(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Focus on his beginning there in verse 24 where the Bible reads, And as he thus spake for himself, it is said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. And that's what I want to preach about this evening is the idea of those that are unbelievers and those who are not Christian thinking that we are crazy, thinking that we're mad, or that we are beside ourselves. And that's what he means when he says, thou art beside thyself. He's saying, you know, you've lost your mind. And then he says, much learning hath made thee mad. Now we don't really use the word mad. What do we say here in America? Crazy, right? But people in the UK, I remember when I first was dating my wife, she used to speak with a British accent. Because she learned how to speak English in England. And so she would say to me, you know, are you mad? You know, are you crazy? So she would talk like that. But he's saying, look, you're insane. You're out of your mind. And Paul says, no, noble festus, I'm not crazy. I'm not out of my mind. He said, I'm speaking the words of truth and soberness. And then of course he turns to King Agrippa and says, King Agrippa knows that what I'm saying is true. He knows what the Bible says. And he says to Agrippa, believeth thou the prophets, I know that thou believeth. And it's funny because he puts Agrippa in kind of an uncomfortable position because you know, Agrippa's with his buddy Festus. And Festus just finished saying that Paul sounds like he's out of his mind that he's insane. And now Paul's saying to Agrippa, you know what I'm saying is true, don't you? You believe this, don't you? So then Agrippa gives kind of a halfway answer of, well, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And I don't know if he ever got saved, you know, there's no record that he ever did. And if you would, turn to Mark chapter 3, Mark chapter number 3, because you see Jesus was accused of being crazy while he was on this earth a few different times. And one of them is found in Mark chapter 3, in Acts 26, Festus, who was a complete unbeliever, didn't know the scripture, didn't know the Bible, he heard the Gospel, he heard the story of Jesus Christ dying and being buried and rising again and he said, you're nuts, you're out of your mind. Much study or much learning has made you mad. In Mark chapter 3, look what the Bible says in verse 20, the multitude cometh together again so that they could not so much as eat bread and when his friends, this is referring to Jesus' friends if you get the context of the chapter, when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself. So even Jesus' friends at this point are saying, he's crazy, he's nuts. And then in verse 22 it says, the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, he hath Beelzebub and by the prince of the devils casteth the out devils. So in these two verses, Jesus' friends are telling him he's nuts and then the unbelievers are telling him that he has a devil, that he's possessed. Go if you would to John chapter number 10, John chapter number 10. And you say, well why did his friends say that he was beside himself in Mark 3.21? Well because he was doing so much work, he was so busy that they didn't even have time to eat bread. He was just constantly preaching, constantly soul winning and they just couldn't believe that he wouldn't take a break. They said he's beside himself, he's nuts. And then in John 10 verse 17, Jesus' preaching, he said, therefore does my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father, there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear ye him? Others said, these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? So here again, people are accusing Jesus of being crazy. Paul's been accused of being crazy. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I like what it said there in John 10 when it said there is a division therefore among the Jews for these sayings. You know, God's word always causes division. The Bible says that the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts. God's word always divides truth from lies. It divides the saved from the unsaved. It divides the righteous from the wicked. But here in 1 Corinthians 1 it says in verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. You see, the truth of the matter is that we live in a crazy world and so therefore when we speak the words of truth and soberness as Paul did, the world thinks that we're crazy. We speak things that are true. We speak things that are sober. We say things that make perfect sense. And the world will call us lunatics, fanatics, crazy, nut job, right wing, whatever they want to call us because of the fact that they're crazy. See one of two things is true. Either Pastor Anderson is completely crazy or the world we live in is completely crazy. Either the Bible is a crazy book or this world is a crazy world. Because the world thinks we're crazy but I'll tell you right now, when I look at the world and when I look at the way our country is and when I look at what people believe is right, to me they seem crazy. I feel like I'm living in an insane asylum sometimes when I hear the things that people say today. It's crazy. It's madness. It says here the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. You see to the unsaved they hear from the Bible and they think it's foolishness. They think it's stupid. They think it's crazy. But to us which are saved it's the power of God. And by the way it doesn't say those of us that are being saved. Now by the way you've got to watch out for these modern Bible versions. The New King James Version says in this verse those that are being saved. The NIV says those that are being saved. Most of the new versions have changed it to that. No I'm not being saved, I've done been saved. You know I don't need to be in a process of getting saved. And these new versions basically teach that getting saved is a process. You know because basically they're teaching that it's works based. You know if it's just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You know it happens and it's done. But if you're being saved well that sounds like something that you're working at. You know that's a process that's ongoing. You know when I was born into this world it wasn't a process. I mean I was born on July 24th 1981. I wasn't born on the 24th through the 28th. You know it was a process. It took five days for me to be born. No it took just a moment for me to be born in this world. And when you're born again it happens in a moment. You're saved. And it's done. It's in the past. And so the Bible says those of us which are saved it's the power of God. Beware of all these modern versions that pervert that verse. Look at verse 19 it says, For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? That not God made foolish the wisdom of this world. So what the Bible is saying here is that the preaching of the cross to the unsaved is foolish, but to those of us that are saved the wisdom of this world is foolish. We look at the intellectuals of the world, the wisdom of the world, the philosophers of the world, and we read it and we think it's nonsense. We look at Stephen Hawking and we think he's just total nonsense. We look at Aristotle and Plato and we think it's complete rubbish. It's foolishness. It's nonsense. And we put the book of Proverbs next to these bunch of Greek philosophers and people that are lifted up and the book of Proverbs has more wisdom in one chapter than in the complete works of Plato, the complete works of Aristotle, the complete works of Socrates, all these different philosophers of this world. The Bible says look it's foolishness. It looks at it as nothing. It's less than nothing. It says in verse number 20 there at the end, hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness. But unto us which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And I think what God's saying here is I don't think he's saying that the preaching is foolish. I think he's saying that it's foolish to them. They see it as foolish. Because, you know, you have to understand it in the context of verse 18 where he said the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. He's not saying that it's foolish in general. He's saying to the world it's foolish. And he's talking about there's different kinds of people in this world. He's talking about the Jews and he's talking about the Greeks. And he says, you know, the Jews are looking for a sign and the Greeks are looking for wisdom. And what he's saying is that we're preaching neither. Because we're not preaching the world's wisdom. We're preaching the wisdom that is from above. We're preaching the wisdom of God, but here's the thing, it's foolishness to the world. It goes over their head. They cannot understand it because it is spiritually discerned. We do not show a sign unto the Jews that they might be saved. You know, I've heard some people teach, well, you know, the Jews require a sign, so you know God's going to show them miracles. No, you remember what Jesus said to the Jews when they sought after a sign? He said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The sign for them is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You say, oh, they're looking for a sign. They're not going to get one. They're going to get the death, burial, and resurrection because that's the Gospel and the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. How do the Jews need to get saved? They need the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the death, burial, and resurrection. They don't need some special Jew version. They don't need it. You know, I talked to somebody and they said, well, when I give the Gospel to the Jews, I just use the Old Testament only when I give the Gospel to the Jews because they said they believe the Old Testament. I said, no they don't because Jesus said if you believe Moses, you'd believe in me for he spake of me. So you know what I do when I give the Gospel unto the Jews? Because I give the Gospel unto the Jews because if you go soul winning in Tempe, you will knock doors of those that are Jewish and most of the time they won't listen. Most of the time they won't give you the time of day but I've knocked some doors in Tempe of some Jews that actually allowed me to go through the Gospel with them all the way through. And you know where I started? Romans 3.23 is where I started. You say, oh, but they don't believe that. They don't believe any of it. So you might as well start with Romans 3.23 because I'm going to tell you something. The power of God unto salvation is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I'm going to start out with Romans 3.23. I'm going to talk about sin. I'm going to talk about the penalty for sin and then I'm going to go into the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again. That's the message that they need. And so we see here that the Greeks, they're looking for wisdom. Now what he means by that is the wisdom of this world. The word that we would use today here, I believe, would probably be logic, right? If we were to put this in a modern vernacular. The Greeks are looking for it to basically be rational or logical. Now go to chapter 2, chapter number 2 here, 1 Corinthians, because remember we're talking about in the sermon today the fact that the world thinks we're nuts, don't they? They look at Christianity, they look at the Bible, they look at those who actually believe and preach the Bible, and people are constantly, I think not a week goes by that somebody doesn't say to me, well I know the Bible says that, but you believe that? And I'm thinking to myself, well I'm a Baptist pastor, why are you surprised that I believe what's written in the Bible? I mean, how can I be a Baptist pastor if I don't believe the Bible? But in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul is talking about where he preached the Gospel unto the Corinthians. Now let me ask you this, were the Corinthians Jewish or were they Greek? Corinthians are Greek, Corinth is a city in Greece. Well in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, it says in verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. So when he preached the Gospel unto the Greeks, which desire wisdom, did he come preaching with excellency of speech and of wisdom? No. He says in verse 2, For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So what did he preach, wisdom, logic, rationalizing? He said, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That means before he went there, he already made up his mind, you know what, I'm not going to get sucked into a debate of rationale and logic and wisdom and philosophizing. I just determined, okay, I know how these people are. Because if you remember in the book of Acts, it talks about how when Paul went to preach to the Greeks, there were the Epicureans and the Stoics, and they basically just spent all their time just wanting to hear some new thing and to basically talk philosophy and debate all this stuff. He said, you know what, I'm just going to determine not to know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Look at verse 4, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and I think verse 5 is the key verse, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He's saying, look, I don't want your faith to rest upon the wisdom of men, I want it to rest on the power of God. And what is the power of God according to Romans 1.16? The Gospel. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Here he said, I preached Christ crucified. That's the Gospel that he's preaching. Not man's wisdom. Now today there's a movement that wants to get people saved through logic. You know, that says basically if we can just have a creation seminar, that's what we need to get people saved. Now look, I'm all for creationism. I believe in it. I firmly believe from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet that this world is less than 6,300 years old. I believe that. There's no doubt in my mind about that. I believe in creation. And you know what, the world will look at me and say I'm crazy because I believe that. But I say they're crazy when they believe that the whole world came from nothing, that it just exploded and here we are, you know, it just exploded and here we are. That's crazy. That's madness. But I'm going to tell you something. The multitudes in America are not going to be saved through creationism. I don't believe it. I don't believe that when we talk to atheists, you know, let me prove to you logically that God exists. That's not how we're going to get them saved. It's the power of the word of God that's going to get them saved. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ that's going to get saved. It's the preaching of the cross that's going to get them saved. Oh, but these atheists think it's foolishness. Yeah, and they'll perish. And they're going to perish no matter what you tell them because the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them. They don't want to believe the gospel. They have pleasure in unrighteousness. And look, this isn't a math equation, this isn't a math problem where we can just prove to people that God's real and prove to people, look, if you could prove it, you wouldn't need faith. You say, oh, I can't believe you say that, Pastor, it's so embarrassing to admit that what you believe is based on faith and not based on, you know, evidence and facts and science. Well, you know what? My salvation is based on faith. And my faith doesn't rest in the wisdom of men. It doesn't rest in logical arguments for the existence of God or creation or anything like that. It rests in faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, the word of God, and the gospel. See, I got saved because I believed the gospel. You know, and obviously I believe that, you know, the science falsely so-called is a fraud. You know, I'm glad that there are people out there who study creationism and, you know, put out all this evidence, because I think it's good to just basically equip the believer and just help them to understand things. And you know, some people, that could be a hangup with them that's keeping them from getting saved because they just, well, we know the world's billions of years old, I mean, we know that. You know, I could see how that could be a hangup to getting somebody saved, but in the end, it's the word of God that's going to get somebody saved. In the end, it's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection, and you cannot prove that to someone. I mean, I'm constantly talking to unsaved people and they say, what proof do you have that the Bible's real? And I tell them, there is no proof. Because if there were proof, then you wouldn't have to believe it. And I said, the reason that I believe the Bible is because the word of God has power. Okay? And this is unlike any other book. You read the word of God, it has power, it's obvious, the evidence for the Bible is the Bible. That's circular reasoning. Call it what you want. Call it circular logic. So what would you call it and slander it? This is the truth. The word of God is the evidence that God exists because no man could write this book. This book is more powerful than any book. It is more righteous, it is always right, it is perfect, it is pure. It never gets old, it's always brand new, it's always as relevant today as it was hundreds of years ago. It is the word of God and faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God and you can logic and you can rationalize with the Greeks of this world and you can show them your fossils and your evidence, but the bottom line is that they think you're nuts and it's foolishness under them, but they need the preaching of the cross, that's what's going to save them. Go back to chapter 1 if you don't believe me. Look at chapter 1 verse 21, it says, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. He's saying look, wisdom did not work to get people saved. It didn't work and that's why it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Preaching. Preaching is what's going to get people saved. Preaching what? The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what's going to get people saved. And so look, I think that creationism is a great teaching ministry. I believe in teaching all parts of the Bible. I believe in teaching all knowledge. I believe in teaching all parts of the Bible that have nothing to do with salvation. I believe in learning other subjects that aren't even in the Bible such as math or English or science. But let me tell you something, when I'm going out to the unsaved, I determine that it's going to be Christ crucified that I talk about. And if you're going to be an effective soul winner, that's what you talk about. And you use the Bible and you use Bible verses, not just trying to rationalize scientifically. And look, you know, it's pretty easy to debunk evolution. It's pretty easy to debunk the Big Bang. You can definitely prove those things to be false. It's easy to prove that false, but you can't really prove that God created the world. You say, well why do you believe that God created the world? Because the Bible says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Oh, everything that you believe is from the Bible, you know. I was on this radio interview a couple days ago on Irish radio, you know, on this. It was like an FM radio station in Ireland and they had me on there and they have all these callers calling in. And these people, man, you want to talk about people thinking that you're nuts? Every single person who called in thought that I was a lunatic. They thought I was insane. They thought I was mad. They thought that I was beside myself. But here's the thing. As I listened to these people talk, it wasn't me that they were mad at. It was the Bible. And you should hear the way these people grit their teeth when they say the Bible. Oh, the Bible. Everything he says is from the Bible, you know. And they said, I'll bet you when he eats breakfast in the morning, if he eats porridge instead of cornflakes, it's because the Bible said so, you know. And they're just like, oh, you believe in that book, oh, that book, the Bible. Just this total, just hatred and disgust in their voice for the Bible. And here's the thing. Everything I said on that radio program was just truth and soberness. You know, it was just the truth. I was just, you know, they had me on there because they wanted to talk to me about the subject of a woman's place being in the home. What a radical concept. What a, I mean, put me in a straitjacket, you know, because I believed that. And so they had me on there, you know, to basically talk about this subject. And they're just breathing out. It was like, it was like with Steven in the Bible where they're like gnashing on him with their teeth and plugging their ears and running toward him. I mean, it's a good thing there's an ocean between us because these people would have torn me limb from limb. I mean, they were just so mad and so, and they just thought, I can't believe, you sound like an intelligent person, how can you believe this crazy stuff? Because it's not crazy, they're crazy. And you know what? God has blinded the minds of them that believe not, or the devil has blinded the minds of them that believe not in many cases and in many cases God has blinded the minds of them that believe not. The Bible teaches both. The devil is out there to deceive them and then God often turns them over to a reprobate mind and blinds them. The Bible teaches both. And if you would, look at 1 Corinthians, let me finish up what I want to show you here. So we saw in 1 Corinthians 2, look at chapter 2 verse 14. It says, but the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So that right there says that the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness unto this world. They think it's crazy. They think it's nonsense, right? Look at chapter 3 verse 18. It says, let no man deceive himself, if any man among you seem it to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. You know what that says? That says if the world thinks you're wise, you're actually a fool. I mean look at it again. It says if any man among you seem it to be wise, what are the next three words? In this world. So if anybody seems wise to the world, he's a fool. That's what the Bible says. And it says let him become a fool, basically it's saying let him become a fool in the world's eyes that he might actually be in reality wise. Verse 19, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they're vain. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 9. It says, for I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are honorable, but we are despised. Look the world's going to think you're nuts when you believe and preach the truth. They're going to say that you're nuts. And you know you can't let it get to you because some people, they hear it so much, and go back if you would to Isaiah chapter 5, they hear what the world says so much they start to doubt themselves and doubt the Word of God. And that's why you need to keep coming to church and keep reading your Bible every day. Because otherwise this world is going to get to you and get into your head. I mean if you're, think about it now, this world's, let's just go back to the beginning of the sermon. This world is crazy. They think Jesus is crazy, they think Paul's crazy, they think we're crazy, but in reality we're the ones that are sane, we're speaking truth and soberness, and they're the ones that are crazy. And let me tell you something, if you sit there and every day watch TV of crazy people, listen to the crazy radio every day, and you're not reading the Bible, and you're not going to church, you're going to start to believe all that crazy stuff and you're going to get all that crazy stuff in your mind, you need to come to church to get a dose of reality. You need to open the Bible every morning, because you know what do you do at night when you sleep? What do you do? You dream, right? And your dreams are crazy, they don't make any sense. I mean people that are crazy, basically what they think about in their dreams, that's how they live their life. You know because I've had some weird dreams. I mean who has weird dreams like every night? Okay that's me, alright. I mean I have dreams all my teeth crumble and fall out of my mouth, that's a common dream that I have. But I have all kinds of crazy dreams, they don't make any sense. And we're all like that. But you know what, when I wake up in the morning I get in the Word of God and I get into reality. And I get my feet planted firmly on the ground and I figure out what is real and what is not real and the Bible does that for us. But you know when we listen, I mean look, this world is so crazy and I mean we could go so many different directions with this sermon just talking about how crazy the world is. I was flipping through the radio the other day, okay, because I have XM talk radio in my car, the talk stations. So I'll get on there, listen to the news or whatever. So I was flipping through the stations. There was a station on XM radio called Animal Radio, okay. And I guess it's just talking all about animals and pets and stuff like that. Okay this was the theme song of the station, Animal Radio. It said, animals are people too, animal radio. I mean that's crazy stuff. Animals are not people. Okay? And I saw a billboard in Phoenix that said the same thing. It said, animals are children. You know, love them, do not abandon them. I mean that's crazy stuff. And so you know if you're just constantly watching TV, listening to the radio, reading the newspaper, and you're not reading the Bible and not going to church, you're going to get some crazy ideas in your head. And that's why we need church, and you know what, that's why I like to go to church three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, because I feel like I need a triple dose of sanity. You know, and then not only that, but we need to read the Bible on our own every day just to get our head in reality. Look what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 20. It says, woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Now let me ask you this, wouldn't you say that somebody who calls evil good is crazy? Wouldn't you say if somebody looked at something that was very dark and said, that's light? Wouldn't you say they were crazy? Or what if they looked at something that was very sweet and they tasted it and they said, this is really sweet. No, it's actually bitter. That you'd say is a crazy person. What does it mean to be insane? What does it mean to be crazy? It means that you're not in reality. You don't believe in things that are real. You have this warped view of the world that doesn't make any sense. And that's the world that we live in today, I mean, that calls evil good and good evil. Bible believing preaching is called hate speech, right? I mean, you know, a guy gets up and preaches the Bible, they say that's evil. You know, you go soul winning, that's evil. You get married and have a biblical home where the husband's the head of the home, that's evil. You know, but you go out and commit fornication, that's great. You know, your wife cuts her hair short, that's great. You know, you do anything, you know, you go out and drink and party, that's great. That's wonderful. We live in a day that calls people that are filthy, pervert sodomites, calls them gay. When gay means happy. You know, and look, I'm happy. They're not happy, they're perverts. That's why I refuse to use the word gay about them. And by the way, gay is a Bible word. Because in James chapter 2, it talks about someone who has gay clothing. You know, don we now our gay apparel, you know what I mean? And basically, when it says gay clothing, it just means it's like, it's nice, it's bright, it's cheerful, it's lively, you know. But today, they call the worst perverted, reprobate, filthy, disgusting sodomites, they call them gay. You know, they give it this positive word, like it's just so nice, it's just so cheerful, it's just gay. You know, and then today, the one who preaches that a man and a woman married is the only time that any kind of, you know, physical intercourse should take place, right? He's bad. He's crazy. He's a lunatic. I think that any single person, any pastor in America 60 years ago would have said you're a lunatic if you thought that it was okay to be a homo. And literally, one time I was working on a fire alarm job and I found this police training manual from the 50s and it had a whole section on homos. And it said they're crazy, it said they're pedophiles, and it said that they need to be arrested and they need to be put in a mental institution, okay, that's what it said in the police training manual, and it was put out by the US federal government in the 50s. But today, it's just saying it's a saying you're crazy. It's saying it's an abomination you're crazy. You know what? I'd say they're crazy. They're calling evil good and good evil. Now go to Isaiah 29, this is a great passage to explain what I'm saying. Isaiah 29 verse 8 says this. It says in Isaiah 29 verse 8, it shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth. Okay, so this is talking about somebody who's hungry and they have a dream. And you know, when you're hungry, you dream about food. You dream about eating. And so it says here, it shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul's empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold he drinketh, but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. Stay yourselves in wonder, cry ye out. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes. Now this is what I mentioned earlier. The Bible talks about, of course, the devil blinding the mind of those that believe not, but then it also talks about those who God has turned over to a reprobate mind and who God has blinded. And here it says that God has closed your eyes in verse 10. The prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. Now it's interesting here because God is comparing someone who's drunk to someone who's asleep. And actually in the Bible, God makes this comparison many times. For example, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, it says, but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet to open salvation. So there God is going back and forth talking about being sober, being awake, being drunk, being asleep. And he talks about here somebody who's staggering, like they're drunk, but he says they're not really drunk with wine, it's just that they're asleep, they're tired. You know, I've heard some people say that driving when you're really, really tired or half asleep, it's similar to driving drunk. You know, you might start weaving on the road or you might have a slower reaction time. And you know what, I know this, I've been so tired before that I actually staggered and fell over before, just because I was so tired. One time I was working really hard and I was on a business trip and I'd missed a bunch of sleep and I was standing in line at Motel 6, you know, to get my motel room. And I had two people in front of me in line and you know, they're just taking forever to book these people. And I'm just standing there, standing there waiting, and the next thing I know is ugh. And I literally just collapsed to the ground because I just fell asleep standing up. And I staggered, you know, and somebody might have seen that and thought, this guy's drunk. You know, he's passing out, he's falling over, he's tripping on himself. You know, just the other day I worked really, really hard on this job all day and I finished my job and I went to Chipotle, you know, and this message was brought to you in part by Chipotle. But anyway, you know, I went to Chipotle and I literally stumbled and almost fell over just because I was so tired. You know, I was just overworked and just exhausted and tired. So here God's drawing a parallel here and he's talking about people being asleep, being drunken, but it's like they're sleepwalking. It's like they're functioning, they're going through life, but they're just not really fully awake or sober. Now it's interesting, when you talk about people that are alcoholics, right, or translation, the Bible word, they're drunks, drunkards is what the Bible calls them. But you know, today we call them alcoholics, okay, because alcoholism is a disease. You know, even if it's the only disease that you pay to catch and it's the only disease that's bottled and sold, it's the only disease that you need a license to sell, you know. But anyway, you know, it's a disease, alcoholism. But you know, talking about alcoholics, there are really two kinds of alcoholics when you talk to people about drinking. There's one that I would call the binge alcoholic, right? And then there's the one that's the daily alcoholic, right? And you know, we could probably have raised the hand, who's known people that fall into one of those two categories, right? The binge alcoholic versus the daily alcoholic. And here's the thing, the binge alcoholic, he doesn't necessarily drink every day, but he drinks a few times a week, maybe two or three times a week, and I mean he just drinks and drinks and drinks and just gets completely just hammered. I mean he just drinks himself into oblivion, that's the binge alcoholic, right? Then there's the one that's the daily alcoholic and that person will sometimes not even ever appear to be completely drunk, but they're never completely sober either because they basically just start drinking, and the Bible talks about the daily alcoholic. It talks about those that rise up in the morning to go after wine and they continue with strong drink until wine inflamed them throughout the day. And see, the daily alcoholic, he just constantly is drinking just throughout the day, and he's never fully drunk, but he's never fully sober either. He just kind of goes through life in a bit of a haze. Just a little bit of a cloud and a fog and a haze in his mind because he's under the influence of alcohol. He's not fully awake. He's not fully sober and alert. He's just kind of partially drunk all the time. And you know what? That's what he's comparing here. He's talking about somebody who's asleep. They're dreaming. They think they're eating, but they're not really eating anything. They think they're drinking, but it's all just in their mind. It's all just a fantasy. They act like they're drunk, but it's really just that they're asleep, and the Bible says God has poured out upon them a spirit of deep sleep. It says in verse 11, and the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that has learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he sayeth, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he sayeth, I am not learned. So what we see is a day where people do not comprehend the Bible for one of two reasons. I mean, they don't understand the Bible. It goes over their head. They can't receive the things of the Spirit of God. One is because they'll say it's sealed. I'm learned, I'm educated, I'm intellectual, but the book is sealed. That's basically the people that tell you that, you know what, well, nobody can really understand what the Bible says. It has to be interpreted. It's a lot of parables and dark sayings, and you can't take it literally. You just can't take it literally. You know, it's just, it's kind of just this mystical, mythical book, and you can't take it too literally. You can't just believe what it says. It's a sealed book. And then the other people will say, you know, I can't read this because I'm not learned. Oh, it's just too, the Bible's got too many big words in it, too many thes and thous. You know, give me the Dr. Seuss version, the NIV, the HIV, the RASB, the KFC, you know, or whatever, you know, all these different versions. But basically today what I'm saying is that if you are a Bible-believing Christian, people are going to think you're crazy. They're going to look at your lifestyle. And even if it's the most normal, sober lifestyle. I mean, even if you just live a lifestyle where you just, you go to work and you work 40, 50, 60 hours a week and your wife stays home and raises the kids and bakes bread and bakes cookies and you have beautiful children and you teach them and raise them and you spend time with your family and you keep you only unto her till death do you part and you don't drink and you don't chew and you don't go with girls who do, you know, and you go to church three times a week and you read the Bible and pray and you live a wholesome, godly, righteous, clean life and people look at you and they say, you guys are nuts, you're crazy, you're weirdos, you're lunatics. Even though it's the most normal thing in the world. It's so normal. I mean, it's life. It's just a normal life. But relatives think you're crazy. They think the truth is crazy. They think soberness is crazy. Why? They are in a drunken stupor today and they may not be drunk with wine, but they are drunken and they're in a deep sleep and a fog where they cannot see reality for what it is. The veil is over their eyes. The darkness has enveloped them and they just can't see and understand. I mean, honestly, today people are crazy. I mean, they're nuts. They've lost their mind. And today we as God's people need to be in our Bibles every single day and we need to be in church every single week just to stay sane. Just to keep a firm footing on reality. Just to wake up. I mean, people often drink coffee in the morning to wake up, right? You know, I'm not one of them, but people drink coffee in the morning to wake up and that kind of gets them going in the morning. Well here's the thing. This is like your spiritual coffee. You know, to wake you up and to slap you and tell you, hey, this is what's real. Because I've talked to people who get frustrated over time because they hear so many lies from this world that they literally start to ask themselves, and maybe you've been there, maybe you've asked yourself, am I crazy? Maybe we're just crazy. I mean, maybe we are nuts. You know, maybe we are crazy, but you know what, when you go to church and there's a hundred other people that are just as crazy as you are, there's something therapeutic about that. You get to church and there's a hundred other people there, and they're all saying and believing the same thing, you start saying, wait a minute, I'm not crazy, that's what the Bible says. That is what the Bible teaches, that's right. But you know what, when you get away from the assembly, and you get away from the Bible and you're just out there in crazy land, you're out there in the twilight zone world that we live in, you'll start questioning yourself and thinking, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm crazy, maybe these people are right. And that's why church is so important, because you know, when you're all isolated by yourself, it's easy for the devil to get to you and make you think you're crazy. Because nobody agrees with you at work, nothing on TV is backing you up, nothing on the radio is backing you up. You know what, the word of God is like a rock, it never changes. And you know what, the same things that are true today will be 20 years from now just as true, and no matter how crazy this world gets, this is always going to bring us back to reality. This will always wake us up. And would to God that this church will always be a place that wakes you up. And when you come to church, you get a dose of reality, you get a dose of a wake up call that basically tells you, look, you're not alone, it's the world that's nuts. Don't let this sodomite agenda get you to thinking that you're nuts. And don't let the world be living, and say, why do I preach about the sodomites? Because you know what, not a day goes by that the world isn't cramming sodomy down my throat. I mean look, are you going to tell me that you can actually turn on the radio or go through life living in the big city here without being exposed to somebody telling you something about, oh, gay marriage, oh, I mean it's every day, right? People say, why do you preach about it so much? Because you know what, this is like the only place practically that you're going to go to even hear the truth about it. Is church, I'm not saying just this church, but church in general is the only place that you're going to go where somebody's going to preach to you the truth about this stuff. And you know what the world says? The world will say, well, you know, if you hate homosexuals, they'll say, it's because you are one. Everybody's heard that one before. They'll say, well, if you're always ripping on these homos, it's because you secretly are one. So here's what our crazy world basically teaches. They basically teach that there's two kinds of people in this world. There's those who are homos, and then there are those who think homos are wonderful, and that's all. Because if you hate homos, you really are one. So basically everybody's a homo, or they just love homos and think they're wonderful. But you know what? That's stupid talk. That's crazy talk. And I'm going to tell you something. I'm not going to let them intimidate me like, oh man, I better stop preaching against the homos because people are going to think I am a homo. You know what? I hate the stinking queer homos. Put that in your pope and smack it. I don't care what you think about it. Call me whatever you want. Somewhere, some preacher is going to stand up and say, hey, wake up people, wake up, this is reality. This world is crazy. Wake up and smell the coffee. Wake up and realize that look, not everybody has fallen for this sin-sick sodomite world that we live in. Somebody still believes the truth about it. Somebody still believes Leviticus 20-13. Somebody still believes Romans 1 and 2 Peter chapter 2. And you know, people are going to accuse me and make fun of me all they want and attack me and call me whatever names they want. Well, you know what? They told Jesus he was demon-possessed. They told Jesus that he was crazy. Even his friends at one point said he was crazy. Even my friends told me I was crazy before. But anyway, they called Paul crazy, but you know what? I'm not crazy. I'm just standing on the Bible. And so we need to keep on reading our Bibles and just staying in the reality zone right here and keep coming to church because you need to come to church just to get a wake up call because otherwise, man, these people are going to get into your head and it's designed to brainwash you. TV, radio, that's why it's called programming, school, radio, TV, newspaper. It's all by design. That's why public opinion has changed so much in the last 60 years. It didn't just everybody just happened to change their mind about stuff. It just happened to be that 60 years ago everybody believed one way and now they all believe something completely different. What a coincidence. No, it's an agenda. It's a design. It's a brainwashing agenda. It's been planned. It's a conspiracy, okay? And the devil is at the top of it. So we need the Word of God to keep us sane and to keep us in our right minds and to always remember they're the ones that are crazy. We are sober and telling the truth. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word and we thank you so much for soberness and truth and God, I pray that you'd never let them wear us down and get us to believe that we're crazy or that we're the only ones left. You know, Elijah felt like he was the only one left. And God had to remind him that there were 7,000 that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. Lord, help us not to forget that there are 7,000 more that haven't bowed the knee to Baal even today, the remnant according to the election of grace. And so Father, please just help us to continue to believe and preach the words of truth and soberness and help us to every single day do a reboot every morning and read our Bibles and get our feet firmly on the ground and to come to church as much as possible. In Jesus' name we pray.