Phil Beach Jr. warns against the spiritual dangers of leaven, emphasizing the need for vigilance in our hearts and homes. He highlights the importance of recognizing the leaven that corrupts our lives and the church, urging believers to seek a fresh vision of the unleavened Christ. The sermon calls for accountability and transparency in our relationships, especially within families, to combat the subtle infiltration of sin. Beach stresses that true revival comes from a deep encounter with the moral majesty of Jesus, which leads to genuine repentance and transformation. Ultimately, he encourages the congregation to run to Christ for healing and strength in these perilous times.

A word from the Lord that God has given me over the past couple weeks. Shall we bow our hearts? Father, thank you so much for your presence. Thank you, Lord, that we are so aware that there is only one in our midst who is the righteous one, our blessed Lord Jesus. And we see in him, Lord, everything that pleases you. And we also see in him everything that we are desperately in need of. And Father, we pray that your word today would be living and powerful and sharper than a sword, that it would pierce into the depths of our being, it would search out the very intents and motives of our heart, and it would bring both conviction and healing. It would expose and uproot and pull out that which is potentially deadly, and at the same time it would plant and cause to come forth that which comes from you. Now, Father, we ask in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that you would bear witness to your word today and that it would bring the desired purpose of your heart, namely the increase of the moral majesty of your Son in our lives, in our hearts, starting in our families, starting in our bedrooms, starting in our homes, and building out into our lives, into the fellowship of the church, and into the interactions we have with those who are without hope in the world. We pray, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. This will be entitled, The Danger of Leaven. The Danger of Leaven. First of all, some introductory thoughts. We have recently been, by God's grace, given the ability and the privilege of interacting with family members, and in doing so, our recent trip, we have become brokenhearted because of the spiritual darkness and struggles that are occurring in so many folks that God has enabled us to have fellowship with. And consequently, as a result of this grief and sorrow that has been in our hearts, the Lord has birthed this word in my own spirit, first applied to my own life, first applied to every area in my heart, in my soul, and in my spirit, then implemented into my family and into my children with fear and trembling. And now I share it with everyone that God might bear witness to this and help us. We need sobriety in our hearts and in our homes. We need a sober mind. We need to be awakened from the continual tendency that living in this world produces, and that is a spirit of sleep, a spirit of slumber, a spirit of carelessness when it comes to the things of God. There is a spell that is cast upon the children of this world, and it is a spell that blinds the heart from seeing the glory of God, blinds the heart from loving what God loves, and it drives the unregenerate heart into a love affair with the things of this world, living in illusions and delusions. And as the church of Jesus Christ, we must guard with all the power of grace and all the power of the Holy Spirit and all the power of the word of God, we must guard against the infiltration of this spell from getting into our hearts and into our minds. The devil is playing for keeps. He wants your soul, my soul, and the souls of our children and grandchildren, and he will implement anything that he can in order to bring destruction and ruin into our lives. There's only one way of escape, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so today as we look into the word of God, I'm asking the Lord to give us a sense of urgency regarding His heart, regarding the state of things, regarding the condition of this country, not only this country, but the condition of things on a global scene. Beloved, we are living in the last days, more so now than when the Bible was written, more so now than last generation. There are circumstances and conditions which I will not get into at this time, perhaps at a future time we'll devote an entire class to this, but there are circumstances and conditions that are present in this current generation that have never been present since the beginning of time that indicate this age is coming to an end. This church age is coming to an end. And so if there was ever a time in the history of the world when we as God's people need to be living in a careful, guarded, vigilant way, it is now. It is now. So, the danger of leaven. First of all, I want to invite you to turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1. The book of Revelation was written approximately 90 AD, somewhere between 90 or 100 AD. It was approximately 30 years after Paul had gone on to be with the Lord. At this time, when the book of Revelation was given, the church which was in the world, had been in the world for approximately 60 years since the ascension of Christ and the reception of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, had begun to experience a decline spiritually. There was all manner of things going on within the realm of the church that were unacceptable to God. And so the last word that Jesus Christ gives us that closed out the New Testament was the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation deals with not only God's heart for the church, but it deals with a panoramic view of the judgments that are going to come upon the nations of the earth, upon the nation of Israel, and the coming of the Lord, and the establishing of a millennial kingdom. But in addition to that, the book of Revelation takes us beyond that, and it coincides with much of Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 10, Daniel chapter 12, Daniel chapter 8, various chapters in the book of Daniel. It takes us beyond that to the time of the great white throne judgment when Christ will sit as the judge and he'll judge all people. And so this book is a wonderful book. But in particular, in dealing with this subject of beware of leaven, beware of leaven, I want to begin in Revelation chapter 1 verse 9. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. John was in exile for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Now as we read this, remember, Christendom was in the midst of a horrendous spiritual decline. Another way of saying it, leaven had gotten into Christendom and was corrupting the testimony. Leaven. And we'll go in more detail shortly, the nature of this leaven. But suffice to say, at this moment, there is leaven in the testimony. There is leaven in the Christendom. What is God's response when he sees leaven? What is God's response? This is a principle. Listen carefully, dear ones. This is a principle. Whenever there is the presence of leaven in our hearts, in our minds, in our homes, in our church, in our fellowshipping, where whatever the circumstances are, if there is ever a condition of dangerous, damnable leaven that lurks in the midst, God has one response and one response alone. It is not a call to legalism. It is not a call to try harder. It is not a call to put on more glossy, goldy religious garments. There is only one response that God has. And it is revealed here. This response governs everything that God does in relation to his church. Whenever there is some kind of leaven, it's the same response that God brings about each and every time there is leaven that needs to be dealt with. Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Write this down. Whenever leaven needs to be purged, God gives a revelation of the man without leaven. You or I cannot purge ourselves from leaven. No matter how hard we try, we can't do it. We think we can. We birth a religion. There is only one way to deal with leaven and it is to see the unleavened one himself. Behold the Lamb of God. The significance of that statement, behold the Lamb of God, we don't have time to deal with it. But in order for a lamb to qualify to be a sacrifice, it had to pass very, very careful scrutiny. It had to pass certain regulations and rules. It couldn't be without blemish. It couldn't have any crippling characteristics. It had to be a certain size. And so when John the Baptist said behold the Lamb of God, he was in fact saying by the Holy Ghost, and this is what the Holy Ghost is saying to you and I today, behold the unleavened one. See the man in whom there is no leaven. If the eyes of our heart grow dim, listen carefully, if the eyes of our heart grow dim of seeing the unleavened one, then inevitably we will give place to leaven in our life. Because there is no way to see properly the leaven that is ingrained in us and ingrained in our tendencies and our thoughts and our actions and our plans and our movements, there is no way to see it. Unless the eyes of our heart are continuously seeing the unleavened one. It is only in thy light that we see, the Psalm says. God is light and in him is no darkness. It wasn't until Peter saw a glimpse of the moral majesty of the man Christ Jesus and saw that he was the unleavened spotless Lamb of God that his heart cried out, depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man. Beware of the leaven. How are we addressing the leaven in our own hearts? Listen carefully, listen carefully. What is your plan to guard against the leaven that lurks in your life every day? If you have no plan, then I can assure you that you are being beguiled and deceived by this leaven. It is somehow, someway affecting you and leading you away from God's perfect thought. Moreover, every parent here, listen carefully. How are you dealing with the leaven in your family and in your children? And once again, we can say conclusively that if you have no plan and if there is no plan that is actively being engaged, then you can be sure that there is leaven infiltrating in the lives of your family and in the lives of your children. And though it might currently be in a covert way, you can be sure according to the word of the Lord that a little leaven will what? Ruin and infest the whole lump. And this is what is devastating to the heart when we see it. Verse 11, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. And then he lists the seven churches. Verse number 12, And I turned to see the voice of him that spoke to me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one likened unto the Son of Man. In the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, there was the unleavened spotless Lamb of God that was in the midst of the church. And the Holy Spirit said to John, John, I want you to write what you see to the seven churches. What did John see? John saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. In other words, the Holy Spirit was saying, John, I want you to bring a fresh heavenly vision and revelation to the church of the unleavened man in glory, because it is only the unleavened man in glory, and it is only what he is in his moral majesty that I will accept in my church, that I will accept in the families in the church. And the Holy Spirit is saying, warn them, John, and we'll find this to be true. We might not have time, but this is what the book of Ezekiel is all about. The book of Ezekiel, God took the man Ezekiel, and he became a type of Christ. And God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the house of Israel while they were in Babylonian captivity, and begin to unveil to Ezekiel the leaven that lurked in the sanctuary of God. The images of jealousy, the weeping for the false gods of taboos, the weeping, that was a form of worship, to weep over these false gods. This was going on in the house of God, in the sanctuary of God. And so here's what the Holy Spirit is saying in this section of scripture. John, I have given you a fresh unveiling of the unleavened one. This fresh vision that was deposited in the church by Paul, because who was it that had a ministry all throughout Asia Minor? Paul. Paul's ministry touched every one of these churches 30 years earlier. But what happened? What happened? In 30 years, spiritual decline occurred. And it is so easy, it is not deep, beloved. The thing that happened was, they lost sight of the Son of Man. They lost sight of the unleavened man in glory. They lost sight of His radiant glory. They lost sight of His purity. They lost sight of His holiness. They lost sight of His moral majesty. They no longer wept in His presence. They no longer bowed down at His feet. They no longer feared Him. But they had an active Christian religion. They were no longer renouncing the hidden things of dishonesty like Paul did. And Paul taught in his epistle to the church in Corinth, they no longer allowed their conscience to be subjected to God so that there was nothing in their conscience that troubled them. They were not living in the pure light of the Lamb of God. But they had embraced the leaven, the leaven that was in their own lives. That which is entangled with sin, human wisdom, human judgment, human ambition, human plans, even serving the Lord and devoted to Christianity. But with that devotion, there's a personal interest, a personal investment that I'm trying to get for myself. So subtle, so subtle that only the unleavened man can reveal this. But because the eyes of their heart had grown dim to see the glory of the Lamb, God gives John this revelation and says right to the churches, God is speaking to us all as the shepherd in our midst. And He's lovingly warning each and every one of us this morning. It is only a vision and a life of utter abandonment to the unleavened Lamb of God, the man in glory that will preserve us and keep us from falling prey to the spell that is currently being cast upon the world. And in the midst, verse 13, of the seven candlesticks, one likened unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot. Clothed with a garment, the priesthood of Christ, the kingliness of Christ, the prophetic nature of Christ, a vision of the man in whom everything about him is pleasing to God and in whom everything that we need is located. Brothers and sisters, we need a readjustment of location. A readjustment of location. What we need is not located in ourselves. What we need is not located within the sphere of our wisdom, the sphere of our understanding. Even if it's enlightened, even if it's enlightened understanding and wisdom. Cursed is the man. Woe is the man that glories in his own wisdom, that trusts in his own might. But blessed is the man that glories in the Lord and knows that it is from Him, from Him, that he derives his life. Christ is the one clothed with the garments, the priestly garments, the kingly garments, the garments indicating He is the Prophet. He's the only one that knows the way. He's the only one that enables us to approach God as the High Priest. He's the only one that has embodied within Himself the kingly attributes and virtues that reflect the likeness of His Father in Heaven. Who are you hanging around with? Who are you spending time with, beloved? What are you filling your mind with, beloved? If it's not the aroma of that man in glory, then the leaven that lurks within will seduce us. It will seduce us. No matter how hard we try, no matter what we think, no matter how spiritual we think we are, we'll be deceived. Let us stray and it will defile our children. It is a vision of the man in glory that God gives to John and commands him to tell the church. And the need of the hour right now, beloved, is nothing more or nothing less than this. We need men and women. We need fathers. We need young men who will bow before God and in His Word until they get a revelation of the man in glory and then arise from their feet and in brokenness and in humility and in fear and trembling, declare the vision, declare it, speak it forth into the lives of your children, into the lives of your wife, into the lives of your brothers and sisters. This is what we need today. There is an urgent need for an unveiling and revelation of the man in glory to infiltrate our homes. Some will mock this. Some will despise it. Some will say it's extremism. Let them say it. Let them say it. But to we who know differently, it is our very salvation in life. Our very salvation in life. One lichen under the Son of Man clothed with garments to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle. Golden girdle. Gold is an indication of that humanity. That glorified humanity that perfectly reveals deity. Gold is a picture of deity. But it is deity in humanity. That's what God is after. He's not after an outward form of religion called Christianity. He's not after an outward ritual. He's not after nice sounds of singing. He's not after a polished religion. He is after a revelation of the communicable attributes of deity in humanity. A new humanity. A new man. God is after the revelation of what Christ is in the church. That's his passion. That is his heart. And we have seen in our own lives and in the lives of others that whenever this vision of the meaning of Christianity grows dim to something else, leaven begins to take over. And this leaven corrupts, this leaven destroys, this leaven ruins, and this leaven brings heartache, it brings depression, it brings divorce, it brings utter destruction, it brings confusion and ruin. So God is displaying to John. He's displaying to John the meaning of Christianity. God is remonstrating against the false testimony that had crept in from the time Paul died in 66 AD to this time. God is remonstrating against it. You know what the word remonstrate means? To protest against something. God is a remonstrator. God called Jeremiah and Ezekiel to be remonstrators. To protest against that which is not according to God's heart. And brothers and sisters, Christ is the remonstrator. He stands in glory in the midst of the church as he does in every one of the addresses that God gave to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Every time each church is addressed, the first thing that is dealt with is what? A vision of Christ. Each church is given a particular aspect of one of the heavenly attributes of Christ. And so each church is confronted with a vision of Christ, and it's as the church is confronted with a vision of Christ, that leaven, whatever it is, is exposed. In some instances it was a false doctrine. In other instances it was allowing that woman Jezebel to teach and seduce the Lord's servants to eat food, sacrifice to idols, and to indulge in immorality. In other instances it was to reveal that the church had fallen from her first love. In other instances it was to reveal that the church was embracing the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And Jesus said twice in the book of Revelation, which thing I hate? The doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And so it is inevitable that when there is a fresh unveiling and vision of the unleavened man in glory, inevitably we see our own leaven. We see our own lack. We see our own sin. And we can deal with it. We can confess it. We can go to one another, confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. Accountability is imperative in the Christian world, in the Christian life. Accountability, being vulnerable, being willing to share your struggles, being willing to share your faults, being willing to share your shortcomings and your sins with those whom the Holy Spirit has brought you in contact with, praying for one another. A sure sign of losing sight of the man in glory is no longer feeling the need to be transparent and open and honest one with another. That's when darkness begins to grow. That's when our deeds are in darkness and we're no longer accountable. Every parent needs to encourage their children and teach their children and model to their children accountability and transparency. Accountability and transparency. Teach your children how to be accountable. Teach them how to be transparent. Teach them how to share their struggles. Teach them that when they sin and do something wrong, that they can confess it to the and to one another. Teach them this. It's not going to happen through osmosis. They need to be taught this. Teach them that God is merciful and He's kind and gracious to those who confess and forsake their sin. Though God condemned the nation of Israel during the time of Babylonian captivity, yet Ezekiel continuously spoke of a remnant who would come out and be blessed. That remnant was simply those among those who were condemned that acknowledged their sin and repented. That's what all the remnant means. The remnant is not a certain elect people who somehow escape the judgment or somehow escape being indicted. No! Just like Cain and Abel. Sometimes people think Abel must have been a really righteous man and Cain must have been a horrible sinner. Absolutely not. There's no evidence in the Bible to support that. Cain was no different than Abel. They were both born of a woman and they were both sinners. What made Cain an unrighteous man was how he came to God, the sacrifice he brought to God. And what made Abel a righteous man was how he came to God and the sacrifice he trusted in. And so the remnant, those who come out from this judgment, because this is an end time, this is an eschatological phenomenon. God has judged the church from the very beginning but there is a certain time at the end when judgment will be escalated in the house of God. And those who come out from that judgment, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, those who are alive and remain or the living ones left behind, left over. That's what the Greek actually says. The church that comes through the judgment will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Will be ready. A bride without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So as we continue on we see a vision of the man in glory. A vision of the man in glory and it is a good thing to know the Holy Spirit cannot overemphasize the need to see the man in glory today. Gird about a garment down to the feet and gird about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hair white like wool. Purity. White. The absence of all darkness. The absence of all deceit. The absence of all guile. The absence of all impure motives. The absence of all selfish ambition. The absence of anything and everything that is unlike the character and nature of God. Where is that? Where can we find such a man? Behold the Lamb of God. His head and hair white and his eyes as a flame of fire. Able to penetrate and see. In one of the churches, I believe it was Thyatira, he says, I am the Lord that searched the hearts and reins. I am the Lord that sees right into the very heart and depth and I will give every man according to what he has done. This is the gospel of grace. This is the New Testament. This is how Jesus offers grace and truth. And his feet like undefined brass. That's judgment. Judgment. Brass is indicative of judgment. The judgment that, all the judgment in the New Testament is based on this principle. Christ is the standard. Who he is in his moral radiant glory is the standard. And everything will be judged by that standard. And he offers all of us the invitation by faith to come to Christ and to repudiate everything and anything in our life that is contrary to the moral righteousness and radiant glory that's in Christ. Repudiate it. Agree by faith that it has been buried and set aside at Calvary and actively believe and pursue after that purity and righteousness that is inherent within the man in glory. That's the nature of the judgment. That's it right there. His feet as fine brass. Verse 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. This indicates that the only words that Jesus ever speaks are words of truth. The sword which is the word of God. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We need, listen carefully, we need a renewal of our minds so that we do not become beguiled by the words of man. Brothers and sisters, if you are an addict to TV, movies, radio, television, whatever it is in this world where you hear men speak, you are going to become deluded in thinking that God is like man. This man in glory has a sharp two-edged sword that comes out of his mouth and every time he speaks it is truth. Christ never speaks that which is not truth. We need a revival of a renewed sense of hearing our Lord speak to us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit. We are in a seeker-friendly culture where it's all about don't offend anyone, don't hurt anybody, don't say anything offensive. But brothers and sisters, such a concept is not in the heart of God. Listen carefully, Christ is not politically correct. He is not politically correct. He doesn't walk on eggshells in the midst of His people making sure that He doesn't say anything that's going to offend anyone. And the more we come to know Him and let Him etch in us His moral majesty, the less we will walk on eggshells and the more we will speak the truth in love one to another. Isn't that what somebody said? Someone say that? Speaking the truth in love one to another? Think it was Paul? Why do you think Paul was such a hated man and hunted and despised and eventually who forsook Paul? The world? No. Who did? The church forsook him. Why? Because he became so united to the man in glory that through that mortal man, that flawed mortal man, there was the mighty majesty of the unflawed man being revealed and it got too hot. People didn't want it. They didn't want to deal with it. Paul said amazingly to Timothy, and then we're going to get back here and have a few more scriptures. He said, don't be ashamed of who? He said two things. He said, don't be ashamed of the Lord nor of who? Wow. For Paul to be so close to Christ that he could actually say to Timothy, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the Lord nor me. What was that implying? The Lord had fleshed out in Paul's life so much of his moral majesty that when you associated with the man Paul, you were associating very much so with the man in glory. Oh, that God would have a people, He will in this last hour, who will shine with the bright and morning star so much, so much, that when you touch him, you're touching the moral majesty of the man in glory. And his voice was the sound of many waters. Verse 16, and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp sword, and his countenance was that of the sun in his strength. His countenance. You know the first time the word countenance is mentioned in the Bible? It's when Cain sinned and his countenance fell. So the countenance reveals the state of the inner heart. Christ's countenance was what? As the brightness of the sun, which indicated that there was nothing in the depths of his being, into the very center of who he was. That was dark. Brothers and sisters, we need this man. We need to run to him. What man do you want to reveal? What man do you want to reveal? It's either this man or what we are in ourselves. And I don't know about you, brothers and sisters, but to reveal what we are in ourselves is to sow into the lives of our children and our brothers and sisters in Christ that which on the day of judgment will what? Perish. It'll burn. Right, Brian? It'll burn. It'll be carried away like chaff. Can you imagine depositing 20, 30 years worth of you, and then you see that on the day of judgment turn into a puff of smoke, and all that you deposited is of worthless value in the eternal scheme of things? The words, the influences, that's what the day of judgment is. Verse 17. There's a lot of talk about revivals that are going on in different places in the country. At this time I am not permitted to speak either pro or con. Perhaps in the future I will. I'm asking the Lord. But I know one thing. I've seen them on TV, and I've heard some people talking about them, and I see something lacking that troubles me. And that is verse number 17. Whenever true revival breaks out, and the eyes of the heart truly see the man in glory and not men talking about him, this is what happens. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. I fell at his feet as dead. I collapsed. I went down. And he laid his right hand upon me saying, fear not, for I am the first and the last, and I am he that lives and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death. I am the triumphant one, he's saying. I am the overcomer. I am the one who has the keys of death and hell. I am the one. I have power over everything. All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. I am the man in glory. I am the new man. I am the man of God's own heart. That's the man I want to know. That's the man that I want to grow passionately in love with. Do you want to know that man? Together we can know him. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which are yet hereafter. And then he gives a little revelation here. The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels, or the messengers. Now in Revelation chapter 22, Jesus is called the bright and morning star. And his messengers, those in the midst of the church who are his messengers representing him are called what? Stars. Why? What's the significance of that? The bright and morning star, and little stars. In other words, a true messenger has to represent the moral nature of the bright and morning star. If the bright and morning star is a star, then his messengers are little stars. If the bright and morning star is righteous, then his messengers are righteous as he is. If the bright and morning star is the great prophet who reveals the secrets of men's hearts, then his messengers in him must do the same. They are stars because they don't take on the image and likeness of what they are in their ethnicity, or in their religious tradition. They don't bear the labels and titles of men. They represent the bright and morning star. And these messengers are where? In his right hand, held by him. And the seven golden candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches. God sees them as golden candlesticks. A few more Scriptures. Time check please. All right, 135. Hebrews chapter 1. Remember beloved, remember beloved, this is a plea from the heart of God to each one of us. Beware of the leaven. The answer, God's response, God's response to the leaven is a renewed vision of the unleavened one himself. This is the nature of the work of the Holy Spirit. This is what happens when we are truly filled with the Spirit. Our hearts are captured with a vision of the man in glory. Now, Hebrews chapter 1, verse number 4, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of God's glory, the exact representation of his person. Verse 3, he upholds everything by the word of his power. What a sovereign God, what a sovereign God. Do you know that we don't break up right now because he's holding us? Do you know that we just dissolve into nothingness? Do you know that we wake up morning by morning and we're on a physical planet? We see physical realities. Why are they all being held together? Because Christ, the mighty God, holds them together by the word of his power. The word of his power. My God, we serve an awesome God. Don't you want to get to know him? Don't you? Do you think he can hold together your life? Do you think he can hold together your situation? Do you think he can hold together the trial you're going through, the difficulty you're going through? Yes, a thousand times he can hold it together. This is why he walks in our midst so often and says what he said to his own disciples, oh, you have little faith. What is it that they said of him when they saw his glory? What manner of man is this that even the winds obey him? Remember, in the stormy sea, he arose and he said, what? Peace. Be still. And the storm quieted. That's the Christ that we can know. That's the Christ that we can love. That's the Christ that we can run to. What are you going through now? What's the deepest pain in your heart right now? The deepest fear? What is it? Identify it and say, I'm running to you with this, Lord. I'm running to you because you are a sovereign God. Verse four, being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name. Let's move on down to verse number eight. But unto the son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness, a scepter of thy kingdom. Verse nine, for thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Christ loves righteousness and he hates iniquity. And we must find in him the ever-present limitless grace so that our hearts can love what God loves and hate what God hates. We must love what God loves and hate what God hates. We must affirm what God loves and embrace it and we must remonstrate against what God hates and we must flee from it. We must condemn what God condemns. We must curse what God curses and we must embrace and love what God loves. Now are we doing that? Parents, are we doing it? Are we sitting our children down and saying, listen, you're hearing a message from the world. It's okay to be sexually immoral. It's okay to do what feels good. But I want to set the record straight in my family. Come on dad, mom, I want to set the record straight in my family. It's not okay to do what feels good. It's not okay to be sexually immoral. God condemns adultery and those who practice it shall not inherit the kingdom of God. We've got to do it. We've got to do it, beloved. We've got to take a stand. We've got to love what God loves and hate what God hates. First Corinthians chapter 5. Why did Christ come in the book of Revelation and stand in the midst of the churches and have harsh words to say to five out of seven of them? Why? Because they no longer affirmed that they loved what Christ loved and hated what he hated. And that's what sets us up to be judged by our loving God. When our lives and our actions and our lifestyles begin to condone what God condemns and bless what God curses, we are setting ourselves up for the righteous judgment of God. After this, I have one more scripture and then we'll close. First Corinthians chapter 5. Paul said, it is reported commonly among you that there's fornication going on, sexual immorality, but not even the kind that people who don't know the Lord is engaging in. So what was Paul saying here? You're the church and you're engaging in a form of sin that people who don't even know God don't engage in. What was their response? Verse number two, and you are puffed up, you're boasting, you're proud, and have not rather what? Mourn. The word there means to be deeply grieved, to be grieved to sorrow that he that has done this deed might be taken away from you. Verse six, your glorying is not good. Listen, here's what Paul was saying. This, listen, this is what God is saying to every one of us. You're making light of sin is not good. I recently talked to a friend of mine, a brother, someone I've known for 25 years. He was talking to me and he said, Phil, sin no longer bothers me. I nearly fell over. I nearly fell over on there. Excuse me. He said, yes, sin no longer bothers me. I'm so aware that God sees me through his son, true, and that I am accepted in Christ because of the blood, true, that sin doesn't even bother me anymore. I just figure when God's ready, he'll deal with it. And then he goes on to say, and it doesn't bother me when I see it in my children because I know God will take care of it. Brothers and sisters, that is pure insanity. That is deception. That is an illusion. Your glorying is not good. You're making light of sin is not good. Being accepted in God through Christ is never a license to condone sin or to take it lightly or to just, oh, whatever. Whenever God's ready, he'll deal with it. No, never. Being accepted in Christ is the freedom we have now to deal with sin. It is the freedom we have never to be a slave to sin. It empowers us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts. Titus chapter 2. Be aware of any doctrine, any spirit, any preacher, any prophet, or any book that you read and the net effect is that you no longer feel the need to truly grieve over sin. Beware of it. It is a deceiving, lying spirit. The closer you get to Christ, the more you hate sin and the more you love righteousness and the more you want nothing to do with sin and the more you want nothing to do with those you love with sin. Don't forget that. Your glorying is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? What does Paul say? Purge out. Purge out. Purge it. Get rid of it. In one instance, didn't Jesus say if your eye causes you to sin, what are you supposed to do with it? Pluck it out. He was speaking metaphorically, not literally. If your hand causes you to sin, what are you supposed to do? Cut it off. Now, does that sound like an easy way of dealing with sin? Does that sound like just, well, whatever. Whatever. No. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Purge. Purge it out. Purge out there for the old leaven that you may be a new lump. As you are unleavened for even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened. That's Christ. And the fruit of being intimately involved with Christ is sincerity, which is purity and truth. Purity and truth is the characteristic of those who are living in the light. One last scripture. Please be patient, five minutes. Ezekiel chapter 9. Ezekiel chapter 9. This is a picture of the judgment that God brought on the nation of Israel while they were in the Babylonian captivity. He did this because they drifted from the Lord God and following Him, and they allowed their hearts and their lives and the temple that they built for Him to become desecrated with abominable practices and deeds that were unlike Jehovah God. And God said, I can't tolerate it. But before the judgment came, listen to what God says. And this is where we're closing. Verse 3. And the glory of God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, wherever he was, to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man clothed with linen, which had written by the side. And the Lord said unto him, listen, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the forehead of all the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. And to the other, the rest, that is to those who are not mourning and sighing over the abominations that are being done to the rest, he said in my hearing, go after and through the city and smite and let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. Slay old, young, maids, little children, women. But listen, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark. And then what does it say? And begin at my sanctuary. First Peter 4.17. That's where Peter got this revelation. He said, judgment shall begin first in the house of God. But who will escape this judgment and come through and be the living ones? First Thessalonians 4.16 through 20. Who will come through this judgment and escape and be those who alive and remain, those who are living and are left? Who will? Right here it says, those who are mourning and sighing because of the abominations, because of the sin and who are crying out to the man in glory, Lord, not me, but you, not my righteousness, but yours. Those who are weeping and interceding for their family and speaking truth to their brothers and sisters and husbands and wives and children. Those not self-righteous who claim to be better, no, but those who have seen the man in glory, who have fallen dead at his feet and who in meekness and brokenness are crying out, Lord, have mercy on my family. Have mercy on me. Those who are dealing with sin, those who are dealing with deceit, those who are dealing with any form of leaven that the Lord reveals, they shall escape. They will go through the judgment and be purified and will be found spotless because it will be the life of Christ that is given the ascendancy. And it is those who will be looking for him on tiptoes and they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words. Now, I apologize for the lengthiness and the volume of information that was presented. I apologize. I generally don't like to give this much because I know overload is so easy, but I had to deliver this burden from the Lord. It's on tape. I encourage you to get it. Thank Norman for putting the messages on the website. And I just want to commit this to the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to take this word and to stir our hearts, to be zealous, to run to the man in glory and in him find all that we need. Father, we all stand guilty before you. We all see Lord in the presence of that man in glory in whom there is no leaven, how prone we are to stray as sheep. But today, Lord, we have heard your warning. We have heard the judgments that will come, but we've also heard the heart of a loving Savior saying, come unto me. Come to the throne of grace, the throne of mercy, and there you can find all the help you need. Lord, we come to you. We pray for broken hearts, humble hearts, hearts willing to confess any sin, any darkness, any leaven that you may have exposed, knowing that as we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to present us spotless before you in Christ. I ask, Lord, you'll just take this word and purify us and bring us more and more into that lovely image and likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.