A Rock Solid Home

Temple Baptist Church - 4-27-2016

Luke 6:46-49

Introduction: 

A.  We teach our children the little song about the wise man building his house upon a rock and the foolish man building his house upon the sand.  The storms came alike to both with the wise man’s house standing fast and the foolish man’s house falling flat.  I fear that we too often sing a lot of songs that are nothing more than just songs to us.  Their meaning is clear but lost as they fall upon unhearing ears.

B.  The application of these verses that we read concern our building of our homes upon the Word of God.  The houses were built alike, the storms and rain were the same.  Only the foundation was different and made all of the difference.  The Bible speaks about the foundations being destroyed and asks the question, “What can the righteous do?”

C.  A house is no better than its foundation!  On September 19, 1985 at 7:17 AM, an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.1 hit Mexico City. 

1.  Of a population of 18 million, an estimated 10,000 people were killed, and 50,000 were injured. In addition, 250,000 people lost their homes, and property damage amounted to $5 billion. Over 800 buildings crumbled, including hotels, hospitals, schools, and businesses.

2.  Mexico City sits on top of a dried up lake bed which made the ground softer which caused the massive destruction. The expansion of the capitol (Mexico City) and the gradual draining of the lake left the world's largest population center located largely on unconsolidated lake-bed sediments. These soft sedimentary clay deposits amplified the seismic waves. 

3.  The earthquake did tremendous damage because of the inadequate foundations of the buildings.  Many lives may have been saved if proper precautions had been taken when the construction of these buildings took place.  Many times foresight is short while hindsight is 20/20.  No one ever thought that an earthquake would devastate Mexico City. 

D.  In building our homes today, we need to realize some things.

1.  We need to realize that storms will come.  (It rains on the just and the unjust)

2.  We need to realize that our homes will either stand or fall depending upon the foundation.

3.  We need to realize that the Bible has instructed us in the building of our home.

4.  We need to realize what it takes to build a home that will stand.

a)  Building A Home Takes Want – “cometh to me”

b)  Building A Home Takes Wisdom – “heareth my sayings”

c)  Building A Home Takes Willingness – “doeth them”

d)  Building A Home Takes Work – “digged deep”

E.  In the average home today there is:

1.  More fighting than praying

            2.  More Worldly exposure than Scripture

            3.  More Sin than Godliness

            4.  More Strife than Love

            5.  More Excuses than Obedience

            6.  More Complaints than Praises

F.  What does a home need in order to stand!  I want to look at our verses and reverse them for a few minutes.

1.  The Wreck! 

a.  The Wise Man Vs. The Foolish Man!  The mindset that we go into marriages is of great importance and helps greatly in holding the home together.  All marriages have “issues” at times that need to be dealt with and worked out.  One of the reasons that many of our older men and women endured was because they went into the marriage to “tough it out.”

b.  The Wonderful Home Vs. The Wrecked Home.  There is nothing any greater that a wonderful home where the peace of God rules!  A sanctuary to which we can flee from the wickedness, confusion, and turmoil of this present evil world.  There is nothing any more heartbreaking than a wrecked home where there is no peace, trust, or security.

c.  The storms came to both; the rains fell upon both; the flood waters beat vehemently upon both.  I mentioned this earlier but we need to understand that our homes are under constant satanic attack.  Also, we need to understand that two become one and there is a possibility of that one becoming two again.  When one person wants to make a marriage work and the other does not, it may fail.  One home stood while the other fell flat. 

2.  The Word!  In our story, we find two foundations upon which to build our homes.  Rock and Sand! 

a.  God made the marriage to work, not wreck!  His intention was one man, one woman, for one lifetime and gave the guidelines beginning in Genesis 3. 

b.  With the Word of God or Without the Word of God!  If God owns marriage, and He does, then God knows how to make that marriage work.  Each of us have a choice this morning.  We can either obey the Word of God or we can ignore it.  I will take a look at this in a few minutes.

3.  The Work!  The Work was different: one “digged deep” while the other actually laid no foundation at all. 

a.  I believe that each of these two homes were probably constructed of the same material, the same hope, but a different effort that brought about a different end result.

b.  One put as much effort into the foundation as he did the actual structure of the house.  No matter how fine and fancy the house built, if the foundation cracks, the home falls.  One put little or no effort into the foundation but probably as much work into the structure as the other.  It takes both the husband and the wife to make that home work and, if one gives up, then the home will fail regardless of how much the other wants it to work.

4.  The Wisdom!  The Wisdom of building the home upon the right foundation is one of personal choice. 

a.  It must be founded upon the Bible or it may perish.  At this point, let me say that I know of unsaved people who have built their homes outside of the parameters set forth in the Bible and those homes have endured but, in our day, there are more wrecked homes than wonderful ones.

b.  A home MUST be Biblically structured by both the husband and the wife.  I have seen homes fail when the wife wanted the home to be right and the husband did not.  I have seen homes fail when the husband wanted the home to be right and the wife did not.

5.  The Warning!  “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:”

Conclusion:  In order to make a home work, there must be:

a.  An Authoritative Principle: the King James Bible.

b.  An Abiding Presence: the Lord Jesus Christ.

c.  An Atmosphere of Peace: a mutual love and respect.

d.  An Abundance of Prayer: the house that prays together stays together.

e.  An Authentic Praise: the Lord Jesus Christ both glorified and magnified.

f.  An Acceptable Pattern: the order in the home must be Biblical.

Quench Not The Spirit

Temple Baptist Church - 4-27-2014

1 Thessalonians 5:19

Introduction:

A.  The Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter promised by our Lord.  Our wonderful Companion in trouble.  Our Guide in the world.  The Lover of our soul.  The Convictor of our conscience.  Our Prayer Warrior when we know not what to pray for.  What a precious Gift we received at the moment of our salvation!

B.  I fear that this precious Gift from God so often goes unnoticed.  We operate all day without seeking His will for our lives.  We too often spend our days with Him in total silence.  I am trying to say away from having a class on Systematic Theology while preaching through the books of the Bible and the doctrine of Pneumatology—the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit—is an important one.

C.  Our Lord showed the importance of the Holy Spirit when He prophesied of His coming.

John 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  (Our Lord always told the truth because He is the Truth so, for Him to preface what was to follow by saying, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth,” it would do us well to take special notice of what He was going to say.)

D.  The disciples were devastated because the Lord was going to leave them but Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go away.”  Expedient? This is a strong word as it means immediately advantageous.  The best thing that could happen to the disciples was for the Lord to go away so that the Holy Spirit of God could come.  Does this verse not show us the importance of the Holy Ghost living in the believer?

E.  Not only is the Holy Ghost a wonderful Gift given to us by God, He is also a Person and One of the great Three in One. 

1.  He can be Resisted.  Acts 7:51  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

2.  He can be Grieved.  Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

3.  He can be Quenched.  1 Thessalonians 5:19  Quench not the Spirit.

F.  Quench defined – to put out a light or to put out a fire, to dampen. 

G.  Most Christians do not just pour water on the Holy Spirit to “quench” Him because, if they are saved, they love Him!  We would not just get up in the morning and say, “I believe that I will resist, grieve, or quench my precious Companion.   They just “dampen” Him!  Let me explain:

1.  People do not normally like to be either too hot or too cold, they like to be comfortably warm.  In our modern day of convenience, we simple go to the thermostat in the house and change the temperature to a more suitable one.  Our comfort zone often changes with our circumstances and with age.  Older people are not so! 

2.  In church, for example, I often see people shivering in the “cold” or fanning in the “heat.”  The problem is their body, not the thermostat. 

a)  In reality, the thermostat never varies that much in church.  We leave the heat and cooling set at a certain temperature year around.  Young people in the church pay no attention to the temperature.  They do not shiver and they do not fan, they just acclimate. 

b)  Now, a message to you older folks: we keep the thermostat setting on a certain degree.  As people come in, on average, each person here will put out 500 BTUs of heat.  It does not take long until we have a furnace going in church, even in the summer time.  Now, here is what older people do: if they are too hot or too cold, they go to the thermostat (or suggest that the pastor go to the thermostat) and turn it up or down.  If too hot, turn it down—too cold, turn it up.

c)  Learn to be a little uncomfortable and the “rule of thumb” is that, if you are cold, you can put on more clothes or bring a blanket!  There is just a certain amount of clothes that others can take off!!!

3.  People, when too hot, do not go to the thermostat and turn it down 50+ degrees!  People who are too cold do not turn it up 50+ degrees.  They normally turn the thermostat a couple of degrees one way or another.  I use a wood stove and simple close or open the damper a little to adjust the amount of heat in the house, not pour water on the fire.  

4.  Now, let me make some spiritual applications. With God, our spiritual temperature needs to be consistent!  When we are young in the Lord, as the young people in the church are young in age, we tend to be remain comfortable at the same temperature and our lives acclimate spiritually.  Unfortunately, as we get older, we want to adjust the temperature to our bodies and not acclimate to the consistent temperature that God wants us to operate at.

H.  The Person and work of the Holy Spirit are often typified by fire in the Bible. 

Revelation 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Acts 2:3-4  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  (4)  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

I.  When we “quench” the Holy Spirit, we turn our spiritual thermostat down a degree or two, not just pour water upon Him.  We use such phrases as “getting used to the dark” to show the gradualness of our spiritual decline.

1.  We Quench the Holy Spirit when we begin to spiritually starve ourselves.   

a.  Though the Bible should be as much a part of our day as our “necessary food,” too often we neglect our spiritual life by leaving the Bible untouched.

b.  We get caught up in a vicious cycle.  The cooler that we become spiritually, the less time that we spend in the Bible!  The less time that we spend in the Bible, the cooler that we become. 

c.  If our home gets too hot, I put less or withhold wood completely.  The fire will gradually die down.  If we go away for a few days, I fell the stove, adjust the damper, and let it slowly burn out.  When we get home, I will open it up and stir the ashes to see if there are any hot coals left.

Psalms 119:10-11  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.  (11)  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

2.  We Quench the Holy Spirit when we fail to heed His warning. 

a.  We turn a “deaf ear” to that “still small voice” that lives within us.   The Holy Spirit is our “Stop Sign” that goes up when we approach something that we do not need to be doing.  He is not our “Yield The Right Away” sign; He is our “Stop Sign!”

b.  It is the Holy Spirit that kindles the fire of passion for God in our hearts.  As we battle this wicked flesh day by day, we often get weary of the struggle and begin to give in BUT the Holy Ghost is our spiritual checks and balances.  He strives to keep the spiritual fire burning.  We keep that spiritual fire burning by being sensitive to Him.  When the fire starts going out because we begin to throw the cold water of sin upon it, the Holy Spirit sounds the alarm. 

c.  We quench Him when we ignore Him.  The Apostle Paul ties the conscience and the Holy Ghost together.  He is not our conscience but bears witness with it. 

Romans 9:1  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.

3.  We Quench the Holy Spirit when we begin to play around with sin. 

a.  Our flesh is world conscious and our hearts deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  I think that all of us have a good handle on that truth.  We know when we are right and we know when we are wrong.  We know that we are responsible for the knowledge that we bhave and are accountable for our decision. 

James 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

b.  Paul said that nothing good dwelled in his flesh and that the war with the flesh was ever raging.  As we begin to become insensitive to the wooing of the Holy Spirit, we begin love what we do and, at that point, we begin to dampen our love toward God.

1 John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

c.  Now, we are at enmity with God and, therefore, we have quenched the Holy Spirit.

James 4:4-5  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  (5)  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

4.  We Quench the Holy Spirit when we fail to listen to God’s Word.  

a.  The final result of our quenching of the Holy Spirit is inevitable!  As we begin to cool spiritually by no longer listening to and heeding the warnings of the Holy Spirit, we tend to turn a deaf ear to the Word of God.  The reason people no longer hear the Bible is because they refuse to get right with the Lord.  Why would the child of God reject the Bible?  Let us look in the Book of Hebrews for that answer. 

Hebrews 4:12-13  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividingasunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (13)  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

b.  The Bible also refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth.  God (all three Persons) is in complete unity.  The Holy Spirit will never allow what the Bible condemns.  The Holy Spirit will never guide where the Bible does not lead. 

c.  I hear so many people say, “The Holy Ghost told me,” or “the Holy Ghost lead me to,” and then follow those words with something contrary to plain Scripture.  The Holy Ghost will never counsel, convict, allow, or lead contrary to the Bible so, when we are out of the will of God, we can either be convicted and get right or we can turn off the Word of God and continue in sin.  

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; butwhatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Filthy Dreamers

Temple Baptist Church - 4-20-2016

Jude 3-8

Introduction:

A.  I want us to stay with our context tonight because much unnecessary confusion has resulted by trying to tie a couple of these verses together and not keeping them within the context that they were written in.  The context is the exhortation to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered.

B.  The exhortation is necessary because it is imperative that we keep that which has been committed to us: the embodiment of the faith or the Word of God.  God delivered it once and will not do so again.  A price was paid to bring it to us and how can we do less than to maintain allegiance to it and defiance to those who would change it.

C.  With this in mind, I want to take a short look at the three examples that Jude mentions:

1.  The Old Testament saints who, because of unbelief, died in the wilderness.  They came out of Egypt under the leadership of God’s man then rebelled against God’s man when they came to Canaan.

2.  The angels who kept not their first estate, created in perfection and beauty as servants of God, followed the leadership of Lucifer and are now eternally damned. 

3.  The sodomites who went after strange flesh (the same sex), burning in their lust for that which God calls an abomination, and will one day suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.

D.  Though all three of these have one thing in common, one of them brought about a temporal judgement—because they were God’s people—while the other two brought about an eternal judgement because they were not God’s people.

E.  What they all three had in common is that they kept not their first estate!

1.  The first estate of the Old Testament saints: they believed God to bring them out of Egypt with an high hand, saw His miracles and opening of the Red Sea, yet believed not when they came to Canaan.  The first estate of every believer is that they believe God for salvation and His watch care in this life.

2.  The first estate of angels was their creation as ministers to a thrice holy God.  Though free moral agents (they have the ability to choose), once they sinned by rebelling against the person and authority of God, cannot repent and be saved.

3.  The first estate of all sodomites is that they are born heterosexual but, because of their sexual perversion, become sodomites which is against nature or that which is natural. (Romans 1:26-27)

F.  The reason that I want to take a little time here is because of the “Angel Theory” that has been interjected into the equation by ignorant theologians.  In order to create their theory, they had to tie verses 6-7 together while ignoring the context.  The “Angel Theory” takes us back to Genesis chapter 6 where the “sons of God” cohabitated with the “daughters of men” and brought about the judgement of the flood upon the world.  Who were the sons of God?  If you once again ignore the context, you can come up with the pretext that they were angels but you do a great injustice to our command to study and rightly divide the word of truth.

1.  The theory states that the “sons of God” were fallen angels who lusted after and took the “daughters of men.”  Their theoretical reasoning is flawed in several places.  I do not want to do an in-depth study on Angelology so I will just bring forth a few points that disprove their theory.

2.  The Angel Theory advocates ignore the context set forth in Jude and also the context of Genesis chapters 4-6.  Anytime you take verses out of context, they become a pretext: a ploy or ruse. 

a)  Genesis 4:17-24 begins the context with the ungodly lineage of Cain and continues with the godly lineage of Seth found in Genesis 4:24-5:32. Genesis, chapter 6, begins with the word “And” which is a continuation of the context. 

b)  The Bible further elaborates on the context in Genesis 6:8-9 which begins with the word “But” which draws a contrast.  The contrast was not between Noah and angels.  It was a contrast between Noah and the rest of the Messianic line of Seth, the sons of God.  Genesis 6:9 says, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”  Noah was saved—a just man—separated—perfect in his generations—and obedient—and Noah walked with God. 

c)  The context begins in Genesis 4 and continues through chapter 6.  The context is all about genealogy, not angels.  As a matter of fact, no angels are mentioned prior to or after the context!  Thus, the Context Mention of Bible Interpretation is completely ignored by the Angel Theory.

d)  Though angels often take on the form of man, the Bible is clear that they are created beings with no power to procreate. 

Matthew 22:30 says, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”  (Angels in heaven are the same as those who walk on earth!  They are neither male nor female and their number remains constant because they do not bring forth after their kind through reproduction.)

e)  Their children would have had to be half angel and half man.  There is no such creature on this earth!

f)  Genesis, chapter 6, explicitly says that the judgment of the flood was because of the wickedness of man, not angels! 

Genesis 6:3-9  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  (4)  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  (5)  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (6)  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.  (7)  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.  (8)  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.  (9)  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

g)  In the study of the Bible, the first and last mentions of any subject are always consistent.  The last mention of “sons of God” is found in the Book of First John:

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  (This last use of the phrase is completely consistent with the context of the first mention.  The Bible is always consistent and any confusion lies in the misinterpretation of the subject.)

3.  The Angel Theory advocates ignore the continuity of the verses in both Genesis and Jude.

a)  The central theme of verses 3 and following is the exhortation of contending for the faith—and also sets forth the enemies of our faith along with their judgment.

b)  Verse 4 begins with “For,” verse 6 begins with “And,” verse 7 begins with “Even,” and verse 8 begins with “Likewise.”  This means that the central theme set forth in verse 3 has not changed.

c)  Jude began this discourse about these who have “crept in unawares” and gives their characteristics with these Biblical examples.

G.  Now, let us look at verse 8.  Here in lies both the characteristics and motivations for these heretical “creepers” called filthy dreamers.  Dreams are figments or fruits of imagination.  Dreams can be either conscious or sub-conscious.  Subconscious dreams are what we do when we sleep and are something that we are not able to control but conscious dreams are imaginations that we create.  We are commanded to capture or control such imaginations. 

2 Corinthians 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  (A right perspective or knowledge of God comes through divine revelation.  Though God is revealed through nature as the Creator, He is made visible through the Scriptures.  The enemies of Christ consciously twist the Scriptures in order to twist man’s perspective of who and what God is.)

H.  Now, what does all of this have to do with the church?  What does all of this have to do with you and me personally?  I believe that it is prophetic of the end times and the progressive encroachment of the ungodly upon the local church and the individual believer.

1.  We are seeing the horrific decline in spirituality in both individuals and churches!  Why?  Vs. 5!  “having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

a.   Both people and churches are dying in the wilderness because of their unwillingness to contend. Because no one seems interested in contending for the faith!  There is a cost that goes along with such contending.  You are labeled fanatical, narrow minded, ignorant and unlearned.  This is an age old problem for the church but it is becoming a greater point of separation in our days.

b.  Denominations that once stood for something, though they may have had some doctrinal problems, now stand for nothing.  Their people have “gotten used to the dark” and now sit complacently sleeping.  They refuse to awaken because to do so will cost them something.

c.  They are missing a blessing!

Luke 6:22-23  Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shallreproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.  (23)  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.  (As persecution once drew the local churches together, in our day, there is a separating within the churches.  No one seemingly wants the Old Paths wherein lies the good way because it separates one from other churches; no one wants to be separate from worldliness because it separates one from family and friends; no one wants to be separate because there is a cost attached.)

2.  Our nation and the world is truly becoming Sodom and Gomorrah!  Why?  Vs. 7!  “giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh”

a.  These filthy dreamers defile the flesh.  These “creepers” appeal to the flesh through emotions, thus creating an atmosphere that is fleshly and worldly.  Everything today is about emotion and feeling good.  Churches now are more concerned with feeding flesh than they are feeding the spirit.  Feeding the flesh is a dangerous thing.  The Bible commands us to control the flesh, not “let it go.”

Galatians 5:16-21  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  (17)  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  (18)  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  (19)  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  (20)  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  (21)  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

b.  What is the end result of this turning away from God?  Sodomy!  The sodomite, when out of the closet, becomes fertile ground for a reprobate mind which cannot be saved.

Romans 1:26-28  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:  (27)  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.  (28)  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (The sodomite agenda, and it is an agenda, is growing progressively more powerful.  They do not want rights, they want compliance!  Now churches are becoming sodomy tolerant and the people in the churches are afraid to raise their voices against it.  Churches no longer preach on the subject because of fear of reprisal or loss of their Non-Profit Tax status.)

Romans 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

3.  Prophetically, we know where everything is heading.  Vs. 6! “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation”

a.  What was the sin of these angels?  They were created beings for the service of God.  They were created in a perfect environment.  The stood before Almighty Jehovah and despised Him be following Lucifer in his rebellion! They despised dominion!    They hated a Theocracy! 

Isaiah 14:12-15  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  (13)  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:  (14)  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  (15)  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

b.  The world hates the thought of an impending Theocracy!  Total rule by God!  They despise dominions.  People today want to rule themselves but, in striving to do so, are submitting to Satan and his rebellion against the Lord.  You will either serve God or you will serve Satan, there is no middle ground. 

1 Samuel 15:22-23  And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  (23)  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (Dominion means government or authority.  If these “creepers” can get men to think that the Bible is flawed—errant or fallible—then Biblical authority is gone.  With no standard of right and wrong, men then follow their own desires.)

c.  The Theocracy is coming!  It is coming and I long for that day when the wicked are no longer in authority.

4.  These filthy dreamers speak evil of dignities. 

a.  When self-respect wanes, respect for others dies with it.  As God’s people, we are commanded to pray for those in authority!  They may not be right with God or even right with man, but God can still make a difference through prayer.

b.  Whoever or whatever stands in the way of the wicked is despised and evil spoken of.

Conclusion: 

a.  When God is no longer King, things “go south” in a hurry.  Judges 21:25  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

b.  The Cause and Effect: when God’s people fail to keep their first estate, it opens the door for the enemies of God and the Bible to destroy the foundations of our faith.

c.  Let us be contenders of the faith once delivered.