the sermon on cryptozoology in light of the Bible and man that was good that was
just a fun sermon you know it wasn't like a doctrinal as far as like fighting
or anything like that it was just like just learning the meat of the word and
just kind of having fun with the Bible there so I was exciting and but I've
learned a lot from him a real thankful for his friendship and so and I'm
privileged to be here and so I'm thankful for that look at Revelation
chapter 2 you know when I when I was thinking about what to preach here I was
thinking myself what do you feed a church that's well-fed you know what do
you give a church that's well-fed and and I don't say that in a flattering way
because I think you would obviously agree that you are well-fed so flattery
is when you lie and I'm not lying here and so you know I was thinking about
what to what to preach on today and I think I found the sermon here look at
Revelation chapter 2 verse 18 it says unto the angel of the church at Thyatira
write these things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like into a flame
of fire and his feet are like fine brass I know thy works and charity and
service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than
the first and the title of the sermon this morning is the last to be more than
the first now here in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 we see Jesus Christ is
addressing the seven churches which are in Asia now right off the bat we have to
obviously understand that these are literal churches okay these are literal
churches with literal congregation literal members you know these
are actual local New Testament churches you say well that's obvious why you have
to emphasize that well because there's a stupid doctrine out there called the
church age doctrine that is taught by the dispensational crowd and what
they'll teach is that the churches that are found in Revelation chapter 2 & 3
are actually church ages which I don't know how you get that from just reading
just the regular churches that are there in Revelation 2 & 3 but according to the
dispensational crowd they'll tell you well no these aren't literal local
churches these actually represent a time period which I don't know if you
noticed but dispensationalists are just obsessed with time periods and like you
know dispensations of these time periods or whatever and they'll tell you that
you know the church of Ephesus represents a time period and and what it
is is that they'll say that the characteristics of each church
represents the characteristics and the attributes of that time period of the
local churches in that time period now that's a dumb doctrine you say why is
that well simply for the fact that the Bible tells us that there will be glory
in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages not only that the Bible talks
about the church in the wilderness in Acts chapter 7 and over and over again
we see the concept of local churches not church time periods and look most of
these people who believe this conveniently enough they'll say that
we're in the Laodicean Church era right and if you read about the Laodicean
Church era they're lukewarm they're not neither hot nor cold and why do they say
that well because they're lazy that's why because they're lazy they're
lukewarm they don't want to do any work they're slothful therefore they need to
pick some churches within Revelation 2 & 3 that they can relate to but you know
what we're not Laodicean Baptist Church in LA what you guys aren't laid to see
about this church here in West Virginia you know every church has a
responsibility to be diligent to to work hard and to patter themselves after the
churches in the New Testament that were successful but we understand that
they're not this isn't a time period that we're in okay and by the way we
don't believe in the universal church right that's kind of where this leads to
believing in the universal church that we're just as soon as you're saved
you're all a part of the the the overall universal church but there's a lot of
problems with that one of the problems is that if this is the universal church
then it's impossible to put away from among yourselves that wicked person you
see the Bible teaches us that excommunicating a member out of from
church because of certain sins found in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 is biblical
you know if someone's involved in fornication drunkenness if they're
railing on someone if they're being extortioners these are valid points to
basically excommunicate someone out of the church but if we have a universal
church how is that carried out if we kick someone out of the church but
they're still part of the universal church that's impossible to carry out
not only that how do you forsake the assembly of ourselves together as the
manner of some is if this is a universal church why would that commandment be in
there if we're all part of some universal church unless you live in the
Twilight Zone you know how do we know how to behave ourselves in the house of
God if this is a universal church why would that commandment be there to say
hey the daughters know how to behave thyself in the house of God well I mean
there's the whole world the house of God now go with you to what to Ephesians
chapter 5 this is all introduction because I hate dispensationalism there's
like a documentary out there about that I think someone recently put out and I
despise it because it's such a perversion they pervert the scriptures
they pervert the right doctrine they teach weird stuff okay and one of those
weird stuff that they teach is this concept of the universal church or that
you know there are different church ages and so on and so forth but look at
Ephesians 5 verse 22 wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as
unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the
head of the church and he is the Savior of the body so here the Bible is telling
us that Christ is the head of the church no sir there you go the church it's the
church you hear that phrase you know we got to take we got to what's going on in
the church talking about this universal church but is that really what the
scriptures teaching because it says that the husband is the head of the wife
even as Christ is the head of the church he's using the illustration of a husband
you know being over his wife as Christ is the head of this church right because
here ask yourself this is your husband the head of every wife no he's the head
of one wife which is his wife just as Christ is the head of one church each
individual churches local churches but go back to Revelation chapter 2 there's
a lot of evidence to prove that obviously this is a stupid doctrine
it's a false doctrine this should not be adhered to it should be exposed and
shown for what it really is but I think one of the strongest evidence that we
can find in the Bible that this concept is fake is the fact that within
Revelation 2 and 3 we have seven churches highlighted right but one of
those churches is called the Church of Ephesus well guess what we have the
church at Ephesus in the New Testament we have an entire book dedicated to the
church at Ephesus and look what the Bible says Revelation 2 verse 1 unto the
angel of the church at Ephesus right these things saying he that holdeth the
seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou
canst not bear them which are evil and has tried them which say they're
apostles and are not and has found them liars and has borne has and has patience
and for my namesake has labored and has not fainted nevertheless I have someone
against thee because thou has left thy first love remember therefore once thou
are fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come into thee
quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent so
we see here that the negative aspect of the church at Ephesus was what they had
left their first love and it wasn't talking about like their wife okay it's
talking about the fact that they had stopped soul winning because it later on
in verse number five we see that he tells them do the first works well what
are the first works preaching the gospel seeing people saved that is the first
works and this church had a lot of good things about it but one of the negative
things is they stopped soul winning now keep in mind that the doctrine of you
know church ages teaches that each individual church found in Revelation 2
and 3 characterizes all the churches of that so-called era now go to 1st
Thessalonians chapter 1 so according to their theology or lack thereof they
basically believe that the church at Ephesus that age is characterized by
preachers who don't preach the gospel churches that are not going out soul
winning they left their first love they're not doing the first works right
that's what it's characterized by we see that the negative aspect of this
certain period so-called period is that they're not soul winning they're not
preaching the gospel but the problem with that is is that we also have the
church in Thessalonica which is also in the New Testament which is around the
same time as the church at Ephesus and in fact look at verse number six of
chapter one it says he became followers of us and of the Lord having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost so that you were in
samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia for from you sounding out the
word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your
faith that Godward is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything you
know one thing we know about the church at Thessalonica they were fervent soul
winners they were out preaching the gospel in fact their example was
spreading abroad to all the other churches people were hearing about their
zeal about preaching the gospel and their soul winning efforts oh hold on a
second well hey guys what are you guys doing don't you know who this is the
Ephesian the the church at Ephesus church here what do you guys do you guys
are supposed to be leaving your first works no here here's the thing here's
the truth the truth is these are individual churches and not church eras
not time periods as the dispensational select to say this are these are
individual churches that have their individual wills they can basically be
on fire for God if they want to they could be lukewarm if they want to be
lukewarm but at the end of the day they're individual local churches the
church at Thessalonica was a fiery hot soul winning Baptist Church amen that's
what it was it wasn't like the Ephesians and so this this concept falls apart
very quickly just like every other dispensational teaching does so we see
here that this is not what this is teaching but rather these are literal
churches that existed at one point and when you study these churches in
Revelation 2 & 3 you come to find out that a lot of them had a lot of
strengths and they also have a lot of weaknesses you know and they're there
for a reason to basically so we could look at that and pattern their strengths
and try to stay away from their weaknesses right now go back to
Revelation chapter 2 but one common thing you'll see in the book of
Revelation 2 chapters 2 & 3 you know they all have their strengths and
weaknesses but one thing that God always constantly just brings up over
and over and over again no matter how bad or how good the church is he says
this I know that works he starts off every time hey I know that works and
then he goes off on all their good qualities I know that it works and then
he highlights their bad qualities but every single one of them he says hey I
know thy works you know that goes to show me that works are important to God
and it's it's important to God that a church a local church labors that it
works that it occupies till he comes that they understand that they are his
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works that's important to God you
see I'm thankful to be saved I'm thankful that I have eternal life I'm
thankful that my sins are forgiven but you know I'm also thankful for that I
get to have that I get to work for God then I get to earn rewards that I get to
earn rewards for the other side of eternity that I can earn things that I
can enjoy for the rest of eternity and God's given me a job to do I can do that
job and earn rewards based upon that and know for a fact that my labor is not in
vain why because he says there I know thy works you see if you ever do a good
work if you're serving the Lord and no one thanks you no one pats you on the
back no one you know praises you for whatever may be maybe no one sees you
you know what God always sees you and in fact be reminded that when you do
something great for God and no one sees you may this ring in your ears I know
thy works I know what you're doing I know your labor I know the souls that
you're winning I know the good testimony that you are God always knows this is a
good important concept right here look at verse 18 now out of all those
examples of these churches where he says I know thy works there's one church that
stands out where he repeats it twice look what it says in verse 18 unto the
angel of the church of Thyatira write these things saith the Son of God who
hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like brass I know thy
works and charity and service and faith and thy patience oh and in thy works I
mean he says it twice and he says this this is a profound statement and the
last to be more than the first he says I know thy works then he highlights all
the qualities and then he finishes off with saying oh by the way I know your
works that the last are more than the first that is a great testimony of a
church that when they started they did great works but you know what at the
latter end they were doing greater works towards the end of their church look what
it says in verse 20 notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which callest herself a prophetess to teach
and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed
into idols and they gave her space to repent of her fornication and she
repented not behold I will cast her into a bed and then that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill
her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to
your works by the way verse 23 also debunks that foolish doctrine of church
ages because it says and all the churches shall know that I am he which
searches the reins and hearts you know that's telling that when God judges this
church all the local churches in the area are gonna see oh whoa we need to
stay away from what they're doing okay verse 24 but unto you I say and unto the
rest in Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known
the depths of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none other burden but that
which you have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth
my works into the end to him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule
them with the rod of iron as the vessels of a potter shall shall they be
broken to shivers even as I received of my father now before we get into the
strengths of Thyatira let's talk about the weaknesses because God highlights
some pretty bad weaknesses that they have in fact the weaknesses of the
Thyatira Baptist Church is threefold you can basically categorize them with
three F's you know you take a test you don't do well and you get an F well this
church got three F's what are the three F's female preachers fornication and
false doctrine not a good report card female preachers right off the bat bad
you know fornication right off the bat bad false doctrine that's the straw that
breaks the camel's back now look at verse 20 notwithstanding I have few
things against it because thou suffers that woman Jezebel which calls herself a
prophetess to teach it says so apparently this church was allowing Joyce
Myers to come and preach for them you know they're allowing these Pentecostal
prophetess type false teaching females to stand behind their pulpit and teach
the Word of God you know what they're teaching is good I don't care if they're
teaching if they're what they're teaching is biblical it's not biblical
for them to be behind the pulpit teach the Word of God period exclamation mark
period period period the Bible tells us in 1st Timothy 2 11 let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp
authority over the man but to be in silence for Adam was first formed then
Eve now see when you hear preaching like this a lot of the times people on the
outside who don't read their Bibles they're not in 1st Timothy 2 they're not
in 1st Corinthians they hear something like this oh you're just a male
chauvinist pig or whatever well first of all pigs are females hog would be a
more correct way of saying that okay secondly you know take it up with God
and when we priestess we're not saying that women are less than men okay they
hold the same amount of importance in a sense of we're both human beings saved
so on and so forth but there's an order to things and according to God this is
out of order Pentecostal churches need to read this verse and tell me well how
do you interpret that you know they're so busy flapping their tongue and
dreaming up all kinds of visions and dreams that they're not actually reading
the Bible and look Pentecostal churches under tourists for things like this I
remember one time and I went to Bible College don't hold it against me I'm
sorry about that I went to Bible College and I remember when I was in Bible
College we went after a church service we went to an in and out and I was with
some of the guys this is in my younger years and you know we're all in our
suits and so a group of ladies walked in a little older ladies and they're like
oh hey you guys look like you go to church you guys go to church like yeah
we go to you know we told the church that we went to we gave them the invite
and they're like oh we're Pentecostals we go to Pentecostal Church and it's
just like red flag I don't even want to talk about this I'm trying to eat go
home you know and okay well you know and then they start telling some of the
things that they do yeah you know I preach this and do this and you know I
speak in tongues I said well yeah I'm gonna be honest I don't believe in
tongues speaking in tongues so by the way the Bible doesn't say speaking in
tongues talks about speaking with tongues right I speak with tongues I can
speak Spanish all right but I tell I don't believe in speaking in tongues and
she says why not I said cuz it's not it's not biblical and you know she kind
she got upset as it look I don't want to talk about so I order my food I go sit
down and she she's just not done yet so she comes up to me she's like I'm very
offended at what you said you know about the whole tongues thing I said well you
know take it up with the Bible because that's what the Bible says you know the
Bible says the woman ought to keep silence in the church and that did not
go over well with her and she looked at me and she's you know how dare you and
all these things I'm like it's what the Bible says and she she kept just
harping on this tongue thing I said you even speak in tongues is this heavenly
jibber-jabber that you're talking about I said do it right now you can you do it
she said yeah good I said do it right now and she did her holla shalabah on a
six-pack dollar or whatever I bought a Nissan I should've bought a Honda and I
said repeat what you just said right now again and she just looked at me like
like a deer con you know in the headlights I was like you can't cuz it's
fake that's why you know your little jibber-jabber may look convincing at
first but when we asked you to repeat the same exact thing that you said
because it's jibber-jabber you don't remember what you said you know it's it's
a foolish doctrine it's a foolish teaching that completely negates the
Bible and desires to put women preachers behind the pulpit you know it's the sin
of Thyatira allowing female preachers to come behind the pulpit you know well you
know they got the female preachers because it's not a man well go look for
a man you know there's been out there I'm tired of hearing people saying well
you know there's no men to do this that's why there's so many ladies you
know doing all well go find one why don't you go train a man there's men
out there that love the Lord they want to be trained but you know what most of
the time it's because the pastors are too scared to preach some hard fiery
sermons you know they want to preach their soft smooth sermons to appeal to
the ladies rather than to the men we need hard preaching and female
preachers are not for that okay but the second sin that we see there is
fornication the Bible says in verse 20 notwithstanding have few things against
it because I'll suffers that woman Jezebel which calls herself a prophetess
to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication this is a grievous
sin in church that is being overlooked today a lot of churches just tolerate
fornication they just allow it and look I've talked to people who have been
involved in for at my old church who were involved in fornication for years
and they're still allowed to come to church and when you confront the
leadership about it you know what they say well we're discipling them like how
long is this discipleship program last for how long does it take to take them
to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and just show them what the Bible says about
fornication or have you not gotten there yet what it is is that they don't want
to offend anybody because they're afraid to lose people you know but this is a
grievous sin that needs to be talked about and in fact 1st Corinthians 5 9
says I wrote it to you in an epistle not to company with fornicators yet not all
together with the fornicators of this world over the covetous or extortioners
or the idolaters for them as he needs go out of the world but now I've written
unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator
or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner was such
in one no not to eat the Bible says Bible says we can't even have a meal
with this person you know if they're involved in fornication and they're
called a brother I don't know how churches can just completely disregard
what it says there you know why it doesn't fornication doesn't really mean
fornication what does it mean then why don't you give me your interpretation
what it means without using Schofield reference Bible the third sin that we
see is that false doctrine was tolerated okay let me read to you from Galatians
5 7 it says he did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the
truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you a little leavened
leaveneth the whole lump and I'm thankful that you know this generation
is is starting many churches that are really just going back to the book
they're going back to the Bible and they're emphasizing the importance of
doctrine they're not undermining it they're emphasizing the importance of
biblical doctrine and they understand hey false doctrine is bad we're not
gonna tolerate it well you know they just believe a little different but if
it's a little different regards to salvation that's a big deal we're not
talking about things that are obscure in the Bible things that are not
essential okay we're talking about things that are important like salvation
you know when the pastor has the Calvinist on this side the lordship
salvation on this side the one saved always saved on this side and you know
the ecumenical crowd on that side there's a problem with that we need to
make sure that we're emphasizing doctrine so what is the result of all
this nonsense look at Revelation 2 21 and I gave her space to repent of her
fornication and she repented not behold I will cast her into a bed and then that
commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their
deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know
that I am he which search at the reins and hearts and I will give unto every
one of you according to your works so what is the what is the outcome will God
judges that church and specifically he judges the people who are committing
these things within this church because in Thyatira you have people who weren't
involved in this stuff they were actually living righteously they were
doing right there were there were they were adhering to the biblical doctrines
of the Bible but there are people who are actually tolerating this nonsense
and God was gonna judge them but it also goes to show these judging them to be an
example to everyone else so that other local churches can look at that and say
that's not something that I want to exemplify in my personal church that's
not something I want to exemplify in my congregation or in my personal life so
we see the weaknesses of Thyatira and that that's not something we want to be
a part of right but you know what Thyatira had some good things about it
and I think we could look at the good qualities of these churches and say okay
that's that's something we need to pattern our lives after look at verse
19 I know thy works in charity and service and faith and thy patience and
thy works in the last to be more than the first so like I mentioned in the
beginning the good quality of Thyatira is that there were they had a good work
ethic they had a great work ethic they were able to serve and to work and in
fact the works that they did at the beginning didn't even compare to the
works that they did at the end that is a great testimony to have and that's
something that each and every Christian each and every church should aspire to
to attain is that when we first start off as a Christian we pace ourselves we
work we try our best to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord we win
souls to Christ but it should be is that as the years pass on we get better
as the years pass on we will get more people to Christ as the years pass on
we become better soul winners we become better preachers we become better church
members that's how it ought to be you know experience trial and error should
help us to become wiser and therefore more efficient for the work of the Lord
look when someone gets saved they're what the Bible would call a babe in
Christ what is a baby in Christ it's a baby Christian in other words they don't
know a whole lot they know about salvation they know they need to come to
church and they know they need to read the Bible but that's about it and they
know they need to get sin out of their life but that's about it but here's the
thing is as the years pass on we can't remain babes in Christ and this is
really what this message is about to say hey it's time to grow up it's time
to grow up as Christians if you've been a babe if you're a babe in Christ hey
thank God for that but you know what it's time to grow up you know I got a
two-year-old boy and I love the fact he's two years old he's my son but you
know what you know he acts like a two-year-old and that's great I'm fine
with that but once he gets five fifteen twenty he better not be acting like a
two-year-old anymore because then at that point we understand there's
something wrong with that kid you know it's the same thing as Christians we
need to understand that as the years go by you better be growing in your Bible
knowledge you better be growing as a church member you better be growing in
your wisdom that God has given to you or do you have access to so you could be
more efficient for the work of the Lord so it could be said of you that the last
is more than the first the Bible tells us go to look at Revelation 3 I'm a
retreat from Proverbs 19 verse 20 here counts and receive instruction that thou
mayest be wise in thy latter end you know the problem with a lot of Christians
is is that they don't consider their latter end what does that mean they
don't they think about tomorrow they think about what's for lunch and by the
way I'm wondering what's for lunch too soon I'm in that same camping man by the
way what is for lunch now I'm just kidding I'm kidding you know they think
about they can't think past lunch but the Bible tells us that we need to
consider our latter end consider the fact that our life is going to end one
day consider the fact that the decisions we make today will affect our children
tomorrow consider the fact that the decisions we make today have
ramifications massive ramifications in the future you see if we think about
that it'll help us to make the right decisions today not just live for today
not just make you know decent decisions today but make decisions today with the
latter end in mind I make decisions today keeping the second generation in
mind you know the problem with the old IFB was is that they completely
disregarded the second generation you know they were great soul winners they
taught us a lot of good things but they were not family oriented they did not
consider their children therefore the second generation rose up and got into
false doctrine the second generation rose up they weren't even saved the
second generation rose up and they were just worldly Christians why is that
because that generation did not consider the latter end we don't want to be that
way we want to make sure that we take care of the now here and now but we also
want to make sure that we consider the latter end as well that the last is more
than the first that you don't end up worse at the end of your life you
actually end up better you know you don't end up being a worse Christian you
actually end up being better accomplishing more now we don't want like
an artificial increase we don't want to look like wanting to make it look like
we're doing more but never not really doing more that was the problem with the
church of Sardis look at Revelation 3 and verse 1 unto the angel of the church
and Sardis write these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and
seven stars I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and are
dead ouch he's like I know your works you think you're alive but you're
actually dead dead as last year's Christmas tree I got a Christmas tree
for the first time this year my first Christmas tree I've ever gotten that
thing died midway through December we called it a vintage tree after that it
was like not green anymore at all and I remember telling my wife like we failed
at this we have a tree that as though it's alive but it's actually dead but
you know a lot of Christians that's how they live right there you know why
because they have increased their works but it's all vanity they increase their
ministries in their church but they're not really doing much they have these
elegant sermons but they're not really saying much I mean have you ever heard a
sermon where a lot was said but not a whole lot was really said it's just a
bunch of fluff and cream and whipped cream at the top and just cotton candy
tons of sugar no substance just because you have more doesn't mean it's actually
better just because you have more doesn't mean you're actually living the
Bible says there that you could be dead look at verse 2 be watchful and
strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found
that works perfect before God you see any Christian or church if they find
themselves in a situation with their where they think that they're living but
they're actually dead what they need to do is take a step back and strengthen
the things which remain make good quality the things that you already know
how to do it's good to basically master a few little things and try to be a
master of many things you ever heard the phrase the jack-of-all-trades master of
none that's not the kind of Christian we want to be well we're just a jack of all
trades were able to do all kinds of things but at the end of the day we
haven't really got much accomplished I mean have you ever had a day where you
just checked off an entire task list or you feel like you just did a whole lot
but at the end it's like what did I do I have no idea what I just did and you
don't really feel like you accomplished a whole lot that's a lot of Christians
where at the end of their lives like yeah we did a whole lot we had this
discipleship program so we're all the disciples that you know oh we had this
you know this 10,000 flyer track drop so who got saved look and I used to do
track drops so I know what I'm talking about when I I personally gave out 15,000
tracks you say you know your labor is not in vain no no that labor was in
vain down the toilet in vain and I remember the time when we did that we
did it for like Easter we gave out 15,000 invites and the pastor of this
church plant that I helped start he's you know we're gonna have all these
people 15,000 and the way it works it's the law of numbers you get one person
for every hundred invites and I'm like man I don't know about this there's a
lot of work we're putting into this and it was a lot of I mean even just putting
tracks on the doors 15,000 that's a lot and you know so I was like alright well
I'm just gonna do it cuz he this is what he wants me to do we're gonna we're
gonna do this in faith right well Easter time came around and guess guess who was
there nobody I'm sorry I take it back crickets were there you know just like
cricket cricket now one person showed up I take that back one person showed up
but it wasn't because of the invites they found us on the internet oh yeah I
was just looking for a church and I found this on the internet you know what
we did a whole lot but we didn't really do a whole lot in fact all that labor
was in vain we would have got more and done if we just went out there and
actually preached the gospel to a thousand people if we preach the gospel
to a hundred people more would have been done we need to make sure that we're
strengthening the things that remain go to Deuteronomy 32 hold your place there
in Revelation chapter 2 but this sermon is basically to help us to basically
understand that we need to make sure that we're considering our ladder and
then we're thinking about the end of our lives our lives have an end in this
world you know we're not gonna live forever as far as our physical bodies
here on this earth well we obviously understand we have eternal life but as
far as our life here we're not gonna live here forever we need to make sure
that we take inventory of what we're doing and make sure that what we're
doing is of importance it's of quality it's things that will profit us in the
latter end but not just us we need to make sure that we don't have this
hezekiah mentality where peace and prosperity is good in our days but
forget about the next generation let them fend for themselves that's not a
good attitude to have we need to consider the latter end not just for
ours not just for us but also for the children also for the next generation
okay look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 27 says were it not that I fear the wrath
of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely
unless they should say our hand is high and the Lord has not done all this for
they are not for they are a nation void of counsel neither is there any
understanding in them all that they were wise that they understood this that they
would consider their ladder and God is pleading with people hey consider your
ladder in think about this don't let it just be like water off a duck's back
think about your ladder in you see we have a lot of examples of people in the
Bible who started off good but finished bad prime example Saul King Saul started
off great little on his own side first king of Israel everything's just going
good what happened became stubborn rebellious prideful disobedient
committed suicide that's not a good end that's a poor end and in fact for
thousands of years he's been used as a byword and a proverb to teach what not
to do hey let me ask you this would you rather be a byword and a proverb to say
hey that's the example we want to be or would you rather be someone like Saul
to say hey see what that guy did don't do as he did don't end your life like he
ended his life Saul had a lot of potential he had a lot of potential to
do great works for God but what happened he finished poorly he didn't consider
his ladder and you think of Aaron Aaron started off great doing helping his
brother Moses out doing these these miracles plaguing Egypt I mean I'd love
to be a part of that that's great but what happened at the end strip ever
strip Aaron of his garments and give it into Aliezer because of his compromise
okay you think of Solomon the wisest man that ever lived gave us the book of
Proverbs Ecclesiastes this man had wisdom yet he finished not well you know
many women took his heart away from the Lord he did not finish well he had
wisdom I mean the guy wrote Proverbs 2 5 6 & 7 about the strange woman yeah he
didn't even take that into consideration himself the guy didn't even listen to
his own advice and what happened he ended poorly his end was not as good as
his beginning you think of Asa the king of Judah who one of the great characters
in the Bible took the sodomites out of the land amen I mean that's a cool thing
to have to be able to be remembered for that's the guy who took the sodomites
out of the land that's good but what happened at the end of his life was
disease in his feet had like some athletes foot that was really bad or
something and and what happened he saw the physicians and not the Lord the
Bible says that's a poor way to end that goes to show me that he did get away
from the Lord in his ladder end because he wasn't seeking the Lord in his ladder
end you know I want to make sure that when I'm old when I'm when I'm up there
in age that I'm seeking the Lord even more that I'm seeking him today you know
people often tell me from my own church oh you've changed oh you've checked yeah
you better believe I changed I'm glad you saw that I changed why because I
want to be more zealous today than it was when I first got saved I want to be
crazier for the Lord today than it was last year why because I'm learning more
I'm hearing more hard preaching I'm learning more doctrine I'm learn I'm
becoming more efficient in Sony therefore I ought to be more zealous for
the things of God we ought to become better not worse but there are examples
in the Bible of people who started off well and end off great you think of King
David who started off great had some bumps in the road you know he committed
sin but he got it right and he finished well you think of Daniel you know we
obviously understand that we're all sinners but some people in the Bible
like Joseph and Daniel God chose not to highlight specific sins he started off
great ended off great you think of Joseph started off great ended off
great you think of the Apostle Paul started off great and guess what ended
off great as well he finished his course with joy he was able to accomplish the
race that was set before him these are the examples that we need to look to to
say that's how I want to end up I want to end up better at the end of my life
than when I started now let me give you some points here about finishing well go
to 1st Samuel chapter 15 I've mentioned this already but it's important to
emphasize the number one just remember this one we talked about the last being
more than the first understand that quality is always better than quantity
quality is always better than quantity the quality of our soul winning is far
better than how many people we can get saved because there's a lot of people
out there that want to bring up these massive amount of numbers but when you
go so many with them you realize whoa this gospel presentation is a little off
you know I met people like that or they you know you think of these heretics
Tyler Doka Dookie and unjust LeBlanc his evangelist his evangelist said that he
saw 18 people saved in one hour that's not even possible what in the world does
he know math can someone help him out he literally so he they tell this story
how they you know they all come to church and you know they give their
reports of how many people they got saved and one guy was like I saw one
person say and the other person I saw two and what about you Justin he comes
up how do I embarrass anybody but huh kind of feel bad saying this but I got
18 like what you liar you little liar I mean well I mean literally you just
people were just got saved as soon as you talk it was like this is not even a
one-two-three pray after me it's like a one pray after me or just a pray after
me to get 18 obviously we understand that he can't get anybody say because
he's a false teacher is a false prophet and he can't bear grapes he can only
bear thorns and briars but this is what I'm talking about talk about quality
over quantity you know better for you to come and say I got one say but you know
for a fact that that person got sick okay first Samuel 15 verse 20 says in
Saul said unto Samuel yay I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the
way which the Lord sent me I brought a gag the king of Amalek and have utterly
destroyed the Amalekites now is he telling the truth here no he's talking
about the quantity of his obedience isn't he but the people took of the
spoiled sheep and oxen chief of the kings which should have been utterly
destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and Gilgal and Samuel said hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice
of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the
fat of rams you see the quality of your obedience is far more important than how
many sacrifices you can make you can sacrifice a thousand rams if you want
but if you're not obeying the Lord it's all in vain we want to make sure that if
we want to finish well and we want our ladder in to be successful more than the
first we got to place an emphasis on quality not quantity now here's the
thing if you have the quantity or excuse me if you have the quality you will have
the quantity if you have the right gospel presentation you will see a lot
of people saved verse 23 for rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry because that was rejected the word of the Lord he
hath also rejected thee from being King hey we want to make sure that the
preaching is still of quality amen and thank God they hear a mountain Baptist
Church it doesn't look like the quality is going down anytime soon looks like
it's gonna be increasing more and more each year and we want to make sure that
as preachers our preaching is still quality and it increases in quality
every single year you know the amount of people we see saved the Bible tells us
that some will bear a hundred sixty fold thirty fold but guess what the quality
is that it falls upon good ground why why are they able to bear that much
fruit because it's good ground you know the a lot of people out there they have
quantity of ministries don't they they have and I'm not against like some of
these ministries but it's to the point where you just want to look busy but
you're not really doing anything okay you know you think about nurseries right
you guys have nurseries here I'm just kidding you know Sunday school these are
the things that makes you look busy as a church but you're not really doing
anything at all okay oh you know they're getting more Bible in Sunday school are
they really getting more Bible in Sunday school are they learning some foolish
song that's gonna give them an appetite for worldly music later on or for worldly
Christian music later on okay you know you could have a quantity of members hey
if it's all about quantity then Joel Steen is like the godliest guy on the
face of the planet this guy has an entire stadium filled with people there
that's all that's a large quantity yeah but they're not none of them are saved
that stadiums gonna split hell wide open you know that stadium most of those
people if not all those people are gonna go straight to hell in a hand
basket oh but the quantity yeah but the quality there's no salvations in there
the gospel is not right in there there's no doctrine in that place so quantity is
not necessary the most important aspect quality is and then when you have the
quality you will have the quantity okay but you can't mix those up so as
Christians if we want to make sure we have more at the latter end than at the
first we got to emphasize quality quality Bible reading quality soul
winning you know when you read your Bible instead of making a goal to read
30 chapters a day and then you just don't even know what you read why don't
you try five chapters a day would you actually remember what you read well I
mean I just I got to catch up on my binary so I got to read 50 chapters you
know by the end of the week yeah that's probably not the best idea the reason
why it's because if you read 50 chapters or if you try to strive to
read 50 chapters you've never read at least 10 chapters you're gonna pretty
you're gonna be pretty discouraged by the end of the week and it's just like
throw them the towel I can't do it once you have a good quality time in the
Bible where you understand what you're reading and then you can work your way
up to 10 chapters you can work your way up to 15 to 20 so on and so forth the
quality is always important over the quantity but again even with Bible
if you have good quality eventually you'll get the quantity of chapters in
the Bible go to Luke chapter 14 so we're talking about having more at the latter
end of our life at the latter end of our life than at the first the first point I
said is quality over quantity number two we need to count the costs count the
costs look at Luke chapter 14 verse 27 and whosoever does not bear his cross
and come after me cannot be my disciple for which of you intending to build a
tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he hath
sufficient to finish it less happily after he hath laid the foundation and
is not able to finish it all that behold to begin to mock him saying this man
began to build and was not able to finish or what King going to make war
against another King sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able
to with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000 or else while
the other is yet a great way off he sent it an amassage and desireth conditions
of peace so likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath
he cannot be my disciple and I want you to notice verse 28 where it says for
which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the
cost whether he has sufficient to finish it what does it mean to count the cost
now this doesn't mean like you know we got to count the cost of serving Christ
and if you can't do it you don't do it at all what it means is you count the
cost you recognize maybe I don't have the sufficiency of godliness maybe my
commitment is not as strong maybe I don't have a whole lot of character but
this is basically an inventory to show me this is what I need to get so if you
don't have the character to read your Bible every single day if you don't have
the care to go to church when you need to go to church or whatever
responsibility you have then get it count the costs so you know what am I
lacking and then get it you see sermons are here to teach you what you don't
have and say okay I'm lacking that in my Christian life time to add that time to
work on that aspect time to get that sin out of my life time to add that
discipline and that aspect of quality in my personal life I need to count the
costs don't just go through the Christian life on on autopilot you know
just going through the motions got to come to church because I got to come to
church you know read a proverb a day just kind of flippantly go through the
Christian life that's how it and not not to be that way we make sure we count the
cost take inventory of our disciplines take inventory of our work because
that's how we can have a successful end you see no one has the successful end of
the year just wishing that they will be successful at the end of the year like
oh I got so many goals I'm gonna lose 15 pounds so do you have a plan how are
you gonna lose 15 pounds or just you think it's just you're gonna pray it
down well I gotta go at the end of the year that I'm gonna do XY and Z so
what's the plan what is the strategy what is the plan have you counted the
costs to see if you're able to finish it you see everyone finishes the race but
not everyone finishes well we're all gonna finish the race because we're all
saved a man we're all gonna get we all have eternal life you know we're gonna
get to heaven but at the end of the day we want to make sure that we finish well
not finish less than what we started with go to James chapter 1 and the time
flew by is that the right time that is the right time right okay I only got
like 10 more pages so I think you should be good you're not that hungry are you
I'm just kidding my third point is be doers of the word and not hearers only
be doers of the word not hearers only it's good to listen to preaching amen
it's good to listen to biblical King James only hard preaching but you know
what's even better is doing it that's even better it's good to start off
listening to hard preaching preaching that'll that'll teach you some things
but it's even better when you actually do what's being taught look what the
Bible says in verse 21 wherefore lay apart all filthiness of superfluity of
knottiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save
your souls but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own
selves now why is this person deceiving themselves well this kind of reminds me
of like the Calvinist because the Calvinist believes that as soon as they
get saved they're like not tempted to sin anymore you know they don't got to
repent of any sin because they're just they're just good to go they're just
batteries included you know batteries included you know no need to recharge
the batteries everything is just perfect right off the bat you're
deceiving yourself because verse 21 says wherefore lay apart all filthiness and
superfluity of naughtiness and receive will make this the engrafted word see
it's we have to clean up our lives afterwards why because within every
Christian is filthiness superfluity of naughtiness their sin that we got to
clean up and when we receive the word we say man that's true you know
fornication is bad lying is not good extortion is bad but if you walk away
you don't change those things you're deceiving yourself look what it goes on
to say in verse 23 for if any be a hero the word and not a doer he is likened to
a man beholding his natural face in a glass for he beholded themself and go
with his way and straightway forget it with manner of man he was but whoso
looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue with therein he being not
unforgettable here but of doer the work this man shall be blessed in his deed
we need to make sure that we're doing the work now when it talks about the
perfect law of liberty the glass is referring to the Bible what good is it
if you hear a sermon that steps on your toes that preaches on your sin and you
say hey that's good but then you walk away and you're still doing it that
doesn't help you you know how's the great sermon yeah but have you are you
gonna apply the sermon though like are you gonna actually do it that's a
different story isn't it we want to make sure that when we're hearing we hear
with the intention to obey we hear with the intention to clean up our lives we
hear with the intention to make changes necessary so that why so that verse 25
we can be blessed on our deeds the person who only hears and does not obey
will not be blessed you know obviously there's a blessing to reading the Bible
there's a blessing to reading it and getting instruction but to be blessed in
our deeds comes as we actually do what we're listening to and this takes
growing up you know we need to make sure that we enjoy preaching good preaching
but more so than that we get to a point where we apply good preaching okay
here's my last point I'm done go with me to it to Psalm 127 so we talk about
finishing well having more in our ladder end than at the beginning the last shall
be more than the first by being doers of the word and not here is only but not
only that here's the last point this is how you can make sure you actually have
a really good end to your life this is how you can make sure that you actually
accomplish more in the end than you do at the beginning this is how you can
make sure that you become successful at your letter in be fruitful and multiply
in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense you say why is that well
because children are a blessing amen look at verse 3 low children are a
heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the woman is his reward as arrows are in
the hand of a mighty man so are the children of the youth you ever notice
that God compares children to arrows why is that because when you shoot an arrow
it goes further than the way you can go we want to make sure that we raise our
children in such a way that they actually go further than us then when we
launch them out to fight against the principalities and powers and the rules
of the darkness of this world when they when they're sent out to do great works
for God they actually do more than what dad did that you're able to do greater
works than what mom did why because we train them right we
discipled our children in the right ways so that when you're long gone
you're you're dead and you're six feet under you're you're you went home to be
with the Lord your legacy is still being carried out your children are still
serving the Lord you know your work is your labor is not in vain why because
you just you discipled I was gonna say you discipline but that too you
discipled your children but by the way discipline is part of discipleship
amen you discipled your children you taught in the ways of the Lord you know
their generation is gonna be a scary generation to live in when they grow up
might want to consider that ladder in and that should be a motivation to you
to train them in the ways of the Lord so that when you launch them out they go
further than you've ever gone that's the goal that's how you can make sure you
that your ladder in is more than the first go with me if you would to first
Corinthians chapter 4 and we're done I'm gonna read to you from 3rd John 2 it
says for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth
that is indeed even as thou walkest in the truth I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth here's another way you can make sure
that your ladder in is greater than the beginning when people to Christ and
disciple them find someone to disciple now there's a false way there's this
weak watered-down way of discipleship that we see today this Lancaster Baptist
Church Paul Chapel type of discipleship where you sit down in the coffee shop
with this discipleship book and they teach you where to park and you know
they teach you all these shallow things that has zero doctrine whatsoever you
know they teach you how to listen to CCM and all this garbage that just doesn't
count for anything and they call it discipleship that's not real discipleship
discipleship is done when you work side by side with someone you answer their
questions you invest in their lives you care you love and you pray for them but
you know that takes I take someone of maturity look at the Bible says in 1st
Corinthians 4 14 I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved
sons I warn you for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet have
you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begun you through the gospel so
what is he saying here he said look you guys got a lot of teachers but you know
one thing you don't have as many fathers why because he was the one who was
winning them to Christ so it could be compared to maybe pastor Jason Robinson
who probably wins the majority of the souls in this church which is a good
thing but there comes a point where the people in this church need to start
winning more people to Christ as well and he said there look what verse 16
wherefore I beseech you be followers of me why is he saying that cuz he's saying
follow my example win people to Christ like I'm winning people to Christ see
people save the way I'm seeing them say but on top of that disciple them to
teach them how to win souls as well discipleship is an important aspect of
the Christian life and it'll help this church to remain even in the future
it'll help this church to remain in the latter times why because you have done
your due diligence as an individual church member to train someone to do
exactly what you're doing to train someone to do exactly what you do when
you're out soul winning when you're living the Christian life when you're as
a father as a wife whatever position you have that's going to help you in the
long run says verse 17 for this cause have I sent unto you to Moteus who is my
beloved son and faithful in the Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my
ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church you see even
in Paul's absence who is there to Moteus you know who's the to Moteus in our
church here who's the to Moteus in all the churches there should be a man who
rises up and says I want to learn I want to be discipled I want to do it
exactly the way the leader does it so that I can also bear fruit as well and
teach others also this is how we can make sure that the end is more than the
first don't look at the end of your life when you're at the end of your life and
say man I didn't get a lot done I wish I would have I wish I would have done more
I wish I would have accomplished more you know at that point it's too late but
you know you can do is after the sermon you can make the decision say you know
what I'm gonna start applying some of this I'm gonna be a doer of the word not
a hero only I want to make sure that I raise my children right so they're
mighty arrows in the hand of the Lord I want to make sure that my latter end is
greater than the beginning amen let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
father we thank you so much for your word thank you for Mountain Baptist
Church and pastor Jason Robinson for the great work that's being accomplished
here I pray God that you'd help us to consider our latter end and and to make
sure that we make good decisions today because we know it'll affect our
tomorrow and I pray God that you'd help us to give earnest heed to the things
which we have heard lest at any time they should slip and we pray these
things in Jesus name Amen
yeah