Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that I wanted to ask you a little question.
Why do people do the things that they do? People’s motives for doing certain things can be activated by many different reasons. Some people sit in a church service because they truly love God, while others are just there to be seen. Some of them preach the gospel because they really want to serve the Lord from their heart, while others do it to receive the glory of men. Granted, we can’t always know the state of a person’s heart, but there is a huge difference between Christianity and religion. Some people will put large bills in an offering plate just to be seen by the cameras. Others will put on fancy robes and name tags, praying openly in the public simply to display their own religious behavior. They thrive on this, and love the adoration and the fluff that comes from the praise of men. These types of people are motivated by the praise of men, and will do whatever they have to do in order to obtain it. They love to be surrounded by others who constantly pat them on the back, fervently seeking their adulation like trying to find water in a hot desert, but it is simply a carnal desire that is driven completely by their own pride and personal ego. True Christianity is led by a personal love and adoration for God, and to desire any praise that comes from men is not only irrelevant but complete vanity.
Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
We are living through one of the most perilous times in history, filled up with wickedness, opulence and impenitence, and when men of God take a stand for scriptural truth, they are not going to receive glory from men, you can be assured of that! They will be hated by the world and all those who reject repentance towards the will of God.
1 Peter 4:12-14 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
When people are rebellious and stiff necked they will refuse to receive corrections from scripture, and will hate those who bring forth that message.
Luke 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Incredibly, a lot of this hatred will come from people who claim to be a Christian, who have abandoned the teachings of scripture and completely given themselves over to the philosophies and teachings of this world. After all, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day claimed that God was their father, but many of them hated Jesus and the message that He preached. This is because the world doesn’t receive the things of God, and will persecute the bearers of Divine Truth. When you take a stand for the truth, the world is not going to embrace you, it’s going to hate you instead. When you speak out against immorality and wickedness, you are going to get persecuted by those who refuse to repent of their sins.
John 15:18-19 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 7:6-7 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
We must always seek the praise that comes from God, so someday we will be able to hear those precious words, well done thou good and faithful servant. When you preach the truth, what people say about us is irrelevant. I’ve had relatives, family members, and friends report me to the police, try to prevent me from preaching, stop missionary work in other states, and the list goes on and on, simply because they are wicked and evil people. But when we have to suffer, the thing that sustains us is our obedience to Christ who loved us and shed His own blood for us at the cross. You may not be loved by your neighbors or cared about by your own family, but you are loved dearly by the God who preached righteousness and Truth to this sinful world. So you see, preaching the truth of scripture doesn’t bring glory from men, it brings reproach from the impenitent. Take a good look around you, because those religious frauds who are highly esteemed in the eyes of the public are an abomination to God. They don’t take a stand against anything, and they are adored by the world because of it.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Remember that deceivers and seducers will grow worse and worse, right up until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, and many false prophets shall rise, deceitful men who profess to be Christian but in all actuality are wolves in sheeps clothing.
2 Timothy 3:12-13 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
The path to heaven is extremely narrow and many people are not going to make it. False prophets we’ll make the road a lot wider, and find favor with those who still abide in their sins.
Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Many high religious leaders are enamored with attention, but even our precious Lord Jesus was not seeking earthly fame or glory from Men. He is the king of glory but when they came to arrest Him in the garden of Gethsemane they couldn’t even tell who he was. He wasn’t dressed in fancy robes and religious garb, He looked just like everybody else. Humility at its finest!
Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Many religious people in this world do things just to be seen, motivated by their own religious hypocrisy. The Lord Jesus on the other hand was hated by this world and crucified on the cross, because He preached the truth, and was seeking the glory of the Heavenly Father, rather than,….
……The Glory of Men
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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