Justin Peters - Cultic Doctrines, Pagan Practices, And False Prophets

okay dear ones now as i get started here i want to say that uh on the outset that probably some of what i teach tonight it may go against the grain of some things that maybe you have believed for many many years and maybe goes against some of the things that you have believed to be true i want to tell you that my purpose here tonight is not to intentionally hurt anyone's feelings or step on anyone's toes not at all this pledge i give to you i promise you that everything i teach you tonight i'll be teaching from my very best understanding of god's word and for all of us the word of god must be the final authority not in things that we have believed to be true but may not be not even in experiences that we think we may have had we've got to bend our knee to the authority of god's word okay all right so let us begin in order to understand a movement it really helps to understand at least some of the basics of the origin of a movement so where did the prosperity gospel begin this belief that it is always god's will to be wealthy it's always god's will for a christian to be physically healed we should never be sick or if we do get sick physical healing is guaranteed provided that we have enough faith provided that we sow a seed into some preacher's ministry so we can reap a harvest if you ever hear a preacher say sow a seed into my ministry so you can reap a harvest run like the wind you know you're dealing with a false teacher so where did this movement begin it began with a man named phineas parkhurst quimby we could call quimby the great grandfather of the word faith movement quimby was the father of a metaphysical cult known as new thought and new thought essentially held that whatever you think about you will attract to yourself so if you think positive happy thoughts your positive happy thoughts will go out into the ether somewhere and they will enact universal laws of attraction and the universe will bring positive happy things to you conversely if you think negative thoughts then your negative thoughts will go out into the ether and then the universe will bring negative things to you this is also known as the law of attraction more commonly known as the secret that oprah winfrey has been promoting very heavily for the last 15 years or so he was a student of occultism hypnosis and parapsychology and his theoretical formulation served as the basis for what is today known as christian science you've probably heard of christian science mary baker eddy was a student of quimby's and she took his teachings developed them a bit further and from that formed what is today known as christian science christian science is very poorly named by the way because christian science is neither christian nor is it scientific kind of like grape nuts you know they're [Music] they're not grape and they're not nuts christian science is not christian and it's not scientific but there are a lot of christian science overtones in the modern health and wealth naming and claimant gospel one of which is the denial of physical symptoms when it comes to sickness and disease if you have a friend or a family member who is involved in this movement to one degree or another you might notice that if they get sick they deny that they're sick maybe they've got a cold you know their their eyes are watering their nose is running they're congested they've got a fever they're coughing sneezing the whole whole nine yards uh obvious that they're sick but if you were to ask them well how are you feeling oh i'm fine you know they won't confess that because if they confess that they're sick then that negative confessions will bring all of that into an entrenched reality so this is basically new thought thinking christian science give you a modern example of this watch this video clip from andrew wommack head of keras bible college it's not really a bible college but that's what they call it if you are reaping sickness it's because you've thought sickness it may not be that you've thought all right i want to be sick but you've thought things that allow sickness to dominate you such things as well i'm only human i'm just a man it's flu season i gotta get sick because it's flu season you may not have sat there and thought i want the flu but you've thought things that made you inferior to flu and that made you only human you were denying and not focused on who you are in christ that no plague will come nigh your dwelling and you have thought things that made you susceptible to satan stealing your health so if you are sick it's because you've been thinking sick thoughts well this is christian science okay and this is what is being taught in the health and wealth prosperity gospel when you watch tbn or day star or lucille broadcasting or the word network prosperity theology is maybe not a hundred percent of what you see on these quote-unquote christian networks but it is the vast vast majority of it i would say easily upwards of 95 percent of what you see on tbn and daystar and these other networks is this health and wealth name and claimant prosperity gospel so when you watch that know that what you're watching is not christian it is cultic doctrine cultic theology that has been wrapped in some christian lingo to make it appear to be christian when it in fact is not i want us to look at some of the doctrines of the word faith movement and we'll begin by looking at the doctrine known as positive confession what you speak you will bring into reality your words have created power in and of themselves watch these clips look at me say say all of you say there's power in me to speak life and death you call what you have you say what you want and i'm here to tell you i know that i know that i know that as these programs are airing i am speaking something into existence amen i'm speaking something into existence if that sounds eerily like god's act of creation in genesis 1 and 2 that's because it is dear friends only god can speak things into existence that is an ability that only god has but they blur that line between god the creator and us his created they demote god to make him look human and then in turn they deify man and they make us look like god now in case you think i'm taking them out of context and you're thinking oh well they don't they don't really teach that we can speak things into existence just like god did i mean they don't actually teach that do they yes they do this is a tweet from creflo dollar creflo dollar undoubtedly is the most aptly named of the prosperity preachers creflo dollar says this as spiritual beings who possess the nature of god we have the ability to speak things into existence just like god did so yes they do teach this yes they do dear friends the word for create in hebrew the the word for create out of nothing is bara and only god baraz that is something that only god can do how powerful are our words well so powerful that if you don't like the weather well then you can just change it watch this from gloria copeland you know you're the you're supposed to control the weather i mean ken's the primary weatherman at our house but when he's not there i do it he can see what's happening out there shows just like they have on at the weather like on the news i mean he's got the computers got the current weather on it and all that for flying so sometimes i'll hear something i'll hear the thunder start maybe he'll still be asleep and i'll say ken you need to do something about this and knowing that but you are the one that has authority over the weather one day ken and pat boone we were in hawaii at their house and we were they were sitting outside and there was a weather spout out over the ocean and that's like a tornado except it hits the water and so they were sitting there and they just watched it rebuked it it never did anything one day i was in the airplane in the back and my little brother was in the back with me and ken was up front flying and we were not in the weather because we don't fly bad weather but we we could see the weather over here and i looked out the window and that tornado came down just like this down toward the ground and ken said i rebuke you in the name of jesus you get back up there so this is how i learned how to talk to tornadoes i saw this and that tornado went even while i was watching him my little brother was not a devout christian at that time and that was really good for him to see so you're the weatherman you get out there or the weather woman whichever it is and you talk to that thing and you tell it you're not coming here i command you to dissipate and you get back up there in jesus name glory to god that that i won't charge you extra now that does not even really deserve or need a comment but a couple things did you notice how she says we can control the weather but we don't fly in bad weather why not i mean if you can control the weather fly through whatever you want to fly through just talk to it before you get there you know you know so honestly just a little common sense goes a long way in clearing a lot of this stuff up aside from the theology just a little common sense but dear friends there is only one who is in control of the weather you might remember the account in luke's gospel of the angel giving the announcement to elizabeth and her husband zachariah that they were going to have a baby right but they were older advanced in years past the childbearing stage of life and so when zechariah heard about this he kind of questioned it right he scoffed at it a little bit what what did god do in response to zachariah's questioning what did he do closed his mouth right made him a mute for a very interesting take on why god closed zechariah's mouth this from joel osteen joel osteen says this why did god take away his speech it's because god knew that zachariah's negative words would cancel out his plan see god knows the power of our words he knows that we prophesy our future and he knew zechariah's on negative words would stop his plan wow so according to joel osteen god was up in heaven looking down and he saw zechariah making negative confessions and god just went into a panic oh my goodness you know what am i ever going to do i wasn't counting on this and so in a last-ditch effort to save his plan of redemption god had to reach down and close zachariah's mouth and make him a mute boy that was a close one unbelievable unbelievable no concept of the sovereignty of god none absolutely not the god little g god of the prosperity gospel is a very weak very effeminate very indecisive god and it is not the god of the bible it's not the god of the bible foundational to the health and wealth gospel is their teaching that we are in fact little gods they teach that if you are a christian you are a little god watch this from creflo dollar now in verse 26 and verse 27 god now submits himself to this principle of everything producing after its own kind and in verse 26 and 27 let's read it out loud ready read and god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god created he him male and female created heed them now that's interesting because if everything produces after its own kind we now see god producing man and if god now produces man and everything produces after his own kind if horses get together they produce what and if dogs get together they produce what if cats get together they produce what but if the godhead gets together and say let us [Applause] make man then what are they producing they're producing gods now i got to hit this thing real hard in the very beginning because i ain't got time to go through all this but i'm going to say to you right now you are gods little g you are gods because you came from god and you are gods you're not just human the only human part about you is this physical body that you live in the real me is just like god the real me is just like god blasphemy blasphemy dear friends when the bible says that god created man in his image that means that as human beings you and i are the pinnacle of his creation we are the pinnacle of his creation and we have the potential and the capacity through a saving relationship with jesus christ to know god none of the other created order has that privilege and ability the bible is very clear that there is only one god and he is a jealous god who will not share his glory with another and if i remember my bible correctly wasn't the desire to be just like god kind of what led to the whole fall thing in the first place isn't that ironic the very first temptation which led to the very first sin the desire to be just like god is what led this whole fallen state in the first place who else wanted to be just like god satan did he wanted the worship that god was getting for himself and he rose up in rebellion against god and it got him and a third of the angels along with him kicked out of heaven so this little god's doctrine is quite literally quite literally a doctrine of demons and yet the prosperity preachers teach it as truth they want you to believe it the very thing that led to the whole fallen state in the first place how ironic how ironic but you see this little god's doctrine is why they hold so tenaciously to health and wealth because we're gods and a god cannot be poor in a god certainly cannot be sick so many people think that this movement is just about oh it's just about health and wealth and rolex watches and private jets and that kind of stuff and getting slain in the spirit that no that's just some of the bad low-hanging fruit off of a rotten theological tree a tree that is rotten and dead at its core but the allure of health and wealth is what makes this movement so appealing and yet so profoundly dangerous at the same time because the prosperity gospel says come to jesus because he'll make you rich and he'll heal your body they appeal to two of the most basic and universal of all human desires most people want to be rich and very very few people enjoy being sick there's a few folks out there the hypochondriacs i guess that just like the attention that comes with being sick but most of us if we had our preferences right we'd rather not be sick and so the prosperity gospel says come to jesus and you can have it if you'll become a christian if you'll quote unquote ask jesus into your heart to use that kind of lingo god will make you rich and he'll heal your body so you're telling me if if i if i ask jesus into my heart if i become a christian then god will make me rich and i'll never be sick again sign me up man you know i i like that jesus you got two of them i'll take them both but is that the real gospel or is the real gospel something a little bit more like this come to jesus because you're a sinner and because of your sin the righteous wrath of god abides on you and the only way to have that wrath removed is to repent of sin turn from sin and place your trust in the finished work of jesus christ on the cross and then you all have heaven you'll have heaven but on this earth we're not promised money we're not promised healing what are we promised we're promised persecution what does paul say in second timothy chapter 3 some of those who live godly in christ jesus may be persecuted is that what he says all who live godly in christ jesus will be persecuted that's just not as popular you see it's saying come to jesus because you can be rich you won't have to be sick anymore friends if you've come to jesus for those reasons you've come for the wrong reasons you have trusted a false jesus in a false gospel in a different gospel does not save does not save now i am going very very quickly through this i'm just hitting a few of the high points uh watch this from benny hen and miles monroe pastor we get the mind of god about his will we pray it when we pray we give him legal right to perform it yes let me define prayer for you in this show prayer is man giving god permission or license to interfere in earth's affairs in other words prayer is earthly license for heavenly interference that's incredible that is incredible god could do nothing on earth nothing has god ever done on earth without a human giving him access so he's always looking for that somebody always looking for a human to give him power permission in other words god has the power but you get the permission god got the authority and the power but you got the license so even though god could do anything he can only do what you permit him to do god can only do what we permit him to do dear friends i would submit to you tonight that god can do whatever he jolly well wants to do and is not terribly concerned about whether he has our permission to do it now don't take my word for it let's go to the text psalm 115 verse 3 our god is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases do you know i actually had a word of faith person though look at that verse because i showed it to him because he was saying that god has to have our permission so i i opened up the bible literally i had it and i opened it up to him i had him read that verse and he says oh well that just means that god can do whatever he wants to do in heaven not on earth if he wants to do something on the earth then he has to have our our permission whatever the lord pleases he does in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all of the deeps oops friends god can do whatever he wants to do and is not losing a great deal of sleep over whether or not he has our permission to do it watch this from jesse duplantis friends have frank and open conversations with each other i've done that with the lord i've had the lord say uh jesse i've had god come tell me say this is what i'm going to do i've had the lord said what do you think about this god has asked me for my opinion god asks jesse duplantis for his opinion do tell now i don't want to take him out of context so let's let mr duplantis finish his thought i said well lord since you asked maybe i'm doing he said no we can talk frankly what do you think i said well i don't think you ought to do that he said why you don't think i want to do that i said well you know i know you know people more than i do but you know lord if you just let me let me do a little bit more work on this individual i think we can get them to you he says okay go ahead do what you have to do and i tell you what the bible said he who wins souls is wise and he who thinks he can counsel god is a fool who has directed the spirit of the lord or as his counselor has informed him with whom did he consult and who gave him understanding well i guess it was jesse duplantis you see the just the unimaginable unimaginable arrogance of these people watch this video clip from larry huck and paula white we really begin to understand that that when jesus christ paid the price the first thing that happened after he said it is finished is the veil was rent from top to bottom signifying that no man could do that but the price that was paid was there's now no separation so that we have direct access in the holy of holies we understand according to hebrews that jesus is our high priest absolutely and he's the first of many brethren which means i now come into a priestly anointing so i now can say that again because they don't get it i now come into a priestly anointing jesus is not the only begotten son of god he is not i am a son of a he's the first fruit you're this he's the first fruits he's the first born of many jesus is not the only begotten son of god can you believe that flat out denying that jesus is the only begotten son of god have they read john 3 16. friends this is shocking you know we're we're not talking here about who you think wrote the book of hebrews we're not talking about you know whether you're pre-trib or mid-trib and your eschatology or something like that these issues go to the heart of the gospel what one believes about jesus will determine where one spends eternity now about to show you a video clip from a man named seth dahl that's probably not a name with which you're familiar seth doll is on staff at bethel church in reading california new apostolic reformation bethel music wildly popular churches all around the world sing bethel music bethel hillsong these churches are word of faith prosperity gospel preaching false churches um watch this from seth dahl now what you're about to see is not something that slipped by the production people editors you'll notice that this clip is going to begin with their logo and their music what you're about to see they're proud of they use it in their advertising watch this [Music] i had i had a pastor say some things that hurt me really bad hurt me so bad messed me up emotionally mentally really messed me up nothing physical nothing like that a a pastor i i really respected said some words and hurt me so bad and one time i was laying on the floor actually it was in this room i'm laying on the floor and in in a vision in an encounter with god in a vision jesus picks me up and holds me so close that i can't see anything and he holds me so close and jesus starts to weep and he says please forgive me please forgive me i said what are you talking about please forgive you he said when that pastor hurt you it's as if i hurt you because he's a member of my body please forgive me sometimes blasphemy is just not strong enough a word the very notion that the thrice holy son of god would come to a sinful vile rebel against him and ask that creature for forgiveness blasphemy blasphemy that is that is shocking know when you sing bethel music or you know yo song that's that's the kind this is the kind of churches that that stuff's coming out of that is that is blasphemy utter blasphemy one of the great ironies in this movement is that the people in this movement would look at someone like me many of us here this church the church's doctrinal position and uh now we are and i am a what's called a cessationist as a cessationist uh i firmly affirm that the gifts of teaching administration giving gift of hospitality gift of mercy all of these gifts are very much operative in the church today i simply believe that the apostolic gifts the sign gifts of tongues interpretation of tongues miracles and the gift of physical healing are no longer operative in the church today and that's a whole other discussion i wish we could explore but those are apostolic gifts there are no more apostles today so you can't have apostolic gifts with no apostles to perform them now i believe that god still physically heals people today but only when it's his sovereign will to do so that's not the same thing as saying that someone possesses the gift of healing two totally different things apples and oranges but anyway these folks would look at someone like me and many of us here and the doctrine position of this church and they would say you don't believe in the holy spirit you don't believe in the power of the holy spirit on contrary as a cessationist i am so confident in the power of the person of the holy spirit of god that i do not believe that someone can be indwelt by him and utter these kinds of blasphemies the holy spirit is not a weakling if he is strong enough to save us he is strong enough to deliver us out of deception and if these people truly were indwelt by the holy spirit of god then the first time they uttered one of these blasphemies the holy spirit of god would drop them to their knees under such heavy conviction and yet they teach these things with reckless abandon with apparently no prick of conscience whatsoever they've been doing it for years some of them for decades they've been called to repent and yet they remain unrepentant and so it is the great irony that is these folks who have a very small low diminished view of the holy spirit i do not believe that the holy spirit is that weak now i want us to turn a little bit of a corner and look at some of the manifestations of the charismatic movement now give you a little quiz your college students so you're you're used to this little pop quiz which theological group does the following which group do you automatically think of when you see these behaviors erratic jerking and shaking uncontrollable laughter they get slain in the spirit they fall over backwards when the religious man touches them on the head they prophesy they claim physical healings and they speak in tongues which group do you automatically think of when you see these behaviors pentecostal charismatic right hindus hindus does that surprise you there is a subset within hinduism known as kundalini and people in hindu kundalini exhibit the exact same behaviors that charismatics do you can take video clips of people in hindu kundalini put them side by side video clips of hindu excuse me of charismatics and you literally cannot tell the difference they look exactly alike in fact they speak in tongues in exactly the same way that charismatics do in the exact same way so what does that tell us that tells us that just because someone is exhibiting one or more of these behaviors is not necessarily an indication that that ability is coming from god pagans do it too and they do it in the exact same way dear friends we cannot interpret the bible by what we experience lots of people have experiences and i don't doubt that many of these people are having real experiences the question is is what is the source of these experiences we cannot interpret the bible by what we experience we must interpret our experiences by the bible okay no matter how real an experience may seem to us if that experience does not plumb with the word of god then we have done what paul said not to do in first corinthians chapter 4 verse 6 he says do not exceed what is written when we exceed what is written when we exceed biblical parameters we are opening ourselves up to demonic influence and demonic suggestion and let me say this too and i know this is probably gonna raise some some eyebrows uh i i'm not uh i'm not saying that charismatic if you're charismatic you're lost i'm not saying that at all what i am saying is that no matter what you experience make sure it make sure it's grounded in this book make sure it's grounded in the word of god and i've heard a lot of people say for example in dealing with the gift of tongues well the gift of tongues is something that i use in my own private worship with god my own private prayer clause it's just something between me and the lord it's just the language that i pray to god a couple of points to be made about that number one the real gift of tongues was not speaking in unintelligible ecstatic gibberish the real gift of tongues the real gift of languages was speaking in a known foreign language in fact read acts chapter 2 those men in the day of pentecost began to speak in different languages and the languages are even listed there there's about 16 different languages that are listed there so it's not unintelligible ecstatic gibberish that's a pagan practice it would be like me all of a sudden speaking fluent swahili it's a known language it's just not known to me okay and the gift of tongues was also the purpose of it was a sign of god's judgment against unbelieving israel it's not what we see in the charismatic movement today but for people who say that uh it's it's something between me and the lord i use in my own private prayer time and i know people are very sincere when they say that don't doubt that but here's the question i would have for what purpose does the holy spirit give spiritual gifts generally speaking what are they for what do they do anybody what are holy what are the spiritual gifts do somebody here knows right right edification of the church building up of the body right they are not for our own private use they're not for our own private use if you have the gift of mercy as your primary spiritual gift do you go into your private prayer closet and just show yourself mercy you know no we laugh at that right because it's ridiculous so why do we carve out an exception for the gift of tongues no spiritual gifts are given for the edification of the body not for our own private use okay uh divine revelation knowledge i'm going to have to go through this very very quickly you hear a lot of these folks say well god spoke to me god spoke to me and he told me to tell you do such and such pastor god spoke to me and told me to tell you that our church needs to go this direction have you ever heard someone say you hear a lot of people say this well god spoke to me i heard god say this that god told me to say this god spoke to me have you ever heard people say this and it makes you wonder what's wrong with me you know i don't hear god speak to me like that is there something wrong with me or do these people have a closer walk with god than i do is am i not as spiritual as they are am i not even saved if that has vexed you before i hope that this will be of help to you how does god speak to us today now i have a whole hour-long teaching on this one question but dear friends if god is still speaking today in a direct quotable sense outside of scripture when you hear people say god spoke to me and he said quote da da da da then whatever he says should be just as authoritative as anything in this book because god cannot speak less authoritatively on one occasion than he does on another if god is speaking god is speaking and so whatever he says we should add to this book it should have just as much authority as john 3 16 or romans 10 8 9 whatever so but there's just one problem with that this book says do not add to this book so how does god speak to us today well let's look at the text hebrews chapter 1 god after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world the writer of hebrews says that in the in the old testament god spoke in a lot of different ways indeed he did he spoke to moses through a burning bush in a storm and thunder up on the mountain he spoke to elijah through a still small voice you heard people say that well you listen for the still small voice the still small voice dear friends is taken from first kings chapter 19. elijah heard it and you read that passage it was not some inner impression inside his head it was not an internal voice it was an external voice he was in a cave he heard the still small voice and it says that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out to the entrance of the cave to hear the voice the voice was outside external not internal so can we please do away with the whole still small voice thing it was external to elijah not not internal but god did indeed speak in many different portions in many different ways but in these last days says the writer of hebrews he has spoken to us in his son friends jesus is the final speaking of god the final speaking of god everything that god has to say to us he has said in his son jesus christ and we have a perfect inerrant infallible all-sufficient record of that in his word jesus is the final speaking of god if you want to hear god speak to you there is one way i guarantee you you will hear god speak read your bible if you want to hear god speak to you audibly read it out loud 100 guaranteed you will hear him speak god's word is not only inerrant it's not only infallible it is sufficient for us it is everything that we need pertaining to life and godliness everything that we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the lord jesus christ okay now i want to say something real quickly about divine physical healing all of the faith preachers teach that it is always god's will for us to be physically healed as long as you have enough faith god will heal you if you are sick watch this from bill johnson bethel church watch this but kingdom culture is is how heaven functions and when we pray this prayer on earth as as it is in heaven it's not just a prayer about eternity it's actually a prayer for right now it's god's intention right now to influence my circle of influence with a manifestation of his presence in such a way that it mirrors heaven that means there's no cancer there there's not to be cancer here so when we pray for someone to be healed we do it based on the example given us in that prayer there's none there there's not to be any here so bill johnson says when we pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven then because there's no cancer in heaven there should be no cancer on earth i might point out a couple of things bill johnson is married there's no marriage in heaven but there is here on earth you see how quickly his logic breakdown breaks down uh i might point something else out what has he got on his face eyeglasses there's no eyeglasses in heaven either dear friends never trust a faith healer who's wearing eyeglasses they all teach that physical healing is provided for in the atonement the atonement that that's the word that we give to what jesus did on the cross for us and they say well they all appeal to isaiah 53 4-5 by his stripes we are healed but when you look at isaiah 53 4 and 5 by his stripes we are healed the context of that is healing from sin not sickness and disease read isaiah chapter 53 the whole thing is talking about sin transgression he bore the sins of many the whole thing is talking about sin not cancer or arthritis so is physical healing provided for in the atonement might surprise you with the answer yes it is the reason that i'm crippled the reason i'm in this wheelchair and i walk on crutches is because of sin not my personal sin but the sin of adam and eve when adam and eve ate of that fruit whatever that fruit was we don't know that it was an apple could have been a pomegranate or a banana for all we know but when they when they ate of that fruit sin entered the world so did sickness and disease and ultimately death physical and spiritual death so the reason that i'm crippled is because of sin the reason many of you are wearing eyeglasses right now it's because of sin not your personal sin but the sin of adam and eve next time you catch a cold you can blame adam and eve for that it's just one of the consequences of living in a fallen world so when jesus came and died on the cross he paid for our sins he also paid for all of the consequences of those sins one of which is sickness and disease so yes physical healing is provided for in the atonement but here's where the faith preachers get it very very wrong not all of the benefits of the atonement are promised to be fully realized this side of heaven okay some of the benefits of jesus atonement we will not realize until the other side of heaven and healing from sickness and disease is one of those benefits to give you another example of this a glorified body is also provided for in the atonement right raise your hand if you've got your glorified body nobody here tonight has a glorified body why not it's provided for in the atonement it's not promised to be realized here dear friends when i die and when all of us die who die in christ when we die and go to heaven we're not taking our sickness and disease with us no more cancer no more arthritis no more multiple sclerosis no more muscular dystrophy why because our healing has been provided for bought and paid for with the blood death and bodily resurrection of the lord jesus christ but to be real honest with you when i die and go to heaven i don't think it's even going to cross my mind that i no longer have my crutches my cerebral palsy i don't think i'm even going to give a second thought why because i'm going to have better things to think about friends i'll be in the presence of christ you and i all of us who die in christ we will be in his presence for all of eternity we will be in awe of him of his splendor of his majesty of his beauty of his holiness jesus is the joy in the glory of heaven he is who makes heaven heaven turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory in grace he is the joy and the glory of heaven what of the biblical record can we look through the bible and find examples of faithful servants of god who were sick and were not healed absolutely trophimous was left sick at melitus epaphroditus was sick to the point of death the apostle paul encouraged timothy to take a little wine for his stomach in his frequent ailments job job is the 800 pound theological gorilla sitting in the living room of the prosperity preachers none of whom want to admit is there job's problem for the prosperity gospel because here you have a man who is upright and righteous walked with the lord and yet god allowed satan to come and strike from job everything that he had his possessions destroyed his family dead his own health deteriorated horrifically so job's a problem for the prosperity preachers the apostle paul himself and i don't even go to the thorn in the flesh second corinthians chapter 12. flip over to galatians chapter 4 verse 13. paul says but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that i came and preached the gospel to you the first time and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise nor loathe but you receive me as an angel of god even as christ jesus himself the apostle paul difference this is the apostle paul this is the man who wrote roughly a third of the new testament and he flat out says that he had a bodily illness he was sick and i actually heard kenneth copeland one time he said that the reason paul was not healed is because he didn't have enough faith what a thing to say the man who wrote a third of the new testament didn't have enough faith to be healed is faith required for us to receive physical healing from god dear friends let me put it in these terms if you are here tonight and you know jesus christ as savior and lord don't let anybody tell you that you don't have enough faith to be healed if you have been granted the faith to be saved you have certainly got the faith to be healed because being saved is by far the greatest miracle the greatest miracle is not when the blind see it's not when the lame walk the greatest miracle is when the dead are raised and i'm not talking about physically dead i'm talking about spiritually dead when we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins raised to newness of life in christ when he makes us alive that is the greatest miracle when he takes out our heart of stone puts in a heart of flesh when he adopts us into his family by the merits of the lord jesus christ that is the greatest miracle if you've been granted the faith to be saved don't let anybody tell you that you don't have enough faith to be healed being saved is by far the greatest miracle and as i close i just want to close with the gospel has that miracle taken place in your life has there been a time in your life when you have been convicted by the holy spirit of god that you are a sinner that you have broken god's laws all of us have thou shalt not lie all of us have told lies the word of god says let man let god be true and that let every man be a liar every single one of us in here is told lies we're liars thou shalt not steal if you have take ever taken anything that does not belong to you the value of the item you may have taken is irrelevant if you've taken something that does not belong to you you're a thief thou shalt not commit adultery oh just i'm not even married don't let yourself off the hook too quickly jesus says if you look at a woman with lust you've committed adultery already in your heart if you've looked at another person with lust you're an adulterer we're liars thieves we're blasphemers we're adulterers at heart at least and just like when we break laws on earth there is a penalty to be paid how much more so when we break the laws of god but unlike breaking laws on earth where the penalty is temporal when we break god's laws the penalty is eternal because we have sinned against the eternal god and if we die in our sins we will very rightly and very justly go to a very real place that the bible calls hell the worm will not die the fire will not be quenched we will endure the wrath of god for all of eternity let's not soft petal hell do you know what the most terrifying thing about hell is god because he's there he's there in his mode of wrath read revelation chapter 14 9 10-11 those who are in the lake of fire says they will be tormented day and night in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb christ his wrath will be poured out actively for all of eternity people in hell are separated from god relationally there's no love exchange there's no fellowship between the condemned and god but judicially judicially they will be in the presence of god in his wrath for all of eternity it is an eternal punishment because we have sinned against one of eternal and infinite value that's the bad news that's what you deserve that's what i deserve that's what our sins have earned but there is good news and the good news of the gospel is this is that god loves you and god has made a way for you to escape his wrath he sent his son jesus christ to this earth and jesus lived as fully god fully man never broke any of god's laws he was he was the lamb without blemish perfect spotless in jesus the god-man willingly laid down his life on the cross his life was not taken he gave it and on the cross he bore the wrath of god the wrath that your sins and my sins have earned he bore god's wrath upon himself he drank in every last drop of god's wrath satisfied it died on the cross three days later bodily raised from the dead proving himself to be who he said he was god in human flesh and flesh in dear ones the only way to be saved is to repent of sin turn from sin and place your trust in the risen lord jesus christ how do i know if i've repented a lot of people think that repentance is something that they do it's just pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and they just kind of give it a good old college try to turn away from certain sins that's not repentance that's not repentance genuine repentance is in and of itself granted by god god grants repentance and repentance is a lot more than just changing your mind it's a lot you've heard that probably repentance is changing your mind that's what the word means well it is what the word means but when you look at it in context how the holy spirit of god uses that word in its proper context because he's the one who put it there there is there's a lot more than just intellectual changing your mind it does begin there but when god grants repentance our minds are changed but everything about us is changed our desires are changed our affections are changed paul says in second corinthians 13 to examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith ask yourself has there been a change in my life do i have a godly sorrow over sin what is a godly sorrow do you know the bible this is something that i wish preachers would preach about more often the bible speaks of two different kinds of sorrow over sin a worldly sorrow and a godly sorrow second corinthians chapter seven read it second corinthians seven paul says a worldly sorrow leads to death a godly sorrow leads to repentance unto salvation what is a worldly sorrow a worldly sorrow is nothing more than a guilty conscience a worldly sorrow is centered around ourselves a worldly sorrow says this what would happen to me if my sin were exposed what would be the consequences to me and so we try to cover up our sin not because we grieve over our sin but because we don't want the consequences of our sin but if we could get away with it you see if nobody else would know what i'm doing if nobody else would know what i look at on the computer on the television if nobody else would know what i'm doing with my girlfriend if i could get away with it nobody else would know i'd go right back to it because i love it that's a worldly sorrow and paul says a worldly sorrow leads to death eternal death but there's another kind of sorrow that is a godly sorrow a godly sorrow is a sorrow that is vertically oriented a godly sorrow is the kind of sorrow that david had in psalm chapter 51 when he cried out against you and you alone o lord have i sinned a godly sorrow comes when we are broken over our sin when we grieve over our sin because we understand as david did that our sin is against god and our sin grieves him god is so good so gracious so kind so merciful so patient with us so good to us and yet we sin against him and that grieves us because we understand that our sin grieves him that's a godly sorrow in a godly sorrow leads to repentance unto salvation i am not saying that a christian cannot sin christians can and do sin but here's the difference between a christian who sins in a lost person who sins when a lost person sins he enjoys it when a lost a lost person's when they sin they relish in it they relish their sin they love their sin they enjoy their sin when a christian sins it grieves him you see christians can and do stumble into sin but christians don't swim in it christians don't relish it they don't look for opportunities to sin when we as christians sin it grieves us does your sin grieve you has there been a change in your life do you have a godly sorrow over your sin do you love the lord jesus christ do you love his word do you love the brethren these are all evidences of of genuine repentance that god grants to his own examine yourself to see if you're in the faith and if you're not certain if you have truly repented over your sin i would encourage you cry out to god ask him to grant you repentance place your faith and trust in jesus christ not in yourself not in your works your works will profit you nothing but if you come to christ in a genuine godly sorrow over your sin he will save you you will pass from death to life jesus says the one who comes to me i will in no wise cast out you

Channel: The Gospel of Christ

Views: 291,669

Rating: 4.8677464 out of 5

Keywords: tgoc, the gospel of christ, jusin peters, clouds without waters, cultic doctrines, pagan practices, false prophets, prosperity gospel, joel osteen, keneth copeland, crefflo dollar, joyce meyer, steven furtic, jesus saves, the gospel saves

Id: xcgQVlj8kTs

Length: 60min 2sec (3602 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 09 2020