30 Years Ago....

Pastor John MacArthur gave this sermon in 1981. I am revisiting some of his older sermons that he has up on his website. It is astonishing to me that things have been this bad for this long here. The things Pastor MacArthur speaks about seem like they could have happened today...this was OVER THIRTY YEARS AGO (!!!) and yet God is long-suffering. Pastor MacArthur tells here that when "God gives people up" he gives them the fruit of their wrong desires, their burning lusts and hatefulness being the wrath of God upon themselves, and concludes as I do, that we are seeing God's wrath being poured out on the ungodly. ...and yet:

1Co 6:9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1Co 6:10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

You can listen to the sermon entitled Abandoned by God Part 1 here.

Edited to add:

This is the second part to the above: Abandoned by God Part 2

This goes into more detail about exactly why, Biblically speaking, the sin of homosexual behavior is so contrary to God's way. It gets a bit more graphic than part one does, and might make you uncomfortable to hear this, however, I think it is important to hear it, to really pay attention to how sick sin really is and nothing to snicker at. We see so many television shows today that include a gay character, often making that character central to the show. Children today are being fully indoctrinated into believing that there is "nothing wrong" with what God has declared an abomination. We need to know this, fully, and not encourage others in what is shameful and against God.

Excerpt (Pastor MacArthurs prayer at end):

 "Father, tonight we have again been exposed to a terrifying strong word. We do not necessarily like these things. We don't want to hear these things. We don't even want to wallow in these things. We don't even want to think about them. But there they are. And man must know how deep the pit before he understands how great the salvation. He must understand how total the guilt before he can understand how wondrous the forgiveness. He must understand how inevitable the death before he can rejoice in the gift of eternal life."

Please pray when you listen to these that the Lord will strengthen your resolve and desire to speak the truth, in love, to the lost.

The Mystery of the Gospel

John MacArthur explains the tension between the sovereignty of God, and the sharing of the Gospel...why witness?

"Saved From What?"

I listened to a sermon by Pastor Steven J. Lawson tonight that brought the message home to me deeper than I have ever before felt it. I have been sensing the need to share the truth of the gospel to family and friends but have been at a complete loss of how to go about it. I've been praying for God to give me more of a heart for the lost, and this sermon delivered. I have never been more grateful for my salvation, and have never been more humbled. Toward the end of the sermon Pastor Lawson hopes for his listeners (which includes me!) that we NEVER again use the word "saved" or "salvation" flippantly ever again. It is an awesome price God paid with the life of His Son for a terrible and terrifying destiny for those who don't believe.

Please take the time to listen, pray, and share this with your loved ones:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=97121754280

Soul Sleep

I just finished listening to this very good sermon about what Jesus says about death, heaven, and hell. It's only about an hour long. Many will sit through two or three hours for a movie which will add up to that much time wasted on nothing. This sermon might change your life. Pastor Lawson mentions the argument for "soul sleep" and the view that this is "just symbolic". He gives the truth that whenever something is symbolic in the Bible, the truth is much more (vivid, real, terrifying, or stupendous) than what it is symbolized by, so the fire of hell and it's torments much more than can be described or symbolized. Listen to this excellent sermon here:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=11113205271

We are saved by grace, but it is still good to be reminded what we are saved from. ;-)

The "Small Sin" of Covetousness

Just listened to Phil Johnson on the topic of coveting, and it convicted me to my very core. It is considered by some to be "the least of sins" of the commandments. Pastor Johnson points out that it is the sin that is at the bottom of all sin, so what is least is actually our most fatal flaw. I hope you make time to listen to this excellent sermon:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1123111412710

Charles Spurgeon

image link

This past week I've been listening to many of Phil Johnson's sermons, and my absolute favorites (thus far anyway) are his talks about Charles Spurgeon. I would have loved to have met Pastor Spurgeon and attended his meetings! What a sweet man Spurgeon was... his enemies broke his heart which is why he died so young, at only 58 years (!) of age. I'm posting the links, mostly for myself to be able to enjoy them again and again, but also for anyone else to hear about God's greatest preacher (in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others too). I thought all of the sermons on this site were accompanied with transcripts, but unfortunately there aren't any for the ones listed below...however, the second one, "The Conversion of Charles Spurgeon", does has a transcript link to click onto which provides the photos which Pastor Johnson showed in a slide presentation while giving this sermon so it adds to being able to follow along and have the full experience of the teaching.

Charles Spurgeon: His Childhood and Youth

The Conversion of Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon the Warrior

And this link has more sermons about Charles Spurgeon which I have yet to look forward to listening to.

A Thorn in the Flesh

   Phil Johnson   talks here about how God's power and strength is perfected in our weakness. I love this site because you can listen to the sermon (by clicking link at the top of the page) and follow along in the written transcript.

The mention of the thorn in the flesh is from 2 Corinthians 12:7. This sermon covers 2 Corinthians 12: 1-12.

Excerpt:

"Now: If you're paying attention and following my outline, you might want to stop me right there. Because we're on point 2 of a three-point outline, and we're supposed to be talking about the second of three gracious gifts God gave to Paul. First was paradise. That makes sense. The second, we said, was pain. And this thorn, whatever it was, is the source of Paul's pain. So was Paul's pain a provocation from Satan, or was it a gracious gift from God?
     What's the correct answer to that question?
     Both.
     Satan meant it for evil; God meant it for good. And here is a little secret: that is true of every vexing problem the powers of darkness ever cause for you."

...

Pastor Johnson goes into the exact meaning of the word "thorn", as well as the hints in that passage that seem to say that the thorn in his flesh involved persons, false teachers (whom he calls "super apostles" ESV or eminent apostles in NASB, which he says Paul here uses in a sarcastic way to underline their abuse to the people with false teachings) which Paul brings up in chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, and then directs it back to them in verse 11 of chapter 12.

Pastor Johnson does say that whatever the thorn is, whether it is persons, or a physical affliction, or whatever it is, because Paul describes it as a "messenger of Satan" he is saying this is some kind of spiritual attack.... and that the Lord won't remove it because...well, I'll let him tell you as it is given in the text. It is a blessing that Jesus shares with us a little of the suffering that He had to suffer. We only get a small taste of it. He bore the full effect of the suffering, the onslaught of Satan, on our behalf. How often I gripe about the little bit of suffering I have compared with what He suffered completely and unjustly on my behalf. "Oh what a foretaste of heaven divine."