|
|
The Second Death
RV245-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
Please open your Bibles to Revelation 21:5-8. Our subject is "The Great Divide." This is segment number two.
Human Suffering
As Christians, all of us have the experience of our hearts going out in sympathy to people all around us who are experiencing various sufferings and
sorrow. They often do this quietly without saying anything to anybody else. Even now, as we say that, that rings a bell, I'm sure, in the hearts of
some of you – what you personally bear in one way or another that only you and God know. But there are things that all of us do know, and our
hearts, indeed, go out to you.
We may have the grief of death which causes the tears of memory to flow. We may have the physical ailments which persistently consume one's vitality,
and incapacitate us. We may have the financial lack to meet our daily needs. We may have a heartless marriage of infidelity, desertion, and gender
violation. We may have the lonely walk of those who have been abandoned by family and friends. We may have the disappointing children who love the
things of the world more than the things of God. We may have the wound of ingratitude from those for whom we have sacrificed, and to whom we have
done good. We may have the persistent secret sins which are open scandal in heaven that we struggle with. We may have the greed for money, which
shrivels the believer's soul, and impoverishes is eternity.
There is the unbeliever who stubbornly and blindly chooses the lake of fire rather than Christ and heaven. There may be the mental attitude sin of
pride, which leaves behind a trail of meanness, injury, ingratitude, slander, and destruction. There is the believer who never rises to his
privileged position in the family of God, but lives in the state of carnality. We have a society which eagerly exchanges freedoms for government
welfare security.
Morality
We could go on and on, but all of these things are constantly circling about us, and human beings, near and dear, far and distant to us are caught up
in these struggles. It hurts; they're distressed; and, they walk very often that lonely road. Our hearts go out to them. But why should these things
have to be? Why do we have a world filled with tragedies of that kind? The answer is very simple. These sufferings and these sorrows are the product
of sin brought into the human race by Adam and Eve. It is an issue of morality, plain and simple. Psychiatry and psychology cannot solve or alleviate
these burdens. Don't you be tricked by somebody adding the word "Christian" to psychology, or "Christian" to psychiatry. It's still Freudian; it's
still humanistic; and, it's still trying to make the old sin nature do something that it cannot. Do not be deceived.
Have you noticed that when a crisis now occurs, and the news begins to report it, that they no longer say, "And pastors have been brought in, and
ministers have been brought in to give guidance and comfort?" You never hear that at all anymore. What you hear is that the psychiatrists and the
psychologists have been brought in to help them cope with this crisis. Many times, there's nobody that needs any coping to begin with. Of course,
psychiatrists and psychologists are euphemisms (code words) for witch doctors, and they have no more capacity than witch doctors. As a matter of fact,
that's not quite true. Witch doctors are in communication with the demonic world. They have more possible abilities to do something than the
psychologist or psychiatrist does.
You cannot deal with the sin of man by these humanistic approaches. The old sin nature cannot be reformed to remove our inherent evil nature, and our
inherent propensity for morality that violates the codes of God.
People talk to me a lot. They come up sometimes, as a man did recently, in great sorrow and great tears, and embraces me, as somehow wanting to reach
out for an answer for comfort or stability. I know that what caused that was a moral breakdown in society. It is triggered by sin, creating these
terrible conditions that distress the soul. The world government by Satan ridicules the moral laws of God today, and the authority of Scripture, and
in fact, the reality of God Himself.
No More Sorrow
So, while we are all saddened by what sin has done to people, we are helpless to change it. God, the Creator, Himself, must come into the human
experience and make things new and right again for mankind. There is no other way to do it. God has to do it. So, indeed He has, through Christ. God,
who is the sovereign be-all and end-all, will, in the eternal state, we have been promised, provide us with a new heaven and a new earth, and He will
freely dispense to us the water of life to satisfy the deepest spiritual needs of believers. That's what's ahead for us. There will be no more sin; no
more sorrow; no more groaning; no more moaning; no more pain; and, no more death. That's all going to be behind us. But who can bring that about? Only
God can. The tragedies of sin will forever then be neutralized, forgotten and never possible again in that eternal state.
In Revelation 21:8 we read the lot of the unsaved. Here we have the moral characteristics of unbelievers, which is the great issue and problem today
that causes all this sorrow, and all this suffering, and all this grief. And people don't understand. Probably one of the saddest observations that
Jesus made was to look out upon a group of human beings, and tell His disciples, "Lo, the fields are white of the harvest, but the harvesters are few.
There are a few people to go out among them." The Old Testament prophets said, "My people perish for lack of knowledge" – knowledge of doctrine.
So, here in verse 8, we have a terrible picture and it is a picture of society today. It is a picture overtly or covertly of the people you associate
with all the time. Young people should know this. Older people should know this. These are characteristics of unbelievers.
John writes, "But for the cowardly..." "The cowardly" refers to those who are in a state of fear, which prevents one from trusting in Christ for
salvation. They are intimidated by the reaction of others to them, so they reject the gospel. The cowardly do not choose to do what is right. And
those of you who are young people are particularly up against this perhaps – to be able to deal with your innate cowardice to do right, and to
be right, in the face of having associates in your peers who do what is wrong.
Courage
It is a great thing when you have a youngster who can stand up and unashamedly say, "I know what's right. I take my stand with God, and that's what
I'm going to do." Most kids aren't like that unless they've been nurtured, and unless they've had courage reinforced in their lives by something like
Berean Academy or the Berean Youth Clubs, so that when they're out there on their own, they're ready to stand up and take that stand for
righteousness. Unless they have that, they're inclined to be cowards.
You and I as Christians have no basis for cowardice because God has delivered us from that intimidation. In John 14:21, Jesus said, "Peace I leave
with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." What is He saying?
"Take your stand for what is right. Do what you should do. Obey the moral principles, and indeed let the chips fall where they may, but you may count
on Me. I'm not going to leave you out there flapping in the wind." No matter what the grief is; no matter what the tragedy is; and, no matter what the
sorrow is, you will not escape them in this world, but you can neutralize them through Christ by being bold and courageous.
2 Timothy 1:7-8 is another expression of our freedom as believers from any ground for cowardice: "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but
of power, and love, and discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His partner, but join with me in suffering
for the gospel according to the power of God." It is a great sadness when Christians move in the world, and they compromise with it, because they're
intimidated by the world. They don't want to be looked upon as being some kind of strange people.
Faith
The second thing that characterizes these people who are left out of the New Jerusalem is that their unbelieving. They lack faith in Christ for
salvation. They think that dead is dead. So, they have no concern for facing God beyond the grave. But no degree of human works, the Bible makes
clear, can produce the absolute righteousness prerequisite for entrance into heaven. It takes faith in Christ to have that kind of righteousness
imputed to your credit.
So, these people who are unbelievers reject the authority of the Bible as the voice of God, and so they ignore the will and the moral laws of God.
So, we're back to this issue. Unbelief is a moral corruption, and people who do not take the Bible seriously as the inherent authority of God are in
for sorrow and suffering. There's no other way around it.
The Bible has much to say about all of your social relationships within the family and outside the family. This is what matters with belief or
unbelief. This is the issue that has to do with life.
I reread a letter recently that I had forgotten that we still had. It came from a man in the ministry whom Mrs. Danish and I knew, and who, as
sometimes happens to seminary students, find themselves married to women who are not in sync with Christian service. And as our society moved into
feminism; into ecumenicism; and, into all the things that are supposed to be bringing great freedom, this woman ate it up, and went into it lock,
stock, and barrel. She just ate it up.
The result was that she finally found that she didn't like being married to a minister, and she went her own
way. She is an unbeliever relative to the Scriptures, though she is going to heaven. She is going to pay such a price at that Judgment Seat of Christ,
because of the immorality of unbelief, and what the Word of God has to say to her about her role, within her gender place, within the family union,
and the association with her husband. Somehow she missed the point that God created her to be a help to her husband, not to fulfill her career. She
missed the point that God created her to live with her children, and to care for them – not to be off in a career. Somehow she missed the point
of all these things that were critical to personal fulfillment in the long run.
Abominations
Then there are the abominable things. We talked about what it means to be abominable. It is a practice which is completely loathsome to the holiness
of God. It is referring to acts like homosexuality, the Bible says. The Bible calls that abominable. It calls blasphemy abominable. It calls idolatry
abominable. It refers to murder, including abortion, as abominable. These are things that disgust the holiness of God. Yet, these are gross evils
which are commonly accepted among the unsaved today. These are the people you associate with. Here are abominable things that bring out the great
rage of a holy God. And in our country today, they are being justified and practiced at the highest levels of society.
Murder
Then there are the murderers (first-degree homicide). This is a brutal, mindless act that people are willing to commit. It includes the murder of
abortion. People like to discuss the fact that the president of the United States says, "The Bible never condemns abortion, and never speaks about
abortion." Of course, that's quite wrong. It makes it very clear. Psalm 139 says that God puts a sperm and an egg together, and then God goes to work,
and describes Him as weaving together a human being from that point on who is destined to be nothing but a human being. And all of a sudden, in comes
the doctor's suction tube, or a knife scraper, and kills the creation of God which is in progress. What an abomination it is for a public official to
stand before God and say a thing like that. Where will he end up when the judgment of God finally says, "That's it? No more." These are things that
are gross and evil are commonly accepted, though God says, "They're abominable."
There are the murderers (first degree homicide), brutal, preceded by mental attitude hatred as a trigger for the overt action. Murder is, of course,
something that God hates.
Immoral Persons
Then there are the immoral persons. This refers to sexual sins of all kinds: fornication; adultery; lesbianism; homosexuality; and, bestiality. It
refers to all sex outside of the normal relationship of the marriage union. It is triggered by mental attitude lusts. It is tolerated in our society,
but it is disciplined by God with death. That happens today as well.
Sorcerers
Then there are the sorcerers. The Greek word here is the word "pharmakos," from which we get the word "pharmacy," which has to do with drugs. Sorcery
deals with drugs to create a consciousness expansion into the spirit world. This is the pursuit of contact with demons for occult experiences and
worship. This includes Satan worship, witchcraft, and seances. This is what Woodstock was all about. Woodstock was a giant orgy in sorcery. 25 years
later, after that vulgar, crude, disgusting, godless event, they took the trouble to commemorate it, and to try to repeat it. And what did they
repeat? What you saw (as much as the TV cameras dared to show you) was a repeat of these abominations – these immoral things that God condemns
so much, and so firmly, to indicate that this is the type that never gets into the new Jerusalem. These are sorcerers pursuing the demonic powers
instead of the power of God.
Idolaters
Then there are the idolaters. These are people who worship parts of creation: animals; or, man-made images of gods. This is an insult to the Creator
God. Colossians 3:5 tells us that greed is an act of idolatry. So, even Christians who are greedy for material things, and who cannot let go of what
they have for the cause of God, are idol worshipers. They are worshiping that money.
Liars
Finally, he mentions liars. These are those from Satan on down who practiced deception, falsehood, and disinformation. Sadly enough, this includes
the teachings of religious leaders. 2 Peter 2:1-3: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you
who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will
follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their
judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." You couldn't have a better description of many prominent religious leaders
today. They are false teachers. They introduce destructive heresies. They deny all that Christ really stands for. And they bring destruction on
themselves and on those who listen to them. They are promoters of sensuality, and they malign the truth, and all those who stand for the truth. They
are motivated by greed. They use people to satisfy that greed.
These are people who pretend to be something. They convey a false image of themselves (a false attitude) which is not true. You can be a liar without
using words. You can pretend what you are not. God says, "That type does not come into the new Jerusalem."
Is it possible for Christians to do these things? Absolutely – every one of them. Do Christians do these things? Absolutely – every one
of them. These are moral breakdowns that are among Christians. That does not mean (and the implication is not here) that if you do these things,
you're not going to heaven. If you do these things as a Christian, you will come under enormous divine discipline. But what he is telling us here,
in contrast to what he has previously told us, in verse 5-7 – that He is creating all things new, because He is the sovereign God, and He is
going to bring those who are believers into heaven because they trusted His Son.
However, on the other hand, those outside of the new Jerusalem are characterized by these immoralities. This is their lifestyle, and they have not
had forgiveness for these things through Christ. The believer can be guilty of these things, but they have been covered by the blood of Christ. If he
persists willfully in them, he will be punished, and he will be disciplined.
So, the end of verse 8 says, "All of these things: these cowards; these unbelievers; these who practice abomination; these murderers; these immoral
persons; these sorcerers; these idolaters; and, these liars – they are going to have a part from God. He has previously told us about the part
of believers – their inheritance as being in the new Jerusalem. But these people have a part that they receive from God, as it were,
inheritance. And it is going to be the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (with fire and sulfur), which is the second death. The unsaved, with
their vile immoralities, are going to end up in the lake of fire, as the part that they inherit from God.
This is a great contrast to what we believers will inherit from God in the form of the new Jerusalem. Those who die in Adam rather than in Christ
all go to the lake of fire. There is no access then to God or to the water of life, or to coming into a family relationship with God. The lake of
fire is never extinguished. It is always a place of conscious suffering, and the body never becomes desensitized to the pain. People who are
characterized by immorality (and you have a sample here of what characterizes our society today) are going to end up in the lake of fire if Christ
has not brought forgiveness to them.
The Second Death
That destiny in the lake of fire is called the second death. When you're dead, you're not dead. When you're dead, you're completely alive, and your
destiny has been determined. It'll be life with Christ, or it'll be the second eternal death in the lake of fire, and there is no return. First comes
the physical death, then the second death – eternal separation from God.
This happens to be the last reference in the Bible to the lake of fire, or to hell. Verse 8 is the last reference associated with hell. Do you know
where the first one is? Genesis 19:24 is the first reference to fire, and guess what it's in connection with. It's the fire of God's judgment and
wrath pouring down upon Sodom and Gomorrah for the practice of homosexuality.
So, it's a moral issue again. Fire comes from God because of a moral violation. At the other end of the Bible, fire again is the way that God deals
with moral violations. This business of morality is a very serious matter. Physical death is a great sadness. But the second death of eternal
separation from God, obviously, is a greater sadness. For here is suffering in the lake of fire, and that's an infinitely greater sadness.
Now, that God would give such a severe penalty for these moral breakdowns (for the violation of these moral principles) points up the revulsion of
His character toward the evil that characterizes unbelievers. It shows His revulsion toward a society that says, "It's OK to do these things."
That's where we are today. These things are here. That's bad enough. And they've always been here. But in the past, Americans have not approved them.
American leadership has not tolerated them as acceptable alternatives. The prominent; the powerful; and, the prosperous people in our world today, by
and large, have upon them the kiss of the second death, and you should not listen to them.
America Today
Here are the implications of morality. Here is the American scene. American society, since the 1960s, has experienced a revolution on the issue of
the morality characterizing those who will be experiencing the second death in the lake of fire. The once morally unthinkable, such as this list in
Revelation 21:8 has now become accepted practice openly, and even defended by law. Biblical abominations are now tolerated as alternative lifestyles.
So, the homosexuals have come out from under their rocks into public acceptance and prominence, both in entertainment and in government: two powerful
forces for this abomination. Murder by abortion has been legalized by an evil Supreme Court. Sex is perverted and separated from marriage. Public
nudity is called an art form, though it is forbidden by God.
Government Pensions
Government by taxation steals the fruits of the labors of the productive citizens to redistribute to the indolent; the envious; and, the undeserving
in exchange for their votes to office and to pensions. I discovered recently in an article why people want to be elected to Congress (to public
office), and to get reelected several times. They have voted themselves pensions beyond your fondest dreams. Some of these people have been there for
several years will leave with a pension of $4 million. They have huge sums of money if you can just get yourself elected several times, no matter what
you do.
So, what do you do? Well, because you are caught up as an unbeliever in these immoralities, you will do whatever gets you reelected. And one of the
ways to do it is to steal from the productive, and give to the unproductive who don't deserve it. All personal acts are viewed today in American
society as neutral – having no inherent quality of right or wrong, whether it is lying; stealing; fornication; murder; sexual perversions;
idolatry; abusive parents; or, using God's name in curse words. You cannot say that our society now says that those things are wrong. Some people can
do that because for them it is not wrong. That means that there are only relative moral laws, not absolute laws that God says are true all the time.
The abandonment of God's absolute moral laws, however, has produced for us skyrocketing crime; fear; pornography; vulgarity; venereal diseases; AIDS;
feminism; single parent families; unruly children; illegitimate births; schools which cannot educate; parents who are afraid to discipline; drug
addiction; and, occultism. And we could go on and on.
Dr. Joseph Fletcher
It's a terrible scene today over what it was back in the 1960s when all this began to unravel, as people said, "The moral code of God is not absolute,
and it is not required of everyone. Where did the idea come from? It came from Dr. Joseph Fletcher, an Episcopalian priest who had a great revelation
from God, and said that the Ten Commandments must always have a word attached to them in order to be true, and that word is "ordinarily:" "Thou shall
not worship false gods, ordinarily. Thou shall not commit adultery, ordinarily." This is a man who's standing up there. He wears the frock? I mean,
he's not a simple nonentity soul like I am, who has to wear a suit that he's worn 100 times? I mean, he wears a dignified frock. The only time I wear
a dignified robe is in the baptistery. And Then I'm all wet. And people think that I'm all wet even outside of that. But I mean, here is somebody of
stature. You look up at this man, and he's in a great cathedral. And when he speaks, people listen.
Well, it went like wildfire. People grabbed on to it everywhere, and said, "That's right. Here's a religious man. He knows. He speaks for God." It's
so hard for people to know that religions are unreliable, and preachers are unreliable. Only the Bible speaks for God.
Compassion
So, this scene is very bleak. What's the cause? Rejection of God's moral standards. The guiding principle of non-biblical morality, you must
understand, is this: that anything you do is OK if it's motivated by love and compassion. Have you ever heard the word "compassion?" What do liberals
want to do, whether they're in education; in religion; or, in government? Liberals always center on the word "compassion." And what they want to do
is to regularly violate the principles of the Word of God. They violate the divine institution of government, and all the other divine institutions.
And they do it for personal gain; for personal power; to make rules to manipulate; and, to move people around as the way they think people should be
moved.
This is like one of the prominent senators in Congress (one of the liberal Democrats) this past week said, "The Congress is five years ahead of the
American public in knowing what is good for our society." Isn't it wonderful? They are five years smarter than anybody else. Our experience with
people who are in government is that they're not five minutes smarter than anybody else, let alone five years ahead. What arrogance to stand up
there! And he's a prominent man. Congress knows better than the American people what's good for them?
It's like the senator from West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, on the health bill. He said, "We're going to have a health bill for the American people,
whether they like it or not." I said, "What did you say? Like it or not? Who's the government?" Well, how can this be? It is because of morality.
Character counts. And when you have people without the character of biblical morality, they are tyrants, and they will destroy you every time,
because the guiding principle is love. If it's done in love, it's OK, whether it be stealing; wife swapping; deceiving; putting a thumb on the scale;
price-fixing; or, cannibalism. If you do it in love, it's all right. Compassion is the issue.
Love
Well, if we're going to talk about love, I guess we better define it. The Bible does not leave us without information on that. Let's talk about real
love – love again, as God views it. Romans 13:9-10: "You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not
covet. If there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a
neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the Law." What's the Law? The Law is that you're not going to be engaged in illicit sex, or
perversions. The Law says that you're not going to be guilty of murder one (homicide.) You're not going to take what belongs to other people. You're
not going to want what belongs to the people so that you enviously will destroy what they have if you can't get it. And all the other commandments
– how are they fulfilled? By loving your neighbor as yourself. You don't try to hurt yourself. And if you break these laws, you hurt people. You
can't say "ordinarily" you do these things. You do them always because they are absolute moral laws. Therefore, real love is demonstrated by the one
that keeps the moral code of God. Real love is the fulfillment of the Law, the Scripture says.
"How about John 14:15? Jesus says, "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments." That's very simple. Love is keeping the directions (the
commandments – the moral code of Christ), and all that is associated with it.
Here's one more, in 2 John 6. The Holy Spirit says, "For this is love: that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as
you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it."
So, real love is only when you keep the moral laws of God. If you don't keep the moral laws of God, love is lust. It's corrupted. It's all the
difference in the world. So, when the Word of God says, "You can do this, but you can't do that," take it seriously. That's the way we were all made.
We by nature cannot determine what is morally right. God has to tell us what is right and what is wrong, because He Himself is the standard for that
decision.
So, where are we today in American society? We have no objective standard for conduct. We have only our good intentions. There's no restraint on the
lusts of the old sin nature while we merrily move on the road toward the lake of fire. If an act has what man considers good consequences, it is
morally acceptable. This is the core belief of liberalism. Liberalism says, "If an act has good consequences, it is morally acceptable, no matter
what the act is. Liberalism says, "We must exercise power for your benefit." The sinful nature of man is incapable of determining what is right and
what is a good consequence. You can't determine what is right or wrong to begin with, and you can't determine whether the consequence is good or bad.
Man is not capable of doing this.
So, this is a serious list here in Revelation 21:8 as it describes the morality of the unbeliever. And this characteristic will take them into the
lake of fire.
Power
You should not exercise authority over other people unless you yourself are a moral person. The American people, as you know, have been shocked into
pessimism, disillusionment, and apathy by serious, immoral government officials. Elected officials, lacking in character of biblical morality, have
no legitimate authority to govern, though the system puts them into positions of authority, because the people who vote for them have themselves a
breakdown of their moral character. They think that character doesn't matter.
So, when people like this come into power, they abuse the power, and they ruin a society. A character of biblical morality is absolutely essential in
an elected government official if he is to govern with integrity and produce blessings.
So, what does the Word of God make clear? It makes clear that the moral laws of God are absolute. They're not a sometime thing. If somebody says
that they are, then in God's name, don't put him in power and authority over your life. The moment you find that somebody lives according to this
list of immoralities of Revelation 21:8, get rid of him. Dismiss him. Do not take him seriously. Do not put power in his hands. He is a moral
reprobate.
There was a time in American society, that some of you may remember, when the Bible was regarded as the basis for moral conduct. Americans thought in
terms of absolutes of right and wrong. Some things are always right, and some things are always wrong. The biblical standard of morality was then
rigidly enforced in all the institutions of our society. Violations of biblical morality were done covertly (in secret), because they were cause for
shame.
How many Hollywood people and entertainers today are ashamed of their immorality? They're not. They're proud of all the illegitimate kids they have.
They're proud of their living together outside of marriage. They're proud of all their sexual exploits. They're proud of their homosexuality and
lesbianism. TV programs dignify these things. But the Bible says that these are causes of shame. And people who are on the road to the lake of fire
are jaded to the issue of shame.
Religious and political liberalism brought this about by attacking the principle of moral absolutes laws. They began by attacking the Bible as an
inerrant book. They replaced a personal God with an impersonal force. They viewed man as an independent authority, creating a proper moral code for
himself and for his society. Religious and political liberals did this to us. And people who did not have access to true instruction in the Word of
God believed them, and didn't know any better.
So, suddenly man became his own rule maker. Without the bible, however, to guide, there can be no rules for right and wrong. Consequently, anything
goes. And when anything goes, it all goes downward into chaos.
So, the United States today is in danger of national destruction from evil rulers; evil laws; evil morals; evil entertainment; and, evil media
disinformation. The fact that it will go to destruction is something you can count on. It has always happen in history in the past, and it will
happen again with this country, irrelevant to its spiritual origins and its biblical foundations. It is the absolute moral laws of God which preserve
our personal freedom, and which frustrate Satan's goal of one-world government. Satan has to have a one-world government to bring the antichrist on
the scene. He has to be able to have the ultimate liberal dream of total power controlling humanity.
The Ten Commandments
The Bible provides the only true code for conduct in a society which will preserve your personal freedom, and frustrate the domination of governments.
The widespread violation of God's moral laws was practiced by the enlightened Jewish people who, of all the people of the ancient world, had the moral
codes of God. They knew what was absolute right and what was absolute wrong. Pagan societies did not, and they went to their destruction. But the
Jewish people in time abandoned the moral laws of God. The result was that these codes for conduct (these ten moral principles for preserving personal
freedom that we call the Ten Commandments) were given to them when they crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, coming out of their slavery. God said, "Now
I'm going to show you how to preserve your freedom. You must obey these ten principles for freedom." And when they did, they prospered.
In time, they began violating those, and they returned to slavery in Babylon in 586 B.C. And they did this in the face of a great preacher named
Jeremiah, who taught them the principles of the Word of God, and kept pointing back to the moral absolutes, and told them, "You're breaking the moral
code of God. You're going to be taken into captivity. You're going to be made slaves again." And they beat him up; dismissed him; threw him into a
slimy pit with creeping things; and, told him to stay down there until he could come to his senses, and stop being an alarmist, causing trouble in
society. Jeremiah was right, and they were wrong. And they died. And for their violations of the moral code, they went into slavery. It is God's
moral code that protects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness during this era of the angelic warfare.
Jesus Christ said that what the Bible teaches will never pass away. So, its eternal authority brings judgment on an immoral nation. Matthew 24:35
enunciates this for us: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall never pass away." So, don't let anybody tell you that the rules have
changed. They have not.
What is the way back for American society? How can we correct this? It is correctable. We have to begin proclaiming that the Bible is indeed the Word
of God. And it is a manual with absolute moral laws which must be obeyed. We must reject the human viewpoint morality of influential people as a
delusion of Satan. And we have to teach a new generation of children the moral laws of God through family, church, and school. That's why we need
families with fathers who know the Scriptures to teach their children. This is why we need churches which are doctrinally instructing the people.
This is why we need a place like Berean Christian Academy to teach the children all the areas of knowledge on the basis of God's moral principles
– not only moral principles, but everything else that Jesus commanded, like telling you to put the things of God ahead of the things of
yourself; and, to keep your eyes on the things above, and not only on the things below. We need to teach them all those things that make a person
the highest quality human being that one can be.
We have to teach a new generation of children, because it only takes one generation of youth who are
well-taught in doctrine to reverse a national trend from liberalism to godlessness. It's just that simple. 40 years does it. It has taken us from the
sixties, with youth taught in the other direction, to come to where we are now. And in a span of one generation, all of this can be changed.
Christian Education
We're told now that the government schools in various places, including this city, are trying to teach moral values. The teachers laugh at it. They
scoff at it. There is no curriculum, because it's impossible to do that in a secular public school. You cannot teach moral values because you have no
basis for it. If you can't bring the Bible into the picture, you have no authority. And can't teach a person to do right unless you have the capacity
to do right, and that requires salvation. So, how are you going to sit in a public school classroom, teaching principles of morality, until you can
first say, "Here's the authority for these rules, and if you want to do them, let me tell you about personal salvation through Jesus Christ?" You
have to explain to them how to be saved. This is everything that a Christian school does all the time. Then the child comes to spiritual perception.
He is now spiritually alive. Now he is capable of looking at these moral absolutes and saying, "I'll do them." And he is capable then, with the
Spirit of God, to do just that. It enables a student to be moral.
So, don't get carried away, and get your hopes raised because they're teaching moral principles in the public schools. It's a big joke. Today, the
United States is at its lowest moral point probably in its history, and its people suffer from the lack of knowledge of doctrine. There is no such
thing as a moral vacuum. So, when you reject the principles of biblical morality, our social institutions are open to all kinds of disruption,
corruption, and destruction.
Grace-oriented Christianity is the only hope of a nation. And when a nation does not have a large number of people who have a respect for the moral
principles of God, that nation is doomed. Spiritual revival always comes from just one thing: teaching the Word of God to people. When nations have
gone down into corruption, the only thing that brought them back was when a Jonah rose up and went to the Assyrian empire, and faced the governmental
officials, and said, in 756 B.C., "What you're doing is wrong, and if you don't turn and accept the principles of God's morality, you will be
destroyed." And that leadership in the government was convicted by God. They said, "You're right. We will obey the laws of God.
The Assyrian empire was a terrible society. They're the ones who invented impaling people on sharpened poles of trees that cut down as a method of
execution, which eventually was extended to crucifixion. When you impale somebody, he doesn't writhe and twist and scream very long, so that isn't
as much fun as when you put him on a cross, and it takes hours, and maybe days for him to die. It was the Assyrians who came up with that –
a brutal, terrible people. Yet, they came to God, and for 100 years, an empire that was going to be destroyed continued to be a powerful force on
the world scene.
The Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar rose to world domination because of the Bible doctrine policies interjected into government by Daniel in 600 B.C.
It was their listening to Daniel, who was a godly administrator, that brought that empire to great glory.
One in our own day was Great Britain, the empire upon which the sun used to never set, but has long since set indeed. Great Britain rose, and it
declined, as per its devotion to the principles of biblical morality. It was not uncommon in Puritan England to hear parents teaching their children
doctrinal principles. This is what fathers did. This was the way they spent their time, especially on Sunday. The father didn't send them to go to
school (to go to this Christian school; go to Sunday school; go to train union; and, go to little church services. They went to the father, and he
said, "Do you understand this? Do you know how to do this? Do you know that this is the way God works?" And because their father said it, the kids
were impressed.
Such rearing in England produced men and women who colonized three continents, and who brought the gospel to millions of people in Africa; in China;
and, in India. These were the kids that the fathers had taught at home, and it permeated English society. Whenever England strayed from the Word of
God, a natural decline set in. But when it was reversed by great spiritual leaders (from the Presbyterians; the Quakers; the Methodists; and, the
Baptists), and when these leaders arose, and people listened, England revived again, and was strengthened, and was a powerful country. But she's a
third- and fourth-rate nation now. What happened?
Evolution
It happened in the 19th century. England, as a society, became enamored with Satan's concept of evolution. That's where it started. When Darwin
captivated the scientific world of England with his idea of evolution, it was the beginning of the end for England. So, at that point, they thumbed
their nose at the Creator God. And if He is the Creator God, then you have to obey His moral concepts. He makes the rules. And since there was no
Creator God, and they were all evolved animals, they were superior, and gods in themselves, and could make their rules.
Fabian Socialism
I heard recently that only 5% of the people in England attend church now. They have magnificent cathedrals. In every little village, they have
magnificent houses of worship. Who goes? They don't need it. And what has happened? Along with evolution came Fabian Socialism. Fabian Socialism says,
"Marx is not right. You can't impose socialism on a people by revolution. You sneak it in one little bit at a time. You have government start
encroaching. You have government become more socialistic until, at some point, you can take a big leap, like maybe socialized medicine, so that the
government now has its tentacles really into people. Fabian Socialism was begun by the Fabians, and England was captivated by socialism. In 100 years,
she has become the fourth-rate power that she is today.
So, let us not thumb our nose at the absolute moral principles of the Word of God. I tell you all this to give you a perspective, so that when you
read Revelation 21:8, where God sends people into the internal fires of the second death for these things, that gives us a clue of His outrage at
these things, because these are the things that destroy everything that human beings should be, and everything that God has designed human society to
enjoy in blessings, and in prosperity, and in personal freedom.
Do right, because it is the right thing to do, and you will be blessed, and you will be prospered, and you'll have all eternity to rejoice that you
paid attention to the rules of God.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1993
Back to the Revelation index
Back to the Bible Questions index |