Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / Episode 119: Better To Be Known Than To Know
Transcript
- 0:14Speaker 1: Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, all that's within me,
- 0:18Speaker 1: Bless his holy name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
- 0:21Speaker 1: From the rising of the sun to the going down
- 0:24Speaker 1: of the same, His name is to be praised. We
- 0:27Speaker 1: welcome you once again to this another edition of End
- 0:30Speaker 1: Time Revival Ministry USA podcast. For those of you are
- 0:34Speaker 1: listening by way of audio podcasts, you can find us
- 0:36Speaker 1: through multiple search engines. End Time Revival Ministries USA Podcast
- 0:43Speaker 1: where you will see the burning logo Burning fire logo. Amen.
- 0:49Speaker 1: Because our God, of course, is, as the Bible tells us,
- 0:53Speaker 1: a consuming fire. So we are here to blow the
- 0:56Speaker 1: trumpet in Zion and sound the alarm. The Lord himself
- 1:00Speaker 1: shall soon return a man to gather his people unto
- 1:04Speaker 1: himself and judge the quick and the dead. The time
- 1:08Speaker 1: will come, Jesus said this himself, when everyone who is
- 1:12Speaker 1: in the grave will hear the voice of the Son
- 1:14Speaker 1: of God and live. And you do not want to
- 1:17Speaker 1: be a man on the side of the wrath of
- 1:21Speaker 1: the Lamb of God. And so we are certainly glad
- 1:24Speaker 1: to be a man amongst those who have been saved
- 1:27Speaker 1: and redeemed and set free because of His precious blood
- 1:31Speaker 1: that was shed for us.
- 1:33Speaker 2: Amen.
- 1:34Speaker 1: So again we are here to proclaim liberty and freedom
- 1:39Speaker 1: to all who will hear the Gospel, hear the call
- 1:42Speaker 1: of the Savior, the Master, to come, Amen, into the
- 1:45Speaker 1: ark of safety and be saved. Of course, those of
- 1:49Speaker 1: you who are listening and viewing us by way of
- 1:52Speaker 1: our Amen YouTube channel, it is one voice in the
- 1:58Speaker 1: wilderness at one VITW. We certainly invite you to become
- 2:05Speaker 1: a subscriber if you have not already, and certainly please
- 2:09Speaker 1: of course share it with someone else. Again, we are
- 2:11Speaker 1: here a man to proclaim liberty to those who are
- 2:16Speaker 1: in captivity. All right, for those of you again who
- 2:20Speaker 1: have been following along with us. We are in the
- 2:22Speaker 1: first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. The
- 2:26Speaker 1: first Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. And
- 2:29Speaker 1: today we are going to be taking a little thought
- 2:34Speaker 1: from chapter number eight, chapter number eight of this letter,
- 2:39Speaker 1: this first letter of the Apostle, a man to the
- 2:43Speaker 1: Church at corinth And before we begin, and by the way,
- 2:48Speaker 1: we invite you, if you have your Bibles, to follow
- 2:50Speaker 1: along with us in the word of the Lord, as
- 2:52Speaker 1: we will read and take a few moments to expound
- 2:55Speaker 1: upon a man what we have a man read in
- 2:59Speaker 1: the word of Living God. Father. Again, we thank you
- 3:01Speaker 1: for a man many beautiful and bountiful blessings that you
- 3:05Speaker 1: have bestowed upon your people. Every good and perfect gift
- 3:09Speaker 1: comes from you. If any of us lack wisdom, we
- 3:12Speaker 1: can always ask of you. You give to all men liberally.
- 3:16Speaker 1: All knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discretion is to be found
- 3:21Speaker 1: in you. Lord. We will not seek to walk in
- 3:24Speaker 1: our own way, but acknowledge you in all of our ways,
- 3:27Speaker 1: that you may direct our path, order our steps, and
- 3:31Speaker 1: delight in our way. Lord, you are the keeper of
- 3:34Speaker 1: our souls, and we trust even now that you will
- 3:36Speaker 1: keep us from falling, that you may present us faultless
- 3:39Speaker 1: before your presence with exceeding joy. You are the only
- 3:41Speaker 1: wise God. You are our Savior, and to you alone
- 3:45Speaker 1: belongs the majesty dominion empower, both now and forever. A man.
- 3:50Speaker 1: Thank God for his word, Thank God for his promises.
- 3:53Speaker 1: A man. In him, we live and move and have
- 3:56Speaker 1: our being. Thank God for this great salvation and this
- 3:59Speaker 1: great hope that we have in Jesus the Christ. First Corinthians,
- 4:04Speaker 1: chapter number eight. We begin reading at verse number one.
- 4:09Speaker 1: First Corinthians, chapter number eight, beginning verse number one, I'm
- 4:13Speaker 1: reading from the New King James version. Now, concerning things
- 4:17Speaker 1: offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
- 4:23Speaker 1: Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks
- 4:31Speaker 1: that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he
- 4:36Speaker 1: ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one
- 4:41Speaker 1: is known by him. Therefore, concerning the eating of things
- 4:48Speaker 1: offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing
- 4:53Speaker 1: in the world, and that there is no other God
- 4:56Speaker 1: but one for even And if there are so called gods,
- 5:03Speaker 1: whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many
- 5:07Speaker 1: gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God,
- 5:13Speaker 1: the Father of whom are all things, and we for him,
- 5:19Speaker 1: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things
- 5:24Speaker 1: and through whom we live. However, there is not in
- 5:30Speaker 1: everyone that knowledge. For some with consciousness of the idol
- 5:38Speaker 1: until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol,
- 5:47Speaker 1: and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Amen. And I'm
- 5:56Speaker 1: gonna say from the outset here my focus is it
- 6:00Speaker 1: is going to be on in essence, the abuse of
- 6:06Speaker 1: knowledge that is in our world, the deception, the deception
- 6:13Speaker 1: of knowledge in our world today. And I want to
- 6:18Speaker 1: emphasize this thought, and I hope you will retain it.
- 6:28Speaker 1: It is better to be known than to know. It's
- 6:33Speaker 1: better to be known than to know. And we'll get
- 6:38Speaker 1: to that in just a few moments here. Just give
- 6:43Speaker 1: me a couple of minutes to speak of this world
- 6:49Speaker 1: in which we now live, because you know, you can
- 6:54Speaker 1: see that the proper use of knowledge takes a great restraint,
- 7:00Speaker 1: It takes disciplined practice if you are a person of knowledge,
- 7:06Speaker 1: and again also says we all have knowledge, and the
- 7:12Speaker 1: unfortunate reality is that we live in a world of expertise,
- 7:20Speaker 1: where knowledge is overly admired, knowledge is worshiped and occultic
- 7:27Speaker 1: like sense of idolatry. Even and those who we know,
- 7:36Speaker 1: we know this to be factual, who obtain vast amounts
- 7:42Speaker 1: of knowledge and information enough in and of course this
- 7:51Speaker 1: fallen world which we live. The people who obtain knowledge
- 7:58Speaker 1: and have information, they are often compelled to be vaulted
- 8:09Speaker 1: or propelled or lifted up, if you will too, positions
- 8:14Speaker 1: of power where their so called expertise can be influenced
- 8:21Speaker 1: on others. Uh And and more often in our perverse world,
- 8:27Speaker 1: it is nefarious and deceptive in nature it is, it
- 8:36Speaker 1: is demonic, it is wicked, and and and it is
- 8:42Speaker 1: rooted in pride and and and this is why the
- 8:45Speaker 1: apostle said knowledge puffs people up. Knowledge in our world
- 8:52Speaker 1: has been used to manipulate many unsuspecting people. Hordes of people,
- 9:01Speaker 1: multitudes of people have been manipulated with knowledge. People they admire,
- 9:11Speaker 1: people that they look up to, people that they believe
- 9:15Speaker 1: no more than they do. And I'm not denying that
- 9:19Speaker 1: there are people that know more. Plenty of people that
- 9:21Speaker 1: know a whole lot more than me. And well again
- 9:24Speaker 1: we'll you get to this whole thing about knowledge and
- 9:26Speaker 1: just a few moments here. But the problem is that
- 9:30Speaker 1: they put their trust infallible man. And any time you
- 9:38Speaker 1: trust in man and put your hope and faith in man,
- 9:43Speaker 1: the Bible says, by the way, curse it is the
- 9:45Speaker 1: man who puts his trust in man. And knowledge has
- 9:49Speaker 1: been used and abused in such a way that again,
- 9:53Speaker 1: so many unsuspecting, fallible I mean, rather let me say,
- 10:00Speaker 1: dollible people have uh committed themselves over to fallible men
- 10:06Speaker 1: a man because they had again all kinds of confidence
- 10:13Speaker 1: and hope. And we see it all we see it
- 10:15Speaker 1: even now and and in in our world, in our
- 10:20Speaker 1: political realm, in our scientific ram in the in the
- 10:24Speaker 1: in the rim of technology. It's everywhere. It's pervasive throughout
- 10:29Speaker 1: the culture. And and again, knowledge has also been used
- 10:36Speaker 1: as a weapon. Really, it really has been used as
- 10:39Speaker 1: a weapon. It's been used to abuse people, to confuse,
- 10:46Speaker 1: to obfuscate, to even placate people. I mean it's it's
- 10:55Speaker 1: just been a weapon of manipulation. It's been a force
- 11:00Speaker 1: for evil rather than good. And it's been used to
- 11:07Speaker 1: make many people rich while simultaneously making many people poor.
- 11:18Speaker 1: There is this false perception of I call it that
- 11:23Speaker 1: expert knowledge, and it is what leads people into idolatry
- 11:31Speaker 1: and the knowledge of the creator, the knowledge of God,
- 11:36Speaker 1: the knowledge of his existence, the knowledge of his godhead
- 11:40Speaker 1: and power. The Bible says, it is clearly seen. It's
- 11:44Speaker 1: clearly known to us. It's innately within each of us.
- 11:51Speaker 1: We know that there is a God, the God of creation.
- 11:55Speaker 1: We know, we know, we know all we know. Ah,
- 12:01Speaker 1: it's there because the irrefutable evidence of his creativity, his creation,
- 12:09Speaker 1: his anti work a man, his wisdom, his knowledge, his
- 12:14Speaker 1: very being, his essence. It's clearly seen the Bible says,
- 12:20Speaker 1: and being understood by the things that are made, even
- 12:23Speaker 1: his eternal power and Godhead, which leaves us no excuse.
- 12:32Speaker 2: Amen.
- 12:34Speaker 1: And one of the reasons I will say that we
- 12:37Speaker 1: have this is basically in the last Wow, a couple
- 12:42Speaker 1: one hundred years or so. One of the reasons we
- 12:45Speaker 1: have had even more idolatry, I would say, in our world,
- 12:51Speaker 1: is this whole concoctent, concocted knowledge so called of evolution.
- 13:01Speaker 1: It was at first advanced, of course, as a theory
- 13:04Speaker 1: of evolution, but it then it became science, It became knowledge.
- 13:08Speaker 1: Even though, of course those who hold to the fact
- 13:14Speaker 1: or in their minds, or the idea or the delusion
- 13:20Speaker 1: that the universe came out of nothing, because there is
- 13:24Speaker 1: no creator, they have no explanation for the origin of things.
- 13:32Speaker 1: They posit the idea that out of nothing came everything.
- 13:43Speaker 1: But we know. And this so called knowledge that is
- 13:49Speaker 1: even taught in the school's evolution, it is a doctrine
- 13:56Speaker 1: of devils, and it seeks to supplant the truth of genesis,
- 14:02Speaker 1: where we find the true origins of man, where we
- 14:06Speaker 1: find the testimony of the Creator himself, who gave to
- 14:15Speaker 1: us the record of his creativity of his a man
- 14:23Speaker 1: speaking the world into existence by the sheer power of
- 14:28Speaker 1: his being, by the immensity of his immutable and omniscient attributes.
- 14:38Speaker 1: Where he who knows all things by his wisdom, by
- 14:43Speaker 1: his knowledge, by his sheer greatness, brought forth all of
- 14:50Speaker 1: these things that we see and hear, and know and
- 14:54Speaker 1: experience in our world a man. There's no other explanation
- 14:59Speaker 1: for it. There's no other rational explanation for it, reasonable
- 15:04Speaker 1: explanation for it, plausible explanation for it. And any such
- 15:10Speaker 1: knowledge so called is deception. It is delusion, and again
- 15:15Speaker 1: it leads people into idolatry because it leads them away
- 15:19Speaker 1: from the true and the living God to self worship,
- 15:24Speaker 1: people worship, animal worship, worshiping of the stars, the sun,
- 15:30Speaker 1: the moon, the host of heaven, you name it. It's
- 15:34Speaker 1: all demonic. It's all of the devil. A man doctrines
- 15:38Speaker 1: of devil devils is what it emanates from. But for
- 15:42Speaker 1: those of us who are thank God born again, a
- 15:47Speaker 1: man who possessed the knowledge of Jesus the Christ as
- 15:51Speaker 1: the Redeemer, a man of our lost souls, a man
- 15:56Speaker 1: we should know and understand that it is for us
- 16:01Speaker 1: to be known than to know. And of course we
- 16:07Speaker 1: speak of being known by God, known of God a man,
- 16:13Speaker 1: rather than to be known by man, rather than to
- 16:17Speaker 1: have the knowledge of this world. We speak of that intimate,
- 16:24Speaker 1: of course, born again relationship. When we talk about being
- 16:30Speaker 1: known of God is better to be known. We're talking
- 16:33Speaker 1: about that relationship that can only come through Jesus, the Christ,
- 16:40Speaker 1: born again of his spirit, a man, that relationship that
- 16:45Speaker 1: is unique, a man again to those who are known
- 16:49Speaker 1: of God, a man by the in dwelling of the
- 16:53Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, by one spirit. The Bible teaches we are
- 16:56Speaker 1: baptized into one body, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
- 17:01Speaker 1: There's only one God, one mediator between God and man,
- 17:05Speaker 1: the man Christ, Jesus. And Jesus said, of course, if
- 17:09Speaker 1: you come any other way, if you try any other way, amen,
- 17:14Speaker 1: there is no other way. You are in idolatry. Amen.
- 17:19Speaker 1: The Lord knows them that are His. Thank God for
- 17:22Speaker 1: the surety of this foundation. The Bible says, it stands
- 17:27Speaker 1: sure having this seal. The Lord knows them that are His,
- 17:31Speaker 1: and He foreknew us by the way he knew a man, Enoch,
- 17:35Speaker 1: a man. He knew the walk that Enoch had, and
- 17:38Speaker 1: God was so pleased with Enoch that he was the
- 17:43Speaker 1: first to be raptured away from heaven to heaven, brother
- 17:47Speaker 1: who did not see death. Amen. The Lord knows each
- 17:52Speaker 1: and every one of his children, and again he foreknew us.
- 17:55Speaker 1: He knew Abraham, and his testimony of Abraham was, I
- 18:01Speaker 1: know Abram. I know Abraham that he will command his children,
- 18:06Speaker 1: that he will keep the way of the Lord, that
- 18:09Speaker 1: he will walk in integrity and in truth. I know.
- 18:14Speaker 1: That's an intimate relationship. That's an intimate acquaintance that God
- 18:19Speaker 1: has with us. Amen. Amen. The Lord knew Jeremiah. He said,
- 18:24Speaker 1: I I I before you were formed in the womb, Jeremiah,
- 18:28Speaker 1: I knew you and ordained you to be a prophet
- 18:32Speaker 1: to the nations. Amen. And in fact, again, those a
- 18:37Speaker 1: man whom he foreknew, the Bible says, in his omniscience,
- 18:42Speaker 1: he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, Amen,
- 18:48Speaker 1: that we might be the first born of his creatures.
- 18:53Speaker 1: He then called us. He then justified us. The Bible says,
- 18:56Speaker 1: he then glorified us. And what can we say to
- 18:58Speaker 1: these things? If God be for us, who can be
- 19:01Speaker 1: against us? Amen? That's the knowledge that I want to possess.
- 19:06Speaker 1: That's the knowledge that I want to keep. That's the
- 19:08Speaker 1: knowledge that I want to live in and live by. Amen.
- 19:12Speaker 1: You have a king Solomon, by the way, who was
- 19:16Speaker 1: the wisest man who had ever lived. He rightly concluded
- 19:21Speaker 1: about the knowledge of this world. Amen, that the one
- 19:25Speaker 1: who increases in knowledge increases also in sorrows of the
- 19:32Speaker 1: whole knowledge puffs people up. It does the world, the
- 19:37Speaker 1: knowledge of this world. Talk about the knowledge of the world.
- 19:39Speaker 1: Nothing not the knowledge of Jesus. We are to learn
- 19:43Speaker 1: of him, Amen, more and more so that we can
- 19:46Speaker 1: become more like him. And again, this is not something
- 19:49Speaker 1: that can be received by the natural man. We're not
- 19:51Speaker 1: talking about learning the Bible, learning what's in the Bible,
- 19:54Speaker 1: the Word of God. Amen, in a in a superficial
- 19:58Speaker 1: kind of way, because you have we have in our
- 20:01Speaker 1: world today many who have studied the Bible, many who
- 20:04Speaker 1: are theologians, but they don't have that relationship. They're not
- 20:07Speaker 1: born again, they don't know him. He doesn't know them
- 20:13Speaker 1: in that Amen, intimate way. And so we're not talking
- 20:17Speaker 1: about that kind of knowledge where you can quote scriptures
- 20:21Speaker 1: and you know verses, but you know him and he
- 20:24Speaker 1: knows you. Amen. That's that's that's that's the knowledge that
- 20:30Speaker 1: is eternal, that is indispensable, that does not fade away,
- 20:35Speaker 1: that does not add sorrow to your life. To know, amen,
- 20:39Speaker 1: the Savior, and to be known of him. Amen. But
- 20:43Speaker 1: just the increase in knowledge of this world, it increases sorrows,
- 20:50Speaker 1: It puffies, it puffs people up. Amen. And and and
- 20:54Speaker 1: and and and and even though we we can know this,
- 20:58Speaker 1: even though the Bible tells us is clearly, yet there's
- 21:02Speaker 1: this human trivial pursuit, ever pursuing of knowledge that again
- 21:11Speaker 1: has no eternal value. The Bible speaks of them as
- 21:14Speaker 1: ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
- 21:19Speaker 2: Wow.
- 21:21Speaker 1: And we find even in this same letter that the
- 21:25Speaker 1: apostle Paul writes to this Corinthian Church's First Letter, chapter thirteen.
- 21:29Speaker 1: In fact, he Paul, who by the way, was highly educated.
- 21:35Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, when he stood before Festus,
- 21:39Speaker 1: it was Festus who said these words to the apostle Paul,
- 21:43Speaker 1: after Paul had just so beautifully testified a man of Jesus.
- 21:50Speaker 1: And Festus said to the apostle Paul, you are beside yourself.
- 21:57Speaker 1: Much learning has made you mad. Festus attributed what Paul
- 22:04Speaker 1: testified about to simple knowledge a man, and he even
- 22:10Speaker 1: understood that too much information, too much knowledge, can drive
- 22:17Speaker 1: you crazy. It can't, it can't make a mad man
- 22:21Speaker 1: out of you. And so the knowledge of this world,
- 22:25Speaker 1: the wisdom of this world, as we've already discovered early
- 22:29Speaker 1: on in this letter, comes to naught. It comes to nothing.
- 22:32Speaker 1: And again this apostle Paul informs us again, of course,
- 22:38Speaker 1: in this letter, that knowledge will one day vanish away.
- 22:43Speaker 1: Our knowledge is only in part. We know in part,
- 22:46Speaker 1: Paul said, We prophesy in part with that which is
- 22:50Speaker 1: in part a man is going to be done away
- 22:54Speaker 1: with when that which is perfect it's come, of course,
- 22:58Speaker 1: that is when Jesus come. This what we think we know.
- 23:08Speaker 1: So those who boast in self, who are puffed up
- 23:14Speaker 1: in their knowledge are idolators. Those who think they know
- 23:20Speaker 1: anything or know everything know nothing at all. This is
- 23:26Speaker 1: what the Bible says. This is what the Word of
- 23:29Speaker 1: God says here, and this is let me read it
- 23:32Speaker 1: for you again. By the way, I'm just should reread
- 23:34Speaker 1: these first few verses here. First Corinthian chapter eight, cerning
- 23:38Speaker 1: things off to idols. We know that we all have knowledge.
- 23:43Speaker 1: Everyone has some knowledge, knowledge, puffs up. The more you get,
- 23:49Speaker 1: the more proud you will be. All how we pride
- 23:54Speaker 1: ourselves and our educational achievements, and we get to these
- 23:59Speaker 1: certain levels in this status, and we refuse to not
- 24:04Speaker 1: be known by our title of doctor. Our first name
- 24:13Speaker 1: becomes doctor because we have obtained obtained that that degree,
- 24:25Speaker 1: that level of knowledge. So we want everybody to know
- 24:31Speaker 1: we are puffed up. But Paul says, love it is
- 24:37Speaker 1: which edifies we're certainly going to get to that. That's
- 24:40Speaker 1: a that's a very uh important point. Of course, we'll
- 24:47Speaker 1: get to that a little bit later on in the letter.
- 24:49Speaker 1: And if and if anyone verse two thinks that he
- 24:53Speaker 1: knows anything, this is what the apostle says. If you
- 24:56Speaker 1: think you know, boy, the longer I live, I listen
- 25:02Speaker 1: and I'm not This is not fake modesty or you know.
- 25:09Speaker 1: This is just a simple, plain old truth. And I've
- 25:12Speaker 1: heard it said about it and again. When I was young, girl,
- 25:17Speaker 1: I thought I knew man. The older I get, the
- 25:27Speaker 1: more I observe, the more I see, the more I learn,
- 25:33Speaker 1: the more I understand that I know nothing. Really, it
- 25:43Speaker 1: is so true what I thought I knew, what I
- 25:48Speaker 1: thought I understood and I'm talking I thinks of this world.
- 25:52Speaker 1: I'm talking about one plus one is two and five
- 25:55Speaker 1: times five is twenty five. No, you know, if anyone
- 26:02Speaker 1: thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as
- 26:08Speaker 1: he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, that's
- 26:16Speaker 1: where it is. Ladies and gentlemen, this one is known
- 26:22Speaker 1: by Him, known by God. That's where you want to be.
- 26:31Speaker 1: That's the place you want to be. It's not about
- 26:34Speaker 1: the knowledge that you can obtain in this world and
- 26:39Speaker 1: used to it get an advantage over people, to manipulate
- 26:44Speaker 1: your way through life, to elevate yourself up the corporate ladder,
- 26:50Speaker 1: as it were, to enhance your standing in the social
- 26:55Speaker 1: circles and so forth and so on, to be the
- 26:59Speaker 1: voice that is heard at the parties.
- 27:04Speaker 3: In in Uh, you know, it's it's idolatry, That's what
- 27:12Speaker 3: it is.
- 27:14Speaker 1: Those who boast himself were puffed up in their own
- 27:19Speaker 1: knowledge and their own wisdom and the wisdom of this world.
- 27:24Speaker 1: You are an idolator, because if you think you know anything,
- 27:34Speaker 1: you know nothing at all. I just reread it to
- 27:37Speaker 1: you from the scriptures. Otherwise such a person would know,
- 27:43Speaker 1: he would know that he is an idolator.
- 27:45Speaker 4: You know you know everything, but that you know everything
- 27:49Speaker 4: but that truth. When you think you know everything, you're
- 27:52Speaker 4: puffed up in knowledge and you don't know that you
- 27:54Speaker 4: are in idolatry.
- 27:57Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the deception. That's the that's the art of
- 28:00Speaker 1: delusion that the devil uses. A person is so puffed
- 28:06Speaker 1: up in themselves they don't even realize they are in idolatry.
- 28:11Speaker 1: This is what happened, Amen, too. It has happened to
- 28:14Speaker 1: so many world leaders or kings and people that have
- 28:22Speaker 1: risen to great power and authority. They are so puffed
- 28:26Speaker 1: up they don't realize that they are idolators. A man,
- 28:33Speaker 1: and and and in many cases they themselves are seen
- 28:37Speaker 1: as idols, are worshiped by people. And there's a price
- 28:41Speaker 1: to pay, and and and the Bible says here that
- 28:45Speaker 1: there that an idol is nothing in this world at all, Amen,
- 28:53Speaker 1: idol is nothing. So it's better to be known of
- 29:01Speaker 1: God rather than to be overflowing in knowledge, engulfed in idolatry.
- 29:09Speaker 1: And as Jesus, the one who again.
- 29:15Speaker 3: Spoke of this eternal punishment, more than anyone else, I
- 29:21Speaker 3: can say on his authority, the authority of the Word
- 29:25Speaker 3: of God, you will be on your.
- 29:27Speaker 1: Way to the lake of fire. Hey man, puffed up
- 29:31Speaker 1: in knowledge, steeped in idolatry, you are under condemnation because
- 29:40Speaker 1: the puffed up idol worshipers become foods. They become foods.
- 29:48Speaker 1: And again, if I can go back to one of
- 29:50Speaker 1: my favorite passages of scriptures, one of the most powerful
- 29:54Speaker 1: letters ever written in all of humanity, the Letter of
- 30:00Speaker 1: the apostle Paul Amen to the Romans a Man, chapter
- 30:06Speaker 1: number one. When they knew God, when they knew God,
- 30:14Speaker 1: knew of his existence, Amen, They, the Bible says, refused
- 30:22Speaker 1: to acknowledge him as God, refused to give him glory
- 30:26Speaker 1: as God. But rather they became vain in their imagination,
- 30:32Speaker 1: and their foolish heart became dark, and they professed themselves
- 30:36Speaker 1: to be wise. And subsequently, of course, they became foods.
- 30:41Speaker 1: They changed the glory of the invisible, the incorruptible God
- 30:46Speaker 1: into an image made like to corruptible man and to
- 30:50Speaker 1: four footed beasts and creeping things. And the Bible says
- 30:54Speaker 1: God gave them over to a debased mind, to a
- 31:03Speaker 1: reprobate mind, leaving them to themselves to practice all kinds
- 31:11Speaker 1: of ungodly and abominable things that the Bible goes on
- 31:19Speaker 1: to list a man. This is what happens when person
- 31:25Speaker 1: is puffed up in knowledge idolatry, refusing to acknowledge God
- 31:36Speaker 1: Amen even though they know him, refusing to glorify him,
- 31:39Speaker 1: refusing to honor him, refusing to give him the doe
- 31:45Speaker 1: reverence that belongs to him as the sovereign Lord, creator
- 31:51Speaker 1: and ruler and sustainer of and over all of his dominion.
- 32:03Speaker 1: But Paul goes on to say, here, and I'm closing
- 32:06Speaker 1: verse number five, but even if there are so called gods,
- 32:12Speaker 1: that's with the small g By the way Jesus told
- 32:17Speaker 1: us in his retort to if you will, the critics
- 32:24Speaker 1: of his day, he said, I said in your law
- 32:28Speaker 1: that you are gods. That's a small g But you're
- 32:32Speaker 1: going to die like men, of course. But even if
- 32:36Speaker 1: there are, Paul says, so called gods, whether in heaven
- 32:43Speaker 1: or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords,
- 32:47Speaker 1: small l small g yet for us there is one God,
- 32:56Speaker 1: the Father of whom are all things, and we for him,
- 33:06Speaker 1: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things
- 33:15Speaker 1: and through whom we live. Remember the words of Jesus
- 33:21Speaker 1: who said, without me, apart from.
- 33:25Speaker 2: Me nothing, you can do nothing. You can be nothing.
- 33:32Speaker 2: You are nothing. There is nothing without him. Better to
- 33:38Speaker 2: be known than to know what you think you know
- 33:44Speaker 2: when the truth is that you know nothing.
- 33:48Speaker 1: At all. Paul, by the way, and again, I'm close.
- 33:52Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm done. I'm done, he said, I determined
- 33:56Speaker 1: to know nothing among you say, gee, Jesus Christ and
- 34:01Speaker 1: him crucified Father, will you just help us today? You
- 34:07Speaker 1: said in your word we will know the truth, and
- 34:09Speaker 1: the truth will make us free. We just want to
- 34:11Speaker 1: be free, free from idolatry, free from false religions, false doctrines,
- 34:19Speaker 1: false teaching knowledge that puffs up the wisdom of this world.
- 34:23Speaker 1: We just want to be free in you. So lead
- 34:27Speaker 1: us and guide us, and direct us in the way
- 34:29Speaker 1: that we should go. Order our steps in you, that
- 34:32Speaker 1: you may be delighted in our way. God be glorified
- 34:36Speaker 1: in your people everywhere. In Jesus' name we pray and
- 34:40Speaker 1: give thanks. Amen and amen. God bless you in Jesus name. Amen,