Douglas Campbell's sermon 'The Great Seduction' explores Proverbs chapter 7, emphasizing the importance of treasuring and adhering to God's commandments as a defense against spiritual and moral seduction. The sermon warns against the allure of the 'forbidden woman,' symbolizing temptations and false religions that lead to spiritual downfall. Campbell highlights the necessity of valuing God's word as the 'apple of the eye' and stresses the role of prayer and obedience in maintaining a faithful relationship with God amidst cultural challenges. He draws parallels between ancient warnings and contemporary issues, urging believers to remain vigilant and committed to God's teachings to avoid falling into spiritual traps.

If you would turn with me to Proverbs chapter 7. This morning I'd like to read through chapter 7 and see what the Word of God says to us today. So that's Proverbs chapter 7. The word of God says, my son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you. Keep my commandments and live.

Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablets of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice and I've seen among the simple I perceived among the youths a young man lacking sense passing along the street near her corner taking the road to her house in the twilight and the evening at the time of night and darkness.

And behold, the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward. Her feet do not stay at home. Now in the street, now in the market, and in every corner she lies and waits. She seizes him and kisses him and with a bold face she says to him, I had to offer sacrifices and today I have paid my vows.

So now I have come to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egypt, or from Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight ourselves with love.

For my husband is not home. He has gone a long journey. He took a bag of money with him. At full moon he will come home. With much seductive speech she persuades him with her smooth talk.

She compels him. All at once he follows her. As an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast, till an arrow pierces its liver, as a bird rushes into a snare, he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your hearts turn aside to her ways.

Do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death." Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you this day. As in our culture, we celebrate this week as a time of thanksgiving. And Father, so often we focus on all the stuff that we have and family and friends and yet Father, you are that which we should be most thankful for.

Thankful for your goodness, thankful for your purity, thankful that you don't change, thankful for your patience, thankful for your kindness, thankful that you know everything, Thankful that you are in control of everything. Thankful that you do you work all things together for the good of those that know you, of those who are called according to your purpose. Thankful Father this morning for your word that we might know you. Thankful that that your Word says this is eternal life, that we know you. Not just that we are pious, not just that we are good people, of which we aren't.

Not just that we check boxes, not just that we give to the poor, not just that we come to church on Sunday, but eternal life is this, that we know you. And Father, you reveal yourself to us through your word. And for that, Father, we should be eternally thankful. Now, Father, we would ask that your Word would do its work in our hearts, that it would chip away at the stoniness, that it would chip away at the stoniness, that it would chip away at our pride, that it would chip away at our stubbornness. Father, would you give us understanding today that, Father, we might glorify you for your name's sake in Christ's name.

Amen. Amen. Well, this morning I have much scripture because I want to go through this twice. And the first time I want to look at the surface of it, what appears to be on, or what is on the outside. And I'm going to go through that quickly because we've done that before.

It's been a few years ago. And for you young men, That was at Kenny's several years ago. I also preached on this in a young men fashion. So, and I'm sure in the future we'll do it again, but let's go quickly through what's here on the surface. First off, Proverbs 7 verses 1 through 2 says, My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you.

Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. We're started in this Proverb or in this chapter of Proverbs reminding us that God's Word must be central to our life. It must be treasured up within us. It must be saw as the apple of your eye.

I really appreciate what an analogy that Ray Comfort uses often when people claim they don't value their life. They don't care if they go to hell. And he always directs it back to, well, would you sell your eye for a million dollars? One of your eyeballs. Would you sell it for a million dollars?

We'll put a glass one in, no one will know any difference. Would you do that? And sometimes, not regularly, but sometimes people say, well yeah I'd sell one of my eyes for a million dollars. And so he'll carry it forward and he will say, would you sell them both for $10 million? And to my knowledge, I have never heard one person say they would do that.

Why? Because our eyes are precious, they're valuable, and yet our eyes are merely the windows to our soul. So how can we say we don't value our soul, we don't value our life, if we in turn value our eyes. It is contradictory. And we come to this in this text, it's saying to value God's Word, to value His command as the apple of your eye.

In a sense, value it like you value your eye, because God knows you value your eye. Keep his teaching as the apple of your eye. Devote your eye to it. Now some of you young people, you don't understand this as well because our culture is a little different than it was even 50 years ago, but I remember my mom several times telling me that when she was a kid at Christmas time, one of the highlights of Christmas is that at Christmas time they would get an orange. And you say, I don't even like oranges.

What's she talking about? Apples were different. Oranges were different. They were the equivalent of a smarty or a dum-dum that I see people diving after and I take great joy in throwing at you. To a young child you could say God is saying to keep his teaching as the smarty of your eye that this is what would draw you this is what this is what I hope none of you come to Sunday School just for that.

But this is, this is what would make you, motivate you to get up and get to Sunday School and want to read or to answer a question because you're going to get, in a sense, the apple of your eye. Is God's word that to you? Are you keeping God's teaching as the apple of your eye? That's what the author is telling us here. And it continues, it says to bind them on your fingers and write them on the tablet of your heart.

To bind them on your fingers, it means to apply them, to put them to practice, to your work, to live them out, and then to write them on the tablet of your heart, to memorize it, to repeat it over and over, and do whatever it takes to lock it away inside of you. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, you are my sister, and call insight your intimate friend. These things all come from the Word of God. Now, I want you to see, this is really the main point of all of this text.

Right? Because what happens after this text is the ramifications of not doing this. If you will not read the Word of God, if you will not treasure it, if you will not write it upon your heart, if you won't treat it as the apple of your eye, what comes next is typically going to be your fate. And he says, he explains it here in Proverbs 7 verse 5. So we read, we read this, and he says, what's the reasoning for it?

To keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. Notice the adulteress doesn't have harsh words or hard words. It's always smooth words. It's always the smooth things that go down easy. I think of Pets and even when I was a kid there were sometimes when I just I needed to take a pill and My mom would knew that I didn't like to do this and she she would make it smooth by coating it with peanut butter or or Candy or something like that that would make it easier for me to take.

The words of the adulteress are this way. She doesn't shock you. She tells you what you want to hear. She gives you what you want to taste, therefore you take her pill of poison. Now, in this text we see a narrative of a man and then this next verse he says, for at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths a young man lacking sense.

And what is this young man doing that's lacking sense? He's passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight in the evening at the time of night and darkness. Now there's two quick things I would like to point out in this. Why is this young man lacking sense? Because he is playing where the adulteress is.

He is being in her area. He is not protecting himself from by separating from her. Secondly, it's at night. Now young men, you should be busy enough during the day that you don't need to have time to perouse around at night. Do things with, work with your hands to the point that you want to sleep at night, not walk around where you shouldn't be walking around.

The Bible goes much into many different results of the sluggard. And some of those things are depression and all kinds of things that come along with this. But young men, and for all of us, if you are a sluggard, you will be found out by sin. It will find you and it will seize you and it will grab you and it will hold you and it will punish you. Don't be a sluggard.

Be busy at the work God has given you. Whether you're a young man or a young lady, or an older lady or an older man, be busy at what God has called you to do. Now in our culture, oftentimes that translates into a job, but for, you know, if you're eight years old, you don't have a job yet, but yet you do. Your job is to know God, to love and to serve your parents. Now, there is time for recreation, but our culture has exploded it by the millionth degree.

Young people, you should be serving your households, even at eight. This culture where we pamper kids and let them be, We call it let them be kids until they're 30 years old, and then we wonder why they don't move out of our basement. This is freaking havoc. Young people, learn to work while you're young. Don't be in the streets at night.

Don't be where sin is prevalent. Don't spend your time around people who aren't living for Christ. We joke of this often about young teenage boys and we say, do you know how to get a normally really nice young man to do something crazy, stupid? You put him with two other young men his age. His IQ drops immediately.

And that's what we do in the public school. We weren't designed for this. We're actually doing the opposite of what we should be doing, and I don't want to go down that road too far. Let's continue on. She seizes him and kisses him, and with a bold face she says to him, I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows.

So now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you." Now what I have, I have, when we read this what we find of the prostitute is the prostitute is religious. The prostitute checked her religious box. And in fact, she is saying, I just did my religious thing. Now I've got that freed up. I got that box checked.

Let's get on with sinning. Let's get on with luring. Let's get on with trapping. Let's get on with doing what the world does. And in fact, in our culture today, we have the same.

People think they're Christians because they go to church. They do the right thing, but then they go out and live as everyone else lives. Continuing, I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come let us take our fill of love till morning.

Let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not home, not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He took a bag of money with him. At full moon, he will come home.

With much seductive speech, she persuades him with her smooth talk. She compels him. I want you to see here, she thinks her sin will not find her out. And in fact, that's the promise she makes towards the one whom she is luring. Come with me.

Do what I'm doing. The one who would catch us is a long ways away. We will never get caught. Friend, that is the promise of sin over and over and over. And yet the word of God says, your sin will find you out.

It might not be today, but it will find you out. And what did it cost him? The man whom didn't hold the commands of his father, didn't know them, didn't submit to them, didn't hold them dear, did what was opposite or contrary to what his father wanted, found himself in the street at night because of his position he found himself being lured, and because he is being lured, it will cost him his life. Now we live in an era where people think that they are strong, and they can go to the bars, and they can go out at night, and they can go to parties, they can do this and that, because they're strong, and after all, God is the one who is, the Holy Spirit is the one who is keeping them. And I would tell you, if you think this way, you lack sense.

You are the foolish young man. If you think you are strong, be ready lest you fall. Your pastor can fall. You can fall. I've heard crazy things of people who claim to be men of God who went to counsel wives alone.

They are fools. Are you hearing me? They are fools. They heed not the Word of God. They don't believe what God says of them.

They think they can do what God tells them not to because they are strong and in fact they aren't. They're just like you and they're just like me. Don't put yourself where sin will capture you. We've talked of this often. If you can't handle your computer, don't have it.

If you can't handle your phone, don't have it. If you can't handle, if you allow your child or teenager or even adult boy that lives in your home, if you allow them to go to the room alone with their phones and computers that are unrestrained and unmonitored, you are a fool. It is the adulteress. You've given them unrestricted access to the adulteress. Don't trifle with sin.

Don't trifle with the evil one. Now, let's go back to the beginning. I want to look at this in a different light, and we've hit on a little bit, but Proverbs 7-5, it says, What is the reason that we should be, what is the reason the Word of God should be the apple of our eye? What is the reason why it should compel us to read it and to know it and to spend much time in it and to write it upon our hearts. What is the reason for this?

The reason again is to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress, with her smooth words. Now, I would like to take a little bit of a shift looking at the adulteress, because we see her as we read Proverbs as what it would be, a father talking to his young man about the wicked woman downtown. But the Bible speaks much of the adulteress. We read specifically of her in Revelation 17, 1-6. It says, Then one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls, came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.

And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality, and on her forehead was written the name of mystery Babylon the great mother of prostitutes and of earth abominations and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. We're told of this prostitute or this this mystery Babylon religion, This mystery Babylon false religion that would spread throughout all the earth and in fact all false religion is tied back to this mystery Babylon. It just has different variants of one way or another.

And in the Old Testament we found very often how when Israel would turn from God, he would accuse them of being prostitutes, or accuse them of being adulterers, of sleeping with a prostitute. And in fact, we find the same in our modern day in Euronias' hearts that need delivered. We see the same thing at play. We have the wonderful, wonderful groom of Christ, the perfect groom, the perfect one. I've met a lot of grooms.

I don't typically like the grooms. I go to weddings. Sometimes if you were from my church I would. I watch how they behave. Non-Christians.

I watch how they behave. I watch what's important to them. I watch their alcohol flasks. I watch them joke with their friends. I watch them smear cake in their brides face.

And while our world thinks it's funny, I grieve. We have the perfect groom. If you're in Christ, you have the perfect groom. And what do our hearts do? They go for the prostitute.

They go for the idols. They go for what the world lays before us as saying, this is good. They go for our opinions. As we thought about in Sunday school, the obstinate one, the stiff necked, those that would have their own opinions and come to the Word of God and see that the Word of God contradicts them at times and yet says, Well, I know better than this. Friends, American culture 101.

Yeah, we know the word of God says this, but that's old fashion. We know better than that. We're progressive. We're moving ahead. We don't need God.

They sell themselves out to the prostitute, and they like it with their smooth words, and they enjoy it. And look with the mystery Babylon prostitute. You know what the end of it becomes? It says, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Christ. See, this mystery Babylon prostitute is false religion.

It's all of it. It doesn't matter if they claim Christ or not. If they aren't Christian, if they aren't in Christ, If they are something else, they are Mystery Babylon. We talk often as the Gnostics of how they wanted to separate our bodies from our spirit and say, well, I can send however I want because my spirit does its thing and my body does this thing. It is a complete contradicting prediction to what Christ has done for you and I.

Yet they would say, we are Christians. And those same people who claim to be Christians who contradict the Word of God, they will be the ones who are spilling the blood of the saints. They will be the ones who are putting them to death because they will not tolerate someone saying what the Bible says. Look at Revelation 17 15, and the angel said to me, the waters that you saw, If you remember that last text we read started with that she's on the waters. It says the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

What does this mean? Mystery Babylon is what prevails, is what is normal, it's what is mainstream. It's the multitudes. The multitudes will spill the blood of the saints. The multitudes will put you to death for standing for Christ.

It's the multitudes. Proverbs 7, continuing on 6 through 9, For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, And I have seen among the simple. I have perceived among the youths A young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight in the evening, and at the time of night and darkness, he treads in darkness. And friends, you look at our culture, and even those in the church, or in what they would claim as American Christianity, they tread in the darkness. They do what is contrary to the Word of God.

In fact, it's been a year or two ago, but I talked with somebody and I know that it's normal, but it's heartbreaking. Their 12-year-old girl had a doctor's appointment that week to get put on the pill. And their reasoning is, is well you know we can't, I can't afford to have one of those. You care more about your pocketbook than your child's soul? Why would we become?

You're going to turn your daughter loose so she can do whatever she wants and you won't have to financially suffer for it? What are we doing? Why don't we love our children? What are we doing? We're drinking from the prostitute.

We say, well, that's what the world does. That's what our friends at school do. Man, you are called to care for your daughters. You are called to protect your daughters. And there have been times in my life where I have said, I can't protect my daughter at this moment because there's something far worse going on, like taking my wife to the emergency room.

And I have looked to other men whom I deeply trust, and I've allowed them to watch my daughter for a time. And there's times when we need to do that, and that's what we are here for as brothers. But man, you are convinced by our culture that you're gonna turn over the care and protection of your daughter to a 16 year old boy? What are we doing? And then give her a pill so you don't have to suffer for it?

I find none of this in the Bible. It's mystery Babylon. She is deceiving you with her smooth words. She's saying, but your kids need to grow up so they can enjoy the prosperity that all the other Babylonians have. And we make our choices based off of that.

We say we care for their soul, but our action is completely contrary. Because it's more important that they get a good job. And they make lots of money so they can check the boxes and do the same thing with their kids. And where does it say it ends up? Usually in death.

What are we doing? The waters that you saw, or the prostitute as seated, are the peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. Why are we trifling with sin? Why are we allowing our children to trifle with sin? Why are you trifling with sin?

Why is it, why does our culture, even the statistics say, even inside the church, why does our culture consume four, five, six, seven, eight hours of media per day and can't find time to read ten minutes of the Bible. We're deceived by the prostitute. We're playing the game that everyone else is playing. We're trading in our groom for the idol. Naturally what happens in Proverbs 7, 10 through 12, and behold the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

She is loud and wayward. Her feet do not stay at home. Now on the street, now on the market. And at every corner, she lies in wait. In fact, that's where we find ourselves.

Every time we wake up and we turn the TV on, there's the prostitute calling. Every time we look at the news, there's the prostitute calling. Every time we we send our kids to school, they're surrounded by the prostitute, telling them what they should care about and what they shouldn't care about. Today, if you saw the statistics on even the number of kids who go from K through 12 and leave the public school and yet still a double digit percentage of those people aren't even literate. You could do a better job training them at home if you did nothing.

At least they wouldn't wonder which bathroom they should use. Friends, it's the prostitute. It's Mystery Babylon. It's not just there. It's when you turn the TV on.

It's when you turn the radio on. It's all around you. You're hearing these things over and over, and it's changing the way you think of things. I was in a discussion with some family the last couple of days and the topic came up of school shootings again and and a brother of mine reminded me of this a while back and so I had this in my my ammo box and I said why would you be surprised at that? They go to school, they learn survival of the fittest, Darwinian evolution.

That means the strong succeed, the strong live on, the weak die. They play that out in the school with guns, and you're shocked at it. They're just being consistent to what they're taught. Why are we surprised? Why are we surprised when we teach kids that they're animals and then they act like animals?

The prostitute calls out just as the snake did in the garden. And while we, with our fingers and our judgment, we look at Adam and we say, Adam, where were you? The snake is coming through your TV at home. It's coming through the devices your kids are on. Dads, where are you?

Proverbs 7 22 through 23 all at once he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver What this means is till an arrow kills it. As a bird rushes into a snare, he does not know that it will cost him his life. For many a victim she has laid low with and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

This morning it breaks my heart to look at the world. And it breaks my heart to warn and to warn and to warn. But look what it says about the guy. He does not know that it will cost him his life. Today, you have no longer that excuse.

If you continue to flirt with the prostitute of Babylon, it will cost you your life. You can say that you're Christian, and you can pray the prayer, and you can do all the right things and show up on Sunday. But if you continue to flirt with a prostitute of Babylon, it shows that you love not your groom. And if you love not your groom, You are not a Christian. You are not safe on the day of judgment.

Our culture though would rather be comforted with a lie. Friends, I stay awake at night and despair over you, because I see what's there. I see what's out there. And it's this. It's mystery of Babylon, deceiving you into thinking all is well until you find yourself at death.

Summing up, in Proverbs 7, 24, and now, O sons, listen to me and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths, for many a victim she has laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng, mighty strong. Those that claim to be strong have been slain by her, and they are going down to the chambers of death. Friend, it's precisely what we talked of in Sunday school. It's obstinance, And I deal with it all that I deal with it regularly as I counsel people.

Counseling is very easy for someone who knows that this has the answers. Do you know all the counseling is? It's me listening to you and telling you to start doing what you should have been doing before. But you know what happens? Most of the time they won't do it because they know better.

They know better. They don't have to read their Bible every day. They're not a preacher. I've heard that from my own family. I don't, I'm not gonna be a preacher.

I don't need to spend tons of time here. You're wrong. This is life. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Amen?

John 14, Go to John 1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. This is life. This is Christ.

It's our revelation of God. To know Him is to have eternal life. This is the most important thing in your life. It's not what comes on TV this week at a certain time. Do you hear me?

And if you don't know this, the prostitute has an easy day with you. She has an easy day. She doesn't even have to work hard. My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live.

See the contrast? Go with the prostitute, die. Keep my commandments, live. Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye." Charles Spurgeon, to his congregation, in one of his sermons, he says, "'There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write damnation with your fingers.'" Is that you?

Or on the contrary, John Rogers, the Puritan, cried out and said, Lord, whatsoever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us. Kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods, only spare us thy Bible, and only take not away thy Bible. Is that how you see your Bible? Is it the most important thing you have? My friends, as evangelicals, we would be quick to say yes, because we agree to truth, but we're very slow to apply.

If you're not applying that, if you don't apply that this is the most important thing that you have, if that isn't lived out in your life, what you really mean is yes, but really no. Is it the word of God? Do you know it? It's the only way you're going to defend against the prostitute. Now to move on, I have a slide that I want to look at.

What has brought me to here? I am not a politics guy, Okay? I want you to hear this plainly, and I want to demonstrate why we're here. People don't vote politics. People vote theology.

And you say, but lots of people don't believe in God. That doesn't mean they're not theologians. Everyone is a theologian. All right, everyone has a belief, and if their belief is there is no God, then that's their theology, okay? People vote their theology.

Now on this scale, I have American Christianity. Now you'll notice I have their orthodoxy. What orthodoxy means is if you would say this is the Word of God and you believe it, you are in orthodoxy. And that's where we would find neo-evangelicals. And when I was young, almost every Christian denomination would say, well yes, we believe that's the Word of God.

Yes, we believe that. You would believe 2 Timothy 3, 16 that says, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness. You would say, yes, I believe that. If you believe that, in our world today, that actually keeps getting farther this direction, even within mainstream Christianity. That's becoming less and less.

But if you believe that, you would be within orthodoxy. Now to go further to the right, we find obedience. We would find that you would believe in 1st John 2, 4, which says, whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in him." Do you believe that? Do you believe that text? If you believe that text, then you will be with me over in the fundamentalist side.

And you'll notice in the last several years our culture has been taught to hate that word. Right? If you're labeled as a fundamentalist, you're one of those people. Amen? Amen.

So within, So this would be the range of what would be claimed to be American Christianity. Most, I was doing some research on, it was a Pew Research article that listed different denominations, and this is just one topic, but it listed different denominations views on abortion. And of all the denominations listed, there were only two that said they were against abortion in all cases except for saving the life of the mother. And I understand that's a gray, but if two people are dying and you have to save one, then on the battlefield you have to say it make the same choices and it's a different different area than all the others. There were only two that would say that.

All of the others had compromise. They compromised murdering children. They aren't in orthodoxy. They don't agree with what the Bible says. Amen.

So what we find is this line continues to shift and those lines continue to shift and I believe and you can I'll give you two scenarios and I'm not this isn't my I'm not the authority I'm just just telling you my observation. I'm not questioning anything. I don't have any data. I don't understand. I'm not saying, I'm not making any assertions that the last election or any election wasn't real because I don't know.

I never studied it. If the last election wasn't real, it's actually easier for me to swallow than if it is. Because if it is, and people are voting their theology, it means these lines are increasingly coming this way at an alarming rate. And hear me this morning, this is American Christianity. And somewhere in here is the line, hear me well, somewhere in there is the line between saved and mystery Babylon.

Because Mystery Babylon was religious. Are you hearing me? If we went just off of, if the tata is real, and we went just off of the data from the last election it would appear that most of American Christianity is mystery Babylon that's not Christianity at all how can I say that? I see church leaders supporting abortion. I see church leaders marrying those of whom they should not marry.

I see just as we studied in Sunday school where it said not only did the the king, but also the people, and also the priests, all went away from God. And friends, this isn't surprising. And do you know why it's not surprising? The cycle repeats over and over and over and over again. We've seen it with the Israelites.

God makes them His people. They begin to do things that God told them not to do. That results in them falling away from God. That results in God being extremely patient. As we talk for hundreds of years, God is patient.

Will my people come back? And then it leads to God's judgment has arrived. It leads to now you'll be slaves of the Egyptians. And after Lots and lots of years of being enslaved by God's grace, people start to come to their senses, and God begins to draw them back. And if God is beginning to draw His people back, Do you know what starts?

His people begin to pray. His people in the midst of darkness, they take their eyes off of fighting darkness. They take their eyes off of politics and all these silly things that we think can deliver us that actually can't. And we start to pray. And we cry out.

And we cry out. And we cry out. And at some point in the darkness, the Bible, as we've seen in the past, God hears the prayers of the afflicted, and God delivers them. And the people celebrate, and they build memorials to God, and they repent, and they come back to Him, and they begin to obey Him again, and they begin to do what He's called them to do. And then they start not obeying every single thing, And then they start to marry those whom would drag them even farther down the road.

It's this cycle over and over and over But within this cycle The people are sued by smooth words They're sued by what's normal They're sued by doing what everyone else does. Well, my neighbor doesn't have to, as we read this morning, My neighbor doesn't have to let his field rest for a year. He's got all the food. Obviously, if God is going to want us to have food, we're not going to give our field a rest. It's always this human reasoning.

It's always when the human reasoning begins to say, God, your word says this, but I know better. Surely you need my help. God, it doesn't seem like you're doing what I've asked you to do. Surely I need to intervene. I watched a blessed sermon by Vody Bakham last week, and he talked about unanswered prayers.

He says, sometimes people come to him and they say, I have prayed and I've had prayed and I have prayed, but God hasn't answered my prayer. And Vody takes them to the scripture and it says, God hears the prayers of His people. Because He didn't answer it, in the timing, in the way you thought He should, you're going to accuse him of not hearing your prayers? In the way that only Bodhi can do it, he says, you better check yourself. Because you're in deep sin right now.

The Bible says God hears your prayers. Quit thinking that your way is better than his, quit thinking that you are smarter than he is. Where are you at on this line? Do you believe the Word of God? Do you obey the Word of God?

Now understand when we go to obedience, that doesn't mean we're perfect. We still have flesh. We still struggle. But what it does mean, and obedience doesn't save you, right? But what it does mean is if God has given you a new heart, if you are redeemed, if you are adopted into his family, you change from...

I have to obey... You change from the excuses like, well, you know, I'm human like everyone else. Have you guys ever heard that before? Well, everybody sends, you know, sometimes I will call people to repentance and they'll be like, well, everybody sends. If that is your defense, I fear for your soul.

Because there are things I struggle with, and there are things, like God's grace, I have elders who will come to me and confront me. And at times I still struggle. And if my reaction is ever, well, everybody sins. I have a theologically bankrupt position or I don't know God at all. Because the heart that saved struggles with their sin.

They war against it. It grieves them. The response isn't, well, everybody's sins. The response is, you're right, and I hate it, and I'm tired of it, and I fight against it. Brother, would you help me?

Brother, if I don't make a doctor's appointment, and by the time I see you again, I want you to ask me about it. And that's, I just don't like doctors, I'm sorry. And I need that. And that's just a silly thing. There's other things that I struggle with worse.

My response isn't, well, everybody sins. My response is, is I love Christ. I don't want to sin against Him. Even in small things. Friends, this is the most common thing I hear inside of mainstream Christianity.

If I talk to someone about their sin, it's, well, everybody sins. I am terrified for you, Because the redeemed heart doesn't want to sin against God. The redeemed heart says, even though this doesn't seem right to me, your word says it, so I will obey. And friends, I'm with you. I have a flesh.

You might not believe this or not, but my wife has to tell me this sometimes. She's like, just a couple weeks ago I said, well, you know, I've tried and I've tried and I've tried, and it just, this isn't changing, I can't change people. And she says, why don't you just do what you're supposed to do? Because it's not working. Oh, God can't change them?

I think it was Charles Spurgeon that he was struggling with things like that, and he was down for several days, and I think it was Charles Spurgeon. He came to breakfast, and all of his family was dressed in black. And he says, I must have forgotten that somebody passed away in the church. Who's passed away? And his, I would encourage you to read his autobiography and of his wife, but his wife replies, well, obviously God has.

By your behavior, God has died. Charles Furgin's response wasn't, well, everybody sins. He says, you are right, dear wife. What is wrong with me? And he said he was happy the rest of the day.

A little later, as we look at Mystery Babylon and Revelation, we see her judgment towards the end, I think it's towards the end or the beginning of 18, but we hear in verse 18, chapter 18 verses 4 and 5, it says, Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." And I've said it before and I tell you this morning, come out of her my people. Come out of her. Come out of her her roadways. Be separate from her. All the promises that this world promises you with prosperity and popularity and being the cool guy and it's all but a vapor.

Of vapor come out of her. Go back to you the Word of God, feed upon it, dwell upon it. There's so much. We have been deceived so badly. We have allowed others to teach our children things that we were called to teach them.

We have praised group activities, we've consumed our time with them. The modern American family is with children, is running non-stop, And they justify it all by saying, well, this is good for our kids. They'll learn traits that they need to learn. Friends, they were designed to learn them in the body of Christ. They were designed to learn them in the church.

They were designed to learn teamwork and working together and bearing with one another and encouraging one another and relating to one another and relating to the old and relating to the young. It was all designed to be learned in the church, and yet we subcontracted it to the Romans. Man, go to your Bibles. The The prostitute leads to death. She sues you with her words.

She leads to death. Finally this morning as we look at where we are as a nation, and we come to the time of thanksgiving, and I've just started to read and to study more on the great awakenings in America. We look at our nation in this day and we wonder, how could God be so patient? How could he be so patient? How could he allow this to continue?

His patience is overwhelming. In this Thanksgiving, if there's anything to be thankful for, it is for God's patience. As we look out and we see that it appears that time is very short, at least for the way we know the world now. It appears the time may be short even for the prostitute to begin spilling the blood of the saints. As we see all these things at hand, the time also looks short a few hundred years ago in America.

And by God's grace, He awakened us. Men and women and children began to pray. They began to discuss the things of God at the store and not which team made the most goals. They begin to discuss theology as they went about their day and not who did what on what TV show. Friends, there were dire times in America, and God rescued us and brought us back.

And perhaps God will do that again. And if He does do it again, we will see it happening in one way. We will see the saints begin to pray again. Friends, this is so heavy. The reason this is heavy is because when we look into the world and we see the ramifications of elections and voting and all these things, and we say, well, the world is falling apart.

It's the culture is on the verge of collapse. If you study the cycles of great nations in history, our culture is right at the edge, if not right over the edge of collapse. We're there. Do you know whose fault it is? It's not the media's.

It's not the politicians. It's the church. The church isn't salty anymore. The church has comforted itself with perfume and cinnamon and myrrh. And I have to be careful there because the church actually is what's Christ and that's so understand I'm talking about mainstream Christianity.

The church is alive and well. It was bought by the blood of Christ. Our nation is falling apart because of our nation has turned its back on God. And it started in those who claimed to be Christians. They began to waver, they began to not obey, they began to say we're advanced, we're beyond this, We know better.

It's the same cycle. As we come to this Thanksgiving, I would ask that you would pray. Not just pray, but really pray. Pray that God would continue to be kind, that He would draw us back as a nation, specifically that He would draw us back as His people in the church, that we would find Him to be the apple of our eye and not mystery Babylon. Pray that we would rise up again to pray and to draw near.

Pray that we would be thankful for His patience. Amen? We hear this often that the scripture and Joshua, and we have to be careful, but it is part of a cycle that we see, where it says, if my people were called by my name, would humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways that God will heal their land. I would call you this morning, turn, turn to Christ, turn to Him and live. His patience that he demonstrates to us by us still being here is a demonstration that he is still calling for you and I to turn to him.

He is kind. He is gracious. He gave everything. He gave his life upon the cross. God's full wrath, the only time in all of history, His full wrath was poured out upon His Son for all those who would come to be redeemed by Him.

God will forgive every sin of your past. He'll forgive every sin of your present. He'll forgive every sin of your future. If you will humble yourself, Trust in Christ, turn to Him, draw near. Let's pray.

And my father, as we come into Thanksgiving, father, we can't help but be captivated by captivated by your patience, captivated by your kindness, captivated by your kindness of preserving a people whom tend to stray and want to find other things to do, tend to be captivated by everything else. And Father, if I was honest, that same flesh resides within me. That same flesh resides within all of us. And Father, we know we can't overcome them apart from your Holy Spirit. Yet your Word says you use our efforts.

So Father, bring us to our knees. Bring us to our knees into your Word. Let us not be an ignorant people of your word. We know everything else. We think.

We know scores and songs and TV shows and games and so many soothing words from the prostitute. More than happy to distract us from what's real, to distract us from what's best, to distract us from what's amazing and great. We would sell out for a couple of pretty cockroaches. Father, for your name's sake, for your glory, would you rise up within the Midwest, people people who desire you above all, who are consumed with knowing you, who are consumed with living for you. Father would you raise up another great awakening?

Would you deliver us from the whore? Yeah, Father, if you won't, or if it not be your will, would you raise us up that we might glorify you in our remaining days? Would we be raised that we might walk through the valley of the shadow, standing for our king. Others, we think so much of wars and rumors of wars. Would you Remind us the biggest war is going on within our houses.

The biggest war is going on within our pockets, our devices and computers and TVs. The war is in full scale war. Would you help us to see it as such? Would you drive us to our knees? Would you captivate us by you, that we might glorify you in Christ's name?

Amen.