Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Very first time that you have seen this telecast. I
want you to know that the thing that we emphasize
on getting to Know your Bible is a word of God.
The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written.
Many years ago, there were those that wrote books that
thought they would replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine
(00:55):
thought when he wrote The Age of Reason. But the
Bible continues to live after century. Jesus said, heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.
So on getting to Know your Bible, we're teaching from
the timeless Word of God. The Bible is God's book,
the greatest book that has ever been written. And today
(01:17):
we're going to be opening up the pages of the
Word of God and delivering a message to you from
God's book. Today we're going to be seeing a one
of our classics that is a production of one of
our telecasts from time in the past, and we want
you to stay tuned. We're going to be offering a
(01:39):
free Bible Correspondence course today and we will see information
on the screen as to how you can receive that course.
And so we want to pause at this time.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
To help you in your study of the Bible. We
want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This course
is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's conducted
by mail, and it's free to receive this course. Right
to getting to Know Your Bible. Po Box three one four, Summerdale,
Alabama three six five eight zero or call toll free
(02:10):
one eight seven seven seven one one five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I'm reading today from the seventeenth chapter the Book of Acts, Acts,
chapter seventeen, and I want to read verse number six.
When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and
(02:48):
some brethren to the rulers of the city.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Crying out, these.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Who have turned the world upside down have.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Come here too.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
To give us a little idea about the background of
that statement. In the sixteenth chapter of Acts, Paul heard
the Macedonian call that's in verse nine, and he went
over into Macedonia. Now, the first person that Paul met
there was a woman by the name of Lydia, and
(03:28):
she was and some women were down at the river
and they were praying, and her heart was open to
the Gospel, and she became a Christian. And then Paul
and Silas were put into prison for preaching the Gospel.
And then there was the jailer that Paul taught, who
(03:52):
asked this question, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And after the.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Conversion of Lydia and her household and the jailer and
his household, Paul left and went to Apollonia and Amphibolus,
and then he entered into Thessalonika. This was on his
third missionary journey. Now, when he came into Thessalonika, he
(04:20):
did what he normally would do. He went to the
synagogue and he was reasoning in the synagogue for three
Sabbath days, and he was talking to the people in
the synagogue about Christ, how Christ suffered, how Christ was resurrected.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
If you will study carefully all of the sermons.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That the apostles preached, they all have the same content,
always about Christ, his suffering, his death on the cross,
and his resurrection. And there were though, who came. And
some of the people that heard that message were persuaded
(05:05):
and they began to believe what Paul taught them. And
there were others who disbelieved. They did not accept the
message that Paul preached to them, and as a result
of their disbelief their rejection of the message, they caused
(05:25):
a riot in the city. They stirred up trouble and
they began to look for Paul and Silas. They came
to the house of a Djason, and he was not there.
So they took Jason, and they took him out of
his home, brought him before the rulers of the city.
(05:48):
And this was the charge they made against them.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
The men.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
That have turned the world upside down have come here also.
Of course, what they really meant was they've turned our
world upside down. Papaul is preaching things that are contrary
to what we've always thought and always believed, and so
in their minds, Paul had turned the world upside down.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Through his preaching. I want you to think about the
world in Paul's day. First of all, think about the
Roman world. What was the Roman world.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Like in the days of the apostle Paul Well in Romans.
The first chapter, beginning in verse eighteen, Paul wrote to
the church at Rome things that were true about the
Roman world in that time. He said, for the wrath
of God he is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness
(06:54):
and on godliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God has been
manifest under them, because He showed it unto them. For
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
(07:15):
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
they're without excuse. Well, when they knew him as God,
they glorified him, not as God. Neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,
(07:36):
and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Going
back to the eighteenth verse, Paul said, God's wrath has
been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and against all.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Of those that would hold the truth.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Now that word whole simply means to suppress the truth,
to reject the truth. You see, in Paul's day, people
got to the point they said, we don't believe the truth,
and we don't need God anymore. It was Edward Gibbon
(08:15):
who wrote about the rise, declining the fall of the
Roman Empire, and in his work he gave some five
reasons that were contributing factors in the fall of Rome.
One of them was higher and higher taxes, the spending
of public moneys for free bread and circuses for the people.
(08:39):
Another was the rapid increase of divorce, the undermining of
the dignity and the sanctity of the home, which is
the basis of human society. Another reason he gave for
the fall of Rome was the mad craze for pleasure sports,
becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. And another
(09:01):
reason was the building of jiganting armaments when the real enemy,
the real enemy, was within the decadence, that is the
decay of the people. And the fifth reason he gave
for the fall of Rome was the decay of religion.
He said, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life,
(09:27):
and becoming impotent to warn and to guide the people.
You know, when you stop and think about those five
things that led to the demise of Rome, and you
compare that with modern man. It's frightening. It's absolutely frightening.
The very things that were at work in Rome that
(09:49):
led to Rome's fall are at work in our world today.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
So in Paul's day, in the.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Roman world, they said, we don't need God anymore. What
about the Jewish world in Paul's day, Well, the Jewish
world in Paul's day was not much different than our
world even today. You know, when Jesus was born, his
parents were trying to find a place to spend the night,
(10:20):
a place where Christ could be born. And in Luke
chapter two and verse seven tells us that they found
no room. In the end, and from the time that
Jesus was born into this world, the world even to
the present hour, does not have room for him. That is,
by and large, the world has always rejected the Lord
(10:43):
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
In John chapter one, verse eleven, the Bible says that
he came to his own and his own received him.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Not.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
In John chapter five, verse thirty nine, Jesus said, search
the scriptures, for in them you think you have life,
They which testify of me. And you were not coming
to me that you might have life. He wasn't telling
them to search the scriptures. He was saying to them,
you are searching the scriptures, and in the searching the scriptures,
(11:13):
you ought to know who I really am. But he said,
you are searching the scriptures, and they testify about me,
but you will not accept me. In Matthew chapter twenty one,
verse forty two, listen to Jesus the stone which the
builders rejected. The same is to become the head of
(11:38):
the corner rejected. And then in Matthew chapter twenty three,
verse thirty seven, Jesus is lamenting over the city of Jerusalem,
that this is a place where Jesus had done more
teaching than any other place in all of the world.
And Jesus wept over that city, and he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
(12:03):
thou that killest the prophets and stonest. Then to the
sinatet of thee, how often would I have gathered you
together as a hen gathers or chickens under wings, but
you would not behold your house is left under you desolate.
You see, the Roman world said we don't need God.
(12:24):
And in the days of Jesus, in the days of
the Apostle Paul and the Apostles, the Jewish world said,
we don't need Jesus. You know what about our world today?
What kind of a world do we live in today?
(12:44):
We live in a world of confused values. When I
think of a passage in the Bible that might best
describe the day in which we live, I think about
Jeremiah five, verses thirty and thirty one. A wonderful and
a horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets
(13:06):
prophesy falsely. The priests bahu by their means, and my
people love to have it so and so they're people
that are not really searching for that which is right.
And they have their values so twisted and so confused.
And they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
(13:30):
They put darkness for light and light for darkness. They
put evil for good and good for evil. They have
their values so warped, twisted and confused. We will live
in a time where people have a hard time understanding
(13:52):
the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
And the reason they have a hard time understanding the
difference between the two is because they believe that truth
is relative, and that there was no such thing as
an absolute standard of truth. We live in a time
(14:15):
where people are so confused that they do not know
the difference in a male and a female. You know,
God us made man in his image, and he made.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Them male and female.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But we live in a time where people think they
are smarter than God, confuse values. We live in a
time where life is so cheap, so cheap. You know,
God is the giver of life. You know, when Paul
was speaking at mars Heel, he said that it's God
(14:51):
in whom we live and.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
We move and have our being.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
God is a giver of life, and that first man
that was created was given life by from God himself.
Genesis two seven tells us that God formed man out
of the dust of the ground, breathe in the nostrils
the breath of life. And even though we were not
born miraculously as was he, we had breathed into us
(15:22):
the breath of life by God himself. And yet there
are those that have cheapened the value of life. Since
nineteen hundred and seventy three, there have been more than
fifty million babies that have been killed in America. Now,
(15:47):
you can use whatever term you like to describe what
happened to them. You can call it the abortion. But
the Bible teaches that is wrong to take the life
of another. Their arguments about it, but you see, that
goes back to the confused values that we have. And
because our values are confused, we have cheapened the value
(16:14):
of life. They're killings in our streets. I was speaking
just a few days ago at a place where the
people in that audience understood what I was talking about
because they live in a place where they're killings in
(16:34):
the streets, children being shot down. And you know, we
have listened to all of the things that are happening
in our world by way of the television and our
comfortable homes. We've seen people murdered on movies. We've seen
so much killing, so much bloodshed, and been so bombarded
(16:58):
with it in our society that we don't really think
much about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Life is so cheap.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
We live in a world where might makes right, and really,
that's the law of the jungle, isn't it. It's called
the survival of the fittest, and that's the law of
the jungle, and that if you have it and I
want it, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Might makes right.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And in reality, we live in the world that has
totally come almost completely denounced God himself. Paul go back
to Paul's statement in Romans one and when he said
that which may be known of God has been manifested
(17:51):
them because He showed them. And then verse twenty says,
for the invisible things of Him from the creation or
of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
(18:13):
so that they're without excuse. There's no excuse for a
person to saying I don't believe in God. You can
look at the heavens above and know there's a designer.
Because of the design there is in the universe, the
heavens declare his glory Psalms nineteen, in verse one, the
ferment shows his handiwork.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And so there is absolutely no excuse.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But he goes on to say, but that when they
knew him as God, they glorified him, not as God.
When they knew him as God, they knew he was God,
but they just denounced him. When we live in a
world that wants to denounce God and remove all mention
of God from society, take it out of the pledge
(19:00):
of allegiance, take his name off our money, take his
name off the buildings of a government.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Completely, remove the name of God from our school system,
take the name of God and put it in a
museum somewhere. That's the attitude some in our world today, folks.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yes, We're living in a world that's a little bit
upside down, isn't it. And we live in a world
where being politically correct is more important than being spiritually correct.
Isaiah chapter thirty, verse nine and ten may describe that
(19:44):
when he says, this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children who will not hear the law of the Lord,
who say to the seers, do not see to the prophets,
do not prophesy to us. Right things speak to us,
Smooth things, prophesied seats. We live in a time where
people had rather have someone talk to them, make them
(20:06):
feel comfortable and feel good, and say smooth, ear tickling
things to them, than to tell them the truth of God.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That's our world.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
How will we take the world in which we live
and turn it right side up? And I want to
suggest four things to you that are necessary to turn
the world right side up. And the first thing you
must do is have a bench mark in life. Now,
(20:40):
a benchmark is a place where you begin making a
measurement of something. Suppose you were going to measure the
lot on which your house rests. So you'd find a point,
a corner stop perhaps somewhere, and you would start at
that point and make them measurement in any direction. And
(21:03):
so that's a benchmark. And we have to have a
place to start in life. Now, what is our benchmark
in life? And you start with Genesis one, verse one.
That's our benchmark. In the beginning. God, in the beginning,
God created. In the beginning, God created the heavens, and
(21:25):
he created the earth. That's our benchmark. We start with God.
We start with this word. It is impossible to turn
the world right side up and eliminate God and his word.
In Matthew Ford and for Jesus said, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word, by every
(21:47):
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You see, you've got to have the word of God.
You believe in God, but.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
You must also be leave in his word and follow
his word. That's our benchmark. There's not an individual living today,
nor has there ever been one who has lived or
ever will live, who is smart enough, who's intelligent, enough
to be successful in life, really successful, as God counts
(22:19):
success without God in his word. George Washington said, it's
impossible to rightly govern the people without God and the Bible.
That's our benchmark God in his word. Now, the second
thing that we must do is men must be confronted
with their sins, and that can be very painful. I've
(22:41):
been confronted things that I've done wrong. You have as well.
So men must be confronted with their sins. God confronted
ancient Israel with their sins in Isaiah chapter one. He said, ah,
sinful nation of people laid with iniquity, a seed of ill, evildoers,
children that are corrupted, that have provoked the Holy One
(23:03):
of Israel to anger. Imagine getting God anger at you
because of your sin. And he said, you've gone away backward.
They were backsliders in life and in heart. And he said,
your whole head is sick, your whole heart is fame
from your souls, your feet to your head. There's no
soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying soreds
(23:24):
that have not been bound up nor modified with want.
But they were eaten up with the rod and the
stench of sin and for us to ripe the ship.
For us to turn this world right side up, not
only must we start with God and his word, but
your friends, we have to see that we're sinners in
the sight of God.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We're all sinners.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
All of sin then comes short of the glory of God.
But a third thing we must do that men must
come to understand that God loves them in spite of
their sin, That God soul loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. And God loves you.
(24:09):
He loves you regardless of who you are, where you are,
what you may have done. I want you to know
that God loves you, and he loves with an everlasting love.
In Jeremiah, chapter thirty one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And verse three.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Now, fourth thing that we must do to turn the
world right side up is that men must hear and
obey the Gospel. You see, that was the answer in Rome,
wasn't it? Go back to Romans the first chapter Look
at verse sixteen. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
(24:46):
of Christ, the good News of Christ, for it is
the power of God into salvation to everyone that believe
to the jew first and also to the Greek. Paul
had preached the gospel to the brethren at Rome. Obeyed
the gospel, and they were saved from their sins. Friends,
That's what we must have today to make this old
(25:08):
world right. It's the answer to the world's difficulties is
not political. The answer to the world's difficulties is not military.
It's not economic, because we're dealing with a spiritual problem
in our world today. It's a problem of the heart.
And for the world to be turned right side up,
(25:31):
men must obey the gospel. It worked in Rome, it
worked in corinth In First Corinthians fifteen, Paul said, they
were saved of the gospel.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But what did they do to be saved with the gospel?
Back then?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
In the Book of Acts we have the example of
their conversion, the conversion of the people in corinth Acts eighteen,
verse eight puts.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
It so plain.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Many of the Corinthians, hearing hearing what heard the gospel, believe,
leave what they believe the Gospel and word baptized. Do
you remember Jesus said, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. My friend, If we want this world
right today, we've got to turn it right side up.
(26:18):
It's upside down now, and in order for it to
be right, these are four absolutely essential things.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
In turning the world right side up.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Where are you today, Let me encourage you to get
your life right in the sight of God. I want
to thank you for watching Getting to Know Your Bible today,
and in the closing moments, may I give you a
very personal invitation to visit the Church of Christ right
there in your own community. If you do not know
(26:51):
where it's located, contact us. We'll find it for you.
And also, right now pick up the telephone call well
the free Bible Correspondence course.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Do that right now.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
If you prefer, you can take the course online.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
We love you, we want.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You to study the Word of God, so call for
the course until we meet again.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
May the Lord bless you and keep you is my prayer.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
To help you in your study of the Bible. We
want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This course
is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's conducted
by mail, and it's free to receive this course. Right
to Getting to Know Your Bible p O. Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
call toll free one eight seven seven seven one one
(27:42):
five two one four. Getting to Know Your Bible has
been presented by Churches of Christ. If you have a
question about the church, or if you would like the
location of a Church of Christ near you, or to
receive the free Bible course right too, Getting to Know
Your Bible p O. Box three one one four, Summerdale, Alabama,
three six five eight zero or call one eight seven
(28:05):
seven seven one one five two one four. Join us
next time forgetting to Know your Bible.
This is Getting to Know Your Bible, a program dedicated
to the proclaiming of the good News of Jesus Christ.
Here's Billy Lambert.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello, I'm Billy Lambert.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I am the regular speaker on Getting to Know Your Bible,
and I want to welcome you today.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
This may be the.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Very first time that you have seen this telecast. I
want you to know that the thing that we emphasize
on getting to Know your Bible is a word of God.
The Bible is the greatest book that has ever been written.
Many years ago, there were those that wrote books that
thought they would replace the Bible. That's what Thomas Paine
(00:55):
thought when he wrote The Age of Reason. But the
Bible continues to live after century. Jesus said, heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.
So on getting to Know your Bible, we're teaching from
the timeless Word of God. The Bible is God's book,
the greatest book that has ever been written. And today
(01:17):
we're going to be opening up the pages of the
Word of God and delivering a message to you from
God's book. Today we're going to be seeing a one
of our classics that is a production of one of
our telecasts from time in the past, and we want
you to stay tuned. We're going to be offering a
(01:39):
free Bible Correspondence course today and we will see information
on the screen as to how you can receive that course.
And so we want to pause at this time.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
To help you in your study of the Bible. We
want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This course
is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's conducted
by mail, and it's free to receive this course. Right
to getting to Know Your Bible. Po Box three one four, Summerdale,
Alabama three six five eight zero or call toll free
(02:10):
one eight seven seven seven one one five two one four.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I'm reading today from the seventeenth chapter the Book of Acts, Acts,
chapter seventeen, and I want to read verse number six.
When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and
(02:48):
some brethren to the rulers of the city.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Crying out, these.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Who have turned the world upside down have.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Come here too.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
To give us a little idea about the background of
that statement. In the sixteenth chapter of Acts, Paul heard
the Macedonian call that's in verse nine, and he went
over into Macedonia. Now, the first person that Paul met
there was a woman by the name of Lydia, and
(03:28):
she was and some women were down at the river
and they were praying, and her heart was open to
the Gospel, and she became a Christian. And then Paul
and Silas were put into prison for preaching the Gospel.
And then there was the jailer that Paul taught, who
(03:52):
asked this question, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And after the.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Conversion of Lydia and her household and the jailer and
his household, Paul left and went to Apollonia and Amphibolus,
and then he entered into Thessalonika. This was on his
third missionary journey. Now, when he came into Thessalonika, he
(04:20):
did what he normally would do. He went to the
synagogue and he was reasoning in the synagogue for three
Sabbath days, and he was talking to the people in
the synagogue about Christ, how Christ suffered, how Christ was resurrected.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
If you will study carefully all of the sermons.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That the apostles preached, they all have the same content,
always about Christ, his suffering, his death on the cross,
and his resurrection. And there were though, who came. And
some of the people that heard that message were persuaded
(05:05):
and they began to believe what Paul taught them. And
there were others who disbelieved. They did not accept the
message that Paul preached to them, and as a result
of their disbelief their rejection of the message, they caused
(05:25):
a riot in the city. They stirred up trouble and
they began to look for Paul and Silas. They came
to the house of a Djason, and he was not there.
So they took Jason, and they took him out of
his home, brought him before the rulers of the city.
(05:48):
And this was the charge they made against them.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
The men.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
That have turned the world upside down have come here also.
Of course, what they really meant was they've turned our
world upside down. Papaul is preaching things that are contrary
to what we've always thought and always believed, and so
in their minds, Paul had turned the world upside down.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Through his preaching. I want you to think about the
world in Paul's day. First of all, think about the
Roman world. What was the Roman world.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Like in the days of the apostle Paul Well in Romans.
The first chapter, beginning in verse eighteen, Paul wrote to
the church at Rome things that were true about the
Roman world in that time. He said, for the wrath
of God he is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness
(06:54):
and on godliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God has been
manifest under them, because He showed it unto them. For
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
(07:15):
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that
they're without excuse. Well, when they knew him as God,
they glorified him, not as God. Neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,
(07:36):
and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Going
back to the eighteenth verse, Paul said, God's wrath has
been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and against all.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Of those that would hold the truth.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Now that word whole simply means to suppress the truth,
to reject the truth. You see, in Paul's day, people
got to the point they said, we don't believe the truth,
and we don't need God anymore. It was Edward Gibbon
(08:15):
who wrote about the rise, declining the fall of the
Roman Empire, and in his work he gave some five
reasons that were contributing factors in the fall of Rome.
One of them was higher and higher taxes, the spending
of public moneys for free bread and circuses for the people.
(08:39):
Another was the rapid increase of divorce, the undermining of
the dignity and the sanctity of the home, which is
the basis of human society. Another reason he gave for
the fall of Rome was the mad craze for pleasure sports,
becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. And another
(09:01):
reason was the building of jiganting armaments when the real enemy,
the real enemy, was within the decadence, that is the
decay of the people. And the fifth reason he gave
for the fall of Rome was the decay of religion.
He said, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life,
(09:27):
and becoming impotent to warn and to guide the people.
You know, when you stop and think about those five
things that led to the demise of Rome, and you
compare that with modern man. It's frightening. It's absolutely frightening.
The very things that were at work in Rome that
(09:49):
led to Rome's fall are at work in our world today.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
So in Paul's day, in the.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Roman world, they said, we don't need God anymore. What
about the Jewish world in Paul's day, Well, the Jewish
world in Paul's day was not much different than our
world even today. You know, when Jesus was born, his
parents were trying to find a place to spend the night,
(10:20):
a place where Christ could be born. And in Luke
chapter two and verse seven tells us that they found
no room. In the end, and from the time that
Jesus was born into this world, the world even to
the present hour, does not have room for him. That is,
by and large, the world has always rejected the Lord
(10:43):
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
In John chapter one, verse eleven, the Bible says that
he came to his own and his own received him.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Not.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
In John chapter five, verse thirty nine, Jesus said, search
the scriptures, for in them you think you have life,
They which testify of me. And you were not coming
to me that you might have life. He wasn't telling
them to search the scriptures. He was saying to them,
you are searching the scriptures, and in the searching the scriptures,
(11:13):
you ought to know who I really am. But he said,
you are searching the scriptures, and they testify about me,
but you will not accept me. In Matthew chapter twenty one,
verse forty two, listen to Jesus the stone which the
builders rejected. The same is to become the head of
(11:38):
the corner rejected. And then in Matthew chapter twenty three,
verse thirty seven, Jesus is lamenting over the city of Jerusalem,
that this is a place where Jesus had done more
teaching than any other place in all of the world.
And Jesus wept over that city, and he said, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
(12:03):
thou that killest the prophets and stonest. Then to the
sinatet of thee, how often would I have gathered you
together as a hen gathers or chickens under wings, but
you would not behold your house is left under you desolate.
You see, the Roman world said we don't need God.
(12:24):
And in the days of Jesus, in the days of
the Apostle Paul and the Apostles, the Jewish world said,
we don't need Jesus. You know what about our world today?
What kind of a world do we live in today?
(12:44):
We live in a world of confused values. When I
think of a passage in the Bible that might best
describe the day in which we live, I think about
Jeremiah five, verses thirty and thirty one. A wonderful and
a horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets
(13:06):
prophesy falsely. The priests bahu by their means, and my
people love to have it so and so they're people
that are not really searching for that which is right.
And they have their values so twisted and so confused.
And they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
(13:30):
They put darkness for light and light for darkness. They
put evil for good and good for evil. They have
their values so warped, twisted and confused. We will live
in a time where people have a hard time understanding
(13:52):
the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
And the reason they have a hard time understanding the
difference between the two is because they believe that truth
is relative, and that there was no such thing as
an absolute standard of truth. We live in a time
(14:15):
where people are so confused that they do not know
the difference in a male and a female. You know,
God us made man in his image, and he made.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Them male and female.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But we live in a time where people think they
are smarter than God, confuse values. We live in a
time where life is so cheap, so cheap. You know,
God is the giver of life. You know, when Paul
was speaking at mars Heel, he said that it's God
(14:51):
in whom we live and.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
We move and have our being.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
God is a giver of life, and that first man
that was created was given life by from God himself.
Genesis two seven tells us that God formed man out
of the dust of the ground, breathe in the nostrils
the breath of life. And even though we were not
born miraculously as was he, we had breathed into us
(15:22):
the breath of life by God himself. And yet there
are those that have cheapened the value of life. Since
nineteen hundred and seventy three, there have been more than
fifty million babies that have been killed in America. Now,
(15:47):
you can use whatever term you like to describe what
happened to them. You can call it the abortion. But
the Bible teaches that is wrong to take the life
of another. Their arguments about it, but you see, that
goes back to the confused values that we have. And
because our values are confused, we have cheapened the value
(16:14):
of life. They're killings in our streets. I was speaking
just a few days ago at a place where the
people in that audience understood what I was talking about
because they live in a place where they're killings in
(16:34):
the streets, children being shot down. And you know, we
have listened to all of the things that are happening
in our world by way of the television and our
comfortable homes. We've seen people murdered on movies. We've seen
so much killing, so much bloodshed, and been so bombarded
(16:58):
with it in our society that we don't really think
much about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Life is so cheap.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
We live in a world where might makes right, and really,
that's the law of the jungle, isn't it. It's called
the survival of the fittest, and that's the law of
the jungle, and that if you have it and I
want it, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Might makes right.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
And in reality, we live in the world that has
totally come almost completely denounced God himself. Paul go back
to Paul's statement in Romans one and when he said
that which may be known of God has been manifested
(17:51):
them because He showed them. And then verse twenty says,
for the invisible things of Him from the creation or
of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
(18:13):
so that they're without excuse. There's no excuse for a
person to saying I don't believe in God. You can
look at the heavens above and know there's a designer.
Because of the design there is in the universe, the
heavens declare his glory Psalms nineteen, in verse one, the
ferment shows his handiwork.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And so there is absolutely no excuse.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But he goes on to say, but that when they
knew him as God, they glorified him, not as God.
When they knew him as God, they knew he was God,
but they just denounced him. When we live in a
world that wants to denounce God and remove all mention
of God from society, take it out of the pledge
(19:00):
of allegiance, take his name off our money, take his
name off the buildings of a government.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Completely, remove the name of God from our school system,
take the name of God and put it in a
museum somewhere. That's the attitude some in our world today, folks.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yes, We're living in a world that's a little bit
upside down, isn't it. And we live in a world
where being politically correct is more important than being spiritually correct.
Isaiah chapter thirty, verse nine and ten may describe that
(19:44):
when he says, this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children who will not hear the law of the Lord,
who say to the seers, do not see to the prophets,
do not prophesy to us. Right things speak to us,
Smooth things, prophesied seats. We live in a time where
people had rather have someone talk to them, make them
(20:06):
feel comfortable and feel good, and say smooth, ear tickling
things to them, than to tell them the truth of God.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
That's our world.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
How will we take the world in which we live
and turn it right side up? And I want to
suggest four things to you that are necessary to turn
the world right side up. And the first thing you
must do is have a bench mark in life. Now,
(20:40):
a benchmark is a place where you begin making a
measurement of something. Suppose you were going to measure the
lot on which your house rests. So you'd find a point,
a corner stop perhaps somewhere, and you would start at
that point and make them measurement in any direction. And
(21:03):
so that's a benchmark. And we have to have a
place to start in life. Now, what is our benchmark
in life? And you start with Genesis one, verse one.
That's our benchmark. In the beginning. God, in the beginning,
God created. In the beginning, God created the heavens, and
(21:25):
he created the earth. That's our benchmark. We start with God.
We start with this word. It is impossible to turn
the world right side up and eliminate God and his word.
In Matthew Ford and for Jesus said, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word, by every
(21:47):
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You see, you've got to have the word of God.
You believe in God, but.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
You must also be leave in his word and follow
his word. That's our benchmark. There's not an individual living today,
nor has there ever been one who has lived or
ever will live, who is smart enough, who's intelligent, enough
to be successful in life, really successful, as God counts
(22:19):
success without God in his word. George Washington said, it's
impossible to rightly govern the people without God and the Bible.
That's our benchmark God in his word. Now, the second
thing that we must do is men must be confronted
with their sins, and that can be very painful. I've
(22:41):
been confronted things that I've done wrong. You have as well.
So men must be confronted with their sins. God confronted
ancient Israel with their sins in Isaiah chapter one. He said, ah,
sinful nation of people laid with iniquity, a seed of ill, evildoers,
children that are corrupted, that have provoked the Holy One
(23:03):
of Israel to anger. Imagine getting God anger at you
because of your sin. And he said, you've gone away backward.
They were backsliders in life and in heart. And he said,
your whole head is sick, your whole heart is fame
from your souls, your feet to your head. There's no
soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying soreds
(23:24):
that have not been bound up nor modified with want.
But they were eaten up with the rod and the
stench of sin and for us to ripe the ship.
For us to turn this world right side up, not
only must we start with God and his word, but
your friends, we have to see that we're sinners in
the sight of God.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We're all sinners.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
All of sin then comes short of the glory of God.
But a third thing we must do that men must
come to understand that God loves them in spite of
their sin, That God soul loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. And God loves you.
(24:09):
He loves you regardless of who you are, where you are,
what you may have done. I want you to know
that God loves you, and he loves with an everlasting love.
In Jeremiah, chapter thirty one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And verse three.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Now, fourth thing that we must do to turn the
world right side up is that men must hear and
obey the Gospel. You see, that was the answer in Rome,
wasn't it? Go back to Romans the first chapter Look
at verse sixteen. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
(24:46):
of Christ, the good News of Christ, for it is
the power of God into salvation to everyone that believe
to the jew first and also to the Greek. Paul
had preached the gospel to the brethren at Rome. Obeyed
the gospel, and they were saved from their sins. Friends,
That's what we must have today to make this old
(25:08):
world right. It's the answer to the world's difficulties is
not political. The answer to the world's difficulties is not military.
It's not economic, because we're dealing with a spiritual problem
in our world today. It's a problem of the heart.
And for the world to be turned right side up,
(25:31):
men must obey the gospel. It worked in Rome, it
worked in corinth In First Corinthians fifteen, Paul said, they
were saved of the gospel.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But what did they do to be saved with the gospel?
Back then?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
In the Book of Acts we have the example of
their conversion, the conversion of the people in corinth Acts eighteen,
verse eight puts.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
It so plain.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Many of the Corinthians, hearing hearing what heard the gospel, believe,
leave what they believe the Gospel and word baptized. Do
you remember Jesus said, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. My friend, If we want this world
right today, we've got to turn it right side up.
(26:18):
It's upside down now, and in order for it to
be right, these are four absolutely essential things.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
In turning the world right side up.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Where are you today, Let me encourage you to get
your life right in the sight of God. I want
to thank you for watching Getting to Know Your Bible today,
and in the closing moments, may I give you a
very personal invitation to visit the Church of Christ right
there in your own community. If you do not know
(26:51):
where it's located, contact us. We'll find it for you.
And also, right now pick up the telephone call well
the free Bible Correspondence course.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Do that right now.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
If you prefer, you can take the course online.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
We love you, we want.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
You to study the Word of God, so call for
the course until we meet again.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
May the Lord bless you and keep you is my prayer.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
To help you in your study of the Bible. We
want to send you this Bible Correspondence course. This course
is non denominational, it's based on the Bible, it's conducted
by mail, and it's free to receive this course. Right
to Getting to Know Your Bible p O. Box three
one four, Summerdale, Alabama three six five eight zero or
call toll free one eight seven seven seven one one
(27:42):
five two one four. Getting to Know Your Bible has
been presented by Churches of Christ. If you have a
question about the church, or if you would like the
location of a Church of Christ near you, or to
receive the free Bible course right too, Getting to Know
Your Bible p O. Box three one one four, Summerdale, Alabama,
three six five eight zero or call one eight seven
(28:05):
seven seven one one five two one four. Join us
next time forgetting to Know your Bible.
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