to, he's going to go on and kind of explain this. Okay. But it makes you wonder that the Jesus purposely not wash his hands. You know what I mean? Like just because he knew that this is going to be brought up because obviously they had this whole like custom and tradition of washing of hands and all this stuff. Right. And obviously it's not inherently wrong, you know, to wash, to, to not wash your hands before ye or whatever. But, but anyway, he's obviously using this as an example, but it says in verse 40, ye fools do not, do not, he did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also, but rather give alms of such things as you have. And behold, all things are clean unto you, but woe unto you Pharisees, be ye tithe, mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God. These are you to have done and not to leave the other undone. This is a very, very similar to Matthew chapter 23 because he says you have, you have omitted the weight of your matters of law, judgment, mercy, and faith. And so he's kind of talking about like you tithe on these little things, right? Which you should do. He's not saying not to do it. He's like, these things ought you to have done, but you're, you're missing the bigger point, right? It's like, I'm glad you're tithing, but you know what? It'd be like if someone was like tithing, but they're like living with their significant other and they're like living in fornication. It's like, it's like, well, tithing's good, but you know that, that's kind of more important that you, I don't do that. Okay. So, um, but going on there in, uh, in verse, uh, verse 43, woe unto you Pharisees for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you have, notice this for ye are as graves, which appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Now this is like, I think it's a cool statement. Obviously is, if you're one of these guys, that's not a good statement to hear. Okay. But basically in Matthew, it says, he calls them whited sepulchers, right? And basically the reason he calls them that is because they're basically graves because they're full of dead men's bones. But on the outside, they look beautiful, right? It's whited, meaning like it's, it's, it's painted. It looks nice. It's kind of like these, these, uh, uh, when you see, um, I don't know, is it a mausoleum or whatever, wherever they like, put like, uh, like the ashes of people or whatever. Right. Um, and inside everything looks beautiful, right? There's stone like pieces there. There's flowers, all this stuff. And on the outside it looks good, right? It just looks beautiful. But inside is a bunch of dead people or ashes of dead people, I guess. But the same thing is being stated here. But the thing that's interesting is that he's stating that people are walking over them, not realizing that they're actually dead. Okay. Meaning that there are people out there that are literally dead men walking. These are people that are twice dead, plucked up by the roots. These are people that are, you know, basically no hope of salvation. And, but people don't even realize it, right? It's like that, it's like if you pass somebody and you didn't even realize that person has no hope. They're there. I mean, in the moment that they die, I mean, there's, they're going to hell no matter what. And nothing can change that. Okay. They're just, you know, a child of hell, you know, just, just on their, you know, just waiting to die and go to hell. Okay. And this is just a different way of saying the same thing, I believe. Okay. Is that people don't realize it because, you know, outwardly they look good, you know, they look, and this is where you kind of get into that wolves in sheep's clothing as well. And the idea that while on the outside they look good, they look like they're a believer. They look like they're one of us, right? But inside is different. Okay. And obviously Jesus says in Matthew chapter 23, when it's talking about this, this cleaning of the cups and the platter, it's like you need to clean the inside, but the outside might be clean also. Right. And what I love about this is that you start from the inside. Okay. For example, and I, you know, I hate doing dishes, but you know, I'll help my wife out every once in a while. And you know, when I wash dishes, I start from the inside and basically because Jesus told me to. So, so if anybody's judging me on that, listen, take it up with the Lord. But the idea is that I clean the outside, the inside, but I'm not just like, all right, let's put that over there. But it's kind of like you start with the inside and also the outside. So you have, you have people that are like so focused on the outside that they don't care about the inside. Then you have people that are just like, well, you know, it's all about the inside. It's like, yeah, but he said that the outside might be clean also. Okay. So you know what? We need to work on the outside too. Okay. It's kind of like people that are just like, you know, bodily, bodily exercise profit is little. And it's like, that's their, like, that's like their life verse, you know, for why, you know, they're like, I don't want to work out. I don't want to do any exercise. The Bible says the profit is little, but it does profit. And you know, it's just obviously in the grand scheme of things, obviously godliness is way more profitable. Okay. And the same thing with the outside is that the inside matters a lot more than the outside, but you know what? We need to clean the outside too. Okay. So, and then I love this next portion here. Okay. Luke 11 and verse 45, it says, then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him, master thus saying thou reproaches us also. So imagine this, like he's like ripping on the Pharisees, right? And the lawyers come up, right? And they're just like, it seems like you're coming at us too. You know, like, you know, like they're, they're starting to get offended, but they're like, you haven't, you haven't called us out by name, you know, or whatever. But, and then in verse 46, I love this. Listen, this is why not the only reason why, but that that whole series the chosen is a bunch of garbage. Okay. It's garbage. It doesn't represent Jesus at all. Okay. Because in that, in that, the clips that I've seen there, you know, Jesus, someone will like come up and question them on something like that. And he'd just be like, well, you know, maybe you're right. You know, I can see where you're coming from on that. Now this is, this is the Jesus of the Bible. Okay. When the lawyers come up to him and say, it seems like, it seems like you're approaching us too. You know, it's, it seems like you're kind of attacking us too. And let's see what Jesus' answer is. Verse 46, and he said, won't want you also, you lawyers. I love this. He just doubles down on it. He's just like, you too. And then he starts ripping into them. Ye, for ye laid men with burdens, grievous to be born, and ye yourselves touched not the burdens with one of your fingers. So notice he's just like, he's, they're like taskmasters putting all these burdens on people because they're doctors of the law, by the way, we're talking about lawyers of the law. Okay. Not necessarily like lawyers where you're like, you know, dealing with some kind of civil suit or something like that. Right. We're talking about people that are supposed to be knowing the law. These are like the scribes, right? These are the ones that are supposed to know the law really well. And they're basically like, yeah, you need to do this. You need to do that. And then they're not doing any of it. Okay. And it says in verse 47, won't want you, but you build the sepulchres of the prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perish between the altar and the temple. Barely I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. Well, unto you lawyers for ye have taken away the kingdom, taken away the key of knowledge ye entered not in yourselves and them that were entering in ye hindered. Wow. What a statement there. Basically there's there, he's stating you took a, you, you basically didn't enter in yourself. No. Basically you knew what it took. You didn't enter in, but you're not only not entering in yourself, you're trying to hinder others from entering in. What are you dealing with? You're dealing with people that are making proselytes that are twofold more the child of hell themselves, which Matthew 23 hits on. The Pharisees are doing that. The Sadducees are doing that. But guess what? The lawyers are doing the same. They didn't enter in and they are the ones that are taking away the key of knowledge and they didn't enter in, but they're also hindering those that would right there. They're leading people astray. They're leading people away from the truth. And this is their typical false prophet that's out there. And you may say, you know, why would you be so hard on these false teachers? Why do you rip their face off? Why, why aren't you, you know, don't you want to win them? Listen, these false teachers that are teaching this, the, you know, heresy that you can lose your salvation. Most of those teachers are not ignorant on the issue. They know what the Bible says about eternal security. They, they've heard the arguments and they reject it and they are whited sepulchres. They are like graves that men walk over and they appear as if they're not. And these people have taken away the key of knowledge and you know, it's enough that they don't enter in, but they're also hindering other people from going in. Do you want to know, I believe why Jesus is ripping the face off of these religious leaders because they need to be rebuked and Titus talks about this, that their mouths may be stopped and it's not for their sake because they're not going to enter in. It's for those that they're trying to hinder. Okay. And so when someone gets up and preaches against false prophets and calls them out by name, listen, it's not for the false prophet's sake. You say, well, you know, how are you going to win that? I'm not trying to win them. I'm not trying to win the false prophet. I'm trying to save the person that they're trying to hinder and the person they're trying to influence. Okay. But it says in verse 43 or 53, so he just made everybody angry at this point. It says in verse 53, and as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying weight for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. So they're basically just trying to like get him to say something wrong. But guess what? Jesus never said anything wrong. Show me where Jesus is apologizing for what he said. Show me where Jesus is apologizing for anything he did. These representations that are on TV are just not accurate at all and it's garbage. Okay. My kids are not going to be watching some representation of Jesus where he's apologizing or saying, Oh yeah, you know, that's a better point right there. Or yeah, I should, I should do it that way. Or apologizing for hard preaching. You know, all these different things that are done there. No, I see Jesus doubling down on everything he says. I don't see Jesus ever wondering what he should be doing. The only time that you ever see anything even remotely close to that is where he's talking to the father about the cup being taken from him if it's possible. The only time that Jesus is ever asking, you know, or saying what to do, he's talking to the God, the father who is above him, which actually makes sense. Okay. But he's never coming up to a human being and saying, well, how should I do this? Right. He already knows what he's going to do. I mean, when he asked the question to the disciples about, about the low, or like, you know, uh, how are we going to feed these people? It literally says he said this, not because he didn't know what he, because he knew what he was going to do. Okay. So anytime he's like asking a question, it's not because he doesn't know the answer. Okay. He knows the answer. He's asking it for a reason. Okay. So that's Luke chapter 11. And let's end with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for this passage. And I just pray to you to be with us that aren't feeling well. Uh, and Lord pray to heal the sicknesses or anything that's going on, uh, either here at our church, but also, uh, just many churches and friends that I know that are dealing with sicknesses out there. And Lord, just pray that you'd heal us and protect us Lord. And we love you. Pray also in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Brother Nick will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed. All right. If you would turn to song number 363. Song number 363. If we would all stand, we'll sing wonderful words of life. Song number 363. Sing them over again to me. Wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty. See wonderful words of life. Words of life and beauty. Teach me faith and duty. Beautiful words. Wonderful words. Wonderful words of life. Beautiful words. Wonderful words. Wonderful words of life. Christ the blessed one gives to all.