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Being Christlike
Colossians 2:18-19
COL-455© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1995)
This morning, as we continue our study of the book of Colossians, our subject is "The Error of Angelic Worship," number 12, in Colossians 2:18-19.
To be Christlike
What a wonderful life, indeed, we Christians – we believers of the church age, in contrast to the Mosaic Law age – this age, to which we
have been called and enabled to live in a way that is majestically, far above anything that the Old Testament believers were able to do under the Mosaic
Law. We have a life which is empowered by God the Father, through the knowledge of doctrine, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, to enable us to be Christlike.
That's the word: to be "Christlike." That is such a rarity among Christians even, because though they don't know what it is, or how it is possible to
be Christlike, and thereby to experience maximum happiness and satisfaction every day, to be Christlike means to be walking in the light of God's divine
viewpoint.
Now, you may be in a situation where you go to church every Sunday, and there isn't a teacher in the pulpit. And remember that you do not call a pastor
to serve in your pulpit, because the Word in Scripture is a combination word of a pastor-teacher. Very often, what churches do is put an evangelist in
the pulpit. So, every Sunday, the folks come to be fed spiritually, but they only hear one message: how to go to heaven. But all those people already
know about that. But how to become mature, strong serving Christians, capable of being God's witnesses, and capable of earning divine viewpoint rewards
in heaven, they don't know anything about that. If there's not a pastor-teacher in the pulpit, you never will. You cannot beat God's order.
So, to be Christlike is very dependent upon that specific factor of instruction. And for some Christians, in Romans 13, Paul said, "It is time to wake
up. In Romans 13:11-14, Paul says, "And this do: knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep, for now salvation is
nearer to us than when we believed." When we you saved?" How many years ago? Well, you're a lot closer to the ultimate salvation of heaven, and the presence
of Christ, than you were the day you were born again. Time has been clicking off in your Christian life, and your mission has been what? On hold, or pursued?
"Salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." The night is almost gone. This refers to the fact that the world now is benighted by Satan's darkness;
Satan's religion; and, Satan's misconceptions. Satan even has religions now that have, at the heart of them, to kill all those who resist the religion
of Satan that he has created. That's night. Our society in the world is in a place of darkness. The only beacons of light are places like Berean Memorial
Church, who understand the mission of expository preaching, so the saints can feed on the Word of God, and grow spiritually, and get out there, and be
lights in Satan's darkness.
"The night is almost gone." Why? Because the day is at hand. And who is day? The Scripture tells it that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Day Star. That
first light up in the heavens as dawn approaches – there is the Day Star. The night is passed. And that day star signal is the return of Christ
– the rapture of the church, when we will all, as Christians, living and dead, be taken out of this world to meet the Lord in the air. And then
seven years of the earth's great tribulation period begins.
"Let us, therefore, as Christians, lay aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light." What are you Christians doing walking around, unChristlike,
letting the sin nature drive you in a way as if you were a benighted unbeliever, and one of Satan's gangs. You're not one of his gangs. You're one of
the Lord Jesus Christ's gang. Therefore, you should be walking with enlightenment. If you don't, will it make a difference? You betcha. Your life will
be distorted and shattered. And everything will be out of sync.
Verse 13: "Let us behave properly, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy,
but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust." This word "flesh" refers to the sin nature in us. Don't
indulge it. It is always a temptation. Don't indulge the sin nature. And one of the greatest ways to indulge the sin nature is discouragement.
Every now and then, somebody doesn't show up for church anymore. They've stumbled spiritually. Maybe they've fallen into sin. But very often, it's
just discouragement. It is the seed falling upon soil that is distressed with the cares and the tribulations of life. And what do they do? The worst thing
on earth they can do to themselves – they quit coming to the church service.
This is like a starving man, who suddenly comes into a banquet hall, and it's the last thing where he can go and finally get some sustenance so that
he doesn't die, and he says, "No, I don't want to go into the banquet hall. I want to stay out here, and starve and die."
Christians should know better than that. What we're talking about is being Christlike. What we're talking about is having a life which has purpose
in serving God our Father, in our personal mission, for eternal rewards, as good and faithful servants – to be the good soil which will produce
much divine good fruit.
Turn to John 15:8. Did you wonder why you woke up this morning, and we're still in this world? Here it is: "And by this is My Father glorified, that
you bear much fruit, and so you shall prove to be My disciples." He wants you to be spiritually productive of the divine good works that are your mission
in life; at your stage of life; at your means of life; and, at your capacity of life: "Thus is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove
to be My disciples." We are a great disappointment to our Heavenly Father when He sits there and He looks at us, and we're unproductive spiritually. Our
minds and our hearts never say, "I can rise to this mission. I can go, and I can prevail against the darkness of Satan's world. I can provide a beacon
of light that will expose Satan. I can give us the means."
The military term is the "logistics" – the logistical grace to do the work – knowing what the Lord Jesus Christ would do in any situation,
and in any relationship of life that confronts us. That's what we have to ask ourselves.
Integrity
For example, consider integrity. What would He do? Would He cut the corners? Would He cheat? Would He steal? Would He lie? Would He keep Himself out
of a tight spot by being deceptive? Integrity – that's Christlike. Do your kids know that?
Morality
What about morality? The Bible says that certain things are absolutely wrong. They're always wrong. And the Word of God lays these out. You don't go around
murdering people, including unborn infants. You don't go around stealing from people. You don't go around misrepresenting people with lies. You don't go
around being an unfaithful steward of what God has given you. Your personal morality – that's Christlike.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was accused of being immoral, he said, "Fine. Which one of you will step up and identify the moment?" Most of us wouldn't
be too free, very easily, to want to stand up before people and say that. But He could. That's Christlike.
Marriage
What about marriage? Marriage has an orderly arrangement. Marriage is the foyer. It is the doorway into the most intimate physical relationships between
a man and a woman – physical relationships which do not belong before marriage, or ever, outside of marriage. That's the way God constructed things.
And you cannot change that. You don't first get pregnant, and then get married. You're already off-balance, and you will have a downhill, terrible time
from then on. Yes, grace can raise you up. Grace can carry you through, but it's not the Christlike way.
Within the marriage, you know what Eve was told: "Eve, one of the curses that is going to be upon you, and all females that follow you, is that you're
always going to be pushing the male to what you believe, and your opinion. Ann you will not pray for him – that he will have God's opinion, and
that you will wait upon his guidance, and that you will encourage your husband to be a man of the Word; to be a student of the Word; and, to be a godly
person, so that, indeed, you can esteem him. And out of that esteem will come the love that he should receive. That's Christlike in marriage.
Money
What about money? The Lord Jesus Christ made Himself poor so that we could be rich. The Lord Jesus Christ lived on very little. He had what He needed
provided by His Father, to do the ministry, and that was it. And He had great guidance on how to go about that. Then people who saw him – many of
these women, who had means, ministered to Christ and His disciples. They said, "He's doing God's work, and I can give them the means to do the work.
And for that, God will bless me in time and in eternity. So, it's a win-win situation."
Greed
The money does not become a stimulant for greed. That's not Christlike. You are to handle your prosperity with the same humble integrity that you handled
your poverty with, when you had to wait upon the Lord.
Employment
What about your employment? Some jobs, the Lord Jesus Christ would not be involved in. Some jobs are not Christlike. You make that decision. Once you are
employed, you act with integrity, the way Christ would act. It's not too hard to figure that out. And you are honest in what you do with your employer.
Politics
What about politics? You have the wisdom, the Christlike wisdom, to know that freedom comes from God, and that you were born, fortunately, in a nation
that produced the world's finest document for the preservation of freedom. And that was the Constitution of the United States. That document was prepared
by men who knew the Scriptures; who knew history; who knew the history of nations; and, men who were conscious of the sin nature. They said, as Washington
did, government is a great servant, but a terrible master. It's like fire.
All of American society – those who do not have a Christlike view, think that the Constitution is an irritation and a restraint upon them. Well,
it is. It's a restraint upon the natural predatory features of the government to take over the lives of people, and to take over their means. You are
to be Christlike in your politics, and to make the moves that at least recognize that God is there.
Read the news about the attacks upon President Bush. Whatever else you may think of him, he does recognize that God is alive and well in the affairs
of men. And he is coming under attack by the unChristllike gang, because he outrightly talks about God; talks about the will of God; talks about Scripture;
and, is aware of the fact that that is the way life is.
Mercy
There is mercy – that quality of helping somebody else in their hardship, or in their suffering: What would Christ do? He'd put Himself out to help
the person in his misery.
Family
What about family? You should recognize that the husband is the leader, and he's responsible. And if you're going to get married, don't marry somebody
that's beneath you spiritually. Sometimes this happens because women do not, themselves, have spiritual orientation. They're new in the Christian life,
or they've been in the ordinary church, in the larger churches. I'll guarantee you that the larger it is, when you come up into the hundreds, and hundreds,
and thousands of members, the caliber of the spiritual life of the individual believer is dramatically down. It is inevitable. You cannot put the combination
together in such a large group. There are currents moving that are all against being able to rise to the finest Christlike capacity.
Concerning you husbands, your family should be the thing that you care for (spiritually) first, and you provide, because that's your responsibility.
And that wife cares for her family and her children.
I was reading one of our parents' application forms, And on it, we ask what the father does, and what the mother does, so that we have an orientation
of what we're dealing with then. This one family told us what the father's employment was, and the mother said, "I am the mother who cares for my children,
my husband. Then she put a little exclamation point. She's proud of it.
Do you ever watch "Wheel of Fortune?" I would be an enormously wealthy man if I could get on "Wheel of Fortune," and Lenora would be twice as wealthy.
I know that she has a little contact with Sajak, because she knows the answers on the cards. At the beginning of the show, they ask the contestants: "What
do you do?" They inevitably use: "I'm this. I work for a major such-and-so. I work for a major garbage collection company. I don't just work for a garbage
collection company, I work for a major garbage company. It's always a big this, and a big that.
Now, here's this lady bringing her little girl to our school, and she says, "My job in this family is that I'm a mom. I take care of my husband."
The reaction from most Americans would be: "Get a life, lady." That's the liberal, feminist response. But she is Christlike.
Recreation
Then there is recreation, and the corrupting influence of the entertainment world: movies; and, television. I always have to look twice as Christians
that are regular attenders at motion pictures. What are you going to see? And how can this be ennobling? And could you look next to you and say, "What
do you think of that, Jesus, during the performance?
The Lord Jesus Christ is a little boy. And somebody helped Him to grow to be a real man: His Father. And He did a lot of things that were fun that
boys do.
One time, Mrs. Danish and I were on a tour, and we were at the Sea of Galilee, and I looked across in the direction of Nazareth. And I couldn't help
thinking: "Had you been there, you would have seen Jesus down at the beach, playing with the boys, on the edge of the Sea of Galilee in the water. You
would have seen Him down there fishing." But He would be different. He'd be the one boy who was Christlike. He always did what was right. How much recreation
is so corruptive (corrosive) to Christians?
Christian Service
Then there's Christian service. The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself sacrificially for us, to the point of death. He said that we would not have to die,
but live forever in eternity with Him. Christian service for some believers – that's a big thing. It is a very serious thing, and well it should
be. This is Christlike: to be concerned what I'm doing for my Heavenly Father. Most people have the sensitivity that when their parents get older, they
take some concern about taking care of them. They take concern of doing things for their parents, to extend their happiness. Should we not certainly be
concerned for the happiness of our Heavenly Father, who doesn't need our help, but Who welcomes our love, and Who has placed upon us the mission of service?
Our Health
And there's our health. What is Christlike health? Well, most of you know exactly what you should be doing, and not be doing, in terms of what you should
be eating, and what you should be doing for nutrition. And what is Christlike is to maintain the structure. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you
maintain a building. And that's what Christlike is. It is no small thing.
Bible Study
What about Bible study? Do we crack the Bible between Sunday-to-Sunday? Do we just sit down in a chair, and take that Bible Pathway book that we've
introduced you to? What a tremendous book that is to carry you through the whole Scriptures – through the Bible in a year. And how informative and
how interesting every page is, as it leads you through the next passage of Scripture, and gives you a background on it, and informs you on something in
some part of the world, and its conditions. The Bible is something that ought to be daily in our food chain, spiritually.
Our Education
What about our education? Christian education is certainly what we want for Christian families. This particular mother that I referred to, we asked them
what their intentions are for their future participation in Berean Christian Academy, because, if people are here just for one year, so that they can
get into the public school by the age bracket, then we pass over them to somebody else who has longer-term Christian education objectives. And this lady
said, "It is our intention for our little girl to go all the way through the sixth grade." Then she added, "And I hope that you would be able to add seventh
and eighth grade. We'd like to see her all the way through junior high." Amen, and so would I.
I'm ever hopeful that that can be, because Christian parents need a Christian school. And they need a Christian school where the kids are expected
to act right – not like the world. They're not expected, as junior high girls, to come with all the makeup on, looking for a job as Barnum and Bailey
Circus clowns. They are children, and they are to enjoy their childhood. But the world says, "No, no, no, no. Be grown up. Do all the things ahead of
time, instead of waiting."
So, we say, "In this school, we expect you to act in a Christlike way, and we expect you to look like it. If you don't, then we ask you to fix it. But
you should see. Every now and then, I'm with a bunch of Christian school kids, and I am appalled. And I can just see that the numbers are there because
the quality is not. If you put a demand on kids, they blow their parents on the water. You have to be tender, and you have to be understanding. But our
education should be Christlike.
Our Friends
Then there are our friends. What kind of friends would Jesus have? Who were the people that He hung around with? They weren't the upper class all the
time. He had those. There were some pretty shady characters. He knew the Deep Elam group alright. He was there to minister to them. But those who were
His intimate bosom friends. Even among the disciples, there were only three – Peter, and James, and John. They were the ones with whom He had great
rapport. These three disciples understood. They had the characteristic of being leaders. They were the gutsy ones, sometimes foolishly aggressive. But
they were also those who knew how to change course; pick themselves up; get on the right bearing; and, to go on.
Your friends are going to be influenced by your good qualities, or you will be influenced by their bad qualities, if that's the way it goes. It's a
mazing what friends people will strike up with.
Things
And what about things? What would the Lord Jesus Christ be toward things? Well, we know what He was. He didn't have much. He didn't have anything! He
had what he needed. It was one-day-at-a-time. But He had great divine provision. When the time came that the disciple group had to pay its taxes, in His
humanity (not in His deity), He said, "Father, how are we going to pay these taxes?" And God the Father, speaking to His Son, as a human being, said,
"Go drop the hook over there, in that particular part of the sea; catch that fish; and, you'll find the money." They did, and they did find the money.
Now, our provisions are not always that dramatic. But I'll guarantee you that if you walk by the trust in Him to make the provision, then the things
do not control you: you control your things. You can pile them up as high as you want. There is no problem with that. Just don't let that pile overwhelm
you. Keep things held lightly in your hand to the glory of God.
Eating
Then there is eating. Christlike eating – that's an important thing, because this, again, is a caring for the body in the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The things we drink – what would be Christlike, and what would not be?
Clothing
What about clothing? Needless to say, here is a real Christlike factor – the kinds of clothing that you see. Just watch a little, if you can stomach
it, of the Academy Awards program, and you'll get some very revealing eyefuls of clothing that the world thinks is really cool. And this is all designed
by somebody. And because some designer does this, this is what people wear. I knew a lady who designs clothing for a major clothing designer. And we were
talking one time, and I said to her, "There's nobody like clothing designers to make women look ugly." She just about dropped her front teeth, and they
were real teeth. I mean, she was shocked that I would say such a thing, because she was one of the people involved in designing those clothes. And she
couldn't believe that anybody could object to it.
Well, we don't have to explain it to you, but we do have to explain to the kids in summer camp. We have to come prepared with substitute clothing:
"Come here, little girl. Those shorts do not meet the standards we told you about. Put them away. Put something else on, or we'll give you a pair." We
need to stand up for what is right, in the time that people are under your care. Instead of being a bunch of ninnies. You can't be a big church and do
this. But when you're a small church, you can walk the godly line.
Religion
What about religion? We see what religion is doing to the world today. Everybody is holding their breath about going to another war, and the war is against
what? Well, our leaders don't want to say that it's a war against the religion of Islam, and that is a war that teaches that those who will not submit
to the rule of Allah should be killed. That's what it's all about.
Our Language
What about our language. We hardly needed to explain that to you. What kind of language do you think the Lord Jesus Christ would use? How many times do
you think He would be cursing: using curse words; using obscenity; and, using vulgarity? And that is commonplace. I'm amazed that, even in articles and
magazines, the vulgar words are readily used. Are there people who don't know the English language well enough to be able to express themselves? Well,
you know how Christ would act, and don't talk the way He wouldn't talk.
Prayer
How serious is He about prayer? "Oh, boy. Let me see. When was the last time I prayed at home? When was the last time I sat down and said, "Let me get
this prayer list that I picked up the church at the offering box last Sunday. Let me go through these items. These people went through the trouble to
call our office, or they were there for me to write out these requests because they have needs."
What is Christlike? To pray without ceasing – regularity. How much trouble is it to sit down and read a portion of the Word of God, and go through
a few of those requests, and pray for those during the week? You'll be better off for it. The rest of us, who need your help, will be too.
Church Attendance
What do you think Jesus would do when it came time to meet the assembly of the believers, which, in His day, was the Sabbath day gatherings at the synagogue
on Saturday? Where do you think He would have been? And comparable to us, where do you think we ought to be on Sunday at church service time?
This is what is Christlike. And this is what is in this warning of Colossians 2:18: "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize" – to rob
you of your powerful, grace-age, potential living." You can live the Christlike life. You will stumble. You will confess, expressing your repentance,
and you will straighten it out; redirect; you will go on; and, you will find blessings galore as the norm of your life. It's not always easy, and it's
always everything coming up roses, but you will take everything in stride, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
So, this is no small thing when Paul says (and it is a command in the Greek): "Just don't let anybody rob you of church-age living. Don't let anybody
steal from you, and impose the Mosaic Law upon you.
Stonewall Jackson
One of the all-time great Christian men in American society was Stonewall Jackson. At the first battle of Manassas (the North called it the Battle
of Bull Run), it was kind of exciting to stand at the top of that mound where the Confederate forces had finally driven the Union forces back, and they
were under heavy attack by the Union forces – to move up that hill at Manassas, and take that high ground. The other units of the Confederate Army
were almost ready to flee, themselves. They were demoralized. And one of their officers said, "Men, form up. We're going to the top. Look at General Jackson,
standing there like a stone wall." That's where he got his name: Stonewall Jackson.
Well, it so happens that this was a highly devoted Christlike person. Stonewall Jackson was a student of the Word of God. He loved to talk with theologians,
but he was in the tradition of the Reformed Church. He was a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. And He was in the tradition of John Calvin, which did
not get everything right, as none of the reformers did, from the period of the Reformation. And one of the things about Stonewall Jackson was that he
was a magnificent person of prayer, but his language was full of the Mosaic Law. It was always in the Mosaic Law frame of reference. As devoted a Christian
as he was, nobody had ever taught him, because they weren't aware of these things then. It was in his day that these things were beginning now to come
together, in the middle of the 1800z – the difference between Israel and the church. He had no grasp of the power system of the indwelling Holy
Spirit, and the capacities of freedom to be Christlike, which is what he wanted to be.
This would show up in very many things. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, on a night patrol, they decided that they couldn't go any further –
he and his party of officers, in the group that was with him. And they turned back. Things were so uneasy and confused that, in the woods that night,
a group of Confederate soldiers suddenly fired upon Jackson and the party. And the general was wounded. He was hit three times. He charged out, and finally
lost his strength, and fell off the horse. Men grabbed him, and pulled him to safety, while the officers are trying to show to their Confederate associates,
"Cease fire." By that time, Jackson was in a serious a problem.
Well, a bone was shattered. In those days, you couldn't do anything but take a limb off. So, his left arm was removed. And the other two wounds were
taken care of. And everything was healing nicely. It was a great blow, of course, to the Confederate Army. When General Lee got the word, he said, "Jackson
has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm," because Jackson had the military capacity. He was a military-oriented tactician, such that Lee could
lay out: "This is the plan. This is what we want to do. This is where we want to go." And Jackson could look it over, and Lee could count on him, without
further direction, to know how to get that done.
Then the worst thing of all happened. And they had to get his wife to come down. And they said, "He has pneumonia." In those days, once you got pneumonia,
there was no penicillin and no antibiotics. All the doctors could do for you was to calculate how fast your lungs were going to fill up, and tell you
when you would die.
So, his wife had to finally come to him and give him the bad news. And Jackson wanted to die on the Sabbath day: Saturday. He never had been taught
the magnificence of grace, so that he could make that connection. And what he should have said was: "Lord, carry me through to the Lord's Day. And sure
enough, Saturday came, and his wife said to him, "The doctor says, Tom, you'll be in heaven with Jesus today." But here, he was a sincere godly man, and
a tremendous soldier, and a student of the Word of God. But this shows that if you do not have someone to teach you the difference, you're going to be
like all the rest of them out there in Christendom – unChristlike. And you will never rise to the rewards that God has planned for you in heaven,
because you'll never carry out your mission.
So, the admonition that Paul gives is very important. It is Satan's purpose to make you and me never to stop and think: "How would the Lord Jesus Christ
act in this situation? That's the way I'm going to do it. And I have guidance in the Scripture to let me know how that would be. I don't just figure this
out on my own."
So, we have seen in detail what is involved in this prize: the positions we have; the relationships we have; the comparisons to the Vine and the branch;
and, so on. How do you protect it? You can lose your orientation of living the grace way of life, which is Christ living in you, and God the Holy Spirit
living out your life. Do you want to stumble around in your Mosaic, self-effort life? Great. You'll have all eternity to regret it. But if you want to
live under that power system, then you have to face the dangers that confront you. Satan and his demons are constantly on the prowl, attacking the Christian
who is positive (open and receptive) to the Word of God – the Christian who comes, and who regularly shows up in the church service.
1 Peter 5:8: "Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary (the devil) prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." He's crouching
down. He's waiting to see you drop your guard, and he'll get you. Let your sin nature take over. Let your self-orientation take over. Let anything that
is unChristlike take over. And he will come in to keep you from being a servant of God, and for moving into spiritual maturity. That's the worst thing.
You never grow up spiritually. And in the average church in Christendom, the Christians never grow up spiritually. And the larger the church is, the less
likely they can ever make it. There's not that orientation for them to know the way.
The kind of Christians that the devil is after are producing divine good works. That means that the Holy Spirit is working through you. You are achieving
great things in the service of God. And you're building up the body of Christ; building it up numerically; and, building it up spiritually. We had hoped
to convey to you, by the demonstration we gave you of our racetrack and the race we had yesterday, that we're not in the entertainment business. We're
not a YMCA. We're not just giving the kids fun. All of these weeks of building these cars was an orientation, spiritually: to competence; to integrity;
to craftsmanship; and, to association spiritually with one another as Christian men and Christian boys.
The works of Satan are brought closer and closer to final destruction by Christians who are on the job, living Christlike lives. So, I tell you this
so that you know that if you're going to be serious about the Christian life, you're going to be under the gun. If you're going to be self-centered, and
you're going to be indulging the sin nature, sit back and relax. He's not going to bother you. You'll float along on your own. But, by heaven, if you
decide that you're take the Lord's side, and you're going to treat your Heavenly Father with the honor and respect of service that He deserves, you come
immediately under Satan's view.
However, I want you to remember what his end is. In Matthew 25:41, the people at the end of the tribulation, who did not help the Jewish people in
their desperate need, as the antichrist moved in upon them, killing them left and right, and did not give them assistance and protection, Matthew 25:41
says, "Then He will say to those on his left: 'These who are guilty of that, depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire (into the lake of fire
and brimstone, and into what we call 'hell'), which has been prepared for the devil and his demonic angels.'" That's where hell came from. That's where
the lake of fire came from. It is prepared for Satan and his demonic angels. And Satan knows that. And he's doing everything he can to keep you, as a
Christian, to be unChristlike, so that he can delay his ultimate incarceration forever, in that painful place.
He wants you to live by your sin nature. He wants you to do things not the way Jesus would do them, because the ultimate end is in Revelation 20:10:
"And the devil, who deceived them (the nations of the world, as he's doing today), was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where 1,000 years earlier,
the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." Don't play footsie with the Words of God. It means
torment. It means horror. It means suffering. And everybody lives forever. And everybody's body gets raised again. Those who are believers have a living
human spirit. Those who are unbelievers have a dead human spirit. But everybody lives forever. But it's either in heaven, or it's in the lake of fire
and brimstone.
If you have ever been to Yellowstone National Park, and stood at that sulfur cauldron, and you smelled the sulfur, as you see the intense bubbling
up under those mud pots, blowing up and exploding, it can't help but make you think: what a horrible place that stench of sulfur (that's brimstone) is
going to be in the lake of fire, that these human beings have chosen to join Satan and his demons in.
You can smell this in Hawaii, at one of the volcanic sites. It is a very clear, and very distinct sulfur odor. And I noticed on the sign next to the
display area, was a comment by Mark Twain. There he wrote: "The sulfur odor at this place is very intense. But it is not entirely unpleasant to those
of us who are sinners." OK, Mark, you go ahead and make your jokes. But you are going to find how unpleasant it is to have been unChristlike. And the
first step of being unChristlike is not to be born again spiritually. To be dead spiritually is as unChristlike as you can get, and everything else is
downhill. But you Christians who are alive from the dead spiritually: walk the walk. Don't just talk the talk. Do it the way Christ would do it. Live
as those who befit the royal family of God.
Satan, in his role as an angel of light, is going to lie to people all the time. And most Christians are not well-versed in doctrine. And that's the
problem of not having an expository teaching church. So, most Christians will be deceived him. The Bible tells us that even the elect (almost) will be
deceived by Satan.
2 Corinthians 11:13 points this out: "For such men are false apostles – deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." They
are Christlike, but they're pretending to be Christlike. That's all these guys that you see on religious television. Verse 14 says, "And no wonder, for
even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." And he's talking to you. Don't kid yourself. And he's going to tell: "Don't do that. Don't do that"
– the very thing about which God says, "Go for it. Make the big move. Do the right thing." And what do you go into then? Into religion. And where
does that take us? Into devotions. And boy, is that a can of worms?
That's what churches are all about now. They call it praise and worship services. And it is the regurgitation of the sin nature that is not Christlike.
And we should look at that next time.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1995
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