Phil: You know, one of the ideas you will run into in many places: people will recognize the condition of Christendom and how, you know, how divided, and how much error there is, and all the bad stuff, bad things you can say about it. They say, But don’t worry. Great things are coming. Revival is coming. The church is gonna wind up triumphant. We’re gonna take over the world. We’re gonna change everything. We’re gonna fix this world and change it into the kingdom of God.
I don’t find that in my Bible. Yeah, I mean, that’s their concept of a triumphant church. We’re not gonna go out with our tail between our legs as though God just tried to convince everybody and failed to do it, and so gonna take a handful and leave. No, there is a triumph that is not defined the way we tend to define it.
You know, another doctrine that we used to be exposed to many, many years ago now is that manifested son doctrine, that God has a special company of people, and they’re gonna pass over into immortality, and they’re gonna go out like Jesus did, only better, I guess. They’re gonna empty hospitals and graveyards. They’re gonna just change the world. Take it over. Anything short of that, we’re a bunch of losers.
Do you think God’s gonna go out a loser? Do you think Noah was a loser because there were only eight of them? Was that a defeat or do we need to understand victory in a different way? Was he triumphant? Yes, he was for his own salvation and the salvation of his family.
You know, God has a family today, doesn’t He? And I’ll tell you, it got down to such simple, simple terms that all God was looking for from Noah was to hear His voice receive the appropriate instructions for what was going on, to do it, and then God did His part. And God rescued them, even though everybody else thought they were crazy, undoubtedly. Got to the point where they ignored them to the point where when it happened, What’s going on? I don’t get this. I don’t even know what’s going on.
The blindness of the world. Folks, we are going to reach that place where God’s people will be few relative to the world’s population. They are now, but I mean, we’re gonna see it. We’re gonna find out God’s gonna create circumstances that will make manifest whose heart really has eyes and ears and who’s really embraced His hope from the heart.
It’s obvious that Noah did because nothing stopped him. He didn’t allow the unbelief of the world and what were the conditions to change his course whatsoever. And you know, I’ll drop this in. Do you imagine the devil probably talked to him a bit? Did the Lord constantly whisper in his ear, Don’t worry. I’ve told you what to do.
You know. You know, the devil’s a chatter box. Anybody ever noticed that? If he starts working, he’ll chatter something over, and over, and over, and over again hoping it’ll make a difference. God only has to speak. And if we will listen to what He says, it will make all the difference.
I’ve told you about this in the past, but it came back to my mind, and it was John, the testimony of I believe John Bunyan, my memory serves. I don’t know how well it serves all the time, but anyway. John Bunyan had a difficult, challenging time coming to faith. I could see God’s wisdom in allowing him to go through that because him having experienced that, enabled him to help us and to help others. You know, we have to go through things to be able to help people.
So here he was trying to come to faith and just listening to God and just wanting God, And yet the devil was just beating him up about all that was wrong with him and trying to do everything he could think of to take away his hope. And he would go days just fighting off that voice that would just ring in his ears. And then somewhere along the line, God would speak sometimes three, or four, or five words, and it was God, and he knew it. And those words would drop into his heart, and it would just blast away that darkness. And he would latch onto it.
And then he would go through another season. And this went on and on until there came a time when he just understood, and he let go, and he let God do the saving. But I mean, what a pattern that is. God doesn’t have to chatter in our ear. What we need to do is hear His voice and then stand on what He has said. That’s what faith does.
And can you not see that in Noah and his generation? There was something in him that just was fixed. He knew who God was. He knew that the only course that he could live was to do what God said, and simply he just did it, and God allowed him to share that with his family.
But, you know, there were other family members that didn’t partake of this. Now, you could say they were too old. I don’t know. But I’ve often wondered why his father and grandfather were not part of this at all. You would think they would at least be encouraging him, and saying, Yeah, you’re doing the right thing. They’re out of the picture.
Folks, we’re gonna have family members and loved ones that we’re gonna have to just put in God’s hands. You know, peace on Earth, goodwill toward men. Well, there’s peace on Earth to men of goodwill. Men who humble themselves to God. But Jesus said, I didn’t come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword. And a sword sometimes divides families. Don’t worry, God’s gonna save everyone of His, and we need to pray for people. But at the same time, don’t base your hope or your anything on anything except you serving God, and trusting Him, and knowing that he’s gonna save His.
I wonder what, you know, where Lamech was in this, his father. I believe if you calculate it out, he died a couple of years or so before the flood. Methuselah, his grandfather, died the year of the flood. So I mean, they were there basically for the whole time that Noah and his family were building the ark and preparing. It doesn’t say a thing about them. They weren’t involved. I wonder why? It seemed like they just got swallowed up by the world too. But his family listened.
And you know, we see the simplicity of them doing what God said, but I see a people that simply, God told them what to do, and they did it, but they did it together. You imagine they probably had a few words every now and then, a few conflicts, but they were human. But the bottom line was they had to work together to carry out God’s instructions, and it was everything that they needed for their complete deliverance.
And I believe with all my heart that God has a plan. He knows exactly what season is coming. He knows whether the power is gonna be on or off. Knows everything. He knows how to bring us through. I think some of this shaking up is maybe Him trying to speak to somebody. God has so many different ways of speaking. But oh, I just wanna be one that hears, and I wanna be among a people that hear.
I don’t know who all is gonna stand on that day. We’re certainly not gonna stand on our own strength. The ones who stand will be the ones who submit and say, yes, to Jesus. And they’ve put all of their hope in what God has promised. And even when the world is saying no, and we almost feel like we’re a little crazy bunch of people on the sidelines out of fellowship with a whole rest of the world, God’s gonna give us His strength and His peace, and He’s not gonna have to chatter in our ears all the time for us to have the faith to stand.
And I’ll tell you, that’s what triumph is. God is not gonna show what He has done in His people until that day when we stand in glory. You know, I’ve used this illustration in the past, but you think about an artist, it could be a painter, it could be a sculptor, but most of the time you will have an artist who wants to hide whatever they’re doing until it’s time to unveil it, okay? They don’t unveil it until it’s finished. They don’t want anybody to see it until it’s done.
Well, do you see a parallel going on here? Do you see how the Lord is doing a work that’s hidden in the heart? Jesus said the kingdom of God is not something outward. The kingdom of God is something that’s inward. And right now it’s hidden in our flesh, but there’s something going on in there.
You remember how Paul talked about how the outward man was perishing? What else was going on? The inward man was being renewed day by day, and so what did he focus his attention on? Oh, the outward man. No, it was all about what was going on on the inside. And he saw that God was using even the stuff on the outside to change the inside because that was the part that was gonna live.
God’s concerned about the tent as long as we need it. Remember what the tent is? Yeah, I’m glad because my tent’s getting a little frayed here and there, but God is gonna take care of our tent to the extent that we need it, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the one who lives in that tent because one day, one day the veil will be pulled back. It’s not like God’s gonna suddenly, we’re gonna burst on the scene, and take over the world, and change it. God’s gonna take us out of this world. Judge it. Fire will fall and burn up everything left behind. That’s what the word clearly teaches when Jesus comes.
But He is going to take us, and when He does, what happens to these bodies? What happens t,o what happens to our bodies for those that are still here? What does He say? They’re changed. How long does that take? A moment. In a quick twinkling of an eye. There’s going to be a moment in time when everything that is of this Earth will absolutely dissolve and be gone, and we will have brand new bodies.
And Jesus said in one of His parables that after the separation takes place, then the, His people would shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Basically what the Lord is gonna be doing is unveiling what He’s been doing and showing everybody that said, No, this is what I’ve been doing. This is what it’s been all about, and there’s nothing left for the others.
I’ll tell you this, it’s a serious time. So it’s a time of warning. It’s a time when people need to make up their mind, either I’m gonna serve God 100% or I’m not. And you think about people that God speaks to like the rich young ruler, what was his problem? He was trying to serve God in money. Jesus said, You can’t do that. His god was his wealth, and that was more important to him than eternal life.
Folks, there is nothing, zero, nada, whatever, there’s nothing more important than knowing Him and having eternal life. Praise God that all the promises that He has for His people, what He has to bring us through the power, the promises that we have. We’re gonna go through times when the devil’s gonna be screaming in our ear, but how do we overcome him? The blood of the lamb. We can always point back to that. But the other thing is the word of our testimony.
What did Jesus do when the devil spoke to Him? Yeah, He spoke back, and He said, This is what I’m going by. Do you think He necessarily had a feeling when He did that or did He just by faith say, This is my conviction. God has put this word in my heart. It’s the conviction that I live by. I don’t care what you say, devil. I don’t care if I feel it or don’t feel it. It’s true. God spoke this into my heart. It’s living in there and I will stand upon that, period, come hell or high water.
The testimony, the word of our testimony, yeah, testimony is something that comes out to here. It’s the conviction that is spoken. And that’s pretty central to salvation, isn’t it? It’s got to be a conviction of the heart. And then there’s a confession that’s made into salvation even.
But oh, I’ll tell you what, and they love not their lives so much as to shrink from death. There’s nothing that we cling to here that we just won’t refuse to let go of. And I’ll tell you, I believe God is gonna be with His people, but I wanna have a heart. I wanna have a heart that listens. The deepest conviction, the deepest need of my heart, is for my need of God to speak.
You know, for some people it’s just correct theology. If I can just get all my doctrines all lined up exactly so that I’m good. And there are so many people in seminaries or cemeteries, whichever they are, who think that’s where it’s at. Jesus said to one group of people, You study the word, but you think that in that you study the scriptures. In them, you think you have eternal life, but you won’t come to me that you might have life. The scriptures talk about me and you won’t come to me. See, there was a perfect example of people that didn’t know what the Old Testament even was about. It was all meant to point to Christ and the real kingdom.
But I’ll tell you, God is looking for a people right now whose hearts are toward Him. And like I say, sometimes we go through times when we’re, you know, the feelings aren’t there. I remember David in one place says, Remember, oh Lord, the word upon which you’ve caused my spirit to hope. I’m quoting it, roughly. But you remember that? How many times he goes to the word? And there were times when he didn’t feel it, but he kept on looking to the word, looking to God’s promise.
God is gonna have a people who walk together. The family built the ark together, didn’t they? There was a sense of community. There was a sense of common purpose. God has told us what to do and we’re gonna do it. I don’t know specifically what God is gonna do here. He hasn’t laid out a plan and said, Here’s the five-year plan. Just follow it. He has put us in a place where every day we’re just gonna have to say, Lord, lead us.
Has He not promised to be in the midst of those that He brings together? That’s His promise, and I’m believing it. There are many times I don’t feel it, but I know He’s faithful to keep His word. Praise God! He is faithful to keep His promise.
And I wanna be one of those that simply says, God, show us today what to do and give us the faith to do it. Because faith is not just saying, Yes, I believe it, Lord. Noah could have said, Yeah, I believe all that, and gone about his life, but God gave him specific instructions. Do you believe God can give us instructions according to what we need in any given instance? I wanna stay tuned.
I’ve said this in the past, I want a hearing ear. I want a heart that is so committed to listening to Him and following Him that He can tell us what to do. Oh, tradition will not help us. Churchianity will not help us. Form will not help us. We need Jesus in the midst. How many times we pointed out the problem with the Laodicean church. There wasn’t anything he could really negatively say about them other than they were lukewarm, but the problem was Jesus was not running the program.
They weren’t just coming in with this sense, Lord, we don’t know what to do, but we do know that you do, and we’re looking to you, and we’re trusting in you. We’re praising you. And when the devil says otherwise, I don’t care what he says, I know what you said. I don’t care if I feel it right now. I know that you’re real, and I’m trusting in you. And I’ll tell you, God brought that family through, did He not? Did not God do His part?
[Congregation member] Yes, he did.
That same God is with us today. Jesus said it was gonna be like it was in that day. So don’t get dismayed when you read the news and you see where people are going. You see the crazy stuff they believe. The stuff they stand for and absolutely convinced. Did not God warn us through the apostle that there was gonna come a time when because people would not receive the truth, what happened? God sent strong delusion. A powerful delusion. What’s a delusion? A delusion is a conviction about something that just doesn’t happen to be true. We’ve got a world full of people that are more and more falling under that delusion.
And of course in the process we can pray, God, bring, fulfill, your word. You’ve said You’re not gonna lose any. And I pray that You will bring to the faith in Jesus Christ and the fellowship with God’s people everyone that You know has a heart toward You.
Oh, I’ll tell you, if you have the least bit of a heart toward Him, you nurture that, you look to Him, you seek Him. He will not turn you away. He is faithful to everyone that calls upon Him. God’s not looking for an excuse to get rid of people. If He were, He’d have gotten rid of me a long time ago. And every one of you too because we’re just human, aren’t we? That’s why we need a savior. But oh, He is a savior that able to save to the uttermost those that come to God. Those that call upon God and come to Him by Christ.
I just praise Him this morning. I don’t know. Like I say, I had two senses out of this division that you can see there, and the sense that we have eyes and ears in our heart. That number one, we need to understand the world. Number two, there may be that person who hasn’t quite come through yet. You don’t understand some of this. God wants you to. You have every right to call upon God from your heart and ask Him, and we can pray that anybody who’s in that position, God will give them an understanding that they can come to true faith, and rest in Jesus Christ, and know that they’re His. Praise God!
God’s bringing people in. The door’s not quite shut, but it’s getting there. We’re seeing where we’re headed. But for all of us, God wants His people to be encouraged and to realize where we’re at, to walk together, to seek His face, to do what He says when He says something to do.
And God is gonna bring us safely through. That’s what triumph is. Triumph is standing fast in the darkness. Jesus said those who endure to the end will be saved. That’s what God is looking for. And I’ll tell you, there’s something happening. When we have to stand in that kind of environment, and trust God, and let God fight our battles, and work in our hearts, and change us, that’s victory. That’s triumph. That’s what God is after, is changing and building a family that’s gonna live with Him forever.
So in one sense, I don’t think there’s anything new here, but I pray that whichever category you’re in, if you’re one of God’s people, let God encourage you. Don’t live by your feelings. We all do. We all fight those battles. Live by what God has made real in your heart and believe it in the darkest moment of your life, and God will give you the strength to stand, and something will happen to you. And who knows, God may be putting you through that because the day will come when you’re gonna be the one that He can use to help somebody else who’s in the same boat. Praise God!
Doesn’t God know what He’s doing? He’s pretty smart, isn’t He? He knows exactly how to bring His people through. But I wanna be that kind of a triumphant church that simply stands in the hour of darkness. Was it defeat when the devil was allowed to kill the Lord? Was that defeat? It looked like it. He said, This is your hour when darkness reigns, and He surrendered to that, but yet God used it to bring eternal salvation to us.
There’s another hour coming when darkness reigns, but the same God will bring His people through. There’s not one thing that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I don’t care what it is. Well, we’re gonna have to lean on those scriptures, not just the scriptures that we can read, but the ones that God has spoken to our hearts at one time or another. We’re gonna have to go back to that and say, It is written. God made this real. God spoke this to my heart.
So I pray that God’s people will be encouraged, and enlightened, and have a sense of, we need to be walking together. We need to be allowing God to change us to the point where we are absolutely aligned with Him and with one another. And God’s gonna bring his people through, isn’t He? So to Him be the glory. Praise God!
