Adrian Rogers: Three Things That You Cannot Learn in School #1999

Blessing or Cursing? – Stephen Briggs

Repentance Neglected too long Brings Destruction of a Nation and of Relationships

For those who think God is going to bring this country back merely because of their prayers to save it, I have this to say:

Psalm 106:28

"They soon forgot His works, they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul."

God did this to the people as described in the days of old because they willfully sought their own solutions and desires while pretending to be God's people.

We have been willful, stubborn and resistant to God's word in our country while pretending to love His principles while ignoring most of them, even refusing to listen to them when they are brought to bear in conversation.

Our Christian culture has leanness to their souls and think they are wise. They have become fools but pretend to know the will of God while defying it.

The United States has been the biggest producer and disseminator of filth world wide, in the form of television and movies, filthy magazines and rotton music that produces lust in the hearts of those listening to it.

Every country of the world has been influenced for evil by this country, and yet the people clamor for their idolatrous freedom to act and speak unrestrained as they infect the entire world with their filth.

The psychology of Darwinism as directed by the devil has infected the thinking of nearly every "Christian" in this country and now the world. Man's foolish wisdom replaces God's wisdom, and more every day.

Our worship gatherings have become political caucuses indulged with more talk of affecting the country politically than even the mention of the name of Jesus Christ.

The Lord has saved the United States many times over and yet it still remains self-willed and resistant to His will and His word.

We have walked in pride so God has given us what we wanted and what we deserved and it will bring us down.

We whine and grumble against what is happening in this country politically but fail to recognize we are only getting what we deserve, our own desires and self-reliance have caused God to remove His protection, and we have been left to our own wickedness and will not repent.

There comes a time when God tells the prophets to stop praying for a nation, He will not hear those prayers because of the hardness of the hearts of those who rule the nation. The wicked leaders were given because the people are stubborn and rebellious against God. We get the leaders we deserve, whining against them is the same as a child breaking a toy because he is angry and then stuck with a broken useless toy.

Self-will always bring destruction to a people who will not self-reflect in repentance. When the pride of a people is so intense that they will rage against the prophets who bring the truth of God's Word, there is no returning to God.

Every born-again believer who understands how God has worked in the past will know this nation is finished, there is no direction for the people except raging insanity everywhere we look. Christians often claim they are "Bible-believing" while violating God's principles as though they are unnecessary.

Just recently I heard another "Christian" bring a prediction as to the day of the rapture. This is in direct violation of God's word that no one will know the day or the hour. People do this almost every year and yet when it does not happen they do not come back and admit they were presumptuous and full of pride in their attempt to boast about their false prophecies.

Why do we not hear the false prophets return to say they were wrong? Its quite simple, those who do these things are wanting the praise of others, it is not about pleasing God, it is about gaining followers for themselves. When their prediction does not happen they slink away in silence hoping those who heard the prophesy will forget it. We know there is fleshly pride involved when someone claims something will happen and when it doesn't they will not tell on themselves in a humble spirit of repentance.

Deuteronomy 18:21-22 "…21 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

If someone brings a prediction about a future event and it does not come true we are to never listen to that person again, they have lost the trust of those who hear them.

Cleansing Our Hearts of False Teachings

Amen, Amen!!! I have felt led for years to pray that God remove from my heart anything that I was raised with that is not true. It has been amazing what He has shown me. Much of what we were taught as Christians is not Biblical.

Fearing Man Brings Downfall, Obeying God Brings Great Strength

I notice in this story the rich man in hell was worried about his family coming there and wanted someone to warn them before they died. It is the first time I realized the regret of someone in hell and they still cared about family.

Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day.

20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,

21 and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores.

22 Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried.

23 And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his arms. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’

25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’

27 And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—

28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’

29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

We must remember we have no power to change someone's mind, we can only speak the truth and it must be their desire to hear from God that will bring them to a place of repentance.

When we have no expectations of others, only desiring ourselves to obey God, that we have total freedom to obey Him without fear of man.

Proverbs 29:25

"25 The fear of man [a]brings a snare,

But one who trusts in the Lord will be protected."

Do not Use the Worldly Ideas to Share the Gospel, Use the Word of God

There is a saying going around based on psychology that defies the truth of the Bible.

That saying goes like this; "we must develop a relationship with someone before giving them the gospel." Nowhere in scripture do we see this commanded or modeled.

We are told to go into all the world and preach the gospel, that is wherever God sends us, even if it is in our own community. Everyone can share the gospel from their homes now. We don't have to traverse the world to do it.

Christ spoke to the 5000 without developing a relationship with them. The apostles were martyred because they spoke to strangers the truth of the gospel.

This mantra about developing a relationship first is just an excuse to avoid telling people the gospel unless they like us first, its all about getting people to like us, if they like us maybe they will fall in love with Christ. This is nonsense.

Christ did every miracle possible for people, even healing them while the masses of people saw it and heard about it, but what did they do, they killed Him.

We can develop a relationship with people, being very careful to make sure they like us but as soon as we are bold about the gospel they will turn on us. Developing a relationship requires the compromise of our principles.

We can be friends with absolutely anyone if we do what they do, say what they say and expect what they expect. In other words we must be just like them in every way for them to have a relationship with them.

However, look what God says; Matthew 10:21-22 "…21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved."

Did God get it wrong? Was He wrong when He said we will be persecuted by people because we live for Christ and because we declare Him openly? NO GOD DID NOT GET IT WRONG!!!!

It is the devil who wants to make us believe we did something wrong by sharing the gospel openly and boldly. He wants to silence those who are weak and depend on themselves to make friendships rather than declaring the word of the Lord. This "friendship evangelism" is not commanded by God, it is a ploy of the devil to make people feel ashamed when they share the gospel and someone becomes angry at us for it.

The people I know depending on friendship evangelism never get around to sharing the gospel, they are continually compromising the Word and smiling through all the sin to influence anyone for Christ.

James 4:4 "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

What part of "do not be friends with the world" do we not understand. We can see that the psychology of being friends with the world first will make them like us and like God comes from the devil himself. It makes people weak and ashamed of Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We cannot remain friends with the world without becoming like them.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 " 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.…"

The more time we spend with the unsaved in friendships the more we are tainted by their way of thinking, their way of acting, and worst of all we become silent about Christ.

Proverbs 28:1 "1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."

We choose the friends that make us comfortable, if we love the world we will choose friends who love the world. If we love Christ we will choose friends who love Christ.

When we love Christ it is very hard to tolerate the foolishness of unsaved people. We must speak of Christ or we will feel frustrated that we were lazy and allowed the unsaved to walk away thinking we approved of their lives without Him.

We are the light with Christ living in us we must walk as the light that chases away the darkness. When we speak we ought to speak as the oracles of God, it will either draw people to Christ or it will chase them away, in either case, this is their choice and has nothing to do with us, it has to do with Christ.

John 1:4-5 "…4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

We must not fear the reactions of men, we must desire the truth of Christ above all relationships. If we maintain a friendship with an unbeliever, neglecting the gospel, hoping someone will ask about Christ then we are weak and self-focused.

Allow the Holy Spirit to lead us is the only course for the born-again believer. Do not use human ideas and mantras, use the Bible and guidance of the Holy Spirit, in this we cannot go wrong.

Those Accusers Controlled by the Devil

Some people controlled by the devil want to accuse believers of things in their past that God has healed and forgiven. I call them "past forgiven sins." We all have them, there is no one person who is without past forgiven sins.

A few years ago an angry jealous person said to me; "remember how you used to be." Believe it or not this person was a "Christian."

My response was simply; "yes I have committed many sins in my life." That's all and that's it, no more explanation is necessary.

When we admit to our life before we were born again we completely disarm the narcissist controlled by the devil who wants to destroy our peace and joy by heaping false guilt from the past forgiven sins.

The devil wants us to never forget our sinfulness. He wants us to believe we have never been forgiven and that we can never change.

What devilish people don't understand is that every single person on the face of the earth is headed for hell until they confess their sinfulness and become cleansed by Jesus Christ to be saved.

What devilish people don't understand is that no one cleanses themselves, we all must be cleansed by Christ in response to our desire to be changed into a new creation by Him. We cannot change ourselves into a new creation, it must be His work in us after we have repented (changed our minds) and trusted in Him.

I have to wonder if someone has been born again when they do not understand that everyone has sinned including themselves and everyone must repent and be changed by Christ.

When someone operates as though they have never sinned, they are better than others because of how good they think they are, and continue to work to appear good to others, it is unlikely they have ever been born again.

God said we must have a "contrite" heart to be born again, the meaning is a "crushed" heart. When we come to the end of ourselves, and have no confidence in our own goodness and deeds, we see our filthiness and ask God to change us into a new creation.

Those who think they are special and have always been good will not be able to be changed by Christ because they are trusting in themselves and not Christ. Christ will not change someone who is not broken in an experience of a crushed spirit to submit to Him. He only saves those who know they are without the ability to be good enough and know they need Him to change them, to lead them and grow them until the day they die.

Matthew 5:48

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

We are not perfect therefore, it is Christ in us Who is perfect, He is our righteousness.

2 Corinthians 7:1

"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God."

The way we cleanse ourselves is to ask the Lord for His cleansing as He shows us through consequences of our need for confession. We are only cleansed through Christ if we want to be cleansed.

1 John 1:9

"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God will cleanse us from any unrighteousness when we confess, then He acts to give us our desire to be cleansed.

If we justify our sin, refuse to confess it, by claiming we had a good reason, then we will not be cleansed. It is only through brokenness and confession that God will work. We must empty ourselves of ourselves to be changed by God.

Philippians 2:12-13

"12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to [a]desire and to work for His good pleasure."

We do not work for salvation, we work because we are saved. Those who are not saved do not admit their need for cleansing, they decide their own goodness and convince themselves they are good.

Only those who can say; "there is no good in me" can be cleansed by Christ.

Romans 7:18 "18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."

It is only Christ in us Who can be good and Who can work in us to become like Him. Anything we do in the flesh to make ourselves feel good is dung to God.

Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

When we have obeyed God He gets all the praise and credit. When we have worked in the flesh we are attempting to have the credit and we get the glory, it is filthiness to God that we glorify ourselves.

James 4:7-17

"7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Hallelujah, what a wonderful life for those who are not affected by the world but led by Christ. The more humble we become the more we can serve Christ, because we know only He is good and only His Works matter in us.