Scoffing at the Truth, Part 2

And if you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. If you're visiting with us, we're glad that you're here. We've been making our way rather briskly through the gospel of Luke over the last six or seven years. And so hopefully we're not going too slow for you, but we're trying to get through this gospel that we might understand more about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Luke 16 verses 14 to 18 become a very pivotal passage of scripture for us to understand as we begin to realize why people scoff at the truth.

Let me read to you the text, and then we'll spend some time talking about it this morning. It says, Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at him. He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. At first glance you would think that this is a bunch of things just kind of a hodgepodge of words put together, but our Lord never says anything without purpose and without meaning.

And so how he says it is so unique, and how he phrases it is so important, and how he puts it all together is crucial for us to to understand, because we need to know why people scoff at the truth. And you'd think that the religious people of Israel would be the ones who wouldn't do that, but on the contrary they were the ones who mocked and scoffed at the words of Jesus Christ our Lord. They were the ones who claimed to be the true worshipers of God. If you are a Pharisee in the days of Jesus, you were the one who looked like a worshiper of God.

And everybody who saw you would think that you were a true worshiper, and Jesus comes and in John chapter 4 says, I've come to seek true worshipers, those who worship me in spirit and those who worship me in truth, and they would be the ones who said that's us. We do that, and yet they were the ones, the Pharisees, who spoke out the loudest against the Christ. They were the religious people, and the Lord is looking for true worshipers. The reason he saves you is so that you'll worship him in spirit and truth, because that's what you're going to do forever in eternity, right?

You're going to worship the Lord. Read Revelation 4, Revelation 5. It's all about the worship of God in heaven. So God saves you that you might worship him forever, and yet the Pharisees, the scribes, the rabbis, the lawyers, the teachers, the religious people of Israel were the ones who worshiped God falsely, and yet convinced everybody that it was true worship. Jesus comes on the scene and says, no, you are all sons of hell, and you make all of your proselytes, your converts twice the sons of hell that you are.

That's in Matthew chapter 23, and that was an indictment against them, and they were so angry with Christ they would mock and scoff him so much that it would lead them to a place where they wanted him dead, and they ended up crucifying him, all according to the plan of God, of course, but they crucified their own Messiah. But this is the way Israel always was. It wasn't just when Jesus arrived. Jesus would say these words. Remember we covered it in Luke chapter 13. He said these words in those two infamous verses, verses 34 and 35.

He said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I would have gathered you together, but you were unwilling to come, and that was the placard that could be placed outside of Israel even today. Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. False religion has always been the greatest mocker of Christianity. False religion has always been the greatest scoffer of true believers, and false religion scoffs at the words of Christ.

Way back in the book of First Kings, there's a story, I'm sorry, Second Kings, about Elisha. It reads as follows, Second Kings chapter two, verse number 23.

Then he went up from there to Bethel. Bethel is the house of God, and as he was going up, by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him, and said to him, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. If you have a bald head this morning, this is no indictment against you. In fact, you can take great comfort in what happens next. When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up 42 lads of their number.

I guess there were some 42 different young men who came out to mock Elisha, Elisha. And Elisha would turn to them and curse them, and two female bears would have their dinner that day. Their mocking became their mauling. They were mauled by those female bears. But people have always cursed the trueness of the words of Christ in those who speak the words of Christ. It was Jeremiah the prophet who said these words in Jeremiah chapter 20. I have become a laughingstock all day long. Everyone mocks me.

For each time I speak, I cry aloud. I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. I can't go throughout the day without people mocking me. I can't go throughout the day without someone deriding me. It's all day. And then he says, but if I say I will not remember him or speak anymore in his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.

What am I going to do? I have the word of the Lord. It's inside me. I must get it out. If I get it out, they're going to mock me. If I keep it in, it burns within my soul. Jeremiah finds himself in this great paradox. What do I do? Do I speak it, or do I not speak it? If I do, I'm mocked. If I don't, it's a burning desire in my heart. I must get it out. Then he says, for I have heard the whispering of many. Terror on every side. Denounce him. Yes, let us denounce him. All my trusted friends watching for my fall say, perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him.

This is Jeremiah, the prophet of God. All my trusted friends have turned against me. They're looking for my fall. They're looking for a way to prevail against me. And then he says, but the Lord is with me like a dread champion. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed because they have failed with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten. Whether it's Jeremiah, whether it's Elisha, even Isaiah 53, twice it says that the coming Messiah will be despised and rejected.

In fact, in Hebrews chapter 12, it was the fact that Christ, despising the shame, was able to endure the cross that was before him. Hebrews 11 tells us about all those heroes of faith. Others, verse 36, experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. In other words, there are those of the hall of faith not mentioned, not numbered with certain individuals that are already there, but they experienced the mockings of many, the scourging of some. But they endured them because true religion is always scoffed at by false religion.

It's always been that way. It's never changed. And so Christ comes on the scene. He's the Messiah of Israel. He speaks the truth. And what he says is completely contrary to what Israel has been taught. That's what has been ingrained in their thinking throughout all their years. And Jesus comes and says that which is the direct opposite of the religious elite. Who do you believe? Who do you believe? Who speaks the truth? The Pharisees or Jesus? It always comes down to that, right? Who speaks the truth?

Does Joseph Smith speak the truth? Or does Jesus speak the truth? Does L. Ron Hubbard in his book on Dianetics speak the truth, the founder of Scientology? Or does Jesus speak the truth? Does Muhammad speak the truth? In all the words of the Quran, are they true? Or does Jesus speak the truth? When you go to a Jewish synagogue and listen to a rabbi, does that rabbi speak the truth? When I talk to my Jewish friends in Israel, they say to me, well, our rabbi has said, I say, oh yes, I know what your rabbi has said, but what does the Lord God say?

Because Judaism is a lot like Catholicism. It's what the Pope says or what the rabbi says. So who speaks the truth? Does a Jewish rabbi speak the truth? Or did Jesus speak the truth? When you go to your Roman Catholic church, does that priest speak the truth? Or does Jesus speak the truth? You see, it all comes down to who speaks the truth, who actually is saying that which is true. When you go to your average evangelical church and that pastor stands up, is he speaking the truth of God's holy word?

For the most part, they don't, unfortunately. And the church has become less and less discerning over the years. In fact, that's the number one problem in the church, people's inability to discern between what is true and what is error, right?

So we have so many people following error. So the bottom line is, who speaks the truth? Jesus comes, He embodies truth, He is truth, He speaks truth. And yet they have listened to the Pharisees for so long, they find themselves in a quandary. And yet, and yet they couldn't understand the truth. Turn in your Bible to John chapter 3 for a moment. John chapter 3, will kind of lead us into our discussion this morning. John chapter 3. Most of us know the story of Nicodemus. He came to the Lord. He was a ruler of the Jews.

Verse 2, he said, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. I mean, we can't deny the signs. They're absolutely amazing. God must be with you. Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?

Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now remember, Christ came preaching the kingdom of God. John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, came preaching the kingdom of God. And all Jesus does is remind the rabbi, the teacher of Israel, and he is called the teacher of Israel. Christ will call him that in a moment with a definite article. So he was the man. Nicodemus was the teacher in Israel. And all Jesus does is take him back to Ezekiel chapter 36.

To help him understand what it means by the washing of water and of the spirit. That's all he does. And he explains that to him. And he says in verse six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again or from above. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Nicodemus answers him, how can these things be?

What are you talking about? And Jesus said, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? How can you be the teacher of Israel and not get the essence of the kingdom of God? How do you not get it? How do you miss it? How can you not understand it? And you are the teacher. If the teacher of Israel doesn't get it, how do you expect your pupils to get it? And then he says, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know and bear witness of that which we have seen and you do not receive our witness.

You will not believe. You will not listen. Therefore, you will not understand. See, the problem with the Pharisees is that they didn't understand the basic elements of the kingdom of God. They didn't understand the simple truths of salvation. They didn't get it. That's why they reinvented their whole system. How they would bring God down to their level so God could be understood and comprehended. And although the Bible said that God is holy, holy, holy, they knew they could never be as holy as God himself is holy.

So they had to bring him down a little bit, a lot, so that they could reach God. And that is the essence of very false religion, bringing God down, dumbing God down to our level so that he can be reached by man. But God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is so far above us, but he demands that we be like him. We can't do that except for his grace and his mercy. And so they would listen to Jesus and their end result was to scoff at him, to mock him. We told you before that he had been invited to their homes.

There was hospitality up to this point, but no longer is there hospitality. Now it's hostility. Luke chapter 15 began with the Pharisees grumbling that Jesus would even spend time with sinners. Now they are deriding him. Now they are scoffing him. Now they are mocking him. Now they are sneering at him. As Psalm 22 says, they separate the lip. That is, they curl up their lips and they sneer at all that he says. Why do they do that? And there are six principles given in Luke 14, Luke 16, excuse me, that help us understand that.

We covered two of them last week. The first one was that they are preoccupied with the temporal and the material.

They're lovers of money. They're not lovers of God. They're lovers of money. They're not lovers of others. They're lovers of money. It's all about themselves. It's all about what they can gain for themselves. They can care less about what God thinks. They can care less about what you think. All they care about is what makes them comfortable, what gives them an easy life, what makes them live on easy street. They're lovers of money. Greed and avarice drives them because they're so preoccupied with the here and now.

That's why, that's why when you hear Joel Osteen on TV, does Joel Osteen speak for God? When he says, your best life now, he writes a book, Your Best Life Now.

Really? This is your best life? This is the best it's going to be, right here. No, your best life's not now, it's the eternity. So when Joel Osteen speaks on TV, does he speak for God? You see, you have to be discerning. What does the Bible actually say? When John Hagee's on TV and he says that Israel can be saved in a different way than we can as Christians because they are the special people of God. They don't have to believe the gospel to go to heaven. Does he speak the truth? You see, you have to be able to be discerning, to know right from wrong.

Because it's imperative to understand that people do what they do because they love money. And the more people that give, the softer the message. They're lovers of money. They're preoccupied with the here and now.

They're preoccupied with the material. They're preoccupied with the temporal. That is what consumes their thinking. And then, because they're lovers of money, Christ says in verse 14, they scoff at him.

They scoffed at him. What did they scoff at? They scoffed at the fact that Jesus said, you must, you can't serve two masters. You can either serve God or you serve money, but you can't serve them both. And they scoffed at him. They mocked him because of that, which was point number two.

They profane that which is eternal, that which is biblical, that which is scriptural. They profane it. They blaspheme it. They scoff at it. They're antagonistic against God's demands. They don't want to hear that. He comes and gives a parable about lost things. Yes, there's a lost sheep. Yes, there's a lost coin. And the Pharisees get the rejoicing. They get how they celebrate over the one sheep that was lost, and the coin that was found, and the sheep that was found. They get that. But they don't get the fact that this father would rejoice over a lost son without that son ever working his way back into the family.

They don't get that. They mock at that. They scoff at that. Somehow he must earn his way back into the family. He must earn the grace of God. He must earn the mercy of his father. He just can't be accepted back in because of a loving father, because of his grace and mercy and love and forgiveness toward a repentant son. No, he must earn his way back in. And so they would mock at him and scoff him for the things he would say. They profane that which was biblical, that which was eternal, that which was scriptural.

And then number three, number three, they pretend to be spiritual through ritual and the ceremonial. They pretend to be spiritual. He says these words, you are those who justify yourselves. You have a righteousness on your own. You try to make yourself right with God. And that is the essence of every false religion. Some way, somehow I can make God accept me for the things I do. And therefore I can pretend to be a certain way. Although inwardly I'm not, I can pretend outwardly to look a certain way.

And God then will receive me into his kingdom. And you talk to false teachers and you talk to cults and you say, do you have to believe in Jesus to be saved? Oh, yes. You've got to believe in Jesus to be saved. Absolutely. But it's believe in Jesus plus this or plus that. And you've got to do this and you've got to go there and you've got to be this. It's just not by grace alone, through faith alone, Christ alone. It's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, plus baptism, plus works, plus church attendance, plus some other outward ritual, some other ceremony that will get you into heaven.

And so they pretend to be something they're not to try to gain God's acceptance. The Bible is very clear. For by grace you say through faith that all yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, Titus 3, 5. It's by the washing of regeneration. It's by the renewing of the Spirit of God, which is exactly what Jesus said to Nicodemus. You must be born of water and of the Spirit. The cleansing of the water is the washing of the Word.

And the Spirit itself is the Spirit of God. And Paul would echo that in Titus 3, 5. That's how someone is born again. That's how someone is born from above. That's how someone gets into the kingdom of God. God saves them because of His grace and because of His mercy. Remember we read this last week to you, Romans 10, 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is their salvation, that is Israel. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. In other words, Israel had a knowledge of God because they had, no, they had a zeal for God, but not in accordance to knowledge. They didn't know the true God. And they thought to attain heaven by their own righteous acts. And they would pretend to be spiritual. Which leads us to point number four, and that's this, that they pursue man's approval. The reason people mock the truth of God's Word is because they are preoccupied with the material and the temporal.

Number two, they are those who profane the eternal, the biblical, and the scriptural. Number three, they pretend to be spiritual through ritual and the ceremonial.

And number four, they pursue man's approval. That's, that's what drives them. Listen to what it says. Verse 14, 15, sorry. He said to them, you are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men. You see, you pretend to be spiritual because you pursue man's approval. You want man to accept you. And so you look for man to look at you and say, well done, well played, good job, you look good.

That's what you want. Christ would speak against this in Matthew 6. Remember Matthew chapter 6, verse number 1, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. If what you do, you do because you want to be recognized by man, you have automatically forfeited your reward in heaven. Automatically. If somehow there's this motive to be seen by others and be recognized by man, that they might applaud you and approve you and affirm you.

If you do it for that purpose, there is no reward before your Father who is in heaven. Verse 2, when therefore you give alms, do not sound the trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. That's their reward. There's no reward in heaven. They sound the trumpet, they parade what they give so everybody can see it. And that will be the end of their reward. There is no other reward. So he says in verse 3, but when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

That your alms may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. All hypocrites, they love to be heard by others. They want others to hear their prayers. And so they say them loudly so everybody will know they're praying. That is their reward. That's all they get. There's nothing in heaven.

Verse 16, whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. That they, and for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. They do what they do so that everybody will say, oh look at him.

Oh he is so spiritual. He must really love the Lord. He must really be committed to the Lord. That's their reward. That's all they're going to get. Why? Because people scoff at God's truth, because they pursue man's approval. Matthew chapter 23 says it this way. Matthew chapter 23, verse number five, but they do all their deeds to be noticed by men. For they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called by men rabbi.

But do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father. Read that in the Catholic church. Don't call anyone on earth your father. For one is your father, he who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders, for one is your leader, that is Christ. But see, the mocker of truth loves to be called something by someone. Loves to be called doctor. Loves to be called rabbi, teacher, leader, father. And he was ridiculing the Pharisees, because they would take those phylacteries, those little boxes that would hold the great Shema of Deuteronomy chapter six, and they would make those boxes bigger around their wrists and around their head.

And people who saw them with bigger boxes would assume that they were bigger keepers of the law. And they would lengthen their tassels, and the longer the tassel, the greater their commitment to God. And they wanted everybody to see that. They dressed so that everyone would recognize their spirituality. They wanted to be seen by men because they pursue man's approval. They want man to look at them and say, oh wow, you are a lover of God.

But that's their reward. That's all they get. There is nothing else. And it makes you want to wonder, kind of wonder what we do in the church, right? It kind of makes you wonder what you do at home. Do you seek others' approval? Do you want to hear those words? Oh, you are so good. You live for that affirmation. You live for those accolades. You live for that applause. That's what false teachers do, hypocrites do. See, when you're motivated from the inside, you're going to do what you do for one person.

And that's the glory of God. Oh, it's nice to receive affirmation. It's nice to receive some kind of accolade. But you don't pursue those things. You don't pursue man's approval. You are looking to please God and to honor God. That's what you want to do. And that's why Paul said in Galatians chapter 1, verse number 10, if you seek the honor of men, you forfeit the approval of God. You forfeit it. If you want to be seen by men, if you want to be honored by man, you forfeit God's approval. You forfeit God's esteeming you, because you've done it for the wrong motive, the wrong purpose.

That's why people scoff at the truth. They pursue man's approval. They pretend to be spiritual through the ritual and the ceremonial. They profane the eternal, the biblical, the spiritual. They're preoccupied with the temporal and the material. Number five, they portray the hypocritical, the superficial, the unreal, which is the evil. They portray the hypocritical, the superficial, the unreal, because of evil. It says, but God knows your hearts. Wow, what an indictment. God knows. You can't fool God.

They portray the hypocritical because they're evil on the inside, but God knows their hearts. You can't fool God. You can't. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 44, 21, he knows the secrets of the heart.

Matthew 6, 18, the father sees in secret. Psalm 139, verse number two, thou does know when I rise up and when I sit down, thou does know my thoughts from afar.

First Kings 8, 39, thou alone does know the hearts of men. Jeremiah 17, 10, I, the Lord, search the hearts. John 2, 25, that's why God did not commit himself to certain individuals because he knew what was in them already. He knew what was in their hearts. See, God sees the heart. You go around, you justify yourselves, you seek to gain the approval of man, but you know what? God knows your heart. God knows your heart, but the hypocrite continues to portray that hypocritical spirit. That's unreal.

That's superficial. That's carnal because in the inside, he is evil, evil to the core, and yet God knows his heart. He says, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. Wow. That which man esteems stinks to God, smells horrible to God. That's why in First Corinthians 1, he says, where is the wise man?

Where is the nobleman? Where are they? God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. What man esteems, whether it's physical, whether it's intellectual, no matter where it is, whether it's financial, financial, whatever man esteems, God detests. He detests it because it can't gain you anything with God. He knows the hearts of man. He knows what's in our hearts. He knows those of you who are here today and are truly hypocrites in your hearts. He knows you. He knows those of you who have truly committed your life to Christ, those of you who have not.

We don't know, but God knows. He knows everything. Nothing gets by him. And yet people scoff and mock at the truth because they want to portray, portray something that's superficial, but it's not real. It's not real. God knows their hearts. Number five, number six, wow, they pervert the gospel. They pervert the gospel. The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached. Wow. What does that mean? Since then it's a time marker, used seven times in the gospel of Luke.

He says the law and the prophets were preached until John. He doesn't say the Old Testament because there was no Old Testament back in those days. All it was was the law and the prophets, which is a reference to the Old Testament that we would understand as of today. But Christ says something really unique.

He says the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached. What do you mean by that? Has the gospel message changed? No, no, because the law and the prophets all prophesied, predicted and promised what? The Messiah. And John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. And the law and the prophets were preached. Everything about the promise of the coming Messiah in the law and the prophets was preached up until John. When John came, he would clarify everything that was promised is now fulfilled.

For the king is at hand. The king has come. His kingdom is available. That's why Christ said that John the Baptist was the greatest man to ever live. Because he was the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He was the connector between the law and the prophets, everything that was promised and the fulfillment of that promise in the arrival of the Messiah. That's why Zacharias' song in Luke chapter one is so unique. Because Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, would say salvation now has come.

Redemption is now upon us. Why? Because the Messiah is here. If my son is the forerunner to the Messiah, that means Messiah is here and he's going to point everybody to the Messiah. And so Jesus says, listen, everything in the law and the prophets concerning the arrival of the Messiah was preached until John.

Since then, the kingdom of God is preached because the king is here and the kingdom of God is available for you to enter. And yet they would pervert that whole kingdom because they didn't understand it. Nicodemus didn't get it. How do you, the teacher of Israel, not get the kingdom? How do you miss the kingdom? How do you miss the king of the kingdom as the teacher in Israel when everything in the law and the prophets pointed to the seed of Genesis 3.15? To the sacrificial lamb of Genesis 22? To the Shiloh of Genesis 49?

To the seer of Deuteronomy chapter 17? How do you miss all that? How do you miss the servant of Isaiah chapter 53, that suffering servant? How do you miss all that? How do you miss the son of righteousness? How do you miss the son of David? How do you miss the son of man? How do you miss the son of God? How do you miss all that and claim to be the teacher in Israel? You don't understand it because you will not listen.

You will not receive me. In spite of all the signs, in spite of all the miracles, you will not subject yourself to me and believe that. Now Christ says, look, everything that was promised in the law of the prophets was preached until John.

Since then, the fulfillment of all those promises is here. And John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There he is. There's your Savior. There's your Messiah. That's him right there. And that's why John the Baptist was the greatest preacher who ever lived because he bridged the Old Testament to the New Testament and actually had the privilege of pointing to everything the Old Testament promised. Here is the Messiah. There he is. Listen to him. That's why John the Baptist said he must increase.

I must decrease because he's the Messiah. He's what everything pointed to. And then Jesus says this, and everyone who gets that is forcing their way into the kingdom.

Kingdom. What? That's right. Since then, the kingdom of God is preached. And those who get that are forcing their way in. What does that mean? That's next week. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, the truth that's there. And we ask Lord that we would understand the truth that you present. And Father, we would not be mockers and scoffers of your truth because we are preoccupied with the material and the temporal. We profane that which is biblical. We pretend to be spiritual. We portray the hypocritical.

I pray, Father, that we would not pervert the gospel. So many people pervert the gospel today. It is so incredibly sad. The gospel of God can be perverted by those who claim to be the speakers of God. And yet, Father, you want us to understand the truth. And I pray that, Lord, that would be our desire. If there be one who is among us today who does not know you as Lord and Savior, may today be the day of their salvation. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.