What On Earth Is God Doing

Well, good evening everybody! It's good to be with you, it is a real privilege to be here at Open Arms Church for this special occasion. Thank you to Simon and the leadership for inviting me to come tonight to share in it with you, and I believe that I have something from the Lord to share. Let me just say, before I go on any further, congratulations for entering this new building, and I hope that you have special times with the Lord in it as I will be talking about throughout this message, and indeed the prayer that I will do just at the end with the leadership as we officially dedicate this place to the Lord.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, Matthew's Gospel chapter 16. Before we read the Scripture, I just want us to pray together and ask the Lord's help with our time just now. So let's pray, get the passage if you haven't got it already, or scroll it, or whatever you do these days, and let's pray. Would you pray with me now that God would speak to every heart, whatever our need might be? I believe that can happen, it's amazing, isn't it? On one night, God can speak to everybody who needs something - even if I don't say that particular thing, He can speak into your heart and meet your need - and that's what we long for, isn't it? I certainly want to encounter the Lord tonight in a fresh way again, so let's pray for each other, but pray for yourself now that God will speak to you.

Father, we praise You, we worship You, we extol Your name, we exalt You, and we just say our 'Amen' to all the praise that has already gone up. Lord, You're great, and You're greatly to be praised. We want to honour You, and we just take this moment to worship You tonight. We invite You, as we've been singing, to come into this place, to come to our lives, and to meet with us in a fresh, living way. On this night of special occasion, as we dedicate this building, we pray that there will be revelation, we pray that there will be prophetic word, we pray that there will be something with the life of God in it that will make a difference to this company of believers, and to each of us in our families and our community. Lord, we need You, Portadown needs you desperately; but we believe that You're more willing to give than we are to receive. So, whatever the needs are tonight, Lord, would You give and meet those needs: people who need to come to know You as Saviour and Lord of their lives, people who need restoration, people who need healed, people who need delivered, people who need revived - Lord, would You come and meet every need in this place tonight, as we give You glory and praise, in Jesus' name, everybody said: 'Amen'.

We're to be looking forward, because God is always doing something. I want to ask the question tonight: what on earth is God doing?

OK, we're going to begin reading at verse 13 of Matthew 16: "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'. So they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets'. He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'. Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven'. Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ".

Some of you, I'm sure, are familiar with Isaiah 43, verses 18 and 19, which says: 'Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert". So, we are to give thanks and praise to God for the past - yes? That has been recognized tonight in the testimony of this fellowship from its inception and even how you've got into this moment tonight - and yet we're not to get stuck in the past; [we are to be] appreciative of it, but we're to be looking forward because God is always doing something. I want to ask the question tonight: what on earth is God doing? What on earth is the new thing that God is actually performing? I wonder what the new thing God is doing in Portadown is?

You might think (and a lot of Christians have this perspective) that things have never been worse than they are today; and they're just sitting around waiting for Jesus to come again - when, in fact, Jesus Himself said in John 5:17: 'My father is always at work to this very day. And I too', Jesus said, 'am working'. So, no matter what we see, or for that matter don't see, with the naked eye, Jesus is very clear that the Godhead is always doing something. Do you believe that? Where is the kingdom of God breaking out? Where do you recognize it breaking out? I hope and believe that this is what is happening even here this evening. But what in the world is God doing?

Let me give you a few statistics. These are from the Barna Group who do various polls in the Christian world and otherwise. To give you an idea what God's up to: last Sunday, more Christians were in church in China than in all mainland Europe. Isn't that incredible? China has known a massive revival over the last number of years. There are more Anglicans attending in each of these countries: Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, than Anglicans that attend church in all of Britain and America combined. Isn't that staggering? More Presbyterians attended church in Ghana than in Scotland, and the evangelical wing of the church - particularly the Pentecostal charismatic wing - has grown to half a billion in the last 60 or 70 years alone. Some more: there's an unprecedented harvest of souls in Latin America, Africa and Asia. One hundred million Chinese Christians are reported to exist; some suggesting that 3,000 a day are coming to Christ in China. There are prayer movements that have sprung up over the last 20 years, not just Houses Of Prayer like we have in Portadown, but other great organizations like 24/7 Prayer etc. that have made a massive impact on the global church. There are more Muslims coming to Jesus in the last 20 years than ever before.

To give you an idea what God's up to: last Sunday, more Christians were in church in China than in all mainland Europe. Isn't that incredible?

So whatever the bad news is that we get on a daily diet, this is what Kingdom news is, what God is doing on the Earth. Buddhist countries such as Mongolia, Cambodia and Vietnam are seeing unprecedented Christian growth. In 2010, the church in Iran grew 19.5%, there are presently hundreds of believers in Kabul in Afghanistan. Egypt now has over 200 registered prayer watches of 24-hour prayer groups. There have been breakthroughs in India with the Dalits (that's the untouchable people, the oppressed there). Even our own continent, Europe, has reported that there are major stirrings among Anglicans and Catholics. An estimated 25 million people found their way to faith in Jesus Christ last year in 2018.

What on earth is God doing? Contrary to popular opinion, the church is the biggest provider for Aids care in the world. In the UK alone, it is the church that runs more schools, youth, toddler groups, debt counsellors and feeds more families than any other  voluntary agency.

Jesus said - we read it, Matthew 16 verse 18 - 'I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it'. Now there's still a lot of work to be done and let me give you a few more figures - if you're not bamboozled already! There are 16,350 people groups in the world and there are still 6,645 that are categorized as either least-reached or unreached categories - they still need to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news. That's a total population of 2.84 billion people. Wow! 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and 90% of those are among the unreached people groups. Of the 7,000 world languages there are, there's 1,778 of them without Scripture.

So there is a lot still to do, isn't there? Yet we can confess tonight - yes? - as we're standing in this new building, this new venture: Jesus is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But we tend to think of church growth in relation to numbers and nations. Now that's correct on one level of course, Jesus said: 'Go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations'. There is a day coming when Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 says that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. So the Lord is interested in numbers, He's interested in nations. However, tonight, in the time that we have together, I want you to consider church growth not from a numerical perspective or a national perspective, but from the perspective of authority.

Jesus said, I will build my church. When He gave the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel narrative, He said: 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel'; but He also said, 'And all authority has been given to Me in heaven and upon earth, therefore go and make disciples'. I want us to consider the spread of the kingdom of God, the building of the church, the growth of the Christian global population in relation to the authority of Jesus Christ. So, to understand that, we need to go to the context of our reading tonight. If you look at verse 13, you'll see where Jesus and the disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi. Now if you've been to the Holy Land, this is a different Caesarea than the Caesarea on the Mediterranean Coast. I know some of you are going there soon, and you might even visit those spots. But Caesarea Philippi is a beautiful site on the North shore of the lake of Galilee. It's located about 25 miles north of Bethsaida that we read about in the Bible, and it's on the slopes of Mount Herman. It's a city that lay in the territory that was ruled by Philip - that's Herod Antipas' brother - and it was influenced extensively by Greek and Roman culture. You could see it everywhere. It wasn't a Jewish region, it was primarily Gentile, and it was known for its worship of Greek gods and even its temple to Pan who was the god of nature. In fact, it was believed that the actual gateway of hell was there - that's right. If you look at this next slide, and some of you might have been there as I said, there's a great hill at Caesarea Philippi in which is this deep cavern - and it was believed that this was the birthplace of the god 'Pan', the god of nature, but also was an entrance into the underworld; that it was actually the gate of hell itself. I'm not going to go into details tonight, but you can imagine the unspeakable practices that took place around this facility and even in this cave. This piece of land dates right back in its pagan practices to the Old Testament, where there was Baal worship. Baal worship was basically a fertility god, and Baal worshippers engaged in ritual prostitution to placate their god - and as I say, I'll not go into detail, but you can understand what this place was like.

I want you to consider church growth not from a numerical perspective or a national perspective, but from the perspective of authority...

Fast forward from the Old Testament. When Philip became ruler, he rebuilt this place and he renamed the city after Caesar Tiberias as Caesarea Philippi, and he even built a great marble temple there to the godhead of Caesar, because the Romans believed that Caesar was god, and he named the city after himself, of course. Now think about this, Jesus deliberately sets Himself against this backdrop to ask the greatest question of all questions: 'Who do people say that I am, the Son of Man? What do they say about Me?'. So, if you like, He chooses the background of all the world's religions and their history; if you like, He steps onto the stage of the theatre of all the rival deities of theologies and beliefs around the world, and all idols you can think possible, and He demands to be compared to them: 'Who do people say that I am?'.

In fact, it's interesting, He actually asks what other people are saying about Him. It's obvious, to me anyway, that the moral and spiritual climate of our present-day generation is very similar to what was going on here in this historic site of Caesarea Philippa, but even in Jesus' day the theories of His identity were varied. Some people said: 'He's a good man'. Some people say: 'Well, I'll give you He's a remarkable teacher. He might be a supreme martyr dying on the cross', but they all miss the point of who Jesus really is. And the disciples begin to answer, if you look at verse 14: 'So they said', to answer this question, 'Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets'. It's as if the disciples are answering from popular opinion what people say about Jesus, but the voice of popular opinion is always confused about Jesus. That's why we don't run to the world to find out what they think about Jesus, we go to the Father.

Now I want you to notice Jesus didn't have an identity crisis. He said: 'Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'. He understood who He was, but He wanted to know what other people were saying. In fact, I don't really think it was popular opinion He was interested in, or the ideas of others, He was chiefly concerned about what His chosen twelve disciples thought about Him. So, in verses 15 through to 17, He quizzes them, and Simon Peter comes out with this answer: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God' - but before that, these, I would say 'religious opinions' came forth. 'Some people say that You're John the Baptist', remember Herod believed that He was John the Baptist come back from the dead. 'Some think You're Elijah', because there's a prophecy in Malachi at the end the Old Testament saying that Elijah would come back in the end times. 'Some say You are Jeremiah', and Jeremiah was believed by the Jews to be immortal, because there's no record of his death and the Apocrypha predicts that he'll return one day with Isaiah the prophet. But Jesus is probing these twelve followers of His: 'What do you really think about Me?'. He's asking for spiritual insight, that's needed to see Christ as He really is. You see, He wanted them, specifically, to see Him in all of His authority.

How do you see Jesus? I'm specifically talking to the church here tonight and Christian believers in the gathering. How do you see Jesus? Do you see Him as He is? Or do you see Him as He was? These disciples needed to change their mind, their perspective, or to put it another way: they needed their mind changed by the Lord Himself. I want to ask you: how do you see Jesus Christ? Or to put it another way: how do you see His authority? What does He say here in verse 18? 'I will build my church' - I will - 'and the gates of hell', or Hades, 'shall not prevail against it'. Do you see the gates of hell prevailing against Christ's church? Do you see the gates of hell advancing against Christ's church? Do you see us on the back foot? Do you see the extension of the kingdom of darkness as being escalated over and above the speed of the extension of the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God's dear Son? Do you have a pessimistic view of what's going on in the world, rather than an optimistic or a triumphant view? Is your concept: 'Let's hold the fort till Jesus comes', or 'I'm a Christian, get me out of here as quick as possible'?

Do you see the gates of hell advancing against Christ's church? Do you see us on the back foot?

What does this mean, verse 18, 'I will build my church'? It's speaking of the authority of Christ on the earth today. He's doing it and He's going to continue to do it. It's His church - notice that in verse 18, 'I will build my church'. It doesn't belong to Open Arms, it doesn't belong to any other expression of church within Portadown, in Northern Ireland, or across the globe. We need to get this kingdom perspective, rather than just a local church perspective. It's all about Jesus. We're not in competition. We're not in rivalry. We're together. We're meant to be cooperating. We're meant to be a family. It's His church, it belongs to Him.

The world system needs to realize that when they attack the church. You remember Saul of Tarsus attacked the church, to the extent of actually rounding up the Christians and getting them fed to the lions. You remember, Jesus appeared in His glorified risen form to Saul, in all of His authority, and Saul fell to the ground, and he heard Jesus say to him: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? I am Jesus whom you are persecuting'. The church belongs to Him. You touch the church, you touch Christ.

What's Christ intention for the church in this verse of ours tonight? 'I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' - now that's lost on a lot of us, because we don't have the background history and context of some of these phrases. 'Gates', in ancient society, 'Gates' were the place of authority. Did you know that? The gate of a city was the place that you would go to get a judgment, it was a legal place, it was the place where the governing authorities would meet together. That's why sometimes, when there was an execution, it happened out at the gates. What Jesus is saying here is: 'I will build my church and the governing authority of hell or Hades shall not prevail against it'. Now that's interesting, isn't it? The Puritan, John Trapp, explains this phrase 'gates of hell' to mean 'All the power and policy of hell combined'.

Do you understand what's being said now? Stay with me now, progress a little bit further: 'I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it'. The word for 'church' there is 'ekklesia' or 'ecclesia' in the original Greek language. We're familiar with the word 'church', aren't we, as it's translated into English, and the Scottish word is 'Kirk', the German is 'Kirche' but that's not actually the word that's being used here. The understanding, the only Gospel that uses it is Matthew's Gospel, and the people who were listening to Jesus, the disciples and anybody else, when they heard that word 'ekklesia', would not have heard your word 'church' because it didn't exist.

Do you know what an 'ekklesia' was in Bible times? They would have known this word - it was a governing assembly, a bit like Stormont (probably did a wee bit more), but a legislative assembly, a parliament. So now think of what Jesus is saying: 'I will build My governing assembly and the authorities of hell that are presently ruling and reigning in society will not be able to prevail against My authority'. Now just let that sink in for a moment, because for some of you, that will be the first time you've ever heard that verse like that before: 'I will build My ekklesia, My legislative assembly that I've given authority to, but the gates of hell, the authority of darkness that has been in power for so long since Adam's fall, will not have the ability to resist what I'm doing'.

Think of what Jesus is saying: 'I will build My governing assembly and the authorities of hell that are presently ruling and reigning in society will not be able to prevail against My authority'...

That means that we are agents of change, that means that you if you're a Christian here tonight, and if you represent a church body, you are the most powerful people in the universe today. We don't behave it, do we? We are the ones who are bringing heaven's influence on the earth supernaturally. I love this verse in Ephesians 3 verse 10 in the NIV: 'God's intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms'. I don't want to go into this in detail, except to say that there were gods, as it were, with small 'g's, ruling authorities, angelic beings who were cast out of heaven at the rebellion of Lucifer, and they were given certain authorities over this planet, they were sent to earth. But man's commission was to subdue the earth under God's domain and authority, and he succumbed to Satan, and he came under the clutches of Satan - but Jesus Christ came into this world, was manifested in the flesh to destroy the works of the wicked one. When He went to the cross and He bled and he died, He wrested from the hands of Satan the authority over this world. Now we, as His church, have been given by Him the authority to go and subdue the earth again.

That's who you are, if you're Christian, what this verse is saying is: the whole universe is like a stadium and those principalities and powers, those gods with a small 'g', and those demons are looking on, the angels even they are in awe and wonder at the authority that God has given us, and they are watching and waiting till we should make known the manifold wisdom of God on the earth. We live, often as Christians, in a puny existence and many times in the church we have this back-foot mentality of cowering in a corner, and being afraid to raise our voice, and being intimidated by darkness. When this is the authority that we have, this is the calling that we have been given - and how is it done? Look at verse 19 Jesus said: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven' Now that wasn't exclusively to Peter, in chapter 18 He says it again in verse 18 - I remember preaching on it years ago, and I preached under the heading 'Earth Governing Heaven' - how does that sit with you? Earth governing Heaven? Well, that's what it says.

Jesus is saying, 'I've given you authority to bind certain things on earth that are not in keeping with My will in heaven, and I'm giving you authority to lose certain things on earth that are according to My will in heaven'. Do you know what binding and loosing is? It's a huge subject, but do you know effectively what it is? It's forbidding certain things, and it's allowing other things - and that's the church's job in community. Not doing it through law or through politics, but doing it in the spiritual realm through the weapons of our warfare that God has given us. So you need to get into binding and loosing, we do this at the House of Prayer, often through praying over the spiritual gates of the town and the city or society; spiritual gates are the things that we either close to evil, or we open to evil, or we open to righteousness.

And so the law, policing, education, entertainment, religion, we could go through them all, there are several of them, but this is our job here on the earth. We need to - and I hope this is a word from the Lord for you tonight - as you open this building, you need to realize who you are, and you need to realize who Christ is. He's not somebody who's just gone away and keeping quiet until He returns again and conquers the world, but He is building His church today and Satan is no match for Him.

You need to realize who Christ is. He's not somebody who's just gone away and keeping quiet until He returns again and conquers the world...

So think about this: Jesus literally and metaphorically travelled to the very gates of hell at Banias, that place that we showed you on the slide, Caesarea Philippi. He went to the very gates of hell, the mouth of Hades, and He proclaimed all authority in heaven and earth was given to Him - but He asked His disciples: 'Do you believe it?'. It's all down to whether we believe it or not. You know, another phrase 2,000 years ago that was familiar to the society, but we would assume it wasn't because we have adopted it as a Christian word is 'apostle'. It was not a religious title at all. It was a concept that lent itself to the idea of what Jesus taught us to pray when He said, 'After this manner pray: Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven'; that we live under an open heaven in Jesus Christ, that all the promises of God are 'yes and amen' to us. He has given us this authority to bind and loose to see heaven come down.

This word 'apostle' was used in secular language to describe a king who was sending out a fleet of battleships to a specific mission. They were to sail to a foreign land, they were to colonise new territory  and make it just like the land they had been sent from. The captain of that ship was called an 'apostle', and he would lead a team - and along with him there were skilled tradesmen, there were teachers of languages, culture, architects, builders, soldiers to fight and maintain the order, there were even doctors and others with these foundational occupations for the success and expansion of a new colony of the kingdom. So this apostle was sent out with exclusive authority from the king to oversee and to direct all that was done. Listen: his end goal was to make sure that if the emperor or the king ever visited that province and colony of his kingdom, that he would immediately, as he stepped off his boat, feel that he was back in the capital again, it was a little piece of the Empire but in a different place.

That brings a different aspect to 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven'. Listen, I know things are bad in Portadown, things are bad everywhere, and sometimes we need to stop saying 'Things are hard here, things are hard there, things are hard everywhere', and we need to pray about the drug abuse, we need to pray about the prostitution, we need to do the binding and loosing, we need to do all the spiritual warfare - but let's not have our eyes in our boots, and realize that there's a God in heaven, the Son of God is risen, He is exalted, He is ascended, He has poured out His Spirit at Pentecost, and He gives you and me authority to bring His rule and reign in the world, in Portadown!

I believe for a day when the sectarian hatred and brokenness and bigotry will be gone, can you see it?

Are you up for that, because that's why you're here. I thank God for you Open Arms, I don't know an awful lot about you, and I know that there's a group of people have gathered together and many of you have hurts, and many of you have issues - sure we all have, and we've got baggage and all the rest. Show me a person that doesn't! But do you know something, there's healing in the Gospel. There's great saving salvation, soul healing, but listen: we're not called just to that, we are called to be wounded healers who go out and change the world through the redemptive power of grace. That's your commission. I believe I'm here by God to remind you of that. God has given you a  lovely place, but He wants you to break out, break out with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and see - this is what He wants for every church in Portadown - He wants them all to break out until they all nearly come together, they are one anyway, to see Jesus standing, tall, risen, glorified in our midst in this town - and I believe for it, I believe for it. I believe for a day when the sectarian hatred and brokenness and bigotry will be gone, I believe, I can see that, can you see it? It's possible, when dead religion will not matter any more, and blind distinctions will all dissolve, and it'll be Christ and Christ alone. One Lord, one faith, one baptism - that's God's heartbeat for this place, for this island, will you get with the program?

This [building] is just a facility, this is an instrument to do that, for Jesus to build His church. Don't you walk around with your head down again, thinking 'Oh, isn't everything terrible? Oh, let's not ever hear that word 'Brexit' again, and everything's going to hell in a handcart and...', do you know what I mean? That's the enemy’s weight on us. Let's hold our heads high, and believe who we are and whose we are and who He is. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not, shall not, never prevail against it.

“How To Stay Pure In A Sin Sick World”

When we live in a world like ours that sweats sensuality from its pores, and when even the church of Jesus Christ is practising - and in some areas and quarters is actually advocating living in sin - how, how can a young man, how can a young woman possibly expect to keep his way pure and to cleanse his life?

If you have your Bible with you this morning, I'd like you to turn with me to 2 Samuel, the book of 2 Samuel and chapter 11. 2 Samuel and chapter 11, reading from verse 1: "And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child".

Psalm 119 and verse 9: "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" - or how can a young man keep his way pure? - "By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word".

Let us pray: Our Father in heaven, we come before You this morning and we thank You for Your word. We thank You, as another Psalmist said, that Your word is a light to our pathway. Our Father we pray that in the pathway of our lives, from day-to-day, that we would indeed find that Your truth, that Your Scriptures, the word of God would be our direction, would be our guidance, would be the thermostat that determines our lives, our character and our actions. Father, may this word that is so rich in inspiration, in fullness, in vitality and in life - may it be real to us this morning. We pray that the Spirit of God, that He would be here, and that He would help us as we seek to ask what You would say to our hearts today. For we ask these things in Jesus name, Amen.

I wonder would you turn with me - just keeping your finger in that passage that we've just read - but turn back with me to 2 Samuel chapter 11 that we read earlier, 2 Samuel, chapter 11. I read this week that, according to the Reuters report from Stockholm, Sweden has long ago arrived at complete sexual freedom and liberty. Old-fashioned fornication that we read about in the word of God is accepted in that society. Parents have indeed arrived at the opinion that it is normal for their children, for their youngsters, to behave in this way. It is reported that only 5% of girls and 2% of boys go with their purity to marriage. I wonder is that a reflection of the fact that Sweden has the highest percentage of suicides of any country in this world?

In [1974] research firm surveyed 35,000 young people - now remember, 1974 - they were from the ages of 16 to 25. The interviewers sought to learn what their selected individuals felt about important standards and important values in today's world. The study revealed that only 31% viewed premarital relationships as morally wrong, compared to 52% in 1969. Opposition to abortion dropped from 58% to 45%. The proportion who considered living a clean moral life a very important value fell from 71% to 52%. That was 1974.

It seems that patterns are shifting, and we could say today that: 'As it was in the days of Noah, so it is today'. We only have to look at our television screen, look at the media, and even ice cream is advertised by suggestive theatrics. The daily soaps, that many of us are glued to, advocate and defend promiscuous living, adultery, homosexuality and a variety of other perversions of God's intended ideal and will. Our newspapers - many, indeed, now of the broadsheets - are becoming more, if they have not already arrived at being, pornographic magazines. What was considered 30 years ago as pornography, believe it or not, is on our television screens advertising body creams and perfume. You've all seen it: the camera focuses close-up in black-and-white on a tense, lusting male face, over which is superimposed an amber flame, which becomes a glowing bottle of Calvin Klein's Obsession.

Last year the shock film was the film 'Crash'. I'm sure you've read about it in your newspapers, how the whole plot of that story was to do with sexual exploits with crash victims on the scene. This week, if you've been reading your newspaper, the new shock film - it seems that they're just trying to shock us as much as they can now - it's entitled 'Lolita', this film is nothing more than a glorification of paedophilia - child abuse.

What hope is there? What hope is there for our children and our young people in a carnal, Corinthian society like our own?

If we think that this is happening just in the world, we are fools. Recently Leadership Magazine, which is a pastoral magazine for ministers, commissioned a poll of 1000 Pastors. It indicated that 12% had committed adultery while in the ministry - that's one out of eight of those thousand! It indicated that 23% did something that they considered inappropriate whilst in the ministry. Christianity Today, which is a more broad magazine that is read by Christians of every sort, they surveyed Christians who weren't Pastors and the figures - those figures - doubled! 23% admitted that they had committed adultery. 45% said that they had committed something that they felt was inappropriate for a child of God. These statistics are shocking, aren't they? They're almost unbelievable - and when we think that most of the people that read this literature, they are people who have been well-educated, college educated, church leaders, elders, deacons, Sunday School superintendents and teachers - and it's left up to our minds this morning to think what the ordinary church member could get up to.

What I want to ask you this morning is this: when we live in a world like ours that sweats sensuality from its pores, and when even the church of Jesus Christ is practising - and in some areas and quarters is actually advocating living in sin - how, how can a young man, how can a young woman (or for that matter and older man or older woman) possibly expect to keep his way pure and to cleanse his life? What hope is there? What hope is there for our children and our young people in a carnal, Corinthian society like our own? It is such an easy thing for us as believers to become desensitised, and even - God forbid it - even in our lives to imbibe these sensual attitudes, the spirit of the age today. How can a young man cleanse his way? How can he cure himself of the problems of our age? How can he prevent getting taken into this sensuality, the flesh of this age that is wreaking havoc - not only around in our world, but today is wreaking havoc in the church of Jesus Christ?

If you look at the passage that we read together earlier in 2 Samuel chapter 11, I believe that there are within this passage various warnings to us this morning as children of God. David, in 2 Samuel 11, was a successful man. He was in his midlife, it seems that he had everything, he had charisma, he had personality, he had musical talent, he was intellectual - it seemed that everything was on the up for King David. What was wrong? Well if you look into this passage - and if we had time we could look at the whole passage, and we could even look at the whole of David's life - if we looked at it we could see that in David there is a progressive degeneration which eventually brought his downfall. This progressive degeneration is something that, I believe this morning, can be identified in every backslider, every child of God that wanders away from the pathway.

Therefore the writer, in 2 Samuel 11, would have us beware of certain things. The first thing I believe he wants us to beware of this morning is: to beware of losing our sensitivity. If you were to turn to 2 Samuel 5 you would read there that David took up power in Jerusalem. But it says in verse 13 of 2 Samuel 5 that, after David had left Hebron, he took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem. When David had left Hebron, when he had taken up the throne in Jerusalem - he had become King - it says that he took more concubines and more wives when he arrived in Jerusalem. Now, according to Deuteronomy chapter 17, David's taking of extra wives, in the sight of God, was sin. This was forbidden for a King of Israel. A King of Israel, it says in Deuteronomy 17, was not to take unto himself much riches, much livestock, he wasn't to take unto himself many wives - this was forbidden in the sight of God, it was apart from the code of holiness that God had laid down for the monarch of Israel.

I want you to see this morning that David's progressive desensitisation to sin had a consequent inner descent from holiness in his life

Now, I want you to see this morning that David's progressive desensitisation to sin had a consequent inner descent from holiness in his life. His progressive desensitisation to sin had a consequence in his life, for as he went along his life's pathway, and little by little he became more insensitive to the sins that were in his life, it had an effect on his inner walk with God. Now don't misunderstand the biblical text this morning. David taking to himself other wives was perfectly legal - in fact, not only was it legal, but it was something that was culturally acceptable - but the point this morning is this: although it was legal and it was culturally acceptable, it was something that was against the revealed will of God. David's endorsement, and David's even practice, of culturally permitted sensuality - do you know what it did to him? It desensitised him to sin, and it ultimately contributed to his downfall in adultery.

Do you see this? No-one falls, no-one backslides, in a flash! It doesn't just happen right away, there are small little steps where people become desensitised to sin and to the world, and to the things of the world - and before they know it, they are taking bigger steps into sin and sensuality until, before they know it, they have fallen headlong into great sin. We need to beware this morning, because there are certain things in our society today that are cultural, they are cultural sensualities, they are legal indulgences that - in the eyes of the people around us, in the eyes of our government, in the eyes of our society - are seen to be socially accepted. But these things - if we really think about them - they contribute to an inner descent in our holiness.

Young people today, older people today, are expected to watch hours of television unguarded - indiscriminately. In the workplace men, and women now, are expected to laugh at dirty jokes, and even tell dirty jokes. Businessmen are expected to show 'business indiscretion' and turn a blind eye to certain practices. At business-dos and dinners it is expected that you take a little tipple. In relationships it is expected that you go a little farther each year along your relationship, until eventually you might as well be married. This passage warns us in the gravest language that David - this man David, a man after God's own heart - he lost his sensitivity to sin and to the world, and it started in a small little bit, but before he knew it he was on his face in adultery.

But the writer wants us also to notice that: we are to beware of losing our discipline. David had relaxed, it says in verse 1, he had relaxed from the rigours and disciplines that had characterised his life, the activity that was in his life from day-to-day. He should have been at war, he should have been with Joab fighting for the cause, but he knew that it was an easy win so he stayed at home. Now, the problem was not the fact that he relaxed - and there's nothing wrong with relaxation - but David's problem was this: that his relaxation extended to his spiritual life. Has that ever happened to you? He relaxed physically, he relaxed in his life, he retired for a little point - but that affected his spiritual life, and what happened was: he left himself unguarded, he left himself unprotected and he fell. Don't think that David woke up one morning and said: 'Well, it's a lovely day today, I think I'm going to commit adultery'. He didn't! He was a man after God's own heart, he wrote many of the Psalms that we have in the word of God. It wasn't the fact that he intended that day to sin, but he lost - in some way - his sensitivity to sin, and because he was undisciplined on this particular day the Devil got a foothold.

Can I ask you, Christian, this morning: are you losing your discipline? Do you read the word of God from day-to-day? Do you pray daily? Do you have a quiet time with the Lord? Have you lost your discipline with regards to the church of Jesus Christ? Are you found at the prayer meeting? Are you found having fellowship with God's people? Do you wait behind for the Lord's table that He has commanded you to wait for? Do you discipline yourself in your watching of the television, in the things that you read, in the things that you listen to, the things that you say? We need this - listen, this morning - to beware that we do not lose our sensitivity, to beware that we do not lose our discipline.

Can I ask you, Christian, this morning: are you losing your discipline? Do you read the word of God from day-to-day? Do you pray daily? Do you have a quiet time with the Lord?

But thirdly, he would have us beware something else. He says: beware of losing your focus. Beware of losing your focus - what happened? Think of the scene: it's twilight in the Middle East, in the humid air in the evening - and this man (now in his middle-age, now remember that, he's in his middle-age - he's probably 50) he gets out of his bed and he takes a look out of the window. He sees a curvaceous form of a young beautiful woman, the shadows and the half light making her more attractive. Verse 2 says that the woman was very beautiful, in the Hebrew that's an over expression - she was absolutely gorgeous, she was a beautiful woman. David's problem was not the fact that he looked, but the problem was that after that first glance he looked again, and again, and again. He focused into this woman and he became fixated with her. Kent Hughes, a writer, says this that: 'In that moment David, who had been a man after God's own heart, became a dirty, leering old man'. A lustful fixation came over him that could not be denied.

He lost his focus. I wonder this morning, Christian, young person, have you lost your focus? What are you focusing in on in your life? What are the things that your eyes light upon? What do you watch on the television screen? What is it that comes from the video recorder? What is the music that you are listening to? What are the magazines that you are reading? You see, by focusing on the wrong things in our life we then begin to think about these things and chew these things over. Now, don't get me wrong this morning, there are some helpful things that come on the television - but I don't know about you, but I've yet to find a television that turns itself off before the picture comes on. People would say to me: 'Well, there's a knob on the screen, turn it off!' - but before you can turn it off you've seen something that has harmed your mind.

David Frost - you all know him, the TV presenter - he said this, David Frost: 'Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living-room by people you wouldn't have in your home'. Isn't that true? It permits you to see things, and think about things, and listen to things that you wouldn't permit in your home! Often we will indiscriminately - and I'm speaking to myself as well - we will plant ourselves down in front of the television and watch unlimited television, and inevitably - before we know it - we end up focusing or listening to impure things. You know when something happens on the screen - there's a bit of interference - what does it come on? 'Don't adjust your set' - well, listen, my message to you this morning, it's not all about television, but my message to you is this: Don't adjust your life! Don't adjust your life because there's a fault in the world!

You're doing something wrong, you're thinking about doing something wrong, you're tempted about doing something that is unpleasing to God - and what happens? God is as far away as possible from your mind

I don't know whether you've ever heard of the television Psalm, but I'd like to read it to you this morning. It goes like this:

'The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want.
It makes me to sit down and do nothing for His name's sake,
Because it requires all my spare time.
It restores my knowledge of the things of this world.
It keeps me from the study of God's Word.
Its sound and picture, they comfort me.
Even though I live to a hundred, I shall keep on viewing.
As long as it works, surely no good thing will come of my life'.

We need to be careful this morning - I'm not saying all throw your television sets out, but listen: we need to be careful about what we are focusing upon. We need to be like Job, young men - listen: Job, in Job chapter 31 and verse 1, he said: 'I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl'. He made an agreement with himself that he wasn't going to do it!

What happens when we focus on something unhelpful? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said these words, listen: 'When lust takes control, at that moment God loses all reality. Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God'. Have you not experienced that? You're doing something wrong, you're thinking about doing something wrong, you're tempted about doing something that is unpleasing to God - and what happens? God is as far away as possible from your mind, not just the fact that He is there, but the reality of His presence. Is that not true? Beware of what we focus on.

We need to beware of being desensitised, we need to beware of losing our discipline, we need to beware of losing our focus, but we need to beware of losing our mind. David lost his mind for that split second. David probably said: 'Well, Uriah's away, Bathsheba's on her own - sure, no-one will know. She's probably quite lonely, she probably needs company - sure, it'll be love!'. He began to rationalise his sin. Someone said to him in verse 3: 'Hold on a minute, King. Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah?' - and he knew that, he knew that that's who it was, someone had told him, but he began to rationalise in his mind and to think it over.

Sometimes we do that, we begin to rationalise our sin. We say to ourselves: 'Well, it's alright this time. God'll understand if I fall into this sin this time'. We say to ourselves: 'Well, how can something that gives me so much pleasure be wrong? God's not going to deny me anything that would make me happy, He wants me to be happy!'. We say to ourselves: 'Well, if it's love then it must be alright'. Christian so-called 'artists', Christian movie watchers - and I'm saying that, talking about movies that they shouldn't be watching. They say to themselves: 'Well, can I not - as an intelligent adult - evaluate these pictures? Can I not objectively look at these films without letting them affect me, and enjoy the art and the beauty in them?' - and we begin, before we know it, to rationalise everything out until we feel no guilt at all about what we're doing! The more we commit a certain sin, the more we fall into it, the more acceptable it becomes, the more habitual it becomes, the more we rationalise in our mind that it's OK, that God's not angry with us. But the only thing that we don't rationalise about when we're thinking of sinning, is about the way we feel afterwards - isn't that right? You can think of all the reasons why you should do it, and then when you do do it you think to yourself: 'Why did I do that?'. We need to beware of losing our mind.

We need to beware of losing our sensitivity, we need to beware of losing our discipline, we need to beware of losing our mind and losing our focus, but we need to beware like David of losing our purity - he fell! He lost his purity - this progressive degeneration, it led to sin - and the whole of the Old Testament testifies as to what happened to David after he fell. That one sin of adultery led to the sin of murder, as he put Uriah - the husband of Bathsheba - in the front line of the battle and he was murdered (before that he got him drunk!). One sin led to another, and his kingdom began to split up, his child that he bore to Bathsheba died, havoc was wrought in Israel - why? Because of David's sin. Now listen, God forgave him his sin - Psalm 51 is a testimony to that - but listen: don't you think that David is a licence to go and do what you want, because his life was never the same after it! Someone has said: 'Uriah was a better man drunk than David was, at that moment, sober'.

Do you know one of the tragedies of our time? The family altar has been lost. Fathers do not pray with their children, some hear them pray in the church and they don't hear them pray at home

Beware of being desensitised, beware of losing your discipline, beware of losing your focus, beware of losing your mind, beware of losing your purity - but let me, in finishing, just turn your eyes to Psalm 119 for a moment. The question remains this morning: how then, how can a young man, a young woman, or a middle-aged man - remember David was in his middle-age - how can we, in this stinking world, cleanse our way? There are three ways, in Psalm 119. The first thing is this: be careful to read. Be careful to read the word of God. He says this is how we cleanse our way: by living according to Your word. By reading the word of God we cleanse our minds, we cleanse our heart and our life. Let me ask you today, and it might seem silly asking a Christian this but I'm going to: do you read the word of God? Do you really read it, young person? Do you have a scheme for reading it day by day, until you read large chunks of the word of God? Do you meditate upon it until it's in your heart? Family, parents, do you read the word of God to your children? Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 6 says this: 'These commandments that I give you today, are to be upon your heart: impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up'. Listen, do you know one of the tragedies of our time? The family altar has been lost. Fathers do not pray with their children, some hear them pray in the church and they don't hear them pray at home. Parents don't read the word of God and teach the word of God to their children. Listen, this morning: read the word of God and that's how young men and young women will cleanse their way.

You need to read, but secondly you need to heed the word of God. Verse 9 of Psalm 119 says: 'How can a young man cleanse his way?' - well, it doesn't say by reading His word, it says: 'By living according to His word'. You see, it's not good enough to listen to the word of God, it's not good enough just to read it, to listen to it week after week - but listen: you must live the word of God! Sometimes when I sin, I sin and I think to myself: 'This Christian life's a sham! Nothing is changing in my life! These sins are still taking over my life!' - and I think to myself: 'I'm meant to be a new creature in Christ Jesus, why aren't things different?'. Do you know what's wrong? I expect my life to be changed, but I'm not willing to implement the word of God in my life. I'm not willing to read the word of God with a pen and paper in hand, and when God says to me: 'Don't do this', I write down: 'Endeavour not to do this in your life'. And when we start obeying and implementing the word of God in our life, young people, our lives will be changed!

We need to read the word of God, we need to heed the word of God, and we need to hide the word of God. Verse 11 of Psalm 119 says: 'I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You'. We need to memorise the word of God, and when we do that - when we chew over, like chewing the cud - it becomes part of our lives, and we become epistles - letters, biblical books - written unto the people around us.

How do you get oxygen out of a bottle? You can get a hoover if you want and you can try and suck it out. You can try and suck it out with your mouth if you want, but the best way to get oxygen out of a bottle is to pour water into it. And the way we cleanse our minds, this morning, the way we get the filth of this world out of our heads, is when we pour in the word of God and then all the dross will come out.

The world - listen - the world holds the right opinion, that there can be no such a thing as a worldly Christian - they have that opinion and they're right!

Let me ask you in closing: are we going to be the dummies of the world? The world - listen - the world holds the right opinion, that there can be no such a thing as a worldly Christian - they have that opinion and they're right! Do not, as Romans 12 verse 2 says, do not let the world - young people - press you into its mould. Let's be honest this morning: who has a problem with purity? Who doesn't have a problem with purity? I'll tell you this morning: I have a problem with it. I have a problem with this aspect of purity. And the question to my heart and to your heart this morning is: will we dance to the tune of the television network? Will we make our home the environment where the scripts of the soaps will dictate and will impose a humanist, secularist agenda onto our children? Or will we let the word of God rule our lives? Not in a legalistic way with rules and regulations, but in a vital way, in a worthy way of the Gospel liberty of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Have you failed? Have you? I've failed many times. Have you wandered? Well, why not come back and let the blood of Christ cleanse you from your sin, and let the word of God wash you from that filth? One verse, and I finish with this, that gives me great joy is this - Jude verse 24: 'To him who is able to keep us from stumbling' - and if we read the word of God and inwardly digest it, and implement it into our lives, He is able to keep us from slipping up. May God help you, this morning, to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

What is a “dark night of the soul”?

The phrase “dark night of the soul” comes from a poem by St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), a Spanish Carmelite monk and mystic, whose Noche obscura del alma is translated “The Dark Night of the Soul.” This eight-stanza poem outlines the soul’s journey from the distractions and entanglements of the world to the perfect peace and harmony of union with God. According to the poet, the “dark night of the soul” is synonymous with traveling the “narrow way” that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13-14.

The monk taught that one seeking God will cast off all attachments to this world and live a life of austerity. Before attaining union with God, however, the soul must pass through a personal experience of Christ’s passion. This time of testing and agony is accompanied by confusion, fear, and uncertainty—including doubts of God—but on the other side are Christ’s glory, serenity, and a mystical union with God.

The dark night is not pleasant, but to the end that it allows one to approach nearer to God and His love, the poet calls it a “happy night” and a “night more lovely than the dawn.” At the end of one’s journey, he concludes, God takes away all feeling, leaving the traveler senseless to everything except the presence of God Himself.

From a theological standpoint, the concept of a dark night of the soul fits with the Catholic teaching of the necessity of purgatory and of earning God’s favor through penance and other works. However, the idea of a step-by-step process of self-denial and affliction culminating in glory is not taught in Scripture. Jesus predicted that His followers would face persecution (John 15:20), but He also gives His peace to those same followers (John 14:27). A believer has God’s peace now; he doesn’t have to experience a “dark night” first (Romans 5:1). The child of God is already seated “in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Neither Jesus nor the apostles ever taught a “dark night of the soul.”

The ideas contained in “The Dark Night of the Soul” have been applied in contexts outside of Catholicism. Protestants have been known to use the phrase to describe a period of questioning one’s salvation. And the phrase is sometimes used generically to describe any type of mental, emotional, or spiritual anguish.

What is the meaning of life?

What is the meaning of life? How can purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction in life be found? How can something of lasting significance be achieved? Many people have never stopped to consider these important questions. They look back years later and wonder why their relationships have fallen apart and why they feel so empty, even though they may have achieved what they set out to accomplish. An athlete who had reached the pinnacle of his sport was once asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing his sport. He replied, “I wish that someone would have told me that when you reach the top, there’s nothing there.” Many goals reveal their emptiness only after years have been wasted in their pursuit.
In our humanistic culture, people lose sight of the meaning of life. They pursue many things, thinking that in them they will find meaning and purpose. Some of these pursuits include business success, wealth, good relationships, sex, entertainment, and doing good to others. People have testified that, while they achieved their goals of wealth, relationships, and pleasure, there was still a deep void inside, a feeling of emptiness that nothing seemed to fill.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes looked for the meaning of life in many vain pursuits. He describes the feeling of emptiness he felt: “Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, had wealth beyond measure, wisdom beyond any man of his time or ours, hundreds of women, palaces and gardens that were the envy of kingdoms, the best food and wine, and every form of entertainment available. He said at one point that anything his heart wanted, he pursued (Ecclesiastes 2:10). And yet he summed up life “under the sun”—life lived as though all there is to life is what we can see with our eyes and experience with our senses—is meaningless. What explains this void? God created us for something beyond what we can experience in the here-and-now. Solomon said of God, “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In our hearts we are aware that the “here-and-now” is not all that there is.

In the book of Genesis, we find a clue to the meaning of life in the fact that God created mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). This means that we are more like God than we are like anything else. We also find that, before mankind fell and the curse of sin came upon the earth, the following things were true: 1) God made man a social creature (Genesis 2:18–25); 2) God gave man work (Genesis 2:15); 3) God had fellowship with man (Genesis 3:8); and 4) God gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26). These facts have significance related to the meaning of life. God intended mankind to have fulfillment in life, but our condition (especially touching our fellowship with God) was adversely affected by the fall into sin and the resulting curse upon the earth (Genesis 3).

The book of Revelation shows that God is concerned with restoring the meaning of life to us. God reveals that He will destroy this present creation and create a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, He will restore full fellowship with redeemed mankind, while the unredeemed will have been judged unworthy and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11–15). The curse of sin will be done away with; there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, death, or pain (Revelation 21:4). God will dwell with mankind, and they shall be His children (Revelation 21:7). Thus, we come full circle: God created us to have fellowship with Him; man sinned, breaking that fellowship; God restores that fellowship fully in the eternal state. To go through life achieving everything we set out to achieve only to die separated from God for eternity would be worse than futile! But God has made a way to not only make eternal bliss possible (Luke 23:43) but also life on earth satisfying and meaningful. How is this eternal bliss and “heaven on earth” obtained?

The meaning of life restored through Jesus Christ

The real meaning of life, both now and in eternity, is found in the restoration of our relationship with God. This restoration is only possible through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to God (Romans 5:10; Acts 4:12; John 1:12; 14:6). Salvation and eternal life are gained when we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Once that salvation is received by grace through faith, Christ makes us new creations, and we begin the progressive journey of growing closer to Him and learning to rely on Him.

God wants us to know the meaning of life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). A “full” life is logically one that is meaningful and devoid of aimless wandering.

The meaning of life is wrapped up in the glory of God. In calling His elect, God says, “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them” (Isaiah 43:7, NLT). The reason we were made is for God’s glory. Any time we substitute our own glory for God’s, we miss the meaning of life. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24–25). “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).