to turn back in your Bibles to
Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13, if you will. We will continue our excursion
with our Savior through the lens of Dr. Luke as he shares with
us our Master's journey to Calvary. And today's message is weeping
for Jerusalem Weeping for Jerusalem because that's generally how
the authors have viewed this portion of scripture We are at
our Lord is getting ever so closer to ground zero where he will
ultimately experience that which no man has ever experienced to
date the wrath of God because of sin and Luke curiously gives us a discourse
between him and a seemingly concerned Pharisee. And the Pharisee feels
compelled to warn our master that Herod does not have his
best interest in view. Verse 31 seems to imply that
this Pharisee really, truly does care about Jesus Christ and his
physical welfare at least so that he advises our master not
to continue in the territory which he is in because somehow
news has gotten to this Pharisee that Herod has devised a plan
to capture Jesus and to kill him right where he is. And our Lord responds to this
Pharisee in a very unique and interesting way. He says in verse
three, go and tell that fox. Now in the 21st century church,
I would be guilty of not respecting politicians if I use that term. I would be guilty of not honoring
the office. using ad hominem and all sorts
of terms that are not nice today. But I would submit to you that
the Lord Jesus Christ used this term advisedly when he spoke
about Herod. I perceive that in the heart
of our master was a great deal of grief and wrath for the leadership
of the nation of Israel, grief and wrath. And you know, sometimes
when your heart is filled with both grief and wrath, you actually
speak more candidly than you might otherwise. And I want us
to think through today why our master exposed Herod with this
term, while at the same time weeping for the nation as a whole. Is it possible, ladies and gentlemen,
to be grieved because of your concern for something and also
be angered at the same time for those same concerns? And I would
remind you, just in case you forgot, that the subject of our
text is Jesus Christ and he is God. God is angry and God is
grieved at the nation. God is angry and God is grieved
at the nation. Now, if the idea of anger and
grief still evades you, just think about your relationship
with your children when they tick you off. The Lord Jesus Christ is fully
aware that this Pharisee who comes to him has dubious intentions. I mean, he's a Pharisee. And
the Pharisees, the larger portion of them, had the same hatred
and demonic desire for the demise of Jesus Christ as Herod. Now, you know you are in trouble
when your enemy warns you from your enemy. But if you're omniscient, it's
no problem because you understand the motive of both of them, don't
you? Our master is not alarmed, nor is he tricked, nor is he
disarmed by this apparent and seemingly concern on the part
of this Pharisee. Because Luke has already told
us in earlier chapters and in later chapters to come that the
leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. The religious rulers of his day
were hypocrites. They were in cahoots with the
politicians. Politicians and wicked religious
people are all the same in the eyes of God, hypocrites. And
both together spell trouble for the righteous. But this Pharisee
feels inclined to let Jesus know that he should leave. He doesn't,
however, understand that his misguided apparent affection
for Christ is actually suggesting that Jesus leave his course.
But now, come on now, ladies and gentlemen, if Jesus leaves
his course, we're all in trouble, aren't we? Aren't you thankful
that he stayed on course? Even against the warning that
came to him from the apparent concerned religious hypocrite
You had to get out of here Jesus they coming after you they're
coming after you man. Can you imagine if Jesus would
start running? Just start running and now he's a he's a fugitive
on the run now he's running for his life and Do you realize had
he hearkened to that man's counsel, he would unravel everything he'd
teach and taught for three years? Had he ran, he would have proved
himself to be wicked. After all, the wicked flee when
no man pursues. But the righteous are as bold
as a lion. When the foundation upon which
you stand is right, you ain't got to run. All you have to do
is take the hit and see if God shows up. Now I'm actually speaking more
close to home than you and I are willing to admit because I feel
the heat already. I don't know about you, but I
feel the heat coming up. I can hear one of those wicked
rulers saying to me, Hey Jess, you better pull up, man. They
coming after you. And I'm asking for grace to stand my ground
and say, tell that Fox, I got to work today, tomorrow, and
the next day. And when my work is done, then you can do with
me what you want to do. And so it's important for us
to learn some lessons that I think are relative now as they were
then. After all, there's nothing new
under the sun. That which has been is and that which is to
be, even that's already been. Do you know that the days of
our master are just like our present day? the roman empire
ruled and it was full of violence and evil and perversion as our
generation the church was corrupt and vile and idolatrous and it
mimicked the world it modeled the world it monkeyed the world
and the only saving grace in that culture was a man who stood
for the truth of the gospel and his name is jesus Ain't nothing
different today. We're still dealing with beast
one and beast two today, aren't we? Politics and religion capitulating
to the world system, capitulating to the agenda of the world, capitulating
to the political demands of the world. We're still dealing with
that. And the righteous are made of prey. Don't you feel it breathing
on the back of your neck? I'm talking to a number of our
teachers right now coming to me after our Thursday class.
We had a marvelous Thursday class. Hey, Pastor, what do I do? Because
they are telling me I have to say things that I do not agree
with. Welcome to the club. Welcome
to the club. Now it's time for you to learn
what holy boldness is and discretion when it comes to the truth, because
this is what it means to be a Christian in a corrupt society, being salt
and light in this wicked generation. But I would first say that we
must take on the attitude of our master and learn very sincerely
and comprehensively what the real battle is. And our Lord
knew this. He knew what was going on. He
knew. And he was, as a man, very much
perturbed. And he was put out at the fact
that he would spend three and a half years warning men and
women of the only way of escape And the end result of that would
be that every one of God's prophets are killed. You know the parable
that he gave in Matthew chapter 22. You know the parable he's
going to give in a few chapters hence. A certain man had a vineyard
that he lent out to husband and he expected produce, wouldn't
you? So he sent his servants out so
that he could get his dividends from his labors. And every time
he sent the servant out, they beat that servant down, abused
that servant, and ridiculed that servant, sent him home with his
tail between his legs. And the owner of the venue says,
well, finally, I'm gonna send my son. Certainly, listen, they
will respect him. But we know better, don't we?
If they have no regard for God's prophets, they won't have any
regard for the chief prophet, right? Because they don't have
any regard for this prophet, which is the word of God. This
is the generation that you and I live in. I can see the clouds
looming. I can see them becoming weightier
and weightier with the waters of judgment over our nation and
over our world. Can you sense it? This is a universal
thing. This is a worldwide calamity.
This is a judgment of epic proportion. And our master knew this. He
was part of what would be the final transition of the Old Testament
system into the new and it would have its culmination in the nation
rejecting him, both the religious entity as well as the political
entity. Point number one then, God does
not agree with unjust governments. God does not agree with unjust
governments. How many of you know that? How
many of you know that God does not sit around and endorse and
consent to wicked governments? Wicked governments are governments
that do not operate according to God's will. Wicked governments
bring people into bondage. Wicked governments oppress people. Wicked governments control people. Wicked governments bring people
down. Wicked governments, as the Proverbs
says, cause the people to mourn. Proverbs 29, verse 2, you don't
have to go there. When the wicked rule, the people
mourn. Now listen, you don't mourn unless
you're hurting. You don't mourn unless you're
hurting. And when a nation is mourning, it's because its rulers
have not done the right thing. Now granted, when I look throughout
the 300 million that live here in America, I'm not quite sure
universally as a whole, as an aggregate, that we are all together
mourning, but a few of us are. because enough of us see what's
coming down the pike to realize that this is a devastating agenda
that's about to unleash itself on America. And if God is the
same yesterday, today, and forevermore, can I tell you something? God
is going to judge our nation for what's happening in our nation
starting at the top. God does not endorse wicked governments. When the wicked rule, the people
hide themselves. That's what the proverb says.
Pastor, what do you mean? They've run out of fear? Well,
in some sense, yeah. See, when the wicked rule, they
rule with policies and legislations and laws that oppress people
and force people to retreat. They make the vulnerable citizens
of the country invisible. It means when the wicked rule,
you don't have a voice. You might talk, but can't nobody
hear you, not in Sacramento, nor in Washington. And when your
voice is taken away, your power is taken away. When your voice
is taken away, your power is taken away. And it gets worse
when the wicked rule, the people hide because to stand for truth,
according to Isaiah 59, makes you a prey. See, it's one thing
for the government not to pay any attention to the sages of
the country. And God made it that way for
us around the world. What I mean by sages are the
wise men and women, the ancients, those who have been around for
decades upon decades upon decades, who understand how politics go,
who understand how governments work, who understand the process
of corruption and decay. who understand the precursors
to the wrath of God. And they cry out in warnings
that you must stop this agenda. No nation can be exalted where
they forget God. No nation can stay on top where
they reject God. No nation can have the blessing
of God where they reject God's word. No nation. No nation. And every religious
nation that has abandoned scripture, cast God's word behind their
back, has the audacity to say, God's still blessing us. That's
a sign that God has already removed his hand and given you over to
insanity. God does not endorse wicked governments. He does not approve of wicked
governments. This is the purpose for the prophet.
I'm not talking P-R-O-F-I-T. you Americans, I'm talking prophet. You know what a prophet is? A
prophet is someone who speaks for God. And here's how you know
he's a prophet. You and everybody else don't
like what he has to say. See, when the prophet speaks,
he shakes up everybody. When the prophet speaks, he shakes
up everybody. He makes everybody vulnerable
because we're all sinners, and we're all prone to lies, and
we're all prone to agree passively or actively. We're all vulnerable
to the voice of the prophet. Now with government, because
of their audacity to think that they have a self-authorized authority,
what will a government do to a prophet who tells that government
to its face, you're guilty. What will they do to that prophet?
They'll kill him. They'll kill him. They'll kill
him. This is what has our master grieved.
He's grieved and his wrath is kindling because every prophet
he has sent now for the last 1800 years, I'm talking about
Israel, I'm sorry, 900 years in Israel, they have killed. They killed Isaiah. They threw
Jeremiah in a pit. They silenced Ezekiel. They sawed
Isaiah in half. They slew Zechariah between the
porch and the temple. They killed the prophets and
then put big monuments up to them and garnished their suffocators
and pretend that they honor the prophets. You know, people will
respect me when I'm dead. That's the way it goes. See,
all this is in the bosom of our master. It's in his heart. It's in his heart. It's in his
heart. And this man is coming to our
master, telling him to abort his plan. He sees through it.
You guys hear me? He sees through it. You go tell
that fox. The role of government saints,
the purpose of government is for the protection of its citizenry.
The role of government, the purpose of government is for the lawful
freedoms of its citizens. lawful freedoms by which the
citizens can prosper economically, can prosper socially, can prosper
morally. The role of government is to
aid and abet the freedoms of a lawful society so we can prosper
in a way that honors God. Did you guys get that? The role
of government is not to shape the culture. The role of government
is not to advise the culture. The role of government is not
to transform the culture. The role of government is to
leave the culture in the context of freedom, in the context of
moral and ethical laws, absolute, to prosper economically and socially
and morally. Because this is a universal law
where any nation operates on these principles, God will bless
them. God will bless the nation that
understands the moral law of God. God will bless the nation
that understands the absolute inflexible laws of God universally. God will bless that nation. But
he will not bless a nation whose rulers think that they have the
right to determine and define our existence. God does not agree
with wicked governments. The purpose of government is
to protect its citizenry, to give them the freedoms necessary
for them to prosper. And the reciprocating relationship
between the citizens and the government is that we pay taxes. Boy, we paying some taxes, aren't
we? I think we paying too much tax. I really do. And I'm asking
for, where's the benefits at? When I'm paying 45 to 55% in
taxes, I wanna know what the rate of exchange is. How come
things are getting worse? How come more of my brothers
and sisters are having a hard time finding work when I'm paying
you 55 cents out of the dollar? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
There's a hole in the treasury in the government where the money
is seeping out. And that's what God said would
happen when you disobey His laws. He will put holes in your pockets.
He will cause your heavens to become brass. He will dry up
your vineyards. He will dry up your fields so
that you don't get the increase that you expect. Is anybody hearing
what I'm saying? All this is in the heart of the
bosom of the Logos who wrote the Word of God, who is the Word
of God, who inspired the Word of God throughout the history
of time up to the present. He is full of anger at his nation. Full of anger at his nation.
I told you when you are angry because you're grieved, it means
you love. We've got a wicked government. that somehow thinks that because
it's in cahoots with politics, I'm talking about the Jewish
government, that somehow they can do whatever they want to
willy-nilly. He says, go tell that fox. I love it. Go tell him that our destinies
are about to meet. Go tell Herod Antipas that our
destinies are about to meet. We are on a clash collision course
of epic proportion. Let him know in a moment, Herod,
you will be eternally infamous to all as that fox. Let him know he won't be able
to extricate himself. Let him know that he will be
one of the primary instruments that put his hand on the only
righteous man in the universe and consented to his death. Let
Herod know that he won't be able to shake his guilty conscience
from this providential and determined purpose of God. Let him know
he can't get away now. See, he should have stopped two
years back. Are you hearing me? Two years
back, Herod should have stopped when he had a go-go party in
his house. and all the women were running the show and they
were running around with their bikinis on and they look little
thongs and getting down in front of her rod and he was happy as
a lark and his wife said, give me the head of that man that
has the audacity to tell you the truth. I want his head. Are you hearing me? This was
just two years ago. I want his head. because he has
the audacity to tell the president he's wrong you know you messed
up when you think just because you got a title on your shirt
you can't listen to god aren't you messed up and so herod got
a problem here he got a problem here because the lord jesus saying
you and i'm gonna meet buddy we have to meet providence determines
it God's purpose determines it. And here's the reason for which
God uses such a derogatory term for this man, Herod, for whom
we all should be praying. We are called to pray for our
politicians, right? Can I tell you one reason you
should pray for them? Because they are under greater
culpability of damnation than the citizenry. They need your
prayers. The higher you are up the echelon
of authority, the more susceptible you are to the dark principalities
and powers that govern this world. The greater you are responsible
to the God who made it all. The leaders of this world must
answer to God. You ought to pray for them. We
ought to pray for them because God's wrath is going to come
upon them and the people. if there isn't an aversion of
the process that we're taking. If I were to take the time to
go through the Old Testament pattern in which God systematically
dismantles a nation, you would be shocked at how much of a mirror
I'm raising up to ourselves. And you would be uncomfortable
about how close the wrath of God is upon us right now. My
heart is heavy every day as I think about the pervasive nature of
the corruption that's in our society, the people who say,
God bless America. And yet how vile our country
is. David said, there's no fear of
God before their eyes. No fear of God. People don't
even know how to pretend the fear of God today. The arrogance,
the haughtiness, the presumption on the part of our leaders. I'm
talking all of your leaders. So for you Republicans over there
and you Democrats over there, both of your leaders are corrupt
and vile. So if you want to put a shield up against what I'm
saying, listen to me. If you are endorsing wickedness,
I don't care if it's D or R, it's all burning up. Because the job of the church
is to be the voice of the prophet. It's the job of the church to humbly
and graciously and wisely and fearlessly stand on the truth. Once the lights are off in the
church, ain't no light. Did you hear me? Once the lights
are off in the church, there's no light. The light is only in
the church that's telling the truth. The light is only in the
house that's telling the truth. When the truth is gone, it's
all darkness. Ain't no light out there. Our,
listen, our leaders have no answers for the judgment. The boat has
a hole in it on all sides and it's sinking and our leaders
don't have any answers. They're pretending they can solve
your problems. They can't. They can't. We need God. We need a God from
heaven to show up. Are you hearing me? This is the
problem with Jesus before this nation, because you see, in a
few years, Israel will be completely destroyed. The last prophet of
the Old Testament and the first prophet of the New Testament
has come and he's letting them know I have warned you early,
sending my prophets again and again and again. And now your
house is going to be left to you desolate. So why does our
master call Herod a fox? Well, the term is a term that's
advisedly used in the Old Testament. And it's one of those terms that
early Roman politics understood very well. A fox, as a metaphor,
is a sly person. A fox, as a metaphor, is a clever
person. Sly and clever are two qualifications
to be a politician. See, politics is the art of deception. Politics is the art of language
that says one thing and means another. Politics is the art
of manipulation. The euphemism for politics is
being a fox. That's crazy for you Republicans,
because y'all listen to Fox News. And you don't think it manipulates
you either. But I'm here to tell you something else. And for those
of you liberals and progressives and all you folks who love hanging
out in the CNN camp, the Communist News Network, you jacked up too. Now it would
be cool if that was the Christian News Network, but it's not. See,
be careful. I'm going to say this now. The
dialectical process that Hegel taught was that when religion
does not operate out of divine power coming from on high, it
will seek to fill that vacuum with political power. It will
therefore be the whore of Revelation 17 riding upon the scarlet colored
beast. And thus, politics and religion
work together for only one purpose, to kill the truth. Tell that
fox, the clever man, the sly man, but very destructive, very,
very, very destructive. He's destructive to himself,
and he's destructive to his citizens. First, this fox is destructive
to himself. was born in 4 BC, dies in 39
BC, which he spans, which rather he spans the ministry of the
two prophets, Christ and John the Baptist. He spans their ministry. He dies in the book of Acts.
You know how he dies? God finally catches up with him.
Finally catches up with him. You know how? He stands up and
boasts as if he's God. But see, that's what every state
does that abandons the Word of God. The state becomes God. It has the authority to define
who you are. Remember we learned this Thursday?
The thing itself cannot define itself. It must be defined by
its maker. To define yourself is insanity. So a nation that rejects God
will now take the position of God and begin to determine for
you where you go, what you do, how you think, how you act, what
you believe. Herod was part of a dynasty of
Herodian rulers in Jerusalem who have a known history for
being adulterers, for being polygamist, endomagist, Endogamy is a term
that means you actually marry within your family. It's a form
of incest. That vile practice of marrying
your sister or marrying your brother because as an aristocracy
you want to keep the wealth in the family. It's the stuff that
makes you go insane. Are you hearing me? This was
an openly vile set of practices exercised openly by the rulers
in Jerusalem of all places going totally contrary to the Leviticus
code which we will be dealing with in a few weeks in the gospel
of sexuality because our country now is advocating the same laws. How do you go from a Judeo-Christian
constitutionally-based country that recognized one God, one
book, and one Lord to where we are today. We have gone far,
far, far away from the truth. Herod was so vile and so wicked
in his abominable practice that he dared to marry his brother
Philip's wife. Everybody in the country knew
it. She was already part of the family. But he took her from
his brother. That's what happens when you
have these, you know, multiple and mixed families. I'm bringing
it home. Because they just feel like they
can do that. This is called boundary breaking. When you break the
boundaries, you are free to do what you want to. But there are
consequences, aren't there? He's sitting there with his brother
Philip's wife. And there was only one person
who had anything to say about it. Isn't that a shame? Only
one person. John the Baptist, our brother
was something else. Our brother was something else.
And maybe it was his diet, you know? Maybe his diet had him
passionate. When you eat wild honey and locusts,
you know, and you free from all of the genetically modified foods,
we learned that in the men's study, you're not thinking synthetically. You're not thinking artificially
because you are what you eat. Y'all heard me? This is why we
are such a corrupt nation and our churches are also corrupt
because it is what it eats. A genetically modified nation,
a genetically modified church, a genetically modified gospel,
a genetically modified world. That's where we are. That's where
we are today. But John the Baptist wasn't having
it. Now you guys can eat wild locusts and honey all you want
to and if you get sick, don't come to me. But he was the only man to stand
in front of the ruler and tell the ruler, you are wrong for
the kind of blatant disregard for the White House that you
have exercised publicly before the world. Because when the White
House is wicked, like you and Monica Lewinsky were wicked,
then the schoolhouse is going to be wicked. And then the playhouse
is going to be wicked. And then the church house is
going to be wicked. And your children are going to
be wicked because as the rulers are, so are the people as the
priests. So are the people. This here
is the top down theory. If your leaders are wicked, your
people will be wicked. Are you hearing me? This is the
reason why John the Baptist had to stand in the gap between the
poor innocent people who was seeing this vile corruption and
those who had no desire to see the purity of those young people
sustained. He had to say, you are wrong. You're wrong. And his wife had
him killed. put his head on a platter to
show to everyone this is what happens to you when you tell
the truth against the wicked government. Tell that false. Go with me in your Bible to Isaiah
chapter 5, show you something. Here's the other problem that
goes on in our society as it did in the days of Israel. When
your leaders are corrupt, when their policies are corrupt, When
their legislation is corrupt, when their ways are corrupt,
when they operate out of a sly, clever, destructive format, when
they are corrupt, the fruit is going to be corrupt. Are you
guys hearing me? Whatever a man sows, a nation sows, a government
sows, that shall it also what? That's an inviolable principle.
You can't say, I don't know how it came up this way. It came
up this way because that's his nature. Someone sowed this corrupt
seed, this this vile seed, this degenerate seed. Isaiah chapter
5 verses 1 through 9. Now, will I sing to my well-beloved
a song of my beloved touching his what? Now why am I talking
about a vineyard today? Why am I speaking about a vineyard? Because the vineyard represents
national Israel. That's why. This is God's vineyard. And God's getting ready to talk
about, well, what does the vineyard pastor have to do with Herod? Well, you ought to know your
Bible. It's the little foxes that eat up the vine, that devour
the vine, that corrupt the vine, that destroy it at its roots,
that devastate the whole vine, that brings the vine to naught.
It's the little foxes that get in when there is no protection
of the vine, when there's no hedge, when there's no watchman,
It's the little foxes that get in. Listen to what God says.
Now I will sing of my beloved as touching his vineyard. My
beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced
it in. You know what it means to fence?
Boundaries. We'll talk about that again on
Thursday, because we don't have them, do we? He fenced it in
because you've got to have boundaries in order to protect something
that's precious to you. He fisted in and he gathered
out the stones thereof. You know why you got to gather
out the stones? Haven't we learned? If you don't take the stones
out, it will choke the fruit so that it doesn't produce. Now
the stones here are a metaphor for corrupt policies, for antichrist
doctrine, for humanism, for wickedness, for sin. See, the husband man
has to groom the vineyard in order for it to produce good
fruit. This goes back to Adam. So apparently, God is saying
he has put a great deal of effort into this choice vine of his,
verse 2. He visited, he gathered out the
stones thereof, planted it with choice vines, built a tower in
the midst thereof, and also made a winepress therein. He looked
that it should bring forth what? And it brought forth what? In
other words, the fruit that he was looking for should have been
good fruit, but it brought forth bad fruit. And now, O inhabitants
of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me
and my vineyard, what could have been done more to my vineyard
that I have done? Wherefore, when I look that it
should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. And
now go to, now I will tell you what I will do. Now listen to
this now. I will tell you what I will do
to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge. I
told you when God begins to judge a nation, we enter into what
is called a takeaway principle. When God starts taking away from
a nation, He's backing up and allowing that nation to be plundered
by wickedness when God takes away wise rulers. When he takes
away wise leaders, when he takes away wise men and wise women,
when he takes away the righteous, when he takes away the truth,
when he takes away the word of God, when he leaves the nation
to its own devices, when he leaves them to do things according to
their own mind, God is allowing that nation to be vulnerable
to judgment. Are you guys hearing me? You
and I all need protection. We need to be hedged about. There's
an enemy out there. Did you know that? he would destroy
your soul. So God says this is what I'll
do. I will take away the hedge and it shall be what? Eaten up. You know what that means? The
foxes can come right on in and have their way. Pastor, where's
that at? Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse
15. The little foxes. You know what
that means? Watch this. They appear to be
insignificant. Herod isn't on most of our radar
scope. Pontius Pilate is. Nero is. Caesar is. But Herod's a little
fella. We don't see him as playing a
role in corrupting society. But you see all your local politicians
play a role in corrupting your society. They all play a role. They all, why do you think men
and women aspire to get into positions of authority in the
government so that they can legislate their will? So that they can
approve of their own vile, corrupt ways by legislation and force
everybody else to agree with them. Is that where we are today? That's precisely where we are
today. I am absolutely astonished as
I have to wade through the cesspool of news and observe the way our
wicked politicians are doing whatever they want to, contrary
to the will of the people. I sometimes wish we actually
had a democracy, but we don't. We are a socialist, despotic
government ruled by a few people in Washington. who demand that
all the other little peons in each state do precisely what
they legislate, regardless of what the people say. Make the
people pretend like you're paying attention to them, but at midnight,
sign in legislation that once it becomes law, if they oppose
you, put them in jail. Are you guys hearing me? It goes
on every day in your country. I remember a couple of years
ago when I had to go to traffic school. Do with that as you will. I was fighting the case. But the officer told me, Mr. Gistan, let me ease your conscience
if you even remotely feel bad for being here. I said, I don't.
But he said, let me ease your conscience. We in California
have thousands of laws on the books. just our traffic department
alone. Thousands of laws on the books. He said every citizen that is
a vehicleist that drives is violating an aspect of the law every eight
seconds that he drives. You know what that means? The game is rigged. Do you hear
me? The man was so compassionate.
He was a social psychologist as well as a sheriff. And so
he was concerned about the impact and effect of legislation like
this on the culture because it does have a psychological and
emotional impact on you. When you know that as a pattern,
you're going to find yourself facing the red lights or a ticket
coming in the mail today because some camera caught you. in some
indiscretion or something that was unlawful to them, but you
had no knowledge of it. If every eight seconds you are
guilty of a vehicle moving violation, you and I are in trouble. Are
you hearing me? That means the game is rigged.
Do you know what that's about? Tax money. This is called oppression. People are fighting this today
because it's also unjust. It's also unconstitutional. Did
you hear me? It's unconstitutional for a camera
to be watching you do something and an officer not be right there
to deliberate the rightness or wrongness of it. You and I are
now being judged by a camera. We call this a free country.
Are you kidding? Are you kidding? And so a lot
of our brothers, and you need to talk to a few of them, have
been able to fight and win because what is happening in California
is not even in the books that are coded. And so once you find
out that this is a new law that contradicts an old law, you can
fight that law. But just like the word of God,
if you don't know the scriptures, you can't fight against your
enemy. And so you and I are dealing
with an increasing wickedness of the same proportion of which
our master is dealing with in the Old Testament, in the first
century where he's closing out the Old Testament and he sees
this judgment. Vividly before his face I will
take away the hedge, it shall be eaten up and break down the
walls thereof and it shall be trodden down and I will lay it
waste. shall not be pruned nor dig but
there should come up briars and thorns and also will command
the clouds that they rain no more upon it for the vineyard
of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah
his pleasant plant and he looked for what the word is righteousness
God looks for righteousness that's what I was saying at the beginning
of the message God expects righteousness God expects righteousness first
from the leaders and then from the people. God does not capitulate
nor endorse or accept or even passively sits by and allows
governments to function in unrighteousness, injustice. Are you hearing me? And the voice of God is his church
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth
in unrighteousness. God warns he will judge the nation
that rejects God's law. Israel is a model of that for
us. And this here is the burden that's
on the heart of our master. Go with me back to our text so
we can work through the rest of this. What's going on? Our
master knows that he is part of a government and a society
of people who pretend to know God, but in works deny him. who reject God's counsel, cast
his law behind their back and engage in the kind of profanities
that our nation is engaging in. Come on somebody, before I go
to my next point, don't you think that we are in some astonishing
times? Astonishing times. And why isn't
the heart of every believer burdened with these issues? Can I tell
you why? You are distracted. And that
by design. You are made to think the most
important thing for you to do right now is get yours. You are
actually made to think that you need to vote for this president
or that potential president in order that you might get jobs.
That's a distraction. The government can't give you
jobs. and jobs will not come from the government if they don't
come from God first. But you and I are being distracted
because what we should be saying to our government is you guys
don't need to vote. In fact, let's kill the election
for this year for a minute. Let's stop the train, stop the
presses, stop the election. Let's not have an election this
year. But pastor, what do you want? Let's spend the next 12
months repenting. Let's spend the next 12 months
falling on our face, acknowledging our rebellion against God. Let
the White House and the Congress and the Senate and the local
legislature just spend the next 12 months calling on God, acknowledging
their rebellion and their disobedience and their hatred and antipathy
and their rage against the God of glory. Let's spend the next
12 months a church acknowledging our rebellion and disobedience
against the Word of God, against the gospel of his glory, against
the truth of Scripture. Let the whole nation just spend
a year moratorium from this deceptive system called politics which
cannot save you and pray about it. Pray about it. Now watch this now. Do you know
that we are just about to spend over $900 million on just this
election. Romney will make $600 million. Obama will make $300 million.
$900 million. from the crooks way up at the
top to keep the masses deceived while they continue to plunder
the wealth and drive us into economic slavery and destroy
the middle class and enforce socialism on us and transform
our minds so that we are thinking that we are something that we
are not. Are you hearing me? That's where we're going. Cannot
speak plain to this church. That's where we're going. That's
where we are. And you know, they already got
all their tanks and all their military and all their martial
law props all set up because they realize after a while, some
of us going to get tired of this. Are you hearing me? They already
got him going because he, you know, when a brother gets hungry,
I mean, real hungry, he'll do some things. You know that, right? Just to eat. It's sad. It's sad. That's the wickedness
in our government. I have intended today to make
sure this text speaks to you. That's why I am talking the way
I'm talking. I could make sure that we stay
in a remote reflection upon the text in Jerusalem back at that
time, but it has no application to us. And it would be one more
day that you leave church and go back out into this diabolical
system, aiding and abetting your own deception. Just one more
day. As the noose gets tighter around
your neck. As the chains get tighter around
our ankles. As our sons and daughters go
further and further into Babylon's captivity. Babylonian captivity
is where we're headed. Our Lord saw all this. Grieved
him to his heart. Go tell that fox. When this step
begins in the White House, It makes its way to the church house.
And once the church is corrupt, the lights are out. We're getting
ready to go through a civil war. You know that? In our nation.
Yeah, we're getting ready to break up just like all the other
nations around the world are breaking up. They know that at
the top. They know that free men and women
are getting ready once again to die for freedom. They know that. What you think
has been the experiment in the Middle East for the last 10,
20, 30 years? Why do you think those people
over there are willing to blow up their own country to free
themselves and extricate themselves from this Babylonian system that
we're trying to impose upon them? What do you think that is? Do you understand me? When people
are hungry, when people have no hope, when they have no vision,
when they have no clarity, when they have no agenda, They'll
become maniacal. They will become terrorists.
They will become hostile Are you hearing me now? The reason
why i'm sharing this with you is because like right now in
america, we're asleep And you think you're safe in your house
You think what what happened on 9 11? Uh 10 11 years ago so
many years ago 12 years ago won't happen again. That's what you
think because you operate out of the normalcy principle and
that's because you don't actually see what's there. How it's a
seething, boiling pot ready to explode on us at any moment.
But we can change that. All President Obama and the cabinet
and the Congress and the Senate needs to do is listen to me. That's all they need to do. I've got a plan to fix this. And it won't cost you a dime.
And in fact, according to the economic status, I think we'll
save enough money to add about a million dollars, million jobs
to this program. If we just stop spending today,
frivolous spending that has nothing to do with the reestablishment
and reinforcement of our own country. My wife would kick me
out of the house so quick if she saw our bank account in the
negative every week. And she'd say, Jesse, what are
you doing with the money? Well, you know, there's a couple
of families down the street that I'm trying to take care of. I
just care about them. Well, what about your own family?
You imbecile, get out. I'd be gone. And rightly so. If a man does not take care of
his own household, he's worse than an infidel. Are you hearing
me? He's worse than an infidel. The
tons of money we spend on nothing. And what drives me crazy is we
give our enemies so much money that it doesn't even justify
the conversation that we're having about politics. This is why I
know it's manipulation. This is why. See, when I know
the politicians know the way the money is flowing and what
is flowing for projected issues and interests that have nothing
to do with you and me, and we're starving every day and states
are shutting down and little towns are becoming ghost towns
and people are hungry every day. I know you don't love me. I know
you don't care. I know you don't care. And you
can set up an entity called the Federal Reserve and you can print
money to prop up other governments? Well, heck, just print up another
trillion dollars and send a check to every one of us for a million
dollars. Are you hearing me? I guarantee you, you won't ever
hear from me again if you give me a million dollars. You won't
have to ever worry about me doing nothing. I will bless your name.
I'll be praying for you. Listen, I know what to do with
a million. See, I'm being sarcastic and a little bit humorous, but
my heart is pain at the reality that what's happening to our
country is deception on an immeasurable level. Because our freedoms are gone.
Our freedoms are gone. because foxes rule our government. Jesus said in verse 32 of our
text, tell that fox that I've got business to do. I cast out
devils and I do cures today and tomorrow and the third day I
shall be accomplished. Tell Herod that he will not deviate
me from my purpose. Tell Herod that even though I
set up governments and I cast down governments, I raise up
kings and I take them down. Promotion doesn't come from the
East or the West. Promotion comes from me. Tell
Herod that as the hearts of the kings are in my hand, I turn
them withersoever I will. Let Herod know that I'm not deterring
from my purpose because my purpose is even grander than your political
agenda. Now, this is a lesson for the
church of the living God, too. Because while a good portion
of what I shared with you was to step on your toes about your
political allegiances and your political notions, and I intended
to do that because politics won't save you. And while as yet you
are rubbing your hands and opining at what the future is going to
be, you are marginally committing idolatry. You are marginally
committing idolatry. You are wasting your time with
a whore that God says will be burned up. The Lord Jesus didn't sweat over
Herod. He didn't sweat over Pilate. He didn't sweat over Nero. He
didn't sweat over Mussolini. He didn't sweat over Hitler.
And he ain't sweating over our presidents either. He's not sweating. And his church shouldn't be sweating
either. His church shouldn't be sweating. His church should
be praying and preaching. His church should be prophesying
and preaching. His church should be preaching
and warning. His church should be praying
and preaching. His church should be the prophetic
voice for the Word of God. She should be standing on the
truth, bold as a lion, telling this world, without Christ you
will perish. No other way of deliverance except
through Christ. His church should be working
today, tomorrow, and the third day. The church should know that
the only cure for this nation is God. You know what he said? He said, I'm going forth today,
tomorrow, and I'm healing folks. I'm delivering folks. I'm curing
folks. That's what the gospel does.
It heals. It delivers. It cures. It straightens
out your mind. It causes you to think clearly.
It restores your dignity to the image of God. It instills you
with a righteousness that allows you to stand up straight. That's
what the gospel does. It gives power and authority
to the people who should be walking in authority. That's what the
gospel does. The gospel actually heals. It actually heals a person. a couple, a family, a nation,
it actually heals. You and I, the whole nation,
from the tops of our head to the bottom of our feet are filled
with putrefying sores. We are a sick nation. Sick is
our nation. Do you believe that? Our nation
is sick, violently sick, tremoring and shaking in the sickness of
the disease of sin. Violently sick. The only cure
is the gospel. The only cure is the cross work
of Jesus Christ. Notice what he says Nevertheless
verse 33. I must walk today and tomorrow
and the day following For it cannot be that a prophet perish
outside of what? Now our Lord made it clear, this
here is an axiom, it's an axiomatic phraseology, and you might as
well get it today. When the church goes apostate,
like Israel was apostate, like the church to whom Christ was
preaching is apostate, are you hearing me? When it becomes apostate,
it means that the devil has entered into the church and has taken
control of the leadership of the church, and the policies
in the church now have become the policies of the world. And
whenever the true prophet stands up, the church must kill that
prophet. The church must kill that. Jesus
says a prophet only perishes in Jerusalem. You know what that
tells me? That there is a massive demonic
stronghold in the capital in Jerusalem. I'm talking about
the Jerusalem 2000 years ago, the one that Jesus was headed
to. He tells me by that statement that a horde of demons and Satan
himself resides in the capital of the church to destroy anyone
who would stand on the truth of God's word. Now, we know this
is true with the Old Testament prophets, but do you know they
killed up all of our Lord's prophets and apostles with the exception
of John? The last brother they killed
was Peter. Before him, they killed brother
James. You know how they killed brother James? They took him
and threw him from the top of the temple down on the ground
and tied his carcass to the back of a horse and drug him through
Jerusalem celebrating the death of that pious James the Apostle. Are you hearing me? These is
religious folks. And listen, I'm giving you an
illusion to today. The false church and the false
teachers and the apostate teachers of our present generation will
keep silent while the beast develops legislation to stop men and women
like me from telling the truth. They'll keep silent and then
they'll be on the board to get rid of us fools because we actually
believe what the Bible says. Are you hearing me? I'm not,
I'm not bothered. Not bothered at all. You know
why? Because they're all lost. They're all dead in trespasses
and sins. They're all blinded by the God
of this world. They're all given over to the
lust of their flesh. They are altogether unprofitable. Now watch this. And the only
cure is the truth. The only remedy is the message
of redemption and the power of God and the gospel of God's salvation
Now if I really believe that if I believe that the truth is
the only thing that can set people free All I can do then is tell
the truth Are you hearing what I'm saying? Didn't see this is
how you know, the false church does not believe this thing because
if they believed it They would tell it If they believe that
Christ can actually set the captives free, they would tell the truth. They would call sin, sin and
unrighteousness, unrighteousness and wickedness, wickedness from
the highest courts to the lowest courts. And they would stand
on the truth and wait for God to show up and defend his own
word if they believed it. if they believed it. See, when
you signed up with Christ, I don't know if you knew this, but you
signed up to be part of an army. Are you hearing me? You signed
up to be part of the Lord's army. Now, if you're too scared to
fight, pray! But let me help you if that word fight gives
you the heebie-jeebies. If you're praying right, you're
fighting. Are you hearing me? So you're
stuck anyway. So you can stay back with the
stuff and pray while some of us go fight. Because the cause
of the gospel is to preach this message to the whole world as
a witness. Then shall the end come. Are
you hearing me? Our Lord in his interest of eternity
bound souls at that hour was very much concerned with what
would transpire in the transition point. So we'll close out our
message with what he says in verse 34 and 35. Oh Jerusalem,
Jerusalem which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent
unto thee. How often would I have gathered
your children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her
wings and you would not. Verse 34 is weeping, weeping,
weeping, weeping. Luke takes this one verse out
of a whole section of scripture in Matthew chapter 23, where
our Lord does a full development of the wickedness and evil in
Jerusalem, of which he's weeping too, because he's letting them
know, as the psalmist says, for my love, they have hated me. Are you hearing me? Watch this.
You may not believe in the doctrine total depravity. But I do. I believe that all human beings
are wicked in every fiber of their being. That there's not
a good thing in us, not a scintilla of righteousness. All of our
thoughts are vile and wicked and ungodly. that by nature if
we could get our hands around the throat of God we would choke
him to death now you don't believe that but I know it's true I know
that if God takes his hand off for you you would do it and I
would too we know because the only righteous man to walk this
earth who never did anyone any harm they killed him while they
had a drunken party raging, saying his blood be upon us while they
called out on God. And that's a typical model for
us in the present day. How hypocritical can a church
be? It can hoop and holler and shout and jump and run and play
and kill the truth at the same time. At the same time, your job and
mine is to understand that the truth must be preached. I got
brothers and sisters in captivity, in slavery, in bondage, in sin,
in pits, in jins and snares and traps, laid low by the devil,
by this world system, by their own nature, trapped. You do too,
unless you're careless. And I think about them every
day, every day. I think about the pit that they
are digging deeper for themselves, going to hell. And I think how
the government and our secular system and the media is taking
the shovel and dirt and throwing it into the pit, covering them
up with lies. Every day, I think about how
they medicate themselves and inebriate themselves. Medicaid
and inebriate themselves not just on alcohol and wine and
drugs to kill the pain But on bad doctrine bad teaching bad
philosophy humanism era They're going to hell and the only remedy
is the truth and You don't hear people preaching the truth. You
hear people playing church and giving you niceties. You don't
hear people talking to you appealing to your soul and to get right
with God. Bail the need of Christ. Be honest
with God. You're lost. You need him. Not tomorrow, today. We need
him. See, we're not being, see, we're
not being right. Our master said to Herod, man,
I'm going straight to ground zero. Because ground zero is
where I will deal with your hatred towards me. my love towards sinners. And I'm not gonna let you cause
me to deviate from my course because my love for sinners is
greater than your hatred for me. Are you hearing me? I know what will happen when
I lay down my life. When I lay down my life I will
put away the sins of my people. I will establish a perfect righteousness. I will satisfy the justice of
a holy God. I will cause my father to be
pleased, well pleased with my righteousness. I will project
by that one act on that one day for 2,000 years to come the salvation
of men and women from every nation, kindred, tribe, and term. I will send the Holy Ghost. and
he will raise up a people who will be willing to die for sinners
to come to Christ here and there and everywhere. And I will build
a glorious church which I will wash in my own blood and fill
with my own spirit and present them before my presence without
spot and without blemish. And there's a day when the whole
universe will understand why God did what God did. He'll be glorified, and the saints
will be happy that we were willing to tell the truth to the world
no matter what happened. Amen. Amen.