The Change we Need

[0:00] 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18.

[0:15] I'm talking about the change we need. The change we need. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18 it says, But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

[0:37] I'm going to talk about change today and the change we need. But firstly the change we don't need. Change was the election slogan of a man called Barack Obama.

[0:49] The theme of his message as he declared victory was change has come to America. He was elected by many with a desire to reinvent the nation and he has.

[1:03] Delirious crowds cheered him at his landmark victory in his hometown. As he said, it's been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this day, on this election, in this defining moment, change is coming to America.

[1:22] We could say likewise, change is coming to Australia. You wonder what changes he has brought in and what many politicians are bringing in.

[1:32] Many governments are changing things. Change. Change is happening. It's happening today. It's happening right across the globe and it's happening in our nation. Change. There is a change agenda.

[1:43] Change agents are shaping the planet that we're living on. And I put it to you that much of the change that is happening across society is not good.

[1:55] Change is happening in many areas that we're living on. In many areas that we're going to touch on. Areas of entertainment, education, morals. In areas of the home, youth and music.

[2:07] Just to name a few. Change. Change is happening. Change is happening across society. Really, it's a social transformation, a restructuring of society.

[2:18] Change is happening in the sphere of entertainment, for example. I read recently about the Roman Colosseum. And it was a premier entertainment venue and sports stadium of its day.

[2:37] It could seat 55,000 spectators. More than Adelaide Oval. And the government provided free bread and free entertainment for the masses. You know there was a sellout crowd you could say.

[2:50] Every time. Admission was free for the ancient Romans. And at first there were circus shows in the early days and such things. But then it grew ever more violent.

[3:01] Towards death and destruction. The crowds demanded more. More blood. More brutality. More lewdness.

[3:13] And it made the mob happy. And docile. And support their governor.

[3:25] And it gave him a handy means of getting rid of people too. The Christians. And those who didn't suit the emperor became the entertainment.

[3:38] Entertaining themselves to their death. And it's the same for people in our day today. Entertainment is changing. And television is changing us.

[3:49] It's training us. The information enters into our memory pool. And we subconsciously are getting saturated. Absorbing these messages from the tune.

[4:01] Without thinking. Change is happening. Across entertainment. And it's changing us. Inperceptibly so. And I was talking to a Christian family lately. Saying how they were making some determined efforts to shed some of that stuff.

[4:19] They could see the damage it was doing to their children. Change is happening in entertainment. And we're becoming so conditioned to accept it.

[4:30] And more desensitised to it. The Bible talks about the conscience. The conscience in 1 Timothy 4 verse 2. It tells how the conscience can be seared as if burnt with a hot iron.

[4:47] In Titus 1 verse 15 it says how the conscience can be defiled, made dirty. A seared conscience. Think about that. It's medically possible, I'm told, to be so burnt that you experience a lack of pain and sensitivity because the nerve endings have been destroyed.

[5:09] It's one of the symptoms of third degree burns. That you can be so burnt that you lose the sense of pain. Of sensitivity what's happening. And how do you get a full thickness third degree burn.

[5:23] It's caused among other things when the skin comes in contact with a hot object for an extended period of time. It builds up that callousness, that loss of sensitivity.

[5:35] The nerve endings are deadened. And friends today in our world we are becoming desensitised to evil. Desensitised by the regular exposure to it.

[5:50] So that our conscience has been seared with a hot iron. We are no longer sensitive to what God is prompting us of right and wrong.

[6:01] And modern entertainment today is saturated with these smutty, violent, anti-God messages and themes. And no wonder we see things like normal relationships, respect for law and order, the value of human life.

[6:19] We've lost that somehow. These things are disappearing, especially in the young. Because the people's addiction to entertainment is insatiable. And the entertainment media has become like a marketing machine for evil.

[6:34] And Australia is being seduced by it. By the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. The decadence, the debauchery is destroying us. There's a new Disney movie out.

[6:45] A new Disney movie out. And everyone's starting to rave about it. It's now showing. It's called Maleficent. Maleficent. Maleficent. Maleficent.

[6:56] And the prefix male, it means bad, harsh, wrong, ill, evil, abnormal, defected. Maleficent. Maleficent. Portrays a sorceress. An incarnation of pure evil.

[7:09] And the movie is full of dark themes and magic powers. Friends, we've come a long way since Sleeping Beauty. Very fun. This is what's going on.

[7:20] It's the remake of it of sorts. We see the themes are so evident. And there's another example called American Horror Story Coven.

[7:32] A primetime cable series that promotes some of the most violent, depraved and satanic imagery on television. And it's airing primetime in the US today.

[7:46] Ultimately, we'll get it, I'm sure. Hollywood is trying to portray the occult as cool. As something cool to the days, today's youth.

[7:58] To the movie goers. They're targeting the youth. Entertainment is changing and it's changing us. Change is happening in entertainment. I urge you, people of God, Christian parents, open your eyes and see what's going on.

[8:14] Beware the hold that entertainment can have on you. And think about it. And don't be desensitised. Be ever sensitive to God's Spirit.

[8:25] Day by day, do we stop and filter it? Do we stop and think about the source of it? Who do the movie stars serve?

[8:35] Many of them are outright devils. They're into the occult. And the media is becoming a partner in crime with those who pervert morality. The puppet masters that are shaping this world are the change agents that are behind these things.

[8:53] Change is happening in entertainment. Change is happening in education. In the education system. People used to think like Theodore Roosevelt said, To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

[9:09] Morality's been divorced from learning. Morality that at once it was that the Bible was the foundation, the truths of the Bible were the foundation of education.

[9:22] Not today. It's an education without morals. The missing key element. Where we see as God's people we know through conscience and through creation there's an essential moral truth.

[9:35] The Holy Scriptures are an authoritative revelation. We've lost that today. This is happening in Australia today. There's a deliberate dumbing down in terms of these things.

[9:47] Where people are being taught there are no absolutes. Judeo-Christian values are trashed. And we end up with a populace that's wandering around in mental and moral confusion.

[10:02] Governments should hang their heads in shame. Change is happening. Change is happening in terms of morals today.

[10:14] There's a shift going on. As lawmakers, movie makers, humanistic politicians are gradually shifting and changing things.

[10:28] And promoting a do your own thing kind of morality. Such that common values and common sense are out the window. The deviant is normalised.

[10:40] And the normal is being made deviant. And God warned of a society like this. A society like Sodom and Gomorrah in Isaiah 1 verses 2 to 10.

[10:54] Sick from head to toe. Right through. In Isaiah 5 verse 20 it says, Change is happening today friends.

[11:16] In the sphere of morals. I've heard it put that homosexual marriage isn't about rights. It's about perversion. And imposing perversion on the rest of society.

[11:28] And ultimately it's about the celebration of perversion as a society goes completely morally bankrupt. Before it collapses as other morally bankrupt civilisations have always collapsed before.

[11:43] We need to be aware of these things. And have our senses about us. About such things. People are promoting an increasingly new age world view.

[11:54] A secular humanism that says, It's right to do what's right in our own eyes. The problem is that atheism offers no authority to comprehensively define good and evil.

[12:07] So people are adopting a pagan mentality. That says there's no fixed truth. There's no final good. There's no ultimate meaning or purpose. That the living God is a primitive illusion.

[12:20] And atheism champions mysticism. Occult forces and powers. And the communion with nature and exotic religions. Anything goes. It's as if the only sin left in the Western world now is intolerance.

[12:36] Intolerance. That's the ultimate sin now. To actually tell the truth. It's the ultimate sin. That's what the world thinks today. And it's happened all before.

[12:47] Down through history. When we see the ancient civilizations. That have declined and collapsed. We're seeing that now in Western culture today. As it happened in ancient Egypt, Carthage, Greece and Rome.

[13:00] There's a book called When Nations Die. The author says the collapse of society began each time with a period of obvious moral decay.

[13:12] He goes on. Every one of the symptoms of decline. Lawlessness. Degenerate art and music. Overspending. Corruption. Declining religion, education and traditional values.

[13:24] Materialism. Abortion. Murder. Focus on self. Immorality. Divorce. Sexual perversion. He goes on. All of these are present in this nation today.

[13:35] He was speaking about the US of A. Another author laments of Britain. He says a once great civilization is on the edge of extinction and we have very little time to save it.

[13:49] That's a book called The Abolition of Britain. Change is happening and it's on a global scale people. It's happening and people are calling it progress. They're saying it's progress and it's cool to be progressive.

[14:05] It's the hip thing to be progressive. But our morality sounds much like Romans chapter 1. It's not a new thing. It's not really cool and trendy.

[14:17] It's back there in Romans chapter 1. When we see in part through verses 18 through 32. We see the wrath of God revealed from heaven against ungodliness, unrighteousness. They are without excuse.

[14:29] They glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful. They became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.

[14:41] Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. To dishonor their own bodies between themselves. God gave them up unto vile affections.

[14:52] For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one towards another. Men with men working that which is unseemly.

[15:05] And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. It goes on and on.

[15:16] Fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, malignity, evil. So many things there. Read it Romans 1. God gave them up.

[15:27] God gave them over. And they're without understanding. It talks about the judgment of God. That they which commit such things are worthy of death.

[15:39] They not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them. Why did we watch that junk? Doesn't that sound like a modern movie?

[15:50] People have got it. People have got it. Here's what someone wrote of America. It's called America's Fall, the modern day Roman Empire.

[16:03] He was talking about Romans chapter 1. Indeed there is nothing new under the sun, sexual immorality, sexual impurity in all its ugly forms. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography et al.

[16:16] is celebrated by these progressive fools. American culture reveals in the degrading of our bodies, while purity is mocked.

[16:27] God has given them over to sinful desires. And God's due penalty is non-discriminating. America's official endorsement of gay marriage, gay pride, homosexual indoctrination in our schools, transgender bathroom bills and bans on counselling to help with unwanted same-sex attraction will not end well, ask the Romans.

[16:51] And he concludes, we have arrived. Shame on you America. Our children, our adults are depraved. They are occupied by envy. They attack innocent people, beating and killing them for sports.

[17:05] They murder one another in the streets without love or mercy. They disobey gossip, slander and hate God. They are insolent, arrogant, boastful little monsters. They invent ways of doing evil.

[17:17] Hannah Montana is what America once was. MTV Miley is America today. She evolved because we evolved. You saw it on display.

[17:28] It's ugly, it's satanic, it's progressive. Friends, end of quote, it's a downhill slide. It's a downhill slide today. We see these things happening. Another area where change is happening, change is happening in the sphere of the home.

[17:43] Everything is geared to the breakdown of the family. An increasing self-indulgence, a surge in promiscuity, perversion, teen pregnancy, abortions, child abuse, drug abuse, cheating, shoplifting, the rejection of traditional marriage.

[17:59] There's a defiance and a disrespect of parents. Where there's once loving discipline. We do not endorse harshness. But we do endorse appropriate discipline in the home.

[18:12] And change has happened to the home and to society. We've lost our way. Marriage and family are institutions created by God. And it's interesting when God gives the top ten of his laws.

[18:27] Right up there are protecting innocent life. Commandment number six. And protecting the sanctity of marriage. Number seven. Change is happening in the home. Change is happening in our youth.

[18:39] In our youth. Young people today. Young people today. Someone has said they have no sense of discipline. No goals.

[18:50] They care only for themselves. They're becoming a generation of undisciplined barbarians. I pray that's not true of any of our young people here today. But young men and women in the world at large have lost their virtue.

[19:04] They've lost their modesty. They've lost their purity. It's been trashed. Trashed. Polluted. Soil. Dragged in the mud.

[19:15] If that's happened to you there's still hope. You can repent. And receive God's mercy today. Young men, young women today. But young people I urge you to wake up.

[19:26] And see what is happening today. Change is happening. Change is happening in the area of music. Music was once established as a medium through its memory. That's where a man could glorify God.

[19:38] That's where it began. In the Bible music is used over and over to exalt and magnify the Lord. Read the Psalms. The music was directed to the glory of God.

[19:49] To the honor of His name. By the spirit of a man. It was designed to help man fulfill Revelation 4 verse 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power.

[20:02] For Thou hast created all things. And for Thy pleasure they are and were created. We're meant to be worshippers. Music is meant to be something precious.

[20:16] But music is degenerating like the world it leads. Music today has got a great power. An inherent power. Psychologists say music has an inherent power to change people.

[20:32] It can change people's moods. You know Saul called for David. He was in a mood. There was a need for music. And music changes our mood. And music is changing today people.

[20:44] Music is changing. Ever more sensual. Ever more toxic. In its beat and its offensive words. In the offensive performers. With their vile lifestyles.

[20:56] Its message is anti-God. That's its foundation. It's wrong. Such music is wrong. We should steer away. Not contaminate ourselves with such toxic things.

[21:08] But be separate. Now I read this. There was a joke going around about a man. Who was a wretched drunkard. His wife had left him. His children were ashamed of him.

[21:20] He couldn't hold a job. His health was broken. And he's lying in a gutter homeless. But instead of being depressed. He sees the positive side of it. He says my life's not a total waste.

[21:31] I can always be used. As a bad example. That's the world today people. The world today can be used as a bad example. The Christian should be aware of the world today.

[21:44] It can be used as a bad example. And young Christian. If you're deciding what way to go. If the crowd's going that way. Go that way. Amen.

[21:55] If the world's going that way. Young person. Older person. Go that way. Go in the opposite direction. Look at the world. And go in the opposite direction. The world is a bad example.

[22:07] Sad to say the world and its ways. Are directly influencing the church. The church in many quarters. So that churches are adopting these philosophies. And adapting to fit in.

[22:19] To the world's hell bound culture. We're seeing that change is happening. Change is happening. In society. In the areas of entertainment. Education. In morals.

[22:30] In the home. In the young people. Of the world. In the areas of music. Change is happening. And change is happening in the church. In the church.

[22:42] Preachers are changing. Changing the message. Making it more palatable. People. They don't offend anybody. Preachers are changing with the times.

[22:54] And the casualty is biblical truth. That is the problem. There's a loss of separation unto God. Why were we created? Why were we created? Then it's created all things.

[23:05] And for thy pleasure they are and were created. Friends. We need to get our focus right. And regain that sense of discernment.

[23:16] That's woefully lacking. There are forces of work today that are changing the church. I read a recent example of this in the Hillsong College student handbook.

[23:29] The Hillsong College student handbook. They've deleted reference to homosexuality. They specifically deleted that part.

[23:40] That they once spoke against. They've deleted it. It's a change. It's a change. It's a change. It's reflective of the change in the church. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lung.

[23:53] Galatians 5.9 There's a leaven. In other words it's like yeast in a batch of dough. That makes it grow. There's a little bit that makes a big impact. And that's what's happening where the leaven if you like is permeating and spreading and doing its work.

[24:08] There's growing trends that are really anti-scriptural. There's something called centering prayer. It's kind of this mystical kind of idea about prayer. It's getting away from biblical prayer and what it means.

[24:23] Aren't we as God's church meant to be built upon God's word? Isn't that meant to be the foundation? Should God's church be swayed by a redefining of the culture that we're in?

[24:37] Or should it hold fast to the truth? I believe that God's church should never move. Not change. Not compromise.

[24:48] Not surrender. Absolute truth. For something that is less than that. Just to satisfy people's feelings or go with the flow, with the fashions, the appetites, the agendas of this lost world.

[25:08] Friends we must hold our course. We must be Christian people. We must be resolute. We must be resolute. Make a steadfast commitment. Friends today. As the individual believers I urge you.

[25:19] You know some of these things you might be upset with me this day. I might be treading on toes. I don't want to offend. It would be easy to give you a feel good message.

[25:30] It would be easy to give you some soft words. Some pleasant words. But I urge you today. There's a needful provocation. And I'd like to think that people get provoked when they come to this church.

[25:44] Provoked unto love and to good works. Provoked in a good way. Who defines truth? God. God defines what's true. And as a church we want to be reaching out.

[25:59] We don't want to hold back from reaching out. We want to be a church that loves and cares and has warmth. And that receives people and blesses people and encourages people and lifts people up.

[26:14] That's why we've got friendly people on our door. We picked the couple of the most friendly people to be the people on our door. Because we want our church to be a church that welcomes those who come.

[26:26] You know, surveys have shown that people decide in the first eight minutes whether they will return to that church or not. So it's nothing about this sermon that you hear. If you don't come next week, if you're a new person, it's because Rodney and Michelle didn't do the right thing.

[26:42] But people will decide in the first eight minutes whether they will come back. So first impressions are important. So we're glad to have people who are friendly and welcoming, not just on the door, but the whole body of people.

[26:56] God helping us. That will be a church that has love and care and compassion. Yet we will not hold back from telling you the truth.

[27:07] That is vital too. We want a church that's interesting, that's got a compelling message and a mission. But we want that mission to be given by our Lord so that we will tell the truth.

[27:20] So what should our focus be? Not about being so-called relevant. While we miss the needful focus on God's word and will. The church is changing.

[27:33] It's changing. And some obsess about finding new ways of doing church. As if it's some kind of a marketing ploy. So we please the maximum amount of people.

[27:44] So we fill the maximum amount of seats. And so that we lose the message. We lose that sharp cutting edge. Where humanism takes over and worldly philosophies.

[27:59] So that the end justifies the means. And we become, as someone has called it, religious recreation centres for the scripturally challenged. I say again, change is happening.

[28:12] Change is happening in the church. There's more and more shallow preaching. There's destructive heresies. There's divisive teachings. And these are all nothing new. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

[28:24] There must be also heresies among you. So those are approved, maybe made manifest. In some quarters people don't care about cancer acting error. It's about being relevant, tolerant, diverse.

[28:38] Doctrine is not a priority. And we wonder why the church is in such a mess. When people are getting their doctrine from the charismatic TV preachers.

[28:49] No wonder we're in such a mess people today. Don't tune in. There are heretics among us. One of them is Rob Bell. Rob Bell, he's a wolf.

[29:00] He's a smooth talking wolf. A denier of God's truth. And you can go and buy his books down at the local Christian bookstore. They're probably in the top ten. Sadly, Christian bookstores don't always care about the truth.

[29:16] So long as it sells. Deception is creeping in. Brothers and sisters, we've got to be so alert to this. Be not deceived. We need true discernment.

[29:27] Be not deceived. I saw a book called The Death of Christian Britain. It says church participation is falling. All the figures for Christian affiliation are at their lowest point in recorded history.

[29:40] In recorded history. What does the Bible say? A falling away will come first. Christianity is in Britain is at a crisis point today.

[29:52] Due to apathy and indifference and prevailing secularism and unbelief. Where is the church? Amos 6.1 it says, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.

[30:06] You know, these sleepy, complacent, slumbering ones. Woe to them, God says. Like one Australian commentator says. I quote, The church is so caught up in the spirit of the age that it sees nothing wrong.

[30:23] It cares about nothing. It cannot stir itself out of its deep slumber. In a lot of ways we are our own worst enemy today. Change is happening and a lot of it is for the worst.

[30:36] The fault lies where? With us. With the church of God. Judgment must begin at the house of God. At the family of God. 1 Peter 4.17 We need to get our own house in order.

[30:49] And when I'm saying these things about churches, we've got to watch ourselves too. I've got to watch me all the time. I appreciate people exhorting me. If they see things that need improvement.

[31:01] I'm talking about scriptural improvement. I firmly believe that every church that ordains homosexuals are in apostasy today. It's a defiance of God's word.

[31:13] We've seen that. There's no other way to describe it. As it's been truly said, most homosexuals are not gay. They're actually quite unhappy. They're actually quite unhappy.

[31:24] And what God condemned in Sodom, He condemns today. God is never changing. He's ever the same. People may try to manipulate His word. But it does not make it the truth.

[31:36] Change is happening, people. Change is sweeping the church. Corruption prevails. There's a dangerous seeping in of toxic teachings.

[31:47] It's gangrene. It's a virus. It's a cancerous tumour. It needs surgery. Radical surgery. It needs to be cut off. Cut it off. Cut it off, people.

[31:58] It's apostasy. Apostasy means a defection from the truth. And when churches condone sin, such as homosexuality, that is apostasy.

[32:10] Apostasy. This is so of the United Church of Australia. There is a weak position from many other churches, including the Anglican Church and the Lutheran Church.

[32:21] I've seen some Baptist Union churches who take very compromised positions on these things too. And Catholic churches. These things are sure signs of the end times church.

[32:33] The rot is setting in. The leaven. The leaven. We dare not. We must not join hands with them in any way, shape or form.

[32:46] We must not be afraid to be outspoken when it comes to the truth. We need to. I need you to be with me. I pray that I am with you.

[32:57] Speaking the truth in love. Not to bash you over the head, but to help you grow. To help you see the truth. We must not dare to sit back.

[33:08] We dare not sit back. With the carnal, with the compromised, with the cowardly, we must stand. We must stand for the truth such that it shouldn't be unusual for us to expect that we will be put on the watch list.

[33:23] You know what I mean? If there are dark forces in authority that think Christians of trouble, we should be on that watch list.

[33:35] Because we will not go with the flow. We will not bow down to the golden image of our day. We can expect it to happen that we will be on the watch list, if you like.

[33:46] So that it will be normal for us to be attacked. Even by other churches. That should be normal. Because we will not be politically correct.

[33:58] We will say it like it is. And we will oppose the contrary winds of false doctrine. We don't need political correctness. We need biblical correctness.

[34:08] That's what we need. Biblical correctness. We need that, brothers and sisters. Political correctness has been defined as follows. Political correctness holds to the following tenets, if you like.

[34:23] Truth is what we say it is. Everyone has their own truth. All truth is equal except Bible truth. Bible truth is hate speech.

[34:36] And it's a no holds barred fight in the fight against hate speech. That's what political correctness means. And the Bible warns us against it. Of a time when 2 Peter 2 verse 2, The way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

[34:55] God has given us a simple test. A rule to test what men say. To tell if what they say is true. Isaiah, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

[35:10] Isaiah 8 verse 20. There is really only one authoritative source of information. About truth. About God. Salvation. Eternal life. Eternal truth.

[35:21] And that is God's word. The Bible. And truth is called a hate speech now. If you declare God's truth, they will call you a bigot. Or something else.

[35:32] A hater of whatever is trending. Because it's all about, as they perceive it, hate speech. We desperately need to speak the truth in these days.

[35:43] Truth needs to be restored. It's as if Christianity these days is getting an extreme makeover. It's an extreme makeover. As if the cosmetic surgeon is a real butcher.

[35:55] Who's doing a ham job of it. That's what he's doing. He's actually disfiguring the church. The powers that are at work today, doing this extreme makeover if you like, are engineering a church that is contrary to the Bible.

[36:09] Such that felt needs and satisfying them. And being seeker sensitive. And making people comfortable. That's the mantra today. But it's heresy. And it's damning people to help.

[36:21] And people are blind to it. Friends, I know this is cutting close to the bone. Preachers are bending over backwards today to accommodate a modern day culture that's astray from God.

[36:32] It's contrary to God. It's hateful to God. And they're abandoned in preaching the hard truths. So they end up preaching a watered down message with feel good, half truths, and a lack of conviction over sin.

[36:45] We need to speak it boldly. And as a church we endeavour to do that. Where multitudes have been drawn away, away from a sacred allegiance, away from a godly heritage.

[36:56] And we see tradition is mocked these days. Oh, you're a traditional church. Now I'm not saying that all tradition is God honouring. A lot of tradition is not biblical.

[37:08] Okay? We don't have stained glass windows and a crucifix, and Hail Marys and pictures of Jesus, and holy smoke, and fancy robes, and dog collars, and confessionals, and such things.

[37:24] Some tradition is downright wrong and evil. We don't want that. But some tradition is God honouring.

[37:36] God honouring. And some of it needs to be rejected, that which is wrong. But that which is of God needs to be held fast. You know, Paul writes in Thessalonians 2, a tradition that should be held fast.

[37:49] He says, Brethren, stand fast, hold the traditions which you've been taught. Tradition is seen as politically incorrect now. Now they actually believe in a traditional marriage.

[38:01] They should wait till you get married. You know? Oh, that's a bit radical. It's politically incorrect now to tell you the truth. Brothers and sisters, false doctrine needs to be withstood, and I will withstand it.

[38:16] We must withstand it. There's no times for mincing words and niceties and soft and hapsaphy ways. There's a cesspool of sin in contemporary culture, and we must hold fast sound doctrine.

[38:30] Doctrine matters. Doctrine matters. It's a serious matter. That's why we love to have sound doctrine. That's why we've got a Bible study with sound doctrine in this church, because doctrine matters.

[38:45] It's about everlasting truth. It's not something to play games with. Souls are in danger. Doctrine matters today. For us to be grounded in those foundations of God, the foundations of truth.

[38:59] It's where real human hope comes from. Biblical teaching. And the contrary, false doctrine is our mortal enemy. We cannot bless it. We cannot approve what God disapproves of.

[39:12] And we cannot make apologies where He calls us to stand up like men and stand up. We dare not be silent.

[39:23] Some churches don't get messages like this. But it's cruelty to man and treachery to heaven for us not to speak the truth.

[39:34] If we fail to raise the alarm, woe to men. Woe to men. And we will not give ground to our enemies. The constraining force that moves us is the love of Christ.

[39:47] That heaven-born love for Christ and for the souls for whom He died. And we need that relentless zeal in these days. Brothers and sisters, change is happening.

[39:59] It's all around us. We've heard of these contrary changes. The changes that are happening in society. In the areas of entertainment. In education. In morals. In the home. In our youth.

[40:10] In the areas of music. And in the church. In the church. There's a great carelessness. Few folk are standing for the truth. For biblical doctrine.

[40:21] We've lost sight of our moorings. We've lost sight of our mission. Why? How so? Why is it happening? The church has abandoned the holy bible. The church has left the holy for the profane.

[40:35] And in these days in which we live. The truth is ever more crucial. Sadly we've lost it. The bible has been lost.

[40:47] Discarded. Gathering dust. In some churches. In some churches. There's a pretend bible. A polluted bible. A paraphrased bible. Which is really no bible at all. They do not hold fast the word.

[40:59] The faithful word. These are the things that are happening. We should have our eyes open to see. The great compromise that is happening. The watering down. The polluting of the pure church.

[41:10] And the corrupting of sound teaching. It represents a great danger. We cannot join hands with them. It's an unholy alliance. Like Samson, Solomon, Ahab.

[41:22] They came to Greece because they had unholy alliances. God is not the author of confusion. It's black and white.

[41:34] And red. The word of God. God is not the author of confusion. We can trust God. We can trust his word. There's a certainty of these words. I firmly believe that the bible is under attack.

[41:47] When people turn from the King James bible. They are heading for trouble. The bible is 100% true. Without error. We're not called to consensus. But to contending.

[41:58] And we're not called to entertaining. But to edifying. A great change is needed. And there is a change that we need. Friends, to come to a close. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18.

[42:10] But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image. From glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.

[42:21] What is the change we need? Revival. What is the change we need? It's called conversion. It's being changed into his image. From glory to glory to glory to glory to glory.

[42:35] Hallelujah. Being changed into his image. And we need to shed the distractions. We need to recognise the faulty. And realise the truth. And grasp it fast. And hold it forth.

[42:46] Let us be faithful to the word. Faithful to sound doctrine. Faithful to sound fellowship. Let us rise up as God's people in this day and hour.

[42:57] As genuine Christians. As active labourers. 1 Corinthians 2 it says, Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.

[43:09] That's the spirit we need. So we cannot overlook the commands to avoid fellowship with sin and error. Jesus says, John 8, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed.

[43:26] I'm saying all of this in the context, in the light of Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy. A falling away first.

[43:37] A falling away first. And the need that we have to recognise the falling away. And go back to where we were. To go back to rekindle the first love.

[43:50] To refresh that zeal. That godly spirit. That godly unity. That biblical unity. And that changing of his spirit's power. As he reforms us.

[44:01] As he conforms us. As he transforms us. By and for his glory. Let us hope for the glory. Let us hold fast God's changeless word. And steer clear of the destructive forces.

[44:14] The pitfalls and delusions that are against us. And exalt the Lord and bring glory to him. The change that we need, brothers and sisters. The change that we need individually. Is biblical conversion.

[44:26] It means realising. I'm a sinner. Lost. Condemned. Damned. Consigned to hell. Without his saving grace. To change my direction.

[44:37] Without his saving blood. His precious holy blood. Shed for your sins. You're a damned hell bound sinner today. And you've no hope. Now or forever.

[44:48] Without trusting Christ. He is your only lifeline. Here's your only hope. Genuine biblical conversion. You've got to stop going your own way. Following the crowd in the broad way.

[45:00] And you've got to turn. And turn to the narrow way. And trust Christ today. Genuine biblical conversion. That is the change that we need. And as a church.

[45:11] Of newborn. Biblically converted people. We'll want to be a church. That holds fast our course. Unbending. Unchanging. Faithful. Ever faithful.

[45:24] Therefore if any man be in Christ. He's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold all things have become new. That's the change that can happen.

[45:36] Of salvation. And either you are saved. Or the wrath of God abides on you. It's one or the other. You know there's no middle ground here today.

[45:47] There's no middle ground for you. Either you are saved. Present. Tense. Or you are abiding under the wrath of almighty God. Against your sin.

[45:58] Which you will have to pay for. But friends you can be in this camp. If you can trust him. He can pay for your sins. I urge you today. It says in Matthew 1.

[46:10] For he shall save his people from their sins. There's a wonderful saviour. There's a wonderful grace. There's a wonderful conversion. And he makes it all possible. By his mercy.

[46:21] I urge you this morning. To trust him. Trust him now. I know. We've talked about change. We know the world's changing. It's ever more hellward. In its direction.

[46:32] We see these changes. In so many ways. In terms of the entertainment. The education. The moral system. There is no moral code anymore.

[46:43] It's anything goes. There's no God to answer to. They think. But they will. They will answer to him. And I urge you this morning. Trust Christ. Trust him now. Trust him now.

[46:54] For time and eternity. Your eternal direction can change now. In an instant. For eternal dimension. Dimension. An eternal dimension today. But we all with open face.

[47:05] Beholding as in a glass. The glory of the Lord. Changed. Changed. Changed into the same image. From glory to glory. Even as by the spirit of the Lord.

[47:17] That's the change we need. That's the change you need. That's the change we need. In our homes. In our hearts. Trust him now. Let us pray. Let us pray. To a dream.

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