Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / Episode 102: The Problem Of Evil - Part 3

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Episode 102: The Problem Of Evil - Part 3 · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

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All right, God bless you, we welcome you once again to this another
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edition of In Time Revival Ministries USAY podcast. I am your host, Pastor
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al Zachary, and today we are going to continue in our series that we
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just begun a couple of sessions ago entitled the Problem of Evil. Now,
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I want to welcome those of you who have of course always been listening by
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way of our podcasts that is available through many different outlets, and we certainly
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invite you to share it with others. But also with this particular series,
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we have begun podcasting on our YouTube channel as well, and for those of
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you who would like to catch us on this YouTube channel where we have a
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few videos. I've had this channel for quite some time, but I just
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recently renamed it and started to now use it for this podcast ministry. So
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One Voice in the Wilderness. One Voice in the Wilderness is the handle you
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can for those of you, of course familiar with YouTube, you can just
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simply go to the YouTube search and type in at the number one V I
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t W one V as in Victor I t W. One Voice in the
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Wilderness, where we endeavor to a man speak the word of the Lord Truth
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to this culture, this season, this time in which we're living in,
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these last days, Amen, before last of the last days, before the
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return of Jesus Christ. And we certainly have a problem of evil that has
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always been in the world. But of course, as we get closer to
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the coming of the Lord, the Bible lets us know Jesus himself, let
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us know that these things would proliferate, and we have previously. And I'm
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going to get this just minute, by the way, if you have your
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Bibles, we're going to be looking at a couple of passages of scriptures,
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first and foremost in Second Corinthians, and then we're going to read a couple
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of more as well as we go through. But of course, as always,
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before we get deep into this, I just want to take a moment
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to a man say a word of prayer. Amen. So we pray that
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the Lord will do what only God can do. Father, We thank you
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for this day all of your blessings you bestowed to find us. Pray that
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you will bless each and every listening ear and every obedient heart. Lord,
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let your word, your word take root, Amen, take effect in someone's
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life today, that you may be glorified in all that they say, and
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do, Lord be magnified today and your people everywhere in Jesus name, we
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bring your thanks for all things. Amen. Amen, thank God for the
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Word, Thank God for this salvation. Now the problem of evil. This
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is part three, I believe, and we have previously set forth the premise
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that the fundamental problem with evil in our world today is to pretense that evil
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is something other than what it is, something other than what God has called
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evil. That is in my certain estimation of what we can see again happening
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in our world today, and certainly it is within the hearts and minds of
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so many people, and the Bible, I believe the scriptures, the Word
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of God is crystal clear about this, especially when the Lord speaks of those
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who call good evil and evil good. And that's a fundamental problem with evil
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in our world today, pretending as if a man evil is something other than
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what it is. But we also set forth in our last session, I
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believe it was the premise that there's an erroneous assumption that is made concerning human
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beings who are born into this world, and that erroneous presumption is that man
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is basically good in their character, in their nature at birth, and of
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course it is their surroundings, the influences, the vi bad things that happened
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so forth and so on, that causes them to go down a path,
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if you will, of not being good and perhaps doing bad things. And
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again we don't even want to use the word evil like it ought to be
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used. Uh. And then we again call what is good evil? What
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is evil good? But here's something I believe that it's even more dangerous.
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And this is what we're going to dwell on today, because this is this
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is really hideous. It is it is it is very crafty, I might
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say, of the enemy in this and it is demonstrable throughout the scriptures,
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and as we're going to see, as I'm going to give an example a
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little bit later in the Gospels, that this trickery of the devil man,
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this is, this is, this is this is this is superb craftiness on
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his part. Because as misguided as both of these premises that I just made
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mention of that we've already covered, and we certainly have to grapple with this
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and the problem of evil, there's yet another very serious danger that we face,
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and it is the blindness to the goodness of God. Blindness to the
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goodness of God. And that's very, very dangerous. And we've all those
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of you who certainly been around for quite some time, heard this question,
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this debate that's been around again for a very long time about God being good
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and trying to understand why there's so much evil in the world if there's a
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good God, a good and all powerful God. But listen, please understand
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what the enemy wants to do. He wants to blind you to the goodness
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of God. That is superbly crafty work that the devil does. I mean,
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he seeks to blind man to the goodness of God while minimizing the evil
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that is not only in him, that is all of who he is.
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But he also seeks to minimize the evil that is in us. And we've
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already covered this in our previous session about how evil is in man. The
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Bible says the testimony of God from his youth up a man, evil is
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in our heart. And the apostle Paul, by the way, wrote to
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the Corinthians about this wicked work of the adversary, who a man is working
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to put blinders on us so that we're gon't we won't we don't see we
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don't we don't. We don't. We don't take into account that we don't
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consider a man all of the goodness of God. Second Corinthians, Chapter four
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to read beginning at verse number one for contextual purposes. Therefore, listen what
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the Bible says. I'm reading from the New King James version. Therefore,
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since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not
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lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking
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in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of
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the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
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But listen what he says. Even if our gospel is veiled or hidden,
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it is veiled or hidden to those who are perishing. Listen very carefully what
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the Bible says, verse number four. Whose minds the God of this age.
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He's speaking of the devil, the enemy, the adversary, small G,
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not capital G. The God of this age, the God of this
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world. Jesus called him, the God of this world, this world's system.
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Amen, the God of this age. This is what the Bible says
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has blinded the minds of people in this world who are lost. Their minds
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have been blinded. They're blinded to the goodness of God. They're blinded to
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the Gospel. And that's why it's hidden from them. Even though, as
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the apostle Paul testified, I believe before King Agrippa, this thing was not
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done in a corner. Amen. But the devil puts the blinders on.
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Amen. And then again, let me just read it again verse four.
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Whose minds the God of this age has blinded? Who do not believe lest
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the light of the Gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the
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image of God, should shine on them. That is the work of the
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adversary, seeking to blind people. Amen, from getting the light, the
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truth, Amen, the glory of the God, Gospel of Jesus Christ,
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that will save them. And again, this is why people are perishing.
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This is why, and this is what the Bible speaks of. Here they
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are perishing. The Bible says, if this gospel is hidden, is hidden
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to those who are perishing, Who are lost? And why perish? Why
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perish in the darkness when there is light to be had in Christ, Jesus.
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There's light in him, there's life in him. He is light,
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he is life. He is the way, He is truth, a man
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the very embodiment of truth. Why perish? John three sixteen. You're very
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familiar with it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only
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begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish. You would not
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perish. You will not perish, but have everlasting life. But again,
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as Jesus told us about this parable of the soul, the devil comes to
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steal away the word out of the hearts of people lest they believe and be
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saved. He's a thief and boy. But this clever tactic of his tactic,
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of his blinding people, Amen to the goodness of God. This is
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masterful, masterful work. And whenever he's successful in diverting and distracting men a
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man from coming to know and to understand that God is good and that God
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is the source of all that is good. Amen. Whenever he is successful
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in this, Amen. This is what again causes people to not see the
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goodness of God. And by the way, of course, we're gonna talk
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about this. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
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And if the devil can keep you from seeing the goodness of God. How
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can you come to repentance? How will you come? You cannot come to
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repentance until you see the goodness of God. Amen. And this is why
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the devil wants to blind the people. Amen. And this is why he's
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a man working day and night, so that you know evil is called good,
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good is called evil, and that you don't see the goodness of God
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because you now see God in a very different light. This is the same
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trickery. By the way, it's not something new that the devil is doing.
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He did the same tactic. He used the same tactic rather very beginning
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in the Garden of Eden, when he deceived Eve, a man into believe
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in that God was somehow withholding something good from her. She couldn't see all
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the goodness. She couldn't she couldn't see all the goodness that Amen. She
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was surrounded by the pristineness of the Garden of Eden, all of the things
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that God had made that was good. Everything that God made was good,
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Amen and perfect Amen. But of course we know sin brought in Amen,
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the wickedness and evil that is now a man innate in the heart of man.
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And so the devil works to keep us from seeing that goodness of the
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Lord. Amen. And and and God is good. Amen. The Bible
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is very clear about that God is good and in the very essence of his
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being is goodness. In the very essence of his being is its virtue and
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holiness, righteousness in him. In God, there is no darkness that all
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the Bible tells us. There's nothing to be gained by God. Amen.
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By him, uh in any way are added to him in any way,
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to his excellency, to his greatness, to his sovereignty, to his power.
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I mean, in this perversity of wickedness and evil God, Amen,
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gain anything from evil. And James tells us about this by the way.
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You can turn with me if you have your Bibles to James chapter number one,
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when James speaks to us about again the problem that is in us.
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Amen. And so often we want to blame God for our wickedness, for
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our sins, for our choices, for what we in our free will do.
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Amen, and want to blame God again for the evil that is any
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word this is again, this is a this is a tactic of the devil
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that's very successful. Amen. And blinding people from seeing the goodness of God.
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You need to see the goodness of God. This is what the Bible
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says, James, Chapter one, verse thirteen. Let no man say when
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he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God, listen what
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the Bible says. Cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
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God does not tempt people with evil. But every man is tempted,
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the Bible tells us, when he is drawn away of his own lust and
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enticed. Now, much of the enticement comes from much of the enticement in
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our world comes from the devil. But again we're not to dismiss in any
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way or minimize in any way the evil that is already in the heart of
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man, the lustful desires and passions, envy, jealousy, hatred, malice,
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all of those things that the Bible speaks of a man that define for
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us all kinds of evil, a man that first of all and foremost comes
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out of the heart. Wickedness and evil sin comes first in the heart,
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out of the heart art, and it is manifested in what we do,
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in our deeds, what we say with our mouth. In the Bible evens
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the same James, by the way, speaks of the evil of the tongue
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of man. Amen, the tongue, the tongue. So what we say,
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what we do a man, it comes out of a heart that has
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evil in it. Amen. And listen what the Bible says. No man
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is tempted by God. He is tempted when he's drawn away of his own
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lust. He's enticed. When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin,
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and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. So James says,
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listen, do not err, do not err, do not error,
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do not be deceived. He says. Every good gift, every perfect gift,
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comes from above, comes down from God, the Good God, who
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gives to us all things that are good, the Bible says, comes from
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the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness. Amen. God is
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the same. He's the same, yesterday, today and forever. Amen.
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He does not change. And the Bible says, neither shadow of turning,
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and of his own will, of his own will. God has purpose,
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God has will, God has plans. Amen. What God has spoken,
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as we know, it shall come to pass, it shall be Amen.
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It already is accomplishing. As a matter of fact, as Jesus said on
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the cross, when he breathed his last he said, it is finished.
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It's done. Amen. And so God begot us. The Bible says with
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a word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of
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His creatures. The whole plan of God, a man of redemption, is
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to save us. Amen, from this blindness, to deliver us. And
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God does not promote or prove of that which is repulsive to His nature.
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Evil and sin and wickedness and rebellion Amen, is repulsive to a holy God.
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Amen. Men sin in their rebellion, Amen, against God because again
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in our fallen hearts and our fallen nature. Rather, evil is in our
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hearts. Amen, from our youth. Amen. And we are certainly living
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in a world that despises and rejects the goodness of God. Amen. The
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goodness of God again, that leads us to repentance. If you reject the
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goodness of God. Again, the question is, how can you be saved?
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How can you come to repentance? Because no one can be saved unless
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they repent. Amen, unless they come to repentance. The Prince in the
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power of the kingdom of darkness. Amen, he uses again this trickery Amen,
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to turn men from the goodness of God. Amen. And how deep
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and how depraved and effective is this blindness that this adversary of our soul employees
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against us. We need listen, please understand. I want you to turn
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your bibles, if you have your Bible, to the Gospel of John chapping
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up ten. This is only one of several instances, of course, that's
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clearly demonstrated, Amen, during the ministry of Jesus. Amen. And I'm
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sure there are many many other encounters, perhaps that were not recorded in the
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gospels. But this just goes to show you. I'm gonna give you an
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example of this, shows shows you how deep and how depraved, Amen,
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this blindness is that the enemy so successfully a man uses to a blind man
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from the goodness of God. And again, we don't have to look any
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further, any further than how Jesus was received by the very people who not
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only were in power, but who were supposedly living in expectation of his messiahship
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looking for him. And so let's look at one of these encounters. In
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the Gospel of John, chapter number ten. The Bible tells us in verse
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twenty two, it was the feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was
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in the winter time Verse twenty three, and Jesus walked in the temple in
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Solomon's porch, and so the Jews surrounded him and said to him, how
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listen to this question? How long do you keep us in doubt? Now
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they are basically accusing Jesus of obscuring himself, obscuring his ministry, obscuring who
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he was, causing them to not have an understand, causing them to be
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blinded as it were, causing them to be confused, causing them to have
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doubt. A man, listen, God is not the author of confusion.
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I mean everything that Jesus, a man, demonstrated to them very clearly,
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was a man without any question, attesting to his divinity. And even Nicodemus,
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who was one of those who was in that upper echelone, if you
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will, of those who were educated, and one of those who was on
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the Sanhedrin council, a man, he came to Jesus, as you know
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in John chapter three, by night and say we know that you are a
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teacher. Come from God, because no one can do these miracles that you
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were doing except God be with him. And you can see again throughout the
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gospels when Jesus performed all kinds of miracles of healing. And when he would
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do some of these things intention the league, I might add, on the
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Sabbath day, these who were hypocritical. Amen, they they they, they
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saw Jesus as one who was breaking the law, breaking the Sabbath. When
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they themselves, Jesus pointed out, would pull their ots out of the ditch,
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or even take them out to uh water to water to feed them,
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whatever the case was. And and and and yet when Jesus would heal somebody,
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as a matter of fact, in some of those instances, Jesus didn't
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even do anything but speak a word. That's all he did. Spoke a
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word. Amen to the man who had the withered arm. I believe it
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was you stretch out, you stretch it out, stretch it out. Amen.
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With the daughter of Abraham, one of the daughters of Abraham, who
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was bent over, the woman that needed to be loose from her infirmity,
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I believe that healing happened and on the Sabbath day. But instead of seeing
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the goodness of God, they were blinded. They were blinded from seeing it.
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Amen. Their eyes were closed because again of the hardness of the heart.
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Of man. And so you had all of these different, differing and
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I mean provocative kind of encounters that Jesus had with these people, a man
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who again should have known, they didn't know the time of their visitation.
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And again what he was doing was unmistakably divine in origin from God of God.
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Amen. So now I want to just show you again another one of
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these encounters where it is mostly verbal back and forth with these people throughout the
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Gospel of John chapter ten. Here, but let's go down again to verse
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twenty four. The Bible tells us while Jesus was walking in the temple in
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Solomon's porch, the Jews came and surrounded him and said to him, how
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long do you make us doubt if you are the Christ? Tell us plainly
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verse twenty five. So Jesus answered them, I told you, and you
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do not believe. Excuse me. I told you who I am. But
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your problem, excuse me, Your problem is unbelief. The works that I
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do in my father's name, excuse me, excuse me. Oh, I
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need a cough button here. Amen. The works Jesus said that I do
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in my father's name, they bear witness of me. Well, listen to
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what Jesus says verse twenty six, twenty six. Excuse me again. I'm
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sorry, but you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep.
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As I said to you verse twenty seven. My sheep hear my voice,
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and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them
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eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out
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of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is
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greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my
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father's hand. All listen to this verse thirty Jesus says, I and my
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Father are one. Then the Jews the Bible says, took up stones again
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to stone Jesus. But verse thirty two tells us Jesus as at them.
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Listen what he says. Many good works I have shown you from my father.
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You've seen all of these miracles, signs, wonders. You know who
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I am. You know from whence I am? He said this on You
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both know me, he said, And you know from whence I am?
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You know this? Amen, So many good works, all of this goodness
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that you're seeing, all of this goodness that is on display, all of
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these people that have been healed, the multitudes blinded eyes open, Amen,
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infirmities and uh that that that people have been suffering with for for decades,
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and and and and all kinds of uh of of of of of heal healings
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of illnesses and all the things, and even the raising of the dead.
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So that at that particular time I believed two individuals. I think the raising
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of Lazarus jet to calm, of course, but people were even being raised
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from the dead. There wasn't a good thing that Jesus did for that widow
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woman who had lost her son, Amen, and he was the only hope
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that she had. Amen. And Jesus raised that young man from the dead.
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Was that not a good thing? Then? Did I see the goodness
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of God? And that when the people were again being healed, laying people
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that it couldn't walk and never walked. Amen, being healed not good?
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You don't see the goodness of God? What do you see? What do
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you see? I mean? Well, I tell you what they saw that
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They saw their power evaporating. They saw the people following Jesus. They first,
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first of all, they came uh to John the Baptists at his baptism
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when he was baptizing people. And they were envious of the crowds and all
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the people flocking to John to be baptized and hearing the message of repentance,
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for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and so on and so on.
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So John the Baptists, So listen, you brood of vipers, who
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hath warned you to flee from the rap to com bring forth works meet for
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repentance, repentance, repentance. Listen again. It's the goodness of God that
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brings forth, brings us to repentance, aymen. But if you you're blinded
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to the goodness, you'll never come to repentance. And that's why Jesus told
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them the same people that you are of your father the devil, because he
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said, my sheep hear my voice, and a stranger, they will not
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follow many good works, Jesus says verse thirty two, I have shown you
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from my father. Now for which of these words do you stone me?
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Man? I did a whole series on these well, a lot of these
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questions that Jesus asked, man, what's these questions? Listen for which of
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these works? Choose one? Which of these works do you store? Are
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you stone in me because I raised people? Are you stone to me?
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Because I opened blinded eyes? Are you stone in me? Because I stretched
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out withered hands, made people hold and laying to walk the blind? What
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are you stone in me? For? Which one of these choose? Please
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pray? Tell me? Are you stone in me for? But they retorted
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to Jesus, of course verse thirty three, it's not for a good work
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that we stone you, oh really, they said, but for blasphemy,
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because you, being a man, make your self God. Again, these
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were people who should have known the time of their visitation. They had all
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of the oracles of God. They were teachers of the law, They were
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experts, as it were in the scriptures. And yet they did not see
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what their prophets had already told them was coming right down to the very day
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year, all of that given to them. When Jesus was coming, wise
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men from the east they came. We seen his star in the east.
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Where is he who is born king? Jesus didn't make himself God. Jesus
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didn't make himself king. He is the king. He was born the king.
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We don't make him lord. He is Lord. Amen. So,
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with the coming of their Messiah to save them from their blindness. It was
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their jealousy. It was their envy of Jesus. And Pilot even recognized that.
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You can read about that at the trial of Jesus. Amen. Pilot
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knew that they were envious of Jesus. Pilot recognized it, he saw it,
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he saw through it. Amen, this is what blinded them. Amen.
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Again, when you threaten people's power and the kingdom of God, make
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no mistake about it, is a threat to this world system. It is
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at odds with this world system. Amen. This world operates on evil and
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wickedness from the heart of man through the God of this world, the devil
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Satan. Amen. And and that's why Jesus said, my kingdom is not
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of this world. It's not of this world. Amen. And so Amen,
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there jealousy, they're envy of Jesus, Amen, uh and and and
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and their refusal, they just absolutely refuse to see the goodness of the Godhead
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that was embodied in him a man. And so in so doing they became
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blinder and even more hardened in their hearts. Because only please understand this,
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only the goodness of God, only the goodness of God, a man can
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overcome and dispel and defeat the evil that is again already in us from our
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youth. It's already in us, and the goodness of God is what overcomes
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it. A man in this world, Listen, we are living in the
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midst of the presence and potency of evil, a man that is real,
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that is at work, and we can see it. Amen. But nevertheless,
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please understand. I'm almost almost finished here those who have been led to
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repentance and salvation in Christ Jesus, Listen, please understand that we are not
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without strength. Amen. We're not without the omnipotent power of God working on
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our behalf to overcome any and all evil that is in this world. I
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love Psalm ninety one. He that dwells in the secret place of the Most
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High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty God is Psal forty six.
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Our refuge and strength, very present help in the time of trouble, and
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when the time of evil comes, Amen, Psalm twenty seven. I'm gonna
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close with this. The Lord is my Light Verse one and salvation. Whom
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shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom
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shall I be afraid? When the wicked that means evil, bad sin,
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dastardly deeds, you name it. When the wicked, the salmon says,
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came against me, to eat up my flesh. Amen, my enemies and
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folds, he said, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp
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against me, my heart shall not fear. The war may rise against me.
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And this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the
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Lord? He says, that will I seek that I may dwell in the
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house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold
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the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in
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the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion when evil,
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When evil comes again, back to some ninety one, I'm just one second.
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There shall no evil befall you. Neither shall any plague come nigh your
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dwelling. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you. The
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Bible says, in all your ways, who thank you Lord, Amen.
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I love the promises of God. Amen. I love the power and the
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potency of God and man. We have protection. If you are in Christ
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Jesus, Amen, if you're in the Church of the Living God, if
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you've been born again of the water and the spirit the Holy Ghost in you.
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Amen, God is your protection, God is your shelter. Amen.
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In the time of trouble verse five, he shall hide me in his pavilion,
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in the secret place of his tabernacle, he shall hide me. He
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shall set me high upon a rock. Let me skip down to verse number
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eleven. This is what he says. The sum is asked of the Lord.
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Teach me your way, oh Lord, and lead me in a smooth
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path, because of my enemies, enemies that mean me no good. So
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he says, do not deliver me over to the will of my adversaries.
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And your number one adversary, by the way, is Satan himself. The
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Bible says, I remind you what Paul teaches in the Book of Ephesians.
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I believe that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities
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and power, spiritual wickedness in high places. And we have to put on
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the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil
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day. Now, how is it that we're going to stand? It has
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to be the goodness of God. It's only the goodness of God again that
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overcomes evil. Where sin abounds. Grace, which is a good thing that
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comes from God. Oh, and thank God for grace. It is the
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goodness of God. Where sin abound, grace much more abounds. Amen.
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And people, ladies and gentlemen, many women throughout history who have done all
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kinds of evil. David, by the way, was one of them who
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did evil, and God called it evil what he did in taking a man's
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wife. First of all, he lusted after he already had, He had
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already had wives. He lusted after her, he said for her, he
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was told Bathsheba was married. He committed adultery with her anyway, and then
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tried to cover up his sins. No, Bob said, when you seek
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to cover up your sins, it will not prosper. And listen, David
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himself, in his Psalm of repentance, I believe some fifty one a man
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are referring to this whole sad saga, a man. He himself called it
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for what it was, evil. I did this evil in your sight against
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THEE and THEE. Only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight?
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Amen. So he asks of the Lord verse eleven, and go back
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to some number twenty seven. Here, teach me your way Old God and
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lead me in a smooth path because of my enemies. Do not deliver me
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to the will of my adversaries. For false witnesses have risen against me,
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and such as breathe out violence, cruelty. I would have lost heart.
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Oh I love this, watch it. Listen, listen what he says.
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I would have lost heart. The King James says, I would have feinted.
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I would have given up. I would have I would have thrown in
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the towel. Unless listen what he's Unless I had believed to see the goodness
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of the Lord in the Land of the living. He said, I would
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have fainted. I would have given up had it not been for the goodness
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of the Lord in the land of the living. That's what we need.
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That's what we gotta have, oh, people of God. No matter how
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horrible things may be in this world. And Jesus told us evil men and
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seducers are going to get worse and worse. Deceiving and being deceived. It's
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going to happen. But do not lose art. See the goodness of the
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Lord. Believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
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Living. And then he says, wait, on the Lord and be of
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good courage, and he will strengthen your heart. He says, Wait,
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I say on the Lord, Father, help us to see the goodness of
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God, even in a world where the devil, the adversary, the enemy,
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seeks to blind us from all of your goodness. God, you are
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good, You are merciful, You are gracious, long suffering, compassion.
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Lord, your compassions does not fail. Amen, new mercies we have every
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morning. Your faithfulness is great because you are good. Amen. It's not
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your will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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Lord, we thank you for you this day, will again and pray for
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every listening ear and every obedient heart be glorified, be magnified in all that
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we say and do. It's in the name of Jesus we praying your things
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for all things. Amen, and Amen. Give me the question.